28mm Dark Ages trying War and Conquest.

I managed to get a few light cavalry painted up ready for this weeks game.  

Charlie invited Ian and me over to his wonderful wargames barn to have a go at the 'War and Conquest' rules using our 28mm Dark Age figures. Charlie had played the rules a few times but Ian and I were new to this set although I had read through my copy before the game. 

This was going to be a big game with around 4,000pts per side. 

For deployment the two forces were offset from each other across the breadth of the table. 

Here is Charlie's deployment, he was in control of the Norman rulers and he tended to use quite large units. 

Ian and I were in charge of the Norman rebels with Anglo-Danish and Viking allies. 

Using the 'double pace' for movement the two armies soon closed on each other. 

Charlie's table is roughly 9 foot x 5 foot. 

Both armies are now within shooting range. 

Charlies suffered from very poor dice throwing early on whilst I scored seven 6's out of ten dice thrown with one of my units!

Charlie's Peuri come round our right flank, fail their charge attempt on Ian's light cavalry and were soon chased off, never to rally. 

Ian's Vikings charge into Charlie's dismounted Milites, the first of several epic melee's. 

Over on the left flank a large cavalry clash was about to happen. 

Chaos in the centre as Charlie caused many of Ian's infantry units to flee, things were not looking good for the Rebel forces. 

Happily, Ian managed to rally his troops and as my Infantry started to enter the melee as well we fought our way back into the game. I forgot to take any more photo's as the game was in it's final frenzy with melee's across the board. On the left my milites just managed to get the edge over Charlies milites. We also seemed to gain the upperhand in the centre, steadily starting to push Charlies Infantry back to where they had come from and Ian finally took control of the right flank. A rebel victory was declared but it was a mighty battle. 

A great game, closely fought but yet another set of rules to learn. 'War and Conquest' are similar in some respects to 'On Bloody Ground' but have more complex 'layers' which can slow the action down a bit but also add more flavour. Units also seemed to flee and then rally rather too often (if we were playing it right). I shall have a good look through the rules to check on a few things to see where we got it right and where we got it wrong.

NOTE: I have spotted in the rules that we were perhaps not throwing as many dice as we should on some of those morale checks. 

15mm Soldiers of Napoleon trial game.

 We recently bought a set of the 'Soldiers of Napoleon' rulebook and cards as part of our quest for a good set of Napoleonic rules for our club/group games. Today we set up a few brigades on each side and played through a few turns to see what we thought of the rules.  

The British rifles quickly capture the church... 

...and the French capture the farm. 

Ian's troops advance toward the farm. 

The French in the farm easily repulse the British infantry, destroying one of the line units. 

Nigel decides to advance his line. 

The British rocket launcher only managed 4 shots in the game. 

 Needing a '6' to hit they scored two hits! 

We only managed three turns as we struggled to get to grips with the rules. From the Victory points earned Nigel and his French were clear winners.

So, overall what did we think of the rules? 

There is a large amount of Napoleonic 'flavour' within the rules aided by the 'special events' on the cards that come with the rules and also in the way the rules are written. The army lists also encourage a correct period atmosphere. However, the rules have so many 'layers' that in a first game it is slow work getting through each turn with much referring to the rulebook. However, now that we have played the game once we all feel that there is a great set of rules contained with the book. A careful re-read of the rules should allow for a faster moving, much better second game.   

Two games of Napoleonics with two different sets of rules.

 Happily I have played two games over the last few days. First up Howard invited me over to his house for a game of General D'Armee (GdA). Howard set up a scenario where my British were on the defensive and had to hold onto Le Haye Saint for 8 turns (or 5pm if that came sooner) and he had to try and capture it. Although the French as attacker had more Brigades we both had re-enforcements hopefully arriving soon. 

The British advance on their right flank to try and hold that flank of Le Haye Saint. 

On the left flank the French did not advance very far until their hoped for Cavalry Brigade appeared. 

Finally Howard throws the right dice to bring on the cavalry. 

Howard charges his lancers into my Hussars and despite Howard having more dice the lancers lose the melee and retreat back to their own lines. 

In the centre Howard made three separate attempts to storm the British garrison and all failed. 

Finally Howard threw his cavalry forward again and despite his lancers throwing well the Hussars threw a double six forcing them to fall back again. The dice only really failed me on the off table ADC throws as my hoped for Brigade of Dutch Re-enforcements failed to appear. 

