The Tale of Historical Wargamers Season 1 – Signup

[Harry]

What’s it all about then?

.... There are, after all, more important things in life than toy soldiers.

I am not sure this is strictly true.

Great to see the 'Tale of painters' idea keep on expanding into different areas of the hobby.

I have some old citadel Vikings I would like to get painted. This might help me get them done.

Please sign me up.

[perplexiti]

You're right Harry, it's not strictly true, although of course there are always exceptions.

I'm looking forward to this as the tales have helped me paint over 14k points worth of fantasy and 40k stuff over the last three years. It's such a great incentive to paint the piles of lead.

[Codsticker]

You're right Harry, it's not strictly true, although of course there are always exceptions.

I'm looking forward to this as the tales have helped me paint over 14k points worth of fantasy and 40k stuff over the last three years. It's such a great incentive to paint the piles of lead.

So, what are you going to paint? We start in 3 weeks.

Edit: er... nevermind- I just saw your post here.

[Xazil]

Since it looks like I am taking the plunge with Flames of War this seems a good time to harness the power of the Tale and sign up for 1000 points of Australian Divisional Cavalry Squadron.

[f2k]

Welcome to all the new recruits. It will be interesting to see where this is going...


As for my own participation, I’ve got good news and I’ve got some pretty bad news...

Good news is that I’m now well and truly committed to this tale with no less than 2500 points of late war 653. Schwere Panzerjไger-Abteilung for Flames of War.
Ironically, at 600 points, the iconic Elefants from that formation make up just slightly more than one-fifth of the points...

In truth, I have designed this army to be, sans the HQ and the Elephants, deployable as the 1500 points core of a fairly normal Panzergrenadier company – hence the lack of Elefants. More bang for my buck that way. Thus, if you look closely, you might see a few models sneaking into the painting schedule even though they’re not nominally part of the army.

Now, I only need to figure out how to make the decals for the special markings used by that formation...

And speaking of schedules, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to get 10% of the army painted each month due to the wildly varying point values of the units, going from 100 points for a Stuka to 600 points for two Elefants. All I know for now is that it will probably take two months to do the HQ as that will require some extensive conversions to model the special vehicles they had. But apart from that I guess I’ll just have to see.

The bad news is that, just two days after ordering this army, I got fired. Not enough work, had to downsize, so sorry... Yeah, I was sorry too, but what can you do...? A full 10% of the workforce was laid of that day. Not particularly fun, to be honest...

Well, luckily for this tale I had ordered the army just before getting fired. Had I gotten fired first, I would probably not have spent this kind of money and would have had to rethink this tale...

[Codsticker]

The bad news is that, just two days after ordering this army, I got fired. Not enough work, had to downsize, so sorry... Yeah, I was sorry too, but what can you do...? A full 10% of the workforce was laid of that day. Not particularly fun, to be honest...

Well, that sucks. Best of luck looking for a new job.

We are all lucky you ordered all those blisters before you got fired. It sounds like you are in a similar postition as I in that there is quite a bit of conversion work involved which will, of course, take up quite a a bit of time that would otherwise be spent on painting.

[DeadInTheHead]

Uff, sorry to hear that

Your company's loss it the tales gain though

[perplexiti]

So, what are you going to paint? We start in 3 weeks.

Edit: er... nevermind- I just saw your post here.

No worries mate, I tend to sneak into threads without much fanfare ;P

[sigur]

I am not sure this is strictly true.

Seconded. By the way, Harry, just beause you mention Vikings - did you have a look At SAGA? It's the latest craze.


I'm still having a bit trouble figuring out what to do in the way of historical stuffs. I ordered the Pike&Shotte rulebook, started asking around a little for possible people to play with and the result was less than encouraging: Nobody in Austria seems to play Thirty Years War, ESPECIALLY not in 10mm which was the scale I had opted for after much consideration. So at this point I'm mainly thinking of either going the solo wargaming route or bin the whole project idea and do something completely different. What people play around here is Seven Years War and Ancients - both things I'm not particularly into. A bit of FoG Renaissance but all in 15mm. I think those are a bit too large for my tastes for mass battles and when it comes to price, they are just a tiny bit cheaper than Warlord's plastics. All in all, a kind of sobering situation. It basically boils down the this essential question - and probably one that shows up in historical wargaming more often than one would think - do the era/conflict/theater/... you want to do even though it might leave you with nobody to play with or do you just go with what's got players available? Maybe that again boils down to "are you a wargamer or just someone who likes the models and the history?". All pretty existential stuff and then on the other hand, really kind of inane. Makes choosing harder though. And I can't believe people don't want to see this on their tables!



@f2k: Sorry to hear about the thing about your job. :S Surely things will look up again soon and until then - you got plenty of toys to play with.

[Karak Norn Clansman]

I have some old citadel Vikings I would like to get painted. This might help me get them done.

Please sign me up.

These northmen?

http://www.solegends.com/citfight/citf8Vikings.htm
http://warhammer.org.uk/phpBB/viewto...p?f=4&t=101881

They're older than I am. How come you have such masses of ancient miniatures? There are a lot of good and even brilliant models in the older ranges. A certain nostalgia actually hits me when I see fine examples of the ol' school minis. Even though I don't miss them because I remember 'em, I kind of miss them because I'd like to buy them today, or at least see some opponents with them. It's the same for my brother when he sees some funky, old Citadel Undead, even though his friends of the same age think him nuts for liking grin-faced grim reaper riders and zombies in top hats.

Anyhow, I'll watch the Tale with interest.

[Harry]

You're right Harry, it's not strictly true, although of course there are always exceptions.

I'm looking forward to this as the tales have helped me paint over 14k points worth of fantasy and 40k stuff over the last three years. It's such a great incentive to paint the piles of lead.

Yes indeed. They have helped me get a fair bit of stuff painted to. Thats why it is great to see the idea expand into different areas of the hobby. It gives me a nudge to get some of the 'other' forgotten piles of lead done.

Seconded. By the way, Harry, just beause you mention Vikings - did you have a look At SAGA? It's the latest craze.


I'm still having a bit trouble figuring out what to do in the way of historical stuffs. I ordered the Pike&Shotte rulebook, started asking around a little for possible people to play with and the result was less than encouraging: Nobody in Austria seems to play Thirty Years War, ESPECIALLY not in 10mm which was the scale I had opted for after much consideration. So at this point I'm mainly thinking of either going the solo wargaming route or bin the whole project idea and do something completely different. What people play around here is Seven Years War and Ancients - both things I'm not particularly into. A bit of FoG Renaissance but all in 15mm. I think those are a bit too large for my tastes for mass battles and when it comes to price, they are just a tiny bit cheaper than Warlord's plastics. All in all, a kind of sobering situation. It basically boils down the this essential question - and probably one that shows up in historical wargaming more often than one would think - do the era/conflict/theater/... you want to do even though it might leave you with nobody to play with or do you just go with what's got players available? Maybe that again boils down to "are you a wargamer or just someone who likes the models and the history?". All pretty existential stuff and then on the other hand, really kind of inane. Makes choosing harder though. And I can't believe people don't want to see this on their tables!

Yes. SAGA Looks great.

My advice would be paint the figures you love. Simple fact is it is hard enough getting anything painted never mind stuff you don't like the look of. You are much more likely to stick at a project and see it through if you love the minis and the way the army looks as it comes together.

Personally those minis don't do much for me ...but then I don't have your skills. Warhamster always left me cold until I saw you painting some up. It gave me a new appreciation of those minis and i even went and bought some because of it ... but just don't have the skills to paint in that scale. You, on the other hand, I have no doubt will produce a stunning army in that scale.

What I do in your position is paint up two sides and then pitch up to the games club with two teams, gangs, skirmish forces, armies whatever it is, of whatever game I am into at the time and invite someone to play who's company I enjoy. I then generate some interest in the games I want to play with the people I want to play with. (I would sooner play with someone I get on with than some random bloke. )

I have got people to play Bloodbowl, Man-o War, Necromunda, Gorka Morka, Spacehulk, Legends of the old west, Legends of the High seas, etc, etc by doing this.

These northmen?

http://www.solegends.com/citfight/citf8Vikings.htm
http://warhammer.org.uk/phpBB/viewto...p?f=4&t=101881

They're older than I am. How come you have such masses of ancient miniatures? There are a lot of good and even brilliant models in the older ranges. A certain nostalgia actually hits me when I see fine examples of the ol' school minis. Even though I don't miss them because I remember 'em, I kind of miss them because I'd like to buy them today, or at least see some opponents with them. It's the same for my brother when he sees some funky, old Citadel Undead, even though his friends of the same age think him nuts for liking grin-faced grim reaper riders and zombies in top hats.

Anyhow, I'll watch the Tale with interest.

Yes, Those Northmen. Specifically these Northmen:

http://www.solegends.com/citcat89aut...74068-1-03.htm
http://www.solegends.com/citcat89aut...74068-2-03.htm

They are from 1989
I was 13 at the time. Mostly playing WW2 and getting into D&D back then.
Didn't collect these until much later. Probably 10-15 years later around'92-'93. Citadel used to have sales back then. I would have picked these up for ฃ1 a blister. (6 men to a blister) Happy days. (These days they seem to sell for silly money per man on e-bay)

They have remained some of the best viking figures ever made IMO.
Only the Foundry Vikings have come close IMO. I bought some of those as well.

@f2k Sorry to hear about work ....sometimes life has a way of nudging you in a new direction. Maybe it is because there is something wonderful just around the corner. All the best.


I have been thinking about my contributions to this thread.

Each SAGA army has a Warlord and units made up of up to different three qualities of troops – household warriors (known as Hearthguard), standard warriors and levies (who are normally armed with missile weapons). The points system is simple – One point gets you four Hearthguard, 8 warriors or 12 levies.

