The Battle of Platea 479BC : Playtest Beta BBDBA - Notes to Self II

Seen from the Persian side of the table, the Greek line of Battle (see above), Spartans to the left and Athenians to the right with a collection of "other" Greeks back in their Camp area. Note the disconnected front line, with a large "whole" in the middle of it (the "other" Greeks had historically retreated 'too far' in a night march) which would be so, so tempting to Persian mounted troops.

The Greeks OoB: 

• Sparta: 1 x 4Sp (General), 10 x 4Sp, 1 x 7Hd (Helots)
• Athens: 1 x 4Sp (General), 9 x 4Sp, 1 x 4Bw, 1 x 2Ps
• Other Greeks: 1 x 4Sp (General), 9 x 4Sp, 2 x 2Ps

It doesn't take long before the Beotians (Thebes) heedless of the defensive terrain advantages (+1) got stuck into the uphill Athenians (see below):

Meanwhile the heavy force of Persian archers (SparaBara and Immortals) edged their way into missile range (see below) of the Spartans. The only tactical adjustment made by the Spartans was to try and seal off a portion of the gap between themselves and the Athenians, trying to buy time for the "other" Greeks to catch up.    

In the contest between Athens and Thebes the phalanxes pushed and shoved to not much discernible effect (see below - middle), traditional Greek stuff you could say. Creeping in from the bottom left unobtrusively is a Persian Auxilia element "full of evil intent" [sent by Mardonius himself, aka ME] (see below - bottom left):

"Gotcha" the classic DBA "closing the door" move hopes to see the end of those pesky Athenian archers (see below): 

Now you see him and now you don't (see below), the Athens will shortly be recruiting for more archers, no experience necessary (Score: Thebes 1 and Athens 0): 

The Athenian General on the hill is now starting to worry about a double envelopment as he has two rather open flanks. The Boetians have a Psilio overlap advantage to the left and a  fast moving Theban cavalry element threatens the right. Will Sparta stand idle as the Thebans try to roll up both ends of the Athenian line (see below)? : 

Reluctantly Sparta is forced into action off their nice safe defensive hill and into a maelstrom of Persian arrows as they "darken the sun" (see below):

Sadly (speaking as I was the Persian General [Mardonius] on the day) they had no effect on the bronzed phalanx of Sparta. Not surprisingly I was beginning to have a very bad feeling about all of this. Only the cavalry of my reserve force could be seen of the battlefield (see above bottom right), my infantry support was still far, far away and the terrible Spartans so, so near

:(

Bob's "Portable Wargame": Follow the think and be inspired - I was :)

http://cottonreeltank.org/cafelunar/gamecabinet/gridgame/

Read around it and there is something for everyone

See back to the Wargaming Miscellany for more details :)

The Battle of Platea 479BC : Playtest Beta BBDBA - Notes to Self - Persians

Background as to why I am interested to game "The Battle of Platea 479BC"

Having slowly accrued the DBA armies for a "Greeks in Peril" Campaign over the best part of a decade I am keen to see these toys put to some good use. I still have high hopes to run the full campaign in 2012/13 but  as an immediate "wargaming fix" I opted to stage the major land battle of the campaign. That is Platea 479BC as a BBDBA (Big Battle DBA) "event" for some wargaming virgins (an elder brother of mine, two of his friends and an old school friend of mine [who had done some RPG with me a long,long time ago]).

However I had some major scenario design questions to answer. Would it work with two DBA Armies aside with a third in reserve? Platea was notorious for a third of both armies (Greeks and Persians are both guilty of this) "not getting involved". Therefore I elected to have the third DBA army for each side resident in their army's camp area, fairly dormant until it was somehow "activated". Each turn they would roll and accrue activation points until a target had been reached/passed. A simple enough suggestion but how would it work in practice?

Before I put the game before the 'virgins' I chose another group of wargaming 'Grognards' to blood my beta-test scenario set-up ... read on (another excuse to get the toys on the table).

The Persian BBDBA Force: 2 x DBA Early Achaemenid + 1 x DBA Early Hoplite (Thebes)

Thebes: [1 x 4Sp (Gen) + 9 x 4Sp + 1 x 2ps + 1 x 3Cv] facing the Athenians on a "hill"
Note: A pretty compact force but fielding a useful 3Cv element

Design Note: I decided to mingle both the Persian DBA armies together. I took the bulk of the Persian Infantry and blocked it as "one" DBA army force (Mardonius on the Persian left) with remaining mounted Cavalry/Light Horse plus the remaining Hoard and Psiloi infantry as the reserve "camp based" force

Persian Main Infantry Body: [1 x 8Bw (Gen) + 7 x 8Bw + 2 x 3Bw + 2 x 3Ax]
Note: I had demoted Mardonius (C-in-C) from his Cavalry and stuck him with the Immortals, despite him being mounted he was attached to a unit of a thousand infantry. Arrayed as thus, it did not look too bad (in the very words of a veteran DBM/DBMM Grognard gamer). Note: See the Spartan "long thin line" on their hill in the distance.

Persian Reserve: [1 x 3Cv (Gen) + 3 x 3Cv + 2 x 2LH + 4 x 2Ps + 2 x 7Hd]
Note: I had assume that the cavalry were being rested after all the activity they had been put to in the previous weeks of campaign and that the camp "bric-a-brac" infantry were being slowly roused.PS Please note the fortified camp/stockade complex.

