Romans, Thracians... It's all Greek to me: 15mm Ancients

First of all, even though I didn't do much during the challenge, a huge thanks to Curt for organizing this. I had misjudged the amount of work I had to do with my new job, and sadly never found enough time to paint.

Anyway,  I present you a lot of 15mm Ancients for Art de la Guerre. First, 26 Romans from Essex and Old Glory. The Roman mounted officer had been painted before and therefore won't count. Amongst those 26, 22 are legionaries with their shields handpainted. They can be used as allies, or rebellious Romans.

Voici quelques productions pour mes armees ADG, le tout en 15mm. Avec tout d'abord 26 legionnaires romains, Old GLory et Essex. Le but est de pouvoir en faire des rebelles ou allies. L'officier monte a ete peint auparavant.

Next, we have 6 Sarmatian horsemen, from Forged in battle. Always a treat to paint.

Puis, 6 archers montes venus de Forged in Battle.

Next, 16 hoplites, fron FIB, with LBMS shield decals.

Ajoutons egalement 16 hoplites,

And next, a lot of Thracians, from Forged in battle: 14 skirmishers, 10 of them having shields, with LBMS decals.

et avec ceci terminons avec le plat de resistance, des Thraces, avec 14 tirailleurs

And 12 footmen armed with the dreaded romphaia

et 12 mechants avec leur romphaia.

They have been bloodied already last week, and they won! No one messes with the Thracians!

Protect the King!

"Oh stranger, tell the Lacedaemonians that we lie here, trusting their words."

For me these words entered legend in my youth. The 300 Spartans fighting for Freedom against the monstruous Persians. Not a myth in a strict sense, but the deed of these Spartans still echoes, and is often a synonym of bravery, and a will to fight for their own ideas, and Freedom. In a way, it is a good story, and what is a myth: a great story, with a morale (sometimes), and full of great deeds.

I had pledged for the War and Empire kickstarter, and amongst the packs, there was the "Death of Leonidas". I just couldn't resist and had to paint the minis. So here they are, Forged in battle 15mm representing the Death of the Spartan king, with LBMS shields this time. The dio will serve as a camp for my Art de la Guerre armies. These minis were a joy to paint. the sculpting is great, Forged in Battle is now one of my favourite brand.

Il s'agit d'une saynète en 15mm représentant la mort de Léonidas aux Thermopyles. Les figurines sont des Forged in Battle, issues de leur kickstarter. elles sont très simples à peindre et sont plutôt bien détaillées. Un régal à peindre, vous en verrez bientôt. 

Cette saynète tient sur un rectangle de 8*4cm, afin d'en faire un bagage pour mes armées ADG.

ADLG in Aniche part IV! Meet the Indians

As you might have notived, I'm not very active on the blogging front. Well, new job, painting, daughter... Too many reasons for me not to be there. Anyway, tomorrow, I'll go to Oxford with a few friend from Central London to attend a one-day ADLG event. So far, we are 18 players! Yay!

Also, if you look carefully on the left of your screen, you will see a Twitter widget. I have decided to post small news, not worthy enough to blog, so that you know what I'm doing wargaming wise. Feel free to follow.

Right, back to our adventures. If you recall, our Carthaginians salesmen had succesfully expanded the trade in China, Britain, and Assyria. Now they had to compete with more ferocious people, Graeco-Indians! Under the command of Stephane Vermeesh, it would be a tough negociation. It was the same army I had faced in Montivilliers, and with catastrophic results. So I knew what to expect.

A small corps of pikemen, an Indian ally and some Indian mercenaries. Lots of shooting and elephants. We had to act carefully.

I decided to send my medium infantry in the center, in the brush, supported by the heavies on the right, to attack in the flank. Meanwhile, the light horse would try to delay two ennemy corps. Tough job, especially when facing bowmen, but...

... I tell you Picard, luck is on my side! The Indian allies are unreliable, so I can move my light horse as I wish to, while Stephane tries to deploy in the brush to deny me the control of this central piece.

