Battle of Corvidium 119AD

I've had enough of figure painting for a while,so it's onto good things to do-ie. having a game,albeit a solo game,this game pitted Romans against Britons/Celts,and was a great way to take my mind off all things Coronavirus!!

Top photo shows the scenario(?) bottom shows the simple way I have chosen to keep casualties,I am using the lines/warbands as one unit,ie the first line of Roman cohorts is a unit,a whole warband is a unit etc. etc.

The two armies face each other,before any movement-I had decided to let the Roman auxiliaries attack each hill before the Legion got into a fight,and I used "random movement dice" for the Celts-this proved decisive,in that the Celtic cavalry on their right refused to move,as did the Iceni tribe-this caused a gap between the attacks,which the Romans took full advantage of !!

Top photo shows the Celts ,supported by their Cavalry on their left,moving towards the Farmstead,whilst the bottom photo shows the Coratani tribe moving towards the Romans,unsupported by their cavalry(having refused to move!) In the centre,the legion is advancing at a leisurely pace!!

The Trinovantes have made contact with the Roman first line,whilst the Iceni are playing catch-up,the Trinovantes out-numbered the cohorts,so some of the auxiliaries have turned to support the right of the Roman line-this is going to be tight!!

Top shows the Roman aux. on the left doing very well indeed,but the bottom shows the very tight situation on the far right(farmstead hill). But what of the Legion???

What a melee!!-both tribes are now involved,the second line of cohorts have been thrown in,plus support from the aux.infantry and the reserve cavalry.As it happens some very good dice throws from the Romans(lucky??) put them in a wining situation,and the tribes began to falter,and be driven back-hurrah!!

Top shows the Roman left flank totally secure,but the right flank isn't-the aux. being driven away,the saving grace was that the Trinovantes,in the centre melee,decided to retire(it's good being retired!!) which left the Iceni to face the whole legion by themselves!!-the result was going to be inevitable slaughter!!

There they go-an early bath for you my lads!!-this was the end of the game,and a well deserved,if costly,victory for the Romans.
These games are good,and take up a fair bit of time,but will never replace the banter and comradeship of proper club games-roll on the end to this madness!
Keep safe everyone,and keep commenting!

Swindled

Alas one of our members has suffered the fate that we all try to avoid....

What could this be? 
A corona virus scam...

A banking swindle....

Door step villains?

No. Much more devastating

A swine out there has carried out a deception

A heinous deed that would have statesmen crying out to the public...

Public punishment and recompense

What could have been the cause of such an outrage.. and abuse of a dear friend.. reducing a grown man to wail and dare I say .. utter profanities

The subject of such dastardly acts you ask...

None other than...

Correct... the humble sausage

Poor Brian is mortified.. under sold

Promised yet supplied short of his quota

Woe upon the perpetrator

Varus..bring me back my sausage!

Project up-date,and Coronavirus hair warning!

It's taken me a year or so to grow a "full set" ie. moustache and beard,but yesterday I decided to shave it off and reveal my face to the world again!-However,as my hair is growing at a most ridiculous rate(I tripped over it twice!!) I also decided to cut that too-now comes the warning-Do not let your wife(who is only partially sighted,and has a left hand tremble) talk you into letting her cut it for you!!!!!!

Initial reaction was one of horror-it's all supposed to be the same length!

Oh well,they say the difference between a good haircut and a bad haircut is two weeks-I think I'll just get my whole head shaved!!!

My latest project is coming along "swimmingly"........................................

From this........................

To this in just a few days,plus,as you can see,I am also making some Barbarian types too.

4th cohort on the go,and in the background number 5-I haven't decided yet whether to make a whole legion(10 cohorts) or stick at 5,whilst making and painting some more barbarians-decisions,decisions,decisions!!
Finally,a congratulations to Pendraken(Leo and family) who have taken to producing face shields for the NHS,using their laser cutting machine-marvelous stuff,whilst still producing MDF bases for us wargamers.
Finally,finally,best wishes to my old mate Charlie Wesencraft,who recently moved into a new flat within a sort of sheltered accomodation complex , which has a case of the dreaded virus-keep safe mate!

