2013 in review

Belated seasons greetings,

I hope you all had a great Christmas and new year, and of course managed to get hold of all the goodies you asked for from Santa.

Having just returned from the depths of winter in Scotland, I now have time to have a look at what i've managed to do hobby-wise over the last year, and of course list my plan of action for the coming 12 months.

2013 has seen me start this blog, with 18000 odd hits its doing ok, and many thanks to the 51 people out there who follow the blog.

I've generally be distracted by the new and shiny, as I cant seem to keep focused on any 1 project, perhaps its because I don't actually get any gaming, and don't have that need to get a particular unit or model done. That's my excuse anyway.

So, this year I have completed my Crusader army for Impetus, and with the addition of some command stands, now have the option of playing Hail Caesar too.

Click here for a look at the Crusader army -

CRUSADERS









To oppose the Crusaders I also finished off the Muslim forces of Saladin. I have yet to add any command stands for HC, but I plan to sort that out this year.

Click here for a look at the Muslims -

Muslim Forces





Next I started the long process of re-basing all my Greek and Persian armies, originally based for DBA. Whilst re-basing them, I also took the opportunity to add to the collection, so now I have two sizable armies for Impetus.

First off I have the Greek army, based around a core of Spartans. With the addition of a sizable allied contingent, this is probably my favorite army.

click here to see more of the Greek Hoplite army



To take them on, I have also started a Persian army, although I have been distracted along the way and have a few units to complete.I have a feeling that this army will be pretty big when finally finished, another job for 2014!

Have a look here -
Persian Army




If that wasn't enough, the 6mm Napoleonic project has chugged along, although very slowly. Having decided on a set of rules to use (Black Powder), there is some rebasing to do, and alot of painting before my Austrian army is ready for battle. The planned French army has failed to materialize, but will at the very least be started in 2014.

Have a look here for the masses of tiny Austrians - Austrian Army 1809


OK, onto the distractions! 

First off was my foray into 28mm Sci/Fi with the Pig Iron system troopers. I collected a platoons worth of them for use with Tomorrows war, although they have never been out of their box since being painted.


To have a look at the European Drop troopers, look here - Drop Troops









Next up is the Germans for Bolt action. Another distraction, having read some good reviews I decided to get myself the rulebook, and then decided to get a German platoon, but in 15mm. These still aren't finished either as i got bored painting German camouflage..... However, they are very close to being finished, so another job for 2014!!

To see ze Germans click here - BOLT ACTION Germans







Finally, since about September, ive been tinkering with Epic, and have painted and converted quite alot of 6mm marines and vehicles. I don't know what it is about epic, its the first real wargame I played many moons ago in the early nineties, but its still cool.  I just really enjoy painting the little buggers!!!

Here's a link to my epic page and here's a link to my "blog" over on the Tactical command site

-EPIC page
Yorkies 6mm painting log



2014?

So, whats the plan for the next 12 months? Well I cant rule out any random distractions, but my plan is to finish what i've got first and foremost. In no particular order, here's what I plan on getting done:

• Commanders for the Muslim army
• Commanders for the Persian army
• Lots of Persians!
• A Theban contingent for the Greek Hoplite army
• SS Troops for my Bolt Action German force
• Vehicles for Ze Germans
• Soviet forces to oppose said Germans for Bolt Action.
• An Anglo Danish warband for SAGA, to oppose the Vikings I finished a while back. SAGA 
• Finish off the Novamarines and start on their adversaries, The TAU for EPIC.
• Continue with the Napoleonic project, Finish the Austrian forces and make a start on the French.

So, lots to do this year, and barring any major meltdowns, I shouldn't start anything else............................who am I trying to kid!

Have a good new year!

Steve

Forged in Battle Kickstarter!

Now then,

Ive just noticed this. The kickstarter only started yesterday and they are well on their way to reaching their initial goal of £20,000.

The kickstarter is for their new range of 15mm ancients, and they look great too, not only are they creating a new range of miniatures but also a new rulebook to go with them. Im planning on getting Republican Romans and Carthaginians to play Hail Caesar....... I have never backed a kickstarter before but im very tempted by this one!

For those interested have a look HERE

Steve

Epic Plans

Now then,

I thought I'd share my thoughts on the Games Workshop game "EPIC".  Im no fan of GW, but in the past I was. I really started gaming around 1989 - 90 when still at boarding school in Somerset. The first game I collected a playable, painted force for was Space Marine (epic). So when still at school, instead of doing homework, I painted 6mm Blood Angels, and my older Brother collected Orks.

Many battles were fought on the dining room table, or the living room floor, when my parents were out, as my dad was in the army, we had loads of green army towels, which when placed together, with socks etc underneath served as our battlefield, complete with hills!  Im still not sure if we actually played the game properly, but we had fun non the less.

A few years later, Space marine II (EPIC) was released. I obviously bought the game immediately. It was great, much less fiddly and complicated than the first edition. Many more games were played, and by this time id moved out and got my first flat, so a proper gaming table was the order of the day. Not long after supplements started to appear, then Titan Legions, which ill be honest, i didn't like, as the  big Imperator Titan and the Mega Gargant just looked...well... crap...

Years passed. I joined the Army in 1996. Unknown to me, as I was far too busy with my first tour of N Ireland and a new wife, a new edition of Epic was released. I had sort of lost touch with the hobby, and completely missed the 3rd edition.  The 3rd edition (Epic 40,000) was heavily criticized by the GW fans for being too simple, unrealistic and bland.













The Epic 40,000 game was only supported by GW for about 6 months, then it was pretty much dropped. A shame really.

