Marlburian Game 28.7.13.

Last night saw Graham,Paul,Brian and I have a "cracking" game,based on a French attack against a village and open ground defended by an Allied Army.

This is the table set up with Graham defending the village on the right of the stream,with a British contingent,and being attacked by Brian and his Bavarians,in the centre,Paul is facing me with a large French force,supported on the far left flank with some Irish troops,my Austrians are facing the Irish,and a combination of Prussian and Dutch troops completes my dispositions.

The Austrians and Irish are moving forward to deny each other this important flank,whilst the Allied centre moves slowly forward supported by a gun battery.Brian is locked in thought!!

The attack on the village is in full swing here,Graham is forming a defensive line,allowing as manu muskets to bear as possible,and preparing to fire cannister at whatever comes over the stream.Brian attacked in grand style,but could make no head way into the village for all of the game,however his troops did manage to hget over the stream and attack the main British line.

This shows the village under attack,Graham has pulled back slightly so his flank is protected.Even though the British regiment defending the village was shot to bits,it remained steadfast and would not retire.

My front line is advancing here,and putting Paul under considerable pressure,he had decided to march his second line of infantry off to help Brian's Bavarians,as I made my attack,and swiftly had to change his orders.On the right of this photo my Austrians are being "checked" by a combination of cannister and muskets!!

The Irish and Austrians fight it out with muskets at the "gap", neither side had the upper hand,my morale held,and this was always going to be a "stalemate" and so it remained until the end of the game.

This shot shows the overall action along the whole table,Brian and Graham look intense!
With no side gaining any advantage,the result was going to be a "draw",but there's always one last effort to be made.

A last push by both sides,however to no avail!! With the village of the "damned" still being fought over,a stalemate in the centre and far right flank,the game was declared a draw,and rightly too!!
this was a good game,with alot of thought going into the respective battle plans-excellent stuff!!

Graham brought alond some of the figures he is painting for himself,Perry figures of Brunswick troops,here is a selection to "drool" over...

We hope to see these and many more on the table shortly.

roll on Thursday,when Brian and I will be playing through the day only,and not at night with Paul,who is on his holidays for the next two weeks.

Greeks vs Persians 480BC

Yesterday I had two games,both involving Greeks and Persians,but with different results!
The first game had Brian in charge of the Persians and me in charge of the Greeks.

This is the scenario for the first game, Brian had planned for his scythed chariots to charge forward and hit the Spartans,then followed up with Horse archers,and finally to hit them with his Immortals-This,unfortunately for me, worked a treat,and the dreaded Spartans,ie the whole of my centre,were forced back onto my second line.

This shows Brian's centre advancing on the hapless Spartans! The Persian spearmen to the right of the picture,were also advancing against my City State Hoplites,who were so badly beaten that they eventually retreated off the board!!

My centre is looking good,but that's because the scythed chariots haven't been "revved up" yet.
My Corinthians and heavy cavalry are moving onto the right flank hill,being opposed by Axemen.
I won the battle for this hill after a long hard slog!

The chariots are seen hitting the Spartan flank unit in this shot,this seemed to be the beginning of the end for the Spartans,but they are made of stern stuff,and despite being beaten a couple of times in the ensuing melees,they eventually recovered and forced the Immortals back,and broke the deadlock in the centre.

The City State hoplites are fighting the Cardaces Spearmen in this photo. As stated previously,my hoplites took to flight,however on my far left flank,a group of hoplites managed to defeat some light infantry sent against them,so I dominated the far flank,putting Brian under pressure,he eventually broke, and that flank was won,the centre was also won,and the far right hill was in my grubby little hands, and I was declared the winner.

A final shot of the morning game,Brian is removing his Immortals,and my Corinthians are beating the Axemen. This was a good game,with lots to think about,it has to be said that Brian used his Chariots and skirmish archers really well,and had me thinking I was beaten within the first few moves,but a good wargamer never says "die" and fights on.

The second game involved Brian,Paul and I,plus a very strange character who called himself Dave,who "popped" in on the off chance that we would be playing-all we need to find now is Lord Lucan and Shergar!!!

The game had a few terrain changes,but the troops were virtually in the same positions.Paul and I commanded the Greeks and Brian and that other bloke(!) commanded the Persians.
Once again the poor old Spartans took a right hammering,the Axemen (supermen!) took on the Corinthians,were beaten back twice,but came on again,and put the Corinthians to flight,along with our Heavy Cavalry!!

meanwhile on my flank,our left,I bided my time,advancing slowly,and won the eventual melee against Dave's spearmen,but,because the centre was "knackered" and the hill was lost,the Persians were declared the winners.

