TFL Painting Challenge: First November Update

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Plenty of entries to log as we move into November and the penultimate month of this year’s challenge.

First up we have Stumpy with some more basing completed: Huns, Cossack-types and some big monsters!

Mr Helliwell has been as prolific as usual: a mix of 15mm and 28mm figures, including some unusual figures from Athena:

Mark Luther has been busy building some 6mm terrain pieces:

Sapper is still painting 28mm Napoleonics: here are two Reinbund Infantry units.

Carole is painting Roman Auxilia:

Finally, last but by no means least, Mervyn has been painting epic Pike and Shotte figures:

That’s all for this update, but there’s still plenty of time to get your entries in before the New Year deadline. Keep ‘ em coming!

TTS AAR: Double Debut - Hittites vs Siamese

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Regular visitors to the site will know that I have been building a 15mm Hittite army using Red Copper scultpts printed by Baueda. At the same time as I have been doing that, friend Rob has been building a 15mm Siamese (Thai) army using Khurasan figures (Rob reports that these are excellent, but that the spears are a bit flimsy and easily bend out of shape).

With both armies now 90% finished, it was time to get them onto the tabletop. Two newly-painted armies each making their debut? Given popular superstition, what could possibly go wrong!

As we both wanted to get as many of our figures onto the table as possible, we would play the game large at 160 points per side. This meant that I had to proxy in some Assyrians and Sumerians to face Rob’s Thai hordes!

The Siamese army could have been designed to fight Hittites. Elephants would disrupt my main chariot strike force, with their supporting spearmen proving equally tricky to beat when defending. Fortunately I won the scouting (thank you to the ally-Syrian light chariots, only varnished that morning!) so would be able see some of Rob’s units deploy before I had to set up myself.

Historically, Hittites fought with their chariots in front, infantry behind, but (given the above) that wouldn’t work here. I therefore determined to deploy in what I would call a more traditional manner atypical to the Hittites: infantry in the centre, chariots on the wings.

With Rob deploying all his cavalry on his right flank, a plan began to form: send one brigade of chariots forward to crush his cavalry (my lances should give me the advantage); then use the centre infantry and right chariots to pin the rest of his line whilst the ally-Syrians looped around the Thai far-left flank using their bows to take out the elephants there without actually making contact. Genius!

As the battle began, both sides advanced forward smartly, although the Siamese were plagued by a couple of Aces in their initial group moves. Here’s a picture of the action just before we closed. Hopefully you can see that my plan is beginning to get underway!

The battle then divided into three parts: the left, the centre and the right.

On the right hand side of the field, the ally-Syrian light chariots and half my heavy chariots tried to keep his elephants and infantry occupied without actually closing to what would surely be an unfortunate combat.

This they largely achieved: the lights evading away from pachyderm charges, even sometimes being knocked temporarily off table; the heavies by dint of refusing to charge and even edging backwards as the nellies came forward. I was happy to be charged by spearmen, but wouldn’t initiate any charges into a set line of men carrying nasty, pointy sticks!

In the centre, things did not go so well. Hordes of enemy spearmen, with archers behind, came forward and routed my line infantry. By the final stages of the battle, only one unit of line infantry remained standing, and I was forced to re-deploy some of the heavy chariots as a reserve.

I was a bit surprised that the victorious Siamese infantry didn’t rush forward in an attempt to sack my two camps, defended only by some petty scummy light troops, but Rob said afterwards that he felt at that stage that the infantry needed to turn back and help out the flanks.

Whatever he chose to do, it was very unnerving to see six enemy units (half spearmen, half bow) with nothing in front of them except my regret that my infantry hadn’t stopped them!

Which meant that the battle would, as planned, need to be won on my left.

There, my chariots charged the Siamese cavalry as soon as they could, with fairly disappointing results. Rather than smash them from the field, the chariots got locked into a bitter combat in which neither side had the advantage.

This meant I had to divert the archers and Royal Guard from the centre onto this wing - part of the reason why the centre collapsed! The bowmen moved up to support the chariot runners who had engaged the enemy elephants, keeping them from interfering with the chariots vs cavalry combat. The Royal Guard also charged the elephants, promptly becoming disordered!

Fortunately my overall commander was on hand to rally them, as I was going to need them as although one unit of chariots had broken through, they had become disordered in the process, and another unit of enemy horse was moving up to engage them. My other chariots were still locked into a mutually-disordering combat with the cavalry.

I needed something special to swing things my way and, with Lady Luck supporting me for a change, the Royal Guard showed what they could do.

