Blog discription

What will you find here? Ramblings from an aging gamer-miniature painter. When I first started out in this hobby computers were in their infancy and finding other gamers could only be done by going to conventions or as in my case bumping into somebody who happened to see me reading "Panzer Leader" on the school bus. Look how far we have come! The internet has allowed our small community to be able to connect on a level I never dreamed of when I was but a small lad. What I do hope you will find here is something interesting from one wargamer/miniature painter to another. I paint miniatures somewhat decently, so I will be posting some pictures of my work, and perhaps a review or two of games and/or miniatures. Most of all this is just about having fun and anything I post here is meant to be for that reason.

Friday, May 22, 2015

Religious Adviser for Saga...

Well a week or so ago I finished this little fella, a Druid for my non christian armies. The rules for the religious advisers in Saga I don't think are over the top, like some of the Hero's of the Viking age are, but that's just my opinion. I played a game a few days ago and I felt it was a pretty even swap for one less warrior unit for the adviser, but later in the game I was wishing I had a few more warriors instead.

I've mounted him on a Warlord size base as he is kind of like a Warlord, and my goal was to build a little alter or have an old tree stump and him sacrificing a chicken, but I needed him for the battle that was upcoming, and I couldn't find any chickens willing to be sacrificed, so I went without. I might still come back to this and add something onto the base as it feels a little empty to me.

Unlike the Christians that have some nice figure choices I couldn't find any that suited me for a Druid type, so one day while browsing through the civilians Gripping Beast figures have I spotted a pack of shepherds they make. There were two figures I thought would make perfect druids, but I chose this one because of his staff and his other armed upraised, like it was to the Gods.

I think it came out okay, enjoy.

Cheers
Kevin

Deathwing Terminators for Space Hulk, another private

Well the Yo-yo affect continues in my life and I've swung the ole paint brush back over to Scifi mode. Finished another Private and here he is.

Here is a shot of another Private I finished earlier but this time based.




And a group shot of the three figures I've done so far.



Now I only have two figures to go to complete my squad for Space Hulk gaming over at our club events. These will be the hardest of all five to do. A Sergeant with a Power Sword that will need special care in taping and airbrushing, then my Apocarthy which will be a challange to get the shading right on the helmet, it being white and all.



Thanks for taking a peek.

Cheers
Kevin

Friday, May 8, 2015

My Welsh Warlord

A few weeks ago I had met up with my friend Skip in Cincinnati and we did a little trade. He got my Anglo Danes and I ended up the his Welsh. I can't tell you how excited I was when I got home with these lads. I won't tell you that I immediately placed an order for a Welsh Warlord mounted on a pony, along with 8 mounted warriors, and 4 mounted hearth guard (though I am still waiting on these as the vendor said they were in stock when they were not, but I got everything else), nor that I ordered shield decals from Little Big men, or new movement trays from Litko. No I wasn't excited what so ever. Calm, cool, and usual collective me.

I think I set a new world record (for me) painting a Warlord. Like it was out of the package getting cleaned up and primed same day it came in the mail, and painted the next! For me that's like being Super man, faster than a speeding bullet type of fast!

After all the work that I put into it I almost screwed it up by putting too much mat finish on it and frosted his cloak causing me to have to repaint it. But it came out alright in the end. Thank goodness!

So here are a few snaps that I hope you enjoy.

Cheers
Kevin

 

A Post just for Skip

I heard you Skip, more mini pictures and less flower ones;)

These are the Saxon's that were gifted to me by my good friend Skip when we met up in Cincinnati a few weeks ago. He uses the dipping method and I must say the more I look at them the more I like them. I have remounted them and replaced one of the shields to add a little more salt and pepper to my Saxon Warlord diorama, and did the base. Otherwise these were painted or touched up figures from a sale Skip had bought them from.

Thanks again Skip!
Kevin


Monday, May 4, 2015

2nd annual Saga pilgrimage

It's amazing how little one can get done hobby wise when one's Wife is on vacation. Though I must admit it was rather fun spending time with her and away from the hobby as sometimes that can seem like a chore. Now I am back to it so on with the story.

Last week my very good friend Skip and I got together for our 2nd annual Saga extravaganza weekend of gaming. Skip lives down in northern Georgia and I in southern Michigan so it's about an 11 hour car drive difference. Last year we met up in Lexington Kentucky, but this year my pal drove an extra hour north and we met up in Cincinnati. Well actually it was Erlanger Kentucky which is just a tad south of Cincinnati. Unlike my good friend who drives alone, I am fortunate enough to have my own personal chauffeur in my Wife. Actually she enjoys driving and going anywhere as long as it gets her out of the house. A toy soldier painting/playing man can not tell you what an added bonus this is to a hobbyist.

