Monday, July 20, 2015

Treyine and Tropilium


Looking back at my photos it was August last year that I played the first two battles of the campaign. It was the third battle that threw the thing off balance as I didn't have the required armies ready due to not having enough figures or having them painted.

I've yet to post the first two seasons of the campaign but seeing as I am finishing two of the armies I would  show them off anyway.


Treyine

Treyine is based on the 100 Years War English so its a very "shooty" army with lots of bows, a few dismounted Knights. I have never painted a Historical ancient\medieval army before so I simply painted what I saw fit (As its only for a fantasy setting). The are based on my older style with paddock style grass and look OK for a fantasy human army, but probably not for 100YW.




Tropilium
Unfortunately for Treyine, the huge empire next door decided they liked to add their lands to their collection. Tropilium is based upon the Late Roman Empire which until,  I started painting I knew nothing about. I did a little research on shield design and colours and then painted them up over about ........erm......6 months.  The figures are the old  TTG figures so they have seen better days, a few highlights and some new basing have them looking a lot better than what they did previously.

The random dice rolls for army selection saw a large army being generated. 6 elements of Legion, 6 of Auxilia plus loads of Archers and Equites.











Unless the Long bows of Treyine can keep those blades away I think things might go a little sour in the Kingdom.

So hopefully I will play the game this week and then start posting the actions reports on the blog.

I don't know if i will ever play ancients as a period as such. I've seen a few games being played locally but, to be honest,  the participants don't like overly joyed to be playing. Perhaps its the ruleset they are using or I go and have a look at some miserable moment or when they are having abreak ?

5 comments:

Archduke Piccolo said...

You have caught my interest here a bit, Paul. I've been wondering what to do with my 15mm stuff, as I long ago became somewhat disenchanted with DBM (fine conceptually, but so much faffing around with the rules I simply gave up), and too much work would be required of my Byzantines to prepare them for FOG, even supposing I liked the look of the rule set. I'm not even sure I could play HOTT or DBA with them as they are. The problem is the double-based spear/bow elements. At any rate, I have hardly looked at these troops for a good ten years now.

The other point is that I have heaps of Byzantine figures going spare as well, except for archery types. If they could be of interest to you...?
Cheers,
Ion

Archduke Piccolo said...

I think the problem with 'Ancients' as a period is that the rule sets tend to be written like government legislation and requires lawyer-like thinking to negotiate. Too much hinges upon knowledge of the (latest incarnation of) the rules (themselves, not to mention the plethora of emendments, interpretations, official and unofficial, being bandied about). I found myself not enjoying the games much feeling when I lost I got 'done by the dice' and when I won, my opponent got 'done by the dice'. This is not what you want from a game of skill.

I have to admit I've never liked the scale all that much, but can see its value.

At some point I may begin a campaign involving a Byzantine-like Empire beset by semi-barbaric Bulgar types, and semi-civilized Georgian fellas, and maybe other chappies kicking around ( I can do a small force of Pechenegs, which are Byzantine allies...). The thought at any rate has crossed my mind occasionally. A decent sort of rule set is the trick...

Have you ever seen my Byzantines and Bulgars, by the way?
Cheers,
Ion

Jacko said...

Hi Ion,

I was going to see if you wanted another tea\chatter evening and I was going to bring some of my figures around with the rules to show you.

They are pretty simple but fun . I find them like DBA but they have some reaction rules so your not always in full control of your troops. 9eg: Shoot at Orcs with bows and they might react by charging you in anger). This helps when playing solo of course.


Cheers

Archduke Piccolo said...

I enjoyed your last visit, and would like to have another chin-wag evening soon. I've had a look at the 'regimental Fire & Fury' rule set, and know enough about the parent system to have no real issues with the RFF incarnation. One could, you know, use the plastic figures with the 15mmm 3/4" (infantry) base profiles, but with just 2 figures the stand, and the other types fitted according. On the other hand we could simply double the scale, as my 3-figure stands are 1.5" across.

But a third method has crossed my mind. It is to retain everything about the 15mm scales, but translate 2 plastic figures for 3 15mm. Take 15th Maine in the Ball's Bluff scenario. 16 stands is 48 15mm figures, which is 32 of my plastic figures, or 11 of my stands. 20th Maine has 9 stands according to the scenario, and that would translate to 18 figures, or 6 stands of my guys.

But we treat the plastic stands as the substantive stands. So, 15th Maine will be classed as Green, 11/9/6 SM; 20th Maine as Green 6/5/3 SM. All combat would be by substantive stand.

There is one big drawback to this system: artillery. The effectiveness of the guns would in effect be increased by 50%. There are two possible responses to this: [a] ignore it, or [b], modify the artillery points scores by 2/3 (rounded).

But with that in mind we could just about use our figures and stands as they are. we could give it a try some time, at any rate.
Cheers,
Ion

Jacko said...

OK - we can have a chat again.

I prefer the option of us simply using our current basing and making the rules fit our demands :).

My other post has some ACW in it so I have enough for a game (I think)

Cheers