Conquistadors vs Aztec - First Encounters

A detachment of Spaniards having landed on the coast with Cortez have been guided by the Totonac tribes inland looking for signs of the Aztec empire. Having burnt their ships on the coast the Conquistadors are here to stay.

When the inlet can no longer be passed by row boat, time to press inland on foot.

The first outing for the Aztec's and an opportunity to give the Spanish some table time using an adapted version of Lion Rampant using David Sullivan's adaption I Live with Cats: Quetzalcoatl Rampant

The Spanish are split between the river and hinterland, somewhere on the table the Aztec are hidden looking to stop the invaders advance. Two units push towards the highway.

Natives appear from the undergrowth throwing slings at the Europeans they are met with a Boom! which sends them heading for cover. 

As a detachment of Conquistadors head for the high ground they are confronted by a units of young warriors. (I am a little lite on foot figures for the Aztecs but the great thing about the Rampant rules is their point values is either 6 or 12 points making the number of figures a mute point.) 

Elsewhere... At the river bank a unit of Sword and Buckler men push forward and are engaged by another group of young warriors, keen to grab a hostage. A Spaniard is captured but the Aztec's are soon beaten back and the captive freed.

In the centre Jaguar warriors rush forward keen to push their advantage.

Taking to the high ground the more Aztec warriors charge forward looking to secure hostages. Their wild charge made their assault a little disjointed.

The Conquistadors stand firm their steel blades hacking down multiple attacks, the Aztecs were unable to defeat the closely packed ranks of Spanish, the Aztec's were nearing breaking point. 

The fire sticks shook the Aztec's morale as they massed for a final attack. They were unable to close with the invaders. The Aztec's fell back into the jungle. The Spanish held the high ground but were nervous to pursue.

A great encounter the curse of freshly painted figures continues. The rules tweaks give the right feel for the period, with the black power weapons impacting the morale of the Aztec's, Their focus on seizing hostages make for an interesting challenge giving the Spaniards a chance to recover their losses.

Looking forward to getting a few more encounters in the coming weeks.

Spain in the new world - A new project looms.

Welcome to August and a change from the bouncing between the Crusades and the AWI project.

The start of a new (but planned for as very long time) project and Cortez in Mexico. As I start the snipping and gluing of Wargames Atlantic's Aztec's it gave me the opportunity of dusting off these fine looking chaps from Copplestone.

Lacking for enough clothing for the the battle of Tenochtitlan. They will certainly do for some of the encounters as the Spanish push in land and meet jungle tribes.

 

Clothing was minimal although I did give them a sheath just for modesty purposes.

Now to dig out Aguirre: Wrath of God  to give me the nudge to get the others on the table top.

Botocudo Indians - Copplestone Castings.

As I wait for the postman to deliver a small package (more on that later..) I figured I would clear some of the low hanging fruit which makes up lead mountain. 

Having enjoyed the Muskets and Tomahawks game recently I fancied a couple more games of Settlers vs Natives, I could throw myself into a whole new period but with a bunch of Spanish Conquistadors already done and with plenty of jungle terrain, painting up some South American Indians would give me the same gaming experience and give the Spanish some long over due game time.

If I was looking for a wider scope for this project I should be thinking about Inca's and Mexico but that's a lot of feathers to paint, this is only designed to be a low level skirmish. So this project will follow the Spanish as they pushed east into what is modern day Peru giving me an excuse to have them wandering around in the Amazon and it's valuable resources of Brazilwood and defending the Viceroyalty of Peru.

This Warband defending their homeland are Botocudo Indians from Copplestone Castings. I based them on a number of descriptions on the Tupi tribes of the region with body paint on their arms legas and torso in blacks and reds.

 

Clothing was minimal although I did give them a sheath just for modesty purposes, I did get a couple of strange looks from the ladies in the house. These were clearly not your regular foot troops.

With everyone out this afternoon I might even settle down and watch Aguirre: Wrath of God  the perfect compliment to a mornings painting.

