So, the Group have dipped our collective toes into another new period in ‘Pike and Shotte’.
Within the Group Russ, Stephen and Alan have been building armies and with Alan overseas for work, Russ and Stephen bought their forces along.
Stephen is building an English Civil War army with Scottish leanings while Russ is working on a Swedish Army and Alan Royalists.
Russ, Graham and Goldie played the Swedes while Stephen, Rob and Keith were the ECW/Scots. Set up of armies below with the Swedes on the right.
Swedish cavalry with Cuirassier’s skulking in support.
3 units of wee jocks.
Swedish Battalia(thats a Pike block and 2 supporting units of matchlocks.
Stephens artillery.
Swedish Shotte chaps supported with more cavalry supporting.
Very pretty Swedish unit.
Graham was on this Swedish flank and starts to advance.
Another lovely unit by Russ.
Close up of the shootee chaps.
Rob sent his cavalry charging into the Swedish flanking Battalia who succeeded in forming a ‘Hedgehog’ so the cavalry stopped short of the hedge.
However, this did mean they now were going to get hit by Swedish cavalry.
Stephen charged a unit of wee Jocks into a Matchlock/Popgun combo….the Pop gun..popped…and the shootees retired.
Pop gun has popped….shootees have retired…and the cavalry are getting excited.
Ouch….Swedish Cuirassiers into a damaged unit of wee Jocks.
There is even a supporting cavalry unit.
Keith with Battalia of Jocks looking across table at Swedes.
The cavalry shot on the other flank went on for a few turns. The blue dice with 1’s means someone failed really badly to save hits.
A bit further on and a miracle occurred…Robs cavalry managed to beat off the Swedes. Dice can really be random at times!
Now Russ has chewed thru the wee Jocks with his heavies…who now eye up more wee Jocks.
The wee Jocks are no more…so Russ swept into Keiths Battalia. Goldie managed to get his Battalia to move…and charged over table…and just missed reaching Keith! That last inch really counts at times……
The shootees retired from the Cuirassiers…not sure how…..need read rules more……and Pikes turned to face Cuirassiers….so these wee Jocks will be toast sooner rather than later.
We told Graham to just charge…don’t worry about rolling…just get in…so he did…..he probably shouldn’t have as .. but we did get several training combats on Pike v Pike…
And that’s where we called it…… Swedes have a win. Points wise the Swedes had a more expensive force so next game will be a bit more balanced.
The game looked very attractive…..2 well painted armies……a rule set in the family of Black Powder and Hail Caesar so we are familiar with concepts and turn play…makes easier to learn.
It’s been 20 years since a group of us had a Chinese meal with the Perrys in Wellington while they were here for ‘Lord of the Rings’ activities. I asked them then if they would ever do FPW…and they have….so Goldie and I are finally having our first game with their figures.
Now Goldie had already painted a force of Prussians, and he has added enough French which when we add ACW Zouaves we can have a game.(my French are underway but not ready).
Each side is fielding 2 Brigades of 6 infantry with the Prussians also fielding a regt of 4 artillery batteries. The French have 2 batteries of 4 pdrs with one attached to each brigade and a mitralleuse which is attached to the Zouave brigade(5 Zouaves and a light infantry).
The terrain has the French defending a farm complex and a wooded ridge and there are 3 woods and some hedges scattered around the table, The French are defending the ridge/farm house side of the table.
Goldies right side brigade which is regts of 3. The Division commander is attached to the brigade. Regts are 3 bttns, each of bases with 5 or 6 figures to a base.
Close up of Prussians.
Goldies newly painted French which are in regts of 3 bttns, with bases of 5 or 6 figures per base.
View down the line. The beautiful flags Goldie picked up from ‘The Flag Dude’ at this year’s Salute Show while holidaying in London.
The French left brigade with subbed in ACW infantry with a French la Hitte artillery battery.
A regt of the dreaded Prussian Krupp artillery opposite the farmhouse. I was very happy they were there… and not facing my infantry in the open.
Goldie has advanced one regt into the protection of the hedges while the second is in behind the wood.
View of French right flank. Prussian artillery in top left gets 2 shots a battery and has a range of 60 inches. But only target is the buildings where 1 bttn is sheltering! There is a French battery with a 48 inch range, also shooting 2 shoots skulking hidden from the Krupps opposite it and then 4 infantry bttns in line. The French infantry shoot 36 inches compared to the Prussian 18 inches! The Prussians being larges units, get 4 shots though.
First French shooting and the 2 front bttns are disordered and one has 3 casualties. I need to inflict 4 to shake them.
On opposite flank Prussians did not move! French moved up through the woods on ridge.
I rushed a unit up into the centre wood with another at rear of wood and a 3rd angles to shoot across table. Each division has 1 unit of light infantry.
Goldie forms a 3 bttn line on his left flank .
View from hedges to French line and farmhouse.
