2023 - Back to the Dark Ages!

Happy New Year to all!  I hope 2023 is good to you.

When I first met Alan (which the Lad says was also in the Dark Ages) I was kindly gifted the newly published rules Dux Bellorum to tempt me to the Dark Ages way of things; not that I needed much of a push, admittedly. And while we have played many Dark Ages games with Lion Rampant and SAGA we somehow never got back to Bellorum.  Our first game of the new year seemed a good way to rectify that omission and scratch a growing Dark Age itch once more. 

Some of Alan's fabulous Post Romano British army

Its always great to play with Alan's extensive collection of fantastic Dark Age models, which is not small. We decided to leave the Mounted troops at home to simplify our first game and I got to field his Saxons, taking Companion Foot, 2 Noble Warriors, 5 Ordinary Warriors and 2 foot skirmishers (with bows).  Alan took his Post Roman Britain/Arthurians with Companion Foot, 2 Noble Shieldwall, 4 ordinary shieldwall, 1 foot skirmisher (with bows), an 1 extra Leadership point and the Experienced Leader Tactic. It made for an interesting matchup of Warriors vs Shieldwall

We learned much along the way and the mechanics reminded me of a mix of SAGA, DBA and Lion Rampant (no surprise on the latter!) that flowed well, though we still have a few questions!  I liked the  Leadership points resource management, and the battle did indeed feel like a big battle as opposed to a large skirmish. We also saw that Shieldwall units did not stand up as well to Warriors as might be expected, though I did roll an unfeasible number of 6s which skewed the outcome (in fact there was 6 of them across 2 x 5 dice attacks!)

Overall I enjoyed Dux Bellorum and would like to play more. Unfortunately they do suffer from Osprey 'Blue Book' syndrome in which they are published, have a couple of follow up articles but then left behind and unsupported. With some tweaking they could forward in time into the Viking Age, or earlier in the Roman period. Certainly not 'beyond the wit of man' if we get around to it anyway...

The return of Dux Homunculorum!

Thanks mate, that was fun! #makethedarkagesgreatagain :-)

Rules note: One of the criticisms of the rules is that using a Ld point for an extra attacks, gets you a chance to get a hit (rolling 5+), but spending a Ld on defence automatically negates a successful attack. So hording points for use in defence is a no brainer, albeit a bit boring and can really slow a game down.

We used an internet (non author) suggestion that in spending a Ld point in Defence, the defending unit  must pass a morale check to negate the hit - fail and the hit is effective and the Ld is still used. Seemed to work well and added a fun element of chance.

Rampant Return for War of the Roses

First test of the magnetic basing - nil casualties in transportation!

This weekend saw a double christening as Dux Homunculorum kindly hosted me to threw down with some War of the Roses action: our first time using the new Lion Rampant 2.0 rules set, and the first outing for my Lancastrians.

We like matching up asymmetrical forces - similar but not mirrors of one another to make things more interesting.  I went for weight of arrows, while Alan went more diverse.

Commanded by Lord Percy I fielded 2 units of Foot Knights (elite foot), 2 units of Billmen (Heavy Foot) and 3 Archers to defend the honour of the true and rightful king.  

Opposing my loyal men was Yorkist sympathiser Lord Scrope, with 2 units of Foot Knights (elite foot), 2 units of Billmen (Heavy Foot), 2 Archers, 1 Heavy Horse and 1 of Biddowers (skirmishers). 

Noble Lord Percy takes the field

Longbowmen on the field, ready to deliver an arrow storm

In the name of King Henry - Advance!

Archers Ready!

The Scrope horse waiting in reserve

The traitorous Lord Scrope of Bolton takes the field

Nock - Draw - Loose!

The enemy advance into Range

Long range fire plucked a few enemy from their feet, but not to any real effect. Perhaps next time I would be better taking less but Veteran Bowmen so more shafts find their place. Unfortunately for these lads, they failed to receive the orders to retire (having failed the movement order test AND the reroll from the nearby Commander) and were thus charged by the advancing Billmen

Most impressively, they stood their ground with grim resolve, throwing back the Billmen with 3 casualties while only taking 2 themselves! Impressive, but as they clapped eachother on the back, the thunder of hooves resounded across the filled and the enemy heavy horse galloped into the attack

Unbelievably, the archers slew half (3) of the mounted knights but were inevitably scattered before them having taken more and failed their Courage check. Well done though lads, you have earned yourself a banner when i get back to the Hobby desk (my dice were hot!)

Incensed at the demise of the brave archers, my Foot knights dove down off the hilltop and into the Cavalry, drawing blood and sending the rest fleeing from the field.

At this point I was running low on remaining playing time and thought it timely for Lord Percy to advance upon Lord Scrope and proffer a duel. 

Fight me you Cad!

Alan was not inclined to accept the glove, but obliged me and did not regret the decision...

