Gallic Wars.played 26.4.12.

Thursday's game was a typical Roman vs Gauls affair with the Gauls defending their village against a Roman legion plus auxilliaries and light troops.Paul took the part of the Roman commander whilst I took the part of the Gallic commander.My left flank was made up entirely of Cavalry,my centre was positoioned on a ridge and my left was on a hill overlooking the village.Paul lined up with his aux. troops on his left,opposite the village and his centre was made up of his legion,and his right was composed of his cavalry.The photo below shows a scene of peace and tranquility in the Gallic village,who could possibly spoil such a scene? Bloody Romans thats who!! This shows my initial charge against the auxilliary inf,quite successful at first but they eventually got the best of me and forced me to retire towards the end of the game.

The Gallic light cav. charge against the Roman skirmish troops didn't quite work out the way I had intended,however it did give Paul something to think about and made him turn a couple of cohorts to block a possible gap appearing in his line.

This photo shows the Roman push against my central position,even being shot at by my archers the Primus cohort manages to gain the crest of the hill and force my warbands to retire back to the village.

Meanwhile on the Gallic left flank, a tremendous cavalry battle was taking place,Paul having to reinforce his cav. with a cohort of infantry,all to no effect however as the Gauls were triumphant in this sector,my only triumph as it happens !!

Paul's aux. infantry having mixed fortunes,however the Gauls had run out of steam, and were gradually being forced back towards their original starting positions on the hill,defending the village.

This shot shows the Gallic right flank retiring and the chariot units about to commit suicide by charging into a hail of pila and having,also, to retire.This move heralded the end of the game,and the Romans declared the winners,once again a tremendously exciting game,good and correct tactics employed by both sides,roll on the next one!

Battle of Romero 1808.played 22.04.12.

As John has carried the main burden of writing posts over the last few months (well he is retired after all!) I (Dave) have offered to write this one. The above and below photos show the scenario and map prepared by John for the game which was set in the Peninsula in 1808 and was based on the Battle of Vimero. Our ex-pat Michael had travelled down from Aberdeen and this game was put on in his honour and to allow him to field part of his beautiful Peninsula British army. Now before I go any further a description needs to be given of Michael and his meglomaniac tendencies! His British army is a 'work in progress' and currently consists of approximately 45 British and Portugese battalions plus cavalry and artillery. Graham has been responsible for painting most of these, although Michael supplements this with regular purchases on Ebay (at ridiculous prices!) and we now liken Grahams task to the painting of the Forth Bridge as Michael plans to have between 80 and 90 battalions eventually! On top of this Michael has decided he needs a completely new French and Allied army to fight his army but will keep it sensible with the French part ("just a couple of divisions"). At this point Grahams eyes glaze over and we have to give him brandy. Oh and I forgot to mention that Graham has already painted every single unit in the Saxon army circa 1812 for Michael, a small matter of 25 battalions and 8 (?) cavalry regiments. Now considering that we use units which have 24 figures in a battalion and 12 in a cavalry regiment, we are talking a lot of figures! Anyway enough of that and on to the game.

The game pitted Michael's British against my French (again all, bar a few, painted by Graham) and Michael was aided (?) by Paul and Graham, while I was ably assisted by John and Robin. The game was a fairly small one with the French attackers consisting of 15 battalions, 4 cavalry regiments and 4 batteries. Against them were 11 battalions, 4 cavalry and 3 batteries.

The photo above shows the battlefield looking east from the village of Romero to the central ridge and woods beyond.

This photo shows the initial deployment from the same viewpoint. On the right foreground the French are set up already attacking Romero hill and are in melee with the defenders. Graham commanded the British here against John commanding the French left.

A view of Johns 61st regiment attacking the British on Romero hill. Royal Horse Artillery supporting. John did amazingly well on this flank, capturing the Hill and sucking in reserves from the centre.

The French right flank column consisting of Neopolitans and French cavalry. I commanded these troops.

The British centre consisting of 7 battalions in two lines. The front Line was 4 battalions of the Kings German Legion and the second included Scots and a battalion of Guards. Unfortunately the second line was moved immediately to the right to counter my Neopolitans leaving the the ridge to be held by a 'thin red line'.

