Carthaginian Libyan Spearmen Finally!

It's been a while since I've posted anything up. As I take all of December off work I was expecting to get a lot of painting done. Unfortunately the opposite was true and I got very little done. I did finally complete my Carthaginian Libyan spearmen as show below. Figures are all plastic Victrix from their excellent Warriors of Carthage boxed set. Shield transfers are predominantly Little Big Men Studios with a handful of Veni Vidi Vici thrown in. The LBMS are really nice but were a pain to put on the domed shields. My application of them was less than stellar but at arm distance they look good.

I also finished up an old GW terrain piece. I believe it's supposed to be some sort of crashed flyer/gunship thing. It can easily function as some sort of crashed spaceship.

Recently I picked up a copy of Amerigo from Queen Games.

I played this game at Fallcon last year, so I've had my eye on it to pick up for a while. In the game you have your goal is to establish trading posts and little colonies all over the randomly generated map. A turn is composed of a handful of phases in which you pick one action to carry out like: construct buildings or move your ships. What actions you can take and how many of them are defined by a neat mechanic of using a dice tower, or in this case a small cube tower. It was this mechanic which probably drew me to the game. I know they use it in one of their other games: Shogun. Overall, the game went pretty quickly and once you've played it for a few minutes, you'll have it mastered.

On my paint table right now is the last fleet for War Rocket, the Valkeeri. I was hoping to have these down this year but I doubt I'll get them down in the next day. After that I'll probably do some more ancients. And I'll have a 2015 review in a couple days.

Some Frostgrave Figs

Been a while since I've posted anything up. In fact it's been a while since I've really sat down and done a bunch of painting. Combination of a few things including starting a Federation Commander campaign with a couple friends which has been monopolizing my time a fair bit lately.

Regardless, these are some figures I painted up for Terry's Frostgrave game a few weeks ago. These figures are all from Reaper.

These figures are all metal. The iron golem in the back turned out really good. Same goes with the three wights in the middle. The ice toad in the bottom started out crappy but actually painted up rather nice. The paint job on the giant spiders and wind elemental are rather 'meh'.

These figures are all 'bones' figures with the exception of the two little ones in the foreground (and I see I've got the left one facing the camera). The stone golem turned out decent but the rest… . I can definitively say, I'm not a fan of the 'bones' material. If these were metal, I think they would've been much better figures. Can't beat the price though.  The aforementioned two figures in the front are a pair of old metal GW familiars.

These two metal figures were the ones I used for my wizard and apprentice. They were fun figures to paint and turned out really well.

Recently I got in a number of new board games. The two below were two I had picked up at Fallcon. First up is Flash Point: Fire Rescue by Indie Boards and Cards.

A friend of mine is a cop and isn't a big fan of firefighters. So naturally I had to pick this up. The game is a cooperative game in the vein of Pandemic. You have to go into a burning building and rescue a bunch of people before everyone burns or the building collapses.  The set I got came with a pile of expansions. The parts are high quality and with the expansions there's plenty of building layouts to play on.

The other game I've played recently is Chaos in the Old World from Fantasy Flight Games.

In this game each player is one of the four Chaos Gods and you're goal is to corrupt the Old World. It's a relatively fast playing game. After playing it I can see a fair bit of similarity to Cthulhu Wars. Parts are  a la FFG, so high quality.

As I mentioned at the start, I'm jumping back into the Star Fleet Universe and I'm now playing Federation Commander or as I like to call it: Star Fleet Battles Light.

Ship sheets are a lot nicer than the old SFB sheets were when I played it 15+ years ago!

On my paint table right now is some terrain, my Carthaginians spearmen (I hate painting linothorax) and I've primed up the last War Rocket fleet. It'll probably be well into December before I post again.

More Retro Raygun

Last night I finished some more figures for Retro Raygun. These figures are all metal (with the exception of the last one) and are produced by Hydra Miniatures. I have to say, I love painting these figures up, they're simple, clean and full of character. First up is a Galacteer Tactical squad.

Next is a group of Galacteer heroes. From left to right: Cadet Skippy, Comet the chimp sidekick, Jane Hunter and Dr. Zahn.

Finally is the Aquaclops. This figure is resin with a metal head.

Next on my paint table is a bunch of Carthaginian Libyan spearmen. Once these guys are completed, I'll have a solid core for the infantry. I'm planning on ordering some elephants from Aventine Miniatures but I'm also going to need a bunch of cavalry and it's a pity no one (to my knowledge anyway) makes 28mm plastic cavalry. Odd. If anyone has any good suggestions for assorted Carthaginian cavalry, I'm all ears. Top of my list so far is Foundry.

But before I get them completed I need to paint up a wizard and apprentice for Terry's Frostgrave campaign day on November 7th.

Robots and Javelins

This week saw me complete two batches of figures. First up are 4 bases of skirmish javelinmen for my Carthaginian army. These figures are plastic figures from Victrix.

