Before my blogging hiatus, I always found that organizing my thoughts in the form of a blog post was very beneficial. For one, it helped cleanse my cluttered mind and keep me focused on the task at hand. Also, as a blog reader, I enjoy reading about what others are plotting and painting as it would often give me a chance to live vicariously through projects that I would likely never take on myself. So here we go.


My Avar/Slav army for Impetus was in its infancy when I stopped blogging a couple of years ago. However, I'm pleased to report that my painting carried on even though my blogging didn't. The horsemen pictured above are the last unit of cavalry for that army (thank god). Although I love the 15mm scale and I enjoy painting 15mm projects as a whole, cavalry at this scale can get particularly monotonous. To do a nice job, one must pay attention to certain nit-picky details such as the horse's barding and saddle, not to mention the belts, scabbards and quivers sported by the rider. For a complete 500-point army, all I have left to paint is two units of Slav Javelinmen (FL). Contrary to the cavalry, I find these light infantry types go much quicker so I anticipate having the full army ready to go by the middle of June. This completion date will coincide with Stu receiving his Frankish army, a commissioned painting project that will just so happen to provide historical opponent for my Avar. Can't wait!

This "I don't particularly enjoy painting 15mm cavalry" realization is quite timely in one way and a little inconvenient in another. I have enough 15mm miniatures poked away to paint a full 500-point, all mounted Alan army. They will stay in storage for now, but if I knew then what I knew now, I likely wouldn't have purchased an all-horse army in the first place. However, it's not all bad - I backed my first Kickstarter project this year. I will be getting one of the new Westwind 15mm ancient armies in the Fall. Although we are still figuring out which era we will pursue, I've already made up my mind that I won't be choosing a horse-heavy army.


The above photo shows the Old West citizens I am currently painting. These are all from Dixon miniatures. I bought them years ago and never got around to them. I must say, it's quite liberating to finish projects that have lain dormant for so long. I have another half a dozen that have just been primed. I'm aiming to have them all finished before my Foundry cowboys and my Renedra buildings arrive in the mail.

To Dip or Not to Dip?
I am at that stage of geeking where I have more or less stayed focused on a few main projects - Gothic Horror, Old West, Pulp, and Impetus. Both Gothic Horror and Impetus are pretty much finished (as much as any project is ever finished) and the Old West and Pulp projects will be clued-up by the Fall. With a new 15mm army on the way soon and looking to next year, it will soon be time to try some new things I think. As I get older, and as the miniature cabinet starts filling up with painted figures, I feel less need to make every project the best I can do. With that in mind, I've been starting to develop a curiosity concerning dipping products. Specifically, I would love to buy a box of 28mm plastic something-or-other (from Warlord Games, for instance) and try my hand at priming the main colour, painting on the other base colours, and then dipping/inking/washing. I don't expect the same level of quality as with a traditional paint job, but I would like to experience the thrill of mass painting 30 or 40 models at once in a week or two.

I have ordered a dropper bottle of Army Painter's Strong Tone wash. When that arrives I will experiment on something I have lying around. I shall post photos of my successful or failed results here.

Thanks for reading,
JET

I've had this 15mm Hovels bridge lying around for almost two years now. Last week, Marc and I devised a simple "cross the river" scenario for Impetus and played the scenario with one river section designated as a ford. I realized that a bridge would be far cooler, hence the new paint job.


I decided not to base the bridge in its own section of river since I want to be able to use it along with multiple river collections in our group. Instead, I built a base for the bridge and sculpted some water flowing under it. It doesn't match up perfectly but it gets the idea across as far as I'm concerned.

As for the Impetus scenario, here are some random points Marc and I came up with during and after our test scenario last week:

• The attacker must have one appointed unit on the defender's side of the bridge at game end in order to win.
• A unit whose base is flush with a bridge entrance can engage in melee with an enemy unit on the opposite side.
• Entering a bridge causes disorder to all units except FP and S.
• We haven't yet figured out how to regulate crossing the bridge as (a) units can't fit on the bridge and (b) units have different depths. I'm sure we'll come up with a simple method to solve this minor issue.

