Painting 'Praetorius'

I enjoyed painting Flosi so much, and I'm so pleased with the results that I decided to have a go at the old Citadel bard that I showed at the bottom of the post here.

I well remember my first bard character.  when we got the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook it included bards (amongst many other new options) so my friend Dave and myself each had a party made up of the new classes or class variants; druid, paladin, ranger, illusionist and bard. Newer players probably don't appreciate how hard it was to become a bard in those days; a character had to reach certain levels in several different classes first before becoming a bard (I think this included fighter, magic user and thief, correct me in the comments if you know better).  Mind you, the bard was pretty powerful.  Praetorius may not have been my first bard character mini, though he certainly dates from about this time.  His certainly my favourite bard mini from this era though, so he deserves a new paint job.

After stripping, Praetorius was given a coat of Vallejo White Surface Primer. The painting was straight forward, base coat, shade and highlight, with me attempting blending in some places.

I'm not listing each colour as I don't need to match his paint scheme in the future, and also I've been using my wet palette, so colour choice is often dictated by what's already on there, (and who knows what paint mixtures that might be).  I did make some changes as I was painting him; his off white linen shirt was originally pale green and his hose yellow. The green looked too much like a nylon shirt, so I reverted to off white and decided the hose looked better like that too.

"Out of tune you say?  Well is this sharp enough for you?"

Looking closely at the photographs I think a bit of lining might be in order, but I'll not rush , I'm happy with him as is.

This was another fun mini to paint. Much more detail than Flosi. The fancy clothing encouraged me to give him a fancy paint job, though I'm aware that I could have given him even more ornate slashed trousers. He rather reminds me of painting my Empire army many years ago, in fact that may have influenced my colour choice, as most of that army was Altdorf.  

The only thing that bothers me about the mini is the 'lute'.  As far as minis with musical instruments go, it's pretty good actually, I've seen some laughably bad attempts on some instruments.  For a lute, the peg box is wrong and the body is closer to a rebec. But don't mind me, it's just me being an Early Music geek.

Game Box Restoration: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain

Relics from the Loft of Shame

As I've been sorting through my gaming stuff recently I've realised that I have a lot of old board games.

Some of these are broken or incomplete, so I've scavenged any useful bits and thrown the remains away.

Others are complete, but I've no interest in playing them, such as the official Pirates of the Caribbean board game which I had high hopes for.  It has some nice components but the rules don't promise much. 

These were donated to charity shops in the run up to Christmas.

There are others that I'd like to keep, at least until I've played them enough to decide if they are worth holding on to. However, as is typical with a lot of my stuff, condition isn't always great. In my defence, these were in poor condition when I got them, usually bought at charity shops or at car boot sales (I even trained a work colleague who collected antiques to look for gaming stuff - thanks Alec).

Warlock of Firetop Mountain is one of these. Released in 1986 by Games Workshop and loosely based on the Fighting Fantasy gamebook of the same name. I'm unsure how good the game is, but as Monday night is currently board game night, I'd like to give it a go.  But before I do that, it needs some attention.

Internet image of contents

Box Repairs

Fortunately the components are complete, though the character sheets have all been used.  The box itself is torn and bent, and isn't really fit for purpose as it is. Recent viewing of YouTube videos* suggested that this was repairable, and I have an ulterior motive, it's practice for another restoration project I've got planned for 2023.

The card is bent in many places

and the joints are torn

I started by giving the box a good clean using window cleaner spray and a microfibre cloth.  This got a lot more muck off than I expected!  

Then I straightened out those bends and creases in the card.  I misted the inside of the box with water then placed a glass mat on the top and bottom of the section I was straightening, with baking paper to protect the surface of the card and stop it sticking.

I then piled books on top to flatten the card and left it to dry.  It's surprising how effective this technique is.  The box isn't like new, but the sides and lid are more or less straight.

Any tears or rips were held together and Mod Podge carefully pushed into the join.  The Mod Podge essentially joins the pieces with a plastic.  I used formers; either a couple of smaller glass mats for straight pieces or a couple of metal angle brackets (designed for holding wood together, find them in your DIY shop) for corners.  Again using baking paper to protect the card.  The mats or brackets were held in place with books or clothes pegs.

Once the box is whole, any remaining tears or rips can be fixed with Mod Podge, and areas of bare card were also given a cost Mod Podge to seal and protect them.  If the resultant card/Mod Podge sandwich was too thick, I clamped it with the glass mats and pegs again.

Some internet restorers (yes, board game restorers are a thing) touch up the black with paint or a sharpie, others keep the box as is to show it's history.  I'm not sure, if I keep it I may touch up those white bits.

