I Turn My Attention Back to the Army of the Marquis

  Hi all!

All those months of painting goblins and orcs....wolves and boar ...has compelled me to work on something completely different for awhile. And to work on something with a completely different color palate.

And so, I find myself returning to the Armee of the Maquis d'Saud-or...the small bretonnian army that I painted up 5-6 years ago.  This army is composed entirely of 5th edition Bretonnian figures sculpted by the Perry twins in the mid-1990's.  While these are decidedly "Middlehammer" figures you cannot deny that they are superb sculpts and paint up a treat.  Currently the army is infantry heavy with a unit of halberdmen, a unit of spearmen, two archer units (one of which can be used as scouts...the squires w/bows) a small unit of 7 mounted squires, and a unit of 10 knights. 

 

This small force has been seeing a lot of action in my recent Oathmark games and I really enjoy the way they look on the table...

 

So I've decided to add some to the force by painting another unit of shock cavalry...and for this I will stick to the 5thed figures and add a unit of 10 Knights Errant to the Marquis' forces.

 

I always loved the simpler paint jobs that were given to these figures by the studio painters and I've had these figures in my collection for a number of years now ...so, I am happy to finally have the motivation needed to get them on the table!  

Here's a early WiP pic of the knights as I was starting to figure out color schemes and block in the first colors and flesh tones. 

As you can see I will be mounting them on the cloth barded horses that are typical of 5th edition...at first I wasn't hugely fond of this sculpt, but it has grown on me....particularly with the variation that can be achieved when you employ some of the many optional metal horse heads that were included in this range. You will see that I used several of these head variant in my existing knight unit...but as the Knights Errant are meant to represent less experienced unit of knights I have opted to use the basic plastic heads for all the horses except for that of the hero which will have the metal head variant befitting his rank. 

 As with the first unit of knights I've opted for basic Heraldry with quartered surcoats for the knights and caparisons for the horses.  While somewhat basic on an individual basis I think this makes for a very striking unit on the table that doesn't appear as "cluttered" as some knightly units can that have a ton of complicated heraldry.

For colors I've returned to the same palette as the previous knights and selected the more muted tones again.  I'm really fond of all these colors and feel that they are a nice change from the pure primary colors traditionally associated with heraldry. Here they are a little further along in the process

In the foggy recesses of my mind I'm slowly coalescing my thoughts around these color schemes....basically each color being representative of particular noble family in the Lands of the Marquis.  When these families intermingle through marriage some interesting color combinations are created for their sons to wear in combat.  For example...you may notice that the leader of my first Knight unit has quartered salmon/grey livery (and portcullis Shield).

 

...while the leader of the Errants unit will have salmon/white livery (it looks orange now but will highlight up to that salmon color.)

 

...the presence of salmon on both leaders surcoats suggests that they are brothers, or at least closely related.  I will further reinforce this connection by also giving the Errants hero a shield with the Portcullis on it.  The rest of the unit will have plain shields.

Anyway...as I said its something I'm still pondering on.

Highlights have been progressing on the Caparisons and surcoats....here is the current state of the project.  Most colors have been highlighted...just the hardest one left to do...the White Livery....I see a hundred layers in my future!

 I hope to be back with some updated paintjobs on these guys as the years comes to a close.

Cheers,

Blue

Moar Boar Boyz!! The horde grows stronger!!

 While my progress in the OWAC has been somewhat...um...lethargic the last few months ...progress is being made! At the end of April I posted up 8 new painted Boar Boys...all of which came from the close combat units of my Boar Boy force...namely the unit armed with hand weapons and shields and the unit armed with spears and shields....which I will run as the elite Gruntas.

With the completion of these 8 boyz I have also completed the two units mentioned above.

So...first up here are the hand weapon and shield Boyz...Led by Harrin Stephens

Dwarfling Rangers ...Blue tries working with Greenstuff...

 Hi all,

I'm continuing to fill time before the kick off of the OWAC in January...

This month that "free time" took an odd turn from what I had been working on...and into a brave new world for me...convert/sculpting with Greenstuff. This is an area of the hobby I've dabbled with but in a very minimal fashion.

