Dark Ages Tents WIP

I am printing some Oseberg tents to use as Camp models for Ulolkish's Dwarves in tomorrow's God of Battles game.

Of course, they will also be used for camp scenery in other games, like SAGA, especially when my Vikings are fighting.

The tents are roughly the same size as the Saxon tents I purchased from Renedra a couple of years ago - and just remembered, so I have dug them out and expect to assemble them next week (they should be perfect for my Rohan warband, although the movie show a somewhat different style of tents in the camp at Dunharrow.

Dark Ages/Viking Village WIP

Anna and I started building a large longhouse today. I let Anna decide on the type and size, so this is probably going to be the Chieftain's/Hersír's longhouse, while I am going to make some smaller ones of the type with the door in the gable wall.

We are using this drawing as pattern for the house, and in restrospect it would have been easier to use the simpler designs for our first building, but Anna is always very ambitious when it comes to any kind of creative activity.

Blood Eagle: Another Horrible Dice Day

Shortly spoken, I am on the verge of giving up gaming. I am fed up with getting each and every one of my rare gaming sessions ruined by my dice rolling FAR below average, Today, I think I rolled 3 results over 4 on the d10; 2 Initiative Rolls, and one attack, which latter was, by the way, easily saved by my opponents Fate roll. I find that, what ever I do, I just see my troops wither away while I fail to do any damage to the enemy, and it is simply no fun to play anymore.

Today, I even played the Uruk-Hai, exactly the same force that the Rohirrim got creamed by when I was playing them, which just goes to show how awful everything works when I have to roll the dice for it.

Well, here are the pics from the game - might be the last ones I post in a while, as my motivation is now exactly ZERO. Playing a game really should spur me on to get more stuff painted, not drain me of any will to carry on.

We played 'The Raid', and 'the great hall' was the largest of the 3 buildings (not that it mattered, as it might as well have been on the moon).

The Set-up

Uruks charging in

The defenders tried to keep their archers out of charge range, and succeeded, but the arrows they fired had no effect.

Up until now, everything went according to plan - but then soon we started rolling dice...

Two Uruks down...

The defenders now outnumbered the attackers by more than 2 to 1 - and the third Uruk (the closest one) went down.
This is the point where I gave up.
I think we played 3 or 4 turns. What a fun game... Not.

Attic Attack IV: Day 1, Blood Eagle Part 2

As you can see from the two last pictures from my first game of Blood Eagle, my Rohirrim did not fare well.

We did not finish the game, as Valdemar had to drive back to Fredericia, a 3/4 of an hour's drive from my home, but things were a bit tight for the defenders, and it did not seem as if I could hold out for much longer.

Well, at least I got the rules tried out...

Attic Attack IV: Day 1, Blood Eagle Part 1

Finally got my first game of Blood Eagle played - this time with Valdemar, a new acquaintance met through another gamer's Facebook profile.

I played the Defenders of the East Emnet, while Valdemar took control of the Uruk-Hai raiders.

We played Assassination, as it is a very straightforward scenario, not demanding anything but a designated leader in both warbands.

The Uruk-Hai split up in two groups, one crossing the stream, the other heading for the bridge.

I already made my first tactical blunder here: I should have kept my archers at one flank, adding more bonus to volley fire.
Lesson learned and duly noted.

With the raiders closing in at full speed (running, -3 ranged attack penalty),
my archers could not beat any Armour, even though their lives depended on it.

Battle is joined!

I just realized that I have not edited all the pictures of the game, as some was taken after midnight - and thus I have to finish this AAR in a later post...

Blood Eagle: Last Gripping Beast Civilians

I did not paint anything today, because my stupid dog toppled an empty wine bottle in the conservatory, sending glass splinters all over the tiled floor - making me decide that it was time to get the rest of the bottles out of the way, which means removing the front and back labels and get them sorted after type and colour, before stowing them away in fruit cases in the far corner of the garage.

