AHPC XIII: From Mike W - 40K Orks & Grechin plus 28mm Normans

With the holidays amongst us, I have struggled as ever to get any dedicated painting time, certainly not enough time to see many of the ongoing batches of figures that I have on the go see any significant progress.

Three Ork Nobs from the completed batch

That said I have been able to snatch the occasional 30mins here and there over the past few days to complete the 40k Ork batch that I started before Xmas, to be totally accurate the batch is 60:40ish Ork & Grechin.

and their rear view

Additionally I have put a stake in the ground with the first small group of Dark Age Norman foot, which I have also completed, with more of these guys and their Anglo-Dane & Viking opponents also lining up to be on my worktop.

and a side view!

The other batches on the go are another group 40K Ork group plus 10 x 28mm Renaissance Spanish Horse, I stating that now to spur me on to getting these done over the coming weekend (I live in hope that I get some time!)

Close-up of Nob, with Rocket attachment 

So Back to today's posting...

The 10 x Orks, painted in pretty much the same way as I described in my first post of this Challenge, particularly as I'm trying to build a consistent look and feel to this army.

Close-up of second Nob, with the skulls!

There are 3 Nob figures in the group  considerably bigger than the regular Orks  their size maybe making up for the smaller Greychin in the group.

Third Nob with giant two handed power axe.

One of the stand out figures in this batch is the guy with the Squig. The squig was painted Vampire Red before being washed with purple ink and then dry-brushed in red. A Soft Tone ink wash was applied and then the red colour was further built up as highlights.

A group of six 40k Orks,
each armed with a 'Shoota' and some kind of axe or sword.
These will be the core figure type in the army.

Close-up of four of the Ork Boyz, with plenty of Dakka

And the remaining two Boyz, 

The head on this figure is a 3rd Party 3D print, I have got a few of these and I particularly like the 'Red Star' motif on the fur cap and the mouth full of teeth! The Red Star fits in nicely with the Red Gobbo theme that I am aiming for with this army. So although this figure is nominally an Ork Bully to keep the Grechin in line, wearing the Red Star cap shows his loyalties have been turned.

Ork 'Herder' with Squig, plus three Gretchin

On to the Grechin, 6 guys painted in the same way as their larger Ork brethren, the only real difference being that once I have completed the green wash on their skin, I then highlight using Foundry Paint's Phlegm Green. This paint is somewhat transparent and to my mind gives these guys an overall lighter look and feel to the Orks.

All six Grechin, in one shot, note the 'Red Star' tee-shirt

Business end of the Squig and Ork 'Herder' figure

These rebellious little Grechin often sport the Red Star symbol of the 'Red Gobbo', be it on armbands, belt buckles, grenades or tee-shirts!

and the Gechin with their tame Herder!

And now for something completely different, as the saying goes - The second group of the post are a few 28mm Norman Foot, adding to the seemingly endless collection of Dark Age warriors that I have been collecting for some years now. Still being readied for a 1066 campaign, which seems to be getting more & more ambitious as time passes!

The first of a number of Norman batches that
I'll be hoping to get completed this challenge

These guys were sprayed silver with rattle can paint from Halfords, non chain mail areas were then painted white before various colours were used to clothe them and to add in flesh areas. Chainmail areas were washed with watered down Dark Tone ink, whilst flesh areas were washed with Sepia ink. Other areas were washed with suitable coloured inks before shield transfers were applied.

Showing off their right flanks, five sword armed,
one with mace and one with axe.

For all the above figures bases were given a fine sand and electrostatic grass finish.

Points wise, from previous challenges I believe that Warhammer Orcs & Goblins all count as 28mm figures - so I have scored accordingly. I'm disappointed to say that these guys had only had 2 Skulls on them, whose both on the same figure! 

and another view

AHPC XIII: From Mike W - Warhammer 40k Ork Bosses x 2

So here it is AHPC XIII, I always struggle to get figures painted in the lead up to Xmas and the Xmas / New Year period its-self, there are just too many other things going on at the same time!

This year one of my mini-projects is to raise a Warhammer 40K Ork Army, I have been toying wit this for ages, collecting the figures and dusting off the few I had in the Garage and loft. Now I did have an Ork Army until about 20 years ago, mostly metal ones and a few of the new fangled plastics as they began to be released. These were sublimated by the Gorka Morka range that was released by Games Workshop around that time.

Two completed Ork Bosses

This venerable army was sold (as was an Ultramarines army) as I refocused on other more historical periods at the time. However the 40K Orks were fun to paint and to play.

