3D Print 1/16th Scale Achaean Warrior in Dendra Armor with Tower Shield

Here's the completed figure. I'm very pleased with this resin kit - minimal parts and very well-detailed throughout..

The interior of the shield is particularly well done - wicker work with support cross bars and sling.

EDIT: I've since rebased the figure on one with a smaller footprint; an oval one with the same width at the center. It's also a bit taller, so I used a thinner piece of foam over it.

I used the sponge method some folks use for AFV camo, but this was my first time trying it. Came out okay - I think better than using a brush which would've made the edges of the patches look too clean.

The detail of this sculpt is quite impressive - the leather edges of the armor have stitcing, and also securing staples. A lot of these details are the result from decades of academic research of the actual armor - which was discovered in a tomb in the 1960. The armor is dated to the 15th Century BC., and a couple of centuries before the Trojan War.

Below, he's next to a couple of 28mm Redoubt figures in the same type of armor. 

And on another note, FedEx just delivered my copy of "Death and The Landsknecht" - as well as the free figure of Richard de la Pole and few other things I added to the order to get the free shipping. 

Taking a cursory look at the contents of the supplement, it looks very nice indeed. Thanks again for visiting the blog, and hope you're all have a great summer.

Trojan War Skirmish Using Tribal Rules

Just got back from a game day up in Kent (Washington) at Wizard's Keep. This has been a monthly event for at least a couple years or so, but my first time there. It's only about 40 minutes away from my house, so not too bad. I was fortunate to get into a great Trojan War game using Tribal rules. There were six players, three each Greek and Trojans. I ran several Trojan units with two heroes, Hector and Aeneas, no less. These two heroes did well, Hector killing off Antilochus and Ajax the Greater, and even sending Poseidon scurrying off the field. Aeneas did well too in defeating Agamemnon in a round of combat, but succomed to injuries later in the game. My other spear units did well too - only one of four dying gloriously whilst defending Troy. The game was called at the end of turn 4, the Greeks only winning by a slight margin thanks to having only one more unit than the Trojans making across the center of the battlefield. My units had accumulated 18 honor points at the end of the game - the most of the players. This was only my second or third time playing the rules, but was able to pick up on them very easily - thanks in no small part to the host's awesome gaming aids including quick reference cards for units and heroes. Also, there were two other players who are experienced with the rules  - one being David Sullivan (I Live With Cats blog) and the other, Kevin Smyth (A Gamer's Tale blog). I'm sure they'll be posting about the game on their blogs too.  Here are a few pictures of the game, as well as the several other games hosted there. The other games were O Group, Clash of Spears, Battle Tech, and DBA. 

All in all a great way to spend an otherwise gloomy, overcast day in the Pacific NW. ADDENDUM: I just ordered a copy of Tribal (2nd Ed) from Badger Games. Plan to try it out with my Gempei War/Heian Period, as well as my own Trojan War stuff.

Relic Mycenaeans And A Rubicon Montgomery

Here are the 6 sample Relic Miniatures Mycenaeans sent to me by Mike Evans. They are temp based as I plan to give them to a buddy so he can base them to his liking. I misplaced the spears that were sent to me so these are just various ones I had on hand. The Rubicon Montgomery will be used as the senior officer for Western Desert Bolt Action games.

The Relic figures are nicely sculpted but smaller than the Redoubt and Foundry figures I already have.

The helmets are based upon what can be seen in period artwork - frescoes, ivory carvings, etc. The cuirasses are similar to the bell-cuirass style of the Archaic period. Some appear to have throat armor like that seen on the Dendra cuirass. The kilts are also accurate from period artwork. I painted the greaves as bronze ones. Small bronze greaves have been found but they may have been worn over cloth/linen greaves.

As mentioned in the previous post, the shields look good, and the figure-8 one is particularly nice.

Below is a comparison with a Redoubt figures. The Relic figure is noticeably smaller overall. Relic figures are on the smaller/slender size of most 28mm figures.

And a comparison between the Rubicon Montgomery and a Warlord Games Rommel. The are close enough after raising the base with some Green Stuff for the Rubicon figure. The Rubicon figures is sculpted like the Relic ones. Some would argue more realistically proportioned. I mean look at the size of Rommel's head! :)

I've gotten to the point of being quite the lazy painter. That is, my preferred method is block painting followed by a wash - usually with Minwax. After this, details and highlights can be added - or not. In any case, thanks for stopping by and seeing my latest projects.

