Atlantic 1/72 Egyptian Chariots

 I have had a box full of plastic Atlantic ancient Egyptian chariots and never got around to doing anything with them.  By way of a test, I assembled two and painted them, just to see what they would be like.  They are not very accurate representations of Egyptian chariots and the crew compartment is too small for the figures, however, I cut the figure bases to just a sliver and by placing them at a slightly odd angle I managed to squeeze a driver and an archer figure in.

I am quite pleased with the result and I would have thought that 10 or 12 of these would look quite good, painted and based:

Splendid Ancient Skirmishers

 In a recent batch of figures I found four light infantry figures with broken weapons.  They are by Miniature Figurines and are North African troops.  They are still in production and I obtained two more to make up a unit.  I replaced all of the javelins to make a useful little ancient unit.  I just love the hair style!

Roman Drive into Nubia - Battle Report

 Continuing operations in southern Egypt a small Roman army heads south along the Nile valley to confront a Nubian led rebel army.  The Romans, consisting of mostly heavy infantry supported by archers and some cavalry meet a lighter force, with chariots and horse archers. Will commands the Rebels and I the Romans. The two forces confront each other on a flat, featureless area of desert:

The Roman heavy infantry are in the centre, with medium infantry and cavalry out on the flanks, with archers as skirmishers in the centre:

The rebels have a similar deployment, with medium infantry dominating the centre and horse archers and chariots out on the flanks:

The battle begins with the Roman archers firing into the Rebel centre, dropping a few infantrymen, but Will pushes his horse archers and chariots out in a flaking move, both right and left.

Roman cavalry move forward to meet the Rebels.  The Roman suffer some casualties as do the Rebels when the Roman cavalry catch the lighter cavalry, who are accompanied by a Rebel general:

A similar action occurs on the other flank, with the Romans taking some hits, but the horse archers are driven off:

The arrival of some spear armed Roman infantry checks the Rebel chariots

On the opposite flank the Roman cavalry retire, pushed back by chariots and light cavalry:

The Roman left is in peril as the cavalry are severely depleted and the medium infantry are forced back

Back on the right, the Rebel light cavalry are destroyed and their chariots run into the Roman heavy infantry that have been slowly advancing.  The chariots are destroyed

Roman infantry advance in the centre too, supported by archers, who continue to pick away at the Rebel infantry.

On the left flank Roman infantry crash into the lighter Rebels causing the Rebels to collapse.

With both Rebel flanks under severe pressure, Will moves his troops in the centre forward in an attempt to split the Roman army, however the tough Roman infantry brush off the assault and now the Rebels are in disarray. Their commander falls They have reached their exhaustion point and begin to run from the field.  The Romans have removed the threat of a rebellion in Nubia and the battle ends.

The game was played using 25mm Minifigs S Range figures.  The rules were from the Command & Colors Ancient game.  The game ran quickly and smoothly and was very enjoyable.  It was quite good having an open battle field with scope for moving troops around easily and offering cavalry and chariiots the chance to run around the flanks.

 

Rome vs Carthage

 

A few says ago, Bob Black visited with the aim of employing my 54mm Punic War figures in a Command and Colors Ancients battle.  The figures were laid out on the table and quite impressive they look, Rome on the right, Carthage on the left:

A view from the opposite direction:

The Carthaginian army consisted of a significant number of Spanish infantry and cavalry, African heavy infantry, Numidian light infantry and cavalry, as well as several units of Gallic warbands and cavalry. They also had an elephant (which neither of had worked out how to use).

Carthage began the action with Numidian light cavalry and skirmishers moving quickly forward to engage the Roman first line:

The left flank:

The right flank:

Bob's plan to ride down my skirmish line was largely ineffective as Roman heavy cavalry crushes the Numidian light horse and then ploughs into some Spanish light infantry.

Over on the opposite flank more Carthaginian cavalry join the fray.  Here the Numidians do better, supported by some medium mercenary cavalry, which moments later are destroyed on Roman spears.

The same fate befalls the Numidians on the right flank as Roman cavalry pushe them back.

Some of the Roman skirmishers do fall, but the Spanish light are destroyed.

In another wave, Numidian light infantry shower Roman auxiliary archers with javelins, but with little effect.  However the lightly clad Numidians suffer from Roman arrows. 

The Numidian cavalry on the right rush forward again and are met by Roman cavalry.  This tussle would go on for much of the battle, with the Numidians slowly pushed back.

Having resisted the Carthaginian skirmisher's attack it was the turn of the Romans to harry their enemy.  The Romans were more successful causing a lot of damage to their opposite numbers.

