Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of my readers, old and new. Thank you for dropping by and taking a peek into my little world of gaming. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and get everything you ask for in these difficult and austere times. Let us all be thankful for our families and friends and all the good things that they bring to us.

Warriors of Rohan

I haven't made an update in a short while, but I have been busy painting some Lord of the Rings miniatures. I managed to finish up 36 Warriors of Rohan today. These, along with the Riders of Rohan from last year, make up teh core of a Rohan army I am trying to put together. I just need to paint up the elites and heroes now (next year's project?).

I managed to pick up all of these plastic miniatures quite cheaply when the Battlegames in Middle Earth magazine ended its production run. The distributor sold off their excess stock at a knock down price. As a result, I was able to pick up the core of several armies including; Rohan, Gondor, Isengard and Mordor.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the warriors I finished up this morning. First up is a unit with gold/bronze(?) embellishments on their helmets ...

And from above ...

This is the second unit with a red theme on their helmets...

And the first two units from above...

Here is the thrid unit with a green theme to their helmets to show them apart...

And finally, all three units from above...

I will probably get a few pictures of the entire army when completed sometime in the future. If I can get the elites (Outriders, Royal Guard, captains and banner bearers) done next, I will finalise the army with the heroes (Theoden King, Theodred, Eomer, Erkenbrand, Grimbold, Gamling, Hama and Eowyn). I still have just a few more minis to buy to round out this collection but it is about 90% there.

So, what else have I been up to? Well, I undercoated dozens of Norman horses, the rest of the Splintered Lands Druid's Children and put a bit more paint on the ghouls that will accompany the barbarian magician for Hordes of the Things.

Dragonewt on weirdy beast

I actually finished this little monster mash-up on Sunday, but thought I'd write up my gaming session with Dunc first.

The rider came from the Runequest set of Dragonewts I painted up a few months ago and would ordinarily ride on a terror bird (painted maybe a year or so back). However, I wanted to keep the terror birds as separate adversaries as they are lovely figures and would be too limited if used only with the actual Dragonewt riders. I had a rummage through my unpainted lead drawers and found this strange horsey-chaos thing. I think it is a Citadel mini that had some sort of fish-man or long-necked rider, that I doubt I will ever use, unless I stick it on a horse? Anyway, the Dragonewt fitted onto this mount perfectly, so I thought 'Why not?'

Next up : I have put a little more paint onto some Warriors of Rohan and I also undercoated the freebie Ghouls that I got with one of the wargames mags a month or two back. I aim to put them to use on my magician base for the HotT barbarian army I finished a while back. I have also almost finished the Splintered Lands minis. Decisions, decisions.

Into the Perilous Realm...

I got down to see Dunc, my new online gaming buddy, this weekend. I packed the chariot with all the requirements for a day's gaming and set off through the Dark Wood into the Perilous Realm of Sussex. My landlubber's legs trembling at the thought of meeting my sea-worthy adversary in mortal combat. The Saxons were invading and the remnants of the Romano-British resistance needed to show they were made of stern stuff.

After a thoroughly warm and friendly greeting at the door of chez Dunc I was ushered into the realm of the lord of battle. We had four smashing games. The first three I was able to roll an absolutely unbelievable amount of sixes (something I am not usually renowned for). However, when the dice went back to resembling normality in our final game, Dunc gave me a sound thrashing with his superior tactics.



Dunc has actually beaten me to the write up of our games here, but I have a few photos and comments of my own to add to his wonderful summaries. I managed to photo (on my Blackberry, so please excuse the poor quality) the Splintered Lands versus Dwarfs match up close to the start and then at the death.

Dunc's Dwarf Hero on a bear charged forward in the hope of mashing up some mouselings cowering in a huddle between the hills and the marsh. My Hare leader ran out to meet him in single combat - ordinarily a foolhardy decision but he thought his troops would back him up. Looking back, he saw the mice cowering together and the otters refusing to enter the marsh - perhaps these aqueous creatures didn't want to get their fur wet? This game saw me roll unbelievably in combat but I failed on numerous occasions to activate - rolling a double fail for something like four turns in a row. If it wasn't for a Transfix cast by the mouse shaman, the Hare (and then the rest of the army) would have been mincemeat, but the constant flow of sixes meant the combat went against the far superior warrior.

The battle ebbed to and fro, but the Splintered Lands army just managed to cling to a victory.

This was my first foray into the world of Songs of Blades and Heroes, and I can quite honestly say that this set of rules makes for a fun, actioned packed half-an-hour. The four games we had during the afternoon were great and the ruleset made for each being unique.

After the actual gaming, we were both called indoors by Mrs Tangent to a hearty, and most tasty, meal of meatballs (thank you again for your hospitality). Absolutely perfect for rounding off a great day out.

We parted with the promise of more to come. I look forward to it with great anticipation.

Roman Top Brass

These took me forever to finish. Not sure why, but I just lacked the enthusiasm for them for a long time. Maybe it was because I had painted so many legionaries and auxiliary troops in the last year I had just lost the will to do any more, or maybe it was because for the first time in a long time I had used a white undercoat instead of my usual black. Anyway, I got stuck into them this weekend and finished them up late this afternoon.

First up is the legion's top brass - the Aquilifer, a tribune or legate and a Primus Pilus (all are from Warlord Games's range of Early Imperial Romans). These are way too highly ranked for my skirmish set up of a century plus its auxiliaries hidden away on some frontier somewhere, but I guess they could always show their faces in a scenario idea - kidnap/kill the legate type thing.

Next up are the top brass of a century - cornicern, centurion and a vexillarius (carrying a vexillum that doesn't have any unit details on it - I decided to keep it blank).

To round out my auxiliary units, I needed an optio for each. Below is the first optio I painted, for the western auxiliary unit of spearmen and archers I have. I stayed with the standard oval shield and chain armour for him.

For this chap I decided on a little back story. He was a late transfer to the auxiliaries from a legionary century. Therefore, he is wearing his lorica segmentata and carrying a rectangular scutum. I gave the scutum the unit's shield design, but had to fill up around the transfer as it was an oval decal on an oblong shield. I think it makes a nice change. I have another optio in chain with round shield, but will paint him up to go with the century command above.

What other Early Imperial Roman stuff do I still have in the painting backlog? Well, I have 2 scorpios and 1 onager with attendant crews, plus a unit of Balearic slingers. I also have a unit of about a dozen Numidian auxiliary cavalry. I think I will add enough Roman cavalry to create a full turma of around 32 men. I may also add some Numidian footmen, Celtic cavalry, a few elephants and a baggage train along with some civilians. I also have a Roman watch tower that I could use as the beginnings of a semi-permanent camp if I can manage to sum up the courage to create some earthworks.

Next up I am painting a few odds and ends of fantasy stuff and I have made a start on my Warriors of Rohan.