Painting Table - Mounted Crossbows and Voynuks

This past week, and the weekend, was primarily about the Fall musical, The Little Mermaid, but in and around those obligations I was able to continue to make some painting progress.

The first four mounted crossbowmen pictured previously were finished, along with the other six in the pack, giving me 5 stands of mounted crossbows. All that remains is to flock and finish the bases (and take a good final picture). From a painting standpoint, they are complete.

Five stands of mounted crossbows

I also spent a little time prepping part of a bag of Old Glory 12th Century Infantry, which are a good multi-purpose medieval foot pack. You can never have too many basic foot in this period. My only complaint with this pack (which is a joy to paint) is that prepping them is a pain in the a$%, especially drilling out and attaching the separate spear-holding hands. These figures could have been designed a lot better in that regard...

The next small project (skipping over the mostly complete Ottoman sipahi cavalry that need some additional work) is a unit of 12 Voynuk heavy infantry allies for the Ottomans. These are proving to be exceptionally easy figures to paint, being mostly chainmail and other armor, with only some bits of cloth and shields to paint. In a short period of time, these are probably more than half done, and should be easy to complete in a couple of short evening sessions this week.

Ottoman Christian Voynuks in process

After the Voynuks I really should get back to the sipahis, but we'll see what mood strikes me at that point.

French Hundred Years War Army

I finished flocking the last few stands of my French army (something which I really dislike doing), and took pictures of the collection. All pictures have been added to my Hundred Years War Gallery page. The picture below has skirmishers and crossbows in the front rank, heavy spearmen, militia and light infantry in the second rank, dismounted knights in the third rank, and mounted knights and leaders in the back rank. The Gallery has pictures of each troop type.

French Hundred Years War army

This doesn't mean I don't have more unpainted lead lying around for this army, or have no future plans to add to it, but at least as of this moment there is nothing left in a half-done state. Everything is either unpainted, or completely painted, flocked and finished.

Dauphin Charles - fun with heraldry...

I have started looking at my English army, and realize that I have even more unfinished/unflocked bases than I thought. Ugh. Maybe I'll do something else.

Painting Table Saturday - Feb 22 - French HYW Knights

French foot knights with cut-down lances

Rather than start something new this week, I have taken a lesson from the process of cataloging and updating (where necessary) my early medieval collection and have decided to do the same for my Hundred Years War figures. I am starting with the French, knowing that they are closer to being finished than the English....

Step one is to unpack everything and lay it out on the table so that I can remember what I have, and what still needs to be done.

Other than thinking that I could use a few more units of various troop types, I am in pretty good shape as far as the French go. Regarding the troops I have, only some of the dismounted knights are not what could be considered finished. There are maybe twenty stands that need to have their base edges painted, and seven bases that need to be flocked. In addition to that, there are 8-10 stands that could use some painting touch-ups, mainly to repaint some plain brown cut-down lances in brighter colors.

French muster in progress...

As I am writing this Saturday evening, all base edges have been painted, lances repainted, and all that remains is to flock those last few bases. I should have no problem getting that done tomorrow, and then I can begin the English, which require more work (the main issue with the English is that a bunch of these figures were painted in Sri Lanka and then based, but the bases were never finished or flocked - I hate flocking...).

Progress was modest today because the family went to see a matinee of Stomp in Wilmington at the DuPont Theater, which was fantastic, and will be the subject of another post...

Hundred Years War French Crossbows completed

I (mostly) finished the unit of French crossbows last night. As usual, after taking the pictures and looking at them, I see several spots that need touching up, which I will do later tonight. These were nice sculpts, pretty easy to paint, and I'm not laboring on them overly much. It's nice to be able to knock out a new unit in short order, as I tend to have trouble staying focused on tasks without starting something new in the middle. So far in 2014, I have been remarkably "on task" with my painting.

The majority of my Hundred Years War collection is not based on Impetus style bases, but my Ottomans are, so as I move forward I will probably base more units like this.

HYW French crossbows - Front

This unit is 10 figures out of a bag of 30, so I have the figures prepped and primed to make 2 more units like this. I will probably paint the remaining 20 figures in one batch as two units of Italian (Genoese) mercenaries. I will likely make the colors a little more uniform in two blocks of 10 so that they will be easy to pick out on the battlefield.

HYW French crossbows - Back

In the meantime, instead of more crossbows, I have begun working on a small batch of 6 Ottoman light horse. They are already about half done, having been blocked in and washed for shading. This is a unit and a half (3 stands of 2 figures each), and will complete the Ottoman light horse that I have in stock. Next up after these for the Ottoman project would be a horde of primed and ready-to-paint sipahi heavy cavalry.

Ottoman akinji light horse (WIP)

Painting totals for this year so far would be 18 mounted and 10 foot figures (all 25mm). This might not seem like much, but if I could complete a couple of units per month on average throughout the year I would be thrilled.

Hundred Years War - French Crossbowmen

Having finished the batch of knights that have been on the painting table for the better part of the last month, I needed to pick something else to work on. After poking around my "ready to paint" stuff for a little while this morning, I pulled out a unit of 10 French Hundred Years War crossbowmen that had been primed and started (their armor having already been dry brushed). I also have 6 Ottoman akinji light horse and some mounted leaders that were begun a few months back, and they are now on the table as well.

Crossbows - color blocking done

We have had a lazy day today, with Julia in a four hour Les Miserables rehearsal at the high school. I have a long-cooking beef short ribs recipe going, and have been able to get some painting accomplished in 20 and 30 minute spurts throughout the day. As of now, I have been able to get the basic color blocking done on the crossbows, and they are ready to be washed for shading. After that, which should get done today, I will be able to begin highlighting, detailing and cleaning up these figures. If all goes well I should have them done by the end of the week. When finished, they will be based as one unit using Impetus style basing (but in two stands of 5 figures each, with each stand being 60mm wide by 40mm deep).

