New Rules Pages

I've just created new pages on the blog that contain various rules variants. The first five of them are adaptations of One Hour Wargames for the Great Northern War, Crimean War, War of the Triple Alliance, Franco-Prussian War and Napoleonic Wars. All of them contain my simple command variation and base removal. There are little bits inserted here and there designed to reflect the different aspects of warfare in the various conflicts, hopefully without unbalancing the system too far.

A French Revolutionary game - all units based as in the rules.

Action in the Crimea

The sides line up in Livonia - GNW action from last year

Prepared for battle - the FPW is a project in progress

As is the War of the triple Alliance

The other ruleset is Eagle Rampant for the Gallic Wars. This was the final variant of Lion Rampant I settled on for Caesar in Gaul, before writing a variant of the Punic Wars for Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy.

One of the things about any rules that I write or adapt is that they invariably reflect the figures collection that I have to hand. They don't aim to encompass all possibilities for any period - as they are for my amusement, they really don't need to. My brief for games that I like to play is pretty straight forward. They can't be too complicated - I want to play the game not the rules. I don't want them to drag on - 1 to 2 hours is my favoured resolution time. They have to give a challenging game on a smallish scale - my pocket projects are all about a dozen units or less per side. One Hour Wargames fits the bill for all three criteria, although there are aspects that I have to add in - command and base removal for instance - because they fit with my 'idea' of a wargame.

When I have accumulated the figures and playtested the rules, I'll put the FoW variant for the Indo-Pakistani War up here. I can't imagine Battlefront will be too interested in such an obscure period despite having all of the vehicles and figures necessary.

All of the rules are intended to be 'live'. I will put any amendments I make as a I play into them so that they are up to date with what I am playing. Please feel free to use them, link to them and add and delete things as you see fit. If they are your cup of tea, I hope you enjoy them. If not, maybe you'll get some ideas from them.

Nate

Viking archers

The latest painting for Geoff, some Gripping Beast Viking archers.

The photos are a bit washed out. My phone doesn't seem to be taking photos as good as it used too, and I have no real idea why - whether it is the lighting or if I'm zooming in too much or what the deal is. I might have to go back to using the camera, which would be a pain because from my phone the photos just automatically upload - look mum, no cords.

Anyway, I've got another dozen figures to paint for Geoff, 40 for Craig, and then it will be Christmas and I'll relax a bit. I did some trial basing with the Marian Romans for Eagle Rampant (I only had 10 15 x 15mm bases, so this isn't a full unit).

I might paint these guys up between commissions.

Nate

Made it to the funny papers

Sorry for a brazen piece of self-publicity here, but I've had my first wargaming article published in the most recent Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy magazine (#80). I'm the culprit for the attempt to adapt Lion Rampant to the First Punic War.

Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy #80

I got my digital copy yesterday and was very pleased with the job Guy has done in presenting them.

I originally submitted them as my Gallic Wars version and was asked to turn it into a Punic Wars version to fit the theme of this issue. The playtesting that I did was done with a lot of proxy figures and a plastic Schleich rhino instead of an elephant. I've since bought a Crusader minis elephant, but it hasn't been put together yet, as well as some Triarii. As I haven't actually finished painting my Gallic Wars figures yet, the Punic Wars probably won't be finished until next year, but it's nice to know that I have a set of rules ready to go when it is.

I'll post my most recent Gallic Wars variant on the blog soon. In the meantime if you are interested comment below and I'll e-mail them to you.

In the meantime, thank you Guy, for the opportunity to give a little more back to the community and for running such a fantastic magazine. If you're reading this and don't get WSS, all I can say is - buy it! It is well worth the pittance being asked for it, even if it does publish people like me!

Nate

Letting it all hang out

The latest unit to be finished for Eagle Rampant is the Gaestati. I've tried to put a bit of effort into the shield designs as patterned clothing wasn't really an issue when painting them.

For Gaul and nudist colonies everywhere!

'A strategically placed shield is so much more tasteful than the exhibitionist to my left... and right'

The first of these guys were painted before I received the Painting Wargaming Figures book, and as I want this project to be consistent with painting styles, I will continue to use the darker saddle brown base-coat for painting flesh. This is for all of the Gauls and the Romans too. Where I will use the guides in the book for this project is in painting the horses for the cavalry and for my colours such as red, blue and green.

On the painting tray right now are some Black Tree Dr Who figures for Geoff, some 15mm Afrika Korps HMGs for Terry and another unit of Gallic Warriors for myself. I'm just about to sort out the pins for the shields on the latter.

Nate

Slingers

Having not painted as much as normal while still trying to paint for other people has put all of my projects on the backburner for the last couple of months, so it was nice to finally finish a small unit of Gallic slingers for Eagle Rampant.

