Sunday, September 23

Happy times...

..we're just entering a golden period of historical fiction...   don't miss out..  most of these are out next month...  


Saturday, September 22

Abundance Farm... Game

Apologies for the delay in posting..  way too busy, especially given it was Colours the next day, and then some sailing, and then some etc etc etc...  😏

So first things first - to name my sources this is the "La Granja de la Abundancia" scenario from the Albion triumphant booklet for Black Powder.

For this game I re-attempted the overhead shot method I tried with the War of the Spanish Succession game I played a few weeks ago..  have to say slightly less spectacular results as the table is bigger so the camera was higher and etc etc..  but there were enough to give a flavour of the ebb and flow of this cracking little battle (well it was for me anyway - DG was just ruing the day he threw a 5 on the OOB table! 😁)

Move 1 (following) - first units on the table and as a reminder British/Hessian to the left, American to the right..

Not surprisingly I opted to bring both cavalry regiments on first, and went pell mell for the farm..
 
Move two... DG is sending his lights forward aggressively to counter my cavalry.. my main force is looking to secure the T junction hill (and I had plans on DG's hamlet) - first points are won equally - the two lower hills are taken by each side...




Move 3..  and it looks like DG is going all out for the farm which I have now taken ownership of in the name of the Crown - he is probing forward with his Lights through the woods.... 


Couple of moves later -  I have T junction hill..


...while DG's first cautious probes with his light infantry towards the farm have been dealt with roughly by the Death or Glory boys..  one light battalion sent scurrying in some discomfort (left below - red dice = rout)...


Few moves later and my 3rd Brigade is destined to strengthen the farm as I don't think they'll be needed for the assault on DG's farm/hamlet, and it also looks like DG's main feint is also the farm..


Same view at ground level..



A few moves later and those Lights of DG's have recovered (left below - in front of the unit with the blue star banner) with the assistance of a passing Brigadier to put some backbone into the dice throw.. 


...another move and battle has ensued at the T junction with both sides exchanging musketry and attempting to close to melee...  DG is forming a major assault on the hill..



Few moves from the end - following - and apologies for the slight blur, I was holding the camera above my head - only excuse I have..  



DG has switched focus to the T junction hill and has made the first of at least two or three assaults..  my artillery on the hill is doing great work - canister will always ruin your day...  To the bottom of the picture, near the farm, DG has halted -  his idea was that they would hold my cavalry in position, which they did, but the farm was still mine...

...and so we enter the final few moves..


...better shot at ground level.. British forces in strength and hold the line...  DG conceded on turn 12..



Overview..



Post match analysis:

  • First off, "Cheers, John!"
  • A good scenario but ensure that either, both sides are equal, or at least that both sides have the same amount of cavalry; keep the table but throw one and both sides have the same, perhaps..
  • Agree in advance whether cavalry can hold a building type area when your rules don't allow cavalry to enter buildings..  we agreed that in this case the British held the farm but DG's valid point was that the cavalry didn't actually enter the farm so did they hold it? I held to the "sphere of influence" position...  not surprisingly.. you'll now understand the significance of those dismounted dragoons in my loot pile from Colours..  
  • A monumental tussle, I had forgotten how good more than 6 units a side looks..
  • We'll replay this one at some time as DG has unfinished business...  Warfare weekend perhaps..
  • Refreshments on the evening was the awesome Hobgoblin IPA



Tuesday, September 18

I have been to.. Colours '18

So before I put up a post on the JC Memorial game just a brief review of the Colours show which I attended Saturday.. this was my first wargame show in 10 months, as I purposely missed Salute this year (I think I'll go next year by the by, as I've worked out that a show is much more than a big bunch of traders and hygienically challenged fat blokes with pony tails -  it also helps to fuel the enthusiasm, and general wargaming mojo which was much missed this year)

Big crowds of people - no decline for this show, but again, apropos of nothing, every time I go I''m amazed at how much more ground has been sold and turned into luxury flats looking over the race course..  so the old car park is now a block of flats, and the new parking is in the centre of the course..  bit of a frisson walking across the race track to get to the stands..  I'm amazed how long the straights are..

First point of call the Art of War t-shirt stand on the top floor - big Lee clued me into these guys on one of his posts, and I put in a trial order for their Shieldwall t-shirt - which i was very impressed with - good fit, good quality, so I was going to get another tshirt today - the Raven banner one this time. I recommend them completely and without reservation...

