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.

Dispatches from the Front XXXI - Welcome to 2024

Well here we are another New Year and the customary review of the past 12 months.

Considering the amount of real life distractions a rather productive year on the gaming front, taken up largely with WW2 and the Western Desert, quite surprising really as it was only meant to be a small project when a member of the club said did you fancy splitting a box, but it ended up turning into forces for both the Commonwealth, French and Germans, with plenty of gaming and a campaign to boot. 

We dabbled with Bolt Action and Chain of Command creating a couple of good house rules which have given us a good experience and a growing collection across several players.... Plenty more planned for 2024.

It was good to get in a couple of fun games of Silver Bayonet, with the return of Claude Canard although he does seem to get picked on in games..  The Hunt for the remaining parts of El-Cid is sure to continue into the new year, but we could see a return to the Middle East of Claude with the next campaign book set in Egypt. 

Our gaming group lost a good wargaming friend in November, Dane (on the left) no matter what we played he seemed to know every rule yet you never saw him read a rule book. He had not been well for several years, but you never saw him complain, in fact the more pain he was in the luckier he seemed to get. One of the founding members of the Wyverns Wargames Club, we had some great games including several all dayers at Salute helping Paul and Sally at Kallistra run their showcase games... Great times... I shall miss our tabletop dust ups.....

So what for 2024?

Well the Germans are in need of some armour if they are to turn the tide in the Tactics II campaign, I had a few pieces gifted over Christmas in the shape of plastic kits that will certainly help. The rise in quality of 3D prints makes the purchase of vehicles so much more affordable so quick order to 3D Valley on E-Bay should give me plenty of extra's for both sides.

The big projects are to finally get the Footsore Kickstarter off the ground and Outremer, it was a big purchase due to those weird days in lock down when I sold some collections for crazy money. I must be honest the weight and volume of shiny metal is a little bit off putting. But if I break them down into the various factions it should be fine.

Not quite sure of the rule set yet, Baron's War is the obvious choice but I am hoping to scratch an itch from over 30 years ago to turn Standard Games hex game into a mini version. With rumours of a new version coming out, it could be a sign of things to come.

I have a hankering for some BIG games with small figures and am leaning towards my first historical period of interest when I first got into gaming. The American War of Independence. A period I have read plenty on although surprising never owned, I have also never painted British Regulars in all my years of gaming.

I am thinking 10mm Pendragon to give me a comprise of a large table but with figures I can still make out the detail on.... Now for a set of rules, base and unit sizes?

I have several taster packs on order to see if I can paint them to a standard I am comfortable with, given the volumes involved.

What else?

Who knows the usual butterfly feeling may take hold, depending on what you watch and listen to, just finished a cracking pod cast on the Aztecs and the Spanish Conquistadors - Well I already have Spanish???

Happy New Year everyone.

No mini's left behind (3) Bolt Action Pin Markers - Western Desert.

Last post of the year before the customary review of 2023, a sweep of the spares box as the last of the Western Desert project enter the paint table together with a few left overs.

I found these hanging around as I was making room for new projects - Foundry BEF and a handful of Africa Korps casualties from Artisan these will be perfect for Pin Markers for Bolt Action or Chain of Command. 

The Brits are wearing the wrong kit but it clears a few more of the hidden lead.... 

Two dice sabots per base should be enough.

That's all folks.... See you next year......

Hittite & New Kingdom Egyptian Chariots.

Running a series of linked games has driven me to complete the last of the bare metal for the Kings of Bronze Project - The adaption of Infamy Infamy by the Two Fat Lardies to the Bronze Age.

The last couple of pieces are extra chariots for the Hittites and NKE's from Warlord games, picked up in one of their annual sales, on face value in bare metal I much prefer the Foundry one's over Warlord, they feel that little bit more sturdy, but once painted and based they look fine and mix well together.

The Hittite addition is another Medium Chariot, although how you are expected to cram another crewman in here is beyond me.

Heavy throwing spear vs bow makes for us interesting contests and adapted uses within engagements.

I figured the final New Kingdom Chariot will be a medium chariot, with bronze barding on the horse and matching protection for the archer.

Then finally mounted Egyptian scouts. I found reference to these in the Warhammer Ancient Battles campaign book, these Foundry figures had been hanging around since the beginning of the Covid years... They will make an interesting scout unit, they might need another pack but for now I am calling these done.

Project complete......

Ok I say complete but looking at the storage boxes now and there is room for another foot unit and a single skirmish unit. so perhaps we might see for more Sea People or some Libyans who knows in the future but for now the draw is empty of any additional spare metal.

