Scatter Terrain for Skirmish Games

At the start of the year I used the Paint What You Got Challenge as an opportunity to prepare for the first Rangers of Shadow Deep mission. This was mostly building, kitbashing and painting minis, but I did want to add to my terrain collection as well.  I managed to finish five Nest Trees, but there were several other bits that weren't quite finished. 

They were all built and painted by the end of March, but I couldn't decide how I wanted to base them. Long time readers of the blog will recognise this as a common fault in my hobbying, especially with regard to terrain.

Other things got in the way, of course, but I've just got around to finishing these three pieces.

The three rocky bases

A different angle

Rocks

Many skirmish games benefit from cover, and rocks and boulders are one possibility (they are a big part of many Rangers of Shadow Deep scenarios).  These were simple to make, just carved scraps of XPS textured with a ball of foil.  I'm experimenting with different forms and colours, as I plan on making more of these.  Each piece has a slightly different function in game;

Boulder  This is the simplest; a big rock that provides cover and acts as an obstacle.  The colour scheme is similar to the Tors, classic wargamers grey rock. This, and the tor, was designed to allow minis to be placed on the rocks.

Rock Tor  This blocks line of sight or provides cover.  It can be climbed over, and minis can be placed on it.  The form and colour was loosely based on the gritstone formations found locally, though those tend to be darker, thanks to a couple of hundred years of industrial pollution.

Rock Spires  These block line of sight and can't be crossed, at least by creatures limited to surface movement.  I painted them a lighter sandy colour not so obvious on the photos, possibly influenced by vague memories of Bryce Canyon.

Back to Bases

For years I simply stuck terrain on to MDF, prior to that I used hardboard, which is even more prone to warping than MDF, and in the early years, just cardboard.

Fairly recently I discovered foam board (NOT the XPS sandwiched by thin card stuff). Waterproof, so it's much less likely to warp, and very easy to cut. This is now my basing material of choice, at least until I discover something better.

To texture, I used to use sand and paint, latterly with static grass and tufts to finish off. But this gives a fairly uninteresting result. 

I've seen some great terrain and basing, for instance, this Middle Earth themed set from Microforge Minis; if I can achieve something like that, I'll be more than happy.

A lot of hobbyists use dried, baked soil, but round here this tends to be quite dark, almost black. To match my mini bases I want something more traditionally brown. I'd like to grab some of the lovely rich brown soils from the Vale of York, but so far I've not got round to it. 

Failing that, I've been collecting dried tea leaves (loose tea*, as it has a nice granulated texture) and dried coffee grounds. 

There are potential issues with using these; they can go mouldy, but I've dried and baked them thoroughly first, and I plan on sealing them well, so no additional moisture or air should contact them. 

Fingers crossed, this should work.

The Answer's in the Soil

For my first try (the individual rock) I mixed up some brown grouting powder with dried tea and coffee in roughly 2:1:1 proportions. I found that the pale grout was by far the dominant colour, so mixed in a bit more of the coffee. 

The base was given a coat of Mod Podge and the mix sprinkled over, making sure that everywhere was covered.

For the other two pieces I applied patches of tea and coffee to parts of the base; this bit of variety in colour and texture gives a much more interesting and realistic look.  I then filled round with the grout and scattered some over the tea and coffee to blend them more into the ground.

Seal of Approval 

Once the Mod Podge was well on the way to drying, I gave the base a spray of isopropanol. This helps break surface tension and allows the sealant to soak in to the ground texture.

The sealant is simply watered down Mod Podge, a 1:1 mix, though a bit more water won't harm. When I'm doing this stage with minis bases I just dollop it on with a brush, but on a larger bases like these, a dropper or syringe is much better, and doesn't disturb the carefully piled clumps of foliage in the second seal stage (see below).

Unlike just PVA glue, the Mod Podge contains a resin. It's this that I hope will protect the tea and coffee from moisture, as well as making sure that the texture stays on the base.

Green Fingers 

With the soil firmly in place, I added some Fine Turf. I clumped this around the base of the rocks to look like low bushes. I also added some static grass in several different colours and lengths, and finally a few tufts (including some 'flowers').

