Civil War Ironclads? We're Playing Ironclads??

    A river naval action during the American Civil War with Keith's big scale ships

The American Civil War is not one of our Sunday night group's major gaming periods. I just did a scan of the more than 10 years I've been updating this blog and there are no ACW entries. Well, I guess there's a first time for everything! My friend Keith -- He Who Collects Everything -- had some really cool ACW naval ships in a really large scale. I didn't ask which, but you can tell from the pictures they're pretty big.

    Our gaming group gathers on another Sunday evening for something different -- ACW ironclads!

Keith offered to run a naval engagement for us this past Sunday evening. No one had anything they were all-fired up to do, so we accepted. Each of us would control one ship, with the ostensible idea that the Confederates were trying to break through a Union blockade on a deep section of river. Mike S, Allen, and I were the Confederates, while Joel, Mike twoW, and Keith each captained a Union ship. Keith had assembled a variety of vessels -- probably more to see how they all performed rather than to follow any actual historical engagement. None of us had any problem with that, though I would see that the ships were definitely not balanced in firepower or effectiveness.

    Allen's ship, the CSS Arkansas, that would fire the fatal shot that turned the tide

Of course, Keith couldn't be blamed -- it was his first time running the rules. He was trying out a set that was a mix between simple (my type) and "crunchy" (our friend Andy's preferance, who alas, could not make it). He was using Beer and Pretzels Ironclads, written by John R. "Buck" Surdu and Michael Miller back in 2000. As the name suggests, these are intended to be a easy set to play with the emphasis on a fun, quick game rather than detailed simulation. Keith had printed out the Quick Reference Sheets and turning arc templates. It took us a few minutes of looking at the chart to get the gist of how everything worked. Once we had the basics, Keith had us deploy our ships and set sail...er, steam!

    Capt. Mike W adroitly maneuvers his ship to bring his loaded broadsides to bear using the template

Of course, Keith decided to bolt on the Wiley Games card rules for determining which ships moved in which order. Joel did him one better and dealt two cards out per player, rather than one per ship. He said this would give us some tactical choice or decisions to make, and I applauded his improvisation. I was in charge of a cotton bale ram -- or something like that! Civil War has never been my interest, and ACW naval probably even less so. It turned out to be far and away the weakest ship of the six. It had "Light" armor (everyone else had Heavy or Very Heavy for the ironclads) and had only a single, forward firing gun. The Union's Essex, by contrast, had two guns firing forward, two astern, and four guns on each port and starboard. I was outgunned by 10-to-1 by that ship alone!

    Our Confederate ironclad, which we renamed the CSS Molasses (instead of Manassas)

My ship's chief weapon was supposed to be my ram. In fact, it turned out to be my only weapon as the first long-range shot by Keith's ship took out my only gun. The problem was that I had to close the distance sailing a max of 9" of turn when guns had a range of 30" or more. I urged my fellow captains to stay relatively abreast of each other so that no one got too far ahead and pounded individually before the others arrived. We advanced at the speed of our slowest ship, at first. However, once I lost my gun, I went full steam ahead so that I could hopefully strike home before I was pounded to matchsticks, cotton balls, and dog-paddling Billy-Ray Bobs!

    My own CSS Cottonball paddling furiously to get into ramming range before being sunk

Keith's ship and Mike W's Essex were doing a masterful job of reducing me to floating puffs of cotton, dealing out solid damage with every shot. Mike proved himself a commendable captain, adeptly turning to present his loaded broadsides while the other was reloading. As I crunchily marked off my hull boxes (and somewhere Andy was doubtless smiling), I began to doubt that I would make it there to ram. Finally, I steamed to within one move of Keith's ship which was showing me its broadside (the only viable target for my ram). Now, all I need would be to move before him on the card pulls. Nope! Keith's card was one higher, squeaked out of my range, and I would have to endure another turn of pounding before trying again. Fortunately, both Mike's monitor and Allen's ironclad were closing in, as well, and drawing some fire. 

    "Almost there, Captain...!" The CSS Cottonball, holed and battered, nearing its target

I survived all they threw at me that turn and got another chance of getting to hit Keith broadside. This time, my card was one higher than his, and the CSS Cottonball struck home. I had a 50-50 chance of hitting him and rolled an 11 (I needed an 11-20 on 1d20). Yee-haw!! I rolled 4d6 and did 13 damage -- a tad under average, but Keith seemed impressed as it was his turn to crunchily mark off hull boxes. My ship was down to less than 10% of its hull boxes -- not much more than a slowly moving bales of cotton being pushed by a shattered paddle wheel. The next good hit would sink her.

