Painting Update - Guild Ball, Arena Rex, Kings of War, Horizon Wars

We're back this week with some single additions and half of a "big" project. 

Gen Con has come and gone, and thanks to some ninja-shopping from Kevyn, I managed to get my hands on some exclusive releases.

Wrecker is the Season 2 mascot for the Masons, and hasn't been released yet. He's an interesting addition (with a somewhat boring model), and I'm curious as to how he works in the team compared to Marbles. The baboon is a damage modifier, while the giant armadillo seems to occupy the footballing space more, with some methods to push models around as he moves.

Lupa is a gladiator for Ludus Magnus, and was originally available only through the Kickstarter. Now she can be bought exclusively at certain conventions. She brings some hitting power to the Magnus ludi, but can be stopped by the opponent by spending Favor dice - which can put the Magnus player at a Favor advantage. She's also a pain to take a picture of thanks to her stance.

Although I lost interest in Kings of War as a fantasy mass-combat ruleset earlier this year, I'm planning on attending a local tournament just to get some games in and support the local scene. The problem is, I no longer have an army for the game, having sold off my League of Rhordia/Kingdoms of Men force not too long ago. Luckily, Kevyn's letting me borrow his Ogres mega-army. As a thank you, I picked up this Reaper Bones giant and will pass it along to Kevyn, after using it in the tournament.

As for the "big" project, I completed half of the forces I'm putting together for Horizon Wars. The above miniatures are all from the Army of the Reach, the military force of Harker's Reach, one of the most powerful manufacturing cities on Kressidia. They're the main opposition to the UMC (United Mercantile Consortium) and their mercenary companies.

This is a big force; an average game of Horizon Wars may range from 15 to 30 points, and what I've painted adds up to 67 points!

The armored elements of the army consist of Mobile Infantry, Light Cavalry, Heavy Cavalry, and Armored Artillery. The vehicles are from Brigade Models, as are the infantry.

There are plenty of foot infantry options; Light Artillery, Recon, Airborne Infantry, Special Forces, Light Infantry and Heavy Infantry. Again, these are all from Brigade Models.

These Heavy Gear mechs have been repurposed as paratrooper variants of medium Gator and light Caiman mechs. I'll be adding more when Dream Pod 9 releases their plastic starter set, which contains 30 mechs!

Now that the Reach forces are done, I'm starting work on the UMC, which is made up of various private military companies. This should break up some of the monotony, as everything in the faction won't need to look alike.

Dwarves vs. Forces of the Abyss - Kings of War AAR

Only Gary, Dave and I managed to get together to play some Kings of War this past weekend. I forgot to record my game against Gary, where his Dwarves won a minor victory against my League of Rhordia in a Domination scenario. Not wanting to leave completely empty handed, I decided to stick around and watch the game between Gary and Dave. It would also be my first chance to see how a Forces of the Abyss army played. 

The scenario was Pillage, with five objectives placed on the table (one began under a Dwarf unit). Dave's Abyssal army was on the left, and included a few Abyssal Dwarf allies. Gary's Dwarves arrayed themselves on the right.

During the first turn, the Abyssals surged forward, the Succubi and Gargoyles taking the lead. The Dwarves shuffled their lines forward, firing off a few volleys in the hopes of knocking out a few of the weaker troop units. This failed, unfortunately, and the hellish monstrosities quickly regenerated their wounds.

The Abyssals then went to work on the Dwarven lines, quickly shredding Gary's left flank until only the Steel Behemoth remained. Dave began to swing his own left flank around, wary of Gary's cavalry units hidden behind the woods.

Another round of combat saw the Abyssals bounce off the stout Dwarven lines. The Steel Behemoth was keeping Gary's left flank protected from the Gargoyles, who couldn't see past the massive machine to be able to charge the units in the center of the line. The opposing cavalry units still held off, neither commanding willing to commit their units into the fight to only be charged by the enemy.

Unfortunately, the devilish strength of the Abyssal units wiped out Gary's Bulwarker horde, opening a gap in his line that needed to be plugged with the Brock Riders and other units. Another gap opened on Gary's left flank, with the distance between the main Dwarven line and the Steel Behemoth increasing, although the warmachine continued to hold on against constant attacks.

At this point, at the beginning of Turn 5, Gary decided to concede and pull his battered forces from the field. He knew that he couldn't beat back the Abyssals and move onto the objectives in two turns, while Dave only had to shred the remaining Dwarf units before moving back and winning the game.

