WAB El Cid Game Saturday 11-11-06

Mark and I played a really fun and hard fought El Cid game on Saturday, I finally got to use my church model that I finished a few months ago. Both armies were 3700 points and we used the raid scenario, Mark and his Christian army had the loot and my Andulusian army had recapture it all. I managed to regain my loot but both sides suffered heavy casualties and the Christian King reminds me of when I used to play WHFB, he is a Demon/Dragon rider in disguise (way too over the top much like the Norman King).

WECW changes for the New Year

I have played tested most of the Deluge WECW army lists and I feel that all (I hope) special rules and changes have been ironed out. In the New Year (mid to late January) I will put up the new and I hope final draft for everyone to enjoy but I have changed one major point that I feel is lacking in WAB and WECW. This point is that many armies I have seen used, whilst fitting into the army list percentages do not really show how the armies were organised in the real world. I have therefore decided to follow the WHFB model and one used in an early draft of the WAB Shieldwall supplement, armies will have a set access to Characters, Core units, Rare units and Special Units. This will be represented like this:

Army Size Characters Core Units Rare Units Special Units
below 1000pts 1 1 1 0
1000-1999pts 2 2 3 1
2000-2999pts 3 3 3 2
3000-3999pts 4 4 4 3
4000-4999pts 5 5 5 4
5000-5999pts 6 6 6 5

Over 6000 points the armies become too unwieldy and lack any real command and control, for the larger games I am thinking of adapting and using Warmaster Ancients.

Characters: The figures listed are the maximum of models drawn from this category.
Core Units: The figures listed are the minimum number of units drawn from this category.
Rare and Special Units: The figure listed are the maximum number of units drawn from this category.

Unit sizes: The minimum number of figures in a unit are 5 cavalry and 10 infantry.

What do you all think, as there are nealry 300 downloads of the lists I am sure that there are a lot of ideas we could all use in these lists and rules, so Please, Please if you have any ideas, recomendations etc. please e-mail at aydenrobert@hotmail.com so that I can get them included in the new and I hope final draft.

Haven't posted for awhile

Polish right flank advances against the Swedes. Mark and I played this game a few weeks ago but because I am still on a soooo slow dial up conection I haven't had the time to post it. Mark and I are playing a 4000 point aside El Cid game Saturday 11-11 and I will finally get to use my new Monastary model. Some photos and I will update to broadband and a website in the new year. For those that have downloaded the WECW army lists, the Haiduks for the Poles are actually under Polish foot. I will be releasing all modifications and play tested adaptions in the New Year as well, so give me any feedback/changes etc. that you feel need to be there. Cheers Scott

WECW

Marks very nicely painted heavy cavalry advance, in the background you can just glimpse his small 6 man cuirassier unit moving away when they failed a morale test.

Gun Line

The view from both sides as a Pancerni unit attempts to get to grips with the gunline (Tartars did but lost). I however decided to attack the only steady unit in the Swedish combined army and because his pike didn't have room to counter my cavalry I actually forced this Scottish mercenary unit to flee after 2 rounds of combat (I caught and destroyed him).

Swedes and Brandenburg allies

Mark deploys his Swedes on the right and holds the centre with a very very scary 4 medium and 2 heavy guns. One of the heavy guns was deployed behind gabions, which was a hell of a target to attack. Coach and religous support deploy behind the many guns.

Mark's Gaming table christening

Mark Temple (Realistic Miniatures Blog) and I played a great WECW game on the weekend, getting to use his new terrain for the first time. Mark used his very nicely painted ECW army as a Brandenburg ally for my Swedes fighting the Poles. The two armies looked like this:

Swedes 2x40 man foot regiments (20 pike and 20 shot).
2x12 man heavy cavalry regiments with 10 attached shot, 15 mercenary cuirassiers and 12 Polish cossacks.
4 medium and 2 heavy guns with 4 crew each.

Brandenburg 2x32 man foot regiments (16pike and 16 shot). 1x12 man and 1x15 cavalry regiments and 6 cuirassiers.

Poles 2x36 man foot regiments (20 shot and 16 pike) and 2x15 foot Dragoons. 3x12 Pancerni units (1 with light lance), 1x12 man Heavy Hussar unit and 1x12 man Hussar unit in light armour (Redoubt unarmoured figures), 4x12 man Noble levy units, 12 regimented cossacks horse and 3x10 Tartar light cavalry. 2 light and 2 medium guns.

Poles block the Cossacks

Coach escapes from the Cossacks

Polish Pancerni regiment led by the Polish commander leds the coach away from the Cossack threat.

4th Turn

Cossacks and Poles are about to clash.

