On the 24th June 2013,our old mate and fellow wargamer Tommy Mclelland died,and I promised his daughter that every year,as close to the 24th as possible,we would hold a game in his memory-last night was Tommy's game.
I chose an English Civil War game,and with 4 of us present,we chose sides and away we went!
I was Essex,Brian was Charles,Graham was Cromwell,and Paul was Rupert.
I had instructed everyone to observe the troops they commanded,formulate a proper plan,move their troops to their positions,and way we would go!!-the only exception to this was Brian/Charles command who could be in position,within the town,to start the game.
My attack on the town(and the King!) commences-I noticed that Brian's support troops were very close to his front line troops,and gambled that if I could get him to melee,and beat him,His supports would be "compromised"-this actually worked(there's always a first for everything!)
We have all wargamed together for hundreds of years,and you get to know what some people will do when faced with a certain situation and certain troop types-Graham will always attempt to charge as soon as possible,when commanding Cavalry,and this he did last night!!-two things resulted:-1) he stopped Paul in his tracks-hurrah!
2) he lost his cavalry!!!-not hurrah!
But the main result was that the whole centre was held up and no infantry actually got into melee or a fire-fight!!!
Meanwhile,back in the town,I have instigated a "push of pike",and won the ensuing melee,pushing Brian back on his support troops-hurrah!!
Back in the centre,the cavalry "slugfest" is still going on,and on and on!!!!
In the town,things a looking desperate!-Brian now unleashed his elite cavalry across the stream and bridge-was this the master stroke,was he going to roll Graham's flank up??-NO!! he turned them a against my advancing infantry and cavalry!!-a furious melee developed,but that gave Graham time to bring his "Ironsides" troopers onto Brian's flank-hurrah,again!!
That says it all!!-what do you mean,you've lost your cavalry??-they're not lost-I know where they are-lying in heaps in front of your un-used infantry!!!!-Paul appears to have gone AWOL!!
One last shot(which is more than the Infantry did!!) showing the centre.Brian had capitulated in the town(well,they can't touch you for it!),and as that was the whole objective of the game,the Parliamentarians were declared the winners!!
This was another good game,full of banter,colour and foul language!
Roll on next Sunday,probably a Dervish game,incorporating Brian's newly painted Medical vignette,and his newly painted commanders!
Not feeling too grand today,so will make this blog shortish!
Graham,Brian and I played this Greek vs Greek game last night,which resulted in a resounding defeat for the Spartans(ME!!)
Scenario and table lay-out,I was Spartans,Graham was Thebans and Plateans,whilst Brian was Athenians.
Attack and counter-attack across the stream!!
Top photo shows the struggle in the centre,bottom photo shows the struggle on the Spartan right flank(including a cavalry battle!)
My Corinthian allies retiring(it's good being retired!!)-an omen of doom!
Fragmented lines in the centre and right flank-methinks it's all over!!
All is lost for the Spartan cause!!
Despite the brevity of this blog,this was a good game(lasting 13 moves!) and my brilliant plan was thwarted by some terrible dice throws-there's always a next time!!
roll on next Sunday.
As there will be only three of us on Sunday,I thought I would put on a simple "kick and rush" Ancients game,featuring Spartans and Athenians and their respective Allies.
Scenario,with in-built objectives!-there will be one Spartan commander,and two Athenian commanders(to be picked on the night).
The table as Graham and Brian will see it on Sunday night.-Spartans on the left,and Athenians on the right.
Spartan allies facing Athenian allies across the Lokis stream.
The Spartan army,split into two distinct sections due to terrain features.
Two views of the Athenian column "snaking" its way towards the far hill.
The Spartan King and his bodyguard-with your shield or on it,old chap!!
Roll on Sunday!!
Being retired(I don't know if I've mentioned that I'm retired before!) gives you a fair bit of spare time to "fanny about",doing little jobs that you've been promising to do for a long time,but never got round to it.Well,most of my "fannying about" takes place in my garage(aka club room!) and this week I've managed to take "fannying about" to a higher level...................
First job was refreshing my ancient old stream sections,that I must have had for well over twenty years-they are made of plaster but have stood the test of time and hundreds of battles!
I re-painted the sections,and re-flocked(?) them,and they will now stand the test of time and hundreds of battles for another twenty years.
Second job-refresh and re-paint our measuring sticks-good old permanent markers!!-actually quite time consuming,but it needed doing!
