The First Battle for the Valley of the Evening Sun - Hail Caesar Fantasy! Style

The Chronicle of the War for the Valley of the Evening Sun

a telling of the tales of the great War for the Valley of the Evening Sun by his Majesty's humble servent and scribe Ulric Schutzen.

In yr 34 of the glorious reign of His Holiness, Lars von Drachensohn, Commander of the Sun, Lord Protector of the Valleys, Master of the Sky, and Guardian of the People, an accord was struck with the Ancient Kingdom of Sylvan Elves known as the Endless Boughs. In the Valley of the Evening Sun, where the frontier forts and farms of the Glorious Empire of Man and the great edges of the towering forests of Sylhal Le Faen meet at the great Glittering River, a border was set. A great wide and beautiful bridge was built. And peace settled into the valley.

Lars von Drachensohn and the Empire of Man 

Sylvan Elves of Sylhal Le Faen (The Endless Boughs)

Until a dwarven messenger party from the Holds of Korag Dorn rode their exhausted sqautty ponies into the Valley to warn of the loss of the Holds and of the approaching horde of the Orc Warlord UR Huk Masul, tranquil peace was a way of life for the inhabitants of the Valley of the Evening Sun.

The Great War Banner of UR Huk Masul

Surging from the Unending See, the grassed barren steppe lands east of the Peaks of Dorn, the gathered hordes of UR Huk Masul broke like waves crashing on the shore at the foot of the Great Dwarven Holds of Korag Dorn. But through cunning, treachery and the promise of vast treasure from the deep vaults of the dwarven kingdom to the hill and stone giants of Dorn, the Warmass of UR Huk Masul flooded the holds, and temples, and vaults of Korag Dorn. And with the dam breaking in the east, the Warhorde was going to flood into the Valley of the Evening Sun. 

The Humans and Sylvan Elves met on the Bridge of Promise and quickly dispatched riders to warn their respective kings of the approaching doom. The local Warlords and Glade Keepers began the assemblage of their warriors. Man and Sylvan Elf would unite and fight the first battle of The Valley of the Evening Sun at the foot of the Dorns. In a place known to the Humans as Grobschanze (Long Hill).

     

28mm Sci Fi Terrainapalooza - A Golden Age

Much like the last 3 years have been a golden age for those of us who enjoy the virtues of small of stature Sci Fi miniatures (15mm), there is a current explosion of 28mm Sci Fi. But not necessarily the miniatures. Quite honsetly, while there are a lot of good companies doing good Sci Fi work,  a lot of it is just noise at this point. It seems like quite an over saturated market. But the quality is high. But how many variations on the heavily armored and light armored Human can you use. I have at least 6 10 12 15 ranges myself. But what has really caught my eye is the bounty of 28mm Sci Fi Terrain that has hit the Market over the last year or so. Finally, we don't have to fight over gothic hell and skullz, or Mos Eisley. And the accessories may be even better. Here's a run down of just a few:

Game Workshop - Whether you hate the Evil empire, or love to be bad, we all have to give it up to GW for pioneering adaptable, high quality sci fi terrain with Necormunda. 40k has come a long way from the Deodorant Bottle hover tanks of the Rogue Trader days, but the real terrain innovation came with the plastic sprues of bulkheads and cardboard floors. They built and built on this knowledge and the art of plastic model making for gaming(more robust than for scale modeling) and have really put out some extraordinary terrain. It is still the only thing I consistantly look forward to being released from GW. Its the singular reason I check their site occasionally. Excepting the skullz of course.

Set of 93 Bulkheads and Original Cardboard sold for $300.00 + on ebay

Litko Aerosystems - The Industrial Tower System by Litko has been a round a little while. I have had mine set for about 3 years now. It is the absolute closest thing to matching the terrain in one of the funnest games GW ever made, Necromunda. Towers, ramps, open girders, etc. Great system and super easy to play with and in and around. Extremely verastile in piece selection and build. It is pretty light on surface detail compared to recent offerings by other companies. But it does feel right for industrial areas. If you want to put some detail work in, this system is awesome, and pretty affordable considering the value of the bundles.

Micro Art Studio - The small company from Poland. These guys really seized the technology of laser cutting and made it special. while Litko showed everyone what was possible with MDF laser cutting as a new(to us gamers) MAS showed everyone what layering, creative design, and faithfully interpreting a brand(Infinity), and have been copied by everyone since. For me these guys started the real burst of creative 28mm Sci Fi Terrain we are seeing now. You can see it in everyone's work.

Spartan Scenics - New Kid on the Block in MDF Terrain, If Spartan is gonna do something, they are all in. I really like the approach these guys have to giving gamers full lines of product. And as big as they are, they don't have to do a Kickstarter to decide they want a terrain line. They just do it. A great start, and the resin accessories are really where they shine. Just gorgeous. Everyone has been doing weapon lockers and med labs and consoles. But the genius 3-d sculptors at Spartan really did a nice job here.

Mantics Deadzone - This Kickstarter from Mantic has delivered some pretty good looking plastic/resin figs, but the real kicker is the Terrain. A real robust successor to Necromunda, only developed more for buildings and outposts instead of the industrial underhive open structure. Pretty good looking stuff. I am very curious about the battle damaged terrain, and the have added some accessory options from a well known supplier that may or may not be a good deal in the kickstarter. Not sure that its for me as I am a little Kickstartered out, but I will wait and see. Nice stuff though.