Seems to be something wrong with my bloody sword today...

...while the view from other side of the field was far more cheery

And with the Yorkist momentum blunted on the left wing, the battle petered out. I had inflicted far more casualties but my rash duel had cost me my Leader. Swearing oaths of vengeance both forces retired, swearing and the battle was concluded.

Good fun in Alan's great game room

Awesome to get my Lancastrians out for the first time - got some ideas on how the flesh the force out a little more. As ever, Alan is a fun, crafty and sporting opponent and it was great to catch up with him.  We found LR2.0 very easy to pickup - a few things we had to recheck but other wise flowed well and anything we needed was quickly found.  We played the variant where failing a unit activation does not mean the end of the turn, which works well at injecting friction without complete chaos.

Expect to see more WotR models joining my collection during the upcoming Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge season 13, which I have signed up for and looking forward to!

You can see more of Alan's Yorkists on his blog here: https://dux-homunculorum.blogspot.com/2016/06/wars-of-roses-for-lion-rampant.html

AHPC VII 'West' Bonus Round: Centurion Alanus

Presenting Centurion Alanus, Defender of Western Civilisation, Britannia, 1st Century AD.

This is a special edition Warlord model which was came with the pre-order of Hail Caesar, back in July 2011.  I traded the rulebook long ago, but kept the model because I think its a great sculpt- I just didn't have an Army for him to lead!  

I am really happy with how he came out, and think the skin tones and colour contrasts look much better in real life.

A little present for the Dux, complete with his initials emblazoned on the shield: enjoy mate :-) 

You can see this entry at the AHPC blog here:
https://analogue-hobbies-theme-rounds.blogspot.com.au/2017/02/west-from-paulog-centurian-alanus.html

By Crom, its a new Club Venue and a Painting Challenge!

Last night the lads of the Odin's Night Gaming Club christened a new Wed night venue in the function room above a pub.  Not only is it spacious, it has access to a full bar and bistro below - a winning combination in anyone's book!

The new Hall of Heroes - now with Adult Beverages!

To christen this new Hall of Heroes, Dave brought along his newly delivered Conan boardgames. Yes, the one from that long, long delayed Kickstarter.  And a fittingly mighty box it was too.

Its a co-op game with one player taking the role of evil overlord and running the minions trying the thwart the characters' mission.  I got first pic of the characters so I naturally chose the closest broad shouldered Cimmerian with a notoriously short temper and brooding eyes.  He was a bit of a beast in action with his broad bladed battle-axe, and it gave me lots of chance to do movie quotes in a very bad Arnie accent.  Compulsory really.

"What is Best in Life?"

Overall, I was quite impressed with the game mechanics and the resource management aspects are quite elegant.  Looking forward to playing some more.

Dave described this as "my pic where Conan slays the snake...picks up the princess... and in true story book fashion... carries her to safety at the very last minute before the pict horde arrives.... of course can't remember the bit in the stories when all his friends are left on the village to be slaughtered..."

Our exclusive bar - now known as The Hobbit's Armpit

The Dux engrossed in his book over a post game pint

Finally, its time for the AHPC gain - go here to sign up:
The Seventh Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

And if in doubt, take no heed at all of Dux's declaration last night (click to play)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxd3rhwHuBthSE5Yc3JMaHRub2M/view

MOAB 2016

Its the October long weekend here in Sydney, which means two things: Daylight Savings commences and its time for the annual Mother Of All Battles convention!

Its a relatively small Con, but its less than 45mins away so the boys didn't need much of an excuse to get out there and spend some money.

Note the lads at bottom left already spending their cash

The very fine gentlemen of War and Peace Games: Ian and John 

The Blood Bowl comp in full swing

A big Star Wars Armada game in action

Despite the nifty campaign in progress, Alan looks unconvinced regarding the merits of DBA v3...

Titan demo game that the kids were all enjoying very much

Shield decals: "They are evil and the work of the Devil" exclaimed Alan!

The Shiny

Very nice Late War Germans

The pin marker 'antenna' on this Puma is rather clever

Dave and his Demo Gamers had a nice Arnhem game running

And yes, I thanked Dave for his great indexes for BA1&2, and K47!

An eye catching Winter Russian army

Cossacks! 

What a beast - I imagine this will be more effective in BA2 now too

This LRDG army was rather striking too

EDIT: Turns out that this is Patch's LRDG force which starred in the WWPD Tutorial here: http://www.wwpd.net/2016/03/bolt-action-review-painting-guide-long.html

A rare Finnish Armoured Platoon: what a wonderfully unique force this is

Some nice terrain

The Finale!

How all good days out with the boys should end

... and the inevitable pile of shame, which saw a bit of 15mm WW2 Desert War goodies from the Bring and Buy, some ruins and the beginning of my new late war German force in 28mm.

It would have been rude not to do some stockpiling prior to the next painting challenge!