Ivar Sveinson and the Battle of Red Hill

Shield wall ahead, levy ambush to the left - it's a trap!

On midsummer's day in the year 809, Ivar Sveinson once more led his men ashore to begin the conquest of Rheged. In the far distance, shimmering in the haze of the summer heat, lay the well protected prize - the town of Tunnocellum.  

After defeat in the last battle, Ivar decided that alcohol did not stiffen the sinews, but more likely dulled the minds, so urged his men ashore with great haste. The Saxon defenders formed up in shieldwall on a low ridge, with a contingent of levy hidden behind a small copse to spring a flank trap. It had worked in the last battle, but this time Ivar was more wary. He sent warriors into the wood to flush out the levy.

Left flank secured, form up to attack the shieldwall.

The viking warriors fought fiercely and, though outnumbered, pushed back the levy flanking force. Ivar gathered his main force at the base of the ridge, preparing to assault the shieldwall at the crest. It was a formidable task. Warriors in shieldwall can absorb more casualties - they ignore the first kill of any combat, so the odds are stacked considerably in their favour in a straight fight. Countering this, Ivar played a handful of fate cards, so his men could hurl axes as they rushed up the hill, and with an aggressive charge too (giving +1 to hit bonus). If this didn't shift the Saxons, then nothing would. The axe damage caused shock, but then his lines faltered as they scrabbled up the slope - at this point I had a 2 dice roll to charge 3 inches, and made the classic double 1 roll!

Shieldwall clash

In a daring move, the Saxons moved downhill into the viking line. The two forces clashed, but despite the overwhelming odds, the vikings held firm, then pushed the Saxons back up the hill. After a brief pause, the vikings rushed uphill again and once more the two lines, now thinned considerably, met in deadly combat. Shields smashed and blood flowed, both sides fought to a standstill. Bodies littered the ridge, but still neither side would yield. Something had to give. Suddenly Ivar and his depleted band of warriors dashed back down the hill, the Saxons jeering at their seeming retreat, but unable to pursue, held on the ridge by a handful of Ivar's finest warriors. The Coward was on the run again.

Saxon shieldwall hold the ridge, Ivar rushes downhill

When he had caught his breath, Ivar put his plan into action. The band of viking warriors on the left flank that had previously fought off the Saxon levy were now called to aid their leader in the main action. They joined Ivar as he charged back up the hill with his reinforcements. The Coward was Cunning perhaps. His line now bolstered, he steadied his men and surveyed the tattered Saxon lines. Though they held the higher ground, they had suffered great casualties. Only a handful of warriors remained clustered around the Saxon Lord and his nobles. Surely, the day was lost and they would retreat.

Outnumbered, outflanked, the Saxon Lord charges to his doom

In a reckless moment of madness, the Saxon Lord ordered the attack once more. It was a fight he could not win. His men were exhausted and could offer no resistance. They fled, leaving their liege overwhelmed. In a final act of brutal victory celebration, the viking warriors hacked him limb from limb. Dozens of dead and dying lay all over the hill, stained red in the gore of the day. The vikings cheered and saluted their warlord. The prize lay in their reach. With the Saxon defenders butchered or scattered, they set about the siege of Tunnocellum. It was a well fortified town and it would be a long task, but the conquest of Rheged had begun.

Lion Couchant

Couchant : Sitting Up, or Awakened

When it came to choosing a faction to collect for our Tale4Nerds project, my first reaction was to collect Normans, which I could use in games of Saga as well as Lion Rampant. However, this idea was so good that it was stolen from me by another of the 4Nerds! Curses. My next idea was to collect Mongols, but again I was copied by an admirer. Finally I decided on a War of the Roses retinue, as I remembered I had a box of Perry Miniatures infantry stashed away somewhere. It felt like a zero start up cost, as I had bought them some years back with a view to using them in a Warhammer human army, which never really got very far.

Brougham Castle, who lives in a house like this?

