Jacobite Uprising 1719. 4.4.13.

Last night,Brian,Paul and I had a go at the Jacobite Uprising of 1719,using my newly painted plastic Marlburian figures and a load of Scots I bought from Warrior Miniatures a while ago.Paul and Brian were the "English" and I was the Scots commander.

This is the Scots right flank,being held by a combination of Scots and Spanish troops.(Spain had decided to back the 1719 uprising for political ends,only a few troops actually landed on the Scottish shore,the rest being scattered by storms!)

This shows the main Scots line in all its glory.My plan was to hold off on my right flank and charge straight forward in the centre and on my left flank.

This is the "thin red line" of English soldiers,would they be able to withstand the famous Highland Charge??

This is my left flank,Dragoons and "Dogs of War",plus a clan,all raring to go,the dogs were pretty effective against the English Dragoons,however their fighting ability dropped off dramatically after the first round of melee,giving the English a chance of redeeming themselves.

Brian has advanced his troops against my right flank,but I have moved a couple of clans onto his flank,this was a good old tussle,and was "nippy-tucky" to the end!

My charge begins!despite heavy losses from cannister and muskets,I managed to get in among the English,and inflicted dreadful casualties on them.

Brian's troops are in a right old state,being pushed back,with a Clan about to assault their rear,his Dragoons being beaten by my "Gentlemen Volunteers",what could he do?

Paul was faring no better in the centre,my Clans are working their "Claymore Magic" and hacking him to pieces!!

The Dogs and Dragoons are pushing the English Dragoons back,the flank is won,the centre is crumbling,is it all over?

Brian's Dragoons have had enough,his Infantry are beaten,and I am almost in a position to surround him!!

The English are retiring!! The Scots are mopping up! what more can be said,a famous victory for the Jacobites.

The final photo,Brian's Dragoons being chased of the table,and his infantry surrounded.

This was a good game,quite interesting,in that I elected to use the "random Movement Dice " for the Scots,which proved very frustrating at times,but came good in the end!!

Both Paul and Brian will,I am sure, have something to say about this honest and truthful report!!!

Marlburian game.3.3.13.

We had a rare visit from Dave yesterday,who "popped in" for a Marlburian game.I had pre-picked the sides,and Brian commanded a contingent of French inf. and Bavarian cuirassiers,whilst I took the bulk of the Bavarian inf.,cav. and a gun battery. Dave was put in charge of a strange mix of Spanish and Danish troops .

The above photo is of the scenario,a straight "bash" if ever I saw one!!

This is the centre,with my Bavarians contesting a farm against the whole of the known world!!
 Dave had a good plan,to hold back on each flank and push forward in the centre.Brian was holding our right flank,and opted to occupy the hill with his gun and inf. and manoeuvre his cavalry to be able to support both his flank and the centre.

In this shot you can see Brian's gun firing on the Spanish,whilst a regiment of infantry have taken up a great position threatening any of Dave's troops that venture too close.Great move Brian,you just keep them there,they are in the best position imaginable.

Oh dear,the troops that were in the best position imaginable,have moved forward,I do hope Brian has seen the Cavalry "lurking" behind those rocks-surely he couldn't not have seen them?? Meanwhile his cavalry are moving forward to prevent Dave from moving forward and onto my flank.

This shot shows my left flank hill being pounded by artillery fire,however my morale was holding,and Dave didn't seem to want to instigate a fire-fight,so far so good,if only the centre can hold!!

Brian's cavalry are static at the moment but his infantry are pushing onwards in great style (Dave's cavalry are still "lurking") The infantry regiment with its flank against the rock is doing very well indeed,what a wonderful position for them!!

Oh no!!!!!!!!!!Brian has moved them forward away from the cover of the rocks,I hope Dave hasn't seen this move,even if he has,he's too much of a gentleman to charge them in the flank!!! Isn't he?

The answer was an emphatic NO !! and he charged them,and wiped them out.Dave had also pushed all of my infantry in the centre back,and my morale eventually broke on my left flank,although Brian's French infantry were still pushing forward,with cavalry roaming all over his position,the day was lost !!

