More almost finished EotD compatible figures...

More from the painting desk... still awaiting basing. Not sure how to do the bases yet - the 'city' types I'm tempted to do with a muddy gravel look, and the Carpathian types the same dusty ground and grass mix that I've been using for the Chernarus figures. I may try to go for a light mud colour for all, seeing as 'London' games will be happening in the squalid slums of the East End, so muddy dirty streets shouldn't look tooooo out of place. Then I'll add grass for the wilderness ones and stones/cobbles for the city dwellers. 

More from the London Mob (all Brigade games figures) - in this case, another rough type with a musket (although this chap looks a bit less disreputable than some of the others from the line, so maybe an honest man taken to arms as opposed to a ruffian looking for a brawl), a hell-fire preacher with a ruddy great knife (perfect for leading the mob, to cast the unclean out of this green and pleaseant land! Not that Victorian London was green or pleasent I hasten to add...) And finally a female pickpocket, who is using the mob as a way to hide from the law. she may get her sash painted another colour, as under the camera it all looks a bit samey...

My Nosferatu Graf, and stand-in Jack the ripper (in this case, a rogue automaton on a killing spree). I wasn't sure how to do the Graf's weapon, so tried to make it look like ice crystals, but may yet repaint them so that they are metal spikes instead. The weapon doesn't really seem elegant enough to suit the rest fo the figure, but hey ho. The Graf is a Westwind Antagonist, and the 'robo-ripper' is a Foundry Ltd Ed.

The central figure you've already seen, and has only been included for scale purposes. The other 'things' are from the old Grenadier Nightmares line, and thought they might be useful as objective markers (spectral manifestations perhaps?)

A steam automata and his designer. Both from Steve Jackson Games' Steampunk character pack. The inventor could make a good stand-in for Prof. Erazmus. No idea how to use the Automata; maybe as a stand-in for the Ape man special character?

Carpathian Mob members - a Westwind Hungarian Vampire slayer is flanked by two Redoubt 'Russian irregulars'. The chaps with muskets could also be used as vampire thralls I guess, or maybe even as Wolfenjager. Versatile figures! The Slayer is less versatile, but has a great 'I shall stand fast against the dark!' feel to him...

Some more bits usable for EotD - all awaiting basing...

Some more bits that I've found in my 'to-paint' pile which won't be missed form the projects they were intended for. Most of these are new paint jobs, although a couple are renovations of existing ones. 

Definitely 'City-folks' these guys may either be part of a mob, or may be used in the criminal gang that's being talked about for the expansion (although, in fairness, I'm sure I could make a passable bash at using the rules for a UnGentleman's Club.) The tow outer figures are from Brigade, whilst the centre one is from Foundry's old west line. I've been partly inspired by listening to audio books for Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart stories (especially the 3rd one) whilst painting these. If I carry on in the same line I may even do some anarchists or the like.

I originally thought these gents might be suitable for Wolfenjager, but I'm not 100% convinced yet. The Chap on the left with the sword might head back to the Early West pile yet. The fellow in the middle will probably be joining a mob of outraged citizens, given that his waistcoat and bow-tie make him look more like an angry cobbler or tailor than anything anything else! The one on the right should be ok to be out in the wilds hunting dark creatures of the night, especially given that he's got a holster on his hip to give him some backup for the percussion cap rifle. All Foundry figures.

The two cossacks will form part of my Nosferatu warband - the old gent with the cane possibly as a guardian, whilst his sword wielding companion will be a thrall. I've tried to keep the tones on the clothing neutral and not too bright, but still fairly colourful. Both are from Westwind. The chap on the left is an old Foundry figure, who has a somewhat dastardly air about him. I wasn't really intending it when I painted him, but he is looking quite sinister. I think he'll probably join the angry mob for now, but as & when I get around to my band of criminals, he might just become a leader or trusted henchman ('Tall Jake' perhaps?)

Drawer and loft delving....

I thought I'd have a trawl through the sale pile, to work out what I had left from my GASLIGHT games which might be useful for EotD, and in the end I found quite a few bits and pieces...

