Aztec Warband - Wargames Atlantic

Purchased back in January the Aztec's finally made it to the paint table.

It's amazing what the thought of a new project does to give you a nudge to get things cleared more on that in the coming weeks.

The Wargames Atlantic Aztec's go together really well with plenty of choice on the sprues for the various warrior classes. At this stage I went for a mishmash of types, but will fill out the ranks as the units expand.

The aim will be to use an adapted version of Lion Rampant, their is an excellent series of articles on the - I Live with Cats: Queztalcoatl Blog with a home grown rule set Queztacoata Rampant it will be great to give them a runout in the coming weeks once the last of the box set is complete.

   

First up a group of skirmishers these are commoners, perhaps their first battle or levied troops who have not been involved in action before. Issued with missile weapons to harass the enemy. A skirmish unit in Lion Rampant.

Next up a more experienced class of warrior allowed to carry the macuahuitl as they have proven themselves in hand to hand combat.

Finally a group of Telpochyahqui warriors - young men who have been successful in taking a captive,  a warrior was allowed to wear the ichcahuipilli, a quilted jacket, some carry the Chimalli a shield without feathers.

Just so I remember when the next box appears from the family....

Painting Guide.

Spear Tips - Gun Metal Blue

Tong or padded Jacket - F Raw Linen Light 30C, Boneyard 9B, Rawhide Light 11C, GW Corax White, GW Rakarth Flesh.

Bag & Quiver - Moss Shade 29A

Sling & Spear Binding - GW XV88

Stone - GW Dawnstone Grey

Spear, Arrow - GW Mournfang Brown

Club, Bow Shaft F Bay Brown Shade 42A

Insight of Shield - Chestnut Light 53C

Flesh - South American Flesh Shade 119A, Hight 119C

Wash - Army Painted Soft Tone

Next up 10 more warriors - As a child of the 70's I can't get past Animal Kwackers :-)

The Elizabethan Zombie Chronicles #8 - Flight of the Queen

2 years have passed since the last campaign game.... gulp..... 

But with a free day, a chance to get all the toys on the table, England a green and pleasant land, but all is not well as across the land plague pits and grave yards now litter the countryside.

The English Army are on the March escorting the Queen to a place of safety as the dead stir, blocking there way a Spanish invasion force looking to capture the monarch.

Outnumbered the English lords hatch a plan to get the Queen away, a small sail boat awaits but only if they can slip the Spanish net.

The walled village had a single gateway marking it's entrance with marsh and swamps to the right and left which has thus far protected the village from all foes.

A rush for the gate English and Spanish forces close on the main road in to village, he who holds the gate controlled the field.

The noise of battle brings forth unwanted foes, the resin could appear from any of the 6 plaque pits but the vast majority appear to surface in front of the Spanish lines.

As the Spanish put the zombies and other evil beasts to the sword the English made their move for the gate.

But the English countryside was no place to loiter and as the trained band held the line the Queen was ambushed by a foul Werebeast, who killed one of the monarchs lady in waiting before it was dispatched.

The Spanish rushed the English as the defenders had their own trouble, the Queen was forced to swallow her pride and wade through the mud and muck to escape the Invaders. Oh the shame..... where was Rayleigh when you needed him :-)

The Queen was away and heading for the sail boat....

A close run affair the Spanish were soundly beating the English until the dead rose and distracted the invaders form their true goal, the English were able to hold the gate sacrificing their trained bands to keep the path open.

The adoption of the Too Fat Lardies, Infamy Infamy rules worked really well and kept the game moving quickly to a conclusion, even if the Queen had the shame of having to wade through the swamp.

Dispatches from the front XXIV - Digital down loads & Kickstarters

Months without a major spend and then several come along at once.

The next 6 months could be really busy on the paint table. First up Baron's War Outremer and perhaps Andy's most successful yet, a monstrous £94 grand.... In a fit of madness I ended up going all in.....

Wow that's quite a lot of bare metal..... but this is perhaps a project that I have been on cusp of starting for over 30 years, right from when Standard Games brought out their version Outremer variant.

At the height of lockdown I played several games over Zoom of Standard Games wonderful Siege and if I wanted to recreate the Siege Warfare element I would need a fort to defend.... I was quick enough to pick up one of the few resin offerings.... What a fantastic piece of kit, perhaps the biggest one off purchase in several years. Roll on 2023 when delivery takes place.

Meanwhile like buses you back one and another comes along, whilst a game in it's own right the figures will make a great addition to the Elizabethan project.

Meanwhile a number of companies had offers to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in the UK, the Too Fat Lardies had a 20% reduction which prompted me to make a couple of purchases for future games. The Swamp Fox has a great list of scenario's which I figured can be transferred to Haiti and Blitzkrieg 1940 gives me a whole raft of army lists for the main combatants in the early years of the war.

