Captain's Blog

On the Workbench: Colonial Lancers

2011-08-08T04:28:00.000-07:00

I was determined to get the troopers done over the weekend. I need to wait for some magnetic bases I ordered from Shogun Miniatures so I can mount them. I have been purchasing bases from Robert Knestrick for over two years now and find his product to be as good as GF9, but at about 2/3s the price.

As you can see I decided to take the simple route with the horses and painted them all one colour. I guess that the images of the RCMP escort of the Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge, as they arrived on Parliament Hill in the State Landau were still on my mind.

I will dig through my pile of lead to see if I can find some more spear tips to top off the lances of this unit. Eight of the figures came with the sharp end of the pointy stick, pennants flying , the rest did not.

I need to paint the two officers that came with this unit. While digging around in my minis a pack of three cavalry officers from the same Ral Partha/RAFM colonial line surfaced. Additionally I never painted the commanders of the Space 1889: Soldiers of the Queen. A total of 7 mounted figures. My project for the next week.

The War of the Ring: Fantasy Flight Publishing

2011-08-07T11:41:00.000-07:00

In 2004, Fantasy Flight Publishing published the English version of War of the Ring, an epic board game experience based upon the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. The game was originally designed and printed in Italy. It includes a beautiful hard backed map and comes with numerous thick playing tiles. Generally speaking, the game mechanics are driven by the play of cards.

In addition, the heroes and Armies of Middle Earth are represented by plastic miniatures. On the whole they are rather drab. The forces of darkness are represented by red figures and the free peoples of the west by blue figures. Leaders and personalities are a dull gray. We can go back to AH Blitzkrieg to have the units of Great Blue vs those of Big Red.

At Cangames I saw the game played where the forces of the various factions of middle earth have their bases painted a different colour to help ease the marshaling of forces.

In my opinion, the most disappointing figures are the Nazgûl, ring-wraiths mounted upon their flying beasts. The figures are both hopelessly out of scale to the other figures in the game, because of the size of the mounts, and are incredibly dull to look at. The final flaw with these figures is that they are top heavy and easily topple over.

Over my break I took the time to paint the Nazgûl and add a metal weight to the bottom of the figure to add stability. This is what they now look like.

Legions of Mars

2011-08-05T19:46:00.000-07:00

In addition to the 20 British Lancers that have stirred my interest in the colonial era, there is also an opportunity to explore Worlds Away and struggle against new Adversaries, while in the service of Her Majesty, the Queen-Empress on distant Earth.

Earlier this year I received three boxes of the above troops. There are no limits to where the Soldiers of the Queen, under my command may serve. I am not sure when these figures will reach my painting table. My studies take up most of my free time. Perhaps painting them will be my Christmas project.

Soldiers of the Queen, North West Frontier

2011-08-05T19:04:00.000-07:00

In my previous post I wrote, that I purchased a NW Frontier force that came up for sale a number of years ago. The main advantage was it was already painted and I would not have to lift a brush. That wasn't quite true. This Field Force came with a dozen pieces of artillery, lacking crew, as well as numerous pack animals. These are mostly mules laden with pieces of dismantled artillery. They still have to be painted. The artillery crews, were blogged about last year.

Mounted Native Troopers (15 Figures)

In addition to the unit of 14 mounted troops, there were three units of native infantry. One unit wearing red tunics, with painted turbans (20 figures) and two units dressed in khaki drab. One unit consisted of 24 figures and the 2nd of 20 men. Twenty is the traditional unit size for TSATF (the Sword and the Flame) rule set, as well as the unit size that was chosen for the Soldier's Companion (Space 1889 Miniature Rules).

NW Frontier (India) Native Sepoys Unit Unknown

Khaki Drab, Unit of 24 in March Column (4 Wide)

Native Sepoy Troops

Khaki Drab, Unit of 20 in Line (3 Deep)

Native Sepoy Troops

Since I had the colonial army on the table, it was time to finish the bases of all the infantry units. That way I can "claim" the project is complete. Origanally, the infantry figures were mounted on government issued metal copper disks. Even the native calvary figures were glued to two. Their outline can be clearly seen through the flocking, on the GF9 magnetic bases.

I found the copper base to be slightly smaller than I liked. I also wanted something that would attach itself to the flexible magnetic sheeting I lined the floor of the tool box with. The infantry was then glued to 1 inch, steel washers. Canadian Tire sells them by the hundred at a very reasonable price.

Soldiers of the Queen

2011-08-05T17:04:00.000-07:00

I have gone through a number of phases with my on again, off again love affair with the mid to late Victorian colonial era. I received my first two figures as a gift. A fellow gamer, Joseph Lappin, had gone on a summer pilgrimage to the old country, and when he returned he presented to his friends in the local gaming club two figures. One was a hills-man and the other, a member of Her Majesty's Forces. One of the two figures I received still survive in my collection, sans bayonet.

Colonial Highlander (painted I think by John Saranic)

In the first incarnation in the early 1980s I built a small force of British and Zulus with 15mm Mike's Models. I based 4 figures per stand, and I don't even know what rules I had in mind. Nor do I know what became of the figures. About the same time I picked up two packages of either Ral Partha or RAFM colonial Egyptian Infantry for sale at a local Halifax gaming store.

Egyptian/Sudanese Colonial Infantry

I decided that I wanted to increase the scale of figures I was using. About the same time ESSI came out with both British Colonial Infantry and Zulus. I bought three boxes of each and spent a summer painting. They were the last soft plastics I painted, but they allowed me to run a good number of the Sword and the Flame Colonial Skirmish games.

The ESSI figures were retired and sold on eBay. Part of the proceeds were able to cover the cost of two boxes of the Space: 1889 Soldiers of the Queen. These troops were sculpted by Bob Murch, and produced by RAFM for GDWs Space 1889 RPG.

Soldiers of the Queen First Company Forming Firing Lines.

I know I am going to take some heat on these figures. The colour is wrong, the facings should be on the collar and not the shoulder straps, etc, etc, etc...I admit that I am not a historical purist. Like the song goes, " Wargamers just want to have fun." I look at my figures as toy soldiers to be played with. In that, my armies succeed.

Soldiers of the Queen, 2nd Company

(notice different colour painted on the washer)

I have had these figures for a while and I cannot say that they are a new project. But recently my interest in the colonial period has been stirred. I won at auction, 20 British Colonial Lancers, which are my current painting project. I have been meaning for some time, to finish the bases of Her Majesty's Forces. In addition to the two boxes of Soldiers of the Queen, I purchased a NW Indian frontier force that was for sale about 5 years ago. At the time it was a very good investment (cost vs already painted) and it filled the spot that was open due to the sale of my plastic Zulus.

Daredevil Adventures: USRC

2011-08-05T15:43:00.000-07:00

I have been a big fan of Bob Murch, and his pulp era figures for a long time. I recently won an action on eBay that provided me with an 4 open packs of his US Rocket Corps figures from Pulp Figures. I received one pack each of PYS 20 (US Rocket Corps Flying) and PYS 21 (US Rocket Corps Landed 1) and two packs of PYS 22 (US Rocket Corps Landed 2) at a price that was too good to be true.

1st Squad with Group Leader (looking up)

The figures will make a great addition to my Daredevil Adventures if I ever start to run it again. As well, it is an excellent unit for any WW2 skirmish game, and I'd suggest that they can easily replace a unit of paratroopers or commandos on the table. I divided my figures into two 7 man squads, lead by a 15th figure.

2nd Squad looks like it is led by Doc Savage, Man of Bronze

IMO the figures clearly resemble a certain hero featured in a mid 1990s Disney adventure film. I lost the 6 inch action figure, of the Rocketeer, late one night in a poker game.

The five flying figures are painted but I still have to mount them as aerials. These figures bring back memories of the late 1940s Republic serial action adventures King of the Rocket Men, as shown on television in the early 1960s on a local Halifax kids show, called Firehouse Frolics.

Cangames 2011 May 20-22, 2011 Ottawa Canada

2011-06-24T08:58:00.000-07:00

I have posted the first part of my Cangames 2011 experience on my parallel blog, Captain's Blog; Form 540.
I have been asked when will my write up be available, and the response is now, so please check out the first part.

Revolutsi! Chechnya, December 31, 1995

2011-06-23T23:15:00.000-07:00

I just posted a description of a 20mm skirmish game that I took part in last month. Check it out on my parallel blog at Captain's Blog: Form 540

It was part of a weekend convention held in Montreal May 14-15.

HOTT 15mm Generic Undead Army

2011-05-24T21:51:00.000-07:00

Last year when I flew down east (Montreal to Halifax) for my summer vacation I was asked to bring along my 15mm HOTT Undead army. They would see action. It was the first army that I rebased with magnetic bases, but this trip would show that the product used was not up to the task. Those bases were composites composed of a magnetic bottom layer and a thin cardboard top layer.The heavier miniatures glued to the cardboard, separated from the base when my luggage was handled by the cargo crew. They pulled off the cardboard layer.

15mm Undead (Old Style Bases) vs Goblins
Battle over Sacred Site

July 2010 Halifax

I resolved to rebase the army and I managed it in two steps. I placed an order for some figures from Peter Pig and at the same time I ordered pre-cut plastic bases. I already had a supply of Litko self adhesive magnetic bases that I would attach to the plasticard bases. I do not trust the self adhesive tape to hold so I used super glue to insure a solid fix.

I purchased the beginnings of this army from Irregular Miniatures in the early to mid 1990s.Other figures, mainly characters, were added. Some were 25mm scale but they served a purpose. Additional units were built from the Ral Partha 15mm line of figures produced for the AD&D Battle System. The final group of figures used to build this force are Black Raven Undead units.

Three weeks ago between painting my Nikaian Byzantine DBA army and my Burgundian Ordonnance DBA army I took the time to finish my undead basing project. Last winter I had already taken the time to remove the figures from their old bases and glue them to their new ones. I only had to texture paint and flock the new bases. The end result is my large collection of undead. I am not content to use just the suggested Undead Army list available in the HOTT rules but have incorporated almost every troop variant available.I am still looking for a suitable undead dragon to add to this army.

1) The Magician General (Three Elements) Majority of figures by Irregular Miniatures. Figure in Red Cloak by Black Raven Miniatures. @ 4AP each

2) Sneakers ( Three Elements) All by Irregular Miniatures @ 3 AP Each

3) Flyers ( Two Elements) by Irregular Miniatures @ 2 AP Each

4A) Knights (Skeleton Chariots) One Element Unknown Make @ 2 AP Driver is by Irregular Miniatures

4B) More Knights Ral Partha (Four Elements) ADD Battlesystem Figures @ 2 AP each. Can also be used as Riders

5) Riders Three Elements by ADD Battlesystem Figures and Four Elements by Irregular Miniatures @ 2 AP each.

6) Lurkers ( Three Elements) Irregular Miniatures @ 1 AP each

7) Hordes (11 Elements) Mostly Irregular Miniatures some Black Raven Miniatures

The Following Troop Types are not on the HOTT Generic Undead Army Lists but I feel that if you read enough stories or watch enough movies, you will find that these troop types are available to certain dark forces.

1) Irregular Miniatures Undead Artillery (Two Elements) @ 3 AP Each. My friend Les, once commented that these guns are what the Aztecs would have produced if they invented canons.

2) Undead Heros or Anti-Heros . Even the Forces of Darkness have their champions. Two Elements @ 4AP Each.

These are two of my favorite figures. Both are 25mm. One was a Ral Partha (or RAFM) Figure sold as an Undead Adventurer. The 2nd is an unknown make but is a Dwarf, who heart has been ripped out. I was referred to as a sick twisted ba***rd for having adding that figure to my army. Needless to say that complement was bestowed upon me by a Dwarf fan.

3) Undead Behemoths (Two Elements) @ 4AP Each. Again these figures were 25mm figures that I felt would fit in nicely with a 15mm Army. The figure on the left is of a Ral Partha (or RAFM) Undead Japanese Ogre. I do not know what the 2nd figure is, nor do I do not know the maker of the figure.

This army is totally separate from the Undead Army I have previously blogged about. This was the original Force of Darkness, in 15mm. The other army consists of 15mm figures on the 25mm HOTT base widths in order to obtain a massive looking army. The Irregular Miniature Undead figures are the oldest presented here. They are rather crude when compared to either the Ral Partha ADD Battlesystem Line or the Black Raven Figures that are shown, such as the Undead Dwarf Anti-Hero standard bearer.

The Irregular Figures of this age are soft and malleable. Because they are skeletons they break off at the legs very easily. I prefer not to use the Irregular Riders for this reason. Some of the figures are in danger of snapping off the stands, as are a number of the Horde Infantry. The Irregular Miniature standard bearers are extremely robust and I advise people using this army to use them to move the horde elements.

This army can still use more troops but in total I can field 85 AP worth of Undead with the figures above.

The Final Element.

The Price of Failure.

DBA IV/84 Burgundian Ordonnance

2011-05-14T18:52:00.000-07:00

IV/84 Burgundian Ordonnance 1471-1477AD
1x3 Kn (Gen), 1x 3Kn, 3x 3Kn//4Bd, 2x 4Lb, 1x 4Cb, 2x 4Pk or 8Bw, 1x 2Ps, 1x Art

Army with all options shown.

As previously blogged last year I fielded a Burgundian Ordonnance army at Cangames. It was a hodge-podge collection of miniatures that were selected from various fantasy and renaissance units about an hour before I headed to the train station. In spite of having more than enough time, I failed to plan ahead. I flipped open the DBA rulebook and browsed for something that I could throw together in 15mm scale. My object was to avoid the armies that I used in previous years. And that was how the army of Charles the Bold went to Ottawa.

I decided that I will bring the Burgundian Ordonnance army to Ottawa again, but it would have to be a totally dedicated force. I found some figures that I had not painted in my collection of renaissance lead, that would work for the period and the remaining were ordered from Essex Miniatures. The past two weeks were spent in preparation.

I am not content to just paint an element, I feel the deep desire to field units. The photo above shows all the elements of this DBA army, but the following photographs are the entire body of troops I painted. The primary colours for the Burgundians were Blue and White. Infantry were to wear a Blue and White surcoat along with a red Saint Andrew cross for identification. Knights were encouraged to use Blue and White for the feathers worn in their helms or on their horses. I have tried to incorporate these guidelines to some degree with my figures. I was not happy with my attempts to paint a small clear St. Andrew's cross and as a result painted over most of them. I just could not get a thin steady line that I was happy with.

1x3 Kn (Gen) and 1x 3Kn

When I searched through my collection I discovered I had 15 gendarmes without horses. I wrote to Essex Miniatures and they were very happy to provide me 6 horses, without riders for the same price of a regular package of figures. I asked for a 3 package mix of the horses used for MER52 and MER53. Enough horses to provide me with 5 elements of knights. Banners and Flags are by Warflag. These accessories help bring this unit to life. The General Element bears the banner of an ordonnace company.

3x 3Kn//4Bd (Mounted)

The army list includes 3 Elements of knights that can fight dismounted. Instead of using the same figures as the General and a second gendarme element I found I had another 16 figures in plate armour bearing a lance. Their horses did not have barding or caparison. From their squat appearance I labeled them as Mike's Models. I know that the Mike's line was purchased by Essex Miniatures in the late 1980s and these figures could have been produced by Essex Miniatures after their take over.

I painted 8 elements of men-at-arms. They have the same general appearance of the knights above and provide the needed 4 man Blades Elements. This unit (or two units) was built from 4 packs of Essex MER36 (Dismounted Knights).

3x 3Kn//4Bd (Dismounted)

2x 4Pk or 8Bw

The two elements of pike (MER40 and MER41) may be replaced by two elements of 8 Bow. These double element units were an innovation of Charles the Bold and are represented by 4 pike placed in front of 4 archers on a 40mm x 40mm base. I tried to keep to the Blue and White colour scheme but added some red and yellows to add some variety.

2x 4Lb

1x 2Ps

The archers which were used for the 8Bw elements and the 4LB and the 2P are all from the same set. MER84 provides two main figures and I had 4 packs. One was used to make 4 elements of 2 man Psiloi, one for the two elements of 8 man Bow and two for 4 elements of 4 man Long Bow.

1x 4Cb

Two packages of Essex Miniatures MER45 provided the figures for the crossbow unit.

1xArt

I already had the artillery train, but I had to paint crew figures. I found 11 figures that had the appearance of the Mike's Model line. It is possible they were some form of Squat Football Team, but I drafted them for the Bleu et Blanc.

To complete the army list I needed a camp. An assembled supply train with escort fulfills this function.

As I stated I was not content to just paint one DBA army. The figures here allow me to field close to two and a half armies for a Big DBA game. With other figures I already I can easily field the 36 elements needed. Just to be safe I'll just have to pick up a few more packages of pikemen next weekend at Cangames.

