FoGR TYW Later German Imperialist v TYW Later German Protestant

The 28mm ECW/TYW army continued their run of games with an outing against Tim's army. We both went for Later TYW Germans, my version was more quantity over quality while Tim had invested in some superior infantry and attached battalion guns.

My Catholics attacked and the table ended up being fairly open. Both armies deployed in a similar way:

On the right cavalry are massed for action, the Catholics having support from some Dragoons and two infantry units while the Protestants only have a single superior infantry unit

The Catholics advance in depth:

On the left two lines of infantry face each other:

Will numbers or quality triumph? 

Both sides mounted eye each other warily:

On the left the Catholic infantry advance hoping to move their reserve infantry unit into a gap developing in the Protestant centre:

Shooting removes bases from both sides:

Close combat! The Protestant line charges:

On the right the fighting continues with the quality of the Protestant foot overcoming the numbers of the Catholics but not breaking them:

Finally the rather hesitant cavalry engage:

The result is inconclusive though:

On the left the Catholic infantry begin to break their Protestant equivalents:

The infantry fight on the right is finally ended when the reserve Catholic infantry charge the Protestants in the flank breaking them:

On the left despite being reduced to 50% strength and fragmented the Catholic infantry finish off their Protestant opponents:

Meanwhile a large cavalry melee has been fought out on the right with little result until one Protestant cavalry unit breaks finishing off the Protestant army:

Even at 650 points on a 6x4 table the units easily covered the table which is a bit of an issue. We also used the last lot of amendments to the rules making average units much tougher (they don't break on base losses so easily) which certainly affected the outcome as I had three infantry units which would have broken due to base losses but fought on successfully steadfastly refusing to rout or lose the last base!

Chain of Command Winter War Soviets v Finnish

A mere three years and six months after being painted the CoC Winter War Finns Dave gave me managed  to get their first game! I used the Russians while Dave used the Finns in a defence in depth scenario.

The table consisted of a few wooden buildings dotted about with plenty of pine forests and a marsh. The Russians (average) attacked the Finns (elite) and both sides force moral started at 9:

One of the huge Russian squads deploys and begins to move forward:

A BT7 arrives to support the infantry:

The infantry press on to take cover in the woods. Two Finnish LMG squads have deployed to face them:

Disaster! After surviving the first shot from a Finnish AT gun concealed in the farm the BT7 explodes dramatically when hit by the second shot!

However, the Finnish gun crew don't last long enough to celebrate as they are wiped out by Soviet infantry fire:

With both sides' support wiped out it is down to the PBI to determine the result. Emboldened by their large squad size the Soviets rush forward hoping to give the Finns too many targets to be able to concentrate on one squad and overwhelm the Finns by numbers:

The Soviets discover their is a flaw in their plan though as two Finnish SMG squads deploy into the forest the Soviets were expecting to take without a fight. That's an awful lot of Finn's in an ideal position to shoot up the Soviet squad. Even more problematic is that there is a Senior Leader with the squad:

Undaunted the Soviets press forward while exchanging fire with the Finns:

The Finns decide to rush forward in true Finnish style and engage the Soviets in close combat where their SMG's will have a deadly effect:

The outcome is disastrous for the Soviets with the rampant Finns killing the entire Soviet squad for the loss of three men and two wounded Junior Leaders:

Having started only on 9 and already lost the BT7 bad things happen rolls for a squad wiped out, a Junior Leader and a Senior Leader killed result in Soviet morale falling to zero and a victory for Dave's Finns!

The game was over very quickly but wasn't totally one-sided as the Finns had taken some losses as well. I almost always play the Russians very aggressively (unless it is part of a PSC and they need to defend) and often it pays off with the large Russian squads taking losses but remaining useable unlike other nation's smaller squads. This time it didn't as Dave cunningly deployed his last two squads in the prefect position to shoot away some of my squad then charge it and finish it off. 

As I hadn't used the Finnish in so long since painting them (and I have my preferred option of Norwegians to paint) it made sense to return them to Dave as he may use them more than I have and hopefully they will see more action with him!

ADLG Palmyran v Numidian

My first game of 2023 saw my Palmyrans give Gordon's Numidians a practice for a competition Gordon had entered.

