As part of my Paint and Chat, today my established goal was to complete some projects. I managed to complete one as the chatting seemed much more productive than the painting. Very little paint was used this afternoon, but glue was applied. I had to get 24 wings attached to the Hussars as well as get weapons in hands, and the men seated upon their mounts. Mission accomplished. Six three man calvary elements are ready for action.
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| 15mm Polish Winged Hussars |
This will be the majority of mounted figures in my next Age of Chivalry Scots Warband. It was the Victrix Miniatures Medieval Knights package which contains 18 x Knights and fully barded horses. Again I am blown away by the scope of figures available in hard plastic. I still lean towards the choice of metal figures, however the pose and energy of these figures attracted me. I have three units of Levy Archers by Claymore casting, but happy to have them joined relatively inexpensively by 2 units of mounted warriors.
I purchased a box of Guards figures from the Wargames Atlantic Classic Fantasy line. I kept half the figures and swapped the other half with a buddy so I could obtain a sampling of the Villagers from the same line of figures. They still await treatment. As I stated before I am truly amazed by the breathe and range of hard plastic figures and am very happy with how this unit turned out.
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| The Night Watch originally designed for Guards of Traitor's Toll. |
Useful in both RPG fantasy game and they might even pass off as a SAGA unit of Levied city Militia. I really enjoyed the geese that can serve as a burglar alarm throughout the ages.
Today I got to revisit my early to mid 1980s wargaming, with an introduction to the Plastic Soldier Company Battlegroup NORTHAG. I was given a Soviet Recce force and thrown into the fray. In the 1980s the group I gamed with in Halifax mostly played the WRG Armored and Infantry Rules 1950 to 1985. Over the years we did occasional forays into TacForce, OMG and early in the new millennium Cold War Commander. However for the majority of the past 30 years my microarmor collection quietly sat on the storage shelf. I enjoyed today's revisit of the period. I am personally very happy that we didn't go through the hell of the Cold War becoming hot, but at the time it seemed that it was quite possible.
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| The powerplant objective at the far end of the table |
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| The Crossroads that became today's focal point. |
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| The T-64s of my Recce Platoon advance across the fields. |
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| More Recce advance trough the countryside. |
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| My luck runs out as the Germans start shooting down from the highrises. I lost 50% of my artillery spotters in an early firefight. |
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| Turn 4 My Motorized infantry arrived last turn. First platoon advances trough the parkland towards the built up area. In the distance my tanks are engaged with the West German Recce |
Today's game was a small meeting engagement between the Soviets and West Germans. The Bundeswehr gained control of two of the three objectives. The Soviets achieved only one. Both of the the T-64s were destroyed by infantry AT weapons on the 10-20 inch table on their frontal armor. Both times the German player (William) needed 10 or better on two dice to destroy the tanks. In both cases 11 was thrown. That plus a well placed artillery barrage, which destroyed three of my fire teams drove me above my BP limit.
I have ordered a copy of the rules and intend to get my 6mm troops back onto the table
As part of my ongoing triage, I came across three zip locked baggies containing some 15mm Polish Winged Hussars. I am unsure of the brand but they have the look of Essex Miniatures. They were from the collection of Joseph Lappin, and have been sitting in a storage box for far too long.
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| A jumbled mix of figures from a baggie has enough for 2 elements of Wing Hussars. I have 18 figures in total that I am working on. |
I wonder if the figures were originally Joseph's to begin with.
I have memories of sitting at one of the chess tables in the Halifax Public Gardens in the summer of 1976 or 1977 painting figures along side Charles Gallagher. Charles was a larger than life character, unofficial leader of our gaming circle in the mid 1970s and a mentor to many of us as we discovered the joys of miniature wargaming in the early 70s. I clearly recall him painting some Winged Hussars that day. Charles unfortunately passed away in an auto accident before the decade was over. It was to Joseph, that fell the task of dealing with Charles' estate.
Yesterday, our local group had our annual Saga tournament. Our local local pool was joined players from both the Quebec City and Ottawa-Gatineau area. Two of our local players had to withdraw earlier in the week for personal reasons. In all we had seven active tables,
The tournament was in three rounds with massacre points accumulated to provide a final point tally, Each round for each table produced a winner and a loser. Twenty scoring points was available for each matched pair, based upon your overall difference in massacre points. I suffered a serious loss (19 to 1), a victory (14 to 6) and a final defeat (11 to 9).
As well as honour and bragging rights we were fighting for trophies this day.
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| Last place and best painted army voted by participants and staff |
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| The top three point scorers, Gold, Silver and Bronze |
The schedule for the day
9:00 Ouverture des portes
9:30 – 12:00 Ronde 1 (Terre sacrée/Sacred Ground)
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| I was defeated this round by the winner of both this and last year's tournament. I couldn't roll a save if my life depended upon it. I faced Karl and his Burgundians. |
13:00 – 15:30 Ronde 2 (Brandissez vos bannières!Raise the Banners)
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| This photo was taken before we had completed our initial setup. Alex had only placed his Warlord and 3 points of his Free Companies. I as second player finished my setup. Overall, the dice gods give and the dice gods take away. Alex had the same problem with his saving throws that I had suffered in my first game. My sole win of the day. |
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| The final round of the day is Clash of Warlords. Again this photo was taken before our deployment was completed. I had yet to place my Mounted Warriors. This was a very close game. Gavin with his Scots won with 22 massacre points versus the 20 points I accumulated again him. At end of the match I was still able to roll two Saga dice, while Gavin could manage three |
Another possible idea for an objective marker. The figure for scale. Is this the legendary blue box that travels through time and space? It might explain what has happened to some of my mail. As for the Doctor he might even be the real McCoy.
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| A tongue and cheek view of a TARDIS |
These are some objective markers that I painted up for possible use at the Montreal Saga Grand Melee event being held this upcoming Saturday (Nov 22nd). Three of them are the set FMT4 Hidden Lairs which I purchase from North Star Military Figures. The fourth was part of Bob Murch's the Masters of Devil Reef. They are part of the Cthulhu 28s Line and was included with the Kickstarter campaign. It may be available on its own but I do not know if that is the case or not. A sample archer from Claymore Castings is included for scale.
FMT4 - Hidden Lairs
Cthulhu 28s Line - Statue
This is the third unit of 12 levy archers from Claymore Castings that I completed. They are for use with both my Age of Chivalry Scots or various English factions. I used some Kraurtcover Scenics Meadows of Purity and Army Painter Battlefields Highland Tuft for the bases. I am very happy with the look.
This afternoon on my Discord Paint and Chat I put the push on to produce a third unit of Levy Archers. They will be needed for next weekend's SAGA Grand Melee here in Montreal. The figures are from Claymore Castings.
