Copyright © 2011-2026, Paul Scrivens-Smith

Copyright © 2011-2026, Paul Scrivens-Smith

All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of the creator.

Wednesday, 7 January 2015

Introducing Tim to Hail Caesar


I managed to give Tim his first go at Hail Caesar yesterday evening. I put together a couple of small (about 320pt) forces based upon the figured I have, I could do with a few more Romans, maybe another box of the Victrix ones would be in order later in the year.

Carthaginians
General (Leadership 9)
Unit
Combat
Morale Save
Stamina
Special
Clash
Sustained
Short Range
Long Range
Libyan heavy infantry with long spears
7
7
3/0
0
4+
6

Libyan heavy infantry with long spears
7
7
3/0
0
4+
6

Spanish Scutarii medium infantry armed with Pila
6
6
3
0
5+
6

Spanish Scutarii medium infantry armed with Pila
6
6
3
0
5+
6

Spanish Scutarii medium infantry armed with pila
6
6
3
0
5+
6

Spanish Caetrati light infantry armed with javelins
3
3
2
0
-
4

Numidian light cavalry armed with javelins
5
3
2
0
6+
4
Feigned flight
Numidian light cavalry armed with javelins
5
3
2
0
6+
4
Feigned flight
Elephants with javelin armed crew
4
3
1
0
4+
6
Elephant

General (Leadership 8)

Unit
Combat
Morale Save
Stamina
Special
Clash
Sustained
Short Range
Long Range
Gallic medium infantry warband armed with swords and javelins
9
6
2
0
5+
6
Wild fighters
Gallic medium infantry warband armed with swords and javelins
9
6
2
0
5+
6
Wild fighters
Gallic medium infantry warband armed with swords and javelins
9
6
2
0
5+
6
Wild fighters
Gallic medium cavalry armed with swords and javelins
8
5
3
0
5+
6
Tough fighters
Gallic skirmishers armed with javelins
3
2
2
0
-
4

Gallic skirmishers armed with slings
2
2
2
2
-
4



Republican Romans
General (Leadership 9)
Unit
Combat
Morale Save
Stamina
Special
Clash
Sustained
Short Range
Long Range
Hastati heavy infantry armed with pila (small unit)
5
5
2
0
4+
4
Drilled
Hastati heavy infantry armed with pila (small unit)
5
5
2
0
4+
4
Drilled
Principes heavy infantry armed with pila (small unit)
5
5
2
0
4+
4
Drilled
Principes heavy infantry armed with pila (small unit)
5
5
2
0
4+
4
Drilled
Triarii heavy infantry armed with long spears (small unit)
5
5
2
0
4+
4
Drilled, Elite, Stubborn
Velites light infantry armed with javelins
3
3
2
0
6+
4
Tough fighters
Velites light infantry armed with javelins
3
3
2
0
6+
4
Tough fighters
Numidian light cavalry armed with javelins
5
3
2
0
6+
4
Feigned flight
General (Leadership 8)

Unit
Combat
Morale Save
Stamina
Special
Clash
Sustained
Short Range
Long Range
Gallic medium infantry warband armed with swords and javelins
9
6
2
0
5+
6
Wild fighters
Gallic medium infantry warband armed with swords and javelins
9
6
2
0
5+
6
Wild fighters
Gallic medium infantry warband armed with swords and javelins
9
6
2
0
5+
6
Wild fighters
Gallic medium infantry warband armed with swords and javelins
9
6
2
0
5+
6
Wild fighters
Gallic medium cavalry armed with swords and javelins
8
5
3
0
5+
6
Tough fighters
Gallic skirmishers armed with javelins
3
2
2
0
-
4

Gallic skirmishers armed with slings
2
2
2
2
-
4


I gave Tim the choice of forces, he picked the Carthaginians and after a brief overview we set to.

Both forces attempted to advance on each other, but my second roll of the game allowed me to demonstrate the blunder rules and my Gallic contingent retired in the face of the enemy!

