Baccus Slingers

For Project Magnesia I need a few units of slingers so added these to my Christmas wish list. Santa was kind and along they came with the three pike blocks, three elephants and a couple of scythed chariots. The phalanxes are painted and based just needing the pikes adding (like that's a five minute job!). The rest are still in their packets, maybe next week.

Very basic paint job so really quick to paint. Rather than the usual nut brown ink I washed in Nuln Oil which gave a more Mediterranean flesh tone and stopped the white tunic's going reddish brown. You get two poses so a little bit of arm bending helped flesh these out a bit. In To The Strongest these are the weakest units out there and have a very limited use and survival prospect, I wonder how they will do against Romans?

For the game I think I need two units so have plenty here. I also kept a few back to add to the elephant bases as escorts to make them more interesting.

This leaves me the last few peltasts to paint up along with the elephants and chariots. I have also made a start on the Gallic cavalry unit that will complete all the cavalry for the game. I still have to check if I have enough phalanx units, it's possible I need two more units which will be a pain as I feel I have done enough already. Still with only a couple of months to get everything sorted I need to really get my head down and get done.

Not Dead Yet, Christmas Based

Hello and welcome back to the Blog with No Game. It's been awhile and as I stated before I went off the air I was in need of down time. Unfortunately it's far harder to just get on with a fresh post rather than just keep on not doing. I have instead through a lot of energy into my ASL blog that had previously suffered this blogs fate. Now at last I feel the urge and ability to post on. So where better to start than a couple of very nice Christmas gifts.

I received enough figures for me to base up four units of peltasts, these will be used for the game Lee and I will be doing either at this years Joy of Six or next year dependant on painting and opportunities to play. As you can see these are a colourful bunch and I will be using them as guides and inspiration for the other peltasts units I need to paint up.

As you can see lots of detail went into painting these guys and they will fit in very nicely with the rest of my army. These are Baccus figures and will be part of my Seleucid army that is pitted against Lee's Romans.

I also got enough figures for four units of Gaul's, these are the same models as I bought, though my version I clothed so now I have both options. I really like the shields too.

These boys are a bit fresh as you can see from behind, or should I say from their behinds. So too very nice gifts that have now been based for a couple of months awaiting photo's. Mostly I can blame the weather but more than once I had the opportunity to take the pics but cried off.

The good news is that I have also taken pics of the other finishes. Most of these have been finished a month or two though until last week I had not painted anything since end of February but just finished off three battalions of Old Guard for my French Naps. Next on the desk is two regiments of SYW French cavalry for The Boy, these are Lancashire 15mm and come in at sixteen figures a regiment so I may be at them some time.

15mm Ancients Turn

I mentioned I would be painting up a more varied range of figures through the painting challenge, well in keeping with this I again swap scales though I seem a little stuck in Ancient times.

Two units of Persian medium cavalry for my rather old Persian army. I have a lot of these guys in my army, though these are a tad different to the majority as they have bow cases on their backs.

These are actually old Chariot Miniatures castings bought via Facebook on a trading page. A great sense of Nostalgia seeing the old yellow packing slips from days gone by. Magister Militum now provide the figures and I will be calling on them at Triples to pick up one more pack so I can paint up another unit as I have eight of the twelve figures I need.

Whilst I used lots of different colours I was still able to do some batch painting with twenty four figures in play. The same goes for the horse colours.

I have yet to use these guys but they will see some service next week as I face Matt's Han Chinese for the second time (write up of game one to follow).

The bow cases received some rudimentary art work, nothing to write home about but again adds another splash of colour. When I first painted up units for this army they were all uniform colours. On rebasing I took the opportunity to split up the blocks of colour which I think works better with the Persians.

As I can't resist a bit of fun in my games I added a little bird on one of the bow cases. Is it historical? of course not but that's not the point ;-) 

Next up is a unit of Agema for my other Ancient armies. I am a little on the short side on Macedonian and Successor cavalry so wanted to increase my options. I still need more of the basic companion types which will be further addressed at Triples.

Unlike the Persians these guys are all painted the same. I have had to play around with one of the figures as his Kontos had broken off so a cutting off of the pole under the arm and repositioning of the arm and he becomes the commander.

I now have two rather large armies that won't need much more in the way of troops, though the Macedonian/Successor/Seleucid army will have a few more options I can paint up and play about with. Once this is done I really don't see me doing another 15mm Ancients army as I really don't feel the need to dive into another as things stand. That of course till I see the next must have.

