BIG Ruckus-The First Ruckus Tournament

 BIG Ruckus!

Bristol Independent Gaming (BIG) the birthplace of Ruckus, was home to the World’s First Ruckus Tournament on a cold Saturday in January. Players came from various places in the Western Hemisphere, from as far away as Poole in the South and Devizes in the East. They came bearing their Retinues and hefting their lucky dice, with Hope in their hearts and the bright fire of battle in their eyes. They left without either of these things but full of Jim’s BIG Burgers, sturdy breakfast baps and chilli! 

The Tournament was structured so that we would play one game in the morning then have lunch and the best painted Retinue competition, followed by two more games in the afternoon .

I knew that there were very mixed levels of experience in our Players and so the Tournament was structured to allow for this, with experienced Players playing Novices in the First Round. I don’t view Ruckus as a competitive game and I like the Billhooks philosophy of we are here to help each other and have fun. 

We actually booked one more Player than we had space for and so each round we randomly drew three Players to go in a Free for All, ensuring that these were different Players each time and that everyone who had paid for a ticket got to play. 

The Players-

Standing-Leigh Parslow, Guy Taylor, Chris Foster, George Stone, Thomas Trutch, Richard Fox

Crouching- Nick Self, Steve Graham, Rob Squires

Kneeling or just very short- Ben Mallett, Simon Wilde, Mark Taylor, Scott Lewis, William Lockwood

Everyone played the same scenario in the morning, the Ruckus staple “Get Orf Moi Land!” A fairly open table where the Retinues fight for the right to levy rent from the locals each claiming this bit of land to be in their Manor. All six tables were laid out in similar manner and the steady murmur of happy Gamers filled the air with the occasional whoop of victory or cry of despair and the ever-present laughter of people having fun.

Retinues on Parade!

Then we had lunch which was the usual excellent BIG fair followed by the painting contest. The Players judged this and it was tied between Mark Taylors wonderful Landsknechts (above) and Ben Mallets de Clisson land pirates (below). 

If there is a TARDIS on the table, and Wi's Charlie isn't in the room, then you are probably playing Ben Mallet…

The worthy runner up was Leigh Parslow’s Ruckus Retinue with dogs! 

Fog, Rivers, and Houses

For the afternoon session of two games, we cleared the tables and set them up for the three scenarios we had planned- Fog of War, a River Runs Through it and Urban Brawl.

Urban Brawl hides an encounter in every building…

An ambush of Outlaws in “River” and then something I have never seen before…

…an Ambush of an Ambush! 

This was such a clever use of the Peasants Ambush Card.

“Anything but a one!” 

I heard the same question many times that day and it was always the same answer “What do I need to roll here?” 

“Anything but a one!”

"Damn!"

I was too busy answering queries and helping fight melees to be able to follow much of the action, but I was present when Mark Taylor showed his old skills, and snatched Defeat from the Jaws of Victory. Christophe de Berg, Marks Landsknecht Captain, is cut down by one of George Stones Gallowglasses!

A happy George, the youngest player, who has only played once previously, won all three of his games with his Irish Retinue

What do points make? Heroes!

The Tourney was being judged on Points accrued by the Heroes. They could gain 1 point for each wound they inflicted and an additional point for each Hero that they took out of play. Additionally, they could score 1 point for each High-Risk Gambit, such as a Dramatic Entry into a building or crossing a river not at a crossing point, that they successfully pulled off They could win 2 points for each Very High-Risk Gambit, this we decided, had to be agreed between the Players at the time the Gambit was performed. The Player with the Hero with the most Points would win the Tournament!

Scott Lewis pulled off the Dramtic Moment of the Day, a Very High-Risk Gambit, with his “Leap-Across-a-River-Charge- into-Melee!” Gambit.  Scott rolled 3 d6 any ones would have resulted in Catastrophe! However, his purple clad Captain not only pulled it off but went on to slaughter her opposition. Her supporting Billman was not so lucky and was swept away to a soggy fate by the strong current 

So much fun was had that the time flew by and before I could say “Zweihander Dopplesolder Landsknecht” it was time to present the prizes. It was at this point I realised that I had given two prizes in the best painted and had only one prize left to give. I made a quick decision to total all the Points for Kills and Thrills and the winner with a massive 37points was Richard Fox. All the prizes were Giants in Miniature Figures. 

