For Hannibal! - Fields of Glory

As September the 7th rolled around, I headed off to the Kirkby gaming club for a demo game of Fields of Glory, a set of rules for historical conflicts dating from BC to the Dark Ages and beyond.

Friend Richard Y had purchased some Carthaginians, Romans and Gauls from a pleasant chap (selling stuff at maybe a 10th of the value. I plan to purchase some Warhammer Orcs and Goblins from him!) and was keen to try out the game. Having discussed it many weeks before, I'd read through the rules book and was looking forward to the game.

A few words on the system itself before I get onto the game we played.
The rules book is, simply put, a pain. The contents are laid out in a confusing manner and this lead to a lot of time spent cycling through pages. The chart for weapon ranges, PoA (points of advantage), Cohesion tests and all the other important stuff are repeated at the back of the book which is handy.
However, the rest are laid out across a number of pages which aren't necessarily close together.
An example of this would be during a game later in the afternoon, during which Richard Y and Richard B both wanted to put their commanders in a unit to see how that affected combat. Right I thought, a simple look in the index... right, so flip to page 19... and yet I could see no rule there. I noticed however, a single line mid paragraph a different rule saying  "as mentioned on page 84". Right, so off to page 84... and again, "As mentioned on page 90" and it was only on page 90 that we finally found our answer but only after the game had been held up for a good 5 minutes.

Despite this, the game itself played well and was quite enjoyable. It took a while for me to get used to the fact that having better armor meant you hit harder in combat, or that even if you somehow land 20 odd hits you can only ever remove 2 bases of a unit and no more. This was a game that was focused more on forcing the opponent to take and hopefully fail "cohesion tests" which in turn reduces the unit's fighting capabilities until it eventually breaks and begins running at full speed away from the enemy it lost to, eventually off the table edge or long enough to allow the opponent to swing in and destroy the enemies camp, which will win them the game.

A few pictures of the game I took part in, in which I played the Carthaginians.

Roman Legionaries march forward

Richard Y took 2 blocks of Legionaries which count as heavy infantry. With a move of 3" a turn and an automatic disordered status when entering rough terrain  (The first stage of failed cohesion tests. The second is fragmented followed by broken as the third) these guys in my mind are better suited to protecting your camp, or a strategic location. They will shred any medium or light foot and can go toe to toe with other heavy foot or medium cavalry.

On the right, my heavy cavalry prepares to charge Roman
cavalry, backed by their second commander

Cavalry also suffer disorder from terrain pieces. At the start of each game, before deployment, each player rolls a dice. Highest number gains priority for terrain placement and then the chart is followed. Priority player places their terrain, the opposing player can roll a dice to attempt to shift the terrain by so many inches etc and it all adds to the tactical options of the game, something I thoroughly enjoyed.

Run away!

Elephant madness

I will admit we made a mistake with elephants. We misread the bases per unit, and they should have been together as opposed to apart. Still, lesson learned! the elephants were susceptible to bow fire and broke easily, or would have if I hadn't been lucky with the dice ;o). They did prove very difficult to remove, and the elephant in the first picture eventually chased the skirmishers off the board!
Skirmishers and archers etc count as light foot, or cavalry if mounted. When charged by anything other than other light models, they will attempt to evade which is done via a chart for evading and perusing. They also have to take a cohesion test to attempt to stand bravely as opposed to evading (tactical cowardice ;o)!). This will rarely be attempted as they will be easily defeated in close combat, but is necessary if you don't want to evade off the board!

Battle is met!

In the last few turns, battle really heated up. African spearmen fought the legionaries, who beat them off and broke them, chasing them towards the Carthage camp. Poeni infantry also delay another unit of legionaries. Poeni slingers pelt some Romans from the safety of the rough terrain, a field. Finally, the elephant looks set to flank charge the legionaries...


But the game ended before this could happen...

The Carthage cavalry shatters the Roman cavalry, leaving the way for the elephant to trample the Roman camp, netting me the game!


It was a game that took us a while to play due to learning the rules and wasn't helped by the fact we played on a table twice as big as we should have, but all these were great learning experiences and lessons learned. I acted as the rules reader for Richard Y Richard B's game, and since it was played on the correct sized table, it was a lot smoother and came to a conclusion in a much more reasonable time.

There are plans for a second game when I can next get to the club. The Roe mans will either battle the Gauls or try to quell a slave uprising.

Elsewhere, I also have plans for a Bolt Action game, but as ever my painting schedule is packed and I haven't managed to get a lick of paint on my Britisy out h, so I apologise in advance for the grey minis. I'm hoping an order I placed, for a sniper team in ghillie suit arrives in time, so I can snipe a couple of Gerry's and show them we are the boys who will make you think again!


