Another Slight Diversion or another chalenge.

Andy over at Another Slight Diversion was chatting with me about this and that. I knew he wanted to sell some of his Timecast building's. The ones in question being Russian which I will be picking up at Donnington next weekend. However he also mentioned he had the Total Battle Miniatures Spanish Hill Village, something I was planning on buying. Now already I was going halves on the Russian village so I was not in a position to buy the village but somehow we got round to the possibility of my painting some fugues in exchange. That is quite a few figures seeing as they are 6mm. Now Andy has very high standards, hell he PAINTS to a very high standard and with this in mind I proposed he send me a stand of figures with instructions on what he wanted. I first received the e-mail with how he wanted the figs painting down to Vellejo paint number which was great as I could quickly work out what I had and go off and get the colours I did not own (any excuse). Now these figures are to represent the opponents to the Savage Swans Andy has for the ImagiNation game he plays every year. The twist is that whilst the original force was 28mm this is a 6mm project as he replicates his own army in 6mm. Check out the link above for some great conversion work and excellent customer service from Adler.

 

Any way I had the heat under my backside as I wanted to get these done fast enough that Andy could decide if a. I was up to scratch and b. he was happy with the project to move it forward and as such get everything ready for meeting up at the Words. I am pleased to say that I had the figures for just four days.

 

Above isba sample of how they looked when they left me. Below is pictures of how they look after Andy has added mounted command and based them. All foot are Baccus and mounted are Adler.

 

Andy also added the flags. All in all I painted up 96 figures that he plans to use as a single regiment. these are based on several bases so they can be used in different formations.

One base is made up of Grenadiers. The way Andy wanted them painting up was so very different to my normal way of painting 6mm and in reality is very close to what I would do with 15mm. Lots of highlighting but the castings make it a lot easier, These are SYW French and are very crisp. I am really looking forward to the new French Naps from Baccus.

Here we have the brave chaps in column. I have to say that I really like the look of a massed unit in 6mm but I could not help thinking that I would have painted up 4 regiments of my Naps given te unit size.

I am glad to say that Andy was happy with the standard and will be supplying me more to paint for him in just under a weeks time. I somehow don't think he will get them back quite as quickly but I do plan on getting them out to him fairly quickly. Thanks also to Andy for allowing me to lift the picks from his site.

 

AAR Persian and Alex tilt again.

Yes yet more FoG battling again. Matt was up for a second game and I promised a little more sparkle to the Macedonian army which I supplied in the form of a pair of elephants, added a unit of Thracian's with Heavy Weapons and Bactrian LH with bow and short spear. Just to use up all the points I fortified his camp. This of course led to an increase in the Persian side with me taking an extra Superior HC with shortspear and sword, a second unit of Crescent Shields (MF Light Spear) and a unit of Saka LH, though I plan to paint up some of these as Cavalry a some point. Once the battle was well under way we agreed that I got the better of the reinforcements as the Elephants wee slow to join the battle whilst both of us were unsure what MI with Heavy Weapons would do against Cavalry in the open, well read on to see.

 

So intent on getting into the game I failed to take a pic of the start up, though this one was part way through Matt's first move. He is cavalry heavy on his right whilst in the foreground you have my right flank that is mostly cavalry with one unit of MI. I outnumber Matt but he has the edge in class. The darker green oval represents a patch of rough ground, a steep hill is peeking out next to my units, a gentle hill next to Matt's phalanx.

A view of my line before I started to move. The rough ground closest was a real bugbear for both of us as it split the action u. Early on it blocked Matt from attacking my flank and later on protected his flank from attack. As last time we placed terrain and then diced for moving it rather than the dictated original placement. My force consisted of eight mounted units, two LI for skirmishing a single Hoplite unit and two medium foot with light spears. My aim was to overwhelm Matt's cavalry with numbers and isolate his pike.

 

Our Cavalry face off, I was reluctant to charge in early as I wanted to get my flanking force to get closer to engage his flank or any reserves. In the way was a few light units so I expected them to join a few turns later. However Matt used his LH with skill and if I made a move to charge his flank I would in turn be at risk from a flank charge from the Prodromol lance armed LH. I had miscalculated the amount of time it would take me to pass the broken ground and as such I had units that were not to join the battle till late in the game as they were trapped behind other units. These were also available to protect routers if they came back but still a wasted opportunity.

 

A deeper shot of the whole action. Two units of LH facing my LH in the centre, the Lance armed LC in Matt's reserve and the light spear Cavalry acting as my reserve. Right at the opposite side of the table I have a single unit of Persian Cavalry and a LH with light spear. Far behind them trundle the Hoplites. Matt would be less hesitant to charge in the following turn.

The pike was typically slow at entering the battle and Matt lost double moves as he sent them to different targets. Not the elephants in the background. Both getting their first action. Again we saw very little missile damage, I am considering arming all my cavalry with bow for my next game to see if the added bases firing will tip the scale.

The clash, I had positioned one unit of four bases to be able to intercept a straight charge so this unit was picked as a target. This was to give me an advantage in the other two combats so long as I withstood the impact phase.

The view from Matt's side shows the units I had sitting around for most of the game. At least the MI got to practise the shuffle as they kept expanding and contracting to allow whichever unit looked most likely to be defeated.

On the opposite flank it was far more open and a quicker result. My LH having survived the trading of arrows charged home and won the impact attack. These guys were rolling really well, Matt on the other hand seemed cursed with poor rolls for the vast majority of the game. His MI and my Cavalry were to find out that MI in the open do not like it up 'em. Soon Matt was to loose both units with rolls that were making me blush.

Did I mention Matt had bad rolls? Well I also had a few, but then I also had a good supply of good rolls as well. Early on the Persian Cavalry net to the broken ground was put to disorder but stood more rounds of combat and managed to disorder the Agima and start to reduce their bases. This did not stop me becoming fragmented but again the Agima also became fragmented and lost a second base. Now just another base loss would remove them from the game. I suffered far fewer base's lost than Matt as I only seemed to fail a death roll if I needed 2+ to pass.

 

In the centre Matt had pushed back my skirmishers onto he steep hill whilst my Persian bow fired at the flank of the phalanx with no effect at all. My mounted troops on my left flank had finished chasing their victims and were about to swing round. The LH to attack the camp and the Persian cavalry to try and pressure the phalanx. Matt broke my light spear armed LH with his Bactians who disrupted my Crescent Shield as they burst through. Fortunately the Bactrians would not fair well even against Disrupted MI if they were to charge in. Matt charged his elephants into my cavalry and both of us were rather surprised with the result. Even though my cavalry were disordered by the elephants I won the impact and then the melee. Yes the curse of the rolls but none the less it was unexpected.

 

At this point we brought the game to an end as it was both getting on as most of my cavalry were still at full strength (one unit routing) I was in a position to defeat all he had left except the pike.

 

Matt again enjoyed the game and still likes the rules so things look good that way. Maybe next time we play bring out the Seleucid army though it still needs more work to get some of the better options.  Matt was talking about his Parthian army and worries that with the reduced effectiveness of bow would it still be viable. Matt always went down the all mounted route and it was a devil to play against. I think it can still be potent but will play different if only because you have to have the whole unit visible to shoot where under 6th all you needed was a single base as long as it was in the right formation. Hopefully in the next few months we will find out.

Jager Finished and Photograghed

Better pictures of the Jager for Tim. I will be posting them out tomorrow as yesterday and today have been taken up with lots of other stuff. I plan to box them up tonight and take them to the PO on the way to the hospital for my fortnightly vamp session (I have about a pint removed every two weeks). Typically after said session I don't due much for the following few days but I have just finished basing up a few bits and got a game in last night that I will do the AAR tomorrow for. Really this week has been almost a wash for painting with my sisters and wife's birthdays over the last three days and what with all the other stuff it's been a slow week. However I have this afternoon and this evening to at least get something done. Onto the pics.