The Prussian batteries would spend several turns of ineffective fire on the Farm house.
Goldies right finally did some advancing.
Realising he needed artillery support on his right. Goldie ordered the artillery regt to limber up and move to the right. They got the order wrong…instead rolled a double six…which is a blunder…followed by and 1 and they retired off the table. This means be 2 or 3 turns before they can fire again…PERFECT!
Goldie advanced the brigade to throw me out of centre wood.
I managed to roll a few more than one would expect of 6’s when shooting so was constantly disordering Goldies advancing infantry which also reduced the effect of their firing. Below Goldie has advanced a unit up to close range ready to blast my flank bttn.
A bit further on French have moved bttn from behind wood to get more shots in,,,,,,the Mitrailleuse is also ready to machine gun down the enemy!(this shoots as a machine gun, it rolls 2 dice…if a roll hits, you keep rolling until it misses)
Here is a close up of this little beauty. I deployed this away from Goldies artillery and being an ‘Unclear’ target, Goldie cannot target it with infantry if they are same or closer distance.
The plan to advance to close range and shoot up my flank bttn has not worked. By games end Goldie was lamenting about these guys. The saved hit after hit! And dished it back out!!
Hedge bound bttns…they kept getting disordered…not only from bttns to front but also the battery and a bttn in other brigade. The 36 inch shooting range for French infantry is awesome.
The first Prussian bttn breaks and flees.
Goldie moved the 3rd regt from in the hedges to cover the front of a shaken bttn on the left, it then gets disordered….the other 2 bttns are taking damage as well.
Mitralleuse checking out which target to shred!
Other flank and another Prussian bttn has popped…..they have a stamina of 4, and the 3 remaining are on 3. The French have stamina 3 and 2 are on 2! Its close.
Another Prussian bttn pops…this time in the hedges.
Goldie deployed his artillery within 36 inches……and they didn’t get a shot as had moved x 2 …so they drew all my fire…..they are stamina 1 units…so 3 are shaken and the left 2 are also disordered.
Goldie continues trying to take the centre wood……he has moved Prussian bttn up the flank and shot up a bttn on ridgeline that coupled with artillery fire…broke and ran!
Goldies left flank brigade now breaks. The forward bttn gets 3 bttns and battery firing into it…it pops. With damage to other bttns..brigade is now broken.
The mitralleuse finally got some god shooting in and a battery popped..Goldie moved his guns back out of range…and the French on ridgeline moved forward to keep shooting them.
So that was game 1……. we agreed a French victory.
Back in the 80’s I started playing FPW games at Military Miniatures in Auckland where Mark(1866 and all that) had a MASSIVE collection of figures…we played HUGE games and invariably they were games of attrition…..but great games…so this is the start of that love affair for me again.
What makes the period so much fun is the differing weapons…the ranges of them…the size difference in units…..Zoauves…….Guard…….and the need for each side to employ differing tactics.
So into July and the planned game for the night was our first ‘Pike n Shotte’ game…. however Stephen was providing most of the figures and had to pull out at the last minute. So I quickly alerted the ladz and planned a Naps practice. It’s been a while since as a group we had a game, and we have a Dresden 1813 refight coming up. So, I asked each player to bring 1 foot brigade and a light cavalry brigade, with the aim of boosting it with Garage stocks.
In the end I boosted each player up to 2 brigade’s of foot and 1 of light cavalry. Each foot brigade also had 1 battery. Commanders were to be 8’s, however each side was to randomly make one a 9, and then make another ‘Aggressive’ which added a +1 to ‘Charge’ orders. Goldie insisted I give him the ‘Aggressive’ when I won the roll off on our side…apparently unlike me, Austrian commanders are not allowed to be ‘Aggressive’.
Franco-Bavarian force commanders from left to right were Alan with Bavarians, Graham with French and Robert with French. The Allies from left to right were Goldie with Prussians, Keith with Russians and me(Terry) with Austrians. Terrain was rolling fields with a scattering of woods and a central village with another small village in Allied deployment zone.
Goldie has taken the central village to the right of the central road and the arm of Graham is moving a brigade into assault the Prussians. Robert is in foreground with Alans Bavarians flanking Graham.
Prussians occupying the village…buildings are Hovels…painted by Hovels http://www.hovelsltd.co.uk/Russian%2025/rusvil.html. It is quite hard to evict a unit in a village unless you can attack multiply sides or you have softened up the defenders with artillery fire at medium range…as Graham found out.
Behind and to the right of the Prussians, Keith has a skirmish line out…. although a base of line troops think they are Jagers(while trousers).
Over on the Austrian flank Stephen has managed to make the game after all…and brought along some of the British he is painting so these replaced some Austrian units, and he played this side.
French attack on church.
Alans Bavarians were a wee bit slow to start moving…but are now moving up in support of Grahams central advance.
The Bavarians support comes a wee bit late..Grahams brigade is thrown back.