Next up the final linked game for this campaign session with an attack on the Hittite camp.

Kings of Bronze - Prisoner of the Pharaoh.

Another dip into the box of spare metal.

These have been hanging around for quite a while, purchased from Foundry I am sure to make up the postage :-) 

They do some nice occasion pieces which can really bring the table to life, in this case Egyptian guards bringing in some prisoners together with a couple of overseers dishing out some justice to a captured Hittite.

I have added in some dice sabots so they can double up as object or shock markers. These will come in very useful for a number of scenario's.

Next up the last of the Ancient foot figures....

Silver Bayonet - Emerald Dragon Club

It's quite nice to flit between periods and topics at the moment, I am embracing my Wargames Butterfly another opportunity to clear some of the figures from the spares cupboard and a new faction for Silver Bayonet Edwardian style...

The war in Manchuria rumbled on and rumours of the weird the strange started to reach the newspapers in Europe.

The stories attracted adventurers and supernatural explorers - none more so than the Emerald Dragon Club with branches from London to Berlin including Port Arthur in Manchuria.

Countess Demitriov,  The leader known only as Victor, Bogdan Kilvov

Eric Wipsnade & Dermont Harris

Boris Kaslov, Dwight Lee & Percy Dumont

The occasional driver for the gang - Louis 'smiler' Letour 

A mix of manufacturers that I actually had lying around complimented by a Foundry Victorian villain pack which had been tucked away in the box of shame for years, The masks were a lovely touch.

These will make for an interesting faction sandwiched between the waring factions and things that go bump in the night :-)

Silver Bayonet - Chinese Honghuzi or Cultists

With Covid stalking the household and Easter plans cancelled, an opportunity for guilt free painting and another bunch of extra's for The Silver Bayonet. 

A number of scenario's call for cultists or bandits so I went with Chinese Honghuzi as part of the Russo-Japanese narrative I thought I would paint up these Foundry Boxers as members of a cult intent on protecting the the Fangshi or other evil forces.

I went for a simple black and red colour uniform to compliment the 'Devils'. Lots of swords and big choppers, as I am writing this it dawned on me that there is a little more than a touch of Karl Douglas about them for those of you of a certain age :-)

These should be fun and something a little different to keep the Russians and Japanese on their toes.

Next up... A return to the Bronze Age.

Kings of Bronze #2 - Hittite Hasty Defence

A rainy bank holiday here in the UK, but an opportunity to give another solo outing, testing the AI rules and Infamy tweaks for warfare in the Bronze Age.

On the far side of Al Shebbeh after a few hours of plundering the town of it's meagre pickings and a handful of slaves. Word reached Overseer Huharmati of Egyptian reinforcements looking to recapture the town. 

Huharmati deploys his forces to meet the attack spreading out across the open plain, he had little idea as to the composition of the forces approaching him, but from the dust on the horizon they appeared to double his number.

Hittite archers lined the wall of the previous owners Palace of the Egyptian vassal state.

Huharmati readied his chariots and sent his chariot runners forward to disrupt the advancing Egyptians.

Fortunately for Huharmati the Egyptians were coming on in a piece meal fashion, poor rolls meant that the bulk of the enemy forces started to enter the fray around turn 4 allowing him to block the narrow road into town.

Acting quickly to block the main street, Huharmati advanced his spearman in ordering them into close order to cover the approach of any Egyptian attackers.

The Hittite infantry slowly advanced. The Egyptians were massing but they were unable to make use of their light chariots in the narrow streets. Egyptian skirmishers fired down on the infantry block but were unable to slow their advance.

Battles can be won on the smallest of margins, the Hittite spearmen charged into the stationary chariot which had out stripped its accompanying Infantry driving it from the table. The advantage was now with Huharmati.

With the main street blocked Huharmati ordered his chariots to the right flank, he spotted a unit of archers advancing on his position. Being a veteran of numerous encounters he knew if he could break key units then the force morale of the enemy could be broken along the entire front.

The Egyptian archer formation loosed a cloud of arrows into the advancing heavy chariots, but time was running out for the attackers, the Hittites chariots circled and attacked from the front and the flank.

Huharmati charged, throwing his heavy spears into the formation and crashing into the unarmoured troops, their leader was killed with over half his men, they broke and ran.

The breaking of the formation, the loss of the officer pushed the Egyptian force morale below 0.

The Egyptian attack faltered and the attackers fell back.

Nice to get a game on the table, the blinds work well and add a real fog of war to encounters, I have a couple of extra units to paint up and hopefully next time I can put a human player on the side of Egyptians and test the rules properly.