Cavalry for my Legions

Taking advantage of the crappy weather to crack on with some cavalry for my Romans. These are the Wargames Factory figs, not great when you get them out of the box and joined together and the horses are very lumpy with a pronounced belly. However once painted and inked I think they do the job pretty well 

I'll need to get some transfers - not impressed with the Warlord games ones.

These are mounted individually. The reasons for this is that I want to use them for skirmish games. Think 7th cav raiding hostile villages on the plains - except these chaps will be ranging through the forests!

Fiddling with the Camera

A small selection of better shots from Tuesdays game. I had to use my Ipad and couldn't quite get the focus right, so these are an attempt to show some of the scenes from the battle a little better.

Hope you like.

Praetorians Cross the Bridge

 

 

Battle for the Bridgehead

 

 

Auxiliaries Charge

More Battles for the Frontier

Pictures from last nights game. This time the Romans had to carry out an assault river crossing after Barbarians attacked their outposts.

Under covering fire from Scorpions on the south bank, a column of Auxiliaries and Legionaries crosses the river.

However the enemy are waiting for them, skirmishers rush out from the trees to attack the head of column.

More Romans attempt to cross the bridge and a unit of Batavian Cavalry swim the river.

 

The barbarians press their advantage and the crisis of the battle approaches as the auxiliaries fall beneath their blades

 

 

 

But the legion are made of tougher stuff and slowly win back the balance of battle.

In the end, the might of Rome prevails....just!

 

Battle in the Forests

Well we had our first full battle using our version of the NT "Classical Warfare" rules with my Germans taking on my mate John's Romans. An extremely bloody affair fought across a tree studded battlefield saw my Germans win (it could hardly be called a triumph!) but only just! Admittedly there were several extra dice thrown in a couple of melee's by the Romans but this would have impacted the game only slightly.

 

 

My skirmishers worked their way up the flanks, at one stage eliminating John's Moorish cavalry, pinned and unable to retreat by his heavy infantry.

Victory was costly however - by the end the Germans had 4 fresh units including skirmishers, some warriors and cavalry and a couple more worn units whilst the Romans were down to their last three units of legionaries.

Gaesric, the German King was able to claim the field, however his tribe has suffered very heavy losses and only by careful diplomacy will he be able to find the manpower to attack the Roman frontier.

Macrinus, the Roman commander quit the field at the outset of battle - the result of a random event card. Luckily for the Romans this didn't cause much of a morale collapse and the men stayed to do the job they were there for....unlike their commander.

A great game, and the casualty figures, dice frames and 7mm die worked well meaning our decision to use a single unit base and count up hits rather than 4 bases with casualty removal was as sound one. They are decidedly less fiddly than the casualty "wheels" out there and seen in the pic below.

I think my bases need some "tufts". The flock matches my own table, which makes them look plainer.  But other than that I'm please with how it looks en mass.

I've got my own Romans to finish, and then an Achaemenid Army - lots of yellow and purple!

Gaesric Set Me Here!

This is a marker for Sunday's game. The runes are Norse but the language is English. The boar is a copy of a symbol I found online which is also used for a local restaurant, however it is also a symbol of strength and virility and the boar's bristles were reputedly imbued with protective properties, so it makes a good tribal symbol.

The text reads : "Gaesric set me here"  On the back, in smaller runes is "Ingri made me" which I think comes from engraving on a sword or dagger. Anyway wherever I got it from it seemed fitting. Base texture and grass will be added before the game.