More 28mm Republican Romans

Over the long weekend I've managed to finish and base a couple more units for the planned Saga campaign we'll likely fight later in the year.

As I've already got plenty multi-based I've been doing some "change" to allow for casualty removal or odd sized units. This batch is Velites and Italian allies. All models are from Victrix.

Velites

Italian allies

Liber Militum: Tercios - the new campaign

Keen to get the results of our lock-down painting on the table our next campaign will be Polish / Imperial vs Ottomans in the mid'ish 17th century. We'll be using Tercios, a set we played once before and enjoyed.

The key system in the rules is the use of order cards for each unit which both determine what they can do and how they might react to enemy actions, assuming they have not already had their turn. 

Ready gives some flexibility to move / shoot but neither very well. Fire gives a shooting bonus, especially on reaction. Run lets you move quick / evade. Resist improves morale and finally Assault gives a movement and combat bonus. 

So you get choices both in which orders to issue and when to play them. For example if you have Fire do you try to shoot before the enemy to damage them or hope they charge you for a more deadly close-range shot.

For our first practise we had a couple of cavalry brigades and an infantry brigade each. The Ottomans were slightly lower quality so had a couple more units than the Imperial army.

As this was a practise game we both advanced to close the range to the enemy. The Imperial made an important error though - in his eagerness to  close with Ottoman horse he Ran forward at full speed and found himself in charge range in turn 1.  

The Imperial cavalry has an advantage in shooting as they have the Caracole rule enabling them to shoot and retire, but only with the Fire order. So they were promptly charged by the Ottoman heavies who killed a unit on each wing and settle to grind away at the other.   

Centrally both lines of infantry advanced on each other. The Ottomans halted at musket range and began to shoot while the Imperial units pushed forward seeking combat. This was not a bad move as the bigger Imperial units are superior to the Ottomans in melee.  

The expected infantry melee did nt really emerge though as the Ottoman horse finally dispatched the Imperial cavalry and were able to get around the flanks of the Imperial infantry. They were'nt able to make much headway but did pin them in place to be worn-down with Turkish musket fire.  

So an Ottoman victory but mostly a good test of the rules. What is clear is that having the right orders is key. There were a couple of points where the Imperials were either to slow moving or too eager and found themselves at a disadvantage. Most importantly we got a result inside 2.5 hours, despite this being only the second time we'd ever played.

  

 

In person, In doors - 28mm Napoleonics

For our first in-person game in doors we returned to the ever popular Napoleonic's using Marshalls & Muskets from Ian over at Hinton Hunt Vintage Wargame Figures

The scenario had the Russians standing as rear guard for a fleeing German force whilst the French attacked in the hopes of breaking through to ravage the routers.

The Russians on the defensive

French attackers

The routing Germans

The Russians deployed in a good position with hills and woods providing some defence against the more numerous attackers.  

The French attacked strongly on their right with probing assaults on the left. Initially the main attack proceed slowly whilst the probe met with good success as they forced the Russians into square and were able to gradually able to push them back.  

French Lancers take to the field for the first time

The main assault was able to eventually able to get going again once the pesky Russian cuirassiers has been routed. 

 A hard one to score - the French broke through after a couple of hours play but the aim was to delay this as long as possible. So lets say a draw in our first proper game for 9 months.  

In person gaming returns

With the restrictions in lockdowns its now possible to meet outside in private gardens as long as you maintain social distancing. This weekend we managed to meet for our first physical game in about 7 months - aided by a dry'ish weekend. It was chilly but its nice to roll the dice again "for real"

We opted for a game of What A Tanker as its pretty easy to set up and also can be easily packed-up should the rain come. In this match-up we had 3 Sherman and an M10 vs 2 Panthers.

The M10 bravely rushed for a hill on the left side and somehow managed to survive the whole game despite being the main target for the Panthers. 

This did allow the a couple of the Sherman's to get into good flanking position and blast away at the Germans to good effect.

 As a bonus a quick video of the end results - one Panther destroyed and one badly damaged for very little Allied damage.

 

28mm Republican Romans

With the prospect of in-person gaming indoors not too far away I'm preparing some forces for Saga - Age of Hannibal. Having decent sized armies for the Punic Wars what I mostly need are some single figures making odd sized units / casualty removal.

28mm Republican Principes

The first batch are some Roman Principes to bulk out the core of the Republican armies. I think scholars now doubt the rigid armour distinctions that wargamers love, but for me these guys are always in chainmail and that's that.

Next up will be some additional light troops and Italian allies. For now though I've also done a couple of officers (Gripping Beast) to go along with the Principes (Victrix).

28mm Republican Roman officers