From StuartL - (Un)Death and Taxes - 99 Points

Hi all,

    I almost didn't get a post in this week. Work has started again after a long break and I have had plenty of non-hobby related things to do. Luckily, I was able to get something finished and uploaded just in time. (I hope...)

    So, on to the topic of today's post. There are many things I like about fantasy wargames, particularly GW's Old World/Warhammer Fantasy Battles. I like the models, even some of the older ones have a certain charm about them. I like the narratives that unfold as an Orc horde invades some peasant village, or an Elven expedition encounters wandering bands of chaos worshippers. I like the variety of armies and uniforms, the bright colours or grim-dark gothic-ness. In fact, the only thing I don't really like are the rules. Having looked at dozens of different systems and tried a fair number out, there has been nothing that really grabbed me. WFB/TOW is just a skirmish game with strict movement rules. Dragon Rampant is really generic. Kings of War looks great, but I can wander off to get a coffee when it isn't my turn. Hail Caesar counts one unit as being largely the same as any other. I want something that has the character and variety of WFB, the aesthetics of KoW and the ease of play of HC. On top of all that, I want something that keeps me actively involved in the game as much as possible. Sadly I haven't found anything that quite fits my target yet. However, I am usually happy slapping my own rules together based on the parts I like from other systems, so at some point I will need to do that. In the meantime, I put together a test unit of models. 

    

    This is a unit of 17 Grave Guard from WFB, though the central command figure is a 3D print from Monstrous Encounters on MyMiniFactory. They are all based together on a 12cm x 12cm square of plasticard. I went for a dark blue theme for the unit, rather than the more traditional red or black often seen on undead. The armour is GW Leadbelcher with some bronze trim here and there. Everything was then given a wash of Vallejo Brown Wash to make them look dirty, rusted and old. 

    As I said, I like the aesthetics of multibased models. Individually based figures are fine for a skirmish game, having a unit move and fight as one on the tabletop just looks better. You can decorate the bases, position the models more dynamically, and most importantly, by the middle of the game you aren't left with three guys wandering around with a flag and a trumpet between them. I chose plasticard for the base as it is relatively cheap where I am and readily available. The area I live in is pretty humid and I have found that MDF sometimes develops mildew patches, and real plastic bases require quite a large order to be viable with international shipping. With plasticard, I can cut the bases to the size I want easily.

    

    Like I said, this is a test base. The figures are glued down with superglue, so if I don't like it, I can pop it in the freezer, flex the base and most of them should pop off easily. By using a large-ish base, I can keep the models away from the edges (for less breakage), and have plenty of space to arrange them. I figured that the undead probably wouldn't form neat lines, so they are all jostling for position here. The only downside is that it needs a lot of tufts to cover the base. The basing material is from Tamiya and it comes out of the pot in this simple brown. Looking at it, I may need to add a wash or a highlight as it seems quite flat.

Hoping to make it into Barks' highlight reel for the next Skull Update with this one....

    The banner was hand-painted. I wanted something simple, but effective. The old banners I saw in White Dwarf growing up often featured very simple motifs, so I went for a simple fanged skull and a couple of swords. Easy to do and looks okay to me. It also adds an extra skull, because why not. These chaps are all skulls, with some on their shields, pauldrons, sword guards and helmets, for a grand total of 65 between them. Plus they add one to my Squirrel score as well.

    For the second part of my post, I don't have any gaming models to show off, but these are figures that I painted.

    My local dollar (100 yen to be accurate) store frequently has little ceramic ornaments for sale. My wife found these two rabbit musicians and decided A) to purchase them and B) ask me to paint them for her. Each is about 40mm high, but they were really simple to do. A quick base coat, wash and highlight later and they were ready for a coat of gloss varnish. By painting these two decorations, I could get a free pass for spending a lot of the holiday in my hobby room, brush in hand.

    So, for the scores, I have 17x 28mm minis, plus the two rabbits, which were pretty straightforward, so maybe should also count as 28's rather than 40mm's? That should net me 95 points, pending minion approval.

    My ongoing duels information:

Skulls - 206 (+65)
BSRoD - 16 (+11)
Squirrels - 10 (+1) - D&D Animals, 30K Militia, Plague Clowns, Afghans, Robots, Anglo-Saxons, Medieval Polish, Clan Smoke Jaguar, 81st West Africans, Undead

From Millsy:

Grave guard are some of my favourite Warhammer Fantasy models of all time.
I have these same ones in my collection Stuart and absolutely love them. The 3D printed command fits in perfectly and even I wouldn't have known he was a ringer had you not mentioned it. Lovely work all round!

