Wet Paint: various items

It's been a while since I've done a wet paint post, probably because it's been a while since I actually painted some stuff. The last few weeks have been productive though, so here's some of the latest output off the painting table.

 

Fungal Giant - 3D printed figure

This figure has been 3D printed on my resin printer and was painted using Army Painter's Speed Paint. This was the first figure I painted with these paints (though not with this technique) and you can tell I was still feeling my way around the color selection. 

 

This and the next figure will become part of a fantasy army that is intended to go up against my dwarves.

 

Infected bear - 3D printed figure

Much like the giant above, this figure is 3D printed and painted with Army Painter speed paints. I got a much better feeling for colors with this one, insofar that I felt confident enough to try the speed paints on a historical unit, featured next.

 

Celt infantry: Eppegentii - Foundry, Renegade and Old Glory figures

 

 As mentioned, these were painted with the speed paints (with just a very few minor additions of regular paint). When painting them, I was not really happy with the result. Yet, as always, they turn out very well when put together in a unit. They are the seventh warband of my Celtic army, recently used with To the Strongest! rules. The best thing about this 20-man unit that it took literally less than 4 hours to paint - speed paints indeed.

 

GNW Björneborgs regiment, one company - Warfare miniatures

These are the first miniatures from Warfare / League of Augsburg miniatures I painted. While the figures are anatomically correct I do find the more exaggerated almost comical style of many other miniatures easier to paint (my other GNW Swedes are from Musketeer Miniatures). That said, these are lovely figures and I intend to build a few extra regiments with them. This company sneaked into the painting line because I need a single extra stand for an upcoming game.

 

These figures and the ones below were painted in my classic fashion, layering Vallejo Model Colour over black undercoat. 

Dwarven infantry - Mantic Games miniatures

This is the next unit for my growing dwarven army. The army is now up to one unit of crossbowmen, one artillery unit, two infantry units (including this one) and the chappie below.

 

Dwarven King - Scibor Miniatures

This figure will be the leader of my dwarven army. He's been painted with a few more layers than usual (well, mostly 3 layers instead of 2), noblesse oblige and all that.

Ah yes - the duck. Those of you familiar with my armies will know that most of my generals feature some form of duck as a banner or companion, and this one is no exception.

 

Romans vs Celts in "To The Strongest"

After a long hiatus we finally managed to play a game.

Bart was so kind to set up a large battlefield using his Romans and Celts collections, and we used the To The Strongest ruleset. TTS is very fast and easy to learn, and plays well, although the 2nd half of the game became something of a slogging fest. But this was probably more due to the scenario and initial setup. We made a mental not to allow some more room for movement and manoeuvring in our next game.

Here are the pictures, taken during various stages of the game. Note that there is some visual clutter (TTS requires cards or chits to be used for determining activation), so this is something we might to work at a bit as well.

Bart and Wim discussing the finer points of the rules ...

 

Romano-British vs Saxons

Yesterday we played an Ancients game. The scenario involved a Saxon convoy, which was attacked by a force of Romano-British troops. Rules used were Hail Caesar - depending on who was looking up what rules in what version of the book, we used a mix of 1st and 2nd edition rules.

Bart D. and Bart V. (acting as plumpire) commanded the Saxons, while Eddy and me commanded the Romano-British.

The first half of the game consisted of the usual manoeuvring, before the close combat clash happened. Two rounds into the close combat we decided to abandon the dicefest and declared the game a draw.

Edit: Eddy has posted a report on BGG as well.

The usual pre-game activity: shooting pictures and drinking beer!

The Saxon forces.

The watchtower was quickly conquered by the Saxons.

The Romano-British village.

A view of the table, as seen from the Romano-British side.

The approaching Saxons.

The Romano-British village.

Manoeuvring around the bridge in the centre of the table.

Bart D. and Eddy discussing finer points of ancient infantry tactics.

Another view from the Roman-British lines.

More scholarly discussion about ancient warfare.

The lucky general - no not Eddy, but the Napoleon 54mm soldier in front. The lucky general is our meta-mechanic: you can reroll any roll of the dice, but then you hand over the lucky general token to the enemy.

