Horisont V - Kingdom of Heaven

Fresh from a couple of days gaming at Horisont V with some photos of the Third Crusade game I hosted. Each army came in around 2750 points with two to three players aside.

First the Ayyubids. Two big units of Syrian halqa, two units of arab infantry (half with bows), two units of Turcoman light horse, some Mamluk cavalry and a gaggle of skirmishers - all Musketeer Miniatures, painted by Howard Gray (oblivion@cix.co.uk), and based by me:

Then the Third Crusaders. two units of MO knights, and another of Crusader (mounted) knights, with dismounted crusaders, some mercenary Italian crossbowmen and allied Kingdom of Jerusalem foot (half with crossbows) - all Perry Miniatures, painted and based by me:

Mostly positive response with only one announcing the rules/lists were broke after his Syrian halqa received take a right kicking off some Templars and then get cut down when they eventually broke!

So obviously it's something we'll have to address in a future errata - or not :-)))

To be fair, the Ayyubids are not an easy army to play. Even for experienced players they may present a bit of a challenge. I'd planned on a 8x4, but ended up on a shorter board, which didn't help. These guys certainly need the space.

Anyway, looks like we'll be doing a re-run at Aalborg sometime soon and maybe another location yet to be confirmed ;-)

General tidying up

I was pretty unhappy with the Moritat and Destroyer Squad. So they have enjoyed a renaissance:

Then there was the matter of my monthly commitment to a 29mm WW1 Imperial Germans army for The Great War. This month (or rather last month's) requirement was for sixteen more Grenadiers:

Thankfully, I 've only another fourteen of these to do, as well as a couple of HMGs, and field artillery piece and four lancers and then I will be free of Field Grey, free I tell you!

Okay, back to basing an Ayyubid army for next weekend, as well as the next batch of Caesarian Romans...

Rome!

I know, it's been a very long time since I posted anything here, but I have been painting....

First up is a growing Caesarian Roman army based for both Clash of Empires and Hail Caesar.

Balearic Slingers,

Numidian Skirmishers,

Cretan Archers,

I hope to have the first Legion cracked over the weekend. Just waiting on some steel bases to come through the post...

Moritat and Destroyers!

Well, that's the last of them finished for the weekend in time for the weekend:

Group Shot

Here's the full group for the Bolter&Chainfist painting challenge:

and some extra Cataphractii termies for good measure:

Light at the end of the tunnel! Death Guard Contemptor.

With the Contemptor Dreadnought complete, the ten termies on the way and the Destroyers awaiting assembly, I feel like I may soon escape painting Death Guard...

Legion Praetor

Pretty much straight out of the box. I may well do another with a power scythe eventually though:

Back from Hols

Sorry for the long break, but here's some more Death Guard in way of apology ;-)

To add insult to injury, I actually finished the Deathshroud back in June, but just did not make time to put them up on here. They gained a few transfers this weekend and probably deserve another photo...

The Tactical Support Squad were about half way there. I just needed to finish off the weathering and make the Volkites glow! Still some barbed wire to go on the bases though.

Next up is the Praetor, ten Termies, a Contemptor Dreadnought and another Apothecary.

Last of the Tactical Marines

Last six out of the forty that seemed to have dominated my painting tray for quite a while!

and a Apothecary to keep them safe. Yes, he's missing his left pauldron as I don't have a Mk IV Death Guard one for him yet :-(

and seven more!

I tried out a green wash on the brass and I am quite taken with the effect:

So I'm now working my way through the earlier versions and doing the same thing.

Next Seven!

So, that just leaves 13....

Third Crusade - again

With Kingdom of Heaven supplement for Clash of Empires in final draft and planned for a Summer release and freshly back from talking medieval at Kalamazoo, I can feel the need to dust off my crusaders. Some more foot seems a must as the Hospitaller crossbowmen need some protection. Having made some progress on the identity of the Hospitaller marshal and what was going on at Arsuf, means a mounted figure painted up as Baldwin de Carron is a certainty. If only I can decide how he might combine personal with household heraldry...

But first, I really must finish off those pesky Death Guard.

All washed up!

Ready for general tarting up me'thinks:

Wash Day

Next twenty Death Guard Tactical marines base painted, assembled and ready for receive some washes.

Yes, there are two vexilla in there. In truth the first twenty were actually the first two halves of separate squads with subtle differences in the decals. These, then, will make up the second half to each twenty man Tactical squad.

Who let the dogs out etc. ;-)

As the next pack of Horus Heresy era marines for the Elva, Vlka Fenryka aka The Rout have reached the painting tray and, following requests from the cheap seats, here is the force to date. The only thing missing is the Fenrisian Wolves as the old goblin mounts are being replaced by nice new GW versions. Apologies to Nordic friends for what are clearly Nordic inspired rather than real titles ;-)

Lempogärd, Fenris Hunters

Ukkogärd, Fenris Hunters

Mielikkigärd, Fenris Hunters

Førgärd, Wolf Scouts

Etsiägärd, Wolf Scouts

Förloraderne, Wulfen

Surma Tuonelasta, Rune Priest

Äijö Pitkänen, Rune Priest

Even Halvfist, Contemptor Dreadnought

Jarl Durfast Spiritwolf, lord of the Elva

Ageir Skarpeklo, Wolf Guard of Fenris, vaerangi of Durfast Spiritwolf

 Vaerangir of the Elva

Marshal Durak Rask, Siegemaster of the Death Guard Legion

As per the Fortuitous Accidents post, the FW Games Day 'special' received some dog love, which required a little additional work.

The result is Durak Rask, Siegemaster of the Death Guard Legion:

I think the new Thunder Hammer is much more '30K' than the original. The Volkite Serpenta pistol was produced by cutting down a Caliver. I'm sure that FW will produce a proper one in due course, but I think this looks okay.

Of course, this now means a proper FW version of the good siegemaster will appear shortly ;-)

Death Guard Apothecary

I really enjoyed doing this model. I tried to keep the base coat close to white with grey chipping rather than the my usual scuffed off-white look.

Mk 2 armour and lots of detail - what's not to like!

I may do another one in Mk 2 with a powersword in due course ...

more Death Guard heavies...

Next five Heavy Support/Havocs:

and all ten together:

They'll be a couple of characters to come over the next few days, and then it's on to the next batch of twenty Tactical marines. Got to keep going or I'll run out of steam!

He ain't heavy... with Death Guard recipe!

First of 10 autocannon armed Heavy Support troopers:

I changed the helmet crest for the Mk II version as I'm saving the fore and aft crests in red for captains (see last post). Besides I think it looks cool!

Here's the rest of the squad so far:

The next 5 are base coated and awaiting final assembly. So shouldn't be too long...

A few have asked for the recipe. So here it is:

The base coat is Rakarth Flesh and Castellan Green with Army Painter Weapon Bronze for the metal bits. This then gets a wash of Agrax Earthshade with a little watered down Reikland Fleshshade in places. I also use some Nuln Oil on the metal bits of the shoulder pads and the collar. Make sure you get into all the nooks and crannies with the first coat of Rakarth, as the washes will run off any bare resin. I suggest doing the base coat on the sprue and touching it up once you've assembled the figure.

Next I dapple on the Rakarth Flesh again with smaller dapples in White Scar.

The white metal is just Ironbreaker washed and touched up again and the bolter is Mechanicus Standard Grey with a Nuln Oil Wash.

The bases are just blank painted sand, dry brushed with Mournfang, then Baneblade and then Rakarth.