Thursday, December 24, 2015

Merry Christmas everyone

Merry Christmas to everyone from Denmark. I hope you will all have a wondeful time with your family and loved ones.

Thanks for all the comments that you guys have posted on here. 2016 will see me continue with Empire of the Dead and Broken Legions, but I will also venture into the unknown territories of Victorian colonial warfare ... more on that later on.

Cheers,
Kaspar

Friday, December 11, 2015

Broken Legions - Gaming table ready

Like I mentioned in previous post I have been working on getting a proper table ready for Broken Legions. This evening I tried to line everything up to see if there was something missing.

The table is 4x4 even though Broken Legions is set to be played on a 3x3. I do however think that 4x4 will fit the game better... I will test that theory on Sunday.

After some pictures of the whole table I put the Soldiers of the Eagle warband onto the table and took some shots of those as well.

I am overall pleased with the look of the table. The idea was to make it look like an abandonded Greek/Roman town.











Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Broken Legions - Terrain pieces

Been working on some terrain that I will use for Broken Legions. I got the idea for the pieces when I was looking at adapting the Frostgrave rules for a fantasy ancients setting Romano Mortuum. The plans for Romano Mortuum were scraped when I was among the lucky ones that were selected to playtest Broken Legions.

The idea of a lost city with ruins was something I still wanted to do however. I had been looking at the Amera plastic moulds for other projects and thought that Broken Legions was the ideal project to try out their projects.

I ordered a lot of things from them, some of the not shown here as they will be used for other projects. Their service is excellent and within a week and large box arrived. Inside where the white moulds that I had seen and which immediately does not look detailed at all. Before ordering I had looked at a YouTube video and I was pleased with the result shown there so I was pretty sure that I would be able to get some good looking terrain.

I prepared the moulds by washing them with some washing up liquid. I then cut some of excess plastic from the moulds and added some gravel a few different places.

All the pieces were primed with a grey colour. Afterwards they were drybrushed with a cheap Titanium White craft paint (twice), then the Titanium White with pure white (50/50 mix) before a final light drybrush of pure white. This was not difficult at all, only time consuming. The details, though subtle really show after a few rounds of drybrushing. Finally I used Army Painter Soft Tone (the waterbased not the terpentine based) mixed with water and splashed it on all the pieces. Even more detail appeared and I am very pleased with the results.

I cut out some 3mm mdf pieces and glued each piece on to them. This has made them more stable and added weight. Three of the pieces I added some small square bricks for more details. The last thing that I did was add some small tufts.

The pillars are scratch built using clay, and the water fountain thing is something that I found some time ago.

I cannot recommend the Amera plastic moulds highly enough. They are great value for the price and some are even cheaper than the materials that would be used if you were to scratch built them.











Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Broken Legions - Soldiers of the Eagle

Recently finished the last minis that will make up my Soldiers of the Eagle warband for Mark Latham's upcoming game Broken Legions. The Soldiers of the Eagle is just one of the options you have as a Roman player, and is purely made up of legionary style characters.

All the miniatures with the exception of the warhounds and the scorpion are Aventine sculpts, and the really are nice. The detail is fantastic but not extreme so they paint up very nicely. The warhounds and scorpion are from Warlord Games. The two legionary operating the scorpion and a lot shorter than their Aventine counterparts, but since neither of them are standing up straight you will not really notice on the gaming board.

As you can see from the pictures there are many options for each warband, both in terms of troop types and individual weapon/armour options. And what I have made here is not even all the troop types available for the Soldiers of the Eagle.

 The entire warband

 The Centurion and his warhounds

 The Frumentarii

Praetorian guards

Legionary

Scorpion

 Numeri

Baleares

Friday, November 20, 2015

Germanic Tribesmen

These are the Warlord Games Germanic Tribemens that I had painted up and used for my playtesting of Mark Latham's upcoming game Broken Legions.

This box set contains numerous minis and with the exception of the mastiffs, the wolfmen and some bow man arms, everything else is from the box set.

I had enough options in the set to make the miniatures as the different types of Heroes and Henchmen available to the Germans.

Anyway on the pictures.

