Commands & Colors: Ancients – Battle Reports

I’ve finally finished two of my battle reports from the Scimitar Wargames Group Punic War campaign.

The first is my (very) bloody fight with the Spanish of Andrew Lawrence

Romans vs Spanish Battle Report

The second is a some what less-than-inspiring battle (on my part) against Pete Manning’s Gauls.

Romans vs Gauls Battle Report

Click on the ‘Slideshow’ button to reveal how the action plays out in both games.

SOA Battle Day

Well the day finally arrived! Saturday 26th April was ‘The Battle of Poitiers’ day, and saw 4 of us from Scimitar Wargames Group head down the M1 to Bletchley for a day of gaming.

The day actually went very well, and I must admit, although we were somewhat the odd ones out (having taken a boardgame with figures to the day, rather than the normal terrain and figure layout) the games were quite well received.

…and though I do say so myself, the Battlelore board complete with painted figures does look rather pretty.

We managed to get 4 games played in the day. I played 2 each as English and French. Whilst a full report of the day will appear in Episode 32 of the ‘Meeples & Miniatures’ podcast, suffice it to say that the luck I have been experiencing as Scipio in our club C&CA games continued, and I managed to loose every game!

I’ve taken several pictures of the games that we played, along with examples of the other games played during the day, just to give you some idea of what was going on. These can be found on My Picasa SOA Album.

Overall, a good day out, and some very useful things learned about the HYW Battlelore system.

SOA Battle Day – It’s tomorrow!

Well, in time honoured fashion, I completed the painting of the last of the models just in time today, when I finished my Heavy Cavalry.

What is more, I’ve even had time to complete a shading wash on all the models, which has given some nice depth of finish. I didn’t get chance to do any highlighting though.

OK, they won’t win any prizes, but they are perfectly serviceable as game pieces and will make a tremendous difference to the look of the Battlelore game when compared to the ordinary grey plastic ones.

I’ve even had chance to add a coat of varnish to help protect the finish!

I’m going to (hopefully) take lots of pictures tomorrow, and so I hope to be posting some in-depth reviews of the event over the next few days.

SOA Battle Day – 5 Days to go

Well, 109 down, 12 to go!

After a very productive weekend, the end is almost in sight.

Friday night saw me completing my Medium Infantry (above) and Archers (below) – told you they would look different with painted bases!

I also completed my Medium Cavalry. This is the first time I have painted horses – a bit daunting, and to be honest a little slapdash, but on the whole I’m happy so far.

Only the Heavy Cavalry left to do now. I’ve run into a problem with these, as they were undercoated black and I’ve had to add a couple of coats of white paint to the models so that I can paint the barding and surcoat a decent shade of red.

This has wasted some time, but it looks better for it.

The problem I now have is this – whilst the block colourling on the figures is adequate, it’s not great. As they stand, the figures lack definition. Normally I would wash the various areas of the figure with respective shading washes, and then drybrush highlights. However, with only 2 or 3 evenings left of painting before the show, I simply haven’t got time to do this – not with over 100 figures, anyway!

So, I am faced with the option of having to do a ‘universal wash’ – which some would call ‘dip’ style method. I’m not happy about doing this, but I can’t see another way around it at the moment.

So, once the Heavy Cavalry are painted, I’ll be looking at doing a Brown Ink glaze – I’ll trial it on a couple of units and see how it looks…

Earth & Sky

I made use of my ‘Salute free’ day by taking a trip to IKEA in Coventry. Whilst I was there, I came across these throws pictured above.

The green throw is ideal for use a a gaming table cover for land based games. It’s got a bit of a decorative trim, but this can easily be cut off. The light blue throw, though slightly light in shade, is pretty much ideal for use as a gaming table cover for aircraft games.

The reason I’m posting this? Well, if you were to buy 6′x4′ table covers from the likes of S&A Scenics, they would set you back £15.00.

These throws measrure 170mmx130mm (just under 6′x4′) but the price is excellent.

IRMA (light blue) is £1.59
POLARVIDE (green) is £2.59

A bit of a difference, I’m sure you’ll agree! I picked up two of the light blue throws, and so saved something like 85% on the price of an 8′x6′ gaming cloth.

