Bretonnian Duke

Alex finished up this Bretonnian lord over the weekend. I thought I'd give it an entry of its own as it didn't really fit in with the Doggerland stuff. He also started to glue up another unit of Men-at-Arms to augment his growing Bretonnian army. At the same time, he started on some more Warhammer 40K Space Marines. More on those when they are painted.

I managed to finish painting several fantasy minis but they still need their matt varnish spray etc to finish them. Hopefully these will start to see the blogosphere any day soon.

The Real Doggerland

I was reading the Metro (a free daily newspaper in the UK) on the way to work a few weeks back and came across the following article, which I duly cut out and scanned into my computer. It is a very simplistic view of what Doggerland may have looked like but I thought I'd share it. I have studied this prehistoric landscape in more detail whilst taking a Prehistoric Archaeology diploma at night classes. A lot more has been found out about Doggerland recently, after several sea-bed scans have been made. I based my game map on a map from an 'offical' website, but amended it somewhat for gameplay. Anyway, enjoy the article for an insight into what drew me into using Doggerland as a game setting.

Doggerland, for me though, is a somewhat Howardian Hyperborea. A time when ancient empires were growing from the wandering tribes as they started to settle down. The tribes in my Doggerland are more advanced technologically than the people of the real land bridge; I see them more as what we would now call 'Ancients' - Bronze/Early Iron Age people with a smattering of magic thrown in. However, this all came to an end for the peoples of Doggerland with a great deluge, which swept away any vestiges of civilisation they had, plungeing the rest of the world back into a Mesolithic Age.

On the theme of 'cave-men', here are a couple I picked up many moons ago from Denizen (I think). I painted them yesterday and based and varnished them today.

I have started to put some paint onto a few more Roman figures, but next up should be some fantasy figures.

Doggerland - 17th Campaign Turn

A filler to be getting on with until I can get some painted miniatures up on the blog. Here is the 17th Campaign turn summary for Doggerland.



The great battle of Dogger was more than a contest of swords and spears, it was also a battle of the sharpest of tongues. All the great warlords of the land puffed and preened themselves in front of their warriors, but which of them held the loyalty of their men most steadfast? Was it the lord Bjarni with his glorious rise from raider to war chief and promises of more to come? Was it the divinely praised lord Elrich who would hold his men with belief in his greatness and the future prosperity of the Land? Or, was it the lord Bran; slayer of men and builder of castles?

NOTORIETY

(Popularity + Economic value of Territories + Military Might + Gold)

Bran Mak Morn = 185
Bjarni Glittertind = 176
Elrich the Alwise = 106
Gorgo the Grim (NP) = 22
Carloman (NP) = 0 (Killed by Elrich the Alwise)
Anker Banksidhe = 0 (Killed by Bran mak Morn)
Strom Sealegs (NP) = 0 (Killed by Bjarni Glittertind)
Ugh the Thug = 0 (Killed by Bran mak Morn)

Update and Chat

I haven't been up to much gaming-wise recently and, as a result, the blog has gone a month without any updates. This is because real life has got in the way of gaming. I have been very busy at work with a new project that will last until the end of November at the earliest.

That said, I was able to dip the paintbrush (not a euphemism) a little last weekend and I am hoping to do so again this weekend. I am feeling a bit tired and a bit fluey at the moment but have a meeting with an old friend in Brighton tomorrow evening. I'll dose up with cold remedies before I go as I could do with a night out and fish 'n' chips at our usual restaurant on the beach.

I have a few figures that should be finished by the end of the weekend provided I stick to my guns. I may also finally drag out those Warriors of Rohan and start on them - just one or two colours to get started mind.

Alex bought some more Space Marines a week or two back. He is really getting into Warhammer 40K at the moment and is busy planning his army, codex on lap, as I am typing this.

My gaming has also ground to a halt, not that I do much anyway. Doggerland is crawling along but it has recahed a great stage and should develop nicely from here on in - I should get the latest return out to the players on Sunday morning. My friend Colin has also knocked up the latest of our Tavern Knights adventures for epbm. More on this in a later post, so I can do it more justice.

What am I thinking of playing at the moment? Well, after seeing Saga at Salute I think I may be tempted by the rules. I prefer skirmish gaming and have often played games that included Fatigue, so I am interested to see how it plays in Saga. I am also thinking of knocking up a couple of 28mm SoBH 28mm warbands just to get some gaming done. I think I have enough painted stuff to manage that - just. I think my first army would be Normans as I have a good stack of knights sitting in a box; Conquest Games, Crusader, Gripping Beast and Perry make up an army about 40-50 riders strong, with plenty of footmen too. More than enough for a large Saga warband or two.

I am also becoming tempted by sci-fi  and fantasy gaming again. I used to play a very modified version of Traveller back in the day, which was then adapted for pbm as our gaming group drifted apart geographically. I think the sci-fi gaming may start up again soon. I am also tempted to dust off my old AD&D campaign and re-write it for 3E (I'm not over -enamoured by what I have seen of 4E). The conversion from AD&D to 3E should be quite simple. I have started thinking about 'modernising' the world and using my old PCs as the new world order. This should be interesting to say the least, as I have great back stories for them and then I can just make up what happened to them in the last 15-20 years to get them to where they are 'today'. It may be interesting to put some of their bios up on the blog.

I guess I just wanted to get this post out so that October didn't have a big fat zero, but I found I had quite a lot to say about nothing in the end. Hopefully things will pick up in November and get back to normal in Decmeber.

Brytenwalda Command

I am on a bit of a late one tonight, so thought I'd post the latest pictures of the minis I was working on a week or so ago. They are of a new building I bought from a company called Conflix and half-a-dozen Brytenwalda command troops from Gripping Beast.

The new building - a Barn. It is more for use with fantasy miniatures I think, but it will double up nicely for late-ish Medieval. This building has a set of double doors at the left end and the single door you can see in the facing wall. I will get round to buying a few more of these when I see them, to make up a small village...

Here's my foot commander - a Pendragon. Figure by Gripping Beast and shield transfer by LBMS.

Here's another leader type - ditto the figure and shield transfer (although it cannot be seen!).

A third leader type. I like this one as he is in the process of drawing his sword, so it is a just before the action figure. So many figures are either in marching or combat poses these days, it is nice to have one in a different type of pose.

A standard bearer type.

A couple of cornicens.

I still have about a dozen or so heavily armoured troops and some archers to paint up to finish my army. These can then hopefully take on Dunc's Saxon invaders in the very near future.

Still to come:
~20 Splintered Lands Druid's Children
8 EIR Command figures
~6 various fantasy figures
9 Nick Lund Kobolds
Then I can get onto those Warriors of Rohan I have been threatening to get onto the paint station.