Battle of Fowey 1708

Brian,Richard and I had a very tricky game last night,I was defending a village,redoubt and town,against the terrible twins of Brian and Richard-see last blog for details of terrain etc.

This is the scenario,both Brian and Richard were given notes detailing their forces and initial objectives.

From the very first move there was action,Brian attacked,with gusto, the village,and with 2 against 1 I was in trouble! In the centre,Brian had decided to delay his attack until the flank was secure and Richard had arrived (move 3)
I pushed my right flank cavalry forward in a feint move to distract Brian's gunners from hitting the redoubt,and this was a resounding success,resulting in me actually capturing his gun!!

My defending infantry have been pushed back from the hedge in the village,and Brian is about to occupy the village.His cavalry are moving forward but my well-placed gun is about to do him some damage.

This is as shot of my "Marines" landing in the town,just in time because Richard's troops are making their presence felt!! he has attacked my returning cavalry,and is forming line ready to put me under pressure in the town,which was being held by Raw troops.

Richard's attack is beginning in earnest!although I'm not quite sure where the rest of his infantry are going!!
The fire-fight went on for a couple of moves with Richard getting the better of me,and eventually forcing the defenders to retire.

Meanwhile,on the village flank,a tremendous cavalry battle developed,swinging both ways,however numbers began to tell,and Brian enveloped one of my regiments,and I decided to pull the other one back out of trouble.Brian then advanced his troops out of the captured village,and towards the redoubt.where my Irish defenders were being "idle"

"Idle" troops,what a waste!! you could almost see the tumble weed blowing between the lines! this is very un-characteristic of Brian,and very worrying for me-I was panic stricken wondering what the hell he was up to!!

Oh my God,Action!!Brian finally decided that his flanks were secure and that an advance was called for,resulting in a good combined fire-fight against the redoubt,my gun,firing cannister,did some damage,but my Irish defenders were magnificent,and saw off the attackers.Back in the town  the King was approaching the ship with haste,would he get away?

Richard looks pleased with himself in this shot (almost gloating!) as his whole line is attacking both the town and the redoubt,however the king is now aboard the ship,and the tide has turned and the wind is fair in the sails (and any other nautical crap I can think of!!)

With the King gone on his cruise,and the redoubt still being firmly held,the allies decided that the game was lost and that I was the winner-hurrah!!
The terrain and objectives made this a very interesting and challenging game,but enjoyable,Richard and Brian,are you sure you didn't let me win just because it's...........

MY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Roll on Sunday,an Ancients game using the same terrain,but Romans defending against Barbarian hordes.

How I go about planning a game.9.7.13.

Last week Paul suggested I do a blog on how I plan and organise a game,so here goes....
I always start with a "germ" of an idea,this battle (to be fought on Thursday night) is based around the Battle of Lostwithiel in the English Civil War.
I drew a very rough map of what I wanted the terrain to look like,added a few notes and troop dispositions (changeable!!) worked out the number of troops I needed,and away we go!!

Very,very rough sketch of how I wanted the terrain to look,dispositions,and even members to command!

Notes and info. needed to make the game work. I always plan my games so that neither side is at a dis-advantage in numbers or position.

Terrain,from the map is put onto the board,making sure that gaps between features is condusive to the length of our units in line,also I make sure that ,in this case,the attackers start a certain distance from the board edge so that a fast game ensues,and that we have a bit of action,or manoeuvre from move one!

The above photo's show the distances being measured,so that our units fit neatly into the terrain etc.

First troops on the board,Irish defending the redoubt,note how the distance between the ends of the redoubt take 4 regiments and a gun.

The town is now "occupied",I have placed the required troops in the other village,along with some cavalry(very important to balance the troops)

The attackers are now in place,and it has been calculated that within 2 moves the small village will be under attack,and the main body will be moving towards the redoubt,whilst on the far flank,the troops there will start to move on move number 3,looking for all the world like a co-ordinated plan!!

This is another "planning" shot showing how I use the Artillery measuring stick to show how far the attackers can move before they are subjected to gun fire.

The flank force,arriving on move three,is shown here with cavalry "lurking" to give them a brisk welcome!!

All of the troops are in position,before the game I always write out the order sheets,prepare the measuring sticks and dice,and clip the Battle Plan sheets to the clip-boards,then the "boys" arrive,and all my planning goes out of the window!!!-not really,most (but not all) of the games go well,and are enjoyed by all members.
So, a piece of self-indulgence of a blog,but I hope you've found it interesting,and maybe prompt you to try and plan a game yourselves.
Roll on Thursday.

Battle of Alexandria 320 BC

This is the second battle,as reported last week,all chores successfully completed and wife quite happy!!

This is the general scenario and troop layout,I took the part of Ptolemy,whilst Paul and Brian took the part of Selucus (and son!!)

Now here's a town worth fighting for! My phalanx looks formidable,and of course the dreaded Elephants!!

This shows most of my army,and the next photo shows Paul and Brian's,we managed to come up with identical battle plans,which led to a real tussle,with both sides having "ups" and "downs"

The battle started at a furious pace,with both sides charging on the flanks and centre,with both phalanxes just observing for the time being!

THis is my right flank heavy cavalry taking on Paul's,I had initial success,but then Paul got the upper hand and drove me back and back!!In the background you can see the elephants getting to grips,my light infantry supporting troops have pushed Paul's back,and he has won the elephant melee.Meanwhile on the far flank,Brian and I both charged with our light cavalry and supporting spearmen!!

This is my left flank,vs Brian,he managed to give me a damned good thrashing on this side of the board,pushing me back,however I did have a reserve to assist,they rushed into the fray,only to be given a damned good thrashing too!!!!

Paul's elephants are advancing after beating my elephants (see dead elephants) in case any little children are reading this,no elephants were hurt during the making of this game!!

Paul,wisely,retired his elephants,and the phalanxes were set to charge each other-awesome stuff!!

CRASH!! the phalanxes meet,the table was groaning with the weight of figures and both Paul and I were groaning at our dice throws!! However,as both my flanks were looking "frail" I was in a most dis-advantageous position,only a miracle dice throw could save me now!!- and then Brian killed my phalanx commander!!! oh how I laughed!! Luckily Ptolemy was on hand to stop the whole phalanx from breaking up and running away (retiring)

A small bit of brightness in the gloom of battle,I have managed to surround Paul's heavy cavalry,however he mounted a counter attack with his elephants and some light troops,and coupled to a most fearsome charge on the extreme flank,I was lost !!

Brian looks "grim" in this shot,he eventually won his flank too,and turned on the exposed flank of my phalanx,all was lost,oh woe is me!!

Final shot,my phalanx has retired,trying to protect my flanks,but to no avail,Paul and Brian were worthy winners,and it must be noted that both sides were guilty of "gloating" during the game,with one little person actually doing a kind of victory dance half way through the battle(me!!)
Great game,lots of laughs and tension,well done all!

In the last blog I mentioned that Brian had painted some Lancashire Games German Warbands,here are a few photo's of them,I think they look great!

Just another six to go,plus cavalry and archers,can't wait to get my Romans stuck into them!!

Roll on Thursday,another game possibly,and I officially become an O.A.P.!!

English Civil War game.4.7.13.

It's two game Thursday again! My first game was an E.C.W. game vs Allan and Brian,and the second was an Ancients game,at night vs Brian and Paul,however I will relate the E.C.W. game first and leave the Ancients game for later when the lawn is mowed and the hedges cut and the backyard tidied,dishes washed etc. etc.

This shot is taken behind Allan's and Brian's positions,and shows their dispositions and mine (I was attacking across the stream,and had to capture the village!!

My attack is just starting,I put my best troops on this side of the board,and pushed forward,the Black-flagged regiment behind the fence to the right,was Ballard's Foot,and caused me no end of bother,I just could not shift them even though I was "elite" status and they were "raw" !!

