English Civil War battle 16.6.13.

We had our eagerly awaited Civil War battle last night,and wonders of wonders-a full complement of all six members of our little club!!
We drew lots and Graham,Richard and Paul were the Royalist commanders,and Dave,Brian and I were the Parliamentarians. Both sides picked where their best troops would be stationed,and a battle plan was drawn up.Dave and Paul were set up against each other whilst I faced Graham in the centre,and Brian faced Richard on the left flank,all was set for a "cracking" game.

The royalists had come up with a plan that involved Paul leading his forces against Dave's flank,sweeping it aside and then turning against the roundhead's centre,however the big flaw in their plan was that they had ordered that their centre and flanks couldn't move forward until Paul was successful!!

Our plan was to swamp the central position with all of our cavalry,beat the royalist horse and then swing onto their flanks-which,it has got to be said,worked a treat!!

The Royalist's gun Royale opens the battle,against Dave's infantry,it must be said at this point that 99% of the figures in my Civil War collection are from Warrior Miniatures.

And a good shot it proved to be,causing a bit of damage!!Paul and Dave were manoeuvering their troops to block the flanks,and Paul's decision to attack straight away almost caught Dave off-guard,however a good volley sent one f the royalist infantry regiments back,and the situation was saved,for a while!!

This shows the situation on Dave's flank,with his cavalry (2 out of 3 units) moving to assist me in the centre, Paul's attack is developing nicely.

The fight for the walled enclosure! Dragoons fire-fighting each other for control,both sides had decided that control of this bit of terrain was vital,in that any troops passing it would be subject to frontal and flank fire from whoever controlled it.

Dave and Paul in full battle!! Dave has managed to get himself into a bit of bother on the far right,however is holding his own in the centre,note the regiment in "square" denoted by the brown piece of card,cut into a square shape!! bloody clever,eh? Meanwhile Dave has got the cavalry across the stream and is facing the advancing infantry,hoping to stop them,Paul had different ideas and fired his gun at them!!

Here comes the cavalry,massing on my flank,and hoping to "swamp" Graham's opposition cavalry.Both Brian and I were moving our infantry up slowly,however,because of their orders,the Royalist infantry were static,the fight for the enclosure is continuing,but Richard decided that he had had enough and retired,leaving Brian to occupy it with his Dragoons and an infantry regiment

Here it is!! The inevitable cavalry clash,both Graham and I had good quality troops here and the God of dice decided that he would favour us both! consequently there was swings and roundabouts,with the melee going both ways.The "killer throw" was when I had a chance of killing Graham's leading cavalry commander- and I did!! This proved too much for the cavalry and they took flight,leaving an ugly hole for me to exploit-and I did!!

Meanwhile-on a hill in a far distant land,Dave is fighting for his life,Paul's cavalry are everywhere! However Dave has superiority in infantry,and is giving Paul's a damned good thrashing!

This shows Richard and Graham enjoying a brief moment of "GLOAT" after having beaten one of my cavalry regiments (note the word ONE) they'll be sorry!!

I am piling more cavalry into the fray against Graham,and most of his infantry are forming into Square,however,an audacious move by Paul has driven Dave's cavalry back over the stream,and is threatening our central position,luckily a "passing" regiment of cuirassiers (lobsters) joined in the general melee and stabilised the position.

In this shot,Brian has managed to lose a regiment and his commanding officer !! and provided another opportunity for Graham and Richard to gloat!! as has been said before-they'll be sorry!!

A very cunning move by Brian,he reckoned that by covering his face,we wouldn't know if he was "gloating" or not !! Actually,just by covering his face he did us a good turn!!!

By this point in the game it was just about all over,all of the central Royalist infantry were in square,and their cavalry was being slaughtered,on Paul's flank,he had admitted defeat....

The final photo,the Royalist army is in disarray,and the Parliamentarians were declared the worthy winners.
Roll on Thursday,probably only one game at night,and probably Ancients!!

Pictures of previous games, painting etc

Thought I'd post a selection of some of the photos that I had taken in the past.

Looking forward to the Civil War game on Sunday. We'll be deciding sides by picking cards .... very random and John has as usual produced a teaser of a scenario. If you look at the set up , choose one of the four commands, two either side of the stream per side ....... then put yourself in the mind of Fairfax or the King

We'll see whos plan reigns supreme at the end!

Will it be a glorious revolution or a smitten rebelion. Not long to find out.

Anyway, enough of future plans

The past pictures:

The fantastic Prince August 7YW

The £30 Army

Hasn't he weathered well? 

