MOAR Artillery!

Well, I had intended to post this a week ago, but I have become unreasonably busy with several jobs all landing at once. When you work as a freelance writer, the process of getting a specific job, and the steps it goes through can be staccato. This is especially true when working with an IP that is being licensed by the company your are writing for. Proposals go to the company, maybe back to you, back to the company, eventually to the IP holder for approval, back to you... the steps can be multiple. Added to this is the fact that any one of those might happen quickly, or might take time. Building a true sense of when a proposal or outline will be fleshed into a draft, and from draft to editor to final draft to editor and eventually layout can be difficult and sometimes impossible. The process may be quick, or it may take months. You can go from having no work to do to having a whole lot land at once.

This last week has seen the latter, with multiple jobs either clearing or soon to be clearing approvals and deadlines suddenly looming. I'm not complaining, I love writing for games, probably more than playing them, but jobs take precedence over blogs, as the old rhyme goes.

In any case! Artillery!

I wrote a scathing attack on Mantic's policy of basing Artillery on trifling bases a week or so ago, and my view on the topic has only grown more strident. Mantic can be sure that an angry 'Letter to the Editor' is being formulated as you read this. The so-called boffins at Mantic HQ will blister with shame when they read it, but it can't be helped; they brought it on themselves.

The more I think on it, the more apoplectic I become. I sit staring gloomily into the dying embers of the fire, a vintage cognac spoiling in my idle hand, swirled only occasionally by a fierce convulsion of fury that engulfs me when I think of the base sizes, and a cold disquiet settles on me... 50mm indeed! How hulking weapons of an epic fantasy setting are meant to be represented on 50mm square bases is anyone's guess. A random spasm over the '5' and '0' keys, driven by a force of madness that knows no bounds is the only reasonable conclusion. It is what it is. And what it is is a level of foolishness that could drive a grown man to the edge of his sanity, but I digress.

After piecing together the monumental bombard from Perry Miniatures, I managed to put together two smaller engines (picked to fit the minuscule bases Kings of War demands for such things). Both of these are from the War of the Roses range of Artillery, and are breach loading field guns.

As always with Perry Miniatures, the models are well cast and hold excellent detail. They went together quickly and without much trouble. I am a big fan of this company!

Yes, yes. I glued everything down before undercoating and painting, again. I blame the base sizes personally, the topic is chewing away at my sanity like a gerbil on a wafer. Nonetheless, they are excellent models. The top two images are of the single arc breach loading field piece. The final two images are of the double arc breach loading field piece. I am very pleased with how they came out!

Bombardment of Impracticality!

Continuing in the trend of building artillery pieces for Kings of War which, in game terms, are hugely impractical, but which, in visual terms, are absolutely sublime, this week I put together a Bombard...

The problem with Kings of War as I see it, is that despite the nice mechanics, quick play and enjoyable game experience, they have vastly underestimated the base sizes for artillery pieces. In the Kings of War rules book they declare blithely that so-called war engines and monsters should be based on 50mm squares. Bah! Obscene! The rules at this point (the second page of the rules book), are a willful desecration of all that is good in the world. Now, it does, and I say this grudgingly, improve. But that 50mm square business is like an ice-cold shard of tungsten lodged in the eye. One can't just ignore it. One can't see around it. In order to sate the insanity of this rule one needs to start looking at 6mm scale artillery. I can only think that the rules designer, one Mr Cavatore, had a moment of madness and that the thought, later, of rewriting it would force him to look that madness in the eye again and perhaps succumb, and he just couldn't do it. I can, perhaps, forgive him that.

However, I won't pretend for a moment it's ok, people have been flogged for less, but I don't intend to petition Mantic on the subject at this stage, and continuing in this vein will see us on to a blog post of unprecedented length, so... Leaving aside the madness-induced, Necronomicon-inspired, cavalier attitude toward artillery base sizes for just a moment...

Last time we touched on the subject of Artillery and Kings of War I was writing about assembling the hugely impractical but monumentally impressive Trebuchet, from Gripping Beast. This time around the artillery piece in question also required a special base, though not quite so large, and is also impractical. It is the War of the Roses era Bombard, from Perry Miniatures.

It arrived in a rather small box, and my immediate reaction was, 'What ho? The Perrys seem to have contrived to paint me a fool! I thought this bombard was impressively impractical in size!' Despite, however, the diminutive nature of the box, and the number of exclamation marks in my reaction, I turned out to have underestimated the Perrys.

Bombard, replete with crew and mantlet. No, I shouldn't have glued it all down, but my impetuosity got the better of me and once the cap was off the glue there was no turning back.

All the figures are 28mm scale, and the base is something like 60 x 210 mm. Tis a thing to be feared...

The mantlet was so agonizing to put together (it kept collapsing around me), that it very nearly suffered a Terrible Fate. I endured, and with a dozen random items to prop it in place, so did the mantlet... 

The figure at the back is simply admiring the vast worth of such an impressive instigator of impairment.

Trebuchet, bombard and single 28mm scale crossbowman for comparison.

It is a fine model, impractical yes, but a good looking piece of kit for all that. It was a clean cast and easy enough to put together, though I did scratch my head a few times to work out where all the bracing pieces went. The manlet was the only thing that caused me grief, but endurance, pure will-power and a bottle of absinthe later and it's done, the grief forgotten. Next time I'll endeavor to write about the few artillery pieces I did buy that actually fit on the insanely tiny bases demanded by the brilliant, but mad, Mr Cavatore.

Perry and Fireforge...

Having now written a little about assembling both some Perry and Fireforge miniatures for Kings of War I thought a little piece on comparing what I like about the two might round that stream of thought out nicely.

I should note that I am comparing the plastics kits from Perry and Fireforge, not the stand alone figures that come in metal from Perry and resin from Fireforge. In terms of options, they are both pretty solid, the Foot Sergeants from Fireforge come with options to assemble men with cross bows, spears and hand weapons, the Perry boxes I have put together also contain a good range of options, though I feel Fireforge may have the edge here. It is important to note, however, that it will strongly depend on the boxes - some are quite set in terms of what they offer, some more flexible.

So with the range of options sitting around equal, the next and most important question is one of aesthetics, how do the miniatures look? For me Perry wins out, the bodies, arms, heads and weapons all seem more appropriately scaled against one another, with Perry seeming the more realistic of the two styles. I like the Fireforge miniatures, but they are a little chunkier in terms of weapon sizes, body shape and head.

The poses of both sets are good, and multibasing them has led to units that have some dynamism to them - they are not just a set of cookie-cutter miniatures, with each man looking relatively identical to those they stand alongside.

In terms of casting, I feel like the Perry miniatures have the slight edge here, although this could come down to the finer vs the chunkier styles of both.

Assembly of the Fireforge seemed to be quicker and easier than the Perry miniatures, and again, this could come down to the style of the sculpts. Perry are finer, with smaller joints and attachment points. In both cases a set of side cutters, a scalpel and some plastic glue will see you through.

Side by side, Fireforge on the left and Perry on the right. I hope what I have written in terms of the visual style of each comes through in the photo!

Fireforge, note the weapon, body and head sizes.

Perry, here the arms, legs and weapons are all finer and for me, more realistically scaled. For what that's worth when using them in a fantasy game!

Spearmen - Perry on the left and Fireforge on the right.

So there's my 2c on the comparison between Fireforge and Perry. Both are excellent and well priced for what you get in the boxes. For me the aesthetic of the Perry miniatures is more appealing, but both are very solid choices. While boxes like these might seem most commonly used for large scale battle games, I really can't recommend enough the idea of grabbing one for a skirmish game. Be mindful of the options each box provides, but a single box (very well priced) will provide much more than you need for a game like Mordheim or similar, and the miniatures are of the highest quality.

All but the halflings in my Mordheim band are Perry miniatures, and I think they look as good or better than any metal or resin cast I've bought.

Perry Good...

Apologies dear reader, I couldn't resist the very poor title.

Recently I had the opportunity to play a learning game of Kings of War.

Being the indecisive type I ummed and ahhhed over whether I was going to collect this game (having quite enough games on my shelves already), and then over which army I might collect *if* I chose to...

Having already purchased a couple of boxes of plastics for use with Mordheim, I thought a fairly easy jump-in point would be to use the left overs as the basis for my army, so Kingdoms of Men (a catch-all army) seemed the easiest option.

First off let me say that Kings of War was a remarkably simple game, the stat line is minimal and the game play is straightforward. It is a very beer and pretzels style of game, where large armies can clash, fight for victory and head home for a pint of the best afterwards. The learning game I played was large enough, and was over in around an hour. There is a risk, when designing a simple game, of removing tactical depth, now I am hardly qualified (after one play) to judge Kings of War appropriately, but I enjoyed the game immensely. The choices you make impact the game significantly. The positioning of your units, the timing of your movements, your ability to attack a flank or outnumber your foe are all significant factors that require some thought both in deployment and maneuver. I'll write more on the game as I gain experience, but thus far I am impressed. I had a lot of fun, and am particularly thrilled to have found a big battle game that plays as quickly and simply as a skirmish game.

Having now (finally) begun to assemble my force I felt particularly inspired to comment on a singular observation: Perry Miniatures make some absolutely stunning figures. I have been putting together men-at-arms and archers from the 'English Army 1415-1429' box, and they are brilliant.

I am increasingly disliking the exaggerated miniatures produced at the 28mm scale, with over-sized weapons and proportions... it must be my age. As I have been putting the Perry figures together my appreciation for their quality and excellence has grown significantly. I enjoyed painting the ones I put together for my Mordheim band, I love the look of the Napoleonics models I have assembled for Sharp Practice, and the bases of miniatures coming together for my Kings of War force look stunning.

One of the sprues from the box (obviously archers), which provides some nice choices. The different sprues provide a different range of options; the men-at-arms ones had a variety of weapon choices.

All the pieces snipped off the sprue and trimmed, ready to be glued together and based. I am multi-basing the units for Kings of War.

