For a small club we certainly cover a multitude of periods,actually 32!!! but last night saw my favourite period being played,that of Ancients.We pitted Alexander the Great's Macedonians against the might of Persia and King Darius,and what a game it was.............................
Top photo shows the scenario(which wasn't read properly by some!!) and bottom photo shows the table before any moves-Paul and Graham in deep contemplation,and surveying their battle lines!
Paul and Brian were in charge of the Macedonians,whilst Graham and I were in charge of the Persians.
It was action all the way,with the Macedonian cavalry attempting to win both flanks-in a moment of madness(?) Brian changed his advantageous "wedge formation" into line,and met my cavalry head-on,and lost!!-hurrah!
With the cavalry fighting it out,the Phalanx moves forward-however,the Persians had a trick up their sleeve-a line of low quality Axemen,whose only job was to absorb the archery from the Macedonians,and,if possible,hit the phalanx and inflict a few casualties-this worked to a degree,although the Axemen were wiped out in the process!!!
Graham,with all the best troops,ie Immortals and Cataphracts,had mis-understood the scenario,and was attempting to move these troops to attack the Macedonian left flank,when Paul's out-flanking troops appeared!!!-this caused a certain amount of panic,swearing and changing of plans!!!
As my "fuzzy" cavalry give Alexander's Royal Squadron a right old bashing,Paul and Graham are locked in a fierce fight in the background-wonderful,entertaining stuff!!
As the cavalry battles rage on,the main infantry lines have clashed,the phalanxes,in our rules are given an advantage in the first round of melee,because of their long pikes(sarrisas) but our Axemen had just taken enough casualties off the Phalanxes to cause an upset later on in the game!!
It looked like Graham's "best" troops were gaining an advantage,but Paul kept piling more and more troops into the fray,and eventually drove him back-woe is us!!
The phalanxes are being fragmented! and to the left the Royal squadron(plus Alexander) is being chased off the board-is this a Persian victory??
Well, it would have been,if not for Paul's out-flanking troops!!-they are driving the Immortals and Cataphracts back,thus exposing the whole Persian line-oh well,there's always next time!!
One final shot of the table at the end of the game-the Persians look stronger,but that flank proved too much for the "best",so a draw was called for and given-well done lads,good game.
We finalised arrangements for our trip to Carronade(Falkirk) for next Friday,Saturday and Sunday(we make a good week-end out of it!) and of course a full report will follow.
Enough, is enough,is enough!!-I can't face up to painting any more black crosses onto white barded horses,white shields or white cloaks!!!,so having finished 4 units of Teutonic Knights,I am switching to other Templar knights-mainly red with white crosses and black with white crosses-see my future blogs!!
Whilst they may look terrifying and nice(at the same time?) they will not be repeated!!
This is the next unit,ready to go-they will have red barding,shields and cloaks,with white crosses-see background home-made banners,and the last will be black barding shields and cloaks with white crosses.
I am a great fan of battlefield "ephemera",and find that Irregular Miniatures do a good range of this sort of thing,so I sent for some dis-mounted knights and "wounded" Teutonic knights,to scatter around the board when my Mongols eventually face the Teutonics and Russians.Well,they arrived this morning,and quite frankly I was hugely dis-appointed with the "wounded" figures,although the others were quite superb!!
The "wounded" figures are at the top-at first glance you would say they had Napoleonic shakos on!!-but the designer has tilted the helm backwards on the head,giving the figure a most peculiar look!
See what I mean?-the arrow sticking out of his neck is a nice touch,but the face is indistinct,and the axe he is holding is badly molded-ho hum!-It's a pity really because the other dis-mounted figures are lovely...............
Enough "whingeing" from me,next blog will be on Monday,after our Macedonian and Persian game planned for Sunday,then it will be packing figures,terrain etc etc for Falkirk show on the 13th.
I had my old mate Charlie Wesencraft up to see me for a discussion of all things wargaming on Wednesday,and I showed him the latest Wargames Illustrated magazine,with the Perry's Travel Wargame in it-imagine my,and Charlie's, surprise when he announced that he'd been working on a similar project for years!!!-you've got to be quick off the mark these days!!!
Roll on Sunday.
Thrilling,colourful,exciting,tense!-just how many words can you use to describe the game we had last night?
Colonial games are always fast and furious,but last night's re-fight of this battle was beyond that,and it was down to the approach we all had to the game,well done lads!
Top photo is the scenario,as presented to the lads,and bottom photo shows the table before any moves.Dave and Brian were the British commanders,with me in control(though not moving any figures or throwing any dice) whilst Graham and Paul commanded the Ansars and Haddendowah-all was set for a great game.
A detail of the square-I had ordered that the rear face was to face the threat posed by a unit of Camels,drive them away,then advance on the Dervish gun position,and the left face of the square was to form up facing the ridge,clear it of riflemen,then advance onto the ridge.
Meanwhile the front face was to swing outwards(like an opening door!) forming on the right of the left face,advance when completed,and take the ridge.The right face was to also swing outwards,forming a complete line and attack the Town and village of huts-I thought that the plan was sound,and,although it would take a few moves to complete,would win us the game in a few moves!!
A detail of the Dervish positions-they had riflemen and artillery(manned by Chained-to-the-guns Egyptian troops!!) and of course the thousands of tribesmen behind the ridge.In the information given to Paul and Graham,I had stipulated that they couldn't attack with the tribesmen until any British troops touched the base of the ridge-trying to keep it historically correct(!!)
