Malifaux Guild - Work in progress

So picture the scene... I'm at the Gloucester Minicon having recently completed my Saga Vikings (to be safe I had 1 figure that needed flocking on my paint table - we all know what happens when you paint your last figure!).I had just sold a stack of figures on Ebay and had cash in my pocket. Behind the Evesham Wargamers table was a stall selling Malifaux - Lets be honest, I had no chance, I had to buy something!

After checking out all the factions and models available I finally settled on the Lady Justice starter set (plus the rules and fate cards!). The set comprises of Lady Justice, the Judge and 3 Death Marshalls. The figures were all well cast and with very little flash. The only frustrating thing was the amount of construction required! Still, really nice models.

The pics below show the current state of painting. I have also purchased a pair of Guild Hounds and finished the lot with a set of bases from Fenris games (www.fenris games.com).

Lady Justice and the Judge
The Death Marshalls

Guild Hounds

Saga Wargame at The Evesham Wargames Club Jan 15th 2012

I will be introducing one of the lads at The Evesham Wargames Club to Saga - the Dark Ages skirmish game tonight.

Below are pictures of the Viking Warband that I propose to use, led by my newly finished Warband leader and his bodyguard.

The six points consist of: My Warband leader (foc) 3 x 4 man Hirdsmen (1 x 4 converted to Berserkers), 2 x 8 man Bondi ansd 1 x 12 men levies.

My new leader has beeb based together with two retainers on a 40mm square base (in line with the rules). The figures are Olaf Trygvasson and Retainers from Gripping beast. (One retainer did'nt make it to the beast, but has joined the ranks of the warband) As ever Citadel paints and washes were used for the paint job.

My right flank showing Berserkers, Hirdsmen and Levies at the rear (the eagle eyed among you will notice that the levies are mixed with hirdsmen with spears - in the game they will represent levies - I haven't got enough levies painted yet. Under the rules you cannot have mixed units).

My left flank showing two units of Bondi, with the levies in the background.

A battle report will follow, and with the will of Odin and Thor we will be victorious!

Gloucester Minicon Sunday January 29th 2012

The Evesham Wargamers will be hosting a 28mm Zulu War participation game at the Gloucester Minicon on Sunday 29th January.

The scenario is based on the Death of Prince Louis Napoleon. Having play tested the game with the lads, I will only say that it is bloody scary (but a real challenge) being one of the British troopers.


The poster above was created by Paul, one of the guys at The Evesham Wargames Club- Nicely done mate!

I'll be one of the umpires on the game - if you're planning to go, come and have a game and say hello.

Mark

Gripping Beast Small Saxon Hut .... and cattle

I ordered a small, resin Saxon house from the chaps at Gripping Beast in order add a little scenery to my Saga game board (My original plan was to buy one and then make scratch built duplicates).

When the model arrived, I was delighted with the quality; the resin was well cast and did not require any alteration filling or filing at all. The term 'small hut' is quite literal here - the model only measures 7cm x 8cm.

As ever, I have painted the model with a combination of Citadel and Vallejo paints.

The cattle were provided free of charge by the beast as an apology for the building being out of stock when I placed my order - now I need some peasants to tend them and live in the hut!


Next out will be a 40mm square based Saga Warlord with bodyguards.

Gripping Beast Viking Berserkers

One of the rules specific to Vikings in the Saga rule set, allows one unit of 4 Heathguard to be designated Berserkers. Each figure generates 4 melee dice instead of the normal 2, but reduces armour to 3. With such an aggressive attack bonus, I decided I had to have some for my force.

Quite conveniently, the chaps at Gripping beast do a pack of four Berserkers. The pack includes a variety of weapons and four shields. I decided to only use two shields and use the spares as fatigue markers (see earlier post).

My finished models are below - as ever they are painted with a mix of Citadel and Vallejo paints.

Next up, a saxon house, cattle and Warband command group.

Warband Leader (A Gripping Beast Freebie)

Those of you that bought the Saga Ruleset from the chaps at Gripping Beast will recognise this figure as the freebie that came with the rules and dice pack. I decided to paint him up as another warband leader - the rules allow for subleaders in larger games.
Painted as ever with Citadel paints, pics are below.

Next up, Berzerkers.

More Gripping Beast Bondi Vikings

Well, the Christmas holidays paintfest gathers momentum... I'm actually in danger of running out of lead!!
Here are the next batch of Gripping beast Bondi - the only problem I had was attatching the weapons, lots of cutting and filing was required!

Next on the tray, a warband leader, Berzerkers, a Saxon hut, cattle and a 4 man Warband command group.