The final clash!

The situation at the end of the game.

To The Strongest: Byzantines vs Sassanids

This weekend we played an Ancients battle. Jean-Pierre hosted the game, using his excellent Byzantine and Sassanid armies. The ruleset we used was To The Strongest, which we never used before.

First things first, the pictures (some more can be seen here):

Bart, Jean-Pierre (umpire and host), David, Eddy. We rolled for sides. Bart and myself would command the Byzantines, Eddy and David the Sassanids. The setup of the battle was a straightforward encounter, both lines already set up when we arrived.

Eye-catching miniatures were the Elephants in the Sassanid army. Also known as Pachydermi ;-)

A view as seen from the Byzantine side. David and Eddy pondering their tactics (and taking photographs).

Another view as seen from the Byzantine army.

The battle starts. The Byzantine left flank (commanded by me) sends its cavalry forwards. The idea was to use an oblique line - we would try to hammer the enemy on the left, and draw out his infantry in the centre and our right, with perhaps a slight hope that the elephants would stampede.

The Byzantine cavalry is encountered by the Sassanid Cavalry on the same flank. This would spell the start of defeat for the Byzantines.

The game in full swing. The Byzantine right flank is almost decimated, and things look good for the Sassanids.

A top view - Byzantines at the bottom. Note the approaching Sassanid cavalry on the bottom left towards the Byzantine camp.

Another view of the same situation.

A close-up view as seen from the Byzantine camp.

Sassanid cavalry attacking the Byzantine camp. This would seal victory for the Sassanids.

Alas, the Pachydermi never entered battle. So we did enjoy a good stampede!

Anyway, some thoughts:

• It had been a long time since I had played an Ancients game, not being a fan at all of the DBx style of games - although we have used Hail Ceasar for a number of games. This game was a pleasant surprise: an Ancients game without too much fiddling ...
• ... however, to my taste, there were still a bit too much "bells and whistles" in the To The Strongest rules. But that has more to do with my obsession to strive for streamlined rules rather than the rules themselves. Ancients rules sometimes can devolve a bit too much into: "+1 for light cavalry when attacked by cataphracts except when in difficult ground during the Spring". Ok, I'm exaggerating a bit, but it felt like that a bit. YMMV.
• The activation system works very well. I hadn't fully grasped the technicalities of the rules, but basically, you want to keep going with units as long as you can. On our left Byzantine flank, we were a bit hesitant during the first turn, and in hindsight, that probably did cost us the victory. The distinction between "easy" and "difficult" activations felt a bit weird though.
  
• The gridded system works ok, but the idea of having 2 units in a single cell seemed a bit strange. Why not having one unit per cell and double cell density? But I need to study the rules again to make a final judgement.

Oh yeah, one final thing. Bart and me were defeated 12-0 in victory points. We tried to claim at least a minor moral victory (out of habit), but no, ... the game was a solid victory for David and Eddy commanding the Sassanids.

All Along The Watchtower

Now that the lockdown measures are being relaxed, it was time to play a game again.

Bart was happy to host a game at his place: Romans vs Celts, with a watchtower being the central focal point of the scenario. Rules used were Hail Caesar.

Bart took on the role of plumpire (very handy, since none of us knew the rules too well). Eddy and David took command of the Celts, Jean-Pierre and myself took command of the Romans.

The game went very slow, since we spent quite some time chatting in between turns: small and big worries about work or home; corona adventures; how to make cocktails; etc.

Still, the game progressed, with a unit of naked Celt Warriors able to occupy the watchtower by turn 4. By then, the clock said 23.00, so it was time to wrap up, although we still kept on talking till shortly before midnight.

Here are the pictures. Notice our Corona-proof face masks! Funny enough Jean-Pierre is in none of the picture ...

David, Eddy, Bart

David and Eddy

Roman Legions approaching the watchtower.

Naked Holliganni near the watchtower

Roman Cavalry facing the Celt chariots

More action near the watchtower

David and Eddy

Me trying to take a selfie

Holliganni Supremus in the watchtower