There's Always One, err no, Two

In wargaming you must have come across that guy, the one who points out that the pattern on your Greek Hoplite shield is a modern one and there are no wall paintings or old vases which show what you have painted, or the brass button on your 6mm Hussar should in fact be silver just to ruin your day and make his. He turns up everywhere, you feel his presence before you see him, he is usually alone and has an intent look about him as he scours the tables looking for points to score.

Sadly the internet has now allowed this creature a whole new way to vent his spleen at what he sees as ruining his hobby. I have fallen foul several times in the past and have suffered the slings and arrows of his and his followers ire. I once casually mentioned that most battles before the age of gunpowder tended to be fought on fairly open ground, possibly with a hill somewhere, I was immediately deluged with the names of battles which supposedly proved me to be a raving lunatic. They did in fact rather prove my theory in most cases on closer inspection. I was also nearly strung up for having the temerity to point out that a certain wargame company, in contrast to nearly every other one I have dealt with in 50 odd years, treated me abominably because my denouncers had met the guy and he was very nice! I still pass him at shows and throw him my disgusted look.

What brought this on, well I'll tell you. Now and again I pop my battle reports on TMP, it brings more hits to my blog and hopefully some people will enjoy the write up as I do with many others. The first comment was simply "Imperial Romans v Punic Carthaginians?", and your point is? His point was obviously I was an idiot, they didn't fight Carthaginians, duh. But the second comment agreeing with the first took the biscuit, "there is no excuse". Why would I need an excuse to fight a wargame with a friend on a rainy afternoon with the armies we had available, was I to tell Kevin not to bother but come back in six months when my Republican army dated for two o'clock, Tuesday afternoon, February 260 BC will be ready.

"I just brought Imperial Romans"

 I learned many years ago that to wargame the Ancient or Medieval period it was best to stay 'in period' but this is not always possible, I would not fight any of Kevin's armies with my Patrician Romans because I think their cavalry is too good for the opposition to have a chance. I also do not allow the Twelfth to bring their cataphracts to a battle against Kevin for the same reason, but the troop types in the rest of the army are fine for a clash with Greeks, Carthaginians, Macedonians etc. One of my detractors has posted over 14,000 times on TMP, he must be fuming............

Carthage Is The New Enemy

Terrible day outside, third day of atrocious weather so it was just as well I had organised a game. It was a War and Conquest bash and instead of Greeks Kevin had brought his Carthaginians minus elephants, for now. I wasn't quite sure what I would be up against as a Carthaginian commander has a lot of choice in what to bring to the battlefield.

In the event the army was a mix of different troops, Celts, Africans, Libyans etc. there was one warband and three phalanxes along with supporting troops. I had brought what is becoming my core forces for a 3,000 point battle, two normal cohorts, two green cohorts, one auxiliary cohort, supports and a unit of Contarii as I expected at least one half decent Carthaginian cavalry unit.

Thunderbolts on the left, Carthage on the right.

The Emperor surveys the scene.

After we deployed, with Kevin again fearful of his flanks and putting terrain on both, I thought they were still vulnerable and I decided to go forward quickly with my right, my left I was not so sure about and wanted to use the hill to my advantage. I did not manage to snatch the initiative until the last two moves in the game, so my left was caught off guard as the large Celtic warband came storming forward towards my archers, they received a hail of arrows and failed their morale test spectacularly and bolted, I sighed with relief as my Lanciarii were not in position yet to harass the flank of the warband. My left was safe for the time being.

The warband flees.

Carthaginian centre advances.

Roman right races forward.

On the right my horse archers shielded the advance of my Contarii which I was sure would beat the Carthaginian cavalry given a chance, but they didn't do very much else except of course survive the enemy archery. My two green cohorts advanced swiftly and Cohors II hit the enemy to their front whil Cohors III manoeuvred for a flank charge. The enemy cavalry had decided to move to their right so things were looking very good here. Although my boys put the enemy to flight their support came through and gave me a hard time, holding up my victory here for a couple of moves.

Roman left stabilises.

