Wargaming Projects - 1 of 4 - The Prehistoric

A Potted History of my Wargaming Projects

Prehistoric, Past, Present, and Pending

A commenter on a previous post remarked on how many armies I have.  While not as many as some gamers I know, when I thought about it, it came to more than I realised.  So, I decided to list them all for the record and own the shame.

To keep these posts to a manageable size I've broken them done into four categories which will each get their own post, namely: Prehistoric; Past; Present; and, Pending.  

Part 1 - Prehistoric Projects: that date back to the origins of my wargaming (with rules as opposed to just playing with toy soldiers, e.g. my Britain's multi-part Wars of the Roses and ACW 54mm figures - now sold).

Like most gamers of a similar vintage, I started with Airfix 1/72 kits and moved on to HO/OO plastic figures, or 1/76 as they're now marketed.  I have no photographic record of any of these as they were all thrown away when I went to Uni' as I felt such childish past-times should be left behind[1].  Imagine my anguish when I discovered the wargaming society at the Freshers' Squash, AND they had Airfix armies as well as metal ones - D;oh!

My first 'proper' metal wargame figures were Hinchliffe 25mm Napoleonic's, my Dad buying me half a dozen to get me started on what became a small King's German Legion force all based for the Airfix rules by Bruce Quarrie and consisting of: 4x Line Battalions, 1x Light Battalion, 1x Horse and 1x Foot Artillery Battery (each having a gun, crew, limber and team); 1x Regiment of Hussars; ½x Regiment of Light Dragoons; and, a few command figures.  All now sold and being shown some love by another.  As these were only finally sold off recently[2], still in their original Humbrol gloss enamel paint-jobs, I have a few photos of these

My next army, started back at Uni in the 70's, was another 25mm Hinchliffe collection, only this time it was Ancients.  WRG Ancients was the big thing in the Wargaming Society.  With thoughts of emulating one of my heroes, I opted to start putting together an Alexandrian Macedonian army, and by this time I was using Humbrol matt enamels.  As it failed to replicate the success of the original it soon morphed into a more generic Hellenistic Successor army.  This one, is however, still going strong so will appear in a later post on Present projects.

Perhaps the inspiration to move on to a Successor army was influenced by my best friend from Uni who had a Seleucid army.  Sadly, he passed away a few years ago but left his army to me, as it was what had brought us together[3]. 

But while I still have, and still use, these figures, they are now the oldest I have, so I thought I would feature them here, in the beginning so to speak.

They have some really nice painted shield designs.

All I did with these figures when I got them was repair ant wear and tear and re-base them to match my army.  Also, he had a half-painted general that I finished off and added a shield to the base to have a go at the shield pattern and blend him in with the army.

I did repaint the tents from his camp; they were just painted as plain canvas so, I thought they should be jazzed up a bit.

This army also came in for some recent attention, when I expanded the pike blocks.  The original army (not based to DBA/M) were about a dozen figures too few to make 2-element wide blocks so I bought some painted Hinchliffe Successor pike of eBay and re-touched them to match the existing pike; effectively doubling the number of pikes that could be fielded - covered in an earlier post here.

The other really early project was a collection of 6mm Napoleonic's by Heroics and Ros, nice and cheap and easy to paint in those days when I didn't need to wear glasses.  But, like my Hinchliffe Ancients these are still in use and will be covered under Present Projects.

And finally, back in the day, I did buy and paint some Warhammer Fantasy figures to placate my Tolkien urges, but they have been sold off and I can find no photographic record of them anywhere.

Next in this series will be a litany of abandoned projects, often only with a few figures being painted - the lure of the pretty figure range.

Notes:

[1] The fact that my parents were moving house at the same time and obviously didn't want too much of my junk cluttering their new home, also played its part in this.

[2] They were let go, because I was let go and needed to move and down-size, but they hadn't seen a table-top for many a year before that.

[3] I'd heard about someone with an impressive army in the same hall of residence so I tracked him down and knocked on his door.  I was somewhat taken aback when a 6' 5¾" giant opened the door, but, right from the start, we just hit it off; he is still sorely missed.

Old Boys Weekend - Game 1 of 3

It's been a while since the four of us (Steve, Martin, Keith and I) got together so it was great to meet up for another weekend's gaming.  To not waste any precious gaming time, apart from the Friday evening which was, as tradition demands, spent down the pub, the first game was already set up and ready to go - see here.

We diced off to determine the order in which each of us got to choose which command we would take in the game: the right or left half of the Seleucid and Ptolemaic armies.  I went second and snapped up the powerful Seleucid right which surprisingly wasn't the first one picked.

So, on to the game - the account of which will focus on the wing where I was busy and thus didn't see much of what was happening elsewhere.

