A standard bearer for my Papal Condotta

A while ago, a wargaming friend of mine, Joe McGinn got in touch to say that a friend of his at the Hailsham wargaming club, who makes flags was offering to make me a flag to use with my Italian Renaissance condottieri forces. Well, what could I say, apart from a very firm "Yes please!"?

As it turned out, Mike (for that is his name) actually made me not one but two flags, and linen ones at that! One is a cavalry standard and the other one for foot troops.

I've had the flags for a while now but I've finally got around to getting a small vignette made and painted for the foot standard, and here it is;

First, from the right, showing the detail. The arms are those of Pope Alexander VI, otherwise known as Rodrigo de Borja (Rodrigo Borgia in Italian);

Now, from the left;

And finally, a frontal view;

The Borgia Papacy lasted from August 1495 until August 1503. Rodrigo was born in Valencia, in what is now Spain and his birth name was Roderic Llançol i de Borja in the Valencian language, which is related to Catalan and is one of the Romance languages descended from spoken Vulgar Latin.

Rodrigo Borgia studied in Bologna as a young man and, after the appointment of his uncle as Pope Callixtus III in 1456, Rogdrigo entered the Church. Aged 25, he was was ordained as a Deacon and created a Cardinal-Deacon. From then on he rose steadily through the ranks, eventually becoming Pope. His Papacy is notorious for nepotism, scandals, vice and debauchery, but we need to remember that this was Renaissance Italy, and Papal excesses were hardly a new thing. The Borgia were just more open about it, as well as being hugely successful. 

Cesare was Rodrigo Borgia's second son with his mistress Vannozza dei Cattanei and was originally destined for a life in the Church, being ordained as a cardinal but became a soldier and politician on the death of his elder brother. He was granted the title Duke of Valentinois by the French King Louis XII in 1498 and spent much of his life fighting to create a Borgia "state" in central Italy. He fought as a condottiero for Louis XII.

The vignette comprises two Perry plastic 28mm figures, one wearing Papal livery as the standard bearer and the other as a man-at-arms on foot in full armour, protecting the standard. I decided to put the standard bearer on a small mound, to give him more prominence on the field of battle

Female characters for Frostgrave

In between painting my new Saga: Age of magic warband, I have also been working on the North Star female characters for Frostgrave. I bought these last year as part of the massive Maze of Malcor Nickstarter (via Bad Squiddo), and I will be using them as upgrades to my current Frostgrave warband as existing troops get killed off or I can afford to replace them with stronger members. There are eight new models in total; an Apothecary, a Thief, a Barbarian, a Knight, a Templar, a Markswoman, a Tracker and a Warhound.

So, these are all now finished and here they are.

First the Apothecary and the Thief;

Next, the Barbarian, Knight and Templar;

I have tried to give the Knight a shield with a magical sigil as its device, a kind of irregular-shaped flaming multi-pointed star. I think that it works OK. Also, I have tried to make the Templar look a bit like a female version of Marvel's Thor with her red cloak and blonde hair.

And finally, the Markswoman, Warhound and Tracker. I really like the armour on the hound.

These are lovely figures, sculpted, I believe by Mark Copplestone. They have lots of personality and nice details. The castings are really crisp and paint up really nicely. I am very happy with how they have turned out.

The saga AoM Otherworld band grows

Having completed all the big hitters and large models for my Saga Age of Magic warband, I am now getting on with the rank and file troops.

I want to keep a daemonic feel to this part of the force, so both the Hearthguard and one group of Warriors (upgraded to Hunters) will be non-human and will keep to the red/purple/bronze/brass colour scheme. The models I am using are the plastic Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago Snake Men by North Star. This box gives you the opportunity to make 20 figures, and as I have made up six Hearthguard and eight Hunters, I have six left to use later, when an opportunity presents itself.

First, here are the Hearthguard, who I have equipped with Heavy Weapons;

Yes, I know one has a spear and shield, rather than a two-handed weapon but that is just for a bit of variety. It is a heavy spear, OK? Here they are from the other side;

Next, here are the Hunters, who cannot have heavy weapons. I have therefore given them a variety of swords, small axes and other blades. Here they are as the full group of eight.

And below, as two groups of four;

It isn't particularly easy to see the difference between the two types, apart from the difference in weaponry, but the Hunters are actually slightly lighter in colour, being painted over a Skeleton Bone undercoat, with the Hearthguards undercoated in black. I used a variety of Windsor and Newton inks here as glazes and washes, to try and bring out colour differences.