Job done I then wandered off to have a look round the show -  wads of twenty quid notes widely seen so people clearly not short of money - didn't really sense a trend this year, lots of MDF of course but that's not new, didn't really sense a new period coming to the fore, or any new 'go to' rule sets..  lots of shopping going on though..

What caught the eye? Some very nice and very reasonably priced resin boats on the Games of War stand the boats [clicky]in particular were very nice and very reasonably priced.. I also liked these which I thought were brilliant and hugely affordable - I may well invest and replace those ratty old home made terraces I use for 15mm WWII skirmish... they are separate as well so roof and upper story can be removed..


Booty then? The aforementioned t-shirt, some additional mini dice for the AWI collection (to show unit status), a book on the Earl of Essex that I've had on my to 'get list' for a while (my ECW project is based round Edgehill so this will fit the bill nicely) and for the first time in an age some little metal men - dismounted dragoons who are destined for the AWI project - enough for two units, one of them will be British for sure, the other I can paint as the American 4th Dragoons - if they work I'll get some more to represent the other units I have. These were from Eagle Miniatures and very reasonably priced..


...and so on to the games...   not going to a wargames show for 10 months is good for the soul - it refreshes the taste buds and allows you to enjoy games that if you were going to lots of shows you'd probably ignore ("meh" as the young people like to say)

So I have four games to feature from the myriads of games being shown..  and in the usual manner, in reverse order, they are..

Fourth.. "Operation Goodwood" by the Friends Who Like Rapid Fire... shed loads of 20mm goodness, and everything I like and dislike about Rapid Fire on a single table...  

...everything I like and dislike about Rapid Fire...

...modelling was magnificent, vehicles and terrain lovely, but..  you knew there had to be a but...  wall to wall cab ranked tanks...  it looked like a Sherman NCP car park on a busy Saturday morning at the local shopping centre...  it called out for just one carefully time fighter bomber sweep...  I know, I know, it's an operational level game, but it would have been infinitely better looking if a smaller scale had been used so the the vehicles could have been spread out a bit...  10mm perfect, 15mm better..



In third place, not my period, not my scale, and hex terrain (though DG thought they weren't using the hexes for movement measurement?) but I thought this game was magnificent..  "Blood and Bridges", a cold war game in 1/200 scale (tick) by Chris Wykes and Friends..  now this is a miniatures version of the board game (Lock ‘n Loads World at War series) and is a fictional 3rd World War encounter between British/NATO forces and Russia..

..loved the helicopters..
Simply superb..


Cab ranked tanks again, but in this scale they work..  yeah, I'm weird..



...and in second place... "The Race Across Idlib Province, 28th October, 1918" by "Adrian Shepherd and Friends".


...so the background to the game is that the British are attempting the capture of the last remaining Ottoman/German airstrip in northern Syria (a collection point for serviceable aircraft) ...  and it was the aircraft that caught the eye for me...


..."Krak des Berger", a ruined Crusader castle scratch built  for the game by Adrian Shepherd....


...game information presented on A3 laminated sheets made to look like old newspapers from the day - very clever..


Rolls Royce armoured cars and Model T's ..  what's not to like!

Loved the Triplane as well

...and that Fokker DVII is good enough to eat..
...other blog posts [clicky] would confirm the British failed in their objective on the day, but a good time was had nonetheless.. 

So without further ado..  in first place...  Simon Miller's "To The Strongest" English Civil War game, "Soggy Bottom", which was wall to wall beauty, and a joy to behold..

Parliament left, Royalist right

...Cromwell and the lads looking for a good time..

Old Robin's own..

More Parliamentary horse - left flank..

Royalist horse - right flank

...I bet Archer liked custard as a child...  how GOOD are they?


Stunning flag..

...final view.. one day...  one day..

Superb show..  roll on Warfare... 

Sunday, September 16

Abundance Farm... Set Up

...this will be a kind of 'supermarket sweep' in force... 😁

With 'Colours' on this weekend, DG was down in my part of the woods to attend, and as is our want (we meet irregularly face to face these days, as DG is in Wales and I'm on the south coast) we exchanged emails on the subject of a game while he was down... we're also aware that we haven't yet played the John Corrigan Memorial game [clicky] this year so decision made, a return to the American War of Independence...

