Kardrakes Are Go!!!

Kardrakes Looking For Trouble

WRG 6th gave me 100 Kardrakes, that is 100 JLS/Bow armed troops that really rocked. 4 Units (2 x 24 and 2 x 26) and it was rare that I did not field them when I played. But under FoG these are replaced by a far more sedate Crescent Shielded Medium Infantry armed just with a spear. Now looking at the army list it's fair to bemoan the general loss of missile troops. I mean this is a Persian army it's supposed to be stuffed with bow armed troops but in reality you really don't get much and I think the main reason the Kardrakes became bowless was that they would be so very tough. I kept the odd bow firing troop in the mix to keep the original look even though the new army only allows 72 figures so I plan to rebase the rest and off to E-Bay they will go.



What An Ugly Lot

Originally painted in the late 80's I think. A mix of Essex, Museum Miniatures and Chariot. I really like the mixed look of the whole unit. I still have some more to rebase for this army and the ones I will sell. I also gave them a quick wash in Devlan Mud whilst I have some left. Again Cath took the photo and she has done well including the vines in the background.



Ready For Battle

Not as well painted as I would do in this day and age but if I remember rightly I was rushing them to get them ready for a game in the hope that the extra firepower would give me an edge. Looking now and seeing the bow cases straps unpainted I blush with embarrassment.



Lost in the Grapes.

Rather than wait for the next battle I thought I would take the opportunity to show off the vineyard in this photo shoot. Not sure if these guys are waiting in ambush or waiting for a tipple. Lee popped over last week and said rather nice things about the vineyards so once I have eaten more grapes I will be back into production.

FoG Test Game

Well I finally got round to trying out the Field of Glory rules in a solo game. I felt that I had the basic combat rules in my head but realised I would have to go stage by sage for a few turns to get all the different sections to fit together. I wanted to have a fair mix and also make it worth my while I used seven Macedonian against 11 Persian and set up with the traditional cavalry on each flank, heavy foot in the centre with skirmish troops to the front. But a couple of points, first up I have yet to paint up any Command for the Macedonian so I used a Persian Command stand and EHC stand from the Persian Cavalry not used. I also have not painted up the one camp I have so I used no camps at all.

Another good point is that the table is not a gaming table so it was rather narrow and not long enough. Good enough to move a few units, no where near what would be required if I was playing a real game.

The pike start on the long hill flanked by the Cretans and the lightspear armed LC. My plan was to move the pike each and every move to try and get into contact. I should have used the double move on these guys but never thought of it during the game! It was great to get freshly painted units on the table.

Facing these I had two units of Hoplites with two skirmish units out front, slingers and Persian bow whilst a medium lightspear unit flanked them. Nothing new for the Persians other than rebasing, the only question was would the more experienced but worn Persians beat out the shinny shinny new guys?

The first physical contact was between my venerable Persian HC and the just painted Prodromoi LC armed with Lance. First they had to pass a complex test just to charge. This they did. I was really looking forward to seeing how these guys could stand against HC. On the plus they had lance but being lights they lost one die in two in the Impact Phase. The + status for Lance was not that great of a bonus when you loose 50% of your dice, especially when they loose that bonus due to having a lower armour class. In the system you have three kinds of combat. Shooting, obviously but also Impact where just the front row gets to fight and only those in direct contact, no overlaps here. Lastly if both units remain in contact then you have melee. Though in reality shooting is normally sandwiched between the two close combat phases.

I found that whilst the rules worked well and as you use the same mechanics for all three combat mechanics were lumped together that whilst learning the rules it meant that much searching was required. The page labels letting you know what rules are covered on that page and indeed in the coming/preceding pages was useful but would be even better if the index and rules were better organised. I would prefer to have 50 more pages and some duplication to the constant dead end reading. Better yet instead of the rather annoying, 'Discussed Later' would have been a page number reference to where you would follow on the rules. After all when you look up shooting and read the section called shooting would it not be normal to expect shooting mechanic's to at least feature in that section of the rules?

In fairness once you get your head around the fact that much of the book really is padding and that the rule mechanic's for all combat is really never in the section labeled as Impact, Shooting or Melee and is in fact in 'The Combat Mechanism' and the results of this are in 'Cohesion Test' life gets a little less cumbersome. The fact they separate these two sections with another chapter speaks volumes of why it would be better to play with an experienced player.

