First go with Command & Colours

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Friend Neil wanted me to try Command & Colours, a board-wargame featuring wooden blocks representing units moving around a hex battlefield, with activation being card-driven and combat being resolved through throws of custom dice.

We played the Napoleonic version (there are versions that cover other periods in history), specifically the battle of Eggmuhl between the French and the Austrians.

So, what did I think? Firstly, let me say that this is definitely a wargame and not a boardgame. Put this onto a big table with a hexed mat (i.e. no different from To The Strongest’s grid) and substitute the wooden blocks for figures, and it plays exactly the same as a tabletop system. In fact, my first thought when I saw the game set up, was “oh look, it’s kriegspiel”.

We played two games, swapping sides for the second. I lost the first one, then we started another game but I made a critical mistake in my first turn and got heavily punished immediately, so we stopped that game and started again (consigning that encounter to the forgotten history file) and then won the second.

The system was easy to learn, although there are nuances that you need experience to exploit. For example, the cards drive what units you can activate…which means that to launch a game-winning attack, you have to make sure you have enough cards in your hand to allow you to push that attack forward for at least three turns, otherwise you will find yourself unable to exploit any success you might have had with your first card.

It also takes a little time to adjust your play for how brutal the combat can be. You definitely don’t want to be infantry caught out of square by cavalry, and using your artillery effectively (and without getting them killed!) is tricky.

All in all, I really enjoyed the two games we had. I’d always choose to play a figures-on-the-table game over a wooden-blocks game, but Command & Colours would certainly provide a great alternative if no full wargame was available.

I’m also tempted to get a huge hex mat on a suitably sized table and see what it would be like to fight a slightly later game with my 15mm collection: perhaps an 1859 Franco-Austrian encounter as I don’t really have any Napoleonics…

TTS AAR: Welsh Open Game Three: Venice Abroad versus Pradithra Indians

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With two big wins under my belt it, it was inevitable that my next game was against Peter and his Pradithran Indians: lots of heavy cavalry, lance and bow, supported by horse archers…sounds very familar…

I lost the scouting and, despite my best efforts, managed to deploy with half my army facing thin air. It’s a familiar story when playing Peter, and one that usually ends in disaster!

Turn one and forward came the Indians, their pooping camels straight down into the corner!

I counter-advanced whilst frantically rushing my troops over to the right.

The Indian cavalry charged my veteran Later Knights (saving on 4+) and disaster struck: I drew five Aces in the first eight cards and promptly lost the Later Knights and therefore my army standard!

No matter: these things happen and I had more Knights that I could use to recover on the left whilst still trying to shift my army over to the right.

Then disaster struck again: I pulled three consecutive Aces and lost both those Knights and some Handgunners that were in the area!

Words fail me! I had drawn eight Aces in about thirteen cards. At this point even Peter was telling me that he had never seen such appalling luck!

With my left flank now vaporised and my back firmly against the wall, I fought on, desperate to recover the situation.

As you’ll also see in the right hand picture, above, I managed to get my troops that has started the game on the left over into the centre, and began an heroic defence of my position, managing to stretch the game out (playing normally, I hasten to add: no long pauses to deliberate!) until there was only five minutes to go.

At this point I was still on something like six coins, so a losing draw would have been okay. Keen to keep hopes of a good placing alive, I did get a bit gamey (translation: act like an arse!) and tried to claim that we had no time to play another turn - in competition, the organiser can’t afford to let the time spent on a round go too much over the allocated time or you could end up giving out the prizes in the Donmar Warehouse (if you know, you know!) - but Ty consulted the competition pack and declared that even though there were only minutes to go, and any resultant turn could take the game considerably over the limit, the rules said that if a player wanted to start a new turn they could do.

Unsurprisingly, Peter did…and, with some very skillful manoeuvring, managed to infiltrate some light cavalry through the gaping holes in my left flank (which I had denuded to prop up the centre) and take two of my three camps. Game over and a 2-12 loss to the master!

So another shoe-ing from Peter…but I could take some comfort from the fact that this one was down much more to the cards - eight pooping Aces in thirteen pooping cards - than to lack of skill or error on my part.

On to the last game…

Painting Challenge: a Second February Update

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The entries for this year’s Challenge have been coming in thick and fast, so let’s get straight down to the latest submissions…

Nick Cooper sends in his first batch of the year: more assorted fantasy figures for his collection.

