Hail Caesar Fantasy-AAR

The Baron has put up an AAR of our Hail Caesar Fantasy game last night with the BG's.

It was god game and eveyone was a bit chatty so we got a late start. We played to a conclusion in about 2-1/2 hours. Everyione was satisfied with the outcome, and we all had fun(well maybe most). I really like these rules. we are continuing to get into the flow of them and after a few more plays, I think we'll be in the groove.

We tweaked the army lists to match better the units, and their role in the Hail Caesar Fantasy lists that were written for GW armies. Overall we will tweak here and there, but it came out pretty good.

Those who don't have them are ordering figs. Ecitement is building. We may have a group game yet.

 I am going to start finishing bases on my Orcs and Wood elves, after I finish a few more units of Elves and Orcs. then its on to either High Elves or Empire. Both have great sculpts. Probably empire to finally get a Human Opponent on the field.


We have people gearing up for Orcs, Chaos, Dwarves, And Greeks. should be fun.

Another Hail Caesar Fantasy Night

Well, the BG's are playing Hail Caesar fantasy again tonite. 2 in a row. That's a record. We even have people buying figs to paint and play with. I continue to be excited. Update tomorrow.

I got my 4 Infantry and 2 cannon units of French Napoleonics mounted. I built 2 more cannons and got them and their crews on paint sticks ready to prime and paint.

28mm Nappy Pennisular French Army - the Start

Well after a few minutes over lunch, here is the plan for the French Army for Black Powder. The units shaded in Blue are complete.

Here is the Brits. Everyting here is complete, and actually, more than this is complete.

Hail Caesar! a quick opinion.

I have been reading the rules since our HC Fantasy game last week. Like Black Powder. I really like the simple mechaincs and overall feel of the game. It's probably not everyones cup of tea. And it is lighter on the granularity some folks want in their wargamming, but for me, its a winner and we will get a lot of use out of these rules. Almost makes me want to paint an ancients army. Almost. I'll stick to 15mm fantasy for now.

I like it so much, it made me get out some more 15mm Demonworld wood elves and paint since last thursday. I finished 3 units of 4 stands( a full division) of Wood Elf Archers to help them withstand the Green Onslaught. Another unit of Wood Elf Hvy Cav is about half done. I will do another Hvy Cav after this one, and some Wood Elf Spears. Then its time for the greenskins to get some reinforcements.

Demonworld Wood Elf Archers (not mine, from Ral Partha Europe site)

Demonworld Wood Elf Cav (Not mine, from Ral Partha Europe site)

French Napoleonics...a trade

This is kinda long winded and rambling on a hot KC monday morning before the MLB All-Star game. Its kind life and gaming stuff with no pics. So read at your own risk.

So I have been blessed with an amazing gaming group, a best friend who really is to blame for all this mini madness some 25 years ago, and a brother in law who is an incredible painter and all around obsessor of toy soldiers in a way I could never attain, try as I might.

I have spoken many times about how many of the Baron's and mine own experiences are shared ones, both in gaming and in life. But I never speak much about my brother in law, who was my friend first and then bro in law, and how over the years my bro in law has opened up many new horizons for me on the gaming front, as well as show me, by his own actions, how to be a decent, selfless person.

It was he who really amped up the GW obsession at a time when GW was putting out things like Man O War, and Blood Bowl, and Necromunda, as well as 2nd and 3rd edition WHFB and 40k. He had a small but respectable shop he opened on the weekends cause it wasn't his first job, and he had a loyal following. He would be the classic Old West barkeep. Talking to everyone and friends with everyone. Generous to a fault.

He was the one who introduced me to real historicals. The BAron and I dabbled in DBA, but found it lacking. And as the Baron was devouring history and his own personal obssession with gunpowder and pointy sticks, I was being introduced to wars and battles on an (at the time to me) unfathomable scale. 10's of thousands of men and horses with horribly inaccurate guns and gruesome conditions, fighting in full dress uniforms with giant hats and plumes and lace. It was all so...dignified and horrifying at the same time. And so my first case of Nappy Fever was born.

