Paul and I managed to snatch Victory from the jaws of Defeat last night in a thrilling 14 move Roman Civil War game,against Graham and Brian.
This is the scenario,Paul and I were the blue legion of Arsolius,whilst Graham and Brian were the red legion of Ludicrus.
This is how the table looked before any movement,the "testudos" could advance towards the walls without being shot at,could then form line and fight!!-a huge bonus to the reds,which they utilised to the full!!
Brian's flank starts to move towards my flank-I had "fixed" the fighting points of the attackers so that they had a very good chance of beating the wall defenders,but of course they then had to face fresh troops behind.
This is move number 3 of a 14 move(!) game,and all along the line the reds are attacking-could we hold out?-it was nip and tuck!!
Hell's Flames!! they are in,albeit just a couple of cohorts,but Paul and I had to now use our reserves,and Graham is "pressing" our left flank with a combination of cavalry and archers.
Paul is "firefighting" and rushing reinforcements to his left,as Graham is looking grim(so what's new?)-look at the reserve cohorts that the reds have!!!!(note: dead figures-more of them later)
Hurrah!! on my flank,Brian has been ejaculated!!! and is retiring(it's good being retired) to lick his wounds.However in the centre his Auxiliaries are doing grand work and have broken Paul's Auxiliaries-help!!! Graham looks distressed,or is he straining????
Paul is now under a lot of pressure,but has a cunning plan-Graham has failed to attack our far left flank,which has allowed Paul to get his cavalry to turn and will eventually charge Graham's disordered cohorts-another hurrah!!!
Brian's heroic attack against my weakened defenders has driven one cohort away from the wall,but as he climbed over,a well aimed shot from my bowmen,saw him take morale and flee!!-only another 4 cohorts to deal with!!!
In the centre,it looks like "Red Square"-luckily Paul's cavalry(just out of shot) are about to charge,and re-take the position-phew!!
Move number 12,and all along the line the weakened Red Cohorts are reeling from our onslaught-you can see that we are holding Grahams combination of cavalry and archers with just one cohort,in the gap,on our far left flank.
Brave little fellows!!-is it all over?-YES it is......................
One last push saw Brian's cohorts collapse,and the game was won,but not before casualties had been inflicted on the blue defenders..................
Oh dear! it's going to take more than an Elastoplast and a good doctor to fix him up!!!!
This was a tremendous game,thrilling and tense from the start,with both sides standing a good chance of winning-great stuff!!
As far as the "casualties" are concerned,I have been painting them up since I got them from Lancashire Games-here are a few shots.............
A couple of shots showing the figures painted and put on their bases,bought from York,just needing "flocking".
Flocked and ready to die for the Empire!!!!
All of the cohorts in the game were Prince August (cast your own) figures,whilst the cavalry and archers were Lancashire Games,as were the Red Auxiliaries,and of course the Testudos were from Warrior Miniatures.
Roll on Sunday, an English Civil War game,possibly fighting over the same terrain(??)
Paul,Dave,Brian and I visited the York show today,and having successfully returned,and been fed and watered,a full show report follows.
I don't think that this year had more visitors than previous years,mainly because I found I could walk around fairly unhindered by crowds of wargamers eager to spend their cash!As usual the "door staff" were friendly and helpful,and there was no queue to get in,the stands were full of "goodies" and well stocked of almost anything we gamers wanted/needed,and so the spending frenzy began!!!
No queues!-because Brian and Paul looked so incredibly young they were asked for I.D. to prove they were over 60(and hence eligible to get in for free!) but I wasn't!!!
A couple of shots of the traders,and you can see how much space there is-still the traders were doing a roaring trade!!
There were some great looking games and manned by people who actually wanted to talk about their game and the hobby in general,which I found very refreshing-a couple of more good games...........................
Two superb games,top is the Alamo,and bottom is what I considered to be the best looking game at the show,put on by the South London boys,a battle of the South American war of Independence .
There were also a good many Participation games,with both young and old encouraged to take part.
There were also the competition games-I personally think that these "Wargamers" should be taken outside and flogged!!-the state of their tables was a disgrace and did nothing for raising the profile of Wargaming................................
Agree or dis-agree??
Each to his own,but fecking snowmen? fecking hell!!
There was also a Bring and Buy section featuring all kinds of friendly characters,as you can see!-This particular seller was called Knobbie Roddis,I think,and is telling me he wants an extra £2 for some Gun Emplacements that I bought from him!!!
And so to the catering,which as usual was up to a very high standard,with lots of choices and very ample portions at reasonable prices.........................
Even Wayne,of Wargames Illustrated,had time to eat!!-maybe could have stopped eating to serve this guy though!!!!-sorry Wayne,see you at Falkirk.
The venue entrance-devoid of people-a great location,and a great day out.
Back home and all my purchases-paint brush,bases and gun emplacements.
One last photo,could the owner of this big,baldy head please send me money or it will go "viral".
