Artistic Talents on show.

Last night,following an in-depth discussion on an article that appeared in "Slingshot" magazine number 296,entitled "Like a knife through butter",Paul decided to illustrate,mathematically,that the article did not "hold water".
His argument was put very eloquently,and with passion,however his illustration,shown below in all its glory,left a bit to be desired............

It was pointed out to Paul that most(if not all) Macedonian cavalry did not ride Armadillos!!
Oh how we laughed!!!
Well done Paul,you've managed to put back Art to the time of the cave dwellers!!

Battle of Lake Armeus 320BC

For this battle last night,Brian was Seleucus,whilst Paul and I took the role of Antigonus!

This is the scenario and basic troop layout-note Elephants on both flanks of Antigonus' army!!

The marines on both sides rowed their way to the landing point-Brian is so taken with commanding ships,that he has got rid of his right hand and is going to replace it with a hook!!

Whilst both sides sought to secure their flanks,the centres moved ever nearer,not long before the inevitable clash!!-Paul has adopted an echelon attack-very nice too!-You will note the Elephant unit in the bottom left corner,and the archers about to shoot on its flank-Brian was hoping to drive it away,however it took fright and ran "amok" straight towards his beautiful straight line ,and caused chaos!!-hurrah!!!

Cheer up Brian,worse things have happened at sea!!-talking of which............

The Marines have landed(lock up your daughters!!)-a tremendous tussle took part at the landing point-luckily Paul had given our Marines very good points,and we eventually won the flank-another hurrah!!

The battle for the centre was great nail-biting wargaming at its best-neither side gaining an early advantage,and dice rolling all over the place,including this rather extraordinary one......

HMMMmmmm!!

Brian's centre is just about to collapse,caused by the cavalry threat to his exposed flank,although it must be said that he gave us a "bloody nose"-cheer up Brian worse things have happened at sea.............

The flank was won,and Brian's marines are about to be driven off the board-hurrah!!
This was a good taxing game,with neither side gaining any advantage until almost the last throw of the dice-well done lads.
We will probably be playing on Sunday-so roll on then!

Sink The Bismark 1941

The above photo is the starting point of our game last night-we actually had two games with the same theme,of sinking the Bismark!
The Hood and the Bismark are models I bought from "Atlas Editions" for £1.99 each,the Spitfires and Stuka's are made by a company called "Tootsie Toys" and are 1.75 inches long,quite hard to come by and very collectable-the "bombers" are cheap plastic toys which I found lying around in a box,but which fitted the bill nicely-the other two players are just a couple of old guys who come along to my house every now and then!!!!

I have combined the two game's photographs,just to show the games and the way they were played-we had a good laugh,and the Bismark was sunk-twice!!

This is the task force,commanded by Brian and Paul,my forces,of Bismark,3 Stuka's and a submarine,were off the board but marked on a map.

First "blood" to the Luftwaffe! a Spitfire goes down in a trail of smoke!!

Surprise,Surprise!!-Paul has sailed the Hood (in a pre-set course) right into my trap-my submarine makes its appearance and looses its torpedoes-However very little damage was caused to the hull,but the rudder was damaged-hurrah.
Paul fired his depth charges at the sub. and caused it to evade,never to be seen again!!
In the background you can see a massive "dog-fight" going on.

The Bismark has been found,lurking in a Fjord,and with no Luftwaffe protection(Brian has shot them all down!!) a pincer movement,involving the Manchester(?) bomber and the Hudson(?) torpedo plane is about to "DO" for the German battleship-game number one is over!

For the second game,I decided to go on the offensive,and attacked the British force.This shot shows the Bismark giving the Hood a "broadside",unfortunately,Hood fired back and  caused an awful lot more damage to my deck and guns,than I had caused it-woe is me!!
Astute readers will have noticed in the background,that each Spitfire has a Giant figure behind it!!-these are figures of famous WW2 aces,including Douglas Bader,Jonnie Johnston etc-just to add a personal touch-I felt really bad when I shot poor old Bader down!!

Brian's submarine has "popped" up and fired his torpedoes into the Bismark at very close range!! thus sealing the fate of the ship-again!!

We all enjoyed this foray into WW2,and will try it out again,it was exciting and fun,but most of all the rules were easily and quickly picked up by both Paul and Brian-hurrah!!
Roll on Thursday,back to "figure" wargaming,don't know what yet.

19th June 1815-Napoleonics

Paul,Brian and I met last night to play a Napoleonic game,but before I start the narrative,I must tell you,that one of our number,and I won't say who(but it's not myself or Brian!) is a qualified Health and Safety (NEBOSH) expert-the kind of person who you wouldn't dream would cause an Ecological,Environmental and Medical catastrophe-or would he?-Well,our NEBOSH "person" decided to put a plastic(yes,plastic) template that we use to determine cannister fire,on top of one of the heaters in the garage!!-Can anyone guess what happened next?? Amid coughing and spluttering (and a bit of laughing!) Brian had to be given the "kiss of life"-Paul and I refused to do it,so we got next door's dog,and to be quite honest,they both seemed to enjoy it!!
Anyway,on with the game.I built up a scenario around Napoleon being injured and getting treatment in a Farm house,surrounded by what was left of his demoralised Army,and the Allies of Prussia and Britain attacking and attempting to either capture him or prevent him from leaving the board within 10 moves-I was French,Brian was a combination of Prussian and British,and Paul was in charge of the rest of the British forces.