So Graham sends his Dragoons in against Russian Hussars…who have pointy sticks. I swapped a French light cavalry unit with the Dragons to even out the odds…pointy sticks inflict a -1 save in cavalry combat and -2 versus infantry. Dragoons get an additional attack and add +1 to combat resolution.
Bavarian line with skirmishers out front advancing.
But another Austrian large column has found a target. The Austrians get 8 attacks…hit on 3, save on 3 as are a column. Bavarians get 3 shots as they close in….hit on 3’s and then get 6 attacks in combat. Supporting units assist in the combat resolution stage.
Now below the British skirmishers have charged the Bavarians skirmishers. As both are skirmishing, neither can evade. Skirmishers hit on a 5+, as the British are charging they have +1 for charging, so hit on a 4. Neither side can be supported.
Then the Bavarian and Austrian cavalry charge/countercharge. With light cavalry where numbers are matched, it devolves into a series of attacks ending in mutual extinction. Light cavalry are not Battle Cavalry, unless they have pointy sticks… or are Guard types.
Another attack a turn or so on…..
Back in the centre and Graham is still trying to get into the church. But more important in the top left corner is Grahams Hussars getting a charge in on Keiths shaken Uhlans….this was to be decisive for the game.
The aftermath of the French Hussar charge…..the shaken Uhlans popped…..surrounding units failed morale tests for friends breaking and popped…the Hussars then swept into the other Uhlan unit…and as its a sweeping advance are caught stationary…….so no pointy sticks bonus….they popped…….surrounding units failed friends breaking rule…..and Keith lost his centre. Graham wasn’t in much better shape!
Over on the Allied left flank Goldie sent his Prussian Grenadiers into Roberts columns and loo and behold…the Grenadiers lost…badly….. and popped.
As we see below….they are no where to be seen.
Now at games end…Graham has pulled back from the village….unable to capture it.
Stephen is still trying to take out the Bavarians with his large Austrian Bttns…but with minimal success.
In the final action…….the supporting Bavarian bttn has moved to not have an open flank…..as 2 regts of Prussian Landwher cavalry are facing it…..if they can get in…they should be able to take out the shaken unit in combat…..6 attacks into a shaken flank…hitting on 3s…minus 2 save…..and only 3 attacks back on 6s…..perhaps cause break tests…and perhaps even sweep into the flank of the Bavarian line unit…..lots of perhaps…alas…they failed the order to charge….and that was that…..
There were lots of combats I have not covered….it was a fast moving fun game……in the end the French/Bavarians had a victory. Well down to them.
The Whisky of the week is a ‘Glenfarclas 15 Cask Strength 57.8%’ which a friend shared the opening of with me.
Now…it is rather special, and I could not find an actual review of this very limited release…..needless to say….it was truly wonderful. Below is the review of the standard 43% release……I feel it is like comparing the Dog car I drive(its a Toyota Ractius…bought to drive the 2 Leonbergers around in) to the Bro in laws new Mustang……
At 15 years old, this whisky shows the complex and mature style the Glenfarclas distillery is renowned for – light butterscotch, dried fruit and an big oak and sherry character are mingled with hints of malted barley and a touch of dry peat smoke. The finish is long, with Christmas cake spices lingering on the palate, making for a complex and richly satisfying single malt.
So, our 3rd Game of wee ships in a month and this time we went for a more balanced game of Cruisers and Destroyers(USN/RN v IJN). Each player was to have a Cruiser and 1 or 2 Destroyers. There were 3 players a side and as I was playing this game……there are less photos then normal, and to cap it off…a few were not good enough to use in this post.
Now Russ has been working on his IJN Fleet and below here they are steaming along. The close up shoots did not work apart from one, so will need to take more the next time they grace the table. Nice Battleship line.
Pride of place is this wee beauty..the Musashi.
Onto the game and I have the lead Allied cruiser in the Northampton with a Clemson class destroyer out front also mine.
Japanese heavy cruiser and destroyer facing off to my brave destroyer trying to get in close….its torpedoes have a range of 10inches…half that of the IJN version. Next game will need to balance the quality of the IJN ships at this stage of the war better.
Now the Northampton was quickly getting smacked by the IJN Cruisers ….I was rapidly running out of hull pints…then Russ let rip and rolled…real bad as below. I survived 1 more turn!!
So my destroyer is no more..never had a chance…but still 184 left in the class! Northampton quickly followed.
The very unsporting IJN players blocked next destroyer to trying to get in close….we need more destroyers!
The game ended up being a resounding win for the IJN. The quality of their ships was just to good….next time will try and even points up a bit more.
Now that wonderful chap Stu Dobson at Magpie Designer has sent me a further order which arrived yesterday. Stu has added individual vessel names on the ships on request! How wonderful.
So this order had 4 more Japanese Destroyers of the Asashio Class, 4 USN Benson Class and 4 more Clemson Class. This gives me a good sized destroyer force for both the IJN and US Navies. Future additions need to be Capital ships for both sides and to boost up the USN cruiser force.
