Russo - Japanese War in 20mm

Roy has been working through some more 20mm - this time its from the 1905 Russo-Japanese war, more famous perhaps for the Battle of Port Arthur than the land actions.

Roy reports there are lots of them still needing painting before we can stage a full game.

The buildings are from Korea or China, its a sort of glossy foam sandwich art board. Sounds like the ideal wipe-clean for these COVID times.

  

Kings of War Mega Battle

To round off the campaign between the Basilean Paladin Gnaeus and Mhorgoth evil necromancer we decided to a large game. At 4500 points its about twice the usual size and means we can use most of the two armies we own. We played Control as this spreads the units out - the table (10 foot for this game) is split into 6 sections, 2 points are awarded for the enemies and 1 point for all others including your own centre.

The Undead right was a nasty horde of skeleton knights, a horde of skeleton, and a vampire mounted on a dragon. In support was a horde of zombie trolls and some ghouls.

The centre was a tough prospect with mummies, vampire infantry, elite skeletons and some zombies. Mhorgoth himself was in support.

The Basilean left was fast moving with werewolves, wights and a further horde of skeleton spearmen as a second line.

On my right I went for a flying circus of Elohi hordes (flying knights), an Ur Elohi flying hero and a phoenix support.

Centrally I deployed my paladin footguards and ogre palace guards

Finally on the Basilean left was another fast force of knights and panthers with some spearman in support. I also had Jullius - a powerful flying hero to counter the Undead dragon. Forward deployed were some bow armed scouts.

My plan was a fairly simple one and tailored to the scenario.  The Undead centre was so powerful that it was very unlikely I could prevent it capturing my 2 point zone, so instead I would try to make that take the whole game. I would focus my energies on two fast-moving flanks in the hopes of winning both those and maybe sneaking the enemies central zone late on.

On my right I had the speed advantage over the werewolves and wights and so was able to get the drop on them and make the crucial first attack. This proved highly effective as I routed the werewolves and tied-down the wights with a lucky double-6 on two successive moves.  

On my left Undead attacked swiftly with their dragon and knights but I was able to hold that initial thrust and then counter attack strongly with my knights. By the end of turn 4 I had cleared the left of Undead units and was able to begin moving my knights towards the centre.  

Centrally I delayed the combat but by turn 3 was forced to charge of be charged. I attacked with all the palace and paladin guards but made only a small dent in the Undead's heavy infantry.  Their counter was pretty devastating as 6 of my 7 units were destroyed over the next 2 turns, mostly by the Vampire infantry.

At the end of the game both sides had suffered heavy casualties, but the victory were as follows:

• My right - we each held our starting flank zone = 1-1
• Centre - we each held the enemies central zomne = 2-2
• My left - I held both flank zones = 2-0

So the end result was a 5-3 victory for the Basileans in a closely fought game. In hindsight the Undead probably overinvested slightly in their centre - it was unstoppable but might have done equally well with one or two less units, which could have boosted a flank.      

All tied on the right

The Vampires control the centre having dispatched most of my heavy infatry  

   

All Quiet on the Eastern Front - WWI in 20mm

Another update from Nigel's solo gaming

Having fought with renaissance moved forward 300 years to Imperial Germany against Imperial Russia. It is 1914 and German troops are chasing down Russian supply train crossing a river. I used Sharp practise rules with a few alterations. All figures 20mm Zvezda with some Strelets and Hat Industrie. Zvzeda are a Russian company and Strelets Ukrainian! Did ‘nt help; a German success.

20mm Renaissance

Nigel has been out on the Eastern Front again for some 20mm adventures

"Hi folks

Been playing renaissance on the east Front with Polish troops versus Russian. All those Winged Hussars against streltsy with musket and berdische axes. Scenario was Polish army trying to force their way across two bridges defended by Russians and Cossacks. used Black Powder/Pike and Shotte variant with 20mm figures (mostly Zvezda). Poles consisted of Winged Hussars, Pancerni cavalry, Haiduk infantry and ‘German ‘pike and shot."

I've also been looking at this ear and have now ordered some Janissaries to start painting. A little research shows that Wargames Atlantic now have an Afghan set that I think should work well for the Azab units.

Isolation paiting II - just when you thought it was safe to re-enter the wargames room

Another batch of figures - this time some 28mm Nappies from Richard

 

Roy's islation painting - 15 & 20 mm.

Club member Roy has been busy with painting and basing over the last few weeks. The fruits of his labours are below.

Imperial Roman

 Someone else’s good painting, my basing, a Praetorian cohort and a legionary unit

Old Garrison Greeks

Bought off eBay I had to add a couple to make two Armati units. Good enough for  Ionians in the Persian army with their short spears.

Hinton Hunt Compatible and Garrison Slinger - 20mm

Mostly my painting, though not the slingers. Quick to finish off...well thought it would be quick and easy to base. Suitable for bulking out the hoplites if its Mantinea next Battle Day but one.

Armati Sarmatian Army

Had these on too big horses from Ebay so got some smaller horses, painted them, respeared and repainted the cavalry, converted and painted a bit on the horse archers minifig S range I think .  Got the dracos from Newline. Does enough for the standard Armati 75point army.

Socially distant wargaming

With the lockdown eased slightly but no ability to meet, maybe this is the future of wargaming. Lovely fresh air and long pokey sticks to move stuff - much simpler than all that Zoom stuff.

Loot not Lute

The latest round of the Isolation Campaign between Basilea and the Undead was the Loot scenario. In this 3 Loot tokens are placed along the centre line and the army holding the most at the end is the winner - pretty simple. The Loot can move with a unit but slows them to 5" and removes any movement enhancing abilities.

The Undead came with what I'm calling the Hammer Horror build - Vampires, Mummies, Werewolves and skeletons backed-up by a few supporting necromancers. Very tough to kill but quite a small army.

Undead centre

Anticipating that the enemy would have a very tough centre I opted to place most of my units on the flanks - Ogre Palace Guards / General Gnaeus to the left and my cavalry to the right. The centre was held by the Paladin Guards and Sisterhood. Although I had 6 units in the centre none where very powerful, the aim was to make the enemy overcommit and stall for time while winning on the flanks.      

Basilean centre

In the opening moves the Werewolves on my right rushed-up and grabbed the Loot, but in so doing got out of position.  This gave me some advantageous charges off the hill and within a coupe of turns I was able to clear my right of all enemy forces.    

On the left I pushed ahead against the skeletons there and we both lost a coupe of units fighting over the token in a wood. This left me with the Loot and a slight numerical advantage.

Centrally we became locked in combat. The Vampires were cutting through my troops but it was all taking time precious time, enabling my cavalry from the right to move across and support the centre.

On my left General Gnaeus found himself holding the loot but facing a horde of skeleton spearmen to his front. By hugging the wood he was able to force the skeletons into a series of hindered charges, which never did enough damage to seriously threaten him. Technical bit for the KOW players - I was charged and never countered charged, disengaging each turn. I was clearly never going to rout the skeletons so it was better to make them keep charging on 6+ to hit and simply heal the resulting few wounds each turn. 

With both flanks secure I managed to feed units into the centre from my right to delay the Undead progress and win 2-1.  

The secret here was that the Undead overcommitted to the single Loot in the centre, having about twice as many points as a I did there and leaving me to outnumber them on both flanks.