    Boom! The Cottonball's ram strikes home and does 13 hull damage to the Union ironclad

Meanwhile, Mike W's Essex was enjoying the flurry of broadsides he unleashed upon us hapless Confederates. Allen finally got a decent shot at him, though, and rolled his dice, getting one hit. He rolled the d20 for damage and rolled a 20 -- critical hit! That pounded the Essex for 5 hull boxes, a gun, and crew (I think) and, most importantly, a roll on the critical hit chart. Allen rolled a "17." We scanned down the unfamiliar chart and laughed. "Magazine hit - ship explodes and sinks immediately"!!! The game turned in that moment. The Union's toughest ship had been erased with one roll of the dice. The Essex's captain seemed quite crestfallen. He had been pounding away and winning the game for his side with each turn.

    The USS Essex explodes due to a magazine hit as Allen's run of luck continues in our games

We gamed out another turn (which saw the CSS Cottonball sinking, too), but decided to spitball the rest of the game. Keith felt that Mike S's monitor would doubtless sink his own once-rammed and battered ship. He contended that Joel would sink Allen's damaged ship, though I wasn't so sure. Most of the damage Allen had suffered was at the hands of the Essex -- not Joel's monitor. And there was that "Don't kill your brother" admonishment from Allen's wife before they departed for gaming to contend with, as well. Still, Keith called it a draw and he was GM. What do I really know about ironclad warfare, anyway? 

    Keith checks the rules to see if it is worth it for the Cottonball's crew to board his ship...NOPE!

Well, I DO know one thing. Next time we do it, if we do, I am NOT going to command a cotton bale ram! Thanks to Keith for setting up the game and letting us play with his very cool, big ships. And thank you, Allen, for saving us with another of your fantastic die rolls -- yee-haw!! The South will rise again, but alas, I think the Cottonball is a goner!

    Joel's Union monitor which alternated every turn firing one of its two guns, but did little damage

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 57

Chopper Down...Salvage!! Post-Apoc Scenario

    One of the many 'bad guys' that showed up to attack the players -- a Machine Patrol bot

I'd been waiting for an available Sunday evening to run the sixth scenario of our post-apocalyptic campaign. After the cooperative game of "Where the Dark Things Gather," this would be a competitive one. In the beginning, players were avoiding shooting each other. Eventually, though, they got into the spirit of it and began blazing away at each other around the smouldering, downed helicopter. The back story was that their survivor gang had seen a military chopper go down but with no resulting explosion. They surmised the pilot must have auto-rotated a soft enough landing, which meant one thing: available salvage!

    The players map out their routes towards the downed chopper in the middle of the board

Only four of my players were available, so I sat out and GM'd the affair. Each started in their respective corner back edge and began moving towards the center of the board where my recently-constructed downed chopper terrain piece was placed. I had six potential salvage spots, two on the helicopter's base and four flung out 10" in each of the the cardinal directions. The center spot was an intersection in a heavily damaged section of a city. Wrecked vehicles blocked sight lines along the roads leading to the chopper. The rest of the board was filled with my ruined buildings and urban scatter that I have been working steadily on now for a couple years.

    The view from my end of the table with the Bass Reeves on the left and the Bucknuts the right

The players were unaware that I had increased the chance of arrival of wandering "bad guys." Normally, after each 10% casualties on the board, something appears -- usually a Machines Scout Bot. As each
subsequent 10% level is reached, they go up to a Patrol Bot, then Military Bot, and (maybe one day) Destroyer Bot. I gave a 50/50 chance that the Scout Bot would be an aerial drone instead. Same stats, but flying. I also gave a 50/50 chance it would be a ground creature drawn by the noise of the gunfire. I had my giant rats (ROUS's - Rodents Of Unusual Size) and feral dogs out, but only the rats arrived other than machines. At one point, I had four bad guys on the board, but it was usually just one or two at a time. In addition, before the 10% casualty level was reached, I gave a 20% chance a bad guy would show up.

    As the Followers of the Dark Prophet were sneaking forward, a Scout Drone appeared in their rear

A new innovation this time (that I will likely continue using), was that I had the players "roll off" to see whose sector the bad guy showed up in. Low roller got the creature or machine. Everyone except Joel had a bad guy show up in their sector. Some of them did no damage to the players -- the Bass Reeves killed the ROUS with a shotgun blast after its first move couldn't contact one of their survivors. Others suffered heavily. The lethal Bucknuts lost two of their four men to a rabid ROUS. Allen's Followers of the Dark Prophet had two guys wounded and downed, but each time luckily drew an Ace or Queen of Hearts next turn to recover.