The enemy elephants were disposed of and then the Guard turned left and rolled up not one but both cavalry units: in the picture below you can see that their last two activation cards were a couple of 10’s. In effect, in one activation, they had dealt with the elephants and two units of Siamese horse: definitely a battle honour coming their way!

The Siamese weren’t broken yet though, and their centre was swinging round towards my left flank.

The Royal Guard neatly reversed direction and headed back into the fray. I even had a reserve chariot unit, headed by a General, that could jump in as well.

This was a good thing, particularly as my right was now coming under considerable pressure (the first picture in the gallery, below).

With his centre’s expansion contained, a unti of chariot runners were able to take an enemy camp, and a unit of chariots postion themselves to charge the rear of the main Siamese line.

This, however, proved unnecessary as, again, the Royal Guard charegd forward and smashed a unit of enemy spearmen from the table (they’d been softened up by the archers). That cost the Siamese their last two coins, and the victory was mine.

I had definitely been lucky to survive that one!

Things were looking extremely dicey before the Royal Guard went turbo and mullered three units in one turn. I was also lucky with the cards when I needed my left flank to about face and head into the centre/the enemy’s rear.

A great game, played in excellent spirit, and nice to finally get the Hittites (and the Siamese) onto the table.

FK&P AAR: Ramshackle Road

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Time for the next installment in the Siege of Norchester English Civil War campaign that I am playing through with friend Rob.

The Royalists are currently well alead after a disastrous Laundry Day battle last time. Today, however, I was sure that I could make up that ground as we headed down Ramshackle Road for scenario ten of the twelve.

View from the Royalist side of the table

The game begins with the Royalist raiding party that had been so successful last time, trapped against a river, with large numbers of Parliamentarians coming at them hard.

I knew ( as I had written the scenario!) that it was only a matter of time before the Royalists received reinforcements from Norchester itself, so had determined to overwhelm the small force they started with as soon as I could. My men therefore marched forward smartly, especially the Dutch-style horse on my right who had a clear path to loop around the enemy flank.

The arrival of the Royalist reinforcements would be determined by me pulling as certain number of Aces from the pack during my turn. Those who have played either TTS or FK&P against me will know that I currently seem to be unable to pull anything else, so it was no surprise when hoardes of Cavaliers suddenly appeared on my left, right on top of me, before I’d had a chance to get very far down the table!

wHAT? aLREADY?

There was nothing for it but to turn my left hand units to face the threat, and to try and win the game on the right.

turning my left to face the royalist horse

Cannily, however, Rob advanced his right forwards as well, trapping my cavalry into the corner of the hedgerows, attacked from front and flank. At the same time, some of his cavalry slid sideways in an attempt to get around behind my line

Back on the right flank, my infantry marched forward and engaged, seeking to pin the Royalists in place while my cavalry attacked their flank. Unfortunately, it took ages for the cavalry to get into position, giving Rob time to not only break one of my infantry battalia, but also to bring in reinforcements from his right.

My cavalry did, however, eventually manage to charge, looking to roll up the Royalist right flank…but although the Forlorn Hope was easily swept from the field, the pursuit that resulted temporarily blocked the rest of my horse charging home. Worse, when they did manage to eventually get in, the Royalist infantry proved to be tough hombres and shrugged off not one but two flank charges undamaged!

Things were going equally badly on my left: the Royalist cavalry seeking to get behind my line had done just that, riding over the two Roundhead infantry battalia sent to stop them.

Although in the centre, one squadron of Dutch horse was gradually wearing down (and would eventually rout) one battalia of Royalist infantry, the rest of my troops were now in danger of being overwhelmed!

The Parliamentarians had by now lost too many units to have much of a chance of winning and, before long, the loss of a battalia of Borders Sappers proved to be the final straw and the entire army broke and fled! Another huge defeat.

Here’s a pic (on the right) of the final moment with (on the left) pic of my cavalry from a bit before, surely about to charge down some Royalist infantry and go on to single-handedly win the game: this last just to console me and remind me of what might have been!

So another big loss for the Roundheads, which leaves me with quite a mountain to climb in the last two scenarios of the campaign!

Last of the Red Copper Hittites

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As the Hittites were due to make their debut on the battlefield this weekend just gone, last week was spent frantically painting the last of them.

First up was a final chariot base:

I’ve tried to make all the heavy, three-man chariots a different colour and, actually, the grey one on the right came out quite well.

Next up are the slingers: two units of light infantry. These are amazing sculpts: both realistic and dynamic in equal measure. I just love the poses: look at the chap squatting on his haunches looking for possible targets, and all the different varieties of figures actually discharging their slings. Fantastic.

I’ve also sneaked a single ally-Syrian archer onto the left-hand picture, above. A bit of variety and a lesson in always making sure you order enough figures!

