Two armies Revived!

...

TML towers has been highly productive during lock down, one of the projects undertaken has been the rejuvenation of some sad looking old armies, I painted some 25 years ago!

My 20mm Romans and Celts were the first armies I created when I returned to wargaming after university.  They held a fond place in my memories, but to be perfectly honest, they did not look terribly great:

As was...

Based on cheap card, with rather basic flock, no undercoat, no shading, no varnish.  There were a lot of rookie errors here and the motley selection of Aifix, Revell, Italieri and Hat miniatures - gathered over about 6 or so years - had suffered further from being crammed too close together (both on their bases, and in file boxes in layers).

Fast forward one descent into chaos and isolation, and I girded my loins to the task.  I've already posted about the rebasing of the models, but beyond that there were more stages to pass through.

1. Retouch the paint work, notably the metals, woodwork and flesh
2. Spray a shaded glaze onto both the base and figures, the only reasonable way to do hundreds of multi-based miniatures.  In absolute fairness, I didn't put enough shade in the glaze, but it did work to a point.
3. Dry-brush the new bases and then add static grass.
4. Paint the base edges a nice uniform brown.
5. Spray varnish the whole lot.

And after a total of, I guess, ten or more hours of effort we get to the stage of everything being finished:

Celtic Hordes

Warbands

Cavalry and Chariotry

But of course, that's only half the output.

Roman Legions

Auxilia lead the Legion in

Auxilia Cavalry and a General's base

A total of roughly 560 models comprise the two armies.  These will work for a number of rule sets, but I have Kings of War Historical in mind for them first; within which the Romans represent about 3,000 points, to the Celts 3,500 or more.

Obviously, it will be clear they are still far from award winners, but the improved and mass-effect basing certainly makes them acceptable to return to a table in future.  The new bases are a nice sturdy 3mm MDF and the whole collection fills four file boxes fairly neatly.

Nostalgia aside, it is good to be able to go back to some of my oldest models, and put them back into service; they were far from in a sell-able condition, but it would have been a disgrace to throw them away.  Now they will hopefully serve again, for at least another quarter century.

Fingers crossed!

...

Orc War Wyvern

Here's one I had sat around for a couple of years.  I picked up a Schleich dragon with a view to creating a Wyvern.  The original model cost a mighty £15, having been bought new, in an actual toy shop!

It was an appealing model, but the original paint job was not to my tastes, at least for the classic Orcish beast of war.  The model sat unused on a shelf for a long, long time however; it seeme like too much to do.

Eventually the muse and excuse to get on with it came.  I cobbled together a rider from a spare model and built a saddle from plasticard and green stuff.

 Basing was possibly the hardest choice

Then it was onto the painting; nothing special, but I wanted a decent job.  The Wyvern itself had to be green, and I was pretty happy with the colour.  Less satisfied with the bluish tinge to the wings, which just doesn't compliment the way I hoped, but it looks ok.

The Orc had a animal cloak added from the bits box, and was a swift paint job himself; not fixing him to the beast certainly helped.

I decided to try adding some blood effects to the monster; it certainly looked like it had just ripped through some poor victims, and I wanted to reflect that.

 I like the look, even if it makes the model look messy.  It is a fighting creature after all.

Another long idle project finished, and another couple of hundred points into my Kings of War Orc and Goblin army.

Hopefully it won't take another two years to get to the table.

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Old War Reports 1

I'm terrible at writing AAR's  I know I used to do it more, but each one would take so long.  I just don't have the time to commit to them at the moment, so it feels.

Nevertheless I usually take photographs, and I can post those up well enough.  If I get caught up I may even feel more inclined to writing a few battles in more detail!

Going way back to May for starters I had a game of Kings of War against Matt:

My Goblin and Troll alliance

In serried hordes

Versus a kingdom of men allied with an evil Necromancer and his minions

A general advance for the Goblins 

Against a more cautious Human advance

Vast numbers would tell, as the Goblins could block every pass

The Necromancer tries his might against numbers untold

Battle is joined

Pikemen attempt to stay the waves of greenskins

But too few Humans survive

From what little I can recall now, it was a very one-sided affair, in my favour; I think we called it after four rounds, as Matt was making no headway, partly due to misfortune, partly due to being out maneuvered.  The balance of goblin hordes and Mighty Trolls made for a potent combo.

Hopefully more reports later this week...

The most one sided game I ever had!

This may also be the shortest battle report I write.

