Solo Fantasy Campaign - Battle of Ironwald (1)

The first battle of my solo fantasy campaign sees the Orcs get the jump on the Empire of Man and attempt to consolidate their hold on the North, attacking Ironwald from Mageholt with support from Lochpine. The Orcs rolled better when generating army total points and have the larger force.

Attacker - Orcs Force total: 30 + 1d4(3) + 1d4(3) = 36 points Warboss x 1 Orc Skirmishers x 3 Orc Warriors x 3 Orc Wolf Riders x 2 Trolls x 1 Total: Warboss + 9 units Exhaustion Point: 12

Defender - Empire of Man Force total: 30 + 1d8(1) = 31 points General x 1 Handgunners x 1 Halberdiers x 2 Crossbowmen x 1 Knights x 3 Total: General + 7 units Exhaustion Point: 10

The Battlefield

The battlefield is rolling countryside, dotted with low hills, open woodland and some enclosed farmland.

The Battle

Setup

The Empire of Man are blocking the road with the cavalry, with supporting infantry on either flank. The Orcs look to smash the Empire centre with their heavy infantry, while skirmishers advance through the fields on the right supported by a unit of trolls and the wolf riders push up on the left.

Turn 1

The Orcs advance straight forward and are met by the Empire forces. The Orcs cause havoc, wounding three Empire units including two knights with their first charge,

Turn 2

Driven back, the Empire forces consolidate and fight back strongly.

Turn 3

The Orcs attempt to press their advantage with a unit of wolf riders flanking the Empire's right.

Turn 4

Despite being under pressure the Empire forces hold firm, inflict more wounds and rebuff the flanking wolf riders.

Turn 5

Turn 5 sees the first of many casualties, with the Orcs coming off worse despite their numerical advantage.

Turn 6

Both sides are badly knocked around but the Orcs are worse off and have reached their exhaustion point. Blaming everyone but himself the Orc commander withdraws from the field to lick his wounds. A memorable victory for The Empire of Man against the odds.

So that's the first campaign turn over with and victory goes to The Empire of Man ensuring they hold Ironwald. They can no look to go on the offensive and turn the table on the Orcs. Here's a few shots of the troops in melee.

Cheers,

Millsy

Army Gallery - Grimtoof's Orc & Goblin Horde (15mm Fantasy)

Next up from the army showcase is Grimtoof's Orc & Goblin Horde. Enjoy!

More lovely Ral Partha Europe 15mm miniatures

Solo Fantasy Campaign

I've been planning a fantasy solo gaming project for some time now and the current situation means there's a lot more time available to me and the inclination to keep myself busy is also there.

I mentioned previously I had been working on fantasy rules based on Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame and had been painting forces. That has continued on and off in a very ad hoc manner and I now have Orcs, the Empire of Man and Undead completed. I've decided to kick the campaign off using the Orcs and the Empire of Man.

Background

The winter of 1230-31 was the worst in recorded history, so bad that the very seas froze over and the island home of the Empire of Men became connected to the wider world by an ice bridge.

Driven from their lairs in the mountains by the harsh conditions, the Orcs crossed the ice bridge in search of food and plunder, spreading out across the island in the depths of winter. With the coming of spring the ice bridge melted leaving the Orcs trapped and determined to consolidate their hold over the island.

War between the Orcs and the Empire of Man is inevitable and as the campaign season begins we find the opposing forces in control of various provinces and ready for war...

The Campaign

I'm a big fan of the campaign system Peter has put together on his Grid Based Wargaming - But Not Always blog and will be using something very similar.

Each season will contain a random number of between 2 and 4 battles, with campaigning happening in spring, summer and autumn. For each battle the attacker will choose to attack a province under enemy control, with limited bonuses to their force based on number of friendly provinces adjacent to the province under attack (i.e. supporting forces). The outcome will decide ownership of the province in question, with draws meaning the defender retains possession. The winner of a battle (or in the case of a draw, the defender) decides where the next battle will occur and is the attacker.

Ultimate victory will go to the force able to capture all provinces on the island or I get tired of things!

The Battles

Battles will be fought using 15mm fantasy armies on a 70mm grid using Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame rules. Before each battle forces will be composed from available troops up to a point total using the following formula:

Attacker: Base 30 points + d4 points per attacking province and supporting province (max 3).
Defender: Base 30 points + d8 points per defending province.

On the map above if the Empire of Man were to attack from Oldmead into the Orc held province of Faywick they would compose a force of 30 + 3d4 points. The Orcs would defend with 30 + d8 points worth of troops. Minima and maxima of troops are according to the army builder on my Portable Wargame Fantasy page.

Table setup will be generated randomly using a set of terrain cards and mechanics allowing for some rearrangement, again based on Peter's ideas found here.

What's Next...

I'm planning on running a test battle or two during the week to iron out how I want to run the defender in each battle e.g. tactics, aggression level, etc. I have loads of options to choose from in my collection of wargame books but it needs to be simple and quick to fit with the Portable Wargame ethos.

That's all for now. More when I kick things off properly.

