Caliban-somewhen

On the painting tray: February 2012

2012-02-03T11:05:00.000Z

Slow progress continues to be made on Anne Boleyn in between batches of work on the Plataea project. For that, I've just finished 24 hoplites for Willie, plus I have 36 plastic Immortal Miniatures hoplites in various stages of semi-preparedness. These are also for Willie, and will be used for the Tegeans and their pals at Plataea. I really like these figures, but I do find the gluing rather tedious. My painting time is relatively limited, and spending large amounts of it constructing multi-part figures is a bit self-defeating. This is not a criticism of these products, since I know that this is exactly the aspect that appeals to other gamers, but it does make them something of a chore for folks like me. I don't mind doing it once every so often, though, and they do make a nice change from metals. Ultimately, what matters is the end result. Since I had the glue out anyway, I did the basic work on 36 Foundry Immortals plus a command base for my contribution to the cause of civilisation at Plataea.

Speaking of which, I'm also about to order the second of my three batches of cork for the table top. I'm planning to paint as much of the figures as possible between now and the end of March, and then construct the battlefield itself. If I can concentrate on that, it should be done relatively quickly.

Carthaginian mercenaries in Southern Gaul

2012-01-30T14:13:00.000Z

Just a quick report to keep the campaign up to date. Last Tuesday the Carthaginians took Gaul as a precursor to Hannibal's assault on the Romans. The Gauls had a long defensive ridge line and a bit of rough to their left. The army was basically warbands in the centre and all of the cavalry on the open right, with a lone unit of Soldurii as back-up. The Carthaginians set up with infantry in the centre and two cavalry wings.

The rules force Gauls in non-disordering terrain to test to avoid reckless charges, and so in they went right across the line, leaving the hills behind them. Carthage managed an overlap with heavy cavalry as the warbands charged past the rough, and then the whole Gallic line was rolled up in classic fashion. Not a lot could be done about this situation - the Gallic commanders saw it coming and hoped for a quick result in the centre or on the right to compensate. It didn't happen.

I might suggest changing the rules, since they force the Gauls to do stupid charges even when they have a defensive advantage, which doesn't seem right to me, but no one was surprised by the result anyway. The warbands on the flat next to the rough ground would have had no choice, and in fact they were the ones who led the charge. It looked glorious, if futile. I didn't take photos since we were using Paul's Gauls for the first time, and I wasn't sure how they compared with our other figs. He has has based for WAB, but as it turns out, mostly on six-figure bases, so they worked really well.

Next up is a Successor game tomorrow evening as Bactrian Greeks move into Mesopotamia. In campaign terms, this represents Persia attacking.

Welcome to the Lead Warrior

2012-01-28T21:53:00.000Z

...aka David from Falkirk, whose blog is here. It would be good to get you involved with Plataea at Carronade, if you don't end up doing too much work for the show...

Welcome to Lead Legion

2012-01-27T10:00:00.000Z

Or should that be The Lead Legion? If you have a blog, please let me know and I'll link in with it too.

Campaign update: 240-230 BC

2012-01-21T10:02:00.000Z

Quite a lot has been happening in our Empire campaign; I just haven't had the time to document it until now. The first thing to report is that the Macedonians finally took Illyria (ie Gordon beat me). I took photos and saved them to my laptop, and then promptly lost them. It's a bit of shame, since it was a good game and a close one. On a constricted field, the Macedonian phalanx punched through the Illyrian defensive hill line, which was composed of medium hoplites from the coastal city states and some wild warbands. Every phalanx was badly damaged, but the weight in the centre won the day.

Secondly, we rolled for the Indians, and they took Bactria. We incorporated the Indians into the game so that we could see Simon's lovely army on the table. However, he hasn't been well, so we left their shot until the end of the turn.

Summary of events this turn:

1: Bactria rebels from Persian control
2: The Persians reconquer Persia
3: The Egyptians conquer Syria
4: Carthage takes Iberia
5: Rome takes Sicily from Carthage
6: The Macedonians conquer Illyria
7: The Indians conquer Bactria

The most surprising thing about this is the success rate of the Great Powers: usually they are rubbish, but in this turn they have excelled themselves, each winning in their active phase. First time that has ever happened!

At the start of the new turn, the Thracians rebel from Macedonain control and the Ptolemies attack a Macedonian field army in Asia Minor. This time, I forgot my camera altogether, but it's probably just as well since I ended up effectively umpiring. I didn't get the time to take any photos anyway. It was another extremely close battle. Billy and Willie ran the attacking force, while I set up the Antigonid defenders and ran the weak left flank. David had our central phalanx on a nice ridge line, and Paul had our right wing. Billy steadily forced me back on our left. Stalemate for a while in the centre. Willie eventually broke through our right at great cost, but was finished off by excellent shooting from Paul's Cretan archers. Eventually we won in the centre due to the hill. A great game.

The current map situation:

This is a composite of two scans, which didn't align exactly, but it does give an idea of the strategic view:

Carthage controls Carthage, Numidia and Iberia.
Rome controls central and southern Italy, and Sicily
Macedon controls Macedonia, Greece, Illyria and Asia Minor
Egypt controls Egypt, Syria and Armenia
Persia controls Parthia and Persia
India controls Bactria and India

Next up is a Carthaginian probe into Gallia. Methinks the Barcid war party is getting restless in Spain...

Welcoming Duane

2012-01-21T09:16:00.002Z

Hi Duane, thanks for joining. Please let me know if you have a blog or website and I'll link back.

Cheers!
Paul

Welcome to the Madaxeman

2012-01-15T16:03:00.000Z

...whose website is here. Do have a look; there's loads to see. The "pants" page is hilarious, chronicling the sorts of things we all see or do on the tabletop.

Test for Plataea battlefield

2012-01-14T14:13:00.000Z

This week I received the first batch of three for my attempt to make a full tabletop from cork tiles. The idea is to have pretty much a fully interchangeable surface that will do for most Mediterranean to semi-arid areas:

From the photos on the website of the company who makes them, Siesta Cork Tiles, I had thought these came in three elevations, but when I saw them, they really work in two - a sort of patchy level and some depressions. So I tested a couple by filling in some of the lower areas with textured paint and flocked them. I know the flock won't look perfect and will come off in bits as it usually does, but it's a cheap and quick way to see if can get the look I want. The photo above shows a newly revamped unit of hoplites standing on the end result. I'm reasonably happy with it so far - I'm after a sort of patchy, scrubby plains effect. The thing is, these tiles will see a lot of use and abuse, so using more expensive terrain elements seems a bit excessive, which rules out silflor-type grass clumps. I was originally intending to use astroturf, but it's a bit too tall and would simply end up coming off altogether. So will flock, but that's easily replaced.

Welcome to Lee Hadley

2012-01-05T09:30:00.001Z

... of Big Lee's Minipainting on Blogspot. He has a much wider range of interests than I do, or at least than I've managed to put on here. I'm always interested in periods such as WWII, but I want to concentrate on as few projects at a time as I possibly can. In other words, I'm trying desperately to resist that bane of the wargamer's life, the Ooh Shiny! complex.

Anne Boleyn: Work in Progress 3

2012-01-02T15:28:00.000Z

Just to prove to myself that I did get some painting done during the winter holidays:

This figure is taking a lot of effort. Here she is with the first basic coat done.

Strictly speaking, that's not true. I have managed to do quite a lot of work to the pedestal of the sundial.

In the original box artwork, the pedestal is simply stone-coloured. I decided to try to get a marble effect.

I think it is beginning to look like my mental image. High gloss varnish should bring up the stone nicely. Before then, the highlighting and detailing will need to be done. Those will take some time...

On the Painting Tray: January 2012

2012-01-01T12:08:00.000Z

In December I managed to complete 24 Spartans. Still on the painting tray this month are another 60 Hoplites plus Anne Boleyn; she is taking a lot of effort. I might make one slight change to the blog this year. Now that I have been doing this for two and a half years, I think it's about time that I keep a running tally of how many figures I manage to complete. I'll stick to 25mm for this, since that is my main interest. Anything else I manage will be an added extra.

And a Happy New Year to everyone loosely floating around in blogspace and the outer ether of the interwebs...

The Romans conquer Sicily

2011-12-24T11:06:00.000Z

The First Punic War draws to a close as the manipular legions of the Roman Republic crush the last Carthaginian resistance. The battlefield looks promising for the defending Punics and their large mercenary host, with a lovely defensive ridge line on which to nestle:

Gordon chooses and deploys the Carthaginian army. He runs their right wing and half of the infantry centre; David takes the other half of the army. Their right wing comprises a large unit of 18 Punic Medium Cavalry with a unit of 8 Numidians to either side, the whole lot followed up by a unit of 12 Carthaginian aristocratic Heavy Cavalry. In front are two blocks of slingers. The centre has some skirmish javelinmen in front of an initial wave of Celtiberians (three Warbands of 24 figs each, deployed shallow). Immediately behind these are three large units of 36 Scutarii. There is a heavy unit to either side of the main body: 24 Sicilian Hoplites and 24 Punic Heavy Infantry, both deployed in two ranks. The army's left wing comprises a unit of 18 Celtiberian cavalry, 18 Spanish cavalry and a unit of 8 Spanish light horse.

Facing them is a consular army of four legions, two Roman and two Latin. Each of these comprises 9 Velites; two units of 8 Hastati; two units of 8 Principes; and a unit of 8 Triarii. On each flank of the army is an ala of 36 Italian medium foot, an ala of 18 medium cavalry, and a unit of 8 light horse. Completing the mix is one unit of 10 Cretan archers in front of the Roman cavalry on the right.

I chose this lot and deployed them. I remain somewhat unsatisfied with how the Romans play out under the rules. The traditional three-line deployment, which I adopted for this battle, has a lot of staying power but in practice it is very inflexible. Since the Romans must deploy in this fashion in this period, it is very easy for anyone facing them to try a Cannae. So I changed the legion composition around a bit. There are still half as many Triarii as either Principes or Hastati, but the base unit is no longer the line, but an eight-figure maniple. I wanted to see if this would be too brittle, or if it would compensate somewhat for the triplex acies setup, by restoring some flexibility to the individual units.

My plan is to be as aggressive as possible with the Italian foot and the mounted wings so as to keep the enemy off the vulnerable flanks of the legion as long as possible, while pinning the enemy centre with the legions. I will then choose a point of attack depending on how the enemy presents. As I see the enemy deployment, I decide to hold the hill to my front centre with the Roman Hastati. The Latin legions will carry the attack towards the two units of enemy heavy spearmen, while the Romans simply hold the centre. This is a bit of a change from what was expected, and is a result of the enemy's central two-line infantry deployment. The Italians and cavalry will be used to stop the enemy getting onto the flanks of the legions, as planned in setup. All photos are taking from my command post behind the Roman lines:

The foreground of the shot above shows my Italians moving forward on my left. I hold the cavalry back until the foot are sufficiently advanced.

The two leftmost legions, Romans to the inside centre. At the bottom left you can just see the Latin Triarii angling towards the left flank. The presence of the Carthaginian heavy cavalry on this wing has me worried.

Meanwhile on my far right the enemy horse advances. In mirror image fashion, the Italian foot thrusts aggressively towards the wing.

Above is a shot of the infantry centres. The Roman legions are simply going to wait for the expected charge of the warbands.

At my centre right, the outermost maniple of Hastati manages to attack the enemy's Spanish light horse. If I can clear the way here, the entire rightmost Latin legion will concentrate on the Punic heavy infantry.

On the right, the Italian infantry have almost reached the enemy cavalry, so I move my own mounted troops up in support.

On the far left, the presence of the Italian infantry has forced the Carthaginian cavalry wide. The Italians, however, have entered a world of pain as the enemy slingers and light horse have a field day chucking things at the nice big juicy target. But all they need to do is hold out long enough for the Latin legion to assault the Syracusan hoplites at the end of the enemy infantry centre.

Gordon sees what I'm up to and rushes the Celtiberians forward. He needs to break through the Roman thin red line as soon as possible.

At my centre right, the Latin Hastati have disposed of the light cavalry and gone into the Punic heavy infantry. In the centre of the photo above you can see the Principes waiting in the classic support position.

Fighting is heavy along the whole of my right wing now, but the presence of the Italian infantry here gives me extra weight. The Carthaginians aren't helped by poor dice.

On my left, though, the Italian cavalry collapses spectacularly. My decision to throw the Latin Triarii wide turns out to have been correct. Will they be able to hold back the impending cavalry attack on the flank of the legions?

At the Roman centre right, the African heavy infantry have destroyed the outermost maniple of Hastati, so in go some of the Principes with a new volley of pila.

Above is an angled photo of the desperate infantry melee in the centre. The dice gods desert the Celtiberians here and the fighting grinds on. This suits me as the Romans, because it will give me more time to destroy the two heavy infantry units.

To my left, the Triarii have seen off the large enemy cavalry unit, but at great cost to themselves. Unfortunately for Carthage, though, the rout has disordered their reserve heavy cavalry. I try to threaten them with the Italian infantry as well, who have turned around. However, they have been taking missile fire all game now and are trailing a growing smear of wounded and dying behind them. It really is touch and go on this flank; I just hope I can hold the opposition a little longer here.

