Seeing as my analyst says I'm completely perplexed and anxious about Brexit (by the way what is the Moorhouse B amendment??),he suggested that I do a game preview,so here goes......
Top photo is the very simple scenario,bottom photo is the table as the "boys" will see it on Sunday,as they arrive.
View from the Damascus battlements-note the two HUGE catapults!!
The Christian right flank(other religions are available!) made up of Teutonic knights.
The Saracen(Muslim) left flank-see, I told you other religions are available!-note horse archers to the front!
The Saracen centre c/w commander's tent on hill in the background.
The Christian centre-looking very much like Normans!(Holy Order Foot)
The Saracen right flank,including two units of Mamalukes!
The Christian left flank.
I am looking forward to this game,it's such a colourful and brutal period to fight,we will pick sides on the night(knight?)
Roll on Sunday-by the way,I have been told on very good authority,that we should all begin to stock-pile Sprouts and String-neither of which will be in plentiful supply after 29th March!!
Last night we had a full turnout for this exciting and different Colonial game-I put this game on to showcase Brian's newly painted(and what a grand job he made of them too!) Naval Brigade,who were given the main task of the night-did they do well?..........................
This is the scenario-Dave and I were the Egyptian commanders,whilst Brian commanded his Naval Brigade(naturally!) and Paul and Graham commanded the British column.
Brian's Navy Boys made short work of the Egyptian infantry unit supported by an artillery piece,which were placed in the stronghold!-at this point he must have been thinking,"well, this is going to be a walk in the park"-oh really??????
Up "popped" two units of locally recruited riflemen,and gave them hell-at this critical point his Gatling and Gardener gun both jammed-oh how he laughed!!!!-welcome to wargaming boys!!
On the other side of the table,Dave's gunners,obviously trained by Stevie Wonder,and Paul's gunners,obviously trained by Blind Pew,were blasting away at each other but doing no harm!
Graham had to listen to ,and react to, Brian's pitiful pleadings and tears for help,as his Naval Brigade(beautifully painted!) was being shot to bits-but what could he do??-well, he decided to send him a full brigade-was this a mistake???..........................
Here they come,all smart and properly uniformed,marching in nice files-what could possibly go wrong??
As the "relief" brigade formed into line,they suddenly started shooting-at what??
Well,the "wily" commander(moi!) on this flank unleashed his locally recruited tribesmen,onto the hapless British,and even taking huge casualties on the way in,managed to chop the Redcoats to bits-hurrah!!
On the other side of the table,Dave and Paul are battling it out with volley fire-Paul and his British are getting too close for my liking!-but Dave remained calm and cool(even in the desert?)
In the village,Dave is holding his own(!!!) but taking casualties from Graham's remaining gun.
In the background you can see a brown bit of "smoke"-this is the remains of the Rocket Battery that blew up on take off!!!-we laughed,they didn't!!
In desperation,Paul has charged Dave's infantry with his Lancers,and has managed to get into them,causing them a bit of bother!!
However,the British were in dis-array(to say the least) and the village still had not been captured,and we had inflicted enough casualties on them to prevent them continuing their march to Alexandria,so the Egyptians had won the day!!
Well done to Dave and I,I feel sure that the British "team" will have something to say about this report,but it is the victors that write history,and Blogs!!!
Roll on next week,don't know what we'll be playing yet.
Last night Dave realised every wargamers dream,and hosted a most splendid game in his custom built wargames room.
It fell to Brian,Graham and I to command a force of Confederate soldiers against Michael,Dave and Paul,who commanded a similar Union army.
Two shots of the new venue-it is bright,clean and warm-and you can actually move around the table freely!!-why is Brian in every photograph I take????
Move one,and my Virginians have left the road and are moving against Michael's union troops,however, another brigade has entered the board,and I am looking "exposed" to say the least!!
Graham,commanding the centre,has spotted my perilous position,and is moving troops into the cornfield to assist-meanwhile on the far left flank,Brian is making progress against Paul's troops.
The Union generals are having a tactical "conflab!"(strictly against the rules,but it's Dave's house so we can't grumble too much!!)
In the foreground you can see the "Rebs" hurrying down the central road,and advancing towards the Town-all great good-looking stuff!-The Union Generals seem mesmerised by these moves,except for Michael,who was attacking my Virginians with a certain "elan"...........
With Graham's help,I am holding the fence line,but I feel a crunch coming any moment!
