Thursday, March 17, 2016

Normans keep their distance

No keep, plenty of distance in this game of Saga when Brendan's borrowed Normans decided on distance as the better part of valour and my Vikings didn't feel like chasing after those horsey things.

My deployment didn't help and I should have researched the Normans first and perhaps gone for more terrain and/or a different scenario, but I was a bit wargamed out after the earlier Impetus game.

Before I knew it those Norman knaves had shot my levy to bits.

Dancing round the marsh.  It didn't help that I had decided to withdraw.

By the time I had decide to engage it was getting a bit late.

At least I got some of my warriors into those Norman shooters.

My third loss in my Saga League division and I've only played three games...

Macedonian Early Successor vs Cowardly Darius

Today Richard and I (assisted in the beginning by Mark W) had a game of Impetus were my Greek army took on his Persians.  He was being adventurous and trying out what it was like to run with a cowardly CinC.

First turn and I thought it best to move my Agema away from the rear of my elephants.

The rest of my army

The Persian centre.  There is actually twice that number of scythed chariots.

The Persian left flank was made up of mercenary Greeks

Turn two and my elephants are advancing on the Persian right which was a mass of cavalry.  I had high hopes for my elephants in this battle.

The centre is advancing although a bit wary of the enemy chariots and elephants.

On the right some forlorn light cavalry are sent to keep the enemy busy.

And this delay seems to be working on the right.

The centre is getting closer to the enemy first line.

And on the left things are closing as well.

End of turn four and the scythed chariots are off.  The Persians deployed four units but this meant eight models, not four so there was a bit of improvisation to fix this.

The first onslaught by the enemy elephants has been repulsed

But the light cavalry sent to delay has gone "poof" when it threw a six for its cohesion test.

End of turn four. 
(Remember you can always get a bigger picture if you click on them.)

On the left things got off to a bad start when the light cavalry went "poof" as well, with another six on its cohesion test, but there were still some quality troops to engage the enemy

The enemy scythed chariots and elephants have been destroyed

Turn five and the enemy left is still a good distance away.

Turn six and all fighting is on my right flank where the Agema have launched what proves to be a very successful attack.

In the centre the lines have been reformed and the advance continues.

On the right some light infantry are sent to delay the enemies attack

It's tricky, but we have time and space.

The Agema is under threat by the end of turn seven.  But the main body remains the one fighting to the front, that flank attack will just add half its dice.  After a bit of discussion and now some further thought I feel this aspect of the rules reflects that melee would see the units intermingled and so coming in not to the fore would see some diminished effect.

The Persian sends troops to reinforce his right, but the Greek phalanx is closing in.

Darius stays on his hill.

The Greek left looks threatened.

Turn eight and the Persian right routs.

And with the rout of one command the cowardly Persian CinC's nerve fails and his command routs as well which leads to the whole army routing.

Game over!

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Ancient Ancient Britons - Ready for action

I've posted about these guys before, but here they are ready for Impetus.

One each of CGL (Light War Chariots), FL (Light Foot), CL (Light Cavalry) and S (Skirmishers).

I know there will be casualties, so I'm prepared.

Printed paper glued to washers.  The casualty figures glued to magnetic sheets.

Addendum


This pic may help anyone who wants to make such a disc.  I'm not sure of its original source.  I ended up putting it in Excel and sizing it and then replicating (copy and paste) and then printing and cutting out.  The washer I roughed up with sandpaper and then smeared with PVA glue and put the paper disc on and it was done.


Saturday, March 12, 2016

Napoleon the Great

I took my time reading this book as it was such a pleasure.



I've read at least one other Andrew Roberts book (Masters and Commanders) which I'd enjoyed and when I saw this book in Dymocks I couldn't resist (I don't need more books on Napoleon).  It was put aside for a birthday present (one or two years ago - I forget or rather don't feel like calculating/researching when it actually was).

The coverage is comprehensive as much as it can be when writing about such a jam packed life as that Napoleon lead (at least until his decline on St Helena).  The broad events are placed in context and contrasted with the myriad of other things that Napoleon involved himself in, on a day to day basis.  I found this really fascinating.  It wasn't just all battles, as most people familiar with the life of Napoleon know, although there are many who if they know anything think of just that and equate him to a 20th century dictator.  This book does a good job of breaking down Napoleon's use of power, without hiding the abuses.  The other interesting thing is the reflections on how other countries/rulers behaved.

Napoleon's greatness and failings along with the support (and lack there of including out right betrayal) he received from others is objectively covered.  History of course is observed with hindsight and Andrew Roberts covers off a number of events where it is commonly thought Napoleon should have known better, to show that Napoleon's reasoning was actually sound given the context of the times.  He also identifies the events where there are no mitigating circumstances and Napoleon should have acted differently, perhaps with profound changes in outcomes.

The book makes clear it was Great Britain that was Napoleon's unrelenting opponent and that Napoleon was flawed in his naval and economic strategies that he employed against her.  The fatal invasion of Russia was an extension of that economic policy and undertaken at a time when Napoleon should perhaps have resolved the situation in Spain and Portugal personally (although as the book points out the Russians were massing on the border).  The army that Napoleon took into Russia was too big to manage in that he failed to detect errors in reports he was receiving about the state of his army and it was devastated by disease as much as any Russian action (something that was common throughout this period).  The book also details a few critical decisions/mistakes that Napoleon made while in Russia that could have made all the difference to the outcome.

This book provides a wonderfully inspiring background to Napoleon.

"Napoleon's life and career stand as a rebuke to determinist analyses of history which explain events in terms of vast impersonal forces and minimize the part played by individuals."  As the book concludes, I do find his life uplifting for what it shows one individual is capable of in so short a lifespan.  The ability to achieve is something we all carry in our backpacks.

"Napoleon the Great?  Yes, certainly."

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Macedonian Early Successor vs Lysimachid

Basically a battle of succession.  On the side of Lysimachus was Richard, Dave and Geoff.  On the challengers side we had Stephen, Mark B and myself.  Andrew umpired.

This was the first time I have run elephants using Impetus.  It became clear I didn't know what I was doing.

Can't group, can't support and don't get their impact bonus against pike.

I took command of the right flank in what I hoped would be a delaying action.  It got off to a bad start when I lost my skirmishers to one hit.  My peltasts held out for a while, but numbers were against them.

Still trying to delay, I flung in my commander.

It ended badly, but it had held off this wing of the enemy's army.

I had hopes for the centre, but what was it I was saying about elephants?

I'm missing photos from the left flank, but that might be a good thing.

Impetus worked well as a multiplayer game although I'm thinking of switching to playing cards or something similar to control selection of command activation.

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

French Napoleonic Guard Horse Artillery

I'm really pleased how these figures have turned out.  They just about painted themselves, such is the magic of AB Miniatures.


For Waterloo I had to improvise four FrG6# and when I found out I needed them for Austerlitz I splurged and bought some a month ago.

I am so happy that I have now finished painting them as my lead mountain is, um, best described as "disturbing".

The gun is from my impulse buy last year.

One thing I did differently with these chaps was use a 20/0 paintbrush for the detail and it really helped.

This guy is fantastic.  When I saw him on the AB site I just couldn't resist.

I hope I get lots of use out of him.

As I was playing about with them I found I could position them like this.  Not sure if that is of any use, but in might trigger some ideas in the future (being able to show limbered is the challenge). 

Finally got around to basing these for Napoleon's Battles.  The figures were painted by Chris H.  The guns are the ones that were pictured with the Guard Horse Artillery.