Game preview for Sunday 4th February 2018.

Variety certainly is the spice of life in my Wargames World,and to this end I have decided that the game we are playing on Sunday will be a French/Indian War conflict(even though I haven't got all the correct figures-imagination also plays a big part in my life!!)

This is the scenario(the name of the fort is a "Trumpism!"which he used to describe certain African and Asian countries!!)

This is how the "boys" will see the table when they arrive on Sunday-British infantry and Rangers on the left,French and Indians on the right.

Indians lurking in the woods,opposite the British artillery and HQ.

The British infantry,all lined up and raring to go!!

Rangers lurking in the woods,opposite the Indian camp-can anyone spot a bear?

The Indian camp(I know,I know,they didn't have Teepees-but it looks good!!)

OH NO!-IT'S THE WIFE!!!!!!!!
Roll on Sunday.

Battle of Bairen,Spain 1097AD.

It is now the end of January,and our thoughts are turning towards "Carronade" on the 11th May!! so we thought we had better do some planning and give some thought as to what kind of game we are going to put as a demonstration.
We pondered long and hard last week,and decided to give our "El Cid" figures a run out this week to try to see what a game would look like and translate onto the games table,and we came up with this lesser known battle from the period-Bairen!!

Top photo is the scenario,bottom is the table before any movement-Graham and Dave were the Spanish commanders,Brian,Paul and I were the Moors-I "assumed" that everyone had read the scenario,but Graham,who was in charge of the Spanish left flank,hadn't,and was "gobsmacked" when Paul's fleet opened a volley of arrows upon him!!!-oh how we laughed!

The "aforementioned" fleet,ready to inflict casualties on any Knight that strays into their field of fire!!

Before waiting for the result of the cavalry battles,about to take place on both flanks,the Spanish "square" moves forward,against the resolute and static Moorish square-a grand sight!

Top photo shows the cavalry clashing on the Moor's right,commanded by Paul,and the bottom one shows the cavalry clash on the Moor's left,commanded by Brian-the camels are causing a bit of confusion in the Spanish ranks-hurrah!!(not 100% historically accurate,but they look good!!)

Now it's the turn of the Infantry to get stuck in!-Graham has charged into my Square,and all hell has broken loose!!

Confusion!!-Infantry and cavalry locked in battle,units retiring(fleeing!) arrows still being shot from the ships-great stuff,and great wargaming.

The other flank looks worse!! but Paul is slowly getting the upper hand,but my square is looking "shaky" to say the least-this is going to be tight.

Brian's flank has collapsed,my square has collapsed,and even though Paul is dominating his flank and shoreline,we had to concede and call it a Spanish win!-what a game,and well done lads,I think we might just take this game to Falkirk.
Roll on next Sunday,could be a Marlburian game,but who knows??

Battle of Leignitz 1241.

We re-fought this battle involving Mongols and an alliance of Polish/Teutonics/Lithuanians,last night,and I think it gave the "lads" something to ponder on!!!!

The scenario.Paul and I were the Mongol commanders,whilst Dave and Graham were in charge(?) of the Alliance troops.

For the first two moves the Alliance knights trundled forward,being shot at by the Vanguard archers,as well as being peppered on the flanks by light archers!!-very dis-concerting for the Alliance commanders-then!!!! the first of the Mongol "dirty tricks"-a smoke screen was raised on both flanks,preventing the Alliance second line from moving forward!-The Teutonic knights were in full melee with the Mongol second line,and were being "chewed up"-hurrah!!

Despite some minor successes,the Alliance front line is being driven back,through the smoke,into the second line,disrupting it and preventing any movement,meanwhile the Mongol horse archers are still "peppering" the flanks,and sending the allied infantry running for their lives!!-great stuff(if you're Mongol!)

This shot is taken from behind the Alliance lines,showing the chaos that the smoke and archers are causing,as well as the fleeing Teutonic knights!!

This is Dave's left flank,showing his infantry under considerable pressure,his Teutonics are about to crash through Graham's second line of knights-Graham was not a "happy bunny!"

The mongol "medium" lance armed cavalry are reforming,ready to attack the flanks of the Alliance second line,as the Mongol Heavy cavalry advance to take advantage of the chaos in front of them!-basically, correct Mongol tactics on the day!!

As the heavies clash into the second line Alliance troops,the earlier casualties caused by the horse archers are effecting their ability to fight on equal terms,and all melees were lost-hurrah again!
With the encircling tactic coming into play,the Alliance commanders held their hands up and admitted defeat-all historically correct,and a good re-fight-well done to us all.
It was clear that,if we are to embrace this new period,we must all do some research into period types and tactics,weapon capabilities etc. etc. and I'm sure we will.
Roll on next Sunday.

The Bunker!

