Dux Italica Playtest 4 - Romans v Gauls - Battle scenario

 Had another great game of Dux Italica yesterday with Simon MacDowall. He brought his Gauls over for their first outing. We played a battle rather than a raid and thus were able to play through the pre-battle sequence. Simon won initiative and opted for a combat of champions which , after early success in wounding the Gaul, my champion ended up losing his head! So I called upon the gods, who weren't listening before Simon made a speech which gave him the best possible result - his Warlord an extra level higher AND an extra card in his Fate deck hand! 

I hoped to fight the battle aggressively as the gallic faction is very scary if they attack, but it didn't work that way: the character activations favouring Simon who was able to dictate the whole battle. He also gained a stunning Fate hand which he used to devastating effect launching his chariots and then his warriors into my Antepilani warriors who ended up Shocked beyond recovery and fleeing off table, despite not losing too many men killed. This was all due to activation order (and skilful card playing!)

Then Simon managed to get the drop on my Levy shattering his own fanatics and my levy in the process. Sadly my cavalry was just too far away to impact on proceedings despite having worked the flank, so I withdrew from the battle. 

Gallic victory! The Romans have now won 2, the Etruscans 1 and the Gauls 1. My Samnites are still being painted. But it's all great fun and seems as though the lists are pretty balanced. We'll run Gauls v Romans again in a fortnight and see if I can get my revenge. 

15mm Glory Guys Western Project - Cavalry Skirmish Line

 With the announcement of the release of 'Bugles to the West', a Western variant of TMWWBK in March 27, I dragged out my 15/18mm Blue Moon US Cavalry and made a start. I always wanted to get a slightly Hollywood look based on my childhood favourite Western movie, Sam Peckingpah's 'The Glory Guys' so when I bought them I spent hours creating Greenstuff bandannas for them - not easy on such tiny figures! 

I'm pleased with these. painting 15/18mm is tricky - one has to go large with the highlights and in hindsight some of my base coat colours could have been darker to enhance the contrasts, but these will do - only about 6 evenings with an hour or two each evening to get these from undercoat to complete, which is staggeringly quick by my standards! 

Under the Yoke

 A couple more wonderful vignettes for Dux Italica. This time, Resin Warfare's brilliant 'Under the Yoke' and 'Prisoners' sets. Putting prisoners under the yoke was the ultimate humiliation in 4th century BCE Italy, famously done to the Romans by the Samnites at The Caudine Forks. 

This will make a fabulous table 'decoration' to add period flavour to the Dux Italica table, especially if we ever get it out to a show or something. 

Samnite Warriors for Dux Italica

 First unit of Samnites finished for my adaptation of Dux Britanniarum called 'Dux Italica'. Pleased with these, built from the two Victrix Samnite kits and the latest Greek hoplite kits. 

Samnite Hero

 Here's the first Victrix Samnite Hero for the Dux Italica Samnites and Hill Tribes faction.

Dux Italica Playtest 3 - Raid a Villa

 Absolutely brilliant third playtest of Dux Italica, my 4th century BCE Roman Conquest of Italy variant of Dux Brit. This time I umpired while Richard took my Romans against Simons Etruscans, raiding deep into Etruria to sack a villa.

The Romans did manage to locate some loot in the villa but the main action revolved around three monumental infantry combats that swung this way and that until the Romans finally prevailed (just!)

It was also a great looking game as our figures and terrain look top-notch though I say so myself!