Impetus Magazine

Lorenzo at Impetus is thinking of doing an Impetus magazine probably in full color pdf to PC format and I would very much like to see this happen.
He is thinking of including in it historical background information which will include army lists, tactics, painting/assembling of Units, event reports, tutorials, clarifications plus probably more.
If like me you would also like to see this happen then visit the forum underneath this topic and voice your support!

http://impetus.forumsland.com/impetus-about2744.html

For me Angus McBrides Vikings celebrating comes to mind at this possibility!:-)

Saladin and the Ayyubid dynasty for Impetus

I've recently purchased a large amount of Legio Heroica's fantastic Muslim range for the Crusades. All the miniatures from this company are superb and probably the best 15mm I've ever seen. This is my first planned Impetus based army and I'm looking forward to doing it in between my El Cid and ACW projects.

This project idea started when two of my friends(Mixer and Jadwig) started collecting this range with Mixer collecting The Kingdom of Jerusalem Crusader army and Jadwig Fatamid Muslims. I was very interested in the miniatures, but not the rules they planned to use which was Fields of Glory which I personally find to be as much fun as watching paint dry on a damp day. So, I declined to start any armies for it until..............IMPETUS came along! These rules I found to be very exciting and this was the motivation I needed and so I set about convincing my friends to change the rules from FOG to Impetus.

Since I already own a Viking/Saxon and Norman armies for FOG(hence my experience at FOG) I blew the dust off them and invited my friends into giving Basic Impetus a try using these armies that only required a few very easy modifications to use. After two games Jadwig is on the fence and Mixer likes it and I'm very, very happy with the rules. This weekend we have a planned 300pts normal Impetus game on the blocks and with the additional rules I believe there is a good chance to swing Jadwig the rest of the way over the fence and further grab Mixer's enthusiasm.

The catch is that when they give a FOG a try I agreed to also participate so they can decide between the two systems. My fingers are crossed that they won't like FOG(Really, really hoping they don't!) and decide to remain with Impetus.

I really like Legio Herico's Crusader Kingdom range, but since I already have a Norman army that can easily be used as Crusaders I thought it more prudent to collect Saladin's Muslims first which is hardly a chore as these are just as equally superbly done and I'm also going to have fun with all the color and not to mention they can fight either of my friends armies or join Jadwigs Fatamid's and battle the Crusaders!

My approach will be to emphasize strong colors, clean painting and keep the intricate designs on clothes and such under raps as the effort doesn't pay out at 15mm. I want the army to look very vibrant and colorful on the wargames table and so I'm hoping to pull it off.

Not surprising I'm a huge fan of the film Kingdom of Heaven!

Thanks for reading

Caballeros

Here is my next unit for my El Cid project that's due for an event in September. A unit of Christian Caballeros(includes both nobles and common knights).
Once again AP with highlights added afterwards. All shields and banners are completely hand painted. Like the Caballeros Hidalgos I modelled on some following robes to really emphasize their Spanish/Moorish background and mixed in Moorish figures to take it a step further.
These Caballeros use the over arm attacking technique and therefore are more suited for exploiting gaps in enemy lines unlike the Caballeros Hidalgos which use force of direct assault to break enemy lines. To reflect this I kept the unit standard a small banner in keeping with their need for quick assaults when a gap opens.
I also included the Crusader El Cid figure that I painted up as a bishop to give the unit some inspiration. He of course is the one with a cross on his shield.
Thank you for viewing.
Miniature Company-Perry,Artizan,Crusader,Conquest Miniatures

Hail Caesar

I gave this opinion on the WAB forum and thought I would share it on my blog.
I've been reading HC and so far my opinion is.......I'm impressed! I like the mechanics of the game, orders and blunders mechanism, and the ability to design battles and armies as you see them reflected in history. It does require an emphasis on game building which I find very nice.
While I do enjoy points driven gaming(WAB, Impetus etc.), I equally enjoy the freedom to design armies and battles free from points limitations to better reflect a more historical gaming experience(simulation gaming in other words HC ,F&F BG etc.)where battles were seldom fair and therefore requires one to design scenario goals and objectives to level the field rather then abstract points.
An interesting point about HC is it's geared towards multiple players that can be played with just 2 players while most other systems are designed for 2 players that can be played with multiples. This should not be over looked as large battles will run very smoothly with HC as that's it's comfort zone and requires very little adjustment.
This type of gaming is ideal for club/group gaming or demo games. If your a little weary of the tournaments and want to try a change of pace then Hail Caesar is something to try.
Generally it's designed for large games due to the high figure count, but will still work with moderate sized armies.
If your a small sized collector say in 10mm or 15mm this system will actually give you the rule set to take advantage of large collections that you otherwise couldn't fully use them all and for the 28mm gamer a chance to really pool a lot of miniatures together with friends and not worry if you have too much as the rules allow for adjustments in scenario's and unit capabilities to help off set any large disadvantage to one side or the other.
If your looking for absolute fair then this isn't for you, but if your looking to just play your miniatures with some freedom and let history design your armies then I really recommend HC.
Another point is I really like Impetus and HC easily accommodates the basing which is nice. I'm a huge fan of Impetus basing, but was always concerned it made playing other systems difficult, but not so with HC thus any army I base for Impetus I can use with HC as well which avoids any army becoming to narrow in possibilities.
Also, I heard Rick has published some lists in the yahoo group. I personally hope that's as far as it goes and no more lists are added or ever published. Lists will eventually replace players freedom and in the case of HC I think that's not a good thing. Many games have lists and that's good, but I also like games without them and so I hope HC avoids this.

I think El Cid with Charlton Heston was a fantastic film full of great characters and superb cinematography and costumes. Heston gave a great performance and Sofia Loren is lovely on the eyes. It's loaded with a lot of inaccuracies I won't bother to get into, but what it does is inspire and this in my opinion overrides any of this.
As I mentioned after finishing my ACW regiment that I had needed to start working back on my El Cid project as I have an WAB tournament "Argentoratum" I'll be attending in France in September. Because of this, expect this project to dominate my unit posts until then.
Currently I'm 70% finished with my latest regiment, but since I'm generally not a fan of putting out WIP's you'll need to wait until I'm finished before I post. Of course this does put space between unit posts, but I like posting finished units and not half completed ones I've discovered. However, I don't mind following other blogs that include or don't include WIP's.:-)
Thank you for your patience and I'll post the unit as soon as I can.