I’m trying out a new cover for my historical fantasy novel Hell has its Demons. This cover will just be on the Kindle version for now – takes longer to change the cover for the print version! I think the new cover fits the them a little bit better than the previous one – images of a church and the shadow of the demon looming over it fit the them a bit more than the grisly face of a warrior.
Let me know what you think and if you haven’t read Hell has its Demons then go to the book’s page on this site for more information and some sample chapters (and you can see the print version of the cover there as well :)
Warhammer Old World Empire Halberdiers Made to Order
I love that Games Workshop are bring back some of the old oldhammer style Warhammer Fantasy miniatures as Made to Order for Warhammer the Old World. One of the most recent batches was a number of Empire infantry units – halberdiers, archers and handgunners – all painted in a lovely yellow and red for the Made to Order photos.
I had a go at recreating this look on one of the halberdiers. I am slowly working my way through a unit – but the puffed landschekt style sleeves are a little slow to paint :(
Also included an old photo of some originals from 4th edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle – one a halberdier in the colours of Hochland and the other a handgunner in the colours of Talabecland.
Hope you enjoyed my attempt at painting up one of the Warhammer Old world Empire Halberdiers made to order miniatures.
I’m currently working on a fantasy version of Trial by Battle, with the working title, Trial by Magic. There’s some changes I have made to the core rules of Trial by Battle as a result of the design process for the new rules, and some of these might be of interest to those who play medieval battles using Trial by Battle. As such I’m posting them here and on the Facebook page for those who want to try them out.
There you will be able to find links to stories such as Holidays with the Orcs, chapters from Hell has its Demons and Stonehearted and also complete short stories. As I make more short stories available to Patreon members I will provide a link on the Patreon Fiction page.
I wrote this a while ago, but only recently had a chance to get this new fantasy short story published. I really like this one – the pseudo-Arthurian vibe is one I enjoy. Hope you like it as well!
A knight’s quest through magic and deception—where love may be the deadliest illusion of all.
In the haunted depths of Shadowmere Forest, where mist coils through ancient oaks and magic shapes every shadow, Sir Wanlass rides toward a destiny he barely understands. Once the most celebrated knight of Regoddin, he now pushes through exhaustion, doubt, and wounds of body and soul—all for the sake of Modron, the enigmatic pagan queen whose love has bound his heart and driven him into peril.
But the quest set before him is unlike any tale sung in the halls of kings. Here, strength is tested not only by blade, but by mercy, humility, and the courage to face long‑buried truths. Guided—and tormented—by the mischievous Puca siblings, Wanlass must battle monstrous creatures born of enchantment, confront riddles that threaten his very identity, and navigate deceptions woven so intricately that even his noble purpose begins to blur.
As the forest tightens its grip and the line between salvation and ruin thins, Wanlass discovers that the greatest foe may not be the beasts lurking in the dark, but the illusions he clings to—and the terrible price of love pursued at any cost.
“Broken Lance” is a rich, atmospheric tale of chivalry, enchantment, and the perilous trials that shape the true measure of a knight.
Seems like the mists of time now, but it was last year that I started getting these green guys painted up. Since then I have been very quiet about it on this blog, but I have actually made good progress as well as getting distracted and painting other things as well! But anyway the initial Orc and Goblins Batallion box is nearly finished – I have 25 orcs and 40 goblins painted, as well as two Orc commanders – one on a boar and one on foot with battle standard. Just working now on the Orc Boar chariots and the last 5 orcs!
So here’s a picture of the army so far and also in action in a small battle against some unpainted Dwarfs!
You get a good view of the radiator too! Some extra WFB 3e wolf riders off to the side too! The battle standard bearer isn’t in these pictures but will get a photo of him added.
Following up on my last Old World project post for the Orc and Goblin Tribes, the goblins were eventually painted – actually quite some time ago now. I finished a whole unit of 20 including full command group. Here’s the five I had primed last time fully painted up!
See the last post here – I think these painted up quite well and I’m very happy with them. Will post some details of how I painted them and the full unit anon!
