Casualty Markers for Black powder/Hail Caesar/Pike & Shotte

Over the last couple of months that ive been playing Pike & Shotte ive been using glass beads as my stamina markers Whilst this system works its a little clunky and means that every time you move the unit you have to move all the separate markers along with the unit.

I decided there had to be a better system.  Some people use dice, some people use dials, some use counters/ markers of one type or another. They all have there good and bad points. I decided i wanted something that was easy for both me and my opponent to look at and know how the unit was looking.

After a decent search on the internet i discovered a company called Counter Attack Bases.  They do a whole range of different items and one i found was a product called Fantasy Battle games Wound Post and Rings.  You get 10 wound posts and a bunch of rings - some white and some red for 9 Quid. The idea being that every time you take a wound you place a ring over the post. White for a single wound and red for 5 wounds. A simple system that looks ok on the table.  The shipping was a bit of a killer to NZ at 9 quid and is a bit of a rip when you consider the weight and size of the package but that's one of the crappy things about being a war gamer in a small country at the arse end of the world.  I have emailed them to see if the shipping charge was a mistake as the price on the envelope was only 3.30.  (Edit i received a reply a few days later and they refunded the difference in shipping -great customer service!!)

Anyways the product itself is great and im sure they will get back to me about the shipping price.

Onto the pictures!!!

There is a small amount of assembly required - a bit of PVA glue and some drying time and your done.

I wanted to make mine look a little better on the table so i based them in the same way im doing my models, i think they have turned out quite good.

Here's a final shot of a finished Wound post behind a stand of pike.

I think on the table they are going to work very well - ill find out tomorrow night when i have a game against Kevin's Scots.

There are a couple of additions im going to make. In the Black Powder series of games you need to be able to show not only the wounds a unit has taken but also when the unit is Shaken, Disordered and when a unit is Broken. I'm thinking a great way to do this is to introduce a few extra counter colours to the mix. Due to the type of plastic the counters are made of i doubt i can repaint some of the white ones so im thinking of looking around some $2 shops and seeing what counters and beads they have that might do the job (Although once i hear back about the shipping im going to inquire if the do some different colored rings). (Edit: unfortunately they cant get different coloured rings )

Anyways that's a long enough post for today.  No mater what game you play id be keen to hear of what type of wound markers you use in your games.

Overall these are a great product and i recommend them as something a little different from the dial based markers (which Counter Attack Bases also does).   Go check them out. Speedy service and great customer service. :)

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.

NEW GAME ON THE PAINTING TABLE.

Due to work i wasn't able to play FOG at Battlecry this year. Whilst that was a bummer it did allow me a day of walking around and looking at everything that was going on and allowed me to check out some new games that i hadn't seen before. One of those was Skirmish Sangin.

 

Skirmish Sangin is a skirmish level war-game set in the modern Afghanistan conflict. What makes it different is it has a strong narrative aspect to the gaming much like a roleplaying game. It uses a percentile system and action points to work out what you can and cant do in a round and.  In playing it it brought up memories of playing the Twilight 2000 roleplaying game 20 years ago with my friends but with miniatures instead of character sheets. 

  

The book is broken up into different sections as you would expect to find in any good war gaming rules. There is a brief history of the conflict that is currently raging. Their are the core rules, optional rules, scenarios. Rules for vehicles are also in the book. Overall the writing style is good and easy to read and the rules make sense and easy to remember.  After about 3 or 4 rounds of combat i found myself already knowing all the basics and not having to be told what to do in the demo game. The book has lots of pictures of miniatures fighting over very nice terrain and they really help bring the setting together.

Another plus for me is that this game was created and put together by a pair of kiwi’s from Wellington that i used to know back when i managed the Wellington GW store. Being great guys and passionate war gamers it doesn't surprise me that they went off and made a war game of their own – i just wish id heard of it sooner as it is a lot of fun to play. 

Although the base setting covers modern Afghanistan the rules lend themselves to any modern setting. I could easily see a Vietnam version or 80’s cold war crisis and i think it would work extremely well for recreating Twilight 2000 style post WW3 conflicts in Europe. I’m looking forward to see what books Radio Dish Dash Publications will bring out next. 

