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).  The initial deployment, with the Cimmerians on the left side. Terrain features are a wood (left) and a hill (right). Game board is only 30x30mm. Red and yellow counters indicate the units with a General (I have still to make some 2mm command figures). 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 Undead Phalanx and Bowmen climb the hill... 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.
 | pz8_fantasy_wargame_rules_may_12th_2012.pdf | | File Size: | 91 kb | | File Type: | pdf |
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 The initial deployment of the two armies, with the Good Alliance on the left and the Undead on the right. Battle area is a a 30x30cm square. 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
 Dwarves (red shields and flags) and Elves (white) prepare to face the Undead. 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.
 Undead Cataphracts and Warbands climb the hill. 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.  The final moments of the battle, with the fratricide Undead fight over the hill, the Scythed Chariot charging the Dwarves, and the Human cavalry charging the Undead catapults. 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.
| legio_viii_wargame_rules_apr_9th_2012_copia.pdf | | File Size: | 84 kb | | File Type: | pdf |
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| pz8_fantasy_wargame_rules_apr_10th_2012.pdf | | File Size: | 87 kb | | File Type: | pdf |
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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
I found a menacing rubber spider in the bathroom, belonging to my naughty son, and I had the idea of making a simple game, inspired by those hilarious sci-fi movies of the 50s-70s that we all love.
This is the background: "A metorite hits the countryside somewhere and reveals to be the egg of a giant Spider. You are in command of an Army unit with a vital mission: kill it.... and save the Earth!" The rules for " The Giant Spider From Outer Space" are as usual very short (less than one page) and you can download them from the Rules page. You need a 60x60cm board, some terrain features and some Infantry, Jeeps and one Tank, ideally 1/300 scale. And of course, a Spider (or a Bug, a Scorpion... just change the name of the game!) It is a fun solo game if you don't have any other intelligent thing to do; you can even play it with other people and make your own scenarios... will you defeat the monster Spider?
On September 1970, Syria invaded Jordania with an armored force, in an attempt to protect the Palestinians during the "Black September". The were countered by a Jordanian armored brigade with air support, while the Syrian air force did not participate to the invasion. The Jordanians were initially pushed back but with the help of severe airstrikes, they eventually forced back the Syrians. This historical event inspired a simple solo game with the two-pages, Pz8 1950-75 rules. Here are the orders of battle (a tank fest...) and the scenario victory conditions:
SYRIANS (Green)
20 x T55
5 x PT76
3 x BM21 Kathusha
1 x HQ+Truck
JORDANIAN (Average)
16 x M48 Patton
1 x HQ + M1134 x Jeep + RCL
3 x Field Artillery (Off table)
2+1 D6 x Air-to-Ground Attacks
Targets of Air-to-Ground attacks must be at least 10” from Jordanian units.
Syrians must destroy at least 8 Jordanian units, losing less than 10 of their units. Otherwise it is a Jordanian victory.
 Jeeps with RCL ambushing the T55, in the fields near the village. They are visibile only within 5" , unless they move or fire.
In the first turns, Jordanian artillery and airstrikes destroyed two Syrian BM21 batteries (the third did not do too much during the game) and above all, killed the Syrian HQ, meaning that the other Syrian units could not rally when Disorganized or Suppressed. On the other side, the Jordanian guns remained quickly out of ammo.
Syrian PT-76 light tanks (in column along the road) boldy advanced but two platoons were destroyed by the Jordanians recoiless guns; the others decided to withdraw behind the hills, leaving the job to the heavy T55.
One Syrian tank battalion climbed a big hill and slowly advanced towards the village, meeting the fire of the Jordanian M48 from another hill. The green Syrian gunners were not able to inflict any significant casualty to the Jordans, and their advance was halted.
The other tank battalion moved toward a wood and was targeted by the Jordanian RCLs, this time without success. The jeep rushed away from the wood and another tank battle begun. At short distance and on plain terrain, the Syrians managed to wreck two M48 platoons, but it was not enough. The Syrians had now 10 units destroyed, and this ended the battle.
