After a rather long pause, here is an update in the blog, about my new 2mm Fantasy army: the Orks. The Irregular 2mm Fantasy range has some specific strips for them, such as the Orc/Goblin Warbands, the Wolfriders and the Wolf Chariots, and the Trolls; I added some Pikemen and Archers blocks from the Ancients Range for variety, and a Nazgul flying over a thin metal wire. 

Finally I have some photos of the Carro Celere Sahariano (M16/43 or M18/43) in 1/300 scale, based and ready for their hypothetical battles in North Africa. I also made some photos of them, side by side with the British Crusader Tank, the Italian M13/40 Medium Tank and with 6mm Bersaglieri infantry.

Here is some more work in progress on my new Carro Celere Sahariano experimental battalion (see previous post). After washing the models, I glued the turrets in place with cyanoacrilate glue, then I glued the guns, made from 5mm sections cut from a thin iron wire. This step was rather fiddly, but the material of the models takes well the cyanoacrilate glue (I used the gel type) and with a pair of tweezers, and some patience, the result is passable and not too much fragile. I then glued the unpainted models on mdf bases; I always do this with 1/300 and smaller vehicles, because it gives me something to hold during painting.

I am not Michelangelo or Rembrandt, I must admit, and my painting technique is rather basic. First I paint overall the basic colour (in this case a sand khaki; I am not a purist and I tend to use the first pot I find in the box... in this case, GW Bubonic Brown looked adequate).

Next step was painting the tracks with gun metal, then I washed the whole model with a black ink wash. My personal recipe is 1 drop of ink / 20 drops of water, carefully try on one model and if it is too dark, add some water drops.

Last step is a drybrush with a very light sand colour (almost white...); I use this over every colour and in all theatres, with the double effect of weathering the model and helping the details to stand out.

After that I let everything to dry very well, and apply a protective hand of clear varnish. Stay tuned for the final part of the article... texturing the bases.

After the first disasters in North Africa, the Italian FIAT planned a new tank called "Carro Celere Sahariano"   (Saharan Fast Tank) or M16/43 or M18/43, that was heavily inspired by the British Cruiser tanks design. Like the M14/41, it was armed with a 47mm gun, but was provided with a Christie suspension system and sloped armor. Only one prototype was made, with a weight of 14 tons and a road speed of about 60 km/h. The project was abandoned after the withdrawal from North Africa and the surrender of Italy... but what if the "Sahariano" would have been produced and used in battle, against the 8th Army?

Fascinated by this obscure and never made tank, I started investigating if I could add it to my 1/300 Italian army. At first I contemplated a conversion or even to make it by myself, but luckily a member of the 6mm_Miniatures Yahoogroup kindly offered to produce the model.

Karl Heinz Ranitzsch runs a shop in Shapeways, that is a website where you can create and sell models with rapid prototyping from a 3D file that you make, or something like that (I think). In just some weeks the Carro Celere Sahariano  was ready to ship... oh joy! If you give a look to the Dragonman's Depot you can see other interesting models in 1/300 scale, and you can ask to the designer to make wargaming models that are not commercially suitable.

I must say that these models from Shapeways are not cheap. I ordered ten of them (enough for one hypothetical battalion with 1 model = one platoon) in a material called "White Detail" and the total cost, including shipping was $ 36,63 ( 29,54 euros). Anyway I really wanted these unique toys and when they arrived, I was not disappointed. 

One of the advantages of wargaming with 2mm scale, with two-pages rules and on a 30x30mm board, is that the whole set is highly portable. On friday evening I went to my old wargaming friend's home and we played a scenario based on the Battle of Qadesh (circa 1275 BC) on his writing desk. Before the great battle, he showed me his latest brush work... some nice 28mm miniatures for the War of Spanish Succession... another interesting period to wargame (and who knows if we will end up with another two-pages set of rules for these?)

But now, back to the Bronze Age. Here is the Scenario for the Battle of Qadesh, played with the Legio VIII rules (that you can download from the Pz8 yahoogroup).

