Tag Archives: 28mm

My search for the Ancient Amazons

I really like Ancient Greek history and mythology, I mean, I REALLY like Greek mythology. Over the years I have created various historical and fantasy armies to address this fascination. I have bought multiple rule sets to explore the genre and generally had a great time doing so. There is however one army which I find difficult to find figures which match my expectations, and that is the Amazons. Unfortunately most interpretations of these figures tend to be more along the lines of Raquel Welch from One Million Years BC, in minimalist fur bikinis, or is a more medieval theme, chain mail bikinis or miniskirts. It seems as if the figure sculptures are old interested in scantily clad women with excessively large breasts. Rarely has there been any attempt to portray the warriors which can be found in the Ancient Greek art.

Sometime in the early 90’s I bought into Grenadier UK’s Amazon army.Unfortunately they did have somewhat short skirts which resulted in me painting leggings onto the archers. These figures were more of a pseudo medieval fantasy range, and despite theme having big cat riders and chariots pulled by giant cats, these weren’t the answer I was looking for.

Corckodile Games did bring out a range of Amazon warriors who were wearing a more realistic set of clothing, at least seemingly more appropriate for battle, however these were more of an ancient fantasy interpretation, but not really Ancient Greek inspired.

Wargames Foundry did release a range of amazons for the Scythian ancient wargames range. These were a lovely understated set of figures which address the light cavalry types portrayed in the Greek pottery art.

In the brief existence of Wargames Factory it produced a box set of plastic Amazons which were in the same range as their Greek Hoplites and skeletons. Whilst being in the very affordable price range they did suffer from high skirts (or rather no skirts). They were however in a vaguely appropriate Greek hoplite panoply despite the lack of tunic or leather pteruges.

Around 10 years ago Wargames Foundry released a Greek myth range of figures to link up with their Tribes of Legend rules, which coincidentally worked out quite well for the Osprey release of their great Of Gods and Mortals rules. The Foundry range included Centaurs, Satyrs, Greek Heroes, Ray Harryhausen skeletons, harpies, and within the mix Amazons. These did have hoplite warriors in full armour, were fairly well endowed, but not to the extent that the figures were overly sexualised. Whilst not the best figures in the Foundry stable (now caught under their Casting Room Miniatures range) these were a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately the range was somewhat limited, and didn’t really get much support. They are still available though, and does even include a chariot (thought he rider is a bit odd).

With the advent of small hobby suppliers breaking into the wargames market with their niche resin ranges during the early teens I had expected to see someone address this area. There were the odd figures which might have worked, but most simply continued to provide skimpily clad female fighters. One company which has been earnestly attempting to address the poor representation of female warriors in the miniature market place is Bad Squiddo Games who have been slowly working through the historical genres filling in the gaps.

3D printing has become a reality over the last 5 years or so. I appreciate that it had existed prior to that, but the prices of the high end machines required for the standard needed for miniatures took a while to come down to the hobby gamer level. So I kept an eye open for designers addressing this gap. Unfortunately those who did provide designs tend to address the Raquel Welch end of the Amazon market.

Then I found Hero Forge. This is an online service where you can effectively design your miniature, equip and clothe it and even pose it to however you want. Initially the scope of the clothes and equipment was limited to the more in demand fantasy tropes, but gradually the library of designs increased significantly (and is still increasing). Hero Forge then allows you to either order a resin printed version of the figure which you have designed, or alternatively download the design as an STL file so that you can print it yourself. The only issue I find with the models is that they tend towards the ‘chunkier’ endomorphic body type. I presume that those who are expert with the printing tools can scale the x and y axis to ‘thin’ the figure somehow. but I haven’t got to that level of competency yet.

