Paper hoplites

[petercooman]

I am tempted to do this just so I can get some games I

I can only recommend this! Just look at the speed of it all! I started sunday evening, and if all goes well i'm having a game this evening on tuesday. Could have had a game yesterday, but wanted to re-read the rules first as it was almost a year ago i played them.

I have looked at the Junior General site a number of time and thought...maybe. With those groupings and bases the needle of interest has moved well into the plus zone now. Great idea plus the basing does all the selling for you.

Yes i had been looking at juniorgeneral for quite some time, but always thought i wouldn't get a sataisfying result. Glad i tried!

I've sent this thread to Junior General himself, he loves it!

Tell him he did a great job with the site!

Those look brilliant! 

Definitely an idea 

Thanks!

They're excellent, Peter!

Definitely a good use of an evening-ish plus. Lets hope they perform on table

Well, you know that freshly painted troops always bite the dust, maybe freshly printed troops perform differently? 

I have had some fun with paper armies over the last ten years. All top downs though.

Out of curiosity, what do you game with them? The 'usual' periods (for example ACW, nappies etc) Or the less known stuff? Asking this, because to me it looks like the ideal way to do battles for wich it's hard to find suitable minis.Looking at you Belgian revolution!

[petercooman]

So, just came to the conclusion that i didn't base my troops correctly, i made them all the same bases except the cavalry, but i should have made the skirmisher bases too deep. They are 3 cm deep but should have been 2 deep max.

I misread the basing standard (in a hurry to get started) and based them as light infantry.

I'm going to leave them like that though, as it doesn't really make a difference for the game, only for interpenetration or flank charges. I'll can probably houserule the interpenetration one, by not counting the first centimeter of the rear end of the base when determining if they can be moved through, but i will see if that is really neccessary first.

I don't think it will be a problem though.

[petercooman]

So these armies had their first show off, and the spartans routed the athenian army with little trouble.

Started off pretty equal, with both sides taking out a unit of each others skirmishers (played the BI rules as is, and again shows that no evade rules for skirmishers is a big nono in BI).

After that the hoplites traded blows (or spear stabs if you will) and the spartans quickly gained the upper hand when a 4 base group charge managed to come short for all but 1 base, leaving the other 3 disordered and at the mercy of the spartans, who still had to move (athens had initiative in that round)

AS i was rooting for the spartans, this goes to show that freshly printed guys perform better as opposed to freshly painted blokes!

[Leman]

In response, the armies were put together by one of my regular opponents to play Maurice and the FPW and APW. He holds all the armies, apart from the two forces suggested by Neil Thomas for his refight of Nachod. They are quite effective and the armies can be built up over a couple of days. However, I have then gone on to replace those armies with metal. Incidentally my friend sized the copies so that they could be cut out and mounted on 40mm frontage bases to give them a bit of heft.

[petercooman]

Ok thanks!

That seems like a great way to do it too, making the paper armies first so you can start gaming, and then finihing the models over time to phase out the paper. 

I know i am till browsing the ancients section, so who knows 

[kodiakblair]

Great stuff.

1st paper models I saw were a freebie from Standard Games for Hastings and since going online I've collected 100's of them. Sadly due to a succession of terrible Epson printers I've never
got around to doing any. Seeing these could be the spur to give Rymans 20p to print one then photocopy the rest

kb

[petercooman]

Don't hesitate! I have Played 4 games already and they definately do the job!

[Steve J]

I've found some nice micro-size units that should be perfect for both Bloody Big Battles and Honours of War

[petercooman]

Yes the micro size stuff on there looks great! Shame tey don't have them for ECW!

[GrumpyOldMan]

Hello All

Yes the micro size stuff on there looks great! Shame tey don't have them for ECW!

You can grab images (with the owners permission of course) and resize them to fit on a micro scale. Here's an image from the Perrys:-



Below is one that has been resized, sharpened and contrasted up.

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

[petercooman]

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

Hi

Just did a quick search on other pike and shot pictures that could be used:-





These are just examples and remember to get the owners permission before using them.

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

[FierceKitty]

Lots of ingenuity here - good luck to you all - but they wouldn't satisfy me without the slight feeling of metallic mass when handled, and the "clunk" as they are set down. A bit like playing mah jong with cards rather than tiles.

[petercooman]

Lots of ingenuity here - good luck to you all - but they wouldn't satisfy me without the slight feeling of metallic mass when handled, and the "clunk" as they are set down. A bit like playing mah jong with cards rather than tiles.

Well, if you play hex and counter wargames, you are used to pushing paper around, so that's an easier transition  

Had a multi basic impetus battle using almost all troops yesterday, sparta won the day, but only just. The last turn started with Sparta at 19/20 to demoralize, and Athens at 20/22. Both armies had some elements close to breaking, so it really came down to who could seize the initiative. Sparta won the initiative roll, and so was able to pull out their unit with 1 hit left, and move it out of charge range. Denying Athens the kill for this turn. The Spartans then ganged up on the last hoplites on the Athens  left flank and finished them, winning the battle! (1 hoplite unit counts as 3 points towards demoralization)

Highlight of the game: a unit of spartan slingers who routed a unit of cavalry with a single volley! As that unit had effectively infiltrated the spartan battle line , and was heading for theunit of  spartan hoplites with 1 remaining hitpoint, that unit could have ended it all a turn sooner!