Egyptians vs Made up Army!!

Last night saw Brian,Paul and I somewhere in the fertile Nile plain!!
I had set a game up for Brian to test his competence using his Egyptian army(with a massive influx of archers!) against a mainly infantry force albeit with some "hidden" heavy chariots!
Paul commanded the Numidians and chariots,whilst I commanded an Illyrian force-very strange combination but it worked and Brian had his work cut out!!

This shows Brian's left flank advancing towards Paul's Troops-the chariots are hidden in the town.Paul's plan was to lure the Egyptians towards the town then let loose his heavy chariots-hurrah!!

This shot shows the overall picture after 4 moves-my infantry have advanced and driven Brian's light troops back,but he is busy sending his Heavy infantry in against me-I had hoped to lure Brian's right flank chariots into a trap involving light cav.horse archers and some peltast-types-however Brian has learned from the last two games and was having none of it!!

Action!! a grand melee ensued,which saw first Brian,and the me being successful in turns-however Brian did eventually win and pushed all of my troops back,and won the flank and centre..........
However on Paul's flank things did not go Brian's way!!

Paul's clever use of a combined infantry and chariot force has pushed Brian back and Paul is actually heading for the Pharoah himself!! Paul also tried to take some of the pressure off me by sending a chariot unit to support my "fleeing" infantry-what a nice chap!!

Brian is in real trouble here-Paul's troops are all over him like a rash!!- the chariot unit in the foreground is trying to help me out,but,as usual, I was beyond help!!

The final shot,Paul is pushing all before him,and I am running like hell!!woe is me,Paul is looking as though Brian has asked him for a draw-he wouldn't would he? YES was the reply,he did ask for a draw!!-the nerve of the man.has he no shame?-NO was the reply,he hasn't,but we conceded a draw was a good enough result.
This was an interesting game which threw up some tactical questions,but Brian is obviously getting to know how to fight his army-roll on the day that he fights a proper enemy ie Hittites(Dave??)

Roll on Sunday,I will be rolling my "El Cid" armies out for a battle,so should be colourful and exciting,we are hoping for a team of 5 on Sunday if Richard's shift patterns allow,and Graham has got over moving house!!

"All along the Watchtowers" Rome vs Germans and Dacians.

Last night saw the three amigos,Brian,Paul and I fight an absolute "cracker" of a game,featuring Dacians,Germans and Romans.

This is the scenario,Brian commanded the Marcomani,I commanded the Dacians,whilst Paul had the tremendous task of commanding the Romans by himself.

Brian's German tribesmen start their ill-fated advance,with Paul just getting his "Blue" legion into position-Brian had opted for an all-out assault over the river,and against the Fort/Watchtower.

Here are my Dacians doing the same as Brian's troops-I had to get over the river/lake and attack as soon as possible,it was slow going @ half speed!! In the background you can see Paul's "Red" legion coming to stop me!!

The magnificent Romans swing into position in the background whilst the "Red" legion advances to stop me from "landing" on the shore of the lake.Both watchtowers were armed with catapults or bolt-throwers,and these did a bit of damage before either Brian or I got anywhere near our objectives!!

My assault begins-the wet footed Dacians have eventually made it to land,and attack the watchtower,whilst my other troops are still wading forward,hoping to land before Paul's legion can form up!!

Melee,and success-hurrah!! I was all over Paul's troops like a Primark suit,and actually occupied the fort for a while.My cavalry(Sarmatians) have contacted the legion,but with disastrous results!!
Paul's legion is lining up ready to charge my troops emerging from the lake.I wonder how Brian is faring??

In the face of Brian's advance,Paul has retired his legion-but to what sneaky purpose? I hope Brian has noticed that unit of heavy cavalry moving onto his flank/rear!! Brian is also attacking the watchtower,and moving his own cavalry over to his right,where Paul is amassing his cavalry.

Disaster!! Paul's cavalry are running amok in Brian's rear,and his legion is now winning melees galore along his front.Combine that little fact with Brian's troops being sent packing from the assault on the watchtower,and it looks like the Romans are winning-however,on my flank of the battlefield..........

Through sheer weight of numbers,and not much tactical skill,I have managed to push the "Red" legion back and gain a foot-hold on the shore-another hurrah!! In the background Brian's cavalry,who took on twice his own number and beat them, is retiring,as is his whole army!!
Brian called for one of his famous "Draws" at this point,and we all agreed that this would be the fairest result.
Another great game,roll on Thursday night-Egyptian vs yet another "made-up" army to test Brian's mettle!!

