Hail Caesar- back to Medieval gaming.

 Inspired by yet another good article in the Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy; this week's game is a medieval battle from the Thirteenth century. The article detailed a 'what may have happened' scenario with a young Prince Edward (later Edward 1st)(Ian), rushing towards Kenilworth Castle to try and capture it back from the Rebel Barons led by a Simon de Montfort the Younger, (played by Nigel and myself). In the scenario Simon de Montfort the younger, hearing of the approach of Prince Edward, marches out his troops to meet him in battle. 

One of the main changes we made was to use our later Medieval/Hundred Years War figures and I had to swap the stats around as the original author used the Lion Rampant rules whereas we would be using Hail Caesar. However, it looked like a fun game with the deployment of troops spread out along the road.  

I placed card markers where players could then take turns to place the troops written on the underside of the card. Here Nigel has deployed the Rebel infantry. 

The Rebel cavalry division is now deployed ahead of the infantry as per the scenario.

Disaster struck the Rebels in turn 1 as Nigel threw a blunder and was forced to withdraw two moves, taking all of the Rebel Infantry off the table. 

Ian, commanding as Prince Edward deploys some of his troops. 

The Rebels deployed with the magazine scenario at the back. 

(we had left the withdrawing Infantry on the table edge). 

Simon de Montfort the Younger rides toward the enemy, despairing at the misfortunes of his infantry division. 

Prince Edward (Ian) advances to meet his foe. 

In the background the Royalist extra unit of knights arrive.

Simon de Montfort the Younger was feeling rather outnumbered. Nigel suggested charging the enemy crossbowmen with a unit of sergeants who, in a spectacular charge managed to break both units of crossbow. 

The unit of skirmish longbow in the woods (bottom left) had chased off the Rebel light cavalry and now turned towards the rest of the enemy cavalry. 

Turn 5 and Nigel gets the Rebel Infantry division moving at last. 

Here are the Rebel sergeants about to crash into the Royalist crossbow. 

An almighty cavalry clash took place in the centre, Prince Edward was wounded and the Rebels seem to be gaining the upperhand. 

Royalist Infantry rush to help but Prince Edwards division was broken as was the Rebel Cavalry division led by Simon de Montfort. Nigel had managed to get one of his longbow units into range and with the rest of the Rebel infantry marching up Ian conceded the game and Prince Edward withdrew his remaining troops from the board.  

Brilliant fun but we felt a bit sorry for Nigel whose game was spoiled by a poor 'orders' throw in turn 1. Thus is fate. 

Rapid Fire: The Battle of Lebisey part 2

 We were back at Nigel's today to finish off our Battle of Lebisey game. Having played 10 out of the suggested 15 turns we had left things finely balanced with either side capable of the win. 

The view from behind the Germans. 

A couple of shockingly bad morale throws by Nigel saw one of his Infantry brigades rout along with some of his armoured vehicles. He also had a new infantry brigade coming into play. Here we see the two infantry units pass each other. 

Some German armour on the run. This event really turned the game in the British favour. 

A german panzerschrek team was creeping about the ruins but thankfully failed to make an impact on the game. 

The British advancing to Victory as the Germans decide to withdraw. 

We played through the last few turns quite quickly and seem to have grasped most of the rules now. This was an excellent scenario that kept both sides anxious about the end result. It was also fun to play on Nigel's wargames table with his excellent collection of 20mm WW2. 

Next week we return to medieval times. 

Shadowdark: an enjoyable return to RPG

 Good friend Chris recently told me about the Shadowdark RPG and it seemed a good fit for someone like me who mainly plays wargames with just some occasional roleplaying. I bought the quickstart guides first and was so impressed that both Chris and I got the full rules printed and bound for us. Today was my first chance to get a game in with another of my main gaming friends Ian taking on two characters (fighter and priest) and my daughter Jenny also taking on two characters (wizard and thief). 

For our first adventure I re-wrote an old D and D starter adventure of mine dating back to the 1980's, placing it within the land of Camberlann, an old campaign world of ours.

All set to play. 

The adventure ran well with many highlights and thankfully no deaths within the adventuring party. 

A fuzzy photo of the PC's approaching a poor woodcutters hut near to the village of Wyrms Fell. 

This encounter sent the adventurer's off on a quest to rescue the woodcutters daughter from some goblins holed up in a cave system nearby. 

Quickly overcoming some goblin guards and finding some treasure under the giant statue (big chap waving a sword about). All seemed to be going well until Ralinna the halfling thief fell off the bridge taking a wound as well as a soaking. 

More goblins fall to the PC's swords but beware the large Hobgoblin now approaching.

No worries, Lothielle the Elf Wizard soon charmed him. 

After locating an ancient, hidden dwarf forge the PC's find a way out of the cave system only to come across a beastman fighting a giant centipede. A quick melee solved that problem and the players emerge higher up the hill.  

After totting up their treasure the PC's escorted the woodcutter and his daughter back to their home. After resting overnight to heal their wounds the PC's continued onto Wyrms Fell to stay at the Dog and Dagger Inn. A spell of carousing saw Lothielle survive a dagger throwing contest whilst her three fellow adventurer's all woke up in the stocks for setting fire to a building. Yan the half-orc fighter found a pewter amulet with a wheel symbol on it in his pocket yet he has no clear memory of it getting there? Wyrms Fell is currently rife with rumours of a newly found old temple and possibly the site of an old Chaos Knight's tomb. I wonder where the PC's will venture next and who will come looking for their amulet? 

Shadowdark plays very well. Quick character generation and an equally fast system of game play leads to a fast moving game. The numerous random charts available add to the flavour of the session and we used several of them to great effect. With the adventure completed and some carousing and trading done, most of the PC's are roughly half way to second level, better funded and with some new equipment. We are all looking forward to our next game.  