The centre of the French line,anchored on the Farm and to the right a village occupied by the French Guard-Brian had the onorous task of attacking the village with his Prussians,and a damned good job he made of it too!!

Napoleon is in the farm house with his Faithful Guard-the Ambulance is to the right,on the road,but Paul is putting in a grand attack against the Farm and my left flank-his Scot's Greys are poised and lurking,ready to take advantage of any weakness in my line.

Poised and Lurking!!-will they get an opportunity to charge??

This is a good shot of the battle for the village-the melees swung both ways for a long time,then Brian eventually captured the village,and I had to rush reinforcements from my centre to try and stabilise that flank.Meanwhile in the centre Paul has driven away a battery of guns plus their supporting Hussars-woe is me,but can I hang on and get Napoleon out-the clock is ticking!!

Paul is piling the pressure on!-He has had the audacity to actually attack the Farm-silly boy,that's the cream of my army in there,and it's almost time for Napoleon to get out -his carriage has arrived-hurrah!!

The low morale ratings are beginning to tell on the French centre,I am losing the fire fight,and the village is taken,but the "Man" is galloping off down the road-I may have just done enough to save him-another hurrah!!

A final shot-Brian looks dejected,but he shouldn't be(maybe he's missing next door's dog!!)-he has won his flank,Paul has destroyed my centre,but,and it's a big but,Napoleon has escaped-double hurrahs!!
Although,theoretically,I had won the game by achieving the objective,we 
were all declared the winner of this very exciting and tense game-well done lads!!

I will be the first to admit that Napoleonics is not my favourite of periods to wargame,but last night's game was very good,and I enjoyed it-roll on Sunday,I don't know what we will be playing,although I have been working on a couple of projects during the week-it's great being retired you know!!

Painting Update-Horus

I recently visited the North British,or Hancock Museum in Newcastle,and they have a good Egyptian section,plus,in the Museum shop they sell a range of Egyptian themed goods,including 4 Egyptian God figures,of round about 32mm tall. and costing £1.50 each-so I bought 2 figures of the God Horus to enhance our Temples etc. that we already have.The figures are sold unpainted,so I went onto the internet,got a good picture of Horus,and based my colour scheme on that,although I had to add the "staff of power" he is holding,made from a piece of bent wire(my talents are endless-or is that useless??)

This shows the info I got from the good old internet,and the packaging that the figures came in(on the right)

This shows the two completed figures-they are beautifully sculpted and well detailed,note the "key of life" they are holding in their left hands!

I specially bought a new paint brush from the Newcastle arts centre,which cost nearly £9,and known as "Series Seven"-they are specifically for painting wargames figures,and although very expensive,last a long time.
I am pleased with my efforts,and will have them on the board next time Brian puts his Egyptians up against my Pa'Arasites!!

Scipio vs Hannibal 202BC

Well my IT Support Team have been to fix the computer,and apparently I'm to blame-I'm sure if I'd been born in 1939,I would have been blamed for the second world war!!
What can be said about last night's game?-Brilliant,fantastic,exciting,and a whole load more superlatives...Brian and I commanded three legions against Paul's excellent Carthaginian army.

Does anyone recognise the terrain??
I had contrived a simple battle plan,that involved the HASTATI and PRINCEPES,crossing the river and the TRIARII and CAVALRY staying on our side and awaiting the Carthaginians-a good plan that almost worked!!

First part of the plan-river crossing-Brian doesn't look convinced that this will work-Paul is creeping closer.

Much closer!!next move will see one hell of a clash,Paul had delayed his move forward so that all of his troops came into line at the same time-clever,but the Romans are up to it too-look at those lines-poetry in  motion!!

Paul's veteran African pikemen forming line,supported by the prolific pachyderms-what a chilling sight-his Celts are already starting to gather in the woods,ready to charge-ooh er!!

CRASH!! the whole line explodes!! Brian did particularly well on his flank,whilst in the centre and our right we "buckled" a bit,still though,there's time yet-we can do it!!!!

Part two of the master plan is working!-our Hastati and Princepes have been sent packing,except Brian's who are busy getting trampled by the Elephants-it's down to the Triarii-what will they say in Rome?(fall on your sword probably!!)-but it still is not over yet.

Both of our cavalry units and the central Triarii have charged into the Celts,and are giving them a damned good thrashing-hurrah!!-However Brian's Hastati and Princepes are being forced to give ground,and eventually they ran away,leaving the Triarii to take on and beat the Elephants-another hurrah!!-It must be said at this point that Paul's objective was to cross the river at any point to win the game,and his cavalry were poised to do just that!!

Oh no,it's my turn to face the Elephants now!!

GULP!!-but what of Paul's objective,has he been able to cross the river??