Having decided on the War of the Roses, I did a little bit of reading to get some ideas for a palette for my retinue. I want to base my force in the north of England (that's where I live) and wanted it to be a Lancastrian force (I am a Lancashire lad by birth). I came across the Red Wyverns website, a historical re-enactment site with a brief history of the Clifford family. They supported the Lancastrian cause and held much of the territory of Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Yorkshire (boooo), including a handful of the castles that are local to me. When I read that one of the family became known as "the Butcher", that sealed it for me.

Perry Miniatures infantry

The Clifford livery is a red wyvern on a white field, so I want most of my troops to have pale or cream garments, though not too regimented. I will add the wyverns at a later stage. I have also made a start on blocking in the colours on the billmen, so things are ticking along nicely. Historical minis never seem to hold my attention in the same way that fantasy figures can, so I hope I can keep focussed. For the bases I have taken inspiration from the wilds around me, trying to capture the drabness of the winter, without actually using snow. It's surprising that even in winter there is still green around. I'm not sure my grasses are that convincing, I might pick up a few of the tufts that everybody and his dog seem to use these days.

Ivar Sveinson Goes to War

In the year 809 AD, Ivar Sveinson the Coward was crowned warlord by his loyal followers, no doubt encouraged by the coin rattling in their purses. He vowed to give his warriors a real home, a land of their own, which would be taken from the weakling and cowardly Saxons. Singing songs of war and glory, his men followed him into battle.

At the end of the first year of campaigning, Ivar had  amassed eight chests of coin, enough to buy himself the title of Warlord, which meant he could now march into battle rather than just raid. Victory in battle would win him and his followers lands of their own, the first step on the road to the conquest of Rheged. With barrels of ale to encourage his troops, the vikings trudged inland to a likely looking settlement. It seemed relatively unmanned and would make a good base from which to begin the conquest.

Vikings dash toward the thin Saxon line

The vikings dashed across the open terrain, they had double the number of the Saxons and were confident they could scatter the few defenders to the winds. The Saxons formed up a thin defensive line but it seemed a meagre gesture. Suddenly, over on Ivar's left flank, there was a commotion. A line of Saxon levy appeared as if from nowhere - the cowardly dogs had been concealed in the long grasses just below the brow of a small dip in the ground (the position in the photo is a little above the fate card). They leapt up and charged into the vikings. Ivar's confidence faltered as he felt the steely jaws of the trap closing around him.

This was our first attempt at a battle game. I decided to ply my troops with drink, to give them courage, and it seemed to do the trick as morale rose. The Saxons decided to pray for a miracle and could hide troops in a dip in the ground. I figured I could ignore the ambushers and just rush into the main body of the army, hopefully making a decisive strike while I held numerical advantage, with roughly half of the Saxons nowhere to be seen. But when they appeared on my left flank, I was suddenly faced with two battle fronts. Worse still, the initial charge by the Saxons sent a unit of vikings reeling. My left flank collapsed, to the front a Saxon shieldwall closed in. I was caught in a textbook pincer movement, surely this hadn't been invented yet!

Viking meat in a shieldwall sandwich!

I had kept a unit to the rear of my army, as a reserve force to plug any gaps. So quickly they charged to shore up the left flank. They managed to disrupt the Saxon advance, but not halt it, and again suffered large casualties. Faced by a shield wall to the front and a seemingly invincible line of levy to the flank, the vikings were slaughtered. Ivar just about made it from the field, but most of the army was routed. It was a grim day. The northmen suffered heavy losses, while the Saxon Lord gloried in a victory so great it earned him a title - the Good. We did think that the Blessed was more appropriate, after the miracle of the levy intervention, but the bold blue text of the Good promises some kind of benefit - though as usual it's not really explained very clearly and I will have to delve into the rules to find out exactly what the benefit turns out to be.

What a crushing blow to Ivar's ambitions. It's hard to imagine the battle going so badly, from a levy charge! The dice certainly did not favour me this game, but I was too rash in advancing forward so quickly without first working out how to deal with the ambush. Still, it was a very entertaining chapter in our saga, certainly the most decisive game to date and a real eye opener for Ivar, I doubt he will be so lax in future encounters with Saxon levy. For some filthy Saxon propaganda on the battle, take a look at Matt's blog - wargames in the dungeon.