What's on the work table

2011-05-05T13:38:00.000-07:00

Work has progressed slower than expected. I hoped that I would be posting the final product today. Instead I must just leave you with just a taste of what's to come.

DBA IV/31 Nikaian Byzantine Army

2011-04-23T09:04:00.000-07:00

As previously blogged, last May at the Cangames DBA Open Book Tournament I placed second and won an Essex Miniatures Nikaian Byzantine (IV/31) army pack. Patrick Laffey provides an excellent commentary of the tournament from the POV of the Chanca (IV/70) Commander in the September 2010 issue of Slingshot (No. 272), The Journal of the Society of Ancients. In the article, I was one the four opponents he faced in the competition.

Nikaian Byzantine Army

With Cangames rapidly approaching I felt I should open the package and make the army battle ready. It will accompany my troops to Ottawa next month and will be made available as a loaner. As per DBA 2.2 the army consists of just 12 required elements, represented by Essex Miniatures by the following figures.

1x 3CV (Gen) 1 EMED43 (Cv General) with 2 CRU28 Bodyguard

1x3 CV 3 EMED43

2x 3Kn 3 MID10 Kn (Franks) and 3 MID89 Kn (Eastern)

4x 2LH 4 CRU30 LH(Cuman) and 4 MID88 LH (Turkopoloi)

1x 4Sp 4 BZA25 (with Psiloi rear rank)

1x 4Bw 4 BZA26 (with Psiloi rear rank)

2x 2Ps 4 CRU32 (See above photos)

David Kuijt provides justification for expanded army lists for a number of the Later Byzantine Armies.

His variants may be found at Medieval Armies DBA Page

Later Byzantine Armies: DBA 153 Army Variants

With those comments in mind, I purchased another 19 infantry figures which fellow blogger Sean of, I was a Teenage Visigoth fame had offered for sale. Check out his blog .

Go West, Young Man! Part III

2011-04-08T08:17:00.000-07:00

There is no doubt that the sacrifice of the poor bloody infantry of the Red Army led to final victory in May of 1945.

Platoon CO with Runners

In the words of Churchill ~ It is the Russian Armies who have done the main work in tearing the guts out of the German army. In the air and on the oceans we could maintain our place, but there was no force in the world which could have been called into being, except after several more years, that would have been able to maul and break the German army unless it had been subjected to the terrible slaughter and manhandling that has fallen to it through the strength of the Russian Soviet Armies. (Aug. 2, 1944).

I spent my evenings this past week, when I was not playing Twilight Struggle, painting a WW2 Soviet Infantry platoon. I bought most of the figures about the same time on eBay and they were mixed when they were primed. The packages included figures by West Wind Line: Berlin or Bust (by Old Glory) and Harlequin Miniatures (now know as Black Tree Design). Together the two different companies provide a great mix of poses and figures.

1st Squad: 7 Riflemen and 1 SMG and a Sgt

On paper each Soviet Rifle squad would consist of a Sgt, with an Assistant Squad leader, 1 LMG (Gunner and Ammo Carrier) team, 2 SMGs and 6 or 7 Riflemen. Squads were rarely full strength or fully equipped. I have painted three 9 men squads, none equipped with the LMG teams.

2nd and 3rd Squads

The 2nd squad has 7 riflemen and 1 SMG, while the 3rd squad had 2 SMGs but only 6 riflemen.

Note: When I was putting the figures away, in my Soviet War Chest, I discovered I had already painted three LMG teams. I only had to add my yellow dot code so each team was matched to a squad. Now each squad can exercise various manpower and equipment options.

LMG Teams Added to the Platoon

I still have another 50 primed Infantry figures to paint. These figures will allow me to bring a platoon in winter camo pattern, and a 2nd summer dress platoon up to strength. In addition, to a squad of Combat Engineers that need to take to the field with their flamethrowers and mine detectors, there is a newly arrived mortar section (4x mortars with crews) from BTD Miniatures to paint.

To complete this project I have one pack of BTD (WW2010) Soviet Character Set and four packs of Battle Honors WW2 Soviet Infantry unopened. The first, Russ-7 is a package of 10 tank riders. The second package, Russ-18 consists of four 2 man Anti-Tank Rifle Teams.

Finally there are two packs of Russ-22 (each with 2 x Maxim MGs and NKVD Crews). If you watched Enemy at the Gates, you know you can't go to Stalingrad without them. It is amazing that despite such criminal encouragement, the heroic soldiers of the Workers and Peasants Red Army advanced into the heart of Nazi Germany.

Soviet Medium Tank Battalions 1943

2011-04-02T07:56:00.000-07:00

Back when I was a poor student, my early purchases in the field of microarmour were from Heroics & Ros. I am sure I paid less than 20 cents per vehicle at the time. However I was always drawn towards the much greater detailed miniatures available from C-in-C and GHQ. A few years ago opportunity knocked, and I was able to purchase three boxes of GHQ Combat Command packages at a local gaming store for less than half price. This past week, two boxes were painted.

First Battalion Painted Russian Uniform WWII Vallejo 094

Second Battalion Painted Russian Green Vallejo 096

Both units were given a black ink wash (1: 20 parts water) to bring out the details and tracks and running gear were painted various earth tones with a brown ink wash.

Each unit at full strength had 21 x T-34/76s and 2 x Stalinetz Tractors (Recovery Vehicles). The Battalion would consist of two tank companies each with 10 vehicles and the Battalion CO in the 21st Tank.

I do not know if the recovery vehicles were attached one per company or acted as a battalion asset.

Saracen DBA/HOTT Part VIII: Arabian Myth

2011-03-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

This should be the final entry for the DBA Saracen or the HOTT Arabian Myth army, other than a camp or stronghold. To past the evenings during the last week, I painted the Black Tree Design Bowmen and Crossbowmen that I received in the early autumn of 2010. They have been sitting on the back burner for a while and I needed them completed in order to use them yesterday for some DBA gaming.

See Captain's Blog: Form 540, the blog devoted to my gaming activities.

Last year I order two of the Warriors of Islam army pack deals from Black Tree Design Miniatures. The first was AB1059 Warriors of Islam Archers (20 figures) which I used to make five 3 Man Shooter Elements and three 2 Man Psiloi Stands. The second package, AB1058 Warriors of Islam Crossbowmen (20 figures) provided five 4 Man Shooter Elements. For either DBM or WRG Ancients the Crossbowmen represent Regular Troops and the Bowmen Irregular.

Warriors of Islam 2 Man Psiloi Elements

AB1059 Warriors of Islam Archers

Based as 3 Man Shooter/Bow Elements

AB1058 Warriors of Islam Crossbowmen

Based as 4 Man Shooter/Crossbowmen Elements

I got the idea of how to paint them by looking at the Warhammer Ancients sourcebook on El Cid.

Games Workshop Palm Trees

2011-03-09T16:01:00.000-08:00

Last weekend when I dug out the shoebox of palm trees from the storage closet for my Vietnam photo shoot, I discovered that fully 3/4 (21) of the trees still needed to be based and painted. I remembered that it felt like a daunting chore at the time they were assembled.

The Jungle Project was quickly sidelined the first time after seven trees had been painted and based. Oh well, the job had to get done. Over the last five days (and nights), I have slowly taken 15 or so minutes at a time, to complete this project in stages.

Warrior leads his horse to water, surrounded by lush vegetation.

I commenced by super-gluing one to three of the trees to each of ten plastic stands. I then applied a layer of texture paint to the bases. I then proceeded by working on 1/3 of the trees/stands at a time. First I'd paint the stands and then the palm trees. Finally I glued either sand (to four desert stands) or static grass (to six jungle stands) to complete the effect. Carried out in increments, the task wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

Actually, it's rather easy to spend 15 minutes just before bedtime on a painting project like this, and then another another 15 minutes in the middle of the night after answering a call of nature. Thus when I woke up in the morning, the stands were dry and ready for the next stage.

Foliage for a tropic island or the mighty jungle.

IMO these trees were one of the better deals from the people at Games Workshop. They were rather clever in the way these models were designed to be assembled in an endless variety of shapes. Unlike most plastic model trees these looked pretty good, despite being 100% plastic.

Tourists of Duty or My Time in Vietnam

2011-03-06T16:21:00.000-08:00

Before he left Halifax, Rob Swan ran a fun series of Vietnam war games. I think they were partly inspired by the Tour of Duty TV series and were mainly played with the Gi'ac My rule set. I recently was reading my copy of Charlie Company and reflected fondly back on those games. Like the Charlie Company rules, the scenarios that Rob ran were based upon time spent in-country. My character was a US Infantry sergeant who survived his 12 month (game) tour, and was finally on his way home.

Sgt Rockwell, due to his good luck, and seemingly invulnerability started to be referred to as Sgt Rockwell, the latest product of Rockwell Industries. After each game, if your character survived, you received a D6 die roll (1-3 = +1, 4-5 = +2 and 6= +3) to augment the character's stats or skills. I was fairly lucky with my rolls. Victor Charles was not happy that I had survived my tour, and I was a recipient of a personal scenario. A VC hit team was waiting for me at the airport as I prepared to return to the World. These games were long before the digital camera and little, if no record exists of them.

Sgt Rockwell leads his squad out of the jungle.

As my contribution I painted up an US Infantry Platoon. I had over forty figures from the Charlie Company line by RAFM. They were divided into three ten man squads, accompanied by an under strength weapons squad and a HQ squad. I built four M113 plastic APCs and a M-48 Patton tank, all ESCI models, purchased from Squadron Shop. I later obtained two 105mm howitzers, which were never assembled or put into the field. Last year when I started to Blog about my WW2 Japanese I dug out the howitzers. I wanted to see how easy they were to assemble compared to the B.P. Cast model guns. In two words, No Contest.

Two 105mm Howitzers with Camp and M-48 Patton Tank

Heavy Weapons Squad with M113 APC

(2 Hvy MGs, 2 M-79s, 1 LAW and I Sniper)

Understrength HQ Squad. Doc runs towards the Lt.

Shavetail used for scale

(Above M-48 Patton Tank and Below M-88 ARV)

Having the guns on my painting table inspired some eBay purchases, all from the same seller. I won a M-88 Armoured Recovery Vehicle and a fifth M113 APC. I also gained two Roco M113s, but there is such a noticeable difference in scale compared to both the 20mm figures and the other M113 models that I will put these two APCs up for auction. Since there is no other piece to compare it to, I decided to keep the ARV, even though it too is by Roco Minitanks.

I finally painted the arty crews this past weekend and then decided to photograph the complete unit. I dug out my box of GW plastic palm trees to provide a jungle like back drop.

2nd Squad exiting a jungle trail. M-48 at the rear of the column.

Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant

2011-03-06T15:38:00.000-08:00

At one point I decided that my Roman Army needed an ancient equivalent of the Army Show. According to Wiedenmann (Emperors and Gladiators 1992) "the military were great aficionados of the games, and supervised the schools. Many schools and amphitheatres were sited at or near military barracks, and some provincial army units owned gladiator troupes".

I won these twelve figures in an eBay auction, about five years ago. I do not know the manufacturer but they were made for slot bases. After getting them half way painted they were put aside and forgotten. (Note: March 14 Today I was looking on-line at the Gladiators sold by Black Tree Designs and I am pretty sure the figures I have are from their line)

Recently I was going through one of my storage bins and found two items to reignite my interest. The first was the SPI Ares game Arena of Death. Arena of Death was a tactical combat system for Dragonquest, the SPI fantasy RPG System.

The second was an old beat up rule booklet from the early 1980s called RVDIS, The Wooden Sword. rules for Gladiatorial Combat written by Ian Beck. Both sets depend upon a hexagonal tactical display. RVDIS describes the various gladiators by there weapons and armour.

Cimachaerus: Gladius in each hand.

Dimachaerus: Long dagger in each hand.
Gaetulian: Heavy throwing darts.
Hoplomachus: Thrusting Spear and Gladius
Laquearius:: Lasso in right hand, may have a trident tied to left wrist.
Provocator:Spear and gladius
Pugiles: Armoured boxing gloves.
Secutor: Gladius in right hand.
Tatierius: Net inright hand, trident in left. It may not be thrown.
Thrcian: Sica in right hand (Curved sword 40 to 45cms in length)
Velite: Javelin in right hand tied to the wrist. Can not be thrown.

Gladiators were typically picked from prisoners of war, slaves, and sentenced criminals. Criminals were expected to die within a year but could earn release if they survived three years. Despite the low social status held by gladiators, there were also volunteers who fought for money, and the possible celebrity status, a successful gladiator could achieve.

Who knows how much of the combats were choreographed or scripted in advance. Most professional gladiators were only expected to fight three combats per year. Alas that can not be said for the condemned criminals who fought to the death nor the helpless Christian martyrs, among others.

"The overall death rate among gladiators is unknown, but few survived more than 10 matches or lived past the age of 30. One (Felix) is known to have lived to 45 and one retired gladiator lived on to 90. George Ville calculated an average age at death at 27 for gladiators (based on headstone evidence), with mortality "among all who entered the arena" around the 1st century CE at 19/100. A rise in the risk of death for losers, from 1/5 to 1/4 between the early and later Imperial periods, seems to suggest missio was granted less often" (Futrell: A Sourcebook on the Roman Games 2004)

The following link has something to say on popular gladiatorial myths and the possible rates and causes of death. One argument presented here is that the death rate was caused more by injury and infections, with euthanasia being a hammer blow to the head.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2007/09/20/2038358.htm

Suetonius, in the Twelve Caesars, recorded that after receiving the salutation, used as the title, at the start of a mock naval battle on Lake Fucinus that Claudius retorted back "Aut non!" (Or not!). I read somewhere that the combatants took this as a sign that they would not have to fight. Oars were stowed on the galleys and it took a threat of force to get the games to begin.

Note The Army Show was originally a CBC radio show developed in Dec 1942, featuring Wayne and Shuster. The show later toured overseas to perform for the troops.

For those who may not be familiar with Wayne and Shuster I offer this skit with a Roman Flavour: Rinse the Blood off my Toga

TAU Empire Gun Drones

2011-02-27T18:14:00.000-08:00

I will go on record, that I have not played Warhammer 40K, since I left Halifax in 1997. I have a Space Wolves army and I have on occasion bought some WH40K figures with the idea of using them for possible Traveller or Snapshot scenarios. It was with this idea in mind that I purchased a used pack of Tau Empire Drones at the Librairie Donjon Montreal last year. I learnt Thursday evening that Librairie Donjon closed last November and another game store has opened in its place.

Tau Empire: Gun Drones by Games Workshop

There were seven drones in the package I purchased but there only enough pieces to fully build five models. According to the Games Workshop website they sell them in squads of four, and they appear in the 40K universe as units of 4 to 8 models acting in conjunction with a unit of Tau Empire Fire Warriors.

I have designed this as a unit of five drones centered around a command sensor drone. There are two sets of senors mounted on the unit, so that it can provide stereoscopic imagery to a command centre. It is armed to defend itself, while the other four drones can act on seek and destroy orders. I imagine that these figures can be used in either 15mm or 25mm scale games.

Note:
The Game Keeper
http://www.gamekeeper.ca/
10810 LAJEUNESSE,
MONTREAL, QC
H3L 2E8

Elephants? 25mm RAFM & Ral Partha

2011-02-27T17:38:00.000-08:00

Since I was painting an undead war mammoth, I thought I would continue with an elephant theme.

The first is an RAFM Ancient Indian Unarmoured Elephant. It has been very hard to track down any information about this piece. I honestly haven't got a clue as to how long it has been sitting in my collection of figures. When researching Asian Elephants I read that they can rang in colour from dark brown to dark gray. I even read somewhere elephants that some may appear to be pink. I originally gave the figure a white base coat and went with a brown wash for it's skin. It had a similar effect to some photos I saw of elephants after bathing, before they become covered again in dust.. I suspect that the model came with two crew, but I only have one in my possession.

RAFM Unarmoured Indian Elephant

The next elephant is an African elephant with a sole crew member. I believed that it should be a two man crew (rider/driver and javalin/bowman). I am pretty certain that this figure was by Ral Partha.The model has easily been in my collection for 25 years and was recently rebased. It always hung out with my Roman Army. I found a photo of one for sale with a Later Carthaginian DBA army at GAJO.

Ral Partha Unarmoured Catthaginian Elephant

And finally a photograph of these two elephants next to my Undead War Mammoth to provide some idea of how large it really is.

Undead War Mammoth by Grenadier Miniatures

2011-02-27T15:32:00.000-08:00

War Mammoth of the Undead Legion, Model Number 5501, went in production by Grenadier Miniatures in 1984. The company itself ceased to exist in 1996. There are a couple of variations of the model that I have seen photos of on the internet. The miniature is old and was sold on eBay without it's original packaging. I tried to work with the metal but the two front legs proved to be very brittle and fragile. The armour trunk, and the tail had broke in transit. After my experience I decided to leave the tusks in their current position. I would prefer to have them pointed more forward instead of at 90 degrees to the head.

