10mm Scenery - Battlescale

As I planned out the rest of this project I quickly realised I needed some scenery pieces that would work at this new (to me) scale.  I looked around and discovered Battlescale - they offer a range of scales and settings/periods, but a quick look at the 10mm offerings firmed up my plans!

I opted for a couple of the 10mm Crofts, to represent simple homes that will work for rural Ireland.  

There are a variety of agricultural buildings that match perfectly with the Crofts - so I picked up the Cattle Byre, Pig Pen and Thatched Stone Barn:

I also picked up a selection of hedge pieces - went for mostly straights with a couple each of corners and gated sections.  Here's one of each to give you an idea:

Finally I spotted a set of Hasty Earthworks - a pack of four felled trees/rocks that I think are generic enough to work for a range of settings. There are two different designs that you get at random - I got lucky and ended up with two of each!

The sculpts are all really nicely detailed and the casts were very clean - requiring next to no tidy up or prep beyond the usual bath! The prices are really good value too, and the pieces have a pleasing weight to boot.  This was my first time buying from Battlescale, but it won't be the last - and I can definitely recommend not just the quality, but the service too.

Operation Winter is Coming 2020

Another Autumn, another Operation Winter is Coming! It's a basic idea - winter here is usually wet, fairly cold and not conducive to getting minis and the like ready for painting.  So Autumn is a time for model prep, base dipping and priming!

So, this is what I've got on my radar this time round for prepping as part of Operation (in no order as they will likely move about as inspiration strikes!):

I've got my Mercenary Lochos built but not based - I've still got my Athenians and Spartans to build, then I'll base them all up prior to priming.  I love the minis, but the wrist joins on the metal stuff is killer at times from Footsore.  I've got some scatter scenery from Fenris Games also that I'll share soon - that'll primarily work for Mortal Gods (but also Broken Legions and similar).

I've got an order in with Pendraken to 'finish' (haha) the Irish side of this project - as well as a force of Tudor English to pit them against.  I've also placed an order for suitable scenery from Battlescale that I'm looking forward to doing too.

I've got three armies for this made up of Mierce Miniatures stuff and my mind it turning to the special scenery pieces for each too.  I've got one pretty much planned out and I'm just waiting for suitable MDF bases.

I've asked for Antenocitis Workshop bases for my birthday to finally get my Infinity collection moving! With the release of N4 it's about time I got stuck in properly! The bases will also work for other projects of a Cyberpunk vibe too...

And finally there is a mystery project I've got on order as a little taster...more on that when it arrives!

Wargaming Idea Stew

Like all good hobbyists I have tonnes of ideas reaching far beyond what I already have - I think of it as a kind of wargaming stew on the stove being slow cooked - some of these bubble up to the surface with more regularity than others and are likely to be dished up sooner rather than later (keep stretching that metaphor Alex!).  

Photo by Shikhar Singh from Pexels

Anyway, I thought I'd ramble a bit about the current ideas that just seem to keep popping up!  These are in no particular order, they are just what most commonly comes to mind when I start thinking about that 'next project'.

Germans vs Black's Division (Černý oddí)
A very small BA project to pay tribute to my Romani heritage in some small tabletop way (I have plenty for my Irish side already after all!).  This idea had floated around a little while (largely inspired by the article on Romea.cz - They weren't just victims: Roma, forgotten heroes of the anti-Nazi resistance) and the freebie Winter German sprue that came with an issue of WGI cemented it a little bit more.  So for the German side, I plan on sorting a very small list on Easy Army to guide the purchases to finish that half.  For Black's Division I'm toying with a couple of options - Artizan's Resistance and Partizans range and/or Crusader Miniatures Partisans. I'm going to keep this very small - couple of small squads of Germans and then a Resistance force of equivalent points - around 500 points I think should give a few options each side but not break the bank.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth vs Ottoman Empire
I spotted the 16th century Polish and Ottoman ranges on Pendraken's site whilst ordering my Tyrone's Rebellion stuff and haven't been able to shift it from my head since. Seriously, it just keeps on popping back into my brain! I think I'll see how I feel painting up my Tyrone's Rebellion stuff - if I take to 10mm, this could shape up to be a decent sized project.

Post-Human Republic
I'd toyed with the idea of starting Dropzone Commander a few months ago, but couldn't quite make the value for the Post-Human Republic work out enough to convince me to take the plunge and I didn't want to 'make do' with one of the others that offered a better value starter.  Well, TTCombat must have been reading my mind or something because they are releasing a PHR Starter Army in a couple of days time that looks a great value starting point! This is definitely on my radar now - might not even need much beyond that starter set... who am I kidding, those walkers all look awesome!