I also added the planes for my Essex Class Carrier and the planes for the small IJN Carrier the Ryujo.
Below is a close up of the Asashio Class destroyers
Now Stu has a dinky base on the ships so they can be safely attached to the card box in transit and also makes painting simpler. Simply to remove them once painted. I like simple.
That will be wee ships for a few weeks. This week is an ACW game at Alan’s then next week we have the first ‘Pike and Shotte’ Game in the Garage. Stephen , Russ and Alan have some beautifully painted units so will be an exciting nights gaming!
Now this weeks ‘Whisky of the Week’ is a local offering from New Zealand.
Appearance: light yellow, similar to a Pinot Gris.
Nose: The nose is very citrusy with hints of lemon. It’s very light in general, with zero alcohol burn on the back end. The lightness of the citrus is then slightly offset but a honey sweetness that also grounds the overall aroma with a full-bodied-ness.
Palate: The palate loses a bit of the citrus and more prominently features the honey sweetness. It’s similarly light in flavour as it is in colour and on the nose. There’s a bit more alcohol bite than on the nose, but overall, it’s incredibly smooth. It does though lack an overall distinctive flavour that would make it interesting.
It was actually quite a pleasant dram with quite a smooth taste…recommended.
So, after the last game, the ladz elected for another wee ships game and Russ volunteered to prepare a Carrier Scenario.
Scenario is:
Early April 1942 IJN Carrier Division 2 under Admiral Chūichi Nagumo consisting of fleet carriers Akagi (Flag) (17 flights), Kaga (18 flights) and Shōkaku (18 flights), two heavy cruisers, a light cruiser and seven destroyers execute the right hook of Plan C to sweep the Indian Ocean and in particular sink Admiral Sir James Sommerville’s Force A Fast Carrier division.
Force A consisted initially of HMS Illustrious (8 flights), two heavy cruisers and four destroyers. This uneven fight has been assisted by New Zealand Signals Intelligence gathering and American decryption of the Japanese Navy code to have a good sense of what Yamamoto has in the wind. The timing and general shape of the Japanese Plan C. As a result, on 27 March Sommerville bought the newly repaired carrier Ark Royal (15 flights) and a British light cruiser from Alexandria, through the Suez Canal, to join Force A. Sensing an opportunity to cut out a detached part of the Kidō Butai (Mobile Force – Japanese carrier battle groups), Admiral Nimitz dispatches the also freshly repaired USS Saratoga (20 flights) under Captain DeWitt Ramsey and three destroyers to join Force A.
Players for the game are Terry, Goldie and Keith as the IJN and Stephen, Graeme and Rob as the Allies with Russ running the scenario and consulting the rules book.
We had comprehensive instructions for Combat Air Patrols(CAPs), Scouting and pregame decisions which I will move on from. The IJN however rolled best for the scouting and we sighted the Allied Fleet first. The IJN fleet is below with our CAPs of 2 flights of fighters per carrier airborne awaiting any incoming flights!(the 2 finished carriers are Russ’s. I have just found someone who makes decals so mine will be getting an upgrade!)
Close up of the Akagi and its CAP.
Allied Force steaming along with the Saratoga and its CAP in the rear. They had a large CAP!
As I was Nagumo I decided at the start to scout with 6 of the Strike Bombers, which left 31 Strike aircraft and 11 Zero’s in the Strike Force and 6 Zero’s on CAP. Below is my Strike Force arriving on Allied table and being met by 3 fighter bases.
Keith arrived on my right flank and was also met by a CAP of 3 fighters.
Close up of my Strike Force… my Kate’s are not touching the Zero bases so don’t get to support the fighter combat. New rule for me…..won’t happen again.
View from the Illustrious of the incoming swarm!
Goldie arrived to the front of the Allies….below is what’s left of his Strike Force after AA fire from the ships and fighter combat.
Here we have lots of Japanese goodness attacking the Illustrious.
The love was also shared with the Ark Royal.
Fighter combat was still going on with mine and Keith’s fighters and some bombers. Fighter combat is rather brutal.
After all the AA fire….these planes get to drop bombs and launch torpedoes. They did…it didn’t do diddly squat…it slowed down a bit.
So all that remained from the attack on the carriers…….is below.
Now the Allied Strike force made it to the Japanese Carrier group…the photos I took didn’t come out well…so this is only one have. But, it didn’t go well for them either…they got through to 2 carriers….did no damage (or minimal) and lost most of their planes.
Hmmmmm…..so lots of questions after this game. Both sides lost most of their large air groups and did minimal damage to 2 carriers contacted in each engagement. So we will reread the rules….look at some videos on games with planes and see what we assume we are getting wrong. In 2 weeks, we will play a Cruiser engagement with just a couple of ships each…..should be fun.