In the centre I took the fight to the enemy centre rather than wait, the plan was for the flanking units to get behind the enemy while my legionaries bravely held up their opponents, I was fighting for time. I managed to win the first clash but lost the next round as numbers told against me, however I managed to stop both units from routing, it was going to be touch and go whether help would arrive in time.

Here they come!

Victory looks settled on the right.

Clash in the centre.

Meanwhile on my left the Auxiliaries had vanquished their foes and turned in to the centre, the large warband continued to suffer from missile fire but managed one last effort to take the hill, they failed in this and were swept away in the rout. I now lost both my centre units but they managed to outrun their pursuers so I might have had a chance to get them back, one at least. I smashed into the pursuers making them stop and turn back. My Contarii rode down one phalanx but I had asked too much of my Auxiliaries and they in turn were hit in the rear by the Carthaginian cavalry, it was too much and they dispersed. A look across the battlefield showed mainly Roman units closing in on what remained of the Carthaginian army, it was over.

Roman centre collapses.

Recovery and the end.

My Romans have to win the flank battles against these phalanx armies otherwise it is an uphill struggle, the Carthaginians proved a worthy foe and they can only become more dangerous, the Thunderbolts will have to be on their toes. I had a couple of turns where I could not inflict any casualties and Kevin had a few disastrous morale throws at the beginning but managed better later on, my horse archers couldn't hit a barn door but they stayed around as a shield so did their job. Cohors I had a hard time again but I cannot blame them against a phalanx, if they and the Praetorian's had held just one more turn....

Royal Navy Loses Out

Miserable day again as I walked down to Kevin's for a shot at some naval warfare, it was a quick-play game of Napoleonic period combat entitled Master and Commander, of course it was. The game was fairly simple, a few hex sheets and some nice thick card counters, the only drawback with these is the colours chosen to represent both sides, they look quite similar if you haven't been to Specsavers and the ships can easily be confused. I don't bother much with 'quick-play' as I like to take my time with my games, however I do see the point, this game is very quick and the mechanics are fine if you are not too bothered about reality. The only real bug bear with both of us was that if you wanted to stop your ship instead of having a collision you simply let slip the anchor, but, if you are a naval veteran like me you know that does not bring you to a shuddering, instant halt. Perhaps we got that wrong, there were a few other things but in the interests of fast play you have to ignore them.

In the first conflict I was the Americans and had to escape the clutches of a British squadron, being an old tar I instead tried to engage the enemy, shades of Nelson there, but I failed miserably, you have to be very lucky to get a hit in this game, even if you can see the whites of their eyes. One down to the RN. In the second game I took command of a weak French squadron against a much better British one, we both thought the result would be a foregone conclusion but almost at once I captured one of the Brits and within a short time I had captured the rest of them apart from one I sent to the bottom. Despite having to half some of my crews to take over the captured vessels this had no detrimental effect on the parent ship nor the captive. We tried one more scenario but gave up as the British had no chance of catching the French before they escaped off the 'table'. This left the final action, we both had a decent little fleet and this time it was a fight to the death, the British had to wipe out the French and the Frogs had to counter this by causing more damage to the British. This was a grand little game and I pulled a victory out of the hat for the French.

So there we are, an afternoons fun once again, Kevin now has some 1/4800 ships and this will make the game look a lot better, it is a fine little game for a rainy afternoon but we might have to sort that emergency stop. He is getting a well recommended game for the war on the Eastern Front in WWII, a command and colours block type game, we may have that for next Monday.

I have just completed my two skirmish units, slingers and archers for the new army, I have put them on 25mm bases this time rather than 20mm as the latter slip on slopes, they are not only more stable but they look better. I am once again racing ahead rather than taking my time, I cannot help it, I started a lovely unit of Thorakitai yesterday and expect to finish them by the weekend. These are troops midway between Hoplites and Phalangites, they have armour and carry a long spear as well as javelins and have a large shield, they have not long been released by Aventine and they are lovely, especially the command figures, beautiful.

I am not going to the club tonight, I have some stuff to complete map wise and want to get it off the drawing board and away, I do have a game on Thursday afternoon, this time the Twelfth will be fighting Hannibal rather than the Greeks, I look forward to it.