One of my long-time opponents, Ross, is moving to Eire soon (lucky guy); and had been badgering me for a game of Kings of War: Historical for the longest time.  No small reason being that he has a fledgling Mongolian army he wanted to field.  Bare plastic, but you have to start somewhere eh?

I was happy to face them, even though I knew I didn't exactly have a historical opponent, and that they would be a very difficult opponent.  In the end the best enemy I could offer was a version of the Holy Roman Empire, essentially a German army.  I decided on bringing a reasonable chunk of firepower, but it would prove of little value.

As it turned out I was facing unit after unit of mobile machine guns, aka, Mongolian Horse Archer regiments.

 

 What followed deployment can scarcely be called a battle.  The Mongols advanced into bow-shot and unleashed a storm of arrows on first my artillery, obliterating it before it could fire a shot.  In the next turn the Mongols decimated my crossbows and bowmen, and my one unit of knights without loss.

At the same time they retired in front of my pike blocks, permitting them time to deal with them once my ranged offense was destroyed.

 Defeat

I conceded on turn three.  There was no point continuing; I had no ranged attacks left and only a handful of light cavalry able to even keep up with the enemy.  It was clear my force was finished and their best bet was to retreat.

Ross lost no units at all, heck, I barely inflicted any damage on him.  On my part some 50% of my force was gone before I yielded.

I have to say that the horse archer units in KoW:H are completely f***ing broken; they fire the same distance as foot, and some units don't suffer movement penalties, and count as skirmishers so can shoot anywhere.  But the worst is that unlike any other shooting unit, they double their ranged attacks when scaled up to a regiment; infantry only gain about 25% more attacks in the same situation.  Sure, this matches how non-shooting cavalry are structured, but for mounted archers it does not work; they are simply too effective.

Anyway, rant over, and I hope you may learn from my experience!  It remained a good natured game, and I will miss Ross as an opponent when he does finally go!

(BTW: We used my own terrain for a change, I think I need to upgrade those woodland templates, the trees really show them up...)

Kierion - 48bc

Ah, an excuse to push around a whole bunch of soldiers at last.  Myself and Paul arranged a game to introduce him to Kings of War: Historical a couple of weeks ago.  Looking at what we had handy it was agreed to play my Peloponnesian League (aka: Sparta) against his Caesarian Romans.  A slight mismatch chronologically, but less extreme than many and one which I at least was happy with, after all it was still two ancient armies, and neighbours to boot facing one another.  In a club where DBMM still sees plenty of action with Han Chinese facing Egyptians, late Imperial Romans or Caroligians on a regular basis, it sat far more comfortably with me.

So one could suppose a timely rebellion of the Greek states, taking the opportunity of Civil war amongst the Romans to reassert their independence, this would be one more problem for Caesar to deal with if he was to become triumphant.  Thus my Greeks could take the field against Paul's as yet untried Roman army...

Opening Dispositions

Having laid out some classically barren terrain Paul opened the deployments, my Greeks having out scouted him, forcing more of his units to deploy.  Not that this made a huge difference, as he outnumbered me anyway so we finished deployment about the same time.  Both armies formed a central line, with Paul able to deploy more cavalry to his flanks, but I being able to lock the flanks with units of spearmen.

The Roman centre

Greek Phalanxes

Early movements

I took first turn initiative, which was probably of benefit to my opponent, who was new to the rules.  I began a steady advance and threw out a little missile fire; my cavalry decided on a re-positioning to the centre of the line hoping to charge down his artillery park.  For his part Paul largely held back except on his flanks, anticipating and eliminating my cavalry thrust but little else.  So on my second turn where the cavalry failed I was able to throw forth peltasts to undertake the same task.

Skirmishers vs. Artillery

In reply Paul charged down the peltasts on my left, but the success left his horse dangerously exposed.

Chaldicians lure out the cavalry

The Chaldician phalanx hit them in their flank.  Far away on my right a Spartan Phalanx had skirted around the farm and driven Paul's' other cavalry unit back onto the flank of his infantry.  His centre line still stood firm, but the Greeks steadily advanced.

Roman flanks under pressure

Finally in turn 4 Paul let the men off the leash, and accepted that if he did not advance I would dictate all the terms of the fight, already I was manoeuvring to threaten the flanks of his line and advancing was the best way for him to clear the danger.

The lines close

Battle was joined at my lead.  The Roman auxiliaries were thrown in disarray when they found the two strongest units of the Greeks (the royal guard and a toughened unit of Spartan heavy infantry) to be their foes.  This allowed me to threaten the flank of the Roman legionary line, which otherwise largely stood firm.  One unit its' centre wavered, and would not charge, but none broke.

