Knights Templar in Basic Impetus 2

Now then,

I dont like to blow my own trumpet too much, im not the greatest of painters by any stretch but its always really nice when someone publishes a picture of your miniatures.

So Lorenzo Sartori, author of Impetvs, Baroque and now Basic Impetvs among others has just released the new rulebook.

A pic of some of my Crusaders are on page 37. Im very chuffed.

Basic Impetus

Cheers,
Steve

The Order of St John

Now then,

I have actually done some painting, for the first time in months!

I have painted up an additional unit of Hospitaller Knights for my Crusades Impetus army, and while I was at it I re-did the flag on the original one to match,  the old one wasn't exactly very good....

Anyway here are the Order of St John ready to bring justice to gods enemies!

Hopefully ill have some more Crusader Knights finished shortly, as the army is expanding (again)!

Cheers,
Steve

Crusades Update!

Now then,

I have finally completed my Muslim army for the 3rd Crusade, its taken far longer than I thought due to dramas with dip, and finding a workable alternative. I ended up using Ronseal oak woodstain/varnish.

Arab Lancers

Here is the result of putting the Ronseal on neat. It turned out really dark, I'm not happy with how this unit turned out, despite my best efforts to tidy them up....

Turkomen horse archers.

Here is experiment 2. I watered down the Ronseal, but its still too dark, again not happy with the results. At this stage I lost interest, as I was getting frustrated so I left it for a while and painted a load of epic stuff instead!

Mamluks, including general.

Saladin, and Tawashi Bodyguard.

The final 2 units, including the army's generals, turned out slightly better (despite the dodgy photos). I watered the Ronseal down again, and found that by gently stirring the pot instead of shaking it, a much smoother result was achieved. Im still not overly impressed with any of the units ive done recently, but they are done now.

I have watered the Ronseal down still further, and will try it out on an old figure before slapping it all over my next army!

So that's the full army done for Impetus, it comes in about 500 points which is plenty big enough for a good game I think.

The dodgy painting on my latest units is hidden quite well when the full army is set up so not all is lost.

Have I ever mentioned I hate painting horses..?

Saladin and his mates can be seen in more detail HERE on the Ayyubid army page.

Thanks for looking,
Steve

A return to the Holyland

Now then,

So I ran a little poll, to see what people would like to see get painted next, and the clear winners are the 15mm Crusade armies. Fair enough.


I have placed an order with Legio Heroica for some more bits, namely more Crusader Knights and some Turcoples to keep the nasty Muslim skirmishers at bay!

So over the next few weeks ill crack on with them. Its just starting to cool down slightly here so I will be able to spend more time painting hopefully.

I cant promise that I wont get distracted though..... WW2 probably....or epic....


Steve

Later Achaemenid Persian Army Done!

Now then,

4 years in the making (among other things), the Persian army for Impetus is finally complete. The army comes in at 500 points so is big enough for a few options when playing the normal 300 or 400 point games.

First of all I have the last units to be done, the Persian levy archers.

And here is the complete army!

Happy days. Its always good when you finish a project, and now ill be turning my attention to my 1809 Austrian army in 6mm, as that army is also nearing completion.

For more about the various units etc in this army, have a look at the Persian army page at the top, or just click here - Later Achaemenid Persian Page

Cheers for looking,

Steve

Persian Colonist Cavalry

Now then,

These 12 cavalrymen have been sat on my painting desk along with a load of Persian archers for about a year! Well I finally painted them. That pretty much completes the Persian army for Impetus. The archers are painted and im just getting them based up too.  Ill have them done for tomorrow hopefully, so stand by for some army shots!

Here they are!

Miniatures - Xyston 15mm

The full Persian army can be seen here - Persian Army page or click on the tap at the top of the page.

WARBASES

When I put in my latest order to warbases, I also got myself some markers made up for Impetus. I got 20 each of the disordered and opportunity markers. Got to say I'm very happy with them too, great quality and for the cost of a few shillings you cant go wrong.

I also had these movement trays specially made for my 6mm Napoleonics, as moving 20 odd Battalions of 6mm infantry with 6 bases per Bn will be time consuming and a wee bit irritating to say the least. Hopefully these will speed up proceedings!

Persian Levy archers and the full Persian army in all its glory tomorrow!

Cheers for looking,
Steve

Basic Impetus Spartan vs Athenian

BASIC IMPETUS!

Now then,

After yesterdays game playing bolt action, the lad and myself are up for another game, this time rewinding history a few thousand years to ancient Greece.