Egyptians

Amun Division (North, with one Foot unit inside the Egyptian Camp)

1 x Light Chariots (Mounted, bow, Veteran, Regular)  @ 8 points

+ Exceptional General (Ramesses II)

1 x Bowmen (Heavy Foot, Unarmoured, Bow, Raw, Regular) @ 6 points each

1 x Spearmen (Heavy Foot, Shielded, Raw, Regular) @ 7 points each

1 x Light Foot (Unarmoured, Bow, Raw) @ 2 points each

Re Division (West)

Ptah Division (South, enters from turn 2)

Ne’arin Division (North, enters from turn 3 if D6 = 5,6)

Each with:

1 x Light Chariots (Mounted, Bow, Average, Regular)  @ 7 points

1 x Bowmen (Heavy Foot, Unarmoured, Bow, Raw, Regular) @ 6 points each

1 x Spearmen (Heavy Foot, Shielded, Raw, Regular) @ 7 points each

1 x Light Foot (Unarmoured, Bow, Raw) @ 2 points each

Total points = 89 points, Army Breakpoint = 8 units

The Egyptian Camp counts as Rough Terrain (not as fortifications) but Chariots can move inside.  It should be large enough to accomodate 2 units. It at the end of a turn is occupied by one or more unopposed Hittites units, it counts as 1 unit for Egyptian Army Breakpoint.

Hittites

Chariot Striking Force (West of Oronte River)

1 x Light Chariots (Mounted, bow, Veteran, Regular)  @ 8 points + Average General (Mutawalli II)

4 x Light Chariots (Mounted, bow, Average, Regular)  @ 7 points each

Infantry Reserve (East of Oronte River, enters from turn 2)

7 x Spearmen (Heavy Foot, Shielded, Raw, Regular) @ 7 points

2 x Light Foot (Unarmoured, Bow, Raw) @ 2 points each

Total points = 89 points, Army Breakpoint = 7 units

The Orontes River is considered Rough Terrain, but Chariots can cross it.

The game took about one hour and resulted in an Hittite "Phirric" victory. Ramesses II charged fiercely Mutawalli II and his bodyguards, but was killed in the process (Gods did not protect him this time), then the Hittite infantry steamroller crossed the Orontes and captured the Egyptian camp after a fierce battle, in which Mutawalli II suffered the same fate of his enemy! Total casualties were 8 Egyptian units (including the General's unit, that counts double, and the camp) vs 6 Hittite units (including the General's unit)... looks like a replayable scenario. 

The rules seem to work well, with a couple of additional notes:

1) units can not shoot to enemy units already engaged in melee (seemed obvious, but my friend asked if he could...)

2) units can attack other units only from their front (this is important... beware of flank or rear contact!)

I am testing a new two-pages set of Ancient & Medieval rules called "Legio VIII", that is being developed together with the Pz8 two-pages Fantasy rules. Both playtest versions can be downloaded from the Pz8 Yahoogroup (if you really do not want to join the group, you can get an earlier version in a previous post in the Blog, or just... wait until I publish them in the website, when they are fully tested.)

For these rules I am making some armies in 2mm scale. This evening I did a solo game of New Kingdom Egyptians vs Hittites. I will do a scenario based on the Battle of Qadesh (circa 1300 BC) in the next days, but for now I wanted to try a generic battle, because I wanted to test the point system and the victory conditions.

The minimal 2mm miniatures are mounted on 20x10mm base, two of them making one 20x20mm unit. I played on a really small area (30x35cm)  using centimetres instead of inches in the rules.

Here is the Order of Battle:

NEW KINGDOM EGYPTIANS
1 x Light Chariots (Mounted, bow, Veteran, Regular)  @ 8 points + Exceptional General

3 x Light Chariots (Mounted, bow, Average, Regular)  @ 7 points each
4 x Bowmen (Heavy Foot, Unarmoured, Bow, Raw, Regular) @ 6 points each
4 x Spearmen (Heavy Foot, Shielded, Raw, Regular) @ 7 points each
4 x Light Foot (Unarmoured, Bow, Raw) @ 2 points each

Total 89 points - Army Breakpoint 8 units

HITTITES
1 x Light Chariots (Mounted, bow, Veteran, Regular)  @ 8 points + Average General
4 x Light Chariots (Mounted, bow, Average, Regular)  @ 7 points each
8 x Spearmen (Heavy Foot, Shielded, Raw, Regular) @ 7 points eachTotal 92 points - Army Breakpoint 6 units

TURN 1 - The two armies move closer in the desert... the small pieces of cork represent rough ground. Egyptians are on the left, Hittites on the right,

TURN 2 - The advance continues... Light Chariots are turning, since they can not cross rough ground.

TURN 3 -  Egyptian Light Foot occupy one rough ground area. The Light Chariots are preparing to shoot...

