Wednesday, 28 January 2015

Not Noreia 112BC


Here are some shots of a game of "To the Strongest" I played with mate Ian last week. In the foreground a horde of migrating Germans approach a Roman blocking force protecting a town. Below is a photo of the Roman centre and right, including three of their four legions. All of the photos are clickable.


The Roman force was Polybian, organised into small units of 8-16 figures, whereas the Germans (proxied with Gallic figures) were in 40+ strong blocks. One of the reasons I wanted to fight this match up was because I'd read an account of one test game where the small units of the Roman legions were entirely swept away by a wild Gallic charge, and I wanted to check that this wasn't going to happen every game!

Below Ianus advances the Roman and Numidian cavalry screening his left, against my rather scruffy German cavalry (most of whom were "raw").  


The velites also rushed forward and showered the German warriors with their javelins, disordering several of them (note the stepped-back element in the right foreground). Disordered warriors only hit on an 8 instead of a 6, and are really hard to rally. I pushed the warriors forward as quickly as I could, in an attempt to minimise Roman shooting, and eventually managed to catch and kill a couple of units of pesky velites.

Below is a view from behind the German right.  At one point I managed to get a scruffy German cavalry unit onto the flank of the left-hand Roman legion (rear, centre, in the wheat field). Unfortunately the legion's Triarii flanked them, in return, and drove them off.


In the centre, below, the warbands collided with the Roman line. They managed to smash through the Roman Hastati and then the Principes, but took a lot of casualties along the way, becoming progressively disordered.  It is very hard to rally warriors when the enemy are in charge or shooting range.


Unfortunately the Roman Triarii proved too tough a nut to crack, and I just couldn't kill them and break through to loot the temples on the edge of the town. It turned into a very narrow Roman victory - they had one medal left when the Germans ran out!

It was a very enjoyable game that lasted around two and a half hours.  I took some video clips- I'll see if I can work out how to post them, tomorrow. We played the game using my new "Chits of War" instead of playing cards, you should be able to make them out in some of the photographs.  The last two sets of chits (more to come in a couple of weeks) and the rules are available in my shop.

Monday, 26 January 2015

Aepycamelus cast!


Here are my Aepycamelus, now cast, and standing a lofty 60mm or so tall..  When I have time, I need to make reins and harness, and sculpt some riders.  This will not be an easy task; I am to sculpting as Morokanth are to hitch-hiking.  

Friday, 23 January 2015

Chits of War

I've just added what I call "Chits of War" to the BigRedBatShop.  These are intended as an alternative to using playing cards in a game of To the Strongest!, and are likely to appeal to those who don't like the look of cards on a table or who are gaming on smaller grids, perhaps with 15mm minis.  I used them in a game last night and I am very taken with them- I'll certainly use them myself in games that will be photographed for this blog.

These chits have been cut from 2mm MDF. The activation chits are designed to be drawn from a cup or small pot and used in exactly the same manner as playing cards are in a game of To the Strongest! The ammunition markers have a dinky little arrow on them, and the playing card-shaped chits are perfect for stratagems.  The set includes a total of 143 chits:

  • 80 TtS! activation chits numbered from 1-10
  • 13 TtS! playing card court card chits for use as stratagem cards
  • 50 TtS! ammunition markers


The full set can be purchased for £9.99 plus shipping from here.

Thursday, 22 January 2015

Cap'n hook

This little chappy is a 28mm oarsman I've been sculpting for a future project. The head is a temporary one borrowed from an Aventine mini. The plan is to make a simple oarsman in a tunic who can take a range of different heads, and who can crew barges, rowing boats and galleys. 

He is the first 28mm human I've sculpted from scratch, and I am coming to appreciate that I'm going to need more magnification to see what I'm doing; my specs just aren't cutting it! I am very happy with the pose, though.

Monday, 19 January 2015

Reinforcements


I'm back onto ancients, and am busily basing up minis for a game on Thursday.  In the front of the tray are celts, around half of whom are freshly painted by Nick Speller, and the remainder veterans undergoing rebasing.  Behind them are some stunning Polybian Roman cavalry from Shaun (Redzed), and at the back some of his Late Romans that I didn't get around to tufting, before Christmas.  Busy, busy, busy!

In other news, I have just added a Viking list to the Medieval booklet in the "To the Strongest!" catalog, and revised the English Kingdom list. 

http://bigredbatshop.co.uk/collections/all/products/medieval-lists 


Thursday, 15 January 2015

Slow sculpting

Last night I finished some aepycamelus greens, for a long-delayed fantasy project.


The aepycamelus is an extinct llama-like creature.  These are a lofty 65mm tall.


Below are the greens; I started these almost 10 years ago, and last worked on them back in 2009!

Wednesday, 14 January 2015

World's Strongest

Plans for the first ever "To the Strongest Tournament!"proceed apace, and I'm just starting to think about the loan armies I'll be bringing along for anyone who needs to borrow one.  I am minded to paint and base the last couple of units I need to base to be able to field this army:


http://bigredbat.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/EIR2

We still have 2 places left for the tournament - if you are free on Saturday 7th Feb and can get to the Oxford area, please drop me a line at the address on the left and I'll book you in!