Ruined Guard House

Hey... it's been a while.

Although I have not been playing any games of Mordheim for some time now I had an opportunity to return to the desolate city this winter. With the requirements of a number of other projects fulfilled I entered the Lead Adventure Forum's Build Something Contest; the theme was Wreck and Ruin (you can't get much more Mordheim then that). Something that I had long planned on making was a ruined guard house so that was my subject. My build thread is here for those that are interested.

The building phase of the competition ran from Jan. 4th to Mar. 9th. Only WIP photos could be shown in the build threads; pictures of the fully painted projects could only be seen in the opening round.

The competition portion ran through 4 rounds with participants going head to head and the membership voting for their favourite.

Although I started with Firedragon Games impressed styrodur for the walls and the floors, I tried a few different materials such as Polyblend's sanded grout/silicone mix for the daub.

The doorway and the small windows and arrow slits were also from Firedragon games. As usual balsa wood and coffee stirrers provided beams and floorboards.

The roof construction was time consuming as I used doll house cedar shakes split into halves and thirds to shingle the roof. The dormer was a bit of an after thought and it kind of shows.

For the 3rd and 4th rounds photos submitted had to be with the terrain being used as intended: as a gaming piece.

Although not necessary, I tried to include a new photo in each collage (the best way to submit an entry as you could show off the piece from different angles).

The following photo I never used and in the end I didn't need it.

 I have to say the project was a success as I ended up winning the prized potato, a very valuable trophy in these uncertain times, with the apocalypse looming on the horizon and all....

With the current health situation on going, when I get to actually use this piece in a game is a complete guess. The table and a couple of the other large buildings are still at a friends; I have no idea when I will be able to retrieve them...

Reiklanders

My Reiklanders are done. Now I just have to find a game for them...

Captain Bismarck Du Plessis, dressed for the party in scarlet sash, a wreath of laurel and shinning breastplate; armed with a sword and duelling pistol:

Bismarck's brother, the Champion, Jannie, armed with an axe and buckler accompanied by long time compatriot Lood De Jager packing a big ol' sword and muscles:

Bismarck has enlisted two swordsmen, Eben Etzebeth and Frans Malherbe, each armed with a pair of swords.

Finally, 2 Marksmen each sporting a musket; Faf De Klerk and Elton Janjties:

This brings us to a tidy 500 gc's starting warband.

Long time, no blog...

I started a human mercenaries (Reiklanders) in anticipation of getting a few games in this fall/winter. I put them together out of a box of half built, half broken Free Company models I bought online (LAF maybe???). There is probably enough for a couple more warbands in there.

The starting line up so far:

Bismark Du Plessis: Mercenary Captain, sword, duelling pistol, heavy armour, buckler

Janni Du Plessis: Champion, axe, buckler

Lood De Jager: Champion, two handed sword, light armour

Faf De Klerk: Marksmen, handgun

Elton Janjties: Marksmen, Handgun

Eben Etzebeth: Swordsmen, 2 swords

Frans Malherbe: Swordsmen, 2 swords

Heavy armour is generally poo-pooed in Mordheim but that is what the model comes with so...

Last night I detailed some of the bases. I probably should have peeled the figures off their bases and lay the flag stones down properly but with a bit of sand and wood around the feet, from table top distance, no one will notice... I hope.

Two Games

I finally got to play a couple of small games on the new table this weekend. My friend Ryan has a considerable collection of Beastmen to draw on to build his Warband; I brought both my Dwraves and my Skaven and played a game with each. As I got involved in the game and frequent trips to the rule book to reaqquaint my self with the rules I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I would have liked.

Ryan's Beastmen Raiders Warband consisted of a Chieftan with light armour and two axes; 4 Ungors with spears and a Minotaur in light armour and a two handed axe.

The Skaven were led by an Assassin Adept with light armour and fighting claws; an Eishin Sorcerer; a Black Skaven in light armour with a flail; 4 verminkin with swords and 2 Night Runners with slings.

The first scenario was Defend The Find: the Beastmen deploy in a central building and the Skaven have to dislodge them. Here the Ungors and the Minotaur guard their valuable treasure.