So I've finally decided that it's time to replace my little red disorder markers for Impetus with something a little more visually appealing. I figure if I'm going to lose a game, it's just as well to look good while doing so. I ordered a few packs of medieval casualties from Essex and finally started at them last night.


As you can see, I've simply based one casualty on a round plastic base and painted it up. I've got 18 of these guys started and I"m actually painting them up as one big batch. I finished one off just so you guys could see how it's going to look. I've also painted up some random infantry figures which will be used as opportunity markers (to replace the green markers). Overall, I'm hoping that our games will look just a little sexier.

As I mentioned previously, you'll have to excuse my laxness in the blogging department. We've been spending the majority of our at-home time doing summer stuff - hiking, going to the beach, and chilling out with the kids. Furthermore, our summer geek nights (which still go ahead every Saturday night) have been dominated by board games. Fear not - the regular regime of painting, war-gaming, and blogging will be back in full swing when school starts up.

Thanks for reading,
JET

It's been a long hiatus for me but I'm finally back in the saddle (pun intended). Now that my painting area is unpacked and ready for action, I broke out the Avars and decided to paint this general model.


I know what you're thinking... what's with the pink? I don't know really. I just felt so confined by the rules of heraldry after painting my medieval army that this time around I wanted to go crazy. I may go back and get rid of the pink when the rest of the unit is done, or I may not. We'll see.

As for the disturbing lack of game reports, Summer so far has mostly been about board games, particularly Settlers of Catan and lots of two-player Twilight Struggle. So, the geeking is going strong, it just hasn't been in a very bloggable form. Now that I've found both my muse and my paintbrush, I hope to start producing at a reasonable rate again. Don't go too far.

Thanks for reading,
JET

The past few weeks have been dominated by packing, cleaning, and getting rid of junk. My wife and I will be buying a home this year but, before we do, we decided to try living outside of the city. We are both from smaller communities (or as we say in Newfoundland, from "around the bay"), but its been years since either of us has lived outside of St. John's.


We are finally in the new house. Here's the view from our back patio. I have to say, it's quite lovely. Even though I'm only a 10-minute drive from the city, the pace here is totally different. It's good for the kids as well - there's lots of room for my 10-year old to roam free, unlike the suburb we came from.

Anyway, I just started unpacking the geek stuff last night. I'll be setting up a painting and modelling corner in the basement rec room. Also, with the Canada Post strike over, I just received my Avar light horse from Khurasan on Friday. Expect to see progress in the coming week.

Thanks for reading,
JET

I've been picking away at some more Avar cavalry and I thought you guys might like to see the most recently finished one.


Please keep in mind, the colours and shield designs are completely make-believe. I don't know much (read: anything) about the Avar nation. As I said in the last post, if you have any idea who makes these models please let the rest of us know. When I complete more minis (or maybe a full unit), I'll try to get some more photos up.

Thanks for reading,
JET

After spending what little spare time I had over the last couple of weeks prepping and priming, I finally took some time today to throw some paint on a 15mm cavalry model. This fellow will be fielded as part of a Noble Cavalry unit for my up-and-coming Avar Impetus army.


This army will consist primarily of medium bow-armed cavalry, Slavic infantry (in the form of FL and S units), and a few units of bow-armed light cavalry that are currently en route from Khurasan Miniatures.

As one gent on TMP kindly pointed out, it's rather questionable whether Avar cavalry used shields. I figure that, since the Avar nation was really a conglomerate of different Asiatic ethnic groups, I'll go ahead and mix these guys in with my shield-less horsemen and hope for the best. When all is said and done, I'll have a 400-point raiding force that will be made up fairly evenly of bow-armed horse and javelin-armed infantry. As an Impetus player (historical considerations aside) it will be quite a fun army to play - very different from the FP, CP, and T units in my Free Company army.

Thanks for reading,
JET

Before Stu and I threw down for a game of Impetus last night, Marc brought along some Show & Tell - two units of longbowmen for his English army. I thought you folks might enjoy seeing them. As you can see, one unit is painted in the livery of his commander-in-chief.


Along with his unit of hobilars I posted a little while back, these guys make a fine start to his army. Marc seems to be in high gear with this army. I won't be surprised if we are playing some small 200-point games in the next month or so.

