Battle of "Dos Pontos" Spain 1709.

Yet another stunning and exciting game was had last night,as the "Fab Four"(Graham couldn't attend as his Daughter had presented him with a fine 9lb Grandson that morning-congratulations to you all!) consisting of Dave,Paul,Brian and myself,fought tooth and nail in the depths of sunny Spain.

Top photo is the scenario,that the boys were given,and bottom photo is the initial troop layout.
Paul and Brian were the Spanish and Irish,but what they didn't know was that the waggon on the bridge was loaded with gunpowder,and the driver flicked a burning match backwards into the waggon,and blew the waggon and bridge to kingdom come!!!-oh how we laughed!!-however,Paul was up to the task and quickly re-wrote his battle plan,now that the Irish were effectively cut off from the rest of the army(it's good being sneaky!!)

BOOM!!-I think it's a credit to the way we play our games,that we can react quickly to changing circumstances,and Paul certainly did!!-he opted to attack my Austrians!!

Top photo shows the Irish and Austrians moving into position,whilst the bottom photo shows the manoeuvering in the centre-both Dave and Brian look confident(smug?).

With most of the troops in their allotted positions,let the battle begin!!

The whole table erupted in gun fire and volley fire-spectacular stuff-however,as usual, Dave and I threw low dice whilst Brian and Paul(in league with the devil!) threw high!!! but it's early days,and wargames don't always go the way you think they might!

On Dave's flank,the battle isn't going too badly,Brian managed to throw a string of awful dice,giving Dave a respite-hurrah!-there's an old adage in wargaming,that if you put a building on the table,some fool will occupy it!!-are those Spanish troops in there????

Paul's Irish have sent half of my Austrians "packing"-however,worse was to come....................

Paul unleashed his cavalry just as one of my British infantry regiments retired(it's god being retired!) caught them in the flank,and destroyed them!!!!hell,bloody hell!!!

In this shot,Brian and Dave have decided to get their cavalry involved-this was good news for Dave,who won all melees,and winning the flank-Brian had decided to abandon the farmhouse,and moved his troops towards the centre,where Dave was waiting for him!!

What a fire-fight!!-I have also recovered from Paul's devastating cavalry charge,and am now holding my own(now,now,now behave!!) but what of my poor old Austrians??

Well.they are recovering behind the tee line,awaiting orders to advance again-the Irish look to be in a bit of disorder too!!

Dave continued to push the Spanish cavalry back,so basically both flanks were secure,but in the centre neither side could claim victory,so a draw was declared-a fair result I think!
Well done lads,and roll on next Sunday-maybe an historical re-fight of Marathon??