A screen shot of an Amazon being brought to life on Hero Forge

So through Hero Forge I have designed a few variants for archers, javelin throwers, a variety of phalanx spear armed troops in different poses, various heroes and musicians, along with standard bearers and seers. I waited to take advantage of one of their discount promotions which significantly reduced the cost before purchasing the designs to download. Now I can print off figures in batches of around 9 to 15 figures (depending upon how dramatic the pose is) and have slowly been building up my forces for Mortal Gods Mythic, which also double up for Oathmark, and Of Gods and Mortals. I’ve had mishaps along the way, but it has all been part of the learning journey, and given the unit price of the figures to print, those mistakes haven’t been as expensive as I had feared they might. The beauty of this system is that I don’t have to look for compatible ranges for figure poses to fit with my army, since now if I need a new troop type or another pose for variety, I can simply design a new one to download and print. This is particularly appealing for those games where characters or units evolve, so the figures can be modified; if your hero loses an eye, then add a patch, loses and hand, add a hook, gets a fancy new helmet, add a different helmet. There are of course issues with the tool. You are limited to what is currently available in their design ‘wardrobe’, and the clothing still has a chunky, somewhat cartoony appearance; I would like to see the clothes hang more naturally. That said though, as a free to use design tool for those who aren’t initiated in the art of using the real 3d design software applications, this is a great place to experiment and bring to reality your ideas in a very quick timeframe. I’m sure that these solutions will only improve a more people challenge the tools to improve.

What this has meant though, is I now have to decide whether to keep the older figures, or go completely with the new style. I think tat I can get my new figures to ride giant cats, and cat drawn chariots shouldn’t be too much of a challenge….

Manufacturers referenced (where they still seem to be available)

Hero Forge

https://www.heroforge.com

Croccodile Games – Wargods range

https://www.crocodilegames.com/store/itemList.cfm?catID=18&sort=prodID

Wargames Foundry – Scythian ancient Amazons

Casting Room Miniatures – Wargames Foundry mythic Amazons now under their Nymphs and Warmaidens range

Grenadier Miniatures – now available through various providers including Campaign Miniatures and Mirlton

https://www.campaign-game-miniatures.com/amazons-262

Wargames Atlantic – I’m unsure whether these are available through Warlord Games still

Bad Squid Games

https://badsquiddogames.com

Other providers of Amazon miniatures include;

Eureka Miniatures offer an extensive range of Amazon miniatures in the Greek myth which includes some nice civilian character types. The range does include a fair amount of nudity and short pteruges.

http://www.eurekamin.com.au

https://www.eurekaminuk.com

Fenryll Miniatures do a range which is available through Noble Knight. These will probably fit more with a Conan the Barbarian setting.

https://www.nobleknight.com/P/2147455741/Amazons-Army-Set

North Star Figures

Make quite a nice Amazon in a style of Britannia which looks like it would do quite well as a spear unit, or in a chariot.

https://www.northstarfigures.com/prod.php?prod=6035

For the Kingdom

A variant for Richard Borg’s Battle Cry covering the English Civil War, which will also be familiar to player of the Commands and Colors games and their variants.

The Swindon and District Wargames club was invited to run a game at the annual Devizes ‘Attack’ Wargames show. Given that Phil and I have fairly extensive English Civil Wars armies in 28mm we thought it would be a great opportunity to dust off the figures for a game.

I suggested that we keep the game simple, with the view to being able to run multiple games to conclusion on each day whilst being able to talk to anyone interested and perhaps getting them involved. There are a substantial number of rules readily available, but few really seemed suitable for these key criteria. I proposed to use a the Richard Borg mechanisms from Battle Cry and develop an informal variant for our English Civil War project.

To keep up the interest across the two days Phil suggested running the games as a series of linked battles in an ongoing campaign, and duly set to work creating a nice simple campaign system to generate the battles. Using the game’s banner board Phil created maps where forces were shown moving as battles were fought. The campaign system was elegant in its simplicity and allowed us to play over 12 games on the two days.

For Queen and Company – short status update

A couple more trial games were held at the club which has resulted in more tweaking and a couple of revisits to basic mechanisms.

The D10 is staying and most of the combat and shooting seems to be stable.  Movement may be adjusted slightly as well as some unit special rules.

I’ve received confirmation for the licensing of the images as well as sourced a few more so will hopefully be able to add them into the new draft.

I still need to get some decent maps done, along with appropriate images for the illustrations and examples, so still a fair bit to do.