The Battle of Panion 200BC

The Ptolemaics won the toss for initiative at the start and let the Seleucids take the first turn; this meant their movement distances were all halved[1].  The right wing under my command, with a plentiful supply of PIPs, moved forward as far as it could; Steve commanding the left wing was more cautious as the enemy had the edge in troops on that side of the field.

In their first turn, the Ptolemaic left (Keith) decided that boldness was the best option and advanced his whole command.  This boldness perhaps went too far when he also decided not to delay the clash with my superior cavalry but charged right in (action nearest the camera).

I thought he was committing suicide, especially as my cavalry were all uphill of his, but the results were disappointing (to me), with one draw and the other unit only being forced to recoil.

On the other flanks things were going much slower ...

... as the Seleucid left (Steve) was hanging back and the Ptolemaic right (Martin) was suffering from a lack of PIPs, which was going to become one of the enduring themes of this game.

The next turn saw my wing advance in the centre and the cavalry (and cataphracts!) charge in, and this time they destroyed both of the opposing units (posed as running away for the photo below). 

This, was how I had imagined it would be in my dreams.

In reality, it was primarily driven by my rather good dice rolling and Keith's poor combat throws, which were going to be the other theme running through the game.

While the Ptolemaic right seethed with frustration over a paucity of PIPs ...

... the battle on their left got into full swing with pretty much all units being engaged, apart from the excess Seleucid cavalry now seeking to turn the Ptolemaic left flank.

After further moves the armies on the Seleucid left still had not come to blows.

By contrast, Antiochus III had led his battalion of the phalanx to burst all the way through the opposing pike[2], but was still a long way from breaking anything.  

The next bit of excitement on my wing was the destruction of a Ptolemaic mixed spear and elephant unit.  This meant, thanks to my rule changes[3], that before being removed elephant would rampage through all in its path, starting with the light infantry directly behind it.

But light infantry are meant to elephant killers, and so it proved, with the rampage being stopped almost before it had begun.

With the demise of this spear and elephant unit, and the defeat of the remaining cavalry on that wing, the flank of the main Ptolemaic phalanx was left fully exposed.

Meanwhile, across the river the battle had so far been limited to light units fighting for possession of the rough and difficult going on the opposite flank to the river.

The writing on the wall was pretty clear at this point, and so it proved with the combat between the light troops on the Seleucid left / Ptolemaic remaining indecisive while the Ptolemaic phalanx shorn of flank protection was hit from all sides and promptly collapsed.

All-in-all, a pretty good match to the account on which this battle was based.  

Post Mortem

While the set-up and rules threw up a few issues, it was fast and furious, and fun.  All was finished, and the troops returned to their shelves[4] before lunch.

The rules worked pretty well, but recoiling a whole box breaks up an army's line by too much and too quickly, so will have to be addressed in future games.  Also, the changes to overlaps, reducing their occurrence[5], made pikes combat almost impossible to break without a flank attack to help you out.  I shall have to do some reading to find some historical cases of where this wasn't the case and if so, amend the rules to allow for what is probably an unlikely occurrence.

The set-up favoured the Seleucids, but that was historical and deliberate although the dice Gods clearly decided to back a winner and my combat dice were consistently better than Keith's.  

On the other side of the battle, I had not given enough thought to how the Ptolemaic force was deployed, and Martin was hampered by a command that needed a lot of PIPs to get moving.  Again, the dice amplified my errors, as Martin's PIP die always seemed to roll low.

Nonetheless it was enjoyable and quick, which was just what I was hoping for, allowing us to get on with setting up and playing the next game, a Lord of the Rings game using Dragon Rampant.  

But that will have to wait for the next post here.

Notes:

[1] Using 6" grids, each equating to 100 paces, means troops move much further than they do in DBM and not limiting the movement of the side that goes first could see the side that goes second pinned from the start against their baseline by the enemy's mounted troops.  This rule means that troops should, except foot facing mounted, be able to meet up about half-way, PIPs permitting.

[2] Recoiling a whole grid square just doesn't feel right when it disrupts the phalanx as much as this.  This is not helped by DBM ruling that pike will always pursue.  I think I need to amend this for future games.

[3] I ruled that elephants will flee a full move, plus 1 box, back towards their baseline attacking all units they pass through, unless they are destroyed.  The owning player rolls a D6 for each box of movement to determine the direction:

1 = it moves diagonally in a direction chosen by the opposing player.

2-5 = it moves straight ahead.

6 = it moves diagonally in a direction chosen by the owning player.

[4] Ikea Billy Oxberg bookcases with glass doors.

[5] Overlap cannot be provided by a unit in combat or in an enemy zone of control (ZOC).