The vegetation was then sealed in just like the ground texture.

Rangers explore the rocky borders of Alladore

Finally 

So that's three small pieces of terrain.

It might not look like much, but it's important because I've now got a method I'm happy with. I've several more pieces of terrain just waiting for basing, and plenty more that I want to build, such as the Bogel's Farm. 

Now I can get these done and maybe, perhaps, end up with a box of terrain that I'm happy with.

*In this case Rington's Breakfast Tea, though of course other teas are available. It's very tasty though.

** Unless, of course, it all goes mouldy in a few months, in which case it's back to square one.

Warlords of Erehwon - Another Introductory Game

I thought it only fair to introduce T'Other One to Warlords of Erehwon.  Bodvoc and I have been having a lot of fun with the game, and have quite a few plans for scenarios and campaigns, and T'Other One is definitely interested in playing through the Lichemaster stuff. So I set up a short game to introduce the gameplay. 

Basic Stuff 

I went for a straightforward clash for the game and used my recently painted skeletons and zombies, plus an unpainted unit of archers, and a roughly similar force of orcs.

I also printed off an edited QPS and rosters, taking the opportunity change some of the quirkier stat names (Fight for Strength etc).

I've not done a full report, but here's some pictures and a brief rundown of the game. 

If you want a bit of a story, the two warbands are fighting for control of the potentially magical trilthon (though the orcs foolishly forgot to bring along their Shaman, that, or I ran out of points).

The Vale of Sacred Stones

As the mists clear, the two warbands eye each other over the plain,  or the orcs do; very few actual eyeballs in the undead force. 

The Vale as the armies deploy

The undead shuffle on, archers occupying the hill, while the undead champion leads a flanking force. 

The undead left flank

Another flanking force of spear armed skeletons, while the suspiciously boney necromancer holds back. 

The undead right flank

The skeleton archers proved more effective than the orcs; unsurprising, given the poor bow skills of orcs generally. 

The skeleton spears managed to get the charge in against the orc spears, routing them.

On the other flank, the skeleton guard followed the champion and charged into the orcs who followed their champion. Initially,  the orcs held their own,  helped by Grashak Kra crashing into the undead champion. Unfortunately an impressive flurry of blows were largely stopped by the ancient rusting armour. 

As the melee continued, the skeletons gained the upper hand,  eventually driving off the orc warriors and pulling Grashak Kra down. 

Champions clash on the flank

On the other flank the orc warboss and his retinue charged the zombies shuffling out of the woods (they needed to pass an Agility 2 test in the woods - and succeeded!) they took out over half of the walking dead (might have been more if I'd remembered their extra attacks) for no loss.

Unfortunately, the skeleton spears then charged them, gradually dragging down the warboss' chums.

Warboss vs zombies

The orc archers had suffered from the superior undead missile fire, at one point hunkering down rather than returning shots, but enough remained to either charge or shoot at the skeletons with swords. Having chosen to shoot, they did little damage, and were punished when the skeletons charged into them, breaking and running for the hills. I realise now that just charging would have been a better option, ah well, lesson learnt.

At this point only the orc warboss remained (it had been a brutal turn!), surveying the field he decided that discretion was the better part, etc, and joined the remains of his broken force. 

Final Thoughts 

A great fun game, and I'm not at all embarrassed at being absolutely tabled by someone playing their first game. 

Clearly the dice had their favourite that night.  I think the undead passed every single Command test, whereas the orcs passed two. Mind you, Grashak Kra's armour held up even better than the undead champion, passing every Tough reroll. In the end it was weight of attacks that did for him.

But T'Other One played well, and kudos especially to him picking up a new game so quickly. 

I hope we'll play more games of Warlords of Erehwon in the future, and it's been useful for me to get an idea of how the undead play on the battlefield. 

October 25 - Terror of the Lichemaster: Gimbrin Finehelm and his Miners

More Dwarven Miners

In the original scenario, Gimbrin Finehelm is accompanied by five other dwarfs. Three have crossbows, and all can act as individual characters (I'm pondering how to represent this in Warlords of Erehwon. I've a few ideas,  but it's going to need a bit of experimenting). 

