WIP: Dwarves Part 1

As previously mentioned in an earlier post, our gaming group has been hooked on the Commands and Colors game system. Our latest ambition is to pit fantasy armies versus historical ones. 

Classic match up between Republican Romans and Greeks.

Dwarven battle line and shield wall with artillery.

Not very original, I know and some grogniards out there are probably shuddering in their boots but what the hell! We game what we like especially if it looks good.

My latest project is an old Dwarven army that Willy aka LTL Dad has taken out of storage. The figures are from Black Raven Foundry and are beautiful sculpts. They're also a bit tall for Dwarves but nevertheless they kick ass!

Axes, Swords, Archers and Crossbows

My standard paint process of black primer and off white
(sand) dry brushing ready to receive the base color.

Stay tuned...

Proxying the Mark V Blitzhund for Incursion

Eureka! 

After diligently searching for the right werewolf figure I found the perfect mini to proxy for the Mark V Blitzhund featured in the solitaire scenario 'Unstoppable' from Incursion: SNAFU.

Sadly, I wasn't really impressed and was quite disappointed with the second Blitzhund sculpted for SNAFU. 

Especially since the first Blitzhund out of the gate was by far superior in its dynamic pose.

  

I even considered these other Werewolves... 

Beautifully sculpted Werewolves from West Wind for the SOTR universe.

Luckily, I was at my FLGS and found this gem...

Found a worthy prepainted mini to represent the Mark V Blitzhund!And for $6 - what's not to like? 

Left: Original Mark I Blitzhund, Center: Blitzhund from SNAFU,
Right: Mark V Blitzhund (proxy)

I like the Mark V's bigger size which truly represents a super sized version of the vaunted Blitzhund.

Sneaking up on an unsuspecting HMG APE.

Back to Hacking and Slashing with Command and Colors: Ancients

Being the self-styled 'Historical Miniaturist' plainly states that I delve into miniatures and history. It also implies that I'm a gamer (primarily historical) and like most gamers I'll play anything provided that it has drool-worthy eye candy.

'A Viking we will go, a Viking we will go...'

A diorama of my Roman Cavalry being supported by allied
Numidian Elephants sometime during the Punic Wars.

Since I like well designed board games and the 'look and feel' of miniatures my gaming group's latest foray into this hybrid gaming world has led us to the Command & Colors family of games. After a few games with the actual board game we were hooked. It was only a matter of time that we would substitute the game blocks with our minis played on a larger 4" hex map from Hotz and terrain features.  

 

Vassal screen shot of an epic scenario: Battle of Dertosa.
This classic Punic War matchup between Hasdrubal (Hannibal's brother)
and the Scipio Brothers make a fine minis conversion 
as all the battles in the C&C boardgames.

I can now reuse my Republican Romans (built for Field of Glory and was gathering dust) and game this army to my heart's content. Of course, I have to supplement this army by acquiring a few more units and some repainting of the shield colors to represent unit types used in the game (see pics at the bottom of this article).

Numidian Elephants from Corvus Belli bringing up the rear with
the blue shielded Triarii and green shielded Hastati in the fore.

A Roman Fort from Baeuda is the backdrop for the Hastati with
more Corvus Belli Iberian troops in the fore.

Corvus Belli Iberian troops

Corvus Belli Numdian archers painted as generic Greeks
screening the Iberians.

Someone tell me what manufacturer these Velites are. It's been a
few years since I've put this FoG army together and the brand eludes me.

A Roman Fort from Baeuda with Numidian Elephants and Numidian light cavalry both Corvus Belli. 

'The Elephant of Surprise.'

Roman Cavalry from Corvus Belli and another forgotten manufacturer. 

My command stands featuring my two favorite Consular Generals: 
Nefarious Purpose on the white horse with Crismus Bonus on the black.

All you need to play is to follow this recipe: 

One box of Command & Colors (Ancients or Napoleonics)

One 4x6 Hotz Mats w/4" hexes (your choice of green fields or dessert)

Obligatory terrain: trees and hills

6 mm or 15mm miniatures (6mm for Napoleonics and 15mm for Ancients in our case) 

My re-purposed Republican Romans with repainted shields and ready to go:

Rear rank Legionaries: Triarii and Hastati Heavy Infantry (4 per base: RED)
Allied Italian States as Auxilia Light Infantry (3 per base: GREEN)
Velites Skirmish Light Infantry (2 per base: GREEN)

Coming soon: Roman Medium Infantry (4 per base: BLUE)

Incursion 3d Board Components

Since some of you have been asking here's the components that I used to simulate industrial items, etc. from an earlier post:

http://thehistoricalminiaturist.blogspot.com/2011/01/incursion-3d-board-actual-progress.html

Industrial lights from Plastruct.

Pipes: drinking straws spray painted with rustoleum.
Pipe elbows and valves from Plastruct.

Bent pipes: soldering wire. Stains on the floor: watery and runny paint.

And here's how I did the door frames.

Click to enlarge.

Incursion: SNAFU Action Shots

Back in May of 2011 here's what I had...

Fast forward to August 2012 and I'm finally done with the SNAFU miniatures and ready to play. But first some posing... 

Panzerraffe center stage having a shoot out with 'The Hurricane' with 
Gracie coming down the corridor for an  assist. 
Meanwhile, Bazooka Joe's lining up for a rear shot.

Drohne with a couple Sturmzombies in tow to engage Bazooka Joe.
And the Panzerraffe gets some more SturmZombie backup.

Might as well bring in the Blitzhund Mark II into the mix.

Now Ilsa ,the other Blitzhund and more Zombies have joined the rumble.