DBM on Grids - Panion 200BC

The Battle of Panion, 200BC - The Set Up

I have always liked the DBx system, but always found the movement mechanics unbearably fiddly, and have already produced my own house-rules to run 15mm DBM games on a hex grid.  But for some time now I have been participating in an Ancient campaign at my local club using a fellow member's heavily modified version of DBA run on a gridded table.  As I have some gridded cloths that will accommodate 25mm troops, I thought it was about time I tried it out with my Hellenistic collection, when some friends come round for a few games next weekend.

I went for a refight of Panion, a Seleucid-Ptolemaic clash in the 5th Syrian War, mainly because it is split into two almost separate fights either side of a river (there are other interpretations available that see it differently).  With no scheduled games in the way I thought I'd set the game up now just to see how it fitted on the table.

And here it is.

View from behind the Ptolemaic Right Wing

Not a great photo, but I just can't get far enough away from the table as space is a bit tight in the cabin, a.k.a. HizHut, so now, a few closer-in shots.

View from the Ptolemaic Left

The Ptolemaic Left Wing ...

... and the opposing Seleucid Right Wing

View from the Ptolemaic Right

The Ptolemaic Right Wing ...

... and the opposing Seleucid Left Wing

Both sides' right wings have an advantage but the Seleucid army is larger overall, and on their right they've taken up an advanced position with their superior cavalry, including a large force of cataphracts. 

The Seleucid Advance Guard

I have still to work out how I will classify the river splitting the battlefield in two, such that it is very difficult, but not impossible, to cross.  And also, before the game, I need to review the new gridded play rules to make sure that are no problems hidden in there; especially with the one allowing combined phalanx-elephant units.

How it all works out as a game, will be revealed in a later post, here.

Rabbit Holes and Sidetracks

A few posts back, before I started playing in the current Chain of Command campaign (the last three posts), I posted on some work in progress (WiP).  I had hoped to have completed those items by now, but in addition to the campaign and some DIY chores I also started on some other items.  Anyway, here's a quick update on what has been finished, including a few of the distractions.

First, here's my Bromefield[1] M1800 Iron 10" Howitzer, being tried out for size by one of my RHA crews (the RA crews are still in the painting queue).

Also, as I'm rather proud of them and haven't posted them before, here's my rocket troop, featuring a Phoenix Miniatures crew and scratch-built launcher.

Getting back to the original WiP items, here are the WW2 20mm items that have made it across the finish line.  

The Unic P107 half-track and Daimler Scout Car, with their respective crews are the only original members of the last WiP post.  So, they deserve a few more photos, starting with the P107 with driver, gunner and a few infantry ...

... and then removed for when they disembark to be replaced by based troops.

These figures are joined with steel wire inserted through them, the rigid grouping being enough to hold them securely in place without wobbling.

By contrast the Dingo Scout Car has its crew fixed in place - there is a driver in there, honest, you just can't see him.

The other completed items, indicated by yellow arrows[2], consist of two MG, and one ATG, entrenchments, a kneeling figure and some casualties.

The entrenchments were the result of messing with Milliput when filling the tanks that haven't as yet been completed - I always make up too much.  The larger gun emplacement was a set of plastic 1/72 sandbags that came with a Checkpoint kit (Hasegawa IIRC) and thought I might as well do them as well.

The dead figure was found when going through my stash looking for crew for the P107, and got included as I'm short of German dead.  Likewise, the kneeling figure was missing his right arm, and half his right leg, cut off for use in a previous conversion, but as I also found a spare arm I thought I'd repair him being short of kneeling figures.  And with some other spare parts (6 legs & 1 arm, mostly from the crews for the Dingo and the unfinished tanks), together with some of the spare Milliput I fashioned another grisly addition to the collection.

The final distraction was finishing off a Hinchliffe 25mm Hellenistic General that had been sitting half-painted on the window ledge for longer than I care to admit.

So, as the next CoC campaign game is not scheduled for a while yet, I should be getting on with completing the tanks[3], which are pretty well advanced, for my next post.  Well, once the last of the DIY chores is done - they don't take that long but I'm a world-class procrastinator.

Notes:

[1.]  I have seen various spellings for 'Bromefield', and last time went with 'Blomefield', but Bromefield seems more common so I'm now using that until corrected.

[2.]  The MG teams and ATG occupying the entrenchments are just added for aesthetic effect and to show the fit.

[3.]  A Tetrarch, a Pz II Luchs and a Pz III J.

Figure Mods - a WiP Update

The last post which outlined some ambitious figure conversions to make a round-hatted unit of 20mil Napoleonic Spanish Fusiliers seemed to spark some interest.  So, while progress is slow, I thought I'd post an update, mainly to try and keep my conversion mojo ticking along.

