The Alcanti Fellowship and The Birdmen of Catrazza - 10mm Dogs of War

Today I undertake a short return visit to my 10mm Warhammer Fantasy project. Over the past few years I've had a lot of fun creating massed bases of 10mm fantasy units for the Empire, Tomb Kings, Beastmen and Orc & Goblins. 

Nonetheless, my favourite force has to be 'The Dogs of War'. 

First up are 'The Alcatani Fellowship'. Pikemen in Warhammer Fantasy (well, the old version anyway) were very rare, in fact they could only be found as mercenary troops hailing from the city states of Tilea. 

Though vulnerable on their flanks, pike formations can be rather nasty when faced frontally, with many a cavalry commander ruing the day they charged a well prepared pike phalanx. The Alcatani Fellowship are unique in that they don't always fight for money, but often offer their services to fight injustice and tyranny. GW's version of social justice warriors. 

These 10mm fellas are 3d prints from MiniRat Studios. Great little models and they printed-up a treat. They have quite a bit going on with them so not a quick paint, but they look good all ranked up (there are about 85 figures in this unit).

Next are the Birdmen of Catrazza. One thing I really enjoyed about the 'Dogs of War' list was its sly nod to all sorts of Renaissance Italy ephemera such as Lucrezia Borgia's poisons, mercenary pikemen and Leonardo Da Vinci's whacky inventions. The Birdmen of Catrazza are very much along this vein and remain as much-loved models from the original range. 

These are 10mm renditions of the Birdmen from Varus Miniatures. Beautiful models and a real joy to paint. 

For their basing I decided to try a forced perspective with a tiny windmill on a range of treed hills. It was fun to do.

And for a final shot, here is my Dogs of War force to-date, with the Alcanti Fellowship and the Birdmen joining Bronzino's Galloper Guns and Braganza's Besiegers. Getting close to a real force. I just need more pikemen, always more pikemen...

Thanks for popping by for a visit. I hope you have a terrific day!

- Curt

'Thalassa': 6mm Ancient Naval Warfare

Last spring I came across 'Thalassa' while spelunking through 'Wargames Illustrated Online' and MyMiniFactory looking for, you know, cool stuff which demands storage-to-keep and brain-cells-to-learn. 

'Thalassa' is 1:1 game set in the Hellenistic age of Greek naval warfare. It's historical(ish), but does make some allowances for more 'heroic' combat and leans heavily to a 'Sword & Sandals' type of cinematic game. One unique aspect of 'Thalassa' is that all of the models, dice, tokens etc. are available as 3d prints. They are all beautifully done (1:300 scale), very robust. and quite easy to paint (though admittedly one can get a bit lost in the detail). Last spring I printed off a handful of ships, painted them up and put together two small forces for a rousing game with the boys. I then packed them up and moved on to, you know, the Next Big Thing. 

Fast forward several months, and just before the beginning of the Challenge I noticed that there were a few new ship designs put on offer and thought I'd use it as an excuse to platform the game and add a few more hulls to my collection.

So first up are two triremes with thei very recognizable silhouettes. One is a 'Protos' design and the other a 'Ischyros'. Yeah, I dunno, it's all Middle Sea lingo to me. 

These are the classic Mediterranean 'battleships' of the 4 and 5th centuries CE. The level of crafting and technology packed into these vessels would have likened them to a spacecraft to a lay person of that time. Very impressive.

'Thallasa' allows players to customize the type and specializations of the ship's crew. Archers, hoplites, marines, various types of engines of war are all on offer. You just make your selection, pay your points and then 'slot' them into place on the hull. Fun!

You can also modify the hull with various figureheads, upper command decks, shrines, armoured skirting, etc. It's all pretty neat. 

Next up are the smaller-class ships, the Penteconters. One is a 'Tolmiros' design while the other is a 'Grigora'. 

These are the workhorses of the fleets. The vessels which carried the Greeks to Troy and which were crewed by Odysseus and the Argonauts during their Odyssey.  Nimble and quick, they are quite fun on the tabletop, though they can't take too much abuse when compared to their much larger tri-decked cousins. 

I magnetized the sails and masts so they are easy to store and are not so prone to break during play.

Finally we have a siege barge with a huge stone-throwing ballista on its center deck. It's very much a specialist vessel - a glass cannon with one purpose in-mind. 

Still, a very cool model with its top-heavy armament and supporting crane. Fun!

Finally, and not for points, here are two sets of wreckage markers I did up for the game.

One set is meant to depict when the enemy hull as just been split, with significant debris in the water, while the other is to show when some time has passed and most of the wreckage has sank into the deep.

Thanks for dropping by and have a great day!

- Curt