First try of Dead Man's Hand

I met up with my friends Hugh and Mark at Fantasy Flight Games Center to try Dead Man's Hand. Hugh kindly brought everything-figures, rules, buildings and terrain.  He had his Old West town up in 30 minutes.

That was time well spent as this game looks LOVELY on the table. 4Ground's prepainted buildings are gorgeous.  Each comes apart floor by floor, which allows you to fight from the ground floor to the rooftop. We had 6-7 people stop by to ask what we were playing.  That was a record amount of interest for us!

I ran the Lawmen and Mark ran the Outlaws. The game uses a small deck of playing cards for each gang. The cards determine initiative and activation order. Some cards are held in hand to be played for special abilities or interrupts. I loved that the cards break up the IGO-UGO.  They bring drama and uncertainty as you find yourself hoping for a turn of a friendly card.  Tempted as you are to play the cards quickly, you only get one new card at the end of each turn.

Sharp eyed readers will recognize these fellows from my painting table last fall. That's the bonus of "painting local."

The game is played with 3 linked scenes.  The first 2 are small affairs that build to a final showdown. In the first, 3 drunk Outlaws were giving my Lawman a hard time.  My gun ran out of ammo after my first shot so I ducked into a building for cover.  The Outlaws shot me dead anyway. Not a great start for the good guys.

In the second scene, my Lawmen got revenge by fighting through an ambush and sending the Outlaws packing.

The final showdown felt like a classic Western.  The Outlaws holed up in the Undertakers Office. As they ran in, I played a card that saw the undertaker pull a gun to defend his business.  It didn't turn out well for him as he became the first customer of what would be a busy day.

While the Outlaws were running to the rooftop, I rushed the first floor and dropped the Outlaw tasked to cover the front door.  In the picture below, the Lawman with the "Out of Ammo" marker has a sawed off shotgun.  His specialty is to run up point blank and shoot both barrels.  It's a high risk, high reward strategy. In close quarters, there's nothing better!

Dead Man's Hand gives you many decision points. When the enemy rushes you or through your line of fire, you can activate for a single quick shot if you haven't activated already.  You can also activate for a duck and dive as well, which is often the most sensible move you can make. The game plays out like a classic Western, with players crashing through doors, windows, and jumping off rooftops.  My Sheriff found himself outnumbered and in a bad spot. I played a "Bullets Can't Stop Him" card and kept him alive for that turn.

The end was played out behind the Undertaker's Office.  The Outlaw boss jumped down from the roof and drew my gang into the alley.  The Outlaws up on the roof had a good line of fire on my Lawmen and all the lead was making it hot, hot, hot.  Try as I might, I could not drop the Outlaw boss and losses on both sides mounted until each gang had to take a "Big Morale Test."  Hugh told us both "Don't roll a 1!" to which I replied, "Isn't that the name of a famous blog?"  And just like that, Mark and I tossed 1s.  Both sides broke and ran, resulting in a tie.  Like a good cliffhanger, we'll have to wait until the next episode to see who wins.

I'm completely smitten by Dead Man's Hand.  The rules were easy to grasp and the game moves very quickly. It builds a tense and colorful narrative. As someone who's gamed, lived in and loved the Old West, these rules hit all the right notes for me.  Very well done, Great Escape Games.  I'm off to get my copy and I can't wait to get another game in! Next time, I hope Mark will be singing, "I fought the Law but the Law won."  

Hugh and the Outlaw Mark in green

Fantasy Flight Games Center-aka Gaming Nirvana!

Getting the band together - Norse Gael

For Christmas, Mrs. Gamer gave me a Gripping Beast Norse-Gael warband. For readers not interested in the Dark Ages, you're probably muttering "Dear lord, make him stop!"  Short of divine intervention,  I can't stop my Dark Ages painting quite yet but I'll change things up by sharing how I put this warband together.

These 2 pics should be last in today's post but with blogging, I'm compelled to lead with my best. I start a warband by painting levy figures first and working my way up the socioeconomic ladder. These 12 javelinmen are Norse-Gael levy. As such, they're poor, plain and expendable.   I'll go into who the Norse-Gael were later in this series. For now, you might be asking how did I get here? Let's rewind to the start. 

