Heroquest quest: Orcs

A friend asked me to paint up his Heroquest pieces from the classic MB and Citadel boxed game from the 90s. So far I have done these 10 and a previous test figure. I was going to get some better snaps for here but my wife took them over before I had a chance! So these hasty just finished and WIP shots will have to do.

They were pretty straight forward to paint up, nice chunky sculpts, in a mono pose and I kept the schemes simple. I'm not sure what I've gotten myself into here there is an unknown number of figures coming my way but this quest will be a sidequest I need to keep up the tempo with the rebase and Magnesia. But all will have to wait bar a few part way done units until after the move if all goes well.

In the mean time I might continue the update to the blog appearance. I'm pleased with the refresh so far a bit more colourful and the Nile mosaic of Palestrina background represents the main thrust of the blog's primary project. I mainly want to update the header next and that will probably do for now. 

I would like to post more content but to do that there probably will be more filler posts and musings! It's also dependent on time to write up posts, in the end I'll just sporadically post as usual but hopefully slightly more often. When we get settled I would like to attempt a bit of Vlogging as I would like to contribute to the wargaming content on youtube since I have found that watching youtube has sometimes been easier to follow when I've been too tired to read! Trouble is I would need to get over the grating sound of my own voice on camera and other such hurdles but it would be good to increase the wargames content available. 

Newline Designs 20mm Ancient German cavalry

A quick few snaps of "raw" Newline Designs 20mm Ancient German cavalry. It was a request on the Newline painters facebook group for any pictures of Ancient Germans and thought I may as well upload them here for future reference. I only have the cavalry as they seemed to be used as Auxillaries or Mercenaries for my Roman armies. I'm not a huge fan of the EIR enemies preferring the Civil wars of the Imperial era.

These seem to be from a unit pack so the chainmailed riders must be the command code and the unarmoured warriors in 2 poses must be the cavalry rank and file code. Also there was at least 4 varieties of horse poses should make a nice unit down the line.  

 

Re-basing Project: Format

I decided to write this rambling post to get my head around what I want to achieve with the base sizes and figures that will be stuck on them! I like the Imptvs style of 1 base = 1 unit philosophy and I was going for that with my original style but I felt it didn't "look right". Mainly playing Lost Battles on our 5x3ft table with a view to trying other rules namely To the Strongest! I wanted to have a single base have more of a heft, however because of lack of room I could not push it too far. In then end I have settled for an 80mm frontage as the previous posts show.

Now if I were just sticking with TtS! I would be done and all units would be 80mm wide to fit into 80mm+ grid boxes, however playing Lost Battles I would like to represent, to a certain degree at least, the aspects of the various units represented in that ruleset. 

For those not familiar with Lost Battles I highly recommend the book as required reading on classical era warfare, it covers from the Peloponnesian War to Caesar's Civil War which provides a good analysis of the eras battles. It aims to provide a way to model battles based on the ancient sources and provides the rules as an appendix. 

It is a very abstract game with a few quirks that would make it seem alien to more free form tabletop games. One of these is a very broad grid 5 wide by 4 deep the opposing forces interact across the squares and does so by activating for attacks. Each square has depending on the scenario 3-5 unit "attack limit" and each unit counts between 0.5-2 towards that limit. Also the quality of the unit determines the numerical strength, for example, if an average infantry unit is 1000 strong a levy unit is 2000 strong and a veteran 500 (this can change scenario dependent but the ratio is constant). Furthermore average cavalry is half the size of an average infantry unit with the same double & half strengths for levy and veteran respectively. So with attack limits reflecting a units "frontage" and its numerical strength roughly being used to determine the amount of figures I decided to go with the following: 

    ❋1 base of 12 figures for average heavy infantry. 

    ❋Levy infantry units will need 2 bases, 1 behind the other. Although twice the size it compensates its fragility by an increased depth  

    ❋ veteran infantry will then be represented by 6 figures. They have a few bonuses one being they only have an 0.5 attack limit allowing extra attacks so I will go for 40mm frontage for these. This has lead me to go through the scenarios and working out what veteran units I "need" to paint up on these smaller frontages. 

    ❋There is a special case for veteran legionary units which represent the same strength of a veteran infantry unit but lack the 0.5 attack limit bonus. It is a bit of a gamey fix to encourage the use of their superior manoeuvrability so my thoughts are 6 figures spread across an 80mm base (more confident to fight in a looser or thinner formation perhaps).   

    ❋ Light infantry have an attack limit of 2 so my light bases will have 6 figures spread across and 2 bases side by side to represent them. This is despite the fact that light infantry units attacking first in that square has an attack limit of 1 again a fix to encourage their historical use! Like the heavy infantry levy lights double up in depth (2x2 bases) and veterans have a smaller frontage (1 base).

Cavalry basing, I decided to rebase my heavy cavalry units (3 on 4 bases of 60x40mm) onto 2 x 80x40mm and 2 x 40mm bases. This allows me to maintain the current formation whilst making them into 80mm frontages. In Lost Battles terms:

    ❋ Average cavalry although representing half the numbers in an average infantry unit have double the attack limit. This is rationalised as cavalry units needing manoeuvre room and I am going for 6 figures so 1 x 80mm and 1 x 40mm, which keeps the figure ratio right and reminds visually of the higher attack limit.

    ❋ Levy double that of above.

