The Roman Warmachine

 The whole Roman battle line advances in tight formation. The elite Batavian Auxiliary troops open their order and rush forward.

 Legionaries advance behind their Auxiliary troops, ready to finish off any stragglers.

 As it was the first play test of these rules, we did make quite a lot of mistakes that only came to air after the battle was over. One of these was when first contact was made. Long spears can fight in two ranks normally, but when they charge only the first rank is rolled for. This may seem like a simple rule but it meant when they hit my warband with their charge bonus and 12 attacks, the result was the warband was wiped out. At the time I thought something must be wrong because the Romans were wiping the board all along the battle line. The word 'Lightsabres' was using on more than one occasion.

It all seemed to be a bit too easy for the Auxiliaries and I started to dread the words Long spears! However, that's why we have play tests to learn the rules and iron them out.

The battle begins!

 A Celtic commander thinks about his next move...while he is thinking about it, his army rushes forward in a mad charge.

 In CoE on a roll of 1 on a d6, warbands charge the nearest enemy, this happened all along my line. Knowing what well trained Legionary units do to lone warbands, I had little choice but to charge the all the others as well in true Celtic fashion.

 

" Now son watch and learn"
"Can't we just play a computer game of it instead dad?"
"No son"
"But all the noises are done for you and everything...and all the men move"
"You're missing the point son, you can't share a bowl of crisps with a computer game son."
"What?"
"Never mind just enjoy the day"

"Dad..."
"Yes son"
"I'm bored"

 The Celtic warbands serge forward in an uncontrolled horde. Some of the warbands even ran through their own skirmishers in their eagerness to come to grips with the enemy. Valuable shots were lost in the confusion.

The Romans advance to meet the hordes, gaining huge bonuses for charging into combat.

CoE Battle

 My angry Celts could hardly be controlled at this point and were beginning to get quite beside themselves.

 I had five warbands of 36 men and three units of 12 light horse, together with 15 slingers and 15 javelin men. We had stacked it so the Romans would have to fight hard and use all their special tactics to fend off the waves of barbarians. It turned out, for one reason or another, to be a Roman holiday. My poor guys were cut down in their thousands.

                                                     "DEATH TO THE ROMANS!"

 CoE uses command bases differently to WAB, more in a supporting role than as a hero. Command stands follow up the units and help keep them motivated and on track. This noble saw the camera...very vain the Celts.

 Meanwhile the Romans stood in complete silence, waiting for the signal to move.

The Romans had 3 units of 18 legionaries, 2 units of 24 Auxiliaries, 1 unit of cavalry and a unit of 15 javelin men. We wanted to try out the Legion rules in the book so the Romans adopted a chequer board formation.Also one of my warbands was hidden in a secret location on the board.

Play Testing Clash Of Empires (CoE)

 This weekend a friend and I finally sat down to play a wargame. This has been a sore subject for many years as my busy life hasn't allowed many free gaming days off, so when I finally got one, we both jumped at the chance to throw some dice at each other.

My friend and I have always been big WABites but after Forge World assassinated the game we gravitated towards CoE. The two rule sets are not too dissimilar and CoE has ascended to fill the void left by the great but doomed WAB.

We have a good wargaming dynamic, my friend and I, he learns the rules whereas I paint the scenery and figures.This works well to a point until I get carried away painting Romans and can't paint anything else for six years. They are great though, aren't they, and so addictive to paint.

Well the day came at last but as it turned out, I was looking after the baby as well as commanding thousands of screaming angry Celts, this I thought could be done...I was wrong. After years of painting and waiting, painting and waiting when the day came, my friend and I were totally out of our depth.

The resulting game was one of bad dice blunders and mistakes in using the rules. However I did get to use my Celtic army for the first time and roll hundreds of dice and take lots of photos! Still a cracking day.

 My Celtic force turned up and lined the valley. The Roman general couldn't believe his luck when the Celtic horde finished getting into position. The infantry had completely filled the open ground to the centre of the valley, pushing the large contingents of horse into the woodland on the skirts of the hills. Well, there was much sword waving and shield banging going on and once everyone was in place they weren't moving unless it was straight toward the enemy.

 All the figures were so dusty from their time in the cabinet it was quite heartbreaking. Keeping them in shallow airtight boxes is definitely the way forward.

 I actually got to use some slingers for the first time, these single mounted figures were bought off eBay a few years back. They proved to be very nasty against armour...If only I got better dice rolls.

The trouble stirring druid Gealoc and his elite band of headhunters prepared themselves for battle with the usual anti-Roman chants.

