Cold Wars 2012

February ended up being a pretty poor month for painting--though not for gaming, since I got in a couple of games of Hordes of the Things with William and helped Dad with a couple of rounds of playtesting for his 54mm medieval skirmish game. However, with the boost in motivation that usually comes from going to one of the big conventions, I hope to get a few things done up over the next couple of weeks.

We headed up to Cold Wars on Friday, after having seen John Carter in IMAX 3-D that morning. (Moderately entertaining, and reasonably true to the source material, though 3-D doesn't really add much in my opinion.) Anyway, we arrived about 2:00 p.m., which gave us some time to trawl through the flea market and the dealer's area. I managed to be relatively restrained in my purchases this time around. I found a box of Esci Russian paratroopers who will probably get painted up for my AK47 Republic project whenever I get back to that. I also came away with a pair of plaster trilobites by some outfit called WindSword accessories. These fit neatly onto a 60x80mm base, so they will eventually be fitted out with howdahs or something and be put into service as Behemoths for my prehistoric-sea-life-themed Antediluvian army.

It seemed like the pickings were pretty slim as far as games starting in the late afternoon time-slot, but the three of us eventually ended up grabbing tickets for a pirate game. Dad, William, and a couple of other players led pirate bands who were attempting to capture the gold shipment I was escorting through a jungle full of angry natives and other assorted tropical dangers. Unfortunately, my team of conquistadors got overwhelmed, and despite a good deal of backstabbing among the pirates, they got away with the gold. (I had a group of reinforcements, but they were unable to reach the scene of the action in time to prevent the pirates' escape--despite the trouble William had in crossing the river with his ill-gotten gains.)

My crew sets off into the jungle.

Surrounded!

We returned the next morning in time to set up for Dad's 9:00 a.m. game, but unfortunately he was unable to find enough players to run it at that hour of the morning. William and I ended up getting to drafted into one of the Schlegels' eponymous Schlegel's Ferry Blood & Swash skirmish games--this one focusing on the antics of 1930's era gangsters. William managed to get himself embroiled in action pretty quickly, but I tramped about halfway across the board only to be cut down by a burst of tommy-gun fire from someone hiding in a cornfield. Oh well--it gave me a few minutes to grab a sandwich and take a quick run through the Saturday morning flea market before my 1:00 p.m. game.

William gets into trouble.

My contingent, shortly before their untimely deaths.

At 1:00 p.m. Dad finally got his chance to run his game. (I hear the English lost this time, in contrast to both playtest games.) I, however, was off recreating the battle of Zama, with Matt Kirkhart's marvelous homemade wooden figures. I ended up commanding the Roman center, in the role of Scipio Africanus himself.

Scipio himself.

His opponent, Hannibal.

Our troops began set up roughly as per history, with two blocks of infantry in the center and lighter mounted elements on the wings. Hannibal is, of course, famous for his war elephants, and there were four of them on the Carthaginian side. In our game, they ended up deployed off to the flanks, where I think the Carthaginians were hoping to exploit their advantages against horsemen. However, our velite skirmishers were able to keep them occupied on the left, while on the right we had some Numidian infantry who served well enough as elephant-fodder. As the game progressed, the center became a giant infantry shoving-match, while two cavalry melees developed on either wing. Eventually our side came out ahead on both wings, while our manipular legions began to gain ground against the Gallic and Punic infantry. Finally a gap opened up in the center of their line and we poured through, even as our allied Numidian cavalry from our right flank swept around to their rear, prompting them to surrender. All in all, a very enjoyable game!

The view from my position at the start of the battle.

The Carthaginian center.

Velites (wearing their distinctive wolfskins) harass an elephant.

The situation on our right flank.

Pushing forward in the center. (One elephant managed to get through and come around behind us, but the Triarii dealt with him.)

We break through!

I had time for one more game, so I met up with one of my college friends to play a game of Vlad the Impaler vs. the Ottomans. I had the Ottoman left wing, while Marc had the right. I didn't pay close attention to what went on over on his side of the field, as I was busy keeping my horse-archers out from under the trampling hooves of Vlad's Hungarian allies. Eventually, though, I think he broke through Vlad's left and started a series of contagious morale failures that routed their army.

My horse archers exercising some hit-and-run tactics.

Not sure what was going on over here, but apparently it was important.

