Pandemic Painting IV

More pandemic painting from the SAG!  Is it possible... some war gamers may run out of unpainted figures due to this crisis?  That seems unlikely... and yet...

Most sadly, I have been very remiss in posting these, it's been too many weeks since the last blog post!

Chris' most recently finished Test of Honor figures. 

And his new band joins his Test of Honor army!

Eric's Arab cavalry, 34 horse and 24 camels. Eric finished these guys up recently, but he didn't begin them. Instead, he inherited them. As he explains, "Craig was my wargame friend who died 23 years ago at age 34. When gamers pass your unfinished projects end up with someone else these figures Craig started probably 30 years ago. Something I didn’t really want to paint but it was time, I have been carrying this box 23 years.This isn’t the first project I have finished of Craig’s, always kind of strange and I end up talking to the sky saying, 'what the hell color did you use Craig?!'"

Ren's Marines.

Eric's Napoleonic Russians: "based 5 regiments, flags mounted, skirmishers made. Bought these guys 3-4 years ago when the price was good. Just now in a state I can game with them."

For Konflict '47, Buck's Russian heavy walker is part of a Guard's unit comprised mainly of this walker and Ursus bear troops. "ready for varnish and weathering... Painting this beast is fun and I’m really excited to see how it does in a game!"

Chris: "Proof of concept for 10 minutes per figure. Need washed (flesh and soft tone) and simple metal for gun."

The result of concept: Chris finished 19 more militiamen (28mm). 

More of Eric's Pandemic painting"Blood Angel left overs. Useless Hellblasters, captains and command group. Aggressors needed stickers."

Ren's Cadians painted for Warhammer 40k.

Ren: "a comparison between my first painted figure and my recent"

Jeffrey's in progress Romans

Two air brushed houses by Chris.

One week in May, Eric's pandemic painting completed 43 Isengard orcs, 18 goblins, 31 Mordor orcs, 3 orc trackers.

Matt 1for Warhammer 40k: "night lords project I’ve had on the back burner for ages"

Army Spotlight: Paul's Hyksos Army

I decided to finally spotlight one of my own armies, the Hyksos.

Back in the mid-1990s I took 2nd place in a De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA) tournament, at Capcon, a small gaming convention that was then run annually at Ohio State. The prize for 2nd place as aa full, unpainted DBA army, #8a Hyksos 1650 BC-1546 BC from the DBA 1.1 lists. At the time, I was focused on building matching DBA armies, I didn't have a foe army, and the list changed for DBA 2.0 and after so my Hyksos army lingered unpainted.  

Cut to 20 years later, when I've gotten back into miniature war gaming after a 10 year hiatus, and my new new club has finally started shifting from Flames of War, and some of the members are interested, finally in 15mm ancients. 

But not in DBA, they want to play L'Art de la Guerre, which requires more figures.  But I want to run this army, so I find some interesting terrain for a camp, buy the additional needed infantry and cannabalize some figures from an ancient Egyptian Hordes of the Things army i also have sitting aorund unpainted. I paint them all up now this represents ADLG list #13 - Hyksos  (1650-1546 BC). 

I ran it at the ADLG National Teams tournament in 2018, freshly painted. The tournament was a bit of a bust as my truck died permanently that weekend, but the Hyksos did okay, 2 losses, 1 win, and 1 tie, if I recall correctly. 

It is a tricky list to play. The chariots require a lot of open space, but the medium and light infantry work best with a lot of terrain. Overall, I'm sure I've lost more often then won with this list, but that's true of all my armies!  It's still fun to play.  I'd like a chance to play Eric's Assyrian Army, maybe that army's bad luck would give me an even chance. 😁 

The heart of the army is its light chariots, whirling about the battlefield with its archers.
About half of them are elite troops, so I painted some with red plumes and some with blue.
One of the blue chariots is one of the 'newer' model chariots, coming into vogue at the time and
represented by a New Kingdom Egyptian chariot, most often, that represents the Chariot Corps'
general, Khyan, who is generally an 'included' general.

Three Hyksos generals, including Sakir-Har and Yanassi. 

