3D Printed Roman Marching Fort from CentrionStudio on Etsy

Hi folks,

I wanted to share my experience with the 3D printer terrain company, CentrionStudio, on Etsy. I was browsing 3D terrain on Etsy and came across their Roman marching fort\camp, which they call "Desert Wall Kit Roman Camp Walls Towers Kit" for some reason.

Desert Wall Kit Roman Camp Walls Towers Kit Watchtower Tower Dungeons and Dragons - Etsy

When I first looked at it, he had only 20mm, 28mm, and 32mm selections. I reached out to the owner of the company and asked if he could do it in 15mm and he immediately responded and said yes! (Etsy has a built-in messaging system) He updated the webpage in about ten minutes to allow me to pick 15mm 1:100! No that is great customer service!

I ordered the entire fort hoping that it would work with my 18mm WoFun miniatures. I was taking a huge leap as I didn't know the exact dimensions of the final product.

My WoFun miniatures are being used for several different rulesets, but wanted to see if it would work with To the Strongest with 4" squares. Turns out that the fort shrinks down into roughly 2" to 4" sections which works great for my 4" grid. See photo below with ruler.

Here are a couple of the WoFun figures on the fort walls and attacking it. Gives you an idea of scale for these and I think they look outstanding!!! Two wall sections hold a 3-stand unit (WoFun miniatures).

Gallic Warriors attack!!! Just glad I don't have to paint those Gauls!!! Thank you WoFun and Peter Dennis (artist).

CentrionStudio kept me in the loop during the manufacturing process, even sending photos of the printing in progress along with a photo of the entire fort when completed!! She's a beauty! 

He put it on a 1" grid mat which really helped me visualize the size of the product in 15mm.

The full fort option gives you the most options, but you may want to custom select exactly the fort you want as it is highly module. There are two smaller entrances and one large one in the "full fort" option.

There are multiple towers, three different walls without towers too.

Prepping the Fort

I had to change a couple wall sections to better fit my WoFun miniatures which are on 20mm deep bases. For the wall with stairs and wall with weapon's platform I cut off a couple of the raised logs so the bases could fit. 

Before and after shot of the stairs where I took off just the top log. You can see that my 20mm deep base will not rest on the rampart (left) until I removed the first log (right)

Cutting the top log off was quick and simple. I just used an E-Xacto knife and it popped right of.

Filing and removing residue filament strings will be done with both a knife and small triangle shaped file.

Washing with hot\warm water and soft brush will be used for paint prep.

Painting the Fort

When I'm done painting the fort I will post some finished shots along with a large Gallic Warrior assault on the fort! Below you can see two sections is about 4-1/8th inches.

Just wanted to share my excitement for this product. Once again thank you to CentrionStudio GREAT customer service and quick turnaround on the order. I will be ordering from him again in the near future. 

Happy gaming

Eric

Plataea with To the Strongest

 Hi folks,

It has been a very long time since I posted. It isn't that I haven't been gaming, but I have been gaming a LOT! 

First of many posts to come is on the testing of To the Strongest (TtS) ancient rules with my friend Phil. Since I had Greek and Persians in 15mm, I created a TtS mat with lichen as the corners of the squares and chose the battle of Plataea 479 BC. The squares were 5" x 5" which will be too large for future engagements. I've had these Greeks and Persians since the late 1990s! I put every one of those water transfer decals on the Greek shields. Whew!

It looked good enough and we got down to fighting this battle twice in late July 2024. As usual, clip on the photos for larger images.

Below: Greek Hoplites and Peltasts. Using Litko "Arrow Volley" wooden bits to track Peltest ammo.

Below are the Persians with Indian subjects. I tracked ammo using brown wooden cubes. Persians have an enormous amount of missile troops.

The first time was a Persian victory while the second was a Greek (historical) victory. Both were nail biters so that was nice. I still have some reservations about the rules (mainly about no modifiers TO HIT), but it was really a good time.

FIRST Plataea Battle (Persian victory)

Athenians (top left) crashing into the Boatians and Medes. Orange cubes are disorder markers

Immortals raining down arrows on the Spartans.

Persian cavalry waits patiently to slip around the Greek flank

Great view of the battle. Greeks on the left, Persians on the right.

Immortals ready to punish the Spartans, yeah right!

Pausanias didn't survive this battle! I made these labels too.

Persian cavalry trying to overrun the Greek archers.

My usual terrible combat chit draw. 16 chits and five 1s!!

SECOND Plataea Battle (Greek victory)

Phil did much better this time and crushed my Persian after a hard fought battle. I forgot to take photos until the battle was well under way!

Indian Allies are pulverized by the Greek Phalanx.

Persian Sparabara hold the phalanxes at bay, at least for a while.

Phil doing another chit pull. the battle rages across the entire country-side.