I think that these creatures really fit my overall theme nicely and definitely look like the denizens of a different plane of existence, bred for battle by daemonic sorcerors in the service of daemon warlords.

So, the warband is getting closer to completion. All I have to do now is get working on two more groups of eight Warriors, who will be humans, members of a daemon-worshipping cult. These will also be made up from North Star plastics, this time using the Frostgrave Cultist box. That will be a job for next week, I think.

Blow the Bridge - another game using this scenario for CoC

I wrote a scenario for Coc last year called Blow the Bridge. I wasn't completely happy with the scenario as written, so I tweaked it a bit to try and rebalance the odds.

Here is the scenario;

It is 1944, the Allies have broken out of France and are advancing towards Germany. The British are advancing across the relatively flat and open countryside of the Netherlands. A reconnaissance group  has been sent in front of a tank squadron to probe the German defences along a canal which is an obstacle to any further advance. Their objective is to capture a bridge over the canal, which will allow armoured units to cross and outflank the main German defensive line.

The British force consists of;

1 rifle platoon (HQ plus three sections)

1 recce section (3 Universal carriers, 1 with a PIAT team and a junior leader and 2 with Bren teams)

1 Cromwell Mk IV tank with a 75mm gun (this will only deploy on the 4^th British phase, representing the advance guard of an armoured squadron)

The defending German force is;

1 standard rifle Zug (HQ plus three sections)

1 tripod-mounted MG42

1 4-man engineer section, carried in a half-track without weapons. Their role is to plant charges, not fight. If fired upon, they count as being in light cover. They will initially deploy from the table edge as a team without a leader and once deployed can only be activated by the German senior leader or on a command dice rolling a 1.

The Germans also have two lengths of barbed wire and two small prepared defensive earthworks. These will be placed after the Patrol Phase.

 The Germans can also call on support from a single SdKfz 250/9 with a 2cm auto cannon and a co-axial MG34 in an open turret. This can only be deployed by using a CoC dice and will enter from the German table edge.

The British objective is to attack the bridge and secure it before the Germans can destroy it.

To win the scenario, the British must have neutralised the engineers, driven back the defenders and have at least one section on the bridge itself.

In the patrol phase the Germans will use three patrol markers and the British will use four (because they are attacking). The British will also have two free patrol moves before the patrol phase properly commences.

The game will be play across the width of the table. The canal will be down the centre of the table, with the bridge placed in the central third of the table. The canal can only be crossed by using the bridge.

The British will start the patrol phase from either the left corner or the right. (roll 1d6 1-3 left, 4-6 right)

The Germans side of the table will be in three sections left, centre and right To see where the Germans will start the patrol phase roll 1d6 (1-2 left, 3-4 centre, 5-6 right)

So, this time the British force is somewhat stronger, having some armour appearing during the game. The Germans have also been slightly strengthened by the addition of the SdKfz 250/9.

In this game, Brian was the defending German leader, while I was commanding the British.

The table was laid out like this. Clearly the RAF has been doing some bombing and there are craters and gutted buildings near the canal. You can see how the Patrol Phase ended in these pictures.

Our Force Morale rolls favoured the Germans, who had a FM of 11, with the British being somewhat less motivated at FM 8. The Germans wasted no time in deploying a section right on the edge of the canal, protected by an earthwork.

Access to the bridge was made difficult by two sections of barbed wire. The engineers began to drive towards the bridge, protected by a tripod-mounted MG42 behind an earthwork in front of the walled farm.

The recce carrier section was the first British unit to appear. The idea was to dash forwards to seize the bridge.

I also deployed a rifle section in the ruins close to the bridge, placing them on Overwatch. I had a JOP placed just behind the ruins, which I hoped would let me get troops forward quickly.

I got another section on the table, moving them tactically in support of the carriers towards the bridge.

The Germans by the canal began to open fire on the section I had stationed in the ruined buildings, causing both shock and casualties. Over time, this would be a real problem for me.

The second section closed on the bridge, but was unable to cross because of the wire. The carrier teams dismounted, leaving the drivers in the vehicles. The rifle section on Overwatch fired at the engineer half-track, causing enough shock to make it withdraw.  Unhappily, this drew a lot of fire from the Germans in response, inflicting both shock and casualties.

