Faces from the Forest - Gratuitous nostalgia

 The latest post at The Duchy of Tradgardland, regarding the recently rereleased Airfix Ancient Britons,  reminded me that I had a picture of some of my own ABs on my phone. Like many others I'm sure, I have great memories of playing with these toys attacking the Roman Wall Fort on the dining room carpet, and later being used with Featherstone's Ancients Rules.

A Chief accompanied by his Druid/Shaman(?), Standard and Warband

 

We interrupt this Campaign....

 ...for a quick playtest

Having submitted my very simple SciFi Skirmish rules to Bob Cordery for the 4th Portable Wargame Compendium, I thought I'd better give them another go. (I came across some old 20mm SciFi figures while looking for something else and decided I needed a simple ruleset for them. The figures were (possibly) from Wargames Supply Dump).

Two opposing squads are fighting for dominance in the ruins of a city. The majority of troopers are veterans and treated as unarmoured in this playtest. The two figures with purple markers are Elite and armed with Heavy Weapons (roll two dice when firing).

Green Squad (furthest from camera) moved first
The foliage is impassable

Turn 1 Green are already a man down

Turn 2 Blue Squad have taken out another of Green's force
The white die indicates that a figure is wounded

Turn 3 One of the Blue Squad has run across the open
space. The wounded man has moved back

Turn 4 Green's Heavy Weapon falls back, Blue's
is wounded

Turn 5 Green takes down the Blue trooper nearest 
his position

Turn 6 Green's Commander falls to Blue's Heavy Weapon
The rest of the squad withdraw

My next step with this project is to make more grid squares to allow more movement. Perhaps I'll have to consider bl**dy drones as well...

The opposing General was unimpressed and really just
wanted to sit on the battlefield. C'est la guerre.

Another OHW posting

 OHW Scenario 2 has been posted over at my Battling through OHW blog. It features another pitched battle in Hyboria.

Inevitable

 I feel that, since reading the books pictured below, it has been an inevitability that I'd one day make an 18th Century ImagiNation Army. Having said this, it's taken a few attempts to get this far. Youthful exuberance led to attempts at 24 (or larger) figure units in plastic being planned; far too big for me to ever get painted. Later I wanted to do the whole thing "properly" with Spencer Smiths', but these proved too expensive for my modest means. The publication of The Portable Eighteenth Century Horse & Musket Wargame Rules in The Portable Wargame Companion (ed. Bob Cordery) led to a reappraisal of my former ideas, and some rebasing of figures.

Glorious tomes

Finally, I have pulled together one modest force, with plans to expand it of course. I now have to raise an equally sized army for the opposition. I have still to dream up some suitably daft names for each regiment etc.

As I have no game to report today, here is a parade instead.

Army of the Margravate of Moulle

Two regiments (12 figures) of Line Infantry at the back, divide into two battalions (6 figures)

Three battalions of Light Infantry (4 figures each) in the centre wearing fancier uniforms

Two squadrons of cavalry on the flanks

 Two batteries of artillery (the one on the right being manned by Sailors)

At the front, hatless, is the Margrave Edouard de Moulle, sporting his new bluecoat and best fighting wig. He appeared recently, unpainted, in the Box of Shame (could be a play by Voltaire?). To the Margrave's extreme right, the head of the Margravate's Armie de Terre, General Antoine Fond-de-la-Mer.

That's it for this subject for now; hopefully there'll be an update soon, assuming I get a bit of paint daubing done.

This parade was inspired by Neil Patterson's far nicer parades, for example THIS, and brought to you by the colour blue.

A One Hour Wargame Scenario

 Scenario 1 from Neil Thomas's One Hour Wargames was fought this morning - the report can be found here. Having played through them all in order once I'm thinking of doing it all again (possibly, though on a very casual basis, not committing myself to anything!)

Three Bloody Skirmishes or The Bishop's War

 

I dug out some old Medievals this weekend with the intention of playing another Mini-Campaign in the style of the recent ACW one. I went for some fast, brutal rules (an OHW 3-hit variation) which generally lead to bloody battles, which seemed fitting for Medieval religious conflicts.

Two Bishops find themselves on opposing sides of a schism in the church (neither side could agree on a theological technicality relating to how many Angels could dance on the head of a pin*). The result is armed conflict. (*the answer of course depends on how much space is taken up by the band...)

Opposing Clerics

Battle 1

The first game was a straight-forward encounter. 

Army White quickly got the upper hand (so much depends on initiative) with some high dice rolls.

Very soon Army Red was overwhelmed and destroyed (one unit of archers hightailed it for the nearest village with a hostelry). 

Battle 2

Seeking revenge for the ignominious defeat, the Red Bishop sent a force to burn down some villages and generally harass the domain of his rival. The White Bishop, getting news of the approaching Red Army, quickly blocked the road with a weak looking force to lure in the Red Knights while his own Knights formed up to attack the flank.

