Conquest 2018, Pt. 2

After lunch on Saturday I had a chance to get my newly painted Syrians out. I realised, with relief, that they would not have to face Eric’s Hussites, and, with disappointment, that they would not meet Robin’s Ottomans. I’d had a couple of games the Monday before with Grant facing Normans impersonating WotR English, as there were two of those armies here, and I’d not learned how to face ranged elements well. I did better in the second of the games with Grant, which buoyed me up somewhat.

• 1. War of the Roses English (Keith)

Their first encounter was with the Keith’s WotR English. And sure enough, I was defending. However, the English did not go for too much terrain.

The Syrians.

I deployed my Adath militia on a dificult hill and the rest of my army spreading out to the right of it.

The English.

Facing them the English deployed their artillery next to an enclosure (RGo) and on their open right flank they had a solitary cavalry, although their reserve would be able to reinforce it.

I hoped to attack the artillery with my javelinmen and archers; and I succeeded in getting the two Bedouin behind their lines, where they destroyed an element of billmen. The archers attacked the artillery on its flank, forcing it to turn to face. The English commander and the reserve billmen responded to the Bedouing threat. Overlapped by the billmen and attacked by the general, one of the Bedouin nearly won the battle, rolling 6 to 2. It was a stick!

Bedouin get behind the lines.

On my next turn, I rolled 5 PiPs and becoming shaken by the enemy shooting (one of the Syrian cavalry had broken), I charged into the echeloned enemy line. It was a disaster. I’d somehow miscounted the enemy, and my elements did not end up facing the ones I thought they would. My general outdid the English one, rolling a humiliating 1 to lose the game.

In hindsight, the attack was folly, but it it uncomfortable receiving fire, and I couldn’t see a way of improving the situation for the Bedouin (the Turkomans might have been able to join them).

• 2. Aztecs (Colin)

For my second battle I was more comfortably defending, and I did not make it easy for the Aztecs, chosing a small hamlet (BUA), a gentle hill and a road.

The Aztecs, splendidly painted.

The Aztecs massed their hordes on their right flank and their psiloi on their left. I had the luxury of deploying to choose my targets. My javelinmen and the horde faced the psiloi, while cavalry faced the warband and blades. My light horse screened the hordes.

The Syrians.

On contact the general destroyed some blades and the warband went down to some ghulams. Elsewhere their general recoiled the other Ghulams, as did their psiloi my javelinmen.

Contact!

Their general opted to retreat to the hill, while the hordes flanked and destroyed a Bedouin LH. On my turn, the ghulams destroyed another blade, and the javelinmen and archers got a psiloi to break the enemy’s resolve.

Victory!

That was the last outing for the Syrians, as my next round was a bye. I was sitting second by my count, but my hope of winning rested on Keith’s English defeating Eric’s Hussites, as he had secured two more points in his defeat against me than I got in my defeat to Keith. As it turned out, his Hussites proved too tough for the English and I came second. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day — good opponents and good games played in a good spirit. I’d like to thank Keith for organising it!

Syrians ready to fight

The Entire Syrian Army.

After what seems a long time, I’ve finally got enough figures finished so that I can field the Syrians. All the mounted options are painted, but there are more foot options that I have still to paint. For strict accuracy if I want to be able to field all the options for IV/6 I’d need to get a different command for IV/6c and one more Syrian cavalry (I’m using a Ghulam element instead).

The last four elements were the Bedouin light horse and the Syrian cavalry.

Bedouin Light horse.

Another angle.

From behind.

Another angle.

This army has plenty of light horse and cavalry, but it doesn’t have much interesting infantry support. It’ll just have to rely on its good looks!

Syrian Cavalry.

Another angle.

From behind.

Another angle.

It’s going to be a bit of a rush getting the Carthaginian veteran spear finished in time for Conquest; however, I have fallback figures, so it’s not the end of the world if I don’t.

Turkomans

Turkoman Light horse.

The Syrians are a little closer now, with two elements of LH finished. These are Turkomans. The Legio Heroica figure are very nice, but they have quite a lot of crud on them, which shows up as one with a large ear, and another two with large hands. I tried to clean them up with a Dremel, but didn’t really get all of it.

Another angle.

From behind.

Another angle.

