Naval Wargaming Splash Markers

During the Battle of the Denmark Strait anniversary game I realised I really wanted better looking splash / blast markers for naval wargaming. Nic suggested Irregular Miniatures' 'Two explosions and two shell craters' (code GWV14) which are also available from Eureka Miniatures (code IRR-GWV14).

Designed for 6mm WWI wargaming, these are perfect for naval games and were very easy to paint up (black undercoat, heavy grey dry brush, light white dry brush, white highlights).

I have another 10 (in both sizes) that I'll paint up black to use for land warfare. Really happy how easy these were to create. With the current lock down due to Covid restrictions, I have no idea when I'll get to use them.

Tusk Size Comparison Between Irregular and Eureka Miniatures

On a previous blog post about my Tusk project (here) I had a question about the compatibility between Irregular Miniatures' 15mm Tusk range and Eureka Miniatures' 10mm fantasy creatures I supplement to the mammoths that Irregular makes for the rules.

For comparison I used two regular cavemen and an Og (who's a little beefier than the others). The cavemen are on 20mm plasticard circles, while the animals are either on 19 x 25mm or 30 x 40mm plasticard rectangles.

Lions (sabre-toothed cats):

Stags:

Woolly rhinos:

Og with all three:

For me they work - they're maybe a little small, but noting that has ever put me off.

Anyway, as stated the animals are from Eureka Miniatures' 10mm fantasy range, and can be found here:

https://www.eurekamin.com.au/index.php?cPath=87_100_101&sort=3a

https://eurekaminusa.com/collections/fantasy-10mm-by-alan-marsh

https://www.eurekaminuk.com/collections/fantasy

Anyway, a few weeks late - apologies Wouter.

Tusk!

I had promised Jack a game of Tusk, so we really only went through the mechanics. In hindsight I shouldn't have set up a large table (instead of something like a 2' by 2' board), so it was initially a lot of running around and not much hunting. We increased the activation dice to two and that made things flow a little faster.

But soon we got in close range and the animals did what they do best - mauling and trampling the cavemen.

Next time I'll write up some stats for all the animals I've painted now and make it a lot more intense.

Tusk (Mammoth Hunting) in 15mm

When I first started wargaming again in 2005, I started by playing Flames of War. This was my first foray into 15mm and I fell in love with the versatility of the scale. DBA soon followed, and I picked up Irregular Miniatures' Tusk rules and miniatures; purely for the quirkiness factor.

They were left unpainted for a few years, but by 2010 I had painted the six mammoths (two of them calves), two woolly rhinos and 16 cavemen for Little Wars that year where I ran a few participation games.

The mammoths got a bit of extra fur (courtesy of Green Stuff) to cover their seam line along their backs, but they were pretty easy to paint (and actually not bad sculpts). The characterful woolly rhinos being from Eureka Miniatures' 10mm fantasy range.

A week or so ago I decided to add to this collection with some more 10mm miniatures from Eureka Miniatures with some deer and lions (which could double as sabre-toothed cats). To give an idea of their scale, I based them on 19 x 25mm bases while the mammoths and woolly rhinos are on 30 x 40mm bases.

When I primed these (with some 15mm Napoleonic uhlans and medieval Malays) I wasn't planning on painting them, but I thought "when are you going to paint these?". So I painted them then. It ended up being a quicker process than I thought, taking less than an hour. I love the result of a quick dry brush with some highlights/detail, being surprised how well they turned out.

The colour palette used was limited, only using Vallejo black (70.950), white (70.951), US field drab (70.783) and yellow ochre (70.913). I mixed a grey for the antlers and shades of the two colours with the black and white. I also painted the bases with yellow ochre, but when I was done I think the original bases were painted with another colour I used back then. So I'll have to redo the edges at some point. Will probably use the craft paint raw umber to keep things simple (which I use for all my non-desert and non-snow bases).

Edit (31 August 2019): I have painted the edges raw umber on the five adult mammoths, two baby mammoths, two woolly rhinos, three deer, three lions, four dogs and 16 cavemen. It always feels good to complete a project.

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).

Victorian ADLG Tournament 2018

Last Sunday I took part in the League of Ancients' annual ancients tournament. Once again L'Art de la Guerre (ADLG) was used, with the armies restricted to 200 points from the Biblical and Classical Period lists.

