Stepping Ever Closer to Madness

I've got my "Caesar" brand Saracen horsemen painted.   As I feared, they are stuck fast to their popsickle sticks.   The HaT figures from the "Command" set I've also been working on just pop right off the popsickle sticks, but the Caesar figures are made of harder plastic and they stick fast.   I'm trying to cut the sticks up, in order to turn them into the mini-bases that the Caesar horsemen otherwise lack, but I haven't found a good method, utility knife and hobby hacksaw are both less than ideal.   I'm going to try tin snips next.

The larger question is my slow slide into OCD or perhaps full blown madness.  I've painted all the mounted figures I need for the Turkish side (less 1 box of heavies that haven't arrived yet).  But, I bought a box of Moorish infantry too.  In the historical battle I'm trying to model, the entire Turkish army was mounted men, but I figured a few stands of infantry to guard the camp was not unlikely nor unreasonable.

The problem is that the box of Moorish infantry has 96 guys in it.   Reason tells me to paint 12 or maybe 24 tops, and consider the Turkish army complete and move on to the Crusader army or the terrain mat or the camps.   But the voice of madness cries in my ear:  "You're not REALLY done with the Turks until the infantry is painted"  or "You can then stage the battles at Antioch or Jerusalem"  or "You'll need to have individually mounted infantry if you want to do siege action or skirmishes" or "If you leave the infantry unfinished, who knows if you'll get back to them, and they'll be sitting there mocking you for years perhaps"

Phase 1 Complete: The Turkish Light Cavalry

The largest section of the Turkish army for the Battle of Dorylaeum would be Turcoman Light Cavalry.  I decided to convert HaT Industries "El Cid Andalusian Light Cavalry" (i.e., 11th century Moorish cavalry) to Turks,  I did this by saying "These 11th century Moors are now 11th century Turks."

Here's the box cover (click on picture for bigger view)

I bought 3 boxes, a total of 36 figures, and managed to finish painting the lot of them by Saturday morning.   I like this batch,  Very little assembly (just glue dude to horse), very stable figures.   I haven't based them yet, but here's a picture of the entire horde: (click on picture for larger image):

I'm moving on to the rest of the Turkish army now, the heavy horse and the infantry.   The first batch of heavy horse are from a company called "Caesar", and they required a lot more assembly, gluing on weapons and shields, also the horses aren't as stable, most of them being up on 2 feet, and the ones on 4 feet don't have a molded minibase, and are just standing directly on the table.  

While I just painted the light cav using my traditional sticky-tack on a paint jar handle, I had to glue the heavies to popsicle sticks, and fear that if the glue sticks too poorly, I'll just be swearing all the time as they fall off (which happened with the Airfix Robin Hood guys about 1/3 of the time).   On the other hand, if the glue sticks too well, it'll be bitch time when I put them on their unit bases.   Fingers crossed.

Couched and Ready to Go

As soon as I'm out of work here Wednesday morning, it's to business!  I've got 24 Muslim Cavalry assembled and primed now, and a stack of 4x6 cards.   It's painting and Push Back Cards in my near future.    I've also ordered a "Miniarts Medieval Fortress" that should get here next week, that we could use for the campaign or for miniatures games.   Last week I did make up a whole ton of those NPC picture cards, including the half-breed "Bosco Jack". 


Man, if I had known how much mojo one gets from having one's gall bladder removed, I'd have done it years ago.

Grouchy Ramblings

It kind of cheeses me off that I sometimes end up using 3 machines to make a blog post.   My tablet takes the pictures OK, but when I try to type a post, the auto-correct makes such bizarre corrections that it's useless.   "Berserkers" become "westerners"   "My Sprue Nipper" becomes "MySpace" and other weirder stuff.   So, I e-mail the picture to myself, but if I try making the post on my Windows machine, it freezes up when I try to add a picture.  Therefore, I end up using my Firefox machine to finish the post.


Now, I also think I'm going to have to stop going to RPG.NET message boards.   They have a moderator who bills himself as a "Social Justice Warlock" and they spent a huge amount of time congratulating 5e for being more transgender friendly.   Bah, I've got time for this hair-pulling and jumping about? 


I guess I don't really enjoy RPG sites anymore, anyway.   I still love the Miniatures Page, perhaps since the miniatures hobby is so much more do-it-yourself, or maybe because it's more crammed with cranky old guys like me.