As I look out the window writing this, it is snowing again. Grace has suggested we do the spoon-under-the-pillow snow trick again, but I have vetoed that idea. I have had enough snow for one year.

Hundred Years War Gallery

Putting together the Early Medievals gallery page was so much fun (and productive in terms of forcing me to fix up some figures, re-base, flock, etc) that I have begun a Hundred Years War page. There are only a few pictures there now, but it's a start. I hope to add much more in the next week or so.

Edward, The Black Prince

Impetus Campaign - Beren Roadblock

Henry de Cheraute's detachment is on the road to Beren with a little pillaging in mind when they find the road ahead blocked by a small force of enemy infantry...

Turn 1 (Henry advances...)
Friendly - All units move ahead two moves, only the left flank light infantry under Larcevaux disorder as they enter the woods.
Enemy - All units are on opportunity. The crossbows elect to fire on Boncarre's skirmishers, rolling one damage that luckily only causes disorder (skirmishers are very fragile with a low VBU and thus a low critical number - one damage and one bad cohesion test and they can vanish in an instant).

End of Turn 1

Turn 2 (...and advances some more...)

Enemy - The crossbows fire again, missing. No other actions.

Friendly - Larcevaux's light infantry fail to rally and move ahead into the woods. Pominville's heavy infantry move twice along the road (but not on it) and disorder. Boncarre's skirmishers rally, move ahead once, fire their javelins at point blank range at the crossbows...and miss. Oops. Morenz's light infantry move up behind the skirmisher screen. Wilkinson's crossbows move forward once and shoot at the heavy infantry directly to their front and cause one damage, but this only disorders the target. Cadogan's little band of Scottish pike men move forward along the road then form up, ending in disorder.

End of Turn 2

Turn 3 (The enemy gets aggressive)

Friendly - Boncarre's javelinmen breathe a sigh of relief at the double move (two friendly turns in a row; lost initiative last turn, won it this turn) and shoot at the crossbows, disordering them. Wilkinson's crossbows hold their ground and shoot at the disordered heavy infantry, failing to hit them. Pominville and Cadogan both fail to rally and move once forward. Larcevaux's men in the trees rally and move once forward, clearing the edge of the woods. Thomas' mounted men at arms wheel toward the open flank and move forward, disordering.

Enemy - At the start of the enemy turn, I roll a d6. On a roll of 6, some number of enemy units will appear, but the roll fails. I step back and survey the field, noting that I have pushed Henry's lighter units forward in advance of the heavier troops, leaving them somewhat exposed. I decide to randomize the enemy reaction, and on a d6 scale of 1 being very cautious through 6 being very aggressive, roll a 6. Aggressive it is, then. I decide the most logical course of action would be to attack with the enemy right and center, and refuse the left flank unit against the advancing knights. The left flank heavy infantry moves once to the rear, disordering. The crossbows rally, shoot at the skirmishers at point blank range and miss again. On the enemy far right (left of the picture), a unit of levy heavy infantry charge forward into Larcevaux's light infantry, disordering themselves as they charge far enough to make contact. In the ensuing fight, no casualties are inflicted and the units will remain disordered and locked in melee. Next, the enemy commander urges his own unit of heavy spearmen forward, wheeling once and charging Morenz's light infantry behind their skirmisher screen. Boncarre's javelinmen, seeing the enemy heavy infantry charging in from off to their side, toss one last round of javelins ineffectively before dispersing and fleeing the field. [A review of the Evading rules when this situation arose showed that a skirmisher unit being charged by a unit that began entirely outside of its frontal projection does not permit an Evade move...live and learn]. The enemy unit continued its charge through the fleeing skirmishers and into Morenz's unit in good order. Both units cause damage but only manage to disorder each other; they also remain locked in melee.

End of Turn 3

Turn 4 (The enemy waver...)

Enemy - The enemy win the initiative, so now they get a "double move". Another reinforcement roll fails. The melee between the levies and Larcevaux's men goes another round, causing a loss on the levies and forcing them to retreat 3 inches. The enemy commander's men fighting against Morenz's light infantry are not as lucky. In a ferocious and bloody melee, 2 losses are inflicted on Morenz, but the enemy suffers 3 losses in return. Morenz suffers a minor leg wound, but the enemy commander is swarmed upon as his unit retreats and is killed. Amidst the carnage to their right, the crossbows fired on Thomas' knights and inflicted a loss.
Friendly - Larcevaux's men fail to rally but charge the retreating levies to their front. They cause one damage, and yet another "6" on the cohesion test has the levy unit rout. Morenz, apparently distracted by his wound, fails to rally and holds position. Wilkinson's crossbows target their counterparts and cause one damage. The cohesion test results in the third "6" in a row, and the enemy crossbows rout. Seeing the combat in front of them, Pominville's heavy infantry rally and move ahead, as do Cadogan's Scots. The knights fail to rally but wheel to face the remaining fresh infantry unit.

End of Turn 4

Turn 5 (...and then crumble)

Friendly - Morenz's light infantry fail to rally, but move to the rear, interpenetrating Pominville's fresh troops as they go. Pominville rallies off the resulting disorder and charges the remnants of the enemy commander's unit. In the ensuing combat, the enemy unit takes its final loss and routs from the field, effectively ending any organized resistance.
Enemy - There is nothing left for the enemy but for the survivors to flee the field of battle as best they can, as only one unit remains.

End of Turn 5 / Game

Game recap and a few more thoughts on Impetus
This was a short little game that ended very quickly once the forces became engaged. An untimely string of three "6's" in a row on enemy cohesion tests effectively vaporized the enemy battle line in a matter of moments. Without those bad die rolls, this could have been a very different game (or certainly a longer one!).