Now I haven't had a game of BI for about a year so I have had to re-read the rules, and I also found that watching some "how to" videos on YouTube have helped clarify things for me.

It is actually very informative and the guy who has done the vids has done a good job of explaining some of the finer points of the game.

The videos can be seen here - BI how to videos

OK so we will take it that the opposing forces have met on a plain somewhere in central Greece, negotiations have failed and the only way to resolve the territorial dispute will involve bloodshed. The Hoplites march out from their camps and face each other across the field of battle!

The Armies

SPARTA!

ATHENS

The Lists

The field of battle

Deployment

In basic (and full) Impetus, deployment is key. If you set up without a plan or without really having a quick think about how the different troop types work together, you are pretty much inviting disaster (unless of course the dice gods smile on you).

To that end, the Hoplite armies of both sides have set up opposite each other, with the skirmisher troops placed out front. The Athenian army has a medium cavalry unit, which I have decided to place on the left flank, the plan being to get round the flank or even better the rear of the Spartan phalanx.

The Spartan forces have divided into 2 separate groups, with the second group hopefully in a position to support the first....?

Turn 1

Turn 1 saw both commanders ordering their forces forward, with the Athenian Cavalry getting disordered.

Turn 2

Turn 2 sees both armies again moving forwards, with the Athenian right moving from column which results in quite a bit of disorder! The Spartans move forward their discipline and training keeping their formations tight!

The battle lines draw nearer!

The Athenian right wing take up a position on the small hill, but end up disordered

Turn 3

Turn 3 sees the battle lines close, the Athenian skirmishers are too slow and get caught up in the Spartan charge, one of the Athenian hoplite units is also driven back, but the rest of the battleline stands firm following their generals example as he fights in the first rank!

Elsewhere the cavalry move to outflank the Spartans but end the turn disordered again...As do the Spartan reserves as they move into position.

Turn 4

Turn 4. The Athenians launch their attack on the right, which fails to make any headway, with a Hoplite unit being pushed back!


In the centre the disordered hoplite unit charges straight back in, but the General and another unit are routed by the superhuman Spartans!

Turn 5

The end is inevitable, and despite some limited success on the right wing, the Athenians lay down their arms, as to fight on would be pointless.

Aftermath

Yes, the little bugger beat me again! Basic Impetus is the perfect game to play with newcomers to wargaming, he has picked up the rules and wants another game!!

Enjoying this little spell of gaming, Crusades action next!!

The armies used in this game all come from my Greek Hoplite army for Full Impetus, here Greek Hoplite

Thanks for reading,
Steve

Basic Impetus, Persians vs Athenian!

Hi all,

I managed to prize the xbox controller out of my sons hands for just long enough to have a game of BI today! I haven't written a proper battle report, because i didn't want the lad getting bored as i scribbled down notes and took pictures..but here's a quick run through of what happened...

Click for bigger pictures.

Persian set up, a bit haphazard, which caused problems later...

Athenian set up, pretty standard really, Hoplites in the centre with the cavalry and skirmishers protecting the flanks.










Sorry for the crappy pic, but here's the two armies deployed opposite each other.

The first couple of turns saw the Athenians advancing across the dried river, whilst keeping in formation, only the skirmishers managed to disorder themselves....

The Persian general pushes the skirmishers forward and tries to get round the flanks of the Greeks.

First blood goes to the Persians, with the Takabara slaughtering the greek skirmishers, and trying to get into a good position to attack the now exposed Athenian flank..

A confused melee breaks out in the centre, between the Greek cavalry and the Bactrians, which sucks in a unit of Persian National cavalry and the Persian general himself.....

The Athenian phalanx looks on as the cavalry fight it out....

Meanwhile the scythed chariot manoeuvres to a better position to attack....

The Greek cavalry get the worst of it in the centre, and the Persian general orders his skirmishers forward in an attempt to gain some time to re-organise the cavalry in the centre.









The Takabara and scythed chariot try to move up and form a battle line on the exposed Athenian flank...













It was not to be. The Greeks launched a preemptive strike before their flank was overwhelmed, and the Hoplites, now finally in contact, made short work of the Persians...










Really fun game, and it was great just to get some figures out and roll some dice, its been a long time, i have to give him a game of 40K next..that was the deal.

The lad now wants a rematch  and demonstrated with the troops after the battle how he should have deployed...Infantry in the centre and either a strong flank of cavalry, or cavalry deployed on the flanks. He reckons if he pins my phalanx in place, he'll be able to get round and attack the rear....Sounds like a plan to me!

Thanks for reading,
Steve