Greeks for Mortal Gods

 Hello again, welcome to lockdown 2.0 and all the joy it has brought us. 😕

A while ago(last November) I took the offer of Mortal Gods on sale, along with the Athens and Sparta supplements. Mortal Gods is a skirmish level game, if you have not checked it out then please do so as it is a fun game and plays very well. There are much more detailed reviews elsewhere so I will leave it there. The total package should have cost £120 but the offer was for the lot for £70 so I had it, plus the Persian cards for variety. The boxes came with 76 assorted Greeks in 28mm, mostly Victrix plastic figures but the supplements each came with 3 metal figures as well. 

Lockdown 1.0 gave me the chance to start assembling the figures and then paint was slapped about. To get me in the zone so to speak I started with some plastic Hoplites I bought many moons ago from Immortal Miniatures, they are now available from Warlord Games. For some reason I had 8 of these in an part-painted state for several years. So here they are to start it all off.

8 Immortal/Warlord Hoplites

Then it was onto the Victrix and Footsore figures. I started off on some generic Hoplites. I did 15 in armour first, trying to vary their outfits as befits a citizen military force. The shields are all done with LBMS/Victrix decals as I am not painting that many individual shields. Also they look really nice.

Armoured Hoplites

Then I did some unarmoured Hoplites, same principle as the others just less protection. I did up a few as leader/heroic types as well. Plus I painted the Athenian character figures I had. So here are 9 unarmoured hoplites and 4 heroic individuals.

Hoplites and Leaders

After the heavier troops it was time to start on some lightweight types. I may have got a bit carried away with the number of peltasts I did, but I like them in the game so I did quite a few. There are 16 of these annoying javelin men.

Peltasts, peltasts everywhere

Then it was the really light troops, some slingers and javelinmen to supplement the others. I did 6 of each as they tend to be an extra you take to make up the points. An irritant rather than a game winner.

Skirmishers

Finally so far I did some Spartans. Only 20 more figures but they have proved to be pretty tough so far. There are 9 each of armoured and unarmoured hoplites plus a couple of metal leader figures. 

The Spartans are coming!

So there they are so far, 84 figures in total done and ready to go. I still have some more to do as Athenians (spit) but the mojo has gone for the moment. I think the lack of gaming this year has had a major effect on the productivity, it's hard to get inspired for something you can't play.

I hope you lot are having fun anyway, hopefully Christmas will bring some cheer to a pretty shite year.

28mm Chain of Command 1940 additions

Hello again folks, it's time for another ramble from damp, windy Devon.

I was looking back through my previous posts and realised I had not shown you my latest addition to my 28mm Chain of Command forces. I previously showed the French infantry and German infantry with their relevant support, so now it is time for the British and German Pioneers. These were all done last year, but I completely forgot to mention them.

So, without further ado, here are the British. A full platoon with enough figures to make either the earlier 8 man squads or the later 10 man squads. These are a mix of old Blitzkrieg Miniatures and Crusader Miniatures British Infantry. 

British Platoon

Support for the British is varied and fairly interesting. First up is the ubiquitous Vickers MG and another 2" mortar. The Vickers gives some heavy firepower to add to the accuracy of the Bren guns while the 2" mortar is always useful with it's smoke laying capability. This can be used to either screen your advance or to block line of sight, allowing you to concentrate fire more effectively. Also in this photo is a mighty addition to my French force in the shape of a 37mm TRP gun, which makes a change form the more useful, effective and pretty 25mm and 47mm AT guns. It's an old WW1 weapon that was used as an ad-hoc AT gun due to a shortage of the 25mm AT guns in the French army. The British can also use the 25mm AT gun from the French force as some were included in the Divisional AT platoon.

Vickers MG, 2" Mortar, 37mm Death Ray Gun

Some armoured support now, a bit lighter and a lot quicker than my Matilda II. At the back are a pair of Vickers VIb light tanks, used by the Reconnaissance Regiments attached to the infantry Divisions. Not a particularly capable tank, but it is armoured and can nip around and annoy German infantry quite nicely. In front are a trio of Bren Gun carriers, 10 of which were in each infantry battalions Carrier platoon. It was quite nice to find these instead of having to use the later Universal Carrier. Two have just a Bren Gun while the other has an additional Boys AT rifle. The crews are chopped up Warlord British infantry and I use these as mobile MGs, shooting around at high speed and trying to pick off isolated enemy units where possible. These are all 3d printed as well but from Butlers Printed Models this time. They are lovely models and are a pleasure to paint up. They also do the Cavalry Carrier, which is a nice touch and may be added to the force at a later point.

