First Sample Venusian Amazon Cavalrywomen Painted

In my previous blog entry I described how I had made a Venusian Amazon Cavalrywoman by using pieces from the Wargames Factory Roman Cavalry and Amazon Warrior sets, as well as mounts from a Games Workshop Lizardman Cavalry set. (See Feburry 21st, 2012 http://onemoregamingproject.blogspot.com/2012/02/first-attempt-at-venusian-amazon.html )
Well, I finally got around to painting the first two samples for this unit, and am pleased with the results.

I decided on a yellow/tan scheme for the lizard mounts, as green is already the color of the "bad guys" Parrotmen and Lizardmen; and red I felt was a little too bold for a naturally occurring animal color. And doing a blue for the mount would make it too similar to the rider.

Once again, like the Amazon infantry I did, I raided my stock of GW decals to decorate their shields.

I am finishing up the Venusian Amazon archers currently, and I will complete the rest of this unit after that. Look for more pictures in the days and weeks ahead. After Cold Wars, I hope to do my first game with my Amazon figures.

First Attempt at a Venusian Amazon Cavalrywoman

I made my first attempt at a Venusian Amazon Cavalrywoman today. I used components from the Wargames Factory Amazon Warrior, and Roman Cavalry sets, as well as a Games Workshop Cold One from a Lizardman Cavalry set.

First I cut the bodies of one of the Roman cavalrymen, and one of the Amazon warriors each in half, right above their respective belts. I then glued these together. The waist of the Amazon is a bit more slender than the Roman's. In the front, I think it will be less noticeable when painted, and in the back I built up the Amazon's backside a bit with Miliput to help fill the gap.

I then used a head and arms from the Amazon Warrior set and armed her with a sword and spear from the Roman set, and a shield from the Amazon set.

I tested the figure on an assembled Cold One lizard mount and found that the width of the lizard caused the rider to tilt backward a little more than I liked. So, after a bit of experimentation I found that if I cut down one of the saddles included in the Roman Cavalry set, and glued it on the lizard's back, it helped hold the rider in a more upright position.

I'm really looking forward to a chance to paint this one up, as well as make the other nine members of her unit.. Hopefully it will be warm enough this week to get out and do some spray priming.

HAWKs Have Club Cold Wars Playtest Day

Yesterday, the HAWKs had a club games day to help those members running games at the upcoming HMGS East Cold Wars convention have an opportunity to playtest their games. We always find this time of year, that there are more GM's wanting to run test games than our meeting calendar permits, so we often find ourselves scheduling these special weekend dates to help everyone have a chance to work out the kinks in their scenarios.
This day we had three games. First up, Duncan Adams ran his WWI Mons scenario using Buck Surdu's "Fire Team Vietnam" rules. These rules adapted quite well to this earlier era of warfare.
Here is an overview of the table. In the foreground the Germans prepare to attack the British held city of Mons. There were only two bridges across the canal, so it appeared the Hun would have his work cut out for him.

On the German right a small force advanced through a wooded area and approached a small footbridge in an industrial section of town. You can see the slag heaps, in the foreground, from the nearby iron smelter.

The British prepare to defend the town from the buildings and the streets.

The British had a small foothold in some farm buildings on the German side of the canal that managed to hold out for almost the entire game.

When the British foothold finally collapsed, the Germans began rushing into the town. By this time the British defenders in the town had been so shot up by heavy German rifle fire, combined with shelling from a German field piece, that they were not able to fend off the assault. In the end it the game was determined a narrow British victory as the Germans did not have undisputed control of the bridge. A few more turns and this probably would have changed.



The second game was Tank Nickle's Gettysburg East Cavalry Field battle using modified "A Union So Tested" Rules.

In the foreground, J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry prepares to assault the Union position.

The Confederate artillery begin shelling the Federal horsemen.

The Rebels on the left combined with their artillery begin to have an effect on the Michigan cavalry holding the fence.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Southern riders try to head on a flanking maneuver around the right of the Union position.

Things begin to heat up in the center as the Rebels move to find, or create, a gap they can exploit in the Union lines. While in the distance, Confederate horsemen succeed in driving in the Federal flank.

In the end the Rebels were declared the victor having inflicted severe casualties on their opponent, and capturing much of the field.

The final game of the day, was Dave Wood's Fantasy Battle by GASLIGHT game. This game pitted an alliance of 'Good' forces against an amalgamation of 'Evil' troops. The goal of the game was control of a nearby port currently in the hands of the side of "Evil"

An array of reptile mounted troopers made up the weight of the "Evil" center.

Hand to hand fighting develops all up and down the line, while the inclusion of magic rules allowed various magical being and units to have an effect also.

The fighting intensifies in the center, while on the "Good" side's right wing, units advance towards the port.

