The Last Hirdman (And Group shots)

Here he is, the last of my Viking Hirdmen. Another well armoured fellow with a smashing moustache, so large it droops over his chainmail gorget-hood thingie.

Pretty cool sculpt, though I'm not a fan at all of the nipple tip to his helmet and feel I should have just filed it away to give him a regular conical helmet instead. O well, too late now.

Really like the banded armour pieces on him.

Another yellow-black traditional shield design. Keeping them simple.

And now, the requested group shots! I'll be playing these Hirdmen elite warriors as 6-man Men-at-Arms units in Lion Rampant (My Saxon Thengs will be used likewise.). They hit like a truck and can soak up damage really well in the rules, rather fitting I think looking at them all. (Completing these 12 and the 12 Thegns beforehand definitely earns me a Joker for the 6MMRPC. Not that I'll be buying anything new anytime soon, but it'll cancel out the guilt of one of the Bolt Action WW2 purchases I recently made!)

Fresh off the boat and ready to get raping and pillaging. Vikings are a nasty bunch for sure.

Close-up of the left. 

Close-up of the right.

Another quick group pic of the Saxon Thegns (Previewed previously) who'll be defending their homes against this Viking incursion. 

Battle is about to commence! I really need to invest in some sort of calendar with landscapes or something to use as backdrops for my photos of finished minis.

Next up on the paint table will be the remainder of my much maligned 15mm ACW Confederate Cavalry. There are only 2 bases worth left to get done and then basing for the entire unit (A very simple job) and they'll be done.

Last But One

This is the penultimate Hirdman from my Viking faction and my favourite sculpt by Gripping Beast. He just looks tough and certainly not a bloke to mess with.

Pics were taken before I hit him with DullCote and sorted that bend in his spear.

Close up of his face and his eyes that look rather good if I do say so myself!

I wanted him to stand out from his brothers, some and tried to give him some interesting trousers and a traditional (At least the internet[s] says so.) viking shield design in yellow and black.

Also took time to put together my Bolt Action T34/85 and ZIS-3 Divisional Gun. The plastic tank went together like a dream, the anti-tank-gun not so. I had to walk away from my work table two nights in a row due to frustration at the shitty online instructions and crappy fitted pieces. In the end I just jury-rigged the thing and to hell with it. It'll look fine once painted up and sat behind a wall shooting Krauts.

Some gunnery officers included for scale. Was going to purchase all my tanks at 1/48th scale because they look better next to 28mm troops, but I couldn't pass up the deal I got on the Warlord 1/56th tank. Plans for some tank rider figs and stowage pieces are in the mix.

This gun really did put me through my paces. Looks nice all set up though and should be a breeze to paint. Green + green + more green.

Just one more Hirdman to go and I'll be claiming a Joker earned between these 12 Hirdmen and the 12 Saxon Thegns I've painted already. Then it's on to some regular foot soldiers for my Saxons (Ceorls) and Vikings (Bondi), which I will not be putting half as much energy into in an effort to get them done quicker.

Another Axe to the Face

Another Viking Hirdman for my tally. As you can see, he’s sporting a Danish long-axe and it’s about to ruin someone’s day. (Which is very cool) The sculpt is overall pretty good and way more traditional “Viking” in style than the past few I’ve showcased. The hands are a bit sausage fingered and the chainmail shirt seems more lazily sculpted when compared to others I’ve recently painted up. My biggest beef is that he suffers from yet another case of no discernible eyes and so I’ve left them alone and I’m worried his opponents will see him squinting and just realize he’s short-sighted and fill him full of arrows before he even realizes they are pointing bows at him!

I’ve tried to give this fellow a salmon-pink tunic and rich blue trousers. I think the colour-combo works pretty well and I’ve added a couple extra layers of highlights to both garments seeing as he’s not getting any freehand added to his clothes.

Only two Hirdmen left of my original twelve, including my most favourite sculpt of the lot. (I wonder if by finishing all twelve and therefore the unit, I earn back a Joker?)

I also started work on another rpg character mini – this time an old old old Citadel Miniatures Ninja from the original 1980’s Talisman board game (My fav’ Games Workshop boardgame). Black clothing really doesn’t blend in all that well in a hill/plains setting, so browns it is. Feels very 1980’s Marvel Wolverine to me. 

Over the decades I've owned this fig, that sword hand has snapped off and been glued back on about 15-20 times. Funny thing is, this is the first time I've ever slapped paint onto the poor fellow.

6MMRPC Week 9 Report

Forgive the uninspiring title...

Finished a solitary Viking Hirdman. This fellow is all armoured up and ready to rumble. Looks like he’s wearing spoils of war as his gear doesn’t seem to be what I’d recognize as traditionally Viking-ish?

