Hundred Years War English for Impetus - It Begins!

Well, the wait is finally over. I've been patiently waiting for one of the geeks to eventually show interest in doing some sort of Impetus project with me. I've already painted a 10mm Carthaginian army for Basic Impetus (look to your right - J), but I want to create a full-size army for the game, and furthermore, to have someone to share the project with. After some discussion, Keir has agreed to jump in and do a HYW French force to battle my English. From here on in, I will track my progress, no matter how intermittent it may be.

(List updated - January 4th, 2009)

Command: Average CS, Expert CIC, Fair Generals x 2 - 82 points

Cavalry Units: King and Household x 1, Gascon Men-at-Arms x 1, English Men-at-Arms x 1, Hobilars x 1 - 111 points
Missile Units: Longbowmen x 6, Bombard x 1 - 158 points
Melee Units: Dismounted Men-at-Arms x 3, Welsh Spearmen x 2 - 103 points
Skirmishers: Irish Kerns x 2 - 28 points
Field Fortifications: Stakes x 6 - 18 points

That's a grand total of 500 points. Although I haven't really done much towards making this happen yet, I've done some picking here and there. Here's what I have so far...

A few sample dismounted men-at-arms. The models are Corvus Belli.


The shields were painted to match.


Some finished longbowmen. I think I'll aim for 10 models per base. There are twelve on the base below, but I think it's a little crowded. These are also Corvus Belli models.


Here's how I and thinking of organizing the heavy infantry - two lines of five or six per base. This layout will likely represent a men-at-arms unit with one of the generals attached.


Here are some Welsh spearmen from Feudal Castings. (Keir - as per our conversation.) Toying around with the idea of a mounted unit leader. It's purely esthetic of course, but these little touches are what makes element-based gaming fun.


Except for the bombard and crew, I have all of the models required to create the army listed above, but I may tweak as time goes on. Historically, I feel like I should have more archers, but in terms of overall fun (both painting fun and gaming fun), I want the project to be varied. All comments, criticisms, and suggestions are very welcome.

Thanks for reading,
JET

Khador vs. Menoth - 1000 point destruction

Last week, Ken and I played our first 1000 point game; my Cygnar vs. Ken's Menoth. Playing my first 1000-pointer (with 10-minute turn limits) was very mentally taxing, so I never even attempted to take any pictures.

However, Keir was in St. John's for Xmas week, so we arranged a 1000-point battle between his Khador and Ken's Menoth. I took the opportunity to photograph the spectacle. Here's a shot looking down the Menothian line. Pretty intimidating!

1000 pt Horde of Menoth:
Grand Exemplar Kreoss (Crusader x 1, Devout x 2), Grand Scrutator Severius (Redeemer, Revenger x 2), High Paladin Dartan Vilmon, Paladin of the Order of the Wall x 1, Vassal of Menoth x 1, Choir of Menoth x 6, Holy Zealots x 10 (w/MB), Knights Exemplar x 6, Temple Flameguard x 10 (incl. SB & Off), Orin Midwinter, Rupert Carvolo.

And then there was the Khadorean sledgehammer...


1000 pt Khadorean Strike Force:
Vlad the Dark Prince (Behemoth x 1, Warhound x 1), Kommander Sorscha (Warhound x 1), 1st Kovnik (Spriggan x 1), 2nd Kovnik (Destroyer x 1), Uhlans x 3, Widowmakers x 4, Greylords x 3, Winterguard Field Gun x 1, Eiryss, Drakun (w/ dismount) x 1, Field Mechaniks x 4.


But first a confession...

Here's the thing. I was using a new camera that I wasn't familiar with, so half of the pics came out blurry and were deleted. Secondly, Stu was sitting next to me chatting (i.e distracting me from my charge), so I took less and less photos as the night went on. With that said, here are a few shots of the action. If nothing else, I think they capture just how epic a Warmachine battle of this size can be.


Khador's first turn started with Vlad feating and running the heavy jacks straight ahead. The Behemoth used its sub-cortex to shoot, annihilating five of the six Templar Knights. Ouch!


The Widowmakers guard a ruin where a Khador jack has obviously been wrecked in the past. A bad omen?

These models originally belonged to me. They were some of a handfull of models I painted when I started playing Warmachine almost three years ago. Yes, it's true - I used to play Khador. Shhhh!!!!


Early game action. The Khadorean force advances. No surprise there.


Uhlans charge across the field.


The zealots of Menoth let the firebombs rip!


More Menoth back-up.


The Temple Flameguard looking all sexy.


Vilmon rushes out to meet the Uhlans in battle...


..and the Temple Flameguard follow his example.


Action in the centre of the table heats up. Sorscha goes down the middle and feats. However, under the pressure of the time limit, Keir forgets her activation during the following turn and she is taken out.


Game action nearing the end of the battle. After this (and there was much chatting with Stu, so memory is hazy), Khador avenged Sorcha's death by taking out Epic Kreoss. The game went on for another turn or two, until it became apparant that no other casters would be taken out within the six-turn limit. I have no idea where the victory points were by the end of it all, but I'm calling it a draw, and a very hard fought game for both sides. More importantly than the outcome, we had the opportunity to see to lovely painted armies on the table, and to chat while drinking tea and eating Xmas goodies.

Thanks for reading,
JET

The Imperial Navy

Now that the group has added Battlefleet Gothic to the regular wargames rotation, I figured it was time to add some nicer "posed" photos of my Imperial fleet. Here's the painted fleet so far.

