New Scenery Commission

Regular readers of the Tangent may have noted the lack of SSL-specific scenery, so decided to make amends.

To this end I've tapped up my scenery man; Paul's Modelling Workshop to start making up some suitably sized buildings to fight through, round, and over. Below is an example Paul has sent me of an Elf watchtower he's made in 28mm.

Given the exceptional standard of the swamp, Roman roads, and wooded sections he's already made me, I can't wait for the two towers I've just ordered.

Still debating whether to get the 15mm Roman villa ordered from Paul as well. From talking to Dan Mersey, author of Song of Arthur & Merlin, Glutter of Ravens, and Dux Bellorum, turns out he lives in the next town along the coast. So threat of 15mm Dark Ages wargaming looms.

Litko Review

This morning, the sullen unionised despondency of our national postal service arrived with a parcel from the US. A mere 8 days after I'd ordered (on a Sunday evening I think), Litko had packed the order in a box, and got it here to me in Blighty. That's damn good service in my book. Amazon aren't even usually that quick for stuff they've got in stock, and they're only 90 miles up the road.

 Litko SBH 15mm set

My first thought upon opening the parcel was 'crikey, they're small', but then I fished out a few Splintered Lands miniatures and remembered how small they are too. So no worries there.

This is my first ever bit of Litko kit, and I have to say I'm impressed. Well cut, without sharp edges, nice finish, and generally a good thing. My only gripe is the lettering is a bit hard to see, but that's as much my failing eyesight than anything else. They're pretty thick too - see bottom pic.

In terms of service from Litko - 10/10. $10 for the set, and 8 days to ship from US to UK is bloody good.

Overall, a great little pack from Litko, and I think pretty essential if you play as much Songs as I do.

Made to Measure

I wasn't able to make Salute this year - It never seems to coincide with me having money spare to make the trip, pay the door, and buy tonnes of stuff I'll never paint. Additionally, I've come down with what I presume is an inner ear infection last night. No pain, but no sense of balance either. So lucky that I hadn't decided to go. Nonetheless, chatting online with my mate Pete from down the road (you think I've got a one track gaming mind at the moment?) who did go to Salute, and he mentioned he'd seen Litko's SBH set.

(pic lifted from Litko, but I doubt they'll mind)

Clicky for Litko site

Made the order, and looking forward to it turning up. No other news, except I'm pondering World of Twilight (no, not the ruddy Vampire telly nonsense).

SSL Batrep in Pikshers

Song of Splintered Lands; my favourite Favourite Thing. Sir Odo of the Kentish came South again yesterday for more Toy Soldier & Food entertainment. Rather than lots of words, thought I'd tip my hat to the old White Dwarf batreps from when I were a lad by actually showing what was going on. Nothing spectacular here, just a bit of scribbling in Gimp on a lazy Easter Sunday.

We played three games all told, but the pictures are for the first game of the day - SSL Ambush scenario.

Abbot Sugar, his Son, and their Faithful warband of Mice Spears (pushed around the table by me) are on their way back to the Wyldewood, escorted by two Badgers. The road is long and perilous, even for an accomplished bunch of veteran warriors such as these chaps.

As the afternoon wears on they approach the edge of the forest when one of the Badgers spots movement ahead in the tree line. Ambush!



The Badgers charge up the right hand side of the road to engage the would-be attackers. As they do, from out of the trees on the left pile a gang of crazed berserker Shrews. Abbot Sugar calmly orders his mice to form up a shieldwall to face the Shrews. He knows that two Badgers will make short work of whatever they've scented, and will return shortly to deal with the Shrews. The Mice only need hold them for a while.



As the mice form up, the good Abbot becomes separated from his Bodyguard.



On the hill behind the Shrews, the Hare archer sees the lone Abbot, and starts placing some well aimed arrows at him. The Shrews, enraged by the presence of, well, everything, charge the Mice. Up to the right, the Badgers have uncovered the Hare captain (leader) and Hare spear. They make short work of both of them. Lurking behind the Hares is an Armoured Badger - finally, a worthwhile opponent! Their battle will be legendary! (apologies to Ian McShane in Kung Fu Panda)



With two dead Hares, and 2-1 Badger Advantage (tm), the Abbot's band are confident of Final Wictory (again, tm). The Ambushers, however, have other ideas. The Hare archer confidently nails the Abbot, who is saved at the last moment by his Son's ultimate sacrifice. The Shrews smash into the end of the Mouse line and a gruesome kill forces a morale check, with two retreating. One of the Shrews gamely charges a Badger, in an effort to relieve the pressure on his own Badger.



But then, as is so often the way with Songs, Fate decides it is not to be the Abbot's day. In fact, it's not his day at all as the sharp shooting Hare finds his mark and kills him. The two shaken Mice retreat further, and the Shrews deal with the one who stood firm.