The battle swung back and forth in the centre as waves of skirmishers fight it out, however, Roman medium infantry move up in large numbers and sweep the lighter enemy away

Roman infantry pushing into the centre:

Bob, decides that it is time to unleash his Gallic warbands:

...... and having carefully studied the rules, launches his elephant, with great success.  Roman medium infantry are scattered as the beast ploughs forward:

On the other flank Bob's Spanish heavy cavalry charge into the Roman horse causing mayhem.

The Roman heavy cavalry is destroyed:

But these attacks are not enough to stem the tide of retreating Carthaginians.  Most of Bob's cavalry and the bulk of his light troops flee the field cause a rout (brought on by lunch being ready).  Bob concedes victory with a score of 9 - 4 to the Romans.

This was a great game.  The rules are excellent, although we did get a few things wrong, which might have changed the outcome a bit.  

Till next time.

Some more Ancients

 Last night, I finished off a group of Italeri Celts.  They were really nice to paint, with sharp definition and very clean lines.  

I also managed to find a small group of the elusive HaT African Infantry for my Carthaginian army.  This was really a test paint as I have now found a complete box of these figures which are already on the painting table.  I may repaint these as I think the armour should be bronze rather than leather and the shields look a bit bland:

Finally, four Romans came with the Carthaginians and they have received a splash of paint:

More fun with Speed Paints - Gallic Warband

 I continue to experiment with Army Painter Speed Paints.  Here is the latest effort.  The subject is a 16 figure box of HaT 54mm Gallic Warband.  

Having sprayed the figures white, I left them for 24 hours to properly set.  Over Friday evening and a few sessions yesterday I finished them off.  Speed Paints certainly live up to their name as the paint covers large areas evenly very quickly.

I will leave them for 24 hours and then apply a matt varnish spray:

I have a few boxes of these figures which I will work through when the mood takes me.

Ancient British Army

 It has been a while since my last post but this is because I have been head down painting an Ancient British army.  The idea came when I was sorting through some old boxes when I came across a load of Airfix 'Ancient Britons' figures.  There were some Romans too.

I have never painted these figures and my initial go was enjoyable and so the idea for a full army emerged.  I managed to find some more, including a pile of chariots on eBay.  I swapped the clunky solid wheels for those off the RHA set.  Cavalry came from an Italeri set.  There are some additional ESCI and Revell figures in the warbands to boost numbers.

Altogether I have 10 warbands, nine chariots, making four units, three units of archers, two of cavalry and a chariot borne leader.

I have started work on some Romans, although I am undecided whether to employ Airfix figures for this part of the project.  I will paint a sample unit to see what it looks like.

Clash along the Nile

 Bob Black came over for a game yesterday and I was keen to have another go at C&C Ancients, introducing light chariots and 'warrior' class infantry.

The setting for the battle was based on the idea of a Roman force in southern Egypt moving along the Nile valley to put down a troublesome Nubian presence that had been harassing Roman trade routes.  As the Romans work south they find their path blocked by the Kushite enemy:

The Roman left wing

The Roman right wing

Kushite warriors and chariots

The view across the battlefield.

I played the Romans and Bob the Kushites.  I was pretty confident that my heavy infantry could ram through the lighter Kushites, after which my cavalry would run them down.  However the Gods were not on my side that day as I studied my tactic cards.  Nearly all applied to my left wing, where I only had two units.  With limited options I hoped that things would improve as the battle unfolded.  I kicked off by moving my archers forward to harass his centre.  Bob had no foot light troops and his cavalry was on the wings so I felt fairly safe:

Error - Bob had a card that allowed him to rapidly close on my archers, which had done very little damage, and cut them to pieces, forcing them to retreat:

I now moved my mass of infantry into the centre to threaten his infantry that had driven off the archers:

This initially worked well as a Kushite unit is badly damaged and another forced back.

But, now my ability to continue this assault is restricted by the cards and several attacks force back and cause casualties amongst my infantry.

Despite causing damage I am unable to make real inroads into his line. Bob then counter attacked with his cavalry and chariots

Initially I was able to check this advance with my left wing cavalry,  However, by now I had lost three units to Bob's one

On the opposite wing my cavalry counter attack met with some success wiping out some Nubian horsemen, but my cavalry were destroyed in the process.

Now Bob was able to deliver a hammer blow with a massive advance.  I was unable to counter this and the Roman army collapsed. 

My commander fell on his sword with the battered Roman army pulling back from the field.

The gods had betrayed the Romans and the Kushites proved to be a hard hitting nimble foe, while my Romans were fixed and unable to respond.  I probably should have thrown my cards in on turn one and hoped for a better hand.  Next time...............