These little games continue to serve their purpose for me. I am becoming more and more comfortable with the core rules and can focus more on learning the implications of the various charts and rules and their effect on game play. I still haven't come across anything that I really dislike. There are a few things that I still need to get used to, and formulate an opinion on. One is the fact that a poor cohesion test die roll can make a lesser unit disappear instantaneously; one moment fresh and perfectly fine, the next moment gone. The other is the lack of any morale rules. Nothing effects a unit, despite whatever may be going on around it, until the whole command reaches its break point and picks up and disappears. I suppose this works fine for a fairly simplistic game.

One possible criticism I would have is a similar one that I would have with many other miniatures game rules, and that is the draconian adherence to unit facing with regards to movement and charging. In truly linear periods such as the Seven Years War or the Marlburian period, this makes sense. I would argue that in much of the medieval period, where "units" as we would consider them would be more along the lines of "a bunch of guys", things shouldn't need to be quite so rigid. We need structure in the rules, I understand that. But I find that the result of the "thou shalt move very rigidly and in geometric precision only" rules tend to result in tabletop occurrences that often defy common sense. Movement often devolves into a weird stylized version of chess. I do not like the commandments of "thou shalt not deviate from a straight forward move." Or "thou shalt not wheel while moving." Or "thou shall only be permitted to wheel if it is the very first thing you shall do during your move." Why? If movement is a function of time spent and ground covered, why can't I wheel during my move and not only at the beginning (or the end), or as an entirely separate movement action? This is why I find games like Armati to be an unplayable exercise in ridiculousness. Which isn't to say that Impetus movement rules are any worse than most, they just trigger a personal pet peeve of mine, that's all.

All that being said, there is an aspect of the movement rules for Impetus that I really do like, and that is the opportunity to have multiple moves, discipline tests permitting, and with the risk that pushing your men too hard will result in disorder, leaving them vulnerable to the enemy. This creates good decision making points in the game, and adds a lot of uncertainty. This is good stuff.

Campaign - Henry's easy defeat of the enemy force allows him to plunder Beren, pillaging the village and burning crops, mills and property. No substantial losses were inflicted on Henry's forces, although Morenz's light infantry took a couple losses, so I will put a note next to them (maybe next time they get a discipline penalty or something).

Next...I need a scenario #3...

Hundred Years War Javelinmen

Skirmish bases with javelins

I have sworn I will not undertake a substantial re-basing effort because of the appeal of Impetus style bases, but...

A common troop type that appears in all of the various HYW Impetus lists are skirmishers with javelins. I have lots of skirmish stands with bows and crossbows (two figs to a stand on a 60mm by 25mm stand), but none with javelins. In order to have some available for my campaign, I pulled apart a pair each of three-figure stands of Breton bidets and Spanish light infantry and then mixed and remounted the figures two to a base on deeper stands. Voila - 3 units of skirmishers with javelins.

Impetus Campaign - Henry's Choice

Henry surveys the field

Henry de Cheraute, advancing in a northeasterly direction to the north (left) of Raymond's main body with a predominantly infantry contingent, was sent to "investigate" the village of Beren. As his troops trudged along the muddy road to town, Gauthier de Morenz, commanding the light infantry advance guard, reported back that an enemy force was drawn up near a crossroads beyond the next ridge. Henry, riding with his men at arms under his younger brother Thomas, crested the ridge and surveyed the scene before him.

Ahead, beyond a small clump of trees, was a fork in the road. The left fork, curving to the north, led to Beren. The right fork continued east in the direction of Henry's next rendezvous with Raymond, where he was due by nightfall tomorrow. Centered on high ground to the north of the road fork was an enemy force that appeared smaller than his own. He did not see any cavalry, but his visibility was hindered by the trees and the high ground.

Thomas studied the scene for a few more moments as their foot soldiers clanked up the road behind them. Finally he spoke. "Well, brother, what's it to be? We could double back the way we came. Or force our way down the east road. Or fight."

Henry smiled and replied "My orders were to pay a visit to the good citizens of Beren. Let's go test these gentlemens' resolve..."

The (visible) enemy

Scenario #2
Through a bit of random selection, our second scenario will be a small fight between two primarily infantry forces. After laying out the basics of the situation I randomized whether Henry should behave aggressively (fight), moderately (bypass and head east) or cautiously (retreat). On a 1-10 scale, I rolled the low end of aggressive, so Henry's plan will be to attack, but prudently. If things do not go well, he will look to disengage and head east.

Henry's forces (with their newly named "captains"):

• Commander Henry de Cheraute (Fair quality)
• Mounted men at arms (Thomas de Cheraute)
• Provincial heavy infantry [FP] (Richard Pominville)
• Provincial light infantry, long spears [FL] (Gauthier de Morenz)
• Provincial light infantry long spears [FL] (Emile Larcevaux)
• Crossbowmen, class B [T] (Edmund Wilkinson)
• Javelinmen [S] (Phillippe Boncarre)
• Scottish mercenary pikemen [FP] (Robert Cadogan)

The defenders of Beren:

• One leader whose rating will be randomized the first time we need to use it for something substantial
• Two units of heavy infantry [FP] with long spears
• One unit of crossbowmen [T] (class B)
• One unit of town militia [FP]

In addition to these named forces, beginning around the time the troops become engaged, I will begin to randomly test for enemy hidden forces or reinforcements (size and type TBD if they appear). Henry might get a surprise of some sort...

...to be Continued

Hundred Years War - Next Steps

As I played my way through my first Impetus game, a bunch of thoughts were going through my head as to what I needed (or wanted) to do next with the Hundred Years War part of my collection.