I've already painted sufficient dwarves for the miners at Ashak Rise, so technically I don't need to paint any more.

But

This wouldn't be much of a post without me doing something new, so I thought, how about a mini for Gimbrin?

Gimbrin Finehelm 

Gimbrin was one of the minis sculpted specifically for The Terror of the Lichemaster Mail Order deal. As such, he commands a high price on evilbay.

As with Ranlac the Black, I've no intention of spending that much, and I'm not aware of any 'not Gimbrin's' out there.  So do I have anything in my collection that will do?

Oldhammer in Toronto (excellent blog, check it out) emphasises the 'fine helm' aspect of his name, and expands on that for the rest of the dwarves. Great idea. So I want a dwarf in a fine helm.

What Duck?

It just so happens that I do have a dwarf in a very fine helm indeed. Sir Donald the Quail, one of Citadel's dwarf heroes.

Sir Donald The Quail aka Gimbrin Finehelm

He was pretty straightforward to paint.  From the start I wanted bold, bright colours and red and yellow just seemed right. I was tempted to paint the duck bright yellow with an orange beak, classic rubber duck, but that would be too much yellow (though he is 'The Quail', so perhaps he's less than brave?).

I just managed to squeeze him in before the start of November, making October a relatively productive month for me, and proof that setting targets can be very effective. 

Finished Dwarves 

So that's the good side done.  I'll probably add in the mules from Ashak Rise, simply as scatter terrain.

All six of the dwarves

Gimbrin meets Borrin Fimbul

What Next?

I still need to do a bit of work on terrain, most of the buildings are built, but the minehead needs some repair and embellishment.

The next lot of 'Good' models (already undercoated and on the painting table) will be the Bogel family, and, of course, their farm.

Beyond that, I've been looking at what I've got and what I need for the Defence of Frugelhofen. That's a lot more painting, so it might be some time.

Ghost Miniatures Trolls

If you've read my last Warlords of Erehwon report, you'll have seen these trolls. I've had these for many years, originally as RPG monsters, then in my old Kings of War orc army.

I stripped them a while ago with the intention of repainting them for Old School stuff, though Orc's Drift has tended to refocus my orc painting. But it's fun to add extras, hence little additions like the orc chariot and these lads.

The trolls were originally from Ghost Miniatures, now available, in the US at least, from Old Glory Miniatures. 

They might not be the best detailed minis, but they've lots of character. I used a Ghost Miniatures dwarf for Fimbul at Ashak Rise, and I've a handful of their orcs and elves which I might paint up some day. 

I painted the trolls just like big orcs, differing skin tones and all.

Clothing is minimal, mostly furs, so I tried to use colour to suggest different 'donors' for the fur.

The Trolls

'Grabber'

'Chopper'

'Yeller'

'Basher'

They are a nice addition to my Old School forces and can fight for orcs or goblins.  I've even thought about assembling a monster army, mostly as an excuse to sort through and paint some of the monsters in my collection. 

They are a little smaller than the traditional Oldhammer Citadel troll, but still big enough to obviously be a monster of some sort.

Size comparison with Ghost Miniatures dwarf and Citadel orc

Whats Next?

Checking the Ghost Miniatures website I saw that the trolls were sold in a pack of five. Sorting through my older Kings of War orcs recently,  I found the missing troll.

Troll Boss

He's since been stripped and is awaiting painting to match his pals. As he's got more armour than the rest of them, he can be the unit leader.

MEGAforce Boardgames Night: Lost Cities

As there were only two of us recently,  Grim dusted off his copy of Lost Cities by Reiner Knizia

He picked it up on the market a few years back, and it's still in excellent condition*.  This was his and my first play through.

Lost Cities

Aim 

The aim of the game is to assemble successful expeditions to various Lost Cities.  This is done with cards of differing values from five different suits.

