One Hour Wargames.
This first encounter is between Thracians and Classical Indians. I wanted to post this first as it was a more enjoyable battle.
The first game is scenario 17, an encounter battle. Six units per side with 1 unit on the table from the start with reinforcements appearing on a roll of 4 or more on a 1-6 dice.

I diced for 6 units for each army and came up with the following:-
Indians a dice throw of 1
3 Infantry
2 Archers
1 Cavalry. I chose to use the cavalry rather than a chariot as I though that would be more appropriate.
Thracians
4 Infantry
1 Skirmish
1 Cavalry.
This seems a good match depending on the how the battle progresses.

I diced again for the first units positioned on the field of battle. I placed them 3'' on the board as I was playing on a 2'x2' TSS (Total System Scenic) tile.
Both came up with an infantry unit.

The set up

The Thracians are nearest to the camera.

Turn 1
Indians throw for reinforcements and roll 5 and 1 for an another infantry unit.
The unit moves 6'' and the other unit follows, moving 3 to align themselves with the first unit.

The Thracians throw a 5 also and a another 5 which meant the skirmishers appeared.
They also moved 6'' and again the other unit followed to form a line moving 3''.

 

Turn 2
The Indians throw 1 and no reinforcements.
They advance onto their side of the to claim it.

The Thracians throw a 1 also! No reinforcements for them either. They decide to stand.
I was wondering at this point whether I should allow the skirmishers to shoot but decided against it as the enemy were not over the centre of the hill.

Turn 3
The Indians throw a 4 and a 6. The cavalry arrive and move 12' to the side of the hill. The infantry hold position.

The Thracians throw a 5 and a 3. Another Infantry unit moves up along side the skirmishers. (I missed a chance here to shoot at the cavalry).
The Thracians hold their ground.

Turn 4
The Indians roll a 3. No reinforcements.
They decided that the odds were good and decided to attack. Was this a good idea? They thought so!

Cavalry v Infantry 1 casualty
Infantry v Skirmishers 6 The skirmishers are being severely pushed.
Infantry v Infantry 2. 

The Thracians throw 5 and 4. Another infantry unit moves up to flank the cavalry.
Infantry v Cavalry 3 casualties
Skirmishers v Infantry 0 casualties
Infantry v Infantry 3

Turn 5
The Indians throw 6 and 1. An infantry unit arrives, it is a long slog to the battle line. No forced marches here!
Cavalry v Infantry 3 casualties
Infantry v Skirmishers 4
Infantry v Infantry 4
A better round for the Indians who start to feel confident.

The Thracians throw a 2, No reinforcements
The infantry pivot 45%. Can they flank them or do they have to move completely 90%.
I will try 90% this time and 45 if there is another to see if there is much difference. I could be letting the Indians off here.

Infantry v Cavalry 5 Casualties
Skirmishers v Infantry 0 How do they hope to survive if they don't kill anyone?
Infantry v Infantry 3 casualties

There are a lot of minor casualties but only the skirmishers are more than half way to defeat.

Turn 6
The Indians throw a 1. No reinforcements
The infantry unit moves slowly forward.
Cavalry v Infantry 1 casualty
Infantry v Skirmishers 4 Skirmishers hanging on 14!
Infantry v Infantry 1
Is tiredness a contributing factor here?

The Thracians throw a 3. No reinforcements
The infantry unit pivot and charge the cavalry in the flank.
Infantry v Cavalry in flank 8 casualties. The cavalry are gone!
Skirmishers v Infantry 0 again! The highest throw so far for the skirmishers is 2. Take away 2 is nil casualties, the high point for the skirmishers.
Infantry v Infantry 3

Turn 7
The Indians throw 3. No reinforcements
The lone reinforcement moves forward again towards the battle.
Infantry v Skirmishers 7. The skirmish screen melts away under extreme pressure.
Infantry v Infantry 4 Hanging on with grim determination!

The Thracians throw4 and 4. More infantry arrive and charge to fill the gap left by the skirmishers. Just in time.
The other infantry unit sees an exposed flank, but the enemy infantry is coming towards them, Decisions, decisions. Charge!
Infantry v Infantry in flank 6
Infantry V infantry 2(8 casualties in one bound, ouch!)
Infantry v Infantry on the Thracian left flank 2. Now, the Indian unit is on 13.

