Lockdown Day 78

Hi!

Today I've had a bit of a mixed bag of solo gaming and painting as well as some bits and bobs of a sculpting sort.

First up, here's my Goff Nob Mob:

Goff Nobz

I tried to keep the little guys somewhat inspired by the 2nd edition 40k original pics I showed the other day so instead of just having utilitarian black and a smidge of white, I added some bright red with orange highlights which really livens up the figures.

Here's the current mob:

The Mob so far

This will represent a single formation for my warband as it expands but will probably have the nobz put into a separate unit with the Warboss and his ride once I have it finished...

Speaking of which, I was looking at the classic Epic Battlewagon and was uninspired by the little cheesy skull and spikes on the front so have spent a bit of time working on an upgraded one this afternoon:

 Battlewagon wip

I still have a bit of work to do on it as I am going to replace the weedy wheel spikes and add some impressive banner poles on it to give it the real Orky Warboss' personal super cool ride vibe that it deserves.

I'm also starting to pull together lots of odds and ends that I can use to bodge together the retro scenery I want as I am planning on adding funky cacti and all sorts of gubbins and trying to replicate the original scenics seen in the old 2nd edition battle reports on a small scale. Hopefully I'll have the first of it finished in the next few days and will show it when I can!

I also managed to play not one but two quick games of Battletech today using the introductory rules and found it to be rather fun!

Full information can be found HERE over on my Tales From the Inner Sphere blog but having heard about how plodding Battletech was with near wrecked mechs dragging themselves along with their only operational finger, I was pleasantly surprised.

I am also working on a commission at present so I don't have quite as much time on my hands but will try and keep the entertaining posts going every day while the lockdown continues and once I'm back at work, we shall see how things go.

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown Day 75

Hi!

I've had a bit of a mixed day here with bits and bobs being worked on but not much to show for it!

First up, I've got a bit of a micro project underway with a tiny version of a 40k Ork warband started. The plan is to make a 2nd edition sized warband in 6mm and use my own rules to play some small skirmishes using them.

Classic 40k 2nd edition Ork warband

I decided to do this on a bit of a whim as I've got quite a pile of Epic gubbins lying around and have been wondering what to do with it. I plan on using 30mm lipped bases with five infantry, two bikers or one vehicle on each and recreating some teeny warbands from the golden days of 2nd edition.

Initially I've picked out 20 boyz, 5 nobz, a dread and battlewagon which should keep me entertained for the next day or so and hope to expand the force up to the technicolour excitement of a 2000 point Ork warband of many clans roughly identical to the first image.

This will require me to rummage out the following:

1x Warboss
1x Weirdboy plus Minders
5x Nobz
15x Goff Boyz
5x Goff Skarboyz
10x Deathskull Boyz
10x Evil Sunz Boyz
10x Badmoon Boyz
1x Shokk Attack Gun plus Snotling ammo
1x Battlewagon
1x Dreadnaught
1x Warbuggy
1x Wartrakk
2x Warbikes

Now reading the original battle report, the game was played on a 8'x4' board but I'm fairly sure that I play a game on a 2'x3' if I wanted. I'm also keen on copying some of the terrain in miniature so we shall see what I can bodge together!

In other news, I've ordered some maps from Ral Partha Europe for playing some games of Battletech with.

Maps aplenty!

According to the listing I'll be getting ten different map sheets covering a variety of terrain types and I look forward to seeing what I get. Not too bad for a tenner, especially when all the other map packs I've found cost considerably more!

I'll have to wait for them to arrive but I'm looking forward to trying out some classic Battletech using them with my paper standees and the old 3rd edition rules which I've managed to rummage out. It will be interesting to see how the game plays compared to Alphastrike. I'll post a review of them when they arrive and will see how I get on.

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown Day 30

Hi!

Well it's now been 30 days of the Lockdown and it's looking like we've got at least another few weeks to wait before we get back to work.

Looking at my blog, I've posted more updates and miniatures in the first four months of 2020 than I did all of last year and if things continue, I suspect I'll have more posts and miniature updates than I did in the last two years which is pretty amazing.

In other news, I've been keeping an eye on the Epic Challenge that folks are running around the Oldhammer community and it's got me thinking that maybe I should have a bash at painting up a new Epic force.

I currently have a number of Eldar, Squat and Space Marine units painted up but I have been thinking that I'd like to have a go at bulking them up a bit and possibly adding some new forces. I'll need to look through my Epic stuff but I do have a fair number of Epic stuff awaiting painting.

Unreleased Ork Walker (Oh how I wish they'd released it!)

In an ideal world, I'd go for Imperial Guard but that's one of the few armies I don't currently have any of but I do have Orks and I'm thinking of going for a Gargant heavy force and sculpting all my own stuff, be it Gargants, Stompas or Battle Fortresses. As I mentioned, I'll need to rummage my miniatures collection but I think I've got enough Orky infantry to give me a decent sized infantry and Battle Wagon formation.

I'll post a bit more pondering on the possibilities tomorrow but in the meantime, All the best!

Epic Command Squads

Hi!

I've passed the blip of mentalness concerning 28mm and have been working on repairing my Epic command stands that my cat so thoughtfully ate the banners from last year.

Ultramarine Command Squads, Techmarine, Captain and Medic

Whilst pootling away with them, it got me to thinking about how command squads are represented in Epic. In 2nd edition, each Space Marine character got it's own base with different abilities while in Epic 40k, things got streamlined and they all got combined on to one.

