Deathwing Terminator

The last completed figure of 2016. A test piece for the Dark Angels' Deathwing terminator squad that has been hibernating in the garage for a few years.

Happy New Year to everybody when it comes.

Hougoumont

Another 6mm gem from Total Battle Miniatures, hopefully not too marred by my brushstrokes. A delight to paint and I may even get to game with it soon!

Time for a Little Chaos...

Every army in Warhammer 40K needs a little cannon fodder; the Imperium has their guard, the Taut, Kroots and the Eldar... well maybe they're too posh to deal with the sacrificial classes.

Chaos has cultists to fulfil the role of pointless gestures and these chaps are taken from the Dark Vengeance box set I bought about four years ago (which gives some unwelcome insight to my painting lead time).

Twenty five of these charming, slightly mutated, homicidal maniacs are heading to downtown Morgoth XIII for a relaxing evening of murder and pillage.

The posse includes two heroes.

The group were painted using three pallets, one dark red, one brown and the third sandy.

This is based on the colours used to paint the sector boards last year so should hopefully blend in.

All are of course GW's finest.

Mont Saint Jean

Another building for the 6 mm Waterloo set up, this time Mont Saint Jean farm.

Once again from the Total Battle Miniatures Hundred Days range.

Dumfries 2016 - Opening Skirmish

Dumfries 2016 saw some major updates to the Beneath the Lily Banners rules set. In order to get all participants into the swing of these the first engagements were a set of small encounters (small for a League of Augsburg weekend that is, still big to me).



A regiment of Highlanders advances

The battle I participated in was set on the Scottish border (appropriately given the hotel location) where a contingent of Scottish Jacobites led by that bonniest of Bonnie Dundees (newly resurrected from Killikrankie) Jim Wallace, aided by French units led by Les Rumble playing the part of the Marquis de St Ruhe, another 'newly raised' member of the aristocracy.

The Jacobites and French prepare to advance

If this hadn't been an historical game I might have accused the Jacobites of employing some dark magicks.

The WIlliamites were led by General MacKay in the form of his alter ego Bill Robertson. Bill was to prove over the course of the weekender to be (to quote Blackadder), "more cunning than a fox who has just been made Professor of Cunning at Oxford University".

More of which in a later post.

I was in the role of the Marquis de Ruvigny who had assumed command of the Huguenot regiments.

Huguenot cavalry ready for the fight - they didn't get one!

The scenario was simple; the Williamite forces held two redoubts and a star fort, the Jacobites had to get past them.

The fort blocking the Jacobite advance

For my Huguenots it would very much prove to be a game of two halves.

The highlanders rapidly advanced on the redoubt on the Williamite right flank held by Belcastel's regiment under the personal command of their Brigadier. Sportingly the umpire allowed two Jacobite units to charge poor Belcastel's regiment. Highlanders against All Musket foot, it got messy very quickly if you were a Huguenot.

The moment before the Highland tsunami smashed into the left redoubt

Naturally, me being me, my first test for a Brigadier casualty of the weekend resulted in another one being entered in the roll of honour. His regiment was subsequently chopped into fine haggis by the claymores' of the clansmen. There were no survivors.

Buoyed by their overwhelming success at the redoubt, Bonnie Dundee's troops swarmed forward but were held by other elements of MacKay's division.

The Williamite right flank was a more salubrious affair mostly due to Les' die rolling for orders; I'd advise against that visit to Vegas anytime soon.

A Williamite cannon patiently waits for a French target to meander by

When the French finally reached the second redoubt it became obvious where the dice luck had gone. Needing 6+ on D10s Du Cambons regiment managed an 80% strike rate on their first volley putting one regiment to flight in a single round.

The Huguenot version of Rorke's Drift

They then proceeded to wipe out some pesky dragons whilst the French musketry and artillery pinged away with little or no effect under the new hard cover rules (aided once more by Les' die rolling).

Lunchtime approached, the smoke cleared and the umpires declared a draw.

Dumfries 2016

A few shots from the League of Augsburg weekender held 11th to 13th November 2016. I'll post more shots over the coming days. There's a lot more on the League of Augsburg Blog.

More Tiny, Tiny Men

A couple more French regiments to add to the mix. First up some more Light infantry.

 

A bright blue again but I'm still experimenting with the colour scheme and I certainly haven't got used to photographing this scale.

 

 

And then just for some variety and to give the French Army a solid backbone the 1st battalion of the Old Guard Grenadiers.

 



 

Figures are Baccus

More Imperial Officers

I seem to be distracted by GW fluff at the moment  much to the detriment of several historical projects which I do mean to blog about here. There is stuff for World War II, Napoleonic and Ireland in 1690 just sitting staring at me reproachfully each time I sit down to paint.

But in the meantime... a communications officer, admiral and psyker for the 327th Cadian Regiment.

Imperial Guard Officers

WH40K not French (though they will appear soon).

In my version of the Forty First Millennium the cannon fodder, sorry I mean Imperial Guard, sorry I mean Astra Militarium wear khaki.

It astounds me that in a universe full of boisterous Orks, eviscerating Eldar, spikier than spikey Tyranids and even spikier Chaos marines that the majority of humanity face these terrors with little more than a bomber jacket and a machine gun.

There also seems to be a lack of equality in the 41st Millenium, not a solitary female soldier in sight  (apart from the abnormally proportioned and wilfully ignored - by GW - Sorority of course).

So these guys are going to be taking the wrath of the Imperium to the various Xenos and traitors on Morgoth XIII just as soon as I clear away Waterloo.

In Colin meantime that's somewhere around Spring 2019.

6mm French Light Infantry

Some troops to go with the burgeoning collection of 6mm buildings. These represent a French light infantry battalion.

There are a few skirmishers too.

There's not much scope for detail though I have gone to town on some Imperial Guard which should feature on these pages soon (though when I asked if I should paint moustaches on them there was some eye rolling from the better half).

I've also painted then in brighter colours than I would 28mm, just to get them to stand out a bit.

In between the random daubing I've been prowling E-Bay for painted 6mm, just to get the numbers up quickly. There should be a battle soon, if time, twins and the better half allow.

Leman Russ Battle Tank

The 327th Cadian Regiment gets a delivery of what forms the backbone of the Imperial Army's armoured cadre. The Leman Russ battle tank.

Just followed the painting guide from GW. Used to be three shades per colour, now it seems to be six. You'd almost think they were making money out of selling paint.

I'm sure I can get it on a table top soon... but I suspect the 6mm stuff will get a battle first.

Total Battle Miniatures - La Haie Saint

An iconic building from an iconic battle rendered in 6 mm from the Total Battle miniatures Hundred Days range.

Again dry brushing was the order of the day.

Slowly the table top in the garage is being added to.

More of which in a later post.
Next up - Hougoumont!

Total Battle Miniatures - La Belle Alliance

Just a single model this time, again 6mm scale and dry brushed in a hurry.

Looking forward to seeing it on a battlefield.

Some troops should appear soon.

Word Bearer Dark Apostle

I'm old enough to remember when George Michael used to sing about Faith, though I doubt he was thinking of this chap's.

This is a Fine Cast model from Games Workshop. Like many I've never been a fan, not quite as detailed as a metal casting and certainly not as resilient as either plastic or metal.

But if cleaned (no easy task) and primed properly a reasonable paint job can be applied and for a while it was the only way to get older, rarer unit types.

This recently finished fallen marine is part of the Word Bearer contingent coming to Morgoth XIII.