Sunday, March 30, 2014

Stopped at the border

The Alliance brought the Golden Idol to the Elven Temple along the border to be hidden from prying eyes. A small contingent of Dwarves from the Mountain City were enroute when the Undead Horde arrived.

The Elves took positions along the dense hedgerow marking the border and hoped the slow moving Dwarves would arrive in time.

The Elves place their irregular forces on the right flank and the Guard on the left flank by the temple. The center consisted of a line of warriors and archers backed by the fierce elk cavalry.

The enemy came on with the Dark Elf mercenaries and Goblin Clans on the left, Zombies and Skeleton masses in the center and the Rat Clans trying to cross the marsh on the right.

The battle opened with the Vampire Lord prematurely ordering a band of Trogdalytes to emerge from their tunnels and attack behind the first Elven line. Luckily, the Elk Cavalry were on hand to push the foul smelling beast back into the caves before the main lines could clash. The Elven Princess was wounded in this skirmish and it could have proven decisive if the ambush was unleashed at a better time.

The Dark Elves and Goblins attacked aggressively, sending the Wild Elves and Fanatics routing. Only the Rangers held the flank allowing time for the Dwarven Pike to advance. After several clashes, the Dark Elves had to content themselves with having turned the flank but not defeating the pike wall.

On the far flank, the Rat Clans advanced slowly but were defeated by the Unicorn Cavalry without having an major impact on the battle.

In the center, the Skeleton and Zombie hordes attacked the warriors along the hedge. The Archers held out until almost dusk before finally giving way before the third wave of Zombies. The Warriors roughly handles the Skeleton Warriors but were forces back leaving a hole in the center that was filled by a valiant counter-attack by the Heavy Elk Cavalry. The cavalry would see off repeated attacks, slowly wearing down the Undead forces.

In the end, the forces of darkness could find no way through the Elven lines and withdrew to fight another day.

I used Pulse of Battle with my adjustments for fantasy battles. The game came down to a difference of 2 morale points...closely fought.

I used some of the recently painted units in the battle with mixed results. The Heavy Elk Cavalry and Elven Archers performed very well, the Dwarven Pike held their own, but the Fanatics and Wild Elves broke early. On the opposing side, the Vampire Thralls never made contact, and the Trogs came on too early to have the desired effect.

There are rumors that the Dwarves have taken the Golden Idol back through the mountains...reports that the Idol has been stolen by a band of Yetis have not been confirmed.

View from the Elven side

Trogs emerge from the tunnels.

But are bottled up by the Elven Elk Cavalry

Elf on Elf action...did not go well for the lighter side

Thin Red Line

Goblins finish the job on the Wild Elves

Undead breach the line

But not for long...the Cavalry kept charging any unit that crossed

Pike Dwarves moved from the center to hold the flank

Trading losses with the Dark Elves

The line holds!

Saturday, March 29, 2014

March 2014

Good painting month but tough on the wallet. I attended Cold Wars with my son, and purchased another batch of fantasy miniatures from Splintered Light Miniatures when I found out they were not attending the convention. Add in some e-bay purchases at the end of the month, and I am not sticking to the reduced spending goal.

PAINTING
121 x 15mm fantasy figures: 121 points
6 x 1/300 planes: 12 points
TOTAL: 133 points

GAMES
7 games at Cold Wars
1 game of Pulse of Battle-Fantasy at home

Below are the units I painted this month. Still waiting on the bases for the planes.

Dwarven Pike

Troglodytes

Wild Hill Clan

Wild Elves

Vampire Lord Thralls

Add caption

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Elves, thousands of them!

Not quite thousands, but here are the rest of the Elves I painted last month now based up since my Litko bases arrived just after Col Wars.

I have painted two other units this week (Desert Elves and Vampire Thralls). Next up are 6 x 1/300 planes, the ConquistaDwarves, and the Dark Dwarves.

Bowmen (and women)

Rangers

Unicorn Riders

Berserkers

King's Guard

Queen's Guard

Two units of warriors

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Cold Wars 2014

My son and I attended the HMGS Cold Wars convention over the weekend. No issue with checking in to get our pre-registration badges and the hotel was OK (needs some TLC). Food was acceptable with enough options to avoid monotony. Attendance looked good but I did have two games canceled.
Spent more than I wanted (a pattern), even with SLM not on site. I ordered from SLM before we left and they gave me a 20% discount...and the figures were in the mailbox when we got home. Great service.


Flames of War- Pegasus Bridge

Lost a tank platoon as soon as they entered the battle

Great pulp game with a fantastic hirst-arts table

Check Your 6! defending Henderson Field

We had a major victory by shooting down 7 bombers...I was the only US plane lost (but I bailed out)

M'Baso (IABSM variant) in Rhodesia

We took heavy losses in the initial ambush but then went on a rampage

Sword in Africa game...Junior General won the day

Only one of his Europeans made it to safety

Look Sarge, No Charts WW2 game

The defending Russians stopped the German counterattack cold

Saturday, March 1, 2014

February 2013 Round Up

Lots of painting when snowed in several times through the month.

PAINTING
266 points of 15mm fantasy figures
-still have to base 8 units...waiting on order to arrive from Litko

GAMES
1x Pulse of Battle-Fantasy game

Next up are 101 points of Dark Dwarves from Splintered Light Miniatures.

After that, I will do the Dwarves and then have to make a decision on starting the Pirates, or making another fantasy purchase.

Planning to go to Cold Wars this coming weekend, but SLM is not attending. That will cut my purchases down.

Have been considering a Zombie project...could be another black hole of endless miniatures.

Leaders and Heroes

3 units of Elves on Elk

3 units of Wood Elves