Saga - the return...

Having not played Saga in just over 2 years I wheeled out the Vikings (in a no Cross & Crescent allowed) event in Reading today - and demonstrated how important it is to practice, finishing with nul points out of 3 games.

Admittedly there were times when I didn't have the rub of the green - facing Jomsvikings and their movement-denying Wrath tricks in a scenario where you had to move your troops around to occupy table quarters, and then a previously unseen internet-only Anglo-Danish monstrosity which had three units of un-killable fully armoured Warriors who I had to try and cut through to Kill the Leader...  although forgetting I had the option to re-roll 29 dice in one attack also played a part!

Anyway, the mostly-Foundry figures got out of the foam padding and onto the table, so that bit was a success.

Here are some photos of the boys in action (click on any image to see the full size version)

15mm Indian allied contingent for ADLG

Having flirted with the idea of actually using my Classical Era Greek Successor States armies on many occasions, and now discovering that the Indians (in their Kushan incarnation) also work well with the Sassanids I decided to refurbish a Classical Indian allied contingent.

These are troops who had been languishing in a drawer for many years, so they were delighted to be brought out into the light and converted into L'Art de la Guerre DBE double based elements to make up an allied contingent with essentially all of the useful options.

You can see the finished collection here

This Campaign is Over !!!

No - not an election-themed blog post, but a potentially welcome notification that SIX full-page reports from the inaugural L'Art de la Guerre competition at Campaign in Milton Keynes are now available to use to distract yourself from the tedium of election day in the UK (and also probably another edition of "I Can't Believe He Just Tweeted THAT" day in the US, just to be fair to everyone who might be reading this).

Marvel as the Sicilian Armenians use every Mafioso cliche in the book to take on a near-clean-sweep of German armies with just one set of tactics and two pieces of terrain!

Thrill as Knights smash into Knights, and bounce off spearmen in a "they're in combat in round 2??" ringing endorsement for the immediacy of ADLG combat

Gasp as animated GIF's sneak their way into the match reports showcasing culturally appropriate contextual messaging at the end of each report, and ...

Drool as you learn along with the Sicilian Milites just how to make Lemon Drizzle cake at home!

These reports also come with a fully-functional podcast where at least three of the protagonists talk about the games and other rubbish immediately after the event finishes!

So, get out, vote, and then rush home and read on - you know that it's an offer you can't refuse...

The Renaissance of The Renaissance - 3 FoGR Reports using the draft rules revisions

A subtle revision of FoGR Renaissance is in the offing, and to help test the rules the Kings Capital in Oxford is besieged by eager gamers all keen to raise the standard for King or for Parliament!

What will happen in an event where in previous year's I've taken Parliamentarians and Scots?

Why, it's One for All and all for The King!, as we shop at the Waitrose of Life, not the Lidl of Despair for 3 FoGR reports!

The Sassanids are almost here..!

A Bank holiday weekend and a mixed forecast meant I accelerated the basing and finishing of the Sassanid ADLG army in order to take advantage of the warm dry weather for dullcote-ing the troops.

Normally I like to add the static grass before matt varnishing, but in this case the weather was just too good to miss, so here are the "before" and "after" dullcote shots for your delectation.

 The whole lot...

Essex Ghaznavid infantry stand in - as I am sure they do for many wargamers - as Dailami infantry. I have added a couple of random arab-looking archers to the 40x40 base so they can have integral support (a nice-to-have in ADLG if you have spare points).

 The Legio Heroica infantry command with Irregular mounted command. The shield ended up a bit 'FC Barcelona', but that's still pretty cool, right?

 The Donnington elephants tower over the rest of the men

Very simple sun-themed banners. No LBMS transfers for me today, more's the pity!

I have used some new colour palettes for these troops, in particular Vallejo ESMERALDA (071) and MAGENTA (042) together with Army Painter Hydra Turquoise. I've never used such vibrant colours before but for this army they do sort of work.

I went with different schemes on all of the Clibanarii - they are nobles after all.

The still-shiny levy spear in serried ranks...

I might go back later and add more design to the Generals horse barding.

Banners and pennants are another thing I'm still considering...probably out of metal foil.