Light Tanks and Bren Carriers

At some point I probably need to get a 2pdr AT gun but apart from that I think my force is done.

To give the Germans some other options I painted up a Pioneer Platoon. There force structure is very different from the standard infantry with 3 large squads of 16 men each. I have painted up enough options to allow them to have all the choices, wire clearing, mine clearing, demolition or flamethrowers. These are Warlords Pioneer figures, which are their Blitzkrieg Germans with some metal bits and pieces. They look the part and make a nice change from the standard infantry.

Pioneers, ready to blow stuff up

I also added a couple of Panzer 38t's, the Czech tank used by Rommels 7th Panzer Division. A reasonable gun for 1940 and adequate armour makes these a decent option for the Germans.

A pair of Panzer 38t's

The final additions are more German armour, a StuGIIIA and a mighty Panzer I. There were very few StuG's about in 1940 as only about 30 model A's were made, but they were about so I got one. It is kind of limited as the A model didn't have any machine guns fitted, just the 75mm gun. The Panzer I is really only an armoured pillbox, it has no anti-tank capability and the armour is thin. Still, with the Panzer II and Sd222 I already have I think the Germans have enough support options.

StuG III and Panzer I

So, there they are. I am off out now for the last Monday night game before Lockdown 2.0 kicks in. Stay safe folks and I will catch you all next time, where there will be Greeks and plenty of them.

Infamy Infamy, it all went horribly, horribly wrong.

Hello again, it's time for another random update. 

Last post I talked about the new ruleset from the Too Fat Lardies. My plan is still going ahead, although I am unsure which figures to get for my Caesarian Roman force. Warlord's plastic figures are cheap, but the two different boxes are not so different with the same figures and different weapons, while Wargames  Foundry are a bit to pricey due to the current financial state. So, decisions are still to be made on that part. I have started rebasing my existing Ancient Britons, which will suffice for that force, but I really want to do a Gallic force. Sadly I missed the boat and now the Victrix Gauls are about as common as hen's teeth. Apparently a vast mountain of plastic was delivered to a suspect family in Wiltshire. 😉

Anyway, we have played a couple of games now, using the extended furlough to game in Andy's back garden and keeping a safe distance. Not that safe as Pingu can throw his dice a fair way when they upset him, but fairly safe. Anyway, we played the first game and things went badly for the Romans. Lets just say that Panjo was not prepared for the ambushes and completely forgot about his drill. Apparently the dice gods hate him and the card gods loath him too, so he took a hell of a beating. 

We had to take a few liberties with troops as we didn't have anything based correctly, but we made do. We were also very lacking in Roman archers, so some Gondorians were drafted in. Anyway. it all started out well for Pingu and the Romans. The Legionaries advanced from the village with archers on their right and skirmishing auxiliaries off to the left. A few slingers appeared ahead of them, but they were few and far away. 

Initial troops appear

After a few volleys of sling stones though, the Roman attitude changed. Two legionaries lay dead and Centurion Curious Odus was not happy about it. He ordered Felonius, leader of the auxiliary infantry, to push ahead a clear the slingers from the far side of the river. Whilst one group was well up for this moving ahead and getting into javelin range, the other group decided to stay far back and see how things went. So, only 8 javelins were loosed needing 5 or 6 to hit. Two or three would be an average result.

So the dice gods hate you do they Pingu?

Pingu got seven hits! Hated by the dice gods my a**e, that was a phenomenal first roll for the Romans. Maybe today was to be their day after all. So Andy gathered up seven dice and rolled them, expecting to lose several men. The dice gods quite liked Andy as well though as he only lost 1 man and got 2 points of shock.

Curious Odus was incensed, how dare those smelly barbarians not die from good Roman(ish) javelins. So he seized the initiative and pushed on with the Legionaries. A quick order and pilums were loosed at the other slingers in the wood. Now we made a bit of a mistake here and rolled a few too many dice, it should have been 12 dice not 14, but the gods smiled on Pingu again as he got 12 hits. "That'll show 'em" Odus yelled. 

50% hits on average, Pingu gets 85%

The leader of these Slingers, known far and wide as Nigel, picked up his 12 dice. Luckily they were in cover, so only 6's would kill while 3 to 5 would cause shock.

Oh dear, that's a lot of dead Britons

It did not go well with 5 slingers falling skewered by pilums, including Nigel. The sole survivor promptly legged it, suddenly remembering he had to visit his mum. Meanwhile the Roman archers pushed up and to the left a bit, forgetting that the woods were potentially full of hairy barbarians.

