It’s Wednesday and out of the blue we have a bumper crop from the members. Above we have a strange hover/truck/craft of some sort from Blotz called a Luftblitzwagen.
Next up Mark J has painted more 2mm legions.
Mark’s also added to his Saxon ranks.
John L’s been busy getting his miniatures ready for the Society Open Day, first some mortar units.
And he has also been creating more buildings for the game.
Next up following the theme of getting ready for the Open Day John R has been painting some 6mm Hammers Slammers tanks, quite a few tanks in fact.
Tony F has also been working on his Hammers Slammers units to take John on.
Tony has also been putting together some scenery. Nice to see a bit of multiple levels.
I think the warmer weather is starting to compete with the various projects members are working on. This week Marcus has come to the rescue with a glimpse of some things he’s been working on (should probably call this Work in Progress Marcus!)
Above we have some Copplestone Casting Future Warriors in winter camo.
Next up Marcus has dug out some old Tin Soldier 15mm fantasy miniatures to encourage his children into painting up some miniatures.
And finally from Marcus this week are some Starschlock miniatures, a mix of Astroguard and Dronetrooper figures. Will be interesting to see what colour scheme these have.
That’s it from, well, Marcus. We will have to see if the pending heatwave here in the UK puts pay to the next WIP Wednesday.
Jeremey has briefly been sidelined, so Tony F takes over the WIP Wednesday reins this week.
The club’s gone relatively quiet lately – obviously everyone’s efforts went into the jubilee ! However, there has still been some progress – Mark J has employed his magnifying glass for his 6mm Saxons (above), then broke out the electron microscope for some 2mm Antonine for Strength and Honour, which are based on perspex.
Warbases’ 2mm Roman Legion (Mark J)
Marcus meanwhile has been working on some 28mm Spy-fi and 15mm Sci-fi miniatures.
The initial stages of some 28mm Spy-fi from Marcus (who, like Bond, seems to have an eye for the ladies !).15mm Sci-fi from Marcus – mostly Brigade Models but with the odd interloper.
Jeremey has been converting a Copplestone figure to act as his Stargrave crew’s first mate.
Jeremey has named this image ‘Avon’ – a nod to the Blake’s 7 character perhaps ?
And finally, something from me – these were missed from the last WIP Wednesday post (about which I’m not bitter at all…) but since I’m in charge this week, I’m putting them in. First, it’s more additions to my Middle Earth armies – half-a-dozen elf spearmen to accompany the cavalry I painted a few weeks ago.
Six Rivendell elf spearmen
Next is my take on Radagast the Brown – it’s not either of the official GW figures which are rather expensive, but a Conquest Miniatures hedge witch. I added a bird from an OOP Celtos figure which is positioned as if the wizard is talking to it, painted up as a falcon.
Talking to the birds…
And to round things off, another small piece of 6mm desert terrain, an oasis made from 3mm Foamex, a sand/paint/PVA texture, cheap palm trees from eBay and clear PVA for the water.
Andy reports on a multiplayer Dragon Rampant game he ran on the April 23rd meeting, with contributions from the players.
We recently had a Society meeting on St Georges Day, there’s only one option for such an occurrence, a multiplayer Dragon Hunt game using Dragon Rampant (DR) rules.
Players were given the following briefing:
You have been drawn to this valley by tales of a Dragon terrorising the locals. Your objective is to gain fame, renown, and maybe even Sainthood, by killing the Dragon.
Then again, Dragons often have huge treasure hoards, picking up any loose gold or gems that might be lying around while you’re at it sounds like a good idea; unless you choose to be a Paladin, as Paladins are above such worldly things as wealth.
The Dragon hunters were asked to put together an 18 point warband, normal DR rules apply, with a couple of scenario specific modifications. Warbands had to contain a minimum of 3 units, and there were a couple of additional upgrades available:
Paladin, essentially the Slayer special rule with enhanced Courage, but not eligible to collect treasure.
Pack animals, which would allow a unit to carry an extra treasure token.
