Full steam ahead

 The beauty of retirement on such a wet and miserable day, a wargame in the morning and a blog post in the afternoon as the rain plays on the window.

But first the disaster of club night, Matt our leader had warned that the school was having an open night and parking might be a problem, when is it not. I had an ACW game organised with Fran and set off early in the false hope I might beat the crowd, no, it was like the dodgems in the street at the back of the school and I had to park several streets away and hoof it to the club. I then got a text from Fran saying he could not get parked and had went home, he offered to walk in with a board game but I had an idea of only staying and passing some stuff on to Rob before heading home. Simon and Jimi were having a Bolt Action game (British vs Russians) and kindly let myself and Rob join in, I was British with Jimi, we had to take a Soviet officer prisoner who was settled in a house right in the centre of the battlefield.

The terrain was fairly heavy and LOS was difficult to get, both sides brought monster tanks, the British a Churchill AVRE and the Ivan's a KV2, so the infantry kept hidden for the first part of the game as one hit from either of these tanks would kill a whole squad. As the KV moved around the British dashed for the objective while the Russian infantry also gingerly advanced. Casualties mounted on both sides, as most of the enemy were situated around the objectives house I dropped artillery into the area. I was spectacularly successful and everything in the area was hit, two British squads along with the Russians, oops.

I managed to get some PIAT shots in at the beast but I may as well have thrown eggs. As it became obvious we would not get the objective Jimi turned his giant mortar on the house and blew it and its occupants to smithereens, only two, shell shocked survivors were left in the rubble. Rob declared a draw but only because there was no objective left for either side to rescue. A good end to what was looking like a barren evening.

This morning Matt Crump turned up from sunny Penrith for a War and Conquest game, he brought a Persian army so I faced it with my Seleucids, the game was 2,500 points. I took a fairly typical army with a good mix of all troop types along with an elephant, something I don't normally choose but what is a Seleucid army without one. Matt's Persians were quite numerous but lacked good melee infantry apart from some mercenary hoplites, but nearly everything carried a bow.

Seleucids left, Persians right.

 

 

 Matt forced me to go first and I decided not to faff about and sent the whole army forward, the arrows came thick and fast and my men began to fall, my little band of casualties far outweighed the Persian one, I hesitated, but continued to advance my flanks and at last my shooting had an effect as the enemy cavalry began to die and the elephant chased off some horse archers. The pendulum swung again and the Persians made some aggressive moves, I had to try and hide my hoplites behind the hill to take them out of the arrow storm.With Matt's forward movement I once again pushed the army forward and there were several clashes, the White phalanx hardly gave me a shock with a pathetic effort but the Mercenary hoplites of the enemy made an even worse effort and they broke and ran. Things began to go south for the Persians, their chariots were shot and destroyed, a couple of cavalry units ran and the Seleucids were once more on the advance in the centre. The Greek heavy infantry slammed into the poorly protected Persians and before too long the whole army had collapsed. There were troops off table hoping to come back but they would be returning on their own.

So, a good game from my perspective but a bit one sided once my infantry got into action, Matt's desperate morale throws did not help. We had a chat and might look at doing a Chain of Command mini campaign in the future. I hope to get up to Penrith for a visit next month.

After all these years wargaming I now have a lead pile, my TAG stuff came last week, more on the way, and my Steel Fist order arrived today, so the winter months will just fly by. I am now spent up and will need to give the LMF a rest in the present financial climate for now.

I have finished more heavy cavalry for the French army and added another general figure in the shape of Giovanni de' Medici, this famous mercenary commanded a large company of arquebusiers and light cavalry and at times what would amount to a complete army, he died of a wound received from a falconet gun which turned gangrenous. After this his troops and he were referred to as 'the Black Bands.'

I also finished off the small number of buildings I had left for my Italian terrain, my idea is they will come together as a couple of farms and outbuildings with or without walls. I plan to add the usual scatter of carts, boxes, civilians etc. but that's for another day. I really need to get on and get another game of Furioso in to scratch an itch.

Partizan

 At quarter past seven yesterday I was reluctant to get out of bed and cursed having decided to go to Partizan, 160 miles away, but then again, what else would I be doing on an Autumn Sunday promising dodgy weather. The drive south was uneventful which is always a surprise when heading that way and I got to Newark Showground in about two and a quarter hours, the weather there was nice as it usually is at this show.

I had taken a fiver and on entering was left with three quid, I had to break out the plastic although my shopping list was rather small and was really to top up on things which I didn't necessarily want but 'needed'. I always do the shopping first, and on my way round I got most of what I had come for apart from some Tamiya paint, their excellent 'Smoke' which is a great wash for armour. There is no point in going all that way and not getting a treat, so I stopped off at Foundry and got a pack of three mounted officers as spares for the Italian Wars, as Rubicon was there in force I went all out and got another halftrack, a 250/1 which I will paint grey for 1940/42.

On the way in I ran into Michael and Simon Curtis of 1st Corps who I first ran into back in 2014 and after at several War and Conquest weekends, after that it was bloggers who meet at shows, David Bickley (Tales from GHQ), Phil Robinson (News from the Front), Matt Crump (Wargames in the Dungeon, I am playing Matt on Wednesday) and southern boy Ray Rousell (Don't Throw a 1), links in the sidebar. As usual I stopped by the Helion and Co. stand as I work closely with editor Andrew Bamford who runs it, Andy and Charles were not there this time, however owner Duncan Rogers was paying a flying visit so we chatted for a good 20 minutes or so. One other mention was the chap who surprised me at the Rubicon stand who told me he read the blog and had recognised me from the pictures, quite made my day, thanks.

