So That Was 2019

The traditional 'look back in anguish' post, or how well did I stick to my goals, and what new surprised me.
So, firstly, last year's goals.

Trident Realm of Neritica.  This was going to be my big new army, but it hasn't happened.  I have painted several minis for it, mostly in the guise of test minis to see what paint schemes I liked (and felt would last over many minis).  I'll discuss this properly in its own post, but one of the main problems is I haven't been truly happy with anything I've done for them.  Part of this is the basing, as I have had several goes, and different ideas, on how to base them, and nothing has looked right.  I have a mental image of what I want, and it isn't matching what I do.

Vanguard proved to be harder to get people interested than I hoped.  I've run intro games for a few people and they mostly like the game, however I've yet to progress beyond this stage, and that has fed back into the painting, or rather lack of it.  Still, I have sufficient dwarves, undead, orcs and goblins for small games and I hope to take it further soon.

The dungeon tiles I hoped to make didn't materialise, though this was due more to not needing them.  I did make some more Heroic Maps floor tiles in the same style as the ones I made a while ago for the Carnifex city.  I even experimented with making larger tiles using foam board, but with unfortunate results (the foam board warped).  I also made a set of sewer tiles, so I guess I sort of covered that goal in a roundabout way.
The additional goal of generally painting more for D&D has certainly been met (or, given the amount of unpainted minis, I might have a way to go yet).

The Kings of War demo armies  project got a bit further forward, with the addition of a troop of wraiths for  the Undead.  However, we have a new edition of the game, so I need to work out what the demo armies will be now.  I'm also not convinced these forces make the best demonstration.  Certain features such as the need to use Surge for the Undead, make them more complicated than is necessary for a beginning player.  I might rethink this project, perhaps based around Kingdoms of Men and Orcs (as worked well here).  I'll certainly keep what I've done so far though.

A castle; nope. Well I did flag it as a long term project, and there has been no call for siege games amongst my gaming buddies.

Minis for Dungeon Saga and Star Saga; well I've started on the Star Saga, and got quite a bit of progress done (you can see it here).  Dungeon Saga has received less attention, but then, we've been playing Star Saga, not Dungeon Saga.  Here is a group shot of the painted minis;

One table top game a month; I definitely managed this.  Some got written up as full battle reports (usually tagged AAR) and I experimented with a new way, lots of photographs and just a brief description.  Quite a few games, especially the recent run of Star Saga, got no mention at all, but were great fun none-the-less.

2018 saw the end of the long running D&D 4th edition campaign, and I started a new campaign using 5th edition for the Thursday night group (one crossover from the Monday night group).  These are gamers who played through the Lost Mine of Phandelver starter set in 2018.
The new campaign is set in Teramarr, a world of my own devising.  So far it seems to have gone well, we broke for Christmas in the middle of an extended encounter, so it will be good to get back to this soon.
The new D&D campaign has fed quite a bit of painting.  A full party of adventurers (apart from the halfling ranger as his player provided that) and quite a few monsters, most recently a selection of cultists.

Wargaming-wise I've added quite a bit to my League of Rhordia in 15mm.  This led to a series of battles against Merlin's Herd army, great fun.  Along with the expanded League, I crafted a set of appropriate terrain.
I also added one unit to my 28mm Kingdoms of Men, formerly Warhammer Empire.  With the new Uncharted Empires I am considering how to use these, but more on that in 2020.

With the announcement of Kings of War third edition, and the realisation that I'd have to wait for both Kingdoms of Men and League of Rhordia, I decided I needed a new 15mm army that would be in the rulebook.  Check this post to see how I decided on Ogres.  The army currently consists of the following;

Of course, this means more battles with Merlin, this time against his goblins.  We hope to start a more structured campaign next year.

That pretty much covers what I managed to achieve in 2019.  I'll be back with a post covering my plans for 2020 soon.

Star Saga Minis

I got Star Saga just over two years ago (here's my review of the boxed set).  Since then I've played it a bit, and kept promising myself I'd  get round to painting the minis.
With the Monday night group now nominally for board games and similar we've been playing quite a bit of Star Saga recently.  Its a great fun game.
When we took a short break for various reasons I took advantage of the chance to finally slap some paint on some of the minis.

Dulinsky, Wrath and Alyse

Curby, 'the Devil' and Ogan (Curby is waiting for some clear acrylic rod for his base)

Two of the Lab Technicians

Guard Commander Graves and some of his Security Guards

The GCPS Marines are done but are waiting for basing.  I've still got the Rangers to finish, and the Plague Victims and Aberration to start.  After that there's the furniture and the doors.
Once I've done these I suppose I should get the expansions done too.  Maybe I'll see if the group wants to go on with them first.

