A German Company for Crossfire

And after the Brits, here are the Wehrmacht forces I assembled for Crossfire.

My German forces are specular to the British: three Rifle Platoons of three squads each and a Platoon Commander; two HMGs; a Forward Observer; a Company Commander

A British Company for Crossfire

After bingewatching Band of Brothers I finished painting my British and German forces for Crossfire.

Here they are, the Brits!

This is my British Company: three Rifle Platoons, each composed by three riflemen squads and a Platoon Commander; two HMGs; a FO (Forward Observer, the man entitled to indicate where my off-table mortars will shot) and a Company Commander

Look out for Xerxes's scouts!

Quick update: I finally completed 4 elements for my DBA 3.0 1/72 army of Early Achaemenid Persians I/60c, the army from the Persian Wars.

It was an odyssey. I don't know why, but I needed an unnecessary long time to finish these miniatures, and they're just 1/3 of the whole army! The God King wouldn't be pleased...

However I'm really glad of the final result. When I'll put my hands on the other elements I'll complete the army and show them all, but I wanted to mark this initial step since it was so hard to achieve.

These are 3 elements of 8Bw, the Immortals in the middle with the standard and other two sparabara infantry elements. The light infantry on the left is 3Ax, representing Armenians fighters

The sparabara were the biggest elements I’ve ever painted for DBA, since I only confronted 8Bw against Michele’s Byzantines. I chose the colour pattern to better distinguish the units, although in reality they would have been more mixed

The base is a really simple work: Citadel Agrellan Earth with this nice cracked finish, brown wash, Bonewhite drybrush and some flock. I think it’s right for the Greek landscape in which they fought

And looking at a pic of the plain of Marathon, I think I can go with it!

A leap year wargaming post!

Didn’t post anything this month, mostly because it’s been a dry month for hobby purposes. I couldn’t resist posting on February 29th, though: what a chance!

These days I finally watched Band of Brothers, the TV series about the U.S. Army E-Company during WWII, produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg a couple of years after filming Saving Private Ryan. It’s a very evocative series, I actually loved it since it’s realistic, entertaining and involving at the same time.

Screenshot from the third episode, Carentan

A nice DBA Sunday morning

Today Michele and I played a DBA game before he left for holidays in Southern Italy. Just to stay on the topic, we had on board Nikephorian Byzantines vs East Frankish, so probably our battle could have taken place in Southern Italy too.

He chose to deploy 4 elements of 8 Bw and the double element 6 Kn. My only choice was about 7 Hd and Ps, and I mixed deploying one of each.

The initial situation. Terrain features are an hamlet near the centre of the board, a plough (which we eventually took of because we throw 2 on the first PIP) and a wood

The main battle begun on my right side, because Michele chose to advance with his Cv elements and I went on confronting them with my Kn. On the centre we carefully moved on ready to fight (my men feared the dreadful arrows of Byz 8 Bw

The two cavalry fronts made contact and started a long fight which went on for a couple of turns. Even if Kn are stronger than Cv vs mounted elements, Byz fought very well, using the Ps element in the hamlet to close the door on the enemy. Eventually I two Kn and Michele two Cv

The end of the match! Throwing away every caution (by his own admission) Michele charged with the 6 Kn, exposing himself to my Gen closing the door on him. I just wiped out his Ps on my right flank with an element of Kn in GG. The game ends 5-2 for me.

Speed painting in 10mm... more or less

After our last battle with my Celtiberians, my friend Alexander and I planned a Hordes of the Things game with the same armies (at least for me). Some time ago I purchased some elements from Pendraken to deploy in fantasy games played with historical armies: the figures derive as much as possible from the mythological background of Celtic and Iberian populations, merged with what I thought could result cool on the battlefield.

I seized the opportunity to try some speed painting with my 10mm figures. After all, this is one of the reasons why I like this particular scale, but my last deeds - almost two years to paint an army - weren't really coherent with this thought. So, I gave it a try.

The models I bought from Pendraken: there is an assortment of giants, trolls, centaurs and other creatures I found right for the setting of my Celtiberians and Celtic armies

Some prepping to polish the metal figures

The seven elements I chose for this particular venture: Behemot (giants and trolls), Magician (the druids with the menhir in the background), Beasts (deers on the right) and Lurkers (the treemen)

Firstly, black undercoat on every miniature

Then I proceed with my usual recipe: heavy Wraithbone drybrush and Contrast Skeleton Horde on the models. Then, one element at time, I go nuts with Contrasts and drybrush. Always very simple, speed is the key

After an evening, here's the result! Five elements are completed, apart from the bases, one Behemot element is still to complete and I left out the Magician element

Well, here my speed painting attempt encountered a problem, because I couldn't go on with the hobby for a couple days. Never mind, the experiment was still a success, even if not 100% complete. When I finished the two remaining elements, here's the result

As per the Celtiberians, first thing on the base is a layer of Agrellan Earth

Time to battle! I wanted to finish the bases but I had not quite the time. So, we packed up with our nice metal box (every element is magnetized) and went to crush the enemy

First HotT game for my enhanced Celtiberians! We were up against Alexander's Lizardmen (superb models from Eureka), but it was a nasty battle... battle report here!