Lion Dormant

Dormant : Asleep, or Dreaming

Earlier in the month I mentioned that I would be starting a new project for this year. The idea originated as a group project, something along the lines of the old Tale of 4 Gamers fantasy army project. In our case, a Tale4Nerds, we are each collecting and painting a different medieval retinue to use in the game Lion Rampant. This is the set of medieval skirmish rules that has become very much the zeitgeist on many a forum. We have set ourselves a target of one unit per month. As most retinues contain just 5 or 6 units, we should all be finished by summer.

As soon as we had decided on our system, I ordered a copy of the rulebook and it finally arrived last week. It's typical of the recent releases by Osprey Wargames - a slim paperback, 64 pages long with plenty of colour photos of minis and some lovely Osprey historical artwork. There's a couple of page spreads below to illustrate this.

I have skimmed through the rules. They are fairly abstracted, skirmish style gaming with a command friction overlay. My first impression is that the mechanics are elegant and simple, so games should roll along quickly with barely a glance at the rulebook, after a couple of practise sessions. I do have mixed feelings about command friction rules, there is a chance that a player can end up missing out on the fun if he rolls poorly for his activations. But overall I am optimistic about the game and I am especially looking forward to trying out the twelve scenarios. The Lion is not yet rampant, but he's certainly rousing from his winter slumber.

More adventures with Ivar Sveinson

The vanguard hold up the Saxon patrol, while
Ivar rushes to join the action

The second half of the year AD 808 was filled with adventure for Ivar Sveinson the Coward. Kidnap, ransom, looting and revenge.....

In the month of July, AD 808, Ivar Sveinson was facing a dilemma. He had now amassed enough coin to be declared a warlord and could lead his men into battle, to win and claim territory. But if he lost, he would be penniless and at the mercy of his liege lord, who was unlikely to show leniency. Pondering these choices, his scouts reported they had sighted a small Saxon patrol heading south to the safety of the border tower, but still some distance away and within easy striking distance. Sometimes, fate makes the decisions......

The scenario we rolled was Border Tower - a Saxon noble and two units had to march from the north edge down the length of the table to the safety of the tower garrison at the southern end. On from the west came the vikings, a lone unit in the vanguard, followed by the rest of the force. The objective for the vikings was to overwhelm a noble in combat, capture and ransom him. Could the Saxons evade the northmen and reach safety?

Caught!

I thought I had lost the scenario when I rolled a 1 for the number of units in my vanguard, and another 1 for their advance move! But I dashed across anyway, eager to slow the Saxons before they could mass together at the garrison. The Saxons split their force, perhaps hoping to confuse the vikings, but this just made it easier for the northmen as they swung their axes and felled half the lone unit. Realising his error, the Saxon noble sent in his other unit to stiffen their resolve, while he slyly ran away to get help. And they call Ivar a coward! It was no use. The bulk of the vikings had rushed across and intercepted the patrol while the main garrison force practised shieldwall drill, obviously unaware of the unfolding kidnap. A very quick victory for the vikings, a reward of just 2 coin for the ransom (well, would you pay any more for such a pathetic specimen?) and the chance for a second game in the session.

What do the fates hold in store?

The next scenario rolled was a raid on a village, the vikings had to make two successful looting rolls and abscond before the Saxons could stop them. Ivar's men quickly established that one of the hovels was empty (a roll of a 1 signifies no loot to be found), and soon afterwards struck lucky in a nearby hut (a roll of a 6). So there was just one house left to search, Ivar was attempting to hold off the incoming Saxons in the village, while one unit trudged back to the ship with sacks of loot. This would be a close call.

The last house was searched with no effect, while the Saxons sent men in to protect the village. The Saxon Lord himself strode into the village centre to repel the vikings, while some of his men peeled off to hopefully prevent any further looting. Fighting was fierce in the village, but the Saxon Lord's sword shone brightly that day and he vanquished many a northman. Time was running out for the vikings, they were pushed out of the house and fought to a standstill. With one last effort they charged and scattered their Saxon tormentors, poised to resume the search, but then the horn sounded the retreat and they limped back to the ship. One sack of loot had been secured, but with a high cost in blood.

