15mm Impetus: The Seeds are Planted

Thanks to an imminent move and family wedding, painting projects have officially come to a halt for the next week or two, as will wargaming and blog-posting . However, planning and 15mm painting still continues in the group at large, so I thought it was time to log where things stand at present and to identify the guilty parties.

Medieval French - Keir

Keir started painting 15mm knights quite some time ago. He has a rather hefty collection of Mirliton and Corvus Belli models, and I believe he intends to mix the two ranges. He has decided to focus his initial 400-point army on three unit types - mounted French men-at-arms, skirmishing crossbowmen, and lowly peasants. Since mounted French Nobles come in at a whopping 40 points per unit, I am anticipating that Keir's army won't be a gigantic affair. However, all of that colourful heraldry will certainly be impressive on the field when all is said and done.

Keir and I have been talking about Impetus for about a year and a half now, and he actually played his first game when he was in St. John's around a month ago. If only he lived closer.


Italian City States (Milan) - Chris E.

Chris E. ordered a 400-point collection of Mirliton miniatures around a month or so ago. He's planning a force that consists primarily of Italian knights with support provided in the form of crossbowmmen, spearmen, and skirmishing troops. Chris and I had one test game a while back. The thing that makes army so scary are those high VBU knights, which, unlike many other medieval knights, don't suffer from the Impetuous rule.

As of the time of this writing, Chris has two units of knights completed and is in the throws of painting some skirmishing crossbowmen.


Swiss Confederates - Chris H.

Chris H. has decided to order enough models from Feudal Castings to build a 400-point Swiss army. His force will consist primarily of Swiss pikemen (no surprise) backed-up by skirmishing handgunners, halberdiers, and some mounted crossbowmen. Although I haven't played against this army yet, I've played Impetus enough to know that the combination of Good Command Structure and solid, large pike blocks is going to be tough as hell to penetrate, especially with all of those mobile troops protecting the flanks.

Although Chris hasn't started painting his army yet, he's "that guy" in our group and will likely have his entire force completed before the anyone else despite our head-start.


Free Company - Me (aka JET, Jason)

As most readers are aware, I've started painting my Corvus Belli and Feudal Castings collection with the goal of fielding a Free Company force. As it currently stands, I have enough painted to play around 200 points, so I guess we could say that I'm close to halfway there. Whenever we get settled after this move, I plan to dig into the 15mm minis without delay.

From here on in I will be adding some crossbowmen and artillery to the army, in addition to bolstering the existing men-at-at arms, longbowmen, and javelinmen. Although Impetus isn't exactly a terrain-dependant ruleset, I would like to make some scale-specific pieces - perhaps some fields or generic broken ground. We'll see.

In spite of all the real-life distractions, I think it's fair to say that we will most definitely be playing 400 points at this scale before Christmas. I can't wait to see the game played at this scale, and in the meantime, I have to go on convincing myself that it is a spectacle worth waiting for.

Thanks for reading,
JET

The Green Ridge Massacre

The Assumption Defenders were en route to save Miss Sue Ellen and the Rev'd Hargraves from the clutches of the Black Cole Elgin Gang (see previous post - J), when the Tom Gunne heard shots being fired near the old abandoned farm at Green Ridge. When the farm came within view, the sheriff and his men saw the outlawed major Eustace Pilesforth and his posse of southerners. Both sides prepared weapons and moved in to engage.


The Major rallied his men in the name of the South.


Deputy Sam Blake (grey waistcoat & bowler hat) and upstanding citizen Jake Hackett (toting shotgun) led the men towards the corral with guns drawn.


The major, drunk no doubt, galloped hard, cleared the fence, and charged into Ep and Gabe.


Meanwhile, the rest of the southerners advanced with guns blazing.


Sam, Jake, and Gus took to the fence for cover. Sam's skill with a hogleg caused one of the southerners to go down.


Sheriff Gunne and Deputy Chafe ran in to the confused melee to help their fellow lawmen. The Major's skill in hand-to-hand combat made up for the outnumbering however, and all but the Sheriff were badly wounded.


Meanwhile, Gus moved in and used his sixgun to drop Shem Redcorn.


Unfortunately, a hidden southerner with a rifle landed a shot in Gus's forehead.


Before long, Jake and the sniper were getting to grips up close.


In the end, the cool nerve of the Sheriff and Deputy Blake put the major down, and the desperate man barely escaped with his life.


When the smoke cleared, Gabe MacIntyre was dragged back to town unconscious after losing much blood, and upstanding citizens Heinrich Epstein and Gus Carver were killed in hand-to-hand combat by the murdering major Eustace Pilesforth.

The survivors (L to R): Sam Blake, Bill Chafe, Tom Gunne, Jake Hackett.