 

Not fantastic pics as the flash has bleached the colours but I hope when Tim puts (or if) them on his Blog he will have better light to work with. The rain here is so constant that it has not got above dull in days. Again the sculps really allows you to go to town on the shading.

 

This shot was without the flash but with the daylight lamp so gives a better idea of colour. I will be boxing these figures up so as to make sure they have a good chance of arriving without paint being knocked off them, the bane of plastics. I have to confess to being rather happy with the giveaway prize and I think Tamsin who also has painted items in here recent giveaway would agree it is kind of special to know something you have painted will be part of another gamers collection.

 

Other news I received some buildings from Angle Barracks yesterday. These are Total Battle Miniatures as per previous posts. Looks like Angel B are selling off their stock as they have knocked a nice bit off the buildings. £3 buildings for £2.25 and more off the more expensive ones. Barry and me did a split on this order but unfortunately many were low on stock, so if you want to grab a bargain in the UK dash over to them.

Sniper Reminders WIP

Anne mentioned she wanted to see these and as they have been finished a few weeks I thought I had best add them. They still need basing but some of them will be added to a larger base than normal so the finishing touches need to be added.

 

I just love this scripts face, talk about attitude. The Russians are Black Tree Design casts and are the first of all the WWII figures in 28mm that I have painted that have rifle slings.

Here is a close up of the face. I am really happy with the way the face came out being 28mm and all.

Another shot of the figure to show the camo. Really felt a challenge as it's really very very simple. Just like cartoon paint splats and the uniform is really baggy and shapeless which can be hard to sculpt.

 

This figure rather lacks detail on his face! ;-) Sorry but all the figures could have done with a quick dusting before handing to Cath to snap but I forgot to do it.

Another figure that I like, again the face is really well sculpted and makes it look like I have more skill than I really do.

 

Ugly bugger, no? Sorry I just love the quality of the castings. I have French, Italian and Polish by the same supplier

Last of the four and I have the image of how I want o base this one up firmly in my head.

The Germans are all Artizan and I was disappointed with the sniper pack as only two are snipers, he other two are observers but don't really fit with the snipers themselves. Three of the four I have painted up in splinter pattern as that came in in time to be used in Stalingrad. This is an observer.

 

The second observer standing! well he would make a good officer or better still NCO but he really is a round peg in that square hole.

 

 

I like this figure, this time just his jacket was painted up as splinter. Not sure he would wear a cap with the eagle on it, really should have filed that off.

 

Last figure has the sniper moving. As you can see the Blacktree casts look so much better but for some reason they have not done German snipers. I can only hope these follow.



 

 

 

Tim's Jagers

OK I know I said I would not get much done but with it raining here almost all day I managed a fair few hours and now have the second batch ready for varnishing. Once that is done it's just a couple of spots of Indian ink on the visors and belts and these guys are finished. I have painted them up as the 27th Jager and I really like the look of them.

I will get better pictures took once I have them all finished. So I have managed to get all the figures done that I have for others all done in just 7 days (well and a few hours) not bad really. Good job really. I want to get some models finished that have been on my to do list for some time now. I also have more of the 28mm sniper reminders to start, these being Polish French and Italian as well as get images off of some painted figures for a ASL mate to choose which he wants for a urban sniper reminder set. The figures (less bases) are all painted up and ready for action, though I am hopping to gt Warbases to do a custom base for some of these for me. If so then it could open up a few other special bases. In fact I have a few ideas I really want to try sometime soon.

 

The problem is that I think the sniper reminder idea will soon start to run down to the point that my wargaming neutral (not paying to paint or play) will need other help. I still have units to sell from old armies but I think I will have to paint up figures especially to sell starting next year. Not something I had really wanted to consider of late but my output could see me short of things to paint sometime before spring is over (the horror!) Obviously not helped if Curt runs the challenge again this year. Still it's not like I don't have plenty to paint right now and I am sure I won't have to stand street corners just yet.

