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.

Warrior Testudo,update and finished formation.

This blog is a follow-on ,showing how the painting of the Warrior Miniatures Testudo progressed.Before I start I must say that I am a fast painter of figures,the "boys" in our group keep reminding me that "fast" is an anagram of "crap",however I try my best.
The shot below shows why I am a "fast" painter.(refer to anagram!) I thought I would include this shot of a Testudo I made about 15 years ago! Now that is crap!!

The photo below shows the figures at a "finishing stage", and just about ready to be put onto their movement base.

Getting there,I had no real problems with any of the painting,all parts were accessible, and detail good.Note the shields stuck onto card ready to be super-glued onto the sides of the figures.

A front view,showing the front rankers with two shields each,one overhead and one in front.

The finished article,stuck onto its movement base,each of my Ancient units are on two bases of 3" by 3",so that in line they take up a space of 6" by 3",so that is why I have based the testudo on that size base.I will eventually need 10 testudo,5 painted with red shields and 5 painted with blue shields.

In this photo you can see I have stuck some cork "rocks" and pieces of lichen onto the base,to cover some of the bare area.

Another shot of the completed testudo,the shields stuck to the sides,probably, could have been done better,but you learn as you go.I have already received another 5 testudo from Warrior ( you order one day and seem to get them the next! very good customer service ) so I will be painting them as "fast" as I can (refer to anagram!!)

I enjoyed painting the testudo,and now it remains to somehow write a scenario where they can be used.Well done to John Holt of Warrior.

Warrior Miniatures "testudo"

A few weeks ago I suggested to John Holt of Warrior Miniatures,in Glasgow,that he should produce a Roman Testudo,because the only decent one I'd seen was made of plastic and cost £25!
Imagine my surprise then, when a parcel arrived last Wednesday,and in it was a 24 man Roman Testudo !!
All othere projects were put on the back burner,and I set to work organising the figures and planning how to paint and base these lovely figures.The basic figure is a Roman Legionary holding his shield above his head,and holding a pilum.John supplies the testudo with 24 extra shields,so you can put some onto a strip for the sides of the formation.
This photo shows the initial undercoating job ( I always undercoat in white) Another view of the undercoated figures.

The photo below shows the front rankers with their shields stuck onto the hand holding the pilum,you can also see in this shot the Centurion which is also supplied with the testudo.At this point everything was going ahead just great-then disaster struck ,in the form of my cat! She decided to see what was going on and jumped up onto my table,figures,bases,glue etc. flew everywhere! ah well back to stage one!!

BAD PUSSY !!!

This shot shows the figs. plus the extra shields I have stuck onto card for the sides of the testudo.I was opting for a formation of 6 front rankers and 4 deep,however the final formation is going to be 8 front rankers and 3 deep,so more of my unit bases,which are 6" by 3",will be covered by the finished testudo,complete with Centurion,"rocks" and lichen.

This is obviously a view from above showing how it will eventually look.

Another frontal view, before I had made up my mind to have 8 figs. in the front rank.

Testudo placed on a base to see how much the finished formation will cover.

This shot shows how cleverly the figs. and shields fit together.

Whenever I get new figures, I always look at them and decide how "few" colours I can get away with when painting them,so I will only use 6 colours on the testudo;Brown,for back of shields,pila shaft,boots and sword scabbards.Flesh, for faces and arms and legs.Red, for tunics and front of shields.Gun Metal,for armour and helmets and pila.Gold,for shield trim and boss.Green for the bases.

Now all I have to do is start painting!!

The next blog will be more photo's as I progress to the finished article.

Napoleonic vs Dave.(glorious 12th!!)

Last night's game was a real brain teaser,with Dave acting as Ney and me acting the fool! Below you can see the scenario.I was in a strong defensive position,holding a ridge and farm in my centre and right,with a strong Prussian force on my left flank. This shows one of many attacks made by Dave on my centre ridge,Dave got very frustrated because he could make no headway,however his persistence paid off and eventually he did succeed in getting onto the ridge and behind my brave Austrian defenders.

This shot shows French columns " en echelon" attacking, note the "hesitant" cavalry in the background,waiting for an opportunity to pounce.Once the cavalry did get engaged,I won every melee,which is a first for me!!

This photo is taken from the French side of the board and shows Dave's massive attack on my centre,his intention was to drive a wedge between the Austrians and Prussians.This attack did succeed eventually,but Dave took his eye off the ball a couple of times and allowed me to make a couple of good tactical moves which unsettled him for a while(but not long enough!!)

This is the start of one of my "moments" note the Austrian lancers "lurking at the top of the ridge,Dave hadn't seen these and I charged them down onto a hapless regiment of infantry and destroyed them.

I just had to include this shot of the French inf. saying "au revoir"

Retribution!Dave launches an assault on my flank by a unit of Dragoons,so much for my "moment",instant morale check on my Lancers,hit in flank,no support,no colonel,no chance!! How do you say "au revoir" in Austrian?

Dave is pressing his attack home in the centre,he had massed his guns and managed to do alot of damage to both Austrians and Prussians.

This shows the French breakthrough on my ridge,Westphalian inf. supported by Hussars, break my inf. and drive the gunners off.This was the turning point in the game,I was forced to weaken my left flank in an attempt to stem the French incursion,which resulted in a couple of my Austrian inf. regiments deciding to home (good night sweet Vienna?)

It's all over now,look at the gaps in my line,ah well never mind there's always next week to look forward to.

This was agood game and as ever Dave proved an erstwhile opponent,what next I wonder?