Old Guard (of sorts)

Back in the old Rogue Trader Days I collected Imperial Guard, a follow on from my first army of pirates and mercenaries. At that time it was mostly bulked out with the first set of plastic guardsmen GW did, but I always wanted to fill it with the original Imperial Army models. Whilst not exactly realistically proportioned, they were models with great character.

Well I now have quite a collection of these models, some from my original army, some recent additions from ebay, and I finally got around to slapping some paint on. I succumbed to nostalgia and went old school with a mid grey uniform which, as well as looking pretty good, was also incredibly quick to paint. There are still some details to be done, like eyes and unit markings, along with the bases, but progress has been good. I'm going to do these minis in batches, a few at a time between other projects, so I don't get that jaded feeling that sometimes comes from doing whole units (and is why I haven't finished those Tau, and myriad other projects!).

And so, on to the obligatory piccies...

Catching up

While my painting area was squeezed by building work, large projects were out, but I did find time to catch up on some projects I've been meaning to do for a while.

First up was finishing my Copplestone Castings Neo Sovs. I'd already prepared a few of these, but had quite a few left to go, including most of the command models, and all the basing to do.

Here's a family photo. Mark Copplestone's figures are a joy to paint, nice chunky models that have simple but effective detailing. There's loads of character to these guys too, with some great expressions. The only problem I had was choosing the right camo scheme. In the end the last few got a different scheme to the first few. I may go back and change the old ones, but for now I'm happy enough, they're not dramatically different from 'table distance' and it just looks like some have had a more recent issue of kit. The front row includes the commanders and two snipers.
The guy with all the medals is probably only going to turn up on tables occasionally, possibly as an objective! The radioman on the right is a pretty straightforward conversion using a GW Tau backpack and green stuff (for the headset), and is wearing the 'new' camo. The 'political officer' (on the left) was a really quick model to paint, but has really effective (in my opinion).

First Impressions... um ... Last?

During August (was it that long ago?) Matt and I got a quick game of Warhammer in to try out the new 8th Edition at Warhammer World in Nottingham. Empire vs High Elves at 2000 pts each.

So what did I think? Overall I'm liking the new rules. The emphasis is definitely back on infantry, and I like the balance of the new magic rules. You really need an understanding of how your units will perform in different situations to help decide whether to take advantage of the 'horde' or 'Steadfast' formations. So what were the specific thoughts about how my Empire army was affected?

Infantry: The new steadfast rule really helps Ld 7 infantry, if you can fit in large enough units! The changes to Initiative and second rank attacks really help to narrow the difference between units as well, but without removing all the flavour. Still no solution to the problem of the Empire's signature weapon, the halberd, being bland and unattractive though.

Not sure I'll be taking Flagellants very often though. Now that they will be on the receiving end of more attacks (at least two ranks worth), that T3 and no save makes them look very expensive for troops that will inevitably die in droves as a speed bump (especially now most core infantry can effectively be stubborn).

Cavalry: Knights have taken a bit of a hit. The random charge move has reduced their ability to make sure of getting the charge in, and units sizes mean they don't generally get to benefit from the steadfast or horde rules. They're going to be less of a 'first strike' unit, and more used to throw in a tip the balance at a crucial point. Makes it tactically more interesting.

Pistoliers I'm undecided on. As fast cavalry they're still pretty flexible. Pistols are now longer ranged, but the negative modifiers for moving and firing at long range soon stack up to reduce their shooting effectiveness.

Artillery: One word - Mortars...

taken with iphone, apologies for quality!

And the High Elves?

I do think GW have got the 'Always Strikes First' rule badly wrong, allowing units to re-roll misses, combined with the change to initiative and extra rank attacking, mean that High Elf units can cause some serious damage (spears attacking in four ranks at WS4, re-rolling misses, you do the math...). It would have made more sense for this rule to simply mean that they acted in initiative order, reducing the number of attacks they would take in return, but not making them cause more casualties. This would seem to sit with the description better.

That said, they're not entirely unbeatable, but its trickier.

High Elf spearmen are quite scary now, attacking in 4 ranks! (and for less points than a Dogs of War pikemen, bit that's another rant...)

Another Age of Empires

Well it's been a while. Real life intruded recently in the form of a major kitchen rebuild and all the associated disruption, squishing my painting area into a tiny area of our spare room, surrounded by temporarily displaced furniture and crockery. Still, I've managed a few projects, so expect a few posts in a row.

First up, continuing the saga of my Empire army for WFB, are you sitting comfortably?

Right then... After a bit of a break form Warhammer while I was at Uni, I got back into it with a friend when I was living in Portsmouth. Initially using my old army and 3rd edition rules, I got repeatedly smacked by his Skaven. It was the decision to add some more spearmen and handgunners, my first trip to a GW in years, and discovery of the plastic sets that then got me back in the habit. Combined with meeting more dedicated gamers when I moved to Derbyshire (and found Warhammer World nearby) of course.

One purchase of the 6th edition rulebook and the Empire army book and I'd started a completely new army...

I'm not one for designing an army list and then collecting to it. I'm always adding models and units I like the look of or fancy painting, so it's more of a work in progress. I'd been sceptical about the landsknechte style that had started to appear just as I was dropping out of the hobby, but before I knew it, it had grown on me and puffy sleeves were everywhere.

Here's how things stand at the moment.


Depending how you calculate it, there's something over 6-7,000 points there.

Back Row: Steam Tank, 2 units of 5 pistoliers, 10 knights, 13 knights, 5 knights, 6 White Wolves, Mortar
Second Row: 2 (yes, 2) volleyguns, 20 swordsmen (usually used as detachments), 24 spearmen, 24 greatswords, 24 halberdiers, 20 flagellents, Great Cannon
Third Row: 14 archers, 40 halberdiers (formed in detachments of 10), 20 crossbowmen (formed in units of 10), another Great Cannon
Front Row: 3 mounted wizards (lores of metal, fire and heavens), 3 engineers, 4 warrior priests (one mounted), Mounted general, foot captain, Battle Standard Bearer, Grand Master, 4 foot wizards (heavens, fire, shadow and death), 3 more mounted wizards (life, death and beasts).

Since I took this photo I've added enough troops to bring my halberdiers, spearmen and greatswords up to units of 30 to get the most out of the 8th edition changes, as well as a mounted battle standard bearer (to match my foot one)


There's also a pile of part and unpainted lead and plastic waiting to be added, including a hero on Griffin (a chance to combine with one of my other hobbies, birdwatching, it's going to be part Osprey, or maybe Red Kite...), unit of free company (which will recycle some of my old models), several units of knights, including some of the metal Reiksgard and Knights Panther, and just a little bit more artillery (mainly because I prefer the older, metal models to the current plastics).

I have to admit though, the more recent releases (plastic flagellants and greatswords) have left me a bit cold. And don't get me started on the awful mechanical horse...

Be nice if they produced some updated knights though.

Of course there's also the Dogs of War army, but I'll leave that for another time...

Game of chance

We've all had games like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wex1Bn2Xodk&feature=player_embedded

An Age of Empires I

I know that there are many out there for whom 'GW' and 'Warhammer' represent the evil empire, anathema to all they believe gaming should be, but for me, it's still the game that first got me into wargaming (waaaay back in its second edition, when it came boxed as three books), and the cause of the majority of lead and plastic that gets in my wife's way when she's trying to find her text books in the cupboard (not to mention what the unpainted horde of lead is probably doing to the rafters in the attic!).

And I must admit that the release of it's 8th edition has got me all excited about the subject again (it may be a marketing ploy but so what? find me something in life that isn't!), and reflecting on armies past present and future and, in particular, my strange, ongoing relationship with the Empire.

The Empire wasn't even my first attempt to collect an army (it didn't even exist when I first got into the game), that was an undead army, made up mostly of miniatures from the now defunct Grenadier range. Unfortunately I soon discovered I couldn't paint skeletons and they never got finished (they're still up there, bending the ceiling as I speak, must get them down and try again someday). However, when the first army lists came out, in the original Ravening Hordes book, it was the newly created background of the Empire that caught my eye. I couldn't say with 100% certainty why I felt drawn to that particular army, but I strongly suspect it was an existing interest in history, and the excuse to have knights in armour (I blame lazy Sundays watching films like Ivanhoe and the Knights of the Round Table). Even back then, units were appearing that we still see today, Imperial Guard (although they included archers back then), big blocks of Halberdiers and the Knights Panther.

Anyway, I'm rambling... and will continue to do so... My first Empire army, for second edition, was always a bit of a mish mash of stuff (including home cast stuff using moulds from Prince August) and I never quite managed to have all of the right units or numbers. The first, proper, 'legal' army I managed was actually under the excellent (if detailed) third edition and it's 'Warhammer Armies' book of army lists (back when an army could be described in a dozen sides of A4, and all the armies could be found in one book). That was a great list, and was largely responsible for defining certain elements of the Empire army that have always stuck with me. In particular it had a really Germanic flavour, with all of the units being given characterful names, like Helblitzen (halberds), Hohensknechtes (knights) and the tongue bending hakbutschutzen (handgunners) and temple ritterbruden (templar knights). This was an army of aloof religious knights, robber barons, professional infantry and grubby town militias, and you could even bring the baggage train to the party!

I still couldn't win games with it though...

I still have most of that army, although some elements have been cannibalised for other uses, or even incorporated into my current armies. It even turned up during a recent sort through of the attic, and was brought out for a nostalgic look and photo opp. I must say my paining has improved though...

From Left to Right, and back to front:
Kriegsritter, Temple Ritterbruden, Hohensknechtes
Reiks Kanone Batterien, Helblitzen, Reiksgard, Helblitzen, Nuln Landsknechtes (mercenaries)
Lots of Armbrustschutzen!
Forstjaeger

I also had a unit of 'Ersatzsolder' (militia, basically), and mercenary Border Horsemen, some of which still feature in my armies now.

Come in number 6, your time is up

Anyone who reads this blog (DOES anyone read this blog? Does it matter?) will have realised by now that I just can't concentrate on any one project for any length of time. The result is I have an endless variety of half finished and barely started models all over the place. At the moment I am trying (and sometimes succeeding) to finish off some of those projects.

The most recent completion was one of the excellent Crow Landers from Old Crow models. Nice clean, hard SF look, and well cast as usual, this will get used in games of Fast and Dirty.

I'd already assembled the model (only took minutes, although I'd advise pinning the wings for security), and taken a first crack at painting it with an airbrush. However, I'd mucked up the proportions for the green camo, which ended up blotchy and horrible, so decided to start from scratch. This time I went with a base coat of Humbrol spray enamel Sea Grey, which I then masked off with blu-tac before spraying with Dark Green (although it doesn't look that dark!). This was the first time I'd used this technique, and it worked a treat!

This was followed up by a quick paint of the details. Plain black for the cockpit, and metallics for the jet pipes, landing gear and turret weapon. A quick drybrush to highlight the details, and shading the panels with black wash finished the painting, to which was added some spare decals from old aircraft kits. All in all, I'm pleased with the result for minimum time, although I might return to it and add some more weathering at some point.