TURN 4 - First shooting from the Egyptian and Hittite Chariots, that manage to Disorder one enemy unit each.

TURN 5 - Egyptian Light bowmen Disorder two Hittite Heavy Foot, then move behind the bulk of their shielded infantry. On one wing, Hittite Chariots manage to Disorder all their enemies, and charge!

TURN 6 - Arrows from the Egyptian line are causing problems to the Hittite centre, and one of the Hittite chariot units is Shocked.

TURN 7 - One Egyptian wing collapses and on the other side of the battlefield, the Pharaoh himself is Routed with his Veteran bodyguard! But the Egyptian center is slaughtering the Hittite foot...

TURN 8 - Hittite Chariots turn to encircle the Egyptian center, but is too late...

TURN 9 - The Hittites reach their army breakpoint (6 units Routed) vs 4 Egyptian units (1 counts double since it was the General's unit). The game lasted about one hour.

I added some new units to my 2mm Undead army and a new army to my 2mm collection: the Cimmerians. These are a human people of nomads of the steppes, with a fixation of conquering the whole world. They fight on horse or camels, armed with bows and accompanied by war elephants. (well, not a very original background, but I had just these miniatures to make a new army, so... let's go on).

When they meet another people, they leave them a choice: surrender and join their army, or die! The Undead, being already dead, refused the first option, and this gave me the chance to make a nice little game, with the Pz8 two-pages Fantasy rules... (you can download the pdf file after the battle report).

I added a point system to the rules (something unusual for me) to aid the army compositions, and wrote down a new "Magic Spells" section. Both things seem to work alright... here is the Order of Battle (75 points armies):

CIMMERIANS
2 x War Elephants (Monsters, Average) @ 10 pts
4 x Noblemen (Heavy Mounted, Bow, Veteran) @ 9 pts
4 x Horse Archers (Light Mounted, Bow, Average) @ 5 pts
Roll 1D3 = Magic Spells (1)

UNDEAD
3 x Bowmen (Heavy Foot, Bow, Raw) @ 6 pts
3 x Phalanx ((Heavy Foot, Shielded, Raw) @ 6 pts
2 x Cataphracts (Shock Mounted, Fully Armoured, Average) @ 10 pts
1 x Scythed Chariots (Heavy Chariots, Average) @ 8 points
1 x Skirmishers (Light Foot, Sling) @ 3 points
2 x Horse Archers (Light Mounted, Bow, Raw) @ 4 points
Roll 1D3 = Magic Spells (1)

The Cimmerians harassed the advancing Undead with their arrows, with no particular effect, while the Scythed Chariot approached one group of Cimmerian Noblemen, covered by Skirmishers and Light Horse. The Cimmerians used their spell: "Hawk Eye"! and a precise salvo of arrows Shocked the Undead Skirmishers, while another good D6 roll had the same effect on the Light Horse. The two units were finished off by the Noblemen, that were attacked by the Scythed Chariots. The Undead used their spell "Fury!" and the Scythed Chariots slaughtered one unit of the Noblemen, before crashing in the process.

The Undead heavy foot contact the Cimmerian Horse Archer and one unit is destroyed, but the others make a  Break Off and continue to shoot them at distance. In the meantime the mighty 2mm Elephants collide into them, but the melee is indecisive. 


On the other side of the battlefield, the Cimmerian noblemen manage to Shock the Black Cataphracts of King Rigor Mortis XIV with their arrows, and charge them with success. Then they menace the exposed side of the Undead foot, but before they encircle them, the Cimmerian Elephants kill another enemy unit, ending the battle.

I attach to this post the most recent version of the rules, complete with some sample Elf, Dwarf, Human, Undead and Cimmerian units... hope you like it and if you try them, let me know.

I did my first solo game with my 2mm Fantasy Armies and the 2-pages Pz8 Fantasy Wargame Rules. 

