Favorite Figures - The Greatest Detective Ever

Not really a genre I game . . . but how could I pass up Sherlock Holmes and Watson?

Figures from Wargames Foundry.

Greek Hoplites

Occasionally I will purchase unpainted miniatures on eBay, paint them, and "Flip them" by selling them on eBay. I picked up some Greek Hoplites from Wargames Foundry on eBay that I'm going to paint and sell.

I had some experience painting Ancient Greeks as I did an army with 15mm Essex hoplites in the early 1990's for the rules De Bellis Antiquitatis or DBA for short. Greek armor for the most part is leather that is usually white which for me, can be very boring to paint. The key to a good looking Greek force is, in my opinion, the shields. The shields (hoplon in Greek - that's where term hoplites comes from) are what the eye is going to focus on.


Usually when I paint I like to get a "production" line going: paint all of the blues, now paint all of the pants white, etc. With these generic Greeks it will be different. Since the shields and spears are separate from the figures, I am going to paint all of the shields first and then the figures. The shields will be all individually different, which adds to the visual appeal of Greek infantry in line. I did 4 figures as a test.


There are about a gazillion references for Greek shields on the internet, not to mention the local library and the good ole' Osprey books. I am pleased with the results of the test figures; shields were fun to paint and the figures were boring to paint. In addition, I might change the basing to a square and mount them in two ranks - I'll have to give that some thought.


For anyone doing the Wargames Foundry Greek hoplites, glue the shield on before you glue the spear - trust me on this! As always, you can click on the images above for a bigger picture.

Yes! They are finally done!

That's right! My personal record in taking the longest time ever to paint a unit. The Anhalt Regiment is finally done. When did I start them - March 2011? For a larger view, just click on the picture:




To give you an idea on how my painting has been lately - just look at the dust on my paint! It's time to get the painting schedule going again . . .

Yikes!

New Indian Mutiny Rulebook from David Bickley

In David Bickley's own words:

The Devil's Wind

These rules for refighting battles from the Indian Mutiny of 1857-58 follow on from previous sets in this series - A Good Dusting and Washing the Spears - which have received a very positive reception from gamers. They are designed not for competition play, but with enjoyment between like-minded friends firmly to the fore, and focus very much on throwing loads of dice and feeling the 'brush of the Devil's Wind' across your cheek in the process! Games should play out satisfactorily in two to three hours on a table about 7' x 4' or so. There is no figure, time or ground scale to worry about, just cut straight to the action on the road to Lucknow…

The game mechanisms allow all players in the game to take on commands within an Honorable East India Company or Regular British force, with the Mutineers controlled by all of the players in accordance with the auto generation and action rules. It is equally possible for two or more players to take on opposing Mutineer and HEIC/HM forces and play the game out conventionally. The rules aim to give you an enjoyable game where, if correctly wisely and blessed by the 'dice gods', the Mutineer forces may win…

The full-color rules include numerous illustrations of action on the tabletop here in GHQ, units and individual character figures; scenic items to enhance your tabletop battlefield; a sample scenario to get you started straight away; a play sheet which can be photocopied; a short reading list; and a suggested list of figure manufacturers, in 28mm at least.

Further pictures of the author's Indian Mutiny collection, and many other collections, can be seen on the website Tales from GHQ.

The author can also be contacted through the site if players have any ideas or enquiries which common sense can't answer for them! Look out for the fourth set in the series in 2012 for fighting skirmishes from the French and Indian War.

As a side note, I do highly recommend David's site Tales from GHQ.

30,533 Page Views - Who would've thought

I just noticed that there have been over 30,000 page views - 30,533 in fact! Let's hear it for toy soldiers and the men and women who keep the hobby going!