I particularly like the Giant’s lightning and, of course, the Guinea Pig with the huge gun (from Bad Squiddo).

Next up is Stumpy, with some kit for CoC in the Ardennes and for Test of Honour. Loving the sumo doyo and, if the snowman wasn’t enough, you can see the rest of the Ardennes submission in Stumpy’s gallery, accessed via the NavBar, above.

Let’s look at what Andrew Helliwell has sent in next. As per usual, a huge entry featuring a range of Napoleonics and a few other bits and pieces…

Carole has been dabbling in the Eldritch, sending in some nicely painted scenery from Bad Squiddo and Fenris. There’s also a warrior queen and commitatus in there too. And a dragon, don’t forget the dragon!

And last, but by no means least, Mervyn has been building terrain and re-basing some 15mm troops:

That’s all for now, but do keep them coming!

Enter the Gekta from Trilaterum

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I’m still working my way through the big order I received from Trilaterum just after Christmas. Next up were some reinforcements for my Aphids (scifi frogs): the Gekta (scifi toads). These were the first additions to my Aphid force since 2016, and I bought the standard army box set for $30.

I had better luck with the breakages this time. The leg infantry were all undamaged, and only one of the walkers was seriously battered, losing a leg in transit, which was easily glued back on, leaving only minor damage elsewhere to be sorted. Still annoying, I hasten to add, but much better than the Avians.

Also better was the lack of scale creep: the leg infantry are only just over 15mm high and pleasingly chunky. They have plenty of character, although too many of them carry swords and pistols for my liking. What is this? Dune? The best bit, of course, is the eyes on the helmets: very Mr Toad.

Along with 14 leg infantry, there’s a very cute APC, pictured above, and two different walkers, pictured below. I’m loving these: they fit right in with the rest of the Aphids. And they paint up beautifully as well: spray a lightish green, wash, highlight various bits.

So 14 infantry, one smallish vehicle and two walkers for the equivalent of £22…nice figures, and not too bad value if you discount any postage from the States. Recommended.

You can see the rest of my Aphid army here.

TTS AAR: Welsh Open Game Two: Venice Abroad versus Later Romans

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After dispatching Colin’s Ikko-Ikki in Game One, my opponent in Game Two was friend Si and his Later Romans: in effect, a repeat of my third battle at last year’s Warfare tournament. I’d won that one (beating Si for the first time in competition ever) so settled down to try and do so again.

Things didn’t start very well, as I lost the scouting and had to watch as significant numbers of Roman heavy cavalry thundered towards my left wing!

At this point I managed to muck up the settings on my camera, so some of the photos are weirdly focused: which is absolutely gutting as this was the key moment of the battle!

I advanced my Knights towards the Roman horse and managed to get the first charge in. Incredibly, a fortuitous run of the cards saw me knock out one of the Roman cavalry units along with their General, with their accompanying lights also fleeing the field in shock. That’s five coins won (about half the Roman total) in one hit!

It was now very much the case of not throwing away this advantage, so I calmed myself down (no easy feat after that bit of good luck) and took stock. A plan quickly evolved: the Knights to finish off his Roman cavalry on the left then advance on his camp; send everything else in against the so-far-untouched Romans on the right.

Romans are really hard to kill, especially when commanded by an experienced general like Si. I threw everything I had available at the enemy on the right, and despite having a considerable numerical advantage and Knights, at the end of the game I still hadn’t fully broken them there!

So it would all be down to what happened on the left.

First task was to polish off the rest of the Roman cavalry…

Again, this took much longer than it should have done, particularly once some Roman infantry got involved…but eventually the last enemy cavalryman fled the field and it was time to break the foot.

Stubborn? That word doesn’t properly encompass how difficult it was to finish them off!

In particular, the Roman legionaries on the hill at the back survived charge after charge in the rear from my light horse, and weren’t even much bothered by my Knights coming in from the front, disordering them the first time they tried it!

In the end, however, the Later Knights managed to break the infantry unit caught out in the open, and the game was mine.

This was another big win (12-2) but, I emphasise, solely down to the luck I had in the first turn in knocking five coins worth of veteran Roman cavalry and their general off the table with my first charge. Without that bit of extreme good fortune, things would have been very different indeed!

Another Lust for Glory Playtest

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Lust for Glory is the chronological successor to For King & Parliament i.e. the same basic game structure, but covering the period from the late-17th to mid-18th centuries.

Today’s playtest would be a huge, 300-point battle between the Austrians and the Danish fought in 6mm on 10mm squares.

