Looking great, not that I know anything about them. But what were the shields made of? Being that huge I can't imagine them being metal or wood,

Mark

The Lurkio 15mm Almughavars have been restocked:

http://lurkio.co.uk/lurk10live/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=168_169&products_id=569

Mark

Over at Lurkio Figures we have had a restock of 15mm Han Chinese, Late Moors and Three Kingdom Chinese ranges:
http://lurkio.co.uk/lurk10live/(home page)

http://lurkio.co.uk/lurk10live/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=146_99 (later Moors)

http://lurkio.co.uk/lurk10live/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=149_120 (Han Chinese)

http://lurkio.co.uk/lurk10live/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=149_164 (Three Kingdoms Chinese)

We are still selling overseas with no problems currently.

As a a non-ancients player trying to learn the period(s), this is an informative article.

1000 man "regiments" if you will sounds right, as the decimal system or organisation seems to be a common thread throughout the region and well into the 19th century.

If a 1000 man unit is 10 ranks deep, then presumably it's frontage is quite narrow, in this case 120'. Assuming each rank needs 3 foot minimum to wield his bow, it's gonna be 30' or more deep.
Do we know how this compares to contemporary armies? Did they only have 4-6-8 deep units?
Another thought is, if they used spears to tie the shields together to make a barricade, presumably each file would use 3-4 of it's spears to do this, the rearer ranks passing their's forward to use as required. Afterall, they're not needing them whilst they are shooting. And if they are replacing casualties in the ranks in front of them, they'd be able to find a spear underfoot if they didn't have one to hand.

If the unit is firing, I'd guess only the first 2 ranks would get anything like aimed shots at the target. All the 8 files behind would be overhead shooting presumably trying to hit the rearer areas of approaching enemy units. Whilst not particularly accurate - a unit would have 200 aimed-ish shots and 800 random-ish area fire shots - this is still a lot of shots.

If the shield bearer is the officer at the front, presumably he's the better man, and could shout fire directions when he's not using his spear or bow. But once in close combat, could the 7 rear files carry on overhead shooting, or would they be pressing up against the front ranks to hold firm, and to fill casualty spaces?

if the officer is the front ranker, then presumably when the front rank has fallen dead and wounded, the fighting quality of the unit (as apposed to individuals) would then fall by a quotable factor in wargaming terms?

Not answered my questions, I've no idea what CE stands for, other than occasionally used for Chemical Energy when referring to tank shells (HEAT and HESH).

Genuine questions, and not trying to cause a dispute. I'd never even heard of it before seeing it on this blog.

What is it, why is it, where did it come from, and what happened to AD? Has it been banned?

What is this new-fangled CE for dates, and what happened to AD?

Mark

What I did recently as an example using those maps is pick a date, in this case 100AD,

https://www.worldhistorymaps.info/images/East-Hem_100ad.jpg

and an army, in this case Dacians, because who doesn't like two-handed chewers, then see who the neighbours were on the map. So, without any prior historical knowledge of the Dacians, I deduced that possible opponents were:
Romans
Lazyges
Gepids
Sarmatians
Goths
and a whole host of what I assume to be Germanic tribes - Getai, Roxolani, Teurisci, Carpi, Nevari. The latter then could lead me going on a research tangent into finding what they are.  I've no idea what Lazyges and Gepids are either, cool names, although at least I have heard of Gepids, but that's part of the fun, finding out.

Mark

Pavises were still in use in the Napoleonic wars, Serbian irregular matchlockmen used them in the Balkans. Am not sure why it is considered that falling back with them is considered a problem, as they could be picked up and moved forward, so why not when going away? Obviously they wouldn't count cover if moving with them, in any direction.

In my own rules I just make the units move slower if carrying pavises, as they would be a bit cumbersome, and make keeping formation difficult - which makes them very vulnerable to cavalry even in rough terrain whilst moving.

So rather than change any rules perhaps just make them move slower, if they don't already do so??

Mark

I've found the maps on this website very useful for sort of mentally registering opposing forces in an easily visible way:
https://www.worldhistorymaps.info/maps.html

so perhaps it could be the basis of something similar for MeG army lists.

What's the convincing argument for devastating charger for black orcs and goblins, and can you have combat shy and devastating charger at the same time?

