Last of the Drakon Regiment done

I have managed to finish off the last of the Drakon riders from the Regiment. The base needs completing and a coat of varnish.

I still have the Drakon Lord to do - so pretty pleased with this mini. 

I had also finished the another 4 Orks - I have the leaders and the big mech guys to go. 

But I have been busy in the garden - taken out the decking and replaced it with the slabs. 

The weather has taken a turn for the better, which is not good for painting miniatures. I am planning to put wolf riders up the list for, then finish off the Orks and the Drakon Lord … then some WW2 British. 

Morts 

Exeter Legionary Wargames Show 2026

 Saturday saw some of the collective meet up for a trip to the Legionary show in Exeter - DK and I arrived first and did a perusal of the bring and buy - DK picked up a number of bargains with Undaunted Stalingrad and some Batman Miniatures Game stuff, I picked up some British WW2 stuff in 15mm - might try and paint some (after the dragons and wolf riders and Orks and …).

Then we did a wander around the show.

Above a rather nice Rapid Fire game in 20mm and 2 shots of alternate end to WW2, with the Soviets vs the British. The organiser was quite effusive about the books it was based on … which I can’t remember now. But it looked good. 

Above shows a nice 1672 style game - I can’t recall the rules they were using, but looked nice. At alt 40k game using One Page Rules and I think miniatures - pretty epic. 

Talking of Epic - Jason and the argonauts, Talos, a fleece and a ship - lovely setup using Dragon Rampant. 

Then we have some Frostgrave and DBA.

The peeps at Brethren had a large Hastings game and a couple of small participation games which Snake-eyes, Tiger-King and myself had a go at. It was Celts (me) versus Romans (Tiger-King), in a close run thing … I was let down by some appalling dice rolling as my Celts surrounded the Romans - but failed kill. Curses … I pick up the quick start rules for a couple of quid. Could be good for a quick pick up game. An enjoyable show - good fun with chums. 

This weekend was the big event I have been out on the moor for. I was suffering with a little FOMO not being up there, but I got to go to the show and dismantled the decking - which was rotting in places. So a good use of my time. 

Obviously now I have to put the replacement slab etc in place … next weekend?

Morts

Been to Brum …

This weekend we headed to Brum to see Peter Kay on Saturday - fortunately our performance was wrecked by a bomb hoax. A quality show with plenty of laughs.

Saturday afternoon was spent wandering around Brum - which was prettier than I remember. Some lovely Victorian architecture.

I have also managed to complete another one of the Mantic Drakon riders - I am happy with this mini. 

Currently working on some more Orks and the last rider of the regiment set. 

Some of the collective are heading to the Exeter games show on Saturday - hopefully something will catch my eye… like I actually need anymore minis or games.

Morts 

Squig Dogs and the glorious outdoors

 

Painting wise I am still working on the Mantic Orks and have completed these dog things - which must equate to 40k squigs - they appear to have bombs on their backs. A bit of fun with contrast paints.

The weekend saw a little walk and camp on Dartmoor - 2 views of Kes Tor. 

Middle Tor and Frenchbeer rocks

Thornworthy Tor and the view down to Fernworthy reservoir.  

The sunset over Kes Tor and the sunrise of Middle Tor. 

Bloody lovely out there last weekend. 

Morts

More stuff I really do need and a trip to the other moor

 After the game of HotT a few weeks ago I felt that I might need some more wolf riders (I don’t but) … so did the usual thing of scanning through eBay and Etsy to see what was available. Highland miniatures do a nice line in Hobgoblin wolf riders …

So, I thought get 6 for a unit picture above … however, I managed to bugger up the order (seller was a top chap) and 6 became 12 (2 units). Really nice prints and I like the look - the other unit has a couple of bow armed riders - although all have quivers none have a visible bow (apart from those actually shooting), so an thinking of adding them.

Also beer for a nice walk on Exmoor - a lovely day, a bit of cloud and rain.

But turned into a lovely afternoon in the Doone Valley. 

I did think that I should do some local games, the Doone valley reminded me of the Monmouth Rebellion… and I’ve just read about the 1549 Western Rising …

Morts

Da Boyz - first Orks painted

I have managed to complete the first of the GW/Mantic Ork/Marauder mashups.

