Lord of The Rings - Farthing Yeomanry

Belated Christmas wishes.... Not quite what we had planned I am sure but it did result in a rather more relaxed affair then previous years without the rushing around from house to house and without the usual fight to desperately seek a comfy chair to sit on....

As promised something a little smaller.

Warlord Games - Halfling (Hobbit) Infantry. Cast in resin they have some wonderful detail, a little bit of pitting or air bubbles on some of the legs, but they clean up really easily. They come with square bases but I swapped these to the round bases to fit with the other figures in his collection.

Reflecting on the past 12 months the LOTR Infamy Infamy have been a lot of fun although my track record of wins is truly appalling. One more game in this round before both sides get reinforcements.

My opponent has been flexing his financial muscle and has several new units for Sauron to field, so I thought I would give him a Christmas present to help him shore up the good guys....

The Farthing Yeomanry are a warband of 10 figures and will make a useful unit to protect their homesteads from the rampaging Orc's. Meanwhile a couple of heroes to begin the fight back.... After all who would not want a Hobbit Riding a Goat!!!

For those interested these are the adapted stats for the Hobbit Farthing Yeomanry.

Hobbit Militia				Type	Inferior Warriors
Points Value	6	Weapon	Hand to Hand	Strength	10
Armour	Step Out	Aggressive Attack	Characteristics
Light	3	3	Mob, Limited Fervour, Supra Numerum

Here's hoping 2021 allows us to get a few more face to face games in. After all it would be quite embarrassing for the Orc commander if these little fella's were to actually beat him on the field of battle.

New Kingdom Egyptian Leaders - Infamy Infamy

With only 2 sleeps until Christmas and the Egyptian leadership finally enters the table almost a year to the day since the first purchase... Hopefully next year an actual game.

The officers are a mix of Foundry, Newline Designs and Rameses II is from Scarab Miniatures. Back row Wargames Foundry, Front row L-R Newline, Foundry, Foundry. A number of them are rather administrative so the new offering from Lucid Eye will be more war like and aggressive looking.

Rameses II is significantly larger than the foundry and newline offerings. Research suggests that your average Egyptian was around 5'6" so with Rameses II being a living God, I guess the extra foot and a half should be ok and won't be noticeable on the tabletop.

Seven Big Men should be more than enough for the New Kingdom Forces, The mix of head gear should mix well with the archer and spear units and the potential auxiliary units planned for January.

Next up something a little smaller....

Dispatches from the front XIV - Christmas Post

Well the escape from lockdown did not last long, as parts of the UK plunges into a new tier, tier four. The latest changes reminds me of the AVBCW campaigns with plans on crossing the Malverns to reach the scared land of Tier One Herefordshire a mere 10 miles away.

With Christmas cancelled, time to re-evaluate festive plans which is a pain but on a positive note creates an opening for some hobby time, which is good as the lead pile has increased somewhat in recent weeks.

Plenty of Wargames firms have been pushing out December discounts and whilst some the delivery times reminds me of the early 80's with packages taking up to 21 days. Some new stuff from Warlord, Warbases lands on the mat and the highlight a couple of nice pieces from Lucid Eye in the shape of a Pharaoh. Perfect to command the New Kingdom forces.

Meanwhile much like waiting for Santa to appear the Baccus order is on it's way perfect for the Pony Wars project in January.

Lacking any face to face gaming of late, I have been working on adapting Sharp Practice with elements from the Infamy rule set for the Zulu wars. We put some house rules together last year but have had a rethink with the release of the Rich Clarke's excellent ancient rules, you can find a copy of the unit stats and house rules here. http://dusttears.blogspot.com/p/sharp-practice-2-zulu-wars-house-rules.html

I have been trying to convince the kids to watch the must watch war films of the last 30 years. They did survive Last of the Mohicans with the iconic battle scene of the massacre of the British leaving Fort Willian Henry. You get a real sense of the pulpable fear in the column. I feel a solo scenario coming on.

Meanwhile one they won't want to watch, more oddities from Netflix.

An Indian Zombie story with British Red Coats circa 1857 (uniforms look more like 1776 to me.) released from a tunnel who set about an Indian special forces team, not a bad evenings entertainment, but how on earth they can fire and load a musket but not open a door is beyond me....