The impetuous White Knights rushed in a little early...

and some found themselves outflanked.

Army Red swept away the White Bishop's Knights

 and then cleared the road of his men at arms and peasantry.

Battle 3

In the deciding game of the Mini-Campaign, the White Bishop's force found itself surrounded and needing to break out through the Red Army lines. (The objective for White was to get the units off the board to the North).

The White Commander knew his force would benefit from their defensive spot on the hill, however staying there wasn't going to win the day. He therefore decided to attack and destroy the enemy to the South first, and only then tackle those to the North.

Winning the initiative White attacked

The plan worked, and White had soon removed the threat to his rear

In the meantime, Red had attacked the hill, but the defenders were able to hold on with ease.

All that remained was to chase off the last stragglers of Red's Army and march off the board.

A decisive victory for the White Bishop. 

Mapless Mini Campaign - Finale

 For the third and final battle I rolled a 3, Flank attack. The Federal Army (Attackers) are attempting to outflank the advancing Rebel force. The CSA's scouts have alerted their Commander, who takes refuge on a defendable hill. Both sides objective in the game is total control of the high ground. The bulk of the US Army force arrives on the flank of the Confederate Army and straight into the fray.

I decided at the start that this was going to be a very difficult task for the attackers, so I gave them a numerical advantage and, as this was the deciding game, I set EP at 50%. This all proved to be unnecessary. 

The US Army piled in from their flanking position and the Rebs were in trouble from the outset.

The CSA cavalry, despite their reputation, were quickly dispatched and the Federals got down to business.

Outstanding dice rolling from the Blues rapidly reduced the Confederate force to EP (not that they were going to move from the hill...)

The Union regiments surrounded their adversaries and demanded surrender.

A bit of an anti-climax as a game, probably due to my generosity towards the attackers, but a success as a Mini Campaign system and one I'd like to use again; "Chapeau!" to Mark.

A Mapless Mini Campaign - Battle 2

 After his defeat at the hands of the Confederate Army, Colonel Baudebridges falls back towards the Federal lines with his remaining force. Realising that they will soon be over run, the US force makes a stand...

For this game I threw a 6 (see rules on the previous post) and set up the OHW Bottleneck scenario (more or less). The US Army (defending) has a smaller force but may enter the woods (on their right). The objective for the CSA is to clear the road of Union forces to allow their main force through.

Start of the game - the lakes are impassable

CSA cavalry rush off to clear the road

The CSA cavalry limp back after a catastrophic encounter.
The Union's Zouaves take to the trees 

The Union's line holds and the Zouaves create holes in the
Reb's flank, despite his artillery firing blindly into the woods

The CSA reach Exhaustion Point

Despite having a numerical advantage, the Confederate Commander (let's call him Colonel Sanders) was forced to withdraw. This defeat puts the Union back in the lead and they will be attackers in the third (and final) battle of the mini campaign...

A Mapless Mini Campaign - Battle 1

 

I started a three battle mini-campaign over the weekend, squeezing in a couple of games between work and domestic distractions. I was inspired to use my ACW figures by Ross Mac's recent games. The rules for the mapless mini campaign are from Mark Cordone, originally posted on the PW FB page, and are his intellectual property:

For the first game I rolled a 5; Seize Ground. I used inspiration from OHW to layout a battlefield but gave a slight advantage to the defenders (CSA) who started a little closer to the objective (the hill). The winner must have control of the objective once both sides reach exhaustion point (EP).

The chocked gully on the right of the hill is impassable

The CSA grabbed the objective whist the Federals attempted to out flank them

Despite reducing the CSA to EP, the Union Army could not get on to the hill

The Blues reach EP and victory goes to the Confederates

So the Confederate Army wins the first battle and, buoyed by their success, go on the offensive, pursuing their retreating adversaries...  

Retreat

 The subject of this post is a follow on to the Battle of Tressle, fought earlier this year. 

Sir Philip (mounted) at the Battle of Tressle

At Tressle, Sir Philip of Whare had been defeated by an Army of Chaos, led by the sinister Moonlit Knight. Retreating, with the Chaos Army at his heals, Sir Philip and the survivors of Tressle were met by some knights of the Order of St. Bernard. Having entered the waste know as Lessys Moor, the battered Army turned and prepared a desperate stand. 

The Battle of Lessys Moor (also known as The Two Tors)

Army of Law

Army of Chaos

Sir Philip's Army occupies the two Tors (hills) as Chaos approach

Cavalry clash

Sir Philip's force is put under pressure by the ferocious enemy

A lull in the fighting before Chaos rush in once again

Sir Philip is driven from the Right hand hill by the onslaught

Chaos has captured one hill and threaten to take the narrow defile 
 

With both sides exhausted, Sir Philip and a handful of warriors escape

The forces of Chaos have won another battle and appear to have the upper hand. Will help arrive from another quarter, or will the Northlands be left to burn?