Commander Panda’s Basilean Legacy

Hello Kings of War Forum. My name is Commander Panda and I’m getting back into war gaming and more specifically Kings of War. Wargaming has fallen by the wayside for me as of late. Coronavirus has meant I’ve been working a lot. I’m fighting a constant battle with my own propensity to eat a lot of food of which I have the three weapons of cycling, running and basketball. I got into cycling the summer of 2019 and it’s my number one hobby, if I’m honest it got in a fight with my wargaming hobby and battered it.

Sadly I did catch COVID in October and since then I’ve struggled to regain my former fitness. Wargaming calls to me again, not that I’m giving up on my physical exercise but rather I want to undertake some creative endeavors. Now I have an Ogre army in the attic but I want Mantic-ify it. It half Mantic and half GW. The army itself is kinda “done” though: It went to two editions of Altibash.

No what I want to do is create a fully fledged Mantic army, partially because of “cash-dollar” reasons but also for some diversity. I have a Tau army, half an Ogor army, a few Nighthaunt so getting another company’s miniatures is a change. That leaves you with some limited options, not all Mantic armies have the same level of quality. The later modern lines are just better. Of these I do love the Basileans. I mean battle-nuns on Panthers? Paladins on Lions? Actual Angels?

Now sure you could say “But Commander Panda you’ve been binging the First Law trilogy and are currently steamrolling though ‘Best Served Cold.’ You just wanna make some kind of King’s Own army for the Union and pretend you’re Bayaz!” And you’d be god-dammed right!!!

So it turns out I have a regiment of Men at Arms. I don’t know where from. One of the many Mantic Kickstarters no doubt, Vanguard perhaps although I genuinely do not know which and honestly it does not matter. So these chaps are going to form the initial part of my legion. Perhaps inspired by the frequent mentions of the Gurkish Emperor’s legions and the legacy of Rome my force will be a legion. I’m going to paint them similar to the Mantic standard scheme but swap out blue for purple. Purple is my favorite colour and I’m motivated to paint it. Following this I think a Basilean army box will be the next stop…

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First Law Trilogy FTW, nothing more to say really.
Great idea to build an army with that as a background!

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Sorry to hear about your health issues, hope you will improve over time.
First Law series is amazing, I also have recently listened to them all on Audible!
Good luck on your project! Keep us posted. :grin: :muscle:

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Thanks, I’m getting there . Sadly it’s a long road and I’m not as far along as I’d like. It could have been a lot worse so for that I’m thankful. Happily I’ve managed to get some assembly done and now have seven Men -at-Arms assembled with five of that number primed. I’ve not done this much wargaming related activity for months and it feels good.

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So instead of doing my uni-work I created a little list in a spreadsheet and costed out the points and Cash Dollar of a little army to get going with this project. It’s only 1000 points so its not big at all but the building blocks are there I think. The 3rd Edition rulebook is on it’s way so I can get fine-tuning the magic items etc when that comes.

When I’ve handed in these assignments I’m going to craft the spreadsheet into a more flexible army list creator for the Basilean list, as a little project to work on when the mood takes.

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So I’ve received some Kings of War related packages. One is bases not exciting, but the other is a set of movement trays for the Spear-lads and the Flatbow-lads I’m going to do also.

When I get chance I’m going to finish assembling this regiment. Then it’s paint o’clock. I’ve assembled my sergeant but was awaiting the bases.

I’ve been planning ahead (prematurely I know) and I’m thinking I need to get some Nuns in this army.

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My order from Mantic is here! I received an Elohi regiment and 3rd Edition rule book, and in a desperate attempt to get free postage I got the spell and item cards. So it’s a tidy package. The movement tray/base for the Elohi aren’t here yet though.

I’ve not made as much progress on my Spear-lads as I’d like but what can one do? I’ve got two left to build, and then three built but unprimed. Slowly coming along. I’m looking forward to getting some paint on these chaps.