Roman auxiliaries break

Then the weak city Hoplites break

The Romans made redress and countered.  The city Hoplites on my left, already badly mauled by missilery on the way to contact soon broke, so I would have to push forward my limited reserves, but elsewhere the Greeks held firm.  The artillery finally drove off the peltasts (on reflection I think we played a rule wrong here and the artillery may have been a tougher nut to crack than it should've), but their chance to contribute to the main battle was now passed.  They had been neutralised for the most part.

End game...

On the final turn the Greeks broke the centre of the Roman line, and Paul was forced to use commanders to hold the crumbling right flank.  His final reply failed to break any crucial units, but time and the turn count drew the battle to a close.

A quick calculation of victory points showed it was essentially a tie at this stage, I had had scored 15 more points against him, barely enough for bragging rights, but had we played a 7th turn, with my chance to reply coming first, the situation on the field would've been dire for Rome.  Both his flanks were depleted and turned, and his Legion was reaching a crisis point with more threats than it could respond to, where he had extra utility it still had to wait for the Greek wave to crash against it first before its' chance to reply.

I think nightfall saved Caesar this day.

This was a 2,000 point game of KoW: Historical, and as a club casual game it worked very well.  Given the rules were new to Paul he picked it up easily, how sold initially on the relative passivity you experience on the opponents turn he was is something we debated; unlike virtually all other wargaming rules you cannot influence the actions of your opponent at all on their turn, but of course this cuts both ways, and has the advantage of speeding up play.  It is something you get used to very quickly I feel, but it is the biggest difference in the rules from their peers.

Overall, KoW in general is a system I will keep coming back to, for its' simplicity and scalability.  And anything that lets me get a full sized army into play in a short week-night timeframe is fine by me.

GG.

Back to Kings of War - Orcs

When I'd finished my assignments for the semester I did find some time for painting over the course of the holiday period and early January.  Amongst a few other projects I managed to knock out some more Orcs and Goblins (unphotographed) for my KoW greenskin force.

Firstly a troop of converted 6th Ed. Orc Bows; now equipped with choppas and crude shields:

 

 As you can probably tell, they are rather crammed in on a 125x50mm base.  Ten models have to be ranked with six in the front to stan any chance of fitting in.  The effect is that of an aggressive shield wall; but this doesn't make ranking up multiple bases easy, to say the least:

There's quite a gap there!

 Less troublesome were these 4th/5th Ed. Bows, forming a troop of Skulkers.  These are led byan old metal Orc (bonus points for where he's from) and a converted musician from an old DnD game, I think.

Loose!

Now there is nothing fancy to any of these, hence they were simple and quick to do.  A lot of the colour variation is simply produced by working with a steadily renewed single base colour - blended and applied as one goes.

For example, start with a basic green for Orc flesh and paint two orcs with it.  Add a drop of brown, mix and paint two more.  Add a darker green, mix and paint two more; and so on.  Soon you have lots of variety for little effort, also a good range of subdued, muddy, Orcish colours (it also works well as a process for medieval and barbaric types).

Finally a glazed varnish was applied for protection and shading.

Alongside 10 goblin spears also done, this adds about 400 points to my KoW forces - including the Trolls finished a few weeks ago.

I found I had a bigger window than first anticipated, and so there was time to do a few more Orcs, but I'm a mini gamer, we know how we get that way... A new shiny project distracted me.

But that will wait for another day.

War Trolls Horde

Although working very hard over the festivities, I did find a little time to do a few hours painting.  I've finished a couple of projects which will see the light of day in due course, but for today lets have a look at those War Trolls I purchased a few weeks ago...

A Kings of War Regiment

 These are only very simply painted, to conform to the standards of my Orcs and Goblins army which is predominantly flat colours and a shaded wash.  This can result in a crude look up close; not frankly helped by these models.  Don't get me wrong, they are not that bad in terms of intended detail, but it is the sort of work a good paint job would really bring to life; a simple paint job like this is not going to bring every element of that out.

Another one, two together make a Horde!

Annoyingly, as usual in small formations my efforts to randomise the regiments were stymied the mixture of models and paint schemes, my eye is always drawn to where the unit ends up looking uniform.  Case in point, I randomised the flesh of the trolls, but ended up with both blue-grey trolls on the same base, so I swapped them about, and lo, ended up with two of the same pose on the same base.  Sod it!

