A Lead Odyssey

Just back from Landwaster.. a lot of fun and I think 16 or 18 players, using DBA 2.2, (even if those Sydney-siders did come and steal the silverware). The Inca chalked up wins vs French Ordonnance, Free Companies, Warring Kingdoms (Wei) Chinese, and Later Imperial Roman.

David giving the briefing..

All important first beer of the day circa 10.30am..

Part of the Sydney contingent

 Unfortunately - lost to the Poles being outdiced in combat and pips.. 

Mark Baker's very attractive Early Polish. My Auxilia couldn't kill spear in bad going, and my PIPs stalled me completely. Oh well.

 And then to Thematic Byzantine (felt I should have won this one.. 1 was 1 element plus camp up (Psiloi end run) 3-0 and then rolled disastrously in a series of combats to go down 6-3 (admittedly I was at a disadvantage in most.)

Psiloi End Run vs Thematic Byzantine..   shortly after this I looted the camp and then proceeded to roll 1s to lose my general then several others..  At least I earned my opponent the 'Executioner award.

 OTOH - can't complain as the previous game saw mano-a-mano General combat at 4s, and I rolled the 6, and he rolled the one.. first combat of the game. Sorry Gregorius.

Deploying vs the Free Companies.

Murray (Later Imperial Roman) traditionally snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, being unable to flee a Psiloi (off table) with a Blade element, allowing me the time to have a fantastic combat round and finish up at 6-3 in my favour. Sorry Murray.

I think the Incas can now be retired, as I won a lovely Peter Pig Samurai army as the Magister Militum (highest placed by handicap). So maybe they will be the next lot to get painted.. after the Sui. Some sort of Eastern theme emerging here..

So with a competition looming on Sunday, I managed to discipline myself enough to be finished with a couple of days to spare.

These are a mix of Falcon, Minifigs and I think a Naismith Litter. I haven't done my best work, and I keep looking at them and thinking I need to add a wash to feathers, or more decoration, but they are perfectly acceptable for tabletop use.


The competition is for DBA, but these will also see duty in our upcoming 'Ozpocalypto' competition intended to mark the end of the Mayan calendar, and for which we are going to use DBMM 100. So rather more figures were needed than the standard DBA sized army.

So I had got distracted from the Inca, painting up a couple of test bases for Sui Chinese, planning a Battle of Britain game using 1/350 aircraft, some more SAGA stuff, you know how it is.. anyway..  look around and you suddenly realise time is getting away from you.

So the last day or so, I made a concerted push to get the Inca to the 'Satisfying' stage. (For me, the 'Satisfying' stage is where each colour you add makes the figure look better and better, instead of just being another block of colour on an unfinished masterpiece. Sort of the bit when you start to see the shape the building is going to be...)

And time is running out. Ozpocalypto to celebrate the end of the Mayan Calendar is sometime mid December, and I foolishly promised I would run Inca at the Landwaster DBA tournament on the 25th of November. What with party season, and having to go out of town next week, I am getting very short of time to polish these off - and of course when these are done, I hit panic mode to get all the Sui completed to play DBMM2 for 'The Worlds: Cancon' at the end of January 2013.

So while they are still a long way from finished, I am starting to really enjoy painting these guys. The bases are now complete except for dry grass flock as per the litter, (flocking comes last), and some of the simpler figures are now getting close to completion with things like some additional tunic patterns, headband and ink for the hair to go.

So here they are so far..



 The big Cahuna, with some of his elite regiments, in front the wildmen...


And now the lot...

So now I have been slogging away, Day 3 of the Inca work in progress, and all the little guys have now had their bases washed with the base colour. To distract myself, I had a play with the General's litter, got carried away and basically finished it.

So here he is: as always, click on a picture for a bigger version.

Nice weather, did a bit in the garden, then on to applying ink washes etc to the Litter.

And then some basing work.

I spread slightly watered white glue all over the base, then sprinkle some 'rocks' (actually, this is decorative gold-covered gravel that was given to us to go in the bottom of a candle holder thingy, but they are nice and evenly sized,)  then dip in fine sand (actually from the Baccus Basing Kit).





It is one of my least favourite things to do, so I am glad that's over with.

With the forthcoming end of the universe (well, according to the Mayans at least), the locals thought we might go out with a bang and a last game. So over two nights in December, we are going to run one of our rolling competitions.

The way this works is we get a few people to build/bring DBMM 100AP armies in a themed group. The first game is a historical matchup at 100AP each, then the next game is winner of the first game as CinC with two commands, being their own army plus their defeated opponent as an ally general. The final game sees the same method generate two 400AP armies for a final showdown.

There are quite a few players locally with an interest in Pre-Columbian American, and so 'Ozpocalypto' was born. Hopefully, we will find 8 players each with a suitable army. Locally there are several suitable types, from Tupi, through Dog Peoples, Aztecs, Mayans and so on.

For my own part - I have had some Incan figures lurking in the lead pile for several years, so now is the perfect opportunity. They are a mix of Falcon minis, Minifigs, plus a Naismith general in litter. I picked up some Gladiator porters from Olympian Games, and have ordered a few Llamas from Bend Sinister Miniatures as well.  

So the Work in Progress....


The Commander's Litter..  Naismith (I think), with Falcon swordsmen converted as bearers, a Gladiator Porter and more Falcon Inca Spearmen.


The secret weapon. I am going to cheat and just undercoat the figures a leathery colour for flesh for the forest and coastal indians, and the Quecha, and a lighter Mocha colour for the Inca themselves. Then I reckon I will try a 'dip' or 'stain' and see how that works. I am almost sure there is some dip in the pool-shed... 


And several hours later.... 


Getting there... at the moment focusing on common colours. Next up I will probably do the basing, as it offends me aesthetically that the bases are different colours...   then hair..  then weapon colours.