This was a game severely affected by Howards poor luck on the dice and my overall good luck. This was very strange as we were both using his dice! Overall a good fun game and we certainly got through the turns quicker than in any previous game of GdA. Setting a time and turn limit helped focus the action in the centre of the table and the British Garrison did well to fend off all those French attacks. 

Today Ian, Nigel, Charlie and myself met at my house for a game of Valour and Fortitude. Nigel and Charlie took command of the larger French force, Ian and I were the British. 

The scenario had the French trying to withdraw from the board against the advancing British. They also had to hold a hill on the east side of the board and blow up the bridge over the river. The British needed to try and capture both the bridge and the hill. The game was to be 8 turns long (or a 5pm finish). A quick dice throw decided that the French sappers would arrive on turn 3. With the French deploying first they positioned a whole battery of 4 guns on the hill and then some of their troops went on the offensive to try and slow the British advance down whilst other Brigades escaped over the bridge. 

Nigel had also made some very good 'Fate Cards' which were much better than looking their effects up on the various armylists. I wish I had taken a photo of them for the blog. The Fate cards are a simple way of introducing both random events and national traits/army specific rules.  

My light cavalry unit did rather well, chasing off Nigel's Heavy Dragoons thanks mainly to be a slightly larger Brigade and some great dice throwing. Sadly, the Royal Horse Artillery failed their activation roll at least 3 times and never managed to get deployed or be of any use at all. 

Some of the French deployed ahead of the bridge as they had a secondary escape route around the side of the hill to the east. Random dice throws also forced the French to withdraw whole Brigades and I think the French lost 3 Brigades in this way over the course of the game.  

Charlie took some of his French Infantry to Garrison the Farm near the centre of the battle which really slowed up the British advance as it took Ian ages to dislodge him from there.  

Ian marches his British Infantry towards the Farmhouse.

Nigel's French Heavy Cavalry threaten my British Infantry who were not going to advance any nearer to them. The whole of Nigel's French cavalry was soon one of the Brigades forced to withdraw immediately. 

The ruler points to the last of the French cavalry on the western flank, the whole Brigade was forced to withdraw by a random dice throw just as they threatened to get around the rear of Ian's troops. 

French troops withdrawing over the bridge.

Took me some time to deploy my rocket launcher but it managed a six on it's first shot. 

After this I forgot to take any more photos as there was so much going on. The French managed to blow the bridge up on turn 6 and by the end of turn 7 it was obvious that the British were not even going to get near the hill. So a clear win for the French as they had achieved both objectives but a good fun game. If I were to play this scenario again I think I would make the two forces more evenly balanced to try and prevent too much of the French delaying tactics. 

So, having played both 'General D'Armee' (GdA) and 'Valour and Fortitude' (V&F) in the last few days which set of rules do I prefer. I think GdA, as a fuller set of rules contains more Napoleonic 'flavour' but can be a bit slow moving at times. V&F is a much slimmer and therefore simpler set of rules but gives a faster moving game ideal for our Tuesday games which are usually multi-player. Overall I think I prefer V&F but am happy to play either.

Just for fun, next week we are going to play 'Soldiers of Napoleon' for the first time. Our fourth set of Napoleonic rules in recent games. My poor brain!

It was good to have Charlie playing again today and happily for me he is keen to try the Dark Age rules 'On Bloody Ground' soon so expect a Norman civil war soon. 

 

15mm Valour and Fortitude

 So we had a second game of the free Napoleonic rule set 'Valour and Fortitude' today. To prepare for the game I had been busy painting up some new stuff, light dragoons, a rocket team and a few command bases as I was a little short on them. Both Ian and Nigel had painted a few new units as well. 

The new troops muster for parade. 

Closer view of the 13th Light Dragoons. 

The light dragoons now complete Maj. Gen. Grant's cavalry brigade. 

With the plumbers arriving  a day early to rip our kitchen apart to move the boiler before our new kitchen is installed meant we had to do a quick switch of venue to Nigel's house for today's game. 

Nigel set up his lovely model of Le Haye Saint (from 'Hovels') mid table and we placed a small British Garrison in it. The main French force (Nigel and Ian) arrived from the North to try and take the farm and my slightly smaller British force arrived from the south to help maintain the British control of the farm. We set out to play 8 turns. 

