Last night both Brian and I fell victim to "diablo the delinquent,demon dice dropper"(aka Paul!!)
This man,who is so obviously in league with the Devil,managed to destroy two armies,by decimating them with musket fire,and then killing off our whole officer corps!! An "un-holy" number of 5's and "Kill" throws,resulted in both of our armies,hardly taking part in the game!!!
French Guards,firing from the village of "maisons nouveaux" are in the process of destroying my 2 British regiments,whilst my Austrians are moving forward to their fate!!
Brian's Spanish troops being shot to s--t,by Paul's French-a combination of cannister and volley fire saw Brian reduced to tears!!
My cavalry(best troops on the board) moving towards their demise!!-However,despite a withering fire from the French,Brian's Spanish are making headway-hurrah!!
My Austrian infantry are slowly moving forward,but getting hit by Paul's "laser guided cannon",destroying their morale and fighting points,before they even get a chance against the Bavarians!-in the background,to the left,you can just see my Austrian cavalry getting beaten!!
nice houses though!!
Now that's a very silly thing to do John-you'll just antagonise the Bavarians,and cause Paul to throw even more 5's!!-and he did,destroying my whole line!!-by this time I was ready for a Rum,and Brian was contemplating asking for medical help!!
The hillside is devoid of Spanish,my cavalry are being driven back,and my Austrians are fleeing-guess what? well Paul wouldn't accept a draw,so we declared him the winner.
Roll on Sunday,but what Paul doesn't know is that we've enlisted the help of a local Priest,who is coming along to Exorcise the dice,and Paul!!
Rum,rum,rum,rumrum!!!!
We have just finished another terrific game,involving Romans and Barbarians-Brian and I were the Barbarian commanders and Paul was in charge of the Romans.
This is the scenario,quite simple,but,as it turned out,very exciting and tricky for both sides.
This is the table before any movement,Brian was in charge of the Germans in the distance,whilst I was in charge of the Gauls-Paul had his hands full commanding both lots of Romans.
In the opening moves,I hurled myself against the Fort defenders,hoping to inflict a few casualties-but to my surprise,I won the melees!!-hurrah,and broke into the fort-Paul was not amused!!
In the background,Brian's Germans are beginning their attack-what a nasty bunch they look!!
Paul has formed a neat looking line on top of the snow covered ridge-can Brian buckle it and break it and start eating the Romans?
YES!!! was the reply-buckling,breaking and eating in progress!! The Germans are beating the Cohorts and the Auxilliaries-the Romans can't recover from this,can they??
Paul can be seen,coolly writing his orders for the "spare" Auxilliary unit,to join the melee,taking the Germans in the flank!!-along the whole line the Roman morale held,and Brian decided to put his second line of Warbands into thr fray,just to make sure of a victory(you just know what's going to happen!!!)
The Fort is just about captured,and my other Warbands are moving to take on the 5 Cohorts,who have crossed the river-6 warbands against 5 cohorts-hah, a walk in the park-hurrah!!
The first line of Warbands acted a bit like a rubber ball-they "bounced",can my second line do any better?-in the background,I'm finding it very hard to see any Germans!!
Success! my Gauls are driving the Romans back,and I'm still holding the Fort-another hurrah!!
In the background,Brian's Germans are fleeing the field-could this be a "draw"?
One final shot-a late Roman attempt to recapture the Fort has failed,and a draw declared-phew!!
This was a real nail-biter of a game,and a draw was the fairest result-well played Brian and Paul.
In 4 months time it will be Christmas eve!!-hurrah,pressies and booze!!-but until then,we've got a few games to get through,and of course,Border Reiver on the 6th of September.
Last night Paul and I had a terrific head-to-head game,involving Hannibal vs Wild Hill Tribes.
These two photo's show the info. that was sent to Paul,in the post,giving him a couple of days to come up with a master plan!!
If Hannibal thought this was going to be a pleasant walk in the Alps,examining the flora and fauna of the region,he was in for a shock!!-thousands of wild hillmen issuing from every nook and cranny,descended on his column,intent on capturing his baggage!!
The opening move-all peace and tranquility-what could possibly spoil this????????
OMG!!! the trap is sprung,and my Barbarian forces have revealed themselves,on the hills,and in the woods-on the far side of the stream and woods,my cavalry are still hidden,if the Numidians come within a measuring stick of them,they too will reveal themselves,but not yet!!
My "blocking force" has done its job-Paul declined to advance his Gauls against this force,suspecting a trap-and how right he was,however he also suspected that,within the scenario,I would have written that his Gauls could form an alliance with mine,and turn against Hannibal!!-I only wish I had thought of that possibility!!
This shot shows the rear of Hannibal's column being attacked-Paul had all his best troops here,Spaniards and Africans,so I was going to know that I'd been in a fight.
Paul has sent his Elephants over the stream to help the Gauls,however one unit was javelined in the rear,and ran "amok" up and down the stream,causing Brian,who was Umpire,to nearly have a fit!!
This ongoing battle of the Gauls and Celts,was "nip and tuck" neither side winning outright,but someone had to get the upper hand,but who?-In the background,a cavalry battle is developing,and I was getting the worse of it!!-Paul's handling of the Numidian cavalry was superb-finding flanks and peppering my cavalry with javelins at every opportunity-the swine!!!!
This shows the cavalry battle in full swing,with aforementioned Numidians about to swoop onto my flank.
