A Roman camp

At the back of my mind as I've been putting my Roman army together, has been the need to provide some baggage, or  camp. We haven't used these in our games at all yet, but perhaps ought to. On a practical note - it's a good place to keep your spare ammo chits and perhaps victory medals for To The Stongest!

I thought I'd start with a single camp 'unit' which in TtS! is  a 'deep' unit. I knew that I would want to fortify this (we are Romans after all!), so decided to combine the camp base with three sides of fortifications. I had considered building the two parts separately, but figured this would be more practical and I can always make up some more field fortification pieces later. The base, therefore, was a piece of hardboard cut to size - 180 x 150mm. This will fit fairly neatly onto the 150mm grid we use.

In best bodgy blue peter style, I took a sharp knife and glue to some foamboard, a load of cocktail sticks, applied wood filler and paints and finished up with this. The groundwork is painted up to blend with the arid look on the rest of the army.

I think field fortifications cost 2 points per grid edge, rather than per square, in which case this would cost 6 points, plus the 1 point for the camp.

it does remind me of a DBA camp element.. in fact I'm sure I have one just like this in 15mm somewhere!

Chit bags and Vapnartak

Last week had a great game of To The Strongest! with Scrivs.. I say 'great' because it was a very rare and very convincing victory for my Romans. OK, in hindsight there was a lot of luck involved and perhaps we tweaked the small units rules a little which gave my lads a fighting edge they were lacking.. but anyway..it were good!

I didn't take any pictures but Scrivs did and posted a write up on his blog.

One thing we did was to try the new TtS! 'chits'  - (Thanks Simon). These are an alternative to using playing cards. They certainly look better on the table , although I have to confess to missing the experience of using cards.. somehow flipping a card and hoping for a lucky number seems more dramatic than drawing a chit from a cup!

Speaking of cups.. I casually mentioned to my better half that some kind of bags would be good, as long as they could stand on the table, rather than using tea mugs.. next thing I know, she's knocked up a couple of very suitable little chit bags from a pair of old jeans!

On Sunday I paid my first visit to Vapnartak, the wargames show at York racecourse with Mr and Mrs Scrivs and Mansfield wargames stalwart Steve. Much bigger show than I anticipated and quite interesting.. one or two nice games on display - Trev and John had a Dux Britannium game with Curteys minis that looked great, and tucked away in a corner was mountainous Afghan 1919 game using Bolt Action rules which was a looker too, Upstairs was an impressive 18th Century bash going on too, sadly can't recall the club or the battle, but it was very pretty.

I hadn't got a shopping list, but came away with a copy of 'Blood Bilge and Iron Balls' as it was on offer, look like pretty simple rules, first impressions suggest a lot of tabletop rammel though - record sheets and cards and templates etc.

I'm making a start on a base of baggage for the Romans - most likely with a fortified perimeter, Scrivs and I split a bag of Renedra tents from Gripping Beast. I also picked up a couple of the MDF wagon kits from Warbases. I put these together last night and I have to say they are really good.. so easy to assemble, just fine enough for wargames and a great price too. I dare say they'll get painted, but it's tempting to leave them as they are.

Lion Rampant Retinue progress

Nothing like a deadline... 

Quint is arranging a Lion Rampant day at the club soon. Having bought the rules at Partizan, I had yet to build and paint my retinue from the boxes of Fireforge Sergeants that I had bought at the same time. One of the stipulations of the tournament day is that players use armies from pages 59 - 60 in the rules. At first I couldn't figure out a way to do that from the figures that I had, but then I realised that with a little swapping and chopping about I actually could field a 'German' retinue as per the list - brilliant!

With this renewed inspiration, the deadline for the game day, and the knowledge that I am due to attend a pretty intensive training course next week (ie no painting time), I have recently cracked on with my force. 

The one thing sadly lacking so far is the heraldry. I am assured by Richard at Battleflag transfers that a set for my own surname is pending, so I can't let that opportunity pass by!! So hopefully my retinue will be carrying something like this..

There is a 'theme' of black and white running through the units (with red as a highlight colour here and there) which I think should go well with the shield design and give the retinue a consistent look.

So, the force will consist of;

(Not finished) Mounted Men at Arms. I will be using the Fireforge mounted serjeants. Although they are on undecorated horses, I think they will look sufficiently 'heavy' to pull this off. I will be painting each of the six knights in his own colours, one of whom is my leader.

One unit of Mounted Serjeants with crossbows.

One unit of Crossbowmen with Pavises. I added some shields planted in the ground to half of the unit, which I hope will serve as a visual indicator for the pavises..

Two units of Foot Serjeants.. As I made up half of these with hand weapons, rather than spears, I will mix them up so that it is clear that they are spear armed..

Seasonal diversion

Seems that most years around this time I have a couple of solo games. There are one or two game days being organised at the local 'club' but family commitments and a wedding means that I'll miss out on most of that. 

My attention span for solo gaming is not what it was, and I thought I'd have a go at the 'Song of Blades and Heroes' rules that I'd ordered fairly recently. (Tom has posted one or two reports that looked like fun).

