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Monday, August 8, 2022

Samurai Archers

As a brief intermission between fielding SYW French, off from the painting desk today is a unit of Samurai bowmen.  These 15mm figures are from Museum Miniatures were part of a holiday sale pick-up in January.  Great figures with excellent sculpting.  Still more cavalry and teppo remain to push into the painting queue when I need a change of pace. 
SYW French remain a dominant sight in the painting queue although another diversion is in work.  A dig through The Lead Pile surfaced a box of TAG Thirty Years War/ ECW figures.  Both infantry and cavalry were rediscovered in the mix.  Nine of the horsemen were gathered up and primered in preparation for seeing some action at the painting desk.  After the next SYW French infantry musters out, I expect these cavalry troopers will be next on the scene.  

Gaming remains afoot including an introduction of Commands & Colors Ancients (CCA) to a fantasy gamer.  Yes, indeed!  I enticed a Warhammer 40k player to give historicals a try. 

Having replayed Caralis 215BC a number of times and finding it always to produce a close game, I put that out on the table for a refight in 6mm.
Caralis 215BC
My opponent chose to command Carthage and after a brief overview of the rules, we set to combat.  Logan began the game in a blaze of successes.  Quickly opening up the center, I found Rome down 5 banners to nil.  Rome recovered.  By endgame, Rome stood on a 7-6 advantage.  In one last grand cavalry charge, Carthage took out two severely weakened Roman infantry units in the center to claim victory.  It was a terrific Carthaginian victory.  Even better, my WH40k opponent enjoyed the game and is looking forward to more historical CCA games.

Score!

Up on Graham's gaming table for Tuesday is a rematch of last week's RCW battle.  Players are switching sides and plotting new battle plans. 

34 comments:

  1. Nice looking Samurai additions Jon, and sounds like CCA as a rip roaring success....who would not be back for more if he won the first gam! Look forward to seeing your TAG cavalry, they are akays lovely figures. And also will be interesting to see you all swap chairs for the RCW refight!

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    1. Thanks! On gaming, sometimes a first win sets the hook forever.

      The TAG cavalry will be trotting off the painting desk in a week, I think.

      On Tuesday’s game, I often wonder if Graham sets the stage based on which players are playing which roles. I have a hypothesis but data are still in the collection phase.

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  2. Nothing better than introducing a change into the painting queue, always helps to maintain output. Look forward to seeing the RCW refight

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    1. I agree! We need to shake up the panting queue to keep interest and motivation firing on all cylinders.

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  3. Nice additions, I have always thought that Museum Miniatures have been an under appreciated manufacturer from a media perspective. Even in the early days they used a stronger metal, which I felt gave their figures a crisper look with good undercuts.

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    1. Thanks, Norm! I am a recent discoverer of Musuem Miniatures so fall into the "better late than never" category. The metal is extremely hard. Lucky for us that the figures are so well cast with little to no flash. Otherwise, figure clean-up would be difficult in such hard metal. MM's latest 3D sculpts are amazing.

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  4. Nice Samurai Jonathan! Good to hear you may have a CCA convert, you obviously need to try a 15mm C&C Samurai Battles game.

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    1. Thanks! My Samurai collection began as a conversion of Zvezda's original Samurai Battles to 15mm gaming. I have yet to sicker my GMT version of the game.

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  5. A nice unit of Samurai there Jon. The painting queue sounds interesting and look forward to seeing these figures when painted. Great result on the CCA game too.

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    1. Thanks, Steve! The CCA game was great fun even in defeat. I may have sparked an interest. Time will tell.

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  6. Great looking samurai additions, I always find having a mix in the painting mill keeps me ticking along. Well done on pulling someone in from the dark side 🙂

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    1. Much appreciated, Phil! You are a seasoned painting vet. You know how to keep production high. As for pulling someone in from the Dark Side, I need a few more data points to declare victory.

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  7. Lovely looking samurai, I'm going the other way for a club campaign day but it's all fun! Looking forward to the TAG cavalry!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks! You are playing fantasy in your club campaign??? What? TAG cavalry up in a few days.

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    2. Yes, the club is mainly fantasy/ sci-fi with a bit of bolt action, I thought I would show willing and join in the campaign, after all it's what I played exclusively for some time, I guess I'm the proof you can turn as I started playing just fantasy, long ago!
      Best Iain

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    3. Yes, Iain, you are a prime example of a fantasy gamer turning to historicals. Hooray!

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  8. Great-looking samurai Jonathan. I wish I discovered Museum Miniatures a bit earlier as their figures are great, and these are no exception. I'll look forward to your TAG cavalry which are also very nice.

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    1. Thank you, Lawrence! I wish I had discovered them earlier too. Almost all of my 15mm Samurai collection is Peter Pig. MM figures are a bit larger but gorgeous sculpts.

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  9. Nice archers Jonathan. The Thirty Years War, another interesting period, noooooooooooo.

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    1. Thanks! TYW is an interesting period, for sure, but I am trying to keep my wargaming interest to ECW only.

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  10. Very nice. CC:A is a perfect introduction to historical gaming.

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    1. Thanks! CCA is a perfect intro to historical wargaming or wargaming in general.

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  11. Nice looking archers. Hex bases always look kinda cool to me. And CC is a great introduction game to historicals. 😀

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    1. Thanks! Being a boardgamer too, hexes seem natural to me and offer a sensible approach to abstraction.

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  12. Well done on the missionary work Jon!
    Chris/Nundanket

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  13. Lovely samurai archers: I can just see them running through the streets of a burning village at night, ala Kurowsawa!

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    1. Thanks, Ed! Makes one want to pull up a Kurosawa film.

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  14. Nice paintwork Jon, your productivity even at the slower pace is astounding. Good to se the gradual conversion of another historical gamer 👍

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    1. Thanks! I think August may prove a better month on the painting front than late spring and early summer.

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  15. A fine looking group of samurai Jonathan and good job adding a new member to historical wargaming.

    Christopher

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    1. Thanks on both counts, Christopher. I hope to see Logan at the game table again. I need a rematch to regain my honor…

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  16. Lovely work as usual Jon. Your collection must be colossal by now!

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