    Brutus & Jackie of the Bucknuts use the available cover of vehicle wrecks to close in on the chopper

On the section of the board closest to me, the Bucknuts and Bass Reeves deployed opposite each other. They did not advance forward, but both began to shift laterally towards the center. The Bucknuts were the first to dash someone forward to snag salvage that had been flung from the wreck. The Bass Reeves sent Dreadz climbing up the tall, corner ruin to obtain a great sniper spot. He held off on shooting any of the rival survivors until the Bass Reeves were attacked first. Dreadz was also lucky to move early in the turn, when he began his climb. Shortly after he scrambled up a couple levels, a ROUS appeared well within range of where he'd been standing. Frustrated by the disappearance of the human it had (apparently) been stalking, it charged across to the gang's leader, Big Bass. Hearing it skittering towards him, but coming up short, Big Bass stepped around the corner of a building and blasted it with his shotgun. It gave a squeal and went down for good, relegated from a threat to rat burgers with one shot!

    The Bass Reeves stalk laterally through the ruins, using the walls of buildings as cover

Across from the Bass Reeves, firing broke out as the Followers of the Dark Prophet reacted to the sudden appearance of a Scout Drone Bot from behind them. It whirred forward and blasted away, wounding one of the dark-robed survivors. The remaining three members whirled round and blasted away at the drone, Eventually, Dafyd hit a vital spot on the machine and it dropped to the ground. More salvage! Across from Allen's troops, his brother Joels' F Troop was taking advantage of the distraction provided by the drone to advance closer to the smouldering wreck. No signs could be seen of any survivors. Had they escaped on foot, or had the rats gotten to them? No one was sure, but their looked to be all kinds of things to loot from the helicopter -- ammunition boxes, rations, medical kits, and electronic components.

    The Scout Drone is no match for the firepower of the Followers of the Dark Prophet!

At this point, the lure of avarice took over. The survivor gangs ended their unspoken truce and began firing at each other. Ironically, it was Joel's F Troop who fired the first shot -- at his brother! We joke how Allen's wife admonishes Joel every Sunday evening when he picks up her hubby to "not kill your brother!" So, it is a running gag that sometimes they follow her directives and other times all bets are off. F Troop had moved Pvt. Picnic up near the chopper while the other three remained behind vehicles and walls to cover him. Not to be beaten to the punch, Allen moved Dafyd (who'd knocked down the drone) up to contest the salvage. Shots were fired, but both men remained standing.

    A standoff between Bucknut's Jackie and Amram of the Followers, each wanting the salvage

Allen took that as cue to sprint Amram towards the metal box that could be seen on the ground, just feet away from the helicopter. Amram was astonished when Jackie ran up, as well. Both looked from the metal box to the other, sizing each other up. Shots rang out all around them as men and women from all four factions began firing at each other. The "Bad Guys" added to the cacophony as a Patrol Bot clomped onto the board's far edge. Its machine gun had plenty of range, though, and it blasted away and another of the Followers of the Dark Prophet fell to the ground wounded. 

    The firefight around the chopper is truly underway, with all four factions firing at each other

Someone fired at Ned of the Bass Reeves, and that gang of survivors joined in the shooting, as well. Tosh took advantage of the confusion to sprint forward and snag the closest piece of salvage, a duffel bag that looked as if it had been tossed from the helicopter on impact. The players had been careful in the early turns, and minimized exposing their survivors to enemy fire. However, risks were taken now as the desire to snatch up the loot before their rivals overcame their caution. One of the early successes, Wrich of the Bucknuts, had dashed back to what he thought was the safety of the buildings after snatching up a box of ammunition he'd seen lying in the street. He ducked behind the walls, panting from the exertion, relieved that he was no longer in the open street.

    Brutus felled by an ROUS - the second Bucknut to be knocked out of action by the hulking beast

A high pitched shreik from behind him startled Wrich. He turned, horrified, as a ROUS bore down on him. He spun, leveling his rifle, but too late. The giant rat was upon him and clamped him in his jaws. The beast shook him back and forth battering his head several times against the stone walls. Wrich went limp and lost consciousness. In the ruins of the next building over, Brutus saw the attack and inadvertently shouted, "Jesus H. Christ!" The rat heard him, dropped the unmoving prey from its jaws and began skittering towards Brutus. The large man screamed in terror and tried to slam home the magazine he'd been loading into his weapon. He fumbled and the metal magazine clattered to the ground. The ROUS launched itself at Brutus and seized him him by the shoulder. Brutus was a big man, but the rat's weighed dashed him to the ground, senseless.

    As bullets from rival factions ricochet all around, F Troop hunkers behind a burnt-out pickup truck

All the shouting drew the attention of Coach Coop, the Bucknuts leader. He shifted to get a better angle on the rat and let loose a burst of his assault rifle. The creature turned and bared its bloody jaws at him. Coop cursed and drew a bead on its beady eyes and fired twice. The rat let out its last squeal and fell dead. Coop called to Jackie to fall back, and moved up to see if his friend was still alive. Many of the survivors looked up as another Scout Drone whirred overhead, the machine's guns blazing at their human foes. Bullets kicked up all around F Troop's Pvt. Picnic and he fell to the ground, clutching his shoulder. Meanwhile, the Followers of the Dark Prophet called to each other and began to withdraw from the open streets, moving through the ruins towards the table edge. 

