Ancient Hebrew Rocking Horse Chariots and The Judean People's Front

A few years ago (back in November 2015) the League of Ancients' Field of Glory competition was Biblical-themed. Army lists could be anything fielded from 'Swifter than Eagles' and the four biblical army lists from 'Lost Scrolls'.

While I had a few Numidian light foot, I really didn't have anything suitable. Sure, I could've painted a new army, or borrowed one. Instead I quickly assembled 16 Ancient Hebrew rocking horse chariots and four Judean People's Front command stands. As you do. They would be added to some Ancient Spanish and the Numidians miniatures I had to make up a Philistine army (because I was being a Philistine).

The wooden pieces for the conversions were bought cheaply on eBay and cost less than AU$5 from memory. The rest of the wooden body for the chariots was made from balsa wood offcuts and matchsticks. The tops were painted thick card with Battlefront WWII Soviet cupolas and tank crewmen.

The command stands were assembled from spare miniatures I had in the lead pile - mainly Eureka Miniatures samurai painted to look like Judean People's Front (or the People's Front of Judea) from 'Monty Python's Life of Brian'. If you haven't seen the film then I suggest you do. The flags were sourced from online and resized/recoloured in Photoshop. They're a little pixilated, and if I did them again I would spend more time designing / cleaning up the flags in Photoshop than I did.

The point of the exercise? Wargaming doesn't always have to be serious, and you can easily theme an army if you have to. Being a mishmash of troop types it didn't go too well (I finished deep in the bottom half of the draw). I did have fun though.

Edit: Here's some photos of the camp I built for the army. It's made to look like a film set and represents the walls of Jerusalem covered in "Romani ite domum" ("Romans go home") as per 'The Life of Brian'.

Cruel Seas and Tibetans for ADLG

Mark R was keen to try out his night fighting rules for Cruel Seas and I was keen to actually use the PT boats I had painted earlier in the year for the first time in a game. So we played one of the convoy scenarios (scenario 5 from memory) from the rule book.

Mark had two armed trawlers accompanied by an M-class minesweeper. I was lying in ambush with one Elco and three Higgins PT boats (starting the game as blinds, with an additional two blinds to confuse Mark). I therefore started the game with a clear tactical advantage over Mark's slow fleet and my aim was to ensure I kept it by swamping him with torpedoes and machine gun fire. It worked (okay I only had a few successful torpedo contacts).

The night time rules worked well, with the unpredictable visibility distance (potentially shifting up or down in 10cm bands) meant I couldn't hide just inside a magic cloak of darkness, but had to be adaptable. I think they reflected the historical situation well.

And after sinking his fleet (though I came 4 hull points close from losing one of my own boats), I am sure Mark is keen to fight the next scenario with me having to shepherd some cargo ships across the table while he has fun zipping around.

In the afternoon I faced Ian S and his Feudal English in a game of ADLG with nearly painted Tibetans. I was massacred.

I deployed poorly, with my cataphracts not lined up to face Ian’s heavy foot. They were also one combat factor down against his knights, so it wasn’t surprising I only killed two elements to Ian getting 28 (my army break point was 21!). This also included him killing two of my generals.

The surviving general’s report states it was a resounding victory, with the rest of the army taking a well deserved holiday (England is always sunny to a Tibetan).

Ancient Spanish for ADLG

The June League of Ancients meet saw me face Lyle D and his Middle Assyrians (I/25a) with my Great Sumerian Revolt army (I/1c) for a morning DBA campaign game.

It was a short game, more due to luck than skill - I was able to quick kill Lyle's light chariots with my bow, with two (maybe three) 6-1 rolls in my favour. The other kill was a 5-1 from memory.

It had been a while since I played Art De La Guerre (ADLG), so I took up an offer from Matt W to play a classical-themed game in the afternoon. He fielded an Alexander the Great (#40) army and I wanted to field something suitably historical. I fielded something I haven't used before - Ancient Spanish (#89). These were from my Field of Glory Carthaginian army (Magister Militum / Chariot Miniatures), and I used the African spearmen from that army as my Celtiberian.

The list consisted of:

Thurro (competent C-in-C)
2 Celtiberian (impetuous heavy swordsmen elite)
4 Celtiberian (impetuous heavy swordsmen)
2 Light infantry (sling)
1 Burning cart (scythed chariot)

Lubbo (ordinary sub-general)
1 Celtiberian (impetuous heavy swordsmen elite)
2 Celtiberian (impetuous heavy swordsmen)
4 Caetrati (javelinmen)
2 Light infantry (sling)
2 Light cavalry (javelin)

Caciro (competent sub-general)
3 Medium cavalry (elite)
3 Light cavalry (javelin)
3 Light infantry (javelin)

I have never used many of these troop types (including javelinmen) and consequently deployed poorly. Very poorly.

While on my left flank I deployed the mounted command, I engaged them against Matt's mounted command that outnumbered me and was better equipped.

The centre command should've been the one to face the elephants and be able to take the ploughed field, instead I sent them off on the far left flank. They did next to nothing all game (in part due to having a commander that was hardly able to activate).

However the impetuous heavy swordsmen ability saved me, because when I hit Matt's line I was able to claw back something (helped also by some fortuitous shooting rolls). In the end I lost, but I was close to breaking Matt's army (18 demoralisation points from his army value of 20). But not a victory.

Overall I was happy with the Ancient Spanish list, and a little tweaking of the commands has me ready to field them again.