Both forces eventually closed on each other, the two contingents of Gauls getting to blows first. The Carthaginains Gauls were surely better paid and more motivated as my chaps got a bruising, although we soon stabilised that flank.

The two solid lines of infantry faced off in the centre and the Romans made the first move, most of the combats were going my way, but being small units the casualties began to tell. Eventually, I had destroyed one of the African Spear units and the Elephant and were pushing the Spanish from the field. Hannibal had even been unhorsed.

Things were going well for my Gauls too, eventually having held the line they counter punched and broke the Gauls in Carthaginian pay.

In the main slog my units were now almost all shaken and the Numidians and Velites defending the flanks had collapsed. With the return of the Spanish to the fray and a timely set of flank and rear charges the Roman centre collapsed and the game was over.

Ouch!

The figures and terrain are all from my collection and were painted by myself. They are mainly Gripping Beast, Warlord Games and Victrix with a few models from other ranges thrown in.

DAK Reinforcements for Quinton


Over the weekend I finished off another dozen Perry Miniatures AfrikaKorps to go with those I did for him last year.


The colours used were the same as before

Basecoats:

  • Some uniform and caps: Russian Uniform
  • Helmet & gas mask holder: Green Brown
  • Some uniform & caps, webbing, bread bag, gaiters, etc: German Camo Beige
  • Boots, rifle stocks, entrenching tools: Saddle Brown
  • Flesh: Medium Fleshtone
  • Barrels, bayonet scabbard, armband etc: Black

They are then washed with Sepia wash and then highlighted as follows:

  • Uniform: Russian Uniform mixed with increasing quantities of Pale Sand
  • Helmet etc.: Green Brown mixed with increasing quantities of Pale Sand
  • Webbing etc.: German Camo Beige mixed with increasing quantities of Pale Sand
  • Boots etc.: Saddle Brown mixed with increasing quantities of Dark Sand
  • Flesh: Medium Fleshtone mixed with increasing quantities of Ivory
  • Scabbards: Black Grey
  • Weapons: Black mixed with Gunmetal Grey

I then paint any goggles with Sky Blue and then a dot a white.
The armbands have two thin bands of White and then two thin bands of Flat Red.
The cap badges are picked out in Black and White
White piping is added to the shoulder boards.

The detail is then picked out in Windsor & Newton Peat Brown ink.

The lighting was rather dull, but hopefully you'll get the idea.




Sunday, 4 January 2015

Board Games Day


Over the Christmas and New Year break it is traditional to have a days gaming session at the wargames club and this year was no exception.

Chum Matt was back from Japan where he now lives and works so Matt, Lee, James and myself arranges to have a board games session just like the old days.

First up Lee had bought Zombiecide, we set up the game and started to play, now the scenario we were playing has a suggested running time of 150 minutes, we had hardly played an hour when were had been over-run, unable to complete the scenario and just Matts' slippery character making an escape.

So, we lined up another game of Zombiecide and set off again. This time we each had two characters and combined with some great early finds our fire-power soon meant that we were able to easily deal with what the Zombies could throw at us so this game was also over in about an hour.

 After a lunch of fish and chips we then tried our third game of the day - Settlers of Catan. It's a great game if you have not played it. Matt, James, Lee and I competed for the island resources and in the end James was successful, just pipping Matt to it. Lee and I came a poor bottom, with so terrible strategies and poor luck shared between us.

Now it was on to a new game to us, Matt had bought an English version of the Japanese game: Machi Koro. Each player is the mayor of a small town trying to make it big. You build assets in the town and try to acquire some premium assets, a Railway Station, Shopping Mall, Radio Station and Theme Park. The first to build these four is the winner.

It's a great game, we played three times, Matt winning each one - fix I hear you say. Both Lee and I went straight home and purchased a copy.