    Bucknut leader Coach Coop grimaces at his losses as Joel surveys the field and does likewise

The casualties and increasing number of machines and feral denizens of the city convinced the factions it was time to pull back. Those that could grab some last salvage or supplies did so, while hugging the cover of the ruined buildings. All of them had taken hits and most had at least one of their four out of action. The Bucknuts and F Troop were each down to half strength. Carrying their wounded, they withdrew from the bloodied intersection. Each hoped that the blood spilled was worth the rewards they had gained.

   F Troop utilizes the cover of the ruins and wrecks to move up early in the game

I felt the scenario had started out a little slow, but it picked up speed and was a blazing hot mess by the end. The players were laughing and having a good time spraying their rivals with gunfire at each opportunity. I really liked giving the players "control" over where the enemies appeared by having them roll off. Allen saved his worst rolls for then, but in general his Followers of the Dark Prophet came on top. They picked up two caches of supplies, knocked out a drone, two rivals (Ned of the Bass Reeves and Pvt. Angel of F Troop), and escaped with all four members off-board. His success may lead to future challenges, though, as I give players who lost a member to enemy fire bonus victory points in subsequent missions for exacting revenge and taking out one of theirs.

    Wrich of the Bucknuts creeps closer to the salvage at his feet, while keeping an eye out for enemy

Joel's F Troop took it on the chin, again. I'm not sure why, but fortune has not favored this former army unit in its post-apocalyptic missions. Joel escaped with no supplies and lost two members (both of whom fortunately ended up being just "winged" and okay for the next scenario). The rat-ravaged Bucknuts discovered a weakness in their formerly lethal, long-range tactics. They lost two members to an ROUS, Wrich being just "winged" while fleshy Brutus will recover with some rest time. They did kill one rat and escape with one cache of supplies, so all was not lost.

    Pvt. Picnic goes down to a Machines Scout Drone as F Troops sour luck in scenarios continues

Mike W's Bass Reeves picked up three caches of supplies (which includes carving off enough rat burgers for a feast). They carried Ned off the battlefield (who fortunately was also just "winged") and killed the ROUS. All in all, the players rolled VERY well in their post-battle recoveries. It could have been much worse for them. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Now that I retire in just over a month, we hopefully will be playing more post-apocalyptic scenarios soon. Then again, don't I say that every time after every game??

    The streets are silent as the Machines scour the area looking for human survivors to terminate

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 57

Zombies for County Road Z

    My first-ever painted zombies -- 3-D prints from JS Wargamer Printing (STLs by WhiteBeardMinis)

I have been gaming since my teens, and now in my 60s, I honestly believe that this is the first batch of zombies I have ever painted. I don't dislike zombie games, fiction or movies. I love Will Smith's "I am Legend," enjoyed the heck out of "The Last of Us," and even liked "World War Z." I just never was bitten (ha, ha) by the zombie bug to do it as a project. However, reading about the upcoming release of the County Road Z rules from Modiphius intrigued me. 

The rules are solo or coop and have the players living in "flyover country" -- the Great Plains states out West (from where I am). The idea is that the more densely populated Eastern and Midwest of the country are being overrun by the zombie epidemic. With fewer people, and thus fewer zombies, the folks out west have a fighting chance. My own personal take for my campaign is that the players have packed up in vehicles and are heading west. I'm going to modify the "Road Trip" campaign in the rules, and actually bolt on Gaslands Refueled rules when vehicles are involved in a tabletop game.

    Closeup of three of the zombies - I like the Frankenstein looking on in the middle best!

I can easily use my 28mm post-apocalyptic miniatures for my players. However, once I decided to do this, I didn't own any zombie miniatures at all. Like I said, never bitten! Knowing that I'd need a lot, I reached out to John Leahy of JS Wargamer Printing. He sent me a couple of pics of what he could print up for me and I gave him the thumbs up. I picked them up in March at Cincycon 2024. I bought two packs of 10. The first were modern civilian looking zombies from WhiteBeardMinis. The others were "infected" zombies from the Kraken Apocalypse Dawn kickstarter. 

My first thought upon examining them once I got home was that they looked small and thin compared to my 28mm metal miniatures. I figured maybe that was due to the white plastic material they were printed from and that they might look chunkier once painted up. Seeing detail as opposed to an off-white blob might give the figures the appearance of more heft. Either way, I don't plan on intermixing them with other manufacturers' zombies, so this shouldn't be a problem. Or, worse comes to worse, I can use the 3-D printed figures as "passive" zombies and switch to bigger ones when they switch to "aggressive" mode. In the game, zombies are activated by the presence of player characters or the noise they generate. Otherwise, if not activated, they patrol the tabletop randomly.