WiPs

Here are the WiPs I promised in my last post - not too many, as I want there to be some surprises (although I'll say that some of them are Victorian types taken from the Early West pile, destined to become more Wolfenjager and some are dark agey types...)

Mob! - These guys will be rioting through the streets of Fever Crumb's London, either toppling the existing government, hunting dapplejacks with the Skinners guild or maybe being used for some hypothetical clashes with the Movement. They should mix well enough with the Brigade Games brawlers I showed in my last post for that sort of thing, although I wouldn't be bale to use them in any other setting. The figures are all GW - 3 converted Imperial Frateris Militia and 2 plastic Empire Free Company. The FM figures were converted back in my =I= 28mm days and then never used; whilst the FC were destined for use with my dissolved Empire army. All have pretty low grade weapons (black-powder pistols, swords, knives, clubs, a hand axe) - just perfect for a rampaging mob!

Cossacks - Of a sort at any rate. A Redoubt Victorian Russian militiaman, a West Wind Cossack character (I've got the same fellow mounted too - although for some reason I didn't think to start base coating him at the same time. I'll have to correct that, even if it does mean painting horses *spits*) and a West wind Hungarian Vampire Hunter. These guys will be used for EotD, almost certainly initially as part of a vampire warband, and then later they may get other roles. I'm hoping to keep the 'feel' of the colours subdued and somewhat realistic, although still fairly colourful at the same time. With any luck, I should also be able to use them as  Northern Nomads in WoME as well...

This is more of a selection pack of 1/48th figures rather than the definitive set. Most of these haven't progressed very far since I last showed them, but after my restful time last week I no longer worry about mucking up doing the shading on their webbing, or on the unit insignia & Russian flags on their shoulders. There are another 3 VDV airbourne figures (like the guy on the left) and 3 Spetsnatz (like the guy in the middle) at a similar stage. The MVD guy on the right is far ahead of his 7 compatriots (although, one has a half painted jacket in the same camo, all the others have only had skin painted ). In the far distance you can just make out one of the CDF troopers who is awaiting the first (terracota) step on his camo - something else I put off due to fatigue...

Some finished stuff (awaiting basing!)

Here's a round-up of the last couple of weeks painting (a WiP thread will follow shortly) - as usual, these quick snaps are all before basing, and I'm not sure when I'll get around to actually doing the basing as I've a few different sorts (Arid grassland, Carpathian, Scrubby grass) to get on with...

Saxon Fyrd (Spear element) - Fairly standard selection of low-to-middle class (the swordsmen with the red trimmed cyrtle) warriors. The figure lunging forwards has just hurled a javelin at the opposing shieldwall

Upper Class Saxon Warriors/Thegns (Blade) - A bit of a hodge-podge of figures. The helmets with cheek pieces are from the 7th-8th Century, whilst the long chain Byrnie is a later edition (late 900's; whilst the addition of a slit in the Byrnie is later still) 

Assorted retro-types - The guys in suits will probably end up in Africa; the brown suited guy as a hostage/diplomat/general-objective-marker and the black suited gunman as either a Tangan Intelligence operative, police bodyguard or something of that ilk. The leather  jacketed older guy will be joining one of my BritApoc warbands (Not well enough equipped to be a trader's guard, this guy will probably be a village militia-man or possibly an aged raider) 

Mortal Engines: Pre-traction era Nothern Nomads - These figures are all flights of fancy. The figures with the Red-starred shields are 'Rus' (a people that only vague reference is made to, and no details given). The green painted helmets and red-star-on-green-background are both references, of course, to the USSR; as is the brown leather armour (although it is somewhat less obvious). I imagine that these will be low grade warriors, probably formed up into large units (and possible supported by a few arquebuses/muskets and crossbows as either integrated support - ECW style - or as separate units. I was thinking of using some of the new Empire plastic hand gunners to provide the firearms) and thrown against the enemy's warriors whilst the main power will be Druhuzina style heavy cavalry. Or something like that anyway. The chap with the carbine has been done as some sort of north-country trader/old-tech scavenger (hence the grenade), who will probably be used as a independent character.   

