Another "Song of Blades and Heroes" Battle Day

My friend Rob Dean came over to my warroom this past Saturday for a couple games of "Song of Blades and Heroes" using our Bones figures.  I had set up the table with a little ford crossing a meandering creek in the shadow of an old Elven watchtower.
   For my initial force I picked an all-human group consisting of; Magic User, Leader, Barbarian, Warrior, Elite Archer, Heavy Infantry, thief, and another Warrior.  Rob had a group of Orcs with  a Leader, supported by a pair of Orc Archers and some Giant Rats.

Team Human L to R, (Front row): Magic User, Leader, Barbarian, Warrior, Elite Archer, Heavy Infantry, (Back row) Thief, and another Warrior

As the game started, I rushed for the hill where the old watchtower stood to get my Elite Archer and Magic user into good positions The Heavy Infantry tagged along to act as a bodyguard.   The rest of my forced moved to my right, to cross the creek a little up from the ford. Meanwhile, Rob marched his Orcs towards the ford in an attempt to quickly cross it, while his archers and rats moved to thwart my attempted flanking maneuver.  First blood came when my archer scored a lucky kill at maximum range on one of the Orcs approaching the ford.

As Rob's first Orcs splashed across the ford, I turned my two Warriors back from their flanking maneuver to try and halt the Orcs before they got any further. Hopefully stopping them while they were still slowed down crossing the ford. Quickly, a swirling melee developed at the ford.

The battle at the ford begins. I rush one of my Warriors up to block a crossing Orc, and Rob counters with another Orc, I then move my other Warrior up to support.

   We both threw more troops at the ford, though I continued to advance my Barbarian around the flank.  Rob used his Rats to counter this move, and despite their reluctance to follow orders, two of the Giant Rats eventually made contact with my Barbarian and caused a Gruesome Death.  Luckily, hardly anyone was around to witness it, so there was little lasting effect for my side.  While my Archer remained on the hill, trying to take pot shots at the Rats who had killed the Barbarian, my Magic User moved down to get in better range of the ford bringing the Heavy Infantryman along with him.
   In the end, the Orcs' lower Quality told, and I was able to wear them down one by one, while only losing my Thief and Barbarian in the process.   After Rob's Orc's dropped below 50%, causing several of the survivors to run a ways down the road, we called it a game.

The scene near the end.  With a powerful force still at my disposal, and the Orcs badly worn down, The Orc Leader calls for a retreat.

  For the second game we rolled for a scenario, and got the Place of Power result. So, we quickly reset the table, removing the Elven Watchtower and the river. In the Watchtower's place I put out the Bones Sarcophagus and threw some Armorcast cemetery walls around it. We decided it must be a powerful magician's grave, which inspired my to pull out my Bones High Wizard statue to put up by the sarcophagus. After a quick rearrangement of the woods, we were set to go.
   I picked a more mixed-race adventuring party for this game, featuring: a  Halfling Warrior (not a Bones figure), Halfling Wisewoman, a Dragonman (I used the Hyenaman stats), Human Warrior, Human Leader, Fire Elemental, Elf Sneak, and Elf Elite Archer.  Rob used what I call his "invincible force", since I have yet to beat it in a number of games now.It consists of an assortment of human types; including a Leader, Warriors, Barbarian, Archers, and Magic user

My team: (front row) Halfling Warrior (not a Bones figure), Halfling Wisewoman, (Back Row) a Dragonman (I used the Hyenaman stats), Human Warrior, Human Leader, Fire Elemental, Elf Sneak, and Elf Elite Archer

     Things got off to bad start for me as on the first turn Rob did a group activation and successfully rolled 3 dice, allowing most of his force to run and gain the Place of Power before I had even picked up a die.  I did my best to rush my force forward before Rob's force could get settled.

My Elite Elf Archer takes up position in the woods, as my Dragonman and Warrior rush bravely forward.

  With their Quality 4 and 5,  the Halflings proved to be useless, especially after I had had to rush my Leader forward to throw more bodies into the fray.  I have yet to have success with low quality troops.  Even my high quality troops preformed poorly on this outing.  My Elite Elf Archer couldn't hit anything, and my brave Dragonman was knocked down with the first blow he received; and on the following turn was dispatched Gruesomely, causing many of my forces' survivors, who had rushed forward to help the Dragonman, to recoil backwards a move or two.

