Gallery – Page 37 – An Archive For The Steinberg Shed Space Blog

Steam Wars And The Start Of A New Force

The Derby Game show afforded me the opportunity to pick out some new figures for a larger project that I had been thinking about for a few months now. Coronasan has written a rather good set of rules (simple and very quick) for his steam wars figures to be used with. He and I have tried these rules a couple of times now in the shed, and they have done very well. I have used his Prussian Scrunts and played against his Meridian Empire forces.

It was about time I set myself the task of gathering my own steam wars force. As the British and German (Prussian) forces have been taken, and as I wanted something a little different to play, I decided to take on a naval theme.

Derby was my first opportunity to look, first hand, at some of the miniatures that would do the job. Lots of manufacturers are out there, but not many have naval figures in a late 19th/ early 20th century period.

Therefore easy head swaps, and a very loose approach to the theme, would be best to stop myself from getting too frustrated with lack of little naval men.

The main force comes from the lovely people at Black Pyramid Games (along with plenty of spare heads for any swaps I would need to make). Their Tea wars range supplied most of what I needed as troops and big guns.

Tiger Miniatures helped to increase the number of support weapons with their recoilless gun and machinegunners.

Black Pyramid’s resin range has a lovely towed gun set that fits in well, and when painted, will be a nice big piece on the table.

Some varied ‘Pulp’ style seamen are useful for crewmen and command figures.

The Lead Adventure range supplied a steam robot or two which are armed with what looks like old ships cannons.

West Wind brought this out just days after Derby. Its from their empire of the dead range and with Naval heads where the westwind ones should have gone looks like it will fit in well.

I wanted a naval force because I wanted to get away from steam tanks and have some land ships and boat like vehicles on the board when we play. I have yet to find many that do the job but that’s half the fun of a project like this.

The west wind ship was £25 but was smaller than I expected… At this size a squad of them would look good but at that price I am unlikely to get more than the one.

One happy accident was that the guys at west wind miss picked the contents of my ship. A rogue turret appeared in my pack instead of a set of wheels. Quickly and easily remedied, with a new set of wheels being sent out by West Wind, it did leave me with an extra turret (designed for the ships next release later this year).

Said turret, with some of the Black Pyramid Ether Weapons stuck on, looks like it was made for my old Brass Coffin by Ramshackle Games. This rather large vehicle has been sat in the shed for over a year with no clear purpose. It is a large, unarmed, vehicle that doesn’t serve as a tank or a transport so has no clear place in a game. Now it will be a heavy support vehicle for my new naval force.

I wonder how long it will take me to get these on to the painting table…

Frostgrave First Play

So, with a crew chosen and painted, the aim was to try out the rules in some simple test games. Therefore a table would need to be set up…

I am playing Frostgrave as a summertime (less frosty) location! None of my large selection of scenery is frosty! Whether I decide to build a table for this and frost it up… Only time will tell.

Also my collected scenery has very few ruins in it. I play a lot of town/ city based skirmish games that are NOT set in a warzone or derelict word, so never needed ruins. That’s something I may see to before long as well.

Frostgrave does need a lot of scenery (thankfully on a 3 foot by 3 foot board that is not so hard to achieve). Multi level scenery would be good too but that is harder to achieve with the selection I have.

As you can probably guess by now, I got lots of pictures of the board we used, but was so wrapped up in getting the game played, and getting the rules right, that I never took any of the game itself.

Lets say that we found the game to be very good. We played the basic encounter game without a mission for our first try and the rules were easy to follow and simple to understand. As it uses a D20 for all tests the range of success and loss was huge. This lead to some effects that either had nil effect or were instant kills. It has been said in some forums that this needs to be roped back in to make it less random. Personally I feel that if you want to risk a crew member in combat, or try something risky, the game either rewards the planning you make to ensure you outnumber your opponent, or punishes you for not planning ahead. As it is a campaign based game the effects of these rolls can impact on your next game but any differences that develop should even out after a few games.

