Progress on Antioch

Just a couple of quick progress shots today. First up a photo of my suburb as it stands. I sprayed some of the simpler buildings with a textured paint as a bit of an experiment, then the whole lot (and the 2'x2' base board) were liberally undercoated with dark brown matt. I'm hopeful that the actual painting of the buildings will not be too complicated; I've never attempted buildings at this scale before so I will start with some of the smaller boxy structures before attempting any bigger houses or public buildings. 

Also for today is a snapshot of one of the factions that I'll be using in playtesting. These guys are all 15mm Xyston Jews but, in a wonderfully ironic twist, will represent a group of Syrian Arabs. The boxer has been shown before (as a potential gladiator), he is a zealot with a dagger removed; the other two bareheaded chaps are also zealots, they will be used as a henchman (with the club) and an assassin (with the sword). Their leader will be the converted rabbi figure with sword, the other rabbi figure will be a blind prophet (... Life of Brian style).

Painted 15mm Gladiators (part 3)

Here is the last batch of four gladiators for my initial pool. I might very well return to do some additional ones at a later date, but I'm not sure that I will need more than 16 any time soon for my immediate plans.

From left to right: Mick Yarrow gladiatrix, Lurkio 'Gaetulian', Strategia Nova 'scissor', Rebel hoplomachus.

This model is a little bit not safe for work, but just a little (about 3mm of her). I actually just wanted to have NSFW written in the blog as an experiment to see if it gets more hits... anyway... As with all the Mick Yarrow stuff I've done so far, she painted up a little better than expected; certainly the unpainted lead doesn't do the figure justice. I'm not entirely sure what kind of gladiator she's supposed to be, I'm going to use her as a Gallus or Thraex I think as I'm a bit short on them.

This little chap is the only Lurkio figure I've painted (a Moorish skirmisher) and I really like him. The figure is very slight (just a lad really) but as people come in all manner of shapes and sizes, in a skirmish or gladiator game, I have no problem using him along side his colleges shown here.

I love these figures from Strategia Nova. This one originally had a small spiked buckler on his left hand but I chopped it off to give him a second bladed vambrace (borrowed from a spare gladiator).

The hoplomachus from Rebel is, like all the Rebel sculpts, a big boy. He's a nice figure and I think he painted up ok - I suspect that he is also the single most accurate gladiator figure in my collection.

****

... And here are shots representing all the gladiators so far, catagorised by their classes in my forthcoming gladiator sub-game. There are going to be ten gladiator groups of classes altogether, in this collection I have figures for eight of them. The missing classes are the cataphractus (or crupellarius) and the noxius.

Cestus

Dimachaerus or Scissor

Hoplomachus

Retiarius or Laquearius

Sagittarius

Samnite, Murmillo, Provocator or Secutor

Thraex or Gallus

Veles or Gaetulian

The Annals of the Relic of Saint Pius AAR (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3, Ambush

Having dispatched their erstwhile allies, the holders of the toe of Saint Pius had enjoyed little of the expected prestige. Instead, they found themselves harried by their defeated foes from Sorviodunum, recovered now and seeking cold vengeance and slavering at the chance to get their thieving hands on a holy relic. So now, with the smoke of their home cooking fires drifting on the light westerly breeze, the holders of the toe just had to make it across one last stretch of wilderness to home, hearth, and a stout palisade.

This is the third 'after action report' of the Relic of Saint Pius campaign, the full details of which can be found here.

As the victors of the the battle of the stone circle, Aethelwulf and his Angles took the role of the defender in this scenario. The attacker was the Romano-British warband of Flavius Constans.

The gallant and unbeatable Angles deploy along one edge of the table. Flavius Constans, having gathered enough recruits to rebuild his warband, deploys along the Angles right flank. All terrain pieces (including the river) were treated as potentially hostile with a 33% chance of tripping up or drowning figures trying to cross them.

Aethelwulf and Sigtrygg lead forward the spearmen while Godgifu rides on ahead. On their right, Constans martials his own spearmen for the attack. In the real world, the table glows bright from the setting sun (proving once and for all that it doesn't rain all the time in Ireland!) playing havoc with the photography.

 The British line starts to close in ...

 ... as the Angles surge forward towards the river.

 Aethelwulf holds off a determined assault, trying to let his lads get away over the water.

 The British archers advance ...

 ... and unleash a volley at the Anglian bard but he manages to dodge most of the arrows, even catching a couple in his cloak and breaking them in a show of his contempt of his foes.

Aethelwulf beats back his opponents allowing Godgifu and the spearmen to cross the fast running river. Three of the brave Angles are swept away by the strong current and are never seen again.

 Constans joins the fight against Aethelwulf, beating him to the ground ...

 ... where his body is torn asunder by a hail of British steel. Constans ripps the Holy Relic of St Pius from the Anglian warlord's corpse and raises it high as a physical symbol of his own piety. Calpurnius Draco dispatches the last Anglian spearman this side of the river and Sigtrygg makes a run for it away from the enroaching enemy. Meanwhile the British archers turn their fire on the fleeing Angles beyond the river pinning one of them (rather permanently) to the ground with a well placed shot and unhorsing Godgifu with another.

Before he can make it to the river, Sigtrygg is caught by Constans and his lads. He turns and faces his destiny, bravely holding them up while the remaining spearmen make good their escape. The last they knew of their scald was a flurry of British activity and a stirring baritone lament cut short half way through the second verse...

The only survivors of the Angle-apocolypse. Perhaps the Anglian champion will one day be able to make a name for himself and attract more followers but for now, the power of the Angles in the land of the Belgae has been broken. The battle at Constan's Ford will, for generations, be a byword for British resistance and general ballsiness.

Victory points:
Romano-British Milites of Venta Belgarum - 8
Aethelwulf's Angles - 3

The Annals of the Relic of Saint Pius AAR (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2, Dividing the Spoils

The heroes of Sorviodunum gazed anxiously at the ring of standing stones before them. They had surged forth following their victory to this, the repository of the little toe of the left foot of Saint Pius the Significant, brought and hidden here two hundred years ago by Nikolaos of Antioch. The heroes’ pitiful allies had shadowed their every move and now skulked in the mist beyond the stone circle. The recovery of the holy relic would bestow great prestige on its new owner, not just with their followers, but with the backwards inhabitants of the land – the search for the saint’s toe would not go unhindered.

This is the second 'after action report' of the Relic of Saint Pius campaign, the full details of which can be found here.

As the victors of the the battle of Sorviodunum, Aethelwulf and his Angles took the role of the defender in this scenario. The attacker was the Irish warband of Dubh Fiach.

The Anglish and the Irish deploy on either side of a mysterious and unspecified stone circle in the vicinity of Venta (Winchester) and Sorviodunum (Salisbury). Three possible locations for the Holy Relic are identified on the table: in the woods nearest to each deployment line and within the stone circle itself.

The Irish start with the initiative and delicately make their way through the woods to the first possible location of the relic ...

... where they are sorely disappointed - nothing there except a big green counter with the number three on it!

Other Irish warriors swiftly run forward towards the other two locations.

Meanwhile Godgifu rides her wee pony at breakneck speed to get to the nearest relic hot spot and is lucky enough to uncover the Holy Toe.

Much displeased, the Irish begin their pursuit ...

... reaching the lovely Anglian priestess but unable to knock her off her pony.

She quickly disengages and ducks away from the woods, aiming for her own battle line.

Behind her, Aethelwulf leads his men forward to create an distraction.

It works and Godgifu slips off the table leaving Iseult and her motly crew looking a little silly.

The Irish return to the main fight and start to surround the Anglish.

A couple of savage kills (including Aethelwulf himself) scatter the Angles.

The fearless Anglian champion stands his ground ...

... against increasingly unlikely odds ...

... until Iseult sneaks in her wicked blade and extinguishes the champion's resistance.

Victory points:
Aethelwulf's Angles - 9
Dubh Fiach's Irish Raiders - 9

In the event of a tie, we decided to cede victory to the Angles on account of the fact that they did get the relic off their own table edge.

Follow the victors here.

The Annals of the Relic of Saint Pius AAR (Chapter 1)

Chapter 1, Sorviodunum

Read stranger, the apocryphal words of Saint Neot the Lesser, servant of God and compiler of this, the Annals of the Relic of Saint Pius. It is a tale of Britons and Saxons, of Irish pirates and valiant knights. A song of holy relics and vile heathens, of the bravest of deeds and the most villainous of treacheries.

I should know, for I was there...

Flavius Constans, a man who fancied himself descended from a line of Roman Emperors, stared contemptuously down the slopes of Sorviodunum at the rabble gathering below. Sure, the combined Hiberno-Saxon host had driven him out of Venta of the Belgae– a centre his opponents were now calling Venta-chester, as if they thought he would let them stay. Sure, the barbarous hoards had forced him to seek shelter within the crumbling defences of Sorvidunum – but he had not gone down without a fight. Now, only two enemy warbands remained in any condition to continue the fight: Æthelwulf's band of Angles and a boat-load of Irish pirates led by the fearsome Irish prince, Dubh Fiach.

Behind Flavius, one of his spearmen chuckled quietly at some jest uttered by his fellows. The last of Venta’s stout-hearted militia sat around a collection of small fires, speaking quietly while they prepared themselves for the onslaught that would come at first light. Every man there knew that this, their last stand would be a bloody affair. The only real hope of the British cause was that Flavius’ distant cousin, the Magister Equitum of all the Britons would bring his mounted host to sweep away the opposition.

This is the first 'after action report' of the Relic of Saint Pius campaign, the full details of which can be found here.

The warband of Flavius Constans ready themselves in a small village built within the decaying defences of  Sorviodunum. Aethelwulf's Angles advance from outside the eroded bank while the Irish approach the village from two different locations within the defences.

The Romano-British prepare for the coming onslaught.

Iseult the Raven leads her men through  the small wood ready for the approach.

The Anglo-Irish gain the initiative and move first. While the Angles crest the bank in good order, Dubh Fiach dashes forward only to find himself alone.

While Constans rallies his men to face the attack, Aethelwulf's warband charges forward releasing a hail of (ineffective) throwing spears and Fankish style axes. The raiders following Fiach dart forward into the cover of the great hall. Two of the wolfhounds bowl into a British archer but do not have the actions to make good their slobbering attack.

Iseult and her lads creep to the edge of the woods and wait for the right moment to strike across the open field. The open ground could become a nasty killing zone for British archers and the long awaited mounted British reinforcements.

The melee gets underway on the edge of the village. Flavius Constans makes a furious dash to save his archer, smiting one Irish beast and scattering the others with the morale effects of the brutal kill.

From the trees, the remaining Irish look on ...

... while Aetherwulf's warband bears the brunt of the fighting ...

... until a well placed sword blow removed the head of a British spearman, greatly disturbing the defenders and forcing them to pull back around Calpurnius Draco and his dragon banner.

With the defenders' resolve crumbling, the Irish whoop in through the gaps between the houses and across the field from the trees.

The combined assault drives the Romano-British out of the village centre ...

... where they are quickly replaced by the Angles and Irish.

Only now, when the critical turning point in the battle has passed, did Artorius and his British knights arrive on the field. They approached from behind the woods, only a turn too late to catch Iseult in the open.

Aethelwulf organises his own defece of the village whild Dubh Fiach and Iseult's combined Irish warband sweeps away the leadership of the British foot.

Artorius leads his knights forward in a glorious last ditch charge to drive off the invaders ...

... but in the end it proves futile. By the time the knight's arrived, Aethelwulf was already too well entrenched between the huts. Unable to press their charge, the knights in turn were overwhelmed by a swarm of Irish raiders and ceased to be a viable warband.

Victory points at the end of turn 12:

Aethelwulf's Angles - 9

Dubh Fiach's Irish Raiders - 7

Romano-British Milites of Venta Belgarum - 3

Arthur's British Equites - 0

Follow the victors here.