Notice: 15mm Skeleton next to foreleg for scale.
The angle of the tusks are better view in the 3rd photo.

The model is 25mm scale and came with three skeletons for crew members. I found the quality of these pieces to be rather poor and decided to "man", the Mammoth and it's double howdah with 15mm figures by Black Raven. Two riders are located on the neck, with two figures in each half of the howdah. In addition there is a kneeing crossbowman, next to the command banner and a swordsman standing near the left foreleg of this undead behemoth. It was armed with a catapult which fit on it's back between the two halves of the howdah. I choose to disregard this weapon system, as I felt it did not add to the overall effect of the model. The howdah halves are decorated with large scale (compared to the 15mm crew) skulls and shields. These trophies can be explained to be ogres or giants that were vanquished by the Undead Legions.

Bone Coloration caused by high iron (pyrite) content leaching into the soil.

The model when completed was unstable. I drilled a hole into it's body and mounted the model on a clear 60mm Game Workshop aerial base. The mammoth no longer falls over and I like the effect of the round base. I feel that this figure fits nicely into my large scale HOTT Undead Army. The actual base size for the behemoth under the HOTT rules should be 60mm x 60mm. The diameter of the base is 60mm so when positioned in combat I feel there shouldn't be any problem.

Undead HOTT Part III

2011-02-16T13:17:00.000-08:00

This is just a quick posting on two additions to my HOTT Undead army. The first is it's camp. The camp consists of a resin representation of an open mass grave. Numerous bits of skeletons, skulls and ribcages are exposed to the elements and other, more malevolent powers.

Open Pit Grave, with 25mm Undead (Plastics)

Note: Photo revised Feb 21st

The resin piece is 100mm x 90mm, and is supposed to be for 25mm scale. I have added some broken 15mm Irregular Miniature Undead as well as a number of broken 25mm Plastic Skeletons that I received with a Undead Mammoth, that I have yet to paint. It would appear that the first troops of the next horde are starting to assemble.

The second is two elements of flyers. Both are Bat Swarms (Model 03355) by Reaper Miniatures.

Roman Siege Equipment Update

2011-02-16T12:54:00.000-08:00

Last November I posted some photos of Roman Siege equipment. At that time I identified in two photographs Warlord Games Scorpions and Crews. Those figures are more likely by Foundry. These two elements are the figures by Warlord Games. I was looking at the Warlord Games website recently when I realized my mistake.

Warlord Games Scorpions and Crews

(Note: Musician by Foundry from Emperor Trajan Pack)

In Memorial: Harris MacPhail and a 25mm Sassanid Persian DBA Army

2011-02-16T12:37:00.000-08:00

It has been just over five years since Harris passed away. We were room mates, on and off for almost ten years, first meeting at the Dalhouise University war games club in 1975. By the end of the school year we were sharing a three bedroom, war game drop-in centre on Carleton Street in Halifax. It was the start of a long friendship, as well as years of gaming competition, in many different fields. The two most pronounced, were 1/300th micrarmour. Harris had the Germans, and I, the Soviets, and of course WRG 5th and 6th Edition Ancients.

In the beginning of our Ancient gaming, I had a plastic Airfix Roman Army but the time came to make my first purchases in metal. There was a small craft and hobby store located on the bottom floor of the Delta Barrington Mall. I no longer remember its name, but they carried a tiny inventory of Heritage Miniatures. I made a purchase, of some 25mm Sassanid Persian Cavalry. I do not remember why, but I was talked out of continuing with the Sassanids, and to allow Harris to build it instead. He received the figures that I bought and I returned to Rome.

25mm Sassanid Persian Elephants (Heritage Miniatures)

I have in my collection of figures, two of the elephants that he painted for this army. Late last year on eBay I saw twenty 25mm Sassanid Levy Infantry by Heritage Miniatures for auction. I thought of my buddy Harris and made a bid. I hoped to have the figures painted earlier but it was only in the past week that I finally worked on them.

The DBA II/69 Sassanid Persian (220AD-651AD) list consists of
1x3Cv (Gen), 1x4Kn or 3Cv, 4x3Cv, 1x2LH, 1 EL or 3Cv.
1x 3Aux or 3Cv, 2x7Hd. and 1x2Ps

25mm Sassanid Persian Levy Spearmen by Heritage Miniatures

2 Elements of 7Hordes

From the package of figures I produced two elements of 7 man hordes and three elements of 2 man psiloi. I know the list only calls for one element, but I was already using the same figures for two types of elements. I wasn't going to use them to also provide the element of auxilia.So I based extra psiloi. I figure that I can use some of my later Roman, as well as some of my Saracen DBA/HOTT Arabian Cavalry to complete the other requirements needed to field the Sassanid Persians.

25mm Sassanid Persian Levy Spearmen by Heritage Miniatures

3 Elements of 2 Psiloi

I hope that the figures will see battle early next month when I plan introduce a recent gaming acquaintance to the joys of DBA. Romans vs the Sassanids. May the best Empire win. After the clash, I'll raise a glass of rum and coke in memory of Harris, and the many battles we had between these two old foes.

Incendiary Wagons

2011-01-10T08:35:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago at Cangames I purchased a set of Incendiary Wagons (OGSE-11) from Old Glory. The set is comprised of one large and one small wagon full of combustibles (but No Oxen).

Both wagons are mounted on a single 60mm x 120mm base and are shown in the above photograph to be blocking the entrance of my home made Palisade.

The Anatomy of a Small War Part 5

2011-01-09T12:32:00.000-08:00

During the festive season I returned to the Soviet-Japanese frontier in Mongolia. I picked up on eBay a HO-Ni Tank Destroyer and four 75mm Regimental / Pack Guns, all by SHQ Miniatures.

SHQ Type 1 Ho-Ni I Tank Destroyer

According to Wikipedia, the Type 1 Ho-Ni I was developed by utilizing the existing Type 97 chassis and engine, and replacing the gun turret with a 75 mm Type 90 Field Gun mounted in an open casemate with frontal and side armour only. The mounting for the 75mm Type 90 field gun allowed for ten degrees of traverse and elevation from -5 to +25 degrees.

The Type 1 Ho-Ni I carried 54 rounds of ammunition. This vehicle was produced in small quantities between 1941 and November 1943, until superseded by the Type 2 Ho-Ni II with its Type 91 105mm howitzer. The total number produced was only 124 units and they first saw combat in Luzon in the Philippine Islands in Dec 1944. As such, I really cannot use it in a 1939 campaign but I wanted to upgun my Japanese, with this great looking piece.

Improved Type 38 75mm Field Gun

(Guns by SHQ Crews by Waterloo 1815)

I also bought from the same seller four 75mm Infantry guns. Searching on-line I identified the miniatures as the Improved Type 38 75mm Field Gun. SHQ markets them as 75mm Regimental / Pack Guns.

The original design was purchased from Krupt and produced under licence in Japan prior to World War One. After the war design changes were made as Japanese industrial capabilities advanced. Finally before the start of the Sino-Japanese War the final design of what is called the "Improved Type 38" Field Gun went into production. About 400 pieces of this model were produced. The Japanese were never able to replace all of them or their earlier designs with the Type 90 75mm Field Gun. Thus the Type 38 Field Guns, though outdated, served until the end of WW2.

My complaint with SHQ Miniatures is they do not sell the guns with their crews. You have to make separate purchases. I found that Waterloo 1815, the Italian plastic soldiers manufacturer offered a box set of WWII Japanese 70 mm Gun and Anti Tank Crews (Number AP003) that would suit my purposes. The figures are made of medium hard plastic, and are very easy to paint.

WWII Japanese 70 mm Gun & Anti Tank Crew (Number AP003)

I utilised the gun crews for my SHQ artillery pieces and I also assembled the Type 92 70mm IGs and will mount them later. The guns assembled without a hitch. There is enough flex in the plastic that they do not snap when being put together. This may have been a problem if they were made of hard plastic.

Each box contains two guns and 16 figures (in 8 poses). The other figures are AT infantry or LMG teams. I have some Platoon 20 and Frontier Japanese WW2 Infantry that I need to paint. I'll add these plastics into the mix.

Type 92 70mm Battalion IG

From the above photo you can get an idea of the size of the guns when compared to the SHQ artillery in the background. All models are 20mm or 1/76th scale. I assembled two of the IG guns with the gun shield and two without. I found pictures of both on the internet and I like the varity, The Type 92 Battalion Gun could fire high-explosive shells , armor-piercing, and smoke rounds.

Three Pieces of Terrain

2010-12-24T05:46:00.000-08:00

With this post I decided to showcase three homemade pieces of terrain. I was digging through my boxes of wargame supplies and felt that these should see the light of day.

1) Skull Mountain: This is intended to represent a possible stronghold. The piece was built up around a Grendel (or even older Fantasy Forge/Grenadier piece) resin cast cave entrance. Grendel is now part of Scotia Grendel Productions (/www.scotiagrendel.com/Products/) but I was unable to locate the piece on their website. They do offer a product that is similar in design, the Ram Skull Gate (ID 10014). The resin piece is 6.0 cm in width, 3.0 cm in depth and 7.0 cm in height. The actual entrance measures 2.5 cm x 3.5 cm x 4.0 cm.

Hero? Exit the Batcave. Figure 25mm for scale.

The entrance was attached to a artist board base roughly 20cm x 16cm in area. The hill was then built up using Styrofoam, covered with a thin layer of plaster, painted and flocked.

Darkness falls adding a more sinister apperance

2) Trench: This trench was my first attempt to create a 3D below ground tabletop piece for Warhammer 40K. I took a rectangular piece of styrofoam and roughly cut it in two. I then attached the two piece to an artist board base (38cm x17cm) separated by 2.5cm. Another two layers of styrofoam were added to build up the trench sides which were then coated with plaster.

Trench with Duck Boards

The top of the piece was flocked with a brown sand to give the impression of turned over or dug dirt. The lower half flocked with green for grass. A balsa wood duck board was placed in the bottom of the trench.The balsa was scored with a pencil to create planks and the "planks" were glued to two long runners.

Stand To just before dawn. Platoon 20 Modern Soviets for scale.

The total piece has an overall height of about 3.5 cm, with the trench having a depth of 2.5 cm. As you can see from the photographs, we have a very basic design. Overall I don't think the trench has enough depth, nor is it quite wide enough. As you can see from the photo even, these Platoon 20 modern Soviets are too exposed along the firing line.

3) Roman Palisade: My goal was to create an impressive table edge terrain feature.Once again I used an artist board base that was 50 cm long and roughly 13.5 cm wide. Again, a rectangular piece of styrofoam, cover in this case with paper towel soaked in plaster create the illusion of a low rise.

Palisade with Bean for scale (or Jack Bean in Gulliver's Travels)

The palisade itself was produced from standard wooden kitchen skewers. I cut the skewers in half using a pair of pliers. Thus only every second post is a sharpen stake, while the remainders are flat top. Each half of the fort is about 20 cm long. The skewer halves were then glued to balsa cross beams.

Unobstructed View (Front and Side)

A walkway was created from a double layer of balsa wood. The bottom layer was needed for support, and the top layer was scored with a pencil to have a "plank" effect. The walkway was glued to the top of the upper crossbeams and supported by dowel that was cut ti size. The gate was also made from balsa.

Rear View (Bean for Scale)

Troops Man the Walls

Legionniare detachment goes outside the wire on foot patrol.

Walls manned: Inside View

Year End Kudos

2010-12-23T21:22:00.000-08:00

At this point I would like to register a special thank you to Connie, one of the owners of Old Glory Miniatures in the US and to John Olsen of Black Tree Design in Texas.

In June I wrote to Customer Support at Old Glory. In my email I stated that I had won a pack of what I thought was WBS-48 Cavalry Pistols and Hats. I was basing my identification of the product on their web site catalogue. A number of figures had sockets, but were missing their right hand, and their pistol. I was looking for replacement parts.

I was mistaken in my identification. I sent a scan of the figures and the staff was able to correctly id as being PIM 1 Poncho in Mexico. Connie then sent me a set of hands with weapons for the set. No Charge. Kudos to the owners and staff of Old Glory Miniatures.

Sample PIM 1 Poncho in Mexico Showing socket and hand/weapons

Reading my Blog you may think that I have a fairly good opinion of Black Tree Designs. I have read on other blogs and in some gaming forums that some people find their service to be hap-hazard. I have to admit that there have been cases were I have waited months for figures to ship, and I have mentioned this in Captain's Blog. But the miniatures have always arrived, and John Olsen has always responded to any queries that I have made.

Recently I was sizing up my Romans and realized that I was short artillery crews. I had six Ral Partha Scorpions (Bolt Throwers) that had no crews. I wrote to John at BTD and asked it it was possible to purchase crew figures without the equipment. His reply was, " No problem'. He had to check with the production line to see when the crew figures could be cast and he expected the price to be about $1.50 a figure. I ordered six sets of two man bolt thrower crew figures.

BTD Roman Artillery Crews (Cleaned and Trimmed)

A couple of weeks later I received an invoice on Nov 30th. A week later the figures arrived straight from the factory in the UK. That was incredibly fast postal service from the United Kingdom. Kudos to John Olsen for facilitating the order and making this project possible.

Orcs of the White Hand

2010-12-23T21:17:00.000-08:00

Since reading the Lord of the Rings in high school I have been tempted to build an Army of Darkness, that would do the Dark Lord proud. My first attempt was with Minifig half-orcs, Ral Partha orcs, Heritage Warg Riders, and etc, etc, etc. I sold this army in 1984 to help pay for my education costs. At the time it was the thing to do, and I know that this army continues to have a place of honour in it's new home. In recent years I have been inspired by the original LOTR (Lord of the Rings) line of figures produced by Harlequin Miniature (now known as Black Tree Design) and the great line of figures produced under license by Games Workshop based upon the movie trilogy.

I have a secret confession. I have slowly been massing the Forces of Darkness and Monday they shall be unleashed!! Ha, Ha, Ha......Actually, that is a bit of an exaggeration. Monday, I will be meeting with some fellow gamers to play War of the Ring by Fantasy Flight games.

I have painted a 21 figure unit of Orcs of the White Hand. The figures were by Harlequin Miniatures and were very clean and very easy to work with. This unit was put together by winning a command pack and I think at least three packages of Orcs on eBay. The command pack contained the flag-bearer, a musican (with the horn) and a commander, who has a sword in each hand. The flag was made from some foil from a wine bottle. I have to paint the design on it. As you can see from the photos even the regular troops have a variety of poses and show good animation.

Black Tree Design continued to carry these figures as part of their fantasy line of figures until very recently. They were no longer referred to by LOTR trade name.Unfortunately the line has been discontinued but figures will continue to appear on eBay for years to come. I have to admit that I prefer the look of the Harlequin/BTD orc figures to those of Peter Jackson's vision. It would be my sole complaint regarding his world view of the JRR Tolkien epic as I have purchased the GameWorshop's Balrog, Fellowship, Cave Troll and Warg Riders. In my opinion these miniatures are far superior to any other line that has been manufactured to date.

Roman Siege Equipment

2010-11-24T09:07:00.000-08:00

My Roman Army continues to grow. I remember the first sets of Scorpions that I painted in the mid 1970s by Heritage Miniatures. I think back now to how primitive the figures looked compared to the lines that are available today. However they easily served 30 years with the Army before they were retired.

Over the last few years I have picked up a number of different packs of Roman Siege Equipment from a number of different manufacturers. I will begin with

Warlord Games

As I've blogged before, Librairie Donjon, a gaming shop in Montreal, brought in a number of packs of miniatures by Warlord Games. I thought it a fine opportunity to check out the quality of the figures, and at a great price. I paid in the realm of 40-60% to what the cost would have been to have ordered the figures directly.

Warlord Games offers a Roman War Machine Boxed Set. This consists of a large metal Ballista with crew and 2 metal Scorpions with crew. I stress metal here, because Warlord Games also produce plastics, but so far not for this set.

Warlord Games Ballista and Crew

Warlord Games Scorpion and Crew

One of the problems that I had with the DBA rule set was the base depth required by Scorpions and crew. Eighty millimeters was too much for my liking. Under the WRG 6th and 7th edition rules the depth of artillery was a minimum of 40mm to whatever was necessary to base the models. Thus I have decided to base the Scorpions on a 40mm deep base for WRG. I have another two Scorpions by Foundry that are situated on the 80mm deep elements. As you can see by the photos the 80mm depth works fine for the Ballista and below for the catapults.

