On one of the hottest days of the year I motored down to Newbury racecourse for Colours 2023 and sweltered amongst the crowds – do they have air conditioning or was it just a cunning plan to get more of us to the bar?
The ground floor was the usual array of traders so I got through that as quickly as possible – the benefit of actually pre-ordering was worth it this time. Some very nice display games on the 1st & 2nd floors and access to the outside for some air and shade 😀. All told a good day and a well done to the organisers.
First game of the month was a Soviet Afghan game using Spectre Operations V2 with the mujahedeen attacking a Soviet outpost.
The game played well. One mujahedeen group decided ‘to hell with cover’ and went full on martyr, attacking over open ground, not surprisingly they died.
The second group went all tactical and used a dried up river bed to sneak up on the Soviets, they had far more success 🤣
Next up was a Successors game, Antipater v Perdiccas, using our new elephants amongst other things. After the ill tempered last outing this was played in a far better spirit and much fun was had with stampeding elephants, dying elephants and pushes of pike.
In terms of losses the Perdiccans most definitely lost the most troops, including all their elephants, however, amongst the Antipatrid losses were two commanders, effectively paralysing the army.
In the middle of the month I took a drive up to Stone in Staffordshire to participate in a 6mm Cold War game organised by the Cold War Commanders Facebook group.
This was a bit of a leap of faith as I hadn’t met any of these guys before and had never played 6mm before but the Cold War Commander rule set is the one I’ve gone for to do my Iran Iraq project so best to learn from those who know what they are doing I thought 🤨
First off I had a fine time with some friendly guys and got a weekend of gaming in, which I haven’t done for a long time, and secondly I learnt a good deal more about the rules so win, win 😊
Back home and the group played out a TYW scenario, refighting Lutzen.
This was a gruelling fight (in a good way) which saw the Swedes take considerable losses (much like the real thing) but were unable to force the Imperialists out of their positions.
On a positive note, Gustavus survived 😁
Our final game of the month was an Italian wars affair, Milanese v French.
The Milanese largely stood firm behind a stream and let the French come on, hoping to wear them down with crossbow fire – actually the Milanese player couldn’t get his troops to move anyway! 🤣😂
It took some time and the loss of a great number of French nobles but eventually the French forced the stream and when the ponderous Swiss smashed through the Milanese left it was over for the Duchy 😥
Game wise that was it for the month, a respectable few games and the ‘new normal’ for us now, gone are the days of two games a week, but hey, at least we’re still gaming.
On the project front the Iran Iraq 10mm continues with another Chieftain tank battalion done (above) and a T72 battalion done (below)
Well that’s it I guess, more to follow next week after a holiday break, so adios until then. 🙂
Well the summer’s nearly over (did it start?) and August’s gaming is done.
First up was a LRDG landing somewhere in North Africa to reek havoc on an Italian airstrip.
The LRDG landed at two points, one north near the actual airfield and one south near the barracks and stores so the one game effectively became two.
‘Oop north’ the squad sneaked through the wire as dawn broke (visibility down to weapons close range) and took out the comms building first with a couple of grenades and then quickly moved on to the MMG pit next door to take that out too. Guess what? The alarm was sounded 😂
The rest of the game for this section was spent going from aircraft to aircraft setting charges while exchanging shots with the dazed and confused airfield sentries – the Italians didn’t have a chance here and although a lot of fun was had it really wasn’t much of a game for the Italian player.
To the south it was more of a challenge for the LRDG, most of the Italians were asleep in commandeered buildings and patrols roamed the streets so that when the alarm was sounded Italians started to spill out of the buildings before the LRDG could set all their charges.
The Italians were hampered by having to try and exit from doors whilst being fired on by the British but the odds turned when a randomly diced for patrol of colonial troops (two squads) roared into town on trucks to add their weight to the firefight.
Although not the greatest of shots the Eritrean squads were throwing plenty of lead around and some of it even found its mark! The explosion of the charges that had been set were a bit of a disaster, two of the LRDG section had fallen back to where the charges were set (the player just plain forgot) were caught in the blast and died from their wounds and a further two were captured in the confusion; only the lmg team got out alive and moved north along the beach to join their comrades and exit.
Totalling up at the end the northern section had destroyed, 3 aircraft, 3 tanks, 3 trucks and 2 workshops with stores without loss to themselves; the southern section had destroyed, 2 tanks and several ammunition dumps but 6 men were MIA. Italian losses were significant, 2 full squads killed or wounded plus a squads worth of Eritreans dead or wounded.
As a game it was quite exciting, the early moves were done in limited visibility which was a severe handicap for the reacting Italians which contributed to their poor showing at the airfield. The up close and personal action in the town gave the Italians more of a chance but the force multiplier was the Eritreans. Fun was had though 😁
Our next action was a more traditional ‘big game’ featuring the Carlist Wars collection. The Carlists were defending a large hill and adjacent village against an attack by government troops. Numbers were about equal (4 foot brigades & 1 horse) but the government had the edge in class.
The opening moves saw a general advance by the government troops on the hill and village while their cavalry tried to work round the hill from their left.
The cavalry action favoured the government but that was it because although they saw off their opponents they could make no headway against the reserve infantry.
