D & D Game Board

Over the past few months, I’ve manged to get myself in to a D&D campaign.  4th edition is very nearly a different game from the old AD&D I used to play back in college (bonus points to anyone who remembers how long ago that was).  The new game uses a strict grid for combat resolution – a situation I find 10 years of miniature gaming very suited for.  With a few nights work, I set up a battle board using Hirst Arts bricks.  All of the objects are movable, allowing for any number of conflicts to be fought over the 4 6×6 dungeon tiles.

Paint plan

• Medium Grey house paint for base
• Highlights with Light Gray (Folk Art) & Country Tan (Apple Barrel)
• Tile details: Rifle Butt (Howard Hues)
• Select details: Stone (Secret Weapon)

Arab Horsemen

A handful of figures by Musketeer Miniatures.

FireForge Teutonic Knights

FireForge is a new manufacture of plastic historical model kits.  Their first release is a 12 figure Teutonic cavalry set.  The miniatures are well sculpted & fit together without much modification.  The kit contains a variety of weapon & shield combinations.  In scale, the figures are rather small, but the flowing capes and barding present a much larger image.

Paint Plan

Prime White with Rifle Butt (Howard Hues) undercoat

• Cloth: Kommando Khaki (GW), layer 50/50 mix with Chalk White (Vallejo), highlight with Chalk White
• Cross:  Burnt Cad Red (V), Flat Red (V)
• Armour:  black base, Boltgun Metal (GW) with Shining Gold highlight

 

Thinking of 15mm ….

Time to dip my toe into the 15mm waters.  I’ve always played in 28mm scale, but lately 15mm scale has started to grow on me.  Hail Caesar lends itself to large games & by many accounts,  15mm is a great way to accomplish that.  I worry about the lack of detail on 15mm scale figures, as I have no interest in little blobs of lead.  Fortunately, several companies have figure lines which seem to put this fear to rest.

For those of you experienced in building armies in 15mm – how should I go about basing the figures?  Hail Caesar will accommodate just about any basing, but I’d like to pick a style which would be common to other rule sets and look good on the table.  My first thought would be to use 40mm x 30mm bases with 2 ranks of 4 figures or 80mm x 30mm bases with 2 ranks of 8 figures.

Legio Heroica prices at $4.70 for 8 infantry.  Bunker Hill and Little Legions have some very nicely painted armies using these figures.

Lurkio prices at $3.2 for 4 infantry.  The figures look so well sculpted, they would make you think of 28mm.

Khurasan prices at $2.99 for 4 infantry and has the added perk of being based in the US.

Warmodeling provides a range of Ancients models priced at $4.66 for 8 infantry.

Old Glory/Blue Moon has introduced a 18mm range starting with Gauls priced at 50 cents per infantry figure.

Adepticon 2012: WAB Doubles

Warhammer Ancient Battles – Doubles competition with 6 teams and 12 players.  The team event drew in a number of newer WAB players, with only 5 players returning from Saturday’s singles event.  As with the Singles, the missions used a battle point system based on multiple goals for each round.

Event package download

#	Team	Teammate 1	Teammate 2	Total	Award
1	Grumpy Old Coots	Mike Butcher	Shawn Welte	47	Best General
2	Circle City Gamers	Christopher Watson	Matt Beaty	36
3	Mercenaries	Tony Strahota	Abe Warpinski	34	Best Sportsmanship
4	The Real McNeil	John McNeil	Jay L	22
5	Just Roman	Mike Mansfield	Ariel Thompson	11
6	Team Normantium	Jeff Pfaffmann	Matt Beauchamp	2	Best Appearance

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Adepticon 2012: WAB Singles

Warhammer Ancient Battles – singles competition with 14 players.  Tournament proceeded smoothly with good sportsmanship demonstrated by all.   Appearance was at a high level with a number of well painted armies.  This year’s missions used a battle point system, replacing a simple win/lose with multiple objectives worth a variety of points.