Gold helmet just to break up all those metals and to make him look like he's earned his treasures!

Very simple freehand on the hems of his tunic, I like the colours though. Complimentary of each other.

Also finished another couple of bases worth of my reviled Confederate cavalry. Only two more to go and then I can base the Regiment en masse and move on to some Infantry.

The rest of the time was spent putting more 28mm WW2 Soviets together. I now have enough for a full Infantry squad, plus a Lieutenant and sniper team. Also I guess I have burned through all my jokers for the challenge and now have the remainder of a full 1000 point Bolt Action force sat waiting to be gotten to, including one of these!

 

The BA-64 Armoured Car was a dinky thing and I was worried about scale issues when I first pulled this lump of resin from it's packaging, but after some research on the internet(s), it seems it's supposed to be flippin tiny. The commander piece in the turret is from the T34/85 tank kit that also arrived and is now being  put together. (He seems to be making a gun sign with his right hand which I find amusing. Perhaps a fan of Bill Cody?)

Bland and Bright

Got inspired after attending a tiny Con here in Sac at Randy's House of Games; a small gaming shop with a large warehouse-sized gaming area. Lots of historical games and about 80-100 attendees from what I could tell. Not bad for a 1st years outing. Whilst there, my mate Stew ran a fun 4-man game of Lion Rampant using his Saxons and Vikings and so the inspiration to paint these two.

No eyes on the left as his helmet was so low into his face. Chap on the right is wild eyed and beardless, so I like to think this is his first proper raid.

Lefty is short as far as the others in the range go. I'm cool with this as not all men are equal in size. I felt he would combat this shortcoming by wearing some bright colours. In contrast, longshanks on the right is dressed in some pretty bland colours and a rather fresh looking sheepskin cloak.

Am now working on the last four Hirdmen to make two complete 6 man units. Then it's on to the Bondi (Regular warriors)!

This week I've mostly been working on the Bolt Action Winter Soviet infantry that arrived super fast from Warlord Games. Really good sculpts with lots of variation available in poses and different heads. Just a shame there are mold-lines aplenty that have taken me a fething long time to get rid of. Good thing this is a slow burner project and I've no rush to get them done. (Have also been eyeing a cheeky 1:48 scale Soviet BA-64 Armoured Car to join them too...)

The second month of the 6MMRPC is over and I have to admit, July was a bit pants on the output side of things. A mere five 28mm Dark Ages miniatures, an rpg Bard and Troglodyte Gladiator.
Seven is actually bloody awful considering I added 40 28mm plastic Soviet soldiers. Heh. O well, new month, better progress.

Just the one chart to show my July progress.

6MMRPC Week 7 Report

This week was a bit meager on the hobby output side of things. Between spending time with  mates, going to see an International rugby double-header event and so forth, these two finished minis are it for week 7 of the Challenge.

First up, another Viking Hirdman for my Dark Ages project. Love this pose, he’s about to wreck someone’s day with that Danish-axe. Simple paint job with a bit of clumsy freehand for the trim on his jerkin. (I hope to get some more of these done before my next update so my nifty Draxian ™ progress charts can show more green than yellow!)

The other piece is another mini that I will be using for my rpg campaign. This was a Wizkids Heroclix lizardman that my son requested I paint up and use in my upcoming rpg campaign – but I decided instead it’ll be a Troglodyte gladiator. The sculpt was flippin’ horrible though with terrible detail all over the face and hands. Still, although not my best work by far, I like the finished result and look forward to plonking him down in-game.

I got a couple games of Flames of War in as well against my old pal Densmol. Nice to be playing again after some months off. He picked up some 5.5” Medium Artillery guns so that my Brit/Canadian artillery will finally be able to scare people (Cos 25-pounders in Flames of War are utter pants). And they were the main damage dealer in both games (Including an attached AOP flying observer) with both Densmol’s Fallschirmjager (German paratroops) and Schwere Panzer (Heavy tanks) companies suffered under their heavy barrages. I can’t wait to get these painted up so they match the rest of my force.

Lastly – Kind old bugger Admiral Drax mentioned in a comment over on Cameron’s blog that Warlord Games are having a stupid good saleright now on their rulebooks. Buy one and get a free box of 30-40 plastic infantry or a tank or whatever (Sale finishes 31st July though.). It’s a sweet way to lure simpletons like me to get into a games system. So yeah, me and Densmol are just waiting for our new Bolt Action rulebooks to arrive…. And our Winter Soviets (Me) and German Grenadiers (Him) infantry boxes. 28mm WW2 gaming here we come. I’m thinking Some super late “Soviets attacking Germany in the Winter months”; mainly so I have an excuse to buy an IS-2 tank. 

