Two evenly matched Norman armies clashed one afternoon - and it had the makings of a bloodbath.
Rampaging knights, crossbow men , mercenary spearmen and archers were all part of a game that turned into a huge melee ....and a lucky crossbow shot changed the direction of the game!
A very close fought game that had the potential to be a very bloody draw.....but ended prematurely....
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| My right flank |
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| My left flank |
Working slowly on adding Saxon infantry units for the Relief of Vienna. The unfortunate part (for me and my painting!) is that the uniforms for the Saxons at Vienna were different for the Great Northern War- so with the exception of the Guards,( red coat and white cuffs) all the other regiments at Vienna wore grey uniforms. It's unfortunate because I have nine other battalions of Saxons for the GNW but only the Guard is suitable. More painting!
The cuirassiers are in the same boat- by the GNW they were in red coats, BUT they had the buff koller underneath. At Vienna, they had the buff coat and the lobster pot helmets. I decided that I may 'fudge' a few units so that the Saxons will have some red coated units at Vienna ( without lobster pot helmet) so that I can use them for GNW as well. The Wargame Gods will not be happy and someone will comment about uniform purity on the day of the game- and they will get a swift kick if they do!
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| Three Saxon Regiments ready to go. |
The SYW Austrians and French came out for a run....by run I mean the opportunity to kick the crap out of each other's forces.
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| French position. |
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| The very sparse Austrian holding force- primarily place to 'hold' the main French force while the flanking brigades did their job. |
Chris' collection of Samurai have to be among the most magnificent figures I have ever seen. Each one beautifully painted, most with a sashimono, and the command stands are just amazing.
Placing as many as we could fit onto Ross' table we had a stoush that was fast, furious and bloody as two Samurai armies smashed away at each other one afternoon.
Chris and Ross took one force and Liam and I took the other. The armies have been painted with particular clans and daimyo represented but we just divided the forces in half so that both sides fielded mounted Samurai, foot Samurai, warrior monks, archers, ronin and ashigaru.
Just the opportunity to use these magnificent figures was a real treat!
My photos don't do them any justice at all.
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| My commander.....the detail is just amazing. |
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| My ring flank. One of my heavy chariots backed up by the three kallipani. Not good in a fight, but they sure can shoot! |
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| Assyrian left flank....... |
Ross called up and threw down the gauntlet. I hadn't played him in an ancients game in a very long time ( nearly a year!!)
His Macedonians under Antigonus One-Eye were itching to fight. I looked over my armies and thought...'Early Carthaginians...why not?'.
Now, non historical match-ups can be problematic but as these two armies were almost from the same time period we didn't think it was going to be an issue!!
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| Carthaginian Line |
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| The Macedonians |
An interesting scenario was played using the TMWWBK rules. A town in the Peloponnese was blockaded by the Ottomans until the arrival of siege guns that were to blast the walls down and allow the Ottoman forces to storm the town.
The besieged stormed out to join the attackers who were able to co-ordinate attacks from two different directions. Their aim was destroy the three siege guns. Casualties were unimportant as the loss of the town would be a huge blow to the rebellion. The guns had been positioned to fire at certain sections of the walls and as long as the Greek forces stayed out of that field of fire, the big guns could not cause casualties.
Three units of defenders prepared to charge out of the main gates as soon as they heard the firing of the relieving force.
The siege guns were able to fire at the walls each turn rolling two dice per crewman. Hitting on a '6' only - they had to create 10 points of damage...they came very close......
The Greeks had to neutralise the guns- and the guns would keep firing until they had breached the walls OR the Greeks were driven off.
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| Opening deployment |
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| One of the Ottoman Siege guns |
I have been considering this for a while.
I have the Poles and I have the Ottomans.
And I've added Imperial and Bavarian Foote to play out the relief of Vienna in 1683. Many of my WSS Imperial Cuirassiers will be fine...and I have lots of them!
I need some Saxon Foote and Horse ( I might cheat and use some of my GNW Saxons...but don't tell anyone).
I guess it's one of those battles that all gamers have heard of and many have played, and I think as I have had the Ottomans for so long it's time to give it a crack.
It will mean a table with the Kahlenburg heights...and maybe a section of the walls of Vienna....and a Turkish camp.
Hmm.....time to get started.
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| The first of my Imperial regiments. ( I have to confess I didn't paint this unit!) |