 

Dutch 20mm Napoleonic Line Infantry

OK as I said before, these are not figures I would have chosen to paint all by myself being the wrong scale and region. But all that said it's been fun painting 20mm Naps. Indeed quite the reverse to what I had expected as I must confess to a small groan on checking Tim's blog out to see what he seemed to paint the most.

I have tried to imitate Tim's style gong back to using washes and highlights that I seldom do these days due to the AP style of washing post painting. I think I will do a bit more highlighting in future thanks to this experience. Mind you I was highlighting 6mm at the start of the week LOL.

 

This is the first 12 of 24 figures that I have to paint for Tim, the Jagers have their green jackets done and I may get some more done later but that may be all I get time for today.

 

So whilst I tried to keep them like Tim I could not resist adding gloss white (Vellejo 70842) to the straps or inking the Shako peaks both post matt varnishing them. Another area I went away from was the extra straps under the arms as these in y opinion just add too much clutter to the figure and it's rare to see them on the finished figures. Tim can always add them if he disagrees.

The Osprey book shows these guys with cow hide backpacks, I tried the same procedure as my goatskin shields and I am happy how they turned out. Now I just need to get the Jagers finished and both sets can be on their way.  

 

Let's Chat.

Give Away Prizes.
All posted out except the brushes as it was listed as £10 to post, so had them delivered here. Just need to re-label and gt them on the way. Will be done today. The last prize to be sorted is the painting of twenty four 20mm Naps, these arrived two days age and......I received the figures from Tim and prepped them on the day they arrived and now have the first 12 almost finished. These are Line, the Jager which should be a little more fun I saved till last. Not that I have not enjoyed the Line. Dutch 20mm Naps, only way I would ever see me painting these was if something like this happened. Having just finished the cow hide backpacks it's all costing from here. I expect to be finished by this afternoon.

Updated the tab 370 years ago today. No one is commenting and as I don't get stats for that page it is impossible to tell if it gets visits, so unless I start to get comments I may just move it back into mainstream, or do both. Your thoughts are sought.

Next up Anne cost me a few hours sleep the other night......Steady you lot! She has recently photographed her mountain. It got me thinking about my mountain and the lack of balance, that is the amount of 6mm sitting ready to be painted and mentally allotted slots. Then I look at my 15mm grab bag and it's pitiful. So I have raided Martin's box and have coming up some time soon
48 pike
2 x 12 Persian Cav (just need to buy the two packs at Derby)
Thracian's, just lots and lots, about 60-100
Medium Archers about 48
Another 48 pike
12 Galatian Cav
12 Greek Cav
and already prepped and on the table
24 Galatian infantry
5 elephants

so as you can see that keeps things balanced. I still have at least enough pike to do another 48 block as well as 24+ Hoplites and other assorted stuff in that box (not mentioning the Orcs and Goblins) then I have the Romans that I hope to insert in the middle of this lot as winter draws in.

The tug of the ECW project is strong so that will get plenty of time, just to keep bragging rights over Lee whilst I will need to get my French allies done for my Naps for a mini campaign I have in mind. I will be picking up at Derby some Adler so I don't see these off the painting desk anytime soon.

Colonel Henry Washington's Dragoons.

I have been busy painting up 96 SYW 6mm figures as part of a swap this last four days so I had t rush finishing these figures off so I had something to post. Fortunately they were about half way through so I could finish painting them fairly quickly and basing was done in the evening. Spray and tufts done in the morning. So here we have the next unit in my 6mm ECW project and as all before these are Baccus.

