Indian Summer: 25mm Minifigs Mauryan Indian Army

Ellis Con in Danielson, CT (link to Facebook Event Page) is only a little over 4 weeks away now (Saturday, November 15th  so if I am going to run my games of Legio Quaternarius successfully, it is past time to get on with shaking the preparations out!  As part of that process, I dug out my vintage 25mm Minifigs Mauryan Indian army, which will be one of the four armies to be played.

 

Shot of the entire Indian army deployed; 24 units plus the General. I hope to give these veteran troops (painted back in Medical school circa 1979) an application of Magic Wash before the convention. 

A more general overview shot of the army from behind...

and one from the front (note the vintage "bookcase" games in the background!) 

Right flank of the Army from the right side

Next the center

Then the left flank of the army.

Left Flank from the rear.

and the center

and the right flank.

Left flank from the front

and the center

and finally the Left flank.

Here's my own "Army List" for this army for Legio Quaternarius:

#3 Mauryan India     (350 - 200 BC)

QTY	Unit Description	Unit Type	Cost	Subtotal
3	Indian Elephants	El*B	16	48
2	Heavy Chariots	HCh*B	15	30
2	Light Cavalry	LC*J,Sh	9	18
2	Medium Cavalry	MC*J,Sh	10	20
7	Indian Archers	MI*2H,B, No Sh	9	63
2	Indian Javelinmen	MI*J, 2H, Sh	9.5	19
2	Indian Spearmen	MI*SS,2H,Sh	9.5	19
2	Skirmishers	LI*B,2H, No Sh	5	10
2	Light Bolt Throwers	ENG	12.5	25
1	General	General	25	25
25	TOTALS			277

Special Rules:

All Indian Elephants are+15 on Morale and +10 in Combat

All Indian Infantry is -10 on Morale

Indian Cavalry and Chariots never suffer disorganization due to the proximity of Elephants

The Army has a total of 96 Infantry, 20 Cavalry, 2 Four-horse Chariots, 6 Elephants (I've borrowed two from my Sassanid army), 2 bolt throwers with 4 crew figures, plus the General; 

Years ago, I had made a square grid using 2 x 3 foot sheets of Masonite, painted green, and then drew on a 3" grid with a wide black  magic marker. That worked well but was heavy to store, and over time, the boards gradually warped in storage (a flood or two in the basement didn't help - we now have a sump pump and a generator! 

A number of years ago, while we were driving back from a Historicon in Lancaster, Joe and I were shooting the war games breeze as usual. We had seen the gorgeous little terrain layout for the National Flames of War Tournament laid out in the auditorium. Although he disavows any recollection of these events "Mission; Impossible!" style, as I was thinking out loud about lightweight grids for use in tabletop gaming, Joe gave me the idea of using the heavy duty brown paper that can be purchased in large rolls for very little at Home Depot and similar DIY stores. A trip thereto revealed that it came in 30" wide rolls - so I cut two equal lengths, and used wide masking tape to join them together. That yielded a surface almost 72 inches across and 64 inches deep. 

I sprayed a mottled light green pattern on top of the already light brown paper, and it actually looked pretty good. I then drew a 4" grid onto it using a black ball point pen and a yardstick. The resultant grid was 14 x 14 squares, with some space to spare on all sides. For this game, I think I am going to use that extra space to add another row of squares to all four sides, increasing the grid to 16 x 16 (256 squares), so as to not have the flanks  be too secure; no unit may start more than three squares on to the table, and units may not start in the 2 rows of squares to either flank, either.

We had a light frost overnight on Sunday morning of Columbus Day weekend, followed by a gloriously bright, clear and warm day with many more that followed, thus meeting at least some of the definitions for Indian Summer. That inspired me to take some Fall pictures of our area, a bit before the elusive "peak color" for this year. This shot was taken on the border between Bridgewater, where I live, and New Milford where my office and Hospital are located. This is looking more or lees South from CT Route 67. The tall mound in the midground is Lover's Leap, now a State Park. Apropos to my last musings about the role of population density, it can be seen that although I live in the Northeast of the US, in my area, the population density is not that high@!  In fairness, there are actually quiet a lot of houses that are obscured by all the trees of our area, but still, you get the idea!

Lover's Leap (in true summer), overlooks the e gorge on the Housantonic River where the daughter of Chief Waramaug, Princess Lillinonah, is said to have met her death in the (then) treacherous rapids, along with her lover who leaped into the water in an attempt to save her, but tragically drowned in the attempt himself. Such at least is the legend!  Bald Eagles nest in this area, and are often seen gliding in the skies above. We'll continue of a brief Fall Tour of New Milford, the largest town geographically in the state of Connecticut. 

New Milford Hospital, where I have admitted and treated patients for 30 years. It is located less than 100 yards from the Green..

Located on the tall hill overlooking the center of  the Town of New Milford, is this unusual Masonic Hall, St. Peter's Masonic Temple. 

The interior of the Hall is notable for the stained glass windows and checkered linoleum floor, without much other ornamentation being seen when it is used for non Masonic events.

Interior of the Temple, from the Lodge's website. 

Hiking further up the rather steep Hill (which continues up to the private Canterbury School located atop it) gives a nice view down upon the center of Town. Little wonder our area sees heavy motor vehicle traffic "leaf peeping" in mid October!

Looking from the top of the Green; if it was earlier in the day there would have been a busy farmer's Market on the green, selling local produce, most of it organically grown. New Milford has the longest Town Green in the state; at least that's our claim, and we're sticking to it!

The First Congregational Church of New Milford, established circa 1716 (the present building on the Green was dedicated in 1833). The church's carillon plays every half hour during the day; as I was taking this shot, it was the "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's wonderful 9th Symphony. Entirely fitting!

St. John's Episcopal Church, also on the Green. Established in 1746. Most New England towns of any size have a Congregational Church (descended from the original Puritan churches, although now very progressive, in colonial times and for decades thereafter, it was required to establish such a church before an application for incorporation as a town could be approved), and an Episcopal church (aka the Church of England prior to the Revolution) right in the center of town. 

Further South on the Green, the red brick building is Town Hall, and was built on the site of Roger Sherman's homestead. He lived bin New Milford from 1743 to 1760, and was an active member of the Congregational Church. He later moved to New Haven, where he later became the city's first Mayor. Roger Sherman (b. 1721 , d 1793) "served on the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence, and was also a representative and senator in the new republic. He was the only person to sign all four great state papers of the U.S.: the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson said of him: "That is Mr. Sherman, of Connecticut, a man who never said a foolish thing in his life." [citation from Wikipedia]. Mr. Sherman was the originator of the "Connecticut Compromise", which resulted in the representation of each State being according to its population  in the House, but equal in the Senate. The neighboring town of Sherman, Connecticut (originally a part of New Milford itself, as indeed was Bridgewater as well) is named in his honor. 

View from New Milford Hospital towards East street. The ridge in the background is known as Second Hill. 

Another view of Second hill, this one being from the parking lot of my office. 

I hope you haven't found this limited Autumn tour of my area too boring! Let me conclude by celebrating a gorgeous Fall day with the words of the Hymn to Joy, words by Henry van Dyke and set to Beethoven's music:

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,
God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flow’rs before Thee,
Op’ning to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
Drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness,
Fill us with the light of day!

Peter