They don't like it up 'em sir, they don't like it up 'em ;o)

The danger of watching The Lord of the Rings

I was watching The Fellowship of the Ring the other night, for what must have been the hundredth time, followed by The Two Towers tonight and it got me thinking...

just how much of a danger is my wallet in when I watch these things?!

It had just gotten to the point where the uruk scouts are rode down by Eomer and his Rohirrim, at the edge of Fangorn and I suddenly saw the Rohirrim in a whole new light. This is nothing new to me, as I regularly get new "favourite armies" or  "favourite characters" every time I re-watch them, and gain a new liking or disliking to a certain army or character. 

There was something about the Rohirrim, striking from the shadows on horseback, scattering the fierce uruks who lets face it, aren't exactly a push over, and all but eliminating them and giving Merry and Pippin a chance to escape into Fangorn Forest, that got my imagination whirring at the thought of a LOTR SBG Rohan army themed around this particular skirmish, and had my hand stretching towards my phone to order some riders!

Luckily, common sense kicked in and I recalled the priority list I'd made, as shown in a previous blog post. The Rohirrim will just have to wait!

But this connection to Middle Earth, and the ever shifting attraction I have to those within it really do sum up for me why I enjoy playing this game. Being somebody that plays for mostly fun, rather than a competitive side of things, I can very easily theme an army or list on just about anything I take fancy to, without worrying too much about how "optimal" it may be in the game itself. A pure warg rider list lead by Sharku and a few captains on wargs? definitely. An all foot Rohan force, representing the defenders trying to hold off Dunland in the outer lying Rohan villages? why not!

And with The Return of the King coming up in the next few days, whilst painting the remainder of my Moria battle company, I dread to think what extra models and forces I'll mentally add to my growing list of things to buy!

Is there any particular scene in a book or film that inspires you to collect a force? let me know!

until next time, dear reader.

A small scout force...

I was thinking to myself only yesterday, "Why haven't I uploaded any pictures of my miniatures yet?"

Well the first answer that comes to mind is, compared to a lot of other people's I see, mine pale in comparison. I think I've got the hang of a few basics, layering, drybrushing, washing etc and I'm able to paint my miniatures up to table top standard. I'm happy with this, and I'm happy with how fast I've made that improvement from getting paint in the wrong place, or getting the right consistency of paint onto certain parts. It's very daunting for a new painter like myself.

That being said, I find the wargaming community (most of it, anyway) to be encouraging, kind and great at constructive feedback without leaving the painter/modeller leaving feeling downtrodden.
So with that in mind, I'm going to start posting what I've painted. If nothing else, I can look back on it as I improve and see just how much far I may have come.


For the past few months on and off, I've been painting my uruk-hai scouts. After speaking to a friend who's played for years, back in December last year, I decided that Isengard was a good force for me to go for. At the time my reasoning was that I really enjoy uruk-hai, especially mixed with orcs and wild men. They'd be easy to paint, and they're beginner friendly, with a higher than average fight, strength and courage for the forces of evil.

So that's theme, painting and playing ticked on the check list, and the only deviation I made along those three points was opting to choose scouts over fighting uruk-hai. They're both a bit more difficult to paint, and slightly more squishy in game than their armoured counterparts, with less defence. I can say without a doubt I made the right choice though, as the scouts have some nice sculpts, and the fight at Amon Hen is one of my favourite scenes in the trilogy...

These are no mere orcs!

Apologies for the picture quality. I'm still trying to figure out the focussing on our new camera...

Find the halfling!

I can definitely improve, and one day I would like to be able to consistently paint eyes and facial details etc, but have left them blank and let a wash shadow those details instead for now as I lack the skill to do much else.

The Uruk Scouts themselves aren't too difficult to paint. I started off with a prime of Abaddon Black, before heavily drybrushing the boots, swords, shields and anything else metal with Leadbelcher. I then very lightly drybrushed parts of the metal with Runefang Steel to highlight various parts that would be reflecting from the sun or other sources of natural light.

Sitting at defence 5 with a shield,

the scout can still be rather

tanky to those strength 3 armies

I then painted the leather straps with Doombull brown, and the skin Mournfang Brown. Some of the lower belt portions I painted Zandri Dust, like the one pictured above without shield or helm. This is to differentiate any "marauders" I use, an upgraded variant if taken in Mauhur's warband...
any bows or quivers were painted in Rhinox Hide, a nice darker brown to stand out from the leather armour.