OH dear !  Dave may be more careful next time he flags a passing taxi.

A well earned R&R with great company after the tremendous Falkirk show 2013

SHOCK,HORROR!!! NO GAME SUNDAY 9.6.13.

Because Brian and Paul were unavailable on Sunday,and I had set up a rather large English Civil War game,we didn't have a game.I have decided to roll over the game for next Sunday,when,all being well,we should have a full complement of troops.
I will still print the photo's I have already taken of the board,below.....

This shows the general layout,with the Parliamentarians on the left and the Royalists on the right.

The Parliamentarian line,infantry,guns and cavalry.

The Royalists,in all their glory,infantry,guns and cavalry.

The centre-piece Hamlet,bought for £2.50 at a charity shop-don't ever call me mean!!

Richard very kindly bought this sign and donated it to the club (he actually had it made especially for us)

It just says it all!! Beware Brian and Paul !!!

A final shot of my ever-increasing Dacians,5 warbands down and 5 to go.

 well,roll on next Sunday!

Germans vs Gauls.40AD Ancients battle.

Before you read the blog,give a thought to all the brave soldiers who took part in the D-day landings,thanks.

This morning Brian and I had a good game,based on a German invasion of Gaul,Brian commanded the Germans and I the Gauls.

This was the objective of the game,a Gallic chieftain's homestead,it looks quite tranquil !!

This shot shows the area which was to be contested,Brian had opted to "hide" some German troops in the woods,and bring them out when he decided the time was right.

This photo shows the overall layout of the table,with the Gauls entering on the left and the Germans on the right,with my "hearth" troops placed beside the homestead.

My initial attack by some of my cavalry,caught Brian in the act of trying to form up,I charged his leading column,whilst driving off his skirmishers with my chariots.

Brian is putting his warbands into a fighting line,whilst I have done the same,the melee continues at the river bank.

The whole line has advanced and multiple melees are taking place,I have been beaten at the river bank,and my cavalry have been forced back.On the far flank,Brian tried to outflank me and I was forced to divert my cavalry to meet him.In the centre the Germans are getting the better of me,but Brian has sprung his ambush on the homestead hill,and is putting me in alot of trouble.

The "ambush",Brian is charging downhill at me and so he gets the advantage in the melee,and drove me back for a while,however I did manage a couple of good dice throws,which stemmed the tide for a while.

The Germans are cutting into my centre,and my Gauls are being severely man-handled (am I allowed to say that??) although my cavalry are winning on the left flank.

I am gaining a bit of ground in the left centre,however my main line has been shattered.On the far hill I am victorious,but Brian has moved some infantry warbands onto my flank,this looks bad!!

The end!! my non-existent centre,with the Suebi rampaging around and mopping up any resistance!!
Because I had won both flanks,and the homestead still hadn't been taken,Brian agreed that the game was a draw (what a nice chap he is!!)

We won't be playing tonight,so roll on Sunday,it should be full complement (Graham's back from mouse hunting in Florida !) probably an English Civil War.

Vimiero 1808 Napoleonic battle.

We had a very interesting game last night,and a type of game which we don't play very often,ie recreating an actual battle.
Richard and I commanded the French,and Paul and Brian commanded the British.

This first photo shows the initial positions of both sides,Richard was to attack the East Ridge and Ventosa,whilst I was to attack Vimiero Hill and Vimiero itself.

This is my first assault on Vimiero Hill,I had "feinted" right as though I was going to attack Vimiero town in force,and then swung left and put my full weight against the hill.This worked to a certain extent,in that I had all my French concentrated against the hill,however it also meant that I didn't have a reserve to call upon if it all went pear shaped! (which of course it did!!)
I did manage to get troops onto the top of the hill,and created an "ugly hole" in the British line,but without backup they struggled to hold the advantage very long.

This shot shows Richard's first wave attacking the East Ridge,with colours flying and guns blazing!
Richard hit a painful "learning curve" in this game (Napoleonics is not his picked period) and fell foul of the age-old "not enough space to deploy" rule!! However he did manage to sort himself out and it looked,for a while,that he had got Paul on the back foot.

This shows Richard's attack on Ventosa,which did not go terribly well!! Paul's defenders were "crack" troops and the result was inevitable!! Richard "bounced" However undetered, he sent another two regiments against the defended position,and guess what? yes they bounced too!!

