3rd Battle of Plum Tree Farm 1644.

How can I describe the game we had last night?-easy,FANTASTIC!!!
It was without doubt one of the most exciting and tense games we've had for a while-it could be because I didn't actually take an active part in it!!!

This is the scenario and troop dispositions-Brian and Paul were the Parliamentarians whilst Richard and Graham were the Royalists.Both side wrote out their battle plans and away we went.

This is the table before any movement.Paul and Brian had decided to "mask" the right of the Royalists and make a massive attack on their left,moving all of the cavalry to that flank-this was to prove an error of judgement,leaving poor old Brian with no cavalry support,and,of course,Graham took full advantage of this!!

Brian,without cavalry support,moves forward to engage the "Bluecoats" in the field,whilst in the background Graham is moving his cavalry to fill the gap,and if possible,attack Brian's infantry in the flank,if he ventures too far forward.

Meanwhile,Paul is moving sedately forward against the field held by Richard-this looks good,not too cluttered(yet!!)

A general view of the table,showing the Parliamentarian right flank getting more and more crowded,and Graham's cavalry just about to assault Brian's exposed Infantry!-The Royalist pair look quite pleased with themselves so far.

Clash,and there goes one of Brian's infantry regiments!!!-the other has formed "Square",which Graham rode up to and fired his pistols at them-good tactics,because the Musketeers couldn't fire back at him-Brian is now in big trouble!!

Paul is piling more infantry and cavalry into an already over-crowded flank,and what is worse,his magical dice throwing seem to have left him-he's losing fire-fights and melees,as if he was a mere mortal like the rest of us!!!

Brian has managed to get his troops into line,and the whole flank is ablaze with musket fire,but earlier casualties have resulted in his regiments being weak,whilst Graham's were protected by the field wall,and are gaining the upper hand.

Despite a valiant stand,Brian's infantry are a spent force,and Graham is now turning the attention of his cavalry on to Paul's line.

Paul's ragged line is going to prove no match for the Royalist cavalry,gun and infantry about to assail him-time to call it a day?

YES!!-Brian's flank is retiring to lick their wounds,and the game is over,after 16 moves taking just over 3 hours-great stuff,and well done to everyone.Dave and I,who were "observers" both enjoyed the spectacle and spirit in which the game was played-the only down side,for me,was Richard asking at the end of the game,which side he had been on,Royalist or Parliamentarian!!
Oh well!!!!!!
Roll on Thursday,probably Ancients.

Blogger Statistics!

After I post my blogs I go to the "overview" and "stats" columns to see how we are doing as far as "hits" are going,and I am always blown away by the number of people "hitting" our blog,and where they live-today is no exception,and I thought I would share the current stats. with you all.......................

I find it fantastic that people in all these countries should be interested in what we do in Westerhope,and am so grateful for their support-a million thanks to you all.In total we have had 80,350 hits since we started the blog-long may it continue,thanks again.

2nd Battle of Plum Tree Farm-2015.

By way of a change,and following the club's recent" upsurge" of interest in WW2 and all things "Tanky",I thought I would involve Brian and Paul in my take on modern wargaming and introduce them to my "solo" rules,to see what improvements they need to make when they eventually come to knocking up a set of WW2 rules,together with Dave,Graham and Richard.
I originally fought this game back in December 2014,so had the scenario and terrain already written out.

This is how the table looked before any troops were put on it-as the defender,all my troops were hidden,and cards showing "infantry","tank" or "anti-tank gun" were placed in all the obvious places for defence(ie woods,fields,farm house etc.) but face down so that even I didn't know what was where!!-Brian and Paul were then given an intelligence report ,and from that report they had to make a plan of attack-the objective was to capture the Farm.

Paul is putting in a heavy attack on the Eastern field,where I had a tank-as you can see it burns nicely!!!-I also have an infantry squad in the field itself.

My tank behind the barn has "exposed" itself(now,now!!) because the "seeing" distance was deemed to be 2 of our measuring sticks(about 300mm)-you can see a card in the farmhouse,which hasn't been spotted yet.
Brian is engaging the troops around the Western field and woods.