Before we get to the report, a brief confession. I must admit that I’ve never really got on with figures smaller than 10mm. In fact, 15mm (or perhaps Epic scale at roughly 12mm) is about as tiny as I care to go. I do, of course, recognise the many virtues of these smaller scales: the splendid god’s-eye view of the battlefield, the ability to refight vast historical encounters and so on, and all at a pleasingly modest cost.

Unfortunately, there is one insurmountable problem—I can’t actually see the blighters. At any sort of distance, unit identification becomes guesswork, my strategic acumen evaporates, and the whole affair starts to feel less like generalship and more like shuffling around a collection of indistinct Kriegsspiel blocks and hoping for the best.

This is no slight on the figures we used themselves, which were beautifully painted given their diminutive proportions. Still, they failed to stir my soul in the way larger miniatures do. I felt no emotional bond, no heroic attachment, nothing. I won’t let this stop me playing games when offered, but 15-28mm is really my thing!

Now, with that off my chest, on with the report…

Commanding the Austrians, I thought I saw an opportunity on the left flank, where I had superior numbers of cavalry that I could back up with infantry and artillery. I therefore sent my horse forward, but was somewhat dismayed when they were roundly beaten by the outnumbered Danish cavalry, who then followed up their success with their own infantry and put my whole left flank at risk!

Meanwhile, on the right of the battlefield, the reverse was occurring, as the Danes led their superior numbers of cavalry forward, supported by infantry.

Equally similar to what happened on the left flank, my horse, despite the fact they were outnumbered, pushed the Danish cavalry back, but foundered against the wall of Danish infantry that followed.

I advanced my foot to support, but had little success: the initiative was firmly with the enemy and, despite my best efforts, I was soon being pushed back.

Fierce fighting took place as both sides fed units into the melee, but it was unfortunately the Danes that prevailed again and, now under overwhelming pressure on both flanks, my troops crumbled and fled!

A defeat, but at least I know what I did wrong! Firstly, I need to support my horse more closely with infantry: combined arms is definitely the way to win. Secondly, I let me desire to keep the area in front of my guns clear so that they could shoot at the enemy interfere with my tactical thinking far too much: I should have moved infantry to the left sooner than I did and taken a turn’s worth of not firing the guns as the cost of improving my position. I shall do better next time!

The real good news, however, is that overall the game played very smoothly, with the need to look things up gradually disappearing as the morning went on. We had a couple more questions and suggestions which were sent on to Mr Miller, but it looks as if Lust! is coming along nicely, and we will hopefully see them ready for publication soon.

TTS AAR: Welsh Open Game One: Venice Abroad versus Ikko-Ikki

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My first game proper at this year’s Welsh Open (held at the ever-excellent Firestorm Games in Cardiff) was against Colin’s beautifully-painted Ikko-Ikki.

This is an unusual army consisting of a mix of raw and veteran fanatics wielding naginatas and other polearms, supported by a small contingent of fanatical cavalry and the odd unit of bowmen and handgunners.

I won the scouting, and was pleased to see Colin set up in one corner of the table, ripe for some kind of outflanking manouevre with my Knights on the left!

I knew the Ikko-Ikki would come straight at me - that’s what fanatical monks with big choppers do - but I also knew that they would all be very vulnerable to missile fire. I therefore determined to get forward into missile range, then wait for them to come to me as I pelted them with crossbow bolts and fire from my handgunners.

There was also the matter of their cavalry on my right: that was job for my other command of Knights!

The shooting was also going very well on the right, with a couple of units of raw fanatics neutralised, so I thought it was safe to send the infantry forward to distract Colin’s main line whilst I developed my flank attack on the left.

This worked surprisingly well: with last of the Ikko-Ikki disposed of by the Knights on the right, an attack by Lancieri Spearmen on the side of one unit that had swivelled to face my flank attack was enough to knock their target off the table and give me a 14-2 victory without my left-hand flank attack even going in.

All in all, a succesful start to the tournament. It has to be said that Colin was unlucky with his saves against my missile fire and, as you can probably deduce from the pictures above, did manage to kill my one unit of Later Knights on the right.

Facing a solid wall of polearm-wielding, fanatical infantry and cavalry is terrifying, by the way, and I was pleased I never had to properly close with them throughout!

