Actually I did paint something …

So I did paint something - an GW elf general for my Kings of War elf army … which might become an DBF/HotT army … 

I need to attach a Ral Partha elf shield - but positioning it isn’t as easy as I thought it would be, so I might to press mould the design onto a larger shield. 

But that will have to wait until the weather isn’t quite as warm and sticky and I have got further along the with the garden remodel. 

I have also seen DK a couple of times and played games in a pub - managed to win Hive (2-1) and Yo Sushi … obviously games at my level.

Morts 

Other stuff - out on Exmoor

 Apart from shed building, I when out for a couple of days to assess a couple of Dof E groups. I have to say I was disappointed in the weather on Exmoor for June - quite overcast. 

The first day - not what I was expecting, although it had improved by the afternoon. My base camp. Apparently we were visited by a fox in the night, which was pulling bags out of the kids tents looking for food. 

The second day did see improved weather (TR shows the morning from the camp). It was a nice couple of days - some walking but mainly moving to various checkpoints in a minibus to see the kids.

Now I have to write up my assessor reports …

But I thought I write this in a successful attempt to avoid writing them up …

Morts 

Shed building … two weekends work.

 What have I been up to for the last 2 weekends …

Well I dismantled an old shed that I had built (the original had a trapezium base to make the must use of the space), but it had to come down as part of the garden remodelling. 

The top some the dismantling in progress - the bottom the cleared space and the new base (built out of old decking boards, a few weeks ago). 

The reassembly progress - last weekend. The end picture showing the basic patching done to ‘seal’ it up for the week. 

This weekend’s work involved cutting the old door to size and rehanging it. It also required making a new door and hanging that. Then sorting out the roof. 

The bottom pictures show the shed complete with locks and battens on. Just needs a coat of preservative to  bring it together. Almost all materials were reused/recycled from the old shed and decking. Total cost £55 for the new wood (£40) for the door and some roofing felt tape (£15) to patch the roof felt … not sure how well that will work. 

Overall happy with the result. 

Morts

More kitbashed Servitors

My distraction on servitors has continued. More Wargames Atlantic Cannon Fodder to be … Ad Mech Cannon Fodder - close combat types this time. My reasoning will be that these with be recently “punished” convict servitors - hence the limited amount of adaptations on them. 

Like the others - I need to put some wire (tubing) on them and some green stuff. Otherwise they are basically done (apart from the paint). 

Morts

More Celts

 I have finished another 12 Celts - used some contrast paint medium to reduce the brightness of some of the speed paints. Which I think worked well. 

I did use an old flesh wash for the skin to start with, but it started to look a bit dark, so I painted over with some flesh …

Now I have to think about basing them … individually or on the 60mm squares. 

Might be a while. 

Morts 

Basing conundrums again …

Every so often I go through the need to consider my best options for basing my fantasy miniatures for various games. 

Having the chat with the chap running the Lion Rampant game with 12 figures on a single base - which looked really nice - sort of mini dioramas. The multi base means you avoid the very “lined up” look from the sabot bases. 

DK had picked up a copy of the De Bellis Fantasiae DBF rules - a cross between DBM/HotT rules which I really liked back in the day - although I did have a bit of an issue the single rank basing - I have also been mulling over Midgard rules and was considering picking up Hobgoblin rules - both of which work off approx 120mm frontages … which is roughly the frontage for Kings of War (well 100/120/125 mm if you are being pedantic) … so my little brain got thinking and has come up with 60mm squares has the solution to my basing needs - using the figure number ish from DBF as a guide.

Trialling with some of my elves to represent.

So for Regular (solid) Spears - 6 figures (5 for fast) - 2 of these bases would make a regiment for KoW or Dragon Rampant.

The same for blades

 

I think the double rank makes the element in DBF/HotT look like a unit

For Bows - solid 4 figures 

Fast 3 figures - 4 need for Dragon Rampant 

Knights/Cavalry will be 2 or 3, regardless of if they are solid or fast - just because they need to look right on the base. 

As these Elf knights demonstrate - it would be tough to get 3 on a base.

Light horse would be 2 to a base - but not so lined up - see below.

Artillery - well that is straight forward. 

Warbands and Auxilia will be either 5/4 Solid/Fast or 4/3 Solid fast. 

Skirmishers - currently thinking 2/3 on a 60mm square base or possibly 2 on a 60x30 base …

For Ogres and Trolls - possibly 2 on a 60mm square or do they stay on the 40mm squares they are currently on.

This sort of thing is never as simple as it should be …

Morts

UK GamesExpo 2025

So the collective (Snake-eyes, Steedo, Tiger-King and my good self) had an expedition to UK Games Expo this weekend - my first visit since 2018 … I was planning to go last year, but was unwell on the day. 

The day started with a mighty Toby breakfast by the Gloucester cheese rolling hill - which was only last week. They’re onto the show - which seems busier than I remember it! Actually a lot busier to be honest - bloody people in the way. There was also more stalls selling peripheral items … t shirts, hats, mead … fudge etc. some of which was very nice … but I am too tight and also I don’t feel the need to advertise my nerdiness anymore than I do. 

I didn’t go with anything in mind this year - possibly the Hobgoblin rules, which I would have bought last year … but this year I just didn’t feel the need … possibly Midgard and DBF causing the pause and the fact that I haven’t played a fantasy game for quite awhile … over a year at least I reckon. I did pick up the free quick start rules for Hobgoblin and A billion Stars from the Planet Smasher stand. But got them damp in my bag …

On the way in I saw Alessio Cavatore (of Warhammer/Kings of War writing fame) on the Mantic/River Horse stand and was going to go over and speak to him about the Labyrinth/Dark Crystal games, when he called over and went to speak with Jevis Johnson (writer of Bloodbowl) … I thought I would try and catch  him again later, but there was so much to see and people in the way that by the time I passed by again … he was nowhere to be seen - so I missed out on a selfie. 

So we tried to be methodical going around to “streets”, but we kept losing people as we were wandering. I  saw the Wotan Games stand and recalled the War of the Nine Realms game I had wanted to play the last time I was at GamesExpo - so I gathered up the team and managed to get a demo game (pictures on the right above). We all like the game which had a lot of nuance and re-playability, although simple mechanics, I was tempted - but the card standies should really be miniatures and Snake-eyes though it a bit pricey at £40 (with miniatures this would have been fine but £20-£25 as it was packaged seemed a fairer price). 

We continued the wandering and I was the first to purchase an item - some tufts (partly because DK had predicted it, and because they would be useful). Snake-eyes picked a very nice Norse/Cthulhu based RPG - I was tempted by zone wars by the same maker … I saw some miniatures for the Escape from New York game, which I was tempted by because it a good film and sound track, but as Snake-eyes already has it … but he needed the miniatures so picked them up and I asked if he could have the President mini free … this ploy worked.

I had a good chat with the Battlesystems man about Maladum - which looked really good. A tempting dungeon crawler (Heroquest on steroids as Steedo described it), but as I have tried and failed with Dungeon Saga and and am still crawling through Blackstone Fortress … A visit to the Open Pages Rules stand had a good conversation (add in what you want) and a free min - I had definitely going to try out the rules soon, for use with the WH40k stuff. 

With an hour to go before closing we played a couple of rounds of Arkham Horror (picture on the left), this was a nice intuitive game of more Cthulhu madness, with elements which reminded us of pandemic and Raiders of the North Sea - so go in fact that Steedo headed off the Zatu to order a copy … 

I did fail on the purchase front only managing £5 of tufts - pitiful compared to Snake-eyes and Steedo spend … but I didn’t really go there with any plan of what to buy (I also have a mantic kickstarter to arrive that I haven’t told the better half about).

A cracking day out with some good banter in the car and a big thanks to Snake-eyes for driving us all there and back - top man. 

Morts