The leftmost Latin legion has disposed of the Syracusan hoplites, and a maniple breaks through onto the Spanish in the second line. Unfortunately for the Spanish, they became disordered on morale when the hoplites broke.

Just to the right of the previous shot, one lone unit of badly mangled Celtiberians makes a final vainglorious charge across the hill into the waiting Roman Principes. Finally the Hastati have been driven off, but at great cost to the valiant warriors from the west.

The enemy plan works at one part of the field. On the right side of Hastati Hill one of the Spanish units finally makes it into contact with Roman Principes. But again luck is not with Carthage as they are stopped in their tracks.

Finally, all is over for Carthage as they lose too many of their infantry. The final photo shows the victorious Roman right wing streaming into the centre just in time to join in the pursuit.

The combination of maniples and the triplex acies system worked very well indeed. The Roman centre held nicely against the enemy masses while the Latin legions each picked on a single enemy unit and then enveloped the flanks of the enemy centre. Manipular flexibility worked well here, although it does have to be said that the Carthaginian foot had a very bad dice day. About time too, though, because so far in the campaign Rome has done very poorly.

In effect, this battle sees the end of the First Punic War as Rome kicks Carthage out of Sicily. There will be one more campaign turn, and then Hannibal appears. Peter has rolled to see what the Macedonians would do. Their glory-seeking King has decided to go one better than his ancestor Alexander, and finally subjugate the wild Illyrians to the north. That will be played in January, Scottish weather permitting of course. In the meantime, the Romans are off to a well-deserved Saturnalia.

Anne Boleyn, Work in Progress 2

2011-12-18T11:47:00.000Z

It took a bit of time, because I wanted to be careful, but finally I have managed to glue this together:

I used some rather thick artist's acrylic to fill and seal various gaps that were visible.

I didn't want to use model filler in case I did some damage to the details. Besides, I can be ham-fisted when I really try...

The majority of the areas filled were on the gown, which I'm going to paint dark blue with more artist's acrylic. I hope that will do the job without obscuring too much.

I might try an experiment with the sundial. Instead of painting it all one shade of stone, I might attempt to give it the look of marble to make it a bit more interesting. I suppose there's only one way to find out if it will work!

Welcoming Captain Richard

2011-12-18T11:35:00.000Z

The good Captain's blog is here and you really must drop by. His dioramas have to be seen to be believed. Some truly gorgeous work is there to be found.

Welcome to Scotty

2011-12-14T11:48:00.002Z

Scotty has three blogs, one of which is here. He even has a paint plan for his Wurttemburgers - I wish I was that well organised!

Welcome to Cory

2011-12-13T15:05:00.000Z

I've just noticed that Cory has joined here and left a comment too. Cory has five blogs; I've linked with one that has some lovely 28mm Napoleonic Russians and lots of other stuff as well. Click on the thumbnail to go and have a look at the others too.

Lakedaemonians for Plataea

2011-12-13T12:55:00.000Z

I've posted pictures of some of these guys before, but now I have them the way I want for Plataea:

First up are the Spartiates. There are two units of these, each of 36 figures. I've used the old Foundry heavy guys for the whole unit, apart from command.

The second photo shows one of the two units of Perioikoi, again 36 figs per unit. I used more of the Foundry armoured figs for the front ranks, plus a commamd stand. The figures in the other ranks are a real mix of stuff, some unarmoured. I wanted some kind of visual difference between the Spartiates and the others so that it's clear which is which on the tabletop.

Above are the two freshly finished command bases for the Spartiate units. Willie gave me these because he doesn't want Spartans. They already had a basic paintjob, so I gave them a quick ink wash and then a touch-up. I especially liked the "reverse colours" scheme on the shields, with bronze lambda on a red background, so I left them that way. I think it helps make them stand out a bit as command.

Xyston's 25mm Leonidas figure with an Old Glory standard bearer. This will do for Pausanias at Plataea.

Finally, we have the priest who takes the omens. Apparently he worked really hard at Plataea - Pausanias refused offering after offering until he decided the time was right to charge the Immortals. In other words, when the Tegeans broke ranks instead of standing and taking more missile damage, he realised he had no choice but to go for it. Piously, of course...

Time permitting, I want to have a few little pieces like the priest to add some character to the battlefield. Casualty markers would be good and Foundry make a nice Spartan camp set. Simon has a temple to nestle at the foot of Mount Cithaeron on the Greek left. I'd also like to represent the Persian spara barricade on the table. So much to do, and so little time!

...and also to Scottsz

2011-12-11T18:02:00.002Z

A hearty welcome to yourself too!

Welcome to Peter Celella

2011-12-11T16:09:00.000Z

Peter's blog is here and at the moment the front page has some lovely Iberian cavalry. I'm still hankering after an Iberian army, but there just isn't enough time!

Welcome to El Grego

2011-12-11T11:17:00.001Z

Or should that be, welcome back? I seem to remember your thumbnail from a while ago, but then Blogger shifts around so much it's difficult to keep track. El Grego has chosen to run a different blog for each of his interests, one of which is here. Click on his profile for the list.

I'm not sure if I should do something similar. I'm planning to take some time out from ancients at one point this year to sort out my very large 15mm Russian Napoleonic army, what with Borodino coming up and all that. I think I'll keep them on this blog, so that all of my stuff is together, mainly because I'm not sure how often I would update a second blog. Food for thought, I suppose...

Welcome to Truls Fjel

2011-12-05T19:50:00.000Z

Just saying "Hi" and thanks for joining. Annoyingly, Blogger is doing its thing of not telling me if you have a blog. It does that sometimes!

Gunfreak's Apartment of War

2011-12-05T19:42:00.000Z

...which you can find here. He is well known on The Miniatures Page for Napoleonics, and has recently taken the plunge into Republican Romans. Do go and have a look, they are tremendously nice.

On the painting tray: December 2011

2011-12-01T16:08:00.000Z

November was not a great month so far as painting is concerned. I finished a dozen slingers and managed to get part of the way through the other stuff that has been on the tray for a while now. Currently I have 24 Spartans half-completed, plus the 1/12 scale Airfix figure of Anne Boleyn. I also have another 32 Hoplites that Willie gave me. These are very uniform indeed, and have been painted up as Spartans. I'll have way too many of those if I just keep this lot the same, so I think I'll do a bit of work on them to convert them to generic Hoplites. I am owed some holiday time from work, so hopefully that will make up for November before we reach the end of the year.

Anne Boleyn, Work in Progress 1

2011-11-27T19:07:00.000Z

November has been very busy for work reasons, and it looks as though it's going to stay that way for the foreseeable. I haven't done as much painting as I would have liked, but I have unpacked the Airfix 1/12 scale Anne Boleyn and basecoated with Testor's Dullcote:

Not too many pieces, and some of the details are going to be quite challenging. I learned from experience with Beth's Stuka that relatively large expanses of Airfix plastic don't always take acrylics very well, which is why I used Dullcote.

The box is the original 70s item...

...complete with original sheet of instructions. And just to prove how old it is:

A small advertisement that was still in the box. This poorer quality paper hasn't lasted quite so well!

Slingers

2011-11-27T18:59:00.000Z

Your average manky, scuddy scum slingers, made up from the Wargames Factory Numidian infantry set:

They might be scum, but they're our scum! I'll use these as psiloi at Plataea. They'll do for just about any scruffy slingers in most periods anyway...

Welcome to Remco

2011-11-27T16:16:00.000Z

I've just noticed that Remco from the East Netherlands has joined, so I've reciprocated at his blog here. He has the hard to find Asterix miniatures set, do go and have a look. I first saw these over twenty years ago, and I should have bought them then.

Empire: Campaign win for Carthage

2011-11-27T13:18:00.000Z

Or, I lost again and I don't care. It's about time the Carthaginians finally conquered Iberia; I think this is their fourth try. I set up the defending forces of freedom against Punic aggression. The game basically came down to which side would turn the enemy's infantry line first, with some added spice thrown in by the presence of Celtiberian mercenaries in both armies. Unfortunately for us, those fighting for Carthage fought well, while ours didn't.

Above, you can see in the foreground the forces on our left, me in charge. A powerful mix of cavalry and Caetrati to the left of our Celtiberian foot. I have more force than the enemy (Gordon).

The infantry centres of the two armies. Ours is composed of Scutarii at the bottom of the photo (my old Minifigs Romans standing duty). Theirs is a mixed bag of Celtiberians, Scutarii, Libyan spearmen and a small unit of elite African heavy spears.

The third photo shows the enemy overlap on our right. There is a piece of rough ground just off the photo to the right, which is infested with more of our Caetrati. Beyond them we have some light cavalry.

Both armies lead with their left, trying to swing round onto the enemy infantry before the same is done unto them.

We leave one unit of Scutarii to old the high ground as a flank guard for the rest of the line. We'll see how long they last...

A side shot of the far side of the table from my position at our left. David's massed Caetrati and light horse await the enemy (Bill). However, they have enough force here to be able to mask the rough ground and send cavalry in at an angle toward our Scutarii.

The melee on our left. I an trying to smash my way through here to help out against the enemy infantry.

Just to the right of my cavalry, our Celtiberians attack. Rather weakly, as they fail to make a proper impression on the steady spears of the opposition (i.e. no Impetus bonus). To the right of the shot above you can see Scutarii fighting Scutarii.

The fight develops to the right of our infantry line. Unlike ours, their Celtiberians go wild. The enemy commander (Billy) sends his cavalry to help; you can just see them arriving at the right hand side of the photo above. This section of the field will be where it is all decided, and the Carthaginians want to make it swing their way as soon as possible.

The Carthaginian cavalry arrives and makes very little impression.

On our far right, David surges forward from the rough and starts to destroy everything in front of him.

Above: the whole infantry fight.

Above: David's success on our left. But our centre collapses anyway and it's game over.

This game was always going to be a fifty-fifty fight, and I always lose those. I used to have role-playing character called Avrin, who was a sneak thief. He was rubbish and failed most things while his scores were below fifty per cent. He survived somehow, and when his important abilities got to sixty per cent he never failed anything. he became a Master thief. Ever since then, I've had the superstition that a fifty-fifty is an automatic fail for me, while anything better isn't. I know it's not true; it just feels that way...

Anyway, next up is the Romans in Sicily again. If they finally take it, we are replaying history and shaping up for the arrival of Hannibal soon.

Hello to Henryk Nowacki and RazorOne223

2011-11-25T13:12:00.000Z

Or should that be czesc? (Sorry about the characters - can't seem to get those right!) Henryk is an artist amongst other things; his blog is here and has an incredible line drawing of a Japanese castle at the moment. RazorOne has some lovely Napoleonics up just now. Sorry for not welcoming you both sooner than this; Blogger told me I had a couple of new followers, but didn't show the icons until recently. Now that I've clicked on them, I've returned the favour by following yours in return. Hope you don't mind!

Ptolemy marches on

2011-11-20T16:27:00.000Z

On Tuesday we played the latest in our Empire campaign games. I set up a defending Antigonid army in expectation of Ptolemy's successful thrust northwards. Needless to say, I got hammered. Wiped out. Stuffed. I lost...

Ptolemy's phalanx advances remorselessly.

David performed well to our right.

The final photo shows our centre going crunch.

I ran the left and David the right; we shared the centre. My dice were appalling, and Gordon opposite me was the opposite. We were simply steamrollered. I'm glad I got that luck out of the way...

Anyway, next up is another Carthaginian attempt to take Iberia.

On the painting tray: November 2011

2011-11-02T20:55:00.001Z

This month I shall be mostly:

finishing a dozen slingers
reworking 24 Spartans Willie gave me. This means I will have four full units of Spartiates and Perioikoi for Plataea
and, believe it or not, Anne Boleyn.

Explanation of the last item: I want to paint something for a friend of mine who happens to have a Renaissance interest. A very long time ago I painted several of the more unusual items Airfix produced: some kits of birds and also some 1/12 scale people from history. An English company called Kit Krazy is a good source for out of production kits of all kinds, and I bought an original Anne Boleyn model from them, still in the 1970s box and all. This is a bit of a departure for me now, but I am looking forward to it. I might even do a series of Work in Progress posts. I'm just wondering if my 25mm painting skills are up to it. Not to mention my ham fisted glue fingers...

Hi Steve

2011-10-29T18:46:00.000+01:00

Coincidence strikes. My wife Cathy is from Stoke-on-Trent (well, she was born in Blackpool and grew up in Blythe Bridge just outside Stoke), and now Steve from the same place has joined to follow; his blog is here so do have a look. He has some really nice Hat Napoleonics, which reminds me to do something about my large 15mm Russian army. Must find more time...

