Corpsefire

Playing one of the military expedition mini-campaigns in Oathbreakers, I needed a corpsefire mini. I decided to use this Reaper Bones miniature.

In a simultaneous attempt at zenithal highlighting and color gradient, I hit this with red Krylon primer from below, some orange straight from the side, and yellow from above. I then drybrushed and picked out details using color shifting and regular craft paints for an undead mini without any black. 

Quite the change, but I like how it came out, even though it suffered the new-figure curse and died on the first turn. 

Don't wake the dragon!

We tried a new scenario recently for Oathmark. It was basically a meeting engagement, but when you arrive at the battlefield, you find a dragon slumbering between the opposing armies.

The drake would awaken if any unit moved or cast a spell too close to it, or if anyone attacked the sleeping beast. Once conscious, it would attack the closest unit in its line-of-sight or make a random move. This had us both literally tiptoeing around the middle of the battlefield.

Eventually we moved into combat with one another, and I had my archers shoot at the dragon to wake it up. This backfired eventually when the wyrm randomly turned and started focusing on my units.

One non-dragon highlight of the battle was when our heavy cavalry--mine led by a champion, his by a prince--met in combat, and we both rolled 10s on the Champion die, our leaders dying at each other's hand.

Even though the dragon decided to snack on my units, tipping the battle to my opponent, it was a fun time and a nice way to get such a creature on the board without unbalancing either side.

Still around

 I know it's been awhile--OK, a year since my last post. I have fallen out of the blogging habit, with no real motivation to post more regularly.

Don't worry, though! I am still gaming and still painting miniatures. As proof, here is some sort of giant model I picked up at a flea market last year. I think it's from a Vikings boardgame.

This figure was very easy to paint, thanks to the sculpting and to the Army Painter speed paints I was using.

I was planning on using him in Oathmark, D&D, or Frostgrave, but instead my wife took him to put on her desk at work. I'm flattered she likes my work that much!

Who knows, maybe I will start blogging more soon. Meanwhile, happy gaming.

Back and there again: Battle of Five Armies with Oathmark

Some time ago, I discussed gaming the Battle of Five Armies using Hordes of the Things. I want to return to that theorizing, but since my friends and I have been playing Oathmark for the past year or so, let's talk about using that ruleset to recreate the scenario from the book version of The Hobbit.

For convenience, we'll go with a figure scale of 1:20, meaning one miniature represents around one score of participants in the battle. Single figures represent certain leaders or other characters along with their bodyguards/companions/retinue.

BATTLE OF FIVE ARMIES

  

Dwarfs

Dwarf King (Thorin & Company)

Dwarf Prince (Dáin Ironfoot) with 9 Dwarf Linebreakers

15 Dwarf Soldiers

Men of Laketown

Human Captain (Bard) with 9 Human Soldiers

Elves

Elf King (Thranduil) with 19 Elf Warriors

20 Elf Spearmen

10 Elf Archers

Others

Human Spellcaster 5 (Gandalf)

Indrik (Beorn)

5 Gargoyles (Giant Eagles)

5 Gargoyles (Giant Eagles)

Goblins

Orc King (Bolg) with 4 Orc Warriors (huge goblin bodyguards)

20 Goblin Soldiers

20 Goblin Soldiers

20 Goblin Soldiers

20 Goblin Archers

10 Goblin Wolf Riders

10 Goblin Wolf Rider Scouts

10 Wolves

5 Gargoyles (giant bats)

Set-Up

Use hills to make a L shape, with each leg about 36" long with the apex to the north. Put some rough ground about 8" across in between the two legs of the L (about 15" from the apex) to represent the ruins of Dale. Place the elves and Gandalf on the left (western) leg of the L. Thorin and co. are at the apex, behind a defensive fortification. The rest of the dwarves are on the right (eastern) leg closest to the middle, and the men of Laketown on the outer end of that hill. All units are facing inward, and the ground behind them is considered impassable except as noted below. Beorn and the Eagles are not placed at this time.

