Wednesday, July 31, 2013

28mm Roman Marching Camp

Here is another model made by the great Philip Viverito of LMW Works. This is a Roman Marching Camp. Again the detail is superb and I am super happy to be the new owner of this great model. I definitely will need this when my Roman army invades Greece or Macedonia in my Wargods of Olympus games.
I was needing some terrain for my freshly painted Roman army, and I hit gold. The only thing I need now are some Gauls.

The detail on the model is great, the Precision Products Philip uses has a lot of great detail. I have used Precision Products to make various terrain pieces.

The Roman camp inside of the marching fort. My Black Tree Design Romans will enjoy this camp.

Here is a game using the Roman Marching Camp at Cold Wars.












28mm Hadrian's Wall

Besides getting the City of Carthage along with it comes a large section of Hadrian's Wall that I also picked up from Philip Viverito of LMW Works. This superb model was in the Historical Miniature Gamer Magazine Issue 6.



Philip Viverito's Hadrian's Wall at Cold Wars 2006.
Inside Roman Fort that includes lots of Roman Villas and barracks. My Black Tree Design Romans will like the new barracks.



The walls and the fort are nicely detailed, another great addition to my collection. I should sell my wife's corvette to pay for my hobby.
 
I am excited to use this along with Carthage to make various Roman cities with and of course just as Hadrian's wall. My Romans will now have some protection from those invading Macedonians. I can see all the sad faces in the photos wishing they had this in their game room. Oh, I am not bragging or nothing, not me.
Nice photo of Hadrian's Wall

Aerial View of part of Hadrian's Wall

List of Roman Battles Link
http://www.roman-empire.net/diverse/battles.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_battles_before_301

Update: I now have Hadrians walls on my shelf, the model is fantastic and very detailed, I was very excited unpacking it. 

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

28mm City of Carthage

Here a again is another city that was made by Philip Viverito of LMW Works, The City of Carthage in 28mm!!!!! I am now going to be the new owner soon of this superb city in a few weeks.  The city itself has 3 outer walls, senate house, citadel and market place along with the great harbor of Carthage.  The City of Carthage was an very important Mediterranean harbor. The Romans conquered Carthage in 146 BC. 
 Battles can be fought from both land and sea. Philip is a great friend to me and I feel lucky that I was able to purchase a lot of his very detailed cities, including Carthage now.

The City of Carthage. The size of the city is 10' x 5' roughly.
The Harbor of Carthage can be seen in the back. Amazing Detail!!!
 
The armies I plan to use with this city arranged in different ways are; 28mm Carthaginians, 28mm Trojan, 28mm Romans, 28mm Greeks, 28mm Macedonians, and my 28mm Assyrians, 28mm Babylonians and 28mm Egyptians (that I use as Phoenicians as well). Tons of possibilities.  My 28mm Spartans will just have to conquer one of the cities to have their own. I will be using all of my Sgt Major Miniatures aka Vendel Miniatures with these cities.

I had called Philip out of the blue to see if he had any cities that he wanted to sell me. I had painted a massive Roman army and I was wanting to have a Roman city for them, so that I could, every now and then lay siege to a Roman city such as Rome or hey Carthage! I did not even have a clue that he made Carthage, or at least I forgot. So when he mention Carthage...I instantly knew I wanted it. So I am excited about this city and I am here to brag all about it. Of course there are a few other things I got as well, and I will post some more about that later.

Rome at the walls of Carthage at Cold Wars 2007. 
I plan on using the city in different ways, I will combine the city with Hadrian's wall to make other Roman cities, hey even Rome if I want. Carthage became a Roman city, so it was perfect for what I was looking for. I can almost combine everything I have already with this city, since it was a Phoenician city, like Tyre.  All the architect from Troy will work with it as well, such as the city buildings. I can make one massive city if I combine all of them....oh yes. I can use it in Wargods of Olympus or Wargods or Aegyptus as well.


Philip at Cold Wars 2007 running a game with the City of Carthage.
I think I have plenty of armies to put in the field against this city.


I have about 9 Roman ships that I can use with the city if I want to have a massive harbor battle, and I have a massive Roman army to attack it on the land side. This is going to be one fun game down the road..along with other games as well.


 The City of Carthage at various conventions across the US
  


The Harbor of Carthage

The City of Carthage in its might!!!

 





Here are a few links on information about the City of Carthage and its history.

http://i-cias.com/e.o/carthage.htm
http://www.ancient.eu.com/carthage/
http://www.history.com/topics/punic-wars
http://www.roman-empire.net/republic/carthage.html
http://pelagios.dme.ait.ac.at/maps/greco-roman/ 

Sunday, July 28, 2013

28mm City of Tyre


This is the City of Tyre made by Philip Viverito. I bought this a few years back and I use it in a variety of games, mostly in Wargods of Olympus and of course in a historical game. I plan on using the city mostly as any Middle Eastern city in ancient times. My major power (Fantasy) is Assyria. They turned out to be the major superpower instead of the Persians. So This city can be used in multiple ways such as an Assyrian City, a Phoenician city, the list goes on and on.


I plan to use this City of Tyre as multiple different cities. My 28mm Macedonia army, as well as my 28mm Spartan army will have many sieges against this city with multiple names and locations in many games. I will also use the city with my 28mm Egyptian army and 28mm Assyrian army as well. It can also be used in a Iraq modern war game setting. The city is very modular and can be rearranged in many numerous ways. It was well worth the money. This is the first of 3 cities I have bought from Philip Viverito. 