Whilst the Prodromoi was tussling with the HC I also charged in on the opposite (Persian right) flank Eastern LC and against normal play stood the Saka LC against them. Whilst the Prodromoi managed to hold out through good dice and would eventually be defeated by the addition of another HC unit the Saka was fairly quickly put to rout. OK it took a couple of turns but each combat saw them loose a base.

The Persian Crescent Shields faced off against the Thereophoroi whist both units of bow faced off. I was happy to stand back with the bow but as the Cretans were getting the worst of the engagement I sent them into contact as well. Both melee's worked out for the Macedonian force with the quality re-rolls working for the Cretans. It's a mechanic I like.

The view from the Persian hill as the Greek Hoplites await the mass pike phalanx. The slingers were having no effect on the pike whilst the Persian bow was starting to fail.

The Macedonian view of things. No way was the Greeks going to come looking for trouble.

So as to speed up the demise of the Persian bow the phalanx moves to support the Cretans and it was all over for them from there. Both sides had beaten opposing flanks and the Persians were losing the screening forces. I had already started to move the as yet untried Companion Lance armed Cavalry to face off against the two Persian HC units which would be supported by the reduced strength lightspear armed LC. I would possibly be able to throw in the Medium Infantry but this would leave the phalanx facing the two hoplite units with little support.

End of the game. It had taken 4+ hours and to be honest I was happy to finish here. Further reading of the rules will only show up mistakes in the use of the rules and allow for a better understanding of what to do. I have previously stated that I really want to like the rules as I have invested both money (rules and 2 army lists) and time (rebasing one army and building another) but whilst a few rules are not yet sitting right I already prefer them to the Impetus light. However with Barry now owning the full rules and list III I will get a chance to play the full version. Something that I am looking forward too. My gut feeling though is that when I play Barry I will play Impetus, even looking at putting together a army for it! But when I play Lee and Matt we will swop heads and play FoG. Impetus would have to be a marked improvement to FoG to get me to re-base again and at this point it would take a lot of convincing. Still with only one game of FoG and no full Impetus I could have my mind changed fairly quickly.

Now I need to get that 2nd Phalanx finished and onto a few command stands for the new boys.

Saka Horse Archers

I wanted to show off the 12 Saka 15mm horse archers that I finished painting last night. I could not wait till after they have been based as they are being mixed in with 22 other mixed horse archers which gives the battle groups a more irregular feel. Once based I will throw some more pics on as well as pics of the Persian HC that I have rebased and the Agema HC that I finished painting last week. No more painting for me till the 20th though, no Sir, until then it will be clean and spray, clean and spray.

I really like the pose and I think these are Museum Miniatures but in honesty I am not sure as I picked them up off e-bay a couple of weeks ago as I was short by two figures for the maximum. A few casting issues between them though. About half of them are missing the end of their feet (one and sometimes both) whilst two figures have a gap in the bow, a real shame when the figures overall are really good, maybe this was the reason for selling them.

Each figure is painted different which added a little to the time but not as much as expected. One thing I missed until half way through painting is the lack of reins which was a surprise. Still it was one less bit to paint right at the end. I blue tack my figures to bottle tops to aid painting, some 6mm go on lolly sticks. The kids step up to the challenge when ever I need either.

Another close shot and to be honest they do look better a little further away, but not to shoddy. These are now glued to their bases and awaiting the first stage of flocking.

Last close up, this time the other side of the figure, no side arm on these guys and the main difference between them and the others is the rug rather than cloth to sit on. These really add to the mix I have and are in the top three of 6 or more poses I have within the group. Looking forward to finishing them and getting them all snapped. I still plan to continue rebasing the Persians each time I come to base up a Macedonian unit as I have loads yet to do but already I have way more than the basic army done. Over the next week I hope to get a practice game in, my game with Barry has been postponed and Christmas will get in the way of some opportunities but at some point I will get these and others on a table. I have a game with Matt over the holiday period booked, just need a day but not what we will play as yet. Watch out for the next lot of pics!

Egyptian Hoplites Rebased.

One of three command bases of this group of warbands.

Continuing with the project of changing over from WRG 6th to Field of Glory I de-based not only my Egyptian Hoplites but also the rest of my Persian Heavy Cav as well as the Saka Horse Archers. However running out of heavy duty glue as I finished off the Hops meant that further rebasing will have to wait till after getting more glue tomorrow. However I of course could finish off the basing of the Hops as the flock and basing compound use watered down PVA. As per other re-basing efforts it was linked with having other figures to base but more on them in the next post. FoG allow me just 6 bases of these guys so once I am set for rules I can see the rest being up for sale. I remember them being a joy to paint but then again it was not that long after I had painted up plenty of Greek Hops so maybe that was an influence.