My favourite overheard quote of the day was "If life is a b*tch but you are having fun, you are probably playing Ruckus!"

The day was such a success that BIG Jim immediately proposed a second Tourney to be held in March, details can be found on the Ruckus FB group

Flags of War Border Wars Fighting Irish

 

Níos mó Nah Éireannaigh

More Irish! This time I have used Flags of War Border Wars “the Fighting Irish!” And what a lovely set of figures they are.

The set comes with a mounted leader three Gallowglass and five Kern. I think they represent an Irish Retinue from late in the period as several of them are wearing Morion helmets and burgonets that are not used until the 16^th century.

The leader is mounted on a strap barded horse with two bucket saddle holsters for his pistols and sports a classic Morion helmet with huge plumes. He wears the split hose and puff sleeved tunic typical of the Elizabethan period and sits on a conventional saddle with pommel and stirrups. Everything about him screams REIVER! So much so that I decided not to use him with my Irish but to paint him up as the first of my Border Reivers which will be my next Ruckus Retinue. He will join the rest of the FoW figures that my lovely wife bought me for Christamas. He will make an excellent March Warden commanding his men with an imperious wave of his sword

The Galloglaich

A lovely figure, typical of the set, well sculpted with a dynamic pose. This fellow has the mail associated with these doughty fighters, he wears a morion helmet and hefts the mighty Sparth Ax. Just to be on the safe side he carries a huge sword, the Gallowglass equivalent of a pocket Derringer perhaps!

        

This Character has a sword that a Landsknecht would be proud of! He wears a peaked Burgonet style helmet with a tail of lapping plates. He too has a mail coat and the baggy sleeved lien, dyed with Saffron.

He too carries a massive spare sword, well, you would, wouldn’t you?

His tunic is painted using the Army Painter Fanatic Yellow triad over a pale grey undercoat. I have tried pink before as an undercoat for yellow but could not really see a difference.

I love the pose and animation of this guy, you get a sense of the effort he is putting into his next swing and the energy he is about release. Probably my favourite figure in this group.

My least favourite figure in this collection! What the guy above has this one lacks, he is static, holding his ax awkwardly before him, he looks cautious and lacks the wild abandon of the previous two.

  Mind you, it is a deadly looking ax

A kern armed with a bow, few were armed this way it seems and only one in this box has the distinction.

  His jacket is painted with the Foundry Terracotta triad and washed with Citadel Berserker Bloodshade

 His lien sports voluminous sleeves as is right and proper

The Ceithern

This Kern carries a leather-bound Targe reinforced with brass or copper studs and is armed with what may be a throwing spear by the way he is holding it

 I painted his jacket using Citadel Fang and its associated colours, washed, and glazed with Nuln Oil

I used the same Fang recipe on this Kern but washed and glazed with Citadels Tyran Blue

 

I like this guy too! One thing that makes the Ruckus Irish Retinue quite different from the others are these fast moving lightly armed Characters with Gurt Big Axes!

The Irish Retinue are fast and hit hard but have little protection and no Support Trait.

  His hair is Citadel XV 88, highlighted with Balor Brown, Zamesi Desert and Zhandri dust

This Character is a full-on proper javelin throwing Kern! Typical of the majority of these warriors.

His lovely green jacket is painted with Citadel Castellan Green, and highlighted with Warpstone and Moot

In this view you can see the plate armour to his left arm. It seems only Kerns used this type of protection, well, and Roman gladiators…

And then there is this guy! 

...armed with normal sized sword, targe and wearing a full crested Morion.

His jacket is Citadel Mephiston Red highlighted and glazed.

  This a lovely set of figures, a joy to paint, and typical of the FoW range, characterful, anatomically, and historically correct, well animated and reasonably priced.

The Host! FoW fit beautifully with my Perry’s and Antediluvian Irish…I have almost an Army! I am nearly ready to contend the Billhooks BASH as Hibernia!

The Gallowglass form the bodyguard of Finn mac Cool and offer more options to my Retinue …

Sláinte mhòr!

