Field of Glory: Carthaginians Army

The Carthaginian army I’ve been working on has been finished. the 600 point force is now able to match the Mid-Republic Roman force I painted a while back on the tale. I love the site of two fully painted forces, especially if I did both of them.

The full force.

Maharbal, Hannibal, and Mago.

This is the finished force, with Hannibal, Maharbal, and Mago in command, leading 2 units of African Spear x6, Gallic Foot x8, Gallic Cavalry x4, Spanish Scutarii x6, Spanish Cavalry x4, 2 units of Numidian Light Horse x4, Numidian Javelinmen x6, Balaeric Slingers x4, Elephants x2, and the camp. The extra unit of Libyan Javelinmen x6 and a couple more stands of Balaeric Slingers are included.

Gallic Foot, Cavalry, with Libyan Javelinmen in front.

African Spear with Numidian and Balaeric skirmishers. Elephants bringing up the rear.

Numidian Light Horse and Spanish Cavalry.

 

To commemorate the completion of the army, we played a game (what else?). I played as the Romans and the owner of the two armies played Carthage.

We played somewhere in the foothills of Italy. The field had a series of low and steep hills on the left side (brown and dark brown terrain respectively), with fields and vineyards on the right (tan and green). The Carthaginians took the center with their Cav and Light Horse on the flanks, while the Romans’ smaller army forced them to spread out to cover ground. They had the steep hill and vineyards to protect their flanks.

Carthage surged forward, slowed by Roman skirmishers until they were chased off. The Gallic Foot and Scutarii advanced, with the African Spear behind them in a second line. The big steep hill on the Roman left flank served to dissuade the Carthage flankers, so they shifted to the Roman right. The Romans responded with their Legions shifting to hold the low hill in the center and sending their Cavalry around on a long right flanking maneuver to help their Numidian Light Horse chase off the Gallic Cav and repositioned Carthage Numidians.

The armies arrayed- Carthage on left, Rome on the right.

The battle lines close.

Getting closer.

Roman Legions await the enemy on the low hill.

Overhead of the armies right before the clash.

As usual I forgot to keep taking pictures toward the end of the battle. The Carthaginian line hit the Romans. Scutarii met the Italian Allied Spear, while the Gauls stormed up the hill to the Legions. The Italians lost a stand but held the line, while the Legions just straight out-rolled the Gauls, pushing them back. The Legion on the right side fought the Elephants, killing them with some truly bad rolls from the poor hephalumps. By the end Carthage lost the Gallic Cav, Balaeric Slingers, a unit of Numidian Light Horse, and the Elephants, and the Gallic Foot were teetering. Rome didn’t lose any full units, but their Numidian Light Horse and one unit of Velites were shaky.

Now that I’ve finished the 600 point forces, I can move on to expanding both armies to 800 points. More battles to come!

FoG: Hannibal

The Carthaginian army for Field of Glory is done!

The units have all been done, so all I had left were the commanders and the camp. The commanders all had the same kit of three mounted Libophoenician horsemen. To counter this, I mixed up the models, adding in extras from other groups. The Roman commanders got a similar treatment, though I had no other recourse than to use the same model for all three of their leaders.

First up is the man himself, Hannibal Barca, scourge of the Romans. He sits poised on his horse, leading his troops. Alongside him is another Carthaginian officer, and some close bodyguard spearmen. I wanted Hannibal to be distinctive from other cavalry bases. The rear of all the commander bases got white markings to make them easier to find on the table. Hannibal got an ‘H’ to make him stand out more.

Next is one of the subordinate commanders. I figured this could be Maharbal, the Numidian officer in charge of the cavalry wing of Hannibal’s army. With that in mind he got an escort of Carthaginian horsemen.

The third commander could be Mago, Hannibal’s brother and trusted commander in Italy. He is escorted by a Gallic Noble model, to emphasize the mixed nature of the army’s forces. Mago is a bit of a conversion, since I modified his pose so he wouldn’t be a simple clone of another commander stand model. I usually make the third commander stand only a pair of models to make them distinctive from the other stands.

Last is the army’s camp. It uses the same model set as the Roman camp, including the tents, slaves/servants, wagon and stake fencing. I set it up similarly to the Roman camp, but swapped the camp guard for Carthaginian spearmen (including one wearing captured Roman kit). The stake wall is still being worked on, with a pile of stakes waiting to be sunk in the lower right corner. Rules-wise it wouldn’t count as fortified.

There’s still plenty of models left to work on to expand the army, but that’s for later.