Idea for terrain boards

2011-10-29T11:29:00.003+01:00

For a while now I've been somewhat dissatisfied with using cloths for terrain, even nice ones like those overpainted by Jonathan at the club. Regardless of how well done they are, they are still very flat, and a criticism that is often levelled at ancients games is the billiard table look. Now most battles in that period were not covered in terrain features, or at least not so much as seems to be the case for Napoleonics and certainly later. Many gamers go with terrain tiles, usually made from polystyrene, but this brings up the issue of storage space, especially considering the area of tabletop coverage needed for a large game. Cloths win out easily here, but for a while I've been musing about a compromise that would be portable, relatively easily stored and also a bit more interesting than the flat look:

A long time ago, I used cork tiles like the one above for rough ground. This has always been in the back of my mind, and I think now is the time to commit to producing a full batllefield using this look as a starting point. On the web, I found an English company called Siesta Cork Tiles that seems ideal here and the image above is taken from their catalogue.

The good thing about this kind of product is that it it is already rendered in three dimensions. I reckon that if I drybrush a light sandy colour over the raised bark portions and put some greenery for variety in and around the lower sections, I could maybe produce a battlefield that is still technically flat, but that looks a lot more interesting than the usual. I want a semi-arid look that can be used for just about anywhere from the steppes to the mediterranean, and that also matches the look of my figure bases:

I have been experimenting with my basing, most recently with wood bark chippings for the garden, although that didn't look right. There was too much of it, and it made the bases a bit too dark. However, Willie from the club gave me a sample of astroturf imitation grass, which you can see on the right of the photo above, with some 25mm Roman cavalry for scale. This stuff would make great bushes, but I also think that if I cut it down it will go well on the cork tiles. The experiment with the wood chips was not a failure, since it turns out that they make good foundations for layering my usual Ronseal plastic wood to build up small areas of ground that are higher than usual - another thing to keep in mind for terrain in the future. That would make good areas of rough going.

Siesta provides the tiles in several sizes; I want to go with the largest possible because I want to reduce the number of terrain tiles as much as I can - too many grid lines can look a little strange. However, this raises another problem, which is durability. I'll solve this by gluing each tile onto a plain one, to double the thickness and make them less liable to be damaged in transit. They will still be a lot less bulky than polystyrene tiles, which don't take kindly to too much rough handling. I want to make these boards as robust as I can to cut down maintenance time. Even quite a large number of these should fit easily into some cheap artists' carry cases for portfolios.

And here's the good bit: the double layer of tiles will enable me to make river or gully sections really easily. I'll just cut one of the standard tiles, remove a bit, and glue the separated sections onto the base tile, add some PVA and voila, a stream (or whatever). For hills, I'll buy some cheap polystyrene tiles and face them with the cork, painted to match the rest of the tabletop. The combination should allow me to represent areas like the hills and rivers at Plataea without too much trouble.

This will be expensive, probably well over a hundred pounds, but I think the result will be worth it. I like the idea of trying this myself, and I will have the time. We already have almost all of the figures we will need for Plataea, so this time around I can spend my time making a good tabletop. I like to concentrate on one major project at a time if I can. For the last few years the Society of Ancients featured battle has given me the impetus I need to keep going with figure painting; now it's time for the terrain. I don't mind the cost, because I'd be spending that over several months on figures anyway. I have felt for a while now that we have all of these nicely painted armies, so it's about time to spend some money on the battlefield. Well painted armies are let down by badly painted terrain. I have no idea how much my two-year Republican Roman project cost, but it's certainly a lot more than this tabletop. And that's just one of the arnies that fight across this terrain. If it works out, it will be permanent; durable; portable; and infinitely re-usable. It can also be stored easily.

One objection would be that companies out there already make premium mats that come close to what I'm suggesting. So why not just buy one of those? However, I'll get a lot more than a single mat for the same outlay; mine will be much more easily repaired; and if a bit gets really badly damaged, I'll just need to replace a small section, rather than buy an entirely new mat. Plus the DIY element of it means that I can produce the terrain types to match quickly and cheaply.

It will take me a few months to get all of the materials together, but I'll make this a series of Work in Progress posts so that anyone interested can see how it goes. Wish me luck; I hope you can sort of visualise what I'm planning from the description.

Welcome to Tiny Legions too

2011-10-24T20:21:00.000+01:00

Tiny Legions has joined here too, so I've returned the compliment. I really like the dwarves over there, which reminds me that I have a large fantasy armies project to sort at one point. So many things to do, so little time. I suppose that makes me a typical gamer...

Welcome to Guidowg!

2011-10-24T20:15:00.000+01:00

I've just reciprocated by joining Guidowg's blog here. There are some truly lovely Aventine Romans amongst other goodies; do have a look. I'm still trying to resist buying these myself; I can feel my willpower weakening. But I have too many other things to finish first...

Last of the Romans

2011-10-23T15:38:00.001+01:00

This lot finishes off the Republican Roman project:

Unarmoured Roman cavalry by Crusader Miniatures.

I tried something of an experiment with the bases. We have a whole load of bark chippings left over from gardening during what passes for summer here in Scotland. I painted the light coloured ones a base deep red, in the hope that they might look like sandstone when finished.

I think it looks fine, which means that I have a ready made supply of cheap basing materials.

The shields that came with them are smaller than the previous time I bought these figures, so I purchased some Little Big Men 15mm shield transfers and used them. The emblem is exactly the same as one of my legions, and I was able to fit it onto the standard as well.

Wargamerabbit tracked to the warren!

2011-10-22T19:01:00.000+01:00

Found it. Wargamerabbit joined my blog as a follower very recently, but Blogger has a really annoying habit of not showing you full details of someone's profile when you click on their thumbnail. However, the rabbit has posted a battle report on TMP that has allowed me, crafty hunter that I am, to trace him home to his Wordpress warren here. Pure chance, of course...

First club game in months

2011-10-22T12:00:00.003+01:00

I finally made it back to the club on Tuesday for a one-off game suggested by Simon: Early Seleucids versus Indian. He has been painting lots of Indians recently and this was a good opportunity to put them on the table. 2500 points instead of our usual 2000 for Tactica II.

Above: the Seleucids, whom I chose and deployed. Phalanx in the centre (played by Willie) and everything else on the wings (David on our left, me on the right).

Our central phalanx is particularly powerful.

The troops under my command. A mixture of light infantry, elephants, camels, cavalry and skirmishers. I also purchased some scythed chariots for this game, because I felt like it. It seemed like a waste not to use them, especially in a relatively large battle, even though they are almost always rubbish.

A shot of the far right of the enemy army (Simon in command, grinning happily).

The enemy centre: a long thin line of infantry archers, hanging back as much as they possibly can.

The Indian left, facing me, commanded by Gordon. A very powerful host of cavalry, chariots and elephants, with plenty of skirmishers out front. From the outset it is clear that we are going to have to try to win in the centre while somehow slowing down the strong enemy wings. Gordon and Simon split their infantry centre between them.

The initial action on my wing isn't very active. I start to angle my troops to try to keep Gordon's masses off the right flank of the phalanx, which is occupied by the Argyraspides in the traditional position of honour.

On our far left David hangs back, while Willie presses forward with the phalanx in the centre.

The link between the Argyraspides and my wing.

A shot of my extreme right.

In the meantime, David is already in combat and doing well. The combination of his good dice and Simon's rotten ones is helping David to hold off Simon's superior weight. This gives the left of Willie's phalanx some hope.

I feed my troops in piecemeal, hoping to use each unit to hold off as many of Gordon's units as I can, buying time for the phalanx to win in the centre.

The camel riders perform miracles, holding up two colums of enemy horse and a large unit of chariots. I hardly hit anything, but then neither do they, and that matters more.

The Argyraspides just to my left go in against two Indian infantry units. It looks fine to start with, but this is the one part of the field where the enemy fights well.

On the other side of the battlefield, David continues to do well.

Here David's elephants even get to help out the phalanx against the enemy elephants.

The phalanx crashes into the thin enemy infantry line in the centre. This is pretty much a foregone conclusion.

Breakthrough on our left.

My wing continues to be ground down. Here the Companions go in against chariots and elephants. Things are getting pretty desperate for us here as I have to sacrifice my elite troops to continue to protect the right flank of the infantry centre.

Fortunately, some of the Indian elephants are stuck in a bit of a traffic jam behind the front. By throwing in the Companions, I have managed to cramp the enemy's style, stopping these reserve units engaging into the centre. Now it will all depend on how long the Companions can hold out against far superior numbers and weight.

I even have to use my Skythians in combat against the Indian cavalry. I am getting desperate!

However, I have bought enough time for the centre of our phalanx to crush all before it. Some of the units even find the time to turn around.

But it is all too much for the Argyraspides: above is a close-up of the two victorious Indian infantry units just to my left.

My Companions hold out against three enemy units for four turns, but eventually my wing collapses entirely. I lose every single unit! On our left, however, David manages a draw and our forces are victorious in the centre. We win by two figures.

Next week: the Empire Campaign continues with Ptolemy attacking Antigonus.

Welcome to the Wargamerabbit

2011-10-20T21:42:00.000+01:00

Just saying hello, and thanks for looking in on us. Please let me know if you have a blog so that I can reciprocate. One of the annoying things about Blogger is that it doesn't always let you know these things...

Cheers!
Paul

Hi Simon!

2011-10-15T08:56:00.001+01:00

Simon in Ayrshire, that is. Simon used to be a member of our Phoenix Club in Glasgow, and then moved to civilisation in the form of anywhere that isn't Glasgow. His blog is here. Check it out for one of the largest sand tables on earth, plus photos of Napoleonics and WWII. Jealous, I am.

One disturbing question remains: why are so many wargamers called either Simon or Paul?

Spartan Command Bases

2011-10-09T11:39:00.000+01:00

These are unit commands for the two Perioikoi units at Plataea:

I made them up from half a dozen Old Glory command figures I had left over, plus a couple of officer types I originally based as single generals. Those are the guys with the raised swords. I have absolutely no idea of the manfacturer; I got them from Eric at the club a very long time ago.

On the Painting Tray: October 2011

2011-10-01T16:00:00.001+01:00

Last month I started on the project for Plataea by revamping 32 Spartiates. This month, I'm keeping the momentum going by painting 8 Spartan command figures and gluing up a dozen Wargames Factory Numidian Light Infantry as slingers. I also want to finish my Republican Romans by painting the last dozen unarmoured Crusader cavalry. Any extra time can go on dullcote for the rest of the Spartans I completed a while ago. The paintjob is fine, but the varnish is a little bit on the bright side.

Welcome to Galpy

2011-09-19T20:25:00.000+01:00

I was working in London for a few days and when I got back I saw that Galpy had joined us to follow, so I'm going to reciprocate. You really should see some of the work on his blog; lovely stuff there.

Several Salvaged Spartiates

2011-09-13T15:57:00.000+01:00

More than several, in fact 32:

Figures by Foundry

I've had them lying around for a while. I originally got them from Eric at the club, and with the Society of Ancients battle being Platea in 2012, I thought it was time to sort them out a bit.

They already had a basic paint job, including the shields. All I did was add new spears, ink wash and then touch up as usual. A quick way to get some troops on the table.

I already have another 32 of the same figure. The plan is to add a couple of command bases, and that will give me the two units of 36 Spartiates I need for Platea. I'm thinking of Scarab Miniatures figs for the commands.

My by now traditional close-up, trying to make them look as mean and nasty as possible.

For the perioikoi at Platea I will use my unarmoured Spartans. I need to use Testor's Dullcote on them and add some front rankers. I already have some leftover figures from the Old Glory command pack, so if I purchase some Scarab Miniatures armoured hoplites I'll have two full units of 36 of these as well. That takes care of the Lacedaemonian contingent for the exposed right flank command. I already have the Athenians and Corinthians. I could do some work on my Garrison Miniatures hoplites to round out all of the Greeks for both armies, but Simon and Willie should be able to provide those anyway. That will leave me more time to paint up some Immortals and other Persians, and also produce the battlefield. I have a particularly cunning plan for the terrain...

Igwarg

2011-09-01T15:20:00.000+01:00

Even after three hundred posts, I'm still getting the hang of netiquette or whatever it's called. So it's about time that I started to mention other blogs when I join them. Sometimes I do this in return for someone joining mine; this time, it has come about as result of short conversation on The Miniatures Page here. So, check out Igwarg's blog and website because there's lots to see!

More Claymore photos

2011-09-01T14:31:00.001+01:00

Shots of the Magnesia game and others, courtesy of Phil Steele:

http://soawargamesteam.blogspot.com/2011/08/6th-august-edinburgh.html

This is something of a record for me - three posts in one day!

Parthians for Willie

2011-09-01T13:58:00.001+01:00

These guys have just been finished. They are mostly Navigator Miniatures with some extras thrown in. I found the two-part riders difficult at first, especially the placing of the legs. Many of the horses' heads are thrown quite far back, and I found with practice that the legs of the men need to be glued on quite far behind so that enough space is left for their torsos. Hence the use of a couple of other horses and a Warrior Miniatures rider - I did quite a lot of damage before I got it right!

The good thing about the two-part riders is that it gives some variation in the poses without being as fiddly as fully multi-part figures. Once you get it right, of course!

I went for bright colours but not quite so much decoration as for the aristocracy. After all, these are meant to be the main basic troops of the army.

I also used my usual basing mix, with some heavier extra bits and stuff.

