Wintercon 2012 Game 1

So for those of you paying attention, you will know I was furiously working to get some Early Imperial Romans finished in time for Wintercon. As usual, they didn't actually get finished, just sort of 'finished enough that I wont be too ashamed to put them on the table' Frankly I now have too many armies like this to be entirely happy.

Anyway. Day 1, pick up stray wargamer, breakfast at McDonalds, and wear my Scotland Rugby jumper to see if I can play some early psychological warfare vs the Aussies without Scottish heritage..

Game 1. I drew Dave Quilty, who is a tenacious competitor and has been something of a 'bete noire' for me. As anticipated, an EIR Civil War.

I have a massive numbers advantage on the left, the right is iffy though.

My right, not a too happy place, especially as two of those cavalry on the left hand side form part of an 'Exaggerating Army Size' stratagem, and are about to be removed.

My left, I was feeling very happy, I even had my supporting archers run round behind his cavalry while my Auxiliaries attacked in front.

Long story short, my attack on the left failed miserably. Even with rear attacks I couldn't get rid of his cavalry. On my right, on the other hand the first contact saw a 6-1 that killed one of my cavalry, and the Auxilia thrown in to fill the gap died miserably with a series of ones. This left Dave free to start bringing his cavalry round in behind my main lines.

At this stage, I threw my legions into the front of his, but a series of 5-1, 6-1 and 6-2 results aand  a succession of miserable dice rolls for PIPS left me unable to exploit any advantages I had - (typically 1,2,4 or 1,1,6) whereas Dave threw successively three sets of PIPS averaging 14 on three dice.

My red command was trashed, and with the blues broken, it was game over. a thumping 22-3 to Dave.

After deployment I was reasonably happy. I had extended past his flank on the left, and could expect success there, and with my Exaggerating army size stratagem plus Auxilia reserves, I was hopeful he wouldn't be confident to attack my apparently stronger right and would be forced to push in the middle.

The key was we both attacked a weakness, and he was able to successfully prosecute his attack, I wasn't.

Dave was his usual gracious self, and was kind enough to admit during the game that I was getting much the shorter straw in terms of dice.

Early Imperials WiP Part 3

So it is now what - two more painting days till Wintercon..  less, because I am having a hit-out tomorrow at the Club.

Anyway, I did a bit this morning, just the first 'drybrush' on the bases, as per the 'Baccus Basing System' (which frankly I could do a little cheaper just by buying the raw materials separately, but I like the consistency and convenience).

So here's how the boys look at the moment...

The red legion have had shield decals added.

The green legion are a white base plus green ink wash.

More decals on the Cavalry.

Auxilia.

*Footnote, the wagons are from Eureka, who make a lovely set of 'Roman' baggage. I was lucky enough to win a set and I am very pleased with them.

Early Imperials WiP Little Big Men Shield Transfers

Ok, so I have been putting off this bit, as it was something that was terrifying me. I had over 150 shield transfers to apply, and I had never used this type before. First results were mixed, mainly my fault, Doh!

So first of all, all my EIR minis are Corvus Belli, so when I ordered the transfers from LBMS Little Big Men Studios, I made sure I ordered the ones designed for Corvus Belli. The oval transfers for the Auxilia seemed to fit perfectly, but the ones for the legionary shields are just a tiny bit too small.  As you can see from the Legionary element on the right below, there is a border round the shield (one of them isn't terribly straight either, but so be it).

Auxilia on the Left, Legions on the right, but you knew that anyway, right?

Apologies for the photograph but it's 11pm and I still haven't got my macro lense for the Canon 500D.

LBMS advise in the instructions to paint the shield white - which I have done..  As you can see there is a noticeable white border. For the rest of the minis, I will paint the shields centres white and then do the best colour match I can to paint around the edge. It should be hardly noticeable.

The process of applying the transfers is fiddly - but straight-forward. So heres my advice.

1. Do this with plenty of light.
2. Do it on a contrasting background. Not white, and not the transfer colour either!
3. Have a rubbish area for all the tiny bits of plastic and paper that you will generate.
4. Make sure you have a very sharp (new) blade for your knife to cut out bosses. (I found doing all the strokes in one direction down a transfer sheet then turning it to cut the other direction made it easier). Have a spare blade handy as nothing blunts a knife faster than cutting paper.
5. Buy yourself a really really good pair of small scissors, and make sure they are completely clean. I can't emphasise this enough, you don't want to cut curves using a craft knife.
6. Removing the plastic covering is easier than I thought it would be, but you will need a LOT of patience. It is fiddly. Don't do it on the day you came home from work and kicked the cat.
7. Yes, they really do stick very well!
8. As you will be blobbing water on to the figure to remove the backing, make sure the figure is sealed or at least paints/washes have had plenty of time to set.
9. Get a rhythmn going. Sort out how many you intend to do. Once you start you can be peeling backing off the first figure in the element and then placing the transfer on the last. You can get quite quick.

