I have been Wargaming for 45 years,so by definition I must have fought Waterloo(or sections of it) 45 times! so when we were invited to take part in a re-fight of the battle,by Charlie Wesencraft's club,I had a feeling of "here we go again"-but wargames are not only about the battles,but about the players involved,and Charlie's club is full of characters that make any game worth playing.A mention must be made at this time of Glen,and his young son,Wills,whose hospitality was great,we were made to feel welcome a soon as we walked into his factory unit,where the game was taking place-fantastic!!
The battle itself involved 12 players,and is so well known that it really needs no narrative,so I'll let the camera do the talking,with just a few words under each photo-by the way,the French came on in the same old way,and were sent packing in the same old way!!!!
Getting set up!-Mike had typed out all of the units and placed them in their historical positions,this must have taken him a while,but was worth it,to save time etc-well done Mike.
Ah,the dice!!-there just might be enough of them!!
Napoleon,Charlie claims that because of his age,he was at the actual battle,but we don't believe him!He had Mike,Brian,Mel,Phil and Dave under his command.
Whilst the Allies were commanded by Paul Kirby,who had myself,Glen and Wills,plus Bruce,Ron and John(Wesencraft) under his command.
Let battle commence!! As in the real battle,Hougomont and La Haye Sainte sucked in far too many French troops,but what the heck,it's Xmas!!!!
Ron,at the end of the table,looks relaxed,but in the excitement of the opening moves,decided to fire a gun battery on his own troops!!luckily he was talked out of it-these games are all about the players-great fun!!
Myself,Glen and Wills were on the Allied left flank,facing Brian and Mike,who are putting in a determined attack-Brian was detailed to guard the far right of his position,against any possible Prussian advance-and a sterling job he did too!!
Whilst "Napoleon" sips on his coffee,Mel is attacking La Haye,superbly defended by Paul,who gave the attackers a "bloody nose" for their efforts.
Ron is still looking relaxed,as the French are getting too close for comfort-the British second line had been placed too close to the front line,and a "push back" broke through them!!-Will the French win???
The Allied left is under pressure,as Mike explains the firing sequence to young Wills and Brian.
It's half time,and to much beer boozing and mince pie munching,Sue appeared(Paul's wife) looking like a rose among the many thorns!!
Paul has launched the British cavalry!!-this was rather spectacular,and successful!!-in the centre and right of the Allied line,the French are being held,and on our left,a lucky combination of dice throws saw me "killing" the French commander(Mike) and driving them back down the slope.-is this victory??
Judging by the look on Brian's face,it is!!!
As the Guard appear on the board(led by Napoleon himself-ie Charlie) it is all over,and the Allies have won!!
This was a good day out,and Charlie and I agreed that we need to organise,with more clubs in the region,more inter-club games like this-watch this space!!
A big thank you to everyone in Charlie's club.
Last night,Paul,Brian and I had a game using my newly painted Saxons as 11th Century Spanish troops!!-Mainly to get them onto the board,but to see how our rules would work too!
As usual,top photo shows scenario and bottom one shows the table before any moves-I was Alfonso,whilst Brian and Paul were in charge of Sancho's troops.
The two centres move towards the inevitable clash!!-we assumed that all the infantry were armed with spears and swords,so ignored the two-handed Danish Axe held by a lot of my "Saxons".
While the central troops were moving,both wings were "jockying" for position,each trying to out-flank the other.
Brian was in charge of the "Sancho" left flank,containing light infantry and heavy cavalry-I matched him like a mirror image,so it would come down to dice throws in the end!!!-I'll have no chance then!!!
On the other flank,I was out-numbered,so I moved two infantry units onto the flanks of my cavalry to bolster them-hurrah!!-In the background the two centres are just about to charge.
This is how the table looked around move number 4!-flanks not yet engaged but the centre is!!
By some lucky dice throws I managed to win 5 out of 6 melees,and Paul was on the back foot-another hurrah!!
My right flank is in a bit of bother-Brian has won the first round of melees-I will have to send my heavy cavalry in to the fray-but so will Brian-this is going to be bloody!!