Overall pretty happy with the start of the kill team - although I think the boots are overly detailed, with lots plates and some pouches. I’m hoping the basing will hide some of the fudging there. 

I have gone for a uniform appearance for these Orks - which just makes sense to me. 6 more to go and some dog things and a couple of goblin types. Might have a go at another Drakon rider next. 

Always too many figures and not enough time. 

Morts

Some finished things and a trip to moor

I have managed to complete the bases on the miniatures I have been painted over the last few months. 

The fantasy figures - and the first use of the flowers. 

The 40k minis - my first set off Mantic GW kitbashes and the commander of the custodes …

A weekend on the moor - Watern Tor and sunrise towards Postbridge from Holming Beam. 

The end of the walk was around Hucken Tor. Vixen Tor in the bottom right. 

I do like the moss over the rocks and trees at Hucken - puts me in mind of Fangorn forest.

Morts

Ork Marauders for Kill Team - WIP

I have put together the Mantic games Ork marauders for a Kill Team. Lots of green stuff and bits to deal with. 

The top two are possible “big nobz” - Kill Team leaders - slugga and big choppa or power claw. The lower 3 are Boyz gunnas, 2 with big shootas and a burna. 

5 boyz - 3 with choppas and sluggas and 2 with shootas. 

The last pictures are of some cyber-dog things, squiggs in the 40k universe and a couple of Gretchen. Then two Orks in armoured suits - these would be elites (but I have forgotten the name). 

Anyway lots of green stuff to add to these boys. Then trying to match profiles to minis. 

I am thinking a WW2-ish paint scheme - but we will see. 

Morts 

Stuff what I have been up too …

1. I have been sucked into looking in to Kill Team 2018 again - and have picked up the following expansions.

Now having had a quick scan, I think I have already got some of the miniatures for these (I don’t need any wraithguard … really I don’t…). I have sisters of battle and some Orks (well Mantic Marauders) to sort out first. Anyway happy with these purchases. 

A the weekend I managed to get out overnight on the moor - had some interesting weathe, sunshine, hail and a bit of frost mid evening. 

A few picks around Little Mis Tor. Good to get out. 

In the painting arena I finished off the Chaos Knight mounted and foot character model. I have always liked this mini. He actually isn’t very chaos-y, so I just painted him as a knight. I free hand painted the shield and had planned some of the symbols on the horse cloth shields but could face it when it came around to it.might add some transfers if any suit from the spares. 

I tried to match the foot and mounted as well as I could. The castle at the bottom of the shield is a bit shorter on the foot version. 

Quite pleased with he overall. Must get the varnish out and base up a few bits and bobs …

Morts

Is this the start of a campaign? Probably not but you never know …

DK and Steedo popped over a for a game (although most of the evening was spent bimbiling and put the world to rights). I had picked Hordes of the Things (HotT) as a simple game to get some miniatures to the table. Also I recall playing some great fun games of HotT back in the day. The sides were Steedo and I with the Hobgoblins verses DK with the Humans. We were playing 36 AP armies (which worked well with the rules). 

The lands of Mortonia has been quiet for many years, but there has been stirring in the lands of the Hobgoblin Khans - the human Kingdom of the Sun moved their experienced general Davio Kaie up to the border river lands. Just in time to, as he was able to intercept on the river a force of Hobgoblins led Steez Khan … battle commenced!

The initial dispositions put the humans in a line - the Hobgoblins had tried to counter the humans with heavy wolf riders backed up by ogres on the right opposing a spear phalanx. Then beasts archers and a chariot versus the human cavalry and riders on the left flank. 

The centres had the hobgoblin warbands and blades facing off against the human knights. 

The river caused many problems for the hobgoblin’s as they are repeatedly repulsed as they tried to force the centre … the phalanx was able to break first the heavy wolf riders and then the ogres …although the artillery (ballista) did a lot of damage supporting the phalanx … 

On the other flank the hobgoblin’s did manage to force their way across the river - the beasts causing lots of problems for the human cavalry… also the hobgoblin archers also managed to break their human opposites … but …

Unfortunately the human centre and left had held firm and many missed opportunities where the humans  had fought off attacks against the odds (ridden their luck - 3 times DK had rolled a 1 and all I needed to do was roll a 2 or more for a quick kill but I all I managed was to roll a 1 as well…). Eventually the hobgoblins had had enough and pulled back from the border … the question is will they be back … and has the attack caused the other powers to prepare for war and conquest?