Firstly apologies for not posting for a while. My last few posts were about my Old World project – which has actually moved on, so I will post some updated photos at some point!
Recently I have been thinking about campaign rules for ancient and medievals. I thought the best bet would be to start with something simple, but a step up from a very simple ladder campaign where you just fight a series of battles and tally up the victory points at the end. I came across the campaign rules in DBA. DBA (De Bellis Antiquitatis) is a great wargame for a quick battle so this would be ideal for a campaign as I could get the battles completed. There are official DBA campaign rules in some of the books and in Hordes of the Things, but like many things DBA somehow the simple is made complicated by the way it is presented and written :) So I had a go at summarizing the rules in a more simplified way – really as an aide for myself for when I play my DBA campaign – solo by the way at the moment. I left out a couple of things such as Allies and Supply – they felt like they were a bit overly complex to start with.
DBA Campaign Rules
Map and Number of Players
Between 3 and 6 players seems to be ideal. Each chooses an army – hopefully same historical period, but could be a what if set-up.
The cities are connected to each other as per the diagram below, but this can be altered to look more like an historical map – see the example below as well.
DBA Campaign map from DBA 1.0From Tim’s Wargaming Blog https://saskminigamer.blogspot.com/2012/02/dark-age-dba-campaign-some-thoughts.html
Starting Positions and Army
Each player has 1 Capital and 2 other cities
1 player controls central city as well
Starting Army 12 Elements – reduced to 10 if no battle during a year.
Turns
Year divided into 3 turns – Spring, Summer and Autumn
Before starting each player secretly notes location of their field army. Revealed as they take their turn or if invaded.
Each player then rolls to see who goes first and turns taken in order.
End of year return to winter quarters – must dice if crossing the sea.
Recruitment – at the start of each subsequent year can replenish 1 element from reserve for each city controlled. If not possible to have 12 elements then use Hordes to fill the gaps.
Movement
Armies move 2 nodes per turn as long as cities controlled by the player.
If moving by sea roll for each section and on a 1 they lose d6 elements – losing mounted elements first. Then decide to continue or not.
Allies
Ignore rules for thes for now.
Supply
Ignore for now.
Invasion
Defender chooses to send field army to fight a battle or to stand siege.
Battle Results
Elements destroyed transferred to reserves.
Elements leaving table return to army straight away.
If general or camp are lost then loser losing 2 further elements due to demoralisation.
If defender is defeated then lose their city and must retreat to nearest adjacent city. If that his not possible then army is destroyed.
1 prestige point gained by the victor per element destroyed or retreated off table minus their own elements destroyed or retreated. First player to take a camp gains 2 prestige and also 2 prestige for destroying general.
Sieges
If Defender doesn’t fight with field army then siege begins. Attacker takes city on a 6 if defender garrisons with field army or 5 and 6 if no defending field army.
Defender field army destroyed if city taken.
Attacker loses 1 element if fails to take the city.
Siege can continue until winter. Each turn the change to take the city is increased by 1.
On subsequent turns a besieged field army can sally out but not retreat.
Winning the Campaign
At the end of a pre-determined number of years each player counts up their prestige points – 3 for each city under their control. If a players capital is taken they are out of the game and their cities become independent. Independent cities can be besieged.
Just a small update to keep the Warhammer The Old World Project fresh. The 5 goblin archers I started with the other day are now primed using Vallejo brush on black primer and I have given the bases a coat of Vallejo German Black Brown Camo – my standard basing base colour! And the bases have been edged with Steel Legion Drab.
Now to decide the paint scheme! My first consideration was the skin tone. Green of course, but what kind of green. I toyed with the idea of a light green – as seen on Age of Sigmar Orruk Kruleboyz – but decided that might look a bit weird with a mass of rank and file troops, so I will be sticking with a fairly standard green. Ideally aiming for something like this from the Warhammer website:
Other colours are probably going to be quite muted greys and browns. I toyed with the idea of them wearing Khorne red trousers or shirts, but decided that might look a bit too garish. Anyway the first 5 goblin archers will be a good test of the colour scheme and can always change it up for the rest of the army.
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