The Dragon itself was not limited to the 10 point unit maximum, it was a Greater Warbeast with Flame / Spore, Cunning, Fear and Flying and it had a modified failed courage test response.
Six players took part, order of play was determined by the draw of a card on each turn, one card for each of the players and a Joker for the Dragon and other fauna. The player’s army lists and game reports follow:
Swamp Army – Kim
Swamp Dragon (Elite Foot, 6 points). Leader.
Lizard Warriors (Heavy Foot, 4 points)
Small Lizards (Light Missile, 4 points)
Skeletons (Light Missile, 4 points)
First move kicked off with a random encounter consisting of a pack of wolves to the rear, lizard heavy foot turned to engage with Swamp Dragon. Casualties to both sides. Swamp Dragon engaged in subsequent turn and activated a swarm of poisonous spiders. Wolves eventually destroyed but the spiders succeeded in destroying Lizard Heavy Foot. Lizard light missiles failed to score any hits. Spiders finally destroyed by Swamp Dragon. Gained 2 treasure tokens.
Failed several activation attempts and got left behind other armies. Finally managed activation with a couple of units and headed to stream which was finally crossed just in time to see demise of the Dragon by Steve’s dwarves. Obtained a further treasure token, and as the army was isolated from any other units headed off table.
Final score 10 treasure and loss of 4 points.
Final position was more by default than any strategy due to failed activation attempts.
Thorin’s Company – Tony F
Thorin (Elite Foot, 6 points). Leader.
Dwarf unit #1 (Offensive Light Foot, 5 points)
Fili, Kili, Dwalin, Balin, Oin, Gloin
Dwarf unit #2 (Light Foot with Mixed Weapons, 5 points)
Ori, Nori, Dori, Bifur, Bombur, Bofur
Bilbo (Scout, 2 points)
“Thorin looked at the map, looked up, studied the landscape ahead and then went back to the grubby piece of parchment again. The wizard that sold it to him in the Hungry Ogre tavern – well, he said he was a wizard, he had the pointy hat and everything – had sworn that it showed him the way to Erebor and his long lost kingdom. But now they were here, something didn’t seem right. This really didn’t look as he’d expected – the city of Dale should be over there, the lake over there and as for the mountain – well, that hill over there just didn’t seem big enough.
The rest of the dwarves resumed their grumblings behind him. They were all hungry and fed up with their month-long diet of Cram, and the apparent lack of progress in their quest was beginning to test even the patience of the normally placid Balin.
So Thorin decided to lead. If in doubt, bark some orders and at least sound like you know what you’re doing. The hobbit was getting on his nerves – he’d had an ‘I told you so’ look on his smug, mousey features for the last two days – so Thorin sent him off ahead. ‘Burglar, time to earn your share. See that ruined chapel over there, on the other side of the stream? Use your skills and see if there’s anything in there we can use’. With a bit of luck he might get eaten by a giant spider – that would wipe the grin off his face…”
Tony F’s Bilbo investigates a treasure token.
I drew one of the better deployments on the table, on the far right flank. It turned out to be even better, since the hunting party to my left (Kim) kept managing to fail his activation rolls so left me alone. I sent Bilbo ahead to do his scouting job – he triggered a couple of random events which turned out to be nothing, and grabbed the first treasure token. Pushing on, he was the first unit of any party to cross the stream, but in doing so he unearthed a nest of venomous spiders in a wood. The giant arachnids charged the first group of Dwarves, threw a bunch of sixes for double hits and battered them, a state from which they never recovered. Thorin had to step in and dispatch the six legged freaks, along with a few well aimed stones from Ori’s catapult.
Bilbo kept up his covert advance, living a charmed life as he uncovered not one but two packs of wolves – the first didn’t see him and just wandered off table, the second also failed to see him and instead fell to Thorin’s rage-fuelled onslaught as the remaining dwarves followed on behind.