I built the three Elohi and I must say that while the sculpts and quality levels are high the arm/sword alignment was fiddly, although that could be down to my sausage fingers. Nevertheless the angels are built and ready to prime.

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So 2020 draws to a close. My hobby waned significantly and has recently waxed, so looking forward to 2021 seems to be a reflection worthwhile. I’ve been musing on my lack of activity and I think that perhaps the answers lies in my choices. I was trying to engage with my 40k T’au and Nighthaunt from age of Sigmar, rather unsuccessfully. It’s only been recently when I decided on Basilea in Kings of War that my interest reignited. Perhaps my lack of activity was choosing the wrong systems and community?

Certainly this forum is a wonderful corner of the wider wargaming internet (which veers into political extremism, toxicity and bullying) and is a enjoyable place to read a few threads. I’ve started this thread and been active as I can be in posting relevant updates. Moreover the creative options offered by the Kings of War ruleset and the general ethos of accessibility make participation very satisfying. Maybe ranks and flanks fantasy is just my bag and it’s what floats my boat.

So as to the future…

I am going to paint some Basileans. I would like to physically have a fully painted 1000 point army by summer. This is a conservative goal to be sure but I always prefer to under promise and over deliver rather than the opposite. I mean I’d like to paint a 2000 point Flying Circus Elohi list by February 1st but it’ll obviously not happen. I am both a slow painter and a poor one but given time and care I can get tabletop standard out. I’ve nearly finished one mini already!

I have a list, and it’s a basic list centered around an infantry core. I already have a regiment of Spear men at arms and Elohi built and primed and a Dwarven cannon that will count as an Arbalest, so the remainder is basically a £60 army set. Again a realistic cheap option. So that’s the main army for 2021. What else is there?

Tournaments!

I would like to go to tournaments again (https://www.kowmasters.com/index.php?p=player&i=38&s=3) I’ve been to two way back in the day, and I would like to bring it back. COVID has obviously put paid to that in the short term but as the vaccine rolls out hopefully things will restart. I’m keen to play in general perhaps at local clubs (or not so local) or keen local players. I do enjoy the physical spectacle - UB is really cool but I also know I prefer the real thing. So Tournaments are cool. They build community and develop the game overall. Who doesn’t want that?

Mantic-ifying my Ogre army to 100% Mantic miniatures is the second tier hobby project for me. I’d say I have around 1000 points of painted Mantic Ogres so finishing that army off would be a later in the year kind of goal. The miniatures are excellent and the new Armada characters (don’t know the right term for that game) are stellar. My only issue is the GW Ogre Cavalry, I have four and would like to use the mounts as “counts as” Chariots. The Mantic minis would require some significant work to make it work if it’s at all possible. I did take the combined army of GW and Mantic ogres to two tournaments so perhaps they might hit the scene again, this time fully Mantic? Mayhaps, but having two painted Mantic armies would be great. I could perhaps play with the kids, or keen locals.

Painting an army, finishing another and going to a tournament (or more) are somewhat realistic goals for a year.

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I’ve not managed any hobby activity recently. As you may be aware things are dicey in the UK with COVID-19 and as a radiographer I’m busy at work and doing post grad study. Nevertheless I got a package today!

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So I’ve not had much opportunity for Kings of War, what with work, family and COVID. I had a spell of working on my 40k T’au which was productive but petered out.

However I’m determined to get my kids off the screens, so we’re bringing Kings of War in to the mix. My eldest has Papercrafted Basilean army (Elohi and Sisterhood). We’ve played two games so far, once versus my Ogres and once versus a Papercraft Abyssal army. She won both times!

Now in fairness my kitchen table is kinda small so our games have been small affairs with Elohi and Panther Lancers performing excellently. Abyssal flamebearers got absolutely ripped to shreds, while Lower Abyssalls were much more durable. Elohi are excellent and it’s tempting to rock out with a Flying Circus after their stellar performance.

I am coming to the end of my postgrad course so hopefully I’ll have more time physically and mentally to paint my Basilean army.

