Well, very pleasant news this way comes. The other day I got an email from a editor I'd written an article for some time ago in a wargaming connexion. In the message he said that there was a little money to be shared out amongst contributors.
Anyway, knock me down with a wet noodle, but there are two armies soon to be heading Japanwards - of the beautiful Legio Heroica figs, no less - courtesy of said editor!
What a wonderful surprise!
Prufrock's Wargaming Blog
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Anglo-Saxons for Dux Bellorum
This is my other recently completed 15mm army. They are mostly Essex figs but there are a few Tabletop chaps in there as well. These should allow me to field Anglo-Saxons from earlier times right through to 1066. Again, bases are 60mm wide to match the Normans and forthcoming Vikings.
This is two DBA armies' worth, plus about 10- Tabletop figures.
Shieldwall. These are later period.
Shieldwall of somewhat lower quality...
Your bog-standard shieldwall.
Huscarls, thegns etc.
Skirmish types.
The lot.
This is two DBA armies' worth, plus about 10- Tabletop figures.
Shieldwall. These are later period.
Shieldwall of somewhat lower quality...
Your bog-standard shieldwall.
Huscarls, thegns etc.
Skirmish types.
The lot.
Monday, September 7, 2015
Normans for Dux Bellorum
Here are some recently painted Normans for (modified) Dux Bellorum. There are a few Bretons still straggling in and some foot reinforcements to come, but this is the bulk of the army.
The figures are Essex 15s, bar a couple of exceptions that we will note as we go, and they are all mounted on bases 60mm across.
First up, the light horse.
These are lovely figures to paint. Blocked basecoat and a dip is all I did with them.
Next, archers.
There are true Normans and some from the Breton DBA army.
More foot. This time heavy infantry, crossbow and levy skirmishers. The mailed chaps look to be Bretons and 9th/10th Century Franks rather than Normans, so I need two or three bases of heavy foot with kite shields to bring me up to 1066.
And to the big boys: knights!
Is the grandsire of Reginald Front-de-Boeuf amongst them, perhaps?
The standard bearer here and the chap with the Normans-in-Italy crisscrossed shield are not Essex. They came in a pack labelled Thistle and Rose and evocatively titled 'The Bastard'.
You can see the biggest bastard of them all above centre. He was a bit too chunky to mix with the Essex, so I put him on his own base.
Command base.
You might note a fourth imposter here. Although he came - black-undercoated and missing his lance - in the Thistle and Rose lot, he looks to me to be a Chariot figure. I should have got rid of the black undercoat because he doesn't quite match. Oh well, too late now!
I'm actually quietly chuffed with how these came out. The new wet palette did wonders in allowing me to easily mix colours for horse coats, so there is a lot of variety without the grief that ensuring such used to entail. I was a bit apprehensive about doing the shields at first, but using an ultrafine Gundam marker to outline the patterns beforehand made things very simple in the end. It was also pleasing to get to use up four figures from the bits and pieces box.
Can't wait to get them on the table.
But before I do that, I'll have to show off the Saxons...
The figures are Essex 15s, bar a couple of exceptions that we will note as we go, and they are all mounted on bases 60mm across.
First up, the light horse.
These are lovely figures to paint. Blocked basecoat and a dip is all I did with them.
Next, archers.
There are true Normans and some from the Breton DBA army.
More foot. This time heavy infantry, crossbow and levy skirmishers. The mailed chaps look to be Bretons and 9th/10th Century Franks rather than Normans, so I need two or three bases of heavy foot with kite shields to bring me up to 1066.
And to the big boys: knights!
Is the grandsire of Reginald Front-de-Boeuf amongst them, perhaps?
The standard bearer here and the chap with the Normans-in-Italy crisscrossed shield are not Essex. They came in a pack labelled Thistle and Rose and evocatively titled 'The Bastard'.
You can see the biggest bastard of them all above centre. He was a bit too chunky to mix with the Essex, so I put him on his own base.
You might note a fourth imposter here. Although he came - black-undercoated and missing his lance - in the Thistle and Rose lot, he looks to me to be a Chariot figure. I should have got rid of the black undercoat because he doesn't quite match. Oh well, too late now!
