I've Got Two Tikis To Paradise

"I'm gonna take you on a trip so far from here." We'll maybe not, but that's my tribute to the late, great, Eddie Mahoney. Anyway, got a second tiki keychain from ebay. Figured two would look more balanced at the entrance of a sacred place. The one on the right is the newer one - with the pointy thing on top of his head.

These can be used a LOS blocking terrain, and/or placed near an area with a victory point - like a sacred area guarded by the tikis.

As with the previous one, the tiki was dry brushed with browns to make the details pop. They're actually very nicely detailed and take the dry brush very well. Of course, their butts have the copyright logo on them, which are barely visible to the naked eye.

Plan to run a few Tribal games with these sometime after Enfilade next month. Don't want to confuse myself with similar rules - as I'm using One-Hour Skirmish Wargames for my games at the convention.

Here's what the keychain looks like before painting and adding a base of Tamiya epoxy putty. There are four or five different versions of these. You can find them on ebay and also Etsy - about $10-15 each.

So much from the hobby desk. Still haven't gotten around to finishing up the Alexander the Great and Pyrrhus figures. Hope you all are well, and thanks for visiting the blog.

Hawaiian Terrain for Tribal

The tiki is from a cheap key chain with a base of Tamiya epoxy putty, and repainted. The trunk and fronds of the coconut trees were dry brushed.

If I had known I'd be doing an Hawaiian game project, I would've bought a few more of these tiki keychains when I was in Hawaii last year. They have a lot of these at thrift stores. Oh well, this one was also inexpensive on ebay.

The base of the tiki is made from Tamiya Epoxy Modelling Putty - somewhat similar to Green Stuff, but half the price. For more delicate/detailed work, Green Stuff would probably be better, though.

The trees and tiki scale up nicely with the 28mm figures, IMO.

LOL! I thought those markings on the tiki's butt were supposed to be carvings, but looking at them enlarged, I see they're the trademark for the maker!

Just a few quick terrain projects for the Hawaiian Tribal game in the near future. Thanks for stopping in, and wishing you all the best.

Happy Easter! And More Eureka Hawaiians

Added another full set of Eureka Hawaiians; wanted a few more figures, and since Eureka USA only carried the full set packs, ordered their last one in stock.

Painted this batch in a lighter skin tone - starting with Vallejo Dark Flesh, then a stain of Minwax, followed by a wash of Vallejo Ink Skin Wash mixed with a little black ink.

Below is all of the four sets together, which should be enough for a 6-7 player Tribal game. Note the differences in skin tones as I progressively used lighter colors.

Here are the Ali'i, or chiefs, in their feathered capes and helmets.

As mentioned in earlier posts, these capes and helmets used feathers from thousands of birds each - which is why those species of birds became extinct.

I probably won't run a game with these until after Enfilade next month. I don't want toconfuse myself between the Tribal and One Hours Skirmish Wargames rules, as I'll be using the latter at Enfilade for my Napoleonic games. Hope you all had a good Easter!

Alexander the Great's Dad and Cousin - Warlord Games

The Philip of Macedon figure comes with the mounted Alexander the Great figure (yet to be painted); and the Pyrrhus of Epirus figure is a "freebie" that comes with the Pyrrhic Wars supplement.

Philip's armor is based upon the one found in his tomb. The cuirass is made of iron, and some sources say it was polished to high shine, while other sources have it covered in silk. Pyrrhus' armor is sometimes depicted as silvered, or possibly of iron also.

Both figures are well detailed; the Epirote tripod motif nicely sculpted on the shield and back of the cape.

I was going to start on the Alexander figure next, but I might be getting some more Eureka Hawaiians in the mail tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by, and wishing you all the best!

Aventine+Relic Successor War Elephant

Picked up the new Pyrrhic Wars Hail Caesar supplement, so was motivated to paint up some figures I've had for sometime. First up is a war elephant that uses an Aventine elephant head, tower, and crew. This was part of an order many years ago when I ordered two elephants - Keith included these parts as samples, I think. I had thought about finding a body at a craft store - one of those in bags of toy animals. Then a couple of years ago, Mike Evans of Relic kindly sent me some Successor samples along with an elephant. Initially, I thought the body was too small for the Aventine parts, but as you can see the body doesn't look too bad. It is slightly smaller, but as with people, elephants come in different sizes.

The shields on the tower are from Victrix Phalangite kits, and the transfers from LBMS - all spare parts I've also had for years.

As you may see, the elephant being a bit smaller, and the tower being pretty large, the mahout has to lean a little forward in the "saddle", so to speak.

Interestingly, I just looked at the Aventine website last night, and saw that they sell the bodies of elephants separately. I don't think they did years ago, but this Relic body will do just as well.

Pictured below, flanked by the two Aventine-proper elies painted years ago.