My Dragonman falls, as the rest of my force tries to move up to help him.  In the lower left of the photo, my Elf Sneak has taken position to charge out at an opportune moment. A moment which never comes.

   It wasn't long before I was worn down to below half; as the dice were unkind and I could not get any coordinated attack put together.  With Rob's forces well entrenched in the walled Place of Power, at this point we called it a game.
  Another good gaming day, and a nice victory for each of us.  We both still struggle to find the correct way to use low Quality troops to advantage.  Hopefully we can have a rematch soon.

Kavorgh, Orc Warboss: Figure 120 of 265

This week I painted Kavorgh, Orc Warboss from the BBEG set.  I had done a number of Bones Orcs before from the 30 New Bones set, so I had a pretty good plan for how I was going to go about painting this guy.

      I prepped this figure in the usual way; soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish soap added, then giving it a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying.  I then glued the figure to a 1.25" black-primed fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue, and glued the washer to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of Elmer's White Glue.
     I then painted him all black.   When the black was dry, I went back over the figure and drybrushed all the metal parts, except the ax, with Ceramcoat "Metallic Pewter".

I then repainted black any areas of the fur garments that had gotten the "Metallic Pewter" on them, and then drybrushed the upper fur garments with Folk Art "Medium Grey". I and then painted the lower garment with Americana "Asphaltum", and when dry, drybrushed it with Americana "Khaki Tan".

     Next, I realized I had forgotten to drybrush the metal bits on the front of his shield, so I went back and drybrushed it with the "Metallic Pewter".  Then, I painted all his skin with  Aleene's "Deep Khaki".  I followed this with painting his undershirt Folk Art "Deep Tomato Red".  I then used a variety of my browns, red-browns, and mustard-browns to paint his many haphazard garments and straps. His main shirt, with the metal plates sewn on it, I painted with the "Asphaltum", and the big wide belt he wears, as well as the back of the shield, I painted with the Americana "Charcoal Grey".   I painted the border around the shield with Folk Art "True Burgundy".  The ax handle I painted Americana "Mississippi Mud".

I then painted all the hands tacked on his shield using a variety of flesh tones. The bone and one of the paper or cloth scraps I painted with Americana "Buttermilk. While I had this out, I also painted his teeth with it.  I finished up by painting the hair and other fragments nailed on the shield.   When everything was dry, I gave the whole figure a wash with thinned GW "Agrax Earthshade" wash.

     After the wash had a good long time to dry, I went back and added in his eyes using the "Buttermilk" with black pupils added.  I then highlighted his skin with the original "Deep Khaki", and then mixed a little lighter Aleene's "Dusty Khaki" into it to add some lighter skin highlights.  I highlighter his garments with their original colors, and the same with the shield and the stuff nailed to it.  The bone on the shield I used some white to highlight.  Lastly, I used the "Metallic Pewter" to paint the metal parts of the ax.  I then went back and highlighted the edges of the ax head with Folk Art "Silver Sterling".
       I let the figure sit overnight, and the next morning I gave it a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".  Later that afternoon I flocked the base, and the next day I sprayed it with Testor's "Dullcote" spray varnish.

     I'm pleased with how this fellow came out.  He will be a nice commander for to my Bones orc horde.

     I played another pair of "Song of Blades and Heroes" games using my Bones figures this past weekend; so I hope to have the battle reports posted on Thursday. So tune in then!

Figure 120 of 265: Complete

Virina, Female Demon: Figure 119 of 265

     This week I painted Virina, the female demon, from the BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guys) set.  As I pondered how I was going to paint her, I got in my head to do her in all black, and then I thought it might be neat to give her bright red hair to contrast with the black body.  I then happened to see a picture of some pumpkinhead figures someone had painted and had done cool fire-glowing eye effects on the jack-o-lantern heads; and the idea came to me that perhaps instead of doing plain red hair, it might be cool to try and paint the hair like glowing fire.  Since I have 200-some Bones figures to paint, the opportunity to do experimenting with stuff like this is one of the things I like.

