January 2014

Nice start to the new year with more progress on the fantasy project front.
I am steadily plugging away at the lead pile. Finished the on hand humans for the fantasy project and started on the Elves...cavalry almost done and the rest prime. I expect to finish them all by Cold Wars in Mid March. That will leave me the Dwarves on hand...plus a few planned purchases from Cold Wars. All these should be done by end of May. I then have to make a decision between doing the 300 or so on hand Pirates (and eliminating the lead backlog), or buying more fantasy figures.

Another high note for the month is that I have spend $0 on the hobby...with nothing needed/planned before Cold Wars.

PAINTING:
95 fantasy figures (1 mounted): 96 points

GAMES:
1 hostile Realms fantasy game.

New Additions

Started off well this month and I have now finished off the human figures for the fantasy project. The figures are from Splintered Light Miniatures. I will add more to this faction in the future.

Next up are the Elves...then the Dwarves and that will finish off the SLM figures I bought in July.

Leaders, heroes, and wizards

Merry Men of the Forest

The Adventurers' Guild

Hunters of the Dead

Heroes of the Hill Clans

The primed Elves...unicorns, horses, and elk are already on the painting table.

Pulse of Battle

Recieved my new Pulse of Battle rule book and game deck from Brent Oman.

I am going to look at merging some of the magic/fantasy aspects of Hostile Realms with PoB for use with the 15mm fantasy project.

Dark times are upon us

The new year saw the peaceful Gnomes and Hobbits camped just north of the river and preparing to take the Golden Idol to safety. They called upon some Dark Elven mercenaries to come to their aid and escort the precious idol to a new home. All turned sour when a mighty host of Orcs, Goblins, and Undead advanced quickly out of the mist.

Another game with the Hostile Realms rules...lots of fun unless you were a Gnome. 

The alliance forces included commands (from left to right) of Fauns, Hobbits, Gnomes, and Hillmen. The enemy advances with commands of Orcs, Goblins, Wraiths/Specters, mixed Undead, a Zombie horde, and Skeletons. 

A weak defensive line along the ridge protects the two fords...the only places to cross with the Golden Idol. 

The Orcs rush forward and send the first force of Gnomes into route...and cut off one avenue of escape.

The Undead advance steadily and shake the opposing line. The Wraiths and Specters fail to have the intended impact.

While the Gnomes crack under pressure, the Hobbit cavalry (on rams, pigs, and dogs) charge into the mass of Zombies.

The Gnogres launch a counter-attack with some success but the Goblins are approaching quickly.

The cavalry cut down hundreds of the Zombies but the horde is huge...it ties them up almost the whole battle.

Orc riders lose their discipline and head off to loot the camp...and lose a chance to capture the idol.

Dark Elven mercenaries cross the stream to form a bridgehead...waiting for the idol to be handed over for "safety".

The Fauns are steadily pushed back but keep the flank protected until the end.

The Zombies are destroyed and the cavalry attacks the stronger undead command.

The thin line is about to break as the Goblins sense victory.

The Hillmen have chased off the Orc Berserkers, but the Chief knows he can't get close to save the idol. 

The Goblin Warlord leads his troops in against the wavering Gnogres.

The path is clear for the Goblin Riders (who would fail 2 activations in a row)

Victory! The idol is taken! (on the 3rd Goblin activation...the Specters could not capture it...had to be a corporeal unit, and this time the Undead rolled a 1). 

The Goblins are elated and clear a path through the Gnogres for the prize.

The Hillmen look on in sorrow as the angry Orc Chief considers attacking his Goblin allies to take the idol.k

The alliance forces form up around the ford to save as many troops as they can, but the enemy leader, Count Duku orders his host to retire.

The idol had gotten so close...2 moves from safety.

The routed Gnomes tend to their many casualties in shame.

Whole the idol is spirited off by the Goblin Riders with warriors and archers protecting their rear.

The Golden Idol is now in Goblin hands. There are rumors that the human clans are being rallied to enter the wars in greater numbers. A force of Rangers is gathering along with bands of mercenary adventurers. They will soon come seeing the prize before it becomes defiled. The Elves and Dwarves have remained silent for now, but surely they must be planning their own campaigns to capture the Golden Idol of Zaquetta.

Next up on the painting plan (all from Splintered Light Miniatures)- humans, Elves, Dwarves. 

2013 Round Up

I have passed the 5 year mark in the hobby since I started painting my imagi-nation figures while deployed in Iraq.

Plans for 2014:
1- Lots of figures still on hand for the fantasy project...will keep this at the priority for the year
---Humans
---Elves
---Dwarves
---Then buy next batch. Focusing on one manufacturer at a time.
2- Texture the bases on the imagi-nation figures
3- Update the blog with links and followed blogs
4- Small additions to existing projects...keeping each to about a week's work and finishing them as they are bought. Expect about a months worth of painting.
5- Attend Historicon and Cold Wars
6- Spend less than in 2013...need major work on this goal.
7- Start Pirates project

Let's see how I did on my goals for 2013:
1- Spend 50% less money than 2012. I am tracking all hobby expenses again this year.
---Sold off most of the figures I bought already painted over the past 5 years. Have decided to only keep figures I have painted. Last batch (quite large) is a mix of Napoleonic figures I use as imagi-nation enemy forces. Overall, a failure on this goal...spent the same amount as 2012 due to a few large unplanned purchases.
 2- Play games with the spaceships and Splintered Lands figures.
---Done, played a game with both sets of figures.
 3- Paint last 12 of the sci-fi figures on hand.
---Done, plus some others for the sci-fi project.
 4- Complete 152 German infantry (75% complete) and the German vehicles.
---Done
 5- Build bocage/hedges
---Failed...but bought a nice set at Historicon.
 6- Attend Cold Wars and Historicon
---Done, enjoyed both conventions with my son.
 7- Complete at least 50% of the on hand ancients figures.
---Done, blew this one away. Merged it into a fantasy project.
Added goals after start of the year:
8- Added a whole new project by painting planes for Check Your 6!
---Done
9- Paint the 5 cavalry, infantry, and 1 artillery unit I bought for my Katzenstein forces. Also start texturing the bases on this whole project. Target is to finish the painting by end of August.
---Finished painting all the troops, but have not rebased the existing forces
 10- Buy and paint several groups of fantasy figures...Halflings and gnomes from Splintered Light Miniatures to start.
---Great start on this project. Bought a huge load on sale from SLM. Great progress so far.