The only conversion work was to swap and pin some of the weapons, but I think it would be possible to repose some of the arms.  Nevertheless I'm hoping that a second set is forthcoming from Dark Alliance.  

These were not the most fun to paint, being all greys, browns and metals with little to break it up and muddy detail to interpret; but they were at least quick and it does add a decent whack of points and fighting strength to my Kings of War army.  

It may inspire me to knock out a few more quick pieces for the Orcs and goblins too.

Budget Fantasy - War Trolls!

Some of my readers may be familiar with my penchant for keeping my fantasy armies to a tight budget; I'm not one for going out and spanking away £60-100 on the lastest GW model; not whilst eBay, rummage stalls and toy shops exist!

Rather less may be aware of a growing range of fantasy models in the traditional 20mm toy soldier scale coming out of Russia these days, not the Technolog models I've featured before, but the models from Dark Alliance, an offshoot of RedBox models from what I can see.

One of my random trawls of eBay threw up a set of Trolls they recently released, and I was intrigued.

Not my photo, but you get the picture...

Scanning a few photos, two things were obvious;

1: like most of the Dark Alliance range these were stylistically, shameless ripoffs of the Lord of the Rings movies, and
2:  These guys looked to be huge.

I decided to take a chance on them and stumped up the £11 post-free an online vendor with stock wanted.

Scant days later the package was in my hands.  Inside were 8 heavily armed and armoured trolls in a brown plastic.  Chunky is a fair description, so bendy swords and so on are unlikely to be a problem here.  On first sight the detail was pretty good, some decent sculpting, though the models have a fair bit of flash to clean up.  But the real question is how well they'd scale to 28mm models.

Pretty well as it happens:

Bang on I'd say

By comparison to both a plastic and metal GW troll, they are almost exactly the same height, taller by a shade if anything.  The poor swordsman at the front shows they are suitably imposing.

So I'm pleased with my little purchase, and can certainly recommend these to others.  For my part 6 will join my Kings of War Orc army (in regiment stands of three), whilst the other two will go towards the retro-dungeon/Dragon Rampant project.

It's also worth noting that this box was dubbed 'Set 1'; Dark Alliance has produced sets of models spread across several boxes already, and this most likely means we can expect another pack at some stage, now that would make for some nicely varied units!

Kings of War Historical - A Review, A Game

Without that much fanfare, so far as I could see, Mantic recently launched their long requested historical version of the Kings of War wargames rules.  I managed to pick up a copy at a very reasonable price at Recon earlier this month, and was fortunate enough to have a game arranged shortly thereafter for which they could be put on the test bench.  Hence I'm in a position to give a review of the rules.

(Those who know the fantasy rules will gt a lot of the rule mechanics already; but I felt it worth reiterating.)

Firstly, you really can't fault Mantic for the production values:

The 128 page softback book, comes with lush presentation and more importantly clear and compact rules, which by the time they reach a historical audience have already been honed over several editions as a fantasy set.  Many of the niggles that beleaguer rules systems have already been ironed out, leaving Kow:H a lean tight system that benefits from it's predecessors.

Add to that the blend of generic troop types and 30 customised 'Army Lists' and the resultant package looks pretty good.  It even squeezes in enough of the fantasy rules to allow mythological elements to join forces with fact.

Of course all this may make the history buff, say, "ah, rules with fantasy elements?  These will never reflect real warfare then!"

And there are elements where that could be said to be true.  But they do not make for a 'bad' game.

What you have here rather is a simple core system, based on alternate moves where only one player moves or rolls dice, all of the action is in the hand of one player, from movement to shooting and combat, and any resultant morale tests (referred to as 'Nerve' in Kow:H).  Now that may sound one sided, but it in fact is so fast that play fair rattles along.  It is engineered to kill procrastination and stems from the original systems design ethos for fast play, a large tournament game was designed to take less than 2 hours to play.  Even played slowly the game is pacey, why?

The fast-play ethos, is in effect a command and control system, especially in large games.  The rules recommend using a timer for turns and there is a real point to this.  You move all your units freely (once per unit of course is a limit), shoot and fight with them, but you can only carry out as many of the actions as the time permits.  If your ten minutes for a turn runs out and you've not moved everything, tough!  It's now your opponents go.  So the rules seamlessly encourage you to play actively, and to prioritise key actions in a turn.

All this said, we seldom play timed games, but it's a neat idea.

