25mm Old School Napoleonics.

 Our small group of gamers enjoyed a game of 'Old School' Napoleonics using Nigel's figures and rules. His figures are a mix of Hinchliffe, Minifigs and Lamming, many of which were bought and painted over 40 years ago. 

These are the rules that Nigel used back then and we used them again today. 

Here is the British force, before deployment and led by Ian and myself. 

The French force, before deployment and led by Nigel and Charlie.

Ian took control of the British cavalry supported by the horse artillery. 

Nigel's lated recruits, some French lancers led by Charlie. They cam hurtling down the road and charging my British Allies line infantry broke right through them and with good morale throws were able to turn and charge back through them, causing that unit to withdraw. 

For our trial game of the rules the objective was kept simple, capture the crossroads. 

I sent my British Line unit forward towards the crossroads. You can also see Nigel's French infantry heading for the crossroads. 

Ian's dragoons chased off the French light cavalry then turned to try and get around the flank of the French infantry but also faced Nigels artillery. 

Ian declared his charge on the rear/flank of the French infantry (who had charged my British by then) assisted by Charlie's infantry). Nigel's artillery did enough damage on the French Hussars to prevent their charge so my poor British were left outnumbered in the centre. 

My British infantry took a bit of a beating and were also forced to withdraw. 

This left the French in command of the crossroads and the British force in tatters.  

A clear win for the French. 

The French Lancers were awarded 'unit of the game' and proved that the newly painted unit does not always do badly in their first game. 

So the game was fun and we enjoyed using the old school rules. However, there were a few areas of the rules that were perhaps not explained as clearly as they might have been. Another area of confusion was that each figure was worth a certain number of points in melee and missile fire. The confusing part was that a figure worth 1pt in melee might be worth 1.5pts in missile fire so we had to try and remember these varying factors. The rules are also a bit chart heavy. However with a bit of tweaking and refinement these would be an enjoyable set of rules. 

Crush the Kaiser, the decider!

 Nigel was hosting again for another 1914 themed battle. Could Ian (French) and myself (British and Belgians) defeat Nigel and his Germans in a final encounter battle. All figures are 20mm from a variety of ranges. We soon sorted out an easy random deployment system using a simple d6 throw.

Nigel's early dice throws were great, far better than ours so the Germans quickly got lots of troops on the table including this unit of lancers heading for the central bridge. 

Nigel went for a quick advance before to many of the allied troops turned up. 

Loads of Germans, all advancing. 

Eventually the allied troops arrived (on the right) and decided to use the shallow river as a defensive line.

Ian sent his two units of French lancers charging into some German artillery before they could fire and destroyed 2 out of 3 of the guns. 

My newly painted Belgian Carabinier Cyclists, were just getting into position when Nigel fired on them, pinning them in place. They never managed to recover so remained by the river for the rest of the game.  

Ian got his French troops tucked in along the river bank just in time as the massed German attack down that flank arrived. 

Lots of Germans advancing.  

The game developed into a fierce firefight across the river with many casualties on both sides. However, as we had spent so long chatting and setting the world right we failed to finish more than 6 moves. Thus with both sides set for a long fight we had to call the game a draw. We had perhaps used too many troops but it looked great and we had fun with many of the situations that cropped up.  So this game was not really a decider!

Next week Nigel is treating us to a game of old school Napoleonics using his 25mm Mini-Figs, Hinchliffe and Lamming miniatures and some rules from the same date. Should be fun. 

More 'Crush the Kaiser', 20mm WW1.

 We were back at Nigel's house today for another game of 20mm  early war WW1 using the 'Crush the Kaiser' rules again. With the weather so nice Nigel had set the table up in his garden which was lovely although the sun played havoc with some of my photo's. 

For today's game the scenario was that the Belgian/French alliance had to fight back after last week's defeat by advancing on the German defensive line and drive them back. Both sides drew plans of their deployment and the Belgian/French alliance took the first move advancing onto the table.

Ian's French are nearest on our left flank, my Belgians took the centre with just a couple of French mounted units on the right flank, on the other side of the river. 

The French advancing.

(note the pale ones at the rear, these are Nigel's French figures lent to Ian for today. When he spray varnished them he had the nightmare of the varnish causing a clouded effect on his figures).

Some of my Belgian infantry trying to advance in column down the road. 

That was a mistake as Nigel's heavy artillery targeted them causing many casualties on the front unit and 'pinning' them in place. 

Over on the right flank, the two French cavalry units dismounted and charged some German dismounted cavalry that had taken cover in the houses. Much to my surprise the French won and drove the Germans out of the building allowing us to occupy it. 

This completed the French Cavalry's orders. 

A view of the Belgian infantry advancing. 

Here is the German 105mm artillery that were targeting my Belgian Infantry. 

After the first two rounds they were then largely ineffective. 

They were tucked behind the slope of the hill and so difficult for us to target back. 

The Belgians sent a runner to change to French Cavalry's orders, it was too far for him and he never arrived before the end of the game. 

Two of the general's sporting their summer headgear. 

(at our age we need it). 

Ian's French managed to 'pin' the Germans hiding in and around the ruined church. 