By this time the surprisingly wimpy dragon had fallen under the weight of Stephen’s axes, so the main prize had gone. I had three reasonable treasure tokens, so I should have cut and run at this point. Instead, like a true dwarf I got greedy and made a big mistake. Some of Jeremey’s rockmen were in the ruins sitting on a bunch of treasure tokens, so I sent Thorin in – who promptly got his backside handed to him and withdrew, bloodied and battered. The other dwarves had more success and sent the rockmen back, but the damage was done. Tony G saw a chance and send in his giant to finish off the injured dwarf. This ploy failed as the rest of the dwarves came to the rescue, but the delay, along with two successive turns of failing my first activation roll, allowed Tony’s goblin archers to move up. They finished off the second dwarf unit with a hail of black arrows, so in the end only Thorin and Bilbo made their escape.
Instead of getting off the table with three intact units each with a reasonable treasure token (and a total of +8 glory, which would have given me second place), the Dwarvish love of treasure ended up in a negative total and several dead members of the party.
And Thorin still didn’t know where Erebor was…
Wulfric the Wanderer – Eric
Wulfric and bodyguard (Bellicose Foot, 4 points). Leader.
Heavy Foot, Spellcaster, 8 points
Light Riders, 4 points
Scouts, 2 points
Wulfric’s Warband advance through a swamp, Stephen’s Axe Thanes in the background
Wulfric led his bodyguard in a wild charge sweeping Stephen’s Dwarvish scouts from the field; only for them to be routed in turn by Stephen’s Axe Thanes. The rest of Wulfric’s warband passed their courage test following his departure from the field, but soon after the scouts were annihilated by Stephen’s Axe Thanes.
Eric’s Riders searching a rocky outcrop for treasure.
Eric’s riders in search of better treasure, Tony G’s Goblins trying to keep up with them
Wulfric’s Light Riders and Heavy foot pressed forward, only for the Riders to be wiped out by Tree Giants. The only survivors were the Heavy Foot and Spell caster who escaped with 5 points of treasure.
The Goblin Horde – Tony G
Ettin (Heavy cavalry, 4 points). Leader
Fanatics (Bellicose foot with shiny armour, 6 points)
3 x Goblin bowmen (Scouts, 2 points each)
One of the Goblin Bowmen units was given a Pack Animal upgrade, in the form of a pack spider!, at 2 points)
My troops managed to deploy well, with my fanatics attacking a nearby bat unit. The following turn they then decided to attack one of Jeremys units instead which semi backfired when the bats attacked me. In the meantime, rest of the troops bogged down and couldn’t move out of the woods.
The next turn my leader charged the bats and wiped them out, and with Jeremy’s troops moving towards the stream my fanatics were luckily isolated (no wild charge!!)
Tony G’s Goblin Scouts sneak up on Eric’s Light Riders
Over the next couple of turns my dice rolling was appalling and only one scout unit managed to do anything resembling an advance.
Finally my troops did get going but again bogged down with several turns ending with an initial roll of double 1!!
Following the very quick demise of the dragon to the dwarves, the only way I was going to get anywhere was to grab as much treasure as possible and with that my fanatics attacked one of Eric’s units and whilst I wiped him out, my courage roll failed spectacularly and the fanatics fled the field.
By this time there were not many warbands left on the table so my Ettin with a unit of scouts went seeking part of Thorins company after the scouts softened them up, my Ettin charged and subsequently fled when the resulting melee was a draw (which pretty much summed up my day!!)
The Force of Nature – Jeremey
Heavy Rockmen (Heavy Foot, Spellcaster, 8 points). Leader.
Tree Giants (Heavy Foot, 4 points).
2 x Rockmen (Light Foot, 3 points each).
The forces of nature were on the march once more. I had a very simple army for this game but went for a full blow spellcaster to help cope with what this unusual game might throw up. My army came under attack from Tony G’s goblins from the start and soon saw one of my Rockmen units destroyed outright. With a crowded battlefield and coming under attack I made for the river and a chance to collect up some treasure.
Jeremey’s Force of Nature hold off a wolf pack. Tony G’s goblins hide in a wood.
Jeremey’s Treemen get their feet wetOne of Jeremey’s Treemen units, some what depleted.