    The half a zombie crawling along the pavement is a nice tough, I think!

I decided to use round plastic bases and model glue to attach them to it. I am worried that the thin legs or ankles may prove to be fragile on the tabletop, so I didn't want a heavy base providing any torque or resistance to the minis being picked up and moved. We shall see how they stand up to the rigors of a game with them being moved about the table multiple times. To hopefully give them more strength, I spray primed them with Krylon Fusion Acrylic black paint. I then went over them with my usual 50/50 black paint and water.  I have never mastered the black prime and dry brush speed painting method used by many gamers, though. So, it was then on to painting them in my standard block painting method.

I used a craft paint called "Wild Rice" (a light tan) for the skin. I figured with no blood flowing beneath the skin, the zombies would lose the ruddy color of typical Caucasian flesh. So, they would be very pale. Jenny asked if I was going to give them greenish skin, but I said no. I don't buy into the rotting green flesh look of zombies from some movies...ha, ha! A black wash at the end should make them look suitably corpse like, I hoped.

    I tried to "junk up" the bases a bit more on these to give it that modern apocalyptic feel

After the flesh, I painted the clothes in various colors. I had to be careful to paint around the tears or holes in the clothes. I was pleasantly surprised that the 3-D prints had enough raised detail to accept dry brushing for the clothes. I was worried it would be too smooth. I added some more details on certain figs, like belts, buckles, and such. However, these were very...ahem, shall I say "bare bones" sculpts with not a lot of equipment. For the eyes, I did a did my usual black socket with white inside, but didn't paint the iris. They were left with white eye sockets, as is sometimes depicted in zombie artwork. Unlike in most figures, I used a dark red brown on the mouths. After finishing that step, I was very worried they would look too cartoonish. I was happy that the heavy black wash softened the sharp contrast between the pale skin and reddish mouths and lips.

The figures were finished when I did the dark black wash -- a 50/50 mix of water with Vallejo black vehicle wash. It was at this stage that I finally decided I was happy with how the zombies were looking. The wash gave their skin a grayish look that seemed to fit for the walking dead. I can't claim to have seen many dead bodies or anything, but it looked more believable than they had before. The final step was to do the flocking. I decided to take a page from my recent Sci-Fi flocking and use Woodland Scenices Fine Blended Gray Ballast with bricks, rubble, and various other trash on the bases. I like how the Sci-Fi figs look, but wanted the bases to look even more junked up.

    Another look at the first ten zombies of my hopefully, soon-to-be horde...

I'm curious to hear what you guys think of my first-ever batch of zombies. I probably need at least two more batches before I can play a game. My friend Mike S is also apparently painting zombies, using the figures from the Zombiecide game. If I like how his look, I may have him bring them and use his for the "aggressive zombies" and mine for the ones still in passive mode. So, stay tuned for more from my newest project, County Road Z!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 57

 

Purchases from DayCon 2024 (More 3-D printed Goodies!)

 

    Some 1:50 scale 3-D printed vehicles that I purchased at DayCon 2024 from Diabolical Terrain

I went to DayCon 2024 this past weekend, looking forward to Adrian John's Saga tournament. I was also looking forward to Diabolical Terrain being there, as well. Ron has been a regular vendor at DayCon and makes it to Advance the Colors in Springfield, OH, as well. I have purchased a number of his 3-D printed items and his prints are always of high quality. Lots of 3-D printed scatter or terrain has the little ridge lines, but his are almost always smooth and clean. 

One of the main things I wanted to see was his collection of 1:50 vehicles meant for modern or post-apocalyptic games. I brought along one of my 1:48 scale die cast vehicles that I'd purchased for my upcoming County Road Z games to see how they matched size-wise. They definitely looked close enough. Ron was having a buy one, get one free sale, so I picked up two land cruiser jeeps and two SUVs. My recent die cast purchases included pickup trucks and vans, mostly. So, these would round out choices for my players as their "ride" in the games I'm planning.

    Some more Sci-Fi scatter terrain that I picked up from Diabolical Terrain at the show

A couple posts ago, I had featured some of his Sci-Fi scatter terrain. I saw more pieces that I hadn't seen before, so picked up a good double handful of them, as well. I really liked the small ones that looked like...um, not sure what they were. But they looked science-fictiony! Ha, ha! These could be power stations or whatever, so they'll come in handy to make my Xenos Rampant games look better.

    Rocky formations of various sizes that caught my eye at the convention - they should paint up easily!

Finally, Diabolical Terrain's booth had a large selection of rocky outcrops of various sizes. I was drawn to the really big ones, but decided instead to purchase more of the small and medium sized ones. These will really make a tabletop look more wild and foreboding. I'm drawn between basing them on plastic styrene or just painting them up free-standing. If I don't put them on a base it will likely be harder to add various bits of vegetation around them, which I think will really make them blend in well on the battlefield.