Welsh Warm-Up: Venice Abroad vs Graeco-Bactrians

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It’s late afternoon the Friday before the Welsh Open To The Strongest tournament at Firestorm Games in Cardiff. There’s beer to be drunk and a curry to be eaten later, but now there’s just time for a warm-up game between my Venetians and Mike’s Graeco-Bactrian (GB) successors.

[Mike had obviously heard that I was a VIP player as he had taken the trouble to dress very formally for the occasion. Although not featured in many of the photographs (it’s all about the figures, man) you may note his very natty suit and tie in the background of some of them. My thanks to him for making the effort: much appreciated!]

As the GB’s two pike blocks made the centre of their line a pretty dangerous place to be, my plan was to hold back my infantry there but attack strongly on both wings.

However, as the two armies advanced towards each other, it seemed as if the GB pikemen had decided to do the same thing: his wings advanced towards me whilst his centre stayed put.

This suited me down to the ground and, moments later, my left wing knights were charging into the GB veteran ‘Companion’ cavalry, ably supported by handgunners and the Alabardiers - free to intervene here as the enemy pike were still stationery.

Likewise on the right…although, as now seems customary, the later knights there seemed to have put on their ceremonial cardboard armour rather than the real thing!

My lights were meanwhile clearing the other GB troops from the field with missile fire (Mike was being very unlucky with his cards) and although of the left the knights were now making heavy weather of things, on the right they had recovered and were driving forward nicely.

As for the GBs, they had started to bring their pike forward…gulp!

My veteran later knights on the left (my best unit) were able to rout the companion types in front of them and then, with a glorious charge, sweep sideways and take one of the GB pike phalanxes in the flank, double-disordering them in one go: I told you Mike was being very unlucky with his cards!

At the same time, the advance of the other GB pike block and the fact that missile fire had stripped them of their accompanying/protecting lights meant that it’s flank was vulnerable as well: proving to be a very lovely target for my other unit of later knights, now dressed in proper metal armour rather than the nonsense they had started the game with.

It was all going a bit horribly wrong for the brave (but doomed) GBs, and it wasn’t long before one of the pike blocks gave way giving me Mike’s last three coins and the game!

So a big win for the Venetians in their warm-up game: my thanks to Mike for being such a fun sparring partner even in the face of some appalling cards.

Onwards and outwards for the promised beer and curry, and then the tournament proper tomorrow…

Postscript

Michael Lane reminded me of another incident in the game:

In the practice game that Douglas Baldwin and his Bactrians fought with Robert Avery’s Venetians Abroad on the Friday evening before Godendag, Mike (Douglas - don’t ask!) had the Patroclus Stratagem and he too forgot to use it when his General was turned into a pin cushion by Rob’s Crossbowmen. He didn’t even have the chance to save another General unlike me! It was Rob who reminded him of the lost opportunity when the game ended!

The Rest of the Avians from Trilaterum

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With the lookalike Hauk cavalry finished, it was time to start on the infantry.

Again the figures had not survived the journey from the States very well: almost all the pistols were snapped off, and quite a few legs and arms too. Not sure what the solution is here: the boxes the figures arrived in were intact, the figures (in their plastic bags) were enclosed in polystyrene packaging peanuts, and the whole lot were in a bigger box clearly marked as fragile. Anyhow, worth noting that one painting session was almsot solely devoted to repairs, with only two figures remaining unusable…and, as you’ll see below, I even found a use for one of those.

The Avians from Trilaterum divide into three different races. First up, we’ve seen the lookalike Hauk on warbirds, here are the infantry versions, who really are remarkably like Khurasan’s Hauk, albeit a lot larger. Next we have the Corus (I’ve renamed them Corvids in my lists) who look like crows. Finally, the Virginianus (should that be Virginianii?) who are best described as giant owlmen! There’s also a sky sled: some kind of hover or antigrav vehicle.

The infantry are really nice figures: very crisply formed and with clear definition between each type. They paint up very easily, and it is a very much appreciated happy coincidence that their equipment also very closely ressembles Khurasan’s Hauk range.

I used a sky sled with a broken figure as a casualty, and painted one Corvid as a medic (Avian medics are in blue: my Harook have one too).

The sky sleds are, by the way, a bit silly for me: I quite like the concept, but why put all the spikes on the back? What’s next? Skullz?

I had bought two boxes worth at $30 a box, so $60: getting an 8-man Hauk cavalry squad that you’ve already seen, two 8-man squads of mixed infantry, one commander and one medic, and two sky sleds. Counting the cavalry mounts as a separate figure, that’s 34 figures and the two sledges. Seems a bit steeply priced for me, but they are fun and will look good on the tabletop.

