...but I finally got a copy of DBA!! A few weeks ago I got a few packs of Magister Militum Romans and Seluecids to start putting together armies for, well...I wasn't sure what! I have Fields of Glory and I downloaded Basic Impetus, so I knew I was going to base them according to the 'WRG' standard, but painting time and cost was getting me down a bit. Until, that is, I came across an eBay posting for a Polybian Roman DBA army for about £7! Apparently they're Essex, so they should fit in with the MM figs. So I thought I might as well get DBA as it's dirt cheap and try to get something going sooner rather than later. I just need someone to decipher the rules now...!!!
Before I put paint to lead on the ancients, though I still have about 20 WWII to go!! I'm nearly done with my first go at some Splinter camo paras, but I'm not 100% happy with them. It turns out German camo patterns are hard to paint, plus being colour blind makes it doubly hard! Thank goodness for all the painting guides that your average internet search yields.
Plus I need to paint up some 1/300 planes for a big mulit-player game at the club, but they are super-fast to paint. Hopefully I'll have some photos soon. I'm playing some FoW with my bro and friend tomorrow and I want to get some shots of that.
About Me
- Black Smoke
- I'm a bit of a born-again wargamer! I played many of the Games Workshop games when I was in my teens and early twenties, but left the hobby behind when I went to University. Over the last few years I have gradually got back into it and am literally having a ball! I'll play pretty much anything now, ranging from ancient historical to the far future! I think that I get more out of the painting side of things than actually playing, but that might just be because I get more opportunity. Hence the title...this blog is all about the colour of war!!
Thursday 29 April 2010
Saturday 17 April 2010
No time like the past!
Every now and again I find I come to an impasse in painting. Usually it's because I end up getting too much stuff for too many projects and none of it ends up getting done. I recently sold some old GW stuff on eBay that I found in my mum's loft and went a bit berserk buying stuff, from some 15mm Magister Militum Romans to a couple of 28mm Grand Manner buildings for the Crete project. On top of all this I have a pile of Battlefront FoW stuff to do, as well as the 28s I posted about before. Did I mention the bag of cowboys that George at the club loaned out to me?! The end result is a lot of lead and resin and a brain-block on what to do next!
So progress is very slow on the painting front, but gaming continues apace. One in particular is standing out for me at the moment...Commands and Colours : Ancients. As hinted at above, I quite want to get into some ancients gaming, but the massive variety of figures, rules and periods is a little bedazzling, not to mention the time involved in getting it all together. So I thought I'd pick this game up to allow me and my gaming friends learn something about ancient warfare without comitting masses of time and money.
So, C&C; I have to say, I have found the game to be most entertainting and also somewhat aesthetic! There's something about the little wooden blocks that looks old fashioned, but I actually quite like it. The combat system is extraordinarily simple, but the combat rules coupled with the command card system actually add some real subtelty to the game. OK, you may not have the cars in your hand that you want, but this is essentially a boardgame and that is just one mechanism. To be honest, you can almost always do something that you would have wanted to anyway and the card system adds a little uncertainty that a lot of traditional games also apply, such as the TFL system of card actication. In many ways, the C&C way is no different.
I was quite curious when I first played C&C about how it would play and whether historical tactics would apply and I was quite happy with the results. Heavy infantry formed in line can literally blow away whole units in one turn, but this line can be broken up, or delayed by lightning fast skirmish attacks. Or the end units can be picked off by coordinated attacks and the line rolled up. Certainly light units do not last long at all in close combat, but there are evade rules to mitigate this. One unit I haven't used yet is elephants, but I can't wait to have fun with the 'rampage' rule!
All in all, I'm really enjoying C&C. I think it gives a good flavour of ancient combat while being playable in an hour, plus it all packs into a box!! I'll certainly be trying to work through the scenario book at every opportunity and will no doubt be eyeing up the Alaxander expansion pack after that!
So progress is very slow on the painting front, but gaming continues apace. One in particular is standing out for me at the moment...Commands and Colours : Ancients. As hinted at above, I quite want to get into some ancients gaming, but the massive variety of figures, rules and periods is a little bedazzling, not to mention the time involved in getting it all together. So I thought I'd pick this game up to allow me and my gaming friends learn something about ancient warfare without comitting masses of time and money.
So, C&C; I have to say, I have found the game to be most entertainting and also somewhat aesthetic! There's something about the little wooden blocks that looks old fashioned, but I actually quite like it. The combat system is extraordinarily simple, but the combat rules coupled with the command card system actually add some real subtelty to the game. OK, you may not have the cars in your hand that you want, but this is essentially a boardgame and that is just one mechanism. To be honest, you can almost always do something that you would have wanted to anyway and the card system adds a little uncertainty that a lot of traditional games also apply, such as the TFL system of card actication. In many ways, the C&C way is no different.
I was quite curious when I first played C&C about how it would play and whether historical tactics would apply and I was quite happy with the results. Heavy infantry formed in line can literally blow away whole units in one turn, but this line can be broken up, or delayed by lightning fast skirmish attacks. Or the end units can be picked off by coordinated attacks and the line rolled up. Certainly light units do not last long at all in close combat, but there are evade rules to mitigate this. One unit I haven't used yet is elephants, but I can't wait to have fun with the 'rampage' rule!
All in all, I'm really enjoying C&C. I think it gives a good flavour of ancient combat while being playable in an hour, plus it all packs into a box!! I'll certainly be trying to work through the scenario book at every opportunity and will no doubt be eyeing up the Alaxander expansion pack after that!
Monday 5 April 2010
The Raw Recruits
Well, preparations for playing some 28mm WWII skirmish games is coming along nicely. I have finished a section of British infantry plus a Bren gunner and assistant, although only 5 of their bases are finished. I really enjoyed painting these fellows and I think the result is quite pleasing. Strangely, they didn't take as long as I thought as the uniform is mostly the same colour.
Of course, the Tommies need some Jerry to oppose, so as I intend on gaming the Battle of Crete, a squad of Fallschirmjager or two is an absolute necessity. Here are the first 5 I have finished, though the bases need a bit of polish.
Again, these were a joy to paint. All figures are Crusader and I used Vallejo paints for the most part, with a little GW paint for the faces. My technique used to be entirely dry-brush based and I only recently started using a Dallimore-style 3 colour method and I think that looking at the Germans there is a little improvement already.
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