A Greek Tragedy

The other day I got another of my infrequent game days in against Merlin.  I hosted this time, and we managed to get in two games, a Clash! game and a 1520 point KoWH game.

I used my newly painted, never before seen Greeks (with a couple of units of Scythian allies) and Merlin used his Spartans with mythological help from a regiment of Centaurs plus hero.

The Clash game was a straight up fight, with honours going to my Greeks.  My two phalanxes of hoplites gave me a strong core to my army, and along with the incredibly lucky chance of routing his cavalry early on, the game went very  much my way.

The two Clash! forces face off, Merlin's Spartans at the top, my Athenians at the bottom.

Merlin's Spartans (L to R): Light Cavalry, Kryptea, Commander, Spartiate hoplites and Slingers

My Athenians (L to R): Skirmishers with a Phalanx of Hoplites behind, Commander just peeping out from behind a second Phalanx and Slingers

Sadly, the dice gods deserted me then, that or my planning and tactics were poor.

We played a variant of the Loot scenario, since I had enjoyed it so much against T'Other One in KoW.  This time we were trying to capture, or save, three civilians.  Had it been necessary to determine an outright winner, one of them would randomly turn out to be a spy.  In the end, Merlin won so comprehensively this was unnecessary.  Alas, we wree so tied up in the game that I only took a couple of photos.

The game started with Merlin grabbing one objective with his Criptea Vanguard moving into contact with it.  One of my skirmishing units quickly claimed another, but soon lost it to the marauding herd of Centaurs, these, plus there hero, were a tough proposition, and thoroughly destroyed my attempt at a flanking maneuver with my Skythian allies.  On the other flank, the Spartan cavalry easily snatched the remaining civilian, and held onto him, despite running down a couple of my units plus my poor priest.
It was only in the centre that I really had any luck, and my three phalanxes held out almost until the end against Merlins Spartan king and routed all his main infantry.  Still, it was far too little too late.

A great fun day of gaming, and we both decided to do more KoWH.  it was, perhaps, a mistake to go to just over 1500 points; if we had kept it back to 1250 or so we could have fielded entirely historical forces.

We have both given a lot of thought since the battle to how the lists are built, and have, inevitably, drawn up our own lists in an attempt to reflect how we believe armies of the time were fielded and would fight.

Something Ancient, Something New

A quick aside from the War of the Crown AARs.
As I mentioned recently, I was due a day's gaming with Merlin.  Well this happened last week and we got the opportunity to try not just KoWH, but our Clash variant (details here).

Merlin used his Spartans and I used my Scythians.  After the usual 'show and tell' we got down to the first of three Clash games.  As we had both anticipated, it was a pretty quick game, with my cavalry running rings around his infantry.  The game was an Ambush scenario, with one of Merlin's units hidden somewhere in a patch of Difficult Ground.  I managed to stay away from most of the potential hiding places, and pulled of a convincing victory.

This is what can happen when an entire cavalry army takes on a largely infantry force.

The second game was closer, and the third game, where we both had flanking forces was a Spartan victory as Merlin's flanking force was able to take out mine.

We really enjoyed the scale of these battles, and the KoWH system generally.  Being able to get three games comfortably in four hours gaming time (including chat etc) was a bonus.  It occurred to us that this would be ideal for a multi player club game, with each player bringing their own Clash force.

Scythian Cavalry part 5

At last, I've finished the minis I need for a Clash force for our small scale KoWH variant.  Here's the last troop, actually the second half of the cavalry regiment, and the hero who leads the force.

This troop can be fielded as a Troop, but the intention is to place it behind the troop I did here to make the mandatory regiment for a Clash force.  I only used four minis here, I wanted to easily differentiate between the different cavalry units, since the Scythians will have quite a few different types.  So heavy cavalry have five minis to a troop base, cavalry have four and light cavalry and horse archers have three.  (I based up the first cavalry base before deciding this).

The Scythian leader.  For Clash games he is the standard Hero with a mount, but in larger battles I can upgrade him.

I have a couple more units ready to varnish and base up, but this is the minimum I need to play, and it will form the core of my larger KoWH Scythian army.  Its going to appear on the table top as a Varangur force in KoW as well.

All the minis in this army so far are by Falcon Figures UK (which is now US based).  I really liked them when I got them, over 20 years ago.  I guess they don't stand up that well today, compare them with the War and Empire Forged in Battle minis or Xyston for instance; and what is it with the tiny horse heads on some of the minis?  Still, they have a certain charm, and certainly a great variety of pose and equipment.

Scythian Cavalry part 4

I'm still playing around with the new light box, and I think I need a bit more light.  Still, here is the latest Scythian unit.

