2015 The Year of Hobby: Update Two

The opening moves as the Vikings and Saxons close on the little old lady’s house intent on her little piggies…

Last week I played my first game of Open Combat for 2015. Carl of Second Thunder brought over his band of Viking nutters in an attempt to steal honest Saxon livestock, which we would obviously take into ‘protective custody’ first. And the little old lady that owned the farm, just in case.

It was a very close game in the end. Carl’s Vikings were a tough bunch one-on-one, but I had the edge in numbers and combined shooting actions took their toll. At one particular juncture, Viking Ulf was about to counter-attack against my warband and my bowmen opened fire with the immortal words, “Now, I just need to roll three sixes and he’ll be dead…”

Nothing more need be said.

Let’s just say Ulf wasn’t going to be a problem. However, even with my bowmen firing more like MG42s than peasants with pointy sticks, the majority of the livestock was in enemy hands and I had to go and get it back, which didn’t end too well. Eventually my warband was broken and left the old lady and her livestock to an uncertain fate.

You can take our lives but you’ll never take our piggies! Except these ones. You’re welcome to them, you big, hairy, scary foreigners.

As well as all that (including assembling the lovely Saxon hovel from 4Ground and flocking the 2’x2′ board seen in the pictures) I have also finished painting my first few World of Twilight miniatures – Fubarnii light cavalry. I’ve kept things pretty simple, with base colours, a drybrush and then Army Painter strong tone. It gives them a different, subtler tonal feel to a lot of the models I’ve painted before.

The big question (well, medium question) I face whenever embarking on a new range of miniatures – what basing materials should I use? I’m a bit of a flockaholic, custom-mixing pretty much all my bases, probably a reaction to the days back on White Dwarf when I was faced with endless armies with Goblin Green bases. Anyway, for my Fubarnii, I have settled on a nice wildsy-looking combination of Citadel ‘Scorched Grass’, with Army Painter Ash Grey and Brown Battleground.

I’m working on some more 4Ground buildings (getting my technique perfected before tackling the brilliant Norse trader shop I have – http://www.4ground.co.uk/Default.aspx?page=268&pid=727) and I’ve started on some World of Twilight Devanu using inking techniques to give them a different look to the Empire models. Look out for the next update and share what you’ve been up to in the hobby in the comments (links to blogs and FB pages welcome!).