The Libyans Arrive

   I've played a few games of Rebels and Patriots using a single sprue of the epic scale American Civil War figures from Warlord Games, with each base counting as a 12 wound unit, which I've found to be a really good way of showing how cheap wargaming can be while still moving "real" figures around a table.

   So when Warlord Games released their Hail Caesar range of epic scale, and then sprues came free with a magazine, it was only a matter of time before I had some painted. I'm pretty lucky that the gamers I have round me aren't interested in these sprues so I've doubled up on numbers without any extra costs.

   My brother and myself are slightly modifiying how we are building armies compared to how I did it for the American Civil War stuff with two bases being a full wound unit. There are a few reason for this; 

1. It helps with game play. In Lion Rampant a unit is either full strength or half strength in terms of how it fights, so being able to take a base off really highlights that.

2. It makes working out unit sizes tidier. It doesn't matter if one army has 5 figures to a base and another is 20, 2 bases are a full unit.

3. It allows the blocks to looks like useful blocks in this scale. 5 Horsemen in 13mm don't look too impressive, 10 ranked up do - then 40 infantry just look really pleasing.

The block of Heavy Infantry. I'd like a second block of these in time, but would need a one more sprue which isn't a priority.

The unit of Cavalry plus their captain/General.

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Another Light Exploratory Vehicle

   While I am trying to focus on the key projects that need to get onto the table, sometimes you just need to paint the thing in front of you and in this case its another Genestealer Cult Achilles Ridge Runner. I just love these things - are they any good, not really, but just look at them.

 

   This one came in the Combat Patrol box I bought just after the new codex dropped as I needed two of the squads of infantry that came in it and couldn't get them cheap enough any other way but as I really like these, it wasn't a hardship to have a second one.

   This one has been painted identically to the older one, down to trying to match the transfers I put on it to break up flat areas. The only difference is that I worked out how to build the guy in the back on this one and I didn't lose the spotter in the side bit after finishing the paint job.

With it's partner in crime

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Fjord Serpents - Karvi Longship 2

  I'm still trying to focus on getting on with a few key projects* that I want to be able to put on the table as soon as gaming becomes a bit easier again, and Fjord Serpents is pretty high on that list. The aim is still to get a single starter box done asap with the second to follow once a test game has been played.

*he says fully knowing what the next post will be

   This is the 3rd ship I've finished and is the second Karvi, which is the smaller of the two classes in the box. It holds 4 bases of infantry and I decided to give it a sail to link it to the Snekkja I finished last week.

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Fjord Serpents - Snekkja Longship

   I came away from Salute this year after spending less than £20 on myself*, and that was only on dice**, a single pot of paint and some questionable gnomes, mostly because as I walked around the show looking at the games, I realised just how many rulesets/collections I've not even put on the table yet and this rather killed my appetite to buy more things. Recently, I've been trying to focus on getting some of the unfinished and unused armies ready for the table top and had a few quick wins - see my 2mm projects, however, my Fjord Serpents project isn't going to be quick, so I need to make sure I am making some movement on it.

*lets not ask about the mug full of dice my 4 year old was desperate for

**because everyone always needs new dice

   This is the larger of the two ship types in the main boxset - the Snekkja. It carries 6 bases of troops compared to the Karvi's 4, and with the main box having two leader models I am giving them to the Snekkjas.

   I've painted the ship and crew in a similar way to the last ship, changing the exact paints used on the crew as I didn't write them down and I plan to mix bases up a bit more for variety anyway. Plus I did the same sail pattern that I have on my 28mm ship from Adrian's Walls.

   Ideally, I need to get two more ships finished so I can test the rules out and then start on the last 4. This is very much a game I am aiming to get done, so that when Wayland Games reopens, I can play it there.

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More Tiny Romans

   While I was pushing the Gallic side of this project along, I tried to make sure the remaining Roman elements were also done.

   Initially this meant getting the base of skirmishers done as they were a type of unit I hadn't otherwise done any of. These are a unit type that look really effective in person but slightly odd in picture form.

Then with the Gauls finished, I went back and did the last two bases of Roman Legions.

   With enough to play the planned scenario, I tried to get the cards and command boards at Salute and had no luck, but at least the figures are ready to go.

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Tiny Gauls

   I had an idea a few weeks back that as I bought the vast bulk of my 2mm projects at Salute a couple of years ago, that I should get them finished before this Salute. So I spent a day building and priming all the bases before taking them in batches to paint.

   I plan to do an army shot of this project but for the moment I'll present them in the batches I painted them in.

My Gallic Warband test base. This got repainted a couple of times as it kept looking like a Smarties chocolate bar. I was pretty pleased with this end result.

With a base under my belt, I decided to get the project moving and did 3 bases of warband at the same time. I was pleased with the result, but it was harder work than it looks like it should be.

I then backed down to doing 2 bases of warbands at a time which was a happy medium between ease of painting and speed of project movement.

With a fair few bases of regular warbands done and the hope I could at least get this on the table unfinished I moved onto a "trained warband" which represents a more elite formation and a base of cavalry, which I had positioned to look a lot less organised than the base of Roman cavalry. I said on the Roman post that the cavalry was the base I least looked forward to painting, but its the one I ended up enjoying the most.

I then did another warband base along with a base of skirmishers, again in the attempt to round the army out before I focussed on actually finishing it. The skirmishers look good but the extra surface area on the sides added a lot more time to the painting process.

The last two bases of warbands finished a couple of days after Salute.

   I've been posting these to BlueSky as I've been finishing them and the author of the game, Mark Backhouse has been encouraging me along, which is really nice to see online. While I didn't finish these by the target date, I'm not too upset. 

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Ōuchi Clan Ashigaru

   After a break of a few months with other projects distracting me* I decided I needed to get back to work on my Ōnin War Samurai project** and get on with the opponents the Ōuchi clan. Starting as normal with the regular foot troops, which for feudal Japan is the Ashigaru.

*as per usual

**slightly grander title than a colour scheme I found online

   I found a single picture online that claimed to have the colours worn by Ōuchi clan Ashigaru and with no knowledge of my own, I decided to take it as gospel and get painting.

  I've decided I need to focus on getting a few key projects finished asap, so hopefully you won't see too much of me bouncing around for a bit.

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