They (obviously) aren't based yet, but I made three additions to my Carnevale factions. There is the Capodecina (The Guild), the Butcher (Guild), and a Martyr (Vatican).
Photos are not the best, but they'll do !
More (many more) to come !
dimanche 26 juillet 2026
samedi 25 juillet 2026
Another Fantastic Battle
Quelque part dans le sud du péninsule italien, au début du XIème siècle. Une modeste armée byzantine se préparent à recevoir une incursion aux effectifs pléthoriques d'un royaume arabe de Sicile. Le terrain est dense et mettra à épreuve les talents tactiques des deux généraux...
Partie de Fantastic Battles en 1200 pts...
vendredi 17 juillet 2026
Projects moving forwards...
Apart from some Napoleonics now and then, I pretty much stopped painting any scales smaller than 28mm about 5 years ago. Just couldn't be bothered to paint armies any more.
Then I decided to have a clear out in 2025, sold off stuff I was no longer using (or in some cases, had never used !), and armies that annoyed me because they were bits and bobs from various others.
During my career change, I toyed with the idea of painting for a living, and thought it would be a good idea to paint up armies that I might either sell, or keep if I couldn't (or no longer wanted to).
Hence my "1040 AD" project was born, and Sicilian or North African Arabs were first off the paint table...then sat around for several months because I really hate basing !
Well, it is too hot to paint, but basing 15mm is a no-brainer, so here they are at last !
I have also painted up my recent order of 6mm Sun King Wars stuff from Baccus.
After ordering them, I read that the Imperial infantry mainly used matchlocks right up until the beginning of the 18th century. Obviously at this scale you cannot tell a matchlock from a flintlock, but users of the former will carry the "apostles" well known from the ECW, which is visible on a 6mm figure.
So, I decided to paint these three battalions as German mercenaries, no doubt Bavarians. Although they have fought the French on many occasions, they have no combat experience against the Turks, and are therefore retaining their pikes.
The two battalions with the red facings were the "test run", on which I made a few mistakes. The blue-green coated battalion represents the painting procedure I will use on everything else.
The two cavalry units are Imperial Cuirassiers. They still wore armour back and front, and favoured the old pot-helmet. Unexpectedly, they do not rely on a flat out charge to break the enemy (although they may sometimes do so, especially against weakened opponents). Instead they fire one or more volleys with carbines and pistols before closing at a trot. Against the Ottoman horse, they apparently drilled to dismount behind chevaux de frise and engage with their firearms.
The Imperials used a lot of them, so I expect I will paint about 6-7 bases. They were frequently very large regiments, so here both bases are from the same regiment.
All in all, this batch represents about 1500 foote and 600 horse. I have worked out my Imperial army at 36 bases : if that proves to be too many, some of them can form an embryo of another force. Rules wise, I looked at another couple, but Ga Pa and Polemos GNW are still the contenders.
samedi 11 juillet 2026
Rangers of Shadow Deep - Enterrement de Vie de Garçon (Stag Night)
Mon ami Pierre s'est marié aujourd'hui. Nous lui avons organisé une petite soirée d'enterrement de vie de garçon. En tenant compte de nos âges avancés. Donc pas de stripteaseuses en boîte de nuit avec mètres d'absinthe, mais BBQ à la maison et partie de figurines.
Au final, nous avons ripaillé plutôt que de jouer...mais je me suis dit que ce serait sympa de publier le scénario ici !
STAG NIGHT
Une aventure pour un Ranger de tout niveau et ses hardis compagnons de fortune
INTRODUCTION
Du haut des remparts de la grande cité, Pierre de Bert a susurré épousailles à Céline, son longtemps dulcinée.
Les deux colombes se sont installés dans le hameau d'Ezblé, dans une petite ferme où deux pièces et une porte solide garantissent célibat, en attendant l'échange de vœux devant homme de foi.
