Polish skirmish group ready

So I finally finished the contents of the By Fire and Sword box Polish skirmish group. Figures Wargamer, flags QRminiatures. A very nice feeling of accomplishment of getting the figures to state they are done with, to the detail.

Kahakkapartio 

These troops - banner of pancerny, Wallachians, and two understrength banners of cossacks led by a colonel  is playable as is. In game they can and probably should be strengthened by addition of dragoons, tatars, volunteers or more banners of the types present here. This group is worth 5 Force points different options can double the amount. Of course deploying troops worth more Force points lets the enemy choose the scenario and hamper You with various extra effects.

Polish skirmish group WIP Puolalaisia työn alla

After Wallachians I have been going on the colonel, pancerni and the cossacks of Polish skirmish force. Original idea was to finish just the pancerni, but it felt almost as easy to juggle eight bases as three due to economy of paint when painting such small details.

So waiting for the dip and varnish.

Eversti, pancernit keihäineen ja kasakat taustalla.

Pancerny I feel are a bit too uniform, but since they a crack formation that can perhaps be accepted as vanity of rotmistr and the colonel. Cossacks have more blue coats than originally intended. It is a proper and popular colour for them but I managed  to get more blue than required from the dried nozzle twice.

Samat joukot etuviistosta

  The troops look naked without their flags. Furry parts and mail will need close scrutiny, and perhaps drybrush after the dip, but overall I am pretty happy how these guys look so far.

PS Finally got one company of cossacks I had "almost ready" in last november  to shape where I felt I could just add varnish and finish the bases.

Aron veteraanit viimeinkin lakattuina ja baset ruohotettuna. Yllättävän paljon yksityiskohtia löytyi "melkein valmiista" taas täydennettäväksi.

These blue reined veterans have been waiting for the finishing touches for a long time. Now I think they are finally done.

PS 2 With the sun out some more pics of the skirmish group, sans wallachians and with an added troop of cossacks.

Covering up. Paikkamaalausta.

After the last game of By Fire and Sword I happened to look at some closeups of my figures side by side with my regular opponents really nicely painted ones. More to the point he has actually finished the group my Reiters were facing.  Mine had been on the gaming table as wips with the idea of finishing them at some better time.

I actually managed to get the troop of Reiters that acted as Courland Lehnsfahne to the point it could be varnished and based properly. Irritating project - since these guys, four bases of three figures each  had quite a lot of minor errors like unpainted boots or gloves in them and it took several rounds to catch them.

Wargamerin Ruotsalaisen skirmishpaketin reitereita

Vähän turhan yhdenmukainen asustus palkkasoturiratsumiehille

Valmiina palvelemaan Puolan, Itävallan tai Tanskan kruunua

 Another irritation was to see how uniform I had painted this bach. Everyone in same leather jacket, white shirt and red trousers. Minor variation in headgear and horse tack. I might visit these guys later, but for now they may serve on.

Wallachians - valakialaisia

For a change troop of guys shown in ready form:

Valakialainen ryhmä harvinaisen tiukassa kolonnassa.

 Normal routine for me these days:
horses and tack painted separately, but based. Riders painted separately except for some final touches.

"Magic" dip and varnish. No higlights at that point.

 Black wash and painting over with primary colours might give better results, but in my hands not necessarily as much better than they would be more work.

Aroheinää ja kukkasia.

 I have envied the bases my usual gaming opponent uses. I have not gone over to earthtone and grass on top, but eperimented with  tufts of grass and flowers on these ones.

Kuin kasakoita, vain huonompia.

Like cossacks - just shabbier and not quite as effective.
In game terms some subtle differences - these guys never close ranks for fighting and act as scouts and true light cavalry types.
One plus is that they have more ammo so they can spend time pelting the enemy with bow and carbine fire instead of conserving all the ammo for their pistols in melee.