I posed the figures in different ways, so as to represent the look of swirling light horse.

The final one is my attempt at an action shot.

On the painting tray: September 2011

2011-09-01T12:42:00.000+01:00

Last month I finished a dozen Parthian horse archers plus their obligatory baggage camel for Willie; photos will follow at one point. At the moment, I have a bunch of rather battered Foundry Spartans to renovate. I got these from Eric years ago, and with Platea coming up next year I decided to revisit them. They have a basic paintjob and I have replaced the spears. The biggest problem is that the old spears they had (most of which have vanished) were quite heavily glued on. Even with careful work, some of it is still noticeable, but if I do any more scraping or whatever the figures will be damaged. So I'm going to repaint them with the intention of covering up most of the offending gunk. I reckon that if you pick them up you'll be able to see the remnants of the stuff, but on the table top it shouldn't be noticeable. There are 32 of them, some with shield aprons.

Welcome to Korovin87

2011-08-21T11:05:00.000+01:00

Just wanted to say thanks for joining; I'm glad you found it interesting enough!

Welcome to DeanMoto

2011-08-13T18:33:00.000+01:00

Hi Dean, welcome to my strand of the web. Dean has a whole load of lovely WAB armies, including some samurai, here. I would love to be able to do these in 25mm, especially for the Mongol invasions period. I have started a 15mm Sengoku Jidai project, but that's miles off completion. The Shogun Total War computer game reminded me of a lonsgtanding interest I've had in Japanese warfare, but time is now limited so I'm sticking to 25mm ancients in the meantime. Dean has some mouthwatering Ashigaru, but I must resist more temptation! I'm the kind of gamer who wants to do it all when I get into a period project, so I know what will happen if I give in...

Gallic Cavalry

2011-08-13T14:43:00.002+01:00

These are loopies by 1st Corp:

Or should that be loonies? Anyway, I bought the men really cheaply at Carronade in Falkirk and then purchased the horses to go with them - overall, a quick way to put some cavalry together.

The bags the guys were in were labelled "Gallic/German cavalry". I based them in the same style as my Romans and Seleucids.

They saw their first outing last week at Claymore as Galatian cavalry, and performed reasonably well.

Unlike the infantry, I tried stripes and checks on this lot. I think they came out okay, even though it's my first attempt.

To finish off, here's a close-up of nutters in action. I'm quite pleased with the final result.

Welcome to Amylum, and thanks to Joel Houston

2011-08-12T11:00:00.000+01:00

A hello to Amylum who has joined. Blogger won't let me see if you have a blog, so apologies if you do - I can't link to it yet. Also, thanks to Joel from Hobbies in the States for pointing out that one my links doesn't work any more. Joel has lots of radio-controlled goodies. He also has products which may be of interest to gamer people. There is a card holder that would be ideal for card-driven games like Command & Conquer or Piquet, a good way of minimising clutter. He also has some good looking hobby knife sets for the serious modeller/clumsy gamer like me who keeps breaking them; have a look!

Magnesia at Claymore

2011-08-07T17:07:00.000+01:00

A few shots courtesy of Alan:

Above: the army deployments, Seleucids on the left and Romans on the right as you look at the photo. Taken from the flank with the bit of river (the Roman left). In the foreground the best of the Seleucid mounted troops led in person by Antiochus face off against a Latin legion.

Above: this one shows the legionary deployment, from the perspective of the left rear of the Roman army. Each legion has two waves of 12 Velites, followed by two 24-figure units of Hastati, two 24-figure Principes units, and finally two 12-figure Triarii units.

Photo number three shows the deployment of the elephants between components of the phalanx in the Seleucid centre.

The Seleucid centre left, from a Roman's perspective. The phalanx has a bunch of Galatians to its flank (on the right as you look at it), then loads of light infantry. It's nice to get some closer shots of the units.

A shot showing more of the phalanx plus elephants.

A full table shot plus gamers. In the right foreground you can see the scythed chariots having some limited success, which is a lot more than they usually manage.

A column of Seleucid cataphracts threatens to break through (figs by Essex). Taken from the viewpoint of some Achaean thureophoroi who are about to have a bad time - they are quaking just off camera at this point.

A nice close-up of the successful unit of Argyraspides, as opposed to the rubbish who were wiped out to a man. These belong to Donald.

And a big thanks is also due to Jonathan for "distressing" the mats to make them look a lot more varied.

Claymore 2011

2011-08-07T11:42:00.002+01:00

Yesterday we put on Magnesia at Claymore in Edinburgh. Photos of our game and of the show as a whole can be seen here: http://wappinshaw.blogspot.com/2011/08/claymore-pictures.html

Thanks are due to Michael for being so prompt with these. Alan also took quite a few, which I'll post here at one point.

Our table was in a good location, being the first to be seen as folks came into the main hall. We seemed to generate quite a lot of interest, although I'm not sure how much of it spilled onto Chris and Phil's Society of Ancients table right next to the game. We did get an invite from the Falkirk club to come over and put a game on there one evening. With Tactica II hopefully being released soon, they want to see a playtest because they've been looking for a good ruleset to play to conclusion on their club evenings, which are Mondays. I'm thinking that we might take a standard-sized campaign battle through on the Monday of the September weekend, if they are on that evening. Mick from 1st Corps came over to say hello too, which was nice - he knows my Romans are pretty much all from his range.

One thing that did please me was that the Han Chinese game from Carronade won best in show, or whatever they call it - 1st prize, anyway. Well deserved, I thought.

Magnesia was a draw, which was a good result for the Seleucids. Much better than last time, and certainly a lot better than they managed historically. Simon ran the left of the Seleucids, against Paul. Surprisingly, the scythed chariots did quite well for a change, mainly because half of Eumenes' skirmishers got too close and were dispersed as a result. The chariots inflicted a few hits on the Roman/Pergamene cavalry before being routed, and only one of the Seleucid Galatian cavalty units was disordered. This wing was more or less a draw. On the Seleucid right, Billy attacked with the cream of the cavalry and the Argyraspides, and had a bad time. I ran the Seleucid centre. I deliberately sent the elephants forward to die horribly while inflicting a few hits on Hastati. The good thing about this was that the rubbish morale phalanxes were not affected by routing elephants because they were too far away. The Romans advanced aggressively, but a gap opened up between their centre and their left, which was in combat against Billy. I was able to gain superiority at this junction against the left Roman legion. Overall, the phalanx did well, probably because this part of the Romans (Gordon and David) didn't wait for their left to destroy Billy's forces. So it was even honours on our left and centre, and not so good on our right. We called it a day when we had lost 11/13 breakpoint units, and two legions were in trouble.

I was expecting more of our club players to take part, especially as many had said they were happy for us to put on such a large game. Fewer of them went this year, and most wanted to see the rest of the show, so I ended up playing a major role rather than umpiring and talking to the interested folks (although we all did plenty of that anyway). It was all very time consuming, which is why we didn't finish quite as planned. I'd recommend that next year whoever is going should take advantage of the ability to set up the evening beforehand - that leaves more time for the game and show stuff in general on the Saturday itself.

On the Painting Tray: August 2011

2011-08-02T09:27:00.000+01:00

Still making the final touches to a batch of 30 Gallic cavalry. They'll be finished in time for Claymore this Saturday, which will be their first outing. I'll take photos at one point. After that, I have some Parthian horse archers to paint for Willie's army.

Welcome to Vladdd and Anibal Invictus

2011-07-30T20:16:00.000+01:00

Hello to you both. Vladdd has a blog here with quite a range of stuff: Wyrd, Malifaux and Flames of War to mention just a few. Anibal Invictus has a lot of Two Fat Lardies material. There's an especially lovely shot of a WWI tank in action.

Roman Army on Parade

2011-07-14T19:23:00.000+01:00

My contribution to Greg's celebration of the 14th of July is my 25mm Republican Roman consular army for the 2nd Punic War:

Four legions, two for the Latins in white and two in red at the front - those are the Romans. Complete with supporting cavalry and command figures.

Each legion comprises 24 Velites, 48 Hastati, 48 Principes, 24 Triarii and a command base of 4 figures: 124 figures per legion.

That comes to 496 legionaries. I know there should strictly be double the number of Velites, but I couldn't be bothered. Besides, I'd never use that many.

There are also 24 Roman Equites, 24 Latin Equites and 12 Latin Light Cavalry, for 60 cavalry figures.

Plus a base of 2 mounted generals for each wing, and another 2 for the overall commander (consul of the day).

That makes a grand total of 562 figures, in 25mm of course.

And I'm not finished yet - I want another dozen light horse. I'll order those in August.

Almost all of the figures are by 1st Corps, with some Newline Velites thrown in for good measure. The lighter cavalry are by Crusader. It took me two years to paint this lot, which is why I've just about had enough of Romans for a while...

Alvaro

2011-07-12T21:01:00.001+01:00

Welcome to Alvaro, who has a blog with lots of lovely ancients here. Apologies for not welcoming you earlier; Blogger removed my followers for a few days for no apparent reason!

El Senyor Verd

2011-07-07T09:50:00.000+01:00

Welcome to El Senyor Verd, blog here. It has really good ideas for basing, and some of the best painted Esci WWII Germans you'll ever see.

On the Painting Tray: July 2011

2011-07-02T19:43:00.000+01:00

In June I managed a dozen Cataphracts plus the Surena figure. This month I'd like to complete 30 Gallic/German cavalry I'm going to use as Galatians for Magnesia, but it will be a bit of a tall order. Time will be scarce this month due to heavy work commitments.

Surena

2011-07-02T14:51:00.000+01:00

This is the general figure for Willie's Navigator Miniatures Parthians:

I tried to vary the colours on the lion pelt to make it a bit interesting, with a darker mane and slightly lighter nose area. This will be used for Antiochus in our big refight of Magnesia at Claymore in August.

The Last of the Persians?

2011-06-25T09:30:00.001+01:00

The rump of the Persian loyalists have been reduced to one province in our campaign. This is due to a combination of rebellions and massive Macedonian attacks. Now, however, they reach out from their bolt-hole in Parthia to regain the Persian region itself. We used Bactrian Greeks for the attack, and Seleucids for the defenders. Deployment plan:

The field is relatively open, with a low hill favouring each army. The Seleucids are in red,chosen and deployed by Simon. From the top left as you look at it:

Right wing command (Billy): a large unit of 20 Companion elite heavy lancers; two units of 8 Light Cavalry with javelins; and two units of 2 elephants, each screened by 12 Peltasts. Out front are 10 skirmish archers.
Centre (Paul): a powerful phalanx composed of five 32-figure units, each deployed in four ranks. The cream of the foot is stationed towards their right (the Argyraspides) followed by two veteran units and two standard units. 10 skirmish archers provide a screen.
Left wing command (Simon): two units of 2 scythed chariots, with two units of 8 Skythian horse archers in support. 10 skirmish archers at the front.

I built the invading army, and Gordon deployed it. From the left:

Left wing command (Gordon): a powerful mounted force with some supporting light infantry. There are two units of 8 Arachosian horse archers; two units of 12 Peltasts; a unit of 18 Persian medium horse; 2 elephants; 12 Companions; and 10 skirmish javelinmen.
Centre: the phalanx. Not as strong as the Seleucids, we have six units of 24 standard pikemen (3 ranks), with 10 javelins out front. Gordon and I share this command.
Right wing (me): a mirror image of Gordon's mounted force.

Gordon devised his deployment with the intention of advancing one or both cavalry wings, depending on the opposition. The single unit of Companions is intended to swing into the centre behind the advance to threaten the flanks of the enemy foot. As it turns out, it looks as though he will have his work cut out for him against the large unit of enemy lancers. So it's up to me to carry out the plan...

Above is a shot of the mass of the two armies at deployment. Taken from my usual post on the right of the invading army. Note the powerful mass of the central Seleucid phalanx on the hill to the right of the photo.

Both sides advance in the centre. We occupy the hill that favours us (in the foreground of the photo above) and the strong Seleucid infantry advances towards us. And we thought we were the attackers! Actually, it makes sense, because they can obviously see their relative central strength, and weak wings. Their intent will be to crush our centre before we turn the flanks.

Simon throws his scythed chariots forward in an attempt to disrupt my mounted troops. I respond by moving my horse archers towards the open flank, thus uncovering my peltasts. They should be able to deal with the chariots, I think.

Unfortunately for Simon, my javelinmen prove to be especially adept at shooting chariots - four hits in one go on one of them. This reduces it to one-third strength before it has even charged.

Meanwhile, the mounted forces close on Gordon's flank.

More into the centre, Gordon manages to squeeze some phalangites past the end of the enemy foot. By threatening to turn their line here, he will force the enemy to commit troops at this point instead of sending them to reinforce the struggle on the wing.

The Seleucid phalanx continues its remorseless advance. We hold our rightmost phalanx unit back a little so as to draw the end of their line further forward - this is to help with the intended attack on their flank in a few turns' time. On the right of the shot above you can just see the chariots charging into my peltasts.

The forces on my wing at the same time. I managed to get the horse archers out of the way of the chariots, but this has cost my main force some time. The Companions in particular are still way out on the extreme flank of the entire army.