If I was going to Salute…

However, if i was going to Salute, what has caught my eye?

To be honest – not much.

The biggest new release on my radar is the new 40mm Arthurian Range from Flashing Blade miniatures. The few Saxons that they have released previous look nice, and their Greeks & Spartans are great.

I was putting together a couple of large Dark Age skirmish forces to play Arthurian games using the Graven Images ‘England Invaded’ range, but since these ranges seem to have dried up, a new source of 40mm Saxons and Romano-British is most welcome.

Baccus have just release resculpted Human troops for Command Horizon. Excellent timing, as I’m planning on purchasing a CH force next month. Polemos Franco-Prussian war looks interesting, but not really a period I’m into at the moment (not that I need another period to get into just yet!)

I’m sure the new Copplestone releases will be very nice, but otherwise I’m not overly inspired at the moment.

Sorry.

However, if you are going to Salute tomorrow, have a great time.

Not going to Salute

Well, Salute – the biggest event in the UK gaming calendar – is happening tomorrow, and I won’t be there…

…what is more, this is by choice.

I’ve been to Salute a couple of times in the past, and certainly it’s a great show with lots to see, and everyone seems to gear up their new releases in time for it. However, it’s not a show that is on my list of ‘must go to’ shows anytime in the near future.

Why?

For those of us who live in the Midlands and the North of England, travelling to London has become an expensive excercise. Coupled with the show entrance fee (£10 on the door this year!) and it would cost me in excess of £30-£40 to simply get to the show.

Now, you may calll be tight, but I simply don’t see the point in spending that amount of money just to get to a show. It may well have been worth it before internet trading became widely available, but now?

I suppose the other factor is that the Midlands is well supplied with gaming shows of it’s own. We have the likes of Hammerhead, 2 Partizan shows and Derby for starters (well spaced through the year too) plus WMMS, Triples and the UK Games Expo. All excellent events. Not as big as Salute, and therefore not as many traders, but big enough to cater for the majority of my gaming needs  – and they are all within 45 minutes drive of Leicester (well Triples is a bit further) and MUCH cheaper to get into.

So,  since I prefer to spend my gaming budget at shows, rather than getting to shows, I won’t be going to Salute any time soon. 

SOA Battle Day – 11 Days to go

As promised yesterday, here are the latest ‘work-in-progress’ pictures of my Battlelore figures for the Society of Ancients Battle Day.

The Archers are about 80% done, mainly the hair and bases to do. It’s amazing the difference that even just painting the bases will make, so look for a major transformation with these soon.

The biggest encouragement has been the progress on the Medium Infantry. I was dreading these, as there are so many of them, but after two nights work the are over half done. As you can see from the close up (below) I have painted the plate and leather armour, and also base-coated the faces. I’ve even started the shields on the first few figures.

I’ve tried a different colour undercoat with these figures, so it will be interesting to see how they come out. The armour definately needs a dark wash to give it some definition, but otherwise they aren’t looking too bad.

With 21 Cavalry left to do after these figures, I’m finally starting to think that I may get everything finished.

SOA Battle Day – 12 days to go!

Really starting to feel the pressure now…

Only managed to get a little painting done over the weekend – still haven’t finished the Archers, though they are probably the most complicated unit to paint…not fiddly, just lots of colours!

Anyway, decided to leave them for the moment (they still have hair, 1/2 a quiver and the base to paint) and concentrate on the Medium Infantry, as these are the bulk of the remaining troops (44 figures). Luckily, they are also the least complicated having only 6 colours for the entire figure. Managed to get all the mail armour painted last night.

The plan is to paint all the leather armour tonight, which will complete most of the figure (Pictures tomorrow – hopefully!)

SOA Battle Day: T-Minus 21 days

Well, its less than 3 weeks to the Society of Ancients Battle Day on the 26th April, and so far the painting is not going quite to schedule. So far the only unit I have actually come anywhere close to finishing is my Heavy Infantry (see above).

My Halberdiers, Spearmen and Crossbowmen have all had their block colurs completed, but need at least a wash before being somewhere near complete.

I’m current about 2/3 of the way through my archers, which will leave me with the Medium Infantry plus the Medium and Heavy Cavalry to complete.

I can see this is going to be somewhat tight…