Ronin - wip progress

First batch of the minis have already been varnished and are merely waiting for me to finish the bases. Most of the minis are already in dipping stage so I was feeling that I might actually finish a project for once.

So here some collected buntai pics:

2 yariashigarua, 2 yumiashigarua ja 2 samuraita. Samurait lakattu jalkamiehet dipattu.

The bushi - the guys of law and order nobody really likes. Samurai already varnished ashigaru with dip only. All miniatures Perry. They might be joined later by this fellow:

Golden lacquered armor with red lacing and red lacquer on kabuto. Armed with a naginata. Perry again.

Group I was thinking as my primary buntai:

5 Perryn soheita.

The sohei - great fun to paint. I may need to get another bunch later just  to try how the effect of brown gowns works. Miniatures again Perry. As gaming buntai against the bandits these guys were lethal - perhaps even a bit too lethal.

The sohei lack long range weapons - so they need to get some from the ranks of teppoarmed miniatures below.

Perry ikko-ikki teppo, tulevat esiintymään soheina, ryöväreinä ja ikko-ikkin riveissä. 

And further the league of Pure land followers - the Ikko- Ikki in one possible 100 point combination.

Perryn ikko-ikki ampujia ja keihäsmiehiä, taustalla Black hatin talonpoikia.

 Perry Ikko-ikki teppo and ikko-ikki defending, on background some Black hat- peasants.

Making small lists showed that 100 points is really limited especially for the bushi but also for the sohei. Intersting to see if games of roughly 200 points flow as smoothly.

Quick inventory showed that even though this project is over halfway mark work remains to be done. Primed and begun there are still 6 figures and yeasterday I finally assembled the rest of the Black hat ronins I had waiting:

Black hatin ronineita aseistettuina no-dachilla, 3 katanalla, 3 yarilla ja 3 naginatalla.

Some of these guys might work as normal bushi: samurai or ashigaru depending on coverage of armour. Some though are clearly ronin or bandits. One interesting point to note is that these guys wear armour more fitting for the 1300-1400 than 1500-1600 of the Perrys. The large sode (shoulderguards) the wide shikoro (brim of the helmet) and o-yoroi and haramaki type of cuirasses seem to be of earlier types. So either these guys are really poor and have scrounged some antiquated junk or in case of o-yoroi they are using the stuff as ornate statussymbol. (Which was also done in sengoku period.)

Payback time. Munkkien kosto.

We replayed the ronin skirmish with same buntais switched.
This time my son with the monks beat my troops to pulp.
Well played.
An error was noticed after the game - we have not taken into account the fact that teppo ignores light and medium armor - something that will give those teppoarmed semipeasants a bt better fighting chance.

Vaihdoimme pojan kanssa rosvo- ja munkkijoukkojen pelaajaa ja tällä kertaa poika pieksi minut täydellisesti.

Huomasin virheen pelaamisessa, olemme unohtaneet musketin jättävän kevyen ja keskiraskaan haarniskan huomiota - seikka jolla olisi hyvinkin voinut olla merkitystä molemmilla kerroilla.

Mass  of dipped ronin figs waiting for varnish:

Pari samuraita, soheita, ikkoliiton ampujia ja talonpoikia. Dipattuna ilman lakkaa.

Ronin

With some figures close to being painted I decided to try out the skirmish game Ronin.
I have tried it before, but at that time I was playing under someone elses instructions and did not really learn the rules throughoutly.

This time I deployed a group of sohei against bandits fielded by my elder son.
I had two initiates, rank 2, one with teppo and unarmed the other with naginata, in medium armour.
Furthermore I had one basic sohei rank 3 and senior one, rank4, both armed with naginatas, wearing medium armour. Both had naginatajutsu.

The proper monks in orange, initiates in yellow. Soheilla oranssit noviiseilla keltaiset kaavut.