Last Game of 2013 and First AAR of 2014 FoG:Ancients

In expectation of a tough game I brought along the monk for a right good blessing and at points he really seemed to help.

As Lee has not played FoG for over a year and I have not played I think in the last half of the year we went for 600 points each both straying over by a few points. I was using a new army for me, that of the Later Seleucid comprising of three pike phalanx's (two superior) two cataphracts one eight base slinger and one eight base bow armed skirmish units and a eight base medium bow unit with just two leaders. Most is drilled and plenty of superior units to boot.

One steep hill to the top left (cavalry moved off before we started as Lee had forgot they would be in trouble and as I said was rusty) one gentle hill that I placed my camp on and the brown cloth is open fields, great for Medium infantry or lighter, not so for heavy infantry.

Lee had three skirmish foot units and two skirmish cavalry, three phalanx blocks of average experience a medium infantry spear, one lance armed heavy and one Spear armed heavy cavalry so I had a few advantages on quality whilst Lee had numbers including three leaders.

My bow skirmishers managed to cause a disruption on Lee's bow troops before Lee returned the favour and a casualty to me (only a turn after I remembered the +2 to casualty rolls for shooting, yes I was rusty too.

The hill was protecting Lee's flank whilst the centre was looking to be a place of decision. Lee was moving his horse to face off with mine that was giving me another advantage. Lee had placed the river and the hill but I was the one who was benefiting as his numbers were not as useful to him.

Lee chargers into my cavalry which absorbs the impact, I then charge into the overlap of his second unit and also into the light cavalry that was next to the melee, Lee decided to stand and fight to save his phalanx from being burst through passing the Command roll to stay but taking loss from the charge.

On the other flank the medium infantry and the skirmishers move through the open fields knowing I would not attack with my phalanx (remember the mediums on my right are supposed to be bow only armed (not a good choice))

I had routed Lee's Cretan bow but I was unable to resist the light cavalry who put my skirmish bow to flight  though it left them vulnerable and no place to go.

With Lee's lights down a base it was just a matter of time before they went the other direction. I had the advantage with the two heavies as well as I now had equal numbers.

A view of my troops heading towards Lee, makes Lee's forces look really thin. I have to admit it felt good to be using my pike rather than facing them and it's the first time they have come into a real clash as both me and Lee were moving forward.

The cavalry melee was going on forever but the opposite side saw a really bad roll by me and my medium bow was suddenly fragmented, even lights can be a problem to your open flanks. With my central phalanx fighting one of Lee's and his mediums I could ill afford to pay them attention so the following turn would see me charge into the mediums with my pike hoping for a quick result.

Finally the light cavalry were routed but then I lost two bases of cataphracts in two turns and dropped one cohesion. Luckily I also routed the spear armed heavy cavalry whilst also walking the slingers into the other regiments flank, this should be over quickly. Meanwhile I rallied by light bow and brought my third phalanx up to fight Lee's middle block. Finally both of us were getting into position to flank each other, so much depended on that melee finally coming to an end.

Re-rolls had been saving my bacon as I seemed to roll more 1's than was called for, my disrupted cataphracts needed to move through the gap rather than risk the lights charging into my flank though future events make me wish I had kept them in the fight. I had dropped a cohesion level with the cat's on the left as well whilst the trapped Macedonian cavalry continued to resist loss of either troops or formation.

The auto broke lights disappearing off the board with the heavier and bloodied friends heading the same way. The archers who had broken earlier are now back in good order and moving towards Lee's right flank, possibly to protect his camp?

I run through the gauntlet and Lee turns his spare phalanx to threaten them further but it's the previously routed bow that pushes them to fragmented, the dice were really starting to desert me here as Lee forced a few checks on me. His cavalry meanwhile continued to resist the inevitable.

The phalanx's clash whilst the two old opponents square off again, allowing the big boys to fight it out on their own.

Just to my right the two phalanx push was going my way, Lee's medium infantry had lost a level of cohesion whilst his pike remained in good order but had lost two bases, another fight that should now go my way as I had numbers and better order (I was down one base.

Just in front of my baggage I was able to rally my bow. The following turn I brought them back to disrupted and had hopes they could now hold on for the end of the game.