Egyptians vs Syrians(?)and "El Cid" armies preview

Yesterday,Brian and I had a good game in the morning,and at night I "rolled" out my newly completed "El Cid" Spanish and Moorish armies.
Brian is getting a real handle on his Egyptians,and I put up a sort of Syrian army against him so he can get used to using the different elements of his spectacular army.

Both armies ready to go,Syrians on the left,and Brian completing his battle plan.

First move,and my chariots and horse archers move to the flanks,hoping to "goad" Brian into charging me and instigating a melee-it worked!!

The chariots have clashed,and the first lines are moving forward-Brian sacrificed his mobility and fire power for the "glory" of the charge,however in the post match analysis he realised that this was a mistake,and probably won't do it gain-that means I'll have to come up with another tactic!!

In this shot,my outflanking manoeuvre,and combined chariot charge are just coming to fruition,however my first line of infantry are being mangled by the Egyptians!!

At last,my Syrians are beating the Egyptians,but only just!! On the last move Brian's line crumbled,and I had won both flanks-but at a cost!! The Syrians had won the day,but I find the Egyptian army a very tricky one to fight,and look forward to many more encounters-I do believe that Brian has got his hands on a "boatload" of archers-oh dear!!
I enjoyed the game and Brian is certainly learning how to get the best out of the varied troop types in his army.

Now for something different-it has taken 4 months of intensive painting,and has 650 figures in it-my Spanish and Moorish armies of 11th Century Spain-"EL CID"

The whole lot!-Moors on the left,Spanish on the right-all figures from Warrior Miniatures "El Cid" range.

I knew those Priests would come in handy for something!!-match stick cross looks,well,like a match stick cross!!!!!

This is a shot of the Moor's camp and some of the colourful cavalry posted on their left flank,and of course the Black Guard of Ben Yussef.

This shows the other flank cavalry,and some light troops-there are 10 cavalry units,6 light units of infantry and 10 units of heavy infantry per side,plus command groups!!

The Spanish left hand cavalry,and supporting light infantry-all of the banners and flags were free downloads from Grimsby Wargamer's web site-very useful and colourful.

The Moorish infantry-I had fun painting these,my imagination ran riot with the colours and banners.

The Spanish infantry-what a line,again I went to town with the colours and flags-great figures and easy to paint-which for me is a definite plus!!

The Spanish right flank cavalry!

And finally,the Black Guard in all it's glory,archers,cavalry and infantry.
I'm looking forward to gaming with these,and we are putting on a demo game at Call To Muster in Middlesbrough in March-should be good.

18th Century "Cock Up"

As an avid Scenario writer,it is inevitable that sometimes I will get things wrong,and last night was one of those times!!-I managed to completely misinterpret my own thoughts,and gave an impossible task to one side to accomplish.
Dave,Richard and I were to attack two redoubts,held by Paul and Brian,but the British contingent(Richard) was shot to hell before he even got close-sorry boys!

This shows Richard's first attack being "mangled" as he came out of the woods,and had to form up before he could advance-this was my big mistake,in the scenario writing-I am marching my Austrians to protect his left,whilst Dave was protecting his right.

This photo shows Paul's good position in the redoubt-his troops,however, were very "poor" quality,which should have given the British a good chance of getting in!!

The British are in dis-array,Dave is sending his troops to support,and Brian is looking "glum"-a Google poll has proved that he is the most photographed person on the Web!!

British second attack going in,with superb support from Dave-Brian(the most photographed person on the Web) is still looking "glum"

It's my turn to try and attack the damned redoubt,with my Austrians-they too "bounced" although I am making a bit of progress around the flank,meanwhile,over on the far right,Brian and Dave are getting stuck in.

The last shot of this game-we did manage to get a foot-hold in the redoubt,and Dave's Prussians are making slow progress,but in the end we had to admit defeat.Who's that looking glum?
No more to be said!!
Roll on Thursday-I have issued a sort of "challenge" to Brian,who will be using his Egyptians against an army that I have in mind,should be good,Thursdays always are.

Damned Colonials and Punic Treachery.

What a wargaming week I've had so far-I was invited down to Charlie Wesencraft's house on Tuesday for an American War of Independence game,and last night Brian and I fought Paul in a Roman vs Carthaginian game.

This shows Dave,Charlie and Phil planning the British defeat!-Mel is out of picture to the left.

Ron is contemplating his opening move,whilst Mike(to Ron's right) and myself have already decided what to do-great plan,however it was not to be the British victory that we rightly deserved!!

This shows Ron's fine attack about to go in against the redoubts-it failed and Ron was killed!! however it looked good!!-many thanks to Charlie,Ron,Mike,Phil,Dave and Mel for making me feel welcome,and guiding me through their rules.