They have also started their own miniature line.  Being a Kiwi based production they wanted to have some New Zealand and Australian miniatures for the conflict. As soon as i saw them i knew they would have to be my first force.  I've kept the bases small to allow easier movement in buildings and dense terrain. they are 10mm round bases from Dopey Dog laser engraving where i get all my wooden FOG bases from.  Eureka Miniatures and Empress Miniatures both do great 28mm moderns that will work great for this game and I'm sure there are others.    3 or 4 of the lads from the South Auckland gaming group have grabbed a copy of the rules and some miniatures so I'm sure it wont be too long till i get in another game. Until then ill be doing some research on the NZ army’s uniform that's in use over in Afghanistan at the moment and get started on painting my first set of 28mm moderns up.

Back 2 Base - IX Brushes review

A few months back i reviewed a new painting station that i got from Back 2 Base IX - today i thought id do a review on the brushes that they produce.  (Please note ive used pictures from the Back 2 Base ix website rather than taken pictures of my own brushes purely to save time)



In my line of work i go through a lot of brushes and over the last 20 odd years I have used many different brands of brushes. Generally speaking you get what you pay for. Once in a while though you do get surprised and the brushes from back to base ix fall into that category. For their price i find them an excellent brush with some interesting and useful differences from your standard hobby paint brush.  Firstly they have a design which I can only compare to a woman compact make up brush that ive seen my wife use. The Brush it'self comes in two sections and when not in use the brush section screws into the handle section protecting the bristles from damage. There is a small hole in end of the handle to allow any trapped moisture to easily evaporate.  This ability to put away the brush makes transporting your brushes a breeze and since the handle sections are made from Aluminium they are extremely durable.




The bristles are made from pure Kolinsky hair and after 2 months of solid use im very happy to say they have survived wonderfully. (As a side not i always use brush soap ans Vallejo Brush Cleaner and Brusher restorer and this not doubt has helped prolong their life but at roughly 40 hours a week of painting these brushes are still in great condition and look set to stay that way for a long time to come.)



There are various common sizes available that should cover most if not all of your painting needs (even painting 10mm-15mm miniatures ive never needed anything smaller than a 000 brush).

At AU $9.95 per brush this puts them into the realms of the GW brush price bracket but the quality of both the design and the bristles themselves is superior I can highly recommend them.

 

  

Back to Base-ix

Hi Guys

Last time i posted about my man cave re-organisation at the end of that post i had commented on needing a paint rack solution. Well ive found it (Actually I found it minutes after typing that Blog post the other week.)  Back to Base-ix is an Australian company located in Adelaide and makes a wide variety of war-gaming aids and modelling materials - the coolest items they make in my opinion are the paint racks and draws for keeping your painting area neat and tidy - just what I was looking for.

Now to the actual product I ordered two of the Paint rack straight section - large.  There are a couple of different options - the racks are available in MDF or Acrylic. You also have the option of having the holes cut to fit different popular paint ranges:

Bottle quantities held:

• GW 2012, GW Hexagon (new), GW Hexagon (old), Lifecolor: 43 Pots
• Foundry, Coat D'Arms, GW Round , P3 : 45 Pots
• Vallejo: 53 Pots

the two racks combined hold all my paints with a few holes left over. The racks come with some nice features which for the price i wasn't expecting:

• Stainless Steel Nuts, Bolts & Washers for Assembly
• Silicone Rubber Feet for a non slip unit
• Rare Earth Magnets and locators to allow each modular unit to join to the next.
• Easy to follow DVD Assembly Instructions

They came nicely wrapped as you can see below:

The DVD was interesting - it actually shows you how to build all of the different racks and draws available which gives you a nice overview of how all the products go together.  I had hoped the DVD would have voice instructions but instead it has text prompts appearing at different points in the video. As a soundtrack it has a fairly easy listening tune in the background that i must confess drove me a little mad by the end of watching the whole DVD - easily solved by pressing mute :)  

The Construction of the racks are so easy i imagine most people wont need to watch the DVD. Since my computer is right next to my work area i just had it running in the background.

As you can see the finished product is attractive and of course most importantly highly functional. I like the fact that the Vallejo paints can be stored both standing upright or upside down.

my newly set up workspace - what do you think? Im going to get a set of the draws next pay to clean up the area off to the left.

Aaron (the man behind the great ideas and owner of the business is a really nice friendly guy and was happy to answer questions i had about future ideas and listened to my suggestions and feedback). He's very easy to get hold of as Back to Base-ix has a Facebook page so you can send him a message and have a chat.

Im giving this product a big thumbs up. Its well priced and with lots of options available there is a solution for everyone's painting workspaces. I highly recommend you check the website out.