The impending doom of the Spartans in our centre,with heavy cavalry squaring up to each other,on the flank.

Axemen and Corinthians contesting the hill,whilst Paul's cavalry are being forced back,even though he has killed the Persian cavalry commander-one of many killed during the battle,on both sides!!

Paul,could you not just squeeze one more Spartan into this melee??,and,OH OH look at the chariots speeding down on you!!( as it happens the chariots "bounced" this time,but it was all over by then!

Two good and exciting games,good battle plans,officers going down like "nine pins",lots of movement and of course the inevitable banter!!

roll on Sunday,probably 18th century.

Painting Update.

We didn't have our usual group game on Sunday,so I thought I would up date you all on our painting progress instead of the usual game report.
I am on the last leg of my Dacians from Lancashire games,with three units of Sarmatian cavalry.

I have shown the stages I go through,like everyone else! the first photo shows the figures on their painting bases,the second photo shows them undercoated (white),the third almost completed,and of course the fourth photo is the completed unit.
The figures themselves are very good,no flash etc. the only "grouse" I have is that some of the bases have not been caste properly,and some care had to be taken not to snap the horses legs when straightening them out,however this is minor taking the whole figure into consideration.

Brian,as usual,is painting for England,his output rivals mine! He has been painting Germans from Lancashire games,and some plastic 18th century Hesse infantry.
On his German cavalry he has painted teeth on the horses!! However I have painted teeth on the Sarmatian cavalry riders,what next I wonder,although Brian has hinted he is working on a colour for "ear-wax!!!"

The cavalry are full of action,can't wait to see them up against my Prince August Romans!
The Hesse infantry are superb,the colour is Indigo Blue,and the facings really stand out,Brian has one more regiment to paint,with Yellow facings,now that will be colouful!!

One last shot,of my Dacian King (Decebalus) mounted on a piece of slate,compleste with horn blower and standard.

Paul is working on his 7 years war infantry,and Dave is working on his Napoleonics and Tipoo Sultan figures (can't think what happened to the Great Northern War !!) and everything else he can get his hands on,Graham is painting WW2 stuff and Dutch-Belgians,and of course his on-going painting for Michael.

Well roll on Thursday,possibly 2 games,Greeks vs Persians.

2 games-Ancients and Napoleonic

Yesterday,Brian and I played an Ancients game in the morning,and Paul,Brian and I played a Napoleonics game at night-it's great being retired,I don't know if I've mentioned that before,but it is!!
The ancients game consisted of a Carthaginian army vs a Roman army,played out in the snow!!

Brian was the Roman commander and opted to try and overwhelm my left flank with a combination of Velites,cavalry and a couple of units of Triarii,whilst his legion advanced to hold my centre,my right flank was also assailed by heavy cavalry.

This is the start of the game,with Brian attacking my left flank,and his legion advancing,I got the better of his Hastati,driving them back,but Brian exchanged his lines and his Princepes took over causing my troops a bit of "distress".My Elephants were "creeping" up on the Roman left flank,and although Brian did spot them,he was unable to contain them for a move,then,of course, the inevitable happened,he beat them in a melee,they took a morale test,failed it and went "beserk"-oh woe is me!!

This is a shot of  the far flank,we both had put heavy cavalry here,but mine was backed up with Light infantry,that Brian had to deal with,leaving me with a 2:1 superiority,which was too much for him,his cavalry fled and the flank was mine!!

My front rankers, Gauls and Celts, have been driven back,and I have thrown forward my veteran African infantry,against the Roman Princepes.This was a good tussle,and I was reforming my front rankers behind the lines,when disaster struck!! in the form of the aforementioned Elephants,who were in the throws of going beserk,and preventing my Gauls etc. from rejoinng the fray.

Hurry up !! I've a battle to win,luckily I won the left flank as well as the right,so things weren't looking that bad,although I was being held in the centre.

This shot shows my left flank,Brian's velites have been beaten,and my Spanish cavalry are just about to charge into the flank of the Roman Princepes,and turn the tide of the battle.All was lost now for the Romans,and we called it a day (just as well really,it was touching 32 degrees in the garage!!)

Once again a great game,lots of manoeuvre,colour,laughs and rude comments!!
roll on tonight.