Warlord Games Scorpions with Crew in Fortified Hilltop Camp

I chose to photograph the Scorpions on a fortified hill top. The hill was constructed by my friend Les, and came into my procession years ago. The pallisade is by Old Glory (OGSE-08), each set contains 2 styles of wooden stockades. In total 10 pieces, 5 of each style. I based 5 pieces of one style to give a fortified camp space. Each section of the camp can provide shelter to a 60mm x 40mm element. I placed some extra shields to cover the gaps. The stockade is straight and does not contain corner pieces.

The next unit is by Black Tree Designs. It is the IA1205 Onager (or Catapult) with Crew. Their website currently shows just two crew figures with the weapon but when I made my purchase I am sure that it came with three figures. It is delicate and I had problems attaching the sling at the end of the arm and ended up cutting some tin from a wine bottle to make one that works for me.

Black Tree Design IA1205 Onager and Crew

The final two pieces are a Onager by Old Glory ( OGSE-04 Stone Thrower (popularly known as a catapult)) and a large Ballista. I do not know the company that produced this piece. Note: I had the same problem with the sling at the end of the throwing arm of the Old Glory Onager as I did with the piece by Black Tree Designs.

Old Glory Onager( OGSE-04)

The crew figures are Late Romans by Old Glory. I believe they came in a pack of PLR-12 (4 Ballistas with Crews). I still have the Ballista/Scorpions and I have ordered additional crew figures from Black Tree Design. When I wrote to John at Black Tree he replied that they'd cast up some figures on the side and let me know when they were ready. He estimated the cost at $1.50 a figure and they should be available in two weeks..

Ballista Unknown Make

In memorial Jef Lauzon and a 25mm Mongol Conquest DBA Army

2010-11-14T11:28:00.000-08:00

It has been just over six years since my friend Jef Lauzon passed away on October 27, 2004.

Over the years I leant a lot about the WRG 6th edition Ancient rules playing against him. I never manged to beat him at WRG, but I kept going back to play. Two summers ago, Annette, his widow, decided it was time to pass along some of his figures and I received a large collection of mostly 25mm Roman and Greek figures. She keep the Forces of Darkness, and both his sons Dru and Chris selected the armies they wanted. i don't know how many times I clashed with Jef's Roman Legions, but I was extremely touched to have been selected to provide them a home.

In the box was a 18 man light cavalry unit that I always admired. I think that Jef told me that it was a unit that he won at the Origins Gaming Convention taking part in the WRG North American Ancients tournament sometime in the early 1980s. I don't know who painted them but I always liked the dusty look to them and I think they were the first figures I saw painted with acrylites.

The only work I did on these figures was to base the single figures on to two man elements. No other work was necessary, but I ended up with a nine element DBA army. It had been on the back of my mind for a while that I would have to increase this to twelve elements. I ended up finding some Essex Mongol cavalry for sale on an Ebay store website (The Last Nazgul).

Two units of seven figures were available and I purchased both at a very reasonable price and the postal service from the UK rocks.

Looking at the DBA rules army IV/35 Mongol Conquest leaps out. I needed just 3 x 3CV and 1 Art to complete the horde and the 14 Essex figures I purchased fit the bill. I can always use a piece of Roman Siege Equipment as the Mongol Art.

1x 3Cv (Gen)
2x 3Cv
8 x 2LH
1 x 2LH or Art

Eastern Roman Archers by Warlord Games (28mm)

2010-11-14T10:29:00.000-08:00

As I've blogged before, Librairie Donjon, a gaming shop in Montreal, brought in a number of packages of miniatures by Warlord Games. I thought it a fine opportunity to check out the quality of the figures. My army already contained two units of Eastern Aux Archers (figures by Old Glory) but I was impressed by the quality of the Warlord Games' Western Roman Archer Figures so I purchased a box of 16 Eastern Imperial Archers. As in those figures you receive four different poses and the figures are very easy to paint.

Close-up of Warlord Games Eastern Roman Archers

I picked up another two packs four man packs on Ebay and sold one of my 16 man Old Glory Eastern Archer. The Old Glory Figures are chunkier, and come in one static pose.

Old Glory Eastern Imperial Archers

The Roman Testudo by Warlord Games (28mm)

2010-11-14T09:59:00.000-08:00

The Roman Testudo (tortoise) formation is probably the most recognisable battle formation in history. According to Wikipedia the testudo was commonly used by the Roman Legions during battles, particularly sieges. The Greek term for this formation is "chelone" and during the Byzantine era, it seems to have evolved to what military manuals of the era call the "foulkon"

Testudo Front View

The Testudo kit by Warlord Games is made of polyurethane resin and comes in 6 interlocking parts: front, back, 2 sides, roof and a single shield and head for the Legionary who just can't help but take a peek (2nd Rank 2nd File)!

Decals are by Little Big Men Studios Transfers and were include in the kit. I was disappointed with their waterslide shield transfers. They are not as robust as their regular decals and even though they include extras by the time I was done I was short 4 shield decals. Perhaps I am all thumbs or have a higher learning curve but I did find them rather fragile.

Testudo Side View

The kit was fairly easy to paint and I spent about 5 hours in total on it. The application of the decals took an additional hour.

The big question for me was how to base this unit. Generally I run my Romans in units of four blade elements or 16 figures. Counting the exposed shields the Testudo by Warlord Games portrays 34 figures but the figures are in six rows of six or 36 figures, but there are none in the centre to paint. So I decided to base the kit on the area represented by the space occuplied by a eight WRG Blade elements, in two columns of four. This worked out to a base with a frontage of 120mm and a depth of 80mm.

Testudo Rear View (Flap on 2nd shield from the left is glare from the decal)

Afterwards I went to the Warlord games website and placed an order for another sheet of decals. The minimum mail order is 10 pounds so I also selected a set of plastic tents (new releases- terrain) pictured below with a 25mm figure for scale.

The set includes two "pup tents", two large tents, and two Bell tents along with a campfire and stretchers. Warlord games continued its free postage for October mail orders, as I placed my order last weekend and I received the package this past Friday. just a week from the UK to Montreal. I call that excellent service.

HOTT: Robin Hood Part III, The Normans

2010-09-26T18:19:00.000-07:00

Last month I blogged about some of the ideas I had for a Norman (Robin Hood) HOTT Army and expressed the comment that I would have to pick up some additional troops. Ross Macfarlane, a long standing friend and fellow gamer made an offer I could not refuse. He had in his possession some old Ral Partha Norman and Crusader figures that he offered to send to me. They went a long way into filling my missing troop types. I decide I would keep the figures as painted, but I rebased them. Merci Ross!!!

BTW According to Ross the Knights and Crossbow men were painted by Peter Crane.

Somes Ideas For a Norman (Robin Hood) HOTT Army

I now need to get some crossbowmen, mounted troops and a few individual figures. I think that the obvious characters that are needed for the Norman side include

Prince John, an obvious sneaker, who will steal your stronghold (throne) if you're not careful. I ordered a figure from Black Tree Miniatures that I think will serve as an excellent Prince John figure. It is a set of figure from their feudal line. I also ordered a set of monks, which will provide a Frier Tuck figure.

FD1010 King Stephen, Queen Matilda, Henry II and Thomas A'Beckett

The Sheriff of Nottingham. The general in charge of the army.

I selected a figure with two lions on the shield. The High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the Royal Forests existed between 1068 and 1449. In 1449 Nottingham appointed its own Sheriff. The position of Sheriff represnts Royal Authority in enforcing the law.

Sir Guy of Gisbourne

Sir Guy of Gisbourne (and according to Wikipedia also spelled Gisburne, Gisborne, Gysborne, or Gisborn). The hero of the Normans.

Dickon Malbete, a lurker.

In the movie "The Adventures of Robin Hood" Dickson is an assassin sent by Prince John to murder King Richard. In return he'd regain his lost rank.

The Lurker element on the left has Dickson enjoying a brew. perhaps in the presence of a disquised King Richard, while the element of Lurkers on the right, are two of the Merrie Men lying in wait in Sherwood Forest.

The Bishop of the Black Canons.

A cleric, not neccessarily a good one, but a cleric none the less. On this Clerical Element the Bishop is joined in blessing a memeber of his flock, or is he about to crown Prince John, King?

4 Elements of Crossbowmen/Shooters

Ross was kind enough to send a selection of mounted figures, some that represented the Norman invasion period and other figures that are more closely representative of the English Knights that were at the 2nd Crusade. I decided that with the selection provied that the Normans could field as part of the HOTT army two Elements of Knights or three Elements of Riders. The Sheriff of Nottingham Element could be either a Knight or Rider Element.

Two Elements of Knights

Three Elements of Riders.

HOTT: Robin Hood Part 2 The Normans

2010-09-06T16:30:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have blogged. The summer has been good to me and I didn't do any work on my miniatures. I had the opportunity to play a massive HOTT (72 points per side) battle with Joseph when I was in Halifax.

Last year I mused about doing a 25/28mm Robin Hood (HOTT) Horde of The Things army. Ross commented with some ideas for the opposition and just before Christmas a pack of Revenge (Old Glory) Norman Heavy Infantry went up for auction on Ebay.

Four Elements of Spear

2nd View of Spear in column

The package contained 32 figures, most figures being spearmen, but it also included two casualties. These two figures were mounted on individual figures. The rest were divided into four elements of 4 Spear and 2 elements of 7 Hordes. I based this decision upon the actions and military effectiveness of the Norman troops as portrayed in various Robin Hood movies and TV shows. I felt that two units of Hordes were not uncalled for and the DBM army lists for both the Western Norman lists and the Eastern Frankish lists in the DBM included (peasant) hordes.

Two Elements of 7 Hordes

The figures already included their weapons in hand, but the kite shield had to be attached. The shields came in two main types. One style being long and narrow and the other being a bit shorter and wider. I now have to come up with a couple of banners for the two standard bearers. I haven't found anything on the web that I am happy with yet. I may decide to go with the plain Jerusalem cross.

Casualties of War

Somes Ideas For a Norman (Robin Hood) HOTT Army

I now need to get some crossbowmen, mounted troops and a few individual figures. I think that the obvious characters that are needed for the Norman side include

Prince John, an obvious sneaker, who will steal your stronghold (throne) if you're not careful.

The Sheriff of Knottingham. The general in charge of the army.

Sir Guy of Gisbourne (and according to Wikipedia also spelled Gisburne, Gisborne, Gysborne, or Gisborn). The hero of the Normans.

Dickon Malbete, a lurker. In the movie "The Adventures of Robin Hood" Dickson is an assassin sent by Prince John to murder King Richard. In return he'll regain his lost rank.

The Bishop of the Black Canons. A cleric, not neccessarily a good one, but a cleric none the less.

Undead HOTT Part II

2010-07-17T10:44:00.000-07:00

I went all out last week to finish painting the Black Raven Undead miniatures that I received as a gift at Christmas 2009. Since I already have a fully equipped 15mm HOTT (Hordes of the Things) Undead army my plan was to base these troops on the 25mm element base size in order to achieve a grand view of Undead Hordes.

3 Elements of Undead Hordes

I also wanted to extend the type of units available to my Undead Army. Optional troops that are not part of the offical Army Lists. Units of Shooters and Warbands which I would use as needed.

2 Elements of Undead Shooters

2 Elements of Undead Warbands

My plan was then to start painting the 5 packages of Black Raven Figures I purchased on Ebay last year. Unfortunately, before I could start I discovered another 6 sticks of figures belonging to this first group of miniatures. I have to finish painting them before I even think of the other figures. I don't think they'll be ready for my Halifax trip.

Saracen DBA/HOTT Part VII: Arabian Myth

2010-07-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

This was another unfinished project sittimg in a drawer for at least a decade and a half. The unit consisted of 6 camel riders. The camels were easy to paint but the riders themselves were not at all inspiring. They were really old Heritage castings and made me think of lumps of lead. Finally one evening last week in the sweltering Montreal heat, I put brush to lead and in short order the project was completed.

25mm Heritage Camel Riders Cross the Wastelands

The unit can be used across the ages by any number of armies but I decided to include it as part of my Saracen DBA/HOTT Arabian Mythos army.

Saracen DBA/HOTT Part VI: Arabian Myth

2010-07-01T18:41:00.000-07:00

This week I had a very light class load. Tuesday was the final day of the current session and the summer session does not commence until tomorrow. I decided to complete some more units for my 28mm Saracen DBA/HOTT's army. It took the better part of three days to complete the work but I finished 3 elements of Warbands (two of 4 figures and one of 5 figures) and two elements of 4 man spear.

Three Elements of Warbands.

The figures are by Black Tree Designs and the spears are by Foundry. These figures were last seen prepped with a base coat added in Saracen DBA/HOTT Part VI sometime last October. I finally painted them. The bases are by Litko Game Accessories and the ground was built up using Golden Artist Colors Coarse Pumice Gel. The bases were then painted with DeSerres Raw Sienna (Series 1 No 185) and flocked using Citadel Scorched Grass.

The Red Zebra Spearmen

In the wings I still have another 40 BTD figures for this project. Twenty figures are with bow and twenty are with crossbow. They have been prepped and basecoated. They await the touch of their master's brush. They will form elements of 3/4 Bow as well as a couple of Psiloi elements.

DBA 15mm Hittite Army

2010-06-27T15:21:00.000-07:00

"The Destruction of Sennacherib" by Bryon
was easily an inspiration for my Hittites.

The Assyrian (in my case Hittites) came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts (think chariots) were gleaming in purple and gold;

The Hittite Army was my first foray into the realm of 15 mm armies. I purchased it when DBA was the new kid on the block. At the same time I thought that I'd buy some extra chariots, just in case I ever wanted to expand the army. I was still hooked on WRG 7th edition rules at the time, and an arms race was never far from my mind.

First Element Type: Two Heavy Chariots (or Light Chariots)

Note: I have 4 heavies

These represent the chariots of Hatti and their allies. The LCh would not really be an option after 1380BC and should be compulsory before.

Second Element Type: Four Light Chariots (I have Six)

These represent Syrian or Anatolian chariots used in shirmishing.

Third Element Type: 3 Cav (missing 3 man Blade)

Fourth Element Types: 3/4 man Aux

These are a) Hittite infantry (4Ax), or b)Anatolian spearmen or Syrian vassal spearmen (3Ax)

Fifth Element Type: Included in the above Right Photo: Two Psiloi (Archers)

elements of Anatolian archers or Syrian archers or javelinmen

Sixth Element Type: 4 man Bow (Not on List)

The army has changed a great deal from what was sold to me to the army found in the Version 2.2 rulebook. I do not even remember which company these figures were produced by. If you can identifly them please let me know.

The current list for the Hittite Empire I/24 (b) 1274-1180 BC calls for the following troop types.

1 x Heavy Chariot General
1 x Heavy Chariot
2 x Light Chariot
6 x 3 Spear
1 x 2 Psiloi
1 x 7 Horde or 2 Psiloi

It would appear that I'll have to order some more spearmen and a horde to bring this army up to the required levels.

Note: HE Army I/24 (a) 1380-1175 BC has no Heavy Chariots and will use a total of 4 light chariots instead. All other options remain the same.

US Civil War: Rebel Camp

2010-06-27T14:14:00.000-07:00

15mm Stone Mountain Miniatures CSA Camp

http://www.historicalminiatures.com/smm.html

The other day I dusted off my CSA toolbox and assembled the ragged hordes that answered the call for a 2nd American War of Independance. I lined up some figures to obtain a photographic portrait of a manned defensive position. I wanted to take pictures of the 15 mm gabions that I had just painted.

Afterwards I embarked to add Litko magnetic underbases to my entire rebel army. I had put off the job for a while, being afraid that I'd want to rebase the entire force. That was not to be the case.

http://www.litkoaero.com/mag_bots.php

I also decided that it was time to change the look of my camp. Before the troopers were mounted on pennies and the tents were loose. I adopted the DBA/HOTT standard 40 mm x 40 mm element as the optimal for a tent. I had six remaining Gale Force 9 magnetic bases left in my collection and felt project could use them.

The Stone Mountain Camp provided six resin tents and numerous figures in a number of different poses. Figures are shown resting, working or even drinking coffee. The female figure is a conversion. A stack of rifles is in front of each tent. The set included a wood stove and campfires (not shown). In my opinon a very good deal from Stone Mountain Miniatures.

Daredevil Adventures: The Cast of Second City

2010-06-24T10:37:00.000-07:00

When I dug Ginger out last week to be photographed while on safari I looked at the other figures that I used on the tabletop in my Daredevil's Campaign. The campaign was set in Second City, named in honour of that great Canadian TV comedy series, SCTV. Like Springfield in the Simpsons, one never really knew the location of Second City as it would float around according to the dictates of the game. But most players believed it was set on the US west coast near San Francisco

The figures were mounted on pennies and since I had them out I'd spend the time to put them on Gale Force 9 (25mm square) magnetic bases. Most of these figures were from the Call of Cthulhu range by Grenadier Miniatures, or Ral Partha. Also included are a couple of Shadowrun figures. The majority were painted by John Saranic in Halifax in the late 1980s. The Sahdowrun figures were by Peter Dixon and Anne-Marie Lindley.