Ramblings and new project.

To keep myself occupied during my self violation,I have been painting an eclectic mix,found in my "rumble box"-the latest offering are some Successor Phalangites.

These are the little fellas-the hardest job I had with them is hand painting the Stars on their shields,it took me ages!-what do you mean,they look like SASCO chart stickers-as if!!!

Suitably based and flocked,now to add them to the growing number of painted items,on the garage windowsill...........................

What am I going to do with them???-the resident spider(about the size of a mouse!) keeps covering them in his web-hope he dies of lead poisoning-little sod!!
A while back I made some card towers ,walls and houses etc.and just to amuse myself I thought I would put them onto the board along with my card Norman castle......................

Looks quite impressive-I'm sure I could come up with a scenario involving a siege by boats/ships!
Now onto my latest project-an Auxiliary Roman Legion,made from cast-your-own Prince August figures.......................

Casting equipment-molds,clamps and gas(camping for the use of!)

Detail of one of the figures-I chop the extended arm off,attach a suitable auxiliary -type shield,and " lo and behold",a legion is born!!

First two cohorts,one started,the other just about to be under-coated!-I am distinguishing the "officers" by giving them large round shields.
Finally,as I think I've rambled on enough, I would like to sincerely thank all my World Wide readers,who are all going through the same "traumas" as us in the UK-I think it's great that so many people in the world share our great hobby-keep reading and commenting.

Good luck to you all,and keep safe.

French/Indian Wars-Battle of Lake Biscuit.

At last I have played this game through to an exciting conclusion,and enjoyed every minute of it!
I decided to approach the game a bit differently to the way I would normally play,ie. I played both flanks out to a complete conclusion,before I tackled the main assault on the Fort.

These two photo's show the "brisk" action on the lake-the rangers were in position first,so got in a great volley against the Indians-killing their "chief" with the first dice throw!!

Top photo shows the Indians paddling back across the lake,having been forced to retire(it's good being retired!-but a lot of you will be seeing what it's like due to "lock down!!)
Bottom photo shows what is left of the rangers,about to disembark to support the eventual attack against the fort by the British.

Meanwhile,on the other flank,the raiding party is attacking the village,and making "mincemeat" of the defending Indians-but will the Indians and Courier du Bois in the Fort village be coming to help??
Well,I threw a dice for each,and they both decided to come and assist-this could prove tricky for the Raiding party-and it did!!!!

Top photo shows the "help" on its way,bottom shows the Plight of the defenders! but the rangers are taking up positions to attack the "helpers" when they arrive!!

Top shows the rangers and couriers engaging in a most one-sided fire-fight-the couriers were using the latest laser guided Kentucky rifles,and shot the rangers to bits!!!-the Indians then fought the raiding party Indians and sent them "packing"-oh dear!!!!-this was to prove quite a problem for the advancing British and their supporting rangers.

Top shows the British marching into position,whilst the supporting rangers(from the woods) move to take on the couriers moving through the woods to attack the British flank-they were completely successful,and secured the flank after a hard fight!!-The rangers(depleted) from the lake fight,have been sent forward to skirmish with the fort defenders,and paid a heavy price for being so bold-ie. they were slaughtered!!!!

The British artillery open up,inflicting "telling" casualties!

The assault begins-first volley from the troops attacking the fort threw the requisite dice and killed the fort commander!!!-this is not looking good for the French!

After a brief melee,the fort is taken,and outside the French defenders are fleeing,with the Scots chasing them,no couriers or Indians are left to help out,so an emphatic win for the British!
This was probably the most satisfying and exciting solo game that I've played-possibly because I took my time,and spread the action over two days.