Very Impressed!

A variety of stuff

I ordered some figures from Peter Pig at 9.14am yesterday and before 10.00am today they were delivered. Well done, Peter Pig and Royal Mail!
And in case you're wondering, I'm off on another tangent - hoping to convert them into post-apocalyptic figures for After the Horseman by Two Hour Wargames.
Now it will probably take months (years?) to convert and paint them!

Froudian Goblin Army Started

Well, here's the start of the Froudian Goblins - a base of Blades, Spears and Flier.

All the figures are Pendraken 10mm. The figures on each flank are Gnomes and are as they come. The figure with knife raised is actually a ratman. I've added a little chin under the snout to make it a little more humanoid. The taller figure at the back is actually a beggar with a head made of ProCreate.

These are all Pendraken Gnomes but the figure second from the right has had his sword replaced with a spear.

A Pendraken owl flies over a seriously converted Gnome. The figure started as the shieldless Gnome with spear (second from the left above). I've chopped off his left arm, head and spear. Then I've replaced his head with one copied from the Gnome with sword using Oyumaru and ProCreate and added left arm, a shield and axe.

I'm reasonably pleased with it.

The bases are a little different from my norm - I have used 1mm static grass from WarWorld rather than the usual Javis longer stuff and a few 2mm Silflor tufts which I hadn't used before. They are really nice and simple to use so I can see future bases having a few of them. Obviously the toadstools are home-made.

I think that this army is going to take some time to complete because I want to try to create  figures of very different heights like Froud's Goblins and I also want some Froud-like trolls so there is going to be quite a bit of converting.

But it's a start. I've entered all three bases in the Pendraken Painting Competition but I will be amazed if I get anywhere - there are some really brilliant entries this year.

Arrival of the Recruits

Pendraken Miniatures

Well, this morning the goodies arrived from Pendraken Miniatures. I only ordered them late last Thursday so well done, Dave, Leon and the other PM minions, for a speedy service yet again.

So here's what I've got to start the Froudian army off:-

FGN1 Gnomes with Swords

FGN2 Gnomes with Spears

FGN3 Gnomes with Lances (ruddy long spears)

AC38 Giant Owls

The Gnomes with Swords and Spears come in two varieties (one with shield and one without) while there there is just one version of the Gnome with Lance (see below).

 Like the Minotaurs I bought from Pendraken (see here) I plan to convert the Gnomes so that there is more variety. Obviously the poses of these small figures are far more compact than the Minotaurs so this is likely to be a bigger challenge but let's see how I get on. The head of the Gnome with Sword and no shield is nicely clear of clothing, weapons, etc so should give me the chance to copy its head with a bit of Oyumaru so that I can convert a few other figures into Gnomes. 

I was thinking of mounting a Gnome on each of the owls but I am not sure that the owls are big enough to convincingly take the weight of them. I might have a rethink on that one.

I have my day off tomorrow so hopefully I'll have an hour or two to have a play.

Recruiting a New Army - Decisions, Decisions

Last  year I sold off my Animal Farm and Pirate Armies (see here) as they didn't really fit in with my others. Not surprisingly I have been thinking about creating another army for a while but what to do? So many figures, so little time!

I quite fancy doing one based on Black Hat's "not-Ewoks" Tolero at some stage, especially now that they do them mounted too. But not at the moment.

I could do with another human army but am still contemplating what type to go for - barbarian, peasant revolt, aztec, caveman (with various creatures).

In the end my mind has been made up by the Pendraken painting competition 2015. I've always liked the art of Brian Froud and have recently been very inspired by DeafNala's "Last Hurrah Project" on the Lead Adventurers Forum. So I am going to give it a go to create a "Froudian" army using Pendraken's 10mm Gnomes as a basis. The competition is only open for a month so I am going to start small with a couple of units and if they work out I will go for it big time.

Watch this space.

 

A Fight to the Death

The Initial Set Up

As promised, here is the report of this morning's battle between a small band of mounted orcs accompanied by a giant and a slightly larger band of crusaders supported by a host of angels.

As my previous post explained, this was my son's first game of Mayhem and I was seriously rusty as I haven't played for over a year and didn't find the time to fully refresh myself of the rules.

The Orcs and Giant Move Forward

Rolling command dice to decide who would start, the orcs won and ordered a general advance.

The mounted archers took the high ground supported by the giant. The mounted lancers advanced rather more hesitatingly. One unit of archers took a shot at the crusaders' crossbowmen but to no effect.

The Crusaders Stand Firm

The crusaders took their turn and rolled a command die of 1 - that could have gone better! Clearly, led by the abbot and monk, the crusaders were seeking to follow the way of peace.

All units remained steady. One unit of crossbowmen returned fire against the mounted orc archers and did enough to cause them disorder.

The Advance Continues

Move Two

Having rallied the mounted archers, the orcs and giant continued to advance. This time both units of mounted archers fired at the crossbowmen but again with no success. My son started to question the d20 roll for a bow when crossbows have a d12.

This time I decided to use the default for command points rather than risk rolling another 1.

The Abbot's Hunting Dogs Attack

The abbot sent in his trusty hunting beagles to take out the the troublesome mounted archers and managed to disorder them.

One unit of crossbowmen fired on the other mounted archers while the other crossbowmen fired at the giant but neither had any success.

Both my son and I were having dreadful luck with the dice rolls and that was going to continue throughout the battle.

The Giant Strides In

Move Three

Again the mounted archers rallied and fired upon the crossbowmen throwing them into disorder. The  other archers fought off the hunting dogs and destroyed them with a 1.

The giant decided to charge into the waiting spearmen and also succeeded in causing disorder amongst them.

Things were looking dodgy for the crusaders, we thought.

The Giant's In Trouble

Time to take a risk - the command die is rolled and fortunately I got a high enough number.

Both the crossbowmen and spearmen rallied and then both units of spearmen set upon the giant. The spearmen rolled a 1 and the giant rolled a 10, rewarding the giant with nine damage tokens in one fell swoop.

Meanwhile the crossbowmen took another shot at the mounted archers and finally wiped them out with a natural 1. 

Orc Archers to the Rescue?

And that was all the crusaders could do that move. Initiating combat against a fear-inducing enemy drained a lot of command points. However, the giant was rendered all but useless with all those damage points. It would need 10 command points to activate or risk being wiped out by taking a damage roll.

Move Four

The remaining orc archers charged into the rear of the flanking unit of spearmen but only managed to disorder them. 

The Giant Falls

Meanwhile the lancers continued to advance but far too late for the giant.

The spearmen rallied and turned to face the archers.

The other spearmen attacked the giant and inflicted another damage token, causing the giant to roll. Having to get less than 13 on ten dice... 

Yup, he was a gonna.

Knights in White Satin

Finally the knights and angels got involved in the action.

The angels swept down upon the orc lancers and did absolutely nothing. The knights charged into the rear of the orc archers and wiped them out.

Now the crusaders were well and truly on top. The orcs were down to less than 50% of their strength and we were playing the breaking point rule would have to role a command dice to see if they would continue.

This time they passed.

The Tables Turn Again

Move Five

Fortunately for the orcs, they rolled a high command die score too and went into overdrive. 

One unit of lancers took on the angels and wiped them out with a 1. [I really should have remembered to designate them as a horde - the same thing happened to them in my first game]. 

The other unit hit the spearmen and destroyed them; then the knights and wiped them out to and then hit the crossbowmen.

Now it was the crusaders in trouble again. Just one unit of crossbowmen left so the breaking point rule applied to them too.

The Score Evened

The crusaders passed the test and the crossbowmen attacked the lancers and beat them.

Now it was just one unit each.

Move Six

Both armies passed their breaking point roles even with the increase in the number od dice.

The two remaining units squared up to each other and swapped slogs against each other. Firstly the lancers disordered the crossbowmen and then the crossbowmen rallied and disordered the lancers.

Victory at Last!

Then in Move Seven, having passed their third breaking point roll, the orc lancers attacked the crossbowmen but received a natural 1 against them and popped their clogs.

Game over, Man, game over.

And a good time was had by both of us. I think that we both loved the way the battle swung from one side to the other and back again.

Next time I will designate those angels correctly and I think that my son has worked out not to send in a giant without a bit of support.

And on that subject, it was the first time that we had used one of the "ready-made" monstrous creatures and I think both of us weren't entirely happy with its profile. I wonder why Mr Spivey decided to "pre-create" the three monstrous creatures, rather than offer factors to allow players to create their own monsters as they understand them as he has with all other troop types.

Any way, it looks like we'll be having another game soon

At Last Another Game (Whoopee!)

I was tempted to write a review of 2014 like so many fellow blogging wargamers have done but I realised that my post would be rather short.

It has been quite a year in family- and work-life with one regularly overspilling into the other even more than normal so very little painting has been done and no gaming.

But all being well, one of my sons and I will be having a game of Mayhem tomorrow.
It's his first Mayhem game and only my second (after a long break) so we're starting small and will probably make a few mistakes (Brent, feel free to correct us).
So without further ado, here are the two armies - Orc v Crusaders:-

THE ORCS

Orc General (15 crowns)

Leadership d10

MOV d8

CQ d12

BAR d12

General

Orc Hero (21 crowns)

MOV d10

CQ d12

BAR d12

Hero

2 x Mounted Archers (30 crowns)

MOV d12

CQ d8

BAR d10

Fast Cavalry, Short Bow

2 x Mounted Lancers (32 crowns)

MOV d10

CQ d6

BAR d8

Fast Cavalry, Lance

Giant (44 crowns)

MOV d8

CQ d10

BAR d8

Impact, Terror, Soft Counter v Behemoths & Monstrous Creatures

THE CRUSADERS

The Abbot (12 crowns)

Leadership d8

MOV d6

CQ d12

BAR d12

General

Brother Spearman(18 crowns)

MOV d6

CQ d10

BAR d12

Hero, Shield

2 x Spearmen (20 crowns)

MOV d6

CQ d10

BAR d10

Spear, Shield, Shield-wall

2 x Crossbowmen (20 crowns)

MOV d6

CQ d10

BAR d10

Crossbow

Abbot's Hunting Dogs (19 crowns)

MOV d10

CQ d10

BAR d10

Beasts

Mounted Knights (28 crowns)

MOV d10

CQ d8

BAR d10

Cavalry, Lance, Shield

Just a little skirmish - 200 crowns.

I'll try to get the photos and battle report up tomorrow.

Watch this space.