Beyond the Pillars of Heracles - The Odyssey of the Aquarians Part 4 - The Coast

The surviving Aquarians

From the writings of Pontifex the priest about the mythos of "The Odyssey of the Aquarians Part 4 - The Coast":

"How many brave men Poseidon has taken to himself,
mourned by those who are led to this foreign coast,
their ​​feet now touch for the first time.

Where they are, no one can say, because no wise man has
survived storms wrath and the number of men has decreased
on only one of five brave and few enough in number.

And Spirios is standing there and breathes, remembers the Nereids
tears, but does not see, that the wheel of fate continues
to rotate and not all tests have yet been passed.

On this hard and stony coast they stand and look
on this stange and empty wide country, until they dare to go
and search their destiny's path."

Beyond the Pillars of Heracles - The Odyssey of the Aquarians Part 3 - The Storm

Where the proud ship breaks...

From the writings of Pontifex the priest about the mythos of "The Odyssey of the Aquarians Part 3 - The Storm":

"And when they see the sons of Hellas green land far away
on the horizon then suddenly wide realm of Poseidon rises and falls
and wind comes up, worse even than Melissanars' heavy spear.

It pulls the wind on cable and rope, and they tear apart,
it pulls the wind on wood and iron, and it breaks,
and the ship bends and bows to the gods power.

And at the ship's helm stands steadfast just the captain,
Spirios from Spiro Spiro, bearing the name of his king,
holding the steerin wheel with iron hands and holds the course.

But an iron will grants no help against destiny's path and
Gods will and ship's hull breaks thundering apart,
sendig the sons of Aquarius into the cold flood."



Beyond the Pillars of Heracles - The Odyssey of the Aquarians Part 2 - The Omen

The shore of Saganakia

From the writings of Pontifex the priest about the mythos of "The Odyssey of the Aquarians Part 2 - The Omen":
  

"But even as the ship leaves port, it
darkens the sun face despite noon hour,
that those men, in spite of the rudder heavy burden, freeze.

 And already has the ship's proud bow los sight to the coast,
since awakenes from foam's crown Aquaria, the shores Nymph,
and weeping for her sons hard burden.

 And they, the men, who see the tears of beautiful Nymph
and Nereids know that the path that they set foot on,
at the end will be a gloomy one for so many.

 But they find new courage when the gloomy veil is lifting and
the sun's shining captures the proud ship and slides on it
upon the Hellenes blue waters and shores."



Beyond the Pillars of Heracles - The Odyssey of the Aquarians Part 1 - The Departure

From the writings of Pontifex the priest...

From the writings of Pontifex the priest about the mythos of "The Odyssey of the Aquarians Part 1 - The Departure":

"From Saganakia they sail, the sons of Aquarius,
to the east with the winds to the shores,
where their fathers of fathers set feet upon some day.

According to the old traditions they thought to the gods, immortals,
and give their share for the save ride and
lucky homecoming generously donated.

Poseidon asking for the happy journey through his
wide empire and Hermes begging for skill and luck
in exchange of the rich gifts of fine native soil.

But oh, what direst fate looms those good men,
taking on their shoulders the long journey far away from
home, hearth and wife and the kindly golden sun."

Just Finished Painting: More Greek Peltasts

I just finished painting eight more Ancient Greek Peltasts.



More Greek Peltasts...

Now I can field a big unit of 24 Peltasts in total.



The whole unit of Peltasts arrayed for battle.

We will have a game in Berlin soon where I will bring them to the table for the first time. It will be the opening for our Ancient Imagi-Nation campaign.



Ancient Greek Peltasts screend by some skirmishing slingers.

Just Finished Painting: Farmstead

Some weeks ago I went to the "Bitbox" in Mülheim an der Ruhr. Twice a year the Bitbox is a small trading market for gamers to buy and sell surplus miniatures. I went their with my old gaming mate Michael, with whom I played tabletops for many years during the time when I studied in Münster.



I bought this nice farmsteat at the "Bitbox" in Mülheim.

I discovered a nice medieval farmstead suitable for Fantasy and Historical gaming. Unfortunately I don't know the company that produces it. Could be Ziterdes but I didn't find out.



It's suitable for Fantasy and Historical gaming.

Just Finished Painting: Greek Peltasts and Unit Bases

I just finished painting eight more Ancient Greek Peltasts. This time the application of the shield transfers worked better than last time. I'm planning to paint eight more Peltasts for a total of 24. They will make up a decent unit of light infantry or up to three small units of skirmishers.



Eight more Ancient Greek Peltasts.

At the same time I painted two movement trays for the Peltasts, both compromising two rows of six infantry each. I use the excellent unit bases from Victrix Limited.



Movement trays for the Peltasts from Victrix Limited.

Finished Painting in February: Greek Peltasts, Lord of the Rings Heroes and Hobbits...

