The Battle of Michmash, 6mm biblicals.

 After a couple of weeks holiday it was back to wargaming today and back to Hail Caesar in biblical times. A recent issue of Wargames Soldiers and Strategy was a Chariot Wars special and one of the battle covered the Battle of Michmash. Now we don't have the armies of Israel or the Philistines so we adapted the scenerio to suit our armies. 

Thus Nigel in his new role as Nigelath Alespic, King of the Assyrians led his army down onto the plain below his camp to do battle with King Ianhep Ratep and his Elamite army with a few Hittite allies led by Instu Shushinart (me). 

It was a good scenario but we had to be careful that it didn't deem too loaded against Nigel. With roughly equal armies but most of the special events usually being bad news for Nigel. 

Assyrian Deployment

Elamite deployment minus their Hittite allies who arrived after a flank march.  

Ianhep urges his army forward. 

The two forces soon clash in what was to be an epic battle in the centre. 

As both sides started to take casualties there was a chance that some of the weaker Assyrian vassal spearmen could defect to the Elamites but sadly Ian fluffed the dice throw so the two units of spearmen remained loyal to Nigelath. 

Initially the Elamites seemed to be getting the better of the battle with Ianhep bravely becoming personally involved in the fighting. 

The Hittite flanking force arrived on turn 3, chasing off a weakened unit of Assyrian chariots, but then they met the Assyrian cavalry who proved to be a very tough unit, possibly unit of the battle? 

Over on the Elamite left flank the two forces were involved in a face off, mainly as both armies kept failing their orders to charge, so it became a shooting match for a while. The Assyrians had more missile armed troops but their missile dice throwing let them down. 

Ian always likes to get his skirmishers safely into rough ground, see top of photo. Look also at the damage counters as the two forces on that flank finally clashed. It was now a close fought battle.

As usual, at this point the game became so involved I forgot to take any more photo's. Both forces had one of their three divisions broken and a second very close to being broken. As we entered the final turn I thought that Nigel and his so far unbeaten Assyrians were going to grab the victory but in an amazing round of melee Ian managed to win a multi units combat and slay the opposing general Nigelath and break the Assyrians chariot division granting the Elamites a hard fought victory. What a cracking game. The biblical era really suits the Hail Caesar rules as we always have closely fought games with them. 

General D'Armee v2, game concludes.

 Back to Nigel's house today for the conclusion of our General D'Armee v2 game. Nigel had set an excellent scenario of a withdrawing French force (commanded by Nigel) trying to delay or stop the British and Prussian army (me and Ian) from getting over the river. 

Here is how we left the game. You can see the bridge over the river behind the first village section. Ian had already captured this section once but had been driven out again.  

This photo also shows what a great looking game it was. 

Over on the left flank my British infantry brigade was tasked with getting over the river. This proved very hard as Nigel's light infantry were making excellent use of the riverbank and it's cover.  

The British slowly forcing the French back, both sides were taking quite a few casualties. 

Over on the right flank Nigel was able to advance his French Infantry as Ian was wrapped up in trying to eliminate the French Heavy Cavalry that are just the other side of the windmill. 

By the left side of the bridge that section of village had been recaptured by Nigel and then taken again by Ian; this became our only gain by the end of the game. 

As my British infantry managed to get across the river, they were so heavily damaged they opted to withdraw from what seemed a no win situation, there were just too many French line units to deal with.

My brigade of British Hussars went on one last hurrah, charging around the woods towards the river.

Smashing into a French line unit on the river bank. At first I thought the cavalry were going to break through as depicted in the photo. But this was a learning game and we had forgotten to give the infantry the chance to form into a square. Sadly for my cavalry, the infantry duly formed square and repulsed the attack. With the afternoon wearing away, Ian and I decided upon a strategic withdrawal and awarded Nigel the game as we just could not get across the river. 

All three of us enjoyed this scenario and we also feel we learnt a lot about the rules so our game play should speed up next time we play. 

Trying 'General D'Armee' v2 in 15mm

 Howard, Ian and Nigel have been playing a few games of the new version of 'General D'Armee' and this week I was able to go along to Nigel's house to try them out too. Nigel had adapted a scenario where the British and Prussians were attacking, needing to secure a village and a hill with a windmill on it and the French who were withdrawing had to defend them and slow the Allies down. Nigel took on the role of the French with Ian and I dividing the allies up between us. 

Looking along the Allied line towards the village.

The French on the defensive.

Nigel had set up a lovely looking table, ideal for this scenario.  