My first attack against the Hill has been repulsed,except one stubborn (stupid?) regiment that was trying to outflank the left of the \British line next to Vimiero,This took some awful "stick" from the defenders of the town and the Line it was facing,and I had to pull them out of harm's way.
I was winding myself up for a second attack on the British right flank,and this was fairly successful,driving the Line back and capturing a gun!!However the lack of support and the lack of a Command figure,saw me having to take a morale test,and my troops "retired"

Richard is being "smote" here,outnumbered and out gunned,however Brennier's troops have just arrived on the British flank,and are forcing Paul to pull troops out his main line to counteract the threat,this could be the Game-winning point!!

This shot shows the sad state of affairs on my flank,almost all of my troops are running away,sorry, I mean "retiring".

An overall view of the mess I've got myself into!!,however Kellerman has arrived and is attacking Vimiero! Kellerman's troops actually got into the town,then were repulsed,is nothing going right??

Oh no!! Richard is piling more troops against the town!! After an heroic struggle on top of the ridge,Brennier's troops were forced back on their cavalry support,and with the troops being beaten at the town walls,and my attack in tatters,the British were declared the winners (as in history!)

This game was interesting and threw up a couple of problems,mainly that correct orders are essential for a smooth and fast flowing game,without ambiguity,I'm sure Richard has learned something about Napoleonic tactics,and I am sure that I have learned something about setting up actual battles to be refought.

Roll on Thursday,don't know what we'll be fighting yet.d

Rome vs Spain. Ancients game 30.5.13.

This morning Brian and I had a most memorable game,the figures looked good,the scenario was good,and the terrain looked good,in fact the only thing that didn't look good was us!!

This is the scenario,and initial dispositions of the armies.Astute readers will know that this is the terrain for the battle of Vimiero 1808,which we will be playing on Sunday!

This shows the general layout of the table,with the Romans on the left and Spaniards on the right.

We both made a battle plan,and Brian,who commanded the Spanish,decided to amalgamate his cavalry and take on my cavalry @ 2:1 on the right flank of the legions,I, being psychic,or something,had decided to march my rear rank auxilliaries over the river to protect my legion!

Both armies advance towards each other on the Roman right flank,I have occupied the village,why? a good question!! In the background you can see the skirmishers taking shots at each other and doing very little damage,while the far flank cavalry are advancing into charge range.

Look at those lovely,straight Roman lines! Brian is just about to make a horrible mess of them,by moving his heavy infantry against them,so far the cavalry are not engaged.

The Spanish have come down the hill and attacked my auxilliary infantry,ups and downs followed,with Brian having initial success,then it was my turn,well placed commanders and support units were really telling for the next few moves,it was always going to be touch and go!!

All hell breaks loose on the Legion's flank,Brian has charged my auxilliaries before they could form up properly,whilst at the same time,charging my cavalry,this was tense stuff,if only I could get more troops involved I could give a good account of myself!!

In the centre,the two lines of infantry clash! I have thrown my pila,and disordered Brian's troops,but they were so wound up it didn't seem to matter,and he won a couple of the ensuing melees,however in the background my cavalry was doing great stuff,pushing Brian's cavalry back,and , seemingly, winning the flank!(just how the Gods of Fortune can play tricks with me,I don't know-must have done something very wrong in a previous life !!)

The auxilliary infantry are being pushed back! I even had to throw in a cohort of archers to try and stem the tide of the Spanish advance;this actually worked and I started to gain the upper hand,until,once again,the Gods of Fortune etc.etc.!!

Ah,success,of sorts,Brian's cavalry are being pushed back,eventually,by my aux. infantry,sent over the river for that purpose,however in the background the Legion is being "hard pressed"
Brian managed to beat one unit of my cavalry,and he turned them onto my left flank,the cohort there didn't like it when he charged them!!

Meanwhile,on the Roman right flank,the auxilliary units are being out-fought ( that's another way of saying slaughtered!!) and in the centre my legion is being harrassed by the bloody cavalry!!
Is this the end??

Number one cohort is seen here "entertaining" two warbands of wild hill tribesmen,and although I was pushing Brian's heavies back,you can see the Spanish cavalry,who have already got rid of one cohort,threatening to charge another!!

Consolation photo!! My auxilliaries are daring Brian's spent cavalry to come forward onto their spears! By this time the game was over and the victorious Spanish went home to drink some of their lovely red wine an eat some of their lovely paella ( not quite sure about that spelling-but you get the drift!!)

Tonight,Paul and Brian and I will set up the figures for Sunday's game,so roll on Sunday!!