Marathon 490 BC battle report

At the Wargames Club last Wednesday night we gave some of my 6mm toys an outing, using Command & Colours Ancients to refight the battle of Marathon.  I oversaw proceedings while John Armatys donned the crested helmet of Callimachus and led the Greeks.  The Persians were led (from a rather effete chariot) by Martin Rapier as Datis.  Martin and I had previously fought this battle using Strategos (see http://megablitzandmore.blogspot.com/2009/09/battle-of-marathon.html) when I managed to produce an historically authentic disaster through my leadership of the Persians.

Most of the photos are taxen from my position on the Persian left/Greek right.  Hereafter and for clarity, left and right refer to the Persian point of view.

The initial set up from the Persian side.

On the Greek first turn, a load of hoplites led by Callimachus ran forward (even as a bystander it looked scary|) and engaged the Persian left.

A couple of Persian units were pushed back and a modest quantity of blood was spilled.

Top right can be seen Datis in his chariot (the round stand).

The Greek centre.

The Greek attack continues against the Persian left - the opposing leaders are now in adjacent hexes!

The Greeks press forward against the Persian auxilia and archers.

Under pressure, Datis runs off across the stream.

Meanwhile, in the centre/right, the Persian archers twang away furiously.

Datis's bodyguard after an unequal struggle with some Greeks.

Datis finds himself unexpectedly in the front line!  As the King of King's representative was heard to say at the time - "about bloody time, I've been trying to lure the Greeks across this river all f***ing game!"

The Persian centre/right advances.

Datis leads his cavalry against Callimachus and not very many hoplites.  Disappointingly, both leaders survived.

While the Persian left crumbled, Artaphernes led the rest of the cavalry in an impressive sortie against the Greeks

At this point, a further Persian unit died and the Greeks claimed victory.  European civilization has been saved!

more Japanese Artillery

Rounding off the current batch of Japanese kit is this Type 4 15cm Howitzer.  This model is another from the Irregular range, and sports the same camo scheme as the tanks I painted earlier in the year.  I expect it is completely inaccurate, but it just looked a bit dull in plain green.

The crew figures are part of the batch of Naval Landing chaps I picked up last year.  They are Raventhorpe castings and are so nicely painted that no further input was required from me.

This is by far the heaviest gun that my Japs are ever likely to have available!

Big bad bunkers

Well quite big (10cm across) and actually quite good. 

I mentioned these a few posts ago, as they had been cluttering up my modelling table since I rediscovered

them in a box some weeks ago. 

A few years ago I was given a terrain board about 1 metre square which had at one end a large hill, and these 1/300 scale bunkers had been built in to it.  Sadly the board fell victim to my house move a few years back - from a small house with large garage (the board lived in the roof space of the latter) to a bigger house with a smaller garage.  As I couldn't find anyone to take it off my hands I binned it, but only after I had salvaged the bunkers.

They then languished in the aforementioned box until I decided that a refurb was in order.  This was confined to cleaning glue and plaster off the resin castings from where they had been stuck into the board, and then painting the exposed areas in the brownish stone colour seen in the photos.  I saved as much of the original paintwork as I could.  They look OK to me - now I just need to write them into a game...

Rolls Royce Armoured Car

Hot on the heels of my Morris armoured car, and from the same box, is this Rolls-Royce.  Although I am pretty sure that no R-R cars served in Europe in 1940, I included it in my 1940 Recce Regiment to provide a contrast to the dashing modernity of the Morris.  No really. 

I bought it a a show in the early 1990s and because the guys at Raventhorpe had run out of them in the morning, one of them rushed back to the workshop and cast a few more.  The hull was still warm from the mould when I took delivery!

Like the Morris, this is a Raventhorpe metal kit made up of around 15 parts. 

As usual I gave the model a very worn and battered appearance.  Since then it has suffered more wear and battering on several games tables.