Lee's furthest forward phalanx was no match for mine as he rolled terrible (a feature of his pike all night) he then lost his other pike and medium infantry to rout in the following turn. Suddenly I was in  a good position as I could now turn towards the centre left and take them in the flank or force them back on their rear.

Lee countered aggressively bringing his last phalanx towards my three. Straight after he brought one of the routing blocks back and worse still the impossible was happening...

My cavalry become shattered, jumping from disrupted to routed in one roll and suddenly it's very much an open game again. The only thing saving these cataphracts was the light infantry already fighting on the flank. I am starting to regret having just two commanders whilst Lee is dashing around his three command stands rallying unit after unit and having the luxury of staying with them to bring them back to disrupted!!

At this point we called the game, technically I just scrapped the win on points but if we had time to play on it could have gone either way and both of us had troops in trouble. Lee had lost more bases overall but it did feel like victory slipped between my fingers but it left both of us full of beans and was great fun. I really enjoyed playing with an army you had some control over rather than the usual move and manouver issues I normally suffer with my Persian army. 

I wont to go 700 or 750 next time as I had very limited choices and no special toys to play with and I think Lee felt the same. Next time no medium bow, better choices are available but it sure woke us both back up to FoG. Next game though looks to be a first, Flames of War, never expected that!

Companion Cavalry by Essex

The last of the almost finished figures of Martin's. Well in fact I have two figures that will be used at a much later date on a command base. These two bases will just allow options for my Macedonian armies or the Bactrian Greek if I decide to also expand to include that list as well.

I can't really take any credit here as all I needed to do was repaint the lance and tips, a little touch up on the horses and give them a ink wash. Martin as he often did had changed the positions of some of the horses heads and made one horse rear up.

I then just rebased to FoG in my usual way though I incorporated the three horses that clearly went together. All told less than an hour of work if you ignore the down periods for drying.

 

Whilst doing this though I decided to cut my fingers repeatedly whilst cleaning up the 20mm Numidian Light Cavalry. All thirty two are now prepped and undercoated ready for the kick off of the Challenge. I now have a box file full of 20mm Ancients and 28mm WWII all prepped and ready. I still have fifteen 28mm Partisan figures to prep and have another twenty eight plus on order that I am waiting for. A mix of desert and early war WWII. I also have six Japanese 28mm to make up and prepare which I will do this week coming I guess.

 

Fear not, I have other work sitting on the table right now. A Galatian cavalry base in 15mm to see if I like them enough to paint up a unit. I have started a 54mm Philistine for my son which I am about half way through. A pair of giraffes, yes giraffes for my daughter which are at the moment just undercoated. Not only that but a bunch of 6mm buildings have been primed between all those 20mm figures. So plenty to work on between now and the twentieth.

Skythian Options.

Martin had eight Skythian Light Cavalry figures all close to being finished but with them being loose in the metal tool bow all the figures had areas of wear and tear. Given that I already had plenty of light cavalry with bows I did not rush to get these out of the box and finished off. This has lead them to be left for just over a year but at long last I have pulled them out as I was planning the painting challenge. Knowing I will get zero points for these I thought it would be good to get them finished. I really want four bases of cavalry with bow to try out how effective these can be. At this point all the rest are based two figures per base to represent Light Horse. These will be more like medium horse, based three figures to a base. However eight does not split well. So I have based two as light horse and the other six as cavalry. The idea being in the short term I an just add a LC base and the mix of bases will show it to be cavalry. Long term two packs will supply enough figures to make up the two extra cavalry I need and the spare two will just be added to the other light cavalry I already have.

 

Th usual mix of different patterned and bright colours that make the Skythian and Saka horse archers fun to paint and field. Some of the figures just needed a little touch up whilst all the horses needed a little fresh work.

 

This is one of two views most enemies will see of them. Moving forward to attack then the rear as they evade to safety. It was only whilst editing the pics I noticed no socks or blazes on any of the horses. I will probably add these before putting the figures away. I think I added about two to three hours work to what Martin had already done so not a massive time investment. Plus the time it took to base on top but that would have needed doing anyway.

 

Like other units that I have finished of Martin's I am looking forward to using figures that he had worked on as well as me as it's a great reminder of his generous gift in these figures. Sorry only able to supply indoor pics today.

