Outremer - Christian Missile Units

What comes first, the painting or the gaming?

Sometimes you need to keep the games going, to drive the painting on. Only a few more Crusader Units left before the decks are clear. 

12 Crossbow Men, with a number in white smocks to show their commitment to the cause.

Next up 12 Archers from Fire Forge Games, these go together really well and are quick to paint.

Dropped into Warbases Midgard movement trays to keep the units together.

Now for the next outing as the march to Jerusalem continues.

Richard I Personnel Bodyguard - Third Crusade

Just missing the November deadline as the weather was crap to varnish.

Bored of the white and having quite a cluster of foot knights, I opted for a small unit of foot knights to act as a personnel bodyguard for Richard I

Are they accurate, did they really fight at the battle of Acre or Arsuf in this level of plate and chain. I am sure others have a view, but they give me an option on the field of battle.

These 'Chamber Knights' will compliment the Knights Templar.

Battle models from Fire Forge games - They will fight as Elite Foot under the Lion Rampant rules.

December is upon us....The gaming table is under pressure from the rest of the house to turn it into a storage unit as Christmas descends on the house... Perhaps one or two games if I am lucky.

Crusader Spearmen - Fire Forge Games.

Another unit off the production line for Outremer and Lion Rampant.

I figured this time around I will make these more of a templar feel to break up the formations for the Christian forces or should I need to separate out regulars vs veterans.

All figures from Fire Forge games.

Still got a few more units to put together over the coming weeks but these fine fellows should hit the table very soon.

November output - Back to the Crusades - Fire Forge - Spearmen

November.... Pressure is on to get the last of the Crusaders done before the end of the year... Ideally Christmas - so 47 nights to finish the Crusader project.... And paint everything in the draw.

After the mixed bag last month this month it's all desert....

Another unit of 12 spearmen for Lion Rampant with a mix of Crusader Shields and traditional feudal shields.

I dropped them into a Midgard base to give them some uniformity on the table. 

The recent Men who Would be King games got be thinking about adapting the Mr Babbage rules for the Crusaders with the Arabs controlled by the dice. With a number of long commutes this week I might try and flesh these out.

Next up you guessed it more Christians.....

Fire Forge Games - Christian Archers.

The marathon painting task rumbles on....

Next up a unit of Fire Forge Archers to add to the march of the pilgrims.

I painted up a number of figure bases from Warbases from their Midgard range these will help with movement of the every growing mass.

With a few games of Chain of Command lined up in the next couple of weeks, I can feel a change coming.... 

Christian Warriors - Lion Rampant

Another month another batch of figures for Outremer this time Christian Warriors from Fire Forge Games. I went with a more uniform feel for these.

Thanks to a good friend of mine from the Wyre Forest Club I find myself with a whole bunch of reinforcements to swell the Christian lines, slowing but surely they make there way to the table. Thanks again Howard very generous.

They needed a few changes to the basing and a couple of shields swapping out to bring them into line with the rest of the collection. Shield and coat markings also from Fire Forge's transfer range, making the task so much easier than painting by hand.

These Warriors add some real punch to the Christian forces with Lion Rampant, lets see how they stand up on campaign.... I dropped them onto a new Midgard movement tray,  because you never know when they I might have to switch codes :-) 

A rather slow month on the painting front, but a weekend looms so should get another unit done before the end of the month.

Richard the Lionheart - Footsore Miniatures

Real life seems to have gotten in the way of gaming and painting of late, the Outremer Campaign is hopefully a way of driving activity and clearing the never ending queue.

I have had this model of Richard the Lionheart tucked away for a number of months, the perfect model to ease myself back in this month. A cracking model full of character from Footsore Miniatures.

My leaning is towards the Third Crusade (1189-1192), where he led Christian forces against the Muslim leader Saladin. Motivated by religious fervour and the loss of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187, Richard joined forces with other European leaders, including Philip II of France and Frederick I of the Holy Roman Empire 1, perfect if I wanted to create a multi player campaign with competing factions.

I have gone for the Hollywood Red, perfect for the siege of Acre or the Battle of Arsuf. Can miniature Richard capture Jerusalem we shall see?

A very useful cheat is the shield transfers from Fire Forge Games, they need a trimming to fit the shield but they do make the model, not something I fancied painting myself.

Next up yet more Crusaders.....

Crusader Mounted Sergeants

The Crusader project rolls on....

The Christian forces are light on cavalry so these mounted Sergeants will be a useful addition to help keep the Arab cavalry at bay.

Great castings from Footsore Miniatures all in metal, it will be interested to see how their new plastics will compare. The partnership with Atlantic Games is really churning them out at the moment.

The shield transfers are from Fire Forge Games they do need a little not of adhesive to keep them in place but are far better than I could achieve free hand.

So another unit clears the paint table.... 

Next up back to the American War of Independence with a few extra's to coincide with the anniversary of Lexington and Concorde on the 19th April.

Fireforge Games- Christian Spearmen

Looking at the diary coming up and a planned club game in April it would appear that painting is going to be limited in the next couple of weeks. Especially with Alumwell looming large in a few weeks, so I am going to have to grab an hour here and there.

Fortunately a clear day in the last week has allowed me to complete a two more units for the Christian forces in the shape of  Christian heavy spear.