This time around most of the figures are plastics, with a few metals, all found on eBay in various 'job lots' that I have gradually collected. I like getting these types of figures from eBay as they are relatively cheap, often come pre undercoated and offer a few modelling challenges to fix and repair other people's work in building them. I have restrained from starting to paint these figures as I wanted the who army to have the same look and feel and I have been planning the paint scheme and the basic composition of the Army.

Now I have never followed the GW Codexes slavishly, I prefer to use them as a base for my own campaign worlds, as such and because I'm, also a fan of the concept of the 'Red Gobbo' - a rebellious Goblin that leads a revolt against his Ork overlords. I have taken this a step further and the premise of this army is that the sneaky, sly Goblins are in charge of the brute force Orks.

The symbol of the Red Gobbo gangs is the 'Red Star' so I wanted to get that worked into look and feel of the army as well. So these guys will be predominantly red, because everyone knows that Red Orks go faster! Something to do with the science of Red Shift - I believe! and they will be a mish mash of Red Sunz and Red Gobbo Iconography.

The business end of this guy,
Steel claws and missile enhanced heavy blaster

That's the idea, now the execution... 

Most of this army will be on foot, so I'm going to paint them in batches of 10-12 figures, with one or more of these batches on the go at once, I'm pretty sure I can get most of these guys done in between other work that I'm doing.

And his 'softer' side, showing steel jaws and the edging
I tried to get on the armour plates

Because most Warhammer figures you get from eBay are undercoated Black, I have gone with this, but then applied a grey, then white primer form rattle cans to give some quick highlighting to the models.

So next step is to block in the skin tine - Army Painter Goblin Green, then do all the metal work - Vallejo Oily Steel. Clothing is then added in what will be a generally limited palette of dark blue, dark brown and burgundy red with a few getting other colours for variety.

All leatherwork is painted grey and when dry I use a watered down artist's Paynes Grey ink which in my opinion gives a nice seemingly black finish, with shading coming through from the grey undercoat.

The business end of the other guy, with circular saw

Next step is to upgrade the armour to being Red - the concept being that this plate armour has been stripped from vehicles, spacecraft or similar or simply painted red. The aim is to make the armour 'pop' but also to have the oily steel showing at the edges and where damage and wear & tear has occurred.

Guns will be predominantly oily steel but taking a 'steam punk' ethic, delicate or important bits will be brass with other bits red. I will try and keep this approach consistent across all figures in the army.

As a challenge to myself, I have tried to give these guys eyes, lips and nails, to add extra detail to these mouldings.

I went back and fix all the painting mistakes that I have made!

Back view, with trophies of War on Display,
my additions to an eBAY figure that had a big hole in its back!

Next my favourite bit, I add the washes - Army Painter Green on all flesh areas, Strong Brown on all Red areas and Dark wash on weapons and everything else. Once dried I go back and highlight skin and armour as required.

Figures were then given a coat of Matt Varnish and when dried I add on the black & white chequered pattern, I paint a white stripe and when dry use a black permeant marker (v fine nib) to add in the black squares.

Another view, of the completed figure

Bases were then completed with fine sand and an electrostatic grass. All in all I'm pretty pleased with the outcome and I'm already working om the rest of the batch for my first Squirrel point!

The rest of the batch awaiting completion when
I can grab time in the next few days

Now for this submission I picked out two guys from my first Ork Batch, just to get points on the scoreboard, I'll complete the other 10 in days to come, below is my calculation on points

Friday Night Game - Spartacus

Friday evening saw us with a couple of hours spare after completing Steve's 6mm Medieval Campaign draw and set-up, see here.

As such Mike W brought along a copy of Gale Force 9's Spartacus and his 32/35mm Jugula Gladiator figures to play test the combat section of the game, with a view to seeing if there is an appetite for a series of occasional campaign games for the same.

In a severely abridged version of the game we had five players taking on the role of Dominus (Master) for their Ludos (Gladiator Schools), the aim being to gain the most influence in Rome by running a string of successful gladiators and doing down their opponents.

Each Ludos was selected at random by the players and each was assigned a number of 'starting' slaves and gladiators. Players then bid against each other to stage a Games, in which the winner could nominate 3 other players who had to provide a gladiator or slave to fight in the ring.

