General D'Armee v2, Battle for the Crossroads.

 As we are still getting used to the rules we kept today's game quite small, just a few brigades per side. The scenario was also kept simple; a battle for a centrally placed crossroads. Ian took control of the French and Charlie and I were commanding the British. 

British on the left, French to the right. The crossroads is easily seen in the centre. 

Charlie positioned the British artillery on the central hill, overlooking the crossroads. He spent most of the battle firing on the French artillery to great effect. 

A steady advance from Charlie's Infantry Brigade. 

Ian's French cavalry prepare to attack, supported by some horse artillery.

Ian also tried to advance his infantry but they often became 'Hesitant'. 

Sadly for Ian he was bedevilled all game by poor command and equally poor dice throws. 

The view from behind the British foot artillery. 

Charlie using 'tasking' on his skirmishers. 

The French lancers come charging into the British Hussars. Much to my surprise, the Hussars won causing the whole French cavalry brigade to withdraw leaving that whole flank open.  

On the other flank the French Line Infantry charge the British line, fail and become unformed so the British charged in. This fight was still on going when Ian's other Infantry Battalion had to withdraw. This led to a comfortable victory for the British who had also advanced onto the crossroads thus improving the victory conditions. 

We still had our heads buried in the rulebook for large parts of this game but this has hopefully taught us a lot about many aspects of the rules. We play again next week . 

15mm General D'Armee.

 A couple of weeks back Ian and Nigel had their first game of General D'Armee v2 for a while (I was ill with a cold at the time). Today Charlie and myself joined them for a game down in Nigel's cellar which makes an excellent gaming venue. Nigel has been busy painting up Prussians so it was no surprise when some of them made an appearance on the table. Our main objective of this game was for all of us to gain a better understanding of the rules. 

Nigel had created a scenario loosely based on a Peninsula battle but with his Prussians replacing the Portuguese as we moved the scene forward to 1815. 

My English troops with their Prussian Allies (led by Charlie) are defending the hill on the left whilst Ian and Nigel command the French who have to advance over the river to attack us. There is one bridge and two fords which helped to channel the French attack. 

The French come pouring across the bridge and fords. 

Nigel always presents a good looking table to game on and today's looked great. 

Nigel's central Brigade had their advance hampered by not only the river but by his Brigade becoming Hesitant at least 3 times during the battle. 

In this photo Charlie's Prussians stayed on the hill pushing his skirmishers forward. With the river slowing down his progress Ian was only just getting into position to assault the hill. However, quite a few of his front units were 'worn' by Charlie's skirmish fire. 

Nigel finally gets his troops ready for the attack. 

Charlie and I had made good use of 'Skirmisher Tasking' to also slow down the French. 

On my extreme right, winning the initiative proved useful as my small cavalry Brigade charged home against Nigel's cavalry Brigade to great effect, breaking the lead unit and forcing the supporting unit to retreat back over the river and in need of rallying as they were now a Faltering division.  

Another view of the cavalry action, with the flash on this time. 

So with 9 turns played and the French attack stalling we called the game a British victory. However, the main objective, to gain a better understanding of the rules was achieved. 

We play again next week. 

A quick game of Wars of the Roses

 With Ian and I spending some time sorting through the 'Old School' Fantasy figures recently gifted to me by an 'old school' friend (see upcoming blog on that subject for more info) we decided to just play a quick, 2 divisions per side game with randomly generated leaders and forces. We used some of the suggestions in the excellent Wars of the Roses supplement to help us. I let Ian arrange some simple terrain then we diced for deployment and set too. 

Ian and the Yorkists on the left, my Lancastrians on the right. 

Each side was allowed two divisions each of 2x Household bill and bow, 1x bow only and then we diced on a simple random chart I had created to allocate upto 2 more units per side. These could range from more household infantry to cavalry and even light artillery. This gave us two quite differing forces, probably not even the same points. 

The view from Ian's commanders position as he starts a steady advance towards me. 

