Prussian Empire - Geier Bombers

Geier Bombers have good offensive capabilities against surface and sub-surface vessels. For armament it has a fore and aft mounted Tesla Coil as well as a bomb bay. It should travel with a fighter screen if enemy aircraft are around but can protect itself. Only available singly as it is an older model. One of the originals actually. With these three, I now have seven.

Primed black, heavily brushed Cold Steel mixed with Frostbite 2:1. Drybrushed with Trollblood Highlight. Then Cold Steel or Rhulic Bronze for the metal bits. Arcane Blue was used on the windows. The whole model was then washed with GW Nuln Oil. The red on the wings are Skorne Red.

Prussian Empire - Wachter Escorts

In most factions, the escorts provide extra anti-air, subsurface, and boarding assistance the ship they are attached to. Not so much the Wachter. It has a brutal gun at short range that can put a big hit on enemy units before the ship they are escorting goes in for the kill. They are available separately or in the Battle Flotilla box.

Primed black, heavily brushed Cold Steel mixed with Frostbite 2:1. Drybrushed with Trollblood Highlight. Then Cold Steel or Rhulic Bronze for the metal bits. Arcane Blue was used on the windows. The whole model was then washed with GW Nuln Oil. The funnel was topped with Thamar Black

 They are just the right scale for escort duty.

Prussian Empire - Blutcher Dreadnought

The Prussian Dreadnought is an incredibly sturdy and destructive vessel. Four main turrets, forward Tesla coil, Tesla broadsides and up to two external generators (shield, calcification, Tesla, and/or Disruption), and a ram you have to be careful of this vessel anywhere on the board. It is available singly or in the Battle Flotilla box.

Primed black, heavily brushed Cold Steel mixed with Frostbite 2:1. Drybrushed with Trollblood Highlight. Then Cold Steel or Rhulic Bronze for the metal bits. Arcane Blue was used on the windows. The whole model was then washed with GW Nuln Oil. The Prussian colours on the funnel are Thamar Black, Morrow White, and Skorne Red. Skorne Red was also used on the ram in the front.

Prussian Empire - Waterlined Metzger Battle Robots

The Metzger Battle Robot is an impressive piece of hardware that can fight on land or in the ocean. These ones are the naval models. Their main benefit is when boarding enemy models but with speerschleuder missiles to increase Tesla damage and a Tesla coil generator and gun they can take care of business by themselves. Or in pairs.

Primed black, heavily brushed Cold Steel mixed with Frostbite 2:1. Drybrushed with Trollblood Highlight. Then Cold Steel or Rhulic Bronze for the metal bits. Arcane Blue was used on the windows. Thamar Black was used on the iron cross. The whole model was then washed with GW Nuln Oil. The water was painted with dollarstore blue paints.

 They have removed these models from their website, as there is a redesign going on with them.

I look forward to using them on the battlefield.

EDIT: I added some Skorne Red highlights to make it pop more. Pictures changed to current iterations.

Old School Miniatures

So I have been going through my basement/crawlspace and looking for things to downsize and organize better. I decided to go through all my miniatures, which I know would take a long time. Not only because I have a bunch, and more than I realized. It was also because I would reminisce on the where and when I purchased them and used the older ones. I thought I would show you a bunch of them so that others could also gain that old time nostalgia. Enjoy!

I'll be using quite a few for Kings of War armies and the rest I will probably store and pair down on Ebay someday if a use does not pop up.

KOW - The Grey Empire and Regular Troops

Now that I want to play KOW more, I need a painted army. A big painted army...really big. One of the reasons why I prefer skirmish games if the small amount of models to paint so what is a hobbyist to do. The cheat with a good story. I will explain by telling a story.

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom of humans in the mountains that inhabited a wonderful valley. They were so wonderful that they were beset on all sides by its enemies until the peoples were more than decimated, they were counter-decimated (90% of population gone rather than the 10% used under the word decimate). The lands grew fallow, the mines unproductive, and the remaining populace sad and clinging to life. 

Then one day, deep in a mine, an underground complex was found. It appeared that the humans were not the first to live in the valley. Others once existed here who had grand technology and industry. Fundamental to this lost civilization was the ability to make magical simulacrums (clones) of its people and the current humans began to use this technique. To rejuvenate their lands they made copies of their best farmers, miners, and laborers. To defend them they made copies of their best soldiers. They had to choose their best as the copies were half as good as their originals. Within a generation the valley was again prosperous and defended using a workforce made from ancient arts and the every present grey mud found on the riverbanks of the valley. Now that the surrounding mountains are scourged, they look outwards for past enemies to vanquish and lands to claim. All to add to the Grey Empire.

So that was the concept that I came up with for my speed painted rank and file troops. I used GW Empire models I've had for a few years. My cavalry and heroes I will paint as per normal but will stick with the following scheme for my units and war machines.