Gary has had consistent problems with the Dwarves - while they can take a punch, their slow movement speed and relatively pillow-fist attacks means that, in objective based games, the stunties are always on the back foot. A future Forces of Nature army might give Gary the maneuverability he desires, however.

Also, a brief comment on my part during the game led to Dave revealing an apparently massive collection of Warmaster miniatures. If everything works out, I'll hopefully have an after-action report for next week.

Painting Update - Kings of War

This week's update brings us back to Kings of War, with the second of three large infantry blocks.

This time it's four bases of halberdiers. Since they're multi-based on the smallest sized elements, these can be used as four Troops, two Regiments, or one massive Horde.

And because of the way I based these units, they're multi-purpose between the Kingdoms of Men and League of Rhordia lists.

In the Kingdoms of Men list, the previously shown swordsmen and the halberdiers can be used as Shield Wall units and Polearm Block units, respectively. Alternatively, both units could be used as Foot Guard, with the halberdiers giving up a point of defense for Crushing Strength (1).

In the League of Rhordia, these bases can be mixed together to represent Citizen Militia units - cheap, low-defense troops with Crushing Strength (1).

With the halberdiers done, I'm moving on to the last big group of infantry. From there, I can work on some of the more interesting parts of the project, like the warmachines, heroes, or the big Steam Tank that I've converted for use as a Beast of War or Iron Beast.

Painting Update - Kings of War, Guildball

As before, I'm continuing to work on my Kings of War project. 

I finished four bases of swordsmen, enough to combine into two Regiments or a single Horde in the Kingdoms of Men list.

Alternatively, these can be used as the back half of Citizen Militia units in the League of Rhordia list. The front half will be occupied by Halberdiers, as the Citizen Militia have the Crushing Strength (1) rule. These Halberdiers are assembled and sticky-tacked to their bases, so they're the next ones on the list that need to be worked on.

I should note that I actually had to re-base these models, along with the Arquebusier/Musket Block units shown previously. I had thought that the models would be able to withstand handling glued down only to the spackle that makes up the top layer of the base. That turned out to be a big mistake, as only after a couple games, many of the miniatures were tearing free.

The solution was to purposefully rip the miniatures from the base, cut off the hardened glue and trapped flocking, and then drilled down to the plastic underneath the exposed spackle. Then I glued the miniature back down - a much stronger bond formed with the plastic of the base - and touched up the base so that no white was showing.

Although time intensive, I think it worked pretty well.

After acquiring Mist after Snow Ball and playing him in a game (10-12 against Kevyn's Alchemists; Mist did score a goal, however), I painted him over the past weekend.

I'm not totally happy with the paint job - the Citadel Blood Red and the P3 Beaten Purple don't have enough pigment for my taste. So I'll look into replacing them with Vallejo equivalents (Vermilion and Royal Purple, respectively).

This scheme is what I plan on using for my Union. Boring, I know, but it works!

Herd & Orcs vs. Kingdoms of Men & League of Rhordia - Kings of War AAR

Humanity apparently has the advantage when it comes to naming conventions in fantasy gaming, don't they?

The new version of Kings of War has sparked some interest in the local gaming community, thanks in large part to the old Warhammer armies that have apparently been sitting dormant in many of the gamers' collections. Our collections are varying in their completeness, as some of us (i.e., me) don't have 20+ year old collections to fall back on at a moment's notice. 

So, this past weekend, I took part in a four-player game. Ken and Chris allied together their Herd (950 points) and Orcs (1050) , while Alex and I took two different factions of humans, the Kingdoms of Men (750) and the League of Rhordia (1250). 

We rolled for the mission and got "Kill" - we would play 6 turns (with a potential 7th) and at the end tally up the points of the units we lost. Whichever side lost the fewest points would be the winner.

I took the right side of the human lines with Alex on my left. Opposite of my League forces were the Orcs, while Ken's Herd readied for a charge into Alex's lines.

The first turn saw the Humans shuffle forward, keeping their lines, and firing with everything they had (two Arquebusier regiments, two Musket Block troops, and a Halfling Volley Gun), which put some decent hits on the oncoming orcs and beastmen.

Turn 2 saw the initial charge of the game. After another round of shooting, Ken's Beast Packs charged into Alex's Spear Phalanx. My Household Knights attacked Chris' Gore Riders, but were subsequently counter charged and then flanked by a regiment of Trolls. With so many attacks, my Knights were routed, despite their proximity to my mounted Baron.