I finally primed a largish batch of Slavs a couple of days ago, so I'll be getting that project moving as well. I looked at some of the cavalry I had and realized that I could field two or three units of Avar noble cavalry. Thanks to this discovery, I've decided to use my Slavs as part of a larger Avar force. I may "acquire" the necessary light horse miniatures for Father's Day. Anyway, I'm off to prep up some cavalry while enjoying my Sunday morning tea.

Thanks for reading,
JET

My painting table's been pretty quiet for the past month or so. Busy at work, busy at home - you know the drill. This week I thought, "enough is enough," kicked myself in the ass, and started painting some 15mm Slavs for Impetus.


The photo is a little on the dark side but I uploaded a fairly large version so click to see more detail. The miniatures are Old Glory 15s and they are really great models. I've heard lots of complaining about OG miniatures (mostly their 28mm, but also about their 15mm as well), but I don' t see the problem. These miniatures were sculpted with painting in mind. They are one-piece (read: no shields or spears to attach) and each code comes with quite a number of poses. I should mention, this 15mm collection was given to me by a very kind reader. Frankly, now that I see how nice they are (and how many there are) I will have to contact him and retroactively offer him something in trade.

As to the paint scheme, I chose to stick with primarily creams, beiges, and browns for the clothing and to paint the shields as plain wooden planks. The majority will be armed with javelins and axes, but I'll sprinkle a couple of swords and painted shields in just to represent the few professional warriors in the bunch. As it stands right now, the first 400 points of this army will consist entirely of javelinmen units (FL-light foot) and archer units (S-skirmisher). Combine that with a Poor command structure and I'll be left with an army that plays VERY differently than the balanced Free Company army that I've become used to.

For now, this project will take front and center stage. I've simplified my usual method and, in many cases, I've only added one highlight to the base colour. I've decided that every army I paint doesn't have to be a showcase army. With any luck, this one will come together fairly quickly. Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading,
JET

Just to put it all in perspective, Marc is the guy in our group who plays (a) Cryx in Warmachine, (b) High Elves in Fantasy Impetus, and (c) The Mad Doctor in Chaos in Carpathia. Well, this time he's done something that excites me more than any of those things. He's finally come out of the gate with his 15mm historical army for Impetus.


Marc has enough Corvus Belli and Feudal Castings miniatures to build a 400-point English army. He showed up at my house last night with a unit of hobilars painted and based. I like the muted colour scheme (they are commoners after all) and, although they are a humble VBU:4, I think their being faster medium cavalry will help with flanking maneuvers against enemy infantry.

As I said more than once on this blog, Impetus is far and away my favourite miniatures game. I love the rules, I love the aesthetic, and I love the perfect balance of relaxation and depth of play. Now that Marc has started his army, there will be four players in our group with 15mm historical armies. Huzzah!

Thanks for reading,
JET

You heard me. Around a month ago or so I went up into my parents' attic digging around. I found a box with lots of old AD&D goodies that had been buried for almost 20 years - my Player's Handbook, DM's Guide, Monster Manuals, and some old modules, including the infamous Temple of Elemental Evil. The day after I found the stuff I bumped into a good friend from back in those days who I hadn't really seen much of for over 15 years. It seemed rather serendipitous and, when I learned that the other guys in my group all used to play 1st edition before we had met each other, it seemed like it was time to resurrect the past a little.

So, about a week ago I ran a game with some of the guys. We spent some time making up characters in advance. Each player rolled 6 sets of the six attributes (using 3, not 4 dice) so many of the characters are quite average. Here's the party make-up:

The last couple of months have been very productive for me. In short, I've almost finished everything I had on my plate for Adventure Gaming and Historic Gaming. Thanks to this burst of productivity, as well as some trading and liquidating, I don't really have a lead pile anymore. Furthermore, since I have a collection of models and terrain for all the games I play (and I really don't have time for any new games), I am a geek with nothing (or very little) to paint.

My situation has got me thinking and, after getting some good advice from some seasoned professional painters on TMP, I've decided that I'm going to paint an army to sell. I feel that my greatest strength is 15mm historical miniatures and, since they're also my favourite to paint, that's where I'm starting. I'm embark upon this experimental journey with caution. I'll paint one army to start. If I (a) enjoy it and (b) can sell to a buyer who is willing to pay an agreeable price for the quality of the work, I may do others.