Despite making some distance two constants of the game soon presented themselves. The treasure tokens each had a value with 1 being the lowest and yes you’ve guessed it the first three tokens I collected were all worth just 1 point each. The other aspect was each token collected had the potential to summon some random unit to deal with. In the end I spent more time fighting the random units than the other players.
But a quick dash to collect some more treasure after the Dragon had been killed at least provided some reward for having to fight across every inch of the field.
Kergen Sourtooth is a well known dwarven sorcerer amongst the dwarves of the Grimwold Hills. He had learnt of the location of a dragon, and dragons are known for their gold and also for the knowledge they possess. Two things that any sorcerer, and a dwarven sorcerer at that, would prize.
He had with him his two two bears – Doombear and Brawnbear. In addition he had his familiar, a colourful Jay called Orvar As well as these companions, a band of axe-thanes and scouts also signed up for this adventure. Together they would raid the dragon’s lands.
They hadn’t been the only ones with this idea. Other parties were also in the dragon’s valley, obviously after the same thing. A right motley bunch they were as well – another band of dwarves with a halfling thief, goblins, lizardmen, human barbarians, and a party of rockmen.
Kergen and his team used the cover of some woods to make their advance. But their cover was blown by a band of human berserkers. These savages charged the scouts and cut them down to a dwarf. Not content with that, they turned on Kergen, Doombear, and Brawnbear. This didn’t go quite so well for them – they’d underestimated the aged dwarven sorcerer! The human barbarians were pushed back with many casualties, but Brawnbear had fallen. Such sorrow.
Stephen’s Kergen and Doombear
But such anger as well! Kergen would have none of this and as the humans licked their wounds he summoned his powers and with the elements behind him he cast a mighty power bolt at the murderers who were all slaughtered. Let that be a lesson to them.
Kergen led the rest of his treasure-seekers along the edge of the woods, between some scrubland, and looking toward a river crossing.
Stephen’s Axe Thanes approach the river, with Kergen Sourtooth and his surviving bear bringing up the rear.
To his right he could see the lizardmen, but they seemed occupied with some menace of the valley. To his left were more of the human barbarians – he dithered here, the anger at losing Brawnbear still with him, but the humans were being waylaid by a pack of wolves and to make Brawnbear’s sacrifice mean something it would be best to achieve the aims they set out to complete.
Kergen led his troops across the ford. And there, ahead of them, they could see in the distance the dragon’s ruins and low and behold the dragon itself was abroad!
The Dragon leaves his lair (a ruined chapel). Jeremey’s Treemen have beaten back some Giant Spiders as Eric and Stephen’s warbands cross the river.
Kergen drew his axe-thanes into ranks. He turned to them and said:
“Well met, my fine fellows! Let us see off this dragon once and for all. Here is my plan – I will use my magic to hide you in a cloud of mist. The dragon will think it is aught but morning dew, and this will allow you to get close. Then, just as you reach the dragon, I will lance him with another of my power bolts, and then you can put this dragon to an end and his treasure will be ours! What say you, worthy dwarven thanes?”
“Aye”, they cried. A joyous, “AYE!”.
And that is what they did. The thanes approached under cover of the mist, then Kergen struck the dragon with a power bolt.
The Dragon faces off against Stephen’s Axe Thanes
At that, the thanes charged from out the mist with their axes ready, and they slew the dragon!
The end of the Dragon
Knowing the jealousy of those who were also seeking the dragon’s treasure, Kergen then led his dwarves, laden with dragon gold, out of the valley and back to the safety of the Grimwold Hills.
And such was the glory and renown he earned from this escapade that he was henceforth known as Kergen Dragonsbane!
Outcome
The players received, and lost, Glory points as follows:
The value of any Treasure tokens removed from the table.
Loss of glory equal to the points value of each unit wiped out or routed
In addition to the Stargrave game previously reported, there were two other games run at this meeting, both using rulesets new to the Society from from Two Fat Lardies .
First up the 6mm Ancients players tried out the Strength and Honour rules with a couple of games involving Roman and Pontic armies.
