An update from the geekosphere

It has been a while since my last post so I thought I would write a short update about what I've been doing gaming wise.

After finishing painting two small fleets for Battlefleet Gothic (BFG) I finally played my first game a couple of weeks ago. I say my first game, technically it was my second game in ten years. It was however the first game using my own models. A good time was had by all. Unfortunately I didn't get any (useable) photos.

In addition to BFG I have also been working on yet more reinforcements for my 15mm Successor army. This army is based for the wonderful Impetus ruleset. It currently stands at four hundred points (a mid size game). Five hundred points a side is the largest size game recommended in the rulebook. I've finally started painting the additional figures to take the army to this size and hope to have them ready for a game I have planned in just over a weeks time. The latest unit off the painting bench and into the ranks is a pair of Essex war elephants. I should point out that the miniatures are from the manufacturer Essex and not that they wear white sling backs.

On the painting bench at the moment are two more units of light infantry and one additional unit of phalangites. Once completed they will bring the army up to full size. I plan to paint some additional troops to give me different options but this is in the future. It is my long term goal to paint up an opposing force which will allow me to host games. At the moment I'm leaning towards a Mauryan Indian force. I had hoped to get this finished by the end of the year but I'm not sure whether this will happen. Time will tell.

Lastly, I have two projects that are in their infancy. A month or so ago I was struck down by a bout of what I can only describe as Warhammer Fever. One day I was aimlessly wandering the internet, drifting from one wargaming blog to another. Several happened to feature posts on Warhammer Fantasy Battle, a game I loved back in the early nineties. A wave of nostalgia swept over me. Before I knew it I had purchased a complete, well painted Orc and Goblin army via ebay. The main focus of my desire however is an Empire Army. The pseudo renaissance cod Germans have always fascinated me and as a youngster I had a small army. The thing with Warhammer is (and was) that it's expensive. It just didn't suit my pocket money budget and my Empire army never really progressed beyond a couple of plastic box sets and some metal character models. Now that I'm an adult and in gainful employment I can actually afford to assemble an Empire army for Warhammer. The prices of buying from Games Worksop are just to high however so I intend to buy mainly from ebay. To this end I have already made a couple of purchases and my artillery train consisting of a great cannon and volley gun are awaiting assembly and painting. I will post some pictures once this is complete.

I should explain at this point that I have become interested in something called the 'Oldhammer' movement. This is a very loose group of like minded individuals who hark back to the perceived golden age of Games Workshop (GW) and Citadel which ran from the mid eighties to about 1992. I got into GW towards the end of this period - my personal golden age runs to about '94. Still I have much in common with the Oldhammerers and consider myself one. As such I have bought myself a copy of Warhammer Fantasy Battle Third Edition. I played most of my Warhammer using fourth edition (the first box set) but I remember playing a couple of early games using third edition. The game has a looser much less structured feel and the use of a referee or games master is recommended. This is the set of rules I plan to use once my Empire Army is ready to face off against my Orcs and Goblins.

3rd Edition is a wonderful publication. If you are or were a fan of GW and haven't seen this book I can highly recommend you take a look. There are several excellent websites concerning Oldhammer but I must give a special mention to the truly fantastic Realm of Chaos 80's. This site is well worth checking out.  

Finally a quick mention of a WW2 project I have been working on. The North African campaign has long interested me and I have decided to recreate parts of it in 6mm 1/300 using the Spearhead set of rules. I'm still in the research and test paint phase at the moment. More posts will follow as the project develops.  

Battlefleet Gothic

After several weeks of on and off painting my Imperial and Chaos Fleets for Battlefleet Gothic are finally ready. These are very much 'starter' fleets and only represent a small expansion on the forces that came with the boxed game. The fleets only contain cruisers and escorts at present. In future I plan to add a battle ship to each one. Below are a few photos. Apologies for the poor quality of the images. I'll get the hang of this photography lark eventually.

The Imperial fleet consisting of ten escorts, four cruisers and three light cruisers.

The Chaos fleet consisting of eight escorts and four cruisers. 

Time to get back in the (gaming) saddle

After a quiet couple of months on the gaming and painting front it's time to get back to it. Recently I've only dug the paint brushes out for a couple of short sessions. I now plan to make a concerted effort to get some miniatures painted and some projects finished.