Frontiersman - a Boot Hill miniatures frontiersmen (mounted and dismounted). not too much to say about this chap, although I guess he could be used in the WoME as well as on the Old Western Frontier.

Uniformed Mercenaries - A selection of conversions of Warlord games USMC with MoFo heads, and a Britannia figure with M2 carbine. These guys are a bit of a hodge-podge, with bits painted at different times, and so don't gel as well as they could have  done. The bazooka team is mentioned  in Mike Hoare's 'Congo Mercenary', and I thought my guys might need a bit of extra firepower....

NaPa Gunman - Another masked thug, although this guy looks a bit higher up the echelons. He's a converted HLBS Kampfschwimmer (the last of the set), with and added face scarf. His MP5 has been bought off the black market, as has his generic webbing. the trousers  are civilian, whilst his combat jacket used to belong to a Russian invader...

Chernarus Statue - Not much to say about this. It started out as not very detailed and only moderately authentic Anglo-Saxon Huscarl. I added the moustache as with that addition, the rest of the details could pass as Rus. He's been painted as the sort of patriotic/nationalisitc statue which seems popular in Eastern Europe (certainly they were popular in Kyiv - there was no shortage of statues of city founders, cossack hetmen and long dead Russian saints).I added an information board (with portrait and map as well as text), and a concrete base.

London Mob - I originally started these figures with the thought of using them in WoME as thugs working for Ted Swiney or maybe as Skinners, then EotD took my interest and I thought they'd have potential for that as well. All the figures are from Brigade Games, and I had originally purchased them for use with my early west stuff (being intended for the 1840's 'Gangs of New York' type games) but decided that they looked far to 'urban' to be facing Injuns and Mexicans out west.

A few bits to start feeding my EotD interests - The chap in the green coat started life as West Wind Sleep Hollow Militiaman, and I've tried to update him a bit by cutting off the frilly cuffs and pony-tail. I've tried to make him look like a Ruitanian/Zendarian/Transylvanian/etc Wolfenjager, with a muzzle loader (easier to make silver shot of the right calibre and load it up) and slightly old fashioned clothes (which should bring him inline with the 'proper' West Wind Wolfenjager). The Plague Revenant (zombie) is a conversion of a CFM 'Jim Bowie' figure, with his knife removed and replaced with a GW zombie hand. It's too big, but after a little work hopefully it doesn't show too badly. I tried to make it look like he'd been bitten on his side, then returned home to rest/heal before succumbing to the disease as he tried to finish himself (hence the pistol and lack of dress)

VSF - a genre of many flavours

Yeah, before we go any further, I realise I'm a total butterfly. I've already confessed this, but thought I should re-itterate the fact that I realise this. I didn't mean to get diverted, I really didn't. It all started when I was looking for figures to use for Mortal Engines games - I was going through the various figure manufacturers taking notes, and trawling the LAF for insperation, when I stumbled across some pictures of the Empire of the Dead (EotD) vampire thralls...

And thought that they'd make great scavengers, especailly as when mixed in with some converted Copplestone figures, to give them a bit more of a visual tie with the rest of the victorian styled figures I'm planning to use for some of the other characters. Then I dug deeper, looking at the various other figures in the range, and then onto the background of the game. Which wouldn't have been too bad if I hadn't been half watching the Dr Who 'Tooth & Claw' episode (Werewolves and Queen Victoria), had watched Van Helsing the night before and Brotherhood of the Wolf the following day. Suffice to say, the VSFy, horror setting had a certain appeal. Its not the first time I've dabbled with VSF - I used to play GASLIGHT, had a few armies and some great games



