Dead Canucks

I’ve had these kicking around for a while (since the Vimy Project) but never got around to them… If I ever do get back to it I’ll have a few casualty markers…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


The figures are from Old Glory (they’re actually “British”… but there wasn’t really all that much difference…)

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Meh…

The Earth-Pig and His Barbarian Friend

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


I think both of these were made by Citadel Miniatures in the 1980s. Thrud I’ve owned since then and have only just repainted… Cerebus (apparently sold as “Aardvark berserker” or something like that) I recently picked up off ebay.

Now I am no super-fan of Cerebus (I’ve only every read the collection of the first 25 issues), but I am a sucker for “celebrity” figures…

To give you a sense of scale…


The two pictured with a few of the Dork Tower Miniatures I painted a while back. Who would win here?


The two (and some of the Dork Tower miniatures) with a Saxon (on the left) from Crusader Miniatures, a High Elf Shadow Elf (center) from Games Workshop, and “Slug Eat Your Face” (right) from Thunderbolt Mountain.



Thrud and Cerebus and Jack Burton versus The A team and Michael Douglas’ character from Falling Down…

Okay, this is getting much too silly…

If only I’d picked up those Groo miniatures… or those Asterix miniatures… sigh…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Um… Some other stuff….?

ECW Pikeman Casualty

An English Civil War pikeman casualty marker…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


The figure is from Dixon Miniatures.

Painted orange to go with my orange Regiment of Foote.

I’ve been sick the last couple days… haven’t been getting much of anything done… bleh….

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I don’t know. I’m kind if in the mood to mix it up and do a few little one-off things… characters… generals… casualty markers… that sort of thing…

Gah… I wish I could just sleep for three days…

Mounted Warrior Woman

Finally…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


This is the Mounted version of the Warrior Woman from Thunderbolt Mountain


Another angle


The mounted and dismounted versions


This is a Pict from Wargames Foundry I got half a dozen or so in an ebay lot a couple years back… What the heck am I going to do with six or seven hornblowers?! Start a band!? I’ve used a few of them in various Dark Ages armies… I’ve even got one or two on single bases for my own skirmish games… and I still had a spare – so I based him up on a plastic hex base to send off with the warrior women above to my pal Mike (because his D&D campaign is sort of Dark Ages-ish…)

Hopefully get these in the mail tomorrow!

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I have an ECW casualty marker that I’m just finishing up the base on that I’ll probably have posted up tomorrow…. After that…? I have no idea… I’ve got all sorts of junk on my workbench… I think I need to do a bit of a clean up…

Isengard Invades Normandy…

Been a while since we played Hordes of the Things… Had an hour of free time this afternoon while alone at home with the lad..

SITUATION

A band of Orcs from Isengard has been sent to invade Normandy.

SCENARIO

Orcs attacking, Normans defending.

FORCES

Normans
1x Hero General – Duc Guilliam
1x Cleric –
1x Horde – Religious Rabble
7x Knights
1x Rider – Outriders

Orcs of Isengard
1x Magician General - Saruman
2x Blade – Orc Warriors
4x Spear – Orcs with Pike
2x Shooter – Orc Archers
1x Beast – Warg Riders
1x Warband

THE GAME

Finnegan decided to play the Orcs of Isengard and have Saruman directly lead them in battle. Lacking a complete Lord of The Rings army to oppose him I busted out the Normans – because they were “sort of close”. I suppose I could have called them “Rohan”. But… I didn’t…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


The Normans ready for battle.

I had a nasty swamp in the middle of my deployment zone which was pretty annoying. The castle there was the fourth such castle built on that site. It has a really good foundation. Everyone thought they were daft to build a castle in the swamp…


Finnegan considers his options.


The armies of Isengard are deployed.


The Normans trying to maneuver around the swamp into some sort of line.

On Finnegan’s first turn he sent out stuff one the flanks:


Shooters and beasts on one flank…


…and the Warband on the other.


Continuing to maneuver and advance on those beasts. AT this point Finnegan realized his beasts were rather exposed and very likely doomed…


On his next turn he moved the mainbody ahead. He had sort of wanted to move the warband, but thought they’d get mauled by all the knights out in the open nearby, and he’d written off the beasts (perhaps not realizing they go just as fast in reverse!).


The Knights close with the Beast/Warg Riders.


And they were done.