First up is Battlefleet Gothic. This is a spaceship combat game set in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40K universe.  I first got into BG many years ago but only really played it a couple of times. I bought the basic set but it remained unused for well over ten years. I recently decided to give it a go and bought two small fleets on ebay. The time has now come to get them painted and onto the table.

Imperial Dauntless light cruisers on the workbench (more like the work tea tray actually as I don't have the benefit of a dedicated painting station at the moment).

One of the Imperial Cruisers that came with the boxed set. I painted this model many years ago. I plan to use a similar colour scheme for the rest of the Imperial Fleet.

Other plans for the year include increasing my Successor army for Impetus to 500 points. I also intend to collect and paint an opposing force. This will allow me to experience commanding a different army and also enable me to host games. At the moment I'm leaning toward Mauryan Indian but I have not yet made a final decision.

I'm deliberately trying to keep my wargaming aims modest as I then have a better chance of success. In my late teens (my last period of serious wargaming before I got back into it a couple of years ago) I was too ambitious and too easily distracted. Grand schemes were started but then I would become frustrated by lack of progress and my mind, time and meagre budget would wander onto other things. Budget is no longer such an issue but time is a bit more constrained. I am determined that once I start a project I will eventually get it finished (i.e games played). Time will tell if I am successful.  

Seleucid reinforcements and 6mm Sci Fi terrain

Just a quick photo post to show a couple of the projects I've been working on recently.

First up are some pictures of some new units that I have painted up for my 15mm Seleucid Army. There are some additional pikeman (including an attached commander and standard bearer) and some more city militia light cavalry. All the miniatures are by Essex.  At the bottom are a couple of shots of a game I played at my local club. My opponent used his Carthaginian army. The outcome?... let's just say not the Seleucid Empire's finest hour.

Next up are a few pictures of the small town I made for use in 6mm Sci Fi games. The buildings themselves are resin mouldings from Brigade Models (with the exception of the large tower which is the top of a fabric softener bottle). I mounted the buildings on 80mm by 60 mm plasticard rectangles. Some are textured with PVA and sand and some with tile adhesive. The former gives better results but the latter is quicker. As you can see pine trees are common to both the ancient world and the far future. The last couple of shots show the terrain in use in a recent game of Dirtside that I played.

It's been a while...Dirtside, Battlefleet Gothic & Impetus

It's been a while since my last post so I thought I'd write a brief update on what's been going on in the geekosphere.

In the weeks leading up to my clubs summer break in August I painted some more 6mm sci fi forces. I also made some suitable sci fi scenery. Both were put to good use in late July as I played a very enjoyable game of Dirtside. A few pictures will follow in my next post.  

I spent the summer break painting some re-enforcements for my 15mm Seleucid army for Impetus. I now have 400 points. Since the club started again the Seleucids have taken to the field twice. In the first of these games I scored a victory against the Republican Romans but in the second I was soundly beaten by a Mauryan Indian force. Sadly I didn't get any pictures of these games. I have the miniatures to take the army up to 500 points. They are just waiting their turn on the work bench.

The next project I am about to start is Battlefleet Gothic. I bought the box set a long time ago but have only ever played the game once. I came across it in the loft and decided to have a look. Very quickly it captured my imagination. Some ebaying soon saw me in possession of two small fleets (Imperial and Chaos). I hope to get the models painted and a game played soon.

15mm Ancients - My Seleucid Army takes to the field

This weekend saw my first game of Impetus using my newly completed Seleucid army. As Impetus plays relatively quickly and the armies were small we actually got two games in. In the first my opponent used his Roman army and in the second he used his Parthians.

For both games my forces remained the same. At the club I go to games are normally four hundred points per side but I had only managed to paint enough figures to field a three hundred point army. This is the smallest size recommended by the author of the rules. The core of my force was five bases of Phalangites which were formed into two large units. One of two bases and one of three. In addition I had two units of Light Infantry. My cavalry consisted of Cataphracts, Horse Archers and some City Militia Light Cavalry. The Army was rounded off by three units of Skirmishers (two Slingers and one of Archers) and a single unit of Scythed Chariots.

