Hi

I have evenually got around to creating a blog!

The main topic will be Wargaming.
That includes all kinds of conflict based games such as miniatures based and boardgames. Historical, fantasy and
science fiction may all make an appearance.
Sometimes the "real world" may interfere with this blog and cause non-gaming related posts. Apologies in advance.

DISCLAIMER:- This blog is a work of fiction. The people, places and products depicted are imaginary and bear no resemblance to real people, places or products either living or dead.

Thursday 2 April 2020

The Men Who Would Be Kings TMWWBKs

For miniatures games I prefer rules that are simple,fast and give me a good game experience.
I have been a fan of the "Rampant" series by Daniel Mersey since I first played Lion Rampant, now I own "Lion(Medieval),Dragon (Fantasy), Rebels & Patriots(AWI, FIW etc)"and now" TMWWBKs (Colonial).I also own his "Dux Bellorum" rules.(Totally different rules system but still excellent).

Rebels & Patriots is the most played of these, due to massive AWI collection, so I was keen to get a look at this (new to me) book.
 The "Rampant" series uses a single mechanic tweaked to reflect the period represented. For example, two "hits" are required to "kill" a figure shooting in R&P but only one in TMWWBKs making firing a lot more deadly and changing game-play massively.
When you consider that most Colonial "Tribal" armies have little to no ranged abilities it presents a whole new set of tactical problems for the player to overcome.

The game uses D6s (sometimes a handful of them). Basing is very flexible. Units are 8-12 Cavalry and 12-16 Infantry.

A large number of army lists and scenarios are available and the book includes a basic "solo" variant.




Thursday 26 March 2020

Reinforcements.

Second batch of painting.
Again all Perry miniatures.

Bashi Buzuks




Egyptian Troops



Beja Warriors on Camels.


Wednesday 25 March 2020

Back ?

So.... a mere eight years from the last post.
Still gaming but just didn't bother with the blog.
So whats changed ?
Lock-down, isolation, quarantine or whatever you call it.

Also since Xmas I have ben working on a new war game genre,  The Sudan 1880s and after.
After posting on a Facebook page  the posts, which had been kindly reviewed,soon disappeared from view taking my photos with them.
So it will be more efficient to host the photos and game reports here and link to the FB page.

So without further ado,  some figs!!!

                    Perry miniatures metal and plastics.
                   Buildings/terrain scratchbuilt.






Thursday 23 August 2012

New Wargame Room

  I have been busy with kids on summer break from school so any opportunity for a game has been snatched up. When the weather finally started to behave like summer there was only one thing to do!


 The "Hail Caesar" rulebook had eventually arrived in the post so we played a scenario from the book. "With your shield, or on it" a small hoplite battle from the Peloponnesian War. Athenians and Thebans try to block the passage of a Spartan and Corinthian force.
 By the usual scale of "Hail Caesar" this is a small game with only a few units. Great for learning the system and we managed to fit three plays into the afternoon. These photos are from the first of those clashes.
I commanded the Spartan led forces against the Athenian/Theban allies commanded by Glynn.
Foreground shows Spartans and Corinthians (Spartans on right). The allies in position along the road.
There is another allied unit "hidden" in the sunken road through the forest, undeployed at start.

   Confident (perhaps arrogant) in their ability to defeat any enemy, the Spartans advance. The hidden Athenian unit breaks cover to join their allies left flank.

  The scenario did feature a few skirmishing units but as the phalanxes marched straight towards each other, these lighter units quickly decided to get out of harms way, unvalorous but probably wise!
         Unsuprisingly the Spartans and Athenians are first to test their mettle in the othismos.
 
Over the next few minutes the rest of the phalanxes engaged, lots of pushing and shoving with no real advantage to either side. Eventually the quality of the Spartan units showed and a gap appeared in the allied line.

                                              Bloody slaughter ensued !!!

   The Athenians mostly fled leaving the brave Thebans to be surrounded and cut to pieces although they took a heavy toll on the Corinthians. A mighty victory for the Lacedaemonians.

   In both refights the Spartans also won but the results always hung in the balance until one or two allied units broke and their line collapsed.
 The rules gave a fun and fast game although the table was a bit too big for a small battle with 20mm figures. I had scaled all the rules distances to two thirds of those given.
I had just finished the Spartan Hoplites by Zvelda and this was their battle debut. Very nice figs and I think a Spartan army could be in the works.
 More "Hail Caesar" battles will be played and will probably be bigger than this one.

Monday 16 July 2012

Blast from the past.

Friday night and time for an old favourite to hit the table.


Glynn played USA, Ross the UK, Gareth made a convincing Stalin and I played as the Axis.
4 hours of dice rolling, trash talking and general fun followed.
Germany managed to grab Moscow for the win but it was very close. The Russian counterattack left only 1 axis unit alive!

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Lost Battles Gaugamela Arbela 331BC

Having finished painting and dipping a huge number of 20mm plastic figures I was keen to play a battle with larger forces.
 Gaugamela or Arbela seemed to fit the bill so I grabbed a few books and settled down to some light research. As usual for for the time period, details vary from source to source and numbers range from educated estimates to wild and fantastic guesswork. One thing that quickly became apparent was that the Persian infantry (which may have been present in impressive numbers) played an insignificant role in the actual battle. A lack of quality and poor positioning seems to have been involved.
In fact the "Lost Battles" book has limited the Persians to 4 infantry units in its Gaugamela scenario.
Not a problem, the core rules in Lost Battles are robust enough to allow and encourage the "What if" experiments.  Adding 48,000 persian "Levy" to the battle without significantly changing the course of history turned out to be rather simple.
                               The plains of Gaugamela with Alexander on the left.