Ezblé est toutefois infesté de créatures monstrueuses, ce qui sans doute explique le vil prix de l'acquisition.
Soucieux de préserver sa bien-aimée de déplaisantes rencontres, et d'éviter que son propre crâne ne serve de coupe à boire à un sauvage, Pierre a fait quérir ses fidèles compagnons d'antan, avec qu'il a partagé tant d'histoires de sorcellerie et d'épée.
Ont répondu à l'appel Arnaud Barbe-Touffue, juriste, médecin et alchimiste de renom; Stéphane l'Arpenteur, voyageur infatigable, conteur et barde et qui, selon sa légende, a bu à la fontaine de jouvence éternelle; Benoîst Quatre-Yeux, demi-géant, haut de stature, long de vue et fine d’ouïe; et Lee le Barbare. Combinant subtile intelligence, sens de la stratégie et musculature huilée, qui de mieux que ces quatre compagnons pour garantir paix et harmonie aux riantes prairies ?
SCENARIO 1 : UNE NUIT MOUVEMENTEE
Ils arrivèrent juste à temps, car la nuit même, tandis qu'ils se régalaient de leurs exploits d'autrefois, des Gobelins de la Nuit se ruèrent sur la ferme, plus nombreux que les poils sur la torse luisante de Lee !
Set up a table 1m20 x 0m90. Placer au milieu une petite ferme. Au pourtour de la table, des arbres. Le reste de la table est éparpillé de champs, de clôtures, d’arbustes...
Placer huit Gobelins de la Nuit, par paires, à 12’’ de chaque coin de la ferme.
Il s'agit d'un petit scénario d'initiation ou de rappel. Il faut tout simplement éliminer les gobelins.
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SCENARIO 2 : A LA RESCOUSSE
Le matin venu et les cadavres des gobelins enterrés dans la forêt, les plaies pansés et les panses plûts, Pierre raconta à la compagnie les dangers qu'ils devraient affronter.
Préparer les 8 cartes Event, en positionnant « Voici Vaillant » dans les 4 premières cartes. Le scénario dure jusqu’à l’épuisement du paquet, auquel moment les quatre menaces doivent être vaincues.
Éparpiller 4 indices autour de la ferme, aucun à moins de 12’’ du bâtiment.
Préparer les 4 cartes Indices. Tirer une carte aléatoirement et faire le cas échéant le test, lorsqu’un héros entre au contact d’un indice.
Placer aléatoirement quatre Gobelins de la Nuit, les derniers survivants planqués de la bande d’hier.
Si un joueur tombe à 0 Health avant la fin du 6ème tour, il recommence le prochain tour à côté de la ferme, avec 2d6 Health que Céline aurait réussi à lui restaurer. Si le joueur tombe à nouveau – ou qu’il cède à partir du 7ème tour, les autres doivent continuer la lutte sans lui…
[Il est conseillé que chaque invité présente, à son tour, l'une des missions à accomplir. Tous sont en lien avec le futur marié, bien sûr !]
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1. Chaque soir au souper, Céline oint le crâne de Pierre d'une crème magique, afin de régénérer sa chevelure ondoyante. Puis chaque matin, lorsqu'il part au nord faire paître le troupeau, un Troll, le prenant pour un mouton, lui arrache les cheveux par la racine.
Disposer trois moutons dans la moitié nord de la table, chacun à 3’’ de la ferme.
La première fois qu’un Event le demande, placer le Troll au centre du bord de table Nord. Tant qu’il reste des moutons, le Troll se dirigera vers un mouton aléatoirement, à moins d’être au combat. Il le mangera par une action de Combat, ce qui fait couler les larmes à Céline, amoureuse des bêtes, et donc perdre 1 Health à Pierre.
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2. A l'est, des succubes aux voix de sirène se manifestent à chaque aube, mettant à l’épreuve les vœux de chasteté Pierre. Il faut avouer que leurs charmes abondantes sont séduisantes...
