Dragon Rampant Barbarica

I've been thinking about the fortchcoming Dragon Rampant fantasy skirmish rules which, while a long way off as yet, will now doubt feature as a future workbench project. With that in mind, I remembered that I have two pack of 15mm 'Picts' from the Copplestone Barbarica range, which I was going to use as cavemen in the Lost World:

http://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/adventures-in-jimland-cavemen.html

The figures are expensive but are just like smaller versions of the 28mm Copplestone figures, with superb sculpting and bags of character, especially the Barbarians and the Northlanders. They also come in nifty twelve figure foot and six figure mounted sets, which makes them ideal for Lion Rampant sized units, assuming the fantasy version of the rules will adopt the same basic unit sizes.

I'm now pondering the inevitable and may yet take the plunge, with a six pack of Barbarians or Northlanders as a retinue for Dragon Rampant, including a giant or two and some heroes, shamen and other character figures. The new(ish) dwarves are also really good, although they need some missile troops to be a viable army.

In the meantime, the 'Picts' will do as a couple of units of trolls in the same Nordic style as the rest of the range. They can either form the nucleus of a retinue or be deployed as back up unit for the human forces, which means I can potentially save about £15 and get some use out of the figures, which would otherwise be gathering dust in a box.

I'm quite excited about this idea but there are plenty of other things to do in the meantime including a couple of historical retinues for Lion Rampant at some point before the end of the year, so there's no rush but no excuse for not giving it some serious consideration. If only that nice Mr Copplestone would do one of his infrequent special offer discounts???

En Garde!

Right Cover, Wrong Title!

I had a look on Amazon today for the new Fighting Sails rules from Osprey, which I duly ordered with the last of my birthday vouchers, only to find a number of future publications in the wargames series up for pre-order. The one that grabbed my attention is En Garde!, which looks like it could have a lot of potential, based as it is on the Ronin rules system (that reminds me...I really should get that buntai done). 

Anyway, here's the sales blurb:

En Garde! is a small-scale skirmish game based on the successful Ronin rules, in which small groups of warriors fight each other for honour or riches. Rather than just rolling a few dice, the rules allow players to make tactical decisions about how the models that they control will fight - offensively, defensively, or by applying special skills and abilities. En Garde! covers the conflicts of the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries, when black-powder weapons started to become common in battle but martial prowess still determined the outcome.

Play as Border Reivers, Conquistadors, Landsknechts, Aztecs, French Musketeers, Caribbean Pirates and many more, in scenarios that evoke classic engagements of the genre. Sub-plots (secondary objectives for each side) have also been introduced, making gameplay even more varied and exciting. Simple campaign rules allow multiple scenarios to be played in sequence and permit warbands to develop over time. An appendix is also included to provide brief rules for supernatural creatures of the period - monsters, demons, revenants and witches - and new abilities and equipment to fight them, making En Garde! the perfect ruleset for gamers who want something a bit different from the norm.

Published in January 2016...so you'll have to wait a bit longer!

Dragon Rampant

The latest on Dragon Rampant is that it's now available as a pre-order via Amazon, which means that it'll be out in digital and print format pretty soon:

http://merseybooks.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/dragon%20rampant

I haven't even sorted out my armies for Lion Rampant yet, let alone organised any fantasy forces, but I'm still looking forward to the rules and some 'free for all' fantasy painting. I enjoy making things up, so any 'imagination', sci-fi or fantasy projects are right up my street. If I do this, it will be 15mm, as I have some old HOTT figures that I can paint up and a small painted skeleton army that I can re-base if I want to cut some corners. Osprey really are putting out some interesting stuff!

Galleys and Galleons [17]

A little more progress on the islands this weekend despite lots of unwelcome distractions, although I still have an evening of work to do to get them finished. They've had the basic drybrushing done, so I'll be moving on to yet more drybrushing, stiplling and washing tomorrow, primarily on the undergrowth and the sea areas. I have to take the sprog to cricket training first though, so I won't be doing anything until quite late. I was hoping to make a start on the ships this week but the terrain is taking longer than I expected.

Air War C21 Flashpoint Baltic [7]

Over on The Aviationist website there's an interesting report on the Baltic Air Policing Mission, with the arrival a few days ago in Estonia of  twelve A10 Warthogs of the USAF 335th Fighter Wing, as an element of the US Theatre Security Package designed to beef up the NATO presence in the region.  I'll have to get some 1/600th scale Warthogs now, which will add a whole new selection of potential scenarios to the project, whenever I get around to it. I'm pretty sure that O8 has some in their ever expanding range of little lead masterpieces:

http://theaviationist.com/2015/05/03/a-10s-have-arrived-in-estonia/

Galleys and Galleons [16]

The vertically challenged gremlin strikes again!