My general was just about to see some combat when the battle ended...

All in all, a good convention, and hopefully the inspiration I need to get working on some of my own projects again. Next up, Dad has been talking about hauling out the Not Quite the Seven Years' War, and I want to try out an idea I've had with my 20mm Bronze Age project...

Maps, part IV

Yes, it's that time again!

I've been away from my painting table for the last couple of weeks, and now that I'm home there will probably be a brief delay until I get production started up again. Also, you may expect some Cossack-related griping in the near future.

In the meantime, here are a few more alternate history maps. Remember, these maps are fictional, do not depict real history, and should not be used as resources. Moreover, I do not intend them to make any political statement about the owners of any given piece of land, now or at any time in our past.

That being said, here's the first map: an "ironic reversal" of the Boer War.

Towards the end of the sixteenth century, a group of London merchants were granted permission from Queen Elizabeth I to form a company for trade with the East Indies--the predecessor of the British East India Company. In OTL, all three ships from their second expedition were lost at sea, but in this timeline, one survives, and on its return the captain advises his employers that a supply station should be built to facilitate future trade. It is several years before the company's backers can find the funds, but eventually they follow through on the captain's recommendation and the settlement of Goodhope is founded on the site of OTL Capetown.

The colony grows slowly but steadily, and bit by bit English settlers begin to push into the interior. Puritans and other nonconformists account for a disproportionate percentage of the new arrivals, and many of them move beyond the region of official government control. Relations with the native peoples are complicated and often devolve into violence. The city of Willemspoort is founded further east along the coast as a supply station for the Dutch, marking their first official presence in the region.

Despite their early advantage, the English eventually falter, and in the aftermath of one of the European wars they are stripped of many of their eastern colonies, including Goodhope and the outlying settlements, which are handed over to the Dutch. The unofficial farming and ranching settlements of the interior are left mostly to their own devices, although they begin to receive a steady influx of people from the coastal settlements who are dissatisfied with the new Dutch authorities. Known as "Rovers," many of them push east to the Limpopo or north and west across the Kalahari, provoking fresh conflicts with native tribes, particularly the Zulus. A series of independent English-speaking republics are formed across the interior of South Africa, not all of the recognized by the Dutch authorities in Goodhope. Dutch immigration to the so-called "Rover republics" is resented by the English-speakers, and tensions are only aggravated when gold and diamonds are discovered in the region. In early 1901, violence breaks out between Dutch settlers and English Rovers in one of the disputed regions. The Governor-General in Goodhope moves to assert Dutch authority, while the Rover leaders appeal to the Portuguese, who have tacitly lent their support...

Next up, alternate alliance systems in the 19th century lead to a different World War I:

Bismarck doesn't become a diplomat; he goes into law or something instead. Without him, Prussian politics proceed somewhat differently. There ends up being no conflict with Denmark over Schleswig-Holstein, but war still breaks out between Austria and Prussia in 1866. This war ends up going on longer than it did in OTL, without Bismarck's moderating influence, and some of Austria's allies in southern Germany are forcibly incorporated into the new German Federation. This, in turn, averts the Franco-Prussian War: the French are on their guard and the Prussians are busier holding together their new country. The French buddy up with the Austrians in a sort of new "Diplomatic Revolution," while the Germans build ties with Russia and Italy.  A Russo-Turkish war does occur, though along somewhat different lines than OTL--with Austria-Hungary more focused on the west and less well-inclined towards Russia, it doesn't end up taking over Bosnia, though Serbia and Rumania gain their official independence.

As described in the map text, a major war breaks out in 1900, between the Triple Alliance of Germany, Italy, and Russia and the Franco-Austrian Concert. The Ottomans and the British both end up joining the Concert, as the map colors suggest--the former to get back at Russia, the later partly because of the Great Game and partly due to worries about Germany. British intervention on the continent is limited to a few token forces, but the British navy has a grand old time against the Italians in the Mediterranean, and there's fighting against the Russians in Persia and Afghanistan as well as against the Germans in their couple of African colonies. (Almost anything is preferable to the trench warfare that engulfs much of the continent--it's pretty much like our WWI but without tanks and only a few primitive airplanes towards the end...)