While I can see the wisdom of such a move, I do like the spectacle of having each little character moving around the battlefield carrying out their own role so went with mounting each on their own base with a bodyguard and banner.

I love the spectacle it provides and helps identify command elements from a distance and while a tad ostentatious, I think it fits the 40k universe quite well!

Here's a pic of all my command squads to show how they look:

Banners Aplenty

Eventually, I plan on adding a Chaplain and Librarian to my Ultramarine force and have got their stands underway as I type but I also have some Orks primed and ready as well as a batch of jungle terrain that I'm busily making for my retro green table!

I had forgotten how much fun it was to paint in Epic scale as it's surprisingly easy to paint up a small formation of troops and vehicles in a short period of time. The only downside is that I am running low on lipped bases so will need to replenish my supply soon. I'm also looking for some slightly larger lipped bases for superheavy tanks and titans so will need to have a bit of a peruse of the interwebs for a source that's not too expensive to fit my meagre budget.

In the meantime, All the best!

Messing About With Epic

Hi!

Sadly hobby time has had to be suspended for the time being as we've got guests visiting so the man cave has been converted back to a bedroom but I've taken the opportunity to have a sneaky peek at some of my posts over the last few years and have taken a bit of a hankering for some more Epic shenanigans!

While I'm tempted to have a go at creating a massive army ala Epic Space Marine with entire companies of troops and tons of titans, superheavy tanks I'm much more likely to actually paint up some slightly more modest forces.

Epic Imperial Guard!

With that in mind, I will be using Epic 40k as at least the basis for some skirmishes featuring something more like reinforced platoons or possibly even smaller by converting some more stats for use with Song of Blasters!

I managed a couple of games last year using both systems and rather enjoyed the experience so think I will use it as an opportunity to both flesh out my current armies and build a few new ones too!

What I loved about Epic 40k other than the super streamlined system was in the original rulebook, the sample forces were essentially 6mm scale versions of 2nd edition 40k armies as can be seen with Force Firestorm:

 As you can see, it's pretty small with just a command squad plus two tactical squads plus a smattering of vehicles which was very doable in 2nd edition 40k and I've got plenty of gubbins that wouldn't be too much effort to paint up something similar!

Better yet, with a bit of effort, I could even use my old Codexes a bash to actually put together some teeny versions of a 40k force!

I'll need to rummage my bits boxes to see what I've got and I suspect I need some more lipped bases but I'm raring to have a go and if it gets me painting and gaming, all the better!

In other news, I've now got a Dwarven steamtank formation or two built and ready to paint for my ongoing 2mm project and I've got the makings of my Orc Carnosaurs to work on too and once the gaming room come library is back in place I'll be showcasing my progress and trying out Land Ironclads with some reinforcements!

All in all it's proving to be rather a satisfying week but I'm once again finding myself lured by 28mm and am having to resist as best as I can as I know I'm unlikely to make a go of any larger scale project that I start. Hopefully I'll be distracted by my smaller scale gubbins but if all else fails, maybe I should have a go at putting together a Mordheim style warband to test out the waters...

Anyhoo, for the meantime All the best!

Epic 40k!

Hi!

I've managed to play yet another game, this time a 250 point skirmish using Epic 40k!

Epic 40k

Now Epic 40k is possibly the game I played most back in the day and have very fond memories of playing epic battles fielding my Orks against my friends Imperial Fists and I've always found it a shame that folks didn't warm to the ruleset.

Sadly my mega Ork Waaargh got flogged off many years ago but I thought I'd use the opportunity to play a game using the smaller warbands I have kicking around and while the game wasn't very long and the detachments were a bit wonky, I really enjoyed playing the game for the first time in about a decade!

Sneaky Xenos lurking in the undergrowth

The Eldar won the game rather quickly by winning the initiative for both movement and shooting and proceeded to use their Falcons to blow up my Landraider and it's speeder outrider while the main Eldar force lurked in cover and their Dreadnought and Dark Reapers sniped the Imperials as they approached.

Ultramarines deploy

After killing my Imperial flankers, the Eldar Falcons started shooting up my main detachment of Marines and the Imperials couldn't get close enough to the nippy Eldar to give them a taste of bolters and the survivors were forced from the field.

Snipe!

The game was great fun and very nostalgic but I did find that I could have done with a more balanced force on each side rather than whatever I had painted at the time. I'm tempted to use the approach that they showcase in the rulebook and form small detachments based on 2nd edition sized armies:

An Epic 40k Detachment

I'd highly recommend folks take a second look at Epic 40k as it's a wonderfully simple and streamlined ruleset that allows you to have a decent sized game in a short time. I love the effects of blast markers resulting in pinned units which then can force them to retire, the short range and deadly firefights and the brutal close combat phase!

Compared to earlier and later editions of the game, there's less crunch in the rules with most units having a Firepower rating instead of lots of different weapons but I must admit that I really like this approach as it makes for faster and more fluid games.

Sadly while Imperial, Chaos, Tyranid and Orky armies are getting lots of lovely new proxy miniatures, the Eldar seem to have been largely overlooked so I've added an EPIC WANTED PAGE for the odds and sods that I'm missing from my collection. It's mostly infantry that I'm after so if you've got some spare Epic Eldar gubbins, I'm more than happy to trade! I've got lots of Rogue Trader era Eldar and an assortment of painted stuff I'm willing to trade for them!

Sadly I'm now having to head out to work but I'll try to get another 15mm scale skirmish played this evening and another battle report soon but in the meantime, All the best!