Orctober Challenge

 So, gaming friend Chris (Mister C of 'the Periodic Painting Table') was looking for a theme for his Orctober Challenge. After swapping a few ideas we came up with painting 500 points of 6mm Irregular Miniature fantasy figures to pair up with our existing 6mm armies based for the excellent 'Fantastic Battles' rules. We also decided to make a piece of Elf or Orc themed 6mm scenery for our gaming tables. Chris went with his idea of Orcs (seeing as it is an Orctober challenge) but I opted to paint up some Elves, (Elftober?). Chris has already painted up 1,000 pts of Dwarves and I have painted 1,000 pts of Dark Elves.

Here is a link to what Chris wrote about this project. https://periodicpainting.blogspot.com/2024/09/orctober-2024.html

Here are some of my 6mm Irregular Miniatures Dark Elves.

I added a dragon (baby dragon from Reaper Bones) and a giant spider (an old GW model). 

Here are the 6mm Dark Elves in their transport box. 

Next job was to look in my box of unpainted 6mm figures (many of which were donated by Chris). There is a mix of Dark Elves Elves, Lizardmen and Amazons in there. 

Here is a piece of suitable Elf scenery that really belongs to my 10mm Elves but I reckon it will do fine with 6mm. I am not sure yet what piece of scenery I may make for the challenge, maybe some elf houses, a small castle or a bridge? I could also do with some better 6mm river sections and trees as my current box of 6mm scenery was all made in the 1980's!

(Only a true elf nutter would have elf armies in 6mm, 10mm, 15mm and 28mm and yes, that nutter is me!)

When I looked in my box of painted Dark Elves I found a few bases of Wood Elves I had already undercoated black (top of this photo). The rest of the figures are mainly a mix of High Elves and Wood Elves with some ents and eagles. More than enough for easily over 1,000 pts so I will need to narrow my choices down to get a nicely balanced force of 500 pts to paint over the next few weeks. Work on this will start on October 1st, let the challenge commence!

 

28mm Macedonians: progress report

 Nine months into painting 28mm Macedonians I thought it was time for an update as to how well I have done so far. Progress has been slower than I hoped mainly due to the fact that I always seem to work on too many projects all at once but that does keep my painting mojo fresh and enthused. Having a stroke in February did not help and resulted in several weeks when I could not paint at all. Happily I seem to be on a steady improvement and I am now capable of painting figures again (and most of my other hobbies too). 

Fresh off the painting table, a unit of javelin armed skirmishers. 

The first unit painted back in January, skirmishers with bow. 

Peltasts.

Pikemen, commanded by Philip of Macedon himself.

Light cavalry with javelins.

Mercenary Hoplites.

The army so far.

Next up will be some Companion Cavalry and another unit of pikes plus Alexander himself. 

Rapid Fire in 20mm: The Battle of Lebisey, June 1944: part 1

 Today we all went over to Nigel's house for another game of Rapid Fire but this time using Nigel's extensive 20mm collection. The game was designed around the British £rd division trying to break through the 21st Panzer's defences in the Lebisey Woods. Nigel put Ian and I in charge of the British and he took control of the Germans.

British reconnaissance reported a strange sighting in the woods!

(Nigel's grandson got there before the us!).

Undettered, the British advance.

(I have a new phone with a better camera so hopefully my photographs will be much improved from now on?)

The Germans take out an advancing British MG.

I tried to get my British forward as fast as possible before more Germans arrived. 

The British are arriving in force now.

More British advance on the left flank. 

German forces start to reveal their positions as they open fire. 

Ian was very happy when his Sherman's arrived. 

and Nigel was just as happy when his Panzer IV's arrived. 

I was even happier when I destroyed them both. 

A lone heroic British infantryman gets caught in the open by a sneaky German officer who shoots him with his pistol. 

The view from behind the German line as turn 10 came to an end. 

We continue the battle next week. 

Rapid Fire, US v Germans at Belle-Fontaine 1944

 For our latest game of Rapid Fire I adapted a scenario out of a recent issue of Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy Magazine. The scenario was actually written for a different set of rules so it needed a few tweaks to suit Rapid Fire and also match our figure collection. The game was based around a German counter offensive against the US forces deployed in the small hamlet of Belle-Fontaine. Ian was in charge of the Yanks leaving Nigel and I to command the Germans. 

The scenario starts with an early morning advance by the first wave of German forces, their advance covered by a mist that lasts the first 3 turns. Using the mist to their advantage, the Germans rush forward soon followed by their second wave of troops. 

As the mist cleared it became easier to spot enemy troops. but the Germans had got themselves really forward to the edge of the village.   

Nigel had been bombarding the US troops deployed in the church.  

Nigel was in control of the Panzer IV's which also got forward quickly, although one suffered light damage from Ian's AT gun.  

The Panthers moving into the outskirts of Belle-Fontaine. 

The infantry move up in support. 

The much needed American reinforcements arrive.

The Shermans fail to damage the Panthers but one of the Shermans was destroyed when the Panthers fired back. 

The Shermans did destroy an advancing German halftrack, also killing a few of the troops it was carrying. 

The Germans are now advancing deeper into the village. 

The American M10's managed to damage a Panzer IV before Nigel destroyed one of them. 

Another Sherman was blown up and with the initial American infantry that had been deployed in the village now all destroyed the Americans opted to withdraw, leaving the Germans in control of the village. 

This was an enjoyable game and we certainly worked our way through the rules much quicker this week. Next week Nigel hosts us as we move up a scale and play Rapid Fire in 20mm.