Gameplay

Each player starts with a hand of eight and takes it in turn to either place a card in an expedition or discard a card face up in the centre.  Cards are numbered 2 to 10, and MUST be placed in ascending order, but they need not be sequential.  So a 4 cannot be played on a 6, but a 6 can be played on a 4.  

The five suits represent different destinations; Desert, Neptune's Kingdom, High Mountains, Jungle and Volcanic Caves (the latest edition has a sixth,  but this was an earlier copy). 

After playing or discarding, the player draws another card, either one of the face up discards or a face down card from the deck. 

There are also 'Backer' (aka Handshake) cards, representing financial backing for your expeditions.  Up to three of these can be played before placing any numbered cards, they are also tied to the suits.

Play stops as soon as the last card is picked up,  so you can get caught out with good cards un-played in your hand. 

Scoring 

Expeditions are scored by adding up the numbers, but each expedition costs 20 points, which are deducted.  The result is then multiplied buy the backer cards +1. This does mean that a negative score is made even worse as your backers want results, even at the  cost of your success. 

There are also bonuses for having enough cards in a run and penalties for only having backers and no expedition cards.

If this sounds complicated,  it plays really smoothly.  It's recommended to play three rounds, and we were well into the swing of things in the first round. 

End game showing the different expeditions and the discard desk

Conclusion 

Lost Cities is a lovely little game.  It doesn't take long to play, our three round game took less than 40 minutes and we were learning the rules as we went. 

The card design is nice too, the cards show a panorama of the expedition drawn in a 1920s/30s style. 

There's quite a bit of strategy for such a simple looking game; do you discard a card that your opponent will find useful? Do you risk playing that 7 on that 4, or do you wait to see if you can find a 5 or a 6?

Lost Cities is two players only, which slightly reduces its utility (suggestions for a four player variant are available on the website), nevertheless, it's definitely a high A Tier/low S Tier.

Lost Cities is published by Kosmos, and is available from them or the usual retailers. 

*I suppose this should ring alarm bells, it looked rather like someone had bought it, played it once and didn't like it.  We really enjoyed it though. 

October 25 - Terror of the Lichemaster: Mikael Jacsen's Zombies

"And whosoever shall be found,

Without the soul for getting down

Must stand and face the Hounds of Hell

And rot inside a corpse's shell"

Thriller - Rod Temperton

A horde of ten zombie 'dancers'

Mikeal Jacsen with his flaming hair and his horde of zombies is typical of Games Workshop's humour in the eighties.

Jacsen is another hard to find and expensive mini. I'm going down the route of just using a nice Undead mini, at least for now*.

The horde is only ten zombies, so it should be easy to complete in October, and I've certainly had plenty of practice painting them recently.

But I'm strangely short of actual Old School zombies. I can only assume that I sold or gave away what I had. I distinctly remember painting up some of the old Fantasy Tribe zombies back in the eighties; one even had an axe head stuck in his head! I'd have been using them for RPGs rather than for wargaming. I've no recollection of disposing of any of them though, ah well.

I do still have eight random zombies from various manufacturers. As with the skeletons, quite a few need some repairs.

But I've also got ten West Wind Zombies from their Vampire Wars range.

Initially I was put off by the rather odd poses of some of them, but then I remembered, these are Mikael Jacsen's zombies, they should be dancing! 

With that in mind, they should do just fine.

Painting 

Unlike my Rangers of Shadow Deep zombies or the D&D ones, I'm not using Speed/Xpress paints for the bulk of them. Instead, I'm going back to my usual base coat, sharp highlight and then wash. Because I want to emphasise their undead nature, I chose a few different base colours for the flesh. I used Vallejo Scorched Brown, Vallejo Extra Opaque Charcoal, VGC Dwarf Flesh and VGC Glacier Blue. They all got some sort of highlight, VGC Stonewall Grey for the dark skinned zombies, and at T'Other One's suggestion I stippled a bit of light green in places.

The flesh was then washed. I used Army Painter Quickshade Green, APQ Military Shader and Vallejo Game Wash Green, pretty much choosing the shade at random.  These have mostly worked out fine, though I think some look better than others.