Thus I introduce you to the Cast of Second City:

A) The Tough Guys:

B) The Coppers:

C) The Adventurers:

D) The Dames:

E) The Swells:

and finally F) The Freaks

Terrain Projects: The Devil is in the Details

2010-06-24T10:12:00.000-07:00

This week I continued my plan to conmplete some projects that have been sitting on my work table, in some cases for almost a year. As they say, the devil is in the details and what I really needed to do was complete the details. All three projects are related to tabletop terrain.

Project number 1: Armorcast River Pieces by Armorcast Battlefield Scenery

http://www.armorcast.com/

I had two packages of river pieces that I started painting some time ago. The first package included two 4 inch wide river sections. Total length of the two sections combined is almost 12 inches. These are listed as

ACRV011 4" River Straight and Curve.

25mm Roman Cav for Scale

The second river package is ACRV004 2" River Y and Spring (1x4.5" and 1x5"). These are as noted 2 inch wide river sections. The same digure is included in the photo for scale. I am now able to place on my tabletop an 11 foot long river (note my gaming table is only 6 feet) that can range between 2 and 4 inches in width with transition pieces as shown in my Blog entry of last August. I am happy with the effect.

ACRV004 2" River Y and Spring

25mm Roman Cav for Scale

To complete the above project I had to ink the rocks, paint the sandy areas and add the green for vegatation and finally do the whitecaps on the waves.

Project No Two: 15 mm Resin Wicker work Gabions

According to Wise geek the word gabion is derived from the Italian word gabbione, a gabion is a container that is filled with sand or dirt. The device is often used in civil engineering projects, as well as some military applications and general road building. Gabions have been in use since medieval times, and are still employed by many civil engineers today.

I don't know what company the following product was produced by, but it was a purchase I made on Ebay earlier this year. The price was very good. The pack contained 3 x 6.5 cm sections, 3x 7.0 cm sections and 2x right angle corners, each with a total length of 5 cms.

It is shown below defended by 15mm US Civil War figures. When Harris, Charles and I ordered civil war figures, they started painting first. I found that by default I had won the right to defend the rights of the states. Thus I painted a Reb division for the Fire and Fury Rules,

Gabions defended by 15mm Infantry by Stone Mountain (I think)

15mm Rebel Artilley Redoubt

Project No 3. Japanese Bamboo and Paper House

Again I am unsure of the manufacturer but this is a very heavy resin type house. I have some 25 mm Japanese Samurai figures I need to paint to go with it. In the meantime a 25mm Police Officer is included for scale. The piece came as 4 walls and two roof sections. The roof is removable and superglue was used to cement the walls together.

25mm Japanese Home

Soldiers of the Queen: Royal Artillery

2010-06-19T08:02:00.000-07:00

Soldiers of the Queen

18x 28mm Foundry British Artillerymen

Song by Leslie Stuart (15 March 1863 – 27 March 1928)

http://www.esnips.com/doc/5ead13ce-8c25-4fa8-b6c6-c33fd3d2bc06/Canadian-48th-Highlanders---Soldiers-Of-The-Queen

It's the soldiers of the Queen, my lads
Who've been, my lads, who've seen, my lads
In the fight for England's glory lads
When we've had to show them what we mean:
And when we say we've always won
And when they ask us how it's done
We'll proudly point to every one
Of England's soldiers of the Queen

Close-up

The third and final project that I completed this week was 18 Artillery Crewmen. The figures are by Foundry while their guns were by Ral Partha. Under the Sword and the Flames Rules, an Imperial Artillery Battery consists of three guns, each with four crew (1 Lt or Sgt and 3 other ranks). I personally think that I either have two under strength batteries or one over strength battery.

Two Guns (7 or 9 LBERs Firing Direct)

In total I have 7 Guns (5 x 7 or 9 Pounders and 2 x four-barrel Nordenfeldts). It is clear that I will have to purchase some more crew and I am thinking of making an order to Old Glory. More on that later. I have painted the officers wearing distinct red (Infantry) tunics. I know that this is ahistorical but I wanted to be rapidly able to distinguish them from the other ranks. Figures and guns are all mounted on Gale Force 9 magnetic bases. On the whole I am very happy with the paint jobs of these crewmen.

Two Guns (7 or 9 LBERs Firing In-direct)

Two Ral Partha Quad Nordenfeldts

Ancient China DBA 15mm Chariots

2010-06-19T07:51:00.000-07:00

Chinese Chariot with General

The second project that I completed this week was three 15mm Essex Chariots that I won at auction last year. It was one of the few times that I allowed myself to get caught up in the emotion of the moment. I really wanted the figures and I ended up adding to my initial bids. In the end I paid too much, but it reinforced a lesson that I already knew. Place your maximum bid at the start and walk away. You'll either win or lose, and if you lose you'll have to wait for another opportunity, or order directly from the manufacturer.

General (Blue Chariot) with Bodyguards

I purchased a painted 15mm DBA army at Cangames about 5 years ago. I have added to it a couple of times and these chariots were the latest figures. When they first arrived I painted the horses and the chariots but I never painted the crews. They were completed this week.One chariot contains a general and the other two have archers as the third crew member. I have been to the Essex site but I am unable to determine the exact historic period that these figures belong to.

Daredevil Adventures: Happy Hunting Ginger!

2010-06-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

In the early 1980s Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU) released two of the finest (IMO) role playing games, both based upon Aftermath system. The first was Bushito, which was heroic role playing set in mythical feudal Japan. My good friend, Harris MacPhail ran a great campaign for a small group of Halifax Gamers. I enjoyed many an evening playing Bushito at Fort Robie.

I purchased Daredevil Adventures, which was role playing in the roaring 20s, I rapidly advanced the milieu to the mid 1930s to create a pre-war scenario atmosphere. I still have my records from the days I ran those games, including the Player Character Sheets as well as all the miniatures I used on the tabletop. Most of these figures were the Ral Partha ranges of the period. Some day I may go back to running these adventures.

Last weekend I decided that I would clear off my work table and work on completing some have completed projects. The first of these offerings was a group of Foundry's Deepest Africa Figures. It consisted of 4 native armed riflemen, 2 bearers and 4 female figures.

Ginger, the Great White Hunter and the Hunting Party

To this group I have added a great white hunter. It is my pleasure to introduce you to Michael "Ginger" Thockmorton-Smythe. When asked by his current (number three) wife to add a new piano conservatory to the family home, he immediately headed to Africa to obtain the ivory necessary for the piano's keys. Thus allowing himself to avoid any of the unpleasant consequences of the renovations.

Villagers await the return of the hunting party.

28mm German Naked Savages

2010-06-19T07:24:00.000-07:00

These figures are from Black Tree Design and consists of two major designs. Item IA1412 is German Naked Savages which contains 4 different models from a selection of 28 different poses. Item IA1183 is Germans in Bearskins with Hand Weapons, which is distributed in a pack of 4. Both of these are available from BTD as Army Packs of 20 figures.

I purchased these figures on Ebay about 4 years ago, as a unit of 27 figures. My plan is to field at least one Warhammer Ancients Army. They have been based either as single figures on a 25mm square base or as groups of four figures on a 50mm square base. All bases are from Gale Force 9.

The Anatomy of a Small War Part 4

2010-06-09T14:38:00.000-07:00

As I wrote last March (the Anatomy of a Small War Part 3), I needed to pick up some 20mm tanks to provide support for my Japanese infantry. This year at Cangames I purchased three Frontline Wargaming Resin Kits from Five Arrows Figures and Fine Art (www.fivearrowsfigures.ca), one of the dealers who was in the Cangames marketplace.

I purchased two J3 TYPE 97 STANDARD MEDIUM TANK (CHI-HA) and one J4 TYPE 97 SPECIAL SHINHOTO (CHI-HA) tanks. These were the first resin kits I dealt with. Reading on the web I found the wise advise that I should soak the pieces in warm water with dish detergent, and scub them clean with a toothbrush before rinsing them clean. Afterwards it was very easy to apply both glue and paint without worrying of the effects of the chemicals used to seperate the kit from their molds.

Two Type 97 (CHI-HA) Medium Tanks

with 20mm Infantry shown for scale.

According to Wikipedia "The Type 97 medium tank Chi-Ha was a medium tank used by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Second World War. It was the most widely produced Japanese medium tank of the period.

The Type 97 was initially equipped with a Type 97 57mm main gun. The cannon was a short barreled weapon with a relatively low muzzle velocity but sufficient as the tank was intended primarily for infantry support.

It also carried two 7.7 mm Type 97 machine guns, one on the front left of the hull and the other in a ball mount on the rear of the turret. The latter could be remounted on top of the top of turret for anti-aircraft use. The turret was capable of full 360-degree traverse but the main gun had a second pair of trunnions internally allowing a maximum 10-degree traverse independently of the turret. The turret featured a small periscope for use when the tank was "buttoned up." On the front of the tank was a searchlight.

The Type 97 medium tank was manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (1,224 units), Hitachi Industries (355 units), as well as some limited production in Army’s Sagami Arsenal. A total of 2,123 vehicles were constructed from 1938 to 1943, of which 1162 units with the standard Type 97 and 930 units were the improved Type 97-kai (Shinhoto) version. The remainder was various specialized variants produced in small numbers, such as recovery, flail mine clearers, engineer, bridge layers, 20 mm and 75 mm anti-aircraft and self-propelled guns.

The shortcomings of the Type 97 with its low velocity 57 mm gun became clear during the Nomonhan Incident against the Soviet Union, where the 45 mm gun of the Soviet tanks outranged the Japanese tank gun, resulting in heavy Japanese losses. This convinced the Army of the need for a more powerful gun, and development of a new 47 mm weapon began in 1939 and was completed in 1941. This gun was based on Soviet 45 mm anti-tank guns[citation needed] captured during the Nomonhan conflict and was also influenced by the German PaK 36 37 mm anti-tank gun[citation needed]. Although it was a smaller-caliber weapon, the 47 mm gun's longer barrel generated much higher muzzle velocity, resulting in armor penetration superior to that of the 57 mm gun.

1 TYPE 97 Shinhoto Chi-Ha ("new turret")

with 20mm Infantry shown for scale.

From 1942 onwards, production of the Model 97 was changed to use the new 47 mm gun, which also required a larger turret. The turret was taken from the Type 1 Chi-He medium tank to resolve this issue, and the new version was designated "Type 97 Improved Medium Tank" or Shinhoto Chi-Ha ("new turret"). About 300 of the older Type 97s were also upgraded to use the new gun. The 47 mm gun was easily capable of dealing with the armour of the American M3 Stuart, though had difficulty with the heavier M4 Sherman. However as the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff believed that any tanks fielded by the Allied nations would only be of the lighter types, the lack of capability against heavier armour was considered acceptable."

Undead HOTT

2010-06-08T09:53:00.000-07:00

Joseph and I have been emailing with regards of playing a Big Battles HOTT when I am in Halifax this summer. One thing I started work on was the idea of basing 15mm figures on the recommended 25mm DBX Elements.

I wanted to see the illusion of mass figures as well as an opportunity to mount some 25mm figures that would be more impressive when viewed along with some 15mm figures. I offer the following photos as examples of my next undead army.

Photo 1: 15mm Black Raven Knights and Cav.

I could only mount 5 Figures per 60mm x 40mm Base.

Photo 2: 25mm Pal Partha Fire Elemental

I thought this figure makes a cool God when

compared to 15mm figures.

Cangames 2010 Purchases

2010-06-08T09:42:00.000-07:00

As I wrote in my Sunday's posting I purchased a painted 15mm Babylonian Army. I thought I post some photos of the figures.

Photo 1: General in 4-Horse HCh with Friends

Photo 2: 3 of 5 Two Man Psiloi Elements (L)

3 Four Man Spear Elements (R)

Photo 3: All 5 Cav Elements

A useful addition that can be fielded against my 15mm Hittite Army (by Irrgeular Miniatures) that I painted years ago.

My second purchase was from Daniel, from Crossed Swords (http://www.crossedswords.net/) a well known dealer from Toronto . It was a 15mm terrain piece, consisting of three 160mm lengths and two 80mm lengths of reinforced wood walls.

15mm Archers for scale. Note Rear view of wall behind the archers.

These resin pieces were very easy to clean and paint. My only complaint would be one of the 8mm pieces had a 3/4 inch piece broken off one corner. Since it was not in the bag, I could not make repairs. Still for $8, I think this was a very good buy. I added static grass along the wall after the piece was painted.

Cangames 2010

2010-06-06T11:23:00.000-07:00

It has been two weeks since the end of the of the XXXIV edition of the CANGAMES Gaming Convention. As always, I had a great time. The Organization Committee and the volunteers are to be lauded for their continual success. A word of thanks should also be extended to the bar and canteen staff of the Rideau Curling Club for putting up with all our foolishness. The door opened Friday May 21st at noon and the con finally ended Sunday May 23rd at 11:00PM. The convention was organized by 4 hour gaming session with an hour long break between sessions. The 4 hour gamings sessions were sub-divided for some games.

View from the main floor near the Marketplace Entrance

There is something for everybody at CANGAMES, including children. The convention is for the whole family. Games are classified into the categories of Children’s Games, Role Playing Games, Miniature Games and Board Games. In addition there are further sub-divisions based upon skill level (Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced) and if the game is a demonstration, a qualifying round, or if play is for a Trophy or Certificate or some other prize. In addition places are provided for open gaming and Warwick Gaming group provides numerous board games, that you can try out.

CANGAMES also includes a Marketplace with local, and well known regional dealers, as well as a 2nd hand market run by the Cangames committee, where for a percentage of the sale, you may flog your unwanted games or gaming supplies. This year I purchased a painted 15mm Babylonian DBA army for $50. I used $45 in rolled change that I brought with me. I didn’t have the time to get to a bank before leaving Montreal. Happily it was warmly received by the staff.

I arrived Friday afternoon and started to look around. I was not scheduled for anything until the 7:00PM gaming session. Things were off to a slow start so I used the time to take a walk to Fandom II, a well known Ottawa gaming store. I arrived back at the convention and rapidly meet up with a group of guys with whom I game occasionally with in Montreal.

An Ogre in all its glory, advances for the Honour of the Regiment.

I took the time to speak with Garth Elliott. Garth was running a 1/300th scale game of Ogre. The object was to destroy the Command Post and escape off the board, which I believe was the basic objective in the Steve Jackson Game Ogre. Garth is an Ottawa area school teacher who has introduced his students to miniature gaming. I really liked his cityscape terrain. He mounted colour photographs, taken from goggle earth images on foam board. Thus parts of his terrain included for example the US Capital building easily identified from its satellite image. Way to go!!

The US Capital Building

Friday evening I was signed up for Junta run by Noral Rebin. This is a fun game of lying, cheating and stealing, while trying to establish the family with a largest Swiss bank account in a corrupt banana republic. Noral runs the game with some simple rules that add to the game. For example the Minister of Security must always try to assassinate one of the other players. This year there were only enough players for one board. I think last year we had three games running simultaneously and I was part of the board that had every player assassinated in the same turn. Life can be fun in the Republic.

Saturday and Sunday were to be long days. The doors open at 8:00AM each morning with the last game closing at 11:00PM. I have to admit that I no longer can keep up with that sort of schedule and decided I’d arrive when I arrived on Saturday morning. I’m not sure when I got there but my first stop was the Marketplace. Steve accompanied me to the con in the morning. My thanks to Steve and Doreen for putting up with me on the long weekend.

The far end of town.

Saturday 2:00PM.
I was signed up to take part in a 25mm Fire and Fury Game. Unfortunately, one of the two refs was not available. The other organizer of the game offered in its place a 25mm Duster, played with a rule set called Desperado. Checking the web I found that this rule set is now available in a 3rd edition. I am not sure what edition we played with but the game mechanics were fairly simple. Each player controlled two Gunfighters. Jim Wilson, the ref, controlled all the townsfolk. Jim is to be complemented for the fine game he put on, as well as to the level of the terrain and miniatures used. They were an inspiration to us all

My character, Drew Colbourne is on the right. I failed to bushwack the central figure.

The figure on the left is a NPC who will finish me off in the following turn.

The object was to be the Gunfighter who escapes off the board (a specific edge) with a rescued prisoner. You were not required to be the person who freed him. As I stated the mechanics were fairly simple. Each figure had two cards in the deck, The NPCs were represented by just two cards, If their card was picked the ref would act with the town person that was nearest a player character. Movement was based on dice, If your card was flipped you could crawl 1D6, walk 2 D6 or run 3D6 in inches.