GOOD ALLIANCE
2 x Human Cavalry (Average / Heavy Mounted)
2 x Human Light Foot (Raw / Bow / Unarmoured)
1 x Dwarf Light Foot (Average / Crossbow / Armoured)
2 x Dwarf Heavy Foot ( Veteran / Axe / Armoured) (1 with Average General)
2 x Elves Heavy Foot (Average / Longbow & Sword / Unarmoured
1 x Elves Light Chariot (Average / Heavy Mounted)

Roll 1D6 = 5 x Magic Spells

UNDEAD 
2 x Light Cavalry (Average / Bow / Light Mounted)
1 x Artillery (Average)
1 x Scythed Chariots (Veteran / Heavy Mounted)
2 x Light Foot (Raw / Javelin / Unarmoured)
2 x Warbands (Average / Shielded)
2 x Shock Cavalry (Veteran / Fully Armoured)


Roll 1D6 = 1 x Magic Spells

The Undead advance but the Good Alliance play their first spell and one unit of Black Cataphracts, with their King Rigor Mortis XIX, changes side! This causes a bit of confusion in the Undead army, that halt their advance on the hill to fight their former General. Another successful spell and another Black Cataphract unit is Shocked. Mmmm... a black day for the Undead.

On the other side of the battlefield, the Human cavalry gallops towards the Undead light huns, that shoot their bows without results. The Humans charge the Undead, and rout them, even if the Bone Catapults cause some Disorder in their ranks. But a successful "Heal" spell removes this damage, and the Human cavalry flee the Undead artillerymen.

In the meantime, the Good Alliance Light Foot move through the Woods and engage the Undead skirmishers, killing one of their unit. The only one magic spell of the Undead fails; their feared Scythed Chariots charges the Dwarf Heavy Foot and manages to Shock one unit, before breaking to pieces.

With 5 units routed, the Undead army is defeated and the Good Alliance is victorious!

The game took only half an hour and was fun, even if there are still many little details to fix.  I am not 100% sure of the Attack / Defence factors and above all, as you probably noticed, the Magic Spells can drastically unbalance the battle. Maybe allowing only 1D3 = nr of spells would be better, will try next time... for the Second Undead Invasion.

I was asked if it is possible to get the new 2-pages Ancient/Medieval and 2-pages Fantasy rules without joining the Pz8 Yahoogroup... of course, just download the pdf's below. I will be happy if you want to join anyway, to share your impressions and ideas. 

Recently I have been fiddling with a two pages set of Ancient & Medieval wargame rules (early draft can be downloaded from the Pz8 Yahoogroup) and its Fantasy variant. I did some first games with card counters in lieu of miniatures, but then I remembered that I had an assortment of 2mm ancient strips and blocks from Irregular Miniatures, somewhere in my bits box.

After a first inspection I realized that I would not be able to make some proper historical armies, but I could make some Fantasy forces instead. I am not very found of Irregular 2mm blocks of infantry in close order - they look like, ehm, "blocks" to my poor old eyes - but there are many different strips in open order that can make for excellent fantasy hordes, and the cavalry strips are very nice.

Since I wanted something really quick, cheap and playable on a minimal surface, I glued each single strip on a 20x10mm base, that gives something to hold while painting. Two bases make a 20x20mm unit, that is just a little smaller than my usual microarmour 25x25mm bases - so still handy to move on the table. A flexible system, since I can make bigger units (say 40x20mm) placing 4 strips together, etc.

When I paint the 2mm microbs, I start from the bases. Texture with fine sand and PVA glue, than paint brown. After it, I paint the little men, horses and chariots with black undercoat. This is the most time consuming phase; painting the actual miniatures is just a matter of a quick drybrush in a basic colour, than I add some details that stand out, like shields in a contrasting colour, and / or a flag. I am not able to paint faces, bows, spears or other details in this scale and to be honest, I think that they do not add too much to the final effect. I rather spend some more time on the base, drybrushing them in different shades of green and sand, and adding a small clump of static grass on the rear side (this helps to understand where is the unit facing!)

Here is a small painting guide for the 2mm races I have done so far, with the strips code from the Irregular Miniatures 2mm range:

DWARVES: Gun metal with red shields and flag, bronze helmets. 
 ABG13 Peltast/Auxiliary Infantry  = Axemen
BG3 Skirmish Infantry = Crossbowmen (these are kneeling skirmishers, so make good 1mm high Dwarves!)

HUMANS: Gun metal cavalry, blue/purple/green infantry, all with gun metal helmets. 
 ABG14 Lancers Cavalry ABG12 Light Infantry Archers

ELVES: white tunics, horses, chariots, with silver helmets.
ABG7 Two Horse Chariots  
ABG24 Loose Order Bowman

UNDEAD: Light sand with brown chariots and engines, black horse armour and flags.
ABG3 Regular Peltast Infantry 
ABG6 Barbarian infantry  
ABG9 Light Horse Archers
ABG10 Light Cavalry w javelin  
ABG19 Four Horse Chariot 
ABG25 Siege Engine