Warband: Red mountain Hill Dwarves (part 3)

I've not been painting much lately as I've had a few other irons in the fire.  But with some of that pushed out the way now, I've picked up the Red mountain hill dwarf army I'm painting for Warband.

Actually I now have about 6 different army starter packs backed up on the paint table for Warband, so I really need to get a move on with these.  

I decided to pick off some of the easier and less 'figures-heavy' units to make some encouraging progress and here's the results so far.

OH, before I do, I'll say something about the figures.  These are of course 10mm hill dwarves from Pendraken and the more I paint them the more I like them.  These dwarf figures really are wonderful.  Full of character, beautifully sculpted and cast; I can't recommend them highly enough.

The warband as a whole so far.  

1 Commander (Red Mountain king)

1 Archers (with shieldwall)

1 Magic user

2 Artillery 

2 Rangers

1 Noble riders

1 Gyrocopters

The magic users.  The basing is still wet so the PVA is still white.  I've modelled a council engaged in summoning some boulder elementals.  The poles I'd intended to put flags on but I might just leave them as they are.

Next up, some rangers.  These are skirmishers so I put only nine figures on the base.  I also painted them in a sore of green camouflage coat as i figure they'll be blending into the surroundings as they range about on scouting missions.

The cat took an interest at this point...

Next up, the artillery.  I wanted gunpowder weapons, and had some older Pendraken cannons in my Hordes of the Things armies.  I took these out and mixed them into Pendraken's updated but smaller artillery pieces.  I felt, the hill dwarf crew would entrench themselves a bit, and lacking any 10mm gabions, I chopped up a lollypop stick and a couple of barbecue sticks to make some impromptu field defences.

The crews are dressed in gray and black, as I figured they'd wear dark clothes to hide the soot stains.

Oh, and I had some figures with arquebuses so I used these defenders and guards manning the wooden field palisades.

Cue stirring Dambusters music!  Here come the gyrocopters.  I've painted these in a simple wood and bronze livery, accented with a splash of red here and there.  I enhanced the models with some nose-cannons.  These are actually artillery pieces from Pendraken's Boer War range, and I like that they're thin and light looking compared to the dwarves.  They look like like, pin-point cannons.

The dwarf cavalry is up last and I game them a simple red livery.  I've not done the banner yet though.

Still four or five units to finish; a couple of archers units, some warriors, and I think I have some figures suitable for a berserkers unit.

Should be too long to finish and then it's on to the next army.  Goblins or Taurians I think...or undead...decisions, decisions...

Warband Historical playtest game: Late Imperial Rome vs Goths

This evening we tried something a little bit different.  Following the successful release of my Warband fantasy wargame rules, I'm working on a historical version (among other projects).

This evening we took them for a spin with a trial game, and things worked out pretty well.

Note: the figures are 15mm, based WRG style for Field of Glory, and fixed in sabot bases to upscale to Warband units.  Supplied by my good friend and stalwart play-tester Graeme.

Late Imperial Rome fielded an average commander, with a shieldwall of Legionarii and auxilia palatina, supported by a heavy clibaniarii cavalry unit.  Low quality, and basically defensive heavy infantry, with rear ranks of archers (not shown on the bases), they would sit back and wait for the inevitable Gothic charge.

Across the field came a Gothic horde of fierce and impetuous foot warriors, plus a powerful flank of cavalry and horse archers.  

this was going to be a tough fight that hinged on the Goths being able to weather the arrow storm and control their advance well enough to take in that devastating fierce charge.  The Romans had to hope their archery would soften up the Goths enough for the shieldwall to hold and the heavy foot to grind down the barbarians.

the battle lines are drawn up.  Neither side chose much terrain and so it would be a fair fight across an open plain somewhere north of the Danube.

The Romans deploy to the south (left), and the Goths advance rapidly from the north (right).

Matters open on the east end of the line.  The Gothic cavalry led by the horse archers advance rapidly, and the Roman clibaniarii and auxilia palatina move out to meet them.

The Gothic infantry also advance, their general barely able to restrain his men.

The Gothic cavalry crash into the auxilia palatina who hold their ground, hunkered down behind a shieldwall.

The east flank is inconclusive, and the clibaniarii move in to try to break the Gothic mounted wing.  The Gothic infantry finally make contact in a brutal fierce charge.  The Romans have little room to retreat, having held their starting positions to maximise their rear support archery.

So far, the legionarii are holding firm...

But a storm is brewing on the eastern flank.  Numerically superior, the Gothic horsemen have outflanked the Roman line.  things do not look good for the Romans.
  

In the centre, although the Romans shieldwall protects them, the relentless onslaught of fierce Gothic infantry forces most the legionarii to withdraw to relieve the pressure.

The Gothic cavalry badly maul the auxilia palatina, which withdraw in a desperate bid to save themselves.

