Whilst Paul was partying the night away,it was left to Brian and I to uphold the Thursday night tradition of having a "cracking" ancients game-Macedonians vs Persians!
Top photo shows the scenario,and bottom photo shows the table before any movement-Brian wanted to command the Macedonians, as Alexander the Great, after having read a good article in Wargames Illustrated last month.
One quick blast on my trumpet(now,now!!) and we were off............
I had some poor quality Persian axemen on both flanks of my main line,and decided to "sacrifice" them,in a bid to disorder Brian's Hypaspists and Phalanx,my heavy cavalry and Greeks were to be used to contain the Companion cavalry and Thracian Peltasts.
On the left of my main line,my cavalry and axemen are doing ok,this forced Brian to commit a unit of Hypaspists to support his cavalry,and I was feeling confident(fool!!)
With both flanks embroiled in melees,I elongated my front line,using my back line troops-this meant I overlapped the phalanx,and was assured of victory(can you see where this is leading?)
All depended on my flanks winning-would I be successful-of course not!! at one point I out-numbered and out-pointed Brian-all I needed was NOT to throw a 2 on the dice-and guess what?-yes I threw a 2 and lost the flank!!!
On my far left flank,Brian seemed hesitant to cross the stream and get to grips with my best troops-this is not like the Alexander I know!!
With both flanks of my main line in a "bit of bother",I decided to launch my centre against the phalanx,and hope that my reputation for good dice throwing would hold up(double fool!!)
CRUNCH!!-even being at a disadvantage against the pikes,I did well and won most of the first round melees-hurrah!!-Brian was beginning to panic-can I hold my nerve and win the next round of melees??
At last Brian sends his Peltasts against the Greeks-surely I couldn't lose this encounter-but of course I did,and the Greeks were driven back,by a bunch of Brigands!!-woe is me!
I also lost the central battle(but not before I drove a couple of phalanx units back-sort of Hurrah!!) so the game was almost over-Brian wouldn't let his Royal Squadron loose on my heavy cavalry,to finish the game,would he??
YUP!!-the end.
This was a good and interesting game,both of us employing good and well thought out tactics,whilst staying true to the period-well done Brian.
Roll on Sunday-a Marlburian game I think,I will contact Dave to see if he can come along.
Once I start touching up I just can't stop!!-this time it's an under-used piece of terrain-a waterfall,and my very often used trees.
This waterfall is a vacuum formed plastic piece-I can't even remember where I got it,but I've had it for years and years.
As with the stream sections,I gave it a thorough clean,and then a coat of varnish......
Varnished,and looking good-I have filled the inside with an expandable filler to give the whole piece stability.
Stones painted and touched up,plus a few embellishments(lichen!) added.
A couple of different angled shots of the finished waterfall-look out for this item in future games!!
The tree collection was next on my touch up of terrain hit list-basically I just re-stuck the "trunks",straightened them up and added a bit of flock,lichen and "logs"-but it keeps me out of mischief!!
Quite a lot of trees,but,as someone once said,you can't have enough trees!!
I know,I know,it's as silly as Battling Tanks and Zombies,but it amuses me!!
"Embellishments" added-looking good.
And what of the wife? whilst I'm doing this important stuff,what is she up to?
Tut!! doing mundane things like putting a coat of Ronseal onto the garden seat-I would help her,but I'm sure I would only get in the way!!
After playing with the same thing for years,it gets worn out and tired looking-I am of course talking about my river/stream sections! so I decided to touch them up and breathe,hopefully,new life into them.
I started the process by giving them a damned good brushing,to get rid of years of flock and fingerprints.
The next stage was to find some varnish,to bring out the faded colour,and apply it liberally to the sections.
I then re-painted the "stones and rocks" using a brown colour rather than the grey that they already were(basically because I didn't have a grey!!)
The "lads" didn't notice the renewed sections last night though!!-ho hum!!!
Two photo's showing the sections after being varnished-many years ago I glued three sections to one piece of hardboard,then "jig-sawed" the shape-so each section you can see has three small sections of stream on it.The sections are quite brittle,because they are made of plaster,bought from a company,no longer with us,called A and M models.
I still do have some single sections,like this one,which give me greater flexibility in layouts,if required.
A close up showing the new colour and new stones(plus some bloke looking at the section from the news-paper!!)
The real thing(photo taken in Jesmond Dene,Newcastle,yesterday)I can't see any difference,can you?
Our Sunday night "romp" saw us in Northern Italy,pitting Romans against Germans and Gauls-Paul drew the short straw and was Roman commander,Brian was in charge of his Germans and I was in charge of my Gauls(no laughing at that unintended joke!!)
Scenario and table lay-out-the village in the distance is being attacked by Brian as the game started,and Paul is still moving the right hand cohorts into position-every now and then we employ "random movement dice" to simulate the possible tribal rivalries that could result in one tribe or warband "sitting on the fence" until they deem it right to advance and take on the enemy-well last night we used the random movement dice.On the first move,all of my Gauls refused to move,as did the Germans!!this gave Paul loads of time to get into position!
During the "lull" the locals leave the burning town!
Brian's Germans attacking the village-it took 4 moves for them to get into the village,which he then burned-hurrah!!(unless you're a villager!!)
Brian's "blood-crazy" Germans start their attack,however the Romans were standing firm,awaiting them with a bolt-throwing machine and of course the dreaded pila!!
The Roman left flank troops,standing calm awaiting the German onslaught.
