Saturday 30 December 2017

Farewell 2017

To end the year I finished my Diadochi fleet.

It now consists of 30 vessels: 15 triremes, 12 quadremes (or 5's depending on what I need), 2 hepteres and an Octeres as my purple outfitted, flagship. The fleet may grow in the future but for now it's about as large as I want it (it also fits perfectly into a fantastic little box).

I also re-based some Cretan Archers that I've had for a while. They were mounted 3 figures on four, 40x40mm base but I changed them to two figures onto 6 20x40mm bases. The reason for this is because I'm looking to base my figures for Mortem et Gloriam.

I like the look of this game and I've ordered a copy of the rules. The re-basing is because I'll need to remove bases as casualties and it won't make any difference for other rules, which all use the same 40mm frontage basing. If it means less markers on the table then I'm all for that.

Cheers, good folk and see you next in 2018!



You may notice that I'm tempting the wrath of Poseidon with my 
flagship lacking eyes to ward off the evil creatures of the deep.







Thursday 21 December 2017

Antigonid Peltastoi

Another day where I've made two posts...

This time it is my first unit of Peltasts for my Antigonid Successors. Some may say: "These suckers ain't no peltasts!" But they are. The Antigonid army had a rather large corps of elite phalangites called Peltasts (or Peltastoi). They were named for the small bronze shield (called a pelta) that they carried.

These troops are part of the same corps as the Agema that I painted last month. Like that unit they could also be equipped with the shorter (dory) spear but I chose to give these fellows pikes.

One thing bothers me with these troops and one of the other pike block that I painted...
The first unit of phalangites I made as 24 figures but the other ones I've done since I've done as 18 figures.

I like the larger units but it takes longer to paint them. The 18 figure units are large enough for Sword and Spear and other games based on DBA basing, but I'd also like to use them for Hail Caesar which looks better with larger units.

Cost isn't an issue. I can get as many figures as I need with no problems. It's painting time that is the issue. Even though I'm painting these guys pretty fast I know that a time will come when I get sick of painting them and I want to be finished before that time arrives. So less to paint is a good thing.

But big units just look so, damned good!

That's my problem.




Wednesday 20 December 2017

A Couple More Super Guys

Another short post...

I've had these figures sitting around for a while and decided to finish them. I did them in very basic colours because, as far as I'm concerned, that's how super heroes should look.

They'll become extras for my super team The European Union. They are:

 The German dynamo: Autobahn.

The mind bending Spanish Fly.

Tuesday 12 December 2017

Gotta Love Purple

A quick post:

I painted up a couple of commanders for my Successors. I actually started the mounted guys a few weeks back but got stuck on the saddle cloths. Because my pc is on the bottom floor and my painting area is upstairs, I kept forgetting to check out some leopard skin for reference. But I finally remembered last night.

And here they are:


Friday 8 December 2017

A Bloody Affair ~ Lion Rampant

Greetings folks, after not playing Lion Rampant for quite some time I played a couple of games at NWA last night against Lorne G. I think Lorne's troops were Franks (I may be wrong) but mine were,most definitely, Normans.

My Normans are pretty limited & consisted of a unit of mounted men-at-arms, foot men-at-arms, foot sergeants, mounted sergeants and crossbows. My opponent had more units but they tended to be of lesser quality.

We rolled for a random scenario: "Hold on Tight" - In which a central piece of terrain is fought over, the first player to hold it for 5 turns (non-consecutive) is the winner. We selected a low hill and by the time one of us managed to accumulate 5 turns/points there were very few troops left on the table.

I don't know the name of Lorne's commander. He had a red shield & cape, so I shall name him: Woger... Woger the Wed. Would he be a match for the brave Norman Comes Richarde la Tête? (That's Richard "Dick" Head to us common folk)

We rolled for our Leader Skills: Woger the Wed rolled Great Leader! (his unit could move/attack/shoot/ & rally without having to roll any dice). Richarde la Tête rolled: Commanding (re-roll one move/attack/shoot per turn).

Opening Proceedings...

So, the protagonists deployed and set out to win this valuable piece of ground in the center of the table.


Richarde and his knights are deployed on the far left behind his trusty crossbowmen.


"Advance, men and the hill will be ours!"

The Frankish array looks like a tough nut to crack.


Woger the Wed, in the Frankish center with a troop of mounted sergeants.


The first couple of turns involved both of us trying to get our troops moving into position. As is usual with Lion Rampant, this can be difficult if the dice are against you. Initially the dice were with Richarde la Tête and not really favoring Woger. But things balanced out in short order.