 

First commandeered by Colonel James Usher a professional soldier who had served in the Earl of Barrimores foot regiment in 1640. The regiment was mostly raised in the Midlands on behalf of his Lt. Colonel Henry Washington, another of the 1640 officers. Washington hailed from Packington in Leicestershire though most of his other officers came from Worcestershire and Warwicks. It is assumed that the regiment was part of Sir John Byron's force and very likely at the battle of Powick Bridge. What is certain is that it fought at Edgehill on the extreme right and not only forced a commanded musket force to retire also held it's ground when the horse of the right wing charged off in heavy pursuit of the routed Parliamentarian Horse and thus was able to give support and cover to the Royalist foot until the now blown horse returned.

Over the winter of '42-43 at least part of the regiment was involved in the storming of Marlborough  and the larger siege of Cirencester and before the '43 campaign was long underway had within Rupert's army marched into the Midlands taking Birmingham and then Lichfield were James Usher was killed in the storming of the breach.

 

Indeed such was the skill and experience of this regiment that it was involved in a number of sieges and seemed always to be part of the storming party. It's biggest role was the storming of Bristol where it mustered 7 troops which is a fair sized unit. First they captured Clifton Church of great strategic importance as it overlooked parts of the defences of Bristol and then a breach in the walls was named after the regiment! Spearheading not just the breach but fighting to the centre of the defences and attacking The Essex Work (named after a former Governor not the Earl of Essex) and then stormed the Cathedral where they fired into another smaller defencive work until it was quit.

 

The regiment was then taken by Rupert to the siege of Gloucester where it took part in manning the lines before being used in various garrisons. The last noted one being Evesham but it was not there when the King marched through during his Cropredy Campaign as it had again gone north and was soon involved in further hot work, possibly Marston Moor but certainly was at the Storming of Stockport. It is thought to have been converted to a foot regiment based on some officers being listed in Indigent Officers, though it's possible this is an error. It's last duty was as garrison of Worcester which Washington only surrendered to Parliament on the 23rd July 1646.

 

So whilst the Regiment did did not take part in the Cropredy Campaign nor was it long part of the Oxford army I have used a bit of licence to bring it into my army as it could easily have been part of the Kings Army if Rupert had not kept such a strong hold on the regiment. Clearly it was well led ad it is accepted that each of it's seven Troops was commanded by a professional officer who had previously served with the others either as part of the 1640 army or in Island.

 

The uniform of blue is a little conjecture given that most regiments of the Oxford Army wore red or blue I went with blue. It is known they were armed with matchlock muskets and not flintlocks, their standards are unknown but thought to possibly have been white as I have depicted on mine.

 

I have done the regiment as both mounted and dismounted and being a large regiment have used all the figures as supplied by Baccus. Other smaller regiments will have a few less figures to give a more scattered look.

10mm French ADC's Finished

I was given these 10mm ADC's to paint at Triples and whilst I got the first four done without any fuss I just did not get round to doing the rest till the last two weeks whilst trying to clear my desk of part done miniatures they finally finished. I will not be basing them as they will at some point be sent to the owner who will sort this out. I am not sure which four I have already showed so here is the lot of them.

 

Most are copied from actual ADC's though the last few are close copies. All are Hussar figures so apart from colour they will all look the same.

 

The figures are for the most part well detailed, though a few bits had me scratching my head wondering what a few bits were. The lace on the jackets really stands out.

 

The horse is cast separate from the rider but the horse is super skinny allowing he saddle to sit in place. The problem is that several of the riders just did not cover enough of the horse. Take a close look at the white horse in this pic to see what  mean.

 

The challenge was that these figures had the same level of detail as some of the poorer quality 15mm figures. Why a problem? Well unlike 6mm you have little choice but to paint it in 10mm which I did not mind being that it was a one off but I would hate to have to do that level of detail on a whole army. I know for some of you it's the ideal scale but for Naps I would prefer to bite the bullet and go 15mm if I was going to paint that level of detail.

 

In an attempt to show the colours better I put them in the shade (yes got my head in the way!) I am pleased with the results and hope to get to take a look at the whole project if it gets completed but this is possibly my last involvement in the painting of it. Though if I meet up with him wit a hand full of infantry I may well paint up a regiment or two for him.

