Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

@Captain Brown: Thanks very much once more, Sir!

@Dr H: Cheers. Just glad the little Nappy chaps made it on the table for once.


Right, people. It's been a bit quiet in here for the past days because I had to prepare for a show (the annual fall show VIVAT).

Here's my report of the day:
https://www.battlebrushstudios.com/2018/11/show-report-vivat-2018.html




...for the show I also made a thing:



Apart from that I'm currently working on odds and ends, which is horribly time-consuming for relatively little "reward". But that's what I do, I guess.



A 6-pdr gun to add to the WW2 paras I did in early 2017. The same gentleman I do these for also gave me this 28mm figure of the Earl of Uxbridge at Waterloo (the dude on the horse). Very interesting figure. Horse and rider are cast in one piece. He looks a smidgeon small for 28mm. The casting quality is excellent. This one's from a range of limited editions of historical figures (with a HEAVY British slant) released by Wargames Illustrated.

Then there's a single Infinity figure I'm doing for another customer; the 3rd Highlanders Grey Rifles dude (the LMG version).

Last but not least there's the big dude in the back. a 1/9th bust of a Polish Lancer of the Imperial Guard. I started painting this guy and I wonder if I'll ever find time to proceed painting him.

Wonderful report and great seeing so much stuff going on. Your current PIPs are interesting as usual. The Earl is particularly interesting.

Nice report Sigur. Yet another successful Vivat.

@Camkierhi: Thanks very much; always great to see people enjoying the reports of our little wargames shows.

@Gitsplitta: Thank you. Yes, it was. Quite relaxed. Very November-y and calm, but a great show once again.



Right, time for a new Fantasy project. A few weeks ago I was sent a box full of Marauder Dwarfs. Im not big on Dwarfs (ha!), but I know that these are the prettiest Dwarfs out there. Lovely, lovely sculpts with a lot of "character", the right amount of armour and beard, and .. just look at them! You gotta love'em.



These are to be added to an existing army and thus I not only have the colour scheme set, but also a style I'll have to try to emulate, while making them look pretty in my view as well. Always tricky.

So I cleaned the little guys and did some dry-fitting with bases. While doing so I realized that I hadn't done this fiddly "do I put this one on a horizontally or diagonally slotted base so he'll rank up with the rest of the unit?" business in quite a while.



As you can se we have sizeable units of Hammerers and Spearmen there, as well as a unit of 10 quarrelers, 4 clansmen, 4 Ironbreakers, 3 Kings on foot, Thorgrim and the dynamic duo of Grotek and Felix. The kings are all newer models, but they fit well, because they're the excellent sculpts from one of the more recent releases (including the one that's leaning on his axe handle). They're a bit taller than the Marauder dwarfs and of course are covered in "detail", which makes them more regal looking than the rank and file.

Right, that's that. Over the next weeks I'll paint those chaps, starting right after getting some final detail infos I still need. Hope you'll find this project interesting.

Nice to see you're painting a proper army now, Siggy - though a shame there's no artillery with it.

Sigur,

Wow that is a large group of the Marauder Dwarves. I had the cannon and crew for my Empire army back when models were hard to come by.

Cheers,

CB

@Dysartes: Thanks very much. It's basically an addition to a plastics army as far as I understand it.

@Captain Brown: Oh yes, it is. I have three or four Marauder Dwarfs in my "box of nice and old GW figures", but I've never seen this many in one place at once.


Right, I did some test figures now:



As I'd mentioned above, these are an addition to an existing army. I got three example figures along with them (the champ, the dude with the cannonball and the crossbow dwarf in this photo), and I did my best to match the colour scheme, style and so on. The dudes in the picture aren't quite done year, but this will be circa what they're supposed to look like. The test minis I did were met with great joy, so I can go ahead on the project now.


