Battle of Sotium

Edmonton's Mayday convention was held this weekend, and by all accounts it was a very successful. Thanks to all the out-of-towners who drove to Edmonton!

I ran my Command & Colors: Ancients game for Bob, Terry, Jonathan and Matthew. We ran the Sotium scenario twice, switching sides and commanders, and the team of Terry and Jonathan won. Congratulations!

The Roman battle line, ready for the Gallic onslaught (the Gauls won both games).

Should have another update tomorrow with some new Cryx pieces for Warmachine.

'Til next time.

Easter Romans

Just finishing up a 4-day Easter Holiday weekend. It was a perfect opportunity to finally finish off the Roman army for this year's Mayday convention scenario of Command & Colors: Ancients.

Here is the completed Roman army for the Battle of Sotium. The army is composed of three legions.

Each legion has two elements of medium infantry...the core of legionaries we most often think about when we conjure an image of Imperial Roman soldiers.

Each legion also has one element of Auxilia.

And an element of medium cavalry.

Along with an element of light infantry...in this case, conscripted Gallic javelineers (I really don't like these particular figures from Warlord).

The army also possesses an element of artillery.

Well, that's the whole thing, and I can finally put this project to bed...and get back to Cryx!

'Til next time.

Tutorial: Making Small Hills

OK, so besides the armies I'm working on for the MayDay convention, the scenario requires a bit of terrain. I'm running the game on a 5' hex grid mat, and there are fourteen hills required in the scenario. Time to buckle down and make some hills!

I started with a paper cut out of a roughly circular disk that fits inside a 5" hex. Then I went to work with the scissors and cork tile.

Each hill is composed of three tiers of tile. Each circle was cut out a little smaller than the one below it. The hill tiers were glued together with white glue.

Before you know it...fourteen 5" diameter hills.

Texturing these, I used the same technique that I use for figure bases. First, glue and sand.

Next, a spray of flat brown.

Then, dry brushed layers of orange-brown and off-white.

Add patches of watered-down glue, shake on some static grass, and presto.

Of course, this technique for the hills has the benefit of allowing the figure bases to blend in nicely.

Next up will be a tutorial on painting Roman Auxilia.

'Til next time.

Celt Army Done for MayDay Convention

The MayDay convention is coming up fast, but at least the Celt (more properly, Gallic) army I need for the Command & Colors game I'm running is now done. Well, it's not done-done...there are still lots of details I'd like to put in...mostly in clothing, but what the hell. Something has to give.

Here are the Warrior Infantry units, with the Medium Cavalry units in the background.

And here are the Auxillia Infantry, with the Light Cavalry in the background.

I'm going to assemble the required magnetic bases for these guys tomorrow...but at least I can move onto the Roman army now. Just a few weeks left, but I think it will all be done on time.

'Til next time.

Holiday Project...Underway!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Holidays have been going for about a week and a half, and I've gotten a rather large project underway. Thinking forward to the MayDay convention 2011, I'd like to put on a game I've been wanting to do for several years now. This will be a miniaturization of a fairly balanced and exciting Command and Colors scenario: Sotium.

Quick background: In 56 BC Caesar had campaigned in Gaul for two years and had moved on to Illyria. With the Roman general gone, the Veneti tribe rebelled. Caesar sent Publis Crassus to Aquitania to subdue the Sotiates so that they would not join the Veneti rebellion. However, while Crassus was moving through the Sotiates territory, they were ambushed by King Adiatuanos' levy.

I'm starting with the Gaul army...62 figures, 15 of which are cavalry.

Here are the Warrior infantry units, along with the Gaul Medium Cavalry.

And then there are the seven Auxilia infantry units and three units of Light Cavalry.

It took about 5 days to clean, assemble, prime and ink all the pieces. They are a mix of Warlord and Wargames Factory plastics. I'm imagining they will take some time to paint because of all the plaid clothing and fancy shields. Better get started...skin first! At least there's a fair bit of that easier stuff.

After doing the Gaul army, I'll move on to the Roman troops.

Happily, the holiday's started with a Christmas ski trip to Banff. Weather was awesome.

'Til next time!

Hobby & Game Holidays

Well, it's the end of the year...and my hobby room has been a blasted mess for the last six months. So at the start of the holidays, I did a big clean up. The result:

Of course, I immediately filled the table back up again with the next two projects, but for a few moments, all was tidy and serene in my little corner of hobbydom.

For the last several years, I've always gotten together with my buddy Dave Coltman for a game over the holidays. Today we were able to hook up over a Command & Colors Ancients battlefield. Whenever we play C&CA, we always play twice and switch sides, with the winner being the fellow with the biggest victory banner differential. Today's scenario was Boudica's Revolt, 61 AD.

C&CA is a great game. One of the reasons I love it is that the scenarios are rarely balanced. As such, they play out with a very historical flavor (i.e. the winner wins). So winning, per se, is always a matter of degrees. The set up.

This scenario is invariably a Roman win. Dave took the British during the first match. Here he is contemplating his opening move, which will be a right flank activation to get Boudica into the battle.

Dave wound up winning the day with a total of 12 banners to 9. Good games!

Back at the hobby table, I have two projects going. I really want to get my Space Hulk Genestealers finished up. Elliot and I are already 4 games into our 12 game campaign...and I've been using his alien minis. I want to be able to use my own! Our campaign match is currently tied 2-2.

And for the next bout of WWI Canvas Eagles insanity, I'm taking on 8 Albatros D.Vs.

I'm about a third of the way into the project right now, and I'll start the series of build posts next week.

'Til then, Happy New Year!