Sparticus Box Lid Art

We had Rupert, Mat, Steve, Dave & Mark as Dominii, with Rupert winning the honour of hosting the first Games. Into the ring went the Gladiators with the winners each receiving a 'Favour' which earnt their owner 2 Gold Pieces and an increase in influence. 

After the completion of the games, the assembled Dominii then voted on if the Games were a success, if a success the host was paid a tribute of 7 gold coins plus they get an increase in their influence.

After each Games there was a market session whereby new Slaves & Gladiators could be purchased, in this round, better quality gladiators became available. 

We managed three round of Markets and Games, with Mat managing to secure a deadly twin bladed gladiator named as Moulinex the human food blender, famed for his ability with two swinging swords. Meanwhile Steve was able to pickup 'The Thing in the Pit', a hideously disfigured gladiator who always killed his opponent, no matter the wishes of the crowd or the host of the games.

Steve's 'Thing from the Pit'

Moulinex was expertly handled by Mat, and he quickly won two favours before he was pitted in the ring against two gladiators, one owned by Mark and the other by Steve. Moulinex prevailed to win his third Favour and thus became a Champion Gladiator, earning Mat much money and influence. However it was a close run thing for Moulinex, who took several nasty wounds to in the contest.

Mat's Moulinex, Champion Gladiator

Seems that everyone enjoyed the experience and with the simple but cunning combat mechanism that assigned each gladiator three combat skills - Attack, Defence & Speed, each of which were assigned a number of dice, everyone very quickly picked-up the mechanisms. Hits removed dice from the combat skills total and if one or two of these skills drop to zero the gladiator is down. Loose three and the gladiator is dead.

Thracian Gladiator

Defeated gladiators get a chance to live and fight another day, but their upkeep costs their Dominus Gold Coins and the help of slaves to see to their many and varied needs.

Another 'Starter' Gladiator, sword & shield

I feel a campaign coming on, where intrigues and Ludos Guards will be introduced as well as Doctors, Specialised weapons and animals etc.....

In the meantime 'Players put your fists in the ring!'

Medieval Campaign

By Steve C

After Friday Night's shenanigans the sorting hat had its say the teams are as follows: 

Team John  

• Matt  
• Dave  
• Mike N  
• Nigel  

 

Team Rupert  

• Mark  
• Phil  
• Mike W  
• Oli  

 

There were 11 armies to choose from in the end as I found I could do one more than I thought I could, they were:  

 

Later Polish  

Communal Italian  

Early Imperial  

Feudal English  

Feudal French  

Early Medieval French  

Early 100 year war English  

Scots Common Army  

Low Countries  

Early Burgundian  

Free company  

 

After a hard fought bidding process the four armies that each side chose out of the 11 they could have were as follows:  

Team John  

• Later Polish  
• 100 years war English  
• Low Countries  
• Early Burgundian  

 

Team Rupert  

• Early Imperialist  
• Feudal French  
• Communal Italian  
• Free Company  

 

As a reminder there will be six games in all of which the first four games the players had to commit to and this is how they panned out:  

 

Game 1:          Later Polish                             Vs        Early Imperialist  

Game 2:          100 years war English           Vs        Feudal French  

Game 3:          Low Countries                         Vs        Communal Italian  

Game 4:          Early Burgundian                   Vs        Free Company  

 

It is then up to the players to decide which armies they want to use for the two remaining games.  

 

7 points will be awarded for a win  

3 points for a loss  

2 points for a draw  

 

To win you must have 25% more than the losers lower score.  

 

A few of things to note:  

1. Figure casualties will not be taken off as before thus allowing for a bloodier and quicker game.  
2. Games will start at 8:30  
3. Games will finish:  
1. If players have had enough and want to call it a day  
2. If the outcome is obvious  
3. At midnight  

2022 Game Details

 By John S

Yes! It’s that time again……..

I know what you’re all thinking? The year end is almost upon us and we don’t know who umpired the most games or what was the most played period! How will I sleep on Christmas Eve not knowing these important facts and why hasn’t that clod Sears told us?????

Well, fear no longer gentle pilgrim of all things military, for I have unearthed the evidence and having had all my musings audited, accredited and mulled over by diverse experts from the war gaming world, I can now report my findings as follows:

Most popular period (decided by most games put on):

• 1st Place goes to Medieval with 5 games played.
• 2nd Place goes to WW2 with 4 games played.
• 3rd Place goes jointly to Boer War, Napoleonic and WW1 each with 2 games played.