 

FoG: Horsemen

More units for the Carthaginian army for Field of Glory. This time it’s the heavy cavalry contingents from allied tribes.

 

First up are the Gauls, the mounted nobles. These were painted in the same fashion as the Gallic Foot Warriors, with a little brighter coloration in places to show off their higher status. The models have the little problem of duplication, as the normal unit has only 2 model poses (looking forward or to the right) so I mixed in a few nobles in mail. At least there’s a little variety of horses.

 

Next are the Spanish Cavalry. I posted some stands previously, but here is the full unit of 4 stands. Rules-wise, they fulfill the same role as the Gallic Cavalry, being fast crushing flankers or fair direct heavy hitters. These match the Spanish Foot from before.

Last up are some javelin skirmishers. These are Libyans, but fight the same way as the Numidian Light Foot from before. The unit is optional, as it doesn’t fit into the usual 600-point army, but could be used for larger games. The unit unfortunately uses the same duplicate model for all stands, so I had to get creative with posing and painting.

With that the army is effectively done. All that’s left are the commanders and camp.

FoG: Carthaginian Reinforcements

The Carthaginian army brings on some very useful support units. The army is coming along, with only a few battle groups left.

 

First up are the Gallic Warriors. This large unit hits like a freight train in the Impact phase, equal to the Romans. I really loved the huge variety of the Gallic models, with the only real repetition being the naked Warriors mixed in with the clothed ones. They were fun to paint, featuring tons of color and pattern, especially compared to the more Phoenician Carthage color scheme of red, white, and bronze.

I based the Gauls’ clothes and shields on some references I’ve collected. I also based some off my own Gauls for Clash of Spears. I like to think my own Gallic force for that game is mixed into this mob. Talk about a difference in scale.

Painting checkers on 15mm minies isn’t easy, but it came out pretty nicely.

The second pic shows off the second rank, as well as a view of the rear of the unit. I added a few stripes on capes, but even I don’t want to do plaid on cloth at this scale.

 

Alongside the Gauls, the army features a couple stands of Spanish Cavalry. The unit will have 4 stands in the end. They follow the same color scheme as the Scutarii Medium Foot.

Last but not least are the Elephants. The tanks of the ancient world, they do look pretty impressive in 15mm scale. The models were relatively simple, so I kept the color scheme simple as well. A note on the miniatures: like many Essex kits, they have a ‘same model’ problem with the crew (2 of the model with the spear and left hand resting on the howdah rim). I had no choice on the handlers, but I swapped out the second howdah rider model from each elephant with one of the African Spearmen sculpts to add some variety.

Next up, finishing the Spanish Cavalry, the Gallic Cavalry, the commanders, and the camp.

Field of Glory: Carthage

I’ve started work on another army for Field of Glory. This is the opponent army for the Mid-Republic Roman army I painted for a client a while back. I’ve finished 5 battlegroups out of 11 so far.

The army as planned: 600 points

Inspired Commander (Hannibal!)

Troop Commander x2

African Spear x6

African Spear x6

Gallic Foot x8

Spanish Scutarii x6

Elephants x2

Gallic Cavalry x4

Spanish Cavalry x4

Numidian Horse x4

Numidian Horse x4

Numidian Foot x6

Balearic Slingers x4

Camp

The top pic is of the first BG of Carthaginian African Spear, the citizen soldiers of Carthage. They pretty much fight like Greek Hoplites, so ranks of spear and shield. The stands were built from a mix of the two types of Carthage spear miniatures, just to avoid the monotony. One serious weakness of Essex miniatures is this occasional single-pose model problem.

The Spearmen bare various Carthage-themed shield devices, and wear a few varieties of uniforms. I wanted them to look less uniform than their Roman counterparts. I also went for a variety of skin tones, seeing as the Phoenician-descended Poeni had mixed for centuries with the native northern Africans and Numidians.

Next are the Spanish Scutarii, mercenaries accompanying the Carthage war effort. They carry bright scutum (their namesakes) and brandish throwing javelins ready to fight. They sort of act as the counterpart to the Italian Allied spear from the Roman army.

Next up are a couple skirmish units. These units had more variety of miniatures to mix in the stands.

The Numidian Horse are lightly equipped scout cavalry. No armor and simple weapons made for quick painting. They carry cow skin shields, either black with white spot or white with black spots. Some sources for Numidian cavalry show more complicated shield devices, but I wanted them to look simpler to indicate their skirmish status (and to match the Numidians I painted for the Romans)

The Numidian Javelinmen are identically equipped.

Finally is a battlegroup of Balaeric Slingers, the expert hunters famed throughout the Mediterranean.

