Battle of Unter/Oberglau 18th century battle 27.3.13.

Before I write the report of the battle I had this morning against Brian,I would like to show 3 photo's of a Plug Bayonet,being sold on Thursday at the local Auction rooms.It is German made and dated around 1690,although there is an inscription on the scabbard of 1656.

The price is around the £300 mark-some lucky person will get a bit of real history.

Now to the battle we had this morning,the scenario was an Anglo- Danish force of 12 inf. 6 cav. and 3 guns,was attacking the twin villages of Unter and Ober glau,being held by a force of Irish and Bavarian troops,9 inf. 9 cav. and 2 guns.

The above shot shows the table lay-out,with the Danes and Irish to the right,you will notice a column of Danes about to cross the river and begin an attack on the village of Oberglau.

This shows the British contingent facing the Irish,on Brian's right flank,he opted for an all-out assault with these fine troops,but was "smote" mightily by the Irish.

This is my brave Irish troops,holding the Windmill hill,they had orders to "stand firm" and they did-all game!

Contact is made in the centre,if you look closely (not advised!) at Brian's face you can tell who got the better of this encounter! My Bavarians were superb,driving back all those who had the nerve to come up against them.Meanwhile Brian's column is making good progress in the background.

The British advance is beginning here,I have drawn one of my Irish regiments backwards to allow my cavalry to assault the gun pounding my troops,has Brian seen this crafty move??

I told Brian that I wouldn't include this very embarrassing photo,of him actually firing his gun at his own troops,however,for the sake of accuracy and fair play,I thought I would!!
On the left of the shot you can just see my cavalry starting their move to over-run the gun that was hitting my Irish,Too late did Brian see this move,and gun lost!!

Brian's British Grenadiers have been stopped in their tracks,by a combination of cannister and musket fire,however he persisted and sent another regiment up the hill,and they suffered the same fate!! Behind the windmill a cavalry battle is taking place,which Brian won on the first round and had me worried,because he could break my cav. and attack my rear.Brian was sending reinforcements to this flank,so it was a case of "will I hold out or not?"

Brian's gun about to be ridden down,and his Danish Grenadiers looking "fraught",his centre kept falling back,reforming and coming on again,good wargaming stuff,what's happening in the villages?

Well, the Danes have crossed the river,driven off my gun battery situated to the left of the house you can see in this shot,and are putting the defenders under alot of pressure,the cav. milling about in this shot have just beaten some Danish cavalry,and I am about to threaten the whole of Brian's central line,is this the end??

My Bavarians are blazing away at the Danes,my cavalry are threatening their flank,they have to break soon!

And they did! This was a thrilling game,Brian's plan was good,but attacking a solid enemy in a village proved just too much,with the British stalled,his centre gone,and the village still not captured, Brian waved a white flag !!
Roll on Thursday night,an Ancients game vs Paul,with Brian observing !!

Napoleonic game 24.3.13.San Juanita.

Last night's Napoleonic game was organised by Brian,and a damned good job he made of it too!
The scenario was simplistic,a French force of 9 regiments,had to capture the village of San Juanita,which was being defended by 6 British regiments-both sides had 1 gun battery which was moved at Brian's whim!!-no cavalry, however hidden in the "impassable" terrain on the British right flank was a band of "Guerillos"

The caption for this photo could be "spot the loonies competition" however it shows the opening moves,with the French vigorously attacking the village.Graham and Richard formed a father and son alliance against Paul and I who formed a sort of Steptoe and son alliance!! Graham advanced at a brisk pace with his 6 regiments,whilst Richard was a bit more tardy,advanced against my flank,did he know about the Guerillos ??

Is Brian bragging about the size of his willy in this shot ?? I think not.
As you can see the whole of our defensive line is being attacked here,Graham managed to get to the walls,and a melee took place-Paul winning!!,where's our gun battery Brian ??

The Guerillos make their appearance !! much to Richards surprise,they swooped out of their mountain lair ans smote the flank of one of his regiments,and inflicted a melee loss,however Richard threw a good dice and held them,my Guerillos,led by one "Lunatico" decided that they had done their bit and left the field!!

The French,under Graham, have pushed the 6th regiment back and have entered the village,in this shot,however paul counter-attacked and drove them back out,hurrah!!

