Well we certainly believe in diversity at our small(but perfectly formed) club,proved by last night's game!!
I fear for my sanity at times!!
Paul and Brian were in charge of the Berber/Bedouin,I was in charge of the Haddendowah.
Paul begins his attack on my left and centre-and what a battle this turned out to be!
With flags(lots of them!) flying and trumpets blasting,we clashed in the centre-Paul was getting a real old battering for a couple of moves,then,inevitably, he began throwing high dice and "officer killed" dice,and did for me,big style!!
On my other flank,Brian has crossed the Nile,in force,and is threatening my line with infantry and camels.
This is a shot of the whole board showing the action-on my left I am doing badly,but on my right I am holding my own!!
Paul is pushing my cavalry back,forcing them to check morale,which they failed,and fled the table-woe is me!!!!-But now something horrific was about to happen on my right.................
A mass "brawl" has broken out!!-in desperation,to prevent my troops from running away,I put my commander into the fray,and,of course,got him killed-it is at this point that the more squeamish reader should switch of his computer,because Brian got so excited at killing the commander,that he spat his teeth out onto the table!!!!!!!-bloody hell,does this sort of thing happen in other clubs???-I think not!!!! it's going to take Paul and I a long time to get over this,I woke up at 2am this morning screaming,and probably will suffer long term mental stress.
After the laughter and jeering had died down,it was back to the game,and Paul had driven me to destruction,and I had to concede defeat on my left.....................
However,Brian,or "fixadent" as we call him now, was finally beaten and forced back across the Nile,so we called the game a draw!!
This was a very unusual and entertaining game,well done lads!
Brian brought up his Cromwell tanks for us to see......
One word describes them-SUPERB!!
Roll on Sunday,could be ECW,but who knows?
Because I'm retired,I can do exactly what my wife tells/allows me to do!! so I decided to give myself a rest from painting my Viking army(I've reached the half way stage of 6 units) and paint the Vacuum-formed "ruined building" I bought recently.
6 Viking units completed,only another 6 to go-these have taken me about 3 weeks to paint,and I have enjoyed doing them.
A bit of a close-up(best not to get too close!!)-these are from Warrior Miniatures "Crusader" range of figures-nice poses,and easy to paint,and most importantly of all Inexpensive!!
Now onto the Ruined Building............................
This is the basic model,which has been under-coated,using emulsion paint,after first washing it thoroughly in hot soapy water(I'm beginning to sound like a "Blue Peter" presenter!!)
3 coats of green "poster paint"@ 50p a gallon,from Tesco(no expense spared!!)
Brown "roadway" added-again "poster paint"(a couple of coats were needed-there goes the bloody pension for this week!!)
Dark grey was used for the "Ruined Building" part-not "poster paint"-I used a Citadel paint for this!
"Flock" has been added to give a realistic(??) look to some of the high points-PVA glue(watered down) was used and then the flock just scattered onto it!
Finally,a couple of bits of "lichen" added for effect-all it needs now is for a Sherman Tank to come rumbling down the road!!
Where the hell did that come from?!!!
OMG!! there's another one!!!
By adding other bits of "Ruins",the possibilities are endless in its wargaming uses-look out for this piece being fought over by everything from WW2 to ECW,7YW etc. etc.
But now for some "proper" painting-from Dave...................
3 shots of some Napoleonic Prussian Landwher Lancers,from Elite Miniatures-very finely painted-look at the detail-marvellous!!-Dave has a couple of Scenarios planned for later on this month,so watch this space.
Brian is still painting like a mad man,his WW2 stuff,and has completed 3 Cromwell tanks and some British infantry this week alone!!!
Paul hasn't painted anything,apart from his spare room!!
We(Brian,Paul and I) had yet another thrilling game,pitting a Successor army against an Indian army-very colourful and "bloody"!!
Paul was Seleucus,in charge of the right and centre of the Successor army,whilst Brian commanded the left and was also tasked with capturing the City of Jinghat-I was in total command of the Indians!!
These "young Ladies" constituted my personal bodyguard-ooh er!!!!-I promised not to mention that Paul's Bodyguard was absolutely "hammered" by these Lovelies!!!-so I won't(!)
The game got off to a lively start,this is my left flank being assailed by Paul's Companion cavalry-the melee lasted almost the whole of the game,with us both feeding in units when required-thrilling stuff!
Two shots of my left and centre,being attacked by Paul and Brian-the attack,by Paul's bodyguard,on my "Dusky Maidens" looked spectacular,but was doomed to failure!!
Brian's attack on the city was nothing short of "Magnificent!!"-he weakened my troops with sling shots and then sent in his heavies,which did me alot of damage,although I did manage to keep him out-hurrah!!