Next is a batch of assorted Robot Legion figures for Retro Raygun. Figures are from Hydra Miniatures and are all metal. These figures are ridiculously quick and easy to paint. First is a group of 8 Minibots.

Next is a trio of Robot Legionnaires (from left to right): Heavy Support Legionnarie, Centurion, Optio (squad leader).

Last figure is Warbot Destroyer.

Here's a size comparison shot of the 3 sizes of robot figures.

Sitting on my paint table right now is some more Retryo Raygun Galacteer figures and some more Carthaginians. Next weekend is also Fallcon so I probably won't get anything else done this week.

Relic: Halls of Terra Busts

Short update tonight. I recently finished the 4 new busts for the new Relic: Halls of Terra expansion.

From left to right: Imperial Fists Terminator, House Belisarius Navigator, Sister Hospitaller and Chaos Iron Warriors Warpsmith.

Also yesterday saw the arrival of my Warfighter Wave 2 box.

This wave produced a hard backed board, more counters, counter tray, expansions for Eastern European adversaries, player cards for the Russian Federation and for the U.K. and assorted cards for night fighting. And it all came with this nice solid "footlocker" to put everything in.

On my paint table right now is 2 more batches of Carthaginans (1 should be finished tomorrow), and some more figures for Retro Raygun.

Martian units and terrain

Today I finished up a number of figures for All Quiet on the Martian Front. First up is a group of 6 Martian tripods. These are 4 Assault tripods and 2 Scout tripods.

These figures belong to Terry and he has asked me to leave the bases unfinished.

Also completed are these 2 Martian Power Nodes and a downed tripod.

Finally there are these 2 units of Martian Hover drones.

These figures came with metal bases and posts, which I didn't like, so I ordered some clear flying stands from Litko. They look considerably better but they are very top heavy, so I'm going to have to find something heavy to attach to the bases.

Next up on my paint table are the 4 new busts for the Relic board game expansion: Halls of Terra and a number of Carthaginian infantry.

Toltec-Chichimec

Today I finished the last DBA army I was painting for Dennis. This is a Tarascan/Toltec-Chichimec army IV/19(a).

I believe the figures are all from Black Hat Miniatures. This army is predominantly a bow army with some blades and a war band thrown in.

Next on my paint table is some Martians and more Carthaginians.

Hannibal Veterans

Tonight I finished the first units for my 28mm Carthaginian army. These three bases are of Hannibal Veterans.

Figures are multi-part plastic and are from Victrix's new Warriors of Carthage boxed set. You want to talk great value, this box is it.

I goes for 30 quid, so now it's about $78,395 Cdn. But for 30 quid you get 62 plastic figures: 24 Hannibal Veterans, 24 Libyan Spearmen and 14 Libyan Javelinmen.  Take that GW and your over priced shite!

On my paint table right now (and almost finished) is the last of the Meso-American DBA armies I'm painting up for Dennis. This should be done in the next few days hopefully. After that I think I'm going to do some more Carthaginians and Martians.

Martian DBA

No it's not a new version of DBA, just an awful title to drag you in. This weekend was a rather productive weekend for painting as I got two batches of figures painted up. First up is a trio of Veteran Assault Tripods for All Quiet on the Martian Front.

Figures are all plastic with some metal bits (all the extra plating is metal). As you'll notice one of the tripods is not based. Terry asked me not to base his figures as he'll take care of it himself.

Next up is the second army of the three I'm painting up for Dennis. This is the Spanish & Tlaxcalan army [IV/19( c)].

I believe the majority of these are from Black Hat Miniatures. This army is predominantly a shooting army with a Knight and Blade alongside some Artillery, Crossbow and a bunch of Bow.

On my paint table right now is a box of Victrix' new 28mm plastic Warriors of Carthage that I'm assembling.

Zapotec DBA Army

Tonight I finished the first of three 15mm DBA armies for Dennis. This army is the Zapotec Meso-American army (IV/53). I believe these figures are all from Black Hat Miniatures.

This army is pretty much all Auxilia and Psiloi. The army painted up pretty nicely.

Next on my table is a trio of tripods for Martian Front followed by another of Dennis' army.

Some Samurai & The Great War!

Last night I finished a couple bases of my long-running Samurai project. These are the first two bases of actual Samurai I've done.  Figures are from Kingsford Miniatures out of B.C. . Figures are based for Impetus.

I went with the same dark blue/grey base colour as my Ashigaru and added a pile of extra colour. I think they turned out pretty decent. One of my goals this year was to get four bases done, so I'm halfway there.

And also today my Kickstarter copy of The Great War (Commands & Colours World War 1) arrived!

I imagine I will be playing this at next game night.

For my next painting task, I've agreed to paint three 15mm DBA Meso-American armies for Dennis to pay off my purchase of a pile of his 25mm Macedonians. I've actually been wanting to paint Meso-Americans for a while and as they have no horses, even better! So next on my paint table are the Zapotecs.