• I am torn about basing. I love the look of Impetus style bases vs old-style smaller bases. The freedom to make each base a small diorama, and to have the figures less "regular" in their appearance is appealing. Mounting 25mm infantry on a 60mm wide and 25mm or so deep stand makes everyone end up looking very strictly ranked. Mounting the same figures (and perhaps less figures per unit in total) on a deeper base allows for unit types that should look regular to still be ranked nicely, but to have unit types that should look more irregular be staggered on the bases. The standard 25mm figure unit base is 120mm wide. For those few units I have based this way, I have still based each unit in a pair of 60mm wide bases. This allows for a "column" type of formation (which Impetus doesn't really have but should) as well as using the figures for other games such as Medieval Warfare. I think what I am going to do going forward is to rebase just a few units in this manner, but to do more like this as I add more new units. [As an aside, the current version of Day of Battle uses Impetus style bases.]
• I have lots of figure bases in this period that were mounted after coming back from being painted in Sri Lanka but the bases were never finished. It pains my finicky nature to play with figures glued to plain green-painted bases, but I also hate finishing the bases. Base finishing is one of my least favorite things. But...time to suck it up and properly finish any units I use in this campaign.
• I could use more mounted men at arms (knights). I have figure stock on hand for another half dozen or so units. I should work on them (yes, I know, add them to the list...with the Ottomans...etc).
• I still need better lighting for picture taking in the gaming area. I have a great camera but you'd never know it from the poorly and unevenly lit pictures.
• A few of my oldest "generic medievals" that I had painted by a guy in Ohio 10 or 12 years ago are not up to standard and could use some touching up. As with the base finishing, any unit that gets used in this campaign goes into the "needs work" area of the painting table for touch up before it can be used again.
• I need to buy a bunch of 60mm wide by 50 or 60mm deep bases from Litko or Gale Force 9 at the FALL IN convention in a couple weeks.

So much to do...

Impetus Campaign - Cazalet Finale

Second and final part of the skirmish at Cazalet
Turn 6
Friendly - Longbows rally, shoot with 3 dice at the heavy infantry and miss. The mercenary crossbows rally, fire 4 dice at short range, score 2 damage resulting in 3 losses and rout/destroy the enemy crossbows on the hill. The remainder of William's forces work on forming some sort of battleline with the heavy cavalry and the heavy infantry billmen ending disordered. William and his knights edge forward.
Enemy - The heavy infantry fails to rally, and the two levy infantry units inch forward to stay hidden behind the hill.

End of turn 6

Turn 7

Enemy - Heavy infantry rallies. The enemy hold their ground.

Friendly - A battle line is formed, more or less, but the heavy cavalry, billmen, longbows and mercenary crossbows all end in disorder primarily because of the necessary obliqueing and sidestepping.

(I forgot to take a picture).

Turn 8

Enemy - One of the levy units charges into the billmen, who are advancing up the gentle slope to their front. The enemy wants to deny the hilltop to the billmen, and also take the opportunity to get an impetus bonus on their charge. The levies roll 4 dice (VBU 3 plus 1 impetus), score 3 damage, and inflict 2 losses. The billmen roll 4 dice also (VBU 5 minus 1 disorder), score 1 damage, but also inflict 2 losses. As this is a tie, both units remain locked in melee. The levies become disordered (the billmen already are, and since they took losses I didn't give them another for disorder on top of already disordered - I think I did this correctly...). 

Friendly - Mercenary crossbows fail to rally, move once forward and declare a point blank shot at the levy unit in front of them. Since this shot is likely to be very effective, the levy chooses to reaction charge the crossbows (they can do this as the crossbows have entered their 5 inch forward zone of influence and are shooting at them). My interpretation was that this charge happens in lieu of the shooting as the opportunity/reaction takes precedent over the triggering event (the declared shot), and this is point blank range where the missile unit is not a class A longbow. I believe a class A longbow would have been able to shoot as the levy charged in. The crossbows rolled well, causing 1 damage resulting in 2 losses for the levies, who failed to hit in return. The levies retreat 2 inches and end disordered.

The billmen activate next and fight their continuing melee against the other levies. No result is achieved and they remain locked in melee. As both units have 2 losses and are disordered, they roll very few dice and therefore it is hard to hit the opponent (billmen have current VBU 3 minus disorder for 2 dice, and the levies have current VBU 1 minus disorder for zero dice, and roll the minimum 1 die). The way I am reading the rules, there does not seem to be a minimum effect of a round of combat, so nothing happens.

The longbows shoot and disorder the heavy infantry behind the hedge. The mounted troops wait patiently.

End of turn 8

Turn 9

Friendly - The mercenary crossbows fail to rally, but still shoot 7 dice at the damaged levies in front of them (VBU 4 plus 4 bonus point blank vs infantry for class A crossbows minus 1 disorder). Only 1 damage is caused but the cohesion test for the levies goes poorly and they lose their last loss and rout. The billmen fight another inconclusive round of their melee with the other levies. The longbows shoot at the heavy infantry again, cause 1 damage, which due to more poor French cohesion die rolling turns into 2 losses. The light infantry move forward, the heavy cavalry remains disordered and William bides his time...

The Men at Arms clash in turn 9

Enemy - The constable sees the situation slipping away from him, and pride dictates (randomly) that he take matters into his own hands. He grabs his banner and spurs his men at arms forward down the road, aiming directly for William's banner. William, being charged in the front but not being on opportunity must pass a discipline check to countercharge, which he passes. He spurs his knights forward and they crash into the constable's oncoming men. Each side rolls 11 dice (VBU 7 plus fresh first round impetus bonus of 4). Both sides roll poorly, inflicting only a damage or two, and no losses to either side result. Both units become disordered and locked in melee. Neither attached leader is required to check for casualties as neither cohesion test rolled a "6".

End of turn 9

At the end of turn 9 we have two ongoing melees. The situation for the French blocking force is dire; the heavy infantry are being shot up with no real option but to stand and take it, and the brave levies are having a tough time with the better quality (and more numerous) opposition.

