Workbench Update: Re-basing Evergreens

After making some bases of deciduous Autumn trees earlier this year, I noticed that my evergreen collection seemed a little lackluster by comparison. I purchased a couple of packages of new trees and mixed them with my older collection and began basing them in groups of one to three. Like the deciduous bases, I glued down tree bark to represent large rocky outcrops and, when the earth and rocks are painted, I'll add a mix of flock and grass to finish them off.

By keeping the various-sized bases relatively small, I'll be able to place them on forest templates for games like Warmachine or just lay them out as individual pieces for games like Chaos in Carpathia or Legends of the Old West.

I glued the sand down yesterday while Jacob and his Mom were napping and my oldest son Ben was outside with his friends. If the Fates smile on me, I'll basecoat black tomorrow and do the painting and ground cover when the opportunity presents itself.

Thanks for reading,
JET

My Newest Project

Jacob Francis Tilley (aka "Jake")

Born on Canada Day (July 1st) so he'll likely be a patriot. He and Mom are very healthy and happy, and big brother and I are thrilled. Incidentally, the chair he is sitting in shall fit perfectly on my painting table ;)

Thanks for reading,
JET

Workbench Update: Citadel Gaming Hills

I haven't been quite as active in either the painting or blogging departments lately. Truth is, my wife is ready to give birth and with all of the baby preparations I've had neither the time nor inclination to do much of either. However, my parents gave me a couple of citadel gaming hills for my birthday and I've finally gotten around to painting and flocking them.

Here they are; one gaming hill (on the left) and one modular hill (two pieces on the right). There's a 28mm model in there for scale.

The one-piece gaming hill was obviously sculpted with gaming in mind. The green portions slope gradually so there won't be any issues with models tipping over.

The modular hill is also a practical piece and can be used in three different ways - as two separate corner pieces...

...as a narrow long piece,..

...or as a short wide edge piece.

The rocky bits are nicely detailed. A quick drybrush brought the detail to life with little to no effort.

Here are some of my 15mm historical models. As you can see, the sculpting is not scale specific, so these hills will find their way into all of my games.

I'm a big fan of these products and, considering I ordered them from Maelstrom Games with free shipping, they came to the door at a very reasonable $20.00 CDN each. Furthermore, being hard plastic, they will last for the rest of my gaming career and will stand up to multiple coats of paint and flock. A solid 10 out of 10!

Thanks for reading,
JET

P.S. Wish my wife luck as we wait for my unborn son to get things moving.

Impetus Battle Report - A Camp Overrun

Stockwood's army was in disarray. Rodger of Lynn, his nephew, was being held captive in Milan, the rest of his cavalry were headed north to muster fresh recruits, and his current standing army was understrength and worn. Stockwood had underestimated his opponent, the Austrian general Karl Von Dertflinghan, and had suffered a decisive defeat because of it. It was during these ponderings that one of his outriders galloped hard into the camp and came straight away to the general's tent. The news was grave. The Milanese army was less than two hours march from the main mercenary camp. It was a raiding force of primarily cavalry and light troops so it wouldn't take long for them to move into attacking position. Stockwood made a snap decision - he would form up the bulk of his infantry to stop the advance while the rest of his men headed into the Swiss hills with the most valuable supplies in tow. Hopefully his disposed employer's relationship with the Swiss would see Stockwood and his men welcomed, warmly or otherwise, and out of the Milanese army's reach.



The Battlefield:

The main camp was located in a narrow pass at the edge of a great wood. The mercenary infantry deployed at the edge of the hills to await the Milanese charge.



The Battle:

Light crossbowmen and handgunners ran ahead of the Milanese knights, skirmishing and drawing fire from the English archers and the French crossbows.

The confusion caused by the skirmishers allowed the main cavalry line to come dangerously close to the archers while maintaining good order.


In spite of the archers' best efforts, Italian knights crashed into the line and instigated a brutal melee.


The knights chased down fleeing archers and confronted Stockwood's personal guard.


Realizing that his centre was collapsing, Stockwood begrudgingly gave the retreat order.


Von Dertflinghan and his knights smashed the mercenary left flank.


The remnants of the mercenary camp were in reach and within less than an hour of coming onto the field of battle, Italian knights engaged in full-fledged plunder.


It was a dark day for Stockwood, his men, and their employer, King Rene. After the battle the mercenary army moved into the Swiss countryside with the hopes of finding safe refuge. What happens next? Only time can tell.

It was so great to finally play some Impetus again. Marc and I played some 6mm Roman vs. Parthian action over the past few months, but nothing is quite as satisfying as breaking out the 15mm armies. Marc will be painting a 15mm English army himself this year, so our 15mm historical battle gaming should be less sporadic. This was a fun and fast game, and it has to be said, I misplayed my army, and it showed. Maybe I learned something; something that I can remember and apply to the next game. Who knows?

Thanks for reading,
JET

Warmachine Action: Nemo vs. The Butcher

A long overdue geek day was upon us again, and with my new baby due to "arrive" within the next few weeks, I'm not sure when exactly I"ll be attending another one, so I was itching to play. Yet again, Keir made the 650 km trek to St. John's to partake in the geektivities, and the first throw-down of the day was his Khador against my Cygnar. This was my first 50-point game and, it must be said, it felt good to deploy three heavies and three lights.

I spent the bulk of the game hovering around these ruins. I figured that the Khador army would have to get up in my grill. It turns out (as you'll see) that I was wrong.

The Ironclad spent most of the game as an inefficient and expensive piece of terrain. I place him here so that no shots could get through to Nemo.


I started the game with a bang. A combination of Sentinal shots and multiple arced Chain Lightening spells killed a couple of Great Bears, a Widowmaker, and the Wardog. Sadly, this was to be the height of my game.


Keir advanced the Butcher with a Behemoth, a Spriggan, and a Destroyer.


I had completely forgotten (in the span of 5 minutes) that Keir had taken Kossite Woodsmen. The little shaggers came on in turn two and failed to take anything out.


In an over-zealous (and embarrassing) maneuver, I arced Chain Lightening at them. I took out three of the woodsmen... and my Gun Mage and a couple of Gobbers. Oh, the Humanity!


Even though the Centurion had lost its movement system, I used Locomotion to get it into combat. At this point, I was working very hard and getting nowhere. I was pushing ahead but had no idea how I was actually going to kill the Butcher.


The battlefield before Nemo's timely demise.


Nemo was visible in the ruins, so his defense including cover was 17. Nevertheless, Keir moved the Butcher up, cast Obliteration, and then followed with a bombard shot. And that was that. Nemo outspelled by the Butcher... shameful!.


It was a good game all around, although we did tend to dance with each other a little in the beginning. The only problem with the game was its duration. We played for two and a half hours which, in my experience, is about twice as long as a game of Warmachine should be. I'll leave you with what I said to Marc as we ate our most excellent take-out lunch.

I don't really enjoy playing Warmachine when it's played without a timer. There's a certain grittiness that is lost when players have the luxury of pondering every move and every consequence. Without a timer, it's the other player who suffers for his opponent's indecision. With a timer, it's the player himself who suffers for his indecision.

It was a fun and relaxing day out. I can't wait to play more 50-point Warmachine. But not without a timer ;)

Thanks for reading,
JET