Overall, with the caveat that the legionary transfers seem to be slightly too small, I am very pleased with the overall result. I will certainly use LBMS transfers again, and I am also no longer gripped with terror at the thought of having to do the entire army. I suspect a couple of hours will knock them all over.

So now I just have to get back to painting..

DBA with a Twist

Home from a very enjoyable competition at the Austrian-Australian Club, run by the indefatigable David Lawrence, who this time also played as we had odd numbers. Very nice to see him get a chance to play. David had tweaked the rules, and Hordes acted basically as another form of Psiloi, providing support to all friends. I brought my Communal Italians, List III/72(b), Kn general, 2 x Kn, 2 x Sp, 2 x Ax, 2 x 8Bw, 1 x WWg, and 2 Hordes...

Many games somewhat blurred, I started off against Greg (Gregorious from the Fanaticus list), who was running Papal Italian. A very tight game, which I eventually won out 4 - 3.


David Osborne was next with his Classical Indians.. difficult.. and I managed to not lose. My Auxilia couldn't kill bow, and David used a single Blade very effectively. This game timed out. The first time this has happened to me in years at DBA. We played the next bound anyway, and his elephants died. But the score still stood at 1-1.


Next up, Steve with his Feudal English, I massed a block of Bow and Wwg, and pushed forward, shooting down his knights with embarassing ease.

Game four.. Peter Phelps..  running Alexandrian Macedonians. I managed to be 6-1'd to death, oh dear. I killed his general, but even then he kept rolling 6 & 5 for PIPs and 6s in combat. Notably my Kn general failed to kill his artillery at 4-2 in my favour with a quick kill in three attempts.. grrrrrrrrrr.

Game five, Brenton Searle with his Armagnacs - a tough fight, in which I eventually triumphed - thanks to a combination of cheese and some excellent dice rolling. The final bound saw me kill three elements to add to the three we had each lost. 6 elements and I was confident I might be up there for the executioner award.

Finally - Murray Woodford and his English..  I pushed on one flank, and with the war wagon and 8 bow, eventually shot down enough of his bow to win the game. This was a major comeback from the start of the game, where the first combat roll was a 6-1 in his favour to kill a Sp with Artillery.

All up a very fun day, and surprisingly, one loss, one unfinished game and 4 wins was  enough for second place. Murray won first place having won 5 out of six.  Owen, who finished equal on points was given third on countback (number of Hordes!). Greg got the executioner award, and Brenton got the handicap award. (David handicaps armies and gives a prize for the winner of the biggest rating comparison..)

Early Imperials WiP

Just a quick taste since it has been so long. An Early Imperial Roman army (Year 0) I am painting up for DBMM. In the list books it is II/56 EIR.

Still some decisions to make. I have the lovely Corvis Belli figures, including some of the 'winter legionaries' in cloaks etc. So I am considering patches of snow on the bases. Not yet decided, and a long way to go before I need to decide. This little lot are intended for use at Wintercon. So still a couple of weeks to get them over the line.. 

So far they have been pretty standard. 'Chainmail colour' then a black wash (GW Badab Black), then flesh, now I have gone back and done tunic edging, sleeves in a uniform colour.

I tried something new for the wooden things (Carts and so on).Heavy wet-brush of light grey, then a wash of the 'Coat d Arms' Brown Ink Wash. (You would think they would have better names for these than just 'Brown' - like 'Bilious Brown' or 'Umbraceous Orridness' - but no, Coat d Arms - 'Brown', similarly, they have one also called 'Black. How unimaginative. Anyway, relatively pleased how it has turned out. Lots more washes to do, especially horses and cloaks, but good progress.

Anticlimax - Metal Magic Asterix Figure

So this fellow has been hanging around for a while, and today with the rain tumbling down, paying bills and generally it's pretty miserable, I thought I would take a break from the 15mm Early Imperial Romans, and paint this guy up.

Anticlimax, from 'Asterix in Britain' drinking a cup of hot water with a spot of milk.

The one thing I realise is my flesh technique is fine for 15mm, but too clumsy for 25mm. Hmm. Time to retire the Citadel 'Bronzed Flesh' and Citadel 'Flesh Wash' I have been using for years.

More Tomorrow's War

So deciding that the various technologies didn't work well together, the Exterminators from Khurusan arrived, plus EM4 Steel Warriors and some Grav APC from Critical Mass. So now I have two Tomorrow's War forces needing more paint.

That plus the rigging has started on the Houston's Ships..  and the Early Imperial Romans are lined up awaiting paint and the arrival of LBM shield transfers.

I need to spend the next couple of weeks at home following an operation, so hopefully that's my chance to knock over a couple of unfinished projects.