Good night, and get off my lawn.

Productive Weekend Product Review

I did get around to assembling and priming a box of Muslim cavalry (12 figures).  I do have a few product notes:


Sprue Nippers:  a most excellent purchase that made getting the guys out of the frames a breeze.


Locktite Plastic-to-Plastic Glue:  one of the problems with soft plastic minis is getting a good bond when assembling,  hard plastic is easy, just use model glue, but that doesn't work on the soft polyetheline plastics.   I was directed to this Locktite product, which has the felt-tip pen that you treat both surfaces with before using superglue.   I tested it out by gluing the Muslims to their horses and after a while I picked them up by the heads and they remained mounted, so I'm guessing it works.


I asked around about gluing the dudes to the wooden stands I'm using and was told that Elmer's is the way to go, so I'll try that.

First Box Painted

I've got my first box of miniatures for the Crusades project painted.  40 figures from the Airfix "Robin Hood" box that I bought a year ago from simple nostalgia.  However they have proven perfect for unarmored archers and pilgrims for the Crusades game, so I thought I'd start with them to get a feel for the soft plastic 1/72 scale process.   If you keep it simple (4-5 colors per figure, doing groups of 6 at a time) it is pretty quick and doable.  

I don't know whether I'll base them or start assembling some Turkish cavalry next.   If I get to either tonight, it will have been a most productive weekend, what with the first play test and the first box painted.

I'm actually having hope of getting the project done by mid-January as I had planned, for an immediate post-Mid-Term Exam school activity.

Here's a picture of the first 40 painted (the priest with the cross-staff comes from a HaT industries "El Cid Spanish Command" set, but I want to use him among the pilgrims, so fished him out and painted him with this batch.

Crusader Project First Game Playtest

Play Test Battle Report 1: November 22, 2014

A few notes to clarify the report: each stand/unit on the board can take 12 casualties before it is destroyed. “Ghulum” were the elite Turkish lancer/horse archers who were recruited from the slave-class of the Turkish realms, and who served as the bodyguards for Sultans and other nobles. In a melee, if one side inflicts 2 more casualties than its opponent does in a single round it “wins” the melee and can drive back or destroy the enemy as a result if no one wins, the melee continues.

Order of Battle:

Crusaders: 1 unit of Mounted Knights (commander Tancred, Command test 4+)

1 unit of dismounted knights, 1 unit of crossbow men, 1 unit of pilgrims.

Turks: 1 unit of Ghulum (commander Amir Habib, Command test 4+), 2 units of Horse Archer, 1 unit of Arrow Supply.

Set-Up: Approximated 38” apart

“North” To “South”

Crusaders Dismounted Knights, Crossbow, Pilgrim, Mounted Knights

Turks: Arrow Supply, Horse Archer, Horse Archer, Ghulum

Turn 1 (Crusaders win initiative)

Crusaders: all 4 units move forward 8”, remain out of range.

Turks: Both Horse Archer units move forward 12”, Ghulum sweeps south at an angle

Ghulum take a long range arrow shot at the mounted knights, but miss.

Both Horse Archers shoot at Crossbowmen, inflict 1 casualty. Horse Archer unit 1 is depleted of arrows.

Turn 2 (Crusaders win initiative)

Crusaders: Dismounted Knights, Crossbow, Pilgrims move forward together. The crossbows are at 6”, short range, shoot make 5 hits and 5 casualties on Horse Archers 1, who pass morale test and stand. Mounted Knights declare charge against Horse Archers 2, who respond with a withdraw action. Knights fall short of charge, but pass Maneuver Test and aren’t disordered.

Turks: Horse Archer 1 declares charge on Crossbowmen, who respond with point-blank volley, inflicting 6 casualties, causing the Horse Archers to become disordered and fail in their charge. Horse Archer 2 turns around, shoots at mounted knights, inflicting one casualty. Ghulum declare charge on Mounted Knights, who respond by Turning to Receive the Charge, avoiding a flank attack. The charge hits home, both the Knights and the Ghulum take 1 casualty in the fighting and remain locked in melee. The melee continues in the melee phase, in which both the knights and ghulum receive 1 more casualty.

Panic Morale Phase: Horse Archer 1 unit fails morale test because of disorder and turns to flee.

