Troopship from China!

Looking further afield for heroes to lead my Three Kingdoms armies, these fine fellows have just arrived from Guandong province.

Lu Bu on his horse Red Hare. Lu Bu was said to be the finest warrior and Red Hare the finest horse under heaven...However Lu Bu was treacherous and murdered more than one adoptive father!

Cao Cao was low born but rose to great power during the dissolution of the Han Empire. Cao Cao was a man of great ambition. It was he who supposedly said " I would rather betray the world than let the world betray me".

Guan Yu, one of Liu Bei's sworn battle brothers and Five Tiger Generals. Guan Yu carries his Green Dragon Crescent Blade which he wielded with great strength and agility.

Last but by  no means least, comes Zhang Fei. Zhang Fei was Liu Bei's other sworn battle brother and another of the Five Tiger Generals.  Armed with Serpent Halberd and as quick to laugh as to fall into a battle frenzy Zhang Fei is a sort of Brian Blessed of the East.

Very happy with these figures. Near as I can tell they were produced by Flying General Workshop.

And finally, if you have made it this far...

Till next time, thanks for stopping by!

Troopship from England!

"The world under heaven, after a long period of division. tends to unite; after a long period of union tends to divide. This has been so since antiquity."

-Luo Guanzhong, Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Although not a common topic in western wargaming, I have been increasingly drawn into Chinese history. English language references with of any great detail are sparse though, so I opted to trust DBA!

Liu Bei and leads his cavalry.

Enter Ian Kay of Irregular Miniatures!

Ian very kindly provided me with two painted DBA armies and some extras. Those of you in the know already know that Irregular have a tremendous range of figures ranging form 54mm down to 2mm. It is really quite astonishing.

Shu knights led by Zhao Yun, one of Liu Bei's "Five Tiger Generals".

The figures are "true 25's" and are a bit smallish next to more modern 28mm figures. It's mostly noticeable when it comes to horses, but some may find this off-putting. Not a problem for me as they currently make up both sides and I don't mind the difference compared to the 80's era Citadel and Alternative Armies figures they will be mixing with in their adventures.

Shu Spearmen

As an added plus the infantry fit just find on Warhammer Human Standard 20mm square bases!!!

What Dark Age Chinese army would be complete without serried rows of dour crossbowmen?

The order was processed quickly, painted to a fine standard, and...Ian being unsatisfied with one of the castings he planned to use as too early for the period, up and sculpted a new figure to suit.

Shu Auxiliaries and Swordsmen

I  have based these figures individually. This allows for their use in element based games with the movement trays shown, or as is more likely in individual figure games.

Shu Light Horse

I intend to use them with Warrior Heroes: Armies and Adventures as I continue to update that title.

Shu Engine and Psiloi

I've only shown the Shu army here. The Wei army is pretty much identical both in look and composition. This was a deliberate choice on my part. As in the War of the Roses, during the Three Kingdoms period warlords and their retinue changed sides with sometimes confusing frequency. This is a boon for me as the entire force can be fielded as a single army as needed.

On a final note although I  have based these fellows I have yet to flock them. Too busy with the long delayed Winged Man conversions to get to flocking them now:

15mm.co.uk Balrog, re-purposed for 25mm gaming.

More on that anon.

As for Irregular Armies I give Ian a big thumbs up, and a warm thank you!

All in all I am very satisfied with Ian's services and look forward to purchasing more in the future.

Thanks for stopping by!

Reviewing the Troops

Recently I've embarked on a project to make sure that all of my Great Britorcn battalions have two standards, both the Kyng's Colour and a Regimental Colour. For the Orcs this was no problem as in fact each battalion already had both. No the trouble lay not in Albion but in Joccia and Taffsea. These battalions are sold with one standard, er... standard. Although come to think on it now, the Guards, needed  second standard as well.

Many of the orc battalions carry standards designed by the good folk at Alternative Armies. For my regiments, the standards are often designed by manipulating an image of one of the "official" standards.

Here now are some photos:

The colour parties of 14 regiments of Greate Britorcn line battalions , ranged by seniority from the 1st Foote Guards on the viewer's left to the as yet unnumbered Toad Hall Fencibles on the left.

>Nine orc, three rat, one hobgoblin, and one weasel battalion all ready to take on the Elven menace. Depending on theatre and time these are brigaded with Al-Garvey goblins, Brewswicke Dwarves, Hunvarian dogs, apes and rabbits of the United Provinzes of Fruit and Veg, units of the Kyng's Giant Legion, or goblin, halfling, and otter sepoys of the HEIC.
Not pictured are the light infantry battalions, horse, and guns.

The HobGobs of Harleck, renowned for their fighting both in Aegypt and Haflingland. The origins of their motto, "Faaaasends of 'Em" is lost to the vagaries of time.