Keeping to a Syrian theme, here are three ally-Syrian light chariots. These are once again fantastic sculpts that are really full of life and movement. I decided to paint them in a way that contrasted with the brightly coloured Hittite chariots, so these use all the same colour bay/brown horses and a combination of dark browns and yellows for the chariot bodies.

So that’s the Red Copper Hittites done, although I am going to add some Gashkan (Anatolian mountain men) allies with figures bought from Khurasan.

TTS AAR: Crusades Game 3: Venetians Abroad vs Early Feudal Spanish

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My third and final game at the recent Crusades event at the Games Bunker in Weston Super Mere was against Sid and his Early Feudal Spanish: the El Cid lot!

Rather than risk boring you with my usual report, I actually have a report from the other side of the table: Sid posted the following on his Facebook page. As you would expect, it is full of “fake news”, lies and propaganda, but it saves me the trouble of writing a report of my own!

Sid says: “My third and final game at The Bunker for the TTS Crusades Competition was against Robert Avery’s Venetians.

The armies line up. The open left flank beckons me.

“Rob and his army are hardened veterans and winners of this year’s TTS at BRITCON. The Venetians are an interesting combination of Spear or Bill and Light infantry. The main striking force are Knights supported by unusual Light Cavalry who have crossbow for that three-box range or lance to be an offensive Lights unit. He had two camps which are fortified.

“Robert Avery and I have played a few times over the last couple of years and I seem to be his personal kryptonite: when we play my cards are average but his are invariably ‘pants’. I was hoping this would play on his mind. I know, it’s a terrible thing to do to a lovely chap like Robert Avery.

“As with every game that day, I won the scouting, so I could match my commands where they would be most effective.

“Rob deployed his two infantry commands in the centre and split the cavalry equally on the wings. His left looked more exposed, so I concentrated two commands against that flank. My right flank only had one cavalry command but it was my veteran cavalry so I thought I had a chance to take him on frontally. My infantry might be raw but had extra bow so could impact him without getting too close. I also had a horde of raw Light Infantry to clog up the works.

The filthy raw peones look across at the heavily armoured Venetian infantry. At least there are plenty of monks in the camp to administer the last rites.

“My activations started well, I managed to rush my mounted troops right into Rob’s grill. The kryptonite was working and Robs right wing activated one unit before stopping.

“The Venetian infantry then ground forward, and I was in no position to stop them but did delay them and pushed back the mounted wings.

The right wing, not so open but still opportunities. I rushed forward to close down the opposing knights. You can see that the Venetians are down to a single unit of knights, but with LIGHT CAVALRY support which was whittled down. The Venetian infantry assault can be seen to the left.

“On my left I took down Rob’s Light Cavalry and the Knight unit closest to the centre.The loss of that Knight let me push cavalry through to hit his exposed Crossbow unit who were very unhappy at tangling with lance-armed cavalry. This exposed the Spear next to the Crossbow who were flanked and destroyed leaving a gap in the line.

“The only good thing for Rob was the survival of his far right Knight unit, although it was disordered so reluctant to get involved. In the end, Rob had a f*** it moment and charged them forward anyway. Unusually for Rob it worked, and they destroyed the Caballeros Villanos matched against them.

The success of my main effort on the left. I managed to make ground as Rob failed activation after activation.

You can see the surrounded Venetian knights, which oddly survived and fell back. The Venetian knights not surrounded, were the ones who fell to the two Spanish cavalry units who double teamed them.

At the back can be seen a crossbow unit, which were screaming to be ridden down. Just to the top right can be seen the only raw unit in the Venetian army. Identified by the fat cook in the front rank. They drew me like moths to a fame.

The final knight unit injured and fending off repeated attacks.

My cavalry with the red standard are occupying the ground formerly held by the now deceased Venetian crossbows. The now disordered Venetian raw spear have drawn the attention of my cavalry. I’m still loving that fat chef in the front rank. The camp is beckoning.

“In the centre, Rob’s infantry were pushing my raw Shieldwall back and I was pulling them back just to keep them in the game. But the success of this meant that they became isolated and exposed to my hordes of raw Light Infantry. Meanwhile my cavalry who had taken out his Spear, went through the gap and took one of the camps.

The camp is seized and my cavalry have the option to turn to drive the LI out.

“On my right, my elite Cabaleros Hidalgos rushed Rob’s Knight command and were outrageously lucky, taking down one unit of Knights and disordering the other. I followed up and had his Knights pinned against the table edge with another Light Cavalry pinned next to them. This unit just held on, which as it had the Army Standard kept Rob in the game. I could have pushed the Light Cavalry off the table but held on until he would be down to his last coin. On the same flank I had supporting Light Cavalry ready to hit some Light Infantry on a hill in the flank.

