Oops I did it Again

As every wargamer knows you never run out of things to paint and the easiest way to accomplish this is to make sure you are always adding to the pile. With a trip to Attack at Devizes last week and then a few bits of online ordering I have managed to maintain the integrity of my 'to be painted' pile for a while longer.
Whilst ordering a Fire Elemental for my brother I picked up a Abyssal Chroneas  for myself. I really liked the look of the model when it was released and even though I have no obvious use for it at present I thought I'd take advantage of the in-show discount Mantic offered. I did manage to resist spending money on the new Terrain Crate line but I'm now thinking I should have picked some of that up for scatter terrain as well.

The model came as five parts with all apart from the head making a good snug fit. I used a little green stuff to fill a few obvious holes and only a little work was needed on the mould lines.

The official paint job is as a fire demon but the Chroneas fluff describes it more as a beast of time so I'll be going for an alternate colour scheme, probably green & black, but I'm not entirely decided as of yet.

He's a big beastie standing at around 120mm and only just fitting on a 50mm square base. As you can see he towers over a normal 32mm infantryman and even my Elephant beast for the Herd.

Next up are some Frostgrave Gnolls which will be used to make up a Horde of infantry for the Herd army. The models look to have good detail and the box comes with loads to options considering you only pay £20 for the box.

The Horde will consist of the 20 Gnolls from the box and I have space for a unit filler on a 50mm square built into the base.

With that in mind and the fact that I want to be able to add a Chieftain on Chariot to the Herd if needed I want a cheap way of adding the unit. After looking around I ordered some 54mm Centaur models from Russia. They do a soft plastic version of these as well but I'm happy with the hard plastic version as I suspect the soft ones would be a pain to paint. For the sum of £9 including postage I got 4 large models, two of which I put on chariot bases ( 50mm * 100mm ) and one on a 50mm square to use as a unit filler.

I also picked up a new set of rules that I had spotted. Blood & Plunder are rules to be used to wargame the pirate age and what intrigued me was the fact the same battle could include naval and land forces. I've not had a good enough read yet to give any sort of review but my thinking is that the rules may be able to be converted to cover the ancient Greek period, if not then I will need to get my Pirate on !

The book itself is well made with lots of good illustrations and some really nice models and terrain, with Firelock Games making a good range of models including ships it would be pretty easy to get a force together.

As well as adding to the pile I've also been working away at it with some light lancers nearing completion for the Basileans.

Ride the Bull

With the trip to Devizes planned for tomorrow I thought it best to do a quick update before I overload on new things to paint. I've completed some more pieces for the Mythic Battles / Basilea Army and now I have the cavalry underway the Basilea should be ready to play in the near future.

The first man up is Gnaeus Sallustis who is a unique hero and part of the Holy Lancers formation, along with two Regiments of Knights. The formation gives all three units Elite for only 30 points which is a bargain. The model is one of the Macedonian heavy cavalry stuck onto the Reaper Bones Bronze Bull I already had. Gnaeus is tough, fast and nimble making him a good candidate for hitting flanks. Being a Large Cavalry unit means he can see over most units and his speed and nimble should open up flank charge options for him.

I also completed three more Gods namely Hecate, Helios, & Hades. I enjoyed Helios and Hades the most with the whip of Helios and shield of Hades being particular favourites.

The three of them join the others to complete two Hordes of Elohi and one Ur-Elohi. These troops add more fast moving and hard hitting capability to the Basilean army with the fact they are all Inspiring and Fearless with Iron Resolve making them hard to kill as well. The Ur-Elohi also has access to the common spells as he had Heal as a default option, potentially making the unit a very mobile caster platform.

EDIT : Quick Raiding Season update, we played the 8th turn with the scenario being Crossing the River and the result being the Normans gave my Rus a proper going over with a clear victory and all three bonus abilities going to the Normans.

The Big Push

Having a week off work always means I can get some concentrated hobbying in. So this week saw several projects started and some completed.
The first work completed are some new hills, I wanted to have some hills that could be used as steep hills whilst using the older hills as normal ones. In order to distinguish them I used 30mm thick blue foam rather than 20mm and carved the sides into steep cliffs. Having been through the process before I was able to make these pretty quickly.

I also completed an extra 4 Hearthguard for the Milites Christi, having looked at the battleboard it was obvious that I would need some more to make the most of the battleboard. Again having painted up lots of Hearthguard before these went together quickly and where ready for the game later in the week.

On Friday with my brother visiting from Cirencester we had a game of SAGA with Stuart taking on the Saracen side against my Milites Christi. I won't go over the battle as that has already been done but it was interesting to get the MC out again.