That's all for now... Stay safe all.

Infamy Egyptian Archers - Newline Designs

These seem to have been hanging around for quite a while but finally make it off the paint table, great additions to the New Kingdom forces from Newline Designs.

I was spoilt for choice when it come to a potential archer unit, when looking at the choices Foundry felt a little to irregular and more suited to skirmishing. Warlord were a little too thin leaving Newline who gave a good mix of head gear and a sense of mass.

The newline regiment packs represent good value, a touch heavy on the flash, I lost a couple of casualties when trying to straighten them, they do seem a little weak at the ankles, but overall a good fit with the existing forces.

In terms of the stats for Infamy, I see no reason why they would differ from the Hittite main body so the following stats will apply.

Hittite Spearmen				Type	Inferior Warriors
Points Value	14	Weapon	Bow	Strength	8
Armour	Step Out	Aggressive Attack	Characteristics
None	2	2	Drilled, Darken the skies

Next up the Egyptian Leaders make there way on to the paint table.

Infamy Infamy - The Elizabethan Zombie Chronicles #6 Return to the Bridge.

Having been beaten back from the bridge at Barnford, a week later the Spanish try again to stem the tide of the risen who were a constantly wandering into town in ever increasing numbers.

A new day, a new plan..... Last time the slow methodical approach had allowed the dead to mass against the Spanish forces, so this time Alvar Fanez opted for speed and punch (it also allowed me to try out the tweaked cavalry stats for Infamy Infamy.)

Skirting the main road the cavalry force flanked the dead massed to the front, approaching the barn from the open fields on the left, the cadavers slowly stumbled to face off against the advancing living.

The heavy cavalry picked up speed and cantered towards the empty shells blocking their path. They should be able to sweep the former living aside.

However the Witches and her evil coven called forth more undead to slow the cavalry advance. (The Witches used command points and their sigma cards to raise additional undead and bolster their numbers)

As the dead rose up from the burial pits the cavalry reached the first of the undead, the dead were nothing but resilient and whilst the cavalry broke the fervour and took the unit down to all but 2 undead, they managed to kill one of the heavy cavalry, who returned and turned on his former comrades. (Similar to a kill stats on shooting the casualty returns to the other side on a 6 on a 1D6)

Having fought two rounds of combat the cavalry withdrew and charged again riding through the remains of the first zombie unit and catching the second unit in flank, riding them down. (that felt better.)

Whilst the first wave of dead had been cleared the time to clear them had allowed a number of the forces of darkness to rush to plug the gap, a company of wolves charged forwards to attack the cavalry. (Led by a Status II leader who can only command the same species.)

However the cavalry were ready to counter this new treat, firing their muskets as they charged forwards to meet the wild beasts. (Two command cards to fire their pistols on the way in.) The wolves were beaten back.

With the path open, Alvar called forward his infantry who fired into the shambling dead. (they moved on a 1D6 on the Tempus Card towards the nearest living unit...)

Meanwhile the cavalry spotted one of the Witches caught in the open, stripped of her undead bodyguard, she was struck down by the heavy horse. driving the force morale below zero. With the head of the snake dead, the remaining undead were uncoordinated and were mopped up by the living. (The Witch characters can activate units in command range or trigger fresh undead from any burial pit if within range.)

With the field open the Spanish grabbed the wagon and moved it into place before the dead could recover their composure. That should slow their incursions for a while.

A minor victory for the living.

A good solo encounter allowing me to test out some of the alternative rule mechanisms, reducing the undead fervour to 3 makes them a little weaker and restricting the command range for the their evil controllers makes for a tighter game... As with other encounters within Infamy2 hitting the flanks makes the world of difference to clearing units from the table.

Next up the forces of darkness strike back.... and some more of the odder units....

Infamy Shock Markers - Hittites.

I have hit a touch of painters block of late, staring at the same 16 Egyptian archers who have been staring back at me for over a fortnight. Time to switch to something else to get the juices flowing.

I do like a mini diorama to hold my shock markers for Too Fat Lardies games. 