One of my "marauders" as evidenced by

the different coloured belt section

of his armour...

Zoomed out version of the above.

Finally, I gave the models a wash. So far, I've given most of them the Nuln Oil treatment, but the odd few get Agrax Earthshade, to represent the more dirty, worn leather of the uruks fleeing to Orthanc, with Merry and Pippin (I plan on sourcing these models to add to that particular collection).

Not where you want to be if you're a hobbit.

I do of course need to add white hands, and I'm still practicing this. Of the 10 attempts I've done so far, I've been happy with the last three that I've attempted to paint on shields!

Finally, I based them (which I'm new at, and found quite difficult to be frank! painting the smaller stones to look like dirt, I had trouble with.) in the usual manner, a bit of bird sand, the smaller coarse type and the larger type to represent the larger stones, suitable paint scheme and a bit of static grass mixed with a bit of static hay to represent the many small villages of Rohan.

Overall, whilst pretty basic True I still have a long way to go, and a lot I can improve on, but I think I've done a fairly good job, at least to a tabletop standard that I can enjoy playing with them, and ultimately that's what matters isn't it? whether we like what we've painted. If we're satisfied with them personally, and enjoy their look and playing with them, then it's a win in my books!

So whilst this is only a small section of my scout force, I do have Lurtz, Ugluk, Saruman, Grima and a fair few other scouts to paint up. I even have around 10-15 of them already painted, ready to be based. I'll post an update on them as and when I get them finished.

However, whilst the scouts are out shouting about halflings to be found, a few Moria goblins have sneaked into my painting queue, namely for Battle Companies... so plenty to be done.

Hobby Catch Up

So, I just posted about the Battle of Pelennor Fields "Mega-game" we had the other week. But what have I been doing in the months between the last post and the new one?

Well, I've found time to go to club days and play a variety of games, mostly Lord of the Rings and Warhammer but also a bit of Flames of War.

Playing these systems have made me realise I've done what I said I wouldn't do when I first got into the hobby, namely being pulled in many different directions by all the brilliant games and systems out there. I've been rationalizing what priorities I have within the hobby and I've come up with a fairly decent plan for moving forward.

Lord of the Rings - Priority status: Low-Middle.
I've played enough of SBG to know that this game will be one that I enjoy for a very long time and that nothing short of GW butchering it (Which is always on the tables... though props to the current Middle Earth team, who I have very good faith in, means this hopefully won't happen) is likely to stop me playing it. Recent forays into the world of Battle Companies has even further cemented this, as it makes for a fun, short alternative and the progression options for your company heroes/soldiers are thrilling. In terms of "purchasing priorities" though, they remain possibly at the bottom of the pile. I have a decent sized "Sacking of the Westfold" list (though it is missing wild men, until GW hopefully bring them out on a made to order.) that is both a theme I enjoy and competitive enough to win at least half of the games I play. I also have plenty of Moria goblins lurking around which I'm using for my battle companies. True I'm missing a good army and though I have The Fellowship which can be a decent force, I would like to begin collecting for a themed Rangers of Ithilien legendary legion. But since I have all the models I need right now to play the game regularly, it will stay at the bottom unless I find a hard pressed reason to purchase more.

The Fellowship begin their journey -

Much like mine into Wargaming!

Bolt Action - Priority status: Middle.

My British army is quite small, composing of two full infantry squads and a full commando squad with upgrades, a medium mortar, a HQ team and a Cromwell. It's something I'm looking to expand and begin painting, but it's also something that isn't played as often at the club. I know of at least two people that would be down for a game of it, should I ask however. So whilst there may not be a mad rush to get the army built up to full strength, it is something I'm hoping to do around Christmas time. I'm thinking of adding some more armoured power perhaps in the form of something heavy like a Sherman Firefly, or perhaps a more subtle approach, relying on some Bren carriers or an AEC armoured car.

A unit of British Commandos

Warhammer Fantasy 8th Edition - Priority status: High.
I've had so much fun with this game so far. The random elements, such as your cannon potentially blowing up on turn 1, or an enemy cavalry unit hilariously failing the charge to then be swarmed and defeated by lowly goblins, they all add up for a fun time. I've currently got 3 Orc lords/heroes and a rock lobber as well as 16 handgunners, 16 spearmen with musician and banner and an Empire cannon, as well as the Core rule book and the battle magic cards for the 8 standard lores of magic. I DID plan on purchasing a block of night goblins and orcs from the local "bring and buy" at a flgs… but this deal fell through as the seller is unable to make it. I will be purchasing them from him at a later date but this has thrown all my plans into the air, as I'm now sorely tempted to just buy the rest of the Empire forces instead, with many companies out there selling miniatures that easily pass as swords men/ spear men/ cavalry... time will tell!

