Field of Glory: Legions

 

More recruits for the Legion! The Mid-Republic Roman army slowly grows.

Next up is another cohort of Hastati and Principes, this time with yellow shields. The shields got a decoration of oak leaves, repeated on the more Greek style shield of their Centurian. They use the same models as the previous Legion battlegroup.

Backing up the Hastati and Principes in the front lines are a small grouping of Triarii, the hard-core vets of the army. The oldest, most experienced soldiers in the army, they actually apparently were mostly there for morale and only stepping in if things went to hell during battle. They got red tunics to help differentiate them from the main line Legions’ white.

The planned army is based partly off the starter set from Essex Miniatures, coming in at ~600 points.

-Field Commander

-Troop Commander x2

-4x Hastati & Principes x4

-2x Triarii x2

-2x Velites x4

-Roman Cavalry x4

-Numidian Cavalry x4

-Allied Italian Spear x8

-Fortified Camp

 

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Blood Bowl: Gobbos

 

The Jokerz Goblin team for Blood Bowl is all done. It’s a pretty big team, but Goblins need all the help they can get.

The first 12 members are basic Linemen, all done up in their Joker facepaint and team colors. I gave a different angle on some of the duplicate members to show off other details. The members are fairly uniform, but have the odd yellow elbow pad, kneepad, or glove for variety.

The team also has a few secret weapons players. The first is a chainsaw, dressed in an appropriate hockey mask. I like that his chainsaw blade is shaped like a moon, seen throughout the other team members. The chainsaw goblin is of course player #13.

Next is a Goblin carrying a bomb. Due to his pose, the client wanted him to echo Batman from the 1966 Batman movie- ‘Sometimes you just can’t get rid of a bomb!’ He gets to stand out from the rest of the team, but makes sense considering everyone else is the Joker.

The other secret weapon Goblin is a ball and chain fanatic. He was a nice sculpt, with the chain whirling around him. I made the spiky mouth of the wrecking ball match the Joker smile painted on his face.

The final team member is the Troll, painted up to represent Killer Croc. With that in mind I painted him to have a proper reptilian appearance, with pale belly and chest. His sculpt in my opinion is a little busy, his body twisted up into a pass. The Goblin in his hand carrying the ball looks suitably concerned with his impending trip. I designated the Goblin as member #0, since he’s not on the roster.

 

 

Field of Glory: Rome

 

I’ve begun working on a Mid-Republican Roman army for Field of Glory. The first test models are a pair of units.

First is a battlegroup of Hastati and Principes, the first and second line of the Legions. Historically the Hastati were the front lines, wearing less armor (being poorer soldiers) but still capable fighters. If the front lines weakened or broke, the second line stepped up, made up of the Principes. The Principes wore better armor, and represented the more seasoned veterans.

Model-wise, the Hastati are sculpted with only a square of bronze on their chests and a grieve on their left leg, while the Principes wear chain hauberks. Both carry pilum, shield, and their gladius sidearm. I mixed the models on the bases for some variety, since otherwise they have single sculpts for each type. These Legions are Marian Roman models from Essex Miniatures. The army is based around the type that existed in the Mid-Republic era, ca. 210 BC, specifically during the 2nd Punic War versus Hannibal.

The unit has a command group consisting of a Centurion and a Signifier carrying the  standard. The unit could represent a cohort (~480 men) or a pair of cohorts (FoG scales to ~150-300 men per base). With the rest of the army’s Hastati/Principes battlegroups, you’d have a full Legion. At the moment the Legion battlegroups have 4 bases, but one could be expanded to 6 to make it the First Cohort.

The color scheme is pretty simple, with white tunics, bronze helmets and armor, chainmail, black helmet feather plumes, and red shields. Other units will change this up, with different colored shields, tunics, and/or helmet plumes to easily identify them on the table. I might add some decoration to the Centurion’s shield later.

Along with the Legions, I’ve worked on some Velites stands. These are the light skirmishers that moved ahead of the Hastati and Principes units. Like the Legions, they were wealth-based, having the least equipment, relegated to harassing the enemy and scouting. The unit bears red shields, tying them to the red-shielded Legion unit. Other Velites units will match other Legion battlegroups. A pity though that they weren’t sculpted with wolf-skin hoods. Oh well.

