Impetus battle report

Today we played the first game of Impetus using miniatures. Tom managed to make a bit of a killing on eBay and so we decided to recreate the Battle of Bosworth of 1487 - the final battle of the War of the Roses - using the 10mm miniatures he had bought. The outcome, as you will see, was slightly different though. Although we used fairly accurate armies it was by no means a serious recreation and was primarily a chance to 'test-drive' Tom's new minis.

Using the Basic Impetus rules we arranged some scenery on the table (two areas of boggy (difficult) ground, a forest and a hill). I was playing the House of Lancaster and Tom the House of York.

The green dice represented the VBU, or for those unfamiliar with the rules, essentially the remaining strength of the unit, while the red dice, irrespective of their value, represented whether a unit was 'disordered' thereby making them less effective than those that are 'fresh'.

By the time the scenery had been placed the army of the House of York was mostly arrayed on the hill with the forest on my left flank and two large areas of difficult ground separating us. This seemed to play into my hands as I had far more firepower than Tom and so decided to sit back and watch as his force slogged it across the bogs. Initially at least.

Here's how I set up...

And here's Tom's deployment. The hill was made by placing some appropriately-shaped sheets of corkboard under the mat.

Early on in the battle I decided to throw my original plan out and start marching towards Tom's army using my faster-moving ranged troops as a screen. Tom's Nobles and Light Cavalry units were making a flanking maneuver around the forest on my left and so, instead of giving them something to charge at, I decided to try something riskier and cross the bogs...

First blood to the House of Lancaster! Tom's Men-at-Arms take a hit from my Crossbowmen.

My army start the long trek across the difficult ground.

Tom's sneaky Light Cavalry unit biding it's time.

The armies meet...

An aerial view.

Charge!

My charge is repelled...

In the centre my troops are quickly warn down.

Tom's Nobles charge into mine and proceed to teach them a thing or two about hand-to-hand combat...

This picture tells pretty much the whole story. Tom's battleline has suffered no significant damage with all his units still on the board.

At the far end of the battle line my Men-at Arms await the charge of the Tom's Nobles whilst mine are looking vulnerable to a charge from Tom's Light Cavalry, the very unit and maneuver I'd been trying to avoid.

And the view from the Light Cavalry unit that, although not making it into combat, played a role in the battle and would have charged in had the game not ended.

So that was our first miniature-based game of Basic Impetus. It was certainly fun and looked fantastic and made a welcome change from just playing with pieces of card.
The game was basically decided on my choice to cross the bogs instead of waiting for Tom's army to come to me. I won't be making that mistake again! I think I should've been more preoccupied with trying to get my Men-at-Arms and Nobles into better positions. The Nobles basically botched their one charge of the game and the Men-at-Arms spent most of the game getting in the Nobles' way and ended up taking some damage when they retreated through them. My missile troops performed pretty well despite destroying none of Tom's units, they served to 'soften them up' somewhat.

J

An Impetuous project

Well I had intended to make my first project for my new favourite ruleset Impetus a 6mm one and bought some War of the Roses figures from Baccus at Salute accordingly. However when I spotted a very nice and large WotR 10mm army with suitable basing I couldn't resist, so I bid and won them for a very reasonable price. They arrived yesterday and I am very pleased with them:




There are 63 bases not including the two camps and command bases giving me over 1200pts worth of units allowing me to field two large armies with options. So I will hopefully be posting some battle reports in the near future, starting with Basic Impetus games, then 300 point games of the full rules and then finally a big 500 point game.

T.

Feed your ears!

Painting hundreds of 6mm figures can often get a bit monotonous and keeping up the motivation to complete a unit that will give you that kick to start another one from the beginning is a key factor in getting stuff painted and on the table as quick as possible. Some people listen to music or watch a DVD but I find listening to music doesn't occupy my brain enough to prevent me getting bored and a film is a bit too distracting for my eyes when I'm trying to concentrate. BBC Radio 4 is a big favourite for a bit of background noise whatever I'm doing and generally has lots of varied and interesting content but for a while now I have been hungrily searching and consuming various pod casts. There is a lot of chaff out there but also a lot of gems, a few of which I would like to present to you.

Historical:

http://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/

This is an excellent podcast by Mike Duncan that details in easy to consume chunks the journey the city and entity that was Rome took through history with all the colourful characters, political and military shenanigans described along the way. Currently up to the Second Triumvirate.

http://historyzine.com/

Jim Mowatt produces a magazine style podcast with its main focus on the War of the Spanish Succession a period of interest for me and he delves into it very well. His 'Exploring the Phrase' sections and reviews also make for a very interesting listen.

Science Fiction:

http://escapepod.org/

This is a very professional podcast that presents varied and high quality science fiction stories occasionally from well known authors and always read in a convincing way. Not all of the stories may be to your taste but with the large archive I'm sure there will be one or two in there that will get your imagination going.

Horror:

http://pseudopod.org/

The little brother of escape pod and just as well produced. Lots of scary stories and a few quite sickening ones too (not one for the children), I still shiver when I think of the Bottle Babies and The Ashen Thing stories.

http://cthulhupodcast.blogspot.com/

Lots of stories, some by Lovecraft himself, others by authors with Lovecraftian themes, styles or 1920s settings. The pod caster 'FNH' also likes to set the scene with tit bits of history and music from the 1920s era that are often quite interesting and help you to picture the era many of the stories are set in. I especially like the theme music he has picked.

Pulp:

http://www.escape-suspense.com/AboutEscapeandSuspense.html

I've put this under pulp but these radio plays are quite varied, all with that vintage radio feel, most coming from broadcasts by the Columbia Broadcasting System with old fashioned adverts included (Roma Wine, that's Roma Wine, R...O...M...A). Great nostalgia inducing stuff occasionally with quite well known names such James Stewart and Vincent Price.
'Fed up with the every day grind? Tired out with the dull routine? Wanna get away from it all? We offer you....................ESCAPE!'


These are my favourites but there are lots of other great pod casts out there that will feed your ears while your hands are hard at work. If you find any particularly good ones please let me know as I am always looking for more stuff to listen to while I work my way through that endless lead mountain.


T.

Overdue update

So, the Eagle's Claw are still unfinished. Not much painting has been done by me recently but I thought I would post a picture of the team as they stand. As you can see they are easily playable but it's those last few details that need doing and to finish the team I just need one last 'push'. Anyway, pictures...


J