As Paul is pushing my Eastern troops backwards,I turned over the cards in the woods,and one of them was an Anti-tank gun-hurrah!!(scratch built and crap,but it did the job!) which stopped his leading tank,with just a little bit of help from the bazooka attached to the infantry also in the woods.

This is a general view of the table showing the various actions,and Brian and Paul's battle plan "unraveling" at an alarming rate!!-should have sent the infantry in before the tanks!

The shot of the day!!Brian managed to destroy one of my tanks with this lucky shot-the swine!

My Western infantry,now devoid of tank support,is being attacked by Brian's infantry,who he is supporting with another squad-time for me to retire(oh,I already am!!) and admit defeat.

One final photo,showing the state of both armies-technically I have won because the farm is still in my hands,but realistically,I have only the infantry in the farm left!!!
This was an enjoyable game,giving Paul and Brian something to think about,as far rules go.
Roll on Sunday,we will be fighting the 3rd Battle of Plum Tree Farm,but using English Civil War figures!!-It must be pointed out that all the figures used in the above game were bought from the "pound shop" and cost £5 for 10 tanks and 100 infantry!!

Assaye and "El Cid" game

On Saturday,Dave "popped" around to show me his Assaye collection,to date,with a view to putting them on the table so we could look at spacings etc.before the game,to be put on at "Carronade" in Falkirk on 7th May 2016.The collection is not complete yet,but is well in hand for the deadline of end of April.
Dave also brought along a most beautiful model fort/town which he bought on E-bay,which could fit into a dozen periods,but which he thought would look good in Sunday's game featuring the armies of "El Cid" and the Moors.

A map of the battle,a young Arthur Wellesley,commanding the "British" and Allied troops,achieved a great victory over the Indian army,but it was a costly victory,leading to Napoleon calling him the "Sepoy General".

Young Arthur with ADC,beautifully painted and based by Dave,with Sepoy troops in the background-strange pose!!

This shows the first completed Brigade of "British" troops c/w bullock drawn gun-very impressive,the figures are from Redoubt Miniatures,and are a "big" 28mm.The figures require basing with stones,flock etc. and flags,which Dave sources from America!!

This photo shows the Indian brigade fully painted,one of two to be done for the game,and a completed cavalry unit behind-this army is so colourful,especially the command figures.

Another "cracking" paint job by Dave,of an ADC-the whole project is going to be great to see.

How good is this model??-the detail is superb!!-the only draw back is that our bases wouldn't be able to stand on the narrow walkways,so I made a template to fit around the walkways!!
I believe that Dave paid a fair bit of cash for the model,but it was worth every penny!!

Now onto the battle we had last night,6 of us turned up,there should have been 7 but our old mate,Michael,who was down from Aberdeen for the week-end,had to go back home,as his wife had taken ill-we wish her well(and her Father,who was also taken ill!!)

The top photo is the scenario and the bottom photo is the table before any movement,featuring the Fort/Town.
Myself,Graham and Dave were the Spanish,whilst Brian,Richard and Paul were the Moors.

Paul was defending the Town against Dave's attacks-and as usual his "demon" dice throwing denuded Dave's infantry of Officers within three moves!!!-how does he do it??

The "Black Guard" have appeared on the ramparts to gloat at Dave's demise!!-doesn't the template work well?

Brian and I both commanded cavalry,on the flank,and clashed almost immediately-we fought several melees before he eventually won the flank,but my infantry did a bit better against Richard's posted on the hill in the background-hurrah!!

In this shot,Graham is advancing against Richard's Cavalry,which he managed to destroy after an exciting battle lasting most of the game-he then advanced his infantry against Paul's flank-great stuff!!

The "misery" continues on Dave's flank,as his infantry are being held by lighter types,and now Paul has brought the "Black Guard" out of the town to complete the victory!!-woe is Dave!!

Graham's cavalry are doing a grand job of driving Richard back,leaving the flank open for his infantry to march to victory(??)

Although my cavalry are heavier types,Brian has out-numbered me,and things are not looking good(again!)

My infantry are now fighting for their little tin lives-the flank is lost,our only hope is that Brian and Richard don't combine their forces and turn on our centre-they wouldn't,would they??