We had a really good game - some cinematic and frustrating moments and it was a tight game for quite awhile. I am hoping to get another HotT game in and perhaps continue they story/narrative which has started.

Morts

Trajann Valoris - Painted

For my birthday I was given Trajann Valoris figure for my birthday. I have managed to assemble and paint the lord commander of the Custodies of the emperor of mankind. 

I am happy with the red cloak (although I didn’t get the filling of the gaps as well as I could) - I have tried to get the various golds to be different but I am not sure that I have managed it. 

Along with a couple of other things he needs finishing off with a coat of varnish and bases need completing. 

Morts

A flying visit and a couple of games

Last week my Bro and Nephew came over for a couple of days from Denmark. Quite a change from frozen to soggy - but apparently it was nice to see some colour. 

We played a game of Raiders of the North Sea - a solid game with clear mechanics and theme. We were playing with the Hall of Heroes expansion. My nephew went for the good crew and raiding the high points monasteries and fortresses - and was doing rather well. I went for the usual (although not always successful), raid harbours and outposts then score the offerings - and getting your crew killed. The expansion’s quests helping out here. My brother was doing a hybrid strategy. As it was although the visitors did pull out to a decent lead, it was not enough to counter the offerings and points from the Valkyrie track - I out Viking-ed the Danes! We also managed a game of the King is Dead, which due to surprising placements was a win to my Brother.

The plan was to visit Dartmoor for a walk but due to some (more) rain that was shelved for a tour of Isca instead. I took then around part of the city walls (Roman, with some rare Saxon repairs in Northernhay gardens), Rougemont castle - where the last witch executions in England took place, Exebridges, the house that moved (which was inspiration for Bree) and the Cathedral. Some of the places my Brother couldn’t ever remember visiting. Exeter could be a spectacular historical city, but has suffered some massive cultural losses - most of which is self inflicted by the city itself (can’t blame too much on the Baedecker blitz).

We also took the opportunity to visit some games shops, were my nephew picked up some Sternguard and I picked up some Sister of Battle (with my Christmas voucher).

For my recent birthday the Danes had got me Trajan Valoris - commander of the custodies - so that will be an interesting painting exercise. The Sisters of Battle will be making a Kill Team squad. 

Speaking of Kill Team - we had a game using the 2018 rule set. A three way fight between Eldar, Nercons and Space Marines (in retrospect I should have read the rules first and then just facilitated the game rather than being part of it). Also needed a better objective … nevermind it was a good game.

My nephew to suffer a lot of combined fire from the Eldar and Nercons - because the Marines were so difficult to kill … that 3+ save was really frustrating for the Eldar Rangers (well me actually) who were hitting, but not damaging. Also me nephew picked figures based on the rule of cool and then didn’t use them as expected - again more guidance here would have been helpful. The game saw the marines shooting a lot and killing the most enemy fighters, But eventually being forced back and becoming broken - the Eldar had the most figures out of action, but due to the vague objectives managed a draw with the Necrons. 

Off the back of this I have picked up the Kill Team 2019 Annual off eBay (typically I got a good offer just after buying one … aggghhh!), as I think I will go back to this edition as it allows more customisation of the teams. 

A good couple of days - I hope the my visitors enjoyed themselves. 

Morts

Ogryn Destroyers for Ad Mech - painted (and played Battlestar).

With the immanent arrival of some Danes (who seem to have drifted into 40k via lore videos on YouTube) I managed to get back on the painting wagon with the 3 Mantic Ogres which have been converted into Ad Mech Ogryn Destroyers (might be Breachers but I’m not sure). 

Overall pretty happy with these (will need a wash on the lacing on the back of their legs) - tried to do some chipping on the armour - not sure that it fully worked. Also hoping that the backpacks look ok. The Ad Mech have quite a powerful force - I have to sort the servitors out a bit - I will have 2 units of 10 - one melee focused and one shooty. But quite enjoyed these once I got going. 

