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Saturday, June 29, 2019

2019 Second Quarter Update, Part 2

 Newly painted figures and exciting games of adventure!

Newly painted figures and companies for In Her Majesty's Name:

a. The United States Secret Service. The Americans start getting some serious punch during the "War of the Witches".

The men and women of the United States Secret Service.

 Nick Charles and Agent X

b. The Teenage Boy Detective. Yes its Tintin and Snowy and they have a role to play in 1895.

Also added a Steam Launch to get around in! (Steam launch from Brigade Games)

c. Lo Pan the evil Chinese Wizard. Can teamster Jack Burton be far behind?


d. The Black Brotherhood AKA The Cult of Doom(!). An international criminal terrorist organization that is a front for world conquest.

 Will they never learn not to go up against the powers of Truth and Justice?

Smoke Break . . . Agent X says it's okay when we are not actively fighting.

e. The Pinkerton Detective Agency. When you need a little more muscle or investigating.

f. The Rise of the Vigilantes. A new Shadow figure, Lady Blue, The Wasp, and Lord Top Hat take justice into their own hands.

"The weed of crime bears bitter fruit! Crime does not pay... The Shadow knows!"

 L to R: Lady Blue, The Wasp, The Shadow and Lord Top Hat.

g. Every once in a while you need a Fire Troll to do the heavy lifting.


2. And we played games! The War of the Witches. The tide seems to have turned for the forces of Good - but the Witch King of Sokur is mysteriously missing.

a. It's a Trap! (Episode 5.2). The Shadow makes his debut against Moriarity's gang with Scotland Yard not too far behind.

Who knows what evil lurks in the minds of men? The Shadow knows!

b. A Night in the Museum (Episode 5.3). Lo Pan attempts to steal the Sphere of Destiny from the Smithsonian Institute but the men and women of the USSS are ready to stop him.


c. Quartermain and the Jungle of Fear (Episode 5.4).  Professor Nightengale is rescued by Allan Quartermain. But what price will be paid?


 d. The U.S. Marshals in the Land of the Winkies, Part 1 (Episode 5.5) and Part 2 (Episode 5.6).
The US President has had enough and goes on the offensive against the Wicked Witch of the West. The Marines are not available, the USSS is occupied so it is up to Task Force Tombstone to take the fight to the enemy.
 "How about a little fire Tin Men?"

"Let's show this witch some real firepower boys!"

We also took a quick trip to the province of Britain in the early 5th Century with Dux Bellorum.





Thursday, June 27, 2019

2019 Second Quarter Update, Part 1


Where did the last 3 months go Snowy?

It's been a wild quarter that finally saw some gaming and spent a lot of time in the late 19th Century. First up (since I am a committed capitalist) The Toy Soldiers and Dining Room Battles Painting Service:

1. 28mm Victorian African Explorers.


2. 28mm Copplestone Castings Female Spy.


3. Wild West Characters also suitable for Victorian Sci-Fi or Weird West.


4. Lo Pan's Company. You lose a fight (see below) and you get sold on eBay. Seriously though, I was never really satisfied with all of the figures in the company as I did some mixing and matching. Lo Pan will be back (I love the Chinese Wizard figure but it may be swapped out for a Fu Manchu) with the same company but new figures.


5. Matabele African Kingdom. I have enough African Native figures for my companies now so these extras were painted and sold.







6. Pinkerton Agents. I purchased these on sale and wanted to practice painting flat services. I think I'm going to get some of my own as these are great figures from Aritzan Designs.


7. Abraham Van Helsing, the greatest Vampire Hunter of all time. What more could be said?


8. Airship Pirate Crew. If you don't have a ship, you don't need a crew. But I kept Crewman Smith as he is a geriatric warrior of a man! Beware the old man in the young man's profession.

 The crew of the USS Audacity. A project (the ship that is) for another day.

Smith is attacked by two of the Witch Kings minions and kills another troglodyte. "Yeah", Smith muses, "these troglodytes were much tougher in the old days."

Next up: Games, and new companies and characters for In Her Majesty's Name.

Monday, June 24, 2019

Tintin Redux (I liked the figure so much I painted one for myself)


Happy Birthday Honorable Son #1 (The Librarian)! Copplestone Castings Boy Detective (Tintin) is my birthday present to Honorable Son #1 (The Librarian) this year. I liked the figures so much, I had to buy them again and paint them for myself! So bring out the nefarious doppelgänger machine!

The original figures (The B-Day Present) is on the right.

The first version.

The second version.

Friday, June 21, 2019

Dux Bellorum Battle Report: The Conclusion

When we last left events were not going well for the Late Romans as their cavalry had been hurt badly to include the Mounted Companions (spoiler alert - it's not good if your general dies!).  The Roman Infantry (Ordinary Shieldwall) were slowly being pushed back by the Saxon Sea dogs.  One bright note was that the Roman skirmishers who pulled one of the Warrior bands from the attack and destroyed them with javelins and arrows.


 Late Roman infantry desperately trying to hold the hill. For almost the rest of the game I allocated numerous LP's to cancel hits and keep them alive!

The Roman commander and his Mounted Companions - bust unit in the army but it has taken some casualties. The the left are the Noble Riders.

The Roman leader leads another charge with the other cavalry in an attempt to relieve the pressure on the Roman Shieldwall. The Saxon leader is the element with the dragon banner.


The Roman cavalry forces the enemy line back allowing the Roman Cataphracts (upper right hand corner) shoot the gap and hit the Saxons that are attacking the hill in the flank.  The Cataphracts hit hard.

Roman skirmishers with bows moving up. They have better range than javelins but cannot shoot and move at the same time.

A furious, swirling melee all along the battle line. Roman skirmishers trying to out flank the Saxons.

The Mounted Companions take another hit but press home the attack allowing the skirmishers time to get on the flank.

 A Warrior element is destroyed by the Cataphracts and now Roman infantry starts to outflank the barbarian line. Note the 3 LP's added to the Noble Warrior stand that is outflanked in an attempt to cancel out hits.

Amazingly (and with some great die rolls!) the javelins weaken another Warrior unit and they get polished off by a cavalry charge. The Saxon general loses another LP to use as a result.

Saxon flanks start to collapse as a fight to the death starts.


The Loyal Noble Warriors go down fighting true to their oaths.


As the Saxon Warlord holds his ground, his army collapses around him and flees the field of battle.  Note the hits on the Roman cavalry and Mounted Companions.  It was close.

Dux Bellorum is a great game - fast, fun, furious and to me gives the flavor of Dark Age battles in Great Britain. It is published by Osprey games and on Amazon right now a new copy can be purchased for $12.96.  The game was played from start to finish in about 2 1/2 hours. The Saxons will bring some skirmishers next time as the heroes of the fight were the javelin armed Roman skirmishes.  When the initial attacked failed, they drew off one of the Warrior elements and then with the archer armed skirmishers, destroyed.  Later, they helped finish off a weakened Warrior element on their flank which enabled the left of the Saxon line to be outflanked. Fortunately for the Romans, the shield wall held with the use of LP's to cancel hits.

Heroes of the Empire.

Some other pictures from the battle: