Five more gunslingers.

 Here are the next five figures for my Wild West project. Again, these are all Artizan Wild West minis.

I really like this guy on the left. He's got the look of a saloon bar piano player about him, but possibly one with a bit of a hot temper, always ready to settle an argument with a pair of six shooters. He's definitely got a bit of an attitude in this pose. A really nice sculpt.

This figure is my only female gunslinger, at least so far. She isn't going to take any nonsense from anyone. A tough and uncompromising woman in a tough male world.

Next, here are three useful generic gunfighters who will find work in whatever posse or gang needs new recruits. They could also represent a rancher and two of his ranch hands, protecting the herd from rustlers.

These are the end of my Artizan figures, but I have two gangs of minis by Great Escape Games in my Dead Man's Hand starter box set, one of lawmen and the other of outlaws. I will get them done at some point, but now I fancy a break from the Old West.

Three stereotypical Western Characters

 Again, these are all Artizan Wild West minis.

The two right-hand figures are from the "Frontier characters" set and the left-hand one is one of the "Hired Guns". I decided to paint him as an Indian Cavalry Scout, because that is exactly what he looks like to me.

The other two are staples of many Westerns; a grizzled gold or silver miner, most likely down on his luck and just hanging around town looking for a few opportunities to make a dollar or two, and an even more grizzled hunter in a bearskin coat and with a long breech-loading rifle with a telescopic sight. Of course, you can shoot more than just bears with a weapon like that .....

I am really impressed with these Artizan figures. The sculpts have bags of character and are a joy to paint. I know that I've said it before, but it is worth repeating.

These will all work for the usual range of games, but I'll admit that I keep looking at the Cavalry figures, the OK Corral characters and the spooky Western Horror ones in the Grim Prairie Tales range too.

I know. You start a project which is a sensible size and then scope creep sets in. I spent long enough working in IT to know how it happens.

Pinkerton Agents

More Wild West figures from Artizan; 

These are Pinkerton agents, but could also represent US government secret agents.

The organisation was founded in the 1850s by Allan Pinkerton, a Scottish detective and Chicago attorney Edward Rucker as the North-Western Police Agency. It later changed its name to the Pinkerton Agency.

It was founded to help enable businessmen control and monitor their employees and to prevent industrial action and strikes. The Agency also worked with the US government as a supplement to the government's own Secret Service. In addition to its activities in strike-breaking and spying on unions and labour organisations, Pinkerton agents were also involved in crime-fighting in the Wild West, notably against bank and train robbers.

These figures are clearly suitable for use in all manner of settings, especially in games of In Her Majesty's Name and other VSF and Steampunk, as well as western gunfighting games.

OK, so you got a tin star now ..................

 ........... but does that make you the Law around here?

After the previous posts, it seems appropriate to offer up the men whose job it is to keep the bad guys in check. 

These are two Sheriffs, ready to take on the outlaws, hell-raisers and trouble-makers who ride into town. Once again, they are Artizan Designs figures.

Of course, they can expect (hope?) to rely on the other law-abiding citizens around for moral and actual support when the bullets start flying, but who knows what'll really happen when the piano player stops playing?

Once again, these will see plenty of action in all kinds of games.

The Preacher rides into town

... but will he save souls or damn them to Hell? Only time will tell.

The vengeful unhinged Preacher is a real cliché of the more Gothic end of the Western film genre, but it is one of those clichés that I think really works within a narrative gaming setting. 

The Man in the Long Black Coat comes into town to dispense the Lord's Justice or maybe to save the sinners and innocents from an unknown Dark Menace. Either way, there a few game scenarios there.

Of course, the Preacher needs his Acolytes and what better than two hard-bitten believers with rifles and shotguns?

Once again, these figures are by Artizan Designs from their Wild West range. The Preacher is one of three "Frontier Characters". The other two will feature later on in this small project.

The Preacher will be equally at home in traditional western skirmish settings, but also ideal for more fantastical settings, such as In Her Majesty's Name or even ones involving Cosmic Horrors, Zombies and other eldritch scenarios.

Well, howdy pardner! Six gunslingers ride into town.

 Yes, I am painting cowboys, outlaws and gunslingers. Here are the first six;

Above are three gunslingers in duster coats. A duster coat was made of linen, heavy cotton or even canvas to protect the wearer's clothes from the dust kicked up when riding the trails of the Old West.

