Teaching Vanguard

The other night we were short of roleplayers so I showed one of the group how to play Vanguard.
He has game from the kickstarter, but hads't yet had the chance to try it out.

To get things moving, and to avoid too much to think about in a first game, we used smaller, 100 point warbands (as recommended on page 45); goblins vs dwarves.
I had enough goblins ready from my earlier painting (see here) and began a dwarf force a while ago that never quite got finished (I know, hard to believe isn't it).  Altogether we had a dwarf sergeant accompanied by three Ironclads, a Shieldbreaker and an Ironwatch facing off against a Biggit with his pet Mawbeast, two Rabble with spears, a Luggit and a couple of Spitters.
We played the first scenario, so it was all about seizing objectives and keeping hold of them at the end of the game.

Goblins swarm out of the woods

While dwarves advance from the village (probably been kicked out of the pub)

The Mawbeast attacks

The Biggit catches my Shieldbreaker in the rear..

...and rolls this (exploded results included). 

The game ended in a narrow victory for the dwarves.  Just about every model had been killed or had fled, but one plucky dwarf Ironclad remained by the central objective.  Even a last minute shot from a Spitter who rallied in the final turn wasn't enough to dislodge him.

We both had fun, and the smaller sized warbands helped teach the game.  The goblins seemed a bit underpowered against the dwarves, especially given the tough dwarven armour, and the fact that most of the goblins were grunts, so died easily. Perhaps dropping the Mawbeast for more Rabble or similar would have given the numbers.  Also the goblins didn't manage to gang up on the dwarves often enough.  But for a teaching game, it went very well.

Discussing the game afterwards we thought it generally went pretty well.  As with my previous games, difficulties only arose with the fatigue/forced fatigue and spending power bits. We felt that perhaps a more distinct name for Forced Fatigue would have helped in the explanations.  Also Easy Army does nice stat cards, but the Army special rules would be good as well, given that otherwise you have everything in front of you on the print out (it might be that if you get the warband sets with the cards the special rules are included).

Now to get other people interested.

Kingdoms of Men Reinforcements - Part three, Highlights

Last time the handgunners were basecoated, now they have their highlights done and are just waiting for everything to dry before washing.

Twenty highlighted handgunners

Since I plan on giving them an Army Painter Strongtone wash I picked light or bright colours for the highlights, the yellow was VGC Moon Yellow and the red was VGC Bloody Red.  Other colours were similarly pale highlights, there is quite a lot of VGC Off White on the linen areas, greys, blues and greens were chosen for the other bits of fabric, hats etc.  Skin areas were highlighted with VGC Pale Flesh.

Looking a little dull without the flash.

 Once everything was dry I gave the breastplate that one of the poses is wearing a black wash, along with the barrel of the gun on all models.
Finally I used VGC Bright Bronze to edge the breastplate and gave a couple of details on the gun a bronze colour, then the match (where present) was painted in Off White and all done.

One each of the different poses

Looking at them now I think they would stand up to the 'two foot rule' (does it look good at two foot distance, i.e. when placed on the table?) My initial plan was to wash them, but I think I'll do one test model first.

Kingdoms of Men Reinforcements - Part Two, Basecoats

Last time I had the handgunners stripped, repaired, based with magnets and undercoated.  Now I have them all basecoated.

Current progress, all twenty basecoated

The paint scheme is pretty simple, I could have had a lot fancier patterning on the clothes. I chose to use the old Warhammer Empire colour scheme for Talabecland.  I still have the old Uniforms of the Empire book, a fun read, and I have even thought about copying some of the legendary units from there if I ever want a special project.  

My choice wasn't just sentimental though; I wanted colours that worked well with a Strongtone wash, so my previous Altdorf troops with their blue, would have looked muddy.  I hope the red and yellow will work better; this is all to help turn out units relatively quickly. 

I chose to mix the colours on their clothes.  My ex-Altdorf troops tend to have the same patterns, being from the capital, but I think these should be a bit less regimented.  It's probably a case of just turn up wearing red and yellow.  Since there are four different models I deliberately approached painting them in blocks.  Each pose got two with the top left quarter in yellow, two with the top right in yellow, and one with the colours split vertically.  When I have a lot of near identical models I like to use paint schemes to make them look as different as possible.  Smaller details such as hat colour are also varied across the unit.

Samples of each model in the unit

The red is VGC Gory Red and the yellow is VGC Heavy Goldbrown.  Other colours are various VGC paints such as Bone White or Off White for the linen and feathers, and Dwarf Skin for the flesh.  The leather straps and some of the pouches are the brown undercoat.

I found certain bits, such as the metalwork on the matchlock rifle, very fiddly, and I wasn't as neat as I would have liked.  I hope this won't show too much, as the worst offending areas are on the underneath of the guns.