Le Haye Saint posing as an anonymous farmstead with a small British garrison.

Here come the French...

...and here comes the British.

The British Light Cavalry aided by the RH Artillery hold the British right flank. 

They were faced by a French Heavy Cavalry Brigade who obviously did not fancy their chances against the Light Cavalry and the RHA. 

Lovely lots of British infantry advance to help hold the farmstead. 

 

British foot artillery deploy to try and deter any French advance. 

First French assault is repulsed. 

British infantry try to ward off the advancing French heavy cavalry. 

The French infantry keep advancing. It was at this point we decided that playing along the length of the table we had perhaps set up too far apart and spent too long trying to get into position. 

The French were getting shot up by the British and the unit assaulting the Farmstead had been routed, resulting in lots of Wavering tokens on the Brigade leader. 

By the end of turn 7 it was clear that the French would not be able to take the Farmstead in 8 turns. A second French assault had also been fought off and the main assaulting unit routed.  (I had  found time to replace the original garrison with a fresh unit).

So we called it a British victory although if we had deployed a move or two closer to each other there would certainly have been more melee. 

Overall the rules give a fun and fast moving game but as is perhaps to be expected within a set of rules only several pages long, there are a few areas not covered. Happily, being sensible gamers we are able to think it through and come up with a common solution. For instance, when the Garrison was called upon to make a Fortitude test, their bonuses for having won the melee and also having the Army leader within 12" resulted in them needing a score of 1+ on a d6. We went with this as it seemed apt even though we did think that maybe a roll of '1' should always be a fail? We play again next week. 

28mm 'On Bloody Ground' and a quick bit of 15mm 'Valour and Fortitude'.

 First up a few photo's of the most recently re-based 28mm Dark Age figures. Re-basing also means having to paint a few new figures to help make up units but I am really enjoying getting my rather haphazard collection into some form of fighting shape. 

A couple of units of Vikings; some figures in the formed unit are from the old Citadel range of Vikings, now produced by Wargames Foundry. In the game they represented Lord Bo of Craven and his men. 

I have also re-based my villagers to match my current basing style. These figures have seen action across several hundred years of British history. 

We also needed a few extra light cavalry for today's game so I quickly painted up these Picts which pretended to be Viking Scouts today. I also made a quick and easy turn counter. There is a square slot for the dice formed from matchsticks and the tree is just for decoration. Many games, 'On Bloody Ground' included play over six turns but happily my D12 also fits in the dice slot for longer games. All of the above were part of today's game.

I also got a unit of Anglo Danish Huscarles ready but these were not part of our game as I hadn't anticipated getting them ready in time as I had to paint a few extra figures to complete the unit. 

Finally, an Anglo Danish command stand and some baggage. 

I may get some twigs and make some 'logs' to be loaded in the back of the wagon. 

So, Ian and Nigel came round for a full day of gaming and we decided to play two games. Our first game today was a first try of 'On Bloody Ground' with the 28mm figures. We have played a couple of times before but in 15mm. Here is my plan for the game...

 The Battle of Ghigleswic, 1069

A scenario for the ‘On Bloody Ground’ rules.

The recently published rules ‘On Bloody Ground’ for wargaming in the 1066 period have recently motivated me to (at long last) rebase my 28mm Dark Age (or Early Medieval) figures. I have mainly Normans with just a few of units of Vikings and Anglo Danes and I am well on my way with all the rebasing so it is time to get some of them on the table.

Inspired by a recent visit to Lancaster Museum and their small display about Lancaster in Norman times I did a bit more research and came up with the a few extra interesting snippets and names plus some gaming ideas.

Lancaster, known as Loncastre back in Norman times was granted to Roger de Poitou in 1069 after the ‘Harrying of the North’. He was also granted lands around the Craven area where my gaming friends and I live (and we always enjoy games inspired by the real history of our home). Roger found Craven a difficult area to subjugate due to the isolated nature of it’s settlements spread amongst the hills and dales. Granting the land to Roger de Poitou had deposed Bo, the Lord of Craven who was probably not too happy about that. Another Norman Lord, Robert de Romille was granted lands around Skipton at the same time.

Using these few facts led me to come up with the following scenario idea. For our history 're-imagined' game, and limited by a largely Norman collection of figures I set up the scenario with Bo, the deposed Lord of Craven seeking an alliance with Robert de Romille asking for his help to rebel against Roger de Poitou. In return Bo would ask to be re-instated as Lord of Craven but as a vassal lord to Robert.

