Delivery Day!

So, it was with great delight that I took delivery of the following this morning.....

Soldiers of God, from Artorus Games which I ordered from Perry Miniatures with a view to using them for the Hastings demo game at Salute 2016. This set is based upon the Crusades so should, in theory at least, work well for the battle as many of the forces involved in the Hastings Campaign viz The First Crusade are contemporaneous with the Anglo Danes and Normans et al. I will probably have to try to produce a set of cards or possibly just use two sets of the Christian cards with a few left out of each pack to match the armies. Of course, I will have to read the rules first!

Footsore Miniatures, Anglo Danes, Fyrd and Select Fyrd and Athelstan. All beautifully sculpted by Bill Thornhill and finely cast too boot.

Finally there was the delivery of Hastings, 1066, The Battles of York, Stamford Bridge and Hastings, Peter Marren. I first came across Peter Marren's work many a moon ago when I read his Battles of the Dark Ages a book that starts with the early struggles for power in Britain post the Roman era, Sub Roman to give the period it's proper name and up until the Battle of Brunanburh. It stops it's narrative just prior to Hastings which is where his first book on the subject of Early Medieval warfare takes off.

So, a nice little haul for this morning and plenty to consider in terms of rules and painting.

Bye for now

Clubbing it! Cold War Commander Game Two; Part Two

Last evening saw the finale of the Cold War Commander game were have been playing for the Western Front in Europe come to it's fiery climax!

The Challenger I's proved to be the proverbial Rayguns prescribed to them. nice and dig in along with the infantry they were a solid steadfast wall of defence against the oncoming Soviet hordes.

The game eventually boiled down to me needing fours or more to hit Jim and he needing sixes to hit my dug in armour which at most he could only temporarily suppress due to their Chobham Armour and being nicely tucked into the earth.

The game was also punctuated by some really lucky (freak!) dice rills on my part where I kept blasting away and scoring not just hits but those AFV's that didn't explode ended up mostly being suppressed.

Soviets Advance their BMP's on my right flank

(Significantly they fail to bebus their infantry):

Bish!:

Bash!:

Bosh!:

Quite a few iof the guys were playing the Dark ages variant of Lion Rampant (as published in Wargame Illustrated) and to my delight were at least a couple expressing an interest in playing original Medieval rules. 

Bye for now.

Anglo Danish Huscarls Progress

After completing the four bases of Ceorls so quickly it's been a bit of a disappointing week thus far with roughly only one base of Anglo Danish Huscarls to take their rightful place in the front of the Shieldwall. However, I'm not particularly perturbed as I've had a pretty bad dose of Man Flu (see below!) and that has slowed me down considerably, mainly due to my eyes watering so much that I couldn't see properly to paint! I've also made progress on the Command Base for Harold Godwinson which should be complete in a day or so, though one can add another couple of days onto that for the urethane gloss varnish and then Matting the mini's back down.

The mini's that I've chosen are a good mix of old and new Gripping Beast punctuated by the odd Saxon Miniatures which were all pretty much sculpted by the same chap. I do have a few other companies to add, namely Crusader, Wargames Foundry(which will probably take up the large part of the Norman army) Drabant (thanks Andy- appreciated). My thanks go out to Darren for arranging many a moon ago now some special castings of much of their very old Saxon Range and some of their Viking range which are no longer available.

Firstly, taking it's rightful place:

And here's where I've got thus far this week:

Old Gripping Beast, Newer Gripping Beast and Saxon Miniatures Huscarls:

OK, he's a bit lonely now but will have friends soon! Saxon Miniatures:

Bye for now.

Clubbing it! Cold War Commander Game Two; Part One

It was with great relish that I had relinquished myself of the pesky Soviets and their Afghan allies and stepped into the more efficient shoes of a NATO commander and that of the British army too! The scenario is a defensive one on which the NATO player is challenged into stopping the Soviet hordes from advancing to take the high ground.

I was handsomely equipped with with some Challenger I's complete with HQ's and infantry support. I decided (re: advised by Nige!) that defence in depth was the way to go so I set about doing just that. I had two Challenger I's posted forward in my deployment zone supported by infantry backed with Anti Tank weapons. I placed my reserve HQ forward with the group so's to have a clear line of sight for the Soviet onslaught whilst keeping my Top Brass concealed in a wood where they would be safe until needed and kept back one Challenger I in reserve. I could also call upon the help of air support if needed. Pretty much all of my kit was dug in with reserve entrenchments to fall back on 'just in case!' (I hope my opponent Jim isn't reading this!)

Challenger I: forward Position:

Ground to Air:

Back up!:

Top Brass Hidden in Wood:

Secondary HQ with Artillery Commanders (& Supporting Infantry Platoon):

Harrier to the Rescue?:

Recon For the Ruskies!:

My Challenger's challenges the Soviet Recon:

Soviet infantry Regiments Begin to Move Forward after Recieving a Severe Mauling to their Recon:

Soviet Air Power Fails to knock out any of my Challenger's!! Chobham Armour Rocks!!

Eventually my Forward HQ is knocked out of the Action! Ouch!!:

 Soviet Hordes Continue their Seemingly Inexorable Advance:

The Harrier jumps into the action only to cause a Friendly Fire incident!! Ouch again!!

I Manage to Suppress my own Forward Infantry with Air to Ground!! Maybe the Tide is Turning for the NATO Forces?

Bye for now