The Way of the Gun:  I'm positively stuck on basing my 28mm figures with a glue gun.  It's fast, easy and reversible should you decide to rebase. The blob of glue also gives a nice transition that reduces the "pitcher's mound" effect.  

Chop It Down:  The figures below are the javelinmen.  To distinguish them from the spearmen, I took the Gripping Beast spears and clipped them at both ends. I cut the spears down to less than the height of the figures to better represent a javelin. Then I cut the enormous spearpoints down by 50% as well. 

Drill, Baby, Drill: Gripping Beast cast their axe-wielding figures without holes in their hands. Bad Beasty! Don't they know that drilling 24 hands out with a pin drill is brutally slow and painstaking work? With my Dremel and attachment, I got through this quickly and without swears!

What Can Brown do for You?  I prime my Dark Age figures white, topped with a burnt umber ink wash. The ink is cut with water and a bit of glue to make it colorfast during the paint and wash stage.  You can use matte medium for this as well and Gillies of the Wilderness of Mirrors blog has a recipe for an ink bath. Gillies turned me onto the wonders of ink and I've been hooked  since. I apply the ink wash everywhere but the shield front.  Those need to stay white for the LMBS shield transfers. One benefit of an inked figure is it helps you see the detail.  If you paint neatly and keep the ink in the borders, you get an effect similar to blacklining.  

So, that's how I put these mad Viking-Irish fellows together. 

I'm putting some of my 15mm Field of Glory armies up for sale.  The Ancient Spanish are up on the block today and after I get a good set of pictures, the Medieval Hungarian Army will follow. The link to the Spanish is tucked below the banner if you're interested.  Thanks for looking!     

Bull in the Heather

A fun part of painting is finding the touches that convey the character of the figures you're painting. For the Scots warlord, the elevated basing reflected a Highlands heritage, as does the heather tufts.

This was my 2nd attempt at a watercolor-based background.  In this version, I got a lighter and smoother gradient Michael of the Dalauppror blog recommended. I love how bloggers share tips, tricks and recommendations. So thanks, Michael, and everyone else I've ever leaned on as well. I must remember it's ok to ask for help rather than rely on trial and error.

Here's the rest of the Scots warriors, the hearthguard, and the warlord in for another shot. The fellow with both hands in the air is giving off a "Braveheart" vibe and I can almost hear him yelling "FREEDOM!"

The Scots are done and off to a new home. That makes 7 factions painted out of 17 in SAGA.  If paint 10 factions, I hear Studio Tomahawk offers the 11th free, just like Subway sandwiches!

+5 points if you can identify the musical shout-out in the post's title without Google.   

Don't lose your head!

The Scots warriors continue the dark, earthen palette I plotted for the warband. I did sneak in some flourishes for the dandies in the bunch. These figures are on par with Gripping Beast's superb Welsh and Jomsvikings.

So, about the head on a pike. I found two bannermen in this set and one banner, so it was time to improv.  One of the two bannermen was channeling the Dead Rabbit gang to me.  I dug up a head, drilled it and presto, the "Don't lose your head" gang is born.   The Scots are a blast to paint and they're - wait for it - my favorite warband to date.  I do seem to get my head turned by each new faction that comes down the pike.

For SAGA players, the Scots battleboard emphasizes defensive abilities while allowing for a counterpunch.  Some of their standout abilities are:

Give Ground gives you the chance to reduce your opponent's attack dice. Ouch!  

Hold the Ground adds 2 or 4 defensive dice.
Keeping the Distance: Allows a unit the benefit of being treated as in heavy cover for the turn.  

Reach actives a movement and turns a unit (or 2) into javelin armed for the turn.  Shooting up your opponent is a great way to goad them into a charge.  

Tireless allows you to reduce fatigue by 1 at the end of the melee. Great for stacking 2 attacks in a turn.

They look to be another tough faction and it'll be interesting to see them out on the tabletop.  