This aside, you have very simple, easy to learn rule structures. Moving is by unit and is simply handled, all units are implicitly formed, and could be represented by single bases or multiple stands.  We elected to treat Skirmisher units - one of the few additions to the rules - as loosely ordered until contacted by an enemy, though the rules here do not specify any visible difference.

Units fire and fight with fixed numbers of D6 based on their profile, rolling against their proficiency to hit, and against the opponents defensive value to wound.  There are no Warhammer or Hail Caesar-esque saving rolls. Casualties are marked as hit points on the unit, no casualty removal, and any unit suffering casualties in a turn has to take a nerve test.  The attacker rolls 2D6 and adds the casualty number to the result, if it is equal to or above the minimum Nerve value of the enemy unit it becomes 'Wavering' for its' next turn and halts, unable to act aggressively on its' own next turn.  If the result equals or exceeds a second higher value the unit routs and is removed from play.  Fail to beat an opponent in combat and you recoil, not unlike DBA/DBMM, but remain locked in combat facing your foe, unless they retire.

One thing that KoW:H gets right, is the element that made the fantasy game work so well.  Flank and Rear attacks are deadly, and you will seek to avoid them at all costs whilst trying somehow to deliver your own.  How is this handled?  get on an opponents flank and your attacks are doubled; get in their rear and you can triple them.  Such simple elegance means that protecting your flanks becomes crucial to the game; and battle lines with reserves form far more naturally than in many 'gamey' systems.

Not that it is all perfect, and if one is being critical you can say that not everyone appreciates the IgoUgo template, and the near total control of your troops on a turn can seem too perfect, especially in untimed games.  Some may also dislike the exception rules and 'special abilities' provided for some units, though in reality these are generally appropriate and well balanced; not least as few of them in isolation are terribly powerful.

The biggest question, maybe a criticism in a few cases, is over the army lists themselves.  Generic units are the core of each list, augmented by a handful of special units unique to the individual army; usually including a commander.  These lists may raise some eybrows - for example the Egyptian list conflates the chariot armies of the Pharaohs with the cavalry led forces of the early Muslim armies, simple options like handgunners for the Japanese list are missed (though easily resolved).  Overall they feel like what they are, army lists with a sincere effort to reflect some history, but not created by experts in the field.  No doubt for friendly play they are easily adjusted, but they may well irk those who need every last detail pinned down.

So, the good fortune of timing meant that I had an ancients game agreed to, which would present a test of the rules.  Digging into my 28mm Ancients collection I was able to assemble a couple of small armies of the Peloponessian War (sorta).  1400 points each of Spartans and Athenians.  In classic fashion we deployed some classically sparse terrain, the only inconvenient element of which was the farm in the middle of my deployment zone, which split my deployment line.

We rolled one of the standard scenarios from the rule book, identical to those in the fantasy version, and found ourselves playing the 'Pillage' rules; essentially take and hold.  A simple case of occupying ground, at the end of 6 or 7 turns.  The scenario rules allow for a variable length game to ensure uncertainty, but still cap it to a low maximum - for time considerations once again.  Incidentally the rules also feature two additional scenarios unique to the Historical variant.

Battle lines are drawn

Anyway, even with a new player to Kings of War on my side as co-commander, we found the explanation of the rules straightforward.  We deployed in a standard alternate unit fashion - one could equally have drawn maps and used these to deploy simultaneously.  Forming plausible lines of battle; lacking the depth for reserves on the Spartan side, whilst the Athenian reserves pushed into the line as soon as the Phalanxes pushed past the farm.

Athenian mixed forces - Thracians on the right

One thing you become very aware of with KoW:H, as in the original rules, is the inevitable frailty of units.  They will all crumble as a result of casualties, though there may be early incidents where only a double 6 on the Nerve test - which always results in 'Wavering', and likewise a double 1 always leaves a unit with firm resolve regardless of damage - will effect.

In the Athenian case, fortunately high nerve rolls on the part of our Spartan player meant that many of our skirmishers broke and ran with only a smattering of casualties.  This impact is not perhaps as severe as in some other games, but it nevertheless is there, and justifiably so; there must always be room for the unexpected in this sort of game.

The result was that the Athenians had to close fast, before their heavy infantry came under too much fire.  The Athenians had more heavy troops, though of lesser quality, and so hoped to turn the flanks of the Spartans.  As stated the key way to win; destroy an enemy unit and you have the option to advance, retire, hold or wheel as a follow-up action, and obviously the latter allows you to turn onto the enemy flanks, or cover your own, as appropriate.  In these elements the simple rules expand into a more intricate game, terrain and opposing units can of course influence every action.