Turn 8
The Indians throw a 3. No reinforcements
Infantry v Infantry 3 casualties
Infantry v Infantry 3. The Thracians collapse in their death throes giving respite to the Indians Infantry who now feel very exposed.

The Thracians throw a 1. No reinforcements.
Infantry v Infantry in flank 4. Now on 12.
Infantry v Infantry 4 Another Indian unit smothered by numberless Thracians.

Turn 9
The Indians throw a 2. No reinforcements.
Things look bleak for the Indians 2 units versus 3.
The infantry unit sweep onto the flank of the victorious Thracian unit. Should I have turned to face? That would seem unfair as they wouldn't be ready in my opinion. I give the Thracians the benefit of the doubt and let them turn. Will it turn the fortunes of war in their favour?
The right wing Indian infantry unit pivots and charges at 45%. I let this Thracian unit turn to face also as it seems

 

the right thing to do
Infantry v Infantry 3
Infantry v Infantry3

The Thracians throw 1. No reinforcements.
Infantry v Infantry 4
Infantry v Infantry 4 The right wing Indian infantry unit are pushed to extinction after fighting insurmountable odds.
Things are grim in the Indian camp. 2 units still to appear and 3-1 on the field of battle.

Turn 10
The Indians throw a 5, 1 archer unit appears and moves 6''
Infantry v Infantry 3 casualties

The Thracians throw 2. No reinforcements.

The Thracians units without opponents manoeuvre.
Infantry v Infantry 3

Turn 11
The Indians throw another 5! The last archer unit makes the battle field and moves 6''. Due to the fading light the forward archer unit pushes on to secure the objective, forgotten in the battle lust of both sides. They are still on their side of the crest so do not fire this turn.
Infantry v Infantry 3 casualties
Can the Indian infantry survive against 3 units?

The Thracians throw a 5 and the cavalry gallop onto the hill with all the panache that the nobles posses! Arriving and finding the archers they wheel 45% and prepare to charge.
The left wing infantry spurned on by the arrival of the cavalry charge onto the hill into the archers.
Infantry v Infantry 3
Infantry v Archers 4
I almost forgot ( I actually did forget that the archers are not infantry so had to go back and do the math again) that the archers are not infantry and don't halve the casualties.

Turn 12
The late unit of archers moves to the hill but are yards short. How did that happen!
The infantry and archers set to their opponents with desperation.
Infantry v Infantry 3
Archers v Infantry 3

Thracians.
Decisions, decisions. Should the cavalry turn to face the 2nd archer unit or take the archers on the hill in the flank. Going for glory, charge!
Infantry v Infantry 2
Infantry v Archers 3
Cavalry v Archers in flank 4
The infantry unit at the rear is manoeuvring to no effect. They probably can't reach an opponent in time to affect any combat.

Turn 13
The Indian Archer unit charges the cavalry flank
Infantry v Infantry 3 Both infantry units are on 12
Archers v Infantry 2
Archers v Cavalry 10! Was it a death wish that the Thracians had or were they inspired by some madness?

The Thracians grip their weapons and hack back
Infantry v Infantry 2
Infantry v Archers 3
Cavalry v Archers 2 The archers are butchered on the hill.

Turn 14
The Indian infantry fight on to save their skins
Infantry v Infantry 3 The Thracians infantry flee the field.
The Thracian cavalry turn to face the archers.
Archers v Cavalry 2

Thracians
Cavalry v Archers 2

Turn 15
The Indians are in no position to win. The archers have to fight a round of battle so could not move onto the hill this turn. Neither is the infantry in a position to threaten the forces holding it.
Great win for the Thracians on their first outing.

Thoughts.
I liked the dicing for forces,I often use it in my other games.
Giving the units numbers brought the fog of war to the table. I didn't want to choose the units as they became available as reinforcements.
We are used to having armies of units with varying factors. Having Indian foot comparable with Thracian foot seemed a little strange. We think of one as 'heavy' and the other medium or light medium with differing frontages. I classed them both as infantry.
How odd that the skirmishers and archers never fired a shot being in combat from the earliest possible time. The archers were unfortunate to come on so late so really had to come to close quarters quickly,negating their use of the bow.
The Indian decision to attack proved to be its downfall. Again the dice misled the Indians into thinking it was their destiny to win, only to let them down in combats and reinforcements.
Indecision on the part of the Thracians saved them from moving towards the hill, perhaps saving their infantry from trouble.
The Thracian cavalry gallop onto the hill was in the best traditions of the noble cavalry panache. So Polish Hussari!