I do like to paint under pressure so with fresh lead landing in September, I best crack on and clear the decks as projects are starting to pile up.

The Elizabethan Zombie Chronicles #6 - Royal Ambush

The first game of 2021 albeit a solo affair.

Back in March last year we saw how good Queen Elizabeth had escaped London as the dead rose from the plague pits and over ran the city, filling the streets of the capital and tearing apart all who stood in their way. The open countryside gave some respite as the party headed towards Windsor and potential safety.. See here.

As mentioned in an earlier post I had a hankering for an ambush scenario and this gave me an opportunity to give the werewolves a run out and the rule tweaks for Infamy Infamy. Each Werewolf was an Elite unit in there own right with a leader.

Inspired by Last of the Mohicans as the winter sun started to set the woods fell silent as the royal column made it's way West. Adding in some solo mechanisms, I added 6 additional blank chits to the evil side and a chit for every unit and spread them either side of column, so I would not know where the concentration of attackers would be.

The column had to make it across the table or defeat the attackers, I placed the cavalry at the front, the Queen was nestled in the centre of the column with pike to the front and rear. The column had upto 1D3 turns before the attackers were added to the bag.

So the scene is set can the Queen escape the tooth and claw hidden amongst the undergrowth?

The wolves were weighted to the front and rear of the column. where a group of matchlock men had turned to fire on a rushing werewolf exposing their rear to the advancing wolves.

Bad news first chit out of the bag the wolves.... who tore into the unloaded matchlock men, who fled towards the treeline and untold horrors. The wolves turned towards the Queen.

Fearing for the Queen's safety the Demi Lancers rushed towards the rear of the column only for Werewolves to charge into the front of the column. The Matchlock men fired but were unable to stop the werewolf closing and inflicting masses of shock on the defenders who fled, allowing the half man to close switch his attention to the supporting pike block.

Meanwhile at the rear of the column Sir Daniel Fanshaw rushed to meet the wolf threat driving them from the field. 

For now the Queen was safe, she and her hand maidens move towards the safety of the Royal Pike block as the Demi Lancers moved to support the line from the advancing lycanthropes.

Before the lancers could bring their lancers to bare the creatures were on them, the fight was bitter and the lancers fled, but a number of the werewolves had been wounded, each blow weakened the forces of darkness force morale as the Queen and here retinue hung on, watching as another unit was set upon by another foul creature.

As darkness fell as quickly as they had appeared the werewolves were gone, but the column survived and began to form up and continue upon it's way, battered but unbowed.

A fun encounter touch and go from start to finish, the werewolves are savage inflicting double shock in the first round, but their force morale can be shaken for every time they are forced backwards or killed in combat which felt quite good for the feel I am looking for.

Next up a few more of the evil oddities to put them through there paces.

Elizabethan Zombie Wars - The Cardinals Black Guard.

As June comes to an end the last of the Spanish come off the paint table for the Elizabethan Zombie Wars. These were a gift from way back when Covid19 was a foot note on the overseas new reports.

I wanted to give these mounted Arquebusiers a dark feel to them so the creation of the Cardinal's Guard seemed to be the perfect vehicle for these Spanish troops.

Mounted on Warhorses and armed with the latest in Imperial firearms they should be a useful addition to the Spanish invaders and be a tough opponent for the English and the Undead.

The uniforms are styled on a number of the musketeer movies as after all the villains are always dressed in black :-)

The standard and bugler are matched to the colours of the existing foot troops. The leader of the cavalry troop are led by Capt Tadeo Sancho a seriously nasty piece of work.

Meanwhile a cavalry troop need something to escort so why not a wagon... 

A nice piece of kit from the guys at Warlord. I am sure it will come in handy in future scenario's.

So June is over....

A good month clearing down a number of "fillers" from the Far East to Africa, next up a trip to Egypt with either more Ottomans for the 1798 French expedition or with Infamy Infamy landing today perhaps 1300BC and the New Kingdom Egyptians and Hittites, with a couple of tweaks to make the rules fit the period.

Either way July will be Hot, Sunny and Sandy......

English Demi Lancers - Thoroughbreds and Ponys.....

Another big day in the annals of my wargaming hobby. With these three Demi-Lancers exiting the paint table the English faction is complete.....

At least until the show scene sparks into life hopefully come November...

These three are from Foundry's Elizabethan range I already had one painted up from when I first started the Irish project several years back so this should give me a complete unit to field and counter the Spanish cavalry.

Perhaps I should have checked the box first!!!!

The one I already had was from Hoya Key - Previously Graven Images and I realised that scale might be a problem as the chap is an absolute monster - A true Big Man... He will just have to be a homage to the Mountain from Game of Thrones :-)

Some manufacturers you can normally get away with when based and painted.

But adding this chap to the unit somehow makes the new cavalry look less impressive next to him, more like pony club than impact cavalry.

Next up.... The last of the evil stuff.....