Ragged Staff Miniatures Veteran

 

Martin Brook of Ragged Staff Minis, kindly sent me a couple of models of his latest figure, the Veteran, from his Wars of the Roses range and it is a thing of beauty. RSM use the same sculptor as Reconquer as is apparent with this latest mounted addition to the series. No one else sculpts horses so well.

The figure itself depicts a clean-shaven man in a brigandine, a sallet hangs from his belt as does a scabbarded sword and a buckler. Slung over his shoulder is a wrapped long bow. The horse is grazing and the man gazes into the middle distance. The pose, right hand on hip, left on the cantle of the saddle, reins dropped for the moment allowing the horse to graze is a peaceful one. This rider may have just arrived atop a hill and is admiring the view or is he possibly scouting for enemies? He could be in conversation with a similarly mounted comrade. I think of him as a Harbinger, one of those seasoned captains that rides ahead of the army looking for a suitable building to use as a Headquarters for the Generals

I thought I would use this figure to describe my painting method. The big decision for me whenever I have a new figure is what colour scheme to use, particularly for this period where there is so much choice.  Often, I look at a figure and a paint scheme comes immediately to mind however with this one the one thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to paint a very pale Palamino type of horse.  I began at the beginning with an undercoat of pale grey

I decided to try Wargames Foundry Buff for the horse and so began with a good coat of the Darkest of the three in the triad. I spent a lot of my childhood around horses and I know that they can be just about any colour of brown you can think of! 

This I washed with Citadel Seraphin Sepia. I think Citadel inks are as good as any on the market, if maybe a little on the dark side, they are quite opaque can be diluted hugely without losing their essential colour. I then highlighted with the middle Buff colour, keeping the paint thin and picking out the muscle mass.

Then I used the lightest of the three Buffs on the most raised areas.  A wet pallet is an essential part of my kit as, among it’s many other virtues, it allows the paint to become very thin yet retain its colour

The last highlight has Vallejo Dark Sand mixed with the lightest Buff colour. I will return to this basic flesh coat several times as I paint the rest of the figure just generally improving the coverage or adding a slightly lighter highlight here and there. When I am happy with it, I will give the whole thing a very light Glaze of the Sepia ink.

The mane, tail and lower legs are then painted with Citadel Screaming Skull followed by a very dilute wash of Sepia before being highlighted with a mix of screaming Skull and Vallejo Ivory. To this mix I add a very small amount of white for the occasional highlight of a strand of hair

 I use this formula for “warm” whites such as cloth, hair, fur. For “neutral” whites-painted wood, leather, stone I use a pale grey, Citadel Administratum Grey highlighted with Army Painter Stone Golem, I very rarely use a small amount of white added to the stone golem as a final highlight. For “cold” whites, snow, and ice, I use Stone Golem highlighted with White glazed with Tyrol Blue

I used Citadel Kantor Blue for the saddle, I wanted to represent a dark blue velvet covered saddle. This I washed with Citadel Drakenhof Nightshade

My usual practice is to paint each part of a figure to completion before moving on but when I am unsure of what colours I want to use I tend to paint several areas with a base coat and have a think about it. Here I used Black to all the metal bits, Sallet, and mail. Vallejo Chocolate to the saddle bags, reins, bridle, and boots. Citadel Rhinox Hide to the Brigandine and a cheeky glimpse of Citadel Khorne Red to the sliver of hose that is apparent above his boot.

The brigandine has been highlighted with Citadel Doombull Brown. The saddle with Citadel Altoic and Hoeth Blue and then glazed with Drakenhof Nightshade. All the leather areas have received a coat of Vallejo Flat Earth, highlighted with a mix of Flat Earth and Dark Sand. The metal has had a coat of Gun metal.

The leather areas have all received a thinned wash of Vallejo Smoke. The metal has been washed with a mix of black and brown inks, that I knock up in a separate bottle and call my Armour Wash.  I have recently started using a new method for leather. I bought Valejo’s Wood and Leather paint set a few months ago and it has recipes for three different leathers by Angel Giraldez as well as several different wood effects. This is the recipe for “Dark Leather” which I have been using for a while and am now quite pleased with the effect. There are instructions for creating “Red” and “Light” leather too, I decide I shall try all three when I paint the second Veteran!