Last week, in the middle of the night, somehow I got the idea of a christmas-themed game in my mind and I got really enthusiastic about it. We all know these cool people who do special christmas games at their gaming clubs or with their gaming pals. I want to be that cool too. So I'm currently looking for a way to make this happen with the least amount of work involved, because time for christmassy things is tight.

So far I mapped out some general ideas in my mind and started painting the Everqueen as an ice queen and two Maiden Guard figures as christmas elves.





I also experimented with 'wintering up' some houses and gathering ideas for a winter table.

Love the Christmas elves Sigur. Wonderful way to start the season!

@Gitsplitta: Yar, hope it leads somewhere.

Right, no news on the Dwarfs front (just painting a whole lotts flesh for now), so here's something to contrast Dwarves and pink flesh - the nasty troll who tries to steal christmas. For deception reasons he's wearing a badly made santa's hat and redid his loincloth.



I also neatened up the elves a bit. Here we see the christmas elves trying to set the troll's head straight.

Right, here's finally an update on the things I'm actually supposed to do:



20 Dwarf Spearmen. Not quite done yet, but getting there. Hope you like them!

Update on the Dwarfs!



Spearmen have been finished, a king and Quarrellers have been added.

Next: lots of Hammerers and a few Ironbreakers. Hope you like them!

Lovely! I love the fact that the grass is green only in the immediate vicinity of the dwarves.

@Gitsplitta: Yeah, well... they're cheery types.

Slight change:



I repainted the feathers to be a bit more subtle now (either all white or mostly white with blue tips) so they don't look too overpowering. What do you think?

Those Marauder Dwarfs really bring back memories.

Cheers,

CB

Some great work on those Dwarfs, Siggy

I love the Dwarfs, Siggy! Some serious square-base goodness

That's a lot of Dwarves! looking forward to all that delicious sigur skin tone on them!

@Captain Brown: Oh yes, do they ever. Best Dwarfs out there if you ask me.

@Dysartes: Thanks very much! They're quite enjoable to work with.

@Cosmic: Cheers!

@nerdfest09: Thank you, Sir!


Right, update!

Hammerers added, another Thegn added, Ironbreakers and Clansmen added.



I also did up the tree last night. :p Hope you like them!

The "parade of dwarves" just keeps getting better and better!

Sigur,

Well that is the most of those painted and assembled in one place I have seen.

Cheers,

CB

@Gitsplitta: Yeah, isn't it. Thank you!

@Captain Brown: Cheers! Same here! Well, except maybe in the 4th edition Dwarfs army book.

Right, there hasn't been an update for a while. I actually had one, but didn't like the way the houses in the background looked, so I never posted it. Instead here's a bigger update now.


Here's Grotek and Felix finished, as well as the last king on foot (the angry gentleman with the barstool in hand), and of course, hard to miss, it's Thorgrim! He's still WIP.



You know, for these Dwarfs not at all being meant to be christmas-related, they fit incredibly well with the christmas background. I mean Thorgrim's got this huge white beard, the red cloak, he's sittting in something that looks exactly like a sled, he's got the big golden book in which he can see who's been noughty or nice...

Splendid, Siggy! Fantastic Dwarves

Dwarves are looking awesome sir.

@Camkierhi: Thanks very much!


Hullo.

The past Friday I had a game of Over Malvern Hill by Stand To Games.



Stand To Games are a relatively new wargames rules publishing company (I think since 2016?). They're the guys behind the Albion Triumphant supplements for Black Powder, Forager, Rise again and Fight and Over the Hills. As far as I know this is their first tour into the ACW.

The rules (A4 format, ring bound, full colour) aim to depict battles of 2-3 brigades or more per side.

Once more Cpt.Shandy (of The Raft fame: https://wargamingraft.wordpress.com/) had prepared a very nice scenario and provided his 15mm collection to play with. We play a game based on the battle of Blackburn's Ford which took place on 18th July 1861, three days before the first battle at Bull Run / of Manassas.



