15mm Macedonian Pike 2nd Unit

Well this painting competition is sure got me inspired to get the lead out. Having fairly recently finished off a 48 figure block I was eyeing up the three 32 man blocks a man with a heavy load looks at a steep hill. A little unfair as I enjoyed painting them but man 96!!! Since then I have received a further 96 but that's another story. But 32 figures is a fair amount of points so after doing the Cretans I wanted to get stuck in.

I obviously want each block to stand out from the others and had already selected the Blue shield finish before even cleaning the figures up. The shield is Prussian Blue by Valero but in a moment of madness I also decided to have a go at painting faces on the shields as per the FoG army list illustration. I was more than happy with the result, though like most painted items they look better from a distance. This is the only block that I will add this touch to with though I think, two reasons. 1. One stands out and as such best leave it at that. 2. The effect of massed Macedonian Stars is lost a little with a front rank of different shields.

I really like this shot Cath took, shame I did not have the patience to set it up on a cloth as it clearly was taken on my painting table. I mixed in a few blue helmets in an attempt to give it that campaign look. The front rank are a slightly different figure to the rear ranks. The helmet lacks cheek guards and the men all have bushy beards. The shield is positioned slightly further to the right and lacks the extra leather strap for the shield. Whilst this makes painting easier I liked the added detail.

The last block I painted the shield strap and sword strap in different colours but decided to go with the same colour. Not sure how I will do the two following blocks as I don't see that much of a bonus for the two colours and doing it this way is far quicker but it feels like I cheated!

So 20 bases of pike would allow me two BG's and a reasonable start. I need to get the Command stands painted, these are now cleaned and primed but waiting behind 4 German WWII figures I am working on for a project idea for ASL. Then I need to get the Agema and more Companion Cavalry done. I'd say a further 24 mounted after the command has been done and I am ready to try out the rules with a fair army. Though I still have the camp to paint and build which I have the components just need to get it started. But before that I am taking a little break. No not in painting!! I am going back to 6mm for a couple of Regiments.

Memoir '44 AAR

Between Christmas and New Year I always like to get some kind of game in. I still get a warm fuzzy feeling from that first Christmas that I owned Squad Leader. Most of my spare time Christmas Day and a chunk of Boxing Day was spent trying to work out how two conflicting rules worked. Only at a party that second night did I work it out and hightailed it back home on some excuse. Imagine my parents looks as they staggered in the house at Whatever O'clock to see me bent over the board still playing and still grinning like a mad man. Boxing Day became the target day, perfect in that anything new will have been well looked over and everyone else is content to just vegetate. Well kids have put a dent into this to some extent but this Boxing Day I saw an opportunity and I took it. James my Nephew and regular FTF ASL opponent was going to be girlfriend less for the day and we had a family gathering, not the place for a game of ASL but perfect for Memoir '44. James had had this for a fair few years now and whilst he has played through most of the scenario's I have only played about 4 games with him and a couple of others. Neither of us have played in a couple of years though. I did give him the choice of Battle Cry as well, I had given him the game even further in the past but he brought this a game of more interest to him but sharing the same mechanics.

We picked the Sword Beach scenario and random selection gave me the Brit's. I just love to attack so this was right up my street.

The simplistic mechanics of Memoir means that even with such a long break we were quickly back into it, James had re-read the rules and acted as the prompter for all questions but really it was good to go from the start. The scenario was quickly set up with me the attacker just coming out of the water. Now the biggest flaw with this game and I expect with most of it's type (Battle Cry certainly had it) was the hand of cards you have, if they don't play out for you you can be stuffed no matter what you do. Same goes if you roll poor dice in any other game, of course this has dice as well so a double stuffing can be on the cards. The other issue is that some of the cards are really powerful. I remember winning a game with Air Support, this was made so much worse as the game was set at night!! But total realism and historical accuracy is not strengths of the game. Quick play and fun are. I wonder how much this game paved the way for Flames of War?

