I believe I mentioned this project in an earlier post on this blog. I have hit upon the idea of producing a 6mm refight of the Battle of Towton. Towton was fought between the House of York and the House of Lancaster on 29th March 1461 during the Wars of the Roses in England. It is reputed to have been the bloodiest battle on English soil and was fought in a blinding snow storm. The numbers involved are disputed, with some scholars claiming around 30,000 men in total, while traditionally there are supposed to have been around 70,000 involved. At the end of the battle, 28,000 men are supposed to have lain dead on the field, most of them being slaughtered in Bloody Meadow as they routed. Again, the number of casualties is disputed, with those favouring a lower number stating that insufficient burials are known from the area to support the higher numbers. All I will say to those scholars is that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
The Plan
So, on to the project. I have started a new blog to chronicle the project as it develops over the next year and a half. The new blog can be found HERE. I have recruited half a dozen other people to help with this project and we are planning to field armies comprising upwards of 8,500 figures with an ultimate goal of 25,000 figures on the table. That said, I am now wondering if 33,000 figures is a feasible goal now that I have received my first order (Edward IV's command).
We plan to take the Towton game round several shows in the UK in 2011, the 550th anniversary of the battle. I hope I shall see some of you there.
Thrift
How can this be thrifty? Good question. We are being supported in this effort by Baccus and The Lance and Longbow Society. Baccus is giving us a hefty discount on the figures that we are buying for the project, which makes purchasing the higher numbers of figures more realistic. The Lance and Longbow Society/Freezywater produce a range of standards and banners for the Wars of the Roses and they have volunteered to give us all the 6mm flags we need for the project. I would like to thank both of them for their generosity. I really hope that our efforts repay that generosity.
The other aspect of thrift in this project is that I shall not be spending any money on it! Well, that is not strictly speaking true but I intend to make my spending on the project 'outlay neutral'. I have more than a few projects that have stalled and are never likely to be finished. These I propose to sell on ebay to fund the purchase of figures for the Towton project; my first purchase was funded by my recent ebay sales. I intend to repeat this process until I have all the figures I need to refight Towton. I shall also be begging all of my relatives to buy me the figures I need for my birthday and Christmas presents. With any luck, this will mean that I do not actually spend any money beyond what I can earn from my hobby on the project. Then all I need to do is get them painted. Wish me luck!
Showing posts with label thrift. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thrift. Show all posts
Sunday, 2 August 2009
Sunday, 28 June 2009
End of June Update
This month's target was met about a week or so ago, which was nice. I am now looking forward to next month's objective. I have identified some Wargods of Aegyptus figures that I would like to get painted and some 6mm figures for variety. My plan is to paint all of my remaining Totanem (children of Ptah), which amounts to one unit of warriors, one hero and a stone colossus that I bought last year at Salute. Having seen the retail price for the colossus now that it has been released, I think I got a bargain. I also plan to paint the figures I had set aside for my Border Kingdoms army in our Warrior Heroes campaign. My original goal was to use Normans for this army, but there are none on the market in 6mm that I like, so I am going to go with more Wars of the Roses period figures from Baccus. This has the advantage of adding to my Wars of the Roses collection so that I can fight larger battles with those armies too. I recently bought Warmaster Medieval Armies and would like to try those rules. The army lists are a bit of a nonsense for this period, but the game is fun and I can always write my own lists if necessary.
Other options for the month include rebasing my 15mm Vikings for Basic Impetus and patching them up. I have had most of these Vikings since the late eighties and it shows. The paint jobs stand up well enough, but the paint is flaking and the figures look decidedly like grizzled veterans. I have a ton of 15mm Saxons and Normans to paint so adding them to the queue would be useful, and I could use them as opponents for the Vikings. I also have a half-painted Qin Chinese army that I bought to fight my brother's Han Chinese. We had planned to use Armati for this battle but my brother lost interest in Armati after a poor showing at a tournament, so I put my figures to one side. Now I am tempted to dig them out and try Basic Impetus with them too. I think I actually have enough unpainted Chinese to produce a couple of Warring States armies. I doubt any of these 15mm chaps will be the subject of a monthly objective because Steve has no similar figures to oppose me, but I may well treat them as a personal subobjective. With two armies on the table, Steve can hardly refuse to play me, can he?