In addition to the price, the other catch is their size. Here’s a little comparison shot for you:

Virgianus, Khurasan Hauk, lookalike hauk, harook, corvid, battlefront infantryman

These are big birds: the Virgianus models are a good 28mm high, the two others a good 20mm high.

Now I can rationalise the difference between the Hauk and lookalike Hauk by saying that the airmobile Hauk are deliberately chosen for their diminutive size compared to the lookalike Hauk, who aren’t that bigger than a Harook anyway, but this is a very good example of 15mm scale creep. A very good example.

So there you have it: reinforcements for my Avians now complete.

Practice for 2TS: Game Three

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This was the third game in Peter and I’s practice game for the forthcoming 2TS Doubles tournament (already past by the time this post gets published).

Preparations had been intense: morning fitness sessions; a strict dietary regime; classroom sessions on strategy, tactics and the rules; and, of course, a series of practice games of which this one was the third. Again, I would take the Northern Dynasties Chinese, and Peter would field Later Romans.

I won the scouting and, again, forced the Romans to deploy across the table to protect their flanks.

I then advanced forward with my main strength on the right and centre, intending to overwhelm him there and then turn and roll up the Roman line from that direction. Left to right, the situation before the two lines closed was now as follows:

Keen to avoid the consequences of my cunning plan, the Romans pulled back on the right. In the centre, a hail of arrows hit their steadily advancing infantry, with light cavalry harassing their flanks.

All was reasonably going to plan, and the Romans were slowly getting battered…but then disaster struck as their cavalry finally arrived from the left, heading straight for my lightly defended camps!

A ferocious melee broke out around the left side of my camp, but somehow my cavalry, armed only with bows, and a unit of horse-archers held back the veteran Roman lancers.

But this couldn’t last, and I now needed to win the battle quickly, sending everything forward into battle in the centre and on the right!

And still my two cavalry units, somewhat incredibly, held the camp!

Fortunately, the strength I had been able to deploy at the beginning of the battle, when the Roman heavy cavalry were occupied by a couple of light units off to the right, began to take effect. Often tactically outnumbered, and weakened by the constant bow fire and flank attacks, even the veteran Roman legionaries and auxilia began to waver…and, perhaps fittingly, a unit of raw Chinese spearmen, striking from the rear, finally inflicted the coup de grace: taking the final Roman coins and giving me victory!

As incredible as the stand of my cavalry around the camps was the fact that this was the third time I had beaten Peter in a row. As I write this, the Fimbulwinter (three consecutive, brutal winters with no summer) is upon us, there is moral decay leading to brother killing brother everywhere (well, Minnesota), the sun and moon are being devoured by the wolves Skoll and Hati, and I swear I can hear the breaking of chains holding monsters like Fenrir!!!

Look-Alike Hauk from Trilaterum

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Regular visitors will know that, painting-wise, I am currently working through a large delivery from Trench Coat Miniatures’ Trilaterum range of 15mm sci-fi figures.

Next up were some additions to my collection of Avian sci-fi minatures i.e. various ranges that look like bird-men. That includes three types of Bird-man: the Haliaeetus (eagle-like), the Corvus (crow-like) and the Virganianus (owl-like).

My roster already includes the Hauk from Khurasan which, by happy coincidence, the Haliaeetus figures strongly ressemble in terms of both looks and equipment. The Haliaeetus therefore quickly became surrogate Hauk, with the Corvus (renamed Corvids) and Virganianus joining them as ally races within the same “Avian” command structure.

My Avian force therefore now consists of an Harook contingent and a Hauk contingent, with the latter comprising a Hauk airmobile platoon supported by mixed Avian squads of groundpounders.

First off the Trilaterum Avian production line was a squad of mixed cavalry: (Haliaeetus) Hauk and Corvids mounted on Casuarius flightless birds.

These are cracking models…and I mean that literally as well as figuratively, as I’m afraid a good half of them didn’t survive the long journey from the States undamaged. The Casuarius legs were particularly vulnerable (three feet had snapped off and had to be glued back on with a varying degree of ease) and only one of the Hauk lances survived intact…and one of the broken ones - the one at the back in the picture above - was beyond repair, and I had to bodge an alternative head so that it now looks like some form of energy-weapon lance. Three out of four Corvid pistols were also snapped off, one of those also being beyond repair and needing a substitute weapon from the bits box as a replacement.