Turn 10

Friendly - The mercenary crossbowmen rally, move, wheel, and end in disorder. Still, they are able to shoot with 1 die across the field into the flank of the heavy infantry sheltering behind the hedge, but do no damage. The billmen fight another round of their ongoing melee and take a loss (their third out of 5) and retreat 2 inches back down the slope from the valiant levies. The longbows then target the heavy infantry, causing 2 damage and 2 losses, which sends them routing from the field.
The swirling clash of mounted men at arms continues. Each unit rolls 6 dice this time instead of 11 (VBU 7 and disordered). The constable's men take a loss and retreat 3 inches. William's knight roll for pursuit and catch the retreating French, precipitating another immediate round of combat. In this round, William's men take one loss and retreat from the fight. I am not sure according to the rules whether these retreat/pursuit cycles continue indefinitely or not, but I chose to not allow a second pursuit beyond the one already conducted in this phase. Lastly, the skirmishers fire into the flank of the French knights and surprisingly cause a loss.

During turn 10

Enemy - The constable urges his men forward one more time and crashes into William's knights. The French cause 4 damage but miraculously no losses. William's troops cause 2 damage which ends in 3 losses (poor cohesion check), along with a casualty check for the constable (cohesion die roll was a "6"). The constable escapes unscathed but retreats. William's knights pursue, catch the French, and fight another round of melee. William suffers 1 loss, but another cohesion roll of "6" for the French sees a total of 5 additional losses and the death of the constable.

End of turn 10 - Battle over

With the two best units on the French side lost in this turn, and the constable dead on the field of battle, the last vestiges of resistance crumble. William gathers his troops and continues his march to Cazalet and the rendezvous with Raymond.

Recap and Campaign Notes - This scenario did what I wanted it to do; it gave me an introduction to the rules. I can now reread certain sections of the rules and try to answer some of the questions I scribbled down as I played. Despite what ended up being, as expected, an easy win for William, there were some moments of potential future impact that could have turned on a die roll. Given that I am using this as part of a series of linked battles in a campaign, a bad cohesion die roll on any of a few different occasions could have gotten one of William's units beaten up pretty badly, and as we saw with the constable, it only takes one bad cohesion die roll to end a leader's career in an instant. As for the forces involved, there were no serious casualties, so there should be minimal impact to this contingent going forward.

I will post my thoughts on the Impetus rules themselves in a separate post.

Grace, who helped me push some figures around and was my designated dice roller for a few turns this morning, is already asking me when we will play the next scenario. I told her "soon Dear, soon"...

Impetus Campaign - Cazalet Part 1

Turn 1
Enemy - Wins the initiative and puts his impetuous Men at Arms and the crossbows on opportunity.
Friendly - Skirmishers and mercenary crossbows both take two moves and end disordered. Longbows move twice, end in good order, shoot at the enemy crossbows with one die and miss (4 die for VBU minus 2 for moves minus 1 for long range vs infantry).
Reinforcement roll fails (would have needed a 1).

End of turn 1

Turn 2
Enemy - Wins the initiative but nothing to do.
Friendly - Skirmishers fail to rally and make one move. Light infantry rallies and moves twice, disordering again. Longbows make one move and fire at the crossbows, rolling one damage but only disordering them. Mercenary crossbows rally and move once, firing but missing.
Reinforcement roll succeeds, so the heavy infantry will enter next turn.

End of turn 2

Turn 3

Enemy - Wins the initiative again. Crossbow fails to rally and so cannot go on opportunity. Nothing else to do.
Friendly - Heavy infantry makes three moves on the road and ends in good order. Skirmishers fail to rally again and move forward toward the stream. Longbows remain stationary and fire at the crossbows but miss. Mercenary crossbows move twice, wheeling and then moving ahead, ending in disorder. The light infantry fail to rally and only creep forward a few inches so as not to get in the way of the advancing reinforcements.
Reinforcement roll passes so William will arrive next turn at the head of his household Men at Arms.
The range advantage of the friendly longbows and mercenary crossbows compared to the regular enemy crossbows is substantial, but the friendly fire continues to have trouble hitting anything. We will continue to close the range.

The enemy sits and waits patiently.

End of turn 3

Turn 4

Enemy - Wins initiative, fails to rally the crossbows, who still don't have a target, as the nearest target is just outside of 15U (inches).
Friendly - Skirmisher rallies and moves one move to the edge of the stream (remember the stream is just decorative in this particular game). Mercenary crossbows fail to rally, shoot with 1 die and miss. Longbows move once ahead, and shoot at the heavy infantry ahead of them behind the hedge (at short range; 4 dice minus 1 for the move, total 3 dice). They miss. Again. Light infantry fails to rally and moves once to get to the right flank. The heavy infantry moves once up the road and then a second move to form up in place (I think I am making this rule up...but it needs it), ending in disorder. William and his Men at Arms move twice up the road and then a third move to form up, ending in good order.
The reinforcement roll is passed, meaning that the last unit, the heavy cavalry, will enter next turn.

End of turn 4

Turn 5

Friendly - William wins the initiative for a change and surges forward. The skirmishers sidestep one move to give the following troops more room. Longbows move one move oblique to the left front, automatically disordering. They shoot at short range with only one die (4 minus 1 for move, minus 1 for disorder, and giving a minus 1 for the hedge). The roll a hit to get a damage, but the target heavy infantry passes its cohesion test (but therefore does end disordered). Crossbows fail to rally, move ahead into short range of the enemy crossbows, and shoot but miss. Light infantry fails to rally but moves once toward the right flank. The heavy infantry rally, move twice forward and end in disorder. William and his knights move twice and end in good order. The newly arriving heavy cavalry move twice up the road and then a third move to form up, ending in good order.

Enemy - Heavy infantry and crossbows both fail to rally. The crossbows have a target now and shoot 2 dice (3 minus 1 for disorder) at the mercenary crossbows and miss. The constable and his men at arms stay on opportunity to keep from having to act on their impetuousness.