Before I pick up a brush there are two big decisions to be made. The first is, for what system will I paint an army. I was thinking that I would stick to DBA, Basic Impetus, or Impetus. The second decision, of course, is which army to paint. That's where it gets complicated.

Some of my potential choices are "safe" ones; Romans, Greeks, War of the Roses, or something equally as popular. However, I've also considered some choices that you don't see everyday; Dark Age Welsh, Sarmatians, or perhaps an Eastern European medieval army like Hungarians or Albanians.

Anyway, I will come to a decision in the next few days and order some models to try it out. The absolute worse case scenario? I'll be left with a new army in my collection. I could do worse I suppose.

Thanks for reading,
JET

I haven't been posting quite as frequently lately, but there's been no shortage of painting and gaming going on in my life. I played two games of Impetus last night against Stu's Medieval Turks (Sultanate of Rum) but I forgot to take pictures once the action heated up. I thought I would take the opportunity to fill you folks in on Impetus plans and progress in the group.

First of all, the two main sub-projects in the group are 28mm Fantasy Impetus and 15mm Historical Impetus. As some of us are discovering, if you're not going to be playing on a large table (i.e. 6x8 ft), 28mm just doesn't offer the same level of maneuverer and counter-maneuver that 15mm does. 15mm historical (as some of you are likely aware) is certainly my preference and here's where those involved stand currently.

Marc: HYW English (not painted)
Has enough minis to build a 400-point HYW English army and plans to start in the fairly near future. He plays Impetus regularly now and learned the game playing 6mm Parthians vs Romans.

Chris: Italian City States (painted)/ Normans (not painted)
Has a full 400-point Italian City States (Milanese) army painted and plans to add some units now that Extra Impetus #3 has fleshed out the list. He also has a collection of Normans primed and ready for painting. I am currently trying to egg him on to get going on this OR to add some more units to his Milanese army. I think he's becoming a little distracted by 28mm painting so I'll leave him alone... for now.

Stu: Sultanate of Rum (painted)
Stu recently came to terms with his loathing of painting. To remedy this fact, he has allocated part of his wargaming budget to painting services and the Turkish force pictured above is the first of the commissions he's had done. I've been told that there are more 15mm Impetus commissions planned.

Ken: Aragonese (planned, not yet purchased)
This is the star painter of our group and, thanks to playing the FOG video game lately, his interest in Impetus has kicked into gear. As of last night, he said that he plans on starting a Medieval Spanish (Aragonese) army. It would be groovy to see.

Jason/JET/Me: Free Company (painted) / Norse-Irish (started)
My medieval Free Company army is one of my prized wargaming possessions and it's provided me with many hours of painting and playing enjoyment. I've started (and am about to re-start) a 15mm Irish army. The army was originally intended to be a Dark Age Norse-Irish army, but I may (or may not) paint units to morph it into a later medieval Irish army or a Early Irish army (i.e. fighting conquesting Romans and so on). In the future, there will be other 15mm Impetus armies - I just get such enjoyment out of planning and painting Impetus units.

The more I play Impetus, the more I love it. It is such a simple yet deep rules system. Just last night I had a few "aha" moments with regards to my impetuous heavy cavalry. Here they were at the beginning of the game. They performed quite well for me last night, mostly because I'm beginning to learn how to use their impetuous nature to my advantage.


Stu's medium Ghulam cavalry. At VBU:6 with composite bows, these guys are nothing to sneeze at. Last night, however, my longbowmen, with the help of one particularly courageous unit o dismounted men-at-arms, gave them a sound thrashing.


We'll be playing again next week and, for 15mm historical fans, my Free Company will be fielding some newly-painted units. I've said too much. You'll just have to check back next week. Until then...

Thanks for reading,
JET

After a two-week dry spell in the painting department, I finally picked up the brush and got down to business. Marc and I had an uninterrupted painting afternoon on Monday past (i.e. no spouses, no offspring) and while he finished off his elven cavalry, I finished the bulk of my goblin spearmen.


The front unit above contains my general (who is currently unnamed) with a regular unit in the back..