Here's a bonus picture from above showing the magnets in the troop tray.

At the moment they don't look much, though having seen some of my earlier minis in the big box of Empire troops, I used to think I'd done well if I produced paint jobs like this.  

Next up is the highlighting, hopefully soon, though I am also getting some stuff ready for Vanguard as well from the Wave box.

Kingdoms of Men Reinforcements - Part One, Preparations and New Basing

Since I emptied the Star box I have decided to do a unit for my Kingdoms of Men army.  I started this project a while ago, and got to around 1000 points, though not everything was finished.

After Monday's game using 500 points of them, and as I am currently sorting through what remains of my Warhammer armies, I have decided to add to them a unit at a time.  This time getting everything finished, based etc before moving on to another unit.

I chose the old Empire Handgunners for the first regiment.  I have always liked these models; they are originally from the sixth edition starter set, probably my favourite.  Over the years I have amassed quite a few of these models from at least two starter sets and several eBay job lots. In all that time though I have never painted any of the handgunners.  I do have a regiment of the spearmen, and I have a troop of the older Empire Soldiers with the metal arms holding guns, I prefer these though, the poses are much better.

First job was some repair work.  The years have not been kind to these models, and there were a few that needed pinning back onto their feet and a couple of weapons needed repairing or replacing.  I used bits from the Empire Militia set to repair damaged handguns and in one case replace a missing one.  For this I used the militia arms holding a blunderbuss.  A bit of carving away at the flared end and it works OK.
Then an hour in nail varnish remover (make sure it's the sort for acrylic nails, otherwise all you will end up with is a disappointing Chaos Spawn model, and even so don't leave it in too long), a wash and ready for basing.

I am keeping these models on their individual bases.  Partly as a nod to the old system (if I ever go back and play Warhammer, it would be this edition, sixth; though that's very unlikely), partly so I can use individual models in Vanguard and perhaps even borrow them occasionally for RPGs.  It also makes it easier to field different sized units (troops, regiments or hordes).
I need some way of moving each unit as a block, and I already have some Warbases movement trays from previous projects (and the existing Kom army).  Previously I have used blu tack as a way of keeping models in place, but I have decided to try magnets.  I drilled 3mm holes in a pattern in the trays such that the centre of each base would be directly above (a 20mm grid offset by about 10mm from the edges for standard infantry) and glued magnets into the holes.  Then I glued corresponding magnets in the underside of the old GW 'non slot' bases. These required a fillet of thin card to bring the magnets to the required depth, though some of the bases have a nub in the centre, so it's worth checking each one before glueing.

The end result is good.  Drilling out the holes is a chore, next time I need some bases I will request that this be done by Warbases, it is a service they offer.
It's important to always be aware of the polarity of the magnets, so I keep a test mini on hand to check.
I now have several movement trays and units of minis magnetized, including some movement trays for my larger based orcs.  The magnets are strong enough to hold plastic minis in upside down, and the magnets in the trays keep them in place in my steel lined Really Useful Boxes.

Some of the stripped models look a little pink, legacy of a paint job from the previous owner.

The handgunners milling around after their bath in nail polish remover and having their fancy new bases fitted

All ranked up and undercoated

I plan on doing a simple base coat with one highlight followed by a wash with Army Painter Strongtone wash.  This has worked well enough on my recent minis (such as the Vanguard orcs here) and I'm sure it will be fine for regiments.

Frostgrave Warband Actually Complete

A while ago I showed the first seven soldiers for a Frostgrave warband I was painting for a friend.  I've finally finished the remaining soldier and the wizard and apprentice.

This model could be a knight, given the amount of armour

The wizard.

And his apprentice

The whole band

I'm afraid I don't know who makes these three minis, but they were all nicely sculpted and cast with a good amount of detail.  In fact I found the various pouches, amulets and similar a bit daunting on the wizard and apprentice.  This is partly why they took such a long time, as I would stare at them wondering what colours to use.

I see that there are some shiny patches still, I'd better touch them up with a bit more matt varnish before handing them over.

Well, they are done, at least until the owner decides to hire a war dog.  It never hurts to have a few spares for Frostgrave anyway.

That's another box empty, Star box to be precise.  OK, if you've checked you'll know that's not quite true, but I'm shifting the remaining item from there into Wave box.

It's also not empty because Star already has a new project in it.  I've been sorting through some old GW minis and have decided to add to my Kingdoms of Men.  I'll get some pictures up when I have some progress to show.

Kings of War - Training Games

Yesterday I got in a couple of games to show a friend how to play Kings of War.
The friend was one of the Monday night RPG group (though is taking a break now we have finished the long running D&D) and has played one game of KoW before, though he welcomed the chance to talk through a game or two and have some of the intricacies explained.

