Been a Long Time...

Yes, a long time has passed since I last fielded a new unit for the 28mm Punic Wars project.  Besides some game markers, the last unit to march out from the painting desk was a pair of Gaestatae units back in NOV 2021.  Nearly four years since the project witnessed any activity on the painting front.

The main reason that no new units have appeared in a long time is that there are not that many figures left in The Lead Pile.  Really, only a bunch of odds and ends remain with not much chance of fielding complete units unless I push some skirmishers into the production queue.  Already, plenty of skirmishers have mustered out such that more are not needed.  Still, I may paint and field these skirmishers someday to get them out of The Lead Pile.

With that explanation (excuse?) laid bare, today sees one more unit of Libyan heavy spearmen march out from the painting desk.  These thirteen figures had to be scraped together to form one more heavy spear unit.  Most of the figures are Renegade Miniatures but the Renegade cadre is augmented by a couple of Aventine figures and even possibly a Crusader figure or two.  Good to have these figures painted and out of The Lead Pile!

On the gaming front, no game this week.  Today's game at Scott's was called due to illness (not mine!).  Looking to get that game back onto the schedule.  Having cleared my table of the four-game run of Mortimer's Cross, my attention is turning toward horse & musket periods.  At present, I am focused on recreating a couple of battles from the War of Polish Succession.  Much work needs to be accomplished before I am ready to bring these to the table.  Study continues on scenario design and development.  Hopefully something tangible to share in the near future.

Spinning My Wheels

Spinning both figuratively and literally!

Upper Falls split by Canada Island.

The literal wheel spinning gives a nod to an increase in mileage out on the bike.  While not up to the mileage of old, I am pushing an average of about 150 miles per week.  This is much better mileage than logged during the winter and early spring months of indoor training.  Good to get out in the pleasant weather before the daytime temperatures nudge the thermometer up into the 90s.  Doubly good to get the roadwork in before the hazards of negotiating crosstown traffic make the journey a bit stressful until I can get out onto the relative safety of the bike path and relax.

Upper Falls, South Channel

Saturday morning's ride saw me stopping on the Post Street Bridge for a brief snack break in the middle of downtown.  Breakfast consisted of downing a couple pieces of sushi while I enjoyed the pleasant view of the Upper Falls before making the long and hot climb back up the South Hill and home.  With no measurable rain for more than a month and the mountain snowpack long gone, the Spokane River is running low with both Lower and Upper Falls showing their mid-summer, natural state of exposed rock and reduced water flow. 

Lower Falls under Monroe Street Bridge

The figurative wheel spinning is happening on the hobby front.

Following the series on Mortimer's Cross battles and the chronicling of those very enjoyable games, returning to the keyboard and painting table has been difficult.  After wrapping up a series of battles, I am frequently distracted by what might occupy the table next.  That research continues.  After suggestions, a return to the 18th Century may be in the cards.  Early candidates include War of Austrian Succession and War of Polish Succession battles.  Which one to tackle first is still undecided.  

Another distraction is that Nancy and I brought a new dog into the family.  We all are adjusting quickly and this fellow has every hint at being a very good dog.  His calm and friendly disposition is unmatched by any dog we have had before.  The animal shelter says he is a poodle (mix?) but when I conducted an image match, a Spanish Water Dog came up as a close look-a-like.  Time (and possibly a DNA test) will tell, I suppose. 

Lee delivering a bow rake into Steve after I softened him up!

Finally, I did get a game in this week!  Reject Richard hosted another of his superbly directed playtests for the Age of Sail rules he is designing and developing.  Game ran smoothly and Lee and I came away with a victory.  Great fun!

Jon delivering a stern rake into Dan to seal the deal!

Richard's account of battle can be read at Naval Playtest 4 - Nearly There!

Next time, maybe some new units to parade?  By the way, the dog is asleep at my feet as I type, snoring...

Another Hard Day for Edward!

In the last Battle of Mortimer's Cross (see The Man Who Won't Be King), the game saw Edward IV wounded and carried away by the enemy.  That day was a hard one for Edward.