...with two more regular units for a total of four units of spearmen. Stat-wise, I based the goblins on Welsh infantry, so they are VBU:4, I:1, D:B with long spear. You can see my almost-complete hero in the background as well (the guy with the red shield).

I've begun the prep-work on four units of skirmishing archers and, with any luck, I might be able to put down a 200-point army this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed.

Thanks for reading,
JET

Today, Marc and I decided to pool our Impetus enthusiasm by getting together to work on our 28mm fantasy armies. I plugged away at a batch of 20 Goblin Spearmen while Marc worked on a unit of High Elf Knights.

I admit, however, that I did get sidetracked into painting my goblin general and his pet squig. Most of the army is going to be garbed in black so I decided to select a few characters and to really make them pop with some contrasting colours. When this model gets nestled in amongst his black-clad brethren he should really stand out.

On another note, some of GW's design choices I'll never really understand. For example, why (and how) is this guy holding up (yet alone wielding) a blade that is as big as his body? Goblin enthusiasm I guess.

Marc brought along a couple of units of Elf Spearmen that he had recently based. There was some talk of Warhammer a couple of years back but it never really materialized. I think they look much better based for Impetus.


With any luck I'll steal another hour or so today and forge ahead with the Goblin Spearmen. I'll keep you all posted.

Thanks for reading,

Life has been busy as of late but I have managed to get my Fantasy Impetus Goblin army off the ground. Some of you may recall that I had painted a Chaos Knight test model a while back. I was pleased with the results but the models are just so darn busy that I had a hard time getting inspired by them. For the time being I've laid them aside and moved onto the Skull Pass Goblins that Ken gave me a while back. Here's the first unit of Spearmen (FL) all ready for basing. I've given them the same stat line as the historical Welsh Spearmen.


As you can see, I'm going with a pretty simple approach. The only area of the models that I've giving a proper series of highlights is the green skin.

Here's a Goblin Hero. Independent characters are based with half the usual frontage (i.e. 6cm instead of 12cm).


Monsters are also based with 6cm frontage. I'm giving this Troll the Continuous Charge and Flammable rules.


The current state of the painting table. I hope to move through everything you see here (in addition to spider riders and wolf riders) pretty quickly. I'm aiming to have the bulk of the army finished before Xmas.


Marc is currently working on his High Elves and Chris has already made an impressive start on his Skaven. I think we'll start playing sometime over the Xmas holidays. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for reading,
JET

Since finishing up the building interiors a few days ago, I haven't had much chance for geek time. However, I managed to steal an hour or so this morning and took the opportunity to start making some cardboard furniture for my buildings. Here's a quick look at the progress so far.

Here's an altar for the church. The piece of card draped down over the front will be painted as an altar cloth while the casing glued to the top will be painted as a vase and filled with "flowers."


Since Chaos In Carpathia actually has special rules for holy water, I decided to make a font. I figure we could try a simple house rule - first human model to reach the font can take one free flask of holy water or (in the case of vampire henchmen and thralls) dump the contents of the font to prevent others from getting it.


Small wooden flower pot things and wooden discs glued together... Voila! simple tables.


As you would expect, this long table goes in the Longhouse. It looks a little low here, but its actually the same height as my other tables. I think the length makes the height seem a little distorted.


That's it for now. I have started about a half a dozen other tables that will hopefully be finished tomorrow. Then I guess I'll make some beds (I'm dreading those for some reason). I'm also planning on making some barrels and crates for some of the basements.

Finally, I've started painting some generic dungeon/crypt interiors and hallways. I also plan on making some simple sarcophagi for those, as well as a few surprises to add some character to the crypts. With any luck, I'll take whatever I have finished to geek night on Saturday and we'll take the building interiors for a test run.

Thanks for reading,
JET

After posting the interior tiles for my first rustic building last week, I did my best to crack on with it and am pleased to announce that I've finished the first batch of tiles. I now have both above and below ground tiles to correspond to the five rustic buildings that we use in so many of our Gothic Horror games. Use the key below to match each set of tiles with the corresponding building.


1. SIMPLE HUT

This simple dwelling consists of a door at one end, a hearth at the other, and a window on each side. Because it was so small I decided to make it a one-room cottage. The trapdoor reveals a ladder leading down to the cellar.