More to come.

Field of Glory: Punic Wars

I played another game of Field of Glory this week. This time we played a perfect historical match-up, the Romans versus the Carthaginians. It was a good 2nd Punic War battle somewhere in Southern Italy. We used the starter armies from the main rule book, with a few substituted unit types.

My friend fielded the Romans I painted for him:

Field Commander

Troop Commander x2

Hastati/Principes x4

Hastati/Principes x4

Hastati/Principes x4

Hastati/Principes x4

Triarii x2

Triarii x2

Velites x4

Velites x4

Numidian Horse x4

Roman Horse x4

Italian Allied Spear x8

Fortified Camp

 

 

I don’t actually have a Carthaginian army, but wanted to give him a taste of Rome’s nemesis. So I subbed in models from my other armies that fit the base sizes/appearance. I used Greek hoplites for African Spear, Gothic Horse for Gallic and Spanish Cavalry, Welsh as Spanish Foot, etc. It was a sort of a hodge-podge, but then again, that’s what a Punic War Carthage army would look like too. The oddest was some English light cannons standing in as Elephants- they were the only thing that had the proper 40x40mm bases.

Inspired Commander (Hannibal!)

Troop Commander x2

African Spear x6

African Spear x6

Gallic Foot x8

Spanish Foot x6

Elephants x2

Gallic Cavalry x4

Spanish Cavalry x4

Numidian Horse x4

Numidian Horse x4

Numidian Foot x6

Balearic Slingers x4

Camp

 

 

 

Hannibal easily won initiative, and decided on a relatively flat plain of farmland, somewhere in Southern Italy. The Romans wanted a proper fight, and he was happy to meet them.

The Romans set up with a strong center, dividing their Legions to two groups, backed by the Triarii and Cavalry, their right flank protected by the Italians and the central vineyard. The Carthaginians split their forces between a guarded center, with Cavalry and Light Horse on either flank. Spanish Foot took the left side, and the Gauls and Elephants took the right.

At the beginning of the battle, the Romans surged forward, shifting the Italians to guard north of the vineyard, and the Legions moved to guard their left flank. Hannibal sent his mounted troops on wide flanking moves, moving his foot forward to threaten the Roman lines.

(It’s at this point I wish I remembered to take more pics over the course of these battles)

 

 

The Carthaginian cavalry forced the Romans to try to shift to guard their lines, but a few bad moves created a traffic jam on the right flank, with the Numidians getting pinned by the Spanish cavalry. On the left flank the Gallic cavalry worked their way around the Roman flank. A brief exchange between skirmishers forced the Numidian foot back, but the Velites’ sudden bravery carried them into the Elephants, which broke them in short order. The Legions on the extreme left flank chased the Numidian horse, separating themselves from the other Legion group.

In response, the Gallic foot charged the isolated Legions, while the Elephants were themselves charged by the other nearby Legions. On the other flank, the Spanish Cavalry chased the Numidians, which unfortunately carried them into the flank of the Italian spear (the Italians had been trying to reorder themselves and were caught before they could reorient).

In the center, Hannibal moved his African Spear forward to bait the other Legions. Once they had advanced to fight the Carthaginian line, Hannibal used one of his little tricks. He turned the line and advanced back, then turned back to face the Romans. This put a few more turns of movement between them and the Romans, buying the flankers more time. The Spanish foot and Slingers in the vineyard also kept any of the Roman units in the center from marching, slowing the army down even more.

 

 

On the right flank, things were getting very messy. The Italians were disrupted by the Numidians fleeing through them, then were hit in the flank by the Spanish Cavalry. After Impact and Combat they broke. On the left, the Gauls and Elephants crushed the Romans (the Gauls especially rolled very well). The Gallic Cavalry hitting the Roman flank at the same time spelled their doom. By the end of the turn, the Romans had 4 fleeing battle groups, with Numidian horse chasing them, so no rallies. My opponent conceded, since it was only going to get worse.

My opponent is still mastering the rules, and really learning the strategy of the game. I was able to draw him into a classic Hannibal envelopment, ala Cannae.

Based on the battle. my opponent wants me to work on his own Carthaginians next.

 

Field of Glory: Just a little ahistorical

It’s been a while since I’ve played some Field of Glory (or any games even). This week I met up with a friend for some Ancients combat. I ran my Classical Greeks (using a modified 600 point starter) versus Mid-Republic Romans that I painted up for him. These armies would have been separated by about 230 years (Greeks from Persian Wars, Romans from Punic Wars), but eh, close enough.

