Later Sargonid Assyrians versus Kimmerians Mortem et Gloriam Game

 

Side view with Assyrians left, Kimmerians right

Opposite end

Assyrian left flank

Assyrian centre

Assyrian right flank

Kimmerian right flank

Kimmerian centre

Kimmerian left flank

Last Tuesday afternoon I played a solo MeG Pacto game out in the shed. The Later Sargonid Assyrians took on an all cavalry Kimmerian force. This was my first MeG game with these armies, it was all a bit hit and miss, trial and error! The Kimmerian left flank optimistically charged the Assyrians early in the game, the noble cavalry broke in combat, while the horse archers retreated. The noble cavalry did managed to break the opposing Assyrian cavalry. On the Assyrian left flank the chariots and cavalry charged. The Kimmerian nobles eventually broke and one of the horse archer units evaded repeatedly until almost driven from the table. Meanwhile in the centre the skilled Kimmerian horse archers whittled away at the Assyrian Kisir Sharuti and Sab Sharri infantry. In the end they destroyed the entire centre and broke the Assyrian army.

Armies advance

Shooting starts

Kimmerian left flank charges

Combat doesn't go well

A retreat and a rout

Assyrian left flank charges

Horse archers evade, nobles countercharge

Assyrian cavalry charge again

Assyrians break in the centre

Neo-Assyrian Chariot and Command

 

Here's a Neo-Assyrian chariot and some command figures that I've just finished painting. The chariot, crew and horses are by Eureka Miniatures and the command figures and Scythian noble cavalry figure are by Wargames Foundry. I was given the watchtower with lamassu (large winged bulls) from the collection of our mate, Bern Entriken, who sadly passed away last year. Bern had large Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian armies and we had some great games with them over the years. 

Apparently the Nergal Gate of Nineveh (Mosul, Iraq) featured two of these lamassu, they were probably painted originally, and you can see a pair in the British Museum. See the post on Assyrian Reliefs at the British Museum Part One for photos. I have a small solo MeG game planned with my Neo-Assyrians and Kimmerians/Scythians, these figures will feature in that. Ancient Warfare magazine Volume XIV, Issue 6, had a great issue issue on the Neo-Assyrians recently check that out if you're interested.

I played my first Vassal, Command and Colors Ancients (CCA) game with an opponent on Tuesday night, the scenario was Zama. Vassal is an open sourced game engine for building and playing online adaptions of board and card games.  We diced for sides and I got the Carthaginians. I was getting slaughtering 4-0, then through a combination of lucky dice and good cards I managed to come from behind and win 8-5, even killing Scipio in the process. It was a cracking game and the Vassal module is definitely worth downloading, as there are heaps of games on it, a great resource in times of lockdown!

Sumerian Command 2

 

Here are two Sumerian Command stands that I've just finished painting. These 28mm figures are by CP Models and are the same range, different scale, as the the Museum Miniatures 15mm Z range Sumerians. They are more heroic than historic with some of the swords they're armed with, the scimitar type sword and the later Bronze Age swords, were obviously not around in the early Bronze Age! Still they're great figures and you could always remove the swords from the figures, if it keeps you awake at night, but I couldn't be bothered. CP Models generously included two free shield bearers with my order and I've included these but ditched the six boss shields as these should be nine boss shields as depicted in the Vulture Stele. I'm still working on a king in a battle car and despite the inaccuracies with some of these figures they are still probably the best 28mm Sumerian range around. Andrea Salimbeti's site has an interesting page on Greek Bronze Age swords and daggers:

The Greek Age of Bronze Swords/Daggers

Nikephorian Byzantine Klibanophoroi

 

Here's a unit of Nikephorian Klibanophoroi that I've just finished painting. These are all Crusader Miniatures figures with LBM banner and shield transfers. Most of the horses have red ox hide armour as per the Angus McBride illustration in Ian Heath's Osprey book Byzantine Armies 886-1118. I've also been beavering away assembling boxes of the brilliant new Fireforge Games plastic Byzantine cavalry sets, see the work in progress shots below.

Fireforge Koursores

Fireforge Horse Archers

Fireforge Cataphracts

Late Etruscan Command

 

Here are some Late Etruscan Command figures that I've just finished painting. The figures are by Aventine and Victrix with LBM and Victrix shield transfers. The Victrix figures are from the Republican Roman cavalry set which includes Etruscan helmets options and they have a lovely Etruscan shield transfer set as well. Garry has a really nice Etruscan army, that inspired me to start one of my own. You can see his Etruscans in action against my Samnites in a game we played at the club a few years ago:

https://bucellarii.blogspot.com/2018/09/samnites-versus-etruscans-basic-impetus.html

I have quite a few spare plastic Greek hoplites, so I'm planning to use some of these for my first class Etruscan infantry and have used the Victrix Greek slingers and Roman leves with spare heads to make up fifth class Etruscan infantry as javelinmen and slingers. Agema Miniatures have a Kickstarter Etruscan range too, that should be available soon on their website. I just received in the mail an order from Gorgon Studios of second class spearmen and Lars Porsena in a chariot - can't wait to paint that!