Quiet... Hiljaiseloa

Shortly in English: no gaming except one match of Ronin since last posting. Very little painting - Polish peasant partisans have slowly gotten paint, together with two Danish command bases and some unarmoured Ronin  figures. Lots of stuff in the painting queu and despite relatively high inspiration actual painting effort has been slow. To amend the situation I've naturally acquired some more miniatures -  more peasants, retainers and samurai for Ronin, and more landsknechts for the Pike and Shotte. Now I just need to get the things on the table ready to be able to move on...

Polish peasants - slow progress

Jaahas pitkän tovin on pitänyt pelitaukoa. Onneksi erä Roninia katkaisi sen, mutta muuten figupelirintamalla on ollut kovin hiljaista.

Munkkibuntaini - 4 munkkia ja palvelija rökitti 10 bandiitin lauman verisesti. Jälleen tuli todettua, että laatu, varsinkin panssarin kanssa on valttia tässä sääntösysteemissä. Ja tetsubo on jossain määrin hirvittävä vekotin. Omalta puoleltani pahinta jälkeä teki vanhempi munkki, taso 4, joka raudoitetulla pesäpallomailallaan kaatoi suunnilleen vastustajan kierroksessa.  Tosin vastustajan rosvoista ainoan tapon tehnyt ja suurmestaria pahasti haavoittanut jäppinen oli perusbandiitti, joka huitoi katanalla.

Puolalaiset partisaanit ovat saaneet hiljalleen väriä, samoin satunnaiset muut figut. Edistys on kuitenkin ollut hyvin takkuista ja valmiiksi ei ole tullut kuin muutama Ronin-figu. Maalauspöydällä on nyt keskeneräisenä  talonpoikaislauma, kaksi tanskalaista komentobeissiä ja joukko haarniskoimattomia palvelijoita, samuraita  ja siviilejä Roninia varten, sekä torni ja kirkko 15 millin skaalaan. Aloitusta odottaa pohjamaalattuna joukko turkkilaista valioratsuväkeä, joukko landsknehtejä ja 1500-luvun alun keihäsreitereita, joukko pyhiinvaeltajia ja keihäsmiehiä 15 mm skirmishpeleihin, silta, muutama puu ja muutama vainaa. Kokoamisjonossa on sekalainen joukko turkkilaista jalkaväkeä, By Fire and Swordin transilvanialaisia, janitsaareja ja tataareja.

Danish command - tummanharmaita ratsuja sekä pohjamaalattuja.

Now they all have at least coats.

Tilauksessa vuoren rinteeseen on vähän lisää roninin heikommin varusteltuja joukkoja ja herkuttelua varten Steel fistiltä 4 sankarisamuraita.

Bunch of peasants and first of Steelfist samurai

Back from Warsow - Takaisin Varsovasta

Together with a friend we went to Warsow to participate in 3rd Championship tourney for Baton of Jan Sobieski in Wilanov palace. I was impressed.

First must be mentioned the impeccable hospitality we foreign players received throuhgout the event - from Friday evening when we were picked from the airport back to when we were dropped back there on Monday afternoon. Second the very gentlemanly way in which the competition took place. Thirdly the insane fun Fenno-Dutch contingent had.

The games themselves.
I brought three lists. All European Ottoman skirmishlists.
12 point, 6 bases of lance armed sipahi, 6 bases of sipahis, 3 bases of besli, 3 bases of elite besli, 3 bases of spear armed gonullu, 3 bases of gonullu, 10 bases of segban infantry - three lasts of whom were robbers and thus subject some nasty extra effects in the beginning of the game.
I had a list of 10 points - which I never used - I did not really see a function for it in the end.
And a list of 7 points if I should meet a small list as defined by rules.
That one had just 6 bases of lance sipahis, 6 bases of sipahi and 10 bases of segbani.

First game against Geralt - defensive list, Imperial outpost defending a village. Quite simply I got shot into pieces before reaching the enemy. Strategic defeat. The 7 point list clearly was not made for this task - even with the mass of segbani. SO for the small list something different is required - might be a very small skirmish force - letting me choose the scenario played and using the mobility of light cavalry.

Turks running all around the village - and getting shot at.

 Second game Eoderen. First of Polish crown armies I was to meet. Mission take the village. That 20/+20 elite cavalry is scary. It reaches far, gets horrendous impact and  I tried clever tactic of having light cavalry deployed between the village and enemy deployment zone for diversion, but realized too late they would be hacked to tiny pieces if they try to withdraw. So I charged enemy pancerni instead, with expected results. I managed to get some segbani in to houses - so I came off with a strategic loss again. (If I remember correctly - I was still having trouble following the point count.)

Third Lukasz - with Polish Danzig army of 12 points whom I met in take and hold. The game in tourney where I got to play with my strengths. I had numbers and mobility and even some luck with the dice. I even managed to kill enemy commander. Strategic victory with enemy in the end controlling one of the target points. So lesson learned target points need to be guarded against enemy counterattack.