The green Unionist troops were looking for a way across Bull Run river to meet the equally green army of the secessionist states. Blackburns Ford was identified as one of the possible ways across the river. Scouts had spotted a rebel artillery battery, but no infantry. Brigade commander Israel B. Richardson was sent out with his infantry brigade, a battery of cannon and a squadron of cavalry to cross the river.


Israel B. Richardson

The Confederate side was well aware of the importance to keep the enemy from doing just that, so every single possible river crossing was being guarded by at least one brigade. Blackburn's Ford was under the command of a certain James Longstreet. The sloped banks of the river were (and still are) heavily vegetated, so his brigade was well hidden from Union scouts.


James Longstreet

On our gaming table all of that looks like this:


At the centre you can see Bull Run river, the bridge in the right is Blackburn's Ford, behind it you can see the Confederate artillery battery. The ford in the left is another possible river crossing. The rebel brigade under Longstreet (2 infantry regiments from Virginia, 1 artillery battery of good old Washington Artillery in a fortified position), to be deployed anywhere on their side of the river. I play the defenders in this scenario.

Richardson's Union brigade (3 infantry regiments, 1 artillery battery [typically a bit stronger than the rebel artillery], 1 cavalry squadron) enters the table on turn 1 via the road in the North. Cpt.Shandy plays the union force.



To complicate things, the river banks are heavily overgrown with bushes, small trees, etc.


Mid-green fields depict LOS-blocking, difficult terrain (1" of viewing distance in and out), the dark green fields (essentially everything with a dark brown base) depict thick forests, which are even more difficult to maneuver in. Neither can be traversed by artillery.

From turn 3 we roll for reinforcements. If they don't show up in turn 3 they automatically arrive at turn 4. The Union force wins if they either force the rebel force to retire or if by the end of the game they hold a position (without any immediate danger) on the other side of the river. The rebels win if they prevent the opposition from doing either by the end of the game.

Cpt.Shandy sends the cavalry down the road to scout ahead. His infantry follows in open column, as well as the limbered artillery. The annoying thing of course is that his columns are open to being fired upon by my artillery as they pass Blackburn's Ford.



After a turn of such fire Cpt.Shandy orders the cavalry back and dismount to act as a screen to his infantry columns. A wise move, unfortunately this led to a.) the dismounted cavalry sitting a bit too close to the cannons and b.) the dismounted cavalry getting out of Richardson's command radius, and thus they were pretty much unable to do anything. The cavalry takes a battering and falls back in a safer distance.



After these initial shots immediately another Union brigade arrives. Another 3 infantry regiments and 1 artillery battery. The brigade is led by a young officer named William T. Sherman.

Richardson's Brigade marches further down the road and seems to aim to simultaneously attack the ford to my left as Sherman's brigade attacks Blackburn's Ford. Luckily for me rebel reinforcements arrive shortly thereafter in the shape of Jubal A. Early's brigade: 3 infantry regiments (among them the good men of the 7th Louisiana) and an artillery battery. This one set up right next to their comrades of the Washington Artillery to set up a big battery. However, Richardson's brigade splendidly marching to their left looked so scary that they limber up again to set up to protect the left river crossing.



Not a second too early, as a first Yankee regiment crosses the ford and changes formation to line. To their left the sole Union regiment with fancy new rifled muskets take position to give covering fire. However, they got nobody to shoot at as I have my regiment opposite to them retire into the woodland to meet anybody crossing the river without exposing themselves.



The Union regiment who has made it axcross the river now sits in an unfortunate situation: enemies to their left and right, another enemy regiment to their front, as well as enemy artillery. The latter two can't see them at the moment, but still, they're there. And the woodland prevents any friendly support fire from across the river.

Richardson is well aware of the importance of the next moments, so he personally whips another regiment across the river to support the spearhead.



Unfortunately the inexperienced soldiers hesitate to charge bayonet. The union line stays put, returning fire at the rebel regiments at short range. 2 out of 3 of my regiments are able to fire at them, because space is a little tight.