My force morale took a real beating in this scenario. I had started low and then suffered as two units were routed from the centre of the village. The final search was interrupted and even though the vikings eventually fought off the Saxon rescue and could have resumed the search, I decided to sound the retreat as casualties were mounting at an alarming rate. Looting scenarios often rely on luck - trying to get that 6 - and the best way to do it is to keep the enemy at bay. Once the searchers are interrupted, well it's difficult to pillage with a sword in your gut.

With the higher level of losses in this raid, Ivar would need two months to recover his strength, bringing the first campaign year to an end. I would have liked to have ended the year with a battle then settled down to a winter seige, but it was not to be. As he sailed back to his homeland, his ship laden with loot, he was already planning his next year's campaign. Those Saxons would learn to fear the Coward.

Win £150 worth of minis!

Not £50, not £100, but £150 of minis, courtesy of Tor Gaming and their lovely looking Relics game. All the details are here, so why not go take a look and enter the draw. There are lots of ways to boost your number of entries by spreading the word on facebook, twitter, blog, etc.

For those of you who have never heard of Relics, it's a skirmish game requiring just a few figures per side. There are four unique factions, and I seem to remember a hint of a fifth at some stage, or maybe they were allies to one of the existing armies? Anyway, lots to choose from and a pretty unique take in the wargaming miniature world. It's well worth taking a look at the site, plenty of background and mini porn, there's even a stripped down version of the rulebook to download and peruse. Here's a few pictures to give you an idea of what you could win, if you enter the draw.

Resolve and Temptation part 2

So many new flavours to try!

How many hobbyists decide on a project, buy the requisite components, build and paint them, then move on to the next project? Do you know any? I certainly don't. There always seems to be something new to try, something that catches your eye at a show, or pops up on a blog, or is previewed in some forum. All those "must have" buys get put to one side, just for the time being of course, you will come back to it. You just have to have the new stuff. Then another new thing comes along, and it's even better than the previous new thing. The previous new thing that was the best thing since sliced bread, it's suddenly been bettered by something else. There's a new sliced bread in town, for a few months at any rate, until the next show, or the next kickstarter reveals even better sliced bread. And so it goes on, your hobby cupboard is full of sliced bread, in lots of different sizes and flavours. Will you ever get through it all, or have all your dreams just become toast? Ta da, I knew the sliced bread analogy would lead to a punch line in the end. Probably not the best punchline since sliced....erm....let's stop talking wheat-based nonsense and move on to hobby talk. Here's a trio of kickstarter projects that have caught my eye recently.

Now that's what I call a troll

Blood Rage. I am a huge fan of Norse mythology, viking history, all things Scandanavian...well, maybe not the pickled herrings. This picture of a troll sums it all up for me, it says more about the genre than I could possibly put into words, but you could also look at the Blood Rage facebook page. I have been pondering a skirmish game set in a northern clime for a while, these minis could well be a part of it. The kickstarter is actually for a board game, so it remains to be seen if the minis will be available separately, but even so this is top of my drooling list at the moment.
Chance of backing: 70%

Conan. Another board game, with a very strong background, based on the Robert E Howard pulp novels. I really like the vibe of these sculpts and having seen the gameplay video, it looks to be solid all round. On the minus side is the duplication of the poses, something that may well change as the kickstarter develops. Conan is not a big deal to me, I'm more rooted in Norse/British/Tolkien mythology. If I really wanted a barbarian experience I would probably look to the rather wonderful Copplestone 15mm range. But if the variety of sculpts increases I could well be persuaded to change my mind. This project is very close to launch, if you want more details then check out the Conan facebook page.
Chance of backing: 40%

Stake firing cannon, oh yeah!