For Queen and Company – First Outing

I had the first game of the revised Queen and Company rules with Andy to take them from a purely mathematical and theoretical exercise of drawing stand pieces of card to play with real figures and real dice.

We played a very small encounter, basing on the Battle of Ghaziuddinnagar which took place on May 30th 1857 (and 8th March 2015).  This battle has very few troops and limited terrain so allowed me to test the underlying mechanics without them being hidden behind the too much clutter arising from special rules and the like.

For a first outing using the D10 mechanism I think that it went fairly well.  It did start to highlight some of the assumptions which I’ve been making which do need to be called out in the rules themselves so that new players don’t need to make their own imaginative bridges to fill in the gaps…

True to history the British won by capturing the bridge and guns, but not before the Mutineers had caused an upset or two among the Rifles.

Game play was reasonably fast, though a handful of ten sided dice will be required for each player, preferably mainly in one colour and a few in an alternative colour.

Next steps have been to start to bridge the missing ‘assumptions’ along with clarifying some of the missing areas including target priority and line of sight.

The next version is ready to be pulled apart again, and this time it even has a table of contents (it’s a pity that the first two I printed didn’t actually have page numbers! – well I’ve fixed that now.)

Copies are starting to be distributed and further games arranged.  Once I have confidence that I’ve addressed the major areas the next step is to get it out to other clubs to test under real fire.  If you’re interested just drop me a line.

SAD 2015 – Judge Dredd Campaign

The second and final day of the Judge Dredd campaign took place on Wednesday (25th February).  Again we had 10 players continuing to battle it out over two or three games in the evening.

At the end of the evening the champion was identified as Simon with his zombie horde.  The prize was a great Judges badge to commemorate the event.  Andy came in a very close second with his Klegg Invasion force.

I think that the two day event worked well with most people getting either 4 or 5 games in over the two days.  It is a very quick game and lends itself to short campaigns very well.

Rules and figures can be obtained from Warlord Games and Mongoose, though most sci-fi figures will work.

 

Chain of Command – US Armoured Rifles vs German Paratroopers

I played a attack defend game of Chain of Command the other day against Glenn.  I took my American Armoured Rifle Platoon and he tried out his elite German Paratroopers.  This gave me a significant point boost which I used towards an armoured car and mine field.

From the points rolled for the scenario Glenn took a Pz3(N) and I took another bazooka team.

The scouting allowed me to pin Glenns infantry about half way along the table but given his elite status they were able to deploy 9″ forward of his drop off points (something I hadn’t quite appreciated at the time 🙂 ).

The initial few phases saw us bringing on our infantry and manoeuvring towards each other.  Initially my Americans were doing OK by wounding two of the section junior leaders but Glenn quickly brought his senior command up to the front line and brought his units back into the game.  My Machine gun section did some serious damage to his left flank infantry section but unfortunately failed to break any teams.

As one of my sections bit the dust and I took a hit on my force moral I got one last hurrah when I removed one of his right flank sections as they sought to outflank me.   Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to bring his force moral down far enough to impact his command dice.

The end arrived when he took out my armoured car which exploded killing one of my senior leaders near by.  With that one shot my platoons moral collapsed and glenn took the game.

It was a great game with the extra command die on Glenn’s side proving to be a very effective mechanism to reflect the different sides troop quality.  It meant that he was more likely to get follow on phases as well as increase his Chain of Command Dice which whilst not total game changers did have an interesting impact on the game.

My Americans did very well, and if a couple of the Force Moral tests had been slightly better for me against the Germans it would likely have been a very different game.

Again, another game to recommend the rules though I am still a bit reluctant to to agree that all of the force lists are balanced, or that the incremental unit points reflect real game balance.  It is this aspect which we will likely ‘tweek’ between us. (I still cannot understand the value of unmanned half tracks).

 

Escape from Old Delhi – A Skirmish Adventure in the Indian Mutiny

Escape from Old Delhi

By Warren Gleeson

Notes:  These are the rules for a participation game for British soldiers  attempting to escape the chaos  of Delhi in the immediate aftermath of the native indian troops mutinying and rampaging through the City on 11th May 1857.

Players – 6 players (and the umpire).