However, my peltasts are able to deal quite handily with the scythed chariots. They easily dispose of the unit that was badly damaged by the prior shooting.

In the meantime, there is a great deal of confused fighting at the link between our phalanx and Gordon's wing. In the photo above, you will see the endmost unit of the phalanx, which Gordon has pushed forward as aggressively as he can. It's on its own, for the moment at least, but it is cramping the style of several enemy units.

In towards the centre, the phalanxes are about to clash on the hill. Will the height advantage cancel out the enemy's weight?

My troops press forward; the Companions begin their move into the centre as the enemy phalanx continues to advance.

The struggle is on for the hill.

With the chariots gone, the flank of the Seleucid phalanx is now hanging in the air, right in front of my Companions. Only half a dozen skirmishers stand in my way.

In the meantime, I've pressed up against the enemy horse archers with the rest of my forces. This part of the field is really a sideshow, though.

In go the Companions. The brave enemy skirmishers have inflicted some hits on me, but they are not enough.

The first phalanx is destroyed, and I line up to go for the second. Our troops on the hill are wavering, though.

They just hold out long enough for the Companions to complete their charge, taking out another phalanx in the process. The combination of this attack plus the stripping of both enemy wings means that they reach their breakpoint before they can finish off our phalanxes on the hill.

Gordon's plan worked well, so there's life in the old empire yet. Next up: The Ptolemies of Egypt attempt to extend their gains by striking northwards from Syria. We rolled randomly to see where they attack, and it turns out to be Armenia. If successful, this will split the Macedonians in two, isolating their troops in Mesopotamia from the rest of their empire. It would also mean that the Egyptian successors would achieve more than they ever did in history. It will be well into August before this gets played, though - holiday time beckons.

25mm Parthian Cataphracts

2011-06-19T11:49:00.002+01:00

Just finished these for Willie at the club. They are Navigator Miniatures, which you can get from Magister Militum. They are very neat figures and well detailed, although with the occasional annoying bit of flashing. Nothing that can't be solved with the craft knife, though.

I've tried to make the command figures stand out by using slightly brighter metallics.

I also put extra work into the borders for the command figures.

Not too much detail, though, because there isn't really all that much space.

Having said that, the cloaks help.

Front shot of the command. I painted the standard to represent the sun, moon and stars against the backdrop of night.

It's my attempt at something Zoroastrian - the triumph of life and light over the darkness. Or something like that...

I varied the cloaks a little.

I also mixed up the metallic colours to make them a bit more interesting. There's a lot of armour on these figures!

This is how they will look in battle. I used pliers to shift the arms on the guys with vertical spears. They came as one-handed on the horizontal, so with the very long spears Willie wanted there would be issues with snapping off once they start to be handled. The guys thrusting two-handed are safer, so I left those alone. Willie wanted them to be left slightly shiny because he likes the look.

Life in July is going to be very busy, so I probably won't be able to hand this unit over before Claymore in August. I think I'll give it pride of place at the forefront of the right wing Cataphracts in the Seleucid army - may it perform well! I'm kind of assuming that Willie will want to reprise his role as Antiochus after the drubbing the Romans dished out when we played the battle just before the New Year. There's also a general figure wearing a lion pelt, so once he's done he can join in as the great man himself.

Empire Campaign Turn 11: 250-240 BC

2011-06-15T19:59:00.000+01:00

This is the first turn after the midpoint victory calculation. We have increased the major powers from four to six, adding Ptolemaic Egypt and India. They can attack other provinces, but they don't accrue Victory Points. We did this to add to the game's utility as a battle generator for Tuesday nights at the club. Events in this turn led to a whole load of battles, in which only the Ptolemies of Egypt succeeded. They now control Syria too. The campaign map now looks like this:

The panorama image came out a bit squinty, but it serves well enough. The random event for the start of Turn 12 sees Bactria rebelling against the Persians again. First to go in this turn will be Persia, and they attack out from Parthia into Persia proper. We'll use Bactrian Greek for them and Seleucids for the defence.

1st Punic War battle in Sicily

2011-06-15T19:58:00.001+01:00

The Romans attack the Carthaginians in Sicily:

The Carthaginians (in blue at the top of the map) set up to receive the legions. The Carthaginian right is open, and their left is located in an area of rolling terrain (low hills). Simon constructed their army, which Gordon deployed. Here are their commands, from left to right as you look at it:

Cavalry right wing. Three units of 8 Numidians, one unit of 12 Gallic Medium Horse and one unit of 12 Punic Heavy Cavalry. 8 Slingers out front. Paul in command.
Infantry centre. Two Gallic Warbands of 24 figures deployed shallow, followed up by two units of 24 Spanish, also shallow. Next in is a unit of 24 Punic heavy infantry in 3 ranks. Ready to move onto the hill are two units of 24 Libyan medium infantry, again in three ranks. Held back at the end of the line is the Sacred Band: 16 elite heavy infantry. Large numbers of skirmish javelinmen are spread across the front (six units, each of 8 figures). Gordon in command.
Cavalry left wing. Same composition as the right wing, although deployed slightly differently. These guys also have an extra unit of 8 javelin skirmishers. Simon in command.

I used William's standard composition and deployment for the Romans. Again, from the left:

Left wing command (Marco). A unit of 8 Italian light horse; 18 Latin Equites; and 24 Italian foot. 12 Cretan archers out front. The gaps between the units are deliberate - units test if they see heavy-ish friendlies routing within 4".
Centre (Billy). The usual four legions, two Latin and two Roman. Each comprises 10 Velites; 16 Heavy Hastati; 16 Heavy Principes with pila; and 8 Elite Triarii.
Me on the right: pretty much the same as Marco.

So both sides are going for the usual: can the polyglot Carthaginian infantry hold the Roman centre long enough for the polyglot cavalry to envelop one or both flanks. It's too early for the Romans to have any fancy tricks or deployments a la Scipio.

The shot above is taken from my position on the Roman right. It shows the relative positions of the rest of the field as the armies advance.

This is what comes thundering over the hill towards me.

On our far left flank, Marco's troops also feel somewhat outnumbered.

Marco angles his Italian infantry to try to hold off the enemy from the flanks of the legions for as long as possible. Billy sends Latin Triarii wide to help out.

On our right, I am able to act more aggressively with my Italian infantry, due to there being a gap between elements of the enemy army. Basically, as their cavalry rush forward, a space opens up between them and the Sacred Band, who are trailing behind. I throw caution aside and shove the Italians forward as fast as I can, while angling my other troops to try to hold this flank for as long as I can.

On our left, Marco has his work cut out. His Italians are facing the Gauls and there are plenty of reinforcements to wade in if the Gauls don't do the job.

Meanwhile, the other unit of Gauls finds the Latin legionaries in poor form. The marble behind the unit in the centre of the photograph denotes a full-blown enemy impetus attack as the Gauls charge into the Latin Hastati to impressive effect. If this continues, I think, the Carthaginians are going to win the battle here.

Fortunately for Rome, the initial contact on my wing goes well. My Italian infantry manage to get in the way of at least some of the enemy cavalry, giving me hope that this flank might not be turned. By advancing the foot so aggressively, I've managed to even up the odds here.

Our centre left is now under extreme pressure. The Latin Hastati have been wiped out, and it looks as though the Italians are going to follow suit.

As indeed happens. Somehow, though, Marco's Latin Equites have managed to hold up almost the entire enemy cavalry force, so they won't be able to exploit for a while.

My Italians have destroyed some of the enemy cavalry. Leaving the Equites to their fate, I start to move them in towards the enemy infantry centre. Just in time too, because the contact here has not gone in our favour - the rightmost Latin Hastati are already gone. But at least the Sacred Band is in a vulnerable position at the end of the enemy line - they're the guys with white shields in the photo above.

Marco's troops have finally given their all, and the Punic heavies start to move into the centre to flank the legions.

But it's not all over yet. The central legions are beginning to overwhelm the enemy centre. Romans are good at this.

At our centre right, the Carthaginians throw their troops forward before my Italians can join in. You can just see them at the extreme right of the shot above.

The central Romans crush the enemy to their front. Three enemy units, including the Sacred Band, are destroyed in one turn.

But it is not quite enough; the leftmost Latin legion is destroyed and the left Roman legion is hit in the flank. As soon as the Gauls had their initial success, we knew this was where they would win the battle. In the end, though, it was a lot closer than I for one had thought it would be - Carthage won by one figure!

Unarmoured Roman Cavalry

2011-06-06T21:24:00.000+01:00

These guys are Crusader Miniatures unarmoured Roman cavalry (28mm):

I wanted some of these to use as light cavalry for my Republican Roman army.

The horses are larger than the 1st Corps figures I used for the rest of the army, so I've based them on 5cm deep MDF rather than the usual 4cm.

This also gave me the space to pack a lot of stuff onto the bases.

As with the heavier cavalry, the shield designs are by Little Big Men, for Aventine Velites. I gave them the same design to make them fit in well with the heavies.

I found these quite relaxing to paint, especially after all those legionaries.

Here they are charging across the plains.

And here they are, running away. Probably after meeting some of Hannibal's Numidians.

I'm going to do another unit of twelve at one point, with red shields.

I made these guys slightly less regular than the heavies, helped by the different helmet crests. I varied the helmet colours as well.

Crusader makes some useful figure types that are otherwise difficult to come by. As well as these, they have Leves without shields for the earlier Camillan army's skirmishers. If I were ever to paint an army from that period, I'd use these cavalry, ranked more closely. But for the moment, I've had rather enough of Romans...

Pictures from Wappinshaw

2011-06-06T11:35:00.002+01:00

I couldn't make it myself, but here's a selection: http://wappinshaw.blogspot.com/2011/06/pictures-from-wappinshaw.html

Bactrian Greeks against Indians

2011-06-05T16:25:00.003+01:00

The Indians attack into Bactria. They encounter a defending army in an area that mostly consists of plains, with a large low ridge in the centre, somewhat favouring the defenders:

Simon constructed and set up the Indian invaders (in blue at the top). He went for a symmetrical formation: three large blocks of 48 foot archers interspersed with two columns of 4 elephants and two columns of 4 chariots. A column of 18 cavalry was at either end and a dozen skirmish javelinmen in front of the army's right. Paul commanded the right, Billy the centre and Simon their left.

I built the defending army, but left the actual unit compositions and deployments to Gordon, because he said he had a plan. He commanded the main strike force on the left and left centre of the line: two units of 18 medium cavalry in line, two units of 12 peltasts, 2 units of 12 elite Companion heavy lancers, and two units of 2 elephants. David controlled the central phalanx of four units of 36 figures in three ranks. I had the light troops on the right wing: four units of 8 Arachosian horse archers supported by two units of 12 peltasts. Various small units of skirmish javelins were out front. Photos of the action:

I just had to take a close-up of some of Simon's rather lovely Indians.

And another, this time of the infantry.

Gordon advances on our left big style.

An angled shot of the centre of the field at the same time, taken from my position to the right of our army.

Since my troops aren't facing very much, I place all of thre horse archers together and advance to the right of the phalanx.

Above: a large melee between the mounted troops on Gordon's far flank. However, the Indian infantry continue to advance just to the right of this shot, opening up a gap between them and the mounted wing.

Gordon sacrifices one unit of Companions to hold the enemy infantry in place while the other breaks through the gap (at the top left).

The centres close. Indian archery is beginning to hurt the phalanx, but will it be enough?

The same time, more to the right. Simon has angled his endmost infantry unit and chariots to ward off my hordes for as long as possible.

My horse archers press forward into the open space on this wing.

The central clash. By this point, fighting is pretty much general along the entire line, except on my flank.

The fighting at my end of the phalanx. I have thrown in some of the Arachosians to help out against Simon's chariots.

However, at the far left of our centre the Indian foot destroys the Companions.

Even so, Simon sees that the Indian cause is crumbling fast because the centre is making no real headway. He advances his cavalry on my flank to try to ease the pressure. I promptly surround them with horse archers.

Some more success for the Indians at our left of centre. One of our elephant units breaks, and disorders the other.

Unfortunately for the Indians, however, their victorious elephants break through in an uncontrolled advance. If they had obeyed orders, they would be able to wheel more into our centre.

Remember that spare unit of Companions? Here they are crashing into the rear of the enemy infantry, doing what Companions do best.

The Indians are crumbling at my end too - here the demise of the end chariot unit allows two phalanxes to gang up on one Indian infantry unit.

And at the same time my horse archers and light infantry swarm into the centre.

Game over - a crushing defeat for the Indians. It was good to be able to take photos of Simon's Indian army, which I haven't seen on the table for a long time. Next up is the final battle of this campaign turn: the Romans attack Carthage in Sicily again.

Welcome to Intraman

2011-06-05T09:23:00.000+01:00

Saying hello to Intraman, who has a blog on things Korean here. I especially like the Legend of the Toilet Ghost!