The crisp detail in these figures is absolutely brilliant, the historical aesthetic, with good proportions and a variety of poses and expressions is also excellent (though the expressions are hard to note on those wearing full armour!). Each of the men-at-arms came with a detached visor which could be added (as above), glued as if raised (below), or not added at all.

Perry Miniatures are some of the absolute best quality figures I own. I know companies like Games Workshop and others have a reputation for producing high quality plastics, but for me, Perry Miniatures has become a favourite. The detail, variety of options, price and aesthetic are all huge ticks as far I am concerned. They are truly excellent, and well worth looking at.

Some Perry figures painted up for my Averlander warband for Mordheim.

On Minis Games...

For the last year and a half a good friend of mine (Quinton) and myself have been talking about and planning a podcast all about miniature games and gaming. In the middle of last year we took the plunge, teaming up with the fantastic folk over at Inverse Genius, and added another podcast to their excellent stable: On Minis Games.

Then things got busy. Various problems and complications arose in Quinton's and my lives that prevented us from getting the microphone out again, not least of which was a series of ongoing problems getting our RSS feed to work. Thankfully, the mean man of podcasting stepped in, and it's all sorted now (for those interested, our feed can be found here).

On Minis Games strives to be an off-the-cuff discussion about the miniature game hobby. Quinton and myself will cover what we've been playing in Hobby Update episodes, we'll delve into game reviews, we'll talk about upcoming games that catch our eye, and hopefully speak to some interesting people at different points along the way.

If you have an interest in miniature games, check us out and see what you think. If you have any questions or comments, we'd really appreciate it, as criticism will only help us get better and stronger, feel free to comment here on my blog, over on the On Minis Games episodes page, on twitter (@caradocp), or email us at onminisgamespodcast@gmail.com

Our latest episode has just gone live, and includes a discussion on the games we've been playing lately, which means some Mordheim, Heavy Gear Blitz, Faustus Furius, Battlelore, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shadows of the Past, Necromunda, and other things besides!

The Scions of Erasmus - Painted!

Getting paint on models is usually something of a small miracle here at the Castle, and playing with a fully painted force, virtually unheard of. However, I have been pushing myself to get my Warband for Mordheim painted, and lo, this passed weekend it has been achieved!

My Averlander warband, The Scions of Erasmus, consists of a Captain, a Sergeant, two Bergjaegers, a Young Blood, four Moutainguard, two Marksmen, and three Halflings. They are quite an archery focused warband, and I have found them a lot of fun to play.

I have managed to play about half a dozen or so games now, and the campaign is in full swing with multiple games played every club night. There are about 7 or 8 warbands involved in the campaign, and it has been an absolute blast.

In any case, on with the painted figures! First off are the latest and final addition, my Henchmen group of Halflings.

Otto

Will

Hob

The Scions of Erasmus...

Young Blood, Captain, Sergeant

Mountainguard

Bergjaegers

Marksmen

Halflings

In all I am extremely happy with how they turned out. I was nervous about painting the yellow and the black, but overall I'm thrilled with the results. The miniatures I used (Perry Miniatures plastics), were great to work with and a joy to paint. Makes me want to grab some more, but I'll need to go looking for a game to play them in!

Back to basics...

A recent order arrived with the wrong sized bases. Curses. Rather than 20mm squares the bases I received were 40mm, and with time pressing due to the start of our local Mordheim league in a couple of days, I needed to find another solution. Casting about for alternatives, I rested in the end on some small ceramic tiles. These are about 19mm square, heavy (good for the light plastic miniatures), and cheap. I got a square of what appears to be a billion for about $5.

Starting soon, our league will have 7 or so players and a good mix of warbands. I am looking forward to it immensely.

Perry Miniatures... very nice!

The wrong bases! Curse you Chaos Gods! The men of Averland will not put up with such things!

These are the tiles. While not exactly 20mm (and quite thick), they are at least, about the right size.

A gajillion for a small number of copper coins at the local Hardware Shoppe

With one side a high gloss, I was worried about the ability of PVA to hold basing material to it. I opted to glue the miniature to the underside of the tile instead...

All based up and no-where to go.

Using a metal toolbox for transport, I wanted to be able to store these in a similar fashion to my other miniatures. I sliced a fridge magnet into 20mm squares and super-glued them to the glossy underside of each base. Once the glue had dried, I roughly beveled the edges of the magnet.

I have to admit I thought the ceramic tiles may be too heavy for a humble fridge magnet, but strength can be found in the most unlikely places - Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee taught me that.

You would never know that hiding beneath that base is a magnet!

Roughly sliced back, nearly lost a finger doing this.

The plastic molded base gets a light dusting of sand...

Lots of PVA and more sand later I filled around the plastic base... they look pretty reasonable in person, even if my daughters cereal doesn't.

Well, they are based. I am waiting now on my halfling miniatures, and will proxy some figures in the meantime. Overall I am pretty happy with the bases, they should come up nicely with some paint (if I manage to get to it)!