End of turn 5

After 5 turns of almost no action, I am satisfied with the exercise so far. I have been able to fumble through a few turns of basics; initiative and turn sequence, command, movement, disorder, rallying, and firing. This is exactly why I set this scenario up the way I did. Things should get much more interesting very soon though, as we have missile troops within short range, formed troops fairly close to each other, and the command issues for the good guys straightened out with the arrival of William. Next order of business will be to get the good guys deployed so they can get stuck in...

...to be Continued

Impetus Campaign - A Beginning

I purchased the Impetus rules not long after they became available in the US, mainly because I buy just about every rules set I can get my hands on for medievals, but also because it had gotten good press in various blogs and from friends and acquaintances. I have read the rules in fits and starts, several times over, since getting them, and while they looked promising, had never gotten around to actually playing them. Figuring that the only way I ever will is to throw some figures on the table and have a go at it, I have decided to concoct a solo hundred years war era campaign. I have no grandiose plans for this endeavor other than to finally play around with these rules and learn them, fighting a scenario when the mood strikes.

I decided to start very small, and over the last couple of nights have gotten in a few turns of a "baby steps" game.

Raymond of Saint Palais

Background - The campaign will follow the exploits of Lord Raymond of Saint Palais, a noble in the Orthez region of the Pyrenees-Atlantiques region of southwestern France, circa 1380. The region, south of the heart of Gascony, is a semi-autonomous region sandwiched in between the remaining English holdings to the west around Bayonne and north/northwest toward Bordeaux, Spanish Navarre over the Pyrenees to the south, the French Agenais region to the northeast, and the southern French Bearn and Languedoc region to the east around Toulouse. This will allow me to use a variety of troop types from the various army lists covering the French, English, Spanish and other miscellaneous Free Companies, mercenaries and "provincials." In other words, I can justify using any hundred years war figures I own (and other "generic medievals" too)... I will string together scenarios with a loose narrative to hopefully make things more interesting than fighting a series of one-off battles. I intend to develop some random muster tables, random scenario generator ideas, etc, as I go along. We'll see what happens...

To keep track of how Raymond is doing, I will start him out at a 5 on a scale of 1-10, or a "stance rating" of "doing ok so far". Good scenario results will raise his "stance" and bad results will lower it. I will figure out some way to use this to help me plot the course of events. Raymond's full force, which I don't expect to have on the table all at once for a while, will approximate 400 points to begin with, but events can affect this going forward. I have drafted a rough list of his army composition in total, and will use different pieces of it for different games.

Chevauchee, July 1380

William of Navarrenx

As the English holdings in the region have been driven further and further back, the French to the northeast have become increasingly troublesome, threatening the area with repeated raids. Several local Barons have banded together to give the French a taste of their own medicine, and have launched a raid northeast towards Agen. In addition to our own Raymond, the other two main forces are led by Bertrand of Dax and Thierry of Orthez. These three forces are advancing somewhat independently as they ravage the countryside, and may or may not be able to support each other at any given point in time. Raymond's army has two subordinate commanders; William of Navarrenx and Henry of Cheraute.

The Scenario
Raymond's forces have crossed the Adour river at Aire-sur-l'Adour and are headed generally northeast. As one of Raymond's contingents under William of Navarrenx approaches the village of Cazalet, it finds a small enemy force drawn up behind a stream to oppose it. William's goal is to brush aside this blocking force to rendezvous with Raymond beyond Cazalet.

William has 7 units with him at the moment [most troop profiles are from the English list]:

William's forces at start

• His household unit of Men at Arms (impetuous) [Gascon MAA]
• Heavy cavalry [English hobilar CM]
• Heavy infantry billmen
• Light infantry spearmen
• Longbows
• Mercenary crossbows
• Skirmishers with short bows

The enemy, led by the local constable [most troop profiles are from the French list]:

• Local Men at Arms (impetuous)
• Heavy infantry
• Two units of local levy/militia infantry
• Crossbows [French T]

On this day, both leaders randomly came up rated "fair", and both command structures are "poor." This translates to a friendly force of 137 points vs an enemy force of 84 points. I selected the troops first then added the points up out of curiosity.

The defenders of Cazalet

Setup and special rules - The battle will be fought lengthwise down a 4' by 6' table. The enemy force will be behind a stream that is cosmetic only, but will have a small hill and a few hedges. The four friendly light and missile units begin on the board, the heavy infantry and two mounted units (and William) will arrive randomly. At then end of each turn, the friendly player will roll one die, and if the result is less than or equal to the turn number that is just ending, the next friendly unit will arrive the following turn. The heavy infantry arrives first, followed by the Men at Arms and William, with the heavy cavalry arriving last. William's goal is to exit the far board edge as quickly as possible while taking as few losses as possible (nice and vague...). The friendly player will be hampered by lack of an on-board commander for some part of the game while William gathers his spread out forces to engage the enemy (i'll use the 10U poor command range from the board edge until he arrives). That being said...this shouldn't be too difficult for the good guys while I familiarize myself with the basic rule mechanics...

...to be Continued

Hobby State of the Union

So... What have I been up to from a hobby standpoint these last several months? The honest answer is "not too much". That being said, things seem to have taken a turn for the better. Part of it is just coming out of a general malaise, part of it is that the Fall In convention in Lancaster PA has energized me somewhat (as these cons always do), and part of it is that I never went completely dormant on the hobby front (blog silence to the contrary).

