On the Painting Desk: Perry Miniature's Travel Battle

 

As a palette cleanser from all that Heroquest, I am going to shift gears and work on something different.  I want to take a weekend or two to paint up my Travel Battle by Perry Miniatures.  This is a Horse-and-Musket game that uses 8mm miniatures on a pair of gridded terrain plates.  It is the ultimate Kitchen Table game.  

Box is also a carry-case

I spray undercoated all the components with Grey Seer.  I guess this was a mistake, as the core rules claim that the minis do not need to be undercoated.  Woops!  The rules have a small painting guide that I have all ready messed up!  Oh well.  

For the terrain boards, I did not want to use my fancy paints.  Those are too expensive for this type of project.  Instead, I picked up some Big Box craft paints.  I got a nice pack of 10 or so Nature colors for $10 USD.  These come pretty thick to start, but you can water them down and they work just fine.  I also picked up a make-up brush for the amount of Drybrushing I was planning on doing.  I also used some of the Speed Paint markers for certain touch-ups and a few other spots.  

I really should have taken more "in progress" shots.  The "grass" took two-layers of dark green, and two drybrush coats of progressively lighter greens.  The farms I used a couple different base coats of brown and a layer of drybrush. The roads were tough to not mess up as well.  Finally, I painted the little houses and forest canopies with my Speedpaint Markers.  

As finishing touches, I trimmed the edge of the board in straight black to give them a nice clean edge.  Then, I sprayed a protective coat over the whole thing to protect it from harm when we play.  I really find the terrain boards pretty cool because no matter which edges you line up, they match!  This board took me a nice Saturday to complete.  

From there, it was onto the two armies.  Each army was a pair of identical sprues with a light cavalry unit, Heavy Cavalry unit, a Guards Infantry unit, two Brigade Commanders, and some regular infantry units too.  Each infantry unit took two rows of soldiers, cavalry three horsemen, and commanders are singles.  I tend to think of these armies as British and French, but the rules only refer to them as Blue and Red. 

I started by painting the "Red" team.  I painted them on the sprue, which is not something I normally do!  I painted their pants with Holy White.  Then, I painted the coats with Slaughter Red.  The Shakos were Grim Black.  I painted the muskets and backpacks with Hardened Leather.  Horses were a mix of Graveyard Grey, Runic Grey, Holy White, Harden Leather, and Dark Wood.  I then washed them with Dark tone.  One done, I went back and painted all their skin Crusader Skin and did some touch-ups with some metallics, Zealot Yellow and some bands with White acrylic.  Once done, I sprayed them with protective enamel.   

Painted the "Red" Army took me a night of effort.  A few days later, I turned my attention to the "Blue" Team.  The horses I painted the same way, and I stuck with the white pants.  However, instead of Slaughter Red on the jackets, I used Magic Blue to try and get a bright blue coat.  Unlike the "Red" army, I decided to paint the chest straps with Holy White.  Shakos were Grim Black and Muskets and Backpacks were Hardened Leather.  Very similar to the "Red" army except for the jackets.  This was another night of work.   

At 8mm, it is more about getting the right dot of color in the right place.  This is not the smallest I have painted, but I found this scale harder than when I painted ancient 6mm.  The level of detail always surprises me at this scale.  You really can not see it that well at arm's length, but it is there.  I also used speedpaints, but they are not well suited for this scale.  I prefer my traditional Armypainter paints for this scale and historicals.  However, they were not available and were packed away.  Also regretted using Dark tone, I should have used a Sepia-tone ink instead of a Black-based ink.  Oh well, lessons learned or something?     

Once I had the "Red" and "Blue" army painted up it was time to get them on their bases.  I had previously painted them with the same Greens I used on the board.  I painted them at the same time.  Once mounted, I rimmed the bases with white and then painted Red or Blue to match the army.  Finally, I sprayed it down with a protective coat.  This is going to be a travel game, so it needs to be able to stand-up to wear and tear.  

Armies deployed

With all of this painted up, it was time to set it all up on the table.  

I am not sure how to put this on the Painting Tracker, but I will figure it out!  This freed up time and space for me to start working on my Vandal army for the Late Roman period.  Watch this space for some big bulk painting projects, however I will need to dig out my traditional paints before I start doing those.   

Until next time! 

All packed away in the carry-case.  Ready to travel! 

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On The Painting Desk: Prophecy of Telor about the Spirit Queen's Torment

 

I finished off the Frozen Horror so it is time for me to move onto my next set of expansions for Heroquest.  This time, I am going to tackle the miniatures found in the two "smaller" expansions, Prophecy of Telor and Spirit Queen's Torment.  These boxed sets came with alternate sculpts of the main enemies and a new hero each.  I all ready painted the new Heroes at the end of 2025.  