2013 Painting
J: 286
F: 148
M: 138
A: 100
M: 91
J: 92
J: 160
A: 155
S: 156
O: 212
N: 147
D: 305
2013: 1990 !!!!

2012: 1119
2011: 1013
2010: 1389
2009: 441


CURRENT PROJECT REVIEW
Zaquetta (ancients/fantasy): The continued focus into 2014. Finished the ancients figures and got a great jump on the HUGE batch of Splintered Light Miniatures I bought over the Summer. There are lots of other manufacturers figures I will pick up in the future.

WW2: A mature project. Will pick up an occasional British or German unit or vehicle.

Air Combat: A mature project: This was an unplanned addition in 2013 after my son and I played some games of Check Your 6 at Cold Wars. Have a small collection of US and Japanese planes. Could expand with more with some bombers or get into the jet age. Will buy a hex mat.

Katzenstein (imagi-nation): A mature project. Expanded the forces in 2013 and have a few more units I would like to build. Need to texture all bases and make a decision on selling my OPFOR. Could have a long range addition to add some generic enemy units.

Krasnovia (modern skirmish) and Ziva (sci-fi): A mature project. This has morphed and merged with the Ziva project. Basically it is one big individually mounted 15mm skirmish project with any sized force from squad to company. Will still pick up some figures (especially from Khurasan) and will get some more vehicles. Could be diverted into some Zombie gaming.

Splintered Lands:  A mature project. SLM just released a new set of five figures that I will pick up at Cold Wars.

Starmada: A mature project. Sold off the ships I bought already painted. No planned additions.

Terrain: Bought a large batch of bocage at Historicon after my efforts to make my own failed. Nothing specific needed, will just pick up what catches my eye. May get one more box of bocage at Cold Wars.


FUTURE (Possible) PROJECTS

Not that I need any more projects, but these are some ideas I have for the future.

Pirates: I have a big bag of figures on hand and a few ships. May start on these to mix things up in 2014.

Zombies: Been reading up on some of the zombie games...have lots of survivor type figures with the modern/sci-fi project. Could add zombies and maybe paper terrain.

Wild West: Still a possibility, but only after the Pirates get done.

Civil War: Considering 6mm or the Blue Moon 18mm figures.

Napoleonics: Considering 6mm or the Blue Moon 18mm figures.

Gladiators: would go 28mm with a custom built arena if I take the plunge.

Slaughterloo/Flintloque: love the figures, but not my preferred scale.

Spencer Smith Imagi-nation: I still think about starting another imagi-nation (larger scale).

Model Casting: Considering trying out my hand with casting my own figures from molds.

A Very British Civil War: Love the though of developing my own forces and the alternate history. Would be a 28mm project that comes with it's own terrain headaches.

MicroArmor: Interested in 6mm WW2 for larger games. The Look Sarge, No Charts rules got me interested.

German counter-attack

Ran another IABSM game with my British company defending against a German counter-attack. This will close out the games for 2013.

British held off the attack but took some heavy losses.

Germans Lost:

24 infantry

3 recon vehicles

1 PV IV

British Losses: 27 total casualties

7 KIA

14 WIA

6 WIA (RTD)

1st Platoon took 8 casualties.

3rd Platoon took 15 casualties.

The attached MG section suffered 4 casualties.

The company received 8 replacements. This leaves 2nd and 3rd platoons each down a full section.

1st post using the Blogger app on my iPad.

View from the British lines. Two platoons forward and the under-strength 2nd Platoon in reserve.

Germans entered in waves from both roads...recon elements 1st.

Well timed 3in mortar fire stops them cold.

Made worse by a lucky PIAT shot.

Tanks and Panzergrenadiers follow and start dishing out revenge.

While another platoon works the British right flank.

Losses mount with both sides trading MG fire.

The flank attack has some success, but the 2in mortar rips one squad to pieces.

The front line elements have pulled back to avoid the PV IV and Stug fire. British armor reinforcements are on the way.

A desperate bid to storm the church yard fails with heavy losses. This breaks the infantry attack.

Germans start to pull back as the British tanks arrive.

The PV IV gets a mobility hit for 1st blood...

But the return fire is more effective.

December 2013

Great painting month. Worked my way through the Dark Elves and Undead figures from Splintered Light Miniatures.

PAINTING
305 x 15mm figures: 305 points (Dark Elves and Undead)

2 units of Dark Elves with leaders

Specters, Wraiths, Skeleton Knights, Mummies

5 units of skeletons

3 units of zombies

Necromancers and leaders

Next up 96 human figures including a Merry Men unit and a bunch of character figures. Then have the Dwarf and Elf factions to finish out the Splintered Light Miniatures figures I bough back in July.

GAMES
1 game of Hostile Realms
1 game of IABSM

The Pridelands faction soundly defeated the City States...holding the fords over the river and routing many enemy units. 1st outing for the elephants did not go well.