All (Ancient) Greek to me! Mortal Gods - My Reboot

I purchased Mortal Gods a while back in pre-Covid days with noble intentions of painting up a warband or two of Ancient Greeks but alas it languished on the plastic pile of shame for years. No more. Their time has come (see link below for more details):

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/270626/mortal-gods-skirmish-games-in-ancient-greece

I have the basic boxed game set and have assembled the basic miniature (Victrix) that came with it, which is a start. Sadly (as of time of writing) the Athenian and Spartan "special" boxes are now hard (nay impossible) to come by, bar purchasing individual separate components by Footsore Miniatures, so it look as if I am "bog standard" Greeks - which is fine by me (see below, the starting point of Mortal Gods): 

Dusting off the Mortal Gods box from the loft, I chose into two opposing sides to paint up (see below, two Lochos and their respective warbands, I am calling one Athens and one Spartan [as per the figures look and feel] despite not having the "special" faction attribute cards): 

Given I was in the 28mm Greek "make it mode", I decided to also assemble the Warlord Games 28mm hoplite miniatures I acquired from a "CoW Bring and Buy" sale [although I mostly do the buying]. They fit in well alongside Victrix (see below, I hope to give Mortal Gods a run out at CoW 2026); 

The figures are PVA-sand based and "washed" brown (see below, they are now also in their Mortal Gods movement trays which are a nice touch to the game system): 

Starting with the light psilio slingers it is time to paint them in the Greek fashion (see below, I deliberately chose the "light forces" to get my eye in, I am also resisting the opportunity to use contrast paints but rather I am using Vallejo Game Colour with MiG Ultra Matt varnish to dull everything down): 

The slingers are coming along nicely (see below, in Mortal Gods a group of three figures together on a base are referred to as "companions" - not to be confused with "The Companions" of Alexander The Great): 

Light troops are based on circular bases (see below, they move together as one block in the rules, which cuts down nicely on the level of "fiddle" moving figures about, all told there are approximately 12 [small game] to 25 [medium-largish] figures per side in a typical Mortal Gods game): 

An unusual figure in "Greek" sides in Mortal Gods (yes there are rules for Persians), is the archer, although Athens has its special "Archer Marines" that can come ashore from triremes (see below, this chap is from Victrix): 

The lights for "one side" are done (see below, all possible types - one companion base of each comprising of (3) slingers, (3) javelinmen and the more useful (3) peltasts, but the the archer is a generally just a singleton [as there were just not that many archers in a typical warband], it does not attract the eros passion from the ladies):  

Time to move onto the hoplites, the sexy side of the warband (see below, the first companion base of hoplites is in the centre of the pack on a triangular base, but more on that later): 

A close up of some javelinmen (see below, a rather bedraggled and opportunistic set of characters who are best at throwing pointy things at and then running away [fast] from dangerous things or sneaking up on flanks or from behind): 

A closer "close-up" (see below, I took my time and really enjoyed doing these javelin man, but because there were no really hard or difficult areas to paint they were done fairly fast): 

Meanwhile, the hoplites were up next and the magic number of hoplites is nine (see below, three bases of hoplite companions can "join together" to form a "phalanx"- which is classed as a combat gift/skill, allowing the troops to absorb more punishment and perform more actions because of the trained cohesion of the troops - but the phalanx can only go straight forward or pivot [powerful but awkward to handle]): 

The basic painting is done, but I returned and experimented with the Little Big Man Studio shield decals (see below, I was really impressed with the results - once I got the hang of putting them on [I did use Micro Sol and Micro Set] and repainted over bits to blend it in to the figure):  

Finally these Greeks are getting dressed and ready for battle, let's do those hoplite shields next!

Vietnam Air Combat: Intense Missile & Gun Combat

Flying straight level and fast, I hear over the radio we are in combat with something I cannot see yet. I can see a friendly fighter pair so a vector in on them (see below). I also make my first mistake in the game, "Do you know what it is yet?" No peeking ahead. 

