Off the Painting Table (Nov 2015)

I have been busy painting some more Goblins for Kings of War, this time Goblins riding giant spiders. The old GW codex shows the spiders to be a mix of red, black and purple but I eventually decided to go with an orange and purple combination. I did hover over using a waspish, yellow and black paint scheme but, as a previously mentioned, fantasy offers the chance to use those paint colours that sit neglected in my collection of painting paraphernalia.

Again the figures have a lot of character, but I must admit that the painting of the actual spiders was tedious; they have so many surfaces and crevices which take ages to cover and not to miss out. Also highlighting was difficult because many surfaces are flat. I do like the Halloween, pumpkin look created on some of the spiders.

In addition to the Goblin riders, I painted the single Troll that I have in my collection. I used a blue/grey skin colour to differentiate it from the other green skin units in the army. Do I need more Trolls, or is a single figure enough?

I have now had enough of painting Goblins (also Orcs), so the remaining green-skins in my box of random fantasy figures will have to wait awhile. I may switch to painting some Dwarves, or instead return to historical figures and units. In 2 weeks is the Warfare show in Reading, so I will wait until then before deciding what to do next. I think I will buy/need some Napoleonic Spanish to use with Sharp Practice, and I am considering using the Victorix early French infantry in bicornes as the base figures. A few Spanish guerrillas would also be nice.

After Action Report; ACW (Longstreet battle 6) 1 November 2015

This was the 6^th battle (late 1863) of a 9 battle mini-campaign using Longstreet rules by Sam Mustafa (Honour Publishing). I was again commanding the Union force against Ian commanding the Rebels. Previously in the mini-campaign I was ahead by 4 victories to 1 defeat, and in each battle the defending force had won. Would the pattern continue? The composition of my force can be viewed in my previous blog post (May 2015). I’m sorry but I again forgot my camera so there are no pictures.

 We randomly selected the ‘Crossroads’ scenario and the additional terrain placement mainly resulted in one flank (my left) being blocked by a marsh and stream. An objective maker was placed on the central crossroads. I was again the defender (having the ‘Indian Wars Veteran’ characteristic is very useful) and deployed first. In the centre, on the objective, I placed a 2-gun battery of Napoleons and a 3-gun battery of Light Rifles. In each of the flanking cornfields I placed some veteran infantry with the ‘Sharpshooter’ characteristic, giving them a greatly improved skirmish fire ability. My left flank was relatively lightly defended, and my right flank had another 3-gun battery of more Light Rifles (my army has developed a strong artillery component!). As a central reserve I kept my large 10-stand US Coloured troops who had the ‘Eager’ characteristic, ideal for a counter-charge situation. Ian was faced with a dilemma; a flanking attack would avoid my artillery heavy centre, but would take time and allow me to easily deploy my reserves to counter. The chances of taking the objective would be slim. The other alternative would involve a head-on attack which may achieve victory although at a high cost.  Ian choose the second option and focused on my centre left sector.

The opening stages of the game were evenly balanced with Ian’s artillery taking a toll of my Union troops whilst my artillery concentrated on counter-battery fire, which was eventually successful. The rebel attack hit trouble as it closed, my veteran ‘Sharpshooters’ proved their worth and were supported by canister from my artillery. Rebel losses began to mount and the only chance of victory was to launch an all-out charge across the whole of the left-hand side of my line. A total of 5 or 6 Rebel units came in against 3 or 4 Union units. I was able to play the ‘Stonewall’ card which gave me an extra 2 dice in combat. At this point I threw really good dice, nearly all scored a hit, whilst Ian’s scores were fairly average. So, although I seem to often bemoan my poor luck, on this occasion I have to admit to being favoured by the dice-gods! All Ian’s units retired with losses and this took the total to a winning position for the Union.

 6 games into the mini-campaign the Union have 5 victories compared to the Confederate 1 victory, and the defender has won every battle. Interestingly, the Union only lead by 24 to 21 Epic Points, and Ian’s general has been promoted to 1 grade higher than mine (due to his ‘Political Influence’ and ‘Savvy in the Whitehouse’ characteristics)

After the post-battle procedure, my Union force available for battle number 7 will be:

Commander	Personality				Rank		EP’s
“Art” Rooney	Indian Wars Veteran (Scout: 2D6 & keep higher)				3 Eagles (2/63)		24
Unit	Type	Elan	Exp.	Strength		Notes
9th Pa Artillery	ART	-	-	3		3x Napoleon
37th Pa Infantry	INF	Eager	Veteran	5
13th\14th Pa (Prov) Inf.	INF	Season	Veteran	5		Sharpshooters (5,6 Skirm Fire)
16th\45th Ohio (Prov) Inf.	INF	Caut.	Veteran	5		Sharpshooters (5,6 Skirm Fire)
26th NJ Artillery	ART	-	-	3		3x Lt Rifle
29th NJ Artillery	ART	-	-	3		2x Lt Rifle, 1x Hvy Rifle
88th NJ Infantry	INF	Caut.	Veteran	3
7th US (Coloured) Inf.	INF	Eager	Recruit	7
12th NH Infantry	INF	Season	Veteran	6		Sharpshooters (5,6 Skirm Fire)
8th Maine	INF	Season	Recruit	6
				46 bases
Priority card: add 4 ‘Dummy’ action cards to deck in next game.

Notes: The 14^th NJ , with its Hero, has been totally destroyed. The new unit is the 8^th Maine.

Off the Painting Table (Oct 2015); part 2

My experiments using the Kings of War rules forced me to rediscover a box of old fantasy figures that I had acquired second–hand over the years, that has lain unloved and forgotten in the attic. The good news was that they are largely unpainted and therefore my painting stocks were suddenly increased. I had previously thought my stock of unpainted lead was very low, but I was not inspired about what to buy next. If I don’t have a painting project on the go, I tend to become restless and make foolish purchasing decisions!

After completing the intricate uniforms of my Napoleonic British Hussars, I needed something light-hearted to paint, so Goblins seemed a good choice. Normally I paint 28mm figures in small batches of 1-2 dozen figures, but for some reason I decided to paint all 60+ Night Goblins as a single batch! Also, contrary to my opinion that fantasy figures can use any colour palette, I decided to stick with the ‘traditional’ GW palette (just in case I wish to sell these figures on).

I am happy with the final results, and must admit to enjoying painting these characterful, cartoonish figures. The black cloaks were a pain to paint: Black cloth is always problematic, the Wargames Foundry 3-tone scheme for black comes out too grey, so I used a panzer grey on a black undercoat. This gives the right dark appearance whilst the ragged nature of the cloth is still clear. The strange thing with these figures is that they only come ‘alive’ once the red eyes and white teeth are painted in, up until this point they looked rather bland. Also painting the bases really helps because these dark figures need the contrast with a lighter base. The only thing I’m disappointed about is the dark blue used on the banner, a brighter mid-blue would have been better.

I think the next figures to be painted will be some more Goblins, this time riding giant spiders! It is strange because I’m still not ‘convinced’ about the fantasy genera, but I will ride with it until a new historical bug bites!