This time I thought I'd go for the 'Roman' version of the Palmyrans which resulted in a rather small and not at all elite 22 element army.

The Numidians won the initiative and decided to attack in Steppes (why?!) so I rather fortunately put down an impassable river on one flank. Again oddly Gordon didn't really want any terrain so the rest of the table was rather empty apart from a couple of hills on Gordon's side and a patch of scrub on mine.

On deployment it quickly became apparent that I had totally misjudged Gordon's army. I'd been expecting the usual mix of light cavalry, javelin men, imitation Legionaries and an elephant or two. What I faced was a horde of Medium cavalry, almost all elite and some with the new 'javelin' ability allowing them to shoot from a new (I think) variant in the army list!

The Numidians rush forwards on the flanks:

On the left there is some initial combat and skirmishing:

The Palmyrans are already being split into smaller groups:

On the right they advance but are unable to catch the faster Numidians:

Javelins are hurled at Cataphracts with little success:

On the left both sides take a few losses and hits:

The Palmyran army is becoming scattered with open flanks available to the faster moving Numidians and some of the weaker Palmyran units being picked off:

A rare success for the Cataphracts as they catch up to an evading Numidian!

Unfortunately the Numidians are now taking advantage of the flank opportunities they have engineered:

Further losses to both sides on the left:

Elements are scattered everywhere now, the slower moving Palmyrans can't take much advantage of this though unlike the Numidians:

Eventually the Palmyran army breaks with the Numidians having suffered significant but sustainable losses themselves due to their larger army size:

A fun game in which Gordon totally outwitted me with his army composition! His horde of medium cavalry were very hard to pin down, evading largely when threatened while picking off my weaker units and taking full advantage of gaps that developed in my lines to achieve flank attacks which my troops were just too slow moving to either exploit or defend against.

2022 in Review Part Two: Painting

I could almost call 2022 the 'Year of the speed-paints' having discovered the new army painter speed paints and put them to use on several projects! They have their advantages and disadvantages but when they are suitable for use they produce a decent result very quickly! Apart from a few odds and ends added to various armies this was my main output...

Art de la Guerre Palmyrans

A bit of nostalgia here with a sort-of reproduction whole army of my first ever metal ancients army, 25mm Hinchcliffe Palmyrans which I'd sold many years ago.

Irregular archers:

The mighty Cataphracts:

Field of Glory Renaissance TYW/ECW

Four speed-painted 28mm pike and shot units join the ranks:

Men Who Would be Kings/Sharp Practice Northwest Frontier

Another speed-painted army, this time Colonial Sikhs mainly in 20mm.

Bengal Lancers:

Sikh Infantry:

Rommel 1940 British

Additions to my Late War British army to allow me to field 1940 British.

The tough as old boots Matilda's:

Bag the Hun US Navy and IJN

Complimentary air forces also for use in Cruel Seas.

Japanese Zeros:

US Hellcats:

Cruel Seas US Navy

A cheap boxed set I picked up from Ebay continuing the Pacific War theme.

Landing craft:

Sub Chaser:

 

PT Boats

Cold War Commander British Army of the Rhine and Warsaw Pact

Two 6mm armies, easy to paint and cheap to buy!

Harriers:

The stars of the Warsaw Pact force, BMP-1's:

No actual use yet Evil Fantasy Army

This 15mm army had been in a box unpainted for many years. A few days speed-painting later and they are now ready for action should they ever manage to get a game!

Death Whisperers:

Orcs:

Wolf Riders:

What is on the horizon for 2023?

Field of Glory Renaissance

More Pike and Shot units, several units of Horse and some Croats.

Kiss Me Hardy

A French fleet box set, eventually I'll make a start on this.

Chain of Command

A complete Norwegian army I just bought from Great Escape Games. I also have an Afrika Corps army which has failed several attempts to paint it so I might pass that on to someone else!

Cold War Commander

A Norwegian army which shouldn't take long to finish at all.

Apart from the above there are the usual odds and ends of various armies to finish at some point. I've also started thinking about the possibility of doing a 28mm Renaissance Italian Wars army but really shouldn't go there!