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Showing posts from October, 2023

Thoughts on (review) L' Art de la Guerre

  I have played a couple of games of this now and watched one more. Not an expert but enough to share my opinion.   It’s mixed   I have enjoyed my games and will enjoy several more but I would caution the general recommendation for this rule set that gets chucked out regularly on reddit when anyone asks for a medieval or ancients ruleset. Hannibal surveys the field from behind  his gallic infantry   I will stick the boot in first then end on the positives.   As a simulationist by preference this game is nonsense. A generalist ruleset is going to struggle to represent the nuances of warfare in a specific era. I should not be surprised that the way elephants are used is not that similar to their historical deployment, or that running three lines of republic romans is a bad idea however I’m not sure that these rules represent any ancient or medieval warfare in a particularly meaningful way.   Let’s start with the victory conditions. Your army routs when you lose roughl

My Carthaginian Army! also a review of PSC 15mm plastics range for ancients

  I have spent much of the past month painting 15mm Carthaginians and their allies. The army is initially for playing Le Art De La Guerre, the latest hydra head from the DBM rules heritage. Further down the line I intend to use them for historical scenario pickup games, possibly using the Age of Hannibal or Hail Caesar rule sets.     My forces are made of a mixture of miniatures. The bulk are from the Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) Mortem Et Gloriam ‘Pacto’ range. It would appear that PSC picked up older moulds from both Xyston and a range called Corvus Belli. They then retooled them to take a form of plastic they refer to as ‘Ultra Cast’ and spin out these box sets mostly to support their published rule set.   I went for them as they had fairly good reviews and were cheaper than the alternatives. Most companies in this area charge around £4.50-5 per pack, with a pack being 8 infantry or 3-4 cavalry. A couple of companies charge £15-16 for 24-30 infantry figures instead.   B

The Battle of Tonkin Bay 1904 (Naval AAR)

The IJN had been deployed to the Bay of Tonkin in support of Imperial China's war against France in 1903. Set backs on land required further troop reinforcements and an escort under way in early May. The IJN fleet consisted of;   Ø   Battleship Mikasa Ø   Battleship Fuji Ø   Battleship Shikishima Ø   Cruiser Chitose Ø   Cruiser Nisshan Ø   Cruiser Idzumi Ø   Cruiser Matsushima Ø   Battleship Chen Yuan Ø   Cruiser Idzumo Ø   Cruiser Choyoda Ø   Cruiser Naniwa Ø   Cruiser Itsukushuma Ø   Cruiser Katsuragi Ø   3x destroyers   Divided into five squadrons with three transport ships in a sixth squadron.   The French Marine Nationale under Auguste Boué de Lapeyère found them at dawn. Their six squadrons consisted of; Ø   Battleship Iena Ø   Battleship Messena Ø   Battleship Henri IV Ø   Battleship Jaureguiberry Ø   Battleship Carnot Ø   2x cruiser Friant Ø   Armoured Cruiser Gloire Ø   4x torpedo boats Ø   3x destroyers   The Japanese strategy was to advance all squadrons in either line a