Last calls for 2023

 After a bit of a break it was back to the Italian Wars this week at the club, using the now familiar battle of Ceresole as a base we used Dan's resurrected 15mm figures all newly based for Furioso. I took the French once again, and once again I despaired of the French deployment.

I held my Gendarmes back as I moved my pike blocks to the front, as the battle developed I sent a unit to each flank to back up my heavy cavalry. Before this I found my artillery and most of my skirmishers were not keen on moving or firing on the Imperials, on the other hand the Imperial guns and skirmish screens were causing my advancing infantry a lot of problems. I persisted though and my German/Swiss block hit the enemy Spaniards opposite, my Swiss pushed through the enemy screens, overran an artillery piece and then smashed into some Landsknechts, nearby my French moved on a smaller Landsknecht pike block supporting the larger one. 

Then it all happened, my left flank heavy cavalry were ridden down by their Imperial counterparts, the Swiss were stopped and incredibly (to me) pushed back by the Landsknechts, the French infantry supporting them were also pushed back. The only bright spot was that the German/Swiss block hammered the Spanish and were within a whisker of destroying them but the enemy held on with grim determination. On the right flank it looked like I could possibly hold the Imperials with my Gendarmes and heavy cavalry but it was merely a hope as the battle came to an end.

Things were certainly going well for the Imperials at the end, I was only winning one combat and things looked very bad for the Swiss and French infantry. Once again my shooting was abysmal in this battle and I found it hard to get my skirmishers to move, even my Gendarmes lost a morale test at one point when my heavy cavalry dispersed, so much for French elan. The game itself played well in 15mm although it did take time for me to get used to the scale from my 28mm battles. The good news is Dan's men are far more easily transportable than mine for a club game and we can do a decent large battle within the club time limit.

That leaves this weeks home game, Erik was coming back for a second Seven Year War bash. The author of the AWI Atlas is now doing a wargamers guide for Helion and as I did the maps I took his battle of Camden as inspiration for yesterday's game. It is a simple get stuck in game with both sides lined up against each other, I of course do not have AWI troops so it was French and British, the French initially outflank the British line but the British have reserves arriving behind their main force and they have a cavalry unit.

 I was unlucky once again with commanders and got one Dashing and two Ditherers, Erik got a Dependable and two Ditherers, so the commander in chief would be up front in both armies inspiring one of the ditherers. I tried to advance quickly on the British right and hoped I would win the numbers game before the reserves arrived, I did not manage this before the enemy line was extended and the cavalry raced to turn my left flank, nevertheless I did manage to get within long range of the red line and deal out some pain on the serried ranks before me. I was worried about the British horse though and had to send a battalion to deal with them which meant I was now being outnumbered on my left, over on the right nothing was moving quickly and both sides remained staring at each other throughout the battle.

Erik must have felt pressured as I sent his cavalry packing and his battalions began to suffer losses so he surprised me by withdrawing his battle line, as I had moved to the centre of the table and suffered for it I was not going to continue to press him. Although he managed to rally off a lot of casualties so did I, I also managed to bring back two battalions which had had to retreat, with the threat of the cavalry now gone I felt a lot better. With darkness approaching, quite literally, Erik now tried to bring his line forward, this proved a struggle due to his less than enthusiastic commanders.

He did manage in the end but the shoe was on the other foot this time and my men were calmly standing waiting as he moved on them, volleys crashed out and British casualties mounted, the Redcoats came into close range and tried one magnificent but rash charge into some waiting French grenadiers, the return fire all along the line proved too much and the British centre and right disintigrated, the battle was over. Once again a nice little battle and a treat to get my SYW troops on the table, and a win this time.

I have the builders in around the third week of January and once the holidays are over I need to relocate all my wargaming paraphernalia elsewhere in the house for at least a couple of months, maybe even a friends house. So there will be no more games here for some time, a real shame as I have managed to get quite a few people to venture here over the year, Matt Crump, Stuart Smith and Erik Faithfull along with club members. My wargaming for now then will consist of club games and possibly the odd big bash in the Gin Pit. I must now think of what I will do for the grand opening.

 I am finishing up my last Imperial cavalry unit of the year and have put some gun crews aside to work on, I am not at all fussed about these in that I don't feel in a rush to paint them, I feel a little painted out for now. Perhaps I just need a change, I have asked for a SdKfz 222 for Christmas as I want one in panzer grey for early war, I just could not use the late war one, I also offered to paint some of my grandsons fantasy characters for him as he has several sets coming for Christmas, this would simply be a painting exercise to prove to myself I can do it. I then have some cavalry and artillery to strip, clean up and paint.

I have sent away my last map projects for 2023 and put down my stylus until the new year. After the success of the AWI Atlas I believe Helion are looking at two more, that could prove interesting for 2024.