The Basing of a Host

This weekend I felt like playing a Gathering of Hosts game but now that the experimental phase is over, I didn't want to play with ramshackle units with a mix of basing sizes and styles nor did I feel like using the incomplete West Lands army. The Northern Confederation which will contain my old Valdurian Guard, Minifig Rohirrem bought at the Minifig booth at Aldershot in 1974 needs a few score figures to be painted so it was still out. I only needed to re-base a few of the Turanians though in order to get a balanced opponent for the knights and infantry of the Midlands Kingdom. I decided I should start there.

The bases still need a little damp brushing with tans and lighter greens but the army is now playable again.

All of the armies are being planned as 36 stands of troops with each 60mm x 60mm stand being a unit but, where possible, stands are being painted in pairs so that they can be used as 2 stand units with other rules. So far I have 30 Turanian stands ready to scuffle. This includes 4 of 6 Heavy Cavalry (Cataphracts, clibinari etc), 4 out of 6 cavalry, 6 light cavalry, 6 infantry, 4 massed archers, 1 of 2 light archers, 3 of 4 light infantry, 2 elephants and a stray chariot.

The Great King Rossius the Long Lived, Eye of the Dragon.

The army commander is a old Hinchliffe figure who post dates my college days having been painted one summer's day in Summerland in the Okanagan Valley back in 1978. His escorts are more recent replacements from Garrison, the original unit having been amongst the figures that did not follow me when I graduated.

By the time I was done painting bases (finishing touches to follow), our Thanksgiving Long Weekend was almost done as well but, since there has been so much blogging buzz about Neil Thomas's One Hour Wargames, I decided it was time to try out my new gift.

But that's a story for another day.