Last night the "fab four" had this tremendous ECW game..........................
Top photo is scenario,bottom is the table before any movement-Dave was away in Manchester,so Paul and Graham were the Royalists,whilst Brian and I were the Parliamentarians.
Move number two,and true to form,Graham has launched his cavalry forward-I have moved my cavalry to try and catch him in the flank-his cavalry are too close to each other!
The infantry in the centre are being very cautious,and not moving too close to the opposition,letting the artillery do as much damage as possible before getting involved in a fire-fight.
Brian's Ironsides cavalry advance,with enough spacing not to get disordered in case of a push back in melee.
Both sides had reinforcements coming onto the table,at the throw of a dice,they could place them anywhere,but neither Paul or Brian used the far terrain ie the river and Liklok Hill!
By move number 7 all hell was let loose!! Graham was knocking my officers over like nine-pins,and I needed a cavalry win to try and out-flank him-terrific stuff,but what of Brian??
Well,if the truth were told,he wasn't doing very well!!In the background you can see Paul has moved a cavalry regiment forward to try and destroy Brian's artillery battery-surely a whiff of grape shot will stop them in their tracks(???)
Just look at the table!!-Brian has failed to stop Paul's cavalry from destroying his battery,and all of his cavalry are being slaughtered,his reinforcements have failed to make any impact,so,as usual, it's up to me to save the army!!!!
My idea of saving the army ended when most of my infantry decided to retire(it's good being retired!)-and Paul's reinforcements started to make their presence felt-it was now up to my cavalry-could they save the day and get us a draw??
Yeah!! with Graham's troops having fought themselves to a stand still my cavalry were able to ride rampant over the flank,so a draw was decided,and very fair too.
This was tremendously good game,and never one-sided-great stuff.
Roll on next Sunday,we will be running through our Rorke's Drift game for Falkirk.
As an historical note,the rhyme of Liklok Hill was written in the 17th century by a lady called Betty Swollocks(aka Mary Hinge).
There's quite a lot going on at the moment,various members doing various things,and "dabbling" in new periods etc. so I thought an up-date might be interesting(?)
Dave and Paul have sent another batch of Napoleonic figures off to Sri Lanka for painting,and have recently got a batch back and most of them based,here are some of Paul's British..........
Top photo is Rifles on skirmish bases,bottom is a brigade,including Scots, of line infantry-very nicely painted and presented,however,between Graham,Paul and Dave,they have more than enough to stage a massive Napoleonic game-but when????(come on Boys!)
I spent most of my life's savings and most of my pension,on buying river sections from Last Valley,and to be honest,I am disappointed !!-the sections are too small(length-wise) for my liking,and because I use a table covering in my games,the slightest "bump" or "ripple" in the table cover results in a most unsightly river imaginable!!-So,to remedy this,as can be seen from the above photo, I have stuck two and three sections onto card(even more expense!) and this has,up to a certain extent,solved the problem.I think the real problem lies in the fact that the sections are made of thin MDF-maybe thicker would be better,however if your board is perfectly flat,you probably won't have the same problem as I have!!
I needed(wanted?) some Lancers for early Sudanese campaigns,and Zulu battles,so I sent away to Warrior Miniatures,and they duly arrived in the usual double quick time,along with some infantry, I have painted the Lancers as the 16th (Queen's Own Red Jackets) as best as I could,and am quite pleased with the way they look.
Top photo shows my attempt at the "Black Watch" with kilts made from wine bottle foil!
Bottom photo shows,again my attempt at Marines(to complement Brian's Naval Brigade) both Infantry to go against Egyptians or Dervishers!
What I really wanted(needed?) was a unit of Heavy cavalry,but Warrior don't make such a figure-as if that was going to stop me!!!!!I sent for 12 Lancer figures,with a request for 12 or so broadswords from John Holt's Jacobite range,they arrived and a very simple and quick conversion job followed.........................
Top-Lancer as sold,middle-Lancer with lance snipped off,bottom-Lancer with sword stuck onto hand!!!-modelling and conversion at its very best!!!
Just waiting to be painted..........................
I am pleased with the finished result-now just watch out you "Fuzzy-Wuzzies!!"
Brian has just received a brigade of Egyptians from Perry Miniatures,which he will be bringing up on Sunday,for me to photograph,and I think that this may be the start of a larger army!
Dave has gone completely "beserk" and has bought an authentic antique (but de-activated) Martini Henry rifle c/w bayonet-it is awsome,and will be put on the blog next Sunday,when we will be running through our Rorke's Drift game for Falkirk.
Last night we fought this particularly enthralling battle,set in the desert around Damascus.
