Galleys & Galleons, part 1

Last weekend, my lovely wife and I sat down to give Galleys & Galleons, the renaissance-era naval rules now in playtest, a go.  You will need to forgive the pics, as I do not have miniatures painted up, and I forgot to get my blue felt out for an appropriate backdrop!

This pic was taken after the full first turn.  The table is roughly 3 feet square, and we are using counters out of the Close Action game by Clash of Arms.  We kept details simple for this first game - 3 galleons each, with equal stats.  My wife is closing fast, as she rolled very aggressively (and well) throughout the game.  At this point, two of my ships are in irons - i.e. pointed into the wind.  It is an omen of things to come!

A few more turns in, and I am trying to shake my squadron back into a line.  My ships are taking damage, and Little Miss Horatio Nelson is about to break my line!

Even though one of her ships is out of contact, things are not looking good for me.  Yes, that ship of mine got raked and will strike its colors in the next turn, and the one on the right side is about to get raked, catch fire, and explode (!) in the next turn.

Here is the next to last turn - my last ship is trying to get off the board. She agreed that if my last ship could sail off the table, that it would escape as my wife's ships would need to return and claim the surrendered vessel.  Fortunately for me, my last vessel escaped...





So far, the verdict on the rules is quite favorable.  Even my lovely wife enjoys them, and she is a hard sell on sailing ship games.



As I would rather play with miniatures than counters:

Here is the start of a fleet of Figurehead 1/2400 ships on the workbench.  The bases are just temporary until I can order some better ones.

Huaxtecs, part 2

Some small progress on my Meso-American project - here are the Huaxtecs, among others:

Shown here with some Scots, Aztecs, and a few fantasy figures, the Huaxtecs are getting their base flesh color - I am using P3 Khardic Flesh.

Here is a closer pic - may be slightly NSFW:

All of the Huaxtec warriors are mounted onto 25mm round bases from Warbases.

Here is a pic with some flesh shading experimentation:

It is not a very good pic unfortunately  -  it shows the neat Khardic Flesh base on the right, and on the left is the aftermath of a heavy wash of P3 Idrian Flesh over the Khardic base.  P3 paints are on the satin side, which is not a bad thing but my picture taking skills just are not showing the contrast.


.

Underway again if slowly

Well, it has been a long time, as I have not had much inclination for the wetter side of miniatures.  But, a slice of inspiration has arrived - I volunteered and was accepted to the playtest crew of Galleys & Galleons, being produced for Ganesha Games by Nic aka Mr Hotspur.



As this is intended to be a miniatures game, I would need a fleet or two:

And, here are some volunteers!  I have had these squadrons for some 14 years or so - the price is in CAD$, back when the exchange rate was quite favorable to us Yanks.



The plan is to paint these ships up, and get some gaming in.  I have half a thought to break these squadrons up and mix them into something a bit different.  Instead of Spanish and English, I was thinking maybe Dutch and Portuguese, and split the ships across the fleets of the two nations.  These miniatures will have to do for now, as the harsh reality of budget limitations for naval activities has closed in - no funds for new acquisitions, just upkeep of existing ships.







Getting these squadrons has spurred some more enthusiasm about older projects, namely those neglected ironclads; might need to drag them out as well.  And the WW1 ships, but I am not liking the way I have based them...

The table, and other stuff

Nothing much going on here hobby-wise, especially as work has been a bit crazy.  I did take the time to clear off the table:

The table, before

The table, after

Cleared off and re-organized a bit.  I am wanting to start up another 'build' round, where I clean, assemble, and prime miniatures, as I have the Huaxtecs and Islemen patiently waiting.  Nothing is going to happen with those two groups until my recent base order comes in, however!  I was experimenting briefly with some trays I received from Warbases, hoping that my steel washers would fit into them, but the washers are just too large and I have little inclination to modify either the trays or the washers to suit.  So, a small order of bases, and a couple of trays, has been made and they will appear soon.


Now, if that was not enough, this appears:

Over at Grimsby Wargaming, Paul posted a brief review of this book.  I was intrigued, but it was the finding of the above-pictured book at a local used bookstore (a hardback 1st ed for only $6.50) that has set some more gears grinding - another project, yes quite probably!  But, most likely it will take the place of my Scots project - I might be able to morph both of them together, if I am careful, and maybe I am just more comfortable with a fantasy setting than a historical setting where I might be put under a microscope for 'accuracy'.  My lovely wife - the one that found the book at the store - is comfortable with either route which is always a good thing!


.

Huaxtecs, part 1

After a hiatus of about 6 years, I have made a purchase off of eBay:

And an impressive purchase it is:  Xachoti's Huaxtec Warband, from the skilled sculptings of Steve Saleh and his Lucid Eye range, which, sadly seems to have gone quiet recently.

