Brave Sir Roberte!

I painted this old Games Workshop Empire Knight for our English Civil War campaign.  Sir Roberte here is going to be a senile old knight who believes Queen Elizabeth was reborn in the Land of Youth and has returned to take back her throne.  This delusion is being exploited by a corrupted priest and a band of thugs complete with their "Queen Elizabeth" and her handmaidens. 

Cavaliers and Roundheads (was Blew Cotes) "Raid on the Pleasant Pig" a D&D 5E Historic Campaign report

 October 22nd 1642, Edgcote England.  The Army of King Charles I had set out from Shrewsbury to attack the Earl of Essex's army at Worchester but had then decided to advance towards London.  Quartered in the village of Edgecote many of the King's Welsh troops were without proper weapons.  Captain Owain Hewitt, a pioneer captain in Sir Thomas Lunsford's regiment, had received word of a Parliamentary recruiting station that had been set up at an Inn called "The Pleasant Pig" outside of Banbury.  The innkeeper, Dennis Woode, was a loyalist to the King and had sent a message that the Roundheads had stored a large cache of weapons and munitions in the old stables of his Inn that was guarded by a half a dozen trained band  soldiers.  Captain Hewitt had few resources with many of his pioneer's out gathering provisions and scouting for the enemy so he turned to what few people he had left.  Corporal Charles Osbury and Mable Banks along with private soldiers Plunket, and Towne were assigned the task of stealing the cache and rescuing the Dennis Woode and his wife Ester.
    

Upon arrival at the Pleasant Pig the Royalist party decided to approach from the Northeast but unfortunately a patrol of sentries with mastiffs spotted them.  After chasing them about a hundred yards through the woods the Roundheads discharged their muskets unsuccessfully then turned back to the inn. 

After waiting over an hour the Royalist tried to approach the in this time from the Northwest.  Again they encountered the patrol and the mastiffs caught their sent barking loudly at their position.

Mable Banks attempted to convince them that she needed their aid but as she stepped out from behind a tree she stumbled and her cloak slipped revealing that she was armed.  Using her crossbow she dispatched one of the mastiffs then turned and ran.

Miss Banks was shot by one of the Roundheads as she fled over the hill towards the rest of her party. 

The mastiff that was chasing Miss Banks turned on Towne.  One of the Roundheads drew his backsword and engaged Corporal Osbury but he was cut down.  

The rest of the Parliamentarians had arrived and the two parties exchanged shots.  Towne was struck by a musket ball but remained in the fight.  Corporal Osbury shot one of the Roundheads with a pistol but only lightly wounded him.

The remaining sentry gallantly picked up Miss Banks in an attempt to get her to the safety of the Inn before she died.

Corporal Osbury drew his backsword and dispatched the remaining mastiff that was attacking Towne.

The sentry managed to get Miss Banks to the Inn where the Innkeeper's wife was able to help stabilize her.   

Corporal Osbury picked up the Musket of the Roundhead he ran through and the two parties exchanged a couple of volleys of musket fire.  Two of the Parliamentarians were shot down in the exchange.   

The Roundhead sergeant and the surviving private fled for a more covered position of the stables ducking Royalist fire as they ran.

Despite his gallantry, being loyalist to the King the Innkeeper and stable hand set on the sentry with club and pitchfork.

Taking the hill the Royalist exchanged more fire with the sergeant and private but due to the good cover both parties had no shots struck their targets.

Seeing one of his men in trouble the Roundhead sergeant charged the stable hand cutting him down with his halberd.

Plunket was shot down by the man at the stables.  Osbury and Towne returned fire but missed again.

After another exchange Towne and the Corporal managed to dispatch the musketeer at the stables.  Towne rushed over to tend to Plunket.  

Corporal Osbury moved down the hill and shot the Parliamentarian Sergeant.  The Innkeeper and his wife continued their melee with the last Roundhead.    

Being heavily outnumbered at this point the last Parliamentarian fled down the Road towards Banbury.

Towne managed to stabilize Plunket just before he bled out on the hill.  He then gathered his comrade up and carried him to the safety of the Inn.

Corporal Osbury chased the remaining Roundhead down the Road.  The soldier turned and shot him but only lightly wounded him.

The Parlimentarian soldier continued to flee and it looked like he might get away but Osbury managed to take him down with a long ranged shot.

The Roundhead Sergeant and one of his men managed to survive their wounds. and they were taken captive by the Royalist party.  The Inkeeper helped Corporal Osbury and Towne load the arms and munitions onto a wagon while Plunket and Mable Banks rested.  Though they had all been wounded the Royalist party decided to return to their camp with their prize, prisoners, and the rescued loyalist.

Back in camp at Edgecote Captain Hewitt praised the party for their success.  Being wounded in the skirmish the four Royalist stayed in camp the next day and did not participate in the Battle of Edgehill which resulted in a draw although due to their efforts many Royalist were able to participate in the battle with proper equipment.