 

We fought a battle somewhere in Greece, in agricultural terrain. The field was pretty open, with a couple Open Fields and Enclosed Fields (the tan and bright green areas respectively). A Gentle Hill (brown) and Vineyards (dark green) backed up my deployment area. The Greeks deployed in three groups, with the Corinthians on the left flank, the Athenians in the center, and the Spartans on the right.The Romans formed a long line in the center, with their mounted assets on their left flank.

The Corinthians hugged the large Open Field in their deployment zone, spending most of the game sneaking around the Romans flank. The Athenians slowly marched up the center, and the Spartans moved up quickly to try to turn the Roman left flank. The Romans advanced en masse, using their Velites and Numidians to screen their line and slow my flankers.

 

The fighting began with our skirmishers dueling, with shooting being inconsequential all game for both sides. My opponent was quite rusty with the rules (hasn’t played in more than a year) so he got his skirmishers trapped between the lines as they closed in together. The Numidians got chased away by the Greek light horse, while the Velites’ retreat through their lines disrupted the Legions for a bit.

The Greeks managed to turn both flanks- the Spartans broke the Italian allies and caught the Roman cavalry. On the right Roman flank, the Corinthian cavalry tried to overrun the open Legion flank, but the Hastati and Princeps were more than able to hold their line. The Triarii counter-charged the cavalry, chasing them away. This led to several turns of charge-counter-charge, costing the cavalry a stand and eventually killing one Triarii stand, which killed the BG. The center saw both lines crash together. The initial Roman impact put the Athenian and Spartan line on the back foot, but they managed to hold out.

The Legion BG on the end of the line was caught in a bad position, losing cohesion when the Italians were crushed, then were charged before they could recover. After a few turns for combat they were in a bad shape, breaking and fleeing past the Spartan flankers. The Athenians in the center were starting to buckle under the Roman attack, but the Spartans were ready to roll their flank, so we called it. The Greeks had lost a couple stands of Hoplites and a stand of Cavalry, but the Romans had lost the Italians, the Numidians, a Triarii group, and a Legion BG.

At some point I will be painting up a Carthaginian army for the same opponent. Looking forward to that.

 

The Romans on Parade

This is a follow-up to the previous post about the Roman army for Field of Glory. I took some pics of the whole force arrayed to show off its grandeur. I love to see a completed army on the table.

The whole army. Camp and commanders center, with Legions on either side, auxiliaries and Cavalry to the left.

From their right flank.

Velites and 2 cohorts.

The other Velites and Hastati & Principes. Cavalry bringing up the rear.

Numidians and Italians.

Triarii guard the camp.

The force is 600 points, so has potential for expansion later.

Field Commander (CinC), 2 Troop Commanders, 4 x4 Hastati & Principes, 2 x4 Velites, 2 x2 Triarii, 1 x4 Roman Cavalry, 1 x4 Numidian Cavalry, 1 x8 Allied Italians, and a Fortified Camp.

Field of Glory: SPQR

The Mid-Republican Roman army for Field of Glory has been finished! Another notch on the old army belt…

The last batch included the army’s commanders. The Commander-in-Chief represents the legions’ Legatus legionis, a member of the senate and senior commander. Next down is his second, the Tribunus laticlavius. Also a member of the senate, he most likely is related to the Legatus (nephew, son?). The third commander is a Praefecti, a member of the equestrian class, acting as a sub-commander for a small contingent.

The commander models once again fall prey to the Essex Miniatures ‘one pose’ problem. With that in mind I had to use their bodyguard and personal color schemes to tell them apart. The Legatus is the officer with two mounted bodyguards, the Tribunus has a small foot guard, and the Praefecti has just a single bodyguard model. I painted white lines on the rear of their bases to make spotting them on the table during a game easier.

 

 

Next is a unit of Italian Allies for the Romans. These might represent Campanions or Samnites. They fight in a loose version of the Greek/Etruscan style of hoplites or thureophoroi, giving the Roman heavy foot some support in rough ground. Most bare shields with a common sunburst symbol. A good unit to add some color to the serried sameness of the Legions.

These models had a good variety, with 5 poses and good details. They do have the problem of separate metal spears, which required a lot of work to straighten (see my rant about this in my post about the Triarii).

Finally, rounding out the army is the very important camp. The Romans built everywhere they went, so this included their camp. Every night they fortified their camp with stockades, stakes, ditches, and gates. Given time, especially if the army was staying in one place for a while, the fort would build up with more ditches and towers. Here though it’s pretty stylized and simple, with enough detail to suggest a broader structure.