28mm African Militia - Part 2

If you thought the first batch of militia were a rag tag bunch take a look at these guys...

3 units of armed militiamen made up from various manufacturers Copplestone, Gripping Beast, The Assault Group and Bobby Jackson's Thugz.

I wanted to create a clear distinction between the factions those who were based on military lines and those of a more gang nature, the quality on all sides will be similar, but hopefully the more colourful nature of these troops should make it easier to separate the waring factions. Many will double up as each scenario is played out but I have named each lead section just for fun.... :-)

Wole Joyinka, known as “Dr J”: - Southside Boys.

A rebel leader of great charm/rabble rousing ability. Dr “J” has been experimenting extensively with hallucinogenic drugs and many of his warriors are drug fuelled boy soldiers stolen from the local villages and indoctrinated into the Southside Boys way of life.

Kwaz Nwazutha:- The Beast

A tribal leader known for his love of fast food and bling.

Gani Fawehinmi and his Regiment.

A tribal leader regarded as one of the better trained militia units in Zikanga dispite there appearance, due largely to access to UK Gold and  the show “SAS are you tough enough”

28mm African Militia.

I'd forgotten how many modern mini's I had tucked away, impulse purchases from various trade shows for projects that never took off, figures purchased after a holiday read that sounded like a great idea for a project at the time.... (I can recommend Vortex by Larry Bond). Figures purchased because they looked nice and how could i possibly leave a show with change in my pocket.

Most of the reference material for West African Militia of the early 90's are a mix of regular uniforms and civilan dress so pooling all of those odd modern mini's should give me a great opportunity to recycle some of those figures and give others a make over and a genuine use. 

Gang members for zombie games, wasteland warriors for a sci-fi project that needed more figures than I needed that had been languishing under coated but not finished in draws for several years all of these suddenly had a use and could be recruited into the new African Militia.

 

It's been a few years since the completed mini's that have did have, have seen the light of day and my painting style has certainly changed since they last saw action, so I thought they were due a make over if they are to fit in with plans for this project and give a degree of uniformity to the units.

I am more than happy with the first 50 they have a military feel to them, with the odd splash of colour to give them that irregular vibe and the mix of manufactures helps to break up the uniformity.

Copplestone, Gripping Beast's MO-FO range, The Assault Group even a couple of Bobby Jackson's Thugz's make an appearance.

Louis “Legs” Akimbo and his Militia.

Legs is a bit of a nutter but a renowned rabble-rouser. He was thought of as a harmless eccentric but now, since he’s created an armed following nobody’s quite sure.

Jan Yoruba of the Yorubist Peoples Party.

A political agitator distinctly left wing man with Stalinist/Leninist/Maoist tendencies but he seems to pick and choose sentiments that suit him best.

Samuel Lani-Oheck

A failed farmer, failed store-keeper, failed tribal-leader, and failed general and failed politician.

But he is pretty nibble with a machette.

Charity Nsithlan

A warlord who tends to do his own thing and is best left alone.

Nsithlan supporters are made up of bandits, murders and deserters bereft of any political aims or objectives.

Zikanga's Gendarmes Nationale

The personal bodyguard of President Okoye. The GN rarely venture out from the main cities (often in force) and when they do mainly stick to the main road.

Copplestone Castings - Chinese Armed Bandits - The Honghuzi.. Part 2

It's been one of those weeks on the work front, out before it's light and home when it's dark at least Saturday saw some valuable painting time.

Back in May I painted up a unit of Honghuzi or Chinese Bandits for the RJW project, I had a bunch of these from a back of beyond project that never took off, having completed some Russian Cossacks, the Japanese are in need of some mounted reinforcements.

 

During the Russo-Japanese War, the Honghuzi took advantage of the conflict to carry out attacks against Russian forces at any time there were upwards of 10,000 bandits operating in Manchurian area, led by Japanese officers in the pay of Japan, but could easily be paid off to fight for the Russians should he tie of war change.