Event package download

#	First Name	Last Name	Total	Award
1	Bennett	Blalock-Doane	42	Best General
2	Mike	Butcher	42
3	Kevin	Bruins	30
4	Aaron	Loomis	29	Best Appearance
5	Matthew	Jayjack	28
6	Abe	Warpinski	27
7	Mike	Gerold	26	Best Sportsmanship
8	Edward	Lowinger	23
9	Alexander	Akers	23
10	Tony	Strahota	20
11	Aaron	Schmidt	18
12	Shawn	Welte	10
13	Merle	Delinger	4
14	Jay	Luehring	0

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Adepticon 2012: Princes Crusade

The Princes Crusade:  Return to Jacob’s Ford was a multiplayer Warhammer Ancients game from Adepticon 2012.  8+ players fielded 12,000 points per side of AOA Crusaders and Caliphates.   The table was 15 foot of desert terrain with hills to the left, the ruined castle of Jacobs Ford in the center and a town to the right.  The game was a smashing success, playing out over 4 hours with few issues despite the size of the event.   The game ended with the Crusaders in control of the supply wagon, the Saracens in control of the loot counters and neither in possession of the central castle.

A few items came as a surprise.   I fully expect 15 foot by 5 1/2 foot to provide a gigantic playing surface.  Instead – the 12K of figures filled the board from edge to edge.  Having only five hours to set up and play, I expected the game to run out of time before turns would be an issue and I did not set a turn limit or keep track of turns.  The game would have come to a more dramatic conclusion with an enforced turn limit.

Event Description:

Princes Crusade:  Return to Jacob’s Ford

The Templar boarder fort at Jacob’s Ford was destroyed in 1179.  Fueled by this defeat, fresh forces from Europe arrive to re-take the castle and avenge the fallen Crusaders.  Advancing late in the season, the Saracen commander has little choice but to engage the invading army or watch his forces return home to harvest crops.

Chastellet Castle:  claim the Templar castle ruins by have the most Generals and/or Army Battle Standard bearers within 12 inches of the ruin center.  Characters must be attached to formed unit which is not fleeing.  Value:  10 Battle Points

City of Beit She’an:  the civilian population of Beit She’an must be ‘protected’ from the Franks/Saracens.   Four loot counters are available in the city.  Claim the counter by moving over it with a unit of more than 5 figures.  Units fleeing or broken in combat will drop any loot counters they hold.  No more than 2 counters per unit.  Value:  2 Battle Points per counter retained at end of game

Supply Wagon:  fresh supplies from the coast are eagerly awaited by the Crusading forces.  Unfortunately, the baggage train has become lost in the foot hills.  Contact & remain within 4 inches of the supply wagon with a formed unit to take possession.  Units in combat lose possession of the supply wagon.  Wagon may be moved at 4 inches per turn by the possessing team.  Value:  6 Battle Points

Death or Glory:   Troops can be replaced – good leaders are hard to find.  Each opposing General or Army Battle Standard killed or having fled the board by the end of the game counts for Death or Glory.  Value:  1 Battle Point

Figures/players lined up for game.

Saracens

Crusaders

Crusaders with crossbow block

Warriors of the Caliphate

Armies lined up for battle.

Crusader wall of cavalry.

Crusaders hitting the Caliphate lines.

Canyons containing the lost baggage train.

Castle at Jacob’s Ford

Crusades Table. 15 foot of gaming space.

Town of Beit She’an

Growing the Family

Newest addition to the family came home today.

Mom and baby are doing fine.  Older sisters are enthralled with their new sister.

Warlord Phalangites

Warlord released their plastic Macedonian Phalangites kit this week.  The box contains figures to make 40 Phalangites, all from a single sprue with 4 bodies, 6 heads, 4 shields and 6 pikes.   The sculpting is first class with sharp detail all around & no noticeable flat areas from the steel molds.  There is no flash on the figures & mold lines are very minor.  Figure size is small – matching well with Gripping Beast metal Phalangites and Immortal plastic Hoplites.   For comparison, a model from the large end of 28mm, the Gorgon Etruscan Hoplite is included in the photos.

 

 

Hail Caesar: Ghulam Division

Third and final division is the professional Cavalry Division belonging to the army general.

Unit	Clash	Sust’	Short	Long	Save+	Stamina	Special
Royal Ghulams	9	6	3	0	4	6	Lance
Ghulams	9	6	3	2	4	6
Turkoman	7	5	3	3	6	6
Turkoman- small	5	3	2	2	6	4

Roughly following the WAB book: Beyond the Golden Gate, the units form the mobile hammer of the army.  The Royal Ghulams are Malmuks – full time soldiers belonging to/employed by the army commander.  Taking a hint from Ian Heath’s Armies and Enemies of the Crusades, I’ve written the unit for melee combat rather than archery. The Ghulams are heavy cavalry, but are equally willing to dismiss units at range.  The  two Turkoman units perform the traditional roll of harassing the enemy from a distance.