Preparing for Arthur and Merlin in 10mm

Yesterday I blogged about preparing my Covenant of Antarctica fleet for painting, while getting these ready I also prepped some 10mm Dark Age figures and started work on some terrain pieces.  More on the terrain pieces later, for now I want to quickly post about the 10mm figures I ordered.

I have a variety of minis games on the shelf at the moment that haven't seen play, to be honest, it is likely that they won't see play for a little while yet (I have Song of Blades and Heroes and Dystopian Wars clamouring for my immediate attention).  A while ago I ordered two sets of Dark Age rules - Dux Bellorum, which seems a rule set from the lineage that brought us DBA, and Dux Britanniarum - which seems a fun campaign system with a rules set attached.  Of course I also have a spin-off of the Song of Blades and Heroes skirmish game - called Song of Arthur and Merlin.

I wanted to get some miniatures that would eventually allow me to play all these games.  For a long time I was trying decide between 15mm scale figures (something like those available from Splintered Light), and 10mm - from either Pendraken or Magister Militum.  In the end I obviously chose to try the 10mm figures.  The most glaring con of this choice is the fact that these minis will not be able to be used in conjunction with the ones I already have for Song of Blades and Heroes, but the pros, I think, far outweigh that con.

So why 10mm?  The choice of which scale to collect is always a tough one, usually it is somewhat dictated by whatever is used by the people with whom one games.  In my case I would be the only player collecting these minis, and wanted enough for two players to be able to play. I also wanted to be able to get enough to allow me to play (at least basically) all of the Dark Age rules sets I had, though admittedly I think I'll need to look into sabot bases for both Dux games.

Given that I wanted so many figures, I also had the problems that came with them - first they need to be purchased, they need to be painted and they need to be stored somewhere (and I'm very short of spare storage space for large scale armies).  In all of these cases the smaller the scale the better the pay-off seemed to be, and in the end I turned to Pendraken, and I'm very glad I did.

For a relatively cheap price I was able to grab a set of minis representing the Late Romans and the Saxons - both armies that would allow me to play all three games - Song of Arthur and Merlin, Dux Bellorum, and Dux Britanniarum.  And while it will likely take me a long time to get enough figures painted to be playing the latter two, I at least have enough to keep me going long into the future.

So this is what the various sets looked like after they arrived:

Divided into their types (spear, archer, mounted etc)

The Saxons divided... a veritable multitude.

I also ordered some 20mm laser-cut MDF bases (around 100 or so), for a very reasonable price, and mounted enough to allow me some choices when I play Song of Arthur and Merlin.

Late Romans...

Saxons...

So after trimming and filing some of the flash and mold lines I glued them to their bases.  After the glue was dry I used a tooth-pick to spread some PVA over the bases, and then dipped them into some fine sand - this is to add texture and also to build the MDF base up so the figures aren't sitting atop their little mounds they were molded with.

I'm pretty happy with how the bases turned out.  They manage to add texture as well as build up the simple wood.  After laying on the sand I also used an old paint brush laden with heavily watered down PVA to moisten all the sand on the base (just touching the base with the brush was enough - as whatever sand was dry really sucked up the liquid).  Once dried this made the sand really quite solid.

I used a cheap undercoat - which I'm not overly happy with (I was impatient and had used everything else up on my Dystopian Wars fleet), but I think they come up well once I start painting them.  All in all I'm really happy how they turned out.  The Pendraken figures are nicely detailed, and should work really well.  I have a lot more waiting to be based ready for the Dux games - but that's a project for another day...

Cheers,
Giles.

Games, Goals, and 2013...

I’m a little late on the trend of blogging about what we plan to do with our spare time in the coming year; and my blog today is really a way for me to consolidate some disparate ideas into one fixed location.

My key goals for 2013 all revolve around a resurgence of interest I’ve had over the last 12 months in miniatures gaming.  There are some projects here I want to finish, and some I want to begin.

Family game time:

Now my son is getting older he is more ready to be able to sit and play some basic games with y wife and I, hopefully we’ll be able to provide plenty such opportunities for this in 2013.  My wife and I are also hoping to be able to make a regular games night, something that had fallen by the wayside with our second child.  Such times are wonderful ways to while away an evening.

For myself...

Song of Blades and Heroes, Dux Britanniarum, & Dux Bellorum:

This is a small skirmish game by Ganesha Games, the PDF is available for a small price online at Ganesha’s website, and is an excellent, short and highly enjoyable little game.  Some of the things I really like about it are that it requires only a small number of figures per side, that the rules are simple but both efficient and flexible, and that it plays in a short amount of time.  The game is also a vastly improved experience with scenarios, plenty of which are available online, and many more are easily created through the application of some imagination.

I still have my Splintered Light miniatures to finish off, so a key goal for me is to get those painted.  I also have additional Song of Blades and Heroes spin-off rules: Arthur and Merlin (exactly as it sounds), and Flashing Steel (musketeers, pirates and the like).  I’d love to collect a small force for each of these as well.  

For the Song of Arthur and Merlin rules I’d love to get some 10mm figures that could also be used, at a pinch, for other dark age games I have, such as Dux Britanniarum and Dux Bellorum.

Dux Britanniarum is especially appealing because of the inbuilt campaign system that looks like an immense amount of fun.  10mm figures have the advantage of being quicker to paint, easier to store, and cheaper - so for me they seem a good scale choice that will allow me to play multiple dark age games.  We shall see.

Dystopian Wars:

From the Spartan Games website...

My brother and I have decided to grab some fleets for Dystopian Wars, a steam punk combined arms (naval, aerial and ground) miniatures wargame by Spartan Games.  The models look absolutely fantastic; I’ll be collecting some stuff for the Covenant of Antarctica, while he’ll be playing the Russian Coalition.  Getting the opportunity to play the game, as well as painting up the models, will be a key goal for the coming year.  One I might add that I’m much looking forward to - Dystopian Wars seems a really interesting, tactical and fun game.

Terrain:

I have some more terrain I want to build, I have some forest and hill pieces waiting to be put together, and wouldn’t mind making up some islands and other terrain pieces for Dystopian Wars.  Another key factor in regards to terrain is finding some form of storage solution that manages to leave as small a footprint on our house as possible!

The playing of games:

The key games I am particularly keen to get to the table at the moment are Song of Blades and Heroes, Dux Britanniarum and, of course, Dystopian Wars.  I’d to design and play a couple of campaigns for Song of Blades and Heroes, and have the Song of Deeds and Glory supplement that provides some rules for campaign play, so we’ll see how that goes.  Of course, I’d also love to get Dystopian Wars to the table - this is the ‘hot’ game at the moment, the one that is bouncing most noisily around inside my mind and screeching for attention.

In any case, these are some of the goals I have for 2013 in terms of gaming.  Here’s looking forward to much more table time as a family!  2013 also represents something of a shift in my gaming focus, so I hope to get a lot more painting, modeling and table top gaming in this year - we shall see!

Cheers,

Giles.