On the Painting Tray: June 2011

2011-06-01T21:20:00.001+01:00

During May I managed to finish Beth's Stuka and a dozen Crusader Miniatures unarmoured Roman Cavalry for my Punic Wars army; photos will follow once I've found time to take them. This month, I'm hoping to paint a dozen Navigator Miniatures Parthian Cataphracts I promised to Willie. I also have on order half of the horses I need for a load of 1st Corps Gallic/German riders I bought dirt cheap second hand at Carronade. They'll help with the Galatian contingent for the big Magnesia game at Claymore this August.

Chalons

2011-05-29T19:50:00.001+01:00

Just added a scenario for this to the Ancients Scenarios Page. Thanks are due to Simon MacDowall for permission to base it on his scenario for Comitatus here.

Bactrian Greeks against Eumenes

2011-05-29T12:46:00.005+01:00

The current pretenders to the lands of Persia attack the rebel power that actually holds it. We used Bactrian Greek for the attackers, and the army of Eumenes for the defence. Deployment map:

The defenders (in red at the foot of the map) have taken up position in a sort of long, shallow valley. There is a steep hill on either flank, and a central gentle rise. The attackers have one gentle rise in their centre as well. Simon chose the attacking army, which was deployed by Mark. I chose and deployed the defence.

The attackers have gone for what looks like a classic left hook. Their right wing (another Paul) comprises two units of 12 Light Cavalry with javelins, a unit of 12 Peltasts with javelins, a large unit of 3 elephant models (facing backwards) and 8 slingers out front. Their centre right (Billy) rests on the hill, and reads from left to right on the plans as you look at it: 32 Argyrapisdes-style elite phalangites; 32 phalangites; 48 Indian infantry; 32 phalangites and 48 Indian infantry. All are deployed in four ranks. 8 Skirmish javelinmen and 8 skirmish archesr are out to the frotn edge of their end Indians. Their left wing (Mark) comprises 12 Peltasts in front of 2 elephants; 16 Companion elite lancers; and at the extremity another unit of 2 elephants. In front of these is another 8 skirnish archers.

I went for a symmetrical deployment, which is pretty typical for me on the defensive. Our extreme left wing (Gordon) has 12 Light Cavalry in column beyond the far steep hill, which is occupied by 12 Peltasts. Inside those are 12 Companion elite lancers and a large unit of 3 elephants, hanging back. In front is a unit of 12 skirmish archers and another of 12 skirmish javelinmen. The centre (David) is basically a large phalanx formation. From left to right: 24 Argyraspides in three ranks; 48 Asiatic medium phalangites in four ranks; 32 Greek heavy phalangites in four ranks; 48 Asiatic medium phalangites in four ranks; and 24 elite heavy phalangites in three ranks. 12 skirmish slingers are at the front centre. I have a mirror image of Gordon's command. My army deployment was based on a wait and see attitude: see what the attackers' deployment looks like, and react accordingly. So it looks as though I will try to hold on the right while Gordon attacks on our left. The phalanx can pin the enemy centre.

Gordon advances on our left as the enemy light horse fans out into skirmish formation. Rather than face him head on, a confrontation they will lose, they are going to try to do as much damage as they can with their javelins.

The imposing mass of enemy infantry in the centre.

The enemy advances towards my wing, as expected. I am going to have to rely on the steep hill to break them up a bit.

Gordon's troops are getting quite far forward. You can see that the enemy elephants at the end of their line have retreated as much as they can. They have now turned around and re-ordered themselves. This will presumably be their holding position as they anchor the enemy's oblique advance.

However, the enemy infantry remains in place, so David angles out our phalanx units into his own oblique advance, leading with the Argyraspides on the left of the line.

The situation on the right as my command awaits the opposition. The terrain is forcing them to commit piecemeal, which I am hoping will cancel out their advantage in weight here.

Gordon's troops are closing on on the far end of the enemy line.

The enemy infantry starts its own oblique move. the photo above shows the relative positions of the infantry centres at this point.

Lack of space at my end forces the enemy elephants to press ahead of their Companions.

The moment of truth arrives for my troops. The enemy elephants have chased my light horse right past the hill; at the same time, their peltasts contest the hill itself.

I win, mainly because Mark's melee dice were terrible.

An angled view of the remainder of the field at the same time.

Contact. My elephants take advantage of the enemy's traffic jam to help out against the Indians. It will be only a temporary advantage, but every little helps.

A rare sight: elephants versus elephant combat. Gordon's wing is making its main attack now.

The action at my end as the enemy's elephants come charging in. By now, their unit that got around my hill has succumbed to a hail of missile fire.

Gordon's moment of glory arrives. The enemy phalnax has had to advance due to their elephants losing, in case the rout spreads contagion. Gordon's Companions have been waiting for just this eventuality, and swing in to threaten the flank of the enemy's engaged Argyraspides. Pinned to their front, all they can do is await the blow.

To add insult to injury, Gordon's light cavalry join in as well. The Argyraspides fight to the last.

But it is a lost cause, as huge gaps appear in the rest of their infantry line.

In the event, ours was a crushing victory. Quote of the night came when Billy desperately needed a good result to shore up the line. Trying to calculate the odds, I put him off: "Just don't roll dice, Billy". I was right - he missed. Next up: Chandraguptra attacks the Bactrian Greeks, stabbing them in the back after their defeat here. A good strategist takes advantage! Should be good - Simon will at last be able to bring in his Indian army.

Wappinshaw June 4th

2011-05-29T11:12:00.000+01:00

Wappinshaw is at the end of this week. I was really looking forward to it, especially in the new venue right in Glasgow city centre. And then work struck, so I won't be able to be there. All the best to everyone else, and if you go I hope you enjoy it.

Welcome

2011-05-26T19:48:00.001+01:00

Welcoming Kingsleypark and Vinnie. Kingsleypark's blog has a whole range of gaming-related information. Vinnie has some lovely figures on display. I'm especially taken with his Tin Soldier Skythians, a make I had considered but never really seen before.

Cheers, both!

The Successors Wars Begin in Earnest

2011-05-22T11:33:00.001+01:00

The Ptolemies have taken Syria from the long-independent Satrap, or at least his descendants, in our Empire campaign. This is something the Macedonians themselves never managed. It was a classic Successors battle, using Early Seleucid for the defenders and Ptolemaic Egyptian for the invaders. I don't have a deployment plan, but it was a case of large phalanxes in the centre plus loads of other stuff on the wings, for both armies. William organised and deployed the attackers, while I set up the Seleucids. Tha battlefield was somewhat constricted by a river running down our right flank, and some steep hills on our left. The latter played no real part in the game as we attacked anyway. Gordon ran our left, facing William; Michael took our centre across from Billy; and I had the Seleucid right, facing Simon.

A view of the advancing armies, looking leftwards from my position at the right rear of the Seleucids.

The right of the phalanx links with my wing via a large unit of elephants. Ptolemy didn't bring any of these with him.

My force comprises (from the left): a unit of 12 Companions; 12 camel riders in column; and two units of 8 Skythian horse archers. The usual skirmishers are out front.

A view to the left again, as the armies get closer.

The phalanxes close.

The enemy hangs back a bit on my wing, mirroring the situation on Gordon's flank on our far left.

A quick look at the far left.

Push of pike in the centre. Both sides have slight advantages at various points in the line. This is going to be close either way.

I hold the elephants back a while. They are facing two units of phalangites, at least one of which is elite. Besides, I want to try to turn the enemy flank.

The fight on Gordon's wing.

My camels have a good time attacking the enemy's Companions, which means my unit of lancers can remain in reserve. In the meantime, my Skythians attack the enemy peltasts.

Gordon has pressed the enemy well back on our left flank and Michael is making inroads on their phalanx. The two units you can see at the centre top of the photo above are destroyed Ptolemaic phalanxes.

More of Michael's phalanxes press forward.

And then disaster strikes the Seleucids: with the enemy on the verge of defeat, a morale cascade from one defeated phalanx disntegrates the Seleucid line. Ptolemy's army triumphs (barely) and Syria is now his.

And we'll see how long it stays that way! Next up: the Persian loyalists again attempt to take Persia itself back from the rebels. We'll use Bactrian Greek for the attackers, and Eumenes for the defence.

Beth's Stuka

2011-05-21T16:36:00.000+01:00

Just to remind myself that I made one:

This is a 1/48 Airfix model, done in Italian markings. I didn't quite get everything right, and it took me ages, but at least it's finished.

Carronade 2011: Qadesh or Khadesh

2011-05-15T19:27:00.004+01:00

However you spell it, Qadesh was the game Simon put on at Carronade as a sort of Society of Ancients Battle Day game for Scotland. The game was played twice, and I ran the Hittites in the second game. Rather than try to model the whole running fight as well as the set pieces, Simon very sensibly depicted the swirling fight around the partially established Egyptian camp.

Above: angled view of some rather nice Hittite chariots

Some of their Egyptian opponents

A posed shot of how they look in combat

Mark wanted a comparison shot to show the different axles. The Hittie chariot on the left has its axle centred under the car, while the Egyptian on the right has the axle at the rear of the car. I think there is something of an ongoing debate about this: the rearmost position suits the lighter chariots, while the heavier ones need the extra support in the centre. This is because all of the weight would otherwise be on the horses.

The Hittites are about to attack the camp from two directions. The shot above is taken from behind my side of the table. I have all the lighter chariots, while the King himself leads the heavies in from the other side. We both have some light infantry in support. The Egyptians (including Ramesses) are massed in and around the camp, with some chariot forces on both flanks, back to back. The rightmost Egyptian chariot unit as you look at the photo is commanded by the Egyptian Prince.

A shot of the Egyptian defenders facing my front left.

The defenders to my front right.

And the centre. One unit of chariots and some light infantry are lurking outside the temporary defences, with some archers in reserve.

My plan is not subtle...

...as you can see.

I do hang back a bit on my right. I don't want to commit here until I see what the Egyptian Prince does.

I simply attack with the massed chariots in column.

On the other side, The Hittie King (Stuart) has reached the camp's ramparts with his heavier chariots.

My chariots have crushed the light infantry in front of them, but are stopped by the ramparts. This provides the enemy light archers with a rather lovely large target.

I promptly retire these units, just as their compatriots to the left of this photo above break through in their turn. The reason for retiring on my right here is to do with the way morale works in the rules. I need to keep the momentum going but if I lose a unit or two to shooting, there could be a cascade morale effect on my leftmost units. This would stall the advance into the camp itself. So I retire my two right units, both of which are feeling the attrition. The Hittite King, meanwhile, fails to see the tactical sense behind my decision and shouts across the field that if I don't keep fighting, he'll slaughter all of my relatives. He is obviously deeply unfit to rule, since my sensible precaution will obviously win the battle for us without the loss of expensive chariot units. Ramesses isn't the only one who can rewite history!

Meanwhile, at the far left, Pharaoh has helped his chariots to destroy some of ours.

However, at the same time to my right, my light chariots meet Stuart's heavies in a victory dance over the crushed remains of the Egyptian prince.

And in the camp itself, some Egyptian archers meet the same fate, caught between my light chariots and the Hittite King.

Just to finish off: a small vignette of Egyptians leading some captives.

It wasn't a subtle plan, but it worked: a Hittite victory, to make up for the defeat earlier in the day. Thanks are due to Simon for supplying the whole lot, except for my old mat.

Carronade: finishing the Great Wall

2011-05-08T19:51:00.001+01:00

I just had to take photos of a large 15mm Han Chinese table that was beside ours at Carronade yesterday. The battle represents an attack on a section of the Great Wall that is due for completion. All of the scenery is meticulously researched and scratch built.

The Governor's Palace, in all its glory. At the top right of the photo above, you can see the incompete wall section and massed enemies trying to come through.

Lake plus small island residence. The details are incredible: small sampan-style boat, and birds fishing.

Towering pagoda, sratch built from a foamy cream dispenser can.

Siege towers attacking the completed wall section. Notice the difference from European-style fortifications: no crenellations.

Catapults chuck things over the walls in the general direction of the Governor's residence.

Battering down the gateway.

The attackers' camp, with heavy cavalry in reserve.

Another command position for the assault.

The Governor's chariots await developments.

Imperial reinforcements arrive, resplendent in yellow.

Defending multiple bolt shooters.

Same again, only these ones are mounted on carts.

This was a family effort; they call themselves the Independent Wargames Group. I don't have any contact details, but I did ask permission to put these on the blog. I'm hoping they have a look and leave some comments.

Falkirk tomorrow

2011-05-06T10:35:00.000+01:00

We're off to Carronade and this time Simon is supplying the figures. So I don't need to take anything other than the mat. Oh, dice and tape measures as well, because for some reason no one ever brings those to a show. If you happen to be there, do come and say hello: we're putting on Qadesh/Khadesh/however it's spelled with Simon's lovely 25mm chariots and friends.

Carthage attacks Iberia

2011-05-02T20:47:00.001+01:00

The Carthaginians try again. I don't have any Spanish, so out come the old Romans and Greeks to fill in. This time the Iberians are ensconced in an area of open ground, bounded by steep hills and rough ground:

William picked and deployed the Carthaginians, in blue at the top of the map. They have two equally powerful cavalry forces on the flanks, each comprising a unit of 12 Punic heavy cavalry, a unit of 18 Gallic heavy cavalry, and 8 light cavalry in support. Their centre is a mixture of Punic elite heavy spearmen, Scutarii, and Libyan medium spearmen, all in 24-figure units deployed in three ranks. There is also a deep Gallic Warband of 36 figures. Loads of skirmishers are in front of the army. Billy and William divide the whole lot between them; Billy takes the right half of their force, William their left.

