Excalibur - Oathmark Orcs.

I need to seriously increase my pace - time seems to be running away on projects. Another one where the last post on the blog was over 3 years ago.

With all the chatter around Dragon Rampant 2 and keeping with the theme of getting s**t done this month the focus continues to be on random stuff. 

These Oathmark Orcs, they were a Christmas present and were put together in the summer so have been on the to do list for almost a year. 

The box art was lovely and I thought they would make useful additions to the forces of Mordred and the Excalibur project. They are slightly larger than the Knights but don't look to bad and will largely be in their own units on the table. A rich variety of head gear and weapons many fit that old school style which mirror that of the original Chaos Knights.

I was thinking about the origins of the Excalibur legend and lost several hours in reading Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory and thinking about the final battle at Camlann and what the foot troops might look like and these most certainly fit the bill.

I opted for a flesh tone rather than the common held green variant - They look better to my eye.

Using the mechanics of Lion Rampant or Dragon Rampant each knight from the Round Table could be a unit on there own against the mass ranks of Mordred's rebellious forces. So it should playout that heroic feel. - Let's see....

Lancelot and King Arthur find themselves in a spot of bother.

Chatting about scenario's with a buddy over a coffee he mentioned that they had a feel of the Blood Bath at Orcs Drift from the early the 80's.... it might be fun to dig out the scenario's even though the figures, booklet and buildings are long gone.

Strange how some projects just don't go away.

RJW War - Not the Senluo Temple - Game 1.

Having played a good game a few weeks ago see Paul's post here. From borscht to sushi - The Russo Japanese War | movealongnownothingtoseehere

It gave me the bug for the RJW again looking for a scenario I came across Mark Fastoso's Colonial Campaigns book for the Boxer Rebellion and with a couple of tweaks could be good for converting to the Russo Japanese War.

The book has three interlinked campaigns within the supplement and are of the right size and scale for games within Men Who Would be Kings.

First up the an adaption of the opening scenario Senluo Temple. 

The pretext being a village held by Korean Nationals and the Korean/Chinese army which is holding out from an attacked by the Russian Army. The Japanese look to reinforce the village whilst disrupting the Russian attack.

The Japanese must accumulate 8 Victory Points.

Points are awarded for each Russian Officer figure killed, routed of moved off the board or for each victory area controlled these are the T junction at the end of the board behind the Russian lines, the Bridge or  3 of the 4 buildings.

A few local Chinese held the perimeter having seized the chance to be free of the Russian overlords.

The Russians advance on mass looking to break into the village before the Japanese can get into position to help defend the village.

On the bridge the Japanese move at the double as the cross the river they are brought under shell fire slowing their advance.

The Russians had placed an artillery piece and infantry unit on the left flank, but they were unable to stop the Japanese from rushing across the bridge and disappearing behind cover of a wood.

The Russians closed in on the village their skill was with the bayonet and the poorly trained defenders were too small in number to stop the advance of the Russian masses. One or two units were slowed and pinned but others made it to the perimeter.

A company of Russian Infantry rush the walled compound and push back the defenders forcing there way into the compound. A good start for the attackers.

The Japanese needed to grab the initiative from the attackers and sent their cavalry forward to slow the assault. It was quite a gamble as part of the victory conditions was for the Japanese to not lose a set number of units.

The Cavalry pushed a unit of infantry backwards they lost half there number but the Infantry were broken as a force and the flank exposed.

On the right flank with the first compound in Russian hands with a sailor unit forcing back a counter attack from a Japanese Infantry unit.

It's getting close, the Russian guard having fired a close range volley into the next house charged forward, they needed to clear 3 of the 4 buildings for the victory point.

Help was on hand for the Japanese, called back from the reconnaissance they galloped back from  scouting ahead  and were rushing back to support the defence. 

Crashing into a badly beaten Russian Infantry to take it out of the game. The Russians were too weak to be able to secure the objective objectives within the turn restrictions.

The Japanese held on, the Russians had battered themselves on the defences but were unable to shift the reinforced village. Had the Russians picked the wrong objective to focus on?

Japanese Results.

Japanese fulfil their victory conditions - 3 Points

2 Russian Unit Destroyed - 2 Points

Russian Results.

Japanese Cavalry Unit destroyed - 2 Points

Japanese Infantry Unit down to half strength - 1 Point

A Japanese win by 2 points.

On to the next game in a series of 3 the Russians will need to win the next one.

Rather worryingly I played this scenario 12 years ago - Here's how that one went....

Dust, Tears & Dice: Colonial Campiagns - Senluo Temple October 18th 1899 - Mud & Blood Playtest

How time flies.... :-(

Egyptian Camp - Kings of Bronze.

After last months AWI push, a month of oddities and some of those pieces that have been hanging around for a while. Sometimes it's quite pleasant to just paint a one off.

I picked this up this Egyptian Pharoah's camp a couple of years ago from Studio Historia over in Greece with the intention of using it for a Kadesh outing.

A Resin sculpt but also available as a 3D print. It comes in several parts I opted to base it up with enough room to include a unit to defend the camp.

Some lovely internal within the tent even if getting at it with a brush was a little tricky.

It's been a while since the Egyptian's have had an outing on the table, I quite fancy giving Chariots Rampant a go in the weeks ahead.

Next up.... yet more from the cupboard of shame...

Wyre Forest - October Club - Objective Hammer.

October club and a modern outing with Operation Desert Storm using Force on Force.

Breakthrough at Objective Hammer.

British mechanized infantry supported by Warrior IFVs and Challenger 1 tanks must breach a heavily fortified Iraqi defensive line consisting of trenches, dug-in T-55/T-72 tanks, and ATGM teams. The goal is to secure a strategic metal road behind the defensive line.

A new regular venue for the club, that conveniently has a large table tennis table, which gives us that little but extra playing area and the ability to go big..... 

On the right flank a dual a T72 and a BMP1 hide out amongst the shell scrapes awaiting the British advance. Within FoF the Iraqi's need to really mass their fire to bring down the attacking dice of the better armoured and armed Challenger I's  

he British won this dual, but the defenders had the satisfaction of knowing that the had caused the British to lose a track, not great for an attacking force of only two MBT's.

Better news on the left flank as the 2nd Challenger engaged multiple targets brewing a T55 and T72 in short order. The heavy metal fight was sort lived and it was not long before all along the line Iraqi AFV's were burning. 

A little over confident they moved over the open ground and were greeted by Saggers and RPG rounds, many missed their mark however some got through. The loss of a couple of Warriors would be difficult to justify to the bean counters in Whitehall.

As the clock ran down and the Iraqi reinforcements were turned to burning wreaks the British neared the defensive line. a partial victory for the coalition but an expensive encounter with two Warriors destroyed and all three Challengers suffering battle damage.

A fun and bruising encounter, it took a while to get the tactics right for this battle to make the best use of the British firepower, tanks don't last long. But the AT teams can still pack a punch especially when deployed in numbers.

Force on Force gives a realistic encounter the improved qualify of the British gives them an advantage in supressing the poorer quality defenders, the high value dice means certain shots will automatically get through.

As both forces were regular it can lead to protracted exchange of fire, the trick is knowing when to stop and save some of those dice for that 'Just in case' moment.

The casualty and wound tables make you think about when to put your mini warriors in danger.