Except for this short bearded fellow, the first of my adventure party for Otherworld skirmish.
More soon!
Monday, 26 October 2015
80s Citadel Miniatures Dwarf
Except for this short bearded fellow, the first of my adventure party for Otherworld skirmish.
More soon!
Tuesday, 29 September 2015
The Battle of Chalons, 451
Last weekend i popped to my friend Daves for a game of Hail Caesar. We used his 24'x10' table promptly covered it with beautifully painted 28mm figures.
The Battle of Chalons was fought during the Hunnic Invasions of Gaul.
Battle of Chalons Summary:
In the years preceding 450, Roman control over Gaul and its other outlying provinces had grown weak. That year, Honoria, the sister, of Emperor Valentinian III, offered her hand in marriage to Attila the Hun with the promise that she would deliver half the Western Roman Empire as her dowry. Long a thorn in her brother's side, Honoria had earlier been married to Senator Herculanus in an effort to minimize her scheming. Accepting Honoria's offer, Attila demanded that Valentinian deliver her to him. This was promptly refused and Attila began preparing for war.
Attila's war planning was also encouraged by the Vandal king Gaiseric who wished to wage war on the Visigoths.
Marching across the Rhine in early 451, Attila was
joined by the Gepids and Ostrogoths. Through the first parts of the
campaign, Attila's men sacked town after town including Strasbourg,
Metz, Cologne, Amiens, and Reims. As they approached Aurelianum
(Orleans), the city's inhabitants closed the gates forcing Attila to lay
siege. In northern Italy, Magister militum Flavius Aetius began
mustering forces to resist Attila's advance.
Moving into southern
Gaul, Aetius found himself with a small force consisting primarily of
auxiliaries. Seeking aid from Theodoric I, king of the Visigoths, he was
initially rebuffed. Turning to Avitus, a powerful local magnate, Aetius
finally was able to find assistance. Working with Avitus, Aetius
succeeded in convincing Theodoric to join the cause as well as several
other local tribes. Moving north, Aetius sought to intercept Attila near
Aurelianum. Word of Aetius' approach reached Attila as his men were
breaching the city's walls.
Forced to abandon the attack or be trapped in the city, Attila began retreating northeast in search of favourable terrain to make a stand.
Playing for
time, Attila did not give the order to advance until late in the day
with the goal of allowing his men to retreat after nightfall if
defeated. Pressing forward they moved up the right side of the ridge
with the Huns in the center and the Gepids and Ostrogoths on the right
and left respectively. Aetius' men climbed the left slope of the ridge
with his Romans on the left, the Alans in the center, and Theodoric's
Visigoths on the right. With the armies in place, the Huns advanced to
take the top of the ridge. Moving quickly, Aetius' men reached the crest
first.
Taking the top of the ridge, they repulsed Attila's assault and sent his men reeling back in disorder. Seeing an opportunity, Theodoric's Visigoths surged forward attacking the retreating Hunnic forces. As he struggled to reorganize his men, Attila's own household unit was attacked forcing him to fall back to his fortified camp. Pursuing, Aetius' men compelled the rest of the Hunnic forces to follow their leader, though Theodoric was killed in the fighting. With Theodoric dead, his son, Thorismund, assumed command of the Visigoths. With nightfall the fighting ended.
The next morning, Attila prepared for the expected Roman attack. In the Roman camp, Thorismund advocated assaulting the Huns, but was dissuaded by Aetius. Realizing that Attila had been defeated and his advance stopped, Aetius began to assess the political situation. He realized that if the Huns were completely destroyed, that the Visigoths would likely end their alliance with Rome and would become a threat. To prevent this, he suggested that Thorismund immediately return to the Visigoth capital at Tolosa to claim his father's throne before one of his brothers seized it. Thorismund agreed and departed with his men. Aetius used similar tactics to dismiss his other Frankish allies before withdrawaling with his Roman troops. Initially believing the Roman withdrawal to be a ruse, Attila waited several days before breaking camp and retreating back across the Rhine.
The armies are reputed to be huge. between 30000-50000 on each side.
We didn't quite match that, but a rough guesstimate is around 5000 figures in total!