Thinking back on the drive for thrift, I am quite pleased with what I have achieved so far. The challenge is now 6 months old so I thought I would pen a few words on that. Steve and I have managed to paint a bunch of old lead without buying too much new lead, which is a good thing. I have certainly curtailed my spending quite significantly, which is also a good thing, and I have dealt with a number of projects that had previously languished through lack of focus. This is brilliant. Adopting this project-oriented approach has really helped in getting things completed. Mind you, I have not really noticed any diminution in the lead pile, but that is probably because it was so large to start with.
One thing I have done each month is define a realistic goal. I have not posed any difficult challenges because I felt that over-facing myself would be counter-productive and kill my motivation. Therefore I have looked at what I wanted to achieve and what I could achieve, and have set my targets based on that. On the whole this has worked well. I have had moments when I did not feel like painting at all, and others when I felt like painting all the time. This has balanced out and I have been able to make steady progress. One thing that has really helped, has been playing a game with the new figures each month. By using them almost as soon as they are ready, I have been more motivated to complete the next project.
So, I now face the next 6 months. Steve and I have agreed to expand our Warrior Heroes campaign with new nations. We plan to paint and add a new army every couple of months to the campaign. This will give us more options for the campaign and will help to ensure that there is a continuous stream of battles. At the moment, there has been an unpleasant outbreak of peace among two thirds of the participants. We need to deal with that. We also have the annual Wargods tournament in November to work towards. I cannot decide which army to take and may well opt for some unpainted units just so that I get more lead painted. There are also numerous rules sets that we both want to try; rules are our real downfall. We keep seeing cool rules and getting them, although my thrift drive has led to me spending less on rules too.
If you have managed to read this far, thank you for reading. Pictures will follow as I tackle the July objectives. In theory I could have them done in early July, but I am still looking for a new job and working on my thesis, both of which take up rather more of my time than you might think.
Other options for the month include rebasing my 15mm Vikings for Basic Impetus and patching them up. I have had most of these Vikings since the late eighties and it shows. The paint jobs stand up well enough, but the paint is flaking and the figures look decidedly like grizzled veterans. I have a ton of 15mm Saxons and Normans to paint so adding them to the queue would be useful, and I could use them as opponents for the Vikings. I also have a half-painted Qin Chinese army that I bought to fight my brother's Han Chinese. We had planned to use Armati for this battle but my brother lost interest in Armati after a poor showing at a tournament, so I put my figures to one side. Now I am tempted to dig them out and try Basic Impetus with them too. I think I actually have enough unpainted Chinese to produce a couple of Warring States armies. I doubt any of these 15mm chaps will be the subject of a monthly objective because Steve has no similar figures to oppose me, but I may well treat them as a personal subobjective. With two armies on the table, Steve can hardly refuse to play me, can he?
Thinking back on the drive for thrift, I am quite pleased with what I have achieved so far. The challenge is now 6 months old so I thought I would pen a few words on that. Steve and I have managed to paint a bunch of old lead without buying too much new lead, which is a good thing. I have certainly curtailed my spending quite significantly, which is also a good thing, and I have dealt with a number of projects that had previously languished through lack of focus. This is brilliant. Adopting this project-oriented approach has really helped in getting things completed. Mind you, I have not really noticed any diminution in the lead pile, but that is probably because it was so large to start with.
One thing I have done each month is define a realistic goal. I have not posed any difficult challenges because I felt that over-facing myself would be counter-productive and kill my motivation. Therefore I have looked at what I wanted to achieve and what I could achieve, and have set my targets based on that. On the whole this has worked well. I have had moments when I did not feel like painting at all, and others when I felt like painting all the time. This has balanced out and I have been able to make steady progress. One thing that has really helped, has been playing a game with the new figures each month. By using them almost as soon as they are ready, I have been more motivated to complete the next project.