Meanwhile on the other side of the table.

My far right cavalry have pinned their opponents and throwing javelins at the trapped knights. My left shieldwall are driven back, but raw LI are flanking their opponents. The right side peones are disordered By the unit of billmen.

More detail of the centre

“After I cleared out another unit, I pushed the Light Cavalry off table for the win.

The far right. You can see how my right side cavalry are simply holding place ready to drive the LC off table.

The Venetian knights with army standard are disordered, the Spanish cavalry with army standard are also DISORDERED SO a stand-off but I am throwing the odd javelin. My LC are facing into,the centre ready to flank charge some LI on a hill just out of shot.

The knights break out of the trap, but are flanked by LIGHT CAVALRY.

There are also crossbows to the left peppering the knights.

Just after this, I drove the Venetian LC off the table for the win.

“As always with Rob, a great game, full of chat and banter. Yet his cards hated him and I’m not joking when I say that. Maybe he was distracted as I spent the entire day trying to nag him into going for an Ancient Spanish army for his next project.”

An excellent report from Sid, sadly accurate in that I lost the game 5-13, which meant that I finished the event in 5th position.

What Sid doesn’t mention is that in my last turn before he won the game, I had an excellent opportunity to rout two of his Shieldwall units with my infantry, which would have meant the game finished something like 9-13 or the like, which meant I would have placed higher overall…but I drew an Ace for my first actuvation and that was that!

Sid’s pictures are interspersed with his report, here are mine in a picture-only gallery:

So a great game but a disappointing end to the day. The event had been most enjoyable overall, and my thanks to Don and team at the Games Bunker, and my opponents, for a great day’s gaming.

TTS AAR: Crusades Game 2: Venice Abroad vs Anglo-Normans

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Following my successful game against Don’s Mameluke Egyptians, my second game at the recent Crusades event at the Games Bunker in Weston Super Mere was against Matt’s Anglo-Normans.

The Anglo-Normans looked like quite a tough nut to crack: Knights to face my Knights, then either Spearmen to drive my cavalry back, or deep warband to swallow them up!

Matt won the scouting and, as the game opened, sent a unit of Knights forward straight into my left flank, presumably seeking to gain the initiative and get me reacting to his movements rather than vice versa.

Unfortunately for the Anglo-Normans, this backfired spectacularly, as his Knights crashed into mine and just evaporated from the table! Not a scratch on my men, an enemy general left alone in front of them.

Undeterred, however, the Anglo-Normans continued their advance, just trying to get in contact with my men as soon as possible.

I could see me doing well on the left, but was a little nervous about my right: five enemy foot units against a couple of units of Knights supported by Crossbowmen.

On the left, things seemed to be going well, but a series of sudden, card-induced reverses saw my glorious charges come to nothing, with the survivors driven back right as far as the table’s edge. Not good, not good at all!

Back to the rest of the table.

In the centre, my infantry (seeking to take some of the pressure off my right flank) had advanced strongly: the Alabardiers even forcing some of the Anglo-Norman cavalry to retreat in order to cover their camp. Unfortunately, all this fighting had disordered two of my three foot units, so what might have looked good at a distance was pretty shakey when you got up close!

And on the right I was still horribly outnumbered, with my remaining Knights threatening to be overwhelmed by waves of enemy infantry.

One unit of Knights did indeed rout from the table, but the other managed to rally and drive forward as, meanwhile, my one still—undisordered infantry unit in the centre also turned to help.

Sudden Death!

Both sides were now down to their last few victory medals: it was now a case of sudden death in that whoever lost their next unit would also lose the game.

Although I was in quite a good tactical position, it was Matt’s turn to go, and I had plenty of already-disordered units for him to attack, defeat, and thus win victory. I resigned myself to the loss and sat back as Matt pondered where to strike first.

The obvious place was my left flank, where my disordered Knights were faced with fresh Anglo-Norman Knights headed by a general. This was going to be painful as that meant I could expect to face two-three charges, all at a disadvantage.

The first Anglo-Norman charge went in - I survived.

The second Anglo-Norman charge went in - I survived.

The third Anglo-Norman charge went in - I not only survived but managed to disorder the enemy Knights as well…the cards conveniently throwing up a series of 9’s and 10’s,

But it wasn’t over yet: on to the next weak point.

My already-disordered infantry unit nearest the Anglo-Norman camp was attacked by both light infantry from the flank, and more Knights from the front, again with an attached General just about guaranteeing multiple charges.

Unbelievably, again I survived: a combination of poor attack cards from Matt versus decent defence cards from me.