The Germans were also deploying across the canal, with a section in the trees near the walled farm. My rifle section in the ruins was having big problems from accurate fire from two directions, with the MG42s causing many casualties, finally causing the few survivors to flee. This caused my FM to drop to 6. Luckily, by this point, a tank from the lead troop of the advancing squadron made an appearance. I hoped that this would turn the fight to my advantage. So far, the engineers hadn't managed to start working. I had also deployed my remaining rifle section, close to where the other one had fled, but out of sight of the Germans. The appearance of the tank led to the withdrawal of the German engineer section. 

To the right of the bridge, the tripod MG42 was hitting the recce section, with extra fire coming from a German section in the trees closer to the bridge. Luckily, my Senior Leader had also arrived with the platoon 2" mortar. Smoke time!

The smoke enabled the recce sections to get back on board their carriers and they drove forward over the wire obstacles (shown here by them being removed from the road). The Cromwell was also firing HE at the Germans, with a liberal dose of co-axial MG fire too. This was beginning to weaken the defenders, but I was worried about Panzerfausts and the even more nasty Panzerschreck. The armour of the carriers proved to be an impermeable barrier to the MG42, which was firing at the recce section now holding the bridge.

The SdKfz 250/9 now appeared. This was more of a problem, as its 2cm autocannon was capable of defeating the weak carrier armour. Luckily the Cromwell's commander was able to direct fire at the half-track and drive it off with shock and a wounded commander.

Another cross-canal firefight developed and my rifle section took up station in the ruined buildings. Combined with HE and MG fire from the Cromwell, this section was much more successful and the Germans were suffering losses now, with shock building up too.

Things were now looking pretty impossible for the defenders. The British had the recce carriers on the bridge, with a rifle section just behind and a Cromwell tank ready to blast anything that might appear from the walled farm, especially the half-track full of engineers, so the Germans pulled back, leaving the British in control of the bridge.

Well, this time the scenario delivered a British win, mainly because of the armour.

I am still not fully happy with the scenario. The tweaks I've made seem to have shifted the balance towards the attackers, but possibly too much so. I have thought about this again, and perhaps the answer might be to give the Germans a second tripod MG42 or maybe a second Panzerschreck? 

Alternately, perhaps the answer might be to leave the forces the same but play the game along the length of the table, with the canal closer to the German end, leaving the British with more ground to cover? In that scenario, the Germans could deploy in depth, forcing the British to fight along a longer approach to the bridge, with more opportunities to delay them until the engineers could place charges and blow the bridge. Currently, I like this idea better.

LBWS Tabletop Sale 2019

Yesterday was the Lincombe Barn Wargames Society's annual Tabletop Sale, basically an indoor car-boot sale for gamers.

The show was a sell-out in terms of available tables and there were plenty of regular sellers at the show, plus some new faces who I hope enjoyed themselves and made a profit. From the feedback I received there were a lot of happy people, so I hope that the same thing applied to those I didn't get a chance to speak to. There seemed to be more visitors this year compared with 2018, which is good news too.

Anyway, here are a few pictures;

We will be running another TTS next May, date to be agreed early in 2020, so, if people are interested in attending as either a seller or as a bargain hunter, I'll be publicising the sale as soon as I have details.

Before that, the club will be running a Bring and Buy table at the Thornbury IPMS Show in August, as well as running a participation game, which will probably be What A Tanker! set in the Western Desert between the Afrika Korps and the 8th Army.

Finally, on Sunday 24th November the club will be hosting our ever-popular Reveille II show, with many traders as well as demonstration and participation games. 

He's big, he's red, he's got horns growing out of his head

Yes, he's another daemon, and he will be a Behemoth in my Saga AoM Otherworld warband. Of course, he could also play a role in Frostgrave and other games too. He is a multi-purpose monster.

He is from the North Star Frostgrave Bestiary, where he is listed as a "Major Demon". I don't think that anyone could realistically argue with that! The actual figure stands around 5.5cm high and is a two part model with a resin body and a metal head. To make him appear even more imposing I decided to base him on a rocky outcrop, so that he can really tower over the opposition's troops.

Here he is from behind;

This rear view really shows off the whirly patterns etched into his hide. I decided that I wanted these to glow with magical power, but not for this to dominate the figure. Therefore some parts of the patterns are glowing gold while others are just showing up as darker patterning.

I decided to keep the red/purple/brass/old gold theme I've used already, but I wanted him to be a lighter shade of red, so I gave his fleshy parts a glaze of Burnt Sienna Windsor and Newton ink after painting.

The base is made from dense blue insulation foam, roughly carved into a rocky shape. I glued on ballast of varying sizes and then gave the whole thing an undercoat with grey paint mixed with PVA glue. This was to ensure that when I spray undercoated the whole thing with black primer the propellant wouldn't eat into the foam.

