River crossing halts Macedonian expansion

I haven't been able to make it to the club recently, and it will be at least a month before I manage again.  Gordon did, however, take in the forces for a campaign game.  Apparently the defending Persians managed to repeat their performance in the valley of death game we played a while ago with the same foes.  Some useful delaying terrain, including a river, plus significant Persian shooting across the front combined to halt the Macedonian juggernaut.  For the time time being, at least.  When I get back, the next game is a Persian counterattack, which will finish off the current Empire turn quite nicely.

Zama at Wappinshaw

Just a brief report.  We played Zama at Wappinshaw again today; the Romans won 4-1.  Both sides were pretty cagy, sending troops to support the cavalry on both wings.  The resulting attrition across the front worked in the Romans' favour.  Afterwards, William suggested that when we take the game to Claymore in August for its final outing, we should play it free form.  Same order of battle, but free deployment.  I must admit that I really like that idea.  It would be a nice way to finish off the series.  So far the Romans have won twice and one game has been a draw, so I think we have it balanced about right.  But it could be interesting to try it out in a different way.  I was too busy to take photos today, but I'll put on any that come my way, as we did with Carronade.

Seleucid Cataphracts

These are the latest revamps from my old Essex Seleucid army.  I had a bit of spare time after finishing the plastic I used for Ligurians, so I put it to good use.  All that metal made them really quick to do.  There are 30 of them, with a couple of extras that I'll use as standard bearers.  I'm working towards my lists for Magnesia, so I'll need 72 of them in total.  This lot plus my Parthians will do nicely, but it would be good to have all of the Cataphracts by the same manufacturer.  The good thing is, they are easy to paint.

Casualty Markers

Tactica II counts casualties per figure.  Normally we use numbered counters to keep track, but they can become rather obtrusive, especially in a large display game.  So we cover them up with casualty figures.  These are all Warlord Games.  The first two photos are plastic figures with the bases removed; the third photo is their new metal Gallic casualty set.  I gave them a pretty basic paint job, so they should be serviceable.  I've tilted the bases so that they take a better photograph; I find it difficult to achieve good results when these kinds of bases are lying flat.

Ligurians

These are Warlord Games plastic Gauls.  Simon won them in the painting competition at Carronade this year and passed them on to me.  I've painted them up to stand in for Ligurians at Zama, so no checks or stripes.  They are very nicely detailed, and look as though they are about to charge straight into action.  The only quibble I would have is that some of the poses are rather awkward in terms of fitting them all onto a standard size base, but I did manage.

On the Painting Tray for June 2010

Last month I completed 48 Ligurians for our ongoing series of Zama games.  At Carronade, Simon won some Warlord figures in the painting competition.  He didn't need them, so he passed them on to me: a box of plastic Gauls and some of their new metal Gallic casualty figs.  This month's plan is to paint them up as another unit of 24 Ligurians and eight casualty markers, four Ligurian and four Celtiberian.