To say Matt was a little frustrated at this point was a bit of an understatement! Worse, his attacks on my Crossbowmen and other Spearman unit failed to do any damage either. I had survived the turn, saving at least six (and I think I remember the number actually being eight) “match points”!

My turn now and, with so many of my men disordered, I only tw0 opportunities that I could take. The first was for my Knights on the far right flank to charge into the rear of the disordered Anglo-Norman Shieldwall just to their left. I had a General with the Knights, so could expect at least a couple of charges to go in.

Nope! I was hit by a couple of appallingly low activation cards and my cavalry stayed where they were, horses happily snacking on the grass!

No problem: my fresh Spearmen in the centre of the field could attack some disordered Anglo-Norman Shieldwall and…I got nowhere, my spears failing to penetrate the enemy formation!

This meant that unless I could think of another battle-winning move, the initiative would pass to Matt and I’d have to run the gauntlet of all those sudden death attacks again…and I was under no illusions that all those 10’s would come again.

By this time we had quite a little crowd around the table as I hummed and hawed about what to do next. I could charge the disordered enemy Knights on the left with my disordered Knights…risky but, I decided, worth a punt. Nope: another Ace meant that the flower of mercenary nobility weren’t interested in moving. I was fast running out of ideas!

My Crossbowmen had one ammunition marker left, and the Shieldwall in front of them were, as I said, disordered. That meant that I couldn’t kill them (as it takes three hits to kill a deep Shieldwall unit) but maybe if I knocked them down one more disorder I could, I don’t know, drop my crossbows and attack.

“Twang” went the crossbows, and it was a hit. Unfortunately the enemy Shieldwall saved so no damage done. Matt then checked to see if the General with the unit was hit: and he was! Another card was turned to see what happened: he died, and the game was mine!

That was an extraordinary end to a game that I had thought lost for some time. As it was, I achieved a 13-11 victory, showing what a grind it had been for both sides.

My thanks to Matt for such a memorable encounter, although it was one that would cost both of us dear as the points were totted up after the final game…

IABSM AAR: Normandy in Knoxville, Tennessee

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Andy Cowell ran a Normandy game of I Ain’t Been Shot Mum at a couple of events recently.

The first run-through was at a Knoxville, Tennessee fundraiser for the American Red Cross to raise money for Hurricane Helene relief as part of the Knoxville Blood Bowl League (KNOBBL).

In the game, US Airborne troops are assaulting a small village amongst the Normandy hedgerows.

Andy then ran the game again as part of the East Tennessee Miniature Wargaming games day, also in Knoxville.

The game was scaled up a bit for a larger table: a full company of Airborne with a platoon of Shermans assaulting a village crossroads held by a Germany company with PaK 38s and an 8cm mortar battery.

TTS AAR: Crusades Game 1: Venice Abroad vs Mameluke Egyptians

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Earlier this month I travelled to Weston Super Mere for the Crusades event at the Games Bunker there: a tournament where only armies that could conceivably have fought in the Crusades could take part.

My Later Italian Condotteri Venetians therefore packed their suitcases and became a Venice Abroad army: largely the same but with no Later Knights and no Handgunners.

My first game was up against Don’s Mameluke Egyptians. I lost the scouting, so set up in a traditional infantry in the middle, cavalry on the wings formation, and watched vast amounts of enemy cavalry deploy in front of me. Looking at the pictures, I think Don only had one formed and one light infantry unit, with all the rest of his troops being mounted.

As I was fairly certain that my units were stronger than Don’s on a one-to-one basis - knights vs heavy cavalry, spearmen vs mounted - I determined to get stuck in as soon as possible whilst watching out for enemy light cavalry finding their way onto my flanks.

The Mamelukes opened the action, coming forward in what looked like piecemeal fashion, but was actually an attempt to weave their way through weak points in my line. It certainly looked like they had amanged this with a unit of light cavalry sneaking past me on the left, and a unit of heavy cavalry attempting to run over my raw crossbowmen on the right!

On the right flank, somehow the militia crossbowmen survived the charge of the heavy cavalry (they were helped by the spearman unit just to their left), with my Knights coming round the outside to engage two units of veteran heavy cavalry towards the Mameluke side of the table.

Back to the left flank, and the gap was plugged, with my infantry going forward, bouncing backwards slightly, and then being reinforced by Knights. I was determined to push through the opposition here and go on to take the Mameluke camp.

Back to the right again, and the Venetians were slowly but steadily pushing the Mamelukes back.

One unit of elite cavalry had already been broken by the Venetians Knights, and it wouldn’t be long before the other went as well.

There were now two clearly-defined battles taking place: one on the left and one on the right, with a big gap in the centre.