 Yeeaaahhh Thorin Oakenshield pushes in on this post and why not, you show'em Thorin! Just hurry up and get based!

 I'm not sure if he will be the top dog but he certainly will be a good second in command. I have a massive figure from 'Chronicle' which will probably end up being Bolg or Gothmog.

The big Black Uruk leader has two standards to mark him as being a bit more important on the field.

 Here are my collected LOTR Trolls.

 The two silver ones are from 'Reaper miniatures' and are based on a MERP illustration by my favourite artist ,Angus McBride. They were in the front running for my heavy hitters until I received my GW LOTR Troll off eBay . It is huge and goes very well with the rest of my force. The black Troll on the round base is not a war gaming mini but a collectors model. It would make a great figure for gaming but is a little small compared to the GW one to fit in. The first small Troll is a very old figure I think from Grenadier. I might use this for a half-troll from the East if I ever get to do an Easterling force.

Always keeping an eye open for gaming bargains I spotted this eagle made by Schleigh in a toy shop. They weren't super cheap but still a lot cheaper than any GW creation. I have bought a few and will repaint them ready for the battle of the Five Armies. I also dipped the unpainted models in boiling water and re-positioned their wings and heads so they all look a little different.

Forces Of Mordor

 Another old mini from Circa 1984. I like this figure but the raised sword is very fragile and has snapped off all three of my duplicate figures. I was rather proud of myself as I taught myself to 'pin' on this figure and gave him a very leader like weapon instead of his empty hand. In fact I bought a few old and damaged Orcs cheap on eBay and made them battle ready with my new found pinning skill.

 The horde grows.

 After doing a lot of research I found that Dettol makes a great paint remover. metal and plastic figures can be left in this solution for 24hrs, after which the old paint just scrubs off. It sounds too good to be true but I have tested it and it does indeed work a treat. Any stubborn paint jobs, just give them another 24 hours in the Dettol and all should be well. It has made buying old crap painted figures on eBay very worth while.


TROLL!!!!

 Well you can't have an army of Mordor without a few Olog-hai or battle trolls. Now I have been looking at good figures for Mordor Trolls for a while (more on that another day) but I couldn't get the ones from the film out of my head. I was also delighted to see how big they were compared to my 28mm Citadel Orcs.

I have started my two trolls by painting them light brown then dry brushing them dark grey. This should give them the look of the film with the lighter skin under the hard stone like plates on the back. These are still waiting for me to finish them.

I'm also doing the two tone effect on the body of the Troll as shown on the Cave Troll in the book behind.

Orcs of the Red Eye

 Over the last few months I have been painting mostly Orcs of one kind or another. Most of these are old Citadel figures with a sprinkling of other old ranges to add a little variety. I also managed to bag a few boxes of Magic Metal Orc blister packs off eBay. These were nice a cheap for metal figures and helped to swell the numbers of the unwashed.

I like the idea of creating LOTR armies but using old figures from different ranges instead of the GW ones. The GW LOTR figures are very nice indeed and sculpted by the Perry twin masters, but I like the challenge of creating my own versions with more of a Dark age feel as Tolkien envisaged. So the Orcs below are based on that of Sauron in the Third Age.

 I kept the colours very simple and very dark with red as their main uniform colour. This was taken from the recent films of which I am a big fan.

The Large Orc above is a Warlord from Reaper Miniatures, he is very large and so should make a good Black Uruk. Infact a lot of the larger or well armoured Orcs I painted with dark, almost black skin, this shows they are the black Uruks of Mordor and superior to the lesser runts in the war bands.

 The horde grows and combines many different makes, there's even some plastics in there!

 I have always liked this figure and so made him Grishnakh from the books. Another nod to the recent films I painted him with a very red skin tone. This figure matches the description in the book very well, with long ape like arms and broad shoulders. He is sly and clever and has surrounded himself with large, well armoured Orcs. I gave him his own standard to mark him out as a captain and a sneaky sidekick for good measure.

I want to create a large army of these so quickly paint them using simple base colours then wash them with a black wash. Simple highlights are then painted and I move on to another batch of twelve.

My latest project

Baby James and his first smile!

I'm a Bloody DAD!

 

Baby James was born on the 7th of March 2014. He is already a fat little cutey. The funny thing is with all my crazy late nights I've actually got some more painting done than usual.

 However this may not last as the other night a wall socket started singing to me complete with a smiling face. Time for sleep I think.

Painting Again!!!

Arrrr Feels good!