Next up will be the two Bedouin LH and then finally two Syrian Cv. I should get them on the table at least once before travelling to Conquest with them.

I’ve also got myself a paint shaker from Robart, and I like it. I’ve order a whole lot of empty bottles like the Vallejo ones and plan to move all my paint into them; I expect a lot of the paints will need to be chucked, which is not a bad thing. The spur for this was the decline of my GW Brassy Brass. I eventually decided to buy the Vallejo equivalent and like it. And one thing led to another (as it does when you’re procrastinating about an essay!).

I got a can of Molotow Matt Varnish; it’s better than the Testors I’d been using, which is really satin. However, these figures still look a bit glossy, so may need another coat.

More ghulams

I’ve been busy this last week, and the progress on the Syrians has not been much. However, yesterday I got a bit done; all the remaining elements are a little closer to completion, and I completed the command element, the Syrian commander with his ghulam bodyguard.

The Syrian Commander.

The army is now halfway done, with just two more elements of cavalry (both Syrian) and four elements of light horse (Turkomans and Bedouin). They should get done later this week.

Another angle.

From behind.

All the Ghulams.

Strictly one of these elements should be Syrian cavalry, but getting the extra pack of figures would have pushed up the postage. The extra ghulams will allow these figures to morph into other armies in time.

More Syrians

The Syrians are taking shape. It’s just a matter of doing belts and suchlike now; thought there’s a bit of that for the mounted elements. I got the minimum of foot done, the Ahdath militia and some javelinmen.

Syrian militia and javelinmen.

The photos show where I need to touch up moustaches, and the varnish is not matte enough for my liking.

Another angle.

The figures are Khurasan, but I’ve given some of them shields from Legio Heroica; the decals are LBMS. Their spears are a little cartoonish. I like their poses, and I’m fairly pleased with the palette for their clothes.

Another angle.

From behind.

The helmets could be painted as covered in cloth. I’ve not done that, but the turban that comes out the back of them looks a lot like hair. I’ve painted them as turbans based on the other figures.

Now I’ve just got seven elements of cavalry to go.

Ghulam, ghulam

The first of the Syrian mounted elements is now ready, a pair of ghulams. The figures are Legio Heroica, and paint up very nicely. I was in a bit of a hurry and they’re a little untidy.

Syrian ghulams.

I am trying to get the rest of the army done by the end of the week for a few games on Sunday; this was a good start. I got a bit distracted investigating what I’d need to morph these figures into other armies. Without too many figures, I could field Fatimid (III/66), Ayyubid Egyptian (IV/20) and Seljuq Turk (III/74). there are probably more from either side of the period too.

Another angle.

The ghulams are particularly nice troops, and I wouldn’t mind getting some more.

And another.

Syrians

I’ve started to get some Syrians (IV/6) painted for DBA. I got them at the beginning of the year, but then things got busy, and I’ve only recently started to work on them. Here is the first finished elements – the baggage and an element of archers.

The Syrian camp.

Another angle.

Syrian archers.

Another angle.

The foot are from the Khurasan range, but as that range is not complete, I went for Legio Heroica for the mounted. this took a fair bit of preparation. Some of which was mixing up the shields with the Khurasan ones (which are little bucklers). I also used LBMS transfers for this army, which proved a lot easier than I’d first thought. The figures did not look too exciting until I got the undercoat on. I use a wash to pick out the detail; with that they really came to life.

The command element: ghulams and a drummer.

The ghulams.

Syrian or Kurdish cavalry.

I have one too many elements of ghulams, which do look very nice, and one too few of the Syrians; as they both fight as Cv I doubt this is too major. I wanted to avoid a hike in postage.

Bedouin horsemen.

Turkoman horse archers.

With all these figures primed and with banners and shields done, I’m keen to get them painted. The banners were a little tricky; I’d thought they’d slide to line up, but the PVA didn’t do that; perhaps I should have used a varnish on the back of the paper.

There are more elements of foot that I’ve prepped – 3Ax javelinmen, 3Wb ghazis and some 7Hd Ahdath militia. The army is not especially formidable. It does look nice, and provides a historical opponent to Crusader armies. I’m not sure what a single horde adds to a cavalry army, and I’m tempted to use an ally to avoid them; either Cilician Armenians or Crusaders are possible.