What a game we had last night!!-it was Dave's turn to stage a game using the "generic terrain",and he pulled all the stops out by pitting Union against Confederates,in an enthralling game,using his rarely seen A.C.W. armies (I think that this will change after tonight's game though!!)
Top photo is the scenario,and bottom is the table before any movement.Brian and Graham commanded the Union troops,whilst Paul and I were the "Rebs"
While both armies were manoeuvering into position,the skirmishers were doing their work in the woods on either flank.
With both sides almost in position,the guns opened up and the hot and bloody battle began!
Brian has launched a most ferocious attack on my troops in the town-his artillery doing the most frightful damage to my men!!-meanwhile in the background,Paul and Graham are doing their best to beat the hell out of each other!!-but Paul has a cunning plan up his sleeve!!!!
Paul's cunning plan was to counter-attack with a whole brigade,against Graham's battery and front line troops-hurrah!!!-this worked a treat and dis-comforted Graham's plans-another hurrah!!(or should that be Yee-hah?)
Graham's out-flanking force is making its presence felt against Paul's troops on Hector hill,this side of the battle was particularly bloody,with casualties mounting up on both sides-great stuff!
The top photo shows Paul's attackers being successful,then un-successful!!-wonderful wargaming-on the right,my troops in the town are being subjected to another attack by Brian's Union brigades-the whole table was ablaze with action!
On my right,I am pulling my brigade back towards the fence line,but in the town itself Brian is putting me under alot of pressure,by feeding in further troops,however I have a reserve brigade,who may just save the day!!
This photo is taken from the Union side,showing Graham's forces forcing Paul onto the back foot,and making his hold on Hector hill untenable!-this flank was lost-woe is us!!
This shows the state of play at the end of move number 14!-I still have possession of the town,and Brian's troops are now suffering,so we called the game a draw-and a fair result it was too!!-everyone of us enjoyed the game,so well done to Dave for setting the game up,and well done to us for playing it so well!!
Roll on next Sunday,when it will be my turn to stage the game-an English Civil War scenario!
Last night it was Graham's turn to put a game on for us using the "generic terrain",and what a grand game we had!
The scenario was based around a coalition army of Brunswick,Dutch and Austrians chasing a tattered and battered French army,after Waterloo-Brian and Paul were the French commanders and Graham and I were the coalition commanders.
This is the table looking from the French position,Paul was on the left,and Brian was on the right.
The allied advance begins-this was always going to be a bloody affair!!!
My Austrian artillery opens up on the village,whilst in the background Graham's Black Brunswickers are taking up their positions.
A general view of the table,showing the French guns opening up on Graham's troops,and the allied advance progressing nicely!
Now it's all happening!!-cheer up Graham,the game has all the ingredients of a cracking Napoleonic battle.
My guns have ceased firing to allow my Austrian infantry to attack the village,and Paul's battery-spectacular and stirring stuff!!
Brian's good use of combined arms(plus some excellent dice throws!) is holding Graham at the stream,and preventing any further advance on that flank!!
My attack on Paul's troops has been successful,and even with a cavalry threat forcing me into square,The flank has been won-hurrah!!
As the French had won one flank,and the Allies the other,we decided that a draw would be the fairest result,and so it was!!
Well done to Graham(and the rest of us of course!),roll on next Sunday,when it will be Dave's turn to put on a game-hopefully American Civil War(??)
I placed a small order with Irregular Miniatures on 27th February,for Mongol Standard Bearers,Generals and Drummers and Yurts,they arrived today I can only say that they are FANTASTIC!!!-I am over the moon with the quality of the figures,and the service I got when I 'phoned Ian Kay.Needless to say,I will be ordering some more figures in the near future!!
These are the items(including 3 Yurts,or Gers,but only one photographed!) that came this morning.
Standard bearer-fine detail,and good animation.
The General figure,same good detail etc.
Drummer,Dromedary Camel and Drums-excellent!
Mongol "Glamping" kit!!-correct word is,apparently,Ger and not Yurt!!!-the photo shows the inside and outside detail,doorway and roof-very impressive,and one of three.
I can only say thank-you to Ian and Irregular Miniatures,can't wait to get started on them!
I am getting on quite well with painting my Mongols,and have just ordered another 50 bow-armed cavalry,which should be with me early next week(or sooner!) so I thought I might share my efforts so far............................
A box full always looks good-progress being made,7 units so far.
Some action shots now-lance armed cavalry fronted by bow armed cavalry.