The minis were fun to paint.  The detail is pretty good; not as great as on the resin versions (which seem to be the ones used for pictures in the rules books), but quite good enough for playing the game.  I used a variant of my 'base coat, extreme highlight and all-over wash' that I use for 15mm.  I chose washes for individual areas rather than just one colour for everything (usually a mix of soft and strong tone from Army Painter).  I think they look OK.  I based the colour schemes on the ones in the rulebook, with a few simplifications in places.

Of course, I've not just painted the minis for the game, I've incidentally got a good amount of the minis needed for at least two of the new factions in Deadzone Escalation; Mazon Labs and Mercenaries.  I may well try one or both of these soon.  I have in my collection many of the other options for these factions, and the Star Saga expansions add further potential Deadzone minis (more Rebs and a specialist Vermyn list).  I do like it when a mini has more than one use.

KINGS OF WAR - 15mm Ogres - More Reinforcements

I've painted two lots of reinforcements for the ogres since my last update.  If you've been reading the battle reports you'll have seen them in action, but here are some close ups.

Firstly, two more regiments of ogre warriors.  I have included two models from the first set of Caesar orcs and added shields made from greenstuff  and a press mould taken from the shield designs in the second set.  You can probably tell which is which, but I think they all fit together.

A second regiment of warriors

A regiment of ogre shooters.  The crossbows are simply 28mm crossbows from various sources stuck to matchsticks to give a sturdier stock

A regiment of Red Goblins, Ral Partha Demonworld like the last lot, and very nice models too.

Warlock converting the same model as the previous one.

Hood and cloak extension added with greenstuff

The two Warlocks side by side

Finally a group photo of the ogre army so far.

I think these work really well as 15mm ogres.  I have plans for a bit more expansion, I'm aiming to be able to field 2000 points with some variations.  Although I like the Shooters above, next time I do some I have a different idea (I'll show you when I get some done).  I've also been experimenting with Boomers.  Now that the list has expanded the choice for Red Goblins I might get some more, probably Rabble as they are really cheap, and that's one thing the ogres themselves lack, cheap chaff units.

Kings of War - 15mm Battle - 1500 pts - Goblins vs Ogres

Another battle with Merlin, and once more, my ogres faced his goblins.  This time we went for 1500 points as we are gradually increasing the size of our armies and both wanted to try some new stuff.
Merlin was hosting, and devised the following scenario;

Gold Rush

A Kings of War scenario set in Brynglan, based on 'Fools Gold' on p62.

Recent storms and torrential rains have caused severe landslides deep in the Gernuk Mountains. The heavy fall of rocks and earth have torn open a rich seam of gold that has now spilled out across the plains leading down to the river Eck.

King Kra'ag has eagerly ordered his goblin forces to collect as much of the gold as they can. Whilst the goblins toil to collect the gold they are alarmed to hear that a large host of Ogres is heading their way intent on claiming the gold for themselves. Re-acting quickly King Kra'ag assembles his forces ready to meet the rapidly advancing Ogres challenge.

The table should be set up with a couple of low foot hills and/or woods with two areas of muddy, marsh land, one in each half of the table. The marshes represent the boggy conditions caused by the landslide and count as difficult terrain.

Each side selects a force of 1,500 points and has 5 gold counters. Two of the counters are marked  with a 0, two are marked 1 and the final counter is marked with a 2.

Each player throws a dice, the higher score chooses his table edge and deploys his first gold counter in the opponents half, following the rules for placing 'Loot Counters' on p59. Players then alternate placing counters on their opponents side of the table until all of them have been placed. Note that for this scenario players may not look at the counters value before deploying them, they should be placed totally randomly.

Only 1 counter may be placed in each of the marshy areas.

Each player now throws a dice with the higher score deploying one of his units in his deployment area. Players then alternate placing units until all units are on the table.

Players then dice again, the higher score chooses whether to take the first move or let his opponent move first.   

Game length is 6 turns then throw a dice, score 1-3 = game ends, 4-6 = play one last turn.

Victory goes to the player who can collect the most gold: this is counted by adding up the total on the gold counters collected.  The '0' counters represent 'Fools Gold'!

My ogre army was;
1 Warlord (Brak-na-Hak again)
2 Warlocks both with Drain Life and one with the Conjurer's Staff
2 regiments of Red Goblin spitters
2 troops of Red Goblin scouts
1 horde of Berserker Braves with Brew of Haste
1 legion of Ogre Warriors
1 regiment of Ogre Shooters
I was trying out a legion, and had a second Warlock.