More Hirdmen

Two more viking badarse hairy buggers done over the Holiday weekend. Like these sculpts very much, shame my eye painting was a little rubbish.

Bloke on the left had a bit of a cartoony eye affliction as a child. The chap on the right.... bit cross-eyed, hence how he didn't see the flowers before he trod upon the blooms.

Tried to paint a simple wolf-pelt and think the colourings are convincing enough. 

Also worked on more of my ACW Confederate cavalry, but had to take a break from the crappy sculpts and got some paint onto a Heroclix lizardman that my son begged me to paint up. It originally had a pathetic looking bendy glaive that I cut out and replaced with a cut down 1980's GW skeleton cavalry lance. Still lots to do, but I do know he'll end up as a Troglodyte gladiatorial adversary in my upcoming rpg.

Whilst overall this is a pretty shoddy sculpt, I do like the movement in the pose.

*blatant ebay plug!!!*

Also - I put some Ebay auctions up to help raise some cash for some spare bits and also of some of my painted Warhammer 40K items!  The auctions go live 5pm PST.

Keeping it in the Family (Part - 2 Done and Done and an Armada AAR!

The second week of the 6MMRPC has had me working on the Saxon brothers (And brother-in-law) and also a pair of Viking Hirdmen that will be raiding the Saxon’s lands.

Still not decided what I'll do for a banner, but I'll worry about it another time.

Kept the shield design simple quartered effort. I think the green works well with the yellows on the model.

These are from the Jomsvikings/Rus ranges. I felt that elite warriors deserved some flashy togs and so the beardy fellow got some striped trews and  chainmail-face a classy red dress/tunic. 

Only complaint on these are the beardy sculpt's axe was far too fat and the armoured chap has a nice belt pouch, but no belt?

As far as hobby for the 3^rd week of the challenge, things will be rather minimal as my mother is coming to visit from England for a bit and then on to my sister’s in Texas. But I have another 8 Saxon Thegns that I reckon I can kick out before she arrives!

Was lucky enough to get in a game of Star Wars: Armada with my good friend Gregg as well. This was only our second game of Armada and so we were still a little rusty on rules, but the game went along nicely regardless with an emphatic Imperial victory (Huzzah!) and the Rebel scum slinking back to the wretched holes they typically skulk within. (A Death Star Laser blast should take care of that vermin problem at a later date no doubt.)

Two Victory Star Destroyers with some upgrades for me along with 6 squadrons of  TIE's, one of which was Howlrunner, a special character

Grand Moff Tarkin was my force commander. He costs a lot of points to include, but damn his abilities make for some fun times.

Gregg's Rebel fleet consisted of the new Assault Frigate and two Correlian Corvettes stacked full of upgrades and some mixed squadrons of X-wings, A-wings and Y-wings. We both forgot many special rules that our add-ons offered up every turn. Yes, we are very new to this game.

Flying through the Cheerywood Nebula, these Rebel ships had no idea the Empire was lying in wait.

Both fleets move to engage. The Rebel fighter squadrons leading the way, A-wings engaging TIE's.

A squadron of X-wings, two of Y-wings and the pair of Correlian Corvettes move in to support.

Tarkin's ship unleashes a broadside into the closest Corvette, punishing the smaller Rebel ship for venturing too close. The Critical Hit taken would later prove to be it's doom.

The Assault Frigate likewise unloads against Tarkin's ship in revenge and wipes out shields on the Starboard side.

Meanwhile the fighter melee hots up and everyone starts to take hits.

Tarkin's vessel finishes off the limping Corvette. 

The Frigate's captain miscalculates his move, not speeding far enough away to get out of the 2nd Victory's front arc....

.... leading to next turn where the 2nd Victory showed it who's boss.

The remaning Corvette and rebel fighter squadrons exited Stage right soon after. Things to take from this game:

1. Rebels NEED to outnumber Imperials if they want any sort of chance at winning. Even the Assault Frigate is too weak to stand up to a Victory Star Destroyer by itself. (Two Frigates though would be nasty)

2. Upgrades are fun, but missing out on extra ships (See #1) means you're not rolling many dice each activation which in turn means you're not hurting the enemy nearly bad enough

3. New fighters (Rebel) looked nice, but I didn't feel they added much more to the Rebel fleet. X-wings are still the best fighter in our games.

4. I really need more than just Victory Star Destroyers to play with.... They're cool and all, but variety is really the spice of life. 

Speaking of "variety" - any day soon my Gladiator capital ship (Smaller and faster than a Victory.) and Imperial Fighter Squadrons packs should arrive. So next AAR should feature some new toys.