Bloody Elephants!! every front-line one eventually ran amok,causing all kinds of consternation to both sides-but good fun!(unless you were in the way of one!!)
A good shot down the whole of the table,showing the action taking place-it was non-stop!!
(note the Elephants!!)
Brian's third and final attack on the city-he almost succeeded,but not quite!!
Paul has finally broken my cavalry,who are about to retire(it's good being retired!) leaving the flank wide open!!
However,in an effort to get to my "Maidens"Paul threw Seleucus into the fray,and got him killed,which resulted in his Bodyguard having to test their morale,which they failed,and they had to retire!!-hurrah!!
"There is a green hill far away" with the body of a dead Successor General on it!!!!!
Brian's phalanx is making mincemeat of my Indian infantry,and this was the final move of the game-I still held the city,but Brian was beating me on my right,I still held the hill,but Paul was beating me on my left,so we called the game a "draw"-phew!!
This was probably the best game we've had recently(and we have had some good'uns!)long may it continue-well done to Paul and Brian.
Roll on Thursday-don't know what we'll be playing yet.
When I set up the battles we play,I often try and envisage the way they will go-sometimes I'm right and sometimes I'm wrong-last night was one such game when I was wrong!! however the game turned out well and looked spectacular from the word "go".Brian and I were the Prussian commanders and Paul was in charge of the Russians.Because of time constraints this morning,I will put a minimum of text,and hope the photographs show how the game went.
The "usuals"-Russians in the foreground,marching into positions.
Brian's initial attack by his Hanoverians against the village.
My initial attack against the Prussian left flank.Both flanks were eventually successful,but at a cost!!
The Prussian advance begins,Paul had elected to defend,apart from the flanks,further back than we had anticipated,which meant that we had a fair old distance to move before contact,however the spectacle more than made up for it!
A rather spectacular-looking Prussian line,passing through the first line,which had suffered too many casualties.
By a combination of musket and Battery fire,Brian drove the Russian Guard out of the village,and achieved his objective-hurrah!!
The furious and long-fought fight for the other flank continues,which I eventually won-another hurrah!!
The fire-fight in the centre was "brutal!!" to say the least,and neither side could claim an all-out victory,however,with both flanks gone and 10.30pm looming(with work for Paul the next day!) the Prussians were granted a victory!!
Well done lads,another one under the belt!! Roll on Sunday,probably an Ancients.
Last night saw the "Feisty Five" of Paul,Brian,Dave,Graham and I visiting sunny Spain for this very exciting and interesting "El Cid" game.
Top photo is scenario and bottom shows the table before any movement.Graham was Ali Ben Turpin,in charge of the Moorish infantry and Guard,Brian was in charge of the Moorish Cavalry,whilst Dave took command of the Spanish infantry and Paul commanded the Spanish cavalry-I sat this one out and took photo's and generally contributed nothing!!
The game started with a bang!! as Dave attacked the low hill,defended by Graham-this melee lasted 4 moves with neither side gaining and advantage,until Dave threw some amazing dice to drive the Moors off eventually-hurrah!!-In the background Brian is lining his cavalry up against Paul's(who had better fighting and morale points,but Brian's troops had javelins to throw before contact!!)
Doesn't that look nice??-not for long though....................
CRASH!!!-once again our rules prove their worth,even though Brian was fighting at -1 from his dice because he was fighting Heavier types,he had inflicted casualties with his javelins,so it came down to dice throwing,which didn't produce an immediate result for either side-great stuff-the melee swung backwards and forwards,for three moves!!
How about these two photo's for a study in concentration!!-this is in between moves,when we write our orders for each unit(using arrows etc.) to give them directions for the next move!
Dave has launched an attack in the centre,and is pushing Graham's troops back,but still Graham wouldn't send in his elite Guard units-is he mad???
Dave's Spanish have taken the hill and are surrounding the remaining Moorish infantry unit-Graham is in real trouble now-his centre is gone-where are the Guard???
Things are not going very well in the cavalry battle!-the Moors are being beaten,and driven back-oh dear!-however,what only Paul and I knew was that his Andalusian cavalry,posted on his far right flank,were "suspect" and that,on the throw of a 2 or a 5,they would leave the field of battle,once they were confronted by the Moorish cavalry-this was done,and only one unit fled!!
Brian is beaten in all sectors,Graham is being driven back on his camp-is it all over???
I think Brian's body language says it all-YES!!!! a magnificent win for "El Cid" and his Spanish army-well done to Paul and Dave-rumour has it that Graham is sending his Elite "Black Guard" to the Job Centre on Tuesday-because they are classed as Un-employed!!!!
A good game,well played,lots of banter and good humour-great wargaming.
Roll on Thursday-could be a 7YW game.