Terribly Obscure Wars A-Z Italo-Ethiopian War of 1895-96

Mussolini's war against Ethiopia was an attempt to turn previous failure of one but conflict with the country. Here I deal with that first one.

 

 

Italy was supported in the idea of procuring control of part of Ethiopia in 1885 as they in turn were trying to control Sudanese Muslim fanatics called Mahdists. The hope was that if Italy was able to gain control of an area of the coast that both countries would be able to support the other in their endeavours. This they did at Massawa (Mitsiwa) in Eritrea and even purchased the port of Aseb from a local ruler. The Italians then signed an agreement with Menelik II who had very recently conquered the provinces of Tigray and Amhara.Through the agreement the Italians recognised Menelik as Emperor whilst he ceded control of Eritrea and the red Sea Coast. The problem was that the treaty was in two languages and the Italian text stated Italy was to have a protectorate over Ethiopia. The Amharic version version stated that Menelik could use Italy as a go between for other European Nations! Memelik refused to be held by the Italian version of the treaty and in conditions not that dissimilar to the Mussolini war where a weak economy has to try and prop up military action. With this in mind the sent a much smaller force against the larger but technologically inferior Ethiopians.

 

Italy had expected parts of Ethiopia to rebel against Menelik as not that many years before he had taken their lands on his way o declaring himself Emperor. Indeed the opposite occurred with the distrust of the Italians driving them to support Menelik. Further more Menelik had also been buying modern weapons from Britain, France and even Italy! So they lagged behind Italy less in weapons than the Italians liked to think.

 

Italy was to win a series of battles against Menelik's allies gaining documentation that indeed these were allies of Menelk. He tried to gain support from France by offering an alliance but France fell in behind Italy agreeing to Italy's version of the treaty and succour Italy's agreement that Tunisia  was under French control.. Ethiopia was virtually on it's own (Russia agreed to give military help) and Italy with it's recent victories in mind set out for a short and victorious campaign.

 

This was not to be as the first major clash showed. Amba Alagi was a natural fortress but was held by 2,350 tribal troops led by Italians. A force of about 20,000 troops attacked and killed around 1,300 of the defenders, the rest fleeing back to Italian controlled Eritrea. Next was a small garrison of 1,150 tribal troops and 200 Italians who resisted several assaults and 15 days of siege before Major Giuseppe Galliano was given permission to surrender the half finished fort of Meqele. He was allowed to march away with all his troops and weapons.

 

General Baratieri knew his army would have difficulty fighting such a large army and also knew Menelik would not be able to keep such a large army provisioned for long and was content to wait for the inevitable decay of the force facing him. However the Italian Government forced Baratieri to attack before this happened which lead to the Battle of Adwa on March 1st 1896.

 

Over half the Italian forces in East Africa were at he battle made up of four brigades of about 20,000 troops with 56 artillery pieces. Facing these were 100,000 of which 80,000 had rifles (the rest spears) and around 40 guns though some were extremely old. Shear numbers told  with wave after wave of troops crashing into the Italians until the formations broke. Menelk lost between 4 and 5,000 troops killed with another 8,000 wounded. Italy lost 7,000 killed and 1,500 wounded with 3,000 captured.

 

This was enough for Italy, the government fell with riots in some of the cities and Italy signed a peace agreement where the borders were recognised and kept till 1935.