And for the third one, it's back to Africa for a look at a rather dystopic Kingdom of Kongo:

The Kingdom of Kongo was one of the few nations that managed to avoid European colonialism; a series of smart and fortunate kings managed to play off the English, French, Portuguese, and Dutch against one another, while taking over several of Kongo's weaker neighbors.

Does this mean that Central Africa is a shiny, happy place in this timeline? Unfortunately not. Part of Kongo's strategy for retaining its independence was to be too valuable for any one European power to be allowed to seize, and so the kings of Kongo ended up paying for their freedom with all the resources at their disposal--gold, ivory, copper, diamonds, and even their own people, until the end of the slave trade. As the 19th and 20th centuries progressed, Kongo began to develop its own industries, and with the European nations distracted by wars at home, Kongo emerged as a regional power of its own. A timely declaration of war gave the Kongolese an opportunity to snap up some territories in the interior during the subsequent peace conference. These new territories, dubbed "special resource zones," are being ruthlessly exploited in an attempt to cement Kongo's status as an industrial power. Likewise, "Kongolese Catholicism" is being imposed at bayonet-point throughout the empire, with Muslims, followers of traditional religions, and Protestant converts and missionaries being targets for violence.

And here's a special bonus map! The story behind this one is not mine; instead, you can check it out here.

Soldiers of the Rzeczpospolita

Things have been moving along pretty smoothly on my latest project. I finished off my German-style infantry earlier this week, and a second stand of winged hussars today:

Front view

Rear view

The fellow in the center is distracted by something off to his left.

See! Two stands!

Next up are more infantry, with more of a native Polish look to them. They're actually some of Zvezda's Streltsi, but with the hats and beards trimmed down a little. In retrospect, it might have been easier to get at the beards before I glued the separate arms on. Oh well. 

A sneak preview.

Dad and William are out of the house this week; William has the US Figure Skating Championship in San Jose, where he's competing in ice dance at the novice level. (I think. Skating has like half a dozen levels and I sometimes have trouble keeping them all straight.) Anyway, hopefully he will have as much success there as he has had at Hordes lately! And I'll have plenty of time to paint with no distractions. Handy, since my boxes of Cossacks and long-awaited Mongol heavy cavalry finally arrived today...

Swords of the Dark Empire: Revenge of the Lich King

Well, it was a bad day to be good as William's forces triumphed over both my nomadic horde and a ragtag band of misfits in two separate games.

Game one, just before the armies meet meet. Note the impassable marsh right behind my main line of battle.

The first game got off to a promising start as one of my behemoths overran his Blades and my general cut his way through two stands of Hordes in quick succession, creating a nice gap in the center of his line. At the same time, my right-hand yak was thrown back by his Hero general. This seemed like an excellent opportunity to surround his general and end the game in one fell swoop, so I moved my yakatherium back up into contact and brought my own general around to cut off his retreat. Unfortunately, at even odds he repelled my yak once again, leaving our generals to face each other--and he managed to bring up another unit to block my retreat. So I lost my general, but since I was still ahead on points, the battle continued--and of course I rolled a 1 for pips the next turn, so my units stood idly by while his Hero general chased my yak into the impassable swamp. So much for game one.

The field at the start of game two.

Game two began with a rather extended scuffle between our shooters in the woods, with some surprising upsets on both sides. My knights and my flyers were happily kicking apart his infantry when the news came that the stronghold had fallen! Oh no! Turns out that darn Hero General of his (who had started out on his extreme left, hence my little cluster of units on the right flank in the above picture) had  slipped past my archers in the woods and captured the castle. Oh well.

Tomorrow I should have the rest of my stand of German mercenary musketeers painted up. Then it'll be more winged hussars, and then another stand of shooters, this time converted from some of the Zvezda Strelets infantry, and by the time those are done hopefully my shipment of Cossacks will have arrived...

First winged hussars!

Yep, not a lot to add here. For those who don't recognize them, these are Polish Winged Hussars from Orion. Pretty entertaining to paint, though the figures aren't quite as clean and smooth as some other manufacturers. My planned army list will have two more stands of these guys for the Polish sides, including the general. As for their opponents, the Cossacks are still in the mail somewhere, so next up I'll be doing a stand of Polish infantry. (Actually German mercenary musketeers, with the figures being from Revell's Thirty Years' War Swedish Infantry...)

Things that go bunyip in the night

Well, I figured I should tie up some loose ends before launching into my new Polish venture, so I made a push to clear some of my painting backlog. First up is this guy, from the Caesar Adventurers set.