In other news....
I was fortunate to win a prize on Phyllion's excellent blog - Diary of a Gaming Magpie

A Model Victory by Malcolm Balen.

The book pile is looking a little thin, so perfect timing, a vivid retelling of the Battle of Waterloo, based on unpublished soldiers’ written accounts and the story of William Siborne, an officer who wanted to capture the moment of victory by making the perfect model. Thanks again Phil.

Operation Market Larden - A Day of Lard at Wyvern Wargamers.

Saturday saw the first formal out of the RJW Project at our club event Operation Market Larden, the plan was to have an open day devoted to Richard clarke's excellent Too Fat Lardies rules, the day did not disappoint, over 40 gamers, with 8 different games on offer including the forthcoming Chain of Command hosted by the man himself.

The day had a different feel to some of our previous events such as the Annual Saga event, the attendee's were very much more the "fun" gamer rather than some of the competition players who generally turn out for other events... I expected nothing less given the nature of Rich's rules... 

We have some learn's in terms of the next Lard Day, the Chain of Command rules were hugely popular, so we need to think about how this is balanced out next time.

I was able to put on Two Mud & Blood games during the day hosting two chaps who had made the trip up from from Bristol Steve & Craig. Great to meet fellow gamers who have the same approach to the hobby as we do. Thanks for coming along guys.

Steve's Blog can be found here. Wargaming Addict.

One of our guy's had done an excellent job of scratch building a complete section of trench and some great barrage markers for his WW1 project, but they were perfect for this encouter and an absolute pleasure to fight over.

On to the Action.
Game One.

The Action is set around the Battle of Murken 1905, the very end of the Russian line, the trenches are not extensive, the troops on both sides thinly spread as the main fighting is happening several miles to the West, but someone has to keep the opposition pinned.

Orders are for the Japanese to break into the Trench System in around 2 hours real time.

 The table view from the South, two lines of trenches with wire to their front.

View from the North with high Millet masking the flank and a compound securing the line.

 

The Blinds are deployed and both sides roll away looking to spot their prey.

The Japanese are spotted and rush forward, having committed 75% of their forces to a strong left hook flanking the Russian positions.

The Russian's line trenches looking to pour fire into the advancing Japanese, figures largely from the excellent Tsuba Miniatures.

The Russian's had checked the Japanese advance placing the bulk of their force to the left of the trench system and supported by a HMG to bolster their defences.

Yet more Russian's fill the rear trench works.

 

 The Japanese press on, but begin to pick up Shock points as the they press the Russian left. A section deploys in the Millet field pinning the Russian's in their trenches.

The Tree line serves to slow the Japanese attack and despite a number of valiant charges they are unable to break into the Russian lines.

A marginal victory to the Russians.

Game Two

A very different affair the Russian's concerned about the left flank had strengthen it substantially, but were caught cold and coupled with a poor run of cards which restricted their movement were unable to bring their numbers to bear before the Japanese broke into the trenches.

Russian Infantry line the forward trenches.

 

Once again the Japanese sweep forward, using the additional "Banzi" card which provides them with a bonus move to close with the trench line before the Russians can bring sufficient fire down on them to slow the advance.

The Russian's attempt to rush forward additional forces to cut off this attack, but Friction and Hesitant Troop Cards make the advance a slow process. Reinforcements from Copplestone Castings Back of Beyond Figure range.

 

The Russian lines split in two.

Japanese in the trenches.

Charging down the trench line they catch the Russian defenders cold who rout form their position as the Japanese have over 4x the attack dice of the defenders.

Having hardly caught their breath and hindered by 6 points of shock they are charged by Chinese Honghuzi Bandits who force them to flee to the rear of the trench system, unable to recover for the rest of the game.

Forced to counter attack their own trench, the Russian's suffer the same fate as the Japanese in the first encounter.

Victory to the Japanese.

A cracking couple of games, unfortunately I fear they have only served to add to the painting backlog as I now have a list of "extra's" needed for the next encounter....