The 'Herd'

Heard about my herd ?

As I mentioned last week. I  put in two orders, from Arcane scenery and Steve Barber, sometime Sunday afternoon. Much to my surprise, the Arcane Scenery order arrived Tuesday morning - that's less than 48 hours since I ordered them! (I'm still awaiting the order from Steve Barber). 
I was awaiting the arrival of the DeeZee 'baby' mammoth so that I could paint all the mammoths at the same time. 

DZ animals, baby mammoth, wolves woolly rhino and elephant type thing

By Wednesday the flash had been filed away the figures mounted onto their bases (more credit cards etc.) and the gunge added.
Thursday saw me finishing off the bases with pva and sand then waiting for a chance to spray their undercoat in between rain showers.
 The first coats of base colour and skin colour for the mammoths was applied Thursday.
Friday was a complete loss due to a hospital visit in the morning (turns out I'm still ill, so no surprises there) and a clinic visit for a eye check that involves drops making you blind until nightfall ! (I could probably still have painted figures and I doubt anyone would have noticed the difference but nevertheless it wasn't until Saturday and Sunday that I made a big effort to complete the herd (now six figures strong !). I  finished them in the usual TWD style (see last week's post for explanation) and a coat of  matt varnish, still drying even as the photographs were taken.

Slightly different view (obligatory boring pic)

Rear view (obviously), for fans of these type of photos

Another rear view ( - bored yet ? I know I am.)

"Exciting  action" pic, showing something or other

OK so the mammoths weren't that difficult to paint, dark brown, orangey brown and a dark brown wash, what was surprising was how long it took and how much paint these big beasts use!
Oh for those still here, the tusks aren't white as I haven't  used white on figures for a long time as I find it too harsh (Daz white!). I use magnolia, which on models I find looks more natural (I know, I'll get my coat).

So that's it then for this week, next week the Thylancines will have been  re-painted as I wasn't too happy with them first time around and I'll probably make a start on the wolves,

That's it then for another week, thanks for taking the time to visit and as always your comments are both welcomed and truly appreciated.

The Clan - Completed

   The Full Clan

Yes, three or four gruelling hour-long sessions of finishing my prehistoric humans and they're finished or at least they're as finished as they'll ever be.
OK, so it wasn't really gruelling, just some shading and highlighting on the figures and bases, but it was soooooo boring! (I feel my attention span shortening by the day). But at least they're done with my usual TWD style (That Will DO).
Here's a few photos of them:

Rear view, for those that like that sort of thing

 After a brief exchange of emails with Steve Barber re my wayward order (four weeks not three as I stated last time), I finally received my order, not a large one but still substantial imo

A mere four items, a mammoth, a baby mammoth, a rat thing (a Diprotodon seemingly) and a pack of Thylacines (Tasmanian tiger/wolf). The latter went extinct as recently as the 20th century.
The mammoth was obviously  an IKEA product and of course went together as well as could be expected, with plenty of superglue, hot-glue and filler involved.
After receiving them I immediately went to work basing them all up and undercoating them:

Mother an baby (really small)

Steve Barber model female) on the left, DZ model on the right

The Thylacines, great models imho (but a bit blurry)

Their rears are not as blurry

The Rat-thing - that amuses me for some reason.

Rear view, suffering a bit from blurriness

I've also put in additional orders to both Arcane Scenery and Steve Barber for more varied prey for my hunters., as if I haven't got enough to paint already!
In addition I'll be udpdating and correcting my QRS thanks to the keen eye of Colgar6!

That's it then from me for this week, one I feel that has been very productive, despite my best efforts
not to be.
As always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.

Rules and Rulers

Despite my best efforts to finish off my cavemen this last week and sticking to my regime of painting at least an hour  a day, I still haven't finished my cavemen (and women) though they are very nearly complete, a little shading, highlighting , basing and varnishing will see them complete.
In addition to painting during the day light hours, I've also been making a Quick Reference Sheet as I wanted something I could hold in my hand and read. To this end, I put all four relevant pages onto an A3 sheet which, when checked,  will be laminated.
On the reverse of the sheet are all the relevant rules necessary to play the game, character options etc.
Here they are:

The Obverse of the QRS showing the four major animal reaction tables (plus the critters one)

The reverse of the QRS showing all the major rule bits needed

Scrap MDF (from my factory iirc)

Although I'm not a big fan of metric measuring in games (I'm old, leave me alone) and would have preferred the three measurement used - 75mm, 120mm and 180mm, to have been in inches (eg. 3", 5" and 7"  being the closest) or at the very least, comparative to a straight-forward conversion (approx 25mm to 1")  I have stuck to the original measurement and made some 'rulers' specifically for the game.

Bit of scrap card and a pair of £1 compasses

OK, they're not rulers, they're triangular templates, each edge being one of the three measurements used in the game and here's a photographic record of how they were made:

Template cut out and applied to the MDF

The finished article and yes, they could relevant info on them, but I'm an adult

Another piece of MDF scrap that I can get two more 'rulers' from

So although I've not much to show from all my efforts this week I feel that I've been very productive!

That's it then for another week, thanks for taking the time to visit and as always your comments are both welcomed and truly appreciated.

The First Hunt

       The Hunters

So I'm still awaiting the order from Steve Barber models and although it's not been quite three weeks I did think it was time to put some effort into getting my head around the rules with what I have available.  Just in case you're thinking I haven't started on what I already have, I have managed to slap some paint on my cavemen figures, but it's been a very slow process (and not just because I hate painting) as I hadn't realised just how poor my eyesight has become. It's become an even greater problem, not just mentally but also now, physically ! Be that as it may, I have been putting back in place my  regime of an hour's painting each day!

The table, my four intrepid hunters will set up on the top edge.