Now, the bit you have all been waiting for, the show. Partizan is quite simply the best historical wargame show in the country, the main focus is on wargaming, like me you will manage to shop but it does not have the number of traders for instance which frequent York, the emphasis is on games. Granted many of the games you could not throw together for an evening at the club and you would have to have a very large house and an understanding wife if you managed them at home. However the inspiration to aspire to the level of terrain, organisation and sheer spectacle hits you from the first table to the last.

There is a participation section which is well served then the main area with nothing but eye candy, there is a cafe which is always busy, take a lunch, all in a large well lit, open hall, albeit it busy, it was busier this time than in May I thought. They also have a writers corner where there is usually a couple of historical novel authors are sat. 

Here are examples of some of the games on show:

Thirty Years War 3D printed 6mm I think.

Imaginations game, Eastern Europe?

Tewkesbury, Wars of the Roses.

Imaginations again.

Arnhem, Lardy game.

Ray with my dad, oops, no it's me.

Battle of the Bulge.

The Bulge again.

Renaissance Eastern Europe.

War of the Worlds.

Hastings.

Bosworth

Most people at the tables made an effort to talk to interested onlookers, I had several good conversations. I did want to have a talk with the Bosworth guys for their thoughts on the new interpretation of the battle, however the guys at the time were discussing the movement of one unit and its possible effect on the future of England so I sauntered off.

There you have it, a good day out and a great showcase for our hobby. I shall have to save my pennies up for May as the petrol stung me on topping up before the Memsahib dipped the tank.

Two for one

 Seems like a long time since I got down to blog with a lot happening.

Before I managed to get my Italian Wars game in I had another ACW bash, this time at the club with Simon which I had almost forgot about. It was a simple game due to time contraints and we set up a meeting engagement with two brigades a side fighting for the control of a crossroads, for a change I took the Rebs. 

Simon put most of his effort into the centre while I let my larger brigade try and hold him off with the defense anchored on a nearby wood the rest of my boys pushed against his left flank. The Federals very quickly began to suffer and fall foul of some desperate die rolls, also their position near the crossroads was in a dog leg and flanking fire added to their misery. Simon was now forced to withdraw to lessen the danger to his line while my boys took advantage and closed in on his left, it was now the Federal morale broke and several instant routs caused havoc in the blue line. A victory for the greybacks and a bad night for Simon.

I then missed last week but turned up last night for a Black Powder (yes, I know) Colonial game organised by Rob, with tweaks by Rob. Two British brigades had to make it to an oasis before the Mahdists took control of it, the little hamlet had a small garrison but needed to be relieved quickly, I was in command of the Highland Brigade and the furthest unit from the objective, moving slowly in brigade square it was obvious Simon had the task of getting to the oasis while I had to try and keep the enemy occupied.

When the enemy were deployed I suddenly found myself surrounded by hordes of fuzzy-wuzzies, thankfully for me Osman-Stuart found it difficult to get his men to engage and when they did they came at me piecemeal. Some camel troops charged one of my Naval gatling guns on the edge of the square and although it managed to inflict some damage it was ridden down and the enemy got into the square and hit the Highland light infantry. My boys held, just, and sent the camels packing never to be seen again. It was now time for the Mahdist infantry to try their luck, but this time the matelots stood their ground and shredded the fanatics.

I now took the decision to break up my square as the HLI were pulled back after just surviving another furious assault and replaced by the fresh Royal Marines, my other Scottish battalions prolonged my line and the Dervish waves broke on the thin khaki, blue and red lines. The Navy again proved their worth until their gatling gun jammed, but they survived nonetheless. Only as the dust settled was I able to look across at the second brigade which also had been under some pressure and found out it had managed to break the Mahdist attack and save the oasis. One for the Empire and a good game. Jimi 'the dice' was on the Mahdist side, he was rolling all the right dice, but not necessarily, in the right order.

I haven't done much on my Italian Wars project apart from finish some gendarmes and get some 'archer' heavy cavalry cleaned and primed. I am also getting a chance to look at more rule tweaks after Mark Webb sent me his house rules, there are some nice ideas which Julian and I will have to look at as we get on. I decided on ordering up enough troops to finish, for now, my French army so I have three orders now outstanding with TAG which are French pikes, arquebusiers and Stradiots, I do hope they turn up soon as I need a change from cavalry. I have also got an order of Landsknechts ready for Steel Fist, these are the first troops of my Imperialist army which is the big thing for next year.

I got dragged to the Trafford Centre last week for shopping, not a place I enjoy, but I was quite surprised at the number of units now empty and the lack of people shopping, a legacy of the past two years according to some. On the way four police cars passed the opposite way, at speed and sirens wailing, I said to the missus that some poor sod had misgendered someone somewhere.

I have not done as much reading as I should recently but I am thoroughly enthralled by "The Empire of the Summer Moon" dealing with the Comanche indians, a brutal and eye opening insight to life on the plains between white and red, and red and red. 

I have also come late to some excellent TV, "Slow Horses" and the movie "Kajaki". OK the former takes a 180 degree turn on who the real bad guys are but putting that aside I really enjoyed it, so much so I might pick up the authors books, or at least give one a try, the latter is a gem and a different kind of war movie, I was on the edge of my seat, but you have to give it ten minutes. Then "Dahmer" a creepy biopic on Jeffrey Dahmer played so chillingly by Evan Peters, lastly "Blackbird" a prison tale with a difference based on a real story. You might want to give "Narco Saints" a look, drug dealing in Suriname, a Korean production, yes it is a bit different but I have seen worse.

I continue to be busy with maps and although I have completed several over the past few days I still have seven projects in the wings from Renaissance Poland to modern conflict in Suriname (now there is a coincidence, see above).

Eylau.

Italians on the Eastern Front.

Omdurman.

Oh, I forgot, it is time to break out another fiver for Partizan on Sunday.