On the "Good" left, a force of Dwarves and Halflings tries to fend off hordes of Imps and their Demon masters.

A view of the battlefield from behind the "Evil" lines. In the end, the left wing of the "Evil" forces had all but collapsed, allowing the side of "Good" to capture the port and be declared the victor.

A fun time was had by all, and the games were great, and will need only slight tweaking before the convention. If you are attending the con, and get a chance, stop by the HAWK's club room to check these games out, or better yet, try to get a spot in one of them for an enjoyable game.

New Additions to the Blog

I just wanted to point out that I have made a few new additions to the blog. I have added a video list in the right hand column, linking to videos from recent HAWKs events. I have also added to the right hand column a list of labels used in my entries, to help make searching the blog for your particular interests a little easier.
Coming up in the next weeks or so: the Amazon Archers, and a unit of Tharks (four-armed green Martians)
Thanks for your continued support.

"Look, Sarge, No Charts: Napoleonics" Playtest at Warhorse Farm

Several of us gathered at Sam Fuson's Warhorse Farm in Gettysburg, PA last Saturday to take part in a playtest of our up-coming "Look,Sarge, No Charts: Napoleonics" rules set. A great time was had by all, and Sam set up a great scenario with his large collection of 1/72 scale plastic figures.

The battle pitted a French Corps against a mixed force of British and Spanish, with the goal of capturing several river crossings as well as other key terrain features on the table. There were six victory points represented by flags positioned on the battlefield. The flags were changed out to show who was currently in control of that terrain piece. A seventh victory point was awarded to which ever side inflicted the greater casualty count on their opponent.

The battle seesawed back and forth in dramatic fashion as both sides fought for control of the river. In the end both sides each held three of the victory terrain features, and the battle was decided in favor of the French who had a inflicted a narrow superior margin of casualties
against the British.

In the photo above, a unit of British Riflemen (dark green figures near the center of the photo)try to hold a bridge against an advancing French Division.

Duncan Adams moves his French forces on the right forward to hold back the bulk of the British.

A unit of French Cavalry tries to force it's way across the river into the teeth of several battalions of Spanish, as a brigade of British Light Cavalry moves forward through the woods.

The rules' lead author, Buck Surdu,(green shirt) GM'ed the event for us, and used this opportunity to help fine tune the rules for Guard units, Riflemen, and Guerrillas.

Napoleon Blownaparte and His Napoleonic Zombie Band

Back at Historicon 11, I picked up a set of Eureka Miniature's first Corpse & Musket line release: Napoleon Blownaparte and Napoleonic Zombies. When a friend decided to do a Napoleonic Zombie Retreat from Russia 1812 game at the upcoming Cold Wars convention, I had a reason to paint them up.

The original Eureka release only had seven figures in it, and I wanted a GASLIGHT sized unit of ten, so I set about finding three more figures. The first was an old metal French standard bearer that I had picked up at a flea market and whose bandaged head, I felt, marked him as a good zombie candidate. The other two I made from a couple Victrix plastic French Infantry bodies and arms, and some bits left over from a pack of Wargames Factory Zombies.

On the left is one of the Victrix conversions, in the center is the Eureka Napoleon Blownaparte complete with cannonball hole in him, and on the right is another one of the great figures from the Eureka set, which is actually a vignette cast as a single piece depicting a zombie biting a French soldier in the head. Brains!

These are three more of the Eureka Zombies. The one on the left is intended to be holding a standard, but I liked him better without it.

Here is the game they are for:

S-267 - Corpse & Musket: Napoleonic Zombies byGASLIGHT - Theme Game, Sat. 2:00 PM, 4 hrs, 6 playersGM: Greg Priebe with Todd Harland-White and HAWKSNapoleonic 28mm, Rules: GASLIGHT

First Unit of Venusian Amazons

I completed my first unit of Venusian Amazons this week. I decided to add an Amazon faction to my Venusian GASLIGHT games after the release of Wargames Factory's plastic Amazons set offered a cheap way to build such units. As the old saying goes, "Women are from Venus," so I thought a race of Amazons on that planet would be ideal. They will represent an ancient civilization that is on the decline ever since the wild Venusian parrotmen developed guns. Hopefully they will befriend the newly arrived French, and a strong alliance will develop.

The figures assembled quickly and easily. I gave them some swords from a couple freebie sprues of Wargames Factory ancients I had got at a convention. I primed them black, and decided to paint the skin tone light blue to give them a more alien look.

I also have a unit of archers which I will be painting next.

The flag is a photo of an Andorian cos-player that I used an 'oil painting' filter on in a graphics program to try and give it the look of a tapestry type flag. I then applied gold lettering and a gold border around the edge. It is meant to look like the banner of a queen or priestess.

The shield decals are from a couple leftover sheets of Games Workshop Space Marine decals I had.