The entire warband

Cheiftan, shaman and mastiffs

 Champions

Wulfkin

Fantics

Pathfinders

Warriors

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Broken Legions playtesting

Since the start of November I have had the pleasure of play testing Osprey's upcoming Roman era fantasy skirmish rules Broken Legions by Mark Latham.


In the rules I have tested there are a number of sample warbands - three different Roman types, Germanic Tribes, Egyptians, ect.

Each warband is comprised of Heroes and Henchmen - like LOTR. There are a minimum requirement for each warband - one Roman warband must include a Centurion as its leader and have at least 1 legionair. The warband lists then have different types of heroes and henchmen, again the Romans have the option of adding more legionairs, praetorians, archers ect. The non-Roman warbands almost all have access to some kind of supernatural creature - Germanic Tribes have wulfkin (werewolves), the Egyptians have mummies. There are a number of Auxiliary (mercenaries) that warbands can hire to add even more flavour to your warband, these include Sicari assassins, Centaur scout, Necromancer etc.

The game is true skirmish, so you will have roughly 8-15 figures per warband. In our test games, the Romans had 9 and the Germanic Tribes 14.  Each warband has different strengths and will work best when used that way I think, Basically Romans have the best armour and can use a shieldwall, which they need in order to combat the more numerous Germans who in return are a lot easier to hit.

The mechanics are simple, you roll a d10 and add a stat, aiming to either reach 10 for simple tests or in contested tests against an opponent you compare your results.

I really like the game and have been expanding my warbands - once I am finished with them I will post some pictures on here.

Monday, November 9, 2015

Imperial Roman Veterans

Some weeks ago I ordered a set of Imperial Roman Veterans from Warlord Games. The value is just to great to miss out on - £16 for 20 miniatures.

The reasons I bought them were several. Firstly a couple of friends and I have started a Weird Wars Rome RPG campaign and I really wanted some minis to represent the contubernium that the players are a part of. Secondly, as readers of this blog will know, I have been looking at adapting Frostgrave to an ancients setting, which I have named Romano Mortuum. The idea from this came when Osprey broke the news about what games would be released in 2016 and here Broken Legions by Mark Latham more than piqued my interest.

Since then mr. Latham sent out a request from beta playtesters and I immediately contacted him. I was very glad to find out that I (and my gaming group) were among those chosen to playtest the rules. So this presented another use for these minatures.

The miniatures consist of 17 legionaries, a centurion, a standard bearer and a cornicen. I knew that I would never get to use the cornicen, so I decided to give him a gladius instead. The idea is to use him as a frumentarii (spy/tax-collector).

The whole set is easy to assemble and paint, so they are highly recommended.






Thursday, October 15, 2015

Romano Mortuum

These are my thoughts on my new project that I have been thinking about for the past 3-4 weeks. It is inspired by the publication news of Broken Legions by Osprey and the Weird Wars Rome Savage Worlds RPG setting by Pinnacle Entertainment. The idea is to use the mechanics of Frostgrave, but each warband would have a leader added on top of the wizard, apprentice and soldiers. For most of the warbands there will be an option to add supernatural creatures. Right now I have made warbands for the following: Romans, Celts, Germanic Tribes, Dacians, Picts and Egyptians.



The Setting
An isolated ruined city on the outskirts of the Roman Empire, has recently been discovered. The Romans named the city Romano Mortuum. Initial forays into the city has shown it to be highly magical and there are numerous artefacts that are just there to be taken. The Romans have sent out special units to find these artefacts so that Rome may benefit from them, but also to make sure that their enemies don't get hold of them and use them against Rome. The enemies of Rome, but from conquered and at sovereign nations have sent special warbands to Romano Mortuum to try and secure some of the artefacts, so that Rome can be defeated.


Game Mechanic Changes
In Romano Mortuum is warband is lead by a leader (Centurion for Rome, Chieftain for Celts etc.) not by a wizard. The wizard is still there are function in the same way as in a normal Frostgrave game. Each warband can also still have an apprentice and a maximum warband limit of 10 figures in all.

This game also introduces supernatural soldiers available to all of the warbands, with the exception of Rome. Supernatural creatures in the warband activate in Soldier Phase like regular soldiers.