It was good to see Dave for a game,and what a game,twists and turns,good and bad dice throws,tactical mistakes and recoveries,roll on Thursday night.

Greeks vs Persians 31.3..13

Troy and 300 were on the television last night,but for an Epic/Heroic Battle,Westerhope Wargames Group was the place to be!!

We picked sides,with Paul commanding the main hoplite army,whilst Richard was the Spartan commander. On the Persian side,Brian commanded the bulk of the infantry,and Graham commanded the elite infantry and the famous Immortals.Both sides were given objectives,ie. the Persians were to beat the Spartans,and capture a hill on the Hoplites flank,the Greeks just had to stop them!!

MMMMM,nice pose Graham!!
From move one both side seemed very keen to get to grips,here you can see the centres closing,and the cavalry on the far side of the table,moving ever closer to a conflict!!

Brian's outflanking column can be seen in this shot,Paul doesn't seem too worried though,he's got enough troops to hold this hill,and,what the Persians didn't know ,was that both Spartans and Hoplites were getting reinforcements on moves 2 and 3.

The cavalry battle is shown here,both sides had good and bad dice throws and mixed fortunes,with battle going both ways,absolutely nail biting stuff!!
Graham is sending his Immortals forward supported by his good infantry,Paul is sending his front-line Hoplites forward to block the gap on Richard's right flank,what a nice man he is!!

This shot shows the Spartans and Immortals charging into melee,Richard was deemed not to have ordered a direct charge and fought the first round at -1 on his dice,this was a disaster,and the Spartans were beaten along the whole line,however you can just see the reinforcements arriving,and Paul's reinforcements too,will they be able to stem the tide??

The answer,as can be seen in this photo,is NO!!!!! Spartans being pushed back, unheard of !! However Paul is on hand to help,and actually attacked the Persian King,and his elite body-guard,the man's mad !!

This is the centre,being contested by Brian and Paul,what a struggle this was,Paul being beaten by poor quality troops,holding his morale,getting back into the fray,counter charging again and again,with Brian putting more and more troops into the melees,marvellous stuff !!

Brian's axemen showing the Greeks their backs!! but his mercenary Greek infantry are on hand to shore up this flank,and attacked eventually,driving Paul's Hoplites back,and almost off the hill. If Paul had been selfish and moved his reinforcements towards his hill and not to protect Richards Spartans,the outcome would have been different !

The Greek centre is gone,the hill is taken,and the Spartans are being carried back to Sparta on their shields!The victorious Persian King (Graham) was seen to "Gloat"-Oh boy is that a bad thing to do in  our club, he'll suffer,believe me,he'll suffer!!

This was touch and go to almost  to the last dice throw,there couldn't be a better game than this,roll on next week.

As an aside,the Plug Bayonet I mentioned in the last blog sold for £400,and I successfully bid for an early 19th century Dragoon flint-lock pistol,shown in the following photograph.

Battle of Unter/Oberglau 18th century battle 27.3.13.

Before I write the report of the battle I had this morning against Brian,I would like to show 3 photo's of a Plug Bayonet,being sold on Thursday at the local Auction rooms.It is German made and dated around 1690,although there is an inscription on the scabbard of 1656.

The price is around the £300 mark-some lucky person will get a bit of real history.

Now to the battle we had this morning,the scenario was an Anglo- Danish force of 12 inf. 6 cav. and 3 guns,was attacking the twin villages of Unter and Ober glau,being held by a force of Irish and Bavarian troops,9 inf. 9 cav. and 2 guns.

The above shot shows the table lay-out,with the Danes and Irish to the right,you will notice a column of Danes about to cross the river and begin an attack on the village of Oberglau.

This shows the British contingent facing the Irish,on Brian's right flank,he opted for an all-out assault with these fine troops,but was "smote" mightily by the Irish.

This is my brave Irish troops,holding the Windmill hill,they had orders to "stand firm" and they did-all game!

Contact is made in the centre,if you look closely (not advised!) at Brian's face you can tell who got the better of this encounter! My Bavarians were superb,driving back all those who had the nerve to come up against them.Meanwhile Brian's column is making good progress in the background.

The British advance is beginning here,I have drawn one of my Irish regiments backwards to allow my cavalry to assault the gun pounding my troops,has Brian seen this crafty move??