 If you are easily offended by amateur butchery on your favourite rules, Look away now!
 As the number of Persian units had increased by 50% and gone far above the normal limit (roughly 20 units for an army) I increased the -1 morale modifier for 4 units shattered to -1 for 6 units.
Attack limit increased from 5 to 6.
With the extra troops being classed as "Levy" the increase to the Persian Fighting value (and therefore their command ability) was insignificant and certainly was not going to make this mass of infantry an easy part of the army to utilise. In the end I left the FV of both armies as per the book.This actually produced just the effect I wanted.
  Last of all I needed an opponent to command the Macedonians, yet again the eldest sprog strapped on the "Sandals of Command" (magic item +50% luck, +300% wisdom, gains "Big head" and "Consume Cider").
We used turn 1 for deployment and with both of us checking the historical setup we ended up as in the above photo. Alexander initially showed more caution than usual but it was part of a cunning plan.
Darius advanced cavalry on both flanks and his right centre. Then the Macedonians advanced all along the line and used Alexanders "Turn reversal" to attack.
        The initial clash. Alexander can be seen urging his "companions" to the attack.

 On the Persian right, Macedonian cavalry and infantry pressed forward. The Persian cavalry absorbed the charge with only 2 units damaged but their return attacks had no effect.

            Persian Right. Green counters mark "levy", red counters mark "spent"

                                           View of Macedonian centre and left.

  Alexander led the charge on Darius left rear and smashed into the Persian line. In the next turn the Persian cavalry scored only 1 hit but Alexander decided to "Rally" it. Of course the dice came up double ones !!!  Alexander was speared through the thigh and unhorsed, dragged from the field by his companions, he would play no further part in this battle.
                                                       Alexander the" not so" Great

 For a few moments it looked like the Persians had gained the upper hand. None of the Macedonian attacks had been particularly devastating and on Darius left flank the Perian cavalry was opposed by a single light infantry unit.
                                       Macedon right just after Alexander falls.

As news of  Alexanders fall spread along the line the Macedonians surged forward thirsting for revenge. The Persian army was savaged everywhere it stood to fight.
                                                    Persian right about to collapse.

                                                   Persian centre under pressure.

         Persian left, not even the threat of cavalry on the flank can slow the Macedon advance.

 The Persians held on for another turn but their attacks failed to shatter any Macedonian units.
In the Macedonian turn the army of Darius started to fall apart.
                                                                        Persian rout.

 Darius had no intention of hanging around to face the Macedonian fury. Leaving orders for his remaining cavalry to fight to the end, the Persian King whipped several teams of chariot horses to death in a cowardly flight. Even though some Persian noble cavalry remained on the left flank we called the battle and ended here.

                                     Persian infantry follow their Kings example.

The pursuit and slaughter lasted well into the night as surgeons and magi worked to save Alexander.

Result by Handicap points. With a massive points boost for Alexander the persians had just enough points for a very minor victory. However even with Alexander being laid low, this did not feel like a Persian victory. Only 2 Macedonian units shattered a light cavalry and a light infantry. I think the Persian army running so quickly helped deny the Macedonians points.

Result by Battle, total victory for Alexander ! He may even recover use of his leg.
With the morale modifiers for levy troops and a timid commander it was a race to see which would break first.  Darius never seemed to have enough "commands" while the Macedonians could spare plenty for combat bonuses. The Persian infantry did not take an offensive role and although they did absorb some damage and deal out a couple of hits, their presence was never a real threat to Alexander.
  Overall the battle was just what I wanted it to be, most importantly Fun but also Fast to play and had a Historical feel. 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lostbattles/
There has been a long running discussion on the Lost Battles Yahoo site about the levels of leader mortality. I have never been concerned with the rule "as written" and am more than happy to see commanders bite the dust.  I am playing primarily for fun with the history being a great bonus.
However there is another question, is it wise to risk your leader on a rally test. In this case absolutely not! It was the first hit on a unit in the area and had no chance of causing a morale test.
  BUT !  What would Alexander have done?
My personal opinion is that Alexander would have been right in the middle of this. I don't think he was the type to see his men in trouble and not ride in.
 In Glynns shoes I would do exactly the same thing,
 "Death or Glory"
perhaps even both.






Saturday 23 June 2012

Girls, girls, girls!

With Glynn parading his new "Orlock" gang I was getting jealous. So I made a major effort to dig out my own "Escher" figures and finish painting them.
Most of these figures have been on the "Leadpile" for 5+ years. Shamefull.

Anyway, here they are...





      "The Ladies" have already made a gaming debut with two hard fought battles against the Orlocks.
    Honours are shared at one win each but both games were practise "knock-arounds". New gang rosters will be needed for the future.
  Eagle-eyed Necromunda fans may notice that the Escher ladies have not just some weapon conversions but have been altered with the addition of large amounts of "green stuff".
Sad old man wargamer ! Nuff said !