Unboxing my Baccus6mm Order

So it arrived, a nice order from Baccus6mm to feed my 6mil needs.

Now, during the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Baccus's webstore got completely swamped to the level they needed to temporarily close the cart in order to catch up on casting with reduced capabilities.

Fast forward a few weeks, and Peter could re-opened the cart, only to be forced to shut it down again after a day.  But in that window, I managed to get my order in.

I ordered two armies to be painting up in the coming weeks and months, the first being this Eastern Theatre army pack for the ACW, containing all the needed models to get me going in Altar of Freedom.

The other army are Dacians, old enemies of Rome whom will be based to be suited for DBA 3.0, but instead of a single figure per base, I`ll be doing a single strip as a figure.  So a 3 model warriors unit will as such contain 3 strips of models instead of just 3 models, to make it look more as a big army.

No idea yet though what I`ll be doing for the encampment and general element, I`ll probably look around for something suitable to print for that...

Over the coming weeks I`ll do some small reviews as well on all the different units and packs in this order, so stay tuned!

From London to Shangai

Well, a bit of a mixed lot for this weeks entry, as I did some work on a project I had put aside for this challenge... as well as one that probably will be in boxes stored until challenge 9 should I manage to seduce me a spot then.

So let's travel the world!

The first batch of the entry are more 10mm ECW from the Lancer Miniatures range, this time in the form of a complete infantry regiment.  Mixed pike & shotte, the regiment is supported by a demi-culverin for some extra deterrent towards any opposing forces.

I really like Kieran`s sculpts, and think this was one of those "gems" sometimes hidden on Kickstarter.  With more and more big companies using Kickstarter as their pre-order platform, there are those small operation on it as well which at times churn out lovely figures for a good price, or even some oddities that you just want to have.

The pikes themselves are metal rods, and I can say first hand they hurt like hell when you accidentally put your hand on them...

The second part of my entry is this 28mm Chariot from the Shang-Zhao range of Curteys Miniatures, now under 1st Corps banner.  I think I bought this almost 12 years ago or so, and I don`t actually know why anymore, probably some fantasy project or such.

But as we get older, our intrests start shifting, and I bit the bullet that I will be building a Shang dynasty force for Mortem et Gloriam (well, if their chinese army lists re-appear on the site, then I know what to order because while they are in the index, the actual lists aren`t in the pdf's) and try and introduce those rules over at my club.

I really like the facial expression on the charioteer to be honest, he has that whole "umpf, you posh dandy" look next to the noble...

So points-wise, if I counted correctly, this should mean for this week:

31 infantry models in 10mm (12 pike, 16 shot, 3 crew) @ 1 point each
1 crew handled cannon in 10mm @ 2 points
and 1 vehicle in scale 28mm with 2 crew @ 25 points

This should further add a nice 58 points towards my challenge goal... and keep me on schedule.

Talking about the schedule, I might better start tossing down some "points bombs" of around 100 points minimum for one or two weeks, that way the target gets well in reach and more or less secured in case I should miss a week of entrying.  At my current speed, I`m more or less safe with my 25 - 50 points averaging on a weekly basis, but I don`t have any margin for error...

Thanks for watching!

Himiko and the Yayoi army list

Think about ancient Japan and the thing that comes to mind are Samurai and their followers, battling it out in honourable duels.  And rightly so.

But when I set out building a force in Fields of Glory of Japanese, I picked the Yayoi era though, basically the period of Japan before metal armour (and as such, Samurai) came into existance on a common basis.  The Yayoi where peasant forces, and this secerly limits the choices at your disposal.  The Empires of the Dragon book roughly spans 2500 years, going from 1000 BC to1500 AD, which is about equal to the ancient Greeks here until the dawn of the rennaissance.

While the Vikings where plundering our countries, the chinese where shooting with missile launchers at each other, so needless to say this book covers a wide variety of forces.  Thus taking Yayoi Japan as a force, this left me with a force having basically only spearmen, swordsmen (actually, dagger-axe men), slingers and archers armoured in a linnen wrap around cloth.  And that is it... no cavalry, no chariots, no armoured troops, limited tactical flexibility in one word, but a mass of troops of at average quality over the whole line.

Roighty so, I painted my general for my forces today, namely the (hotly debated if she actually existed) lady Himiko, a priestess Shaman said to have unified at one moment all of the ancient Japanese village states.

At first I thought of having her and her retainers in the camp, but decided against this to set out my general more.  If Alexander the Great can be present on the table, then surely this dame 'of magic' can.