Our members collections are primarily based for Field of Glory / DBM, so for this trial game Perspex bases were used to reflect the bases sizes in Strength & Honour.
The left of the Roman Battle LinePontics on the left, Romans on the rightRoman Legions form upPontic pike phalanxesPontic scythed chariot supported by cavalry and clibanariiView from the Roman linesPontic phalanxes with skirmisher supportsClash of cavalry, Pontic Clibanarii against lighter Roman cavalryInfantry lines get into the fray
The first game was a narrow Pontic victory, the second was a Roman walkover.
Some members are also building some armies in 2mm for these rules on the regulation bases, here’s a Roman legion arrayed in the triplex acies:
Trial basing for 2mm figures.
The second game to feature a new ruleset was an early WW2 game using “O” Group rules. This featured a British advance on German positions, and ended in a German victory as the British failed to inflict enough damage on the Germans.
The battlefield in the lull before the stormGerman officer giving ordersTwo Matilda II tanks advanceGerman Pak 36German Pak 36British infantry advanceMatilda IIs with infantry supportGermans take cover behind the hedge.British infantry also take coverGerman heavy weapons, le.IG 18 75mm Infantry Support Gun in the forground. Pak 36 in the background
Finally, a few pictures from the Stargrave game that didn’t make the game report.
Tony’s crew advanceA cyber enhanced critter, the bane of Andy’s crewAndy’s sniper takes position to cover the flank
We’re back with another work in progress Wednesday. First up this week we have a first look at the miniatures I’ve choosen as a Stargrave crew. They are all from Copplestone Castings, I loved the old Grenadier miniatures marines Mark Copplestone sculpted. I’m going to convert them with different weapons and some alien bits.
Next up Mark and Felix have been busy with a Saxon Brigade and more Polish Lancers.
And last for this week Eric’s Game’s Workshop pile is (possibly) getting smaller. This time we have a Primaris Space Marine and Chaos Cultist.
After a two year break we are back with our Open Day. This when we put on many games and open our doors for all to come and visit and get a much wider idea of what we do and the games we play. We try to put on a good variety of games across all the popular periods and scales, all of which are open to visitors to join in.
The Open Day is on Saturday 25th June from 11am-4pm, at the Linton Village Hall, Linton Hill (A229), Maidstone.
You can find out about the games we are running on the day here.
At a recent meeting Stephen ran a multiplayer Stargrave scenario:
Rather than a full blown battle report I thought I’d present the game as a photo report. Five star captains made their way to a disused research facility – Catrix Station. Each was after loot, but to keep things interesting they also had their own objectives…
Jeremey Captain Blake
Tony Captain Hosvarn
Eric Captain Kadel
Phil Captain Rita
Andy Captain Reynolds
Note some references to past TV/Film characters
Captain Blake (Jeremey) and crew disembark from The LiberatorCaptain Reynold’s (Andy) crew take up position on the outskirts of Catrix StationCaptain Kadal (Eric) and crewCaptain Rita (Phil) and First Mate Old Ned approach Catrix StationCaptain Blake’s crew advance through Catrix StationMonkey see, monkey doCaptain Kadal leads from the front into the ruins of Catrix StationCaptain Reynolds tries to organise his crewCaptain Hosvarn (Tony) is in deep tribble‘Lets make a run for it’Locked and loaded and ready to rock n rollTwo of Captain Hosvarn’s crew (on the right) cower behind cover at the approach of notorious bounty hunter Captain Kadal (Eric)Captain Blake’s crew (bottom) advance on Captain Rita’s crew (top)It took half of Captain Blake’s crew to kill a single monkeyCaptain Kadal (in the centre) goes down as her crew engages with Andy’s crewPrivate Property means nothing to these scavengersCaptains Hosvarn (bottom left) and Blakes (centre and top) crews as they surround Catrix Station
Any of the Captains that actually made it into the main Catrix Station building (see the photo of Captain Hosvarn above) landed themselves with a 150 credit bill for decontaminating their starships following a Tribble infestation.
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