ADDITIONAL SAGA UNITS PAINTING PROGRESS

So following on from my last post I've managed to assemble 24 sergeants  with crossbows and get the first 8 painted.  More progress to follow.

FIRST SAGA FORCE FINISHED

So for the last 3? Weeks I've been beavering away on my first Saga force The militant orders of Christ or Milites Christi as they are called.   I've always been fascinated by the rise and fall of the knights Templar.   The militant orders list is perfect for representing these holy warriors.

(Shields!!!)

All the shields have be painted by hand and I've stuck to a sale pallet of colours to keep the army cohesive.  I did a fair bit of reading regarding colours of the brothers and the men at arms the fought with them.  It appears the men at arms (Sergeants) were dressed in black whilst the brothers were in white with the red Cross displayed on their chests.   I decided that the force would look better with off white padded amour for the sergeants but included black shields and some black clothing items to help tie everything together and add a nod to their historical counterparts.

(First Unit of Warriors)

(Second Unit of Warriors)

(Third Unit of Warriors)

As for playing them on the table I have had quite a few games so far of varying success.  They are a powerful melee force if they can build up 3 points of piety (the mechanism that's used to increase their effectiveness on the table.)   The army has some weaknesses though.  The brothers are vulnerable to bows and especially crossbows and they dislike being in terrain.  The sergeants are there to slog it out in terrain and you have the option of taking crossbows (I'm working on three units of them at the moment) to help with the ranged guys.

(The first three Units of Warriors all finished)

What I'm really loving about Saga is that is so easy to collect and paint up a force for it that I'm totally hooked.  There are many saga boards that have been created by fans that have been placed up on the Saga forums for people to try and some that have captured my imagination or the Japanese Samurai period.  So I've ordered so I've orders some Wargames factory Samurai to have a go at using these board's  - they will also work well for legends of the rising sun or Ronin so I figure my money won't be wasted.

- Here are some progress pics of the cavalry that i snapped off during the painting process.

(Three Units of Brothers all together in one big 12 man unit)

Anyways that enough out of me for now.  Let me know what you think of the Templar's.  I'll add photos of the crossbow sergeants when they are done (hopefully about a week).

- Here are a front and back pic of my lord.

I'll leave you with a final picture of the completed 6 point force.

(6 Points of Templar Goodness!!)

Upcoming Chinese Waring states plastics!!!!

Over the years of working for both Games Workshop and Battlefront Miniatures its been my privilege to work with many talented people and whilst i now prefer to keep my hobbies separate to my work life many of the people i know have left GW or Battlefront and gone on to do other things within the industry. Today i have the great joy of introducing one of those people who is embarking on a project which im extreamly excited about.  I'll pass you over to Joe to tell you all about it: 

Hello supporters. Mark has been kind enough to allow me to introduce my company and our very first project. My name is Joe Krone and I spent over 15 years working in the gaming industry for companies like Games Workshop and Battlefront Miniatures. I learned an awful lot about how the gaming industry works and throughout my tenure I always wanted to advance my career on the games development side. I think that is everyone's dream job and I came within reach of the golden ring but never could hold on. When I left the gaming industry for a new career I was able to spread my wings and begin developing rules and games without the conflict of interest worry. This month I released my first rulebook, Land of the Free published by Osprey and another milestone this month occured when my brand new gaming company, Watchful I Studio, announced its very first product range. We have designed and will be launching a Kickstarter in the near future for miniatures covering the Chinese Warring States and Qin Dynasty Periods. We have optimized the design process to give you unarmored,  lightly armored, and fully armored warriors including several weapon, shield, and head options. The sets will include arms to create standard bearers and head options to create line officers. Our intention for the Kickstarter is to raise enough money to have these fantastic sculpts manufactured in plastic. We are currently working on how the sets will be arranged and how many sets there will be. The range wouldn't be complete without support elements and officers so stay tuned as we will continue to post new updates on our Facebook page. If you would like to join our page please search for Watchful I Studio on Facebook. Enjoy the pics and spread the word. Check out Facebook for more pictures of our digital sculpts. More to come soon................

I think you will all agree that these digital sculpts are excellent. I'm really looking forward to seeing what the final plastic sets will look like. I'll be following this one closely and hope that you will go check out the Watchful I Studio facebook page.

Blogging at the beach.