John Talbot's Regiment of Foote

The regiment was raised in the west as part of Lord Horton's army but by 1644 this army had shrunk through campaign losses (action and disease) and further reduced through garrison duties and to a larger extent desertion which by the winter of 1643/4 was epidemic. Hopton's army was so weak by the start of the 1644 campaign that his army was recalled to Oxford and folded into the Kings army which was in dire need of the foot supplied. Such was the straights of Horton's army that the whole of the foot only supplied one of the three Tertia of this army. It was wise to keep all the regiments under one commander though this was Sir Bernard Astley and not Hopton, though Astley had commanded all the foot in Horton's army. This was a fairly large regiment at this point consisting of 9 companies of Anglo-Irish. to be clear this does not mean that the regiment had a large percentage of native Irish in it's ranks. Most of the Irish were in fact English soldiers sent to Ireland to defeat the rebellion a few years before, or English Settlers (sometimes second or third generation) but did have some native Irish and it is probable than many of the officers and a fair number of the troops were Catholics. Parliament had used a great deal of propaganda against such troops insisting that these were native Irish stoking up the hatred fear and thirst for revenge so that many English men were killed in cold blood after being captured as were many of the camp followers. Most true Irish were serving in the midlands and above  were few were to survive the war.

 

 

Talbot's wore a yellow coat and carried white colours. I have represented them in a dull yellow coat and seven stands of figures to represent one of the larger regiments at this time.

 

I can not be sure but it's possible THIS John Talbot could be the 10th Earl of Shrewsbury a Roman Catholic who for his support of the King had his estates sequestered and compounded by Parliament for being a Papist and Delinquent but I can not be sure. If I could find my Officers of the Royalist Army books I would be able to confirm.

I have made this one one of the larger regiments with an extra stand of pikes and also armoured just to make them a bit more fun. You won't see many more yellow regiments as yellow just was not that popular.

Greek Mercenary Thureophoroi Option Two

Again I had already painted up some of these troops, indeed most of them as I had painted up two packs (16 figs) but based just the 15 as Medium Infantry just use three per base. So out of this unit only another eight figures needed painting.

It was easy to paint up these figures as I just used base colours originally so no colour matching required. Here is the full unit in all it's glory with the new guys as part of the front rank.

The new figures all have the same mold line running down their faces as my original figures from way back. This is a real shame as the figure itself is a nice pose and useful.

 

I used the new GW wash, Agrax Earthshade which married up to the original well enough.Here you can see it has picked out the detail and the rear rank was done I think with Devlan Mud but could have been AP Strong Tone. It's been a year since I painted up the originals.

So whilst I used two different figures I now have options for both Medium and Heavy, as well as using both for different roles on in the same game. My intention was to paint them up different, both as different figures and colours. It's taken me an age to complete them but happy that I have finally got them off the table.

AAR Persian V Alexandrian Game Two Field of Glory.

Last week I played Matt with the same two armies and Barry took the Macedonians so I got my old Persians to play again. This time though I wanted to take advantage of the lessons from the first game and loaded one flank with all my cavalry.

Barry on the left with all his best cavalry on his left flank facing all my cavalry whilst his right just had javelin armed light hos. His centre was the three pike blocks screened with Cretan archers and Agrianian javelin and light spear armed light foot. I had facing these skirmish forces my Persian slingers and bow with my Crescent Shields to the left of these. My Hoplites were behind the mass of Cavalry on my right. W had a bit better luck with the terrain this game. Barry had two gentle hills, mine was steep but the light foot love that. We also had two vineyards in play to the bottom of the picture above.

 

Barries's Phalanx of  Pike.

I knew I did not want to come face to face with the big blocks in the centre. Barry knew he wanted me too, so gave them a leader to give double moves and at least get them to threaten me late in the game.

 

New Player Mistake!

This was the first game of FoG for Barry so mistakes are expected but when it came it was both very large and NOT made by Barry. Not sure what I was thinking but I allowed myself to get in a position were my evading lights burst through my Cavalry Disrupting two units. Not at all clever!

 

After two turns we were closing the skirmishers for a battle in the centre whilst Barry moved his light horse around the nearest vineyard whilst the cavalry flank was heading for a major clash. Neither did I feel I had the better chance due to Barry having better troops, though in both cases I had the greater number.

 

Flanking Lights as my Crescent Shields hurry to close with the Cretans.