There they go!!Brian won 2 out of 3 of the ensuing melees,and eventually pushed me back across the stream-woe is me!!-however I have won all the infantry melees,and am pushing Brian's infantry back!!!!-swings and roundabouts!!
On the other flank,Paul is lining his cavalry up to take on my combined infantry and cavalry.
In the centre,things are going from bad to worse for Paul's infantry-to stop a unit from retiring,he put his command figure with the unit-and,to everyone's surprise,I managed to throw the right combination of dice,and killed him!!!-this forced every unit under his command to test morale,and all but one unit decided that they had done their bit,and headed home-hurrah,hurrah!!!
The "tumbleweed" moment as the table is devoid of Paul's troops!!
This shows Brian's moment of triumph,as he pushes my cavalry back across the stream-however with their centre gone,and their right flank in a spot of bother,I was declared the winner-a big hurrah!!!
This was an interesting game,and, I think, the start of a new period of wargaming,where we can have various "Kingdoms" fighting one another,as well as the fight against the Moors.
We won't be playing on Sunday,because we have been invited by Charlie Wesencraft's club to take part in a re-fight of Waterloo,on Saturday-unfortunately only Brian and I can go,but we'll do our little club proud,I'm sure-a full report will follow on Sunday.
All of the fighting figures(ie everyone except the "El Cid" figure,and some Priests) are from Warrior Miniatures.
After last night,I'm getting a little worried about Brian-it's nothing I can really put my finger on,but he sort of looks at me in a strange,almost "lustful" way-see if you can spot what I mean..........
Well,last night we had a Napoleonic game set in Spain,pitting an Allied army,against a French army,this is the scenario....
Brian and Graham were the French commanders,whilst Paul and I were the Allied commanders.
This shows the table before any movement-note the "Teddy Bear Fur" corn fields-Brian spent a lot of time "stroking" the Fur!!-cause for concern or what?????
Brian begins the first of many attacks on the Spanish-held hill/convent,with the hill being defended by infantry and a gun,all of his attacks were doomed to failure!!
O.M.G!! now can you see what I mean by a "Lustful" look??-as Paul begins to shoot his infantry and I begin to attack with my Spanish cavalry,Brian advances against the village and open ground-this is going to be tight!
As the battle rages in the centre,Brian and Graham put in another attack against the hill and village-you're all doomed,laddy,you're all doomed!!!!
Paul has sent reinforcements to the hill,as Brian puts in yet another attack!!!
Yet another one!!!-will they never learn??-In the background,to the right,Graham is moving ever closer to my Portuguese troops,who have retired(it's good being retired!!) behind the stream,he did well to manoeuvre his troops into a position where his gun and infantry shot my troops to pieces-but they still hung on-hurrah!!
In this shot Graham is looking for heavenly inspiration!!(or hair on Brian's head!) whilst "Lusty" is looking grim!-however back at the table,the whole battle is raging,and Graham's troops are driving mine backwards-that gun is particularly well placed!!
My flank is lost,but the hill is still in allied hands,the village is being held by a handful of French who can not stand a determined assault,and Brian's cavalry are being "swamped" by Spanish and British cavalry-the battle is ours(I think!)
This was an interesting and complex game,both sides facing problems,but very well played by all.
Roll on Thursday-Paul wants a Carthaginian game,but I need to get my new Saxon army(probably disguised as a Spanish 11th century army) onto the table-we'll see!!
Being a P.O.P.(poor old pensioner) I have to watch how I spend my money,so when I decided to build up a Viking Army to match my Warrior Miniatures Saxon army,My thoughts turned to some old Prince August moulds which I had stored in my loft for ages!
I got my wife to go up into the loft(far too dangerous for me to go up!) and find the moulds-of which she found 8!! so tonight I will cast a few figures from each mould to see what is suitable,but in the mean time I thought I would show the method used for casting.................
I first numbered the moulds for easy identification,and made some "clapper boards" to hold them,and keep them tight shut whilst pouring the metal.
This is the equipment I use-camping cooker,ladles,clamps and cutters,plus a dish of talcum powder to dry the mould and ease release.Goggles and gloves would be recommended too!!