Duration – about an hour.

Game Premise

The year is 1857, you are a dashing British officer in the British East India Company.  The locals are revolting and the army is in mutiny.  All hell has broken loose as you flee from the irate horde of locals towards the British muster at the Flagstaff Tower.  Unfortunately everyone is out to get you so you need to make your way to  Kabul Gate at the other side of the city.  The objective is to survive, but any people saved along the way wouldn’t do your career a disservice, whilst any goods acquired would certainly aid your mess bill.

Players

Each Player is a Gentleman or a Cad. The objective for the player is to get their character from the Kashmire Gate all the way through Delhi to escape through the Kabul Gate and get to the Flagstaff Tower where it is believed (hoped) that a detachment of British troops are currently stationed.

The Player Turn

A player has 3 action points that can be used to do a multitude of things. Each Player completes their turn before another player starts their turn.

Action points may be used for any of the following

  • move 3 spaces
  • fight one round of combat
  • fire gun
  • pick up object
  • use object
  • Load Gun
  • Shrug off a wound

Firing Weapons

Each weapon has a maximum range. A clear line of sight must be available, where the line drawn from the centre of the originating square to the centre of the target square does not cross any building or figures. Each shot taken reduces your bullets by 1 (given to umpire)

Pistol 3 squares

Musket 6 squares

Rifled Musket 8 squares

To hit a target the character needs to roll equal to or above their Shooting skill after any modifiers have been applied.

Modifiers;

-1 Character has moved or intends to move this turn

-1 Target is a child or female (must pass a ‘Cad‘ test – if passed increase cad rating)

-1 target has cover (cannon, table clutter, doorway, low wall etc.)

Fighting

A character may attack an NPC or Indian Mob. To hit, the character needs to roll their Fight skill after any modifiers have been applied.

Modifiers;

+2 Character has charged into combat

+2 Character has a sword

+0 Character has an improvised weapon

-1 Character is unarmed

-1 target has a shield

-2 Target is a child or female (must pass a ‘Cad‘ test – if passed increase players cad rating)

-1 target has cover (cannon, table clutter, doorway, low wall etc.)

Wounding Someone or Something

A simple roll of 4+ is required to wound an NPC or Indian Mob, a character is wounded on a 5+.

Once a character is reduced to zero wounds they are out of the game.

Regaining Wounds

A character may attempt to ‘shrug off a wound’. This takes an action point. The player rolls a dice which is modified by the number of wounds which they have already taken.

Wounds Taken 3 2 1
Die Roll1 It’s more serious than I thought You’re Dead It’s more serious than I thought! – lose 1 wound It’s more serious than I thought! – lose 1 wound
2 Nothing Nothing Nothing
3 Nothing Nothing Gain 1 Wound
4 Nothing Gain 1 Wound Gain 1 Wound
5 Gain 1 Wound Gain 1 Wound Gain 1 Wound
6 Gain 1 Wound Gain 1 Wound Gain 1 Wound

As characters take wounds during the game their ability to move, shoot, or fight reduces until such a point when they are incapacitated.

Doing things

Generally it takes one action point to do something – just give it a go. Doing things include opening doors, picking things up, throwing things, drinking things etc.  The umpire will confirm whether an action is allowed and the consequences arising from it.

Gentlemen and Cads

A player starts as a gentleman, however their actions may result in their caddish dark-side slowly coming to the fore.  The objective of the game is for a player to escape from Delhi.  Should two or more players succeed then the player with the lowest Cad rating will be determined the winner.  Of course there is nothing to stop a Cad from arranging a suitable ‘accident’ for other player characters.  An accident can take place out of sight of any other player characters who aren’t involved in the ‘accident’.  The player must successfully pass a Cad test before arranging an accident.  An accident can be anything as simple as taking a shot with a pistol or musket, to attacking them with a sword even to firing a cannon at them!  More subtle arrangements such as drawing the mobs towards the intended victim may be attempted and may in fact be more rewarding…

The Cad Test

To successfully pass a cad test a player needs to roll equal to or lower than their Cad rating.  If they are successful then their Cad rating increases by 1.  Players start on 1 so it takes a lot to overcome their upbringing but once they start, then it becomes easier to continue down the slippery slope.