Just a step to the left (oops, wrong film)

And lean back...

Two female zombies

The last two zombies

Clothing was done as standard, and given a wash in Marine Juice to provide the shading.  Little details such as some blood staining (Vallejo Special Effects Dried Blood), especially on the ones that seem to have been shot in the stomach, plus the odd bone, exposed muscle, and the guts on two of them finished of the painting. They all got a drybrush of VGC Earth on the legs to dirty them up a bit.

Basing was standard. I like this more desolate look for the undead, and I'm sticking with it for the rest of the force.

I enjoyed painting these minis, but I can't ever see myself painting hordes and hordes of them. I'll admit that I rushed them towards the end, partly as I wanted to get them done before the end of the month.

All parents and necromancers know that you shouldn't have favourites amongst those you've raised, but I do really like the bride. I painted some of the hair detail as flowers, that extra colour helps the mini to pop.

What's Next?

That's the Undead for the first two scenarios done, and all in October too. Admittedly, I don't have minis that match the leaders, but I do have proxies that will do for now.

I've already got sufficient dwarves painted for the mine, but I do need to paint the Bogles for the second game.

I also need some terrain. 

Terror of the Lichemaster was the first Village pack, and included a lot of buildings. As previously mentioned, I've got the dwarven stuff already, though the mine needs a bit of work and some bits like spoil heaps and maybe even a mine cart track will add to the look.

I've already started on the buildings for the Bogel's Farm, but there are a few extra bits that I need, such as hedges and an area of higher ground like a low, flat hill, useful for Ashak Rise as well.

Beyond that, there's the rest of the Undead for the Defence of Frugelhoffen, and the defenders of course. I'm short a few zombies, but I've got all the defenders, or suitable substitutes. They all need painting of course.

Plus yet more buildings, though I don't have any of these already built.

I may never actually get around to the stuff for the third game, at least not in the near future. 

But I've managed to get a reasonable number of undead finished, and within October too.

* I've already mentioned Antediluvian Miniatures 'Undead Heroes', I've also seen some great looking STLs, but not having 3D printing facilities I'll pass.

I've considered doing a bit of converting, I'm still looking out for suitable base minis.

October 25 - The Terror of the Lichemaster: Ranlac the Black and his Skeletons

A while ago I showed a collection of skeletons of mixed provenance, many requiring repairs.

These, plus some more intact minis, are now painted and ready.

24 Completed skeletons

Ranlac 

I must say, though, that I'm not trying to paint or convert anything specifically for Ranlac (or worse, buy him - there's one on eBay at the moment for an eye watering £48*, and that's less than a third of the asking price for Kemmler). Instead, I'll simply use the lich, it's by the Perry's, and from the same range as Ranlac, and I painted his cloak black, so it'll do for now.

Repair Work 

I didn't get chance to repair all the damaged minis, I started simply, pinning and gluing the arm back on the Citadel 'Shaman'. He was part of a job lot of damaged undead off evilbay, perhaps the previous owner was going to repose him?

Various weapon replacements needed pinning; I used a very fine drill bit and brass wire (can't remember the size, sorry). This was thin enough to pin plastic swords, and should hopefully be strong enough to hold everything in place. 

I took the parts from my sprue pile, specifically the Mantic skeleton sprue for swords (suitably chipped and aged) and the flail, and the Oathmark Goblins for the spears/spear heads.

Painting 

This was pretty straightforward. Priming with Vallejo German Green Brown Surface Primer, then all metals in Vallejo Game Color Gunmetal. 

Bone in VGC Bonewhite, leaving deep shadows in the primer, cloth as required and all wood and leather in VGC Charred Brown.

Then a black wash on the metals and in the eye sockets, followed by extreme highlights everywhere else; White on the bones, leather brown on belts etc. Normally I edge weapons and armour, but this is supposed to be old and decaying gear; besides, it'll get some rust effect later. I do use VGC Tinny Tin and Brazen Bronze to give some interest on some hilts, pommels, buckles etc. Finally, those lighter 'wood grain' stripes on weapon shafts that I still struggle with.