Light cavalry spreading around and refusing to engage, sipahis advancing and right flank open to deploy the flanking deli. Life is - for once - good to servants of the padisah.

 Fourth Mires - Polish Crown army again. This time I was attacked with a night attack enemy had 3 points less so no extra effects to harass me. Wonky but fun scenario. My troops got  badly hammered, but in the end defeat was only tactical. I managed to keep 2 of his three units of my camp so only one squadron was doing damages there. (Actualy no squadrons allowed so this might have made some difference - no extra big unit to attack, but otoh two different banners going to diffrent directions more fluidly.)

Fifth - Stazi playing Polish Crown army. (5th round game going on Photo by Wargamer crew )Again armies of same force points. Take and hold scenario. Enemy used wallachians very elegantly to deny my flank attack possibility  of gaining momentum. We had to end at round five - My enemy controlling all targets at this point. With some desperate flank charges by light cavalry against pancerni I managed to strike back his central force with my sipahi, but would have been charged in the flank on the next round losing more troops - but with potential ability to reach at least the secondary objectives. Very intriguing. Still - pancerni and cossacks are scary when opponents.

On meta level I got to fight roughly equal opponents twice, twice opponent with weaker list, but not excessively so and once against a small list. It seems that I am pretty comfortable with the large list and in that the larger the better to soak the casualties and to have units to do stuff. Smaller list needs serious thought. Combination of feudal cavalry and rabble infantry is just  not upto the task of  attacking a fenced village, which it will be very likely to meet if opponent is a defensive or small list. Interestingly enough I was not once beaten in reconnaisance thanks to segbani being counted as cavlry for recon. Some more thoughts on development Deluge supplement has brought to game from Anatoli in his blog. Anatolis battlereport.

Interestingly enough: the tourney was won by Imperial outpost which I heard had been thought to be the magic bullet this year. The champ is only one of them in top ten though, with the rest of imperials spread pretty equally among the results. In top ten there are four Turkish armies, second place was claimed by Transylvanians, with tatars 4th , Poland - some version of in place 7 and tenth place taken by cossacks.

Nice tourney, lots to learn of rules, nice opponents and interesting ponderings on continued gaming.

Horde of turks Turkkilaislauma

A skirmishforce of - if I counted correctly 39 bases of Turks.
Done, varnished, based and flocked.

Next probably someting completely different, but it is nice to have reached one stage. Regiments of janissaries and sipahis wait for me to get this expanded into a division.

Ottomanhorde in the making. Turkkilaislauma työn alla.

In anticipation of coming battles  I have been working on getting my turkish skirmish force into order where it could be playtested. Some work remains to be done but majority of figures have paint on them. Remains to be seen how playable this group is.

Turkkilaislauma alkaa hiljalleen valmistua pelikuntoon. Vielä muutama iltapuhde kyllä menee viimeistelyssä. Sen jälkeen pitäisi ihmetellä onko tämä lauma pelikelpoinen. Siivillä on kohtuullista kevyttä ratsuväkeä. Jalkaväki on kuraa, mutta voi toimia hidasteena. Keskustan sipahit lyövät kohtuullisen lujaa. He vain eivät kestä juuri lainkaan tappioita. Ja lauman komentajaa voim parhaimmillaan kuvat keskinkertaiseksi.

Ambush gone sour. Väijytys Liettuan takamailla

Ruotsalainen neliössä kruununarmeijan joukot vihreillä beisseillä

 

 

Deluge rulebook finally arrived and we decided to give the rules a test ride as fast as possible.

I used a Lithuanian Skirmish force of 6 points with: a banner of elite armore reiters (3 bases), a banner of cossacks (3), a banner of tatars (2 ) and two banners (2+2) of reiters.
My opponent used a Swedish list of 10 with 1 squadron of four arquebus armed reiters, two squadrons armed with pistols and a squadron of dragoons. All veterans, commanded by colonel, captain and a major he got as bonus for not taking armored reiters.

Kasakat valmiina lahtaamaan rakuunaeskadroonan.

 After throwing ambush, patrol and forage for possible scenarios I chose ambush. Leaving one point difference for additional effects. The Swedes were fatigued - meaning they had three tokens they would lose if units got disorganized and after losing those their morale would drop. This was partly offset by their superior numbers that allowed them to reroll one morale save in the game.

The enemy did what? You cowards, come back and fight!

Thanks to scenario one of opponents units would be hit by panic and be disorganized in movement phase of first round.

Swede deployed in a rough square with one squadron facing out from every opening I had left his deployment zone. I deployed both my reiters ready to threaten one group of reiters in vicinity of the tatars, cossacks threatening the dragoons and commander close to the tatars and reiters.  With all my units except the tatars loaded with charge orders I was ready to go. Plan was to crush the outnumbered reiters in one swift move as well as the dragoons and hit the other formations disrupted by fleeing remnants of the first two. Panic effect hit one of the opponents other reiter squadrons.