The front gate is guarded by a Triarius, as was custom. Slaves and reserve Legionnaires prepare the defenses. I liked the detail of the camp fire and the little dog. I painted him like a Roman mastiff. He even has a bone to chew on!

 

With that project done, I move on to something new. There’s already more Romans, as well as Gauls and Carthaginians, on the horizon…

Field of Glory: Battle of Naughtley

Something a little different here…

 

I played a game of Field of Glory this week. WotR English (the Yorkists) versus my own HYW English (standing in as Lancastrians). This was a 600 point game, the armies detailed in previous posts. I didn’t have my camera handy for the fight, so I recreated the key points with maps.

For this game I suggested we do a scenario, to encourage us to do a different fight than normal. English vs English battles tend to follow the historical mold, which means several turns of maneuver, archery duels, and then slow grinding combat. Instead we played a scenario I whipped up.

Centered on the table was Naughtley, a fictional small town somewhere in the West Country. Near it was a smaller village and the plantation estate of some lord. The key to the battle was claiming these objectives before the game ended. The center town was worth 2 attrition points, while the two other objectives were worth 1 attrition point. These attrition points were on top of losses from fighting, so could swing the game. In addition, if a unit was in the objective terrain, they had to test every turn to see if they looted it instead of doing anything else (like a Camp in a normal game).

The objective terrain was specified by the scenario, but we also chose more terrain, in the Developed terrain type. Several open fields, as well as an enclosed field, gave the area a nice hinterland feel. As usual my luck put almost all of the terrain on the opponent’s side of the table, but at least I got 1 piece to use.

 

Deployment: The Yorkists were north, favoring their right side, with Knights and Pike moving to cut the Lancastrians off from the town. Mercenary Handgunners scouted ahead to slow enemy movement.  My Lancastrians had a more spread out formation, trying to take (or at least threaten) all three objectives, though the strongest push was the center.

 

Turns 1-3: The Yorkists, with the advantage of first turn and skirmishers, moved up to flank the town on both sides and block Lancastrian marches. There was ineffective shooting at the Handgunners in the center, but on the right the Handgunners lost their shooting duel (after 2 turns of nothing) and got disrupted.

Both sides sent heavy units up the roads, taking advantage of the extra movement. The Yorkists got units forward first, so managed to keep my Men-at-Arms on the road from marching when they got close.

 

Turn 4: The Yorkists center was pretty strong. The Pike which had advanced along the road spread out into battle formation, and the Archers on the left took possession of the plantation objective. Slowed by nearby enemies my Men-at-Arms heading to the town finally got to the town walls but lacked movement to enter.

The center saw more archery duels; both sides took hits but held their cohesion fine. On the right, the Lancastrian Archers decided shooting was too slow and charged the Handgunners, forcing them back. The Men-at-Arms with them peeled off to help the center with the Knights and Pike.

 

Turn 5: The battle lines were being drawn. The center saw the Archers exchanging more shooting to no effect. The Archers in the plantation avoided looting long enough to threaten the Lancastrian Knights, though with no effect from their shooting. Poor shooting was the rule for this turn, as two battlegroups of Longbow concentrated on the Yorkist Pikes, producing 0 hits from 6 dice. On the right, the Archers chased the Handgunners again, this time charging into the village.

 

Turn 6: This was the deciding turn. My left-center Men-at-Arms weathered the bow fire and charged the Archers flanking the town. They scored 3 hits to none, fragmenting the Archers. My Archers once more charged the Handgunners, this time well and truly taking the village from them. On my left, my Knights turned to escape the Archers in the plantation, as they were in danger of being both shot to pieces and charged in the flank. My MAA south of the town turned to threaten the Pike’s flank.

In the shooting phase the Pike came under a storm of fire. I had maneuvered the second Archer unit to gain maximum firepower, producing 7 hits on the unit. They lost 2 stands of men, though oddly held out their morale.

After this my opponent conceded. While I thought he still hand a good chance, his center was in tatters and I was pressing my advantage, so he lost the will to fight on.

Conclusion: 2/1 AP. Technically a close game, but it would have spiraled out of control quickly in the next turns. The loss of the York Archers in the center would have spread panic through 3 other units nearby, and Pike were going to take another round of shooting, plus had a unit of Men-at-Arms coming for them.  I had taken the village, was more or less in control of the town, while he held the plantation.

I like scenarios like this. It forced us to think outside the battleline mode of movement, as we had to cover several areas at once. We had to advance, avoiding the generally static archery duels we’ve done before. Looking forward to trying this scenario (or similar) again.