There were 3 commanders on each side, with each commander having a personal objective
My objective was to take the hill on the right and attempt to kill the opposite commander. in the above picture you can see my mighty horde about to defend the high ground from their hated foe.
The Battle of Chalons was fought during the Hunnic Invasions of Gaul.
Battle of Chalons Summary:
In the years preceding 450, Roman control over Gaul and its other outlying provinces had grown weak. That year, Honoria, the sister, of Emperor Valentinian III, offered her hand in marriage to Attila the Hun with the promise that she would deliver half the Western Roman Empire as her dowry. Long a thorn in her brother's side, Honoria had earlier been married to Senator Herculanus in an effort to minimize her scheming. Accepting Honoria's offer, Attila demanded that Valentinian deliver her to him. This was promptly refused and Attila began preparing for war.
Attila's war planning was also encouraged by the Vandal king Gaiseric who wished to wage war on the Visigoths.
Forced to abandon the attack or be trapped in the city, Attila began retreating northeast in search of favourable terrain to make a stand.
Reaching the Catalaunian Fields, he halted, turned,
and prepared to give battle. On June 19, as the Romans approached, a
group of Attila's Gepids fought a large skirmish with some of Aetius'
Franks. Despite foreboding predictions from his seers, Attila gave the
order to form for battle the next day. Moving from their fortified camp,
they marched towards a ridge that crossed the fields.
Taking the top of the ridge, they repulsed Attila's assault and sent his men reeling back in disorder. Seeing an opportunity, Theodoric's Visigoths surged forward attacking the retreating Hunnic forces. As he struggled to reorganize his men, Attila's own household unit was attacked forcing him to fall back to his fortified camp. Pursuing, Aetius' men compelled the rest of the Hunnic forces to follow their leader, though Theodoric was killed in the fighting. With Theodoric dead, his son, Thorismund, assumed command of the Visigoths. With nightfall the fighting ended.
The next morning, Attila prepared for the expected Roman attack. In the Roman camp, Thorismund advocated assaulting the Huns, but was dissuaded by Aetius. Realizing that Attila had been defeated and his advance stopped, Aetius began to assess the political situation. He realized that if the Huns were completely destroyed, that the Visigoths would likely end their alliance with Rome and would become a threat. To prevent this, he suggested that Thorismund immediately return to the Visigoth capital at Tolosa to claim his father's throne before one of his brothers seized it. Thorismund agreed and departed with his men. Aetius used similar tactics to dismiss his other Frankish allies before withdrawaling with his Roman troops. Initially believing the Roman withdrawal to be a ruse, Attila waited several days before breaking camp and retreating back across the Rhine.
We didn't quite match that, but a rough guesstimate is around 5000 figures in total!
Monday, 14 September 2015
ACW Union Officers
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| Maj.-Gen. Abner Doubleday |
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| Maj.-Gen. Winfield S. Hancock |
 |
| Maj.- Gen. George G. Meade |
Sunday, 13 September 2015
AfrikaKorps
The desert war, research wise was new for me and the first model I bought was the 251. Which turned out to be a bit of a school boy error as apparently it seems none were used in North Africa..
My initial idea for this project is to do a platoon of DAK, followed by Brits and Italians for North Africa, then maybe move to Crete or Italy. The rules I will be using are Chain of Command by TFLs. Which have been sold to me by my friend Pat as the best rules he's ever played. I think this is because even if you roll low on the command dice it can be useful for you ;)
You can see some of his lovely stuff on his BLOG
the figures are plastic Perry Miniatures, a bargain at £20 for 38 multi pose figures.
The over enthusiastically bought 251 is a plastic warlord games kit.
If you are interested in trying Chain of Command you'll be happy to know TFL are having a sale this September, with a whopping 20% off.
Lots of quality world war II products for great prices these days.
Now all I need to do is make myself a desert terrain board and buy a bunch of tanks!!
Saturday, 12 September 2015
ACW Confederate Officers
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| Maj.-Gen John B. Hood |
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| General Robert E. Lee riding Traveller |
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| Inspiration for my version of Traveller |
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| Lt.-Gen James Longstreet |
Tuesday, 18 August 2015
weekend at the Perrys
Well its taken me along time to get around to posting this and I feel I have finally recovered from the experience. The other weekend I popped to Nottingham for a weekend with Perrys and friends.