This is a troop of Heavy Cavalry, the best cavalry KoWH allows, barring special types.  Strictly they aren't available to the Scythians, according to their themed list (page 80), however, I have a few issues with those themes. Certainly the archaeological evidence suggests a cadre of heavily armoured and well equipped, probably noble, cavalry.  They may not be as well protected as a 15th century knight, but against contemporary foes, they should be pretty tough.  Also KowH doesn't allow bows for the heavier cavalry (balance issues probably), though it is thought that just about every Scythian carried a bow.  I'll ignore them for the purposes of the game, but I have included a bow firing model in the troop.

If you've looked at Merlin's 'Clash' ideas (if not, why not?) then you will realise that I am missing the free hero and the mandatory regiment.  Those are next on the painting table (assuming I can resist the lure of more D&D monsters).

For KoW Varangur I'll use these as Mounted Sons of Korgaan.  Fun Fact; Kurgan is not only the name of the adversary in the first Highlander film, but also the name given to the burial mounds in which the Scythians buried their dead, and which provide a feat of archaeological treasures and evidence.  This similarity in names helped me decide to use Scythians for my Varangur.
I'll need a few more units for the 1000 points I am aiming at for my Varangur.  I am investigating the possibilities for a mounted wizard, and there are a few historical types that would fit in well with the theme.  I'd also like a few extra units, just to give some variety when choosing a force.

Scythian Cavalry part 3 (and a new toy)

I finished the next couple of troops of Scythians earlier this week, but I have held off showing them as I was expecting a new toy; a small fold up light box (complete with LED strip) in the hopes that I could improve my photography.  It arrived today, so I have been experimenting and have the results of the first test pictures.

A troop of Scythian Horse Archers.

The hope was that the lighting would be better.  I think there is some improvement, but I will play around with extra lighting (I still have some LED lamps from my previous set up,which was a converted cardboard box.  One thing the new light box has is it folds up into a small bag, very easy to store.

The miniatures are once again from my old army, so just needed some repair work to the old paint jobs, plus a bit more detail adding. 

I'll post the other completed unit soon.  I was more interested in trying out the new light box.

I only need one more troop to complete the 'Clash' force, plus the hero to lead them.  These will be started from scratch though, so might take a little longer.

Scythian Cavalry part 2

As promised, another troop of my Scythians/Varangur.  Did you guess that they would be a women only unit?

These are more of my old WAB Scythian army, again with the paintwork touched up and a few extra details added.  

Searching through the tin of minis I realised I could make up units of women riders.  If grave goods are to be believed, the Scyth were equal opportunity fighters.  Some of the graves of women contain armour and weaponry like many of the men, some don't, suggesting that it was specific to the individual buried there, rather than a general cultural practice.  It has also been suggested that the practice of women fighting amongst the men gave the Greeks the idea of the Amazons.  If/when I put together a 'legendary' Scythian army then I will field these as Amazons; for now they are either Horse Archers or Scythian Horse Archers.  In KoWH these unit types are slightly different, each having their own good and bad points.  Perhaps the men will be one type and the women the other?

For KoW they are simply Varangur Horse Raiders.

Yesterday I asked if anyone knew the manufacturer.  Early answers on Facebook suggest possibly Donnington Miniatures.  More investigation is required, as their website has few pictures of their Scythian range, but if it's the case I will definitely be a rabbit of positive euphoria* as I can add some extra cavalry and heavy cavalry.  Not more horse archers, definitely not.  I have more than enough of those.

*a happy bunny

Scythian Cavalry part 1

As Merlin has posted his progress with his Greeks, here is my opposing force.  I mentioned before that this is an army I had a long time ago.  Many of the minis are in poor shape (though surprisingly most of the spears are still intact).  I don't think I varnished my minis back then, I've learnt that lesson the hard way.  So 'painting' was largely repair work, though I did add some extra detail, such as some of the decoration on the clothing.

Here is the first unit (well, troop).  In KoWH they will be Cavalry, for my Varangur force in KoW they could be Mounted Sons of Korgaan, though I do have something else in mind for those at a later date.

There's not a lot to say about these; the paint jobs are fairly standard, little in the way of shading and mostly one highlight.  

I wish I could remember what make these are, as I would like a few more just to fill in the gaps. They are nice models,though the detail on the faces could be better, mind you faces are mostly covered by beards, so there's not much lost.

I do have loads more of the Scyth to be going on with, so there's plenty of time to hunt out reinforcements.  I might even get some infantry, though I am concentrating on all cavalry for now.

If you want to learn more about the Scythians the Osprey book "The Scythians 700 - 300 BC" by Dr E V Cernenko is a good place to start, indeed most of the range of minis I used are clearly based on the illustrations in that book.

Next time I'll show some of the riders who definitely don't have a beard problem.