Dragon's Rampant

A few weeks back, Bruce and I dug out some fantasy armies to give Dragons Rampant a go. It has been a while since we've played this game. I used some old 15mm figures from the first edition of Battlelore. Bruce used some 28mm lizards he got from Kevin Barrett's estate.

We each worked out 36-point armies. First up were some dwarves versus the lizards. Most of the game went down on the right flank, with Bruce's war beasts charging some dwarven foot. Neither of us could get the left flank to move much.

Eventually the giant lizard bit it but he took down a couple of dwarves unit. An enormous dinosaur came up the middle and I could not get my heavy shooters going worth beans.

Then the left flank came alive. My giant bear (which I also think was a gift from Kevin years) munched a bunch of lizards but eventually ran itself down.

I thought I had Bruce on the ropes at one point but he retreated just out of range for the kill. 

And then Bruce put it away on the left flank.

The game took about 45 minutes so we switched side and I pitted some medieval Arthurians against a second lizard army of five very high-pointed unit. Bruce initially creamed two of my units but subsequently got shoot and charged to pieces.

 

Overall, a fun game with almost nothing to look up and I don't think we used the QRS after the first turn, just some unit stat lists. Happy that the lovely figures Kevin painted got bloodied.

15mm knights, billmen, and arquebusiers

 This week, I finished another 30 of the 15mm medieval figures from the Joan of Arc game. First up are 10 knights, nine with axes and one with a warhammer.

These scale pretty well with the various Battlelore heavies that I have. They also match alright with the Splintered Light fellows, although the Splintered Light benefit from a bit of extra height on their base.

I also painted up a unit of 10 arquebusiers. These were fun enough to paint and had nice detail.

  

And finally, I knocked of another unit of 10 billmen in the same livery.

Up next: A bunch more 15mm medieval figures and some more buildings. 

15mm Elven and Wraith Riders

The LotR Risk game also provided me with lots of 15mm Elven riders as well as wraiths on horses, so I decided to paint up a few of each.

These figures are nothing special (being game tokens) but they would do the job as light cavalry or scouts. These literally cost pennies each.

The wraiths are equally so-so as sculpts.

There wasn't much detail to work with here so they got a brown drybrush (rider) and grey drybrush (horse), silver detailing, and then a black wash. Meh. I guess they do the part.

Size-wise, they fit pretty well with the other plastics (from various Battlelore sets) that make up most of my 15mm medieval/fantasy armies.

Up next: Ummm, maybe some 15mm eagles?

15mm Trolls

This week, I knocked off some 15mm trolls. These are figures from the LotR Risk game and, for the pennes they cost, are a great deal.

There were nine in the bag I opened and I went went with a blue colour scheme. For plastic game pieces, I think they have a lot of character and detail.

Size-wise, they also fit with the Battlelore trolls I have.

And they are a good match for the Battlelore figures that make up most off my 15mm medieval/fantasy armies.

Up next: some 15mm cavalry.

15mm Eleven Archers

I've been thinking about expanding some 15mm fantasy/medieval armies that I have.  Most of my figures are from the old Battlelore game, which includes humans, dwarves, and goblins. I was thinking about adding elves. There are truly lovely metal elves about, but I notices that the LotR Risk game from a few years ago has some pretty good 15/18mm figures so I bought up a bag of pieces on fleabay.

There are more than 100 in the game so I painted up 30 in a foresty theme. These could be light archers, skirmishers, or rangers. For cheap, mass-produced plastics, these are pretty nice. I have another 30 underway in a more High Elf colour scheme.

Below, I've compared them to the Battlelore archer (left) and the Battlelore Westeros archer (right). Not a bad match. I see the drybrush on the elf base is a bit too sage and could use some yellow.

Below are the LotR compared to some (I think) Splintered Light heroes and magic users. Again, pretty close in stature and hardly noticeable in play. I had thought to source additional troop types from Splintered Light, once I get these fellows painted up. They have some lovely elven cavalry riding moose (or perhaps elk).

