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Author Topic: Charlie's 15th century - Some long-overdue Burgundians! (Feb 28)  (Read 152701 times)

Offline dinohunterpoa

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2561
  • Everything is Better with Vampire Supermodels
    • Isla de Santa Biscaya

AWESOME mins, scenery and AAR, CONGRATULATIONS!  :-*

"Sir John Doe" is PRICELESS!!!  lol lol lol lol lol
"Because life is made of inspiration, dreaming and insanity in about equal measure."
- Erzsébet Báthory - 1560-1614 (?)

Offline Metternich

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2559
Very effective painting.  A fine collection.

Offline rivers3162

  • Librarian
  • Posts: 151
A very nice collection! Those large infantry blocks are particularly impressive. The Italian gunners and crossbowmen also look a lot nicer than I previously thought - may have to get some myself.

Offline Madhouse Workshop

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 95
    • http://psychosispc-themadhouseworkshop.blogspot.com/
Not a period I'm into, but I can appreciate the good work and dedication you put in to it.  Good stuff.

Online Charlie_

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1514
I am still very impressed with the vastnes of your force.

Lots more to come! I'm currently working on bulking up the cavalry to several units worth, and starting a big pike block.

I've only played 5 battles with this collection and ruleset so far, and after every battle I analyse what 'felt right' and what didn't, and how I should adapt things. After this one I'm thinking the key is BIG units! Works better both in terms of gameplay and aesthetics. So I've been making some bigger unit trays, 10 wide this time, to make my infantry units (shown in earlier posts) all larger. Same for my formed cavalry units (it's such a shame to see one lucky round of shooting reduce them to almost half strength before they make contact).
I'm also not painting one single longbowman more. Currently my infantry is nearly 50% longbowmen, meaning all the games so far have featured large archer units. I need more handguns and crossbows, and pikes of course!

The Italian gunners and crossbowmen also look a lot nicer than I previously thought - may have to get some myself.

They really are nice models. The casts aren't very good, but if you are familiar with Perry metals you know what to expect. The sculpts themselves are brilliant though. The natural looking poses and realistic dimensions are spot on, and the distinctive Italian clothing on half of them is fun. The poses are far better than any handgun/crossbows I've managed to make out of the plastic kits.

I wish they'd made a few more sets of these.... All those Napoleonic players are spoilt rotten by the Perry twins! Imagine if the WOTR / European Armies ranges had the same treatment? We'd have specific sets for Italian crossbowmen, Swiss crossbowmen, German crossbowmen, French crossbowmen.... a set of each for 'skirmishing' poses, a set for 'advancing' poses, etc.... Then the same again for handguns. Oh how I wish they'd return to these ranges....

Online Charlie_

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  • Posts: 1514
Re: Charlie's 15th century - another BATTLE REPORT (16th July)
« Reply #50 on: July 16, 2017, 07:55:32 PM »
I had another game this weekend. A couple of friends were visiting from London, one of whom has been very excited about having a game since I first told him I was doing this two years ago. So this was his first game, and he was very keen.
Luckily for him he won. Seems I lose every time, perhaps I'm being too soft on my friends as I want them to enjoy the games? Perhaps it's time for me to be a bit ruthless now and give them a taste of defeat!!!!

So here's the setup....



I had the right-hand table edge. Two divisions of longbowmen and men-at-arms, one on the left in the walled field, and one in the centre safe behind the thick hedges, with my commander. I had a unit of billmen to the right on the other side of the hege, and a unit of light / medium cavalry.



Opposing me Jan had all his heavy infantry (men-at-arms / halberds, plus the Italian skirmishers) in the centre. He had his heavy cavalry out on the left flank, and some crossbowmen lurking behind the hedges on his right



My longbowmen, the Company of the Rose, hope to rush forward and take up a defensive position behind the stone wall.



The opening moves..... With both cavalry units facing eachother, there was bloodshed on turn one. My smaller, lighter unit raced forward, perhaps hoping to divert or distract Jan's heavier men-at-arms... But they answered the challenge, crashed straight into my unit and scattered them completely!
Meanwhile my left wing raced forward to claim the wall. Jan sent one infantry unit off to his right to face them, and his crossbowmen in the hedges took some pot shots. He sent his skirmishers forward, whilst his main infantry block waited patiently to see how things would unfold.



