This is going to be a brief report!
Graham,Dave,Paul and I set off,in pouring rain,sleet and snow,and got to Leeds just after the event opened-it was free entry as an homage to one of the organiser's members who had died,and we were asked to donate any amount to charity on his behalf-a nice touch I thought!
We made a "bee-line" to the Last Valley stall,and bought up most of his stock in the first 10 minutes!!! we then did the usual "tour" of the hall,looking for good games and traders-traders were there in plenty,selling all manner of wargaming goodies,but alas good games on display were few and far between-a couple stood out,but in the main the majority were not to our taste,well,Emu Wars is not my favourite anyway,nor is Sci-Fi,but I suppose it's horses for courses!!
The venue was dark,and I struggled to see alot of the items on offer from the traders who were backed against the walls-the ceiling was painted(?) black which didn't help!!
After a cup of coffee,from an inundated catering service,we did another "tour" of the hall,and decided to come home!!!-Did we get what we came for?-Yes,did we enjoy the show?-No!
The organisers of these events work damned hard to get traders and punters to attend,hand-outs printed,catering organised etc. etc. but personally I felt let down on this occasion,and wouldn't attend again-we were back in Newcastle by 2.00pm!
There was no "bring and buy" section either,which was another disappointment-moan,moan,moan!!(typical old git!!)
This was a superbly presented game-good terrain,lovely figures and info. galore-the way it should be!
Paul and Dave in a spending frenzy!!-Last Valley stand.
Three shots of the hall-the flash makes it look much lighter than it really was!!
A fantastic WW2 game staged in the entrance hall-everything a good demo game should be-and the players talked to us and shared their knowledge of terrain building,painting etc.
Roll on next Sunday-I am writing the scenario and setting up the terrain,whilst the rest of "the lads" will be providing figures,tanks etc. for a WW2 battle.
Another 100% turnout last night for this very interesting game/battle
Top photo is the scenario,bottom is the table before any movement-Brian and Paul were the allies,whilst Dave,Graham and I were the French-all was set for a great game,full of little problems.
How about this for a study in concentration???-Dave is moving the out-flanking force into position,Paul is putting pressure on Graham(in the centre) and my Irish are just about holding on in the town(some good dice from Paul-again! saw my first regiment shot to bits and on the verge of retiring(it's good being retired!)
With the out-flankers in position and advancing,Brian is awaiting the onslaught!
In the centre Graham has suffered a set-back,and his first line is beginning to "waver",however on the town flank,Paul and I are just exchanging musket fire(although I am getting the worst of it!!!)
This shows the French centre,blasting away at the British-Graham has very kindly sent me a regiment,I didn't ask for it,and really didn't need it,but this weakened his second line,which would tell later on in the game!!!
Paul was quite content to tie my troops down in the town,whilst trying to break the French in the centre-how's Dave doing??
Very well,was the answer!!-with officers falling like "nine-pins" he is advancing and giving Brian's Austrians a hard time-the cavalry battle in the middle centre is swinging back and forth-great stuff.
A general view of the game about move number 7-all action,and neither side has an overall advantage!
This shows the wide open space where the French first line should be!!!-they've all "legged it" back to Paris!!-however The British first line has also "retired" due to Graham killing their Colonel-a brigade morale test did the rest-hurrah!!
Coffee time,and this shot is taken from the British/Austrian side of the table,and clearly shows the advance of the out-flanking force giving the Austrians a hard time!-but Brian looks relaxed and chilled out!!-the centre is looking denuded of French troops,and the British look poised to strike the killing blow!
Look at these two-anybody would think they knew what they were doing!!!
One final photo,the Austrians are on the verge of collapse,and I am still holding the town(mainly because Paul is not attacking it!!),but the centre has gone-having said that,technically the french have won,because the Allies haven't achieved their objective!-hurrah!!!
This was another good game-each side had its problems to solve-well done to us all.
We won't be playing next Sunday-we are at "Fiasco" in Leeds.
We haven't had a "Horse and Musket" game for a while,so I thought we would do one on Sunday coming, and it would be a Marlburian game set around 1710.
If possible I like to set each side a realistic problem to solve,and this game revolves around the British trying to prevent an out-flanking move by the French,whilst attempting to out-flank the French via the town-simple?????
This is the scenario,I think I'll pick sides for this game,working on personalities!!!-should prove interesting!
A "bird's eye view " of the table,as the "boys" will see it as they arrive.