There's been a bit of a work/life screw up at home, so my time on the terrain has been cut back over the last couple of days. I have started on some of the islands and shoals, however, and I may get round to another dry brush or two this evening, once I've cleared some Year 10 marking. I have some more islands base coated but they'll have to wait until the weekend.

Ion Age 15mm Skylark Out of the Box Review

I have always wanted to re-live my mis-spent school days playing games of Laserburn and Imperial Commander with my mates in the Sixth Form common room, instead of freezing my knackers off on a dripping wet Cornish hillside on a futile Wednesday afternoon cross-country run in double P.E. I hated P.E. although I was quite good at athletics...believe it or not?

Anyway, there is some nostalgia-infused shadenfreude involved, as the less than enthusiastic P.E. teacher drove to the top of the enormous hill and sat there in his red Fiesta, fag in hand, before sending us all back down again. This has inevitably led to the aquistion of tons of vintage and re-issued TTG Laserburn miniatures, with some new additions in resin and a few extra bits from the re-vitalised space opera style Ion Age Sci-Fi range.

The latest bit of 'ooh shiny' goodness is a resin Skylark gunship lander type thing, which is destined for my Red Redemptionist hordes. As you can see, it is obviously based on and adapted from the original Laserburn law officer air raft model, so will fit in very well if you want to use them side by side. In fact, the 'Skylark' would be perfect as a Paddy Wagon alongside the Judge Dredd inspired TTG law officer range, or even as an alternative to the Laserburn Imperial Glaive APC, which is showing its age despite a re-sculpt.

A really cool mini with loads of potential and bags of retro style and all for a very reasonable price.

Thanks to the Ion Age and Mr Gavin Symes for a splendid space opera style addition to my leadpile!

(no sock puppetry...honest)

 http://theionage.com/products/iaf029-skylark-patrol-flyer

Fighting Sail

There's a short but interesting review of these new Napoleonic naval rules in Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy this month, which has me thinking of another nautical project for the Summer. The rules aren't out yet but look like a fairly straightforward 'small action' rather than fleet level game, with about three or four ships a side depending on their size.

I have a small box of Langton 1/1200 scale French and British ships of the line which I originally bought for use with the old Warhammer Trafalgar rules. They're lovely models but scare me to death, given the etched brass bits and the rigging, so in the short term I may be going for a slightly less scary option. I might have a crack at one of the less daunting models, however, if I can summon the courage.

The other option will involve some Tumbling Dice 1/2400 scale Napoleonic ship models that I have ready to glue together, with two small squadrons of French and British third rates and frigates, enough for a decent sized game. I'll can paint them up alongside the larger pirate ships but need to glue them together and base them first. A good mini-project for half term!

Galleys and Galleons [15]

I've finished the terrain construction part of the project, with only some coastline and a star fort still to scratchbuild, so I've started painting up some individual test pieces. I've undercoated a small island and a shoal in a matt dark grey acrylic spray that I found in Halfords this afternoon. It's part of a range called Artfx and has excellent coverage, with a hefty 400ml can costing only £6.99. I wouldn't use it for basecoating figures but it's ideal for terrain and scenics.

This basecoat was followed by various shades of grey drybrushed over the rocks and cliffs, followed by a stipple in Foundry Phlegm Green and a wash in GW Agrax Earthshade for the scrub undergrowth on the island. The sea shade was chosen to match my 1/600th scale coastal forces, which means that I can use the terrain for WW2 as well as the Age of Sail. I thought about a tropical West Indies blue tone but, as my games will be more Pirates of Penzance than Pirates of the Caribbean, I think the darker shade will be more appropriate.

I've also assembled, based and undercoated two more merchant ships for the fleet, one a fluyt and one a merchant galleon. In the rules, one campaign option features a merchant enterprise, so another pair of cargo carrying vessels makes sense. I also really like the look of the fluyt, so may well get another from Peter Pig at some point. I'll be cracking on with the terrain over the next few days and hope to start painting the ships by this time next week.

Galleys and Galleons [14]

There are a couple of scenarios in the Galleys and Galleons rules that require a port feature, so with that in mind I've constructed some basic breakwater type terrain using some ERM mdf hedgerow templates and small stones. It's nothing spectacular but with some texturing, a splash of paint and some drybrushing. it will do the job. I've also added the scatter material and stones to the islands, ready for a coating of acrylic modelling paste once they've dried out.