100th post & an Award

I was struggling to think of a way to celebrate my 100th post and rather unexpectedly this afternoon an email arrived to say I has won a Liebster award for my blog . I had been very kindly awarded this by John de Terre-Neuve of wargaming in 28mm and sometimes smaller fame.

This actually means a lot to me as I was awarded this with the following comment  " He has a great site Lokis Great Hall. He is a first rate Viking painter and does a lot of nice terrain work" from a fellow painter with a beautiful Napoleonic collection and one I have a lot of respect for, so Thank you John.

The terms of the award  are simple - if you receive one of these awards you post a link back to the blogger who gave you the award then award to 5 fellow bloggers with less than 200  followers. Then leave a comment on their blog informing them of the award.

So after a lot of thought and deliberation and in no particular order:

1.  Sebastofig over at Back to the minis a great blog and plenty of eye candy also a great sense of humour.

2. Christopher over at Bunker Hill a great blog and an excellent painter. He may have more than 200 followers but I cant see a follower number and I'm Loki so can be naughty :)

3. Kieron over at CheapHammer another great blog dedicated to wargaming. All on a budget 

4. Kev over at Kevs Cabin  a professional painter and a complete Lunatic and dedicated wargamer all periods covered. (he's also  a great friend)

5. Tolcrothlogan over at Mike's wargaming and modelling a pro painter and  blogger who I have had the privilege of meeting at one of our clubs Saga tournaments.

Thats this post over 

Three more vikings

I completed three more figures last night all of which will be heading for Ebay shortly.
First up is another Warlord, holding two axes whilst resting on a rock looking for his next kill.

 The final two are banner men suitable for Viking or Anglo-Danish factions.

The banners were made in my usual style, by creating a computer design outline then printing before colouring by hand with acrylic paints.

Sven Forkbeard

I have had the Limited Edition Sven Forkbeard character since the release of the Saga rules, surprisingly though I put him in a box and despite having painted a couple of hundred Vikings this year, I never got round to him until now.

I added some extras to the base in the way of a discarded shield with an embedded axe and garnished with my usual flock and tuft combo. I chose not to use flowered tufts on this so as not to detract from the figure.

This will likely be heading to Ebay shortly as I really do have enough Vikings in my collection.

General de Brigade - Lessons in Napoleonics

Last night saw 4 of us playing a small Napoleonic game, The game was put on mainly to introduce Kelly and Tink to the general de brigade rules. For me it was a refresh as I played these rules extensively but have not played many games using the deluxe rules.
We decided to keep terrain to the minimum so as to get the basic mechanics understood. The objective for the French was to capture the Village, the British & Prussians had to hold it.

 Initial deployment With the New French Commander taking a seat ! while the enemy talk tactics and work out how to use what figures Tink bought along.

 Turn 1 sees the French get initiative and the advance begins. The plan was simple Kelly would smash Tinks Prussians and turn onto the village to capture the objective, whilst I would attack Kev and hopefully stop him  assisting Tink.

 Turn 1 was good for me or so I thought. skirmishers advanced, fired (double six) to casualties on battery but as usual failed to hit a brigade commander so no extra casualties.

 Kevs reply was a double 6 - he also faltered a brigade and killed my Brigade Commander.
Things were quite on the other flank with an exchange of skirmish fire but no casualties.

 Turn 2 sees the French advance into a stronger position. and turn 4 sees the french close to get into combat.

Turn 5 The Prussians defend well but the French counter battery fire removes any threat of canister as it destroys the battalion gun. The Landwehr decide to step back knowing a charge will be imminent.

Mean while I decide to mass the lancers ready to smash the British line. The columns press on with the attack on the line.
Turn 6 sees an exchange of musketry and the French assault The Prussians. Kev rolls well as he has been all night and his canister rips through one column. While a 40 figure line rips into another.

The assault on the Prussians goes well and two battalions are routed. Unfortunately Tink has a very bad roll of the dice taking his morale test and the Entire brigade fled the field.

Kelly turns his attentions on the unit in the village, I get brave and charge a 40 figure line with the cavalry.

The result is not good as Kev rolls 11 and rips through both Lancer units causing a retreat and a rout!! Kelly fairs better.
Only two turns later and the table has a different look.

Yep The bloody dice gods got me! I failed my morale and the whole bloody lot went. I learnt two things from this  1) charging line with Cavalry in the new rules is a NO NO  NO!!! it hurts and when your opponent rolls high your cavalry will not charge home. 2) Kev needs new dice far to many 10/11 and 12 results for my liking. 3) I need new dice too many 1/2 and 3's.

The game went on for a couple more turns in which although Kev was moving to support the Village Kelly captured the village.

A good nights fun was had by all.

Viking Commission part 1 completed.

I have completed the first 28 Vikings for the commission I agreed to undertake. The customer wanted them to match with a warband of mine purchased from Ebay so here they are.

Perry Plastic Building conversions and Rangers

Recently I purchased three of the excellent Perry plastic buildings to make some usable terrain to play Muskets and Tomahawks.

They had to be modified to allow the roofs to come off and the doors to open freely as its a skirmish game so windows and doors do play a big part when inside a building. I have to say due to my tinkering with the said models they needed to be based to add extra stability to the model. This would not be necessary if they were built with fixed roofs.

First up was the standard farmhouse built as shown on the box.

I purchased two of these so wanted the second one to look different so cut off the porch section and altered the length, very easily achieved with a sharp scalpel. Mounted onto a larger board and fenced with the acquisition of some extra lengths of fencing donated by Kev.

The interior was painted very basically, the last image shows how I added some strength and stability to the roofs so they can just be lifted on and off as required in game.

The last model to be built was the General store which is basically another farmhouse with an alternative front, and an extra veranda section. The kit actually allows you to build both options.Had I known this before hand I would have purchased three of these as I would have been able to scratch build a few more buildings with the spares.

Again a lift off roof was put in place but I did fancy up the interior with a planked floor on this (which I forgot to photograph). The exterior sign was done on a graphics program and given a bit of paint to weather it down a little.

I had a fortunate ebay purchase as I had been about to spend my money and order the very nice conquest miniatures direct from the USA, however on seeing 36 rangers and had to have them, even though I only actually need 15 for my 200pts (it allows me to expand)

A very simple but effective paint up and based on 20mm squares as per the rules. I play them as US Rangers and they have been very useful so far in a fight, and the figures are excellent, next to no clean up required and they painted easily as they have just enough detail to make life easy.