While engaging on my usual 'Net rounds, I came across this post at LeadAdventure forums and I was intrigued enough to get the book:
It is a thin volume for the price, but it hits several targets for me. One, it is an odd enough venue, perfect for games. Second, Homeric fable? Nice. Third, it is illustrated by Fred Gwynne, better remembered as Herman Munster, who was a skilled illustrator, a fact that I did not know until I read about him.
Now, there is a small company that is starting a line of miniatures based on the book, Grimm Miniatures, also with a Facebook page.
No new projects though, right!?!
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My second (or is it the 3rd?) order from Warbases arrived a while back, but of course the pics and post are slow to be produced.
Above are the three basic sabot base sizes that I will be using for Irregular Wars. Unit casualties are tracked by Resolve, and a typical unit will have a Resolve from 3 to 5. Figure removal will be an easy way to track the loss of Resolve. Although the base sizes are irregular, they do have a similar width, which was a key to my plan.
Here is an example, using some unfinished (!) Huaxtecs. The miniatures are on 25mm round bases, and they fit into the sabots very nicely, not too snug which will allow for some of the space to be taken up by a thin coating of paint. Mesoamerican units will range from 3 to 5 Resolve, while most Spanish Conquistador units have a Resolve of 4.
These sabot bases will work very well for regular foot troops, but I have yet to figure out how I want to represent the small handful of Conquistador cavalry units, and artillery. Base width once again will be the issue, and might require a bit of deviation from the plan for 1 figure = 1 Resolve that is set up for the infantry.
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To start off, here is a pic of the table's current state:
It is a bit of a mess at the moment. That will be corrected, maybe even this week-end!
I have been going through the various bits of printed source and gaming material that I possess with regards to the Mesoamerican project. Some of them are listed amongst my books here. After some digging, and one new purchase, I have some more:
This is my most recent purchase. I have yet to dig into it, but the theme is intriguing, as it was the use of allied natives that was the key to the success of the conquistadors in their battles against the Aztecs and other peoples.
And now, for some older material:
One of the handful of issues of Wargames Illustrated that I have kept around, this has the first part of a campaign for conquistadors in the New World.
The big problem is that I do not have a copy of the issue that contains the 2nd part of the series... Still, it will be very handy as the miniatures finally get painted.
And another:
WI 170 has this article:
More gaming goodness, and I think that at least one of my WI back issues has the old Wargames Foundry catalog pages with pics of all of their Aztec line, with most if not all of them painted.
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Unfortunately, things have been rather quiet here at the hobby table. Very little paint has been spread over primer, although I feel that is soon to be ending. I have encountered a few stumbling blocks with regards to current projects, and they have led me to do some considerations as far as my projects go.
1st point - Old projects need to be cleared out, mostly for the need of funding for the remainders! I have a lot of stuff, mostly the typical 'oh shiny' purchases and projects that were abandoned along the way. These range from sci-fi to fantasy to historical themes and include books, rules, and miniatures, and some of this stuff dates back 30-odd years. I intend to post them here first, prior to listing them at various gaming websites. Stay tuned!
2nd point - The two big projects, namely Tékumel and Mesoamerican, are here to stay even though little or no progress is being made currently. What is needed for each of these projects is a comprehensive shopping list; this has been done with Tékumel - see my Thámerü posts - and is being worked up for the Mesoamerican forces. Then, I need to stay with that list. Rules are included with this point, and I am edging towards the more simple variety.
3rd point - The unfortunate downside (what?!) of all of this downtime is the wandering that my mind has done to conjure up another project. Hey, my lovely wife says I can have three projects and I am taking full advantage of that statement! Currently, it is in the research/book-buying stage, and I am angling this project to be compatible with one of the big projects listed above, although that might create yet another headache of sorts. More on this later.
4th point - It was something that I had meant to do for a long time, and back on the Ides of March I finally took a membership to the Society of Ancients, with my first copy of The Slingshot being Number 299. So far, the articles are good and the discount on orders will be useful in the upcoming months. I do need to remember and get set up for the forum.
Now, to find the camera and prep another post on the Mesoamerican project...
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The wheels are slowly turning on this project. Painting time has been hard to come by of late, but the outlook is improving! I have been trying to organize the project in other ways, however, so the downtime is not without some benefit, if slight.
First off, I think that I have solved a basing problem involving single-based miniatures and my current preferred rules - Irregular Wars v2.0. This ruleset uses element basing, but I want some flexibility so I am mounting my miniatures singly, and using movement trays from Warbases. This will help with two points - firstly the basing is of course more versatile; and second is the issue of unit casualties in Irregular Wars, which uses 'Resolve' to track the ability of a given unit to fight. I dislike using markers, but I can track the Resolve of most units by simply removing figures from the tray (or adding them back) as the Resolve number changes. For example, a typical unit of foot has a Resolve of 4, which translates into 4 miniatures on a movement tray. Simple, and should work although I am thinking that some sort of plug for the missing figures will look better on the tray as the unit loses Resolve.
I am also digging around for more resources for the project - web sites, books, magazine articles, etc. My lovely wife has turned me to using Pinterest as a way to collate pictures from around the Web in support of the project, especially bird/feather colors.
More later!
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