All PCs were armed with six shooters. So you could shoot 1, 2 or 3 shoots. The more shoots used the harder it was to hit. The further you moved, the harder it was to hit. Cover made it more difficult to hit a target as well as the range. I think 6 inches was short range, to 20 inches medium range and anything over was long range. Thus you could move and shoot in the same turn. If you remained in a place you could also mount a search, for the prisoner, another weapon (shotguns were popular) or more ammo. You rolled percentile dice to hit and damage was also by percentile. You rolled to hit, your target rolled the damage. Sometimes you’d have immediately fatal results, other times it would be a long time before your opponent died. Each PC began with 100 points.

Ref: Jim Wilson 2nd from left and the other players.

Winner: Duncan 1st person on left

One of my characters was finished off by an innocent (my eye) townsfolk and the other was run over by another NPC (controlling a wagon) as I tried to prevent the escape of the prisoner by stage coach. I thoroughly enjoyed this game. At least I wounded the coach's horse and they were force to flee on foot, and finally by rowboat. After both my PCs died I was handed control of one NPC who could have saved the day. Instead I rolled 100% and had my gun blow up in my hand. Duncan escaped with the prisoner and won the game.

My 2nd Character (Aces and Eights) run down by a wagon while trying to prevent the Stage Coach from Leaving Town.

The Final Escape from Town

The Price of Failure.

Saturday 6:00 PM
Doreen picked up Steve and I for dinner. I had to be back by 7:00PM for my next event.

Saturday 7:00 PM
I was registered to play in a Rail Baron tournament run by Donna Balkan. I was 15 minutes late but Donna was happy to see me. I was player number 18. She was running three boards each with 6 players. With my arrival, she could enjoy being the referee instead of playing the final slot. This is the first time I’ve played Rail Baron since leaving Halifax. I think we’d play normally with four players. I don’t remember ever playing with six. This becomes a very tight game. Players are shut out of regions and it becomes very expensive, very quickly to use another players rail line. Hats off to Donna for a well run tournament.

Sunday 9:00 AM
I habitually play in two tournaments each year at CANGAMES. Sunday morning at 9:00AM is the Diplomacy Tournament run by Ken Murry and I look forward to the DBA Open Book Tournament run on Saturday nights at 7:00PM. This year I was thrown for a loop. The DBA tournament was scheduled for Sunday at 7:00PM. It was going to be a long day. I really wanted to play in the DBA, so I did not pre-register for the Dippy Game. I spoke to Ken on Saturday evening and said as usual I been in by 9:15AM. The bus schedule from Steve’s on Sunday morning is not the most convenient and I was not going to be on a 7:30AM bus in order arrive almost an hour early for the Dippy game.

I'm playing the Illyrians (yellow)

When I arrived the game had already started. Ken had just enough players this year for one seven player board and since I was not officially registered he started with the seven players he had. If I was there at 9:00AM he would have been forced to run two four player games. What was I to do? Within 2 minutes I was sitting down with a group of guys who were sitting up a pick up game of Civilization. This was to occupy me until 6:00PM. Civilization is such a fun game. We played on the western board with just 4 players, with all the cards from Civilization and Advanced Civilization. Great fun was had by all. One of the four players had to leave at 2:00PM as he was registered for another event. His position was played by three other gamers who rotated in and out based on their own availability. All three were involved in their own games, but were happy to help us out. This is one game I’d like to see on the schedule next year. I’d play again.

Sunday 7:00PM
This is the event I looked forward to all weekend. The DBA 15mm Open Book Tournament run by Tod Creasey. This year we had 12 players available for the tournament. I arrived with an Early Burgundian Army (Book IV/76). It consisted of the following troops

1 3Kn or 4 Bd (Gen)
5x3 Kn//4Bd
1 3Kn// 4 bd or 3 CV
2x 4 Pk or 4 LB (I use the Longbow)
1x 4CB
1x 4 LB
1 Art.

The tournament is played in 4 rounds. Each round consists of 45minutes of play followed by 15 minutes administration time. You are matched with a different player each round and points are based upon the number of enemy elements killed.

Early Burgundian Army Photo 1

1x3Kn General w/ 5x Kn

(Used in all 4 Rounds. I did not use foot options)

Mike Abbot, my first opponent fielded a Post Mongol Japanese Army. It was the same type of army I brought to Cangames last year. I won the first round destroying 4 elements including the general, losing one element. It was a good start to the evening.

Company Wars (Warfare in the Age of Reason)

25 mm Game run by Perry Gray & Eric Ritchie

Round two was against Duncan Martelock (who won the Western Duster game on Sat afternoon) and his Neo Assyrian Army. It did contain chariots which allowed me to win by forcing them back through rough terrain. I lost two elements but again destroyed four including the enemy general.

Early Burgundian Army Photo 2

2x 4 Pk or 4 LB (I use the Longbow option)

1x 4CB (rep by 3 man stand) and 1x 4 LB

Round three I was going up against Patrick Laffey and his Chanca Army. It was my bloodiest battle of the evening. Patrick destroyed five of my elements including my general, while I destroyed four of his. The lost of my general was a complete surprise but bad dice often are. Despite the lost, the four elements I killed were added to my over all total.

In the final round I got to play with the organizer of the tournament, Tod Creasy and his Serbian Empire Army. It was another quick game, where I bagged four elements to a lost of two. Tod’s general managed to evade me. In between rounds I was asked to play against a young man whose father was also taking part in the tournament. It was another close game but I lost four elements to his three. I believe he was undefeated all evening and received the award for top young blood.

Early Burgundian Army Photo 3

1 3Kn// 4 bd or 3 CV (I used the Kn option)

1 Art.

The evening was over. I entered the final round with one of the top scores of the evening, but was it enough. I finished tied with Wlad Kinastowski who, according to the OMG Yahoo Group won the most closely contested DBA tourney yet. The final decision was based upon the number of elements destroyed by our opponents and the fact Wlad won all four of his rounds. I hope that next year I’ll have the opportunity to cross swords with Wlad. This is the 2nd time in three years that I placed second in the DBA tourney. Wlad received the DBA trophy and a 15mm Early Achamenid Army painted by Tod Creasey. As 2nd prize I received an unpainted 15mm Nikaian Byzantine (Book IV/31) army donated by The Ottawa Miniature Gamers. Thanks to all that make this event the apex of the Cangames weekend.

The very Popular Star Wars: A New Hope

Winner of the award: for Best Theme Game

Any mistakes in this text regarding names, armies or events are mine alone. Please advise me and I will make changes. It has been two weeks since the event and I didn’t make notes for my blog. I am relying on my memory and the Cangames schedule for details. I look forward to Cangames XXXV in 2011.

Invasion Earth 2150

2010-05-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

Long before Tom Lehrer was introducing children to Silent “E” on the Electric Company, my generation was introduced to the not so silent “E” on Dr. Who. I remember rushing home after I completed my newspaper delivery in Spryfield to follow the adventures of the first two Doctors.

Hopefully the latest adventure would include an encounter those truly nasty metal clad beasts who would expound loudly upon the three “Es”.

“Eliminate! Eradicate!! Exterminate!!! Exterminate!!!”

Recently while reading the HOTT Yahoo Group Digest I came across an interesting posting that suggested that Irregular Miniatures produced in 1/300th scale an Attack Robot (NSF7) that would be perfect to fill the ecological niche occupied by the Daleks.

Photo 1: Command Stand (Centre) with Four Battle Groups

Link: http://www.irregularminiatures.co.uk/

I ordered 20 sets, enough for 40 figures. Irregular Miniatures now accepts Paypal and the figures were in my mailbox at the end of the following week. My plan was to base them for Future Wars Commander. Forty figures would be enough to provide a command stand of four figures and 12 combat stands each with three figures. I decided that I would base them on an AFV/GEV stand, instead of an infantry stand.

I had been thinking of basing them, four or five figures to a stand as infantry, but I changed my mind and figured they are extremely dangerous, but small tankettes. The latest versions of Dr. Who even have them with hover and flying abilities. This is very real improvement from the days when they couldn’t even mount or descend stairs.

Photo 2: Side view

I used a Gale Force 9 base for the Command Stand, while the combat groups are mounted on 40mmx 30mm bases purchased from Robert Knestrick. He advertises his wares on EBay under the name of missiletoe. The bases are a laminated black plastic with heavy magnetic bottom. I decided to leave them untextured and unpainted, to give them a sterile asphalt look. I can always spruce them up later if need be.

Soviet Air Power 1/285 Microarmour

2010-05-02T10:02:00.000-07:00

I started to play modern micro armour late in the 1970s using the WRG Armour and Infantry rules 1950-1975, and later the revised 1950-1985 rules set. In spite of the size of my micro armour collection I neglected to build up the air wing. This changed earlier this year, when I noticed an ad offering a large collection of modern micro-armour for sale in the Ottawa Miniature Gamers Yahoo Group. I did not need the ground forces and the gentleman was willing to part with his Soviet Air Power.

Photo 1: MI-24 Hind D and two MiG 27 Frogger

I obtained four MI-24 Hind A, one MI-24 Hind D and two MiG 27 Frogger ground attack aircraft. The one problem was that the helicopters were missing the rotors. GHQ was very helpful in providing replacement parts and I received the brass etched rotors in just 10 days, along with a full colour catalogue and a time limited coupon for my next order.

Photo 2: four MI-24 Hind A

I drilled holes into the bodies of all the airframes in order to use some Games Workshop clear flying bases to hold the aircraft in the air. As usual the base terrain was be built up using Liquitex Natural Sand, and then will be painted with DeSerres Raw Sienna (Series 1 No 185) and flocked using Citadel Sand and Scorched Grass.

DBA/HOTT 15 MM Base Camps

2010-03-07T14:43:00.000-08:00

I have not had a lot of time in recent months to work on miniatures as I am now a full time student. I grab a few hours here and there to paint. The pictures I have taken to illustrate the posts that I entered today are not the best. I will be replacing them when my tripod is returned by the manufacturer.

This was a set of 15mm Napoleonic tents that I picked up from a dealer at Cangames 3 years ago. They are a drystone casting by JR Miniatures

http://www.jrminiatures.net/1668assortedtentsset.aspx

They were easy to clean and fairly easy to paint. I never got around to painting my 15mm Napoleoic Army (Russian by Fantassin Miniatures) and thought that I'd use the 4 tents to prepare two DBA/HOTT Base Camps. One is occuplied by Dark Age Figures, the other by Ancient Chinese. Neither camp is meant to be historical.

Future War Commander Sci-Fi Wargaming Part 1

2010-03-07T14:20:00.000-08:00

Future War Commander according to the website is "an exciting wargame that allows you to re-create battles of the future using miniatures on a tabletop. Command anything from a company right up to a division and get a result in 2-3 hours without becoming bogged-down in detail. Suitable for any scale miniatures from 2mm right up to 28mm (including 6mm, 10mm, 15mm and 20mm) and no re-basing is required."

Specialist Military Publishing is a UK-based publishing company who design and publish tabletop wargaming rules. Their site is http://www.blitzkrieg-commander.com/

I have already played and enjoyed both Blitzkrieg Commander, and Cold War Commander. In antisapation of playing Future War Commander I has started to paint a 1/300th (1/285th) Micro Scale Sci-Fi Force.

Photo 1: Command Bunker, Static Artillery Bunker, and 4 GEV APCs

Photo 2: 10 Heavy Grav Tanks, 4 Missile Grav Tanks

I won these figures on an EBay Aunction Last year. It would appear that they were unauthorized copies of GEV/Orgre miniatures that are produced by Steve Jackson Games. They are resin reproductions and are not lead miniatures. Please beware.

The Anatomy of a Small War Part 3

2010-03-07T14:04:00.000-08:00

This is my final post on this subject until such time I obtain some 20mm Japanese vehicles (Trucks and Tanks). I am hoping that I'll be able to locate some at Cangames 2010.

These photos are the last of the Platoon 20 Japanese Infantry and Support Weapons that I had to paint and mount. As I posted previously, I have based the figures for a Blitzkrieg Commander game.

Photo 1: 6 Stands of LMG Teams, 1 Command Stand

Photo 2: 4 Stands of Light Mortors, and 4 Snipers.

The Anatomy of a Small War Part 2

2010-03-07T13:53:00.000-08:00

As I wrote in January I won an Ebay auction that consisted of The item of 6 x packs of 20mm scale Japanese Artillery pieces from B.P. Cast include one x 20mm AA Type 98 w/ Crew, one x 47mm AT Type 1 w/ crew, two x 75mm Howitzer Type 90 w/ crew, one x 75mm FG Type 38 w/ crew, one x 150mm Gun Type 89 w/ crew.

I personally found the castings to be on the rough side, and the directions that were provided to assemble the guns were not as clear as they should be. However, I think I managed and I have the photos to prove it. The 20mm AA gun was too delicate for my thumbs and did not survive. Each gun came with three crew members. It would appear that there are a total of four crew poses available. These figures are much smaller than 20mm figures from Platoon 20.

I allocated the the three extra crew men to two of the larger caliber guns.

Photo 1: 2 x 75mm Type 90 Howitzer , 1 x 75mm Type 38 Field Gun with all 4 crew poses ( Type 38 is the gun on the extreme right)

Photo 2: One x 47mm Anti-Tank Gun and One x 150mm Gun Type 89

La nouvelle incarnation de Draconis / The Rebirth of Draconis

2010-03-07T13:19:00.000-08:00

I received this announcement yesterday from the Draconis organization. Things are looking up for the Montreal gaming community.

La nouvelle incarnation de Draconis / The Rebirth of Draconis

www.draconismontreal.ca/

We won't inflict a phoenix cliche on you here, but this is the announcement that Draconis is officially transforming into a game club. We will shortly be launching a new website as part of that transformation, but moreimportantly, we will be organizing monthly game-days where Montrealers can assemble and play in a casual environment.

Our first such game-day will be in a few weeks, Saturday, March 20th. We'll still be organizing our annual convention in October, and we'll be releasing more information about that soon. Both of these activities will have sections dedicated to them on our website, where you can find more information. We'll also launch new forums where you can discuss both the game-days and the convention, as well as any other issues related to games or other subjects.

Our current focus is on tabletop role playing games and board games because that is where the interest and expertise of our committee lies. If you are a fan of collectible games, war games, live action role playing, or any other branch of our very broad hobby, then please contact us! We would love to have someone new on the committee who can promote and organize a new area for us.

The Anatomy of a Small War Part 1

2010-01-10T11:30:00.000-08:00

The Anatomy of a Small War: The Soviet-Japanese Struggle for Changkufeng/Khasan, 1938 by Alvin D Coox © 1977

“…in the midsummer of 1938 a desperate two-week’s battle, fought over and around Changkufeng between the Japanese 19th Division, stationed in north Korea, and somewhat larger Soviet ground forces with air support. The battle remained limited because both sides had good reason to avoid a full-scale war-The Japanese because of their unfolding conflict with China, the Russians because of the threatening situation in Europe.” Edwin O. Reischauer

I picked up this book years ago, either at a yard sale or a used book store. It was a discard from the London Public Libraries and over the Christmas holidays I started to read it. In the beginning of the border struggle (July 31, 1938) Mr. Coax has provided some very fine descriptions of small unit actions centred on the Changkufeng hills west of the Khasan Lake district.

Over the next two weeks the dispute developed so at the end on August 11th 1938 when the cease fire went into effect the Japanese had committed 12 Infantry Battalions and 33 Artillery Pieces, while the USSR had superiority in numbers. They had committed an 27 infantry battalions, a 100 pieces of artillery and only had about 20 tanks remaining on the front. During the previous two weeks, it was reported by the Japanese, that Soviet assults contained anywhere from 10-100 tanks at a time with air support.

Map: Mounting the Assault Changkufeng, the evening of 30 July 1938

I realized early on in my reading that I must have had about 100 Platoon 20 Japanese Infantry figures that I had picked up years ago to use as “minions” for my pulp fiction, Daredevils’ Campaign. So last weekend I dug them out and sat down to get them painted.

Photo 1: Ranks 1-3 Blitzkrieg Commander 4 Japanese Infantry Companies
Rank 4 ( Left) Two Combat Engineers ( Right) Two Inf Recce Units

I have based them for the Blitzkrieg Commander rules but feel they are still acceptable to my old standby favorite, the WRG Rules for Armour and Infantry 1925-1950. I noticed last week on Ebay there was an auction of 6 packs of WW2 Japanese artillery in 20mm scale and I was the successful bidder. I’m looking forwarding to adding that fire power to the infantry.