Sedition Wars -  I know, I know. This one really kinda blew up in Studio McVey's face. They weren't ready for the response, they have been behind on the whole thing, and there seems to be a lot of unhappy people about the whole thing. I bought into the Kickstarter, and got my box of minis. And yes they had mold lines, material and fit problems, but I have always loved Mike's sculpting style and I am going to give them a try. the models have a great style. Phase II is coming out sometime this summer, and with it are is the release of the terrain packs. Mike released pics of the painted prototypes. I must say they are pretty great. and fit in well with the rest of the sci fi offerings out now.

Now there have been many people putting out great sci fi terrain and accessories for a while. But with the proliferation of easy CAD and Laser Cutting, and the ease of 3-d printing, the terrain world is now wide open.

This stuff has gotten me very excited, and maybe the next thing I work on.

Finally Some Painted Minis - 15mm Demonworld Empire

So finally, here are some painted minis. 15mm Demonworld Empire Cav for Hail Caesar Fantasy!

Overall Pics - Heavy Elite Cav - One huge unit. A real freight train. 5 stands. And three units of horse archer Light Cav.

Enjoy.

I have 2 units of Medium Cav to finish to wrap up the Empire for the time being. I have a couple of blisters I would like to pick up(Pikes, Rangers, War Altar) to go with the Swordsmen and Archer Blisters I have before I finish the whole army up. Once I complete the Medium Cav I'll finish all the basing work and put the 15mm Fantasy away for a bit. A Blue and White cav unit coming up.

Thanks for Looking. 

Been a While...

Well, dear readers, it's been a while. I was going at a pretty good clip there, but spring finally sprung and the Rat Race is in full swing, so I have had Zero time for anything gaming related(almost). Just a few things and thoughts til I get back to it:

Zonmbicide - I received Phase II of the Zombicide Season One extras. Great stuff. Same as first release. Quality components and well done by Guillotine Games. I was not pleased that my Not the Girl from Kill Bill, and my Not Samuel L Jackson characters had to be changed so much because of a rights issue wth Paramount, but they are still nice. I didn't get season two. But may when it comes out.

Dwarven Forge Kickstarter - Well we got together as a group and wet all in and got a big set of the painted stuff. A great value if you were wanting a dungeon environment. Good for 28mm and 15mm.  I'll have to create some 15mm doors and furnishings, but with my Hirst Arts, that will be easy.

Reaper Bones - Still waiting on shipments from China. I couldn't have gotten them painted cause I need to finish my Demonworld Empire guys, but would like to get my grubby little mitts on them.

15mm Fantasy - I hope that next week I can get back to painting them, cause I want to finish them so I can move on and paint something else(28mm Spanish? 28mm Sci Fi? 28mm Supers?). I need a break from the 15mm fantasy, but I am going the finish the 2 units of medium cav I have left, and then I will base and flock everything so they are done.

Consolidation - Still really thinking about consolidating my collections. But sinceI have had no time to think about it, no progress has been made.

Terrain - Look at these pics. A Rob Hawkins on the Privateer Press forums did these boards. They are simply amazing. Makes me want to work on Post Apoc or Mordheim terrain.

Trees- So I have been wanting to do a magnet system for my forests for a while. I think the self same modeler who did the Warmachine table has figured out my quandry. He uses earth magnets in short lengths of plastic tube and then in the forest base has a larger tube with a magnet in it. put them in for the game, pull them out when you move troops in, pull them all out for storage. Nice and Simple.

Gaming - Have been playing some board games with the boys and the wife lately. Zombicide, Wits and Wagers, Sword and Skull. Fun and light stuff. And played Poker with Mom on mothers day. See, I was raised that after Sunday dinner/lunch, you broke out your money and the cards and played poker til it was dark. It was a lot of fun, and I knew poker, odds and a lot of card games when I was 6-7. No mercy for the kids either. My grandpa played straight up and that's how you learned to bet, play and be careful with your money. So we have been doing the same with our boys and at 10 and 13, they have been playing cards for about 4 years. And they also got to play poker with their Grandpa before he passed away. They will always have that memory.

BAsement Generals - The BG's march on. Quality gaming every thursday is the slogan. and it always delivers. I have been absent more than not as of late(football, work, life), but got a really fun game of Supersystem 2 last night (we don't like how vanilla SS3 got). Golden Age Brawl with the Allies against the new Supermight of the Japanese Divine Wind. And the Allies destroyed them. Some tweaking and some additional Archetypes need to be filled in(shooter, healer, mind controller) but they will be a force to reckon with once worked out. I always forget how much I love this game when we don't play it for a while, and how utterly frutrating you can be by certain power combos. Its the beauty of the game. Find a way to beat them or come back next time with a better plan. Its really the classic comic story. thanks for hosting Baron and thanks for a fun game BG's. I think Scott and I won together, on the same team, for the first time ever.

Enjoy the spring and summer, keep playing and keep painting. More when something is going on.

Lead Addict