New Plans

Now then,

Its been a while since I updated the old blog, so I thought I would update it with what ive been up to recently. Well, first of all, alot of painting. Namely 6mm sci/fi stuff, Space marines and Tau shenanigans mostly. I have a few to finish off so will save the pictures until later. For now the epic stuff is being put on hold, namely because I have other stuff to get done.....

Ill start with whats getting dropped first.

The Fantasy project.

I had hopes that this would get my 2 lads interested, but alas that's not going to happen. Personally im not inspired enough anymore to spend my spare time painting these, so they will be up for sale on the blog shortly, as soon as I can get them photographed etc. If not then eBay may be the way forward.

So whats new?

Well, first off, I should be back home in the UK by this time next year if not before, so my plans are revolving around minimizing projects and getting existing stuff painted.

So maybe the Ancient Greek cavalry will finally get done, or the Theban hoplites may see the light of day (ive had them for nearly 5 years!)

The 6mm Austrian army is nearly finished, I could probably get them done in a few weeks if I concentrated on them......

I also have a few bits and bobs for my 15mm Crusaders and Muslims that need doing, again a pretty quick job....sigh...

My main "thing" at the moment is WW2.

I have recently been re-inspired by initially rediscovering Flames of War, then, after getting hold of the V3 rulebook cheap via eBay, decided that its still crap.

Instead I have discovered Battlegroup Kursk. LINK

Im a massive fan of the Eastern front, and this ruleset seems to offer all the stuff that is lacking from FOW, BKC, and Bolt Action. The book was ordered last week, so I hope to have it in my possession in the next few days.

In the mean time, heres a few links to useful stuff:

Overview of the game

BGK forum on the Guild ( the hardest forum in the world to join!)

Video overview of the book

dux-homunculorum blog review

There are loads more reviews and stuff out there, google it!

Anyway, more epicness in the next update, then its firmly back to historicals!

Cheers for reading,
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

2013 in review

Belated seasons greetings,

I hope you all had a great Christmas and new year, and of course managed to get hold of all the goodies you asked for from Santa.

Having just returned from the depths of winter in Scotland, I now have time to have a look at what i've managed to do hobby-wise over the last year, and of course list my plan of action for the coming 12 months.

2013 has seen me start this blog, with 18000 odd hits its doing ok, and many thanks to the 51 people out there who follow the blog.

I've generally be distracted by the new and shiny, as I cant seem to keep focused on any 1 project, perhaps its because I don't actually get any gaming, and don't have that need to get a particular unit or model done. That's my excuse anyway.

So, this year I have completed my Crusader army for Impetus, and with the addition of some command stands, now have the option of playing Hail Caesar too.

Click here for a look at the Crusader army -

CRUSADERS









To oppose the Crusaders I also finished off the Muslim forces of Saladin. I have yet to add any command stands for HC, but I plan to sort that out this year.

Click here for a look at the Muslims -

Muslim Forces





Next I started the long process of re-basing all my Greek and Persian armies, originally based for DBA. Whilst re-basing them, I also took the opportunity to add to the collection, so now I have two sizable armies for Impetus.

First off I have the Greek army, based around a core of Spartans. With the addition of a sizable allied contingent, this is probably my favorite army.

click here to see more of the Greek Hoplite army



To take them on, I have also started a Persian army, although I have been distracted along the way and have a few units to complete.I have a feeling that this army will be pretty big when finally finished, another job for 2014!

Have a look here -
Persian Army




If that wasn't enough, the 6mm Napoleonic project has chugged along, although very slowly. Having decided on a set of rules to use (Black Powder), there is some rebasing to do, and alot of painting before my Austrian army is ready for battle. The planned French army has failed to materialize, but will at the very least be started in 2014.

Have a look here for the masses of tiny Austrians - Austrian Army 1809


OK, onto the distractions! 

