Forces for Auldearn

I have now finished the forces necessary to run Auldearn using BlackPowder. I am going to try running this on a 6 x 4 table with relatively modest sized units and measurements in cm. A foot regiment has two sleeves of 3x2 shot and a 3x3 pike block, so about 1/2 the size you would normally use for WECW. Frontage is therefore 18cm.

First we have the Covenanter army consisting of 4 regiments of regular foot, 2 regiments of highland levy, a small regiment of horse and 2 cavalry detachments.


I don't have a figure of Hurry, so will use this paint conversion of the Earl of Essex as the general with some additional generic commanders:



The Royalists have MacColla's lifeguard, the Irish regiment, 2 regiments of Gordon foot and a large cavalry contingent from the Gordons with 2 regiments and 1 regiment of mounted infantry.


And of course, Montrose himself:


MacColla and his hard nuts:


Lord Gordon's horse:


A random photo of cat behaviour:


And finally, my excuse for missing the club this week: Daughter #2 (age 6) fellow off the swings and broke her humerus, here shown 24h in the hospital and 3 steel pins later, but she's a trooper:

Next up: Getting started on 28mm Gripping Beast El Cid stuff.

Irish Brigade for Auldearn

This week I completed a bunch of Irish shot figures for my Auldearn project, which is close enough to completion that I should start thinking about how to construct the scenario and which rules to use. I could go with WECW, modified Black Powder or Impetus Baroque. They all have merits. The scenario is a surprise attack on Montrose's advance guard (MacColla and his Highlander & Irish bodyguard) in the village with random Royalist reinforcements each turn. The Royalists have better troops but random entry reinforcement, with Montrose, their gifted commander, occupied with haring about the countryside rousing his scattered bivouac. The covenanters must press the attack before Montrose arrives. Historically, MacColla held on long enough for Montrose to double-envelope Sir John Hurry's Covenanters for a total victory.

These figures are a mix of Dixon and Old Glory. The Dixon figs were great, I really liked them. Tons of character and very clean sculpts. The Old Glory are good too, but are a bit less refined.







The other highlight of the week was a kindergarten field trip to feed the dinosaurs at Jurassic Gardens:

Fallschirjaeger hiatus

While I am waiting for an order of El Cid metals to arrive from Gripping Beast, I knocked off 2 squads of German paras that I plan to use for a WW2 FUBAR game next month at the club. These are ancient RAFM 20mm metals, not bad figs. Tough to work out the colour schemes for fallschirmjaeger, I like the early war green smocks and jumpsuits, but these are clearly later war figs with FG42s and a panzerfaust.

Banff and back again

Just returned from a short holiday in Banff with the family, even managed to get the young ones to walk up Tunnel Mountain and some other short trails with minimal tears:


Before I left I had just finished painting a unit of Hat 28mm Andalusian heavy infantry militia, these guys look better than they fight:


Like the Almoravids, they are relatively slight compared to metal, and I managed to break one of the thin plastic spears when I picked it up to photograph it. I have a bad feeling about their durability, but I do like the way they look. Any suggestions on how to improve the durability of thin plastic weapons, other than replacing them with wire spears? Would painting them with pva white glue help?

A Dilemma or Not?

I painted more Berbers this week in a different scheme, these are darker skinned and have hide shields. Again, I liked the way they came out when looked at on their own.


But I have some concerns about putting them on the table with metals. Here they are alongside a unit of Crusader Normans who could serve as my Christian Spanish enemies:


And here they are alongside some mixed Saxons and Vikings from Foundry and Old Glory:


And here is one Berber alongside a Crusader Norman, and Old Glory Saxon, and a Foundry Viking:


The Crusader stuff is large, and furthermore on the thick GW base towers over the rest. The height of the Berber is fine compared to Old Glory and Foundry, but the proportions are quite different with respect to weapons and head size in particular. Metals are generally overarmed and bucket-headed.

I clearly would not mix them in units, but kind reader, do you think they could appear on the same table, in opposing armies, without looking too silly? If so, I clearly should be basing them on thin bases to minimize their size differences.

VC army

I finished off the last required elements for my Vampire Count army this weekend and here we have it arrayed in it's darkness:


This weekend I put together these spirit host bases, I won't likely start the game with them on the table but they can come into play as a consequence of a VC summoning spell:


Revenant cavalry (black knights) with wight king:


Revenants (tomb guard) with the Daphne vampire:


Skellie horde and supporting ghouls and zombies:


Dire wolves:


Ghouls:


Spirits:


Vampire lord and army standard:


Banshee and crypt wraiths:


I have also been gaining momentum on this El Cid project. I have 30 Berbers now finished, a combined bow and spear unit:

WHFB generals

I finished two major characters over the weekend. First there is a winged vampire lord to lead my VC army, I think he is a very cool model:


And also Teclis who will be running my High Elf army specifically for dates against overpowered opponents (i.e. Daemons). He is probably the most powerful spellcaster in WHFB. I reckon if he survives 2 turns with decent winds of magic we stand a good chance of winning.