More to come. There a whole army to go.

Saga: Britannia

 

While working on various projects, I’ve been working on some miniatures for myself. These are additions to my exiting armies that allow me to play as Britons; the actual warband uses a mix of Welsh and Saxon models, plus the mounted Hearthguard I built a while back.

I already have a mounted Briton/Roman (or even Romano-British) Warlord, so I figured I’d make a version on foot. Play with the Britons has shown that while the mounted option is useful, it can lead to the Warlord running off on his own, which negates the Briton Inspiration ability.

This Warlord has the same mix of Roman and Briton equipment, with another Virgin Mary shield device. I elevated him a bit above his standard bearer by building up his base.

Along with the Warlord, I painted up a pair of Companions, who can accompany their chief in battle. These are the Foot Companions from Gripping Beast. They could be some of the dismounted Hearthguard, so they got nicer equipment and individualized shields, rather than the roundel design seen with the cavalry unit.

 

And now for something different- Vikings! These are the Berserkers from Warlord Miniatures. I figured I could paint up the small unit for use when I want to play my army as Vikings.

These models are nicely odd looking compared to the rest of the warband. Naked and wildly gesticulating, they charge into combat. They have a good variety of classic berserk behavior, as well as different levels of combat nudity. It is funny that only one wears a ‘bear shirt’, but that works. I gave him a raven design on the shield he’s biting. The unit’s bare skin allowed for some scarring across their limbs, either from enemies or self-inflicted.

 

 

Field of Glory: Wars of the Roses battle

Today I got to have a ‘proud papa’ moment. The two Wars of the Roses English armies I finished recently faced off for the first time in a real battle.

I served as the ref to help the players get the rules down, plus gave tactical advice to both sides to best use their units.

The Yorkists (on the right in the first pic) met the Lancastrians (on the left). Edward IV faced off against the Duke of Somerset in some good fighting.

I set up the terrain in the interest of saving time, with a couple forests (green blobs), a small gentle hill (the brown blob), an open field (dark brown), and an enclosed field (tan). These were done in an impartial ‘typical’ set-up. The Yorkists had the initiative.

Yorkists advance. Knights led by Richard of Gloucester. Edward leads the center Archers.

Lancastrians played more defensively, with Exeter leading the Knights on the extreme left flank. Archers and Crossbow move through the woods.

Yorkist Archers and Royal Guard advance.

Lancastrians under Northumberland take the crest of the hill.

The game was a learning game. This resulted in a few bad placements and risky moves, but they seemed to have fun. The Yorkists decided to advance with everything, trying to bridge the gap as soon as they could. The Lancastrians were content to wait for them; forward movement was to the top of the hill and the edge of the forest on their side of the table. Once on the hill the Archers placed their stakes- no one was going to dislodge them.

Yorkists close the gap. Burgundian Handgunners score hits on the Footmen, then retreat.

Mercenary Pike advance into longbow range.

6 hits on the Pike from 2 Archers groups. It got worse…

Lancastrian Footmen threaten the Yorkist center. To the right, arrow fire from the woods scores damage on the Knights.

As the Yorkists got into range, fire and arrows darkened the sky. Yorkist Pike came under several turns of arrow fire from the Archers on the hill, losing half their bases from murderous fire over 3 turns (at effective range the Archers were throwing 9 dice). On the other flank, arrow and crossbow crossfire took out a Knight as they closed with their Lancastrian counterparts. In the Knights melee, the Yorkists came out on top, until the Archers took a cue from Agincourt and charged out of the woods into their flank.

Yorkist Archers somehow tank the Footmen!

Yorkist Knights break and run for their lives, leaving the Lancastrians in the dust.

In the center, things got serious. A poor placement meant the center Yorkist Archers got charged from 2 Footmen groups. Both sides’ generals joined the fray. The Archers lost the impact phase but held on, and avoided losing any bases. In subsequent combats the Archers actually rolled out of danger, beating both Footmen units, disordering one and fragmenting the other! On right flank the intervention of the Archers tipped the fight to Lancaster, breaking the Yorkist Knights, who ran off.

