War & Empire Nikephorian Skutatoi Bowmen

I painted a pack of later Byzantine archers from Forged in Battle as Armenian mercenary archers in Fatimid service. The Armenian archers seem to have been an important part of the Fatimid armies, and feature in various army lists, so even though I already have a large number of archers elements in my Saracen army, I wanted a unit them to make my Fatikid army more legitimate.

Despite their prominence in history, I wasn't able to find figures in 15mm that matched what I imagined them to look like, which is how Perry Miniatures' 28mm Armenian archers look like. Fortunately, these later Byzantine archers look similar enough for my purpose.

As with the other War & Empire figures, they are quick to paint. I am tempted to add another unit of these someday.

Blood and Valor

 For our session in May we played two games of Blood and Valor by Firelock Games.

I got the B&V rules several years ago when they first came out and created a buzz on youtube. I had earlier planned on using Trench Hammer from Nordic Weasel Games with my Warzone figures, but decided to give the B&V rules an actual play to see if they make a more 'fun' game.

We played a simple Attack-Defence scenario, with attackers having five units vs the defender's four. We played the scenario twice, switching sides after the first game. I lost both times, which I believe means the game is balanced.

The combat rules themselves are rather standard, but the initiative and fatigue systems add extra considerations for the players, which makes the game feel rather different from an IGOUGO mass skirmish game with no real morale effect. We enjoyed them enough to want to play them again, and I have a toy tank which I am currently painting to use for the game.