Goblins deploy in the valley within 12" of the south edge of the map and at least 12" away from any elevation.

Special Rules

To represent the vast hordes beseiging the Lonely Mountain, any Goblin unit (except Bolg and his bodyguards) that is destroyed may attempt to come back the following turn. If the destroyed unit activates, it uses one action and may take one action after placement. Units may not be placed within 3" of an enemy unit. Roll to determine location:  

1        no placement this turn

2-4      south edge of map

5        left half of western hill

6        right half of western hill

7        left third of eastern hill

8        middle third of eastern hill

9        right third of eastern hill

10       player's choice

Beginning on turn 5, any unit of Giant Eagles may be placed on the western edge of the map with a successful activation roll and may then take two actions.

Beginning on turn 7, Beorn may be placed on the western edge of the map south of the hill with a successful activation roll and may then take two actions.

Outcome

The game lasts until either all characters on one side are destroyed or until the Goblins move at least two non-flying units into the fortification where Thorin is initially located.

***

I think that pretty much covers everything except Gandalf's spells. I don't see him using fireball, so I wonder what magic I should give him for this battle. Any suggestions?

Mounted Bretonnian Sorceress

One of my painting accomplishments last year was this Mounted Bretonnian Sorceress from fifth edition Warhammer Fantasy.

I haven't played that game; however, she worked great as a mounted human spellcaster for my first Oathmark army.

I enjoyed painting up the Lady Monique de Ville, and I used her in many Oathmark battles, where her Sieze the Initiative spell helped my kingdom triumph against their foes.

I accquired this figure a few years back secondhand, from a vendor at MillenniumCon. 

I could have kept her in the blister pack as a collectible or for resale, but where's the fun in that?

She belongs on the tabletop, as do all the miniatures I've bought over the years--and these days, some of them are actually seeing action!

I know it's not perfect close-up, but on the tabletop against my oponents, this casting looks great!

Dice tower/terrain piece

After about two years of watching Youtube crafting videos, I decided to try my hand at making a structure from scratch. I constructed this dice tower from a breadcrumbs can and dollar-store foam board. 

I cut off the top and bottom, then cut three slits at 45° angles to bounce the dice and cut an opening at the bottom. The wood planks surrounding that doorway are just craft (popsicle) sticks. For the stones, I used scissors to cut dollar-store foam board into irregularly sized and shapes stone blocks. Then I took those foam pieces and shook them in a can with real rocks to add texture. 

After gluing on all the foam bricks, I painted it with Black Magic Craft's suggested mix of black paint and Mod Podge to strengthen the build and to protect the foam from the solvents in spray paints. I then sprayed it with a matte black. 

I painted the stonework with overbrushes and then drybrushes of successively ligher shades of gray. Once that was done, I gave the whole thing a black wash, and then I picked out a few stones to hit with some shades I had--green, blue, and brown.

Details included some flocking mixed with white glue to simulate moss, and some store-bought trees and tufts and a treasure chest mini to close off the dice corral. Then an overall spray of matte varnish, and it was done!

The dice corral is a little small, making it difficult to remove more than three dice, but it does its job and I am happy how it turned out.

As you can probably tell, a certain videogame was a major influence for this build.  I plan to use it with Oathmark and other fantasy wargames, but this isn't my last piece of terrain.

Scenes from a game of Oathmark

Our group started playing Oathmark last month year, an miniatures-agnostic rank-and-flank fantasy wargame from the creator of Frostgrave.

It's been a chance for me to put together an Oldhammer-style lizardmen army with a bunch of vintage citadel figures, as well as newer castings from Reaper.

My opponents have drafted historical, Lord of the Rings, and the official Oathmark minis to fill out their ranks.

Our matches down at the local game store always draw attention from passersby, and the game itself is fun and easy to learn and play.

Anyone else taken up the Oathmark banner?