The battle of Poltov Bridge,1812. (thursday night)

The scenario,Paul was Russian (after all they are his figures!) and Brian and I were fellow French commanders

This shows the opening shots of the game,with the Russian Grenadiers attacking the Hamlet,stoutly defended by some Westphalian troops.
In the centre the Russian were hurrying to take up positions,as were the French.

Paul's dispositions are taking shape,Brian is moving his troops to try and stop him,and lining his infantry ,along side mine, so that we presented a strong defensive line,what could possibly go wrong?? but I promised not to mention that, Brian,once he was put under pressure,decide to change his battle plan, and abandon me to my fate,by marching off to his flank,that had so many troops on it that it looked like flies on s..t !!

Brian is under pressure in this shot,volleys in the snow,how pretty,I hope that he doesn't get beaten and have to take morale,because if he did he would be pushed back onto the "millions" of his other troops,and that would cause chaos! But it wouldn't happen would it??

Oh dear me,what is happening? it looks like Brian's troops have been pushed back,and Paul is starting an out-flanking move on the left!!!!! It must be said at this point that the French Dragoons,led by the Grand Old Duke of York,don't appear to know what the're supposed to be doing!!

Meanwhile,in the centre,my Hussars are making good progress against the Russian Hussars,and my,unsupported, line is advancing to give those "pesky" Russians a volley.The Hamlet is still being heroically defended!!

Brian's flank,again! with more troops being hastily marched to their impending doom,Paul kept up the pressure on this flank remarkably well, and also kept up the pressure on the centre by eventually beating my Hussars,and charging his columns in to my "frail" line.

Brian has managed to half redeem himself by charging his Dragoons into the Russian heavy cavalry (you can just see them behind the centre "mountain") and beating them,however the increasing chaos and confusion,which I promised I wouldn't mention, in this shot is obvious,and so we took Brian outside and shot him!!

This was another great game,both sides providing talking points,good tactics,plenty of banter and laughs (and a few tears too!)
This is wargaming at its best,roll on next week, we can't  have a club game on Sunday,but that will just make it better next time we play.

Battle of "Arab Town" 60AD

Last night,Brian,Paul,Richard ,Graham and I had a fairly large ancients game,using virtually the same terrain as Thursday's game.

The scenario,each commander formulated his own battle plan,Graham was commanding the Auxilliary units,Richard commanded the Legionaries,and Brian,Paul and I were Barbarian commanders.

A general shot of the board,Graham's troops in the fort and behind the redoubt,Richard coming out of the town,and Paul (right flank) Brian (centre) and me on the far left flank,all waiting to attack!!

My attack has started,against Richards leading cohorts,I elected to use my chariots,initially, as a skirmishing force,weakened a couple of cohorts,and then charged in with my warbands!!

Brian's first wave of warbands were cut up a bit from Graham's bolt throwers and archers,however he did manage to get to the walls of the redoubt,and was successful on his left (shown nearest the camera!) A fierce fight took place along the whole of this position,this was going to be tricky!!

This is Paul's first attack against the well-defended fort,he "bounced" the first time,but persisted,and eventually captured the fort,swept over the pallisade,and attacked Graham with "gusto" at the back of the fort!! Will the cavalry ever get engaged??

Fighting can be seen here along the whole lines,some pretty grim faces too!!come on boys,it's only a game!!
Richard's cohorts are awaiting the chariots to get out of the way,and my warbands to get stuck in.

Paul has captured the fort!! hurrah,will the cavalry ever get engaged??

Brian is just about to get over the redoubt wall in this shot,Graham,in despertation,had to get his archers involved in hand-to hand combat,thrilling stuff.

In this photo,Richard is fighting for his life!! I have penetrated his line,and am pushing him back,he very wisely brought out the cohorts he had in the town to stabilise the position,but was it going to be too late??

This shows the situation on Paul's flank,the fort is captured-job done! The cavalry are lurking behind the trees,will they ever get engaged??

YES!!!! and how,both sides charged,and crashed into each other,Paul winning one melee,then Graham winning another!! Paul backed his cavalry up with a warband,and this swung the situation in his favour,winning another melee,and pushing the Romans back.
Meanwhile in the centre,Brian had done a stirling job of beating the defenders back from the redoubt walls,and was in the process of helping me out,when the Romans decided they had had enough and capitulated!!

This is the final shot,showing Richard's demoralised troops being attacked again,just prior to them being marched back into the town!!

This was a hard fought game,full of tension and fun,everyone played their part,roll on the next game!!