Napoleonic game 6.9.12.

Last night we had a Napoleonic game,and were joined by Brian,who we met at Border Reiver show.I was in charge of a combined Anglo-Portuguese army,which was supported by a few units of Spanish on move number 3.Paul was General Delaborde,in charge of a French division,and Dave was General Masena,in charge of another French division.
The scenario had a few twists and turns attached to it,including limited shots for the gun batteries,poor morale status for the Poruguese and Westphalians,and a roving "Guerrilla" band!
The shot below shows Paul's first assault on my position on the Right flank,his infantry is being cannistered,however this didn't deter his attack too much. This is Paul assaulting the town (which was the whole objective of the game),he was driven back by my "raw" port. infantry.

This photo shows my right flank,just as Dave's horse artillery battery is giving my light dragoons a "whiff of grapeshot"-they didn't like it much, and took off into the blue,never to be seen again!!

This shot is taken from the French side of the board and shows the furious fire-fight on the British right flank.

Another shot showing the combined forces of Masena and Delaborde
shooting the hell out of my British and Portuguese,note Paul's infantry getting ready to attack the town.

Although Brian hadn't played our rules before,he bravely took command of the allies left flank,and this shot shows his advance onto the flank of the French attacking the town.

This shows my troops behind the town,being forced back by sheer weight of numbers,in the background you can see a regiment of Portuguese "retiring" from the town,luckily I had another regiment in place to stem the French tide.( for a while!!)

This is Brian's finest hour,his Spanish horse artillery battery is just about to open fire on a French (Swiss) square whilst his light dragoons have over-run a gun battery.

This is the END.French troops entering the town,after a furious melee,my right flank had collapsed and I had nothing left to fight with.Well done to Dave and Paul,for a good battle plan,and well done to Brian for not giving up hope while my battle plan unravelled before his eyes.

Again, a good solid game,everyone enjoyed the fight,roll on Sunday,we hope to see Brian again then.

Ceremonial burning of the "Dippert-stick" 2.9.12.

I apologise in advance for the following photographs,that only club members will appreciate.I burnt one of our measuring sticks ( called,in the club,"dipperty-sticks") this morning,whilst playing "Colonel Bogey" on my harmonica!!
The first photo shows the stick being prepared for sacrifice in my barbeque. This photo shows the stick,having just been lit!

This is the stick fully alight!!

Nearly done!!

Done and now destroyed forever,I will suggest to the rest of the members that we play for the "Ashes" once per year!!!!!!!!!!

Border Reiver Show.1.9.12.

Having just got back from the Border Reiver show at Gateshead Stadium,I thought I would give a little review of how the show went.
We put on an Ancients demonstration game (Romans vs Britons) which was well received judging by the number of people who stopped at our table for a chat.We got some good comments and were asked some interesting questions,about the figures,our rules,the way we play etc. etc.
The venue was very good,good lighting,lots of space,easy parking,the only "downer" was the lack of refreshments (although there was a mobile food van in the car park,which disappeared at 11.30 !!) The photo above shows the legions poised to attack.

Above are Allan and Dave cuddling!! This was before the game started and the venue opened.

This is a typical shot during the whole session,Graham is showing the Prince August figures and information to an interested gamer,we seemed to be talking during the whole of the day,which was good and showed alot of people that you don't need expensive rules and figures to have a good,free-flowing and interesting game.

This is an overall shot of our table with Dave explaing the "finer" points of the way we play.

This photo shows the game at about move number 6,the Legions and the Britons have "clashed",this attracted alot of interest,and gamers were actually coming from their own games to see what was happening.

This shot shows Dave contemplating his moves as his side of the board was the scene of my only victory! An interested gamer looks on and asks questions.

This photo was taken by Paul, just to show that I do exist !!I always seem to be behind the camera (looking at my face I can see why!!)

We all enjoyed the show and talking to so many interested people,not only other wargamers,but members of the non-wargaming community and traders.

A real let-down was that Prince August had "promised" to send me some "flyers" and marketing material,but they didn't!! I think this was a marketing opportunity missed,but hey what do I know?

Our thanks to Rob and all the other organisers for their great effort,we are looking forward to next year already!!

Marlburian game 26.8.12. John vs Graham and Paul.

We had a very interesting and exciting game last night,with Graham and Paul against me.The scenario,map and statistics are shown below.

The first couple of moves were spent manoevering our troops,me marching my Austrians towards the village,being closely followed by Graham,and Paul moving towards the Manor house.Both Graham na Paul commenced with a general bombardment of my positions,which did a little damage,but not as much as my artillery fire on their centre!!

This shot shows the Village which I occupied with one regiment of Austrians,posting the rest along the Stream banks.

This is Von Lidl's manor house and orchard, which was bravely defended by a veteran regiment of British infantry,for almost the whole of the game.

This shows Grahams "abortive" attack on the village beginning, my artillery was "poor" at long range,but made up for it when the French came within cannister range.

This photo shows the central positions of both armies,note the French cavalry starting to move forward to attack my Austrians.I counter attacked and was pushed back,we both reinforced the melee and I was eventually successful and Graham was pushed back.

After a long fire-fight against the Manor house,Paul decided that he would attempt to take it by storm,this resulted in four melee's against the walls,and eventually he did get in and captured the position,but not before he was given a "bloody nose".In the background you can see the British and French foot Guards blasting away at each other.

This is a shot of the Cavalry battle on my left flank,this was decisive,and led to the collapse of the Franco-Bavarian centre,as Graham's cavalry were beaten and I moved behind his central line of infantry!!

Ah this is what wargaming is all about,fun and laughter and jolly banter!!!!

Paul's French Picardie regiment occupying the Manor house,this caused me to have to move my whole centre back a bit as he was now on my flank.