So nice figures and I am pleased to have them…but I do have to mention scale-creep again. All Trilaterum’s figures seem on the very large side, and I mean large. The riders here, whether Hauk or Corvid, are a good 20mm high, even perhaps 25mm by some definitions.

Let me show you what I mean: here are the Trilaterum cavalry next to a Khurasan Hauk and Mad Robot’s Harook:

Big men on big horses indeed!

In summary, lovely figures (as you would expect from Trilaterum) but a bit fragile for a transatlantic crossing and very much victims of 15mm sci-fi scale creep.

Practice for 2TS: Game Two

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With the TwoTheStrongest (2TS) competition fast approaching, Peter and I have been practicing with our new army: the Northern Dynasties Chinese. For this game, I would field the Chinese and Peter would command a late Roman force.

The Chinese won the scouting and, after deployment, my plan evolved as follows:

  • on the left flank, a command of light cavalry would keep the expensive Roman right hand cavalry force occupied

  • on the right flank, I would overwhelm the Roman cavalry there then sweep in to take the rest of the enemy army from the side

  • I would move my centre gradually towards the right, seeking to beat the enemy infantry by bowfire and sheer weight of numbers

Well, that was the plan, but how did things actually work out?

The left flank plan worked exactly as it should have done: my three light cavalry units kept the whole Roman cavalry command occupied for just about the whole battle, tying up double their number in points terms thus giving me a points-advantage in the clashes in the centre.

On the right hand side, a slow start by my heavy cavalry meant that the Roman troops managed to get forward in time to prevent me lapping around their left flank.

My heavy cavalry, however, pinned the Roman infantry in place in a Mexican standoff as superior numbers of cavalry and lights dealt with the enemy horse on the far right, but effectively this flank was a stand-off until the end of the battle when my cavalry and lights finally managed to win their fight and start to lap around the Roman flank.

It was therefore in the centre that the battle was decided, with my plan working well as the advantage I had given myself by tying up his cavalry on the right with lights proved successful.

To summarise the action, we went head to head, unit by unit, but I had more decent fighting units that I could deploy and the extra numbers eventually overwhelmed the Romans in the centre.

There were obviously a few dicey moments, but the combination of my heavy cavalry with lance and bow and light horse archers worked very well: shoot with the bow until the enemy becomes disordered, then charge in with the lance to finish them off.

The coup de grace actually happened on the right flank, when some heavy cavalry charged into the rear of some retreating Roman horse, taking Peter’s last victory medals and giving me the victory!

So this victory gave me my second against Peter in as many games: cue checking the news for other signs of the coming apocalypse!

Painting Challenge: First February Update

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Plenty of entries coming in, so easy to have an update in the first week of February.

First up is new participant Zofficus, with some very nice 28mm light cavalry meant for a Pradithran Indian army. I’ve faced these particular figures across the tabletop, and they fight as well as they look!

Dex is preparing to play the Road to Bremen Pint-Sized Campaign for Chain of Command 2, so has stocked up on some 15mm, 3D printed houses. Here’s some of them: see the rest in his gallery, accessed via the NavBar (above).

Carole has sent in two batches of figures: one with some D&D adventurers and one featuring a vampire count and his retinue. Here’s some of them:

Mervyn has been finishing up some odds and ends: French casualties and Spanish civilians - sounds like the last shot before the credits of a Sharpe!

Mr Helliwell is next, with a huge entry of seven battalions of 15mm Napoleonic Austrian infantry, and a few 28mm medievals thrown in for good measure. Here’s a four of the battalions, see the rest in his gallery.

And last but by no means least, here’s Stumpy’s submission: the start of a collection for Test of Honour.

A great selection of painting for the Challenge. Keep ‘em coming!

Practice for 2TS: Game One

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With the TwoTheStrongest (2TS) competition fast approaching, it was time for Peter and I to get in some practice games. Our armies this year would be Northern Dynasties Chinese and, as a first trial, Peter would take the Chinese whilst I would field a late Roman force.

The Romans found themselves immediately on the end of a powerful flanking attack coming in from the left hand side: an attack that would eventually just about wipe out my cavalry command there. If I hadn’t kept the Roman Cataphracts in reserve, then things would have been over a lot earlier!

Meanwhile, however, my centre and right flank had been concentrating their efforts against the center and left flank of the Chinese army.