With the addition of a leader, a new phase is also introduced - the Leader Phase, which is the first phase each turn.

Each nation/warband has a special rule giving a national benefit to the warband.

Assembling a Warband
The wizard and leader are free, but all other members of the warband has a cost. Each warband group has a specific army list from which the warband must be assembled.

The Leader
The leader has his own phase - the Leader Phase where he activates.
The leader can carry 3 items in addition to their standard starting equipment.

Group Move
The leader can initiate Group Moves. This replaces the Group Move that an apprentice would normally do. So in other words an apprentice cannot initiate Group Moves anymore.

Skills
Unlike regular soldiers your leader is a hero and thus has access to a number of skills that either improves him or those around him. When first creating your warband leader, roll a d20 to see which skill he starts with. As your leader gains levels he may acquire new skills.

roll       skill                     benefit                                                                                                          
1          Agile                   +1 to Move
2          Assassin              Critical on die roll of 19-20
3          Brave                   +1 to Will
4          Brawny                +2 to Health
5          Command            Soldiers receive +1 Will while within 6” of the leader
6          Dodge                  +2 to Fighting roll when shot at
7          Dogged                +2 Damage Modifier
8          Fervor                  Soldiers gain +1 Fighting while within 6” of the leader
9          Free Disengage    Leader can always disengage at the end of a combat round
10        Frenzied               Leader may opt to make two attacks vs the same enemy at -2 Fighting
11        Hard                     +1 to Fighting
12        Inspirational         +2 to Initiative
13        Lucky                  Once per game the leader can re-roll one die roll
14        Nerves of Steel    Ignore penalties from being Wounded
15        Reckless               Leader may opt to reduce his Armor by 2 to gain +2 to Fighting
16        Steadfast              Character cannot be pushed back when losing a combat
17        Stealth                  When out of LOS, the leader can make two full moves instead of one full move plus half
18        Threatening          Enemy receives -1 Fighting against this leader
19        Tough                   +1 to Armor
20        Choose from above


Experience and Level
Your leader earns experience in the following way:

experience       achievement                                                                                                                     
+30                  Each enemy soldier personally taken out of the game.

+50                  Each enemy apprentice personally taken out of the game.

+100                Each enemy wizard personally taken out of the game.

+150                Each enemy leader personally taken out of the game.

When your leader has earned 100 xp he gains another level. For every level a leader gains, he may choose to improve a stat (like a wizard and with the same restrictions), or learn a new skill.

Army Lists








If anyone is interested in this let me know and I will send you the above information in PDF files.

Comments and critique is as always appreciated.

Saturday, October 3, 2015

My next project


For little over a month ago I have been looking for another project to tackle. This I have done while being fully aware that I have an Across the Dead Earth game that I have not even tried yet. My adventure in selling my SAGA The Crescent and the Cross stuff will come to a happy ending on Thursday. Here I will drive to the Danish-German border for a direct delivery of all minis, books, terrain and even the board I made.

Some background
Last week news Osprey revealed what they have lined up for 2016 - see here, and one product in particular caught my eye Broken Legions - Fantasy Skirmish Wargame in the Roman Empire. From the brief description of the game and the information that the author provided on the lead-adventure forum I was sold on the setting. Problem is that the game does not release until July 2016 - so what to do in the meantime? Since the news I have been thinking about what ruleset could be adapted for this game where you take control of small group of for instance Germanic barbarians that includes werewolves?





My search took me to the LOTR ruleset and IHMN - but while both seem solid enough it was not what I was looking for. Looking through the normal blogs that I follow and different forums I was constantly told how good a game Frostgrave is. Ever since it was release I have been baffled that this game has become so successful - this seemed so ordinary and the classic fantasy setting is something that has not appealed to me for many years. And the miniatures did not appeal to me either, so I had not had any incentive to seek more information. This time I could however see some similarities between this and Broken Legions where the objective is to find treasure/artifacts. Both are also fantasy and with a limited number of miniatures.