Since our last meeting I have painted up exactly one more Army (Warband), while my friend turned up the heat and added five more. He brought all seven of his Armies with him, so we would have no shortage of options. 

We both arrived Friday evening safe and sound at our destination and met up for dinner and a nice chat about what we would do the next day. I was also presented with a very cool surprise from Skip. He had purchased some figures from a fellow who thought they were Vikings and they turned out to be Saxons. Since Skip has Saxons already he touched them up and presented them to me as a gift. Did I mention Skip is the coolest man on the planet? Well he is!

Our plan was to try and get three Saga games in on game day which may not sound like a lot, but we aren't as young as we once were and sitting on your butts all day can be pretty tiring;) We decided to play "Clash of Warlords" for all our scenarios as we wanted to hack and slash and not do anything fancy shcmancy (after having driven 11 hours to meet) using 6 point warbands.

Saturdays first game began with my Franks (700 AD) against Skip's Moors. I was excited about facing off with this Army except my buddy thought it would be cool to sneak in a few Naffata dudes which made several of his units unable to take advantage of his battle board. I was freaked out at first, not having faced these interesting ancient day flame thrower units before, but by the end of the game I learned not to fear them. This of course after I lost because I thought I needed to sweep them from the field with a massed Frankish Cavalry charge leaving them exposed to his counter attack handing him the victory points on a platter for his first win.
The above pictures are of the Frank/Moor setup. We used a tan table cloth to represent a more arid climate, and a few other pieces, the only thing we didn't have were trees. Unfortunately those got left in Georgia , but it did not take away the fun we were having, with the added bonus we didn't have to move any out of the way either;)

In our second game we went with the Franks again, but this time against Skips Byzantines. Both these battle boards are ones that need playing a bit to figure out what there full capabilities are and how to use their abilities in combinations. This would be my third battle ever with the Franks but I felt I was starting to see the light of day with how to work their battle board. So I believe I had the advantage over Skip as this would be his first time using the Byzantines. In this battle I was more patient and I danced around a little bit to get into a good position and have my units supporting each other. Skip probably could have won this game had he also exercised more patience in maneuvering his foot units to attack my foot using what I think are some pretty cool abilities for his infantry. Instead he took his Cavalry on a long march around my flank. It was like slow motion as I had plenty of time to set up a proper greeting for him and like in my first game, Skip found out what it was like to charge in and have no support and get counter attacked and wiped off the field. This pretty much ended the second confrontation.
The above pictures are of the Frank vs Byzantine setup at the start.

By the time our third game arrived we were both getting a little tired and decided to do only a 4 point battle. The added bonus is Skip will be heading to Nash Con to do a tourney where they are allowing you to enter 6 points, but only use 4 of those points. So you can change your army a bit knowing what Army you will face next, but not it's composition.

Before we set up to play we worked out a trade for my Anglo Danes. I have played them exclusively this last year against my home base opponent and have grown tired of them. Plus they didn't really fit my style of play. Skip was happy enough to do the trade, though I believe he did it more out of kindness to me then to get the Danes. I ended up trading for his Welsh and was so happy to get them that our next game I used them. Skip decided to use the Danes as well!

The game was an absolute blast. I had the most fun of the entire day. The Welsh board was cool and playing with only 4 points, I feel, is a bit more challenging.

The game ended up being a cliff hanger and came down to turn 5. I was a few points ahead in the game and Skip knew it and needed to do something about it. He pulled off a calculated maneuver that brought him face to face with my Warlord. If he could kill my Warlord he would win! To get to my Warlord he used side by side with what was left of his 2 figure Huscarl unit and blew through my Warriors though I reduced his Huscarl unit down to 1 figure. Both our armies where battered and he charged into my Warlord with one figure able to support his warlord. This way he could absorb two hits without losing his Warlord, while I had no support and could only absorb one hit. I had a good roll and caused 3 hits against his Warlord, while he caused 2 hits to me. Both of us only needed one save to win the day! Skip rolled first and not a single five or six appeared! It looked like he was doomed to defeat! That is until I rolled... not a single five or six. Both our Warlords crumpled to the ground and the game was over with a draw.
The above scene right before turn 5. In our excitement I forgot to take shots of what we did not know would be the climatic end!

It was a glorious day and we went out to celebrate the way veteran warriors only know how to and that was for some brewskis and steak dinners!

Until next year my friend!

Cheers
Kevin