Another 15mm Peter Laing Medieval Battle

       In the last battle report, my photography took a big step back.  I moved my set up to a different spot. Also, I had gone out and bought a portable work light to try to improve the lighting.  The result was far from a success as could be seen from the photos.
     I cleaned off my desk in the room and found that there was room for the Heroscape field I have been using. The lighting is more even in this area, so it seems maybe the lighting problem was solved. I also started playing with some of the rules, combining the Battledore dice with the Battle Masters defense dice. I decided to set up a simple battle to try the rules out. It would consist of two Medieval armies.  The armies were picked using the army point system; by the time I finished the armies had the same units!  I didn't think out the scenario as the last few games; it would be easy enough to pick out to Hyborian countries and decide on why they are battling.  Part way through the battle I wasn't impressed with my rules and switched back to the rules I have been using. One drawback to this set up is that I can't go behind one sides rear line. I find that it helps to see the battle from their view, as sometimes you can see some opening that you miss from one viewpoint. After the battle I also noticed that the battlefield was Agincourt all over again! Just to make it easier, this battle consists of a chance battle between the French Army and English Army.

The French Army on the top of the page, the English Army on the bottom. All photos are shot from the English point of view.

Both sides send light troops to seize the woods on both flanks to position archers to harass the foe. In this shot the English has moved up medium infantry to drive off the French on the English right flank.

The French has captured the woods on the English left flank.

The English foot knights take on a unit of French Men-at-Arms. The French knights start their attack.

Meanwhile, on the English left the English troops start pushing back the French light troops in the woods.

On the English right, the woods are about to fall into the English hands.

In this photo, the English knights have routed one French knight unit (they can be seen in the background) and uses it's pursuit to attack the other French knight unit.

The result: one knight lost and the unit forced to retreat.

A shot at the end of the turn. The English seem to have broken the French center.

The French knights rally and counterattack.

And routs one English knight unit .

The other French knights push back the English knights, but doesn't pursue them as it would put the dismounted knights on their flank.

The English knights eliminate two french knights and forces the third to retreat. On it's pursuit  the English kills the last knight.

The English knights defeats the last of the French mounted knights and wins the day.

15mm Peter Laing Egyptians; Hyborian Battle

       The Vendhya Army had rampaged through Khauran, looting as they went. General Mingol decided against trying to take the capital. The loot taken was greater than expected and General Mingol turned the army towards home.  One of his tribal leaders wasn't satisfied. He suggested that the army head south, to the land of Stygia, an ancient land to Hyboria and rarely visited.  It is said to have shrines to their gods built of gold. General Mingol agrees, but sends the tribal leader who suggested it as commander. He is given a large part of the army, while General Mingol will keep a small escort to protect the loot of the army. After all, what does General Mingol have to lose? If the raid is a success there is just that more loot. If the army is lost there's more of the loot from Khauran for him.
     In Hordes of the Things, Stygia is described as "The oldest, most magical and most evil nation in Hyboria, basically Egyptian. This gave me a chance to use the Egyptian Peter Laing figures that I have. They were among the first PL figures I got. While most of them are infantry, I do have two chariots, enough for a chariot unit.

Stygia army on top, Vendhya army on bottom. I had to set this battle up in another area and had to start from scratch trying to get the lighting right.

Stygia Army. They positioned their light infantry in the front. The chariot unit is on the hill.

The Vendhya Army right flank.

The Vendhya Army left flank. The figures in red cloaks are Khauran mercenaries, of which Vendhya hired 2 unit of, to make up for their lack of heavy infantry.

The Vendhya archers eliminated one of the chariots, prompting it to attack prematurely.

The battle in the center bogs down.

One Stygia medium infantry unit was having great success pushing back the Vendhya right flank. However, it had no support and the Vendhya troops started to work around it to cut it off. (The Stygia unit is the unit with yellow shields)

The Stygia unit manages to evade getting surrounded.

Looking down the line from the Vendhya right flank.

 Stygia pulls back one light infantry unit to make room for the elite guards to come into line.

The guards take out two light infantrymen. On their turn the Vendhya push back the guards.

The Vendhya left flank pushes back the Stygia right flank. This shot is after the Vendhya wipes out a Stygia light unit, to win the victory.

Once again the same Vendhya light infantry unit wins the day. This is the same unit that won the day in the battle against the Zuagir Army. Since that first battle I have kept this unit together. During this battle I wasn't really paying attention to it; now it's becoming the best known unit in the Vendhya Army.

