Heads Up?

Here are two recent additions to the pool of possible encounters with 'bad things' in The Saga of Bicca Biccasson. Firstly, the Lambton Wyrm, a legendary monster from the North East of England. The figure is from the Crucible Crush Flint & Feather range via North Star ~

In games I see it as having attributes similar to a flightless dragon. In the legend it seems that bits hacked off were reattached or regenerated, which seems it might be a useful attribute if it looks like it may die too easily?

The second addition and inspiration for this blog title is from the same source, catalogued as the Monstrous Flying Head. I thought it would make a splendid marker to put down in games when a Spell was cast. After all, if magic does exist it must consist of fooling the senses or muddling the mind of it's victim(s)? I chose to match the colour scheme on this piece with my Shaman seen earlier in the project, using Foundry's Moss Mid shade as the base, followed by the Raw Linen triad. See if you think it has worked ~

The final additions to the possible encounters pile are a pack of Wolves from North Star's Menagerie range. They are ready to base up now, so there will be more on them as and when...

Too many Generals?

Well, of course not; though I concede that it is a matter of budget, space and opinion that we can agree to disagree on. Being a typical wargamer though I do so hate seeing surplus figures going to waste, something which seldom happened in the good old days of buying figures individually rather than by the blister or bag! Sorting out my purchases from both Colonel Bill's and from Wargames Foundry's stand at The Other Partizan I found two mounted figures which although they didn't fit easily into unit bases did make a reasonably satisfactory vignette for a command base. I have painted them up now and in my organisation designated them as a sub command base for my expanded Goth/Saxon/Frank contingent ~

They are from Foundry's Commanders and one of the Heavy Cavalry packs respectively. Currently my Goth/Saxon/Frank element only consists of three bases of Heavy Infantry in mail and two bases of Light Infantry skirmishers. There are two more bases of figures in the Lead Pimple, although I need shield transfers before I will start them, and that awaits the reopening of LBMS under the Victrix umbrella. He might have waited until after Christmas to announce the move and not put me and others to such inconvenience, but such is life. Hardly a life changing difficulty after all.

While on the subject of the Late Roman collection though I am progressing the next Legion allocated to the army of Pompus Minimaximus. Two bases are now completed with the third underway as I type this entry. I hope 🤞🏻 they will appear here by the end of the week. That will leave just two more units to paint: twenty unarmoured levy infantry, from Foundry's Arthurian range, and seven more Heavy Cavalry from Foundry again.

Harald II v William the Barsteward

 Some scenes from Monday's game with my 1066 & All That collection and the current darling of the internet community, Midgard. We added some element of Magic/Sorcery with each side taking a Christian priest with one 'spell'. For the Normans Bishop Philipé de Rounslie, and for the Saxons Father Bycca. The Bishop had the Battle Rage offering while Bycca had the Curse attribute.

The field of battle is open ground with no significant features, we are rule novices and kept it straightforward. The Saxons are on the left, the Normans the right.

William the Barsteward positioned himself amongst his mounted warriors...

...while Harald II was to be found amongst his Huscarls and was accompanied by Father Bycca, Curse at the ready!

Saxon lightly armed Javelin skirmishers were working their way around the Norman left flank when they were caught by the Mounted warriors. The result looked a foregone conclusion given the large dice disparity!

More mounted warriors smashed into the Fyrd while the Huscarls can only stand by and hope!

Father Bycca readies himself in prayer. Can his Cursing turn back the Norman hordes?

Despite the long odds the javelin armed troops resist their opponents for three turns before their Stamina breaks and they are destroyed. A Loss of Reputation for Harald!

On the Norman right flank the Fyrd are proving a four and determined opponent, driving back one unit of mounted Breton warriors and fighting another to a standstill. Is this the moment for the Huscarls to strike a decisive blow in the centre?

Well it might have been had not Father Bycca been admirably placed to utilise his Curse attribute against William the Barsteward. Already reduced to one Stamina by three rounds of Single Combat William fails to avoid the curse with a throw of 🎲! Having used up his Mighty Deeds in combat rerolls he looses his life! (Twice now in successive games!) 