At the rear of the column things were ever so slightly turning in Hannibal's favour-better weapons and training(not to mention bloody lucky dice!!) were the cause-the battle of the Gauls was still raging,as was the cavalry battle in the background!!
Paul's Gauls(I'm a poet and didn't know it!!) are pushing me back!-how? I outnumber him 2:1!!
My cavalry,hidden by the trees are also being beaten-woe is me!!
This is a general photo looking down the table,and showing the chaos of battle,and the imminent demise of my army!!
A final photo-my Gauls are going home,my cavalry has been wiped out,and the Numidian cavalry is just coming around the woods to complete my discomfort-well I didn't want Hannibal's rotten baggage anyway!!This was a tremendous game,very well played(by Paul) and a thoroughly deserved victory-a big thanks to Brian who managed to play a vital role,of getting the biscuits out and taking the cups back!!
Roll on Sunday!!
This morning Brian and I (with Dave observing) fought this battle,straight out of Charles Grant's book,The Ancient Wargame.
A fabulous book,and quite rare I'm told-I got my copy in 1974,and still use,and read it,on a regular basis!!
The simple scenario,taken directly from the book-Brian brought along his Egyptian army,and I fielded my "Indiites" against him.
From move one,it was action all the way-here the chariot units are advancing on each other-we both had similar plans-to weaken the flanks and then turn on the infantry in the centre,and capture the well.
This is about move four! my chariots have contacted Brian's Pta division,and at the same time my Biriani(I know it's foolish!!) division has charged home to complete his discomfort-however,Brian has managed to get his Ra division in a good position to charge into my flank!!
My chariots are in full flight,in this shot,and my infantry division is in trouble-so what's new?
On the other flank,I am doing better,not only am I winning the melee,but my chariots have manoeuvred themselves behind Brian's infantry-would I charge them into his rear??
My Biriani division are turning tail and fleeing!!-This flank was now a lost cause,but the other flank,and the well was a different matter.
The final photo of a great game,with his chariots running riot on my right flank,but with me holding the left,and the well(which after all was the objective!) we decided to call it a draw!!
A good game,with lots of points raised,as to how we can use divisions and chariots etc.loads of food for thought.
Roll on tonight,Paul is coming along and we are playing a "head-to-head" game,of Carthaginians vs wild Celtic hill tribes!!
After a very good and pertinent comment on the Wargaming Houses I bought on Saturday,I have now taken some photo's of the houses next to some 25mm figures,to show how big they are.....
Thanks for your comments guys-keep 'em coming,we love to hear from you all.
Myself,Dave and Brian had an interesting,thrilling and entertaining game last night,recreating the famous Cromwellian victory at the battle of Dunbar 1650-I had to take a bit of artistic licence with some of the Scots troops,using Clans instead of regular Covenanter regiments,however the end result was as per history,so it wasn't that bad a thing to do!!
The top photo shows the scenario,the bottom photo shows the table layout before any moves.
I commanded the Scots whilst Dave took the left of the Parliamentarians,and Brian the right and centre.
Brian watches pensively as his troops march across the "burn",and I struggle to get my Scots into position-I had a bit of a job moving them from the right and centre,to get them into position to meet the coming flank attack from Brian's cavalry.
Dave has launched his cavalry against mine,and due to a very bad string of dice throws,managed to lose all of the melees!!-hurrah for me.However he has beautifully changed from column into line with his infantry,and is facing mine,who are marching down Doon Hill to meet him-meanwhile Brian's troops have crossed the "burn" and I am still trying to get my "clans" into a position where I can meet him on equal terms.
In an audacious move,Brian has charged my unformed infantry with his infantry and cavalry,not even bothering to fire his muskets beforehand!!-the resulting melee did not go well with the Scots!
Dave's horse is still being beaten,although he has managed to get one of my Horse regiments to retire-and the infantry are moving steadily closer-this was always going to be too close to call!!
At last the infantry get to within musket range-one of Dave's regiments has been forced into square,so ,theoretically,I have a huge advantage-can I break his infantry?
Back at Doon Hill,I am holding my own(now,now let's be adult about this!!) but Brian's cavalry is a real worry to me.
Hmm,nice pose Dave!!-I have driven off a regiment of cavalry,but the infantry,against all the odds, has "bested" mine-now two regiments are in square!! and still he beats me-bloody dice!!
It's not looking too good on the Hill either!!
It's all over,Brian has driven my tired,cold and hungry Scots off the board,and although I am still holding my own(behave!!) on my right,with the cavalry(the infantry having been routed!) the game was over,and a well deserved win for the Parliamentarians-well done Dave and Brian.
Roll on Thursday,I will be playing Brian in the morning and Paul at night.
Today I visited a "Flea Market" in North Shields,and apart from getting some Fleas(!) I also bought three Houses that are ideal in size and type for all of our Horse and Musket periods.
The gentleman on the stall wanted £6 each for them!! but he didn't bargain for coming up against the "Haggler!!"-we eventually agreed on £10 for the three-hurrah!!
Here they are,just as I bought them-I decided that they needed a little bit of a touch up(don't we all now and then!!) to cover any worn off paint,dull thatch/grass.
Touched up and looking good!
The detail on this door is remarkable-who's in there?
It just shows that sometimes you don't have to pay a fortune to get good-looking terrain pieces.
Roll on tomorrow,we are fighting the battle of Dunbar 1650.
