Thursday, 26 November 2009

Chaeronea Refiight; Part II- Advance to Contact

So here's part 2 (of 3) of our refight of Chaeronea 86BC. 

 

Above is the situation at the end of the first Pontic turn.   I was worried that the Romans would try to rout my own Scythed chariots back through my lines (using an optional rule we play), and decided to play a "mounted charge" in order to get them a safe distance from my phalanx!  This same card also enabled me to use my cavalry to attack the Chaeronean Roman allies who had appeared, behind my light troops, on Mount Thibron (more anon).  The mounted charge also gave my troops a +1 in combat.  One of the chariots was destroyed, and the other routed, but they did manage to inflict heavy casualties on the units on the end of the Roman line.

 

Above is the charge of my cavalry against the plucky but isolated Chaeronean patriots.  My charge killed two stands, and the remainer were killed when they unsuccessfully counter-attacked my cavalry in the next Roman turn.  I was delighted with this success (since uphill mounted charges are generally a poor bet!).  On the downside, my cavalry were somewhat out of position (too far over to the right) and Archelaus, my general, played little part in the rest of the battle.


Above is the second and final charge of my surviving scythed chariot; it almost managed to wipe out a unit of Romans before it was destroyed.


Ian and Barry decided to ignore my cavalry wing and pressed forward in the centre.  They played a second Line Command to move their entire centre forward; against which I played "Counter-attack", which  enabled me to retreat my entire line one hex; right against the table edge.  I was playing for time...

 

And here, in the final shot in today's post; the Romans have doubled forward using  (I think) an Inspired General card, and the Marius' legion rule which enables them to move 2 hexes.   My light infantry are looking very uncomfortable as they have no retreat path...

I'll post the conclusion of the battle, tomorrow.

Wednesday, 25 November 2009

Charonea 86BC Part I

Last night we staged  a refight of the battle of Charonea 86BC where the Roman General Sulla comprehensively defeated Mithridates' General, Archelaus.  We used the Command and Colors rules.  For deployment, I amended and scaled up some scenarios I found on the net.  The plains of Charonea are Hotz Hexmats.


Above is the initial (clickable) deployment.  The Pontics are on the left, deployed in some depth, with scythed chariots to the fore, a strong cavalry right wing and a detatched group of light infantry on the hill in the foreground.  The unit at the top of the hill in the forground is, in fact, a unit of Roman Charonean allies, who have sneaked around the back of the hill to ambush the Pontic light infantry on the lower slopes.


Above is a closeup of the Pontic right wing, which, at the start of the battle, is in the act of deploying to try to flank the Roman line.  The General leading the Thessalians at the rear is the Pontic CinC, Archelaus.


Above is the Pontic centre.  The pikes are representing the famous slave phalanx, and the second Pontic general Taxiles is leading some hoplites who are standing in as Bronze shields.  Some of the Thureophoroi are in fact similar-looking Carthaginian levy.  The scythed chariots are revving up for the charge!


Above is the "thin red line" of the Roman army, after their first turn of advance (using the first of two line command cards).  Ian and Barry, playing the Romans, launched a very aggressive attack that eventually led their leading cohort to within a very few inches of my Pontic baseline....  I'll post some shots of the battle, tomorrow, if I have time.

This was the first time I've had the bulk of my Hellenistic armies on the table; I was pleased with how they looked!  Next year I will definitely need more pikemen, though...

Tuesday, 24 November 2009

Gloranthan Army Miniatures Encyclopedia

Mon ami Greg has set up a blog where he's going to store images of figures painted/converted for the world of Glorantha (the world in which Runequest was set).

A lot of images of very nicely painted miniatures will be going up there.   It should be a great Blog!

http://gloranthanarmy.blogspot.com/

Sunday, 22 November 2009

Plains of Zama

These are some of the components for the 18' long table I need to make for Zama.

I'm using 9mm MDF for the boards, with a 10mm thick laker of styrene to be stuck on top using No More Nails.   Later, hexes will be inscribed into the styrene.  I have another 30 or so sheets of the styrene down in the cellar. I'm designing it so that it can be used for either an 18'x4' table, or an 8'x8'.