I hope you liked the AAR as much as I liked the game.
Thank you for viewing.



One Hour Wargames

Hi!
Today I played a game of One Hour Wargames - practical tabletop battles for those with limited time and space by Neil Thomas.
I got out the 6mm Hittites and Egyptians for two lively encounters using 6 bases of each. They seem to end with last man standing but that may just be the tactics I used.
I will post the battles after I have played a couple more games, perhaps using the Assyrians,Romans, Sassanid's or Indians.
These are rules pared down to the minimum so it is easy to learn and quite fast paced because of it. I like the idea but would like to add the push back or rout in the Ancient rules but won't do that yet as I want to play more games to see if things go along as the first games.
I will play a couple of Pike and Shot games with the Poles and Turks to see if they are equally fast paced and bloody!
Thanks to all for viewing.

Thracians and Early Achaemenids

I have a confession.
I am an addict.  I am addicted to painting wargame figures.
I have been so busy painting that I feel like that is all I have done for weeks.
This is something of a revelation. It wasn't always like this. In the early years, very late 70's and early 80's, I did a fair amount of painting. But nothing compared to the last year or so.
What could have changed?
I spent some time away from wargaming, around 4 years in total. This was due to circumstances rather than lack of desire. I had to put everything in storage until I moved in with my son. That was 7 years ago and I got all my things together and started painting again. It was certainly hard going!
My painting, never the best part of my gaming preparation, had deteriorated from average to less than that.
It is only in the last couple of years that my painting has improved to be better than ever. I am not always consistent but I am pleased with how things are going.

I have finished the 6mm Irregular miniature Assyrians; Egyptians; Thracians: Hittites (I think these last are Baccus) and some very interesting camels.
These first. I have had some 25mm camel riders for around 25 years but I didn't know who the manufacturer was. I started looking recently at the old manufacturers and found that Garrison was the one. I ordered the 10 cataphract camels required and 5 more light camels with riders. I painted them and was very pleased with the result. The light versions didn't come out quite as well as the heavy versions but nice to my eyes anyway.

These are for use with the Early Achaemenid army I am building. A couple are not yet based and the others need the bases finishing.

These Light camels are not quite finished as they require beards and basing.

Next up is an army that pleased me even though they look a bit rough. That is the whole point. They are Thracians so should be a bit rough! The bases aren't finished on these yet but I want to do them all together.
I hope you like them.

I will post a whole lot sooner than the months it has taken me this time with more photos of the finished articles and the other armies, all works in progress as they require reinforcements.

Until then

January 7th
Sorry not to have posted the rest of the battle between the Greeks and Indians. I will do that soon.
I have been painting lots of figures Greek 25mm (old MiniFigs which I have had a long time) some 6mm Hittites and a few more Early Achaemenid Persians. This last is taking a long time. There are a lot of archers to paint and I am looking for a cheap source! I have used mainly Irregular but subsidised them with some Heroics and Ros. All of which look nice enough. The painting isn't as good as on the Greeks but I don't know why|!
Next post some pictures.

Greek Odyssey.

 

 And it came to pass, that the 10,000 took a turn to the east and wandered far away from their homeward route. Coming to regions were no Greek was to come for 100 years.
The Greeks had wandered into India where they were met by an army of great beasts and chariots and a mighty battle ensued.
The forces at the Greek general Clearchus was as follows:-
1 General (Irregular spear 'O' @14pts)
1 Sub General (Irregular spear 'O' @14pts)
24 elements of Hoplites (Irregular spear 'O' @4pts)
4 elements of Cretan bow (Irregular ps 'O' @2pts)
4 elements of Javelin men (Irregular ps 'I' @1pts)
3 elements Cavalry (Regular cavalry 'O' @8pts.)