Next, his cavalry reformed ready to attack my right wing next turn - I had one rather small unit of billmen there, which attempted to fall back to face the cavalry, but got a bit disordered and messed up their formation in doing so - things didn't look good for them!
The infantry on his right flank also assaulted my defensive position at the wall, and succeeded in driving my longbowmen back, though he didn't quite break them.
My longbowmen in the centre, sheltered behind their hedge, took down some of his advancing skirmishers, but his main infantry reserve remained out of range.



The inevitable happened, and Jan's cavalry crashed into the billmen on the right, and sent them running.
He decided now was the time to move in the for kill, and his infantry reserve marched forward. They took a fair few casualties as they came into range of my archers, but they did not falter.
On my left flank, the fighting in the walled field continued. Jan's crossbowmen broke cover from behind their hedge, and moved up in support.





My commander, safe in his defensive position, started to get a bit nervous as his right wing was ridden down just over the hedge to his right....



And he decided to cut his losses and run, leaving just his mercenary archers on the field. With their employer fled, they were quick to lay down their weapons.

This is how the table looked at the end of the game.




It was a great battle! Again, many things for me to think about on how to tweak the rules, or rather helping me see what sort of games, forces and unit sizes work best with these rules to make a gaming experience that 'feels' right.
« Last Edit: July 16, 2017, 11:57:21 PM by Charlie_ »

Offline Phil Portway

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1059
Re: Charlie's 15th century - another BATTLE REPORT (16th July)
« Reply #51 on: July 24, 2017, 01:06:00 PM »
Nice looking game, and I like the way you "lock" the terrain boards in situ
If it isn't enjoyable, it isn't gaming!

Offline von Lucky

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 8796
  • Melbourne, Australia
    • Donner und Blitzen Wargaming
Re: Charlie's 15th century - another BATTLE REPORT (16th July)
« Reply #52 on: July 24, 2017, 02:12:48 PM »
Agree, good looking game.
- Karsten

"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Blog: Donner und Blitzen

Online Charlie_

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1514
Re: Charlie's 15th century - another BATTLE REPORT (16th July)
« Reply #53 on: July 26, 2017, 11:42:03 PM »
Nice looking game, and I like the way you "lock" the terrain boards in situ


Thanks, I'm pretty pleased with that little invention.... If you can see on the pics, the 'table' is actually two small drop-leaf tables. There are two 8-foot pieces of timber, which are bolted to another MDF board in the middle - this bridges the gap between the tables, and locks the side pieces together as a frame. It means the terrain boards and locked in pretty tight (helped by some strategically placed bits of folded card) so they are in no danger of shifting, and the whole thing is easily dismantled for storage.

Offline Wellington Bonaparte

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 243
  • Strike Sure
Re: Charlie's 15th century - another BATTLE REPORT (16th July)
« Reply #54 on: July 29, 2017, 08:49:33 PM »
Superb looking table and a great set of mini's, I've followed your GOT thread and know how good your painting is. What rule set are you using for these?
I was looking at using HC for WOTR and my GOT armies, using the crossbow rules for hand gunners in  WOTR.
Stand Fast - Strike Sure -  Carry On - Bydand

Offline Dr. Zombie

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 3091
Re: Charlie's 15th century - another BATTLE REPORT (16th July)
« Reply #55 on: July 30, 2017, 08:30:25 AM »
That is one good looking game. Well done!

You might have written it somewhere but I was distracted by the pretty pictures. But are you playing homegrown rules?

Offline Norm

  • Supporting Adventurer
  • Mastermind
  • *
  • Posts: 1177
    • Blog for wargaming in small places
Re: Charlie's 15th century - another BATTLE REPORT (16th July)
« Reply #56 on: July 30, 2017, 08:57:08 AM »
Thanks for sharing this project from start to game - very enjoyable.