Then everything is given a wash of Sonic Tonic (Marine Juice). I wasn't sure if this would be dark enough, but I think it looks fine. 

Some of the boney lads are given a few extra details (shield designs, for example, and it makes a nice change not to deface them with orc symbols) or extra highlights. Minis with bare heads get a white drybrush on the skull. All the metals are aged, either with VSX Dry Rust/Rust or Verdigris.

Basing the Horde 

The skeletons were all superglued on 25mm round bases (GW slotta bases). The chap with greatsword without a base got pinned to a bit of plastic foamboard first, so he's now standing on a rock.

Any obvious slots showing were covered by masking tape, and the step between the slotta base and the mini's flat base was smoothed out somewhat with acrylic modelling paste.

The texture is Geek Gaming Scenics Arid Plains to which I added some dry grass tufts,  I was going for a less lush look than my dwarves,  elves etc, and I think it works well. Definitely a look to keep throughout the Undead.

The Miniature Manufacturers 

This is an eclectic bunch, most are minis I already owned, though I did buy a couple of small job lots of skeletons of evilbay. 

Citadel;  most of these are pre slotta minis, but the Shaman (looks more like a clichéd 'caveman' to me) is a later C17 skeleton.

Citadel Skeletons L to R; Fantasy tribes skeleton, C 17 skeletons (including Finrum the Lich) and later (1984) C17 skeleton Shaman

Ral Partha; just two of these.  If I don't find anything better for Mikael Jacson in the next game, the chap on the left will do. 

Ral Partha skeletons

Grenadier; very nice minis these, most were from the job lots, though I had a few already. They are very nicely detailed, the ones wearing armour have obvious damage, dints and gashes, presumably where they took their fatal wound. Three are from various Fantasy Lords packs, the four on the right from the Undead Lords of Khomar-Lolth set.

Seven Grenadier Skeletons

Harlequin Miniatures, sculpted by Roy Eastland (now available from Northstar), I had to ask the Old School Miniatures Facebook group brains trust for ID. 

I do remember buying these at Something Wicked,  Huddersfield's premier games shop from the 1980s through to the 2010s, probably for use in RPGs.

Five Harlequin skeletons

Mythic World, now available from Broadsword Miniatures, another random purchase from some time in the past. I recognise the other minis in the pack, so presumably I once owned them as well, I wonder where they got to?

Plus a Citadel Fantasy Tribes skeleton that was in hiding for the earlier picture.

Mythic World and Citadel

Prince August; I cast these myself from Prince August moulds. I must have had loads of them at one time, many of them not very good casts.  Still, these are OK, and have painted up well. 

Three home cast skeletons

Just a quick mention on design. Skeleton miniatures have a potential weakness at the ankles, far more so than most minis. While painting these I was fascinated how different designers have approached this issue.

Some, such as the Harlequin skeletons, have an extra point of contact with a spear or similar. Some rely on armour and equipment, such as a long scabbard to add strength (I've a Grenadier skeleton that I'll try and add greaves to).

Perhaps my favourite are the two early Citadel C 17 skeletons. They both have a weapon shaft in the right hand and the left arm has its sleeve ripped so that ribbons of cloth hang down, providing that extra strength. Clever!

I really enjoyed painting this wonderfully eclectic collection. More than enough for the first game in The Terror of the Lichemaster. It gives me a couple of units for other games of WoE, with weapon options. It's tempting to look out for a few more, just to make up full units with two handed weapons, spears, armour etc, but that sounds like a dangerously slippery slope. 

I don't have any missiles yet though, which is something I'd like to add for games beyond the campaign.

What's Next?

That's a nice collection of skeletons. More than enough for the Attack on the Mine, but I thought I might as well do all my skeleton infantry at once, at least the ones I managed to repair. I've a few more minis needing to mend, and a load of more recent Harlequin skeletons, but they can wait until it looks like we're playing the final scenario. 

So next up undead-wise will be the ten zombies for the Attack on Bogel's Farm.

*A certain seller notorious to Oldhammer collectors, I shan't name them has Ranlac for ove twice this price!