    ❋ Veterans really should be 3 but they will have to suit my basing choices so 1 base either 4 figures on 80mm front or 2 on 40mm. Ideally 80mm option as the attack limit is 1.

    ❋ There should be a special case for cataphracts, they attack with half the limit of their respective quality cavalry units owing to a denser formation. However I will just follow the same format and attempt to remember they are cataphracts with special rules. 

I think I will keep elephants on 40mm frontage, 2 can make 80mm for TtS! and I can team them up with light infantry bases to make accompanied elephants for Lost Battles. Chariots will hopefully fit onto either 40mm or 80mm base I'll see when I start building some. Characters as some may have noticed will be appearing on round bases they look more attractive and will make the generals stand out,

So to conclude this post will be a handy reference to go back to. I originally started writing it in June but a combination of factors lead me to kicking the can down the road. One of them being combining my blogs and starting to revamp it which is partly done. After experimenting a bit with some heavy infantry and characters I am ready to get the rebasing mission underway after our relocation if all goes well. 

Late Galatians

The latest 20mm offering using one of the poses from Newline Designs Thracian heavy infantry set. I was aiming to recreate a unit based on Angus McBride's plate featuring a Galatian soldier in iron muscled cuirass and a face plate. Although highly speculative as all modern reconstructions are I loved the visuals and the idea of a unit clad out in such a manner. Ideally I could have used a head swap using either a Seleucid cataphract or companion head but such a thing seemed a bit impracticable. Instead I took the easier route of painting the partial face covering of the figures as a full one, it will look OK on the table. 

                                           

I might do a one off character figure with a head swap but this unit is not without some modification. Firstly the leader was given a sword from a Hat kit and a greenstuff sash and crest to denote rank. Also the standard bearer has had to have his arm twisted to carry a spare flag from a Newline command set. 

However a figure such as this might become reality under Linear A's big push on 1/72 Ancients although I don't technically need anymore figures it is such a commendable task I'll grab a box of each Successor set to support the en-devour! I took the plunge on the older Linear B Mithridates Infantry set and they have character and won't look out of place with Newline figures.  

I took the opportunity to practice a bit more free hand painting and based the design on a Seleucid coin. Being small it was fiddly but also meant the detail had to be basic which made it simpler in a way. I was pleased with the profile and accept the writing for what it is, I believe it's meant to say "Antiochus" "King".

                                 

It was also an experiment with painting silver armour I don't paint it that often but with lots of Imperial Romans it will be inevitable. The basing was simplified, we had some ready mixed filler in so gave it a go. It did the job and only used a couple colours to finish it, followed by static grass. It was a struggle between the figures so I will reserve tufts and stones for characters and light troops with plenty of space on the base.

Although based on a later period I will still use these for the Magnesia project, which, because of the rebasing has essentially been reset (along with the Punic Wars armies) so these Galatians are one of the few ready for battle! The opportunity to set up a battle seems distant anyway so its probably the best time to sort. It's all part of the fun and I'm getting into the swing of rebasing. Hopefully by summer we'll be moved and settled and the mission can begin in earnest.

Next on the bench is a side quest, a few Heroquest orks for a friend. After probably some heavy infantry needing basing material applied I think the ready mixed filler will be the way to go since they have deeper individual bases to blend in. Just need to get cracking!

                                                       

                             

                             

Tallarn Desert Raiders

Taking a bit of a break from the Ancient Mediterranean and took a nostalgic trip to the Dark Millennium of Warhammer 40,000 with these classic Imperial Guard Tallarn Desert Raiders or Astra Militarum as they go by now.

I enjoyed experimenting with colours and I'll post my colours in a seperate post so I don't forget when I pick the project back up. It was also my first attempt at object source lighting (OSL) technique for the plasma gun glow which youtube provided tutorials for.

I may slowly expand this Tallarn army but I am back to painting ancients for now attempting to clear the backlog of Thracians and a couple of cavalry units. Also have some part rebased units to finish too!

Ancient Generals: rebase

Rebasing continues with Newline personalities and command figures from around the ancient Mediterranean. Being the generals they are based on circular bases this makes them standout more and more pleasing to my eye.

With lots of base not covered by closed ranks it gave me a bit of space to practice and experiment. On top of the painted filler I used various coloured tufts and my new mix of static grass.

There will be more generals to add to the collection eventually including a few head swaps but next I have a bit of a change with Warhammer 40000 Tallarn Desert Raiders.

Hannibal's African Veterans Rebase

The latest rebased unit of Newline Designs 20mm African veterans. I have quite a lot of these figures they come as swords and spear wielders advancing but I split them off into separate units. I also have the Veterans standing I might reserve them for Hellenistic armies in which they will get Carthaginan command figures swapped out for some more Macedonian command figures.

I popped these on 80mm bases but I plan to represent Veteran heavy infantry in Lost Battles on a 40mm frontage to represent their smaller numbers and half a point towards that squares attack. So the white shielded veteran spearmen are earmarked for 40mm bases and these can be a generic heavy infantry or legionary type unit for To the Strongest! or Impetus.

Things are a bit up in the air and chaotic at home so the hobby has suffered and I think next year will have a bit of upheaval. I am slowly and leisurely painting a few Warhammer 40k Tallarn Desert Raiders then I will probably work through the backlog of half painted ancients before undertaking anymore rebasing. However I have rebased my mounted generals which will be posted next.