April Fool

A lot has happened in the last 3 months, and I realized my January 7 post didn’t save properly! On no!

Anyways, life goes on…

My son got Undaunted: Normandy and Undaunted:Reinforcements for Christmas and we played a bunch of that. Great game.

My Oathmark Elf Cavalry arrived and I built those.

Like all Oathmark plastic kits, they are well made and easy to assemble.

I also built my Goblin Slaves. I also finished another 2 boxes of undead. 30 Skeletons and 30 revenants.

Next I built 3 4ground houses.

I also got the Century: Big Box and we played that. Very similar feel to Splendor which we enjoy mightily.


I also jumped in head first to HeroQuest and picked up all the expansions. My youngest son and I have almost finished the quests from the core box.


I also decided to start gaming a Very British Civil War (because I need another era to game in). Thankfully I already had this platoon of Footsore Miniatures Early War Scotsmen.

I primed them, painted the kilts and hats blue (base colour for Black Watch Tartan -wtf am I thinking) I also painted the webbing green, and all the black and brown bits (boots, scabbard, rifle). All that’s left is the skin, hair and metal bits.

In the end of March we attended Holyead. Southwest Ontario’s premier gaming convention. It’s in its 29th year.  Saw a lot of friends and played 4 games.

The first (Friday night) was a WWI game set in Africa in 1914. Rules were modified 1 hour skirmish Wargames. GM Dan Hutter runs a well oiled table. 


Saturday AM my youngest played a game for all ages but meant for kids. Wooden soldiers and armed teddy bears and frogs. Great way to introduce youth to the hobby. 

I also hit the bring and buy pretty heavily. I sold about $255 worth of old rule sets and codexes and some plastic figures I’m not going to use.

I purchased some interesting things. I did have a bit of buyers remorse though. I was debating buying two full painted Afrika Korps armies (one infantry based and the other vehicle based). Instead I bought painted 3D printed Battletech mechs that were printed to a larger scale (my kids and I played Gamma Wolves with those mechs last year and they loved it). I bought the mechs for them but they didn’t seem to impressed with them this year. I should’ve just bought the Africa Korps for myself then.

I also picked up a larger river (6 pieces) and a set of 4 fields from an estate sale. 

I came out slightly ahead all in all. Then blew the earnings and then some on some 3D printed vehicles for VBCW.

Saturday afternoon, my eldest had a nap so I brought the youngest down for a game of Speedfreaks! Think Gaslands using GW Ork vehicles and rules. Last year we placed a paltry 2nd place. This year we took home the cup.

Saturday evening, after his nap, my oldest joined us for a game of silly hats. Back of beyond somewhere in Warlord China. White and red Russians, Mongols and various Chinese factions all vying for the hand of a Warlords daughter.  Another Dan Hutter masterpiece.

All in all, quite a busy three months. We played a game yesterday but I plan to cover that later this week.

Cheers everyone!

January update

Here’s a quick update,

Hobby expenses:

$18.43 on 2x 1LB boxes of 5/16 metal washers. 

$43.90 on  50mm x 50mm plastic bases and Jan/Feb issues of Wargames Illustrated (shipped for UK).

Total $62.33

5/16 metal washers are my go to for my 28mm metal figures. They give a nice heft and make the figures harder to knock over. They are about 25mm across. 5/16 is the interior hole size. My individual German infantry are now all based. I need a few larger bases for things like snipers, the machine gun and the anti tank gun.

I also need (sometime this year) 50mm square bases. So I placed an order from Northstar. I also added the two WI issues. February seems extra appealing as it has some RCW articles.

This week I started basing my 30 Oathmark Dwarf heavy infantry and 4 metal characters.

I cover the base in GW Stirland mud and then add static grass. I did the mud stage. I do a heavy-ish coat to hide the integral base of the miniature.

Then I’ll static grass the base and use the geek gaming scenics spray to lock it in.

I also put head on my 30 Oathmark orcs and built 10 of the 30 newly released Goblin slaves.