Forbidden Stars

I picked up this new Fantasy Flight Game a week or so ago and finally got it onto the table last night. There was just two of us playing so we tried out the Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines. In this game you build up your forces and planets and try to conquer numerous worlds and capture objectives. Each world gives material (with which you build everything) and certain bonus items that can let you build powerful units such as Titans and large warships or build units for reduced cost.

The heart of the game are the Orders. Each player has 8 orders and they place them in a system where they want to do something. Other players can add orders on top of your orders, so certain systems can end up having a stack of orders on them. Orders are actually carried out from top to bottom, so you have to plan ahead to figure out the sequence that works best for you.

The four factions that come with the game are the Ultramarines Space Marines, World Eater Chaos Space Marines, Evil Sunz Ork clan and the Eldar of Craftworld Iyanden. Each faction has it's own units and own set of cards that reflect that races abilities.

As it was our first game it took us about 3 hours with my forces of Chaos triumphing over the Imperium scum. The game is for 2-4 players and I could see a 4-player game taking a good 3-4 hours. As this is a Fantasy Flight game, the components are of course top notch. Also as this is Fantasy Flight, they will probably be a few expansions covering the other factions in the 40K universe.

Cosmic Encounter & Manhattan Project

I got together with some friends last night to try out some new games he purchased. First up is Cosmic Encounter by Fantasy Flight Games. I've been wanting to try this game for a while so I was quite pleased my friend picked it up.

In this game you are a race with a set racial ability. Your objective is to settle 5 colonies on other player's planets. Every turn you have to launch 1-2 different attacks. Each player has a hand of cards with which to attack/defend and do an assortment of other functions. The game really shines in the variety of different races you can play and how they interact with each other. We ended up playing 3 games, with each game running from 1-2 hours each.

The other game we tried out was The Manhattan Project from Minion Games.

In this game your objective is to be the first player to get to a certain number of points and to do this you need to build nuclear bombs. Not use them, just build them. The basis of the game is placement of your meeples much like in Wizards of the Coast's Lords of Waterdeep game. You start out with simple labourers but you can get engineers and scientists. With these you can construct buildings like mines, universities and reactors, you can create plutonium and uranium, you can build fighters and bombers (with which you can attack the other players). But to get points you have to build plutonium and/or uranium bombs. It's not really a game for pacifists. It's a fun little game but it actually takes a while, there was 3 of us playing and it took a good 2 hours.

Retro Raygun - Robot Legion & AQotMF Terrain

Last night I finished up my figures for the Retro Raygun Robot Legion. Figures are all 28mm Hydra Miniatures with one exception outlined below. First up is a trio of Warbots.

Next is a squad of Robot Legionnaires.

This next group is the exception mentioned above. These figures are GW 40K Tau drones mounted on Litko bases. They fit quite nicely with the rest of the Robot Legion.

And finally is Queen Mechanika.

I also managed to complete a couple terrain pieces for All Quiet on the Martian Front. First up is a downed Martian Assault Tripod.

And finally is a Martian Power Node.

On my paint table next is a couple bases of samurai for my long-running Impetus samurai project.

Retro Raygun - Galacteers

Yesterday I finished up a group of figures for Retro Raygun, Hydra Miniatures new pulp sci-fi ruleset. These figures are for the Galacteer faction. First up is a group of 5 Galacteer troopers, an Engineer, a Sergeant and a trooper carrying an Atomic Bazooka.

Next is a pair of heroes, on the left is Ace McGuire and on the right is Rocky Rizzo.

On my paint table right now is a group of Robot Legion figures and some Martian Front terrain.

DBA Feudal English

Been a while since I posted anything. I finally got this DBA army finished last night. This army is a DBA 3.0 Feudal English (IV/23) army with all the trimmings. Figures are all 15mm Essex. First up is the cavalry: General, 3 bases of Knights and 1 Cavalry base.

Next up is the stabby bits: 2 units of Horde, a unit of Spear and a unit of Pike.

Finally is the shooty bits: 2 units of Bow, 2 units of Longbow, a Crossbow base and a lone unit of Psiloi slingers.

I hate DBA, so I intend some time in the very near future to Ebay this army and donate the funds to the club.

Next up on my paint table is some 28mm pulp sci-fi Galacteer figures I picked up for the release of Retro Raygun. They're almost finished so after them will be a number of Robot Legion figures.

Ironclad

Last night I finally finished the Land Ironclad for All Quiet on the Martian Front. This rather large 15mm model is mainly resin with a few metal bits.

It turned out okay. This was the first time I used weathering powders and they turned out alright. Although the powders looked better before I sprayed on the matte sealer. May have to look into that a bit more. This was the last unit I needed to do for our MayDay game.

On my table right now is a DBA army I'm painting up for the MayDay auction. After that I'm taking a break from 15mm figures. I've decided that 15mm is not my favourite scale, I need a bigger surface area. So after the DBA army I'm switching gears to work on a 28mm Carthaginian army. Either that or my Retro Raygun figures when they arrive. Decisions, decisions. . .

On another note, if you're interested in going to MayDay, we still have spots open, especially if you're a Warmachine, 40K or DBA player. http://maydayconvention.com