Since those first days of gaming with my bro in law, he had a tradition in his gaming circle of horse trading. This has gone on since the day I met him. Its a special thing to watch as traders try to eek out every last piece of value for their painted/unpainted figs and terrain and books and magazines for the at thing they just had to have. In the years I have witnessed it, I have seen amazing trades, and amzingly bad trades. Most are in the middle, but you can't stop a man from his own obsession, and many times I have seen that ruin a person's collection. But for those of us who have been doing it for so long, it all has a way to even out in the end.

And I tend to not mention trades and trading on the blog. But the fact is, as much as I love to paint, I am terribly slow, and I have way to many periods that I will never get to. So I do actively purchase and trade for figs, mostly painted, some unpainted. I have gotten over the last few years, through purchase or trade: a huge amazingly painted viking army, three large gangs of Necromunda guys, with more lead to paint myself, a hundred or so ancient GW/Marauder rougue trader era painted figs, 2 small 15mm ECW armies, a large 28mm ECW army, a small 15mm sci fi army, and small collection of 28mm WWII. Several years ago I traded for my bro-in-law for an entire collection of 15mm Nappies and 15mm Civil War. Pretty varied stuff. All of it very good wargamming quality or better(some much better).

But you will notice there is no 28mm Nappy in there. That has always been the holy grail. That has always been the one period I would be painting myself, or I would have figs from a very limited palette of people: my bro-in-law, his best friend Mike, or the Baron. And It was a project I never assumed I would fully finish in my lifetime. And I was OK with that.

Well a couple of things changed that for me. One, Black Powder. Finally a ruleset that allows a gentlemanly game that's fun and could be finished in 3-4 hours. Two, the painting I did on the Pennisular British this winter/spring. I could finish this to a scale and degree I would be happy with. And I don't need to get huge masses of troops on the table. So as I have written in this blog, the Nappy project is in full swing. I reached out to some of the guys in the BG's who would have interest in doing a unit or two of French so we could get to the table quicker. The Baron is even gonna paint a unit of French. we may get there yet. I was predicting at least 5 years to have the British, Spanish, French, and Portugese.

Well, as horse trading always is, you never know when it will come up or why. On a fluke Sunday afternoon, as I was painting some 15mm fantasy(this was only 2 weeks ago), my bro in law came over. we were talking and he was looking at all of the boxes of unpainted lead on my shelves. I never have anything he is interested in. But he saw some old GW stuff I had amassed over the years. A bunch of it. He decided he would like to trade for it. and I couldn't blame him. It was great stuff. It was still in the blister. And it was all right there. I let him know that I would only really trade for a couple of things. Painted Nappy French, and an old Spanish Village I wanted back I had traded to him a while ago. He tried some other things, but he knew I only wanted painted stuff in exchange.

Well, 2 weeks to the day later, and many late nights, he painted 3 units of french line in campaign dress, and a couple of cannon to throw in the deal. He knew I wanted 4 four units so he threw in a legere unit he had already painted. and the Spanish Village. In return he got 6 stuffed shoeboxes of in the blister GW figs. We both placed great value on what we had to offer the other. In the end we both were very happy with the trade. I must say that over the years, this is the most even trade we have ever made. It hurt to lose those  figs, but I may actually have a painted French Army in a year. That's inconceiveable.

Oh by the way, did I tell you the figs are beautifully painted. No. Well they are. I'll post them when I get them based up.

So completing a French Army is possible now. Sometimes it just takes a little push and a start. Well a full Division is a good start. And if the BG's paint a little we'll have a second one. I guess I need to get started on the other Division. The Spanish may need to wait. I still have a couple of Highland units to do for the British. But I am excited about the next year of Nappy Fever.

Hail Caesar Fantasy - A success!