I took a Scythian army (using the Saka options to represent the Yuezhi) consisting of:
Army Corps I
C-in-C General King Luo (Competent) (3)
4 Cataphract (Elite) (52)
2 Medium cavalry bow (Ordinary) (18)
2 Light cavalry bow (Ordinary) (12)

Army Corps II
Sub-General Prince Kumul (Ordinary) (0)
2 Medium cavalry bow (Ordinary) (18)
2 Light cavalry bow (Ordinary) (12)
4 Bowmen (Ordinary) (28)

Army Corps III
Ally (Mountain Indians) General Gerald (Competent) (3)
1 Elephant (Ordinary) (13)
2 Light cavalry javelin (Ordinary) (12)
3 Medium spearmen (Ordinary) (21)
1 Bowmen (Ordinary) (7)
1 Light infantry bow (Ordinary) (4)

The lists of armies taking part included:
Assyrian Empire and Sargonid (9) x2
Sea Peoples (24)
Mycenaean (Trojan) (30)
Seleucid (42)
Ptolemaic (43) x2
Pyrrhic (44)
Italian Tribes (Samnites) (47)
Camillan Roman (52)
Republican Roman (53)
Carthaginian (55)
Cyrenian Greek (58)
Galatian (72)
Early Arab (75)
Scythian (76) x2
Classical Indian (79)

In the weeks leading up to the tournament I repainted the foot archers and the cataphracts to add to the rest of the army I had painted (or re-painted) over the last year.

In the morning I faced Richard S's Ptolemaic and lost...

...followed by another loss in the afternoon game against James B's beautifully painted Carthaginians.

The cataphracts and the elephant were stand outs, but there was some poor match ups created on my part. The bowmen also shouldn't have been in one block. Overall though I like the army. Just need more games to improve my game.

Last Game I Played - ADLG Tournament Practice

Next month will be the League of Ancients' annual ADLG tournament again, this time limited to lists from the Ancient and Classical periods.

I tweaked my Scythian (#77) army from earlier in the year - basically the Saka option to represent Yuezhi cataphracts with a Mountain Indian ally. I swapped a lot of the light horse I had used for infantry bowmen to give myself a little more flexibility if there was terrain in the game (and also to push myself to paint the unused Nepalese bow elements I had for this army - original build as a Tibetan one, but easily morphable to other Central Asian options).

First game in the morning was against Michael and his Achaemenid Persian (#64). On my left flank I placed my Mountain Indian command opposite his infantry command (that included two units of Immortals), in the middle my infantry bowmen with cavalry and light horse support faced off mainly against heavy cavalry bow Persians, and on my right my cataphracts were opposite a bowmen and a mix of heavy cavalry and light horse command.

I was lucky with the shooting I received early in the game being ineffective, but in turn three I took a bit of a hammering - and it delayed my charge of the Mountain Indians.

But charge they eventually did (photo above is from just beforehand), hammering in and cutting open the lines (first time seeing the benefit of an elephant in ADLG). Meanwhile on the other flank I managed to use my most expensive units to chase light horse around the board. I wasn't thinking (again!).

Unsurprisingly I lost the game, but a few simple corrections in deployment and tactics could've seen a vast improvement in results.

In the afternoon I played against Tyler with his Cyrenian Greek (#58). His army seemed to be pretty much unchanged from the game earlier in the year. I deployed my Mountain Indian command opposite the terrain (off to the left in the photo below), with my cataphracts opposite two foot commands.

On my right flank I placed my archers and supporting mounted elements, slightly refused (but not enough as it turned out). There's also three unpainted elements in the back (the horror, the horror!).

Because these guys would come thundering in. Again.

I was able to shoot, retreat and shoot again a few times and take down two of the chariots, but my infantry bowmen suffered rightly for being in the open. They got crushed under hoof and steel, with the remaining Greek chariots and elite horsemen mopping up the leftovers.

Meanwhile, back in the middle of the battle, there was a bit of chaos with my poor rules knowledge showed as I was flank charged a few times for particular set ups (slides and semi-exposed flanks).

However, my elephant did have success again and punched through the lines to cause cohesion drops on the Greek hoplites behind the main line.

But yet again, this was all not enough - I failed to keep my troops together; "look at all these little things! So busy now! Notice how each one is [not] useful. A lovely ballet ensues, so full of form and colour." The game was a lot closer as I had a plan (charge with the cataphracts and elephant), although the cataphracts all got destroyed (as Tyler divided them up to deal with each one in turn).

A few tweaks to the list is needed, but nothing major. The elephant and supporting medium spearmen were good performers, the infantry bowmen were just poorly utilised. Let's see what next month brings.

15mm Mark IV Male and A7V WWI Tanks

I painted these as a German Beutepanzer for an upcoming Flames of War tournament.

I bought them years ago and they're very dated Irregular Miniatures sculpts. With Battlefront's recent offerings I would not recommend these now. Lots of cleaning up, but once painted I was happy enough and they do have a certain charm.

The platoon was also my first attempt at using decal softer, no idea how I lasted so long without this product.