Saga Fatigue Markers

One of my pet hates about wargaming is seeing tables cluttered with tokens and markers. One key element of the Saga rule system is fatigue markers. I decided to use some of the extra shields I have as fatigue markers.
Not being satisfied with just the shield, I glued them onto a penny along with a piece of scenic cork. I then covered the base in sharp sand and painted it to match the bases of my figures. The finished markers are below.

Coming next, more Bondi, Berserkers and a Warband leader.

Gripping Beast Viking Bondi

Painting 44 plastic Hirdsmen is all well and good, however it will be hugely unlikely I will ever be able to field them all whilst playing Saga. To complete my force I have started painting Viking Bondi, bought as ever from the chaps at Gripping Beast.

As ever, the figures are painted with Citadel paints. I decided not to use shield transfers for the Bondi and hand painted them instead - I actually prefer the finished effect!

Next on the paint table, more Bondi, four Berserkers and a Command section.

Gripping Beast Plastic Viking Hirdsmen (last of)

The Christmas holidays are here, which for a wargaming primary school teacher means only one thing... time to catch up on the painting!!

Below are my final group of Gripping Beast plastic Hirdsmen. The figures are all painted with citadel paints and the shields are finished with Little Big Man Studio transfers.

Coming soon, Gripping beast metal Bondi, Berserkers and fatigue markers for the Saga rules system.

More Gipping Beast Vikings

Another batch of Gripping beast plastic Vikings - once again painted with Citadel and Vallejo paints and washes. It has to be said that Little Big Man Studios transfers are fantastic! But enough gushing - here are the pics...

Halfway there... another 22 to go!

Gripping Beast Plastic Vikings

Well all it took was a chance comment at Evesham Wargames club that I'd be teaching year 5 children about Vikings next school year; followed by Paul letting me know that Gripping Beast were about to launch a new set of dark ages skirmish rules and before too long I had a box of Gripping Beast's new plastic Vikings.

£17 on Ebay gets you 44 multi pose plastic models. The range of poses and weapons available gives you a good range of completed figures, all of which are well moulded and highly detailed.
I decided to give myself an easier paint job by leaving off a lot of the tiny add ons - belt pouches and daggers, but I don't think it detracts from the finished model.

The pictures below shop the first 11 off the paint bench, they have been painted using a mix of Citadel and Vallejo paints and finished off with shield transfers from Little Big Man Studios.

Only 33 more to go....

British 14th Army in Burma

Since I started wargaming, I have always wanted to recreate the Burma Campaign of World War 2 (My Grandfather fought in the 1942 retreat - more about him in a later entry). Sadly no-one produces suitable miniatures to represent the British troops from the early campaign, so I finally opted for troops from the later campaign and Chindit operations.

My first set of figures are from the Assault Group ( http://www.theassaultgroup.com/ ) - lovely figures, but their delivery is bloody poor!

The pictures below show the first six of the paint table.

Paint Scheme:

Uniform - Vallejo Bronze Green; washed with Citadel Devlan mud; dry brushed with two progressively lighter dry brush coats of a Vallejo Bronze Green and Citadel Skull white.

Webbing and Bush hat - Vallejo English uniform; washed with Citadel Devlan mud; dry brushed with Vallejo Khaki.

Puggaree - Vallejo Khaki; washed with Citadel Devlan mud and dry brushed with Vallejo Khaki.

Rifle - Citadel Scorched Brown; highlighted with Citadel Vermin Brown; Citadel Boltgun Metal; washed with Citadel Badam Black.

Face and Arms - Citadel Bronzed Flesh; washed with Citadel Ogryn Flesh; Highlighted with Vallejo Basic Skintone and washed again with Ogryn flesh.

I have six more from The Assault group primed on the paint tray, but I think I will be going to Warlord Games (http://www.warlordgames.co.uk/) for reinforcements!

Sci-Fi Bunker/ Observation tower (part 2: painting)

I am aiming for a dark, rusty and stained metal finish - something that looks like it's been well used (and abused). Having first sprayed the model with a base coat of Citadel Chaos Black; I then painted the whole thing with Citadel Boltgun metal. At this stage the bunker is not yet attached to the base; the detail of which I will cover in Part 3.

The next step was to liberally wash the whole model with Citadel Badham Black wash, one again the model has yet to be glued to the base.

I am a great believer that it is the small touches that really make a scratch built model; in this case I downloaded the emblem of the Helghast, reduced it in size, printed it, cut it out and glued it to two sides of the model using PVA glue.

The Killzone series of games seems to have produced a huge community of online fans, and it is from one of these that I found the full Helghan alphabet. I hand painted a couple of the 'letters' onto the sides on the model that didn't have the printed logo on.

The next step with the exterior was to wash the entire model with Citadel Ogryn flesh - this gives a nice rusty finish.

The final piece constructed was the roof - no guesses for the materials used...

Part 3 will cover the interior and the base.