As you can see from the first photo, my right hand cavalry force started the battle facing nothing but air as the Chinese concentrated their attack on the other end of my line, but I managed to get them back into the action quite quickly - mainly by merit of ignoring the enemy light cavalry in front of me (designed to temp me to chase them into obscurity) - and they were soon supporting my main infantry attack: something that pushed forward nicely with my legionaries and auxilia doing what they do best!

So, after the first phase of the battle, the Chinese had destroyed the left side of my army, and I had destroyed the left side of their army: in effect the game now swivelled through 180 degrees as the victorious flanks of each force turned to face the other.

The first action was around the Chinese camp, where two legionary units faced two units of raw Chinese spearmen: surely an easy target for their gladiii, despite the fact the Chinese were defending camps. Unfortunately not: and the game ended with the Romans still trying to break into the enemy camps: a testament to the fortitude shown by the raw Chinese!

Each side was now so battered that it was very much a case of “sudden death”: with the next unit to fall deciding the fate of the army it belonged to.

The Romans had a narrow escape in the centre, where a unit of equites alares managed to avoid being overwhelmed by Chinese cataphracts accompanied by heavy and light cavalry.

So it all came down to a fight on the Roman baseline between more Chinese cavalry and more equites alares, this time supported by auxilia.

The melee swayed backwards and forwards, with extreme bad luck on either side playing its part, but eventually the Roman horse prevailed, the Chinese horse fled, and the battlefield belonged to Rome!

So the narrowest of victories for the Romans, and some vital lessons learnt on both sides.

Barosaurians from Trilaterum

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I’m a big fan of Trilaterum: the range of 15mm sci-fi figures from Trench Coat Miniatures.

I already have a whole company of their Barad (bear-like infantry) and a few of their Parisi Reavers (snake-like infantry), with the only real pain being that they are based in the US and don’t sell directly or via a supplier to the UK. I am, however, not without resource, and a large package was soon winging it’s way over the Atlantic and into my waiting hands!

First to make an appearance on the painting table were the Barosaurians: a formidable race of towering, reptilian bipeds that strike fear into the hearts of their enemies with their sheer size and overwhelming firepower. Towering above most other species, these behemoths are slow-moving but compensate with their unparalleled resilience and devastating armaments. Their massive bodies are covered in thick, layered scales and armor that renders them nearly impervious to conventional weaponry. This allows them to march steadily across the battlefield, absorbing enemy fire without breaking stride.

The Barosaurian army pack costs (at time of writing) $30 plus p&p. In the very pretty box, you get eight figures and a large gun, plus a nicely presented stats sheet for the troops for Trilaterum’s own system:

Now I’m all for a bit of sci-fi hyperbole, but these models (calling them figures seems an understatement!) are huge: a good 8cms high! They are supposed to be dinosaurs, but look how they compare to a Chuhuac (the force I will be attaching them to), a Space Dwarf walker, and a unit of Sassanid Persian infantry:

Mind you, if you can have giant anthropomorphical robots marching around the battlefield, it’s not much of a stretch to have the Barosaurians competing for a share of the skyline!

In the box, you get a Leader (extra helmet and skirt!); three of the Bask Infantry, each with a single shoulder-mounted beam projector; three of the Bask Saturation Infantry, each with a Micro-Missile Launcher mounted on each shoulder; and a massive Bombard and Loader.

I must confess that I am not sure when I am ever going to use these - the whole squad would totally dominate a sci-fi battlefield - but they are great fun, paint up very nicely and easily, and will certainly give any opponent something to think about when they come off Blinds!

I give them a recommended rating.

 

IABSM AAR: Monmouths at Mouen Playtest

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One of the things I look forward to every year are the I Ain’t Been Shot Mum games put on by fellow Lardy, Phil Turner, and friends.

Here’s a pictorial report of a playtest of their latest offering, due to make it’s debut in a few weeks time: the Monmouths at Mouen.

Click on the picture below to see all:

TTS AAR: Burgundian Ordnance vs Sassanid Persians

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Time for a quick game of To The Strongest, with my Burgundians facing Neil’s Sassanids.

Unusually, the Burgundians won the scouting, so I positioned by Knights to face one command of Persian heavy cavalry on my left, with a couple of units of mounted crossbowmen aiming to sneak around that flank as well; and my veteran spear/archer units in front of the other command of Sassanid heavies: I was pretty sure than the combination of longbow fire and spears would keep them at bay.

