15mm Khurasan Miniatures

A few weeks ago I bought some Khurasan miniatures to add to my existing armies.

Here are some crossbowmen from their (older) Frankish/Norman range, based as Bow/formed instead of Psiloi/skirmisher, to use in my First Crusade games.

Here is a war drum from their Sung Chinese range. There are two drums and two drummers in a pack, so I am passing half of the pack to wahj. I painted mine to match my Warring States Zhao army, adding a spare pikeman I have as a standard bearer. Since the basic style of the Chinese war drum did not change for centuries, I think this will pass as a command or just a decorative base.

The main reason why I made the order in the first place was to get these Nikephorian Byzantine archers. I bought some Nikephorian Byzantine archers from Forged in Battle's War & Empire range to use as Armenian mercenary archers, and liked the way they look, and so I decided to add a couple more bases to allow me to field two units of them in my Conquerors and Kings games.

The Khurasan miniatures are a little thinner and have smaller heads than the War & Empire ones, but they mix together well enough. 

I am glad I managed to complete all of them this week, as I have a terrain project to complete for another multi-player demonstration game which Eugene is planning for August. Stay tuned.

Conquerors & Kings: Battle of Dorylaeum

The Turks block the Crusaders' march

Earlier this month we played the battle of Dorylaeum using Peter Pig's Conquerors & Kings rules. We had play the same scenario many years ago using (I think) Warmaster Ancients rules, but it's an interesting scenario that bears replaying.

I needed 20 bases of light cavalry for this scenario, so I took the opportunity to finally get some Turkic light horse from Khurasan Miniatures and had them painted just in time for the game.

Clash of cavalry

I had done the maths beforehand and expected the Crusaders to deploy themselves in a compact formation and wait for the Turks to close before delivering a charge. wahj, playing the Crusaders, had a different idea. He charged straight at the Turkish line before Rafael had a chance to get organised, and quickly threw them back.

The knights became isolated as a result, and became surrounded. To make things worse, the Turkish scouting party had returned and now threatened the Crusader's left flank. Fortunately for them, their armour saved them from actually taking casualties, and they knights managed to fall back behind the safety of the infantry.

The Crusaders were able to hold their own until the arrival of their reinforcements later in the game, when the Turks decided to withdraw.

Having played this game in my mind for several weeks while preparing for the session, I was surprised that both players used their forces very differently from how I imagined they would. I would certainly like to try the scenario again with new players when I have the chance.

Conquerors and Kings - Battle of Idistavisto

For our first game of the year we played a mid-week game of Conquerors and Kings earlier this month as Martin was back for a break. I seized the opportunity to field my Tribal Germans against his Early Imperial Romans. The two armies last met in a game of Infamy! Infamy! five years ago, and now, with my army expanded with the help of a painting service, I decided it was time for a pitched battle.

The scenario I chose was the Battle of Idistavisto. FG and I took the Germans, while wahj and Martin commanded the Romans. I gave the Romans a "At my signal, unleash hell!" rule, which gave them the option to perform a flank march.

The Romans deployed wide, hoping to use their auxilia (and cavalry in the subsequent flank march) to flank the Germans and sweep up our right flank. On our side, I decided to deploy narrow and deep, anchoring our left flank on the river, and refusing our right flank.

To buy time for their flanking manoeuvre to arrive, the Romans similarly refused their right flank and gave ground. which caused me some concern. But the German line eventually hit the Roman line from the front and their right. Twice the Germans won the combats, but twice the Romans suffered no losses as their armour protected them and their Keep Order strategy warded off pursuits.

In the left hand corners you can see the widgets I made to aid in the calculation of combat dice

At the same time, their flanking attack was disco-ordinated, and FG's forces on this flank launched a spoiling attack, taking some casualties but giving us enough time to move more forces for the attack in the centre.

We ruled that the Romans we driven off the field, but had enough auxilia to prevent an effective pursuit.

Once again I enjoyed the game, and have plans for another one soon, and perhaps a massive one at the end of this year if we can get the players together.

Have a happy new year ahead.

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

Conquerors & Kings and Kill Team

For the month of December we played the long-awaited battle between wahj's Late Romans vs Martin's Sassanid Persians. They were a matched pair of armies, but have not met in the field for many years.

