6mm Fantasy Project

I had started on a 6mm fantasy project a while back but, unsurprisingly, I got sidetracked on other projects (including my 2-year old son). Still I kept at it and so far I have 9 bases of elves and 3 bases of orcs for Fantasy Rules! I plan to fight battles in early Middle Earth so I'll do elves and orcs and eventually humans and dwarves. Most of the figs are from Irregular Miniatures with the only exception being so far the High Elven pikes which come from Baccus.

Here are the pikes. They'll form the backbone of my battle line. Lovely figs, easy to paint. I don't think I did them enough justice as the amount of detail is phenomenal.

The other options for the main battle line are archers and swordsmen. I have a lot of Irregular archers but I've only painted one base so far. I also have some Baccus archers that I'll use for the elite regiments of the King's guard.

The Irregular Cavalry is also superb. I'll only use 2 bases for now as I want an infantry-heavy army. I might get some Baccus horsemen to use as heavy cavalry and Irregular Wood Elves to use as light cavalry. We'll see.
Finally my monsters: ents as heavy monsters and giant eagles for small flying monsters. One ent and two eagles per base look pretty good in my eyes.

In its final form, the army will have another 3-5 bases of archers, 2 bases of swordsmen, 2 ballistae, 2 heavy chariots, 2 bases of small monsters (giant eagles) and one of large (ents). This, together with characters and sundry stuff will give me up to 1300-1500 points, large enough for large battles and some mixing and matching. Hopefully the elves will be done before Christmas this year.

Have a great day from (yet again sunny) Athens.

Non-conventional fantasy

By definition, all fantasy in non-conventional, however elves, dwarves, orcs and goblins have become a mainstay of the genre's literature and wargaming. Not so with lionmen. Other than the old (but very good) Red Steel box set for 2nd edition AD&D and Thundercats, humanoid big cats have not featured in any major books or games (if I am wrong, please enlighten me).

So who should my Lion Men face against? Are they good or are they evil? Where do they live? Who are their neighbours? After utilizing my powers of Google-Fu I've come up with a lot of potential enemies and allies for my warband. Rhino-men, hyena-men and jaguar-men, oh my. Before deciding on adversaries, I started to visualize the corner of the world where the battles would take place and how the Lion Men would fit in the greater scheme of things.

Lion Men (and Lion Centaurs) are a group of tribes or hunter-gatherers living in a great savanna plain, somewhere south-east in my fantasy world. To the north lie tall mountains with forbidding heights and treacherous passes. To the south, near the equator, sweltering dark jungles. Due to the image that the lion has in our culture, Lion Men are good and noble.

So who are their opponents? Hyena-Men are definitely good enemies. Splintered Light makes them and I've ordered a skirmish pack from them already. Hyena-Men are the age-old adversary of the Lion-Men. They are cannibalistic, vile creatures that prey on lion cubs (a delicacy for the Hyena-Man palate) and have tamed Terror Birds (think of them as big ostriches) to use as mounts. For centuries the slow war between Hyena-Man and Lion-Man has been waged across the savanna with no side being granted an advantage.

To the periphery of the savanna, I've placed high mountains and forbidding jungles. The mountains are the home of the Lynx-Men and Gryphon-Men. Again, noble and good creatures and allies of the Lion-Men. The jungles are dominated by the Jaguar-Men, distant cousins of the Lynx-Men, given to dark sorcery and necromancy.

Some interesting options also available are Meerkat Men (available from Magister Militum), Dogmen (from 15mm.co.uk), Rhino-Men and more Lion-Men (from East Riding Miniatures) and Snake-Men (from Armies of Arcana). There is still plenty more weirdness out there (Duck-Men anyone) but I think I'll pass for now.

Next step? Make a rough map of the area and start making some scenery. Patches of high grass, copses of trees , a village surrounded by a zarreba... All of this is rather easy to make and not specific enough to limit their use to fantasy wargaming or the particular area (as far as I'm concerned trees are trees). And paint up those Hyena-Men when they show up.

My Lionman Warband

I really like the Song of Blades and Heroes game system. I've started off with the basic rule book and expanded with most of the supplements available. If you are into fantasy skirmish wargaming I highly recommend it. If you are into other periods, they offer a Napoleonics and a Modern version as well. I've gotten both (it's hard to resist at the prices Andrea is charging) but I haven't had a chance to playtest them yet.

Initially I tried to game with 20mm figures. Unfortunately the amount of figures available for 20mm fantasy wargaming is rather low. Lots of humans are available, but the amount of non-human races and monsters available is anywhere between low and pathetic. So I decided to try 15mm-scale figs. After window-shopping and asking around at The Miniatures Page, I settled down to ordering some figs from Splintered Light Miniatures. They offer some skirmish packs, I guess for Song of Blades and Heroes (although you can stat any miniature, SoBH has some lists in every book). I ordered some singles from the excellent Archer Collection, a big troll and the Leonine Blood Pride Warband. Ten figs of Lion men including a Lion Hero and a Lion Centaur Hero, 2 Lion Warriors, 2 Lion Centaurs and 2 Smilodon Warriors. The figures arrived in little time and needless to say I was highly impressed with what I saw. Crisp sculpting and excellent casting with very little flash. In no time they were primed and painting commenced.

Now, when I was thinking of a scale other than 20mm for fantasy wargaming, folks were dead-set against 15mm for skirmish wargaming and RPG use. The figures are too small, they are difficult to distinguish on the table and so on and so forth. Apparently, these aren't. I went for simple bold colours and simple patterns, a wash and highlighting. The results are great for a pack that costs less than many 28mm single figs.

Here are my Lion Centaurs

Here is my my Lion Hero with one of the Centaurs

All in all, great figs for a very very good price. The pack gives you close to 500 points, quite a bit considering the average SoBH is 300 points. The figures are all good solid melee fighters, with high mobility (in the Centaurs) and hard-hitting power (the Smilodons). Ranged firepower is missing, but I'm thinking of getting the Leonine Dark Pride Warband as well. This will provide me with some adversaries for my Leonines (in the form of the "evil", at least in my mind, panthers) and some lions for harassment.

I'll try them out against my dwarven warband when I get the chance (and the gaming table cleaned up). That's all for now from unseasonably warm Athens.