The warband is a group of 24 miniatures - one leader and a random assortment of others in the range.  The variety is quite good, with 7 different sculpts along with the leader, and a nice mix of weapons.

The castings, with the exception of one, are fairly free from flash and are well-cast.  I will say that for the most part these chaps are bent over a bit, as readying a final blow to a downed opponent.

The close-ups show the detail, especially in the faces.  Surprisingly, a few remind me of Celts with their upswept hair!

By comparison, they should mix well with my Eureka miniatures, although the Lucid Eye miniatures will be a bit taller - in the pic above the Eureka miniatures are mounted on washers.



I'm looking forward to getting some paint on these fellows!


.

Prince of Skulls

For some time, I have been wanting a copy of the above-pictured novel, and for various reasons, from complacency to downright laziness, I have never succeeded.  Until yesterday, when my copy of Prince of Skulls by MAR Barker arrived.

Now, I have a complete set of the five published novels on the Tékumel genre!


.

Just arrived...

The delivery person left this for me today:

Lion Rampant, the new medieval rules from Dan Mersey, published by Osprey.  I will try and have a good look at the book soon, but two things pop into my mind immediately:

First, I am not too sure about the smallish, perfect-bound format of the rules - I am just a Luddite I suppose!

Second, the urge to get my medieval project on the table again might lead to some unpleasant side effects - orcs versus Scots might be a possibility...


.

Aztecs, part 3

A little bit more brush-time with the Meso-american project:

It might be a little hard to see, but the headdress feathers on these Eagle-suit wearers have been touched up slightly.

The Huaxtec-style suit wearers have received their base colors and a shadowing wash, prior to highlights.

More slow progress on the Spanish - lots more work to do!


.

The Aridáni Legion of Lady Mríssa, part 3

Just a very brief update:

The first element now has a layer of black gesso primer.  Now comes the hard part - actual painting!

There is an interesting color rendition (by Jeff Dee no less!) here at The Tékumel Project blog, and there is a concise entry about the Legion in the Tsolyánu army pamphlet.  The Legion is notable in its lack of blue in the uniform.  Reddish orange and white seem to be the main colors listed in the pamphlet; I intend to deviate somewhat from Mr. Dee's version and use the red-orange and blue for trim and white for the main color.  I do like the shield colors he used, and will shamelessly imitate them!


.

New books

A few new books occupy my shelves, new to me at least:

The newest one of the lot.  I picked this up on the recommendations of a person posting on The Wargames Website, a new forum/news source that started up recently.  There is an article in WS&S 70 about converting these from Dark Ages to Ancients - from there it should not be too hard to slot them into use for Tékumel battles!


An addition to my small set of Meso-American books:

This should be good for some background reading and illustrations.


And, two interesting prospects for new projects:

The first is an overview of the Punic Wars, and the second details the border conflicts of the Scots.  I see both of these eras as potential gaming projects, although the current CFO - my lovely wife - is most interested in the Scots.  It is kind of a win-win situation for me as either one is great!  This will not see much work until the Meso-American project gains more traction...


.

The Aridáni Legion of Lady Mríssa, part 2

It is still a little warm in my hobby corner, but that did not stop me from doing a little something:

The first set of Lady Mríssa's legion has been cleaned up and ready for primer.  This is the command element, led by Lady Mríssa herself (in the large headdress).  An officer, musician, standard bearer, and one trooper round out the element.  I think that I will try using black gesso as primer on these miniatures - it seems to be working well for the Aztecs.

In the pic above, Lady Mríssa's troops are posed next to my archers from the First Legion of Ever Present Glory.  Both represent one element, but there are differing amount of miniatures used.  Lady Mríssa's legion is rated as medium infantry, while the archers are still rated as heavy infantry.  For my purposes, heavy infantry will have six miniatures per element, while medium infantry will have five.  It is a satisfying mnemonic for me - just glance at the element and know what it is without looking at the rules or a roster.


.

Legion of Ever Present Glory, part 17

The slightly cooler temps of late have seen me return to the painting table, if briefly:

These are the archers from the First Legion of Ever Present Glory.  After a base coat of Ceramcoat Ocean Reef Blue, they received a heavy wash of dilute Ceramcoat Phthalo Blue, then the flesh parts were picked out with Reaper Master Series Tanned Flesh.  They are looking a bit messy at the moment, but slowly they will look better as I pick out the details.


.

Slow July progress

Slow progress again on the monsters - my work schedule and the temp inside our place is making it a bit hard to sit down at the paint table for long...

I did get some paint onto the grinnlings.

WTJ strikes again!

The ships are just flowing out of the printers at War Times Journal - now, there is a new line of ships:   World War One ships in 1/1500, 1/1800, 1/2400, and 1/3000 scales!  Check this link:

WTJ 3-d printed WW1 ships

Just Germans for now, but soon the Royal Navy as well...



And, for more pics, see this great new blog:   Red In The Morning



(Not my blog but go visit just the same!)

Another distraction?

Just arrived...

Carrying on...

The tanky bug continues to bite!

Decisions, though, need to be made.  And so, here goes:

Stay with MAATAC vehicles, add in some from other vendors to cover any holes in the line-up; i.e. infantry

Scenery?  Desert - practical as I already have a table covering

Rules?  This is the great unknown...  I prefer something with no markers or a bare minimum.  The rules do not need to be super-realistic, just entertaining!



Hmmm, easy enough.  Painted vehicles will need to go for a soak, and the unpainted stuff needs to come out from hiding for some primer.  I am already thinking of camo schemes for the various factions - Aquarians will be in a Caunter scheme, probably with blue included!

Aztecs, part 2 + orcs?

Some small progress:

Aztec eagle suits, from Eureka.  For eagle suits, of all the different factions, I am going to stay with natural colors, i.e. browns of various sorts.  Some sources list eagle suits as being in the brighter colors, blue, red, etc. but I am choosing to ignore them!  Besides, there are plenty of brightly-hued suits in the armies...

Here is the start of the Huaxtec-style suits.  These suits will be brightly colored.  Also in the pic:  a pair of Old Glory orc archers!  On a whim, I started to work on their skin color, just as a change of pace, even though those conquistadors are patiently waiting...


Another little project:

Here are some examples of my attempt to organize my painting choices - file cards with details on units.  These are for my first Aztec suits; as I am not too particular about specific paint choices they are not listed here, but I can see that other units, my Tékumel and Half Continent units especially, will also list the specific brand and type of paint used.
 

.

Legion of Ever Present Glory, part 16

This is the next element of my Tsolyáni army:

Archers of the First Legion of Ever Present Glory 

These miniatures are only primed.  The lighter pair have been primed with Vallejo Grey Surface Primer.  After using the product on a few miniatures, I am not very happy with the results, as the finish seems to be very 'slippery' and does not take paint well.  It would not surprise me if I am doing it wrong, but there you go.

The other four have been primed with Liquitex Neutral Grey Gesso.  I have used black gesso on other miniatures in the past, but I have not tried it on my Tsolyáni troops as I am hoping that the lighter primer will help with making the colors of the Tékumel troops that much brighter in turn.  The grey gesso, though, seems to have a shiny finish, and it will be interesting to see how paint goes on to it.

I might just go to using black gesso as a primer for everything, depending on how my Aztecs look...


.

The table as it were...

Just a brief post - what is on the painting table this Saturday?

In front are the Aztecs and conquistadors, Boschenberg musketeers, and nasty baskets (err, monsters)!  Also shown:  my next unit for the Tsolyáni forces, and more musketeers.

Not shown:  one of my week-end tasks is to go through and sort out a bunch of old paintbrushes, looking for those that are still usable. 



(And, this is post #300... )


.

Egyptian ships

After reading the books I received about ancient Egyptian ships, I was able to piece together a list of common building materials for the Pharaoh's navy:



Acacia

Sycamore

Cedar (red and white)



Also used, but much less often:



Cypress

Pine





Cedar, of course, would be imported from the Levant and was often used for funerary barges for the high-ranking citizens and royalty.  I intend to paint up only a few ships in red cedar, and the rest in a more tan color.  Masts, as another nifty detail, were often made of the same material as the hull.

Work in progress

Just a quick pic from the desk:

The big basket on the right, some Boschenberg troops in the center, and other miniatures patiently waiting......

Langton news

Well, it is new to me, but at the Langton Notice page, it has been announced that there has been a price increase on many items, effective today.  This is the first price change for more than three years, so it is not too surprising.  I am not entirely sure what items are affected - it appears that the ancient naval line has yet to see the increase.

Egyptian ship books...

Hmmm, long time no post!  Hopefully, these will help me get back on track:

I was looking for information on the colors of ancient Egyptian ships, and came across these on Amazon.  The book by Sintich is more about making models, and might not have much information on the colors of actual ships, but is very handy as it has plans for making scale ship models.  Besides, it was only $2.28 with free shipping, so I could not pass on it!  The Vinson books just arrived and I have yet to peruse it in depth.



