Part of the Conquest of Mexico range by Irregular Miniatures, this army pack costs 17.60 GBP, and I bought it mostly to try my hand at painting a very colourful army in this scale.

Opening the clip bag the force comes in, 46 strips as well as the throne and 4 standard bearers look me back in the eye.

 Now, the models are cleanly cast, and from what I read on the internet is that Irregular figures pop out more of their details once paint gets applied, but they aren`t to shabby at all!

The pack contains both wider type strips as well as more compact ones, and even though left and right a straggler has left the building, there isn`t really a look of "emptiness" where this happened, so that should be fine once they are based up together.


I still have to do the maths though as to how exactly I`ll be positioning them on 60x30mm bases, as the strip width differs from Baccus6mm models as such.


Well, except of course the characters and the two strips of skirmishers, those shall be easily put in ragtag formations on their bases.  I`ll be doing the smaller ones as such on 30x30mm ones to prevent them from 'drowning' amidst flock and tufts.



But this definitly is a nice starter deal for a force I mainly bought to go "colourfull" when painting, with all the Jaguar, Eagle and more of those exotic troops to make.  It won`t be for just yet though, as these guys are one of the projects that will be prepared (stuck on bases, cleaned up and undercoated) for the coming edition of the AHPC at the end of the year... like most of the 6mm armies.


Until the next unpacking of the various Irregular forces I bought!

And the next batch of trees arrived from China, bought through eBay as "25pcs scenery landscape train model trees scale 1/300 Dark Green" from the seller craft_mall.


And they cost a hefty 3.86 GBP with free shipping...

Just like the other ones I bought before (and reviewed here on the blog earlier), these are of the same material and very suited for the battlefield.

I for one don`t add flock to the canopies, though I do add some paint to the trunks as they look to plastic otherwise.

So they remain great little items to make mass forests with for 6mm gaming, easy to use and "touch up", and cheap as hell, always a welcome positive point!

Well, time to take a look at WSS109, as I recently received my digital copy.  



You see, with 9th edition 40k announced, I gave up on Games Workshop, and as such on White Dwarf.  But I "need" a monthly dose of reading, and after weighing all the options, I decided to take a digital subscription to WSS.  I will be using my old WD format of putting articles that especially intrest me in bold.

And yes, I know it's bi-monthly actually...

Guy Bowers kicks off in the editorial by telling us it's an experiment: instead of their usual magazine dedicated around a central conflict, they went to a location instead: Afghanistan.  And then build the magazine around this theme.

The first article is the Miniature Reviews section, a hefty selection but nothing that particularly catches my intrest though.

In The Gaming Life, Rick Priestley takes a look at how times have been changing.

Pavlov's House is a scenario for second world war Stalingrad in Bolt Action.

Next we have a scenario for the Battle of Bremule, set in 1119 and putting the Norman successor forces against each other.

Tabletop Tactics presents us with a mini-campaign set in WW, but can be adapted to any period according to author Henry Hyde.

And then we come to the theme of the month, Afghanistan, graveyard of Empires.  Starting out by looking at all the armies that failed there over the course of history in this gateway country between Europe, India and China.

First up is Alexander the Great as he crosses the land of bones.

We then go to 1880, with the Battle of Maiwand in the second Anglo-Afghan war.

In 1919; the Magutsabad Incident took place, as Afghan forces invaded British territory.

Of course, for people my age, we all know the conflict with the Russians during the Cold War (hmmm, Hind's) and this is where the theme carries us next.

In the Venom of the Cobra, the magazine helps you through building Afghan forces for the various conflicts above, and where to get suitable models from.

The Bravery is a look at a diorama made for the Battle of Khandahar in 1880.

The Irregular takes a look at umpiring Kriegsspiel, and how it can be played even over the internet possibly.

In the Hobby section, they talk about creating slot together scenery, and how to paint a Dwarven army in 28mm.

The Let's Play is Infamy, Infamy - the newest set of TFL and if you follow Facebook a little, also the source of huge discussion between TMP and, well, a lot of people.

Game reviews are published for Mortem et Gloriam (now produced by The Plastic Soldier Company), HG Wells Little Wars, Rangers of Shadow Deep: Across the Wastes and Blitzkrieg.

Book reviews are then handled, before going to the Parting Shots about Wargames revolutions.

Okay, so perhaps not the best issue for me personally, though I will read everything, as there is *zilch* about era's that I fancy personally.  Surely I dabble outside my "between two civil wars" period of intrest (aka, anything from ECW to ACW) but nothing in here that catches a spark of "I must go play that period".

However... next time the theme is right up my alley, as the AWI is then the centrepoint, so expect a lot more bold marked articles then!

A small review, as I take a look at the radio truck softskin from Heroics and Ros.

Which you can obtain HERE if you want one for your forces.


Hopefully this helps a bit as the H&R site hasn't gotten pictures up yet for all their forces.

