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  • #64185
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    I posted this over at BGG, but it’s good here, too. I just picked up a set of the new Microworld Steampunk Renaissance figures, and although I mainly did it for the models and to support the line, I’m starting to think of how to get them to the table! To that end, I’m coming back to Warmaster and trying to figure out some equivalences to let me play out some Italian Wars with fantasy and steampunk elements.

    A lot of it involves compiling lists of units and trying to determine analogues. As far as I know (and please, someone, let me know if you know this) there has never been any kind of formula for making custom units. That means that, beyond a certain point, I’m kind of making things up as I go along, which may not lead to a great balance.

    Anyway, I’d be very interested to hear what other people may have done in the line of “customizing” Warmaster. In particular, I am trying to figure out how to stat up a Steam Fortress, which is like a big, meaner Steam Tank. Literally no idea how to make THAT work. I’m also thinking about magic – I’m considering giving each player a chance to choose their path, with a decision whether they will take their city-state down the path of Divinity (“Good” Magic, i.e., powers related to faith, like the Empire and the Brettonians), Alchemy (“Neutral” magic, related to science and natural philosophy, something akin to what the Dwarves or Elves do), or Necromancy (“Evil” magic, Chaos and Undead). Choosing one would to some extent determine your enemies, what spells you can use, and open up a list of extra units you could field.

    For starters, I’m painting and working up a list for the Florentine Republic, and after that will probably make Venice or the Papal States my second choice.

    Anyway, if anyone can think of anything that might be useful to me, please let me know! I’m in the info-gathering phase here and would like to hear ideas!

    #64192
    Avatar photoMike
    Keymaster

    I know naff all about most things but am happy to risk furthering this by spouting gibberish…

    Does the Commander Series of rules not use the Warmaster engine?
    If so, would the FWC points value calculator be of any use?

    #64193
    Avatar photoMike Headden
    Participant

    Ignacio Corrao did an excellent points calculator for Warmaster that was in the files section of the Yahoo Warmaster group back when I visited it regularly. May still be available.

    Points were fudged somewhat in Warmaster in any case but the calculator gave you a pretty good value for units.

    I’d have thought that most of the Renaissance armies in Italy would largely be variants of the Empire Armylist. The Araby list would do at a pinch for Fantasy Ottomans. The Poles would be doable with the Kislevite list – possibly with fewer bears and more types of armoured cavalry. 🙂

    I did have the same idea when I saw the Microworld range but, fortunately for my bank balance, postage and import costs made the enterprise more expensive than I could justify.

    There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

    #64211
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    Both great resources! I also dug up some Renaissance conversions, not to speak of an interface with Mighty Empires. This seems eminently doable!

    It’ll definitely be the closest I’ve come to anything “historical” in some time. By the way, I can’t recommend the Microworld minis highly enough! Really an inspired line of figures, and very well made!

    #64241
    Avatar photoNorthern Monkey
    Participant

    Their is a PDF on my blog that I put together compiling all the listed points costings from all the versions of Warmaster, it might be useful for you, it can be found here: http://ablogofwar.blogspot.co.uk/p/wargaming-resources-page.html

    My attempt at a Blog: http://ablogofwar.blogspot.co.uk/

    #64292
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    Thanks, guys! That is all super useful stuff! The plan is taking shape, here.

    A question for anyone versed in Warmaster – a number of these variants recommend nerfing cavalry by changing the base orientation. Apparently Gendarmes and other heavy cavalry become way too dominant. Would anyone be able to comment on that? Given the fantasy side, is it better to stick with the original or should I go with the altered standard?

    Hmm.

    #64293
    Avatar photoDan Kennedy
    Participant

    Nerf the cavalry.

    Warmaster is great, a lot of fun, but yes, cavalry become too dominant. There’s also something go be said for importing the (I think) activation rules from WM Ancients, which limits it to three in row, if I’m remembering correctly.

    Haven’t played it in years, but always enjoyed it.

    #64326
    Avatar photoNorthern Monkey
    Participant

    yes in both Ancient and Medieval Warmaster some cavalry units are based on the long edge rather than the short edge, this does reduce some of the effectiveness that cavalry usually have, I would suggest trying to get hold of Warmaster Ancients as the slightly tweaked system in that book is better than the standard Warmaster fantasy rules

    My attempt at a Blog: http://ablogofwar.blogspot.co.uk/

    #64456
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    Me and my base labels – but they just make the game so easy to play!

    I’ve gone high design on this one – hopefully to make players at the club more willing to get into it.  I’m not telling anyone there about this yet though – not until I have armies ready for an actual game.

    And by the way, much like Ground Zero Games, these miniatures show their true goodness once they’re primed.  They have well-defined sculpting so I’m hoping I can come up with a good paint scheme without too much trouble – muddier figures I’ve seen at 6mm scale can feel like a chore, since it’s all a lot of figuring out where one part of the figure starts and the other stops.  These ones are really fantastic.  My first foray into the (not quite) historical!

    Oh, and by the way, I’m considering adding a naval component using the excellent Galleys Guns and Glory rules.  O yes.

    #65523
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    Wellp!  Finally had time to work out the prototype uniform for the Florentine Republic.  I know that they didn’t actually wear uniforms back then, but this being a fantasy milieu, I don’t have problems giving them something more consistent-looking.  Here’s a Florentine Pikeman:

    I interpreted the upper part of the shirt as a plate armor cuirass, so it came out with metallic colors, and the stockings felt more like marching boots to me so I painted them as such – makes him look a little more “military” to me, and I can do what I want in a fantasy world!

    #65530
    Avatar photoMike
    Keymaster

    That is a lovely figure.

    #67926
    Avatar photoVictor Pocilujko
    Participant

    Hello

    There is a combined Warmaster and Warmaster Ancients version available through the Specialist Games forum http://www.forum.specialist-arms.com/index.php?topic=8838.0 and the Rules themselves are available from https://warmaster-cz.blogspot.cz/2017/07/warmaster-revolution-v10.html. Unfortunately the Photobucket debacle has taken away your pictures.

    Cheers

    GrumpyOldMan

    #73818
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    Now that there are Spanish figures coming out here, I’m drawing back to this project.  So I thought I’d toss up a plea for help – anyone have advice on painting cavalry?  I’ve never tried to paint horses at this scale before.  Or any scale for that matter.  And I have a contingent of mounted Pistolieri on hand…

    #73851
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

    Well, start off simple: do blacks, browns and beiges. Later on, try to give them blazes and stuff. At 3mm and 6mm you can get away with it. I usually make the tails and manes darker or even black and leave it at that. Avoid white horses: they are very rare.

    We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

    #73856
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    Yeah – white horses are very much a U.S. Cavalry thing – far too late.  Besides which, the Florentines are already wearing white.

    I’m looking at Romagna chargers for my Pistolieri – red brown with whitish hooves.

    #75170
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    Well, I went and painted up my first unit of Florentine Pikemen, ready to do some Lamenting.  In a departure from my usual, I decided not to give them a base label.  The unit types in Warmaster are so straigtforward it seemed unnecessary in the final analysis.

    #93437
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    Been forever since I touched this one, but something moved me to try to conquer my fear of painting cavalry.  Horses have always seemed impossible to me for some reason.  But the Florentine Pistolieri have to ride SOMETHING when they resist the Venetians!

    Needs a little touching up but I’m pretty pleased.

    #93489
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    After much deliberation I went with traditional Warmaster basing – Cavalry based lengthwise.  They’re getting ready to sally forth in defense of the Florentine Republic.

    I also decided to go with bases proportional to the original Warmaster sizes (intended for 10mm scale) scaled down by about 75% to match the Microworld 6mm line.  These bases are 5/8″ x 1 1/4″ x 1/8″.  They look nice and dense and handle well.  I have a feeling that in masse they’ll make for a nice aspect on the tabletop.

    #93494
    Avatar photoMike
    Keymaster

    Almost makes me yearn for my old GW Empire army…

    #93511
    Avatar photocmnash
    Participant

    Mr Average, those figures do decidedly not look average – nicely done sir!

    .

    #93518
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    Very kind of you to say! I often have an idea in my mind of what a miniature ought to “feel” like when it’s done – an aesthetic thing as much as a practical one. This feels about as close to my imagined result as I could want right now, at my current skill level. So often it doesn’t pan out that way.

    #108281
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    Always nice to have projects to dip in and out of.  This is one I keep coming back to – the Florentine Republic.  In this case, we have a Da Vinci Steam Tank Mk. I.

    #124124
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    Had a day off, and worked up the courage to prototype the colors for some Florentine Terror Bird Cavalry. These fellows are a crazy breed, half in love with death, gobbling up danger like ordinary Florentines eat gelato.

     

    Their monstrous mounts come not Florence herself, but from one of the trading posts Republican merchants have established on the extremities of the New World. The trade treaty with Portugal allowed them to found a trade mission on the edges of Hy Brasíl, from whence traders brought back the first Terror Birds (Aracheoraptor Terribilis) as chicks. The birds bond strongly with their human riders, to the extent that if their rider is killed, they will go into a near-suicidal frenzy of vengeful grief. Only the hardiest and most heavily armored troops in the Venetian army have dared to stand their ground against the swift talons and razor-sharp beaks of the terror birds.

    #124130
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    Emboldened, I prototyped my first Ratkin Warrior.  In this universe, they’re neither good nor evil, they’re just their own race, and they’re having their own power struggles.  The Rats of Averlino, known for their fine textile and leather work, trade with the Florentines.  The Plague Rats, however, have made common cause with the Fallen Empire.  Ratkin in general are not very skilled with metals, however, so they generally have to trade or scavenge for what they need.

    This is a Rat of Averlino, wearing a leather hauberk and wearing a “Rat Blue” hood of Averlino manufacture, one of the unique colors of textile his people are known for.  His people stood with the Florentines at the Battle of Treponti when the vanguard of the Fallen Empire landed in Italy.  Nevertheless, they suffer the suspicion of the Venetians, who often mistake the Averlinian Rats for the Plague Rats who have raided the Ionian Coast repeatedly since 1413.

    #124137
    Avatar photoUsagitsuki
    Participant

    Very nice work.

    #124184
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    Thanks! I hesitated on the Terror Birds and Ratkin for a long time – guys with feathers and fur, like horses, seemed more difficult to think through than they turned out to be in reality. And of the armies I’ve been looking at the rats and the fantasy Renaissance forces are among the most flavorful in Microworld’s line.

    #124187
    Avatar photoDarkest Star Games
    Participant

    Really well done, and excellent write ups on their backgrounds.  This all has a way better feel than even WHFB (gasp, heretical I know!)

    "I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

    #124261
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    Thanks for saying so! I have a feeling there maybe a graphic novel in there somewhere down the line.

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