Top photo is scenario,bottom is the table before any movement-Brian held the Crusaders left flank,Graham the right,and I controlled(??) the catapults mounted on the city walls.
Dave held the Saracen left,whilst Paul held the right.
By move two,both cavalry flanks had advanced to contact,and a real tussle ensued,neither side gaining a real advantage-stirring stuff!
The infantry are about to make contact,whilst the cavalry are still hacking and slashing at each other-Dave looks too happy!!
Brian's flank! and things are not looking too good-Paul has made good use of his horse archers,and is running rings around Brian's crossbowmen(although exactly why they are cross I don't know!)Is that a smug look from Graham?
In the centre,the infantry are being split,by ferocious dice throwing by Graham,and poor from Brian,and the cavalry on Graham's flank is winning too-but not for long,as Dave started to throw high,and the Crusaders were thrust back-thrilling stuff,some one must crack soon-but who??
Both Crusader cavalry flanks are in trouble(wargaming term for getting slaughtered!!) and the centre is not doing too well either(also getting slaughtered!)
See what I mean?-at this point we decided that the Saracens had won the day,it must also be said that the catapults didn't exactly contribute alot to the game(ie they didn't hit a damned thing!!)
We all enjoyed the game though,so roll on next Sunday-probably ECW.
My next blog,mid-week,will be a club and painting update.
Seeing as my analyst says I'm completely perplexed and anxious about Brexit (by the way what is the Moorhouse B amendment??),he suggested that I do a game preview,so here goes......
Top photo is the very simple scenario,bottom photo is the table as the "boys" will see it on Sunday,as they arrive.
View from the Damascus battlements-note the two HUGE catapults!!
The Christian right flank(other religions are available!) made up of Teutonic knights.
The Saracen(Muslim) left flank-see, I told you other religions are available!-note horse archers to the front!
The Saracen centre c/w commander's tent on hill in the background.
The Christian centre-looking very much like Normans!(Holy Order Foot)
The Saracen right flank,including two units of Mamalukes!
The Christian left flank.
I am looking forward to this game,it's such a colourful and brutal period to fight,we will pick sides on the night(knight?)
Roll on Sunday-by the way,I have been told on very good authority,that we should all begin to stock-pile Sprouts and String-neither of which will be in plentiful supply after 29th March!!
Last night we had a full turnout for this exciting and different Colonial game-I put this game on to showcase Brian's newly painted(and what a grand job he made of them too!) Naval Brigade,who were given the main task of the night-did they do well?..........................
This is the scenario-Dave and I were the Egyptian commanders,whilst Brian commanded his Naval Brigade(naturally!) and Paul and Graham commanded the British column.
Brian's Navy Boys made short work of the Egyptian infantry unit supported by an artillery piece,which were placed in the stronghold!-at this point he must have been thinking,"well, this is going to be a walk in the park"-oh really??????
Up "popped" two units of locally recruited riflemen,and gave them hell-at this critical point his Gatling and Gardener gun both jammed-oh how he laughed!!!!-welcome to wargaming boys!!
On the other side of the table,Dave's gunners,obviously trained by Stevie Wonder,and Paul's gunners,obviously trained by Blind Pew,were blasting away at each other but doing no harm!
Graham had to listen to ,and react to, Brian's pitiful pleadings and tears for help,as his Naval Brigade(beautifully painted!) was being shot to bits-but what could he do??-well, he decided to send him a full brigade-was this a mistake???..........................
Here they come,all smart and properly uniformed,marching in nice files-what could possibly go wrong??
As the "relief" brigade formed into line,they suddenly started shooting-at what??
Well,the "wily" commander(moi!) on this flank unleashed his locally recruited tribesmen,onto the hapless British,and even taking huge casualties on the way in,managed to chop the Redcoats to bits-hurrah!!
On the other side of the table,Dave and Paul are battling it out with volley fire-Paul and his British are getting too close for my liking!-but Dave remained calm and cool(even in the desert?)
In the village,Dave is holding his own(!!!) but taking casualties from Graham's remaining gun.
In the background you can see a brown bit of "smoke"-this is the remains of the Rocket Battery that blew up on take off!!!-we laughed,they didn't!!
In desperation,Paul has charged Dave's infantry with his Lancers,and has managed to get into them,causing them a bit of bother!!
However,the British were in dis-array(to say the least) and the village still had not been captured,and we had inflicted enough casualties on them to prevent them continuing their march to Alexandria,so the Egyptians had won the day!!
Well done to Dave and I,I feel sure that the British "team" will have something to say about this report,but it is the victors that write history,and Blogs!!!
Roll on next week,don't know what we'll be playing yet.