The Britons chieftain, Aedan Know, seized his chance and unleashed his cavalry. Admittedly they are skirmish cavalry and, again, we got some rules wrong. In hindsight the archers would have been better off standing and fighting but instead they evaded. They evaded very poorly, running a grand total of 4". The end result of that can be seen in the picture below.

 

Nobody likes to be taken from the rear by a horse!

The result after two rounds of fighting was a lot of dead archers and 8 shock. This broke them and they ran away screaming something about "Orcs not having horses". Anyway, they out distanced the donkey wallopers and thought "Phew, we may survive this". However, Aedan wasn't finished with them yet. They had strayed within 12" of another unscouted wood, this one was full of Noble warriors led by Drest Nicely, who promptly leapt out and shouted BOO!
                                             
I couldn't bring myself to take any more pictures (alright, I forgot to), but unsurprisingly all the archers died. The struggle went from bad to worse for the Romans from there, with the Legion then being ambushed by the remaining 4 groups of warriors. But not until the support rank had been detached under Optio Superflous to face off the noble warriors. It went badly for the Romans, very badly and the majority of the Legion died. 

Things we learnt were 

• Romans need to scout the ambush points if they can, buy Exploratores and cavalry!
• Romans need to close up ranks as they get close to unscouted ambush points
• Big mobs of Barbarian warriors are very nasty in the first round or two of combat
• Gondorian archers have no place in a Romans vs Britons game

Anyway, it was fun and a good way to spend a sunny Wednesday afternoon in June. My thanks to Andy for hosting, feeding and watering us and to Pingu for losing so competently.

Who knows there may be another write up soon. Maybe. I will leave you with this picture, a purple bearded Pingu!

New rules, yet another project and problems with Fv432s

Hello again folks, I'm back again with another rambling post.

First thing is to point out that Too Fat Lardies have a new set of rules covering skirmish actions in the Roman period. Infamy, Infamy looks like it will be a lot of fun to play and doesn't require masses of figures like most ancient rules do. Have a look at the videos on YouTube to see what size the typical forces are. I'm looking forward to it arriving and, hopefully, the lift on the Covid rules so I can play it.

This leads to an obvious new project, Romans and Barbarians for this set of rules. I have a few Ancient British troops already, but they are based on 40mm squares and don't really work for a warband skirmish. One problem is that I like to have both sides for games so that I can run games for friends who don't have forces for it. So what to get. I am waiting for the rules to turn up before I decide what to buy, but initial thoughts are Ceasarian Romans and Gallic types. So that's going to take up my money for this year I think. Also this is subject to me being able to see well enough to paint the damn things at some point soon. 

Finally for this ramble it's back to the Cold War project. I was up late as I couldn't sleep again, this can prove to be a bad thing and it was for me on this occasion. In a moment of weakness at 3am I was browsing and came across an online store that had Team Yankee Fv432s and British infantry in stock. A couple of minutes later and I had ordered said Fv432s and infantry. My willpower at 3am is obviously weak. Anyway, they duly arrived and were opened up. The infantry are fine and match up with my existing Armies Army infantry nicely. The Fv432s though are another story. Now, if I had been looking at ordering these at a normal time of day I would have done a search for a comparison of the two, but at 3am this doesn't spring to the front of the queue. Once I had them though I thought they looked a bit small. So I did a search and lo and behold, a review pointing out the size difference is out there. Arse! So the Team Yankee model is smaller than the Armies Army one, noticeably so. Also it doesn't have the option of a peak turret, although it does have the options for a Swingfire armed Fv438. So now I have 5 Fv432's that are smaller than the 5 existing Fv432's I have. I am now going to have to decide if I want to keep them or wait and hope that Scotia Grendel are going to release the Armies Army models at some point. 

Ah well, decisions for another day as I am off to drop presents for one of the grand kids birthday. Adios for now folks, stay safe and keep gaming

Wargaming via WhatsApp and tiny little tanks

Hello again. I have managed to get a wargame in, although it was on my phone rather than in person. My mate Nathan , aka Stumpy, set up a 28mm Napoleonic game using the newly released Vitoria scenario book for General d'Armee.

Nathan just about managed to put together enough figures to play the game........just kidding, he's got so many Napoleonic figures he can probably redo Waterloo on his own.  I had the Allied force while he took his French out. I won't go into any detail as part 1 is on his blog and part 2 will be up soon, hopefully. It was very enjoyable, even if it did break Nathan with all his running about moving everything for both sides. It took 3 sessions to finish as the poor old fella was having to do everything except roll my dice for me. The scenario is interesting, with the Allies attacking a nearly equal sized force but having better, potentially, command.

