Sunday, August 17, 2025

Aztec Warband - Wargames Atlantic

Purchased back in January the Aztec's finally made it to the paint table.
It's amazing what the thought of a new project does to give you a nudge to get things cleared more on that in the coming weeks.

The Wargames Atlantic Aztec's go together really well with plenty of choice on the sprues for the various warrior classes. At this stage I went for a mishmash of types, but will fill out the ranks as the units expand.


The aim will be to use an adapted version of Lion Rampant, their is an excellent series of articles on the - I Live with Cats: Queztalcoatl Blog with a home grown rule set Queztacoata Rampant it will be great to give them a runout in the coming weeks once the last of the box set is complete.

   

First up a group of skirmishers these are commoners, perhaps their first battle or levied troops who have not been involved in action before. Issued with missile weapons to harass the enemy. A skirmish unit in Lion Rampant.



Next up a more experienced class of warrior allowed to carry the macuahuitl as they have proven themselves in hand to hand combat.



Finally a group of Telpochyahqui warriors - young men who have been successful in taking a captive,  a warrior was allowed to wear the ichcahuipilli, a quilted jacket, some carry the Chimalli a shield without feathers.

Just so I remember when the next box appears from the family....

Painting Guide.
Spear Tips - Gun Metal Blue
Tong or padded Jacket - F Raw Linen Light 30C, Boneyard 9B, Rawhide Light 11C, GW Corax White, GW Rakarth Flesh.
Bag & Quiver - Moss Shade 29A
Sling & Spear Binding - GW XV88
Stone - GW Dawnstone Grey
Spear, Arrow - GW Mournfang Brown
Club, Bow Shaft F Bay Brown Shade 42A
Insight of Shield - Chestnut Light 53C
Flesh - South American Flesh Shade 119A, Hight 119C
Wash - Army Painted Soft Tone

Next up 10 more warriors - As a child of the 70's I can't get past Animal Kwackers :-)

Thursday, August 14, 2025

Tactics II - Campaign Allied Battle 3 - "Dust up in the Wadi"

Continuation of the Tactics II campaign and a useful way of joining up the odd games. Several months ago the British launched their assault which resulted in 3 games, finally the last game of the set.

On the battle map the allied forces had the choice of Allied Armour as their selection with supports from a veteran Mountain Unit, Up against a German Axis Armoured unit selection.

Using Platoon Forward the scenario was a Point Recon Battle - Not quite the clash of armour I was expecting. 

The random force roll gave the Allies 2 Vickers Light Tanks, an MMG plus a Mortar Barrage not a bad haul but it did give the Axis forces plenty of blinds to position across the front.

The table presented an interesting predicament for the allies on the far left was a string of minefields and wire, with a wadi running through the remainder of the table, plenty of places to hide multiple German units. The main objective was the wadi crossing.

None of the options looked great for the Commonwealth forces so with limited options they decided to go straight down the middle. Under the cover of a Mortar Barrage which pinned a German section.

This allowed the allies to push on to the through the limited greenery still unsure on what they were facing.


They found their way blocked by a fixed MMG which ripped through the Infantry who dived for cover, it took the arrival of a Vickers Light tank to supress the MMG.


The Indians itching to get into the action fixed bayonets and rushed the gun position over running the crew and getting into the wadi.


The Germans had one last roll of the dice a 'C' Class blind in the hope it will be the long awaiting German armour - bad news it was a flaming lorry :-(

Game over.

A short but fun game, easing my opponent into Chain of Command.

The loss of a section and an MMG team for the German's who were forced to fall back on the map, with limited losses for the Allies.

Let's see what the Axis initiative will bring.

Saturday, August 02, 2025

Spain in the new world - A new project looms.

Welcome to August and a change from the bouncing between the Crusades and the AWI project.



The start of a new (but planned for as very long time) project and Cortez in Mexico. As I start the snipping and gluing of Wargames Atlantic's Aztec's it gave me the opportunity of dusting off these fine looking chaps from Copplestone.



Lacking for enough clothing for the the battle of Tenochtitlan. They will certainly do for some of the encounters as the Spanish push in land and meet jungle tribes.

 
Clothing was minimal although I did give them a sheath just for modesty purposes.



Now to dig out Aguirre: Wrath of God  to give me the nudge to get the others on the table top.