Another generous contribution from Bruno. These pictures are a recent game played. The figures are owned by a gentleman called Mr J J Hoffman and painted by Bruno...thanks Brunst!
I know this has been a long time passion of Bruno's. When he lived in the U.K. we played several games of Darkest Africa. I remember them to be fun and full of flavour. If you go into the jungle, remember to take your elephant gun with you!
Along with a Confederacy of other Greeks. I particularly like the Spartan Phalanx; they look so tough that they are totally relaxed. Well, it's all in a day's work.
I think!!! Looking at the shield designs and troop types, a little bit of deduction has been made...
Spartans next time...
Phil has just sent a batch Of photos of his newly completed Ancient Greeks. Hopefully the armies will be going on campaign to British shores for a weekend of Summer gaming. I'm intrigued to see that the minis will translate well into the impetus ruleset and that the game is a little more than a simple push and shove affair. Looking at the range off troop types on offer this should not be a problem. It looks from the pictures that we have a classical match up of Athenians versus Spartans. Here there are a few pictures of the two armies together, I will do another posting of the two separately. By the way, thank you to Katherine for providing a lovely backdrop to the game!
Just finished the first ship of a fleet pack from Tumbling Dice miniatures. The scale is 1/2400 and this is a 2nd rate British ship of the line. I'm yet to do the research to give it a suitable name though. There were eight ships in the pack at a very reasonable £18. The ships have been bought in mind to play...
In terms of the painting, I'm not too unhappy with the results, except for the gun ports not being equally shaded; on the next ship I'll try a flat edge brush to see if I can leave the ports black. Seven more ships to go...
This is the last of the Sci-fi Partizan buys left to paint. Only some 1/2400th boats left to do. Well, when I say that, I have just been sorting out the lead mountain...
These walkers provide some nice support for the foot troops. They won't be the most heavily armoured, so some caution will be needed. Their interesting weapon is the back mortar providing some indirect fire support.
In terms of painting they were not too challenging. I used a yellow undercoat and then considered which colours would complement. Having looked at the colour wheel, purple was a complimentary choice.
After block painting I foolishly tried my brown ink wash as only part of the miniature was made of resin. Fortunately, the wash only pooled in some small areas. This was dealt with using a heavy 'German Yellow' dry brush.
I initially placed the miniatures on some circular warbases with moveable hit markers visible, the idea being that they could be used to monitor shield ratings. The bases were changed as the miniatures looked too thick compared to the other 15mm figures already painted. In this case the look took presedent over functionality.
In a way I'm glad to have finished the sci-fi stuff as energy was beginning to run low. Maybe a change of tac to painting sailing ships will provide a stout breeze to the stilling waters.
Well, this is one game I can comment on! A family trip to Pisa to see Phil and family (thanks for the hospitality) a couple of years ago (oh my, time goes so quickly) generated a few opportunities for a game. The game was played on a two v two basis, with yours truly taking command of some Late Roman footmen. By the way, I'm normally happier in pictures than the one above, maybe it was the 1am photoshoot matched with my lack of understanding of the rules!
From what I remember, the game slewed diagonally across the board - Marston Moor style. The Roman cavalry beat hard against the lighter Pictish equivalents, with the Pictish hordes falling onto the Roman right flank.
The game was extremely close. A unit of Roman footmen hung on just long enough on the right flank, for the Pictish mounted General to be caught in the centre, as he re-adjusted to support the winning Pictish left flank.
The rules played were Impetus. For me, there are some similarities/acknowledgements to Armati and DBM. I think with a little more knowledge, this could be a set of rules I could enjoy. Also playing In the Dark Ages is not a period I am particularly familiar with, so this game was a pleasure to consider the abilities of the different unit types - especially those ferocious Picts!
Here are my Critical Mass Games grav bikes. A set of long, sleek and expectantly fast attack vehicles. I imagine their purpose is for elusive recon, hit and run, or surgical strikes; quickly in and even quicker out!
The paint scheme was kept simple with the final affect making them appear a little rusty to my eye. They also appear slightly earthy and fire like - a suitable description for these land hovering mechanical insects - they certainly feel that they have a sting in the tail. These miniatures will fulfill the role of the Lancers in Ars Victor, as they will strike hard, but will be a little brittle on the defensive.
I needed some nice objective markers for troops to fight over and these models met the mark. I also like them is they can easily be placed on buildings and vehicles to add that little extra detailing - or firepower!
The detail stood nicely for painting, allowing the miniatures to be quickly completed. I like the light grey contrast to the orange brown base colouring. These turrets will nicely meet the need for 3 victory locations on the board.
On a roll with overseas correspondence. A gaming buddy and friend, Bruno, returned to France several years ago to start a fresh game...the game of love! He is now married and settled back in his native homeland. He still manages to game from time to time. He has kindly sent some pictures of a game he played at home, with some of Mike's collection included (thanks Mike if you are reading).
Cheers Brunst...again I have no idea who won the game, but the Confederacy do look somewhat outnumbered; I don't know if a stone wall is nearby?
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