In the mean time Sherman has brought up his cannon to fire at my artillery across the river at Blackburn's Ford. Counter-battery (and counter-counter battery) fire ensues. I roll a bit better (and got the advantage of fortifications), so my artillery performs well in this duel. In the mean time the other two regiments of Early's rebel brigade (the strong 7th Louisiana and a smaller Virginian regiment in the far right) take position to the left and right of the ford. With his brigade stretched out like that, Early has a bit of a hard time keeping an overview.



On the left river crossing the Union regiment takes a lot of fire. Ultimately they have to retreat back across the river, through the ranks of their comrades following up.



The attack at the left ford seems to be repulsed for now. Still, I keep my regiments back and hidden in the overgrowth.

After a cunning attempt at setting up my infantry guarding the left to be enfiladed (which only failed because the Yankee troops on the left folded a moment too early) Sherman, after a short skirmish across the river, aims to force a decision in a frontal attack across Blackburn's Ford.



At this point the gun battery of Early's brigade has moved back to line up with the Washington artillery again and the attack crumbles under the combined canister fire of the two batteries. The brave men of the Union regiment storming on breaks, flee, and lead to some confusion among the ranks of the following infantry.

The Yankee attack on Blackburn's Ford is repulsed, it's a victory for the Confederacy.




Nice set of rules, that Malvern Hill. There's no gimmick to them, but they work. Including explanation of the basic rules and a little consultation of the rulebook here and there we managed to play the game in about 2.5 hours.

The turn sequence is clever (and if I remember not unlike the General de Brigade family of rules): The turn starts with player Blue's movement phase (followed by a rally phase), then player Red fires, player Red moves (and rallys) and then play Blue gets to fire. Firing first and moving later I think is a pretty good mode for games set between the 17th and 20th century. Units who fire in their fire phase may not move during the following movement phase (which is why we use cotton wool to mark units who fired).

Each unit has a number of Fatigue points on which their combat value/strength is based. These aren't only being tracked for the unit individually, but also for the whole brigade (= the sum of fatigue points of all units in the brigade).

Loss of Fatigue points depicts a mix of disorder, fatigue, dead/wounded and morale and reduces the unit's strength in combat (and base of morale rolls). The clever thing is that by Rallying commanders may replenish units' fatigue points, however the fatigue damage on the overall brigade Fatigue score 'sticks'. This means that the overall brigade morale and coherency will wane over time. If a brigade has taken so and so many % of Fatigue damage they start to falter.



What also added to the game was something Cpt.Shandy had already used in his Over Malvern Hill solo test game: A deck of friction cards. You can read more about this here in the report of his first game: https://wargamingraft.wordpress.com/2018/12/14/first-game-of-over-malvern-hill/

Put shortly: card drawing mechanics rock. You can do as much and as little as you like, you can tailor make them to fit a scenario, and you can introduce them to pretty much any game.

I recommend having a look at these rules. Works really well for ACW battles. Many thanks to Cpt.Shandy for another fun game, and I hope that you enjoyed this little battle report!

Right, that's done then.



Hope you like them!

Truly outstanding work Sigur. Makes me feel almost good about the ice and snow currently clogging my driveway.

Sigur,

Nice battle report and images.

Great group of older Dwarves from the Marauder Miniatures range.

Cheers,

CB

The battle report made for a good read, Siggy, and the Dwarves look ace - great work!

@Captain Brown: Thanks very much! Yus, they're the nicest Dwarfs around.

@Dysartes: Cheers! It was a fun game indeed.


Heyhey, last night we had our first Very Special Christmas Game(tm).

Here's my AAR of the whole affair:
http://skirmishwargaming.com/advanced-song-of-blades-and-heroes-christmas-special/



5 players (3 in the latter half of the game due to bedtime), good fun. Temporarily winterized terrain and such. And just a really, really nice game. Hope you enjoy the report!

Now that looks like fun.

The dwarves are amazing, really beautiful work.