And now for last night's epic battle.

WOW!! battle in full swing,Brian guarding the left of the Roman army(and getting ambushed from the wooded hill!!)and my Hastati moving forward to take on Paul's front line troops-mainly Gauls and Spaniards-look at the column of Elephants emerging from the Carthaginian camp!!

Brian's cavalry are in full flight in this shot-however they are running away(sorry,I mean retiring) whilst the bloody Elephants are getting closer!!

Paul has unleashed his Elephants,luckily against Brian and not me!!-these beasts proved not to be too reliable,and after initial success,were driven back and caused a lot of confusion to the Carthaginian heavy cavalry-hurrah!!

The final throes!! My Princepes have charged into Paul's second line and have "bounced"-yet another defeat,but there's always another day!!
This was a large and epic game,and Paul was a worthy winner-even Brian couldn't have called for a draw!!
Dave turned up,just in time for coffee and biscuits(funny how he timed that to perfection!!) and brought some of his recently painted Tippoo Sultan figures-wonderful,that's all I can say about them-wonderful.Paul has also been busy painting his long awaited 7YW Austrians,they look tremendous-he says they will be ready within the next couple of weeks for a small,but welcome, game-looking forward to that.

roll on Sunday,probably put on the game I had at Charlie's house,but using Marlburian figures.

Sailing Ships

What is it about Sailing Ships that makes everyone want to say"Arr Jim Lad" and crack jokes about Roger the Cabin Boy??

Well on Sunday gone(I've been having trouble with my computer,hence the delay to this blog) we had a game using my Sailing Ships (Arr Jim Lad-there I go again!!) rules and my large scale ships.

If nothing else we had a good laugh,but very little nautical skill was used!!-How did three ships manage to "crash" into each other,on an open ocean-which I must point out was very GREEN on Sunday,and how did Brian manage to sail off the edge of the world,not once,but twice!!!

Any way,here are some photographs......

All action,in this shot,all 6 ships blasting away at each other-I told you the sea was particularly GREEN that day!!

The French first rater is taken one in the rear (OOH ER!!) in this shot.

Everyone got involved in the two games we had,this shot shows Richard and Brian having a go!!

We even had a "boarding" taking place!!

To show that we take our games very seriously,I will show one last photo...........

OMG!!-eat your heart out Captain Sparrow-scary or what??

Roll on Thursday-Ancients with Paul and Brian.

Egyptians vs Persindians

Last night Brian ,Paul and I gave Brian's new Egyptian army a "run out".I knocked up a Persian/Indian force to face him,so we could work out how to operate the, new to us,troop types,and it worked out a treat!!

Brian's Egyptians,in all their glory,fast moving chariots shooting arrows by the thousand,backed up with archers and slingers,who,in turn, are backed up by good infantry!! This is going to be tough!!

The Persindians!!I tried to match the troop types as best as I could-well if nothing else it looked good!

After the chariots have clashed on Brian's right flank,the centres clash,my troops were light and I took a bit of a thrashing,but held on for three moves-hurrah!! On Brian's left, his chariots are fast approaching mine,but I have a cunning plan,and stand still until I can see an insecure flank.On my left,I have placed my best chariots,in the hope that I can attack his command figure,who is surrounded by "Sea People " Guards-good plan,will it work??

Having held Brian's lighter chariots,my "yellow" chariot unit begins its sneaky move to get the Pharoah!!

On my other flank,things are not going according to plan(do they ever?) and my chariots are being subjected to archery and javelin fire,and were eventually driven off the board!!

GOTCHA!!! however my yellow chariot was so weakened by Brian's chariots and skirmishers,that I "bounced" off the Sea People Guard unit,and was sent packing back to the safety and support of my other chariots-not hurrah!!

With Brian piling more troops into the central battle,and having out-flanked,me on my right,and driven my remaining left flank chariots away,he was declared the winner!!
This was an extremely exciting and interesting battle,and a damned good first try for the Egyptian army-Brian is now thinking that maybe he should increase the size of the army to accomodate some mercenary types!!-does he ever stop???

Good game and well done to Paul who volunteerd to referee and give advice and ideas to both of us-great input.
Well roll on the next game with this lovely army,and roll on Sunday-Sailing Ships!!-by way of a coincidence,Wargames Illustrated,this month,features a Sailing Ships game using HUGE ships,just like we are using on Sunday,and the rules they are using look very similar to mine.
Miniature Wargames is also worth a look this month too,it features a good interview with our good mate Charlie Wesencraft.