Cheers,
Millsy

Ev's Challenge - Day 28 - Not Even At Base Camp!

Greetings, Paint Fans, and welcome to the first of my entries for The Tenth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge!

Doughty painters from the four corners of the circular globe are gathered at Challenge Island, landing on its deadly shores and beating their several paths into the interior to make their final assault on Snowlord's Peak...

Not exactly covering myself with glory this time round, I'm afraid. It's been a busy new year so far, and if I'm to meet my target of 400 points, I'd better get a move on.

I've made landfall at Sander's Sand Dunes, in the NW corner of Challenge Island. The stipulation for this locale is the colour red. Submit anything you like, as long as it features red. So here's my first entry for Challenge X.

It's the Orruk Megaboss, from GW's Warhammer Age of Sigmar. And no, I'm not buying into the new lawyered-up naming conventions. He's an Orc, pure and simple!

He was a gift from my young friend Patrick, who brought him back from a visit to Warhammer World in Nottingham (Rich Nerd Central). Given the fact that Paddy had gone to so much trouble, I couldn't not paint him up for the Challenge!

Stupid IP-protective names aside, it's a lovely figure. The assembly can be fiddly, but it avoids the solid-across-the-hems look of previous GW Orcs. I painted the head before adding the jaw plate, since it would have been nigh-impossible to get to otherwise. The sometimes tedious business of painting sub-assemblies is worth the extra time taken.

The base was built up with Milliput over an extruded foam core, and assorted Skullz™ were scattered around the resultant rocky outcrop (it's virtually the law when it comes to basing GW figures). I was going for a wind-scoured sandstone look, and I think it turned out nicely.

What's next? Well, I really have to produce a Curtgeld figure as the price of admission to Challenge X, but I'm to-ing and fro-ing on what it should be... Better be something pretty bloody spectacular if I'm to get some serious points on the board!

Stay tuned...!

Ev

Fantasy Skirmish Warband

I know right? Rumours of my demise and all that but hey, I've actually gone and posted something!

Despite the near deafening silence hereabouts things have been happening. Admittedly mostly spending money and going places but some work has been going on as is evidenced by the following.

These chaps are my new fantasy skirmish warband, good for Frostgrave, Mordheim or whatever. Mostly GW plastic orcs, upgraded with some Mordheim, Savage Orc, Space Ork and Empire bits.

The night goblin shaman is a metal fig, undergoing his apprenticeship in all things tribal magic from his larger (and substantially thicker) mentor.

Now if only Ev will finish his warband we could get some games in :-)

Hopefully things will pick up around here now. I've got some very nearly finished Epic Imperial Guard Sentinels on the painting desk so they should appear on the weekend.

Cheers,
Millsy

AHPC VIII - Ev's Challenge, Day 22

The story so far;

I've gone into this year's Challenge with a target of 500 points, and have proceeded at my usual sedate (some might say 'sedated') pace.

First up was this chap, a strapping Orc Chieftain from Scibor's Monstrous Miniatures. Certainly in keeping with the 'monstrous' theme of the Challenge!

It's a terrifically dynamic figure, and as usual, Scibor's bases are little masterpieces in their own right. I loved painting that fallen statue head!

Next up was a terrain entry. This is the first year for terrain entries outside of a bonus theme round, so I thought I'd paint up a couple of Pictish Standing Stones by Scotia Grendel. I'd had these in the to-do pile for a while, so they were overdue for an outing.

These two lovely resin sculpts were not quite enough to get the entry across the line quantity-wise, so I rustled up a quick Celtic Oratory Chapel, scratch-built from a block of polystyrene coated in filler and carved to resemble rough stone. The door was made from some bamboo skewers with a loop of fuse wire for the handle.

Returning to the Challenge theme, I went with a monster for my next entry; the Reaper Bones Giant Worm, painted up as that old D&D favourite, the Purple Worm.

Very pleased with the final result on this one, suitably repulsive!

Last but far from least is the Goblin Doom Diver, 'Da Rite Stuf', my entry for the Themed Bonus Round, 'Flight'. I really like the goofiness of this model, and I hope I've done it justice.

So, 22 days in and I'm just under 25% of the way to my target; let's see if we can't get a few more points on the board before too long!

What's next? Stay tuned...


Ev

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge VII - Day 49 (or is it 52?), or The Hot Zone

Day 49 (OK Tamsin, Day 52, thank you so very much) of the Challenge, and I'm sorry to say that I'm not exactly setting the world on fire. But that's OK, because the weather is doing a splendid job of that on its own here in Sydney. We've had a succession of heatwaves, and we're gearing up for another one this weekend.

So painting has been a slow grind. Productivity hasn't been all it might be, but I have managed to put a couple of pieces together to gradually build my points total.

First up was this chappie;

A Scibor Miniatures Orc Chieftain, a superb sculpt which repays the effort to paint it. I wanted to go for a colder colour scheme than the usual Goblin Green, as the figure is so imposing and really calls for a darker, less warm tone. Wet palette work came in handy for the blending of the skin hues up from the dark blue-green base through to the turquoise final highlights.