Turn 3 (Crusaders win initiative)

Crusaders: Crossbowmen stand and shoot double volley inflicting 6 casualties on the Arrow Supply Unit, causing disorder. Pilgrims charge Horse Archer 2 who use Point Blank Shot to inflict 3 casualties, causing the charge to fail when the Pilgrims fall into disorder. The Dismounted Knights declare a charge against the Arrow Supply, but fall woefully short and fall into disorder. The Mounted Knights and Ghulum continue melee, each receiving 1 casualty.

Turks: Arrow Supply can’t clear disorder because Commander stand is too far away. Horse Archer 1 likewise can’t rally and flees in Panic. Horse Archer 2 double shoots Pilgrims, inflicting 1 more casualty. The melee continues: Knights inflict 3 casualties, Ghulum inflict 2 casualties.

Turn 4 (Crusaders win initiative)

Crusaders: Pilgrims and Dismounted Knights remain disordered. Crossbowmen shoot at Horse Archer 2, but inflict no damage, and arrows become depleted. Melee continues but neither Knights nor Ghulum inflict damage.

Turks: Horse Archers 2 charge Pilgrims, each of whom inflict 1 casualty. Another Knight vs. Ghulum melee round: Ghulum inflict 1 casualty, Knights inflict 2 casualties.

Panic Morale: Arrow Supply and Pilgrims fail morale checks and begin to flee.

Turn 5: (Crusaders win initiative)

Crusaders: the crossbowmen declare charge on Horse Archer 2, who respond with point blank shot which inflicts 3 casualties and disorders the crossbowmen and stops the charge, but which depletes the arrows of the Horse Archers. The Knights/Ghulum melee finally ends when the Knights inflict 4 casualties, destroying the Ghulum.

Turks: the Horse Archers 2 decide to take the prudent course and move away. Battle is over.

What I learned from the Play-test:

• I do need to increase the Horse Archers from 2 to 3 figures per stand. They needed a little bit more punch.
• I need to decrease the number of crossbows from 6 to 5 per stand, they were a little more dangerous than I wanted them to be.
• Ghulum and Knights were perfect, their extended melee is just what I wanted to see.
• I made a dozen or so clarifications and modifications to the rules set when questions came up in the course of the battle.
• I decreased Pilgrims from 8 per stand to 7, since they were a bit more threatening (although they did not actual harm) than I had wanted them to be.
• I really did enjoy the system of Charge/Response.
• Man, you have to keep your troops near their commander stand, if you don’t, if they get disordered, they're done. The scheme is to have 1 commander stand out of every 4 stands on the board.
• In the actual game, I’ll be drawing cards for each commander to go as an initiative system. But since there were only 2 commanders in this game, I just rolled dice, and in 5 rounds the Crusader commander rolled higher every single time. GOD WILLS IT!

Proof

See!  It's a SPRUE NIPPER, not wire cutters.  It says so right on the package.

An old complaint

If I have one complaint about old-school D&D, like ACKS, it's the fact that AC inflation and Area of Effect Spells make ordinary soldiers just a complete waste of time just when you are supposed to be hiring them and leading them.

There are things I don't like about a Gang-up rule, for example it makes solitary monsters even bigger chumps than they already are.   I've been thinking that perhaps a better rule might be the trained soldiers or warriors fighting in their units/warbands  outdoors or in siege defense make an automatic hit on a natural 18,19 or 20, rather than just a natural 20.   That might make them more useful and provide a reason for their existence in the world.  This is also actually closer to the original odds in OD&D, where AC 2 was the highest AC, and normal men needed a 17 to hit that (with a max -2 if target had magic armor and shield).

Thought Jumblings before proceding

I've got a nice big piece of canvas (4 feet by 12 feet) to make a battle mat.   I'm going to cut it into 2 4x5 foot mats.

I've been thinking long and hard about painting it.  I really don't want to spread a ton of caulk over it, nor spend a lot of money on a ton of paint, which might also be a pain to spread.  I finally realized that, duh, the damned canvas is already sand-colored, so why on earth would I need to paint it to use for a Middle Eastern battle field?   I think I'll just draw on the rivers and swampy area that were present at the battle.   I don't know whether to draw on the hills or built some pieces, which we could then also use for our other games.

I heard some people use pastel crayons to draw on roads and rivers, maybe I should look into that.

