ECW Command

I finished off some remaining ECW command models for my New Model army. These are a mix of Foundry and Warlord metals.

There is a nice command vignette with meeting held over a map on a drum.

I experimented with using rare earth magnets to make a base for the commander with ensign, but it didn't work very well, two magnets aren't strong enough to hold the figures securely, and there were a real bugger to glue to the base because they would rather stick to each other. This stand has a commander modelled obviously after Dion Phaneuf (captain of my favourite hockey team the Toronto Maple Leafs)

This guy here is a ranter (religious zealot) to inspire the troops (and antagonize the enemy)...

The grenade-boy is very nice:

Here is the back view of the commander in chief in conference:

Up next: Celtic slingers

Spanish knights and next DBA campaign map

I worked up 15 Gripping Beast Spanish knights and jinetes, I like these figs. I went with a red/ochre/blue colour theme (very Spanish-looking) to represent liveried otherwise organized groups of Hidalgos. El Cid gaming is still a few units away, but in the meantime they will serve as two additional units of Norman knights in next week's Hail Caesar game

I quite like this sculpt:

I also assembled a new map for our next DBA campaign (1/72 classical era) using Mighty Empires tiles. This is such a great product.

Next up: some ECW command stands to finish off, maybe a DBA battle report after we kick off our campaign at EDBAG tomorrow night.

2011 recap and plans for 2012

The first completed unit for 2012 is this block of 16 dark age warriors from Wargames Factory done in kite shields and with a spanish colour scheme. I plan to use these for Spanish foot for El Cid, and have LittleBigMan Studios El Cid banners on order, but they can also serve as Normal liberi in a pinch:

To recap 2011, I painted fewer models than in 2010 (~1,000 versus like ~1,800 in 2011), but there were more 28mm and generally of better quality (hence take more time). Probably the majority were ECW but there were quite a few Dark Age Spanish and Moors for El Cid, and also quite a few GW and Mantic fantasy stuff for WHFB. I played 63 games of DBA (35W-27L-1T) and learned that it is very difficult to win consistently with a light horse army. I also played 14 games of WHFB (12W-2L) using High Elves (unbeatable now I reckon) Brettonians and Vampire Counts.

I would like to play more WHFB and WAB next year if I can coax some of me mates to play more. Saga was another favourite this year, and I ran 4-5 games of Black Powder at the club too (Zulu War, ECW and Napoleonics). I am going to run Hail Caesar next week at the club using some dark age Anglo-Danes and Normans, looking forward to trying it out. I have become a big fan of Rick Priestly rules, I like the Gestalt and simplicity. I also have quite a bit more Western Desert picoarmour to paint up for BKC2, some nice new 1/72 from PSC to try out Kampfgruppe Normandy, and there is always another 15mm DBA army or two for a break.

Dark Ages over the holidays

I decided to work up some Saxons over the break for a game of Hail Caesar I plan to run in January. I had a box of these fyrd, so gave them a go:

They came out okay, I got better at constructing dynamic poses with practice, but to be honest I prefer my shieldwall at rest or on guard with spears held vertically and this pose was not possible with the available armatures. The detail also tends to be soft and shallow, they are not nearly as good as Perry, Warlord or GW plastics. On the bright side, there are lots of good bits on the sprues for future conversions (bows, shields, etc). Still, a very good value. I plan to do the remaining warriors as Norman liberi using the kite shields and helmet head options.

I also found some Old Glory Huscarls that are great, the OG dark age stuff is really good- lots of character and dynamic poses (sometimes a bit OTT, but on balance they are excellent value and paint up really well.

The peasants are revolting!

Bit of a gap since my last posting, I actually finished another ECW cavalry regiment but it looks just like every other regiment, so I didn't bother putting it up. Then last week I finished my Covenanter command stand figures, I really like the cleric and the piper:

I also did a batch of medieval peasants who can be very useful for many scenarios. These turned out pretty well, I experimented with Vallejo wash over base/shade/highlight. They are a bit dark, but of course they are supposed to be filthy, miserable and angry

Up next: well, it's this time of year of course:

Happy Holidays everyone, keep safe and have fun!

ECW New Model Artillery and Horse

Latest ECW units to come off my bench is a mix of artillery and horse. There are two Warlord saker guns and crew. I couldn't decide whether to mount the crew on the base with the gun or base them separately. So I did one of each.

I have just assembled the last 10 horse and primed the command models- a pretty cool assortment of preachers, agitators, commanders and other goodies. And that will likely be a wrap for ECW for some time. Two armies is enough? Perhaps...

DBA Early Imperial Rome

I finally finished a Corvus Belli 15mm DBA army, this is the box set will all options. I also used a bit of FIW resin wooden pallisade as a camp.

Nice figs, good size, excellent detail, paint up well, lots of variety in the poses. On the downside, they were a complete bear to clean up, lots of flash.

Here are the Auxilia

The core of the legion, Blades

Cavalry, I usually prefer the cavalry general for mobility and he is harder to kill than a Blade

Camp:

Not sure how they will fare, tonight Mark is bringing something over to test them against. It is probably a forgiving army to play because it is well balanced, but I think it is also vulnerable to mounted esp if they feature knights. I am also not 100% how to play the mandatory artillery, parked in the camp it keeps your rear safe, but it is tempting to try it out on the battlefield, especially if there are jumbos or tempting bows to shoot at.