Now, yesterday was a lovely clear winters day and was pleasantly warm in the sun. So the neighbour and I sat in the sun, in our shared driveway and sampled a couple of whisky’s. John had a new one in a Clynelish 14.
Tasting notes: One of the most distinct whiskies from the Highland’s, Clynelish is renowned for it’s notes of light brown sugar, cooking toffee and a delicate perfumed and waxy characteristic. The initial sweetness is complimented by a mouth coating oily/waxyness and just a touch of tangy sea-air salt.
Now this wee beastie is 46%, and was really quite pleasant with no smokiness or sherry tastes overpowering the taste buds. Recommended.
Now Reg and I had another bash at Hail Caesar with my Romans taking on a Gaul force of Reg’s. We played 250 points which is about limit Reg can field of his Gauls at the moment.
Set up below.
My Romans were in 2 basically equal Divisons…each with 2 legionnaire’s, 1 Auxilia and 1 medium cavalry with the right command having an additional light infantry unit of archers.
Reg had 2 commands…. the left with 2 Warbands and 2 skirimshing slinger units while the other command had 2 units of light chariots, a medium cavalry unit and a unit of light infantry archers.
My brave boys facing the crazy Gauls!
Regs warbands.(not in correct formation..next time!)
The Warband has to charge if enemy within 3 moves…so in they went.
Very nice paint job on these guys.
And this is what a Warband does to Auxilia infantry..they no longer exist. My legionnaires managed to hang in there. A warband is truly scary in the first charge of the game…gets 9 attacks….rerolls 3 misses…..saves on a 4….and has the supporting slingers adding 2 attacks. NASTY.
I had positioned my cavalry to charge when the Auxilia had died……they did so….here they are….sadly they lost and retired.
The cavalry from the other command is moving around the rear to attack the warband. The Gaul cavalry will next turn charge legionnaires and pop.
The ongoing battle between warband and legionnaires. When they charged I had locked shields to reduce casualties….in a ongoing combat I have the advantage. A waste to have a full legionnaire unit in rear…will change that for next game!
Success! The fresh cavalry unit had charged the battle weary warband who popped. The other warband is losing and retiring…with the legionnaires following up each time.
On the other flank Reg had charged his light chariots into my auxilia. The chariots have the advantage and the Auxila and supporting archers are giving ground(this is 3rd or 4th round of combat)
Surviving warband is giving ground.
End game…..Reg has lost a warband and a cavalry unit..2nd warband is doomed…next turn I would have moved cavalry up in support and turned fresh legionnaire unit to take on chariots.
So we called that the game and had lunch. I was lucky with some poor dice roles by Reg with his warbands….they are brutal in opening round of combat!! Next month we will try again while rules fresh in heads. Will boost armies to 350 points.
It’s been a year since we had a game of little ships so after the last game of ACW the ladz elected to have a game of Victory at Sea.
Now with Russ overseas that left available fleets as Stevens British and my Japanese. A quick paint of a carrier and its 18 flights and my Japanese were ready. Russ even returned in time for the game and bought along a Japanese Carrier and Battleship plus 3 clip together prepainted Japanese kits of the Titanic and her sister ships!(he also bless his soul bought the 3 for me as well!).
Ignoring the fact we hadn’t played for a year I set up a scenario bound to fail…but it meant we had lots of ships and planes on the table … and some combat actually occurred!
So the scenario was the Japanese have to escort the 3 Troop carrying liners to some islands and the British have to stop them. Simple really.
The Japanese steaming towards the islands in the distance. Out front is a destroyer squadron led by an AA Cruiser. Tucked in behind them are 2 heavy cruisers, then the 3 troop transport’s, then the cover force for the capital ships of 2 heavy cruisers and 2 destroyers. Lastly the Carrier and her guardian Battleship. The carrier has a combat patrol up plus has launched her full attack force.
Close up of the Carrier…great paint job Russ!
My newly painted planes are from MagpieDesigner who Russ located as a source in the UK.
Here is a close up of the liners…beautiful.
Those nasty British have formed a very cool battle line.
Steve has the standard Warlord Games planes. Nice paint job.
Side on look at the British line.
Russ moved some flights in the direction of the Nelson….the Japanese destroyers also have REALLY GOOD TORPEDOS and extra tubes.
Japanese Capital Ships.
Now at the start of the game I told Stephen his light cruiser was an AA Cruiser..target planes…so he rushes off to take on the Nelson….. next game he is getting a tug.
So, the light cruiser has been smacked……couldn’t hurt a Tuna now……so British gunnery moves onto the front heavy cruiser. Japanese destroyers have sent some torpedoes into the cruiser flanking the Nelson. Russ has massed his planes to assault the Nelson.
Last turn of game……Japanese planes attack the Nelson…..Sea Hurricanes and Fulmars attempt to stop them. Smoke is the flanking cruiser.
Once the dogfight was over…only 2 flights were in contact with the Nelson….it didn’t sink.