Now my army list is going to be this at 800 points, and hopefully get it to a tournament once.  I have no doubt they would get slaughtered facing the more fancy armies, but like my quality blogpost a few days, I hope to swamp the enemy and overwhelm their flanks.

1 General and 2 Troop Commanders

5 Battlegroups of 8 stands each of Spearmen
2 Battlegroups of 8 stands each of Archers
5 Battlegroups of 6 stands each of Slingers
4 Battlegroups of 8 stands each of Dagger-axe Men

An unfortified Camp

This yields me with 3 command stands, a camp base and no less then 118 bases of foot troops, a true swarm compared to most armies... especcially compared to those people TEND to take (opposed to that what they could take...

I'm thinking along the lines of having the spearmen and the slingers in a checkered pattern, with the archers on 'assassination' duty and the dagger axe warriors as a reserve force to stem any breaks or exploit where the opponent waveres.

So I know what I'll be painting for a while yet ;-)

Yayoi Japanese commander

A small thingy painted in between my regiments, the first of the two sub commanders I will be fielding in the Japanese force.

The models are from Khurassan Miniatures, and have great detail, but painting free handly a dragon pattern on the banner wasn`t the most simple of things on those small 15mm blighters.

This week's painting: all about 15mm

Hey all,

As you could all read last week, I've finally started painting again, hooray to the world!!!  The first model was the cloud dragon I showed last weekend, but this week I kicked into gear and managed to paint up no less then TWO regiments and some characters in 15mm.

First of are these Khurassan Miniatures 15mm Yayoi Japanese slingers, 6 bases of the Light Foot for my finally started Fields of Glory army.  Many more of these japanese society (of about 300 BC to 300 AD) are about to come during the next weeks, as I got the command, archers and daggeraxe troops lying here, and the spears lying around 'somewhere' until they show up.  All in all about 600 points of the army, to be show cased once it is all done.

Second is a project that will end up straight in my 'Vault' though, I bought these Dark Dwarves from Splintered Light Miniatures about two years ago for the idea of playing HOTT and build a Chaos Dwarf-ish army in 15mm, but as the game and the clubbing crashed, I now have a heap of evil dwarves, good dwarves and greenskins riding around, so they all will get the painting treatment and then be sold off hopefully in small forces of the three said forces.

Never the less, both these cultists (second regiment comming one of the weeks) and sorceress are some pretty neat models, and where fun to paint.

The following week will probably be another heap of the small fellas, as I'm currently painting on a Goblin Horde regiment, some 'normal' dwarves are ready to be undercoated, and in between try my hand at the japanese commanders for a change of 'palette'.

Arm the brushes and go... go... GO...

Once more in to the breach... Bringing the brushes out of retirement

It's a harsh reality, belgian postal services are so expensive that it is cheaper to fly in a model from the United States with priority shipping, then it is to even have the baseline belgian postage rate, and that is not even counting the models costs in it themselves.

Bit of a problem for poor blokes like me trying to clean out a few miniatures in order to be able to fund my Saint Seiya collection (one of my 'good intentions' planned for 2014 is to not spend more on hobby budgetting then I get together by saving small change for the Antwerp Convention and FACTS, and stop ordering masses without making room first, and hopefully fund it that way - new collection items or Crusade expansions excluded).

So I entered negotiations with the GF, to move a large part of my painting materials over to her place, in order to be able to paint up all the remaining stuff I have lying around from long dead projects and hopefully be able to trade them off easier that way, paint works maybe being a reason to get the models going, or at least be able to get potential intrestees into a trade even with the shipping rates.

The 'sexy' hopefully will overrule the 'expensive'...

But there is more, and I blame 'my Nemesis' for that.  I'm not going to rejoin a club anymore, as my social life cruelly put doesn't allow the spare time for it, but it starts aching again in my 'brush hand'.  I haven't even painted a dozen miniatures during this year, but after talks on two wedding parties in a month, I figured to 'go for it' and finish (well, actually, start should be a better word, they are all still blistered and packed), and combined with Tamsin's excellent AAR reports of Derby over at the Wargaming Girl blog, I'm going to bite the bullet and make my 15mm Fields of Glory army a reality.

From their ancients range, I had elected the Yayoi Japanese as the force I wanted to be build, with miniatures to be used from Khurassan's excellent range.  I've always been a fan of that company, clear and neat castings, easily paintable.