Not too much drama though - the 2-1 Badger advantage will surely win through, and two shrews and a hare archer aren't going to put up much fight against them when they do. Won't they? Erm, well actually, no they won't. The Badgers lost their fight, and the Mice continued to stream off the field, hotly pursued by the Shrews.

Defeat!

No worries though, turned it around and played it again - I ambushed Mike this time. Same warband for him, but I cracked out the Dwarfs. I lost that one too.

Then we played SAM/SBH/SSL mix with 28mm Dwarfs against my Saxons. Which I lost as well.

Ho-hum, sometimes the dice just aren't with you. Personally I blame the Laughing Ferret - I've been reading his Bloodbowl Tourney reports, and I think I've collected a bit of his statistical improbability.

From The Vault II

Some say that I'm just filling space by dredging the vault for 'previously, on the Tangent', and they'd be partially right. I am gainfully employed again, as of Tuesday 10th, a situation which has existed for about a fortnight. Consequently, I've done the square root of absolutely nothing - the BAM Paratroopers are no longer being sold, so normal painting pace has resumed.

I did buy some 28mm scale bricks - made out of real brick - to base them in an Arnhem theme. Worked okay, but rather expensive, all things considered. If the sunlight holds tomorrow I'll photo the first test. The camera isn't really working on any level these days, so might end up deferring again.

Meanwhile, here's a full 8 man section of BEF Miniatures 1940 British Infantry. I painted these for display for the then owner of BEF - a very good mate of mine. Whether they ever made it into the display cabinet I'm not sure.



Warlord bought BEF, primarily for the vehicles - so not sure whether they're still available.

Here's a Heresy Miniatures sci-fi Ganger with bazooka. Rushed him a bit for a game of Flying Lead a couple of years ago. I love the Heresy style, and I'm tempted to get some of their Sci-Fi troopers Andy's just released.

Painting From The Vault

Thought I'd delve into the painting archive for tonight's post, as the BAM Para project has slowed a bit over the last few days.

First up, Chieftain Models Chieftain Mk.V from when I owned Chieftain models, incorrectly painted in Berlin Brigade camo (incorrect because only the Mk.X sported this rather spiffing scheme).



The idea behind the scheme was twofold - firstly to break up the outline of the tank in an urban environment (not a good place for any tank, especially when painted black and green), and secondly - and perhaps more interestingly - to confuse the East Germans watching them.

There were only 18 Chieftains in the Berlin Bde, and all of them were painted absolutely identically. Idea being that if they drove round in circles enough, those watching would think we had 'undreds of the things.



Talking to someone I know who saw these things out in the field at Soltau (I think), it was a pretty effective camo at range even in a green environment; similar to a Magic Eye picture, the human brain simply refusing to reconcile the collection of shapes into a coherent form.

The model above was airbrushed with Life Colour paints, and an awful lot of masking tape. No need to weather it, as the army kept them immaculate (keeping up appearances for the West Berliners.)

Mouse Guard

I only really use one gaming forum - Frothers Unite - they're my sort of people; Rude, irreverent, brutally honest, and right laugh most of the time. One of them was selling Mouse Guard RPG the other day, so being a lover of anything anthropomorphic, I snapped it up without a moment's hesitation.



So what's it like? Well, in the opinion of a miserable old Red Box & 4e D&D player, it's intriguing. Based on motivation and character traits rather than the more usual Str/Con/Etc, it seems to need a good GM, and a gaming group willing to try something not from WotC (which unfortunately I don't have).

Nonetheless, I think it'll be a fun way to introduce the progeny to RPGing when she's a bit older, and I became immersed in David Petersen's world enough to brave the comic shop in Brighton this morning to pick up one of the graphic novels; Legends of the Guard (which is very good by the way).

Thus, Mouse Guard joins a very rare company on my book shelf - literally, only Thrud and Commando are it's companions. I do think I'll pick up the first three graphic novels - which are the collected six comics of the first three seasons, and add the current fourth season to my subscription list. I could get them for free off the 'net, but that's not really the point with comics.

Other news - Odo threatens another journey South with - horror! - new rules. Also, I may not be unemployed for much longer; third and final interview on Monday with a large telco.

Finally, the Paras aren't going anywhere near eBay. Three reasons; 1) they've come out far too nicely to sell, 2) I ended up buying and swapping a load more in, and 3) they're my toys, mine, my own!

Here's a very badly lit photo of one of them in progress;

You get the general idea. I've even ordered some 28mm scale bricks off eBay to the basing Arnhem themed.

Oh, and very lastly, I got bored with the basic blue theme, and had a bit of a revamp. I'll let it settle for a few days before fine tuning.