Offline Breazer

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 555
    • Breaz Brushes
Re: Charlie's 15th century - another BATTLE REPORT (16th July)
« Reply #57 on: July 31, 2017, 07:38:35 AM »
This looks so good. I'm a bit jealous since I dont really have anyone to play with. You do make me want to pick up those late 15th century models again and start painting. The new banners are also a very pretty sight. As you said there are plenty more coming I'd say keep them coming!

Online Charlie_

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1514
Re: Charlie's 15th century - another BATTLE REPORT (16th July)
« Reply #58 on: July 31, 2017, 03:41:17 PM »
Thanks guys, glad you are enjoying the battle reports.

But are you playing homegrown rules?

Yes, they are my own rules. I won't pretend they are completely unique, but take ideas from different games and some of my own to make a ruleset I like. I don't know whether they would appeal to every one, using singly-based models in ranked up units, and individual casualty removal... but I think they work nicely for both small skirmishes and larger massed battles.

I was looking at using HC for WOTR and my GOT armies, using the crossbow rules for hand gunners in  WOTR.

I'll be using Hail Caesar one day when I have a much bigger table and much larger forces. I prefer my rules for games at this scale, but if in the distant future I am playing on a huge table with  hundreds of models per side, HC might be more appropriate. I tried for a game at this scale, and though it worked fine, it didn't really offer anything special that my rules don't do.

Online Charlie_

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1514
Re: Charlie's 15th century - more cavalry, and a cannon (14th August)
« Reply #59 on: August 14, 2017, 09:13:14 PM »
Ok, time for an update!

I've been painting lots more cavalry. I'm up to 36 now, but I'll hold off on a group shot til I have the unit looking right - currently it's a bit of a random mix, I want to get the right balance of heavy, medium and light cavalry in there.

But here's some of my favourites....









I wanted to make lots of 'medium' cavalry, rather than everything falling into the categories of 'heavy' and 'light'. Models that will look good in either sort of unit.

The most obvious method is to use the body with the livery coat and the light lance from the mounted men-at-arms box.



There's also this body in the light cavalry box I really like, with riding boots and armoured legs. To make him not so 'light', I did a hand swap to give him some gloves/gauntlets.



That body is in an odd twisting-in-the-saddle position, but it can easily be cut and re-positioned like on this one. I also gave him gauntlets and a heavy lance - he looks like a 'poorer' man-at-arms to me.



And this one uses the brigandine body from the light cavalry box, with armoured arms - one from the heavy cavalry box, and one (almost) matching one from the mercenary command sprue with an added besagew.




I also did a cannon. I was tempted to paint it red or some other colour, but in the end opted for just plain wood, and am glad I did. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. It was a nightmare to paint as it wasn't on a base, and to get underneath it I was having to turn it around in my hands and the paint kept rubbing off. Got there in the end though. It's basically just one shade of brown and one silver, all hit with a couple of dark washes.
I'm also pretty pleased with how the one crewman's yellow shirt turned out.





Ok, now here's some unpainted stuff I've been preparing... pikemen! I really like these metal sculpts from the Perrys (the front rank 'attacking' ones are admittedly far superior than the back rank 'advancing' ones though, better sculpts, cleaner casts and with a more interesting selection of armour).




This unit's gonna get bigger, and there will be other pike units in the future, all using these same sculpts. So to keep them fresh I've been doing some headswaps.... and have made an interesting discovery. A while back I got a couple of packs of Foundry WOTR archers and crossbowmen, hoping they would scale well with the Perry figs.... but no, they are all at least a head shorter, and so they've been sitting in a drawer for ages. But I realised they all have very usable heads, with an interesting selection of helmets... They all sawed off very easy, as did the ones on the Perry figs.... Perfect easy headswaps! I'm actually gonna order some more of these Foundry packs just for the heads!



And here's some others with new Perry heads, a few plastics, plus a few which had been liberated from other models to make way for the Foundry ones.



You might also notice one of my cavalrymen up above has a Foundry head, and I've found some of them are perfect for light cavalry / mounted crossbowmen....

That's all for now folks!

 

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