The various parts of the new elephant build.

More mini-painting projects below. Besides the elephant, a Relic Pyrrhus vignette, Warlord Games Alexander the Great and Philip of Macedon figures, as well as the new Pyrrhus on foot figure that came with the supplement.

Plan to get a game in soon with my buddy who also picked up the supplement - and has a good-sized Successor force too. Until next time, wishing you all the best!

Peninsular War Skirmish Game Setup

Did a preliminary, test, setup for my other game at Enfilade in May. This time it's a Peninsular War game, again using One-Hour Wargames Skirmish for rules. It'll have six players, three each for the French and British/Spanish Guerillas. Right now, I'm thinking of having the capture of the French general as the victory condition for the British and Spanish.

The French start the game occupying the village - which should give some balance as they'll have good cover against the Rifles better shooting stats.

A staged shot of the three units of attacking British ans Spanish. They'll start at the table edge, so they may not be so well-numbered by the time they get close to the French.

Spanish Guerillas. They'll have the Bruiser trait for hand to hand combat. They are supposed to capture the French general alive, but I may add some mechanism which they may end up killing him, thereby not getting a major victory.

The French general and his aide, defended by Nassauers - who've yet to have changed sides. I'm using the same figures along with the KGL in the La Haye Sainte game before this one.

95th Rifles and Cacadores.

French Dismounted Dragoons and Voltigeurs.

5/60th Rifles and Cacadores.

Polish light infantry on the French flank.

May not get around to playtesting this scenario, but just wanted to see how the table layout would look like. Shouldn't be too difficult to "wing it" at the convention, especially after two back to back games using the same rules the day before this one.

Until next time, best wishes to you all!

Storm The Farmhouse - Battle of La Haye Sainte - Game Day

Hello everyone! Been a while since I've posted, but just got back from a great game day at the Chehalis Veterans Memorial Museum. I was able to host my La Haye Sainte game using One-Hour Skirmish Wargames rules with six players. The game went well, and a lot of good suggestions were made by the players, as I'll be hostiIng this game again at Enfilade in May. There were several other games going on in the morning session as well as mine, so felt very fortunate to have my game filled. I stayed for the afternoon period and played in a Chain of Command game.

I almost was a no-show for the event as we had snow all day yesterday here in Steilacoom. Other areas had heavy rain, including where the museum is located in Chehalis, Washington - which is prone to flooding. However, the snow had melted off the roads in the morning, so I put on my big boy pants and heading down to the event. Glad I went as today was very sunny and beautiful. The picture below is from yesterday when I was conducting winter warfare training in the backyard with my sole trooper.

The weather today in front of the museum - there were several folks who didn't show up thinking today would be bad too. The weather here in the Pacific Northwest can be very goofy!

Here are pictures from the games today.

Above: French dragoons and sappers attempt to breakdown the defenses in the front of the farmhouse. This combined unit was later destroyed after failing a morale test - they took a lot of casaulties from British Rifles coming out of the sandpit.

Above: British Rifles advancing and firing on the French - all the players started with 12 figure units. I plan to reduce the Rifles unit to 8 figures, as they were a bit too powerful with their rifled muskets.

Above: Nassauers advancing to assist the KGL in the farmhouse.

Above: French Light Infantry Carabiniers assaulting the low walls of the farmhouse. Several made it over the wall and fought in hand to hand combat.

French Voltigeurs advancing towards the rear of the farmhouse.

A spectacular Battle on the Causeway Aztec v. Conquistador game run in both the morning and afternoon periods.

Games like this one made me feel fortunate to have players in my game. There weren't that many attendees - maybe 25 or so - mainly due to yesterday's weather.

Kevin Smyth's WW2 Pacific Theater game. He said the game didn't quite go exactly as he had envisioned. The Japanese, due to unusually good die rolls, managed to sink all of the Allied ships early on.

Wings of Glory WW1 aerial game.

The Patrol Phase of the Chain of Command game I played in, in the afternoon period. Note the laser doing the back azimuths for figure placement from the "locked" Jumping Off points. Although I only play these rules when my buddies host games, I do enjoy the Patrol Phase.

I ran a platoon of US Paratroopers, and thanks to very good shooting die rolls managed to destroy a platoon of Germans on their right flank.

Besides the gaming going on upstairs, the first floor has an excellent museum. It is privately funded, and showcases the sacrifices of veterans from the local area. These include those from the American Civil War to present. I took pictures of a few of the memorial displays from recent conflicts.

The one below includes the veteran's Cub Scout uniform.

Here's a picture of some of the many small arms displays throughout the museum. All of the items in the museum are private donations.

So, all in all a great game day - especially considering how I almost was not going to attend it. Thanks for stopping by, and wishing you all the best.