Two tribes go to war...

Orc filth storm the ramparts.

Basing this lot I was aware of how fragile some of the plastics are compared to the metal figures. The guys with the really delicate stuff I tried to put into the middle of the bases surrounded by their stronger lead brethren. We will just have to see how they stand up to wargames, they should be alright as the plastics have the ability to bend rather than break.

 Now it was time to put this new lot along side the last batch completed earlier this year. Funny enough that last lot numbered six bases also, very handy for making units. Three units for Oathmark with their four bases each.

The Time of the Orc is Here

 I’ve been locked in a crazy painting marathon over the last week, finishing off the pile of converted plastic orcs I knocked together earlier this year. To this horde I added the odd lead figure that caught my eye. To my surprise I managed to create six bases worth.

 My basing system is if the base contains three spearmen then it can be classed as a spear unit in Oathmark. These contrast against those armed with hand weapons which will be classed as soldiers.

 It also gave me a chance to paint up all the odd standards I have laying around, these denote leader bases.

Dwarf Horde

 Another trip down memory lane here as I pick through my Dwarf lead pile for characters. Arrr the memories are immense in this lifeless pile of lead. I guess I’m still clinging to a carefree time of no responsibilities and endless summers. It’s funny but every single figure here has a story behind it, where and when I got it, who I got it off, where I was living when I got it etc etc. Some here are among the first I ever bought way back in 1983, they are easy to spot because a lot of them are caked in thick enamel paint. Good times.

Zombie survival plan

Packing up a load of old war games magazines today I found this. It’s my zombie survival plan, everyone’s got one right...if you haven’t, it’s about time you did. I had many, all forgotten now in the tides of time but this one was different, it was written down and survived. It dates from around 2003 and followed a deluge of zombie film nights.
The idea was simple, cut away a large section of the stairs leaving a tiny cat walk up the side near the wall. The shuffling Zombies wouldn’t be able to balance on the tiny steps so would be kept at arms length. That’s the idea anyway, but you know in practice something would go horribly wrong. That’s the law about zombie films, everyone has a good plan and it works...until it goes horribly wrong.

This of course would be the last defensive obstacle in a line of precautions. Always make sure you have access to the roof in the shopping centre too, that’s a must. Of course all things changed with the release of ‘28 days later’... I’m not so sure my missing stairs would cut it in that scenario.

I need a new plan...

Oathmark ideas for multi basing.

 I think this idea could work really well and keep things quite simple.

In Oathmark you get a rank bonus for every rank after the first, with a maximum of four. These ranks are very important as they can really make a huge difference in melee, giving a -1 to the difficulty number for every complete rank.. Oathmark is a game where all the figures are based separately so removing Casualties  destroys ranks and thus cuts down on the units effectiveness.
This caused me a little thought with my multi based armies, until I came up with the idea that a base of figures is basically a rank. This should really play well due to the simple visual nature of it, as in Oathmark there is a maximum of four ranks and this works well with my square bases forming blocks of four.

 In Oathmark ranks are made up of 5 figures with a leader taking the middle slot. My bases of six figures should work the same with a mini dice replacing the job of taking figures away.

There is even talk of increasing the attacks to six rather than five too match my figure count, but I’m not so sure about this. These rules would have been play tested to death, being a big release and the five attacks must have been more than just an odd number so the leader can go in the middle. I guess we could try it but it might make too much of a difference to game play.

This does mean I will have to paint up some more bases to complete units. My Goblin armies are big enough but my Dwarf army will need a few more bases now the units are about to double in size. This simple conversation has made me happy as for when it comes to basing, I like to base what I think looks the best and then work out the rules around it. This base equals rank idea is the perfect fix I think.

Another three stands of Orc soldiers

Small goblins scattered around in amongst the others really help with the orc mob look I think.

This orc Captain was given some face paint to bring him out a bit. The Dwarf photography is bad in this picture due to a hastily retreating battle line.

 It’s been rather quite over the last couple of weeks but I finally got around to finishing these guys. Nice and quick paint jobs over some great character figures.

 The guy above with the red head is a real mash up of kits. His body is from Fireforge, his arm is from the Oathmark goblin set. A GW goblin head off eBay and a shield from the Warlordgames orc box. Lastly it was all covered in a green stuff tattered cloak. Fun to make but even more enjoyable to paint funny enough.
 Dotted amongst these latest bases are some Nick Lund Hobgoblins for some extra character. Also some old Scotia Grendel orcs with their long arms and great poses, helped with the angry mob look.

 My friend bought me a copy of Oathmark for my birthday and I was very impressed with it. It has a nice Dark Ages vide which ties very well into Middle Earth. Stats for actual races as well rather than generic profiles, which was the only downside to Dragon Rampant.

Anyway we are both quite excited by the rules and I have already been working out what to class the bases I have already. The orcs above will be spearmen as with their long pole arms they stand out from the earlier bases I painted using mostly old metals.

Some of these figures still need a little work doing to them, a matt varnish here and there and some highlights, I just had to base them up.

My bases of six models doesn’t quite match up to the rules but nothing a little tweaking can’t fix.
We can either just count the twenty four figures as twenty, or we could increase the attacks to six rather than five. Mini dice could be used to count off the casualties from the multi bases. You get the idea, where there’s a Will there’s a way.

Oathmark lightbulb moment!
Just had a great idea, my units are made up of four bases of six figures. I could count each base as a rank, that way it would be very easy to tot up attack bonuses, simple and very easy to see what’s going on quickly.
You see my units are made up of four bases and you can only have a maximum of four ranks in the game. So a mini dice to record casualties up to 5, then a base removed...losing the base is the same as losing a rank for fighting purposes. Also because my bases are a mob of attacking troops with large gaps in the front line, five attacks per unit works rather well. The extra few figures just help with the look of the battle, you can never have too many orcs. Just quickly thought of this but I think it could work quite well without any fuss or bother. A unit of two bases is basically a small unit of two ranks and because of the way they are double ranked on the base, it will even look correct as well. I love it when a plan comes together!


Author’s note: These orcs are not American.

Researching a new era

 The problem with learning about a new historical era is that you start to see it everywhere you look. You can’t really mention it to anyone either or they will think you crazy.... anyway was playing outside and saw this. Hope you understand :).