Great Games at AttritiCon

My club's annual event, the AttritiCon, was tremendous fun again. The con was well recieved (we had something of a hundred participants and visitors this time), and it was a very relaxed and joyful atmosphere with people having big talks about little figures and playing old and new games. For me it was a first that I didn't play any tournament but helped staging two demonstration games - the best decision I could have made, as it was truly great.

One of these games was a big 400p Impetus demo in 28mm with Christopher aka Axebreaker. Christopher is a very nice person and a gifted painter, and the army he put on the table certainly has a very lasting "wow"-effect. Here he is, sitting in the middle and explaining grand strategy to the players:

Facing each other on the Spanish plainland were my Andalusians (which you already know)... 

28mm Andalusians

... and Christopher's fantastic El Cid army:
 

28mm El Cid

The Scenario was a historical one, but we took liberties with the set up and added a Spanish Version of La Haye Sainte:

In two large battles the armies fought it out who would rule this part of Spain...

... and there were plenty of heroic moments like with this mercenary knights in Andalusian service (bottom centre), who survived turns after turns of onslought by a overwhelmingly outnumbering enemy...  

...or simply massive, optically overwhelming fighting scenes. 

I can only say thanks to Christopher, who (since it was one of my first times playing Impetus) had the hard work of involving and explaining, while I was free to enjoy the figures and role some dice. What a great game it was. We're considering to do something like this again in the future, but for the moment we're both glad that we finished everything in time (and we both shrink back even from the thought of another such huge project...).

The other game was much smaller in figure-numbers but not in matters of fun. In our own adaption of the SAGA rules, Patrick alias "Wraith" and myself prepared a little scenario set in the end-struggles of the Imjin war: A Japanase colony is attacked by a Korean army, and in a limited number of seven turns the game is decided by the number of buildings burned by the Koreans or defended by the Japanese. For those interested, I have made available the Korean Battleboard for download.    

The setting: A little Japanese village built by the invaders

 Patrick is a very nice person and great fun to game with, and his Samurai troops are truly a feast for the eyes. Here is the master of the games...



...and here you can see some of his very beautiful troops:

Perry Samurai painted by Patrick

I myself added the scenery (the buildings are John Jenkins Design) as well as the Koreans:  

Perry Koreans

The scenario was played five times that day. Everytime the fighting was tough...

 ...and both the scenario as well as the battleboards proved to be well balanced, as the results of the battles were quite different. The only thing that didn't differ was the fun the players had: 

Here are some more shots of the battles in progress:

My heartfeld thanks to my both co-organizers and hobby friends - as well as to all the players joining in. It was so much fun!

Now I'm back at my painting table, and it feels so good to be free to paint anything I want without having to keep a shedule. Alas, as gaming events like these are known to be the petri dish of hobby inspiration, a new plan and shedule will emerge soon enough... But more of this some other times.

All the best to you and thanks for your visit,
Tobi

The Andalusians are ready to march

There's nothing like an upcoming deadline to speed up the work :-) 

At our next big club event AttritiCon which will be held in two weeks I have the honour to stage an El Cid - Impetus game with Christopher aka Axebreaker, known near and far for his beautiful armies. Just take a look at his fabtastic El Cid army and you will understand why to say I'm under pressure to present something adequate really is quite an understatement. 

Thus I have started to base and paint an Andalusian army that was for a long time in my mind and in my cuppord but for some reason or the other had not seen the light of day yet. Today I'm glad to say that it is finished. Have a look for yourself:

Impetus Andalusian Cavalry (figues by Musketeer, Gripping Beast, Artizan, Black Tree and Crusader)

 

Impetus Andalusian Infantry (figues by Musketeer, Artizan, Gripping Beast and Black Tree)

I have already written what there is to say about this army here, so this time I'll let it suffice with the army list and some more pictures. All together it is a 400p army consisting of two commands:

 

Command 1 (Horse): 227 p

1 Expert Commander (C-in-C), attached to CM below 30 p

4 Andalusian Cav CM 92 p

1 Mercenary Knights  29 p

1 Banu Birzal CM  30 p

2 Andalusian CL with Javelin 46 p

Command 2 (mainly foot): 173 p

1 Expert Commander (not attached)  20 p

2 Javelin Skirmishers 24 p

3 Andalusian Foot and Archers fielded together as large units  75 p

2 Mercenary Light Horse with Bow  44 p                                      

 

 

 Now all I have left to do is learn the Impetus - rules... And, ahem, finish some other figures I'll need for the event. But more of this later.