Phalanx For The Memories

I had the minimum Pike for most of the armies I could cover based on my Macedonian army but still way off the max, though I don't expect to field the max at any time. I did however buy a fourth small block to add options. However going through Martin's box  found enough Chariot/Magister to upgrade it to a 48 figure block. The only issue was than the pikes had all snapped off at some point (I think Martin planned to replace them so was probably intentional. I have recently bought a vice drill so my first use of it was to drill holes for replacements. This went rather well and quicker than expected.

Meanwhile I bought some movement trays as moving so many bases with big pointy sticks is a real pain So armed and ready to go all I needed to do was paint the little devils.

 

Purple People Eaters

OK I know the colour purple was in short supply and very expensive but I tried undercoating in Maelstrom Purple which ironically I bought really cheap and have shed loads of. The shields and a cloak are the only purple left from the priming so they are not terribly purple. Again the figures painted up really quickly but I expected the shields to take a few days to do as I expected much frustration and angst from this as I have had a bit of a job with this very task each and every time I painted up a block. Well this time it was a fairly fast operation and I found it pleasing (mostly done when no one else was in the house).

 

The movement trays are a little tight but work well enough, they don't loose casualties often enough for it to be an issue really. The Macedonian Star is as always not uniform across the whole block but I am happy enough with the finished unit so that's enough for me.

 

I really am proud of the commanders shield, it took just the one attempt and even blown up to this size from 15mm still looks the business. I am not sure how often I will use four blocks but I have them and I suspect if I ever get round to another campaign and use this army I will be looking to add as much pike as I can get away with. In fact looking through the rest of Martin's figures I also have another 114 pike figures and 24 hoplites so I will get these painted up at some point but not until I either need them or I have a good amount of the Romans painted up.  Having looked through what I have left to paint in 15mm that could be started before the end of March.

 

Here we have the four block all out at the same time and all snug in their movement trays. Hard to accept that these have all been painted up in the last year and a half. That's a lot of points standing on parade.

 

 

Not the way you would use in a game as you only count up to 4 ranks but impressive for a photo opportunity. The two blocks are the ones with command figures, the rear two are just pike men and I feel adding command makes the blocks look better.

 



 



I like this shot as it gives a nice slid block feel to them. Imagine coming against such a beast! Obviously I will rotate the blocks used in games. I can field all as they are or even four blocks but only 8 bases each instead of having 12 base blocks or a mix. I know one thing though, this block will be held out till I get chance to play with this army, it's one unit I at least will get on the table first.

 



 

A more traditional formation for these guys. I expect to have a commander attached and giving them double moves for all he is worth, just so the can get into the fight. Mathew I know is looking at his favourite army to rebase, this being Parathion I may have some time yet before they get to grips with an enemy.

 

On the table now are some more of Martin's figures but these are part painted but have suffered from moving around in the tool box and need a lot of touch up and repaints. I also want to get as much rebasing done as I can in the next two weeks.  really don't have a mass to do but they have hung round for ages. One lot are Kardrakes and these are surplus to my Persian army and will be sold on e-bay. I will use the proceeds for more bases as I will be needing plenty more before I am finished.

15mm Ancient Artillery

Whilst painting up the 6mm I also had these on the go. I already had the Roman crews as part of the Roman army  was given earlier in the year but they did not have and artillery with them. I wanted to get some bolt throwers for my Seleucid army anyway so purchased just the two bolt throwers and two sets of Greek type crews (all from Essex Miniatures). The idea being that I can just move the bolt throwers between the four crews.

 

As you can see the bolt throwers are a tad on the large side, well given they are heavy artillery I thought I would make sure everyone knows about it!

 

The Greek crews are in three different poses and with the limited clothing etc. were extremely quick to paint up.

The Roman crews though are more involved making them more fun to paint. I would say that between all the figures and the artillery itself I spent less than a couple of hours so a nice and easy project to do.

 

The flash bleaches the colour somewhat but you get the idea. I added a couple of strands of cross stitching silks (from my own collection not the wife's LOL) which I dipped in PVA glue so that they would look as if they are snapping back after unleashing a shot.

he FoG Principate Roman Army can have unto six of these beasts or a mix of six between light and heavy so I may yet get more. Also other Macedonian armies can have up to four heavy bolt throwers so more reason to consider buying them. Te great thing about Essex Miniatures is that they supply the crews as separate items so I can mix and match saving quite a lot on the engines themselves. First though they need to be battle tested to see if they are worth the 20 points each. Lights are 17 points each, not much of a saving but at least these can move around the battlefield.