Horsemen, Lego and Pandemic

My brother and his girlfriend dropped in for a couple of days so gaming took a backseat. We took them to Fort Edmonton to show them some ye olde time fun. And my wife discovered a new appreciation for horses (look closely at the photo). To give you a sense of scale, the horse stands 1900mm tall (foot to eye--it was huge!).

My brother also gave my daughter a Lego pirate ship. Yes, 592 pieces of finger abrading fun. It is quite the impressive vessel and I wonder about gaming applications.

The cannons actually shoot and the whole thing looks great. The only complaint I have is that the cones used to keep the sails from sliding off the spars just rest there. I think some epoxy may be necessary!

It also comes with a shark and two British sailors in a boat.

We also played five games of Pandemic until late into the night. Can you save humanity? Well, two times out of five. And only once when you play it at the normal level. What a nice game!

Up next: Elves, 15mm AWI and perhaps a game on Sunday.

Dragons!

In anticipation of not being able to post tomorrow due to guests, here is a quick post: a dragon for my goblin army.

I have posed him with some 28mm Wargames factory legionnaires to give you a sense of scale (still fits on a 60x60mm base though!).

I was looking for some more fantastical creatures for my armies but a bit put off by the costs and the hassle of large metal figures. Then I saw a Heroscape auction and viola! Plastic, pre-painted (I just did a wash) and away we go. I have a couple of other figures on the way for the elves and skeletons.

Up next: 15mm AWI and some elves.

Troll and Wargs

I finished a couple of more fantasy figures. These include a troll for my goblin army. He is from the game Battle Master.

I also did three bases of goblin Warg riders (again Battle Master figures).

Up next: A dragon, some elves and some 15mm AWI.

15mm Over the Mountain Men

As I finish an extended painting commission (one more unit left!), I based up 8 15mm AWI over-the-mountain men. Please ignore the still wet glue.

These are lovely, lovely figures with lots of character. As requested, I added in a couple of blonde and red-headed fellows as Swedes and Scotsmen.

I have also been working on some fantasy. In the next few days I'll have some 28mm warg riders, a troll and a dragon (yes, a dragon) done. Eventually, I will work my way back to some skeletons but a family visit for the next few days is going to sideline painting.

The remaining unit on this commission are some loyalists with cool green jackets. They have the flesh done and require about two hours of solid work so hopefully by the end of the week this whole package can go off into the mail.

Up next: Well, wargs, a troll and a dragon. Then some 28mm elves. I'm trying to speed paint these to see how fast they can go. Then the remaining AWI unit and then back to skeletons. For the club on the 20th I have put together a CCA game based on Mons Grapius (83AD).

28mm Roman Centaurs

I finished the basing on some 28mm Roman centaurs last night. I made these two bases from the remains of some Wargame Factory Roman cavalry to HoTT-up my Marian Roman DBA army.

These fellows will be riders. The conversion (which would be a generous term here) was fairly simple. I took the extra riders and lopped off their legs. Then I carved the torso down until it fit into the body of the horse.

Neldoreth did something similar (but much better!). Had I used some extra legionnaires I would have had more options for a dynamic pose with the shield. That is something to remember for the Celtic army.

Once I had a decent fit, I glued the bodies on and used a bit of extra cement to smooth the join. I think this worked out okay. The poses got more dynamic as I went along and learned from each figure--the fellow with the spear (but not the commander's helm) is probably the best in person with a nice twist to the torso.

Then the usual painting, basing and whatnot. Some extra effort on the shields (maybe a yellow line joining the dots) would have been good. Perhaps I will come back to that.

Up next: I have 8 15mm AWI guys ready to dip and base along with some 28mm warg riders and a troll. Thereafter, another 12 15mm AWI guys are queued up. Then back to some fantasy for awhile, although house guests are going to cut into my painting time this week. Bruce is also dropping by for some CCA action this afternoon!

Goblin Flyers

After a trip to Drumheller to look at the dinosaur fossils and roast in the valley, I came back with two additions to my nascent goblin army. These pre-painted rubber toys were too good to pass up in the gift ship.

The sum total of my work involved basing them (using a drill at one point) in a way that they could sit side-by-side on the table. Tricky work given their wingspan.

I have a behemoth ready to go for this army (troll) as well as some warg riders well advanced. But next up with Roman centaurs (will finish basing today).

Up next: Some 15mm AWI fellows will get attention next. These are some over the mountain men and some more loyalists. If the weather holds this morning, I will spray primer and aim to finish them mid week.

28mm HoTT Flyer

Just back from a very hot day in Drumheller and I have a few quick photos of a flyer for my Skeleton army:

This figure is from Reaper and was a good price at Mission Fun and Games during their sale. I also picked up a couple of flyers for my goblin army while in Drumheller but these will require basing.

Up next: Goblin flyers, Roman centaurs and some more AWI.