Quarantine Painting Progress

Just a few SYW units primarily based for, “For King or Empress” but could also be used for “Twilight of the Soldier King”

They Couldn't Hit the Broadside of a Barn - Western Han Chinese vs. Goguryeo Korean

Korean pole armed armored halberdiers (Khurasan Miniatures)

In a masterful feat of speed painting, Brian managed to paint an entire 10,500 point Goguryeo Korean army in two months and eight days (or was it five days)?  This army was built in response to my recently completed Han Chinese army which took considerably longer to complete.  So with an open Saturday, we met to initiate the Korean army.  

Here's Brian's list:

And here are my Western Han:

Brian was ably assisted by Lance (he of the Mongol army fame) while I had Mark pushing lead and rolling non-skulls on my side. 

Synopsis of the Battle

Both sides lined up in the classic formation of cavalry on the wings and infantry in the middle. The Koreans lined up their armored horse on their left flank and their bow armed cavalry on their right. The Chinese split their cavalry with two conscript heavy cavalry and two dependent state cavalry on the right and half that number on the left flank. 

The Chinese pushed forward on their right against the armored cavalry but their shoot and charge ability was for naught as the bolts and arrows harmlessly plinked off the armor. The forces charged each other but the strength of the Korean cavalry wore down the Han and quickly the Chinese were down two TuGs.

On the other flank, a stalemate ensued as both sides kept out of missile range until finally they lined up and let loose. In a devastating volley, the Koreans managed five hits on five dice.  Yikes! The Han were soon down three TuGs. 

One unit of Conscript Heavy Cavalry broke off from the missile duel and slammed into the group of poor Korean militia coming to support the fight. Things were looking up for the Chinese who now scored to make it 3-1.

The infantry in the center finally engaged and a bloody scrum ensued. Soon both sides lost two TuGs and the Chinese were on the edge of destruction 5 - 3. 

The final turn saw the Koreans with many chances to break the Han and finally they did so when an armored cavalry TuG slammed into an unprotected, bow armed Dependent State Cavalry unit.

More pics below

A Bad Day to Go Camping - Western Han vs. Mongols

Who stands between the Mongol horde and the Han camp?

The Han overrun the Mongol camp.

By coincidence, the gaming day started with Lance, Andrew and me meeting for lunch at a Chinese buffet/Mongolian BBQ joint a stone’s throw from the FLGS. The day ended with both the Mongol and Han camps being overrun.

This was the first outing of my Western Han since I finished painting them a month ago. I had an idea how to run them and figured they could hold their own against Lance's Mongol army. My plan was to set up my TuGs of combined  close fighters and missile troops, with deployed caltrops, in the center and my dependent state bow armed cavalry and heavy cavalry armed with crossbows and pole arms on either flank. In total I had four TuGs of combined pole arm and cross bow infantry, one TuG of conscript long spear armed infantry, three TuGs of dependent state cavalry and three TuGs of heavy cavalry (10,503 points)

Hordes of Mongols

Lance split his force of nine TuGs, all mounted with a strong force of superior, melee expert cavalry, with four TuGs on his left flank and five TuGs on his right.   (10,500 points). Clearly he intended to avoid my infantry and overwhelm my flanks.

The fight was very close the whole game. The Mongols overran the Han left flank and the Han returned the favor by routing the Mongol left flank.  This meant both camps were left exposed and unprotected. The Mongols hit the Han camp first but failed to destroy in in one turn. The next turn the Han hit the Mongol camp and they too failed to cause the inhabitants to flee. After the game we realized we did the camp combat incorrectly - but at least we were consistent in our inconsistency.

It was very close at the end. On the last turn the Mongols had the initiative and needed to destroy two TuGs (including the camp) while the Han just needed to break the camp to force the Mongol breakpoint. In the end, the Mongols destroyed the Han camp but couldn't put enough hits on an infantry unit to break, allowing the Han to win the day (15 - 10) when they pulled up the Mongol tent pegs.

Shout out to Andrew for leading the successful attack against the Mongol left flank and to Brian for reminding me to take pictures.

I Hate Pikes

I don’t do well against pike armies. I think I’m 1-4 against them so far.  My infantry tends to be a mere speed bump against them.  I’ve tried two different versions of Achaemenid Persians and one Lusitanian Spanish and to be honest, I probably did better with the Spanish.