First off was my foray into 28mm Sci/Fi with the Pig Iron system troopers. I collected a platoons worth of them for use with Tomorrows war, although they have never been out of their box since being painted.


To have a look at the European Drop troopers, look here - Drop Troops









Next up is the Germans for Bolt action. Another distraction, having read some good reviews I decided to get myself the rulebook, and then decided to get a German platoon, but in 15mm. These still aren't finished either as i got bored painting German camouflage..... However, they are very close to being finished, so another job for 2014!!

To see ze Germans click here - BOLT ACTION Germans







Finally, since about September, ive been tinkering with Epic, and have painted and converted quite alot of 6mm marines and vehicles. I don't know what it is about epic, its the first real wargame I played many moons ago in the early nineties, but its still cool.  I just really enjoy painting the little buggers!!!

Here's a link to my epic page and here's a link to my "blog" over on the Tactical command site

-EPIC page
Yorkies 6mm painting log



2014?

So, whats the plan for the next 12 months? Well I cant rule out any random distractions, but my plan is to finish what i've got first and foremost. In no particular order, here's what I plan on getting done:

• Commanders for the Muslim army
• Commanders for the Persian army
• Lots of Persians!
• A Theban contingent for the Greek Hoplite army
• SS Troops for my Bolt Action German force
• Vehicles for Ze Germans
• Soviet forces to oppose said Germans for Bolt Action.
• An Anglo Danish warband for SAGA, to oppose the Vikings I finished a while back. SAGA 
• Finish off the Novamarines and start on their adversaries, The TAU for EPIC.
• Continue with the Napoleonic project, Finish the Austrian forces and make a start on the French.

So, lots to do this year, and barring any major meltdowns, I shouldn't start anything else............................who am I trying to kid!

Have a good new year!

Steve

New Pages Added

Morning all,

I have added 3 new pages to the blog, so that those interested can keep tabs on the various projects, and everything is in one place, instead of searching round the blog....




Tomorrows War page - LINK

Impetus Greek army - LINK










Impetus Persian Army - LINK













The plan is that once I have updates for these armies, ill update the blog as normal, but ill update the specific army page as well, with a link.

Thanks for looking,
Steve

Impetus Spartan army WIP

Now then,

Ive been playing around with the blog a bit, and im quite happy with how it all works I think, so I thought id publish my first proper post.

I plan on adding all my recent stuff on here so apologies if it has been seen before, ill start with my most recent project, The Spartan army for Impetus. Click on the image for a closer look.

The Spartan Hopilites.  I only have 4 units of these for the army, as the Spartans were very much reliant on their allies and subjects in the later period.  I will be adding 2 units of Perioikoi hopilites soon.

 Mercenary Peltasts, these are light infantry armed with javelins, able to pretty much keep up with the cavalry and operate in rough of difficult terrain.

These are useful for protecting the vulnerable flanks of the Hoplite phalanx.

2 units of Javelin armed skirmishers.  Again, useful for protecting the flanks and operating in difficult ground, but in a looser formation.  Very vulnerable to cavalry!

Spartan cavalry.  Reasonable cavalry, with attached Hammipoi.  the Hammipoi were  skirmishers that were trained to operate with and keep up with the cavalry.

In game terms they just give the cavalry a little bit more punch in combat.

 6 Units of Mercenary/allied hopilites.  These form the bulk of the army, and could be Lakemodian troops or mercenaries.  As manpower started to become a problem, the Spartans employed more allies, and mercenaries to bolster their numbers.

Allied Greek cavalry. Again, recruited from elsewhere, these will protect the flanks of the hoplite army.











The allied general!  He doesn't look very impressed......
















Another unit of Peltasts.

2 more units of javelin armed skirmishers!

The complete army so far, i just need to add the perioikoi to the Spartan contingent, then the full 500 point army will be done.

While I wait for my perioikoi to arrive, ive made a start on my Persian army, so hopefully, some updates soon.

Link to the full army - LINK

Cheers for looking,
Steve