While we were playing our board games, Quinton and Trevor had set up an excellent looking American Civil war game using a modified version of Black Powder. Quint, Trev, Steve, Greg, Tim and Ben were going at it all day, but I'm not sure who won.



That evening Matt and Lee joined Victoria and I for some supper and we had a great chat about our travels. Matt's now off back to Japan, but Victoria and I plan to visit Tokyo in 2016 so hopefully we will get to see him then.







.

Thursday, 1 January 2015

The Challenge 2014 - Fighting the battle against the lead mountain

On the sidebar of the blog I keep a tally of the figures purchased and acquired against those painted or disposed of for the year, so it is time to crunch the numbers and see if my lead (and increasingly plastic) mountain grew or shrank down the year.


Figures Painted and Based: 566 28mm figures, 12 28mm cavalry, 15 28mm vehicles, 7 28mm guns, 9 28mm buildings, 47 6mm Tanks, 74 6mm figures:

  • 90 Perry Miniatures Desert Rats including three tank crew, two Vickers, two 3" Mortars and a 2-pdr AT gun. 
  • 51 Warlord Games WWII British Infantry. 
  • 25 Perry Miniatures AfrikaKorps (for Quinton) 
  • Warlord Games M3 Half-track 
  • 2 Force of Arms Bedford trucks 
  • 2 Grand Manner Carentan buildings 
  • 48 Empress Moroccan Regulares 
  • 12 Empress Legionaries (for James W) 
  • 2 Empress Nationalist mortars each with 3 crew (for JW) 
  • 2 Empress Guardia Civil Officer (for James W) 
  • 9 Musketeer Miniatures armed 1930's civilians 
  • 7 Scratch built Spanish buildings 
  • 2 Perry British Tank Commanders (for James M) 
  • 1 BlitzKreig Mk VI B (for James M) 
  • 3 BlitzKreig Mk VI B 
  • 1 BlitzKreig Matilda II (for James M) 
  • 1 BlitzKreig Matilda II 
  • 24 Empress Guardia Civil 
  • 60 Empress Republican Militia 
  • 1 Force of Arms BA-6 Armoured Car 
  • 2 Empress Nationalist light mortar with 2 crew each 
  • 1 Empress Pz 1A 
  • 2 Empress Republican light mortar with 2 crew each 
  • 22 Adler British AWI infantry 
  • 52 Adler Continental AWI infantry 
  • Partizan King Edward VIII 
  • Partizan Armed Priest 
  • Empress Bilbao Armoured Car 
  • Empress Republican 75mm gun & 4 crew. 
  • 67 Empress Falangists. 
  • 14 Black Tree WWII British Infantry 
  • Empress Tiznao armoured truck 
  • 3 Mutton Chop VBCW tank commanders 
  • Empress Nationalist PaK36 with 4 crew 
  • Empress Luftwaffe FlaK18 with 6 crew (for Tony) 
  • 3 Bolt Action PaK crew (for Tony) 
  • 16 Gripping Beast El Cid Tribal Skirmishers 
  • 12 Perry Miniatures French Hussars 
  • 2 Foundry 5.5" Howitzers with 8 Perry / Foundry crews 
  • Warlord Games Type 97 Chi-Ha 
  • 4 Assault Group Gurkhas 
  • Empress Republican T-26 tank 
  • Empress Nationalist Hotchkiss MG with 3 crew 
  • Empress Nationalist Schneider 75mm Howitzer with 4 crew 
  • 4 Force of Arms Nationalist gun crew
  • 2 Empress Condor Legion 
  • 1 Empress Nationalist Banner Bearer 
  • 11 Wargames Foundry Gunfighters 
  • 16 Victrix Hastatii 
  • 15 Victrix Velites 
  • 16 Victrix Principes 
  • 7 Victrix Triarii 
  • 3 Victrix Roman Commanders 
  • 12 Great War Miniatures Germans 
  • 6 GHQ T-10M 
  • 6 GHQ BTR-50 
  • 10 Heroics T-34/85 
  • 3 Heroics SU-100 
  • 3 Heroics BRDM1 
  • 3 Heroics GAZ69 
  • 5 Heroics T-72 
  • 10 Heroics T-54 
  • 1 Heroics BRDM2

I am very impressed with that total, however, not all are reducing the lead mountain as quite a few were painted for friends, if I take out those 53 28mm figures that leaves 513 for myself, still a good number as I had hoped to do 500 this year

New Figures Purchased: 255

  • 52 Empress Spanish Civil War Moors 
  • 36 Empress Spanish Civil War Militia
  • 20 Black Tree WWII British Infantry 
  • 7 Perry Tank Commanders 
  • Perry 2-pdr and crew 
  • 36 Empress Spanish Civil War Falangists 
  • Empress Spanish Civil War Bilbao Armoured Car 
  • Empress Flashman 
  • Empress Son of Flashman 
  • Empress Republican 75mm gun 
  • Empress Nationalist 37mm gun 
  • Empress Tiznao Armoured truck 
  • 8 Empress Spanish Foreign Legion 
  • 60 Victrix Republican Romans 
  • 9 Assault Group Gurkhas 
  • 24 Great War German Infantry

Now, this is interesting, I only purchased about half the figures I painted, a good tally by anybodies accounts.

However, I also acquired loads of figures due to the generousness of family and friends and in exchange for the figures I painted for friends.


Unpainted Figures Acquired: 281

  • 26 Perry Miniatures Desert Rats - split a box with Mog - Birthday present. 
  • 25 Bolt Action British Infantry - exchanged with Phil. 
  • 20 Bolt Action British Infantry - picked up 2nd hand 
  • 17 Bolt Action British Commandos - picked up 2nd hand 
  • 38 Perry Miniatures Desert Rats - picked up 2nd hand. 
  • 2 BlitzKreig 1/56 Matilda II - for painting Quints DAK 
  • 4 BlitzKreig 1/56 Vickers MkVIB Light - for painting Quints DAK 
  • 16 Empress Republican Militia - anniversary present from Victoria 
  • Force of Arms BA-6 Armoured Car - eBay 
  • Empress Panzer IA - from James W 
  • Force of Arms Bedford Truck - from James W 
  • 4 Empress Guardia Civil - from James W 
  • 16 Empress Guardia Civil - painting figures for Tony 
  • 12 Empress Militia - painting figures for Tony 
  • 4 Mutton Chop VBCW tank crew - painting figures for Tony 
  • 31 Empress Legion - eBay 
  • 2 Empress Condor Legion - eBay 
  • Warlord Games Type 97 Chi-Ha - Facebook 
  • 4 Force of Arms Nationalist Gun Crew - James M 
  • Empress T-26 Tank - painting figures for Tony 
  • Empress Schneider 75mm Howitzer - painting figures for Tony 
  • Empress Hotchkiss MMG - painting figures for Tony 
  • 12 Black Scorpion Cowboys - Facebook 
  • 12 Great War Miniatures Germans - Birthday Present 
  • 36 Perry 100 Years War - Christmas Present 
  • 6 Perry Desert Rats - Christmas Present 
  • 6 Perry Napoleonic Generals - Christmas Present

So, combined with the figures purchased this gives me a new total of 536 figures, so, I purchased and acquired 23 more figures than I painted which would be a negative balance on the lead mountain, however, this year I also sold off and gave away some of my unpainted lead:


Unpainted Figures Disposed Of: 143

  • 16 Bolt Action Commandos 
  • 30 Ebor & Front Rank WSS 
  • 37 Artizan Moors 
  • 2 Blisters of FoW Infantry 
  • 60 Ebor WSS

So....

My lead mountain ends 2014 with 120 fewer figures than it started.

Result!

I want to wish all my followers and readers a prosperous 2015