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:

http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/proddetail.asp?prod=ECWG-07
ECWG-07

http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/proddetail.asp?prod=ECW-43

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:

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!

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!

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas everyone! Have a great New Year's Eve too!! Let's bring in 2016!!!

I hope whatever traditions you follow this winter are not disturbed and make you happy. I hope you get to do what you want to do and everything is good. If it's not may it be corrected by your own hand.

My current tradition is a movie Xmas Eve (tonight it's Star Wars… yeah that one). We'll go to the local place down the street from us, The Roseway. Dinner will get fit into there someplace, something simple. Then we'll go to bed to get some rest for the big day.

Xmas Day, though changed up a bit this year due to the family patriarch moving to Tacoma for work, is a busy day. It will start with an early rise and gifts at our home. Gretchen will make some breakfast and I will get a fire started in the fireplace. We'll feed the cats and open their stocking (cat nip and cat toys). This year, for our little trio, we got one big gift, a Playstation 4. This is the big family gift. Normally it's Jewelry for the Wife and clothes for the Kid. This year it's a PS4.

This year, due to my Brother In Law moving to Tacoma and other factors, the adults of the family drew names. This, frankly, allowed me to buy a PS4, a good one, as I am not made of money.

We will all gather at my Mother in Law's place at noon and do the big gift exchange and dinner there.  Dinner will be a roast, beef loin (NY Strip roast) I presume. I have offered to help pay for that. The name I drew was my Brother in Law and I got him a bunch of Thundercats stuff as he collects those things. I ordered a belt buckle, wall clock, and foam sword. The wall clock has not been delivered yet and it has been 2 weeks. The seller has been notified and my BiL will have to live with 2/3rds of his Xmas present for now.

For dinner it will be a prime rib roast and I'm planning on bringing some whiskey to share. By evening, hopefully, the cool games I want will have loaded onto the PS4 (Battlefront and World Of Tanks beta) and we will be home full of red meat and whiskey and I can play a game until the wee-hours (which is 10 pm now).

When I was young my Xmas was a bit different. My Mother was Thai and my Father decidedly anti-Xmas. I looked forward to New Year's Eve when we'd go to the restaurant and celebrate like good Asians do – gambling, kids serving grown-ups who were drunk and full of gambling money, some gifts, and a ton of Thai food. That was my Xmas… New Year's Eve. I'd always come out of NYE with a pocket of cash ($40-$60 - big money for the 80s) and a few gifts. I learned to play poker and blackjack this way too.

Today NYE is a bit calmer if not more austere. My Wife works at Starbucks and tends to work New Year's Day, like around 6:00 AM. The buses don't run well in Portland that early (all that "Portland Mass Transit is awesome" talk? Not true for years) so I give her a ride in. Normally I'd go to Percy's for Orchish Sabbath for the day – that's where the smoking, drinking, and gambling take place – this year I might stay in though. We will be doing our annual NYE Dinner at NoHo's. It's a local Hawaiian place that has been around for a while. The one on Fremont has an annual luau and an all you can eat dinner buffet.

The past 3 years I have taken time off on Xmas-NYE week, about a week and a half. I took Thanksgiving week off this year and the following week (2 week vacation) so I did not take off my usual. I also have caught a cold the last  3 years right on New Year's Day. This year I caught it a week early! Maybe I'll not be sick this New Year's.

In the wargaming arena things kind of slowed down post Saga Tournament in October for me. Not any kind of "lack of wanting to play" from me, far from that. My urge to play is stronger than ever. I just had a lot of stuff bump into that.

My aforementioned Brother in Law moving was one. I had some stuff in his basement in storage. He had to move and put his house up so my stuff had to go. My den looked like an episode of Hoarders

for a month. I had all my stuff in there and was going through it. Found some cool stuff and also threw a lot of stuff in the dumpster. Goodwill made out like a bandit too. This lead to my "Man-Corner" becoming a staging area and organization work bench for that month-long project.

Then there was 2 weeks of Thanksgiving vacation. A week in Orlando at Disney World and Thanksgiving and a week at home – that last week was spent cleaning and reorganizing my Man-Corner.

JUST got back into painting about 2 weeks ago. In the time off I had to reassess my time and whether I had things I need to do over things I want to do.

My Saga Scots were put aside over finishing my Lion Rampant Agincourt English retinue. Those English are first (and I'm down to my last unit of billmen).

I have not been very busy with Bolt Action play so my Finns got put aside. I can finish those in a week though; Just got some tank details and one last infantry squad to do there really.