    10-drawer organizer that I picked up from Container Store to house my scatter terrain

With retirement only about five weeks away, I wouldn't be surprised to see these get painted up sooner rather than later. Where will I store all this stuff? Well, I recently made another purchase to help out with that. I went to Container Store and found a standing cart with 10 drawers to store my scatter terrain. I put white felt on the bottom of each drawer to keep it from moving around, and didn't install the clips that prevent the drawer from coming out. That way, I can just pull out the drawer and walk it over to the tabletop to help with setting up. I liked this cart so much I am thinking of going out and buying a second one! Not sure if Jenny will like how the gaming closet is migrating outside its double doors and taking over the basement, though...ha, ha! We shall see. I put a lot of things in the cart that I might put back onto the shelves in my gaming closet. There's a lot more free space in there than before!

    

    A closeup of one of the drawers already filled up with scatter terrain

What's next on my painting desk? Two things are primed are started, currently. I picked out a bunch of miscellaneous items from the Terrain Crate uber-box I'd purchased at a flea market from my friend Bryan Borgman. I'll need these for objective tokens for County Road Z games. So, they are black primed and sitting on my desk alongside my first batch of 3-D printed zombies. I even have "flesh" painted on those, so my next update will likely include the first zombies I have ever painted up...

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 47

Thracian Saga Army (finally) Complete!

    The last six figures for my 28mm Thracian Saga army from Crusader Miniatures

Just in time to participate in Adrian John and Jim Beegan's Saga tournament at DayCon 2024, I finished my final batch of Thracian infantry this week. I began playing this army before it was finished because it was easy to proxy my Dark Age Picts as Ancient Thracian barbarians. Both are known for their colorful cloaks and tribal look, so I figured it was a natural. Now, I finally have enough for six points of all Thracians with their equally colorful cloaks, beards, javelins, and huge chopping weapons known as rhomphaia. 

    A rhomphaia-armed warrior and a javelin man - I am not going to miss painting Thracian cloaks!

All of the figures from this army come from Crusader Miniatures, who have an amazing selection of 28mm Ancient miniatures. From my initial purchase, I have maybe 10 or so figures left unpainted. So, I am fairly confident that I am finally done painting for this army, though. My ratio that I have fielded so far for my Thracian warriors is 1/3 rhomphaia and 2/3 javelins. One day, I may paint up more of the choppers. However, I think it is easy enough to mix in a few javelin-armed figures into a mostly rhomphaia armed unit. Now, if the rules writers one day "nerf" javelin armed troops and I decide that I want more choppers in my list, I can always pick up another pack or two. The ever-friendly and convenient Badger Games shows up at many of the big events and carry Ancient Thracians (that's where I bought mine from!). They were very generous with their prize support for last year's Advance the Colors Saga tournaments, so I will continue to patronize them -- and encourage others to do so!

    I thought this final batch turned out nicely -- I particularly like the guy on the left

This batch contained my last three rhomphaia figures that I'd purchased and three of the unpainted javelin-armed ones. I thought about painting up some of the figures from the command pack, instead. However, I like to save extras of those for Saga warlord stands that I paint up and give away as prizes. Speaking of which, one of my projects in the near-future will be to paint up two command stands for the Saga tournaments that Saga Ohio is running at Origins Game Fair this June 19-23 in Columbus, OH. Thanks to Rusty Parker, Dan Neal, Joe Dihrkop, Lee Parker, and James Tolbert for organizing and running two tournaments there (Friday and Saturday -- and a teaching and open play session on Thursday).

I have less than a dozen figures left after painting this army, I probably won't do those...yet!

As usual, I replaced the lead spears with wire spears from Lon Weiss at Brigade Games. I also chose the javelin-armed poses that allow me to epoxy the butt of the spear onto the base of the figure, in addition to the hand. I feel that separate weapons should always try for two points of contact to get a good bond. I also shave off some of the left forearm with an X-acto knife to give a flat surface to epoxy the crescent shaped wicker shield onto. Once all the gluing was done, I brushed primed them white (as usual). As with the other Thracians, I chose mostly faded colors for the tunics. On the other hand, the Thracian cloaks are mentioned in Greek sources as being brightly colored and decorated with geometric patterns. So, I used bolder and darker colors for most of those. Having painted several dozen plus Thracian cloaks by this point, I was struggling for inspiration for these final patterns. I decided to Google "Greek" designs and scrolled through the patterns that came up. I used that for inspiration and am pretty happy with how these came out. I purposely did NOT go back and look at the figures I'd already painted. I figured I was only painting six miniatures in this batch, I could dig deep for fresh inspiration.