Some old battle-reports from GASLIGHT games lurk on the Post-Apoc wargames forum: http://s1.zetaboards.com/Post_Apoc_Wargames/topic/3025404/1/ http://s1.zetaboards.com/Post_Apoc_Wargames/topic/2872329/1/ http://s1.zetaboards.com/Post_Apoc_Wargames/topic/1201901/1/ http://s1.zetaboards.com/Post_Apoc_Wargames/topic/1104582/1/ As a generalisation, the games were all about big battles, with lots of steam-tech, and usually set on Mars (as it enabled various factions to clash without much need for a plausible explanation, as well as give access to red martians, etc). They were also on the slightly silly side - including recurring jokes about blowing up orphanages (don't ask), dodgy accents, invincible postmen and Torchwwod using an elephantgun firing a type of teleportation technology to take out targets by shifitng them to far off planets. I tried a couple of games set in England, but none of them really felt 'right'. Also, whilst a few dealt with 'paranormal' or 'supernatural' themes it was something I didn't explore in any sort of depth. So, whilst EotD is in some ways more of the same, it is also very different. As a plus, using small factions means I can hopefully get them finished rather than trying to finish armies and inevitably having a not-so-small pile of lead left over, and will hopefully feed my fancy for picking up odds and ends... So, yeah, I'm drifitng on to something else. Again. Ironically, most of the useful figures I had, I've already sold (idiot!), so I'll be starting from near scratch. No doubt I'll drift onto something else at some stage, so I'm going to pick up the rule book and a few packs of stuff that could be usable for Mortal Engines if it's not to my taste afterall. Maybe tomorrow I'll get chance to post pictures of the stuff I've painted recently...

World of Mortal Engines - Northern Nomad Warriors figure sourcing ideas...

I need to re-read Scriveners Moon to get the details of the descriptions of the Northland Nomads (specifically Clan Morvish of the Arkangelshk) so this is a definite work in progress... I got the impression of the majority of the Morvish warriors being 'hairy northern barbarians' types in furs and chainmail, armed with aquebuses, pikes and bows and riding to battle on mamoths. To me, this and their nomad life style, conjurs up images of a mix between cossacks and vikings or Rus. The use of War-wagons is also a bit cossacky, however the people who are most famous for them are the Hussites, so I'm going to try to incorperate some elements of their attire and look into the concepts.

A common feature among all these types is a long (knee to thigh length) tunic/kyrtle with trousers underneath (some of which may be baggy, and tucked into high boots or leg wraps). They also have a tendancy towards beards, lots of hair and furs. Given that the Northlands are cold, lots of coats and cloaks will probably be warn, although in some cases this might also be combined with armour (either padded or leather).

On the subject of armour, chainmail is specifically mentioned in the book and was a feature of both cossacks (until the late 1600's) and vikings. Chainmail is typically a product of a society in which manpower is cheap and dispersed, but resources are tight. Plate mail requires a lot of experiance and good qulaity metal to prevent it cracking or being too heavy to move in; whilst scale or chain armour can be produced by blacksmiths, given enough time. Definitely suitable for the nomads in the books! Helmets aren't mentioned, so I have lattitude to use Spangenhelm vareints from Rus figures, alongside medieval pot and kettle helmets from hussite figures. In terms of other headgear, fur hats seem obvious, as do 'floppy' hats.

In terms of weaponry, arqebus', bows, pikes and swords of an unknown type are mentioned in the books. It seems a fair artisitc licence to add muzzle loading pistols, maces and axes to the mix. The swords poses the greatist disparity between the various possible sources of figures. I'd like the swords to match to add to the feeling of homogeneity, but I don't know of any sources of curved sabres, so I imagine I'll be using strait swords. I've no idea what sort of shields to use, or even if I should use shields. If I don't, the vikings may look a bit akwardly posed, if I do, then I'll have to convert some cossacks to hold them (which may make some of the cossacks look awkward, but may also look good. It's hard to tell). I think square shields would look a bit different compared to round shileds and further differentiate tham from vikings...

Luckily for me, these ideas also open the way to being able to use some early wild west frontiersmen, with a little modification (cutting off tassles, adding furs, changing head gear)... I'm sure there'll be more musings on this to come!