The first casualty was inflicted on a unit of Frankish yeomen, who lost one of their number to a well placed crossbow bolt. Some of Woger's bidowers on the Norman right moved into some woods and took aim the a unit of foot sergeants to no effect.

The Fight Begins...

After the initial maneuvering and desultory missile fire the first unit to gain the hill were my brave foot knights (after having to trudge through some woods which they mistakenly thought they could just waltz through easily).

At the same time the Norman infantry assaulted the skirmishers who were shooting from the woods. They only killed one but that was enough to drive them back.

On the other side of the table a second group of bidowers moved into another wood with the idea of luring my impetuous knight into charging them with their Wild Charge rule. This called for a detour because Count Richarde isn't a total meat-head. 

Said Count Richarde: "This way men, through this other wood where we shall 
become bogged down and stuck for a couple of turns."
Note: Count Richarde has Papal; Banner - for when times get tough!

And so, Woger the Wed reacted to all of this Norman chicanery and told his cowardly archers to unleash a volley at the brave knights on the hill. Who, when poor of Otto took an arrow in the eye bravely ran back down the hill to safety.


More arrows flew from the skirmishers which killed one of my mounted sergeants. To which they said: "Enough of this merde. Thou has giveneth us a gutfull." ... So they charged into the cowardly archers and drove them back but lost another two men in the process. Maybe those archers were not so cowardly after all.


The Norman infantry tried to charge the biddowers in the woods again but were themselves, driven back by a well aimed volley as the bidowers evaded.

Back in the center, the Norman foot knights once again advanced to take possession of the all-important hill.

Only to be driven off once again (bravely I might add) by Woger and his mounted sergeants. This time another two of their fellows fell and made their way to their heavenly rest.
The Dual...

Finally Richarde la Tête, brave knight of Normandy, emerged from the woods and lead his men towards Woger the Wed. (He, of somewhat dubious ancestry.)

"Come thee forth and meeteth me in mortal combat," cried the Wed one named Woger. And Richarde, seeing that his troops were somewhat disturbed by his hesitation, replied: "Oh buggereth thee with a broomstick."

And so, charging up the hill to meet the Wed Woger, a duel was fought. 

And bravely, with great courage and skill, did Richarde get cut to pieces like a well cured sausage.

"Alas! Alakaday! Richard's gone and got his head cut off and our re-roll has gone with him," cried his men. And many courage tests did follow.

In vengeance for the loss of their re-roll, the the Norman foot knights did charge back up the hill, killing Woger's remaining companions and driving him off.


"There he is," said the crossbowmen lets shoot him down. And they tried but they all missed.


The End is Nigh...

Woger the Wed, he of  somewhat dubious ancestry, fell back and took shelter with some mounted sergeants. These very same troops charge the hill and attacked the foot knights, killing two of them but were reduced to half their numbers and were themselves throw back off the hill.

Frankish yeomen now assaulted Sir Bonzo de Baguette, the last remaining foot knight and cut him down. But at least he took some of them with him. Woger the Wed once again rode forth and shouted: "The hill is mine, again!"



Meanwhile, while all this was happening, my mounted sergeants were charging everyone in sight and did a pretty good job of driving off the archers and yeomen, whilst my mounted men-at-arms did bugger-all except sit there and get shot.

So the brave sergeants, did bravely ride forth, up the hill and bravely did they plunge their lances into Woger's back in a brave show of the bravest bravery.


So endeth Woger the Wed.

And, in the next turn, these guys too.

I don't remember what happened to my Mounted knights. I think they had enough and ran away (bravely). My mounted sergeants took one too many shots from the bidowers and also fled the field.

In the final turns my foot sergeants (who had been trying to fight the bidowers) took the hill and gained the last remaining points needed to win the game. The only troops left were these, my crossbows and those pesky bidowers.

T'was a bloody affair.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a really good game. Thank you to my opponent, Lorne.
The tables turned and turned again and it was only in the last couple of turns that victory was determined. Alas neither of our heroes lived to tell their tale.

We had time for another bout but that's another story.




Thursday 7 December 2017

My Antigonids Get Some Thracian Allies

I'm quite happy with the progress of my Antigonid Successor army. I started these guys at the start of November and in just one month they are starting to look like a viable force. I still have a way to go with them as I want a fairly large force of at least half a dozen pike units and as many thureophoroi and allies - Thracians/Galatians/and Thessalian horse. I don't really need a great deal of cavalry but I'll probably do more than I need. I can also co-opt my earlier Greek hippeis if I need to.

So, here are my newest additions: Another unit of pike and a unit of Thracian medium infantry with romphia.


This looked like an odd colour scheme as I was doing them. 
But I like the end result. Somewhat understated.




My whole phalanx as it stands at this point.