In 2004 ish Epic Armageddon was released. The game shares many of the streamlined mechanics of Epic 40k, but has some of the detail from Spacemarine 2. It is a good game, but not really that successful either, probably because GW decided to change all the models, and make them mail order only and they are obviously so way overpriced that only a few could afford them. Combined with poor marketing and hardly any exposure in white dwarf....

So, even after all these years there is still a large community of epic players, but, as people like different things its very fragmented, and there are fan made rules as well such as netepic, and even netepic Armageddon.  There is also another ruleset being developed called Netepic evolution! Not to mention the rumours of a new game from GW itself.....

So all in all a confusing game to get into, not helped by the fact that none of the games are currently supported by GW. My plan is to playtest netepic, Epic Armageddon and epic 40000. Having read all 3 rulesets, I actually like Epic 40000 the most, because of its simplicity and the way that armies are put together.

So, plenty of epic-ness on the blog in the future, but fear not the historical stuff hasnt been forgotten, my bolt action Germans are nearly finished as well as the 15mm Persian army. I also have grand plans for my 6mm WOTR armies and of course the 6mm Napoleonics.

Cheers for reading
Steve

New Figure!

Now then,

For the last 2 years I have been a member of the 2nd Bn the Yorkshire Regiment. Faced with cutting one of the regular Bns, the powers that be decided to merge the 2nd with the 1st and 3rd last year, creating 2 "new" Bns the 1st and 2nd.

The "old" 2nd Bn was effectively the Green Howards 19th foot, and although i was never a Green Howard (I'm 1 PWO 14th /15th foot) I feel their pain, as they have been effectively disbanded, and their long history and traditions are now gone. Although Alma day, their regimental day commemorating the battle of the Alma in the Crimea will be celebrated by Alma company every year.

So when the bn was merged all the members of the Sgts mess were presented with a statue. Here's mine. Click on the images for a bigger view.

A pretty cool model, I'm almost tempted to paint it!! This guy will join a few other regimental trinkets ive been presented over the years, and together they will take pride of place in my figure cabinet in my gaming room.



Steve

NETEPIC GOLD

Now then,

With my addiction to all things epic, and being a hopeless rulebook collector, I have downloaded the Netepic rulebook. Some of you may be asking what netepic is, netepic is a fan made version of the old spacemarine game that was released back in the early nineties. When we were younger we used to play it alot and some of the most fun i've had wargaming was when we played big games, with titans and massed armored companies etc.

So having downloaded it, i then sent the PDF file to a publishing company and had it professionally bound into a softback book. I used Doxdirect, LINK

Im really impressed with the quality of the book, however if i were to do it again, i would get it spiral bound, so that the book lays flat on the gaming table.

Netepic can be downloaded from here - Net Epic
For more information and an active forum discussing all things epic have a look at the tactical command forums, Tactical Command

Cheers,
Steve

EPIC #2

Now then,

Here are some more pictures of my epic collection, this time its the Eldar. Elves in space with pointy heads....

Eldar Bikers, with viper jetbikes as support.

All older figs.










I have 4 such units, so the Eldar are a fast moving army, good at hit and run attacks, but fragile if they get pinned down.

One of the Guardian warhosts, mounted in Wave serpents.

 The original falcon grav tank, AKA the cheese wedge! I think they are ok still. but I use them as wave serpents, (APCs)

Eldar rangers, with camo cloaks. but bright blue helmets....;)

Tempest (cheers Tim) heavy Grav tanks, very old original versions.

 The Avatar and all the aspect warriors, the best troops in the army.

The full army as it stands. All these figures are in storage in the UK, which is a shame as i'm itching for a game... And the boys have shown a bit of interest..

Eldar Phantom Titan, another ebay win, i had to bid on weapons separately and it took awhile to get some, although i think one of the guns should be on a warlock titan, but so what eh?

After a long period immersed in thinners and a lot of scrubbing later I think this old model painted up quite nicely.

Steve

EPIC #1

Now then,

I have been playing wargames for many years, and like many my first introduction to the hobby was via games Workshop. However, I first started seriously collecting and painting with the original Space Marine game way back in 1989. I'm not quite sure why but i still love the Epic game, and I spend a ridiculous amount of time trawling ebay for the older figures.

In 2004 I started to collect some new armies for the latest version of the game, Epic Armageddon. This version is arguably the best version yet, although it has been "dropped" by the powers that be at GW HQ. There are however rumours that they plan to bring it back in some form next year....

So here are a few archive pictures of my epic forces, all of which are in storage so i can't get at them to take better pictures.

The Crimson Templars are a chapter of my own devising, basically I wanted some red marines, but not blood angels, cos they are silly.. Ok they are all silly, but blood angels are ...er...sillier...

The image to the left is one I found on the internet, resized it serves as my chapter banner.

Devastator Detachment 2nd Company

3rd Battle company

These old whirlwind tanks are a personal favorite, the one on the right is entirely scratch built out of milliput!

The full army consists of 3 full battle companies plus various supporting elements.

Mix of old and new vehicles

The newer vehicles, while the designs are ok, aren't as good as the older versions, very badly cast too. It took a lot of effort to remove all the mould lines etc of these buggers.

 An Old School Warlord Titan. I tried to paint it in a more "realistic" colour scheme, and think it came out ok, for a nearly 25 year old second hand ebay win!

I also have an Eldar army, which ill post up pictures of next. I have started collecting the stuff again, and have a sizable Novamarine force and the start of a Mantis Warrior army to oppose them in the Badab war ! Of course, pictures to follow.

Steve

OLD SCHOOL 40K #1 Colonel Schaeffers Last chancers

Now then,

Here is another blast from the past, anyone remember these?

Its cooled down a bit now, so hopefully in a week or so ill be able to start painting again.

Steve