Mutineers & Mobs

Once all of the players have taken their actions the umpire then takes the actions for the mobs and mutineers.

1– generate new mob counters

– a new counter is placed on each generation point face down.

2 – mobs move towards British in priority;

–  Nearest British in sight

–  Nearest ‘Loud Noise‘ in order cannon/musket/pistol

Until Mobs come within 8 squares line of sight of a British character the mob counter remain ‘blind’.  Once within 8 squares and line of sight  the counters are revealed and replaced with the appropriate figures. A maximum of 4 figures may occupy a square, surplus figures are placed further back.

3 – mobs in contact fight round of combat.

A single dice is rolled requiring 6 to hit the British character.  A +1 is added for each additional figure in the Mob.  If the mob hits the character then they need a 5+ to cause a wound.

Materials Required for Game

– Character Stat Cards + Appropriate Figures

Escape from Old Delhi Cards

– Board Layout for Old Delhi (Map)

– Street Cards for Delhi

Siege of Delhi Basic Boards

– Deck of Cards for Mob generation

– Mob Counters (30 singles, 10 Doubles, 10 Quads)

– Key Buildings – templates or 3d buildings.  Templates buildings generally contain items of use as identified on the card.

.     Delhi and London Bank – 1 Male NPC with sword, with wife and 2 children

.     Magazine (Cannon, Pistols, Muskets) 1 British officer with sword & 4 NPC British NCOs with muskets attempting to blow the arsenal.

.     St. James’s Church – 1 padre with bible and 7 NPC parishioners – no weapons or skills.

.    Palace – 2 NPCs with swords

.    Telegraph Office – 1 NPC + 2 Indian Guards with muskets

.    Treasury – 3 NPCs + 2 Indian guards with Muskets

.    Skinners House

.    The Delhi Gazette

Notes: These are an old set of rules which were run a few times about ten years or so ago.  The rules require an umpire as the game requires a bit of role-play on behalf of the players.

[Edit] Looking back, it was probably more like 15 to 20 years ago

Battle of Ghaziabad – 30th May 1857 (and again on 31st May)

    May 30th 1857 – Battle of Ghaziuddinnagar (and again on 31st May)

Also known as Battle of Ghaziabad

or the Battle of Hindun River (Hindon)

Background

As Barnard led the Delhi relief force from Simla be met up with Wilsons force from Meerut.  As they headed towards Delhi they encountered a Mutinous force at Ghaziuddinnagar (now called  Ghaziabad).  The Mutineers had secured the opposite bank of the river around the only iron bridge in the vicinity so denying the British a route for getting their siege artillery to Delhi.

The Indians engaged the British as they sought to secure the bridge.  the British sent the 16th Rifles to secure the bridge whilst the artillery engaged the Mutineers guns.

The horse artillery and the Carabiniers sought to find an alternative crossing to outflank the Mutineers position.  Before they had arrived the remainder of the British force had been ordered to engage the Mutineers and the 60th Rifles were ordered forward and directly engaged the enemy.  After a fierce fight the Mutineers fled abandoning their guns.

The British failed to consolidate on their position as the following day the Mutineers returned in force and again attacked the British position.  The British successfully saw off the attack but were not in any position to pursue the enemy.  Whether the Mutineers ever expected to defeat the British outright isn’t know but it should be noted that they did manage to recover their lost guns from the day before and take them from the battlefield before the British could stop them.

Situation

Iron Bridge across the River Hindun (river runs 18 inches into the table parallel from the Mutineers table edge).  The Mutineers hold one bank.  The British set up 6 inches into the table.  The Bridge is 100mm wide (2 bases) and set up 18 inches in from short edge.  A ford is placed 1 foot from the opposite short edge.

Objective

The British need to secure the bridge as well as capture the Mutineers siege guns before the game ends.

Special Rules:

If any British cavalry cross to the Mutineers side of the river then all Mutineers suffer from the ‘I think I need to be somewhere else‘ special rule for all subsequent Moral rules (-2).