Photo 2: Front Rank 4 Stands of FAO (Foreward Artillery Observers)
Rear Rank 3 Stands HQ Units

Work In Progress:

The item of 6 x packs of 20mm scale Japanese Artillery pieces from B.P. Cast include one x 20mm AA Type 98 w/ Crew, one x 47mm AT Type 1 w/ crew, two x 75mm Howitzer Type90 w/ crew, one x 75mm FG Type 38 w/ crew, one x 150mm Gun Type 89 w/ crew. I now have to find a couple of tanks to round out the force,

I still have 4 stands of 50mm mortors and 6 stands of two man light machine guns to finish. As with the infantry stands I am using a mix of paints. For the Japanese Uniforms I am utilizing the Vallejo Model Colour 923, Japanese Uniform Paint and 709234 Russian Uniform for the helmets.

All other paints for the figures are from The Games Workshop line. Gun metal, Snakeskin Leather (Flesh), Bestial Brown (wood for the rifles), Sand (Boots and Leggings) with a Brown Ink Wash.

The bases are a mix of Gale Force 9 for the FAO and HQ stands, while the infantry stands are 40mmx 30mm purchased from Robert Knestrick. He advertises his wares on EBay under the name of missiletoe. The bases are a laminated black plastic with heavy magnetic bottom. The thickness is 0.07” (heavy 1/16”). The cut is clean and accurate to .010”. If you are interested I can forward his contact information and the last price list I received from him.

The base terrain was be built up using Liquitex Natural Sand, and then will be painted with DeSerres Raw Sienna (Series 1 No 185) and flocked using Citadel Sand and Scorched Grass.

DBA: Knights of the Order of Saint John the Hospitaller

2009-12-23T16:18:00.000-08:00

This unit of knights was advertised on Ebay OLD GLORY 25 MM MEDIEVAL FIGURES FIRST CRUSADES. However checking them out on the Old Glory Website they are very clearly Product ID: DAC-22 Knights-barded horses and mace from the Third Crusade- Richard the Lionhearted line. I needed some opposition to go against the Saraceens that I was working on earlier this year and choose to produce a unit of "Holy Orders". The design is basic, and would benefit from a steadier hand than mine, but I like the effect. The armour could easily be anywhere from 1250-1320 and could represent the order before it was exiled to Rhodes in 1309.

To back them up I have a solid unit of heavy foot. This unit was produced by 6 packs of Ral Partha Adventures bought on Ebay almost 7 years ago. They were painted up pretty much one weekend and decals on the shields are from the Warhammer Fantasy line.

I also have a unit of Revenge Miniatures Norman Heavy Infantry (DA25) that I have started to work on. They also have the benefits of being almost identical to the Heavy Frankish Infantry which saw action in the Holy Lands or they can be used in surpressing the Saxon serfs in Merrie Ode Englande in the days of Robin Hood. The pack came with 32 figures, two of them casualties (see front rank in photo below) and unattached kite shields (not shown).

HOTT: Robin Hood

2009-12-23T15:49:00.000-08:00

As a child growing up watching the Richard Greene ITV series or enjoying the classic 1939 Errol Flynn film, Robin Hood has always been a favorite legend that excited my imagination. Three years ago I exchanged some emails with Joseph Lappin on the subject and purposed the following options for building a Robin Hood Hordes of the Things Army. in 25mm scale.

HOTT Robin Hood Army List

Stronghold: Camp in Sherwood Forest
1 Hero @ 4 AP (Robin Hood)
1 Cleric @ 3 AP (Friar Tuck)
1 Sneaker @ 3AP (Maid Marian) Can easily enter into Castles/Enemy Camps/Etc
1 Lurker @ 1AP (Allen-a-Dale)
As wandering minstrel he hangs out in Bars/Fairs/Villages/ along the roadside
1 to 4 Four man Shooters @ 2 AP (The Merry Men)
1 to 4-Three man Warbands @ 2 AP (The Merry Men led by John Little & Will Scarlet) Note:Could be Spears but I think Irregular warbands more likely
1-4 Hordes @ 1AP Each Local Villagers

Possible 1 Paladin @ 4 AP (John Little)
Stout of Heart/ Brave beyond Belief/ Can best Robin Hood in Man to Man Combat

Example 1: Some Merry Men as Three Elements of Shooters

Example 2: Hordes of Angry Villagers "To Arms"

Diplomacy Game Has Moved

2009-12-23T15:21:00.000-08:00

I decided to create an entire new blog for the Diplomacy Game. Captain's Blog Diplomacy can be found at

http://www.rhingleydippy.blogspot.com/

This will allow Captain's Blog to continue to showcase my miniature production.

Roman Western Archers contubernium

2009-11-09T18:17:00.000-08:00

Last year Librairie Donjon, a gaming shop in Montreal, brought in a number of packages of miniatures by Warlord Games. I thought it a fine opportunity to check out the quality of the figures as well as pick up a box of Western Imperial Archers. My army already contained two units of Eastern Aux Archers (figures by Old Glory) I also purchased the Auxiliary Command pack which contains a Centurion, Cornicen, Singifer and a separate signum standard.

The following Archer unit utilized 14 of the 16 archers that came in the box. The box contained four main figure designs. These are equally divided between standing and kneeing figures. The figures appear to be true 28mm scale, are very clean and needed almost no work to remove excess flash. They were a joy to paint. I like the fact the base of each figure appears to be of about a uniform size and shape. I only used the Cornicen and the Singifer from Warlord Games on the command element. I felt the Centurion would not add to the unit’s look and substituted archers.

The unit below consists of 20 figures based on 5 elements. The command element is a BTD Auxiliary Command Pack at 28mm scale. The main body of men was produced by painting up two packages of Wargames Foundry IR7/8 Western Auxiliary Archers. The packs I won on EBay each had 7 figures at what appear to be 25mm scale. I then filled out the unit with two kneeing archers from the Warlord Games collection of figures.

The Warlord Games Auxiliary Command pack differs from the Black Tree Design Command Pack in 3 main ways. The signum standard is a separate piece in the Warlord Games pack. I personally prefer the standard to be integrated as part of the figure. The BTD pack includes an Optio (the cohorts 2IC) as a 4th figure. The last point is the Cornicen and the Singifer of the Warlord Games figures are wearing wolf pelts, while the BTD figures appear to be wearing bear skins.

The figures are all mounted on Baccus Bases as described in the posting on Roman Auxiliary Infantry. I'd like to add that I do not think you can go wrong if you decide to add some Warlord Games' miniatures to your armies.

Roman Auxiliary Infantry

2009-11-08T14:54:00.000-08:00

Last month reported I only needed to paint two more units of Auxiliary Infantry, two units of western Auxiliary Archers, and a unit of Auxiliary Heavy Cavalry in order to complete my Roman Army. I have since found that I have a number of pieces of siege equipment with crew and a 2nd cavalry unit that needs to be done.

I have completed the infantry portion of this work except for the bases and felt I should report on my progress.

The first unit consists of a command element with figures by Black Tree Design (BTD) and three elements of Wargames Foundry miniatures. The one pack of infantry came from a bygone age. There were 12 figures in the package, and were almost 30mm scale as opposed to the advertised 28mm scale. I love these figures. They are easy to paint and have a real heft to them. The figures are cast as a single piece including their shield. I like this aspect of the figure.

The second unit has the identical command element with figures from BTD. The figures are number IA1152 Auxiliaries Command and consists of four figures, a Centurion, a Cornicen ( the musician with the cornu), a Signifer (with a signum standard) and an Optio (the 2IC (Second in command)). These are true 28 mm scale figures.

The PBI in this unit consists of 16 figures/ four elements with figures by Wargames Foundy. The figures (two packs of IR7/4 Auxilia at the Ready) have scaled down in recent years. One package contains 8 Figures, not 12 and the figures are closer to 25mm scale. The shield comes separate and needs to be glued to the figure.

The decals on the shields are by Veni Veni Vici and were originally advertised as being for Foundry figures when I made their purchase. They fit the shields of the newer/smaller miniatures perfectly. The central hole in the decal is too small to fit over the central shield boss of the older/larger figures.

All these figures have been mounted on bases that I bought from Baccus6mm but I do not find this item listed on their current website. They are 2mm thick laser cut ply and my intensions after I have built up the ground and flocked the base will be to add a magnetic base bottom by Litko Aerosystem. It is just a peel-and-stick action to add the flex magnet base.

25 Year Drought Ends. Montreal Canadians Win Game

2009-10-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

In the years since Feb 23, 1984 when I attended my first NHL game at the Montreal Forum I never saw the Canadians win a match. I moved to MTL in 1997 and in the years that followed both the Habs and the Expos continued to disappoint when I was in attendence. The 25 year old drought ended tonight with the 3-2 victory over the NY Islanders.

BTW The Winnipeg Jets won the game so many years ago.

Draconis 2009

2009-10-25T07:07:00.000-07:00

I’ve been meaning to write about my experience at the Draconis convention all week. The convention had no miniature component and IMO was top heavy with RPGs. However this is part of give the people what they want. I signed up for only one game in advance and that was to play Talisman on Saturday morning.

The convention was held Friday night to Sunday afternoon (Oct 16th to Oct 18th) with six game slots, each of 4 hours length with a break in between. Thus we had one slot on Friday, three on Saturday and two on Sunday. I believe there were 15 gaming tables located in two rooms, a dealer’s room and a small AV room for the panels and workshops that were held. I would estimate overall attendance at about 150 people.

My main goal was to play some board games and help out Doug Blair with his Ludus Locus tables. Doug's description was “Ludus Locus is a free gaming area manned by some dedicated board game enthusiasts. Many popular board game titles will be available in both French and English. Gamers are invited to stop by in their free time and try a new game or play an old favorite.” Doug brought in about 20 games and I contributed to the cause withTrans America, Illuminati, Beltstrike and a copy of Wings of War.

Friday night at Ludus Locus I along with 4 other newbies were introduced by Doug to Ticket to Ride, a rail road game. After one round we were left on our own and finished playing in less than two hours. I then introduced the other four players to Illuminati and refed while the others played. Ticket to Ride was my favorite board game of the weekend.

Sat 9:00 AM I played Talisman (3rd edition). We had a 5 player game and at 1:00 PM when our timeslot ran out, there were three players standing that had a chance to take on the dragon king. So to decide a winner, we had Dragon King face off. It took three attempts before I was able to slay the great worm. The others failed.

Sat 2:00 PM Back to Ludus Locus, where I was introduced to the board game adaptation of Ken Follet’s, Pillars of the Earth (actually Les Piliers de la Terre). It is a six turn manpower-resource management game where one gains victory points towards building the cathedral. The player with the most points wins. Events and available resources are card driven.

Sat 7:00 PM I took a break and went out to watch the hockey game. The Canadians lost.

Sun 9:00 AM Back to Ludus Locus where I was one of three players in Notre Dame. This is another church building game set in Paris during the middle ages. A player earns prestige points that are considered his contribution to the erection of Notre Dame. The game lasts three main turns, each with three sub turns and one major book keeping phase. The Black Death is very real and every player keeps track of the rat population in their “quartier”, as it has negative effects on one’s prestige Like Pillars of the .Earth, events and resources are card driven. Notre Dame is the more complex game.

I then showed one person how to play Trans America, a small railway building game. It took about 45 minutes to complete.

Sun 2:00 PM One of the things that we were doing over the weekend was playing Wings of War whenever there was spare time. We had one final dogfight between Doug and myself. I already had earned four kills over the weekend and needed one more to become an ace. I had not been shot down. It was our first encounter. Doug went down under my guns but it took a while. I flew the Sopwith Camel for this match. You have to love the right rotary turn of this plane.

Ludus Locus was sponsored by Filosofia (www.filosofiagames.com) and the last act of the weekend was to randomly draw a name from a list of all of the participants (well over 60 individual entries) who took part in the various games played over the weekend at the Ludus Locus corner. The prize offered by Filosofia was a copy of the board game Megawatts, the French version of Power Grid, with France and Quebec map boards. Congratulations to Luc Millette, the winner of the draw, as well as to Doug Blair for having run a successful gaming weekend.

Doug was approached by the convention committee and asked to run the board gaming program at next year's convention.

I would call the weekend a success. I learned to play three new games, won Talisman and achieved ace status playing Wings of War. I look forward to Draconis 2010 (the 5th edition) next fall.

Remembering F/Sgt Earl William Bock

2009-10-23T08:11:00.000-07:00

It was 65 years ago last night that a young man of 21 was killed in action over the skies of Germany. Earl William Bock was one of my two namesakes, my grandfather being the other.

The following information was obtained from Dave Stapleton of the 626 Squadron Research Project on F/Sgt Bock's last mission.

The 626 Squadron Operations Record Book RAF Form 540 (The Squadron Diary) records that F/Sgt Earl William Bock was posted into 626 Squadron with his crew on the 2nd September 1944 from 11 Base. F/Sgt Bock was the Rear Gunner in the crew and flew 11 operational sorties with the crew.

On the 22nd October 1944 the crew took off on their 11th operational sortie in Lancaster LM689 UM-N2. The task on this sortie was mine laying in the Kattegat area and only two 626 Squadron Lancasters were detailed to fly on this operation; they were part of a force of 20 Lancasters and 19 Halifaxes. The aircraft took off at 16.27hrs.

At 20.21hrs on the homeward bound leg of the sortie the aircraft was attacked by an unidentified enemy aircraft at close range from below and dead astern. The Mid Upper Gunner fired 100 rounds in the direction of the trace (tracer bullets from the enemy aircraft) and he observed a long burst from the rear turret before the Rear Gunner F/Sgt E W Bock stopped firing. It was later found that F/Sgt Bock had been killed by cannon fire from the enemy aircraft.

The Lancaster was riddled with 19 x 20mm cannon shells along the length of the fuselage, the port aileron had been shot away and the intercom was unserviceable. The bomb doors had also been blown open. The aircraft made a safe landing at RAF Woodbridge on its return.

My father was also tail gunner on a 626 SQD Lancaster and often wondered why he was lucky enough to have made it, when others like his friend Earl did not. So this Remembrance Day, during the two minutes of silence please give thoughts or a prayer to a memory of a young man whose life was cut short so long ago.

Earlier this year after a trip to the Memorial Chapel in the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill I discovered that Earl's nephew, Art Osborne had published on-line a page of remembrance. It was from his site that I obtained the picture used at the top of this post.

http://www.artosborne.com/9.html

Earl Bock's name is displayed on page 252 of the WW2 Book of Remembrance on May 27th each year.

Draconis 2009 Montreal's Own Gaming Convention

2009-10-16T06:50:00.000-07:00

This weekend is Montreal's own gaming convention. The con starts tonight when the doors open at 6:00PM and will end Sunday evening at 6:00PM. It is top heavy with RPGs and has no miniature component but I'll be attending to play some board games.

Draconis 2009 Link: http://www.draconismontreal.ca/index.php

From the English home page we have:

Draconis is a game convention held annually in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Traditionally, it occurs during the autumn. For this year's edition, the convention will be returning to its original location, the Days Hotel and Conference Centre, near Guy-Concordia Metro. The focus this year will be on tabletop roleplaying games and board games.

In the past, board games have been a weak point for the convention, so this year we're encouraging more people to run and play them. We also plan to host some of the new organised roleplaying campaigns, such as Living Forgotten Realms and Pathfinder Society.

The location is

Days Hotel & Conference Center
1005 Guy Street
Montreal (Quebec), Canada
H3H 2K4

Roman Auxilary Light Cavalry Completed

2009-10-16T06:38:00.000-07:00

I picked up this unit of Roman Auxilary Light Cavalry 3 or 4 years ago and spent the last two days on getting it ready for the field. I have set a deadline for myself of the end of the month to finish painting my Roman army.

This is the third complete Roman Army I've painted. The first was my Airfix Plastics which have long gone the way of the Dodo. It was my first attempt at minis while I was still living at home. In the early 1980s I purchased a 25mm lead Roman army. I don't even remember the make of the figures but over the years it had many add ons thanks to Ral Partha miniatures.

About 5 years ago I decided it was time to retire my 25 year veterans and replace the old figures with new. I've made a slow and steady progress and I am at the point where I only need to paint two more units of Auxilary Infantry, two units of western empire Archers, and a unit of Auxilary Heavy Cavalry.

My new army consists of a mix of Foundry, Black Tree Design, Old Glory, Gripping Beast and Warlord Miniatures. Mixing gives a varity of poses and some differences in size of the figures. Most are in the 28mm scale.

The unit pictured above is from the Old Glory Imperial Roman Line. It is PRR-07(Roman Auxillary Light Cavalry) and is listed as 25mm scale. Old Glory Figures do not come with spears or javelins and you have to provide your own. They do offer packs of weapons for sale. I used the package of Foundry Lances (80mm steel pins) that I received this week. I cut the lance into two equal sized parts. Looking at the unit I feel that the javelins are too long at 40mm length but they'll have to do.

With Old Glory miniatures you need to drill a hole through the hand to in order to insert the javelin. I just used a Citadel Hand Drill and it took about 2-3 mins per figure. The result works.