Here are pictures from the latest game. Achaemenid Royal Army vs. Alexandrian Macedonians.

Thoughts on a few Mortem et Gloriam Armies

Here are my thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of some of the armies in Mortem et Gloriam. This is by no means an exhaustive list and it's just my opinion so I welcome feedback. If you would like my thoughts on other lists please leave a comment below.

Period	List	Army	Pros	Cons
Early Medieval	Byzantium	·      Sassanid Persian	·      Elephants ·      Mostly average Cavalry with a few good units to charge and melee ·      Most cavalry can shoot ·      An army with a little of everything	·      Poor to average infantry
Early Medieval	Byzantium	·      Maurikian, Thematic, Later Thematic or Nikephorian Byzantine	·      Cavalry strong in charge and melee ·      Most cavalry can shoot ·      Professional army ·      Good infantry ·      Nikephorian can have a unit of Varangian Guard	·      Few units = low breakpoint ·      Small unit sizes
Classical	The Balkans and Pontic Steppe	·      Early Sarmatian ·      Later Sarmatian	·      Cavalry strong in charge and melee. ·      Almost ½ of cavalry units can be upgraded to superior ·      Can build an all cavalry army. Later Sarmatian is all cavalry.	·      Poor infantry ·      Most cavalry doesn’t shoot or doesn’t shoot well
Classical	Greece and Macedon	·      Classical Greek ·      Spartan ·      Alexandrian Macedonian ·      Macedonian Successor	·      Infantry with long, pointed sticks. Good at pushing around other infantry. ·      Alexandrian can have elephants ·      Alexandrian cavalry can have superior and exceptional cavalry	·      Poor cavalry in general ·      Pike blocks hard to maneuver
Classical	Italy	·      Mid Republican Roman	·      Mid republican can have 2 elephants ·      Legionary infantry good in charge and melee ·      Average and superior infantry	·      Difficult army to play due to infantry types ·      Small unit sizes ·      Not much cavalry
Classical	Italy	·      Late Republican Roman ·      Early Imperial Roman ·      Imperial Roman	·      Legionary infantry good in charge and melee ·      Easier to manage than the Mid Republican Romans ·      Versatile army. Good against other infantry armies	·      Not much cavalry
Classical	Italy	·      Spartacus Slave Revolt	·      Lots and lots of infantry good at charging ·      Zombie army. They may be easy to kill but there’s a lot of them. ·      Easy to play – go forward and engage the enemy	·      Lots and lots of poor infantry ·      Not a shooting army. ·      All infantry is tribal – not much nuance.
Classical	Italy	·      Foederate Roman ·      Later Foederate Roman	·      More cavalry. Would hold their own against other cavalry armies of the period.	·      Infantry isn’t as good as the republican and imperial romans ·      Smaller army = lower breakpoint
Classical	Spain, Sicily and Africa	·      Early Carthaginian ·      Later Carthaginian	·      A little bit of everything ·      Later Carthaginian can have elephants ·      Superior battle chariots ·      Average infantry, most with long pointed sticks ·      Would match well against most other armies ·      Versatile army – lots of different options	·      Cavalry is just OK but would be evenly matched with other cavalry of the period
Later Asian	Land of the Samurai	·      Emishi	·      All cavalry army ·      All armed with bows	·      Difficult to run if you aren’t used to an all cavalry army.  (shoot and run away) ·      If contacted, they won’t last long in melee
Later Asian	Land of the Samurai	·      Heian Japanese	·      Good mix of cavalry and infantry ·      Big core of superior bushi cavalry who can shoot and do well in melee ·      Stampeding Cattle!	·      Small but tough army ·      Purely defensive infantry
Later Asian	Land of the Samurai	·      Kamakura Samurai ·      Muromachi Samurai	·      Mixed cavalry and infantry unit good in melee ·      Cavalry armed with power bow. Good against other cavalry ·      Muromachi infantry is tough.	·      Small but tough army ·      Mixed unit can be difficult to play
Later Asian	Land of the Samurai	·      Nabunaga Japanese ·      Takeda Japanese	·      Infantry heavy army ·      Cavalry armed with power bow. Good against other cavalry ·      Can field a unit armed with firearms	·      Must take allies if want to field a more versatile army ·      Not a lot of units who can shoot.