Kidnap - An alternative use for the HOT103 Cockatrice 15mm monster

I am delighted to present to all you 15mm fantasy wargamers out there a new article by Andy Jefcoate!  If you missed the previous half dozen by Andy you can see them on the blog HERE. Great for Age of Might and Steel and also USEME 15mm Fantasy plus of course any other 15mm system this time his subject is a conversion of our HOT103 Cockatrice one of this years most popular releases.  Enjoy and Thanks.  GBS

Kidnap - An alternative use for the HOT103 Cockatrice 15mm monster!

Some of you may have read my earlier article about painting the new Cockatrice that has joined the excellent 15mm.co.uk HOT range of figures. By strange coincidence Sam Croes and I both painted the new figure using similar colours despite being separated by a few hundred miles! I was therefore determined to paint another and come up with a very different colour scheme so Gavin very generously provided another casting for me to use. At the same time I was planning a big fantasy game and needed a  general to lead my combined forces of evil, so I decided that the Cockatrice would make an excellent mount.

After much consideration I picked the mounted Chaos Knight figure from the Tabletop fantasy range (537 Chaos Knight on mount) to be my General. This was because the figure has a full helm so could be male or female, human or Vampire and could be used to fit various scenarios. In my game it was a Vampire Lord who had control of a Goblin tribe to fight alongside his Undead forces but as I've said before the only limit is your imagination. I clipped off the spear that the figure holds and replaced it with the sword from the Undead Cavalry standard bearer (HOT24) to make it different from my other Chaos Knights. 

To make the figure stand out further I decided to portray it as in flight as the Cockatrice already has it's wings spread. I carefully clipped off the base and used a flying stand (from the LBA1 pack) that was attached to the Cockatrice with a thin brass rod. The flying stand itself was then attached to a 40mm square base to give it stability.

As the bulk of my forces of good are human I decided to put a human command figure in the creatures claws to look like an enemy leader has been kidnapped for questioning. I used the command figure from pack MRC26 of the Altuos historical range as the majority of my humans are also from that range. 

For this Cockatrice I painted the scales in purple with a light blue underbelly and legs, then the feathers were coloured a light grey with the crests on the head in a vivid pink. The whole thing was given a black ink wash to tone it down so that it fit in with my Undead army but as the Chaos knight is mostly encased in metal, pretty much any colour would work.

I enjoyed this project as it's fun to spend a bit longer on your leader figures to make them stand out on the tabletop. I know that the colour scheme won't be to everyone's taste but you have to agree that it's very different to the last Cockatrice that I painted. I have a growing collection of characters with monsters as mounts and they are always fun to do. While I like having a good size collection of generic monsters that will fit with pretty much any army, it's good to tie some to a specific force as for me it helps to give the army an identity.

Here is the HOT103 Cockatrice as it appears on the 15mm.co.uk website.  It is a three piece white metal monster.

Recently the lads at 15mm.co.uk released digital downloads of Age of Might and Steel and UM002 USEME 15mm Fantasy.  These are excellent compact rule systems check them out!

Thanks for reading.

Andy 

Defending the Village scenario and battle report for AoMaS

Welcome to Andy Jefcoate's sixth article for Age of Might and Steel the 15mm fantasy wargame system.  This time Andy presents a two part scenario and battle report for the game called 'Defending the Village' using Goblinoid and Human armies.  You can find Age of Might and Steel (AoMaS) on our website HERE as a download and if you mised any of the previous articles in this series you can find them all easily in this search tag link HERE. We hope you enjoy and all comments or emails are most welcome. GBS

AoMaS Scenario - Defending the village

Having completed the HOB1 Human Starter Settlement set of 15mm buildings I was very keen to use it for a scenario and having also completed Goblin and Human armies I decided to have a Human force coming to the rescue of an outlying village as Goblin raiders move to attack.

The Scenario 

I decided to use all five buildings in the set together as one settlement and marked out an area 9" square in the exact middle of a 6' by 4' table. It's important to be clear on the boundaries of the village as I wanted it to count as rough terrain for movement purposes, count as a defensive position for a unit that charges or is charged while completely in the village (to represent house to house fighting), and it may also be critical to decide who wins the scenario. I used mdf tiles with paper printed to represent cobbles glued to it, but you could simply use a piece of paper or cloth cut to the appropriate size.

Other scenery wasn't important to the scenario goals so I decided to place a road from one short table edge to the other and passing through the middle of the village. I then used 2 hills and 2 areas of light woods with 1 hill and 1 area of light woods positioned by each player.This will be used purely to break up the table so you can use as much or as little terrain as you have available and you are happy with.

