Friday, 8 November 2013

Chaeronea 86BC at the Wargames Holiday Centre

Yesterday the Mark at the Wargames Holiday Centre very kindly hosted a re-fight the battle of Chaeronea 86BC (i.e. not the better known earlier battle with Alexander and Phillip). This later battle fought between the forces of Mithridates' Pontic army, and Sulla's veteran Roman legions, in Greece in 86 BC.

I won't go into too many details, as the piece will hopefully shortly feature in a wargames magazine, along with some other photos I took, but I can't resist posting a few (clickable) snaps...

View from behind the Pontic left.  Chaeronea is on the skyline, and the smaller temple is on Mount Thurium
The Roman army was much smaller than the Pontic, but largely composed of bloodthirsty veterans.  The Pontic army included scythed chariots and a phalanx of freed Roman slaves; more than likely the last phalanx ever deployed on an ancient battlefield.

Scythed chariots charge...
Harry, eldest scion of the Miller family, and I led the Pontics against Mark and Paul's Romans.  The flow of the game was all-too historical, as the Roman veterans first routed our flank detachment, and then smashed our phalanx with a combination of frontal and flank attacks.  It was very entertaining though.  We used my "To the Strongest!" card-driven rules; the card play was very entertaining, especially when units got to make multiple attacks (as with Sulla below).

Sulla and his cavalry bodyguard got on my flank, turned, and rode down one phalanx after another
The last-surviving Pontic slave phalanx, completely surrounded by the Romans...
Eventually the final phalanx succumbed (above), and our army routed.  As a small compensation, though, it had bought time for my Scythian light cavalry to loot the Roman camp!

Mark was a very kind host and I hope to visit the Wargames Holiday Centre again, next year...

Tuesday, 5 November 2013

I am playing a game tonight (and another at the Wargames Holiday Centre, tomorrow), that needs 10' of hills, and was 6' short.  Luckily I remembered that I bought some GW hills a few years back.  Looking in the loft, I found 3 unopened boxes, with 6' of hills in them!  A big  +1 for hoarding.


The painting tray has been reloaded with an eclectic mix of Indians, Scythians, Numidians and Celts.


The odd selection is because it occurred to me recently, that I have completed 35 units this year.  There would be a certain symmetry in completing 52 in 52 weeks...   I have a lot of painted minis that need basing or units that are an element under strength, and could easily be finished.   The two "santas" will finish off the Scyhtina unit in the foreground, for example.  I'm going to give it a go... 

Monday, 4 November 2013

Rump of the British chariots

Here are the rump of the first wave of chariots.


Above, chariot 3 from behind.  This one is entirely Wargames Factory, except for Foundry horses.


Above and below, chariot 4.  Factory passenger, Foundry driver, Newline ponies.



Above, chariot 5.  Renegade passenger.  This one is designed to be viewed from behind; it'll face away from the Romans and depict a retreating chariot- the plan is that the chariots will be going in all directions...


Above 6; all Factory, except Foundry horses.


Above 7.  Possibly my favourite; Black Tree charioteer (generously donated by Streetline), and Renegade passenger. The chariot colours on this one, are lovely .   


And finally number 8.  Foundry passenger.  The Green came out very well.

The Wargames Factory chariots, as supplied, are not very realistic, but there is a lot of really good material in the box, once the less useful bits have been discarded. A huge thanks to Nick Speller who painted all of the riders, his tartan is superb! One last special chariot to follow tomorrow or Thursday....

Sunday, 3 November 2013

Chariots 1 and 2


The chariots are finally finished, and I've grabbed a few snaps. This one, I've imaginatively named "Chariot 1"! It includes parts from Relic (wheels), Newline (ponies), Wargames Factory (sitting crewman) and Wargames Foundry (standing).


Nick painted the crew, and I painted the rest.


Chariot 2 has some Black Tree nags, donated (some years ago) by Streetline. The crewmen are Factory and, I believe, Renegade.

I'm hard pressed for time today, but will post the others tomorrow and Tuesday!

Friday, 1 November 2013

A highly charged experience


This morning I took my life in my hands and fired up the static grass applicator (purchased off eBay).  This made a humming noise, reminiscent of the Proton Packs in Ghostbuster.  At one point the sieve touched the crocodile clip and there was a terrific "zap"; it was a bit like "crossing the beams!".

My modus operandi was to paint wood glue onto the base (around 50% coverage), attach the crocodile clip to the element's base, press the on button and tap the applicator against my other hand, shaking the grass onto the glue.

I found the normal 2mm grass looked a little short, and mixed in some 4mm long strands, for variety. Most of these longer strands stayed in the sieve, but enough made it through to make a difference.


So did it work?  I think so.  Quite a bit of grass is on the bases, and it seems to be fairly vertical.  I needed to apply a second coat, in places, to make the grass appear thicker, but then I always do that.  It was a faster process than using my trusty Noch puffer bottle. All in all a success!

I hope to add tufts to the bases tonight, and then spray matt tomorrow (weather permitting), to conceal the gloss left by the glue.  After that I can finally attach the finished chariots to the bases.

Thursday, 31 October 2013

Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy 69


The lovely smell of freshly-printed magazine is wafting across my lounge...  this looks like a great edition, as it has a cover and article by mate Andres Fernandez, 3 (!) pieces by mate Allen Curtis, and another on matrix gaming by mate Mark Backhouse!  Plus there are several other great looking articles, including one on page 66 by this chap called Simon Miller...

Wednesday, 30 October 2013

Chariot basing

I've grouted and painted the 9 bases, ready for flocking tomorrow with the Torture Implement.  An element of warband have joined them for flock-matching purposes.  


I've been trying to decide what to do after these; either another unit of Celtic warband, or perhaps I might revisit the long-postponed swan necked trading ship...