Seleucid Progress Report

Progress on my 15mm Seleucid army for Impetus has been a bit slower than I had hoped. Recently however the pace has picked up and I seem to have made some decent headway. In order to give me that extra motivation I have organised a game for late June. I have until then to paint and base enough troops to field a 300 point army. I have already worked out an army list so I know what I need. Below are a few pictures of the units I have painted so far. As you can see they are not properly based yet. All miniatures are by Essex, the bases are from Warbases.

Two units of Phalangites

City Militia light cavalry

Two units of Slingers

Thracian Peltasts

Galatian Archers

Two more Phalangite units. The rear unit are of the Eastern kind, hence the trousers

Closer view of the Phalangites

Units nearing completion include Cataphracts and Scythed Chariots. I hope to post some pictures of the completed army before it's first battle.

15mm Seleucid Impetus!

Ancient war gaming is not an area I normally dabble in. It's a period that I know very little about and one that has never really appealed to me. Recently however I have been introduced to a very enjoyable set of rules from Italy called Impetus. A friend at my local club was good enough to host several games all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. This was enough for me to decide to take the plunge and paint up an army.

When I say take the plunge I mean dip my toes really. Impetus is similar to the DBx series of games in having a relatively low requirement in terms of number of figures. This means it fulfils one of my key criteria for war gaming projects: a realistic chance of completion.

After taking the decision to invest in an army I then faced the dilemma of which one to choose. As already mentioned I know very little about ancient history and the classical world. Some online research (aah Wikipedia - where would we be with out you?) soon revealed it to be a fascinating period of history.

During my research I came across several interesting articles on the Seleucid Empire. This was one of the Hellenistic successor states that developed after the death of Alexander the Great. The Seleucids turned out to be the ideal choice for two main reasons. Firstly their incredibly interesting history meant that at some point they had come into conflict with most of the other powers of the day. Secondly the varied nature of their forces means you have a lot of choice when it comes to army composition. My mind was made up. Seleucids it was.

My next step was to have a look what 15mm figures were available. More online research quickly showed that the Seleucids are well catered for by several figure manufacturers. I ordered a small sample from Essex Miniatures and was pleased with what I received. This was sufficient to convince me to order one of their DBA army packs.  

Below are a few photos of the Phalangites I received as part of my sample order from Essex Miniatures.  They are 90% complete and are nearly ready to leave the workbench. As you can see I'm no expert figure painter. As with my 1/300 models I try to go for a look that appears OK when used en masse. I've left the shields blank for now but I may go back and try my hand at painting on some designs. I'll post more when I get more figures painted up.

Man o war battle number two

This weekend saw my second game of Man O War (MOW) down at my local club. MOW is a fantasy naval system from Games Workshop that was released in the early nineties.

Once again the Dwarfs took on an Empire Fleet (these being the only two fleets I have). This time the fleets were the 'standard' 1000 points each. The Empire forces were bolstered by the addition of a new squadron of ships and a more powerful wizard. The Dwarf fleet was also bulked out with an extra ship.

The fleets were as follows;

Dwarfs: One dreadnought, two monitor squadrons (three ships in each), two ironclads and one nautilus submarine.

Empire; One greatship, one squadron of three wolfships, two squadrons of wargalleys (three ships in each), one squadron of hell hammers and a master wizard.

I took the role of the Imperial admiral and my friend played the Dwarfs. After randomly setting up the terrain as per the rulebook we deployed the fleets. My opponent threw me a curve ball by concentrating his forces along one half of one table edge. This was to prove crucial later on.

The Dwarf fleets initial deployment

After some early manoeuvring the fleets finally got within range of each other on turn three. Due to my opponent concentrating his forces my wolfships and hell hammers were facing only empty sea and had to make their way across the table to join the fray and so were late joining the battle.

The Imperial hell hammer squadron

The game quickly developed into two separate mini battles. In the centre my greatship and a wargalley squadron took on the Dwarf dreadnought flagship, an ironclad and a monitor squadron. On my right flank a wargalley squadron took on the other ironclad and a monitor squadron.

The greatship and wargalleys slug it out with the dwarfs. The nautilus submarine lurks menacingly behind the sandbank

 

Things didn't go well for the Empire. A combination of ineffectual magic and deadly torpedo salvos from the nautilus meant the Dwarfs soon had the upper hand. The greatship (my flagship) was damaged by a combination of ram and cannon attacks from the monitors and ironclad. She was sunk by the nautilus as she tried to break off. Not by torpedoes but by a lucky hit from it's cannon. My admiral and wizard clung to the wreckage but I was unable to rescue them. Elsewhere, despite fierce resistance my ships were worn down and more and more were sent to the bottom.