The repairs are a lot stronger than I expected.  I'm happy they will hold up to normal wear and tear.  With the box fixed I can replace the contents without worrying that the pieces will get lost.  If it proves popular with the group I may make trays for the cards and minis, but they are currently bagged up.  I will, of course, paint the minis.

* in particular, Always Board, Never Boring.  His restoration of a complete Heroquest set is an inspiration (and *Spoilers* may be what I intend to do next year).

Merry Christmas 2022

Seasons Greetings to you all.

If you're the sort of person to whom seasonal gift giving and receiving is important, I hope you got some fun hobby and gaming goodies.

I got The Terrain Tutor's book. I think this was Kickstarted (isn't everything?) and I was disappointed to miss it. My wife found a copy for me though and I'm delighted to get it. 

A quick flip through suggests it will be both useful and inspirational, and terrain is one thing I want to improve on next year.

My daughter also got me the following, which she labelled 'The True Account'. 

I look forward to reading an accurate account of the history of the Second Age.

Another great hobby experience was watching my son-in-law assemble and begin to paint his first Mantic army - Basileans.  I'm looking forward to facing them on the field of battle.

Drop a comment about what hobby stuff you got.

Painting Flosi

A little while back I showed an old Asgard Dwarf Thief mini, Flosi, my first ever D&D character figure.

I've decided to get some paint on him, so I started by stripping his original paint off, using Dettol (see my series on paint stripping starting here for details). Then I gave him a new sword from a box of old metal bits.

Then it was a fairly straightforward process of primer (Vallejo White Surface Primer), followed by base coat, shade and highlight.  My colour choices were a nod to the original, though I decided that his wide collar was part of his leather jerkin rather than a separate item.

	Base Coat	Shade	Highlights
Flesh	VGC Dwarf Flesh	AP Flesh Wash	Reset, then add VGC Pale Flesh
Leather armour	VGC Earth	AP Strong Tone Wash	Reset then add VGC Khaki
Belts etc	VGC Scorched Brown	-	VGC Beasty Brown then VGC Leather Brown
Blue tunic/hose	VGC Night Blue	VG Black Wash	Reset then add VGC Magic Blue
Green tunic/hose	VGC Sick Green	VGI Black Green	Reset then add VGC Goblin Green

I knew I was never going to get an outstanding result: there just isn't the detail on the mini, but I have managed to paint a few highlights on which helped. I also added a red trim around his collar, which adds interest and breaks up the rather large amount of brown. I even had a go at eyes, mostly because I tried painting eyes all those years ago when I first painted him.  They aren't great, but they'll do.

When it came to basing I had a bit of a problem. I painted him just because of the nostalgia factor, not expecting anything much worth using in a game. However, I now think he's good enough, so I wanted to base him to fit my other skirmish dwarves and that means a round slotta base. If I'd planned this beforehand I'd have removed the integral base, drilled the feet and glued wire into them etc. Instead I had to remove the base after painting. I gave Flosi a good coat of gloss varnish, then carefully trimmed the base close to the feet using my clippers.

Then it was a slow process of gently removing the excess metal with a large file.  I was a bit over enthusiastic here, and took a bit much off his front foot, but once he was pinned to a round slotta base and texture and flock etc applied, he looks fine./

I started Flosi with no intention of ever actually using him, but now I have been wondering about putting together a dwarven Frostgrave band. I've got a few dwarves already who could start the band, and Flosi could be a thief in the game. Frostgrave doesn't have rules for different races but many people have fielded all goblin, halfling, orc or elf warbands just using the rules as is. With a thief's speed of 7, Flosi is one speedy dwarf. Clearly a natural sprinter.

I've a few more unpainted dwarves that would fit in the warband, so they may get painted up soon (ish). I think the best choice for a dwarven Wizard would be an Enchanter, which I already have with my Norse warband, so there's no real need for them but it does feel like a fun project to do.

Kings of War Ambush Game 2

So on with the second of our Ambush games, but first a quick word about the terrain. Most of my stuff is currently packed away, so I was making do. Both the buildings are based on ones on the covers of The Citadel Journal Spring '85, just built using strong card, filler, balsa etc*. They both look ok, so I might pretty them up a bit to match my more recent builds. The hedges are from Green Scene, and need proper basing, a bit of cutting and sticking to get rid of the very flat tops, and probably some more varied shades and textures of turf. The walls are old plastic toy farm pieces, I'll just replace them. Woods need some work too, and I borrowed some of these from Bodvoc. It's a reasonable terrain set though, especially on my old Realm of Battle boards, and I think I'll get it sorted out properly early next year.