But, first...let me back up little.  The reason I became interested in converting some figures is founded in my current interest in the Oathmark rule set.  The world in which Oathmark is set is meant to represent a Dark Age level of technology and therefore the rules do not support Crossbows or any gunpowder weapons.  Bows are the only missile weapon option. 

I have lots of painted Crossbow dwarfs for my current army, but I have zero Bow armed dwarfs.  Now, so far I've just used those crossbow dwarfs as Bow armed troops and carried on with the game...and will probably continue to do so...but the visual here has continued to bother me (yes I know..obsessive much?).  I feel I really need to be able to deploy some actual Bow armed dwarfs.

Frustratingly there are very few Citadel or Marauder dwarfs that are armed with bows...and while I've managed to find enough for a small unit I really needed a larger variety to be able to create multiple units.  

...so my mind turned toward converting some.  When I began to consider this option I started looking around for appropriately sized and armed figures to base my conversions on.   In this process I came across my stash of 4th edition Imperial Halflings and Lumpin Croops halfling mercs...both of which are armed with bows.  I've always had a fondness for these figures...and have collected a number of both types ...but have never felt the urge to paint them, mostly because they are HUGE for halflings.  I much prefer the scale of the older smaller Marauder halflings and C-series citadel halflings.  These guys tower over those and out weigh them by about 50lbs when you compare them. 

...but maybe they would work as dwarfs!

A size comparison with marauder dwarfs show that they are of a size...and in some cases the halflings are actually larger! So the size works.  

 

Left to Right: Marauder Dwarf Thunderer (MM16), Lumpin Croops Halfling, Marauder Halfling (MM64), Lumpin Croops Halfling, Marauder Dwarf (MM10).

Stylistically, their goofy bare faces and bare feet were the most obvious concerns. ...also apparently not one single halfling is capable of wearing a shirt sufficient to cover their entire bellies...maybe its a cultural blind spot? Anyway...what ever...its stupid.  And it certainly doesn't work for dwarfs to look so inept...so I'll have to fill those in as well to keep my sanity intact.

To that end, starting with the Lumpin Croops ladz...I began adding beards and shoes to transform the Lumpin Croops Halflings into Bow armed Dwarf Rangers. 

Here are pics of my first attempt.

Encouraged by the results, and not daunted by the many flaws I saw in this example, I persisted and worked through an entire unit of 15 rangers including command.

  Here are the converted trooper models shown with an unmodified version of each figure. 

When I shared these "greens" on fb as I worked on them...it was pointed out that the banner pole topper didn't really work with the dwarfs and that it should be replaced with something like a stag.  I quickly raided the bits stash and converted the banner pole...

Anxious to see how they looked painted I picked one of my favorites and got down to priming and painting him.  With this guys jaunty cap and feather he is certainly throwing off some Robin Hood vibes...so I combined that with the Roger's Rangers inspiration I was getting off of other members of the unit...and opted for very earthy colors.  

 

This is a massive shift from the rest of the army and its Red and Blue color scheme....but a pallet much more fitting for Rangers.

Here is the completed model!

 I found this excursion into converting an entire unit of figures to be a lot of fun...and I will probably press on and work to convert some of the Imperial halflings as well.  Working with Greenstuff is still a very much a learning process... but one that I enjoyed and look forward to continuing.  I might need some proper tools though...this was all done with a tooth pick!

I do realize that these are not everyone "cup of tea"...I got a lot of push back from people upset that I had defaced such precious sculpts.  If you feel that way...well..frankly...they have just been sitting in a box for years now...and if converting them means I'm going to paint them and get them on the table for a game...then I have NO issue with converting these halflings. ...plus they're my figures...you play with yours the way You want and leave me to mine... 

Cheers,

Blue

 

Oathmark: Battles of the Lost Age ...Part IV: Louis' Tale

***Editorial Note*** this narrative story was originally posted in sections along with a detailed battle report.  As the length of those reports got to be a bit excessive I opted to remove the narrative bitz and lump them into a separate post here along with some of the images.