Just a first view of the battlefield!

Back home, I completed the bases and call it done. It was an useful experiment, I learned that 10mm are just right for speed painting like this! Next time I need to paint some Celts...

This shamans are deployed as Magician, and the deers as Beasts (even if they're not carnivores as depicted in the HotT core book)

Behemots

Lurkers. Some more grass and tufts for them, obviously!

They match just right with their human kin. Pretty happy with the result!

10mm Celtiberian on the march!

First DBA post for 2021!

I finally achieved my long time goal (and first goal for 2022, cheers) to finish painting my 10mm II/39b Celtiberians for DBA 3.0. They were on my shelf since April 2020, I think: a real shame, especially because I wanted them so hard at the time.

Here they come.

The Celtiberian list has no free choices, so every caped element is 3Bd and it's the core of the army. The other elements are 4 x Ps, Light Horse and the Cv Gen element

I am pretty happy with the outcome. They are a nice sight in the distance, on the battlefield, and I love the crowdy look this miniature scale gives to the single elements.

I also tried them on the field against my dear friend Alexander's Polybian Romans, on this stunning DBA table.

The Roman 4Bd are really menacing in this double line

Celtiberian scutarii (3Bd) chase Roman auxiliary troops (4Ax) near the enemy camp

The two main lines approach, but Roman infantry is heavily obstructed by the difficult hill and the hamlet

Light troops fight on the side. The Celtiberian General is hurrying up to support his forces!

We won in the end. It was a nice game indeed, really tactical and focused on crucial decisions especially affected by the hilly terrain in which my Celtiberians dwell. Take that you filthy Roman invader!

We plan a Hordes of the Things game soon with some fantasy elements added to our armies... a cool idea we had some time ago. I'm currently prepping the figures (always from Pendraken): more updates soon!

A Tale of Dark Age in Southern Italy #3

Third and last DBA game played by me and Frontlineminiaturist on a Saturday afternoon. Since now, 1-1 Byz to Lon, but there shall be only one winner at the end.

For a catch up: first game here, second game here.

NB: we took better pics for this game, clearly a sign of improvement, so we can actually track everything happened.

***

Army lists 📜

III/21b Italian Lombard, Lombard Army 775-1076 AD

1 x 3Kn (Gen), 4 x 3Kn, 4 x Sp, 1 x 3Bw, 2 x Ps

III/65 Nikephorian Byzantine 963-1042 AD

1 x Cv (Gen), 1 x 4Bd, 4 x Cv, 1 x LH, 3 x 8Bw, 1 x Ps, 1 x 3Ax

Terrain & Deployment 🌳

Lon defends. Frontlineminiaturist chooses a BUA this time, a simple hamlet which goes right next his camp. Terrain is concentrated on the attacker side, with a plough, a gentle hill on Byz left flank and a difficult hill on the right.

Defender deploys as usual: Kn in the centre, Sp on his left, Ps on the right. Objectively, we tried three similar formations in this games, but every time they resulted in something different: how awesome.

Attacker sets his light troops on the difficult hill, and tempts fate with the plough by placing Cv right behind it. In the centre, the 8Bw line with 4Bd reinforcing on left flank.

Battle! 🎲

The plough is ok, so Byz can advance with the entire army. LH moves forward to strengthen the infantry line. Lon is worried about the bulk of Byz Cv in front of his Ps, so turns the Kn group towards the enemy flank.

Second turn we still maneuver on the battlefield: Lon go forward with everything but the Sp (damned low PIP's), and Byz send the Cv on the left flank, reinforced by the Gen, while on the right the light foot and an incoming Cv direct on the enemy camp. 

First contact! The hard Kn line impacts on the enemy with rage and lances in rest. Near the hamlet, the Sp finally turns towards the approaching enemy.

First blood for the Lon: Byz Varangian Guard (4Bd) surrenders under the violent blows of the Lombard Knights.

Byz reaction: 8Bw and Gen in the centre close the door on the killer Kn; Cv charges the poor Ps in good going; the other Cv unites with the light troops.

Revenge! Both Lon Kn and Ps are killed. Byz 2 - Lon 1. The Kn, however, pursue against Byz horses: this moves, typical of Knights formation, can be really tough.

For the first time in these three games, Lon Sp actually do something: they attack the Byz formation near the hamlet with a wall of spikes and fury.

And in fact Byz Cv flees from combat. Lon Kn press the enemy almost on the gentle hill.

Game changing turn for the Byz: Cv and Gen closes the door on the rear rank of enemy Kn, and the last Cv charges the Ps in good going. Are we near to victory?

Hooray! Byz 4 - Lon 1 with this nice die rolls. Here ends the last game.

So, the day ends Byz 2 - Lon 1. We had lots of fun, and we hope to play again soon with these armies and their new Frankish friends. More on this later, but my mate and me have new minis on our workbench, perfect to match Byz and Lon. The only possible outcome is a narrative campaign in IXth century Southern Italy...