Following that episode, Chris, and the Two Dave's joined in to refight this battle for a fourth time last week.  With only three players, Dave B. (DB) took command of the entire Yorkist Army (red dice) alone while Chris and Dave C. (DC) split the Lancastrian command (blue dice).  DC would take command of the army and Pembroke's center Battle with Chris taking command of the two Lancastrian wings.

As a refresher, initial deployments looked thusly,

Initial deployments

As the title suggests, Edward may have seen another hard day on the field.  Let's find out!

When the battle begins, Edward places Herbert and his own command on Engage orders.  Devereaux is given Defend.  On the other side of the field, Pembroke puts himself on Engage while the two wings opt for Maneuver orders.

Let the battle begin!

Straight away, Pembroke and Edward collide along the Old Roman Road.  As the two bodies of men close, archers fire and retire to the rear.  The two melee lines crash into each other with Edward and Pembroke leading the way.  In the initial collision, men fall on both sides.  Edward's battle takes the worst of the punishment and falls back.  Edward is wounded in the chaos and is captured by the Lancastrians!  Deja vu from the earlier game!  DB cannot believe his luck but then neither can DC!  Pembroke either fails to pursue or chooses not to do so.  I don’t remember which!

Pembroke and Edward clash...

and the Yorkists retire without Edward!

Herbert, on the Yorkist Left continues his march toward Tudor while across the battlefield, Wiltshire takes the fight to Deveraux positioned on the Yorkist Right.

With a slight lull in the center, the wings move into action.

Tudor, who by now has successfully changed his orders to Engage, moves on Herbert.  Herbert's archers are driven off and Tudor's melee line smacks into Herbert's melee line.  Herbert suffers tremendous casualties and retires pushing his archers back as well.  Tudor follows up but cannot reach Herbert's men to continue the melee.

After driving off enemy archers, Tudor attacks!

Herbert's MAA are heavily bloodied and retreat.

Back in the fight along the Old Roman Road, Edward (well, ex-Edward now), brings up his second body of MAA forward to engage Pembroke.  Pembroke's first melee line stands firm and the Yorkists are repulsed.  With the enemy falling back, Pembroke launches a counterattack.  The Yorkists are forced back once again.  Nearing exhaustion, Pembroke cannot break the enemy's will.  The Yorkists stand firm and Pembroke retires.

Yorkist MAA attack in the center...

and are driven off!

Pembroke pursues...

but cannot break the enemy's line.

Against the Yorkist Right and Devereaux, Wiltshire goes in.  In very heavy fighting, Devereaux is pushed back not once but twice!  Wiltshire's success and tenacity pushes Devereaux and his Battle right off the table!  One Yorkist Battle broken!

Wiltshire attacks...

driving Devereaux clean off the table!

The fighting in the center continues.  Pembroke's first melee line attacks Edward's MAA.  Stubbornly and somewhat unexpectedly, the Lancastrians are repulsed!  As Pembroke's first line falls back, his second body of MAA advances to contact the enemy.  The enemy is driven back in a chain reaction as formations behind are, likewise, pushed back.  Edward's Battle clings to the edge of the board.  With Wiltshire now unopposed on Edward's right ready to strike, Pembroke makes one more push into the wavering Yorkists.  That one last shove is all that is needed to put Edward's Battle to flight.  This battle is over.  Victory to the Lancastrian Army and Pembroke!

Pembroke renews his attack and is repulsed.

Lancastrian reinforcements join in pushing the enemy back.

Yorkist Center clings to the table...

but one last attack puts the Yorkists to flight!

This was a convincing win by the Lancastrian Army as the Butcher's Bill, below, attests.  Yikes!  Congratulations to DC and Chris for a well-played game.  Despite DB's seeming inability to put up a solid defense due to the Dice Gods, the Lancastrians capitalized on every Yorkist misstep and missed opportunity.  

Butcher's Bill

DB, that was a tough game, and another hard day for Edward.  The dice rarely showed you any favor on this day.  You took it all with grace.  Usually, DC is on the end of terrible dice rolls so seeing DC's fortunes reverse was a positive even at your expense.  We should bring you fellas back to the table for a rematch but, perhaps, a new battle.

Thanks again, guys!  This was a very entertaining game.

The British Are Coming!