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Loving the paper craft army @CommanderPanda! Have your kid(s) insisted on painting some miniatures yet?

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Yes @MechaSturgeon There are several multicoloured Stormcast from several different starter sets from several different sessions going back for some time. They’re relatively big and recognizable as “Knights” and they also have a few clearly female models that my daughter prefers. She’s actually getting to a stage where she is beginning to plan and execute a halfway decent job.

We’ve actually had a conversation about going to a Mantic Open day in the flesh, and taking an army she will paint - currently either Basilea or FoN. She’s really taken to it, but it actually makes sense. She loves crafting, painting and stories about witches so really fantasy Wargames tick all those boxes.

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Those paper crafts would get pride of place in my collection if I was you. Wonderful post Commander Panda.

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Thanks @Niall78 they are pretty awesome. I would totally have them on my minis shelf if I had one. I have got two happy kids out of Kings of War and I’ll take that!

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Keen to see this project come to life!!!

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So, courtesy of a night shift, I’ve assembled some minis. I planned to do some on the previous night shift but I was far too tired and hungry to achieve any hobby activity. Thankfully tonight (today) I’m awake enough: six minis in total.

1 Dictator
5 Spearheads

The Dictator is a top notch mini, crisp detail. I’m going to mount the Dictator on a large base for the scenic affect and the fact that he’s quite large. I’m considering naming the Dictator “Reinhardt con Flartman” because of reasons.

There hasn’t been anymore Papercraft battles with the kids but there has been some board gaming (Mario Monopoly and Harry Potter Cluedo: kids love branding). Getting the idea of dice based games being fun is something I’m keen on.

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Stormcasts make great Elohi (the flying ones) and palace guard. I converted a few for my basilean army, here’s the result!


Furthermore: glad you got your children involved! Great to spend time together with them this way!
(Mine are just a little too young for this, but they might join me one day!)

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They look great @Vince I had an idea of using Stormcast as unit fillers for Basilean units but while I think it could work very nicely it’s a bit beyond my available time right now.

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Finding hobby time is sometimes quite hard. I’ve had a period in ly mife(shortly after the birth of my 2nd and in the months prior to moving homes) that I couldn’t find a spare hour even if I wanted to. And sometimes, I want to do something else, hobby is supposed to be relaxing.

That said, hobby time can be sped up with some guidelines. Take these stormcast, for instance, they can be painted really quick with only a little quality loss. Here’s how they started as 2nd hand minis:

How to paint them quickly using the bronze colour scheme above:

  1. Assemble. head swap optional, but recommended. Undercoat black. (white undercoat leaves more vibrant colours, black is quicker to paint)
  2. Paint the parts of the model where the undercoat is not completely opaque with a watered down black paint.
  3. Use a large brush and paint the whole model brazen brass. Dont thin down the paint that much, so the deepest recesses remain black. (this creates shadow)
  4. paint the skin areas leather brown. Paint the off-colour (in this case yellow) a darker shade of the final result. For the yellow, I used plague brown
  5. give the whole model a thinned down brown ink wash. Let it dry thouroughly.
  6. drybrush/highlight the whole model. The trick is to leave enough of the orginal colour showing to create the idea of shadow, but apply enough paint to make the model stand out. The Bronze is highlighted with polished gold, the face with bronzed flesh and the yellow with moon yellow

Now the model can be improved by another highlight, highlighting only the edges/highest parts of the model. That said, this is not needed to make them battlefield ready.

For instance, the models above have the faces hightlighted a 2nd time with basic skintone, the yellow with yellow fluo and some details with chainmail siver.

As there’s only five models to a horde, it should be possible to assemble and paint a full horde of them to battle-ready status in three to four hours spread out over several evenings.

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Having gained a free evening outta nowhere I’ve assembled a unit of Spearmen and a unit of Paladins. Army is really starting to take shape. Whipping out the primer this weekend to get things really moving.

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