New Year 2023/2024

 Happy New Year!

I didn't write one of these last year (because, frankly, 2022 felt like a horrible year), but lets try to get back into things, 2023 felt like the year when I got the painting mojo back. Two projects got finished after way too long, and a third one was both begun and finished.

First up, my SAGA Carthaginians finally got to a playable state.

Since they're SAGA Carthaginians, they can do with some more figures, but this has given me a taste of what I might want, so they will be expanded... eventually.

And then, I could finally reveal my major project, Napoleonic British

Just the first (well, 2nd) Brigade, for now, but there should be more coming there. Also, eventually (I think part of what made 2022 so bad, was that I painted a lot of these, which I then didn't want to reveal... and also, those red coats are a pain)

And then, the hobby gods smiled at me, and I both started, and finished, the "Anglo-Danes" that I bought for 2022... that ended up as a shit-ton of Anglo-Saxons instead.

That was a good feeling, getting all those done in more or less one go. They're not quite finished (I have ideas for another 36 figures), but they do quite good enough for now.

Of course, these weren't everything I got painted, only the biggest projects. There were also a variety of Vikings

(A few hearthguards, a banner bearer, some Levy with Javelins, and a hero).

Also, some Wargames Atlantic Conquistadors (very colorful fellows)...

...as well as a few Azteks for them to fight and/or ally with.

(None of them are intended for strictly historical purposes, for now they'll make a good warband for Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago if that ever picks up at the club again)

In more Frostgrave-related stuff, there were some big, fuzzy fellows.

(The club has started a Wildwoods campaign, and I felt a hankering for some thing pre-historic)

And I even got a piece of terrain done!

(Yes, it IS huge)

Because I'm slightly masochistic (it seems), I also painted up some Highlanders, for those napoleonics (my, so far, single ahistorical addition, other than these, I'm sticking to the officila OrBat for 3rd Division in 1812)

Gordon Highlanders. Half a battalion as I do them. So I need to paint another 20 sooner or later... (I jest a bit, I'm not that traumatized, even if these fine fellows took me 2 months).

And in a sudden christmas rush, I started 10 English 1400s Men-at-Arms on Christmas Day. And got them finished in time for New Year

I don't know quite how it happened, but I certainly aint complaining.

Add in a variety of one-offs, random adventurers, some more monsters, and some smaller expansions for old armies, and I end the year on 

• 244 approximately human-sized figures
  
• 25 cavalry (or about that size)
• 5 bigger beastie (or things on bigger bases, at least, including the fuzzies up above)
• 1 Piece of Terrain
• 3 Saga Objectives

Not bad at all, if I say so myself.

For next year, I'll set a two-part goal. The most important one, that I think I have a chance of fulfilling, is to simply paint at least 240 minis in total (averaging 20/month). If I keep going like I've done this year, it should definitely be doable. Especially considering some of the projects I have in mind.

What are those projects, then?

Well, 4 different SAGA warbands (one of which I've already started)

• English for Age of Chivalry (that's those Men-at-Arms above, as well as some more, and lots of longbowmen), which will also do double duty for Blood & Crowns (I do so love when one project gives more than one army in the end
• French, also for Age of Chivalry, as well as Blood & Crowns. I have a few already painted, an old project that petered out into nothing.
• Undead Legion, for Age of Magic. I accidentally painted up 3 zombies in 2023, and got a hankering for more... also, I have some excellent Necromancers, creatures, and a dragon that I now have an excuse to paint and use
• Normans, for Age of Vikings, doing extra duty as either Spanish or Crusaders for Age of Crusades. I already have Normans, but with the new Victrix releases, I feel a need to redo these. And while I'm at it, I might as well do them more Italo-Norman, and make them suitable for a variety of uses.
• Something Napoleonic. Either a brigade of Portuguese (my initial plan), or perhaps just enough Frenchmen to have two forces for Sharp Practice, and get some actual games in with that.
  

That should give me plenty to do. And the best part is, I have pretty much everything I need for that already (unless I go with the French), so I'll even reduce the Pile of Shame!

Once more, Happy New Year

/Fool, out

SAGA - They were supposed to be Anglo-Danes

 So. I had a bright idea in late 2021. Get some Victrix Late Saxon/Anglo Dane Huscarls, and I'd have an Anglodane warband for SAGA. Excellent! Small, cheap, easy to paint with their lots of chainmail... Well, it didn't quite go according to plan. First I realised that I wanted some Levy with Bows as well. And some warriors would be useful...

But hey, I did get my Anglodanes out of it. Just, also an Anglosaxon warband. That, hilariously enough, doesn't use any of those huscarls I bought first. No, not even the warlord, unless I absolutely want to.

