Enfilade! 2013 w/Guy Bowers of Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy

Well it's been an eventful and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. Thanks to Mike Evans (Relic Miniatures), Pat Lowinger (Socal Warhammer) and the Northwest Historical Gaming Society, we were graced with the presence of Guy Bowers, editor of Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy. Guy arrived from the UK (via Holland) last Thursday and immediately started his information gathering with a visit to the Museum of Flight. I'm sure they'll be a lot of photos of his visit on the Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy Facebook.

Here are a measly few photos I managed to take at the local convention, Enfilade!, which Guy attended. For the first time the convention had an official theme - Warfare on the Silver Screen. Having at least three hours of sleep, Guy kicked it off by hosting two back-to-back games called "Wrath of Heaven" - based on the the movie 13 Assassins. The rules were a cleverly modified version of Muskets and Tomahawks. Here's a photo of one of the games which included several White Rock Gamers from Vancouver, B.C.

I only managed to snap a few photos of the the over 120 excellent games being hosted over the weekend. Here's a Napoleonic game hosted by Doug Hamm (aka Larry Leadhead).

Mark Waddington's Vietnam game - with a downed Huey.

Guy placed a very respectable 4th place in a field of about 12 in a SAGA tournament. This finish even more impressive as he only knew of the game upon arriving at the con, and was given a loaner Saxon army from the GM, Sven Lugar. Guy was also awarded Best Sportsmen and received a hand crafted skull trophy stand.

Guy finished the weekend by using his Russian Steam Tank, err, T-35 to defeat a British army and then my Fallshirmagers with a Panzer IV in a Bolt Action tourney hosted by Pat Lowinger. Here's Guy using his Daimyo powers to shock and awe Richard Li's British.

Addendum: I was remiss to have not mentioned earlier that Pat awarded all the players with prizes courtesy of Warlord Games. Even with my dismal finish, I still walked away with a prize that I really like - ECW Infantry - I'm sure they can be used as Empire troops!

WHFB Empire Hurricanum/Luminark Completed

Still need to paint up the guys who operate these contraptions, but here they are. As there is only one carriage/wagon for either "weapon", only one can be used at a time. Here is the kit configured as the Celestial Hurricanum:

Here it is as the Luminark of Hysh - note that the top part of the wagon is reversed. The kit has pegs on the bottom of the housing allowing it to be lifted up and turned around and put back into the frame of the wagon. A very nice feature.

More shots of the Hurricanum:

As noted in the previous post, the outer ring can be removed and tilted to different angles Also, the inner frame containing the planet can spin freely.

As with the War Altar kit, the inside of the wagon includes details such as the book stands and numerous engravings and plaques.

A few more shots of the Luminark of Hysh.

The mirrored ray gun can be swiveled on its pedestal.

A final shot of the Hurricanum:

Thanks for checking out the blog and hope you like this very interesting kit.

WHFB Empire Hurricanum/Luminark WIP

Started work on the Celestial Hurricanum/Luminark of Hysh. The kit is composed of the same wagon and horses as the War Altar kit. It includes parts to make both the Hurricanum and the Luminark.

Here is the Celestial Hurricanum:

Another angle:

The outer ring with planets/orbs is removable and can also be tilted at different angles. The inner frame containing the planet is free spinning. I showed it to my wife and she said it was a toy.

Here's the Luminark of Hysh:

It's a sort of ray gun.

I should mention that although you can swap out the Luminark and Hurricanum using the pedestal base, several of the planets/orbs are supposed to be attached to the rear end of the Luminark. As it only includes one set to be used for either weapon, I chose to use them on the Hurricanum. Can't really tell the Luminark is missing those parts, I think.

Next will be the wagon and horses.

WHFB Empire War Altar of Sigmar - Completed

Here it is - still need to paint the wizard, and also the flags that attach to the rear of the the wagon - which I forgot to paint.

It's really tall! I'm glad I used magnets to remove the griffon when travelling.

There are some optional pieces like more candles and a telescope that I may add later.

It's quite an interesting model and goes together pretty easily - not many parts actually.

I have a couple of kits to work on, Karl Franz on a Griffon and a Hurricanum, but will hold off as the annual historical convention, Enflilade! is next weekend. I'm not hosting any games, but will be hosting a visitor from the UK, so will spend my attention there. I'm kind of blase about the convention this year anyway - I'm more interested in playing my first WHFB game.

WHFB Empire War Altar of Sigmar - WIP +1

Managed to get the chariot/wagon base and horses done. I used an old spray can of Bright Silver for the horse armor. It has a nice effect, and much easier than using the bufferable metallic paint I used for the Order Knights.