Sayonara, 2013

Last year was a great year for gaming and painting.  With my son at college, I've gone from monthly to weekly gaming.  I've gotten in a mix of SAGA, Field of Glory, Maurice, Dux Brittanarium, and Longstreet. 2013 was the year I shed my Guy with the Worst Dice label.  While gaming is about having a good time, cutting up and tipping a beer or two, it's nice to win occasionally. I believe the law of large numbers has kicked in because my dice have been red hot!

I  painted 931 15mm figures including new Gallic, Dailami and ACW armies. In 28mm, I painted 585 figures including Vikings, Anglo-Danes, Jomsvikings, Normans, Welsh, Irish, Scots, Byzantines and Dark Age Swords for Hire.  SAGA has been my gateway drug into Dark Age reading and gaming.  SAGA also pulled some of my buddies into 28mm and having crossed the Rubicon, we're looking to port our 28mm warbands into other rules.

Thanks to painting contracts, I was able to substantially upgrade my paints and hobby tools.  I paint more than I can play so I appreciate the opportunity to paint for profit.  To put my efforts in perspective, my furnace went out Monday night.  With temperatures below zero, I frantically called to get Emergency $ervice. I told the bleary eyed furnace repairman my ignition was out and after 10 minutes, he'd replaced it at a cost of $430.  I compared his rate to mine and I felt a bit ill.  At least I had heat to go with my queasiness!

The painting table is loaded for 2014.  I've got Norse Gael, Jomsvikings and Bretons to paint for myself thanks to Mrs. Claus.  And I have 2 Ronin starter sets plus WW II British Paras to paint on contract.

If you were up too late last night and you're looking for something to put you back to sleep, I've got my tallies below the break.  Otherwise, cheers to you and to 2014!

Of Javelins and heather - a Scots warband

After the departure of the Romans, the Dal-Riada Scots fought and then formed a kingdom with the Picts in 846. Kingship at that time was multilayered, with kings using their war bands for raiding and the occasional campaign. With a patchwork of clans and lordships, the Scots stood fast against the Normans during the conquest of England. Their armies were mostly unarmored spearmen fighting in closed ranks.  The body of spearmen would generally be flanked or preceded by bow or javelin skirmishers. Warriors were barelegged and poorly clad.  By the 10th century, they were fighting in shield wall like the Vikings. Imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery!

I find that levy figures are a great warm up for painting a warband.  These Scots levies were likely slaves and thus, a simple palette with no flourishes.  In SAGA, these Dark Age Expendables are used to shield the rest of the warband from missile fire and to hurl javelins at the enemy. All Gripping Beast and once again, really nice scuplts.

Speaking of really nice, it's great to be back painting 28mm after a long run of 15mm.  I hope you fared well over the Holiday, with plenty of laughter and love from the people who mean the most to you.  My son is back from college and it's great to all be together again! 

A Close Run Thing - Maurice AAR

Under a setting sun, the infidel invaders withdraw from the battlefield.  The carnage and cries of the wounded are terrible to behold.  Black tempered, the Sultan has retired to his tent and few are of a mind to recount the Battle of Alt Hahnfeld.

Lord Abercrombie of Brittanica is a great commander, of that, there is no doubt.  He caught our Anatolian army as it was making its way inland.  The Sultan was eager to give battle and send the infidels fleeing but Abercrombie chose the battlefield well. Our left flank was crowded by a swollen stream. Our center was dominated by forest to the left and right. Plowed fields choked our right. Because of the disrupting terrain, the Sultan was limited to attacking through narrow channels in the center, right or left. The Sultan chose to deploy most the army in march column and wait for his irregulars to seize the woods and drive the enemy back.

It seemed like a good plan on the drawing board. 

The morning hours were dominated by the sound of sporadic gunfire as the Anatolian irregulars harassed and pressed the enemy irregulars.  Despite a 2 to 1 advantage, we had great difficulty driving the enemy back or opening up the center.  They would give no ground and soon, Nazim's sharpshooters came streaming to the rear.  Neither shouts nor swords could stem their shameful rout.  Seeing an opportunity, the enemy cavalry put their stirrups in and rushed our stalled columns.  In confusion, our Mad Head irregular cavalry prematurely charged out of the woods into the path of the enemy. To protect the Sultan's columns of foot, they chose to stand their ground rather than flee.

