January 2024 Report

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The first month of a new year, which will probably be much like the last year and that’s fine by me! No New Year Resolutions or anything like that but I have promised myself a revamp of the games room and with that the clearing out of figures, terrain, books, magazines and rule sets which just aren’t being used, I think the Scandinavians call it ‘death cleaning’ 😄 Anyway, without further ado, on with this month’s events.

First out of the gate was a group favourite, Successors. This time we staged a Western Satrap army under Asander against the might of the Imperial army under Perdiccas. For a bit of a change we had a crossable stream snaking across part of the battlefield with a temple on one of it’s banks.

The Imperial army had all the good stuff; 3 units of Hetairoi, the Hypaspists, Pezhatairoi, 3 units of phalangites, Cretans, Agrianians, elephants and some lesser skirmishers, they also had a unit of Pantodapoi but the General sensibly relegated them to guarding the camp right out on a flank beyond the stream.

The Satrap army was a more numerous but more varied in quality; the cavalry featured 3 units of Satrap formed cavalry screened by units of light horse and a lone Xystophoroi unit, the foot had two units of phalangites supported by 2 units of Thracians, 2 blocks of Hoplites and 3 units of Pisidian peltasts all screened by variously armed psiloi.

Deployment revealed that Perdiccas had cunningly positioned all his pike on his right flank with it’s left anchored on the stream which meant that the more traditionally deployed Satrap cavalry were staring straight into a mass of pikes 😮. The Imperial cavalry, supported by the elephants, were deployed in the centre, more or less lined up facing the opposing peltasts. The Satrap players curiously placed their hoplites off to the right, behind the stream facing the temple, which rather rendered them useless for the course of the game.

The Imperial plan was simple; power across the battlefield with the elite cavalry and sweep away the peltasts and Thracians while the massed pikes trundled forward and crushed anything in its way. The Satrap players had gone for a thin linear deployment which did not help their cause in the long run and kind of boxed themselves in to a purely response tactic.

As the game got under way it was the Imperial centre which saw the first action and it didn’t really go according to plan because the sheer weight of missile fire from the opposition (everyone had a javelin 😏) saw both the elephants lose their mahouts and panic across the front and then ultimately die while one of the Hetairoi was destroyed and the other two ran off and had to be rallied further back – so much for the soft centre 😂.

On the Satrap left the cavalry went full on suicide run and got duly duffed up by the pike juggernaut and their tattered remnants fled, never to be rallied.

The Xystophoroi tried to rescue the Satrap left but the Hypaspists ate them for breakfast. The Satrapal left no longer existed and the pikes headed for the Thracians.

As can be seen the Thracians didn’t last long either and then one of the Satrap commanders inconveniently dropped dead and his division was paralysed.

It was all bad news now for the Satrap army, routs are contagious and the big bad pikes were now swinging in, time to call it a day and leave Perdicass in charge 😀.

Our next foray was the new kid on the block, and my personal favourite currently, the 10mm Iran Iraq project; this time on our brand new Tiny Wargames desert mat.

Trying to have a bit of a narrative rather than just going bang bang we had elements of the Iranian 165th Mechanised Infantry scattered along a thinly held front trying to protect the M6 highway from advancing Iraqi armour while awaiting the arrival of the 232nd tank battalion to bolster their lines. The Iraqi 26th armoured battalion and the 7th armoured battalion could enter the battle area from anywhere along their tactical edge and had only one objective, secure the highway. Both sides had off table artillery, the Iranians had the slight advantage that their FAO was already on elevated ground overlooking the highway.

Well aware of the weakness of their T54/T55’s the Iraqis fanned out and tried to get up close before the dreaded Iranian Chieftains could arrive. PS. this failed 😂.

The T62’s of the 7th armoured opted to roar up the metalled road that joined the highway, maybe this would work?

Well in the time honoured tradition the Chieftains shot the T55’s to pieces with no loss to themselves although this was made slightly easier by the Iraqi player inexplicably leaving one company of tanks lingering at the back – “well at least it didn’t get destroyed” was the response when asked why.

Not surprisingly the Iranians prevented the highway from falling into enemy hands but this was rather helped by the holding back of one tank company and the T62 column just roaring up the road and then just stopping to shell a village with the lead tank. What was noteworthy was the utter uselessness of both sides artillery targeting, they literally couldn’t hit a barn door between them 🤣😂.