Each force will then deploy anywhere on opposite long table edges up to 6" on to the table.

The game was set for 6 turns with the Goblin raiders going first. You could set a higher number of turns but using only 6 means that neither army can delay and both players need to be decisive.

The Opposing Armies

The forces I used were set at a 400 points limit maximum which worked perfectly with the units I have, but the only limit to this is your figure collection and the size of playing surface available. As both forces would have to manoeuvre, no artillery pieces were taken by either army. The human force was a little bit light on points, mainly because the goblin force took 4 monsters whereas the humans only had 2 but as the monsters on the human force were both magical I felt that this evened out the points difference.

Goblin Force

General (45pts), Magic User (50pts), Hero (35pts), Hero (35pts), Goblin Knights (9 stands of heavy foot = 27pts), Goblin Spearmen (10 stands of medium foot = 20pts), Goblin Archers (8 stands of archers = 12pts), Wolf Riders (10 stands of light cavalry = 20pts), Wolf Riders with bow (6 stands of mounted archers = 15pts), Trolls x3 (Monster = 35pts x 3 = 105pts), Manticore (35pts).

Total 399 points

Human Force

General (45pts), Magic User (50pts), Hero (35pts), Hero (35pts), 2 Handed Swordsmen (9 stands of heavy foot = 27pts), Templar Infantry (9 stands of heavy foot = 27pts), Halberdiers (10 stands of medium foot = 20pts), Handgunners (8 stands of archers = 12pts), Mounted Templar Knights (9 stands of heavy cavalry = 31.5pts), Pegasus (35pts), Griffon (35pts).

Total 352.5 points

This scenario would easily work with other armies. There is no reason why Elves or Dwarves wouldn't want to save a human village as they are their allies or you could also have an Orc or Goblin force trying to save their own village. There is an excellent set of Goblinoid buildings in the HOB2 Orc Starter Settlement that could be used instead. 

Victory Conditions

The objective is to have control of the village.

Major victory

- One force has completely destroyed the opponents units.

- One force has a unit completely within the village with no opposing units touching any part of the village. This will count as a major victory regardless of losses. 

Minor victory

- Both armies have units within or touching the village boundary. The winner is the army with the highest points value of stands completely within the village. This will count as a minor victory regardless of losses. 

- One army has a unit touching the village and their opponent doesn't. This will count as a minor victory regardless of losses.

Any other situation will count as a draw.  

END

With the scenario now in place I give you a battle report where my own playing out of the scenario is presented....

Battle Report

The General surveyed his forces. His infantry had marched hard to reach the village in time but his scouts had just come in to say that the Goblins were in sight. The villagers had barricaded themselves in their homes but it would be a close run thing as to who reached the village first. There was no time to rest his force so he gave the order for his units to assume their attack formations and advance at the double! He prayed for victory as he cantered his horse towards the unit of templar knights...

Turn 1

It was agreed that until the first unit made contact with the enemy no activation rolls would be needed.

Goblins - The Manticore was attached to the wolf riders, while 2 Trolls attached to the medium infantry and 1 Troll attached to the heavy infantry. The wolf riders and wolf riders with bows both moved to the left flank at top speed, with the latter in a march column in order to provide passing volleys. 2 heroes went with them. The archers and the magic user moved to the left of the village. The general then took the medium infantry straight towards the village with the heavy infantry moving to the right. 

Humans - The Pegasus joined the medium infantry to add to their speed while the Griffon joined the heavy infantry on the left flank. The Knights moved to the right to guard that flank with the general following up behind. The handgunners and magic user moved up to support them on their left. The medium infantry moved towards the village with a unit of heavy infantry on either side, the 2 handed swordsmen to the left and the templar infantry to the right. 1 hero went with the medium infantry while the other moved to their right with the templar infantry. 

Turn 2

Goblins - The medium infantry continued the rush towards the village but didn't quite reach it, while the heavy infantry continued their slower advance to the right. The archers and magic user also moved forwards to try to get in range. The wolf riders with bows rode around the edge of the woods with the aim of passing the handgunners on their flank next turn. Finally the wolf riders charged the knights. Although they are light cavalry charging heavy cavalry the attached Manticore gave them a magical attack and the fantasy races unique rules for goblins means that wolf riders get +1 to their dice roll in hand to hand combat. In the end both units lost 2 stands.

As the first units had made contact, it was now necessary to make activation rolls so it was important that units had leaders within their 12" command radius. 

