The next commission: IHMN+

I've now started a 2nd commission form the same gentlemen who commissioned me to paint the 'In Her Majesty's Name' figures i painted in March.

This time there is a total of 70 figures, including an IHMN Dragon Tong,  Foundry Argonauts, Empress mid 1800s naval crew, Conan figrues, and some Hinterland female sailors.

from left to right:  Dragon Lord(Reaper Minis),
Dragon lady, Master Wu-jen, Yeti

last night I finish off and photographed the 15 figures that make up the Dragon Tong.

Dragon Warrior, Tong henchmen

These figures were generally a joy to paint. the Dragon lady. and Dragon lord have a wonderful amount of detail, although the Dragon lady's face make her look like the most manly looking Asian woman I've ever seen. the patterns on the Dragon lady and Lord's robes are freehand.

2 Tong Henchmen, 2 Boxers

4 Tong henchmen (unknown manufacturer)

next to be panted in this commission are teh 10 figures that make up Argonauts from foundry. These should be done in the next day or 2. Also  either tonight or tomorrow morning I have a couple of  buildings, suitable for AWI, 1812 or ACW that, I've based for my friend Martin.

2nd CoC Game

I GMed (co-GMed, as it turned out, with Dave Hoyt) a CoC game for a few friends yesterday afternoon.  this game was a slightly more moderate game in terms of forces used then the last(more infantry, less support).

this games was again early war french Vs German. the table was 8x6, but of course the way the patrol phase worked out the game was actually played on only a portion of the table.  I corrected a few mistakes in the way the rules played out versus the first game  earlier last week.

French Platoon :
LT(senior leader)
Platoon sergeant(junior leader)
 VB rifle grenadier squad(4 + junior leader)
3x  infantry squads(10 + junior leader)
25mm AT gun
60mm mortar
Hotchkiss MMG
Hotchkiss H-39

German Platoon:
LT(senior leader)
Feldwebel(senior leader)
5cm mortar
3x  infantry squads(9 + junior leader)
Pak 36 AT gun

MG34 MMG
Pzkpfw 38(t)

As in the first battle, the Germans opened up with a charge, led by the Feldwebel, on a full french squad in heavy cover. despite this, the Germans prevailed and took possession of the graveyard. the feldwebel was badly wounded and shipped off to the rear areas for treatment.  a few phases later the remainder of the squad would be routed by concentrated fire from the VBs and another infantry squad that had taken up residence in the church.

The game was relatively uneventful for teh next while. after the bloody melee, both sides took up residence in hte buildings for cover, and protection against the mortars and VBs. the german 38(t) entered teh board and shot up some french infantry.

\Finally the lull broke The french got 3 phases in a row.  during the first phase the french opened fire on a building across the street, and killed 6! only 8 were alive inside the building, and the remaining shock routed the squad.  during the course of the next 2 rounds, the french continued the above average rolling, and cut down a full German squad in another building.  

The french player then opted to use his 1 chain of command dice to end the turn, forcing the french to role morale for the 2 broken squads.  the German player opted to use his lone chain of command dice to ignore one force morale test, but despite this, he was left with only 2 command dice to roll, a tank, a 5cm mortar team, and a single squad of 2 infantry(who had been rallied from the squad that opened the game with the melee). he still had the MG team and an AT team off board, as well as his LT. we called the game, with the Germans effectively neutralized.

This game ran faster then the previous one.  We started around 12:30 and were done shortly after 3:30.  the french luck at the end was phenomenal. Up until that point the loses had been about equal and neither side had seen much gain.

The next game won't be fore a bit, as we are probably playing imaginations in 2 weeks.  this works well as it give Martin time to get some Soviets painted.  I'd like to do a bit of Operation Barbarossa.

Our Intro to COC: an AAR

last night my friend Dan and I got together. we began the evening by doing a tiny bit of painting, and then we migrated to the dining room for a small introductory game of Chain of Command.

 Dan played French, and I played German, using Rich's 1940 army lists.  we both had a platoon of 2 squads, with approximately 10 levels of support(effectively 3 support teams and a tank). We went about the patrol phase, got our jump off points set u and then begun the game.

Most of the first few phases were simply used to get the majority of out troops on the table.  one notable action was me charging a full German squad around the corner into a full squad of sand.  the Frenchies beat me 6 kills to 5 and my squad fell back. at the beginning of the next turn, Dan would charge back around the building at my squad, and kill it. my 38(t) then came on hte table and broke the remainder of the charging french.