Yes!! he beat both of our cavalry units,so he was declared the worthy winner of this wonderful game-I promised Brian that I wouldn't mention that he lost two Legions,so I won't!!
well done lads great wargaming,roll on Sunday,could be a Napoleonic game,although the last time we had a Napoleonic game,we lost two members of our small(er) club!!

Caesar vs Germans.

Anyone would think I had shares in the German Tourist board!! but here we are again in Germany-this was a head to head battle between Paul and Brian,I was referee 'cos my old knees aren't working too well just now,and anyway I deserved a comfy seat!!

This scenario,once again was taken from Miniature Wargames-Paul was in charge of the Germans and Brian was in charge of the Romans-although the scenario was fairly simple,the game was thrilling and full of tense moments,and actually started with the Germans in contact with the Watchtower Romans!!

Brian's plan was to march forward,then "plant" his standards in a line from the watchtower to the town,thus presenting two fronts to Paul,however this meant that he had to win the cavalry battle on his left flank-this was going to be tense!!

The fight for the watchtower was an absolute wargaming joy to see-first Paul had the advantage,then Brian-at one point the Germans were in and causing mayhem,but Brian kept his cool and ejected them-great stuff!!

Brian's parallel columns marching into their places-Paul attacked the left flank cavalry and a battle "Royale" ensued,with Brian being pushed back for three rounds until his morale gave way,this presented him with a massive problem,but once again he rose to the job and sent skirmishers forward to meet the threat-hurrah!!

With stretcher bearers and Priests working overtime,we had a coffee break,nobody wanted to risk an Oxo!! can't think why!!!!!

The bloody computer won't let me access any more photo's!!
I really don't understand what is going on,so I'll just have to continue in text only!!
Paul attacked with great gusto all along the Roman line,which was just about holding on,then a cavalry battle took place on Brian's right,which he lost-oh dear-both of Paul's cavalry units now joined up in Brian's rear,ready to pounce-all was lost-EXCEPT,the watchtower was still in Roman hands.
Both Paul and Brian continued to struggle on with their infantry,but finally the Germans were successful,and Paul was declared the winner of this most exciting game-well done lads,it was a pleasure to watch..roll on Sunday,hopefully the computer thing will have righted itself by then.

Battlefield Accessories.

I wonder how many of you,like me,scour Charity shops and Pet Stores trying to find Battlefield Accessories,or "clutter" if you like.
Well today I found,in a pet store in Newcastle,what I consider to be a bargain,and perfect accessories for our Ancient Egyptian battles.......

These Resin cast models are ideal in size and grandeur for our 25mm armies,and at an amazing price-the Sphinx cost £4.49 and the "Gods" cost £6.89 each!!

Using an existing piece of terrain,and a couple of palm trees,these two look  pretty good!!

The Sphinx looks pretty cool too!!-however we'll not be able to put them on the table 'til after Christmas!!
Comments would be nice!

Battle of the Toon 1757

The "fab four" were at it again last night,this time a spectacular Seven Years War battle involving the Prussians against the Russians with a brigade of Austrians thrown in for good measure.

The scenario and terrain map are taken,with a little "tweaking," from this month's Miniature Wargames magazine,and it worked fine.
Brian and I controlled the Russians,whilst Dave and Paul took on the role of Prussians.

Dave's out-flanking troops about to assault my poor Russians,who couldn't react to this move until move number two-we were trying some different movement rules for the Prussians,giving them a massive bonus,which was good for the Prussians,but not so good for the Russians-I was "swamped",but had to find a way out of the problem!!

I have finally turned my flank troops to meet Dave's grand attack,but he is moving troops through the woods,and I haven't got enough troops to match him,until the Austrian contingent arrive.

Meanwhile,on Brian's centre and flank,an almighty attack is developing!!-our artillery was worse than useless,so it was down to the infantry and masses of cuirassiers on the far flank,to win the day-Brian was severely "berated" for not leaving gaps between his regiments,but blamed the terrain!!

The Austrians have arrived,and the flank is,for the time being,fairly stable,but I have taken a  lot of casualties from the Prussians,and now Paul is adding to my discomfort,by bringing a brigade across to help Dave!In the centre Brian is holding his own(!!!!) and Paul is having to commit his reserve brigade of Hanoverians.

The "final straw"-Dave's cavalry are chasing mine off the table,leaving my Russian and Austrian infantry exposed-my flank is lost-woe is me!!
How's Brian doing???

Quite well actually!-he has stemmed Paul's forward movement in the woods,and his cavalry are winning melees on the far flank,but,with my flank gone,it can only be a matter of time before the weight of numbers begins to tell.

Brian's cavalry are doing brilliantly,and it was decided that the Prussians had won the battle,tactically,but that the Russian would be able to withdraw,protected by the cavalry-in any body's language,that's a draw-hurrah!!

This was a very enjoyable game,and after all we are still trying to get used to the tactics etc. of this fascinating period of history,roll on Thursday-an Ancients game being fought over the same terrain,but using Brian's Caesarian legion against his German tribes.