Eldar Warp Gate

Or something like that. My 40K fluff ain't what it used to be.

Anyway, when Adrian announced that he was going to turn his focus from Ultramarines to Eldar, I decided I would build him a terrain piece for his army.

I sort of had an idea what I wanted, and after some browsing on ebay found the exact thing - the keel from the Dark Eldar Ravager:

Technically that should be the rudder, but that's what it's sold as in the bitz shop, which was selling in lots of three, making it easy for me to decide between a six or an eight-arched structure.

Once the keels arrived, it was a simple job of levelling the botton (or top, depending on how you look at it) and gluing it to a used CD with normal solvent glue, and adding a 40mm round base to the centre of the CD to hide the hole.

After making sure that the arches are aligned to their opposite members, I sprayed the whole thing with gloss white paint. The coverage wasn't perfect, but because the plastic is grey, that lent a bit of "shading" to them.

Once the whole thing has dried, I set gems used for nail art onto the arches using double-sided tape used for photos - using glue would have been too fiddly and taken too long, and I can more easily change the gems if Adrian didn't like the colours I chose.

This is what the Warp Gate looks like next to a Space Marine scout I just happened to have handy. The Eldar (Dark Eldar?) rune on two of the arches still need to be painted to make it look visually balanced, and there still needs to be some sort of a centrepiece on the plinth in the centre, but I'll leave Adrian to work them out. I suspect it can also work for High Elves in a fantasy setting, and I believe Thomas has some from the Island of Blood box set.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with the remainder of the can of spray paint and gems... Suggestions?

We all need a little impetus...

I've been finding it hard to complete my unit of pistoliers the past couple of weeks, but something happened over the weekend which prompted me to finish them this evening... more of that later.

Here they are.

The flag is based on the coat-of-arms of the House Duggan - I grafted the lance from the Perry mounted men-at-arms box as I thought the Warlord ECW cavalry one looked too "modern".

Now I have to prep, prime and paint the dismounted version of these guys.

Back to the story as to why I suddenly found the impetus to complete them.

During Sunday's session Martin mentioned that he was in the process of painting up a 15mm Alexandrian Macedonian army and asked if we wanted to do something in that period. Remembering that wahj had a large Republican Roman army, I thought we could play one of the Macedonian wars. wahj then told us that he also had some Carthaginians painted, which meant we needed a little bit of alternative history: Philip V lands on Italy and links up with Hannibal!

Some discussion on the ruleset followed, and we decided we would try to give Impetus a try. The use of mini-dioramic bases stirred fg's and my interest, and I now find myself pledging to field a DBA-sized Attalid Pergamene force (after having visited Pergamon a few months ago), which should work out to a subgeneral and three units. fg has yet to decide between another Hellenistic Greek contingent and the Gauls/Galatians. The best thing is our forces can play ally to either side, which will lend us more flexibility in the structure of our campaign.

Purchase is likely to take place next month, with the campaign scheduled to start perhaps December, depending on how fast we paint.

Meanwhile, I really want to complete the dismounted version of my pistoliers - I've got a specific scenario in mind for them, you see...

Battle of Fuentes de Onoro

Today marks a special day in the history of our little group as we played our first Napoleonic game.

wahj and I had a British and French Napoleonic army in 20mm plastics more than 20 years ago, with which we played Napoleon's Battles, but we haven't played a game in years. When Martin expressed an interest in the period a couple of years back, I bought over 300 painted 15mm miniatures off ebay while he slowly painted his Anglo-Portuguese army up. Then earlier this month, he announced that he was ready for a game, and we both read the Age of Eagles ruleset (which we both bought earlier), and I picked out a scenario for us.

After some browsing, I decided on a scenario based on the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro. As with the original battle, the Allied army faced the challenge of either holding their flank or extricating the isolated 7th Division defending the village of Poco Velho, while the French had the task of turning the British flank and destroying as much of the enemy forces as possible.

Rick setting up the French IXth Corps, ready to storm Fuentes de Onoro. The isolated 7th Division is seen in the middle.

wahj and Martin took the roles of the Allied commanders (wahj being our "traditional" British player, and Martin being part-Portuguese), while I played umpire cum French Army commander (Massena), and the two less-experienced players (fg and Rick) commanded a French corps each.

I tasked fg to bring his forces wide around the Allied right flank to cut the 7th Division off and destroy them while Rick pinned the rest of the Allied army with an attack on Fuentes de Onoro itself.

fg's VIth Corps and the French Cavalry Reserve deploy

While fg stuggled to get his corps across the river, Rick's surprising charge along the road drove the British out of the town in a single turn!