Up next: Some HO-scale Gotham buildings, some 15mm elves, some 28mm dungeon tiles, and some 15mm foes and creatures.

Grab bag of Big Trek and small Game of Thrones

Okay, so this week is a bit of a job lot of painting. First up is a 90mm Sisko from DS9. This is maybe the largest figure I've ever painted.

For scale, a 54mm Picard and 25mm Imperial Guard. Got this in a job lot; no idea what to do with it (initiative marker? "Who has the Sisko?").

I also cleared off a few 15mm Battlelore Westeros figures. Two cavalry here (I think these are characters) plus three assorted foot.

And then some 54mm trek A few STTOS crew: Chekov, Kirk and McCoy.

And then a STTNG Klingon with pain stick.

Up next: I think some 54mm AWI and then some more sci-fi.

A Cthulhu New Year!

I spent the holidays moving a bunch of half finished figures to completion. This included two RAFM Cthulhu figures I got from Chen (there are three more underway).

First up was this pink fellow. I really struggle to find a suitably otherworldly paint scheme. I went with pink because this figure looked rather fleshy. I choose green for the thing below as it looks amphibian.

I also finished off nine 15mm mounted figures from an old Battlelore 1st Edition box that I picked up last Boxing Day!

I did the foot troops earlier this year but struggled with the cavalry (fiddly and not that interesting). I think there are five more heroes somewhere on my paint table that need attention but that is likely all of the 15mm fantasy that I need.

Up next: Some 54mm AWI.

15mm light riders

This week was a touch busy so only a few mounted figures. There are from a Battle of Westerros expansion.

They'll serve as light riders for a 15mm Dragon Rampant army.

U next: Maybe some zombie survivors?

15mm and 28mm monsters and 54mm AWI

I finished a mixed bag of miniatures this week. First up were two command bases of Reaper goblins to supplement my goblin armies for Dragon Rampant. Most of my troops are from Battlelore 1st Edition (so 15mm-ish). I bought some metal minis (right below) to create command stands and I tried to base them to match. They are a touch big but good enough (leaders are likely bigger anyhow).

I also finished off two random 28mm Reaper monsters I got in a trade. The pink thing has a lot of teeth and would work for Pulp Alley.

Finally, I finished the last two units of 54mm AWI militia. We have the white-greys below. Followed by the rust-buffs. Now not the cannons!

Up next: I have turned my attentions back to some more 15mm fantasy using some Battle of Westerros figures to create a borderlands army.

Dragon Rampant at the club

Tuesday was club night and we had there games running. Chen and Scott played some Dropfleet Commander. The minis were impressive, but not as impressive as Scott's cursing!

Bruce hosted some Pulp Alley using his wild-west set up with Terry and Richard playing.

I ran of game of Dragon Rampant using one 15mm-ish Battledore troops. The scenario was "run like hell" where one side must move troops from the lefts side of the table to the right, while being ambushed from the top and bottom. The table set-up was simple.

I brought enough troops for four player but, in the end, Taylor and I each played with five units. The dwarves rolled low and were the ambushes. Here their highland cattle and bear cavalry ride forth...

...and meet some hungry trolls and their goblin allies. A crazy melee ensued with trolls chasing cavalry and things looking super bad for the dwarves.

Then the dice came around it was an even game. A bad move by the dwarves saw a unit of pike pop while attacking into the woods. Eventually, the troll was able to grind down the dwarf crossbowmen and that was that.

We switched sides and against the dwarves had a tough go. The goblins greased two units on the north side of the board: some cattle and some spears.

The dwarves then began pushing the southern edge, hoping to even things up while the goblins got re-organized and manoeuvred.

Here, some tough bear cavalry pushes hard against a troll, who would eventually run.

A grinding war of attrition eventually saw a retreating group of goblin fanatics as the last unit on the table as some dwarves spectacularly failed a command roll and fled.

That gave me a few minutes to watch some cowboy action.

Back home, Jess and I played two games of Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu. I finished a collection of Lovecraft stories last week so was keen to see how the game incorporated the thematic elements.

We had one sharp loss (total nightmare) and then barely won the second game.