Next question, what scenario? I was toying with the idea of a flick through the older Grant scenario books as I liked the idea of continuing the old school theme of these games (and this is the seventh - where did those years go?), but I happened to be reading through the blogs I follow when I saw this post by Angus Konstam and the Edinburgh Wargame Club [clicky] of a game they'd had that week and was immediately taken with it.. job done..

So first off the map - and again the (original) map below is courtesy of Warlord Games and modified shamelessly by me…


The back story for the game is that both sides are about to go into winter quarters and so are looking for supplies to see them through the winter, when news reaches them of a significant supply of fodder and other food stuffs at Abundance Farm - a foraging party in strength is immediately ordered...

Forces will be diced for

Die RollInfantryArtilleryLight 
Infantry
CavalryIndians
180202
280220
382020
4100002
5100200
6100020

Entry points are noted – the order of march to be decided before the game and unit formation on entry is up to the player..

Scoring:

  • The farm is worth 6 points, and other hamlets in the area were worth either 1 or 3 points, depending on who holds them. 
  •  The two hills closest to the farm are worth 1 point each, while the hill overlooking the “T-junction” is worth three points. 
  •  Each side gains a point for every enemy unit lost/destroyed (a modification to this would be to count one point for each strength point lost by your opponent) 
Game length – 12 turns - from turn 13 throw 2D6 scoring 9 or ore for the game to end that move - for each subsequent move deduct one from the total needed (randomness being what it is you should get a game of 14 to 16 turns..)

We then diced for the sides and entry points and forces - DG won and chose the American's and then threw a 5 on the table - I threw a 3 which (other than 6), is probably the best force for this scenario..

Stay tuned for the game write up..

Saturday, September 1

"One Hour Wargames" - Scenario 17 - "Encounter" - Game (Part 2)

...well what a cracker...  any solo game that makes you laugh out loud incredulously can't be too bad..  read on for why... 😀

So by way of a re-cap, here's where we left the last installment... this was the end of move 9, fairly even-stevens on the face of it..  the French (attacking left to right) have a toe hold on the hill with one strong flank (above the hill) and one that the cavalry are moving to cover - the Allies are weaker on their right flank, but have two units on the hill, one of which is the triumphant Schomberg's horse..

End Turn 9 and end of part 1

 ...so it was that a little less than a week later, with all household duties completed, I found myself in the loft ready to play out the last half dozen moves...  been a good game as I've spent at least ten minutes a day between the last session and this one, looking at the end of turn 9 picture and wondering about various options/moves...

...and off we go, I've found the old one two works very well in a melee situation, wherever possible attack with two units to one, as the defending unit at best can only hold one...  so it was in this case - both Allied units attacked, Saintonge fired and held Dering's but the cavalry charged home and (as usual?!) routed them...  I sense some battle honours for Schomberg's..

End Turn 10

Things are not looking good for the French...  two units now routing, one unit shaken (the cavalry), but the Wild Geese are on the hill...


...I sensed the moment of decision was coming, and I think this move was probably it..  the French had numbers ont heir left flank and decided to make free with a little one two themselves with a view to driving off the sole Allied foot regiment holding the flank (Howe's)..  if they can clear that flank it gives them the opportunity (with just enough time) to hook right on to the hill..  first part of the plan goes well, Howe's send out a crashing volley to hold Bearn (one down but still one to go), then the plan starts to go a little awry..  Howe's hold, and in the ensuring melee I threw the following (French blue, Allies red) ...  bye bye Toulouse, and all hopes this turn on that flank...


...elsewhere everyone else stands still or exchanges fire..

End Turn 11

In the next turn and the struggle continues..  trying anther attempt at the one two, both sides lose a unit..  Dering's finally break, and Schomberg (again!) for the wild geese...  first time this game the Allies have had sole control of the hill..

End Turn 12

French recovery during the morale phase is miraculous, and once again Saintonge pour forward to contest the hill...  everyone else (French or Allied) is too far away to contest but one surviving Allied infantry battalion climbs the slopes to support Schomberg's

End Turn 14

...can Schomberg's pull it off again?


...and so we arrive at the final turn...    and Schomberg's fail their morale test and break! They only needed get four or less on a D6, and went and threw a 6...  bang..  gone...  

So we end the game with one unit per side on the hill..  a draw...  but i'm going to call it a narrow Allied victory due to the number of fresh units they still have compared with the French...

End Game

What a cracking game...  final butchers bill? The Allies lost 8 strength points, the French lost 11, in both cases from a maximum of 36..