If you had some spare time on a snowy afternoon,why wouldn't you make a Bunker for a period you had no real interest in??
Well,last year I bought a car emergency/safety/flashing "thingy" with 7 different settings: Last night whilst "fannying about" in the garage I had a thought that one of the settings could easily simulate machine gun fire for our WW2 games-and so a project was born!!!

This is the "thingy" caught in mid flash-it circulates the whole thing and is very effective,now onto the Bunker making.

I decided on the size of the Bunker(120mm square and 60mm high-ignore the roof measurements they are rubbish!),marked the sides out on some white foam board,and then cut them carefully with a stanley knife.

The larger apertures,I thought, would do for anti-tank guns and the smaller ones for machine guns.

Having had difficulty before trying to paint foam-board,I decided to cover the bunker with some Doll's house brick wallpaper-and to my surprise,the piece I had fitted the pieces of the bunker and the roof exactly!!

Exact fit(pure luck!)

I then laid the pieces onto the back of the paper,drew around the shapes,ready to carefully,with a stanley knife, cut out the apertures.-once that was done I had to stick the paper onto the pieces.

Using PVA glue the job was done in no time,and set really quickly.

I then made a base board out of some old hardboard that was lying about the garage,using internal measurements,by which time the glue had set and I was ready to try the "first fitting" of the pieces.

As you can see I used UHU glue to stick the pieces,and it worked a treat. A bit of "adjustment was necessary,but I had allowed a bit of overlap on the wallpaper,so not too much of a drama!

Pop the roof on,and the job is nearly done.

Finished article,with all bare bits covered with wallpaper-doesn't look too bad to me!

Bunker in action,lit up by the "thingy" oh,bugger,bugger,bugger,I've just realised that the bloody thing hasn't got a door!!!!!!-well,I'm not tearing it apart to cut a doorway-we'll just have to use our imagination!

Club Painting Update/Health Warning!!

As I am near to "death's door" with a most horrid cold(can't be flu because I've had the jab!) and can't be bothered to do much at the moment,I thought I would update what we are doing at the moment,as far as painting etc. goes.

I finished these two Mameluke,and two Saracen units before I started to drown in a "tsunami" of mucus!!-I have one more unit of horse archers to finish,and then it's" look out you Crusaders!"

Graham has been painting furiously over the past few weeks-these are his Perry Napoleonic Hanoverians and Dutch/Belgians-nice job,but when are we going to see them on the board??
The figures are a mixture of plastics and metals(the cavalry are plastics I think!) and hopefully he will be liaising with Dave to set up a game soon.

I got these paints as a gift at Xmas,and I have used them to paint my Roman Warship,and a unit of Saracen horse archers,and I am impressed by the quality/coverability(?) at £7.50 for twelve colours you can't be robbed!!
Well, I'm off to dose myself up with a new medicine I have discovered,called "Captain Morgan's cold and chesty cough lincture"-a bit of a mouthful,but good for the soul!!
Roll on Sunday,we'll be playing the battle of Leignitz 1241-Russians/Poles/Lithuanians vs Mongols.

Battle for Aquitane 1178.

Last night we had a most interesting and colourful encounter between Normans and Crusader-types,ie "elasticating" time! but very enjoyable nevertheless.

Top photo is the scenario,bottom is the table before any movement-Dave and Graham were in charge of the Normans,whilst Brian and Paul commanded the "Crusaders".
Despite the two heaters going full blast,the "snowy terrain" etc. gives an impression of cold!!

The Normans are moving quickly and aggressively against Brian's flank,whilst Graham is taking his time against Paul,who is cunningly moving troops around and through the village,hoping to get Graham in the flank!

Graham is hoping(in vain!) that a unit of crossbowmen will stop the heavy infantry moving through the village,meanwhile on Dave vs Brian's flank.............................

A mass melee is taking place,with neither side giving or asking quarter!-in this game a record 19 officers were killed!(well that's what you get for fighting in the front line!!!
In the background you can see the infantry approaching one another-this is going to be interesting.

It was!!-Brian has added some Knights into the calculation(just to spice things up a bit!) and the melee swayed back and forth for some time-great stuff!
On the far flank,Graham and Paul are still not in contact,but it won't be long!!!

Paul is still hanging back until his "village people" are in a position to affect the flank-you can just see the infantry approaching the flank,and being followed by two units of cavalry.

Who could ask for more action on a wargames table???
Paul and Graham have eventually clashed and Graham is being beaten,however his infantry is pushing Paul's infantry back,but Dave is saving the day by advancing his infantry against Brian's Cavalry-I'm worn out!!!!
Brian's flank eventually collapsed,and Dave was victorious,but Graham 's flank was about to collapse too!!wonderful wargaming,but who would be crowned the Victor??

A last ditch attempt by Brian to save his flank was thwarted by a combination of cavalry and light infantry,and that was the end of the game!-The Crusader's objective wasn't achieved,but they had given the Normans a right old "bloody nose"-great game and well played lads-roll on next Sunday,very likely Mongols vs Russians.