Roman Cataphracts Part IV (Completed)

2009-10-12T11:40:00.000-07:00

It took about 5 hours of work spread between yesterday morning and today but the riders are now painted for the Roman Cataphracts. They have been glued to their horses and pass my painting standard (the three foot rule). I just need to add lances and paint the Vexillum to complete the unit. I am awaiting for the arrival of a package of Foundry Lances that I purchased last week on E-Bay. My sole fear is that they will appear to be too large in the hands of these 25mm figures. If so then I have some old piano wire spears that I'll attach instead. So I will now declare this project completed.

Saracen DBA/HOTT Part V: Arabian Myth

2009-10-10T08:28:00.000-07:00

To recap an earlier posting, I had purchased on E-Bay from Mega Miniatures a number of individual figures that include an Arabian slave with fan, an Arabian Mage & crystal ball, Arabian Priest praying, Arabian Knight Commander, 2 Arabian Knight with Scimitars, and a street beggar.

My plan was to utilize these figures to create a number of HOTT (Hordes of the Things) Elements for an Arabian Mythos army. A hard rain was falling yesterday morning and I completed these figures.

Photo 1) The Caliph with his giant Negro Bodyguards (Blade General Element)
Figures used: Arabian Knight Commander, 2 Arabian Knight with Scimitars,

Due to the base size of the miniatures I was only able to get three figures on this Blade Element. I was going to include the Arabian slave with fan as part of this element but choose to place that figure on the Clerical Element instead.

Photo 2) A Vizier and Bodyguard (Magician General Element)
Figures used: Arabian Mage & crystal ball, BTD Warrior of Islam for a Bodyguard and what I believe to be a Real Partha levitating mage.
My original plan was to just base the Mega Miniature Mage and the Black Tree Design spear man as a bodyguard on this base. However as a 60mm by 60mm area it came across as quite bare.

I remembered that I had a Real Partha Magic User figure that could be added to the element as a filler. The figure itself appears to be levitating but is actually held in the air on the back of an ensorcelled demon and is the figure that came to dominate the element.

Photo 3: Imam as a Cleric Element
Figures used: Arabian Priest praying and an Arabian slave with fan. Both figures by Mega Miniatures

Photo 4: Street Beggar as a Lurker Element

When I first ordered the figure I thought that I would place it on the Clerical Element as a supporting figure but I then came around to the idea that it would make a perfect Lurker figure in its own right.

Note: BTD (Black Tree Design) figure update. This past week I was informed that the bow figures that I had on back order were finally due to arrive and that I should have them sometime next week. Once painted the Bow/Shooter elements will complete this project.

Darius, King of Kings (Completed)

2009-10-05T18:03:00.000-07:00

The King of Kings and two of his associated suicide chariot drivers have been completed. As I wrote in my last post it was a thread in a Yahoo Group (NS Historical Gamers) that inspired me to dig out these Old Glory Models and commence work.

For some reason I found that the Chariot of this figure was at too much of an angle when I attached it to the horses. As a result I had to build up the rear of the element's base to allow the wheels of the chariot to be level with the horses' hooves with a 2nd layer of plastic card. I then used a thicker Gel to level off the front half of the element to ensure a level "playing field". Darius looks like he could be giving someone the finger.

Yesterday when I completed work on the Darius Model I also finished painting and basing two Persian 4-Horse Scythed Chariots. I have to admit that volunteering to drive these babies into a Greek Phalanx or a unit of Indian Elephants would not be a job that I'd apply for.

These figures were the first 25-28mm Chariots that I've worked on. I have painted some Chinese and Hittite 15mm chariots in the past. I like the fact that the yokes had eyes so that I could thread reins between the drivers and the horses. Next time I must remember to paint the chariot bodies and wheels separately before gluing them together.

BTW I finally started to paint the Riders of the Roman Cataphract units I have.

A Touch of Whimsy: Kinder Surprise

2009-09-28T20:02:00.000-07:00

Last week when I was in the check out line at my local grocery store the total had rang up to $49.94. I was 6 cents short of free delivery. Otherwise I'd have to pay a $3 fee. There in front of me, laid a solution. I grabbed a Kinder Surprise Egg for my room mate.

One morning last week she broke it open. It contained a toy boat. When she brought the boat in to me and said I could have it, I immediately thought I have an army that can go with this.

Last Victoria Day weekend at the Cangames Marketplace, I purchased a 6mm Baccus Punic War Army. I intend to paint and mount the army for Warmaster Ancient ruleset. So far I have mounted the three elephants that came with it.

I glued the boat to a GF9 40mm square Magnetic base and the sea was built up using Liquitex Natural Sand Texture Gel. Once the base was painted blue and whitecaps added I really felt that it looked like a fun piece to go with the army.

Above: Jason and the Argonaults are about to be rolled over by a rogue wave. (Just ignore the SPQR on the sail)

Go West, Young Man! Part II

2009-09-28T19:42:00.000-07:00

While working on the ZiS-2 57mm Anti-tank gun I pulled out of a box a overstrength squad/ under strength platoon of World War II Soviet Infantry that I had worked on. I just had to mount them on Gale Force 9 Magnetic Bases (25mm square) in order to complete the unit.

The figures are a mix of West Wind: Berlin or Bust and Black Tree Design.

Work in Progress: Darius, King of Kings Part I

2009-09-28T19:11:00.000-07:00

I was reading postings in a Yahoo Group (NSHistoricalGamers) that I follow and one thread of discussion was on Ancient Chariot Armies. As a result I dug out three Old Glory Persian Chariots that I've had for a while and started work. The first was the Persian King in 2-Horse Chariot and the other two are Persian 4-Horse Scythed Chariots. I have completed the work on Darius' chariot and crew.

Since taking the above photo I finished painting the two horses but have not mounted the unit on a base. Painting continues on the Scythed Chariots models.
I used a decal from a Veni Vidi Vici Hellenistic shield sheet that I have (GG8) on the King of Kings sun umbrella. I just had to punch a hole in it's centre.

WW2 Soviet 57mm AT-Gun ZiS-2 Model 1943

2009-09-21T08:19:00.000-07:00

In an August posting I wrote that I made an impulse Buy-It-Now bid on a Soviet 57mm AT-Gun by Black Tree Design at 28mm Scale. The item arrived last week and since it was a stand alone piece I went to work on it right away.

The gun arrived in nine pieces that needed to be put together. I used Games Workshop Superglue, which I personally think, is their one product that provides the most bang for the buck to put the piece together. The parts that needed to be assembled were an axcle body, two wheels, a gun mantle, the AT gun, two limbers and two tiny screw wheels for sight adjustments.

In addition three crew members were included. One of the figures is equiped with a generic type shell. It is obvious that it is a) too big for the bore of the gun and b) is clearly not an AT round.

Gunners and the gun were mounted on seperate GF9 40mm square magnetic bases.

Saracen DBA/HOTT Part IV

2009-09-14T13:17:00.000-07:00

I received in the mail today the Warriors of Islam from Black Tree Designs that I ordered at the end of August. It was a unit builder pack, which consists of a mix of 20 figures in various poses. The package I received had 22 figures (13 sword and 9 spear). My only complaint with the BTD figures is the type of spear that is provided. It consists of a thin length wire that needs to be cut. For the last batch of spear men I processed I used left over spears from other projects.

This photo is the figures after cleaning off excess flash and laying them out to dry after their bath:

I finally remembered to take a clear picture of the Flying Carpet for the HOTT rules:

Diplomacy 1454AD Play by Email

2009-09-10T12:27:00.000-07:00

This is my final post of the day. I know it's not miniature related but I decided to include it. I recently ran a play by email Diplomacy Game for some old gaming buddies from back east. It was a lot of fun and I think a success. I have been asked to run a return match and all of the players have agreed to take part. One of the players made a suggestion that I should look at some of the varients that were available and I selected to run

Renaissance Diplomacy II (me04) Start Spring 1454:

Site: http://variantbank.org/results/classificationm.asp

This variant is set in Renaissance Europe and played on the standard Diplomacy map. The only difference on the map is that Switzerland is passable, and is a neutral supply center. The great powers and starting positions are as follows:

Holy Roman Empire: F Berlin, A Vienna, A Munich
England: F Brest, A Liverpool, F London
France: F Belgium, A Marseilles, A Paris
Spain: F Spain (sc), A Portugal, F Naples
Venice: A Venice, A Trieste, F Greece
Poland-Lithuania: A St.Petersburg, A Warsaw, F Sevastopol
Ottoman Turks: F Bulgaria (ec), F Smyrna, A Constantinople, A Ankara

There are still seven great powers. The opening balance will be different and the players will have to deal with a complete new world instead of the standard opening moves. I think that this will also encouage more diplomacy. I also shook up the inital colours. I especially wanted to break up the two hues of blue normally depicting England and France.

The first moves will be due in mid October, but I wanted to see what the board would look like and this allows the players without a game board to see the map as well:

Saracen DBA/HOTT Part III

2009-09-10T11:32:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to make postings at least once a week but that plan seems to have fallen through. I think I'm averaging a posting every 10 days. I have finished painting the Black Tree Design Warriors of Islam. I originally purchased two packs of 20 figures. Each came with 10 swords men and 10 spear men. Thrown into the mix was an extra command figure. As noted before I only needed to finish painting the spearmen.

I have chosen to mount them into two elements of 4 Spearmen and four elements of 3 Auxilia (or Warband). I also had a Hero Element (using the Leader figure and a couple of cronies) that I had to mount and flock at the same time as the spearmen.

Figures are mounted on 1.5mm Evergreen plastic card. Ground was built up using Golden Artist Colors Coarse Pumice Gel. The bases were then painted with DeSerres Raw Sienna (Series 1 No 185) and flocked using Citadel Sand and Scorched Grass.

Picture One: Two Elements of 4 man Spear and one Hero Element:

Pictures Two: Four Elements of Three Man Auxilia or Warband

I still have a couple of remaining figures to paint. The planned elements include the Vizier and Bodyguard (Magician General Element) or the Caliph with his giant Negro Bodyguards (Blade General Element) and an Iman as a Cleric Element all for use with HOTT rules.

I am still waiting for the arrival of the backordered Bowmen to complete the needed shooter Elements for this army.

Go West, Young Man!

2009-08-30T08:57:00.000-07:00

These words could have been issued by Marshall Joseph Stalin, as part of a Stavka directive. My plans to paint the Saracen Spear Men fell through the last two weeks. My niece was visiting and after she left I was away from my apartment for slightly over a week. I brought with me some 28mm World War II Soviets to paint. They were already packed to be moved for such an eventuality.

The heat wave continued in Montreal and one of the things I heard on the local CBC radio had to do with the power of positive thinking. Think or do things that remind you of cooler days. I spent Wednesday at an outdoor pool, which was great and I was cool for a day.

But what makes me think of cool weather? World War II Soviets in their winter gear. What’s cooler than Siberians taking part in a winter offensive, unless you’re on the receiving end of things, in which case it’s hotter than hell?

The photographs have a mix of the Black Tree Designs figures and West Wind, “Berlin or Bust” line. I find both lines to be near enough in size to one another that they are easily compatible for game play. I personally think the Black Tree Design miniatures show more detail in their figures.

The bases are magnetic bases available from Gale Force 9 and have been built up with Liquitex Natural Sand Texture Gel.

The tank is a T-34/85 cast metal model, and I was not willing to give it a whitewash. I do not know the manufacturer. I am unable to locate a name, trademark, or a scale on it. I assume that it is 1/48th or 1/50th Scale. It is a far from perfect match for the 28mm Infantry but is all right for a skirmish game. It came in a box of odds and ends that I picked up at Cangames a few years ago.

On Saturday I could not help myself. I saw a 57mm Soviet Anti-Tank Gun by Black Tree Design for auction on EBay. I clicked the “Buy it Now” button. What a fool was I! The same item is currently on sale at half price directly from Black Tree. I must learn to control my impulses.

Meanwhile regarding the Saracens: I am still waiting to receive the original two packs of Saracen archers (FD1019 Warriors of Islam Infantry with Bows (4 figures)) I ordered last month. John from Black Tree USA called on another matter. He said that some items are currently out of stock at the Texas warehouse and the UK source is on their August holidays. The pipelines will reopen shortly. I already ordered another package of infantry (AB1057 Warriors of Islam Infantry (20 figures)). At 50% off, I can’t go wrong and they were mailed to me last week I need them in order to build some warband elements for DBA.

Terrain: Eluding Morpheus or The River of Dreams.

2009-08-13T20:59:00.001-07:00

In Montreal, we've had a week of hot and humid weather. A couple of nights I've woken up in the wee hours of the morning and was unable to return to blessed sleep. I was not comfortable with the thought of doing detailed work on my miniatures, nor did I want to read. I turned instead to a terrain piece that has been calling out for paint.

(Note: In the photo above notice the 3"-4" transition piece feeding into a 4" river section at the lower right hand corner of the image)

I had an Armorcast River. I started the river collection while I was still living in Halifax. I bought a 4" two piece package from Odyssey 2000, a store which I understand no longer exists. So there I was with 14 inches of straight river 4 inches wide. It was always in the back of my mind that I'd have to buy more.

Fast forward, the year is now 2007. I purchased at auction an 3" Armorcast Boxed River set. It was 4 feet long. It was still not long enough to stretch the length of my six foot gaming (dining room) table. I needed more!

By 2008 I acquired a 3''-4" River Transitions pack (2 pieces) that would allow me to run the two 4 inch river pieces into the 3 inch river boxed set and provide me with the needed filler to allow the river to cross the length of my table. Time to paint.

I followed the directions according to Armorcast. Earlier I cleaned the seams on the individual river sections and washed the pieces in warm soapy water. When properly dried I sprayed them with gray base coat (Canadian Tire Primer). Over three nights, for the loss of 5 hours sleep, I completed the majority of the work.

The paints I selected for the task were Raw Sinna (Series 1) for the river banks, and Cobalt Blue (Series 5) for the water. Both were imported by Omar DeSerres Inc. Once the riverbanks dried I inked the Raw Sinna with a Games Workshop Chestnut Ink. This was a KISS (Keep it Simple) principle job. I wasn't going to be bogged down painting different colours for all the possible rock variations.

The river is complete and ready to game with. It needs some more work. In addition to various areas of sand along the river sides, there is the plant life which needs to be touched up.

That's it for now. My next posting will be when I've completed painting my Arabian Spear men.

Saracen DBA/HOTT Part II Arabian Myth

2009-08-12T22:00:00.000-07:00

As for a Hordes of the Things (HOTT) Photo, I think this comes out fairly good. The Flying Carpet is clearly shown. The individual photos I took of it were pretty blurry, so this is a good shot.

Rear Rank: Flyer (Flying Carpet)
Front Rank: (L2R)
Behemoth (the water Djinn), 2 elements of Horde, and Lurkers (team of Assassins)

Saracen DBA/HOTT

2009-08-12T07:44:00.000-07:00

Many years ago I received into my care part of a 25mm Saracen army. I believed the figures where by Heritage Miniatures. The previous owner ran them under the old 5th and 6th Editions of the Wargames Research Rules. In the late 70s and early 80s it was a popular rule set in the Halifax gaming community. I'm sure that I've had these figures sitting around for close to 20 years under my care and I decided that I needed to do something with them. That's where the easy playability of the DBA/HOTT rules came to mind. Plus you don't need hundreds of figures.

Under DBA I would get enough elements to run either a Syrian 1092AD- 1286 AD (IV/5) or a Seljuk Truk 1037AD-1276AD (III/73) army. In either case I had the horseflesh. What I needed was infantry. I had the same requirements for an Arabian Myth Army under HOTT, with some extra figures to fine tune the fantasy elements of it.

I dug through my boxes of lead and discovered I had both a flying carpet (Black Tree Design- I have no idea when or where I bought this piece) and a Ralph Partha water/air elemental (I'm not sure which) that I could use as a Genie or Djinn. I ended up basing it as a water Djinn, which may not be a proper usage in the Arabian mythos but looks great as a figure on a base.

Last week I spent time painting two elements of hordes and an element of lurkers (Assassins). The figures are by Black Tree Design. I have spear men that I need to paint as well as bowmen that are on back order. Black Tree offers some really good deals. I found the figures easy to clean and they currently offer some unit deals (20 foot in some cases at 50% off the regular price). I think I'll order some more. Damn, there's that addiction again.

In addition I picked up on EBay from MegaMiniatures, a number of individual figures that include an Arabian slave with FAN, Arabian Mage & crystal ball, Arabian Priest praying, Arabian Knight Commander, 2 Arabian Knight with Scimitars, and a street beggar. MegaMiniatures have a large inventory of what look like to me to be unique type of figures to help fill any need.

That is all I have for now.