Saturday 29 August 2015

Arab Army

I've been on a bit of a mission trying to get a decent sized force of Arabs ready for tomorrow's game of Deus Vult.



This is my marauder division. They get to kick off from the halfway line, just coz they are dressed in black, and badass.




The cavalry are decent fighters but their main advantage is nutso morale and an annoying way of fighting and running away. They're made of Gripping Beast Plastics Heavy Cavalry horses and legs, Fireforge Steppe Warrior torsos, and GBP Arab Spearmen heads and javelins, mostly.

Unit
6-170
Ghazi Cavalry
Trophy
4
Move
10
Disc
1
Cour
2
Res
5
Def
1
Shield
Y
Type

Melee Cav
Faith

Sunni
Equip

Sword, Javelin(6/6), Shield

Traits

Devout, Independent, Karr Wa Farr, Manoeuvrable, Martial Prowess, Throwing Weapon
Reactions
Counter-Charge, Parthian Shot



The infantry are all GBP Arab Spearmen, with the odd weapon from random packs.

Unit
4-190
Ghazi Infantry
Trophy
3
Move
6
Disc
1
Cour
2
Res
6
Def
2
Shield
Y
Type

Melee Inf
Faith

Sunni
Equip

Sword, Javelin(6/6), Cloth, Shield

Traits

Devout, Independent, Manoeuvrable, Martial Prowess, Throwing Weapon
Reactions
Ambush, Closing Volley, Shielding


The Marauder division sets up even further forward than the skirmish line, and presumably attacks everything on sight. Not sure why you'd want some of your best troops sacrificed in this way, but they're religious fanatics, so what do you expect?

My main division's cavalry is metal second hand stuff I found, mostly Footsore Arab cavalry. The infantry are sraight out of the GBP Arab Spearmen and Archers box, with the odd head swap for a bit of variety.

The list is slightly illegal, coz I don't have any Ghulams, yet.




Unit
4-75
Arab Spearmen
Trophy
3
Move
4
Disc
0
Cour
1
Res
5
Def
2
Shield
Y
Type

Melee Inf
Faith

Sunni
Equip

Spear, Sword, Cloth, Shield

Traits



Reactions




Unit
4-60
Arab Archers
Trophy
2
Move
6
Disc
0
Cour
1
Res
3
Def
0
Shield
N
Type

Missile Inf
Faith

Sunni
Equip

Composite Bow (30/6), Dagger

Traits



Reactions
Ambush, Closing Volley, Evade




Unit
4-125
Arab Cav Bodyguard
Trophy
4
Move
9”
Disc
1
Cour
2
Res
5
Def
3
Shield
Y
Type

Melee Cav
Faith
Sunni
Equip

Lance, Mace, Sword, Mail, Shield
Traits

Bodyguard, Determined Charge, Fanatical Assault, Manoeuvrable, Martial Prowess, Piercing Strike
Reactions
Counter-Charge, Evade

My second division is all mercenary units. I had to borrow some Turcopole horse archers from my Crusader army to make up the numbers, to be used as mercenary horse archers.



These mercenary infantry are made from Fireforge Steppe Warrior legs and shields, with GBP Heavy Arab Cavalry torsos and heads mostly, and GBP Spearmen arms.

The skirmishing archers are mostly Steppe Warriors with whatever GBP Arab heads I could find.

Unit
4-130
Daylami Warriors
Trophy
3
Move
6
Disc
2
Cour
2
Res
5
Def
2/3
Shield
Y
Type

Melee Inf
Faith

Shi’ite
Equip

Spear, Axe, Javelin (6/6), Lamellar, Shield
Traits

Frontiersmen, Martial Prowess, Mercenary, Throwing Weapon
Reactions
Closing Volley, Shielding, Spear Hedge


Unit
4-80
Daylami Arch Skirm
Trophy
0
Move
6
Disc
2
Cour
2
Res
4
Def
1
Shield
Y
Type

Skirm Inf
Faith

Shi’ite
Equip

Composite Bow (30/9), Axe, Shield

Traits

Belligerent, Independent, Martial Prowess, Mercenary
Reactions
Ambush, Closing Volley, Evade



These guys are pretty much GBP Arab Light Cavalry straight out of the box with the odd piece of Fireforge Mongol Cavalry, or random head, or cloak.