The bandits had rank 3 leader armed with no-dachi, no armor and mastering kenjutsu. He had a lieutenant rank 2, in medium armour wielding yari, there were three bandits one with bow, one with teppo - musket - and one armed with katana, tailing the formation was a hapless peasant with bamboo spear counting as improvised weapon.

Ylpeä rosmojohtaja isoine miekkoineen, luutnantti keihään kanssa, kolme rivibandiittia ja mukaan epätoivosta liittynyt talonpoika.

Game started by my initiate with teppo being shot with the opposing bandit musketman and bowman in concert on round one. On second round  there was no contact, but on round three my naginata armed initiate charged the peasant, was in turn charged by bandit leader, who in turn was charged by junior monk, who was charged by the bandit with the katana.

End of round 1. My initiate is down. Ensimmäisen kierroksen loppu. Kitkerä ruudinsavu roikkuu kujalla ja noviisi makaa henkitoreissaan maassa.

In the end combination of medium armour giving defence bonus of +2, the attack and ini bonus of naginata and naginatajutsu allowing rerolls of weaker attack dice gave me the endresult where the other initiate was grievously wounded, sohei leader was healthy and the other monk had light wounds.
Glorious victory  to peacegiving arms of the Mountain.

Lessons learnt.
The splitting of multiple combats into pairs is not quite simple and may effect the end results of the melee.
 Armour is a very good thing to have - that +2 is quite a lifesaver.
Quality of troops has cumulative effects: higher ranks tend to hit earlier and with better effect.
And paying 3 points for that bujutsu was well worth it.

WIP ottomans

Since my regular opponent has Muscovites and Swedes and I have Poles and western type troops fitting Imperials or Danes I, despite not having finished either Poles or Imperials, decided to take a plunge and start a new army.

The choice fell to Ottomans - solely on the wish to paint the hordes of irregularly dressed  cavalry. One should think I would have learned something from tackling the Poles... :-)

The project started by getting some Segbani irregular infantry and beszli cavalry. Of these the segbani have even gotten some color on them.

Segbani in their new coats. (in the background

Weird green, still trying to get nice lush green, but this might fit such motley crew. Gamingwise this horde is pretty much rubbish, but fun and relatively quick to paint. In the background one of the ronins.

In the marshes of Courland. Kuurinmaan rämeillä ja metsissä

Game night with By Fire and Sword again. My opponent had prepared two lists of Swedes of which he chose a moderate list of 7 FP when he heard he would be facing Ducal army of Courland(of Force points.)

Courland special rules meant I got to defend the crossing against the naked Swedish aggression. Other Courland special rule, marshes and forests meant my opponent got -9 to his recon score, while my own land gave bonus of two. Landhofmeister decide to keep all his troops on same side of river though.

After me taking kobylicas to shield my units we were in even points so we both were hit by extra effects. The Swede commander was having excellent day - allthough one of his reiter companies was delayed by a party elsewhere. Maybe the scouts?

Vasemmalta: komppania lehnsfaneratsuväkeä, 2 komppaniaa musketöörejä murroksen takana, toinen komppania lehnsfahnea, hofesfahne ratsuväkeä, komentaja, rakuunoita, komppania palkkasoturireitereita ja kahlaamoa vahtimassa komppania musketöörejä.

 From left: company of lehnsfahnecavalry, 2 companies of musketeers behind kobylice, another company of lehnsfahne, company of Hofesfahne, my commander, company of dragoons, company of mercenary reiters and guarding the ford a company of musketeers behind a kobylice.
All cavalry had musketoons, lehnsfahne and Hofesfahne were basically local feudal cavalry with rather weak training, skill and suffering from specia rules poor tactical discipline and scarce ammo. Musketeers and reiters were of normal quality.

Vasemmalta: kaksi komppaniaa rakuunoita, komentaja lipun luona, kaksi komppaniaa reitereita ja kevyt tykki.

 From left: two companies of dragoons, commander, two companies of reiters and a light gun. Optimized for firefight against small lists. Cavalry has good tactical discipline and carries pistols.

Kierros 3 kuurilaiset rakuunat ja ratsuväki ovat siirtyneet siltaa kohti. Ruotsalainen on edennyt - rauhallista tahtia, koska joukot olivat riveissä eivätkä kolonnassa. Kuurilaisten komentaja on siirtynyt joukkojen mukana sillan suuntaan - eikä pysty käskyttämään musketöörejä kahlaamolta aseman vaihtoon.

Round 2 I think. Swedes have leisurely advanced towards the river with Courlander cavalry and dragoons approaching the bridge. The musketeers at the ford were too far to be recalled so they were practically out of the battle.

Rakuunat ja musketöörit avaavat tulen pitkältä kantamalta. Hovilippue (Hofesfahn) kiroilee musketooniensa 20 cm kantamaa, joka jää kakkoseksi rakuunoiden puolimusketeille.

Fire is opened from long range by musketeers and Swedish dragoons. Curonian cavalry is ouranged by dragoons and cannot return fire. Still round 2.

Kierros 4 puolustajan tulitusvaihe. Tykistö on ampunut oikean sivustani ratsuväen pakosalle ja tulittaa nyt musketöörejä. Musktöörit ampuvat rynnäköiviä reitereita yhteislaukauksella. Ruotsalaisen rakuunat ammuskelevat  rannassa ampumaan valmistautuvaa ratsuväkeäni. Reiterit ja Lehnsfahnin jälkeen jäänyt komppania siirtyvät kohta käsikähmään. 

Round 4 defensive fire stage. My lehnsfanhn cavalry by the bridge meets a charge by shooting their musketoons. Cannon has shot other lehnsfahn company to flight and is no hammering the musketeers who let the charging have a salvo from close range. Swedish dragoons are on long range firefight with my Hofesfahn  and reiters.

Reiterit rynnäköivät kolonnassa ja saavat  vastaansa kahden musketööri komppanian murhaavan yhteislaukauksen. (8 noppaa, 3 vaaditaan osumiseen koska ovat jo kiinni lähitaistelussa. 1 osuma...

The reiters reciving the murderous salvo - that results in 1 hit. (8 dice, 3s required since the reiters are in close combat with Curonian lehnsfahne.)

Kierroksen 4 meleen tulos. Reiterit menettävät yhden beissin, kun lehnsfahn saa yhden iskun läpi. Reiterit hermostuvat läänityslippueen hurjuudesta ja omasta vähälukuisuudestaan ja vetäytyvät. Kuriton ja vastustajan kurinalaisuuden häikäisemä kuurilaislippue tekee samoin. Kuvassa näkyy myös kuinka rakuunoiden tuli kurittaa kuurilaista ratsuväkeä, joka ei vastineeksi saa mitään aikaan. Ja se kuinka raehaulit ovat saaneet musketöörit vetäytymään epäjärjestyksessä murrokselta.

 At the end of round 4 both lehnsfahn and Swedish reiters withdraw. Curonian reiters suffer in firefight  with dragoons. Musketeers punished by Swedish grapeshot withdraw in disorder from their field fortifications. A bad move.

Kierros 5 Rikotut reiterit ratsastivat kauniisti sillan yli ja kaarsivat sivuun. Tykistö jatkoi musketöörien kuritusta. Takaa tullut reiterkomppania otti yhteen lehnsfahnin kanssa, joka teki epätoisen  uljaan vastarynnäkön. Kuurilaiset rakuunat ampuivat ensimmäistä reiterkomppaniaa, joka oli sen tulialueella. Jokivarren ratsumiehet pakenivat hakivat uusia asemia maantien linjalta. Käsikähmässä läänityslippue hävisi ja paetessaan saattoi rakuunat epäjärjestykseen.