Plenty of Arrow storm's were loosed to good effect by both sides.  

Ian fires his light cannon at my troops, two dice allowed needing a 5 or 6 to hit at that range. 

 Look what he threw!

My light cannon did not score a single hit all game. 

On my right flank, my commander (a newly painted command base of Sir Henry Holland) went on the attack. I expected the usual disaster from any newly painted forces.

 To my surprise he did very well. 

In the woods just visible to the left of this photo my handgunners were able to chase of Ian's bow armed light troops that were hiding in there. The handgunners then killed the artillery crew and got rid of that threat. 

There is Sir Henry Holland waving his banner having just broken the Yorkist division facing him.

Look at the fleeing Yorkists in the background, what a lovely sight!!!!  

My Lancastrian Mounted Men at Arms were told to go off on a flanking maneuver. It took me until turn 3 to actually get them moving but they soon broke the red archer unit that had turned to face them. 

With only three units left, two of which were shaken, Ian chose to withdraw his troops and concede the game. I had not lost a single unit although I did have three badly shaken units. 

Once more we had a great game with the Wars of the Roses becoming one of our favourite periods to play with the Hail Caesar rules. 

28mm Macedonian Progress.

 With no game this week due to me being full of cough and cold I took the time to finish off basing a unit of 28mm Macedonian Cavalry that I had recently completed. It therefore seems like a good time to give a progress update on my 28mm Macedonian army first started in January of last year. Initially the army is based on Macedonians under Philip II at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC will but eventually expand well beyond that into all of Alexander the Great's campaigns and even the Successors!

This unit of Macedonian Companion cavalry is an all metal figure unit.

 I am not sure which make though as I got these figures from ebay. 

No, they are not running away, just a photo of their rear to show off their cloaks. 

All 8 units and two command bases (Philip on foot and Alexander mounted) that I have painted so far. So this is a slow grow project because as usual I am painting up figures for several projects (and scales) and keep swapping about. 

The army is a real mix of Warlord and Victrix plastic figures with a few metal figures dotted about. (Mainly command figures and characters). 

At this rate of painting I may get them on the gaming table before the end of this year. 

Alexander leading his Companions. 

Victrix light cavalry ahead of 2x Warlord Games Phalanx units, each of 32 men. 

Next up I have another unit of Mercenary hoplites to finish plus a hoplite command base, an all metal unit of pike and another metal unit of Companion Cavalry to paint.

Many more still in the box (lead and plastic mountain). 

2nd St Albans

 Continuing our flurry of Wars of the Roses games we opted to refight the Second Battle of St Albans this week. This scenario gives an interesting situation where the Yorkists deploy facing the wrong way, tucked behind their specially prepared defences but the Lancastrians had done a sneaky night march through the town to enter on the Yorkists flank. After a quick discussion we deemed the Yorkist well prepared defences would be hard to maneuver through so would cause disorder on any troops who tried to cross them from the front. 

Here we see Northumberlands men still advancing through the town. 

Luckily for the Yorkists they won the dice off for who took first turn. Ian and Nigel decided to turn the Yorkists to face the advancing Lancastrians and also withdraw to allow them some space before the Lancastrians came steaming in. Ian managed to throw low on his order dice earning himself 3 moves to get into position. It seems that the few Yorkist troops left in the town must have raised the alarm to alert the Yorkist command that the Lancastrians were approaching from an unexpected direction. 

We didn't have much to represent prepared defences so we spaced out our few bases of stakes to cover the front of Warwick's and Montague's divisions. As it turned out no troops actually had to cris the defences during the battle so we removed them after a while. . 

These are the positions right at the start of the game, the Yorkists on the left, facing the camera, the Lancastrians pouring out of St Albans on the right. 

Turn 2 saw Trollope advancing on Montague's division with Percy marching his men in column down the road. A few arrow storm's were exchanged. Somerset was a bit slower to advance over on the Lancastrian left.

