A tree
Haven’t been doing near enough hobby work in a long time. But I decided to do something – so I built a tree.
I wanted something that didn’t look like a “standard wargames tree”, and that had a somewhat realistic shape.
The end result can be seen in the photos (not great photos I know, but at least you can get an idea of the general shape). It’s for 28mm. Had quite a few “learning experiences” during the project, the glue I used turned white e.g. But in the end I’m happy with what I achieved.
Hobby room make over
Perhaps not as much a make over as a “trying desperately to organise things”… It started with me fixing the neighbouring room, which led to even more stuff ending up in the hobby room a couple of weeks ago.
So I decided it was time to “clean” the hobby room. However as loads of stuff didn’t really have any “designated place” for it the job got a bit bigger than I had originally intended.
So, a new bookcase for some of my games, another one to display some more of my painted miniatures (a big chunk of them are still in boxes, but it did clear out some storage area for other stuff), a reorganised work space (now one “building place”, one “painting place” and one “basing place”
And gaming table is actually free to play games on once more!
Kind of happy with the end result. Photos are a bit random and not edited, but I hope it is possible to get the general idea from them…
Pikes in DBMM
We organised a small DBMM200 (222AP) tournament last weekend. It ended up being held in my gaming room. As we were only six persons participating in the end, space was no problem and we had three separate 200-tables in the same room. Could have fitted a fourth in without major problems, and a few more elsewhere around the house. But anyway, it worked out well. Very nice not having to transport my stuff to and from the competition as well, it more than compensated for the extra work before and after the event I would say.
Theme was Book II period, but it ended up being a very roman-centric competition:
3 Marian roman armies, 1 Polybian Roman, 1 Ancient British, and 1 Seleucid (mine).
I had been toying with various concepts, but decided to try something different. People always say (at least those that I’ve talked to) that pikes aren’t worth taking – which for me is a challenge that needs to be accepted.
So I ended up with maximum allotment of pikes J
12 phalangites, 8 argyraspides, and one Argyraspides commander. 21 pike elements in total.
To that some Auxilia and Psiloi, a few Light Horse and one Cataphract element and an element of Companions – plus two mounted commanders
I knew there would be at least one Roman army, which I thought could prove problematic, and I feared there would be warbands coming. But I wasn’t prepared that for all armies having loads of Bd or WB…
Ah, well. Not much to do.
—
First game against Marian Romans with Bd S. Ended up fighting mainly with my “support troops” (Ax S, Kn X, Kn F) and a bit with the Pk S. The phalangites mainly being a blocking force.
The combination of S troops and Knights – and relatively aggressive play – caused early losses to the legionaries and they struggled to reorganise themselves after that. After a while they broke, but not before they had managed to kill my Cataphract Sub-General. Apart from that only minor losses. 24-1 to me
—
Second game against a horde of chariots and fast warbands… It’s hard to run away from stuff on a 200-table. But I had to try and avoid being hit by all the warbands, so I danced around to the best of my ability. At the same time I had to inflict enough casualties to break the enemy commands before they overwhelmed me. In addition their mounted arm was way larger than mine, so I couldn’t let their chariots roam around.
I sent the Phalangites forward, together with the Cataphracts, to block the cavalry between a marsh and a wood. They kept them there all game and almost managed to break them in the end.
The argyraspides danced around a bit before attacking one of the warband commands at an angle together with the Thureophoroi and the Companions. They combination inflicted serious casualties on the Brits, and after a while the first British strike command broke. But by that time the second one was getting close and my units were getting swarmed. I lost the C-in-C command, but the army as a whole was rather intact still when time was called. 15-10 to me.
—
So second placed come the last game. Again a Marian roman army with loads of Bd S. The superior blades are a bugger as they quick kill pikes on equal, as my Argyraspides general was about to find out.
But that was late in the game, and mainly postponed the outcome a bit, even though it gave me a scare in the end.
The romans attacked close to the sea. The battlefield had two main approaches to attack, separated by a steep hill. Next to the sea was another steep hill which I intended to grab to threathen the roman flank forces.
Three 1’s in round one made my attack a bit slow. But I sent Psiloi over the crest on the hill on my right in order to make it hard for the romans to capture it. (I had more light troops there than my opponent, and uphill advantage).
Then I moved my Argyraspides towards the gap, facing the smaller Roman force, but I couldn’t capture the other hill as I hadn’t got the pips for it. So I had to be a bit cautious. Ended up being a game of manoeuvre on that flank as neither sided dared advance to far, as that would have ment exposing our left flank to the opponent.
So the main fighting had to be done elsewhere. The main roman force with mounted troops and legionaries advanced towards my left and centre. I counterattacked and managed to close with the phalanx, flanked by companions, and the cataphracts. My light horse fought a desperate and valiant stalling game against the Roman cavalry to prevent my line being overrun.
The Phalanx pushed the romans back, giving overlaps to the C-in-C who proceeded to kill the fist line of legionaries in his way, which in turn increased the odds for the companions who killed their frontal opponents. The cataphracts and the Sub-general faced enemy cavalry, and managed to kill one of these. Meanwhile the light horse continued to survive…
The roman counterattack failed to kill a single phalangite, and that meant that it would basically be a matter of time (unless the dice gods would betray me) before that command broke. Another attack on my part made their lines crumble.
The Roman commander then launched a desperate counter attack against my Argyraspides, hoping to break them before their own command would be overwhelmed (or the mounted command was destroyed as well, as that was now in a pretty tight spot).
This attack was initially very successful – killing my general in the first combat – but the command stayed in the fight long enough to allow me to envelop the romans.
A quick game which ended 21-4 to me and that also meant I ended up top spot, getting the trophy that I myself had gotten for the competition. Maybe not that polite, but anyway…
My basing box
Finally got around to filling my “basing box”. Pretty happy with the result.
First paint job in new hobby room
I decided to start simple and added some shading and highlights to an imperial star destroyer to make it fit in with the wizards of the coast stuff. Kind of happy with the final result. Best thing is though that I have now actually started painting again.
Games at LinCon
This year’s gaming convention in Linköping (my current hometown) didn’t get my full attention as it coincided with various other events at home. But I made a brief visit at least.
We played some Gå På demo games. That was as always great fun. It is quite enjoyable to see the reactions on people as they try to convince their units to do what they want them to do. The most enjoyable thing though with Gå På try outs is that almost always both players leave with a smile on their face, even the player who “lost” the game.
There was also another Gå På game going. The battle of Helsingborg in 6mm. Must say that the scale makes the armies look really cool.
I also played some DBMM. Had promised I would take part in the DBMM200 tournament. However I didn’t have the time to think about it beforehand. So scribbled down an army list 5 minutes before start time. Needless to say, it was totally flawed, and combined with some poor die rolling it meant I ended up last…
Bought a book, a few wings of glory planes, and watched some cool games as well. And then back home for Birthday parties and stuff… All in all a good weekend.
Off to LinCon tomorrow
Tomorrow I’m off to the annual games convention in Linköping.
A lot of Gå På, most likely some DBMM, loads of chatting, and very likely a lot of money spending.
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