I'm currently on holiday and decided that it was too nice a day to stay at home so i decided that i would drive out to a local beach.  Nothing like a nice day at the beach where its not too hot and no one is around and you get to just sit back and enjoy nature.  It also gave me a change to take the new car out for a bit of a decent spin after having a fairly serious 100,000km service which resulted in 6 new platinum tipped spark plugs and a fuel injection flush out (along with all the normal servicing like changing the oil etc.)    

The Nissan 350z in all its glory in my driveway.

 

Awesome day at the beach and no people around. just the sound of the birds and the sea. pity the water was out but you cant have everything.  Plus as its only just spring so the water is still a bit cold for a swim.

So what have i been working on over my break. Well ive done more work on my Republican Romans and almost have 2 units of 16 finished.  Over the last two days though i finished of my Warrior Monks.   

Will was nice enough to give me the plastic bases from his Bolt Action figures which he had decided not to use as he had done all his figs with wooden bases.  This was great news for me as i really like the 25mm round plastic bases that Bolt Action uses.

So whats next - well last night Paul came over and gave me a game of SAGA.  I have borrowed Wills copy of Crescent and the Cross and decided to run a militant orders list.  After playing the game i decided that i had to paint some figures up (and order another rules set) :-)  So ive ordered a box of mounted sergeants and foot sergeants from Fireforge games. I'll do up a review once i get the figures.

Vitrix miniatures size comparison

Minitrol made a comment the other day about the Vitrix Mid Republican Romans being large looking. This made me think a size comparison with some other 28mm figures was necessary.

I grabbed a quick selection of some 28mm models that i have.

Starting from the left with a Gladiator from Crusader Miniatures.

Next a plastic skeleton from Mantic Games.

A Warrior Monk from The Assault Group.

A Vitrix Roman.

And finally a Black Scorpion cowboy.

So looking at these i would so that the Vitrix model is pretty standard for a 28mm miniature. The Crusader miniature and the Black Scorpion miniature are both larger models closer to 30mm scale.

Well back to painting - more Romans in the future.

Problem with comments

My blog currently seems to be having an issue with displaying comments. I can see them come through in my e-mails but they don't seem to display on my computer (but do on my mobile app its displaying fine). If anyone has any idea what might be wrong let me know. Cheers

Later on today ill do a size comparison on the Vitrix figs compared to other 28mm brands.

Mid Republican Romans W.I.P

So its been a while since I’ve got around to posting. Works been full on and i went and brought a new car and lost all interest in painting for the last few weeks. I was getting a bit worried that my painting mojo was gone but now I’m on holiday for 2 weeks the painting mojo seems to have returned.

So many more to go but happy with the result.  I cant add the shields until I buy some transfers and decide exactly how i will finish them. More pics to follow as i get more work done.

Keen for feedback on these so let me know what you think.  I spent ages trying to decide on what colour to do the clothing. Still not sure i should have done Red. I personally think White was more likely to be what they were historically wearing in the 3rd century B.C but red just looks good.

Victrix Mid Republican Romans have arrived!!!!

Yes what a great day off. I got a good sleep in to 7.30am (normally I’m up at 5.30am for work) and within a few hours of being up i had two packages arrive – one from Warlord games and the other from Victrix.

As you can imagine i had the packages open within a minute.

I’m going to be busy!!
I intend to do a review of my thoughts on Hail Caesar once i read the rules fully but for now onto the models.
First up I’ve only opened up the two boxes of the legionaries in chain mail so my review will be based on them. The quality of the sprue’s is top notch. The mould lines are very small and were very easy to clean up. The miniatures details are very crisp. The detail on the faces is very good although perhaps a tad cartoony a little like Warlord games bolt action figures. (although i like that as it gives them some character)


 
As i said the mould lines are very small and you could almost get away without removing the lines on many of the figures. My OCD would never let me do that though.
Here are some shots of one of the miniatures which had some of the lines that could be seen. A sharp knife and about 15-20 seconds and it was perfect for painting.

The figures thankfully come in very few pieces. The legs and torso are all one piece as is the left arm that holds the shield. The head, right arm and the shield is separate. Although the poses are slightly different the poses are all of standing legionaries designed to rank up. The arms allow the choice of Pilum for the Hastatus or Princeps  as well as spears for the Triarius.
I brought two boxes of the Chainmail legionaries which allows me to make 5 units 16 strong each. 2 Units of Triarii and 3 units of Principes. The third box will allow me to do two units of Hastati with the pectoral chest plate.  It is worth noting that there are a choice of several different helmet designs including the odd one often seen in illustrations which looks like it is worn like a Corinthian helm and often shown worn by Triarii. There are enough of this design to give one unit of 16 per box. I think it will help mark out the Triarii units as different (yes i know the spears will do that as well).
Here’s a pic of my clean up progress so far.
 