My first thought was that I had got shot of what fantasy figures I had years ago (probably quite collectible 'OOP' stuff now!) and although I could of course use Vikings and my WIP medievals.. I thought it would be much more fun to print out some free 'paper' figures from the tinternet.. so after an hour or so last night playing with prittstick and scissors, I had two small (around 220 points) warbands to try the game out.. After a brief distraction to clear the drive after the first big snowfall of the year, I gave the rules a go this afternoon.

A patrol of city guard, led by the gruff Captain Griff, encountered a band of stinky Kobolds in the hills above the town.. Griff wasted no time in ploughing forward, calling his men to to join him and with his first blow exacted a glorious 'Gruesome' death on the Kobold leader!

The shock of seeing their pack leader being disassembled sent many of the kobolds scattering, but as their shaman cast a 'transfix' spell on Griff, freezing him in his angry tracks, they managed to regain their composure, putting up a brief scrap, killing one of the guards, who had rushed to protect their Captain, before their own losses eventually proved too much and they skulked back off into the hills.

Quite an enjoyable little ruleset, has the feel of a 'toolkit' almost, that you can tailor to suit the game that you want to play. Although I'm not a big fantasy fan as such, I've also seen the newish Reaper Bones figures which look quite affordable and you never know, fielding a Unicorn might even persuade my daughter to roll some dice!

Merry Christmas!

To The Strongest! Punic Wars game

Last night Scrivs and I had another game of the upcoming 'To The Strongest!' rules by Simon Miller. I fielded a Republican Roman army and Scrivs had a mixed Carthaginian force, not based on lists, but what felt right and representative. I am pretty sure that Scrivs will be posting a battle report, along with OOB shortly.. so just some pictures really and a brief overview...

These rules do treat the Romans slightly differently to some other sets I've played (not a bad thing!) They are not invincible war machines. In fact, the small units are quite fragile so I think there is definitely an art to learn in using their greater flexibility to effect. (Having said that, the two games I've played so far have seen me consistently draw terrible 'save' cards and lose a lot of units to single missile attacks).

I suspected that this battle was heading the same way as our first Punic battle, but managed to make some headway after early losses and turned a complete rout into a narrow defeat. (Only a couple of victory medals in it at the end). Scrivs and I mused on the fact that from our memory the Romans did lose a number of battles to the Carthaginians but were able to keep coming back for more! We played at 130 points and I wonder if perhaps I would be better to field just two legions with more support next time.

Enormous thanks to Simon who was able to respond to a rules query mid-game! 

 

The opening moves, Carthaginans (Blue) are made up of four commands; I Gallic, II African including Veterans and led by Hannibal!, III Numidian Light Horse, IV Spanish. The Romans had I and II Legions led by the Tibunes Marcus Corvinius and Gaius Flaminius, and III an allied contingent under  Lucius Anonius Opimius

Roman I Legion under Marcus Corvnius anticipate the Spanish attack

The Gauls in the Carthaginan centre struggle to rout the stubborn Velites

The Latin Allies on the Roman left were about to suffer the hardest fighting

from the Roman right flank

Hannibal, in the hour before he was slain!

Latin allied contingent advance, leaving their command in trouble behind them!

It was definitely time to send in the Triarii

Toward the end of the battle:

1. The Roman left saw some terrible setbacks, with the Numidian javelins causing all kinds of chaos, but the command just about held until it's general was caught in the last turn.
2. Stiff fighting in the centre. Losses on both sides and..
3. One unit of Principes failed to capitalise getting in on the flank of the Carthaginian Veterans.
4. The Spanish pretty much sweeping away any real resistance on this flank

One final thought was about my Agema Romans. I really like these figures, great poses and real character. However, as I suspected, the fine detail is unfortunately a little fragile and I need to do some repair work on a few helmet plumes and pila today. The Victrix figures are perhaps a little more static in pose, and the detail is heavier, but that gives them a robustness which I think will pay off.

More Romans!

Getting there with the Romans. I recently (ish)  ordered some of the new Aventine cavalry and they are really nice.. I was worried at first about how they would sit against the Victrix and Agema footsloggers that I've collected so far. No need to worry - they look just fine.

Just two units of Roman Equites are required for the army I'm building, next up I have around four units of Italian cavalry to complete. Or at least two, as I only have one Ala nearly ready.

Although Victrix and Agema figures both have lovely shield transfers available now, they didn't when I started painting the army, so I've decided to be consistent and avoid using them at all. If I get around to painting up a fourth (Italian) ala, I might use them, but for now the first ala have bleached shields and a more uniform (but still grotty) look.

Pictures follow of some random stuff recently completed today.. a game booked for tomorrow with Scrivs gave me the impetus to finish off a couple of bases!

The bases, by the way are mostly 120mm frontage, using 80mm for the 'small' units. I think that these will mostly be used for the upcoming 'To The Strongest!' rules from Simon Miller, but the bases all have 10mm dice holders in case I use them for Hail Caesar, or similar. I need to finish the edges off.

Some re-based allied light infantry (Greeks probably)

The veteran 'Pedites Extraordinarii' Victrix/Agema mutants

Some Allied Italian infantry. Victrix

The Allied Triarii

Roman Equites - Aventine cavalry

The second Roman Equites unit

The Generals.. 1st Corps figures

Heroes! An Aventine Cavalry officer and strangely stunted 1st Corps Centurion

All the Agema Velites are re-based from single bases onto 120mm frontages