My British Light cavalry brigade supported by the RHArtillery (turned to the rear to show they are limbered up as I haven't painted the limbers yet) go on the attack.

Turn two and the British Light cavalry smash into the flank of the French artillery deployed just outside the village and wipe them out. 

With the French artillery destroyed the Light Cavalry then withdrew. 

Inspired by the success of the British Light Cavalry, the French heavies aim for Ian's British Foot Artillery.

The result was the same, and the French heavy Cavalry also opted to withdraw.

A view of the French defending the village.

The Prussians advance against the first part of the village and after a couple of turns of intense melee force the French back. 

We had to stop play here as we ran out of time but happily we have left the game set up to hopefully continue next week. 

The game played really well and all three of us felt that the rules have been refined and improved to provide a smoother, quicker moving game. Finally we think we have found the set of rules for Napoleonics for our little gaming group.  

Old School Fantasy project

 For some time now I have had a growing fondness for and need to collect some of the 'old school fantasy' figures I painted, collected and gamed with back in my youth. In the late 1970's and early 1980's I amassed a large collection of Citadel, Hinchliffe, Ral Partha, Conquest Miniatures and others as well. This nostalgia fix has also coincided with me returning to reading some of the fantasy novels I read back then.  

Elric, Conan and the Hobbit (and of course the Lord of the Rings), are the books that started my love of the fantasy genre in games, books and films.

For some stupid reason I sold all my old collection in 1988 to help with a house move and relocation to a new job. So a few years ago I started to cast about on ebay for a few figures and also my long time gaming friend Chris donated quite a few figures, some Asgard Dwarves and the elf below for example. Chris is also joining in with this project and we aim to use the figures to play games of Dragon Rampant amongst others. You can see some of Chris's old school figures and musings on his blog 'The Periodic Painting Table' here: https://periodicpainting.blogspot.com/

Ral Partha Elf lancer, not too sure if his horse is original but it is a good fit? 

Ral Partha elves. I will use these as Sea Elves. Happily the two figures on the far right were actually painted by me back in the 70's/80's and I was delighted to be re-united with these guys (via ebay) after so many years away. I even drew and painted the flag in watercolours. Happily they only needed a quick touch up and they were ready to do battle.  The captain is named Bod Lo'An Foamheart and he just needs a few more of the axe wielding elves to complete his unit.  All names are from the same earlier period of gaming. 

A few lovely Citadel Wood elf types, were these from the Fantasy Tribe range? Just about pre-slotta? I do have a few more of these to paint to make up a unit. The Mage on the right side is Eritas the Scribe, famed for his chronicles of Elvan History (in my little mind at least). 

Far left is a Reaper miniature figure, not too old I think? The rest are more Ral Partha, the two with Spears and Pikes somehow survived the cull so have been with me for around 40+ years.

Second from the left is an Asgard Half-Elf Fighter, the renowned elf adventurer Emyn Lockharn, now on around his seventh incarnation. I used this figure back in the day but this one was newly acquired through ebay and painted up recently. Poor chap never got above 5th level in D&D before something killed him!  

A 'Ghost' miniatures giant (I think) painted as a Frost Giant (if I recall correctly I swapped this figure over into Chris's collection but got it back again a few years ago?) He is supported by some lovely old Asgard Dwarves. Chris donated some of these, others were found on ebay. I still have a few left to paint but need more. The dwarves are newly painted but the frost giant is still in his original paint scheme. 

Old Hinchliffe Dwarves now sold by Broadsword Miniatures available if you contact the very nice chap called Mike who sells them at:

https://broadswordsandbeasts.blogspot.com/p/broadsword-miniatures.html

A group of assorted Rangers with a cleric in their midst. 

Some Conquest Miniatures goblins from their 1970's 'Age of Jotun' range. If anyone can tell me where I can buy more of this range I would be very happy. They were sculpted by Bryan Ansell I believe? 

I really like these goblins from Hinchliffe/Broadsword . Full of character, despite still having some left to paint I need more. You can see a Tolkien influence on their shields. 

I have a steadily growing collection of old school figures that I keep adding too. My painting is slow on this project as I tend to fit them in between the various historical projects on the go but it is just a sheer pleasure to collect these figures again. The painting will happen in time. 

Lion Rampant: The hunt for Brother Alwin.