Anyway this is not a long rambling introduction to my poor hand of cards (mine were fairly good) and anyway I believe in many cases you can work through a poor hand by using it effectively, if your oppo has a good hand your still screwed though.

My hand was well mixed with options for all area's. I decided to get a fair few units out of the sea and onto the beach over the first few turns rather than start an attack half cock. Fortunately during this James seemed unable to use his Arty but did reposition a few units. I got the idea that for the most part he was trying to cycle through his hand.

I had three tank units and three Commando units both of which could move and fight at greater than one hex moved, this proved to be a major benefit as I maneuvered to striking distance on my right and then on my left. This is an important tactic if you manage it. Get at least two sections in a position to strike. In both cases I had units on the shared middle hexes so as to be able to make use of the cards for the centre. Again all in this time James was tinkering with his positions but wisely did not come out of his Bunkers or from behind his wire.

I started off the attack on the right and used the tanks to remove wire and then the infantry to attack the bunker behind it. Every unit I attacked was attacked by at least two units. James from this point was really reacting to attacks with only one real counter attack all game. The right hand attack was going well, over two turns I destroyed one unit and reduced another to just 1 figure, all for little loss in return. I then switched flanks and did the same here, though with slightly higher casualties in return. James started to use his Arty and also a limited counterattack on my right that gained him a dead unit of mine. This also brought him back close with several damaged units which I then attacked again managing to remove them. I now was pressing on towards the required points to win and James was far off with plenty of fragile units.

I still had a fair mix of cards but used a centre attack, this used the two units on the shared sector hexes which went after already reduced units and I also attacked the Arty. I bagged a unit, the other was forced to retreat and killed the Arty in the middle. Now I just needed one more point and two victory locations were wide open and within range. This forced James to move to block me with weak units and hope I would roll badly.

I attacked and took out the units and then in one case moved the tanks onto the objective for a wide margin win.

I think a strong tactic is to get those weak units out of harms way when ever you can and go after your opponents. Sounds both simple and common sense but the times I have seen units on the point of collapse facing off against stronger enemies both in this game and others is times many.

End of the game, I still had 4 units of infantry unbloodied, whilst the Germans have almost no units left. note the gaps in the wire, I did that LOL.

Full strength Tank Unit V 1/4 strength Infantry, well it had to go my way really. I exploit into the VC area and get an extra chit beyond required.

Played out in less than an hour, if we had started earlier we could have got in a second game but we went back to the party. I still like this game and would play again as a filler to an evening but it's fair to say it is far more just a game than a wargame and at the price I would buy many other games before buying this.

Cheap Terrain

I have two issues at Castle Willey. One is space, with my wife doing a lot of crafting, two kids doing my head in and what can only be described as a significant ASL habit I really don't have a great deal of spare space for figures etc. The other issue is ££££ I really can't afford to spend to much in the way of real money on terrain given that I will not be working any time soon. When I left off wargaming all those years ago we really were not into the best looking terrain anyway. I think I would have developed in that direction for the want of new projects etc. So for the time being I can live with cheap and cheerful. Besides I don't think this looks too bad.

On this shot you don't see the earth effect, look at the larger shot below for that detail. Simple, just steel a few pennies from the kids money box, paint one side and then coat in water down PVA. Then once it has dried just add a little more watered PVA on a few patches and add the desired earth effect or whatever. Once dried add more glue on the unearthed parts and flock. Once it is all dried again (lots of waiting ain't there) add your brush or whatever. I am also doing a few with bits of rock and yet others with a water effect so I can create broken ground and marsh/swamp.

For a better effect use other material than a cut up bit of cloth. This will do me until I see something that I will just know is just right. I have lots of access to cloth off cuts (did I mention Cath did crafting?) So it ticks the cheap box but how about the space problem. Well it all rolls up and stores out of the way. A case of win win if you ask me.