First up, those huscarls. They do look good, and cool with those daneaxes of them (and I'm an old SAGA player, I remember when those axes where the thing for Anglodanes, their reason for being and what only they got)

Of course, not all huscarls has to use big honking axes. Sometimes, shields are useful, too. (Shield decals from Little Big Men, via Victrix, for all the models).

And then, those Levy with Bows. So far, so good.

And after that, the Warriors... those are a lot of Warriors... (25, to be precise, including one with a banner, just in case).

... and I had bits over for some poorer Warriors, too. A.k.a. Melee Levy for the Anglosaxons (distinguished by having axes instead of swords, as well as mostly single colour shields).

So that gives me 5 points of non-HG Anglosaxons. But one point of Hearthguard isn't exactly useful for them. And I wasn't quite out of non-armored bodies...

So let's get some mercenaries. Gall-Gaedhil, to be precise, a mix between Vikings and Irish, with the temperament you'd expect from that (let's call it... explosive). It helps that they're currently very useful in SAGA.

And Anglosaxons can make use of 8-packs of Hearthguards. Especially if they're mounted, so I converted up some such (using Victrix Late Roman Cavalry as a base, with Late Saxon heads, arms, shields, and in a few places, I cut of the Roman torsos and added Saxons instead...)

Finally, then, the Warlord. It began as a transport solution, and ended up maximising variability. There's a flagbearer, if you want your warlord to have the banner. There's a priest or musician, if those feel like they'd fit (or they can be used as a Bard and a Priest). There are more or less fancy warlords both with and without daneaxe.

So you can have an Anglosaxon noblewoman leading the local Fyrd, with an advisor...

Or the Queen of Mercia, carrying royal standard and leading the Great Fyrd...

Or an anglodanish earl, showing his neighbours what's what...

Or possibly even king Cnut, or one of his heirs, marching forth to keep the North Sea Empire...

The options truly are endless there.

All in all, a very fun force, and not too difficult to paint once I actually got going (took me about 6 months once I painted the first huscarls... nevermind how long they laid in the Pile of Shame). I have a few expansions in mind for them (while the warriors can serve as levy, for an all-levy force, I could have some more. And perhaps some additional Archers to that. And Angry Monks would be both fun and dangerous with this lot...) but for now, the force is finished. It's also seen the table, and proven to be hard, but not unbeatable, and very fun to play.

/Fool Out.

SAGA - Carthaginians sweeping through

 At long last, I've finished my Carthaginians for SAGA: Age of Hannibal. Well, they're at a playable size, at least. This looks like one of those armies that have all the options, and you want at least 75% of them. But it's enough to get them on the table, and figure out how to prioritize what next to get.

Have I mentioned how I do not like painting horses? As you might see, there's quite a bit of horses in there. But it's 6 points, and I even have a few options already (not shown above)

First up, the Warlord. Mounted, of course. A kitbash between Victrix Greek/Macedonian Heavy Cavalry (horse, body, and cloak), Republican Roman Cavalry (the arms), and a head from the Warriors of Carthage. But he looks cool, and that's the important bit.

Next up is of course the Hearthguards, citizens of Carthage following their leader, and providing a heavy punch. A mix of Greek Heavy Cavalry and Republican Roman Cavalry (presumably, some of them weren't above a bit of looting), once again with heads from Warriors of Carthage.

Keeping up with the horse folks, what would Carthaginians be without some Numidian Light Cavalry? 5+7, some of them painted the normal way, some painted with Army Painter Speed Paints (making my horse-related woes significantly smaller).

And of course, what would Carthaginians be without an elephant? (Yes, I know, Hannibal did most of his best work without them, but it's the visuals... and an easy point)

Carthaginians also had some fairly skilled skirmishers. For now, I'm satisfied with 8, and will run them as counts-as either Thureophoroi or Samnite Mercenaries (gives them a bit more of an elite feel than garden variety Levies).

Talking about Levies (or possibly Mercenaries). Slingers! Could be Balearic ones (Mercenaries), or more regular ones (and thus ordinary Carthaginian Levies). Will probably depend on how many other mercenaries I decide to field, how these will do their job...

Finally. some additional options (because Victrix Warriors of Carthage comes with a whole lot of infantry, that looks great, but doesn't seem all that useful to field). Some spearmen in hoplite armor, who'll probably stand in for the "usual" 4 man Warrior cheerleader unit. In due time (when I paint more), they might get to stand in as Mercenary Hoplites, too.