Enter Frostgrave
Reviews and battle reports on YouTube gave me more incentive to seek out the rules. Via my Scribd.com subscription I found that I had access to an online version of the rules - nothing I could print but a version that I can read online. Reading through the rules I was surprised at the simplicity, but it seemed to work. I began thinking about if it was adaptable to my vision of Broken Legions - and I think it can.

My friend Michael's favorite setting is fantasy and if possible he will always play a wizard so I thought he would the perfect guy to try out the Frostgrave rules as written. So we arranged to have a game this evening. I found my only fantasy figures and used an old Malifaux board with some terrain as the Frozen City. Normally I spend months preparing minis, terrain and everything else, so this was something new.

What a pleasant surprise
Frostgrave proved to be such a wonderful experience. Never has a game flowed this easy from the get go. Nothing in the rules is baffling and everything just works! Not when I have playing Malifaux, Empire of the Dead, my 1812 - Retreat from Moscow and SAGA has any of them been this much fun. I am astonished at this - the old minis look crap, the terrain leaves a lot to be desires, but the gameplay is so enjoyable - this I have no doubt will be my new favorite game.

Michael and I played to games and had a blast. The scenarios are a lot of fun and the level of tactics and the campaign system is great. After the game both of us were smiling - what a game!

We talked about my ideas for adapting it for my version of Broken Legions and Michael seems very hooked on that as well. My initial feeling is that I will add a non-spellcaster leader - will normally be a centurion or barbarian chieftain, and add a cost to some beasts so that it becomes possible for Germanic tribes to add werewolves, Dacians to add vampires, Egyptians to add mummies etc. Each warband will be more different than your regular Frostgrave warband. Your choice of warband will give you unique options but also deny you access to other stuff - no legionary with the Dacians for instance.

This is very much just ideas, but I think the Frostgrave rules can be adapted to Broken Legions. I have no doubt that I will continue to play Frostgrave as written - it is just so enjoyable, and I will be looking to see at what level I will back the Nickstarter for The Thaw of the Lich Lord expansion.

Comments are as usual very welcome - I read every one of them.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

For sale again: SAGA C&C warbands, dice and rulebook etc.

UPDATE: EVERYTHING SOLD


Around a month I sold all my SAGA Crescent and Cross stuff. Unfortunately the postal service mishandled the package (I am running a dispute claim with them) and when the buyer opened the package he found most of the minis damaged. He therefore decided to go back on the deal since this was not what he paid for. He has gotten his money back and I have gotten the minis back - no bad feelings towards him at all.

I have spent a lot of time repairing (a new arm and weapon here and there) and repainted all those who were in need of it. 6 Arab spearmen/archers were too badly damaged so I was unable to repair them.

So once again I am looking to sell this. The quality of the minis are unchanged as the photos (taken today) will show.




I have painted them all myself and believe the painting standard is very good.

All in all I am looking for £200 + shipment (EU is £30). If you live in Denmark I will perhaps be able to deliver it myself.

Here is what I have:

Game Rules
SAGA The Crescent and the Cross rulebook
6 Battle Boards for the 6 factions + Quick Reference Sheet
8 Islamic SAGA Dice
8 Christian SAGA Dice
Counters/markers for Fatigue and for the Mutatawwia and Milities Christi warbands



Templar Knights warband
12 Mounted Templar Knights (Fireforge box set)
12 Mounted Sergeants (Fireforge box set)
24 Templar Infantry: 12 crossbowmen and 12 infantry (Fireforge box set)
1 Mounted Warlord (metal) (Gripping Beast)
- all have shield and other transfers from Little Big Men and all mounted have chest crosses from Black Flag.







Arab warband
4 Mounted Camel Riders (metal) (Gripping Beast)
4 Mounted Riders (metal) (Gripping Beast)
8 Warriors (metal) (Gripping Beast)
34 Arab bowmen and spearmen: 21 spearmen/swordmen and 12 bowmen (Gripping Beast box set)
1 Warlord (metal) (Gripping Beast)
- all have shield transfers from Little Big Men









Terrain

The terrain I have made is also available, so if anyone is interested in that let me know. The terrain is all scratch built and mounted on 3 mm MDF.

Price for the terrain: £30 + shipment (EU is £30).



For anyone reading this, please feel free to share this post with anyone you think might be interested.