The plan for my Bronze age ships is still as follows:  paint them up as historically plausible as possible, and use them for both historical battles and in my fantasy Tékumel battles.  No one, except the fine readers of this humble blog, will know the difference...

Direction, and plans

After a bit of a painting session last night, I realized that I needed to review exactly what I am doing with this project.  Shiny new projects have been a bit of a distraction, especially in the manner of other horse-and-musket genres.  But, I think that the Half-Continent is going to see some more work regardless!

Two items need to be sorted soon.  First, basing.  Currently I am mounting my miniatures singly on 3/4" washers.  This could be a problem, as the washers might not fit into existing sabot basing, and I do not really want to make my own.  So, in conjunction with another project, I ordered a small tester of bases from Warbases, just to see how their products look.  I have a good amount of Litko bases, but I found that the products from Warbases were less expensive, even with shipping, for similar products.  If the quality is similar or better, I can see more coming in from Warbases - this small order should be in soon.

Second, rules.  In conjunction with the basing above, I need rules for both skirmish and mass battles.  I am fairly familiar with the skirmish side - there are some from Ganesha Games that would work (Song of Blades & Heroes, Song of Drums & Shakos), Sharp Practice (TFL) might be good as well, among others.  I am not so sure about bigger battle rules, where the typical unit is a battalion.  I would like to keep the figure ratio to about 1:20... Still searching so stay tuned.

I'll have some pics up on the week-end - the big basket is nearly done!

Tékumel naval, part 12

Another 'for posterity's sake' pic, to remind me of exactly what sort of damage I did to a miniature (!):

This is the Langton Octeres, just prior to having the bow hacked and slashed.  This ship will be receiving the goblin's head, and a new ram...


.

Monsters, part 10

Slow, slow progress - a bit of ink added to the big guy...

Sorry, the pic is a bit blurry!

Ahoggyá, part 9

Finally, these are done!

Well, almost.  I see a spot or two of touch-up is needed, and the grey one might need a bit more matte varnish.

I tried to make the base a bit less green this time, as compared to the Ever Present Glory troops:

Partly by design, and partly by the difficulty of getting the adhesive under all of those legs, I think I succeeded.


Another angle:

Right rear flank.  This pic shows the shield design a bit better.  The halberds have a variety of symbols on them; they are mostly random, with the exception of the grey one - I tried to represent the circle of eight which IIRC is symbolic of the Ahoggyá reproductive ceremony.

One last pic:

Rear angle.  Much earlier in the process, I lamented about how I made a mistake when gluing the loose shields onto the left arms of the Ahoggyá, and this shows the problem quite clearly.  The shield face is pointing down, making it difficult to see while playing.

This is number 4 of approximately 27 elements I need for my Tsolyáni army in the Thámerü scenario...


.

Ahoggyá, part 8

Painting is just about complete on my first element of Ahoggyá:

These are painted to represent the Legion of Gurúggma, 3rd Imperial Ahoggyá Auxiliary Heavy Infantry (say that 3 times fast!!).


And, now to base them up:

All of those arms and legs will make it a bit tricky; I plan to place one figure on the base at a time.


.

An unexpected 'First'

There is a first time for everything!

I have been working with miniatures for a while, since the 80's, and I have never had this happen to me, until now:

My tube of super glue has run dry!  Typically, I replace them after the tip is so plugged up that they are not usable, or the glue inside has cured due to a leak.  But not this time!  And, it lasted a long time - this tube was opened at least 4 years ago...


.

Aztecs, part 1

The first of my Aztecs have been prepped for priming:

This is Eureka Miniatures pack 100AZT07, Eagle knights.  Not shown are the shields, which I try to leave off of miniatures, as it is easier to paint with them separate.  These are nice miniatures, if maybe a bit flat although the poses are most likely the culprit.  One word of caution - Eureka uses a soft, bendy metal and thin pieces can flex a lot.  I have put super glue on the handles of the macuahuitls (the 'cricket bat'-looking weapon) as they bent somewhat during their journey to my table.  They did not break, however.

And, the second set:

This is Eureka Miniatures pack 100AZT12, Huaxtec suit wearers.  In my original post, I stated that these were Huaxtecs, another Mesoamerican tribe.  They are not - these represent Aztecs wearing a Huaxtec-style suit, sort of similar to imitation Legionaires!  Huaxtecs were not considered a big threat by the Aztecs at the time of the Conquest, but once they were ferocious (and more numerous).  The problem with the bendy metal is not so obvious with the Huaxtec suit wearers, as the macuahuitl-wielding hand of the middle two miniatures in the above pic are a separate piece from the rest of the miniature.

Although it might seem daunting, I am looking forward to trying my hand at painting these chaps up!


.