What a revolting game

Hello to all my followers and guests. I would like to take this moment to let everyone know how much I appreciate each and every person who takes the time to browse though my somewhat scattered prose about playing with little toy models and the great fun we have doing this,

Yesterday Mike hosted another game in this year's ongoing series of lesser know fights and battles. We played the revolt of the Carthaginian mercenaries and their attack on the citizens of Carthage to try to get paid. From what we understand these poor guys who fought very well had not been paid for a very very long time and were a bit upset. No unions back then and arbitration meant getting out there and slugging it out.

Our cast of characters were Jamie, Ken, Bill, Mike and myself. Jamie and Ken took the roll of the Carthaginian Citizens while Bill and I were the unpaid Rebels. Mike sat out at first and then jumped in for Ken do to an early departure for other commitments.

The Carthaginians had the following units:
10 heavy infantry - 24 figures each
1 heavy cavalry split into 2 units of 12 figures each
1 light infantry with slings - 12 figures
1 light infantry with bows - 12 figures
Total of 288 figures

The revolting Mercenaries had the following units:
9 heavy infantry - 24 figures each
2 medium infantry - 24 figures each
1 heavy cavalry - 24 figures
1 Light infantry with slings - 12 figures
1 Light infantry with bows - 12 figures
Total of 312 figures

This was a rather conservative game for Mike and we had a bit more room to spread out the game on his table.

Here you can see Ken assessing his assets and planning his deployment. The second picture show set up almost complete for Carthage and the Rebels ready to go. Please note the wrist support for Jamie who was fighting this battle injured. Too much painting says he!

So as you can see the Rebels line extends far to the left of their their center and overlaps the Carthaginian main battle line. This will be a blessing and a curse as we will soon see.

Below the advance begins. This is how the game looked at the end of movement for turn one. The Carthaginians advanced fully toward the Rebels looking to smash their right flank and center. A small detachment of cavalry stiffened up with a unit of light bowmen on the Carthaginian right was tasked with holding off the Rebels heavy cavalry long enough to effect a victory at the other end of the line. Due to the length of the Rebels battle line, they turned to the right, struggling to get into the fight. There are a lot of dice that are not going to get rolled if they cannot contact the Carthaginian troops.

Here is a shot from the other end of the battle.

Turn two sees the outnumbered but valiant cavalry and light infantry being crushed by the Rebel heavy cavalry and heavy infantry. Further down the line two other heavy infantry crash into the citizens of Carthage. But there is a strange sight on the Rebels far right flank, inactivity! Have these Rebels been bought off? Are they terrified of the might of Carthage and their fearsome reputation? Are they awake? Bill are you there?
At this point we had to stop for a moment to wipe the glee of the faces of Ken and Jamie as it looked like their plan was working out fine.

Why are these Rebels (at the bottom of the picture) not moving?

 

As the fight continues on the Rebel left flank.

Below can be seen the cavalry sweeping in behind the Carthaginians.

Finally the Rebel right attacks! Bill pushed forward and destroyed the Carthaginian cavalry facing his medium infantry. It is to be noted at this time that Jamie, while a fantastic gamer and painter extraordinaire, usually cannot roll dice to save his soul. But this time his gallant cavalry was almost the doom of Bill's plan. But alas they did eventually fail and ran away after their gallant fight.

Well it seems that the waiting was a major part of Bill's plan. Draw the enemy in deep while I battle away on the other flank. Putting off the combat and losses while buying precious time. Actually he uses this tactic in about 9 out of 10 games. Even though Mike had jumped into the game by this time he could not prevent the eventual outcome and this worked again. The Rebels win!!!

End tally was:
Losses for Carthage:
5 heavy infantry - 24 figures each
2 heavy cavalry - 12 figures each
1 light infantry with bows - 12 figures
1 light infantry with slings - 12 figures

Losses for the Rebels:
2 heavy infantry - 24 figures each
1 light infantry with slings - 12 figures

Even though the tally looks like a massive loss for Carthage it is a bit deceiving as many of the Rebel units were on the verge of checking moral and if the game lasted one more turn it could have gone the other way around.
So another great game at Mikes. One more for this campaign season and I am sure that it will be epic. Maybe we can talk Mike into using more of his gaming area and fight on about 16' of battlefield. Again epic.
So not so much eye candy today but here it is:

 

Mike's stuff is so nice!

Take care and good gaming!

Greg

Cavalry and wild Indians

Howdy partners!
Here are some pictures of Cavalry and Indians that I did many years ago. So long that I have forgotten who the manufacturer is. But let me know what you think. Wish I could paint like this again.