3rd Turn

The open terrain on the Cossack side (which I played) allowed them to get to the town quickly, however the buildings and the much heavier Polish cavalry blocked any easy access to the coach. I should have looked at the terrain much more closely than I did, the open table side would have allowed my Cossacks to harass the heavier Poles. I want to play this game again but changing the ends.

1st Move

Poles and Cossacks race towards the town and the coach.

WECW Rescue Game: Poles versus Cossacks

Three views of the game I had 1 week ago with Kevin Jowlett and his son James. Kevin has a great place in the Glass House Mtns and has just finished his 12 x 6 foot table, so we finally got to test my rescue scenario on a great looking table. The game was a roughly 2500 points aside game, the Cossacks and their Tartar allies deployed on the left and the Poles on the right. The Polish wagon with 2 dignataries and a guard of 30 Dragoons was deployed near the Catholic church. The Polish force needs to rescue them whilst the Cossacks want them for Ransom, the game was a free for all with game going to whatever side could get the coach away.

Projects for next year

I know that we still have 3 months left of this year but with my last 4 week teacher prac. quickly approaching and then a 6 1/2 week world wide trip (Vietnam, Thailand, Holland, UK, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Hong Kong and then home to sunny Australia), I have finished planning what I will be painting and gaming next year.

First finish painting my Swedish army of Karl X: 90 foot (Renegade and Bicorne), 3 guns and 12 crew (Redoubt), 71 cavalry (39 Redoubt, 24 Bicorne and Renegade and 8 Essex Miniatures).

Second paint the rest of my Muscovite army: 150 foot (Old Glory), 2 guns and 8 crew (Old Glory), 60 Russian cavalry (20 Old Glory and 40 Essex Miniatures) and 36 German style cavalry (36 Renegade and Bicorne Miniatures).

Thirdly finish painting Polish Cavalry (24 Redoubt Miniatures) and 60 infantry (Old Glory). I will buy the rest of the army, made up of 4 x 12 TAG cavalry regiments next year (write to them and they will sell you a unit of 12 cavalry for 24.95 pounds post free and 24 infantry for 20 pounds).

Start my Ottomans: 190 foot (Old Glory), 5 command types including camel drummer (Redoubt), 48 heavy cavalry and 12 Delli Light cavalry (Redoubt Miniatures), the rest of the cavalry have already been painted for other armies (46 Tartars and 28 Arab light types). The only thing I need to buy for this army are 2 very very nice armoured wagons with light cannon and 3 crew by Redoubt Miniatures and a pack of High command (Old Glory).

NEW PERIOD using the fantastic free rules by Barry of The League of Augsburg fame 'UNDER THE LILLY BANNERS', Mulburian of course with a twist (GNW and Eastern armies of course).
I will at first concentrate on the Swedish and Russian armies, the infantry will be made up of Reiver Castings which are available from Old Glory and thus cheap with the 40% discount (I have 3 units each of Foundry to paint already) . The cavalry with some adaptians will be from Front Rank mounted on Elite Miniatures horses (Nathan gives these to me very very cheap). I plan to paint 11 units of infantry (15-18 figures each) and 10 units of cavalry (11-12 figures) and 5 guns and 20 crew for the Swedish army. The Russian will be made up of 18 units of infantry, 16 units of cavalry and 5 guns and 20 crew. I was going to paint some Austrians (cavalry and infantry from Front Rank and irregulars from Old Glory) but I think that I have enough on my plate already. I will be able to use all my Ottomans, Cossacks, Tartars, Polish and many of the Muscovite figures for the period as well.

If I have time I plan to either do some Sudan figures and Russian Civil War all using Old GLory and their great discount of course. The numbers planned for next year do look daunting but I have managed to paint around 400 cavalry and 400 infantry as well as painting and basing many buildings this year (whilst studying and working as many of us all do). Will post photos of Saturdays game ASAP. Cheers Scott

Final assualt

Spanish Church and WAB Italian Wars

Finally got around to completing the Spanish church I bought from the Essex Miniatures factory in 1996 (Hovels Ltd resin). I had painted the church and steeple straight away but it has taken me 10 years to paint the walls and make a hill to put it on. I can use it as a great centre piece for my El Cid and Andalusian armies, Napoleonic Spain (when I paint them again), Mexico (Mexican American war and Maximiliian) and Italy (Italian Wars, Napoleonics and the war of 1859). The church and steeple are removable so that I can place a small Greeco/Roman style temple in its place when I play ancients (when I finish it of course). Not exactly accurate for those purist but close enough for me and thats the important thing.