World of Mortal Engines - Tech levels and 'look' of the periods from a gaming perspective

The Mortal Engines books are quite hard to define. The phrases bandied around most often are 'Steampunk' & 'Post-apocalypse'. Whilst both are true to a degree, I don't really think that either are particularly apt. Certain elements could be referred to as steampunk in its loosest sense (as opposed to the current modern interpretation which appears to be Victorian + goggles + cogs) there are large amounts of non-steam technology which would push the boundary (Off the top of my head I can only think of one piece of actual steam technology - and that are the steam powered SMGs used by the Green Storm and others). yes, certain themes in some of the books are similar to those found in steampunk literature, but they are also found in other genres. Perhaps diselpunk is a better description in some respects? As for being post-apocalypse, that is definitely true - however, it isn't the defining feature of the series. Since the apocalypse, civilizations have risen and fallen and up to several thousand years have passed before you get to the stories. On the other hand, scavengers digging through a battered wasteland looking for lost bunkers and scraps of old world technology does feel very post apocalypse, as does the feel of shaman types chanting technobabble about X-rays during healing ceremonies and the fact that CD (seedees) are worn as necklaces...

Now, obviously, the technology and feel of the books will effect how I can represent them in miniature form. Although some detailed descriptions have been given, lots is left fairly open to interpretation. Phillip Reeve has done some sketches at various times, and these will be my primary source of my inspiration (some of these are shown below - although, Phillip Reeve has said that he hasn't had any input into the cover art, he has said that he likes the feel of most of them). Fan art will be the second, as most seems to tie in with each other fairly homogenously (there may be another post at a later date pulling some fanart together as specific examples of conversions).

In the 'Predator Cities' books, most oldworld technology has ceased to function(or been forgotten about or been so repaired and bodged so as to be only a fraction of its former self - e.g. Popjoy’s London STALKERS/Reanimated men compared to Mr Shrike). However, lots of technology has been rediscovered/reinvented, and I guess in many ways it is broadly equivalent to the mid 20th Century: There are electric cars (bugs) although these are very expensive, public display TV sets (Goggle screens), radios, crude aeroplanes/Gyrocopters, cartridge fire arms (including some steam powered or bulky automatic weapons). Additionally there are airships which are more advanced than we ever got around to building. Having said that, crossbows are still in use, as are swords and air/gas powered weapons. Generally technology isn’t very wide spread, tending to be concentrated with the rich or the Engineers guild, and most people probably only see a technology level equivalent with the victorian era. What clothing is described is pseudo-19th/20th century too with things like waistcoats, long coats (admittedly in PVC for the London engineers), flying leathers and the like. Materials tend to be the normal mix of cloth, leather, silk and the like (although synthetic fibres are highly prised) Given this, I think a good starting point for city dwellers will be the various steampunk/victorian/pulp ranges with a few tweaks to make them a bit less obviously historical and a bit more suited to the books (cargo pockets on trousers, swopping out obvious weapons for more generic nad more suitable alternatives, etc). The Warmachine range has some good candidates too. Outland scavengers are described as being dressed in tattered clothing so maybe some conversions of the copplestone & Em-4 future wars scavengers, to replace their weapons with less sci-fi alternatives might be in order. The anti-tractionists need to have a different feel, and as they are generally Asian, Oriental or African, I can take elements from their traditional clothing to add to the mix. Possibly some conversions based on Boxer Rebellion Chinese, Baluchi or Pathans and maybe Ethiopians…

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Where things get a bit more complicated is the earlier (‘Fever Crumb’) era. This is set roughly a thousand years before the Predator Cities quartet, and the world is a very different place. Technology hasn’t recovered anywhere near as much (Sedan chairs, wind powered trams, black powered muzzle loaders - matchlocks are specifically described, as are multi-shot weapons which could either be some form of primitive revolver, pepper pot pistol or multiple barrel affairs - and the like are the general order of the day). But, there is still a lot more functional old tech about. Most of it is still dilapidated and no where near its original spec… but it’s still functioning better than by the Predator Cities era. It is also less understood. Plastic is mentioned fairly regularly in these books, but it is a mined resource which is then re-melted and reused; for example. In London and the more ‘civilised’ parts of the world that have been mentioned, the feel is quite Dickensian, or perhaps Georgian. There seems to be a bit more of a variety in clothing too, with bowler hats, waistcoats, overalls and dresses so large that they required wheels to hold the hems up. I think for these guys I’ll be using a mix of earlier Victorian types, pirates, highwaymen and so on. Some of the Warmachine figures will find their way into here too. The Northern Nomads are a less advanced than the City dwellers, and what with their pikes, furs, chainmail and coats, sound a bit like a mix between Vikings (Rus?) & Cossacks. Certainly these are the sorts of figure lines I’ll be raiding to put together a cohesive force. I may also mix some Hussite types in… The other thing to note is that several different ‘tribes’/ethnicities are mentioned (The Soumi, Arkangelsk & Rus, as well as the movement and the Scriven) so I will probably try to differentiate the groups to some extent. The Scriven may be done using conversions of elves to get the unusual bone structure mentioned in the books…

