A Short Skirmish (Kings of War Battle Report)

 It's been a while since my last game, and honestly this game... probably doesn't count, as it was a quick, unbalanced thing that my wife and I threw together just to get reacquainted with the rules. Nevertheless, here it is! Elves vs Abyssal Dwarves in a short battle with tiny units. My wife played the elves in this case.

It started off simply enough, with the two forces maneuvering for advantage! No gladestalkers for the elves, but including the tree herder was probably a mistake, balance wise.

Combat begins! The blacksouls did some damage, but never managed anything spectacular.

Flanking action! The elven archers also put on a pretty poor showing overall, being outshot by both the Abyssal dwarf mortar and the decimators. For shame, elves.

The mortar actually did quite well, blasting some holes in the elven lines, but good morale rolls kept them in place. And two terrible rolls did the decimators in.

Finally, numbers and huge trees took their toll, and the surviving Abyssal Dwarves were forced to retreat back to their dark, fiery holds. The elves win!

So, maybe not a very official or rules accurate game, but it felt good to play again. Hopefully the next one will be soon.

The Ghostly Fleet

 Perhaps it's more of a squadron, but nonetheless, the Ghost Fleet is painted!

Four ships is all that I had to paint, of course. Maybe I'll add more some day, and I still need to figure out the bases, but visible progress is always good.

A Ghost! (Ship)

 Recently, Mantic announced a new book expansion for Armada, "Seas of Dread"

https://www.manticgames.com/news/ghosts-and-pirates-new-ways-to-play-armada-seas-of-dread-supplement/

All very exciting stuff, but of course the thing that drew me in the most was the part about ghost ships. Why? Well, I've always had an interest in ghost ships and things like the Bermuda Triangle (I don't nescesarily think that they're real, mind you, I just enjoy the creepiness of the stories). I also, perhaps more importantly thought, "Hey, that should be easy to paint!"

And so I have begun. I've had these brigs hanging around for a while, unpainted, so now they have become ghost brigs.

I still need bases of course, and I've got some grand ideas for them that will probably not come true. We'll see!

Back Again with Boats!

 There and back again? Well, now I'm here and back again. Been very busy, etc. But here's my dwarf fleet as it now stands:

Eight ships is pretty darn good for me! I've got more stuff to share soon, gotta update.

Real Tabletop Gaming (Armada)

 Who says you can't play a little game of Armada right on your dining room table?

Probably no one. I'm not sure where I was going with that. Anyhow, my dad and I played a little game of Armada on the dining room table. Enjoy this action shot. Look at that motion blur! Nothing more dramatic than measuring distances!

It was a fun game, though we didn't really finish, it was more about just spending some good time together. And that was a victory.

Monster March: Done!

 I've done a little more work here and there, and I've reached the point where I feel comfortable calling this beast done!

It was a lot of work, but very satisfying to follow through, and I want to say thank you to Swordmaster (https://swordmasterofhoeth.blogspot.com/) for putting it on in the first place! I'm definitely up for trying this again next year.

Monster March 3 - I'm Tired

 Sadly I've now been sick for over a week, and it has not made making progress easy! But I've done a little here and there, so I decided to post about it!

Mainly I've been adding foliage made by shaving sprues, and trying to give more depth to the trolls skin. Also I dropped the figure once and broke the pitchfork, so that was fun. 

Still, I'm enjoying the painting whenever I can!

Monster March #2 - Paint!

 I'm not finished yet, but I've managed to put some paint on the Halfling Harvester!

As so often happens, I can see in the shot that I made the paint too thick, but ah well. I want to do some more depth to the forest troll's skin, and put a wash on the halfing rider, and.... a lot more. I will get there.

Tiny Armada Report

 I played a game of Armada! Woo!

Against myself, and using four ships, but still!

The game started with a frigate and two brigs confronting a dwarf ship, perhaps two patrols that were forced into battle.

The brigs, with their speed and maneuverability, managed to score a few hits on the dwarf vessel, but nothing severely damaging. Meanwhile, the frigate struggled to get close enough to bring its guns to bear.

In the end, it was the dwarf ship that managed to get into position. It let off an impressive broadside, raking the stern of the human frigate and crippling the vessel. That was enough to drive the Men away, and give victory to the Dwarfs (I ran out of time)

 

Honestly, even though it was tiny and short and solo, I had a lot of fun. Got to get more real games in soon!