Vampire hunter. This was a very recent find, it does not seem to have had much publicity in the usual places. I cannot find out much about the team behind this, their facebook page has a few pictures of yet another board game with fine looking digital renders. Russian vampire hunters, what's not to like? I am really on the fence on this one, the concepts are right up my street, but I would like to see actual sculpts, have more detail on the gameplay, just more information all round. But still, those sculpts.....
Chance of backing: 50%

I have to add a rather large footnote to this post. If you have backed on Kickstarter, this will not be news to you. But if you are new to the crowdfunding thing, let me tell you of my experiences. I have backed six projects over the past couple of years, on both kickstarter and indiegogo. All but one have been late (Mierce Miniatures came in on time with a cracking product too). Some have been a few months late, some a year, some longer. This is the thing that reins in my frothing, the fact that I will almost certainly be here this time next year, still waiting for the goods to arrive. Two years ago, before my very first pledge, you could have added 30% on to each of my scores above. I guess I have finally come to understand the phrase, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

There is also the problem that you cannot know for certain how the product will look when it is finished. While the art concepts are mind blowing, and the pictures of the renders look great, and even pictures of the sculpts look good, you cannot tell for sure what you are buying until you hold it in your hand. And of course you cannot do that with a crowdfunding project, you have to pledge your money upfront, see the physical product many, many months later. It's a conundrum, but most kickstarters are heavily scrutinised on various forums these days, so do your homework before pledging. Another proverb comes to mind, look before you leap. Having sounded the warning, you can bet my scores will go up when these things are launched.

Resolve and Temptation part 1

If only it worked on me

At this time of year, I'm betting that a fair few of us have made some kind of resolution, a fresh commitment to finish off some of those old projects. The little voice in your head - I must finish painting X this year, and I should really get some more of Y built and primed ready for paint, and dig Z out from under the pile and dust it off. And already I have run out of letters to illustrate the point! I have at least half a dozen unfinished armies in my collection, with probably a similar number waiting for some attention, any attention would be nice, even just a cursory opening of the drawer once a year for a breath of air and a glimpse of sunlight.

In the past I have made new year resolutions, only to see them fail miserably at the end of the twelve months. So I stopped making them, easiest way to avoid failure right? I now rely on my painting log list as a reminder of what to paint. When a unit is built, it goes on to the list. When the unit is painted, it gets crossed off. Simple to do and easy to glance across and check my progress. There's a few uncrossed items that stretch back several years, but in general it keeps me reasonably focussed and I make progress.

However, there are always new releases and old favourites that compete for our precious hobby time. There are some very tempting new shinies coming around, which I want to avoid if at all possible - though of course I will be enthusing about them in part 2! One way to avoid them might be to construct a list of the recently bought shinies, to remind me what I should be working on, to help me resist the even newer ones. It's not much of a plan, but here goes, in reverse order, the projects I really want to get painted....this year.....maybe.....

The new kid on the block

Lion Rampant War of the Roses contingent. This is a project I really cannot fail. I have committed to completing a unit a month as part of our gaming group Tale4Nerds project, so failure is not an option.
Chance of success: 99%

Dystopian Legions starter set. I made a really good, er, start, on the starter set - got a squad of French painted and another part painted before I hit the wall. I love the figures aesthetic, they are easyish to paint, but a pain to assemble in some cases. The rulebook is nice and seemed reasonably straight forward, with a few introductory scenarios. There's even some scenery to build and use. So there are plusses and minuses to consider, but I reckon I will get this done this year.
Chance of success: 60%

I had this as a poster back in the 1980's!

Lord of the Rings armies. This is a vague category, it encompasses a large part of my collection and is where all my fantasy efforts reside at the moment. In the already started corner I have Rohan and Dwarfs, both I would expect to get some attention this year. In the nearly finished corner I have my Mordor and Uruks, quite sizeable forces really - well sizeable for skirmish games. These could well get a unit of warg riders and a few other bits added. In the terrain corner I have a few ruins built, some trees almost finished and a vague idea in my head for hills. In the completely unstarted corner I have, well, let's not go there if we want to keep this project reasonably doable. If I keep it beardy (Rohan and Dwarfish) and concentrate on building a nice battle area, I think there's got to be progress here.
Chance of success: 75%

These are my three main projects for the year, as it stands now. I know that I will deviate to other projects, I always do. I have started an eclectic collection for use in fantasy skirmish, for steampunk gaming, or purely because I just like the figures. These are future projects in their gestation period, but no doubt some of these will steal my time at some point. I don't regard this as a failure. As long as stuff gets painted and dice get rolled, it's all good. But I would dearly like to see two out of three of these main project finished by year end.