Humans - The magic user cast a Shield spell on the handgunners that she was attached to meaning that enemy ranged attacks had a -1 modifier on their dice roll. Unfortunately the fear of the enemy bearing down on them caused the handgunners to then fail their activation roll but although they were disorganised, they remained in place. With the help of the Pegasus the medium infantry reached and entered the village, while the heavy infantry continued to move up to either side of them.   

Finally the heavy cavalry charged back at the wolf riders but due to a low roll the knights lost a stand while the wolf riders only lost 2 stands. 

Turn 3

Goblins - On the right flank the heavy infantry failed their activation roll despite the general being in range but remained in place disorganised, while the medium infantry moved into the village.The archers and magic user also moved up to get into firing range.

The wolf riders with bows passed between the knights and handgunners who received their passing volley. Due to the shield spell the handgunners only lost a stand though. The wolf riders attacked the knights again. Due to the Manticore's magic attack and a good dice roll the wolf riders only lost a stand but the knights lost 3 stands.

Humans - The magic user recast the Shield spell on the handgunners, while the unit wheeled round to face the wolf riders with bows on their flank but failed to down any with their shooting. The 2 handed swordsmen on the left flank continued to advance and the medium infantry reached the middle of the village despite the reduced movement it caused.

The templar heavy infantry charged the goblin archers and just managed to reach them. The defensive fire didn't cause any damage but in hand to hand combat the heavy infantry lost a stand while the archers were lucky to only lose 2 stands.  The cavalry combat continued on the right flank. Despite their heavy losses a herculean effort from the knights meant that they only lost a stand whereas the wolf riders lost 3 stands. Although the goblins still had the Manticore, only 2 stands of knights and 2 stands of wolf riders remained.

Turn 4

Goblins - The wolf riders with bows continued to move around the handgunners. Although they finished their move in range the handgunner's defensive fire failed to cause any hits while the goblin's shooting downed 2 more stands of the humans.

The medium infantry charged the human medium infantry in the centre of the village. The humans were halberdiers so were treated as having polearms which reduced the effect of the goblin attack and as both units were within the village it was agreed that the modifiers for a defensive position would cancel out. The result was that the goblins lost 2 stands and the humans lost 4 stands.

The magic user was attached to the goblin archers and cast True Flight to boost their shooting but they failed their activation roll and retreated disorganised so could not fire. 

The heavy infantry moved forward again to try to counter the 2 handed swordsmen but their failure to move last turn meant that they were still a fair distance away. The combat continued between the wolf riders and the knights. The goblins wiped out the remaining knights but lost 2 stands themselves so were also destroyed. Only the Manticore was left standing facing the human general who luckily hadn't attached himself to the combat.

Humans - The general moved back behind the rapidly reducing handgunners for defence and the magic user cast Shield on them again. The Shield meant that the goblins defensive fire didn't cause any damage before the handgunners fired back at the wolf riders with bows downing 2 stands.

The Templar heavy infantry moved towards the goblin archers whose defensive fire didn't do any damage. A disaster occurred in the village where the human medium infantry attacked the goblin medium infantry losing a stand themselves but doing no damage to the goblins at all!

Finally the 2 handed swordsmen charged the goblin heavy infantry. They made up for their comrades in the village by losing 1 stand themselves but removing 4 stands of goblins.

Turn 5

Goblins - The Manticore moved to join the wolf riders with bows along with a mounted goblin hero.

The magic user cast Fright on the goblin archers meaning that if the human heavy infantry charged them they wouldn't get a charge bonus. 

The goblin heavy infantry planned to charge back at the 2 handed swordsmen but failed their activation roll retreating back towards their general disorganised.  The medium infantry again attacked the human medium infantry in the village with the goblins losing 2 stands but the humans losing 3 stands. The wolf riders with bows continued to move around the flank of the hangunners and their passing volley took down another 2 stands of humans. The goblin archers fired at the templar heavy infantry bearing down on them and removed a stand of them.

Humans - The general remained behind the handgunners and the magic user continued with her Shield spell.

The 2 handed swordsmen charged the flank of the goblin medium infantry in the village losing a stand but removing 2 stands of goblins. The medium infantry then also fought the goblin medium infantry but lost 2 stands for the cost of only 1 stand of goblins. This wiped the humans out leaving just the Pegasus.

The templar heavy infantry charged the goblin archers. No stands were lost from the defensive fire and in combat despite the Fright spell the humans only lost a stand but destroyed 4 stands of goblins. 

