Knights and roads

I expressed before how much I love and hate the Foundry Gendarmes. They are a vital part of my Italian Wars armies, and look great when finished, but they are time consuming to paint.

You'll notice they're sitting on my new experimental roads. Unlike the Gendarmes, with very little time and money invested I have several feet of road that matches my bases. The addition of sand really helped. I'll be adding a few more feet soon.

A water tower for Lesterville.

The parched citizens of Lesterville finally get a drink. My Old West town has been around for quite a while. Thought it was time to give them a water tower.
Scratch built from balsa and paper.

I added sand to my mixture for the roads posted previously. They look a lot better. I'll post pics soon.

Road Test

I decided to do a variation on what I've seen on the internet and at conventions. I've seen people take sealant and either put it on felt or just right out of the tube. I never liked how either of these worked. The whole point of getting paintable caulk is to paint it.
I used DAP indoor/outdoor paintable (has to say paintable) sealant in Cedar Tan color and a caulk gun to squeeze out several lines on some wax paper and then used my finger to spread them out. I wanted the edges ragged, but wanted fairly uniform widths so I drew out lines on the reverse of the paper 2" wide.
After they dried, I dry brushed them using the same colors I use on my miniatures bases.

You can see the straight out of the tube color at top, then lighter drybrush, and finally even lighter shade.
They turned out okay, but next round I'll put wheel ruts and some sand in for texture while the goop is wet. I'll do some curves and T intersections also.

ACW Thursday: Fire & Frustration

Fellow Basement General John has a glorious collection of 28mm American Civil War miniatures. We don't get to use them often enough so it was time for a game of Fire & Fury.

The game started with the Rebs already deployed, waiting for the larger Yankee forces to come get them. The Union had some troops on the field and the rest arriving randomly from across a large stream.

Rather than wait, the Confederates attacked. The Union were caught off guard and spent some time standing around (we rolled really low and wouldn't move). But, finally the yanks put it in gear and deployed along a a rail fence. It would prove to make for lousy cover.
As the battle raged, the flanks at first were stagnated. While in the center, the Yanks gave up their fence and charged. They swept most pf the troops in front of they away.

But then, things got hot on the flanks. Tired of standing around getting shelled, one brigade of Rebs gave a desperate Rebel yell and plunged into the fight. By all that is holy by the statistical gods, they should have been stomped. But they weren't. They smashed a much larger unit, then broke through to the next, then the next turn taking out a battery of guns. That's Fire & Fury for you.

Don't get me wrong. For ACW it has no match in my opinion. Most ACW battles seesawed back and forth, with crazy swings sometimes by smaller, desperate units. F&F does that. Some heretics, I know, have starting using 2d6 instead of a d10 to make more a Bell curve of the rolls. Just not for me.
In the end, we stopped due to the late hour. We had units from both sides deep behind enemy lines, ready to wheel and cause some damage. It would have been fun to see what happened next.

Another OldHammer Wizard

I had a little time yesterday, and the last one was so much fun, had to paint a Wizard.
I decided this one is a necromancer.
Photo's a bit bleached out out, but I kept him in Purples, grays and black.

Campaign for the Kingdom

Duke Lionel was concerned. It had rained all through the night. The fields were muddy. Maybe too muddy for his heavy cavalry. Should he dismount like his enemies across the battlefield, or risk it and commit half his force to one daring charge?
Only weeks before, Lionel had rode beside Horace. Now he faced him across a muddy field.

With only Oswald the Younger, Baron of Ock, as his ally, Lionel form his men into one long line.

Across the fields, Horace, claimant to the throne, sprang to action.

The woods forced both sides to break up their lines and try to plug the gap.

Then, Lionel saw his chance. He unleashed his mounted knights. It seemed his gamble had paid off. The knights charged home, destroying the bowmen of Duke Ulric. But, had the plunged too deep into the fray?

The center became a mass of swirling blades. Men fell like wheat before the scythe. Lines became intertwined.

But finally, it was Horace who broke first. The churned up fields made pursuit impossible. Horace would escape this time. Lionel had proven he could be an effective commander, but Horace still had the support of most of the nobles. More blood would have to be spilled.

We had an odd number of players this time, so the side with 3 players each commanded 6 units, while the side with 2 players had 9. That way, both sides had a total of 18 units on the field.
My command roll left me Plodding, while Horace, fresh with his string of victories left him Brilliant. That gave them more maneuverability, but they were restricted by terrain.
As usual, it was a close fight, coming down to a difference of one unit casualty deciding it.
Standings: