Italian Allied cavalry

This Italian Allied cavalry unit will fight along side my Roman cavalry for my Warhammer Ancient Battles: Hannibal and the Punic Wars Republican Roman army.


A closer view.

The figures are 28mm Oscan Cavalry with Command from Old Glory miniature's Ancient Italy line, Product ID: PII-03.

The command.

Pictured below is the unit's standard bearer. I wasn't sure what they would have used but this sea dragon head seemed an appropriate choice.

Thanks for looking!

Republican Roman cavalry

Center two figures are from 1st Corp.

This unit will be a nice addition to my existing Republican Roman army, which currently has no cavalry support. I have one additional unit of Italian Allied cavalry I will soon follow-up with. This army is being used with the Warhammer Ancient Battles rules system and the Hannibal and the Punic Wars supplement.

The majority of these miniatures are 25mm Old Glory Republican Roman cavalry, Product ID: PPR-06 (10 figures with 3 three spear poses and shields). One miniature is from the Old Glory Oscan cavalry pack (the rest of which will be in my Italian Allied cavalry unit) and the two command figures are from 1st Corps.


Center figure is from Oscan cavalry pack.

I was disappointed by the limited poses and lack of command and I had issues drilling holes for the spears (some mangled hands). However, they painted up fairly well using my craft paints. The spears (also Old Glory) are probably too long but I am on a budget these days and used what I already had "in stock". In the end I am pretty happy with how they turned out.

The One Inch General

A friend asked me to take pictures of this miniature he painted for me many years ago when we we're members of a group known as the "Frankfurt Wargamers".

On one side "Markgraf von Schultz" is written, referring to an Imbiss outside the Frankfurt Kaserne often frequented by the Frankfurt Wargamers.

On the other side is "The One Inch General", a nickname I earned playing Napoleon's Battles. The 1" refers to a general's command radius within the rules set. At the time, as a new historical miniatures gamer, I often played overtly defensive tactics. I was often reluctant to play an aggressive game.

The miniature originally had a chicken drumstick in place of the morningstar but it was damaged and lost in transport. This was the best repair I was able to make. I also re-flocked the base as much of the original material had worn away.

28mm Hobbit, the manufacturer is unknown.



*** painted by Michael Kan

MilSpecMonkey

On HBO's comedy special, "Will Ferrell: You're Welcome America: A Final Night with George W. Bush", the former president shares Morocco's contribution to the coalition of the willing, a brigade of spear gun armed monkeys trained at Fort Bragg in secret.

Simianus En Obscurus!
**** out of 5 stars.

[] Rassilon's Watchmen review []

**** 4 out of 5

Can the Watchmen as a graphic novel and work of literature be translated into a film, yes! Is it the same piece of art/literature/media as the graphic novel? No, they are different mediums and each has different tools they use to bring us a story. What pieces of work do fully survive a change in medium?

Should it have been done? For some, maybe not? As a fan and consumer of cinema... sure... bring it on and give me more... from average pieces of work to masterpieces there is always a risk of becoming another dud in a sea of lameness, but is this different than any other medium? In the case of Watchmen this didn't happen, Zack Snyder did a commendable job bringing the graphic novel to life.

The acting ranged from decent to the superb work of Jackie Earle Haley in the role of Rorschach.
I enjoyed the film's score which had a cleverly restrained modern take on 80's style electronic film scores, i.e. Jean Michel Jarre. An excellent soundtrack was applied with the humorous use of Tears for Fears "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" as elevator music in Adrian Veidt's corporate headquarters and Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" during the sex scene in Nite Owl's ship "Archie" to Jimi Hendrix's version of "All along the Watchtower" and Nena's "99 Luft Balloons". The comic book style of the graphic novel was well translated to moving visuals as Snyder did with "300". The cinematography lent itself to the melancholy world of the alternate 1980's presented in the graphic novel and generally, the script adaptation was very good. This was a well pieced together work of film.

However, I did some have some concerns...

I didn't mind the removal of the squid, I think it might have been too "corny" for the general film audience. However, I am not sure I am happy with the squid's replacement, Dr. Manhattan was not a plausible enough threat to bring a lasting peace to the world. The fear of a potential alien invasion… I think that would have lingered much longer. Dr. Manhattan's "event" lacked the carnage and visceral fear the squid left behind.

The threat of nuclear war didn't seem to create the dread it did in the book.
Although I think this had more to do with the limits of adapting the graphic novel into a film… it just didn't have the room to fit every aspect of the atmosphere created by the book.

And... not so much a concern but a comment. While I did not mind the Black Freighter being left out of the story, I feel it would have either cut a lot of meat from the commercial theatrical release of the film or made it impossibly long. A "Directors Cut" with the Black Freighter is eagerly awaited. Perhaps it will bring another star to this rating?

In the meantime...

**** 4 out of 5.

Rassilon []

Warhammer Ancient Battles English Hundred Years War Army project

When the army is finished, it should total 3000 plus points and include 3 units of Knights mixed with Men-at-Arms and 5 units of Longbowmen.
The figures are all from Old Glory. The Knights/Men-at-Arms were finished earlier this year using two packs of HCW-04 from the "The Battles of Crecy & Poitiers" range. I burnished the non-primed figures for the armor and used LBM transfers on the shields. Unfortunately the Old Glory packs did not offer the variety I needed so I recently ordered one more pack from their "War of the Roses" range, WOR-07, Dismounted Knights-various weapons.




First batch of ten 28mm Old Glory Longbowmen. They are all from packs HAW-01 "English Longbow" and WOR-09 "Longbowmen in Livery Coats". Fortunately, there is a good variety of poses in these two packs to cover all 90 rank and file troops.