At this point the Yorkists were trying to narrow the frontage of the battle to compensate for the fact they were outnumbered as Norfolk had not turned up yet. Turns 2-4 also saw the effect of drizzle preventing the Yorkists from using their gunpowder weapons. 

By turn 3, things were going well for the Lancastrians, breaking one of Montague's units and forcing another back off the table. All orders were being passed and the Lancastrian arrow storms were proving very effective. Then we stopped for tea and cake!

As Northumberland deployed in line and ordered the advance he was also able to recapture Henry V!th who was found singing whilst sat beneath a tree. The Lancastrian high command decided not to execute the two Yorkist knights who had been guarding the king (although they were beheaded in real life). 

After tea and cake, Trollope in particular struggled to pass a single order which was very annoying as Montagues division were in real trouble but I could not get in close enough to kill them off. Maybe I should not have put the kettle on!

Over on the far left Northumberland was slowly picking away at Warwick's division. On Turn 4 Norfolk arrived and was able to move into position behind Warwick's. With Warwick's division now poised to break with the loss on one more unit Nigel swapped those two divisions around to frustrate that ambition. 

Turn 5 saw the drizzle cease allowing the Yorkist artillery to fire but to no great effect and Northumberland's men destroyed one gun with an arrowstorm. 

On turn 6 Northumberland was injured in the melee and so was replaced by the Duke of Exeter. We had enough time to play a 7th turn but not a lot happened other than one of the Yorkist units of handgunners were shaken in melee and pushed back. This left Warwick's command in real trouble. So with two Yorkist divisions being very close to breaking and they had lost possession of the king plus not a single Lancastrian unit lost yet we called it a hard fought win for the Lancastrians as the Yorkists now withdrew.  

It has to be said that Ian and Nigel as the Yorkist command did very well not allowing me to make my greater numbers overwhelm them. I was slowly picking them off but the Yorkists did very well in frustrating my ambitions for a quicker and easier victory. 

Hail Caesar: The Battle of Hexham 1464.

Nigel was back gaming this week so using his 28mm Wars of the Roses figures combined with mine and Ian's we had a go at re-fighting the Battle of Hexham scenario from the Wars of the Roses source book from Warlord Games. Fighting with 3 divisions on a 6' x 4' foot table leaves little room for manoeuvre so we had quite a full looking table. 

Although I know of no chapel being on the Hexham battle site, as I had finished painting this model last week I decided to include it in our game on the table edge just to get some use out of it. The chapel is a plastic model from 'Tabletop Workshop'. I have had this model part painted for a few years now (mainly the interior) so it is good to get it finished. In front of the chapel are my newly finished unit of Household archers belonging to Henry Holland, the Duke of Exeter. Although Henry Holland was not at Hexham his Household longbowmen were today as I needed them to make up numbers.  

So with Nigel and Ian commanding the Yorkists I took command of the Lancastrians. I left the room for a few minutes whilst the Yorkist command came up with a cunning plan. They also won the dice off for who moved first and they decided to come at me, no doubt hoping to push the Lancastrians back into the river. 

Yorkists on the left about to do their rapid advance against the Lancastrians on the right.

Note that not all flags and banners are the correct ones, we just used what we had. 

In response to the Yorkists quick advance I decided my troops needed to be away from the river so that I could not be forced back into it (as happened historically). I had planned to counter attack with Sir Humphrey Neville's and Somerset's divisions. I was wanting the 'cowardly' Hungerford to hold back a bit as I did not trust him to do well in any melee. Hungerford did not agree with me as he blundered his orders and ended up charging the enemy. By the end of turn 1 the whole battle line was in melee across the board.

To my amazement Hungerford's men battered Greystoke's division (destroying one unit in a single charge) and Somerset broke through the Yorkist centre. Things also went well on my left as Sir Humhprey Neville tore into Willoughby's division causing disorder and shaken tokens to be placed by at least two of their units.  