First, the test figure, which has now been blocked in with the intended paint scheme.

Getting some paint on him has shown I need to be a little less generous with the 5SecondFix for the trousers and do a better job smoothing them off.  Also, I think a quick bit of greenstuff around the neck to make a more prominent collar will help.  That said, I'm pleased with the colours, the first blue (Humbrol 89) was too light so I gave it a wash of thinned down mid-blue (Humbrol 25) and got exactly the colour I was looking for to match based on an illustration in an Osprey[1].  I will probably highlight with the original light blue colour but I need to attend to the black lining first.

The rest of the figures, head donors and recipients, have all now been through the bleach-bath and had their paint cleaned off and the British revolutionary grenadiers (BRGs for short) have been cleaned up and had their 'wings' removed.  

Today has focussed on the command figures; officer, ensign and drummer.  These are all being worked up from HH (recasts?) BRG command figures.  

First the drummer.  I have no BRG drummer, so have used a sergeant figure and removed his head and arms, the latter in order to fit the arms and drum from a Napoleonic British fusilier drummer - see below.

You will notice his loins have been hollowed out to fit the drum which will be glued in once the greenstuff repairs to the drum and shoulder strap added to the figure (no photo) have cured.  The arms will them be soldered in place at the shoulders for a strong joint, he will also a round-hatted head like the rank and file.

The officers are BRG officer figures, one waving his sword being converted to a standard bearer and the other will be marching as is with his sword at the shoulder, as shown below.

The ensign has had a blob of solder added that will be filed down to create the 'bucket' that the flagstaff is placed in; the shoulder belt from which it is suspended will be added with greenstuff.

As officers I don't want these figures in round hats, so I took one of the spare BRG heads and cut the bearskin down before adding a cocked hat from solder - shown between the two figures in the photo above.  This took several attempts before I could get the solder blob to vaguely resemble the over-sized cocked hats favoured by the Spanish.  This was then followed by lots, and lots, of careful filing, a real chore but the end result is worth it (IMO).  I intend using this head for the commanding officer but haven't yet decided what to do for the ensign ...

... watch this space.

Notes:

[1.]  Man at Arms 332, Spanish Army of the Napoleonic Wars Part 2 1808-1812, Plate G1.  I would put in a picture but again I'm not about the copyright position for doing this. 

Old-School Ancients Top-Up Complete

I managed a bit of a push last week and today I finished off the last of the figures needed to bring some very old, old-school, units up to strength i.e., enough to occupy a 6" grid square.  In this case it was a couple of units of Successor pike.  I only had 16 in each unit plus 11 spare painted figures (5 of one unit and 6 of the other) so I needed another 21 to bring the two units up to 32 figures each.

And here they are, with the newly painted-to-match figures based up with the painted spares.

I am rather pleased with how difficult it is to tell the new from the old.  The best way to tell is to look at the hands grasping the pikes, if both hands completely enclose the pike, then it's a newly painted figure (I like to make the figures' weapons really secure).

Posed together with the old based-up figures, they make much better-looking units - bigger is always better with pike blocks. 

If anyone is interested the older bases are on the outer flank of each block.  I had trouble sorting them when taking the photos but finally realised I just needed to look underneath; the older bases have white steel paper underneath whereas those just based have black ferro-sheet.

Old-School Ancients - limping along

Still not at my best but managed to make myself base up the figures I had painted before.  This time it's more mounted figures:

An extra base of Hincliffe Companions with shield (plus a head-swap from the Macedonian Pikeman in the same range).  The new base is on the right in the photos.

An extra base of Persian (Cappadocians?) extra-heavy cavalry; the new base is again on the right and easily identified by the 'leader' figure (a Hinchliffe Belisarius figure with a head-swap from another Persian cavalryman).

And finally, the camels.  I had a bit of a senior moment here as looking at the DBM rules for troop types I saw there was no light camelry type so I intended to make them all ordinary Camelry.  Then, after painting enough figures (3) to bring the numbers up to be enough for four 3-figure bases, I found light, scouting, camels are actually listed under Light Horse...     D'oh!

What's more, I forgot when basing them to put them at angles that allowed the heads, which project beyond the base, of a second rank to go between the camels of a front rank.  I guess that's what comes of doing it when under the weather but I doubt they'll be in more than one rank very often and certainly it won't matter if fighting on a grid which was the main reason for this whole topping up exercise (see the earlier post). 

As I thought I was going to have to re-base all my camels I had removed them from their bases, so in the photos, the newer figures are mixed in with some of the old so I've marked them with arrows.

As with the Persian cavalry I added a leader figure - a Palmyran Heavy Camelman with some additional, green-stuff, hair.

PS: My shielded Companions already had a leader figure which is why they didn't get one added in this batch.