In the battle for the village the government troops were mainly 2nd Class Line and so although they had the numbers they didn’t have the staying power, they did however manage to shoot a Carlist general off his horse 😏 By the end of the game the village was still in Carlist hands (just) and the government troops were all played out.
The hill was were the government threw it’s best troops, a brigade of Guards supported by a brigade of 1st Class Line and it was a most bloody affair (one general on each side was killed rallying troops) but despite gaining a toehold on the summit both brigades were too battered to continue.
The game ended as a tactical loss for the government, the village and the hill were still held, albeit in reduced strength, and they had suffered significant losses. Reflecting on the game, we certainly enjoyed ourselves but the government side perhaps had too much to do in an even numbers game.
Back to skirmishing for our next game, this time, Western Gunfight, with two Mexican clans (the Jarvos hombres & the hombres from Mochila) with a grudge shooting it out in our loosely connected campaign.
Each clan was split into two, so four players each had two figures and a fifth player controlled the game and the law. The law would only activate from the sheriffs office once any shooting started and the start points for the four players were randomly generated.
The boys from Mochila clan emerged from two separate cantinas and spotted the Reyes, father & son, at the livery, there then ensued a long running gun battle which featured backshooting, falling over when sneaking through the blacksmiths cluttered building and throat cutting to finish off the unlucky Reyes pair 😱
At the other end of the street the other Jarvos pair (da Salvo & Julia) were sneaking down the street when the firing started at the blacksmiths, the law Sheriff Morgan & Deputy Matthews) duly came out onto the porch and demanded guns be thrown down. In a gunfight? No way! Lots of shots were fired and I mean lots, Julia, with the Winchester, had emptied his weapon by game end and both lawmen had reloaded before they finally went down.
At game end the Reyes pair were dead (very dead), Sheriff Morgan was dead and two Mexicans were bleeding in the street, there’s got to be a follow up game of bounty hunters after the killer of Sheriff Morgan 😏 As always in these games there was lots of banter and fun was most definitely had.
Our next effort was French Wars of Religion, with Huguenots defending the high ground with levied foot, massed reiters on the right and cuirassiers on the left. The catholic royal army deployed it’s Spanish & Swiss in the centre, it’s lancers on the right and it’s own reiters on the left.
As is almost always the way the initial fighting was between the cavalry wings; on the catholic right the fight between lance and sword & pistol came out in favour of the cuirassier with Nemours being killed with the wreck of his gendarmes.
The initial success of the Huguenot cavalry gave them all the impetus they needed and they crashed into the second line of catholic cavalry and sent them on their way despite a desperate attempt at rallying by Montpensier who was killed in the rout. The catholic right wing now no longer existed.
On the other wing both sides reiters got into action after some cautious manoeuvring and then proceeded to shoot the shit out of each other! Several colonels were killed on both sides but ultimately the catholic reiters ceded the field, not due to any particular differences it just wasn’t their day.
From an infantry point of view it was all a bit of a damp squib, the Swiss & Spanish were at the foot of the hill and despite some casualties from fire were pretty much odds on to beat the levies, however their cavalry wings were gone so time to ground pikes. Game over.
Our next effort was an away game of ‘What A Tanker’. I really don’t get what the deal is about this set of rules and the whole Lardy cult thing but hey other peoples house other peoples rules.
Anyway, a KV1 and a T34 went hunting a Tiger. The Tiger lost. Game end.
Our final game of the month was classic SYW, Prussian v Austrian. The Austrians had fallen back over a pontoon bridge leaving a light brigade disputing the far end with an advance guard of numerically superior Prussian lights. The Austrians were deployed in four small brigades beyond the river awaiting cavalry support and were tasked with retaining control of the pontoon and the road leading back into their positions.
The Prussians were tasked with seizing the pontoon and clearing the road from it into Austrian territory, a tough task but their full force ( two strong brigades of infantry and two strong brigades of cavalry) was available for immediate deployment at the players discretion.
The Prussians made really hard work of the ‘petite guerre’, their jaegers were better shots and the infantry were backed by two regiments of cavalry but ultimately they did get onto the pontoon.
On the Prussian right the dragoon brigade was ordered to keep pace with the infantry brigade that was heading toward the Austrians behind the river and on top of the hill. This was a classic case of being transfixed by something that is nothing to do with the objective and the Prussians paid dearly for it, ultimately (at the end of a very long game) the Austrian cavalry that deployed to face them were driven off but the hill and the village on top of it remained in Austrian hands and the attacking Prussian brigade was knackered.
On the Prussian left the three regiment strong cuirassier brigade held its position opposite an undefended ford for most of the game until the Austrian cavalry brigade opposite marched on, negotiated its way through the villages on the Austrian side, reorganised and attacked across the ford against the stationary Prussians. Inevitably the Prussians broke but by sheer good fortune were not pursued and so were able to rally and come back to dispute the crossing with the Austrians as night drew in but it was way too late.
The second Prussian brigade made good progress in the face of heavy fire from Austrian guns on the hill and then musketry fire from Austrian infantry coming off the hill to dispute the crossing but ultimately fell back with heavy casualties.
