Solo Fantasy Campaign - Battle of Ironwald (1)

The first battle of my solo fantasy campaign sees the Orcs get the jump on the Empire of Man and attempt to consolidate their hold on the North, attacking Ironwald from Mageholt with support from Lochpine. The Orcs rolled better when generating army total points and have the larger force.

Attacker - Orcs Force total: 30 + 1d4(3) + 1d4(3) = 36 points Warboss x 1 Orc Skirmishers x 3 Orc Warriors x 3 Orc Wolf Riders x 2 Trolls x 1 Total: Warboss + 9 units Exhaustion Point: 12

Defender - Empire of Man Force total: 30 + 1d8(1) = 31 points General x 1 Handgunners x 1 Halberdiers x 2 Crossbowmen x 1 Knights x 3 Total: General + 7 units Exhaustion Point: 10

The Battlefield

The battlefield is rolling countryside, dotted with low hills, open woodland and some enclosed farmland.

The Battle

Setup

The Empire of Man are blocking the road with the cavalry, with supporting infantry on either flank. The Orcs look to smash the Empire centre with their heavy infantry, while skirmishers advance through the fields on the right supported by a unit of trolls and the wolf riders push up on the left.

Turn 1

The Orcs advance straight forward and are met by the Empire forces. The Orcs cause havoc, wounding three Empire units including two knights with their first charge,

Turn 2

Driven back, the Empire forces consolidate and fight back strongly.

Turn 3

The Orcs attempt to press their advantage with a unit of wolf riders flanking the Empire's right.

Turn 4

Despite being under pressure the Empire forces hold firm, inflict more wounds and rebuff the flanking wolf riders.

Turn 5

Turn 5 sees the first of many casualties, with the Orcs coming off worse despite their numerical advantage.

Turn 6

Both sides are badly knocked around but the Orcs are worse off and have reached their exhaustion point. Blaming everyone but himself the Orc commander withdraws from the field to lick his wounds. A memorable victory for The Empire of Man against the odds.

So that's the first campaign turn over with and victory goes to The Empire of Man ensuring they hold Ironwald. They can no look to go on the offensive and turn the table on the Orcs. Here's a few shots of the troops in melee.

Cheers,

Millsy

Army Gallery - Empire of Man (15mm Fantasy)

As I gear up for mt solo fantasy campaign I finally got around to taking some pics of the protagonist forces. Today's post is the Empire of Man army. For more images click here.

Simply gorgeous Ral Partha Europe 15mm miniatures, an absolute joy to paint

Solo Fantasy Campaign

I've been planning a fantasy solo gaming project for some time now and the current situation means there's a lot more time available to me and the inclination to keep myself busy is also there.

I mentioned previously I had been working on fantasy rules based on Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame and had been painting forces. That has continued on and off in a very ad hoc manner and I now have Orcs, the Empire of Man and Undead completed. I've decided to kick the campaign off using the Orcs and the Empire of Man.

Background

The winter of 1230-31 was the worst in recorded history, so bad that the very seas froze over and the island home of the Empire of Men became connected to the wider world by an ice bridge.

Driven from their lairs in the mountains by the harsh conditions, the Orcs crossed the ice bridge in search of food and plunder, spreading out across the island in the depths of winter. With the coming of spring the ice bridge melted leaving the Orcs trapped and determined to consolidate their hold over the island.

War between the Orcs and the Empire of Man is inevitable and as the campaign season begins we find the opposing forces in control of various provinces and ready for war...

The Campaign

I'm a big fan of the campaign system Peter has put together on his Grid Based Wargaming - But Not Always blog and will be using something very similar.

Each season will contain a random number of between 2 and 4 battles, with campaigning happening in spring, summer and autumn. For each battle the attacker will choose to attack a province under enemy control, with limited bonuses to their force based on number of friendly provinces adjacent to the province under attack (i.e. supporting forces). The outcome will decide ownership of the province in question, with draws meaning the defender retains possession. The winner of a battle (or in the case of a draw, the defender) decides where the next battle will occur and is the attacker.

Ultimate victory will go to the force able to capture all provinces on the island or I get tired of things!

The Battles

Battles will be fought using 15mm fantasy armies on a 70mm grid using Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame rules. Before each battle forces will be composed from available troops up to a point total using the following formula:

Attacker: Base 30 points + d4 points per attacking province and supporting province (max 3).
Defender: Base 30 points + d8 points per defending province.

On the map above if the Empire of Man were to attack from Oldmead into the Orc held province of Faywick they would compose a force of 30 + 3d4 points. The Orcs would defend with 30 + d8 points worth of troops. Minima and maxima of troops are according to the army builder on my Portable Wargame Fantasy page.

Table setup will be generated randomly using a set of terrain cards and mechanics allowing for some rearrangement, again based on Peter's ideas found here.

What's Next...

I'm planning on running a test battle or two during the week to iron out how I want to run the defender in each battle e.g. tactics, aggression level, etc. I have loads of options to choose from in my collection of wargame books but it needs to be simple and quick to fit with the Portable Wargame ethos.

That's all for now. More when I kick things off properly.

Cheers,
Millsy

AHPC Bonus Round Entry - Nasty Hobbitses!

The first Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge IX Bonus Round is up and contains some amazing stuff. My entry is the iconic Warhammer Fantasy Dogs of War unit Lumpin Croop's Halfling Cocks.

Make sure you check out all the fabulous work and vote for your favourites!

Cheers,
Millsy

Empire Altdorf Halberdiers

As promised last post, here's the latest addition to my Warhammer Fantasy Empire army - a unit of 24 halberdiers in the service of Altdorf. This brings me to a total of 60, in two units of 24 and a detachment of 12, more than enough to form a solid core of foot troops. I really must remember to do the basing on my unit trays at the same time as the troops themselves...

On the painting table at the moment is another of my (many!) half-finished units in a unit of French 3rd Hussars for my 15mm Napoleonic project. They should be completed this weekend. Woohoo!

Cheers,
Millsy

Sunday Workbench

I've been pretty quiet of late, struck down by a near-terminal case of man-flu, combined with rebuilding my PC and lots of actual real life work. Occasionally though I've managed to find time to twirl the brushes, plugging away at a bunch of post-Challenge leftovers.

On the painting table at present are a 95% finished unit of Altdorf Halberdiers for my Warhammer Empire army. This is the last (thankfully) of a total of 60 of the buggers. Just a little touching up to do and finish the basing...

There's also a number of additions to my Epic Imperial Guard Steel Legion in the form of a second company of Shadowswords, extra Griffons and two more Baneblades to turn a single guy into a full company.

Once these are complete it'll either be more bits and bobs or I might kick into full swing with the Scottish Project depending on motivation.

Cheers,
Millsy

Empire Reiksgard Foot Knights

Just a quick post about my latest AHPCVIII entry...

This time its a unit of 24 Reiksgard Knights on foot. Happy to have these off the workbench as they've been hanging about, taunting me relentlessly with their half-finished state for some time now.

More pictures and some random musings on the Challenge blog.

Cheers,
Millsy

The Return of the Empire Strips Back

Having spent a good 5 hours yesterday slaving over a hot ultrasonic cleaner I've now got a lovely pile of paint-free Empire lead.

In the end I decided to just strip everything I have in the pile that required it, so I've got additional stuff to be going on with once the Foot Reiksguard and Halberdiers are finished. This is by no means the full breadth of that awaiting paint, just that which was still coated in EIGHT LAYERS OF BRIGHT YELLOW CONCRETE AND SNOT WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING??? Excuse me, some of the paint required a little more effort to remove than I would have liked, leaving me a little fatigued in the manners department.

Thankfully I can now pick up a brush again!

Cheers,
Millsy

The Empire Strips Back

With three submissions posted for AHPCVIII and awaiting Curt's tender ministrations I've taken stock and looked at what might be tackled next.

I've almost worked my way through all the lead I prepped prior to the Challenge starting. That being the case it's about time I spent a little time on some more prep work, especially given I'm back to work [SOB!] on Monday morning. I just know when I get home I'm not going to want to prep so having a pile of paint-ready minis sitting on the desk will be a big incentive to give the TV a miss and pick up a brush.

Enter two units of Warhammer Fantasy Empire miniatures, plus a few items not pictured that will be bonus round entries...

Not sure which will see the brush first, it'll be a simple matter of whim I suspect. :-)

Cheers,
Millsy

Reikland Halberdiers

For some reason I decided to start painting these just three days prior to AHPCVIII kicking off. Not the smartest decision I've made but certainly the pressure of having them completed before the Challenge provided ample encouragement to staying on the tools. In the end everything turned out as planned and these were finished in due course.

I wanted a limited palette for these and I'm please with how they turned out. The Reikland uniform is predominantly white so I went with a stark contrasting purple for the facing colour.

Anyway, enough blather. Here's the lads in all their glory...

With the exception of the chap on the right below (who is a Marauder vintage miniature) these all come from the Citadel 1997 catalogue and were sculpted by Michael and Alan Perry. To say I have something of an attachment to this period and range would be an understatement of epic proportions!

I have another unit in the pipeline for the next month or two. Those will be painted in Altdorf colours, glorious contrasting red and blue. For now I'm just looking forward to getting these into action on Sunday night!

Cheers,
Millsy

Empire Greatswords

Over the weekend I completed my second entry in the Old World Army Challenge. This time it was a unit of 24 x Greatswords, painted up as the Carroburgers in their iconic blood red colours.

The Reikland halberdiers I have been working on since are 90% complete and I should be done with the painting tonight, all things going according to plan. Following immediately afterwards will be a short lie down in a dark room to prepare myself for AHPC VIII to kick off later this week.

Cheers,
Millsy

Paint Table Saturday

I've been jolly busy the last few days, completing another entry for the Old World Army Challenge - 
in this instance a unit of Greatswords for my Warhammer Fantasy Battle Empire army. That will hopefully be posted on the blog tonight and can appear here 24 hours later.

Spurred on by how well that particular effort ended up I started work on another unit, this time a unit of Halberdiers in the colours of Reikland. Not quite sure why I started them so close to the beginning of AHPCVIII, but now I have no choice but to finish them before the 20th or face spending precious Challenge time on something that won't generate points.

Anyway, I've already finished one third of them so I should be good to make my deadline. Certainly not my smartest work though... :-)

Cheers,
Millsy

Paint Table Saturday

It's raining, it's pouring! Sweet, that means I can paint instead of mow the lawn... :-)

I'm beavering away on my second monthly instalment for the Old World Army Challenge at the moment, in this instance a 24 man unit of WFB Empire greatswords. I simply couldn't resist the fluff so these are the one, the only, Carroburg Greatswords.

In other news, Challenge supplies have started to arrive in earnest and in volume. Today a "small" order of grass tufts and shrubbery arrived. To be fair a couple of boxes do belong to Ev...

As always the service from Tajima1 was impeccable and on top of great product and speedy delivery we also qualified for a free box. What's not to like?

Cheers,
Millsy