Complete Skaven Unit

Having picked up Dragon Rampant rules just before Christmas, it prompted me to look at the forces I had suitable for fantasy. I have very small forces of Undead, Elves and only ten Skaven. I decided finishing off another 10 Skaven to make a full unit of 20 would give me a suitable size unit to use in my games. I quickly finished off these guys to achieve this:

 When put with the other ten and stuck on a movement tray they look like this:

The important thing to remember with these chaps is that they are base coat of maybe 8 colours and a wash, then basing. So I reckon that unit took maybe 12 hours all in spread out over 6 evenings. In other words I could easily sit down and do a unit in a day if I had nothing else to do with my life, which I think is a pretty healthy speed.

My intention now is to do a few solo trial games of Dragon Rampant to learn the rules and see where things go from there. I suspect, from a quick read of the rules, that I might what to house rule a few things already but they seem a straight forward stater for fantasy games. Just need to get the games table sorted with a few bits of terrain first.

In other hobby related news: I've had my first play around with a light box to get better photos, I have my first ever 20mm World War 2 inbound and I'm mulling over going in on my first kickstarter ever as well. Lots of new stuff to look forward to. 

Epic IG and Sentinels

I have been a little remiss with my blogging of late, nearly three weeks since the last post! Being at work full time was fine, and then being off work with a newborn was fine. However, put the two together and it's getting complicated. It's not so much the lack of time to paint, as I am actually getting quite a lot done, but finding time to blog is a little trickier. I do hope to get a few more posts up before the end of the month though.

Enough of my lamenting. My expansion of my epic armies continues. I have managed to add a second platoon to my mech infantry company, so may I present yellow platoon:

Whilst I was at it and because the paints were out, I added a sentinel squadron to the force as well:

I made a little more effort with the bases to add some character, think it came out quite well. Some ruins and a tree were little added effort, hopefully to make the models pop a little more than they would ordinarily.

There are no more epic in the painting queue at present, so will be a while before I do the rest of the mech infantry company. I also suspect I am short a few chimeras but they are one of the more plentiful epic models on ebay so it's not big deal.

I have a couple more posts due this week and I am currently working on some more Napoleonic British, as well as mulling over both 15mm and 20mm World War 2, so plenty to come.

A Games Room Re-born

There's a bit of a story to my games room:

About 6 years ago I was idly musing about getting a games table in the garage. Being a garage, it was of course used to store everything bar a car. At the time it was a simple concrete floor, breeze block wall affair. I mentioned in passing to my dad (who is a DIY guru) if fastening some cheap chipboard to the walls would cut down on dust. I had memories of playing in my parents bare brick loft as a kid and everything was dusty as hell. 

Now my dad can be pretty damn cool, and he came through big time. Without asking he offered to plasterboard the garage, carpet it and make it water proof. All out of his pocket. Once it was done, all I had to do was paint it. It wasn't a full conversion, there is still a garage door and no heatin, but it's more than most. 

The gaming table was a simple £20 purchase off eBay with a sheet of MDF on top. I then textured it, and started making terrain. 

However, somehow, it got side tracked. I could never get a game in and didn't have enough stuff to game alone (a handy way of learning rules), so it languished unused. And being a garage it kept getting filled up with detritus from life. Several times I cleared it out and resolved to use it but never got around to it. 

But time is going to be different. I've cleared it again over the last week, and redone the layout to hopefully make it easier to use. This is where it stands now:

There's still stuff to do. There are a few bags need to go to the car boot, and a pile of stuff taking up room that needs to go to the shed, which itself needs a clear out when the back garden stops being a swamp. But I can now access the table. I need a load more terrain, but I think I am well on my way to using the room for a game, which will tick off one of my targets of 2016.

Long term, if I add some shelves to clear some floor space, and move over to collapsible tables, I will have an even more flexible games room. If I have measured up right the room could possibly take a 5' by 12' table, though it would be a little tight and I wouldn't be able to leave the tables up permanently but it could be doable for big games. All of this is long term though. For more at least, I have a 6' x 4' I can use, which is a big positive. 

Just need some recommendations for good terrain please?