I don't have pictures or a Bat Rep for you. I'll leave that to the Baron. But the BG's played Hail Caesar Fantasy last night. We had 4 divisions of troops each side. Orcs Vs. Wood Elves. We used the Army lists from the Hail Caesar Fantasy Yahoo Group, which are based on GW fantasy army lists. since there is no wood elf list yet, the Baron used the high elf list for them. We proxied a bunch of figs, but over all worked great.

It was our first ig game of Hail Caesar! so we were gettingthe sequence and mechanics down. Knowing Black Powder helps, but this is a different game for sure. And I like the way it models the crush of HTH and the push and pull until some one gives way and all hell breaks loose. A sweeping advance can be a devastating thing.

The group really liked it and thought with some more plays, could really have a fun game. And they were energized to do it. So we may have some new orders for 15mm fantasy going out and some new units onthe table. Awesome. Maybe we found a group game after all. If every one painted a division of their own, that would be great.

So go get the mods from the Yahoo group and try it out. I may not have to paint 28mm fantsy big armies again. Now I can just do warbands. Yeah that gets me stoked too.

Now go play!

HAil Caesar! Fantasy?...yep

This thursday we are gonna play Hail Caesar Fantasy at the Barons abode. This is the fantasy mod of the Warlord Games Hail Caesar rules. We are gonna use my 15mm Demonworld figs. We were gonna ramp up to use 28mm fantasy for this, but honestly, if I can do this, I may not have to. Not sure what I would do with all these 28mm figs though.

One the phot front, I got a crazy deal on an RCA Small Wonder digital camcorder, one of the ones that are the size of a phone. I wanted to record vacations and stuff. well it has a picture mode too. Problem is no focus. So depth of field is depth of field, regardless of zoom (which is only 2x). I said cheap right. Well I wanted to try it out for blog photos. Not impressed. I'll go back to my wife's kodak for now.

Anyway here is a couple of shots of the two armies. Orcs VS. Woood Elves. 3 Brigades per side, Plus 1 Ally Brigade per side (for the Orcs its the Giantkin, for the Woodelves its the Creatures of the Forest)



Two BRigades of Wood Elves

 

Centaur Brigade (2 Units of Centaur Archers, 2 Units of Centaur Hvy

 

Elven Heavy Infantry and Archer Brigade(Wardancers, Spearmen, Woodsmen, and Archers)



Elven Cav Brigade(2 units of Pagasus Rider Bows 1 unit of Medium Cav, 1 unit of supporting Archers)

Ally Creatures of the Forest Brigade(2 Units of Treemen, 2 Units of Minotaurs)

Here are the Orc Brigades:

Orc Missle Brigade(3 Units Savage Orc Archers, 1 Roc Thrower, 1 Balista)

Orc Cav Brigade(1 Unit of Spider Riders, 2 Units of Medium Cav Wolf Riders, 1 Unit of Lt Cav Wolf Rider Archers)

Orc Infantry Brigade (3Units of Spearmen, 1 Catapult, 1 Rock Thrower)



Ally Giantkin Heavy Brigade (2 Units of Trolls, 2 Units of Ogres)



I got so excited I pulled out some more wood elves and started painting. I am wrapping up a woodland archer unit and are working on a hvy cav unit at the same time. Even though you are painting a smaller area, 15mm army painting is still a lot of work. But you can crank them a little faster and you can short cut some stuff and not degrade them much.

I spent a couple of hours highlighting armor for my 15mm Recon Rapid Reaction Force(bulit around Critical Mass Recon guys) army. The blurry walkers in the front are finished. And you can see a command vehicle behind them ready to be highlighted and then weathered. Walkers are DP9 CEF Frames, other vehicles are GZG.

And these guys are the current finished armor and support for the RRF. A couple of scouts, 3 heavy walkers, a command PIFV, a couple of unit support vehicles, a drone support vehicle, and a manned support vehicle. I have 2 Phalanx Tanks, and 3 IFV's to finish and they are done.

On the trading front, I may be getting 28mm French Nappy reinforcements sooner than expected. The reccruiting depot must be working overtime. I'll keep you posted.