My force was 11 regiments strong, including 4 veterans and only 1 reservists, with 1 battery and 14 bases of skirmishers. Of these 1 brigade of 3 regiments was in reserve until turn 5.. The French also had 11 regiments, only 1 veteran and 4 reservists. They also had 1 battery and 12 skirmishers, but the 4 reservists were all in reserve until Nathan had an adverse result on a Brigade morale roll. The game is also limited to 10 turns, so the Allies have to press on and get in there quickly. So please pop over to Nathans blog and have a look, it was a good battle and it might make him hurry up and post the final part of the battle. A final big shout out to the 8th Cacadores, they gave his French one hell of a beating!

In other news I have put some paint on some lead. It was a struggle, painting them in 10 minute slots every couple of hours to try and prevent the headaches, but they are done. Huge they are, massive even! Yes, I painted up some of my long unpainted 6mm Cold War vehicles for future games of Battlegroup Northag or the Cold War variant of IABSM. Over 100 vehicles, a mix of British, American and French, plus some generic infantry.

Bradleys, some Infantry and mixed British vehicles

 First up is 15 Bradleys, 2 Sultans, 1 Spartan, 1 Fv432, 2 Land Rovers and 20 bases of infantry.

Warriors and Fv432s

 Then 20 Warriors and 24 Fv432 APCs for the British army.

AMX-30, AMX-10P, AMX-13 and Shanines

Finally some French with 4 AMX-30s, 24 AMX-10Ps, 6 AMX-13 and 2 Shanine SAM vehicles.

I still have some Challengers, Scimitars etc to paint, but I am in no rush as I already have enough of them for any scenario I will do.

So that's the lot for now, I am off to do something more or less productive. Take care folks and keep playing if you can.

Battlegroup Northag 15mm plans

Following on from my last post, here is a brief rundown of what I have and what I want need to get for Battlegroup Northag in 15mm. My plan is to be able to do a company sized action in this scale, so 750 points per side is the target. That should be more than enough at this size, another larger I will do with the 6mm collection I have.

So, where does my force stand in terms of the points needed. I'll start with the Russians, as I need very little for them. As it is I have over 900 points worth, so don't honestly need anything, but there are a few things I want to get at some point, some BTRs (cheaper infantry option), some BRDM3 tank killers and maybe some 2S1 SPGs for direct support.

The list I have made up so far is
Forward Screen
   Tank Recce Patrol (2xT64A)
   Armoured Car Patrol (2xBRDM2)
   Air Defence Battery (1xZSU-23-4 and 1xSA-9)
   2 Armoured Recce Patrol (Fire team and AT team in BMP-1)

Forward Screen

Vanguard

   Tank Company (10xT-64A)

T-64 Company

Main Force
   Rifle Platoon (3 Fire teams, 3 AT teams, 1 SA-7, 1 AGS-17 in 4 BMP-1)
   Rifle Platoon (3 Fire teams, 3 AT teams, 1 SA-7, 1 PK MG in 4 BMP-1)

Rifle Platoons

   Battlegroup Commander (1 T-64AK)
   Forward Observation Officer (1 FOO team in BTR)
   MP Team (1 Command team in UAZ)
   Tactical Command Centre (1 Command Team in ACRV2/BTR)
   Supply Truck (1 truck)
   82mm mortars in support

No pictures of these yet as I need to get the vehicles

Fire Support
   Deployed Smoke Screen
   2 Timed 122mm Barrages
   Breakthrough Special Tactics
Reinforcements
   2 Rolls

That comes in at 750 points with a break point of 63, 4 officers and 4 scouts. Thirteen T-64s should give a decent level of firepower, although the force is a bit lacking in infantry with only 2 full platoons. The plan is to advance, attack and pin the enemy with the T-64s and then use the Rifle platoons to capture any objectives or get off table using the Breakthrough tactic. The reinforcement rolls would hopefully be used for another tank company of T-62s(stood in for by my T-55s) and another Rifle Platoon.

Bear in mind that I have no idea if it is a good force yet as I still haven't played a game, but it seems fairly balanced for a tank heavy force. The only things I do not have are a UAZ jeep, a truck, a BTR and an ACRV2. I could also do with a different looking T-64 for my commander, just to make him stand out and look important.

For the British, I need more stuff! Lots more stuff! I can currently put together a mere 320 points, which is a bit lacking.