I have 30 more Oathmark Goblin infantry to build as well. That’s all for now. Hopefully I can find little bits of time to keep plugging away.

Heart Shaped (bits) Box

Hey, wait, I got a new complaint.

Or maybe a new solution.

I have loads of miniature boxes laying around with bits of sprue still inside, taking up space.

I figured I should probably get on the bits box train.

I quick trip to Dollarama got me sorted for $4.00.

I decided to start with my Oathmark Humans and Dwarves.

I turned this:

Into this:

Except I forgot to take a photo. To be added soon.

Really feel great about the progress but man, is it ever tiresome snipping bits. Oathmark Dwarf heads are especially annoying.

The Light Elves are finally done

Quick post today. 

I managed to put some texture paint on the bases of 27 light Elves a week+ ago. All that was left was the flock. 

I don’t want to say I found the time but more like decided to get off my but and base them.

Here are the all of the completed Light Elves. Need to get a picture with the “regular” Elven figures.

Plugging along...

Here’s those Elves I was talking about. Front middle is the Metal Maquette that is limited edition from Northstar reserved for pre-orders and such.

Here’s the humans. Sorry for the botched picture. Three metal champions and 5 plastic figures.

I also painted some Nolzur’s Spiders. Black contrast and brown paint slapped on the furry areas. Eyes picked out in red. The white spider obviously uses white instead of brown or red. He’s the leader. I kept two cocoon bases separate as they will make good scatter/objectives.

Just a small update from my Mantic Games The Walking Dead collection. One of the Scavengers (Andy or Jud) and a walker as well as the giant resin one. Having discovered Contrast paints these guys paint themselves but I’m stuck with about 1/2 my stuff done the old way (layers and dry brushing) and he other 1/2 using contrast. They look ok together but don’t match 100%.  It shouldn’t but it does bother me. I dunno. Also all the new kits are resin which is an improvement for details but takes a bunch more time to assemble.

Today I slapped on some glue and flock for another 20 Oathmark figures. My “regular” Elves are almost done. I think I have 14 or so archers left to base. Up next are the light Elves which are all painted as well. Just need basing.

There are (all plastic) 6 archers and 10 spearmen for the Elves.

The 4 figures on the right are metal. Three come from the King,Wizard &horn blower pack. The 4th is the Limited Edition maquette.

More Oathmark

I finished up a few more Oathmark figures today. I forgot to take pictures of the group but another 5 Elf Spearmen and 5 Human spearmen are completed.

The Human Champions were also completed as was the Elf maquette.

I also built the 30 Light Elves. There are 2 units of 10 archers (Rangers) and 10 swordsmen (pathfinders).

For now here is a picture of a red headed human champion.

New Toys

A couple of things came in the maillast week.

I ordered a copy of Oathmark, a hardback rule set published by Osprey Publishing and supported by figures made by Northstar Military Figures, the day it was released.

It finally came last week. I am probably amongst the first in Canada to receive it.

What I like about it. It’s hardcover, and has that nice new book smell. (I’m married to a librarian, not my fault!)

 

Aside for a picture overlapping a line of text (pg44 iirc) the book is absolutely perfect. The rules aren’t so bad either 😀.

There a plenty of jaw dropping beautiful illustrations like the Elven archer seen below.

Several pages have little sketches on them, which breaks up the pages nicely.

There are also a few double page spreads of the artwork.

I think a book of just the pictures would be an amazing thing to have. 

All in all, a great game published by Osprey. I can’t wait to finish reading itand get the figures on the table.

 

I also picked up the Mantic Games King Ezekiel Event Exclusive figure.

It cost a princely sum of £19.99. It is made of Resin and it looks amazing BUT it got me thinking a) I already own a plastic King Ezekiel, do I need another and b) would my money not be better spent on say 4 £6 packs of Artizan metals (-£1 each from VAT) for approx 16 metal figures or spending £25 on 30 Plastic Oathmark figures.

I love the Walking Dead but would like to see them release all the characters first before releasing upgraded versions of the ones I already own (there are other figures besides Rick and the Governor ya know!)