Despite the fact the rabbits were straightforward to paint you've done a lovely job and I'm sure the Mrs is well pleased with her commission. The problem you have now is you've set a precedent!

99 points for your total mate. Nice one.

Cheers,

Millsy

From JamieM - Kings of War Elves (240 points)

For this post, I’m presenting something completely different for me. I come from a Games Workshop background, so Warhammer 40K and Warhammer fantasy battle (now AoS) were what drew me into the hobby and got me hooked. Unfortunately they don’t really work for me as games at the moment. The main reason being that I play games in evenings and we can’t seem to fit games of them in of an evening with all the set up and break down at the end along with all of the complex rules in the middle. So I’ve moved onto mostly skirmish games.

But I’ve always liked some rank and flank. So when I started reading about Kings of War, I was intrigued. A more streamlined set of fantasy rules which allow large games to be fought to completion in a couple of hours. And something heretical in the GW world…… multibasing! So the whole unit would be alive or dead, instead of individual models being removed like in GW games. Now, you can just rank up individual bases onto movement trays, but I decided to go the whole hog and multibase to simplify set up and packing away. And because I though it could look awesome.

Now, multi basing was something that I had only ever done before in flames of war, where it is required as a 15mm game where each base of infantry was a unit. I really rather enjoyed the chance to tell a story on the base - perhaps there was a fence, or a tree stump or something that just doesn’t fit on a single based figure.

So I went delving through the shelves of holding and found a bunch of GW old school elves that I had never done anything with and decided to do something about them, and here are the beginnings of my army……

This is a unit of “Palace Guard”. Elite two handed weapon specialists who hit people extremely hard. I popped a champion at the front with an unusually large axe. Committing to Multibasing was somewhat tricky as I was essentially agreeing that I wouldn’t use these figures in other games. But then I realised that I hadn’t used these figures in the five or so years they’d been on the shelves, had no other plans to do so and still had a tonne of single based fantasy figures, so who was I kidding that I’d ever use them for anything else!?!?!

I decided that I’d keep it fairly simple for my diorama and just include a chap on a horse in the middle of the formation.  As I was converting and painting, I decided that he was probably a prince, sent to war but surrounded by his father’s best troops to keep him alive. He probably thinks he’s a clever general mind you and so he’s pointing over the head of the champion as if he knows the job of fighting better than the troops do…… 

 

Not only that, but he’s deliberately getting his horse to rear up, thus potentially knocking the brains out of his own unit and he’s brought a magical sword of fire and is also waving that around his troops heads! You can just imagine what these hard bitten fighters must think of him.

This picture conveys the space the troops are having to give the brave prince with his horse and flaming sword……!

The troopers are converted from spearmen as I’ve noticed in many a submission that two handed weapons doesn’t have to be the comically large versions that GW churns out on its figures and these looked a little more realistically sized. The axe and hammer heads are from plastic dwarf arms that I had spare and I think they work rather well. I went with a quartered livery for the troops underneath the chain mail.

I’m really pleased with the fact that the multibasing allows me to make them look like they’re not quite in clear ranks and files, although they are nicely bunched up and look like a unit.

Next job was that most elvish of units - archers.

On a smaller base to begin their role as harassers, I  pleased with the way the colours worked together.

This unit holds a leader (heroically waving a sword around his troopers’ heads as that’s clearly going to improve their aim….) and a musician.

I’ve already snapped one of the feathered headdresses whilst applying the basing and I suspect it won’t be the last one……

This second unit is the same size and includes the banner bearer. I figure I can push them together should I want a double sized unit instead. These are old GW sculpts and they really aren’t very good. The best thing about them is that they’re pretty quick and easy to paint and they do look half decent shoved together like this at least.

I’m pleased with how the banner came out and the look of them all together.

For scoring, there are 46 28mm infantry (30+8+8) and 1 28mm cavalry figure, giving me 240 points in total I believe. Hopefully I’ll have time to increase the size of the army by the end of the challenge as I’m on a bit of a roll.

***

 

Well...multi-based fantasy miniatures? Like, is that even LEGAL? Seems like total heresy to me! And not the fun Horus kind either! Do we need to have you rushed to the local A&E and checked for a head injury, or perhaps the effects of a 5G implant from Bill Gates???

 

Well, results are results. I am still chuckling at the description of the Elf lord, imperilling the lives of the palace guard all around him. Nicely done. And after your shameful strip mining of bonus points in weeks past, it is nice to see you stepping up with some heavy-duty figure counts that I know you are capable of. I expect you shall have the rest of this army finished next week! Just look at the time you save on basing...

 

240 points for you Jamie!

 

Now go find some 20mm square bases, close your eyes, and try to regain sanity...

 

GregB