Late Roman vs Sassanid Persion

Thursday evening, Si and I played a game of To the Strongest, pitting my Late Romans against his Sassanid Persians.  My Late Romans have a western flavour,  so probably represent one of the western pretenders operating in the east.  Roman right flank command, nearest the camera, consisted of a unit of slingers, Hun mounted bowmen, Sarmatian cataphracts and Frankish warbands, supported by cataphracts and clibinarii under the overall commander.  The centre comprised five units of legionaries supported by two units of lanciarii and three units of bowmen.  The left flank comprised two units of light horse archers and two veteran javelin armed cavalry.  With the three camps, my troops came to 202 points.  The Sassanids had flanks dominated by heavy cavalry and cataphracts, while the centre comprised units of long bowmen and deep spear armed infantry, with an escorted elephant unit.

My Frankish warbands, Victrix early Saxons, with singers to their front.

The far right flank with Hun light horse archers and Sarmatian cataphracts, backed up with the CinC's cataphracts and clibinarii.

The left flank cavalry and light horse with the edge of the legionary units in the centre.

Sadly, the action was too intense to take more photos once we got going.  It was a tight game, but lots of fun.  On the right flank, the Sarmatians and one of the Frank warbands broke, but the bosses cataphracts and clibinarii did for all bar one unit of Sassanid cataphracts, so the Romans were able to change facing and were about to try and roll up the Sassanid centre, while the Huns were about to ransack the nearby Sassanid camp.  The surviving Frankish warband and one of the legionary units were in a tussle with the Sassanid's elephant unit.  In the centre, the Romans lost some archers and lanciarii, but had disrupted lots of the Sassanid spears.  The left flank was still up for grabs, with the Romans losing a light horse unit and the Sassanids a unit of cavalry, but we felt this flank could go either way.  The veteran Roman cavalry were batting way above their weight, thanks to the superior save factor.

Sadly, too many troops to play out on a club night, but it gave a good game and we felt the table looked really good.

So, still lots of Late Romans to work on, probably going to use them as sub-Roman Brits, plus lots of Vikings who will finish up with the early Saxons and Dark Age warriors in a generic army for the period and be pressed into service as early Saxons through to Viking or later Saxon/Anglo-Dane.  Then I'm also building up a Norman/early Crusaders force, ready to appear on the painting table later in the year.

As ever, thanks for looking.

28mm Muskets and Tomahawks

 Will and I played a game of Nam 68 today, but sadly didn't manage to take any photos.  These are from a game of Muskets and Tomahawks from before Christmas, which is what we planned to play today, but Si and Matt weren't well so had to cancel.

My Brits, Si's French and mostly Si's game mat and terrain - the fort is very nice.

The rules played out nicely and didn't require lots of figures, 12 for regulars, 6 for irregular Europeans and Native warbands.  Lots of nip and tuck with shifts in advantage.  It was no fun watching my loyalist Indian warband slaughtered in hand to hand, but refreshing for a British firing line laying fire on the Frenchies - very effective.

Thanks for looking.

28mm Colonial Africans

 Happy New Year!  All the best for 2025.

I just managed to complete these guys, part of a BnB purchase at the Recon show, before the New Year. 

Three tribesmen in horned masks and four sword and musket armed figures suitable as pirates or slavers.  These are only part of a much bigger purchase, so more to come in the New Year.

Thanks for looking.

28mm Dark Age commanders

Another break from colonials, I wrapped up these three commanders from the 28mm Foundry Arthurian range.

First up Kay or Kai/Cai.  I've envisioned him in an emerald encrusted helmet with a shield design based on the heavily stylized Uffington white horse.  Yes, that's what it's meant to be!  I was watching the LotR Return of the King movie just before, so there may be a Rohan influence there.

Next up Cador of Cornwall.  Hes wearing imperial purple, suggesting his post-Roman ancestry, which would make him suitable as Ambrosius as well.  Hes wearing a full face Late Roman cavalry helmet studded with lapis lazily, reflecting Cornwall's  early dark age trading with the Middle East and Byzantium in particular.