British Lethargy: The British force was suffering from various malaise and are unable to pursue fleeing/faltering Mutineer forces.

Game Length: 7 turns

Initiative:  British have initiative for first turn

After deployment the Mutineers get two rounds of firing with their siege artillery

Forces

British under Wilson 

Wilson

16th Rifles – 6 bases (24 figures)

60th Rifles – 5 bases (20 figures)

6th Carabiniers – 5 bases (20 figures)

1 Horse battery – 3 horse artillery

2 x 18lbs Siege Guns – 1 siege gun & crew

Sappers & Miners – 5 skirmish figures

(probably best ignored for the game)

 

Mutineers

Heavy Artillery – 3 siege guns

3 Native Infantry Regiments – 6 bases each (24 figures)

Game Notes
Due to the small size of the forces involved this game is very suitable for The Sword and the Flame or other similar large skirmish sized games
Design Notes
As I didn’t have any real guidance to the Mutineers forces I took a guestimate to give a force which would provide a suitable opposition to the British forces to reflect the struggle which occurred on the first day whilst reflecting the fact that the Mutineers felt strong enough to attack again the next day and were able to retrieve their guns.  By all means balance however you feel fit.

For Queen and Company

I’ve finally started to pull together my 2 player Indian Mutiny rules under the name of ‘For Queen and Company’. They’ve resided in paper form in a notebook for a long time so after a bit of chivvying from a friend I’m finally writing them up.  These are a simple set of rules for two forces to be able to fight out the various actions which occurred during the Indian Mutiny of 1857/8.

My other rules for the period have a different focus and will be covered separately.

I intend to use ten sided dice but also cater to my desire for handfuls of dice.  I’m am working under the foolish premise that a D10 gives me a wider spread for results, as well as enables me to get rough percentages if required (well at least in 10% increments).

At present the intent is to have individual figure removal

The game is an  (I go you go) game working in alternate phases.  Currently all measurements are in inches, but I will probably offer a cm option – maybe just through an appendix and quick reference sheet.

The intent is to enable a fast moving game which can cater for around a dozen units a side with completing within around 2 to 2 and a half hours.  This should cater to most club sessions if we allow for set up and close down (as well as drinks and chats).  The larger battles and city assaults will be longer and probably be more of full afternoon games.

I want the rules to be able to address most of the small actions, which to be honest were the majority of the battles which took place.

I also want to have a go at capturing the dilemma which the various Indian factions faced as they attempted to reconcile their disparate requirements and intents to be able to forge an alliance against the foreigners.

Judge Dredd Campaign – SAD 2015

I am running a very short Judge Dredd campaign at the SAD Wargamers over two Wednesdays in February.  Given the nature of the game players should be able to get between 2 or 3 games in an evening.

The first day kicked off well with 12 participants playing across 6 tables of ruined urban, Cursed Earth, and Industrial.  The mix of gangs was fairly wide with nine different flavours being taken. Unfortunately I forgot to take any photos during the evening so will try and remedy that next time.

  • 1 x Renegade Robots
  • 1 x East Meg Invasion force
  • 2 x Justice Department
  • 1 x Ape Gang
  • 1 x Street Gang
  • 2 x Apocalypse War Resistance Unit
  • 2 x City-Def
  • 1 x Klegg Invasion force
  • 1 x Zombie Horde

the majority of the players were fairly new to the rules (and one completely fresh to miniature wargaming all together).  I tried to split the new comers up so that they were either sitting beside or playing against someone who had a basic grasp of the rules.  A few of us have played quite a bit in the past but were a bit rusty so the first games were slow.  Fortunately subsequent games speeded up significantly as well moved into the campaign.

I do enjoy the games and recommend it to anyone who wants a game which has minimal outlay on figures (many use old Necromunda and Dark Future figures to supplement to Mongoose figures) and most of what you need is contained in the core rules.  The new rulebook is a lovely piece of work incorporating both of the old Mongoose JD Miniatures rules and Block War supplement into one hardback book.  The presentation is fantastic, I’m just disappointed that the spelling mistakes and awful grammar errors are still present and carried over into the new rulebook.