New Year, New Project

Traditionally, at this time of the year, I am busy painting a large regiment to add to my fantasy collection. Last year it was skeletons, the year before ghouls, the year before that it was chaos marauders. I like a nice big painting project to get me through January, the longest and coldest part of winter in these parts. However, this year it's a bit different. Allow me to explain this new direction.

In the past year I have met and gamed with a couple of "new" chaps, bringing our little group of nerds up to four. We all have our own diverse backgrounds and interests, with some common ground here and there. We wanted to start a Tale of 4 Gamers style project - but unlike the usual fantasy thing we first had to agree on a gaming system and then an era. After a little discussion, we settled on Lion Rampant as our chosen system, it gets decent reviews as a nice simple ruleset with the freedom to use figures of your own choice. It's a game set in medieval times, so anything from 1066, through the Crusades, Hundred Years War, etc. I wanted to choose figures that I like to paint, past experience with mediocre historicals has taught me that life is just too short to waste on substandard soldiers. I liked the look of Conquest Games Normans, these could be used in Saga too so would have given a nice "Two for the Price of One" feeling. I was also tempted by Fireforge Mongol Warriors, which I thought would double nicely as Harad troops in Lord of the Rings gaming. But both of these appealed to other players, so not wanting to duplicate I plumped instead for Perry Miniatures Wars of the Roses. As you can see, we are not serious historical gamers, our forces would never have met in real life, being separated by three or four centuries!

I have always admired these figures, in fact I bought the boxset a few years ago and started painting archers, thinking I might be able to use them in fantasy gaming. But now I can pick them up again with a real purpose in mind. Lion Rampant has small units of just 6 or 12 figures, so my first target is to assemble and paint 12 billmen. I have ordered the rulebook, started to research a faction to give me ideas for colours, and got the first unit assembled. The target is to complete one unit a month, enough to keep me occupied but not too much to stress me out. A nice way to start the new year.

Ivar Sveinson Raids Again

The vikings wade through the estuary to the village

By May of that year, Ivar Sveinson and his valiant crew once more did set sail. A small coastal village was their target, rumoured to hold great treasures in the fine church. Boldly did they stride ashore that day......

After the embarassing incident with the sheep flock, Ivar Sveinson was determined to win back the regard of his men, not to mention some much needed coin. In a turn of good fortune, the noble thought lost in the previous raid turned up a few days later, a bit muddy and tired but none the worse for his ordeal (when I rolled a replacement I ended up with exactly the same attributes, so I decided he must have survived after all). The scenario we rolled up this time was a raid on a village, the vikings searching for loot in the buildings, the Saxons trying to thwart them. This time I was more fortunate in my initial positioning, I was able to take two turns of movement on to the board. The village was in the half way point, so even with the boggy ground of the river estuary slowing me down, I was near to the objective very early on, the Saxons huffing and puffing to reach me.

Both the church and the nearest hovel are empty!

Swiftly they did search the church, but the cunning Saxons had obviously been forewarned, as it was empty of their treasures. Ivar set his men to searching the other buildings, bravely holding the enemy back.........

To loot a building a group simply roll a dice and if it turns up a 6, that means there's loot. On the other hand, if a 1 is rolled, that means the building is empty. Of course, my first two searches I rolled 1's, but this is not as bad as it seems as it means I could move on and search another building. Ivar and his hearthguard moved into the centre of the village to block any Saxon intervention, while the search moved on to the small hut on the hill.

Ivar and his men hold off the Saxons while the treasure is looted

A horn sounded out. Treasure had been found! Ivar and his men crashed into the Saxons to give his men time to transport their loot back to the ship.