Although the lawmen drove the southerners off and seriously wounded the major, seeing their friends and fellow fighters shot down delivered a crushing blow to their morale. Sheriff Gunne and his men decided to hire a couple of professional killers who were passing through Assumption the day before. It was time to deal with both the major and his men as well as the Black Cole Elgin Gang. As they headed back to town, Sheriff was overheard saying to Deputy Chafe:

"Don't worry Bill. From here on in, there won't be no prisoners. We'll see em hung... we'll see em ALL hung!"

Thanks for reading,
JET

P.S. Ken and Chris H. were having a game of Warmachine at the same time. As you can see, Ken had to face the Butcher and five (yes, five) heavy Khador warjacks.

Mounted Men-At-Arms (unit #1)

Impetus Unit Type: CP
Base Size: 8cm x 6cm

Special: Impetuous
Manufacturer: Corvus Belli
Comments:

After much deliberation, I decided to go with six models per base for heavy cavalry. I love how Impetus gives this kind flexibility when it comes to basing. In order to make the unit look at little more continental and a little less feudal I mixed codes of mounted knights with mounted Hobilars. I find that the brightly-painted Hobilar models (without caparison) look like slightly later period knights than their caparisoned counter-parts.

Shotgun Wedding (or "The Abduction of Miss Sue Ellen")

When we last looked in on the Assumption Defenders, they had just driven Major Eustace Pilesforth and his men from the town. All was peaceful. Too peaceful.

The Philiadelphia Kid and some other members of the Cole Elgin Gang had just sauntered out of the Full House Saloon. The drunken Kid stared across the street at the JP's house and saw his lovely daughter, Miss Sue Ellen. The Kid approached and made a lame attempt at wooing the lady. When she dismissed him and tried to leave, the Kid and his companions got physical. Miss Sue Ellen screamed for help.


The scream alerted the remainder of the gang skulking on the outskirts of the town...


...as well as Sheriff Tom Gunne and Deputies Sam Blake and Bill Chafe.


Other members of the Assumption Defenders came running from various buildings in the town, ready to assist the lady in distress.


The Rev'd Hargraves preached from the Holy Bible. When the heathens ignored his homily he resorted to his sawed-off shotgun. Unfortunately, the drunken outlaws, passed any reasoning, shot the preacher in the leg and took him down.


All of the ruckus attracted the attention of some nearby citizens.


Ep, Ole Gabe, and Gus drew their pistols and a fierce firefight ensued. The Philadelphia Kid kept the lady subdued while he fired back at the interfering townsmen.


Although Gus survived, he was taken down by gunfire. Ep ran for cover while Gabe prepared to be assailed.


One of the outlaws charged into Gabe. Ep couldn't stand by and watch the old man being beaten down. He ran in and took his sturdy cane to the crook.


The boys then tried to prevent the outlaws from getting Miss Sue Ellen out of town.


Gabe was pummelled to the ground leaving Ep on his own. The outlaws kept their guns trained on Ep as he threw his pistol to the ground. He watched helplessly as they backed down the alley way.


Meanwhile on the other side of town...

As soon as the screams were heard, the sheriff and his deputies realized that Black Cole Elgin and more of his men were sneaking outside of town, ready to assist the Philadelpia Kid in his attempted abduction.


Tom Gunne shot one of the outlaws down with his repeating rifle as they advanced towards the trees outside of town.


The lawmen held up at the storage yard and prepared their assault. Jake Hackett ran down to tell the sheriff of Miss Sue Ellen's plight.


The lawmen were caught in a shoot out with the well-entrenched outlaws. Bullets were flying but for the most part, neither side was making any headway.


The lawmen advance continued. However, by the time Tom Gunne realized what was happening, it was too late. These men were obviously acting as a decoy while the Kid made it out of town with the helpless Miss Sue Ellen.


After the dust had settled, Sheriff Gunne and his deputies went to the aid of the fallen. They soon learned that the outlaws had taken the wounded Preacher with them as well. It didn't take much imagination to realize the outlaw's plan. The Philadephia Kid intended to take Miss Sue Ellen as his wife against her will.


It was great fun as usual to throw the posses down on the table. Marc and I decided to try something different; hence the Abduction scenario. In short, one of the outlaws had to stay in base contact with Miss Sue Ellen and could only move D6 inches per turn as they dragged her out of town against her will. If the outlaws failed a Head for the Hills test they lost. If the outlaws made it off the table with Miss Sue Ellen OR if the lawmen failed their Head for the Hills test, it would be an outlaw victory.

As it turned out, the lawmen failed their Head for the Hills test and the outlaws made it off the table with the Philadephia Kid's bride-to-be. Marc and I have already decided that our next game will be an attempt to save the abducted lady from the outlaw hideout.