Person who umpired (put on) the most evenings of play:

• 1st Place goes jointly to Steve and Mark each having bossed us around on 10 occasions.
• 3rd Place goes to me (John) having umpired on 9 occasions.
• 4th Place goes to Matt having umpired on 5 occasions.
• 5th Place goes jointly to Dave and Rupert each having umpired on 4 occasions.
• 7th Place goes jointly to Phil and Mike W each having umpired on 2 occasions.

John's Diary

Last Place goes to Mikey who stood in for Steve on 1 (single) occasion. But if he hadn’t then Steve would have run away with 1st Place, hurrah!!

There you have it chaps, another fine year of gaming. Well done to all of us I think 🤔 but especially thanks go out to Mikey and Rupert for their willingness to host us time and time again.

Finally, please do not challenge my findings without proper evidence (none of this “well, I’m sure I put on more games
than that” nonsense) I have the ‘cast in stone’ diary which is hanging from a belt secured just above my crotch and is like a sacred bible and can only be interpreted one way; the Way of the Order as Brother Matthew and Brother Oliver will testify to………….

AHPC XIII

 

Pleased  to announce that both Grahame H & Mike W have been accepted on to the prestigious 2022/23 Analogue Hobbies Painting Competition, this is the 13th running of the competition and both our lads have done well in previous events Look out for lots of entries from these guys in the coming three months or so.

Baltic Crusades, Week Two

Photos by Mike W & Ollie

Friday night's game was a follow on from last week's Baltic Crusades games, put on by John, with his 15mm collection.

Again we used John's version of the club's in-house ancients wargame rules, originally devised by Rupert.

Russians were played by Mike N, Rupert and Mike W, whilst the Germans and their allies were played by Steve (Germans), Ollie (German Crusaders) and Phil (Danish).

John's Battlefield Map, from the scenario pack

Turn one and  Steve threw out his Teutonic Knights to threaten the Russian lines, the Russians played a waiting game, and in turn two a largish Danish infantry force arrived on eth Russian right flank. Immediately a unit of Russian Horse Archers responded to harry their exposed flank.

Russian Army before initial deployments

The German knights pressed forwards and so the Russian Heavy Horse (Russian right flank) deployed out to counter the knight's move. Additionally a second German allied force arrived on their right flank, this time it was the German Crusaders.

The deployed Russian Army

Close-up of the same!

German Teutonic Knights (in the distance)  ride forth to engage with the Russians

Danish infantry complete a flank march, arriving on the German left flank

Russian Horse Archers ride out to engage flank of surprise arrivals - Danish Foot

 German Crusaders arrive on the Russian left flank

The German Crusaders pressed forwards to attack the Russian left flank in support of the German knights in that area. Meanwhile on the German left flank the Russian Heavy Horse charged a unit of Knights and accompanying Light Horse and a melee ensued.

Teutonic Knights approach Russian infantry lines whilst to their right
allied German Crusaders Light Horse engage

The melees on both flanks continued for a number of turns, with the superior German & German Crusaders forces gradually getting the better of the situation. It came to a head when the Russian General on their left flank was killed, after loosing a melee round and Russian units broke in each flank melee.

On the Russian Right, Heavy Horse engage with the Teutonic Knights

The cavalry melee escalates as the Russians
throw in more and more units

Spurred on by their allies success on their right, the German Knights charged home, only for their German Crusader friends to loose their melee round and then break along their lines as they thought better of scrambling further through the marshy areas to fight emplaced troop. In an instant the whole German right flank had disintegrated!

Over time the Cavalry melee becomes more and more involved,
with both sides loosing units

With that success the Russian infantry line was advanced forwards to threaten the mow weak German centre and on the Russian right, the Danish foot units were being disrupted by Russian cavalry and the terrain.

The melee on the German left continued, with various units being fed in to the fray, the German knights fought well but then weight of numbers began to tell and there too units began to break in the German lines and suddenly that flank looked exposed as well.

Sneaky German Mounted Crossbowmen attack Russian Heavy Cavalry in the flank,
only to be themselves hit in the their flank by another Russian Heavy Horse unit

The Russian infantry line advances

The Russian Horse Archers break-off and swing
towards the ongoing cavalry melee 

And so it was a clear Russian victory as the German commander in chief turned tail and abandoned his troops, shouting that it was all over and they wee done for (or something similar!)

View of the tabletop, Russian lines to the left and Germans to the right.

Teutonic Knights advance towards the Russian lines

Lots of Germans and Crusader allies.

Close-up of German Crusader flank commander