Everything I painted this year

28mm Historical

Terrain

Another Trio of Terrain

Here are a trio of terrain pieces I painted/made for our Siege of Delhi game.

The first is a mosque from (I believe) JR Miniatures. I bought this around two decades ago, but only recently based and painted it. It is rough by today's standards, and you can certainly find many better models in MDF or 3D prints, but I think it has its Old World charm.

And our second model today is indeed a 3D resin print of Red Copper Miniatures' Arab Souk, shown here with some Essex miniatures porters and Red Copper's Arab civilians. The print came in two main pieces - the ground level and the upper floor - with the trade goods being separate, small pieces, which made painting easier.

Finally, here is a cardboard building I made, meant to represent Hindu Rao's House at the Siege of Delhi. The structure is made using cardboard, reinforced with Jenga blocks, and the exterior is from Iliada Games Studio. It is by no means an accurate model, but I think it feels right for the period.

Hindu Rao House defended by the Sirmoor Battalion

Conquerors & Kings - Warring States China

Loy, an old friend I have known for four decades joined us for a mid-week afternoon game of Conquerors & Kings. The two armies, wahj's Qin and my Zhao, were painted 17 years ago by the now-defunct DJD Miniatures, so this game was a long long time in making.

C&K does not have lists for Warring States Chinese armies, so I created two lists based on the Han Chinese list from the Army Book, and in any case the lists were limited by the figures we owned.

We set up the terrain using the rules from the book, and went at it. The Zhao had an advantage in cavalry, but the Qin had better and more infantry. Terrain placement went in the favour of the defender, and the Zhao sat pretty on a ridge, with rough hills guarding one of the flanks, while their cavalry deployed on the other, open flank.

wahj decided to settle the issue quickly by pushing his chariots up to meet teh Zhao cavalry, but they were defeated. He then tried to break the Zhao centre with his superior infantry before the Zhao cavalry could roll up his flank, while sending the fierce convinct swordsmen down the other, weaker flank, which was guarded by two units of archers and a unit of levy spears.

The plan almost worked: all along the line there was savage fighting, and a gap appeared in the Zhao centre. But Loy was prepared for this - using the Advance Tactic, he moved his Veteran foot he had held in reserve to plug the gap, and his cavalry was able to charge into the Qin flank.

While we were all impressed by the deployment of the Zhao reserve, we had only scorn for the Qin convict swordsmen, who failed their movement roll to exit the rough hills to attack the Zhao flank - I had given them Shock and the Erratic Tactic, so we were all looking forward to see how they would perform. Alas! we will have to wait for another day.

I apologise for the lack of photos and close-up of the figures - I was busy with running the game and making rounds of Chinese tea. This was the first time Loy had played these rules, and it is a testament of the system that he was able to grasp them quickly and secure a victory on his first outing.

There were still a couple of things I missed in the combat resolution, and I think I might make some widgets to help me remember them. The next C&K game I am planning will be a scenario game, but we will be playing something else next month.

Have a good year-end holiday!

Second Battle of Beneventum, 214BC

The Carthaginian lines

Carthaginian cavalry try to turn the Roman flank

I apologise in advance for the jumbled-up photos, but the technology is quite beyond me...

For our December game we had a new player Rafael join our group. I planned on running a Punic War scenario using a scenario from Across the Alps, the scenario book with Little Wars TV. I initially wanted to run the Battle of Metaurus, which had a more interesting terrain, but when I learned that Rafael had a large Spartacus' Revolt army, I switched to Beneventum instead. Now I understand that the Roman slaves and convicts probably wore Roman uniforms for the battle, but I wasn't about to let the opportunity for a guest's army to grace my tabletop go to waste.

The battlefield

Rafael and I played the Romans. Having had some experience with the rules, I decided to consciously stack the odds in my favour for combat. Playing conservatively, I deployed my half of the army deep, both to protect my flank from the Numidian light horse, and to support the units in the front rank. After some skirmishing, where both sides attrited their skirmisher units, the Romans charged up the slopes. My front units managed to gain a toe-hold, but immediately faced Carthaginian counter-attack on three sides. The dice rolled in my favour, and the Romans managed to fend off all attacks. This was enough to allow a second wave of attack to push the whole Roman line onto the high ground. The Carthaginians rolled poorly to rally, and after flanking attack by the cavalry was repelled, the game was up for them.

Rafael's Slave Revolt army

This was the first game we played using a scenario instead of the random terrain set-up we had used previously. I was also more deliberate in the army lists generation, choosing a mix of units that would allow each side to capitalise on their Battle Tactics.

I think both sides played well, and a large part of why the Carthaginians lost was due to them failing their General movement and Battle Tactics activation rolls at critical points in the battle.

I am now planning for another game of C&K this month, to hopefully let wahj and I finally put our Warring States China armies onto a table. Stay tuned.