Our next game was from our GNW collection, this time a Swedish attack on a Danish force.

This was a pretty bloody affair – mainly Danish blood I’m afraid.

Both sides deployed fairly traditionally, two cavalry wing and an infantry centre each, the Danes had the slight advantage of a farm enclosure they could defend.

The early moves were all about the cavalry and featured the Swedes charging into the Danes with their traditional gusto and the Danes repulsing the first wave but the Swedes could better absorb casualties and so when the second wave went in the Danish wings collapsed.

The Swedish infantry attack on the farm was held and settled into a long running musketry duel which the Swedes would ultimately win but it would be a long time coming.

The shocking event and the one that sealed the game was the charge of two brigades of Swedish cavalry on the large Danish Guards brigade. The Guards barely put up and fight and collapsed almost immediately, it really shouldn’t have happened but a couple of minor tactical errors and some appalling dice throwing ended the game in shocked silence.

Next was good old Italian Wars, a period we have gamed for some 30 years now 😮.

For this one we had a Spanish Imperial army attacking a road between two walled towns which is defended by a Venetian force,

Despite the presence of cavalry on both sides this was much more of an infantry fight and so it took longer for the armies to close which rather favoured the Venetians who could slowly wear down the Spanish with long range crossbow fire.

The one bit of cavalry action that there was saw the Burgundian men at arms in the Spanish army drive some Mantuan mercenaries from a breached wall and then mix it up with the largely supine Venetian cavalry beyond the wall.

Unfortunately for the Burgundians the pathetic Venetian cavalry response did hold them up long enough for the Romagnol pike to redeploy and attack the cavalry in the flank and eventually cut them down.

The real action however was the attack of the Spanish pike colunella who swept the opposition from one part of the wall and broke through but further down the wall the colunella there stopped after its captain was slain and would proceed no further.

The attack of the colunella was the keystone of the Spanish attack plan and the faltering of the one meant that despite the success elsewhere it was not enough and the Venetians rightly claimed victory.

Our next game was a Napoleonic skirmish away game with one English and one Scottish company attempting to get to a bridge before it was blown by the French, the only thing in their way was a thin force of Irish in French service.

Quite frankly there was no way the British were going to get to the bridge in time (the French increased their percentage chance of blowing the bridge by 10% per turn played and the British were more than 10 turns away.

The bridge duly blew but plenty of fun was had 😀.

Our final game of the month was another Victory at Sea encounter set once again in the Pacific. This time we had a pair of enlarged fleets (Gerard was busy painting over the Christmas break) both featuring an aircraft carrier and the name of the game was don’t let your carrier get sunk.

For the first time we used the aircraft rules, which are simple but effective, and they certainly added a different tactical nuance to the game.

Ships on both sides were sunk with all hands but both players managed to protect the ‘mother ship’ – more by luck than judgement, with only the US player getting any hits in at all.

A points tally at the end gave a marginal victory to the US player but the practical reality was a draw.

In other news we had the incredibly exploding elephant! As you can see, uncured resin forced its way out and split the model catastrophically 😭 which was bloody annoying.

On the down side, we bought 6 of these models from the manufacturer before he realised the problem (no vent hole) and 2 have gone so far which means replacing them and re-painting – Dave cried. On the plus side, said manufacturer acknowledged responsibility and has replaced the 2 dead elephants and will replace the others when they burst (if they do I guess?).

Painted some more 10mm for the collection, this time M109’s for Iran. Pretty sure I’ve done more than is needed but I’m having such fun doing them.

Nothing much else to report, the last few days have been spent starting the games room clear-out and the first week of February will probably be a bust in terms of gaming but hopefully back on track after that. In the meantime, play nice and I’ll see you in February.

December 2023 Report

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Wow! Another year draws to a close and I’ve no idea what happened to it 😃 Not surprisingly December was a lean month for gaming but none the less we got some decent sessions in before closing for Christmas.

First up was an ‘Arthurian’ battle using our home grown rules. On this occasion we had Jutes attempting to breach one of the defensive dykes held by scratch force of Britons desperately hoping the Comes Britaanniae would arrive in time.

Early moves saw the Jutes gain a toehold at the foot of the dyke and try and shoot the defenders from the wall while scrambling up.