 We had a four player game today so we tried scenario 4, the Fugitive. A saxon monk, brother Alwin is on the run and hiding somewhere on the table. Six tokens were placed on the table, each of which could be Alwin. Who would find him first? and could they get him off the table. We had Nigel and Charlie both playing Normans (both of whom wish for the kudos of capturing the monk), Ian his Irish and I used my usual warband of Anglo Danes led by Wulfgar the Slayer.  The Normans wished to capture Alwin as he is a known rebel sympathiser, my Anglo Danes wished to rescue the poor monk from the Normans and the Irish will sell him to the highest bidder! I also placed a heavily laden wagon in the centre of the table which was moved randomly and also became an objective.

Each warband was randomly deployed in a corner of the table and the dice decided that Ian and I were deployed on the west and the two Norman players on the east. This helped create an alliance between the Normans so Ian and I teamed up too. 

In the first turn Ian and then I had chances to locate the errant monk but it was a group of Norman skirmishers controlled by Charlie who actually captured him. A short while later Nigel captured the wagon so very early on the Normans had both objectives

Ian's Irish and my Anglo-Danes at the bottom v Nigel's Normand and Charlies Normans at the top end. It soon turned into an all out battle. 

Charlies Normans led by Bishop Odo. Trait: may re-roll one missed attack per turn. 

Nigel's Normans led by Tallifer, trait: allowed to re-roll one failed activation per turn. 

This trait proved to be really helpful to Nigel. 

Ian's Irish, led by some unrecorded rogue: trait, Leaders unit automatically Wild Charge. Ian finds the 'Wild Charge' trait of his Irish frustrating at times and Nigel's Norman Knights dealt with them quite easily. However, the Irish did keep Nigels force engaged for the whole game. 

My Anglo-Danes led by Wulfgar the Slayer. Trait: he is only hit on a 6 in duels. 

Nigel captures the wagon. and soon moved it behind his troops.  

Charlie's skirmishes locate and capture Alwin and managed to hold onto him all game. 

The Norman's advance. 

The Irish and Anglo Danes create a defensive line. The Anglo Danes did very well but with the Irish being beaten on their left it seemed that they would be hit in their flank soon. 

Anglo Danish huscarle's chopping up Norman Knights. 

Despite doing well against Charlie's Normans I just could not break through in time to try and 'free' Alwin the Monk. 

The one remaining Norman knight has to withdraw. 

Note the standard of Wulgar approaching from the left. 

Wulgar challenged Odo to a duel and using his leadership trait defeated Odo and forced Charlie's units to test their Courage. My Anglo Danes were gradually beating the Normans  on this flank but by our last turn Ian's Irish had all but left the battle. The Normans still possessed both objectives so it was a clear Norman victory.  

This was a really enjoyable 4-player game.  Clear objectives and the varying fighting styles of the forces involved all helped make it fun. 

Lion Rampant: Defending the Indefensible (scenario 3).

 For today's game we decided to give scenario 3, 'Defending the Indefensible' a go. Placing a small church in the table centre to be the main target of the attack we let the dice decide who would be the Attacker and who would be the Defender (who is allowed to deploy up to 10 points of troops in contact with the church as an initial defence force). 

With Ian and his Irish as the attacker, I became the defender and you can see my 10 points of troops defending the church and the Irish advancing towards it.  

Right at the top you can see my leader, Wulfgar the Slayer and his heavy infantry units rushing to help the defenders. A lucky Dice throw has awarded him the very useful 'Strong' trait (may re-roll 1 missed hit) which proved critical at least 3 times. Ian was rather less impressed with his leader, Donacha O'Leary's 'Insipid' trait which robbed him of his +1 Leadership Courage bonus. This also played quite a big part in the game. 

With one of the locals leading his mule cart to safety, Ian tried to make good use of the stream to create a defensive line. Sadly for him his two units of bow armed skirmishers often failed to activate so their shooting into my shieldwall troops was less effective than I feared. 

Anglo-Danes to the left, Irish to the right.

One of my veteran heavy infantry units of huscarls charged over the stream into Ian's leaders unit. After a couple of rounds of closely fought combat Ian's leader and his unit became battered and retreated over the hedge behind them. On his next turn when trying to rally his unit, Donacha the Insipid failed miserably and routed from the battle causing Courage tests all round on his other units. This caused chaos for the Irish and really swung the battle my way. 

Over on my far left my skirmishing bowmen managed to see off the Irish light cavalry who also became battered and eventually fled the battle as well. 

Wulfgar the Slayer took up an heroic pose on the bridge having helped see off some of the Irish.

With half of the Irish units now destroyed victory was awarded to Wulfgar and his Anglo-Danes, their church was safe. This was another fun game that could of gone either way. 

We will play again very soon.