         I prepped this figure in the usual way; soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish soap added, then giving it a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying.  I then glued the figure to a 1" black-primed fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue, and glued the washer to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of Elmer's White Glue.
     I then painted her all black, doing my best to avoid the hair.

Next, I gave the whole body a drybrushing with Duncan "Slate Blue" to add highlights to the black body and wings.  Her hooves and horns I drybrushed with Folk Art "Medium Grey".

I then painted her hair Apple Barrel "Lemon Chiffon".

I then carefully drybrushed over the "Lemon Chiffon with first, Americana "Tangerine", and then Ceramcoat "Bright Red".

     And, lastly, I went over the hair with Apple Barrel "Apple Maroon".  I then painted the ring on her hair, first with Ceramcoat "Bronze, and then added highlights with Ceramcoat "14K Gold".  Next I tried to add reflected light from the hair onto her shoulders, chest, arms, tail, wings, and face by lightly drybrushing them with the "Tangerine"  Finally, I added eyes with the "Lemon Chiffon" and then added black pupils, and then touched up any exposed white areas of her integral base with the black.
       The next morning I gave it the figure coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".   Later in the afternoon I flocked the base, and the next day I sprayed it with Testor's "Dullcote" spray varnish.

     Well, I like it, but I'm not totally happy with the figure, I think the black body turned out looking cool, but I don't know if the hair effect really works, and I still need to work on my relected light effects, as I think they came off heavy-handed.

Figure 119 of 265: Complete

Kord the Destroyer: Figure 118 of 265

     This week I painted the Kord the Destroyer figure from the Fighters Set.   This wraps up the four-figure Fighters Set, and it joins the list of finished sets over in the right-hand column. 

     Let me just say that this was my least favorite figure from the Kickstarter to paint so far.    It had several strikes against it going into the painting process, and if it hadn't been for my being determined to paint every figure, I may have tossed it in the flea market box.  First, as can be seen in the photo below, the fur cape comes pre-glued to the figure making a large portion of the back of the figure very hard to access for painting.  Also, as I have complained about with some Reaper figures before, there were just too many layers of clothing, padding, and armor on this figure, making it difficult to

figure out what was what.  To make matters worse, it seemed there was clothing on the left of the figure that didn't match what was on the right, and vice-versa. And where do his sleeves come from, when he isn't wearing a shirt?  
     So, getting down to business,   I prepped this figure in the usual way; soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish soap added, then giving it a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying.  I then glued the figure to a 1" black-primed fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue, and glued the washer to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of Elmer's White Glue.
     I then gave the figure a wash with some thinned black ink with a little pinhead drop of dish soap added, to help bring out the details on the figure. Since I did not particularly care for this figure, my painting descriptions are going to be a bit shorter than usual.

       To begin painting, I painted the wolf cape and boot trim fur parts of the figure black and the lower cape with Americana "Asphaltum". I then dryushed the black parts with Folk Art "Medium Grey", and the brown lower cape with Americana "Khaki Tan".

   Next, I painted his skin with Americana "Shading Flesh", and his loincloth Apple Barrel "Apple Maroon".  His boots I painted Americana "Charcoal Grey".  I then painted his various sleeves, and the other garments at his waist, various brown shades.

 I then moved on to painting his belts, wrist guard things, scabbard, pouch, and the handle of the ax, and grip of the sword more shades from my brown paints collection. His hair I painted Anita's "Burnt Sienna", and the horns of his helmet Americana "Buttermilk".

   Next, I painted the rock he is standing on with the "Medium Gray".  Then I did all the armor, weapons, and buckles with Ceramcoat "Metallic Pewter".

      After I had let everything dry for a good while, I gave the entire a figure a wash with thinned GW "Agrax Earthshade" wash.

     When the wash had had a long time to dry, I went back and added highlights to the figure, using mainly the base colors I had used.  I highlighted the hair with Americana "Georgia Clay", and the rock he is standing on with Duncan "Slate Grey".  The metal parts I highlighted with Folk Art "Silver Sterling".  I also painted a black nose and eyes on the wolf cape.