Thankfully Arturios arrived but would he be able to save the day?

Undeterred by some fancy git on a horse the Jutes pressed on and breached the dyke in two places, clambering over and taking on the Milites beyond the dyke which generally went badly for the Britons.

Artorius and his cavalry threw themselves on the Jutes outside the dyke in a desperate attempt to drive off the invaders but they were just not enough and their supporting infantry were some way behind.

The deciding factor was when the mercenary Franks forced the gate, cutting down the defending Britons, now they could man the dyke and defy the relief force, who despite some victories over those Jutes who had turned to fight, could not regain the lost lands.

Next up was an Italian Wars game, Florentine v Venetian, again using our own rules.

The terrain was fairly open, bisected by roads and with two hamlets to break up line of sight and provide cover/distraction.

Both sides suffered from command & control problems and so launched piecemeal attacks which saw mini battles within the overall battle.

The Florentines became particularly fixated on one of the hamlets and ultimately committed five bodies of crossbow infantry to it’s capture and retention in the face of Venetian indifference 🤣

The Venetians were much more interested in using their better cavalry to duff up their Florentine opposite numbers, which they duly did.

Where the Florentines did manage to gain some traction in the centre the Romagnol pike stepped into the breach and restored order, game set and match to the Venetians.

Our final game was a return to the Pacific with Victory at sea, this time with some islands to break up the open water, some different ships and both sides having specific objectives; the Japanese to get their transport convoy to the islands and the US to sink the transports.

With the addition of an objective the game was a lot more tactical – as much as our incompetence allowed 🤣 and just banging away with guns and launching torpedoes wasn’t necessarily the answer.

The Japanese were the first to lose a capital ship when the US Idaho pounded the Amagi to pieces in one turn of firing – three successful critical hits sank the Anagi with all hands 😢

For most of the game the Japanese were on the back foot, desperately trying to manoeuvre long enough for the very slow transports to reach the islands.

The Japanese did have some success, crippling the Chicago and Indianapolis with torpedoes when the player finally realised how best to use them 🙄

Ultimately however the plucky transports didn’t make it – seen here just before they were blasted out of the water by concentrated gunfire.

As a game system it does take a little bit of getting used to and I certainly haven’t got anywhere near understanding it properly but it does provide a somewhat different take on gaming to what we’re used to which is a good thing.

That’s it from a playing point of view the rest of the month has been starting the clearing of stuff that just doesn’t get used and never will, first up dozens of sets of rules and some terrain items. This is going to be a long haul into the New Year but it’s got to be done.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

November 2023 Report

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Some of you may have noticed there was no October report, this was mainly due to me being away in Japan for two weeks and the rest of the gang not bothering to organise anything for the month 🙄 Fear not though we are back on track with a fairly busy month of gaming.

First up was a 28mm Ardennes game using Dave’s recently completed set up – the coldness of the shed rather matched the setting 😂🥶

In this scenario a Ranger squad plus a HQ element were defending a crossroads against some previously rebuffed Germans now coming on at two entry points from across a deep stream.

The German squad advancing over the sole bridge took casualties from the Rangers holed up in a ruined building but managed to take them down and move on.

The cost of doing business.

“Hold your position!”

Ultimately the Rangers were reduced to only 3 effectives and the crossroads was lost but it was a bitter victory for the Germans.

Next up was the ongoing learning curve of our Iran Iraq adventure. Some more terrain for this one which made it a bit more difficult to get a bead on those vulnerable T54’s & T55’s 😁

Much fun was had at the beginning of the game with the Iranians struggling to get the correct die score to deploy which allowed the Iraqis to advance .

Of course once the Iranians got their act together the Iraqis started to suffer.

Unfortunately this was one of those games where players had to be elsewhere after only a couple of hours of play so we called it with the Iraqis having a lot of burning tanks on the table. 😏

Next up was something new for us, one of the guys has recently got into Victory at Sea from Warlord so he bought his stuff over and we played an introductory game with his Pacific forces.

I’m not sure any of us really knew what we were doing so there was a fair bit of stop start as we checked the rules but that is inevitable and like all naval games the ships got far closer to each other than reality.

Ultimately we had a good little game, certainly enough to play again soon, and in fact more ships have been bought and painted up!

