Of Dryads, Star Destroyers And A Broken Promise - Not To Mention, Bloody Clavers and the Duke Of Regina's Finest.

I am just as busy as always with my day job as a figure painter. In fact I am having to work longer hours as the number and f account check stompers increases seemingly every month. Mind you, I am not complaining as I see many other painters with very slack workloads.

This has meant that my 'Me' time is in short supply, just as several things begin to take form at the planning stage.

Firstly, I've been reading and re-reading the Laserburn rules and trying to decide on whether to use the old Citadel Traveller range of figures, or the of dial Laserburn models.I used both back in 1982/83 so it's a really hard choice, let me tell you.

I have also been reading the first book my wife bought me, back in 1989, 'Bonnie Dundee' a history of Viscount Dundee who raised the clans in 1689 and met his death at Killikrankie. It's much prettier than the 1745 rising with a few pikemen still in evidence. I am sorely missed emptied to construct two armies in 15mm, but again, time is my enemy.

Last weekend saw me play Star Wars: Armada for the first time and I thoroughly enjoyed it as did my gaming buddy, Dave. We played with three ships, and I fear that I may have bought one or two ships too many.

Here are my two fleets so far, with Dave shown for purposes of scale:



Give or take I think there's around £800 worth of models there and we used £80 worth and had some damn fine games indeed!

Now, I mentioned the theme of a broken promise in the title, and I confess that despite my stalwart positions on both 28mm gaming and the GW 'Age Of Sigmar' system, I have not only taken a fresh look at the possibilities of those rules now that the latest 'General's Handbook' has been released, but yesterday I made one of this 'on a whim' purchases that you will know by now are a hallmark of your corespondent which time and wisdom have not been able to temper.

I was perusing the best known auction site when I happened to come across a rather pretty 'Sylvaneth' army from the A.O.S game - essentially an army of Ents and Dryads to those of us who remember a time before Warhammer and plastic figures not made by Airfix and Matchbox.

It was temptingly priced at £300 or best offer, and so, I made an offer which was accepted and became the owner of:
Treelord Ancient.
Spirit of Durthu (Conversion).
Treelord Conversion (used as Hurricanum). 
Drycha Hammadreth.
Branchwych.
Branchwraith.
3 Kurnoth Hunters with Greatbows.
3 Kurnoth Hunters with Scythes.
5 Tree Revenants.
5 Spite Revenants.
30 Dryads.
1 Sylvaneth Battletome.


I suppose some would say that it will all end in tears and failed saving throws, but to my mind, that's an allegory for life...
Moving on; Upon that fateful day way back in the dark mists of time, that GW opened in Sheffield, they had various sci-fi nuts dressed in assorted (and original) outfits. There were no cosplayers back then. 
These people were the geek elite and you may imagine how the heart of a barely teenage I nearly burst with pure escapism of it all.
I always wanted to put a costume together which was based on the Traveller 'Military' 15mm figures, which is essentially a modified U.S Army uniform of the Cold War era. 

Now at last, with the unit T'shirts from FFE, I think I can do it...


4518th Lift Infantry Regiment
The 4518th is a typical Star Marine Regiment assigned to defend the empire against the many threats that it may face. The 4518th is based on Regina in the Spinward Marches. 
Worn under a modified M1 helmet and M60 battledress, coupled with a few bits of tech and webbing this should evoke the feel of the Traveller universe nicely. 


154th Battle Rider Squadron 



With this T-shirt I'd wear a grey one piece flight suit, a few bits of tech and Nome gloves, with perhaps a repainted X-Wing pilot's helmet and black assault boots. 

 You can check them out here:



And that's about it for the present

Comments

  1. Steve Williams27 September 2017 at 23:13

    Armada's a game that I enjoy from time to time although I think I've only ever won three games. That's certainly a decent collection of ships you have between you.

    I just received a copy of MGP's Traveller through the post after listening to the Grognard Files - they discuss the model range in one of their Traveller episodes.

    That's another great bargain with regards to the Sylvaneth army.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mark Hides28 September 2017 at 00:20

    Between? No, those are just mine...

    ReplyDelete

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