Category: General Information

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 😀

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 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 😃

Our first game of February was our first run through of the Battle of Paraetacene, originally slated for a visit by our good friend Gareth Lane but unforeseen circumstances prevented that so Dave and I hacked on anyway.

Dave took on the role of Antigonus and I shouldered the mantle of Eumenes.

Contrary to history, the Antigonids did well on both cavalry flanks, driving back the Eumenid forces and killing Peucestas on the Eumenid right.

In the centre however the Eumenids repeated history and drove in the Antigonid centre despite being numerically inferior. Three Antigonid foot units routed and Asander was killed in the fighting, the rest of the foot failed their morale and grudgingly ceded the field.

As a run out for Partizan in May it was a worthwhile exercise and gave us a couple pointers on massaging the deployment. Confidence is high for Partizan 😀

Next up was a WWII Eastern Front game; Partisans v Germans. A simple game featuring 2 squads of Partisans attacking an occupied village receiving supplies.

The game was fast and furious; so fast we had to add an extra Partisan squad after one was effectively wiped out 😏

End result was, the supply column was shot up as it tried to escape and the command bunker was overrun. A good morning of fun and fury 😄

Our next game was late war WWII Eastern Front with Sgt Steiner and his squad running short of fuel and needing to leg it for the last bridge into Germany.

In hot pursuit was a Soviet regular squad and a Radachevski squad whose entry points were randomly generated.

In a somewhat one sided game the Soviets were victorious and none of the Germans returned to the homeland.

Next up was a rerun of the ‘last bridge’ scenario this time with more players and revised forces. This time we had 2 under strength German squads and the pursuers were all motorised regular Soviet infantry – 2 squads and an HQ section. The randomising for the Soviets was more detailed this time featuring, time of arrival, place of arrival and method of arrival. The German players were in the same start point and had the same route home but unbeknown to them there was MMG & Mortar support on the far bank of the river that would be triggered once they had passed a certain point on the board.

This was a much better matched game and gave us a tense running firefight game with a nail biting finish.

The support fire did the trick and 3 Germans made it across the bridge, the rest were lost to the earth of Mother Russia.

Next was the refight of Paraetacene with Gareth which has been described in the previous blog post.

Our final game of the month was an away game set in WWI East Africa using The Men Who Would Be King rules.

We had a laugh and moved the figures over some very pretty terrain but I can’t say the rules did it for me but hey, we had a social.

On the getting stuff done front I managed to complete an Iranian tank battalion for Cold War Commander in 10mm – all a bit new to me but quite pleased 😊

A trio of messengers for the Successors project.

Iranian Scorpion recon tanks ready to roll.

Another month done. Thank you for reading and see you next time.