Now here is where I think I will boast a bit. The Cavalry flags are hand painted by myself. As I look at them and compare them to what I can do today I am saddened that this ability has been lost. Oh well, we must carry on and do the best we can.

Thanks for visiting! Good gaming to all.
Greg

YEE HA! Howdy partner!

Hi to all of my very special guests.
Today we embark on a new period (well not so new as I have been collecting and painting these for over 20 years now), the Wild West. I have been a lifelong fan of all things John Wayne and most other westerns. My Mother, God rest her soul, loved westerns of all types and my brothers and I grew up on the westerns of the 50's and 60's. Have Gun Will Travel, Wagon Train, Cheyenne, Bonanza, The Rifleman and all the others. My Grandmother even took us to see The Alamo with John Wayne when it came out.
Well with the advent of laser cutting and all of the wonderful companies who have been making outstanding western buildings, I have begun to complete my collection. In addition to the town I have assembled I also have cavalry and wild redskins which will be seen at a later date.
So without any more ado, here is the town of Cheyenne Gulch Texas.

Above is a shot of the main street so far. All of the buildings are from Tri City Laser available from Knuckleduster Miniatures withe the exception of the Wells Fargo building which is from Gamecraft.
I was very impressed with the precision and detail of each of these pieces and strongly recommend that you check them out. Figures are a mix of Knuckleduster, Dixon, Old Glory and Frontier.

So far I have the livery barn, Barber Shop, Sheriffs Office, General Store, Hotel, Bank, Wells Fargo Office, a Millinery Shop and Saloon.

Even though these turned out a bit fuzzy you can see the detail offered by this line of buildings. The top picture is the interior of the General Store. The kit comes with the shelving and counter pieces. Other details are barrels from the craft store along with tiny baskets filled with seeds some resin crates and the feed bags are from an old (55 years) Britain's farm set.
Below in the second picture is the Sheriffs Office and Jail. This is how the kit comes and you can see that it is split into the jail cell, office and front section. Very cool for gaming!

The top picture is the Barber shop. I cannot for the life of me find anyone who makes a Barbers Chair in 25mm!!! Come on guys. How many westerns have you seen where the guy getting a shave has a six gun under the sheet just waiting to surprise his adversary? Clint Eastwood is not happy about this.
I have used scrap booking paper for my wallpaper and with a little patience and imagination you can create some decent Victorian walls and effects.
The bottom is the Livery Barn. The bales of hay are from railroad accessories. This is one of the plainest of the kits but has 3 roofs that come off to allow access to the interior.

Her is the front of the Sheriffs Office and General Store. The signs are all laser cut and a joy to paint. The General Store sign is a custom made sign that I ordered from Tri City Laser. Wonderful people to deal with and the price was not out of line. My Grandfather who came from Italy in the 20's started a Mom and Pop grocery store in Chicago and so my General Store has him as the proprietor.

The Livery and Barber Shop. What I really enjoy about these buildings is that they are made of wood not MDF. This allows you to stain them. Most of the exposed wood has been stained in this town and the Livery is completely done in a wood stain..

Here is the Hotel. Again another custom sign from Tri City Laser. The picture does not do it justice. This building has 2 stories and each level is accessible by taking off the roof and the second floor as seen in the two pictures below.

Next we have the Millinery Store and the Saloon.

The Millinery Shop is in tribute to my Mother-in-law who rest her soul was a remarkable seamstress. For our wedding she not only made the Bridal Gown but she made the dresses fr the maids of honor and my Father-in-laws suit! All were wonderful pieces of work. In the Millinery store is a counter from 4Ground miniatures. Excellent detail and went together in a matter of minutes. And now for my favorite, the Saloon.
The Saloon kit comes with the bar and the two round tables. I have added the Knuckleduster piano player and the pool table vignette. The bartender is from Dixon. The front of the Saloon has another custom sign with Quincannon as the owner. This is in tribute to Sergeant Major Quincannon from the John Ford western trilogy.

Too bad this picture of the stagecoach did not come out well but you can see much of the detail. The coach is from Frontier (will we ever see these again) and the horses are from Dixon. The team that came from Frontier was standing still and I wanted something showing more action. Eventually this will be used in a game playing out the big chase scene from Stagecoach with the redskins trying to catch the fleeing stage and the passengers trying to fend them off.

Well enough for now. Soon to be displayed will be cavalry and Indian warriors. Hopefully I will be able to show some of the terrain and other details from this work in progress. Thanks again for taking the time to look this over and please feel free to add any comments. If you have questions feel free to ask but I confess it may take a little time for me to get back.

Thanks pardners!