The French charge across the river to take Fuentes de Onoro

The town would change hands several times during the rest of the battle, but while the bulk of the Allied forces raced to link up with the 7th Division, fg's VIth Corps managed to ford the river and drive them from the village.

With the village lost, the Allied forces began to deploy from the road and form to face the French, and their three batteries tore up the French 3rd Division.

The French drive the British out of Poco Velho, and the Allies deploy from march column to face their attack

With the bulk of the Allied army now deployed for a fight between the two objectives, I decided to commit Junot's Division towards Fuentes, which we judge will turn the battle towards the French's favour and force the Allied army to withdraw, and so called the game.

The whole game took about 3 hours including setting up the over one hundred bases of figures.

Except for the rather unpredictable melee results, we enjoyed the rules. There are some areas which are not covered by the rules relating to fighting in BUA, but most of the time we were just thrilled by the sight of over 500 figures in colourful uniforms being shoved across the table, and taking pictures so we can have bragging rights.

Rick was so inspired by the spectacle he is now thinking of getting an army to provide my French an opponent, which gives me an excuse to further expand my army...

Resina Planet Khaos Gor

I came across the figure in the centre of the picture - a Resina Planet Khaos Gor - while ebaying for stuff and thought I would add it to the ranks of my small beastmen warband.

Unfortunately, despite its name, the figure's size is closer to that of an Ungor than a Gor, especially when you notice its delicate legs... It's still a nice figure, regardless.

I suppose I will convert him into an Ungor hero of sorts using the Ungor bow bits I have, and lose the back-banner.

Movement Trays and a new backdrop

Taking it slow thise weekend - just primed some figures and finished up my movement trays. I'm also trying out my new backdrop - part of the box art of the Mage Knight Keep that Adrian gave me. The foreground is just a wallpaper downloaded free.

Here's a shot of the pistolier horses on my DIY movement trays.

And here's a shot of Perry artillery on a chariot base.

Land Speeder Storm WIP

To show you just how much a non-fanboy I am, I only just yesterday read about the Space Marine Land Speeder Storm which is a Land Speeder customised to transport a scout squad.

Now I've been thinking of getting my girls a ride, but didn't want to use the GW model, so once again I went into Mekboy mode...

A night of googling did not turn up anything I want, so I decided the best way to start would be to go down to the toys section of my local mall on my way back from work today.

This is what I got.

It's a "made in China" die-cast toy car with a pull-back drive system. It measures 5" bumper-to-bumper and is just about the right size. It's all of S$6.90, which is like US$5.50. It came in blue or yellow. Even though I know I am going to paint it over, I still got the blue one.

Two screws hold the main components together.

With a pair of pliers I removed the headlights, the axels and wheels (including the drive system which looks like it has future orky applications...), and the rear half of the cabin piece...

 leaving this as the main structure to build upon.

The main problem will be covering up the spaces left by the wheels - I'll be looking at ebay later to find some bits that are suitable, failing which I will need nmore plasticard.

I realise I won't be able to actually fit my scouts inside the cabin, but I plan to at least get a driver figure.

This might take a while...

The army of my friend is my enemy

A plug for fellow gamer and friend Thomas, who blogs at Sanguinius' Blood.

Thomas' "thing" is Blood Angels ("Boo! Hiss!"), and some of his boys once fought mine in a FUBAR game as seen here:

His enthusiasm in the (GW) hobby is infectious and has inspired me to refurbish my small force of Space Marines (which, in my defence, I bought and painted for sci-fi skirmish games other than 40K, you understand...) which I am in the process of bringing up to a codex-adhering, chapter-approved 2000 point army, as well as embark on a few conversion/kit-bashing projects. Our upcoming project involves kitting up a Robogear Condor as a Stormraven to provide his boys with a little air support. He still has some ways to go before he completes his Twilight, er, I mean Blood Angel army, and I am really looking forward to seeing him start his Ork army afterwards; like I said, I'm a Mekboy in a previous life and I suspect I will go nuts gluing plasticard and rivets to toys once the Waagh spirit takes me.

Do hop over and have a browse - hopefully that will encourage him to paint and update more frequently. :)

Two guns for the price of one

The Artizan (formerly Hinchcliffe) Medieval/Renaissance 3-barrelled gun I ordered from Northstar arrived today.

When I saw the picture of it on the website, I reckoned I could scratch-build a ribauldequin option for it.

This is the gun assembled in it original format.

With the top piece removed, it's basically a # -frame with wheels.