Old Glory 28mm "Revolting Peasants" modified for use as unit leaders.


Old Glory 28mm "Revolting Peasants" modified for use as unit standard bearers.















Old Glory 28mm "Revolting Peasants" to be used as camp followers.

Next batch of ten Old Glory 28mm Longbowmen primed.

The remaining eighty Longbowmen. Wee!

To be continued...

War of the Roses Household units

Okie dokie, my first batch of 15mm longbowmen are finished and I now have two Household units for use with "Bloody Barons", Peter Pig's rules for the War of the Roses.

War of the Roses project part 1

I have had a passing interest in the War of the Roses ever since I played the old Avalon Hill board game "Kingmaker". Eventually I took up miniature wargaming but with so many other periods to choose from I had plenty of other projects to keep me busy. Last year myself and a fellow wargamer settled on a set of rules we both like and decided this year we would dedicated some of our painting time to this project.

The rules are "Bloody Barons" (image left) from Peter Pig's RFCM (Rules for Common Man) series. Designed for 15mm scale, these rules contain scenarios for all the major battles, historical organization and uniform information and like other RFCM rules it includes a point system and a pregame system.

I had originally planned to purchase my entire army from Peter Pig's 15mm but it didn't sit well with my budget at the time. So, I decided to go a cheaper route using Old Glory 15's "Rank and File" generic medieval range for the bulk of my army and use Peter Pig for command and specialty units. Unfortunately I was disappointed with most of the "Rank and File" range. The order arrived this past fall extremely flashed, appeared to scale closer to 18mm and came with unattached weapons that seemed grossly over scaled. Lastly, the range did not seem appropriate to the War of the Roses, so I went back to my original plan to use Peter Pig's range. However, the cavalry were decent enough and in the meantime my project partner who smartly went with Peter Pig in the first place had already started painting. I decided to go ahead and work on the "Rank and File" cavalry (image above) which I finished just before the winter holidays.















In the new year I placed my first order with Peter Pig which arrived within a week which is typical of their service. I now have command, flags, generals, 2 units of household infantry with bowmen and 2 units of retinue infantry with bowmen. The miniatures are clean and well sculpted, the flags came with 3 sheets of 6 unit flags and 2 sheets of 5 generals flags, plenty for a couple of armies. (image above)















I soon finished the household infantry and command. (image above) I am currently working on the household bowmen. (image below)

Process and Tools:

• Popsicle sticks, 3 miniatures mounted to each.
• Priming with Ace Hardware matte black.
• Various Enamel craft paints.
• Litko 30mm bases with adhesive magnetic bottoms.
• Wood putty, sand, flocking, static grass.
• Matte Sealer.

After completion of part one, I will follow-up with another 2 retinue units and 4 levy units. This will enable me field up to 940 points (810 without the cavalry). The Standard army point totals in Bloody Barons are 650 or 800 points (excluding scenarios). At 650 points a player has a "Warchest" to spend on pregame factors including but not limited to treachery, leadership and weather effects. If I am still able AND capable ;) I will finish up with some specialty units such as artillery, handgunners, crossbowmen and pikes.

To be continued...

Smoke yourself a kipper! The boys from the Dwarf are back!

Red Dwarf is set to return 10 years after the show's last season!

There have been rumors and mumblings of a movie in the works ever since the ending of the show but so far nothing has surfaced. This is exciting news and I can't wait for it to hit the US, although given my love for this series I may have to obtain a copy direct from the UK when it's released.

Wiki on Red Dwarf

Warhammer Ancient Battles: weapon errata

ROCKET SWORD

The rocket sword is a weapon of "swords and sorcery". Only a character may be equipped with this weapon. The sword may be used as a melee and missile weapon.

Weapon: Rocket SwordRange: 8"Save Modifier: -1Strength: 4

1. The long range penalty of -1 does not apply

2. No movement penalty to fire.

3. If used in melee the bearer always strikes first.

[Hardy Har Har]

Who is Rassilon and what is the Matrix?

Just where did the name Rassilon come from? At the age of 13 I took the name from a fictional character on the BBC television series "Doctor Who". At the time I was making my first forays into online Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). I soon started one myself with the help of my father (aka Mr. Bubble) called "The T.A.R.D.I.S." BBS using the name of the time travel device used in the series. I figured it would be an appropriate name for a SYSOP (System Operator) of a BBS. As a continued fan of the show, I have since kept the name as my online handle or nick.

The BBC series follows a lone time traveller known as a "Time Lord" from the planet Gallifrey who travels time and space helping humanity. Lord Rassilon (image right) was the creator of time travel, the original Time Lord and the founder of Gallifreyan goverment and society as it's known in the series universe. The design used for this blog and my avatar online (image left) is the Seal of Rassilon which was held in high regard as a symbol of power within Gallifreyan society. The term Matrix or the Matrix comes from a computer network on Gallifrey also known as the APC net (Amplified Panatropic Computer Network). The terms APC Net and Matrix are often used interchangeably. The APC Net served as a supercomputer used by the Time Lords, specifically the High Council who used the Matrix both as a storehouse of knowledge and to help predict future events. Rassilon entered into the Matrix after his "death". (Doctor Who Wiki)

Greetings friends!

Hello and welcome to Rassilon's Matrix! So... other than a lame attempt at a "livejournal" this is my first blog. I'm not sure what I exactly intend to post here but I do hope to include anything related to my interests in books, gaming, movies and anything else significantly interesting in my life. :)

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Adrian