Yes,they bloody well would,and did!!! It will just take someone to point out that the Spanish are beaten......................

The job has fallen to Richard to do just that!!-It must be said at this point that I have never seen such blatant "gloating" as I saw in this game(by both sides,however!!)
A good game played in good spirit-well done lads.

Latest victims of the floods!!

Disaster has struck at the Westerhope Wargames Group Headquarters(ie "The Garage"),after unprecedented rainfall over the last few days,our "club room"(ie "The Garage") has sprung a leak,forcing me to empty some shelves of boxes,and having to store them on the Wargames table,so I'm afraid we won't be playing on Thursday-how will we cope??

The culprit-it's actually next door's garage roof that is the problem,my roof is ok.but the walls adjoin,so any water accumulating on their roof seeps through into my garage!!

Boxes of figures stored,temporarily, on the wargames table-only a couple of boxes were damaged,and soaked(my solo modern stuff,so no real problem!) but just in case of more water coming in,I moved a lot of my Ancients.

A portable heater being used to try and minimise the problem-the Welsh flag which can be seen hanging like,well,a wet flag,might have to go!

Trying to dry out one of the damaged boxes,using the kitchen radiator-aren't wives understanding at times like these-NOT!!-"I hope that doesn't mark the wall","can't you use an older teatowel?","why don't you just throw the box out and get a new one?"-etc.etc.-ho hum!!

On a lighter note,I am getting through Brian's Normans(or should that be Norman's Brians?) at a good rate,and only have one more Infantry unit to do now.This is a shot of the completed cavalry unit,flocked today.

Battle of the Dyke-Marlburian.

Before I start the report on the game we had today,you are all,no doubt aware that the news on everyone's lips today is that the "Chippendales" have reformed.........................

And here they are!!-bloody hell,more like the "Chipmunks"!!!! I don't know how some of them get let out by themselves!!-Alan is wearing a nice hat!!

The scenario and map-Brian was in charge of the Scots,Alan in charge of the Irish,Paul in charge of the Bavarians,Dave in charge of the Anglo/Prussians,whilst Graham and I looked at each other from opposite sides of the table,on horse back!!

Brian's impressive attack on The Dyke is met by a fierce volley from the Irish-Alan was outnumbered so asked Paul for reinforcements,and was duly sent them!!

On the Allied right flank,I was tasked with holding the flank against Graham's French cavalry-we were evenly matched,so I would have to rely on my "superior" dice throwing(big groan!!)

In the centre Dave is advancing on the Bavarians,who,curiously,backed away-moral victory to us-hurrah!!

Dave's Prussians are holding the line,whilst the "English" are trying to out-flank the Bavarian line-in the background Brian is still fighting the Irish.................

Brian is beginning to get the upper hand in this shot,and the Irish are being pushed back,but Paul is looking tense!! as Alan points to a very important bush!!!

The cavalry battle is in full swing now-in the background to the right,I have captured Graham's battery,however it looks like I will lose my squadron,as the French cavalry are pounding down on me!

Paul is till looking tense!,the centre of the field is looking calm,but not so on both flanks!!-come on commanders,get stuck in!!

My "superior" dice throwing is obviously telling in this shot,that's why I am going backwards!!!

One of Dave's "English" regiments is involved in a fire-fight,which,it must be said, did not go well!!-but on the far left,Brian is still making headway against the Irish-a very small hurrah!!

Oh no,that small hurrah has just been turned into a large "BOO"-the Scots have been bounced!!-this is now looking desperate-can Dave turn this game around by beating the Bavarians??

Both centres open fire!(not before bloody time!),but Paul was throwing the dice that I should have been throwing!!-My cavalry battle is almost over,and Brian's Scots are suffering from a very bad case of "Sporran Mange",causing them to turn tail and head for home!!-is this is the end?

"YES"!!-with denuded flanks,the Allies accepted defeat with total gentlemany grace,and blamed the Scots!!!!

This was a good game,certainly different,with the Scots involved,and enjoyed by us all.

Roll on Thursday-probably 4 of us,but as yet I don't know what period.