I am very pleased with the treasure tokens I have to use with this game. My only decision is whether to base them or not.

Any suggestions?

Frostgrave First Impressions And First Figures Found

So Frostgrave has arrived and the world of chilly wizards beckons us.

Soon after its release the Derby Game show was on and we set out (or at least I did) to find myself a couple of bits for this simple but novel new game. It reminds me of old AD&D games we used to play in the 80’s. Wandering about looking for treasure and not getting eaten by Big Angry Gribblies in the process.

I decided to invest in a couple of figures to represent my wizard and apprentice. Although I have plenty of henchman types I found that the shed had minimal magical support of this low fantasy type. (I can field techno and steam wizards but wanted a more traditional look for this game).

The Soothsayer and his Young Apprentice have a great ‘magic with no weapons’ look to them, so are just what I wanted.

A simple undercoat (while the weather was drier) got me started within a few days of returning to the shed. My other purchases from Derby were set to go too.

Although he is a Soothsayer, the wizard looks to me like he could hold mastery over any number of magical schools. Just what I wanted to portray with this figure. Very easy to paint and a great pose. My only grumble with this one is that the mould lines run down one side of his face and the flash was quite thick. It has left him with a somewhat scarred appearance

His faithful apprentice is again a nice generic spellcaster pose, with a look that makes me think of mind reading and telekinesis (shall I kill you with my mind bullets…)

After some thought I decided not to snow their bases, as then they should fit into any game world.

The other Frostgrave purchases from Derby were these treasure piles supplied by the lovely Dice Bag Lady. They paint up well, I just wish I had the ability to paint gemstones to look like they are gemstones…

Does anyone have the secret to painting gems and glass?

I am willing to learn if you are willing to share?

40K Followup And Falter/ Frostgraves Infiltration.

Our first game of Warhammer 40,000 was a large force (1,500point) game that allowed us to get lots of toys on the table. Our second game was a smaller affair (1000points).

The lower point value made me drop some of the heavier units. No heavy support means the need for a faster, flexible strike force. The Terminators remained in play with a razorback to provide some long range firepower. My fast options changed from assault marines to a squadron of Land speeders. This included a newly painted speeder with Typhoon launchers. A scout squad also adds some pinpoint firepower that may be required to pick of high value or harder targets.

I have often looked at my marines force and wondered why I painted some units with a bright yellow undercoat (I had a good reason I am sure when I did it) the speeder and scouts show the original Green/ Yellow camouflage that was my plan. I guess that marines should not really be dressed in camouflage but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

I was unable to take photos of the game we played but I can tell you it was a hard fought game. My opponent brought out his Spacewolves and played a force of Terminators and Elites with a leader that was in fact a Venerable Dreadnought.

He played a reserved tactical game but then failed to hold his objectives and opened him self up for a heavy hit to the Dreadnought which left him without a leader.

Soon after this game was played a small game called Frostgrave was released and hit the shelves with a huge wave of interest.

Frostgrave will, I am sure, be our next major investment. In this case the investment will be minimal on miniatures as only ten can be played in a crew. The investment may be made in wandering creatures and scenery to play the various missions listed in the book…

Only time will tell…

40K First Outing In A Millennia.

So, our first 40k game in years was planned and set up.

With an easy, simple paint job completed on the few units I needed to finish off. I was ready to go in no time.

Our table was set up with a simple set of generic scenery.

My forces were ready for deployment and my opponent was again ready to try to stop me. Veganman was on form as usual bringing Devastator squads, Terminators and a Land Raider.

Short edge deployment was rolled for along with objectives placed along the length of the table. First contact was made and battle commenced.

Although we played along the length of the table it soon split into a game of two sides. Both forces trying to stop the other outflanking their men. Not a difficult task when the battlefield is only 4 feet across.

One tactic I remembered from years ago is the use of cheap transports as mobile terrain to cover other troops advances. This worked well to a point but the side of a Rhino will never give much cover from 2 twin linked lascannons and a multimelta…

Razorbacks are also great for providing cover and some heavy fire but don’t stand up to close assault from something like a squad of Terminators.

This game turned out to be some good fun and a nice change from GWs previous trend. I suspect it will get played again very soon but with so many other games vying for our attention who knows what will happen.

Times Change But The Publisher Stays The Same.

With Games Workshop being so much in evidence, with our run on Age Of Sigmar, it was never going to be long before we revisited GWs other cash cow.

I have collected Space Marines for many years and have a sizeable (mostly unpainted) force. Warhammer 40,000 was always a great work of fiction with a huge following that love the history and story of eternal conflict. Space marines have been central to that story from the start.

My collection has not seen the light of day for many a year now. It finally got dusted off this summer when a couple of friends decided to try out a few games in a local GW store. As usual it wasn’t long before we all started thinking about our past love of this game.

Most of us became disillusioned by GW as their collection of games became more complex and more prone to list building than being played just for fun. With their shift towards unstructured games (Age Of Sigmar being an obvious example of this) GW has opened the path back to fun. The rules for 40k have again opened up to allow a mixed, play with what you want, list of armies. That was all we were waiting for it seem.

That said, I still feel a space marine force should be mainly men on the ground. The options for tanks and flyers will come in time but to get to grips with the basics it is best to go man to man in a slug fest.

To that end, I have put together most of my painted forces, and have decided what other items I need to get painted up to complete a basic force.

I was always a fan of Assault marines so a squad of these and another of their elite equivalents forms the core of the force.

2 small Terminator squads add some strength and durability, with the option for deep strike deployment as well.

Some basic tactical marines with transport options (Rhino and Razorback) add some extra firepower.

A land speeder and a land raider add some much needed speed and punch respectively.

All in all its a simple paint job, and it should be easy to finish off the few troops and tank needed to field a fully painted force.

Next up, our first play of 40k in about 10 years…

AOS: Fighting Fire With Fire Or Getting My Own Horses (And Some Other Bits).

After so many outings with Bretonnians on the opposite side of the table, and the success of the detachment rules for the Empire State Troopers, I thought it might be time to try the Knights of the Empire rules.

My meagre 10 horsemen would not be enough to use these rules at this point, so new riders would be needed.

I went for a mix of riders in the end. Some were Essex knights. These were picked up to add to my 6 existing figures (the originals were repurposed from 2 stands of a DBA medieval force). 6 new riders makes a 12 man unit.

A box of Perry Mounted Men at Arms supplied me with another unit and some old GW Pistoliers were found to add some true empire flavour to the mix.

A couple of old GW knights are left in the mix too and I am on the lookout for more of these but originals are retailing on ebay at about £12 each (castings from the original moulds are now available from Foundry at £12 for 3 horsemen) but the price of these will likely restrict my choices for the moment.

Watch this space for updates on my mounted forces…

Veganman has again been distracting me from finishing my empire forces off though. He popped in over the summer and dropped off a big box of pretty things with the words “see what you can do with this lot if you want to play with something other than your empire.”

Very nice models and most already painted.

Not quite enough to play a big game but a good start for a new force… I hate being so easy to influence sometimes. Within hours I was looking at lizards on eBay…

More AOS And Yet More Horses Or I Think I Need A Bigger Runup.

As we have been playing Age Of Sigmar for a while now, we thought it would be a good idea to try some variation in the game. So, we moved to adding in some of the interactive scenery options, and tried a different deployment option too.

Veganman brought over the Bretonnian force seen last time, but had tweaked it to be even more forceful and with plenty of heroes added to the mix.

I had tweaked things too (and read some of the warscrolls too) making my force up as detachments to get the benefit of the Empire state troopers special rules. Also extra heroes and missile troops were added to the mix to increase my killing abilities.

It was crowded on my side of the table again as we had to deploy along a short table edge. That said I was able to deploy in depth so was better suited to redeploy reserves and spread my missile troops between the infantry units.