Note:  This was the first session for a Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition game I am running for my wife and son.  It is a strict historic game with no magic or fantasy elements because my son is not a big fan of fantasy settings.  We are using just the Fighter and Rogue classes that are appropriate for such a game but they are very flexible with numerous options to create historic style adventurers.  My son is out of school for the quarantine and my wife is working from home so we will be doing some short games to pass the time and perhaps do something educational as well.       

Revenant Archipelago "Pirate Air Support"

Winter in the Revenant Archipelago had been cold and brutal.  Fort Destitute was well stocked two months ago but now the supplies were dwindling.  Attempts were made to get supplies from Port Freehold on the main island to the northwest but a group of pirates and their Manticore ally have been attacking the supply boats making trips between the two settlements.  Most of the boats had been attacked and many of their crew killed.  It was getting difficult to find sailors willing to attempt the journey.  

This prompted Count Leo Kiesling of Port Freehold to raise the bounty on the marauding manticore to 120 gold crowns.  Syr Jamie of had put up twice as many wanted posters around the fort when the bounty was increased.  

The manticore had already been encountered at the start of winter by a band of bounty hunters operating out of Fort Destitute.  They had managed to drive off the beast but they had been nearly killed in the process.  Seeing a need to dispatch the creature once and for all some of those same individuals set out to claim the bounty.  Himo the elf, Astrid, and Nemetona decided to head northwest in the direction that the manticor's lair was reported to be in to track it and the pirates down.  

 Shortly after leaving the Fort they were ambushed by an Ogre who charged Astrid and after a short exchange of blows the mercenary woman was knocked out.

Himo and Nemetona were able to bring the creature down after which they administered a healing potion to Astrid and pressed on.  

As they reached the northwestern shore they began to search for along the coastline for the base of the pirates and manticore.  They hadn't searched long when they were attacked by three Hobgoblins.  

 They managed to kill two of their attackers but one of the Hobgoblins fled.  Himo managed to chase him down and drop him with a well aimed arrow.  After searching the bodies they discovered that the Hobgoblins had several packs of Iron Rations stamped with the logo of the Sea Lion Trading Company from Port Freehold as well as a few freshly minted Imperial coins.  This led them to believe that the Hobgoblins were the pirates that had been attacking the supply boats delivering supplies to Fort Destitute.  They chose to rest for an hour to recover their stamina then Astrid picked up their tracks so that they could find the pirate camp. 

They followed the track along the coastline until they came to an area of 50 foot high cliffs.  They noticed two Hobgoblin lookouts in foxholes with blinds using spyglasses to survey the narrow straight between Desolation Island and Freehold Island.  The attempted to sneak up on the lookouts but one of the Hobgoblins noticed them as blew his hunting horn to sound the alarm.  One of the Hobgoblins was dispatched quickly but the other rappelled down the cliff side onto a ledge and made a break for a cave in the cliff face.  He was dispatched with arrows from Himo and Astrid.     

The party drug the Hobgoblin lookout that they had killed away from the cliff and began discussing whether they should press on or return to the fort and turn in the Ogre and Hobgoblin heads they had taken for bounty.  Not long after they began discussing their options the manticore came roaring over the edge of the cliff slinging tail spikes at them.  Himo was quick enough to duck for cover but Nemetona and Astrid were both struck.

After a furious exchange of tail spikes and arrows Hobgoblin reinforcements climbed up the cliff with their grappling hooks and ropes to join the fray.  

Astrid was taken down by another volley of tail spikes.  Nemetona rushed over to revive her with a healing potion but they were now fighting the Hobgoblins.  

Himo managed to drive the manticore back to it's lair but the Hobgoblins had fully engaged by then.  

Astrid and Nemetona charged the Hobgoblin archers while Himo provided covering fire with his longbow.  

The bounty hunters managed to dispatch the Hobgoblins but it was a nasty fight and Astrid was in pretty bad shape.  They decided to expend the rest of their healing potions and keep pursuing the manticore rather than allowing the beast a chance to rest up.  

 Being human Astrid and Nemetona had to construct makeshift torches before they could explore the cave.  Himo scouted ahead and found the Hobgoblin's den and a larger cave but he couldn't find the Manticore.

While exploring the cave they discovered a small treasure hoard but the manticore had been hiding in a muddy pool of water and when they got close enough he ambushed them.  

Astrid was wounded again but she in turn managed to badly wound the manticore.  Several blows and arrows were exchanged.  

Himo moved in an delivered the killing blow with an arrow to the creatures maw.  From the look of the treasure it was clear that this manticore and it's hobgoblin allies had been the ones attacking the supply boats.  There was a crate of Seal Lion Trading Company rations and several other trade goods.  