I had just about won the right hand flank, and only needed a little bit more to do the same on the left. Although the spearmen had got themselves in a bit of trouble from flank-charging light infantry, the Knights and Alabardiers had combined and soon the Mamelukes had lost another two units and the game.

So a good start to the Crusades with a 12-3 victory.

Hittite Chariots and Chariot Runners

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The Hittites are coming along nicely now with the addition of another bases of chariots and two bases of light infantry chariot runners.

As with all the Hittites so far, these are 15mm Red Copper miniatures 3D printed by Baueda in Italy. Yes, the lead time is slightly extended, but I have found the Baueda prints very high quality and as there’s a set postage fee of €12.50 however much you order and wherever it’s going to, buying in volume makes the whole process very cost-effective indeed. Recommended as a source of the Red Copper range.

First up are another two heavy three-man chariots. It looks like the chariot on the left is only manned by two crew, but that’s because there’s a chap taking a breather sitting on the back of the chariot, presumably regularly asking “are we there yet?” to his two comrades!

I can’t emphasise how nice these models look in real life. They’re a pleasure to paint too, with the relief so clear that getting the ‘plank’ effect on the chariot bodies is easy (you just have to stay within the lines!) and the horse-armour just about paints itself (dry-brushed bronze over a Snakebite Leather base if you’re interested).

Then I’ve finished a couple of bases of light infantry chariot runners. In To The Strongest, these are light infantry with javelins, but I quite like the light axemen look of the Red Copper figures:

Again, very easy to paint and highly recommended.

Now onto the rest of the light infantry, the ally-Syrian light chariots, and more chariots…

TFL Painting Challenge: Late October Update

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There’s only a couple of months left before the end of the year, so what better time to get those Painting Challenge entries in.

First up this update, we have Carole, who has painted an outlaw band plus a couple of extras:

Next we have more “little planes” from Mr Luther: some real behemoths in this submission:

Nick Cooper has also been busy with a collection of figures fantasy. This is only some of them, so make sure you check out the rest in his full gallery.

Mt Helliwell sends in his usual large entry. Again, far more to see in his full gallery. Where does he find the time?

And last but by no means least is Sapper, with a mix of scales from 10mm through to 28mm:

There’s still plenty of time to get your entries in, so keep them coming!

IABSM at The Other Partisan

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I didn’t get to The Other Partisan this year: real life getting in the way of wargaiming again!

A pity, as there look to have been many excellent games on display including those in the now usual Lard Zone.

Featured below are photographs from Michael Curtis from the I Ain’t Been Shot Mum Facebook Group of the superb 28mm Gold Beach, King Sector, 6th June 1944 game.

TTS AAR: Anglo-Normans & Akkadians

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Time for another game of To The Strongest: my Anglo-Normans would take on friend Rob’s Akkadians, both sides using figures from Museum Miniatures excellent 15mm Z range of CAD designed miniatures.

The Anglo-Normans (half Normans, half Vikings!) won the scouting and advanced forward to take the centre of the battlefield.

The Akkadians responded with an advance of their own, and before long the two sides were ready for the first clashes:

On my left flank, I managed to get two units of Norman Knights deep behind Rob’s main line with only a couple of units of Akkadian spearmen to hold them off.

Unfortunately, although the Knights managed to get the advantage, they never really managed to exploit this to its full extent: failing to either finish off the remaining spearmen, take an enemy camp or even curl back to take the rest of the Akkadians in the rear. In the end, the sector became a side show for the main battle.

Just to the left of the central hill, the Anglo-Saxon contingent of the Anglo-Normans faced off against more Akkadian spearmen. I thought I had a decent advantage here: two deep warbands plus a couple of skirmishing bowmen versus two enemy spearmen units, but if you look closely in at the first picture in the gallery below, you can see another Akkadian unit lurking in the background. This unit turned out to be the Akkad City Guard, armed with great big axes.

The two lines clashed, and although one of the warbands burst through the enemy line and headed towards their other camp, the rest of the combat was, again, pretty much honours even, especially when the Akkadian axemen intervened.

Which left the main action to take place in the right-centre of the field.

Initially, things looked quite good: I pushed the enemy on the hill backwards and then got into a position where I could flank the units just to the right, with my cavalry preventing the Akkadian chariots from outflanking my line.

Unfortunately, I just couldn’t seem to take advantage of the situation, and the next thing I know it’s my infantry that are being flanked and, indeed, the whole of my troops on that side of the table were crumbling!

I’m still not quite sure how this happened!

At this point the battle was effectively lost, particularly as the Anglo-Saxon warband that had brokne through the enemy line had failed to take the enemy camp and was now surrounded on all sides and fighting for its life, with things being no better around my own camps.