In turn 3, both lines were heavily in combat. Alex lost a Spear Regiment but managed to whittle down the Herd force. My horde of City Spear Militia was holding its own, but the Giant that had followed the Orcs into combat found one of my City Militia regiments to be a tasty treat, and routed the panicked survivors. Luckily, the other City Militia regiment was keeping the Morax regiment wavered, and incapable of charging into combat.

Fighting continued during turn 4. Ken's bestial forces were tearing into Alex's remaining two Arquebusier regiments. While my Volley Gun routed a regiment of Ken's Minotaurs, my City Spear Militia horde was routed as well. My Baron, however, routed the troop of Gore Riders. On my right flank, my remaining City Militia regiment was still keeping the Morax regiment at bay, while my City Militia horde charge into and routed the badly-damaged Giant.

The game was mostly over by Turn 5. Alex's Regiments were almost routed, while another round of shooting and combat from the League forces had routed all of the weary Orc units apart from the mounted Godspeaker. We decided to call the game then, as there was no way for the Herd units to reach the League in time to potentially make up the difference in points. Victory went to the humans.

I think the mission definitely favored the slower human armies (which only had five shooting units, but that was five more than the Orcs and Herd combined). Had it been another mission that required more movement (table corners, for example, or getting more units into the opponents half of the table) the game probably would have favored the more maneuverable armies. Terrain placement also favored the humans, allowing them a natural defensive position.

Painting Update - Kings of War, Wargods of Aegyptus

I've been working away on more units for Kings of War. 

I finished two Troops of Arquebusiers (with the last now on the painting table) and the Wizard I'm including in the list.

I've also decided to pick up a small force of Asar for Wargods of Aegyptus. 7th Dimension had the softcover rulebook for $10, and FRP games had the Asar starter warband on sale, along with a few other items, so I bought enough to make a 750-point force (a little over half of the points needed for a full game). I've talked to some of the other people I game with, and they do have plenty of miniatures for the game, so I can probably borrow enough other miniatures to get up to a full game.

I'll be working on these intermittently between KoW units, so I don't burn out the same same grey and green color scheme. I'm not entirely sure what color scheme I'm going to use, although I'm considering blue and bronze.

That's it for this week. This weekend in Gary's big Christmas game of G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T., which I plan on taking part in. I should have a post for it next week.

Painting Update - Kings of War, Guild Ball

Although I did play another demo game of Guild Ball this past weekend, I didn't get the chance to take any pictures, so here's a hobby update for this week. 

I'm stilling working away on my Kings of Men army. I managed to get a Cannon and a troop of Mounted Scouts (with pistols) finished.

Next up is the three troops of Arquebusiers. Two of those were already based, which meant I had to forcibly remove them from their base with clippers, with a few losing either a part of or the entirety of their feet in the process. This is especially frustrating because I have some forty-five other infantry models that are already based like this, and will have to be de-based as well.

If you've got any advice for me, leave a comment! From what I've learned, apparently leaving them in the freezer overnight may help make the glue more brittle, and so it might snap off easier. It's worth a try. Hopefully.

And speaking of Kings of War, with the arrival of a second Empire Battalion, five more outriders and thirty State troops (that'll be assembled as Halberdiers into two regiments of Pole-Arms), I've finally got everything I need to reach a 2000-point list! I'm aiming to have the whole army done by the new year.

I decided to go with the Masons for Guild Ball - I liked the look of the team along with their overall playstyle (which favors a balanced approached to the game with lots of synergy). Above is the ball included in the starter box, a goal post made from one of the role markers that came with the first edition of the Game of Thrones LCG (that I sold the cards and tokens for, but apparently not the markers), and Marbles, the Mason's team mascot.

As for actual players, I finished Brick and Harmony. Brick is currently the only in-faction "Big Guy" (i.e., model on a 40mm base) who seems to be more defensively orientated. Harmony, on the other hand, is much more offensive based, and is best paired with her sister, Honor, who is the Mason's Captain.

Apart from these finished models, I've got Honor and Mallet to paint, along with Flint, Tower, and Chisel (all of whom I should be picking up this weekend). That'll give me the full sweep of the currently available Masons to work with.

Not shown are the Strange Aeons miniatures who are getting their bases down. I'll work on them when I get tired of painting the KoW miniatures.