So, I now face the next 6 months. Steve and I have agreed to expand our Warrior Heroes campaign with new nations. We plan to paint and add a new army every couple of months to the campaign. This will give us more options for the campaign and will help to ensure that there is a continuous stream of battles. At the moment, there has been an unpleasant outbreak of peace among two thirds of the participants. We need to deal with that. We also have the annual Wargods tournament in November to work towards. I cannot decide which army to take and may well opt for some unpainted units just so that I get more lead painted. There are also numerous rules sets that we both want to try; rules are our real downfall. We keep seeing cool rules and getting them, although my thrift drive has led to me spending less on rules too.
If you have managed to read this far, thank you for reading. Pictures will follow as I tackle the July objectives. In theory I could have them done in early July, but I am still looking for a new job and working on my thesis, both of which take up rather more of my time than you might think.
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
The Russians are coming!
My newly enforced increased-leisure lifestyle has resulted in a number of changes around here. Thrift is no longer just a good idea; it is now the law. Therefore, my expenditure on anything has gone right down, but my productivity has increased commensurately. My latest oeuvre is a 15mm Russian force for the PBI rules from Peter Pig. I really like the Peter Pig figures because they paint up well and easily. I doubt that my efforts really do justice to Mr Goddard's figures, but here are some photos anyway. As usual, click on the pictures for larger versions.
The whole force
Company command
The PBI, backbone of the force
HMG team
Tanks ... you're welcome
76mm anti-tank guns with crew and tow
Extras - the army pack came with quite a few extra figures, partly because it is provided with whole packs of figures, rather than just those needed for the basic force, but also probably because I have not followed the layout as they thought I should. I shall never know because it does not tell you how to field the force, just what force they expect the pack to be able to field. These extras will permit some variation in force design anyway, which is good.
Thursday, 5 February 2009
A Thrifty Gamer at Vapnartak
I dragged my poor, long-suffering wife along to Vapnartak in York on Sunday. I like this show because York racecourse is a good, light and airy venue and there is more space than at many other shows, as well. I forgot to take my camera, so no pictures of the show. Sorry. On the other hand, I was not struck by any of the games particularly. There was a reasonable selection of games on offer with most being 28mm figures. They looked fine as far as they went, but they also looked remarkably samey. Perhaps I have become jaded by wargames shows, but nothing stood out and all the games looked remarkably like a lot of other games that I have seen at other shows. There seemed to be very few participation games available either, not that I could have taken advantage had they been there, what with my wife being there and all that. However, a trend towards fun participation games would be nice to see for future shows.
While at Vapnartak, I did have a long chat with Pete Berry on the Baccus stall, which was both productive and illuminating. I could tell you what we talked about, but then I would have to kill you! Meeting with the traders and socialising is really the main reason why I go to shows these days. The demo games, as mentioned above, more often than not just leave me cold and there are too few participation games for my taste, so that just leaves shopping and socialising, which is not really a bad thing but it does make me feel old and jaded.
My spending at Vapnartak was somewhat constrained by the presence of my wife, which was a blessing really. I am, after all, trying to be thrifty. So, what did I buy? Well, one packet of eight 6mm limbers for my 18th century artillery. We have been playing a lot of that recently and do plan to play more so I felt justified in providing my troops with the means to move their cannon. I also bought half a dozen foam trays from Figures in Comfort. While this is not particularly thrifty, I like the trays and they protect my figures well. With the drive to paint more figures, I believe that I should store them properly to protect their new paint jobs too. Therefore, the expense of the foam trays is justified for that reason and qualifies under the drive to spend my money more wisely.
While at Vapnartak, I did have a long chat with Pete Berry on the Baccus stall, which was both productive and illuminating. I could tell you what we talked about, but then I would have to kill you! Meeting with the traders and socialising is really the main reason why I go to shows these days. The demo games, as mentioned above, more often than not just leave me cold and there are too few participation games for my taste, so that just leaves shopping and socialising, which is not really a bad thing but it does make me feel old and jaded.
My spending at Vapnartak was somewhat constrained by the presence of my wife, which was a blessing really. I am, after all, trying to be thrifty. So, what did I buy? Well, one packet of eight 6mm limbers for my 18th century artillery. We have been playing a lot of that recently and do plan to play more so I felt justified in providing my troops with the means to move their cannon. I also bought half a dozen foam trays from Figures in Comfort. While this is not particularly thrifty, I like the trays and they protect my figures well. With the drive to paint more figures, I believe that I should store them properly to protect their new paint jobs too. Therefore, the expense of the foam trays is justified for that reason and qualifies under the drive to spend my money more wisely.