From there, it's a simple matter of constructing a 3-sided box out of plasticard and strips, and then gluing ten plastic dowels (1.6mm diameter in this case) into the box and then trimming them to the same length.

The business end of the ribauldequin. The dowels are too fine for meto try to drill muzzles into them, but with proper painting it should pass muster.

This piece can see service as a volley gun in warhammer, and also as a historical piece. The frame provides for other possibilities too, and can be converted to a push-cart for both military and non-military purposes.

Killa (Film) Kan Done!

It would have taken a single evening if I had all the parts, but here it is anyway.

After fiddling with a few options for the shoulder joint, I decided to just glue hexagonal nuts to the can. I glued the legs in a walking pose, but left the ankle joints free for now so Thomas can pose it how he will on the base.

The right arm with the buzzsaw is from a Warmachine jack. The flamer arm is from the GW Killa Kan set, but I've glued magnets on both sides of the arm so it can be attached to either side.

I only have one other option, the rockets. Again, it can be attacked to either side on the can.

Much of the model is pretty bare, but I guess I can leave it to Thomas to add more bitz or otherwise decorate it with painting.

I can't remember how much it cost me to get the bits, but on the whole I don't think this represents a big savings over getting a Killa Kan. Still, it was something I had to do. I think I was a Mekboy in my past life...

Killa (Film) Kan WIP

During yesterday's session Thomas told me that he will be working on his Orks once he is done with his remaining dozen or so Space Marines figures, so on a whim today I decided to start a little project I planned quite a while ago.

When I was buying bits for 40K a while back I had an idea I wanted to make my own Killa Kan using a film cannister. I bought some weapon arms (some of which I cannibalised for other projects) and a pair of legs. Today, I magnetised them and started work on the body itself while the epoxy set.

This is what I've got so far.

The fender is a Killa Kan part which I just inserted into the can after drilling a couple of holes in it. The viewing slit is a mesh that I bought a long time ago for post-apoc cars. The engine is some sort of a weapon part (don't ask me which), and the mounts for the limbs are just screws screwed into the sides.

I'm not sure how well the magnets will hold, but if they don't I can always go to Plan B and just glue them onto the sockets.

I hope to post an update tomorrow once the epoxy has set.

Christmas in August

It's been several months since we had a session (as fg put it, he had to scroll up his GPS record to find my address), and Rick was joining us for the first time in years. When they arrived, everyone had a present for me!

Thomas brought me the Mage Knight Keep and Wall Pack Adrian got me (thanks, bro!), fg passed me some of the old 1993 plastic Space Marines, Rick gave me two thick Napoleonic tomes, and wahj gave me a signed copy of Michael Shermer's book - I've actually been thinking about getting it since I read a review on Amazon.

We played a game of Robo Rally and then spent the rest of the afternoon talking about our plans and projects. Happy days.

Dux Bellorum

I came home today to find an unexpected package in the mailbox which turned out to be my playtester's copy of Dux Bellorum.

The physical production value is high, as one might expect of an experienced publisher like Osprey.

There is lot of eye-candy inside, with plates from previous Osprey books and pictures of miniatures from several manufacturers in 15mm and 28mm.

I've posted about the rules before (click on label below to read the previous posts), but the feeling right now of holding and flipping through the print edition of the book is a feeling of belonging to a wargaming community.

In the Acknowledgement section Dan thanks the playtesters and the people in the hobby business (I know...) who helped him: Henry from Battlegames, the people behind Khurasan, Gripping Beast, Wargames Illustrated, Nick at North Star... I suspect that all these people helped Dan in this project probably without payment in return (except for perhaps a copy of the published rules) partly out of the fun of being involved in producing a set of wargame rules, and partly because Dan's enthusiasm and passion for the Arthurian period is so infectious.

The basic rules are easy to learn, but there are enough optional rules to tailor the game and the armies to your vision of the Dark Age.

I used my 1066 armies in the playtest, but now I am thinking of using them with my LOTR figures, perhaps with foot in 3 x 2 and mounted in 2 x 1 formation...

Hugh "the Hammer" Duggan 2

A game this coming weekend means I had to cut back on the painting this week to tidy up my place. Still, I managed to get the dismounted version of the pistolier captain done.

This figure is made with parts from three different boxes of plastic figures. The trunk, lower limbs and left arm are from Warlord Games' "Firelock Storming Party" box set. These are the closest foot troops I could find to the ECW cavalrymen. However, they come only in one pose (excepting the two metal command figures in the box which I don't need and have traded with Matt from Ubique), and the two arms options provided both carry a musket. Still, it was an easy job to cut the weapon off and glue the hand back in a suitable position - this is the reason why I prefer to work with plastic.

