Monday, June 27, 2016

On my Bench end of June 2016

Currently working on:



Finishing up a command figure for my Pike and Shotte Covenanters. This figure is from the Old Glory Scottish Personalities pack, ECW-60
http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/proddetail.asp?prod=ECW-60
I don’t know my English Civil War history as well as I should so I’m not sure who all the “personalities” are in that pack but I think this one is Lord "Sandie" Leven. The more I study the era the more he comes up so I decided to make him my first command figure out of respect for the guy. He was pretty impressive.

I do have some issues with the model though – I don’t like how the mustache blends in to the cheeks of the figure. I could not see this until after I painted it. Not sure if I’m going to do anything to fix it but I think it makes the figure look like a cat-man. The figure could do double-duty maybe? “Ol’ General Cat-Man” for Dragon Rampant?




Working on some Covenanter frame guns. My first attempt. Old Glory of course:
ECW-43




I picked up a pack of bikers from Old Glory a few months back:
http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/proddetail.asp?prod=GRK-15
Human Bikers GRK-15
Why? I’m not in any kind of game where they could be used but I like them and, now that I have them, I’m looking into some modern games to use them in. That pack is pretty cool and, from what I’ve seen, the best way to get 10 bikers on your table.




As usual, I have some Vikings or some Dark Ages figures going. I’ve been wanting to replace my current Saga Viking Hearthguard figures with something new. I had the minis (various packs of DA Old Glory stuff). I based them and put them aside. The way I painted them was what I like to call “don’t waste paint” style – basically when I’m painting up something else I like to have some minis on the side that I can use up any paint I over poured onto my pallet.

I finished up the Vikings last weekend once they reached a point that it was just time to wrap it up. Twelve Hersir rank Vikings of some skill and renown. 3 points of Saga Hearthguard. Plus one lone Berserker.

Up next for “don’t waste paint” figures are another DA figure for Saga, I need a Warlord for my newly conceived Norse Gaels faction I want to play. Already have all Warrior and Levy figures covered and half the Hearthguard. Just need the Warlord and 4 more Hearthguard types and I’m ready to go.

Norse Gaels Warlord concept:







Monday, June 20, 2016

June Historical Wargames Day at Guardian Games

What a good turn out!

The usuals were there (Spencer and I ... and even Jesse!)... (Jesse was supposed to be out of town but he ended up not being that). Kyle was there, the new Father, and he was able to get a game of Saga in. Happy Father's Day Kyle! He played Ol' Bob who I am always glad to see. A bunch of other Grognards were also there and I am glad to have met so many new people I have not met before. I love to meet new people, especially in this hobby.

Spencer demo'ed his ECW Skirmish game based off someone else's home brew - basically using a Lion Rampant rule set but stating out Pike and Shotte era forces. He's calling it Pike's Rampant. We know Osprey is releasing Pikeman's Lament early next year. Looking forward to it. We wanted to play with our figures at a skirmish level now though so Spencer modified some things he found and demo'ed it yesterday. It worked out great.

It was me (Royalists) and one of the new guys (who's name I forgot and I feel like shit about right now as I type this). We had 24 points of forces each, culminating to a very simple:
Foot - pike
Foot - musket
Foot - musket
Mounted - trotter
Mounted- trotter

On a 1-1 scale that is a good little company with light horse support. Great for skirmish style scenarios. The scenario was "Hold on Tight" from the Lion Rampant book - a center piece is laid out and holding it at the end of the round, with at least one mini on the piece, gains the side a point at the end of the round.

My opponent and I had a good game and our little soldiers went at it with The Royalists scoring 4 points right off the bat (needing only 5 to win) but I was finally able to get my units focused, pushing the Royalists off the scoring area and scoring myself while inflicting some casualties.

Sorry, no pics of the game. Was busy playing it!

After that Spencer challenged me to a game of Saga - his Irish (a rather new faction for him) and my Normans. I played some pretty vanilla Normans, pretty much focused on mounted knights and sergeants. We played Battle of Fords scenario and it went in my favor, the past game with the debut of Spencer's Irish did not go so well for me (I played Scots).

