Workbench update

I'm still plugging away at what has now apparently become the Dark Age Village Project. I'm not entirely sure when that happened but it is clear that it has. Not that I'm complaining, it's proving to be most entertaining and will be great to play some games of SAGA around when complete.

This week I've been working through a couple of small huts and the long hall, plus I couldn't resist a quick diversion into the ubiquitous wattle animal enclosures everyone seems to like so much. Construction on all of the above is pretty much complete with only thatching and a bit of sealing to do before painting can commence.

Lastly, welcome to DFlynSqrl, Herr Zinnling, TWD, Sir Tobi, InChigh74, DeadGuy and JonasM over the course of the last week or so.

Edit: I've just discovered that if you accidentally follow yourself (while trying to follow someone else, even I'm not THAT vain) it's bl00dy hard to undo (though possible thankfully). It is especially hard to unfollow yourself when you get a message saying Blogger can't load your reading list because you're following 300+ blogs. ;-)

Cheers,
Millsy

What defines a skirmish game?

I've just been reading a rather interesting post over on House of Paincakes. The author Cedric is talking about the current proliferation of new games, at least in part driven by Kickstarter. He talks about what happens when you want to try something new but nobody else does. What do you do? Abandon the idea? Do two (or more) factions yourself?

Often the cost of a single faction for any given system can be the most an individual can afford, leading to a number of commentators suggesting playing skirmish games like SAGA, as the cost of entry is lower.

And that brings me to my point. What defines a "skirmish" as opposed to a "wargame"?

Wikipedia defines skirmish games this way.

For myself, I'd suggest that the generally accepted view is that skirmish games are where:

1. the number of figures required is substantially lower
   and
2. (as a consequence) the cost of entry is lower
   and
3. the figure scale is typically 1:1 - individual figures are "units"
   and
4. (as a consequence) the level of characterisation is substantially higher

The interesting thing for me was that Cedric's opening put these types of games almost in opposition to GW's various Warhammer flavours (hereafter "Warhammers").

To me, the Warhammers ARE skirmish games and here's why:

1. figures are based individually
   and
2. there are lot of characters who act individually
   and
3. the figure scale is 1:1
   and
4. an "army" in reality consists for a couple of hundred models (at the extreme)

BUT conflictingly (at least for Warhammers):

1. there is a high level of characterisation
   and
2. the cost of entry is anything but low

So are Warhammers skirmish games? If not, what are they? And if they ARE skirmish games, what does that make SAGA (or anything else of that size)? They may well both BE skirmish games but it means that you're defining "skirmishes" in very broad terms...

OK, semantic rant over ;-)

Have I missed something blindingly obvious? Comments? Thoughts?

Cheers,
Millsy

Dark Age thatched church part III - complete!

Right, that's the church complete then! I've decided I'm going to hang off any further dry brushing till I've had a chance to look at it in natural daylight. The door has been painted (one day I'll learn how to paint decent wood grain but not tonight apparently) and the landscaping done.

The local clergy seem pretty happy with the situation, already soliciting donations which of course will only be RESTING in the bishop's account...

Apologies for the quality of the pics. It's late and I can't be @rsed faffing about with the camera. There is a fair bit more depth to the walls and stonework in reality but the flash has killed a lot of it here...

Many thanks to everyone who suggested options for a stone cross. I've got a couple of ideas now and will test them out over the next week or two. Coming up, a long house and a couple of crude huts.

Cheers,
Millsy

Dark Age thatched church part II

The painters and decorators have just left Millsy Towers, having knocked off the church exterior in a single evening. I'll say one thing for them, they're quick!

Like most tradies they swore like sailors, woofed all the tea and biscuits and left a flipping great mess behind them. No worries, things are progressing nicely so all that can be forgiven. Not much left to do now - faff about deciding whether or not to dry brush the thatch again, get the landscapers in and paint the door then we're done I reckon...

Thanks to everyone who has commented so far. Really enjoying this project and that just ices the cake.

PS. I'm thinking I need a decent sized cross to go alongside the church. I can easily knock a timber one up from balsa but a nice stone number with plenty of carving would look great. Something like this...

Anyone know where I can get one? Maybe in resin?

Cheers,
Millsy

Dark Age thatched church

I saw a resin thatched church on another blog just recently which I really liked. I've got a bunch of ecclesiastical figures already painted and want to do some monastery raid style scenarios for SAGA so I thought I'd have a go at making my own church. It's also a great way to avoid painting... ;-)

The construction method is the same as the barn I completed recently - (mostly) foam core, card and balsa on an MDF base. I've thrown in a bunch of plastic windows and an arched door from the Company That Shall Not Be Named rather than make my own. At some effort I managed to remove all but two of the 497 ridiculous skulls that adorned the otherwise these quite nice sculpts.

Here are some in progress pics. First fix...

Second fix...

Not that happy with the arch. Too medieval but it will do...

Lock up and the painters are on the way...

Today I got the thatching and basing done and everything has a blast of black primer. Painting can begin in earnest later in the week.

Before I sign off, welcome to all who have come on board through the recent membership drive - Phil, Anne, Ubique Matt, scotty, Anibal Invictus, Monty, DeanM, 15mm25mm and tomw. If I've missed anyone sincere apologies. 83 now and counting. We'll make the magic 100 yet!

Cheers,
Millsy