Mongols and Samurai

At the end of last year Nick procured himself a beautifully painted Samurai army.
So, not unusually, Ross was eager to kill them.
In early January we assembled at Ross' place as Nick's new Samurai took the field against Ross' hordes of Ghengis Khan. With every unit equipped with some sort of bow, the bowfire was intense and blocked out the sun- and to quote an ancient Spartan- the battle was 'fought in the shade'.
I sided with Nick while Ralph and Richard joined the horde.

The armies- Mongols to the left, Samurai to the right.

¡No pasarán! More Spanish Civil War.

The Spanish Civil War is a popular gaming period for the Brothers as it enables us to give vent to our wide range of political views. I hold the correct ones...the others are just fascist bastards. 

Anyway there is a huge variety of units, colourful characters and some fascinating history. Paul has always had a keen interest as he is a bit of an Anarchist himself, but it's Phil's outstanding collection (with a small addition of some of my crap) that brings this period to life. For Phil, no unit is complete without a proper flag! So he arrived with box after box of lovely painted figures..and mine were duly relegated to the cupboard as his are much nicer!!

Situation Report:
A town in southern Spain is being held by the Nationalist forces. It is being besieged by a substantial Republican force who have been notified that a relieving force from the Army of Africa is on its way to lift the siege.

The Table: In the foreground the citadel of the besieged town with the outer buildings etc just beyond the walls. The rear of the photo is the Republican position and some trenches facing the town.

Ottomans and Burgundians

Richard's Burgundians have a reputation for being unbeatable (according to our Icon) - so I decided to see if I could add to the long list of smashed opponents with my Ottomans.  I had a small force of Akinjis, a couple of units of Sipahis and Janissaries. In the centre I deployed a bombard.

Richard's Burgundians had 3 mounted Men at Arms and his pike/longbow blocks. These things were some of the most fierce-some combinations that I have ever come across on the wargames table. I couldn't charge them with my cavalry ( because of the pike) and my infantry couldn't outshoot them because of the longbow! They needed to be treated with respect!

My Janissaries- facing the enemy in the distance. They were the right centre of my line.

Royal Marine Commandos hit the Beaches- Bolt Action.

Spyros has a solid force of Royal Marines for his Bolt Action games and he decided to test their mettle against some solid German defenders ( George and I).

Situation report:
Six Sections of Royal Marines  - 45 Commando-  with armour support ( A Churchill and a Centaur) and supporting weapons were to establish themselves on a hostile coast.
The German defenders were well entrenched and supplied with two Pak 40s, three MMGs.
For more pics check out Spyros' blog: http://noduffgamer.blogspot.com.au/

The German Position

Capture the hill line, and the village, and the bridges etc etc

My Armies of the Spanish Succession have been gathering dust; so recently the call went out to anyone who could be bothered to show up. Attendance was underwhelming ( where were you lads?) with Phil and Nick (Thanks boys- I knew you wouldn't let me down) being the only two available. 

A simple scenario was determined whereby roughly equal forces of Dutch on one side, and Louis XIV's boys on the other had to capture a number of key features in a valley with a river running down one side. The two bridges, a village,  a hill line, and the road running south were all key objectives. 

I was the French,  the other two lads were the Dutch.

The Dutch to the right. The French to the left.

Not the damned Romans again!

No- not my useless lot who have registered 20 losses and 1 very close draw. These were Ross' Marian Romans who dared to challenge the might of Parthia!

I can talk like that because I know the result!!

Ross configured his army to maximise his cavalry and missile firepower. I did what the Parthians always did. I fielded Cataphracts- armoured men on armoured horses - light cavalry (who created the famous Parthian shot) and a few assorted skirmish types. 

The terrain was broken up by some rough ground and woods and a few hills. Now I would prefer flat open terrain- but you can't have everything.

Ross commanded his own left flank which was made up entirely of Armenian allies- their own Cataphracts and light horse to counter mine! He faced Nick who commanded my right. The Roman centre was the formidable legions, commanded by Chris. Paul led the Roman right. 

My Cataphracts chase Paul's light cavalry.

Normans don't like Normans.

     Over the years, when you have known some of the Brothers as long as we have known each other, some of us find ourselves thinking along the same lines. As they say, great minds think alike, and morons never differ. take your pick! Anyway I said to Ross the other day in a very excited state that I  had finished my Norman army. 

His response was precise and to the point. 'Who cares? I finished mine weeks ago.'  Clearly at some stage in the last year or so we had decided to build the same army. To be honest, he did start before me, I got inspired, hence the conversation above. 

Now in my mind that sort of answer is a sign of disrespect and lack of enthusiasm  which deserves to be thrashed out on the table. So it was Norman vs Norman.

First clash of the Cavalry: the Normans won this round!

Capture the Bridges. Sicily 1943.

I had to add the date and place to the title or else everyone will think I'm redoing Arnhem or Pegasus Bridge again! 