The hobgoblin den was also searched and some additional loot was found among their belongings.  They also found a large boat tied to a small dock at the base of the cliff under the cave mouth.  

Being pretty beat up the bounty hunters decided to set alarms at the cave mouth and spend the night resting in the hobgoblin den.  

In the morning they returned to Fort Destitute with their new boat and treasure.  Syr Jamie was pleased that they had ended the pirate threat and he promised to send word to Count Leo about the bounty hunter's exploits.  

DM Notes:  I started running a new West Marches campaign in the fall of 2019 in my new setting of The Revenant Archipelago.  So far the players have had a few of their characters gain some treasure and renown in Fort Destitute on Desolation island.  Most of them were abandoned there when the the ship they were traveling to the colonies on was damaged and decided to turn back to the Empire for repairs.  There are several island full of mysterious ruins and barbaric tribes scattered among the archipelago but only two small Imperial settlements.  In this open ended campaign each player will decide 

Tattered Angles French Roast Color Wash Paint Vs Games Workshop Agrax Earthshade

 I was in Hobby Lobby a few days ago and I saw this "Tattered Angles" color wash tint and I wondered if it would hold up against Games Workshop shades. 

 I selected the "French Roast" color because I wanted to see how it looked against Agrax Earthshade and it looked like the darkest brown wash available in the line.  The "Tattered Angles" line comes in 59ml bottles for $2.99 U.S. vs the 24ml Games Workshop bottles that I payed $7.50 U.S. for at my FLGS.  Now the "Tattered Angles" web site had these colors listed for $4.99 and the Games Workshop site had their shades listed at $7.80 but the Tattered Angles is a clear winner on price for volume. 
   

I painted up a couple of zombie miniatures with as close to an identical paint job as possible.  I used cheapo Delta Ceramcot for the base.  The only difference between the two zombies is their hair color.

I applied both washes liberally straight from the bottle with no dilution.  I could tell at this point that the French Roast was going to be a darker and cooler wash than the Agrax Earthshade.  Tattered Angles do have a "Latte" color that I may try to see if it matches Agrax Earthshade better.  Both washes seemed to behave in a similar fashion flowing nicely into the recessed areas without tide marks or over staining the highlights. 

Both washes dried as I expected.  The Agrax Earthshade was warmer and lighter in tone.  The French Roast was cooler and a little darker.  I think both shades preformed nicely.  I have a slight preference for the Agrax Earthshade on this model but I'm not put off by the French Roast now that I know how to handle it.  I think it will make a particularly nice armor wash.  For the price difference I really like the Tattered Angles wash.  It did seem to dry a little flatter than the Games Workshop shade which some people may or may not like.  If I was needed a dark wash for a big project I would seriously consider it.  

Painting my Warlord English Civil War Plastic Musketeers

I purchased a Pike and Shotte Infantry Regiment plastic boxed set of miniatures from Warlord Games a few years ago with the intent to use them for a swashbuckling style D&D campaign but that campaign died after a few sessions and I shelved the minis among my vast hoard of unpainted minis.  Recently my son has decided to get into wargaming but he is primarily interested in historic.  I have an 11 year old "Old Man" wargamer it would seem.  So I dug these out and we put some together. 

The kit is pretty nice but it does have a few flaws.  There are exactly enough heads for the miniatures in the kit.  Not one extra.  Don't drop one.  There also aren't many arm/weapon options.  You have to figure out which ones work with which bodies and not mess that up and there aren't a lot of options or left overs when you are done.  Also the pikes on the pikemen break if you breathe too heavily.

I primed these with Dupl-Color Sandable Automotive Primer in black because it's my favorite primer for metal an hard plastic minis.  I then drybrushed them with burnt umber.  I've found as I get older that I can't see details very well when I black prime so this helps me pick up those details.  Also I left some of the areas with just the burnt umber layer.  Mostly the boots and leather gear.  The brown also set a nice tone to paint over for these models.

When I painted their coats I used three different colors of red.  One a darker cool red, one a cool brighter red, and one a warmer bright red.  This works well for figures of these era because troop uniforms carried more than in later periods.  

Here you can see more of the details with their base coats painted in.  You can see how leaving the burnt umber saved me time on some of the details.  I washed the flesh with Games Workshop Reikland Fleshshade at this point.  No highlights at all because these are rank and file minis.  

I used Games Workshop Agrax Earthshade over the rest of the figure trying to avoid the flesh areas.  This tied the colors together and provided subtle gradations.  

I did some basic highlighting on the coats, pants, and hats but allowed the shading the provide gradation for the rest of the figures.  I really like a more basic paint job for rank and file historic miniatures.  Not only do you usually have to paint more of them but they just tent to look a little nicer on the tabletop with a basic paint job.  Notice I didn't paint the eyes in for the same reasons.