Dave's latest command base

I thought this impressive painting work deserves viewing. Well done Dave!

Some Falkirk photographs from a great show

These are a few taken throughout our Napoleonic War game.

Battle of the Thames 56AD.Romans vs Britons

Last night we had an exciting and interesting game,with Dave and Brian on the Roman side,and Paul and myself on the Britons side.

This is the general scenario,and troop layouts,what the Romans didn't know was that Paul would arrive on the board on move number 3,with Chariots and Warbands,between the hill"A" and the woods,and what Paul didn't know was that Brian's cavalry would arrive on the board on move number 4,between the woods and the base line-this would lead to an interesting encounter,as both sides tried desperately to adjust to the changing situation.

This shows the Roman fleet in all its glory!!Dave took charge of the Legion,whilst Brian took charge of the Auxilliaries(including the Bolt Throwers-on board a boat!)-The Henge can be seen in the far distance.

Both Dave and Brian are trying to establish a "beach head" before the waves of warriors hit them!

With War Cries reverberating around the garage,the first wave hits the Romans,who respond with vollies of Pila!!-this is going to be tough.Meanwhile Brian and Paul are having their own little tussle,chariots vs cavalry,Auxilliary infantry against warbands-what a game so far!!!!!!

Paul has launched his warbands against Brian's line of infantry,and his chariots are running amok in the background-although Brian's cavalry,initially, did ok.

This shot is a few moves on,and Paul has gained the flank,putting Brian's cavalry in all kinds of bother! Brian's infantry are doing quite well against greater numbers,and a couple of good dice throws put Paul on the back foot for a while,until he managed to reinforce the ongoing melee-hurrah!!

It looks "all over" for Brian in this shot,Paul's chariots are now behind his line,and a couple of his units have fled the board.In the centre I am pushing the first line of cohorts back,and although Dave managed to exchange some of his first line cohorts with his second liners,he was gradually being pushed back to the "beach head".

Dave has produced a good defensive line here,but,with Paul now able to threaten his flank,and my cavalry "lurking" on the left of this photo,it was almost over-one last push from the Britons should do it.....................

Has somebody turned the lights out??-this is the last push!!-The Romans will have to go back to London and get another Legion!!-hurrah.
This was a tense(at times) game,with lots going on and points to discuss being raised at the end of it-however I enjoyed it!!
Due to Family visits etc. we probably won't be able to have a game this Sunday,but you never know!!

Russian 7YW infantry-Painting update

This morning I based and flocked my last Russian infantry regiment,that makes 10 altogether. I have managed to paint all ten,plus a couple of gun batteries,and three Brigadiers,in record time of 8 weeks!!-I have done this by "speed-painting" the figures,this involves painting only the main colours(in the Russian case,Green and Red,and black) and ignoring such details as cross belts,knapsacks,cartridge pouches etc.etc.-I am quite pleased with the result,and,working on the "three foot rule"ie over three foot on the wargames table,you can't see any details anyway!!
Here are a few photographs,and I'm open to comments/criticism.

I have started the "Command " figures,of two cavalry commanders,plus an Artillery commander and a General plus his ADC-probably finished by the end of the week!!

Persians vs Greeks

Last night we had a game that it was a"privilege" to have taken part in.

The basis of the game was a Persian invasion of Greece,the defending Greeks being mainly Spartans.Brian and Paul were the invaders,whilst I was the erstwhile defender.

Paul and Brian had selected the troop types they wanted to be in their first wave of attackers,and the game began-don't they look "smug"??

This is my position,two hills and a river crossing,defended by Spartans,with a "forlorn hope" thrown out in front to contest the beach landings-what could go wrong??-Dave "popped in" for a couple of hours,then had to go,this was areal pity,as he was enjoying the spectacle,and he threw a couple of dice for me,just to help out.

My forlorn hope are advancing against the hordes of Persians disembarking on the "beach"-the boats were returned to the base line,and another wave of troops were ferried towards the mainland-this was going to be tough for both sides!!

My Hoplites are fully engaged here,but are in danger of being surrounded,my skirmishers are doing a bit of damage,but in the background the second wave of troops are coming-however the"forlorners"  have done what I wanted them to do,and have held the Persians up,and inflicted casualties on them-hurrah!!

Move number 6,and Brian's cavalry (which had been travelling overland) arrives on the board,it was immediately subjected to an ambush by light cavalry and infantry hidden in the woods......

Brian was not amused,as you can see!!!!!!

Look at that,"not amused,the world is against me,not fair!!" face-as it happens,I could only use the ambush troops once,and then had to retire back into the woods,but of course Brian was not to know that-double hurrah!!

My forlorners have been beaten,and both Brian and Paul are getting their troops sorted out,ready to assault my main positions,to see them manoeuvering at this stage was magnificent,to say the least-the "Immortals" can be seen arriving by galley,these,plus the mercenary Hoplites were to prove the game winners.

Brian's troops are just about in place and are getting ready to attack my right hand hill,his cavalry are moving towards my centre,where they would prove decisive on the very last move of the game!!

This shows Brian's troops actually pushing the Spartan defenders back,whilst his second line is forming up as supports,Paul's line is taking shape,ready to assault my centre and left hand hill.