I bought these three buildings- from a guy in Falkirk,and after a bit of "haggling"(I always thought that was a baby Haggis-but apparently not!!) knocked the price down to 30 pounds(English money!)
I had to make new roofs for all of them,as the originals didn't fit properly,and added a dome to one of them,and with some twigs from my garden,made a lean-to roof for one of them!-busy,busy,busy!(the dome is a plastic soap powder scoop,minus the handle)
Fourth job-basing some plastic "foliage" bought at Pound Shop(don't ask how much!!)-this foliage will appear on most of our games in the near future-promise!!
I don't know how I found time to go to work!!!
This blog is a "tad" late due to Grand-parenting Duties!!! and gardening.
Last night saw us play this very interesting Marlburian game...........................
This is what made this game interesting-Paul was French,Dave was Bavarian,Brian was Provincials.whilst I was British and Graham was Dutch-we set up as per the scenario......
Top photo shows the British and Dutch set-up,bottom shows the French,Bavarian and provincial set-up-and yes there were a "few" troops on the board!!
Top photo shows the action between the British and French,middle photo shows the Dutch against the Provincials,and the bottom photo shows the British vs the Bavarians in the centre.
This was all nail-biting and intense stuff,and nobody had the upper hand-grand wargaming!!
In this shot Graham's Dutch are getting the better of Brian's Provincial troops,and putting the whole flank in peril(after getting his Cavalry Brigadier killed!!!) but a few of his regiments were suffering,and Dave was advancing to support Brian's flank.
Paul and I were having a right old "ding-dong" of a fight on our flank,eventually we had both fought each other to a virtual stand-still!!!
Dave and I were battling it out in the centre,when he unleashed his Bavarian Cuirassiers against my Grenadiers-this did cause a bit of a "stir" but we decided to agree to dis-agree about the tactics,and he drove my Grenadiers away,but his Cuirassiers were then hit by my cavalry,in the flank!!-wonderful stuff,but,at the end of the night,we really couldn't decide who had won,so we decided on a draw!!!
Paul and Dave are off to Belgium,to visit the battlefield of Waterloo, next Sunday,and it is my Son's wedding anniversary on Sunday,so we might not be playing,but we'll see!!
Last night we fought a "what if?" scenario,featuring the initial invasion of Zululand via the crossing at Rorke's Drift,and what another grand game it turned out to be!
Top photo is the scenario,bottom is the map taken from Ian Knight's Rorke's Drift book.
Dave,Brian and I were the Zulu commanders,whilst Paul and Graham were in charge of the British and allies.
This shows the table(minus the Zulu army!) with the NNC and allied horse crossing on both flanks,the British camp is in the process of being established in the centre-what a peaceful scene!
OMG!! where did they come from?? As Dave,commanding the right horn,and Brian,commanding the left horn,advance ,my centre regiments come onto the board-29 regiments so far,with a further 8 regiments in reserve,if we need them-things are looking black(no pun intended!) for the British.Both Graham and Paul needed to consolidate their positions-and quickly!!
My attack on the camp develops nicely,but a couple of well-aimed artillery shots,from Graham's batteries,stopped one of my front line regiments,that,combined with Paul's volley fire,almost stopped the whole attack!!!But what of the horn attacks?????
Top photo shows Dave's regiments moving towards the river bank,but he encountered a bit of resistance from Paul's NNC,which held him up a bit-bottom photo shows Brian's regiments forming up to charge Graham's British-he also set his NNC on the Zulu,which also held Brian up for a while too!!
The camp is well and truly under pressure now! and both flanks are also under so much pressure,that,if they were a bunch of grapes,they would have been wine by now!!!
Without drink even being involved,Paul for some inexplicable reason sent two companies of the 24th into an abandoned kraal,and was assailed by 4 of my regiments!!-what followed was the stuff of legends and "last stands",but eventually both companies were wiped out!!!!-in the background you can see Dave's regiments have crossed the river and are attacking the troops on the hill.
Brian has pushed Graham's troops back into the river,and,despite an heroic effort,the flank was lost-hurrah!!
Dave is "washing " his spears in British blood! and Paul's command has collapsed-another hurrah!!
One last shot-the flanks have gone and the camp is in Zulu hands-all is lost,and with cries of "back to the mission station boys!" the British have lost-back to the "drawing board" should really be the cry!!
Another exciting game,full of tension,colour and jolly banter-roll on next week,we haven't had a Horse and Musket game for a while,so you never know!!