On the other side of the table, Dan deployed his troops directly into the building, and surrounding courtyard, while his hotchkiss MMG deployed to the hedge directly across the street.. i deployed my 2nd squad into hte feild, along with  my 50mm mortar team.  across teh raod behind teh hedge i deployed my 75mm infantry gun and my tripoded MG34. teh next few turns ended up with a haevy exchange of fire between the 2 forces.  eventually i broke his MG team(which his paltoon LT was attached to) and used a chain if command dice to end the turn, sending his LT routing off table. I'm mean.

a few phases later, I managed to wear kill the 2 remnants of the french close combat squad, and soon after that I broke one team of Dan's 2nd squad in the house, and the game ended.

this was our first game, and although Dan and I are familiar with too fat Lardies rules, it did take quite a while. we looked everything up.  it also didn't help that although both Dan and i could hit, we could not have any effect to save our lives. this seemed to draw out the game artificially. in the advanced rules they have a suggestion to make tanks more bloody, basically add a +1 to penetrate for all tanks for all tank. after a few more games, if the trend follows, i may do the same thing with the effect for infantry combat.

I'm also not thrilled with the differentiation in tanks speeds. on open ground/road, going "flat out" is about 1 inches per d6 per speed class.  if that's all, why bother having speed classes?  I'm considering making these a little more differentiated. doubling the increase would mean that fast tanks are only going 12" faster than infantry at full out. which is not exactly speedy. but it still gives the feel of fast tanks going actually fast.


still, I have to give it a few more tries before making a decisions about changes and the like. I like a lot of the mechanisms though.

Hotlead AAR and New goodies

Hotlead wrapped up last Sunday.  it was a good con this year. according the the Con Chairman's AAR, the con saw a rise in games to 70, from about 55ish last year. the Bring and Buy did around 18000 in sales, which means the Con's cut of 1800 will be donated to charities(Scouts and cadet groups in the con's region.).  Sunday as especially surprising.  I've never seen a convention so busy  on a Sunday!  here is a link for Jame's Manto's AAR for more detailed breakdown and pics!

Martin making a deal while i give James(behind the camera)
2 thumbs up!

  I went up with J&M miniatures and helped out at the booth most of the weekend.  they also had a good weekend from the looks of it.   James and Martin attribute it to being present all 3 days, and having a better selection of merchandise.

Overhead view of my Con Game: The battle of Kulm.

My napoleonic game went quite well.  despite the previous table users taking up about half my setup period taking down there, and the resulting late start. we finished the game in 2.5 hours.  pretty good, considering the game involved 600 infantry 128 cavalry and 27 guns on the table with 8 players.  the Russians/Austrians won but just barely. i was a little bit worried initially as the french took a beating initially, but they came back to almost even up the army morale chits before finally succumbing to the allied onslaught.  Thanks go out to Mike Garner and Jon Holmes for helping me GM the game. the pics below are courtesy of Mike Garner, as I completely forgot to take pictures(as usual)

 

finally my favourite part, the spoils.  as seen below i picked up a great deal of terrain as the majority of  purchases over the weekend(all 28mm where aplicable). I bought  from 4ground an ECW/renaissance Cottage and shop, a Saxon/Medieval dwelling, a water cart, and 3 packs of walls. I also picked up anther box of Perry Napoleonic Russians(still need one more to finish off the 26th division)  a box of Wargames factory Viking Huscarls, and a copy of Dux Britnarium.  I also picked up a broken resin bridge for really cheap, and finally took delivery of an army group north KV with 3 turrets to make KV1/40, /42, and KV2.  this was bought 3 years ago, but has been sitting in our friends basement ever since.  There is also a bag of loose GW LOTR miniatures. 5 metal war riders including Sharku, and 25 odd metal dwarf warriors and bowman. Not pictured are the Xwing purchases of the  Imperial aces box, an Awing, a TIE advanced, and a HWK-290.

 the 4ground walls seem like they are expensive, but these 3 packs got me enough walls to do an 18x18" walled area with 2 gates, and even  destroyed wall ends if I so choose.  I paid 40 dollars for them, and the closest comparable product is something like Acheson Creations wattle and timber set which is a 12x9 area for the same price. and they are rather nice walls too.

close up of 4ground wall corners which are really nice.