British planes then hit the Mogami Heavy Cruiser…..it didn’t go well for the Mogami.
So that was that…..basically a rule refresher with another battle in 2 weeks where Russ is running a scenario where we will be a lot closer at the start of the game!
Had some of the ladz around for a game and made up a scenario.
A Union force is encamped and at dawn one brigade has marched off while a second brigade remain’s encamped. However, 2 smaller Condederate brigades launch an attack.
Keith has the encamped Union brigade while Goldie has the Union brigade marching away. Stephen has the Confederate brigade closest to Keith while Graeme’s Confederate brigade is closer to Goldie.
So below is start of game with Keiths troops encamped around a farm. This was the first appearance of Keiths wagons and limbers…hence he gets the encampment!
The rear half of Goldies brigade…rest are off table.
Keiths picket line….which got a dawn volley from the Confederate’s in the woods opposite them. The grey fencing is a welcome addition from Keith!!
In response the the gunfire, Goldie turns his brigade around…well the rear half…the front half kept on marching!
Graemes brigade marches on facing the flank of Goldies troops on the road.
Stevens troops facing the picket line.
Keiths picket line took a lot of damage and has retired back behind the rest of the brigade moving out. Steven’s brigade can be now seen on the field.
Keiths troops still trying to get to the fence line!!
Goldies off table troops have marched back…and one brave unit has rushed into this field to halt Graeme’s advance!
Yes…Steven has units at close range to artillery…the fence is NO help stopping what is coming!
This Union unit stopped an amazing number of shots from front and flank!
Meanwhile Keith has a unit on Steven’s flank…..not good for Steven.
Graeme has ‘Whupped’ the blocking unit which has retired…so he is closing in on the rest of the half brigade facing him.
On the opposite flank..Steven has pulled back behind the fence…..
The other half of Goldie brigade had crossed the bridge and moved up on Steven as well.
Graeme has now shot up the Union troops opposite him who have all been shaken or ‘Whupped’. The flank is his.
Keith has the advantage over Steven who has held off 1 and a half brigade’s…but with Graeme’s troops now open to sweeping around the Union rear and Goldies brigade now broken…we called it a Union defeat.
So there we have it, what I think was a fun game for the guys and we got a result in a couple of hours.
Perfect.
Now my partner Anita and I recently had a 4 day weekend in Christchurch as it was her birthday and we have 2 of our 3 children and their partners living there. I flew the other daughter up from Queenstown for the weekend as well and the weather obliged by being glorious and we had a wonderful catchup!
Now Christchurch is also where my FAVOURITE Online Whisky retailer is based in ‘Whisky Galore’. Anita obligingly drove me there and waited in the car while I walked into a ‘Temple of Whiskyness!!’ They have 560+ Whisky’s in store, fantastic staff and were offering tastings of ‘Speyside’ Whisky’s…one of which was on my buy list! PERFECT. So after tasting it(and one or 2 others), I had to buy a Cadenhead Glentauchers-Glenlivet.
The tasting notes are:
14 years old, this Glentauchers-Glenlivet bottled by Cadenhead has been matured in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. With pear drops, peaches, treacle and a touch of nutmeg on the nose, we’ve landed in Scotland for pudding on a winters night. Flavours of pouched pears and vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate flakes come alive on the palate. The finish is a wee glass of mulled wine, rich and warming with orange slices, crushed cloves and dark chocolate.
Been a while since the last update and a few things have been added. The following are what I can recall!
First up are Victrix Unarmoured Samnites which were a joy to assemble and paint. Went for simple tunic and let the shield decals star.
Close up of command base.
The slow expansion of my 1809 Austrians with a 36 figure unit being added.
This completes a brigade of 6, with the other 5 needing the addition of 12 figures each to make up to 36s. Thankfully I have the figures already.
2 more Netherlands Militia bttns.
Which now completes the brigade.
My Team Yankee West Germans. The choppers are missing…rather fragile and rotors have fallen apart and in repair shop. View from above.
View from front.
View from side!!
Doing an expansion of my C10th Byzantines Heavy Infantry by adding several units of Rus. Using plastic Gripping Beast Vikings and Dark Age Warriors with commands from metal/SAGA ranges with addition of the rectangular shields. I really should have used Victrix Vikings as these figures really don’t rank very well at all. These current project so obviously, not finished!
At Xmas I picked up a box of Fireforge Byzantine Auxiliaries to really see if they matched with my Gripping Beast figures and they do. Planning cavalry expansion as the Fireforge are plastics far cheaper than metals and the postage from GB is a killer. Below are archers in light mail.
Standard skirmishing archers.
The guys who stand in front of the battleline with long spears to stick them in horses. Crazy dudes!