Ecgfrith Turns the Tide of History

Home alone again as the missus has had to house sit down south to help my son, long story, so of course this afternoon was free for wargaming, I arranged with Kevin to refight the Battle of Nechtansmere which in reality took place somewhere north of the Tay in Angus. It involved the Picts and the Northumbrians of King Ecgfirth, it was a large raid in part to teach the Picts a lesson as they had been encroaching on Ecgfirth's territory, which back in those days took in a large part of southeastern Scotland. The Pictish king, Bridei Mac Bili, was an aggressive leader and an experienced warrior, he managed to ambush the Northumbrians and inflict a heavy defeat on them killing Ecgfirth.

Picts on the left, Northumbrians on the right, Forlorn Hope and Van up the top.

Kevin was Bridei and I was Ecgfirth. The Picts had the advantage for the first two game turns and their cavalry made a wide detour to come in on the flank of the Northumbrians as they faced the Picts on the nearby heights, the Pictish forlorn hope which had lured the enemy on now stopped and threw in a wild charge on their pursuers, things had started well for the wild men. As the cavalry maneuvered, the centre of the Pict line raced downhill and clashed with the Northumbrian right, Ecgfirth looked around in dismay as his hearthguard battled to their front.

The Picts advance.

Brutal combat.

Despite some of the Northumbrian cavalry being defeated and the second unit being forced into a death ride against Bridei's hearthguard the Northumbrian infantry began to get the upper hand. The Pict forlorn hope was held then routed in a surprise melee result while Ecgfirth's hearthguard beat and caught their opponents. The Pict cavalry and Bridei's companions defeated everything in front of them and opened a large gap between the Northumbrian van and the rest of the line, another Pict unit although losing bodies in the centre, simply refused to run.

Picts threaten the Northumbrian rear, but then pull back.

On the Northumbrian left the Picts were heavily defeated and put to rout which left several Northumbrian units to turn and advance on the centre, Bridei was losing the numbers game and as his army started to disappear over the hills he decided to pull back and reform, blocking the way home for the enemy. But first he had to destroy the Northumbrian van, despite all the odds this unit held the hearthguard then turned the tables and routed them, with their king and best fighters seen falling in the heather the Pictish cavalry could do nothing more than ride into the sunset.

Bridei and his hearthguard die in the centre.

The game was kept simple as I don't think there are army lists out there for the Picts and Northumbrians in 685AD, so both were typical of the period in that they were all unarmoured apart from the hearthguards and cavalry, we know there were armoured cavalry at Nechtansmere. All were armed with shield, spear and javelins and had average morale apart from the king's bodyguard. I only used two small skirmish units in each army as this was a stand up, brutal, Dark Age combat. Things played out well, the Picts took advantage of their opening moves and threw in several charges, sadly the infantry did not do as well as the cavalry, for the Northumbrians it was the opposite, their infantry fought extremely well while the cavalry were dispersed early on. I am glad it turned out a good game, I would like to fight Clontarf next but sadly do not have nor will be getting a pile of Vikings, but you never know.

HMS Tartar 4th Commission 1970 17

On the way back to Bahrain we spent a night looking for a lightship which had slipped its moorings, we didn't find it, that was left to someone else, we had a date with RFA Rosalie for mainly ammunition replenishment and after that we headed for Bahrain. This time we had several mechanical and electrical problems to solve, the former quite serious but this gave the rest of us time for relaxing.

I volunteered to go sailing, real sailing using the dinghy thingy that we had onboard, this was normally officers only but my mate Coop, who was part of the Fleet Air Arm crew onboard persuaded me to go along, the FAA crew being only four in number were much closer than the rest of us. I felt like the proverbial spare ***** at the wedding and it was even worse when I was crewed up with the Captain for a race, what did I call him, it wasn't an official do after all, he simply called me Anderson or you there. At one point in the race, which he took very seriously, a string broke holding the front sail thing, he told me to grab the end of the canvas and hang out over the front of the dinghy, I had in effect become a bit of rope. I never took up the offer of sailing again.

We had a show put on at Jufair for us and the rest of the British forces in the area, Army and RAF, it starred Barbara law and Wee Willie Harris, and the event is completely non memorable for me, perhaps I was on duty. I managed to survive my first Ramadan, something which was completely alien to me but we were all reminded not to offend the locals as we went about our business.