Next, we have three Mexican caballeros in their classic leather chaparreras, later called chaps and adopted by American riders.

These are all from the Artizan Designs Wild West range, available from North Star. I am really impressed with these figures. They are terrific sculpts with lots of character and atmosphere about them. 

I will be using these figures for the Dead Man's Hand western gunfighting rules, published by Great Escape Games, having already played a few simple games of these rules which were a lot of fun.

I will also be able to use them for certain scenarios using the In Her Majesty's Name rules and I am sure that there will be other opportunities to get them on the table. I can even see them in some kind of Wild West Pulp and Horror settings.

I've deliberately gone for a weather-beaten and dusty look for these figures, because I don't think that cowboys ought to look like they have just got back from the dry cleaner with their best threads.

I have plenty more to paint, so I'll be filling the blog with shootouts and quick-draw outlaws over the next week or so.

Barbarian Horde vs Mountain Dwarves: A Sword and Spear Fantasy AAR

Just before Christmas, there was an epic Sword and Spear Fantasy encounter at the club between my Hyborian Barbarian Horde and Clive's new Magister Militum Dwarven army. There is a report of this on the Mödlhafen blog, but it seems only right and proper that the Barbarian point of view is also put on record.

Both armies were huge, around 1850pts of Dwarves and maybe 2000pts of Barbarians. Yes, we could have scaled things down a bit, but the chance to get everything on the table was too great to resist. You can see the size of the forces involved in this titanic clash in the first few pictures.

The two armies needed a 9ft long table to accommodate them.

I decided that I would have to get my Impact troops into combat as soon as possible, because that is pretty much what the Barbarians have to do. It is an army that lacks finesse, so it needs to get up close and personal as soon as possible.

I placed all my shooty troops in woods, not that I actually have many of them in the first place. 

My centre was packed with all my powerful heavy foot, supported by my L3 Magic user. I also had an Arcane Artifact to give my magicians as much of a boost as possible. The Artifact means that I get to roll an extra Magic D6 (giving me 4D6 in this game) and discard the lowest scoring dice.

Ignoring the Dwarven flying boat, I get my heavy cavalry, supported by  a Hero and led by a Captain) moving on my left as quickly as possible.

On my right, I send my Light Horse (out of view) on a flanking manoeuvre while I dash my packs of Wolves into action. I fully expect the wolves to get beaten, but hopefully cause a few casualties along the way.

My skirmishing archers start hitting the Dwarf flying boat. I really want to puncture this particular balloon.

My light horse move forwards, outflanking the Dwarf chariots. I hope that they will take this vehicles out.

As hoped, over on my left, the heavy cavalry wipe out the Dwarf crossbows and leave the Dwarf wizard exposed. Now, I just need to get these cavalry units through the Dwarf line, and start attacking them from behind.

My remaining heavy cavalry support the wolves and get into action. 

Charging my Hero on an Elk into the flank of the Dwarf cavalry, the unit is wiped out. The Hero is counter-charged by some Dwarf crossbows, who are melee capable.

My light horse charge a chariot unit in the flank, winning the combat with ease. I am hoping to roll up the Dwarf left flank.

Elsewhere, disaster strikes as my heavy cavalry are charged in the flank and, in successive combats, both units are wiped out. Disaster!

I blame those mammoths, personally!

My heavy infantry make slow progress across the battlefield. I really need them to get into combat with the Dwarven artillery, the kind of sneaky unit that the noble Barbarians just treat as cheating. Where is the honour in blowing your enemies up from a distance? Surely honour and fame only come when you "Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the women!" after the clash of steel on steel?

On my left flank, a Dwarf Hero destroys my skirmishing bowmen, meaning that I need to send my Medium Infantry into combat to stop him causing chaos.

My Troll heavy infantry close on on the Dwarf centre

My right flank makes much better viewing than my left. I seem to be gaining the upper hand here.

Unhappily, we are running out of time, just as I destroy one of the Dwarf chariots, allowing my light horse to get behind the Dwarf line. 

I never did manage to puncture that annoying balloon.

And, just as my main infantry units get into charge range, we have to call time. I like to think that this encounter would have seen my Barbarians victorious.

So, a truly epic battle that ended in a draw. It was good to see big armies on the table, even though the sheer size of them makes control difficult. I never even got my Giant into combat, so he was pretty much wasted. 

I can imagine that concentrating all my mobile units on one flank might have worked better, with the main infantry line just holding a defensive position. Perhaps that would be for another day.