Adrian and I played the Romans, and we managed to roll what I thought was a good terrain set-up for our predominantly infantry army. Our main line was anchored on two patches of rough ground, with the centre on a hill, and a small reserve force in the rear. Cavalry covered the extreme left flank.

Martin was worried about the deployment, but nevetheless decided launching cavalry charges on the flanks was the best option. On the Roman right the charge in the rough ground was repelled, but the troops in the open ground were routed by the Persian heavy cavalry, and the reserve force was unable to plug the gap.

On the Roman left there was a large cavalry melee, but Persian cataphracti triumphed against Goth and Roman cavalry. The Roman lines was thus cut up and surrounded.

Roman counter-attack on the left

This was the second game in a row where heavy cavalry settled the issue quite quickly and decisively. I wonder if this is a feature or bug of the game, as the lists do allow armies with historically large cavalry proportions to replicate that in the game. Or perhaps it is a matter of us not having figured out how to counter cavalry-heavy armies.

The next game should hopefully fit two infantry-dominant armies, and we'll see if they give a closer game.

For our second game we played Kill Team, pitting FG's newly-painted Ork Commandos versus Adrian's newly-painted Veteran Guardsmen. The figures were beautiful sculpts and the players did a great job with them, but I found the play rather complex and slow. Perhaps this is a game that requires investment on the part of the player to appreciate its full potential.

Conquerors and Kings

We played another game of Peter Pig's Conqueror and Kings. Despite revising the rules briefly before the session, I still managed to get the multiple combat wrong by confusing the rules with those of an ACW set I am working on (also a grid-based game) 

View from the Ayyubid line

We fielded my generic Saracen army (mostly painted figures bought off ebay) against my anachronistic Late Byzantine army, using the Ayyubid list and the Crusader list.

Adrian, playing the Ayyubid, saw that his advantage was in cavalry, and that he would be at a disadvantage if the battle became an arrow duel, and so launched an all-out charge on turn one, using the 'Advance' Battle Tactic. wahj, playing the Byzantines, managed to survive the initial onslaught, and even managed to launch a counter-attack on the Ayyubid cavalry that were now outflanked. But dice luck determined the eventual outcome, and the Byzantine units that were pushed off the table failed to rally and return in time to shore up the line, and we called it an Ayyubid victory.

Byzantine counter-attack that ultimately failed

The game was quick because we did not do the whole pre-game sequence and the 'Piggy Chase', and while the strategic choices seem limited once the army list is made and terrain placed, there are still tactical choices to be made like whether to push forward on a sector where the attack is more successful, or pull back and reorganise the line to prevent outflanking.

This game was a little lopsided due to the list-making - my fault - which in turn was limited by the figures I have at hand. Perhaps in the future I should field a list with Close Order bowmen, using my Norman figures.

The next game of C&K is scheduled for November, when we hope to pit Late Romans against Sassanids. Stay tuned.

Conquerors and Kings and Warmaster

For our August session we played Peter Pig's Conquerors and Kings (2023 edition) for the first time. Wahj brought his Romans and Carthaginians and some hills he build specifically for these rules, and we spend the afternoon working through the rules.

As expected when trying out a new set of rules, we got some stuff wrong, but I think over all we got a sense of how the game plays. I played the Romans, which I did not handle boldly enough, and by game end I had failed to occupy enough grids to win.

I also realised that the Battle Tactics are an important consideration not just during play, but also during army-building (and vice versa I suppose), since some tactics mean you can get more mileage out of cheaper troops.

I like the more abstract way combat and positioning are handled in this game. I hope to get a Roman vs Sassanid game on soon. In the mean time I have ordered some Tribal Germans to be painted (an opponent for yet another Roman army!).

For our second game FG and I played Warmaster. It's an old game which we used to play a lot back in the day (especially the Ancients version) but I am unfamiliar with the Goblins list, which seems to be quite weak. Nevertheless it was a joy playing with the well-painted figures.

I have been very busy with life and am three RPG reports behind. Various factors have caused attrition to our player pool, and I have made the decision to stop my weekly RPG sessions for a while until we have a more stable pool of players. This may mean more wargaming in the coming months. Stay tuned.