FoG Test Game

Well I finally got round to trying out the Field of Glory rules in a solo game. I felt that I had the basic combat rules in my head but realised I would have to go stage by sage for a few turns to get all the different sections to fit together. I wanted to have a fair mix and also make it worth my while I used seven Macedonian against 11 Persian and set up with the traditional cavalry on each flank, heavy foot in the centre with skirmish troops to the front. But a couple of points, first up I have yet to paint up any Command for the Macedonian so I used a Persian Command stand and EHC stand from the Persian Cavalry not used. I also have not painted up the one camp I have so I used no camps at all.

Another good point is that the table is not a gaming table so it was rather narrow and not long enough. Good enough to move a few units, no where near what would be required if I was playing a real game.

The pike start on the long hill flanked by the Cretans and the lightspear armed LC. My plan was to move the pike each and every move to try and get into contact. I should have used the double move on these guys but never thought of it during the game! It was great to get freshly painted units on the table.

Facing these I had two units of Hoplites with two skirmish units out front, slingers and Persian bow whilst a medium lightspear unit flanked them. Nothing new for the Persians other than rebasing, the only question was would the more experienced but worn Persians beat out the shinny shinny new guys?

The first physical contact was between my venerable Persian HC and the just painted Prodromoi LC armed with Lance. First they had to pass a complex test just to charge. This they did. I was really looking forward to seeing how these guys could stand against HC. On the plus they had lance but being lights they lost one die in two in the Impact Phase. The + status for Lance was not that great of a bonus when you loose 50% of your dice, especially when they loose that bonus due to having a lower armour class. In the system you have three kinds of combat. Shooting, obviously but also Impact where just the front row gets to fight and only those in direct contact, no overlaps here. Lastly if both units remain in contact then you have melee. Though in reality shooting is normally sandwiched between the two close combat phases.

I found that whilst the rules worked well and as you use the same mechanics for all three combat mechanics were lumped together that whilst learning the rules it meant that much searching was required. The page labels letting you know what rules are covered on that page and indeed in the coming/preceding pages was useful but would be even better if the index and rules were better organised. I would prefer to have 50 more pages and some duplication to the constant dead end reading. Better yet instead of the rather annoying, 'Discussed Later' would have been a page number reference to where you would follow on the rules. After all when you look up shooting and read the section called shooting would it not be normal to expect shooting mechanic's to at least feature in that section of the rules?

In fairness once you get your head around the fact that much of the book really is padding and that the rule mechanic's for all combat is really never in the section labeled as Impact, Shooting or Melee and is in fact in 'The Combat Mechanism' and the results of this are in 'Cohesion Test' life gets a little less cumbersome. The fact they separate these two sections with another chapter speaks volumes of why it would be better to play with an experienced player.

Whilst the Prodromoi was tussling with the HC I also charged in on the opposite (Persian right) flank Eastern LC and against normal play stood the Saka LC against them. Whilst the Prodromoi managed to hold out through good dice and would eventually be defeated by the addition of another HC unit the Saka was fairly quickly put to rout. OK it took a couple of turns but each combat saw them loose a base.

The Persian Crescent Shields faced off against the Thereophoroi whist both units of bow faced off. I was happy to stand back with the bow but as the Cretans were getting the worst of the engagement I sent them into contact as well. Both melee's worked out for the Macedonian force with the quality re-rolls working for the Cretans. It's a mechanic I like.

The view from the Persian hill as the Greek Hoplites await the mass pike phalanx. The slingers were having no effect on the pike whilst the Persian bow was starting to fail.

The Macedonian view of things. No way was the Greeks going to come looking for trouble.

So as to speed up the demise of the Persian bow the phalanx moves to support the Cretans and it was all over for them from there. Both sides had beaten opposing flanks and the Persians were losing the screening forces. I had already started to move the as yet untried Companion Lance armed Cavalry to face off against the two Persian HC units which would be supported by the reduced strength lightspear armed LC. I would possibly be able to throw in the Medium Infantry but this would leave the phalanx facing the two hoplite units with little support.