Johns attack on Romero hill. His artillery has just repulsed a charge by Grahams hussars but it was a close run thing. If the hussars had broken through things may have turned out rather differently!

The French centre advances towards the ridge, stopping long enough to volley Paul's battery which has just driven off my own atillery.

A view from the British left where Michael was in charge. In the background the KGL have been forced back from the ridge line in a number of places and Michael is in the process of shifting the Scots and Guards back to the centre to support them.

The far left flank of the British position and, after much procrastinating, the British dragoons charge the French Lancers of my right wing, only to be defeated and driven from the field!

A view of the central ridge at the end of the game. The French have driven the British back from most of it and the British left is about to collapse. The British commanders concede their position. Vive le France!

All in all a very enjoyable battle which 'felt right and looked right'. We cant wait for Michael to return with his British (we did offer to look after them for him but this was declined!) and hopefully next time he will field some Portugese and Rifles (he does of course have them).

Roman Auxilliaries first unit complete.

This is my first unit of Roman Auxilliaries from Lancashire Games,undercoated and ready to go. Work in progress,basic colours on and already taking shape.

Another shot of work in progress,in fact almost finished.

Below is a shot concentrating on the standard bearer,a beautifully sculpted figure,the whole unit is now complete an stuck onto its movement tray,I use 3"x3" hardboard for all my Ancient armies.

Final shot of completed unit,I just need to "flock" the bases,and they'll be on the board!

Dave has painted more of his Tipoo Sultan figs, and they are looking good,very colourful and superbly painted using his technique of black undercoating and block colouring,I will try and get some photo's of these figs,his collection is coming on nicely and we are all looking forward to them being on the board in the near future.

"Modern " Game SUnday 15.4.12.

Let me start this blog by saying I know very,very little about Modern warfare,so for me to have the temerity to put on a Modern type game and "knock up" a set of rules is outrageous!!Using the same terrain as for the last two games,with an added road buildings etc. I attempted this game,aided and abetted by Graham,Robin,Paul and Dave.
The rules are purely meant for a fast and exciting game and are not in any way supposed to reflect modern weapons effectiveness or ranges.All of the figures (54mm plastic) tanks and A.P.C. etc. were bought from the Pound Shop,the whole lot costing well under £10 !!And so to the game,the scenario is shown below,the Kakistani force was supposed to be invading Turdestan,but as it turned out the Kak. commanders,Graham and Robin, decided not to attack with any gusto but rather to defend!! This shot shows the original layout of the table with the Kakistanis

in column fanning out to attack and take both flank hills,the Turdestanis are defending the main ridge and the river crossing beside the bridge,and also in depth further back into the board.
This photo shows the Kak. commander directing operations from the safety of a rear position!

This was the highlight of the game,Dave's blowpipe knocking the Kak. helicopter out of the sky before it had even fired a shot in anger,Dave was happy,Graham was not!!

This is the Turdestani mortar crew opposite hill "A" which was occupied by Robin's troops,unfortunately the mortar was wiped out by accurate machine gun and inf. fire.

The photo below shows Graham's inf. about to occupy and dig in on hill "B",the sheep seemed to worry him and the troops didn't stay too long,being shot at by Dave's machine gun and inf.

This is the momentous occasion when Paul decided to join the battle having seen most of John's and Dave's troops and tanks battered to bits,however better late than never and it proved to be a wise move and possibly won the battle for the Turdestanis.

Where are Dave's troops? -DEAD!!!!!! Main ridge after bombardment by Kak. tanks and Infantry.

This is as far as the Kakistani forces managed to get,not even across the river! However I enjoyed the game,even if it was just to teach me that I really don't know anything about Modern Warfare.

Lancashire Games Celtic/British Cavalry.