Next up was another figure for Frostgrave, a repurposed Plague Apothecary from Foundry's Casting Room Miniatures.

He's been given the sickly shades of an old bruise, with a mask the colour of bone. He strikes me as a creepy and morally ambiguous medical practitioner, as ready to kill as to cure.

Last of all was my entry in the terrain Bonus Round, 'Home', a scratch-built mausoleum for Frostgrave. And yes, it's 'Home' for assorted zombies and ghouls, so it counts!

I was very happy with how this one turned out, especially as I was trying out some marbled paint effects for the first time, and the decaying stucco exposing the brickwork beneath turned out pretty well too. It's colourful for a mausoleum, but if you've ever seen the exuberantly-painted Etruscan tombs, you'll understand the effect I was going for.

That's all for now - probably going to be a quiet weekend for the paint bench, since the weather is a great demotivator, but there's always more prep and assembly to do.

Stay tuned!

Ev

Savage Orc & Goblin Army Gallery

It's DONE.

"Waaaagh Millsy!", my Savage Orc and Goblin horde is finally complete! I've created a dedicated army gallery page so if you'd like a look head over here.

Thanks to everyone who has commented, offered advice and provided encouragement over the life of the project. It's been much appreciated and was a massive boost when the unending green tide seemed ripe to overwhelm me. :-)

Cheers,
Millsy

Chariots of Waaagh!

The chariots I blogged about yesterday are all done and dusted now and the crew and suitably modified, primed and ready for painting. Here's how the chariots themselves look finished up.
I'm rather pleased with them...

Barring any UXBs* the four crew miniatures are the LAST savage orcs I will paint for the army.

To be truthful the likelihood of that being the case are remote to say the least but it will be a good long time before I revisit this army I think. I'm already giving my large unpainted Empire collection the glad eye after all even as I finish these up.

* UneXpected Buying. Thanks Sir Michael for that little gem.

Cheers,
Millsy

Paint Table Saturday

For the first time in quite literally months it's a wet Saturday which means I have all the excuse I need to stay indoors and wield the brush.

A couple of months back I picked up a couple of rather wonky  and consequently quite cheap Orc chariots on fleaBay. Honestly, do some people people actually try to make a hash of things???

A few hours of work have seen them restored to health and "savaged up". These...

... now look like this...

...and should be done before the weekend is out.

Amazingly, that's the LAST BUT ONE unit in my Savage Orc & Goblin army and takes me to the 5,000 point mark, just in time for our big game on the June long weekend. That's 280 models including 8 trolls, a giant, 2 chariots, 3 war engines, a wyvern and a whole LOAD of rank and file.

Woot! Or more properly... Waaagh!

Cheers,
Millsy

Savage Sunday... or a little more "reorcanisation"

With a big 4,000 points per side game coming up in roughly a month (my Savage Orcs versus and evil combo of Lizardmen and Beasts of Chaos) a little more "reorcanisation" was in order. Last month I finally managed to get my sweaty little grippers on a decent sized auction of Savage Orc spearmen which are rather hard to get in any quantity at a decent price.

After a little more fiddling with my core units of Savage Orc Boyz I'm now able to field three x 24 units armed with choppas and a single 18 unit armed with spears. That will eventually expand to 24 as well but will require further fleaBay foo or perhaps simply closing my eyes, yelling waaaggghh!!!! and clicking Buy It Now several times... gulp!

Anyway, here's a progress shot of troops in the process of being moved about and reformed.

Lurking in the background at left you can also see the nearly completed Red Rashers, a second unit of Savage Boar Boyz armed with spears. Finally, right at the back are an even dozen of Oglah Khan's Hobgoblin Wolf Boyz keen to also join the fray.

Stay tuned for more things both savage and orcish over the next month!

Cheers,
Millsy

Workbench update

Apart from the terrain building I've been indulging in of late I've also regained enough of my after-work mojo to get back on the brushes. This might in part be due to purchasing a metric sh1t-tonne of minis I shouldn't have but whatever gets you motivated right?

This week I've been back into the seemingly never ending Savage Orc project and made some inroads on the second batch of boar riders. They're coming along nicely and will soon be ready to embarrass themselves on the table top.

At the same time I've been indulging myself in a little Oldhammer goodness. I've been picking up 80s Chaos Warriors on and off for a while now but have held off painting them til post Challenge as they take a lot of effort given I'm painting them one at a time. I've let myself go a bit with the palette as you can see both as a bit of personal challenge to try new stuff but also in an attempt to get that real Realm of Chaos crazy vibe going.

These are a joy to paint. Every one has a personality all his (or her, or it's) own. Their names from the catalogues are pure gold too. This lot includes left-to-rigth: Chengis Crump, Arack, Krayos Dleth, Xarytus Deathflail, Sir Gilgal de Appliance (candidate for BEST. NAME. EVER!!!), I can't remember (not his name!) and Gladstone the Large . There's another eight still to go so I've still got plenty of scope for brown, purple, pink, orange and whatever else I can dream up. :-)

Cheers,
Millsy