Dead men walking!

It took the enemy two charges to run them down and slay them to the man.  In that time, the Sultan moved his infantry columns out of the path of the enemy charge.  Well, most of his infantry.  The Sultan was shocked to see the 24th Blues stuck in column formation in the path of the enemy charge. They'd gotten into a bit of terrain and were no longer a part of the main force.  As a result they never received the order to advance. The redcoats made short work of them as well. Finally, our cavalry mustered into a battle line and countercharged. They sent the winded enemy flying.  But not before losses were inflicted and the Sultan's battle plans upset.  

Columns just before changing formation to lines.

It fell to the Sultan's Red Guards to save the day. After moving up in column, they fell into a battle line and went straight at the enemy.  At the point of attack, they swept all before them. With both armies nearing the breaking point, an enemy officer cried "All in boys, all in!" and bravely charged our Red Guards. The Sultan's best were able to stand firm against two consecutive charges.  Failing to break our lines, the enemy lost heart and began to flee. Lord Abercrombie asked for terms and the Sultan quickly granted them.

The redcoats charge the Sultan's Red Guards

After two charges, only the Red Guards remain standing.

As the Sultan, I did a poor job of maintaining force integrity and had units tripping over one another trying to advance through a narrow clearing in the center of the board.  One of my favorite things about Maurice is how you're generally limited to activating a single force in a turn.  If you split up your forces, you'll find you can't worry about the single unit of infantry or cavalry left behind.  Fortunately, this was a problem for my opponent Mark as well since we're both rusty at Maurice. Maison du Roi was a key National Advantage as my 2 Guard units did the heavy lifting in the game.

Mark did a great job with terrain deployment.  Dropping terrain in the middle to jam me out the gate was a trick I've not seen before. Sending cavalry in is always a risk in this game but with my foot strung out in march column, it was a great call.  The heroics of my irregular cavalry slowed him down for 2 turns and also nicked him up a bit so it was as they say, a close run thing.

Too late for Sofie's Paint Blog and her Saturday Paint Table post, I've got a shot at what's on my table.  It's a SAGA/Dux Brit commish with the always wonderful Gripping Beast figures. After a long run of 15mm, it's good to be back to 28s.  

Here's hoping Santa puts a few new warbands in my stocking for Christmas, and yours too if that's what you want.  If I paint 10 SAGA factions, I believe the 11th is free!  Perhaps I should go back and read the fine print at the Gripping Beast website. 

Everything's coming up Galatian

Back at it with 15mm.  I've managed to get in some Field of Glory with my Galatians and they've performed well above expectations.  After a loss against the Romans, they broke a Spartan army after a grueling, see-saw struggle and crushed Klay's Pontic army, pike and all. Mind you, it's only the 2nd time I've beat Klay so that alone was cause for celebration.  They also beat a Thrasian army this weekend as well.  Following the military maxim of "reinforce your successes," I've been buffing out my Galatians so I'll have more options when I run them.

Cavalry.  The Galatians and Gauls can each run cavalry-heavy armies. With this batch, I've doubled my cavalry from 6 to 12 bases .

Javelinmen.  The Galatians don't get many skirmishers so I need to make these 8 bases count.  

Soldurii.  Soldurii only appear in the Gallic list and among the Gauls, these fellows are tops. They represent troops sworn to die for their chief in battle. They are elite, armored  heavy foot.  That's as good as it gets in FoG.  Soldurii are the Hammer of the Gods in a Gallic army. Use your hammer wisely!

Thracian Bowmen.  The very worst thing about the Old Glory15 website is a lack of pictures.  I wanted Paionian javelinmen so I clicked on and ordered javelinmen (with no picture).  I got Thracian bowmen instead. Gauls can field bow so I painted these up and won't look back. Dammit, I accidentally looked back and now I'm angry all over again!  How hard is it to post pictures of the products you sell on the web? 

