The wargaming world of Nozza

Here's my last wargaming activity of 2021. A couple of kits I received for Christmas. Both for my Wild West collection.

Following on from their defeat at the hands of the Ronin, the Bandits decided to raid a local village for loot. However, the Villagers decided to stand up and fight. The Village. The Bandit Leader and his Deputy are attacked by Villagers. D8 Villagers (Grunts) advance. The Bandit Leader is knocked down, suffering a wound and numerous shock tokens.   The Bandit deputy defends his leader and fights back.   Eventually, the Bandit leader recovers. The Villagers begin to take losses.    A dual to the death sees the last Villager left surviving.

I picked up these Reaper Miniatures from one of their Kickstarters. To be honest, I'd totally forgotten about them, until the parcel turned. I think I backed them back in 2019 and the Kickstarter got delayed by Covid and was delivered earlier this year. These were an absolute joy to paint, and it was nice to be able to use some brighter paint colours that I own.

With the weather getting colder and the nights getting darker, I have been doing more painting in the evening.  I finally made a dent in the pile of Stargrave figures that I bought back in the summer.   This figure reminded me of the Justice Dept uniforms worn in the Karl Urban Dredd film. So I painted him up as a pseudo Judge.     This figure reminded me of a Bolian from the Star Trek universe, so I painted her as one. Also, she reminds me of Nebula from the Marvel films.     Lastly, we have some objective tokens. These will be useful in many games besides Stargrave.

Wandering Ronin Samurai are venturing through the countryside towards a local village. They have been called to help solve a bandit problem, but who’s that hiding in the undergrowth?   All the Ronin had to do was to get out of the other side of the village. The Bandits would be rewarded for each Ronin they knocked 'Out of the Fight'. The Village Both sides spent the first turn moving towards the centre of the village. The Bandits rallying at the Torii gate, whilst local villagers looked on. The Bandits The Ronin The second turn saw both groups approach each other with weapons drawn. A couple of Ronin split off into the fields. Kanjani (Bandit's 2nd in command) raced after them. At the Torii Gate, the sides clashed. The leader of the bandits (Arashi) duelled with one of the Ronin, inflicting a wound and knocking his opponent down. Temaki (Leader of the Ronin) fought a couple of bandits, forcing them back with a shock token a pi

I am building out a new opponent for our Nightwatch games. Decided on a demon (Chaos) led group, but found myself lacking suitable figures to use as d6 Vermin troops. I looked around and saw the Nurglings that Games Workshop produce. However, they weren't cost-effective for the numbers I required.  Having a look around, and I discovered these 15 mm Cave Imps from CP Models . The great thing is that they make great 'proxy' Trolls, and that's the paint scheme I decided to go with. Painted Cave Imps Close up Close up 15 mm Cave imps vs Various 28 mm figures 15 mm Cave Imps vs 28 mm Human 15 mm Cave Imps vs 28 mm Dwarf

This is it, the end of a campaign that had taken just over a year to complete. Malicus Crane had been found hiding in his underground lair. Gandwarf, Legolan and Freddo all ascended to 'Master' level. This meant that they could respectively recruit (for free) a D10 Familiar companion, a D10 animal companion and an Initiate level Alchemist. On top of this, the Pact had recruited five D10 Hirelings and five D6 Hirelings. Onwards they ventured. Turn 1 The aim of this game was simple, eliminate Malicus Crane. The Pact split up, entering the crypt from two different entrances. Both forces used their action dice to cover as much ground as possible and hunt down Malicus Crane. The forces of evil deployed, with a Wraith (Terror) successfully defeating the animal companion in melee combat. Being a melee powerhouse, Malicus Crane revealed himself, successfully attacking and eliminating a D6 melee hireling. Fortunately, a D10 Elf hireling proved to be more resilient.   Turn 2

Another 'find' in my local Forbidden Planet. Again from the 'Mortal Realms' magazine. This is Sigmar statue. The magazine suggests painting it all as a stone statue, but (to me) it looks too intricate for a stonemason to carve. Therefore, I have tried for a weathered bronze effect on the statue, with parts picked out with gold and the base painted in shades of grey.

With work related interruptions gone, it was time to get back to our Nightwatch campaign. The search for Malicus Crane had led the Pact to a remote region infested with his minions. The subsequent goal is to rind the area of as many of his minions as possible. Having lost Gimmi the Dwarf last time out, the Pact needed a new team member. A choice was made, and an additional wizard was recruited. Based on a private joke, she was eventually named 'Myamee'. The Pact was supported by 5 D10 hirelings (a mixture of ranged and melee) plus the surviving D10 and D8 ranged hirelings. Turn 1 Spotting the higher ground in the centre of the table, the Pact split and raced towards it. Minions deployed at spawning points 2 and 3. Due to failed dice rolls, their advance stalled, and they failed to attack the Pact.   Turn 2 Having two wizards in the Pact really started to pay off. Myamee managed to eliminate a number of Wraiths (Terrors) with successive 'Mage Bolts'. Gandwarf

Real life has intervened, and hobby time has been impacted by work. As a result, I haven't played a game for a while. However, I have had time to paint up scenery. These are Games Workshop 'Gryph Hound' statues from the Warhammer: Mortal Realms magazine . £7.99 gets you two statues and a magazine guide. I am reliably informed that this equates to a 50% saving on their retail price. I recycled most of the magazine, only keeping the assembly instructions and the painting guide.

Reinforced after their last mission, the Pact decided to resume their search for Malicus Crane. This time, the Pact were supported by 4 D10 and 4 D8 Hirelings. Having experienced failure before doing a search, a different approach was required. Turn 1 The initial plan was to get the fastest movers (Gandwarf and Legolan) to the furthest corners as quickly as possible, and then complete the required searching. However, both experienced failed rolls and could only move 21".  Elsewhere, Gimme and Freddo would move as fast as they could to the nearest corners. This time, the Hirelings were positioned to protect the primary Pact members from the spawning points. This strategy worked as two Wraiths (D10) moved to intercept one of our D8 Hirelings. Despite putting up a good fight, the Hireling was defeated by the Wraiths.   Turn 2 Gimme and Freddo managed to scout their respective corners and shifted their attention to helping the other members of the Pact. Our D10 and D8 Rang