Wee Willie Harris, words fail me.

 We had been due to sail on November 7th but we were still not ready and the other ships, British and American did as we were to take part in a large exercise called "Midlink". We did manage to sail the next day, better late than never, we met the rest of the 'fleet' at Bandar Abbas on the 10th, nine ships in all. That night instead of going ashore it was decided to have an 'Operation Awkward', where we were supposed to be under attack from enemy divers and we all had to listen intently for sounds of mines being popped on the hull while many of us patrolled the decks, there may or may not have been divers around but it certainly was awkward if you just wanted to get to bed. There was shore leave the next night, I was of course on watch but from the tales brought back I didn't miss much.

So, we are all geared up now for the morrow and several days of pretend warfare, we all hope to get through this and then head for Singapore.

Two Bombers and One World.....errr

Another dark miserable night when no one should be abroad, but it was club night, I took along my Wings of War stuff and went again for a 'points make prizes' game. This time we had two British bombers on a mission escorted by six scouts (Simon, Julian and Stuart) while the dastardly Huns also had six scouts in an attempt to stop them (me, Rob and Andy). Where I could I gave people the choice of aircraft and again everyone rolled for Ace abilities, Julian got two, I got one which was pretty much useless as I had possibly the best aircraft on the table, Fokker DVII's, I don't recall anyone else getting anything. So, the rules were again simple, -1 for getting shot down, +2 for a kill, +5 if you shot down a bomber and the bombers got +5 if they hit their target. It was decided half way through the game it was a team effort, but watch this space.

Both Andy and I came in on the flanks of the British force, my plan being to get on the tail of the bombers while Andy at this juncture just seemed to want to fly about miles, OK, a foot, behind the targets, Rob bravely went head to head with the enemy.

Rob's death ride.

Sneaky Red Devils.

For a short while the British escorts seemed nonplussed but they had dealt out a tremendous amount of damage to Rob's DVIII's and down they went, they now did an about face and came back on myself and Andy. I was in an excellent position on one bomber and continually sprayed bullets into the monster, although I took hits they proved in the main to be harmless. Andy now seemed to be the main focus of the RAF but he became the first German pilot to make a kill. The bombers were now on their approach run and I had watched one of my Red Devils smash into the ground in flames, but I took my revenge as my target exploded and fell in bits from the sky.

And then there was one.

Re-grouping.

We couldn't stop the last bomber dropping his bombs and I was on him as he turned for home, but so was nearly every other aircraft in the area, the resulting confusion as everyone tried not to collide allowed the bomber to get a head start on the way home, my new plane spawned in a perfect position behind the mayhem and he made a beeline for the tail of the bomber. My veteran at last could take no more and he spiralled out of control for mother earth however his last shots had also sent the second bomber to a fiery grave. Rob and Andy had also helped bring the beast down but the honours went to Jasta 18, as did the last German kill of the day as my man also took out a badly damaged Snipe.

Aaaaaargh!

The British also managed the last kill of the game which left the scores at 13 each, however my lawyer has just informed me that the British did not take a -1 for each bomber, but it would be churlish of me to mention such. I will say that Jasta 18 took home the cup for shooting down two bombers and a scout, a magnificent effort (too much?)

No matter, a great game and a lot of fun, the last bomber also hit his target before he was shot down.

"George flies in to save the day" courtesy of Stuart Dobson.

Heavy Weapon

I treated myself to a Seleucid war elephant, I intend to get two eventually but wanted to get started on the first model, I have no actual plan yet for the building of the new army apart from having to wait for the new cavalry. I do have an idea to get at least 2,000 to 2,500 points of core troops then add the rest as I go along but it is subject to whim so far.

Yes, the elephant, a lovely model from Aventine, I went for the traditional howdah along with armour and the lovely trunk which has grabbed a nearby soldier and hoisted him on high. I followed two tips, use a dusting of Bicarbonate of Soda with the superglue for the new Aventine metal, a light dusting is more than enough and paint the mahout and mount him before doing the howdah. The turret sat quite awkwardly so I folded some kitchen roll, lathered it in superglue and stuck it under the centre of the howdah and then sat it on the back of the elephant, this made the whole thing very stable, any suitable material would do. To decorate the base I used a couple of shields I had in a bag from bygone projects, a spare spear and a hollowed out Greek helmet along with the usual tufts.