I'm actually quietly chuffed with how these came out. The new wet palette did wonders in allowing me to easily mix colours for horse coats, so there is a lot of variety without the grief that ensuring such used to entail. I was a bit apprehensive about doing the shields at first, but using an ultrafine Gundam marker to outline the patterns beforehand made things very simple in the end. It was also pleasing to get to use up four figures from the bits and pieces box.
Can't wait to get them on the table.
But before I do that, I'll have to show off the Saxons...
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Baggage
These figures (foot are Essex, not sure about the mules) were generously sent my way by the strong right arm of Simon Miller (Bigredbat), putter-on of spectacular multiplayer ancients games, all round top bloke and author of To The Strongest!
I'm not usually one to muck around too much with bases, but I thought I would try to go a bit fancier than usual for these.
To help me in future, I'm including a little reminder of what I did.
1) Paint the figures!
2) Set some puddles using larger stones and apply a mix of fish tank sand and glue.
3) Next, paint sand with a mix of watery earth brown, followed by a drybrush.
4) Apply glue. Pour flock on...
5) Shake flock off.
6) Add a couple of foliage clumps and dribble Klear over the water holes.
This was a lot of fun to do. Thanks again, Simon!
I'm not usually one to muck around too much with bases, but I thought I would try to go a bit fancier than usual for these.
To help me in future, I'm including a little reminder of what I did.
1) Paint the figures!
2) Set some puddles using larger stones and apply a mix of fish tank sand and glue.
3) Next, paint sand with a mix of watery earth brown, followed by a drybrush.
4) Apply glue. Pour flock on...
5) Shake flock off.
6) Add a couple of foliage clumps and dribble Klear over the water holes.
This was a lot of fun to do. Thanks again, Simon!
Father's Day in New Zealand
It's Father's Day in New Zealand today so thoughts naturally turn to the old man. I come from what used to be known as 'a broken home', but that term is not strictly correct. As children we never wanted for love or affection, but for various reasons mum's first marriage had to end. They tried, but it didn't work.
Dad went to Australia and we sort of lost touch with him, except for letters on birthdays and Christmas. He died in 1993.
The old man came into my life when I was about 13. My mum was trying to make ends meet with 3 young kids and had met M, who was a solo dad, at church. Early on he took me and a couple of friends tramping up the Hackett, and he would also build go-carts out of old armchairs in which the neighbourhood kids could race down the hill.
Dad went to Australia and we sort of lost touch with him, except for letters on birthdays and Christmas. He died in 1993.
The old man came into my life when I was about 13. My mum was trying to make ends meet with 3 young kids and had met M, who was a solo dad, at church. Early on he took me and a couple of friends tramping up the Hackett, and he would also build go-carts out of old armchairs in which the neighbourhood kids could race down the hill.
 |
| (photo of Hackett Hut taken from David Noble's blog) |
He married my mother when I was about 14.
He is a thoroughly good man who has always done the best he can. He applies the same high standards to all aspects of his life. Whether he was building a fence for a stranger or painting a deck for his daughter he would work to the same level. I did not know at the time but he went to extraordinary lengths to get my younger brother out of a hole involving debt, bad choices and dangerous company. That brother turned his life around with M's help and encouragement and is now a respected and sought-after leader in his field.
The old man is a Christian who lives from the conviction that a man must serve to be able to lead. He has led and served our family in equal measure, and we are all very grateful to him.
He also loves games. I already knew how to play chess before I met him, but he was and is a bit of a master. I've only ever beaten him twice, and the second time was days after he'd had a brain tumour removed, so probably doesn't really count (nah, it counts!).
He introduced us to Risk, Careers, Escape from Colditz, numerous card games and, later, Settlers of Catan.
In turn I showed him Commands & Colors: Ancients and Hannibal, which he enjoyed enough to order in from the US.
Anyway, he's about the best father you could hope for who's not actually your father, and we all love him about as much as you could love anybody.
Right now he's recovering from his third brain operation in a year and tomorrow he will learn what his options are with regards to future treatment. We all hope he can get through this. He's the kind of guy who can lose, but is never defeated.