The British have moved back in this shot,to a better position where I can get my two reserve regiments into the firing line,note the gap which has appeared in the French line,and the French cav. being pushed back,exposing the infantry.

This shot shows Paul's left flank cavalry being beaten,and having to retire through his Bavarian infantry,although he did have a reserve cav. unit ready to do me some damage!

Oh dear! the French centre has collapsed and Graham has decided that enough is enough, and has ordered his troops to retire (that,as every wargamer knows,is another way of saying "run away!!!)

This was a thoroughly enjoyable game,played in good spirit,and could have gone either way,as the two objectives were not taken by the Franco-Bavarians, I claimed a victory,however my Left Flank was in real jeopardy,and if I was a gentlemen, I would say a draw was a fairer result.

Roll on Saturday and Border Reiver at Gateshead stadium.

Testudo update.24.8.12.

I have just finished the second of my five Tetudos,and, having learned alot from making and painting the first one,it took about half the time to complete. I have painted the central mass of figures,crudely,even by my standards,because they can not be seen,I have also stuck the side shields onto thinner card than the first attempt,the result ,I think, is quite good. I have embellished the base with flock,lichen and some "rocks" and a couple of spears stuck into the ground.
This first photo shows the testudo stuck onto its base c/w embellishments,and the centurion being painted,ready to be stuck into position. This is just another shot from a different angle.

The photo below shows the finished article,the weight is substantial to say the least.

This,again, is the finished testudo from a different angle showing the lichen, rocks etc.

With only another three to go, I feel confident that I can get the testudos onto the board within a couple of weeks !!

Ancients battle vs Dave 23.8.12.

What else would there be to do on a rainy Thursday morning,but have a Wargame !!
Dave and I had this little "set-to" which was aprelude and practice for our big "demo" game at Border Reiver on Sept. 1st.
Dave opted for the Barbarians and I took command of the Romans.
Dave's left was made up of 3 units cav. and 6 warbands of the Catuvellauni,his centre was made up of 6 warbands of the Trinovantes,aided by 3 chariot units,and his left was 6 warbands of the Iceni tribe.
My left was a single,but elite unit of guard cav. whilst my centre was the legion,my right was made up of 3 cav. units,1 catapult unit and 3 auxilliary inf. units.
the shot below shows an all out attack on my centre and left,however Dave's troops were not up to standard and I managed to win the ensuing melee,for a while!! Dave's cavalry and left flank infantry are just starting to move against my well placed cav, and catapult in this photo.My aux.inf are just to the right of the shot,guarding a stream crossing.( the crossing was not forthcoming so my troops looked a bit foolish!)

The agressive Romans mounting an attack on the Barbarian centre,my forward movement caused a gap in my line and Dave's chariots spotted an opportunity to attack my exposed flank!!

This is the cavalry melee in full swing,with my aux. inf moving in to support the Roman cav.This was a good move but too late to save the cav. from being anhialated.

Auxilliary infantry mixing it with wild savage tribesmen,I did ok in the melee,well I had to win something!

This shot shows Dave's audacious move with a chariot unit,he charged the unfortunate cohort (number 8) which, after checking morale for being charged,decided it did not want to fight chariots,and promptly ran away!

Bring back decimation,thats what I say.

The fight in the centre went on for three moves,and I felt confident that the legion would prevail,however,as happens in most of the games I play,my confidence was not transferred to my troops,and a cohort gave way in the centre of my line,and left this hideous gap!!

This final photo shows the gap from the Barbarian side of the board,Dave had enough reserve troops to exploit the gap, and the game was called to a halt,and the Romans suffered yet another defeat in my capable hands.

This was an enjoyable game, and proves that a handy reserve or second line is essential,will I ever learn? Ah well roll on Sunday,Paul and Graham should be available,having completed their holidays.

Marlburian game vs Graham 19.8.12.

Last night's game was a bit of a "rushed" affair,Graham phoned me and asked if I could put on a game,because he was suffering from withdrawal symptoms,having been on his "hollies". I quickly threw some terrain and figures onto the board,and the resulting game was good!!
The game hinged on two villages facing each other and defended by Irish troops on Graham's side and Spanish on my side.The two villages were cut off from the rest of the board by a stream which could only be crossed by bridges.This posed a problem for me as I had a regiment of cavalry on my side of the stream,which I badly needed on the other side of the stream! As it happened I advanced my inf. against the Irish and managed to hold them off long enough to get my cav. over the bridge and win a tremendous victory over Graham's cav, and gun battery situated there,however,things did not go too well on the other side of the board!!
Below is a shot of my inf, with the cav. crossing the bridge unopposed. This is my right flank,where Graham had managed to get three cav. units against my two,the result was inevitable!!

This photo shows the cav. clash,in the background you can see a gun battery firing away at my line,this "bloody" gun never missed and did terrible damage to my line of brave Spanish inf.

This is on my left flank, and shows my cav. massing for an assault on the Bavarian cav. and gun battery.

This shot is of my centre firing line,with that "bloody" gun still hitting my troops,when morale was called for my troops had had enough and decided to head back to Barcelona

This is a shot of the Bavarian centre,pounding my poor troops into submission.

This was an enjoyable game,if only to see Graham win a cavalry melee!! ( he usually is unlucky with cavalry).Roll on next week.

I got an "e" mail off Rob of Border Reiver yesterday, confirming set up times,opening and closing times for the show at Gateshead on 1st September,we are looking forward to that.I also received a letter from Tom and Dave who used to put on the Stockton show, saying they were now back in the frame and did we want to put on a game at their new show,in Middlesbrough in March 2013.Good news and good that another show will be held in the North East.