Lunch time Friday I met with the twins for a nice lunch in one of Englands oldest pubs dating back to 1189AD and set in to caves outside Nottingham castle. Later on we had some LAN gaming fun using Battlefield, with some 2 on 2 action. Followed by a few beers in the local.
Saturday morning Stuart , Simon and I were treated to a sculpting master class by the masters themselves, Alan and Michael Perry! In which we learned many little tricks to help us to convert miniatures and up our game (some pics of what I managed to do soon).
Then on Saturday afternoon we popped to Michaels wargames room and met up with Aly Morrison, Dave Andrews and rick Priestly for a game of Hail Caesar.
The scenario was a fictitious battle where the Lancastrian English crossed the channel to teach the Burgundians a lesson for supporting the Yorkists.
The English troops were supplied by Michael Perry, the Burgundians by Simon Chick and Dave Andrews. My Italian force had been left behind in the boot of my car :(
The overall battle plan for the Burgundians was for the centre to hold whilst the two flanks with most of the heavy cavalry charged forward to push the English back to the port. I was playing the overall commander in the centre and after as few turns of patiently waiting for the flanks to engage (bad dice rolls were slowing down the advance) and now coming under a withering hail from the English longbowmen, I sounded the advance and charged forward with my infantry. This started off well routing 2 units of Michaels bill and bows. Sadly was the grind started i started to suffer to many casualties, this along with the losses due to the longbows as I advanced saw off my attack and the Burgundian centre began to collapse.
At the same time the Burgundian heavy horse on the right flank charged up hill at the well deployed English. The English could not halt the charge and they began to fall back pursued by the victorious knights. the Burgundian infantry led by Stuart began to advance and after a protracted fight took the farm to start to press the English left.
On the Burgundian left flank a see saw battle ensued with both sides cavalry repeatedly charging but neither side getting the upper hand.
So as the sun began to set it was decided to call it a draw. the Burgundian centre was broken but so was the English left wing, leaving the Burgundian right free to start to roll up the line.
A fantastic days gaming with beautiful models on beautiful terrain with great gamers!
Followed rightly by a nice curry and a few beers!!
Sunday we got a sneak peek of something else quite amazing, photos to follow in a few months ;0)
Lunch time Friday I met with the twins for a nice lunch in one of Englands oldest pubs dating back to 1189AD and set in to caves outside Nottingham castle. Later on we had some LAN gaming fun using Battlefield, with some 2 on 2 action. Followed by a few beers in the local.
Saturday morning Stuart , Simon and I were treated to a sculpting master class by the masters themselves, Alan and Michael Perry! In which we learned many little tricks to help us to convert miniatures and up our game (some pics of what I managed to do soon).
Then on Saturday afternoon we popped to Michaels wargames room and met up with Aly Morrison, Dave Andrews and rick Priestly for a game of Hail Caesar.
 |
| Dave Andrews preparing his troops |
 |
| Burgundian deployment |
The scenario was a fictitious battle where the Lancastrian English crossed the channel to teach the Burgundians a lesson for supporting the Yorkists.
The English troops were supplied by Michael Perry, the Burgundians by Simon Chick and Dave Andrews. My Italian force had been left behind in the boot of my car :(
 |
| Burgundian right wing |
 |
| the Burgundian left flank attempts to cut off the port |
 | ||||||||||
| the high water mark of my attack! |
 | ||
| English left flank commanded by Mr Priestly |
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| heavy horse clash! |
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| Burgundian right flank finally surges forward |
 |
| artillery take aim |
 |
| Rick checks his rules |
At the same time the Burgundian heavy horse on the right flank charged up hill at the well deployed English. The English could not halt the charge and they began to fall back pursued by the victorious knights. the Burgundian infantry led by Stuart began to advance and after a protracted fight took the farm to start to press the English left.
 |
| cog waiting to ferry the English home |
 |
| beautiful terrain and figures |
 |
| Burgundian commander leading the centre forward |
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| Aly Morrison contemplating his next move |
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| English cavalry trying to find room to deploy |
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| fluffed cavalry |
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| Simons beautiful figures |
Followed rightly by a nice curry and a few beers!!
Sunday we got a sneak peek of something else quite amazing, photos to follow in a few months ;0)