 City of Tyre being used at MinisWars 2003

I have a lot of Macedonians from Sgt Major Miniatures aka Vendel Miniatures to lay siege to this city soon.

Tyre at another gaming convention.



Here is another great view of Tyre at another gaming convention somewhere in the US.


Some great links about the many sieges of Tyre.

http://sophismata.wordpress.com/2009/02/20/the-siege-of-tyre/ 
http://lastdayscall.blogspot.com/2010/04/alexander-great-siege-on-tyre-fallen.html
http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article_tyre.html

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Battle of An-Nasiriyah (2nd Gulf War 2003 AD)

This game is the Battle of Nasiriyah which fought from March 23 thru April 3rd in 2003.  This was during the Invasion of Iraq in the 2nd Gulf war or otherwise known as Operation Iraqi Freedom. The battle was fought between the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade (2nd MEB) aka Task Force Tarawa and the Ba'athist Iraqi forces which included the 11th Iraqi Division and Fedayeen Saddam paramilitary forces.  The Iraqi forces did not wear uniforms and disguised themselves as civilians. 


 The objective of Task Force Tawara's mission was to secure three strategic bridges in An Nasiriyah and provide route security behind the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (1st MEF) that was protecting the Army's 3rd Infantry division's right flank that was the lead invasion force moving towards Baghdad from the west in the Tigris River Valley.  The 1st MEF was moving towards Bagdad from the east in the Tigris River Valley. 
Map of Nasiriyah


Marine commanders ordered the 1st MEF to move towards Baghdad along both Hwy 1 and Hwy 7. Task Force Tawara  was then ordered to secure the Euphrates River bridge in the southern part of Nasiriyah and the northern Saddam Canal bridge. These bridges are along of Hwy 7 that runs directly through Nasiriyah. The capturing of these bridges would provide a corridor for parts of the Regimental elements of the 1st MEF that were to move along Hwy 7 towards Baghdad. 
I being a fellow Marine and fought in Desert Storm, I salute all of my fellow Marines that fought and died in the taking of this city as well as all Marines that fought in any war or battle.
 
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Nasiriyah


The city is a mix of custom built terrain from various makers. The roads are also custom made. The rivers are from Wargammers Terrain. Some of the buildings were made by Art of War Terrain. 

I am using Battlefield Evolution miniatures currently. They are not the greatest figures and are in 25mm scale. I have a few 20mm vehicles that work good with them as far as scale. Eventually I plan on either replacing them all with 28mm scale "metal" figures, but for now they work good for me. The Iraqi's for the most part in the entire Operation Iraqi Freedom, removed all uniforms and blended in with the civilians.


An Iraqi Tunguska in position near Saddam Canal Bridge.

1/2 forward recon calls in artillery strikes and air support against Iraqi T-55 tanks and dug in Iraqi armored infantry.

Air support arrives at Nasiriyah and takes out remaining Iraqi armor.

Air support near southern Hwy 7 bridge over the Euphrates River. Nothing like seeing Iraqi armor burning.

Marines of Bravo Company 1/2 advancing towards the Euphrates River bridge.

AAV of Bravo Company 1/2 taking a direct hit from an Iraqi RPG as Bravo Co begins to move towards the Euphrates River Bridge.


Marines of Bravo Company 1/2 moving towards Euphrates River Bridge after their AAV had been hit by a RPG.
Airstrike on west side of Hwy route 7 along "Ambush Alley"
Charlie Company 1/2 heading down Hwy 7 towards Saddam Canal Bridge with tank support that arrived early from refueling. Bravo Company 1/2 took a lot of casualties crossing the bridge and has set up a parameter on the northern side of the Euphrates River Bridge but has cleared the first few blocks on the east side of Hwy 7 that paved the way for Charlie Company.

 Iraqi Tunguska ambushing Marine tanks in support of Charlie Company 1/2


Charlie Company 1/2 exited their AAV's and taking cover and heading east along Hwy 7 towards Saddam Canal Bridge.

Marines of Charlie Co look on as their tank support is being seriously hit by Iraqi rockets from Iraqi armor. The first few city blocks have been taken and the Marines are half way to the Saddam Canal Bridge.

Charlie Company 1/2 moving forward regardless of losses.

Air Strike near Saddam Canal Bridge

Tank support for Alpha Co 1/2

Alpha Co 1/2 nearing Saddam Canal Bridge

Alpha Co 1/2 moving through Charlie Co positions

Air Strike near Saddam Canal Bridge taking out Iraqi targets

Alpha Co 1/2 moving toward Saddam Canal Bridge

Alpha Co 1/2 taking the Saddam Canal Bridge
The Marines of 1/2 secure both bridges and defeat the Iraqi army protecting Nasiriyah. The Marine casualties were 28 kills and the Iraqi took over 300 casualties.

The some of the terrain was made by Battlefield Architect and the rivers were made by Wargamer's Terrain. The desert buildings were a combination of Art of War terrain and Philip Viverito, and a custom set of terrain made from a member on Ebay named ironblood-mechanique.

http://www.wargamersterrain.com/
battlefield architect
http://www.artofwarterrain.com/