Some may call him a troll, others an ogre. Magic: the Gathering players might think of him as an Orgg or a Vizzerdrix. But I call him a bunyip, even though he bears no particular resemblance to the bunyip of Australian legend. (In an amusing coincidence, I saw a day or so back that I am not the only miniatures blogger to have painted one of these figures lately...)

Next, I based and painted up that batch of plastic wolves that I picked up over the weekend. They're rather large for lupines, so maybe they're actually direwolves or wargs or something. In any case, they'll help fill out the Orc army some day.

Finally, I finished up my last stand (for now, at least) of Mongol horse archers. (Shown here with another stand that I finished over the holidays.) As with the others, these guys are a mix of the various Mongol sets currently on the market.

And that gives me a complete army! (To be supplemented with more heavy cavalry at some point.) Next: time to begin work on my first winged hussars...

Into a new year with Fire and Sword!

2011 was a pretty good year for miniatures, if nothing else, and hopefully 2012 will be likewise. The gaming room has still not been entirely reconstructed following a bout of remodeling, so the near future may continue to be aimed at expanding my various Hordes of the Things armies and other 1/72 scale work, though I will no doubt get back to Wachovia at some point.

I have managed to get in one actual miniatures game this year. Last weekend I had some college friends over for some gaming, and while we mostly stuck to board games, I did inveigle one of them into trying his hand at Hordes--where he promptly trounced me, despite never having played before. He led the Dinotopians, while the Antediluvians under my command maintained their proud and ancient tradition of defeat. Only a couple of blurry pictures survive to record this battle...

Playing a round of Fast Food Franchise.

My Spears and Magician attempt to hold a hill.

After my Magician got snapped up by his tyrannosaur-mounted Hero and my stronghold had fallen, I realized that I had forgotten to deploy my two Riders. Ah well. Might not have made a difference anyhow...

I'm still one stand short of my goal on my Mongol project, not counting figures I have only coveted without (yet) purchasing. Unfortunately, there's a decent chance my miniatures energy is about to get diverted. 

For some reason I woke up at like 4 a.m. this morning with a terrible thirst... and an idea for a pair of matched HotT armies based on one of my favorite books: With Fire and Sword.

Poles:

Knight General (Prince Yeremi) @ 2 AP

2 Knights (winged hussars!) @ 2 AP each

2 Riders (lighter cavalry) @ 2 AP each

2 Shooters (musket-armed infantry. Could also be Spears.) @ 2 AP each

Artillery (cannon) @ 3 AP

Sneaker (Pan Zagloba in disguise) @ 3 AP

Hero (Pan Yan, Pan Longinus, Pan Michal) @ 4 AP

Cossacks:

Lots of Hordes and maybe Shooters and an Artillery, and a fair number of Riders.

Sneaker (Bohun)

Hmyelnitzki (could be a Hero General, but given his somewhat tangential role in the events of the book, could be fun to play as a God or Dragon--dangerous, but not dependable...)

In any case, the inspiration comes from the two characters represented as Sneakers, a unit which is mostly restricted to interacting with generals, strongholds, and each other... which pretty much matches their actions in the book.

The good news is, I already have some of the figures! I already have a couple boxes of Orion Polish Winged Hussars sitting around waiting for this sort of opportunity, as well as a fair number of the old Revell 30 Years' War figures. Better yet, I have some figures which were passed on to me by Ross Macfarlane:

These guys are an intriguing mix, largely converted from the aforementioned Revell types, but with a leavening of others from all over. In some cases, the years have not been kind--the paint is peeling and some weapons are bent. But hopefully some of them will be fit to see service with a little work, and the wagons will be excellent start to a Cossack stronghold...

 I'm not sure what these fellows were, but I know what they will be: Cossacks!

The "bad" news is that a number of excellent 1/72 scale sets for this period have come out in the past few years, so I will probably be compelled to buy a few boxes of Orion and Zvezda Cossacks to help build up some opposition. It would be best if I were to sit down at some point and carefully plan the minimum amount required, but in any case it may mean that my more fantastical plastic armies may end languishing for a while.

(Although when I do get back to them, I have these plastic ex-Mage Knight wolves I picked up at my local game store this afternoon, to add a little variety to the Orcs...)