Thanks for reading,
JET

15mm Knights & 10mm Gauls

I figured it was about time to give readers an indication of where I'm headed in my historical painting. I'm on holiday from work for a couple of weeks right now, so even though I'm spending most of my time pursuing outdoor endeavours, I'm still trying to get some modelling and painting in at knight. (That was a joke.. a bad one)

I have just finished my first unit of 15mm skirmishers for the Free Company army (previous post - J), and I thought it was high time to start in on a cavalry unit. The Free Company list calls for 4-12 units of mounted men-at-arms, and I'll be completing just the four compulsory units over time, owing mostly to the limitations of my model collection. Here's the first batch of mounted gents which comprise the first CP unit.


The models are all 15mm Corvus Belli and are taken from their codes of mounted men-at-arms, as well as English Hobilars. I'll be adding shields to the Hobilars, attaching some penants, and painting each in an individual colourful livery. I am aiming to have the final unit looking like a rag-tag collection of European knights, men-at-arms, and independent mercenary cavalrymen.

In my last historical project post I had implied that I would be finishing the first 400 points of Carthaginians within a couple of weeks. However, since that post, the other 10mm painter (Chris H. - Romans) has announced that he shall have his force finished early in September. Since we will be having an open Geek Day on September 19th, I've decided to make that my goal for completion.

In any event, I've started the remaining Gauls and Libyans required for the 400-point list.


I'm in a new phase lately as a painter. For the first time in my painting "career," I'm finding that I'm painting solely for enjoyment. Both the 10mm Pendraken models, and certainly the 15mm Free Company, provide me with a therapeutic hobby outlet that I've never experienced before.

The problem is, there are a handful of models that I want to use for Warmachine right now, but I lack any enthusiasm to paint them. Such is the life of a model-painter I suppose. As I said to Ken just the other day, any painting is good painting and it's probably a bad idea to interrupt the organic flow of things.

Thanks for reading,
JET

Breton Javelinmen (unit #1)

Impetus Unit Type: S
Base Size: 8cm x 3cm
Manufacturer: Feudal Castings (Javelinmen) & Corvus Belli (Dog)
Comments:

These models were crudely converted from Feudal Castings Welsh Spearmen code. Since Breton skirmishers can be fielded as either VBU:3 or VBU:2, I decided to add the dog to this unit to easily identify it as a VBU:3 unit.

Note: These models have since been re-based on 8x2 cm bases as shown further up in the Hundred Years War Gallery.

Hordes Action: The Shame of Madrak

Ever since Mk II Warmachine has taken over our Privateer Press gaming time, there has been little to no talk about Hordes in the group. That is until Ken suddenly got the urge to take his Skorne out of the case and on to the table again. To answer the call, I whipped up a 500-point Trollblood force and we threw down.

Skorne army deployed: Morghoul, Titan Cannoneer, Titan Gladiator,
Basalisk Drake, Basalisk Krea, Paingivers x 4, Paingivers x 4, Swamp Gobbers x 2.Trollblood army deployed: Madrak, Dire Troll Mauler, Troll Axer,
Troll Impaler, Troll Champions x 5, Fellcaller, Alten Ashley

The game was a pretty straight-forward affair. Both of us seemed to have the same idea; get the heavy hitters into combat and hope to take down the enemy warlock. It's funny how quickly one can get rusty with a ruleset. I made a couple of really dumb moves during the game, not the least of which was forgetting to rile my beasts and leaving Madrak with only two fury to reave for the next turn.

The troll force advanced and tried to set themselves up for a counter-charge.


As the enemies closed it became clear that a straight charge into combat
wasn't going to be feasible. Thanks to the Fellcaller's Open Road ability,
the champions ran through the forest and engaged the Skorne left flank.


The Dire Troll found itself heavily outweighed and outclassed.


Needless to say, the Titans killed the Dire Troll and left
Madrak and his light beasts to do the work.


Without hesitation (and without anyone capable of doing the
job better) Madrak charged into the heavy beast.


With the help of the Champions and Madrak's feat,a unit of Paingivers,
the Titan Gladiator, and the Drake were all dispatched. The tide of
the battle seemed to be shifting.


After much hard-fighting, Madrak found himself open to a charge
by the Skorne Warlock. Thanks to some poor dice-rolling on Ken's
part, Madrak survived the assassination attempt, but then failed to
assassinate Morghoul on the following turn.


With only two damage points left and no opportunity to transfer
damage, Madrak found himself easy prey for the Skorne warlock.

The game went relatively quickly. Neither Ken nor I had any particularly devious plan or combo to end the game, so it pretty much came down to a slugfest in the middle of the table. I over-extended my Dire Troll early in the game and lost him as a result. In the end, a classic warlock-on-warlock melee ended in the only way it could - one victorious caster and one dead caster. Unfortunately, mine was the latter.

Going back to Mk I gameplay certainly made me realize how dependant I have become on the Mk II rules for Warmachine. I really can't wait for Hordes to catch-up.

Thanks for reading,
JET