The Syrian tank force at the beginning of the game. These are 1/300 scale models.
Jordanian M48 Patton prepare to defend their homeland.
From Wikipedia: " The Battle of Yalu River, (Japanese: 鴨緑江会戦, Ōryokkō Kaisen) 30 April to 1 May 1904, was the first major land battle during the Russo-Japanese War. It was fought near Wiju (modern village of Uiju,North Korea on the lower reaches of the Yalu River, at the border between Korea and China."The simple Pz8 WW1 Divisional rules were designed for 1915-18 trench warfare, but I was encouraged by some scenarios designed by the French wargamer Pierre Laporte, to try them for open battles. I made a scenario for the Battle of the Yalu River and I played it solo, with my brand new 1904-05 Russian and Japanese armies, in the unusual 4mm scale. You can download the file, with order or battle, map and special "banzai" rule, in the Rules page.
The situation at the start of the battle. Usually in the WW1 Pz8 Rules, players deploy on the short sides of the map, within their half, but for this battle the two armies deployed on the longer sides.
The Russian rolled for Field Defences and they were really lucky: with 6 Trenches and 5 wires, they could hold the Yalu River banks very strongly. On the other side, the Japanese did not try to make a preliminary bombardment, preferring to hold their precious artillery round to support their assaults.
Japanese battalions prepare to attack the Russian centre. The bases with red counters are Guards (Elite). I will make small flags with the rising sun one day... promised.
First Japanese attacks were victorious but bloody, and the Russians managed to hold the centre, thanks to efficient artillery support and lethal machine guns. The Japanese crossed the Yalu River on the right and left wings, inflicting many casualties to the Russians too.
Cossacks regiments prudently watch the battle, in the rear area of the Russian defences.
Japanese Guards were ordered a Banzai charge, supported by concentrated artillery fire, but they were repulsed! Even if some Japanese battalions managed to take some sectors in the second line of the Russian defences, the centre and the hills were still in enemy's hands. Japanese last artillery rounds were spent but the situation did not change and the Russian even tried a counter attack, that failed.
Japanese infantry crossing the Yalu River and meeting the Russian defenders.
At the end of the fourth turn, the Japanese could not advance further and did not occupy at least all the first line of enemy defences, giving the victory to the Russians. Probably the battle would have been different, if the Russian could not count on all those Field Defences... I will play it again and see.
I spent some evenings painting the tiny 4mm miniatures from Tumbling Dice (see my previous article). I took some photos with my cell phone, in the dull light of winter afternoon, but I hope that at least you can have an idea of how they look when painted. Those on the left are the Japanese, in dark blue uniforms, while those on the right are the Russians in a yellowish khaki. I used 25mm wide bases that accomodate one strip in close order, each with 8 figures; I cut the loose order infantry in strips of 6 figures, and used the remnants to make some skirmisher bases.
Cavalry bases have 8 figures each, with some loose mounted figures representing HQ. Artillery and machine guns are one on each base, with some figures from the support weapons strips to represent crew. Gun models (British 18 pdr guns) are not really appropriate for the period but... I am not a perfectionist. I simply painted them in grey or green to represent the nationality, and they will be "artillery" in my games... To paint the figures, I followed the usual technique for painting 6mm miniatures: black undercoat and drybrush of basic uniform colour, then details. I managed to paint the gaiters, the blanket roll over the backpack, and even the red trousers of the bold Japanese cavalry. An exaggerated blob of flesh for faces, was the final touch. With one "WW1 Infantry Brigade" pack I was able to make two small armies, that I am planning to use with different rules: Pz8 WW1 Divisional, Belle Epoque (both downloadable from the Rules page) and Simplicity In Practice, two pages horse & musket rules by Neil Thomas, modified for early 20th century. Indeed these small figures could be used for other obscure conflicts, like the 1911 Italo-Turkish War in Lybia, or the 1912-13 Balkan Wars. I wish that Tumbling Dice would one day expand the range to include some useful troops type, like infantry in fez, in colonial helmet, and early quick-firing artillery. Or maybe, given the really small scale, it is only a matter of using a different paint scheme, or even modifying the headgear in some simple way?
