FIASCO wargames show October, 31st 2021

 I had a wonderful day out at the FIASCO wargames show at the Royal Armouries in Leeds today. This was a very well organised event (apart from the contactless payment catering which caused a few problems for hungry and thirsty folk). It was great to be back at a wargame show, having travelled down with the lads from the SaD (Settle and District) Wargames club (Howard, Ian and Phil), I also had chance to meet up with other friends including Chris (who I have been gaming with for nearly 40 years now) and Nigel. 

There was a good mix of traders allowing me to buy a varied bag of goodies to keep me busy on a range of projects at home - I also did a restock on paints and brushes. 

 There were also some excellent looking display and participation games so I took a few photo's.

Great Viking Raid game using Warhammer Ancient battles from Durham Wargames Club. 

Never Mind the Billhooks, the Battle of Stoke Field

Italian Wars from the Harrogate Wargames Club (I think).

All in all, a great day out!

Border Raid; 10mm Romans take on the Ancient British Tribes using Hail Caesar.

 Set up and planning for today's game was quite simple, I used the 'Border Raid' scenario direct from the main rulebook (p128), making copies of the Roman and Britons brief's for the players. Due to the varying Roman deployments and with most of the British troops not deployed until they are spotted or move I decided it would be best if I was one of the British players. Fate then decided that Ian would play General Bagotrix (we had two commands each). That left Howard and Phil in charge of the Romans. 

This first photo shows the Romans advancing onto the table in search of the British tribesmen.

The British Herdsman spotted the Romans and ran to raise the alarm, only to then fail his command throws for 3 turns in a row resulting him being overrun by the Romans. Happily the sentries were able to spot the rapidly advancing Romans and lit the beacon to raise the tribes. My main command under Catubatrenus entered the table in the top corner on turn 4...

 ...but the village (bottom left) had been set to the torch by Roman General Marcus Spandex (Howard), see the photo below. 

Today really proved to be Howards day as leaving the village his troops surged forward to meet Ian's main command, Bagotrix and his men. I don't think Howard has ever thrown so many 6's as his legions were able to withstand the wild charge of Ian's British warriors and over 3 turns beat them in the melee and wounding first Bagotrix and then the Druid Alibongo who had rushed his fanatics forward to help. Howard gradually ground all of Ian's troops including the fanatics to breakpoint (that was two broken divisions out of 4 but with the villagers already gone that made 3 broken divisions = defeat).  

On the other side of the table Phil had taken quite a few turns to get his cavalry command moving and my Warband were equally reluctant to advance. When his cavalry finally did clash with my chariots we fought each other to a standstill on the large hill whilst my Warbands were still being reluctant to move forward (see bottom right of photo above). 

The Romans had managed to advance, destroy the first village, capture the roaming cattle and then destroy 3 out of 4 of the British commands. My troops then opted to withdraw. Game over with a resounding Roman victory. We are really enjoying our games of Hail Caesar which seem to be becoming our Ancients rules of choice. 

The Battle of Unicorn Tower, a 10mm game of Fantastic Battles.

 It is only around 11 months since I purchased my copy of the Fantastic Battles rulebook. Having really liked the rules and enjoyed a couple of solo games I am so happy that today I finally got to play a game with other real people. We were using my 10mm Elf and Barbarian armies although both Ian (humans and nature) and Phil (orcs and goblins) do have 15mm armies they are painting up ready for these rules. Happily I have my 15mm Delvians (or Fey as I prefer to call them) and have made a tentative start on creating a 15mm Viking/Northlander army with Copplestone Casting and Forged in Battle miniatures. 

A few Copplestone figures rebased for Fantastic Battles

The idea behind todays game was a simple encounter between two forces of just over 850 points. To add a bit more fantasy flavour I used the rules for 'settlements' on p21 of the rules for any unit/character who was brave (or daft) enough to explore the ruins of Unicorn Tower. The tower I built some years ago and suits both 10mm and 15mm figures. 

I took a couple of photo's of the army characters exploring Unicorn Tower before the battle began. The barbarian war mammoth also posed for a photo in which, if you look carefully, you can see the unicorn that gives the tower it's name. 

So how did the game play? We loved it! We randomly decided that Ian and I would play the Elves whilst Phil would be the Barbarians. Having deployed in fairly neat lines the 'Mishaps' phase played havoc with that as my elf mounted scouts charged forwards only to be met by the barbarian scouts who had to do the same. This action dominated the left flank with neither side able to get the upper hand for some time although Phil made very good use of his 'curse' spell. Elsewhere, on the right flank the Barbarians were able to get a character into the Unicorn Tower and opted to 'Consult the Priests'. Sadly for them they only scored a '3' which proved to be of not much use. Elf archery was good and finally prompted the barbarians forward. Here the Elf mage used her 'Blink' spell to good effect, blinking friends into melee and enemy units out of melee. In the centre my Elf Knights bravely charged into the War Mammoth which was then supported by the Barbarian archer unit.

 At this point something crucial happened. During the melee's four out of five Barbarian characters fell in battle. This quickly put a stranglehold on barbarian movement with only one character left to guide them. The two big melee's continued but the elves won them both taking the Barbarians to their break point.  

Elf mounted scouts surged forward into all sorts of trouble in the 'mishaps' phase.

The barbarians claim Unicorn Tower

The elves fight back with all sorts of units hurling themselves into the fray by normal movement and by magic using the 'Blink' spell. 

All three players really enjoyed the game and in particular how careful you have to be with deploying characters with units to ensure you can move as you wish. We all made leadership mistakes leading to lots of random moves which often foiled our plans. Both Blink and Curse proved to be very powerful spells and certainly added to the story of the game. We probably got one or two things a little wrong but a careful re-read of the rules will help put us straight. Phil has already bought a copy of the rules and now Ian says he is going to get a copy too.  When we next play it will hopefully be in 15mm with my Fey taking a starring role.