Idengard’s battle line closes with the Normans

Finnegan rolled pretty high for PIPs through most of the game – never having to really decide between two crucial moves… I did okay on the PIP-rolls…

I was not anxious to close with the Magician stand with either the Hero or the Knights. Hero vs. Magician is one of those “instant death” situations – though the hero has a slight edge, and technically isn’t “dead” – they’re just “ensorcelled”, and if in a subsequent round at 6 is rolled for PIPs the hero escapes the dastardly wizards clutches and reappears on the table. However as it was also my General…

Knights also are not good to charge in against Magicians as they get that same “first turn charged quick-kill” just like Bow/Shooters.

So I moved in on one flank – hoping in further turns he’d break up his line trying to contact my other knights.


The first round was rather uneventful. My knights were thrown back and the Hero was fought to a standstill by the spear…


Another view of the same thing


Finnegan did break up his line and surge forward to contact my knights. The warband even came out of the woods (well, partly…)


My Hero General and Knights were thrown back on one flank – on the other TWO STANDS of Knights were destroyed!

Things were looking bad for the Normans!


On the following bound My General and his Knights on the left flanks charged home again – this time with the help of some flanking Knights.


Again the General was thrown back and the flanked Blade fought the two sands of knights to a standstill! I’d be nice to roll higher than a “2” on my combat dice as some point in the game…!?


Again the Hordes of Isengard surged forward…


Again another Knight was lost on my right flank.


Finally, however, the Knights on left of my line rode down the flanked Blade – I STILL only rolled a “2”… but Finnegan finally rolled a “1”!?


Isengards archers darkened the skies above the Religions Rabble (Horde) and they fled the field!


The next go I moved up the General against the Spear block – with the aide of some flanking knights… (also the Riders tried to go deal with the Archers up on the hill – who had been menacing them for a few turns now…)


The tables were starting to turn – the Orc Spear were destroyed!


Orcs surged forward again to surround a group of knights that had been driven back into the swamp – the the very gates of our stronghold!


And they were destroyed…


The situation was getting desperate – but I actually rolled a “6” fort PIPs and was able to back some knights out of the way and send the general in against Saruman along with some of his nights.


The wizard was ridden down and the Normans carried the day! Huzzah!

It was a very close battle – I’d lost Four Knights, the Riders, and the Horde (11 Army Points), Finnegan lost Two Spear, The Beast, a Blade and his Magician General (12 Army points)!!

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Ah… I’ve been painting other stuff this week, trying to finish up the damned chicken… Actually I like the painting, it’s just that I’d sort of done it as a commission and then when I told my friend it was done they decided they didn’t want it… doh! Ah well, lesson learned: negotiate a price and get some cash before starting…

I plan to get the mounted version of the Warrior Woman finished up for Mikey K and then I’ll probably get back to painting some more pictures…

Dead Man and a Preacher

Not a Warrior Woman on horseback… Maybe tomorrow.

These don’t really belong together… but I happen to finish them both up last night, so…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


The preacher is a Dixon Miniatures English Civil War preacher. The dead man is a Front Rank Figures British Napoleonic casualty.

The preacher, I realized after painting it, would have been perfect to slip onto a stand in one of my DBA-x ECW armies. The extended hand is about shoulder height and he could have been dropped into the second rank and put his hand on the shoulder of someone in the front rank – to give them a little moral support (buy, y’know, not expose themselves directly to enemy fire…

The Casualty is very nice except I’m guessing they used a pre-cast head as there is a tassle on the hat that one would think would be hanging towards the ground, but is “hanging” toward the shoulder as though the model were standing up straight… ah well… Front Frank makes some very nice figures despite that (very minor) gaff.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Warrior Womyn on Horseback! No... really… Then…? I’ve actually had a hankering to get back to some Other Painting Projects…

Fantasy Wymin

No Chainmail Bikinis here! Some serious GRRRRRRRL Power!

Another pair of figures, both painted for other folks.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


On the left is a warrior from Thunderbolt Mountain for my pal Mike, on the right is a cleric-type from Reaper Miniatures for Art, (bet you thought I forgot about you, huh?)


Back side (and Shield) of the Thuderbolt Mountain warrior.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Next up should be a mounted version of the warrior… and some other stuff… One of the sculpts is nearly complete – another one just about as well… but I think I’m going to wait until more of them are ready before I go showing them off…

Slug Eat Your Face!

The first of a few minis for Mike…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


This is “Slug Eat Your Face” from Thunderbolt Mountain.


Nasty piece of work, eh?


