The Battle for Stylos : Blood in the Sand

The desire for empire and wealth runs strong in the blood of the King of the Medes Cambyses, with his previous incursion into Lydia turned back at the Kizil Valley he immediately looked for other lands to bring under his dominion. The Island of Crete would be a powerful staging point for his future plans across the Aegean. A small exploratory invasion force has been dispatched to test the resilience of the inhabitants before a full scale effort is made. Unfortunately for the Medes, Crete lies close to the small but powerful military state of Lakonia, who on hearing of their trading partners need have despatched a small but powerful force of Lakonian warriors to supplement the local Cretian army. The two armies having manoeuvred for several days have now clashed on the coastal plains near Stylos.

The plains of Stylos

Mercenary Horse archers and hill tribesmen fighting on the side of the Medes

The core of the Median army archers and spearmen

The Lakonians holding the centre of their line

Both generals are looking for a decisive win so advance into combat

Arrows turn the sky black but still the Lakonians march forward 

You can hear the crash as the phalanx crash into each other

Median cavalry attempt to flank to combats

The better trained and more heavily armed Lakonian Hoplites are getting the advantage

You can almost smell the sweat and hear the crash of spears on shields

Gradually the Lakonians are getting the upper hand but the cavalry might just get a flank charge

Desperate hand to hand fighting at the other end of the field, the Medes are more used to long range fighting with bows

The ferocious hill tribesmen charge in against some of the weaker Cretan hoplites

Having brushed aside the Median spearmen the Lakonian Royal Guard brace for the charge

..and the Medes are forced to flee

The battle is over as the final Median infantry pulls back only to be surrounded on the high ground, history has not recorded what epic last stand was or wasn’t made here or how many of the Medes were captured into servitude, suffice to say the Lakonians have secured the western end of the island for themselves.

We played this battle back in January I think but it was a shame not to share the photos. 😀

Battle for Harrison’s Farm : ACW

Well behind on blogging but needed to get something onto the blog. High time we got the ACW collection back on the table but rather than a historical battle we arranged a fictional scenario, based somewhere in the Shenandoah Valley in 1862. Two small forces fighting for the junction between the Harrisonville Pike and the Valley Turnpike. With roughly equal forces we have arranged a slightly randomised deployment, both sides will initially send advanced guards down the Valley Turnpike. A second Brigade will then enter along the baseline at the commanders discretion. The third and final Brigade on both sides will enter randomly along either the Turnpike or Harrisonville Pike. Out of interest this was the first time we played with Skirmish rules and they seemed to add a little something to think about.

The union advance guard gallops south along the Turnpike 

The objective for both sides is to capture the two cross roads, from the south the Rebels advance at pace, beyond the Wheatfield is Copse Hill and the ‘Blue House’

The Union 1st Brigade come on in strength past Harrison’s Farm

Sending a regiment of Zouaves through the farm buildings.....

These are at5empting to outflank a small unit of confederate cavalry who have dismounted at the road junction to await reinforcements, dismounted Union cavalry can be seen in the distance 

As soon as they can confederate artillery opens up

And the Zouaves send out a skirmish line

The whole of the confederate 1st Brigade comes on over Copse Hill and likewise send out a skirmish line

Turn three sees the arrival of the rebel second Brigade who enter along the Harrisonville Pike close to the Blue House

Union troops in this area are very thin........

and somehow mixed orders bring the Union second Brigade on in the wrong place causing an immediate log jam on the Pike

The rebel plan is set, hold the centre, then turn the Union left flank and ‘roll them up’

With too many troops trying to get along the Harrisonville Pike the Union Forces are slow to deploy in the ploughed field and around Harrison Farm

But they advance with some panache 

The first clash of hand to hand fighting, outnumbered the rebels hold their ground for two turns

But the Zouave unit is now looking to outflank the combat as well

Confederate general is hurriedly pulling troops form the second Brigade across Copse Hill

The road junction is now clear save for bodies clad in both blue and grey !

On the rebel right flank there is little to stop the advance if they can just push across the road the Union army will be colmpletely undone

In the centre it turns into a battle of attrition, both sides are gradually being worn down

The rebels are looking like they will break through on their right flank, their first regiment having been destroyed but grape shot the sole cannon on the hill has been knocked out by counter battery fire, but in the nick of time units from the Iron Brigade in their Hardee hats close the gap

Somehow a small company of remaining union cavalry has managed to charge through the cornfield to eliminate the rebel gun.

All confederate reserves are now in play and the line is looking increasingly thin

Whilst more front line units flee the field due to failed morale tests

And then the final nail in the Confederate coffin as the Union right flank pushes the remaining rebels back away from the Blue House, the confederates are now out numbered and outflanked and forced to concede the field, pulling back from Copse Hill, which of course will in due course be renamed ‘Bloody Hill’

A splendid game well fought....reminding me why I like wargaming.🙂 feeling slightly indulgent the next morning (Sunday) and whilst packing up the forces I took the liberty of putting my full Union force on Parade. 

Next up for this force is some more artillery then some sharpshooters 😀

Austin Armoured Car : Russian Civil War

Another vehicle for my Russian Civil War collection.

An Austin armoured car so characteristic of the Whites in southern Russia, the markings are a bit of a mix between Southern Russian volunteer army and the Don Cossacks 😀

700BC to 1940AD another progress update🙂

Just don’t seem to have time for blogging at the moment, life and work getting in the way, but hopefully my regular followers will stick with me. The good news is I am still managing to keep progress on a number of projects.

I picked these two cars up in a second hand shop in Kendal

We managed a trip to the small Dumfries show, unfortunately with home circumstances as they are I didn’t have time to put on a game but managed to pick up a lot of goodies, the best of the pick being a full unit of light Persian infantry for a £5

Also picked up these two and managed to find some spare horses for them to ride

My painting has progressed well, these Persian Camels were picked up at the York show in February and they jumped up the Painting que

Not sure of the manufacturer, they are nice models and impressive in scale here they are next to their diminutive Gripping Beast camel

The 1927 truck has been painted up as an ambulance

A nice little vehicle for my Sealion project

And another unit of Arab spearmen have found their way onto and off the Painting table. The last of my plastic Arab infantry for a while, Gripping Beast figures six to a base and hand painted shields 🙂

I do have a couple of games to catch up on hopefully I load them soon 😀