Figure wise it comes with King Ezekiel with separate arms and three heads mounted on spikes.

Here’s an updated stat card. I don’t have the other one handy so not to sure how they compare at the moment, and some equipment cards.

I purposely took pictures of the back. Don’t wanna be that guy. 

What I like: resin is so nice, great detail as compared to the older plastic. It’s nice to get new equipment.

What I don’t like: basically comes down to price. I can support the other systems I play a lot better with what it cost for one figure from Mantic.

Self Isolation

This is a weird time. I was home sick all of last week. Thankfully it was just the Flu. What a weird thing to same. Just the flu.

The 26th Anniversary of Hotlead was also scheduled to take place Mar 20-22 in Stratford, Ontario. It was cancelled by the organizer prior to the Federal Govt restricting the size of get-togethers.

I’m suuuper bummed out it was cancelled, however, it was the right thing to do! And when it comes to Hotlead, I cannot be trusted to do the right thing. It is my favourite time of the year.

So I spent some time assembling some backlog items.

Two Sarissa Precision MDF Flatbed Wagons were assembled. But I somehow forgot to snap any pictures. I have three more pieces left to build to complete my train.

I enjoyed the minimal amount of pieces. I have some Renedra sandbags, I'll be using to build some removable fortifications to each of the flat wagons. A Machine Gun or Field Gun and crew will sit behind them.

What I disliked was the finicky-ness of assembling the undercarriage.  But they are £7.50. It is what it is.

On Sunday, while enjoying the beautiful sunshine, I managed to prime my Oathmark Dwarf Heavy Infantry with Army Painter Plate Mail Metal.

I haven’t primed anything in a while but this can was absolutely amazing. Maybe sitting in my basement for 2+ years is the trick! It went on so smoothly and seemed to get into all the crevices nicely.

These guys are going to paint up so quickly! I’m pumped. I only need to pick out the skin, hair and weapon hafts. Maybe add some brass or gold bits for variations.

I also thought I’d show the progress on my existing Dwarves and Goblins.

The blue ones are Dwarves and the red are Goblins. Both come from the Oathmark line of plastic figures.


All that's left is to do the bases.

Elves and Dwarves

What a busy few days. I finished building the Dwarf Heavy Infantry.

I divided them into two units. They were all stock from the box minus one head from the Dwarf Infantry box for a “champion”.

15 Warriors with Shields: I paid extra attention to make sure each torso had a different weapon and head attached.

15 Linebreakers: I only used the fully enclosed heads. 

I forgot to take pictures but that can be rectified.

But onto the good stuff. I based the Elves.

Here are two units of 10 spearmen. Each will be bulked out with 5 more troops in the near future.

Here is (yes another) unit of 10 spearmen. However hear have white plumes on their helmets and white gloves. My plan is to use these as a Royal Guard of sorts. The champion’s arm is a basic conversion using a standard sword arm with the Champion sword arm.

Here they are all together. I have another box to put together bulking out the units to 15 figures each and some archers.

Now that the points are available for Oathmark, it appears that the Elves are quite expensive. They will be an expensive but small force.

Plastic Wolves

 

About two weeks  ago, my Goblin Wolf Riders and Dwarf Heavy Infantry showed up. As part of the Nickstarter, I received a metal Champion and wolf for free. A week later my other five metal riders and plastic wolves arrived.

I must admit that I need to be in “the mood” to put together plastics. It is very time consuming and I’d rather spend my hobby time painting or playing games. That was one of the reasons I switched from GW to historicals.

I built 6 wolves the day they arrived and on Saturday evening, I powered through and built the remaining 15. I was in the mood.

What I liked: each wolf consists of two halves and a base. No finicky heads or tails to glue on separately. 

What I disliked: There are only three poses. You cannot mix the left and right sides of the bodies together. The join line down the middle is unsightly and will require some greenstuff to cover.

My overall thoughts: I’d rather sacrifice the variety of figures for the ease of the build. These are a win.