I want to get started on my "Dark Ages Commons" line. Basically, I want to sell bondi/militia level Vikings and Saxons. Tunics, pants, spear, shields, maybe some axes and a helmet or 3. Speed-painted of course so no show pieces.  I think there is a niche to fill there for some pre-paints. Having painted that kind of stuff for the past few years I know I'd sure as heck buy some if they were available. Painting common spearmen is just boring and seems to be one of the stumbling blocks. I do not plan to take commissions as I want this to be off the shelf.

x12 Viking Spearmen (Bondi) for $60 sounds reasonable. No bases, buyer base on their own as to fit needs. Speed painted, "dipped" in Army Painter Quickshade, matte varnish. I'll have some out at Enfilade's Bring and Buy. Who knows I might even expand beyond the beaches of England and out of the Dark Ages.

Speaking of Scots I've just started a unit of Scots Lancers from Warlord Games for some English Civil War action! I've sourced my muskets and pikes and command already so those are a go. I just ordered some field guns, all I need is crew. After that I am fully painting Scots Covenanters for ECW via Pike and Shotte rule-set. Also getting ready for the Lion Rampant version for ECW skirmishing.

Romans! Who don't need Romans? I sourced (via Old Glory of course) 60 Caesar's Gallic Wars Legionnaires. The big plan is to have a good host of Romans ready for some big battle next fall in Salem. Or maybe not. I just think that having an army of Romans in 28mm sitting around is a good idea. It's like a requirement for your Grognard card 'aint it? Plus, since I decided on Romans it seems everyone else I play with is putting up barbarian hordes to go against them – big meanies!

Did you see Dragon Rampant is out? Cool. I got a gift card to my FLGS and am itching to spend it on Dragon Rampant if they have it. This means all my fantasy figures are now viable for some games.

Welp... I'll be getting back into the sing of things post Holidays here. Much to paint and my lead mountain has grown. Happy New Year's and thanks for reading y'all.

-Gabe

On my bench - post Rose City Saga Tournament, a break, and finishing what I started

I'll post a blog about it later but I hosted a Saga Tournament last weekend and it went very well. I enjoyed hosting it and hope all the players enjoyed playing.

Post tournament I took a break last week. Worked on nothing at my bench.

Today, Sunday, I went back to finish some things I started as I've some HYW English and ECW Scots coming down the pipe that I would like to get gong by end of year. What I have now are:

I point (x8) of Scots Warriors for Saga. I've already a point of Warriors and a point of Levy finished and 3 points of Hearthguard and a Warlord based and primed. I just drilled (add weapon) and based these last 8 figures and I will be off to the races! Old Glory 9th Century Scots with Spears and Command pack.

Bases are Last Stand Convertibles, OG minis glued on, Liquitex texture gel applied. Next step is to glue in spears and then prime them in some Army Painter brown or black base spray.

I'm finally finishing up these 4 figures, Bronze Age Female Vikings. I got them early this year and have not been in a rush to get them done. I am now though and I plan to throw them into the mix of my Viking Faction for Saga.

Also, a new procedure for me, I've been painting up shields en masse. I hate painting up a group of minis and getting close to finished just to realize I never did any shields. What? You've never done that? I do it all the time!

Anyways, I decided to paint up a dozen shields and just keep them on the shelf. I'll do another dozen next weekend. I find it a good place for left-over paint on your pallet when painting minis.

Dinner time! Then it's Walking Dead Night on AMC. I might even make some popcorn!

See you all next week maybe.

Sooner than Later

So, here's more pictures of current projects and a game last night.

"Cometh At Me Broeth!"... or how ever them Normans did all that talking.

Old Glory Norman Mounted Command pack. I painted it kind of simple, how I like my Normans and how they seem to be depicted anyways, and glued his kite shield to his back. On a 25mm x 50mm plastic base. I will be using him in Saga (Hearthguard or Hero), Lion Rampant, and Hail Caesar.

Also painted up:

Same pack as above. I added the banner (it came with the pack) and kite shield on his left arm holding the mace. Can be used in Saga as a Banner or Religious Advisor (both needed in Norman Warbands IMO).

Here's the finished figs that are those Norman Crossbowmen (Reaper Anhurian Crossbowmen and Ral Partha Dwarf Crossbowman). I think they came out pretty OK for a speed-paint.

A project with no real purpose other than "cleaning up the lead mountain" are these last 3 figures from my Old Glory Rus Command pack I bought over a year ago. I REALLY like these figures and hope to use them in things other than Saga and the Pagan Rus faction - which I kind of don't like to play ... sadness...