This shows the furious attacks coming in from Graham's French,Paul has chased some of his trops away by well aimed cannister shots on the far flank-phew!! In the second picture Richard can still give a wry grin,even though he has just thrown the most atrocious run of dice throws ever recorded on a wargames table!! I was pleased,he was not. This was my "finest hour" and I counter-attacked with gusto,driving Richards troops back,even though I was outnumbered.

Paul is under alot of pressure on his flank,but kept his cool and pulled troops back,ready to find any "chink" in the French armour,a good bluff with his "no shots left " artillery had Graham worried,and stalled his attack for a move.

A good volley from Graham onto the flank of my 23rd foot forced them to retire for one move but I managed to reform them and am just waiting to return them to the fray in this shot,whilst still keeping up the pressure on Richard.Meanwhile in the village,Paul is fighting for his life,and still keeping the majority of the French from entering.

This shows Paul being photographed whilst photographing !!One of Graham's regiments has entered the village and is in the process of capturing the Church (which was the ultimate objective) however we doubted if he could actually escape intact from the village,and with most of the French in dire straits Paul and I were declared the winners.

This was a well  organised and balanced game from Brian or Big Willy as we call him now,well done and roll on Thursday,possible two games! It's great being retired !!

Russia 1812.Napoleonic game 21.3.13.

Last night we had another tremendous game,Paul, Brian and I,with Dave sitting in for a couple of hours as "observer"

The above photo shows the general scenario,Brian was told by me that on move number 4 a ship would appear in the harbour carrying 3 inf. regiments,as our reinforcements. (Brian was Ney,and I was Napoleon) However this was a big lie,because on move number 4 a ship would come into the harbour,but it would be carrying RUSSIAN troops! Paul,Kutuzov,was aware of this !! Oh how we laughed on move number 4 !!

This shows Brian's column,with some forward troops already in position ready to attack Kirskey,and in the background my Guards advancing onto the Russian left flank.

This is s shot of the main Russian defensive line,between Kirskey and Boldansk,a very hard nut to crack!!

The French attack begins,Brian was ordered to take the port as quickly as possible,whilst I attacked the flank with my Old Guard.

This is move number 4,the battle for Kirskey is in full swing,and the Guards have contacted the Russian Grenadiers,however the ship has arrived!!

In this shot my Cuirassiers have charged Paul's Hussars,mere boys on three legged ponies,what could go wrong? Well I was up against Paul's bloody dice throwing,that's what could,and did, go wrong!! I was beaten and driven back,exposing my flank,luckily my horse artillery was on hand to save the day.

Back at Kirskey,Brian has got into the port,been driven out of the port,and in this shot is trying to get back into the port.Brian was putting Paul's centre under considerable pressure,although he was being cannistered and shot along the whole line,this was thrilling stuff.

This shot is from the Russian side of the board,showing the fight for the port,and the centre,on the right of the picture you can see the troops leaving the ship.

Now we are in trouble!! With my Guards getting a damned good thrashing,and Brian having trouble getting into Kirskey,all we need is more Russian troops arriving!

Brian has got into the port again,but is facing the whole of the known world (and fresh troops too!) Paul's counter attack here was really well timed,and once again Brian was forced out!!

The Russians have landed and are making their way to the port,Brian,get out of there fast!!

The best move of the game is shown here! Brian ordered his Dragoons to charge a half-formed square,however as he charged he was hit by cannister,and it was a case of will he,won't he get in,morale was checked,he passed,and the square was history!! However the observant reader will have noticed a regiment of heavy Russian cavalry lurking on the dragoon's flank,this could only spell disaster !!

On the French right flank,the Guard is taking a good old beating and is on the verge of breaking,could this be the end ?

Brian's troops are in full retreat,my flank is gone,the Russian reinforcements are making their presence felt,is it time to say goodnight? I think so!

This was,by any standards, a great game,we all enjoyed it,although Brian will never trust me again after the "ship Incident" Roll on Sunday,another Napoleonic,organised by Brian.

Spartacus vs Crassus 72BC

Brian and I had an Ancients set-to this morning featuring an army led by Spartacus,including Gauls,Spaniards,Spearmen and Cavalry,against a Republican Roman army led by his Nemesis Crassus.