I refrained from puttting any riders together as (ARGH) the torsos and chests are separate and the legs are annoyingly connected to the sprues.

However, I really was in the zone and I assembled 10 of the Dwarf Heavy Infantry.

The first 5 have hand weapons and shields with open faced helmets.

The remaining 5 have 2-handed weapons and closed face masks.

The other 20 figures will be divided into 10 more of each hand weapons/shields and 2-handed weapons.

What I liked: Nice poses, variety of weapons. Hand weapon + shield guys go together quick.

What I disliked: The 2-handed weapons support hand is finicky to get angle correctly. Depending on the angle of the 2-handed weapon, fitting the head can pose a problem.

Overall thoughts: Nice figures. Go together reasonably well. Looking forward to paint as they are predominately clad in metal armour. Think a simple paint job will yield awesome results.

Oathmark Army Planner

This year I have decided to primarily focus my hobby efforts on my fantasy figures, namely Oathmark miniatures and a small smattering of Rangers of Shadow Deep.



I sold off all of my Warhammer figures in the last few years.


 
As I've mentioned before, I have plastic box sets for each of the major races.



I was apprehensive when it came to building the figures as I was nervous to commit to a specific build in the odd chance that the weapon type was too expensive or not effective.



Growing up with Warhammer, I'd check out an army book, create some sample lists, buy the figures and then build accordingly. It made sense to me.



However, with Oathmark, it’s a little different. The rules aren’t out yet. The figures are being slowly released.

On February 5, 2020, Osprey dropped a major bit of information. They released the Oathmark: Battles of the Lost Age - Army Planner, which is a PDF with dropdowns that can be selected that you can use to see the points costs of different units.

Finally!

It took me a while to figure out how to open it but what an amazing guide. The only unknowns now are the differences between a King, Prince or General, Captains or Champions, or the 5 levels of spellcasters.

I decided to play around with the lists in the army planner.

Based on what I currently have for Goblins and what I plan on purchasing, I can field something like this:

Goblin King (Mounted)

Gobin Spellcaster Lvl 2(Mounted)

2x 10 Goblin Wolf Riders

Goblin Captain

Goblin Spellcaster (Lvl 3)

2x 15 Goblin Soldiers

2x 10 Goblin Archers

15 Goblin Spearmen

I won’t put the actual points per model but this force rings in at 1754 points.

All in all, it’s a fairly cost effective force. This is how I’m going to create the troops.

For the 65 Soldiers, Spearmen and Archers:

2 boxes of Goblin Infantry

1 additional sprue of Goblin Infantry (on ebay)

For the 20 Goblin Wolf Riders:

1 box of Goblin Wolf Riders

The 5 mounted metal champions or lord miniatures. You could just as easily grab a sprue off ebay once released.

The hero figures are the metal mounted shaman and foot shaman, the free maquette if you backed the nickstarter and the limited edition Uber wolf as the king.

This gives me some wiggle room to upgrade/downgrade the characters to play anywhere from 1500-2000 points or to add a few more things. 2x 10 wolves takes it 1994 points.

My Dwarves on the other hand will look something like this:

Dwarf King

Dwarf Spellcaster (Lvl3)

15 Dwarf Warriors

15 Dwarf Linebreakers

2x15 Soldiers

15 Spearmen

2x10 Archers

This force comes in at 1977 points. It’s even cheaper to purchase than the Goblins

For the 65 Soldiers, Spearmen and Archers:

2 boxes of Dwarf Infantry

1 additional sprue of Dwarf Infantry (on ebay)

The Warriors and Linebreakers come from 1 Dwarf Heavy Infantry box

The King and the Spellcaster both come from the King, Wizard and Musician blister pack.

I’ll share lists for my humans and elves later.

The Uberwolf

Quick post.

This arrived yesterday. Bolga on Uberwolf

It is a resin figure from Northstar Miniatures for  Oathmark.

It is limited to 40 figures worldwide as the mold  broke. 

When I heard it was limited, I told myself to forget about it. Bolga (the goblin on top) would also be released on a normal (plastic) wolf in metal.