The goblin army consisted of;
1 Goblin King in chariot with the Blade of the Beast Slayer (King Krag)
1 Wiz with Boomstick
1 Flagger on Fleabag
1 horde of Trolls
2 regiments of Fleabag Sniffs
1 regiment of Fleabag Riders with Mawpup
1 horde of Goblin Rabble with Mawpup
1 regiment of Goblin Spitters
1 Giant
1 Sharpstick Thrower

Here are a few photographs of the action;

Both armies face off and look at all that lovely gold.

Goblin advance, already inflicting damage on the ogres.

Contact as the Fleabag Sniffs charge the Berserker Braves

Ogre missile fire makes short work of the Goblin King, the legion wipes out the Goblin Rabble and the Berserker Braves run through the sniffs.  Red Gobins charge their mounted cousins in a foolhardy move.  Never-the-less, the manage to waver the Riders, and hold out far longer than anyone imagined (in fact they got a bit in the way)

Goblin shooting followed by the Trolls gain revenge for their King on the Warlord and also hold up the legion for two turns, basically turning them into sitting ducks.  The Berserker Braves do what they do best, cruising through the giant, then the Wiz and the Sharpstick Thrower before taking out the Spitters and turning to face the Trolls..  The Red Goblins have finally fallen to the Riders, but the Red Goblin Scouts take payback, then they also turn to face the trolls.

As the battle nears its end very few troops remain and the ogres finally try to snatch some gold.

At the close the only remaining goblins, the Fleabag Sniffs, hold 2 gold, the ogres have only two lots of fools gold.  Curses, the little greenskins tricked us!

This was a great fun battle with some very interesting points.  We both tried to snatch gold at the beginning of the battle, but, given the reduced speed of units carrying it, we both ended dropping gold or ignoring it for the extra movement, e.g. my Fleabags on my left flank ignored two lots of gold in order to be able to charge the trolls.

Merlin kept a better eye on this and made a point of holding on to some, and this paid off at the end.

It was a risk sinking so many points into the legion.  They performed admirably in melee, but were too tempting a target for the various gobin missiles and became bogged down and were shot to bits.

I'm least happy with my Warlord, as I haven't yet worked out how to use him effectively.  His Inspiring helped at least one unit, and he got in a charge against the giant, though I suspect the Berserker Braves would have dealt with the giant on their own.  I might look at other hero possibilities next time.

Merlin's Mawpups were fun, though he lost the use of the one the Rabble held as they got wiped out in one turn.  The Spitters wavering the Fleabag Riders meant we thought that Mawpup wouldn't see action either, but it eventually did, chomping my Red Goblins.

Merlin's shooting was excellent, the Sharpstick Thrower hit with one bolt every turn and the Wiz with Boomstick combination is nasty (hmm, ponders a Warlock with Boomstick behind a couple of units of ogres....).  I forget how good regiments of Fleabag Sniffs are, they shoot well with Steady Aim and aren't slouches in melee either, for missile troops.  I'll have to see about getting some myself.

!

A Bit of Stuff

Just a quick mention of Recon, Wakefield and district Wargamers annual show at Pudsey Leisure Centre.  It's usually a good show, and I hope to be there tomorrow (7th December).

I don't often recommend things, especially outside of the hobby, but I've recently been enjoying The Case of Charles Dexter Ward podcast.  a well done reimagining of the classic Lovecraft tale set in the present day.  Not all reimaginings work for me (War of the Worlds, I'm looking at you), but this is outstanding, and I'm listening to it as I paint ogres and marines (not the marines you are probably thinking of). 
This series came out a while ago, and there is a new story, The Whisperer in the Darkness, that I'm looking forward to.  Makes me think about running Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green again.

Kings of War Third Edition - Going Larger

I got another game of teh new edition of Kings of War in recently, this time in 28m scale.
I fielded 1000 points of my orcs against T'Other One's undead.
As before, I'll not try to give a blow by blow account, but here are some pictures.

The undead in all their glory

The orcs ready for battle

Both armies move forwards

The inevitable horde vs horde clash

Gore riders take on (and eventually fall to) the Goreblight

The ax horde have disposed of the zombies, only to be halted by a necromancer.

In the end it was a draw, though only just, the undead definitely had the upper claw.

