Saturday, July 1, 2023

Dragon Rampant AAR - Hill Giants vs. Frost Giants - Father's Day 2023 Epic

 Welcome fellow Grognards and Young Guard!


It has been awhile since I've posted an After Action Report for a battle at the house.  Below for your enjoyment are some pics from the re-match between my daughter and I playing Dragon Rampant!  For those who don't recall, our last match-up between the Frost Giants and the Western Men did not fair well for this Grognard.   See the blog for that AAR.  


Score:  Young Guard Daughter: 1, Grognard: 0.  


In this match, we threw down on Father's Day, a very tight quarter, mostly hand to hand battle between two waring Giant Factions.  The Frost Giants came down from the wintery heights, to take more land from the Hill Giants.  The Hill Giants, receiving word from their minions, gathered the assistance of their Ogre followers to do battle.



































The forces collided with the Ogres and Snow Trolls squaring off on the left wing.  Having taken the worst of the slugfest, the Snow Trolls retreated, only to eventually be followed up and seen off the table. 

On the opposite flank, the Winter Wolves charged into the Ogres.  The combat raged and wolves dropped to the ground under the clubs of the ogres.  Retreating, but not yielding, they again raged forward into the Hill Giant King who had made his way to the sounds of battle.  With his Blessed Weapon (club al a 'Bobby the Barbarian') he made short work of the remaining pups.

It was time for the Giants on both sides to weigh in.  The Frost Giant King dispatched one of the Hill Giant Bodyguards before The Frost Giant King and Frost Giant Bodyguard made short work of the remaining Ogres on the left flank of the Hill Giants. The Frost Giant Bodyguard took care of the Hill Giant Hunter and Dire Cat.  Next he made short work of the remaining Ogre and other Hill Giant Bodyguard.

The Hill Giant King surge forward and dispatched one of the Frost Giant Bodyguards, before turning to square off with the King of the Frost Giants. 

What of the Frost Giant Queen looming in the back of the battle field you say?  Owe, she weaved her evil magic into the battle throughout the game, healing points of strength on her Frost Giant King and Bodyguards at optimal times, while throwing a Power Bolt or two at units at opportune moments to help win combats for her Frosty side.

And so, it came down to four units total on the board and the random die roll began to end the game.  The game continued to go for many turns until only the final slaying of the Hill Giant King ended the game.  A totals massacre of the Hill Giant Army by the Frost Giants!

Running Grognard vs. Young Guard Daughter Scoreboard: 

Young Guard Daughter: 2

Grognard: 0

A great Father's Day battle!  One to long remember.  

Next up, FIRE GIANT ARMY!


Until next time, GAME ON!

Dragon Rampant - Frost Giant Army Expanded


 Hello fellow Grognards and welcome to the New Guard!


Playing catch-up on posting some of my work so far this year.  Next up on the list is my expanded Frost Giant Army for Dragon Rampant.  The Giants and Winter Wolves models are from Reaper and the Snow Trolls are from Mantic.  The last being the latest update to the army.  I also went back and rebased the models with the new method I picked up from Jaye Wiley at Wiley Games from his YouTube video.  Added some snow as well to emphasis the cold of their presence.  Enjoy!


FROST GIANT ARMY

                                                                FROST GIANT KING

                                                               FROST GIANT QUEEN

                                                            FROST GIANT BODYGUARD

                                                          FROST GIANT BODYGUARD

                                                                    FROST GIANTS

                                                                    SNOW TROLLS

                                                                    SNOW TROLLS

                                                                    WINTER WOLVES

                                                                       WINTER WOLVES


FROST GIANT ARMY (36 Pts)

Frost Giant King w/ Blessed Weapon: 8 pts.  [Elite Foot]

Frost Giant Queen (Wizardling): 8pts.  [Elite Foot]

    Spells:  Heal Thee! Power Bolt!  Sharper Blades!

