Wednesday 28 February 2018

Building Medieval Docks #7 - Complete

After pouring the water, that took a week or so, I've added ropes to tie the boats up and some ducks.

The docks are now complete...


 











Thursday 22 February 2018

Building Medieval Docks #6

This is the bit I hate. Pouring the water....

The reason being that I have got used to using Woodland Scenics Realistic Water. This has the advantage that it's a water based acrylic water effect that you just pour straight from the bottle. The problem being that it takes an age to dry and I keep messing with it.

Luckily the damage caused by messing can be fixed by pouring another layer, but at some point it has to actually be left to dry. I started pretty much straight after the last blog post and have poured several layers since then... messing with them whilst I go.

I've just poured the last layer and to make sure I don't mess with it again I'm going away for the weekend. Ok.... Ok... I was going away anyway, but this will mean I won't have the temptation of messing with the piece.

The cloudiness in the water will go when it's dried.



Tuesday 20 February 2018

Building Medieval Docks #5

So more progress... things are looking good.

First off I built the jetties, there's a framework built initially...


After that I glued on all the decking...



With the decking complete, I then applied some Agrax Earth Shade and few dry brushes with stone grey and grey green...


Then the boats were painted and added (along with some scratch-built oars and other details. A dam was put in place ready for the next step of pouring the "water"...









Kings of War Big Game - Robin 2018


The weekend before last we put on one of our huge games of Kings of War at the Robin show. This was probably the largest we'd ever done. With 5 players per side on our 16ft x 6ft table we had 32,000 points per side using the rules on the Kings of War Big Game page.

This game was a real turning point for us. We've certainly reached the limit of the size of armies we can use on that size table with the number of players. In fact we've almost certainly gone beyond a practical size. There were so many troops that there was no room to manoeuvre and we only managed to play 4 turns, not really reaching a satisfactory conclusion.

So it's time to start restricting the amount of stuff we use rather than just putting everything we own on the table. With that in mind we've put together some rules of thumb to follow:
  • Max 2,500 points per 2 foot table length. 
  • Max 6,000 points per experienced player.
  • Max 3,000 points per less experienced player.
So, the plan for the future will be:
  • Get as much space as possible. I can go up to 18ft x 6ft with some of my extra boards. 
  • Each experienced player bring up to around 5,000 points. Specify well in advance what side they are playing. Multiple armies fine.
  • Each less experienced player bring 2,500 points.
  • Each player without own army borrow one from a COGS member up to value of 2,500.

With that in mind we look forward to the next big game... Here are some photos from Robin.








Saturday 17 February 2018

Building Medieval Docks #4

Some progress...

The Hirst Arts blocks are all painted and I've begun work on the jetties. The first one of these is finished.

Loads more to do though!



Monday 5 February 2018

"Kobolds & Cobblestones" - First Game

Tonight saw our first game of "Kobolds & Cobblestones" the brand new fantasy gang warfare skirmish game from Osprey written by Rob Burman.

The game is played without the wargaming standard devices of tape measures or dice and instead uses several decks of playing cards. With hands of Poker used to resolve combats and pontoon to resolve magic.

We ended up with 3 players playing the basic starting scenario "All Out Brawl" and had to make some adjustments to some rules in order for it to work, as normally the game is intended for two players. Though a campaign may have more players in it.

The game was a lot of fun, but we're not 100% sure whether the 3 player dynamic really worked as well as the 2 player dynamic would. Luckily we've attracted a 4th player, so we're going to start a campaign proper in a couple of weeks and stick to 2 player games from then on.

A marketplace in Ordinsport is quiet before the gang warfare begins.

Not far from the marketplace some kobolds face off against some skeletons.

In the marketplace the dwarven gang boss is surrounded by members of
an opposing gang. He is soon overwhelmed.

An elf tries to sneak around, but noisy geese give her away.

The orc stands and watches other members of his gang being beaten.
"Serves them right", he thinks and stays out of the fight.

After defeating the dwarf boss the victorious gang goes to face
the necromancer and his skeletons.