Legion Wars - The Magic of Small Games

Today I'm taking a moment to look at something I personally really enjoy, but is often stomped underfoot by larger more flashy things - small games. Some of the best games I've ever played had less than 20 models a side, and I can't count the number of Friday night 500 point games I've played.

I've even dug out some old photo's of "Legion Wars" an escalation campaign that I started with my brother when we began our respective Salamanders and Night Lords forces. As we were both starting out we decided to make a rule that we could only field painted models from our new armies and gradually worked up the cost to about 500 points in the end by making week by week additions to the forces. At first we even took away unit coherency and let every model operate by themselves as long as they were outside of 2" of each other, letting them freely form and dissolve units at will in the smallest 5 a side skirmishes.

In the increasingly big game obsessed world where you can't swing a lasgun without hitting a phalanx of allied Imperial Knights, I thought it might be time to look at the pros of small games. I've given a list below, and man, does it make me want to play a small game!

10 Reasons to Enjoy a Small Game for a Change

1. You don't have to paint as many models. Meaning you can spend more time on the ones you have and actually stand a chance at getting them finished!
2. Your infantry are more effective, as the battle will be far more focused on them and the part they play.
3. There is less room for "broken lists". In 500 points you'll struggle to fit 2 troops choices and an HQ in, let alone all those Riptides and Wraithguard!
4. Every man counts - you can't waste your units when there's no backup!
5. You don't have to buy as many models - save money and add to the collection slowly, rather than aiming for 3000 points right off the bat!
6. The narrative is better. It's just true, in a smaller game those small accomplishments are more memorable - when Captain Brellion sacrifices himself to lay a Melta-Bomb on your dreadnought and they die in a glorious blaze you'll be talking about it for weeks. Less so if the dreadnought was ruined by a pile of Centurions from half the table away, before the whole thing is incinerated by a Titan moments later with no real effort of dynamism.
7. A faster game - one you can fit in on a weeknight and still have time to relax in front of the TV (and also enough time to avoid that marital dispute that's coming because you've been taking too much time on your hobby!!). Less set up time, and less time to pack away too.
8. Easier rules - Having trouble keeping track of all those formations and blanket special rules from your opponents codex? Not such a problem when they only have 4 units on the field.
9. Drama in small places - suddenly a Dreadnought or Carnifex is a behemoth of the battlefield - with the comparative resilience of a super-heavy. You'll enjoy seeing those sometimes forgotten units shine for a change.
10. Power to the people - some of the less popular horde armies suddenly seem rather powerful, try fighting a swarm of hormagaunts at 500 points and see if you can make it past turn 3! 

Sir... something's wrong with this planet, the horizon ends 15 feet away - and did you see the size of that cat!

Unfortunately, this outflanking manoeuvre didn't really go as planned...

You'll also become a better player and learn a lot tactically when you don't have those ever-present "big guns" to back you up. When every shot counts and you've got no super heavies to do the hard work - try getting it done with an autocannon for a change, like a real man!

You have to admit - it looks dramatic already, but when was the last time you thought that when 2 scouts shot at a single marine in the open?

Without the issue of unit coherency, the squad were finally free to get some space between their noses and Sergeant Bathinko's flatulence.

I knight you Sir Decapitatallus, you may now rise.... oh wait...

Salamanders Land Speeder Storm

When I hatched the plan to make a fast attack based marine army it was based entirely around a pair of Land Speeder Storms with 2 units of scouts. A bit later on, the new codex came out and it became possible to take bikes as troops (if your leader is on a bike) and they became a bit less essential. Not that it mattered as one of the things I vowed when I started the army was that it was going to include as many units that Chaos can't field as possible (otherwise there'd be no point as I have a large Chaos force already!).


The problem with scouts has always been the really ugly head sculpts. With that in mind I went to work with a box of spare parts; replacing and variously helmeting them up to make them look a bit more appealing.


As someone who got into Salamanders during the Second Armageddon War campaign, I've never liked the "coal black" skin tone that was later given to Salamanders. I just hate the look aesthetically, so I went with a more old school tan on these guys. For most of the army I've gone with helmets to avoid the dilemma, but on scouts a few bare heads was unavoidable!

I'm quite happy with the flames on the front and the freehand "IV"s all over it.

For those who are wondering, no I didn't paint this separately. I built the whole thing, crew and all, glued it all together and painted it all as a single piece!

Some more Pictures of the army for those who missed them:

The Scout Squad in action against Ed's Night Lords

Look through the window ... a dastardly Night Lord!

Click below for more:

Salamanders

Salamanders Dreadnought

How about these pictures to keep you all amused? I've been a bit busy this week with other non-hobby related stuff, but I did find the time to snap a few pictures of my Salamanders Dreadnought.