Should we have a category of Reluctant Charger, especially if facing a hero with magic sword, eg Aragorn?


Mark

PERMES on the Wargames Vault also has a selection of 30mm paper figures, including ancients:
https://www.wargamevault.com/browse/pub/4347/PERMES/subcategory/10125_19898/Historical-Series

including Janissaries just released!

The Wargames Vault is also a good source of paper terrain if needed.
Mark

This came up recently in the Pendraken forum.
The main problem with using figures of different sizes is that the weapons will also be different sizes, so you will end up thick fat long spears (tree trunks) alongside thin spindly ones, or bows of different lengths. Or Romans with differing lengths of gladius. Whilst for ancient periods this may not be so bad for irregular armies, it makes a difference for periods where guns or even spears and swords were manufactured to same dimensions. Eg having 20 Chechen rebels with 5 different sizes of AK47 and RPG-7 looks sooo wrong.
One of the reasons I quit 15mm and am switching to 10mm for Napoleonics and WW2 is the vastly differing figure sizes in 15/18mm in the periods I want.

Mark

I had this problem when I did my Syrian army in 20mm plastics, and never found a satisfactory answer.

By the Ottoman period they looked Turkish, with rather fat and large turbans, but that probably doesn't help.

Mark

"we often see the term phalanx used by writers to describe any body of troops in close formation"

Yes, I've often seen early 18th Century Janissaries in North Africa described as 'in phalanx' and that's armed with matchlocks.

mark

Hi all,
the following have been added to the website this month, a mix of new items and some bargains:
QIN02 Qin/Han Chinese camp
Shield Pack 04 - oval shields
Shield Pack 05 - decorated oval shields
Shield Pack 06 - round shields
BAN01 - banner top type 1
BAN02 - draco standards
BAN03 - banner top type 2
BAN04 - banner top type 3
SPBGi14 - Asavaran lancer pack breaker
Check out the recently added single piece casting Sassanid Persians!
SPBG03D - old two piece castings Sassanid Persian Kataphracts
SPBG05D - old two piece castings Sassanid Persian horse archers
SPBG06D - Sassanid Persian Levy infantry no spear no shield reduced to £3
SPBG11D - old two piece castings Sassanid Persian armoured horse archers
SPBG13D - old two piece castings Sassanid Persian Auxiliary lancers
SPBG14D - old two piece castings Sassanid Persian Asavaran lancers
SCYBG08 - Scythian cavalry with axe and bow
LRBG01 - late Roman armoured infantry NEW!
LRBG02 - late Roman unarmoured infantry NEW!
LRBG03 - late Roman horse archers NEW!
LRBG04 - late Roman medium cavalry NEW!
LRBG05 - late Roman Heavy cavalry NEW!
LRBG07 - late Roman general NEW!
LRBG10 - late Roman sub-general with bodyguard NEW!
LRBGi01 - late Roman armoured infantry pack breaker
LRBGi02 - late Roman unarmoured infantry pack breaker
LRBGi03 - late Roman horse archers pack breaker
LRBGi04 - late Roman medium cavalry pack breaker
LRBGi05 - late Roman heavy cavalry pack breaker
LRBGi08 - late Roman armoured infantry command group
LRBGi09 - late Roman unarmoured infantry command group
SRBG02 - late Roman/Sub-Roman Briton Consul (new one piece casting)
DLBG02 - Dailami infantry old stock no spear no shield £4 bargain
SRBG05A - Old stock Sub-Roman Briton armoured infantry in crested helmet, no shields
SRBG05B - Old stock Sub-Roman Briton armoured infantry in plain helmet, no shields
SRBG06A - Old stock Sub-Roman Briton unarmoured spearmen, no shields, front rank pose
SRBG06B - Old stock Sub-Roman Briton unarmoured spearmen, no shields, standing pose
DABG02 - Dark ages generic light/medium cavalry with spear, unarmoured, no shields
DABG03 - Dark ages generic horse archers
And don't forget, MeG rules sets at half price

http://lurkio.co.uk/lurk10live/

please share widely on your social media

Orders are being taken despite the Covid-19 lockdown, but deliveries may be delayed due restricted Post Office opening hours and unknown knock-on effects within the delivery system.

Mark