The cellar is a simple one-room affair as well that provides a sleeping area and a storage area.



2. TWO-ROOM COTTAGE

A slightly larger dwelling than the previous one. The owner has chosen to divide the above-ground space into two small rooms, one as a kitchen and the other as a bedroom. A simple wooden rail ensures that the occupant doesn't accidentally fall into the exposed staircase.


The staircase leads into a large one-room cellar that provides lots of storage space and, if necessary, extra sleeping space.



3. ONE-ROOM COTTAGE

With the same dimensions as the previous building, a one-room layout provides the inhabitants with a relatively large living space. As with the previous cottage, the entrance lies to the left of the fireplace (right where Ernst is standing)


A trip down the enclosed staircase leads to a modest bedroom. The door leads to a small storage area or root cellar.



4. RUSTIC CHURCH

The main door at the end of the building leads to the combined nave/sanctuary. As with many small village churches, it is a humble place of worship. There is a small porch and service entrance behind the chancel area.


The stair way leads down to the undercroft of the church while behind the half-wall a ladder leads up to...


...the tower. Although no Christian gentleman would dream of bringing a firearm into the house of God, with windows in three of its four walls, the tower makes an excellent position for a skilled rifleman.


The undercroft is divided into a small locked vestry (where the vestments and Eucharistic vessels are kept) and a small ad hoc living area for travelling members of the clergy.



5. LONGHOUSE

In many small villages, one building (other than the local church) stands out from its neighbours - the longhouse. Depending on the settlement, it may serve as a town hall, a meeting hall, a tavern, or an inn. In some cases, the basement houses the town's archives, important books, or holy relics. It isn't uncommon for the villagers' seeds and grain to be stored here as well, out of the reach of wild animals and dishonest townsfolk.


A winding stair leads down to the basement.


The reinforced door has multiple locks and stands between thieves and the town's most prized possessions. The keys are usually held by the town's elders.


In this example, I've laid out the largest room as a town archive, a prime objective for questing monster hunters.



What Next?

When I finished painting my Hungarian Monster Hunters a few weeks back, I wrote that I didn't plan on working on any more Gothic Horror projects for some time. As it turns out, I'm a liar. The truth of the matter is, Keir and I played a game when he was in town a few weekends back, and we ran into a situation we hadn't before - enemy models moving into the same building (in search of objectives) at the same time. It bugged me that we had no satisfactory means of resolving this type of occurrence and so, the tile idea was born.

Here's what's I'm thinking to "finish" this phase of the project:

1. More Furniture
   The Heroquest furniture I repainted a while back is a good start, but I'm certainly going to have to expand my collection. For the dwellings, I want to build or buy some beds, more tables, and perhaps some crates/barrels of supplies for the cellars. I would like to build a long table for the Longhouse and the Church will definitely need an altar, some pews, and I was thinking a font (with special rules for attaining free holy water during scenarios).
   
2. More Tiles
   I've already tiles for the three mausoleums, as well as some generic dungeon hallway and room tiles. This will allow us to lay out a variety of underground settings. In fact, I'm really looking forward to connecting some of the underground cellars to create a multi-layered table. I've also cut out tiles (four stories in fact) to represent the interior of the stone tower that is currently on the painting block.

Whether I buy or build the furniture remains to be seen. I may do both. Time will tell. If all goes according to plan, we'll be testing these interiors out this weekend. Until then...

Thanks for reading,
JET

To be clear, these are from Chris's workbench, not mine. However, he brought them as a surprise "show & tell" item to geek night last night so, considering the anticipation surrounding Fantasy Impetus around here, I felt that it would be appropriate to show them. I don't know what the hell was going on with my camera so just overlook the blurry parts.

The general stands on a high vantage point and, like Zapp Brannigan, sends wave after wave of his own men (err... rats) to neutralize the enemy.


The rats in question.


Marc, perhaps one of the group's lead proponents of all things Fantasy, was duly impressed when he arrived at geek night and saw them unveiled. I expect his High Elves to be based up and ready for battle soon. In the meantime, I will re-start work on this project as well.

Thanks for reading,
JET