An Old Midlish Rhyme
The wind from the North sings of heroes of Olde
The wind from the East makes our blood run Cold
The wind from the South smells of Spices and Gold
But the wind from the West tells of warriors Bold.

Monday, December 27, 2010

The Gathering Resumes

It has been more than 6 months now since the last unit of 25mm Ancients left the painting table. For most of this time, there have been 10 1/2 painted 20mm Phyrgians sitting at the back of my table. For some reason, I'm not sure why, I just couldn't get a feel for them. I haven't been painting much anyway and so I let them slide when I did find the time and energy.

Just before Christmas, I got a sudden urge to convert the whole project to Sassinid vs Romans. Several days of  day dreaming and considering possibilities passed before I remembered that I was going to drain off any Roman impulse into the Prince Valiant 40mm project and began to dig about on the net for info on the Babylonians and Assyrians as a distraction. Worked like a charm, by Boxing Day evening I was relaxed, had time of my choosing and within minutes of starting to apply stripes, it was all good and so the first 1/2 unit of Phyrgians "light" infantry has emerged.


 
Those for an eye & a memory for such things may note that the single figure rebellion appears to have been quelled. I had a few bad moments when I was tempted to emulate the excellent 4 man 40mm sq bases that my 25mm ECW Scots have adopted but in the nick of time sanity reigned and I remembered how useful it can be to have something approaching "hobby standard"  for 25mm Ancients and how annoying it can be to have inconvenient non-standard arrangements. So it had to be single figures or 60mm elements.  My 40mm Prince Valiant figures give me "ancient" singles so its back to elements for the little guys. (Whew, glad I only rebased troops who needed it for other reasons!)

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Ambush played


A battle report on the Ambush of Queen Demiramis has been posted on my Battlegames blog. Some thoughts on rules to follow shortly along with the tweaked version.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Escort Duties

I've been trying to focus on my 19thC interests but every time I turn my back I can hear the rythamic clash spear against shield. In order to quiet them, I have decided to dig out an old Table Top Teaser.

"..You are to select positions for your force to ambush a convoy proceeding from the west. This convoy consists of Princess Zenobii of Kali and her considerable dowry escorted by soldiers of the future husband, the Emperor Osbosis of Dubris. You are to intercept and seize both Princess and dowry before They cross the bridge to the south and safety.".

http://www.box.net/shared/pym6zu3xit  for the original refight thanks to Steve the Wargamer

Tempting to use this as an excuse to paint up some Clibinari and set the game farther east but I'm sure the hills of Anatolia will provide a suitable site for an ambush.


Red Force (Ambush Party)             
1 unit of light archers  
1 unit of light slingers
1 unit of light/medium javelins
1 unit of light cavalry   

Blue Force (Road Party)
1 unit of light cavalry 
2 units of medium infantry
1 unit of light archers
1 small unit of super heavy cavalry
1 litter with bearers
1 wagon of treasure
1 unit of heavy cavalry 


hmm, I don't see any mention of a Priestess riding a Tiger, must be a misprint.

Now which side is which?

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Old Soldiers

For those of you are fans of Charles Grant's book The Ancient Wargame as well as various magazine articles about historical battles re-fought, hie thee to the Garrison website for a treat. Rob has acquired some of Charles' old figures and has begun posting colour pictures.

In solidarity with and in homage to the herd of veteran Airfix elephants, I present Ellie. My own Airfix elephant, converted probably 1974/75 though the original Roman charioteer crew was replaced at some point in the 80's by RAFM figures. The original mahout still serves, but with a RAFM head. 


Saturday, August 28, 2010

Test 2, The Persian Victory at Platea

The 2nd play through , slightly modified is now posted on the Battlegame blog. Honours of the day go to the Phyrgian spearmen. Who says fancy clothes don't help win battles?.

I'm still very happy with the rules but discovered a few more minor lapses and discrepencies. For example, the current draft doesn't actually say that you can't come back from being wiped out totally.

I'm working on those plus some examples of play.