In the first game the Seleucids deployed with the Phalanx behind a screen of Skirmishers and the Chariots. It's flanks were guarded by more mobile light infantry. My cavalry deployed on my right. The initial action consisted of my Scythed Chariots racing at the massed lines of Legionaries. Alas, the Chariots were destroyed in a hail of arrows and javelins before they got anywhere near. Then disaster struck. The Light Infantry and Skirmishers securing the left flank of my Phalanx disintegrated under only light pressure from the Roman Legionaries. This flank was now effectively turned.  On the right my cavalry became bogged down in an inconclusive battle with their Roman counterparts. I had to split my infantry line to face the threat on my left flank and my centre gave way. The losses quickly mounted and my army was routed. Thus the game ended in a crushing Roman victory as my forces were swept aside. I hadn't expected much from my first game with them but this was a particularly heavy defeat.

My initial deployment (from a Roman perspective!).

The Romans come down off the hills with their cavalry heading for my right. They are reinforced by a giant hand and mug!

My flank is turned! Two units of Legionaries are around my left.

Phalanx and Legion locked in combat!

The second game proved more successful and I even managed to snatch a narrow win. I put this down to two main factors, firstly the Parthians are a much harder army to use than the Romans and secondly my opponent had some pretty bad luck with the dice.

The Partian force was all cavalry - a mix of Horse Archers and Cataphracts (including some on Camels!).  Knowing that I would be outmanoeuvred I decided to deploy in a solid defensive position and let the enemy come to me. I had learned my lesson from the first game and securely anchored my left flank against a steep hill that would prove difficult for the Parthian horsemen to traverse. I placed some Light Infantry and Skirmishers on the hill to harass the enemy should he try to move against that side. I used my Cavalry to protect the right flank of my Phalanx.

The bulk of the enemy force came at my right in an attempt to attack my Infantry from that side. My Cavalry held their own however and were able to inflict heavy losses on the Parthians. This attrition proved too much and one of their generals fled the field forcing the other to retreat.

My forces deployed towards the bottom of the table as the Parthian horsemen bear down on them.

The Seleucid Scythed Chariot slams into a unit of Parthian Horse Archers.

The men of the Phalanx watch on screened by a unit of slingers.

Despite my heavy defeat in the first game fun was had by all and that is by far the most important thing.

So what lessons have I learned from these two games? Firstly I realised that pike blocks are not very manoeuvrable. Their initial deployment must be given some serious thought. Secondly their flanks have to be secured properly - a token unit of light infantry won't do the job.

I also found that heavy Cavalry can be used in this role. They are mobile enough to respond to threats quickly but also have the punch to take on targets effectively.  The downside is that they represent a considerable points investment. Used in this role a large amount of resources could be left idle waiting to deal with a threat that never materialises  I think I will do more experimenting with this idea in my next game.

15mm Seleucid Army for Impetus

After many hours with the paintbrush my 15mm Seleucid army is now ready to do battle. I have enough units to field a three hundred point army using the excellent Impetus ruleset.

I am reasonably pleased with the way it turned out. With hindsight there are a few things I would have done differently. I had originally planned to paint more Peltasts (light infantry) and mix up the figure poses. In the end I simply ran out of time so had to field a unit consisting of all the same figure.

Impetus uses relatively large bases, especially for cavalry. A little time spent on texturing effects can really help finish off the look of an army. As with the project in general I'm pretty pleased with how the bases turned out. In future I will use more PVA glue to ensure a thicker, more comprehensive coating of sand on the bases. One or two have small bare patches. On the smaller infantry bases I used Citadel texture paint. This is the first time I've used it and it worked really well. A base coat and a couple of dry brushes gave the bases a nice finish.    

Below are a few pictures of the army. If your thinking that it looks quite small it's because three hundred points is very much the 'entry level' for Impetus. It is the smallest sized game recommended by the author.

The whole army. The pike blocks are in the middle flanked by light infantry. The three cavalry units and the scythed chariot are to the rear. Three units of skirmishers screen the front.

Close up of the archers

Skythian Horse Archers

Scythed Chariot

Thracian Peltasts

Cataphract Heavy Cavalry

The elite Argyraspides Phalanx

The Bronze Shields Phalanx

Thureophoroi Light Infantry

I plan to increase the size of the army to 400 points as this is the 'standard' size game played at my local club. Some War Elephants, more Light Infantry and Phalangites will take up the extra hundred points. That is in the future as I'm all painted out for now so I am going to take a short break from it.