Flames of War - Priority status: Low.
I've only played the one game, and whilst I like it, I do enjoy Bolt Action a lot more. I might dabble in getting a German force just to play the few games here and there, but not for a while. The only way I can see myself getting an army of these before any of the above would be if I run across a bargain or split a starter set with a friend.

One of the many Flames of War starter

forces available.

And that's pretty much the list! I do have some other games I have a vague interest in (because I refuse to let myself get pulled in yet another direction) such as Star wars legion and Empire of the Dead. But it will be a fair while indeed before I

choose to dive in to these games with both feet.

And yet, the best laid plans can always change!

The Battle Of Pelennor Fields

After a long delay in part due to a house move and various other "real life" problems, I finally found myself able to take part in a game on a grand scale.

August the 4th, many of us met at the club to partake in the Battle of Pelennor Fields, using the War of the Ring system and scenario...

It was a great day. A few people came from quite far away to play, and in the end we had 3 players controlling Mordor, Harad and the Easterlings whilst myself and Adam controlled Rohan, Gondor & Fiefdoms and the Dead of Dunharrow.

It was a mighty game, and it wasn't clear right until the end who would win (Evil sneaked a victory at the last minute.)

Pictured below, a few high lights of the game...

The Host of Mordor, mid-siege at Minas Tirith

Rohan to the rescue!

With an Earth Shattering charge for the first 2 turns, Rohan can really hurt those orc battalions!

Dol Amroth and Minas Tirith knights ride out

to face the threat

The Witch King swoops unwittingly into the unit that

contains Eowyn!

Horns blow as the Mumak war host arrives!

It was a long game. We finished setting up at about 10:15 and ended up finishing at around 8:45pm...

Of course, with visits from family and friends and plenty of cakes and snacks going around we inevitably spent a lot longer talking than playing the game. It was however an extremely fun game and I can't wait to play the next scenario next year, with Gondor and Rohan making a last stand outside The Black Gate of Mordor!

The sun shines as the riders of Rohan smash into, and skewer

two trolls!

From the black ships, the dead swarm onto the fields

accompanied by the Three Hunters

Me on the left, with Richard and Darrel (controlling evil, boo!) in the middle

and right respectively. 

And as a final note, I am returning to my blog periodically. I'd like to say with at least a weekly post but realistically I'm not sure I'll even manage that until at least October, when I've settled into university properly and can manage my work load effectively. I am however going to be picking up a WFB  Orcs and Goblins army this coming Saturday, at the Bring & Buy in Sanctuary, so I'll be making a post on that. I'll also be making a post on an upcoming Fields of Glory game, so keep an eye out for that! and one final thing I'm planning on making a post about shortly is the new Battle Companies campaign we've started, with the new LOTR Battle Companies rules!

Thanks for reading folks.

Until next time...

Industrial Showdown - Dredd

First of all, sorry for the lack of posting lately. It's been a difficult and busy time of year, what with moving houses and attending an interview for the next level of my university (which I've thankfully passed). I'll be off to Cornwall on the 3rd of June for holiday, which is a few days after the next club meeting, so content may continue to be a bit sparse until I'm back. I haven't given up on the blog however, so do watch this space!

So, as mentioned in the previous post a few games of Dredd were played throughout the afternoon of the last club meet. David brought along some lovely modular terrain that was themed around industrial walkways and towers. Certainly set the theme as a pair of Judges, one a street judge and the other a rookie judge, descend into the smog filled industrial zone of the city to investigate a disturbance...

Below are some pictures I managed to snatch during the game. The terrain is yet to be painted, but you can imagine how it will look when the decaying metal is painted upon it.

Two gang members sneak under the tower

looking to flank the street judge

Out of all games played, I think I was the only player who managed to win as the gang. The judges have brutal weaponry including execution and explosive rounds. With high armour saves they're no push overs. In the end however, I managed to kill both judges with my stub gun, which hasn't got a great chance of hitting but when it does you know all about it as it launches the target back 1d6 inches and inflicts impact damage.

Some more shots from the game

Stealth is the way forward!

The street judge is blown back by

the stub gunner, pictured 

below with heavy gun

Stub gunner MVP!