As much as anything these days, I am suffering from the attention span deficit that often (OK, always...) afflicts me. Too many interests and projects and too little time. Back to the original question... "what am I doing these days from a hobby perspective?":

• Seven Years War project - I have been packing an order to send to Sri Lanka for painting, This is an interest that I have that I will never ever be able to address properly on my own from a painting perspective. If I waited until I painted what I needed to do a modest game, it would never happen. So it is time to admit my own limitations and call in the pros. I am sending Austrians to be painted, while I still have hopes of doing some Prussians on my own, as well as a bullet point covered below...
• Modular terrain - Following the blogs of Olicanalad and others, it seems that many hobbyists use modular terrain pieces for their battlefields. I have always either used custom terrain boards carved out of foam (but not modular), or simple ground clothes with other terrain pieces. I have made a few half-hearted starts on making modular terrain pieces, but have never gotten very far. This time will be different, and I have already made some decent progress. More to follow in another post...
• Hundred Years War - As recently posted, I completed a mini project on a set of 24 archer stake bases. I had been planning to get around to this for the better part of a year, and finally set aside the 2 hours needed to knock it out. In addition to that, I always seem to have at least a unit or two of medieval figs on my painting table.
• Napoleonics - My 15mm armies need more rebasing work in order to use my existing figs better with the LaSalle rules, which we have played a couple of times and like. LaSalle seems to be a nice mix of period feel with modest complexity and fairly quick play time. In other words, a winner.
• Ottomans - Work continues, albeit at a glacial pace, on knocking out a unit or two here and there. Much more work to be done before even a modest game could be played.
• Seven Years War "ImagiNation" - It seems to be a fairly common thing amongst our English gaming compatriots to create a fictitious state for which to create an army and inject it into real history. Popular periods seem to be in the early horse and musket periods of Marlburian through Seven Years War. I have decided to exercise my imagination and create the Duchy of Alsberg, a small German state in the Seven Years War era. I have begun painting a few units and have begun sketching out the "history" and background of my little duchy. I envision my duchy as a sometimes ally of Prussia which is often at conflict with smaller neighboring states as well as occasionally getting caught up in the larger affairs concerning Prussia and Austria (hence the additional impetus to get some Austrians painted...).
• Lord of the Rings and some other fantasy stuff to be expanded on later....
• Last but not least, the Crusades Project needs to forge ahead. Theoretically this should be an easier one to make progress on as it requires little more than rebasing of figures.

So... as I said, lots of different things going on. If I could just focus on one or two things at a time, I might actually make some progress. Alas, it is not my way...

Wargames Terrain - Archer stake obstacles, part 2

In the first installment of this little how-to I described how I made the rough stands for my Hundred Years War archer stakes. This final post will have a few brief notes on finishing them along with the requisite pictures on the end product.

1. The completed stands are sprayed with Army Painter Army Green spray paint (a medium green olive drab color).
2. The stakes are painted with Citadel's Graveyard Earth (a medium brown).
3. The tips of the stakes are painted with a craft paint, Folks Art's Camel (a tan color). This color looks a little too bright in the picture, but I originally used a duller tan color and while that looked good up close it disappeared into the background when placed on the table. This color makes the points "pop" nicely.
4. Lastly, the bases are coated with watered down white glue and sprinkled with a mix of Woodland Scenics flocking and tiny stones.

An English force drawn up in a solid defensive position

I think the final result is pretty effective at representing what I wanted. The only thing I would do differently looking at the end result is that I would probably be more careful to mix the "factory tip" pieces of stake with the hand carved ones. The factory tips on the toothpicks are perfectly round and tapered and look too well finished on close inspection. The whittled tips look much more like branches or small logs that have been hand-hewn. I tended to cut them in batches and make whole stands of factory tips on the first few stands. Oh well... Live and learn.

English longbowmen behind their stakes

When all was said and done, this project cost less than $10 in materials, and generated 24 stands of stakes in less than 2 hours total time spent. It was also a nice little project in that I completed it in 15 to 20 minute increments over the course of several days. When I had a few minutes to spare, I could pop down to the work area, make a little progress, and stop easily before coming back to it later, after glue or paint had dried.

A well spent two hours if you ask me...

Wargames Terrain - Archer stake obstacles, part 1

One of the terrain projects that I began a long time ago but have needed to complete was the making of a bunch of archer stakes for my Hundred Years War English army. These would be useful little terrain bits that I could envision serving multiple purposes as generic defensive obstacles. In addition to their intended use as archer stakes for the English in HYW, I could see them serving as anything from the obstacles in front of the Ottoman infantry lines at Nicopolis to components of temporary camp protection in ancient battles.

I mocked up one sample stand of these many months ago and was pleased with the result, so I knew exactly what I needed to do, it was just a question of setting aside the time. This is a simple project. To make the 24 stands I am making, the raw material cost is minimal. Most items either came from the household toolbox or miscellaneous hobby stock materials already lying around. I used:

• A power drill with a small drill bit (the diameter of a round toothpick) from the toolbox
• A pair of medium duty snips from the toolbox
• Some craft glue (Aileen's) from the hobby stocks
• An Xacto knife from the hobby stocks
• A 3 inch wide sheet of 3/32 inch thick balsa wood (about $2)
• One pack of 250 round toothpicks (about $3)
• Some paint, flock and other basing materials from the hobby stocks

Each stand is the same size as my standard base for 25mm infantry figures; 60mm wide by 1 inch (or about 25mm) deep, this way each obstacle stand has the same frontage as a single stand of figures. The process is very simple:

1. Measure and mark bases on the large balsa wood sheet.
2. Holding the drill at about a 45 degree angle to the surface of the wood, make 7-9 unevenly spaced holes through the wood (for each base). For this step I placed the wood on top of a styrofoam sheet so I could drill completely through the balsa and into the styrofoam and not hit anything important underneath. (Note that it is much easier drilling all the holes in one large sheet of balsa than it is to drill each individual base after cutting...)
3. Cut the bases from the large balsa wood sheet with an Xacto knife. Be careful. Score, break, sand lightly (if necessary) and trim.
4. After cutting apart the bases, I bevel the upper edges using the Xacto knife held at and angle. I prefer the bevelled edge to a straight edge, but that's just personal preference.
5. For the stakes, I use so-called "fancy" round toothpicks that come 250 to a package. They are pointed on one end (obviously!) and have a decorative banded butt end. Not counting the banded end, which gets cut off and discarded, each toothpick is perfectly sized to make 3 stakes. The first third has the pointed end. After snipping this end off, the cut end of the remaining section needs a little whittling with the Xacto to get it pointed again, then this next third is snipped off. The remaining third is whittled to a point again, and the butt end is snipped off and discarded. (see the top picture for an un-cut toothpick as well as one cut into its four eventual parts).
6. A small dab of glue on the non-pointed end of each little stake gets poked into one of the holes. I find it looks better and more natural to have the stakes pointing in slightly different directions and at different angles.

After about an hour of this, I had completed the 18 stands as shown in the bottom picture. I decided I wanted a total of 24 stands after doing these 18, so I will crank out 6 more before doing the finishing work, which will be part 2 of this little how-to...

Historicon 2010 - Hundred Years War game, Part 2

Continued from Part 1.

Having been playing in part of the game, and therefore focusing on a smaller piece of the battle, I don't have a great memory or overview of parts of the game, and so it is difficult to do a very good battle report. The English position stabilized quickly after Warwick's initial disaster, and Chris did a very good job of putting Clermont back onto his heels. In the center, Edward's attacks against the Dauphin were largely ineffective. On the French right, the Captal de Buch did a better than expected job of holding their own against Audrehem's qualitatively superior knights.

On the right, English and Gascon knights bring the fight to the French, pushing them back up the hill. Cheshire longbowmen in their green and white tunics can be seen at far right.

Edward and the Dauphin go at it in the foreground while Clermont and Warwick continue their fight in the background.

Situation toward the end of the game. The English have made some headway, but not nearly enough.

Edward is held back in the center. Warwick rallies and holds off Clermont.

Captal de Buch continues to do well against the French nobles on the right, driving them further up the hill.

I think that every figure on the table was Old Glory. Flags are by The Flag Dude (the nicer ones) or by me off the internet. Painting was split between myself and Fernando Enterprises in Sri Lanka. I did every mounted figure and maybe half the foot figures. The Pros did the rest.

The game was a success insofar as it went, and everyone who played in it had a good time. I committed to running the same scenario again at Fall In in Lancaster over the Halloween weekend. Maybe we'll see you there!

Historicon 2010 - Hundred Years War game, Part 1

Day of Battle, 1356
King Jean II vs Edward of Woodstock, the Black Prince

I ran one game at Historicon this year with the assistance of my nephew Ryan and Chris Parker, author of the Day of Battle rules. 3rd edition Day of Battle were the rules we were using, and the battle was a "Poitiers-ish" 1356 battle between the French and English in the Hundred Years War. The game was published incorrectly in the Event Listing book, saying it was 90mm instead of 25mm, and this error probably scared away some people who look at the very large scale figures as toys. (Yes, even in a niche hobby, we still have snobs). As a result, we were expecting few if any people to show up for the six player slots for a game that was scheduled to start at 8pm and run until midnight. As a result, Chris, Ryan and I began the game just the three of us playing, and were joined a bit later by two players. So it ended up being an enjoyable game with all three gamemasters playing.

The overall situation was a different spin on the historical battle of Poitiers, but a "what if" that had a reasonable basis in the realm of possibility. In our version of the game, part of the French army under command of the Duc de Normandie (the Dauphin - the eldest son of the King of France), was able to get in front of the English army as it headed south to get back to friendly territory. Also in the Dauphin's army were two cavalry wings commanded by the two Marshals of France, Clermont and Audrehem. In our scenario, the entire English army would fall upon the French force, and would have to try to drive them off and get across the river safely before the remainder of the French army, under the King himself and the Duc d'Orleans arrived. Because of the shortage of players, we played with a partial English army and no French reinforcements. Chris played the Duke of Warwick's battle, Ryan played Prince Edward, I commanded the French (and was joined by 2 players who would each take control of one of the Marshals).

Initial dispositions. Marshal Clermont is on the French (near) left, with the Dauphin's large battle in the middle, and Audrehem's cavalry was on the right flank. The Duke of Warwick has begun advancing in the left distance, with Edward advancing in the center and right distance.

Edward (Ryan) boldly surges forward, attempting to get his longbowmen into range as quickly as possible. The French wait, with Genoese mercenary crossbowmen sheltered behind their pavises manning the front line.

The English are coming! The English are coming! A small English mounted wing under the Captal de Buch, a Gascon noble, advance on the right in the distance, facing off against Audrehem's elite knights.

The battle lines, after trading missile fire for a while, are about to clash. On the French left, Warwick's men have advanced very close to Clermont's knights. The French Marshal spurs his horse forward and sounds the charge.

Clermont's first charge was devastating, breaking through the first line of longbowmen and crashing into the English dismounted knights behind them. As a result of the flight of the first English line, two supporting units broke and fled as well. The three fleeing English units can be seen in the distance, milling about in the farm fields in confusion. In one charge, fully half of Warwick's battle had fled the field. Not an auspicious start for the English...

...to be continued.

Book Review - The Flower of Chivalry

Sometime back over the Christmas holidays, I finished a book I had been reading in spurts over the last couple of months. The Flower of Chivalry; Bertrand du Guesclin and the Hundred Years War by Richard Vernier (2003). I enjoyed the book, being firmly engrossed in a Hundred Years War binge at the moment, courtesy of my miniatures gaming. Du Guesclin was a Breton minor noble who went on to be the Constable of France, one of the highest military offices in France.

From a wargamer's perspective, the book is not about battles and campaigns from the tabletop sense, but is a fascinating military political history that highlights the convoluted relationships between lords and masters in feudal Europe. Du Guesclin, a native of Brittany, was at times at odds with the French king (his patron) due to his roots as well as his conquered Spanish holdings. He was both a son of Brittany, a French vassal and a Spanish lord. Complicated stuff, but it paints a good picture of the life of a militarily inclined noble in the 1300's, and what chivalry was really like, for better or worse. Not for the casual reader or a wargamer looking for detailed information on battles to recreate, but a good read for a serious student of the period.