There is a bit of conversion here as I actually made him from a Death Company Dread that I had from the Shield of Baal box. The sarcophagus is made with a spare armour plate over the top of the Blood Angels insignia and the helm is from one of those really ugly old Chaos Warriors (without the horns!).

Non Metallic Metals Painting - First Attempt

My first attempt at painting a NMM (Non Metallic Metal) sword. This is a model I painted about a year ago as a captain (with Relic Blade and Artificer Armour) for my Salamanders. I tried to follow a tutorial online, but it was for an airbrush - which basically made it useless as at the time I didn't own one. It did give me an idea of where to place the light/blends though - although it is so much more labour intensive with a brush!


Anyway, the real challenge with any NMM is really twofold. First you have to work out where the light should go on the model. Second is the challenge of actually painting it - which is mostly about building up a blend slowly to make it as smooth as possible. It's worth noting that this is a technique designed for two dimensional images (like an old painting where they've done the shining armour in greys, blacks and white or a modern day comic book hero's metallic shoulder pads).


Working with an airbrush the blends are really easy - but the accuracy isn't. If you're doing a large area or a vehicle you can get some crazy results, but the smaller your target the more finesse you'll need. My top tip is to buy a roll of cling-film. If you want to airbrush a sword on your model you can just wrap his body in cling-film and then go to town on the exposed sword without having to worry about overspray!


Back to the model at hand. I painstakingly built up the blend with layers of thin glazes. With a fine blend it's important to consider the direction you move your brush in. You should always move the brush stroke to the area where you want the colour to be it's brightest. Meaning that for mine it was always towards the highlight on the sword. For some reason the paint brush deposits the most paint at the end of the stroke, so that's why. Remember to keep the paint super thin too because you really want to avoid it building up.


Overall it's not perfect, but like I always say you have to test your limits to progress. Just keep saying to yourself "I'll do better next time" and you'll get there!


Interestingly, despite all of that effort I still get more compliments about his base. I guess it just goes to show how important bases are - have I mentioned you should be painting those too? I mean I dry-brushed the damn thing and people still notice that first!

For some actual painting advice worth reading check out my article on the basics:

Painting Basics

Salamanders Assault Squad

Some more bodies to throw on the field. This time I've been working on my Salamanders Assault Marines. I actually built these using Death Company parts as I had them spare from the Shield of Baal box set from a while ago. It did take some time to remove the more obvious symbols and stuff, but the models are really nice and detailed. 

Armament wise I went with the flamer (obvious choice for Salamanders) and a power axe for the Sergeant. They're also on the modern bigger marine bases, which look great on jump troops as the models are bulkier and they're nice and stable too (given that the packs can make them a bit top heavy). GW do seem to have become obsessed though with the big bases lately - I know they look nice, but does everything in Age of Sigmar really need one?

Converted Salamanders Librarian on Bike

My fast attack army needed a suitable leader - one who could roar across the battlefield waving his mighty axe high. The only hitch is that GW don't actually make a cool character on a bike; nobody has a cool custom steed that would stand out in an army that is mostly on bikes. I also wanted a Librarian as I honestly think they're a really good choice for the points value you pay (although I painted him in green rather than the standard blue for the Librarius as it just looked a lot better).

The bike itself is made from a large variety of bits - chunky Gorkamorka wheels, combined with the bottom of a forgefiend's head and an old Ork bike chassis!

I made the rider out of a Sons of Horus Reaver body with a Chaos Chosen's power axe (that I removed the Chaos symbols from). The Corvus helm really helps give him an old school Rogue Trader type of look. The choice of parts mean that I could probably use him in Heresy, although he is for my 40k army.

The salamander scale pelt is greenstuff. I created it the same way I did on all of my Salamanders; which is to say that I cheated. I took a piece of instant mold and cast the side of an old Lizard Man Cold One. I then cast sections of scaly flesh and just sculpted the edges and adjusted the details as I went.

As far as paint is concerned I painted him the same as the rest of my Salamanders, but I opted for some freehand on the top of the bike.

For those who missed my last Salamanders post, some pictures of the rest of his squad are available here: Salamanders Bike Squad.

The obligatory work in progress shot.

Salamanders Bike Squad

One of my more recent 40k armies is a fast attack oriented Salamanders force. I know it might not be the most characteristic thing from a background perspective, but a focus on high quality flamers and plenty of melta weaponry combined with manoeuvrability was a tempting thing. I also have a rule about new armies - they have to feel/play differently than something I already have. Being as I have a large mostly shooty Chaos Marine army (Emperor's Children), my loyalist force would have to be different - with plenty of units Chaos can't have. For that reason I chose fast attack - as I could have plenty of Land Speeders/Storms and really enjoy a different style of play.


Anyway, in this post I've got some pictures of my finished bike squad. I'm particularly happy with the banner that I salvaged from some Militarum Scions that weren't using it!


The bikes themselves are converted from the Dark Vengeance ones - you just can't beat the price compared to the real thing!