Bo, (who I am imagining as an Anglo-Dane so I can use my recently rebased units of Vikings) raised the local forces in rebellion and also hired some mercenary Irish freebooters (friend Ian’s contribution to the game). Robert de Romille came to fight alongside Bo with a small part of his Norman retinue. Hearing of the rebellion Roger de Poitou gathered his forces and hurried over to the Craven area, coming across the rebel forces in the valley close to the Saxon church of St Alekelda in Ghigleswic (modern Giggleswick).

The forces of Robert de Romille	The forces of Roger de Poitou
1x Duke: Robert de Romille 1x unit of Mounted Milites 1x unit of Liberi Spearmen 1x unit of Crossbow Armed Serjeants 1x unit of Coloni skirmishers with bow 1x Hersir: Lord Bo of Craven 1x unit of Viking Hirdmen 1x unit of Thrall skirmishers with bows 1x unit of Scots-Irish mercenaries 1x unit of Mounted Scouts	1x Duke: Roger de Poitou 1x Count: Count Wido 2x units of Mounted Milites 1x unit of Liberi Spearmen 1x unit of Stipendarii Mercenaries 1x unit of Liberi Archers 1x unit of skirmishing Serjeants with crossbow 1x unit of Pueri Light Cavalry

Objectives: for this 6 turn game, killing (or capturing) the enemy leaders is very important. Players will gain an extra 50 victory points for every enemy commander they can kill or capture. All other victory conditions as per the main rulebook. 

Nigel and Ian just after deployment. 

Ian played the part of Robert de Romille with Nigel as his ally Lord Bo of Craven. That left me in charge of the all Norman force of Roger de Poitou. Both sides had almost 1,700 points. 

Deployment with my Normans on the right.

First main action of the game saw my light cavalry see off the enemy mounted scouts and the nearby skirmish archers failed their panic test and also broke and ran.  

Big clash of mounted Knights in the centre, Ian's Knights got the upper hand until I was able to charge in with my other unit of knights as well. 

My light cavalry (bottom left) are now nicely placed behind Nigel's advancing warband. 

The two main parts of the armies close in on each other. 

My Norman archers were not very effective, mainly due to my poor dice throws. Here is their dice throw with 4 dice trying to wound the advancing crossbowmen. 

Ian.s Liberi Spearmen (top of pic) crash into the flank of my Mercenary Stipendarii and give them a good tonking just as Nigel's Warband crash through my spearmen ready to pounce on my baggage.  

A scattering of bodies is all that remains of my Stipendarii. We are not 100% we played the flank attack correctly but it was certainly devastating. 

After 5 turns we declared lunchtime and called it quits with the Rebel forces of Duke Robert and Lord Bo having killed many more of Duke Roger's men. However Duke Robert had just been captured by my Knights and Count Wido was captured by Nigel's rampaging warband. So a narrow win for the rebels but an interesting situation for the captured leaders that could be used for the next scenario.

The game was great fast, furious fun. There were a couple of things we were not too sure on but being sensible gamers we managed to fudge our way through.  I shall ask for clarification on the authors facebook page as they always give very fast feedback. 

After lunch, for our second game we had a go at playing the free rule set available to download from the Perry Miniatures website called 'Valour and Fortitude'. This is part of our continuing quest to find some quick play Napoleonic rules that will actually allow us to play a game to completion. 

This is a set of rules still under development so we downloaded the latest draft and armylists. Choosing armies of around 140 points we chose to play scenario1, 'Set Piece Battle'.

Placing 5 green counters as the objective points we deployed our armies and set too.  

My British approach the battlefield. 

Looking across the French lines. 

My Hussars getting taught a lesson by French Heavy Dragoons and my infantry facing a French grand battery. 

British infantry occupy the central farmhouse. 

Four turns played resulted in an even spread of the objectives claimed. 

As this was the first time we had played Valour and Fortitude (V+F) progress was understandably slow at first. After a couple of turns we started to speed up but it was sometimes difficult at times to find the rules we needed. The rules do give the impression of a fast fun game one you know what you are doing. However, having fitted in 4 turns we reckon a good re-read and another game next week should have us playing through turns much quicker. 

Overall a very enjoyable day of gaming.