First Unit of Hoplites done now to do More!

 I was able to finish the second stand of Hoplites today and I am very happy with the result, they look great!  I really feel I have improved the application of the LBM transfer on the curved shields and I have to say I like how all the colors have worked together.

More on the way as well as more dark ages stuff! 

Bit of an overhead shot showing how they have lined up with the Ranks and also kept most of the spears length sitting over the base to try and prevent them being damaged.

Have a great week!

Cheers

JP

A return to the desk and slow progress ...........

It has been four months since my last post on the blog. To be honest I had thought that maybe I would not return to blog anymore.  There were conflicting challenges of the Family, Study and work. The Bride and I have begun the seemingly Everest size task of buying a property in the Melbourne property market. If this blog was political I would have allot of things to say about what I have found over the last few months, suffice to say I will not bore you the reader with such details. Suffice to say we are still looking.  My study has progressed well but this was in essence what has taken up my spare time.  Studying at masters level in a subject I love still means I needed to dedicate allot of time to reading and truly learning my subject matter.

The King is Dead long live the King !!!! War of the Roses Campaign Game 1

 

So the next series of games Berwick war-games club began this past Saturday. As mentioned earlier  War and the Roses was the theme of this next campaign, so we gathered to decided the fate of the Crown of England.  

The starting point of the campaign was first to decide which sides people would be on.  Ian, Peter and I declared for Lancaster, while Niel, Steve and Darren declared for York.

War of the Roses Pracitce Battle

 Some shots from the practice game we had before the War of the Roses Campaign starts - no commentary this time - Enjoy the pictures !

The final stand ! Final battle of our 1088 Campaign

 And so It came down to the final confrontation.  The North had risen up and was now marching south to expel the Normans from the land -  The Vikings had been given a deal - side with us and be paid gold for securing the Saxon crown so they had tuned mercenary and now march with the Anglo Saxons, and finally a Norman lord and his men had seen an opportunity to gain more land.

Confronting this was the strongest contingent of Normans yet and surprisingly also two southern  Saxon lords who had benefited from Norman rule (basically really bad blokes who where in on the gang of crooks running the country!)

5 commands a side this was the largest battle of the campaign and would settle who was victors!.... well till the War of the Roses where all the dodgy stuff would be bound to come up again :P

A Saga Worth Telling ! The final stand of the Danes

So it came down to this - The Danes had fallen back to their ships and on a cold morning on the coast of England either way a great tale would be told and great deeds would be achieved.

The Vikings having lost men on the retreat formed up on the hill - depleted but not at this stage undefeated - Greg the Mad, Peter Ironside and Jon The Devil stood together watching as the Saxons and Normans moved onto the field.

This battle would be hard to win but there was still honor to be had and legends to be made.

Across from the assembled Danes , Wal the Silent, Jon the Avenger ( Son of Ian the Bold) and Niel Righteous, had formed up and where deep in council as Jon the Avenger laid out the plan of attack.

Spears and Shield would be shattered this day and blood spilled and the ravens will have allot to feast on this day!

The Viking Camp - Having wintered it has been set up as an established point.

The Armies deploy the Vikings taking the hill and preparing for a hard fight.

The Battle for the Gates - Rebellion in 1088

So this past Saturday saw the third battle in our series of linked games, the Danes seeing the mess the kingdom had fallen into and with the Anglo-Saxon's rising up and the Normans in all sorts of trouble, decided to prosecute their claims to the crown.

The Vikings then brought their full force to the fore in attempt to prosecute their claims and where confronted with the Anglo-Norman army before the gates of a local Burgh seeking to achieve a quick victory the Danes launched into attack - but it was not to be and the Saxon shield-wall and Norman cavalry reversed the drama of the previous battles- with some very smug Saxon Lords grinning as the Vikings fell short...... (only battle they have won so far so I think they are a bit too optimistic:P )

I have decided to add a little bit more character to this unfolding saga as well :)

Dramatis Personae: 
 I used the random system in Dux Britanniarum to come up with the reputations and simple backgrounds.

Some times you are the Insect and then other times you are the Magnifying Glass...... A Hail Ceaser AAR

This Saturday past was the rematch on last weekends dark ages game and what now looks like expanding out to a few more linked games depending on the groups views.

In the time between the last game and this one I had also begun the work to improve the movement trays my lads are on and I will look to have a post about that up in the coming days.  I've slowed down the work a bit as I start to really dive into the study and keep the balance between that and work and a happy wife and hobby.

That being said I continue to move closer to completion to the viking project with two commands of 6 units each done, and planning for the final command in place (ie sourcing of figures and styles etc)

So Saturdays game saw me again face Wal with his Norman cavalry but this time I was on the left of our line and Peter was C-in-C again holding the right and Niel was in the center.  As it would have it we faced off against our usual suspects, Wal vs me, Greg vs Niel, and Ian vs Peter.

And lets just say Wal had another bad day of it with the cavalry facing the vikings with thier heat seeking axe's.

Anyway here are the pictures and comments from this last battle.

The Raid - A Dux Brittaniarum AAR

On Saturday Darren invited me over to his new home for a game of Dux and as we are about to embark on a campaign down at Berwick over the coming Wednesdays we thought we should get another practice game in before the kick off.

We played a raid on a settlement and used played saxon's v saxons as a test for some of the potential battles that may come up - in this case one side was activiating on the british cards (of course) and then bonuses where only applied when Boar Sutied cards where played etc.

I have designs to build a Late Roman -Romano British Army for Dux and Beyond but for now ill use my vikings as stand in raiders - because I can.

I really really like the Musketeer Miniatures range so watch this space when it comes to late romans! 

The quiet Village that has recently been taken over by a Saxon lord and his men.

1088 and all that

 

So after much work and waiting and work and waiting I finally got to deploy my Vikings and boy was it fun!  

Peter had set up a simple scenario of the basis of the rebellion in 1088 and a battle actually happening with some Anglo-saxons rising up and some danish forces coming along to help.

So it came down to Greg, Ian, Peter, Wal, Niel and Myself to duke it out,  Niel, Peter and Myself took to role of the rebels with me proudly deploying my vikings and Greg, Wal and Ian taking on the role of the Normans and the loyal Saxons.

The Forces Muster for the field of Slaughter - Anlgo-Saxon and Danish Allies on the left and the Normans and Anglo Saxon on the right

Conquest in April and Bolt Action event

Right as a change up from the Dark Ages stuff..... well for a little more to come for sure :P ....... I'm thinking about attending the Bolt Action event at conquest and finishing off my Fallschrimjager Platoon. 

So I have a few to go.... well about 30 models and might be stretching the expectations a little and I need to finish one last unit of Vikings I have on the table before I launch into it.

That being said with a challenge it might not get done at all so I think it is a worthwhile endeavor so I will give it a go for sure.

The Horde of Models Minus 6 that I need larger bases for

 So look out for some WW2 stuff over the next month and half and then on the flip side of that the last of the vikings i have in the lead pile and then....... we are into Anglo Saxons and maybe if I'm good and Secret Weapon Miniatures are on track my terrain boards !