Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Taiping Rebellion - Overrun Scenario

Several years ago I was attempting to run a linked set of battles as a Taiping Rebellion campaign. We made it through 2 battles and then I was side-tracked (very easy to do), but I wanted to share with you the photos from the two battles.

This post is about the first battle called OVERRUN. This scenario was to depict the first initial growing pains of the rebellion witht the Taiping surprising and overrunning their enemies in the early part of the war.

You will see a large Taiping force fighting Green Bannermen (Imperial Chinese) along with some local militia.

Game was fought using Piquet rules. Figures are mostly Foundry with some Old Glory mixed in. Eventually I will get around to flocking the bases, but haven't completely decided on the technique I want to use on them. This is my only major collection of figures in 25mm.

The Taiping Flags are spectacular and are available from the Virtual Armchair General. Now if I can just get them to do the Imperial Chinese flags then my collection will be complete. I do plan on putting more Taiping flags on each unit, just because it looks really cool.

First you can take a look at the units involved and the initial deployment. The Taiping army was comprised of 3 infantry brigades, while the Imerial Chinese had two small brigades and some cavalry support. Chinese civilians can be scene fleeing the town.



The opening deployment from the Taiping side

View from the Imeperial town, with the civilians running for their lives

 
Taiping left wing brigade

Taiping right wing brigade with Black Banner of death

 
Imperial Chinese infantry defending the town
 
Taiping Wang (King), leading his army

Taiping Infantry. Love those flags and banners!


Attack!

The battle begins!


Piquet Sequence Deck, with opp chips represented by antique Chinese coins you can by at craft stores

The 3 Taiping Brigades adavnce, with Jingails sniping away.
 
Closer view of the main attack

Good overall view of the assault

Veteran Taiping units attack the meat of the Imerial defense.

Miao Tribesmen (Taiping allies) take heavy casualties from Imperial Bowmen

Battle rages on the right

Taiping Levy are attacked by Imperial Cavalry

Massive engagement on the Taiping left, which drives the Imperials back


Imperial Chinese attacked by the religious zeal of the Taiping
 Hope you enjoyed the photos. I wish I had more photos of the end of the game, but the Taiping won the battle, as expected.

Scenarion #2 is called Confrontation and I will be posting that later this week.

Enjoy!
Eric Burgess

Monday, November 15, 2010

Dark Dwarves, Wood Elves, Griffin Riders, and Wemics

Here are some unit photos of some of my different fantasy 15mm armies.

Dark Dwarves by Grenadier


Dark Dwarf General

Dark Dwarf Infantry

Dark Dwarf Sorcerer
Wood Elves by Grenadier



Wood Elf Infantry

Wood Elf Rangers (rear)


Wood Elf Rangers (front)


Wood Elf Brigade Commander


Wood Elf Chariot


One of four stands for my Royal Archers
 
Elf Hero (round base)

Griffin Riders by Ral Partha




Wemics by Ral Partha
I personally think these are some of the most amazing sculpts around. I have based and flocked these since, but don't have newer photos.



I'll continue to post more photos this week.
Eric

Friday, November 12, 2010

Amazons take to the Field - 15mm Fantasy Combat

Found some more battle photos of our 15mm Fantasy combat games. (Piquet rules)

We usually  setup two fantasy battles side by side on the table to allow more participation and playtesting. This night we had Brian's Amazon Army taking on Brian's lionmen army. On the second table we had Eric's Amazon army with a brigade of monsters fighting Eric's Dwarven army.

I didn't get a lot of shots of Brian's battle as I was actively fighting in the other one, but I love these two shots of the Mastadons smashing into the Amazons. The Lionmen Army lost this battle as their armor prooved too weak to resist the power of the Amazons. All the Amazon figures are available from Lone Gunman Games.




Meanwhile, in my battle you see the Dwarves on defense (another mountain pass scenario) with the Amazons Army and a brigade of monsters (Trolls, Bugbears, Drow, etc) attacking. The Dwarves managed to win this battle, but it was very close.

Dwarf Druid (front), Dwarven Brigade Commander (left), and unit of heavy dwarven spears

Amazons advancing with support from a Manticore!

General view of the Amazon\Monster assault

Bugbears by Ral Partha

Amazon commander on Griffin

Manticore flies over the Dwarven crossbowmen and engages them in melee

Bugbears crash into the Dwarven battle line

Amazon Heavy Sabretooth cavalr are attacked by the Dwarven Guard! This saved the Dwarven army as the Amazons were sweaping around the rear of the Dwarven battle line


Drow Lizard Riders (Ral Partha) attempt to break a tough Dwarven Heavy unit

Hope you enjoy!
Eric

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Wood Elf Ambush on Orc Raiders - 15mm Fantasy Battle

Hi,

Sharing some photos from a game night from about a year ago. Seems I only took photos of the pre-battle deployment as I was too busy enjoying the battle (Wood Elves won) to bother taking photos of the actual battle.

The scenario finds the Orc raiding army camped in a clear in the woods, only to be ambushed at dawn by the Wood Elves.

Orcs = Grenadier Miniatures
Wood Elves = Grenadier Miniatures
Ruined Monastary by Mal Wright

Enjoy!
Eric