I plan to put these 3 together in some kind of vignette/command model.

And the final product for my Scots Levy (Old Glory Irish Kerns). I used random shields to give them a peasant levy look.

Edit: Forgot about the games I played last night. Went to Spencer's and got 2 games in - My Vikings vs. his Anglo-Danes... just like the olden days!

First game was Clash of the Warlords and pesky ANglo-Danes won it in a open field game.

Second was Clash but we mixed it up with a shallow river (rough terrain) and single bridge in the middle. Vikings one that one with a bit of subterfuge... as much as one can get away with in Saga.

Lured the Anglo-Danes onto the bridge by baiting with an easy to kill Levy and wiped out the Anglo-Dane huscarls. Above you see all Anglo-Danes on the bridge, Viking hirdmen and bondi in foreground, sneakier bondi in the background as they crossed the river with precision timing. Sven Svensson the Viking chief and his bard in lower left corner.

The Viking bondi running across the river worked! Pulled Anglo-Dane forces off the bridge. Vikings then crossed and closed in. Harold Godwinson of the Anglo-Danes and his brother finishing off my bondi.

Looking grim but much closer than this picture makes it out to be.

On My Bench

Wow, I've really started slacking on the blogging!

Some reasons why, none of them major or dramatic:
Laziness.

What once was content for me is not now.

Some technical issues.
Reading other's blogs and thinking "Why should I blog it if they are already doing it and better?"

I'm on Facebook. I do this thing I call "speed updates" on my wall where I boil down 8 things into a sentence each and blurt it out – like:

Raiders yeah!
My garden has failed basil but the beets are going strong.
My kid is a high school Freshman!
Happy birthday to my cat.
Loving the show The Last Ship!

I will follow that format here but with pictures and focused on gaming!

On my workbench now:

Old Glory Irish Kerns WOR-19   Not painted as Kerns. I split a pack of these guys with Spencer earlier this year. They will form the beginnings of my Saga Scots Faction playing the part of my Scotts Levy. Spears are Old Glory Short Thrusting Spears. I hate putting them together and drilling out the minis to fit them but when I am done that hate turns into a satisfaction. The extra headache and work really pays off.

Though built to be Scots Levy for Saga I will also use them, if needed, whenever I need "cannon fodder" type troops for Lion Rampant.

They were painted in my usual technique of speed painting:
Glue to base

Base layer of Army Painter leather brown primer (from rattle can)

Skin

Tunics

spears

Hair

Quickshade with Army Painter strong tone

Matte

Glue on shields (painted the same way but separately)

Flock bases with some of that green stuff and watered PVA glue

The picture posted was pre quickshade phase. These are all done now.

Reaper Anhurian Crossbowmen. I have 8 of these painted up a few years ago (as per my blog here) and have used them well in my Norman Faction for Saga. They are Reaper so "Heroic" in scale and 32mm vs. the 28mm figures from others. They do look huge. No one has complained and I am fine with that.

I wanted 12 crossbowmen for Lion Rampant though. I had 3 more Anhurian Crossbowmen in my fantasy figure lead mountain (what happened to that 12th I have no idea). I needed one more crossbowman and found some older Ral Partha dwarven crossbowmen I have had laying around for over a decade. One of them is now painted up and will be a very short Norman!

Maybe someday I'll get some actual Norman Crossbowmen from Old Glory but that is real low on my list right now.

I saw Mad Max: Fury Road last May. It was awesome. Everything I dreamed it would be. I then remembered I had the reaper "Mad Max" mini… I forget it's product name … unpainted in that same lead mountain. I also had picked up a female modern hero type (this one is a rendering of Matrix-like character) last year in need of more heroic female minis with guns. Further, the guy in the long coat was a mini that my wife found in the vacuum cleaner last month! He's one I put together from Wargames Factory Apocalypse Survivors: The Men series.

Needing to whittle down that lead mountain some I decided to paint them too.

These were all done over Labor Day Weekend. Mostly on Labor Day.

Also spending time on lots of terrain and getting ready for the Saga Tournament I am hosting at Guardian Games, 12 noon, Saturday, October 3rd, 2015. I will, totally, Blog about that.

Terrain piece - marsh... the beginnings of

Also from Old Glory, this, my favorite mini of all time (almost), a mounted Norman I call "Get Some Bro!"

It's all painted now and I will share that one with you on my next post.

Take care, have fun, be safe!