The battle report sections can be found here:  Part I Part II Part III

Louis' Tale

The dust caked Louis' throat as the marched.  The feet of the men and horses in front of him stirred the dry dust from the road surface, and the rest of the column quickly became coated with the fine powder.

...And still they marched.

The Marquis had gotten himself, and the Grand Armee, into a spot of trouble, somewhere off to the east.  And now Louis and his comrades were tasked with bailing him out of his mess.

Rumors had trickled back through the villages about the viciousness of the fighting, along with a trickle of wounded and broken men. Occasionally a dispatch rider returned to the garrison with official news and orders from the Marquis himself... 

It was just such a rider that brought the order that had set Louis' unit in motion along with the other companies of men from the Garrison of Rhenes.  He and the other tired, dusty, men had been in motion, seemingly non-stop, for the past three days.  They marched from sun up till nearly dark passing through tiny villages, rich pasture land and rolling hills.  Their halberds and shields growing heavier with every step.  Ahead, to the east, there was war, but here the late autumn sun shown on fields ripe for harvest.

As it grew dark each day le Sergent had found them a field or copse to collapse in.  No fires were lit.  Hard bread and a hunk of cheese were the only sustenance they had, though Louis had managed to procure a mug full of the fortified wine that one of Toby's boys carried in barrel on his back.  Both food and beverage were wolfed down quickly before Louis fell into exhausted sleep, the aching of his blistered feet temporarily eased by the potent wine.

The next morning found them on the road again.  They were approaching yet another small village, really just a cluster of a few buildings and their associated fields.  Louis and his fellow halberdmen were in the middle of the column with a small cavalry unit and a unit of archers with their deadly bows to their front.  Behind were the unit of spearmen, the Rouge Cerf (Red Deer or Bleeding Harts) and finally Toby's lads with their hunting bows and potent wine.

Oathmark: Battles of the Lost Age ...Part III: Game over!

**Editorial Note** Since its initial posting, I have modified a few things and added some details to this post. I also moved the Narrative section to a separate post all together, combining it with the other narrative section from the preliminary post.  The new Narrative section can be found HERE

Hi all,

I'm back with the third and final part of my Battle Report covering my first game of, and initial thoughts on, Oathmark: Battles of the Lost Age.  While I've yet to finish my story and the report...I think that the very fact that this single game has inspired me to write such a lengthy and detailed battle report...as well as an associated Narrative...should give you some idea of what of how much I like this new rules system.

Anyway, more on that later.  Lets catch up the story with our battle report. 

The first and second installments of this report can be found here: Oathmark Post I and Oathmark Post II.

Oathmark: Battles of the Lost Age ...Part II: Game on!

***Associated Narrative Post HERE ***

Hi all!

After the big build up of the last post lets jump right into the game and see how it plays out.  Just a reminder that this is a follow on to the previous post which laid out the background and army selection for this game.  In these posts I am presenting my initial experience and thoughts about Oathmark: Battles of the Lost Age.  The intro post can be found HERE.

Turn One

Right away I knew it was going to be and interesting night when I rolled for the very first initiative roll and wound up with this insane tie....

Oathmark: Battles of the Lost Age ...Preliminaries

**Editorial Note** Since its initial posting, I have modified a few things and added some scenario details to this post. I also moved the Narrative section to a separate post all together, combining it with the other narrative sections.  That can be found HERE

Preamble

I've got a little something different for you all today...rather than the latest figures I've painted I'm going to share with you my recent exploration of the new set of a Fantasy Mass Combat rules, Oathmark: Battles of the Lost Age.

This new set of rules is put out by Osprey Games and written by Joseph McCullough (creator of Frostgrave).  While I am a die hard WFB 3rd edition fan, I do have interest in a set of mass combat rules that are more simplified and fast moving.  I've dabbled with Dragon Rampant, and Donnybrook but was not over joyed with either and they both had more the feel of a large skirmish game rather than a small unit battle.  Oathmark is the first new set of rules that I've tried that I think will "feel" more like what I'm looking for.