All the best to you, take care and thanks for your visit,
Tobi

Big

Strange caption, that is. Well, I couldn't decide whether to name the post for the news I want to break, the progress I want to report or the sale I'd like to announce. But as all of them go well together with "big", I guess that'll be this posts title for now.

Where to start? Let's begin with the news. I was at Tactica in Hamburg two weeks ago, and as many of you may already know, this wargames show really is a gem. I was there first time and wasn't prepared for such a big and great show on German soil. Also, I wasn't prepared to spent so much money, which is why I won't go to Salute after all. No need for it, really, my lead mountain has risen quite a step. But it wasn't only the things I've bought (more of that in a later post), but also the games were just great. Here are just a very few impressions of the eye candy available there...

But surely the greatest experience of the show was talking to the Perries, who are really very nice and amiably fellows. And now here is the first of the big news I've learned: Michael is doing TWO NEW WotR PLASTIC SETS. One will be dismounted knights, the other light cavalry. He was even so kind to ask me which set I'd prefer first and I opted for the dismounted knights - so I guess it will be light cavalry first out, then.

The Perry Twins Alan (left) and Michael (right) being interviewed at the Tactica by Magabotato

The second big news of the show I've learned from Alex Buchel: There'll be a SAGA SUPPLEMENT FOR THE CRUSADES this autumn with lists for several Arab and Crusader factions. Having proposed Crusader lists at the SAGA-forum myself I'm really excited about this news. Also, it definitly was the right decision to go for single based figures in my current project...

Speaking of which there is also big progress to report. The basing goes along nicely, and I now have multibases for the biggest part of my army. As you can see on these snapshots they are not yet finished, but the most time-consuming part (preparing the multibases and basing the figures so that they will fit into the slots - its harder than it sounds as a single corn of sand can obstruct the close-fitting connection) is done:

Andalusian Foot (Work in Progress)

Andalusian Horse (Work in Progress)

A close up on the command

 Now  I have to do some light horse and a few more other bases, than I can concentrate on the painting of the bases.

Speaking of concentration... I have to admit a little lapse of focus lately. With all the new  toy I've bought at the Tactica I thought it was time again to sell some, too. So I based and finished a few more figures and put them on Ebay. Among those are:

Arabs

WotR from Front Rank

Normans from Gripping Beast

Normans from Gripping Beast

Hundred Year's War

I'll probably miss some of them eventually, but even with my rather grand-scale approach to planing and starting projects there is a step where grandness and madness collide, and I want to stay well away from that step for as long as possible...

Thanks for visiting, have a nice evening and take care,
Tobi

Later Andalusians - Impetus Style

Flip Flap, says the Wargames Butterfly - and someplace it causes a storm.

Well, not a storm exactly, but at least a burst of activity. While January was very busy in real life and I hardly managed to paint anything at all, February proved to be much of an improvement. And a new project was started - since Christopher aka Axebreaker and me have finally decided on what we want to prepare for the next AttritiCon in Ulm. It will be El Cid - using Impetus rules, and featuring Christophers gloriously painted (and in the new "Impetus extra 5" - booklet deservedly honoured) El Cid-army as well as my less famous, but nonetheless quite nice Andalusian force. I may say so myself, because the collection does not only reflect my own humble painting efforts, but features the beautiful work of Monica Bello, Simon Bradley, David Millet, Jake Hallam and some others.

As you can see from these names, the project has been growing for some time now. I kept painting Arabs and also buying them painted or handing them out as painting comissions, but I really couldn't decide on what rulesystem to use, so I did not base the figures. Now, finally, it is decided for which project they will be used - and thus how to base them. Using my previously intodruced basing-system they will be single-based and then combined on Impetus-multibases. This way I can also use them for DUX or other skirmish games at a later time. Naturally, this basing-system is somewhat of an overkill and takes double or tripple time - first the figures have to based individually, then the multibase has to be prepared. But looking at the first results, for me it's well worth the effort.

What we have here are two bases of bowmen and one base of skirmishers. The pictures are not that great and I'll take some better ones with more background as soon as more bases are ready - which will be quite soon, I hope.

By the way, I didn't photoshop the bases, so while you surely can see that these are individually based figures, in my oppinion the effect typically associated with Impetus-bases (a small diorama) is not completely lost. But let me know what you think.

Have a nice evening and thanks for your visit,
Tobi