And last of all, some veteran spearmen with looted roman armor and shields. Looks awesome, would make for stellar Hearthguard... if you wanted foot hearthguard, which I doubt you want. But I do have the option, if I change my mind, so that's not bad.

Suffice to say, I have plans for at least as many units again, but for now, these can take a rest, and I can just game with them (which might rekindle the flame, making me paint more...). Just need to figure out how to transport them in a compact way over the Alps (or the local hills)...

/Fool Out

Secret Project Reveal

 So, one of the reasons that I've been less active (aside from hitting that bit where I work on many projects, but few of them reach a finished stage), is that for the last 20-some months, I've been doing an additional project that I decided to keep secret until it's in a substantial stage. At first, I thought "Done", but, well, it's been almost two years already.

 Anyway. I fell down the rabbit hole that is Napoleonics (I guess it's true as they say, sooner or later any historical wargamer feels that call). I decided that if I was going to do this, I was going to do this "right". So not only did I pick a nation, I looked at battles, and orders of battle, and organisation of divisions (and went slightly mad), and organisation of regiments and battalions (and went more mad). But in the end...

Here is Campbells Brigade of the British 3rd Division, at the Battle of Salamanca in 1812. (The rest of 3rd Division to follow, time permitting). I didn't do the common "one figure equals x actual soldiers", but went with more standard unit sizes. Still, units that had more men at the battle got larger.

First up is 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment of Foot. 1st Battalion was quite new to the Peninsula in 1812, and not only full strength, but even overstrength. So that is one massive unit, all dressed up in brand spanking new uniforms.

For a change, the 5th also had their 2nd Battalion at Salamanca. Battleworn, and standard procedure was to fold in all the effective soldiers into one Battalion, and then send the rest back to Britain to recruit more, but Wellington tried to hold onto his veteran units as long as possible. At Salamanca, some sources claim that 2/5th was as low as 2-300 men (for comparison, more normal was 6-700, and 1/5th had over 1000), so I didn't need as many of these. And of course, they can be folded in with 1/5th, or divided up more evenly, if ever there's a need.

Next up is the 94th Regiment of Foot. Nothing to remark on here, a solid regiment that were apparently long in the Peninsula and did good service, but nothing that stands out (although Campbell, who's in charge of this brigade, is also the Colonel for the 94th, having to do double duty). Since they were so long in the Peninsula, I decided to paint them with brown, civilian pants acquired locally, as the white uniform pants were apparently prone to wearing out. Still, most of them have more or less similar pants, giving a nice, ordered look still.

Finally, 83rd Regiment of Foot. Another regiment that was strictly too small (of a similar size to 2/5th), but Wellington kept on because Veteran troops were rare and punched above their weight.

Of course, you can't not have some Royal Artillery. The gunners were never plentiful, but each division had a battery.

And of course, you need some officers to control this lot. Campbell (the Brigade Commander) on his horse, alone on his base, and Pakenham (Divisional Commander for the 3rd during Salamanca), with an adjutant.

My basing for the infantry is, if I dare say so myself, ingenious. Each figure is based on a 19mm round base, and 4 figures can then be put in a 40mm x 40mm sabot block to form up. This lets me have larger blocks for moving around in line, but also individual figures for skirmishing when needed.

For unit sizes, I went with 28 for small units (although 2/5th and 83rd should probably be even smaller... ah, well, there's always the option of not fielding them all), 40 for "normal" units (only the 94th so far, but 1st Brigade will have more of these), and 50-some for 1/5th, that is known to be over-size. This might seem odd (I think certain well-known games for this era suggests either 36 or 24 as "standard size"), but there's a method to this madness.

British doctrine was to release the Light Company of each battalion to form a skirmish line, usually coordinated in a Combined Light Battalion. So pick out these (4 per battalion as I've modelled it), add on some commander (and extra loose fellows from the 5th)...

... and that gives about half of a battalion of various Light Companies (the other half to be filled out when Wallaces Brigade gets done).

Talking about skirmish lines... While they were technically part of Wallaces Brigade, 3rd Division had three companies from 5th Battalion, 60th Regiment of Foot, the forerunners of the famous 95th Rifles. I've painted up what would be one company of these (and a Sergeant to lead them). Of course, since they're dedicated skirmishers, they've got slightly different bases, but same principle as the line infantry, only 3 to a non-square.

To begin with, I probably won't be playing any divisional games (what with having less than a divison, and all), but the plethora of men from the 5th means they'd make a good force for Sharpe Practice or similar. In fact, I have enough for 6 units of Line Infantry, and either 2 Grenadiers, or 3 Light Company (quirk of the 5th, all troopers had White plumes, making Light and Grenadier troopers identical), as well as an Officer, Sergeant, and Musician for the Flank companies (Lights/Grenadiers), and 3(!) Officers, 2 Drummers, and 3 Sergeants for the Line units. Should give me enough options, especially if I expand and toss in the Rifles too.