The Vineyard was tough to get around allowing my nearest unit to get forward of the chase. I would though have been better to turn to face him and try to close with them as I would win any melee. As it was I just moved them closer to he pike.

 

Cretans engaged in melee facing the Crescent Shields.

I lost the Impact phase against the Agrianian Javelins but drew against the Cretans who had intercepted my original charge. On the flank the cavalry charge was inconclusive as Barry only got to charge in two units and mine stood up to the charge. I passed the required cohesion test and as the standard melee rounds took place my greater numbers started to count. If we both lost a base I would still be over 75% whilst Barry would suffer the -1 for having already lost 25% in following cohesion tests. The skirmish line was first to buckle as it went from Disrupted to Fragmented. Whilst I was winning the melee rounds against the Companion Cavalry Barry kept passing cohesion test after test and only taking casualties when he needed to roll above 1 on a D6!

 

Fragmented the lights would soon be routed and disappear behind steady files of pike.

With the reduced dice in combat the skirmishers were soon put to rout but this would only leave me open to abuse from the pike behind. Fortunately Barry was not able to contact my skirmishers so they were happy just to harrass the pike with little hope of doing any harm.

 

Quantity V Quality

The weakness of the Companions is the size of the units. Four bases against my Persian six. If I am not disrupted in the Impact phase the Companions can find themselves steadily overwhelmed as was starting to happen here. I had charged the Companions and the Agema knowing I was not likely to win in a turn but hoped to still be in on it after a couple of turns as that should allow me to win. Sure enough I was chipping away at the Companions at the same rate they were reducing me, only I had 4 more bases to loose than Barry.

 

My Left Flank

Barry was still trying to brig his lights into the fight but now he looked to be able to get a reward for his patience as my lights would soon be caught between the poke and his light cavalry. Only a dash for the vineyard looked to be an option.

 

Right Flank becoming fluid.

I finally broke the inside companion unit and caught it whilst pursuing which removed it from the board. The Agema flanking it shrugged off the cohesion test for seeing a friend routed despite losing 25% of it's strength to missile fire.I charged the re-ordered Persian Cavalry unit into the Agema and other Companion unit but suffered a level of Disruption on losing the melee. Meanwhile my Bactrian bow armed cavalry was forced to evade his Lance armed lights but these then turned round and Disrupted the lancers with a well timed volley of arrows.

 

Failing to take cover.

My slingers was looking to be routed within a turn or two as they were sure to be caught between the light cavalry and the white pike. I was hoping the Crescent Shields would get round the pike and go after the baggage as Barry just would not have the speed to catch up. Though I needed to keep the Cretans going backwards to manage this.

 

Trapped and disrupted.

Barry charging his Prodromoi against my bow cavalry had carried them beyond their own lines and put them in danger of retaliation. Being disrupted they could only suffer if charged. We ended the game here on Barries' turn, he would have had to either turn round and move back or charge. Either way if I was to have another turn he would face a charge that on evading he would be forced off board.

 

Numbers game.

Both of Barries' units are held in melee so he would not be able to charge my cavalry without routing my cavalry. Whilst I was disrupted it was a tall order to do this in just one more turn. In my turn I planned to use one of the just released cavalry to wheel and take up position to his rear to charge in my next turn. Meanwhile my disrupted unit would charge from the front. The last unit I planned also to make for the camp to guarantee it's capture.

 

Though it looked to be a probable victory for me it was still possible that Barry could win the cavalry battle, though more likely he would loose but not before doing me some serious harm. The chance to do much more damage was fairly limited and my camp was safe. I minor win for me I think but a major win for both of us as Barry enjoyed the game and would be happy to play some more.

 

Other rules. we still have our Impetus armies but as mentioned before Barry bought a copy of War & Conquest and we really need to play this as well, though both of us are leaning towards taking some of the ideas and scrapping the dice heavy combat system. Though we really must try it before junking a big part of the rules. It just tastes like GW though, and that is not a compliment!