Brian is still making good progress,but his right flank is exposed,would Paul exploit this???
This shot is from Michael's side of the board,and shows his audacious attack against the fence line-he has also reinforced the town with the Iron Brigade,giving Graham a "hard nut to crack"-spectacular gaming!!
This shot is also from the Union side of the table,and shows Graham's attacking troops,giving the brave defenders HELL!!!!
My troops have managed to drive the attackers from the fence line,and Graham has successfully gained the town-hurrah!!-things are beginning to look good for the "Rebs"
This shows the steady progress being made by Brian on the left flank,and Graham in the centre-it's all but over now-look at the Union body language!!!!
One last shot-the Confederate States have won the day,but a splendid display by the Union made this a great game-well done to Dave-when's the next one??
Well,next week it's back to the dank and dingy freezing cold garage,where we will be in the depths of the Sudan,so Brian can "showcase" his newly painted Naval Brigade.
Talk about a game of two halves!!!-last night's game was certainly that.As Dave had "hoyed a sickie" it fell to Graham and I vs Brian and Paul....................
Top photo is the scenario,bottom is the table before any movement.
Brian and Paul commanded the Romans whilst Graham and I commanded the Britons-all was set for another epic game(of two halves,as you will see!)
Top photo shows Graham's ferocious advance against the Legion,which Paul is still manoeuvering into position,bottom photo shows Brian's charge against the "town" defended by the King and his "Hearth Troops"-so far so good(??)
To break up Graham's attack,Paul has formed the Legion into a chequer-board formation-who's a clever boy then??
Well, not so clever now,because Paul lost every single melee!!-he must have fallen out with the Devil,who normally makes sure that he throws high and kills officers like they are going out of fashion!!
On my flank,Brian is advancing his auxiliaries,but I didn't wait to be caught,instead I attacked across the river,and won every melee(now that is a surprise!!)-the Romans were in trouble,but what of the "town" melee??
Ah,well, some dismal dice throwing from me(so what's new?) saw Brian's Marines break down the "town" gate and started to give the "Hearth Troops" a right old bashing!!-is this the start of the second half??-you bet it was!
In the centre and on the far right flank,Graham is being held by the Cohorts(ooh can be very painful that!!) and the Romans are gradually pushing the Warbands back-about time you put your commander in chief into the fight to save the day!!!!(you just know what's coming don't you?)
Well,Graham did put his C-in-C into the fight,got him killed,and the warbands decided to re-evaluate their positions,and,well,not to put it too delicately,pissed off!!!!!
At this point Brian started to laugh and "guffaw" like a LOON,which does count for gloating,which is not tolerated in our club!!
Brian's Marines are burning the "town",so technically,the game is over,but not before my remaining warbands are getting a good old bashing from Brian's other auxiliaries-oh dear!
We are not running away,we are retiring(it's good being retired!)
What a good game this was,Graham and I thought we had won it by about move number 7,but by move number 10,we had lost it(some would say we had lost it a long time ago!!)
Roll on next week,if Dave is not too contagious we will be playing in his new wargaming room,and hopefully we will be playing an ACW game.
Last night,by way of a change,we re-fought the famous battle of Marathon.
Dave and I were the Persians,and Graham'Paul and Brian were the Greeks.
If I were to be honest,the game was a very short disaster!!-mainly because I had weighted the "adapted" rules too heavily in favour of the Greeks-in fact,apart from the Persian centre,the rest of the Persians didn't stand a chance!!-ho hum.can't win them all!!!
This is how the table looked before any movement,Greeks to the left,Persians to the right.
The initial "clash"-the weakened Greek centre assaults the Persian centre-we tried something a little different as well,using the centre as one unit,the left flank as one unit and the right flank as one unit-so one dice throw decided who won and who lost-again making the game very fast(and short!!)-oh dear!
These two shots show the Greek flanks successfully pushing the Persian flank units back,whilst the Persians continue to push the Greek centre back(as per history!)
The successful Greek wings turned to catch the Persians in a classic pincer movement-game over!!
One final shot of the table-Graham looks happy!!
To show my disappointment,Brian suggested that I take a "selfie".................
Oh dear,how sad,never mind!!
I then suggested that Brian took a "selfie"...................................
Aaaaaaaagh!!!!
Roll on next Sunday,probably Crusader/El Cid,but who knows??