The Roman general, sensing that the tide is turning, comes out from behind his legionarii and charges into the heart of the Gothic horde.  The two generals meet in a climactic struggle that would rage for several turns.

The generals clash!  Command points are poured into the fight to try to break each other, leaving the rest of the battle lines to their fate.

And that fate is for the Gothic cavalry to break the eastern flank and sweep into the legionarii...

Eventually, the generals disengage, both severely battered.  They survey the battle about them, to the joy of the Goths and the dismay of the Romans.

The Gothic riders chew up the Roman east flank.

And the Roman general goes for glory, in a last desperate bid to bring down the Gothic commander.

Its not enough though and while half the Gothic infantry are fleeing in rout, their cavalry are roaming free and swarming all over the collapsing Roman army.

In the last turn, the Roman general prevails and brings down his Gothic foe.  But it is too little too late and the Roman losses attest to a battle hard lost.  All told it was a narrow win for the Goths, who were a couple of units off breaking when the Roman army collapsed and fled.  The twilight of Rome fast approaches...

Overall, this was an excellent tryout for the Warband: Historical rules and they hung together well.  The two armies performed as planned, and their were no real issues to note with the rules.  Many, many more playtests to go the thrash out the various army lists.  What a chore!

X-Wing - Trellix takes on Fat Han

My current infatuation with X-Wing from FFG continues and I've played a good few games with various forces from the Imperial and Rebel factions lately.  This battle took place last week.

I took an Imperial force against a 'Fat Han' Rebel force as pat of a narrative campaign we're running.  This campaign will be a series of competitive games linked with a narrative over control of the Selam Sector.  So far, the Imperials have got the better of the border skirmishes.  Once this 'stand up fights' are done we'll run some scenario games until one side is victorious.

Anyway, in this game I fielded:

KRASSIS KILL TEAM 100pts
Krassis Trellix Firespray + Engine upgrade & Heavy laser cannon
Howlrunner + Swarm tactics
Black squadron TIE + Swarm tactics
Black squadron TIE + Push the limit

I'm unsure of the exact composition of my opponent's list but it had:

Millennium Falcon + Han, Chewbacca, Marksmanship (and some other stuff i think)

Rookie X-Wing

Rookie X-Wing

The asteroids were down one side of the battle space so we must have been fighting on the edge of an asteroid field!

My forces deploy to skirt along the asteroid field.  I plan to strip off the X-Wings on the alpha strike and then get into the mix with Han and Chewie.

The X-Wings sweep out into the front of the Falcon to come in at me in a group.

We both charge in, with blaster cannons blazing, trading a TIE for an X-Wing.

Han dishes out some critical damage to another TIE.

After the alpha strike engagement, the Falcon and remaining rookie in his X-Wing pull a hard K-turn to sweep back into the Imperial forces that are sweeping apart to come back in a pincer move.

Han has Krassis Trellix in his sights, but the bounty hunter sweeps the Firespray's cannons into the rear arc to return fire.

The dogfight begins in earnest, and the TIE chases a rookie off (after he tried a K-Turn while stressed and flew off out of control, leaving the battle).

The dance begins, and Trellix and Han circle each other taking shots where they can.  The Falcon's turret means Han can shoot almost every turn, but deals out less damage to the more maneuverable Firespray.

Trellix has a harder time getting arcs on the Flacon, but when the Firespray does fire, it deals out more damage.  Only the efforts of Chewbacca's in-flight repairs keep the Falcon in the fight!

 

Trellix The Falcon finally brings down the last TIE Fighter, and its left to the Rebel hero and bounty hunter to fight it out.

Exchanging fire for several turns, both ships are down to a single remaining hull point!  You can cut the tension with a knife...

Until finally, Han's turret advantage finally tells, and he gets a solid shot on target.

Two solid hits bring down the Firespray and the battle is over.  Han takes the smashed Falcon into the nearest docking station for some major repairs!

My opponent played a shrewd game, but made a few mistakes (forgetting that red actions on a stressed pilot isn't good!)  I think I made the mistake of not concentrating on the Falcon from the start.

Great game though and brilliant fun!

The other end of the table saw a rather more decisive campaign game, with Darth Vader tearing holes through a Rebel force.

X-Wing is an excellent, fun game.  It combines the enjoyment of a miniatures wargame, the simplicity and gameplay of a board game, and the compulsive aspects of a collectible card game into the perfect storm for a gamer's wallet!

Warband unboxing video continued...

I've been following the vlog of a chap named Justin Borge, who's charting his progress with Warband.  

Following his unboxing...

http://luddite1811.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/warband-unboxing-video.html

...here's a neat video looking at the quality of the Pendraken figures.

It's great to see the inherent flexibility of the Warband basing being put to good use here, with Justin producing armies that suit his budget and available space.  

These smaller bases should look splendid once they're painted up.

I look forwards with interest to seeing his views of how the game works.