So, I am moving on to two skirmish units, more will be ordered up in a week or so, I am thinking more support troops, for some reason I feel like doing the phalanxes last, weird but there you go.

I popped down to Kevin's this afternoon for our Monday boardgame, Tricorne again and the Battle of Monmouth 1778. For this battle the winner had to get nine victory points, the British get two for every hex they held on Perrine Farm ridge, but if moved off the hex they would lose them.
 

 I managed to draw several Right Flank cards at the beginning and off I went for the ridge, I also managed to get up and take the hedge line in the centre, I did not want to do anything with my left. I was doing very well at first and American casualties mounted, however, twice Kevin drew a rally card which meant he made good all his losses, as the battle unfolded I too now began to take casualties. For several moves I had to use all the cards I could to keep the attack going in, this was difficult as most of my hand allowed me to attack on the left, not the right and my centre sat around making tea.

Eventually I did manage to get my boys on to the ridge and luckily it was the Highlanders, these brave troops fought back every assault thrown at them, and there were plenty as the American commander became desperate to win back the ridge. I now decided to use those Left Flank cards and successfully threw back the American right, why didn't I do this before?

As the last Continental assaults failed I held enough of the ridge to declare victory, well done the Jocks. How did we ever lose this war, it seems very difficult for the Americans to win a battle, so far the British are usually concentrated while the Rebels have units way back from the front line, even with some good cards Kevin could not stop my attack. It seems that during the game you can get an attack started but keeping it going becomes the hard part, you can usually manage to move something but not in a coordinated fashion. We are going to try something else next week for a change, tomorrow it is Wings of War again at the club and on Thursday I am looking at a Dark Age scenario based on the battle of Nechtansmere from my scenario booklet.

I Deserve It

I have been on a small spending spree recently, I jumped into the Mafia scene with a box set of Gomorrah and the movie 'Suburra' which is now a Netflix crime series, these are Italian productions and the former is quite gripping and manages to surprise, it is also quite manner of factly violent, it happens but is not dwelt on. On the strength of these I will probably buy Romanzo
Criminali as well.

I got two more DVD's, Mel Gibson's Apocalypto and an old favourite of mine Guns at Batasi, a wonderfully evocative movie of the end of empire and old fashioned British grit which has sadly gone the way of black and white movies. Along with this is the latest Walking Dead book, number 14, I am kind of stuck with these as there is no point stopping now, it does not interfere with the television series as they have gone their different paths.

I have been 'that man there' and you always knew it was you!

My first Aventine elephant arrived at last and tempted though I was to build it this lunchtime, I have put it off until this evening, a very bonny thing it is too, I hope I can do it justice. I also have slingers and archers now in the pipeline waiting to be primed and painted. If the new cavalry are out I will get them otherwise the next order will be line infantry. I have now sorted the movement tray out for the heavy cavalry and this time gone for the one with the 3mm lip, I think this is better than what I have been using.

Timbers Shivered Jim Lad.

Something different last night, I took along my ACW ships using Smoke on the Water rules, an excellent set if at times a bit unwieldy, but once you get used to them they play fast and are perfect for a few hours at the club.

I am not one for monitors and ironclads with huge guns, they are virtually impregnable to gunfire during a game and only fire once every third turn or so, I cannot recall many, if any, which were sunk due to enemy action, as the Confederacy shrunk most were destroyed to save them falling into Union hands. I much prefer unarmoured, tinclad or cottonclad ships, these give a much more interesting battle, the Federals having the guns and the Rebs using their rams.

So last night's game involved a dawn raid on two Union block ships with a third vessel arriving to reinforce, this left the Rebs at a bit of a disadvantage but they (me) were hoping to catch the original two vessels before they could get steam up. As the sun rose the Confederate ships began to run a gauntlet of fire and for a time it looked like they wouldn't get very far, thankfully the crews were ever watchful and prevented any fires from breaking out from the rain of shells, the cotton armour on the Governor Moore was particularly effective. It did not cover the guns however and these along with her stack were soon put out of action due to enemy fire, but she bravely sailed on intending to ram. The Gaines also took a pounding as she closed with the Union ships, shells exploded damaging the rudder, a paddle wheel, two of the guns and a lucky shot decapitated the command when the pilot house took a direct hit and both the Captain and Pilot were killed, to make matters worse she was also taking on water.