At the end of a very long days gaming we called it and reviewed where we were. The pontoon had briefly been in Prussian hands but the rump of their light brigade had been driven off by a dispatched Austrian brigade and so the road and pontoon were securely held by the Austrians.
In our usual review of the game the Prussian commander claimed he couldn’t win and this is always worth looking at. The Prussian team definitely had it all to do but they had all their troops on table at the beginning of the game and had two powerful brigades of cavalry which in a straight up fight would make mincemeat of their opposite numbers but having one keep pace with an infantry brigade and the other hold when there was nothing in front of them was a terrible mistake particularly from an experienced player. At the end of the game I totalled up the number of order change chits issued by the Prussian commander, ten! Oh well 🤨
In other news, reinforcements were added to the Successors collection, 4 more elephants and some Persian levied bowmen.
The Iran Iraq project got some more Iranian infantry done, regulars and pasdaran.
Air support for the Iran Iraq project also got itself completed.
Well I guess that’s it for this month, see you next month and play nice 😀
Another month drifted by and the summer is at it’s height 😏 A good few games played and several projects added to.
First up was a WWII skirmish, a French town held by Fallschirmjager being attacked by US paratroopers – a recent re-watch of ‘Band Of Brothers’ might have influenced this decision 🤣
The Germans were pre positioned and diced for off table mortar support and how many rounds that would be. The Yanks deployed their initial force (a short platoon’s worth) on the high ground sloping down to the town – two squads going through the orchards and the HQ proceeding along the road, they also diced for support but had a choice ranging from limited heavy mortar fire to additional support elements – they diced well and ended up with the mortar & heavy machine gun elements plus a couple of off table shoots.
Initial moves saw the HQ squad proceed down the road as far as the church graveyard and barricaded road without drawing fire, dropping off their mortar crew early and setting up an observer to call the shots. The two infantry squads advanced with an excess of caution toward the edge of the orchards.
With some of the Yanks now visible the Germans opened up and a general firefight ensued, casualties were light, the US platoon mortar couldn’t hit a barn door but some very heavy German ordnance was dropping uncomfortably close to the HQ squad, including the mortar team – who the hell was calling it in?
After much cajoling (or shouting into the radio 😀) the infantry squads got forward into some ruined buildings and traded shots with the Germans as they revealed themselves but took several casualties themselves. The HQ split up to flank the church but then started receiving fire from entrenched Germans on the outskirts of the town – the swine’s!
Paratrooper grit finally kicked in and a charge across the town square got the Yanks into a better position to winkle out the Germans who were now taking significant losses – the off table mortars were being called in house by house along with the platoon mortar which either killed Germans or drove them out of cover.
The answer to the question “who’s directing the German fire” was answered when a sniper opened up from the church bell tower, downing a Sgt and a Corporal, who was silenced by the bazooka team and amongst the rubble was the FO 😀
Ultimately German losses were too heavy and they broke contact, retreating out of the far side of the town leaving the Yanks to claim the town.
If a wargame can reinforce any real life lessons it’s that forcing decent troops out of a defended position can be costly and time consuming.
Our next game was an eastern renaissance affair with a Cossack boat born force besieging an Ottoman coastal fort to which a relief force is marching as Cossack land reinforcements arrive.
This was a colourful swirling affair. The Ottoman relief force was made up of regional Sipahis of fairly average quality backed by central Janissaries while the Cossack reinforcements were all veteran cavalry of many a campaign.
The siege pottered along for most of the day (which was the intention) and only got interesting when the one wing of the relief force started getting up close and forced a couple of the Cossack foot units back onto their boats. The main clash was of course the cavalry and to cut a long story short the Ottomans got a bit of a stuffing and left the field – reflecting afterward, the Ottoman commander conceded that wasting half his cavalry force amongst the siege lines probably wasn’t the best decision.
By game end the Janissaries were doing the C17th version of Custer’s last stand and although a couple of the besieging foot units had hopped it in the boats the objective of relieving the fort had not been achieved.
Next up, a firm favourite, our post Roman Britain armies took the stage as the Romano British took on a force of Jutes expanding out of Kent.
The Jutes were in three ‘battles’ of roughly the same composition fronted by skirmishers, the only difference being the inclusion of Frankish mercenaries in the warlord’s battle. The Britons had two infantry battles of varying troop quality and for a change a decent sized cavalry battle – no, not Arthur 😀
The infantry advances were predictably slow so the ‘British’ cavalry got out ahead and mixed it up with the one flank of infantry which, surprisingly, lasted most of the day. Although the cavalry routed a unit of ceorls no one else cared and so they charged and fell back and charged again but by game end many brave warriors were dead and the remnants were limping home.
In the centre, much hacking and slashing and committing of personal guards to stabilise positions availed neither side much as night drew on the battle closed with no clear victor on the field – sometimes you just don’t get a winner.
Next on the calendar was a Sikh Wars game which we hadn’t played for ages.
For this encounter we had the Sikhs occupying two villages, one on each flank, and a central hill with a redoubt. The villages were held by tribal units and their older artillery while the redoubt was held by Sikh regular infantry and guns. The bulk of the Sikh irregular cavalry were deployed behind the hill planning to advance out onto the plain and a further two commands were hidden in trees adjacent to their right hand village; further Sikh regular infantry were entrenched in reserve.