In between, while waiting for the bottles to reach the right temperature in the hot water, I worked on my Gripping Beast Dark Ages civilians, as I wanted to keep focussed on the Blood Eagle project.

All the four male peasants/shepherds have open hands in which to place some appropriate tool. I think the guy in the back with the outstretched arm (who is probably the farm owner) is going to be stabbing with a pitchfork, and the rest of them probably just holding staves,

Below are all the Gripping Beast civilians I own, and have prepped. As mentioned, I still have to put tools in the hands of the males, but we shall see about that tomorrow...

Blood Eagle: More Civilians

Painting Thorstein is painstakingly slow, probably mainly because I am still not very motivated for painting (I really need to play some games to spark my enthusiasm).

In the meantime, I turn my attention to other sub-projects in between, trying to keep some focus on the Dark Ages, and the Blood Eagle project in particular.

Got the last women and children cleaned up and glued on washers this afternoon/evening.

Next up will be the male peasants/shepherds, and then the Manx Loaghtan sheep I purchased at the same occation.

Horisont VII 2015 - Day 1 (Friday)

I did not take as many photos at the Horisont convention last year as I usually do, as I had a really bad cold, and was not feeling all that well.

On the first evening, I played in a two-sides four-player game of Lion Rampant, Saxon defenders versus Viking raiders. I played one of the Viking parties, another guy whose nick I don't remember the other.

My units are the closest ones. My allies are among the trees to the right.

Everything went my way, until I tried to kill off one of the Saxon leaders, which resulted in my alter ego's untimely demise (my ally's avatar had been killed previously), and we agreed to have lost the game (although we had killed off most of the defenders).

Blood Eagle: Rohan/Saxon Warband all but Finished

A few touches more, and these are ready for the tabletop. At least the leader is going to have a tuft or two, and some fallen leaves on his base

Blood Eagle LotR Warbands: Last Stage of the Re-basing has Begun!

Just finished base-coating all the bases with Warzona Trench Brown.

Now they have to dry, before I apply a drybrush of the same colur mixed with white.

It feels as a mighty relief to finally get something done on these, again - this 'instant warbands' project has dragged on far too long by now!

I am now going to thave lunch, and then go for long walk (8 kilometers), before eathing up the potato-rows (if there is time for it, we have to go to a meeting at the school regarding a school camp for Lea's class at 16.30).

Well, at least I feel thatI have done progress, today!

Blood Eagle LotR: Rebasing Next Phase

All the Rohan warriors and about half the Uruks have landed in the sandpit.

Either this evening or tomorrow morning, I shall get the last Uruk-bases sanded, and start painting the bases already with sand.

Unfortunately, my regular gaming buddy Ulolkish/Duregar does not have time for gaming this weekend, but I guess, we can find time for testing the Blood Eagle rules and these LotR warbands next weekend, although it is in my 5-day night watch period (we just have to game after 3 p.m., so that I have sufficient time for sleeping).

Prepping Gripping Beast Dark Ages Civilians - 2

Added a couple of minis to the to-be-painted queue.

The ankles of the matron are very poorly sculpted by today's standards, but the rest of the figure is OK.

The running child was a nightmare to clean up. Flash and mold-lines edging it all the way round, and running vertically right through the face, just right of the nose. Madness.

I get happier every day about my decision to start with the Gripping Beast civilians, leaving the much nicer Foundry models for later, because, frankly, I might have given up cleaning these if I had done it in reverse order! Now I can look forward to working with the Foundry civilians as soon as I get through the Gripping Beast models.

Prepping Gripping Beast Dark Ages Civilians

I have decided to try getting a scenario ready for a small private gathering of gamers in Esbjerg called Åcon.

Thus, I have started getting some of the Dark Ages civilians I have purchased ready for the table - they are going to be victory-point awarding objectives; the Saxons will earn VP by keeping them safe, the raiders by carrying them away to captivity an thralldom.