Incidentally, I have some 28mm TAG Iraqis for sale that I did not sell at Hotlead.  there are 4 groups of 8 iraqi regulars, 2 groups of 8 republican guard(in the 3 tone camo)1 group of 4 snipers and command,  and 4 groups of 8 fedayeen. I'm selling these at $40USD per group of 8 + shipping. if you are  interested  email me at crucible_orc*AT*sympatico*DOT*ca

Built up areas for Kulm

So yesterday I put the finishing touches on 2 extra built up areas for my Battle of Kulm.  building

Grand Manner Building seen previously, now based.

One is a you might have already scene, just on a base like the rest of my buildings.  the second is my friend Dan's building(from foreground), but i needed a fifth built up area so I borrowed his building  and based it up as well.

closer shot from a different angle, with Perry Russian officer.

Each picture also features a newly painted Russian officer for the game.  the first is a perry Russian officer. the perry mounted officers are splendid figures all around. i just wish there were more then 3.

4ground building, courtesy of Dan.

 the officer pictured with Dan's building is Front Rank's  iteration of Barclay de Tolly. this is a figure I've had for several years, and one of my favorite officers. he looks so polite. I repainted him recently since he was repainted before i learned a lot of my current techniques.

4ground building Close up, with
Front Rank Barclay de Tolly Figure

 I was really impressed by the quality of the 4ground building. the pictures on line really don't do them justice. The roof needs a touch up or 2 where it joins the house(not done yet) but other then  that they are excellent quality.


Still more to come before i leave for HotLead. Stay tuned!

IHMN: Lord Curr's Company

I finished off Lord Curr's company for IHMN last night to finish
 up my current painting commission.  this will be dropped off the the client at Hotlead this coming weekend.

Lord Curr, Lady Felicity, "Mad Mick" Macfarlane, Mohan Siagh

 

Lord Curr's Incorrigibles

 

More of the Incorrigibles

Additional figures that look like they would
fit in with the Scotland yard team.

Another ACW game

2 weeks ago we got another game in of ACW at my Friend Martin's.  you may suspect the game looks similar in setup an layout to the last game of ACW I posted about, and you would be correct.  we were trying my heavily modified version of Field of Battle(which we jokingly refer to as Meadow of Warfare), and comparing it with the last set we used, which was Foundry's "Bull Run to Gettysburg".

Dan holding the Light for better pictures. Thanks Dan!

 In this iteration of the scenario, instead of the union dominating combat and movement, the confederate forces charged across the field with stunning speed.  the union didn't even get a good deal of their guns unlimbered in time for the first wave.

the main action

The game was from then on a fairly balanced affair.  at one point shortly before the game ended the confederate forces took a significant lead and reduced the Union morale points to zero.  this doesn't mean an automatic army breaking in the system however. you have to wait for an army morale card to come up.  this forces both sides to continue playing fairly and making a quick rush for that last morale point to break the enemy.

Fighting for an empty field, Oh the humanity!

with the confederate having used all their cards, the advantage switched to the union, who managed to just barely reduce the confederate morale point to zero  with co-ordinated fire just as the turn end.  the next turn saw the confederates draw their army morale card fairly early and rout off the table! Huzzah! the union held on just long enough.

we really enjoyed his game. the card  decks determine the "turn" sequence. although it doesn't feel like a turn at all. the game takes on a very fluid way to the action and turns are indistinguishable.

Union sharp shooters fall back against a hard confederate push.

We also really enjoyed that the army not breaking once army morale is at zero, but rather at a random moment determined by the playing of a card to be an interesting mechanic.  It makes the players continue to play as if nothing is wrong to get the enemy back before the break.  the unpredictability of it also means that no one can "game" the system to break the enemy just before he breaks with one last push in a certain area.  I have done that in Maurice to my friend Dan. he had wiped out a flank and was about to beat me, but my hurried cavalry push on the flank broke him first.

The main changes i made to the system was the combat mechanic. I tossed out the opposed die rolls for attack die vs defense die, with changing die types.  now units have a set number  for defense based on their quality.  every multiple of 3 above that number you get is a hit. I also made it so that in close combat, both sides take 1 damage point automatically.  I also allowed it so hat all unit may engage in melee as soon as they contact during movement. eliminating the need for the melee card. as well, you can maneuver during movement free now. however i left the maneuver card in as it can be useful for unlimbering and changing formation, etc.  I've also modified the shooting rules so that even when smoke is on your unit(ie you are "not loaded") you can still give closing fire to unit charging you, albeit at greatly reduced base effectiveness.  this eliminates the big issue I had with field of battle where 4 cavalry unit charge across the field at a single unit, but only one of them takes any damage from fire.  