Primed white they were painted Cryx Bane base, drybrushed Cryx Bane Highlight, and lightly drybrushed Trollblood Highlight, and very lightly drybrushed Morrow White. The eye sockets were painted with Morrow White and a dab of Arcane Blue applied. The shields were painted Cryx Bane Highlight and the bronze parts painted Molten Bronze. The spear poles, bow, and musket stocks were painted Umbral Umber and drybrushed Bloodstone. The metal parts were painted Cold Steel.

The tufts on the spear ends were painted either Skorne Red and Khador Red Highlight, Ordic Olive and Wurm Green, or Cygnar Blue Base and Cygnar Blue Highlight. Then they were lightly drybrushed with Menoth White Highlight.

The Musket had some parts painted Molten Bronze. The arrows painted Bloodstone and drybrushed Rucksack Tan. The musket men's sash was painted Iridian Flesh and drybrushed Beast Hide. There was bags of gunpowder painted Menoth White Highlight.

The entire model was washed with GW Agrax Earthshade. The base painted Umbral Umber. Then Gale Force 9 Summer flock was applied and the eyes touched up with Arcane Blue. All in all great test models so I will continue with the theme for the rank-and-file troops.

Kings of War and Kings of War Historical Rulebooks

Kings of War is a ruleset for fantasy large scale battles created in 2010 with a second edition made in 2015. It uses a streamlined system that is elegant in its simplicity which allows ease of use for making strategic choices. I was on the verge of selling many of my Fantasy miniature armies when a friend convinced me to try the second edition ruleset out. I'm glad I did because although I may not play it as often as other miniature games I have, It will fill the niche of playing these large scale battles I have an itch for once in a while. The rules are also free here.

First, the units. You can have Infantry, Calvary, Large Infantry/Calvary, Monsters, War Engines, and Heroes. They also come in many sizes from solitary heroes/monsters/war engines to Large Infantry/Calvary 3-12 models) Calvary (5-20 models) to Legions of Infantry (10-60 models).  Some units do not have the full range of sizes for flavour or balance. The LOS and distance measuring is very similar to many mass combat games out there. Statistics of the units are Speed, Melee, Ranged, Defense, Attacks, Nerve, and Points. They also may have Special equipment or rules that help with the flavour of the unit or army. Every army is a little different for choices but so far in playing the game you need a little variety to handle what the opponent might throw at you. It also looks better on the tabletop. For most tournaments you can have 50%+1 models representing the size of unit you want. This is because many models have action poses or are larger than 25mm.

Secondly is the Turn: Move, Shoot, Melee. That's it. Each general does their entire turn then it is the other general's turn. After both general's have gone the turn number increases. At the end of turn six, roll a d6. On a 1-3 the game goes one more turn otherwise the

Moving is deciding if your units halt, change facing, advance, go back, sidestep, at the double, or charge. As this game utilizes positioning as an important strategic choice, you will have to think of how to move units with care on numerous occasions. That's because you gain a benefit from charging a unit on their side (double # attacks) or rear (triple). You might also prefer to screen other models like shooters, as you cannot shoot models and units that are engaged.

Shooting is fairly simple. Choose a unit, choose a target, and roll dice. There may be modifiers for terrain and such but the calculation for the final "to-hit" roll is quite simple. One you know the number of hits, then you have to roll those dice that hit to determine if you got past your target's defense. The resulting successes are the wounds on the enemy unit and are indicated by putting markers or dice up to the value of wounds behind the unit. You cannot shoot at a unit you are in melee with. Magic is also done in the shooting phase and there is only six spells: Fireball, Bane-chant, Wind Blast, Lightning Bolt, Heal, and Surge (for shambling models, typically undead or constructs). Now at the end of the phase, if at least one point of damage was scored against a unit they have to roll 2d6 and add the damage taken so far. If it is equal to or greater than their wavering limit, they are limited in their actions the next time they activate. If it is equal to or greater than their routing limit, they are removed from the game. A roll of 12 is an auto rout and a roll of 2 is a steady result.

Melee is the same as ranged combat. If you destroy a unit in melee, you can regroup by changing facing or moving ahead a d6 in inches, or move directly back d3 in inches. If the unit remains, you have to move an inch back. The defender must now test for nerve as per ranged rules. Also units that have suffered at least a point of damage are disordered and cannot use ranged attacks the next time they activate.

There are many army lists with various races and such: Dwarves, Elves, Nature, Man, Ogres, Abyss, Goblin, Orc, Undead...and more as more books come out. For making an army list this site is great plus it prints off the special rules for models and armies too. There are also magic items, each one able to be taken only once, that can make a good unit or model even better and use up those spare points as 2000 is the average game.

On the historical side, Mantic also came out with a book for playing historical armies. The rules are the same but instead of magic items they are veteran abilities instead which mimic many of the magic items. The army list generator is here.They have many periods of history listed with a core list of common forces. Each particular period and region will have special units and models only available to themselves.

Looking forward to playing this game in the future.