Frost Giant Bodyguard: 6 pts.  [Elite Foot]

Frost Giant Bodyguard:  6 pts.  [Elite Foot]

Snow Trolls:  4pts. [Bellicose Foot] (Reduced model unit)

Winter Wolves: 4 pts. [Lesser Warbeasts]


PAINTED MINIATURES SCOREBOARD:

2021 Painted Miniatures: 169

2022 Painted Miniatures: 214

2023 Painted Miniatures: 51


Next up, a After Action Report for a match up on this past Father's Day between the Grognard and his Young Guard Daughter.  Hill Giants vs. Frost Giants!


Until next time, GAME ON!

Dragon Rampant - Hill Giant Army

 Hello fellow Grognards!  


I know it has been awhile since my last post, but I have been busy, very busy.  Quite a few projects on the burner and a ton of painting completed, so I have quite a backlog of posting to do.  So let's get started!

Dragon Rampant armies have been high on the work list.  Below is a look at my new Hill Giant Army (36pts.).  Models are all from Reaper Miniatures as I try to use as many non-GW models as possible to add variety to my armies.  

I have also made some custom unit cards for the Army and now have them in hard plastic card sleeves for durability and game play.  An example below.  Hope to upload them to the site for your use.  Enjoy!


                                                                HILL GIANT ARMY

HILL GIANT KING

                                                  HILL GIANT HUNTER w/ DIRE CAT


                                                                          OGRES

                                                                        OGRES

                                                                        OGRES

                                                                        OGRES

                                                                        OGRES

Hill Giant Army List:  36 pts.

Hill Giant King with Blessed Weapon (8pts.) [Elite Foot]

Hill Giant Beastmaster with Dire Cat (8pts.) [Elite Foot]

    Note:  Dire Cat is counted as "shooting" for the unit.

Hill Giant Bodyguard (6pts.) [Elite Foot]

Hill Giant Bodyguard (6pts.) [Elite Foot]

Ogres (4pts.) [Bellicose Foot] (Reduced Model Unit)

Ogres (4pts.) [Bellicose Foot]  (Reduced Model Unit)


UNIT CARD EXAMPLE:

Print, cut, fold and slip into a hard case card sleeve!



Models are all from Reaper Miniatures as I try to use as many non-GW models as possible to add variety to my armies.


PAINTED MINIATURES SCOREBOARD:

2021 Painted Miniatures: 169

2022 Painted Miniatures: 214

2023 Painted Miniatures: 48


Next-up, my expanded Front Giant Army for Dragon Rampant followed by a Battle Report, Frost Giants vs. Hill Giants!


Until next time fellow Grognards and Young Guard!  Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum and.....Game On!

Saturday, February 18, 2023

Simple Conversions for Galactic Heroes or Xenos Rampant - Gran Raider aka Ree Yees

Welcome fellow Wargamers to another installment of 'Of Dice and Army Men'!

Before I get too deep into the armies I have painted for Dragon Rampant, I have been working on a little side project for Galactic Heroes or Xenos Rampant.  It all started with an idea I had a few years ago and the Gran Raider figure from Star Wars Miniatures Game.


As you can see, this guy is not properly outfitted, in my humble opinion, for survival in the Star Wars universe.  He, for whatever reason, is bringing a knife to a blaster fight.

Now these minis are fairly cheap, likely for that very reason.  I have acquired a few and an evil plan has began to take shape!  Evil, quite evil....


As goes with the Grognard name, I have been playing wargames for quite some time.  I was introduced to table top wargames back in 1992, by some friends who were playing Warhammer 40K, Rogue Trader.  Times were different then, and we purchased boxes of plastic marines, 30 to a box if I recall correctly and just built our chapters out to massive numbers.  To do the same today, would like run the same cost as funding the next space shot to Mars.  But I digress...

So, having had many 'beakie' marines, I also was left with a pile of alternate arms, weapons, and accessories.

Lighting struck and when I saw this Gran Raider, he was destined to go under the knife.  Through the wonders of conversion, I removed both his arms (into the bits box they went) and glued on a right and left arm from my 'beakie' marine bits box.