On Friday Steedo invited some of the collective over for a game - Snake-eyes game. A stripped down (no expansions of Battlestar Galactica. And a quality experience was had by all as humanity tried to escape the chrome toasters!

As it turned out I was a cylon … I am a poor liar and they sniffed out BUTR quickly to - however, BUTR revealed himself before he was put in the brig - and I revealed myself out of order (see below) but the others were unable to put me back into the brig for a couple of turns, so I used them trying to put humans in the brig … Anyway good bants was had by all and the Cylons won - so say we all. We did spot a problem with how we play the game, in that we don’t give the Cylons enough time to read their card without making it obvious that they are a Cylon - it’s not like you can go back and look at the card again without it being obvious that you’re a Cylon. Next time we play every will have 30 seconds to look at their card (although this was not the reason I was outed as a Cylon).

We then played a few games of Perudo -  or more exactly Davrudo using DK’s house rules … where either the “number of” or “number called” had to increase. We did adapt in the last game so one of the numbers had to increase - so 3 “fives” could be followed by a call of 4 “threes” which seemed to work well. 

Morts

A little bit of work on some knights

I have got to work on the horses that arrived in a huge package last week. 

An ancient Chaos knight that I have had for years but never had the right horse for. It is possible that the modern-ish GW Bretonian one is a little big, but I think he looks ok on there. Going to have to make sure that there is a good contrast between the horse barding and the knight himself - so will think on that. 

Now the elf general has been taken off the Ral Partha horse (and the original elven knight will go back on - see the Drakon rider saga for reasons). I need to sculpt a new tail and fix up the General before painting.

Not painting but some work done. 

Morts

Update for February

Last week was my birthday, so have been a little bit busy. I got some lovely presents including this one. 

This is a game based on Danish folklore - although my Danish in-laws didn’t recognise any of the names … but that could be down to poor pronunciation on my part. The aim of the game is to defeat the devil’s minions to win and avoid being caught by him. You get to use various folklore creatures, but in playing them that can move the devil closer to you …

It can be played solo - which I have tried but lost to the devil … I will have another go.

To sort out some knights and things I picked up a couple of horses from eBay. They came very securely packaged ….

Wrapped in tissue paper, in bubble wrap within a box, within styrene chips in a bigger box. Possibly overkill for the plastic I ordered ….

Today I have been out on the moor - a nice day checkpointing. 

The weather was actually quite good - some rain but manageable. The mossy stone was a near impossible to find boundary stone (I think this was the stone - I couldn’t see anything else) which was one of my checkpoints - I made sure my checkpoint was obvious.

Plan to sort the desk and get some paint on this week and play Skoventyr (and win).

Morts

Confrontation Goblin Archers

I present 3 Confrontation Goblin Archers by Rackham (long out of production). I have had these lads on and off the painting table for ages. 

These are lovely figures with lots of detail. I hope I have done them justice - not sure if I have over done the skin highlights. I have to varnish these - do I use the gloss varnish like the rest of goblins or do I use the matt varnish? 

So on to something else now!

Morts

Twilight Imperium 2026 - Thunders Edge Expansion

The annual trip to Kernow for the Collective’s Twilight Imperium game took place, with the latest expansion Thunders Edge. This expansion added some new features - a rift/fracture section of the galaxy, alliances and new factions. Allegedly the expansion should make the game quicker, so Snake-eyes had decided to play to 14 points  … I was not so sure.

We did the usual trip to Strawberry Fields for breakfast and and picked factions, off a dice roll. I picked first - but then had the last pick of the alliance and slice of galaxy.

Morts - The Ral Nel Consortium (orange)

Steedo - The Firmament / The Obsidian (yellow)

Sylon - The Titans of Ul (black)

Snake-eyes - The Arborec (green)

DK - The Deepwrought Scholarate (red)

We then picked alliance factions - where if we conquered their home world we picked up the abilities of that faction hero or commander … can’t remember which.

