Battle of Katraluw 1816

Due to a special request from Paul this morning,I am posting details of tonight's game early..

There you go,scenario and table lay-out,just for Paul!!

2nd battle of Cremona.69AD

Thanks to Charlie Wesencraft and his wargaming buddies,Paul,Brian and I had a fantastic day out in Seaton Sluice,re-fighting the second battle of Cremona 69AD(Vitellius vs Vespasian)
Whilst not always understanding the mechanics and complexities of the rules,we threw ourselves into the game,which involved 13 Legions,plus auxiliaries,cavalry and machines per side,with 5 players per side-an awful lot of figures,and a spectacular looking game,made all the more spectacular by having a beautiful,scratch built villa on one flank,this was made by Dave,who's photo follows...........

Hello Dave!!-I'm sending one copy of this to OK Magazine,and another to Crime Stoppers!!!

Oh look it's me!! with Paul(Kirby) and Charlie,setting up our figures before the game started.

Bloody hell,it's that Dave again-is he going to be in every shot?? plus Paul(Halliday) setting up his figures.

This is a shot of Brian,with Charlie's son John,contemplating attacking the Villa-Brian reckoned he won the game for the Vitellius forces,by successfully gaining access to the villa,and then storming through it and attacking the Romans holding that flank(commanded by Ron).

A couple of shots of the game in full swing-get your hands out of your pockets soldier,where do you think you are!!!-Ron looks perplexed,Charlie looks worried-this does not auger well for the Vespasian forces!!

Brian going into the villa!

Brian coming out-oh sorry,wrong photo!!!

Brian coming out of the villa!!

Paul is looking studious,but he is winning on his flank-hurrah!!

Every picture tells a story!!!!-never mind,defeat is not dishonour(is it??)
Well done to everyone for organising this game,and get well soon to Mel.

Taxanes Stream.479BC

The Greek and Persian Wars have always fascinated me,and whenever we "dust off" our Greek and Persian armies,the games we have are exciting and evenly matched-last night's game,against Paul was no exception!.

The top photo shows the scenario,whilst the bottom photo shows the table before any moves-Paul commanded the Greeks,with the Theban contingent,in column of march,in the background,the Athenians and Corinthians on the right of the stream,and the "dreaded" Spartans in the immediate foreground-a formidable host!!

The first phase of my battle plan got off to a fairly good start-with a combination of cavalry,horse archers and "wild and woolly" axemen I intended to "swamp" the Thebans-well the intention was good,but Paul fought back,and although outnumbered,put up a desperate fight,and held me for about 4 moves of melee.After one bout of fighting,he was forced into sending his commander into the fray,to stem a retreat and to bolster the Thebans morale and fighting points,however I managed to kill him,which led to the collapse of the whole army-hurrah!!

The second phase of my "what could possibly go wrong battle plan" started disastrously!!
I launched my two scythed chariot units against the Spartans,to be followed up with my Immortals.All was going well,as you can see in the top photo,but the Spartans stood fast against the chariots and they were forced to veer off,without so much as causing a scratch to the impressive Spartan line!!

This shows the moment that my Immortals clashed with the Spartan line-because I had a shorter spear,and inferior shield,I fought at a -1 from my dice,this proved to be a "killer blow" to my best troops,and they were forced back,and eventually they broke,leaving poor old Xerxes to make an ignominious retreat back to his Cardaces infantry,who were following in the footsteps of the IMMORTALS!!

The third phase starts to take shape in this photo,both lines are beginning to advance towards each other-Paul's line overlaps mine,but I have a unit of horse archers "hovering" on his far right flank-these were to prove decisive!!

Look at those lines!! does Paul look worried? The Athenians have crossed the stream,and after initial skirmishing,look set to charge my fragile-looking Persians!!!

The first troops into action were my Cardaces against Paul's Corinthians-again I was at a slight dis-advantage due to short spear and inferior shield,but I did okay,and my line held-hurrah!!

This shot shows the whole Athenian line "running away"-why?? well it is called the "dominoe effect"-my horse archers peppered Paul's right flank Hoplite unit and caused it to take morale,their morale broke,and,despite the commander being put into the unit,it fled the field,causing the next,and then the next etc.etc. to take morale-and they all fled-double, or even treble hurrah!!!

Paul's Corinthians and of course his immovable Spartans,remained on the field,but their cause was lost and the Persians were declared the winners!!

Last shot of the Spartans defying my cavalry to come near them!!
Another great game under our belts.Dave came along to watch the game for an hour or so,and has promised he will come along next week to actually play!
On Saturday the 25th we are going along to Charlie Wesencraft's annual "big bash" at Seaton Sluice-this is going to be a large game(6 a side) of Roman Civil War period,about 69AD-we are all looking forward to that(Brian,Paul and I)
Well,I must go now,it's only 8 months until Xmas Eve,so I'll have to get the Xmas tree out of the loft and test the lights!!

"Hacienda Hill-18th Century battle

Last night the air was full of tension,excitement,action,but most of all FLATULENCE!!-you'd think the Westerhope Wargames Group had met for their annual "Fartathon"
However,the game we had was another classic,with Paul and Brian attempting to push me off a ridge(Hacienda Hill) and out-flank my position.

This is the table before any movement(bowel or otherwise!!)
I am commanding a Spanish army,on the ridge to the left-Paul is facing me with a Bavarian/Irish army,and Brian is on my flank with 8 squadrons of cavalry and 2 regiments of infantry.We all had objectives to either take a position or to defend a position-simples!!

Moving to pre-conceived battle plans,the game began-Brian moved his whole cavalry force against my flank,my response was to also move against him-a massive clash looked inevitable!