I think Picard took control of the mounted wing, since I'm now seeing incredible stuff: 1 light horse is delaying 3 pikemen, while the rest is preparing some nasty surprises everywhere.

In the center, the Orcish horde is ready to be unleashed agasint the Indian mercenaries. No need for a subtil plan hre. I have a huge advantage, and I want to exploit it.

Meanwhile, Picard and his flying circus are giving headaches to the Indians, by going everywhere he can.

And soon, everything is going from bad to worse for the Indians.

Yes! Antoher succesfull negociation and we are ready to take over the retails in the region. Oh I think the board will be pleased with this. Apparently we are ranked amongst the best salesmen in the tournament, oh boy oh boy. My plan was simple, but it worked perfectly. Now Picard, you can't say anything, can you?

Number 1, I must say I am pleased by the overall result, but there are still many flaws. Granted, thanks to my military genius, I managed to slow down 2 corps, and exterminate one of them. But this was possible because the allied corps had been unreliable for a turn. And to be honest, your heavy corps had been more or less useless, and could have been more useful. And why have you sacrificed so many medium infantry against the pikemen? You just had to deploy  nore carefully in the brush to threaten them from the flank. Let's hope, you'll play carefully in your next game. We need to bring some good results to the board.

The Empire strikes back? Carthage against Assyrian Empire

Right.
Be prepared for an epic batrep! full of lasers! Phasers! Torpedoes! And... Yes Jean-Luc?

I'm taking command of your cavalry. Maybe this time you will be able to achieve something!

Ermm Ok. 

Now, let's see where our board has decided to send us? Assyria eh? Interesting choice, lots of nice things to steal, trade. But... Oh dear us! We are now facing the most dreaded commander ever, the champion of champions! Patrick "Vader" Tahon Himself! Nooooooo! Not again!

Ok. We might be doomed, and we're going to play very well if we want to satisfy our board.

Here is the terrain:

We had to deploy first since we were defending, and something interesting happened during that phase.

Only two Assyrian corps were deployed. And only two of ours were too. Right. At least I knew Picard was in charge of the cavalry, and they were perfectly placed in ambush, ready to jump at their flank.

And we stole the initiative! Meaning we would move first! So we " cheated" the opponent, making him believe our cavalry were in a flank attack, which failed to arrive. So that we would know then where and when Vader's attack would occur. We might earn a few turns that way. Meanwhile, the infatry moved as fast as possible to get into position, simply because... The ennemy infantry was unreliable!

As soon we discovered his failed flank march, our cavalry jumped into the fight, and in one swift move, here is what happened:

Meanwhile, on the right flank, we needed to buy some time against the hard hitters, and we decided to sacrifice as many units as possible to try to destroy the ennemy infantry.

They were doomed, but at least we had a chance of defeating the army by taking the camp and the infantry. Come on lads, time to excel!

The flank attack was decisive, and combined with the infantry, it was devastating.
Patrick had to send troups in bad going to slow down the slaughter. Where was his flank march?

It finally arrived, but too late. I was about to lose, but the game was so intense that he made a couple of mistakes, with a confusion about his units, and then it was too late! The Assyrians broke, but I was 2 points away from breaking! Gosh! Such a battle! My plan was perfect! I had managed to attack with the best possible odds: 2.5/1!
Am I a genius or what!




I must admit number 1, that you did well, winning against such a mighty opponent. But in truth? Come on, even a starfleet cadet could have done the same! Your plan was not as worthy as Hannibal! You had an ennemy unreliable corps right in front of you, who stayed that way for 3 turns! And the flank march didn't arrive until too late! You were lucky, that's all! No one can resist against such odds! Might I remind you that you were about to break? Had the flank march arrived sooner, you would have lost! Had the corps been reliable, you would have lost! Ah well. I suppose Starfleet needs some good news, sometimes. You're right, we can celebrate. Champagne and brie anyone?