60. I´m not dead (yet)

3,5 years since the last time I wrote something on my blog... Long time. But I´m not dead, and I didn´t stop playing games, crafting terrain and painting miniatures, just the free time got short. Yeah, Covid years were the golden years for the hobby... So I had to cut from my hobby doings and sorry, but this blog had to be let down. I don´t say, that I have more time now, or that I will write regulary, I just wanted to give a sign of life (not that I expect any interest for this...). A lot of things happened in this 3,5 years, so here is a short summary of just the most important ones:

50. Long time ago in a galaxy far away...

…I promised myself, that I wont start anything new, until I don’t finish my open projects. I kind of kept it (kind of… but that’s another story). But it looks like that I vaccinated my kids with attraction towards tabletop gaming. And Star Wars (do you see the double meaning of the title?). And those two things can only lead to one destination: Star Wars Legion.

48. Big bad blanchitsu behemoth

Grimdark is written on the flag of GW (between a lot of skulls and £-signs), but who really made this style, was John Blanche (as a GW employee), so its also called blanchitsu. What does it mean? I dont want to write an essay about its core elements (as if I could...), if you're interested in it, I would recommend to read more about it, for example here. But just a sort summary, that we can go on: its a dirty, dark, sinister looking (okay, lets call it grim) painting style.

47. Seventyfive

I know, this is not a real post, but I achieved a very important point this week: I varnished 75 miniatures! 75 ready! 75 less to paint!

There are plus 5 miniatures, which needed re-varnishing (were too glossy). But also 10 forest pieces (where varnish should help prevent the foliage from baldness). Content is coming!

37. Frostgrave sets in Oathmark (with bonus rules for Gnolls and Snake-men)

As my sons got 2 boxes of Frostgrave for Christmas (Gnolls and Snake-men), it was urgent to build them. But building without planning gets not 100% usage of the possibilities... Making a Frostgrave warband from 20 miniatures is not a big deal, but what else is possible? Using them in Oathmark is a pretty obvious offer. But how? First step of this planning is to set the limitations:

35. ...and rules for them

Now that I have self-sculpted miniatures in acceptable quality, I also want to play with them! In Frostgrave, the golem can be used as a construct, and the treeman as a giant, so I can check off one of my main systems. And in the other one, Oathmark, they certainly can be used as subtitutes for some monsters from the official rulebook, like an Eachy and a Giant for example. But that would bleach out their individual character a bit… So home-brew rules are needed!

32. Black powder weapons in Oathmark

Oathmark setting is in technological terms like european early medieval: there are no crossbows (which I wont accept, because dwarves have to have crossbows, so I made house rules for them), not to mention black power weapons. But what if… What if once somebody would invent a magical powder, which explodes if ignited? And what if somebody puts that powder in a tube, and throws a rock on before igniting it? What if the kingdoms of the Marches would get primitive black powder weapons? Maybe it doesn’t fit the initial idea of Oathmark, but as its just a house rule and not a must, I don’t see big problems here (if You want to use house rules, just agree it with your opponent, if not, You can use your miniatures as archers and catapults after all).

27. Avatars of war

Once upon a time, I was in my local gaming store, just buying my regular, pseudo-necessary stuff, and there was a sale. As You might know, the sales in the local gaming stores are one of the greatest powers on earth. There were such stuff, I never know I needed, but suddenly it was irresistible…

It was a sale of Avatars of War miniatures. They make beautiful metal and resin miniatures in the best WFHB aesthetics. They are a bit on the more expensive end of the market (12-13€/human sized miniatures), but they are really lovely especially with nostalgic googles. I always adored these minis, but as they were so expensive, and they didn’t really fit to my other miniatures (they are bigger, with more heroic proportions, and they dwarves are twice the size of an Oathmark dwarf). But now! For the price, I bought almost everything what they got (and Im still angry about the stuff I left there...). Lets take a look on them one by one.

26. Frostgrave knights kill again

I already wrote a post about the (at the time new) Frostgrave Knight plastic set. I loved it, my only problem was the low number of miniatures in the box. I wanted more (more, more)! And as I saw the last piece in my local gaming shop, I couldn’t withstand the temptation… And was as amazed, as the first time: this set is superb! I was thinking about building and kitbashing possibilities since the last time, so we (because I bought it with my sons) could build it pretty fast this time. Before the results, lets take a quick look of the former, (mostly, because some of them got additional equipment) unchanged miniatures, 2 knights, 2 templars and 4 captains (1 from every family member):

25. Future of Oathmark

Oathmark is a relatively new game (published in April of 2020), so it has a (hopefully) long future ahead with a lot of new stuff coming. In this post, I want to take look in that future. Lets make the sequence according to the certainty, beginning with the already announced things and ending with the wishes...

Bane of Kings, the next supplement book, will be published in June of 2021. It will focus on the effects of time on the kingdom. What does that mean? Plagues, new alliances, deaths of leaders and rise of new ones. Sure, but what does that really mean? I dont know, but Im very curious about it (already pre-ordered it)! There will be some other new rules: formations (for example: phalanx, shield wall, skirmish line). I think, this will be a very good addition to the basic rules, it can add a new tactical layer to the game, without becoming too complicated. And new military expeditions (wit new scenarios), as already usual by the Oathmark supplements. I also read some rumors (dont ask where, I cant remember), that maybe all races will become chariots (I hear some dwarfs cheering!)...