The addition of scenery that could help or harm troops was interesting as it changed not only deployment but slowed the advance of the knights as they were funnelled into columns as they came into missile range.

As the knights stalled under heavy missile fire the Bretonnian king on his griffon charged forwards to stop the hail of bolts.

On the other flank my spearmen were able to hold the smaller mounted force while my knights waited to finish the job if needed.

As the Bretonnian King continued to plough through empire state troopers my reserves moved up to mop up any weakened enemy units

Even weakened units of Bretonnian knights are able to deliver a solid blow and continued to pound on my troopers. This game would, in the end, have to be called to a close before a decisive conclusion could be seen. The addition of scenery, heroes and short edge deployment added almost 1.5 hours to the length of a usual game. As such, we decided to call it a draw in the end. It showed me how effective a read of the rules could be and how much the empire needs to deploy in detachments and with missile support.

Next time I would be more organised and a little more difficult to beat.

AOS: A Horse, A Horse, My Kingdom For One Less Horse.

As seen in the last post, I have been playing quite a lot of Age Of Sigmar over the summer. Veganman has been showing me what smaller perfectly formed forces can do to large disorganised mobs of men, and this game was no different.

Empire Vs Bretonnians. Foot Vs Mounted. Common man Vs The Nobility. However you say it, it seems a little one sided.

He came along with nearly 40 heavy horsemen and a few archers for good measure.

I dug out my usual force. 10 heavy horsemen and what feels like HUNDREDS of slowly walking blokes with sharp pointy things (oh and 20 crossbowmen…)

Veganman decided to place all his troops to one side of the table and concentrate as much force on my largest unit as he could. This left my army stretching off to the other flank as I had no room to deploy that many men all at one end of the table.

It gave him time to whittle down a lot of my troops before I could get my extra numbers to truly take effect.

In the end it came down to a bold (or foolish) move on my part. I moved my general out in front of his protection in a bid to form an attack on one of his exposed flanks. The end came when Veganman made an incredibly long charge roll, with perfect timing, to wipe out my last hopes and win the day.

Nobility reigned supreme this day and the common foot slogger went home with a lesson well learned.

My Pause Button Seems To Have Been Broken/ More Age Of Sigmar.

I took a short break from posting updates to the blog just before the summer started (not unusual as my blog posts are often irregularly timed). The trouble is that my planned, brief pause, has continued for the last 3 months…

I have not been alone in this phenomena. I have continued to enjoy reading posts that other gamers have written over the summer. A few, I notice, have been in the same boat as me and have just begun to resurface now that the summer is over.

Like most people I have not been idle… Not very idle at all…

The shed has seen a good few games and I have been out and about at a couple of shows in the last months. One small item of note is this chap that I picked up as a thank you for Coronasan. Who, in true addiction facilitator style, managed to source even more Dust models for me on his last trip to the USA.

It should do quite well as a proxy for Markus in his yet to be painted Dust Tactics Axis army. With everything else he is trying to finish at this point I suspect they will get done sometime next year!

The game of the summer continued to be Age Of Sigmar and my Empire forces continued to be trampled under foot by all comers. Never let it be said that I am easily beaten but it is likely I will continue to be with this game. The last 5 years of skirmish games has not helped to develop my large unit tactics.

Veganman’s Ogre horde was a regular opponent as we settled into the rules for this game and learned its basics. It would seem that he has a serious leaning to small, elite and heavy armies. From fantasy Ogres to Terminators to German Tigers, no matter what he buys into they are always tough, sturdy opponents.

When it comes down to it my massed ranks of feeble humans are in need of some serious support and possibly some better tactics.

… And just as I was complaining that it was my army choice that was holding back my ability to win, he comes over with his Bretonnian army and shows me what feeble humans can do when mounted on big, scary horses…

Again, he turned up with a force that was half the size of my army but more than twice as hard…

Watch this space for the outcome of the next summertime encounter.