Persian left wing (immortals and Sparabara) in a desperate struggle against the Spartans.

Boeotians with 2 disorders. This won't end well.

My Persian cavalry turn the Spartan flank and have cavalry loose in the Greek rear area. The battle hangs in the balance!

Light Persian infantry can't hold against determined Greek Hoplites

Better view of my flank attack on the Spartans.

The crushing flank attack that broke the Persian right (Medizing Greeks) and won the battle.

So, after these two playtests, plus my two games I played at Historicon 2024, I'm embarking on a TtS adventure. Surprisingly there are little or no published scenarios for the rules, which is very frustrating.

Anyway, I'm going to make Scenarios for both the Greco-Persian Wars and 2nd Punic Wars.

Here is a sample map I made for Trebbia 218 BC, where each unit is roughly 1000 men.

I have another battle schedule in November, but I plan to host a game here in the War Room sooner than that. I've also ordered an extra mat from Cigar Box so that I can manually put dots on the corners of the squares so they are 4" squares. Here is a sample with my WoFun 2nd Punic War figures on them. I like how they look.

Cheers!

Eric

Battle of Aliwal - 15mm Sikh Wars game using Battle Command

Hi folks, Eric here! We are doing tons of gaming around here, but this is my first miniatures battle I have hosted in months. I hope to do this much more often. As usual, click on the individual photos to enlarge them. The game was played Saturday, February 10th, 2024.

Background

See British Battles Website: Battle of Aliwal (britishbattles.com) for details. 

This battle is from the First Sikh War between Britain and the Sikh Army of the Khalsa.

The British won this major battle with the 16th Lancers earning glory in the victory. Would they be covered in glory in this battle?

Rules and Miniatures

Rules: Battle Command (BC) from Piquet Inc. This was our first time playing these rules and they are very different than what Michael and Rich are used to playing. It took about a full turn for them (and myself) to grasp the concepts of the rules and turn two went twice as fast even though we did more things in turn two! I will be playing BC again in the near future. Likely with my SYW collection. There are some truly clever concepts in the rules.

Miniatures: 15mm figures from Michael's collection. This is likely less than 1/3 of all the figures he has for this war! Most figures are the old Freikorp line, plus Minifigs, Essex, etc. 

Game mats: Cigar Box Sicily maps x 2. These will be great for Boxer Rebellion, Maximilian in Mexico, Punic Wars, Greco-Persian Wars, and Russo-Japanese War collections! Love them,but I sure wish they would make one 10' x 6' cloth! That would be perfect.

Special Rules for this Scenario:

Sikh Militia Infantry (Jagirdari) get no First Fire Bonus on the Fire table.

British auto-win first initiative and it is a single initiative turn. Their first card is automatically the MOVE card.  

Setup

I tried my best to map out the battlefield according to all online and book research I could do. One interesting thing is that the British deployed their entire army in one long line with no reserve. Would that be a problem in our game?

Sikh defensive works (class II) on the left and the entire British in line on the right.

The Armies

I used mostly default charts to roll up the unit and leader qualities. I think I will need to make some adjustments for this period of warfare in the future.

British Army Roster

16th Lancers with their white helmet covers:

General Harry Smith!

Sikh Army Roster

Main Sikh Defensive lines with Aliwal in the background. That is a crapload of artillery!

I would likely tweak some of these values if I fought this battle again. However, since this isn't my figure collection and I have to return them (had them since March 2023!) I likely won't fight any more Sikh battles.

The Battle

The battle started with the British guns opening up on the Sikhs with little effect then the general advance was ordered and Hicks' 3rd Brigade was tasked with clearing out Aliwal! 

Above: The brave Jagirdari defenders manage to repulse the BNI and Ghurkas assault forces sending them back in disorder. 

Above: the Sikh guns open up in the center and drive back the 2nd Brigade with stiff casualties.

Above: British Horse batteries disorder (green marker) and cause UI loss (brown marker) on a Sikh Battery of the Elite Avitabile Brigade. The Avitabile brigade was considered some of the best Sikh troops and were trained by an Italian named Avitabile. 

Above: the 24th Bengal Native Infantry (BNI) and Nasiri's Ghurkas use firepower to drive out the Sikh militia in Aliwal. (Sikhs are now cleared from the village)

Above: Stedman's right cavalry wing, which consists of four cavalry regiments, closes the distance to the enemy.

Above: After losing nerves in front of the Sikh guns, the British commander decides to "break some eggs" and advances into contact on the left flank (1st Brigade) and advance what is left of his forces in the center and through Aliwal.

Above: the 31st BNI loses two UI (tan pipe cleaners) while trying to overrun the disordered Sikh battery. The Sikh regulars in the improvised earthworks give them pause, but they move into melee with a much reduced impetus. 