Sigh…..while I waited the lonnnnnng awaited Perry Franco Prussian French…that I first begged them for 20 years ago over a beer and Chinese meal here in Wellington…..I started practicing on some Foundry French. The quality of casting is……poor…being polite..its REALLY BAD! Which is why they have languished in a box for years. I have never drilled and filed figures as much as these required(actually…on reflection I did have a unit of Connoisseur Cuirassiers which I was going to bin but Brian the ‘Woolshed Gamer’ took them off my hands that were worse) …and these were the best of the bunch.
But the good news is Goldie was at Salute on Saturday and has picked me up 3 boxes of the newly released plastics to start with.
Rob made this lovely poster above for the game we staged at the Hutt Wargames Club annual convention ‘ValleyCon’ Saturday 22nd April 2023. There were around 160 gamers playing in a variety of competitions(including the DBMM’ers at the local school that is the Clubs normal gaming location) and we 6 GarageGamers with the demonstration game being a Waterloo re-enactment.
First up some pictures of the other games in the hall to start the report. It’s a great venue, the ‘Expressions Arts and Entertainment Centre ‘ in Upper Hutt that has a large well-lit hall, a fantastic cafe on the other side of the door from where our gaming table was plus ample parking. For after gaming festivities its a mere 200metres to ‘Brewtown’ which hosts a number of Craft Breweries, Eateries and a Distillery! SO A PERFECT VENUE.
This is the picture from the stage where the ‘Bring and Buy’ was. I deliberately did not check it out knowing I cannot be trusted not to buy something I probably don’t need!. On the right are some double grey doors…we are just past them with the doors leading to the toilets and the cafe.
Here we have GarageGamer Graeme and sometime GarageGamer Simon wearing the Organising Team T-shirt. They were part of the 24 strong Flames of War Competition.
This is Gamer Reg playing in the SAGA tournie…I believe were 16 players.
Shock Horror! A 40k table!! Playing on it was a friend Craig who a decade ago tried to teach me how to play 40k. He failed. But he does paint beautiful armies.
The Bolt Action tables with Al from New Plymouth(the tall chap). Al has graced some of our Big Games in the past. Great Chap.
The Main event. The table is 17.5 foot long and 6 foot wide. Alan has made 3D buildings for the game. They are stunning.
There were only 6 of us playing in this game but with Russ and Goldie(at SALUTE buying up Perry French Franco Prussians!!) overseas and others busy it is we happy few. From left to right, Mike(Allied left then Prussians as arrive), Robert(Napoleon/ French Centre/Old Guard/Guard Cavalry), Keith(French left), Rob(French right), Alan(Wellington and Allied Centre) and Me, Terry as ‘Prince of Orange’ with Allied right.
And here I am….’Prince of Orange’ survey the enemy lines.
View from Alans position.
Mike’s view from Papelotte towards La Haye Sainte.
Lobau(Robert) advances both his Division’s at La Haye Sainte.
Keith(Reille) advances his Division’s towards the Beautiful model that is Hougoumont. Alan has made a superb job of this one. Nassau’s can be seen in the garden.
I was a wee bit shocked to see on other side of table Rob(D’Erlon) had thrown a division straight at the Hanoverians…with minimal support…and minimal damage on the Hanoverian Lines troops!
Went I checked a couple of turns later (the first few hours of the game I had 10 a minute timer on sides so the early turns roared along as I expected game would slow later in day) the French Division commander was surrounded by…no one….the entire division was gone burger.
Keith uses his Legere to try and damage the Nassau before charging in.
The French GungHo battle plan carries on… Robert charged a column at the Brunswick Leib(see more about them below)…..they arrived but with no supports…..they outfought the Leib..but…the Leib had supports and won the conflict. The ‘W’ counter is used when a combat carries on so we can keep track of the winner for the next round of combat.
For those more informed readers…yes the Brunswickers are actually Portugese…..for the very good reason that the Brunswickers…..who belong to friend Weakley who is in Vanuatu…were not based…so this week…I based them…and here is a picture to prove their existence…on my paint table. DOH!.
Robert has forced the Brunswick Lights out of the orchard and they have retired towards their rear. Bright lads. British rifles are hiding in the sandpit.
So we arrive at Turn 5 in next to no time! On the Allied right flank, Chasse arrives with his Dutch Division. Love these guys. They didn’t actually do much…but…I do like them.
Also on Turn 5, Mike rolls for the Prussian arrival… and he succeeds and Von Hackes 13th Brigade arrives.
Woohoo… Robert had thrown units into an assault on La Haye Saint and a unit out as a flank blocker as he assaulted La Haye Sainte from 3 sides…..the Brunswickers had held….the French flank bttn was shaken….meaning if charged by Cavalry…they form square…but.. the cavalry can then charge in. In the combat…Alans Brunswick Uhlans(rather than a large Hussar and a small Uhlan I made all regts in game standard size…easier) made 5 wounds……the square pooped.
On the other side of La Haye Saint , Alan threw the Brunswick Lights into the flank of the French locked in combat with the Garrison. Open Order troops can charge into a flank of formed troops from a flank/rear position.