The dragoons are still withdrawing in order.

Plan was not totally without merit - unfortunately the enemy reiters did not countercharge with 2-1 odds and possible flank charge against them, but rather sensibly withdrew. And my armored reiter elite promptly got disorganized by confusion.

Cossacks managed to hit the dragoons, who dismounted so they could not flee as fast. Or as the Swedish commander put it so they could protect the regrouping reiters. This plan kind of worked - the dragoons got pummeled, but with help of commander boosting their morale and using their bonus from superior numbers they failed to run in terror. As a bonus they managed to kill off one base of the cossacks. Leaving this group without orders, one base killed, presenting their flank to a squadron of reiters four bases strong.

 Round 2. I get the armored reiters rallied and issued with orders - leaving the cossacks to their own initiative.  (They were too far removed from the commander to get orders without extra command points - since the dragoons had only withdrawn as infantry...)

The epic charge.

In thundering charge banner of Lithuanin elite cavalry join forces with their colleagues and smash to Swedish Reiters - except the dragoons shooting in defence and reiters shooting while charging manage to drop one base of Lithuanians. They promptly withdraw in disorder from such dangerous place leaving rather unimpressed reiter squadron the job of dealing with the Swedish veterans.

Elite reiters milling about, normal reiters fleeing.

Round 3. Cossacks have fled and are in practise out of the game. Armored elite have refused to get into order and stumble without plan in my center.  Reiters have put up a stiff fight, but Swedes have a slight advantage in skill, morale and after a while also in numbers.  As a result reiters flee.

Normal reiters and tatars rallied. Elite reiters have collapsed.

Round 4 Elite reiters failed to rally and were again hit by swedish veterans who put them to flight. The battle was surprisingly even - Swedes failed to give lithuanians any casualties because of their armor. Disorder and Swedish Good Tactical Discipline were enough to make my elite run for their lives. at this stage Cossacks are as good as gone, but my reiters have rallied into relatively good position. Other Swedish troops have started a wide flanking maneuver effectively taking them off the game.

Final clash.

Round 5. Elite reiters flee causing morale check on nearest unit - the reiters who pass it with commanders moral support. Flight of cossacks interests no-one.  Tatars move to safe position. But the reiters charge their Swedish counterparts, with commander joining unit. The Swede replies with countercharge and takes his colonel to fray.

My reiters lose first the shooting match and then melee in two stages - fleeing off table.


Round 6 is unplayed - in effect their would be no way for the Swede to catch my remaining tatars.

Lessons learned:
Banner of 3 alone is vulnerable especially against the Swede who has very good reasons for using banners of 4 to get morale boost from numbers. In ambush the normal cavalry can not catch cavalry in round 1 if they want to  flee and are not hampered by panic or something similar. The armour of reiters with value of 6 is real good and may make hurting such units rather tough.  Against Swedes Lithuanian reiters are not very good choice - atleast not in a small list. They will be lacking in both numbers and quality when compared to the oponent.

Nice, fun game, tactical victory to my opponent, but with the amount of troops I had on table at the end even that feels rather generous.

Signal Close action kriegspiel and Ronin.

A long play by email game of Signal Close action wound to end since last posting. Despite my mismanagement of French class 2 ship of the line Amphion I managed to pummel smaller British adversary to submission in a very close run boarding action.

On this game I was just a player. Organizer sent us mail with pics taken from the quarterdeck of ships showing the enemy, with some extra info relayed by 1st lieutenant. A blast to play, but must have been an enormous amount of work for the host.

With a friend a game of ronin where Pure land league clashed with some Hosokawa samurai.

 My opponents advancing.

 Hosokawa adavancing to the village.

 Shooting line of ikki teppo by the fence

 Peasants and monks on my left flank.

I managed to get so0me of the Crescent and Cross crusaders ready:

Levy infantry armed with various nasty clubbing and hacking instruments. 15 mm Legio Heroica.

I will continue with both the japanese and the  Saga crusaders, but with the arrival of Deluge for the By Fire and Sword troops for its army lists may get priority.

WIP 15 mm crusaders

New wave of japanese figures pushed this project to the sidelines, but slowly my small crusader host has advanced.

Two conrois of cavalry. Hearthguard

Some detail is still missing. Shield decals are not 100% match so the edges of kiteshields will require some paint. Legio heroica crusader knights and arabized knights of the Holy Land.

Foot soldiers - warriors and levy.

Legio Heroica again. Still missing glaze, varnish and some details of the base. I very much liked to paint the peasant levy. Probably worthlesh trash on the battlefield, though.

Furthermore 8 mounted sergeants. (Armenian knights and sergeants) and some leaders are in various stages of painting. 12 spearmen, 12 pilgrims and a priest await priming.