AHPC X - Camel Caravan

One week into the challenge! My first entry for this year comprises my first ever Ships of the Desert! I've painted them up to be a scenario objective or baggage elements for Crusades era gaming, though they would also work with some Beau Geste type French Foreign Legion

Abdulla musters his Caravan and prepares to leave home (Terrain from my Outremer collection and not in this submission)

These doughty chaps are also my first step onto Challenge Island: I hope the harbour master is content with them!

The lovely Camel Caravan are from Castaway Arts in Northern Queensland - this makes them Australian Camels!  Did you know that Australia has approximately half a million feral camels?  Introduced in the 19th Century to support exploratory expeditions, species of Bactrian Camels and Dromedaries now roam the Outback. Indeed, Australia now (ironically) has a thriving live export business selling stock back to the Middle East.

Anyway, you can find Castaway here, and Gerry is a thoroughly nice chap who offers great service: http://www.castawayarts.com.au/

I kept the Camels colours rather sedate so that I could then bring the set together with bright and patterned luggage.  The colours will also look good on what will typically be a rather bland desert table. I'm really pleased with how well the contrasting patterns came out, and wonder why I haven't tried this earlier.

Painting notes: Camels were undercoated with Army Painter Desert Sand, washed with AP Soft Tone and wash and then highlighted.  Bases are Warlord Pill bases, wall grout filler with sand pressed into it, basecoated with Tamiya Sail, AP Soft Tone Wash, and drybrushed with Val Dark Sand.

So that is 70 points logged and posted to get me going in AHPC Season X

I enjoyed being in the top 10 while it fleetingly lasted! 
I'm moving house now so it will be a quiet 2 weeks on the Hobby Front

Submission post is here:
https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2019/12/from-paulo-camel-caravan-70-points.html

Outremer: Encounter at al-Hindar

Keen to use my new Outremer figs and terrain, this week we played Scenario 3: Capture the Flag.

My newly finished Mud brick house was the key terrain of the hamlet of al-Hindar, with my Templar Warband facing off against Saracens under Alan’s command.

Our forces entered from opposite directions with the Templars rushing towards the cover that the ramshackle house offered from Saracen arrows. Brother Michael provided covering fire with his crossbow, dropping one of the Arab bowmen, but was taken  down in turn by an enemy archer.  However, he had bought enough time for the Templars, weighed down as they were by their arms and armour, to get to the structure and take cover.  

The Saracen swordsmen approached from the other side and the combat got up close and personal. 

The first to cross blades with the enemy was Brother d'Avesnes, storming around to engage the closest enemy.  The enemy Arif ran to join the fray and Brother d'Avesnes was sorely pressed to Defend himself against both attackers. Some enemy strikes cut through his guard but he was armoured with the True faith and his protection held strong.

With the sun glinting brightly from his menacing two handed Sword, Serjeant Albrecht rushed to join the fray but was intercepted by a Saracen en route (actually the Serjeant failed the faith test for the charge and was then intercepted). They clashed blades briefly before the Albrecht struck him down and then moved to attack the Arif, the large blade slicing through the enemy commander’s armour to wound him.  Taking advantage of this distraction, Brother d'Avesnes rallied, striking down his opponent and then turning to finish off the Arif with righteous fury.  The remaining Saracen archer scuttled away rather than continue to face the wrath of the Templars.

(Those wondering what part Templar Commander Wulfred van Gistel played in the battle, will be bemused to know that he failed 3 faith tests in a row (despite his the Loner rerolls) and spend the entire battle either observing his team or fleeing as Saracens arrows pinged off his armour without penetrating)

Aftermath — The Martyrdom of Serjeant Michael

When the dust had settled and the cries of the wounded faded into stillness, the Templars turned to their dead. Among them, Serjeant Michael was found where he had fallen—his crossbow at his side, a Saracen shaft driven deep into his chest. The bolt that felled him had struck true, denying him even the chance to reload.