Monster March Post #1

 Well, here's a new project, once again! This one I can say is at least partially thanks to Swordmaster over at the Kings of War forums, who is hosting Monster March. I decided I wanted to participate this year, and I've got a monster of a model to prove it: The Halfling harvester!

Here it is in... not put together form. I admit that I was pretty intimidated, I'm generally no good at putting this type of figure together, and I almost always break a piece or two just getting them separated from the frame thing.

So I was pleasantly surprised when the whole thing went together fairly easily! One of the easiest big figures I've worked on, to be honest. There's some gaps that need filling, but I'm pretty happy.

Wisely (he says about himself) I did not glue the driver down yet. I'm going to paint him seperately. I've learned a thing or two. Just a thing or two, not more.

Boats and Bingo

 Back after a month! Which is not to say I haven't been busy, it's just been with other things. I was in a musical! It was exhausting. The end.

 

But here's another ship for the fleet!

 

 And here's another box for LoTR Bingo: A hero of fortitude for both good and evil!

 In this case we've got Frodo for the forces of good, and a Corsair captain (of course) for evil. He doesn't think he's evil though. Just bit rough around the edges.

Three down! And more to go.

Frigate About It

 I'm sorry, that was terrible.

But here's a frigate!

It was only once I finished the sails that I realized that one part of the mast is missing. Alas. I shall find it some day.

Three ships down! Several to go.

New Year, Same Boats

 Well, not entirely the same. I was fortunate to receive a little package in the mail today.

Yes, I'm finally ready to get the Kingdoms of Men ships based and ready! For one thing, actually knowing the right base sizes is a bonus. And the acrylic bases are... well, they're all right. I might have liked some darker shades for the water, but ah well. They work!

 

As demonstrated here, my two brigs based and ready to set sail! Of course, I'll need a few more ships than that, but I'm on my way.

 

Tiny Boats!

A few more ships to paint for Armada.

 

 

You know, just a few. Two of them are kind of done!

A Very Short Report

 I finally had a chance to get in another game of Kings of War!

Elves fought Ratkin in this one, at... well, still not really a "legal" points level. We went with 750 points with the scenario to hold the center of the board, and it ended up quite a close game.

I didn't take many pictures, but here you can see the Silverbreeze cavalry holding the line as a roadblock, keeping my regiments from getting flanked. In the end, the Ratkin horde in the center were routed in time, and though I lost over half of my army, I was able to hold on to a tie.

Note the fine grass tablecloth. No longer will I do battle on bare plywood.

Heavy Skeletons (That's an odd Term)

 I haven't forgotten about my little skeletons! These one's are a bit buffer, all armed with two handed weapons and so on. My thinking was to use them as counts-as wights. Got to have a few of those guys, right?

I've still got some more of these undead figures, enough to make another couple units, I think, but I'm taking a break for now.

Empire of Dust Armada (of One)

 I got some paint down on my first Empire of Dust ship, the little guy from the starter set:

Just a little guy, hanging out in the skeleton seas (couch cushion)

Armada and Dwarfs

 I said I was more excited about this post, and I am! Because I have painted several dwarf ships for Armada:

The dwarf ships are fairly simple and fun to paint, which is of course a bonus for someone like me, who is not the best at painting. These ones I mainly painted in metallic colors, bronze, silver and copper, with purple for a bit of variety. Purple doesn't seem to be a color people associate with dwarfs, but perhaps it should be. I mean, I like it.

I've managed to get a hold of the rules, and a few Empire of Dust ships too, so I'm hoping to try out a little game soon.

Spear Skeletons (Skelespears?)

 Here's the next unit, ready to do their duty as skeletons holdin' spears.

Not much exciting to say about these guys, the sculpts aren't too varied but they work for a regiment of spears. I'm a bit more excited about the next few posts.

Skeleton/Ghost Warriors

 As promised, I put together another little unit!

These fellows are armed with a whole bunch of weapons: swords, axes, picks, etc. But since they all have shields I figured they could work well as the basic skeleton warriors.

Why are they ghostly skeletons? That's something I'm still working out. Perhaps for next time.