I always enjoy English Civil War games and last night's game with Paul and Brian was no exception-real good stuff,no nonsense "get stuck in" kind of wargaming!!
This is the scenario and troop dispositions,astute readers will recognise the terrain from this morning's game!-We drew lots and Brian was sole commander of the Parliamentarians,whilst Paul commanded the right and town,and I commanded the left for the King.
It was action from move one,this shows Brian advancing on my position-my plan was to lure his cavalry towards my infantry,give him a volley,and then launch my elite cavalry against him.
Paul's plan was to attack straightaway,using his cavalry superiority to drive Brian's cavalry off the board-Hmmmmm!!
With cavalry clashes and infantry moving towards "push of pike"(don't tell them your name Pike!!) this was terrific stuff-hurrah!!
Paul managed to get his cavalry well and truly beaten,but his infantry did very well,and Brian looked to be in a bit of bother-another hurrah!!
Paul is doing well,but Brian has seen the danger to his infantry and is sending his cavalkry reserve over to the flank as support-Paul's cavalry is in real trouble now,and it looks as if we might lose them altogether-what am I saying "we?" I mean "he!!"-back at my flank..........
My plan has worked(well,sort of) I have lured the Ironsides cavalry onto my muskets,and dealt Brian a blow,so horrid,that he retired his cavalry,leaving mine free to get into his infantry-this was not to be though,he regrouped,and charged into my infantry before they could form into a defensive formation,and rode them down-however my cavalry counter-charged him and beat him back-hurrah,hurrah!!
Ah,that reminds me,it's Halloween!!-now back to the game.......
This shows my counter charge against the Ironsides-my infantry have moved forward,and were met with a disastrous volley,and the a charge,which upset my whole plan,and forced me back,however on Paul's flank,the situation was ok but not brilliant,as he had lost most of his cavalry,and Brian's reinforcements were making themselves known to his infantry!!
With his cavalry gone,and his infantry being held in place by "lurking" cavalry,Paul came up with a brilliant(?) plan-Gathering his Lifeguards around him,he audaciously charged at Brian's command figure-is that allowed?
This was just too much for Brian who exploded into expletives-the likes of which I have never heard before!! but,being gentlemen,Paul and I threw the towel in and called him the winner-it's nice to be nice!!
This was a good game,played well and in good spirit-well done to us all!!
Brian asked me to paint some Roman auxiliaries for him recently-this is the finished article-they are plastic,and I found them "fiddly" to say the least-but "en masse" they look ok,another couple of photo's follow........
Roll on Sunday,there will be four of us-Dave is making an appearance,and we will be playing a Marlburian game.
Brian and I have just finished a most fantastic game-Caesarian Romans vs Illrians and Thracians-Brian fielded two full legions-what a sight-magnificent to say the least!!
These two photo's show the scenario and initial table layout-all looks very pretty and lovely straight lines-but will it last??
My plan was very simple,I would attack immediately with my Illyrians and Thracians on my right,and hold the high ground on the left until my Elephants were in a position to attack the Romans in the flank.Brian's plan was to attack along both fronts,to keep me on my toes!!
On the right both sides advance,whilst the cavalry and light troops get stuck in!!
On my left(the high ground) the Romans of Legio 2 have advanced and thrown their Pila,I have moved some cavalry onto my right to threaten any advance-but my Elephants aren't yet ready to engage-woe is me!!-After a good skirmish and melee,Brian is driving my light cavalry and horse archers off the board-double woe is me!!
Nearly there,but with cavalry retiring,this is going to be very tight-meanwhile the Romans are gaining the upper hand in the melee to the left of this picture.
"Gotcha!!"My elephants have eventually arrived,and are making mincemeat of the facing cohorts-hurrah!!-but on the left things are not going so well-the dreaded Pila has taken its toll on my heavy infantry,and things are not looking too good!!
Meanwhile,on my right,I am giving Legio 1 a good old fashioned "thrashing",my second line(Thracians) are just waiting their turn to join in the fun(have I spoken too soon??)
Back to the left flank now,and I am being pushed back-morale dictated that both Elephants ran "amok"-luckily straight back,so they didn't interfere with my hard-pressed infantry.
The whole of my left flank has been pushed back,and Brian has still untried troops to hand-but what of the right flank??
Oh dear!! my Illyrians have been defeated,and my Thracians are taking the full weight of Brian's second line of cohorts-the bloody Pila did for me again!!-with both flanks in disarray,I capitulated,and Brian was declared the worthy winner.
With so many figures on the board,we did remarkably well to finish the game in 10 moves and only took three hours(less coffee break) to come to a conclusion-power to our simplistic rules!!
Brian brought up his newly painted second regiment of Hanoverians-7YW figures-he's done a good job on these-we'll get them on the board soon-when will we see the Austrians Paul??
We are playing tonight as well-an English Civil War game,over the same terrain(with a couple of building changes)
Last night,Brian Paul and I had a fantastic,fast and fun Colonial game.
Brian was in charge of the Anglo-Egyptian troops ordered to take the outer defences of the Fort/Town of Atbarra,whilst Paul was in charge of the mainly British reserve.
This shows the general layout of the table,and the scenario,both Paul and Brian were also given other bits of information on movement,commands etc.
You know I put a lot of effort into planning these games,to make them exciting,I set up the terrain,balance the forces,put the figures on the board,get the order sheets prepared,pens and measuring sticks etc etc, and then something like this happens....................
I pop out of the garage for a cup of coffee,the wife decided she will play a joke,and this is the result!!!!-not funny (or is it??)
This is the table(with Duck removed!) before any movement-Brian could decide if he wanted a Gatling Gun or a 6pdr Gun on the "Venus",which is to the right,but out of shot-he chose a 6pdr Gun!!-although Paul didn't know it,the Haddendowah were coming onto the table at point "B"exactly where Brian is standing in this photo.