Each of the three elephants has a consistent colour scheme

Two types of LH from 2 manufacturers - Legio Heroica and Irregular. The Irregular ones can be javelin or bow armed as they have both.

Plenty of blue Lightbulb hats on display

This is the whole thing - add in a couple of Cataphracts from another army and maybe some slingers and I'm good to go  

Being able to do the photography in full sunlight is a nice bonus

The static grass and some drybrushing of the bases is all that is left...

The Sassanids are coming...slowly..

With the 28mm Goths mostly out of the way now (apart from two dozen cavalry...oops!) these 15mm Sassanid Persians have made it to the top of the pile again after a bit of a hiatus.

The 9 bases of Clibanarii are now all painted and varnished, just needing to be based and the elephants are on their way too.

Most Legio Heroica figures.

The Levy spearmen/horde/mob are going to be in 3 ranks so they can appear either as Mediocre Spear or as a Mob. Donnington elephants in the background - Irregular Levy.

After some dithering I based the Generals on 40mm round bases - they won't be used for other armies and it's a cool look. Not sure I'd be keen enough to rebase any others but for new stuff it makes a nice change. These are Irregular mounted and Legio Heroica foot

The Clibanarii have a bit of a blue/purple theme going on

4 elements of LH and 3 of LH bowmen round out the army - I have the cataphracts already

Copplestone Barbarians sneak into the battle line...

Having acquired a pack of Copplestone Barbarian Heroes earlier this year in a complex shipping and exchange rate transaction involving a man known by many as the scourge of TMP, and which, fortunately, has yet to be drawn into the "Car Wash" scandal engulfing much of Brazil, I have finally gotten round to painting the figures and sneaking them into various 'proper' barbarian battle lines.

Here are the guys - proper 18mm Heroic 15mm scale, on the painting table

Three of them now form part of the front line of my enough for an ADLG army's worth of double-based DBx units of generic Barbarian Gauls and Germans

Two more are faster moving, even with such huge swords, and fight alongside the loose formation Gauls and Britons, again already DBE'ed for ADLG

Were you ever to wish for a mid 80's German Hair Metal band in 15mm, these figures might also make good starting points for a conversion ...  

Two more now fight alongside the Vikings and Rus, as legendary "Northmen" - my theory being that what we recreate on the tabletop is as much based on first hand reports turned into the stuff of legend by retelling over the years - and we're also recreating cool films too - so why not!

And the one axeman in the pack is suitably mad, appearing with some Two Dragons Beserkers

Isn't that a Massive Chopper?

Ready to create legends...  Follow the painting progress of the main batch which these were siphoned from here on the Lead Doesn't Bleed blog

28mm Lombards in action

The much-trailed Gothic/Germanic/Viking/Barbarian army that has been on the painting table for the last year got a near-full outing tonight against some old-school Hinchcliffe Byzantines.

Playing 25mm L'Art de la Guerre, my 200AP Lombard list was:

• 5 Elite & 1 Ordinary Impetuous HC, Competent General 
• 6 Saxon Impetuous HF Swordsmen, 4 LF Bw, 1 Slavic MF Swordsman, Brilliant General
• 4 Bowmen & 4 Slav MF Swordsmen, Ordinary General

25 Units

Here are the guys in action...

 Heavy Foot advance in the centre (a part-unfinished general with no flag urging them on...)

Bowmen and Swordsmen in action

The Shieldwall advances

Spare bowmen slide into the centre - semi-fictional Pictish crossbowman figure on one of the bases

Slave hiding in a Plantation

It's a casualty!

The Heavy Foot struggle to hold back the enemy mounted force - red markers = 3 hits

But while they do, the rest of the Saxons close in on the exposed Skoutatoi

The Slavs look set to overrun the Byzantine bowmen too

Old School Hinchliffe Kavalllaroi with impressive banner skills

Everything is engaged on a broad front - the Lombard cavalry are being eroded, but the Lombard foot is deep into the soft infantry underbelly of the smaller Byzantine force

Not much shooting taking place now - everyone is in combat!

The last Byzantine archer unit falls - an inaugural victory for the Lombards!