Lazy Sunday Session - Conquest of Paradise and Bloodborne

Nic R had the house to himself (well Charlie did, he allowed Nic to stay), so a lazy Sunday session was organised.

I was keen to play Conquest of Paradise, particularly as it had been around 18 months since I last played. While Nic would be GMing of sorts and hosting, the other players (Wes, Jack G and Ara H) would be exploring the big blue. As a four player game I (as Samoa) was stuck right next to Jack (as Tonga), while Wes and Ara were further away to the east.

We played a lot more cordially than last time (not a single round of combat!), which I put down to Ara not wanting to attack as he sheepishly didn't want to ask on what the rules/mechanics were. Instead he tried to sail to South America (as you do).

Ara did successfully get there and bring back kumara (sweet potatoes), we were all cheering when he made it. That non-confrontational strategy put him in front and ultimately won him the game.

It was interesting to see the game with different players play out completely different to last time. A lot of fun. I then had a little time left before dinner plans, so I took part in a short game of Bloodborne.

Definitely a game of easily being able to stab your team in the back, but we were all still too friendly - cooperating and sending players to regenerate that were on low health when needed.

WWI Skirmish with Foch and more DBA Sumerians

The League of Ancients meeting was a week later than usual due to the Easter long weekend, and Jack G was keen to give Foch a try as we plan our post-WWI revolution games set in Eastern Europe.

Foch is a free adaptation by Pierre Aymeric for using Osprey’s The Men Who Would be Kings to game World War One (and is available here: https://lesperegrinationsdunainblanc.blogspot.com/2018/05/adaptation-tmwwbk-premiere-guerre.html).

Jack supplied both armies, where I commanded Austrians and Jack fielded a British force. As it was a training game, the units were smaller than the normal 12 (to accommodate Jack's collection) of around 9-10 men and we played around 24 points a side (the normal TMWWBK size) as opposed to the 36-48 points Foch recommends. I had three units of 9 men and an HMG, while Jack had troops with better morale, but an LMG instead of an HMG. I only remember what my leaders' traits were, two were Inspirational (may reroll failed rally rolls) and the third was a Terrible planner (limited ammunition supply). These definitely added a great flavour to the game without adding too much complexity.

Finally, the mission. To avoid a straight pitched battle, we decided to play the first scenario (Just Passing By). This forced us both to move and get me to learn the mechanics.

The game became a one-sided affair as I deployed my HMG in a commanding position on a hill and swarmed my infantry units forwards, concentrating fire when possible. Jack suffered for this (he also had a lot of unlucky morale rolls). I eventually wiped out his army.

I loved the game - was quick to pick up and I think will work for us as long as we have an HMG each and play with the minimum recommended army size of 36 points. The flavour of small-scale skirmish is definitely something that appealed to me. I also realised when I got home that a small 1914 Belgian collection I had in the lead pile was enough to field as 36 points, which was a nice bonus.

The afternoon saw more DBA games (round 4 of the GTA:Biblical campaign) with my Sumerians taking on Peter S's Philistines (I/29) in a practice game, Stephen C's Hittite Empire (I/24) and Damian P's Mitanni (I/19). I won against Stephen and lost to Damian, which meant my provinces didn't change hands.

I really need to finish off the rest of the army so I can photograph them up close. In particular I will also need to give the exposed flesh parts a brown wash - they are way too pale!

Little Wars Melbourne 2019 - Waterloo and Siege of Rhodes

Another year, and good to see another Little Wars Melbourne.

I was not really paying too much attention on what was being offered in the way of games (as they were being announced on the Facebook page):
https://www.facebook.com/events/kingston-arts-hall-985-nepean-highway-moorabbin/little-wars-melbourne-2019-9am-to-4pm/394294514710354/

So when I turned up in the morning I wandered the tables (lots of great looking terrain and miniatures) and the other sellers (including the second hand tables). I didn't take any photos and didn't buy anything, so this is just a report of the two games I played.

For the morning game I took part in Richard G's large Waterloo game using his recently published second edition of Field of Glory Napoleonic. There were a huge amount of miniatures on the table (a few thousand at least!) and I commanded a small Dutch Belgian contingent on the far left flank as a player who signed up before the day was running late. Not much action in the hour I played as units were shuffling into position (while trying to stay out of view and range of artillery). However I did get a few hits on the French infantry units facing me.

It was a game that went all day, and unsurprisingly the French had a really hard time from what I heard (could they ever win that rematch?).

The afternoon game saw me commanding the land forces of Demetrius on Ian H's lovely Siege of Rhodes (305–304 BC) table. He had designed and made all the card terrain, its visual appeal (and knowing nothing of the battle) immediately drew me to play.

We used Age of Hannibal, a rule set I hadn't used before. Was pretty easy to pick up and they flowed really nicely. Chee commanded the invading Macedonian fleet, while Ian and Dylan H were defending the city. The photos below are mainly from my side of the battle. I knew that I had to get to the walls as quickly as possible, as Dylan had artillery and archers that were from the beginning causing me issues. However, by concentrating fire, I was able to punch holes in the wall (I lost all my siege engines though!).

At this stage we called the game, as I had troops in the city and it was getting close to the end of the day.

Two great games, thanks Richard and Ian and all my opponents - what Little Wars is all about. Also a big shout out to the organisers (Nic and Mike) - appreciate all the effort that goes into getting this up and running each year.