Crusading in the Baltic – going medieval for a change

Last Wednesday I had a chance to try a game, two games actually, of the fast-paced, very appealing Lion Rampant rules. We played at Carsten’s house – a former colleague of mine – and he provided the minis, the scenery and the story. All I had to do was to show up and play, which was quite nice for a change.  As you probably know Lion Rampant is a much applauded and talked about skirmish game of Hollywoodesque medieval combat. The game is fast, it’s easy and very bloody. After having played it three times now I must say that it runs smoothly and I like the balance between fast gameplay and realism or whatever we should call it. You probably know what I mean. It’s also a nice change of pace from my usual retro-fantasy gaming.

Well, this evening Carsten had planned a small confrontation (24 pts.) between a host of Danish crusaders landing on the Estonian coast sometime around 1200 and a band of local defenders trying to kick the Danes back into the ocean.

The Danish knights, led by the noble Knud of Funen, were thus deployed with their back to the Baltic Sea and were facing the charge of the fierce Estonians led by chieftain Lembit. We managed to play the same scenario twice this evening and although the Estonian warriors gave their best they lost both games. A sad day for the pagans who, despite the brave efforts of Lembit, now have to prepare for further “Schwertmission”. Something I’m sure Carsten is already planning for the next time we meet up.

What you see here is some of the moments from the first game, where I played the Danes. In the second game we switched sides and although the confrontation was very different from the first, the end result was – as mentioned – the same.

The lighting was a bit dim for my camera and the colours on Carsten’s minis in my pictures come of more brownish than they in fact are. I still think you can get an impression of the fine work he has put into his sculpts. The miniatures come from a few different places and I cannot remember all of them; Gripping Beast and Perry Miniatures spring to mind though.

Cheers

Martin

 

Snotty snotlings

I mentioned that I’ve been working on some snotlings lately. Sadly I have only made very little progress and only one base is finished so far. These vintage 80’s snotlings are such a joy to work with. I really like the zany chaps who clearly carry the hallmark of Kevin Adams. But I was surprised how much work they seem to demand. I thought these mostly quite simple models would be a fast paint job and to a certain extent they are, but they still take far longer to finish than expected. This also explains my slow progress on the three remaining bases.

The next three bases also have the stepped base you see here. Normally I’m not particularly fond of ‘high’ bases elevating the model, but in this case I wanted to give a better view on the individual snotling.  Overall I’m quite pleased with the result, although I still debate myself if I should give their lower lip the traditional purple colour or not.  Perhaps I’ll just add it on some of them.

My favorite mini in this chaotic lot is the ‘shaman’ with the dirty red hat holding a skull staff in one hand of clutching his fist on the other hand in concentration. He’s a really fine piece full of character and imagination.

Any thoughts?

Cheers

Martin

Hitchin’ a ride

This Saturday I’m hosting a small game of joyous Oldhammer and I’m very excited about it. Sadly I did not manage to finish all the snotlings I had planned to paint for the occasion but that is life for you – always interfering with your all-important painting projects. I did finish one base with the small fellas and I’ll show them to you in a few days – perhaps even with some shots from the game.

What I want to share with you here is a cart I finished for the game. It’s going to be the centerpiece of the battle. The cart is from the Perry Twins and a fine model if perhaps a bit dull, but very useful for scenario purposes. Something, I think, you can say about quite a lot of the minis from Perry Miniatures.

In our scenario the cart is transporting the dwarf prisoner Suben Blackmontain who has been beaten to a pulp by his captor’s henchmen. For good measure I have here included a few shots with Suben on the cart. It is now up to the manic Goblin leader Nazgob to see if he can capture the dwarf before the Robber baron Alban von Edelhahn slips away with the precious cargo.

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll be back soon with a few pics of snotlings. Stay tuned

Cheers Martin