A clue: runs a small wargames group called Independent Wargames group!!!!
Brian,Graham and I had a little "knock-a-bout" game last night with the plastic tanks,testing a couple of new rules for my "Solo" games,so didn't take any photo's,but had a good laugh and general discuss of wargaming,York,politics etc.etc.
My Roman Casualty figures have taken a bit of a back seat lately,due to D.I.Y. shelf making!!
However I have finished half of them and the four Roman Generals I bought from Lancashire games a couple of weeks ago.
This is the first lot ready to be under-coated-I have added "gruesome" spears and swords for effect!! I was a bit disappointed at the figures,mainly because there were so many "Eagle-Bearers,and the Legionaries were all standing up!! however I chopped the bases off and bent the figures to the poses I wanted,and when based properly they will look okay(?)
Almost complete,just a brown wash,and they will be ready to base,probably in two's with maybe a couple of singles!
The Roman Generals! I will take further photo's when they are "flocked " and based and have had their flesh added.
One final photo,taken from one of the thousands of catalogues my wife gets,this one is from a company called Danbury Mint,and purports to be a sculpture of Achilles-the purists out there will no doubt spot a couple(or more?) glaring errors,but I suppose it doesn't matter,it only costs £100!!!
Buoyed up with enthusiasm for my new Middle Eastern Town,I took myself off into the garage,armed with my camera,and the following was the result!!
Moorish/El Cid types.
Egyptian colonial types...................
Ancient Egyptian types.....................
Ubiquitous Roman types!.......................
British colonial types.......................
Western Desert tank types!!....................
Eastern Women-folk in camp types!......................
Embellishments,Temple/Mosque types............................
Embellishments,Church types,..........................
Embellishments,Plastic Duck types!!-courtesy of the wife-Ha Bloody Ha!!
Apart from the hilarious last use for this Town,I can see it being used for quite a few scenarios and covering a multitude of Periods.
"I don't suppose you want this" screeched the wife!!-bloody sacrilege,of course I want it-it may only look like cardboard packaging to "normal" people,but to a skinflint wargamer like me,it is a Middle Eastern town or village,if you apply a little imagination and a lot of black felt-tip pen!!...........................
It's only cardboard packaging!!-oh no it's not,turn it upside down and see.................
Black felt tip pen has done it's magic,and all of a sudden I have a gateway,and a semblance of a town!!
Working round the "Town" I have added "windows" and "doors"-clever or what??(possibly "what!!")
How on earth could anyone even consider throwing this out?
Look out for this little" masterpiece" appearing in the next hundred games we have!!!
Last night,my aim was to galvanise the group into thinking about the rules they are going to use once they get their WW2 figures and tanks painted and on the board.
To this end I visited the local "Pound Shop"(I spend so much time and money there that the manager has put me on his Xmas card list!!) and invested £10 of my pension(I'm retired you know) buying 20 tanks,plus 1.5 million infantry figures and helicopters,barbed wire,sand bags,signs etc. etc.!! to try and get the "lads" to organise movement rates and ranges for various types of tanks,ie Light,Medium and Heavy.
This is the terrain I set up,with 10 tanks either side of the board,with hills and buildings,plus a river and bridge,in between them.Each side had 2 brown tanks to act as lights,2 grey tanks to act as heavies,and 6 green tanks to act as mediums.
Cute little models(I tried to identify them through my "Tanks of WW2 book" but couldn't!)
Brown,or "light Tank".
I put these identification numbers on the back of each tank,for easy recognition.
Dave had "knocked up" a set of basic rules,and it was decided to try them-these seemed to work out ok,except that the movement and ranges had to be adjusted as we went along,but that was what the night was about.
We're off!!-I had envisaged a "proper" game using the info we had as a club (me excepted,my knowledge is very limited!) but it evolved into a series of "What if" type scenarios,which is good,but limited I thought,still, the rules were beginning to take shape.
Everyone had a say,and took part in the various "mock-up" scenarios-here Graham is moving a squadron of tanks towards Brian's squadron,who are moving behind some trees,whilst Dave is moving his "Heavies" to fire on the flank of Graham!!!-Paul is looking very relaxed and cool!!
Measuring ranges,using our "normal" measuring sticks-working on the theory that "if it ain't broken don't fix it!!-Dave's rules worked on a percentage chance of hitting the intended target,followed by a percentage chance of delivering a knock-out blow,if you did hit,taking into account the type of tank and thickness of armour in front,side and back!!-all very complicated to me,but made perfect sense to the rest of the lads!
Dave is pointing out that the three different tank types had different size guns,and 37mm and 2lb, guns were mentioned,at which point I "blanked"-I'm still working in pounds,shillings and pence!!!-however I'm sure that given time and a few more practice games,everything will work out fine.In a couple of weeks,Graham is going to bring some of his tanks and infantry etc. and Dave is going to get a few copies of his rules,and we'll have another "bash" at this very interesting and involved period.