I chose and set up the defending Iberians. The left wing comprises two units of 18 Caetrati in the steep hills to our extreme left; two units of 8 light cavalry, and a block of 18 medium horse in column. Gordon runs this lot. On the right, I take command of one unit of 18 Caetrati deployed wide in the rough; two units of 8 light horse; and a second medium cavalry column of 18 figures. The centre is composed of three units of 36 Scutarii interspersed with two units of 36 Celtiberians, all in three ranks. We split these between us. The usual skirmishers are to the front. I went more or less for a symmetrical set up, with the main body held as far back as possible so as to give the skirmishers time to hurt the enemy as they advance towards us. I'm also hoping that one or other of our wings will be able to take advantage of the terrain. Caetrati are nasty.

Above: the Carthaginian forces advance in the centre. Billy's cavalry hangs back - they don't want to get too close to the steep hills, which are off to the left of the photo.

The Carthaginian left wing advances. Note that there is plenty of space for skirmish fighting.

Gordon's advance on our left. We have a little bit of superiority here because of the two units of Ceatrati, and Gordon decides to use it to advantage.

Meanwhile, on our right I do the opposite of Gordon, and retire the cavalry.

The photo above is taken directly from behind our centre. In the distance, you can see Gordon's Caetrati occupying the foremost steep hill and facing down the enemy heavy cavalry. There's still plenty of space for our slingers.

The view from behind our centre. Not many skirmishers are left, but it will still take the Carthaginians a while to get to grips with our main line.

On our right, my cavalry have regained their order as the enemy continues to advance.

On our left, Gordon's light cavalry retires as the large unit of enemy Gallic heavy cavalry skirts the steep hill and moves more into the centre. This occludes the loan massed infantry unit behind them. The terrain is beginning to cramp their style. Gordon's slingers like the looks of a nice big heavy cavalry target...

The Carthaginian centre closes the distance. In the event, the skirmishers more or less cancelled out here.

All is quiet for the moment on my flank, as the enemy heavy cavalry hangs back a bit because of the terrain here.

An angled shot of the main part of the field, or at least as much of it as I could manage.

The enemy closes in on my force. They have much more weight here; I'm hoping that the terrain will slow them down.

A closer shot of Gordon's command. The Caetrati are having fun on their hill. The slingers are having even more fun as they merrily shoot the Gallic cavalry to half strength. The light horse have prudently retired into the valley between the two steep hills. On the Carthaginian side, the damage to the Gauls causes the endmost infantry to move out in support.

On my wing, I throw my Caetrati forward to slow down the enemy advance even more, thus buying time for the troops in the centre and centre right.

Gordon senses weakness and charges in his cavalry and infantry at the same time; this is the only part of our army that is going forward, but if it works out we may well be able to turn the enemy line at this point.

The struggle on Gordon's wing carries them and some of our infantry well beyond the rest of the battle. The main Carthaginian infantry has advanced beyond this point - they are off the bottom edge of the photo.

The situation in the centre - a desperate struggle all across the line. Can Gordon break through on our left, or will my right collapse first?

A close-up of my right just before it gives way entirely. However, the timing works in our favour as a cascade morale failure wipes out the forces facing Gordon and he rolls up the enemy line, just before my lot runs for it.

The Iberians see off the Carthaginian interlopers yet again! Next up: Ptolemy attacks Syria, so we will use Ptolemaic Egyptian versus Seleucid.

Gregory Privat

2011-05-01T19:55:00.000+01:00

Just saying hello to Greg, whose Gloranthan army blog is here. He also runs the very useful blog list of gaming blogs Figoblogotheque. If you want your blog to be noticed, this is the place to go.

This also reminds me that I have some old Runequest figures in with my general fantasy stuff. Should dig them out. I think they are from a boxed set called "Attack of the Broo". I have no idea why I remember this. I was never a big fan of the world of Glorantha, although that may have been more to do with the people I came across who ran it as GMs. Odd, really, because I was and remain a big fan of the Chaosium role-playing systems.

On the painting tray for May 2011

2011-05-01T15:15:00.000+01:00

In April I finished off the last of the Velites for my Republican Romans. For May, I have ordered the first of my unarmoured cavalry, a dozen figures from Crusader Miniatures. I'm doing this more or less for the sake of completeness, but I'm certain they will come in handy. I don't really have enough lighter cavalry with javelins; for the campaign, my trusty old Essex Tarentines have been standing in for all sorts and it would be good to have some other options. I'll do the shields the same as their heavier compatriots, with LBMS transfers designed for Aventine Velites. Work also continues slowly with Beth's Stuka, but there's no rush.

Dangerous Brian!

2011-04-26T09:28:00.003+01:00

Welcome to Brian, whose blog is here. He has loads of really good RPG ideas, and Warhammer Ancients Battles amongst other goodies. Do go and say hello.

Macedonians fail in Syria

2011-04-23T13:36:00.006+01:00

On Tuesday the second half of the Empire campaign got off to a resounding start with the Macedonians attacking into Syria, again, and failing, again. Deployment map:

Terrain was a large low ridge favouring the defenders and an offset smaller hill on the attackers' right. The invaders are in blue. From the top left as you look at it, their right wing (Simon) has 8 Skythian horse archers; 12 Greek light horse; two units each with two elephants; and a large unit of 18 Peltasts. Their centre (Billy) has a large unit of 48 elite phalangites; a smaller unit of 32 veteran phalangites; and three units of 32 standard medium phalangites. Their left (William) is led by a large unit of 18 elite Companion lancers, supported by 14 Greek medium cavalry, 12 light cavalry, and 8 Skythians. Loads of missile skirmishers are in front of most of the army. Leading with the left, then...

I built the Seleucid defenders, and deployed them symmetrically. I will run the left wing: 12 javelin-armed light cavalry; 8 Skythians; 12 Comapnions, two units of 12 Peltasts; 2 Elephants; and a unit of 24 Argyraspides. On our far right wing William has exactly the same forces. Marco commands the centre, comprising three large 36 figure heavy phalanxes. The usual mix of skirmishers is out front. I had decided to deploy all of the pikemen three-deep because we have a substantial height advantage. This explains why we overlap the enemy infantry line by so much. Can the enemy left break through, or will our left turn their centre? And what will happen when it comes to push of pike in the centre?

Above you can see the massed Antigonid pikes, and in the distance their ominous left cavalry wing. Just at the top right Willliam has moved some cavalry forward to see if he can manage to disrupt the storm coming his way. Shot taken from my position on our left.

A photograph showing most of our centre and right, at an angle. I originally deployed our phalanxes behind the hill, partly so that the enemy couldn't see their exact composition, but mostly to protect them from missile fire. They can always move onto the ridge later.

My advance on our left forces Simon's troops to retire in front of me. He doesn't have the weight to withstand me here.

Another side-on shot of the main part of the field. I have moved the Argyraspides off the hill at an angle towards the enemy centre; Marco is beginning to do the same with the main infantry body. In the distance, you can see the enemy left wing pressing forward.

My cavalry continues to push Simon back. I have now angled in towards the centre here as well.

Another angled shot. In the immediate foreground my Argyraspides are outscored by peltasts.

My light cavalry presses forward aggressively.

My peltasts join in to save the worst Argyraspides in history from being wiped out by enemy light infantry. The elephants on both sides bellow noisily at one another. Maybe it's mating season.

Saved by the peltasts, the Argyraspides attack the enemy elephants and start to lose here as well. In the foreground the elephants clash. I need to inflict damage here so that I can turn the flank of the enemy phalanx, before they do the same to William on our far wing.

Billy sends in his phalanxes one at a time against our hill position, rather than risk an all-out assault. One of his medium phalanxes goes in first, only to find our good unit of Argyraspides in fighting mood. At the bottom left corner of the shot you can just see a desperate struggle between the Antigonid guards and Marco's first phalanx unit. Gordon keeps trying to get around our far flank.

A close-up of my rubbish Argyraspides fighting elephants. Fortunately for me, the elephants rolled badly as well.

And then suddenly, it was all over. Gordon couldn't get past William on our far right flank. I couldn't get past Simon either, but at least I did quite a lot of damage. Marco swung the balance for us in the centre against Billy's phalanxes, and the Seleucids cruised to victory. It looked as though it would be a race for either left to swing around, but in fact neither really managed it. The phalanx won the day for us. Next up: Carthage tries to take Iberia again.

Empire Campaign Turn 10 finished: the half-way point

2011-04-23T12:11:00.000+01:00

Above is the campaign map at the half-way mark. We reduced the starting Victory Points for Carthage and Persia from 12 to 10, to reflect the relative difficulty of successful attacks in the tabletop battles. We also decided to activate India and Ptolemaic Egypt as major powers, just to increase the utility of the map as a battle generator. The other change is that if a rebellion is rolled in an uncontrolled province, the appropriate army attacks a neighbouring province controlled by a major power (tribal migration or whatever).

At the start of the next turn, we rolled a possible uprising in Gallia, but since no one borders it, nothing happened. The first game will be the Macedonians attempting to take Syria again. This one will be a Successors battle: Antigonids attacking Seleucids.

Rome Reconquers Magna Graecia

2011-04-23T11:32:00.000+01:00

We played this game a couple of weeks ago. Work life became rather hectic, but now that it's the long weekend I should be able to catch up properly with the games stuff. Deployment map:

The mercenaries of Carthage, stiffened by some Punic heavy cavalry and heavy infantry, have chosen a reasonably defensible position. Their left rests on a fordable stream, with a nice ridgeline for their massed infantry. The only piece of terrain that might afford the Romans some relief is a small low hill.

The Carthaginian army and deployment, from their right (top left of the map as you look at it), were chosen by William. Basically, it's all the cavalry on the open right, all the infantry massed in the centre and left, with extra reinforcements for the hill position. Lots of skirmishers are out front, with a lone unit of slingers on the other side of the stream. Simon will run the cavalry, Marco the centre, and William their left.

I chose and set up the Roman army. Or, rather, I decide to try out a variation on the legions suggested by William. Each of the four legions is composed of a block of 16 Hastati, a block of 16 Principes, and 8 Triarii, with Velites to the front. All of the Hastati and Principes count as heavy infantrymen with pila, while the Triarii are elite heavy spearmen. There are also the usual Equites and Italian light horse and medium infantry, as well as some accompanying Rhodian slingers and Cretan archers. Two possibilities present themselves. The first would be to mass the infantry in our centre right, with the flank resting on the stream, and all of the cavalry towards the open left. The other is to go for a more traditionally symmetrical Roman deployment. I choose the latter, keeping a lone unit of Italian light cavalry on the other side of the stream just in case the opposition has troops there too. You will see from the map that there are gaps between the Roman legions; I figure that their heavy fighting power will more than compensate. As well as that, the relatively small individual units will be able to manoeuvre quite well. Gordon takes the leftmost legion and the troops on the left of the army; Billy commands the central legions; and I run the rest of the army on the right. I'm hoping that the deployment will give the Romans some flexibility.

Above: the Romans advance. This shot is taken from my corner at the rightmost end of the Roman line. Gordon moves up aggressively with his cavalry. He also spots that he has an infantry overlap towards his left, and is able to use his superiority here to wheel the Italian infantry and his legion's Hastati to our left. This should neutralise the Carthaginian horse.

Billy advances in the centre with the two Roman legions. I hang back on our right, trying to stay out of combat with the masses of enemy infantry on their left wing. In the meantime, they occupy the ridge to their immediate front. I won't be attacking that lot anytime soon.

The photo above shows the relative positions on my wing. If I'm lucky, I might be able to use my extra light cavalry to wheel in and threaten the advance of the enemy centre. Clutching at straws! But anything that slows down the weight they have here will help. The plan is for Billy to pin their centre while Gordon rolls up from our left. I'll just try to survive as long as I can...

An oblique shot of Gordon's attack.

My wing holds position as the mass of enemy infantry comes forward from their hill. To the left of this photo you can see Billy's legions going forward.

A close-up of my Principes.

The combat on Gordon's left. His Italian infantry have joined in to help the outnumbered Equites against the enemy cavalry. The fight goes well for us here.

Above you can see Billy's legions (in red for Romans), as well as the threat to my Hastati in the foreground.

Gordon's plan goes well as his Hastati hit some enemy cavalry to the right of their infantry line (on the left of the photo as you look at it). If we can break through here, the Hastati will be in position to roll up the whole lot.

The action to the right of Gordon's troops. Here, in our centre, Billy's Roman legionaries perform very well indeed. They cause multiple hits with their pila, and the enemy's response is pitiful. In other words, the Carthaginian combat dice are lousy...

A wider view of the action at our centre right. Billy is able to angle his right legion's Principes to face the threat. This deprives that legion's Hastati of support, but it's beginning to look as though they don't need it anyway. Some of the enemy manage to squeeze by my white (Latin) Hastati. We need to hold out here and to the right a while longer.

