Robbie's Regiments!

In a moment of complete madness,probably brought about by RUM, I said that I had a couple of ECW  Garrison Regiments,that Robbie Roddis could have for nothing!!!!-Because of this vile virus,I don't know when he can pick them up,but I thought I would post a few photographs of the said regiments,so that he could at least see what they are like...........................

Top-Royalists,bottom Parliamentarians-each regiment is 24 figures strong,and will,I'm sure need to be re-painted!!

Royalist pikes(don't tell him your name Pike!) front and back views.

Parliamentarian pikes(don't tell...........!.) front and back views.

Muskets and drummers.

Officers-quite a bit bigger than the rank and file!!
Hope you ,eventually, enjoy them Robbie.

Tommy's Game-Naseby 1645.

On the 24th June 2013,our good friend and fellow wargamer,Tommy McClelland died from cancer,and we promised his daughter that we would honour his memory,every year,as near to the date of his death as we could by having a wargame dedicated to him.Well,this year we couldn't have a club game,so I thought it would still be okay for me to have a solo game to remember this character of a man, and I picked the battle of Naseby 1645 (14th June)

My source material-it is such a well known battle,that I'm sure there's not many wargamers who haven't fought it!

Top photo shows historical dispositions,bottom photo shows my dispositions(using my 15mm figs.)

As Rupert's cavalry advance they are shot on by dis-mounted dragoons located behind the Sulby hedges-unfortunately very little damage was done!-On the other flank Cromwell's cavalry have advanced and contacted the Royalist cavalry stationed there.I fought this battle as a wargame and not a re-fight,hoping to reverse history.

Top shows the cavalry action on the Parliamentarians right flank-the units were getting fragmented,some wins,some losses!!-Meanwhile the infantry are getting closer-it must be said at this point that the artillery on both sided was ineffective to say the least!!-On the far flank,the Royalist cavalry are pushing the Parliamentarians back-as per history!

The infantry are at it!! as the cavalry still battle it out,push of pike is getting nearer and nearer!

Cromwell's cavalry are pushing the Royalist cavalry back,forcing the King to send infantry to guard his,now,vulnerable flank-on the other flank,Rupert's cavalry are suffering!!-this is not in the script!!

Top photo shows the plight of Rupert's  horse-bottom shows the long awaited push of pike-this was the highlight of the game,for me,neither side could claim a decisive victory,and the melee went on for three moves,swaying this way and that!

Eventually,the Parliamentarians started to win the infantry tussle and push the Royalists back.
On the far flank,one unit of Rupert's cavalry have thundered off the table looking for the baggage,leaving the other units to rout off the table!! on this flank Cromwell's cavalry have beaten their opponents,so both flanks are now secure,and the Royalist infantry are looking in dire straits(not the geordie group!)

Last two shots showing the state of the Royalists-leaving the field in panic-you can see the number of units that have left the table at the right hand edge of the playing mat!!
A well-deserved victory for the Parliamentarians,and a fitting game for Tommy!!
Although the game was tinged with sadness,I enjoyed it,and I'm sure Tommy would have enjoyed too.
As a club we've discussed the possibility of meeting up,after July 4th, observing social distancing and other guidelines(masks) to at least talk all things wargaming,show off what we've been painting and planning etc. but at the moment it's just in the "talking" stage,so watch this space!!

Hydaspes May 326BC.

WHAT A GAME!!-I refought the battle of the Hydaspes river,326BC on Monday,involving the armies of King Porus and Alexander the Great,and it was terrific!
I decided beforehand that I would "phase" the game,using minimal dice throwing,so that I could try and fully understand the genius of Alexander's tactics,and his ability to predict what Porus would do in response to them.

Phase 1. Macedonian RF cav. and inf. advance to skirmish with Indian LF troops,to try and lure them away from the Elephant screen.The phalanx would slowly advance,whilst the Mac. Lf stood.

Top shows the table before any movement,bottom shows Macedonian RF advancing against Indian RF-note superiority of Mac. cavalry.

Phase 2. Indian LF skirmish troops withdraw,and cavalry melee ensues.Porus sends his RF cavalry infront of the Elephant screen to support his out-numbered LF cavalry.

Top shows the cavalry melee,bottom shows the Indian cavalry sent to support.

This is an overall shot of the table at the end of phase 2.

