Mahratta Update

Here are a few photos of my first Mahratta unit to receive their flag which has just arrived from The Virtual Armchair General (TVAG) who is based in the U.S.

TVAG does a comprehensive range of flags to cover the 2nd Anglo Mahratta war. For $35 I received almost 100 flags and, while they are obviously not of the quality you would expect from, say GMB, they are a good balance of quality and price. I really like them.

Patrick Wilson the owner of TVAG is a real gentlemen and answered any queries I had promptly and with good humour. The order was dispatched the same day I confirmed it and would have arrived in 7 days if the Her Majestys Customs hadn't got their mits on it!
   I will post more photos soon as the units receive their flags. Figures as usual are by Redoubt.

 

Iron Age Fort-Construction.

Since buying two roundhouses and a storage hut,it has always been my intention to build an Iron Age Fort,so an injured back and no games last week was the ideal opportunity to start this project.As most illustrations show a round stockade, I hit on the idea of using a 14" cake stand as my base,using "hobby sticks" for the stockade and painting the base.After a bit of thought,I decided to cover the base with the artificial grass we use on our wargames board instead of painting the base.
So, the first photo shows the cake base with the hobby sticks stuck around it,I used "tacky" P.V.A. for the glue to give me a better chance of getting the thing stuck to the base and not to me!! This process took alot of time and getting the sticks vertical was a challenge, a close inspection will reveal just how vertical some of them are! Another shot of the first stage completed.

I put the buildings in the fort just to see what the proportions were and what space I had to work with,it also gave me feel of what the finished article would look like.

This is a better shot of what the first stage looked like,and my preparation for varnishing the sticks.

This shot shows the "grass" circle with huts etc. on it ,again to give me an idea of what it would look like.

The sticks have been varnished using a fast drying varnish,you can see that I have put a sort of gantry on top of the gate section,ready to hold a shield gantry,I have also painted an inch of the base around the bottom of the stockade in case the "grass" wasn't a good fit ( as if !!) You can see the unpainted shield gantry at the bottom right of the photo,these were shields I had left over from Lancashire Games figs.

"grass" in situ and the whole thing feels like it is coming together nicely.

Nearly complete,just shields to paint and the gantry to be stuck down.

The completed fort with shield gantry and huts in place,I have decided not to build a gate for the fort so I can easily take figures in and out without damaging the structure,I will probably use some sort of barricade instead.

Side view of completed fort.

View from the rear showing "comely wenches" cooking in front of thatched huts,what would "health and safety" say about that?

I quite enjoyed making this fort,even though my modelling skills are somewhat low level,no doubt this fort will be seen on as many occasions as possible over the next few weeks,it should make it's public appearance at "Border Reiver " show in September.

This year we're off to sunny Spain-NOT !! 1709

Well fellow bloggers you probably have never seen a game like this before and probably won't see a one like it again.
The two players who were conned into thinking this was going to be a seige of Gibralta,with the British and Dutch attacking and the Spanish and French defending,were Paul and Graham.The scenario was that an invasion force was sailing from Plymouth to Gibralta to capture the castle from the Spanish and French,however the "real" scenario was that the invasion force was hit by a storm at sea and most of it was wrecked,leaving a very depleted force of British inf. guns and cav. on the Moroccan shore!!
The local "Warlord" (Graham) sees this little "army" marching inland to a village and oasis,gathers his tribes and some allied tribes in an attempt to destroy them,quite silly really but as it turned out was a challenging game to both sides,and totally enjoyable-Marlburian/Colonial,what next??
I have printed some photo's showing alot of the main action,I took command of the allied tribes on Graham's left flank,and we jointly decided to attack both of Paul's flanks,whilst holding him in the centre with just a token force.The photo below shows the British main defences in the village and an ancient tower,this is the British right flank and centre. This shows the Allied tribes attacking the village,being shot at but not stopped.

Paul had cleverly placed on of his guns in the tower and,although it had limited ammunition(as did the infantry) it did alot of damage to Graham's tribes attackinghis left flank.

The village under pressure from allied tribes,too much pressure as it turned out!

The inevitable cavalry clash on the British left flank

This shows Graham's tribes being "cannistered" and almost destroyed,luckily he had a second line which eventually got in among Paul's inf. on that flank,and after a hard and bloody struggle, he won the ensuing melee.

Up close and personal in the village,this was the scene of lots of melees,the result was a close run thing but eventually the tribes captured the village,thus threatening the whole of the British defences.

In the background of this shot you can see quite an unusual sight,the British foot guards being persued by a unit of Camels !!!

Paul,in desperation,charges his cavalry into a tribe and actually drove them back,before reinforced by another tribe,which tipped the balance in Graham's favour and the British cav. were forced back.

This shows Paul's map,which he was given after Graham and I had worked out our dispositions,so he could dispose his troops.(note his "doodlings" on bottom)

This is the original scenario given to both players before the game started and was of course a total "con"

At the end of this game we all agreed that it was good fun and that it had provided us all with various problems which we would not have ever thought of in a "normal" Marlburian game.