You may recall that these alternate enemy sculpts were new orcs with Hammers, alternate Abomination, some new Gobbos, female zombies, female mummies, sword-and-board skeletons, dread warriors with swords, a female Dread Sorcerer, and an alternate Gargoyle.  These minis were all also cast in transparent plastic.  Prophecy of Telor was an orange-red color, while Spirit Queen's Torment is a bluish-green.  Therefore, I hemmed and hawed about what I wanted to do with them.  Ultimately, I decided to just paint them up like normal minis for the game.  I think they will be more versatile and likely to see the table that way.  

So, that means the first step was to go ahead and get them undercoated!  Will my usual methods work with these transparent plastic figures?  To save time, and kill the suspense; the answer is Yes.  Yes it does.  Here they are after being sprayed in Grey Seer from GW, washed with dark grey wash, and drybrushed with cheap acrylic white.    

For my first painting session, I decided to start by painting all the Undead at once.  It did not matter which expansion they came from, I was going to paint them all together for ease and unity.  I was all ready concerned about matching with my previous minis, so no need to make it worse by splitting these up into smaller batches.  

The mummies are always where I start because they are super easy and you can build momentum quickly.  I painted their eyes Blood Red, any exposed flesh Malignant Green, and then their hair Graveyard Grey.  Then, I hit them with a Dark Wash.  All Undead get a Dark Wash to make them extra scary looking! 

Next were the Zombies.  I painted them Malignant Green flesh and then gave them a Green Tone ink wash.  From there it was simple to paint their dresses, belts, hair and gear.  I kept their hair Graveyard Grey or uncolored and just based.  Then, they got their Dark Wash and basing done.  

Finally, I did the skeletons and for these ladies (You can't really tell with Skeletons, and since almost everything else is a female version these must be too right!) I decided to go off the reservation with my usual paint scheme.  I decided to use Wizard Orb in order try to get a faded Bronze look to some of their gear.  I also used Fire Giant Orange for a rusted look on the metals.  The bones were of course Pallid Bone.  I also used Talos Bronze, and Copper from my Metallic Speedpaint set.  The final metal color was Graveyard grey.  These ladies took the longest, but they came out very different from my usual batch of skeletons.  Not sure my experiment worked 100%, but I will take it.  I never go back and re-paint a painted model!  

   So, after a day of effort, here is where the Undead ended up..... ooooh, scary! 

With the Undead finished, it was time to turn to the Greenskins for this effort. I had 4 goblins and 4 Orcs, all in the same pose.  I batch painted the Gobbos together and then the Orcs together the following weekend.  However, I swear these Orc models are cursed.  When I painted them up for Keller's Keep you may recall that I accidentally spray primed them instead of sealing them?  Well, this time I painted them all using Orc skin as the flesh tone, not realizing until I was done with the models that the flesh tone was supposed to be Malignant Green like the Goblins!  Arrrgggghhh!  Therefore, I went back and reprimed the fleshy bitz and repainted them.  I do not think it turned out that great, but they will blend in a bit better with thier fellows now.  

The Goblin gear I kept mostly Magic Blue and Runic Grey to blend in with the OG Goblins.  Weapons were Pallid Bone, Runic Grey, and Graveyard Grey.  The other assorted straps was either Hardened Leather or Crusader Skin.  The Orcs were pretty much all wearing Graveyard Grey armor which makes it look fierce and iron-like.  I also used some Runic Grey, Pallid Bone, and Graveyard Grey on the hammer's to make them distinct weapons too.  Their tabards were Blood Red, Magic Blue, Zealot Yellow, and Fire Giant Orange to help me tell them apart on the table if I need too.  

That was two weekends of painting down, and a hefty chunk of the models for Spirit Queen's Torment and Prophecy of Telor done.  These took about two weeks, and my painting total for the year is now hovering around 75+ models and they are all for Heroquest!       

Next time, I will get those Abominations and the Dread forces painted from these two supplements.  Once those are done, I will be at a cross-roads.  Do I keep on going on Heroquest, do I switch over to Late Romans, or do I paint up my Travel Battle game as a break?  Keep tuning in to find out! 

Until next time! 

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Review: Pillage- Victrix

 

I was buying a lot of miniatures, so I figured I might as well pick-up this set of rules to go with them.  I all ready have a large Viking, Anglo-saxon, and Dark Age Irish army so I had more than enough miniatures for a dozen or so figure, model-vs-model skirmish game.  I also have cattle and loot markers.  Therefore, this one seemed like a low-cost investment for me to pick up! 

This would not be my first raid into the Viking Age.  I myself have a few rulesets related to Vikings; Fury of the Northman and Odin's Ravens.  Therefore, I know my way around a Viking based game.  I was curious what this brought that could be new to my table.  

