Another Round for the Duke

Using the Rank and File rules from Crusader publishing I decided to go 'solo' one afternoon. My son wasn't interest in playing, he had just bought himself a copy of Call of Duty 4 and was glued to the TV and XBox. I, however, decided to play against the easiest and most ineffectual wargames general I know: myself. The scenario was simple, capture a line of low hills and this was done using the Programmed Scenario booklet produced by WRG a few years ago. The Duke of M had two brigades of British Infantry( 3 units each), some Dutch guns and a large brigade (4 units) of Dutch and Prussian cavalry. The troops of the Sun King had, exactly the same with both sides advancing quickly to take the hills. The British, with the superior firepower won the day but a charge by a regiment of French Dragoons (Firmacon) gave the Duke some real headaches as they ploughed through two redcoat battalions. They were seen off by the Dutch Cavalry. Ahh the glory and spectacle!!

Rules, rules and more rules

Has this ever happened to you? You buy ruleset after ruleset and although some of them play really well, and each one has some great mechanisms not one has the right 'feel'. Over the years we've played a lot of WRG Horse and Musket and for a period of time the Brothers were dedicated Shako fans. But for a variety of reasons these fell by the wayside.
In the last year or two several new sets have been available and the boys have all been willing to give them a shot(pun intended). We tried Beneath the Lilly Banners by the League of Augsburg which weren't too bad. In recent weeks we tried the new offering by the Foundry Napoleon and found the firing, melee and morale rules to be simple and really effective. We had a few strange situations due to the command and control rules, but that could have been my fault through misinterpretation! So we tried again...and got the same strange result. Although they look great and the information in the book is great, I'm not sure if we'd use them as our regular set. We've also tried the Crusader publishing set Rank and File. Now these were a very fast set. Once you start losing more than a stand or two from your units, things go downhill very fast in terms of morale! We used my ACW figures in 25mm and it was a quick, easy game with a result in around 2-3 hours. With 8 players and only one person having read the rules, not a bad effort. Finally, Warlord Games new 'Black Powder' rules arrived in the mail a few days ago. We haven't tried them yet, but when we do I'll keep you posted!

Alex and Darius at Gaugemala

The lads got together for a game in early January in the understated elegance of my garage for our usual Christmas bash. It was decided that we would refight Alexander the Great's biggest stoush: Gaugemala. Using Armati we assembled over 900 infantry and around 300 cavalry. I think just about everybody had soemthing to contribute: Thanks guys!!Ralph was Darius and Nick played the ever aggressive Alex...something Nick has no worries about playing. Nick doesn't ask who they are ...but where they are! The above photo shows the initial deployment.

On the left flank of the Persians Phil initially found his light cavalry ridden down by the Thessalian cavalry commanded by Paul, but using his advantage in numbers he held and then counter attacked, driving the Greek allied cavalry from the field. The center was where the battle would be won and lost and true to form it was a bloodbath when the rampaging Hypaspists and the Companions broke through the first Persian line. Initally it looked like it would be a Macedonian walk over but the Persians fought on grimly. On the Persian left Roger fought a long drawn out conflict with the mercenary hoplites and other assorted cavalry commanded by Ross. In the center Ralph managed to get one of his heavy infantry units to wheel ( not all that easy under Armati) and slam several units of the Macedonian phalanx- commanded by Lochlainn- in the flank. The game was completed in 9 turns and took six hours to play on a very pleasant Saturday! With a Macedonian victory- and the death of 2 Macedonian commanders ..and ALL of the Persian senior officers except Darius.....it was a great afternoon- for the Macedonians anyway!!

Persian cavalry.

The Phalanx.

The Phalanx advances!!
Below: Persian skirmishers in front of the main battle line.

Alex with his Companions and the Hypaspists at the rear of the photo.

Another view of Alex hitting the Persian cavalry. In Armati the general's element is attached to the rear of the accompanying unit.
The center of the Persian line- with the horses of Darius' chariot in the foreground.

Greek mercenary hoplites clash with the phalanx in the left center.

The Persian heavy unit that hit the phlanax in the flank!!

More Malburian Mayhem

My young son asked me to play a game of my 'musketeers'. It took me several seconds to realise that he wanted to play with the ever expanding Marlburians. So we emptied the table in the garage of the usual garbage and laid out some nice terrain. Allies (Prussians and British) versus the army of Louis XIV. I was the allies and my boy was the Sun King! The French Cavalry advance!

The Prussian Cavalry awaits Louis' troops

The Table!

Hordes of French Cavalry...'Vive Le Roi!!"

The French Guard advance throught the center towards the allied line.

The allied commander....it was a humiliating defeat...so this wasn't Marlborough. The great man never lost!

British Troops fire at the advancing Frenchmen. Above and below!

The rear center of the allied line. This came under heavy attack by the Guard Francais and supporting brigades who fought their way through the village (just visible on the right) and caught the allies in a poor position to stop them once they were in the open ground. The French cavalry smashed my (allied) right flank and it was all over bar the shouting....and my 10 year old sons' victory song.....'I beat daddy..I beat daddy...nyah nyah nyah.'. Oh well I can still beat him in an arm wrestle!!

The later stages of the game when the allies had been forced back and the French were running amok.
Some brave French infantry..painted by me!

Renaissance Poles and Turks

Here are some photos of a game played ages ago in 25mm, using Armati. Nick's Poles (long since sold) took on my Ottomans. I was winning (in the center and right), but as you can see in the last photos, my left wing collapsed and the Poles swept into my flank! It was race back to Istanbul!!

Beware The Wrath of the Clans

The Clans mass with the French on their Left

The Highlanders move through the woods to flank the Redcoats

The Hanoverian Line.

The Highlanders sweep the Thin Red Line away.

We had a stoush between my Jacobites (with some French Allies) tand he dreaded Redcoats- Hanoverians ( or British if you prefer!). Although the British managed to hold the initial assault from the screaming clansmen, the addition of French firepower and a flanking manouvre by the Scots cavalry saw the British line crumble!

The Duke of M!!

My current long term project involves the wars of the early 18th Century. Nominally the War of The Spanish Succession and the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715. Yep, Marlburian is definitely the flavour of the month with teh release of 'Beneath the Lilly Banners" by Barry Hilton of LOA. I have my own set of rules that we use..but hey, I tend to play any rules that work! My collection started with a couple of British battalions and as now I have 18 French Battalions, Allies: 10 British and 4 Prussian. As for Horse; Allies: I have 4 Prussian Squadrons, 2 British Horse and 4 British Dragoon Squadrons as well as 2 of Imperial Cuirassiers. For the French I have 12 Squadrons of Horse and 2 of Dragoons! I have also completed a small Scots Jacobite army for the Rebellion of the '15.

My First Blog

Inspiration for this Blog came from six or seven other blog websites I visited and enjoyed them immensely. They were informative and inspired me to create my own. Originally I thought it would be a lone effort then I considered the small group I game with regularly. These guys have been my best friends for, in some cases, over 20 years...so I decided to dedicate it to them!!
I've been searching the web lately and have been inspired by several blogs and websites dedicated to wargaming the Marlburian Period. At the moment..and for the last two years it has become an obssession. I made the mistake of buying a packet of Front Rank War of the Spanish Succession British in December 2005 and have been hooked ever since. What was to be just a passing interest has grown into a collection of over 700 figures (90% Front Rank) and still growing.