Critical point of the battle, when the Roman attack, surrounded on three sides, manage to fend off the attacks and secure victory

Battle of Klyastitsy

View of the table from the Russian end

Last weekend we had a new player, Eugene, join the group with his Russian army. I chose the battle of Klyastitsy for our game.

This was an unusual set-up, with the game played across the length of the table. The French were deployed in three areas, while the Russians are entered the table from a narrow front.

The French army strung out along the road

The Russians originally planned a feint to their left and then a thrust on their right once the French had shifted their forces to their right. However, the attack in the left flank went better than expected, and the Russians managed to gain a foothold on the ridge forming the French first line.

At one point the Russian momentum faltered as their advance meant their generals could not keep all their troops within their command span. The French were able to exploit this by bringing up their other divisions, but fell victim to the same problem soon afterwards.

We called the game before the game clock ran down when a unit of Russian cavalry managed to capture the village of Klyastitsy (and we assume Oudinot's carriage, as they did historicall), and it became clear that the French could not hold their first line of defence; at the same time, there was not enough time for the Russians to get organised to press their advantage before sunset, so we decided that the French would abandon their guns and escape across the river under the cover of darkness.

Closer view of the cardboard buildings

One again the rules took some getting used to by the new player, and we encountered situations which necessitated some revision to the rules, but all in all I feel they suit our purpose.

The scenario required quite a lot of trees, and so wahj and I bought some, while FG completed his Woodland Scenics ones. I also bought a pdf of Russian houses and built several cardboard buildings, which will probably see us ready for future games in the 1812 campaign,

Fistful of Lead: Horse & Musket

After weeks of work, we finally played our first game of Fistful of Lead: Horse & Musket with our Napoleonic figures. It occurs to me that despite Napoleonic skirmish being a major thing in the writings of Donald Featherstone and the British wargaming magazines I used to read in my youth, this was the first Napoleonic skirmish game that I have actually played.

I used the scenario from a Sharp Practice campaign (which FG and I used to fight our Sludge campaign), pitting three squads of French soldiers - the 26th of the Line, the Legion du Midi, and the Hanoverian Legion - against two of British - the famous 95th Rifles. The Rifles had the advantage of range, and started hidden and in cover.

The rules were easy to pick up and remember, but despite only giving the Leader and Second traits (instead of giving every figure traits as per the rules) we had difficulty remembering to use them. The need to spend a full turn reloading after each shot made shooting less effective than in more modern games, so the French decided to force the issue with a bold advance into hand-to-hand combat. This turned out badly for them, and they fell back from the village.

Overall the rules are fun and quick, although I find that the use of a d10, while OK in shooting, makes hand-to-hand combat too swingy. I enjoyed the rules enough to want to expand my collection so I can provide both sides for a game that I can take to future conventions.

A Fistful of Sludge

With only FG and I free for our September game, we decided to try out the Fistful of Lead: Horse & Musket rules, but with our Sludge figures.

The rules are pretty straightforward, but with each of us running two squads, we had to reduce the number of traits for the figures.

In the photos you can see the 32mm discs that I bought to use to indicate if a figure's weapon was loaded; fortuitously, they also fit a 20mm square base, which is what my Sludge figures are based on.

Empires at War 28mm Spanish/Italian Set

For our Peninsular War skirmish project, I bought a set of MDF buildings from Empires at War.

These are excellent kits. I bought the "prepainted" version, which meant that the external faces of the walls were coated with a textured sandstone coloured paint. This served as both a primer and basecoat for the walls. Once assembled, I used a large make-up sponge to dab white paint over the surfaces, avoiding the bases of the walls and around doors and windows, which gave a weathered look to the buildings.

The pantile roofs were styrene sheets, while the spines of the roofs were provided in the form of a coloured, scored dowels; a coat of watered-down red-brown craft paint tied the two together, and provided the weathering effect.

One of the packs came with a frame missing, and so I couldn't build a storage bin on the side of the building, and had to make my own doors out of balsa - but it was an easy fix.

I will certainly buy from the range if I want to expand my collection of pantile roof buildings.

Perry Miniatures Elite Companies French Infantry 1807-14 again

Here are five more figures from Perry's box set, painted as voltigeurs of the 26th Regiment of the Line. I have chosen this unit as it was brigaded with the Legion du Midi, which I have painted earlier. While the uniforms are of the same cut, these guys were harder to paint due to the piping on their uniforms.

With these guys done, we are on track for a game of Fistful of Lead in October.

Printable Scenery Country Low Walls

With our recent focus on 28mm skirmish wargaming, I wanted to add a set of low stone walls to my terrain collection. I wanted something that would work for both Northern Europe and Iberia, and preferably for both 28mm and 20mm.

I ended up getting a set of Country Low Walls from Printable Scenery. The seller I bought it from printed it at a resolution where you can see the print lines. To avoid emphasising the print lines, I dispensed with washing, and  highlighted by dabbing instead of drybrushing.

The walls are scaled for 28mm, but as my figures are based on slotta bases, the walls reached just to their waists.

