Saturday, March 26, 2016

Better than Chocolate

Look what the Easter Bunny brought me!
A horde of 4cm Veteran Elastolins reported for duty today. Romans, Huns, Vikings, Prince Valiant & medieval  figures and siege equipment.

Rather unusually I found myself in a position to take advantage of a chance to aquire a collection of Elastolins from the friend of a friend who was having to downsize things. Now strictly speaking, having finally had the chance to scratch my elastolin itch over the last decade by picking up a few here and a few there, all I really needed a was a couple of mounted knights. I didn't need to double my collection but sometimes the self indulgent thing is also the right thing to do. I hope the joined collection also finds a welcome when the time comes.

I'm fairly sure I don't want to run solo Medieval Mayhem games with 300 figures on the table so I'm considering my options. The late medieval figures and handful of landsknechts will join  the 40mm Gathering of Hosts crowd on their 6cm square bases and Prince Michael and Hengist and their friends will stay on single bases in their setting. What is up in the air is whether I should pursue an OS massed combat system for single figures with Prince Michael crossing to the continent to fight the Huns and their various Germanic barbarian allies or whether the Huns should be the nucleus of an element based Gathering of Hosts army.  

The other question is how long until the siege equipment meets a castle wall?

33 comments:

  1. Ross Mac,

    Congratulations on your new acquisition! It will be a great boost to your collection, and will no doubt give you many years of enjoyment.

    All the best,

    Bob

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    1. The enjoyment I got from unwrapping them almost justified the expenditure all by itself. This has opened new opportunities.

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  2. Hi Ross,
    That's a nice chunk of troops. Yes, you're definitely beyond the skirmish level if you want to field a fair portion of those guys at once.
    Jim Wallman's "Follow Me Men" rules might work well for your expanded forces.Worth a look.
    Regards,
    John

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    1. Thanks John, I already have something in mind but had a look. Unfortunately I could play a bigger game quicker using the Mayhem rules than I could with those. I'm not good at charts or lists of modifiers. Always good to check out a different approach though.

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    2. Thanks John, I already have something in mind but had a look. Unfortunately I could play a bigger game quicker using the Mayhem rules than I could with those. I'm not good at charts or lists of modifiers. Always good to check out a different approach though.

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  3. Hmmm...certainly a full Toy Box there ROSS. Does the Collection contain figures that you did not already have on the shelves in 40mm? Regards. KEV.

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    1. There were a few figures that I did not have in my collection but more importantly I have been very short of cavalry and archers and this solves that in one go as well as an overall increase in numbers.

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  4. Great additions,enjoy!
    Single based option sounds the best to me.

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    1. The single figure approach will get the 1st kick at the can.

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    2. The single figure approach will get the 1st kick at the can.

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  5. Awesome! Definitely worth sore knees from a battle royal on the floor with all your troops! Take pix.

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  6. Nice load of figures there, just like. Christmas!, Tony

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  7. Tis good to have a horde......)

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  8. Wow! It's not often a whole collection like that comes up for grabs, well done you for biting the bullet and keeping them all together. I would definitely go the OS massed combat route, but that's just me.

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    1. It was good timing for once with unexpected funds meeting unexpected opportunity. The OS -ish route is 1st up for trials.

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  9. Much better than chocolate Ross. It's always nice when something like that happens.

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  10. Easter elephants are at least as good as Easter bunnies... always said that upsizing is nicer than downsizing...

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  11. What a great acquisition! Congratulations!
    It will be a pleasure to follow the adventures of these marvelous soldiers.

    Regards,

    Cesar.

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    1. Thanks, a quick test may pre-empt everything else for this week.

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  12. Enjoy your new acquisitions. Where do the elephants fit in? A colonial elephant battery?

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    1. I haven't quite got to the elephants. They are waaay bigger than my Germania one and african elephants to boot so one is tempted to shift them to 54mm colonials but there was obviously much pleasure in making the howdahs etc so maybe some Sassinid conversions?

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  13. What a terrific haul - and elephants! Squeeee!!!!
    If you are looking for castle walls to throw those siege engines against (for all I know you have them), I am eyeing the newly announced Renendra plastic castle wall kits with great anticipation - they look cheap and useful.
    Looking forward to seeing your next Prince Michael (good chap, Michael, great name) stories now!

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