Below the starting point (approximately noon). Everyone is ready to play … nicely. Surprisingly I managed to get the first breakthrough to find Thunders Edge ( this unlocked at faction specific trait that helped build up action cards in my case), unfortunately I wasted a few rounds not quite getting enough bits to actually win the planet - d’oh. I also revealed the fracture and its access points in my first action … didn’t go there until much later in the game.

Turn 2 - we have some controversy - I checked with another player that I could produce some infantry by activating one system, then pick them up with ship passing through. However on trying to carry this out, was this is not correct. There was then some discussion about if I could carry this out, as I had planned for this over a number of rounds - the decision was that for this game, there would be house rule which would allow this. I appreciated Sylon’s intervention here. 

Sylon and DK were working well together - to be fair DK was refreshing commodities for everyone, although not truly altruistically (as he could get tech and in some cases co-existence. Steedo was trying to work out his complicated faction and Snake-eyes made a run on Mecatol Rex!

Turn 3 - I was on Mecatol Rex - I was feeling a bit stretched. Snake-eyes had moved off after all of his infantry had been “weeded” off (the Arborec are a plant based race, which grow infantry) Mecatol. 

However as the turn ended things were looking ok - I might take the 8 card again to see if I could score a few more points. Sylon’s Titans were a growing power - with DK leaching off co-existing off his advances. 

In the Status part of the turn there was an agenda to be voted on which was FOR, (Against nothing happened)if the Speaker (Snake-eyes) rolled high (there was an issue here) everyone would get a tech upgrade or if he roll low everything in Mecatol Rex was wiped off the board, and every hex around Mecatol had to lose 3 ships. 

Now I expected that any reasonable person would see that voting against was the RIGHT thing to do - however the rest of the collective are obviously not reasonable. This coupled with Snake-eyes inability to roll high when he should meant that I lost the ships, mechs, pds, and infantry in the insert. Basically I was shafted! To quote Hudson in Aliens  “Game over man!”.

The start of turn 3 or 4 … doesn’t matter, what was the point of continuing to play … the others had fighters to sacrifice to the hideous and nefarious action they had chosen to enact … DK was on Mecatol. Snake-eyes was fungally growing dreadnoughts and Steedo was doing his usual … “don’t look at me, I’m not a threat”. 

I was not a threat - just trying to rebuild. 

Mid game scoring - DK opening up a bit of a lead. This was after 6 hours of play - 14 seems a long way off. 

Losing track of turns - Sylon and Snake-eyes have clashed over Mecatol and are both weakened for a bit - DK has started building a monument - a victory point after three turns … but could become more, so was protecting than. Steedo’s faction had done its swappy thing and shockingly he was spreading across the board. I was working on recovering from the underhand backstabbing I had been in the receiving end of…

At this point Sylon and myself were out over the running for a win or top 3 placing - DK was 2 points away from victory, so Snake-eyes and Steedo went in full “stop the win” mode. 

Steedo when for removing DK’s planets (the earlier house rule then worked against DK much to his annoyance), while Snake-eyes tried to remove DK’s legendary planet in the fracture which was worth a victory point. Sylon made a run on Mecatol and took it , while I took a planet (and victory point) in the fracture - which was nice. 

DK was just having to bat off the attacks as he had a target on his back. 

We had some more controversy, where DK didn’t hear when Steedo ask for the secondary action to get a secret agenda - DK couldn’t understand why he wasn’t allowed to pick one from the deck. The reasoning was that we had picked in order. If DK had picked first (which he should have) it would have changed the agendas for the rest of us (the one I had would have gone to Snake-eyes and it suited his faction). 

Back to the game and Snake-eyes managed to roll high and managed to wrestle the planet off DK - who was 1 point short of victory (22:40 to 00:50 off the photo time stamps) … would we play another round?

Then in the status phase the monument received another commodity, which increased it to 2 victory points and DK won! 

So after all of Steedo and Snake-eyes efforts DK’s victory had been inevitable from 2240 …

It was over after 13 hours (much to Sylon’s and my relief as we had been out of the running for about 3 or 4 hours).

End of game score board.

Congratulations to DK on a hard fought win!

A quality but long day - I definitely think that we need to stick with 10 points - a big thanks to Snake-eyes for hosting and a lovely curry and DK for driving Steedo, Sylon and Myself down to Kernow. 

Morts