A mix up

 I said some time ago I was going to cut back on blogging and to be honest I have had a struggle sitting down to this. On one blog I follow people were asked if they liked reading After Action Reports and if my memory serves the outcome was not uplifting if you do write AAR's which I do, a lot. So where does that leave me, I think if I do wax lyrical about a battle it will now be one of the larger affairs I play at home, which for now will be WWII Eastern Front and Italian Wars or a visit to the Gin Pit or Matt Crump's.

I am still gaming of course at the club and a couple of weeks ago got a narrow victory against Jimi with my Late War Germans using Bolt Action. Two more recent games deserve a bit more attention as they were unusual in their own way, the first was Wars of the Roses with an introduction to flavour of the month 'Never Mind the Billhooks' which Charlie very kindly brought along for me to 'have a go'.

I had a lot of lovely WotR figures at one time but sold them about six or seven years ago, a big mistake not to be dwelt on. I watched several videos on how to play the game and the first thing that struck me is that they were very quick and very bloody, a bit like Furioso on a small table if you don't tone them down. I won the toss as both Charlie and I are supporters of the House of York so took the good guys. You have a core force and then choose some cards, I got pikemen and extra men-at-arms, an audible sigh from across the table meant I had obviously done well. Having the edge I decided to attack all along the line. As my men trundled forward I opened up with my archers as did Charlie, this as I said above can be brutal, you have two actions so with a twelve man unit you fire twenty-four dice, men began to fall. Charlie had sent some light cavalry against my left flank but I chased them away so it was now down to combat as the main lines clashed. My pikes won and the Lancastrians lost their left flank in the chaos, my men-at-arms hit the enemy centre and more Lancastrians fell or fled, the game was over, it had taken a very short time to come to a result.

I am an Old School wargamer and unashamed of it, I like big battles, NMtB is a largish skirmish game and seems a bit rock, paper, scissors to me, the author says it is not historical but a game, and he is right. I used to play Poleaxed, it was historical, for the period and boring, NMtB is not boring and I would play it again as it is probably more exciting than the real battles and great for a club night with constrictions on time. (Sorry but I lost my photos).

My second game was last night and a Bolt Action scenario I took from a wargame magazine, it looked interesting and better than the vanilla scenarios in the rules. The Germans were retreating on the Eastern Front, a small force held a wooden bridge over the Berezina, a column of stragglers and a convoy of trucks filled with wounded were trying to escape the pursuing Russians and cross the river, so far so good. The flaws started to show as I deployed the Germans, the blocking force, stragglers and trucks all came on (as far as I know) on the road, this meant they had two moves before the main bulk of the Russians turned up on turn 3, this was not enough to get the infantry into cover of the nearby woods and out of range of the enemy it also meant the trucks were well within range of the machine guns and main guns of two T-34's. To make matters worse the bridge had been rigged with a flamethrower tank to burn it down should the Russians ever get there, this could be hit on a roll of two sixes. On turn two Simon got two sixes and chose to light up the bridge, I was stuck with 8 turns to go. The Reds turned up and my men began to be wiped out as they tried desperately to get some distance between them and their pursuers, I gave up and marched sullenly East until 1955 on turn 4.

Bridge Defenders

The first stragglers.

No more bridge.

Hopeless situation now.

The game was rubbish and ended up pretty pointless, I had a blocking force and maybe it was supposed to set up in the village, but this was right up against the eastern table edge, the tanks could have come on and simply shelled the houses, in Bolt Action hiding in a house (yes I know) is pointless with HE around. The woods were far too far to reach before the enemy turned up, the squads were then caught in the open, do I run or halt and go down to be shot up later, no matter I could not afford to stop and shoot. I do wonder if the game had actually been played before being published or was there parts missing. A waste of an evening. I do however think there is a decent scenario hiding in there and will give it some thought.

I have not done a lot of maps or painting in July but did get some Neapolitan crossbowmen done, I have my mojo back and a Neapolitan pike block is up next.

I finished of my holidays at the weekend with a trip to Edinburgh and the Tattoo, we had a hotel on the edge of the Grassmarket with the castle looming over us and everything on our doorstep. The city was extremely busy and crowded, on the Saturday afternoon we visited the Museum of Scotland, personally I wasn't interested in dinosaurs, the natural or science worlds, the fashion and design parts, yes Rennie Mackintosh again, hideous stuff. I quickly made my way to the History of Scotland, Bruce and Wallace shared a glass cabinet, Mary Queen of Scots had one portrait, the Jacobites were nowhere to be seen, maybe in a small cabinet I passed, who knows, the exhibits were all over the place and it was like a maze when I tried to get out. I was underwhelmed, whether you agree or not the Scots have had a huge influence on this planet considering the size of the country, both on their own and joined with England but I did not get a sense of that at all.

A night cap of Monkey 47 after a hard days driving.

Almost first through the door.

Smile!

Then it was time for the Tattoo, there was a slight drizzle but we had come prepared and it stopped after a time, or maybe it didn't as I was lost in the spectacle, it was my fourth time and we have just booked for next year when the Royal Navy are the hosts. My disappointment of the museum was blown away as the massed pipes and drums formed up in the esplanade and bagpipes and drums stirred my heart, I wanted to invade somewhere, anywhere. There were Swiss, Norwegians, Trinidad and Tobagans and Americans as well as the RAF, I really liked the Norwegians, I believe there should have been Aussies but not that night. A fitting end to our holiday period.

You really had to be there.

And if you were not try this.

I almost forgot, I got a nice visit from David Bickley of Tales from GHQ which I follow, we were both in Edinburgh at the same time, he at Claymore and me at the Tattoo, he is now staying just down the road from me. We had a good chat about wargaming despite our wives being in residence.