I won't show him this post because he already knows how much I respect him, but it's sometimes therapeutic to put things into words even so.
Happy Kiwi Father's Day to all the dads out there, wherever you are in the world.
Painted: Dungeonquest minis
The humidity was a bit lower today so I took a punt and did some spray varnishing.
First up are some figures from the Dungeonquest boardgame (Fantasy Flight Games edition).
I'm not usually one to paint boardgaming tokens, but I thought they would make a good dry run for the Games Workshop and various other plastics I have lying around. These are very basic paintjobs, a dip, and a couple of coats of varnish. They are not works of art but they look serviceable enough.
We'll have to wait and see though how well the paint will stand up to the wear and tear of gaming with small children!
First up are some figures from the Dungeonquest boardgame (Fantasy Flight Games edition).
I'm not usually one to paint boardgaming tokens, but I thought they would make a good dry run for the Games Workshop and various other plastics I have lying around. These are very basic paintjobs, a dip, and a couple of coats of varnish. They are not works of art but they look serviceable enough.
We'll have to wait and see though how well the paint will stand up to the wear and tear of gaming with small children!
Friday, September 4, 2015
Recent (and forthcoming) arrivals
Despite the school term beginning again this week it's been quite a forward looking introduction to September at house Prufrock. A copy of Quartermaster General arrived from Amazon Japan (via The Book Depository) and I'm very excited about getting some people together and trying it out.
An upside of our brave new Amazonion world is that the shipping from Europe cost only 300 yen (about US$2.60), saving roughly US$30 on what it would have cost to order it from the States. Yay, a short-term win! The downside is that all those lovely old bookshops are now either going or gone, and on Amazon here ebooks are replacing English-language paperbacks (but assuming their price point!).
One almost feels formulated on a pin...
Anyway, to leave that digression behind, progress has also been made on the painting front. We are 30 Norman knights and 20 odd foot figures to the good, but I don't have pictures because the weather has prevented varnishing. My religion forbids me to flock bases pre-varnish, so we'll have to wait until the heat and humidity relents a little more before showing the troops in their dipp'd glory.
We also have another set of arrivals, this time from a TMPer: some shield transfers for Macedonians, Spartans and other odds and ends. A further TMPer order should arrive in the next wee while. The mix of Crusades-era Syrians and assorted Dark Age foot was a curiosity I could not resist and should prove a handy addition to my Dark Ages project and its sibling: Crusaders and enemies.
That's about all I have to report at the moment.
But it's been a funny old week. I am both very glad that my little son is safe sleeping in his bed tonight and heartsick that a littler boy who looks almost exactly like him was lost drowned washed up by waves on a beach.
And this while I await the arrival of 15mm Syrian horse from foreign shores (and label a blog post miscellaneous).
Here's no great matter indeed.
An upside of our brave new Amazonion world is that the shipping from Europe cost only 300 yen (about US$2.60), saving roughly US$30 on what it would have cost to order it from the States. Yay, a short-term win! The downside is that all those lovely old bookshops are now either going or gone, and on Amazon here ebooks are replacing English-language paperbacks (but assuming their price point!).
One almost feels formulated on a pin...
Anyway, to leave that digression behind, progress has also been made on the painting front. We are 30 Norman knights and 20 odd foot figures to the good, but I don't have pictures because the weather has prevented varnishing. My religion forbids me to flock bases pre-varnish, so we'll have to wait until the heat and humidity relents a little more before showing the troops in their dipp'd glory.
We also have another set of arrivals, this time from a TMPer: some shield transfers for Macedonians, Spartans and other odds and ends. A further TMPer order should arrive in the next wee while. The mix of Crusades-era Syrians and assorted Dark Age foot was a curiosity I could not resist and should prove a handy addition to my Dark Ages project and its sibling: Crusaders and enemies.
That's about all I have to report at the moment.
But it's been a funny old week. I am both very glad that my little son is safe sleeping in his bed tonight and heartsick that a littler boy who looks almost exactly like him was lost drowned washed up by waves on a beach.
And this while I await the arrival of 15mm Syrian horse from foreign shores (and label a blog post miscellaneous).
Here's no great matter indeed.
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