Battle of Testiculum.

Because Brian and Malcolm couldn't make it,I had to rejig and rethink the planned game,but it turned out to be a real classic!

 One move into the game-Dave and Graham were the Barbarian commanders,whilst Paul and I took control(?) of the Romans.

This is just one of Dave's furious attacks on the village-it changed hands that many times I lost count-thrilling stuff!

My ships c/w marines ready to disembark behind Graham's lines-curiously he put a unit of cavalry to stop them!

The battle for the village continues(top photo) my front line of cohorts formed "testudo" to meet the charge of Graham's warbands(bottom photo) to negate their javelins-this was successful,but he beat me in the ensuing melee!!

Top shows my cohorts in a tremendous melee(and slowly gaining the upper hand) bottom shows the village,once again changing hands,with Paul about to send in his cohorts to bolster the auxiliary troops-wargaming at its best!!

Graham's cavalry about to be sent packing-the gap was two units wide,so perhaps he should have put two warbands to try and stop the marines-hindsight is a wonderful thing!

Top photo shows yet another incursion by Dave,into the village,met by Paul's cohorts,bottom photo shows my front line cohorts,having forced Graham's warbands to retire(it's good being retired!) reforming ready to advance.

In desperation,Dave has thrown in his reserve troops,but is beaten by Paul's reserves-absolutely marvellous stuff-this could herald the end of this cracking game!

Two shots from the Barbarian side of the table-this was probably the best Ancients game(from the excitement point of view) that we've had for a long time,so well done to us all-a lie down in a darkened room with a glass of rum was called for,and delivered!! As Graham and Paul aren't available next week ,and I will be out most of Sunday,we might not be playing,but you never know!!

Preview of Sunday's game.

On Sunday coming we will be having an Ancients game featuring Romans against Britons.

I have laid out the terrain(without any troops on it),and when the "boys" arrive they will be given their commands,and can decide where they want to deploy,hopefully the temperature will be a little less than this.....................

Yes that's 40 degrees-in the garage on Tuesday!!

Brian,Graham and Dave will be the Britons,Malcolm,myself and Paul will be the Romans.

Top photo is the table as the "boys" will see it on arrival,bottom is a view of the settlement called Testiculum!(childish I know but it keeps me amused!) Those ships aren't filled with troops are they??

Top photo shows a general view down the table,bottom shows a couple of friendly fishing vessels!

Hopefully we will have a full turnout,and a good game-roll on Sunday.

Odds ‘n’ Sods

Sometimes I find it easier to paint small groups of figures than full regiments. With the recent heat and lack of time, I’ve taken that easier route. And painting what I fancy, it’s all been late 17th century pieces.

This is the pioneer set from Dixon with a couple of extra gabions from Renedra. The Dixon sculpts are really old now, but still lovely. Cos of their age though, they’re genuine 25mm figures so wouldn’t mix with my usual Front Rank figures. That doesn’t matter for this engineer and the blokes trying to look busy whilst he’s around!

I had also bought some Dixon figures to create an Irish Jacobite regiment with some leftover Front Rank minis. They just looked wrong together size-wise and style-wise. So I bought some Warfare Miniatures to drop into the Dixon unit. Warfare are a far more modern range, but a good deal smaller and slimmer than Front Rank. They’re lovely so great to have an excuse to buy some.

This though left me with more leftovers! And I really didn’t want to waste them. So another small painting batch has passed across my painting table this weekend.

The left over Warfare minis. 3 officers and a sergeant. I’ll make some command bases!

That’s a very small painting batch…

 So I added the Warlord Games baggage mule set, subbing out the ECW figure they come with for more spares, a Front Rank sergeant for the civilian drover and a Front Rank grenadier to escort.  Oh and another mule of unidentified origin but generic enough to fit most any period.

Undercoated and a few light colours added for the bits I’ll use Contrast paints on. I undercoat brown, white, grey or black depending on how I’m going to paint minis and what I want end result to look like. 

For the most part the mules will be done using Contrast paints. Brown undercoat and a variety of brown Contrast paints will complete 90% of their paint job.

Painting completed, with a variety of techniques - block colours, base main and highlight, washes and dry brushing! Think I used every technique at my disposal with these few pieces. In the bottom photo, the human figures are still on their temporary painting bases - whenever poss I put 2 figures on a painting base. It seems to help the painting. The mules are already on the mdf bases I use for my late 17th century collection.