As substitutes for the "real" I've used four Pygmies, two spear-armed and two club-armed as the Hunters and an elephant as the target, reflecting the first scenario in the Palaeo rules as it's meant to be a beginners scenario.
having thought I'd got a handle on the rules I set out the table, clearing away the remnants of my last Jimland expedition and using the same layout, more or less.

My mat is about 40" square, and as the game states a 36" square, it allows a 2" set round the central area.

Two spear-men on the left, the two club-men on the right

So how did it go ?

Here's the photograph record, mostly with dice left on the table as a reminder to me about what happened as I wasn't taking notes! (I really should have).
The plan was to get as close to the elephant (the target) by flanking it on two sides and attacking all at once.
I decided to only use a single die until the "moment of truth" when I would increase to 2 dice.
Selecting figures from left to right, the first two hunters moved  fast whilst the first club man 'failed his activation die with a one, luckily the Elephant stayed 'grazing, resting or whatever.
It wasn't until after the game and I had re-read the rules that I realised that I probably got this bit very wrong and it was a mistake that continued throughout the game!

The target being bored, awaiting the inevitable attack

Several turns later the hunters were flanking the immobile beast.!

 My mistake in allowing the club-man that had failed his die roll to continue with his movement!
Rolling two dice with a chance of nearly a third in failing one of them seemed to be huge odds against the hunter, hence my use of only a single die until they'd closed the range somewhat.!

A hunter closes to attack the Elephant with two dice!

The elephant takes umbrage to the hunter's intrusion into it's personal space!

And wounds the hunter !

With his second activation die the hunter wounds the beast in return

 

\

The elephant moves off a short distance. (take one)

The elephant moves off a medium distance. (take two)

I think now, that I got the elephant's reaction to the hunter's hit wrong, but nevertheless had another problem to figure out.  I normally measure from front of base to front of base moving figures about, but when the elephant had to get (iirc) a medium distance of 120mm from the hunter that attacked it, measuring as I said above, meant the beast was still in close range of the hunter! I determined that I had to get it the correct distance away and therefore measured from distance first, then placed the beast.

I imagined the beast to have turned on the spot then measured!

Better view (possibly, maybe, ish) , showing the beast now at some distance from all the hunters!

The club-men tried to close and ...

...the elephant remains oblivious to them

All the hunters are now in position,  ready to strike next turn...

..but the elephant is having none of this and retreats...

The retreat continues off the table, ending the hunt!

So no food for the hunters today.
The whole thing took well less than an hour to play out, it took more time finding dice, tape measures, figures and setting up the game!
I'd obviously made a lot of mistakes interpreting the rules - a failed action die means no action (duh!), forgetting dice modifiers (+1 to the animal's reaction for being wounded) and probably a lot more.
The experience was nevertheless enjoyable but I must re-read the rules again and have another go, so it hasn't dampened my enthusiasm for the game. I'll be repeating this scenario and try to get the rules right!

Apologies for any typos, but currently everything looks OK to me whether it is or not!

That's it then for this week, thanks for taking the time to visit and as always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated!

Prehistoric Progress

I have manged some progress with my prehistoric loot, but only just after another week of nearly complete lethargy, during which I also started a building, then abandoned it as I thought that more thought  was necessary to give the building a little more life from it's dull 'flatness'.
I'm petty sure most, if not all reading this will be aware of the  'Copplestone' cavemen series of four packs,  Yes, they're a bit Hollywood, but I like them for that.
Heres' a few pics of the packs and a few comments .
The first pack (above) contains five minis, the younger chap has a flint kife and the boy has a stone (flint hand axe ?). It may look like the latter has a sling, butt it's flash as they've just come straight form the packet. Five figures, five weapons !

Next pack, four women, five weapons.
Why one of the women id bare-breasted is beyond me (not that I'm a prude or anything), but it does seem unnecessary, even though I reckon they'd all be completely naked in a warm climate!

  Next pack four figures, seven weapons, including a spear with some form of bone-type 'point' (any clues would be appreciated).
Not a spectacular pack, but the arm positions do mean that both axe and pears look OK in their hands. 

The last pack, the 'characters', give the range the only bow armed figure, an antler figure without facility for holding a weapon, another figure wielding an axe (not much choice there about what he;s using) and finally 'Two-Feathers', holding a stick!
I've converted "Antler man" and "Stick man" to something I thought more usable.

Antler man with spear added

Two feathers, now with speary goodness

My purchase form "Arcane Scenery" (best delivery time ever) was their Mammoth deal, but I wasn't aware they were kits, needing assembly of tusks and tails!
Neither was I aware that they were resin and even though it doesn't bother me that much, there were some mold lines that needed removing.
The tusks are long sausages of lead that needed bending and the mammoths'  sockets for their tusks also needed drilling out., needing a trip to the local Hobby-craft store for a new set of miniature drills!
Other than unpacking my recent purchases, converting a couple of figures, adding weapons and assembling mammoths what else have I done ?
Well, the answer is not much, but I have based them all and undercoated them, with what I thought was white but turned out to be grey! (Age, poor eyesight and Hobson's choice)

IKEA mammoth, trunk, tail and tusks !

The Mammoths - those tusks are huge!

Still huge tusks in this picture too!

The assembled tribe, all based up and ready to paint (aargghhh)

I'm still awaiting my order from "Steve Barber" and it will have been two weeks tomorrow since I ordered them, but in the meantime I'm working out my next order to "Arcane Scenery" and even though I have more than enough humans, I do like their Cro-magnons.

Sorry about the more than usual blurred pictures, but when you pay peanuts you get monkeys and of course,  the photographer has been sacked !

That's it then for another week, thanks for taking the time to visit and as always, your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.