The British, outnumbered as always, had the unenviable task of storming the villages but set to with typical grim determination.
Taking a leaf out of the history books the British cavalry went straight for the enemy! Two brigades set out across the only piece of open ground available to them on the left of the hill and firstly ran into the irregular cavalry who they duffed up rather smartly sending one after another reeling to the rear. Such intense fighting was not without its consequences and the lead brigade finally had to withdraw in good order but the rear brigade followed its example and crashed through a Sikh regular unit that didn’t deploy into square in time and then smashed up a formed square which in fairness was already a bit battered.
The ‘poor bloody infantry’ struggled with their task and suffered heavy casualties from the redoubt in particular.
Ultimately however the right hand village and the redoubt were taken amongst much British blood spilled.
The left hand village was never taken; the hidden Sikh cavalry launched an ill coordinated surprise attack which although it stopped the British didn’t do anything else and ultimately the cavalry were forced into retreat.
At game end the British were in control of one village and the redoubt which was good enough for the Sikhs to concede.
Our final game was an away game playing ‘Arab Israeli’ – I hate that phrase 😣 in 10mm. We were playing 7 Days To The River Rhine with Israeli’s driving forward off the Golan Heights only to be ambushed by Jordanian and Iraqi forces.
We only got two full turns in, which isn’t as bad as it sounds given that it was only the second go with the rules and both sides got to move and shoot enough for a lot of Israeli tanks to go up in flames 🤣
I don’t know what I think of the rules, there certainly seems to be a lot of ‘token management’ which does take you out of the zone a bit, but that said I’d give them another go.
Well that’s July done. A pretty good range of games and enough to satisfy the urge to play. On the non playing front the 10mm Iran Iraq project continues, various bits of terrain are being dabbled with and 2nd hand book shops continue to tempt 😂
So for now goodbye, enjoy your gaming and be nice.
Well the month started with Games Expo, about which I have already blogged so nothing more to say other than give it a go next year 😀
Our first game of the month was a Dark Age brawl featuring the forces of Uriens and Morcant Bulc. Three leaders died in a tough battle which could have gone either way but ultimately Uriens was forced to retreat.
Next was a large GNW game featuring our recently finished Danes – many thanks to Neil for his dedication with the paintbrush 😁
Just because we could we had all the Danes on the field facing off to the old enemy, the Swedes.
We fought an encounter style battle across a plain field interspersed with marshes which gave both sides a bit of a challenge.
Both sides deployed in a fairly traditional way, infantry to the centre cavalry on the wings, the only difference was that the Danes deployed their Guards brigade on the right behind the cavalry rather than in the more traditional centre, partly due to terrain but also to act as a right hook once the more numerous Danish cavalry had neutralised their opponents.
The bulk of the game was taken up by the cavalry wings; we had plenty of units on the table (around 20 regiments) so there was plenty of back and forth.
On the Swedish right the cavalry melee’s occupied most of the day as units attacked, retreated, rallied and returned to the fray but ultimately the day belonged to the Swedes although the battle decision was made elsewhere.
On the Danish right their horse made some headway against their opponents but their flank was turned and the Swedish horse crashed into the Guards brigade, who were in some disarray from retreating horse, and after a brief and bloody clash the bulk of the brigade routed, seriously affecting the neighbouring infantry.
The decisive decision was in the centre where, after a long walk, the two opposing infantry divisions clashed, volleys erupted all along the line and then the Swedes got stuck in.
It wasn’t pretty and the Danes routed – not all of them but enough for the constituent brigades to fail their morale checks and leave the field. A hard fought Swedish victory.
Next was another Successors game, this time Macedonian civil war, Polypercon v Cassander.
This was not one of our better games; one of the players came with his ‘spoiler head’ on and the game was played in what could best be described as a ‘niggly’ spirit. Unusual for our group and hopefully not to be repeated, best forgotten.
Final game of the month was a Wars of Religion affair, Dutch v Spanish.
A strong Dutch force held a ridge of high ground with cavalry on the left plus an English contingent holding a village on the right flank. The Spanish were deployed all along the front with the Tercio’s in the centre and cavalry on either wing.
The Spanish had a tough job on their hands; the English were well positioned in the village, the Dutch foot were on the ridge line protected by walls and hedges at the foot of the ridge and beyond that a marshy stream, the best option was to neutralise the Dutch cavalry facing the Spanish right and then swing in.
The cavalry action dominated the early part of the game with both sides throwing horse regiments into the action. The early engagements favoured the Dutch and at one point it seemed the Spanish would be swept aside but the death of several Dutch cavalry colonels slowed the advance and the Spanish were able to regain the initiative.
The English contingent fared quite well to start with, exchanging shots with the advancing Walloons and Germans, but once the Spanish had got their Reiters up close and personal the weight of fire drove the front units back into the village streets and the Walloons and Germans were able to occupy the buildings and fire out into the street. Ultimately the English abandoned the village and march off the field.
In the centre the Spanish slogged their way across the ground, taking a steady casualty toll, but finally carried the hedge line forcing the defending Dutch back.
