Xmas game jollity

I won't steal Johns thunder for last night's game .. Graham and Brian supplied enough of that to rival Thor himself..


Just wanted to say a happy Christmas to our friends and all who read the blog.

Game preview for Sunday 23rd December 2018.

We are having,by popular request, a Marlburian game this Sunday,so I thought a quick preview might get us in the mood.

Top photo is the scenario(c/w deliberate spelling mistake!) and map,bottom photo is the table as the "boys" will see it as they arrive.
I have picked sides,and knowing that Graham doesn't like commanding cavalry,I have put him in charge of the French cavalry and the French Provincial infantry!!!!-I will be commanding the French infantry and the Bavarians.
Paul  has the honour of commanding the Dutch,and cavalry facing Graham,whilst Brian is in charge of the British contingent,who are guarding the hamlet and bridge-all looks set for a tremendous tussle!

A shot of the French cavalry,facing the Dutch cavalry!(come on Graham!!)

My Bavarians facing Brian's well protected British "hiding" in the Hamlet-can you spot Brian's secret weapon lurking in the one of the houses??-I can,there it is........................

No matter how hard he argues about "time travel" I'm not going to allow it!!!!
Roll on Sunday.

Battle of the Loire Valley 109AD.

Last night we had a 100% turnout for what turned out to be an epic struggle!

This is the scenario-I was in charge of the Legio Phoenix(red) and Paul and Graham were in charge of the Legio Nova(blue) whilst Dave and Brian were in command of the Barbarian hordes!!

Top photo is the Barbarian Hordes! middle photo is the magnificent Roman lines,bottom photo is the ill-fated auxiliary cohorts!!!
As over-all Roman commander I decided not to reinforce defeat,and left the Auxiliaries to their fate,however this prompted Paul's auxiliaries to desert "en masse"-oh how he laughed!!-NOT!

As Brian writes his orders,Dave has launched a massive attack on my Legion,with chariots,cavalry and warbands.

Gripping their pila tightly in their hands(well,they can't touch you for it!) my legion awaits the Barbarian onslaught.

Having successfully "dealt" with the Auxiliaries in the woods,Brian is now starting to attack Paul and Graham's line of cohorts!

In this shot,Dave has driven in my skirmishers,and is putting me under all kinds of pressure,however my cohorts are not giving ground-hurrah!!-but on the other flank,all kinds of hell,swearing and fighting is taking place.........................

This was "swings and roundabouts"-both sides fighting for their little lead lives!!-the Roman lines are still looking good though-which is more than can be said for my lines!!

My Legion is being cut to ribbons!!-the line of cohorts at the edge of the board are actually running away!!-I am in real trouble,and the flank is all but lost!

Paul and Graham are doing a grand job of giving Brian's warbands a right old battering-hurrah!!
With my flank lost,and Brian's flank lost,a draw was declared,although Brian insisted,that,if he would be allowed to use his "secret weapon",he could still win!!-this is his "secret weapon"........

No comment!!!!
Roll on next Sunday-a Marlburian game has been requested.
It was good to see our old mate Billy,who arrived shortly after we started-he was on a Christmas visit from way down south-we need to see more of you matey!!

Sparta vs Athens.

Last night the "Fab Four"(Brian,Graham,Paul and I) found ourselves in Ancient Greece!

A very simple scenario,but with a bit of a twist!!........................................

This note was attached to the Megaran's clip board(Graham was in charge of them!)
I was in charge of the Spartans,Paul and Brian shared the Athenian command-so none of us knew who Graham would side with!!

The opening moves were taken up with skirmishing,and I am moving my left hand Corinthians,to guard my flank and rear,just in case Graham decided he would assist the Athenians-never trust a Greek in your rear!!!-Paul was also very wary,and hesitant to use his Thebans to attack my Spartan line-who will Graham support????

My centre and right have attacked Brian's Athenians,with varying degrees of success,meanwhile Paul has attacked my static Spartans on the left-Graham now appeared on the board,but we still didn't know who he would help-the tension is killing me(and Paul  and Brian!!)

A big "Hurrah" and a sigh of relief-Graham is siding with the Spartans!!-this released my Corinthians from flank guarding duties,and they began to move to thwart Paul's winning(!!!) Athenians-great stuff!

The Spartans and their "lovely" allies(Megarans) are winning in all sectors,and driving the Athenians backwards-another hurrah!