In this shot Paul is charging down onto Brian's Front-face troops,who had used their full move to advance on the ridge,which was unfortunate,because Dave was only moving half his move,to keep his troops in a nice clean line!-this caused two things to happen-one,Brian reached the base of the ridge very quickly(hence the charge!) and two,a massive gap appeared between Dave's face of the square and Brian's front face-oh dear!!!!!!
At the same time,Graham charged his cavalry against the British Hussars(disguised as Lancers!) and completely routed them,causing Brian to put his right face troops into a static and defensive formation-things are not going according to plan!
This shows Dave's position,and the perilous gap,through which,at any time,the Haddendowah could charge!! However,Dave managed to get up onto the ridge,and fired on the waiting Tribesmen,before engaging in hand-to hand melee!!-come on the Brits!!!!
Brian,using well-aimed volleys,is driving away the Dervish cavalry-now he can advance on the Town and village-hurrah!!!-or can he?????
NO!!!-Graham has unleashed his screaming Ansars,and an engrossing melee ensued!With his front face fighting for their lives,and the right face fighting for their lives,this was wargaming at its best.If you look closely,there is a unit of Paul's Haddendowah behind the British lines-oh double dear!!!
Charge after charge is hitting Brian's troops,but,true to form, he is not losing faith,and finally,against all the odds,he beat Graham's troops,and sent them packing-another hurrah!!-In the background you can see Dave's troops taking the ridge-are things turning in the British favour??
Go on,Dave,give 'em hell!!-with a lot of flair,and a certain amount of audacity(!) Dave ordered his troops to charge the Tribesmen facing him,and beat them,much to Paul's dismay-war is hell!
This photo is taken from behind the British "position" with individual regiments fighting,hacking and slashing,as the Dervish hordes push them back,but,as always, the British are at their best fighting against the odds,and gradually,as the game ground to a halt,the British seemed to have won,but honestly,I couldn't tell who had won-maybe it was our great hobby of Wargaming,that won at the end of this great game.
An exhausted Dave looks on what is left of the troops,and ponders on the result!
Roll on next Sunday,probably Ancients,maybe Macedonians vs Persians!
Ordered on Thursday,delivered on Monday,and first unit finished on Wednesday!!
The first unit of 8 figures is well under way in this shot-with only three main colours,they are going to take me no time at all!!(black,white and gunmetal)
Each unit will have two flags-I made this one up,but looks okay.
All finished,just need basing and flocking...........................
Two "in situ" shots-it had to be in front of that castle!!!!
I could quite easily get sick of painting black crosses-we'll see!!
Roll on Sunday,we will be re-fighting the second battle of "El Teb", 1884, in the Sudan.
We had a most entertaining game last night,using our "El Cid" Spanish and Moors armies.
The scenario and table before any movement-Graham was in charge of the Moorish infantry,and I was in charge of the Moorish cavalry,whilst Brian commanded the Spanish Infantry,and Paul commanded the Spanish Cavalry.
Graham's attack on the Fort,and Brian's defence of the Fort was nothing short of spectacular!!-this tussle went on for the whole of the game,and was only resolved on move number 10 when Graham's attackers were ejaculated!!!!
Meanwhile,Paul has sent his heavy cavalry forward against my lighter-types,who elected to throw their javelins before contact,causing a few,but important ,casualties!!-this battle also lasted until the very last move,neither side gaining a real advantage,in a "swings and roundabouts" melee-great stuff!
In the centre,Brian has sent his light infantry against Graham's heavies!-was this a wise move?
and is Brian looking to the heavens for inspiration?-or is he looking at the biggest wasp in the world(about the size of a sparrow!) which has entered the garage,and threatened to end the game there and then!!-however,Brian volunteered to get the damned thing out ,and using a brush,and a deft hand movement,managed to rid us of the "beastie"-Brian,you are our hero!!
Because it was St George's day,parallels were drawn between St George and the Dragon,and Brian and the Wasp!-however that didn't help Brian when Graham unleashed a storm of Heavy infantry against Brian's lights,killing most of his officers in the process,and winning every melee!!!
Brian now changed tack,and sent his heavy infantry around the flank,and was met by Graham's heavies-another "ding-dong" battle ensued,until both sides decided to run away!!!
On the other flank,Paul has broken all of my light cavalry,but my Heavy Andalusian cavalry are giving him a right old beating!-my guard are totally untouched,and are making their presence felt-this was the end of the Spanish cavalry's finest hour-hurrah!!-but what of the Fort situation??
With a triumphant shout,and a disgraceful display of "gloating",Brian has managed to force Graham's attackers out of the Fort!!-with both side having a success each,we decided that a draw was the sensible result,however,realistically ,the Fort was the objective,so the Moors had lost!!
Another great game,well done lads,and roll on next Sunday,probably a Sudanese game.
Having just completed my Irregular Miniature's Mongol Camp set,I thought I might share some daftness!!!!
Man on horse to little boy "Can I ride your camel?"-Lady to man on horse,"No, you pervert,and get your finger out of that poor bird's arse!"
Seated man to man on horse,"where did you get that head?"-man on horse,"At Beijing-a sort of Chinese take-a-way!"-Man standing,"Who said humour was dead?"
Woman to man on horse,"Oh,are there two more guests for dinner?"-Man on horse,"No these two guests are our dinner!!"
An idle mind is the Devil's tool!!!!!