After that we ran out of time. Technically a Lancastrian sort-of win, with 1 broken enemy BG. The Lancastrian center was in the potential of collapsing, and the left flank still had plenty of fighting to do, so hard to say how it would have ended if we had more time. The players enjoyed the game, and recognized mistakes they made in placement. Looking forward to next time.

Blood Bowl: Gobs and Gobs

 

I’ve taken a little digression after finishing some projects. The current little project is a Goblin team for the new Blood Bowl edition. The team is the basic box set (the Scarcrag Snivellers) with some extra members, a troll, and some of the Forgeworld secret weapons Goblins. Make way fer Da Jokerz!

What’s with the weird colors, you may ask? The client wants them to have the colors of the Joker, nemesis to ol’ Batman. So purple armor with yellow straps, worn over black jerseys and trousers. Topping it off is Joker-esque white face paint, with a red smile; though few goblins are actually smiling so the Joker face more resembles the glum face of The Dark Knight Joker rather than the manic smile of the Batman TV Joker. The typical moon shapes take a back seat to the Joker aesthetic. I also added a smiling Joker smile logo to their shoulder pads.

So far I’ve finished 4 of the little guys. Since Goblin players don’t have set positions they don’t have any additional markings, like for a Blitzer or Catcher. A few members got dags on their leather gloves and boots or ‘HA HA’s’ scrawled on the plates of armor to avoid too much uniformity.

Last is the team coin for the kickoff. I used the grinning moon to the Jokerz’ advantage, giving it a nice creepy smile. More to come!

Wars of the Roses: House of York

 

The army of the House of York is complete. This marks the end of both of the Wars of the Roses armies for Field of Glory.

These three pics are the army commanders. First is Edward IV, king of England (Long Live the King!). This is Edward at the time of the Battle of Tewkesbury (1471), where the Yorkists crushed the Lancastrian forces. It was this battle that snuffed the Prince of Wales and set up Edward as king unopposed until his death in 1483. Here Edward wears his golden plate armor, astride an armored steed. Alongside him is his banner bearer and herald.

Next is Richard, Duke of Gloucester, brother to Edward and future Richard III. At Tewkesbury he served under his brother. I gave him some retainers on foot to distinguish his stand from Edward’s.

Last is Lord William Hastings, loyal supporter to Edward. He was a powerful and rich man, which did little to save him from Richard’s axe in 1483. Poor Hastings. Here he is from better days, alive and leading part of Edward’s army. Like for the Lancastrian army, I had the stand of the third in command with only 2 models.

The banners for the commanders are way too big really, since in reality such flags would drag the ground. However, I wanted the commanders to be easily spotted on the table.

These battlegroups are the mounted Men-at-Arms contingent of the army. First up are the general retainers, sergeants, and knights of the various lords. I painted them just like the knights for the Lancastrians; considering the dubious loyalties of the Wars of the Roses, some might have fought on both sides. The surplus of Freezywater Flags allowed the unit to carry 2 banners.

Second are the Royal Guard, the elite retainers of the king. The small unit of only 2 stands got 2 banners for each stand- Edward, Edward the king, the flag of England, and St. George. The flag with the cross was sculpted, otherwise the rest are Freezywater. Another way to make the unit stand out was a blue wash and pure silver highlights for their armor and horse harnesses.

The Yorkist force in full.

The commanders leading from the front.

The knights array for battle.

Neville and Richard’s archers with stakes.

Here are some pics of the whole army arranged for presentation.

The list for the army is:

Commander-in-Chief: Edward IV

Sub-commander: Richard, Duke of Gloucester

Sub-commander: Lord Hastings

2 Archer groups x8 (in liveries of Hastings and Buckingham, and Richard and Neville)

Dismounted Footmen/Men-at-Arms x6 (in liveries of Edward, Clarence, and Buckingham)

Mounted Men-at-Arms x4

Royal Guard Men-at-Arms x2

Mercenary Pike x8

Mercenary Handgunners x4

Mercenary Handgunners x4

 

The Footmen, backed by Buckingham and Hastings’ archers.

Knights in front, backed by Burgundian handgunners.

Pike, with Richard’s archers behind.

Pike!