Graham's Megarans giving the Thebans a right old "kicking"-final shot of a good,colourful and exciting game-well done "boys".
Roll on next Sunday-Paul suggested another Ancients game,of Romans vs Dacians and Germans-but who knows????

Covered Waggons for the "Old West"

In an idle moment(which are few and far between!) I decided that for my Plains Indians wars period,I might just have a need for some covered waggons for the Indians to attack!! but I didn't have any-another project is born!!!
I "surfed" the internet for images of covered waggons to see if I could come up with something,but to my surprise,there was a detailed plan for a waggon,so I downloaded the image/plan,enlarged it by 25%,and the project was underway.

Top photo is the plan,as seen on the computer,bottom photo is a couple cut out c/w wheels,front and back-however I decided to make both front and back wheels the same,as I couldn't find any washers/coins that fitted the smaller front wheels!

This shows the waggon cut out,and the wheels ready to be stuck onto penny coins(which were the exact fit!!)

This is the part that made me weep-I had to go out and buy(with real money) a piece of timber to make the body rigid,because the paper would be too flimsy without it!-I cut the timber to size,luckily the timber I bought was 25mm wide by 12mm deep,as was the waggon!!

The paper body has been stuck onto the timber,the wheels have been stuck onto the pennies,and I have measured and "rolled" a piece of paper to act as the cover.

Top photo shows the body and cover,bottom photo shows the wheels stuck onto the body.

Almost finished-I had to drill a hole in the front and stick a cocktail stick into it to act as the boom.

No boring old white canvas waggon train for me!!!

As they say in the best Westerns "Waggons Ho",and the're off to a better life,unless they encounter the odd Grizzly,pack of Wolves,or,God forbid, Indians!!!!

What would the Indians have to fight,if it wasn't for these pioneers??

Just keeping an eye out for hostiles!!

This lot took me approx. 4 hours to complete,and I enjoyed the challenge,now I just have to convince the rest of  the"boys" that this period will be fun to play!!

Battle of Ish 1895-Sudan.

Last night we had a "rip-roaring,rollicking" Colonial game,which lacked nothing of excitement,colour,banter and a bit of bad language!!

This is the scenario,Paul and I were in charge of the Dervish/Haddendowah troops,whilst Brian commanded the British and Graham commanded the Egyptians.
A look-out on top of the hill could alert Paul and I when the enemy crossed the river,with a throw of 3 or 4 for Paul,and a 5 for me!!!-needless to say,I didn't move until move number 4,which allowed Brian to get most of his troops into position!!!

Under the ever watchful eye of Brian,the British are lining up to give Paul's advancing Dervish contingent a volley in the flank,as well as waiting for my inevitable attack(eventually??)

Paul's advance against the Egyptians-Graham managed to get half of his troops across the river to meet the attack frontally,and half onto the hill on Paul's right flank!!-I need to move and give assistance!!

As Graham looks on (top photo) Brian opens up with volleys galore on Poor,old Paul's troops-but we all know of Paul's dice throwing,and we all know that he will survive(Gloria Gaynor!) and give those Egyptians a right old "pasting"

Hurrah!! I have eventually charged into Brian's Lancers,and despite him having the advantage of the lance,I beat them and forced them to retire(it's good being retired!),my infantry are also making moves towards the British line-another hurrah!-but what of the Egyptians??

Well,due to some "in league with the devil" dice throwing,Paul has managed to get into hand-to-hand combat,and is giving them hell!!!

Look at Brian's body language!!-I am attacking his whole line,in over-whelming numbers,and he has no reply-caught in line,and a flank attack on his far left hill,leave the issue in no doubt!

One final shot(!!) showing the demise of the British-the Egyptians had long since been sent running for Cairo-so the Dervish/Haddendowah were declared the obvious winners-Brian didn't even ask for a draw!!
A good game,nothing more can be said!
Roll on next Sunday,a Greek game has been requested by Brian-we'll see!

Preview game for Sunday 2.12.2018-Colonial.

We are putting on a Colonial game,based in the Sudan,on Sunday,and I thought a couple of photo's might get us in the mood!!

Top photo is the scenario,and bottom photo is the table from the Anglo/Egyptian side.

The table from the Dervish/Haddendowah side-we will pick sides on the night,hopefully there will be 5 of us-3 Dervish/Haddendowah, and 2 Anglo/Egyptian commanders.

The "hapless" look-out,upon whom the playability of the game depends!!!!
Roll on Sunday.