Rather frustratingly the guys at Foundry do a split pack of Hittite causalities and civilians, but a complete pack of dead and dying for the Egyptians, I had hoped to trade the civilians for more dead and wounded but they were unable to break the pack up.... A shame as the civilians have limited use at the moment.

It did mean that I had to create a couple of extras from some of the spare shields and spears from the recent Newline purchase, Still the dis-guarded weapons do compliment the wounded rather well and give me enough bases for the first outing.

Might just have to watch Exodus: Gods and Kings to give me that extra push....

Outlaws of the Water Margin - Celestial Temple

Still no face to face games and in need of a break from the ancients, I thought I would clear a couple of the older projects and languishing in the cupboard of shame.

This shrine is from the guys at Adrian's Wall's comes ready painted in 4 separate pieces but was in need of a base and some extra flocking, something to blend it in with the existing terrain and some nice flowers suitable for a well tended temple. 

Now for the back story....

The shrine on Dragon and Tiger Mountain contained many imprisoned spirits of heroes past, but the envoy of the Song government was no respecter of tradition and tore open the paper seals and had his men roll back the stone slab demanding to see the content of the shrine.

" I see nothing but an empty well". As he spoke there came a rumbling from far below. Suddenly sparks whirled before his eyes and his nostrils filled with the pungent smell of sulphur. With a roar a black cloud shot upwards, piercing the roof, and into the sky like a pillar of blackness. From it fell a hundred or more lights in a dazzling cascade, dispersing in all directions. He had unleashed something more serious. The nine dozen heroes of the Water Margin had been released, fulfilling an ancient prophecy,

For those not familiar with the original Chinese folk tail or the BBC TV show from the 1970's It takes place during the Song Dynasty, a time of transition and upheaval. A succession of corrupt administrators had bled the farmers dry, extorting money for personal gain. In such days, even honest men were driven to rebellion. Thus the outlaws of Liangshan Po came together: heroes all, disgusted by the corruption and betrayal of the nation.

In the Water Margin there are 108 heroes said to be the spirits reborn of other, earlier heroes. 

I am a little short of the 108 heroes so these left overs from Curtney's will have to do to bolster the numbers. They have been tucked away in the draw for several years high time they hit the paint table. I also dug out some old old glory boxer casualties which will make some excellent shock markers.

That's it no more Chinese bare metal at least for now.....

All based and ready for undercoating, but not before a few more Egyptians clear the table....

Hittite Guard - Infamy Infamy

Well it looks like next week game is off.... 

So a little less pressure to complete the current ancient lead pile, however I am managing to get in a couple of hours of hobby time in a day, I suppose lockdown has some advantages...

After last weeks officer types, the first of the Newline Hittites hit the table, a bit of a hidden gem if you ask me, some really nice designs which mix in really well with the other manufacturers.

They do require a little more cleaning up, with excess flash under the arms, legs and underside of the base, plus a number of the models need the hand drilling out to take the spear, but they take paint really well and with a mix of shields give you plenty of modelling options for units.

The unit above represents a Hittite guard unit more formally dressed than the previous units. These elite Warriors will bolster the infantry arm of the Hittite army. I lifted the colours straight off the Newline Website, the oranges and yellows give a superior feel to the mixed colours of the regulars.

Next up something a little different from the unfinished box.... 

Hittite Leaders - Infamy Infamy.

Having posted the assembled Hittite warband last week, first up of phase two, the leaders for the Hittites.

The  officers are a mix from, Warlord and Newline Designs, I have not come across the guys at Newline before but they have a wide range of figures for a number of ancient armies and are a lower price than their Warlord and Foundry counterparts.

The Newline castings mix in well with both Warlord and Foundry, they need some cleaning up, with excess flash under the arms or the underside of the base and in some cases the hands need drilling out to insert the weapons, but once based and painted you can see no real difference and do add some variety to the Hittite forces.

The Hittite officers are in bronze mail shirts and come with a number of shield options. Front row L-R Newline, Warlord, Warlord, Back row all Newline.

I have based them on the new command bases which I have custom made from Warbases. All I now need is to get a game in.

Next up Hittite Guards.

Infamy Infamy - The Elizabethan Zombie Chronicles #5

With the Dee Sanction at over 800% funded on Kickstarter it got me thinking about kicking off some of the Elizabethan Zombie War Games.