I sorted out a couple of 500 point forces, Orcs (of course) and Kingdoms of Men.  Given the small size of the armies we just played on a 4 foot square board, with only a small amount of terrain.
The compact forces meant we could get two games in; both were Dominate! games, where victory goes to the side with the greatest points value within 12" of the centre.

I'll not give a blow by blow account, but here are some pictures from the two battles.

The two sides face off.

The gore riders have already chewed through the bowmen and the mounted scouts, now they threaten the shieldwall and their hero

The orc ax regiments have dealt with the spearmen, and now turn to face the remaining humans

Shieldwall sandwich with a side order of hero

The first game was a convincing win to my opponent.  By the end, he had wiped out all but the hero.  

He then rearranged the terrain while I sorted out refreshments.

Both of us seem to be going for variants on a refused flank

The gore riders have been slowed by the swamp, and charging out of it meant their fighting was less than impressive, the bowmen survived and went on to eventually wipe out the orc cavalry.

The orcs initially advance, but then draw back in an attempt to lure the men into the unfavourable swamps.  The mounted scouts have been peppering the orcs as they sneak around the flanks.

The human battle line clashes with the orcs.  The scouts have managed to maneuver right round the orcs, and oblige with a rear charge.

The second game was much closer; I did a lot of damage to the orcs, but in the end they still had a regiment of ax close to the centre point (the Hammer of Thor model), whereas I had only my spearmen close enough to count, so another orcish victory.

I should admit to forgetting that my bowmen should have been Disordered by the gore riders and could not have shot them, twice, (in my defence, I usually play orcs, where missile fire is a rarity).  Had I remembered, I would have counter-charged instead; with, presumably, much the same lucky result.

Playing these games was fun.  Despite the small size, and lack of flashy units, 500 points gives a good game, and helps teach it.  It's really just a fantasy version of Merlin and my Clash! KoWH idea.  I am tempted to look through my collection and sort out 500 point armies, this is certainly where I am initially aiming at with my Trident Realms.  I already have a box of close on 500 points each of undead and dwarves from the old starter set that just needs a few more troops painting to be complete.

I do think that I need to address terrain.  Much of my terrain is in storage at the moment so I cobbled together what I could find.  Even so my terrain collection is all a bit random with no real theme apart from my Frostgrave and Deadzone collections. I should sort out terrain sets, boxed and ready to drag out when required.  

There is also a fair bit of work I need to do to finish the Kingdoms of Men.  Much of this army is unfinished (witness the bowmen, where half of them are just undercoated black), and I think a bit of extra highlighting would help as well.  I have been looking at a new basing system for them, more on that in a later post.

I'll end with a couple of questions.  Should I start 'Project 500' where I deliberately set out to build small sample armies of 500 points?  What would you include in a terrain set, and what sort of themes can you think of?

Answers in the comments please.

A Looting We Will Go

A quick post to say I got another game of Kings of War in, this time against a brand new opponent, Ross.
He hosted and played ogres against my orcs

Ross' Ogres, a new opponent for me, both player and army.

The whole of the ogre horde

My hordes facing off against the bulk of the ogres

The whole of the orc army

Gradual orc advance, the skulks have already claimed one of the two point objectives

Where's that orc horde gone? 

On my right flank the trolls are claiming more objectives, and I still have some units left

The big scrap, loads of ogres against loads of orcs

Krudger speed bump

Very few orcs left, but at least we still have the loot.

We played a Loot scenario, which I misremembered from a previous version of the game, or perhaps from the dusty vaults of my memory.  There were a couple of points I had wrong; notably that you can't leave the table with the loot, and that units can carry more than one token (as my trolls did once I discovered this).

I was dismayed at just how many attacks the ogres can put out for their frontage.  Grokagamok plus two hordes could match up against one of my  hordes, and pretty much chewed through anything I put in front of them in a turn.  In response I was unable to bring my troops in in any sort of coordinated fashion.  However, the game was about loot, not kills, and my skulks snatched one prize early one and led a horde of ogre braves a merry dance.  The ogres eventually squashed them, only to fall to a lucky arrow from my flagger in the last turn.  On my other flank, the trolls seized two Loot counters, including a double points value one.  By the end I had enough to win (though very few orcs to share it amongst).

I managed to miss breaking ogre units by 1 several times, the ogre braves that chased my skulks were a prime example, taking fireballs and arrows before falling to the Warbow of Kaba.

I don't think I'd change the army composition much (apart from not having much else ready to choose from).  It was galling to end up having my heroes pretty much as speed bumps (and the Mournful Blade was a poor choice, but neither of us knew what the other would be using).  But ultimately, that was what kept the ogres away long enough for my trolls and greataxes to snaffle the prizes.  Now to get the loot out of the trolls grubby paws.

Ross was extremely helpful, and the game was great fun to play. I'm definitely up of a rematch, and this game keeps me on track for at least one tabletop game a month.