The game will start with two fire-fights already in progress,in the centre and in the town,this will ensure action from move number one!!
Top photo shows some of the Austrian troops in position,awaiting the French,bottom photo shows the French out-flanking troops marching to victory-or not!!!
Roll on Sunday.
Last night we had a 100% turnout for a trial run of the WW2 battle we are staging at Battleground,in Stockton on the 24th November.
Top photo is the scenario(which I produced for this game,but not necessarily for the show!)
Bottom photo is the table,as set out by Dave-figures and tanks etc. were provided by the rest of "the lads".
The game was to be a mass assault on the German lines-no less than 12 Russian tanks and platoons of infantry,facing AT guns,tanks and dug in infantry on the German side.Dave and Brian were the Russians whilst Graham and Paul were the Germans-I was sitting this one out,as my knowledge of the period is very limited!!
In this shot,the Russians are just about to breach the barbed wire defences,but are coming under tremendous fire from Paul's dug in infantry and AT guns,but the main damage was to be from a weapon called a "panzerfaust" and a string of lucky dice throws from Paul(what a change that is-NOT!!)
A "hit" tank burns nicely,keeping the sheltered infantry warm,but exposing them to machine gun fire from the Germans-they did not like it!!!
Brian's attack is just about to be "stalled" due to artillery fire,tank fire and Graham's support tanks(having just arrived on the table)-have the Russians any answer to this?????
Of course they have!!-a duo of tank buster planes duly arrived on the table to the most terrible expletives I've heard for a long time!!-These planes were,I have to say, spectacularly unsuccessful-but they looked good!
Through dogged determination(and weight of numbers!) Dave has breached the defences and is about to knock-out a machine gun position,but Brian is still being shot to bits by a combination of Paul and Graham's troops!
But is he down-hearted?-nooooooooooooooooooo!!
With all of his tanks knocked out,and his infantry pinned down,Brian's flank was going nowhere,surely his last plane can do some damage to the artillery pounding his troops(??)
Hurrah!! a hit,but the rest of the attack has stalled and the objective can not be achieved(ie the capture of the village) so a German victory was decided on!!
But is he down-hearted?-noooooooooooooooooo!!
This was a good game(if very confusing to me) and very visually pleasing to watch,and with a few refinements will look spectacular at Stockton-roll on November!
Next week we will be back to our "normal" games,but don't know what at the moment.
Last night we were in the heart of Medieval Russia,for this fine game-we also had a surprise visit from Graham's son,Richard,who we haven't seen for a couple of years!
Top photo is scenario,bottom is table before any movement.I was in charge of the Teutonics,Brian was in charge of the rest of the HRE troops on the right flank,opposing Paul,who commanded the Russian allies(Poles and Danes),whilst Richard and Graham commanded the Russians defending the city.
In the top photo my Knights are advancing on the Novgorod militia,whilst the Rusians are beginning their out-flanking manoeuvre-in the bottom photo,Brian is advancing on the Russian allies-colourful and exciting stuff!!
With a resounding "CRASH!" both flanks are now engaged-the Russian tactic seems to have been(historically) for the infantry to absorb the cavalry charge,then out-flank them-a bit like the Zulu "horns" tactic.
After the initial "crunch" the militia roughly handled my Teutonics,whilst the out-flanking move is progressing-this is not going to be easy!!
Due to a "technical error" I can't get any more photo's to upload!!
The game progressed to a point where both Brian and I were beaten decisively,and the capital city was saved from capture-this was a good game,full of banter and correct use of tactics for the period,pity about the lack of photo's!!!!
Roll on next week,when we will be running through the WW2 game we will be putting on at Battleground,Stockton on 24th November.
On Sunday,Brian revealed that he'd bought some 100 years war figures from "Old Glory",but when he opened the package,he discovered that they were too small(??) to blend in with his Perry figs. and that the right hand(sword arm) all had to be cut off a metal sprue,and glued onto the arm-after spending alot of time "making" his plastic archers and men-at-arms,he wasn't too pleased with them.So what does he do???-asked me to do them!!!
Well, I've managed to paint the first 18,and will start the other 12 tomorrow,but a few shots of the figures so far................................
A couple of shots of my painting pallet,groaning under the weight of the armoured knights/men-at-arms.
Two shots,in detail,of finished figures-those hand-painted shields took some doing!!(LIAR!)
I think they look ok,and will,I'm sure, fit in with the rest of Brian's Perry's!!