To give you a sense of scale and proportion – here it is up against aa Anlgo-Saxon Thane from Crusader Miniatures.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

A couple more minis for Mike… Bah… I don’t know what’ll be after that… Back to the sculpting project? Zulus? Napoleonics? Scots? Skythians? Dwarves? I have no idea…

Napoleonic Royal Artillery

I got a little distracted… and… um... well…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


These are Napoleonic Royal Artillery from Renegade Miniatures. I picked them up as a “regiment” during one of their sweet 5 for 4 regiment deals back in January. I have no idea why I decided to paint these right now… It just seemed like a good idea at the time!?

At the same time I also picked up a couple regiments of foot. I haven’t gotten around to the foot mostly because I’m in a quandary about what to do about ensigns – One of the main reasons I ordered them (I mean, beyond the fact that it was a ridiculously good deal…) was that The site said regiments contained “Two Standard Bearers”. I thought this was odd – because the regiments, for the most part, seem to be made up with the same contents as the packs – essentially three packs to the regiment – and the command pack did not include two standard bearers. Sure enough when it arrived there was only one standard bearer per regiment… and so I’m in a quandary – do I bother trying to hassle them to send me a couple bonus standard bearers…? Or do I just convert the sergeant in the command pack (which would be easy enough – he’s carrying a halberd… Or do I order an individual ensign from some other company like Front Rank Figures? The latter seems like a nice option… except that I’d have to make up an order just to get three guys… Bah! I’ll probably just convert the Sergeant when I get around to them. Which probably won’t be all that soon anyway.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I have a couple new figures I’m painting for my pal Mike that I really ought to get to… after that…? Hopefully get back to the sculpting project…. Or maybe finish off the Vikings and Dwarves haunting the margins of my painting area…

See...? Sculpting!

Well my painting totals for the year are about to level off as I've been distracted by a little sculpting project... Ah well, keepin' it fun is what it's all about, right?

Here's a little teaser:


The image it deliberately small and of low quality because it's sort of a secret.... A secret I'm hiding right out here in the open...!? Anyway, so SHHHHH!

Also got a game of HOTT in with the kids and a couple of their friends which I may or may not get around to writing a report of in the next couple days...

stay tuned!

Macedonian Hypaspist and... Draconians!?

What the…?

(It seemed like a good idea at the time)

I may have mentioned starting to base some Skythians and some Macedonian pike earlier… well, while I was at it I noticed this one stand worth of figures half painted from a year or so ago and decided to finish them off. (Also, y’know, since all the cool kids are doing Macedonian armies right now, how could I nit get in on that action). No, I will NOT be veering off on some new tangent – though I DO have enough figures to do five (count ‘em, FIVE!) Macedonian Successor armies… and I totally WILL do them all at some point and run a Diadochi campaign (BWA-HA-HA-Ha-Ha-ha-ha-haaaaaa….) – but that’s just not in the cards at any point in the near future

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

(Sorry about the sub-standard pics – it’s pouring rain out today so I had to take pics inside…)


These are Macedonian Hypaspist from RAFM (which is, apparently, currently having a 30% off sale until October 17th). They’ll see use as that 4Spear or 4Auxilia option in the Alexandrian Macedonian (II/12) army, and possibly the 1x3/4Auxilia in the Alexandrian Imperial… and maybe even the 1x 4Auxilia in the Macedonian Early Successor (II/18)….?

What I really need to get working on (when I ever get around to these) is the scads and scads of PIKE!!

I’ve also been working on a few things that I will actually make use of in the near future…


The fellow in the front is a figure from Reaper Miniatures, the rest are old Grenadier models that I’ve been picking up off ebay…

They are “draconians” for my Savage Saturday Dragonlance Campaign (and the Kid’s Campaign too!)

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Another pair of minis for Mike… Some other assorted Fantasy stuff… Dwarves for HotT… some Vikings… Scots… Anglos… other strange and bizarre wonders to behold…

Pages and other Nonsense

I'm trying out the pages gadget for this blog. The first one, which you can find over on the left there, is a rambling bit about how I base stuff. I'm thinking I might do others like "Dark Age Armies" to showcase all the dark age armies I have for DBA. Maybe I'll do ones for other periods... "HotT FAntasy Armies"... "Great War Armies"... etc...

As I had finished up september at 700 painted foot and three months left I thought I might try for 1000 painted foot by painting 100 figures per month for the next three months... 25 figures per week... I could do that... It'd get the Pre-feudal Scottish completed, probably the picts and a few other Dark Age odds and ends I have to finish up along with some Hordes of the Things fantasy armies...

Unfortunately I've been a bit sidetracked by a super-secret sculpting project. (Shhhh! Nothing to see here, move along).

We shall see.

I WOULD like to at least finish the Dark Age Armies by the end of the year so I'd be ready to run a Dark Age DBA campaign in February.