I have been busy painting these Lancashire Games ancient cavalry figs to act as my Command Groups, for my Prince August range of ancient Britons.
I like to undercoat my figs. white and use block colours,mainly Games Workshop paints,expensive but what isn't these days ? My painting skills are still after 40 years of wargaming,basic to say the least,so I can't do shading etc. and just go in for bright colours. The shot above shows the shield patterns,the shields are already embossed and are quite easy to paint over and follow the patterns,Allan from Lancashire Games very kindly sent me some Standards in the pack and I have used them,basing two figs per base to represent my Warbands.

This photo shows the other side,not too interesting but bit shows the poses.

A bit of a closer shot,I really like these figs.they are big and "chunky" and easy to paint,the bases are now "flocked" and the figs put away ready to be brought out soon for their "maiden" game.

I got a note from John Holt of Warrior Miniatures in Glasgow, saying he views our Blog and likes the content,we really appreciate comments from everyone,good or bad! so keep the comments coming.

Lancashire Games Roman Auxilliary Figures.

Here are a couple of images of my latest aquisitions from Lancashire Games.I can not praise this company enough,the customer servive and speedy delivery are second to none,Allan is friendly and chatty and is a credit to his trade.These Roman Auxilliary figures arrived and,as is my way of doing things,I always fully paint one figure to see what they are going to look like,so as you can see one is fully painted and the other is a bare casting. I must admit I found the pose rather strange,with the spear being lifted in the air,but I'm warming to them.

This command group is superbly sculpted,with alot of fine detail,can't wait to get started on them.

Another close up shot of the figs.the embossed shields make even my style of painting look good!

I also have a pack of Celtic cavalry on the painting table,so I'll keep you posted on my progress with them.

The retreat from Moscow 1812

For Sunday's game we chose to use the same terrain as the "Roman Baggage Train" but adapted it to a French column retreating from Moscow, having to cross the river in the face of stiff opposition from a Russian force.Paul and Graham were the Russian commanders ,whilst John and Robin were the French commanders.The scenario and terrain notes are shown below,the objectives were very clear.the French had to cross the river,the Russians had to stop them!

This is an overall view of the table,showing the vast and sprawling French column approaching the river crossing,which was very well defended by Paul,initially,and then by Graham on move number 4 (he was positioned in the woods awaiting a messagge from Paul that the French were coming)

We covered the table with a white cloth to give a bit of atmosphere to the game,complete with snow covered treesand a couple of cottages.

This shows hill "C" and the defenders which consisted of a foot battery and 3 regiments of inf. as it happens they remained on their hill for the whole game and beat all of Robin's attempts to attack them.

These are the troops on hill "A" which,after a shot of cannister,retreated off the hill closely followed by French Hussars and inf.

This shot gives a good idea of the length and mix of the French column,Robin commanded the right and I commanded the centre and left. Another shot of the column,from behind this time,you can just pick out the "Little Fella" wearing a grey coat in the distance.

Robin has occupied hill"B" in the shot below and the centre of the col.is moving towards the river edge and bloody battle!

Graham has been informed that the French are near,and he is debouching his troops from the woods,he had command of 6inf. regiments(3 of which were Grenadiers) and 2 Heavy cav. regiments.

Robin's troops can be seen attacking hill"C" for the first of three attempts.unfortunately all attempts were unsuccessful but managed to keep alot of troops tied down which would otherwise have been free to attack my right flank.

I,unwisely, decided to attack Graham's heavy cav with my heavy cav. to give me a bit of room to manoeuvre my Guard and supporting inf.however the fortunes of war did not shine on me (I blame the dice!) and I was driven back,the melee swung backwards and forwards for three moves though.and I did manage to get some sort of firing line formed.

This shows Graham's firing line preparing to sweep all before it, although it never actually fired a shot !!It was an impressive formation and proved more than enough to stop the French.

The Russian cavalry are winning the melee in this shot,and pushing the Cuirassiers bak into their own troops and causing a bit of panic!!

The cuirassiers are retiring! The reserve battalions are broken by them,the attacks on the Russian held hill"C" have failed,what else could possibly go wrong????

Well, this shows the French "high water mark",no more progress could be made, and we decide to call it a night,everyone seemed to enjoy the game and of course there's always Thursday to look forward to.