My cruisers. The two in the forefront are Dauntless Light Cruisers armed with weapons batteries and dorsel-mounted lance batteries. The larger cruisers (L to R) are a Dictator class, an Overlord class, and a Gothic class.

A squadron of three Firestorm escorts with prow-mounted lances.


A large squadron of Sword class frigates armed with weapons batteries. Very powerful when firepower is concentrated.

I have enough parts to make another couple of cruisers, so the fleet isn't quite done at this stage. However, I'm ready to play an average-size game, and that 's one of the great aspects of BFG - very few models + free rules = lots of deep space fun for very little money.

Thanks for reading,
JET

Clash of the Titans!

Marc and I bought the Battlefleet Gothic boxed game around six years ago, and other than a couple of luke-warm attempts, it's never really been tried. Last night, we decided to give it a try. Each of us has chosen to paint and play Imperial fleets (green=me; blue=Marc). We tried a 750 point game. Here's how it shook down.

Jason's force: Overlord Battlecruiser, Gothic Cruiser, Dauntless Light Cruiser x 2, Firestorm Escort x 3

Marc's force: Retribution Battleship, Gothic Cruiser, Dominator Cruiser

During the first turn, I did a little shooting and launched a couple of torpedo salvoes. I was trying to use my forces's ability to out-manouvre Marc's fleet to gain the advantage.

Marc's Retribution battleship coming around the other side of the table. Great model and a great paintjob. Also notice the ship's name on the base. Marc's just showing off now.

Dauntless light cruisers and Firestorm escorts move to broadside positions. The idea was to use their superior mobility to close in on Marc's cruisers and to let loose with all of the lance batteries.

The cruisers in question. The Furious Might (on the right) stood up to two torpedo salvoes from my cruisers, sustaining only minor damage.


My cruisers moving closing with the enemy cruisers.

My Dauntless light cruiser squadron is given the "Lock-On" special order and does incredible damage with a barrage of lance shots.

Marc's fleet starts causing some damage on my cruisers.

Marc moves the Battleship Intolerance into a broadside position. Learning as we play, we realize that large unmanouverable behemoths should be committed somwhere central, otherwise, it's too easy for smaller ships to avoid them.

Our loyal fans.

The grand pinnacle of the engagment. My lance-armed light ships cause havoc.

One of Marc's cruisers explodes in a ball of plasma, which in turn, finished off his other crippled cruiser. The hulk floated into space.

Meanwhile, my Gothic cruiser headed off to deal with the battleship. We traded some firepower, and then called the game.

The game was great fun, and I look forward to adding it to the geekly mix. Ken has a Chaos fleet prepped for painting, and I believe Chris has already started painting his Eldar corsairs. These fleets will shake up the game a great deal, as the fleet tactics are so different from the Imperial navy.

Marc will be adding a light cruiser and a squadron of escorts in the near future. His list from last night was intended for learning the game, and he is quite aware that manouverable elements must be added to the fleet.

I'm off to paint some Lawmen! Thanks for reading,
JET

Dry Goods, JP's House, Gunsmith, Livery Stable, and Bank

I won't be posting for work-related reasons until the middle of December, so I figured I better take the opportunity to post some pics of my newly painted buildings. Here we have my Dry Goods Store. It's actually named after a long-standing family business in my community. Posing on the step is the first Western model I've painted - one of the Pinkerton Detectives from Artizan. Fantastic models, I highly recommend them.


The house around which my building tutorial was based. It's the home of the local Justice of the Peace. As a well-to-do and co-founding member of Assumption, he can afford to cough up for a few gallons of paint.

The Gunsmith - front view.


Tin roof and chimney.


The Livery Stable. This was my first experiment with a planked roof.


The Bank. The sign is a little larger than I had planned, but I've moved on to other buildings. One can't obsess on minor details while engaged in a project of this scale ;)


Roof and chimmney.


That's a total of eight buildings painted. I just primed the hotel, fences, and started detailing the restaurant. However, you'll have to wait until December for further updates. I know Ken has started prepping his outlaws for painting today, so it shouldn't be too too long before we get some shots of in-game action posted.

Thanks for reading,
JET

The first lick of paint - the Saloon and the Sheriff's Office

So I finally found time to start the painting process on my homemade cardboard buildings. Here we have the local Sheriff's Office and my first Saloon, "The Full House." I realize that the paintjobs are a little "neat" for the Old West, but I want the town to look colourful, even if it means sacrificing reality.


After printing some PDF signs, I decided to try hand-painting instead. There are certainly imperfections, but I'm pleased, especially with the free-handed hand of cards.

I tried to at least keep the sides and the backs of the building looking rough and unadorned. I think the stovepipe turned out nicely when painted.


Here's the back. I used the Wargames Foundry method of window-painting. I've never painted a window before, and I think their method looks convincing enough.


Considering I plan on playing a Lawmen posse, it was only right that I start with the Law Office. As you probably guessed, the "iron" bars are toothpicks.

The brick jailhouse. I should have taken the photo higher so you could see the tin roof.

The back of the law office. Nothing to see here pilgrim. Move along.


All in all, I'm very pleased with the results. It just goes to show that there are options for those of us who don't want to buy buildings that cost $30.00 - $60.00. I may not post anymore updates until the town and its fixin's are painted and ready to be laid out "all proper like."

Thanks for reading,
JET