The handgunners wheeled round to track the wolf riders with bows but their shooting didn't do any damage.

Turn 6 

As the scenario was set for 6 turns this was the last turn but due to the high losses on both sides it looked as though it would be decisive.

Goblins - The general moved towards the village and the magic user cast Inspire on the archers to bost their activation score as they were now below 50% strength.  The archers failed their activation roll despite the magic users efforts with the roll of a 1 and then routed with a second roll of 1! The heavy infantry moved towards the village to contest ownership but couldn't quite reach it. 

The medium infantry continued to fight the 2 handed swordsmen but only removed a stand of humans compared to losing 2 themselves. As this left only the goblin command stand then the unit was treated as destroyed despite the Troll that was still attached. Had there been a further turn the Troll could then attach to another goblin unit.

The wolf riders with bows left the 3 remaining stands of handgunners alone and also moved towards the village. Being light cavalry they had enough movement to reach it but couldn't charge the human infantry as they are mounted archers. They attempted a volley against the 2 handed swordsmen but didn't do any damage. 

Humans - The general moved towards the village and the magic user cast Inspire on the handgunners to boost their activation roll as they were also below 50% strength. The 2 handed swordsmen wheeled into the village facing the goblin table edge.  The templar heavy infantry then wheeled around the edge of the village putting them on the goblin side of it.

Finally the remaining handgunners moved as fast as they could towards the sanctuary of the village.

Result

This was a minor victory to the human force. Both armies had units within or touching the village but the human heavy infantry had more than half of the unit's stands within the village whereas the wolf riders with bows were only touching the edge.

Conclusions

Although it was a minor victory for the humans this battle could have gone to either force. The goblins were unlucky with the number of failed activation rolls especially with the heavy infantry failing to move at an important time. Then when the same unit lost 4 stands against the 2 handed swordsmen this was probably what won the game for the humans.

The goblin wolf riders performed well against the human heavy cavalry and the wolf riders with bows showed how they could be a very useful unit for breaking up an enemy line and disrupting their plans. 

It would have been interesting to carry the game on to see who was left standing. 

The human heavy infantry units were both down to 6 stands each although the 2 handed swordsmen had a Griffon attached and the templar infantry had the Pegasus. The handgunners were no longer effective being only 3 stands.

The goblin heavy infantry despite only having 5 stands left now had 3 trolls attached so was the strongest unit left on the table (as long as they could get some decent dice rolls!). The wolf riders with bows were behind the human lines and although they had 4 stands left the also had the Manticore and a hero attached. 

The General and his standard bearer sat on their tired horses at the edge of the village. The Goblin heavy infantry and lumbering Trolls had just disappeared from view and he knew from experience that the few remaining Wolf Riders would soon follow. The Goblins hadn't had much time to do damage to the houses or hurt the villagers who were bringing food and water to his battered troops. It had been a costly victory with around two thirds of his men being lost and it was impossible to pursue the remaining Goblins. All he could do was fortify the village as much as he could and await reinforcements. 

Thank you for reading.

Andy

Spotlight on using Monsters for AoMaS

Welcome to the fifth article for Age of Might and Steel by Andy Jefcoate a great fan of 15mm fantasy wargaming. Andy has more articles to come which will feature on our blog while this time he discusses his collection of 15mm Monsters and some house rules for additional use of them in the game.  If you missed his previous articles they are all on our blog and you can see them on this search tag link HERE. We hope you enjoy and all comments or emails are most welcome. Follow the links in the text to visit our website for the rules and miniatures mentioned. GBS

Spotlight on using Monsters for AoMaS 

In the classic Barking Irons magazine Issue 1 Steve Hazuka the creator of AoMaS wrote an article about using Heroes, Monsters and Special Units in AoMaS. In this next article I'd like to expand on the use of Monster stands and provide some 'house' rules that I use in my games of AoMaS which I have played and tested. 15mm.co.uk provide an excellent variety of monsters in their HOT 15mm Fantasy Range and Tabletop classic ranges and one of the big advantages of using 15mm scale figures is that it is relatively cheap to acquire and easy to store a large collection of Monsters to use in your games. They are also great fun to paint as the only limit is your imagination! As most Monsters can be used for several different armies they are very useful but sometimes it's fun to theme them to a certain army. Those of you who have read the article about my human army will know that I mounted human figures on a Griffon and a Pegasus to tie them into the army. Of course you could then use these stands as your general or a hero if you want them to stand out on the battlefield. To see previous articles please click HERE. 

Natural Creatures 

In the AoMaS rulebook natural creatures includes Giants, Eagles, Mammoths, Elephants, Rhinosaurs, Owl Bears, Ogres, Trolls, Golem, Animal packs, Wyvern, Giant Animals (Spiders, Bats, Slugs etc), Dracci Lords and Giant Lizardmen. The basic cost of these is 35 points a stand and they can be put with any army that their alignment allows. They are very useful to simply attach to your units to increase the number of stands. 

Magical Creatures 

In the AoMaS rulebook magical creatures includes Giant Hydra, Chimera, Manticores, Griffons, Cadaver Giants, Were Creatures, Demons, Pegasus, Skeletal Behemoths, Ents, Giant Elementals and Cockatrice (It also includes Dragons but I'll talk about them separately). These can also be put with any army their alignment allows. On page 25 of the AoMaS rulebook it states that these are also 35 points each but in Steve Hazuka's article he said that with the exception of Were Creatures the cost of Magical Creatures should be 50 points. This is because the majority of Magical Creatures have special abilities and are more valuable in game terms. For example when a Pegasus is added to a unit, it increases that units movement by half so can make sure that unit gets to where you want it to go much quicker than your opponent expects. Using this system, any creature can be made magical and given an ability. If your opponent agrees a Giant could be painted as a Frost Giant and given a magical attack (which deducts 1 from their base number when attacking), for the cost of another 15 points. If you do this I would only use abilities that match a spell on page 17 of the rulebook so that they fit in with the game and are comparable to existing magical creatures in the rules. 

Dragons 

These are another Magical Creature and the most powerful Monster in the game which is why they can generally only be added if 2 armies are fielded on each side (The Dracci can field 1 per army). They cost 100 points each but as well as being able to fly they have a permanent Fright spell which removes an attackers charge bonus, and a magical attack which deducts 1 from their Base Number when attacking. They are worth the additional cost. 

Additional 'House' rules for base sizes 

The points system for Monsters in AoMaS is very simple and the fact that each Monster counts as a stand makes them easy to use so it works. Sometimes though I like to change this so that Monsters play a bigger role in my games. According to their size my Monsters are all based on 40 x 30mm, 40 x 40mm or 40 x 60mm stands. Those based on 40 x 30 count as 1 stand, those based on 40 x 40 cost an additional 15 points and count as 2 stands, and those based on 40 x 60 cost an additional 30 points and count as 3 stands. This system is used for Natural and Magical creatures and gives bigger creatures more punch but at a cost. It means that a giant on a 40 x 60 stand is more likely to beat a troll on a 40 x 30 stand in single combat due to the 2:1 outnumbering rule which I like. It also means that a large '3 stand' monster can really boost the number of stands when attached to a unit. Be careful of the 12 stand maximum for units though. As my Dragons are based on 40 x 60 bases this makes them cost 130 points and even more powerful but as they are rare it hasn't made a huge impact on my games. Other monsters on 40 x 60 stands have just as much chance of beating them as they did before. The only down side of this is that the monsters need to have damage recorded but I do this with a small dice sat on their base avoiding any record keeping. A '3 stand' monster that takes a point of damage then effectively becomes a '2 stand' monster to reflect the effect that the injury has on it's fighting ability. 

Using Monsters as Units 

It's sometimes fun to use monsters to represent units in your armies. As an example Ogres could simply be used as allied heavy infantry to represent mercenaries in a human army. I have a unit of 9 Trolls each on a 40 x 30 stand that I use with the stats of heavy cavalry to add punch to my Goblin army, if my opponent is happy to allow it. The Goblin army doesn't allow heavy cavalry in the main rules so this is fun to do as it changes the tactical options of the Goblin army as well as those of the opposing army. Using the alternate rules about base sizes you can also make units from bigger Monsters. I have 3 Eagle figures each based on a 40 x 40 stand (which then equates to 6 stands) and I give them the stats of 6 stands of light cavalry to give an army a different look. They work particularly well with Elves guarding their woodland realm. If you want to be more conventional, you could use the rules for allies which gives a maximum number of 8 stands for the monster unit, plus a character. A unit of centaurs could easily be used as allied cavalry for most armies but why not substitute something different using the same stats! 

Conclusion 

Using monsters and magic is often what attracts us to fantasy games and I hope that this article has got you to think about how you use monsters in your scenarios. I also hope that it's given you a good excuse to paint some extra figures and take advantage of the great offers that 15mm.co.uk do when you purchase multiple packs. You can choose to buy a pack or three packs with a saving or even samples.  Excellent.

Thanks for reading and see you next time! 

Andy

Painting the New 15mm Cockatrice Monster

Welcome to the fourth article for Age of Might and Steel by Andy Jefcoate a great fan of 15mm fantasy wargaming.  Andy has lots more articles to come which will feature on our blog while this time he shows off his painted up new HOT103 Cockatrice monster from the HOT 15mm Fantasy Range.  If you missed any of the previous articles you can find them by clicking on the links here. Last time Andy talked and shows his painting and use of our HOB1 Human Starter Settlement set of 15mm fantasy buildings see that HERE.  If you missed his article on Zombies you can read that HERE and if you passed over his excellent first article on building a Goblin Army for Age of Might and Steel (AoMaS) you can see that HERE.  We hope you enjoy and all comments or emails are most welcome. Follow the links in the text to visit our website for the rules and miniatures mentioned. GBS

Painting the new 15mm Cockatrice!

Thanks to Gavin I was lucky enough to receive a casting of the new 15mm Cockatrice figure ahead of its release date. I immediately liked it a lot as the casting is very clean with a good level of detail and the pose is good, with it's wings raised in a threatening gesture and one foot poised to strike! 

It is supplied in 3 white metal pieces with the wings provided separately which I always like as the angle of the wings can change the look of a figure dramatically. I was happy with how the finished figure looked so I thought that I'd explain how I went about painting it.

1. After minimal cleaning of the casting I started by gluing the wings to the body and then gluing the figure to a 40mm x 30mm stand to fit in with my collection of AoMaS figures. Once the glue was dry I undercoated the figure in a matt black paint. As stated in an earlier article I like to use acrylic paints as they dry quickly. 

2. I then added my basing material by stirring fine sand into paint of the colour I want the bases to be and put it on. For my current 15mm fantasy armies I'm using a sandy brown as the base colour. The figure was then left overnight to dry.

3. I started by painting the largest area of the figure which was the scaly body and wings. These were done in a dark green but as it is a creature I used a dark camouflage green to give a more natural look.

4. Next I covered the belly and along the underside of the tail in a pale yellow to contrast with the dark green. I painted this in stripes so that the bands along the stomach and tail were clearly visible.

 5.  With the larger areas complete it was time to put the base colour on smaller areas. The feet and beak were painted in a dark yellow, the tongue and crests on the head were painted in a dark red, the feathered areas at the top of the legs and on the head were done in a light grey and the claws and teeth were done in a pale brown.

6. I then covered the whole of the figure in a black ink wash. There is a nice level of detail on the casting so as the ink dries it brings this out and dulls down the colours. It also has the effect of creating areas of shade which gives a good boundary between the individual colours, but also tying them together. To make sure that the ink was completely dry I again left the figure overnight.

7. It was then time to add some brighter colours by dry-brushing them on to the main areas. I used a light camouflage green on the wings and body which highlighted the raised areas on the wings and the individual scales nicely. I then used a white over the feathered areas to make them stand out, before putting a lighter red on the crests on the creatures head.  

8. To add a final level of detail the beak was covered in a lighter yellow, the claws were all given an overlay of a bone colour and the eyes were painted red.

 9. The same bone colour was used to dry-brush over the sandy base as I've done with all of my 15mm fantasy collection. I then gave the figure a coat of matt spray varnish to protect it.

10. Finally once the varnish had dried I added static grass to the  base using PVA glue to fit in with the green of my terrain tiles. As the base then matched the rest of my collection it means that I can freely swap the Cockatrice between armies (which is especially useful with monsters) and it will immediately fit in.

I enjoyed painting this figure immensely. I'm building a fair sized collection of monsters to use with AoMaS and a Cockatrice was something I didn't have previously. I plan to highlight my collection of monsters in a later article. 

In the AoMaS game this Cockatrice could have the following stats.

Magical Creature Align: Evil

Move: Walk or Fly Moral Effect: None

Combat Effect: Each figure is counted as a stand

Magic: Magic Attack (-1 to attack base number)

Although the Cockatrice is a monster it isn't a large figure with the top of the crest on the head being about 25mm from the ground. However, with it's wings spread and tail raised it looks bigger than it actually is. As I write this I'm thinking about how this figure could easily be used as the mount for a character or even as the mounts for a unit of heavy cavalry which would look very imposing on the tabletop!

In the meantime I would recommend buying a Cockatrice (or two, or three) to add to your own collection; you won't be disappointed. 

Thanks for reading.