Even more!! I think that they'll look good "en masse".
They will be a formidable army to fight against,having done a fair bit of research on their tactics and weapon capabilities,I am more than impressed by their organisation and planning!
On the painting table-Korean spear and bow armed infantry,or,as the Mongols called them in times of hardship,FOOD!!!-yes,food!!
These shouldn't take me too long to paint,and then onto the next batch of cavalry.
A couple of weeks ago,I asked the "boys" to help me out with some scenarios,and gave them a generic terrain map that they could work off-the results,so far, have been great.
Last night Brian put on an ancients game,based on Germanicus' German campaign............
This is Brian's scenario,using the generic map-Dave and I were the Germans,Paul and Graham were the Romans.
Let battle commence!-Dave is attacking Paul's legion in the top photo,whilst I am attacking Graham's in the bottom photo-thrilling stuff!
Despite heavy losses from Roman pila,Dave is making good progress,and Paul is on the back foot-hurrah!!
On my flank,the Germans have made contact,and Graham's dice throwing was just a bit better than Paul's,and the fight swayed back and forth-the Roman lines are nothing short of magnificent!!
In the top photo,I have broken both of Graham's flanks,and in the bottom photo Dave is making "in-roads" against Paul-this is when Dave's reserves made their appearance!!-Paul was too weak to resist this new threat,and made plans to retire(it's good being retired!) his legion,marking the end of this stunning game-well done Brian!
One last shot showing Graham's legion,holding its line,but under pressure from my warbands.
Now on to Paul's exciting and colourful 7YW battle which he put on last week,again using the generic terrain.
This is Paul's scenario,Brian and I were the Prussians,Dave and Graham were the Austrians and Russians respectively.
Handing me some notes,Paul led me to believe that I was to expect an attack!-I made my battle plan accordingly,ie to defend in depth,letting Brian defend the far flank-wrong!!! the sneaky swine introduced another bridge over the stream,giving Dave access to Brian's flank with the whole of the known world!!! Graham also had orders not to attack until the original bridge position was taken,so we both sat most of the game watching each other,and the magnificent battle between Dave and Brian!
Dave commenced the battle,using "grand battery" tactics to unsettle Brian's cavalry,both sides moving to their positions,and looking good-what could possibly go wrong?
Meanwhile,Graham and I look on,and have the occasional shot at each other-ho hum!!
Because Brian had moved forward,I couldn't send him any reinforcements-any way he wouldn't need them would he????
Things are hotting up now-Dave has thousands of more troops than Brian,who must have felt that he had been "hung out to dry"-inexplicably he marched a regiment in front of his gun battery,thus preventing them from firing!!-on the far left of this shot,he has launched a "suicide" charge against Dave's massed guns-oh dear!!!-things look bleak(understatement of the year!)
One last shot of the whole table-my troops virtually untouched,and Brian's shot to s..t!!
The game looked spectacular,well done Paul.
The next game is being staged by Graham,next Sunday,and will be a Napoleonic,hopefully the high standard will be maintained.
Because I have been extremely busy this week (new front door, porch,cladding,fixing and shelf building!!) my painting of my new Warrior Miniatures Mongol army has had to take second place,but now that most DIY jobs are finished,I am able to get on with the important things in life ie. wargaming things!!!
These are the five units I've finished so far,4 cavalry and one infantry unit-the colours are conjectural as I've considered two different sources,and,of course, they differ!!-one source says "drab" another source says "bonny!",so I went for a combination,taking into account that they would have access to Persian and Chinese fabrics!
A close-up of the mounted archers,classed as "light" cavalry,with two units of lance -armed cavalry,classed as "heavy",I have two more units of "heavy" types ready to paint,but will need at least another 50 more "light" types......................
This shows the two "heavy" types about to be painted,and then it's onto the Infantry,made up of Chinese and Korean auxiliaries.
They shouldn't take too long-there's only 80 of them!!!
Then I will have to order some Polish,Russian and Lithuanian knights,plus some Teutonics,to fight them!!-will it ever end????
John Holt of Warrior Miniatures sent me some samples,and I have very quickly(does this sound like an excuse for bad painting?) painted them to see what they will look like.................
The red figure is a Polish knight with a winged helm,and the other is a Teutonic knight-they will look impressive "en masse" (I hope!!)
Roll on Sunday-Brian is organising the game,and I will report on this as well as Paul's game which we played last Sunday.