The first Ambush game report is here, we went into the second game with me technically having a win. Looking at the remains of my army, it didn't feel like it.  We haven't yet considered any knock on effects of previous games, I might do this in future, but for now we are just playing games, having fun, and slowly growing our new armies.

The Scenario

Continuing with my idea of a group of plucky human settlers holding out against the absentee landlords of the Sylvan Kin, another hamlet has been built around a large tree.  Unknown to the settlers, the tree is sacred to the Sylvan Kin (in my WFB version it was a dormant Treeman).  The thought of it in the hands of the humans has driven the Sylvan Kin to anger, they want nothing more than the complete eradication of the settlement.

I chose the Salt the Earth scenario with the tree as the central objective.  I decided it was worth double points as well.  Otherwise, everything was as per the rulebook.

Out two armies were the same, but we slightly re-jigged the terrain.  On the photos the big tree is the central objective, the rest are either red or green tokens.  

Scouting moves

Emyn Lockharn and the Gladestalkers have taken up positions closer to the village.  Fortunately for me, they were on opposite flanks.

Turn one

The Tallspears and Silverbreeze advance and both claim an objective, Emyn shoots at the Mounted Scouts, wavering them.  

The Phalanxes both advance towards the village, while the bowmen take cover behind a wood, determined to claim the objective nearby.  Artem follows the Phalanxes and the Scouts, unable to advance or shoot at Emyn, merely wait.

Turn two

The Tallspears and Silverbreeze remain stationary, The cavalry getting some shots off at the Bowmen. Emyn once more damages the Mounted Scouts.

The Scouts have recovered and shoot bac, causing my first damage all day, hooray!.  The Phalanxes both advance towards the village, while the Bowmen take cover behind a wood, though not well enough to shield them from the Silverbreeze.  Artem ponders where he is best placed.  Perhaps the sneaky elven leader is a worthy target?  

The Mounted Scouts in their archery duel with Emyn Lockharn.  You can just see the elf cowering in the far wood.

Turn three

Emyn's archery once more dismays the Scouts who try in vain to manoeuvre out of his line of sight.  The Silverbreeze advance towards the village.  

Both Phalanxes take control of the tree in the village while the Bowmen inexplicably don't bother to shoot at the Silverbreeze (I had line of sight, although they were in cover.  I could have got off ten shots, but I forgot).  Artem moves off towards where Emyn was last seen.

Turn four

Emyn moves behind the tower (out of sight on the picture, typical) to shoot the Scouts who break.  The Silverbreeze shoot at one of the Phalanxes, but miss!  The Gladestalkers move off their hill towards the wood.

Despite being on the opposite side of the tower to Emyn, Artem can't see him, so moves into the wood the elf previously occupied. One Phalanx moves forwards towards the Silverbreeze and the Bowmen finally cotton on and shoot the cavalry.

Turn five

The Gladestalkers move into the wood.  The Silverbreeze find their mark this time, but the Phalanx aren't daunted.  

Artem spots Emyn and charges at him.  In melee the elf is less than impressive.  The Phalanx charges the Silverbreeze, but the wall makes their attack less efficient, the Bowmen are similarly hampered in their assault on the Gladestalkers.

Turn six

The Silverbreeze shoot at the remaining Phalanx, but the damage is minimal.  The Gladestalkers waver the Bowmen, while Emyn fights back against Artem but can't land a hit.  

The Phalanx stay close to the tree and Artem hits Emyn once again, but can't quite finish him off (damn Inspiring re roll).

Turn seven

The Gladestalkers rout the Bowmen and claim the objective near the wood.  The Silverbreeze manage to waver the remaining Phalanx, and Emyn once more wishes he were shooting rather than trying to fight.

In response Artem again hits the elven commander, but can only waver him.  The Phalanx remain guarding the tree.

As the battle finishes, the elves control three objectives to the humans' one, though the tree is worth double points.  A definite elven victory.  Presumably Artem orders teh Spear Phalanx to retreat in an orderly fashion back to another village, there to recruit more soldiers ready for the elves' next attack.

Final Thoughts

This was a far more interesting game; the scenario forced the elves to move to objectives, rather than just shooting my army to pieces.  I felt somewhat vindicated in that I managed to damage most of the elven units, though I was unable to rout any of them.  I regret missing that round of shooting against the Silverbreeze, given how close the Phalanx came to routing them in melee, it might have made all the difference, as it would have robbed Bodvoc of an objective and given it to me.  I was far less confident of the Bowmen taking on the Gladestalkers, especially in the woods, as was borne out in the battle.  Emyn Lockharn is a nasty leader to face, especially in such a small game.  On his own he managed to waver my Mounted Scouts twice, before destroying them.  I had hoped they would be able to at least contact him, possibly taking him out and then threatening the Tallspears.  Then again, he is more points than the Scouts, so that should have given me a clue.

