Basic Impetus, Classical Indian Vs Later Achaemenid Persian

 Hi Guys

I played a solo game of Basic Impetus today, just to get back into the mind set to paint some ancients. 

I went with the standard list for both armies ( Basic Impetus doesn't have a points system, but every army has a few options to swap out , upgrade or downgrade some units) and kept the terrain fairly simple as I hadnt played BI in quite a while.

All figures are 15mm, painted by me, and are mostly Museum & Xyston, with a few unknowns in there. 

Turn 1 was everyone doing a general advance and the Persian cavalry on their right flank going out wide. 

Turn 2 was closing to spitting disatnce, witht the Persians causing some disruption with missile fire .

A Persian scythed chariot closes with their social betters with bad intent.

Turn 3 saw Thracian foot charge at skirmishers who fled, got caught and destroyed. The follow up move brought the Thracians into melee with an archer unit who the also destroyed, but having punched through were now at a bit of a loss. The Pesian General rides down some lowly skirmishers while the Saka cavalry charge some Indian archers and come to an abrupt halt. Indian Elephants chase off some skirmishers & others bounce of Persian light foot.  The scythed chariot charged the Indian heavy chariots but comes off worse & gets destroyed.

Inian General on Elephant with dainty parasol, while Saka cavalry bear down on lowly archers.

Indian Heavy foot have dispatched the Greek Hoplites, but taken some damage in return.  

Archers struggle with Saka cavalry while the Indian cavalry lines up an ill concieved charge...

Turn 4 

The Indian heavy chariot caught the Scythian light horse from behind & destroys it, while the Indian General on Elephant barely manages to dispatch some skirmishers. Indian medium cavaly, charges gloriously into the Thracians and get wiped out without causing a scratch in return. 

The hard pressed archers who had struggled against the Saka cavalry finaly force them backnout of contact, when an immpressive volley from their neighboring archers destroys the elite Saka. The damaged archer unit doesnt have long to savour the victory as they are finished of by a javelin volley from the Thracians (easily the Persians most effective unit in todays game !)

Javelin armed light foot square up against an elephant, while the Persian General sneaks by

Turn 5

The Persian General cant resist getting a flank charge in, even though horse vs Elephant is a poor choice...

Not much else happens beyond a little manouvering as most units are quite battered by this stage. 

Scruffy hillmen with nowhere to go. 

The Indian heavy foot and the battered chariot sandwich a unit of light foot, who exit the battlefield.

The Persian General tries a flank charge on the Elephant but it doesnt end well for him..

During Turn 6, which was to be the last turn anyway, the Persian army broke. The loss of the Saka & the Hoplites were costly along with some other low value troops, but the death of the General took them past their break point , the scythed chariot doesnt count towards this as the have a morale value of zero, as no one expects them to last long. 

The Indians have sustained quite a few casualties, but all are low value troops , so they are no where near breaking. 

I had good fun playing this, it was nice to play a system I havent used in a while & the rules came back to me very quickly. 

Phil

 Hi 

Peter came over last week for a game of Basic Impetus. I painted up a Classical Indian army, (mostly from Museum Miniatures with a few Forged in Battle units ) ages ago and wanted to get them on the table, so we went with Classical Indian vs Alexanders Macedonians.

We had a great game , but unfortunately, I got so caught up in the game, I forgot to keep notes , or take many pictures. So no real context, just a scattering of random in game shots that may not be in sequence...

We finished the first game quite quickly, so had time for a second game, for which we swapped armies. 

I managed to loose both games, but with different armies. I really like the Indian army, it has an unusual composition and is very colourful on the table. 

The Macedonian Companions with the blonde gobshite just visible.

One unit of Indian Elephants , being screened by some of the most useless cavalry in the game.

The Phalanx advances with undeserved confidence.

Macedonian left wing, composed of Thessalian cavalry, light cavalry , peltasts and mercenary Hoplites.

Nelly is surrounded by long pointy things

Some pike about to become a speed bump.

It's all getting a bit messy.

Indian longbows proved their worth in both games.

Massed longbows, a great bunch of lads. 

Things are about to get stompy..

Peter lining up the Macedonians for the second game.

Line up for the second game , with fresh coffee....

Never hit a Hittite

 We had another bash with Basic Impetus this morning, with Peter fielding the Hittites against my New Kingdom Egyptians. I was hoping for a different result than last time, and  I got it. 

It was worse. 

Waaayy worse. 

I came acropper once one of my chariot units got pinned down on my left flank by some light infantry. 

My infantry in the centre should have been a match for their Hittite counterparts, but clearly no-one had told them that and they struggled to hold the centre.

The Hittite chariots proved decisive, using missile attacks to weaken my infantry before charging home, and continuing on after using my troops as speed bumps. 

My general tried to do the same and got stuck  and mobbed. 

Eventually, my casualties piled up and the army reached and quickly passed its break point, survivors fleeing the field after only breaking a single Hittite unit. 

A disappointing result, but a fun game, which is all that matters.  

New Kingdom Egyptians ( By Red Copper)

 New Kingdom Egyptians ( By Red Copper)

I just finished up  ( for now) my latest army for Basic Impetus, a New Kingdom Egyptians from  Red Copper Miniatures. They are usually available as true 15mm, but Campaign Miniatures offers them in 18mm as well, so that was what I chose. 

They are printed in a very study but flexible resin. Clear up is easier than metal figures and the detail is superb. They are effectively 28mm models printed smaller, so the fine detail is what you would expect in the larger scale. They also possess a lovely degree of animation, and a nice selection of poses within the range, so there is a sense of dymanism and motion to them .

There is heavy foot and massed archers in the range, along with the obigatory chariots , including one of Ramases II himself. These are particularly lovely and energetic. There is also a number of support troops available ; Numidian spearmen & skirmishers and ferocious looking Lybian mercenary warband types, looking suitably invincible.

I usualy stick to DBM basing for most of my ancients, so they will be compatible with everything else, but as this is my first foray into 15mm Bronze Age, there was nothing to match with, so I used Impetus bases, which allow for a more interesting figure lay out, and a desert theme for the bases, to better fit the setting. I will continue this with the Hittites, Assyrians & Sea Peoples armies. 

The Whole army , perched atop an Ikea storage tin

A close up of the Egyptian Infantry and archers with  vassal skirmishers 

6 chariots ( 3 units ) so far with some of the mercenary troops.

 

Skirmishers and the Royal Guard heavy foot unit behind.

Lybian Mercenaries  adding a bit of barbaric splendor ( and a dangerous charge bonus).


The range is a joy to paint. I hope to have their rivals, the Hittites finished & table ready shortly for a few games of Basic Impetus & King David.