The "Pain in Spain".

Last night,because Dave was watching the Cricket,and Brian was sunning himself in the Costa del Mablethorpe,Paul,Graham and I had this absolutely "cracking" Marlburian game.

Top photo is the "scenario",bottom photo is the table before any movement.I elected to command the Spanish,whilst Paul commanded the Horse and Irish,leaving Graham to command the Bavarians(obviously not Historically correct!!) Paul had the objective of capturing the central hill,and Graham had the very difficult task of capturing the town................

This is the town,let's call it Mablethorpe-if you look carefully you can see Brian,wearing his shorts and "flip-flops",sitting by the pool,sipping his ice cold latte!!

The game got off to a "blistering" start,by both Paul and I moving our front-line cavalry into contact,whilst Paul attacked the hill with his Irish brigade-cracking stuff!-Meanwhile Graham was positioning his Bavarians to start his attack on "Mablethorpe"!

The central hill is under serious attack,and now I have to contend with the Bavarians attacking my troops guarding the town(I refuse to keep calling it Mablethorpe!)-mixed fortunes for both sides,but I am just "edging" it(for now!!)

Top photo shows the cavalry battle in full swing,bottom shows the main Bavarian force advancing on the town-colouful and exciting!

The Irish are taking a right old "hammering",and my cavalry are winning most of the melees-is this the time to say that I might just win this??

NO!!! in a most horrible turn of fortune,Paul gained the flank,the central hill,and Graham was now "knocking on the door" of the town-how do I do it???

With my left flank gone,the central hill troops fleeing,and the Bavarians demanding entry to the town,I had to admit defeat(but not dishonour!)

One final shot-very few Spanish troops remain on the field-however,this was a great game ,as usual,full of rude banter,laughs and cameraderie-what more could you ask for?(a win would be nice!!)

In my earlier blogs I mentioned that I had sent away to Lancashire Games for some 15mm Barbarians to fight my 15mm Romans-well,I have been busy painting these fine little figures,and now have 10 warbands,only another 20 or so to go!!.....................

I am knocking these out at 3 warbands per day,which accounts for the poor painting(that's my excuse,and I'm sticking to it!) but "en masse" they look ok-how will they do against the Romans?

You can almost smell the garlic!-I have also been painting up some Warrior Roman aux, archers.

Lovely little figures-I also have two Ballista to make up and paint-more of them next week.

 

The "Out-Flanking 1710.

Another 100% turnout last night for this very interesting game/battle

Top photo is the scenario,bottom is the table before any movement-Brian and Paul were the allies,whilst Dave,Graham and I were the French-all was set for a great game,full of little problems.

How about this for a study in concentration???-Dave is moving the out-flanking force into position,Paul is putting pressure on Graham(in the centre) and my Irish are just about holding on in the town(some good dice from Paul-again! saw my first regiment shot to bits and on the verge of retiring(it's good being retired!)

With the out-flankers in position and advancing,Brian is awaiting the onslaught!
In the centre Graham has suffered a set-back,and his first line is beginning to "waver",however on the town flank,Paul and I are just exchanging musket fire(although I am getting the worst of it!!!)

This shows the French centre,blasting away at the British-Graham has very kindly sent me a regiment,I didn't ask for it,and really didn't need it,but this weakened his second line,which would tell later on in the game!!!

Paul was quite content to tie my troops down in the town,whilst trying to break the French in the centre-how's Dave doing??

Very well,was the answer!!-with officers falling like "nine-pins" he is advancing and giving Brian's Austrians a hard time-the cavalry battle in the middle centre is swinging back and forth-great stuff.

A general view of the game about move number 7-all action,and neither side has an overall advantage!

This shows the wide open space where the French first line should be!!!-they've all "legged it" back to Paris!!-however The British first line has also "retired" due to Graham killing their Colonel-a brigade morale test did the rest-hurrah!!

Coffee time,and this shot is taken from the British/Austrian side of the table,and clearly shows the advance of the out-flanking force giving the Austrians a hard time!-but Brian looks relaxed and chilled out!!-the centre is looking denuded of French troops,and the British look poised to strike the killing blow!

Look at these two-anybody would think they knew what they were doing!!!

One final photo,the Austrians are on the verge of collapse,and I am still holding the town(mainly because Paul is not attacking it!!),but the centre has gone-having said that,technically the french have won,because the Allies haven't achieved their objective!-hurrah!!!
This was another good game-each side had its problems to solve-well done to us all.
We won't be playing next Sunday-we are at "Fiasco" in Leeds.

Marlburian Battle-Hudson's Return!

Last night the "Fab Four" were involved in an exciting Marlburian battle,with no scenario,other than to beat the enemy!-Dave and Paul were on one side and Brian and I on the other.Both teams wrote their battle plans-once again very similar to each other's-both flanks were to be contested whilst in the centre we would advance cautiously and await events on the flanks,both sides also opted to contest the village!!

Dave and Paul controlled the British and Austro/Prussians in the foreground,Brian commanded the Irish and part of the Bavarian lines-I commanded the rest!-The terrain layout proved quite tricky as avenues of approach to the major obstacles,ie the farm and village were restricted,to say the least!

This shows Brian's Irish flank-he was opposed by Austrians and Prussians,and,despite Paul throwing the whole of the known world at him,he managed to hang on until the last move of the game,when the "demon dice-thrower" overcame him,and out-flanked him with cavalry!

Paul and Dave commanded the central troops combined,so Paul marched the front liners(Prussians) to the left flank to support his Austrians who were about to assault the village-Brian would now be out-numbered 2:1 but "Mr Tenacity" didn't care one jot!!!

My attack on the farm begins-it must be noted that Dave and I are the worst dice throwers in the wargaming world,but on this occasion  Dave actually threw worse than me,and after a couple of shots the defenders fled the relative safety of the farm-hurrah!!

Whilst the centre was starting to come alive,Brian was being subjected to "shit,shot and shell" at the village,as Paul piled on the pressure to capture the wall-in the background you can just see the Austrians moving forward to out-flank the Irish position!!!

An all-out attack on the British flank is taking place in this photo,and a cavalry battle is developing on my far left-I eventually won the melee,but followed Dave's retiring cavalry through his ranks and was shot to bits by a well-placed infantry regiment!!

Dave and I are having a jolly old fire-fight here,but he re-occupied the farm with a regiment of Grenadiers,threatening my flank,so I had to retire.

In the centre,a combination of "uncannily" accurate artillery fire and musketry is keeping my line in check,Brian is in danger of being swamped by sheer weight of numbers,and my left is retiring-is it the end?

Brian's right flank cavalry have disappeared,leaving the Austrian cavalry free to rampage at will,he has been driven back from the village walls,and a couple of "untouched" Austrian regiments is approaching fast-oh dear me!!

The final photo(c/w "dead" figures) showing the positions of the armies-basically at their original starting points! but I couldn't make any headway against Dave's British in a very strong position on their hill,the centre was done for and Brian was fighting for his life!!
The "allies" were declared the winners,but it was in reality a very close fought game-well done to us all.
Roll on Thursday-maybe English Civil War-only Brian and I though,Paul is going to Nottingham for a couple of days.