At the end of our sixth turn (we failed to roll for a seventh), Sparta held the majority of the ground, though they were under pressure on the ground, having lost more of their infantry than the Athenians, and with troops rolling up their flanks.  Another turn may have seen the battle swing either way, of course, and the game was open despite a hard start for the Athenians.

The whole thing was played out in under two hours.  Which certainly achieved the key design principles of the rules.  These are great rules for club nights and those occasions when time is at a premium, as well as tournaments - if you must.

In conclusion, we all enjoyed the game; they are not the most historical, or the most detailed rules out there, and I do not know how well they may stand the Charles S Grant Scenario's test*.  But they work, are easy to learn and fun to play.

Overall they come highly recommended, at least for casual play.


*if the rules allow you to play a scenario out of the Charles S Grant classic 'Scenarios for Wargames' book successfully, without modification, as easily as a standard engagement; they are flexible enough for me!

King of Dogs

Many moons ago, Two hardy souls in the Leeds region set upon a mighty quest; each to build a Dogs of War army long after Games Workshop had given up on them as a viable state in the game once called Warhammer.

Long each toiled, in ignorance of the other's efforts and struggle, but in time their paths crossed, and they knew of each's self appointed task.  Each took their own route to their desired path, one using almost exclusively Games Workshop to create his soldiers, the other, any manufacturer who took his eye.  Each admired the others work from afar, but considered that theirs was the true path, and lo it came to pass that they spoke of the question of who would rule triumphant being settle uponst the fields of battle.

Many moons more passed. And much talk was had, but no battle arose.  In time Games Workshop more than just forgot its' past, it destroyed its' present too.  And Warhammer was no more.

In time this spurred the generals on, for lo, Kings of War stepped up to take the mantle of Warhammer and provide a realistic prospect of facing their armies off across the scorched fields of combat.  And so it came to pass that two mighty armies....

Also many moons ago.  Well, three anyway.

Yes so, cod-fantasy twaddle aside, Myself and Matt finally arranged a game of Kings of War between our Dogs of War armies, a.k.a Kingdoms of Men and assorted allies.  The oft discussed 'Dog-off' happened nigh on three months ago, but I'd sat on the report through writers block/gaming apathy until now.  I can't as a result be too exhaustive on the details of the battle; but I can provide a ton of pretty pictures...

My deployment

Matts, he had a lake to contend with

 The battle was Pillage based, and three treasure markers would be the focus of the battle.  We each set up our battle lines, naturally featuring many arrayed hordes of pikemen.

Some of Matt's classic metals and converted plastics

For my part, Perry's take the place of rare GW mini's 

 With battlefield essentially divided into two halves by the lake the game boiled down into two separate battles, not least as we both deployed our allied forces facing one another.  Ogres and their allies for me against Undead for Matt.

 A major face off on my left would develop between the various human knights and pike units.  This would last all game and swing between the two of us.

 On the opposite flank both sides proved incapable of delivering a telling strike, and mixed fortune led to a long grinding match despite committing relatively few troops.

 In the centre the gigantic megabeasts eyed one another up but kept a wary distance from one another.  My cannons were doing sterling work but gaps were starting to show in my line, at this stage I assumed Matt was going to walk me over.

 But things were turning on the left as I managed to outflank my enemies.

 Simon the Giant turned from Nethermaul the Dragon to attack more delectable targets.

  

 Though not successfully.  Now I could generously suggest my centre was being held by the mansion, but otherwise I was a split force.

 Still on the left I was down to mopping up a handful of troops.  Meanwhile Nethermaul made merry with my Cannon.

 Somehow, the cannon survived, and the dragon headed elsewhere, needing to wrest the objectives from me.

 At this stage the end of the battle was in sight, and I held two of the three objectives.  The desperate attack of the dragon should have worked; but my men stood firm.

 Whilst on the now bleak right flank only my troops remained standing.  I was on the back foot, but for Matt time had run out, and despite his every effort, I held more objectives and could claim the win!

A real close battle with some inspired and frustrating performances all round.  I think tactically I conducted myself well enough against and opponent who probably bought the more honed fighting force.  It was a spectacular looking game with Matt's army being a joy to look at.  Sadly the table got a little untidy  and some of the photos are a little sullied as a result.

I have no doubt there will be a rematch, probably around the time of the next blood moon!