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I liked that they painted the arrows in different colours depending on the nastiness they contained.

Also, Tod's long-suffering wife had to wind up the trebuchet again!

Quote from: Erpingham on April 18, 2024, 01:09:57 PMTod has been at it again.  He has been experimenting with fire arrows, so we don't have to.

https://youtu.be/xNCU4WndtYk?si=pnxa3N1ZaEMdGAy9

One word of caution - this video has really annoying ads every few minutes 

Fascinating and probably worth putting up with the adverts 

Tod has been at it again.  He has been experimenting with fire arrows, so we don't have to.

https://youtu.be/xNCU4WndtYk?si=pnxa3N1ZaEMdGAy9

One word of caution - this video has really annoying ads every few minutes 

Horse Archers is a very vague term...

There are extensive primary and ancient sources in less accessable languages (eg chinese, persian, arabic). These detail several different tactics and show that individual troops would choose between tactics in different circumstances.
some key points:
1. All horse archer types wore as much armour as they could get - including horse armour.
2. The key advantages over foot archers are mobility AND lots more arrows.
3. Dismounting was a common practice.  In bad terrain, fortifications, boats, etc. Also for 'shower shooting' tactics.
4. The most effective shooting was at very short range. heavy arrows, powerful bows, ranges 10m or less. This was typicaly when galloping across the enemy front or at a point charge before contact or withdrawal.

next tactics..

Thanks. It is fascinating

And keep it going Dave...it does inspire me to do more 6mm

Quote from: Keraunos on April 18, 2024, 08:19:10 AMMy impression is that space - giving the horse archers ample room to manoeuvre and wear down an opponent - is a also key to their success, but this is not something that the usual gaming table affords unless one goes to small scale troops on a big table.

True. This makes LH difficult to model on a gaming table if they're facing enemy cavalry.

The latest excavation report for this Late Medieval (1495) wreck is available to download here . This is the ship perhaps more frequently referred to in the past as Gribshunden, Gripen/Griphund being a translation to modern Swedish.  It is in Swedish but has a long English summary (pp.77-96).  Even in English, it's very technical regarding ship building terminology but, if you like a bit of maritime archaeology, interesting. I must admit, I look forward to all the technical stuff turning into a detailed reconstrucion, so I can visualise it.
Look out for the weapon chest, with all it's kit for making ammunition for the various lighter firearms on board.

Thanks for the compliments guys. I think I've reached a reasonable painting standard now (refurbishment of some of the earlier armies has revealed horses with brown, black, metal silver and grass green legs!) but if you look at the gallery on the Baccus site ......

As you write Carl, the overall impact of the terrain and the small figures seems to work very well.

I have been told that a major reason why the Mamelukes defeated the Mongols at Ain Jalut is that due to drought in their grazing lands, the Mongols were short of horses, so each soldier went into battle with only one horse, rather than with the 2 or 3 remounts they would normally have had.  If this is so, I can see how fresh remounts would give the Mongols a huge advantage in mobility and resilience over other forces lacking such resources and this may well have contributed to the effectiveness of other steppe peoples.

My impression is that space - giving the horse archers ample room to manoeuvre and wear down an opponent - is a also key to their success, but this is not something that the usual gaming table affords unless one goes to small scale troops on a big table.