Further to the Allied left, Mike threw Nassau Jager into the flank of a battery…allowing a bttn to charge it from the flank and not be shot at. Perfect! Another Bttn moved up in support.
Alans Uhlans had destroyed the broken square…and he sweep on into a column….the combat was a draw and Alans Uhlans retired.
Sensing the time was now…the French Cuirassiers charged the Uhlans who were carrying 2 wounds….. a second unit moved up in support. The Uhlans lost…but only retired…the Cuirassiers sweep on and destroyed the Brunswick battery…. then retired.
Now the fun really started for me! On the right you can see Keiths infantry in a fire fight with the British which lasted all game….. then Keith threw a Cuirassier/Dragon combo attack in against a battery…they defeated it as you would expect…but sustained a casualty. They then swept onwards and hit my stationary Dutch Dragoons….and several combats then ensured…before……
we arrived at the 4 French heavies sitting in the middle of the table…with no supports..and the 2 right side regts both shaken… so cannot counter charge and being shaken…are at a serious disadvantage……
Meanwhile Keith finally succeeded in getting his troops to charge the Garden!
Over on the Allied left….. the combats continued non stop.
Now this is where I got so excited I never took any photos……I charged British nutter cavalry into the flank of the shaken Dragoons(they had been lurking all day behind Hougomont waiting for a flank charge opportunity…sadly the second unit with Prince William leading them failed to charge!)…who turned to face as hit in the flank…I then sent the Belgian Carabiniers (my Favourite Front Rank Models) into the now exposed flank..with Tripp leading them….in the resulting melee…the French Dragoons popped…the British Cavalry sweep off into the flank of a Cuirassier unit…while the Belgians hit the shaken Cuirassiers…..at the end of it all…the French Heavy Cavalry were no more…and the Allied cavalry retired out of danger.
The French now forced the Nassau Jager out of the garden.
The French were still attempting to get into La Haye Saint…..Alan threw the Brunswick Hussars into there flank. Behind them on the ridge are my Hanoverian Landwehr, part of a command that twice blundered(meaning I rolled 2 6s) and then they had retired off the table…but each time came back straight away! Alan is still holding La Haye Saint.
Lordy…look at this fight! 2 Prussian brigades have made it onto the table….Young Guard have made a rapid march and are attempting to hold the flank. Allied light cavalry are fighting it out with French Cuirassiers and light cavalry……and Alan has even had a rush of blood and sent light cavalry into a battery! British Cavalry have the ‘Ferocious Charge’ so that in their 1st round of any combat they reroll any misses. So where standard light cavalry are normally at a disadvantage against heavy cavalry…the British lights almost get an even playing field.
With Rob not having a good day with his dice and saving throws, the British cavalry were carving up his Cuirassiers. Below is not what you want to throw… believe me.
Another Cuirassier Division is now broken… the Young Guard have their flank totally exposed…but the BATTERY repulsed the cavalry! Alan was looking embarassed…as he should!!
It was at this stage the Napoleon conceded the day. The Old Guard Infantry and Cavalry had taken the field, however his right flank was gone..the Allies were largely undamaged, and Wellington had not committed the Guard Cavalry to the table as yet.
So that was an exciting game…..the early turns were all about getting units into position then the game was one of continuous combats….and I do love getting some good cavalry attacks in!! I lost count of the turns at 10 …we played for roughly 5 hours with a pleasant break to eat some lovely food from the cafe and then after packing up…adjourned to Brewtown where I shouted the lads a lager at the Good George Bar and we talked crap for a while as gamers do….a great way to finish the day!
Now my recent Whisky Purchase was largely to get the bottle so when almost empty I will use as my infinity bottle(ie. take last wee bit from each bottle as nears empty…and put in it..idea from neighbour John. It is a VERY HEAVY BOTTLE.
So this is a bottle of Bladnoch Liora and the review online :
Liora is created using an exceptional pairing of casks: Bourbon and New Oak, and sits alongside the likes of Alinta, Vinaya and Samsara in Bladnoch’s ‘Classic Collection’ of whiskies. Master Distiller, Dr. Nick Savage, elaborates that “Liora embodies the delicate balance between the intensity of the New Oak and the sweetness of the Bourbon casks. On the nose you can expect juicy fresh cut apples along with toasted caramel and floral notes. As you taste Liora, on the palate you’ll get caramelised toffee apples along with peppery spices and fresh cut oak. A truly magnificent dram with a long finish with a slight warming dryness.”
Which in Terry speak translates to…. very pleasant to sip while sitting in front of the fire watching an episode of ‘The Mandolorian’. It is being accompanied by a slice of Lumberjack Cake that Keith made and brought along to yesterdays game…he knows I have a weakness for it! (what remains is shown below….coconut..brown sugar…butter….its syruppy and luscious..yummyum).
terrysgaragegaming 