I'm also trying to complete a draft of the rules for the game.   I need to finish them in order to test them, so I can see if the basing scheme will work on not.  I'm a little irritated that the formatting of the file gets a little wonky when I switch from the "Libre Office" word processor on Ubuntu to MS Word on my other computer or my work computer, and back again.   MS Word just insists on adding extra spacing to every thing which gets to be a hassle.

I think I have everything worked out for the basic rules, except for the unit movement rates and missile ranges, which I'll probably steal from some old miniatures rules sets from the 60's I bought last year.   Actually, I've stolen a lot from those systems, but am not going to just use them as written, since they are based off removing figures for casualties, and I want to avoid that and have fixed stands instead.

Finally

Two packages arrived on Friday containing the bulk of my miniatures order.  I do still have some more coming, but I certainly have more than plenty to get started.   I even got my Sprue Nipper, and it's totally not a wire-cutter.  It has all kinds of special sprue nipping features.

These are the Moorish light cavalry which I will be using for the bulk of my Turkish units.   I think I have more figures than I'll need, and may have just gone way over board. I really need to test out the game mechanics some more before I mount any of these guys on bases,  I'd like to mount them in this scheme:

Turkish Horse Archers:  2 per stand
Turkish Lancers:  3 per stand
Mounted Knights:  4 per stand
Most Infantry:  6 per stand (although 7 or 8 might look better)

I need to test, because the number of figures per stand determines the number of attack rolls a stand gets (each stand can take 12 "hit points" of damage, which is recorded on a unit card). 

I need to test whether the horse archers means of shooting and running is going to be effective enough to make having only 2 per stand.

Bogus and Brilliant

I can't freaking believe it, no miniatures again today.   I reached into the mail box and pulled out a box, but it was a free sample of "Fancy Feast."  Freaking cat gets a package and not me.

I made up 16 NPC name/picture cards for Andrew's new NPC deck.   I must say that they are particularly brilliant, but I'd rather show them in person than describe them.   It's some of my best NPC name work yet.

Wednesday Works in Progress

The bad news, no packages Wednesday.   I still haven't gotten any of my new miniatures.   Nevertheless I did make some progress on various projects, amazing for a Wednesday.

First, I began work on the maps of Tower Graf for Sunday's game.  I 'm tiling them up in detail, since presumably Rotwang will be moving in after its cleared.    I based it off the very brief description of a standard Keep from the ACKS book, which says it's 60 feet square (Exactly 1 of our standard 1 foot tiles---Excellent!!) with 10 foot thick walls (that's pretty darn thick).  I've mapped out 2 floors, and since the keep is said to be 80' tall, I'm figuring about 6 floors, plus roof and basement.

I've also laid some groundwork for the inhabitants (I knew basically what they were, but needed to finalize some core choices), and made my decision about the master's grand plan, which had been
a little vague in my head, now it's clear.  (No spoilers).

I also broke down and de-sprued my Robin Hood figures, which I bought a year ago, and which I'll use for pilgrims and archers for the crusades game.   I wanted to wait for my Sprue Nipper to arrive, but just used a utility knife.  It was okay, I guess.   I glued a dozen figures to 2 "wooden craft sticks" and primed them.

I've also been working on the rules for the game.   One conundrum I'm facing is that I'd like each stand to have 2-4 cavalry or 6 infantry figures,  but 7-8 infantry would look better on the sized stands I'm using.   The rules use the number of figures to show how many attack rolls to make.   I suppose I could change my stand size a bit, but I've already cut 30 or more of them.    Well, I'll keep puzzling on it.

P.S.  It seems if I try to post a picture to blogger while in Internet Explorer, it freezes the system.  But, if I switch to Firefox, no sweat.   You suck, Gates.

It's just not fair

The first of my packages arrived today.  Of course, it's all the boring stuff that came first, even though I ordered it last (i.e., Amazon is faster than 2-bit hobby suppliers).   I got canvas and glue today.  Not a miniature in sight.  It's like opening up one's Christmas presents and finding the stupid socks

Growth Guys painted

Big-Sized Rotwang and Big-sized Murderface are now painted

Crusades project progress and other things

First the big news:   I primed the giant-sized Rotwang and Murderface and should get around to painting them this week.