Keeping with the theme that the War Altar of Sigmar is owned and operated under the license of Karl Franz himself, the shields are painted in the colors of Altdorf.

Here are main parts remaining for the altar - not really that much considering the size of the completed model. The shelves of books and scrolls are a very nice touch.

WHFB Empire War Altar of Sigmar - WIP

Here's the Griffon that goes on the War Altar wagon. It was sprayed with Krylon Gold and then given a wash of Vallejo ink stain - a mixture of black and reddish brown. After the stain was dry highlights of Vallejo Gold and Silver were added. The shields are painted in the colors of Altdof as I suspect this war altar belongs to the Emperor Karl Franz himself.

The model is very nicely sculpted with fine details.

Magnets are used to attached the Griffon to its platform - making storage and transport a little easier. I picked up these Primal Horizon magnets from my FLGS - The Game Matrix. They are very powerful and easily hold the model down.

Here is Volkmar the Grim and an Arch Lector - both come with the kit.

They also have magnets to swap out for either the platform on the altar or on an individual base.

WHFB Empire Infantry Completed

So here are the Talabheim infantry based and on movement trays. First up the Core Regiment of Swordsmen. The weird standard is a spare part from the Empire General box. Not sure what it is supposed to be - it appears to be a cherub, but has some kind of internal mechanism and a skull mask. Maybe when I finally get the Empire Army book it will tell me what this is supposed to be.

The red was highlighted by dry-brushing yellow mixed with red. The white areas were left as they were after the Minwax stain.

Hopefully this 30-man block will survive on the battlefield; especially with the detachments providing support.

Next up is the 15-man Detachment of Crossbowmen. They are on the movement tray that comes with each box - it can take another rank of 5 figures.

And here is the 15-man Detachment of Halberdiers.

Here's something I want to pass on to anyone who may not have known about - magnetic rolls of self-adhesive tape from JoAnn's. They are just shy of 20mm in width, but perfect for sticking to the bottom of these GW plastic bases. I picked up two rolls at a 75% discount as one was a return and the other had the dispenser broken. I ended up only using a small portion of one roll for the 60 bases. The movement trays are lined with Flex Steel sheets from Litko that I had on hand.

Here is the Empire Army to date - a unit of Order Knights, a Regiment of Swordsmen with a Detachment each of Crossbowmen and Halberdiers - plus the General and BSB.

The War Altar is next, but I'm not sure when I'll actually start on it. Our annual historical convention, Enfilade! is coming up in a few weeks (Memorial Day weekend), and I need to get in a few refresher games of SAGA and Bolt Action. I'm playing in tournaments for both - very low-key and the GMs and all the players are all local gaming buddies.

WHFB Empire Infantry - WIP

Worked on the four boxes of infantrymen. They've been given a stain of Minwax Tudor Satin over a block paint job. They were first sprayed with a white undercoat which took care of a lot of the work thanks to the colors of Talabheim. The first unit is the Core Regiment of Swordsmen, 30-strong with leader, standard and musician.  The standard is made up of spare parts from the Empire General kit.

Next a Detachment of 15 Crossbowmen.

And a Detachment of 15 Halberdiers.

All of the figures come from the four boxes of infantry that I picked up from my buddy Pat (aka Socal Warhammer) - who in turn had picked them up at a Bring & Buy at the convention up in Vancouver, B.C. last month.. Each of the boxes came with 16 figures and enough parts to build them as swordsmen, halberdiers or either crossbowmen or handgunners (metal parts). The shields for the swordsmen were purchased off of ebay as bits. I'm still waiting on the Empire Army book that I won off of ebay a couple of weeks ago. The seller sent it Media Mail, so it might be taking a longer than expected route - the perils of free shipping, I suppose.

WHFB Empire General and BSB

Now the budding Empire army has a General and Battle Standard Bearer. They are both from a single kit and come with optional parts for several configuration choices. Being unimaginative, I built both figures like the ones on the box art.

Here are some close-ups of the General with a the shield bearing the Karl Franz monogram. It even has a large raven perched on the top of the shield.

He also comes with another shield with the ubiquitous skull. Wanting the option to change the shields out, I used tack putty to hold them on.

As Empire fans will note, the General is decked out in the colors of Talabheim.

Finally, here are close-ups of the Battle Standard Bearer. The kit comes with a baby gryphon with its talons clutching yet another skull.

I've read on the Empire forum that some folks dislike the Grim Reaper standard as being a bit over the top, but as this is a Fantasy army there is no other choice.

Now I should be able to start on the infantry. Plan to build a Core regiment of swordsmen and a detachment each of crossbowmen and halberdiers. Best wishes to all.