Sunday 10 May 2015

Hydaspes at Carronade

On the portable sand table, no less:

A side shot of the whole thing looking towards the river in the distance. The unit cards show tasteful photos of the various killers, along with their game stats. I made these in case we ended up with people playing who didn't know the rules, although Tactica is elegant enough that really you don't need them. We removed them for game play and further photos.
The Indian right: elephants with skirmishers out front and massed foot behind.
The Indian centre: more of the same.
The Indian left: chariots out front with cavalry behind, egged on by Porus and his own elephant unit. Simon supplied almost the entire Indian army, almost all by Irregular miniatures (25mm). There were 20 elephants in total.
Companions led in person by that nasty wee man Alexander, fronted by horse archers and light cavalry. This lot comprises the Macedonian right punch, and is facing off against the chariots.
The Macedonian centre right: a large block of Hypaspists led by a certain Seleukos, then three taxeis of the phalanx. Agrianes and archers out front.
Next up sees another two phalanx units, and then the Macedonian left (above): Greek hopes, Thracians and heavy cavalry. Unlike the Indians, the Macedonians are deployed en echelon, leading with their right. Figures supplied by Simon, Willie, Gordon and Graham, with a few by me.
 Another side shot of the whole thing, this time from the Macedonian right and with the unit cards removed. I hope you can make out the relative deployments. Macedonians to the left as you look at it. The idea is that the Macedonians move out in order, starting from their right, with the various commands activating n a cascade. Technically most of the army isn't meant to be on the field yet, but it's much easier at a show to try to place them in advance - less hassle for later. We were helped by the 6' table depth, and by deliberately setting the Indians quite far back on their side.
A gratuitous close-up of the horrible little man and his superb cavalry.
A photo taken from the other end of the field after a couple of turns - I hope you can see how the echelon is working.
The fight is on, and the Indians have thrown some of their reserve cavalry wide. At the bottom left of the picture you can see some of the foliage I bought from Hugh on the day - useful!
A long shot, again from the other flank, of the developing battle.
Phalanx against elephants. The dust clouds denote extra impetus effect. Not that it matters - Billy is running the pikemen and he is clearly favoured by the dice gods. I like this photo - it shows Gordon's newly painted phalangites in action. Meanwhile, on the Macedonian right, the Companions have broken through. Even though they are being led by Alexander, though, they go tearing off in pursuit. This will stop them turning in and rolling up the Indian army for a while.
On the other wing, the Greeks are taking on the elephants. I was quite pleased about this - the previous time we played this scenario, it was all over before this point. I have beefed up the Indians a bit to make it more of a game based on that experience.
A slightly elevated shot taken from the same place at the same time - a lot of combat!
Alexander has rallied the Companions from pursuit and is riding like a madman for the Indian left rear.
Back to the other side of the table. The elephants here died under the combined onslaught of Thracians and cavalry - the latter, although badly mauled, have just gone into the flank of an Indian unit fighting the hoplites. It's looking like a double envelopment.
More fighting in the centre. The changes to the Indian army have made sure that the elephants are lasting a bit longer this time.
Rampaging elephants. This was quite funny - they found a gap in between victorious bits of the phalanx and did a runner. At the top of the photo you can see the impending arrival of Alexander and his pals.
Poros fights on bravely, taking on the Hypaspists as well as some of the Companions!

Well done to Colin for constructing the portable sand table, and for providing the flock to lighten it up a bit. Several people commented on how good it looked, especially since it makes the flat plain look interesting. We also had the river and foliage down one side, and some hills down the other t represent high ground off in the distance. It made it a bit more interesting. Hoping to take the game to Claymore in August.

Friday 8 May 2015

The Wargaming Magpie

A new wargames blog, with quite a bit varied stuff already:

http://thewargamingmagpie.tumblr.com

Do go and have a wee look

Thursday 7 May 2015

Numidian High Command


Two bases for the North African project, one mounted and one foot.
Crusader Miniatures makes a Numidian Prince, in dismounted and mounted form - he's the guy in the red-bordered yellow tunic and purple cloak.
The foot figures are also by Crusader.
The other mounted figures are the only Companion Miniatures Numidian cavalry I could find - these are very rare.
Banner transfers are culled from LBMS hoplite shields. The elaborate foot standard is taken from Warlord Games' Praetorian set. Again, I've made the bases relatively sparse to keep them in keeping with the rest of the army - hopefully they look right for North Africa.

Friday 1 May 2015

A fistful of Gauls

I had a couple of days off painting Numidians. While waiting for another load of them to arrive at the door, I had a look at my pile of Companion Miniatures Romans. I knew I had a few of these guys left wearing cloaks and brandishing swords, so I made a start on them.
It turned out that I had 24 of them left over from my Alaudae project, so I based them up as loose formation types to go into woods and be wiped out by their angry brethren.
 The idea is that they represent Gallic auxiliaries working for Caesar and/or other unsavoury types; hence the Roman gear.
The cloaks, however, are patterned to make them look different from any Roman legionaries that might be lurking nearby. I left the shields plain for the same reason.

American Civil War in 28mm

A shot of Billy's lovely armies (by Redoubt) using his fast play home rules. He umpired while Malcolm played the Confederate right against Gordon on the Union left, and Graham played the Confederate left against me on the Union right. Photos are mostly taken from the Union perspective.
The extreme left of the Confederate army, in a field.
There centre, with some raiders off table.
Their right.
Our left rests on a nice safe hill.
Our centre left. Our task here is to advance and take the woods to the top left of the photo.
Our right (my guys); I have to hold the woods on our side of the table, at the top left of this photo.
A full side table shot of the initial deployments, from the far side of the field from my troops. Both armies comprised a corps, if I remember correctly, with two divisions each of four regiments plus support.
My guys occupy the woods I have to defend.
My extreme right takes a hammering.
A mid-game shot from off to my right, this time.

My extreme right was pretty much wiped out, but it took most of its opponents with it. I held the woods and Gordon stormed his objective. I think I won because I had no idea what I was doing! Billy supplied his famous caret tiles and scenery as well as the figures.

On the Painting Tray: May 2015

Half-way through three units of 48 massed foot for my North African army. After that, it will be 48 skirmishers with javelins, depending on how much painting time I manage.