Round 5 The Swedish reiters in front turned left after the bridge making way for the second reiter company who were met by gallant desperate countercharge of lehnsfahne. The musketeers were shot to flight by further grapeshot. Rest of Curonian cavalry took new postions by the road. With lehnsfahne loosing the melee and runnging in flight though them the curonian dragoons were left in disorder.

Kierros 6 Ratsuväki ja komentaja suorittavat hallitun rintaman oikaisun. Dynaburgin rakuunat suojaavat vetäytystä. Musketöörit ja läänityslippueen rippeet täydessä juoksussa. Kierroksen lopussa reiterit tuhosivat rakuunat kokonaan.

Round 6 Curonian cavalry moving to new positions somewhere else, together with their commander. Musketeers and lehnsfahne in full flight. Dynaburg dragoons about to get hacked into pieces.

So in the end I suffered heavy losses and lost the control of the objective - bridge. I only killed one base of the enemy so loss was overall pretty bad.

In the afterthought I made following mistakes: not giving the musketeers on the ford move order in round 1. Now they were out of the game.  Deployment was not too bad otherwise. Now I had no real means to keep the Swede from contesting the bridge - ie. having a defending unit within 20 cm of the center of the bridge. So my deployment was a bit passive. Than again I did not need to take grapeshot from round 1 on the better side of the bridge.

 I coud have used the reiters for a attack from side. However since the troops arrive with move order I would have had trouble in getting them to actually attacking anyone in any meaningful way.  

Performance of the musketeers was disappointing, but not out of ordinary. My opponent has had his share of lackluster salvoes before.

And Curonian rossdienst cavalry is lousy.:-)

Peasants again. Maajussit bambukeihäineen.

Same downtrodden group of villagers as in previous post.

Keihästä siis pidetään näin! 

I decided to go with still green bamboospears and give these fellows really subdued colors. Brown and darkgrey might even be too prosperous and respectable.

Siis terävä pää viholliseen päin, montako kertaa se pitää sanoa?

The peasants still drying from the dip. Some highlights, varnish and grass and they are ready to meet run away from first group of samurai, bandits or sohei they happen to meet.

Roninprojektin alkua. Start of progress for Ronin buntais

After 15mm these ronin guys are interesting new experience.
Very much WIP, not even at finished block painting stage yet. First a Group of Black hat peasants of 25 mm listening closely as member of Ikko Ikki from Perry is instructing use of spear.These guys might form the required peasant core of 100 point peasant buntai, but will probably be seen as hangaround members of bandit or ikko-ikki warbands.

Black hatin Lantsareita nojailemassa bambukeihäisiinsä, kun Perryn Ikko

 

yrittää näyttää mitä sillä on tarkoitus tehdä.

 

 Second a group of Perry warrior monks with naginatas and teppo. Joy to paint, but getting those yellows and oranges to look good will be a challenge. They actually look better on picture than in real life, which is nice for a change.

Soturimunkkeja. Kerrankin kamera imartelee - keltaisen ja oranssin peitossa on isoja ongelmia.

Some Perry Ikko Ikki. The buntai will probably get some of the peasants, just for flavor. Rest will be a mixture of guys with various levels of armor.

Perryn Ikko-Ikkejä. Vahvistukseksi voi tulla talonpoikia, soheita tai jopa samuraita.

 

 And finally some Perry Bushi. Two samurai and four ashi-garu waiting for me to finish the armor and give them some kind of clan mon.

Perryn samuraita ja ashigaruja - 1 samurai ja 4 ashigarua on suunnilleen 100 pistettä, suositeltu buntain aloitusvahvuus Roninissa.

Mielenkiintoinen uusi maalauskokemus 15 millisten jälkeen. Tilaa maalata on ruhtinaallisesti, toisaalta peittävyyden kanssa on erilaisia ongelmia. Soheit ja bushit voinee viedä pelitestauksen kohtapuoleen. Varalla on vielä jonkun verran Black hatin ronineita, jotka voivat joko muodostaa ryöväribuntain rungon tai tulla peliin palkkasoturironineina.