This one has a very nice forward where the author is very clear that this game is about "forging the narrative".  I.e. the focus is on telling stories on the tabletop and revolves around scenarios and scenario play.  This is not intended to be a competitive, tournament ready ruleset.  

So, don your hauberk, heft your shield, and hoist your spear arm for now is the time to loot this rulebook of ideas!  

Things I Liked

This is a gorgeous looking book.  It has very high production values, great photos, great miniature pictures, and really nice terrain lay-outs.  This reminded me of what separated early GW books from the competition.  Rules are detailed with images and diagrams over laid on the photos.  This is a sumptuous looking book with great, hard cover, artwork.  Just really top-drawer production values all around. 

This book is pitched at beginner wargamers.  It is written like the reader is unfamiliar with the hobby of wargaming.  In addition it has a short history section, timeline, historical sidebars, etc.  There is also a Hobby section about collecting miniatures, making terrain, and painting.  There are some fun little tutorials about painting miniatures and making nice looking terrain.    Again, it reminds me of early GW rules as an introduction to wargaming.  I do not need this section, but I unironically LOVE this section.  

There are a few charge reactions a model can make when they are the target of a charge.  If you have a missile weapon you can shoot, you can run away, or you can stand and accept the charge.  Nothing super hard to do, but gives some options for melee early on.  

Armor is similarly simple with unarmored, some armor, and fully armored.  Of note, armor dictates how fast you can move as well.  That is a good idea, and everyone basically moves the same.    

This game is called Pillage, and there are several chapters on looting and another on setting things on fire.  That matches the theme of the game and ties into several scenarios.  Interesting, there is also rules for ship-to-ship combat!  Nice!

Things I Did Not Like

The game does not use frontage or combat arcs.  Weapons and line-of-sight is 360 degrees.  This reduces some of the tactical gameplay. There is some detail about shooting from windows or other constricted spaces, but that is a niche rather than the standard.   

Charging into combat is an extra 1d3 of movement leading to contact.  I am not a huge fan of random charging typically.  No real reason, but for such a critical action I like a bit more certainty in the action.  Melee is pretty quick and brutal by design but still is a bit of Melee Yahtzee coming down mostly to dice rolls based on a table with different weapons hitting better or worse based on armor type. Pretty basic.  Thankfully, the advanced weapon rules add some more nuance to the weapons and melee about supporting allies.  

There are 5 scenarios.  Nothing that you have not seen before.  The game explicitly recommends you to design and make your own scenarios.  However, I think the game could have provided a few more guidelines on alternate deployment zones, objectives, and perhaps some complications.  

Meh and Other Uncertainties

Of note, this game does not allow pre-measuring.  If you grab a tape measure, it is assumed that you are committed to the action.  I.e. you do not measure until you are all ready going to shoot at that target, move to that place, or charge that model, etc.  

Of note, this game only uses d6 to resolve all actions.  It uses simple modifiers and rules for rolling above a 6.    

It also uses WYSIWYG for simply determining who is armed with what.  

The game itself is for 4x4 tables or even 3x3 tables.  This makes it just a bit too large for a Kitchen Table game.  However, it is a good size for a convention or club game.     

The game turn is broken down into the usual of Initiative, Move, Shoot, Melee, and End.  This gives you all the basic 4Ms.  Of note, games use alternating Phases, so it is not IGOUGO but not alternate activation either.       

Army lists include Vikings, Anglo-saxons, Normans, Irish/Scots/Picts, Carolingian Franks, Bretons, Welsh, and Generic.   

Final Thoughts

This is a solid, well-produced product.  It is a basic wargame, but comes into its own with the Advanced Rules.  Here is where it shines allowing some period specific and unique activities to add some tactical depths.  However, it is still relatively straight forward and easy to teach.  That is its strength.  

This is not for Competitive play because there is a fair amount of randomness in the rules.  It is not intended for that.  It is intended for a beer-and-pretzels experience focusing on story-telling, social interactions, and narrative fun.  This is explicit in the foreword and in the rules themselves.

For a first rulebook product from Victrix, this is a slick product!  It is intentionally designed to get people into playing the period and folks that are new to wargaming.  I applaud this approach BUT I am not sure that it is a good strategy.  I think they are simply following the GW template of a rulebook, but I am not convinced that people get into Dark Age Wargaming cold by buying a rulebook.  However, I really do not know how people get into Historical Wargaming anymore.  

Anyway, a great introductory product but not a great wargame.  It is very serviceable but old hands to the period will find it wanting.  To veterans the big adds are the pillaging and ship-to-ship combat ideas.  

Until next time! 

 

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