Painting Update - Dark Ages Terrain, Kings of War

With no games played over the past weekend, I thought I'd show what little hobbying I got done in the meantime. With both a full-time job and graduate school demanding most of my time, I'm finding it difficult to squeeze in moments in which I can paint and build. But I'm getting things done, if slowly. 

I've finished up a unit of Knights and a Standard Bearer for my Kings of War Kingdoms of Men army. I'm using Games Workshop's range of Empire for them, since they offer a decent range and a local shop was having a sale. 

I'm looking to get a unit done a week, which should mean I'll have 1500 points by the new year. The last 500 points will probably come from the Undead or Dwarves in the new starter box, which'll also be a convenient way to get a copy of the rulebook. 

In painting the Knights, however, I did figure out that my usual process of painting multi-based miniatures (which was mostly made up of Flames of War stuff) isn't going to work. Normally I just get everything on the base, slap on some drydex for the basing material, and paint. That isn't going to work with these 28mm models, especially with the infantry. So now I'm in the process of removing the miniatures from the bases as I paint them, then replacing them after I've also completed the base. Hopefully I'll have some examples to show soon. 

I've also removed the Free Company models from the project, and put them on Renedra bases which match the rest of my Frostgrave models. Those miniatures are wasted in a big-battle game, and they provided me with enough models to make up a second Frostgrave warband (sans spellcasters) for demos, or general usage. This means, however, I'll have to replace them with other GW models. 

I also wanted to show the 4Grounds buildings that I used in the last SAGA battle report. These are a combination of the Anglo-Danish and High Medieval kits, which work really well together. It only took me a couple days to finish building them. The toughest part was probably the thatch roofs, which needed a couple coats of a 50/50 mix of water and glue to get the teddy bear fur to stay down.

The interiors are really well decorated, if a bit sparse - although those bits will just get in the way of your minis as they fight.

Although I probably should have been a little more careful while I was building these. Some strange runes have appeared on the floor of one of the buildings!

So, that's it for this week. I do know that Bob Fanelli's hosting another Halloween game, and if it's anything like last year's, then it's going to be tons of fun!

Orcs vs. Dwarves - Kings of War AAR

This weekend past, I asked Curt if he wouldn't mind helping me test the foam sheet units - from my Hobby Done Cheap post - using the Kings of War rules. Curt took the Orcs, obviously, and I ran the Dwarves.

The table featured some line-of-sight blocking terrain, some cover providing terrain, and some terrain that would slow down units that passed through them (the dark patches of green representing forests). Our respective forces would start on the black edges and move onto the table, which would give us a little more room to maneuver.

Our armies were tactical opposites. Curt's Orcs had faster moving infantry with cavalry and chariot units, while my Dwarves were slower moving but had ranged attacks from the Rangers, Ironwatch, and artillery units.

Curt had placed his Gore Chariots on one flank, and his Gore Riders on another. With their great mobility, the Riders and Chariots came screaming through the woods on either side while his infantry advanced over the hills at a dead run. 

I deployed my artillery on my flanks, hoping the Ironbelcher Cannon and Flame Belcher would be enough to hold Curt's flankers while my infantry advanced to the opposing line. Unfortunately, this plan failed when Curt managed to keep his line just out of charge distance of my stubby-legged Dwarves, allowing the Orcs to charge into combat first.

While my Flame Belcher had some luck with holding back two of the Gore Chariots, the single Ironbelcher wasn't nearly as useful, and the cannoneers watched helplessly as the Gore Riders slammed into the flank of the Rangers, routing them after a single charge.

The Riders would then proceed to roll up my right flank, similarly crushing my Shieldbreakers unit on the right. Curt's envelopment of my line meant that none of my units could turn to face the Riders without receiving a flank charge from the main line of Orcs. My only hope was that I could break Curt's line at some point and force a similar roll along one of his flanks.

Unfortunately that plan didn't come to fruition, with the Orcs massacring the Dwarves and turning the battle into a complete rout. It was a total victory for the Orcs, who only lost two Gore Chariots during the entire battle.

As crushing as my defeat was, I enjoyed using the KoW rules - and Curt certainly did. We've never really played any games together that involved lines of battle, and Curt appreciated this, being a big fan of the Total War series of computer games.

What's great about the King of War ruleset is that there is a plethora of historical lists that could easily run games from the ancient age of hoplites up to the English Civil War. And with my cheap method of making units, I can see plenty of game of KoW in the future!