    This army certainly let me exercise my creativity with their colorful cloaks and shield patterns

The Thracian caps were done in a variety of browns and red-browns. Some sources say they were made from fox skin or fur. The boots were done in a range of leather colors, too, from light to dark. These six figures actually painted up very quickly. I knew I was on a time crunch to get them done by this weekend's tournament, so couldn't dally. One thing I did do differently was switch my black and brown wash I have been using for several years. Instead of using Vallejo clear matte paint with drops of brown or black, I am trying something new. I really like the Vallejo vehicle washes, and have been using the black a lot for my Sci-Fi troops. I decided to premix a bottle of each roughly 50/50 strength with water. Do I like it better? Not sure. The previous matte with color was getting decidedly "snotty" in texture and leaving a gray-like glaze. This new concoction seems to cover more unevenly, though, and give an almost cracked look under a magnifying mirror.

I'd be happy to hear from others if they see anything negative in the brown or black wash on these figures. Otherwise, expect another update soon with how things went in this weekend's tournament. I am taking the Thracians, of course. Many highly-experienced players have signed up, though, so I was not expecting a top tier finish. My guess was I'll end up 1-2 in three games. I am a little rusty on Saga at the moment, despite Jenny and my warm up game last weekend. Note: Just came home from DayCon. I ended up 2-1, losing to Bob Boggs' Successor army and defeated Lee Parker's Milites Christi and Jenny's Eastern Princes. So, a relatively successful outing for those six brand new figures and their compatriots...!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 47

 

Sci-Fi Scatter Terrain from 3 Companies

    Three Sci-Fi scatter terrain pieces (power generators?) from Diabolical Terrain

As I get closer to staging my first game of Xenos Rampant, I felt that I should paint up some of my recent acquisitions in Sci-Fi scatter terrain. These primarily came from three different sources. One is a regular attendee at area conventions -- Diabolical Terrain. Owner Ron Weaver is big into 3-D printing. I have purchased post-apocalyptic terrain from him, ruined buildings, wrecked vehicles -- you name it! Last October, he had some Sci-Fi scatter terrain on his shelves that I picked up. They are from the Lunar Kolony range. If you're interested in picking some up, Diabolical Terrain will be at DayCon 2024 in a few weeks. I know that I will likely be buying more stuff from him there!

    This large drill unit is 3-D printed from Sea Dog Games (makers of the game Sailpower)

Another vendor is a relatively local one, Sea Dog Games. The owners live in the Central Ohio area, and are regular dealers at many regional and national conventions. You've probably seen them running their large-scale sailing ship game, Sailpower. They were one of the early adopters of 3-D printing, and have quite a diverse range of terrain. Some of the modern dumpsters you see in my Mean Streets games are from Sea Dog.

    The largest of the scatter pieces I just painted (refinery?) and two smaller ones from A Critical Hit

Finally, at Cincycon 2024, I discovered a new vendor in 3-D printed terrain: A Critical Hit (link to their Instagram page). I showed a number of the things I bought from them in a blog post a week or two back. You are seeing of those painted up in this post. Blair uses a number of interesting looking colored materials in her prints, intending for them to not necessarily need painting. All of the ones in this were painted up, of course. Two of them are probably my favorite pieces from this batch of scatter terrain. I hope to keep seeing Blair and A Critical Hit at upcoming shows - great stuff!

    This is probably one of my favorite pieces of the lot - another power generator from A Critical Hit

For all of these pieces, I prepped them identically. I start with a spray of Krylon acrylic matte black. Once dry, I brush on a 50/50 mix of water and black acrylic paint to make sure all the crevices are filled. I like to use metallic paints for my Sci-Fi scatter. For example, I have four different shades of what would be considered steel. The darkest is Iron Wind Metals "Steel." Next up, are a trio of craft paint shades from Folk Art, continuing from dark to light: Gunmetal Gray to Pewter and finally, Silver. My favorite accent color is also from Folk Art and is called "Metallic Brown." 

   Another 3-D printed piece from Diabolical Terrain and another thing I'll call a power generator!

I actually purchased and used something very new that I only recently became aware of in painting. Have you heard of "color shift" paints? They go by other names, too, but typically involve the color painted on looking different (or "shifting") depending on the angle you view it and how the light strikes the painted object. I first saw it at Cincycon 2024 in a game run by John Leahy (owner of JS Wargamer Printing -- more 3-D printed goodies!). John had painted a unit of flying Arachnids in iridescent colors. He explained what color shift paints were, and said his had come from Vallejo. Another model paint maker, Turbo Dork, also makes them. At a recent visit to Michaels Crafts, I was surprised to find that the craft paint brand Folk Art also make color shift paint. I bought a bottle of their "Black Burst" to try out, because it looked like a good metallic color for scatter terrain.