I painted some additional details onto the marine arms to match the existing details on the Gran Raider model, repeat and 'voila', a squad of troops ready for the Galactic Heroes game!



 With some use of a power glove and bolter from the bits, I created a 'Sergeant' for the squad as well.


So, here is the full squad for your review.



There are many minis out there that can be repurposed and converted for your games.  In many cases, they can be done cheaply as well.


PAINTED MINIATURES SCOREBOARD:

2021 Painted Miniatures: 169

2022 Painted Miniatures: 214

2023 Painted Miniatures: 35


Until next time fellow Grognards and Young Guard, keep your fingers clear of your Xacto knife and Game On!

 

2023 - Playing Catch-up - Planet of the Apes

 

Welcome back fellow Wargamers!  It has been some time since my last post.  The good news is that I have been busy painting and hitting some conventions, so have much to share.

I've made and executive decision and have decided to count any of my un-blogged miniatures in late 2022 in my painted miniatures for 2023.  I feel like getting them posted is part of the deal.

One of the late entries is something I had hoped to find and be able to put on the wargaming table for a long time.

Planet of the Apes!  Not the remake of course, but the classic!  Charlton Heston (Taylor), Roddy McDowall (Cornelius), Kim Hunter (Zira) and, who could forget, Linda Harrison (Nova)!

Finding miniatures has been a challenge to say the least.  I finally stumbled across three sources.

An ebay seller, 'batval' has a large collection of Gorillas on foot, Mounted Gorillas and some character figures that seem to represent Cornelius and Zaius.

The second, is from Crooked Dice 7TV and they also have foot and mounted Gorillas but also offer more character figures for Cornelius, Zeus, General Ursus and Zira.

The third is a British company called Aintsy and they too have Gorillas on foot and mounted similar to those sold on ebay by 'batval' but have a variety of weaponry.  Also, the mounted sculpts are different poses, although all appear to be the same size.  They also offer a command groups of General Ursus and his lieutenants, but they also offer a mounted General Ursus and lieutenant and a groups they call 'Smart Apes' which look like Cornelius, Zira, Zaius and other orangutans.  Since they are UK, I have not yet been able to find a US stockist (that actually has stock).  Noble Knight Games shows they had once carried them in 2022, but has not restocked them since.  Whimper...

Enough talk and now for some images of the Apes!

First up, Zaius and Cornelius with some Gorilla Soldiers.


Next, a squad of Gorilla soldiers!  I have actually painted a few squads, but all are similar scuplts.


Next up, 6 mounted Gorilla soldiers.







Finally a few shots of the entire Gorilla Army!




30 models in all, and ready to fight!  I'm looking to use these in Xenos Rampant as well as Fistful of Lead Wasteland Warriors or Galactic Heroes.

You might notice there is no Taylor, Ursus, or Nova in the pics.  I have found Ursus model and a few others from Crooked Dice 7TV and will hopefully have them painted up soon.  I have found a stand-in for Nova, as no one seems to have made her in miniature (why, I can't fathom!)  That leaves Taylor.  I have scoured the mini manufactures and haven't found anything I can use, either in his space suit or in his tattered rags.  Any idea, I'd appreciate letting me know.

So, the race has officially began for 2023!


PAINTED MINIATURES SCOREBOARD:

2021 Painted Miniatures: 169

2022 Painted Miniatures: 214

2023 Painted Miniatures: 30


Spoiler alert!  Upcoming armies to add to the painted list for 2023 include a run of fantasy armies for Dragon Rampant and Fistful of Lead Fantasy.

Orc Army

Goblin Army

Vampire Army

Arachnid Army

And currently on the painting desk is an army I wanted to put together for a long time...

Army of Anubis (including the Scorpion King!)

Also, I will be adding some pics from 2022 and 2023 Gigabytes Historical Days as well as Siege of Augusta 2023!

Until next time fellow Grognards and Young Guard, may the pile of unpainted plastic and lead never blot the sun from your sky...and Game On!