      I let the figure sit all day, and the later that eveing I gave it a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".  The next morning I flocked the base, and later that afternoon I sprayed it with Testor's "Dullcote" spray varnish.

       Despite all my fussing, I don't think the figure turned out that badly.  As long as you view the figure as a whole and don't start to try to decipher all the details, it's a good result.
     Next up on the painting table will be the Big Bad Evil Guys (BBEG) Set!

Figure 118 of 265: Complete

Deenah, Female Barbarian: Figure 117 of 265

     Making my way through the Fighters set, this week I painted Deenah the Female Barbarian.  As I studied the figure, I wasn't sure what to make of the herringbone pattern on her skirt; was it supposed to be armored plates, or truly just a herring bone weave?  I decided I would paint it like a tartan, so whatever it was supposed to be, would be disguised by the cross-checks of the tartan plaid. I also apparently was still on a bronze armor kick from last week's Dragonman, as all I could visualize her armor as being was bronze colored.
      I prepped this figure in the usual way; soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish soap added, then giving it a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying.  I then glued the figure to a 1" black-primed fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue, and glued the washer to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of Elmer's White Glue.

     I began by painting the fur on her boots with Americana "Asphaltum".  When this was dry I drybrushed it with Americana "Khaki Tan". I then painted her boots with Ceramcoat "Walnut". Next, I painted all her skin with Apple Barrel "Flesh", followed with painting her skirt Apple Barrel "Apple Blue Spruce".

     Next, I did the tartan pattern on her skirt.  First, I painted each of the little herring bone sections with Americana "True Blue", letting a little of the "Apple Blue Spruce" show through between each section. Then I painted yellow crosses on each blue section with Apple Barrel "Yellow".

     I now painted her belts and the little pouch at the front, with DecoArt "Cinnamon Brown".  I then painted the canteen(?) and the little pouches behind her scabbard with Apple Barrel "Burnt Sienna". The hanging under the pouch at her front I painted GW "Snakebite Leather",  her scabbard I painted Ceramcoat "Raw Sienna", and her ax handle I painted Americana  "Mississippi Mud".  Her forearm guards I painted with the "Khaki Tan", and her shirt sleeves I painted with Americana "Wedgewood Blue". I painted her hair Anita's "Burnt Sienna".

     Now I painted her armor with GW "Brazen Brass". The hilt of her large sword I painted with Cermacoat "Bronze".  Then I  painted the  blade of the large sword, the hilt of the smaller sword, and the ax head,  all with Ceramcoat "Metallic Pewter".  I then painted the sword grips with the "Asphaltum".

     Next, I drybrushed the stones she stands upon with Folk Art "Medium Grey", followed with a lighter drybrushing with Duncan "Slate Grey".  Then, after everything had time to dry, I gave the entire figure a wash with thinned Winsor-Newton "Peat Brwon " ink,  except the kilt which I carefully avoided. The stones I gave a wash with thinned black ink.

       After the ink had had plenty of time to dry, I went back and worked on her face.  First, I painted he eyes, with first white "whites", and then black pupils.  I also painted her teeth white, and her lips with  Americana "Shading Flesh".  I then added eyebrows with the Anita's "Burnt Sienna". Lastly, I added highlights to her face, hands, and arms, with the base "Apple Flesh". I then drybrushed highlights onto her hair, with first the base Anita's "Burnt Sienna", and then with Americana "Georgia Clay".  I then added highlights to the forearm guards, the scabbard, her shirt, jug, and pouch, all using the original base colors.  I then worked on highlighting the metals; using the "Bronze" to highlight her armor, and Cermacoat "14K Gold" on the hilt of her large sword".  For the blades of her sword and ax I used Folk Art "Silver Sterling" for the highlights.
      I let the figure sit overnight, and the next morning I gave it a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".  Later that afternoon I flocked the base, and the following day I sprayed it with Testor's "Dullcote" spray varnish.

       I'm really pleased with how she turned out, especially her face.  I find faces to be tricky things; you can't continually work on them without them getting really gunked-up looking, so when one turns out relatively good with minimal repainting I'm very happy.  I also really like the dynamic pose, and in the end I think the tartan plaid looks good on the figure.

    Figure 117 of 265: Complete