Finally the treasure was unearthed, the devious Saxons had hidden it in the rafters of their grain store. The vikings set off with their loot back to the ship, while Ivar and his men attempted to hold off the Saxon chase by blocking the pursuit routes. On the far side of the village, beyond the church, more vikings and Saxons clashed. I had the run of the dice and pushed the Saxons back beyond the cross on the far hill. Meanwhile, Ivar rushed up the hill into the Saxon shieldwall. I had held back a Carpe Diem fate card and was able to play three cards in this one combat, hurling axes into the Saxons and causing considerable shock before crashing home and inflicting even more casualties, with very little damage received in return. The Saxons scattered from this savage onslaught. Their treasure lost, scattered in defeat, they withdrew and the vikings were able to saunter back to the ships, victory songs chanted all the way.

The Saxons had suffered moderate losses and would need two months to recover their numbers. The vikings had suffered very light losses and consequently made a second uncontested raid in the following month of June. In total they gained four chests of coin and even gained a couple more warriors in their band, obviously word was getting around of the rich pickings available. Ivar had finally won back the respect of his men and was building a good amount of coin to further his ambitions. His personal fortune was now five chests of coin, technically enough to be declared a warlord and start to conquer British lands. In the next game Ivar has the choice of declaring a battle and possibly winning land, or to continue with raids to build up more cash. What will the Coward decide?

Review of the Year

Yes, it's that time of year again. You know the score, so let's get started. Back in January I got the Undead army to a really pleasing state of being big enough to game with. This article on the Vampire and Wraith contains links to the rest of the army. Sadly, I have never played a game with them. I really must rectify this and either play a few games of WHFB or find an alternative system. Painting 1 Gaming 0. I continued the fantasy painting spree into spring with a regiment of the Avatars of War corrupters, but again I have yet to use them with dice and rules. Painting 2 Gaming 0.

As spring ended I went back to the dark ages and painted up some Tanatus archers, at that time probably the best unit in my dark ages collection. I have actually used these in games on a few occasions, so the score now stands at Painting 3 Gaming 1. Then after a brief holiday by the sea I was inspired to paint something in a coastal palette and plumped for a very old unit of high elves, with a mad idea to complete a whole army in a similar Ulthuan coastal theme. Little did I know that the clock was ticking and the glorious background of my favourite warhammer realm was about to suffer a tsunami. Of course I have not gamed with the pointy eared ones so the score stands at Painting 4 Gaming 1.

The summer was dominated by long haired, bearded warriors, from both Rohan and Scandanavia. The plastic Rohan warriors were my first serious foray into painting a good contingent from Lord of the Rings to battle my orcs and uruk hai. And I love them! If I had to name my favourites for the year I reckon it could easily be the strawheads. Lovely figures and very cheap to buy on ebay, pleasing on the eye and the wallet, the perfect combination. The foot troops can be found here and here. I also enjoyed painting the Drabant Miniatures vikings, which quickly leapt into number one slot as my best painted dark ages unit. I still think that historical metals lag behind the strides forward taken in other parts of the industry, but finally I can heartily recommend viking models to those seeking nice models. Best of all, I managed to get games in with all these figures, so the score now stands at Painting 6 Gaming 3.

Lord of the Rings continued to dominate into the autumn, with a few games of the rather interesting and elegant ruleset War of the Ring. I also added to my collection with the first of my dwarfs collection, which easily give the Rohan troops a run for their money in my eyes. I also added a few uruks to my collection and played a huge game with these (and many other) figures. A point each there I think, so now it's Painting 7 Gaming 4. The year fizzled out with a real decline in my painting output, though I did manage a decent start on my Dystopian Legions collection. I also made a start on gaming with the Dux Britanniarum ruleset, which promises to provide many hours of campaign gaming.

Not surprisingly then, as a painter first, gamer second, the score ends at Painting 8 Gaming 5. I reckon in 2015 the score could well be much more even as I have plans to paint mainly with gaming systems in mind, and even to dig out my already painted collection for games galore. More on that in many a future article. Happy Gaming New Year to all hobbyists everywhere.