Andy

Painting 15mm Human Fantasy Buildings by Andy Jefcoate

Welcome to the third article for Age of Might and Steel by Andy Jefcoate a great fan of 15mm fantasy wargaming.  Andy has more articles to come which will feature on our blog and in this article he talks and shows his painting and use of our HOB1 Human Starter Settlement set of 15mm fantasy buildings.  If you missed his article last month on Zombies you can read that HERE and if you passed over his excellent first article on building a Goblin Army for Age of Might and Steel (AoMaS) you can see that HERE.  We hope you enjoy and all comments or emails are most welcome. Follow the links in the text to visit our website for the rules and miniatures mentioned. GBS

Painting 15mm Human Fantasy Buildings

When I first saw the set of 15mm Human Fantasy Buildings designed by Sam Croes I knew that I had to have a set. Having good scenery for whatever genre or scale of wargaming you're doing makes your games much more rewarding. 

There are 5 buildings in the set which can be purchased individually or all together as the HOB1 Human Starter Settlement (with a discount on the total price). Two of the buildings are hovels with thatched roofs and a more rural look, while the other 3 are stone built with tiled roofs and look more like town buildings. They look great together as a single settlement and are based on historical buildings so would be useful for historical games too.

Preparation

All 5 buildings have excellent levels of detail and  on the set I have there was no need to trim any flash. With the resin being of such good quality they probably didn't need any further preparation before painting but I did give them a wash with mild detergent to be sure that there were no chemicals on their surface that would stop paint adhesion. I then undercoated all 5 buildings in black matt acrylic paint and left them overnight to dry.

Rural Buildings

As there are distinct styles between the buildings I decided to paint the 2 more rural buildings first. These are HOB1A Small Hovel and HOB1B Big Hovel.

The thatch was painted in a light brown and the wooden framework on the buildings (including doors and window frames) in a mid brown before all these areas were given a brown ink wash. 

Once the ink had dried the thatch was given a heavy dry brush of yellow and the exterior walls within the wooden frame areas were painted in the same yellow.

Finally the exterior wall areas within the wooden frame were dry brushed in a bone colour, any metal such as door/window furniture or frame fixing plates were given a light dry brush in a gun metal colour metallic paint, and stone doorsteps were painted a mid grey. 

Stone Buildings

I then decided to paint the 2 smaller stone built buildings as they are also very similar in style. These are HOB1C Small House and HOB1D Tall House.

I started with the wooden areas and painted them in a mid brown the same as the rural buildings. If you wanted to make them look more like town buildings these wooden areas, especially doors and window frames, could be given a splash of colour but I wanted to tie all 5 settlement buildings together.

Next I painted all stone areas in a heavy dry brush of mid grey with the roof tiles and chimney pots in a brick red. Any metal such as door/window furniture was given a light dry brush of  a gun metal colour metallic paint, before the whole buildings were given a black ink wash. To finish off a light dry brush of light grey was added to the stone areas and a light dry brush of blood red was added to the roof tiles. 

Large Building

Finally I painted the largest building in the set, HOB1E Large House. As this is a stone building with a tiled roof but also has wooden frame areas similar to the rural buildings I used all of the techniques above. To start, the wooden areas were painted in a mid brown and the stone areas in a heavy dry brush of mid grey.

While the chimney pots were painted in brick red, I decided to paint the roof tiles in a mid blue to give variety. Next, any metal areas such as door/window furniture were given a light dry brush of  a gun metal colour metallic paint, before the whole building was given a black ink wash.

Then a light dry brush of light grey was added to the stone areas and a light dry brush of very pale blue (I added a tiny splash of blue to white paint) was added to the roof tiles. 

As a finishing touch the front door was painted in blood red. This house looks like it belongs to a wealthier person and this made the building stand out.

Results

I am very happy with the final result and have already used the buildings as objectives in AoMaS scenario's. Yes sometimes it's fun to just line up your armies and charge across the table but having an objective makes you have to think about what you're doing. Most battles in history have been one force defending territory and/or possessions against a force that wishes to take them, so why should a fantasy game be any different. 

The buildings can be used together as a settlement, or the rural ones can be used as a small village/farm with the stone ones as a separate small town. I can see me buying another set in the future to expand the possibilities. I am currently working on a human force for AoMaS to use against my goblin force and these buildings will play a big part in the first game. I'll let you know how I get on in a future article.

Thanks for reading.