Barring their journey was the army of King Amalagupta, whose kingdom was a small northern Indian state. Warlike and fierce in defence of his people.
Due to the sudden appearance of these armed strangers he gathered his forces near at hand and set his defence near the border in hilly country.
He took to battle the following:-
1 General on Elephant (Irregular El. 'O'  @26pts)
1 Sub General in Chariot (Irregular Cv 'S' @18pts)
4 Elephant elements (Irregular El '' @16pts)
4 Chariot elements (Irregular Cv '') @8pts)
4 Cavalry elements (Irregular Cv 'I' @5pts)
12 Bow elements (Irregular Bw 'O' @4pts)
4 Javelin men elements (Irregular Bd 'I' @4pts)

 

Both sides arrayed for war

 

 



Greek army completed!

Wow!
Doesn't time fly!


I was, originally, only going to post once month but now I have finished the hoplites I am ready to post. If you haven't painted anything like hoplites you won't know how it wears you down. 492 figures of hoplites painted. I also bought 2 stands of cavalry, 4 stands of Cretan archers and 4 stands of javelins to round up the army to around 216 points in the DBMM ( De Bellis Magistorum Militum) rules and army lists, if I nominate 2 elements as sub-generals.
There are 41 elements of Hoplites, 8 Psiloi (4 Bow & 4 Javelin) and 3 Cavalry.
Not as large as the Sassanian which is 494 points but par with the Classical Indian which is 214 points.
I also bought some figures for the Classical Indians to pair up the extra elephant and chariot I had, to make them into full elements. There was also 2 close order javelin to make those elements into 1/2 the total bow elements.

 

I now intend to paint as much of my lead pile as is possible, which has actually been shrinking despite buying these extra figures, in the next 3 months.

I will, though be trying to fit in a game of Hoplites v Indians to see how the armies cope under the stress of battle.




I finished the Classical Indians and am quite pleased with how they have turned out. Now, I have started on the Greek Hoplites, 72 stands which equates to 36 elements in DBMM. It is slow going considering all the bronze that is on show but I find it a struggle! I am painting them as Early Greek Hoplites so I can also use them with my Early Achaemenid Persians if required. It looks like Irregular miniatures have made them as Later Hoplites but they will suffice as the look is the thing in this scale.
I am not in favour of using the Greeks really as I prefer to use the Persians without them. Plenty of bow and spear infantry with good cavalry. But it gives me nearly an extra 100 points to play with and have a new army of around 150 points which , naturally, I will have to increase!

Usually around this time of year I try to visit some historic sites or towns in the U.K or in Europe. Preferably, this will be places with something to do with ancient history. Nothing too modern. Italy is always a desired destination. Rome, especially, as you can never get enough of a good thing.
I must try to get to Greece again soon though, before it closes!

Favourite sites in the UK include Stokesay-castle, a small but lovely place in Shropshire. It is a fortified medieval manor house.
If you get some time take a visit.

Happy travels!

A quick update on the Classical Indians I am painting.
Things are going well, I am nearing completion on painting and basing them. So, I decided to undercoat some Irregular Miniatures Hoplites. These, another Ebay purchase, can be used for either a Greek Hoplite army or to aid the Achaemenid Persians against more substantial foe like Romans.
Below are a few pictures of the armies in the paint tray.

 

 

Two of the references used for army figure choice, colours etc.

 



 

 

Our Hero!

Just a little time to post a picture of our 25mm hero.
Whether you wish it to be Khusru the 1st or 2nd doesn't really matter.

Hi!
In my paint tray is a 1/300 Classical Indian army, by Irregular Miniatures, bought on Ebay part painted.


Although I have the same army in 25mm (mostly Minifigs from the 80's) I wanted another in the smaller scale also.
Perhaps it is the elephants, chariots or massed archers which appeal. I am not quite sure but another army never hurts!
I will update you with the army when finished and based.

I am currently using DBMM rules by Wargames Research Group (WRG) for my 6mm ancient battles. I also use WRG 6th edition for my 25mm battles. Yes! I know! Other rules have come and gone since they were first printed and perhaps even better rules went before also. I am sorry not to have tried 5th edition as they were said to favour bow armies which the Indian one is definitely one.

I thought also, to show the glories of the Sassanian army in 6mm.