Blow the Bridge,Napoleonic game 30.5.12.

This Napoleonic game was played between Dave and John,and was a fairly small game,Dave commanding a French force defending a village and tasked to prevent the British from blowing up the bridge.Dave could not move his troops until a signal was given (a shot from his artillery )however this was also the signal for a band of "Guerillos" to emerge from the houses in the village and attack any French troops they could find!This certainly gave Dave a fright but he was able to extricate himself from the situation and the "Guerillos " decided that they had done their bit and vanished!!
This is the map we both worked from to decide on strategies and final troop positions. This is the general scenario.

These are the notes that Dave was given a week before the game. This a shot of the camp before the game started with a Brigadier inspecting the two regiments in the camp.

This is the "fortified hill" which cost the British attackers to lose so many men,a formidable obstacle and defended by some of Dave's best troops.

This is the British right hand column,consisting of 6 inf. 1light dragoon and commanded by Wellington himself.

British left flank column,consisting of rifles,3 reg'ts inf 1 horse art. battery and also containing the engineer's waggons and explosives.

These are Dave's troops defending "tower hill",they stood for a cou[ple of moves then Dave very wisely took them back towards the trees, because of the threat to them by art. and rifle fire,they did mount a bit of a counter attack which stopped me for a while but this was my only success in the game,and after being fired on and threatened by cav. I decided that enough was enough and I ended the game still holding the hill but nothing else!! This shot is of the village before the game started,with French troops milling about without a care in the world,until the Spanish Guerillos decided to end their "holiday in Spain"

This photo shows thr French being thrown out of the village and the Guerillos "taunting " them.

The British attacking the fortified hill,one column attacking whilst the other tries to outflank the position,after a couple of volleys I decided to charge the position and after an initial success was thrown back.I persisted in the attack,three in total,but this was my downfall,having lost too many troops and Dave's well placed artillery ripping into my flank unit,I was forced to retire.

Dave's troops are deploying onto the plain whilst my columns are preparing to attack both hills.

This shows monsieur Delaborde,aka Dave ,looking non-plussed even though his troops have just been driven out of the village !!

The British "success",Dave's towwr hill troops have been retired from the hill, allowing the British inf. to gain a very tenuous hold on the position.

This photo shows the last attack by the brave,but poorly led, British, and Dave marshalling his inf. ready to sweep me off the board and into the house for a glass of wine (NOT FRENCH WINE !!)

I would describe this game as totally enjoyable,Dave is a very good opponent who knows his stuff,he deploys his troops well and is a master at getting his artillery to the right place every time.

Infamy,Infamy,they've all got it in for me!!27.5.12.

Apologies to Paul for this one,he was "set up" hence the title of the game,The scenario was a two legion invasion force,one led by me and the other by Paul,who was supposed to come onto the board on move number 4,HOWEVER, he didn't know but his legion had been wiped out by a British tribe,who would arrive on his flank(he was helping me move my legion) on move number 4 instead !! Paul's face was a picture when it was revealed that he had been set up,more so because he had refused my offer of a couple of cohorts to help on his flank.Paul was now faced with a real challenge,not only being attacked frontally,but also from his left flank.
The shot below shows the scenario,complete with lies and set up clause.

This is my centre cohorts with the Roman commander,Giovannicus,lurking in the background.My initial orders were to charge forward and engage the Britons,who countered by letting loose all of their Chariots.
This is a shot of one of the Brits.12 chariots,lovely figures bought from Renegade miniatures,very good value.

Below is a photo of the British centre,looks more like the start of the Grand National!

This is the Roman right flank,entrusted to some Aux. inf and good quality cav.This flank was a real bone of contention all through the game,with the Brits. pushing me back,then my counter charges being successful,and then a final push by the Brits nearly broke my flank,however, cohorts to the rescue,and I was finally successful.

This shows a "low" in the Roman battle plan,Paul's cav. being chased through his own lines by the Noble British cav.however ,Graham,who was in charge of all the British troops,was assailed by a couple of cohorts and decided to withdraw after giving us a "bloody nose"

This shot shows Alcoholix,the flanking attacker,who had beaten Paul's legion before they even got onto the board,making his prescence felt.

The battle in the centre raged all game,Graham was throwing high dice all night and was pushing my first line cohorts back,forcing me to commit my second line,thus depriving Paul of my support.

This is Paul's left flank line taking shape just as Alcoholix's troops begin to attack,Nip and Tuck springs to mind!

Graham's last ditch attempt to break the Roman left flank by massing his remaining chariots and his noble cav units,all to no avail,the Romans held firm(ish) and we were victorious.

Roman left flank pushing back the last of Graham's troops,in fact the end of this exciting game,enjoyed by all,even Paul after he got over the initial shock of not commanding his legion,there's always next week!