La première fois qu’un Event le demande, placer 4 succubes au centre du bord de table Est. L’héros le plus proche d’une succube doit, lors de son activation, réussir un test de Will (TN10, mais pénalité de -1 pour chaque succube). S’il échoue il ne peut utiliser que des Actions de Mouvement, et il perd 1 Health.
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3. Pierre avait pris l'habitude, la crépuscule venue, de chuchoter à sa belle, à travers la porte close de la chasteté, les vaillantes histoires de sa jeunesse. Or voici que des gnomes se sont installés au sud, leur magie féerique faisant fourcher sa langue, transformant les gnolls et vautours de ses histoires en gobelins et ptérodactyles, quelle angoisse !
La première fois qu’un Event le demande, placer deux gnomes au centre du bord de table Sud. Ils ne se déplacent jamais. Tant qu’ils sont présents, Pierre doit réussir un test de Will (TN10) avant d’utiliser un Heroic Ability.
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4. Nous avons jusqu'ici peu raconté de Pierre lui-même. Son port altière renseigne sur sa noblesse de caractère, les amis qui l’entourent témoignent du raffinement de son esprit, tandis que l’amour de Céline est le fruit de l’éclat de son âme. Sachez toutefois qu’il est également inventeur et s’est mis en tête à enseigner gratuitement son savoir aux jeunes du village. Cela a attisé la jalousie de l’Akadémie, qui s’arroge le monopole de la pédagogie. Déterminer à se débarrasser de Pierre, le Recteur a lancé à ses trousses des démons, les horrifiants « Inspecteurs ».
La première fois qu’un Event le demande, placer six Démons Inspecteurs au centre du bord de table Ouest, à 3’’ les uns des autres. Au début de chaque tour, s’il reste au moins un Démon en jeu, un nouveau Démon est convoqué.
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LES INDICES
J'ai préparé des cartes, mais un tableau aléatoire à D20 peut s'y substituer.
1-5 : Le Troll semble mal voir…
Un héros qui réussit un test de Survival (TN10) peut se cacher sous un mouton avec qu’il est au contact, embusquer le Troll lorsque celui-ci vient s'en emparer et gagner +6 en Fight pour sa première action de combat.
6-10 : Le piège de la Séduction
Les succubes peuvent être distraites par la musculature, que ce soit du physique ou de l’esprit. Nos héros en abondent. Si un héros avec au moins Strength ou Read Runes +4 réussit le test de Will, chaque Succube, à son tour, doit réussir un test de Will (TN8). En cas d’échec, elle peut être enlevée de la zone de combat si le Héros accepte de ne bénéficier que d’une Action au prochain tour.
11-15 : Plus malicieux que méchants
Au lieu d’une Action de Combat, on peut leur faire partir un Gnome en offrant un cadeau (n’importe quel objet), ou les enchanter avec une belle histoire (Ancient Lore ou Read Runes TN15).
16-20 : Direct dans son Recteur-um
Les Inspecteurs sont convoqués par le Recteur qui s’est caché à proximité de la ferme.
Pour empêcher ses agissements, il faut troubler sa concentration. Pour cela un Héros peut faire un test de Perception ou de Navigation (TN15) en début de tour. S’il réussit le démon n’apparaît pas, mais en contrepartie, l’héros perd -2 sur tous ses jets pendant le tour.
EVENTS
Entre [ ], les adversaires qui sont activés et placés sur la surface de jeu la première fois qu'ils sont convoqués.
