Crosses and crescents and sand...Deus Vult!

Started by mmcv, 30 December 2018, 02:29:03 AM

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mmcv

Quote from: FierceKitty on 05 January 2019, 02:00:18 AM
Can see most of them this time; like the figures. Cards...rather on the bridge table, for my tuppence of opinion.

Cards are an interesting approach and change of pace from dice. Less chance of accidently disordering troops with an errant roll!

Prior to this they'd been played with plenty of dice using Hail Caesar which I do enjoy and will likely use for scenario games. I have an idea for a Battle of Arsuf recreation, but will need a few more figures and scenery to do it justice.

Main downside of the cards is the size on the table. Just about works in my space if I slide them under the bases but any smaller and I'd consider chits or d10 that I know some people use.

paulr

I've gone for chits as they have a significantly lower visual impact

I really like the ebb and flow of the odds with cards, if you draw a lot of low cards the odds of drawing high improves and vice a versa
Lord Lensman of Wellington
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mmcv

Yeah I'm considering using chits for the activations, how many do you use?

I found once or twice in the flurry of cards I forgot an activation and had to walk the cards back to replay. Partly due to being used to only activate for movement, not shooting in HC. Thinking if the activation is a different process I may remember it better.

I do enjoy flipping cards for rapid combat resolution though so may keep that on the base line or separate to avoid visual clutter.

FierceKitty

Well, the world is big enough for you and me. :)
I don't drink coffee to wake up. I wake up to drink coffee.

Leman

I bought my chits as sets from the bigredbatshop - this automatically mirrors a card pack. Much prefer chits to cards as they are smaller and visible without being garish.
The artist formerly known as Dour Puritan!

mollinary

I like the cards, as they are easily visible to all players, no matter how the ravages of age have affected our eyesight! That said I can see both the aesthetic problems some folk have, and the space problems of using normal sized playing cards with small figures on a small table. I have a number of packs of quarter size cards, bought cheaply off the net, which I use with 6 and 10mm. When playing with those who don't like the clutter, I use chits for activations,  and cards for combat, saves etc, placing the cards at the table edge. Lots of options available, really.
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mmcv

Yeah for sure, and as Paul said, the ebb and flow of the probability makes it interesting compared to a more linear dice based probability.

paulr

Quote from: mmcv on 06 January 2019, 09:39:17 AM
Yeah I'm considering using chits for the activations, how many do you use?

...

I can't remember how many chits I made #-o

I think it was 120 but may have been only 80 :-/

I'm going to have to make some more for Cheriton as we will hopefully have 6 or so players...
Lord Lensman of Wellington
2018 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2022 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
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mmcv

Yeah 80 would be plenty for a normal game, I was using two decks and it was more than enough. Looking forward to seeing your Cheriton game  :D six players will be an epic one.

mmcv

Battle report with these forces using the Soldiers of God ruleset here: http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,18253.0.html.

I've been thinking about where I want to take this project recently and after having had a few more games with them I've settled on what will be the next steps. My main aim is to set up the battle or Arsuf, to do so I will need:

1) Hordes of horse archers. This is the gaping hole in the Saracen forces - light cavalry and horse archers. I've noticed this in games where I've only had foot skirmishers and then heavier Mamlukes for mounted archers. I proxied some Turcopoles as Turkomen in a recent game but I'm going to need a lot of them for Arsuf. I'm hoping the upcoming TB line Islamics will plug some of these gaps, though my have to pick some up from other manufacturers if not...  X_X most of my cavalry is from MM and is quite bulky, but slighter or smaller models shouldn't be an issue on separate units.

2) Crusader infantry. Now that I'm a lot more knowledgeable about the period than when I first started, the billmen and archers feel out of place and I've avoided using them. At present the only period infantry I have are the Hospitallers infantry, so I plan to make a matching set of them for the Templars and then make some use of all the medieval and dark age infantry to do some mixed foot units and crossbowmen.

3) Terrain. Mostly trees, maybe some scrub. I have a bag of premade trees from eBay so can hopefully base them easily enough to provide a bit of sparse woodland.

4) Rebase Sudanese infantry. I originally based these in loose formation on 60*40 bases for large warbands, but I rarely play them as such and I don't like the look. Not strictly necessary for Arsuf but I reckon I could get three units of close order infantry by rebasing them onto 40*40. I now regret basing with milliput...

5) More knights. I have about half a units worth painted from before, so would like to pick up enough to finish it and maybe do a unit of the Knights of Jerusalem in their fetching turquoise and gold outfits.

So that's a decent plan for the coming year or so. 3 and 4 will likely come first as they don't require any new purchases, though I do have a few horse archers I picked up from Irregular that I may slap some paint on soon (once I get through my ECW project painting queue).

mmcv

First entry into the hordes of horse archers:











Figures are from Irregular. The sculpts are nice, not super detailed but have some character and paint up quickly enough so look the part.

Pondering ordering some more or holding off until the TB line Islamics are out.

Duke Speedy of Leighton

You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
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paulr

Lord Lensman of Wellington
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2022 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2023 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

Techno


mmcv

Some further updates on crusades progress...

http://mmcvhistory.home.blog/2019/04/12/crusades-progress-update/

Yeah I started trying this blogging thing... we'll see if it keeps up.  :-S

This will probably be the last Crusades stuff until the TB Line Islamics are released.

Back to the fields of England and the civil war!