Next turn I am still flying straight and lever but faster, still trying to see the enemy. My thumb is twitching over the after burner button. I cannot resist, I press it and decide to add to the atmosphere with a home made sound effect of an afterburner (or rather a man with a runny nose and cold pretending to be a jet plane at an air show, dignity none, stares quite a few). Meanwhile the first pair of Mig 17's are tangling with the Phantom's. Pity the Phantom's only arm after three hexes and yes no close in guns for the Americans but plenty of cannon fire for the NVAF! (see below): 

A 'lucky hit' and a Phantom starts to burn (see below). I suddenly realise my first mistake, I should have started warming up my missile release battery (it takes two turns) as soon as I knew we were in combat. I will be in combat but my missiles won't be able to fire! You have to be careful as the battery life is only twelve combat turns.

I see the enemy. I am flying straight and very, very fast. I have also climbed a level to be at the American's height. I am not looking forward to the next move as I will have to figure out how to turn and work out what legal move I have made (remember the charts?). My wing man Russian fires at a Phantom and misses and a Phantom returns fire at me. One Phantom is so close I can read his tactical markings. If he survives Vietnam he'll probably make senator one day (see below):     

A USAF Phantom pilot ejects initiating an infamous Search And Rescue (SAR) mission behind enemy lines. Meanwhile I successfully work out how to do a legal turn, even turning on the after burners (with the obligatory sound effect). This lines me up nicely for a missile strike from the future senator (see below). Luckily he's pulled too many G's this go so cannot release his Sparrowhawk this turn . Next turn I am probably dead meat. However 'three' Mig 17's are lined up on his tail (count them, see below): 

The Phantom is mortally wounded. The pilot ejects, initiating a second US SAR mission. With two Phantoms down  and out numbered 3:1 the USAF jets decide to bug-out and live to fight another day (see below).  

Intense, but extremely good fun, though it took three hours to play a short game of five combat turns, but we were all new to the game. This scenario seems weighed heavily against the Americans, but historically they found themselves missile heavy with no short range armament. Worse still, because there were so many friendly US jets in the skies above Vietnam to avoid "blue-on-blue" incidents visual confirmation was required before missiles could be fired. To get a good visual you find yourself within 'gun range' and the NVAF know they have the advantage if they can stay close. A cruel vicious circle which partly explained why the US kill ratio dropped from a massive 16:1 in the Korean War to an almost evens 2:1 in the Vietnam War. Worse still the US investment in each plane and air crew required to fly it was much heavier.
  

Check Your Six - Jet Age (Vietnam)

I turned up at the Hartlepool club mulling over ancient Greek and Persian army lists, only to find myself flung into the cockpit of a North Vietnamese fighter plane. Looked right and found a pair of friendly camo 1/600 Mig-17's (see below):

I was flying a pair of Mig-21's (gasp of air in sudden appreciation of the state of the art Soviet aeroplane design) armed with the "people's air-to-air" missiles and a large cannon. Psst, don't tell anybody but one on the left with the blue nose cone is really a Russian, wink (see below):

Oh, the Imperialist 'Hunting Dogs" flying something that looks like the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek, the F4 Phantom with lots of missiles, but no short range guns (see below):

Looking down at my cockpit control panel, I had a sickly sort of sinking feeling, as it looked slightly more complicated than the WWI Canvas Eagles the rule system I was told "Check Your Six " was related to (see below):   

Oh look, there's also another side with pretty diagrams on it (see below). Most of them seem to go sort of straight and very fast, that's my plan :)

Meanwhile on another table a general dressed in blue with a nicely based horse army of late Sassanid Persians was facing a "horse heavy" opponent whose army was in the process of re-basing "sabot" fashion (as in terrain base with a slot for a DBx army element to drop into) for Impetus (see below):   

The roar of the jets brought me forward two thousand plus years.

Next: Combat