Two more stands had been re-based to stand in for Greek Hop's under this list. I will need about double the number I own of Greeks to make max out on FoG. Under 6th these would either fight as two or three units, of course I could use them as a base for yet another army but I think not.

Same unit but from behind, I really like the skin tone and will look out for the paint colour at Tripples next year as it was one of the paints that did not survive the hiatus. I am fairly sure these figures are Chariot Miniatures, long time has passed so not 100% sure. Colour Party was the paints of choice for me way back then and I still have a few left in good enough order to still use.

Persian Starter Army

I have a few hundred Persians to re-base and decided to start off with the Starter Army from Field of Glory army list. I gave myself 10 days to do this but managed to get it done in under 7. I will crack on with the rest but will have plenty of other projects to do in between. These figures are a mix of Chariot, Museum, Essex and possibly a couple of others, it's been a long time. All 15mm and until recently based for 6th Edition. My first look at the starter army led me to think this is NOT playing to the Persian strengths and I still feel that way, though maybe the rules will prove otherwise. Not enough bow armed troops and given it will be fighting a Macedonian army too many Hoplites when these are outmatched by the Pike. But on looking at the Macedonian starter army I'm not so sure it's doomed, still it feels wrong to have so little bow and I hate the decision to remove the bow from the Kardrakes and make them Hoplites. Time will tell if I try and get that reversed in our group. If not then I have 100 Kardrakes for sale!

Backbone of any Persian Army is it's Heavy Cavalry. This is one of two Battle groups of 4 bases that the starter army (SA) has and I have plenty more to base up. Originally in units of 10 single colour they are now in units of 12 figures and mixed. Originally of single colour to help work out which unit was which for keeping track of casualties. To the left is one of the three commander bases which long term I will be replacing with a better mix and more of a diorama than just a figure base.

First of two very different Cavalry units, this one is supposed to have bow and does not so will be replaced next year. I would have done it sooner but it is easy to remember they should have bow. The photo shows them in column and nerves gets the better of the lead troops as two horses fall and the other rears. Not sure what the fate of this unit is, possibly e-bay.

The other 12 figure Cav unit, these at least do have bow and whilst right by 6th edition list I feel these are over armoured for FoG, may well change these at the same time as the other unit but I like them so may well keep them.

I had these guys at light infantry under 6th but here they are medium and really I need to get more of them next year as I can have plenty more and this will allow me to swap out the back rank that has some fill in figures. The mixed poses really worked for lights and works for undisciplined mediums though I plan to add other manufacturers figures in as well to make it even more varied.


Both the bow (pictured) and the slingers are facing replacement next year as I am not happy with how I painted them at the time. I will see this as a back end project as they will do but I know long term it will irritate. The SA just has 12 mounted Cav with bow x2, 12 slingers and 12 bow. Really not enough to weaken the enemy before going in for the kill.


The only Light Cav I get is one unit of these guys. Fortunately the army list has plenty more spear armed LC as well as bow armed so not only will all my other figures have an option but my army will have lots of flexibility.

One of the two units of Hoplites. It was a shock that I needed so many under the list but given that the Kardrakes are now seen as Hoplites it should not surprise. I think the mix of other options will mean that the further increasing of the Hoplites will wait some time and will only happen if I find through play that I need more.

Close up of the same block, guy on the left just could not take the pace of rebasing.

I had to laugh when I painted this guy, been years since I did it and he still makes me smile.

Lots more to do but at least now I have what it takes to try out the rules. I hope they will work out fine as I want to go forward and the idea of keeping track of single casualties etc. really no longer appeals.

Good Job They Are Immortal

I bought these Immortals when I first started to build my Persian Army 25 years ago but never got round to painting them as I knew I would not use them. Unfortunately I could have just ten figures (they also come in packs of 8!) and whilst they were fairly good the cost of the troops, the command points and the low number you could have always meant better options were available. So I always had something better to paint. That is till recently, still not sure I will get to use them but at least I had the time to paint them.

I can't be 100% sure but I think they are Chariot Miniatures. Fairly nice detailed 15mm figures that look to stay at the bottom of my storage as the Field of Glory army list does not give Immortals to the Late Achaemenid only the early and at this point I do not see myself doing this army. If anyone out there wants them you can have them for a couple of unpainted Magister packs for the Late period or any that will go with any Macedonian based list. Or drop me an offer for other figures you don't want.