I forgot to rough up the edge on the base of the young woman - shall have to do that when the glue has settled completely.

I must say, compared to their plastics, I am pretty un-impressed with these metals from Gripping Beast. Moulds do not seem to align very well, causing some very annoying mold-lines, especially through the hair of the women, but also on the legs of the child (which suffers from a bad case of 'melon-head' (or maybe it is not a child, but a midget?).

On the plus-side, they look as if they will paint up quite easily - not a lot of un-necessary small fiddly details, which is nice for 'scatter' models which are painted as a necessity rather than part of the fighting forces.

Still Struggling with the Re-basing

I had some problems with the glue on a couple of the Uruk-Hai, so I have not yet completed the re-basing project, but I am close, now!

Tomorrow I shall begin glueing sand on the bases, and then - hopefully - paint most of the bases during the weekend.

Blood Eagle: Foundry Vikings 'Jarl's Household'

A mix of civilian and combatant models, this set contains some really characterful sculpts!

The hag on the far upper right is an obvious Volva, and the male models in the lower row are very nice Huskarle (although the middle one is probably meant to be the Jarl).

I mainly bought this set because of the female modles, but the warriors are a nice addition to my collection, as well.

Well, back to the re-basing business...

Blood Eagle: Foundry Viking Villagers

More civilians for my Dark Ages gaming.

This time the Viking Villagers from Wargames Foundry - I am particularily amused by the 'Lucky Leif' mini - allegedly named so, because none of the severe wounds he suffered in combat proved fatal (one arm, one leg, one eye).

I hope to be able motivate myself for some painting after the weekend (it is my work weekend), so I can make some progress on the Viking raiders, because I really look forward to getting some of my civilian models ready for the table!

More Re-basing of the Rohan/Saxon Warriors

Abit late, but I got the rest of the warband re-based yesterday. Real Life issues prevented me from updating this blog, but here they are!

Next step is to put wall filler on the bases - but I want to re-base the Uruks, before I start making a mess with the filler.

Re-basing the Rohan/Saxon Warriors

I am making some progress in getting rid of the slotta-bases. I expect to have at least all the Rohan/Saxon minis re-based later today.

Gripping Beast: The Last Bits

The Gripping Beast order I received some days ago included some livestock (manx), and some rural tools that i am going to use for some of the plastic Dark Age Warriors to make additional peasants to be slaughtered by raiders.

On top of that, I ordered a bad of 'long' wire spears (100mm) which I have sevferal uses for (banners and standards, of course, but also pikes to replace the broken pikes of Uruk-Hai pikemen).









That is now all the loot from that shipment, and as you can see, I have plenty to do for the next couple of months.

I am going to attend a private mini-convention in Esbjerg July 1st-3rd, am going to bring some Blood Eagle fun to the fray, and hop to be able to bring at least the Vikings warband along with some Lord of the Rings warbands.

Blood Eagle, Rohan/Saxon Warband: Leofwine

The last member of this my first Rohan/Saxon warband, Leofwine is another standard Fyrd Skirmisher with a bow.

Stats are, effectively the same as for the other standard skirmishers, but, again, included for the sake of completeness.

This is another mini, not painted by myself, but as soon as the warband has been re-based it will be hard to tell which ones I painted and which ones I bought painted.

Name	Leofwine, Fyrd Skirmisher										Points Cost
Attributes	Fate	FV	SV	Speed	Religion
Value	6+	+0	+1	+1	(Christian)						14
Points	1	0	1	1							3
Traits
Armour	Leather byrnie, light helm					Encumbrance	Light		Armour Rating:	9	2
Fighting Weapon	Attack Bonus	Hands Required	Fate Modifier	Notes							Points Cost
Unarmed - unskilled	+0	1	+1								0
Shooting Weapon	Attack Bonus	Hands Required	Fate Modifier	Range	Notes						Points Cost
Hunting bow	+2	2	-1	16”							9