By now it was late afternoon and there wasn’t much left in the game so we called it. Although the morale of the Spanish had kept them going over the hedge line and through the first line of defenders it was debatable how much further they could go. Elsewhere the Dutch were done, the village was lost and Spanish cavalry were now cantering down it’s streets while the Dutch cavalry out on the left were exhausted. Agreed result was that the Dutch would cede the field but the Spanish were in no state to do anything other than recover.
It had been a tough and long game but played in a good spirit and thoroughly enjoyable.
That was it for the month really. A slightly shorter schedule due to me being away in Venice, hopefully July will feature a few more game and some more 10mm will get completed; in the meantime, play nice and we’ll see you next month.
Not long back for my annual pilgrimage to Games Expo. This marked my 5th show and it was as much fun as always.
If you are a dyed in the wool historical miniatures gamer then this is not the show for you, its’s eighteen quid for a single day ticket and the number of historical stands is less than the fingers on one hand. Those recognisable names that do go, such as Annie at Bad Squido, Deep Cut Studios, Iron Gate Scenery and Black Scorpion, are aiming for the non historical community.
If your wargaming interests are across a broader spectrum then this is a bit of a must do. There is always a plethora of board games (well known and completely unknown), card games (collectable or otherwise), RPG’s, fantasy games, sci fi games, books, stands featuring kick starter products, an increasing number of 3D printed miniatures – mainly on the fantasy/sci fi genre but occasionally usable for historical skirmish games, plus scatter/clutter of various sorts and who doesn’t like a bit of scatter?
Where the show really wins, I think, is the many pick up games you can take part in for 20 mins to over an hour depending on the game, many are for the purpose of promoting a new product or upcoming kick starter but some are tried and trusted regulars. I played 4 different games today, one was a new Star Wars card game, another a sci fi miniatures game, a fantasy miniatures kick starter (really liked this) and a fantasy card game. There was plenty of other stuff but the the rest of the time I spent browsing the very large halls 1 & 2 which took quite some time!
The other thing that is very noticeable is the inclusivity and positive vibe. Yes it is big and corporate but at the hall level the overall vibe is positive, traders are pleased to be there and pleased to see you, fellow punters aren’t trying to elbow you out of the way and even at it’s most crowded you can still make your way round.
That’s it really. Worth going if you have a broad church gaming outlook not so much so if historical only is where you’re at.
First out of the gate was a return to our occasional modern day Syrian/Lebanon skirmish campaign. This time the Overwatch team has been sent to rescue a captured diplomat from an oil rich country that keeps interfering in the region who is being held for ransom.
The game played well (Spectre V2) with one half of the team taking up roof top positions for fire support while the second team breached the compound.
All went well in the early turns with insurgents dropping to targeted fire.
Fighting intensified once the operators were inside the compound and the fire support operators ran out of targets. Things got messy, operators died and the insurgents bundled the hostage out of the main building.
Insurgents (or what was left of them!) roared out of the compound to disappear into the anonymity of the town. Looks like we’ve got another scenario ahead of us 😁
Next up, Successors, this time Seleucids v Ptolemaics.
The usual see saw battle which favoured the Seleucid cavalry on both flanks especially when one of the Ptolemaic Commanders bit the dust.
The main event in the centre, the big pike bash, was tense with both sides losing battalions but the real killer was the death of the Ptolemaic General which sealed the game for the Seleucids.
Next on the table was our first proper game of Cold War Commander with the fledgling 10mm Iran Iraq collection – must do a post about this journey 😀
What did we learn? Well, Iranian Chieftains outrange and blow serious holes in Iraqi T54/55’s 🤣 Think we need to read up the smoke rules!
Comedy moment aside, we liked the rules and more models will be hitting the table top in due course while I get to grips with the nuances of play.
May 21st was of course Partizan which we’ve already blogged about, suffice to say an enjoyable but tiring day was had by the team.
Back on home turf we eased ourselves into our occasional western gunfight campaign set in fictitious Dardenell County where Mexican bandidos had their stage coach robbing day spoilt by bounty hunters.
A nice little evenings game using old school rules, no “friction” for us 😂
Next was the 100 Years War away day game with Gareth. I remain unconvinced by Hail Caesar but we had a splendid day and a result was most definitely recorded.
Modesty prevents me from saying who won but…..
Our final game was a ‘big battle’ Carlist War bash featuring the full team plus new addition Gerard who we met at Partizan.
Basic scenario was an inferior (in numbers and quality) Carlist force hold an important crossroads from which the Liberals must oust them.
The opening rounds were all about the cavalry as the Liberal infantry mass lumbered forward. The left wing Liberal cavalry were weakened by some cleverly sited Carlist skirmishers and artillery and then destroyed by the charge of the small Carlist cavalry reserve, led by their General. The right wing Liberal cavalry was just the British Legion lancers who valiantly charged forward but were obliterated by opposing infantry fire.
The infantry action took a while to take place but it was violent and bloody when it got going. On the right centre of the Carlist line the protective cover of the walls allowed the poorer quality line to withstand the opening volleys of the attacking Guards and inflict back heavy casualties in return. When it came to crossing bayonets the first line of the Carlists gave way but the untouched second line were able to send the weakened Guards retreating back across the field – oh what a glorious sight 😄
The Carlists on the left centre didn’t have such a glorious day of it as they battled it out with the British Legion but by the end of the day the the Legion’s morale had collapsed enough for them to retreat leaving behind some very battered Carlists.
