Ancient artefacts the object of a jolly good battle

First Kings of War game in quite a while, with Andy's Kingdoms of Men lining up against my Empire of Dust army, each at 1500 points. The scenario we were playing was 'Loot', determined on the roll of a die. We are still using KoW v2, having not yet bothered to update to the newest 3rd edition. Frankly, I fear the old rules creep that was so off-putting for various other rules systems that I have played over the years.

Andy held his centre with two heavy pike regiments, flanked by regiments of Foot guard

Each flank saw a regiment of knights

On my right I deployed a regiment of Mummies, and two Reanimated behemoths

On my left, a regiment of Enslaved Guardians, and a regiment of spear

My centre was held by a Spear horde, two spear regiments, and a regiment of warriors, supported by a Swarm horde

The Empire left advances

The Empire centre. The swarm used the Vanguard rule t advance into the woods, upper left

The Empire right facing the knights

The swarm advanced toa ttack a unit of foot guard, needing that first atack

Andy supported the knights on his right with a unit of bow

The knights crash in on the Empire right, but clip the bad going, resulting in ahindered charge

A unit of Mummies advances out of the woods to attack the other unit of bow (upper left)

The swarm and Foot Guard in combat

The knights attacking my right are flanked by the two Reanimated behemoths, and are routed. The right hand loot counter is open to capture by the Empire

Mummies bounce back from the bow

Swarm, bounce back

Foot Guard counter charge...

And the swarm are routed

The Mummies are atacked by the bow, and flanked by the hero

The knights attacking the lft bounce back

Meanwhile a unit of Andy's Foot Guard on the left of his centre routs a regiment of spear

Things have heated up .. the spear horde  (which had captured the loot counter in the centre) has ben eliminated, and the heavy pike block turns its attention tom the warrior regiment that had previously eliminated a Foot Guard regiment

Mummies from the right flank attack the left hand pike regiment, having eliminated the other regiment of Foot Guard

They are eliminated

However it is the end of turn 6, and Andy controls two of the three loot counters, so a well fought victory fo the Kingdoms of Men.. but be assured.. we'll be back.. mwahahahahahahaha

Unrelated objects?

The key question here is .. what do these things have in common?

I'll leave the photos sitting here for a while...

Thar be pirates.. on the larboard bow, me 'earties ...

Life on the ocean waves ...

 .. an' there be pirates .. an' there be rum .. an there be .. adventure ... arrrrrr

So, when Andy alerted me to a packet of large pirate figures for just . a couple of dollars, I thought .. arrrr.. they be goin' great with me pirate army ... arrrrrrr

The packet contained 6 ;arge figures, two of each of those below. The problem with them was the large gap in the back of each, presumably the manufacturer's way of saving materials on the mold and reducing costs.

Painted up, they looked like this from the rear

And this ...

And ... this!!!

Some good old fashioned jiggery pokery after a bit of a ratting through the spares box, and some ideas started to come to fruition ..

A God, and two behemoths, fo the HotT pirate army.

And here are the boys, completed.... the God has that slightly misty, cloud like (I hope) stuff at his feet. The behemoths are maybe bionic constructs, with slightly putrid flesh on mechanical frames.. or something like that, anyway.

The completed contraptions on their backs, filing the large holes on each.

God .... a true Pirate God!!!

Behemoth 1

Behemoth 2

And the boys with a few of their more mortal fellow warriors...

This leaves me with a total of 40 points of pirates, so not big enough for a double sized game, and too many 3+ point elements to take them all in a 24 point game, but nonethelesss... arrrrr... thar be pirates!!!

I'd stalled with the painting mojo while in the middle of completing some 6mm Uhlans for the Prussian army 1870 for Volley and Bayonet, after a really tough, frantic, and frenetic, end to the school year .. this has allowed me to reconnect with the pint brushes, and some creativity....

'The Great Adventure' returns

Some years ago I created a web site 'The Great Adventure' to showcase world war 1 games fought using the Great War Spearhead rules set. I think the rules set is great, and I enjoy the Spearhead rules system for all three of its historical period iterations - WW1, WW2, and Moderns.

The site had been hosted by my former school, but when the server that was hosting it failed, they decided not to replace the server, so 'TGA' was without a home.

I have spent a good 14 months pondering what to do. The answer came to me when I was shown how to construct a site using Google Sites.. such simplicity and flexibility (albeit with a limited palette of formatting options).

So I have begun the task of rebuilding the site. Fortunately most of the files I used previously are still extant on my laptop, so this has mostly been an exercise in transferring and slightly adapting the content. It's not something that requires haste, so I'll establish the site a page or two at a time.

Here is the link to the new site.

Spain is in peril: Iberian adventures

For Captain Garcia Fernando Pedro del Gama this was not a great way to fight a war. He had stood with his men for 6 hours. The sun had risen from the horizon and was now almost directly overhead, and still the Generalissimo sat at his table beneath the flapping canvas, lunching, drinking champagne, and tasting the delights of the roast hare, and chicken.  A conference of commanders, it they called it. He called it a long lunch at best, damnable disgrace and a waste of fighting time at worst. There were Frenchmen to attack, Spain to defend. He kicked at the dried grass at his feet, snorted in disgust, and turned back to face the French columns advancing now across the plain.

Another action on the Iberian Peninsular, fought using the Volley and Bayonet rules, and my 25mm armies. Each army comprised 3000 points, created using the VnB Road To Glory scenario system

The position after the first two moves, the French on the left, the Spanish on th right

The Spanish left had taken up position on the first hill that they came cross

French Dragoons moved out to attack the Spanish left

One of the two Spanish reserve cavalry divisions advanced to counter the French cavalry threat

The Spanish right. Captain de Gama's troops were pushed forward to attack the French

The firsat Spanish attack routs one French brigade, but one Spanish regiment is lost in the process

On the left the cavalry battle is joined

The French left wing attacks the town of El Django, ejcting the Spanish troops that had captured it in the opening moments of the battle 

The French also apply pressure to the Spanish centre

The Spanish counter attack El Django, but fail to break in to the town

The French troops are caught in a bottle neck in the centre

The French draw troops across to their right to develop the attack on the Spanish left, but leave a hole in their own centre. Spanish reserve troops advance to exploit the gapSpanish 

The Spanish right continues the pressure on the French left, causing significant casualties

The Spanish centre/left

The Spanishjcavalry have defeated the French dragoons, but bow a division of French Hussars advances ion them

Shoring up the Spanish left

The French pull two brigades back from the Spanish artillery

The Spanish left waiting on the next French attack

Spanish cavalry have launched themselves into the flank of one of the French cnenre brigades, driving them back

The French centre/left troops pull back to guard their own flank

The Spanish right wing attack continues to push forward

The Spanish troops took their moment sot withdraw form the field as night fell. Had they been saved by the impending darkness, or had they lost the opportunity to defeat the French invaders because the battle had started so late in the day. For Captain Garcia Fernando Pedro del Gama this left a bitter taste in the mouth. Long lunches, indeed. Battles and wars were not won on the back of long lunches, but on the back of decisive action, and this day had not seen sufficient decisive action. Perhaps next time.

At this point the game was called the hour being late. The Spanish left was in a very vulnerable position. The centre/left had lost a division under withering French artillery fire, and the reserves had been called forward to hold the line. We had delayed too long before beginning the fight.

It was agreed that the Spanish army had been bested. The defensive posture of the Spanish infantry o the left had meant that they ceded the initiative to the French to develop their attack as they wished.

However this was another great game, as they always are with Volley and Bayonet.