Following the same scheme as the warriors and crossbow men the occasional white or blue tunic to break up the linen and canvas shades together with a mix of shields with the occasional cross thrown in against the more traditional heraldic shield.

The two units are identifiable by one having the Norman kite shield while the others the straight top. But they could easily be mixed in together. 

I have added in a few with the Cross on the tunic to break them up a little and to use up a bunch of transfers that were in the box.

Really pleased with the general feel of these, but have a feeling that they won't fair well against the mass of Islamic horse archers. On the plus side the shields are really big....

FireForge Games - Crusader Crossbows & Warriors

A March update and time for the Christian forces to enter the table.

A couple of evenings of snipping, trimming and gluing before the weekend was spent getting the first of the Fireforge Christians onto the table... This was meant to be one of the those projects that was a minor distraction to fight some skirmish games in the Middle East, it now stretches into several boxes and is most definitely one of the larger collections I hold.

The Christian forces lack fire power, what have we leant from the first Lion Rampant Games? - Well for starters the Arab forces in the majority carry bows and the Christians have very little to counter these, couple that with Cavalry who like nothing more than to chase after there more nibble counter parts.

So few more units with Cross Bows should help to keep the light cavalry away.

I opted for a mix of colours for the padded coats, with the occasional light blue to give them a degree of uniformity. 

Similarly with the foot warriors I used the Fireforge Shield transfers mixed in the with some of the Crusades crosses, I wanted to give them an on campaign feel, with a cross over between a the Christian Cross and perhaps the design from their sponsor or overlord back home. You might say the Ridley Scott approach to history?

To my eye the mix of heraldry gives a good feel on the table top and will separate the bulk of the forces from some of the templars coming down the track.

Next up a couple of spear blocks to help hold the line..... March is Christian Aid Month  :-)

Islamic Infantry - Black Guard

After the cavalry these were a breeze, the fact that the undercoat did most of the hard yards was a bonus. I followed the colour palate of a good friend of mine who had completed a bunch for last years Cotswold game, so using the same occasional mix of greens and purples for head and waist bands will allow us to use them together on larger games. 

Two units of Heavy Infantry under Lion Rampant will give a few more options to the Arab forces the bulk of which are light infantry.

The flag is from Pete Barfield and the Baron's war Facebook group, a really valuable asset whilst I wait for Little Bigman Studio to re-open for some additional flags and shield transfers.

The peasants are revolting - Fire Forge Games

The paint is barely dry on the last batch of zombies and the villagers are ready to hit the table, the Spanish and English players are in for a tough time when we do get back into regular gaming.

This is the last batch from Fire Forge Games, Forgotten Worlds Kickstarter, they turned up in an unmarked box about 6 weeks after the original order, one can only presume an issue in production.

That aside they are very nice with loads of personality and weapon options.

I made up a number of them armed with bows as this will give the forces of Darkness a couple of extra options in the Elizabethan Zombie Wars campaign.

I marked them up as Surly within the Warlord of Erehwon rules which will make controlling them tougher, but on the other hand they will have a higher resistance which should make them stick around a little longer.

That's the last of the Kickstarter finished, it's nice to be able to say I have painted the lot.

I seem to have plenty of spare arms left, I might make some casualty markers at a later date, but as we a nearing April, time to switch to a new focus for the month.

Fear the walking dead...

The sun is shining, perfect weather for varnishing and in between work e-mails the odd colour or two on some mini's. This lockedin/working from thing is not to bad at all.

The last batch of Zombie villagers from Fire Forge Games, there should be enough here to generate a couple of extra units but given how the humans carve through them, they are most definitely needed.

I mixed in a couple of village arms to give them a less well armed feel, but imagine the shame of being defeated by a dead peasant hold a bucket or basket.

Next up their live equivalent the 'Beguiled' something else to confront the English and Spanish as they make their way through a plague infested England, sounds a little to real to me.....

Now go wash your hands......

Zombie Pikemen - Antediluvian Miniatures.

Despite the disappointment of missing Hammerhead it's been a pretty good weekend on the brushes.

Plenty of prep on the last of the Fire Forge Games - Forgotten Realms kickstarter, villagers, both live and dead, I also got to finish the last of the recent kickstarter from Antediluvian Miniatures.

More Conquistador in style than Pikemen but I figured they fit and painted up to match the recent output, it gives the bad guys something a little tougher, what they lack in attacking power they will be harder to kill (again).

That's the last from last years kickerstarter painted. It will be interesting to see if they expand this range. The Zombies are a little on the thin side, but they fit in well with the wider collection.

Meanwhile as the paint dried on the armoured zed's I got to work on the last of the beguiled villagers and recently turned. These should be hitting the paint table in the week ahead.

This should give me 3-4 more units for the forces of darkness, which should be plenty for the humans to chop and hack through. After the last encounter we have made a tweak to the Zombie rules to get them to stick around on the tabletop a little longer. Ignoring the excess pins to destroy them, which should tie down more human units whilst not increasing the number of kills the Zombies achieve.

So still plenty to do if we have to spend 2 weeks locked in doors.

In the words of Simon Pegg - "Let's go down Ye Olde Winchester, have a nice pint of ale and wait for this all to blow over"

Stay Safe all.