Shatterlands - New Fantasy Skirmish Game from Stonegate Forge

I recently had the pleasure of painting up some miniatures for Stonegate Forge's upcoming skirmish game Shatterlands. The figures were sculpted digitally by the clearly very talented Bobby Jackson, and produced by Iron Wind Metals. I was extremely impressed by the level of detail, the very attractive proportions, and the excellent casting. Stonegate Forge is a small family run company (though with a lot of experience in the industry - Mark Rubin's credentials go way back to his Ral Partha days) and they clearly prioritized quality in the production of the figures.

The setting of the game is the fantasy world of Atelon, in which two peoples with radically different cultures and ways of life have clashed for generations. One is a technologically sophisticated people, the other a more fanatical society of magic-using forest dwellers. However in the territory between their homelands where they clash - the "Shatterlands" - neither the most sophisticated technology of the one nor the magic of the other functions as they are accustomed to. The result is a "black powder" fantasy world where the struggle takes on the dimensions of a French and Indian War skirmish game.

The really distinctive aspect of game play is in the character cards that represent each figure. Each character's ability in any given task is represented by a color-coded die of few or many sides.  As you are generally trying to roll low in the game, a more capable character will use fewer-sided dice, making it easier for him to accomplish a task. As the character takes wounds or stress or becomes exhausted, he is penalized by having to use more or bigger dice. Wounds are attributed to specific areas of the body, and have specific effects on abilities. He took a major wound to the leg? He's not running anywhere for the remainder of the scenario, and may not even be on his feet any more, though he may still have a role to play.

The designers had the very interesting idea of using pre-printed cards with scratch off elements that allow most of the in-game wounds to be temporary matters that heal when the scenario is done, while letting more serious injuries become permanent changes to the character card. Experience-based improvements are also permanent. So the implications for campaign play are pretty powerful. If you take good care of your characters they will improve with experience. Bad luck or bloody-minded decision making will take a heavy toll on them.

The game is currently being kickstarted (it was demoed at the Fall In convention in Lancaster PA this past weekend) and you can learn more about it here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1508069849/shatterlands-skirmish-warfare-in-the-banakur-fores

6mm Adler AWI and Scenery

I've slowly been adding models to the 6mm AWI Southern Campaign project, and while I was painting today I had the urge to set some up for a photo shoot - that is, to distract myself with an unnecessary bit of fun. I laid out some buildings and terrain and added some of the figure models, and here is the result.

The buildings are from Dave Graffam models, which I love. They come as pdf files, and many of them have lots of different texture options so you can create a variety of pieces, just by making different selections in Adobe Acrobat. You can scale them however you like, and even in 6mm they are easy to assemble and look great. I like to paint the edges to blend in, so the white card stock sides don't show, and then cover them in matt varnish to protect them and prevent shine. They are very affordable, and for the price of one digital file you can print as many as you like. They are very lightweight, but in 6mm the strength of the card makes them still pretty robust.

The roads are from Battlefield Terrain Concepts. The fences are from Paper Terrain. The trees and fields I bought from folks in the flea market at Cold Wars, but I'm afraid I've forgotten their names!

A company of the 1st Maryland marching down a country lane.

Here some troopers from the 3rd Continental Light Dragoons charge down the road.

Continentals in hunting shirts march to the fence line.

Some South Carolina militia take up position behind a fence.

And here two guns have been set up to cover the crossroads.

36 Gun Frigate HMS Hamadryad - GHQ 1:1200

This is GHQ's model of the 36 gun frigate HMS Hamadryad.

Hamadryad was originally the Spanish-built frigate Ninfa, launched at Minorca in 1795. In April of 1797 she narrowly managed to avoid sailing directly into the clutches of the British fleet blockading Cadiz, but not without being detected. Ninfa and another frigate were pursued by the 74 gun HMS Irresistible and the 36 gun HMS Emerald, and sought to anchor in a protected bay where they expected the British ships would not follow them. They did so to no avail, however, and after a little over an hour of fighting Ninfa had struck, and the other frigate was run aground and later sunk. Ninfa was taken in to British service as HMS Hamadryad, but hers was to be a short career. On Christmas day of the very same year she foundered in a storm in Algiers bay.

Here Hamadryad is seen between a 20 gun Corvette on the left and a 32 gun Amazon-class frigate on the right.

An extreme close up - a 32 gun frigate very close on the port side

24 Gun Frigate - Langton Miniatures 1:1200

Sometimes through no fault of its own, a model will get buried underneath an ever-growing stack of projects, and wait far longer than their due to see completion. This is one of those long-suffering kits, a 24 gun frigate from Langton Miniatures that I bought a few years ago but for no discernible reason only now got around to completing.

This kit is available in Langton's Baltic line, and is intended to represent a 24 gun Swedish vessel. As such it comes with optional banks of oars. However there is nothing uniquely Swedish about it, and it will serve just as well as a French privateer

Using a spare part from a sail kit I cannibalized on another project, I've modeled this ship with the main course set, while the fore course is still clewed up - just to give it a little plausible but distinctive touch.

Here the frigate is seen between two other Langton models - a 10 gun schooner on the left, and a 32 gun xebec frigate on the right.

20 Gun Corvette La Fauvette - GHQ 1:1200

Here is a 1:1200 model from GHQ of a ship with a nice claim to fame. In February of 1793, a 23 year old Napoleone di Buonaparte set sail in the 20 gun corvette La Fauvette as part of the ill-fated expedition against holdings of the Kingdom of Sardinia. The campaign brought no glory to the French (or Corsicans) but immortalized the name of a humble sixth rate ship.

I love the lines of this model. It's a sleek, low-lying ship that looks like it can pack on the speed. I have rebuilt the bowsprit from brass rods for greater strength and to add detail, and mounted the model on a resin base from Langton Miniatures, which in turn sits on top of a plastic piece and a magnetic bottom. Ratlines are photo etched brass from Langton. Rigging is nylon paintbrush bristles.

For the sake of size comparison, here the corvette is seen between a 20 gun sloop on the left and a 32 gun frigate on the right, both of them GHQ models.