Above: disaster in the 1st Brigade. The Sikh guns drive away the 31st BNI in disorder, while the 53rd Foot is ROUTED (red marker) by one of the Avitabile regiments! Brigadier Wilson of the 1st Brigade tries to steady the lads, but chaos of battle has nearly ruptured the 1st Brigade.

Above: seizing the initiative the Avitabile regiments launch into the offensive while the British are still recovering from their initial failure on the left flank.

Above: meanwhile the battle rages around Aliwal and the Sikh earthworks. The British bring up horse guns and send two regiments (31st Foot in blue pants and 24th BNI closest to the earthworks) into point blank musket range in an attempt to finally clear out some guns and militia. 

Above: realizing that the vast majority of the entire left wing of the Sikh army is raw militia, the British commander becomes more reckless and moves his guns into canister range. This pays off huge dividends at the Sikh militia are carved to pieces and melt away. 

Above: in the center the British suffer from withering Sikh canister fire but manage to hold their ground while delivering devastating volleys. 

Above: The 50th Foot sends the red jacket Sikh militia screaming to the rear and begin to hammer on th Sikh guns. The Sikh guns eventually push the 50th back in disorder.

On the far left flank the 1st Cavalry Brigade under MacDowell, charges the Sikhs and their guns. The Sikhs manage to repulse the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry (BLC) in the photo above.

Above: the 16th Lancers rides into glory and overruns this Sikh battery completely annihilating them. 

Above: Sikh's far left flank looking at the British massing to punch a whole into the poorly defended section of the Sikh line. Only a dry riverbed stands between the Foot Guns and that poor Sikh militia unit.

Above: Brigadier General Wilson of the 1st Brigade is mortally wounded and carried from the field. The 1st Brigade is now hanging on by a thread!

Above: the entire front line of militia infantry has been cleared of the earthworks. The British are sensing a turning point in the battle in their favor!

Above: near the center more good news for the British and a Horse Battery sends Sikh regulars running from their entrenchment! 

Above: Shaky militia watch as Sikh regulars rout by them with 3 UI loses! 

Above: the 31st Foot clears the earthworks and is now poised to flank the Sikh guns or tear into the rear lines of the Sikhs, which is mostly militia. You can also see the 400-500 yard gap in the lines between the 31st Foot and the Sikh cavalry wing.

It was at this point we had to break for the day with the battle singing in the balance. The British only had 2 or 3 Army Morale Points left.

Above: end game photo showing the British cavalry wing about to cause massive problems and the huge gap in the Sikh lines.

Above: 31st Foot awaits orders! They have one UI loss.

Above: panoramic view of the battlefield from the Sikh point of view.

Above: here you can see where we left off with the 16th Lancers. Could they turn the Sikh flank before the Sikhs blast them from their saddles?

Above: another view from the Briths left flank looking at the entire battlefield.

Casualties & Conclusion

We completed two turns of the game and the British had broken through in several locations and the main Sikh defensive line had been torn to pieces and turned. The third turn would have truly resolved the game. The British had 2 AMPs left out of 25, while the Sikhs had just 12 of 40 so it could be anybody's game at this point. 

It was interesting to watch the British commander lose his personal morale check in turn one, only to go on a tear in turn 2 and nearly destroy the Sikhs as he got more and more familiar with the rules and how to maximize his troops effectiveness. He loved the British Horse artillery once he understood how to use them per the rules.

Sikh Casualties

When the game was stopped here is what the butcher's bill was for the Sikhs. 

1 Howitzer Battery destroyed.

1 Foot Battery destroyed.

2 x Foot Batteries crippled (each with only 1 UI left out of 3) 

1 x Faui-i-ain (regulars) routed.

6 x Jagirdari (militia\tribal) destroyed!

No leader casualties and the cavalry was just about to engage with the British on the Sikh left flank. Half the Sikh artillery was no more, and the rest had their flanks turned so they were likely on their way to ruination. 

British Casualties

Many of the Bengal Native Infantry (BNI) were roughly handled in the game (2 to 3 UI losses), but none were currently routing. 

53rd Foot currently routing (likely to rally, but essentially out of the action)
Gurkha Sirmoor Battalion destroyed.
Brigadier General Wilson of the 1st Brigade was mortally wounded. 

Just a caveat. None of us have played Battle Command, however I'm very familiar with Piquet and Field of Battle. Teaching this unique set of rules to newbies is a challenge and it took us longer with our first run of this ruleset than I thought. We started playing at 10am, broke for a quick lunch, then finished at 3:30 and folks had to leave for other commitments. 

The players and I truly enjoyed ourselves despite to bumpy rules start (I just had to look up too much stuff!) 

Can't wait to try BC with my Seven Years War 15mm collection next!

Cheers

Eric