The list is below, with what I need to get in italics.
Forward Screen
   Dug in Forward Observation Officer (1 FOO team)
   Dug in Infantry Platoon with 1 added Carl Gustav (7 fire teams and 1 AT team)
   Dug in Blowpipe team (1 team)
   Dug In Chieftain Tank Troop (3 Chieftain Mk9)
   Gazelle Helicopter

Chieftains plus other bits

Vanguard
   Chieftain Tank Troop (3 Chieftain Mk9)
Main Force
   Mech Platoon (4 fire teams, 3 AT teams and 4 Fv432)

1st Mech Platoon

   Mech Platoon (4 fire teams, 3 AT teams and 4 Fv432)
   Battlegroup Commander (command team in Fv432)
   Tactical Command Centre (command team in Sultan/Fv439)
   Electronic Warfare Team (command team in Sultan/Fv439)
   105mm Abbot battery in support
Fire Support
   Off Table SAM Cover
   2 Counter Battery Fire missions
   Timed 105mm Artillery Strike
   Timed Tornado Strike
Reinforcements
   1 Roll

Total is 749 points with a 64 break points, 3 officers and 3 scouts. It actually has more infantry platoons than the Soviet list, plus 6 Chieftains. Very little scouting as it is designed as a defensive force. I plan to get what I need for this list first, then add some more options, things like Scorpion/Scimitar light tanks, Recce infantry in Spartans etc to give me a more mobile option. Sadly the Armies Army range is no longer available, being sold to Plastic Soldier Company and then sold again to Scotia Grendel. There is no sign of them on the Scotia website and no reply to my enquiry, so it looks like I will have to go elsewhere. I wonder how Butlers Printed Models vehicles match up size wise. 😟

I will take some pictures when I get the rest ordered, painted(hopefully) and based.

Take care and stay safe.

Life, the Universe and other stuff

I have been remiss in updating my blog for sometime and can only apologise if you missed me. Who am I kidding, nobody reads this tripe. 😑

My wargaming has been somewhat curtailed since I last posted as I have developed cataracts and it has really screwed up my vision. I cannot see to paint anything now without wearing my contact lenses and opti-visor, which then gives me a splitting headache after about 10 minutes of squinting. So no painting. I am also struggling to read things for the same reason, unless I hold the book up to my nose. This on top of my digestive issues has really screwed my head up and I had been down in a dark place for some time. Ah well, it could be worse, there could be a worldwide pandemic and we could be in lockdown. Then I got sick with a "mild case" of the Corona Virus. If what I had was only mild I feel for those who have had it worse, I felt awful for two weeks and wish the best to anybody who has it now. Screw you Covid 19! 😷

So why am I back now you may ask. Two reasons, firstly my wife has beaten my lethargy into submission with a big stick, so I am making a concerted effort to be positive and do more. So here I am. Not able to paint, not really able to do much gaming either for some reason. Why not? Because my loving wife has rediscovered her love of jigsaws and has taken over the table with a never ending stream of the bloody things. Good job I love her. 😉

The other reason is the recent release of the Battlegroup Northag ruleset by Plastic Soldier Company. I have a lot of interest in the what-if scenario of the Cold War gone hot, primarily because I am a child of the 1960's and it was important as we were a forces family. I already have a considerable force of Soviets, British, French and Americans in 1/300 scale, Russians, British, Dutch and Germans in 15mm and Russians and British in 28mm. The rules recommend 10mm, but I am not doing a new scale as I have enough already, so it's 1/300 for bigger games and 15mm for smaller actions.

The rules themselves look very nice and I am looking forward to getting a game in at some point soon. I like the way the forces are organised, with a forward screen on the table and a vanguard force arriving to reinforce the defence/attack. Having perused the two army lists (British and Soviet) in the main rulebook, I have a couple of things I will need to tweak slightly, but nothing major. More lists will be released in a supplement at some point in the future, but for now I have been making up my own for my Dutch and German troops.

My issues with the list both concern the British infantry platoon.

Point one. The Carl Gustav 84mm . You can only have one which seems strange as the platoon had one per squad, and you can't have any if you have a dug in forward screen platoon? Confused.com!  Also its AT rating drops with range, which is bizarre as it is a HEAT round which are not affected by range/velocity like AP rounds are. So, I will up the AT to 3 at all ranges and allow the platoon to replace 2 rifle teams with CG teams if they wish.

Point two. The Milan sections. The list allows you to add one milan team in a Spartan APC to the platoon, although not to the dug in platoon again. As far as I know and according to all the references I have seen, the Milan Platoon had a HQ section and two detachments of two milan teams carried in three Fv432s. So that is two milan teams in one Fv432. So that is what I will be using for my lists, obviously at an increased cost to the force.

So there you go, I am still here and still annoying everybody around me. Take care folks and stay safe in these troubling times.