American Revolution - Pendraken 10mm - The British are coming (again)

Continuing with the theme.

Another couple of regiments of British regulars to protect the colonies from the rebels.

White facings and backpacks are the order of the day to separate them from the last units, plenty of variety from the team at Pendraken.

These represent the 43rd Regiment of Foot who were originally garrisoned in Boston and fought at Lexington and Bunker Hill before finally being captured at Yorktown.

I also completed a couple of officer bases, which will be available for each 24 Point detachment within Rebels and Patriots, round bases separate them out from the standard infantry bases.

This completes the base units for the British Forces at least until I put another order in, now for some of the more specialist units in the shape of Grenadiers and Skirmish troops.

Until next time...

Xenos Rampant 1st Outing - The Battle for Arkadij

Arkadij in deepest drakkastan has been under the boot of the alien invaders for several months, resistance is rising and the People's Army is ready to strike a blow for freedom.

The first outing for Xenos Rampant, after several games of Lion Rampant which have been really enjoyable, not really a surprise that we should turn our attention to other rules in the Daniel Mersey stable. 

24 points aside - Scenario Bravo - Secret Mission. The Alien forces must Assassinate the human leader to win the game. The humans simply need to kill as many alien units as they can.

These have been tucked away for a number of years, having tried a number of rule sets from Laser Burn to Tomorrow's War. Great fun sitting down and picking the right characteristics for each side. In my head it was a Russian version of Battle for Los Angeles, with perhaps a touch of later Terminator movies for good measure.

The Invaders came on across a broad front, selecting the Mechanoid trait they had no fear of being supressed, but if they fell below 50% strength they ran the risk of shutting down.

Making best use of the cover and free move and/or shooting however the human forces had been busy in their workshops and had been producing battle suits of their own.

The main human position was a factory unit, the heavy cover made it difficult to crack for the Invaders but unbeknown to the human player the Invaders knew that's where the leader of the resistance was, kill him and it's a victory. However the HMG on ground floor supported by spotters was chewing up alien units as they broke cover.

Local militia looked to flank the attackers, but caught in the open were wiped out, it turns out that a unit with armour 1 in the open does not last long, when facing armoured infantry with heavy weapons.

The left flank was clear and the invaders poured fire into the factory causing the resistance to rout. Victory to the off worlders.... But the human leader will leave to fight another day.

Great Fun...

First game complete in under two and half hours including the occasional rule read and cuppa. 

The tactical challenge of having to pick a unit to activate without throwing initiative over to your opponent gives a unique challenge. The free activations reward faster moving troops, but if you can get your heavier troops into the right position they can be rally powerful, especially if you get caught in the open. 

Really fast to play with enough nuance in the trait selections to make forces very distinct.

Having played several Sci-fi rule sets over the years, the ability to create modern/Sci-fi units across your own settings is very appealing, I am already thinking, Starship Troopers, War of the World, V and even Chechnya.

I can defiantely see us playing several move games in the coming weeks as players head home to dig out old collections to bring back to the table.

AWI - British Regulars 10mm Pendraken.

Six months behind schedule but the first of the American War of Independence figures come off the painting queue, they have been undercoated and based for a while, but the transition from 28mm to 10mm took a while for me to get my eye in or perhaps 10mm are not the figures to be painted at 10.30 in the evening.

Based on the Flames of War Small bases, with 4 figures to a base my plan is to use the Rebels and Patriots Rule set which calls for 12 and 6 figure units, I figured I would use casualty bases to denote 1-3 casualties before taking a base off.

The facings do match the regimental standards 10 out of 10 if anyone can actually tell on game night. I must be honest before inking and basing I was beginning to this project was a step to far, but I am really pleased with the output and they look great on mass.

The standards are from Maverick models, a great choice and they can be scaled should you want slightly larger flags for the units.

The plan is to base the opposing forces loosely around Lexington and Concorde, it does mean that the American militia are largely in civilian dress, which will make them more of a challenge than the Brits given the lack of uniformity.

Plenty more to go before I have enough for 24 points a side but nice to get the first three units on the table.

Footsore Miniature - Islamic Medium Cavalry

The Crusader project continues apace.... 

Still along way short of what's needed for a big game in the Autumn, Medium Cavalry from Footsore Miniatures, these will be very handy in the battles against the Christian forces, reasonably well armoured but with bow as well, so plenty of options to keep the opposition guessing.

Lovely sculpts from the Footsore guys, you will need to drill the hands out which can be tricky and the steel pins certainly seem to inflict more damage on the players than the mini's on the table.

Next up a switch in scale and the 10mm AWI whilst I wait for the Atlantic/Footsore plastics in the shape of foot sergeants and levy, the painting queue shows no sign of shrinking.

Tactics II - Turn 3 Allied - Game 5 Shoot and scoot.

Another game in the Tactics II campaign rather thin on Pic's I am afraid - The sign of a good game.

The allies were feeling confident they heavily outnumbered the Italian defenders as they pushed forward towards the main front. 

The Italian were already at 3/4 strength and were out numbered by at least 2:1 together with Headquarter support but they had rolled well on the scenario table - Ambush an the terrain was in their favour.