In the scenario the opposing factions are separated by an uncross able river with only 2 fording points. My big plan was to put up a resisting force at one ford and storm across with cavalry at the other. The winner of the game being the one with the most figures across the river after 6 rounds. I will narrate the action report as though it were a historical fiction tale:

Sir Hugo Fitzosben with his command of a small conroi of 12 knights, 16 sergeants (8 of which were mounted on light coursers), and a small company of Breton crossbowmen were tasked with taking a good fording point to the north of South Ain crossing a tributary of Lifey and holding it until Baron William of Oxny could arrive the following day with his 10 conroi, squires, and 300 foot.

Scouts reported a smallish company of Irish warriors guarding it. Sir Hugo wished he had more support to push the Irish out but he had to make do with what he had. Appraising his smallish warband he determined that his only chance would be to use the advantage of speed and distance afforded by his mounted units.

Sir Hugo set out after supper the night before as he wanted to take the fords at first light while the Irish were still meandering about their camp. He placed his footmen and Breton crossbowmen at the ford with the hopes of an ambuscade and hold that area from an Irish crossing (thus preventing a flanking his knights and sergeants) and had his knights and sergeants head east and immediately seize the initiative and cross the bridge bringing the fight to the Irish camp.

The plan worked well but the Irish put up a greater resistance than previously thought.

The mounted sergeants stormed across the bridge before the knights as they had faster horses. Though casualties were pretty even on both sides the sergeants were able to both shock and flush out the true strength of the Irish warriors.

The sergeants crossing back to the “Norman” side of the bridge the Irish countered with a small ambuscade and probe of their own on the side of the ford. The Bretons took the brunt of the ambush, which happened as they walked by what was thought to be an abandoned garden or small crop field of some kind with a ruined wall was actually a hiding place for some Irish archers. Four Breton crossbowmen fell to the ambush. The small company of Norman Foot, lead by trusty squire Adalaid of Wyrmmearc, moved to support the Bretons but were caught up in the push by Irish warriors wielding the fearsome axes they are known for. Much Irish and Norman blood flowed into the waters.


Meanwhile, the bridge was under total control of the mounted sergeants and knights, who charged across and hit the Irish camp hard, killing many and driving them back into a small copse of trees and shrubbery. The knights stayed on the Irish banks while the dutiful sergeants, under direct command of Sir Hugo, counter-charged the ford in a desperate act to push back the Irish. This was with much risk to Sir Hugo himself but they persevered. They were too late to save Squire Adelaid’s company of foot though as they died to a man holding the Irish back. May Lord Jesus bless them in eternity and may the Holy Father of all accept them into heaven for their sacrifice!

The Irish side took much heavier losses and, seeing the camp was aflame, decided to retreat and regroup far from the fords. The morning belonged to Sir Hugo!

Friday, June 17, 2016

Un-Intended Hiatus

Hello, I’m Back!

I did not mean to take a 6 month long hiatus but I did. No real reason, blogging is not a hard thing for me to do, but I ended up taking kind of a break there. I did stay busy first half of 2016 though.

In a nutshell, first half of 2016:

1) After hosting the Saga tournament in Portland last fall I was asked to take over the one at Enfilade this year; which I did. It was good, I learned some things.

2) I sourced from Old Glory and began painting my English Civil War Scots Covenanter army.

Old Glory Miniatures 25mm Lowland Pikes ECW-40 and Lowland Muskets ECW-41 (pikes are seperate add weapons PSJ-01)




3) Not getting a lot of Bolt Action in after painting them Finns. Oh well, what is a historical war gamer if not a person that has minis on the shelf not doing much?!

4) FINALLY played Scots in Saga. I started painting them last year but never finished. Still need to paint most of them but I had fun playing them and am looking forward to more games with them.


Old Glory Miniatures 9th Century Scots with Spears and Command SVS-06


Other than that my life has been busy and grand with the ups and downs of a working man and his family.

