Russian Napoleonic game vs Dave 1.8.12.

This game can only be described as Epic!! Dave took the role of Napoleon,commanding 18 infantry regiments,4 heavy cav. 4 light cav. and 4 gun batteries,whilst I took command of the Russians who had 15 inf.regiments,4 heavy cav. 2 light cav. and 3 gun batteries.
The scenario was as shown below,and was based loosely on part of the Borodino battle field. This is a photo of the Russian positions before the game started,it proved to be a strong one,with woods and redoubts for my troops to cower behind!

The shot below shows the first move by the French,their columns are moving around the burning village of Shevadista,aiming

at the Shevadista redoubt.This redoubt changed hands a couple of times during the battle,and proved to be a thorn in the French side.

This shows the French opening moves against my left flank,the battle was staged in two separate phases,the first against the Shevadista redoubt and the second against the Veralenka redoubt.

This shows Dave's brave troops coming under cannister fire from the redoubt,these troops did manage to get into the redoubt,but then they were in turn "ejaculated" from it by Russian infantry.

Dave's second attack storming forward,little did he know that I had a hidden force in the woods,which caused him some discomfort at first.

My hidden force walking into a maelstrom of shit,shot and shell,they didn't like it!! Meanwhile in the background the fight for the redoubt goes on.

Another shot of my hidden force,being subjected to attack, and cannister fire,my element of surprise was limited,as the French recovered enough to mount a counter attack and drive the whole force back into the woods.

The second phase is about to commence,Dave is massing his columns redy to attack the Veralenka redoubt,at this point he has not brought his guard battalions onto the board,they are massed behind the columns you can see.

Who is this man???

This is a shot of the Shevadista redoubt being taken by the French,in the background the French cavalry are shaping up for something!

This is taken from the French side of the board,and shows the columns attacking the Veralenka redoubt in grand style,the Russians are defending it in grand style too.

The French heavy cavalry are just starting to cross the stream and marshy ground,to be met by Russian dragoons.

Cavalry melee is joined!! Earlier gun fire had weakened my leading dragoons,and when it came to taking morale,they failed miserably,and that I suppose was the start of the end for my army.

The French columns are seen here bursting into the Veralenka redoubt,after heavy fighting.My troops had to check their morale and were found "wanting", and decided to head for Moscow!!

Shevadista redoubt firmly in French hands,game over,but what a game,probably the best Napoleonic game this year.Dave was pleased with the result,and in all honesty so was I.

Spain vs Carthage 235BC.29.7.12.

This should have been a good game,however, the way things worked out it was a bit of an anti-climax!We picked sides and Graham was in charge of the confederation of Spanish tribes,whilst Paul and I were in charge of the Carthaginians.
To be fair to Graham,he is not really an Ancients "buff",so the tactics and capabilities of the Carthaginians (especially the Numidian light cavalry) were a bit of a surprise to him,and after the first couple of opening moves the game was already lost!!
Below is the scenario,just to set the scene,based on fact, the Carthaginians did invade Spain in 235/6 BC. This is the general overview of the table with the Spanish tribes on the left and the Carthaginians on the right.Because the Spanish were a disparate group of tribes we decided that they must throw a Random movement dice, for each faction for each move,this proved to be a deciding factor,and upset Graham's battle plan.

The photo below shows the disposition of the Carthaginians at the start of the game,my command is the centre and right flank ,and Paul took the left flank,with the dreaded Numidian light cav. lurking on the far left.

This shot shows Graham's centre and left flank,consisting of a mixture of skirmishers,light inf.and heavy inf. and cavalry.

The shot below is of the Spanish right flank,this "surged" forward in the first move,against our heavy cav.and a good melee developed on our side of the stream,Paul's Numidians drove the Spanish archers,who had been left unsupported,away, which left the whole of the Spanish army "up in the air" and gave Paul free rein to cause havoc in their flank and rear!

The photo below shows what happened when we put in a concerted attack along the whole front,with Graham bravely trying to form some sort of line or defensive position,however being "squashed" between heavy cav.and heavy inf. with light troops darting in and out with the elephants as support,caused a total collapse of the Spanish army,and the game was finished!!

Here is anothe view of the "collapse" with the Elephants imposing themselves on the hapless Spanish infantry.

In retrospect,I suppose I should have picked the sides,with either Paul or I in charge of the large Spanish army,however experience is a good thing and I'm sure Graham will have learnt from this game.

I hope to be playing Dave on Wednesday,so roll on.......

Ancients game 26.7.12. vs Paul.

Last night's game involved a Macedonian army against an Indian army,Paul was the Macedonian commander and I was the Indian commander.The woods on my far left flank were impassable,whilst on the right flank they were open and would allow any troops to pass through.
The game started with Paul sending his heavy companion cav. forward against my lighter cav.in the centre, Paul kept his phalanx stationary,whilst I moved my considerable Elephant force forward.
Below is a general overview of the battle field before the game started. This shot shows the Heavy companion cav, of the Macedonian army, in wedge formation,they crashed into my lighter types,but I held for a while,until after about 4 rounds of melee,Paul was successful.

