Knoris

As I mentioned to you in my previous blog entry I had ordered another figure from Gripping Beast alongside the Penda vignette and the LBMS shield transfers and banner. Without more ado then I present to you Knoris, the King Under the Hill - I'm too tight to afford a mountain - Troll Killer, Slayer of Dragons, Brother in Blood to Bicca Biccasson and so on ~

He's the first of my figures for a small Dark Ages/Norse Mythology romp; otherwise the Saga of Bicca Biccasson. It will be, I hope, the true heir to the Saga of Noggin the Nog if ever there was one! More figures for this side project will appear as and when, so you'll need to be on your toes to keep up!

Penda, the last Pagan King of Mercia

No games scheduled here in GHQ this week for numerous reasons, mostly due to a lack of opponents and my crook foot! While the Lead Pimple has swollen somewhat of late I find there is very little prepped and spray undercoated ready to face the brush. Hence this small vignette/command stand has enjoyed its moment in the sun! Four figures in three castings depicting Penda, the last Pagan King of Mercia, and his entourage ~

This is a vignette from the Early Saxon range sold by Gripping Beast. I ordered it on a whim when ordering some LBMS transfers sheets. As my handle on one Forum Board is Penda I thought I'd paint him and his fellows for fun. Of course he's rather 'out of period' for my Late Romans, but, "my toys, my game", so no doubt he will appear in such games at some point!

Alongside old Penda I also ordered another figure well outside my comfort zone! I expect pelters from at least one Follower when they see it! Keep an eye out later in the week for that one! In the meantime back to cleaning up more Late Romans and some other figures...

Late Roman Cavalry

This unit of Foundry Late Roman Heavy Cavalry is the last of the mounted figures I sourced from Colonel Bill's to expand the collection. They are a mixture of the Late Roman and Arthurian ranges, giving me the look of a battle hardened formation which I think suits the period nicely. The shield transfers are from LBMS via Phil, the only difficulty I had with them was that they were from the Gripping Beast range and so not quite a perfect fit for my shields. The bases are from Warbases of course ~

Next I have some infantry units in the Lead Pimple awaiting preparation and spray undercoating, so I'd hope to get on to them once I get myself organised. As an aside, I bought some further packs from Foundry at The Other Partizan to beat their price gouging; more cavalry and some Franks/Saxons to flesh out the Barbarian allies in either army. 

1940, Somewhere in France

Our regular Tuesday game should have been at Phil's this week but my foot is still not cooperating I'm afraid to say, so Phil gamely volunteered to pop over to GHQ so we didn't miss another week. We decided on a WWII game using my small 1940 collection and Bolt Action v3 as our rules. Now, I don't have a copy of these, but fortunately Phil does. {I didn't buy a copy, viewing the price asked as frankly just short of usuary!} We've had a few trial runs with the pre-released rule snippets so hopefully we would cope! As ever then an annotated photomontage follows to carry you into the action somewhere in France, 1940, on the road to Dunkerque. The outnumbered British forces must deny the bridge crossing to the advancing Germans to enable the supporting French to take up new defensive positions and more British soldiers to be lifted from the beaches. Six Turns, with a possible Seventh, would see night fall and a British victory if they still held the bridge ~

The 3" mortar fires on the advancing Germans to open proceedings...

...close, but no cigar! The Germans advance through the barrage!

The emplaced 2lb Anti-tank gun opens fire on the lead German Panzer 38T...

...scoring a hit! Superficial damage, but the tank is immobilised, effectively blocking the road to its supporting tanks. 

The bren gun team fire on the leading German unit; no casualties result from the fire but the first Pin Marker appears.

A bottleneck is quickly developing for the attacking Germans with the road blocked by the immobilised 38T and the supporting infantry squad pinned.

British engineers have done what they can to fortify the ridge line overlooking the bridge. The Vickers MkVI tanks advance towards the bridge to deter the German advance.

Further along the ridge the line is lightly defended by machine guns and a supporting infantry squad. Their 2" mortar team will be used to put down covering smoke.

The German advance is developing on their left as they plan to flank the British right and force a withdrawal.

The 80mm mortar scores a series of direct hits on the British left. One machine gun are destroyed and the crew killed, with the remainder fleeing after failing their morale check!

The first German squad has reached the banks of the river. The engage in a desultory firefight with the entrenched British on the low ridge.

The immobilised 38T is knocked out by the leading Vickers Mk VI. It goes up in flames and is hastily abandoned by it's crew! An important moment in the fight for both sides.

The 3" mortar lays down fire on the German squad nearest the river...

...they suffer minor losses but pick up more Pin markers. The assault just became that little more difficult.

Under the cover of the smoke shells from the 2" mortar the leading Vickers Mk VI crosses the bridge. It's companion is less enthusiastic it seems, while the loan Matilda MkI engaged the German machine guns targeting the infantry on the British left 

Despite the best efforts of the British infantry the German attack is gaining dangerous momentum on their left. The Commander arrives to coordinate what he hopes will be the decisive attack.

British reinforcements arrive in the nick of time but crucially are caught in the open, suffering losses and gaining Pin Markers in number!