Should have put the guy with the tartan in the front...

They are mostly painted in two shades as opposed to three tone, and I guess it is noticeable, but I just really wanted to get them completed. On reflection, I might go back and highlight a couple of areas, but I can't imagine any complicated shield designs happening on their bucklers.

So with that unit complete I thought I'd treat myself and paint something else completely different. My eyes fell on my test unit of Paraguayan 15mm, which are all based and undercoated ready for painting. I picked them up and studied them, thinking about what colours I was going to need - some of them are wearing full uniform and others just have a kilt - and then put them back down. For the first time ever it felt like painting these little fellows was going to be too hard. I've been painting a lot of 28mm recently, and have enjoyed them, but I've also painted a lot of 15mm in the past and never had a problem. I'm not too sure what this painter's block is about, but it made me reconsider my next subject.

There's a fairly decent size differential there. Is that why I couldn't face painting them?

Instead of tiny Paraguayans, I pulled out a unit of Ebor Miniatures 28mm British from the War of Spanish Succession and put the base coat of red on them. This is the only unit of WSS infantry I have, but for a couple of days now I have been contemplating finally doing the WSS in 28mm. It has been my dream project, but for some reason I've never been able to kick it off, always getting distracted by this and that. No more. I ordered another unit last night, of French infantry this time. The plan is not to buy a new unit until I have the other one either painted or in the process of being painted. Then, hopefully it won't seem too overwhelming. One issue I have with this, though, is that the New Zealand peso is taking another dive. Two weeks ago it was two for one with the pound. Now it is 2.5:1. Good for the farmers, they say. Sorry, but I don't give a crap - it is seriously hindering the amount of lead I can accumulate. I hope the dollar bounces back soon - it has had a good couple of years being pretty steady at 50% of the pound, and it would be very annoying if I had to try and put together this project in the bad old days of three dollars to the pound.

In other news, I've made the decision to get the last of the big five for WWI. Austro-Hungarians will round out my armies so that I will have 1914 forces for them and for France, Germany, Britain, and Russia. These 15mm figures don't seem a trial to paint at all, maybe because they are quite large? Or is it the subject matter?

Nate

I'm not dead yet...

Almost a month since my last post, but never fear, I am alive. I just seem to have been very busy. That has included a little bit of wargaming stuff as well, so here is an update on that front.
First of all, Eagle Rampant is alive and progressing. I'm looking at submitting it as an article to my wargames magazine of choice, so I'll let you know if that gets off the ground. In order to make sure that the atmosphere is right for this project, I've been looking at using the school holidays to ensure I have some nice scenery available. Here are the results:

Seen from above, the Roman garrison fort in occupied Gaul.

First up is a scratch-built Roman fort. Many bamboo skewers died for this monstrosity. Luckily the palisades were built by Dan about six years ago, I just finally got around to mounting them to MDF, painting them, making the gate and the interior buildings.

Roman legionaries manning the ramparts of the fort.

A nice shot of the fort which unfortunately doesn't have the backdrop in it, but nicely shows up the carefully measured angles of the skewers in the palisade.

Not to be outdone, the Gauls also need somewhere to live:

Defending his home from Rome.

I ordered three resin roundhouses from Caliver Books' Battlefield Buildings range. These are big solid hunks of resin that paint up really well and are only $13 NZ pesos each for the most expensive. I still need to build the stockade for the Gallic village (more doomed skewers), but this will probably be next school holidays now.

At the same time I haven't had much time for figure painting, but am working my way through some commissions for Geoff. Here are the first dozen:

Coppers on the move

Coppers ready for anything

More coppers

Finally - something that isn't dark blue! Two detectives and a member of the Women's auxiliary police force.

Finally, let me join the chorus of fans who are hailing the release of the new Star Wars trailer. I am also very, very excited.

Not to mention Age of Ultron and Antman coming out very soon. It is a good time to be a nerd.

Nathan

A bit more progress with Eagle Rampant

With marking 55 assessments and finishing off Geoff's commissions not much has been done on Eagle Rampant since my first playtest. However, last week I managed to finish off my first 2 units, one of Roman Legionaries and one of Upgraded Gallic Warriors.

Legionaries in their 2 deep line in order to claim their drilled bonus.

Typically disorganised Gauls

I'm hoping to get through a solo playtest of a couple of scenarios I've put together this weekend. Joining me in working on Eagle Rampant is Mike from the Single Base Wargames Blog. He is doing Early Imperial Romans, but we are planning on collaborating with playtests and the creation of unit stats. The header picture is his work.

