Battle for the Ridge, 15mm General d'Armee.

 Howard was hosting today and he had devised a 15mm Napoleonic game of General d'Armee where the British and Allied troops had to hold a ridge against a larger French forces advance. Ian and Howard took control of the French whilst I was in charge of the Allies. 

The British Forces were as follows...

British

1^st Inf. Brigade 3 x Skirmish bases (plus Nassau Jaeger)

2^nd Inf. Brigade 4 x Skirmish bases

Commanding: Lambert

3 x ADCs available

Additional ADC on turn 4 when Kempt arrives.

1st Inf. Brigade	2/1st Foot Guards	Large	Elite
	1/52nd Light	Large	Elite
	Nassau Jaeger	4 bases	skirmish
	Royal Artillery 9pdr	Standard	Line
2nd Inf. Brigade	2/33rd West Riding	Standard	Line
	2/69th South Lincs.	Standard	Line
	1/92nd Gordons	Standard	Veteran
	1/28th North Glouc.	Standard	Line
	Royal Horse Art 9pdr	Standard	Line
Cavalry Brigade	11th Light Dragoons	Standard – Battle Cav.	Line
	7th Hussars	Standard – Battle Cav.	Line
Independent	RHA Rocket Troop	Standard	Line

and opposing them were the French...

French

Imp Guard 2 x Skirmish Bases

1^st Inf. Brigade 5 x Skirmish bases

2^nd Inf. Brigade 4 x Skirmish bases

Commanding: Vandamme

5 x ADCs available

Imperial Guard	1/1st Chassuers	Standard	Elite
	2/1st Chassuers	Standard	Elite
	Foot Artillery 12pdr	Standard	Elite
1st Inf. Brigade	1/55th Ligne	Standard	Line
	2/55th Ligne	Standard	Line
	1/28th Ligne	Standard	Line
	2/28th Ligne	Small	Line
	3/28th Ligne	Small	Reservist
	Foot Artillery 8pdr	Standard	Line
2nd Inf. Brigade	1/105th Ligne	Standard	Veteran
	2/105th Ligne	Standard	Veteran
	1/54th Ligne	Standard	Line
	2/54th Ligne	Small	Line
1st Cavalry Brigade	1st Hussars	Standard – Battle Cav.	Line
	2nd Hussars	Standard – Battle Cav.	Line
2nd Cavalry Brigade	3rd Dragoons	Small – Battle Cav.	Veteran
	4th Dragoons	Small – Battle Cav.	Veteran

Here is the view from behind the French as they start to advance. 

Below is the view of the British on the ridge.

and along the British line.

The French High Command discuss their advance

 (Howard and Ian wondering whether to advance or eat more cake?).

The cavalry on both sides saw a lot of action. My attempt to break through on the left flank and hopefully cause a delay in the French advance failed miserably. 

In the photo below you can see the French skirmishers advancing through the rough ground with the French Line delaying their advance on the left flank as most of the action happened on the other flank. 

On the French right Flank, having beaten off my cavalry probe the Imperial Guard managed to wipe out my artillery and advance onto the far end of the ridge. With time running out it seemed like the French were going to gradually roll up the British so we awarded the French the game. 

This was another great game played in the usual friendly spirit. We are slowly getting used to the rules and always enjoy the accurate period feel of them.    

Vikings

 I seem to be doing a lot of hobby reading and painting based around Vikings at the moment. Here is my latest creation, a 28mm Viking Warlord (Eric Bloodaxe) with a hand drawn/hand painted Raven/Landwaster Banner. I shamelessly borrowed ideas for the banner from the old Ian Heath WRG book on Dark Age troops and also the free banners you can download from Wargames Foundry. 

I first started painting 28mm Vikings in 1999 when I took advantage of a Wargames Foundry offer of a random box of 50 of their Dark Age figures for £20. 

28mm figures really have suffered from scale creep over the years. In the photo above, old Foundry figures, double based on 2 washers are at the front with a couple of more recent figures in the background towering over them. 