Re-enactors as a Post Apoc faction

For those who are on the Post Apoc Wargames forum, this will probably be fairly familiar territory. The idea (in brief) being that, compared to a general member of the public, a historical reenactor should have a better chance of survial. The ealier the period they re-enact, typically the more 'hands-on' the reenactments tend to be - both in terms of combat & also crafts/living history. From a combat perspective, any era that has a focus on melee combat (Medieval, dark ages, ECW, etc) will also have included releavent training meaning that the reenactor should be better able to defend themselves with their familir weapons (or even semi-familiar - most sword/falchion/langsax techniques could be applied to say a machete, axe techniques can port across to hatchets, etc). Although reenactment weapons are designed to be fairly safe, almost all reenactors also own a sharp or two either as part of a living history display, or just because they fancy one. they will typically also own robust shields, and armour/protective clothing (how useful this is depends on who keen a reenactor is to luig it around with them though - although I own a shield, helmet, chainmail shirt, arm guards, padded gloves, etc I probably wouldn't take most with me if I was leaving town in a hurry due to the End being upon us. Mind you, I'd probably try to go back to scavenge it later...). The main limitation is that, along with comparatively safe weapons, reenactors are taught to fight safely. We pull our blows, and only hit within certain areas (generalizations here - rules vary from society to society and era to era). In this respect, reenactment combat is nothing like *real* combat. We don't aim to cut at hands to disarm out opponents, as that hurts and most of the time we know and usually like the people we are fighting. There is potentially a lot of training to overcome and lots more lessons to be learned when fighting someone who is just trying to kill you no matter what. (As a brief illustration, one of the groups I train with accepts hits on the upper arms whilst theo ther doesn't. The group that doesn't occasionally change across when we are getting close to a big show hosted by the other group, just so anyone going along can get extra practice in, and typically they die a lot more than would otherwise be expected from people of their skill level as they just aren't used to blocking shots on the upper arm. Thats not to say they are defenceless, but it's a definite weak point.) On a survival perspective, lots of reenactors are quite well read on 'the world, as it used to be' and along with a combination of trying things out a living history events, they probably have a relatively useful set of skills for providing for themselves from fairly basic levels (e.g. spinning cloth, grinding corn to make flour, curing/working leather, working wood, churning butter, etc). Certainly not perfect, and most use some degree of raw materials (I.e. you may be used to spinning wool with a distaff... but no experiance on shearing sheep to get said wool). So the idea for a PA game/setting would be to have a group of reenactors setting up a village, using their various skills as a foundation to start rebuilding. In adition to giving a group a funky background, it also opens up a whole range of historical figures which can suddenly have justifiable uses - so you could field a band of modified vikings, or celts, FIW woodsmen or whatever. I say modified as I doubt anyone would worry too much about authenticity anymore, and as such authenti-shoes might be replaced with hiking boots, trousers might get cargo-pockets sown on, the occasional firearm or more modern tool might be added to armouries. These modifications would also make for more interesting figures on the table top, and stop them looking like they've wandered out of the wrong figure box... So, all the being said - how can I work this into my BritApoc setting? There were a few reenactment groups about in the late 70's/early 80's, although most were not particularly bothered about authenticity (There is a great quote from one of the dark age groups about when they stopped dressing like the Vikings from 1960's hollywood and started dressing like actual vikings did, including doing research etc) and typically were of a more open time frame (Medieval included vikings, romans, renissance types etc - really all down to personal preference). all in all, a bit more like the SCA is today rather than 'British' reenacting. This means I can get away with all sorts of blending, especially given adaptation of stuff after the paocalypse too - although, I'm going to endevour to keep the period stuff moderately 'inauthentic' to reflect the relaxed (lax?) approach of the time. I think fantasy ranges might be a good place to start for generic figures with a mix of period weapons, dress and equipment styles...