The Yayoi was an Iron Age period in Japanese history, from around 300 BC to 300 AD and named after a region in Tokyo where the first relics where unearthed.  Distinguishing characteristics of the Yayoi period include the appearance of new pottery styles and the start of an intensive rice agriculture in paddy fields. Techniques in metallurgy based on the use of bronze and iron were also introduced in this period. A hierarchical social class structure also emerged in this period. The Yayoi followed the Jōmon period (13,000–400 BC) and Yayoi culture flourished in a geographic area from southern Kyūshū to northern Honshū.

An agrarian culture, their armies where mainly foot forces of armed peasants, armed with the traditional weapons like spears, slings and bows, but also with 'dagger axes'.  It was also the last period in Japan warriors tended to tattoo themselves for the battle.  And there is the 'legend' of Himiko, a shaman queen that is said (but not proven and open to a lot of debate still) to have risen to rule all of Wa. Bit of eastern mystique mixed into an army of regulars, it is always a fun thing to paint and build around...

Now considering how I like all things Japanese, it ain't to much of a suprise I elected an army from the Far East expansion of FoG back then, even more then an Irish force as I fielded already in 25mm and 10mm.  So off we go by slowling transferring paint pots and brushes from the one to the other desktop, and start puzzling out the elements of my initially aimed at 800 points force.  I might even get that counter to a bit less of an epic failure this way.

And maybe, very maybe, if time, money and partner permits, I might someday travel to the UK for a tournament weekend like in 'the good old days', though I doubt that is going to re-emerge in my chaotic mindset again...

Over the Alps: assembling the 15mm Carthagians

My Fields of Glory `Rise of Rome` and an Osprey on the Carthage Warrior fell in the mailbox today, and feeling not in the mood to do serious brushstroking, I`m dedicating the better part of the day to prepare and assemble some of my forces, first up the carthage deal I bought last week.

Now that I know what consists of what, needs whoch base and stuff like that, All are glued and cleaned now and ready for undercoat and paintworks.



It also gives me an idea of roughly what I need to get at Salute to round the force out, mainly the heavy foot and enough cavalry to fill out the regiments. I have the Elephants and the light troops (slingers, javelins, archers etc) covered it seems, so it`s mainly the `core regiments` that need a lot of expanding to do still.

15mm Carthage

Okay, so now that I have decided to `go` for 15mm for bigger games (or as some have commented, `finally saw the light`) one of the first things on the shopping list was an ancients army.

Now, you seem to have either one or two choices, mainly a horde army of barbarians with a lot of natural colour tones, or the Roman legions which feature a lot of red, both basically rather boring to paint the umpteenth model of.

So I reduced the list to some of the more `mixed` armies, or colourful ones, like Dacians, Carthaginians, Byzantines etc... Only criteria needed to be that they had to have fought in the (larger) mediterenean / middle east theatre, as this is the geographic region most gamers tend to collect forces in.

The final choice fell on Hannibal`s alpinists, aka the Carthaginian army with a lot of spanish troops and Gaul allies. Now, I must admit, the fact that I could get a force of them from the Strategia E Tattica range through North Star Miniatures bargain bin deals (less then 20 pounds for 15 packs) helped tote the balance as well.



This deal has some elephants, some Cathage command and cavalry and this all supported by Celtiberean (spanish) troops, some Gauls, Lybian light infantry and Balearic slingers. Nice and varied colours and troops which makes the prospect of monotonous painting non-existant.

BTW, for the fast ones, he has a Fall of Rome deal up in the Bargain bin for 11 pounds at the moment.

Which brings us to the dilemma

How to base the buggers?

I`ve been doing some reading and a lot of drooling around on other blogs and forums, and it seems that most played rules for 15mm are either Fields of Glory or Impetus, but both use different basing methods.

In the end, I decided to use 4 by 2 cm bases and field them Warmaster Ancients style, with three models per `ranked` infantry per base and two models for lighter troops like archers and skirmishers.

This allows me in about 80% of the cases from both rulesets above to `combine` the elements in the required size. FoG for example has 4 by 2 as the standard for medium and light troops, while Impetus uses 8 by a variant of 2 for most units. So by shuffling them together, I should be able to make most units perfectly base sized legal. Easy.

And the fact I have a couple hundred 4 by 2s from the Magister Militum rangeb helps as well of course...

So after the first scifi models for Tomorrows War are painted (some are, but I can`t show them already due to the Lead Painter`s League) I`m going to prepare my force to journey over the alps and into Italy...

... all the while playing my battlesong: