Roman Baggage Train.29.3.2012.

Paul and I played this small and simple game on thursday night,the objective was for a Roman Legion ,escorting a baggage train,to get across a river defended by some Gauls.
We both had 8 units of inf. and 1 unit of cavalry each,the table layout was as shown in the photo below,with the Gauls defending hill "C" and just debouching from the woods at point "D".Hill "A" was climable but hill "B" was totally impassable to all troops. This shows my Roman lines just forming after changing from column of march,it was "nip and tuck" as to getting in position before the screaming Gauls were upon them!

This shot shows Paul's magnificent and terrifying charge down the hill,my pila volley failed to cause any real damage and I was in for a bit of a pounding.

Roman lines awaiting impact,baggage train trying to get out of the way.

"IMPACT".My reserve line is hurrying forward as the Gauls pour more and more warbands into the fray.

This shows the cavalry battle for hill "A",we both had the same idea of capturing this hill and threatening each others flank,this was quite a tussle which the Gauls eventually won and drove my cav. off the board.

Another shot of the Gauls trying to break the Roman lines,they nearly did, but thanks to some very lucky dice throws my line held and the Gauls,suffering heavy casualties were begining to "waver".Eventually most of the warband decided that they didn't really want what was in the baggage train and departed for home.

This was a good well fought and evenly balanced game,we will probably be using this same terrain for future games using different armies.

American Civil War Battle.25.3.2012.

Here are a selection of photo's taken on Sunday.I will caption them only,Dave is going to do a full report on the battle.
This shows the Union right flank,firing on the Texas Brigade (and killing most of their officers in the process!) The brave New Yorkers getting pushed out the advanced position in the central woods.

The Breastworks are shown below,the scene of a prolonged and bloody battle.

The Union left flank with a massive attack being launched by the Confederates.

The Confederate left flank being hard pressed by the Union troops.

The defence of the central position by Union troops,Confederate commanders looking very casual!!

The breastworks have been cleared in grand style,however it looks like they are scared of the lone Union officer !!

The Confederate left flank in some confusion.Union troops trying an outflanking move.

The Confederate right flank putting up a good fight.

A melee in the centre of the line,the Iron Brigade are being pushed back after a melee.

Taster for Sunday 25th. March 2013.(9 months until Xmas)

Here are a few photos to whet your appetite for Sunday.Dave has brought along his American Civil War figures to stage the battle of Seven Pines or Fair Oaks,1862. This is the Salvation Army signalling for more coffee and biscuits!-Watchtower,gettitt!!!

Breastworks to be defended in the centre of the Union lines.

Shot showing the Confederate right flank,below.

This shows the converging Union and "rebel" troops,heading towards the station.

This is the central position,station and woods,and breastworks,by shere coincidence the Confederate troops have been placed underneath the Confederate flag on the wall!!.

You can see the Union troops moving in from the left flank to counter the "rebel" attack through the woods and in the centre.

Hopefully this will be a tremendous game,and Dave has promised to write a full game report,I will look forward to that,roll on Sunday.

Prince August Barbarians.

To "showcase" my Prince August Barbarians,I thought I might try something different to just taking pictures and making comments,so I've put them into a wargames/battle situation to try and show the various poses,weapons and shields.
The photo below shows a close up of a typical warband of 18 figures,(I have 20 such warbands,plus 12 chariots and 60 cavalry) all of the shield designs are different,and this posed a problem after painting so many !! This shows a part of the army advancing to meet my roman legion.The figures are easy to cast and with a bit of imagination you can "chop and change" arms ,weapons etc. to create quite a few different looking styles and poses.

The next shot,below shows the warbands advancing onto what can only be called "the thin red line",you can see the cavalry have already got "stuck in" on the far flank.I found that Lancashire Games figs. are ideal for the cavalry because of their size.(and very easy to paint too!)

Pila have been hurled and the two lines clash,is that number two cohort being held?

Yes number two cohort looks in trouble,the rest of the Roman line has survived the initial Barbarian charge.

Number two cohort is "broken" and the warbands are flooding into the gap.

A close up of number two cohort being split by the Barbarians,this places the other cohorts in danger of being outflanked and attacked in the rear.

Another shot of the whole line,no other cohort is breaking,I suspect the Roman commander will have to commit his second line of cohorts.

This shows the cavalry battle on the Roman right flank,the Roman cav.are pushing the Barbarian cav. back, and will,hopefully,beat them and launch an attack against the rear of the Barbarian infantry warbands.

Alot of hard work and painting has gone into creating these two armies,a great deal of satisfaction can be gained from "creating" your own figures from a mould,why not try it? You can "google" Prince August and follow the links to their range of products.

Prince August Roman Army.

When Prince August decided to put out a range of Roman and Ancient Britons moulds,I bought most of the Roman moulds and a couple of the "handier" Britons moulds,with a view to replacing my existing collection.My aim was to make and paint two legions and opposing "Barbarians",with the large size of these figures I had quite a job finding compatable cavalry figs,but with a bit of "digging" around and a few conversions I managed to compleste my project. The above photo shows my two legions in line,Legio Pheonix in red and Legio Nova in blue.Each legion consists of nine cohorts of 18 figs each and one of 24 figs (number one or Primus cohort)

This is obviously a shot from the other end of the table,highlighting Legio Nova.

This shows what a formidable line the legion makes !

The above shot is of Legio Pheonix,each cohort has a cohort standard,and the first cohort has a standard and an eagle.

This shows Legio Pheonix with a cavalry attachment,Warrior conversions and Lancashire games Roman cav.

This photo is taken from the rear of the legion,showing the length of the line.

This shot has captured my general figure whom I have graciously called Giovannicus.

This is the right flank of the legion showing cohorts one and ten.

This is the right flank,you can just see some converted archer figs to the left of the front rank cav.unit

The above photo gives a good indication of the length of the line,and the action poses of the figures.

The moulds are very good with quite alot of detail,some arms and shields etc. are cast seperately,and I found painting them ,in my style,quite rewarding.

I hope to take some photographs tomorrow of my Barbarians,and we will be presenting them at Border Reiver show later on in the year.

Ancient battle Sunday 18.3.2012.

On Sunday we had an ancients game,Pyrrhus of Epirus against Sparta,the scenario was that Pyrrhus was trying to expand his empire by attacking Sparta;The scenario was given to all players in the format below,however you need to be a contortionist to read it!! I'll never get the hang of this technology business!!. This is Pyrrhus' main battle line consisting of phalanx troops and Elephants,fronted by bowmen,their task was to get through the "Electra Gates" by forcing the main Spartan line to give way.

This photo shows the Allies of Pyrrhus and consisted of light inf. peltasts,light and heavy cav. and some slingers.Their task was to beat the enemy in front of them and stop them from interfering with the Phalanx.

This is the SPartan main line made up of hoplites with some supporting archers,they were in a very good defensive position and were classed as elite troops,a hard nut to crack!

This is the Spartan allied troops made up of the same as the Pyrrhus' allies.

This is Pyrrhus with his "friends" (no doubt with benefits!!)

The Spartan king Areus,looking every inch the tough fighter and classical leader of men,with his friend (with benefits??)

The battle started with usual skirmishing between archers and slingers, and an advance with the elephants.The elephants managed to contact the Spartan hoplites and at first inflicted some serious damage (which would tell later on in the game) however Spartans being Spartans they eventually killed all of the elephants,as you can see from the photo!

The allies from both sides were not being idle either and locked horns all along the line,neither side gaining any significant advantage
at first.Pyrrhus had obviously traine d his light troops alittle bit better than the Spartans as eventually they did gain an advantage and started to push them back,however the Spartan allied heavy cav.pounced on their opposite numbers and inflicted heavy losses.

After some vicious fighting the phalanx managed to push the Spartans back and with their ranks in disarray,their morale eventually broke and the game was over,the above photo shows the final positions of the main lines.

The shot below shows the final positions of the Allied forces,with the Spartan allies in retreat.It must be emphasised that this was no push over by Pyrrhus' forces,both sides fought well and ,I hope, both sides enjoyed the game.