Workbench: Come On Lads, We're Halfway There!

Well, my "weekend" has come and gone so the question is did I get my Colonials done in time?

The Company of His Lordship Sir Reginald Wadsworth Smythe III

 Unfortunately the answer is a resounding "No" but I did set a personal best for number of minis painted in that amount of time, especially since I was still able to keep them at a respectable level of quality (though I do still need to go back and do their bases...).

Two sections of the Kings Rifles with their Lieutenant, Sergeant, Colour Sergeant, and Captain.

I was also able to get enough color onto the remaining troops so that people can at least tell which section they belong to as my force is something of a miss-mash of various units.

The Royal Marines (minus two soldiers) and the Line Infantry

This also means that the first part of my plan for 2013 is on track for completion as I'd set a goal for myself to paint up my Colonial troops as my first priority.  I had also been brainstorming with the idea of building myself an aerial gunboat which is not likely to happen but I should be receiving my tank from Zombiesmith any day now which will round out my force nicely.  I still might try to put one together but I've also found a pretty nice looking resin version from Ironclad Miniatures that I've been thinking about picking up instead. Either way I'll be sure to post about it.

Up next here in Fabulous Lost Wages is our Colonial Boxer Rebellion game this Saturday down at Avatar Comics and Games.  I'm a little nervous because the game will be using the dreaded Sharp Practice mod again but Sky Captain has told me that they've made some modifications since the Big Hunt so it should work this time.  Fingers crossed, right?  Either way I'll be there all day with camera in hand so hopefully I'll at least have some good pictures to share with everyone.  Until next time...

Workbench: ...Go!

And I'm off, or I will be in a minute anyway.  Here's a good chunk of what I plan on working on tonight, plus another 9 that I'd at least managed to get a start on before.

 Now to queue up some Tick on Netflix for some background noise and get down to business!

Workbench: On Your Mark... Get Set...

Here we are on Tuesday which means that it's actually Saturday for me (ahh, the joys of a work week that's offset from reality...) and more importantly it means that I have primarily tonight and tomorrow to crank out 37 British infantry for our game this Saturday.  This might not be a lot to some people but its quite a bit more than I'm used to so I thought I might as well throw it up here on the blog to track my progress.

Will I manage to complete my infantry company in time or will this folly only lead to madness?  Only time will tell!

Quick! Call In A Purr-fessional!

Huzzah! Rally Round The Flag Lads!

My Colonial Brits are quickly taking shape after a couple of slight missteps though I had my worries for a bit there.  The first box of minis came through without issue but since then things got slightly more interesting.  I ordered the second boxed set to flesh out my ranks to the 42 that I need but when I received my order what did I find?  Zulu warriors!

 

The particular set of miniatures that I'm using are the Wargames Factory Wars of Empire Zulu War British Line Infantry so I could understand the confusion that resulted in me receiving the Zulu warriors.  After some more miscommunication trying to get it cleared up, I placed another order for the British Line Infantry and they were quickly deployed... except they were the original packaging of only 20 miniatures instead of 25.  Thankfully I still have enough to field my full platoon but its still been something of a comedy of errors.

 

The last piece of the puzzle is a Crusader Light Tractor from the Quar miniature line by Zombiesmith.  If you haven't seen these, I definitely recommend checking them out as there's nothing else quite like them out there.  Unfortunately I placed the order almost two weeks ago and hadn't heard anything until today.  It should be in the mail on Monday and then my Brits will be complete!  Well, except for actually assembling and painting them but getting them here is half the battle, right?  I have a few of them painted up but I want to finish some more off before I post any pics which should be next week provided I can actually stay awake on my nights off.  Just need to learn to sleep paint and I'll be all set.  Until next time...

Workbench: Song of Queen and Country... and Floats?

While the blog might have been quiet for the past week I've been able to squeeze in some work on a rough draft of rules for Colonials based around the Song of Blades system.  As I've been largely working with the rules as presented in '61-'65 American Civil War this has been pretty straightforward though there have been some modifications that I've needed to figure out as well (more formations, different weapons, etc...).  I'm pretty happy with how they are shaping up on paper but the real question is just how do they work on the tabletop. Last night I finally had enough worked out that I decided to give them a shot with a solo game and I must say it was... different?