What seemed like an endless stream of allied troops snaked their way on to the table, looking in the dice bag there seem to be very few red dice for the Italian side, troops hugged the terrain in ambush awaiting their moment.

In the forward position the Italians waited.

The first Indian troops reach the killing zone and were wiped out to a man - that's 120 points in the favour of the Italians.

Protected by the mud wall they were proving difficult to winkle out even with the introduction of the A10 a risky move as anti-tank and Auto Cannon rounds narrowly missing it, that would have been expensive.

Many of the Italians were quite a way back, forcing them to bring forward the Armoured Car - The A10 fired and boom!!! - suddenly it was game on 105 points for the allies.

Turn 5 came and by now the Italians in the village were providing covering fire allowing the defenders to fall back slipping out of the walled field before the allies could mass enough troops. A few Italians fell scrambling over the wall, whilst the allies saw a number of casualties from a nasty sniper somewhere off in the distance.

Losses 205 allied to 165 axis an unlikely Axis victory. The allies are forced to fall back.

Initiative switches to the Axis but activation orders were poor and the Italians above were unable to withdraw which may make the next turn rather nasty for them.

As stalemate continues on the right flank reinforcements make their way up from the rear area for the Axis forces, there are sure to be some large fights ahead. The only significant engagement is the arrival of the Germans and elements of 1st Panzer Division who are looking to break through the allied parachute screen who is blocking access to the port city of Karalaan.

So next up an interesting encounter as the Germans hit the landing fields - quite telling the random roll with Platoon Forward is a Platoon attack - Take and hold a settlement on the main road to the port - To win the game.

Let's see if the Axis willing streak continues.

Perry Miniatures - Muslim Armoured foot.

 After a few weeks away time to get back on the brushes..

The seems to be a distinct lack of Islamic armoured foot in the market, these are from Perry's Crusades range and are very nice, they might be slightly larger than the Footsore castings but will be just fine in a unit on their own.

When used within Lion Rampant they form up in units of 6, which makes use of the pack from the Perry Twins, Shield designs are transfers from Little Big Man Studio, such a time saver.

Next up..... more Saracen heavy cavalry.

Lion Rampant - Desert Raid

After a number of months on the paint table, enough models have come off the production line to put on a large game. 30 points aside with the Arab player tasked with attacking the camp and burning down the various tents. The Christian defenders had a scratch force defending the outskirts of the camp long enough for the rescue party to arrive.

The Muslim forces came on across a broad front looking to overwhelm the defenders. The camp was in the centre of the table, but the Arab forces were move mobile due to their light cavalry and Infantry.

The Christians held the line with a unit of spearmen, pilgrims and a skirmish unit, the bulk of the Christian forces were rushing to support the defenders.

The Arab forces pushed through the oasis looking to flank the defenders with medium cavalry and sneaky fire grenades. The Christian forces could do nothing but stand their ground.

The fire bombs did their work and whilst they missed their target the scrub around the spearmen caught fire and a number of men fell to the sticky flaming substance.... The balance was now with the Arabs.

Help was on the way with Templar cavalry rushing forwards.

The cavalry could not help themselves they charged forwards, the Arabs fell back which resulted in the cavalry crashing into the wall of spears, the cavalry fell backwards the Templars were peppered by a storm of arrows, the counter attack was blunted.

The Arabs had a new tactic and turned their attention to the spear unit still holding their ground their padded armour making them difficult to shift. The Arab stood off and fired into the defenders eventually their morale failed and they routed from the table.

Arab medium cavalry swept from the high ground on the left flank crashing into the pilgrims left in the camp, who were unable to stand against the cavalry.

Revenge was close at hand as the second Templar unit charged the Muslim mounted men beating them and sending them packing.

Muslim spearmen filled the centre of the camp, but were badly beaten getting to the outskirts and were driven back by the fresh Christian billmen and Templars.

Time was running out for both sides to secure a win and the leaders in a last throw of the dice entered into a personnel challenge.

Victory went to the righteous and the Arab leader was felled.

A great game with so many 'what if' moments, the concentration of missile fire within the Arab forces makes the Christians go on to the attack. They will definitely need more missile men to combat the Arab threat.

The perfect inspiration to crack on the reinforcements coming through the post this week.

Perry Miniatures vs Footsore Miniatures

Time for some more Christians for the long journey to the Holy lands, a mix of Footsore and Perry's... In there own right both lovely castings but I will need a few more from each company as the Perry sculpts look like they have eaten most of the rations....

First up a spear unit in padded jackets and chain mail, mostly Footsore but you can see 'Little Bill' in the front rank, not even similar basing can mask his stature.

Having decided on Lion Rampant for this project I can get away with a smaller units until  I in fill the ranks to make them up till 12 models.

The comparison between the two ranges - Footsore (L) Perry Miniatures (R) - I was thinking about the new Victrix range but by all accounts they are event bigger....

The Christians are likely to need some divine intervention so a bunch of Holy men and Pilgrims to be escorted across the table top.

Finally a bunch of Bill men from Perry's. In their own units they look great.

Not a bad effort before they take to the table for their first outing.