The MDF was surprisingly heavy to carry 200 yards to my car, and when I measured it later at home, I discovered that the chap in the shop has cut it to the wrong size (604mm wide instead of 600mm; it doesn't fit the styrene), so I'm going to need to carry it back!  Grrr.  At least he didn't under cut it, I suppose.

Saturday, 21 November 2009

Updated Parthian Size Comparison Shot

After I posted last week, someone suggested that I include Bear's Den, and Chris from there has very kindly provided samples.  I've included these and also put the cataphracts onto this page, too, for convenience.


The new Vendel horse is from an Ebob master, I gather, and it is beautifully formed, with very slender legs. The reins are beautifully done; not a single piece casting as on most horses, but a pair with a gap between, something I've never previously encountered. The rider is also very nice (I worry a little about the potential fragility of the realistically slender bow, but all four were fine on the samples I received). The horse and rider are, however, slightly smaller and slighter than my personal preference for miniatures, which tends towards larger 28s; this won't be an issue for most sensible wargamers, though. In style terms, they make me think of some of the Perry ranges, such as their Crusaders. They would be ideally-sized opponents for 1stCorp or Gripping Beast Caesarian-era armies. A real departure from the previous Vendel style; rather exciting. Can't wait to see the cataphracts...

A&A miniatures produce an extensive Sassanid range, which includes several packs of the earlier Parthians. Earlier, I featured the same A&A Parthian cataphract  in the Seleucid Figure Size Comparison page. I really like the poseable horse archer figure. The horse is a little short and thick in the legs in my view, but I really like the decoration on the horses mane. I have used quite a lot of A&A horses in my Numidian and Gallic armies, and have a soft spot for them; solid wargaming steeds that work fairly well alongside the bigger Foundry ranges.

The new addition to the shot is one of the Bear's Den Parthians.  The mount looks like another Ebob horse, to me, but larger than the Vendel one.  As with A&A the legs are cast on, which I think would save preparation and painting time.  The bow is straight and would need to be bent into a recurved shape, which might be a little fiddly.  The rider looks in good proportion to his horse, which is a very nicely sculpted mount.  This mini is the largest of the three, and would probably be a happy size to ride up and  down skewering my Copplestone Roman cohorts with arrows! 


Above we have the Bear's Den and A&A cataphracts (the Vendel isn't out at the time of writing).

The Bear's Den steed is longer than A&As, but a similar height; the rider seems a good match for the size of the horse.  Bear's Den have gone for the very moment of attack, whilst A&A's rider is cantering forward with his lange upright, presumably some distance from the enemy.  The Bear's Den lancepoint is going to stick out 4-5cm in front of the horse, which may be slightly inconvenient on the wargames table, but which would look very dramatic. 

Thanks very much indeed to A&A, Vendel and Bear's Den for providing the samples!

Friday, 20 November 2009

Down Mexico Way...


Last night we playtested Dr. Simon's Mexican War rules; all the above figures are his, and rather splendid they looked too.

The above shot is from behind the Maximillian Government's lines.  Government lancers have just charged up the hill in the foreground and are about to rout their Republican opposite numbers.  The infantry in the forground are Mexican regulars, and facing them are elite Republican units (sorry I can't recall the unit names and backgrounds).  I had ex-Confederates in one unit in my army, and the enemy included a fair number of French.



Here's a shot from behind the Republican lines, with my irregular cavalry moving up in the foreground.  Shortly after this shot, the Government lancers broke through and captured my general who was commanding them.  The game turned out to be a draw with both sides being ahead in some sectors, and we came up with some useful tweaks for the rules that Dr. Simon is writing.

Thursday, 19 November 2009

Numidian Cavalry ready for basing


30 yes 30 cavalry!  And I painted all but 2.  I'm going to need to leave them for a while before basing, as the linseed oil on some of the horses is still not fully dried.


My Aventine reinforcements have arrived.  The left two columns are my two new Pyrrhic nellies, and a selection of spare parts that Keith has sent me which I'll use for conversions... more anon.  I appear to have enough crew for 5 elephants!  The centre two columns are reinforcements for Zama, and on the right are a host of beautiful transfers from LBMS.