The fierce melee between a wargalley squadron and a monitor squadron supported by an ironclad

The wolfships sailing to the action as fast as they can

A lone wargalley makes a desperate attack on the dreadnought

Eventually my wolfships and hell hammers made it into the action. They were to prove ineffective however. The wolfships did their best but were unable to inflict serious damage. They did succeed in capturing one of the ironclads in a boarding action but this rather pinned them down and prevented them from being used to full effect. To add insult to injury the Dwarfs were able to re crew the ironclad before I could scuttle it.

The wolfships ram and then board the ironclad

The hell hammers managed to score a number of hits on the dreadnought but due to poor dice rolling on my part she remained mostly intact. Her boiler was knocked out however and she spent a large part of the game immobilised. Imperial losses continued to mount and soon I had few ships left. It became clear the Dwarfs had won a comprehensive victory and we decided to call it a day. Most importantly fun was had by all.

I plan to further increase the size of the fleets. I have another greatship that is in the dockyard (my painting bench) at the moment. She will be ready soon. I also intend to add some flying units. In particular I am on the look out for Dwarf war balloons.

6mm sci fi - a Dirtside2 battle

This weekend saw my second game of dirtside since getting back into wargaming. I umpired whilst two friends from my local club took command of the opposing forces.

The scenario was a pretty straight forward attack - defend affair. The game was set in central Europe. One side, deemed to be Polish were tasked with taking a village held by Soviet troops. The two forces were kept small whilst we all got use to the rules (this was only my second game in ten years and both players were new to the system). To add some interest to the plot it was decided that the attacking forces lacked motivation and thus their starting morale levels were determined at random. To compensate for this they had the technological edge.

The game went well. An early Soviet airstrike proved very effective and wiped out most of the Polish HQ section. There were also some fierce light armour battles. The attackers were able to air drop some light walkers into the enemies rear area and they became involved in some heavy fighting with a Soviet infantry platoon.

As is often the case time ran out before a definite conclusion had been reached. This was partly due to our inexperience with the rules and games should move faster in future. The village remained in Soviet hands but the Poles were poised to launch a large infantry assault. The Umpire's official verdict was a draw (although I did say the players were free to argue about the result amongst themselves...). Most importantly everyone had fun.

The remains of the Polish HQ section shelter behind a wood following a Soviet airstrike.

Soviet forces deployed in and around the village.

Some of the Polish grav tanks make a dash across open ground.

Soviet MBT's in position on a hedge lined road.  The HQ unit sits just behind the road.

Eurasian Solar Union light tanks

The latest units to be painted up for this weekends game of Dirtside are some Eurasian Solar Union (ESU) light tanks. The ESU is one of the major players in the optional background provided for the Dirtside system. These miniatures are part of the excellent 6mm sci fi range from Brigade Models. When I get some more transfers these models will be finished off with the addition of suitably Soviet insignia (red stars and the like). Pictures of the game and a full battle report will follow shortly.

1/300 Sci Fi Armour for Dirtside

With a game arranged for a couple of weeks I have been busy painting some new 1/300 scale models to complement those already in my collection. First up were a couple of troops of Mechanised Infantry Combat Vehicles (MICV's - like an Armoured Personnel Carrier but with more fire power). With Dirtside having a science fiction setting these are hover vehicles - note the absence of tracks. My painting philosophy with Micro Armour is not to spend too long on each model. I try for a basic paint job that looks ok when used en masse. I've not yet decided what nationality these vehicles will represent hence the lack of any insignia. I'm leaning towards some white stars to give them an American feel. These particular models are from Irregular Miniatures.      

Dirtside

Dirtside is a set of rules for science fiction ground combat from Ground Zero Games. The second edition (known as Dirtside 2) was released in the early nineties.  It is my favourite game of all time.

The game mechanics are elegant yet fun. The 'opposed' die rolls really give you a sense of participation at all times, even in your opponents turn. The term 'turn' is a bit misleading as the game uses an alternative unit by unit activation that I really enjoy. An added bonus these days is that the rules are available as a free download from the Ground Zero Games website. I strongly recommend you take a look.

I have arranged to play a game at my local club in a few weeks so am busy painting up some 1/300 scale miniatures. I will post a few pics shortly.