He had stood firm when it mattered most, buying precious seconds with his life so that his brothers might find cover and press the attack. His sacrifice had not been in vain—but it had been final. (he rolled a 1 on a d20 for effects of being Taken Down!)

Wulfred van Gistel knelt by the fallen serjeant, resting a mailed hand on his breastplate. No words were spoken—none were needed. The brothers formed a circle of prayer, dust clinging to their tabards, voices solemn in Latin.

“Grant unto him eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.”

His remains were borne from the field with honour, wrapped in his banner, to be laid in sanctified earth. The Mud Brick House stood silent behind them—a place forever marked by both valor and sacrifice.

Game notes: 

·         Shield bash as a second attack – second roll made at the same time? If conducted as a second attack with opposed die rolls, then the defender has another chance to hit in return. We played that the Attacker rolls the two attack die at the same time, to the defender’s single defence dice.

·         Multiple Combats: a 2 v 1 matchup is well documented in the rules, but what happens when a reinforcement joins to make it a 2 v 2 combat? We just split the engagement into two separate 1 v1 melee actions.

Templar Warband for Outremer: Faith and Blood

I've now finished painting my first warband for Outremer: Faith and Blood. I have gone with Templars and enjoyed putting them together. Overall they form a small, heavily armed and armoured group.

Figs are Crusader metals, an old (1996) Reaper Mini, and the crossbowman is from the Frostgrave line.

Groundwork is sand, base coated Sail Colour (Mr Hobby No 85), Army Painter Soft Tone Wash, brushbrushed Vallejo Dark Sand.

During their first encounter against the Saracens, Wulfred took down an enemy, while the Sergeant Michael was taken down by a mounted Saracen before he could loose a single bolt. Brother Albrecht and Sergeant Gervaise also took down an enemy each, but then Wulfred had his horse shot from beneath him by enemy archers.  After counting their booty and paying for their upkeep, they have a purse of 98 Livre.

Stats wise for the game, my force has the following lineup after expanding the retinue with another Sergeant to boost their numbers. God Willed It.

Commander

Wulfred van Gistel – Templar Knight of Flemish heritage

Heavy Armour, Large Shield, Great Helm
Sword
Horse
Skills: Fast Leaner, Loner Sunder shield
XP:48 (Turcopolier Level 1)

Brother Henri d'Avesnes
Heavy Armour, Large Shield, Helm
Sword
Horse
Skills: Take Cover, Sneaky
XP:8 (Knight Brother 1)

Warriors
Gervaise, Templar Sergeant 
Heavy Armour, Short Shield, Great Helm
Sword, Mace
Skills: Huge Build
XP:11 (Sergeant Recruit 2)

Albrecht, Templar Sergeant 
Heavy Armour, Helm, Great Sword, Sword
Skills: Nil
XP:0 (Sergeant Recruit 1)

Michael, Templar Sergeant
Crossbow
Sword
Skills: Nil
XP:6 (Sergeant Recruit 1)

Building a Mud Hut

After some tutoring from club mate Marty, I thought it time to give the airbrush a go in earnest on a 28mm plastic Renedra Mud Brick House to start my Crusades era terrain. So this is definitely not a Tutorial or "How To" post, rather a review of "What I did".

 First up, this kit was a challenging to put together. Beautifully detailed, it feels like the kit was designed and then the rendering added afterwards.

As a result, nothing fits together well and lots of green stuff was required to fill the gaps - luckily it is ramshackle in nature so it didn't detract badly.  I built it including additions from the optional extras pack that Renedra sells separately.

After construction, I went with a black basecoat and based it on mdf with ground work textured from a combination of wall putty and sand.

I then splodged (I think that is the technical term) white over most raised areas to help dapple the next layers.

I then iteratively went through layers of colour though I was too heavy handed with the airbrush, so all I really did was cover the whole thing over and over again. But it was fun and felt like progress nonetheless!

