Slaughter of the "Innocents" 1896-Sudan

Brian and I had a "brutal" game last night,based on an Egyptian force holding a village(and with hardly any ammo.) being relieved by a British force moving over the desert and river.
The result of the game was a total wipe-out of the Dervish/Haddendowah force(unfortunately commanded by me!!!),as pictures paint a thousand words,I will give only a very small narrative,and leave the rest to the photographs to tell the sorry story-woe is me!!!

The Haddendowah(complete with VW-type emissions!) begin their ill-fated attack.

The Egyptians patiently await the Dervish attack-even with limited ammo. they put a brave resistance and "hammered" the Dervish!!!

The British are forming their firing line,whilst the Good Ship Venus,complete with artillery and two companies of Rifles(being towed in boats behind the ship) steams down the river,towards the Village.

The Haddendowah move ever closer to the British lines,shouting their famous war cry of "We hope Brian doesn't throw any fives" and their other war cry of "Oh hell they've got guns and things!!"

The "bouncing" Ansars are about to "bounce" off the Egyptian defenders!

The Haddendowah are getting up close,but there's not too many of them left-if only I can get into a melee situation,I might stand a chance!!(note the word IF!!)

Hurrah!!,I'm in-no I'm not,I'm out,then back in again,then out!(sounds like the Hokey bloody Cokey!!) the British were completely victorious,and my last hope was on the other flank,could my Ansars gain anything from this debacle??

The answer to that question was a resounding NO!!-Brian has sent his Lancers crashing into the rear of my attacking troops,and elected to ride through them,causing them to take a morale test,and then run away!!!

This shot shows the sorry state of the Haddendowah,and,having asked for a draw,and receiving a very rude reply from Brian,I had to concede defeat(but not dis-honour!)
This was,as usual for a Colonial game,an exciting and fast moving affair,showing the superiority of rifles compared to the "sharpened fruit" of the fast moving and brave indigenous troops.
Well, back to "Blighty" on Sunday,with an English Civil War game.

Battle of Ramillies 1706

Just some more photographs of the weekend show that we enjoyed hosting

I am really impressed by Mr Hudson's painting lately and these Maison Du Roi gentlemen are magnificent!

And finally these did not hit the cutting-room floor ...

Battle of Ramilles 1706.

Before I start this report,I would like to thank everyone who turned up for this game:-Charlie,Paul(K),Mel , Dave and Mike,John,Neil and Robbie,plus our "stalwarts"(with the emphasis on the "warts!!!"

We set the game up between 9 and 10,and then the other players arrived(to moans and groans about my map I had drawn for them-huh,I got there ok!!).I had picked the sides,trying to mix the clubs up,so everyone got to know each other,and picked Charlie to command the French and Robbie to command the Allies.

Both teams then drew up a battle plan,and away we went.

This shows the table before any movement-there were over 1300 figures on it and you could almost hear it "groan" under the weight!!

Trying to get all the players to take their allotted places was like trying to herd cats,but eventually we got started-is Charlie crying or laughing?

The game is now in full swing,Mike,in the foreground,commanding the "English" stuck to the battle plan,and bombarded the village of Autre Eglise,until he had driven the defending troops out,then marched over the stream and captured it-grand stuff!

Mike is across the stream in this shot,and his "laser-guided" artillery is making a mess of John's Bavarians and Walloons.In the centre Brian is attacking Ramilles,supported by Robbie's Danish infantry and cavalry-in the background the main cavalry contingents have made contact.

Mel is looking on as his cavalry charges into Paul(K)'s cavalry,neither side gaining a real advantage yet.Neil,who was charged with capturing the village of Taviers,defended by Dave's Swiss,is being pounded by Dave's gun battery off to the far left.

The cavalry action is hotting up now,and more and more squadrons are being "sucked" into the melee-Robbie launched his elite Danish Lifeguards into the fray,and captured a gun battery,and was then attacked from the flank and rear and lost them!!!!!!!

This photo is taken from behind Autre Eglise.John has dis-obeyed orders(chop his head off Charlie!)by abandoning the village of Offus, and is reinforcing his dwindling Bavarians in the village-this just gave Mike more targets!!!!-but look at the fire-fight going on in the centre-hells flames!!

John's Bavarians are coming under fire from Brian's muskets and artillery,there will be tears at bedtime!!-and there were!!John's command collapsed and his troops driven back-hurrah!!

This shows the action around Ramilles-Allan,who had been commanding the Irish in the village,had to leave early,so Graham took over his command and did a grand job too.

Mel looks worried,and so he should-Paul is gradually driving his cavalry back-Neil is now attacking Taviers village with a vengeance,although Dave,dis-obeying orders(chop his head off Charlie!) has come out of the village and is doing his best to discomfort him!

A general shot from behind Ramilles,showing the central positions still "hard pounding" each other-Brian looks quite aggressive,pointing his stick at Robbie!!-The battle was coming to an end now,and with the village of Autre Eglise in allied control,the allied cavalry driving the French cavalry back,and a stale-mate outside Taviers,the Allies looked to be the winners.

One final photo,showing most of the table-Robbie and his team did well,but Charlie and his team did equally as well-in fact well done to everyone.

We always knew that gaming with other club's rules,if you're not used to them,would be difficult,but no major incidents occurred,so we assumed that everyone enjoyed the day, and the game-perhaps we could organise another(?)