15mm Peter Laing Eye Candy; The Reason Why

        A couple of weeks ago I was sitting outside while my dog took in the sun. When I first got back into wargaming I started a log to keep a history of the battles fought.  I brought this log out to read while waiting on Molly.  The first battles were brief descriptions but after a few stories the stories got longer and longer; one going on 30 pages! Even I could only suffer through about 3 pages before calling it quits.
     I relate this because I have found myself questioning this blog. Usually any new posting will bring about 12 hits a day; if I skip a day or two it will drop to between 0-2 hits. This has been about how it's gone since I've started it.  Is it worth continuing it? I also questioned why I started it in the first place. One reason was that when I first started looking for Peter Laing figures and Googled looking for pictures, there were maybe 8 to 12 pictures of them. I was hoping that by having lots of posting marked Peter Laing in the headlines and having photos of them might get more photos of PLs figures on Google. With the help of Ian Dury I think that maybe this blog succeeded in that goal.
    I also wondered how long the blog would stay online without updating it before it was taken off line.  While the battle reports aren't the best, I find them more bearable to read than my first log and with the photos, it is better than the crude maps I drew.  For now I'll continue with the blog and my battle reports, as now I print them and put them in a loose leaf binder.

    Now for the eye candy; an Elephant battery from the Indian Mutiny. This I believe shows that Peter Laing figures can rival the best of them. By the way, these were bought online already painted.

I went out and bought a new light .  I rushed this photo  but with a little more work hopefully  the pictures will improve.

Vendhya Invades Khauran; A Hyborian Battle

         After his victory against the Zuagir Army, General Mingol was expected to disband his army of levy militia. However, as word of his victory spread throughout Vendhya, and the people sang the praise of General Mingol,  King Umgak grew concerned about General Mingol and his reluctance to disband his army.  The peasant levies, flushed with the sudden fame and wealth from looting the battlefield, rallied around General Mingol.  King Umgak had to keep the army busy, at least until he could gather his professional army that was scattered throughout Vendhya.  He therefore proposed using the army for a raid on Khauran. Khauran was a wealthy city-state and was bound to have many riches.  The army hearing the news rallied around General Mingol's tent. For General Mingol the decision was made up for him.  However, he asked the king for some heavy units. The king agreed, but instead of sending heavy cavalry or infantry, he sent a unit of elephants!  And so the Vendhya army moved out.

   The Khauran king found out of the planned invasion and ordered his army out. The army was made up of heavy units only.  The plan was to hold a pass in the mountains that formed the border between Vendhya and Khauran.

The Khaunran Amry is on the top made up of 2 heavy cavalry and 6 heavy infantry units.
The Vendhya Army is on the bottom. It has 1 heavy cavalry (elephants) 1 medium cavalry and 2 medium  infantry units, 2 light cavalry units, 3 archer units and 7 light infantry units. For a Khauran units they must capture 8 units; for a  Vendhya victory 4 units.

The Vendhya right flank made up of 2 medium, one light unit (the heroes of the battle against the Zuagir) and a light cavalry unit. They are going to try to flank the Khauran Amry through a pathway in the mountains.

The Vendhya send forward their archers to harass the slow moving Khauran infantry. They manage to eliminate  1/3 of a cavalry unit.

3 units of Khauran infantry prepare to block the path.

The rest of the army move forward to face the majority of the Vendhya Army.

The Khauran cavalry,  being harassed by the archers, charge the archers, against the original battle plan of protecting the army's right flank. 

Meanwhile the Vendhya right flank moves forward into the path.

The archers succeed in wiping out the cavalry unit. What's worse, the Khauran General led the charge and was killed.

On the path the battle stalls.

The Vendhya finally forces the Khauran infantry to retreat.

The slow moving Khauran infantry cannot close with the archers, so the last cavalry unit attacks  to try to drive them off. They fail.

The archers eliminate the cavalry; with the Khauran infantry within range, General Mingol orders forward his elephants.

The elephants close on the first infantry unit.

It forces the first unit to retreat and turns on the next unit.

The Khuaran infantry hits back, killing half the unit and routing the rest.

The elephants rally and continue their attack. Meanwhile on the path the fight bogs down.

The Khauran infantry beats the elephants (it was to be Vendhya only lost unit)  and then pull back the  infantry unit that is down to 1/4. That unit forms the support of the other units.  By having support the units are "bold" and can ignore one retreat flag.

However, one of the archer unit works it's way around the Khauran flank and wipes out the  weakened unit. The Khauran Army has lost 4 units and concedes the battle.

Another shot of the end of the battle.

The back line of the Vendhya Army. 9 units of the Vendhya army were never engaged . It seems King Umgak might have just cause for his concern about General Mingol!

First Series 15mm Minifigs Napoleonics

A couple of weeks ago on Ebay I found a nice lot of first series Napoleonics 15mm Minifigs. I got them at a great price and  a large number of two poses which I had been looking for; marching French infantry and what I believe is Prussian Guards infantry with a large plume. They could be Russian Guards; I could use them for either I suppose. There were also some Russian grenadiers and many other smaller amount of figures.

I also got a small collection of Prussian Guards lancers. With those I could make a nice Memoir of Battle or Battle Cry army.

Prussian (?) Guards infantry and Russian Grenadier.

Marching French infantry and drummer.

Prussian Guard lancer.