The right arm is from the ECW Cavalry box set, and originally held a sword, which I replaced with the hammer - once again, plastic = easy gluing.

The head comes from Wargames Factory's WSS Spanish Cavalry set. I have no idea why the box contains this head option, but I was happy to find it on a bits store. The head is a little smaller than that on the cavalryman, but I think it will pass muster.

There are of course differences in the details of the uniforms between the mounted and foot version, but the hammer identifies the captain, and the standard and trumpet will identify the standard-bearer and musician, while the other troopers will be armed with either the sword or the pistol, so it's all good in game terms. Their multiple roles as missile and melee troops and mounted and dismounted troops will allow them to fulfill a number of functions in a scenario.

This is a little more cutting and gluing than I would like to have to do, but thankfully I am only going for a unit of 8 (which means 8 horses, 8 cavalrymen and 8 dismounted figures...). I hope I can get them done by the end of the month.

Here's a shot of the two versions of Hugh "the Hammer" Duggan side-by-side.

Hugh "the Hammer" Duggan, Pistolier Captain

I know I said that I would do the artillery first, but then I ordered another artillery piece and I thought I would do them together when it arrives.

So instead, I started work on the pistoliers. Here is the captain of the unit, Hugh "the Hammer" Duggan.

 There's a bit of a story behind this unit.

Now when I started this whole project, the idea was to take advantage of the relatively cheap Perry plastics to supply a human army for my Strandhogg games. I would have used a Dark Age army like the Saxons or Vikings also available, but I thought they were too similar to the dwarves I already own, and so I settled on the WOTR figures.

I had to choose a livery for the army, and instead of picking a historical heraldry I decided to use that of the name of an old friend.

As the force expanded I begin to imagine that I might be able to field a full Warhammer army. After some browsing, I decided to go for an Empire army instead of a Bretonnian one. Now one of the more exotic units in the Empire army is the pistoliers, which look like ECW cavalry, which are of course anachronistic - but hey, Warlord Games makes them in plastic, which suits me fine. I did feel a little guilty about painting them in the same livery as the rest of the troops though, so I decided I would paint them up as maybe a mercenary unit.

Once again, I turned to my friend to help pick a name, and I used the name of an old friend of his - Duggan. Rather happily, the Duggan coat of arms has the colours blue, white and yellow, which matches that of the Holmes (yellow and blue). This means the units will look distinct from each other, yet still be tied together by a common colour.

I am planning to create a unit of eight mounted figures, including the captain, a standard-bearer with the Duggan banner, a trumpeter, and five troopers armed with pistols or swords, as well as a dismounted version of each rider; this will allow me to use them in a dragoon or mounted infantry role for scenario games, with one figure in four being a horse-holder when the unit dismounts. But more on that later.

For the mounted version of the unit I will use the figures pretty much "as is", with the face guard clipped off to show the face better. The basic "uniform" will be a blue coat. The sash will be white. The saddle-clothe is likewise blue with a white border.

Hopefully I can get the dismounted version of "the Hammer" painted tomorrow and I will bore you with the story of that...

Out with the Old Guards?

These Rogue Trader era Imperial Guards are some of the oldest figures I own; I bought them some time after I got the plastic Space Marines box set (the ones with the beakies) with the intention of using them as "unarmoured infantry" to provide a contrast to the Space Marines.

I probably used them in a couple of games and then left them in a box all these years - several are not even assembled.

I've already given my beakies to a friend and I think it's also approriate that I let these go to a better home, to a wargamer who will give them a coat of paint and field them on a table (to die in hordes as IGs do...).

The four figures on the left of the top row are metal figures (3 guardsmen with injuries and one officer), while the other 16 are plastic. They are short of one head and there aren't enough lasguns to go round; still, I reckon they are worth more than US$50 on ebay.

I'm looking to trade them, specifically for 15 plastic Tactical Space Marines with bolters and 5 plastic Terminators with stormbolters and powerfists (preferably unpainted), but if you have something else you think I might be interested in we can discuss things.

Thank you.

Update: I've made a trade for them. Thanks for reading.

Feel like Sirs

I'm finishing a few foot command figures now, amongst which is the figure on the left.

I got the figure on the right first, which is "Sir John Savage" from Trent Miniatures. When I bought ome flags from Vexillia earlier, I decided to take the opportunity to get a few figures from their Mirliton/Grenadier range to save on postage. When I saw the similarities between the "Personality 3" figure and the Sir John Savage figure, I knew I had to get it.