With the Norman Reputation down to six against the Saxon's thirteen, the Huscarls rampaging through the Norman centre, the Fyrd holding off the Bretons and lunch imminent Phil concedes the victory to my Saxons. Once again history is changed... As to Midgard as a rule set, well I'll happily give it another go but I think bigger battles using my Late Romans and my Punic War collection will stay with Hail Caesar, but never say never of course.

 

Stone the Crows!

As I mentioned in my previous Blog entry I bought two packs of Viking runestones from Fenris Games. The product arrived within two days of my order being placed on their website so they deserved to immediately find themselves at the head of the painting queue in my book. I washed them in warm soapy water and dried them thoroughly, leaving them overnight for the best result. I washed the three stones with Foundry Black Armour wash and left them for a day. I had thought to dry brush them but it's not my best brush skill and I was fearful of loosing the myriad of fine details on the face and so I left them as is. 

Out with Sue, Phil and Di for Christmas lunch at Essington Farm gave me a plastic bird medallion in my Christmas cracker, just the right size to pass for a raven sitting ominously on the larger stone, if you squint that is~

I was undecided as to the best basing arrangements for them: all three on one base or on three individual bases? In the end for versatile use on the tabletop battlefield I have settled on three individual bases. The main/largest rune stone is on a bigger base to emphasize it's significance as well as providing additional cover. I added a few larger Woodland Scenics large rocks to suggest decay I hoped and then my usual mix of basing texture from the same company. A wash of thinned Crafters' Acrylic Country Maple, some static grass, clumps and added snow and they will do for me. I hope that you will agree ~

Just for completeness then here are closer pictures of the two smaller stones ~

Back now to more Late Roman legionaries! One base of eight figures are finished ready for basing, with the next four figures for the second base already underway!

Under the Radar

It seems sometimes to me that the Lead Pimple can take on a life of it's own, slowly swelling almost unnoticed. Unnoticed that is until you realise you have no more space in the RUBs under the painting desk! Then you need creative solutions of course. In my case it was rejigging the contents of a wardrobe, to create a shelf for more boxes!!!! What's in them then you are entitled to ask? Well, take a peek if you must ~

Last month I scored a decent win on the Lottery, just enough to compensate me for the 'theft' of my OAP's Winter Fuel Allowance by our new government! Traditionally I'd spent my half on figures so I allocated this win to buying some Footsore Miniatures Dark Age Welsh which Matt had sculpted for them a while back. My intention was not a whole force, but to combine them with his Vikings from the Kickstarter in a sort of cod Hiberno-Norse force for our 1066 & All That games.

Staying with the Dark Ages theme and inspired by Phil's recent palaeolithic stone circle I thought my Saga of Bicca Biccasson would profit from some Viking Rune Stones. A web hunt lead me to Fenris Games who offer several combinations of such. Not as cheap as Phil's finding by a long chalk, but very nicely cast by way of compensation. I chose two sets: the large single standing stone (in the centre of the picture) and one of the packs of two smaller stones (flanking it). After a quick wash in warm soapy water I'll probably give them a dark wash over with a thin black wash and a bit of a dry brush to bring up details. Basing them I've yet to decide on.

I also received another Giant in Miniature from Dan at Wargames Illustrated earlier this week in response to my recently published Quick Fire! piece. I chose the Sir John Hawkwood figure which in the fullness of time will be added to my Italian Wars collection. Not quite yet though as I'm still persevering with my Late Roman project, the first four figures of the Legion being finished now and four more are well underway.

Light on their feet?

Well some, but not all, as it turns out. It's taken a while, what with Norse Mythology distractions and falling out of the loft, but I've added further strength to the Late Roman collection in the shape of two bases of Goth Skirmishing Light Infantry and two bases of Late Roman Heavy Cavalry. All the figures are from Wargames Foundry's venerable range as you'd surely expect and we're part of my purchase at the recent The Other Partizan. As ever the bases are from Warbases, my go to supplier down the years, and the shield transfers are from LBMS. 

The Goths are of course catalogued as Franks or Saxons but they do the job for me and of course fit into the rest of the collection seamlessly. I chose figures for these Light Infantry skirmishing bases from the most active in the packs, together with a more sedated leader from the Command Pack. They will of course feature in the armies of Baldinus or Gornalus.