I have been beaten by Brian,Paul is putting in a most ferocious attack on the other hill,and he is just about to launch his Hoplites and Immortals on my centre-oh hell"

Paul's superb timing of his attack,saw my troops hard pressed in all sectors,he drove my defenders from the hill,beat my central troops in every melee,and with Brian co-ordinating his cavalry attack on my cavalry,all was lost!!

This was an epic game played over 22 moves!! with everything involved,including a bit of "gloating" by Brian(he'll be sorry!!)-well done to Paul and Brian,for a well thought out attack,on what was a very difficult position to take.

We will be playing over the same terrain on Thursday night(with Dave being involved) but substituting Romans as attackers,against Britons defending-roll on Thursday.

As a final photo,Dave brought up his latest Hittite unit for us to see-A picture says a thousand words..........

English Civil War and Ancient Egyptians Battles 22.5.14.

Yesterday was a two-game day for me,E.C.W. in the morning against Brian,and Egyptians vs "Indiites" at night against Brian and Paul.-It's good being retired you know!!

This is the general scenario and initial troop positions,I commanded the Royalists,and put my good cavalry on my left,hoping to take the town in one fell swoop-what a fool!!

Brian's "Ironsides" are galloping over the bridge,to oppose my cavalry-this flank was a
real nightmare for me-I lost most melees,but because of my good morale,I managed to hold on until the end of the game!!

This shows my strong central position,which Brian failed to take,but he did manage to give the troops here a damned good thrashing nevertheless!!

Action!! the whole line erupts with fire,and cavalry clashes-I have ordered two regiments of white-coated infantry to capture the walled enclosure to the left of my centre-these did well and caused Brian some problems-hurrah!!

My left flank is in serious trouble! I won one melee with my Lifeguards,and these brave chaps reformed and took off towards the town-had I won??

No!! was the reply!!-My right flank is under pressure,my centre is holding(just!!) whilst Brian's centre is being threatened by the White Coats,so we called it an "honourable" draw.
This game really went down to the wire,good tactics,dubious dice,and alot of luck played their part in this game-well done Brian,and roll on tonight.

A very sketchy layout for the Egyptian vs "Indiites"(my Indian army!) I commanded the Indiites whilst Brian commanded the Egyptians and Paul commanded the relief force of Lybians,Numidians and some Hittites in the town.

This shows the table before any movement-when we started to move,it was dramatic,and very very fast!!

See what I mean?? After initial skirmishing had done alot of damage to both sides,the Infantry in the centre clashed,and the melees swung both ways.On each flank the chariots were involved,swirling about,kicking up dust,and causing both commanders to think about sending reinforcements.

Paul's relief column are making their presence felt here,and I am being forced back,not only on this flank,but on the other flank too,however my central infantry are gaining victories,and pushing the Egyptians back-hurrah!!

The final shot,and we decided to call the game a draw(lucky or what??)
Another good game,and we all decided that we are still learning how to handle chariot armies-a bit more research is needed,but that's a good thing as far as wargaming is concerned!!
Roll on Sunday,don't know what we will be playing,or who will turn up-we haven't heard from Graham or Dave for a few days,and Richard is still incapacitated with his shoulder,so who knows!!

Ancients and up-date.

It was a bit of a quiet turn out last night-in fact only the "Dynamic Duo!!" (actually more like Laurel and Hardy!!) ie Brian and myself,but we had a good game,involving Elephants,Phalanxes,light and Heavy cavalry and infantry and skirmishers-in fact all you could want from an ancients game.

For the first couple of moves we were "sparing" with each other-Brian had strengthened his centre with his elephants(a bad move as it turned out!!) whilst I put my elephants on my right flank,hoping to gain an advantage.

By move number 4,all  hell had broken out!!-we are engaged along the whole front line,and both sets of elephants are making an impact.
As it happened,Brian's elephant had to take morale,didn't pass it,and ran "amok",trampling both his own troops and mine-war is hell!!

Where has the photo gone??

This shot shows the rampaging elephants breaking into my line,however I recovered,and with some lucky dice throws I managed to beat Brian's whole line.My right flank was just holding,and I had managed to disorder his very strong Phalanxes ( 0n his right,just outside the town) so we called it a night-after 12 moves!
and I was declared the winner-Hurrah!!
We both enjoyed the game,and really a draw,I think, would have been a fairer result.

I have been busy making a "paddle Steamer" and Roman Galley for future games-Brian will be using the steamer in our next campaign game-I made both vessels using a cosmetic box ,cardboard and skewers.

As you can see,I'm not a Model Maker,but the end result is quite satisfying(to me!!) and will fit the bill.

These two photo's show the finished Paddle Steamer-named "Venus" by Brian!! with some Naval figures,that I've had for centuries.

The above shots show the finished Roman/Greek/Carthaginian etc. etc. galley-I had to make it so long to accomodate two of our Ancient units,be it Cohorts,Warbands or Taxis-so no doubt it will appear in many games to come!!

Brian has been painting his Caesarian legion,and a damned fine job he's making of them too,and I am now onto my 9th Russian 7YW regiment,and am working up the courage to start the Russian Hussars I bought at Falkirk!!
Roll on Thursday!!