Paul's Irish swept forward and opened fire on my Spanish-I actually got the better of the exchange,but being outnumbered,it was only going to be a matter of time before I started to take real casualties-I moved my reserves to the right,hoping to force Paul to also move troops that way-but to no effect-however it did prompt Brian to move his infantry over the stream and move towards the field,facing the ridge.

Due to a combination of Cannister and Musket fire,my left hand Spanish regiment fled,and I was forced to replace it with a regiment from my second line-the rest of the line is blazing away at each other-neither side getting any real advantage.

The cavalry battle is in full swing here,again it was "swings and roundabouts" neither of us gaining an all out victory-spectacular stuff though-note that both sides have kept a reserve back from the fray,for support.

Whilst there is a lull in the centre,(Paul exchanged his Irish for his Bavarians) there is still no respite for the cavalry-I managed to push Brian back,but his reserves joined in,and then I was pushed back-absolutely thrilling gaming!!

The central fire-fight starts again,with Paul's Bavarians(fresh) taking on my hard-pressed Spanish.
If any of you are wondering what Brian is doing in the background,can I refer you to the opening sentence of the blog!!!!!

Somethings gotta give!!-my line is so weakened now,my out-flanking move has proved to be a disaster,and Brian is handling his cavalry with a "keen-ness" that is frightening-at one point I had to send in my Brigadier to stop some squadrons from leaving the field,and Brian promptly threw the requisite dice and killed him!!!!-woe is me!

This gaping hole in my line on the ridge spells the end for my Spanish troops-Paul would be able to sweep forward,and I have nothing to stop him!

On my right flank,Brian has covered himself in Glory,beaten most of my squadrons,killed a Brigadier,and won the game-ah well,there's always another day,time to open the door and windows,apply a bit of air-freshener,and plan the next game!!!
Well done lads.

Battle of the Towers 207BC Rome vs Carthage

Paul and I had a "bit of a battle" last night,pitting Romans against Carthaginians-we both commanded over 350 figures each,which contrasted starkly with my command of 18 figures on Wednesday!!
The scenario was straight forward,and really we fought three separate battles using three lots of troop types-tremendous stuff,uplifting and exciting.

This shows the scenario and table before any movement-Paul had a struggle on his hands against the Triarii,posted on the hill on my right flank,a fair chance in the centre with his Celts against my Princepes,and a "walk-over" with his Spaniards against my Hastati,posted on my left-however,the Romans proved tough opposition-as usual!!

My whole line is standing steadfast,awaiting the onslaught-Paul is a master of light infantry and cavalry tactics,so I knew my right flank was going to be subjected to Numidian attacks with javelins,quickly followed up by an Elephant charge-so I had to eliminate the Elephant threat with my catapult-this actually worked-hurrah!!

To my surprise,Paul started his attacks in the centre,hitting me with warbands of Celts,followed by Elephants-the swine!
On my left,the Spaniards crept forward,teasing me,and hoping I would launch my Hastati forward-no chance!!

Things are looking desperate in the centre-I twice had to put my Commander in to stem what the Military call,"a rearwards advance" In this shot the Elephants have broken through my Princepes' line,but I am holding on the flank against a determined cavalry attack-woe is me!!!

Here it comes!!-the anticipated Numidian assault,with Elephants in close support-I only managed to get rid of one unit of Elephants,and now the other unit is about to make me suffer-double woe is me!!

OUCH!!!-note the Numidian light infantry following up,ready to give me some more grief from their javelins.
So,let's summarise what is going on-My right is under unbearable pressure,my centre has disappeared(!) my left is in tatters,and to add insult to injury,two of the towers have been "torched!!)-oh dear me,what to do,what to do!

What a bloody mess!! hardly a Roman in sight who can fight back with any chance of winning!!

A final photo of my only success of the night-my Triarii are standing firm against the whole of the known world it seems!!
This was a thrilling and exciting game,full of action and movement from move number one-well done Paul (aka OEG-one eyed git!!)
Roll on Sunday,Brian will be with us,and he has requested another Ancients game,however if I can't get over this defeat,it may be something different!!

Boer War at Charlie's

Last night I went to Charlie Wesencraft's club to play a Boer War game,as his club was trying out their Colonial Rules in that setting.
Six of us were British,playing against an "Umpire"(Mike,who did a stirling job,despite the efforts of the rest of us!!) who controlled the Boers and the game.

This shot shows(from left to right) Mike,Mel,Ron, and of course Charlie,setting out the figures and terrain.The scenario was that the Boers were "dug-in" on the hills,overlooking the road to Ladysmith,and the British had to attack their trench lines-simple!!!

I was allocated these troops to command-two cavalry lancer units,one mounted infantry unit and a regular infantry company.My position was on the left flank,and my orders,from the CinC Bruce,were to attack and take the Boer right flank trenches and then "roll-up" the Boer positions-obviously I would be getting help and support from the rest of the army-although my command was small,it turned out to be very Potent!!!

Although the Rules(devised by Mike) and alternate moves system was strange to me,I quickly got into the swing of things-these two shots show the game starting,and the Boers shooting at Charlie's gun battery-Charlie took "umbridge" at this and shot back with every thing in his command!!!-unfortunately with no effect.

This shows Mike,in full "umpire" mode,shooting at the British with impunity,and inflicting more casualties than we were giving the Boers!-this calls for a cavalry charge-against entrenched "crack shots",surely not!!!!

Before the game started I had to throw a dice to determine my "character" and I threw a five which denoted a "death or glory" officer-this turned out to be true,as  I gained both death and glory!!

I had to leave at 9.30(why is this bloody computer printing in Italics?) but left the game in full swing-I am told by Charlie that the British eventually won and drove the Boers from their positions-hurrah!!
This was an interesting game,and a big thank-you to all of Charlie's members,including Dave,who for some unexplained reason doesn't appear in any of the photo's.