Another great fun battle against a good opponent.  The Goreblight was a nasty surprise (I think it came form a recent kickstarter, and was originally destined to be part of a zombie horde).  I made much better use of Drain Life this time, placing my Godspeaker behind a unit in melee and using it to damage the opponents while healing the orcs.  

I had another instance of the dice making a fool of me.  A horde of orcs failed to rout a lone necromancer.  Although he was yielding, I simply didn't have enough room to move over him and had relied on wiping him out then turning to face the Goreblight which was at that time mashing my greataxes.  I think sandwiching it between these two units would have got rid of it, but it was not to be.  Pesky necromancer.  Perhaps I need to adjust my guesstimates as to the result of melees, as that's two battles now where I have been caught out.

I think T'other One also enjoyed the battle, and I'm looking forward to facing his undead again soon, especially on his nice terrain.

After the battle I thought my orcs need a bit of a fettle up.  There are quite a few broken weapons, greataxes especially, and these tend to be the ones sticking over the unit base.  I might even rebase them a unit at a time, taking more care over to avoid vulnerable weapons.

I should also do a terrain box for my 28mm games like the 15mm one I did here.

Kings of War Third Edition - First Thoughts

I have (finally - a long and tedious story) got the third edition of Kings of War from Mantic Games.
A lot of reading and scratching of heads later and Merlin and I have decided to have a test battle, 1000 points of ogres vs 1000 points of goblins.

I'm not giving a full battle report, but I'll show some pictures and discuss how we found teh game compared to earlier editions.

Firstly, choosing an army for the ogres has changed.  Previous editions  required regiments or hordes to unlock troops, warmachines, monsters and heroes.  As long as the unit wasn't irregular, it unlocked stuff.  Now, Large infantry regiments don't unlock other units.  They don't need to be unlocked (unlike troops), but only hordes and legions unlock stuff.  In practice this makes little difference, as I usually take a couple of hordes per 1000 points of ogres, but it does need consideration.  I suspect most ogre players are the same, though it will cut down on large multi-drop armies.

One thing we had both noticed, and wondered how it would play out, was the removal of the 1" 'bounce back' after combat.  Now the units remain in contact, but the active player does have the option of withdrawing next turn.  We had to keep reminding ourselves not to bounce back, it's instinctive, but I felt the game looks better with units becoming locked in melee.

The game plays remarkably similar to the previous edition.  Changes seem to be focused on tightening up certain aspects, such as rationalising special rules, and didn't seem to have much effect on playing the game.
We did come across a couple of points that I suspect aren't changes from second edition, rather, we are being more thorough in our rules reading and were probably doing them wrong (oops).  These are the effects of difficult terrain and hills on line of sight and cover.  As we read it now (and please feel free to correct us in the comments), placing a unit's leader point in an area of difficult terrain means that unit ignores it for the purposes of LoS, but not cover. If the unit then Halts, it also ignores the cover, unless the target unit is also in that terrain.
Hmm, this gave us some problems (and I suspect we have simply been reading it wrong in the previous edition).  It seems to us as if that means that regardless of the size of a wood, two units can see each other if they are both in it. Also, a unit on one side of a hill can charge a unit on the other side if it has it's leader point on the hill.
We played the game like this, but there were a couple of moments where it didn't seem right.
Still the game was fun, we had as much fun as with previous editions, and the above wobble aside (which we think was always there, we just missed it, bringing our historical wargaming sensibilities to the game).

Some items have gone or changed.  Merlin was disappointed to see his item (Myrdinn's amulet) has gone, and I was disappointed to see the Boomstick still there.

The battle about to commence.

Goblins!

More Goblins.

Early stages. Shooting and spells do some damage (including wavering the warmachine) but nothing is destroyed.

Goblins charge right over the hill into the ogres

Two ogre hordes can't take down one goblin rabble horde.  Clearly the rules are broken!!

Wavering Rabble backs off, allowing the ogres to mill around in no semblance of order and place themselves ready for goblin counter attacks

Trolls seeing their target on the other side of the hill.

Very few ogres left at the end of the game.

So yes, good fun, and a well deserved win for Merlin, who seemed to have got his army working very well this time.  There were several instances of me failing to rout units by just one point, and three instances of double 1 Nerve tests, but that's just the fun of the game.

Overall, we really like the new game and won't be wanting to go back. The third edition rulebook is by far the best rulebook Mantic have yet produced.  There's a lot more background, which may not be for everyone, but certainly answers earlier editions criticism of the world being bland.  I'm sure it will be useful to tie into the roleplaying game as well, and Mantic are developing it further in League of Infamy.