This photo shows my attack,on both flanks,in full swing,with cavalry moving up in support of my infantry.In the background you can see the Parliamentarian reserves moving into position,these were well used by Brian and Allan,and ultimately cost me the game!!

This is a shot from Allan's flank,my infantry are making heavy weather of getting to grips with the Royalists,this did not auger well!

At last I have breached Allan's defences,and crossed the stream,also on the other flank,I have crossed but come under a counter-attack from Brian's cavalry-HELP!!

After a long and hard struggle,both of my flank attacks are being knocked back,and Brian and Allan were just about to "gloat" over my demise,so we called it a day,and I was defeated,again!!

This was a good game,good tactics,and a good scenario,giving problems to both sides

I will report the second game later on,maybe even next week,or when I can get a moment to myself!!!-hope the wife doesn't read this!

Painting update.

Today I've finished the last of the figures I bought at Falkirk show,from Lancashire Games, so thought I'd take a few photo's to show you how they've come out.

I'm pleased with the way they look,they were easy to paint,and of course you can "go to town" with the colours,shield designs etc, a very colourful bunch they make!
The service from Allan at Lancashire games was great,very fast and efficient,and best of all,fun to deal with,a credit to his trade!
When I received the figures they were "flashless!",the only slight moan I would have is that some of the bases weren't cast properly,but a bit of super-glue and a pair of pliers put them right in no time.
I have 24 Sarmatian cavalry,16 Archers and 16 Fanatics,hidden away somewhere in my house (I've looked all over but my wife has hidden them very well indeed,until my birthday next week!!)
and I'll get a start on them probably by Friday next.
Brian has been painting some German Tribesmen (also from Lancashire Games) and I'll get some photo's taken by the weekend and put them on the blog too.
Come on Paul,where's the Seven Years war Austrians??

Napoleonic battle;1799,Egypt!

Last night saw 6 of us battling it out in Napoleonic Egypt!!
Michael had come down from Aberdeen,so he and Graham took the part of the French commanders,and Paul,Brian and I took the part of the local tribesmen,defending their motherland.Richard was referee.

Above is the scenario,I had laid the troops out and picked sides before the game started,but the players chose where they wanted their strengths to be,and allocated points accordingly.This was always going to be a game of "flanks",which was reflected in our respective battle plans.

The table layout,with the tribes on the left and the French on a slight ridge on the right.

We're off!! we had decided that I would be the sacrificial lamb,so to speak,and would head straight towards the French regardless of casualties,whilst both Paul and Brian would attack the flanks with our good troops.

This shows Paul's wing moving forward,his wide out-flanking move by his cavalry seemed to mesmirize Graham who ignored it-at his cost!!

The French plan was simply to hold their positions and see how the battle developed,and consequently surrendered the initiative to us!!

This is Brian's wing,he advanced in grand style,against a French regiment behind the cover of some rocks,and although he took some casualties,stuck to his orders and was eventually successful,and took on the Hussars lurking in the gap,and beat them too!!

My troops are taking a damned good licking here,the French volley fire taking horrendous casualties and forcing all but one of my units back,the one that wasn't forced back broke into the line,and won melee after melee,and actually reached the Guard reserves,and forced them back too!!

This shows Brian's wing again,a unit of his infantry have been charged by the Hussars,this was a very bloody encounter,Brian was forced back,but luckily his cavalry were around to save the day.

Paul's outflanking move is more than complete,his cavalry is now behind the French lines and his infantry is attacking the French flank,he has even taken his village defenders out of the village and is shooting at the French attacking me!!

Brian is pushing all before him now,time to roll up the flank,I think!!

Is this a happy face? -NOOOOOOOO!! it is not a happy face!!!

Because the French were beaten on both flanks and my one remaining unit was cutting swathes through the Old Guard,we called it a night and declared the Egyptians the winners.

This was quite a fun game (for most of us!) with lots of movement and colour.

Roll on Thursday,probably play two games??