So what next for our slow grow games?  I've had some thoughts what to add to my force to bring it up to 750 points.  I think I can manage without any extra painting by using my old Empire/Kingdoms of Men forces, but I will get the next Spear Phalanx of the Oathmark humans done, so the 'Charity Army' can go on sale.

*The cottage also appears in the Warhammer Townscape as building 36.  I shortened the tower and added a wooden top with battlements.  There is another building, a tower-house, which is similar to one in the Townscape, which could optionally be attached to the cottage.  I think this might make an ideal extra building for the settlement, and provide higher blocking terrain.

Kings of War Ambush Game 1

Kings of War Gaming

I had a couple of small games of Kings of War with Bodvoc recently. It's been a little while since we played, but we've both got the new Red Book and fancied trying the Ambush style games. It's not really a new idea for us, we tend to start new armies at 500 points and our Clash games of Kings of War Historical were very much in this vein. Still, it's nice to have the idea formalised.

Small Scale Campaigning

We both took the opportunity to try out new armies, I used my new Kingdoms of Men and Bodvoc has started a Sylvan Kin army, using mostly Oathmark minis.

I based a couple of games on a short campaign I wrote years ago for Warhammer Fantasy Battle where Wood Elves were trying to drive Imperial settlers out of their woods. Nothing special, I simply wrote some story around a couple of the scenarios in the book, but it gave a bit of background and allowed us to develop a story.  We decided that if we enjoyed the games, we could start a small slow grow campaign.

Game One

The first game was an Invade scenario, representing the elves attempting to drive the humans out while they pushed back.  I used the same 500 point force I've used in various training games (Artem, Hero with Inspiring Talisman, troop of Mounted Scouts, regiment of Bowmen and two regiments of Spear Phalanx), Bodvoc had a Master Hunter (unsurprisingly called Emyn Lockharn) to lead his elves, a troop of Silverbreeze cavalry, a troop of Sylvan Gladestalkers and a troop of Kindred Tallspears.  

Both forces deploy, but the sneaky elves have a trick or two up their green-sleeves

The Sylvan Kin amass for battle.  There may not be many of them, but they are all staunch warriors, and damn good shots too!

Emyn Lockharn and the Gladestakers had slunk forwards before the battle (Scout moves) to hold a commanding position raining arrows down on the hapless humans.  By turn one they had routed my Mounted scouts who I had hoped to ride ruin down on the elven flank.

Artem led his Spearmen towards the waiting elves, right into volleys of arrows.  By turn three the first phalanx was routed by the elves' concentrated missile fire.  Artem then decided to take cover in the village.  Meanwhile my Bowmen set off on a fruitless flank march to try and get in position to shoot at the Tallspears.  They fell to the elven arrows before doing anything worthwhile.

The elves dress their ranks and make towards the village.  I try to adjust the colour on my phone camera.

Artem and his remaining troops take refuge in the village.  

The Silverbreeze are able to manouver round to the village gateway and shoot at the phalanx.  Fortunately for me they can't quite get rid of them.

The view of the marauding elves from the village.

Results and Conclusion (I feel like I'm writing up O-Level chemistry experiments)

By the end of turn six I had one hero and one regiment left, and hadn't managed to hurt the elves at all.  The combined elven shooting had seen off all the rest of my force.  However, I had a regiment worth 3 VPs on the other half of the table, whereas only the Silverbreeze were on my half, giving me an unlikely victory.  Clearly the elves found the humans just a little too hard to dislodge (yeah, right) so backed off, no doubt to try some other sneaky trick later.

The revised Shoot 4+ is nasty to face, but highly appropriate for elves.  It certainly held them in good stead, especially when I lined my army up for Bodvoc to focus his shooting on them so effectively.  I also deployed very badly, especially given the aim of the game.  Better tactics would have been simply to march a Phalanx up one flank to safety rather than waste the Bowmen, though I was never going to win a shooting match with them against the elves.

Lessons learned, possibly, and it was still great fun to play.

Bodvoc has written his account of the two games on his blog here, you 'll have to wait a little while for my account, but I can say that we had a lot of fun, and are already planning some reinforcements to our armies.  I'm in a bit of a quandary here though.  The aim with my army is to sell it once I've got 500 points painted up; the money going to a suitable charity working in Ukraine.  My next unit will definitely be the missing Spear Phalanx, that's why one of my old GW Empire regiments made an appearance.  I'm not sure if I should do another force using the Oathmark Humans (I have quite a few, but not enough to re-do this army without buying more), or get back to painting my many GW Empire troops.  Choices.

*EDIT* My report of the second game is here.