After all those layers it looked annoyingly uniform in colour!

In the end the whole thing looked broadly (and frustratingly) uniform anyway, so a bit of a wash was needed to bring out some detail (Army Painter Strong Tone on the ground, Soft Tone on the building)

At this stage I decided some more traditional drybrushing was needed - using a sandy colour for the base and a beige/white colour for the walls. This nicely brought out the detail of the kit.

I also picked out some detail of the exposed mud bricks to make them more prominent

Finally, it is starting to look like we are getting somewhere!

An awning (from the extras pack) helped bring the building to life, with striping adding a needed splash of colour. Then some dried tufts and desert bushes, plus a few odds and ends to make it feel lived in:

So thats the start of my 28mm desert terrain and the beginnings of my airbrush adventures. Definitely very useful for larger works like terrain or base coating a large stack of miniatures.  Looking forward to developing my skills further.

I really like how the airbrush has goven a dusty layer to the bottom of the building, like the bottom of the door.

Ready for action!

Outremer - first game and thoughts

My small Military Order warband (using Steve's lovely GB models).
A mounted Knight, mounted Sgt, Foot Sergeant and a Crossbowman

Outremer: Faith and Blood is a skirmish  game that was released by Osprey as part of their "blue book" series a year or so ago, though it seems to have generated less fanfare than some of their other titles.

https://ospreypublishing.com/outremer-faith-and-blood

Players can select from Crusader/Frank, Military Order or Saracen forces. In additional to the tactical rules, it is an RPG lite style progressive campaign system, set in the early Crusader era - not unlike Necromunda, Frostgrave or Mordheim. Figures progress along a range of skill trees, accumulating loot, equipment, wounds and traits along the way.

This week we sat down at the club for a quick 2 v 2 game to try out some of the mechanics, with two Military Orders facing off against two Saracen warbands.

My warband moves up to observe the approaching Saracens

Mechanics wise, the game uses a full range of dice types from d4 upwards, which is a system I inherently like though it really only suits smaller games like this.  Outremer also uses a card mechanic to randomly activate individual figures.

We quickly added in an end of turn card (aka Tiffen card from Too Fat Lardies Games) which added another element of friction and which worked well.

This didn't end well for Saracen foot slogger...

The game plays straightforwardly, though a QRS is needed as we found some of the target rolls are a little buried in the rules.  Combat uses an opposed die roll mechanism which keeps both sides engaged and is rather decisive once joined. And while good armour and strong faith (aka Morale) can tilt the odds in your favour, nobody is immune to injury.  Long range crossbow fire and compound bows can also really ruin your day (and leave you quickly without your beloved warhorse).

My crossbowman was taken down by this cheeky Saracen, though he got his comeuppance in the following turn

I know we didn't get everything right but the system was intuitive after a few turns - a fun game that we will be returning to as I think the real value is in progressing your characters across multiple battles.

If you are interested in this game check the author Jamie Gordon's Outremer blog here:  http://outremerfaithandblood.blogspot.com

And the game's Facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/162855534382686/

Burn and Loot

One day you are happily hobbying along with the next 3 months planned out in detail and far more projects and models than you know what to do with. Then for no good reason, something twists your head and you are off down a whole other path of awesomeness its new plans and purchase in mind.

Pretty sure I'm not alone in this regard, right?...

Anyway, Deus Vult - bought it when it came out. Looked great but needed big armies, so I shelved it for another day.  Then some guys at the club buy its little brother Burn and Loot.  Smaller, SAGA sized games - fun games in a few hrs.  More detail than Lion Rampant but less than Deus Vult.  Then Alan does a Medieval Russian force, while other chaps do Hospitallers and Moors.  Hmmm, the Baltic and the Northern crusades might be fun for something different.  The next thing I know my desk looks like this:

...and so I am once again distracted and seduced by the shiny side of this hobby...

Alan and Aled - this is for you: