Here are some early New Kingdom Egyptian close-fighters and javelin men that I've just finished painting. They're from 18th Dynasty, part of Thumoses III's army, for my Battle of Megiddo project. The figures are all 15mm Khurasan Miniatures. I now have enough painted figures for a game with this army so will give them a run against my Mitanni soon.
Here are some more untrained Carthaginian elephants for the Battle of Zama. The figures are all Agema Miniatures. The sources on the battle, Polybius, Livy and Appian don't mention whether Hannibal's eighty elephants (Polybius XV.11 & Livy XXX.33 ) were barebacked or had towers with crew. Much of Hannibal's army, apart from his Italian veterans, was hastily raised and the assumption is that with such a large number of elephants, more than he had ever fielded before in battle, many of them must have been untrained.
Anyway with these two ellies I have majority of untrained elephants for my planned Epic Command and Colors game of Zama, but still have plenty of Carthaginian and Roman infantry to paint. I painted one of the elephant's ears ochre with a Tanit (chief female deity of Carthage) sign on its forehead as I'd done an earlier one in red and quite liked the look. In the photos below you can see the four Agema elephants are the same basic resin model but the earlier ones have a different metal trunk and tusks and armoured mahout.
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| Sleeping Thracian warriors with Rhesus' chariot in the centre |
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| Diomedes and Odysseus deployed, Odysseus is near the chariot |
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| Odysseus escapes in the chariot |
On Tuesday morning Craig came over and we played another game of Ilium: A Game of Heroes out in the shed. This time the scenario was a Night Mission with Odysseus and Diomedes raiding the sleeping Thracians (allies of the Trojans) to steal a chariot, from the Thracian king, Rhesus. The scenario is from The Iliad:
Then on they went, through weapons and black blood,This was a really tough scenario for the Achaeans to actually win as the two heroes were alone, against three sleeping Thracian heroes and their contingents, with a single promachos from each contingent, awake as sentries. These sentries could alert their sleeping companions, who could awake on passing a resolve test and then activate in the next turn.
Night vision in the scenario was limited to 6" and in our game one of the heroes and their contingent never woke. Odysseus was able to jump in to the chariot and move it towards his side but the sentries alerted their companions who were able to attack the two Achaean heroes. In the end it was a very short game as Diomedes and then Odysseus were overwhelmed. Maybe two Thracian heroes and their contingents rather than three would make for a more balanced scenario?
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| Thracian sentries raise the alarm |
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| Diomedes and Odysseus are eventually overwhelmed |
Here is a desert well and a Greek/Successor baggage stand that I've just finished painting. The well is a nice resin and metal terrain set by Architects of War that I've had for about fifteen years but finally got around to painting for our Ilium Settlement Raid game, which required a well for the scenario. I've got more of their Middle Eastern buildings, an animal enclosure, a ploughed field and another well to paint as well. The Greek/ Successor baggage stand is by Aventine Miniatures. They do a Steppe/Eastern baggage set with more horses which I will use for my Sassanids.
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| Initial deployment from the Mauryan side |
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| Initial deployment from the Nandan side |
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| Mauryan elephants on the right flank |
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| Nandan elephants attack Mauryan infantry |
Last Sunday Rob, Gary, Rick and I met down at the Vikings Club in Lanyon for the Canberra Regional Wargames Group's monthly meeting. We played a Command and Colors Ancients game, the scenario was Pataliputra 319 BC, Mauryan Indians versus Nandan Indians. We diced for sides, Gary and Rick commanded the Nandan forces, Rob and I commanded the Mauryan forces. The scenario had auxilia bow for both sides and these fought in combat as auxilia but used the shooting rules for regular bow infantry. We also increased the block sizes for elephants and heavy chariots from two to three to make them more resilient and the same as all cavalry units.The two sides were fairly evenly matched.
The Nandans had a slight advantage in infantry, elephants and cavalry, while the Mauryans had a slight advantage in heavy chariots. The Mauryan side moved first and got off to a good start with some effective shooting from the light infantry and auxilia. The Nandans counter attacked the Mauryan infantry with their elephants. It all unravelled fairly quickly for the Nandans. A Clash of Shields card saw further casualties inflicted and soon all the Nandan elephants had been destroyed. They didn't have much luck with cards and dice and never really got on a roll. In the end the Mauryans won very easily 6-1 victory banners with the entire Nandan centre of infantry unused in the game.
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| Action on the Mauryan left flank |
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| Mauryan shooting proves effective |
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| All the Nandan elephants are destroyed |
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| Last ditch effort with the Nandan light cavalry |
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| Mauryans win easily 6-1 |
Here are some Indian skirmishers that I've just finished painting. The figures are by 1st Corps and Newline Designs, and those in the photos below are Forest Indians. We have a Maurayan vs Nandan Command and Colors Ancients Pataliputra 319 BC game organised for next Sunday at the Vikings Club, some of them will see action then.
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| Achaean attackers on the left, Trojan defenders in the centre, guarding the well |
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| Opposite side |
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| Achaean raiders with two heroes and their contingents |
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| Trojan defenders attack, the buildings, well and village notable are objectives for the Achaeans |
On Tuesday afternoon Craig came over and we played our second game of Ilium out in the shed. This time the scenario was a settlement raid with Achaean raiders attacking a Trojan village, their objectives were to burn buildings, poison the well in the centre of the village and capture the village notable ( a goat herder with a goat). The Trojans were to prevent this and the usual kleos (renown or glory) applies in the scenario for killing enemy heroes and stripping them of their armour etc.
The Achaeans got off to a good start and quickly had two buildings burning. The game was level pegging and reinforcements for both sides arrived on the table in turn three. All heroes on both sides were heavily wounded but none were killed. It looked as if the game would be a draw but the Trojans just managed to hang on and win 3-2, as two buildings were undamaged and the well was clean.
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| Trojan reinforcements turn two, two buildings are already burning! |
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| Hector dashes ahead to protect the well |
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| Reinforcements for both sides on turn three |
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| All heroes are heavily wounded |
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| Trojans just hang on to win 3-2 |
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| Aeneas and his Dardanians, four warriors and two archers |
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| Hector and six shield bearers |
Last Thursday morning Craig came over and we played our first game of Ilium: A Game of Heroes out in the shed. I forgot to put the memory card back in to my camera so none of the photos I took actually turned out! It's a pity because it was quite a nice looking game with two hills, trees, goat herders and their goats, grape vines, a ploughed field and the Achaean and Trojan forces. I took extra photos of the Trojan force I used in the game to make up for this and have posted these with the game report.
Craig had an Achaean force with three heroes Menelaus, Odysseus and Menestheus and their three contingents of promachoi (forward fighters). My Trojan force also had three heroes Aeneas, Hector and Sarpedon mounted in a chariot with Glaucus as his driver and their three contingents. The rules have stats for all the various heroes and their contingents, use D10 dice and random activations with tokens or cards. We played the Battle on the Plains scenario, which has six turns with reinforcements of a third hero and their contingent arriving on the third turn.
It proved to be a lot of fun and a very close game which could easily have gone either way. In the end I just managed to kill Odysseus and Menelaus, although both Aeneas and Hector were severely wounded. The game is won by the side that earns the most kleos (glory or renown) and by killing Odysseus and Menelaus in a duel I had three points to nil. I could have earnt more by stripping them of their armour and carrying it off the table but it was the sixth turn and the game was over. We both really enjoyed it and hope to play another game soon.
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| Sarpedon and Glaucus with four Lycian warriors |
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| Goat herders and their goats |
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| Hector, Paris and Aeneas |
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| Agamemnon, Achilles and Nestor |
Here are some Trojan War heroes that I've just finished painting. Figures are all Wargames Foundry sculpted by Alan Perry. Back drop photo is the of the reconstructed walls at Hatussa (modern Bogazkale). These Trojan and Achaean heroes will be handy for Midgard and Ilium: A Game of Heroes games. This is a Trojan War skirmish game by Nic Wright of the Irregular Wars blog which was recently released. We've got our first game of this organised for later this week, so some of the figures will see action then. If you're interested in the rules they're available as a 97 page, colour pdf on his site or on the Wargames Vault site.
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| Diomedes, Ajax and Odysseus |
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| Parthians deployed |
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| Romans deployed |
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| Forces advance |
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| Roman cavalry shoot at the Parthian cataphracts |
Last Friday afternoon Craig came over and we played an Age of Caesars Saga game out in the shed. My Parthians fighting Craig's Late Republican Romans, six points with the usual Clash of Warlords scenario. I seem to average a Saga game about once every two years, usually when there is a new supplement out. The Romans were the attackers and the two forces advanced to within shooting range. The Roman cavalry shot at the Parthian cataphracts then withdrew repeating this again in a later turn.
The Roman ballista shooting was effective while the Parthian horse archer shooting was not. A Cataphract charge against a unit of legionaries on the left flank forced them to retreat and on the right flank the Cataphracts managed to destroy the Roman cavalry. The Cataphracts, worn down by shooting and combat, were destroyed. The Romans easily won the game when a legionary unit launched a Pilum attack to destroy a unit of horse archers, who were unable to evade like they would have historically.
The Age of Caesars is a really attractive supplement with great photos and illustrations. It includes faction rules and battle boards for Caesar's Legions, the Parthians, Imperial Romans, Spartacus Slave Revolt, Germans, Dacians, Sarmatians and Palmyrans. As well as additional rules for Gauls, Britons and mercenaries, so plenty of new and old factions for the Saga enthusiast to game with.
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| Cataphracts charge the legionaries |
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| Roman cavalry shoot again |
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| Cataphracts are worn down, Romans win easily |
Here are some early New Kingdom Egyptian close-fighters and javelin men that I've just finished painting. They're from 18th Dynast...
