Hobby Update: More Halflings

Waaayyy back in 2017, I took a chance and bought some 1/72 minis, as I was exploring some other historical ranges. Long story short, they were too small for what I wanted, but I bought some more, and made a halfling-only army, which have hit the table from time to time.

As I have mentioned previously, minis at the 1/72 scale are incredibly cheap. Unfortunately, there is a trade-off in that the plastic is quite soft, and the minis don't take primer or paint all that well. So all in all they're not that fun to hobby on. But, if you are a mediocre hobbyist, and like deals, I'd still recommend them! The 1/72 historical scale has a wide variety of model lines, so you can get a very fluffy halfling army without a lot of hassle. (There are even some fantasy lines too!)

Sometime last year, I picked up a few more boxes of 1/72 Romans. My current force is mostly cavalry regiments, so my intention was to add more infantry, war machines, and odd things to unlock the two halfling-related formations (which would get me a ton of improved spearmen, and some improved knights).

While good thoughts, I'm sticking a pin in most of this. I don't feel like hobbying on a few hordes of infantry right now. I will wrap up what I already have in process though.

Halfling ASBs

Previously, Master Sergeants led my lists... but I found I only really liked them for leading infantry. I get that they're a two-for-one, as Inspiring combat characters, but they're halflings, so they're rather expensive for what they do on the table. These two should do the trick, and I still have Sergeants I can run in a pinch.

Mounted ASBs! They should be able to keep out with and Inspire all my knights...

Like their fellows, they are from HaT industries, and are from a command box that accidentally shipped with my order. Aside from these two minis, the box is pretty underutilized, as it was an unexpected arrival. Oh well. These minis in particular didn't have a great injection. The ASB's had a nub on their left elbow, to stick a shield through but I clipped it off, as the shield part wasn't fitting well. Eh, still works though.

Halfling Knight Troop

This was the last troop needed to unlock the Thoroughbred Mounts formation (boosting speed from 7 to 8 and granting Vicious). Not sure if I'll get to use the formation at all (rumor had it that the formations are going away with 3rd Edition), but I'm pretty sure I can find use for a nimble cavalry unit!

Oof. A second troop of (usually underwhelming) Halfling Knights... to help screen and support my ridiculous three Regiments of Halfling Knights... Yeesh. The picture is about as good as the tactics.

Building the Halfling army was a bit rough. I started out with a few regiments of Knights, as the model count was way nicer to start painting up that blobs of infantry. But that didn't lead to a very balanced force. My infantry weren't numerous to hold anything, and my cavalry were (are) too weak to sweep the enemy away... I have more cavalry models sitting around... but first I'll need to hobby on some more halfling infantry.

Halfling Iron Beast

The last thing I hobbied up was the Iron Beast, one of the better combat units available to halflings.

It seems like a decent anvil unit, with pretty nice Nerve and one of the only things I know of with Defense 6+ still. Unfortunately, the Melee is only 5+... but it has an ungodly number of attacks, plus CS 2 and TC 1 if it gets the charge. It's got Strider too, and a breath attack, so I think i's usefulness will surprise me when it hits the field!

The only thing I'm not quite satisfied with is the lack of a wysiwyg breath weapon. I wanted a flamethrower in the skull jaws, but that wasn't practical. I had held off working on this for a good long while, forgotten about that shortcoming, and then started priming and painting last week, only just now remembering the omission. Will see if inspiration strikes, or if it loses the Breath attack in 3rd... laziness my win out here...

A greasy-looking monster... Keeping with the dino theme, I needed to add something, and ended up with a ceremonial skull. 

The model is a WWI Mark V tank from Flames of War. It was steeply discounted, and I decided to risk a purchase last year. The model was kinda janky though. There are only three pieces! Two treads/sides, and the body of the tank. Still, things didn't fit quite right... but it was good enough. The pack was a two-pack as well, so I still have a second tank chassis sitting around... The boxy top part was a pain though (all those rivets are nubs from plasticard rods), so we'll see if/when I get around to building this one a companion.

The halfings are a bit of a joke army, so I decided to really lean into that it with the Iron Beast. The inspiration for it was Civilization.

I remember playing the original, and then Civ 2 with a good friend back in elementary school. Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is one of my favorite games of all time, and I've dabbled with most of the other installments too. These memes have always struck me as really funny, so I tried to translate one to the tabletop, while embracing their "little brother" status to my Kingdoms of Men list. I think I did ok, and I think the Beast will hopefully give me a fighting chance in any future games with the halflings.