Once painted, I added a few tufts to the rocks for a more natural effect. Once again, I am really happy with the results. I think that this warband is shaping up nicely.

Here he is again, with another figure for scale;

My female wizards certainly seem to have a pretty casual approach about standing around rocky objects and chanting. In true pantomime style, I feel it is essential to shout out the traditional warning "He's Behind You!"

Some more Bad Squiddo Shieldmaidens, plus something else

I've been slowly expanding my collection of Bad Squiddo Shieldmaidens, with a view to using them in Dragon Rampant and also Saga Age of Magic. To that end, I bough four more Berserkers and the older range of berserkers, now relabelled as Fanatics.

I really like these figures, because they are so different from the rest of the Shieldmaidens in the collection. I am planning to use these together with the Fanatics (below) and the Berserkers I painted last year as 12 Bellicose Foot for Dragon Rampant.

Here are the four Fanatics. First, from the front;

These were supposed to be used with slottabases (which I don't really like), so I trimmed off the tabs and superglued them to 2.5cm MDF round bases. The third figure had her foot raised up on a metal peg shaped like a tuft of grass for stability but I wanted something a bit more interesting, so I trimmed it away and replaced it with a plastic head from my spare bits box. Much more in keeping, I think. The figure on the left wears an apron, which I have chosen to paint as blood-stained.

Here is a view of the same figures from behind. There is some lovely detail on these, which cries out for subtle shading to bring out the folds in the fabric of their clothes.

Finally, here are the original four Berserkers which I painted last year. As you can see, I've tried to keep a fairly uniform appearance to these warriors.

Finally, here is the different thing I mentioned in the title of this post;

This is a Grim Reaper statue from Wargames Terrain Workshop, which I bought the year before last at the annual IPMS Show in Thornbury. The club has been involved with this show for a long time now, and we run a Bring and Buy table, as well as running a participation game. Last year we ran What A Tanker in 15mm and we will probably do this again in 2019.

Anyway, here are more views of the Grim Reaper, or "Dave Death" as I've taken to calling him.

I bought him for Frostgrave originally, but he will fit right in with anything with a creepy theme. There simply has to be a graveyard in a slightly odd village that needs a big old statue of Death in it, be it for 7TV, Call of Cthulhu or something else. It is a big piece, being 11cm tall on a 4cm square base.

I painted his scythe blade in gunmetal and gave it a wash of rust paint and it seemed a good idea to make the goblet into something metallic too, rather than just leaving it as carved stone.

More Saga: Age of Magic - my Unstable Portal

An Otherworld faction warband takes an Unstable Portal as its Sacred Ground.

I spent some time looking for an actual portal to use, but nothing I saw really excited me much. However, I am a huge fan of H.P Lovecraft, as I have mentioned before, so a portal might just be an eldritch stone with strange otherworldly angles and mystical geometries, so this beautiful piece "The Living Icon" from Fenris Games was exactly what I was looking for. A stone monolith with actual eyes and carved tentacles? I mean, who could resist it? Certainly not me, for sure.

I can thank my lovely partner for this piece, she bought it for me as a present. Also, I can thank Fenris Games for posting it out so quickly, which meant it came in the post on Thursday. Of course, it immediately went straight onto my painting table.

Each face of the Icon is different, so I simply had to photograph each one;

I've added in a female wizard to give an idea of the size of the piece. In this final shot, I think she might be getting a bit too close. What is that book she is holding? Surely not a copy of the accursed Necronomicon? Who knows what will happen when she finishes her incantation? 

This was an absolute joy to paint. It is a single solid piece of resin with no cleaning up required. I undercoated it in Halford's grey primer and when it was dry, gave it a wash all over with diluted Windsor and Newton Indian Ink (black, of course). Then I did a progressive series of dry-brushings in paler and paler grey. Finally, I finished off by painting the eyes, which were finished with a wash of Windsor and Newton Brilliant Green Ink.

The base was a simple and uncluttered case of varying sizes of sand ballast, with some cork rocks, finished with some murky dark green flock, which I also allowed to creep up onto the lower surfaces of the monolith. 

Once it had been spray varnished with matt varnish, I went over the eyes with gloss varnish, using a brush.

To say that I am happy with this piece is an understatement. I absolutely love it. I can see it being used for more that just Saga AoM. It cries out for a Cthulhu game setting, maybe using 7TV's forthcoming Pulp rules? Who knows?