More Mayhem, and a bit of EPIC too.

Now then,

Ive had another busy month so far, but ive managed to find some free time to get 4 units of half orc archers done for my Mayhem / KOW 10mm army.

Here they are,

All 4 units .

Heres a close up of one of the units. I have had a go at a bit of multilevel basing in an attempt to make the bases slightly more interesting, and to use up some of the old bases from earlier rebasing shenanigans.

Next for the 10mm Fantasy stuff will be some Humans, once they are done ill be putting in another order to Copplestone for some cavalry, wolf riders and characters.

I have also started painting my Epic scale Novamarines again, I have so may of them I think ill be painting them for ever!

Latest additions....


Here we have some landraider Helios. I have made these myself using missile turrets from steel crown productions, they should provide the landraider company some fire support!

This is a really old (vintage even!) metal multipart Rhino APC that I converted into a command varient using a comms pod from steel crown productions (SCP).

I really like the older Epic stuff, it reminds me of my youth.....

And finally, here are my converted land speeder typhoons,armed with missile pods, yep you guessed it, from SCP. My growing Epic collection can be seen in all its (small) Glory here EPIC PAGE

Thats it for now,
Cheers
Steve

10mm Fantasy Update!

Now then,

Well, nearly a month without an update on the blog! I have had a pretty crap month if truth be told, the worst 2 weeks ever back in the UK when on leave, followed by a crap 2 weeks at work, all told its been pretty rubbish.

Anyway, I have been doing a bit of painting, and after dithering for ages about the best way to base the fantasy stuff up ive finally settled on 40mm squares for standard size units. Nice and small, as storage is becoming a problem, plus it means I dont have to paint (and buy) quite so many figures.

Heres my first attempts!

These are 10mm Copplestone castings half orcs. I was very tempted to paint them as Uruk Hai with the white hand on their shields and banner, but in the end I wanted to make them my own. So yellow flames it is!

These will form the backbone of the evil army, with their long spears and iron discipline.

I have 1 more unit of these to do, then 4 units of half orc longbowmen.

 The Orcs will be based on an 80mm frontage and will be classed as a horde, basically an undisciplined rabble!

These are some 15mm scale minotaurs that I have had in my bits box for years. Im not sure what make they are, but I think I got them free from somewhere...?

Anyway, I thought that I may as well use them in the evil army, I think they have painted up reasonably well, they were not the best sculpts to begin with, and the ankles on 2 of them snapped and had to be repaired with brass rod and green stuff.... I also filed the designs off some of the shields and tried to make them look a bit more battered

The army of evil so far!

Cheers,
Steve

A new Project!

I know, I know...

I promised myself I would crack on and finish the stuff I have got already, and to be fair I have completed my Persians, Waffen SS, German Grenadiers and Soviets this year already. I have painted up quite alot of the 6mm Napoleonics, and loads of epic 40k stuff too.

So the new project, something completely different for me, and suggested by both of my sons. Fantasy. Yep you read it right, Fantasy. Now, 28mm is far to mainstream for me, and if im going to do mass battles, then its got to be smaller.

10mm Copplestone castings. Have a look, awesome figures. copplestone castings

The rules to be used will be Kings of War by Mantic Games initially.

I have the free A5 copy of the rulebook, and its a very simple game, perfect for gaming with the lads. Thats not to say its an easy game to master, just that its not rules heavy.








But I have also just ordered Mayhem by bombshell games.
I cant really comment on this one yet, but all the review ive read so far have been very positive.

We shall see.







The other option is of course Basic Impetus Fantasy, which will be getting tried out too.

Im looking forward to painting something different, and hopefully getting my sons interested in something other than computer games.... I dont hold that much hope but hey, its worth a try.

Cheers for now
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