My Turcopoles are made mostly from Fireforge Mongol Cavalry with GBP Arab heads. 

Unit
6-100
Horse Archers
Trophy
4
Move
10
Disc
1
Cour
1
Res
4
Def
0
Shield
N
Type

Miss Cav
Faith

Shi’ite
Equip

Composite Bow (30/9), Sword

Traits

Blacken the Sky, Feigned Flight, Independent, Manoeuvrable, Mercenary
Reactions
Parthian Shot



I haven't sorted out what I'm going to do about leaders, yet, so my generals have been recruited from the ranks for this game. The thing about Deus Vult leaders is that (unless you're playing a campaign) you don't have a clue how good they are until you get to the battle. They have quite a detailed stat line, but it's all generated randomly at the beginning of the battle. So these guys could be great and brave leaders, or cowardly idiots.



Wednesday 19 August 2015

Green Stuff Arabs



Never really done much green stuff stuff before, and don't really know what I'm doing, but I had some spare Gripping Beast plastic vikings and thought I'd try to turn them into some Arab heavy infantry, with the help of various Arab heads.

Not sure whether they say 'Arab' or 'Vikings covered in green stuff.'






Tuesday 11 August 2015

Don't Blink





Ran this game at a con on Sunday. It worked pretty well, and is v simple. If you're not a Doctor Who fan, look away now.

We had the Doctor and a bunch of companions trying to reach the Tardis at the centre of a 4' board. The key to terrain is having just the right amount of clutter to interrupt lines of sight. The goodies start at all the cardinal and intercardinal points, and can move up to 10". The baddy starts with 4 Weeping Angels spread around about 12" from the Tardis. To enter the Tardis a character must begin its turn in base contact with it.

After the companions move they must roll to not blink, with the target number dependent on how far they moved. If they fail and blink, they must roll again, etc, until they succeed. Mark them with tokens to record how many times they blink.

Move/Target
up to 4"/2+
6"/3+
8"/4+
10"/5+

When all the goodies have moved, the Angels can move up to 12". If any are in line of sight of a goody (we used the GW flame template to work out the arc of LoS - not sure what the angle is) they cannot move, except they get to move 2" for every blink the observer made (if there are several observers, take the lowest number of blinks).

If an Angel gets in base contact with a goody, the goody is removed from the game. Finally, add a new Angel at a random location at the end of every turn.

Every character (except Amy) gets a one-off re-roll token to use when they see fit. In addition, each character (except Rory) gets a special rule, as follows.

The Doctor

Sonic Screwdriver: Manipulate anything within reason on a roll of 4+, multi-use.

River

Vortex Manipulator: Move River to anywhere on the table, one use.

Captain Jack

Squareness Gun: Move through any piece of terrain, one use.

Any

Lucky: One re-roll per turn, multi-use.

Rory

Boring: I couldn't think of anything for Rory.

Madame Vastra

Katana: When touched by an Angel, on a 4+ the Angel is removed, instead, multi-use

Jenny

Dodge: When touched by an Angel, on a 4+ move Jenny up to 3" away, multi-use

Strax

Grenade!: Remove an Angel within 18" of Strax on a 4+, one use.

Clara

The Impossible Girl: Clara doesn't really play the game, and stays off the table. Except for one turn only, she can be placed on the table, anywhere, and her LoS used on the Angels. She never blinks, and is removed at the end of the turn.











Sunday 2 August 2015

Arab Warband




Here's my first batch of Arabs. I'm planning a big army to take on my crusaders in stuff like Deus Vult. But meanwhile, it works well as a force for Lion Rampant and also makes a decent warband for SAGA:C&C. It could also serve as an allied Cilician Armenian division or other allies for my Deus Vult Crusader army.

I decided to tone down the pajama theme, a bit.