I primed the pieces grey, picked out individual stones in red brown, yellow brown, dark green, and dark grey, then dabbed the whole thing with medium grey. This helps the walls blend with both the green mat I use for our Northern European games, and also the arid map we use for our Iberian games.

In terms of height the walls work well for 20mm, as shown by these Spanish Civil War figures from Minairons Miniatures. The individual stones do look a little big though.

As part of research for buying and painting the walls I read a few websites on dry stone walls in Europe. It's a rather fascinating subject and worth learning about if you have some free time.

Battletech Alpha Strike and Tacta

We had a total of five players for our August session, and we decided to play another multi-player game of Battletech Alpha Strike, which was always a crowd favourite since everyone loves to have a chance to field their mechs.

For my part I though it was a chance for me to field my ZOD force. I picked a few units from the Battletech Master Unit List that looked close to the models I have, and we just went head-to-head.

 

Afterwards, we played a game of Tacta, which I enjoyed so much that I think I will get a copy of.

Battlefleet Gothic

 

FG and I got together for a game of Battlefleet Gothic a couple of weeks back. I have always liked to try the game, but never got around to actually acquiring the stuff required for a game, so this was all FG's efforts.

He had printed an Imperial and a Chaos fleet at 50% scale, and painted them. I thought they looked very effective at this scale - they certainly are more in line with the sci-fi starships we already have in our collection.

The basic rules were easy to pick up, but no doubt there are depths to these rules that are beyond me now.

Perry Miniatures Elite Companies French Infantry 1807-14

Not a month before Perry Miniatures announced their "Skirmish in a Box" Peninsular War skirmish set, our group decided to get into the period. Never fails.

We knew we wanted a simple and fun set of skirmish rules that didn't require a lot of figures. After some searching, I settled on Fistful of Lead: Horse & Musket - the rules seemed easy, and the card-based activation gave players interesting decisions to make, and I liked that reloading takes a full turn under these rules. Each player needed only five figures, which is a big plus for us.

Dom had about a dozen 95th Rifles pained, so I decided to paint up some "French". I settled on the Legion du Midi, which I painted a base of in 15mm years ago. Their brown uniform makes the distinctions stand out, which I thought looked really good on the tabletop.

FG took the Hanoverian Legion, and since I liked how well these miniatures painted up, I decided to do the 26th Regiment of the Line (which was brigaded with the two regiments) too. Wahj bought some Spanish guerillas from Battle Honours' 3D range, to balance the two sides.

I also purchased some dry stone walls and prepainted buildings, so hopefully we will be able to have a game in October.

Ruckus: St Elmo's Friar (Men-at-arms in motion)

For July's game we played a game of Here's the Ruckus, featuring our newly-painted figures (with FG completing six sergeant figures just the night before!).

The scenario is centred around a walled church model that I got on a trade many years ago, and has the attackers trying to kill a "turbulent priest" residing in the church, while the defenders must try to hold the attackers off until reinforcements arrive.

I made up some rules for battering down the gate, and used the basic Ruckus rules otherwise.

The defenders barricade to the gate to the church, while crossbowmen stand on crates to shoot at the attackers

Attackers come with scaling ladders and a battering ram. Brace!

Baron Hugh de Sappointment fends off the would-be priest-killers

The gate is finally breached!

The game was pretty straight-foward once the attackers chose their sites of attack and the defenders decided not to launch a sortie. Still, we had fun pushing the figures around and rolling dice.

I plan to do a scenario with mounted troops next game, to try the mounted rules. Stay tuned!

Wargames Atlantic The Barons' War

The Barons' War rules have been around for a while, and while I have always fancied the idea of painting up some "Bretonnian" style medieval knights, I have resisted getting the figures. But when the pre-order date for the new second edition starter set came closer, I saw the "barricades" sprues with all the scatter terrain, and decided that they would be a useful addition to my collection. I did some quick maths, and realised that a deluxe starter set plus an extra box of foot sergeants split between three or four people will give each enough figures for a Ruckus retinue.

I sent a message to the group, and Adrian, FG, and wahj all agreed to take up a quarter of the figures, and I sent the order off. Looking at the sprues, I saw that there were four helms with animal crests: a lion, a leopard, a bull, and a boar. The crest for the house which I use for my Warhammer (The) Empire army has a lion's head, and so I thought I would use that helm, and maybe style the retinue as the predecessor for the same house. I floated the idea, and each of the other guys adopted an animal for their retinues. I then googled and found the appropriate heraldry decals for everyone.

The figures arrived seven weeks ago, and yesterday I put a second coat of spray varnish on the figures. Here they are now:

The Captain of my retinue and his spear - Hugh de Sappointment

A yet unnamed Squire

The third spear of the retinue

The three leaders come in mounted and dismounted versions

I am quite excited about this project, and while I still have a Rohan-themed game of Ruckus to play, I have already planned two scenarios for the project.