Remember a few months ago, with the announcement by Games Workshop that they would return to square bases for something called The Old World, and how they should rebase or do it with their round base forces?

Well, here is a fact for you: they already did in the past!

Enter War of the Ring, a massive 330 page hardback tome written by Matthew Ward and Jeremy Vettock back in 2008.  This rulebook allowed your collection of Middle-Earth figures to be amassed in regiments and fight truly gigantic battles on the table.


To achieve this, GW produced movement trays, 8 models per tray for infantry and 2 per tray for cavalry, to make nice square unit blocks for your forces, and a tray became a model as such.

The tome of course starts with an introduction what it is all about, together with all the getting started and such in order to throw yourself into the game.  Now, take in mind, a LOT of plastic rank and file troops will be required to make a massive armies, so many a night will be spend at the painting table.  But this is also ideal to get more people adding their collections together and relief Gondor on the Fields of the Pelennor...

With Battle in the Westfold, the book starts with a battle report to show all the things going on in a game, and how forces are build and behave on the tabletop.

And then we move to the Rules.  It first explains the difference between a company and a formation (basically, a tray vs a set of trays together), how to rank them up, what is allowed etc... think a bit like the Warmaster system of ages gone on how the units should touch each other.

Next the usual explanations on how to measure, what the statistics mean and do, and all that general info you'll need to understand the mechanics of the game.


The Game Turn is split up in a variety of phases, namely Priority, Move, Shoot, Charge, Fight and End.  These are generally, bar the Charge phase, the same of a regular game of Lord of the Rings to this day, and both players get to do all their actions during a phase very turn, so no long waits while your opponent goes through all his steps before you can do anything bar rolling saving throws and removing casualties.  I'm still a fan of this concept (but, for example, Dux took this to far with the counters drawing or card flipping) because one can react and adapt to situations on the table, instead of removing a quarter of an army before it is even your turn...

Every phase is then tackled one by one, with all the special movement for example as one is now working with blocks instead of skirmishing figures, with how casualties are caused and removed on the trays and the likes.


The biggest difference to the regular game is the Charge phase, and as a result also the Fight phase, as the angles of charges, flanking etc can influence the amount of dice one rolls to try to hit and kill his opponents.

There are of course also rules for Defensible Terrain, as a lot of the huge battles in the War of the Ring timeline involved massive sieges (Helm's Deep, Minas Tirith to name just the two most famous, but really, go read the appendices of Lord of the Rings to have heaps of inspiration as a lot went on in the world during the journey of Frodo).


Next up, we get a look at all the various arms and armour that is used by all the units in the book.  Pikes, bows, even blowpipes, they are all in there.  After that section, we get to the command companies, which are your captains, musicians and banner bearers and the effects they have on the game.


As we then go to the special rules units might have, we come to the shiny examples of Middle Earth, the named Heroes.  Gandalf, Lurtz... they are all there for you to put in your forces (yes, even Tom Bombadil and Goldberry) but keep in mind they won't "lawnmower" through forces like in the standard game.  Sheer numbers can (rather easily actually) overwhelm them if used carelessly.  They have Heroic actions, but their is also an even higher tier of hero in this game, the Epic heroes.  Commanders of armies, these are the big generals of the forces like Aragorn or the Witch-King, and come with their own set of epic actions and special rules.


Magic of course is also present in the game, and works a tat different from the regular game.  Sorcerous Blasting twenty trays away won't be an option in this game!  There are a different set of schools, and every wizard can tap from one of them as this reflects their range of magical skills the best.


And then we get to the moment supreme: to battle!  Now the player can go through the simple steps of getting a game in, like choosing forces, the amount of terrain, determine objectives... the regular final measure before one can play.  There are some standard scenarios included here to get regular games in as such, with predetermined goals and targets.

Armies of Middle-Earth is the big hunk of the book, as all the forces one can field are included here, with the statlines for each and every model that can be present in the game, so excpect a LOT of statlines.  No seperate army book shenannigans or power curves in GW's most noble of games.


On the side of Good, one can take Gondor and Arnor, The Kingdom of Rohan, The Elven Kingdoms and The Dwarf Holds.  The Forgotten Kingdoms are present as well, but this force can only be allied in, consisting for example of The Shire or the Eagles.


Evil marches to war in the guise of Mordor, The Fortress of Isengard, The Misty Mountains, The Fallen Realms and finally Angmar.
So that grants a lot of selections for your force, and the chance to add as I said earlier a few players Uruk-hai's together for example to build a large besieging force to attack the Deep...
There are some special features to a force, like Decrees which are basically magic weapons and special skills that will boost your force's units left and right, without going all over the top in bonusses.


Another huge section then follows, but isn't for the core of the game.  These are the hobby pages, talking about collecting armies, painting, the community... but also the fun, non-competitive stuff in the form of the special scenarios.  Recreate famous battles with these, and see if you can change history!





A truly fantastic set of rules, recreating the Middle-Earth skirmish game into a ture warmaster style game in scale 28mm, this is the ultimate tome for huge Middle-Earth clashes.


Look for it on eBay or the likes, you know you want to have this one in your collection!

Okay, this is one of those "for some reason I return to it, then it doesn't take off" projects that always seem to run through my hobby life.


After enjoying Flames of War years ago (as in, almost a decade), for some reason I was sucked in to buy this army book and the starter box for the italians a while ago, in a promotional action late december.

Paint for the past AHPC?  Throw myself in some tournament left or right?  I have no clue why I did it in hindsight, and I'll probably end up selling them off again at Crisis or such.  But that doesn't mean I couldn't have a good look at the book first.

Now, at a 48 page hardcover, it is a rather slim volume to be honest, and as I hadn't read the main rulebook yet at time of writing, the organisational charts seemed a bit weird to what I was used to.

The book starts with the special rules for the italian forces, who I must say seems to focus around the M14 and the Semovente 75, so a far more restricted selection then back in the days to play with.  All the small hotch potch tankettes and the likes seem to be relegated to oddities in forces, and one seems to be "pushed" to either a Carri force, or a Bersaglieri one on first impressions.


We then get a bit of history, on how the italians fared during the desert war, both independantly and later as part of the DAK.


Know your Carri takes a look at the various vehicles you will be able to field in the force, and there my point is proven, where are the M11's or even the CV33's in this edition?  Not to mention all the smaller trucks with guns...


Next up is the bread and butter of the book, the army lists.  Apart from a "generic" force, you also ghave options to field Ariete and Centauro armoured divisions, and 2 Bersaglieri regiments, one for the static weapon form, and one with the more mobile rifle company.  But that is is, next up are support units, and for later in the war battles allied German units.



No Folgore parachute froops, no rifle company... no joy from me for this book to be honest.


The final section is the essential paint and basing guides and showcases, but I must admit that in the end, I'm severly disappointed in this army book, and it isn't motivating at all to actually rip the plastic of the starter set and begin building an italian force again for Flames of War...

In today's short review clip, I'm having a look at the air support for my CSIR force, in the form of a CR42 biplane.

Produced by Heroics and Ros, you can order them HERE.


Enjoy my bit of rambling above!

In this short clip today, I`m taking a look at the Adler infantry for the Italians in ww2.

Molded on strips, these will be the bulk of my forces of course.


Now to get all those support weapons to go along them...

With previews all over the internet, from Warhammer Community to YouTube, it thought it opportune to no longer do a "first sight" review of the magazine the weekend I actually bought it, but instead move to a review once I read it.


So yeah, that might mean it is quit a bit later then usual...

In this months magazine, we get a whole new batch of new rules, but also some (for me) very intresting articles, so in hindsight I thought it a good issue this time round.


The "headliner" as seen on the coverpicture as such is a new Tome Celestial, detailing the Orruks of Da Ironsunz, 'ardest of all the Ironjawz clans and the warscrolls needed to field this force.  This is of course accompanied by the necessary paint guides and lore pieces, and makes a strong article.


It isn't the only set of fantasy rules though this month around, as for the WarCry skirmish game, all the rules are there to field the Fyreslayers in search of Ur Gold in the Eight Points.  So if axe wielding, semi-naked and crazed manes of red hair are your thing...


In the "margin articles" for fantasy, we get an awesomely painted force of Sylvaneth on display, as well as a very intresting Rules of Engagement article on how to build a (competitive) army and the things you should ponder when preparing for an event.

Moving to the Warhammer 40k section, I must admit I didn`t really spend that much attention to it, bar perhaps the Realms of Chaos painting article, even though it was all about Nurgle this time.


You see, with the gazillions of errata and add-ons that appeared for 40k over the past year, my love for that game has really fazed out, as I even struggle at home to get my League force for the club painted up.  Perhaps the most intresting piece was the final instalment of the Warlords of Vigilus series, and the accompanying final battle report.  And I must say, the winners of the challenge weren't the ones I expected...


Further articles include a few pieces of lore (including one hinting at a future BFG re-release again) and the Echoes of the Warp talking of course about the Space Marines.


The "strength" for me in this issue though are the Specialist game articles.  Not only are we treated to two excellent articles for Warhammer Underworlds, namely the first one talking about how to look at the "meta" of the game, but also a tactica article on the two recently released warbands, Hrothgorn's Mantrappers and The Wurmspat.


The other article that really caught my fancy was of course the Middle-Earth one, in which we get a tactica to use the King of the Dead and his army of Oathbreakers in the MESBG game.


The magazine is rounded out with some new rules to use an Eversor assassin in Blackstone fortress, and then some more painting and hobby articles, like on aircraft markings for Aeronautica and and interview with author James Swallow, writer of the classic Sisters of Battle novel Faith and Fury.


So a good magazine for sure this month, and I had some good reading in it.