| Gaï gaï, marions-les ! [Gnomes] L’homme de foi arrive. Pierre sélectionne le centre d’un bord de table. Tout ennemi dans les 12’’ de ce point doit s’en éloigner de 4’’, même s’ils sont au combat |
| Projet Club [Démons Inspecteurs] Fait un roll-off contre Will. Le ou les héros avec le score le plus faible n’ont qu’une Action au prochain tour |
| Montagne de Plomb [Démons Inspecteurs] Pierre choisit un héros, qui peut être lui-même. Ce héros fait un Will Test (TN12). Il nomme ensuite un autre héros. Celui-ci fait son Will Test à +1 pour chaque réussite précédente Tous les héros qui ont échoué perdent 1d3 Health |
| Oooo, ça brille ! [Succubes] Pierre distribue sa compétence Leadership entre les Héros (y compris lui-même), à sa guise. Puis tous les Héros font un test de Leadership (TN 10). Ceux qui échouent doivent faire un mouvement vers le bord de table le plus proche. S’ils sont au combat, ils perdent -1 Will à la place. |
| Beer & Pretzels [Troll] Pierre choisit un Héros et une Créature. Chacun lance 1d20. Le perdant perd 1d6 Health. Simple, non ? |
| Level Up ! [Troll] Chaque Héros qui a tué un ennemi pendant le tour, peut améliorer n’importe quel Stat de +1 |
| Vision de Douceur [Succubes] Une vision fugace de Céline à la fenêtre de la ferme fait restaurer 5 Health à un Héro choisit par Pierre |
| Voici Vaillant ! [Gnomes] Un chien errant surgit à la lisière de la forêt (au centre d’un bord de table aléatoire). Il compte désormais comme un compagnon |
CREATURE SHEETS
| Creature : | Night Goblin Archer | |||||
| Move | Fight | Shoot | Armour | Will | Health | XP |
| 6 | +1 | +2 | 11 | +0 | 10 | 3 |
| Special | ||||||
| Dagger (-1 dmg), Bow, Quiver, Light Armour | ||||||
| Creature : | Night Goblin Warrior | |||||
| Move | Fight | Shoot | Armour | Will | Health | XP |
| 6 | +2 | +0 | 11 | +0 | 10 | 3 |
| Special | ||||||
| Hand Weapon, Light Armour | ||||||
| Creature : | Troll | |||||
| Move | Fight | Shoot | Armour | Will | Health | XP |
| 4 | +4 | +0 | 14 | +2 | 20 | 8 |
| Special | ||||||
| Large (-2 to hit when Shooting; can be targetted in combat) | ||||||
| 2-handed Weapon (+2 dmg) | ||||||
| Dévoreur de Moutons : voir règle spéciale de scénario | ||||||
| Creature : | Succube | |||||
| Move | Fight | Shoot | Armour | Will | Health | XP |
| 6 | +3 | +0 | 11 | +2 | 12 | 3 |
| Special | ||||||
| Arme à 2 mains (+2 Dmg) Light Armour | ||||||
| Séduire : voir régle spéciale de scénario | ||||||
| Creature : | Gnome | |||||
| Move | Fight | Shoot | Armour | Will | Health | XP |
| 0 | +0 | +0 | 16 | +0 | 6 | 2 |
| Special | ||||||
| Confusion : voir règle spéciale de scénario | ||||||
| Creature : | Démon Inspecteur | |||||
| Move | Fight | Shoot | Armour | Will | Health | XP |
| 6 | +1 | +0 | 10 | +10 | 6 | 10 |
| Special | ||||||
| Demon (Undead), Ethereal (half dmg non-magical) | ||||||
| Death Scream (combat = TN12 Will or lose next activation) | ||||||
| Changement de Programme : si <3 Health, Mourir et donner Health au démon le plus proche |
||||||
| Creature : | Vaillant | |||||
| Move | Fight | Shoot | Armour | Will | Health | XP |
| 8 | +0 | +0 | 10 | -2 | 6 | |
| Special | ||||||
| Trop vif ! : ne peut jamais être la cible d’une attaque ennemi, | ||||||
| sauf s’il est seul en corps à corps | ||||||
samedi 4 juillet 2026
A New Planet
Welcome to a recently created - or rather, colonised - planet, to give my 6mm Sci Fi something extraterrestrial to fight over.
