Worthington Books - Braveheart Scottish Battles

I have been looking forward to getting my hands on this Worthington Games book. Seeing as I have really enjoyed the Waterloo, Gettysburg and Bismarck games to date (see below, a small point to note - the previous four Worthington games were picked up through Amazon "pay and print" service, yet for some untold reason the print I could only find a physical copy of this game from Second Chance Games (www.secondchancegames.com) and I thank them for their services to wargaming): 

Looking forward to play this with my Scottish relatives. As per the Waterloo game I intend to translate this game to table top - thinking of it as a good use for some 28mm medieval miniatures ;) 

The New Old Game back on the Block: Impetus (2)

Well, apparently these were five years in the making. I really enjoyed Impetus (1) but I have to confess that I did not follow in earnest (there were five extra supplements each of which tinkered with the rule system in small ways) but this dissonance may come in useful as major revisions have brought it to market as a new product (see below, no army lists but plenty of rules - its generating some excitement in my local clubs already - https://twtrb.blogspot.com/2019/02/impetus-2-like-reunion-of-old-rock-band.html#comment-form):

Therefore: It's time to bring out my 28mm Italian Wars Army for some TLC and new additions (courtesy of plenty of Perry 28mm plastic), base up my 28mm Imperial Roman Army, crack out the 28mm WOTR potential from the various Perry boxes and re-use my DBA+ collections of 15mm Greeks, Macedonians and Persians.

Reference: Impetus Forum
http://impetus.darkbb.com/

Impetus: Renaissance versus Medieval

My 350 points Italian Wars Renaissance army deployed in a compact formation. My newest unit (of Mounted Arquebusiers) had reached the 'minimum painting' threshold to be allowed in my eyes to take to the field (see below):

I was facing a Burgundian Ordinance (packed with Wars of the Roses English Long-bowmen) medieval army, the nearest historical opponent I could find on the Impetus battle club night. It was a long, long, long line of Men-At-Arms/Spears backed by a rear rank of Longbows for the most part, with no cavalry (see below):

The battlefield was constrained by impassable and rough terrain, leaving a Central Valley for my invading Pike Blocks to concentrate on. As my army (quite unusually) was devoid of artillery and I was facing an army of massed bows, there was no point waiting so I advanced. The only subtle thing I did was to swing my left wing of cavalry to the left to get them out of arc from the dreaded English Longbowmen (see below):

Onwards came the colourful Italians, engaging the Burgundian skirmish line and having the better of the affair. Through a hail of arrows the Pike advanced into contact. After an initial in stately Italian recoil the momentum of the huge mass of infantry was the deciding factor and the Burgundian line stated to buckle (see below):

The embarrassing buckle turned into dangerous bulb and although losing the supporting smaller Italian Pike Block, the main (three layers thick and with the C-in-C General in it) Italian Pike Block swept the Burgundian/English infantry away. On the flanks both Burgundian Knights and Germanic Mounted  Men-At-Arms were waiting their chance to test the mettle of the remaining Burgundian/English infantry. However they were not needed as the Burgundian/English had to their dismay also lost both of their leaders to the sharp "pointy points" of the victorious Italian Pikemen. The contest was therefore effectively over (see below):

I sat dazed an befuddled at the result. I had not played Impetus in such a long while and had forgotten how literally bursting with surprises it can be. The combat is quite brutal and the fact that the Pike Blocks could rasp their way through the English infantry came as a complete shock to me. Equally stunned was the Burgundian/English commander's disbelief in his longbow backed infantry had failed to stop the Pike, the multi-armed phalanx being less successful that perhaps "blocks" of pure bow would have been. Still it (Impetus) had something which will bring me back to the well again and again!

My goal is to raise a 600 Italian Renaissance point army, which means at least another Pike Block is needed. The bigger the armies the more the 'feel' of the battle changes. The test to me will be two wings (mounted) and a center (infantry) command. First up I must finish off the painting on my Mounted Harquebusiers before I move onto more Pike!