The Sorcerer, a couple of the Verminkin and the Black Skaven approach from the east:

The Assassain Adept and a couple Verminkin "bodyguards" come at the building from the north but are met by the Minotaur who freezes the Adept with an angry stare (some leader...) and squashes the three of the in successive turns:

Although the other members of the two warbands traded blows fairly evenly, the arrival of the Minotaur at the other skirmish ended the game with only the Night Runners surviving.

The next game I fielded Dwarves led by a Noble with heavy armour and a two handed sword. he had an Engineer with 2 pistols; a clansmen with a dwarf axe and light armour; another clansmen with a sword ,shield and light armour; a thunderer with a handgun and a beardling with an axe. The scenario we chose was Hidden Treasure.
The Beastmen set up along the western board edge:

The Dwarves set up opposite. Although the Dwarves were much closer to more buildings, their stunty legs meant that the fast moving Beastmen rapidly moved through the buildings and closed with the Dwarves. The Dwarven Noble with feathered cap and his companion Pitr the Hunter with Handgun prepare to fight running Ungors. Stan- with dwarf axe in the lower right- has just exited the building; nothing of value was found.

As in the last game the Minotaur proved to be difficult, however, the Dwarves black powder weapons eventually put a stop to him- in melee, no less, with the engineer, and Stan to remove the final wound. In the picture below, the Minotaur munches through the beardling ( left to fend for himself against the beast) before making his way towards the engineer where he would meet his death,  while Yoshi prepares to charge a lowly Ungor (just out of the picture in the building) only to be taken out of action with the first blow.

With only two buildings left to be searched I realised that I actually only had a slim chance to find the treasure as it will automatically appear in the last building searched if all the other buildings fail to yield it and discovery is made by rolling box cars on 2 dice. So I opted to charge all my models into melee and faired quite well for a few turns however my inability to either hit or wound the Chief would eventually lead to the Dwarven Noble's demise and subsequently Pitr's as well.

So 2 fun games and 2 fun losses...

Crossing Hazard

Countdown is underway... with a game this coming Saturday I had a few odds and ends to tidy up, specifically ladders and a bridge. the ladders are unremarkable: MDF from Warbases (I think). MDF ladders are just ok; no detail as such, very plain. I have since ordered some nice resin ones from Firedragon Games. I also had some plastic ladders from GW's LoTR Uruk Hai siege troops.

The bridge is made from 3/8 square balsa and popsicle sticks. Normally I would use balsa wood strips as the cut and carve easily but I didn't have enough in the size I wanted and didn't feel like running out to the hobby store. Painted with craft paint greys, washed with home made black wash and moss from Woodland Scenics fine yellow turf coated with watered down white glue and washed with green ink.

Ground Work Part 4

At the beginning of September I ordered some stone walls from Fenris Games for my table. They were meant to go between the grassy area and the urban area. Unfortunately they just got shipped 2 weeks ago which means they won't be here for Oct 21st .My guess is they will either arrive the day before or the day after... so onto Plan B.

I decided to make a hedge. I wanted it to look irregular, as one that grew up naturally as opposed to a planted and maintained hedge so I chose a variety of materials: coconut fibre, a few strands of florists wire primed brown, some woodland scenics lichen (natural) and grape vine from an Ashland wreath. The base is 3mm MDF which- despite taking precautions- still managed to warp somewhat, with Sculptamold and brown house paint for texture and Heki 10mm beige static grass. The dead leaves are ScenicExpress SuperLeaf.

I still have yet to start on that bridge....

Ground Work Part 3

The table is nearly done. Just a few items to add however Mrs. Codsticker says there are more importanter things that need attending to 😒.

I used quite a few different products at this stage. The static grass is a mostly Heki 6mm Autumn with a few splashes of Heki 10mm Autumn. The large beige tufts are Gamers Grass beige XL and the smaller brown tufts in the creek are Army Painter Highland Tufts. The reeds are natural bristles cut from a brush and washed with dark brown ink. The dead shrubbery is a mix of Ashland Mocha Moss and coconut fibre, with a spinkling of Scenic Express SuperLeaf, mostly Fall with a bit of Moss Green. The creek was painted then coated with several heavy coats of Mod Podge Gloss. The final coat was thinned and poured on. As it was a couple of mm thick it took about 36 hours to dry.

All to do now is build a bridge. I bought a stone bridge but the span is too small so a wooden one will have to do. I also have some dead wood I am thinking of adding to the ridge. I may not use them.