From Wikipedia: The Siege of Port Arthur (Japanese: 旅順攻囲戦, Ryojun Kōisen), 1 August 1904 – 2 January 1905, the deep-water port and Russian naval base at the tip of the Liaotung Peninsula in Manchuria, was the longest and most violent land battle of the Russo-Japanese War.Port Arthur was widely regarded as one of the most strongly fortified positions in the world at the time. However, during the First Sino-Japanese War, General Nogi Maresuke had taken the city from the forces of Qing China in only a few days. The ease of his victory during that previous conflict, and overconfidence by the Japanese General Staff in Japan's ability to overcome improved fortifications made by the Russians, led to a much longer campaign, with much heavier losses than expected.The Siege of Port Arthur saw the introduction of much technology used in subsequent wars of the 20th century (particularly in World War I) including massive 11 in (280 mm) mortars capable of hurling 500 kilogram shells over 8 kilometres, as well as rapid-firing light howitzers, Maxim machine guns, bolt-action magazine rifles, barbed wire entanglements, electric fences, arc lamp searchlights, tactical radio signalling (and, in response, the first military use of radio jamming), hand grenades, trench warfare, and the use of modified naval mines as land weapons."
A Russian woman soldier at Port Arthur.
I designed a very simplified Port Arthur scenario for my Pz8 WW1 Divisional rules and while in the process of painting two Russian and Japanese armies (in the very tiny 1/600 scale), I sent it to Pierre Laporte, game designer and author of a number of other Pz8 WW1 scenarios... just to give a try. Pierre and his friends use unpainted 1/72 plastic figures for their quick and fun games... each one representing a whole Battalion. Maybe some purists will be horrified, but I applaud (even if i prefer painted miniatures on my table).
Here is what he wrote to me: "I had fun playing the RJW scenario, thanks again, although the Japanese player (me) lost the game, the central hill remaining in the hands of the Russians despite desperate banzaï attacks. I felt that the "banzaï" rule worked well, however, I was tempted to attack piecemal in order to avoid too much appalling losses, in vain! The attached picture show the Redbox figures and the simplified terrain on which the game was fought." If you want to give a look to the Port Arthur scenario, with map, army lists and the special "banzai" rules for the Japanese, go to the Rules page.
I just got in the post a WW1 Infantry Brigade in 1/600 scale from Tumbling Dice, and I would like to share some photos and a description. First of all, the service was excellent (I got the miniatures in a few days from UK to Continental Europe) and I received a list of all their 1/600 range of aircraft and land subjects, too. The pack is made of 16 strips of infantry in close order, 16 strips of infantry in open order (each with 8 men), plus... ... 2 supply carts and 2 wagons with horses, 8 strips of supply weapons, 6 guns (you should specify if British, German or Russian when ordering... these are British 18pdr guns), 3 limbers with horses and mounted crews, 8 strips of cavalry. Infantry are all standing, wear a peaked cap and have a backpack, making them suitable for early WW1 British, or Russian, or other later XIX - early XX century troops. Bases are 20mm wide for close order and 30mm wide for open order infantry. The little guys are 4mm tall from feet to eye (so to say), and this makes me think that they are bigger than 1/600 scale... if 1/300 is 6mm. Guns, limbers and horses are nice, only the men sitting on the limbers are much smaller than their colleagues. The wagons have again smaller men. Support weapons strips provide a variety of MGs, with shield and wheels or not, mortars and groups of men carrying something... I think they are ammo boxes. Cavalry is proportionated to infantry and well sculpted, considered the microscopical scale. Riders wear a shako.
I plan to use these miniatures for 1904-05 Russian and Japanese, and/or the Russian Civil War, using the Pz8 WW1 Divisional Rules... how they will look when painted and based? I will let you know...
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