The Heavy Cavalry are from a mixture of the Cataphractarii, Heavy Cavalry and Roman Commanders packs with the horses rejigged to suit the units added recently (See earlier A Mixed Bag post) to the collection. They will join Pompus Minimaximus' army as his Christian Goth Bucallerii, hence the round shields with various appropriate devices adorning them.

I've started on another Legion for the army of Pompus Minimaximus which I hope to complete before being overtaken by the seasonal festivities! More there in due course as you'd expect. Back to the painting desk now then!

High Noon at the KO Coral

For our final scheduled monthly game in GHQ Paul had requested something light-hearted and fun. My thoughts naturally turned to a game not often seen out on the tabletop battlefield here in GHQ, namely  a Western Gunfight game set in New Paddock City. 

I thought a few of you might enjoy seeing the collection of buildings, figures and ephemera out on show and so without more ado here we go ~

Even western town feel the need of a name board delineating the civic boundary, so I scratch built this one back in the day. The skulls are from Dixon Miniatures and the cacti I brought back from my first Historicon. For any interested folk I painted them green and then it coated them in PVA and immersed them in static grass so they look the part.

Let's take a look then, starting with a view down Main Street, New Paddock City, 1884 towards the infamous bordello known to all as Madame Moustache's.

My figure collection is a mix mostly of Dixon Miniatures and Wargames Foundry - showing my age there I guess. The buildings bar one were from Battleflag, not sure who has them now though. I washed the frontages with various inks and made some signs while downloading others. The odd one out is an original HGWalls building I received as a Christmas gift from Dave.

All the buildings have lift off roofs so I added interiors using the resin sets from Frontline and papered some walls with downloads of Doll's House papers resized to look right.

As in this example showing the interior of the Aces High saloon, though it's obviously not papered.

Every western town needs a stagecoach and New Paddock City is no exception. 

Less attractive is the need for a seemingly ever expanding Boot Hill to keep up with all the carnage on the streets! The stage is from Dixon Miniatures while Boot Hill is made using Frontline graves set and MDF bases.

A new piano is delivered to the Aces High saloon! Let's hope the pianist lasts longer than the last one.

The Reverend Jeremiah Bykleigh rails against the sins of the flesh! Of which there is plenty on show it seems courtesy of the girls of Madame Moustache's bordello. Madame herself looks anything but impressed by his words!!

The peace will soon be disturbed though as the Dusst gang come into town aiming to rob the bank. They dismount on the outskirts and encouraged by the patriarch of the clan, Jed Dusst, they head on up Main Street.

They find their path towards the bank blocked by the forces of law and order, Sheriff Watson and his doughty deputies supported by Judge Paddock, the Hangin' Judge! Mind, with two wounds in the early exchanges he may not live to see them swing!

Ol' Stumpy MacFarlane, Watson's most loyal deputy,  has worked his way around behind the gang. He has the drop on Jeremiah Dusst and gives him both barrels at close range. One Dusst bites the dust you might say!

Further up Main Street the lead is flying thick ' n fast. Judge Paddock has three wounds, Deputy Aston has two and Sheriff Watson one. More Deputies hurry to their aid lest the remaining members of the Dusst gang reach the bank.

It may all be down now to the draw of the cards for activation as to who gets off the decisive shots as wounds have mounted on both sides.

Stumpy has to reload his shotgun having loosed off both barrels to account for Jeremiah Dusst. Darn it, he misses the opportunity to get Jed.

No worries though as Sheriff Watson guns down Jed Dusst despite being wounded himself. Stumpy has reloaded quickly and the remaining bandit  Obadiah Dusst gets both barrels. He will not rise again!

It's all over, the Dusst gang are all accounted for and on their way to Boot Hill. Sheriff Watson and his Deputies can get their wounds dressed. Leaving just Judge Paddock to ruminate on the lead robbing him of watching them swing...

Still he thinks, there's always another day and another low life to swing on his gallows. But, to finish on a more genteel note so you don't have nightmares a few more general shots of the collection.

Plenty of business no doubt for the town's undertaker and never a slack moment at Madame Moustache's!

Business is usually pretty brisk in Byk Li's Chop House too. A gunfight sure seems to whet a man's appetites.

Meanwhile back to more mundane matters, even Home on the Range a man needs to eat. Beans...again? Now, which way is the wind blowing I ask?

Madame and her Girls just hope it's not in their direction!