24. Oathmark human army II.

Now let’s continue with the characters. I had no special source they are all made of the same sets, as the units (with one exception):

• Mounted king: with sword on a barded horse
• Mounted wizard: I used here a head and the hands form the Frostgrave wizard set, on a horse and body from a Perry knight. Tried to grind the armor plates from the legs, but the body is not so obviously armored, so I let it be. At the end, he got a giant (and ugly sculpted) cloak, made from epoxy putty (like the mounted elven wizard).
• Mounted champion: heavy armor, giant axe, and a separated body part form an enemy
  

23. Oathmark human army I.

The Oathmark army intro series comes to the end (yet). Because now, it came to the fourth race from the basic rulebook: humans. I know, Oathbreakers were released, and so there is also the undead faction, but we in the family don’t own undead units (except 11 skeletons, 7 ghouls/zombies and some character miniatures). So what does Northstar has for humans? This will be the shortest list, because it’s the only faction (expect the undeads), which has only one plastix box:

• Human Infantry: the meanwhile common, 30 miniatures with the options of making (full) units of spearman (yes, at last, they are really men), archers and soldiers, with additional bits for champions and standard bearers. They have a dark-age Magnum P.I. design (lots of mustaches). I cant tell much more about this box, because I don’t own it. Why? Because for humans, there are oceans of options from seas of manufacturers out on the market, no need to be fantasy, historical ranges fit as well. And I fell in love with another range…
  

22. Oathmark dwarven army

Next stop: dwarves, who belong to my smaller son. I stick to the structure of the former army introductions, and begin with the official Northstar range:

• Dwarf Infantry:  business as usual, there are 30 bodies with chainmail (5 different), 30 spear holding, 30 hand weapon holding, 30 bow holding, 30 shield holding hands, with a lot of head options (with or without helmets), and some additional bits to make champions and standard bearers (one/one on every sprue). So every standard unit can be made of it. The details are not so fine as by the goblins, but the overall look is still very satisfying. My personal problem with this set are the archers: I don’t like the idea of dwarven archers, because they have too short hands for a normal bow. They should get crossbows, but I know, that technology is non-existing in the Oathmark universe. But in mine it is… The point value of a box is between 450 (soldiers and archers) and 480 (spearman/speardwarf, but I promise, that was the last time…).
  
  

20. Oathmark goblin army

Lets take a look at the goblins of my son. I think, the easiest way to do this, to follow the structure of the elven army introduction, so lets begin with the official Oathmark range of Northstar:

• Goblin infantry: 30 goblins, with the option of build soldiers, archers, spearman (speargoblin), and as usual, these options are valid for all the miniatures. Yes, 30 bodies with light armor, 30 spears, 30 bows, 30 hand weapons, 30 shields. And a lot of different head options. And parts for champions and standard bearers. You can do what ever you want with their boxes, and I think that is great! The design is pretty "realistic" (or "tolkienesque"). In my opinion, goblins are the best sculpted and detailed miniatures from their Oathmark range! The point value of the box varies from 300 (soldiers or archers) to 330 (spearman).
  

19. Oathmark elven army

As I already showed the elven cavalry conversion, maybe it’s the easiest to begin the family army showcase with the elven troops. Let’s start with the official options, the Northstar range. Till now, there are two plastic boxes and four metal plaster pack available:

• Elf infantry: 30 miniatures with full options to build all of them as soldiers, archers or spearman (spearelf?), with some additional parts to make champions and standard bearers (like in all the Northstar plastic boxes). All of them are lightly armored with chain mails and high helmets. The point value of the box varies (depending on what you make of it) 600 (soldiers) and 720 (archers).
  

17. ...movement trays, storage and transport

In the last post I listed all (for me known) options regarding the bases. It could end here, but that theme is closely connected to some others: movement trays, storage and transport solutions. Lets take a short look on them, and then I tell you which way was chosen by me.

If you are using single based minis for big battle games, you have to move a complete unit of more (5-10-20-40) miniatures at once, and that can be really frustrating… But movement trays can solve that! They are like a plate, where You place your figures, and then move the plate. There are 2 main types:

16. All about the bases...

Bases. Doesn’t Seem like a very interesting theme, but there are a lot of different options, which can be pretty confusing for a beginner (like me). And although I’m reading/watching (way too) many blogs and channels about wargaming, I didn’t find a cover-all source of it. I will try my best, to fill this gap. Because its important! Because if you want uniform armies, one very important point to decide at the very beginning is, what base do you want to use. Because an army on different base types looks very-very disappointing (in my opinion)… Let’s start with the main parameters!

12. Oathmark elf cavalry

I didn’t show our family Oathmark armies here so far (this will come later), but I mentioned, that my wife chosen the elves (that pointy-eared…). She mostly has archers (because they are by far the best archers in the game), which limits the tactical options a lot. This needed to be fixed! Any other infantry type would only make the archers harder to reach, wouldn’t really change the overall tactic of the army. So something else was needed. I think that the cavalry can be a big game changer in this, so lets go for it.

11. Frostgrave Knights

Until now, all posts were about miniatures, that were ready (already varnished), but now! Now is time for a brand new box (I love the excitement of new miniatures way too much…)! And this will be, the new Frostgrave Knights box, because they were too good looking to save my wallet longer from them (yeah, I could hold myself back for 2 whole weeks after release…).

10. Painting skeletons and rusty iron

This will be my first post mainly about painting, I want to share a really easy and quick method of making good (enough) looking skeleton warriors (with rusty weapons). Painting skeletons, as they are usually not very complicated models, you can save a plenty of time with proper technic. And what is this proper technic? Lets go step by step, and I try to enlighten, were the time saving is: