Commission Figurines Buildings

A couple of weeks ago I ordered some of the new Commission Figurines buildings, they are absolutely love. Laser cut MDF

The one thing i don't like about them is the bases. They come in four parts but I'd rather have then as a single piece they have cobblestones engraved on them but I'm going not have to base the base and this is a bit an an annoyance- however this is a minor quibble as they building are very nicely detailed. 

 As you can see the snap together easily.

My only other issue is the Albrecht Strausse. It came with 2 ends the same and they don't match up to the ruins and will need to  be modified to fit. I will contact Commission figurines to make sure it was not a simple packing error first.

It looks like I have a spot of painting to do... They will be very handy for Day of Days next February, our theme is the Relief of Stalingrad to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the end of the battle
 
Also my Hungarians are now ready for battle. I have painted up the Zyrinis and some Hungarian Nebelwerfers.

 Craig

Seljuks (& Armenians) vs Later Crusaders

A rematch of last weeks game. We started 12" closer and had 3x 200 pt commands  per side. Kent and i fieled 2 Seljuk commands (each of 2x medium cavalry, 4x light horse and 2x skirmishers) and a solid Armenian command to hold the centre (6x heavy infantry, 2x crossbow, 1x bow, 1x knight).

The Crusader commands all were quite infantry heavy

The Seljuk command holds our right flank. 

 Across the table the Crusaders assemble.

 Stephen and his Templar knights await our first move.

 As for can see at the top of the picture Kent's light horse command is about to find out why I hate crossbows!

 Steady boys! The Aremenians await developments.

 Sin sends his turcopoles forward to engage the Seljuk light horse.

 Composite bow armed turkomen make a mess of the turcoples but the last turcopole, almost dead does a suicidal charge, killing a unit of light horse that could not retreat and this causes panic in the Armenian ranks (3 units all take a permanent loss due to proximity)  a nice move from Simon.

 With the turopoles gne the light horse are free to run riot.

 Simon sneds his foot sergeants and skirishers foward to slow them down.

 Meanwhile on our left flank Kent is in all kinds of trouble trying to deal with those crossbow armed Franks. He charges a unit of crossbow with his Ghulums and is soundly beaten twice! While the Frankish skirmishers are also adding to his problems. As you can see from this picture there is still quite a lot of uncommitted foot sergeants and somewhere eben further back (out of shot) are two units of templar knights!

 Dave's fot sergeants also advance and my shooting does little damage.

 Things have gone form bad to worse for Kent and his command is about to crumble. He has been soundly defeated.

 Dave has manged to wear down a unit of Armenian knights which are thrown in at the bowmen but are forced to retreat! We won't mention ho has now taken over this command, will we Kent. All I can say is never have I seen such combat shy knights in action!

 End game. Just as it was getting very interesting. e had managed to break Simon's command leaving Dave to face most of the Armenians and Seljuks. Stpehne was also stilla ctivve (and barely scratched) but given his lcoation on the far left (for us) flank was unlukely tobe able to edeploy fast enough to interfere Still with those knights oof dave's ready to get involved the game was still very much up in the air.

 Great game guys. the smaller commands and starting closer to the enemy worked well, and it was a hard ofuhgt game that could have gone either way

Same again next week apparently.

I think tonight Kent encountered the dilemma I have always faced: how to deal with crossbows. They are lethal if they can get into point blank range and you can't afford not to deal with them but doing so means that you open yourself up to taking losses (something the Seljuks can't afford too happen) and should you manage to get lucky, you end up with a single victory point for your troubles. He's got a week to ponder a plan to deal with them.

And a few pictures from Kent:

Armenian infantry hold the centre while the Seljuks do what they do best.

The battle lines close.

Crossbows adcance templar knights are avoiding trouble early on.

"I think I will kill this one!"

One of the Seljuk commands

Craig

Crusades and ACW

 In the last three nights I've painted up two more regiments of ACW, so that makes 10 down, 6 to go. Most are Perry miniatures, most are plastics but the two commands are metals as are the guys in jackets and there are a couple of Steve barber models thrown in for variety All the plastics have had the heads swapped for the more interesting Steve Barber models heads. The flags are from the internet.I've also managed to get hold of some of the new Army Painter Dark Tone wash and really like the effect it gives. I never went for the original product as it seemed far too messy and to much clean up involved but the new water based wash dries in a few minutes and gives a similar result to the original. I can see me using a lot of this stuff. 

Impevs
I have also been working on the Armenians for the crusades, now having 9 bases of heavy foot. I've sapped a few figures round so that the bases are more varied and dynamic and added a few Crusaders and Muslim figures for more variety. I have also sapped most of the soft metal spears for the brass ones which are smaller and much stronger. I have a couple of bases to complete this process on but have run out of brass spears to do so   

 Bring out your dead. Perry miniatures casualties figures for disorder markers. I've rebased them and put them on small FoW bases. 

Craig

Impetvs: Clash in the Levant

4x 300 pts commands- Armenians and Seljuks vs Hospitallers and Later Crusaders.

Stephen's new crusader army- I love the look of these guys the biege shields tie his army together very nicely.

 The Armenians mass, bows in the front, heavy infantry behind.

 And from the other end of the table, the Seljuks prepare to advance.

 My infantry advance across the bad going hill.

 Kent begins by double moving (and disordering all his Ghulums and Seljuk nobles)

 Which wasn't as bad as Simon who managed to disorder all the Hospitiallers and associated groupies, directly in front of the crusader infantry and thus screwing up his cunning redeployment plan. 

 "Get out of the friggin way you lot!" Glad they didn't get into combat really.

 At least the Turcopoles, and some Hospitallers managed to skirt round the bad going.

 As you can see Kent's Seljuks and Ghulums fell on the disrupted knights but they are pretty hard to slow down. I am doing a classic refused flank, mainly as I cannot advance more than 5cm per move over the hill.

 Kent's troops harrying the knights. Having been on the receiving end of light horse he was relishing the opportunity to make the knights into pin cushions.

 Meanwhile.. keep walking. We'll be there soon..

 Simon and Stephen's knights turn to meet the new threat- the PFJ?

 My Impetuous general decided to lead from the front. Charging and running down a unit of Turcopoles only to then follow up into a rather angry looking mass of Hospitallers. Oops.

 As Impetvs is wont to do the battle lines fragment into a number of individual skirmishes.

 What happens when you leave the bad going and advance towards some knights?

 You get run down and destroyed by said knights! Oops. So much for my much vaunted crossbows.

 The general eventually fought clear of the Hospitallers- the ran like girls!

 Meanwhile in the last turn Kent let rip with every composite bow he could muster and then charged home with a unit of Ghulums and destroyed the Hospitaller general!

Result: a bit of a bloody staemate unfortunately. Simon was in a spot of bother having lost about 1/3 of his force and was a bit fragmented. I'd lost 1/4 of mine and both Kent and Stephen's commands were almost entirely intact so it as just getting interesting.

Next week we are on for a rematch but will make a couple of changes:
1. Start another 12" closer (The table was 7.5 x 6 ft so quite wide and we started 18" from half way- or 36" apart)
2. Slightly smaller (250 pt) commands to make sure we get finished in time

A fun gun though, I really like the paint job done on Stephen's army. It is very colourful and tied together really well.

Craig