Brian's attack on the defences was little short of magnificent!-after a slight setback(he lost 3 melees out of 4 in the first contact) he pushed the defenders back-however by that time,as you can see in the background,the Haddendowah had made an appearance-hurrah!!-Game on!!
What a magnificent sight(unless you're facing it!!)-Paul had started to move his troops into the Zariba on move number one,but still had a firing line and some cavalry awaiting my attack-I drove the Lancers away with just one melee,but that firing line is going to cause me some grief!!
Casualties are mounting as I advance,but weight of numbers should tell,if I can get close enough-in the background Brian is mopping up the defenders in Atbarra,and is preparing to turn his artillery and gatling against my flank-by this time the "Venus" had lost it's Captain to rifle fire from the walls,and half the crew were dead,so he reversed the boat,and decided to cut his losses-hurrah!!
Despite Brian's flank fire,and Paul's devastating close range shooting,I have managed to make contact with his infantry,both inside and outside the Zariba-I could win this with a bit of luck and some good dice throws!!
Paul has deftly moved most of his remaining troops onto my exposed flank,and although I am doing ok at the Zariba,my position is untenable,and I had to admit defeat!!
This was a great game,well played to both Brian and Paul.
Whilst I was "surfing" the net the other day,I came across a wargames club that have their own Scenario Designer-I told the boys about this and they said they would give me a Grander title than that-from now on ,they said,I could be the Architect Responsible for Scenario Evolvement,and I could have the letters A.R.S.E. after my name-I think this is brillia..............
HOLD ON,I've just realised,the rotten sods,the lousy bunch of lowlifes!!-just wait 'till Thursday!!!
Yesterday we played the same game,both in the morning and at night-both games were interesting and slightly different,but enjoyable.
In the morning,against Brian,I played the part of Ptolemy 13th(Cleopatra's brother,and historically responsible for Pompey's death!!) and in the evening I played Pompey against Paul.
Both games started with the boats sailing gracefully along the Nile-whilst being shot at by archers!! causing a bit of damage to the cohorts on board. The cohorts already landed were holding their attacking spirit back until the boats were within landing time,but the flanks,containing cavalry and archers were all for attacking straight away-which they did in grand style.
Even though the boats are not within landing distance,the cohorts have decided to advance and make room for them to land-meanwhile the Egyptian line has advanced,intent on inflicting damage before reinforcements can reach the Romans.The flanks are still "alight" with action-the Romans coming off second best,due to archery from the chariots!!
CRASH!! as the boats sail into land,both lines have charged each other-the Roman pila caused a lot of casualties,but fighting at minus one from the dice(because the Egyptians are spear armed) it was a mixed bag of results!!-come on you boat types!!!
This shows the Roman left flank being "hammered" by a combination of Chariots and infantry-in the background you can just see the Egyptian King and his bodyguard advancing in a desperate attempt to stop the Roman line,which is making ground-hurrah!!
The Romans are pushing the Egyptians back,but both their flanks are gone,and the rear is being threatened(a too impetuous charge by Pompey!)-this looks like the end-woe is me!!
Yes it's all over-chariots are rampant in my rear(no jokes!!)-Two very interesting games,highlighting the need for Chariot rules on skirmishing and melee-well done to Paul and Brian for good gaming.
This final shot is of me praying to the God Dracula-well it's the only figure I have in a coffin!!
This appeared in the Northern Echo on Tuesday,after "Stand To" show-see my report.
Roll on Sunday,no thoughts yet as to what we will be playing though.
We have just got back from the new show called "Stand To" at the National Railway Museum at Shildon,and what a fantastic venue and day out we've had.
Once we eventually arrived at the show(bloody sat-nav!!!) we were greeted by the show organiser,Ken, who showed us where all the facilities were,namely,toilets,cafe,stands etc and our table.
The vast array of trains,including the iconic "Flying Scotsman" were all within touching distance,there was more than enough space between traders and demo games,in fact spot on!!
The traders included figure sellers,booksellers,terrain sellers as well as the museum shop selling all things "railway",and the cafe selling delicious bacon sandwiches and coffee!!
As the admission was free,there was a constant stream of visitors throughout the day,including a bus load of pensioners on a "Mystery Bus trip" from Blackpool!!-The Railway "buffs" must have thought they had landed on another planet,when they walked into the museum and found a bunch of wargamers there-however they seemed to take an interest in what was going on,and we seemed to talk an awful lot more than we gamed-and of course,that's what it's all about.
The other games on show were a great looking desert WW2 game put on by Robbie of the Independent Wargamers,a science fiction game,and a Bolt Action game-all well attended and judging by the various shouts,enjoyed by all who took part in them-I say a big "well done" to all who participated and who took the time and effort to turn up-shame on those who didn't!!
The top photo shows the "Flying Scotsman",the bottom photo shows the "Vacant Geordie"-where the hell is he looking????
The top photo shows the photographer from the Northern Echo,who seemed to think we were all a little bit mad,and another shot of Brian,obviously taking a keen interest in the game-where's he looking now???
The bottom photo is of Ken-I would say not his best photo!!-a lovely man,who has booked us up for next year's show.
A general shot of a few of the trade stands and the Demo game area-Paul and Brian winding themselves up for the start of our game!!
I spent a lot of time,money and effort creating name badges for us all,and Brian refused to wear his,so I told him that was ok,he is a free spirit and must tread his own path-I then stuck it on his back with a friendly "pat"-oh how he laughed when he found out!!-about three hours later!
The top photo shows a Crusader Tank on a flat bed waggon,the middle shot is of some grey haired bloke playing on the next table to us,and the bottom photo is of the Bolt Action game.
All in all a good day out,roll on next year.