End of the game. It had taken 4+ hours and to be honest I was happy to finish here. Further reading of the rules will only show up mistakes in the use of the rules and allow for a better understanding of what to do. I have previously stated that I really want to like the rules as I have invested both money (rules and 2 army lists) and time (rebasing one army and building another) but whilst a few rules are not yet sitting right I already prefer them to the Impetus light. However with Barry now owning the full rules and list III I will get a chance to play the full version. Something that I am looking forward too. My gut feeling though is that when I play Barry I will play Impetus, even looking at putting together a army for it! But when I play Lee and Matt we will swop heads and play FoG. Impetus would have to be a marked improvement to FoG to get me to re-base again and at this point it would take a lot of convincing. Still with only one game of FoG and no full Impetus I could have my mind changed fairly quickly.

Now I need to get that 2nd Phalanx finished and onto a few command stands for the new boys.

Cretan Archers and Prodromoi Are Go.

I have been rather fired up this past week or so with my Macedonian army. What with a possible game on the horizon and the painting competition I really wanted to get going. The rules of the contest were quite clear, to count the figures could not be painted before the 20th but could be cleaned and undercoated. Well I cleaned and sprayed 8 Prodromoi (LC with Lance) and 16 Cretans but I also cleaned up 32 Pike as well. I had already planned to paint the LC next but the ease and speed of the Cretans made me choose them as the second unit. I did feel that would be in with a good chance of leading the way with such a bunch, well dream on Ian as I was quickly enlightened by some truly good and fast painting. I think I am in 7th place and the leaders are so far ahead I don't think they need worry for a few weeks even if they stop painting!

Oh well, good job it still serves as a great vehicle to drive me on, like I really needed it.

I was expecting the Prodromoi to paint really quickly as they only have a helmet and tunics and cloaks are not the slowest items to paint. Well tunics with four colours on the chest and another colour on the sleeves are not the fastest either! I am not sure the final result was worth the effort though as it neither stands out nor really looks that great when you look for it.

What I did like though was the leopard skin on the horse, it was fun and fairly quick to do and for the most part looks effective. The pink helmets and lighter pink cloak and tunic are correct and I await Matt taking revenge on my calling his Companion Phalanx, 'Smurfs' all those years ago. Especially as they are on the painting table right now waiting for Farther Abraham to turn up.

The whole unit ready for action. The unit is a mix of two poses that are almost the same and work well together. I was intrigued by this unit as the idea of mixing LC and Lances was very interesting. It seems to only be used in one of all the Macedonian lists I have so will only get action when playing the Alexandrian Macedonian army. My daughter loves them as they are pink and keeps asking me if I like pink, oh the shame.

I struggled with what colour to paint the tunic's, white seems the new Vogue but I remember Matt's red ones with a very keen memory. I knew the red would stand out so went with the original plan. I painted them scarlet and when I added the wash this really came to light. You get 8 figures per pack and I really only needed 12 figures but painted up the whole lot as other lists may use them all and besides I needed the points.As a unit they look rather pleasing to my eye and I am 100% happy with the colour choice.

I used two different colours for the leather belts but they ended up looking fairly close to each other. If you look close you can tell but rather disappointing. More than making up for that though is the leather hats, these I mixed up the colour and they turned out exactly as I saw in my head, how often can you say that?

Now I have stated work on my second Phalanx which at 32 figures is much smaller than the 48 figure block but I already have the colours fixed in my head and I hope to get it finished in the next two weeks. Within that time frame I want to get the casualty markers I am also working on finished and based as well as the sniper markers for ASL. After that it will be more Sniper Markers, some Macedonian Command bases and more Lance armed Cavalry, this time a little heavier.

Christmas Spirit

Well I hope you all had a great Christmas Day and gave and received presents that went down well. I tend to supply a list of what I want, or as often is the case I order the stuff myself as it's so specialised and as you will know it does matter if it's not quite the right item, be it figures or other games stock.