Ian sent his French infantry storming in, pushing the Germans out of the church and also defeating them in the fields.  

The victorious French infantry are now storming around the flank of the church. With the Belgians also now pushing the German infantry back in the centre the Germans broke and fled leaving the Belgian/French alliance victorious. 

We all really enjoyed the game again this week. The rules worked well and flowed more quickly this week as we had all reread them. We hope to play another game in a couple of weeks. 

20mm WW1,using 'Crush the Kaiser' rules.

 We were at Nigel's house today for a game of 20mm World War One using the excellent 'Over by Christmas' rules from the 'Crush the Kaiser' series of rules. Ian used his Early War French, I was his Belgian ally leaving Nigel in control of the Germans. Nigel had devised a scenario where the more numerous Germans had to advance onto the table and take 3 bridges that crossed a central. The French and Belgians were supposed to be trying to hold the bridges thus delaying the German advance but they had arrived late and were only just entering the table. 

The table before any troops arrived. 

The Germans were coming in from the left, the French and Belgians from the right. 

The Belgian/FRench alliance chose to defend by hitting the Germans as they were packed in crossing the bridges. 

The German lancers wasted no time in claiming the central bridge. We used the weather chart which decided it was foggy or misty on the first two turns before it finally cleared on turn 3. This allowed both sides to get their units on the table without being 'observed'. 

The German lancers moved across the bridge but then as the mist cleared they saw the Belgian Field gun pointing straight at them. The Field gun fired and caused enough casualties on the cavalry to 'pin' them.  

The Belgian Minerva armoured car positioned itself to cover any advance over the right hand bridge. 

Good shooting from the Belgians destroyed the first german gun to try and cross the central bridge. We left the destroyed gun in place counting it as an obstacle to any troops trying to pass by. 

Over on the left side Ian's French took up a strong position only to find that Nigel's Germans had largely ignored that flank. 

A view along the German frontline. We judged that the river bank counted as soft cover for any troops behind it. 

Back in the centre more Germans were crossing the bridge where a fierce firefight was taking place. The Belgians seemed to be coping well. 

Gradually sheer numbers started to turn the battle in favour of the Germans. 

The French were holding the left hand bridge but were only facing a tentative German probe. 

As the Germans charged into the Belgian troops the Belgians were starting to feel overwhelmed. 

Eventually the Belgian Battalion suffered so many casualties they were forced to take a Morale test which they failed and ran. The Germans gleefully stormed over the right hand bridge and had taken the central bridge. Thus a well deserved German victory for Nigel was called. 

We had only played these rules a few times before but we had all re-read them before the game so soon picked them up again and the game had moved along quite smoothly. It was so much fun we play again next week as the French/Belgian alliance try to strike back. 

 

28mm Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Barnet

 Today we all took our 28mm Wars of the Roses figures over to Charlie's house for a game of Hail Caesar. Charlie had devised a scenario. based around the Battle of Barnet, using the scenario from the Wars of the Roses supplement and some ideas Charlie found online. Nigel and I took control of the Lancastrians with Ian and Charlie controlling the Yorkists. Common thought is that this battle was fought in mist so Charlie had come up with some ideas to represent this too. First, deployment was done Lancastrians first then our troops were covered with tracing paper to disguise deployment then the Yorkists deployed and took the first turn. 

Lancastrians to the left, Yorkists to the right.

Centre left was this mdf farm, really nice buildings although I forgot to ask where Charlie got them from. 

In the centre both sides decided to attack so closed quite quickly. 

The battle was taking place in the mist and we threw each turn to see if it either cleared or got worse. 

Most of the battle took place in thick mist so visibility was only 6" during most turns. This really affected play and Charlie also limited the range that orders could be given at. 

The two armies soon closed in the centre and right. Over on the left Nigel's smallest division (Duke of Gloucester) was facing a larger Yorkist division controlled by Ian (Richard Duke of Gloucester). This was going to be a memorable clash. 

Some good shooting saw the Lancastrians slowly getting the better of things in the centre.

Gloucester (Ian) at the top closes in on Exeter (Nigel) who, being outnumbered was just trying to hold his flank. 

Large holes start to appear in the Yorkist centre after some severe clashes. 

Some units were destroyed , others were driven back 'shattered'.  

Then the Duke of Exeter (Nigel) took control, charging into Charlie's larger division led by the Duke of Gloucester, Exeter destroyed 3 enemy units, killed Gloucester and captured EdwardVI back from the Yorkists. With the Lancastrians easily winning in the centre the Yorkist commanders conceded defeat. Lancaster was triumphant, Edward VI was back on the throne and history was re-written. 

This was an action packed game despite the chaos caused by the limited moves and restricted vision. There were also several blunders to add to the mayhem.

Man of the Match: Nigel (Duke of Exeter).  

Finally, I have finished a Viking Command base for my slowly growing Hail Caesar Viking army. This is supposed to be Harald Hardrada, a very large '28mm' figure from Wargames Foundry. The standard bearer is an Athena Miniatures figure. The actual standard is from a free download of Viking flags available on the Wargames Foundry website. I printed the main design then painted over it to bring it to life a bit more.