USS Paul Jones on duty.

The Moore and Gaines arrive.

Looking good for the Rebs.

With most of the Confederate guns out of action the Federal vessels did not suffer the same amount of damage, as the crises approached it looked like both Rebel ships were in a position to ram, the Moore threw this opportunity away by not turning far enough and the Gaines similarly got port and starboard mixed up. The Gaines hit the small Rhode Island but at such an angle that virtually no damage was done, a gun dismounted but nothing serious. To make matters worse as she glanced off the Rhode Island the Moore ploughed into her side and the resultant flooding sent her to the bottom. As the Governor Moore backed away from the stricken Gaines she came under fire from the whole Union flotilla, fires broke out and damage mounted, the crew took to the boats and the Moore also went to Davy Jones' Locker.

Disaster strikes.

FIRE!

The Federals (Simon and Julian) handled their ships well, although they did leave me one opportunity which I did not manage to turn to my advantage, instead bringing havoc to my own ships. We got the game finished and it was quite exciting as I wondered if I would manage to get to close range with the amount of shot coming at me, I was disappointed that my guns were put out of action early on and I was left with only peashooters.

The end.

I have finished my first Seleucid unit, some heavy cavalry, this army will have quite a choice of cavalry once finished; Companions, heavy, light, horse archers and cataphracts. Aventine are reworking most of their cavalry and I am hoping to get to them soon, but for the moment I have an elephant and skirmisher arriving, hopefully today.

I also don't think I am going to manage any home gaming this week, we are supposed to be getting new carpet tiles in the PO/Wargame Room so all the boxes containing terrain and sojers have been moved to the living room. The firm also failed to turn up yesterday and so far there is no sign of them today either. I will not be a happy bunny if the job is not started today.

El Lobo esta Muerto

Pretty dark and miserable heading to the club these days, especially after dealing with the great British public all day and then having to make your own tea before racing out the door and figuring out how the lights on the new car work.

Dead Man's Hand this week and just Simon and I, many of the rest of the lads have more pressing matters than playing with toy soldiers. So we fell back to the 'Spilled Gold' scenario, this time the wagon bringing the bullion to the bank in the centre of town was suddenly set upon by the local Outlaws and El Lobo's gang. The guards dropped the bullion box and fled so both sides were trying to grab as much gold as possible before the law turned up.

With no subtlety I advance my compadres along Main Street and hoped that in a close fight my pistols would count more than the mainly rifle armed outlaws, one of whom made a straight dash for the bullion. Despite my best efforts and almost mortally wounding the felon he grabbed some gold and fled to nearby cover, my men were now fairly easy targets in the middle of the street dodging behind horses and water butts. El Lobo foolishly ran forward and was gunned down before he could retreat, his tenure of the gang had been short indeed. My sniper on the roof, Miguel, who was normally deadly with his winchester couldn't hit a barn door, Fat Bob leapt across an alley only to land awkwardly and shoot both barrels of his shotgun into thin air rather than the outlaw standing next to him.

As time passed more Bandito's were dropping in the street, Fat bob was clubbed to death and pushed off the roof, Miguel still couldn't hit anyone, it was time for the remaining gang members to get out of Carefree.

I had a terrible night, one of those where you just cannot get a decent score on the dice, no matter that I changed them half way through I could not make any morale rolls, throwing a record dozen or so two's almost every time, not a good score for morale. It would seem that the coast may be clear for El Arana (Spider) to make a comeback, either that or I switch my loyalties to the cowboys at the Lazy J.

I worked on the Seleucid cavalry last night and they are all cleaned, not that there was much of that to do, armed and ready for priming, I am out of that so will have to go and get some today. I also need to find a Pound shop or somewhere which sells non designer superglue as this is the best type seemingly to stick Aventines new metal, the good stuff takes ages to set.