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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More Sons Of Horus Terminators

   I'm on a bit of a roll with this project* and while I'm getting things moving I thought it was worth getting the last 5 infantry done and off my list. These are the other main flavour of terminator in 30k (lets all ignore indomitus terminator armour) Tartaros armour, slightly less armoured than Cataphractii but far more mobile.

*painted a couple of weeks ago

   I wasn't as big a fan of this mark of armour, for me 30k is the bulky Cataphractii but this mark has its place and it does look good in my version of the Sons of Horus sea green. I can really see these looking good in Ultramarine Blue with my MKIV Ultramarine army.

I'm just waiting for my replacement landraider bits to arrive and then I can look at getting this list done.

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The Red Angel Calls

   I went into this year not planning to do many/any(?) new projects but after a conversation with my brothers about their gaming plans for the year, both have expressed a desire for a cheap year in terms of playing a couple of different combat patrols but not building massive armies*. So while I am still going to try and get a couple of bigger games in at some point this year**, it has allowed me to muck about with other combat patrols slightly more guilt free.

*working on the theory buying a new combat patrol is a set price they can budget into their plans, while armies tend to be unpriceable and suffer from unplanned project creep

**if my gaming venue ever reopens

   The World Eaters were one of those combat patrols I had my eye on but probably wasn't going to push the button with until two things happened, 1. GW announced that the chaos daemon codex wasn't going to be a stand alone thing and that we'd get mixed daemon/mortal God books for them. 2. My brothers wanted to stay with Combat Patrols. This meant that I was going to end up buying the Khorne book anyway as my Khornate daemons are my biggest daemon army, so I might as well get the most use out of the book, plus its a combat patrol I can use against my brothers. Also, the patrol being three core units with sensible upgrades meant I had a solid basis for an army no matter what happened in the new codex.

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