The Barbarian Hordes are gathered for battle

I've wanted to photograph all my Hyborian barbarian troops, using 15mm Copplestone barbarians together for ages  and on Sunday I had the chance, when I played my first game of Sword and Spear Fantasy at the club. I wasn't able to use the entire horde for the game, but here it is in all its glory;

I think that is a pretty impressive horde, but I'd like to add some more units at some point, although it isn't a priority.

As for the game, Pete and I fought a game with twelve units a side without worrying about points values. His army is based upon the Eastern Roman Empire of the Komnenian period.

I began by pushing all my cavalry forward on my left, while holding back on the right.

Pete advanced with horse archers against my Heavy Infantry Trolls and a unit of skirmisher archers, who wouldn't last long.

I slowly pushed my heavy infantry forward, supported by medium foot archers.

The central battle developed into one between Pete's armoured lancers and my foot. Amazingly, my foot triumphed, forcing the cream of Pete's cavalry off the table. My pack of savage wolves were also engaged against some heavy infantry as my heavy cavalry attacked Pete's Giants.

Pete threw more cavalry into the fray against my infantry shieldwall.

Unhappily for Pete, the dice fairies weren't helping him and he continued to lose units, making his position pretty hopeless, conceding the victory to my hairy chaps with loincloths and bad table manners.

Of course, for a first game, we both made mistakes with the rules, which helped me more than it did him, but we will learn from that. We also took a while to really understand how to use magic users and how the magic rules work, but we'll get there.

We are basing our units on an 8 cm frontage, mostly with two 4 cm wide units together, which means that we can use figures already based for HOTT, DBA, DBM etc.

Overall, a fun game. I am looking forward to playing these rules again.

More Late Roman Archers

I've had a lot of Late Roman Gripping Beast plastics ready to paint for ages now, but I really needed a break from Romans, plus it was too hot to paint and I was also on holiday for a while. Anyway, I've completed all my remaining Late Roman archers, eight more designed as additions to my Saga warband, above and, below 16 archers based up ready to be used in Sword and Spear. Of course, I will be using all my Saga Romans for S&S too, I just need to buy a load of movement trays for them.

I am planning for my S&S army to be on 12 cm wide bases, mainly 6 cm deep, but deeper for cavalry, obviously. My idea is that foot units will be on 12 x 6 cm bases, which can be stacked one behind another to make up large units, with skirmishers also on 12 x 6 cm bases, but with only six figures per base. I am hoping that I can get Warbases to make these up as a special, together with a number of 12 x 6 cm bases with 4 rectangular 4 x 2 cm slots for cavalry. I need to ask about this, though.

Hyborian cavalry reinforcements

I think (hope?) that I've finally finished my 15mm Hyborian Barbarian horde for Sword and Spear Fantasy games. The final additions are the rest of the cavalry. Here they are en masse, charging against some hapless enemy foot.

The front unit is one of Cavalry, as defined in the S&SF rules. They are a single unit, sized 8 cm x 3 cm. They will join my existing two units of Cavalry. They are supported by two units of Light Horse.

The next two units are the Light Horse, based on 4 cm square bases to give them a looser formation. Each unit is therefore 8 cm x 4 cm.

Obviously, they are all just the same excellent Copplestone figures, so the only way to distinguish between them is the base sizes.

I think that the last thing I need to do is photograph the entire horde, which should look pretty impressive.

Then, all that is left is to actually get them onto the table for a few games.

Barbarians with bows and arrows

Despite being away in France for a trip last week around the battlefields of the Western Front and various towns in the region, I did manage to complete some more Copplestone 15mm barbarians for my Hyborian Age horde once I got back.

First, there are three stands of archers, on 4 cm x 2 cm bases who will be added to the three stands I painted last year to give me three units of medium foot archers. These will be paired up to give a unit with an 8 cm frontage, but only one base deep. I think that this will look fine on the table.

The other bow-equipped troops are four stands of Copplestone Pict archers, on 4 cm square bases, who will form two units of skirmishers. In my imaginary Hyborian Age, these "Picts" represent cave-dwelling tribes who are allies of the semi-nomadic barbarian tribes. Of course, in Robert E. Howard's  pseudo-historical vision of the Hyborian Age, the Picts were described as being "small in height, squat and muscular, adept at silent movement, and most of all brutish and uncivilized" who had retained only rudimentary technology and language skills. I see these archers, together with the ones I painted last year as Neanderthals who have survived to co-exist with the Cro-Magnons who comprise most of the population of the world of Hyboria. Anyway, here they are;

All I have left to paint now are a unit of Medium Foot and three units of Horse. One of these will be based up as Cavalry (in S&SF terms) on 4 x 3 cm bases and the other two as Light Horse, on 4 cm square bases.

