Preview game for Sunday 2.12.2018-Colonial.

We are putting on a Colonial game,based in the Sudan,on Sunday,and I thought a couple of photo's might get us in the mood!!

Top photo is the scenario,and bottom photo is the table from the Anglo/Egyptian side.

The table from the Dervish/Haddendowah side-we will pick sides on the night,hopefully there will be 5 of us-3 Dervish/Haddendowah, and 2 Anglo/Egyptian commanders.

The "hapless" look-out,upon whom the playability of the game depends!!!!
Roll on Sunday.

Battleground Show Report 2018.

On Saturday we packed our passports and headed south to Stockton to take in the ever-green Battleground show presented by Pendraken ( Leon and his family). As usual this was a great show,very well organised,friendly and full of good games and masses of traders-what more could wargamers possibly want??
We all enjoyed the show,and the traders I talked to had all done well,the demo games were of a very high quality,so well done to them(and us!!)-I will let the photographs do the talking(well,most of it!)

Our game.Chris and Paul discuss tactics as the "punters" start to come in-the Bring and Buy was just behind us and was kept busy all day.
In the bottom photo the Russians have just broken through the German lines-we make it a rule that we always talk to anyone who comes near our table,and we talked alot on Saturday!!

Bring and Buy table's doing well-spend,spend,spend-and we did!!!

Interesting games galore-lots of hand-outs available,which is always good to see,and most(but not all!) gamers took time to explain their games and rules to interested people.

A very well presented game -Battle of the Bulge-HOWEVER,out of courtesy,I asked if they minded me taking a photo of their game-and the guy turned his back on me,and looked the other way-this game was the only one I photographed that this happened though!!!

Great games featuring an awful lot of thought and work.I think every taste was catered for-Napoleonic,ships,WW2, ancients etc.etc.-marvellous stuff-if you haven't been to this show,it really is worth a visit.

This shows the Last Valley stall-we spent quite a bit with him at Fiasco and probably the same at Battleground-note the "denuded" shelves!!-come on Andy!!!

Love the hats guys-it all adds to the flavour,and entertainment of their game,and shows what a good demo game should be.
Roll on next year!

Battle of Cheriton 1644

One word could describe last night's game_MARVELLOUS!!-it fell to the "fab four" of Graham,Brian,Paul and myself to fight this tense,nail-biting cracking game,as Dave couldn't make it.

Map,scenario and table before any movement-I was Hopton,Brian was Forth for the Royalists,whilst Graham was Balfour and Paul was Haselrigg for the Parliamentarians.

We're off!! despite the threat of my  battery on their flank,Graham's cavalry advance through the open woods!!

With my two batteries causing lots of casualties against Graham's cavalry and advancing infantry,things were looking good!!!(too good?)
Meanwhile,Brian and Paul were standing in their original positions-observing each other-although Paul's battery on the centre ridge was doing a bit of damage to Brian's infantry.

In this shot,I have advanced my cavalry against Graham's,and a ferocious battle developed over the next few moves-thrilling stuff!!

Paul and Brian were still content to let their infantry "observe" each other,but Paul is moving a regiment of cavalry over the river-sneaky devil!!-Brian moved a regiment to cover that move,but probably,in hindsight,(always a great thing!) it would have been better to use his ,now, numerical advantage and attack Paul's remaining cavalry!!

The two cavalry units facing each other across the river-who will react first??

Back on my flank,Graham is "ramping up" the pressure and is sending more and more troops through the woods,and is even moving an infantry regiment to capture my battery in"gunners Castle"-this is wargaming at its best!!

At last!! both infantries are now taking part-Paul's earlier success against Brian's with his guns would tell when "push" came to "shove"-in the foreground you can see Graham has sent a regiment against my other gun position and has carried it,but I am counter-attacking him-bloody marvellous gaming!!

My battery in "Gunners Castle" has been taken,and,even though my cavalry are giving Graham's cavalry a lesson in fighting(!) my hold on the flank is tenuous to say the least!

Brian's cavalry are beating Paul's cavalry on the ridge and across the river,but his infantry are taking a right old beating in the centre-perhaps it's time for an ordered withdrawal???

It was decided that the Parliamentarians had won the day,but that,with the troops we had left,we could withdraw,to fight another day!
This was a great game,with highs and lows for both sides,but wargaming was the real victor-well done to us all.
Roll on Saturday,when we will be at Stockton "Battleground" show.