This is the very simple scenario,Brian was Spartacus (no I'm Spartacus!) and I was Crassus. The above photo shows the whole board and initial dispositions,Spartacus on the left,Crassus on the right.

These are the lakeside troops facing each other.Brian elected to send his troops across the lake,into the arms of my waiting velites,he got the worst of the eventual melees,and had to retire the way he had come,getting very wet in the process!!

First contact! Brian's Gauls and Spaniards have charged my Hastati,whose pila throws did alot of damage,however Brian's fighting points were high and he beat me in a couple of melees,throwing me back,however my morale was good and I managed to hold on until my Princepes were able to support me.

The Lakeside battle rages on,and on, and on,they must be wearing rubber sandles !!

My Princepes are making an impact now,but Brian has thrown in some of his spear-armed troops,to try and stop me.In the background,behind the rock and trees,a massive cavalry battle is going on,I seemed to be winning,two against one,but Brian kept reinforcing his cavalry,first with heavy cav,and then with some reserve Gallic cav,I was in danger of losing the flank!

Splish,Splash Brian's taking a bath!! All of his light inf. are retiring in the face of the triumphant Romans,this flank is mine!!

The centre is dead-locked,neither side can get an advantage,however after fighting for a long time,Brian's Gauls had had enough,and began to retire along the whole front,leaving his Spearmen alone to face a combination of Hastati and Princepes,the result was inevitable,and the centre was won for the Romans.

It was a bit of a different story on the left flank,Brian has piled his cavalry into mine,and now I am outnumbered two to one,and being forced to retire.
As I had won the lake flank and the centre I was declared the winner,but I doubt if I could have saved the centre from being charged in the flank,by Brian's cavalry eventually.

A good game,very enjoyable,roll on Thursday night,hopefully a Russian vs French Napoleonic game,against Paul.

French and Indian War. 17.3.13.

Last night I "rolled out" my Indians and Rangers to the rest of the "boys",after having play tested them with Brian last week,and I got mixed reactions to the project.
I had produced a scenario of an arrogant British officer getting himself besieged in a broken down fort by some hostile Indians,and the Rangers having to "rescue" him. I had set the game up to incorporate a couple of ambushes, but the boys didn't want to get into the spirit of the game,and avoided all the wooded areas like the plague!! Best laid plans etc. etc.!!
However as you can see from the following photo's the terrain looked good,and there was certainly plenty of action.

This is a general view down the table,showing the lake and fort,and various ambush spots.

This is the broken down fort housing the British infantry and their arrogant officer.

Indians surrounding the fort,at the start of the game,Brian and Graham were in charge of the Indians whilst Paul took charge of the Rangers,I was the arrogant officer in charge of the British!!

This,to me,was the highlight of the game,Paul is paddling a Ranger company down the lake,and Graham has spotted him and launched a war party at him. They both decided to fire their muskets at each other! Now I have never been in a canoe,and I have never fired a musket,but I would imagine that the "kick" from a musket would have some effect on the stability of the canoe,so I made a rule,that anyone firing from a canoe would have to throw a dice to see if the canoe capsized or not! Both sides threw the dice,and Graham's Indians decided to have a swim!! Great stuff (unless you are an Indian )

Paul is , cautiously, advancing towards some woods,whilst in the background the Indians are just about to capsize!

I have come out of the fort and attacked twice my number of Indians,not a good thing to do! I was beaten in the ensuing melee and pushed back into the fort,some Rangers are getting a bit close,so help is on its way.

Ah,Indians "lurking" in the woods !This is one of the ambushes that I set up,which was "sprung" by Paul,in the ensuing fight the Rangers got the better of the Indians.

Meanwhile,back at the fort!!

Help!!! However the Rangers did get to me just in time and they saved the day,and my bacon,the Indians were being beaten and "melting away" all over the table,so we called it a night.

On reflection I probably put too many open spaces on the board,and with the boys not being familiar with the period,they took the cautious approach to the game-can't win them all!!

We were due to put on a demonstration game at "Call To Muster" this weekend,but due to transport problems,we've had to cancel.I phoned Dave and Tom this morning and apologised,and wished them the best of luck with their show.