 Although my life is pretty hectic I feel so much better for having a few days of painting. I think I will try to fit some in no matter how busy things get.

 I think It's good for the soul.

Fun with Orcs!

 Well I have found some time to paint again and wasted no time in bashing out some Orc filth.

These Orcs were painted very quickly using a black wash over simple dark colours. The highlights were kept to a minimum as I wanted the Orc host to look like a black shadow going across the land. Being heavily influenced by the recent LOTR films, I kept the colour palette very dark, almost black.

 

The armour was washed with a black and then a brown to give it a rusty look, metal highlights were then drybrushed lightly on top.

 

 These Magic Metal miniatures mix in well with all my old Citadel figures and help bulk out the numbers. What's that Asgard Dwarf doing there?

Eye eye...

I like the idea of Orcs being a complete rabble so I intend to mix up loads of different figure makes on the bases. I really enjoyed painting these guys and they were so easy compared to the Dwarves. One wash of black and they're done, move on to the next.

Thorin Oakenshield and Company

 The mighty Dwarf, Thorin Oakenshield leads his band of hardy adventurers to the Lonely mountain. The Thorin figure is an old Citadel miniature from their Lord Of The Rings range way back in 1985 (I think). The other Dwarves were chosen from other old Citadel figures and some from the Alternative Armies range. I do like the Alternative Armies Dwarves and they fit very well beside the old Citadel ones.

 Balin with his red hood and long white beard was a must for the adventure party and this old figure just fitted the bill. I think these old mini's are from the Citadel, Fantasy Tribes range way back in 1984. They are my favourite Dwarves I think and have buckets of character in them. I prefer them to the modern huge proportioned figures of more recent times.

 

 Dwalin in green, I gave him a warhammer party because of the recent hobbit film and the troll sequence. The figure is from Alternative Armies, as is the horn blower. After doing lots of research I found that Thorin rushes down into the Battle Of The Five Armies with the sound of a trumpet blast, well after reading that I had to include one on the base.

 

 Painting is stopped as two Black riders stop by to sniff around for somewhere called the Shire...search me.

 

The base for the Dwarves is 60mm x 60mm. This is in keeping with HotT. I plan to base up all of these LOTR themed figures with a 60mm front so that I can use them for other rule sets as well as HotT. I still want to give HotT a go once the armies are ready, but I also love big units and battles and so might try to convert Hail Caesar or Clash of Empires to play a Fantasy game.

Mordor Shield Designs

 Here are some Mordor orc shields and banners I have collected over the last few weeks in preparation of my Mordor army.

 Some of them are lifted straight from the Internet and taken from books and films, however most of them have been made up in true orcy fashion. I wanted them to be simple to paint at 28mm but also I didn't think orcs would spend much time with their artistic abilities.

So the more simple ones will adorn the Snaga and grunts of the warbands, while the more intricate designs are set aside for officers and persons of higher rank.

 

One of my goals is to refight the Battle of the five armies with Bolg and his heavy armoured bodyguard and hordes of orcs and goblins. Mount Gundabad is their home so I've decided to incorporate it into their shield designs. Mount Gundabad is a huge mountain at the end of the Misty mountain range, It has three peaks. I worked up some ideas using the three peaks as a general theme, some incorporate the eye of Sauron.

 I hope these come in handy for anyone creating a Middle Earth army, I know I had a lot of fun drawing them up.

 

 

 

 

Armoured Dwarf

 

 

 

Painting Night

Painty Time!

Now the new house is getting sorted and most of the decorating has been done, I can finally start to turn my mind to the painting of the figure variety. The last few months have been quite frustrating for me as I have been so busy with the house and work. I still read other gamers Blogs daily and even sit through countless painting films on YouTube getting my painting fix wherever I can.

One of the reasons I have missed it so much Is I have started to realize just how important painting is for me to relax and unwind after a working day.
My job is one of creating loads of stories for books and short films which means I have real problems shutting off and relaxing when I get home, my mind is always working overtime on ideas. Painting allows me to concentrate on just one thing and a really simple thing at that. What colour to use on a certain jacket or belt is a great way to focus my mind and this helps to shut everything else out. You also get the added satisfaction of seeing pieces finished and watching the collection grow. All in all, painting is very rewarding and I have started to really miss it.

My only problem is I've been away for so long I'm not sure where to start. I am still caught in a fantasy frame of mind and so might have a go at finishing my Dwarf army for HotT. I just love those old Eighties miniatures. Anyway, enough preaching to the converted, hopefully see you soon with another batch of angry Dwarves.

Secundus.