30. Modular wooden fort I.

Back in business! After a short break, last weekend I got back, and finally started doing something. I decided, that I will work through my open projects (hopefully all of them...). The first step was not painting (at least for now), but building terrain. A little time ago I started to build a modular wooden fortress. I had two reasons for it. The first one was that I started to write siege rules for Oathmark, and I need to have something to try them out. The other one was, as I saw a youtube video on the TWS channel, which show a very quick way to build wooden fortifications. I basically built the same with some modifications.

First step was planning (as always), I had to decide the main dimensions. My insulation foam (XPS, extruded polystyrene, but it can be made of the cheaper EPS, expanded polystyrene also) is 30mm thick, so the embankment, where the miniatures will stand, will have that height (by the way, in my siege rules, there will be different walls, depending on their height, material, and number of ranks, that has place on them). The battlement is an additional 20mm and (because of the serrated form) 30mm higher. The width and depth was also not a big question. It will be a pretty small wall (the smallest one according to my rules), so it is enough if a single row of Oathmark unit has place on it. The width is at least 5x25mm, so I went with 130mm to have a bit space.

29. Hobby burnout

The title is a bit of a clickbait, but honestly, I don’t know a better term for what Im feeling now. Hobby depression? Hobby demotivation? Hobby I-don’t-want-to? It doesn’t really matter, because nominations doesn’t change anything.
Im having a low point. I had so much to do, and I do so little. I get excited about new projects, but don’t finish the old ones. I love some steps in the hobby, but avoid some others. So maybe, hopefully, if I write about it, it helps me to find the best way out of it…
Let’s take a look at the past, in order to find the possible reasons. I started this hobby approximately 1 year ago (I mean practically, because in theory more than 2 decades ago), and what is the summary?

28. GW got me...

In tabletop world, there is a giant company, unavoidable sprawling in the middle of the whole industry. Some of the gamers hate them, some of them love them, and some, like I, have mixed feelings about them. This is the company, who done a lot, to make the tabletop universe, what it is today. It could be a microscopic genre of nerds without them. They soaked me into this universe of fun, and many others like me. But they are also, who are exploiting the wallets of our kind with their insane price politics, constantly updating rulesets, and breaking games into more and more must buy pieces. And they slain the Old World... Unforgivable.

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…).
  
  

21. Christmas special 2020

It was a pretty special year from a lot of aspects. Here and now I just want to emphasize one of it. Because of the limited options for spending the free time, I landed this year by my unfulfilled, childhood passion: tabletop games and miniatures. I jumped into a lot of projects (maybe got a bit addicted...), and Im enjoying them a lot. But maybe the biggest pleasure is, that my family joined me in this! That is why not only this year, but the Christmas was also very miniature heavy: