The family is back from our yearly vacation in the lovely island of Sifnos and as work has not started yet for the neither SWMBO or myself I still have some free time left.Here's some pics of my orc and goblin warband for the Song of Blades and Heroes system. I think I'll be using the stats straight from the books for most of the minis but I still haven't settled down as to what I'll do with the warg.

All the miniatures come from Splintered Light. If you haven't looked them up, please do. They have some of the best 15mm fantasy miniatures available and they are very pleasant to deal with. There are several packs in the orc and goblin range, but I started off with the basic stuff (command, warriors, goblin scouts, warg and troll).Here is the command element. The Orc chieftain is an exquisite fig with plenty of available detail. So is the standard bearer. The shaman gave me a bit of trouble because I think I sprayed the primer on too thick. Still I think it came out OK. My only problem is the lack of a musician, but that's not a great problem. I think that a musician is available in the savage orc command pack.
The orc warriors and goblin scouts are pretty straightforward figs but they are exceptionally sculpted, with plenty of available detail. A pack of heavy orc infantry and another of orc archers have become available recently and they'll be in my shopping list for my next order (probably around Xmas).
Here is the best figure of the whole range in my honest opinion; the warg. Now, this is what a warg should look like. Big, bad and bone-chillingly frightening. If you are into 15mm fantasy BUY THIS MINI! I cannot recommend it enough. The amount of detail is amazing and the size is spot on for what is supposed to be a giant wolf that eats people with a single bite.

And here is the troll. There are two trolls available in the line and I'll be getting the other one at some time too. I'm not sure that this is close to my idea of a troll, but it is pleasantly big and mean-looking.

Eventually I'll add more options to my available figs for the orc and goblin warband. Savage orcs, goblins, orc slave master, savage hyena cavalry and so on and so forth. The options are practically endless.

That's all for now from windy Athens. Have a great night y'all.

Nobody tosses the dwarf!

Here are some Eureka 18mm dwarves I painted a couple of months back. Although advertised as 18mm, they are closer in scale to 20mm so they are suitable for 1/72-1/76 gaming. At that time I still thought I would be able to wargame fantasy in 20mm. Alas, my efforts were in vain. As much as I tried, all I could do was dwarves, some few elves, some orcs and undead. No dark elves, no derro, no trolls, no nothing. I switched to 15mm fantasy instead where the pickings are anything but slim. These will be a bit tall for dwarves, especially in 15mm, but I'll deal with it. I ordered one pack of crossbowmen, axemen, spearmen and command. This set me back around 20 pounds (plus shipping and handling) but has given me enough dwarves for at least 2 warbands for the Song of Blades and Heroes game. Here is the first batch:

Miniatures in the Song of Blades and Heroes are divided into personalities and warriors. Personalities have special abilities that set them aside from the average fighter. They may be leaders, heroes, magic users, clerics, or just plain tough and mean.
In this case I painted 2 miniatures that can be used as personalities. Here is the leader (or hero) with his banner bearer and horn blower. The hero is the largest of all the miniatures. He is probably as large as old Airfix figs. Not quite dwarfish, but he looks good on the table. The banner bearer is a particularly imposing miniature and the dragon standard is very well sculpted. The other personality is a magic user or cleric (can be used for either). A 300-point warband will not have room enough for both of them, but he's a useful option, especially if you know you'll be facing undead.
The warriors are a mixed bunch. I've used axemen, spearmen, dwarves with hammers and a few crossbowmen. With the short movement, some shooting may be useful to whittle down the enemy some.
The figures took me about 10 days to complete. There was minimal cleaning up to do and the miniatures pretty much paint themselves. One of the axemen was a bit complicated as I could not figure out the layers of the armour, but that was the only difficulty I faced. I still have enough miniatures left to make another full warband and then some.
Here's some work almost complete; support units for my late WWII german platoon. Everything is almost painted up and the wash has been applied. After that, all I'll have left to do is highlights, painting up the bases and spray some mat varnish. I hope I'll be done by the middle of next week with them. After that? As you can see, plenty of work awaits me.
Have a great night from chilly (for once) Athens.

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.