Game Rule: 
To activate the Persian reserve, at the start of each Persian go a d6 is rolled. The Command activates on a 1, or else the score is added to an accumulating total. When the score reached 18 then the commanding General wakes up. Until then everything costs double points to move. Note: The infantry and cavalry were deliberately lined up in separate blocks.   

Next: The Groovy Greeks

WWII School Project Completed: 1/48 Spitfire Vb and 1/72 Dornier Do.17E (Airfix)

The deadly foes on the table (see below) with wait ... hold the front page .. decals applied :)

"Snowdrop leader, Snowdrop leader,this is Snowdrop Six, Tally Ho!" ... sorry I couldn't resist it ;) ... I think it looks magical onc those big decals have gone on :)

Meanwhile the bomber drones on (see below) and I think its more sombre decals make it look very menacing (Note:By virtue of European Law Airfix are not allowed to depict the swastika, which would have adorned the rear twin tail flaps - and it is far too hard for me to try and paint on given the project deadline):

Now with a coat of protective varnish on (see below), from a very old but 'reliable' tin of Humbrol 'enamel style' matte. This was after I had an unmitigated disaster trying to use the more modern acrylic matte varnish (in their square tins) and getting it horribly wrong. I had probably rushed it but it looked to my terrified eyes to be drying with a white "winter camouflage" sheen to it .... argh. And this was the Sunday night before the Monday deadline and I had been left in charge putting the "smelly varnish coat on" after the rest of the family had gone to bed! Luckily I had started on the German Dornier Bomber first and spotted the damage, which meant it was so much easier to repaint (I would have ruined the Spitfire's decals) ...whew!

One last flypast before I hand them over with compulsory sound effects "wheewwwizzzooo" (see below). I also like the angry yellow wing stripes and machine gun read patches on the wings. 

Anyway I am chuffed to bits with them both and even better my eldest son thinks they are cool too, paying particular attention to the Spitfire ("that's my boy"). I do intend to "tart" then up a bit when I get them back from the school display, although I've heard the German Dornier has already taken a bit of "flak" damage from the hands of Year 3. I plan to hang both planes from my son's bedroom ceiling.

School WWII Project Nearing Completion

Well we had fun making these.

The magic Humbrol Clearfix worked wonders on the previously tricky (as in I always messed them up) canopies (see below):

It was 'really' useful on the Dornier Do.17's expanse of canopies to fill in the missing gaps in the perspex (see below):

The "Spitty" gets its undersides painted in a peculiar XF-12 IJ Grey, which doesn't seem quite right but according to my conversion chart matches to Humbrol 64 (see below):

The Dornier gets a more traditional paint scheme of light blue for its underside from a 'really' old Humbrol acrylic range they had, but after all these years it's still ready to use from the pot, unlike some more modern paints I could name (see below): 

The Spitfire starts to come together nicely when its camouflage pattern is put on. I am using XF-61 Dark Green and XF-82 Ocean Grey 2 (RAF), the latter being a newer Tamiya paint colour I spotted while I was in a local model shop (Hobbycraft). I was looking at the Tamiya colour schemes on other model kits and borrowed this one off a Tamiya 1/48 RAF Mosquito kit (see below): 

The 1/48 scale Spitfire was such a nice kit to put together, far easier IMHO than the 1/72 scale kits I am used to. You stand a fair chance of even painting the "yellow" along the wing tips and "red" machine gun patches (see below):

The Dornier also gets it's Blitz camouflage scheme. A jagged edge XF61 Dark Green interlocking with a XF-27 Black Green (see below):  

This was the later Luftwaffe 1940 camouflage at the time of the Battle of Britain as opposed to the three colour, with a light grey and a brown alongside a green in the instructions, dating to 1937. The propeller housings get a bright white covering while the propeller blades get a surprising XF-61 Dark Green (I was expecting black) covering (see below): 

They are taking shape nicely but we are coming to that dreaded phase of mine, the decals, however for aircraft they simply are a must! Also, for the record, there were little hands helping me along the way, though they did take long telly breaks from time-to-time (Merlin and Mr maker being two of the CBBC culprits).

Just Putting Pastic Things Together (GW 40K Tau Kroots) : Part VI

A bunch of carnivorous monsters under pseudo control of their Tau masters, though technically mercenaries. Bird-like in their representation and quite fun to put together (see below):   

I also like the antique looking weaponry they carry (see below):

With this latest acquisition of this pack I can bring the basic Tau army to a close and sit down to a winter of varied "painting" along with the hoard of recently assembled but not painted figures. If only I didn't get so easily distracted ;) 

New 1/144 Revell WW2 Aircaft :)

•  Stuka
• Me 109E
• Fw 190D
• Me262
• Spitfire
• Hurricane
• Tempest
• Typhoon

:)

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=234927980

Something for the air war sir?
Cheap too retailing as £1.99 which is a very sensible price for a fighter
Good as the Zvezda kit is creeping up in price 

If I remember correctly these are very old molds (I had a Revell Me109E, Stuka and a Dornier D0.17 unless the latter was a mad dream of mine)