Musings/ramblings of a wargaming butterfly

Sooooo.... those that know me will know that I'm a total butterfly when it comes to wargames periods/genres. Usually the best way to keep my interest is by either only watching films/playing video games/listening to audio books for a certain genre to prevent any other ideas drifitng into my mind (Which is fairly effective, and why I have quite so many Westerns, Axe & beard and African set films in my collection) the other is by following manufacturers who have regular releases of suitable figures, which keep re-wetting my appetite (also effective, although it does usually involve buying figures for stalled projects in order to kick start them which somewhat defeats the goal of clearing the lead mountain). There is also the issue of energy levels/health that can get occasionally mixed in as well, sometimes to interesting results. Currently I'm a bit on the tired side to really want to do much on my 1/48ths (I can do shading on some flak vests and paint some weapons - not too tired for that, and that should get a couple of figures close to being finished. But I definitely don't want to do battle with complex camo schemes or ensignia) and I'm not sure what to paint instead: *I don't really want to do too much on my dark ages stuff as that will get me all excited for the period, which in turn will make me dead keen on reenacting again and I don't have the energy for that (not entirely true - got a couple of events lined up, but not enough energy to my previous 5 hours a week running around whacking people with a langsax; *I can't summon up enthusiasm for the Quar, although they are tempting. I think the prospect of painting that many uniformed figures keeps defeating me; * I haven't got anything really suitable to persue my Mortal Engines plans (well - I have a few bits, but not enough to keep me going for long), and the old cash flow is a bit strained to be abel to buy the stuff I fancy; *I really need to start painting mounted figures for my old west stuff if I were to do anything on them... the problem is.... I don't like painting horses. They annoy me no end. The entire project was hopefully to get me out of my dislike by being fairly simple, with lots of foot figures and frequent releases from the likes of Boothill to keep interest going. It has worked to an extent... but I still hate painting horses. *BritApoc is tempting and may see some action and much the same can be said about my African stuff. I'm going to need more congo mercs by the end of the summer, so I may as well pull my finger out. But I haven't. Instead, I'm sat here wondering if I can find someone to do one of those "You have £xx pounds and X weeks to make a suitable sci-fi/fantasy gang/warband/army" competitions (challenges?). Currently I have a slight preference for 'fantasy/Hirtoical pulp' although the form keeps changing (mid morning I'll be fancying Highwaymen and pirates, late afternoon I'll fancying generic 'human medieval' types vs skaven or dwarves in a mordhiem type setting) I'm not entirely sure why I'm thinking of that sort of project - I think part of it is inspired by this guy's articles on collecting large HoTT armies on the cheap: http://specialfrieddice.com/UpscaledHordesOfTheThings and occasionally seeing the ease with which Bob from Edmington (his blog is in the read list on the right of the page) puts together HoTT and similar forces quickly and on the cheap. Originally my dark ages project was going to be along similar lines - just buying up cheap dark age/fantasy/ancients when I saw them, and putting together slightly adhoc forces... but that has evolved into more of an organised battles project (not a bad thing, but different none the less). Back when I was just playing 'general' post-apocalypse, I had a very loosely defined setting and could squeeze pretty much anything into it which had great scope for inventive use of figures and new (diverse) factions could easily be added for only a couple of quid. One of the factors which tempts/tempted me about HoTT is that armies can be made cheaply, and be as odd, diverse or bizarre as desired, and yet still face off aginst each other. So if I ever did make a Mortal engines army, I could field it aginst my saxons, or any other force I composed. But it then relies on me actually finishing an 'army' of figures (even though that will probably only be about 15-40 models). I think I'd rather like a Fantasy version of skank, where anything goes and forces can be any size of composition. Figures wouldn't be defined as 'Blade' or what not, instead coming down to 'veteran/proffessional/militia/rabble human sized (including elf, orc, beastman, etc)', 'veteran/proffessional/militia/rabble short (dwarf, gnome, halfling, goblin, ratman, etc)', etc. With a few addon skills (fanatic, faster mover, etc), a simple armour/toughness system (A human in leather armour is about as hard to kill as hulking ox-man of the same sort of skill), a range of moderatley generic weapons (Hand weapon, lethal hand weapons, 2 handed weapon, 2 hand weapons, pole arm, spear, pistol, bow, etc). Actually, there is no reason why Skank couldn't be used, albeit with a few modifications. I've tried most of the similar fantasy systems (SBH, etc) and not really found any to my taste. Hmmm. Ramble over. Well done for anyone who slogged through it - not sure there was actually a point, but it gave me something to do whilst keeping an eye on the EBSD map I'm collecting. The daft part of this most recent urge is, if given £xx pounds I'd probably go and buy some Mortal Engines stuff, making the whole pondering somewhat irrelevant...! I think I'll just go sit in the hobby room, pick a couple of generally applicable shades and start applying it to whatever relevant figures are sat on my desk (I'm just lucky that most feature the same dull greens, varying shades of ochre and brown, etc!)