    A color shift paint from Folk Art called "Black Blast" - can't really tell from the picture, though

How did I like it? Well, I feel it does gleam and reflect light more than a typical metallic paint. This was not one of the prismatic color shifting paints, though. Maybe I'll try those next. Anyway, it goes on much thicker than typical craft paint. It says it is acrylic, but it has an odd smell. Most craft paints are relatively odorless, I think. What's more, it is self-sealing, Folk Art's website says. In other words, you don't want to spray seal it. I accidentally got a bit on my thumb and can verify it did not come off when I first washed my hands. I had to specifically try to scratch and rub it off. Their website also recommends black priming first, then doing a gloss coat over the black. I did the first, but did not try the second because I didn't read their website till after I'd painted that terrain piece. More experimentation is in order, I think...

    A second look at the Diabolical Terrain (you guessed it) power generators!

Speaking of techniques, what I have begun doing on my Sci-Fi scatter terrain (or even the weapons of Sci-Fi miniatures), is to paint it gunmetal gray first. Next, I highlight areas in pewter, with only the brightest highlights in silver. Finally, I do a reasonably heavy black wash over the piece. Take a look at the really large piece in this update -- an oil tank? That demonstrates how I have been doing this type of terrain. It goes very quickly and look good on the tabletop, I feel.

Severed Heads on Posts (fatigue markers for my Thracian army)

    Some fatigue markers for my head-hunting Thracian army for Saga

One of Saga's game mechanics is fatigue on a unit. I'm a big fan of making any markers required on the tabletop "scenic." When I started playing the Dark Ages skirmish game a few years back, my first fatigue markers were extra shields I painted and glued to a flocked, circular base. As I kept playing, I have tried to get more creative or make the markers match the army in some way. For my latest army, the "barbarian" Thracians from the Hellenistic era, I decided to play off of the fact they were known in some sources as headhunters. So, why not severed heads on poles?

    Steps 1, 2, & 3: magnets on bottom of bases, glue carpet tack upright, and then first layer of flocking

Luckily, with the proliferation of plastic kit boxes for miniatures these days, the ancient wargaming world seems to rolling in extra heads. My friend Joe sent me about a dozen and they sat unused on my desk for about six months. This month, I finally decided to finish off the Thracian army and made the fatigue markers priority #1. After that, I would do the final half-dozen figures so that I don't need to proxy Pictish figures. Thanks to Joe, I had my heads, but now what do to with them?

   Step 4: Paint ballast with 50/50 white glue and water and then dip in Woodland Scenics blended turf

At Historicon last year, I bought a bunch of small circular bases to use as fatigue markers. Since I didn't have any magnets specially sized for them, I had to cut some from an adhesive magnetic sheet I'd purchased at Hobby Lobby. Once those were popped onto the bottoms, I then glued carpet tacks to the center of each. These small black nails have a rough, fluted surface that would dry brush well as wood. I used tacky glue to affix them, knowing that I'd have a couple layers of flocking on top of them to help keep them in place.

    After drilling out the bottom of the heads with a pin vice, they were glued onto the carpet tack

Next, I painted white glue onto the top of the base around the nail. I swished it around a tub of brown fine ballast from Woodland Scenics. After it was dry, I brushed on a 50/50 water and white glue mixture and sprinkled Blended Turf from the same company. Next, the markers received their first spray sealant coat. Now, it was time to affix the heads to the nails. I used a pin vice to drill out the bottom (neck area) of each head, starting with a smaller pin and then widening the hole with a bigger one. Once all heads were prepared, and one -- sadly -- was lost to the wilderness of my 1970s shag carpet in my painting area downstairs, I was ready to go.

I used model cement to attach each head to its post, not worrying about any excess dripping down the nail. That could be well, gore...right? Anyway, this went easier than I thought it would. I was worried about losing another head to the shag carpet demons! Once the heads were atop their posts, I brushed primed them white. From there, it was a simple matter to paint each head and then paint the post itself, too. I did leave out the pupil in my normal method of painting eyes, theorizing the eyes would have rolled back into the head. At least that's the way art seems to always depict severed heads.

    Finished and ready for the tabletop -- severed heads on posts as fatigue markers for Saga!

I really like the way these turned out. To anyone thinking of replicating the process, I would suggest finding heads that have their mouths open, appear to be shouting, or whatever. Mine look entirely too contemplative and philosophical about their fate as a fatigue marker. So, there you go! Progress on my Saga Thracian army AND a little tutorial on creating colorful, scratch-built fatigue markers. Feel free to take my idea and run with it...just watch out for runaway heads trying to escape to the shag carpet when prepping them!

 What's up next? Expect some Sci-Fi scatter terrain as I get prepared for my first game of Xenos Rampant (soon, I hope!)...

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 41 (note - severed heads not included in this total...ha, ha!)