The South Morder Regiment, one time unhappy home of Riekard Sharke. Their motto, I dare not repeat here.

The Strathcarnage and Killmore have a chequered history. During the Mammothite Rebellion they were raised by the supporters of Wee Woolly Prince Charlie. In more tranquil times they were taken into the Albion Line in recognition of their fine fighting skills. Their Mammoth Badge and motto "Aye Sae!" are said to represent their ties to "The King Under the Glacier"

>The Eyes in Gourds, motto: "Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough!".

The BlackWatchit: Motto: "We'll be Coming, We'll be Coming Down the Road" is apparently a reference to this "Tartan Army" being always ready for a Barmy.

The Coldscreamers' Motto "Tha Kyng's Awrite Lads!" hearkens back to their role in putting down the Mammothite Rebellion, where their loyalty to the House of Hunvaria was never in question.

The Toad Hall Fencible Legion, raised by, and at the expense of, Sir Hector Toad, has been taken into the line by a cost conscious Parlement. Their motto is that of the Toad family: "Semper Buffo!"..."Always Toad".

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Warrior Heroes: Armies and Adventures - Updating a Classic

Warrior Heroes: Armies and Adventures has recently returned to the Two Hour Wargames line up as a straight reissue of the original game. So just what is in the book?

Warrior Heroes: Armies and Adventures or simply WHAA moving forward, is your key to adventure in the sprawling fantasy world of Talomir. Inside you will find rules for small and larger skirmishes, dungeon crawls, and even mass battles. Your adventures will take you to some fifteen countries where you will encounter friends and foes - mostly foes - from thirty-one army lists.

As if that were not enough the rules provide a complete adventure generation system including random enemy forces (PEF's in game parlance), a lair generator for when you bring the fight to your foes, and an AI, or Artificial Intelligence, that breathes life, or in some cases un-life, into your non-player enemies. All you have to do is roll the dice.

In fact this was the first Two Hour Wargame to introduce PEF's and AI, making it our first truly solo and co-op play friendly game.

So with all of that between the covers what's not to like? The layout and presentation!

Back in 2008 when the game was first released, THW's was in a state of transition from  cult publisher of unique and innovative rules with old school charm, to the more professional and streamlined presentation of today's games. 

In terms of both presentation and mechanics, WHAA, is showing its age but still has plenty to offer.

With that in mind it is my intention to re-visit the rules and updated them significantly. I've no idea if THW will publish a new edition but I think they should. There is a great system in here that just needs a lick of paint and a bit of organization. In any event I will try to get the updated mechanics into the hands of verified purchasers of the current version if all else fails.

First up is a  simple open air encounter to try out my new take on the Adventurer combat mechanics.

Altengard knight, Sir Adelbert is out patrolling the countryside for marauders.  Sir Adelbert is a Rep 5 knight with heavy amour , acompanied by his bannerman, also a Rep 5 knight, and four mercenary, unaroured horse crossbowmen, each Rep 4.

Heading towards a distant dust cloud they have come upon a party of  8 orc riders out for a bit of a pillage. The riders are Rep 5, unarmoured, and have the Terror trait.

 

The orcs immediately closed on our hero, but were unable to come to grips on the first turn.

The crossbowman let fly and one orc dropped from his mount and one retired.

Sir Adelbert ordered a charge, but his men hesitated, clearly not sure of their chances.

For their part the orcs feinted a charge hoping to rout the humans by the mere threat of a charge.

In this they were unsuccessful and the orcs retired to regroup for another go.

The humans followed up at a stately pace, firing as they came. No losses resulted but one orc was goaded into a charge. Sir Adelbert took up the challenge and met the foe head on.

The combat was inconclusive and both opponents remained locked in combat.

Perhaps encouraged or even shamed,by their comrades display the rest of the orcs charged!

This time two bolts found their marks and the orcs now found themselves out numbered, six to five. Which was just as well considering that the mounted crossbowmen were individually no match for the terrifying orcs.

Both knights won their combats, and two mercenaries lost theirs. The remaining two mercenaries managed not to be killed by the orc facing them.

Another volley of bolts saw one orc down. Victory seemed near at hand with only two orcs left to face five humans.

The mercenaries moved to the flanks to try another round of shooting to no avail. 

Sir Adelbert and his bannerman charged and put down the last two orcs.\

After the battle any still living orcs were dispatched and the wounded mercenaries seen to.

Both would live but were to severely wounded to stay in the field and the party retired.

There you have it. Just a first blush at the update, but it went well.

Thanks for stopping by and look forward to more reports as the updating progresses.

Sir Adelbert is an Old Glory figure and his band are all Citadel figures painted by the author.
The orcs are from Alternative Armies and painted by their fabulous in house studio.