Gripping Beast plastic Saxons

Here are some pictures of some Gripping Beast plastic Saxons I painted up and double-based to form shieldwalls for Piquet: Archon.  The variety of poses you can get from the plastics almost makes the annoying assembly worth it.  Flag and shield decals by LBMS  :

Finished 28mm dragons

I bought these two painted plastic dragons from the internet after checking them out at my local Toys R Us.  I finally finished basing them.  The basing gave me a chance to practice my winter basing techniques and use two mounted knight casualties from my Old Glory HYW Casualty pack.  The mounted guys just wouldn't fit on my normal casualty markers.

To give you an idea of how big these dragons are, they are mounted on 100mm by 150mm bases.

I managed to get some snow on the horse too.

This dragon looks like he wants to play with his food.

The knight is about to be pancaked.

I tried to scorch the bottom of the horse a bit with some smoke.

Winter Goblins WIP

Here are some pictures of the Winter Goblins I've been painting.  The miniatures are from the plastic GW goblin spear regiment box set.  I like how they've turned out.  The box gives a lot of variety in posing and while removing the mold lines on the figures is annoying, for the most part, the sculpting is full of character.

The little guys are very animated which made it difficult to base them 4 figures per 40mm square base.  I plan on using the units in attack column (2 bases by 2 bases), so these guys will be the front ranks of two units with their spears pointed forward.  There is no way I could use the spear forward guys in a second rank of bases.

I'll paint and base two rear bases for each unit and use poses where they are holding their spears upright.

I guess I assumed since they were small goblins that basing them wouldn't be a problem, but I'm obviously going to have to plan the basing very carefully to fit the guys onto the bases.  Otherwise,  the bases won't be able to line up and touch each other.  I could use slightly larger bases for them, but I'd rather keep the basing consistent through my armies.

Pictures of the Middle Kingdom Rex

Jed and I have our first Fantasy Realms campaign battle scheduled tomorrow.  The gentleman pictured below is The Rex, Jean the Good.  He is the titular king of the Middle Kingdoms and when present he "commands" their armies.  

Jean earned his high position through birth and has held his status because he happens to be the best melee combatant in the Middle Kingdoms.  He's no strategic genius, but when battle is joined, Jean knows how to take care of business...in person.  

When the Middle Kingdom matches up against the armies of the Undead tomorrow, Jean will use his special personal challenge ability, land his pegasus between the two armies, and issue a challenge of personal combat to the Evil Necromancer.  Typically, the Evil Necromancer rolls his eyes and writes Jean off as an immature show-off, but the courage Jean's antics show does serve to impress the manly mounted knights of his realm.  Maybe this boost to their morale will prove to be the difference in tomorrow's battle?  Or maybe Jean will get his "mano a mano" battle?

He's still a little glossy from his varnish coat, but I'll have to decide if I want to
dull cote him or not.  The gloss coat works great to hold the decals on.
 (decals from VVV)

The base will also get the tall grass treatment once I know the varnishing is done.

I didn't wash Rex at all.  Just highlighting because frankly, he probably has
plenty of servants polishing his gear before battle.  Jean the Good has to look
good, after all.

Middle Kingdom Minotaurs

We've been building armies to fight our Hostile Realms campaign.

Our Middle Kingdoms army list includes a unit of minotaurs, so I conducted an extensive search of the internet to locate suitable models.  Since the minotaurs are a beast unit in the game, they would be based on 4 1-figure stands.  Many manufacturers make great minotaur models, but very few have 4 variations of a similar model that can be used to form up a unit of minotaurs.  I finally found some excellent candidates from Cavalcade Wargames.  They offered a nice selection of minotaurs and had a great variety of poses.

So, here are four of the minotaurs are in all of their glory:

Ranked up against a unit of Gondorian infantry.  Quite the
size difference!

Once I've finished the Midde Kingdoms and Gondorian armies, I plan to paint a Snow Goblin army for Hostile Realms.  Here is my first snow goblin, fresh off the painting table.  Giant yeti, ice trolls, snow ogres, and winter wolves, oh my!

Drive on Prokhorovka at Gateway 2012 Convention!

On September 1, 2012, I will run the complete Kursk: Drive on Prokhorovka operational campaign scenario at our local Los Angeles gaming convention, Gateway 2012.  I'll be using Piquet's Field of Battle :WW2 rules.

I posted the following on the event description:

"Ever wanted to try out an epic miniatures wargame before? This is your chance! Simple rules, complex decisions. Players can feel free to join or leave as their schedule permits. Wipe out your Soviet tank brigade in a desperate assault and then go grab a hot dog to celebrate. This battle featuring hundreds of 10mm miniatures pits 1st SS PG Division against the 5th Gds Tank Army in July 1943."

I thought I'd post some pictures of the elements of the game in an effort to tempt and lure players into joining.  Pictures of SU-152's and Churchill tanks are coming also!

Scenario description is here.

Some additional pictures of the ruined buildings of Prokhorovka are here.

If you want to review some of he Kursk articles, check the Kursk, WW2 tags.

If anyone is interested in participating in this experience, feel free to email me or post a comment to reserve a spot.

The battlefield from west to east.
Prokhorovka is on the distant horizon.

Quiet town of Storozhevoe surrounded by thick woods.

The entire Soviet force for the game.

9th Guards Airborne Division.  The circles are BN command stands.
  The hex stands are heavy weapon support markers.

Artillery spotting round markers.  Hexes are D10 artillery.
Circles are D12 artillery.  The HE template is self-explanatory.

The 1st SS Panzergrenadier Division.  

1st SS PG Regiment's three battalions.

2nd SS PG Regiment's two battalions.  It has a Tiger company.
It's halftrack-mounted battalion is with the tank regiment.

1st SS Panzer Regiment's two battalions.

1st SS AT battalion and recon battalion.
Engineer stands in front.

Casualty markers mark strength point losses.

AT gun bunkers.

More Soviet infantry.

Soviet armor ready for the counterattack on 12 July, 1943.

Soviet tank command stands using flags.
"Green, no Red..just attack dammit!!!"

These SU-76's are on the painting table,
but they'll be ready for the game.

These are being painted, but will serve as more
motorized infantry command stands for the Soviets.

Some more Soviet command stands.
  Leg and airborne infantry battalion command stands are all on foot.
Motorized units have jeeps or trucks on their command stands.

Soviet KV-1 and assault guns ready for action.

Lots of armor ready to flood onto the table!

This marker represents a suppression result.

The railroad embankment and railyard at Prokhorovka Station.

Close-up of Storozhevoe.

Soviet airborne companies defend the Brick Factory.

German engineers deploy to clear the minefield for the tanks.