On to the Crusades project:

I purchased a bunch of support material.  I got 4" wide sheets of Basswood to make the unit bases.   I settled on 4" wide, 2" deep for the units which will hold 2-4 cavalry or the 6-8 infantry I'm planning to mount on each stand (8 infantry might need to be staggered in 2 rows)

I've started to cut the bases, but true to my long history, me and straight lines are only distantly acquainted.    I tried cutting the wood with scissors, but that shattered the stand into pieces.   I tried using a saw, but it was too big and slow.   So, I stuck to scoring through with a utility knife.  Close enough.

One thing that's a little irritating is that the tan spray paint I used to paint the bases is almost exactly the same color as the bare wood, so it feels like I'm doing nothing.

I'm experimenting with various glues to assemble figures.  I remember that old fashioned model glue and regular super glue are both usable but less than ideal for soft plastic (fine for hard plastics).   So, I'm trying a few other suggestions out.

I've been shopping for a battle mat to set the game on.  There are some really awesome ones, but they are all way, way too expensive ($50-$100).  So I did find this video:

Battle Mat Video

The video shows how to make a textured battle mat from Canvas drop cloths and caulk.   I've ordered a canvas drop cloth for $15 that should be big enough to make 2 different mats which is much more what I was willing to pay.

So, this week I'm looking forward to an unending stream of packages arriving at my house.  It's like Wargamer's Christmas, or a Festivus miracle or something.

Dedication to a Bit

I'm now totally committed to this plastics crusades project.  I've gone as far as ordering a tool called a "Sprue Nipper" for cutting the miniatures off the plastic sprues. 

First step:  I have my "Robin Hood" set of Airfix plastics which I bought a year or so ago.  They'll actually be perfect for "Pilgrims" or "Camp Followers" for the Crusader side.   I was hoping there would be a good figure for "Peter the Hermit" but Friar Tuck gives off the wrong vibe.

The Project Begins

I've been teaching something new this term at work.  Well, to be honest, nothing I teach is ever really new, but as they say, it's new to me.   We've been reading the Gesta Francorum, one of the earliest histories of the First Crusade.  I know that we're supposed to sneer at the Crusades these days, but the First Crusade is really an awesome story filled with interesting dudes and events.


In any case, I've made up my mind to work up a miniatures game re-enacting the Battle of Dorylaeum from 1097,  one of the few major battles of the First Crusade that wasn't a siege.   So, over the last few days, I've sent out orders for a ton of 1/72 scale plastic figures suitable for 11th century knights and Turks, ordered an Osprey book on the campaigns of the First Crusade, ordered a bunch of tents to make the baggage camps, and a special brand of glue that's supposed to work well on soft plastic.


My plan is to start working up the rules now, while the figures slowly start to trickle in.  And then start painting and basing figures from now through New Years.   Hopefully, I can get the project more or less finished by January sometime.   I'd like to run the battle a few times at home for play test purposes, and then finally haul it into school and run it as an afterschool event after mid-term exams are done.   If it goes well, I might even do it twice.


I decided on 1/72 plastic because the figures are reasonably priced (48 foot or 12 horse for $9 to $14 depending on the manufacturer) and both light and non-fragile making it easier to haul the battle into school.    15mm lead figures would have been another possibility, but that's getting super-small for my old eyes and they are slightly more expensive that the plastics and less resistant to jostling.


My plan for the rules is to have each unit of troops to be mounted on a 3x5 base.   The number of men glued to the base is the number of attacks the unit can make.  Each unit will have a "Character Sheet" and a number of hit points, saves, morale and special powers based on historical performance.   Players will have one unit with a historical figure commander (Bohemund, Tancred etc) and 1-2 other units to control.


Right now, I'm thinking that the Turks will have mostly units of Horse Archers with 2 figures per stand, with a few Medium lancer units with 3 figures, maybe with a few stands of infantry to guard the camp.   The crusaders will have several Mounted Knight stands with 3 figures per stand, and various infantry stands with 4-8 figures for each stand.


They key to getting the historical battle right is to make the Knights highly resistant to arrow fire, even more so if they dismount, but the men-at-arms and "pilgrims" to be incredibly vulnerable to the arrow fire.  The Turks on the other hand, have a very easy time of avoiding melee combat, but if they do engaged, the knights should clobber them.


There should be a rough stalemate between the knights and horse archers, the deciding factor comes from the fact that Crusader reinforcements are continuously showing up, and how each side deals with their arrival and maneuver being the key.