All this meant that I had to weaken my right, so I used the This Way Effendi! strategem card to push back his infantry and horse-archers there, and placed the Ducal Household Infantry supported by handgunners and an organ gun to cover them.

To tell the story of that right flank first, although the Sassanid elephants, horse-archers and Daylami javelinmen advanced forward, they did so comparatively slowly and, when they did get close to my line, were stopped by missile fire: the organ guns being unusually effective against the Daylami. The battle ended with that flank still very secure.

The action kicked off very quickly, with the Sassanid heavies charging my line as soon as possible.

The Persian attack on the far left was enough to force back my Knights there, but at the cost of the Sassanid general of that command. Any gloating on my part was, however, immediately cut short as the Sassanid attack on my other Knights in the left-centre, although largely unsuccessful, killed Charles the Bold. Turn one and both sides had lost a general!

Centre-right then saw the Persian Cataphracts charging my main infantry command:

Attacking undamaged veteran spear/bowmen with horse, even cataphracts and veteran heavies, is never going to go well, and soon two Sassanid cavalry units had been sent fleeing from the field, another Persian general dying in the process.

On the left, I then stupidly lost a unit of mounted crossbowmen by allowing them to be squished between two Savaran units, but this actually opened up the opportunity to hit the squishers in the flank with the unit of Gendarmes that I had been forced to pull back to rally.

Victory here gave me the game: the Sassanids had lost two generals, one infantry unit to organ-gun fire, and three units of heavy cavalry

Not a game with a huge amount of tactics in it: the Burgundian missile-fire was exceptional throughout right across the army, which meant I was generally charging disordered units when it came to melee…and there’s nothing a Gendarme likes better than riding over disordered troops!

Here’s a couple of shots of the rest of the field at my moment of triumph:

The good news was that as that game was over so quickly, we had time for a re-match, but more of that later…

Painting Challenge: A Second January Update

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As it’s January and people are keen to get their first entries of the year onto the scoreboard, here’s another Painting Challenge update.

First up is new entrant Jim Jackaman, with a couple of beautifully painted, 1/600 aircraft from Tumblinb Dice:

Next up we have Andrew Helliwell’s first entry of the year. As you might expect, it’s a biggie: loads of 15mm Austrian Napoleonics, a handful of 28mm D&D characters, and trees…a veritable forest of trees!

Sapper has also sent in his first entry of the year: Knights and Archers for the Wars of the Roses.

Now on to those who have sent in their second entries for the year. First up is Dex, with some more WW2 15mm figures:

Then Carole, who has been busy recruiting for her 15mm Imaginations campaign:

And lastly, but by no means leastly, here’s Steve Burt latest additions to the townsfolk of Traitor’s Toll:

As always, plenty more to see in the individual galleries that you can access from the NavBar, above. Keep them coming!

"Lust for Glory" Playtest

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Lust for Glory (or Lust for short) is the latest set of rules due from Big Red Bat publishing. Chronologically it covers the period 1650+ to around 1760, so could be said to follow on directly from For King & Parliament.

We playtested the rules with a clash between the Polish-Lithuanians and Ottomans with a quite large 200 points a side game.

The pre-game activity was a little more involved than with TTS or FK&P, including both the usual Scouting phase and an interesting Bombardment phase when you get to try and soften the enemy up with your artillery before the action proper begins.

I played the Polish-Lithuanians and, nervous of the hordes of Turkish cavalry in front of me, forced all the horse onto one side of the battlefield, with the infantry lurking along in their wake on the other.

With two sets of shock cavalry desperate to stick their lances into each other, it was not long before the mounted troops met approximately in the middle of the table, with the appropriate and evenly matched amount of carnage ensuing.

Meanwhile, my German infantry on the left attempted to outflank the Ottoman Azabs, with the Haiduks also advancing to bring the Janisseries under fire.

Although the main cavalry clash was still continuing, the good news was that in the centre some Winged Hussars had smashed through a unit of Janisseries, and was now in a threatening position just about behind the Ottoman line.

At this point I had to abandon my command, but handed over the baton to friend Mark with instructions not to throw away the obviously hugely advantageous position I was gifting him!

Fortunately, Mark was able to complete my work successfully, although I was informed that the infantry action proved a stalemate, and winning the game became a very close run thing, with the Polish-Lithuanians having only two coins remaining when the Ottomans finally fled the field.

Anyhoo…a great game, and what looks like a great set of rules on its way.