Andy

Batch Painting 15mm Figures for AoMaS by Andy Jefcoate

Welcome to the second article for Age of Might and Steel by Andy Jefcoate a great fan of 15mm fantasy wargaming.  Andy has more articles to come which will feature on our blog and in this article he talks and shows how to get your figures painted and on the table using the very popular HOT21 Zombie Horde pack. If you missed the first article on building a Goblin Army then you can read that HERE on our blog.  We hope you enjoy and all comments or emails are most welcome. Follow the links in the text to visit our website for the rules and miniatures mentioned.  GBS

Batch Painting 15mm Figures for AoMaS

Everyone has their own individual style and method for painting figures and this often differs according to the scale and genre of figures you are working on. Recently I've been painting large numbers of 15mm fantasy figures and without a system this can take a long time. I thought I'd talk you through the system I use which as I have limited time I've found effective. The figures I'll use as my example are zombies from the 15mm.co.uk pack HOT21 Zombie Horde.  This pack has sixteen mixed unarmed Zombies in it and is excellent value and varied use too.

For Age of Might and Steel (AoMaS) you really need zombie units of 10 or 12 stands and each unit has to have a magic user attached. I personally don't like to paint a unit all in one go so I do it in 2 batches of 5 or 6 stands but this is just personal preference.

1. I start by gluing the figures 3 to a 40mm x 20mm stand. There are 4 different poses in this pack and I insure that there are 3 different poses on each stand but in a random order. Once the glue's dry I undercoate the figures in a matt black paint. I like to use acrylic paints as they dry quickly. 

2. I then add my basing material by adding fine sand to paint of the colour I want the bases to be and put it on. For my current 15mm fantasy armies I'm using a sandy brown as the base colour. Doing the basing material at this stage is a bit unconventional but I don't like it when I accidently get basing material on a nicely painted figure! I find it easier to just touch up the base itself later on if any paint from the figure gets on it. 

This can all easily be done in an evening leaving a couple of hours between each stage.The basing paint can then be left overnight to dry hard.

3. The first paint I usually start with is any metallic areas but as the zombies don't have armour or carry weapons I can skip this stage. 

4. Next I paint any flesh colour which for zombies in 15mm I like to use a sickly pale green. You could also use a light grey or add grey to a flesh tone if you want the zombies to look a bit more fresh!

5.  Then it's time for the clothing and hair. I use 3 drab colours such as a light brown, a dark brown and a grey, randomly across all the figures for the majority of their clothing and their hair as this makes the stands look part of the same unit even though they don't wear a uniform. I then like to pick out the odd clothing item in a brighter colour such as red, blue or green to give a bit of variety but only a maximum of 1 or 2 items per stand so as to not lose the uniformity.

6. By this stage the majority of the figure's surface area is painted and it's time to pick out any details that are unique to a particular casting. With the zombies one of the figures looks like it has half it's intestines hanging out so a nice dark purple for these catches the eye. I also add blood around any areas that look like they could have been wounds and on a few figures put blood on hands and around their mouths to hint at previous dark deeds! This adds a further bit of variety between figures.

7. To bring all this together I then cover the whole of each figure in a black ink wash. As it dries it highlights the detail on the castings, it dulls down the colour of the individual paints and also brings colours together by creating areas of shade. If you're painting figures with nice uniforms you have to be careful not to overdo it so as not to obscure brighter colours but this won't matter with zombies it just makes them look more grubby.

8. The zombies themselves are complete so its time to touch up the main base colour if required. The fine sand gives a nice texture which can then be highlighted with a lighter colour. I find that a bone colour works well over the sandy brown. I've done the bases in the same style for all of my 15mm fantasy armies as I can then use units as mercenaries or swap monsters to different armies and they immediately fit in visually.

9. For durability I then give all the stands a coat of varnish to protect them for transport and from damage in the heat of battle such as being battered by dice or being accidently knocked from the table. I use a spray matt varnish so that the figures aren't too shiny but again this is just personal taste.

10. Finally once the varnish has dried I add static grass to the  bases using PVA glue as it ties the units in with the green of my terrain tiles, but again this is purely personal taste. The use of different flocks can change the look of any army and can be used to fit them with whatever terrain you require. 

Including leaving the base paint overnight these 10 steps can be completed within 24 hours and I've done it in the past to have that final unit finished for a particular battle.

If you want extra variety you can convert some of the figures quite easily. With zombies you can simply clip bits off or bend them out of shape to show earlier damage. I always fancied doing a unit that's coming up out of the ground which wouldn't be to hard to do. Something for a future article perhaps........

Thanks for reading.

Andy