Of course, you don't have to just use them for historicals (don't lynch me!). Some very a-historical fellows, and this will double nicely for a force in games such as Sludge (where these will serve splendidly as Arcanists, or the fellow in the middle could be a Sorcerer, or...)

So that's what I've been doing lately. Now I just need to finish Wallaces brigade. And Powers Portuguese brigade. And some cavalry. And perhaps some Highlanders... this rabbit hole is deep! (And of course, once these are nearing the finish line, I need some opposition for them).

But first, back to the Dark Ages, and some SAGA. Hopefully, that will be quicker.

/Fool, Out

Something more Forest-y this way comes - SAGA AoM Lords of the Wild

 Things have... not quite gone according to plan, but at long last, I've managed to finish one more project. Atlantis Miniatures managed to undergo a name change, and are now Blue Giant Studios, in the meanwhile, but I've finally finished all their Wood Elves (or at least, all the ones I've got). The base idea is to run these as Lords of the Wild, for SAGA: Age of Magic.

First, and most important for elves, are of course Archers. 12 Warriors in SAGA terms, a decent bunch, packing a punch at a distance, and also in melee if things get worrisome.

And then, of course, some warriors armed only with melee weapons, as well, because going without is usually a bad idea.

And then, there's the cavalry. They may not use horses like most "civilised" folks, but do not underestimate the power of a charge from these, it may cost you deer-ly. Most likely, these will be run as Hearthguard in SAGA terms, both to conserve figures, and to provide a compact counter-punch.

Now, the fun thing with SAGA: Age of Magic, is the availability of extra heroes, in each factions Lieutenant. You may only be able to get one, but I'll have plenty of options for who to field as one. The other two can fill out the warrior units, I guess...

Similarly, more than one Spellcaster is probably extravagant (although I've seen a few people do decently with 2), but it never hurts to have options. And more lovely figures to paint was of course also greatly appreciated.

For Warlords, you are definitely limited to one, but options are good. Certainly helps that there's a choice between fielding them Mounted, on Foot, or on a "Beast" (and the black fellow certainly deserves to be considered a Beast).

Last among the Blue Giant Studio Wood Elves, are this young Archer, whom I consider absolutely adorable, and will include one way or another, pretty much whenever I can, just because she's so wonderfully sculpted.

 

The only thing missing, is some bigger fellows. Reaper to the rescue, if I remember correctly, and we've got two, frankly massive, bears to serve as Creatures and general heavy hitters.

But the bears are not the heaviest hitters. No for that, we have a Nature Elemental (from always awesome Bad Squiddo Games). In AoM terms, it'll be a Titan, slow, but nigh on impossible to kill.

Make that two Titans, with a Wizkids Treant. In case one wants two monsters, or need to raise a forest to fight for you, for some reason (yes, that is something the Lords of the Wild can do, in fact).

And for games other than SAGA (primarily Frostgrave), I have some smaller animals as well. First out, two panthers (perhaps younger kin to the one my Warlord might ride), from Wizkids.

And then, a most deligthful Wolf, once again from Blue Giant Studios (not sure if this one was a kickstarter exclusive or not, I'm failing to find it on their homepage...)

Finally, in case I need some kind of markers. A mix of basing kits and Forest Critters, can serve as treasures in Frostgrave, or objectives in most games, really.

All in all, it makes for one quite impressive force.It should be enough to let me field an 8 point warband, with some options. All in all, I love all of these, very full of character, and a joy to paint, with only a bare minimum of things that I didn't find 100% perfect.

Now I just need to figure out who to bribe to get some deer-mounted archers...

/Fool Out

Oh, and just for fun, here's the figures divided up according to how Blue Giant Studis sells them, in case anyone was curious ;)

Elf Archer

Elf Archers (F)

Elf Archers (M)

Elf Deer Riders (F)

Elf Druid

Elk War Lord Mount

Elf Mage

Elf Prince

Elf Princess

Elf Rogue (F)

Elf Rogue (M)

Elf Spellcaster (M)

Elf Stag Riders (M)

Elf Warriors (F)

Elf Warriors (M)

Elf Warriors 2 (F)

Elf Archer (Young Female)

Not quite sure where my "Elf Warriors 2 (M)" went, but there's been a few reorganisations since I got them so probably in one of my (many) piles of shame. But I'll finish of with what I'm starting to suspect is another Kickstarter special, the Elf Princess on Big Kitty.