US cavalry Out-post 1876.

I consider myself to be "mean" but "enterprising"-so when I decided that I needed a cavalry out-post for my new Plains Indians War US cavalry,and I certainly couldn't afford to buy one,I had to go into "make do and mend" mode.
I had bought a walled field at Falkirk a couple of years ago,and thought that it was the right size for my project-it turned out to be perfect..........................

This is it-two openings,so one would be used for the gateway,but what of the other one??

Well,the hut I built a couple of weeks ago,had a chimney which fitted exactly into the opening!
What next?

A palisade made from lengths of bamboo table mat,stuck onto cardboard!(and carefully measured)
On to the next thing-duck boards or firing platforms....................

No sooner said than done!-card measured carefully,and reinforced in the corners and middle,in case any figures put on them bent the card(who's a clever boy then??)

"F" troop,defending the finished out-post(although I might "brown wash" the duck boards tonight!)

A "bird's eye view" of the finished article,any comments???

Game preview for Sunday 18th November.

I am not a great fan of re-fighting actual battles,for the obvious reason that most players will know the outcome,mistakes,tactical blunders etc.etc. but on Sunday I have decided to re-fight the battle of Cheriton 1644-English Civil War. because it is not so well known as the major battles.

Scenario and terrain map.

The table as the "boys" will see it on Sunday-Royalists on the left,Parliamentarians on the right.

"Gunners Castle" on the Royalist's left flank-although the position wasn't actually a Castle,I have shown it as such to prevent any cavalry attacks on it!!

The table from the Parliamentarian's right flank,showing the "open" woods.
We will pick sides on the night,and a full report should be "blogged" on Monday-looking forward to it!!

WW2 game test.

We had another trial run-through of our game for Stockton on the 24th last night,so no photo's and I wasn't feeling 100% either due to another flare up of Diverticulitus anyway!!
The game went well,and the "lads" seem to think that we have everything covered for a  good demonstration game-we will,of course, be hoping anyone interested will come along and ask questions,and even be drawn into throwing a few dice(??)
If I feel ok we will be playing next Sunday-probably E.C.W. but who knows??

WW2 game-rules test.

Last night we had a WW2 game to test our rules,prior to putting on a game at Stockton on the 24th November. I came up with the scenario and terrain,whilst Dave organised the figures and tanks etc.

Top photo is the scenario,bottom is the table before any American troops are put on it!
It all looks very peaceful-there's even a steam train...................

Carrying "broken" tanks into the town to be fixed!
Brian and Paul commanded the Americans,whilst Dave and Graham commanded the Germans.

The American troops advance-I had envisaged a rapid advance by the infantry,supported by the tanks-however my lack of knowledge of the period was put into perspective by "the lads",and a slow and cautious advance commenced!!-surely they would get shot to bits??

This shows Brian's advance being stopped by a most ferocious "gas attack"-nothing to do with the game-just a "gas attack"-we all suffered!!!!!
Paul is moving his command over the bridge,and across the stream,which prompted the German tanks to start moving-hurrah!

Paul's advance is well under way,and although he met stiff opposition from Dave's troops in the woods,he managed to keep going-what of Brian??

He has managed to knock out the FOP, and is occupying the railway bridge,and taking on the Germans in the field opposite-another hurrah!!-But,and it's a big but, the German tanks are now in a position to fire!

This shows the magnificent defence being put up by Dave-and is "hammering" the Americans crossing the open ground.At this point in the game the American Generals(?) seemed to have lost total control of their dice throwing just as the German generals gained total control of theirs!!!

A moment to reflect,by the Americans,whilst the German tanks rumble onwards.

Brian is sending his second wave into the fray-they look awfully "bunched up" to me-but what do I know??-I hope Graham doesn't throw some good dice,and knock the hell out of them.......

Oh dear-he did!!-and in the background Dave is doing the same to Paul's tanks and infantry!
All is lost and the raid has failed!
The lads seemed to enjoy the game,but to me it looks too easy to knock out a tank-maybe our universal use of "average" dice should be changed to "normal" dice(????)
Roll on next week,when we will be running through out proposed Stockton game!
A big "Happy Birthday" to Paul who was 63 years young last night-pity you couldn't celebrate your special day with a win-but there's always next week.