No, not those British! 

While the SYW/WAS collection has not seen any action on the gaming table in more than a year (has it really been that long since Bassignana?), painting for this project continues.  As illustrated in the half-year painting update in Saturnine Orogeny, work on the 18mm SYW/WAS collection comprised nearly 39% of all painting output for 2025 through June.

Marching out from the painting desk are two regiments of SYW/WAS British foot.  These 46 figures muster out as the 3rd and 4th Regiments of Foot.  Foot figures are from Blue Moon led by Eureka Miniatures' mounted colonels.  Looking into The Lead Pile, this looks the end of the Blue Moon British figures.  Any more British units will be made up of Old Glory figures and I have several bags of them.

While other projects are seeing more efforts at the painting desk, two regiments of Piedmontese will be mustering out shortly.  After that, a whole mishmash of projects will be working through the painting queue.  A pair of Great Italian Wars units may beat the Piedmontese out of the gate, though.  We will see.

Painting has taken a backseat to gaming this week with three gaming sessions on the docket.  Monday saw two playtests of Reject Richard's Anglo-Dutch Wars naval rules that were easy to learn and great fun.  Excellent rules.  This game even has me eyeing my pile of unbuilt Anglo-Dutch ships.  Eyeing only.  I do not think I maintain the skill or patience to build up enough ships for two fleets.  Still, a guy can dream.  Richard's Battle Report can be read at Naval Playtest 3.

Tuesday saw a return to Mortimer's Cross on my table in a remote three-player game.  Great fun in a challenging game for Edward IV.  Battle report to follow soonish (I hope!).  My next decision is whether to set up another refight of Mortimer's Cross or go out in search of a new battle to fight.  Time will tell.

Finally, Wednesday saw four battles of Cunaxa fought on Scott's table.  Using Commands & Colors: Ancients, we played out four games in about two-and-a-half hours.  Again, great fun!  Scott went 2-0 and I managed to go 2-1 in the session. Poor Kevin was skunked again at 0-3.  In the four games, Artaxerxes won two games and Cyrus won two games.

That is it for the gaming for the week just passed.  No games on next week's slate yet but, like the weather, that can change quickly.

The Man Who Won't Be King

On 23 June, four of Postie's Rejects gathered around my remote wargaming table for a try at the Mortimer's Cross battle.

Lee (Edward IV) and Dan (Herbert and Devereaux) commanded the Yorkist Army (red dice) while Richard (Pembroke) and Steve (Wiltshire and Tudor) commanded the Lancastrian Army (blue dice).  Richard has played the rules before, but this is the first trial for the other three players.  Let's see how it goes.

Armies arrayed for battle.

Lancastrians to the south...

and Yorkists to the north.

The commander attributes generated by players for this battle are,

with all commanders rated as Brave except for Wiltshire who is Inspiring.  Pembroke is most concerned with Winning the Battle, while Tudor and Wiltshire are aiming for Personal Survival.  All three Yorkist commanders are set on attaining Personal Glory. 

The battle opens with both of Edward's wings stepping forward while Edward, himself, remains on the defense.  Remaining on a defensive posture may make attaining personal glory difficult!  Mirroring his enemy across the field, Pembroke orders his two wings forward to contest the ground that Edward wants to grab.

Yorkists' wings advance...

while Lancastrian wings follow suit.

As the wings of the two armies close the distance, first shots of the battle are let loose by Tudor's Battle.  Tudor's archers force Herbert's archers to retire to safety behind their own melee line.  With his own archers falling back, Herbert brings his melee line forward toward Tudor's bowmen.  The Lancastrian archers fire into the approaching enemy before falling back behind their melee line.  No effect is noted.  Tudor's archers, however, delay long enough for Tudor's melee line to counterattack.  In a lengthy melee seeing heavy casualties to all, Tudor's men are repulsed.  They retreat back.  That did not go as planned!  

Tudor's archers retire...

as does his melee line.