So I will post my Warlord and a unit in Month 1 and then just add a 1 point unit (of 4, 8 or 12 minis) each month.

Hope that sounds OK

[Kisanis]

I've decided my goal is to get a single 'choice' done per month with my Canadians. I have the core more or less ready to go, I just need to round it out a bit.

So more or less a single section (28mm models) every month should be good. And will round out to the right percentages of my 'needs to be completed'

[sigur]

@Harry: Thanks for the encouraging words. I'll go for 10mm TYW. Well, or something even more exotic. Let's see. At least I got my P&S rulebook today which I'll read through later tonight and then decide.

@Kisanis: Very much looking forward to seeing how those will come along. Which units will you be using?

[Whitwort Stormbringer]

Well Okey doke, I'll go ahead and sign up for a Gladiator ludus. Not yet sure If I'll try to paint them up in the 6-month short version or pace them out for the long haul - it's kind of a side project but they've been put off for far too long so this will give me some incentive to get them done.

Since most gladiator games focus on 1 v. 1 or just a small handful of warriors per side and there aren't really standard army/warband/team sizes, I'll just aim to paint everything that I've got, which I believe is 22 that still need to be painted.

[Caiphas Cain]

Bah, I'll have to drop out right now. I'll be teaching english in China for the entire month of august. I'll see if I can join half way through. Hopefully I'll have time to paint!

[sigur]

@Whitwort Stormbringer: Sounds cool, I'm looking forward to seeing those minis.

Right, I got my Pike&Shotte Rulebook and I'll place my first minis order soon so I guess I'm signed up with 30 Years War Imperialists and probably Swedes or Protestants as well.

[Auzu]

Sign me up I have Napoleonic french division that needs to be finished:

Whats left to be done is:

64 Line infantry men i greatcoats

48 heavy cavalry

2 Infantry colonels

3 Aid de camps

2 Brigade generals

1 Division general with staff

4 6pounder guns with crew

I will also try to get some more terrain done.

[sigur]

Alright, I worked out something now and ordered a heap of miniatures. This whole project is starting to look a bit daunting, I'm just glad that theres a thing such as the Tale. I figured I'd do two armies as per Harry's suggestion. I actually was able to pull someone local into my plan of 10mm TYW but I don't want to rely on a guy I don't know for the only opponent. (he sounds like a great guy though. Very enthusiastic about historical wargaming and has lots of armies already)

Anyway, here's what I thought of for the lists:


Imperials

General

First Batallion
Infantry Commander

Swordsmen

1 Large unit of Pike

2 units of Musket

1 unit of Pike

2 units of Musket


Second Batallion
Infantry Commander

1 Elite unit of Pike

2 units of Musket

1 attached Medium Gun


Third Batallion
Cavalry Commander

3 Units of Cuirassiers


Fourth Batallion
Cavalry Commander

1 unit of Croats

1 unit of Harquebusiers



Swedes and Saxon Allies

General


First "Yellow" Batallion
Infantry Commander

1 unit of Swedish Elite Veteran Pike (Guard)

2 units of Veteran Musket

1 unit of German Veteran Pike

3 units of Veteran Musket

1 attached Light Gun


Second Batallion

Saxon Infantry Commander

1 unit of Saxon Pike

2 units of Saxon Musket

1 unit of German Veteran Pike

1 unit of Commanded Musket

1 attached Light Gun


Third Batallion
Cavalry Commander

2 units of light Cavalry

2 units of Finnish Cavalry

2 units of Antoni Monier's Dragoons


That's 800 points on each side, at the least 230 Pikemen (probably more like 300, maybe 400, depening on how many I manage to fit on one base and depending on how many bases I actually use), about 170 to 190 Musketmen and dismounted Dragoons, 36 to 38 Cuirassiers, about 120 Light Cavalry, three guns and a bunch of generals, levy, lifeguards, etc. At some point I'll probably need baggage trains as well. Already this project is getting out of hand. I'm sure as the upcoming months are going by, I will shift around units and whatnot but I'll do my best to roughly stick to 1600pts in total, trying for 160pts a month with two jokers. At least that's the rough plan, let's see how it turns out when it collides with reality.

[Whitwort Stormbringer]

@Whitwort Stormbringer: Sounds cool, I'm looking forward to seeing those minis.

Yeah it should be fun! I got started on my gladiators and was almost immediately side-tracked, but you can see the first two here.

The stack of gladiators to be painted looks like this:

3x Secutores
3x Retiarii
2x Myrmillones
2x Hoplomachii
2x Provocatores
2x Dimachaeri
1x Thraex
1x Crupellarius
1x Scissori
1x Laquerarius
1x Helmeted Retiarius
1x Myrmillo with a two-handed axe
1x "Tiberius of Gaul"
1x Emperor Commodus

I'd like to get my hands on that new Myrmillo from Warlord, too...

[Codsticker]

This should be a great "Tale of.."; we have lots of variety and at different scales.