Talking about Italy, Andrew Parr whose very nice Republican army you see here has sent me his Italian Wars adaptions for WAB 'Armies of Chivalry'. I have always been interested in the Swiss, French, Spanish, Italian and Landsknecht troop types but I have felt that until I can paint and do those French Gendarmes justice I would steer clear of the period. Andrew's adaptions have gotten me very interested as he has added lots of campaign, battle and period strategms that seem to give the period something special that it deserves. I might have start this sooner that I thought, for those who need wargaming inspiration have a look at the Spanish Wargaming magizine 'Soldiers and Strategy' which had a special on Pavia (issue 8 I think). The magazine had some very very nicely painted Redoubt Miniatures, which still makes me think I need a few more years painting experience. When the Miniature Wargames magazine first started they would always have some great pictures of Peter Gilder's immense Italian Wars collection, so I blame Peter for this interest wargaming interest as well as the Sudan and Napoleonics in the Grand Manner (bless him). Andrew has also prompted me to have a more detailed look at some of these things that I feel needed to be added to the WECW lists that I have written.

I believe that WAB and especially WECW have a real potential to have an added roleplay element in the games, perhaps not roleplay exactly but something very close to it. Many do not like the systems because they believe that they lack command and control and they are too simplistic, but after all it is a game to be enjoyed. I feel the need for command and control issue but only in larger games, these can be added by wing commander characters with a limited command radius. I have been thinking of using adapted Warmaster Ancients to play larger games, (has any others tried this), the Warmaster Yahoo group has an ECW variant that would be good for the Polish Commonwealth. I will post more when I have had a chance to play this, I haven't had a game in 6 weeks. Next week (touch wood) I will be playing a 2000 point aside cavalry rescue (scenario on this blog) for WECW, Poles versus Cossacks and Tartars. Promise and report and photos. Cheers Scott

Elephant attacks

Nathan's nice elephant model from A&A Miniatures attacks the Roman line. I have been away from home lately and have been lapse in updating the site, I will attempt to get some more of my own collection up on the Blog very shortly. Cheers Scott

Pyrrhrus' Army

More pictures of Nathan and Andrew's Pyrrhus versus Rome game. The new army list for the Epirote army written by Jeff Jonas and hopefully available next year are varied and a great army can be created that can give those hated Romans a run for their money. The new Roman lists in the Hannibal Supplement have gotten some criticism by some gamers (usually competition gamers), but I believe they force people to play the army the way it really fought (and I don't play competitions).

Old Glory Army and Ottomans

The Ottomans are here is the cry. Yes after joining the Old Glory Army a few weeks ago for 50 dollars US I now have 2 of the really nice pirate captains and 6 packs of Ottoman infantry that cost me less than 200 Australian dollars to my door. I joined the 'Army' through Merrimack Miniatures and have since recieved excellent service and my membership has already been payed for by the first discount. Old Glory usually costs 60-70 Australian dollars a pack, and I have waited 5 months for a pack of Cossacks from the Australian distributor who was not that keen to help me obtain them any quicker (their loss I say). I now have enough infantry to start painting my Ottoman army, the heavy cavalry are Redoubt Miniatures on Elite horses and the light cavalry are a mix of Old Glory and the Tartars already painted from Essex Miniatures. I now only have to buy 2 heavy wagons with light cannon from Redoubt and a pack of Old Glory Ottoman command. Robert's Poles won't know what hit him, I just have to get him using them again or he can sell them to me as I did paint them (you hear that Robert). Cheers Scott

Republican Romans

Some nice views of Andrew's nice Roman army, the velites on the round bases are Elite Miniatures as are the 3 units of Roman heavy infantry in the bottom photo.

Macedonian versus Republican Roman

Nathan and Andrew Parr played a Macedonian versus Roman game a few weeks ago. The Roman army was made up of Old Glory and Elite Miniature figures, most of whom were painted by Leroy Simpson.

Clash

The clash of the two phalanxes but the Macedonian cavalry have managed to get around the flank of the Spartan line.

Phalanxes

Two more nice views of Macedonian and Spartan phalanxes eying each other before engaging in combat. I will post more of these great shots of Nathan and Eddy's game later this week as well as a nice Macedonian versus Republican Roman game.

Spartan Phalanx and Macedonian cavalry

Spartan Phalanx about to come to grips with a large Macedonian Phalanx. The Spartans are 1st Corps miniatures and I really like the way that Eddie has painted the inside of the Hoplite shileds in a nice red, surviving fabric from inside shields found by archeologists support the use of this vibrant colour. The Macedonian cavalry are Tin Soldier figures and are led by a Foundry officer.