No, in fact, this scenario called for the capture of two bridges, one, Primasole Bridge by the British Airborne, and the second, the Malati Bridge just to the south near the town of Lentini by the Royal Marines. I like this scenario because there is the added complication of airborne German Fallschirmjager!!  In an attempt to reinforce the beleaguered Italian and German defenders, the German High command decided to drop Fallschirmjager around Primasole Bridge. At the same time, without each side being aware, British airborne were being dropped to capture the bridge. They were tasked with taking it and holding until relieved (where have I hear that before?!)

The above picture shows the table. In the far left is the village of Lentini with the Malati bridge which was the objective of the Royal Marine Commandos. In our game and historically they achieved their objective. Just off picture to the left is the Primasole Bridge which historically the British Paras did manage to capture...they weren't so lucky in our game!

Battle of Harran 1104

It's nice occasionally to research an historical scenario and try to represent it on the table. So some of the Brothers made the trek out to my place one day with Seljuks and Crusaders in tow. 
The battle chosen was the Battle of Harran fought in 1104 shortly after the establishment of the crusader kingdoms.

In 1104 Baldwin II of Edessa had attacked and besieged the city of Harran. For his further support Baldwin sought help from Bohemond I of Antioch and Tancred, Prince of Galilee. Bohemond and Tancred marched north from Antioch to Edessa to join with Baldwin and Joscelin of Courtenay, accompanied by Bernard of Valence the Patriarch of Antioch, Daimbert of Pisa the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Benedict the Archbishop of Edessa.
The Seljuks, under Jikirmish ( sounds like something Borat would say), governor of Mosul, and Sokman, the Artuqid lord of Mardin, gathered in the area of the Khabur, and in May 1104 they attacked Edessa, perhaps to distract the crusaders from Harran, perhaps to take the city while the crusaders were elsewhere engaged.

The Crusader left and center

World War I action- 1918.

Something we haven't done in a while,  but some of the Brothers expressed the sentiment that given it was the 100 year anniversary of the Great War, we should put some metal on the table and roll some dice- so out came my figures (the Commonwealth troops) and Phil's (the Germans), the table was prepared for a scenario- a late war one- and the game was on.

The Mission: German Stormtroopers have broken through along a wide front in late March 1918. A small village, held by a mixture of Australian and British troops must stop them continuing their advance and from taking the major railway bridgehead- just off table.

The Allied position looking from the German advance. A small dugout to the right of the village. To the left a more comprehensive slit trench.

The Ottomans Emerge

In the last few weeks I haven't had the opportunity to be humiliated again on the wargames table as I've been too busy with work- clearly my priorities are seriously wrong! It has given me the chance, however, to open up several box files and drag my old 28mm Ottoman army into the sunlight, dust them off and rebase them. These guys haven't seen any action in 10 years...but that's gonna change. They look sharp- the colours are nice and the new basing makes them look great. No more dark box files for these guys...they'll go on a shelf next to the Army of Louis XIV!




The Janissaries

Romans get their backsides kicked - again. By Everybody.

Rather than give a blow by blow description of my continued humiliation at the hands of my so called friends- I'll just provide you with loads of pictures with a caption or two- I find typing out the details of my sordid defeats too distressing to give the full details of the shame and denigration of my Romans at the hands of Gauls, Macedonians, a pack of rabid penguins, and I think the ladies from local Cup Cake making guild.....or was that the Seleucids.?..I don't remember...one defeat is pretty much the same as another- they all become a  blur in my memory. Poor Romans. Crap Generalship.
This post is therefore dedicated to the piles of Roman lead left strewn about the battlefields in recent times, self pity and self deprecation....and for my opponents....supposed friends-  they said it should be call 'The Joy of Six'.

The humiliation begins. I deployed well (in the far corner) but the enemy- Ross and Richard managed to get their elephants across (right of screen) in the nick of time and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat...what a lousy cliche- and it comes nowhere near encapsulating the angst of my despair!

Force on Force- Rhodesian Bush War

Spyros has built himself a tidy little force of ZANLA guerrillas and their Rhodesian opponents and we decided that a Force on Force game in the African bush would make a nice change of the usual struggles in Afghanistan.
The game was simple and to be played in two parts.
OVERVIEW:  A ZANLA force had established a small ammunition and fuel dump to supply operations in the local province and a small force of Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI) was sent out to smash it up.


The Table- The Ammo dump is far top right. Fuel dump amongst the buildings on the left.

Persians and Greeks

A nice little game was played in the dark depths of winter recently. Geoff was the Greeks and Roger played the forces of the King of Kings, Xerxes. This historical match up also ended in a historical result; the Persians started well, looked sharped, deployed soundly, moved efficiently....and lost. It must be the '300' effect!

The Deployment: Greeks on the left, Persians on the right,

Aetherworks Tokens.