Saturday, 31 January 2009
Mission: Ooh Shiny - Month 2
"Commander, primary objective achieved, sir!"
"Very good, Captain. Proceed with the next phase of the plan."
"Yes, sir!"
With 2VPs in the bag, we now need to defend Mars from the invaders. The primary objective for February will be painting two companies of Black Hat 15mm Martians for a game of Soldier's Companion. Soldier's Companion is the miniatures game from GDW's Space 1889 setting. It is essentially a set of colonial rules with extras for adding in various staples of Victorian Sci-Fi, including walkers, Martians, Venusians, etc. The whole Space 1889 setting is a rich and fertile playground for gaming and the role-playing game supplements can be adapted to create miniatures games. It is our intention to play a game involving the British colonial powers from Syrtis Major on Mars versus my Shastapshian Martians, so we need painted figures. Steve is producing the Brits, while I work on the Martians. Here are some Martians I painted earlier to whet your appetite:
This is the Black Hat character pack that includes a servant, a scholar, a Martian warrior, not-Dejah Thoris, not-John Carter and a big game hunter. I plan to use these figures as the basis of a Fantastic Worlds game, as well as providing characters for Soldier's Companion. The figures I plan to paint for February are shown below. The first picture shows the battalion command, while the second picture shows the two companies that form the basis of this month's mission.
This mission is also worth 2VPs. I have not defined a secondary objective for this month. It is likely that I shall probably focus on more 6mm Great Northern War activity, possibly continuing to rebase my figures, and making sure that, whatever I do, we get on and play games with those same figures.
"Cover me, chaps, I'm going in."
"Very good, Captain. Proceed with the next phase of the plan."
"Yes, sir!"
With 2VPs in the bag, we now need to defend Mars from the invaders. The primary objective for February will be painting two companies of Black Hat 15mm Martians for a game of Soldier's Companion. Soldier's Companion is the miniatures game from GDW's Space 1889 setting. It is essentially a set of colonial rules with extras for adding in various staples of Victorian Sci-Fi, including walkers, Martians, Venusians, etc. The whole Space 1889 setting is a rich and fertile playground for gaming and the role-playing game supplements can be adapted to create miniatures games. It is our intention to play a game involving the British colonial powers from Syrtis Major on Mars versus my Shastapshian Martians, so we need painted figures. Steve is producing the Brits, while I work on the Martians. Here are some Martians I painted earlier to whet your appetite:
This is the Black Hat character pack that includes a servant, a scholar, a Martian warrior, not-Dejah Thoris, not-John Carter and a big game hunter. I plan to use these figures as the basis of a Fantastic Worlds game, as well as providing characters for Soldier's Companion. The figures I plan to paint for February are shown below. The first picture shows the battalion command, while the second picture shows the two companies that form the basis of this month's mission.
This mission is also worth 2VPs. I have not defined a secondary objective for this month. It is likely that I shall probably focus on more 6mm Great Northern War activity, possibly continuing to rebase my figures, and making sure that, whatever I do, we get on and play games with those same figures.
"Cover me, chaps, I'm going in."
Monday, 26 January 2009
The Goblins of Zog-Rot
We are nearly at the end of January and I have completed my goblins. I really did wonder if I could manage it, but I have done so. 2VPs to me. I have not managed to paint any of the Normans that were my secondary objective, because I have been distracted by our 6mm Great Northern War games instead. For next month I shall devise an alternative system for the secondary objective. Not sure what yet, but I shall come up with something (I hope).
The goblins of Zog-Rot are a mixed bunch. The majority are poorly clad, small and malnourished but with a huge appetite for carnage. The toughest of them ride the dreaded Ripper Beasts, large flightless birds with a terrible carnivorous appetite. It is fair to say that most goblins that try to tame one of these beasts wind up as its dinner instead. However, those few that succeed are well on their way to glory and fame among goblin-kind. Just taming a Ripper Beast is cause for a rise in social standing. Most goblins try to tame the less aggressive male ripper beasts, which are readily recognisable by the red stripes on their backs. Obviously, less aggressive in this case refers only to their aggressiveness when compared to the female of the species.