Over against the Yorkist Right, Wiltshire strikes first but is, likewise, repulsed.  Casualties are light.  This battle is starting off roughly for the Lancastrians.  Devereaux moves forward into Wiltshire.  After forcing Wiltshire's archers back, Devereaux's melee line collides with Wiltshire's melee line.  In contrast to the action on the Yorkist Left, Yorkist infantry are driven back with great loss to both combatants.  Actually, losses are extremely heavy to Devereaux and his MAA are lucky to remain holding on by only a thread.  Seeing the disruption to the enemy, Wiltshire brings forward his archers and sends a missile volley into the wavering MAA.  One volley is enough to send the Yorkist MAA on their way to the rear as the billmen fall back in sympathy.  Their battle is done. 

Devereaux drives off Wiltshire's archers
 before hitting the enemy melee line.

Wiltshire's archers move up and give the enemy a volley.

That is enough to send Devereux's MAA
and supporting billmen back. 

With Edward still sitting astride the crossroads on defend orders and Pembroke moving up to engage but still a long way away, Tudor counterattacks Herbert.  After scattering Herbert's archers, Tudor crashes into the enemy melee line.  Having already been battered in their earlier fight, Herbert reluctantly retires.  Tudor is too exhausted to follow up this success.   

Herbert and Tudor bashing each other again!

Pembroke advancing down the main road
 as Edward sits on his laurels.

Tudor and Herbert running out of steam as losses mount.

With Edward still struggling to encourage his men to go onto the attack, Pembroke strikes!  Using his archers to soften up the enemy by forcing Edward's archers to the rear, Pembroke plunges into Edward with his first melee line.  Fighting is hot but with Edward remaining at the front, the Yorkists see the enemy off.  In retreat, Pembroke's first melee line passes back through his second melee line.  Now Edward snaps into action!  Following up the retreating enemy, Edward collides with Pembroke's second body of MAA.  In the clash, Edward goes down with serious wounds.  As the Yorkists continue to fight on, they gain the upper hand.  The Lancastrians retire, taking Edward with them!  Determined to rescue Edward, the Yorkists continue to pursue the enemy.  Scattering the single body of enemy MAA, Edward is nowhere to be found among the wreckage.     

Pembroke advances...

crashing into Edward's Battle.

Pembroke's main melee line is forced back...

with Edward in hot pursuit!

Edward overcomes the enemy again but falls in the chaos.
Edward is carried away by the enemy.

Fighting to rescue Edward... 

Pembroke's MAA scatter
 but Edward is not among the casualties.

Seeing Pembroke falling back in the center, Tudor attacks Herbert in an attempt to stabilize the situation so that his flank is not left hanging in air.  In a lengthy melee, Tudor is killed when his melee line breaks.  When the melee line breaks, Tudor's Battle also breaks!  With Pembroke continuing to fall back in the center under pressure from Edward's Battle (well, ex-Edward's Battle) and Tudor broken, the situation looks dire for the Lancastrian Army.  Help is needed.  That help is found in Wiltshire still battling on the Lancastrian Left.  Wiltshire redoubles his efforts against Devereaux.  Devereaux, already greatly weakened by earlier exertions, collapses under these renewed attacks.  Devereaux's Battle breaks.    

Tudor attacks...

but is killed in the hand-to-hand fighting.

Tudor's Battle breaks!

Each army now has one Battle broken.  Next army to break a second enemy Battle can claim victory.  We need not wait long.  As Tudor's archers slowly retire from the field, they deliver a long-range volley.  It hits home.  Herbert's wavering MAA are destroyed!  This battle is over!

Herbert breaks!

Victory to the Lancastrians!  Congratulations to the Lancastrian commanders, Richard and Steve!  Well done, guys!  To the Yorkists, Lee and Dan, it was a close and hard-fought contest, but it was not to be on this day.  Edward IV will not be King.  Reports still are not listing his where abouts.  The Butcher's Bill illustrates the closeness of this battle.  With one broken Battle each and all Battles suffering from their efforts, the outcome was really a toss-up until the very end.  After a seemingly endless string of Lancastrian losses on the table, that run is broken.  

Butcher's Bill

To read Richard's account of the battle, please visit Battle of Mortimer's Cross. 

Thanks to all players for providing a very enjoyable game.  That was really great fun and much appreciated.

One more Mortimer's Cross battle to fight and chronicle and then what?