A few moments later, that was all she wrote: the Anglo-Normans thoroughly trounced by the Akkadians: just goes to show that newer isn’t always better!

More Hittites

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Here are the next few units for my 15mm Hittite army using Red Copper Miniatures, once again ordered from Baueda in Italy as there seems to be a distinct shortage of UK 3D printers doing the Red Copper range and I have always found Baueda very reliable and fairly priced.

First up is another unit of Spearmen, meaning that I now have all the regular infantry I need.

Hittite Spearmen from Red Copper Miniatures

And then we have two sets of Hittite chariots, meaning that I only have one set of Hittite chariots to go, although there are three bases worth of lighter Syrian chariots needed as well.

The second chariot in from the left is a command chariot.

Lovely figures all, and easy to paint up and base. Highly recommended.

So now a little wait until the next batch arrive for painting!

FK&P AAR: Laundry Day

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My play-through of the Siege of Norchester campaign for For King & Parliament is really hotting up. After the encounter at Happy Valley, where Rob’s Royalists were thoroughly trounced by my Parliamentarians, it was time for Scenario 9: Laundry Day.

As background, despite their defeat in the Valley, the Royalist relief force has managed to get through the Parliamentarian cordon and sneak (if you can sneak a multi-battalia army!) through to the rear of the Roundhead lines where, as luck would have it, it’s laundry day. The scenario pits a force of Cavaliers on the offensive against a line of Parliamentarian camps, the loss of each of which would cost the Roundheads valuable victory medals.

The Royalists had the initiative and, after a bit of manouevring to get over the hedge in front of their initial positions, started forward, rapidly followed by a similar advance from the Roundheads.

After an exchange of infantry fire on the central hill that left several men dead on each side, the first main clashes occured between the cavalry forces on the wings.

Honours were even on the left wing; but on the right wing the only veteran Parliamentarian squadron of Dutch horse charged, was counter-charged, and then dashed from the field by a squadron of Royalist Swedish horse. This was a very unpleasant start to the action for the Roundheads!

Meanwhile, the two infantry lines had closed in the centre, and an inconclusive firefight broke out followed by a couple of equally inconclusive melees: the Roundheads (a) notably failing to break a mob of Royalist followers, (b) failing to have any impact at all with a supposedly-devastating first charge by some Border Reivers (the Highlanders in the pictures below), and (c) being pushed back from the hill in the centre of the field.

Worse for the Rpundheads, they had now decisively lost the cavalry battle on the right wing, leaving the Royalists free to advance and capture one of their camps. This cost three vital victory medals that I could only replace if I could re-take the camp: something that was, and excuse the TTS in-joke, not on the cards!

My cavalry on the left wing weren’t, however, doing too badly, but my problem was getting them back into a position from where they could affect the rest of the field. Some of them were pursuing fleeing enemy off the table, others had only just rallied up from disorder.

But my time was almost up. With the medals I had lost so far, the Parliamentarian force was close to breaking. Okay, so the Royalists were a bit battered too, but they hadn’t lost a camp!

I attempted a counter-attack in the centre, and came close to breaking through…and managed to get my pursuing cavalry on the left turned around and heading back to the action…but just didn’t now have the staying power of the Royalists.

Rob and I swapped unit for unit losses, but the simple factof the matter was that I ran out of coins before he did.

Metaphorical taila between their equally metaphorical legs, the Roundheads snuck from the battlefield, leaving the victorious Royalists to reinforce beleaguered Norchester.

So from being several coins ahead over the campaign as a whole I was now down seven coins overall: proving that you can’t afford to lose your laundry if you want to take a city!

Three games to go, with an encounter at Ramshackle Road being next…

Painting Challenge: First October Update

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Here’s a look at our first entries for October for this year’s Painting Challenge.

First up is Mr Helliwell’s monthly entry: mostly Napoleonics this time. Take a look in his gallery (accessed via the Nav bar, above) to see everything he’s sent in, but here are the four 24-figure 15mm British battalions, using AB Figures:

Next up we have Steve Burt with a couple of entries, all WW2 figures from Atlantic. Partisans and a lone German!

Chris Kay sends in some warrior women: Viking shield maidens and surely the one on the left in the last photo is the sci-fi equivalent…

Now we havea couple of mass army shots. On the left is Sapper with vast amounts of French Napoleonics; on the right is Mervyn with the beginnings of an ECW force (which is apparently my fault!):

That’s it for this update: keep sending them in!