Some rare goblins are tough enough to tame the female Ripper Beasts, and a very few manage to tame two of them. The sight of a goblin standing proudly in his chariot pulled by two Ripper Beasts is a sure sign that you are confronting the chief of the tribe. This will be an unusually large and aggressive goblin.
Zog-Rotten society is warband-based. It relies on a regular income from raiding other groups. It is rare that a single war-leader can rise to the fore and unite the goblin hordes, although this has happened on occasion. That is one reason why Zog-Rot is ringed by Brethren fortresses. The Brethren maintain a constant watch for just such an occurrence and do their level best to prevent it reaching the point where goblin armies storm across the borders once more. Let us just hope that Steve has managed to outfit the Brethren in time for next week's goblin incursion!!
Wednesday, 31 December 2008
January? WHAA!
Happy New Year, thrifty gamers.
So, it is January now. As I wrote last time, Steve and I decided that we would aim for a game of Warrior Heroes: Armies and Adventures at the beginning of February. Therefore, my primary objective for January is to paint my remaining goblins to provide an enemy for Steve's Teutonic knights. Steve is going to paint his Teutonic knights and then we shall have a scrap; no unpainted figures may be fielded so getting the figures painted is important. I am looking forward to getting started on these and will try to get pictures as I go along so that you can see the progress.
Objective 1: The Goblins
As I wrote before, this is one of my half-finished projects. It does not look like many figures to paint, but I always find that these things take longer than expected.
Objective 2: The Normans
More figures for the WHAA project, as well as being useful for other rules that I enjoy, like Retinue and Montjoie.
Regarding WHAA, I have also updated my wiki with some notes on WHAA and the first entries in my own warband's diary. The diary, Ragnar's saga, follows the adventures of the youngest son of a Viking jarl in his quest for fame and fortune. Pretty much standard Viking fare then.
As part of getting ready for the thrift, I have had to clear the decks, so to speak. This has resulted in me finally completing the painting on my Warrior Heroes 6mm armies. Warrior Heroes was the original THW fantasy massed battle game. It uses element bases and I have chosen to base all my figures on 40*20mm bases with a view to also using them with Warmaster Ancients. The two armies that I have produced use Baccus Wars of the Roses figures but are based on Hundred Years War armies. So, my project-based approach has already had some benefits since it forced me to put in the work on these figures. I am planning on getting in a game or two with these figures over the next month now that they are painted. Hopefully I shall also manage to get their bases done too.
So, it is January now. As I wrote last time, Steve and I decided that we would aim for a game of Warrior Heroes: Armies and Adventures at the beginning of February. Therefore, my primary objective for January is to paint my remaining goblins to provide an enemy for Steve's Teutonic knights. Steve is going to paint his Teutonic knights and then we shall have a scrap; no unpainted figures may be fielded so getting the figures painted is important. I am looking forward to getting started on these and will try to get pictures as I go along so that you can see the progress.
Objective 1: The Goblins
As I wrote before, this is one of my half-finished projects. It does not look like many figures to paint, but I always find that these things take longer than expected.
Objective 2: The Normans
More figures for the WHAA project, as well as being useful for other rules that I enjoy, like Retinue and Montjoie.
Regarding WHAA, I have also updated my wiki with some notes on WHAA and the first entries in my own warband's diary. The diary, Ragnar's saga, follows the adventures of the youngest son of a Viking jarl in his quest for fame and fortune. Pretty much standard Viking fare then.
As part of getting ready for the thrift, I have had to clear the decks, so to speak. This has resulted in me finally completing the painting on my Warrior Heroes 6mm armies. Warrior Heroes was the original THW fantasy massed battle game. It uses element bases and I have chosen to base all my figures on 40*20mm bases with a view to also using them with Warmaster Ancients. The two armies that I have produced use Baccus Wars of the Roses figures but are based on Hundred Years War armies. So, my project-based approach has already had some benefits since it forced me to put in the work on these figures. I am planning on getting in a game or two with these figures over the next month now that they are painted. Hopefully I shall also manage to get their bases done too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)