It was an enjoyable game. I found the balancing a little odd. Having watched Adam play the gang against David's judges, and seeing them be destroyed by turn 3, though they did take out the rookie judge. However when I played, having split my gang up in two directions, it felt that the judges were very hard pressed to win. The rules state that a judge must try to arrest a criminal before they can open fire. If the target fails the will save against the arrest, then they are taken off as a casualty, to spend their lives in the terrible confines of the megacity correctional facilities. If they resist the arrest, the judge's action is wasted but they can then kill that criminal. And this is where the balancing felt a bit odd.

Once they had permission to open fire, the judges execution or explosive rounds made short work of the gang members who only had knives or antique revolvers...
But when the gang split up and went down the sides and the judges can only attempt so many arrests per turn, I managed to effectively get into close range with many combatants before the judges could do much about it. Of course I don't think this is terribly unbalanced, it is true to the lore of Dredd and for that I'm thankful and it was a thoroughly enjoyable game, so thanks to David for hosting and Adam for playing the judges against me!

So what's next?
Well, I'm still to start on LOTR painting, with real life getting in the way (boo!) But I do have a bit of spare time today and I'm eyeing up the minis... The club meet on the 1st, so I have that to look forward to, with a game of WFB arranged with me controlling some Greenskins forces. I'll also take my Lotr down for battle companies or matched play, as well as the next scenario in our FOTR journey book campaign. So at the very least I'll have those to post!

Thanks for reading, I'll see you next time!

Bolt Action Fun

On the 4th, as mentioned in the previous post, I had a Bolt Action game with Adam.

I had played first addition a long time ago, but only 7-8 games. Surprisingly I remembered the rules pretty well, and having read the second edition rulebook quite extensively recently, we decided on a nice 750 points straight forward battle to ease into the rules.

I took Brits, with no real theme just yet. Once I've got the paint needed for my units which I shall be ordering in the next few days, I'll be creating an army themed on Operation Market Garden, with "A Bridge Too Far" being my favourite film, and a Brother's In Arms game I used to play a lot also being set in that operation.

A Bridge Too Far

fantastic film!

For this small game I opted for:
First Lt with pistol
2 riflemen

Free forward artillery observer

Regular rifle squad of 10 men with Bren gun and Thompson for NCO
Veteran Commando's squad with 2 Thompson, Bren gun and 7 rifles

Regular medium mortar team with spotter

Regular Cromwell.
Nothing too crazy, but the force allows me to try out vehicles (with one of my favourite tanks of WW2!) veteran infantry and regular, and how various artillery works via mortar and artillery observer.

Not too familiar with German units, but roughly Adam took
Regular 2nd Lt with 2 men, all with assault rifles

Regular medium mortar team with spotter

Medium mmg team

Regular Puma
Regular half track of some kind with auto cannons

2 x regular infantry squads with all sorts of nasty weapons

I'm pretty sure that's it.

We set up the game with a multitude of terrain with no real theme, to allow me to learn just how useful the differing cover, and the hindering of certain terrains slot into the game. We had fields, plantations, orchards, ruins, hills, craters and even a marsh!

Below are a few photos of the game, but again as it was a demo I didn't take enough to qualify for a full battle report. This is something I intend to do with games when I have a fully painted and based force for it (or at least as much as possible) and a handle on the rules, so that I do not slow down the game even further.

The Brits, opposing the Jerry!

(We couldn't find a green mat, and since time was pressing on

we opted to use the black gaming mat. It turned up just as we were 

putting the scenery away!)

Having taken a few losses, the British show

the Nazi's what for, and take out 4 in a single

barrage of rifle fire!

The Puma, keeping the flank of the

Nazi Mmg team secure, until...

The Cromwell puts it out of action!

Around half way into the game, the Puma having been taken out by the Cromwell, we were informed that Barry's birthday cake had been cut. It couldn't have been better timing, and with cake and tea on my side as any good British commander should have, I pressed on and managed to all but eliminate the half track and an infantry squad. My infantry squad in the orchard (see picture 2) was reduced to 3 men.

And at that we called it. Excellent I thought, I'd managed to somehow win my first game! It was hard fought, and without an objective a lot of the game was spent sniping from behind heavy cover. This did make for a drawn out game but it was fun and didn't feel like it had overstayed it's welcome.
I picked up many tips and tricks along the way and after the performance of the Cromwell, which managed to pin an infantry squad repeatedly throughout the game, and destroy the Puma, I definitely want to add another for higher points games.

Off to research Operation Marker Garden now then, to ensure I theme my force around it accurately(ish)!

In my next post I'll be going over the Dredd game I had with Adam and David, which was very enjoyable and a blast from the past.

Until next time!