I told Brian that I wouldn't include this very embarrassing photo,of him actually firing his gun at his own troops,however,for the sake of accuracy and fair play,I thought I would!!
On the left of the shot you can just see my cavalry starting their move to over-run the gun that was hitting my Irish,Too late did Brian see this move,and gun lost!!

Brian's British Grenadiers have been stopped in their tracks,by a combination of cannister and musket fire,however he persisted and sent another regiment up the hill,and they suffered the same fate!! Behind the windmill a cavalry battle is taking place,which Brian won on the first round and had me worried,because he could break my cav. and attack my rear.Brian was sending reinforcements to this flank,so it was a case of "will I hold out or not?"

Brian's gun about to be ridden down,and his Danish Grenadiers looking "fraught",his centre kept falling back,reforming and coming on again,good wargaming stuff,what's happening in the villages?

Well, the Danes have crossed the river,driven off my gun battery situated to the left of the house you can see in this shot,and are putting the defenders under alot of pressure,the cav. milling about in this shot have just beaten some Danish cavalry,and I am about to threaten the whole of Brian's central line,is this the end??

My Bavarians are blazing away at the Danes,my cavalry are threatening their flank,they have to break soon!

And they did! This was a thrilling game,Brian's plan was good,but attacking a solid enemy in a village proved just too much,with the British stalled,his centre gone,and the village still not captured, Brian waved a white flag !!
Roll on Thursday night,an Ancients game vs Paul,with Brian observing !!

Napoleonic game 24.3.13.San Juanita.

Last night's Napoleonic game was organised by Brian,and a damned good job he made of it too!
The scenario was simplistic,a French force of 9 regiments,had to capture the village of San Juanita,which was being defended by 6 British regiments-both sides had 1 gun battery which was moved at Brian's whim!!-no cavalry, however hidden in the "impassable" terrain on the British right flank was a band of "Guerillos"

The caption for this photo could be "spot the loonies competition" however it shows the opening moves,with the French vigorously attacking the village.Graham and Richard formed a father and son alliance against Paul and I who formed a sort of Steptoe and son alliance!! Graham advanced at a brisk pace with his 6 regiments,whilst Richard was a bit more tardy,advanced against my flank,did he know about the Guerillos ??

Is Brian bragging about the size of his willy in this shot ?? I think not.
As you can see the whole of our defensive line is being attacked here,Graham managed to get to the walls,and a melee took place-Paul winning!!,where's our gun battery Brian ??

The Guerillos make their appearance !! much to Richards surprise,they swooped out of their mountain lair ans smote the flank of one of his regiments,and inflicted a melee loss,however Richard threw a good dice and held them,my Guerillos,led by one "Lunatico" decided that they had done their bit and left the field!!

The French,under Graham, have pushed the 6th regiment back and have entered the village,in this shot,however paul counter-attacked and drove them back out,hurrah!!

This shows the furious attacks coming in from Graham's French,Paul has chased some of his trops away by well aimed cannister shots on the far flank-phew!! In the second picture Richard can still give a wry grin,even though he has just thrown the most atrocious run of dice throws ever recorded on a wargames table!! I was pleased,he was not. This was my "finest hour" and I counter-attacked with gusto,driving Richards troops back,even though I was outnumbered.

Paul is under alot of pressure on his flank,but kept his cool and pulled troops back,ready to find any "chink" in the French armour,a good bluff with his "no shots left " artillery had Graham worried,and stalled his attack for a move.

A good volley from Graham onto the flank of my 23rd foot forced them to retire for one move but I managed to reform them and am just waiting to return them to the fray in this shot,whilst still keeping up the pressure on Richard.Meanwhile in the village,Paul is fighting for his life,and still keeping the majority of the French from entering.

This shows Paul being photographed whilst photographing !!One of Graham's regiments has entered the village and is in the process of capturing the Church (which was the ultimate objective) however we doubted if he could actually escape intact from the village,and with most of the French in dire straits Paul and I were declared the winners.

This was a well  organised and balanced game from Brian or Big Willy as we call him now,well done and roll on Thursday,possible two games! It's great being retired !!