Battle of Badger's Farm 1644.

It's been a busy old week-I've been painting some dis-mounted Dragoons(E.C.W.),had a game at Charlie's club on Tuesday,final arrangements for Saturday's big game,and this game we had last night,in between going for a coffee at Graham's new house,D.I.Y, and gardening-how
 did I ever find time to work before I retired(I am retired now,I don't know if I've ,mentioned that before!).

The scenario,and objectives-Paul and Brian were the Parliamentarians,and I was the Royalists.

We're off!(Paul looks like he's Kung FU fighting!!). I was interested to see if Paul and Brian liked the re-basing of the armies,and I was keen to see if they looked and felt "right"-all was good!! In this shot the Royalist infantry on my right are advancing against Paul,and a fire-fight is developing nicely,as the cavalry advance against each other on the far right flank.

On my left,a cavalry battle is taking place-Brian's dragoons shot at my cavalry as I passed by the wooded hill,and the casualties he inflicted would tell as the cavalry melee progressed.

Back at the bridge,Brian's out-flanking force,led by Cuirassiers,is about to scatter my dragoons,however I have ordered two regiments of infantry to place themselves between the bridge and farm,to prevent the Parliamentarians from capturing it-hurrah!!

and,this is them doing just that!! My left flank(farm) is secure,but the cavalry battle is not going my way,and the centre is "crumbling" although I am making headway on my right.

This shows my right flank cavalry pushing Paul's back,but with everything else going "tits up" I had to declare my self the "not winner"(I hate using the word "loser")

A final shot of the table,with two slightly smug looking characters(you'll be sorry!!)
I was pleased with the way the game went and how the armies looked,more to follow,I'm sure.
We are looking forward to the game on Saturday,as are Charlie's and Robbie's clubs,so roll on Saturday.

A glimpse of things to come.E.C.W.

Having completed my re-basing and identification of my Civil War armies,I have taken a few photo's to let you see how they look.

I have set this game up for Thursday-the Royalists are on the left,and Parliamentarians on the right,in "Swedish" formation(like the Roman chequer board formation).The 18 regiments per side certainly look the part,and" biggish" games are anticipated.

"Badger's Farm" being defended by two Royalist regiments-each regiment is now 6 musketeers and 6 pikemen(don't tell him your name ,Pike!!) in strength,instead of 12 of each.

Right flank Parliamentarian horse-a grand sight(unless you're facing them!!)

The Royalist infantry,in line as per the "Dutch" fashion-easier to control and easier to train the men into this formation.

The Parliamentarian infantry in "Swedish" formation-a lot more complicated to use on the field of battle,and the rear regiments would often march forward and fill the gaps in the front line anyway!!!!

The Royalist "Gun Royale" backed up by Commanded Musketeers,and flanked by cavalry of the highest calibre.

Mounted and dis-mounted Dragoons oppose each other on the right flank of the King's army.
Hopefully,the game on Thursday will do the armies justice,so roll on Thursday!

Caesar's Conquest of Gaul 58BC

At the last minute,the" famous five" were reduced to the "fab four",who had another exciting and thoroughly entertaining Romans vs Gauls/Germans game.

The scenario with a shot of the table,before any movement.We drew lots and Brian and I were the Gauls and Germans whilst Graham and Paul were the Romans-all set for a cracking "set to"

Paul and Graham are surveying the Barbarian hordes,and trying to guess where we have "hidden" our cavalry!!
Brian had a decision to make on his right flank-did he hold his position or attack the Romans trying to cross the stream(and catching them at a dis-advantage of being disordered)-he chose the latter course and attacked!! This caught the Romans at the disadvantage and stopped their forward movement-get in there Brian!!!

The top photo shows the Gauls hurtling down the hill and into the Roman left,whilst the bottom photo shows the attack on the Cohorts attempting to cross the stream(why is Paul laughing?-this is serious!!) Brian was successful in both attacks,for the first melees,but began to suffer later,however his moves were good and held the Romans up-hurrah!!

On my flank(Germans) Graham is advancing cautiously,but has forced me to "expose" my hidden cavalry,and my Warbands have decided to follow Brian's lead and charge the Cohorts.
In the centre,the whole line is now engaged,with neither side gaining a real advantage-this looks the part-but what is Brian holding his head for?-could it be that he has placed his "hidden" cavalry on the board,so that they are not "hidden" any more(look behind the central trees!)

On my flank,Graham has been forced to reinforce his line with cohorts from his back line,but he is still being pushed back-hurrah!!

In the centre,the Romans are also getting a bit of a beating,but on the right the Gauls are falling back towards the village,hotly pursued by the Romans,however,you can just see in the right foreground,Brian is sending his cavalry over to that flank,to stabilize the situation.

The Roman line has pushed the Gauls back,and even with Brian's cavalry getting into two Cohorts,and beating them,our situation was getting worse.Brian had put one weak warband into the village,but it was attacked by one of Paul's cohorts and beaten-woe is us!!

The Romans are occupying the village,so objective has been achieved,and Paul and Graham were declared the winners!!-what a good game!
Roll on Thursday,probably my newly based English Civil War armies will be on the table.
The final arrangements have been made for next Saturday's huge game(Ramilles) featuring Robbie Roddis' group and Charlie Wesencraft's group and our group-looking forward to that,there should be about 14 of us turning up!!