New Year, New Decade

I guess its the time to be introspective.

Considering that 10 years ago when I started this blog I was unemployed,  out of benefits, and wrestling with dark depression,  things have improved considerably.

This year was my lowest number of blog posts ever, but I hope I've made up in quality what I lack in quantity. I think quick WIP  posts to Twitter and Facebook have replaced frequent WIP posts here, instead leaving the blog for finished products.

Not sure if my gaming and painting have gone up or down really.  I am trying to be more present to Mrs. Rabbitman which cuts into hobby time. And my friends seem less available for games too.  Must seek a solution to that, even if it's more solo games.

But a couple of big successes: finally getting my Pulp gangster project sorted with buildings and working rules after about 15 or 20 years was huuuuge! taking most of the year.

I also bought and painted enough armour and infantry to double my WW2 Soviets.

Then there's the unanticipated but long desired Middle Empire Roman army purchased late in the year and about 85% done already.

I also knocked off a few things from the lead pile too; those 25 year old Prussians and the 5 year old dug in infantry. So I think my net lead pile has gone down this year. Certainly everything purchased has been painted.

On the cadet front it's been a good year: handing over command to a young officer I helped develop from an Officer Cadet, accompanying the squadron to Halifax and a minor note was going up in a glider piloted by my senior Cadet, who is now moving on to becoming a Flying Center Pilot.

Today Mrs. Rabbitman has been doing a jigsaw puzzle and watching Miss Fisher's Mysteries while I have been painting. I'll write a "First Miniatures for 2020" post soon.

Going forward I'd like to

• Play more, even if it's solo. Especially with less active parts of my collection. 
• Build terrain for my WW2 Soviets. Urban rubble. Rural. Winter.
• Build some more Middle Earth terrain. 
• Paint up my stash of plastic German tribesmen to fight my Romans 
• Poke at the medieval and SYW parts of the lead pile 
• I think I'd like to resurrect my neglected samurai too

Of course serendipity and the law of irony means that I'll probably fly off in some other direction entirely like air combat or space ships.

Roman Equites

Finished the cavalry contingent for my Roman Cohors Equitata, getting the last bits finished the morning of Christmas Eve just as Mrs. Rabbitman got home from work and prep for the holiday began. Because staying in the basement when Mrs. R could use some help with measuring and stirring would result in a not very merry holiday.

While painting I decided that this signum with the scorpio badge just looked too Praetorian to me.

So I clipped it off and glued on a draco from the Gripping Beast Gothic cavalry set.

Some close up shots:

There wasn't a round buckler transfer for the draconarius, and I didn't want to leave the shield plain, so I had to free hand a simplified design to help him match the rest.

I'm also really liking the striped standard poles.

Flower tufts are from Shadows Edge. Grass tufts are a mix of Shadows Edge, Army Painter and Woodland Scenics field grass clipped to length and stuck down in a blob of gel superglue.

Heavy Romans

Another batch of A&A Middle Empire Romans done. 12 heavy infantry and 6 more archers plus a couple of commanders.

These fellows are in heavier hauberks and have more gear plus pila. But it seems that by the 3rd century Roman units were more mixed, so I'm going to allow centuries of lancea and pila armed troops in the same cohort. Prove me wrong. I dare you.

While flocking them I decided to move the flower tuft on this senior officer because I hated that the flowers hid the lovely detail on his greaves.

This addition brings me to this tidy little force, 3x 12 figure units of heavy infantry 1x12 figure unit of archers and some extra leaders:

I think they're ready to take on some orcs in Dragon Rampant!

Next on the bench is the cavalry.

Couple of Games Catch Up

A quick catch up and summary of a few games featuring friend's collections. Click on pictures to embiggen.

A few weeks ago, Patrick was finally ready to unveil his Gangs of Rome (In 1/72nd scale) project, which he's been working on for two years.

Being a far bigger Roman and ancient history buff than I, he totally geeked out building the terrain  and his attention to details are incredible. Much use was made of Google image search and colour printing for the mosaics and frescoes on floors and walls.

Gymnasium and public baths

Mosaic detail on bottom of pools

Bakery 

Shop fronts

Shop interiors

Slave dealer

The forum

Market stalls

And what's Ancient Rome without an orgy?

My gang of 3 figures was to attack the bakery owned by my patron's political rival. I don't think 1 fellow getting through to stuff his tunic full of bread rolls and then run away was much of a victory to be honest.

The big round bases of figures are 'crowds'. You can move into a crowd, disappear and redeploy from another crowd. But if you do any violent act near a crowd they will react randomly. They might stand and watch, move away, join in, or attack you. I took more damage from the crowds then from my opponent!

But quite the elaborate set up with a cast of 100s of extras for 6-12 figures to play in. Patrick bought a lot of Strelets figures!

Last night, Scott brought a few of his simply massive Napoleonic collection over to play a learning game of General d'Armee. 

Table full!

Austrian artillery battery 

French cavalry 

Austrian Cheveux-leger advance 

Austrian cavalry break through 

French artillery roll horribly and get ridden down! 

Scott is a very good player with a sound eye for the tactical situation. Last night I think he was hit by the new figure curse. Hesitant brigades, artillery low on ammo, bad ADC rolls, rolling 3 when firing on my cavalry charge.... really quite appalling. So I can't claim victory due to any tactical brilliance. But we did get to work through a couple of charges. I'm not sure why rules need to make charges so complicated. 

Scott's big 24 figure battalions take some getting used too. They take up a lot of real estate  and I was having trouble managing traffic jams and fields of fire. I never did fire my artillery!