In non-gaming news I’ve been working on my Viking shield for my VNA group. Next project is to finish my wife’s Viking knife – a basic job. I bought a filet blade and will mount a birch handle to it and make a simple leather sheath. In 2 weekends we are having a “Viking Picnic” where everyone brings a quasi-documentable summer time food to share. I’m doing rye-flour flat breed.

Old plywood SCA shield, removed all furniture and covered in thin canvas, painted with acrylic paint, applying rawhide rim.

I got a PS4 for Xmas (I bought one for the family). I got myself Fallout 4 …. That was a mistake! What a time-suck!! It’s an incredible game though. I’ve a few other games but that’s my go-to. My wife is a Mortal Kombat X gal.



I went to the ER end of April for a minor thing that turned major. All cleared up though and all is well … except the bill…

Been going to a lot more metal shows this year. I usually try to mix it up with other kinds of music I like but metal is where I feel the most enjoyment. I’ve had some really good times at these shows and have been since Hoverfest II last summer. Speaking of shows, I just went to go see John Carpenter this week, he played music from his movies. That was awesome as I am a fan of his and The Thing is not only my favorite horror and sci-fi movie but one of my favorite movies of all time.

My metal vest... or "kutte" as some like to call it.

Not following a lot of TV shows lately. I’m still on The Walking Dead train but I fear I don’t like Fear the Walking Dead much (I want to, really). The latest Season of Fear ended much the same as all zombie-media ends, our survivors walking away from some burning failure. Boring. I do like Preacher though.

I’ve really gained an interest in reading Historical Fiction, though my tastes are for certain eras. The main era is, obviously, Viking or Dark Ages. I’ve read through all of Cornwell’s Saxon Chronicles as well as James Nelson’s Norsemen Saga (Fin Gall being the first book). Just recently I finished Culley’s The Bastard’s Crown, a novel about Norman knights in the conquest of England.

As far as other medias go, particularly social media and focused on Facebook, I’m kind of done. I’ve never been good at pin-pointing specifics in a timely matter but right now is a bad time for social media. It brings something out in people that does not come out in face to face interactions. The concept is positive but how it’s playing out in real life is poor.

Remember when we all thought ESP would be a cool power to have? Reading people’s minds? Well, we got it now and it’s social media. Now all I can say is that people I respect make themselves look like idiots – A LOT OF THE TIME. I’m not a genius myself, actually I’m average at best when it comes to IQ. I’ve also partook of looking like and idiot on social media. I’m just now recognizing it’s true value or maybe more like how it lacks any value.

One thing I have learned using social media is that I am an “opposing-view-guy”. I tend to find the meta-fault in an opinion. I’ve learned to not state it as, regardless of my intention, it is seen as an attack on a person’s intelligence and values 100% of the time.

For example, a few years ago I, literally, copied and pasted a written law on a subject regarding an issue. This was the following interaction:
“That’s just your opinion Gabe.”
“No, that’s actually the law that is in the books regarding this subject.”
“Opinions are like ass holes Gabe.”
“Again, it’s the law, not my opinion.”
“You’re part of the problem. You don’t listen or compromise.”
“I’m all ears, I posted the law so that we could discuss from a knowledgeable vantage point.”
“Again, you are not listening.”
“Never mind…”

This was from a person who has a Masters, accolades, and is in academia. I was unfriended soon after this exchange (later found out that a few unfriended me over that exchange), no problem to me as I gave up around then.

As the plumber says, “Well there’s your problem!”

Today with all the reported shootings, wars, presidential cycle, and injustices in the legal system all I’m seeing on Face Book is declarations of allegiance to some cause, threat of unfriending if one does not follow some codified terms of social actions 100%, accusations of whether you are an “ally” or not, and a lot of look how stupid they are posts. I miss the halcyon days of food pics and Most Interesting Man Memes!!

God Bless you World's Most Interesting Man - and nice Clutch reference!


All that said, I declare I am slowly moving away from social media. It’s making me not like people and I don’t want to do that.  I’m still going to use it for hobbies and interest; I recently found the tab that fills my FB feed with just the pages of the groups I like, but seeing the feeds of my “friends”? BLECHH!!


Anyways, I’ll keep blogging as I have 2-3 followers!