The two have similar armour, almost identical pose, and even have the same sword. The Mirliton figure is a little shorter, but I think it will pass muster.

I suppose I should work on the Mirliton artillery piece and crew next.

I can't bear it anymore...

I've been keeping this little project a bit of a secret, but I was actually quite excited about it that when I have finished painting the mounted men-at-arms, I painted it up in just two evenings and am showing it off even as the glue on the flock is drying.

The idea was partly inspired by the regimental mascot unit from GW; but I've always wanted a bear in one of my armies, so when I found one that I liked, I decided to create a vignette.

The bear is (was) an unpainted plastic figure from the D&D Wrath of Ashardalon boardgame. The two figures are Perry plastics, and the chain a link of chain from a cheap necklace. The vignette is on a 60mm x 40mm base, which is the area covered by six 20mm square bases, so it can function as a unit filler too. The flag is something I made and printed myself - it isn't really "legit" since there is no reason why this unit should have a different flag from the rest of the army, or why it needs one to begin with... But I've got a colour laser printer, and one needs to run it once in a while to keep the moving parts moving...

I love bears. My Chinese name is homophonic with the Chinese word for "bear", and I consider it my totem beast (my totem bird is the white-throated kingfisher, in case you are wondering...). In my home there is an articulated wooden bear toy, a leather bear toy, coasters in the shape of bearskin rugs, and I have a few teddy bears on my bedside tables. My first soft toy was a teddy bear called Ben which I had in my bed until I was twenty-something. In my travels and soldiering I have eaten many unusual foods, but I refused to eat a bear's paw once offered to me. You get the idea.

Bear-baiting distresses me (and unfortunately that practice still exists in some countries today), so when I had the idea of this vignette I wanted to make it look like the bear was a member of the unit rather than a victim - I'm not sure I achieved that. In any case, using animals for war is a form of cruelty. While a war-bear unit is fantasy, bear-baiting was popular in medieval England, so it is also somewhat historical.

Enough moralising - here are a few more pics of the unit from different angles.

More knights

Here's the second unit of knights, this time on unbarded horses.

The musician and standard bearers are Perry metals, while the rest of Perry plastics. Without their barding, the horses look more animated.

Of course, I couldn't resist a shot of all 15 of the knights I have painted together.

I'm planing on working on a few foot figures before starting on the pistoliers. Stay tuned.

Half way there

Well, that's half of my heavy cavalry done.

This is the command unit of my "army", with the army general on a wingless hippogriff, his personal standard, a musician, and his household knights.

The knights and the general are all Perry plastics, the hippogriff a repainted D&D prepainted mini, and the trumpeter a Perry metal. The annoying thing about the metal figures is that, despite being from the same range, the riders have the "seat-back" of the saddle sculpted on them, as opposed to the plastic ones, which do not; this means that unless one was prepared to so do minor cut-and-sculpt, the riders (and mounts) are not interchangeable.

That aside, I am pretty pleased with the result. A full unit of armoured knights with a banner is always a sight to see. Another seven (unarmoured) horses to go then...

Fence-y that

I was looking to do something with the Renendra tombstones that fg gave me and decided I would make a "Gothic Graveyard" to go with his zombies and planned undead army.

After some googling, I decided to go for the wrought iron fence look over the stonewall look, and a little more googling found this:

I got mine off ebay, but you can find it in a number of online stores. Mine arrived in less than a week, in a huge cardboard box packed with those air-bags, because while thin and light, the package is long ("That's what she said.").

Anyway, this is what you get:

Two shorter sections, one of which has the gate, and two long sections. The "obverse" side of the sections show "relief", while the "reverse" side is flat.

Put together, you get a rectangle measuring 28.5cm x 39.5cm.

I will probably cut the long section to make an enclosure measuring 28.5cm x 26.5cm, and use the off-cuts for "damaged sections".

The gate is just the right size for 28mm, but does not open.

The details aren't exactly fantastic, and they have stupidly design the mould such that the vents are on the "obverse" side - you can probaby see them in the last photo above.

All in all I'm not disappointed; it is, after all, a cheap plastic toy from China. With a coat of primer, some black paint and some suitable weathering, it should do for the wargaming table.

Now to start planning the magnetic joinery and interior...

Knights

It took a while to restart the engine again, but I managed to get three of the horses painted.

They are not that hard to paint, especially since much of the surface is covered with plate. Hopefully I can get all 15 done this month and move on to the rest of the pile...