I also have some of the early Gripping Beast figures in my Viking Force, the banners here are also hand painted. 

Here is a photo of my Viking Warband so far, aimed at rules such as Blood Eagle, Lion Rampant (Dark Age variant), Ravenfeast etc... 39 figures painted in 22 years! (There are several more currently on the painting table making 2021 a very productive Viking year for me so far. 

I  am also trying to resist the urge to buy/paint up a 15mm Viking Army that could then be used for larger battles using rules such as Hail Caesar, TTS and with a few 'mythical' additions, Fantastic Battles. 

Romans against Britons, Hail Caesar in 10mm.

 This week we ventured to Ancient Britain where the Romans were trying to capture a village on a hill before the occupying British troops were re-enforced by other local tribes. The scenario was loosely adapted from one in the 'Britannia' supplement. Ian and Phil took on the role of leading the invading Romans whilst I commanded the Ancient British. 

In this photo the Roman forces are just starting to enter the battlefield, you can just make out the village and it's defenders in the background. 

The first melee of the game saw some of the central warband charge into the romans and destroy a unit of Legionaries. If they timed their charge well, British warbands were tough in round one of melee. 

Turn 2 saw the first British re-enforcements arrive, followed by more on turn 3. 

However, once in battle the Roman troops proved to be a bit to tough for the British. Unit by unit the British were reduced in numbers until it became obvious they could not hold the village. Overall it was a close game but the increasing casualties inflicted on the British gave the Romans the win. 

This photo is for Ian who wanted the retreat of the British leader Bradan back to the village minus his warbands and his troops broken recorded for all time! 

 

The Battle of Malene, Sparta v Persia, 15mm Hail Caesar

 A couple of weeks after their defeat at the hands of the Spartans, the Persian army has re-grouped and grown in number. Savaging the land before them, destroying towns and temples as they advanced, it was no surprise to the Persians when the Spartans marched to meet them once again, just south of the Cythara Mountains by the small town of Malene. Here we go for another fictitious battle between the Spartans and the Persians. 

To add some uncertainty to the game I drew up a set of 12 random cards, each player was allowed to select one and use it to the benefit of their side. Dice decided that Ian and Phil would be the Spartans this time with Howard and myself playing the Persians. Deployment as in the photo's below. 

The card I drew allowed me to upgrade my General to a command level 9 which proved very useful in every turn of the command phase. Howards card stunted enemy shooting for one turn. Phil had a card that halved a command's movement by half for one turn due to marshy ground. Phil played the card in turn 1 as Howard tried to get his cavalry division forward. It paid off as Phil was then able to out manoeuvre Howard during his next turn. 

I sent my scythed chariot in to attack Ian's hoplites but his skirmishers blocked it, shot at it and then finally allowed one unit to be destroyed by mopping up the chariots attacks. 

Ian and Phil were trying to get their hoplites forward as fast as possible to avoid missile casualties but the marshy terrain in the table centre and some 'average' command throws prevented that. Phil was first to contact but he had been so shot up by the Persian troops that they were actually able to defeat the Spartan Hoplites. On both wings the clash of cavalry was also gradually going the way of the Persians. Then came the final big battle. Ian charged his 3 units of hoplites into my command of levy, Immortals and Sparabara. Ian had craftily worked on phalanx around my flank then got the command roll allowing him 3 moves as he declared his charges. 

My levy troops lasted 3 turns of melee before being shattered, despite being charged in the flank as well as the front. The Immortals by contrast routed after the first round of melee. Thus the Spartans, having cleared the flanks of cavalry then won the whole battle by causing my formed troops to rout. 

This was a really close fought battle and was swinging one way then the next until the final big hammer blow by the Spartans. Great fun was had by all.  

In other news Chris has completed his very ambitious build for the Townscape Challenge, look at this rather excellent 28mm scale Inn. Chris also plans to add stables and surrounding walls at some point. This will make a great centre piece of any village we put on the table for our games. Top marks to that man!

I also painted a few 28mm Vikings to add to my ever so slowly growing collection.