In turn 2 the Yorkists fought back. Nigel sent Greystoke back in against Hungerford's men and Hungerford sadly lost his life in the melee even though his men were winning the melee. In the centre John Neville, Baron Montague was wounded in the melee. On the right Ian's division led by Willoughby was in real trouble with most of his units shaken by now. The Yorkists lost two units this turn and the Lancastrians lost one...and yes it was the newly painted Household longbow! 

Turn 3 saw the bloodbath continue across the board and a whole flurry of shaken (yellow) and disordered (red) counters were gained by the Yorkists. The Lancastrians were definitely gaining the upper hand. 

In this photo, Hungerford's division, (now led by his co-commander Baron Roos) smashed into Greystokes men once again, breaking the front unit and pushing the supporting unit back shaken and dis-ordered.

With several units destroyed and the bulk of their surviving units both shaken and in disorder the Yorkist command conceded the battle after just 3 turns. 

For the victorious Lancastrians Somerset and his men had fought very well but the now sadly deceased Hungerford had led his men forward in a blundered reckless charge and help win the battle. 

This was a fast, fun game with some units not even getting a chance to shoot any missiles as both sides rushed into melee. It was a complete blood bath across the board but with the Lancastrians dice throwing being on top form today (for once!). With history re-written Somerset went off looking for a few Yorkist commanders to behead in nearby Hexham! 

Next week we have decided to try the Second battle of St Albans scenario. 

The Battle of Blore Heath 1459.

 Charlie very kindly offered to host our next Wars of the Roses game using the recent Hail Caesar supplement. Charlie has a much larger gaming table than me which meant we would have so much more room for deployment and manoeuvre. His gaming room is also nice and light which has helped with the quality of my photo's. Charlie chose Blore Heath as the scenario with himself commanding the Yorkists leaving Ian and I controlling the Lancastrians and determined to alter the course of history. 

Deployment, largely following the suggested deployment in the book but Charlie had evidence of artillery being in the Yorkist baggage camp so he took one medium gun deployed there. Yorkists on the left, Lancastrians on the right. You can clearly see Wemberton Brook and the road with Blore Heath Mill at this end of the table. Charlie was even able to model the rise and fall of the landscape to great effect with various 'lumps' placed under his wargames mat. . 

Looking along Baron Welles' division led by Ian. They took a bold move forward on the 1st turn hoping that Sir Hugh Venables and his cavalry would follow. Sadly Venables failed his 'whole division advance' order on each of the first three turns.

Yorkist baggage camp. 

Blore Heath Mill

Turn 4 and finally Sir Hugh Venables gets his cavalry moving. So Ian and I started to advance the rest of our troops. Crossing the river played havoc amongst the Lancastrians with 'disorder' all round. Charlie added to our misery by laying down a real arrowstorm at the same time. 

Happily Baron Welles (Ian) had replied with an arrowstorm of his own breaking a Yorkist household unit over on our left.  

Sir Hugh Venables boldly leads his cavalry in a charge through a gap in the Yorkist defensive line of stakes. Managing to throw a grand total of '3' on his break test caused by the Yorkist closing fire Venables' lead unit was forced back. 

 

Next Lancastrian turn, Venables led his Knights back into melee again and this time they break through and cause havoc amongst the Yorkist foot. 

Baron Dudley led the charge by his infantry division on our right wing and after some fierce fighting also started to break through the Yorkist division led by Sir John Neville. 

Charlie hoped that Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury would lead his troops forward but Neville was killed by Venables cavalry. Some of the Yorkist foot were pushed back so much they left the table. By turn 8 the game was really going the Lancastrian way. Salisbury's division was broken and Sir John Neville's division was in real trouble. At this point after lots of fierce fighting over the last 3 turns we had to halt the game but it looked like a convincing Lancastrian win and history was rewritten. 

This was a very enjoyable game that seemed to be going the Yorkist's way until the Lancastrians finally managed to get their superior numbers into play. Thanks to Charlie for hosting a really fun afternoon of gaming. 

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