I then use tiling grout with added stones and grit for my groundwork. For this collection it gets a nice earthy brown all over then drybrushed as shown above. Just the tufts and flock to add - love tufts! - and the flags to the command bases and…

The Warfare Miniatures leftovers become a Jacobite Irish Guards command base carrying James’s royal standard, and for the Sedgemoor campaign a command base showing Monmouth’s standard carried by an officer and sergeant of the ‘Red’ regiment.

The mules have come out well. There’s little colour other than the grenadier and a pig (spot the pig’s ass?!), but I’m happy that it looks… ordinary. The primary use I have in mind is the baggage train at Killiecrankie. Nice to have as often baggage influenced the course of real battles and also nice to have for scenarios. The front base can be used on its own if need be. And the mule of unknown origin can either be put at the back of the baggage train - oops it’s got loose - or used separately.

Thanks for reading. I hope you’ve enjoyed my painting of a few odds ‘n’ sods. Far better to read about the painting side of the hobby for me than my tabletop generalship ;-)

Cheers

Chris  

WW2 and WW JOHN!

On Sunday we had a full turnout for a WW2 game staged by Dave and Paul.Graham,Brian and Malcolm were the Russians,whilst Paul commanded the Germans,with Dave acting as umpire.It is well known that I have no real wargaming interest in WW2 but enjoy watching the games-so why do certain members of the club insist on trying to tell me the difference between a T34/85 and a T34/76??-they might as well try to teach me how to speak outer Mongolian!!-however,on with the game..................

 Top photo shows Malcolm's advance on his objective-the pill box!! bottom photo shows Graham's advance on to his objective-the village.

Brian's objective was to out-flank the Germans by building a pontoon bridge over the river-this he did,and was immediately mortared(is that a word?) and had his bridge blown up!!!! leaving a tank and his pioneers stranded on the wrong side of the river,with no viable support!!

Paul had all manner of surprises in store(actually in the woods!) for Malcolm and Graham-and he did devilish work with them,however, Malcolm's Russian infantry out-numbered him and he soon took the defences and moved onto his objective-surely Paul wouldn't have any more surprises(??!!)

Oh yes he did-I am reliably informed that this is a King Tiger,and quite powerful!!

Well done Malcolm for achieving the objective-game over???

Top photo shows Brian's bridge,which he successfully re-built,being blown up again!!! and his remaining troops turning to cross at the existing stone bridge(why didn't you think of that before?) Bottom photo shows Graham's tank(a Joseph Stalin?) penetrating(steady!) the German position bringing the game to a close,and giving the Russians a well deserved victory.

Discussions and ramifications!-well done to Dave for controlling the game and keeping everyone in check,and well done to the players too.

What is WW JOHN?-well, although WW2 leaves me cold,I still enjoy seeing tanks etc. on the board,so have my own take on WW2/Modern warfare,using my 54mm figures and my "red pom-pom" rules,so today I played the same scenario to see if my so,so simple rules would give a similar result..........................

Almost the same terrain,and starting positions-however I have random cards marked-tank,infantry,mortar,artillery and placed them facing downwards in the obvious positions that would be attacked,then turned them over and the game began!

Top photo shows the first tentative moves against the pill box and village-bottom photo shows the response by the dug-in defenders(who had 1/3rd less trooops,tanks and artillery)

The defenders spring into action-even the hidden tank exposed itself(now,now!)-I differentiate heavy tanks from the lighter types by putting a green pom-pom onto the model,thus giving it a plus one onto its dice throw(too simple I know,but I don't know the difference between a T34/85 and a T34/76!!!!!!!)-I also do the same to show that an infantry squad has a machine gun attached to it-as a simple soul,I like simple things!!

The assault on the village is reaching its climax-Tanks and infantry giving the defenders hell!-note the green pom-pom on the right of the tank base!

This tank has been destroyed!-a "flash" card(from the pound shop) is placed underneath the vehicle to show it has been knocked out,and infantry must keep away from it.

The game is nearing the end now-the defenders are being overwhelmed by superior numbers,however one unit is being particularly stubborn in its defence-their officer is holding them in their position-so what to do???

Shoot the bugger!!snipers are "elite" types and have a plus one to their dice,hence the green pom-pom!!-he did his job and the last defenders retired(its good being retired!).I thoroughly enjoyed this game,and hopefully will be playing many more in the coming weeks.

I attended Mike Fisher's funeral on Wednesday-it was sad and up-beat at the same time-more a celebration of Mike's achievements and life ,so not too miserable.It gave me a chance to catch up with Charlie Wesencraft's group too,we may even be able to combine for a large game sometime.