We hadn’t played this period for well over a year so it was good to get the collection out again and relearn our own rules 😂🤣 Much fun was had in an all day of intense gaming.
Away from the actual gaming progress has been made on basing up some more future wars figures which will bring this background project to a close soon.
The main progress however has been on the 10mm Iran Iraq project which is coming along nicely and has actually been enjoyable to do.
So that’s it for this month, off to GamesExpo in a couple of days so I’ll share a post about that in a week or so.
Also known as an away day with our Welsh wizard, speed painter, big game impresario and all round good guy, Gareth Lane.
As Gareth was hosting he got to choose the game and this time it was a Hundred Years War outing, specifically the English besieging a Scottish castle are confronted by a Scottish relief force at the castle and a French force landing on the beach.
As the guest I got to choose sides and went for the English – of course!
Although I was deployed nice and safely behind stakes and all that it struck me that the English could soon become the meat between an Franco Scottish sandwich so all out attack became the order of the day.
The centre battle of men at arms headed for the schiltron facing them, the left of solely longbow advanced to give fire support and the right pivoted to face the French.
It was a tough fight. In the centre, one of the men at arms units slowly ground down the opposing pike and eventually saw it retreat off table, the other men at arms didn’t fare so well and fled the scene. This left two uncommitted Scottish units, one men at arms and one pike, the English just had the one men at arms but they did have the longbows!
The uncommitted schiltron and the men at arms made slow progress over the fields to their front and so became a nice juicy target for the massed longbows who simply shot holes in first, the men at arms forcing them to retreat and then the schiltron it forcing it also to leave the table. This ward was now shattered and the lone victorious schiltron began its slow retreat.
Out where the French landed the English right flank force held them at bay for a while in order for their sole mounted men at arms unit to make a charge but things didn’t go quite according to plan.
The English horse got themselves into all kinds of bother and that they were able to survive at all was pure luck and the death of Robert the Bruce in the melee. However once they had fallen back it was time for the longbowmen to open up on the now weakened French & Scottish knights and the French division was soon heading for the boats.
A splendid English victory, proving the old adage of “the best form of defence is attack” 😁
The important thing of course was that we had a good day and we certainly did, Gareth is a great host and a top bloke and I’m pleased to call him my friend.
So, another Partizan has rolled around and we took along our two year Successors project to do a display game of Paraitacene 317BC where the forces of Antigonus Monophthalmus and Eumenes of Cardia met in the first of their duels for Alexander’s empire.
Before we review the game however, what about the show?
First take was, busy 😀 But not in a bad way, even at the peak show point (between 11.00am and 1.00pm) the numbers weren’t so overwhelming that you couldn’t move and looking out from our pitch you could see that the punters were moving about freely. I couldn’t comment on how well the traders did as we were tied to our spot but there looked to be decent numbers around most stalls.
Next take was the vibe, and that is always a good one. For me the show has always exuded friendliness and good humour which is the principal reason for us attending as demonstrators and this one was no exception. We had many positive comments on the game, some great chats with people we’d never met before and renewal of contact with folk we hadn’t seen since the last show. Also the hooking up with some of our followers on Twitter which I just love, so good to put a face to the profile 😃
Of course Partizan sells itself on the quality of the games on display and this year was no different with many fine games available to feast the eye upon.
As is always the case for ourselves being tied to the game there is very little time to really look at the other games and this one proved no exception – I think we got half an hour each to whizz round, pick up a couple of pre ordered things and have a quick look at what was going on.
For me, the preferred games are the the ones that look like an extension of what a club or group of mates is capable of and by inference what a newcomer or player of only a few years experience could aspire to within their circle of gamers. These games will feature well painted mini’s, based up consistently, deployed over some decent terrain which isn’t beyond the skills of most gamers.
I completely appreciate the enormous amount of modelling skill, time, effort and expense that some of the demonstration boards have had poured into them but I do ask myself, what happens to all this gorgeous stuff a year later?
What of our efforts?
With only two of us moving the figures around and an awful lot of chatting 😂 it was slow going but hey so what, people seemed to like it and we had a good day.
For the record, Eumenes crushed the Antigonid left flank and at end of play had his veteran cavalry sweeping behind the Antigonid lines, similarly on the other flank, a rather more tough fight did finally see the Antigonid cavalry defeated also. In the all important centre we had elephants panicking and getting in the way and a couple of support infantry clashes which saw both sides losing their mercenary hoplites, alas no push of pike 😥 we were just too busy talking!😂🤣
All in all though a great day. Many thanks to the organisers for another flawless show and much love to all those that stopped by and commented.
Back from holiday we were into a multi command GNW game which saw two fairly evenly matched sides slug it out over a convivial afternoon of gaming.
The Russians deployed with half of their cavalry behind a stream on their right supported by a foot brigade and the rest in the centre hoping to use a patch of wooded scrub as an area where they could deploy their other cavalry dismounted to slow the Swedes. The Swedes themselves deployed all their horse on the left with the aim of smashing their way across the stream and thinly held the centre and right with their foot.