Whether it was lockdown boredom or the recent run of LOTR games using Infamy Infamy I figured I would adapt the Warlords of Erewhon - Army of Darkness to Infamy, Infamy - Both rule sets use chits or dice to provide random orders, which are a great aid to solo play.

So a short game to give the Infamy horror rules a run through.

Back in February the Spanish had cleared the village of Barnford see here. However the dead continued to seep into town, an earlier scouting mission identified the main entry point as the  bridge at the far end of town, if it could be blocked the Spaniards could secure the town properly. There was a sturdy wagon which would be perfect if it could be reached.

During lockdown one, I painted a number of new units for the Zombie Wars, but have yet to get them on the table. The perfect excuse. So a hand picked group set off on the mission.

The hand gunners picked off a few of the dead as they shuffled forwards. The way to the farm seemed clear of the dead.

Alvar Fanez and his body guard rushed forwards to secure the bridge and dispatch the few dead milling around, however despite hacking and slashing the dead would not die.

Fanez was beaten back... after being caught in the flank by some of the recently returned. That's really not what I had planned.

With hordes of dead now crossing the bridge, Fanez fell back along the river bank, having lost one of his body guards but he had escaped the clutches of the dead.

Meanwhile his men were having there own issues, the noise of the handguns had attracted numerous groups of the dead who slowly advanced across the cornfield.

The curse of newly painted figures.. The Pike block fell back unable to hold back the dead.

Unlike the Warlords of Erewhon rules the dead were no push overs and crept ever closer to the living. The hand gunners engaged to their front were caught in the flank by beguiled villagers who ambushed them and were driven back...  The living force morale slipped to zero. The bridge would remain open for now.

A fun encounter, the new rules worked well and provided some fresh challenges for the living, they will need to be far more cautious in the future.

Perhaps once Lockdown Two is finished I can get a few more games in.....

A summary of the rule modifications are set out below.

Tempus  Fugit.

The living play uses all of their Sigma Cards first conducting there actions before the undead player.

At the end of a turn, an unactivated undead group will move 1D6 towards the nearest living unit, if any Sigma Cards are in play these may be used to direct an undead unit to a target of the players choice.

Human Shock

The living ignore shock when moving on the table top.

Handguns

Range 24” – To Hit 5,6 – Lower Armour Class by one level if hit. Slow reload (requires 1 action)

Undead -  Each kill inflicted within hand to hand roll on the following chart. Each success adds a further figure to the unit.

No Armour	Light Armour	Medium Armour	Heavy Armour
5 or 6	6	6	6

Undead ignore shock up to the point that it stands at double the number of figures in the group. At that point the group is removed from play.

Undead have a limited ambush of 6”

Necromancer – On two Sigma Cards an additional undead unit from any deployment/ambush point may be deployed.

Fleet of Foot – All Terrain penalties are ignored (Rats and Crowz etc.)

Slow – Roll 2 Dice and discard the lowest dice for movement. (Zombies)

Kings of Bronze - Forces assemble.

Finding myself with a spare hour I thought I would get the freshly painted ancients out on the table. Whilst Covid19 has played havoc with so much of the fabric of what we do day to day, it has given many of us far more hobby time than could have been expected. Thank heaven for an immersive hobby.

Having spent much of the spring clearing the backlog of unfinished projects, I was determined that no metal mini should be left behind in this and future projects...

Phase one complete and all mini's painted.

First up the Hittite Forces.

Three units of spear.

Three units of bow.

One unit of levy spear.

One units of skirmishers.

One unit of chariot runners.

Two chariots.

Opposing them the New Kingdom Egyptians looking to reclaim their conquered lands.

Three units of spear.

Two units of close combat troops

One units of skirmishers.

Two chariots.

Not a bad start for the Infamy Infamy project.

Now for part two.

All of the above are from Warlord or Foundry, very different in style, but they do mix in rather well, Warlord are a little slighter than the heavier set Foundry casts. 

I plan on getting the first game on the table in December and should have part two well underway with Commanders for both sides more Egyptian's in the form of archers, Nubian auxiliaries & more Hittite spearmen. Plus more chariots for both.

Lots to do before the year is out...