HotT Dwarf bases

 An old adventurer takes his place in the shield wall to protect his lands. I based this old guy on Balin and gave him a white beard and a red hood. Come to think of it, the guy next to him with the big axe would make a great Dwalin!

 Two companies of Dwarfs based on 60x40 bases. These are bigger than recommended in the rules and have double the allotted figures, but I like my armies to be big and look like armies. An army of 30 figures was never going to sit well with me. However, It will take me longer to field an army now though.

 I could always speed up the painting process by missing out the eyes etc but these old rare figures deserve a little time spent on them I think.

These are great old sculptures from the earlier 80's and although they have loads of character, I replaced their basic shields with new fancy ones of the Internet.

Back on the Fantasy Trail

 Well it's been a while again since I've picked up the brush and found time to do any serious painting, so I've had to come up with a painting plan.

 My new plan is to have fun and enjoy painting again by not giving myself too much to do. I scaled back from huge regiments of 40+ figures to just six at a time. This allows me to enjoy it and stop it becoming too much like hard work. I have cleared the table of Union troops and cleared the mind.
At the minute I'm working on six more Dwarves for my HotT army, they are old figures so deserve a little more time and effort in my eyes.

I found myself coming back to HotT as I loved the idea of the bases and the chance for lots of little dioramas. My fall back plan if I really can't get on with the rules is to use the figures for other games, using a D6 to mark the causalities behind the base. They will still have a frontage on 20mm so nothing really has changed, they will just be in blocks and look nicer. I quite like the idea of each six man base being a company of Dwarves for the story telling sake.

I have to say painting up fantasy figures does give you a great chance to be creative and use your imagination which I love. I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in to all my old Goblin and Orc figures and turning them into horde bases of 8+ figures. The rules warn that creating hordes can get addictive and I can already see why.

Blew Coat

I'm glad my helmet doesn't cover my massive white sideburns...

I've just found out today that If I want to publish any more photos on Blogger, I will have to pay about £3 a month. Oh well I suppose I have been Blogging for years now and while cartoons are nice it wouldn't really be a war gaming Blog without photos. Not really sure what to do at the mo.

Blew On Blew

This was my first taste of battle, the re-enactment of Newstead Abbey 2012.

 My world shrank to a couple of feet radius as I just listened out for orders and followed those around me. It was great fun and very exciting. The highlights for me were the murmurs that went through the ranks as we took up position opposite the enemy, some of which were old rivals. On the day we fought against another Blew coated Regiment, I'm not sure but I think they must have been the Blew trayned band of London.

When the pike blocks broke apart there was some confusion about who was on whose side as we ran back to our positions. I couldn't help but think of the reality of the moment and what it must have been like back then with both sides uniformed in the same colours. A problem that had echoed in civil wars before and since this one.

The picture says it all really, hard work but great fun.