The battleboard has changed considerably from v1 to v2 with the emphasis now being more on surviving than allowing the long range cavalry charges that v1 encouraged.

We also played a couple of games of Mythic Battles using the starter scenario. As the game played quickly we managed to get two games in with the overall result being 1 win each.

Whilst making the big hills I also made some to fit onto the playing board, the rest of the terrain I already had. The starter scenario is very straightforward and the interplay of the forces on each side added good depth. I can only assume that with so many different units on offer the combinations are almost limitless.

The final job which I did today was sticking together all the Victrix Greek cavalry for the Basilean army I am putting together. I had enough models for 2 troops of Panther Lancers ( no shields ) and 2 regiments of Knights. I also made up 2 models for mounted Wizards and 3 extra mounted spares.

Now I just need to get them all painted up and I will have a good started force for the Basileans.

Next week is Attack so the prime aim will be to try and not add too much to my painting pile, a struggle which is generally pointless.

Raiding Season Week #6

This week the Normans raided the Holy Ground sector so the aim of the scenario was to try and hold the terrain pieces with victory points being awarded for holding a piece at the start of your move. This means you build up the points over the course of the seven turns to work out who is the victor.
The Normans started with a wide deployment and the Rus the normal 'pagan clump', both sides fielding the same armies as last week.

Both sides occupied the closest terrain piece on the first turn with the Normans choosing a hill for their side and the Rus a forest, this left the central hill unoccupied.

The Normans opened the combat with a charge by mounted Hearthguard in the centre on the largest Rus warrior unit which was repulsed with greater casualties on the Norman side. As the Normans did not start the move on the hill ( only ended on it ) they could not claim any VP's for the hill.

The Rus then moved onto the hill with the Normans opting to make a reaction move to get the Hearthguard to safety. This left a Warrior unit in charge range of the Rus who charged in and they almost managed to wipe the Normans out. With the Norman unit being below the three man threshold the Normans also lost a SAGA dice generation.

On the Norman left the mercenary Gall-Gaedhill stood watch opposite the Rus mercenary Scouts with neither side moving forwards. On the Norman right they charged from the hill and into the Rus warrior foot causing several casualties with the Rus being forced to retreat.

The Rus then charged back and whilst they were reduced to two men the Normans also suffered enough casualties to take them down to three remaining warriors. This meant that the Normans now only generated 4 SAGA dice each turn to the Rus's 5, with the Rus being more on the defensive.

On the Rus right it was all quiet as the Normans could not generate enough dice to make a decisive advance and the Rus started to use Frozen Winter to add fatigue and Blizzard to create areas of rough terrain the Norman cavalry did not want to enter.

 On the left the Normans wiped out the last of one Rus Warrior unit and looked to go around the Rus entrenched on the central hill.

This they did but again lacked the numbers to force the Rus off the terrain so could not stop the Rus from claiming a victory.

 The key to the Rus victory was claiming the second objective early and then tieing down the Normans so they could not get a good charge off so they could build a lead on the VP's. We did  not need to play the last turn as the Normans could not catch the Rus up. They did however claim the secondary objective so get a bonus roll next battle.

This leaves the scores very close with the Normans only getting one more choice of raiding square before the need to decide if they will stay for the Defend the Barricades scenario.

This week I also completed a few more of my Mythic Battles models with Athena and Aphrodite joining the Gods, Medusa joining the monsters and a troop of Hoplites joining the throng.

The Hoplites were the last unit I needed to complete the started battle forces and Athena sports Medusa's head on her shield so it was fitting to do them both at the same time.

Quick Bases for Basilea

With no game this week I got on with sorting out the bases for the Forces of Basilea troops I already have painted up. In keeping with the idea of creating a quick army out of the models I already have the bases have been put together using stuff I already have.

So far I have put together one Horde of Spearmen and two Regiments of Swordsmen from the metal Mycenaean Greeks I had. Whilst the bases aren't really a match they do the job and are a step up from unpainted bases.

From the Mythic Battles set I have one Regiment of Archers and one Regiment of Foot Knights.

As well as the first Horde of Elohi and Zeus standing in as the Ur-Elohi. I have spent a little more time on the individual bases for the Gods. The multi-base was again a quick job with four magnetic dots on the base which the coins on the Gods bases stick to and a little bit of flock put in the gaps.

I have five more Gods to paint up to make a second Horde of Elohi and then I will need to purchase some cavalry to make up the two Regiments of mounted Knights which should round out the army.