Here the mould is clamped between the "clapper boards" prior to pouring the metal-it's a case of trial and error as to how tight you clamp the mould,to get the best results.
The metal is being heated in this shot-care must be taken when transferring the full ladle over to the mould-hot metal hurts-I know through years of casting figures!!
The metal has been poured into the mould,right up to the top,followed by "tapping" the mould to get rid of any trapped air bubbles.
After a minute or so,the mould can be opened-it's at this stage that you can see if the figures have cast ok or not-if not,simply start the procedure again!!
The figures,of a spearman,swordsman and axeman have been prised out of the mould(mould number 1) and look good-I just have to cut of the pouring sprue,which of course will be put back into the melting pot,so no waste of metal at all!!
Job done,only another 197 to go!!!!!-these figures are "true" 25mm,but Prince August do 28mm,32mm,40mm and 54mm moulds-have a look at their web site,you might just be inspired to try casting your own figures.
Last night saw Graham,Brian,Paul and I in ancient Greece,fighting a Hoplite army against a Persian army.
This is the scenario-to be fair,the Persians(Paul and Brian) were not given all the facts,ie the hidden stakes!!-oh how they laughed when they discovered them!!!(not)
This is the table before any movement-Graham was in charge of the Spartans and Corinthians,whilst I took charge of the Athenians on the Greek left.Paul was facing me,Brian was facing Graham on the Persian left(including a hill full of "Immortals")
Move number one,and Paul charged my heavy cavalry(who were "masking" the stakes) I retired them revealing a line of wooden stakes and a unit of Hoplites!!-the language was nothing short of disgusting!!!!!-however,the way we play,is to make a battle plan which must be adhered to,so Paul had no option but to do his best until a further order could be written,so in consequence he had to stand for 2 moves until the new orders reached him!!-this meant that my plan,to shoot his immobile cavalry with arrows,worked a treat-hurrah!!
On the other flank,Graham has begun his out-flanking march with the Corinthians against the "Immortal" hill,whilst his over-enthusiastic advance by his Spartans is leaving a huge gap between my Athenians and the Spartans-oh dear!!!
Brian's Persians and Graham's Spartans clash into each other-the Spartans have such a good Fighting ability that the Persians couldn't possibly win the ensuing melee(can anyone see where this is going?)
Meanwhile,on the other flank Paul has re-organised his cavalry and is shooting my Hoplites,behind the stakes,with his horse archers!-his infantry are strolling forward,taking their time-no rush!!
Brian is looking worried,but he needn't be,he is doing well against the Spartans,even though his hill is under attack!!-My heavy cavalry is desperately trying to get onto Graham's left flank to help him out-will they get there in time????
Yeah!!!!!-with the centre stabilised,this just left the bloody hill and the left flank to deal with!!
Graham is just about to begin his magnificent assault on Brian's hill,but attacking uphill against the cream of the Persian army is not going to be easy!!
Mixed results!! a win and two losses,meant that the hill was still in Persian hands,however(much to Brain's chagrine,because he didn't realise that he was defending a hill and not a cliff!!) Graham is sending his cavalry into the fray-hurrah!!!
Meanwhile,as Brian was moaning and groaning about "Pegasus" cavalry climbing up the hill using ropes and tackle,Paul's Infantry have charged into my Hoplites-I did ok here,but you can see he has moved his cavalry into a good threatening position -where's my cavalry to counter this move??-oh yes,I selflessly sent it help Graham and his Spartans!!!!-fool!!
Look,that's them there,getting chewed up by the mercenary Hoplites in the Persian army!!
Graham is gaining ground against the Persian infantry,but things are not going well on the hill,even though the "flying cavalry",as Brian has called them,have done a bit of damage to the defenders!
Paul's clever use of his infantry and cavalry combined, have done for me!!-my flank is on the point of collapse-woe is me!!
With the hill still in the balance,but the Spartans facing fresh troops in the form of Greek mercenaries,we called it a day-who won?-who cares?-we had a good game,including quite a few laughs,all in all a good result for everyone!!-roll on Sunday,probably a Peninsular Napoleonic game.