In February I continued with the Ancient Greeks project by painting eight Peltasts with spears and shields. For the first time I used shield transfers from Little Big Men Studios. A little bit fiddly but creating good results. Next time I have to take care that I use shields which are more flat than those I used this time.



Ancient Greek Peltasts.

Then I came back to Lord of the Rings and painted Theodred on horse and on foot as the second leader for my Riders of Rohan.



Lord of the Rings Theodred.

For a little variety I finished Elrond and the Elven king Gil-Galad.



Lord of the Rings Elrond and Gil-Galad.

Then I turned to the Fellowship of the Ring and painted Aragorn in his variant from the Batlle of Helm's Deep.



Lord of the Rings Aragorn.

Finally I finished all four hobbits from the Fellowship - Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin.



Lord of the Rings Hobbits - Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin.

Finished Painting in January: Greek Slingers, Space Crusade Orks and Gretchins, Lord of the Rings Riders of Rohan

I found a lot of time to paint some miniatures during the last two months . But due to the winter weather (snow, ice, rain and temperatues below 0 degree Celsius!) I couldn't finish them because spraying varnish just wasn't possible. Now with the arrival of spring I am happy to show you my efforts of the last two months...



Ancient Greek Slingers.

In January I finally started my Ancient Greek project. It was a heartfelt wish of mine because my cousin Karl and me are planning this project since ages. After Karl gave me a box of Victrix Greek Peltasts as Christmas present and a box of Victrix Greek Hoplites as birthday present I had no other option than to start painting them. So I painted up a group of eight slingers using my beloved painting method by just using Shades / Washes / Inks.

Space Crusade / Star Quest Orks in Bad Moon yellow.



















Already early in January I painted some oldschool Orks and Gretchins from the Space Crusade (German name: Star Quest) board game. Star Quest is one of the games that took me into the hobby. I really like this old nineties style that those Games Workshop miniatures have. The Gretchins are a good example for this style. I finished six Gretchins and six Orks that I painted in yellow - the colour of the Bad Moons Ork clan.



Space Crusade / Star Quest Gretchins.
















Later I took some old Lord of the Rings miniatures to finish one of my open projects. I am a fan of the Lord of the Rings tabletop as I love the books and really like the game. For my Rohan army I still had to finish some Riders of Rohan with bows. They were nearly ready, painted with a method I used some years ago.



Lord of the Rings Riders of Rohan.


















As my Rohan army desperately needed some characters to lead the troops I painted Erkenbrand on horse and on foot as one of the commanders using my standard painting method.



Lord of the Rings Erkenbrand.





Hamburger Tactica 2015

Last weekend we attended the "Hamburger Tactica 2015".  The Tactica is perhaps the most important wargaming convention in northern Germany. It takes place every year in the city of Hamburg (http://www.hamburger-tactica.de/). I've been there only one time before several years ago. Last year the Berlin guys had been there and were so exited that we decided to go there this time together with the whole group. Karl, Krüger and Jörg arrived from Berlin, Andi from Braunschweig and I travelled the far way from Munich. The Tactica is not so much about buying stuff but about gaming. Many hobby groups present great wargame scenarios with beautiful painted minitatures and terrain. And you can meet interesting special guestst like the Perry twins. Jörg who just started with the hobby didn't know them and their work. He is a music fan so we told him that in a certain way the Perrys are the Beatles of miniature designing.



The Kurpfalz Feldherren present their Conan scenario.

We were very happy to join the "Conan - Hyborian Saga" game based on the Saga rule system and presented by the very nice guys of the "Kurpfalz Feldherren" from Heidelberg (http://www.kurpfalz-feldherren.de/). It was our first attempt on Saga. A cool scenario with a lot of atmosphere based on a good rules system. And even some wine to drink... Of course we were exited. And of course Conan won the day by rescuing the kidnapped princess.

I - oh no, wait - Conan won the day!!!

Later we tried "Berezina 1812 White Death", a napoleonic scenario presented by "THS - Team Historische Simulationen" from Düsseldorf (http://www.ths-wargames.de/) using their own skirmish rules system written by the fantasy book author Bernhard Hennen. Beside being a great author (I highly recommend to read Bernhard's  "Gezeitenwelt"-cycle - some of my favorite fantasy books) Bernhard is a very nice guy. He (http://www.bernhard-hennen.de/) and his just as nice comrade Stefan (http://montys-caravan.blogspot.de/) presented the game in a great story telling manner. Great game, great scenario, great minis, great table, great story, great guys.



Stefan from THS explains the rules to Andi.

 

Tired and happy we completed the day in a greek restaurant with some nice bottles of greek wine. Some hours later when Krüger started to explain the theory of relativity and its effects on spacetime it became clear for me that we had ended in an episode of "The Big Bang Theory". So I decided to come back next year.