For con games(like my big 12-player battle of Kulm next weekend at Hotlead) I add in an extra movement card and an extra "reload" card to keep things lively.

I still have a few things to put the final touches on for next weekend, so stay tuned!

Rivers part 3: Finished

tuesday a applied the  super-thick gloss Gel medium to the rivers. the gel dries faster then I anticipated, but in thicker areas, it takes up to 3 days to go completely transparent. most of it however took a mere 12 hours to dry.

last night a took some pictures of the finished rivers.

Birds Eye View of rover set up on table

River from a more reasonable angle, with a figure from last
years Convention game last-minute painting marathon

close-up of river surface

I also laid it out on my living room floor to confirm I had enough for my convention game.  Despite all the twists and turns, when all was laid and done, I had an extra 3 feet.

I'm keen to do some ponds and such, although I think I'll use the regular thickness  Gel medium when i do.

I still have 3 groups of things to do over the next few weeks.  i nee to paint my Russian artillery,  make a few more field s with removable inner areas, and i need to finish up the current batch of commissioned pulp figures. i have 2 weeks. that should be more then enough time...

Wading into Rivers Pt 2

Today I continued my river project buy painting the sand and then painting the river. the process is so far on track, and i am pleased with the results.

River banks have been painted and dry brushed

after the river has been painted.

the river consists of 16 feet of river including 2  fords and a T section.   on top of that there are 2 90 degree sections, 2 45 degree section 2 30 degree small wedges and 3 larger 30 degree sections.

the next step is to apply the the gloss acrylic gel medium. with this i will add small ripples and such to give the river a final texture and gloss. after that has dried i can flock the river and pack it into a box for transportation on sunday.

the acrylic medium will take a few days to dry so I'll post again then.

Wading in to rivers. Pt 1

At the end of the month I'm off to Hotlead , a convention in Stratford, Ontario.  I'll be running a  large napoleonic game on a 12x5' table, using a heavily modified version of Field of Battle(1.0). I've removed what i saw as the greatest flaws in the system(such as extreme randomness), while retaining the things I feel make it great, one of which is the card system.


anyway, I realized for the specific scenario I picked, i need roughly 17 feet of rivers. now I have been thinking of  making a modular river system to go with the teddy bear fur mat I have made(I want to make another without integral roads, but have been somewhat stymied by finding a source with a big enough piece for a reasonable price).  I was having some trouble deciding how to make the actual river, as i have many times over the last 20 years.  then I saw a video on youtube which i no longer seem able to find. it displayed a number of ways to get a water effect, including using acrylic medium gel.  so I decided to get it done, and set about maing 17 feet of rivers plus curved sections.

I laid out 2 pieces of 2x2' MDF, and 1  1x1' piece of MDG, and started drawing.  i decided in a common base width and a river width, and started measuring and drawing.  I made sure all the joints have the same distances of base edge-to-bank and  bank-to-bank distances the same across all pieces. I then cut all the pieces out Saturday afternoon.

river cut up into 2foot sections.  only 3 of these were left this long.

other smaller and curved sections

Sunday afternoon/evening(it took longer then I had anticipated) I  began building up the banks with LePage interior/exterior pigmentless wood filler.  then this afternoon I began gluing sand down to all the banks. took about 2 hours today, finishing up right around 8pm.

 

River sections, all with wood filler applied, and all but 2 with sand glued down.

Later tonight I will do some painting of the banks, and tomorrow I'll paint the river, and maybe start applying the acrylic medium gel. depending on how heavy a coat I apply, it can take up to 4 or 5 days to completely dry.  I'm not planning on applying a thick coat, but I have another playtest this coming weekend, so I'm trying to leave enough time for a full cure.  although it will by dry to the touch in 24 hours no matter what.


Some people think I'm nuts for running a game at a con and to still be painting figures for the game this late in the game.  but I've made a habit out of it.  this time last year I still had only just finished  my teddy bear game mat for my Napoleonic Peninsular war Skirmish game at Hotlead.  and I had not yet finished painting all the forces.  last year I was playtesting the last 2 weeks and modifying the order of battle up until 2 days before the convention.  that's just how I roll!

More progress on the rivers to come!

*EDIT*  found the video i used on youtube. the bloke who made it posted on TMP which is how i found it again.  Link .