I found a cool skull-headed Sphinx building for the Hyksos camp,
and the palm trees are the two ambush markers the army needs.

Canaanite javelinmen are a mainstay of this army.  

The heart of the army are its warriors, medium swordsmen impact. 
Not much staying power against heavy foot, but still dangerous. 

I find the two stands of bowmen pretty useful for this list. 

Libyans with javelins and Aamu with slings make up the skirmishers.

I would like to add more warriors and more javelinmen,
as well as some Egyptian levies to give the list more options. 

Again, a fun list to play, and one of my more decent painting jobs. I probably need even more javelinmen and warriors for this army, it might work better fewer chariots. But I just love the look of the chariots sweeping across the board. 

The army list I usually play for this army. 

Pandemic Painting III!

As we continue protecting each other against Covid-19, Spotsylvania Gaming Group members continue painting!

Ed's Saga Warband nears completion, only basing remains...

Jared finished a commission, Italian paratroopers, 28mm!

Eric's Hunter orcs and wild wargs

Eric's Azog and Bolog on wargs.

Eric's Azog,Bolog, Fimbul, Narzug, and Yazneg. Hunter orcs and wild wargs

Eric's orc horde charges!

“Escaping goblins to be caught by wolves!”

Matt 1's 15mm foederati.

Chris' ashigaru for Test of Honor along with his recently completed buildings.

Wally completed some excellent terrain for 28mm games.

Ren's commander, Jörg, ready for war!

Eric painted 42 Rangers of Ithilien. Time to hunt Mumakil!

Ren's British Life Guard for Blackpowder, galloping towards Waterloo!

Dutch's completed, Late Imperial Roman army,
for ADLG, last seen in Pandemic Painting I. 

Finally, two of Chris' Test of Honor figures, ready except for their bases.

Army Spotlight: Eric's Assyrian Army

During the Pandemic Eric has been sharing pics of his many armies on Facebook, and has allowed me to share them here as well for our Army Spotlight. 😀

These are his cursed Assyrians. According to Eric, "Some of you have seen the curse in action I only roll ones with this army. It’s record is 1 and 9 despite being one of the better lists in the game. Looking back on how this army came to be I am convinced it was the devils work. Possibly an Assyrian evil deity. I bought the chariots in the flee market, it was feeding frenzy at one table where the seller only said “make me an offer you are happy with” and guys were doing just that. I got a great deal. But I only got the chariots and cavalry the infantry was gone. Mysteriously the infantry I found in my basement pile of old lead I don’t remember how I got them but here they were. I painted them up and the army could take the field. That’s when my suffering began like a monkey paw from hell the “Assyrian curse”."

With a story like that, how can they not be cursed, and how can that not be awesome? I guess Eric just needs to properly propitiate Ashur!

This list is primarily played for L'Art de la Guerre and represents list #9 - Assyrian Empire and Sargonid (745-609 BC).  It's an excellent list that does very well for its period with most players - Eric's constant 1s are truly a curse in this case!

The army on parade!  In the foreground the famous Assyrian heavy chariots, with the generals in the center, the Cimerian light cavalry bow on the left, then heavy infantry in the center, medium or heavy cavalry on the right, Egyptian and Kushite bowmen, a baggage camel camp, and light infantry bow.  

You cannot uite see, because of the spears, but Assyrian cavalry usually carries bows, mking them very useful since the hevay chariots are this army's 'hammer'. The Heavy infantry and bowmen can be deployed separately or in a mixed 1/2 swordsmen/bowmen line, giving excellent versatility.  

The Assyrian list has command +6, and tons of strategists options: Tiglath-Pileser III, Sargon II, Sennacherib, and Assurbanipal. There is no reason this army should ever lack for pips! My only quibble here is that most likely the Assyrian commanders rode chariots into battle. 

There is the heart of this force, the Heavy Chariot Impact. Heavy Chariots are classified as 'knights' in ADLG, and a force like this one is pretty powerful, which matches well the Assyrian Empire's military reputation. 

I've never played this army of Eric's but I would truly love to, though it will most likely overwhelm my own poor Hyksos are for the period!