And, of course, no post-Roman command team would be complete without the Dux Bellorum, Arthur himself.  White appears to be his colour of choice, so he wears a white cloak and rides a white horse.

These guys work as Arthurian generals or unit commanders, but also provide service in Late Roman armies.  Arthur himself appeared in last nights game as a Late Roman general, while my opponent Dennis fielded two similar models as Frankish commanders.

Thanks for looking.

28mm US interwar sailors.

These are Tiger Miniatures US sailors from their Sandpebbles range - based on the 1966 film starring Steve McQueen.  These are from the command and armed sailors packs and painted up nicely.  I would have preferred the dark blue rig, but bit the bullet and opted for the white tropical rig.  The only thing I need to complete are the sleeve rank and officer shoulder insignia.

I must now look out for some suitable RN figures for the era, or possibly slightly earlier Late Victorian.  Tiger Miniatures do some nice cold weather troops for Allied intervention in Russia, British infantry in Pashtuns for cold weather high altitude adventures, and German colonial troops (Schutzstruppen), all of which are tempting.

Thanks for looking.

28mm Colonial Europeans

 More Foundry figures.

Stout hearted Brits.  A pair of army types suitable for infantry officers or officer types taking a bit of leave to explore.

A well to do lady being served drinks with natives carrying trade goods in the background.

Three explorers or hunters.

Three traders or government representatives.  One tea drinker, one wearing an Eton sporting cap and wearing a Guards tie, and the third enjoying a cigar as he counts his trade goods arriving at his station.

These too were a lot of fun to paint, so expect more to come.  Thanks for looking.

28mm Colonial figures

 I've been making some progress on a long dormant 28mm project for the colonial era in Africa.  Figures are all Wargames Foundry, most purchased in their Christmas sale.

First up Pygmy archers, to make the Europeans think twice before venturing into the woods.

If the tougher Europeans get through the woods, they might come across the Pygmy chief and his entourage.

I really enjoyed painting these guys and there will be more to come in the pipeline.

Thanks for looking.

Another Late Roman outing

So, Thursday evening saw another outing for my Late Romans.  This time they were venturing way beyond their comfort zone as a Western army somewhere in the deserts of the Middle East, taking on the Sassanids.

My army was pretty much unchanged from last time except units were equipped with leaders and standards.  This meant dropping a bolt thrower, a unit of Lanciarii and combining 2 shock cavalry units of 15 figures into a single unit of 12, to bring points down to 2500.

Si's Sassanids included four units of clibinarii with saves of 2+, making them hard to kill.  There were also two units of spears/archer combined infantry, a unit of horse archers and another of Iranian mounted javelin men.  The powerful clibinarii ate up points, but were the M1/Challengers of the day.

Opening dispositions with no terrain from the random selection.

Mounted javelins and archers.

Those naughty clibinarii.

My heroic shock cavalry and light cavalry behind.

Legionnaires and Cataphracts.

The Roman right with more legions, bolt throwers and a rather rash unit of lanciarii.

No more lanciarii and one of the legions taking losses from the bow armed light cavalry.

Cataphracts chased off the skirmishers and crashed into the Persian centre infantry.

Charge and counter charge resulted in lots of drawn melee, which continued through turns 2 to 5.  Sadly, some disastrous dice rolls in turn 6 on the Roman left saw the cavalry and a legion fleeing, leaving no choice for the rest of the army but to withdraw.  It was satisfying to despatch the javelin horse on the right flank.  Much like the Roman's historically, one learned the power of those heavily armoured Persian horse.  I may have to give my Cataphracts bucklers, so they too save on 2+.  I also need some allied Hun horse archers.

A fun game, more progress on the WAB learning curve.  Now to finish the Christmas assembly line of Gripping Beast Cataphracts, Victrix armored legionnaires, archers and slingers and some Foundry sub-Romans to double up as cheap pedyts.

Thanks for looking.