The rolled blanket on the front of the saddle and the bow cover have been painted with Citadel Steel Legion Drab, Tallarn Sand and Karak Stone and glazed with Sepia ink, a recipe I tend to use a lot for canvas.

  The livery jacket I have depicted as White and Blue, this chap must be one of the Beaufort’s men! For the white I have used Citadel Screaming Skull lightly washed with sepia and highlighted with Ivory, I rarely use pure white.

For the Blue I am using Citadel Fang, washed with Tyran Blue and highlighted with Russ Grey and Fenrisian Grey. This will receive a glaze of Tyran Blue.

The horse harness has been prepped with pale grey and every other “flap?” has had a coat of Army Painter Stone Golem

The sallet has received a thin wash of Tyran Blue but only in the recessed and “shady” areas

The sack of arrows on the back of the horse has been painted with Citadel Zandri Dust, Ushbati Bone and highlighted with Screaming Skull. 

Here I have added the Fang/Tyran blue mix to the buckler and every other “lappet”? on the horse harness

and so to the manflesh, I usually paint this first, I don’t know why I didn’t this time. For this figure I chose to use the Wargames Foundry Expert Flesh set. This consists of six grades from A to F dark to light.

I base coat his hair with Citadel Mournfang Brown

I wash the hair with Agrax, hmmm, that sounds like a shampoo ad! And the flesh with Citadel Fleshshade

I wash the hair with Agrax, hmmm, that sounds like a shampoo ad! And the flesh with Citadel Fleshshade

I added a small thin highlight of Shining Steel to the Sallet. Some flesh, B, to the lips and eyelids of the horse

 Ignore the red flare at the top of the bow case, its a power light on an amp in the background! 

a subtle highlight of dark sand added to the hair mix to pick out the hair in more detail

A blob of dark brown mixed with black for the horse’s eye and a tiny dot of white washed with a very thin wash of black ink to tone it down. A faint highlight of flesh D to muzzle lips and eye lids

   I used Ushbati Bone to pick out the teeth

A very fine glaze of fleshtone completes the face.

  My painting method is a time-consuming process! For this reason, I love the wet pallet as it keeps my paints wet and useable for days so I can keep returning to a colour for touch ups or to hide any accidental blobs Such as the small patch of blue on the saddle bag, visible in this picture and the blob of flesh on his belt purse. 

The figure is now ready for varnishing and basing.

For the second figure I wanted to do a brown horse and use a lot of different browns on the figure, a study in brown or maybe a brown study.

I basecoated the horse with Citadel Rhinox Hide and used the Warganes Foundry Dusky Flesh range for consecutive highlights

 I decided to make this horse a bay with black mane tail and lower legs I highlighted the black with Citadel Skavenblight which I then lightened for the final highlights.

The saddle is Citadel Rhinox Hide/ Doombull/Tuskgor

Brigandine a mix of Citadel Rhinox Hide and Khorne Red, highlighted with the lighter variants of these in a 50/50 mix

Bow cover Citadel Mournfang/ Skrag/ Deathclaw

Blanket -not brown! Citadel Castellan Green/ Loren Forest/Straken Green

For the Reins and horse harness I used the Giraldez Red Leather recipe of Vallejo Orange Brown mixed with Woodsmoke, highlighted with Orange Brown, a second highlight of Dark Sand and then a light wash of Woodgrain

The cowl and sleeves were painted using the Giraldez Vallejo Light Leather recipe which is a base coat of 50/50 mix Japanese Uniform and Dark Sand, highlight Dark Sand, washed with Flat Earth, then washed with Smoke

Flesh was Wargames Foundry again

Hair Citadel Zandri Dust washed with Sepia ink highlighted with Ushabti Bone that Screaming Skull then a few strands of Vallejo Dark Sand

The rope was Steel Legion Drab/Tallarn Sand/Karak Stone

Boots and saddlebags the same Dark Leather recipe as previously used

The detail in these sculpts really is superb

The shield is speckled Foundry Dusky Flesh triad

Varnished , based and ready for war!

Ragged Staff Minis are as good as it gets, who else sculpts triple rivets on the brigandine? I wonder what they will come out with next? Whatever it is I can't wait to paint it!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/RaggedStaffMinis

https://www.facebook.com/p/Ragged-Staff-Minis-100093184756129/