Over the last few years I've bought quite a few accessorries from Aetherworks here in Sydney. In fact every Marlburian / Warfare in the Age of Louis XIV figure I have is on an Aetherworks base!! Earlier this year I asked the boys (Paul and Andrew) if they could create some markers for my Vive le Roi rules. I needed ones that went from 1 to 12. They did them for me in two colours....so I ordered 10 sets of each colour- the Red for Marlborough's army and Green for the mighty forces of Louis XIV.
They were just what I needed to keep track of the casualty ratings for my figures!
I've also used them in my ACW games, Bolt Action and Force on Force too! They're very handy!
Try the link on the right side of the Blog!

For Use as Pin Markers in my Bolt Action Games

Double Bolt Action Game

 

The boys came over for the end of the month game in March- and i had nearly a full house; Phil, Roger, Ralph, Richard, Spyros, Paul, Nick, Ross and Chris were all gathered in my new gaming room (read garage). So I put on two Bolt Action games. The first a 1941 Crete scenario with German Fallschirmjager attempting to secure an airstrip, and the second a Pacific war confrontation with the Japanese and Australians squaring off. 

The Crete scenario. The airfield in the middle with obstacled scattered across it t stop the Luftwaffe from landing.

The Pacific table....loads of long grass, schrubs, hill and a small village.

Spanish Civil War- Bolt Action

Having played a couple of games of Bolt Action with the boys, Phil liked these rules so much he suggested we use them for a  Spanish Civil War shoot out.  I thought why not? Figures were laid out, terrain was placed, forces allocated and with a cry of  "No Pasaran!" it was on.

Roger played the Nationalists (AKA Fascist Bastards) and I played the Republicans (AKA Good Guys, Communist Bastards, Anarchists etc etc)- you get the idea.

A simple scenario, with Phil umpiring, saw the Republicans (communists/anarchists/regular army and international brigades) holding a village in late 1936 with a  combined force of armed thugs..er sorry Spanish Foreign Legion and Morrocan Harkas (regiments) attacking them to take the fortified village.

The three Moroccan Units- all classed as veterans and fanatics...scary guys with long knives and no sense of mercy.

Bolt Action- At Tarakan with the 2/23rd Battalion against the Japanese.

A nice little historically based scenario for the Bolt Action rules was the opportunity for me to pit my Japanese against Spyros' Aussies- check his blog - No Duff Gamer (link is on the right column of posts) .  His men represented the 2/23rd Battalion that fought near Tarakan in May 1945 as they met stiff resistance from the Japanese 455th Independent Infantry Battalion.

We like the Bolt Action Rules and this gave us another chance to use them!

This was an encounter battle with forces of equal strength.....but very different compositions. Besides two MMG and some light mortars I had two type 97 Te-ke tankettes which proved to be a bit of a nuisance to the Aussie infantry- until they got thumped by Spyros' Mathilda and PIAT team. Spyros also took that most effective of weapons against the fanatical Japanese; flame throwers. He also had MMGs, a heavy mortar and a sniper team.

The village center- a good old 'Banzai' charge....but the Aussies were waiting with MGs and bayonets ready.

Ancients 28mm

Gaming has been very thin on the ground recently due to work commitments and the fact that I moved house and need to  reorganize the hallowed gaming space- there’s been no time to Blog, paint or play!!  That should be remedied soon – there wasn’t even time for my Big Christmas Bash- the first omission in 15 years! Disgraceful! I've managed to squeeze in a few games since December and will get around to adding them all.

 I got a quick ancients game in with Ross with my Republican Romans fighting with his Macedonians- a nice historical match. My Romans proved very adaptable, efficient and aggressive. The same could not be said for my generalship. Ross deployed his pikes in depth- historically correct. I deployed my Romans in checker board- historically correct. I put my cavalry on the flanks....right in front of his elephants. Oh sh*t.
I lost.
Something went wrong!
Besides my haphazard deployment , I committed my legionaries piecemeal and my cavalry got stopped by his bl**dy great elephants. Note to self for next time- don't lose.
Admittedly my Legions put up a good fight but it was my cavalry that took a beating. Ross neutralised my elephants with his light troops but I let my boys down by allowing his cavalry to ride my lights down and then expecting my cavalry to defeat his elephants. Stooopid. A narrow victory for the sage from the eastern suburbs......but I'll kick his ass next time.



My Legions- in the center of the picture my Hastati were pushing the pike block back....but it is at the top of the photo you can see my cavalry being swamped. 

Force on Force: Modern skirmish- Again!

A gathering of the lads saw the table laid out for an epic fight that lasted all day and into the early evening. Spyros, George, Evan, Connor, Nick (Junior), Paul and myself were all present for a game that had more twists and turns than a First World War trench system!.
The premise was simple: 3 US Marine recon teams had been carrying out reconnaissance on a Taliban held town and were discovered by some wandering insurgents. They had to get out, but the nearest suitable extraction point was, you guessed it, on the far side of town. So they had to get their way through the town, call in the Black Hawk and get out. Simple!