Achilles Rampant or a Feeble Attempt at Reviving this Blog

Thanks to my recent (last Memorial Day weekend) attendance at our annual historical gaming con, Enfilade!, my interest in historical gaming has been re-kindled. As mentioned in my previous post, I ran my old Siege of Haengju game in four gaming periods. It was four more games than I had participated in for the previous 12 months. I ended up really enjoying GMing the games and started to think about what to host for next year's con. Having sold off over half of my collection, I thought I'd use my remaining figures - and thought it'd be great to pull out my Trojan War figures for a version of Lion Rampant. I drafted a set of rules that would be convention friendly and formed up "retinues" - I think calling them warbands are more appropriate for this period. To get in the mood, I took these staged shots.

Obviously total disregard of the 3" between units rule.

The "trees" are recent conversions from "flowers" I picked up from Michael's.

6 warbands - I find that 6 players are optimal for convention games.

I modified the rules to allow 2" minimum distance between units, as well as limiting dice to 6 for full strength units and 3 dice for under half-strength. I envisioned this to make the game a little less deadly and allow the game to be played a bit longer as the gaming periods are 4 hours each. Also, as I don't plan on adding more figures to this collection, I fudged the number of some of the skirmisher units - basically giving them full strength at whatever they start the game with. Since I had an odd number of chariots (15), one has a unit of Chariot Runners with it. Oh, and there are several 3-figure Hero units - a sort of take on the adaption of the rules with Dragon Rampant. Here are the draft rules:

Before I could get a play test in, I decided to run the First St. Albans game for the con next year. The only problem is I sold off my War of the Roses figures last year. Just this morning I placed a rather large (for me anyway) order from the Perry Bros. I will have close to 200 figures to paint up - once I order some paint that is, as I threw away all of the few bottles of Vallejo I had thinking I'd never paint again. More to follow. And a sincere thank you for visiting my resurrected blog.

Redoubt Trojan War Characters - Revisted

Getting back on track with miniatures - here are Trojan War characters from Redoubt. These were painted some years ago and were posted on another site in response to a TMPer bemoaning the fact that Redoubt's catalog at the time only had line drawings.

Incidentally, figures from this range were the first 28mm figures I ever collected. I was stationed in Hawaii and a little shop where I lived had models and miniatures - it's since moved to a new location with a new owner and called The Armchair Adventurer. The previous owner told me about Redoubt's Trojan War figures and gave me the contact info for a retailer - Doug at Miniature Service Center in California. I ordered a few guys with figure-8 and tower shields, as well as a chariot. At the time I intended them to be used in a diorama - didn't start wargaming until a few years after this.

As a kid, I discovered the story of the Trojan War and Odysseus' adventures after the war in a book I read while in grade school. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the teacher had noticed that I always picked up the book and read it during our free time - while the other kids would be playing with toys and such. At the end of the school year, she surprised me by giving me the book - which I still have today - tattered and frayed. Here it is below on the left with a favorite translation on the right:

I read the translated version cover to cover many times and used the descriptions of arms and armor in painting these figures, but again, this was many years ago.

in the description above, it should say, "cast" not "casted" :)

To be fair, the line drawings in the Redoubt catalog actually look very much like the actual figures.

This range was created before the Foundry Trojan War range - which was sculpted to match these in size. A nice collaboration of different makers.

The Agamemnon and Achilles figures above were part of the first set of 28mm figures I painted. I used enamels on them, before switching to acrylics.

Hector Triumphant

Death of Achilles

Menelaus and Paris

King Priam flanked by two Helen figures - one with converted/modified outstretched arms.

A comparison of chariots. Left-Right: Old Glory (w/Foundry crew); Redoubt; and Foundry. Redoubt is the largest; both in cab width and horses, but not noticeable when arranged for battle. The center Redoubt chariot was part of the first 28mm figures I painted. I added reins to it - prior to getting into gaming - reins and bowstrings aren't really feasible for gaming.

Another comparison shot of different makers. The most noticeable difference is the thinness of the Redoubt bows - very fragile. This could be remedied by adding something like Green Stuff to beef up the bow.

Below is a picture of the mini-diorama with the handful of figures I initially painted. The Lion Gate was scratch-built using Styrofoam with plaster over it. I still have it but changed the heads of the lions to face forward - it's sitting somewhere in a box needing some work.


Once again, pardon my indulgence.