In the meantime, it's taking the enemy's Italian foot a while to cross the field towards my waiting Equites. I also have some Italian foot of my own, just at the bottom left of the photo above.

A wide shot of our centre and centre-right. I have had to risk spreading my forces so as to hold up as many of the enemy as I can. This means that my Principes end up fighting before my Hastati.

On my extreme right, the enemy infantry finally reach my waiting cavalry. My lights get ready to join in.

Breakthrough! Gordon achieves his objective, and in style. There is a massive morale collapse as the enemy infantry facing him all run away. Billy holds out, and so do I (only just). A Roman victory.

Welcome to FIGZ

2011-04-05T21:28:00.000+01:00

FIGZ is a show rather than a person, aimed at 1/72nd gaming and smaller, website here. Also, if you click on the profile under "Followers" you'll find links to different language websites.

Welcoming The Hermit

2011-04-02T20:15:00.000+01:00

A warm welcome to you. Apologies if you have a blog, because Blogger won't let me find it using the profile view! If you do, though, please let me know and I'll return the compliment...

Indians repel invasion

2011-04-02T17:09:00.000+01:00

I didn't make it along to the club on Tuesday evening, but it seems that a reasonable time was had by all as the Indians sent the Bactrian Greeks back to Bactria. Deployment map, courtesy of Gordon:

The Indians are at the top of the map. Their right wing is a mixture of elephants and chariotry. Theor centre is composed of four large blocks of foot archers, with a nice ridgeline on which to nestle. And their left comprises three large units of militia grade horse. Many skirmishers seem to be out front. The invaders had a powerful cavalry wing on their left: two units of heavy lancers accompanied by two larger units of medium cavalry, with some elephantsand peltasts in support. Their centre phalanx (4 units) is poised to go over the hill towards the enemy, screened by skirmishing javelinmen. And their right has a mixture of light horse, inlcuding Arachosian bow cavalry, supported by light infantry and more elephants.

Here is Gordon's description as commander of the invasion:

Every so often the rules, despite the points system, throw up a game where there is a clear imbalance. The Bactrians with their heavy phalanx and good cavalry are a sure thing to run over the Indians. It didn’t prevent their defeat.

As can be seen from the deployment the Bactrians had a preponderance on their left wing and needed only to defeat that part of the Indian army on the flat facing them to win the game. The concentration of bow armed light cavalry and peltasts on the other flank was well able to fend off the poor quality Indian cavalry and an elephant unit was available as a reserve. The Indians could not have deployed in a better way to suit the Bactrian deployment.

The game began with the Bactrians advancing all along the line. The Indians did not come to meet them. The Bactrian leftmost cavalry unit (no 1) engaged the chariots (no 5) to their front and although the odds were in their favour were defeated. The unit of cavalry (no 2) inside it and the flanking peltasts (no 5) attacked the elephants and were significantly outscored. Worse they did virtually no damage to the elephants. The phalanx now came up and destroyed the small Indian chariot unit that had got marooned in no-mans land between the armies.

There followed a bout of morale and impetus inroad failures in the Bactrian cavalry and elephants and this became endemic leading to paralysis of the Bactrian cavalry wing.

A unit of the phalanx pushed through to attack the Indian infantry unit no 5 at the end of the Indian line and was trounced in three turns allowing the Indian unit to attack the adjacent phalanx which was by this time engaged with the elephants.

On the other flank Indian cavalry got in among the horse archers and although eventually destroyed by peltasts caused considerable damage. Things might have been much worse but for the abysmal shooting of the Indians.

The Bactrian losses had now mounted beyond their break point and although the Indian were approaching their (much lower) break point there was a clear winner.

The Bactrians lost:

1.because of their inability to break through on the extreme left and roll up the Indians from the flank. This left the cavalry embroiled with the Indian elephants and catastrophic morale failures completed their destruction.

2. the wholly unexpected destruction of a phalanx unit by a much weaker Indian infantry unit.

William's report from the Indian side:

Last night changed the world as the ancients knew it! Maybe there should be an option for the Indians to increase their sphere of influence (and likewise those others on the edge of the “major players” in this time of empires!). Simon seemed quite happy as he advanced the phalanxes into the withering fire of Billy’s Indian infantry last night – 3 turns of 48 shots caused less than a dozen casualties! Needless to say Billy was suffering from my questioning of his dice throwing (amongst other things which wouldn’t get past the thought police). Then when Simon charged home the Indians managed to destroy the first phalanx – after that it went down hill rapidly for the Graeco-Bactrians. Mark managed to hold our right flank with elephants and chariots and on my side my MG Indian horse managed to overcome their LC and LI opponents. Billy was obviously delighted that he “won” the war by killing of the phalanx but kudos should go to Mark who managed to take out all of the Greek 4-6 HC and a unit of 5-6 HC before he started losing his chariots and nellies. (I've removed some rules comments from William's report because they won't necessarily make sense to someone who doesn't have them).

Next up, in two weeks' time: Rome attacks Carthage in Magna Graecia again. That will take us to the half way Victory Points calculation, but from comments made by William among others, we might just not bother with Empire in and of itself from now on. It has turned into a really good battle generator, and some folks think that the Indians in particular should now be activated as a great power. We'll maybe have a confabulation after the next game.

On the Painting Tray: April 2012

2011-04-02T11:16:00.000+01:00

March saw 24 completed Velites. I also managed to finish off the rest of the Romans with Dullcote, a smelly job indeed. In April I will mostly be painting more Velites, plus putting together a 1/48 Stuka divebomber that a friend passed over when my daughter turned six back in January. She thinks it's hers, so I'm letting her "help". She loves craft type things anyway. It will probably be more fiddly than the things I normally do, but hopefully not too much so - at least it's not a 1/72 kit. My ageing eyes and hands find those a real chore nowadays!

Carthage takes Magna Graecia (again)

2011-03-23T10:40:00.000Z

Last night saw the return of Carthage to Magna Graecia. The photos aren't any good, so I won't use them. Suffice it to say that the mercenary Sicilian foot simply carved their way right through the centre of the Italian infantry - game over, and very quickly too. The Carthaginians managed with contemptuous ease a feat that Pyrrhus' famous phalanx signally failed to do last week.

Magna Graecia has become a real battlefield in our Empire campaign, fought over by Romans, Carthaginians and Macedonians alike. Next up will be the Persians trying to grab crucial Victory Points by attacking India. Since this is now the era of the Successor States, we'll use Graeco-Bactrians for the attacking force. Should be a good battle, but I won't be able to make it next week. I'll supply the attackers, though.

Welcome to Hendrid!

2011-03-23T10:29:00.000Z

A hearty hello to Hendrid, whose webpage is here and blog here. Lots of terrain ideas, solo play tips and general goodness - go have a look. It might take you some time...

Welcome to Biff Tanner

2011-03-22T16:56:00.000Z

Hi Biff, thanks for joining. Biff's blog is here. There's a whole lot of tech stuff - the water-powered jet pack is amazing. This means that we now have more than fifty followers, and over 20,000 hits. Makes it all seem worthwhile, so thanks everyone for the support!

Pyrrhus in Italy

2011-03-21T13:59:00.001Z

Rather belatedly, Pyrrhus lands in Italy as part of our Empire campaign, taking advantage of the temporary ousting of Rome by the local Greek city-states. He immediately heads for the Italians in the hills after gathering some reinforcements from said Greeks:

Simon and William construct and deploy the Italians, who are in blue at the top of the map. Here's a description from their right to left, ie starting at the top left of the map as you look at it. Their right wing (Marco commanding) is composed of two units of 12 Samnite armoured light infantry with pila, supported by two units of 12 light infantry with javelins. Just to their left are two units of 24 Italian medium infantry with pila, deployed wide. Their centre right (Simon) has three units of 24 Italian medium spearmen in three ranks and two units of 24 armoured hoplites in three ranks, with an extra unit of 12 light infantry to their left. The infantry commands are screened by many javelinmen. William commands the left wing cavalry force, which has two units of 12 medium horse in column screened by 8 skirmishing javelin light cavalry ready to come round the far end of the hills. More into the centre are two units of 12 noble heavy cavalry and two more 8-figure units of light horse .

I make up and deploy the invaders. The set-up is relatively conventional. Gordon commands our left, which is where the majority of the mounted troops are located: a large unit of 12 Aetolian light horse with javelins; 18 Greek medium cavalry; 12 elite heavy cavalry; two elephants; and 12 peltasts. He also commands the two units of Tarentine medium spearmen in our centre. I comand the right: four units of 32 heavy phalangites in four ranks; three units of 12 peltasts; and another unit of 12 Aetolian light horse, this time in column. We also have skirmishers out front, although not so many as the opposition.

Terrain is a large area of high ground in front of the enemy left, rising to a steep prominence at their leftmost wing area. Our set-up is reasonably straightforward: line up to hit the Italian infantry on the hills. Screen the phalanx to its right with lots of light troops. And mass the rest of the army on our open left. The only problem is that the Italians don't play ball, instead massing all of their infantry at an angle to our extreme left and placing all of their cavalry in and around the hills. There's a bit of a gap in their centre. All of the following photos are taken from behind our army:

In the photo above you can see the mass of Italian infantry off to our left.

Gordon decides that he can't afford to attack the infantry to his front head on, so he swings his forces across the centre front of our infantry line. He doesn't think many of them will make it, but he hopes to slow down the opposition long enough for my phalanx to get into action.

I angle some of the phalanx towards the hills, hoping to head off his cavalry before they get behind my right flank.

I also move my light troops so as to meet his cavalry force that's threatening to come around the extreme edge of the ridge line.

Gordon's troops do their best in the traffic jam while my Tarentines angle inwards a bit. A gap is beginning to appear between them and the phalanx.

The enemy cavalry advances towards my waiting light forces on our extreme right. You can just see the phalanx to the left squeezing the enemy cavalry - the steep hill at the extremity is cramping their style. By being aggressive with the phalanx, I might just pull this off.

The centre continues to look a right mess. This is one confused and confusing battle.

I have managed to force the enemy horse to retire behind the ridge. Now I have to reorganise the phalanx and hit the enemy infantry closest to me before they finish off Gordon's troops and flank the left of our infantry line. This is going to be close.

Desperate fighting as my light horse and peltasts try to stop the enemy cavalry on the right.

In the left foreground of the shot above you can see my phalanxes moving back into the centre. And at the same time another wave of enemy cavalry starts to come around the hills.

The remains of the peltasts move into position to stop the latest development on the right, as enemy light horse pelt them with javelins.

More of the same. Basically, we cancel each other's momentum here. Which at least means the right rear of the phalanx is safe.

The moment of truth arrives - I thought a suitably dramatic close-up would be good for the final photo. As the enemy infantry starts to roll up our Tarentines, the phalanx finally goes in. Note the Carthaginian spearmen standing in for Italian hoplites - could it be captured armour? In any event, it is all to no avail for us. Pyrrhus personally joins the left of the two phalanxes you can see from behind here to try to shore up their morale. It fails, and he and his phalanx are disordered by our routing elephant unit. I throw in the next unit along and roll no hits from 32 dice (I should have got 10 on average!).

And that was it, game over for Pyrrhus. His much vaunted phalanx was obviously still seasick or something. We actually won the race, getting the phalanx to the right point in the line just in time before our left crumbled, but I couldn't hit a thing. And just as the local Italians celebrate their victory, news comes that the Carthaginians have stabbed them in the back by assaulting from Sicily! That's the next game, hopefully tomorrow.

MiniMike

2011-03-12T11:29:00.000Z

A hearty hello to MiniMike: blog here. Go and have a look for some really lovely 28mm Spanish Napoleonics, among others. The tails on the backs of the Grenadiers' hats have to be seen to be believed!

Empire Campaign Turn 9: 270-260 BC

2011-03-11T12:28:00.000Z

Things in the campaign have been at a relative standstill for a while due to the burgeoning social lives of my kids: birthday parties, clubs and so on all seem to be pretty heavy at this time of year. Anyway, we have now completed Turn 9 and are about to move on to Turn 10, the midpoint Victory Points turn. Events in Turn 9 were:

Carthage fails in Iberia
Rome runs out of time in Sicily
Macedon fails in Syria
Persia fails to reconquer Persia

So all of the major powers are back to what they do best: losing! Marco had the honour of rolling for the initial events in Turn 10, with the result that Magna Graecia has rebelled from Roman control and the Macedonians have attacked across the sea into the same region. Our rationale is that the Greek city of Tarentum has instigated the revolt, but the Italian hill tribes remain loyal to Rome. All of which means that next week's battle will be Pyrrhus and the Tarentines against the Italians. A bit later than he turned up historically, but it will be interesting to see if this leads to a Pyrrhic confrontation with the Romans.

The current strategy map:

The Carthaginians control Carthage, Numidia and Sicily. Rome holds Central Italy. The rather large but disjointed Macedonian Empire comprises Macedon, Greece, Thrace, Asia, Armenia and Mesopotamia. And the Persians are still grimly holding on to Parthia and Bactria.