Nate

Eagle Rampant - first playtest

I posted this battle report over on the Dux Rampant group as well. No point in re-writing everything.

The two legionary units side by side in the centre. Pretty much where they would be when they were surrounded and slaughtered!

So first playtest last night. Full disclosure - the Romans got trounced! We played bloodbath as a chance to try out the lists. There were two areas of rough ground approaching either flank, one closer to the Roman side, one closer to the Gauls and the Romans were attacking. Romans consisted of 2 units of legionaries, 2 units of Numidian skirmishers, 1 unit of Cretan archers and one unit of Numidian horsemen. The Gauls had 1 unit of Noble cavalry, 1 unit of light cavalry, 1 unit of expert warriors, 1 unit of warriors, 1 unit of Gaestati and 2 units of skirmishers.

The Gallic deployment. Hard to tell what is what in their black undercoat stage, but left to right we have: Gallic Noble cavalry, skirmishers, warriors, Gaestati, expert warriors, light cavalry, skirmishers.

Opposite side the Romans. Left to right, Numidian cavalry, skirmishers (in the woods), Legionaries - 2 of them - Cretan archers, Skirmishers.

Poor activation dice for the Gauls meant that the Romans had a couple of turns of manouevring themselves into position. The Numidian cavalry and the Gallic light horse spent some time skirmishing between themselves. The Gallic light horse armour was at 3 but it is going to be put down to 2 from now on. I think this was a bit of an oversight when I was putting the lists together.

Initial light cavalry skirmishing. About this stage my phone ran out of charge, so sorry, no more pictures.

Things heated up on the other flank when the Gallic Noble cav had to wild charge the Numidians in the woods on that flank. The forest was a bit of a leveller, but the superior armour saw the Nobles beat the skirmishers back and eventually out of the woods where they were effectively ridden down. They did end up below half strength, so in a sense the Numidians offered a pretty effective speed bump.
In the centre the Gallic warriors got themselves into a position to Attack the legionaries. Mike (who was playing the Romans) then decided to charge which negated his drilled and pila special rules. It did mean he caught the Gauls on the defensive though, so his 4+ Attack value outdid the 5+ defence value of the Gauls. The Gauls had to retreat. The other legionary unit stood on the defensive and the pila and drilled rules were effective. The Expert Gauls suffered 3 casualties to the Roman's one. This was pretty much as expected, but if this had happened against the other warrior unit with its 2+ armour half the unit would have been wiped out. It has made me think that when it comes to playing with the stats increasing or reducing armour is a potential game changer and risks unbalancing the game. For that reason the pila rule will be changed to reduce the enemy's Attack or Defence value by 1 - with no effect on values that are 6 anyway. The ultimate expression of the power of armoured ratings was when the drilled Romans carved up the Gaestati, who were able to launch a counter-charge but whose lack of armour saw them cut to pieces. These troops usually spearheaded the charge, but they were the last unit to manage to activate. To order a move will therefore go to 5+. I won't be playing around with anything else here, because the Gaestati did have some rather crappy dice throws, but despite failing their courage test and being routed after one combat they did inflict a decent number of casualties on the legionaries. I guess you could call them 'expendables'. 
The Drilled and testudo rules are about right. The combination of Gallic skirmishers hurling their slingshot and the presence of Gallic warriors was an effective combination. The threat of being charged prevented the Romans forming testudo to more effectively resist the slingers. Those sort of combos rewarding good tactics should be kept in play.
The three remaining noble cavalry charged out of the trees into the Cretan archers, who were hardly even an effective speed bump. They did roll snake eyes for their courage test though. Again, this was probably a side effect of moving them too close to the woods where they didn't have a chance to whittle down their enemies prior to contact.
On the other side of the board the the Gallic light cavalry and a unit of skirmishers combined to to whittle down the Numidian horsemen and then the Numidian skirmishers. The short range of javelins seems to be quite a disadvantage when the have such low armour. The slingers stood off and made large holes in them I'm wondering if the Light cavalry also need hard to hit to reflect their hit and run tactics a bit more?
By this stage only the legionaries were left and although depleted the Gauls were surrounding them. Bombarded by slingshot and charged in the rear by the Gallic cavalry - we decided that this meant that the unit would lose their drilled special rule - the Romans were cut down to a man.
The games was quick, brutal and bloody. The legionaries are hard, but few and the auxiliaries that support them are very fragile. I'm thinking that rather than Cretan archers the Romans would be better off supported by some Gallic Noble cavalry. It is hard to know after only one battle, where the vagaries of dice rolling and inexperience in using units means some poor choices at times. The Romans made mincemeat of the core Gallic foot units, it was on the flanks that they fell apart. New tactics might alter this.

Nate