The planet's official designation is only used in boring official documents. Inhabitants and visitors call it Burp.
Why, you might ask. In
an unusual configuration, a solid crust has formed over a gaseous core.
The attempts of said gas to escape its bindings cause the bewildering
and perpetual array of noises that give the planet its nickname.
The atmosphere of Burp is breathable (although you might want to pinch your nose on arrival). The planet is however exposed to frequent meteor storms, whose size is too large for the relatively thin atmosphere to handle.
Here we can see a meteor impact site : they hit so hard they have split the table apart !
The usual result of particularly powerful impacts is the rupturing of the surface rock and a rush of escaping gas. When the super-compressed overheated gas of Burp escapes, it almost instantly solidifies, building colourful and fractal crystalline structures. These are so hard, they can stop a tungsten round. From a battlefield perspective, they act much like trees on a Terran-like landscape.
These are made out of natural moss of a white colour that I bought from a pound store. The bases were painted off-white, then had Akhelian Green contrast paint, diluted, spread over them. The moss was glued on with wood glue, tugged out a bit, and when it dried, painted with some green glaze and then Pylar Glacier Contrast straight out of the pot. The little gas bubbles are half-spherical gems you can buy from any toy store, with a bit of green-yellow glaze over them.
Burp boasts some rather unique vegetation. The Gaspod Cactus, which can grow as tall as a building, stores escaping gas in its digestive chambers and converts it into energy.
These are just cocoa-bean shaped beads, with one of those semi-spherical gems on top.
Redsphere is rarer, and fortunately so. When ripe, it explodes (everything on Burp seems to need to expel something). Stored gas carries the spores over a wide area, and breathing one in is almost guaranteed to be fatal. The flesh is, on the other hand, delicious when prepared correctly.
A Christmas decoration made up of foam beads painted red. I just chopped it up to make these.
The plant that Burp is, however, the most famed for is the Star. Their gigantic tear-shaped seeds are the
planet's most precious resource. Having yielded its bounty, the plants, along with their sprawling root system, decay rapidly, leaving behind
foul-smelling pools, bubbling with gas emissions. In wargaming terms, whilst in their flourishing
form, they are low area terrain offering light cover; in their decayed
form, they are Deep Wet terrain and, before driving into them, please
make sure waterproof sealing is perfectly intact. Otherwise the smell
will be so bad, not even insurgents will want to buy the vehicle from
you.
These are of course aniseed. I could have named the Burp variant Anuseed, but my humour is far more subtle than that. I only kept the ones that were open and showing some of their seeds, which I painted pink. The underlay, as are all others in these pictures, are from my daughter's scrap book sheets. There is some amazing stuff in those ! And yes, I did ask permission !
Decaying plant-mass : scrap-book paper with dozens (and dozens) of those very useful semi-spherical beads. They have a sticky underside so are not as difficult to pop on the paper as you might think. I outlined the gas bubbles in Agrax Earthshade, then glazed them with some green.
Another sample of Burp flora here. The colonists stay well away from these, as during the spore season, the merest brush is enough to set them off. They reproduce by infecting fauna that touch them, and then going on to do some very unpleasant things to their host.
Just some flocked bark, which I got from a Festive shop, in the "Nature Themed Wedding" section. Obviously they weren't pink when I bought them. For the little spheres, I didn't use normal toy beads (because of the holes for threading string through them). These are instead beads that you drop into a sort of lava-lamp filled with water. They then expand and, driven by a pump, bob up and down and make nice soothing movements. Note to self : don't spill my coffee on these.
The subterranean gas is constantly pushing up against the surface of Burp. When it encounters less solid areas of crust, it drives them up, inch by inch. The crust is however quite elastic and rarely ruptures. This leads to the formation of some very peculiar rounded hills.
I made these out of expanding foam, that stuff you spray in as filler during DIY jobs. It comes in various colours, here I used the beige one. The blue foam could be useful for a future terrain project ! You have to spray it onto cardboard so as to get a flat base. You can go to town creating weird shapes, or poking stuff into it whilst it dries. Then it is just a matter of colouring it with some cheap paint, and doing a bit of drybrushing. A bit of tinting with diluted Contrast paints helps smooth out the surface.
So, Burp, despite its unpleasant aspects, has an atmosphere and it has resources. Which makes it ripe (ha ha) for colonisation.
The planet was colonised several hundred years ago, but around two-thirds of the population still live in hamlets or isolated farmsteads. Here is an image of pre-fab habitation domes and crop matrix hexes ready to ship out.
I found some half-spherical wooden beads in a big Arts & Craft shop. I gave them a coat of metallic paint, and then slapped various glazes over it, using green, orange, purple, blue and a fair bit of yellow. Gloss varnish finished them off.
Some rural communities have become quite prosperous over the decades. As soon as they can, they invest in active shielding to ward off the meteor showers.
The same Arts & Craft shop sells transparent spheres, which come in two parts. Hey presto ! Some glazing could be used, but I preferred not to. I left the clip on, as I think that cutting it away would split the plastic; I'll just cover it up with some scatter terrain.
Less wealthy communities just have to hope and pray they don't get flattened. In the early days of colonisation, the Burpers refrained from building high, since meteor strikes would then cause additional damage as the building came down. Domes were chosen as the most resistant shape, and the easiest to transport pre-fab from off-world : just pile them up on top of each other !
This legacy has shaped modern-day urban architecture. Towns are protected by a state of the art passive shield grid, which is insanely expensive to set up, but then requires little energy input.
The surface area is just a tablemat; scrap-book paper lines the sides. The buildings are polystyrene eggs cut in two, which had the added advantage of having a hex-like surface. I then painted them with metallic paints, did the shiny glaze thing, some blue blobs for light, a little colour ring on the bottom to make them stand out, and gloss varnish.
These urban areas, although small, are clearly visible from orbit due to the refraction effect of the passive shielding.
A second town, much like the first, this one perilously close to a swamp of decaying Star. The passive shield array also provides those green energy matrices to power buildings needs.
Of course you are asking, how to people get around on the surface of the planet ? There are landrunners, naturally, but the quickest and safest way to travel is by MagRail.
Here is a historic satellite image, with the first MagRail tubes lined up and ready for implantation.
These are just round wooden sticks sawed in half. Fortunately, I didn't have to do the sawing, otherwise I would be typing this article with only two fingers. They came that way in the bag. The junctions are made out of wooden bases, and some blue-tinted translucent beads. The idea is that the MagRails are half-buried into the ground, offering additional protection against meteor showers. That idea was conditioned by what I wanted them to represent in gaming terms : linear terrain.
Installation has begun here. The magnaselector has a similar function to a level crossing, the blockers flowing to the section that requires them, directing trains and avoiding collisions.
As I said, I made these because I wanted some linear terrain, but couldn't really see Burpers building walls and fences and the like. Obviously I went a bit overboard, as I have 4m of them. Well, 2m I suppose, as they go by pairs. Reasonable after all.
I hope you enjoyed this quick tour of Burp.
A view of everything. I will use an orangy-brown vinyl mat, and it looks like I have enough for a 1m20 x 1m20 table. It took me about a week of evenings to prepare it all, plus a couple of days beforehand to think it through and hunt for the materials. There were also some failures during the process, such as the infamous Floating Bloaters, gaseous trees lifted up into the atmosphere. I also thought about installing dense networks of gas-collecting balloons, with the idea that their stalk-cables would basically be forests. To appear realistic, however, I think they would have to be quite tall, which meant both trouble storing them, and difficult reaching around them to get to the figures.
Great fun thinking about and building Burp and more to the point, my 6mm stuff now has some new terrain to battle over. Thanks for looking and, to use the Burper farewell, "May your gases stay contained".
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