World of Mortal Engines HoTT army lists

Here are the World of Mortal Engines Army Lists for 'Hordes of the Things' I mentioned the other day. They are all vvrey rough and ready, but hopefully if aanyone else is thinking of going down this route it'l atleast let them see what some one else had thought of:

Pre-Movement London
'Trained band’ militia (Red velvet coats, black leather helmets and muskets)- Shooters
Rioting rabble – hordes
Cannons – artillery
Paper-Boys - sneakers
Old tech – God
Engineers - cleric

Early Movement
Stalkers - blades or paladins
Monowheels – Riders
Land-ships - behemoths
Gun forts - artillery
Warriors – Warband(br/> Technomancer - Magician

Quercus’ London
Stalkers - Blades or paladins
Monowheels – Riders
Land-ships – behemoths
Traction-forts - Artillery
Soldiers – Shooters and/or spear
Engineer- Cleric
Copper-tops - hordes/shooters
Old tech - God

Northern/Nomad Alliance
Mammoths - behemoths
Campavans - riders
Soumi shield walls (behind moving pavaises) – spearmen<>br/> Technomancer – Magician
Cannon – Artillery
Arkhangelsk warriors – warband
Rogue Movement soldiers – shooters or spear
Rogue Movement stalkers- blades
London underground resistance - sneakers


Any side can have heroes...
Other possible ideas (made up, or based off ideas made from suggestions): Nomad war-wolves – beasts (extrapolations)
Nomad light cavalry – riders (extrapolations)
Nomad heavy cavalry – knights (extrapolations)
Nomad spear & musket blocks – spear or shooter (based off descriptions of regimented units at 3 dry ships, but unknown which facton they belong to. Maybe Soumi or Rus?)
Caledon (scots) warriors – warband and shooters

And some very brief ideas for later, 'Predator cities' era games: Treat later period airship as airboats and/or dragons depending to role.

Londoners - (Police with crossbows as shooters, Beef eaters as shooters or blades, Valentine as a anti-hero, airship as an airboat, engineers with weird weapons, Basic Stalkers as blades or paladins)
Anti-Traction League - (Airships as airb oats or dragons, agents as sneakers and lurkers, not sure what elese could be added. Maybe warband for ATL fighters and opperatives)
Green Storm – For soldiers/commandoes - shooters, Stallkers - Blades (less refined than early period, but still dangerous), modified stalkers as beasts/artillery/etc. Flyers for stalker birds and air boats for airships.
Air pirates &/or Huntsmen of Arkangel - lots of warband & airships?
Lost boys - Sneakers, lurkers, behemoth for a limpet, warband for actual lost boy snatch teams.