On the other flank,equally resolute Romans line up awaiting my Gauls,who were still being "tardy" to say the least!!
Even when we did eventually get stuck in,we just "bounced" like Rubber Balls(Gauls-get it?)
this was not going to be easy!!
Drastic times calls for drastic action,so here you can see a combined Germano/Gallic assault taking place-but guess what?-yes,it failed dramatically!!!woe is us!
The Romans are pushing the Germans and Gauls back towards the stream in this shot-it was plain to see that we had been well and truly beaten!
One final photo of the chaotic shambles!!-Brian did ask for a draw but was politely refused with a two finger gesture!!!!Ah well there's always another day....Thursday to be precise!
There will only be Brian and I as Paul is putting on his party frock,and getting out his dancing shoes that night!
We had a colonial game last night,as a sort of preparation for Border Reiver,so I won't go into too much detail of the game,other than to say it was,as usual for a Colonial game,fast and furious and fun.-Paul was British commander,Brian and I were Zulu commanders.
Scenario and table before any movement-not a Zulu in sight-YET!!!
Detail of the British column-they were given a 2 move start,before any Zulus appeared-this was calculated,so that they reached the farm,and deployed prior to the Zulu attack!
British,happily deployed in Farm,awaiting any passing Zulus(correct plural of Zulu is amaZulu)-what is Brian doing??-his left horn attack is just developing.
The right horn is now in position!
And now that the centre is in position,it would be churlish not to attack!!!!!!!!
And attack we certainly did-in grand style,gaining some victories and suffering some defeats!
Final shot,showing the Zulus about to wipe out the garrison!!
There were a few small things that need to be sorted out (no,Brian not that small thing,now put it away,you're frightening the children!!) before we roll the game out for Border Reiver on the 5th September,at Gateshead Stadium.
Roll on Thursday.
How do you begin to describe a game that was fascinating,exciting,tense,colourful,yet friendly and hilarious at the same time?-a Classic, I suppose would,sort of ,describe the game we had last night!
The "usual" scenario and table before any movement-Paul was Austrian commander,Brian was Russian commander,and I was Prussian commander.
We spent the first three moves getting our troops into the required positions,and to me this was a major part of the visual aspect of this game-it was good to see the formations changing from marching columns into line,guns being positioned,reserves posted etc.etc.-great stuff!!
Then,the inevitable first clash!!-I'm not a great fan of early cavalry battles,but Brian pushed onwards with his Dragoons,and I had to respond-this melee went on for the best part of the game,neither of us gaining any advantage,other than tying down our respective flanks.
Brian,not waiting for Paul to get into position,followed his cavalry attack with a massed infantry assault on my steady lines of infantry.Because he had a restricted frontage,due to the cavalry battle,I managed to "out-gun" him,and inflicted fearful casualties on his first line,which wavered and then broke-hurrah!!-this was going to be a "walk in the park"(NOT!!!)
This shot gives a good view of the state of play about move number 6-Paul has just entered the fray,and is attacking my Hanoverians,whilst in the background Brian(or Mr Tenacious,as we call him!) is piling the pressure on my Prussians.
With drums beating and flags flying,Paul is sending his best brigade,supported by cavalry,across the most easily defended crossing place on the stream!!-he got himself bogged down,and his best troops were stuck-hurrah!!(but not before he gave me a bloody nose!!)
In the background you can just see the Austrians beginning their advance on my redoubt-will I be able to stop him????
Whilst the "dynamic duo" have a conflab,my Prussians are tearing the Russian infantry apart!
The action is now spreading across the whole of the battle field,-being out-numbered,I am having to be careful where I put my troops,but everywhere I put them,Paul's guns seem to find them!!-he is causing too much damage!-the bounder!!Note the steady advance in the centre!
Paul and his Austrians are putting the Hanoverians under tremendous pressure,from Gun and volley fire-I needed support,so I put my redoubt defenders into column,and was hit by Paul's guns,marched them across the stream,and was hit by Paul's guns,put them into line,and was hit by Paul's guns-are you getting the picture??-yes,I lost the whole brigade,before they even could fire a shot in anger-woe is me!!
Paul has crossed the stream with his leading infantry,only to be forced into defensive formation,because of my cavalry threat,but he is piling more and more troops into this sector-it can only be a matter of time before I break!!
The action on my left flank is intensifying-I have driven Brian's cavalry back,but a couple of my infantry units are "suffering" and look close to breaking-can I hold on?
Paul's magnificently co-ordinated attack,involving guns cavalry and infantry,has succeeded in capturing the redoubt,and to my cries of "I have been penetrated!" things were looking bad for the Prussians!!(to say the least!!)
But things were about to get a whole lot worse!!-Brian was shot to hell,and his whole command looked as if it was about to run away,however I had to put a Brigadier into my far left regiment to stop it retiring,and the next volley from Brian shot him!!!!-bloody well woe is bloody me!!!
His whole brigade decided to abandon the field,which exposed the flank of the next brigade,and you can guess the rest-chaos and confusion!
At this point in the game,my Hanoverians,who had been doing very well indeed,decided that enough was enough,and it was then game over!!!
One final photo,with my left in all kinds of trouble,the redoubt captured and my right in preparation for flight(!) I capitulated!!
By any standards this was a great game,full of unexpected(in my case anyway!) twists and turns-well played to Paul and Brian.
Roll on Thursday night-we might just try something different!!