Phase 3. Mac. LF cav move onto rear of Indian support cavalry,phalanx slowly advances,Indian centre stands and skirmishing breaks out from Mac. light troops.

Top shows the Macedonian LF cavalry attacking the Indian support-this caused the Indians to have to fight on two fronts,thus denying their Lf cavalry any real support-brilliant!
Bottom photo shows the table at the end of phase 3.

Phase 4. Indian cavalry is pushed back into the Elephant and Infantry line causing disorder and chaos! Phalanx moves to attack,whilst the Macedonian LF advances onto the Indian RF.

These two photo's show the Chaos and confusion caused by a massive cavalry melee-all the cavalry ended up in one big block-marvelous stuff!!

Top shows Elephants being skirmished with and attacked,bottom shows the overall picture at the end of phase 4.

Phase 5. Macedonian army is winning on all fronts and almost surrounding the Indians-total confusion in the Indian centre as the Elephants go berserk and inflict more casualties on their own troops as against the Macedonians!!

Two photo's of Elephants vs Hypaspists and Phalanx-the Phalanx got a bit "mashed up" but managed to eventually see them off-you can see in the background some of the Elephants retiring(it's good being retired!) into their own troops!!

This is the overall view of the table at the end of phase 5,and the end of the game.
I thoroughly enjoyed playing this game/re-fight.I used three sources of information to determine where to place the troops from each side-all very similar,but with a few variations-but that's history and why we love this hobby.

Osprey,Fuller and Arrian-sounds like a mid 70's "Pop" group!! with an illustration from the Osprey book-note that I have interpreted the brilliant cavalry manoeuvre as a move by the Macedonian LF cavalry,mainly because I reckoned that a ride of that proportion would have taken hours and the horses would be that "knackered" that they would not have been able to mount an effective attack on the Indians!(a theory supported by a couple of mid 19th century authors!)
How would the Romans fare against an Indian army,and why didn't the Romans invade India?
I'll have to have a game to find out,I think!!

Vikings and rediscovery!

Earlier this week I had a fun game pitting two Viking armies against each other.

Eric the Evil attacking the town of Trollheim,belonging to Brian the Blessed!

Brian's allies coming to help.

The attack on the town-I had the option of using "fire arrows" which were used,and you can see the result of a good volley of these arrows,on the Long House-this caused the defenders to be disordered!

Top photo shows Brian's allies giving the invaders a right old beating,whilst the bottom photo shows the rest of them having to fall back due to some good(lucky?) dice throws from the defenders-the "eagle-eyed" among you will have noticed that the fire has spread to another building,but this hasn't affected morale or fighting ability of Brian's troops.

The invaders are sent packing,and Brian's troops see them off!
This was meant to be a quick fun game,and it certainly was,lasting 7 moves,and involving melee,firing,morale tests and of course the fire arrow incident!!
A big thanks to everyone who phones me to find out if I'm ok,or need anything from the shops etc. and especially to Brian who keeps me amused almost daily with his calls and his own special "take" on the news!-Now I have a vivid imagination,and in my "mind's eye" this is how I envisage Brian's home in the lock-down....................................

All peace and tranquility-but where's Brian and his pet Unicorn who he calls "Robbie"?

Ah,there they are,Brian and "Robbie",like peas in a pod!!!!

What about the rediscovery part of this blog,I hear you ask-well,I was lying in bed the other night thinking about my Ancient Indian Army(as you do!) and it seemed to me that I had been neglecting it for years,but why?? I came up with the answer that it was because of the spears that most of the heavy infantry are holding.(you know the crappy bendy ones supplied with the figures)  I proceeded to take all the old spears off and replace them with wire ones,and the transformation was,to me,amazing!
I then started to look at the rest of the army,and was further amazed to see how large it was,and with a little bit of touching up(steady!!) and cleaning/repairing it was looking good.

Here it is,Elephants,chariots,cavalry,light and heavy infantry,as well as some mediums,and two units of topless maiden body guards!!

Detail of the left flank and right flank.

Detail of the centre-the army contains Mini-Figs,Irregular and Warrior  figures and possibly some other manufacturers as well as many old Airfix "baby" elephants.
Now that I have got them on the table,I might as well have a game with them,and which battle shouts out to be played??-HYDASPES 326 BC!!! King Porus against Alexander the Great,so next week I will attempt this epic battle.