Achaemenid Persians
I mentioned about 6mm catching my eye on Twitter and ended up having a conversation with Trials... about it - he mentioned that he had eyed the Greeks for this scale, which as luck would have it would be a perfect foe for the Achaemenid Persians that had piqued my interest! Not sure what ruleset to use for this project, which is a bit of a sticking point to this moving forward at the moment.

Between all the existing stuff and this little lot I think that should keep me going... yeah right! 😉

Tyrone's Rebellion - Introduction

 

As people who follow me on Twitter or Instagram may know, my father-in-law recently passed away.  Just like with my own father who passed away last winter, I want to carry out a tribute project.  For this I have chosen to make two forces to play games inspired by Tyrone's Rebellion - my father-in-law was a proud Irishman and was from County Tyrone so it felt apt.

I decided to use The Pikeman's Lament as the ruleset and wanted to do a project in a different scale - having had a look around I came across the recently released range of Elizabethan miniatures in 10mm from Pendraken - you can see the range here.

I put together a list of what to get - I knew I wanted a couple of units of Gallowglass, these are perfect as Aggressive Forlorn Hopes in TPL.  I went for the axe-armed Gallowglass (EL11) - which handily gives enough for two such units.  The pack is made up of two sculpts:

They'll provide some nice punch to the force!

A pack of Kerns with spears and shields (EL13) came next - these will work as Commanded Shot to represent their harassing nature against the Tudor menace!  As the pack contains 30 minis, this means I can make 5 units of Commanded Shot...not sure I'd ever field them all, but I might as well make them and paint them, right? The Kerns pack also includes two sculpts:

That'll get quite a few bodies on the table!

I knew I wanted some infantry - I ummed and ahhed about using the Irish Pikeman and Calivermen but decided that I wanted the force to look and feel a little different to their eventual opponents so opted for a pack of Bonnacht with Axe/Sword (EL14).  This pack includes 30 minis from two sculpts;

Whilst that would pretty much finish the army by providing some units of Tribesmen, I wanted some minis to represent the leaders of this little piece of the Rebellion.  Alas the Elizabethan range doesn't have a command to fit with the Irish sculpts so I looked elsewhere from Pendraken and found their Scottish Foot Command (ER24), which is made up of 4 sculpts and seems to largely fit in well enough:

I plan on using the standard bearer and piper sculpts in all three Tribesmen units - and the chap with sword down will act as a the leader model for two of the units.  The pointy chap is a bit too fancy with his armour and plume and all that to represent my overall leader - so to represent Peadar Mac Thighearnáin himself I'll use a spare Gallowglass mini instead, sorted.

This was my first time buying from Pendraken and I'm very pleased indeed! This is also my first foray into 10mm.  Between the 15mm Dragon Rampant and Sengoku Monster Hunter I already have I'm starting to rather like these smaller scales.

Also for this project I've ordered some size-suitable flags from one of my go to providers (srwylde2004 on eBay) and I'm waiting on some bases for the '3' in the 3-2-1 style basing that I tend to use for Rampant rulsets.  Then I'll prep these and get them ready for priming!

Fenris Games - Celtic Tall Cross

Back a while I picked up the Celtic Tall Cross from the awesome Fenris Games - well I finally painted it up:

I kept it really simple - the incredible texture on Fenris Games pieces does all the hard work and looks good with simple dry-brushing.  I added a couple of tufts to the base - I use these on all my Irish armies so it'll fit in with Saga, Darklands, The Pikeman's Lament or anything else I play set in Ireland!

I can't recommend Fenris Games highly enough - please do consider having a browse and placing an order (and no, I'm not on commission - I just really admire what Fenris puts out!)

Fenris Games - Drystone Walls

I've been in a bit of a painting funk recently - I'd been painting a lot of bases mud/sand to keep going but I wasn't in a painting mode.  I looked at my primed stash and thought the rather excellent Drystone Walls from Fenris Games would make for a good way back into the swing of things.  The incredible textures in these pieces would lend themselves to washes and drybrushes and help give me a sense of accomplishment when they were all done.  Here they are:

I had primed them with some cheap sandstone/beige, so just used a wash and a half of diluted Soft Tone Army Painter wash and then drybrushed with Skeleton Bone (again Army Painter).  Really simple, but really effective (I think) to get these table-ready.  They are really verstaile pieces which will find use in a lot of games - I was so happy with them I thought I'd have a bit of fun!

Irish Rebels take shelter

 Shadowpaw's Company await their next victim...

 I really recommend Fenris Games - and these walls are the best I've seen; they make even novice painters like me look a lot better than I am!