This photo is of the wife,sitting in her temple,thinking of jobs for me to do!! with cavalry milling about in the background.

This shows the Indian centre,complete with 12 elephants,and another 6 on the right flank,the main line of elephants proved not very useful,and mainly ran about spoiling my formations,however one unit did manage to wreck a phalanx,so not all doom and gloom!!

This is Paul's centre before the game started,his light troops are just going into the woods,up against my lights,I did alot better in the woods than I did on the plain.

THis shot shows the cavalry melee in full swing,we both kept feeding squadrons into the melee until everything was involved,a great sight,but better training and leadership won the day for the Macedonians.

My heavy infantry decide to take on the disrupted phalanx units (the elephants caused the disruption) however they proved to be more than a match for me,and my whole line broke!!

This photo shows the fight in the forest,with my elephants and light troops getting the better of Paul's troops,he called it a tactical withdrawal!!

Paul's phalanx units reforming,with not an Indian unit in sight,in fact the end of the game,which was fought with alot of "gusto",both sides,it has to be said,did well overall,but the Macedonians ruled the centre if not the flanks and were declared the winners.Roll on Sunday.

18th century game 25.7.12. vs Dave.

Last night Dave came round for a small Marlburian game;it was basically a French baggage train being stopped by a Spanish army appearing on its left flank.This turned ou to be a good game,which Dave won eventually,after the usual firefights and cavalry melees,which did swing both ways,resulting in morale tests and units "retiring" off the board.Dave put in a "spirited" attack on my centre,and I gave him,initially, a bloody nose on my right flank with a good old cavalry battle.(I commanded the French and baggage train,whilst Dave commanded the Spanish)

The shot above shows my feeble attempt at an outflanking move,by one inf. regiment,which resulted init having to beat a hasty retreat! The photo above shows the firefight on my left flank.

Here is the same photo!! I don't know why...........

The above shot shows my cavalry about to put in a charge against Dave's well placed cavalry.

As you can see the centre of the line was ablaze with musketry!!This is where the most damage was done,and once my right hand regiment gave way,the rest of the line followed.This was a good game,we hope to see more of Dave now that he's on his hollies (2 weeks of sun sea booze and wargaming,but not necessarily in that order!!)

Roll on tonight when I'm playing Paul,it will be an ancients game,Macedonians vs Indians,a full report will follow.

The last frontier,Ancients game 22.7.12.

Last night's game could only be described as "cracking",a quite simple scenario saw a frontier fort, manned by Romans, being "assailed" by Gauls and Germans,who had burning waggons with them!
Paul was the Gallic commander (8 warbands,2 cav.units,2 waggons) and Graham was the German commander (7 warbands,1 archer unit and 2 waggons) I was the fort commander and had 10 cohorts,1 unit cav. and 2 catapults.
below is the general overview of the board, with the Barbarians moving towards the stream,once over the stream they had to throw a "random movement dice" for each unit,the Germans threw well, the Gauls did not!!

This is the view from the Gallic and German perspective,it looks quite daunting. This is the view from the Roman perspective,they look safe and cosy behind their wooden walls don't they? It was soon to be hot and uncomfortable !!

This shot shows Graham's Germans attacking their nominated section of the wall with the burning waggon just about to do its dirty work against a section of wall.

This photo shows my ill-timed "sally" from the fort with cavalry and infantry,they unfortunately "bumped into" a mass of Gauls, and had to beat a hasty retreat,being chased right back into the fort,this melee lasted until the end of the game,and was one of the highlights (or low lights if you were Roman!!)

The walls have been burnt down in this shot and the Germans are assaulting in vast numbers,where are the Gauls ??

The Gauls have arrived at last,they took the "scenic " route to the fort obviously!!However with ladders and ,eventually, burning waggons,they made themselves a real threat to my weakened cohorts.

Pressure on the Romans fighting at the gate,Germans sweeping onto my flank,I just might be in a spot of bother here!

The Gauls eventually using their burning waggon,it was held up for a while by the dice deciding that it was too dangerous to approach the walls.

The final piece of the action,Germans capturing my hill and catapults,the fight still continuing at the gate,and a column of Romans "going home" in the foreground!!

This is it, the end.Barbarians victorious,Rome defeated,ah well roll on next week.

As a post script to this blog I thought I would let you see how I am getting on "basing" and finishing off the figures I bought at auction (see previous blog)

Getting there,I had to put shields and spears on both these units.
The photo below shows the majority of the units I am going to incorporate into my armies,on their bases, and flocked.Hopefully I will try and get these figures onto the board as soon as possible.