New War Room

Now that my basement project is about 80% finished I 

started to unpack a few of my minis. Sneak peak of the 

new war room "The Bunker"!

Soon I will be posting my before and after photos of the project. Which by the way has soaked up most of my time since We moved in back in August. 

More Dark Ages

I've completed 6 new dark age characters. 

Not sure what to do next. Maybe Shield

maidens for my Vikings but I'm getting an

itch to finish my Zulu stuff that I have. 

Shield Maiden

Found a little bit of time today to paint. I finished my first shield maiden. I am going to paint an 8 woman warrior group for Saga. 

The Santa Clause

Whomever sent me the gift of barrels and  accessories for Christmas, 

a mighty THANK YOU to you!  A fantastic gift that will go with many of my gaming periods. 

Merry Christmas!

Ha, just noticed the cutting board is inverted. 

The Santa Clause Part 4

Quick update on my dark age warlord. I found a bit of time and finished the two figures. 

I used a shield transfer on the blue shirt lad while on the lord I painted a simple pattern (being humble and all!)

On to the base now. 

The Santa Clause Project Part 3

Here's a couple of photos showing the next steps. I prime coated with black. Then applied a base coat of Vallejo gunmetal grey on all the metal parts. Then I painted all the flesh. 

Next will be some base colors. 

The Santa Clause Project Part 2

Quick update. Most of my time is going into the "new" game room construction so hobby time has been slim. I will post a series of photos on that soon. Anyhow, decided to modify the sword figure with a new arm. The spear point is pointing at the pin I made for this mod.  Tip: I use small JT-21 size staples for pins. Just cut to length and they easily fit most micro drill hole sizes.  Mounted the arm with spear and then for coolness drilled a hole in the bottom of a head and then glued it to the top of the spear! I let it dry a few minutes then placed both on a nice Warlord size base. I'm ready for primer and paint! 

"The Santa Clause" Project

I joined "The Santa Clause" project this year. Cris Stoesen is organizing this and thanks goes out to you!  I have to produce a fully completed project that doesn't cost more than $10.00. I am excited to be part of this and after looking through my secret person's blog site I decided to produce a command set for a dark age period game. It will be in 28mm and be flexible enough to game Saga, Dux Brit and/or any other dark age skirmish game. 

First sneak peek. I assembled several individual figures for the set. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to use all three figures or just the two metal ones. I want it to stand out so I'm not sure if I want to include the plastic horn blower (from Gripping Beast's Dark Age Warriors set). Three may be a crowd and the base may be two big. I like it though so I'm gonna try it. Anyways, the warrior is a Warlord Games Day figure I picked up at the show while the other is a Gripping Beast Warlord. I drilled a hole in his hand so he can hold a long spear with a banner. The warrior will be modified to hold a spear with one of the heads on the tip, OF COURSE!  So I will work on this stuff and post soon with the mods. 

Advance the Colors Con

Great convention in Springfield, Ohio this weekend. It is a HMGS Great Lakes chapter con. I played in the SAGA tournament with my brother Ted. He place second and I placed third. He bested me by one technical (slaughter) point!! I was so engrossed in all the games that I only remembered to take photos in the very last one.  I played Vikings and am happy with the way they played. I took a few photos. 

Doesn't look to good for the home team🙀

Closeup of Jeff's Crusaders. 

My berserkers on the hill attempt a last dig assault on the mounted knights. 

The game ended with the remaining mounted troops and their warlord killing my warlord. Fudge!!  Great game and I learned a bunch. 

And there's my friendly opponent Jeff Fletcher who also happened to win the tournament.  Thanks Jeff for a great game and also a big thank you to Steve Phallen for running the tourney. 

Some additional photos of a couple games below. 

These pics are the 15mm Alamo game run by Gettysburg Soldiers. 

My brother Ted wins big at the raffle. His tickets where drawn three times!

Author of "Song of Drums and Tomahawks", Mike Demana and his very impressive F&IW game. 

Three photos of the Flames of War tournament. 

Great time. I just wish I would have taken more photos!

F&IW Action - Rangers Attack

Great game tonight over at John's wargames den. This was a skirmish level game using 28mm figures and John Patrick's rules, "Too Few to Fight and Too Many to Die".   The scenario is based upon a British raid upon an indian settlement. The settlement is a small gathering of several tribal delegations and a small French force.  The British player gets to pick where and how to deploy. They also get to move first.

 

The Rangers move past the Miami sentry and by turn two are actually in the village!

Two Rangers take on a lone Miami sentry. 

The sentries' musketry alerts all of the other tribal members!  The Ottawa, Miami, Delaware and Sac Fox all deploy from their long houses. 

The Sac Fox are on the wrong side of the river. 

The British move fast and push hard with their initiative.  Will surprise work?

On the bottom right the Miamis prepare to push the British left flank. 

Another photo of the Miamis. 

By the end of turn three there is much death and dismay in the village. The Rangers were surprised at the amount of warriors that are present. 

Bear Claw says, "no one take rock from me"!  Two Rangers down...

The British regulars, some allied Mohawks and another Ranger unit try to press the village from the front and opposite flank. 

A view front the British lines. BTW - the red yarn rings represent wounds. 

The Rangers that rushed the village are whiped out to the man.  By Turn five the Delaware and Miamis have checked the British advance; but at the expense of most of the Ottawa warriors. 

 

The Sac Fox are arriving in the nick of time.  A good thing too, the Delawares are whiped out on the Brits right flank. 

Some Miamis take up position on the British left flank. 

The British fall back and shore up their line.  It's time to rely on marksmanship!

Where are the French?  

The last few turns become a see-saw of rushes with hand to hand fighting and point blank firing. Neither side gives but both have suffered greatly. 

Too many out of action!

The Miamis give one last fire at the British, but it's too late. The remaining British and Mohawk allies flee with many scalps. 

The British achieved their objective. To disrupt the meeting, slay more than they suffer in casualties and take scalps for victory points. 

Well done Brits!

Overall a very fun game that was fast paced and well balanced. Each turn either side could have changed the outcome.  The game was undecided until the very last turn. 

Thank you John for a great game!