Bad Squiddo Dwarves and Amazons

Annie Norman at Bad Squiddo has a new Kickstarter running at the moment. There are two separate sets of figures, Dwarves and Amazons.

People who follow this blog will probably remember that sample Dwarf figure that I painted up recently, and the rest of the Dwarves are similarly excellent figures. There are a number of really useful models available; A Captain, a Thief, two Champions, two Berserkers, a Wizard, a Bard, a Rogue, a Monk and a Ranger, which pretty much covers all the bases for a band of Dwarvish adventurers for a wide variety of fantasy rule sets.

The Amazons set is similarly varied, featuring a Captain with two Bodyguards, two Elite Guards, an Assassin, a Musician, an Archer, a Spearguard, a Champion (accompanied by a guinea pig sprite) and two "little wolves", who are two Amazon girls.

As with all Kickstarters, there is a range of pledges, up to a huge one which gives you two sets of both ranges, plus all the stretch goals.

You can also buy into bundles of existing figures from the Bad Squiddo collection, including some excellent resin scenic items, many of which were formerly part of the Ristul range.

What a surprise - a sneak preview of the next Bad Squiddo Kickstarter

Well, actually I am sure that people who follow Annie on Facebook and elsewhere know that there is a new Bad Squiddo Kickstarter in the offing, and that it will feature Dwarves (a.k.a "Dorfs" in Annie-speak), so saying that it is going to happen isn't really a huge surprise.

However, I did get a proper surprise when a small parcel from Bad Squiddo arrived at my house on Friday, mainly because I wasn't expecting anything. Mystified, I opened the box and found the usual fruit teabag, a small figure in a ziplock baggie and a note.

To be honest, I felt honoured. I don't think I am a bad painter, but I am certainly not a Matt Slade, Kevin Dallimore, Paul Sanderson or John Morris in the paintbrush stakes, so being given the chance to paint up an advance figure from the Kickstarter made me really happy.

Anyway, I soon found out that I had a small grumpy woman with a big axe to paint. I got to work as soon as I could and finished her this morning.

There was something about her that spoke to me, saying "I am a grizzled veteran of many fights in the deep places of the world", so I wanted to give her grey hair, and well-worn clothes, but also the richly-embellished accoutrements of a fighter of great repute, hence the jewels set in her belt.

I didn't think she would be wearing bright colours, so I settled on a muted colour palette.

I must say that she was an incredibly crisp and clean casting, with absolutely no flash or moulding lines and she painted up a treat. 

Once again, Annie has really hit the bull'e eye with this figure, and also with a very timely female Dwarves Kickstarter, which will surely be featuring in more than a few Masters (Mistresses?) of the Underearth warbands for Saga Age Of Magic in due course. Equally, there are possibilities with other rulesets. Me? Well I am going to be revamping my Frostgrave band in the near future and I am sure I can find a place for a grudge-bearing Dwarf with a huge axe.

So, an absolutely terrific figure. Just don't mention the Hi-Ho song.

Another Sword and Spear Fantasy Sunday

Yesterday (3rd March) we had an all-dayer at the club and five of us played a kind of Round Robin friendly tournament of Sword and Spear Fantasy using 1000pt 15mm armies. Each battle was to last six turns. The forces involved were;

Clive:  Undead

Owen: High Elves

Brian:  Orcs

Nick:   Desert-themed Meerkats

Me:     Hyborian Barbarian Horde

Some games were tougher than others, in the sense that some were incredibly violent and lots of units were eliminated, but all the games were good fun.

The scoring was a bit haphazard, such things as killing off generals and captains didn't score any points so winners and losers were judged solely on the army points value of the units they eliminated. 

As things turned out, Clive topped the table and I was second, but that didn't really matter. The most destructive encounter was the battle between Clive's Undead and my Hyborian Horde. I almost ended up with a crushing victory as my cavalry crushed Clive's right wing and proceeded to roll up his line, but the resilience of the Undead meant that I snatched a narrow 27-25 win. I'd like to have a rematch, because they are a tough opponent.

The important thing I learnt was that you really cannot afford to let your cavalry get charged by other  Impact cavalry, because you will end up with a big gap where your impressive strike force used to be.

I am also thinking that I might have to add my archers to my Heavy and Medium Foot units, to give them a Reduced Shooting capability, rather than using separate bow-armed units (except for Skirmishers). It could help in Melee.

Anyway, here are the pics.

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.