Well this year it was all about the kids as I lost my job in July then found out two months later it had literally saved my life as I have a genetics issue that was going to kill me and work nicely masked it. The only problem with this is it meant no work for me for 6-12 months due to the advanced state of the ISSUE. This means money is on the tight side so no presents for us. As the big day got closer and we worked out the kids were sorted and we had a little left over we decided to splash each other. Well to late to get my normal candy (ASL stuff) and really not much I needed in the way of hobby stuff this became the first Christmas in years that I did not get anything remotely war related on the day. I did get some rather nice Precision dice for ASL from a good friend Olli who sent them through early in the month which was a real treat. This got me thinking just how great this hobby of ours is. At this point I am talking of the wider hobby, I think when the chips are down for one guy others pick up the slack but when you go deep, in this case Olli and the ASL community which is a sub group it goes even deeper. When I mentioned I could not get to a four day games convention next year (I have gone for the last three years) Olli quickly got enough guys together to pay for the hotel, entry and food for the full weekend and a lift to and from Blackpool (I live in the Midlands), hell he was fairly confident they could have payed for me to get to ASLOK (In the US), very heart warming, though in this case I can't accept as it is doubtful I would be fit to make much of it, but hell that was nice!

So when an old friend contacted me having heard I was ill and we got chatting I mentioned that about the only thing I can do without falling asleep or making myself very tired was painting figures he did no more than search out his old and long given up on project, that is a rather large Seleucid army and brought it over last weekend.

Given that at the rate I have been painting I should run out of figures sometime around March, this is just plain fantastic. Well the main objective is to improve me waking day (painting also makes me more alert and if I feel really busted if I can get myself to paint it brings me back into reasonable shape. My consultant (an ex-roleplayer/painter) recons it's because your brain uses various areas of the brain. If I sit and read I am asleep in 15 minutes and wake up wicked. Anyways I thought great I can paint them for him and he can have them back to sell or whatever.

Well Martin really is not interested, just happy for me to have them and when I have painted them I could sell or keep. Well in all honesty it would allow me a massive force choice. I already have 2/3rd of the pike I needed for the current project. Well I have more than enough but I have 2/3rd's of the MAXIMUM is what I have! But other armies allow even more so now I will have enough Pike to do anything. The extra Companion Cav will bring me up to speed and this box is packed with Cataphracts, a mix of painted and unpainted. In fact most of the stuff is unpainted and some will

need to be cleaned and started again as they are part painted and it would be hard to d in my style. Others just need finishing off or re-basing.
It's a big army, the pics don't really do justice but for instance it has 6 Indian Elephants and 10 camels. I think I counted 96 pike. Looking at the FoG list which are not known for frugal figure counts I would not need to buy many figures to max out this army. I guess when Triples comes round it will be all terrain and 6mm Naps

So a big thank you to Martin and watch this space for seeing these guys started. I don't plan to touch them until I have a playable Macedonian

army done. But the other surprise was another 15mm army in the bottom of the box, this one is a Orc and Goblin army!!! well I counted about 400 15mm Ancients and the Fantasy army must ring in about 300 so that is a lot of lead and enough to keep me going to way past Derby. All in all a good catch. I also have a few other projects I have promised to do so no worries.

Crash Bang Whallop

I painted these figures over twenty years ago and I am still rather proud of them. (That is apart from the one on the right as this was painted two weeks ago). I wanted to add an extra twist to the bases so did a number of casualties. The left most is starting to fall whilst the guy next to him I simply cut the bow from his hand and bent it up to his head. The third conversion also needed a little more work. Folding the front legs back and leaning the horse forwards made the rider seem to pitch forward so I cut the axe out of his hand and again mover the arm forwards towards the reins s it looks like he is trying to grab for them whilst his axe is hanging in the air behind him in it's fall to the floor. I was very happy with that.

Close up of the action. As I was rebasing I took the opportunity to gather these figures together in two bases and used some of the tuft's again. Now these figures are veterans that have seen many a game. It's been a lot of fun pulling them out, touching them up and rebasing them. I just hope they can be as annoying under FoG as they were under 6th.

Close up final shot. I even remember painting these guys, at the time it seemed like I spent forever on them and as each figure was painted separately it took much longer than a series of the same figures. Been great to share these with you, new stuff will follow just as soon as they are based and the 24 hour delay is up. Look for sometime soon after Christmas Day.