As always the Russians had the toughest job given the poor morale of their troops but the cautious advance of the Swedes rather played into their hands in the early moves.
On the Swedish left the massed cavalry attack was funnelled by the stream and marsh behind which the Russians were hiding and in the early moves they took losses from musketry fire but once they got going it was difficult for the Russians to hold on. The Swedish first wave were indeed repulsed but when the second wave crashed in the already weakened Russians collapsed and fled the scene which forced a morale test on the supporting infantry who decided that home suddenly sounded very appealing!
Across the Russian centre and left the plan of dismounting the dragoons worked and the Swedish advance in the wood slowed to a crawl but on the left where the village was located the Russian foot didn’t fare so well and after a stiff fight they gave up and fled.
All told, a strong Swedish victory. For those that are interested the bulk of the figures are Foundry with Old Glory in support.
Next up was another Successors game with the predominately Victrix collection, this time Eumenids v Antipatrid.
In this encounter Eumenes was significantly outflanked on his right so had to get on with it before the jaws closed.
Being superior in cavalry and elephants, as well as having the better quality infantry, Eumenes got a bit cocky and galloped his right wing cavalry across the face of his infantry in order to overwhelm the Antipatrid sole cavalry force on their right. Not surprisingly this was a fail, the cavalry got tangled up with the enemy foot resulting in the loss of the Xystophoroi and the slowing of the Eumenid infantry advance.
The Eumenid left wing cavalry did the job they were meant to do which was slow up the Antipatrid shock cavalry and in fact such was the accuracy of their volleys that they saw off the opposing Thessalians, although the nearby elephant might have been a bit of help 🤨
In the end, of course, it was the infantry centre that settled it and the better quality Eumenids burst through their opponents before the jaw could close about them although in reality this was more to do with over timid play by the commander of the Antipatrid left – problem of a Napoleonic player being more concerned about nice neat lines and not getting stuck in 😂🤣
After the intensity of a couple of big battles we changed the pace with a Franco Prussian skirmish game around two scouting parties coming to loot a monastery.
The rules were a set of amendments to an existing Napoleonic set held together by a rough narrative and making up stuff along the way that we hadn’t catered for – surprisingly it worked and both sides managed to get off with something although the French lost their officer and several troopers.
Although this was a bit of fun we reluctantly came to the conclusion that we just don’t get enough out of gaming this so the collection is going to have to be sold on. If you are interested then drop us a line on the site and we’ll get back to you with details and photos.
Another skirmish was next with a medieval away game which was a tourney to select those who would be sailing away on a campaign using the old Lamming rules. Nothing else to say really.
Final game of the month was an Ottoman v Swedes game circa early C17th.
The terrain was split by a stream which flowed between two large hills (on the Swedish deployment baseline) and had two formal crossing points (a pontoon bridge and a ford) although the stream could be crossed by anyone albeit at a reduced rate. A burnt out village and a wood anchored both flanks on the Ottoman baseline and a small village sat in the middle of the more open plain beyond the stream.
Both sides opted for the ‘smash through with all your cavalry strategy’ 😂 The Swedes deployed almost all their cavalry to the right of the big hill (where the two landskap regiments spent the whole game) comprising 3 units of Danes, 3 units of Swedes & 1 unit of Finns covered by a skirmish screen of Transylvanians; on the other side of the hill, ready to cross the stream via the ford were 2 units of German cavalry and a Scots brigade on the other hill. The Ottomans deployed their 6 units of Feudal Sipahi and 2 units of Sipahi of the Porte in the centre, just short of the stream, screened by 3 units of Azabs, the pontoon bridge on the left was held by the Voyniks and the right by 2 units of Tartars.
In the initial stages it was all about the skirmishers; the Transylvanians got the worst of the shooting from the Azabs who had waded across the stream and retired hurt, the Tartars got tied up with the Germans in a back and forth which eventually saw the Germans retiring having been unable to get up close enough to fully utilise the caracole.
Out on the Swedish right the Finns avoided what would later become death central further over and in a brief, but too late, affair drove the Voyniks back across the bridge in rout – this was the single success the Swedes enjoyed.
In the centre the Sipahi’s took longer to get over the stream than their general would have liked but the Swedes & Danes were held up by the over enthusiastic Swedes pushing through the Danes and disordering everyone and then realising that being disordered as the arrows started to fly in wasn’t such a good idea!
The early Swedish attacks went well, sending the Azabs scuttling back across the stream but by then the Sipahi’s had dried themselves off from the crossing and, after a volley of arrows, charged in and the rot started 😓
The repulse of the initial attack wasn’t the end of the world for the Swedes and the units that retired would soon rally but in order to keep the Sipahis back the cavalry general committed his Danes to the charge rather than shooting (carbine armed). This just didn’t work out well, a couple of the units refused to charge which meant that their opponents were able to get the jump on them next turn and the one that did charge just got mashed up. Suffice to say the Sipahis “got their dander up” and were all over the Danish cavalry who then retired into the the Swedes who off course couldn’t get organised quickly enough to repulse the following on Ottomans.
Realising all was lost the Swedish commander and his downcast cavalry general conceded. A crushing Ottoman victory.
In other news some more figures were added to the future wars project, cheers Mark.
Extras for the GNW collection were recruited, thank you Neil.