After I've finished all the units, I need to decide exactly how I want to use them on the table. I've recently decided that my trolls will be used as armoured Heavy Foot and being larger than humans they will have the impact and powerful attack characteristics.

I am also thinking that my human Heavy Foot (of which I have 12 4 x 1.5 cm stands) might be put together as two Large units, i.e. being three bases deep and two bases wide, as well as having them as three normal sized units, as described in my previous post.

I am wondering if I might need more units for variation, too. I like the idea of steppe mounted archers as fast skirmishers, but most of the available figures seem to look too "modern" to my eye, and I'd like a stand of mammoths or other big monsters to be used as Large Beasts. Alternative Armies have a rather nice monsters called Rhinosaurs which would look pretty good on the table, with perhaps a few barbarians in the howdah. They also do a version without the howdah.

More Hyborians join the Barbarian Horde

Following on from the two groups of trolls and the wolves, I have completed two more units of barbarian warriors for my Hyborian Sword & Spear Fantasy army. Like all the others these are from the Copplestone Barbarica range of 15mm figures.

These will join the existing barbarians that I painted up last year as HOTT Blades. and will form the core of the army. I intend all three units to be used as Heavy Foot with Average Protection, with the original ones being designated as Hearthguards, with the Shieldwall and Standfast attributes, and maybe Brave or Heroic as well.

These two new units will be less exalted Heavy Foot, also with Shieldwall. To distinguish them from the Hearthguards, these guys have standard bearers attached to the units.

In addition, I have painted up two command stands and three magic users. These are all on round bases. I do have other magic users and clerics in my original HOTT army, plus three hero/general figures on square bases. I will also include these in my S&SF army, probably as an army general, heroes and as a high level magic user.

The figure on the left, with a standard bearer and a drummer will be a general and the other stand will be a captain. The magic users will all be Level 1 magicians.

Next, I will be working on more archers to be used as Medium Foot missile troops and Pict (in Copplestone terms) archers to be used as Foot Skirmishers.

I am really pleased with how this army is looking. Once I've finished off all the new additions, I'll take photos of the complete army.

Making a start on the Hyborian lead mountain

I bought the Great Escape Games Sword & Spear fantasy rules last year, with the intention of playing games in 15mm. My original idea was to create a 15mm post-Roman army with an Arthurian theme, and this is still my intention. I have a load of Lurkio post-Romans and a few early Byzantines, plus a few Magister Militum wizards which will become transformed at some point, but it also occurred to me that I could expand my Hyborian Barbarian HOTT army into a larger force for S&SF.

The consensus at the club for S&SF in 15mm is that we should use an 80mm frontage for units, which means that any troops based for HOTT or DBA will be compatible. Therefore, a while ago I bought several packs of extra Copplestone Barbarica 15mm barbarians and other figures to bulk out my existing troops.

I have enough extra figures to create more cavalry units, and also heavy infantry, medium infantry, levies and skirmishers, but as I want this force to have a proper fantasy dimension, I also bought some wolves and trolls from the Copplestone range.

So, my initial foray into this particular part of the lead mountain was the wolves and trolls, and here they are;

I decided that I wanted my trolls to have green skin, but also to look like they could hide in the rocks of hills and valleys, so I thought that grey fur would work well. The wolves, of course, are just wolves and grey and brown shades are natural. In both pics I've put a stand of barbarians to show the scale of the new additions. The trolls have been based on 80mm x 60mm MDF bases and the wolves on 40 x 40cm ones, so that they could be used for HOTT too.

Next, I will continue working on some generals on foot and some magic users. I've also got 24 barbarians on the go, who will form two extra Heavy Infantry units. After that, I have more barbarian archers, some more troops to form medium foot and cavalry units and Pict archers to act as skirmishers.

I really like the Copplestone barbarians. They have loads of character and are excellent castings with bags of personality.

As a flying unit option, I am thinking about the Magister Militum Valkyries, which look pretty nice too, but this is something for the future.