Flags of War - Government Cavalry

Along with the Infantry I've posted previously, the Kickstarter by Flags of War, also funded two packs of Government Dragoons for their Jacobite Rising range.

First, the troops pack, which had sculpts shown during the campaign:

Really nice sculpts, great casts - and simple two-piece minis (horse and rider) to put together.

The command pack wasn't sculpted until after the campaign had concluded but I knew I wanted them so took a punt - I hadn't been disappointed with anything form Flags of War before, so they had my trust to do a good job!  The trust was well founded:

Superb stuff, I'm sure you'll agree - my poor quality photos do not do these justice!

Now, the Jacobite campaign included Bonnie Prince Charlie - the Government commander released this time is the Duke of Cumberland:

You can tell he's a perfect mini to represent an officer... he's pointing!

Flags of War - Government Infantry

Flags of War ran a Kickstarter campaign to fund the start of the Government side miniatures for their Jacobite Rising range.  Of course, having a selection of the Jacobites already in the collection it makes sense for me to have a force to pit them against, so I picked up a few packs to start me off.

First up, the Government Infantry Command to lead my unit:

The Ensigns will have their poles and finials added in due course!

Of course, those chaps need some troops to head up - first the Government Infantry - Firing:

To round out the unit, and to maximise variety given the smaller game-size I tend to play, a pack of Government Infantry - Reloading:

The reloading minis in particular have a lot of character.

The campaign also funded a pack of Government Grenadiers in firing pose - I picked up two packs so that I could make a unit of 6 (typically elite-style infantry in the system I'll likely use):

Flags of War miniatures are amongst the best for this setting - I'm looking forward to their artillery release to add to the Government troops!

Flags of War - Royal-Ecossais

To strengthen my existing Jacobite force I decided to add the Royal-Ecossais.  As with the rest of my miniatures for this setting, I got them from Flags of War.

Of course, I got the Command pack to lead the unit:

The two chaps on the outside will get suitable poles and finials - I have the standards from Flags of War ready to use too.

Of course, I needed some troops - I started with a pack of Firing Royal-Ecossais:

And to finish off a pack of Kneeling Firing Royal-Ecossais:

Like my other Flags of War minis these are top-notch - absolutely lovely sculpts and quality casts.  I really recommend checking out Flags of War if you are interested in wargaming the Jacobite Rising in 28mm!

Fenris Games - Walls and Panels

I was so impressed with my last order from Fenris, as soon as funds allowed I placed another order - I knew that I wanted a set of their Drystone Walls so picked up the set and some curved walls:

Straight walls

Connectors - these will allow for all sorts of layouts!

Curved wall sections

These are absolutely phenomenal quality - here's a close up of the stonework so you can see what I mean:

These walls are really versatile - I'll certainly be using them for games like Chosen Men, Frostgrave and The Pikeman's Lament amongst others.

I also spotted the range of panels Fenris offers as part of their Lost Shores scenery range.  These are cast from antique plaster copies of panels from the Temple of Apollo at Bassae!  I picked up two that I intend to use in some way for scenery for Broken Legions and Mortal Gods.

I went for (top) Lapiths versus Centaurs and (bottom) Queen Melanippe and the Truce.  The detail is exquisite in these - I can see myself investing in the others in the range!

Given the situation at the moment with COVID-19 and other issues, if you are minded to buy some Fenris stuff it might be worth buying future you a gift voucher!  Please check out and support Fenris Games if you haven't already - it's truly a gem in the wargaming world.

Serious-Play Scenics - Tuft-fest!

I love tufts for basing - they are an economical way of adding interest and detail quickly and easily to bases and I find they can really help tie an army/warband together.

Serious-Play is my go to place - and I placed an order recently, this is what I got (and what I'm planning to use them on).

First up, some more Purple flower tufts - I use these on any of my Irish forces so there's always a need for more of these! (Chosen Men, The Pikeman's Lament, Saga... other plans formulating!)

I'd decided on a red/Mars style basing theme for my Gorkamorka mobs but wanted to add a little bit of detail beyond the rocky/dusty landscape - I opted for the smaller tufts (2mm).  I figure that way they won't dominate the bases of any Grots/Snots:

Between my 15mm Dragon Rampant UNORP and the 18mm Sikh Wars for The Men Who Would Be King I figured I'd need a supply of more generic small tufts too:

Finally as I was checking out I was offered a great deal on some blue flower tufts - I'm sure I'll find a use for them on some project or another!

If you haven't tried Serious-Play I really do recommend giving them a whirl - a lot of products they offer on a taster basis (smaller sheets like the Purple Flowers) but even those are plenty for a skirmish sized project.