Another outing for the Ardennes was next and the last for this year in the arctic shed 😂

This time both sides had off table mortar support randomly generated – the Germans did better from this and certainly made life difficult for the Americans.

Despite an heroic defence the Americans were overrun again – “I think I need to get some weapons support for the Yanks” So looks like the small and contained project is going to grow a bit 😂🤣

Next was an away game featuring galactic monks, armoured robots and some very pretty scenery.

Personally I had no idea what was going on but dice were rolled, figures fell and we had a laugh so no bad thing really.

Returning to more mainstream gaming our next effort was the Successors, later Ptolemaic v later Seleucid.

The main reason for playing was to try out some additions to the collection as seen above 😀

The Ptolemaic army was the most standardised, featuring 4 battalions of Kleruchoi pike on the right centre screened by Rhodians & Cretans and a unit of Thureophoroi and Agema pike on the left centre, both were flanked by formed cavalry with the better horse on the left screened by Bedouin camelry, a solitary elephant squadron took the centre.

The Seleucids were an eclectic bunch. Their left centre comprised two units of Galatians and one of Thracians screened by three elephant squadrons with scythed chariots and veteran cavalry on the wing, the right centre comprised the Silver Shields (the later incarnation) and another battalion of pike screened by some levied psiloi while their flank cavalry comprised Galatians, Bedouin and a single unit of elites.

The battle took some twists and turns. As usual the cavalry actions started and finished first; on the Seleucid right the Bedouin cancelled each other out, the Galatians were destroyed and eventually the victorious Ptolemaic cavalry were on their way to the enemy camp. On the Seleucid left a hard fought affair saw the Ptolemaics seen off and the chariots performed well but not in a way to seem anachronistic.

In the centre much fun was had with rampaging elephants and their ultimate deaths 😄 which broke up the nice neat lines of both sides. The Galatians & Thracians did better against the pikes than anticipated at first but once the pikes started grinding on it wasn’t so good 😮 The good quality pikes cancelled each other out and an inconclusive pushing match was all that was going to happen there but the Thureophoroi performed badly and fled.

Ultimately the Ptolemaics shaded it but it had been a close run thing and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Our next foray was another Iran Iraq effort this time with more terrain to break up lines of sight – and it worked!

On this occasion the Iraqis, comprising a reinforced mechanised infantry brigade, were tasked with seizing a section of railway and the adjoining settlements and had the early advantage of being screened by a large hill for their left flank force and a dried river bed for the right.

The Iranians deployed their tank forces to defend the railway line and settlements and the infantry to hold their end of the river bed. They also had an FAO although the artillery had limited ammunition.

On the Iranian left, despite a gallant defence and the off table artillery, the aggressive Iraqi attack with the better tanks forced the position and by the end of the game the Iranians were totally destroyed. From a rules mechanism point of view (CWC) everything worked fine and as realistically as one can expect which was a positive thing as we progress with the project.

On the Iranian right the two tank battalions took the fight to the Iraqis and we had the comedy show of the T54’s & T55’s boldly advancing from around the hill and almost immediately falling back as the opposition opened fire 😃

Ultimately the Iranians bit off more than they could chew as once they crested the hill the Iraqi infantry swarmed them and made them pay the price for being un protected. Again the rules mechanisms worked well.

Bruised but not yet out of it the Iranians fell back to the rail line to carry on the fight but now their reduced numbers gave the Iraqi armour more of a chance and the losses mounted.

With our physical gaming time drawing to a close we belated consulted the rules about army break points and realised the Iranians were over it so diced and the Iranians beat an immediate retreat. Complete Iraqi victory and a project proceeding in the right direction.

Final game of the month was a western gunfight from our loosely connected campaign set in the fictional Dardanell County.

Bounty hunters came looking for an easy score.

Bounty hunters died 😂🤣

In terms of work completed some additions were made to the Successors project.

The ill fated Thureophoroi

And stuff is going on to EBay in a bid to clear the storage.

So until December, enjoy your gaming and be a good person. Cheers!

September 2023 Report

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A month bracketed by outings.

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. 🙂

August 2023 Report

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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 😀

July 2023 Report

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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.

June 2023 Report

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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.

UK Games Expo 2023

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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.

May 2023 Report

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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.

There’ll Be A Welcome In The Hillsides

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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.