Sunday 21 June 2020

Vikings and rediscovery!

Earlier this week I had a fun game pitting two Viking armies against each other.

Eric the Evil attacking the town of Trollheim,belonging to Brian the Blessed!

Brian's allies coming to help.

The attack on the town-I had the option of using "fire arrows" which were used,and you can see the result of a good volley of these arrows,on the Long House-this caused the defenders to be disordered!


Top photo shows Brian's allies giving the invaders a right old beating,whilst the bottom photo shows the rest of them having to fall back due to some good(lucky?) dice throws from the defenders-the "eagle-eyed" among you will have noticed that the fire has spread to another building,but this hasn't affected morale or fighting ability of Brian's troops.

The invaders are sent packing,and Brian's troops see them off!
This was meant to be a quick fun game,and it certainly was,lasting 7 moves,and involving melee,firing,morale tests and of course the fire arrow incident!!
A big thanks to everyone who phones me to find out if I'm ok,or need anything from the shops etc. and especially to Brian who keeps me amused almost daily with his calls and his own special "take" on the news!-Now I have a vivid imagination,and in my "mind's eye" this is how I envisage Brian's home in the lock-down....................................

All peace and tranquility-but where's Brian and his pet Unicorn who he calls "Robbie"?

Ah,there they are,Brian and "Robbie",like peas in a pod!!!!

What about the rediscovery part of this blog,I hear you ask-well,I was lying in bed the other night thinking about my Ancient Indian Army(as you do!) and it seemed to me that I had been neglecting it for years,but why?? I came up with the answer that it was because of the spears that most of the heavy infantry are holding.(you know the crappy bendy ones supplied with the figures)  I proceeded to take all the old spears off and replace them with wire ones,and the transformation was,to me,amazing!
I then started to look at the rest of the army,and was further amazed to see how large it was,and with a little bit of touching up(steady!!) and cleaning/repairing it was looking good.

Here it is,Elephants,chariots,cavalry,light and heavy infantry,as well as some mediums,and two units of topless maiden body guards!!


Detail of the left flank and right flank.

Detail of the centre-the army contains Mini-Figs,Irregular and Warrior  figures and possibly some other manufacturers as well as many old Airfix "baby" elephants.
Now that I have got them on the table,I might as well have a game with them,and which battle shouts out to be played??-HYDASPES 326 BC!!! King Porus against Alexander the Great,so next week I will attempt this epic battle.



























































































































12 comments:

  1. Great post John. Did go a bit psychedelic in the middle!

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    1. Ahoy Matey,what do you mean psychedelic??-that's what Brian actually looks like,as for the Unicorn,they're real aren't they??-I often see them,normally after a good tot of RUM!!!!!
      johnc

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  2. Colorful and splendid units William!

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    1. Hello Phil,good to hear from you,thanks for the comment,keep reading!
      johnc(william)

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  4. Yay! I was rooting for Brian. I look forward to seeing your Indian army do battle. Long,long time since I've seen those figures. Going to be quite warm in the garage? Bit like India? I played Mexicans against Apaches at the weekend. Going to be a tricky one to balance. The Apaches slaughtered the Mexicans... :-/ Cheers Chris

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    1. Chris,I'm just about getting used to solo games,how are you finding them?
      Apaches vs Mexicans sounds good!
      johnc

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    2. Sometimes I feel like an observer when I'm playing both sides. Difficult to incorporate surprises other than dicing for options. The only mistakes my oppo is going to make are naturally mistakes I'd make! Good to get some games in

      Like you found with your Sioux it's important to recreate the Apache way of fighting. Figure i got the scenario right. Not so on the balance. Most of the Apaches I fielded had Springfield carbines and Winchester repeaters whilst the Mexicans had muskets. Totally outgunned, the Mexicans were slaughtered. Close to the end I rolled a Gatling gun out. It put paid to one group of Apaches straight away. I will need to put lots of thought into the scenarios and forces involved when using the Mexicans and Apaches. Guess that's the same for any game where the 2 sides are so different :-)

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    3. Chris,these solo games make you think out of the box that's for sure!! I try wherever possible to follow the tactics and weapon capabilities of the armies,plus leadership of course,but in the end it boils down to good old fashioned dice throwing,which I have never been too hot on!!
      johnc.

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  5. A pissing pink unicorn? Surely you could have found something a bit more manly than that aberration.

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    1. Robbie,careful!!-they can grant wishes you know-and it's not pink,it's geranium red,just like our club shirts!!
      johnc

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