Additions to our Mexican bandits for the western gunfight project, thanks Vlad.
Iraqi command stand stand for the Iran Iran Cold War Commanders project.
More for the modern skirmish collection, wonder if they’ll actually get used? This is such a rabbit hole 😂
Well that’s it for the month, not a bad one, next month is Partizan and we’ll be taking the Successors on tour so if you’re going to be there find us and have a chat 😀
Not such a busy month what with holidays and a show to distract us but we did our best 😀
First up was an Italian Wars game, Venetian v Florence, so lots of crossbows and condottierre 😁
The focal point of the game was the monastery on the hill which the Florentines made a key part of their attack sending 4 units of militia crossbow to scale the walls and occupy it, the Venetians decided to ignore it and advance across the plain towards the waiting Florentine pike.
I’ll admit it was a painfully slow game; both commanders were overly cautious, trying to keep their troops aligned rather than striking out with a select few, a tactic that suited the Florentines and negated the Venetian strength in better cavalry.
Lots of crossbow shooting was the predominate feature of the game which blunted the Venetian piecemeal cavalry attack and made the Florentines almost impossible to dig out of the monastery. When time was called we ruled a narrow Florentine victory, not because they had done anything outstanding but because the Venetians hadn’t done anything at all 🤣
Next up was a clash from our Timurid collection, Muscovite v Golden Horde, lots of cavalry zooming about.
The Muscovites deployed all of their Boyar cavalry (6 units) on the right behind a hill with the intention of sweeping up and over it to turn the Golden Horde left. Their centre was weekly held by Polish spearmen and Prussian allies out on the left covered by a wood.
The Golden Horde deployed their Cuman allies to cover the hill (not realising an avalanche of steel was coming their way!) and deployed their own Mongol troops in the centre (light horse covering the heavy horse), leaving the right devoid of troops, reasoning that the woods would slow down whatever the Muscovites deployed there.
The main part of the battle was the fight for the hill where the Cumans did a fine job of holding up the Boyars with some deadly arrow storms which halted the lead units. This in turn negated the Boyar numerical superiority as they traffic jammed behind the lead units.
Eventually the Boyars were able to drive the Cumans from the field and swing inwards to attack the vulnerable Horde centre – or so they thought……
In the centre the sheer volume of arrows did serious damage to the spearmen and a couple of well timed charges from the heavier Horde cavalry sent them packing after a brief fight. In the time the Cumans had tied up the Boyars the Horde had swept away the Muscovite centre and left.
Undeterred the Boyars swept down the hill seeking glory and exposed flanks but the Horde now committed it’s as yet unbloodied Guard for the decisive encounter.
The Guard were the decisive factor, one charge, one round of melee and their opponents were galloping away pursued by the triumphant Mongols who then ran over another unit and Boyar morale collapsed. The battle was over and the Golden Horde was triumphant.
Next on the agenda was an away day sci fi game with friends in the Coventry & Warwickshire area.
I can’t say I really had any clue what was going on but fun was had.
Back at the ‘eagles nest’ we indulged ourselves with a big SYW game featuring our Prussian and Austrian collection.
In our scenario an advance guard of Prussian Frei Corps and other assorted light troops had seized a crossroads and nearby hill in anticipation of the advance of the main army. The Austrians had been alerted by their scouts and their main army was closing fast, hoping to crush the advance guard early and gain the initiative.
The game became a race against time as both sides tried to push troops piecemeal into the combat zone.
The big moment was the crash of two Austrian cavalry brigades into the lately arriving Prussian ones. The fight went back and forth and by the end of several turns the Austrians were triumphant.
Unfortunately for the Austrians however the Prussian infantry had formed a decent enough line to dissuade any further attacks and as the Austrian infantry had been fairly dilatory elsewhere the day was the Prussians and the road junction was held.
Our final game was a multiplayer FIW game with British regulars and Rogers Rangers trying to get to an abandoned fort before opposing French regulars and allied Hurons.
Entry points were randomly chosen – which rather favoured the British, and off we went for an enjoyable couple of hours of sneaky Hurons, volley firing British and dying Frenchmen.
Clear winners were the Hurons, who occupied the fort with the loss of only one brave although, as the British player pointed out, “what the hell are they going to do with it now they are in it?” 😂😂
March of course is also Hameerhead month and so we ambled along to Newark and met friends we hadn’t seen for a while, caught up with the Twitterati and even spent a bit of money. Some nice games on offer which we just didn’t get round to playing in and an eclectic collection of items available at the table top sale. A good day out and worth the trip.
In other news some more of the 10mm Iran Iraq project got finished, not far off doing an actual game soon I think 😉
Also some pack animals, Danish troops for the GNW collection and Austrian artillery. Slow and steady wins the race 🙄
We’ve also spent some time talking about slimming down the collections to a manageable size. The Prussians that featured in this blog are definitely going so if anyone is interested in a sizeable Prussian army (mainly Front Rank) please get in touch. The rest of the ACW collection is going to go as well plus some of the skirmish themes that just never went anywhere. Maybe I’ll do a separate blog post prior to banging stuff on eBay.
Anyway, that’s it for this month, see you next month 😃
Westbury Wargamers 