To explain more, my background when it comes to unit based miniature wargames has largely been influenced by games like Warhammer 40,000, Starship Troopers, and Battlefield Evolution, all of which are more modern interpretations of the art of war.  As a result I'm used to dealing with the idea of squads but not the idea of formations.  Needing to have troops moving in this formation or that and all the limitations that it imposes makes for a style of play that I've never had to deal with.  As a result, the rules seemed to work mechanically but the table itself might have been a problem as I spent half the actions in the game just changing formations to try to maneuver.  I'd even taken some pictures as the game played out but as it was almost more like watch a marching band on parade than a battle so I decided to hold off on posting them for now.  Ah well, live and learn right?

I haven't given up though!  I want to try them again with a less spacially challenged board to see how they work as they do seem to work at their core, then its off to see what Sky Captain thinks since he has more experience with the whole formation movement thing.  Until next time...

It's Quiet... Too Quiet...

Just a quick update to say there will be no update.  That makes sense, don't it?  This week marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year (Gung Hei Fat Choy!!!) which also means overtime at work for me.  Things should be back to normal next week though so be sure to come back then.  Until next time...

Listen Up You Primitive Screwheads...

SoBH Miniatures: Wee Giant Beasties!

A little while ago I decided to order some World of Warcraft miniatures to add to my Song of Blades and Heroes collection.  For those of you who might not know, these are pre-painted miniatures that were produced for the ill-fated WoW miniature game.  Never played it myself but I'd seen the miniatures and thought they didn't look too shabby.  Unfortunately I'd never seen them next to your more generic 28mm fantasy minis so I had no idea just how big they are.

"Wow... Have you guys been eating your Wheaties or what?"

For some of these its definitely not an issue.  The Tauren look like minotaurs so it just makes sense that they would be massive, and it should be easy enough to work around the large size of the Draenei since they are pretty unique looking.  Unfortunately the humans, elves, and gnomes would definitely be a too large if you mix these in with other lines.  I suppose that's not that big a deal for some but it would make things look a little odd on the game table.

"When I said you were a big girl I  just meant you were tall!  Honest!"

Still, they do have some very unique looking figures so I think I'll be picking up some more to add a little variety, plus most of them are pretty inexpensive nowadays which makes them an even better option.  Now if I could just find those Mage Knight orcs and get them rebased... That's always the problem with cleaning; you just can't find anything once you've done it!  Until next time...

But Isn't It Supposed To Be About The Journey, Not Just The Destination?

Workbench: Gather The Armies For War!!!

Things have been a little quiet lately here in Snowman's Land thanks to a helping of the creeping crud being passed around at work.  Thankfully we're all better now and I can start getting things back into gear.  To that end I started work on my Colonials (now that I actually have bases! yay!) and I've started toying with the idea of putting together a completely unofficial Imperial Guard army (though I might just put together a small force for this as I don't feel like painting hundreds of guardsmen right now).

 

But hold on, that's not all!

 

I also picked up the Cryx faction deck for Warmachine Mark II, the game that I swore I'd never play.  Why would I do something so insane and irrational?  Let me explain...

 

Before the Big Hunt game last month, I spent some time talking with Dyllon, the manager of the gaming store who also used to work at the LGS that I used to game at.  Part of the reason that I'd gotten out of Warmachine (other than not being a fan of some aspects of the Mark II rules...) was the community at the old store was hyper-focused on Tournament play.  Don't get me wrong, tournies can be fun but to only play tournies just became a grind and some of the players took it a little too seriously.  Sure, there's the whole "play like you've got a pair" mentality of Warmachine but this doesn't mean that you need to be a dick about it.

 

By contrast, Dyllon told me that at the new store they have cracked down on the problem players and really turned things around, bringing the fun back into the game which was enough to peek my interest.  Since I already have a pretty good size Cryx army (which you can see pictures of here) it just seems logical to dust them off and see just what this new community is like.

 

And that's about it for now!  As work progresses with my Colonials I'll be sure to get more pictures up, plus I have some more game reviews coming soon and there's always that Aphid gunship that I was going to build and my own version of the Big Hunt...  But more on those later.  Until next time...