TTS AAR: Elephant Screen Part II

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With the Alexandrian Macedonians defeated twice by Peter’s Made-Up Ancient Indian army (designed to experiment with the relatively new Light Infantry - Elephant Screen troop type) it was time to give someone else a go: step forward my trusty Venetians.

I’d like, at this point, to laucnh into an exciting battle report where the initiative, luck and clever use of tactics swung first one way then the other, all culminating in a glorious Venetian victory by the narrowest of margins…but I can’t. The appalling cards that had been the downfall of the Macedonians followed me into this game with entirely predictable results:

Well that’s not entirely fair on Peter: having won the scouting, his skillful deployment meant that I was largely on the back foot from the start, with his army almost wholly threatening my right flank.

I had, however, managed to get my troops into a position to blunt if not fully counter his attack, but was then, as you can see, betrayed by the cards.

Okay, so the mounted ballesteri lights in the first picture might not have done much to the elephant they were trying to assault, but the Knights in the second picture were surely onto a chicken-dinner winner! And don’t talk to me about the Knights versus the chariots in the third picture: what you aren’t seeing is the rear charge that they had also failed to make in the previous turn!

Here’s a helicopter-view shot of early in the battle showing the way Peter had managed to get onto my right flank and effectively fight a third of my army with all of his:

But hopefully you can also see how I have managed to get my troops into a position where I have Knights ready to counter his cavalry and have manouevred to get a two:one advantage on his lead attacking unit (see close up picture, below) all brought to nothing by the cards!

So that was the end of our session: three defeats for me at the hands of the Made-Up Indians with their high numbers of Elephant Screen units.

Even though the Screeners didn’t make that much difference to the results in the end (my losses were down to Peter’s skillful play and the cards) I am still quite glad that they are made-up Indians and not one I expect to face in future!

Just off to tend to a small bonfire in the back garden, and anyone know where’s the best place to get some new sets of cards!

IABSM AAR: Action near Pestszentimre

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Here’s another great I Ain’t Been Shot Mum after action report from the keyboard and camera of Mark Luther.

Action from the Eastern Front as Hungarian assault gun batteries and grenadiers of Feldherrnhalle take on the Soviet 4th Guards Mechanised Brigade in April 1944.

This game was played at GigaBites Cafe in August 2024. Click on the picture below to see all:

TTS AAR: Elephant Screen Test

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Off to Peter’s house for a bit of training in the run up to this year’s Warfare tournament. My aim was just to have a few enjoyable games of To The Strongest, Peter’s aim was to thoroughly investigate the capabilities of the relatively new troop type Light Infantry, Elephant Screen (there’s a reason he wins a lot of tournaments!).

Peter had therefore constructed a mythical army consisting mostly of elephants, a good half of whom were included in the aforementioned light infantry screening units. We’ll call these the “Made Up Indians” or MUIs. I would fight our first battle with some Imperial Alexandrians: pike, Companions and lights.

I had lost the scouting - hardly surprising with all those light units on the other side of the table - and soon found myself watching a whole herd of pachyderms thundering towards me.

To translate the pictures into something useful, the elephants with red howdahs or cloths are ‘normal’ escorted Indian elephants, the others are the light infantry/elephant screening units.

Not wanting to get caught on my base line, I advanced forward, driving the lights backwards. This, however, left my relatively narrow frontage army vulnerable on the flanks: Peter taking full advantage by heading down towards my empty right flank with his cavalry and chariots, seeking to turn my flank and roll me up.

Note how my two units of cavalry , centre-bottom in the picture above - are faced by escorted elephants i.e. kept occupied whilst his flanking force curls around the rear. It’s easy to see this happening in hindsight and in the photos, not so easy to see it and prevent it on the tabletop!

The inevitable happened, and I found myself fully engaged from the front and hit in the right flank: things were not looking good!

The writing was now on the wall: my cavalry were forced to leave the table, and had real difficulty getting back on and, despite some success elsewhere, I was soon hamorraging victory medals and defeated!

The only good thing was that it was a fairly quick battle, leaving us time for a re-match…but that’s another story!

The Re-Match

With my defeat in the first game partly due to being outflanked, I decided on a change of tactics for Game 2: rather than set up in the centre of the field, I would huddle in one corner, ermging to cruch the MUIs once their dispositions had been revealed.

At this point it’s worth reminding regualr readers that sometimes Lady Luck is decidedly, shall we say, unkind to me. Well, today, she really went to town!

Rather than a full report, I invite the reader to count the number of Aces drawn in the pictures below:

And that’s just a selection! In the same game, Peter managed to have a unit of cavalry enter the table and then pull an 8, 9, 10 for activation cards to send a unit of my elite cavalry routing off the table. Sometimes, it’s just not worth setting out the figures!