Battling Batavians.....

The muswell Militia tried out the Hail Caesar Rules again last night with a rough and ready battle between the might of Rome and the Batavian revolters! We were testing out both the rules and the units for a more 'organised' game scenario next week.

Given we didnt really give much thought to the initial unit positions the game was fun and pretty exciting - with mixed results for each side all down the line. The Romans probably edged the game at the end of the night. Ian took on the Roman, Simon took on the Batavian regulars and I took charge of the hariy barbaric german hordes. I'll leave you to peruse the pretty pictures of the action.....

The Roman right wing advances under the noses of the watchtower garrison (Simon's Romans)

       Opposite the Roman right, the German cavalry and warbands mass (my germans in the foreground)

                          A shot from behind the Batavian Left Wing

                Batavian Legionnaries watch the advance of the Roman Auxillia (Simon's figs)

Some snarly germans ready themselves (my figures)

                 German skirmishers watch the Romans Advance (Simons Figures)

              On the other wing cavalry battle cavalry! (Simons lovely cavalry units)

                        Things heat up and body's pile up in the centre of the battle

      German warbands crash into the Roman lines (they were actually quite effective in this game)

      The German left wing at the end of the battle (the Germans had annihilated one Roman cohort, shaken  another and had one warband become shaken by a third Roman cohort (bottom right).

Carthaginians muster for 2 Zama's....

Well here they are at last - one part of the Carthaginian army to re-fight Zama at Bletchley and Salute.

The force includes light numidian cavalry, infantry, elephants and Carthaginian noble cavalry and veteran infantry. Figures are a mix of Crusader, Foundry and Gripping Beast. They look rather splendid massed up like this - cant wait to see all the figures for the games - sadly, while my figures will be in action at Bletchley I wont be. However - I will be at Salute. I'll stop rambling now and let you enjoy the pics.

Last of the dead elephants.....

I just finished the last dead elephant casualty figure for the big ZAMA game at Salute this year. I received him from Simon on Friday, based and primed him up yesterday and completed the job tonight.

Most of the other elephant casualty stands have the dead beasts amongst various living and dead humans - so to make mine different I decided to add more beasts! I thought some wild dogs would look good but then thought they probably wouldnt be anywhere near a raging battlefield. So instead I decided upon the feathered variety of opportunists - ones that would be very tempted to land and pick - even with all the activity around them.

So here they - some north african buzzards who cant believe their luck! The camera makes them look rather more faded than they really are - but for a couple of  hours work it seems to work and will add some interest to the gaming table!

The Carthaginian 7th cavalry....

....come thundering over the North African hills....bugles blaring....but have they arrived too late to save the day.......?    ok well maybe not bugles blaring - but these are a welcome addition to the Salute Zama project.

Crusader miniatures cavalry painted by my friend Roger - all ready for basing. The first unit of 3-4 ! ........

Millers relief column......

I cant believe its coming to the end of february and my last entry was in early January. Work certainly gets in the way of play, and work has been more than a little hectic of late.

This new entry is dedicated to the host (Simon Miller) of our small but very well formed Wargames Club, the Muswell Militia, based in North London. Simon is coordinating alot of our efforts in putting on a huge Zama game at this years Salute. I think he may well be losing a little sleep at the prospect that the event is fast approaching. Anyway in an effort to calm his nerves - these pictures are of my part of the Carthaginian host.In this picture you can see the gathering forces - veteran infantry, skirmishers, some cavalry and some elephants. My Carthaginian cavalry didnt make it into the picture this time - due to traffic jams in North Africa at the time of the photo shoot.

These are around half the forces I am contributing - there are two more elephants, double the number of veteran infantry and more carthaginian cavalry massing.

The second photo is a close up of the carthaginian veteran infantry - painted by my friend Roger Wigham - Roger hand painted all the shields! I will have to cutthe spears down though - but that a minor job.

Lastly we have the tanks of the battlefield the Nellies....two more of these are presently being painted..... so Simon relax just a little - we might just get there in time!

German high command

Just finished some command stands to lead my ancient germanic hordes. First up is Ariovistus the German Suebi King (on the left - from Foundry)who fought Caesar at The Battle of Vosges. King Ariovistus' held the political status of official friend of the Romans. Gallic leaders had asked Caesar for protection against Suebi who they claimed were 120,000 in number and settling on their lands and taking hostages.Caesar agreed to speak with Ariovistus who refused Caesar's request for a meeting. He said Caesar should come to him -he wondered why Rome was interfering. Caesar's response was to stop encroaching into Gaul and to restore hostages taken from the Aedui Gauls. Refusal would bring reprisals. The Gallic chiefs then stirred things up by telling Caesar the Suebi had increased their presence with up to 100 clans gathered on their lands. They asked Caesar what he intended to do about this clear violation of hgis recent demands to Ariovistus. Caesar responded by marching 4 legiosns to confront the Germans. Several more meetings between the two leaders broke down and achieved little. Caesar learnt the Germans were awaiting the full moon - so he took advantage of this and attacked himself.The Germans responded with vigor, but Roman tactics soon led to panic among them. As they fled, Caesar led the pursuit. Ariovistus managed to escape.Ariovistus may have escaped but it is unlikely that he retained any position in the citizen-army of the Suebi. When the Usipetes and Tencteri were driven from their lands by the Suebi in 55 BC, he is not mentioned.

He was dead by late 54 BCthe manner of his death is unknown. Tacitus notes that to flee from battle, abandoning one's shield, was shameful among the Germans, and those who did so often hung themselves and that traitors and deserters were hung, and cowards drowned! Above- One of Ariovistus allied Chieftans (who is actually a grenadier barbarian figure!)

My egyptian guests stars.....

One of my many projects is the building of an eastern themed allied army under Mark Anthony (thats him on the left, taking shelter from the fierce middle eastern sun). To date I have recruited some units under his leadership - lots of Skythian/Armenian Horse, some Thureophros infantry, some eastern based Roman Legionnairies. I even have a couple of Nellies...

I was rather pleased to get back this unit on the right - my first unit of Ptolemaic Machimoi Line Phalangites. I am aiming to build a number of these and they will make various 'guest appearances' in the games we play. Under Mark Anthony, earlier as part of successor eastern armies and then also as Ptolemaic troops trying to force Caeaser out of Egpyt!



Here they are in close up where you can see the command figures. They are from Empire Models and painted by my mate Roger. While a little thinner than other manufacturers (A&A, Companion etc) I think they paint up well and give an overall mass effect.




Here's the detail on the back of the unit - presumably as they march off to either glory or death! My next unit to join the massing army will be some cataphracts!

Bring out your dead......

Foundry Ancient german to be exact! Finally got around to finishing off some casualty marker stands for my ancient german horde. The first pic denotes three unlucky individuals recently felled by their Roman enemy. All foundry figures I chose to base them on round bases which allows me to add scenic effects here and there.



Next up we have two very different reactions from the victims wives.The first is obviously a tad annoyed at her hubbies careless demise. The second is more traditionally grief stricken. AGain all foundry figures.





The last two casualty stands denote a wife singing her dead husbands virtues. The second is my favourite - a wife asking why her husbands best friend only bothered to return the dead mans head! Again all foundry figures.

I will use these to scatter about in the rare moments my noisey, hairy barbarians suffer casualties in their quest to drive the enemy out of their lands. Hopefully they will add charismatic (if not comical) visuals to the battlefield.