My last bit of Galatian reporting is that "The Dying Gaul" is going to appear in Washington DC at the National Gallery of Art through March 16.  This is a big deal as the statue has not left its home in almost 200 years.  The Wall Street Journal posted an excellent article on the statue including these two delicious tidbits:

• Experts think his hair was a foot longer before being cropped in the 17th Century. 
• The original was painted.

To top off my 15mm painting run, I've got a workmanlike Union army for Longstreet to post up. Longstreet popped up quickly and I decided to throw in with a pending campaign.  I had 2 weeks to turn a pile of mediocre lead  into a slightly less mediocre army.  I finished just in time for our test run but  that's a story for another day.  After Longstreet, it'll be a steady diet of 28mm warbands for SAGA. 

Tools of the Year

Being thrifty, I'm slow to upgrade my hobby tools. When I do open my wallet to make an upgrade, I rely on the reviews and recommendations of my fellow bloggers to help me find the good stuff.  To that noble cause, I've compiled  a list of my favorite tools and upgrades in 2013. The envelope please!  

Daylight Triple Bright Lamp:  This was my top upgrade of the year. The Triple Bright lamp puts out 250W of high-powered wide-area lighting. For painters over 40, you'd be surprised by how quality lighting can improve your painting! The lamp is very adjustable and I angle mine so my minis are top and front lit.  The first time I used it for miniature photography, the quality of my pictures improved. Literally, this lamp is brilliant!

Pro Arte Series 107 Spotter Brush 2/0 and 3/0:  The Pro Arte series is made for miniature painters and it shows.  The point is very short and the effect is like using a micron pen for applying small, precise detail.  I can't find a US distributor at the small sizes but I did find a UK eBay store that ships to the US. I use these for 15mm and 28mm detail work. Since they're not Sable brushes, the tip does curl under heavy use.

Raphael 8404 Kolinsky Sable Brush 0:  In my collection of Kolinsky Sables, the Raphael beats all others by keeping a perfect tip month after month.  It's my go-to brush.

Dremel drill + the 225-01 Flex Shaft:  I've been using a pin drill for years.  Drilling out hundreds of 15mm Xyston hands is grueling and painful work.  This combo lets me drill out a hand in seconds and the flex shaft gives me a smaller, lighter and more precise tool.  I can't believe I took so long to come around to this solution.  It's so good, I could use it for dental work. The Dr. of Brushes will see you now!

Tamjima Grass Tufts:  I used to be a Silflor tuft guy but I like Tamjima's better.  No gluing required. Peel a clump from the backing paper with tweezers and place it directly onto the base.  I keep a variety of heights and colors on hand for all of my basing needs.

Paint Stand: This is actually a nail polish stand but for $22, who cares? It goes together in minutes and holds 78 Vallejo paints comfortably.  Foundry paint pots fit comfortably as well. I have one up and I'm going to get a 2nd for Christmas.  The obsessive compulsive part of me highly approves of this upgrade!

Vallejo Paints: My paint collection needed a refresh and I was looking to make a big paint buy in something other than Vallejos I use. I like Vallejo but with so many choices, I wanted to shake things up by buying a set in a different line.  I did try other paints this year but each came up lacking. After much thought, the hunt ended with me back where I started.  I picked 70 new Model Color Vallejo paints from The War Store and set them up in my new paint stand. 

Robart Hobby Paint Shaker:  At 5000 shakes per minute, even John Henry couldn't beat this machine. Don't forget to buy replacement straps as they do wear out.

Alibris Books: Yes, Amazon is THE online book seller.  For out of print, hard to find and expensive military history books, give Alibris a spin.  They're an online network of independent booksellers. With such a deep inventory, I've locating hard to find titles and occasionally, they come up cheaper than Amazon.

Core Sec Omni-Ruler: Cor Sec is a US company that makes (among other things) measuring stick in 1" segments. Each segment is threaded and colored so you can quickly custom build to any distance you like. I mixed and matched colors to build 2", 4", 6" and 12" sticks. Now that I've been using them, I'd never go back to a plastic ruler!

I'm sure there are many great tools I haven't heard of or thought of yet. I'd love to hear about the ones I missed.  What were your favorite tools this year?