Now i haven’t touched on the light troops that you also get in each box. A rather large number of 18 figures per box .  I haven’t actually looked at those figures yet so i will review them in another post.
So what do i think over all – I give them a 9 out of 10. I think there are well proportioned miniatures and the detail on them is excellent. If you are on the lookout for a Mid Republic Roman army then i personally don’t think you could find a better option.

WW2 French Buildings and Warrior Monks.

So ive had a few days off and decided to do some extra work on my sarissa precision buildings.  Not a lot to say really so here are some pics.

Will be good to see them on the table in a game later today.

 

The warrior monks near completion. I just need some proper bases for them and then i will finish off the last few details and we will be ready for some Legends of the Rising Sun trial games.

 

Also I've had word that my Hail Caesar rulebook and my Vitrix Romans have shipped so i will do some reviews in the near future.

Warrior Monks

So the Warrior monks from The Assault Group arrived a couple of days ago. i was lucky enough to have the next day off work so i got stuck in and started painting the first  6 out of 17 models.

here is a few quick pics.

 

Ill get some more pics up once they are all finished and based.

Hobby Update –Wild West, Samurai & Bolt action plus future plans!

  Wow its been months since i posted about anything.  Have no fear i haven't given up on painting or gaming. In fact i have been pretty busy on the painting front and gaming has been going well. Anyone who follows Will (Wills Ramblings)or Robs (Painted Addiction) blogs will know what we have been up too. If you don’t follow their blogs go check them out. Apart from being my best mates and keen war gamers they are also enthusiast photographers' and have some great pics to view. – Anyways back to the pictures. I intend to get the lads to take some nice pics of each of the figs on their big flash cameras but these pics will have to suffice for the moment.  

Legends of the old west.

I’ve managed to paint up two more gangs for my legends of the old west gaming. All the figures are from Black Scorpions Tombstone range.

First up a Cowboys!

The next gang is Lawmen.

Legends of the rising sun.

following on from the Legends of the old west i found some modified LOTOW rules for Samurai battles aptly named Legends of the rising sun.  You have Buntai (gangs) for Samurai, Warrior Monks, Ninja  - basically i was hooked.  About 8 or 9 months back i got a set of the Koryu Buntai for Ospreys Ronin war game. We had one test game of this but it didn't really grab the lads so we haven't played it since. We i found the LOTRS rules i pulled my gang out and decided to paint them up with hopes of a first game this weekend. As we all like the LOTOW rules system we should get in a few games of this modification. I'm also so keen on this i have ordered some Warrior monks from The Assault group Medieval Asia range.

The First Buntai.

These are the first Samurai I've ever painted and to be honest i was a little intimidated with clothing colours and symbols. I’ve watched a pile (probably over 100) of old black and white Samurai films including all the Akira Kurosawa classics. But i never really gave colours much thought until i started painting these. I used a pile of photos off Google as reference and am pretty happy with what I've come up with.  I’m looking forward to the warrior monks turning up so i can get stunk into them as i have allot of reference material for colour schemes for them.

 

Bolt Action

This has been the big star over the last 2-3 months and the one i have spent the most time painting!!  1000 points of late war British plus a couple of extra bits so i have some options.

 

Not the most exciting force to look at but I'm happy with how its turned out. I just have to get around to doing unit markings and its finished.

 

Future Gaming plans.

Looking to the future for gaming and painting Rob and I are planning on armies for Warlord Games Hail Caesar. The only issue i see with this rule set is we will need a lot of figures. I’ve decided to do an army that I've always wanted to paint - Mid Republican Romans. The Punic wars period is my favourite and I'm looking forward to this project. I've chosen to order Vitrix’s new plastic 28mm Mid Republican Romans – ill be doing a review once they turn up. (No Seriously i will) 

these are the first two boxes and apparently there will be a third box featuring allied Italian states. I have hopes for plastic elephants but i may be kidding myself (But a man can dream!!!)    

I suspect that this project is going to take a long time as the army is probably going to be around 400 figures all up. (yes i may well be mad!!).