But I was on the Northstar website one day and the Uberwolf was available so I snagged it. Small victories.  

It also shipped ahead of the pre-order.

Here it is with a Ranger of Shadowdeep I had on hand  for scale.

Oathmark

I’ve always loved fantasy skirmish and massed battle games. My journey began when as a 13 year old boy, I wandered into the Games Workshop at the Eaton Centre.

Over the years, I’ve branched away from GW and thus, fantasy. I’d even sold off most of the armies or factions that I had been collecting.

I moved into historical and pulp, moderns and sci-fi but I’ve always held a special place in my gaming heart for fantasy.

When Northstar started teasing Oathmark and the new plastic lines, something deep in the recess of my brain clicked. I modestly backed the first four Nickstarters, for one box of infantry each and that free metal figure.

Like all good hobby purchases, they sat, NIB on my hobby desk of shame for months. It wasn’t until the second round of releases started to be announced that I decided to get my act together.

I quickly build the Dwarves. I toyed around with several unit sizes and armaments. Without having the rules available, I was hesitant and settled on 10 each armed with bow, spear and hand weapons. The spear and hand weapon armed units each have a captain-y type figure and banner bearer as well.

I liked the variety available in each box and the poses. However two things about the dwarves was I did not like quickly popped up. I don’t like the pose of the shield arm. It looked odd, especially without the shield attached. But I suppose it does make sense for a shield wall. I also wasn’t fond of the head/neck joint. You can’t turn or tilt the head for variety/dynamics etc.

I built the Goblins in the same fashion. I liked this kit a lot better. But the head/neck joint was still bothersome.

The human faction was built the same. 10 each of bows, spears and swords. But I only made one captain and one banner bearer.

I was disappointed that I had no rule sets, no point values or weapon attributes to see what flavor I could add to the factions. But my plan was to always add a second box of each so I was confident that I would probably have a well-rounded force in the end.

Then came the Elves. I decided to throw it all on its head. I built 30 spear armed elves, in 3 units of 10. Each with a captain and a banner bearer. I also added helmet plumes on one to differentiate a type of royal guard.

Now, I know what some of you must be thinking, “Elves without bows?” The heresy. I know, I know. But whatever. My second box will balance that out along with the future light elves release.

Anyways, on to the pictures. And as always, excuse the poor photos. I really need to dust off that light box I built.

This is that versatility I was talking about. This photo is one box of Oathmark Human Infantry. For roughly $45.00 CDN I'd say the value here is excellent.

Here are the 10 swordsmen. I like most of the poses. I left the shields off during painting and attached them later. What I didn't realize is that some of the soldiers are literally hiding behind their shields. The figure with the axe (second from left in the rear row) is a prime example. I just need to stay cognizant of that in the future.


My plan for the banner bearer is kind of up in the air. I like the House Mormont sigil (Black Bear on a green field). But I don't want to fork out the $$ for several flags. I'll probably try my hand at making my own.

If you look closely at the rear row, only one figure is actually holding his arrow properly. I don't know what I was thinking at the time. Live and learn. I'm kind of embarrassed. I actually own a bow and have used it, but in my defense, it has been quite a while.


Once I get some games in these guys will be either super accurate or at least I'll have a good argument for why I can't roll dice to save my life. "They can't even hold their arrows correctly, how am I supposed to roll a 6?"

 Lastly the spearmen. Not much to see here aside from some high held shields. At least I'm consistent. I picked up a loose sprue on eBay so will be adding another rank, with a captain and banner bearer.

I "believe" light cavalry may be the next human release. I'd like to add another box set before then to bulk out the force.

Based on 2x 30 figures box sets and 1 5-figure sprue, my initial ideas are:

2x10 archers

2x15 spearmen

1x15 swordsmen

Alrighty. Well. It felt good to get a hobby post in. A lot has happened since last April. I guess I was just in a funk. Too busy to actually sit down and type out what I'd painted or played, bought or sold. Hopefully I can change that.