A German squad occupying ruins on the British centre are laying down a bothersome fire on the enemy. Losses are slight but Pin Markers are mounting. Coordinating the British defence is becoming more difficult.

Just as the balance is moving to favour the Germans their PAK38 anti-tank gun is hit, it's crew killed and the gun destroyed by the 3" mortar!

The British reinforcements are suffering mounting casualties but crucially they are holding up the German assault on their right flank as Pin Markers mount on the attackers.

The German attack is becoming harder to coordinate at squads fail to rally or to pass Order Tests due to the number of Pin Markers despite the presence of the commander in the front line!

Chaos grips the German tank force. One is destroyed, one fails five consecutive Rally Tests and the command tank is held up by the fire from the British 2lb Anti-tank gun on the ridge.

Losses on the British left have been substantial, but with the tank chaos the Germans cannot press home the advantage there. The survivors cling on grimly and lay down nuisance fire on the distant Germans.

Turn Seven sees the last chance for the Germans unravel with a succession of British Command Dice drawn from the bag! Phil concedes at this point, knowing his force has spent itself despite best efforts. His plan was sound, the British defence desperate, but the loss of his 38T's proved decisive! A win! But for my foot I might have done a lap of honour!!!

Pompus Minimaximus & Others

No army can ever have too many Command Stands to choose from in my opinion! So, using a selection of the figures I acquired from Colonel Bill's last month, along with one spare figure occasioned by the recent rebasing of the Late Roman collection, I have added two new Command Stands to my Late Roman collection.

The smaller of the two bases has one mounted and two foot figures and so it will be utilized as a command element for one of the Divisions in an Army ~

The larger base has four mounted figures and is meant to depict the rightful Emperor, Pompus Minimaximus, as an Army Commander. The splendid banner the base sports is from a set designated as suitable for Saga units on the Gripping Beast site, but why it's hidden away like that I can't say ~

All the figures are from the venerable Foundry range, sculpted by Alan and Michael Perry back in the day. The shield transfers are from LBMS and the bases from Warbases. The brass spears I bought from Pendraken at The Other Partizan recently as my supply was running low and 'winter is coming' after all. Next up for the Late Roman expansion project as I think I said previously are a unit of Heavy Cavalry, with two figures under the brush already. 

Late {Very Late} Romans...and Others!

My usual painting routine has been much disrupted by the 'Lurgi' which struck down both Sue and me. As a consequence of this situation it took much longer to process the two units of Late Romans I'd prepared for their moment under the brush. The figures are the venerable Foundry figures, a mixture from the Late Roman and Arthurian ranges. I bought the figures from Colonel Bill's last month, some cavalry and rather more infantry figures. The first unit are Light/Unarmoured Cavalry ~

Whilst the second are a unit of skirmishing Light Infantry with javelins ~

For both units the shield transfers are from LBMS, kindly passed on by Phil as he had spare capacity. The bases are from Warbases as you'd expect. Next up should be figures for the command base of Pompus Minimaximus, the rightful successor of Pompus Maximus, so cruelty deposed by the usurper Gornalus. I've also got figures for a second command base in the queue along with another Heavy Cavalry unit of eight figures. My hope is to process all of those by the end of this month {DV}.

On an unrelated tack and while I was feeling sorry for myself on Monday I received a parcel in the morning post. 

It contained my Kickstarter pledge for Matt Bickley's Vikings from Footsore Miniatures via Sarissa Precision. 

It was only 14 days late, which as Kickstarters go seems to pan out as pretty much on time! Of course the figures are beautiful, small works of art each one. I hope to work on them over the winter along with more Late Romans and my Pyrrhic Wars army. Wish me luck! 

Roosians, Everywhere!!

As most of the Crimean War collection was still out on the table in GHQ following Dan's visit last Thursday Phil and I opted to play a straightforward encounter battle using the figures and terrain as is. The game would see Phil swap to command the Roosians and yours truly to command the Allies - this being the debut game for the small French brigade. As usual the rules in use were Black Powder MK2 and the game length set at 12 Turns as is our habit. Frankly after The Other Partizan on Sunday and ongoing issues on Monday I was too tired to take detailed notes for the usual annotated photomontage, so here are just a few pictures for you to enjoy, or not...

The Allies advance, not the French sadly!

Ponderous progress by the Roosians!

The action hitting up with the Allies trying to punch through the Roosians centre. Neglecting the flanks proved a mistook!

The Roosian centre looked vulnerable, the Allies just can't exploit it!

Enfin, Les Bleus join in the action!

Too late the Allies appreciate the danger developing on their right flank.

The French making little progress on the Allied right.

The Allied right under heavy attack. Defensive fire was really poor!

And there we go, the Allied right begins to crumble!

The centre joins in the wobble!

The French flee and the Roosians have turned the British flank! Despite driving back the Roosian centre the Allied army is Broken and retires from action in Turn 8. Merde! Needless to say I continued my run of defeats, six on the bounce now. The French you ask? They refused to move until late in the game and then headed post haste for the rear Broken!