Vive la France

 Seven Years War at the club last night, French vs Prussians in 10mm using Black Powder, version 1 as Dan does not have version 2 using the extra rules for the period from "The Last Argument of Kings". I have played large Napoleonic games with BP but this would be a first.

I opted for the French and commanded a brigade of five battalions and two cavalry units along with a battery of guns, Stuart had roughly the same on my right flank but without the big gun. The Prussians had one less battalion but of course being the super troops of the SYW it meant the game was still balanced. I was up against veteran BP player Rob and as the game started we both made a beeline for the village to our our front, I managed to win the race and took two thirds of the buildings while the Prussians managed to grab the church. I had put my cavalry on the left but as the Prussians were not inclined to attack here I sent my second cavalry unit to the centre to perhaps threaten Robs left flank or support Stuart if needed.

French left, my boys.

French right, Stuart's men.

 Stuart's men were very keen and two battalions had raced ahead into the teeth of Dan's Prussian line and suffered for it as both units were cut down and dispersed, Stuart managed to stave off disaster by holding back the Prussian cavalry and forcing a temporary retiral of an enemy battalion on a nearby hill. The Prussians recovered but the threat of my cavalry played on Dan's mind and he settled in to pounding the French line with musketry. I meanwhile had had some success against Robs left flank and dispersed a battalion and forced his battalion guns back, I had earlier saw an opportunity to attack Dan's right but my troops baulked and refused to move and the chance slipped away. However I had more success against my opponent as another battalion fled and his cavalry found themselves too close to my lead infantry and suffered for it, the Prussian centre had a large hole in it.

The village of death.

Stuart's men advance into the gates of hell.

 Sadly as I looked to my right I saw the remnants of Stuart's brigade being overwhelmed by the enemy and as we looked over the battlefield and the clocked ticked we settled for a draw, a generous result I thought as despite my success against Rob I could not now advance to take advantage of his disorder as this would open my flank to Dan's successful and elated troops. I was happy and quickly shook hands on the result.

A good game with some lovely troops and enough excitement to keep us all happy. I was quite happily surprised that my troops had met and despatched the Prussians as they were not as fearful as I had imagined. I must also continue to moan about my dice luck, I picked up a set which I knew are rubbish but do not belong to any particular army (yes I am that superstitious) and found my shooting in the beginning to be dreadful, however this did change during the latter part of the game, but I will not bring those dice again.

I had a long weekend off and went south and stayed with my son for a few days, the weather was glorious and the journey down did not hit any problems and was a leisurely four hours just as it said on the satnav, it took double that the last time I ventured south in the car. No wonder most people live down there, the small towns were all charming, busy and prosperous, rose tinted glasses perhaps but I felt relaxed and enjoyed my outing. On the way back we made a stop at Bosworth Heritage Centre, I had been there before decades ago but since then the battlefield had been proven to be elsewhere and the Centre had been refurbished. You cannot get on to the battlefield as it is farmland but there are a couple of walks a year where visitors are allowed. You can drive down Fenny Lane (I think) which crosses the centre, the main thing about the place is how flat it is, so no sweeping downhill charge by Richard's bodyguard here. As a Richard III fan this battle has always fascinated me and I have my own ideas on how it was fought, OK, I'll tell you, I think the Stanley's were not instrumental in changing the course of the battle but merely stood off until they knew who was winning and simply nailed their colours to Tudor. I do have one big question which will of course never be answered, why did Northumberland sit out the battle, I have read several theories but none has been satisfactory for me, the simplest of course is that he just decided to do nothing, anyway he got his just deserts later on as did Stanley. The Centre itself I found disappointing, yes I am hard to please, that is a given, like many exhibits and museums these days it has a lot of child friendly guff which of course does not interest me, nor the children if what I have seen is anything to go by, one little darling merely wanted to play on the disability lift when I was there, I was two minutes away from giving him a fright as the whine went on and on.

 

Herne Bay.

Whitstable

Henley on Thames

Marlow

Apart from my FW190 terrain piece I have done nothing else for a while but this morning ordered up three of the new Rubicon models, a British truck, a German 2cm flak gun and the SdKfz 10/4 halftrack on which to mount the gun. I had planned to get a BA-20 armoured car and the Soviet tractor but the prices are funny money, these two are resin kits, the armoured car is £25 and the tractor a whopping £30, these are both small models and even with the fabled LMF behind me I cannot countenance spending that.

 Entertainment is pretty scarce at the moment, I watched another new piece of nonsense called 'Jolt' the other night, some woman (size 6) has anger issues and is very dangerous if she gets annoyed, but of course the movie forgets this when it needs to and a knock on the head and some plastic ties seems to incapacitate her for several minutes, rubbish. All is not lost however, I can recommend 'City on a Hill' where Kevin Bacon plays an FBI agent superbly walking a tightrope between what is right and what is wrong in Boston. I have nearly finished the second season and it is even better than the first. I am now reduced to waiting on several good things to start again, probably a desert until the Autumn so am back to binge watching 'The Shield' not the best actors in the world but an exciting and different police drama.

 The second part of my Chickamauga battle is being fought tonight, the Federal line begins to form but can the Confederates breakthrough before it does, we will see.