6mm Pike and Shotte

Wednesday's seem to becoming a regular gaming day for we SAD wargamers. For todays game we opted to use our 6mm ECW figures using Warlords Black Powder variant, Pike and Shotte. I selected forces from the 'To Kill a KIng' supplement, loosely based on the Battle of Brentford scenario. I tweaked the forces a little to make them roughly equal and simplified the terrain as this would be our first game using these rules. 

My 6mm ECW forces were painted back around the early 1990's and are all from the Irregular Miniatures range. They have not been out of their box for some years now so it was good to get them onto the table. 

Phil and Howard took control of the Royalists under Prince Rupert and they had more horse than the Parliamentarians and a couple of level 9 command figures. Ian and I led the Roundheads who were stronger in Pike and Shotte units. 

We were so busy having fun I forgot to take many photos and 6mm figures do not photograph well using a camera phone. The photo above shows the scene from just behind the Parliament lines.  Both sides had advanced towards the centre leading to a firefight. 

This photo shows strength of the Royalist Horse as they swung round onto the Parliamentarian flank. The Royalists also got the upper hand in the centre fending of the charge of Ian's foote. This meant that as we ran out of time (too much tea, cake and chat) it seemed obvious that the field belonged to the Royalists. 

All great fun and we intend to play again next week in an all day battle and choosing an even bigger scenario. 

  

First game of Never Mind the Billhooks.

 Very pleased to have finally played my first game of 'Never Mind the Billhooks'. Although I have painted quite a few (Lancastrian) units the other two players (Ian and Phil) have only just got their boxes of plastic Perry miniatures so we were limited to around 80 points a -side. Happily, Howard, our other club member has also got some figures but was unable to be here today. 

 Here are some of my more recently painted figures for this project plus I created a water filled ditch, just in case that card came up during play! 

I have skirmish crossbowmen (almost finished), another retinue of longbow and some mounted Knights ready for painting too. Happily Ian had managed to quickly paint a couple of units to help increase the size of the forces a bit. 

I can never resist devising a scenario, I was just hopeful that it would not prove to be too complex for our first game. The scenario should hopefully  play well with larger forces too.  Inventing some fictitious leaders for our forces based on local place names, the scenario was as follows...

The Search for Brother John Thomas.

The table will be set up with a village of several buildings in the centre including an Inn called Ye Olde Sunne Inn. As well as the village there should be a good smattering of fields, hills and trees etc... The Yorkists throw a dice, on a 1-3 they enter the table in the top NW corner, on a 4-6 in the SE bottom corner. The Lancastrians will enter the table in the opposite corner to the Yorkists. Troops maybe deployed upto 12” on a 6'x4' table. The game lasts 6 + a d3 turns. (7-9 turns). After the last turn the exhausted sides will withdraw to lick their wounds and add up their VP (Victory Points)!

Brother John Thomas (3VP): A monk with important information about the main Yorkist forces strength and movements has gone into hiding in a small village in the centre of the table. The main aim of the game is to locate the monk and keep him safe; the information he possesses is useful to both sides so he must be kept alive. There are several buildings in the village. To search for Brother John throw a d6 each time one of your units is in contact with a building. On a '6' you find Brother John, or if all buildings have been searched he will automatically be found in the very last building to be searched. A unit may only search one building a turn but different units may search different buildings during any turn. You score the 3VP if Brother John is with one of your units at the end of the game or has been escorted safely from the table back over your own deployment zone.

Captain Richard Head (1VP): Cpt Head is enjoying several quiet drinks in ye Olde Sun Inne when he is rudely interrupted by which ever side searches that building first. For a small sum of money; Capt Head agrees to help that side in the battle. Position Capt Head with a unit. Whenever that unit is in melee Capt Head adds one extra dice to the melee pool. Use a separate colour dice for Capt Head for if it scores a '6' in melee, it can be thrown again (and again as many times as it scores sixes, each six scoring a 'hit') as Capt Head dazzles all with his fighting skills. However, the first time that unit loses a melee Capt Head will desert to find another, quieter drinking hole-remove him from the table. Capt Head is only worth a VP if he is still fighting with you at the end of the game.

Note: Capt Head cannot be targeted by missile fire and will be the last man to fall in any unit targeted by such.

Horse and Cart (1VP): Any unit that captures the (newly painted) horse and cart by moving into contact with it will find amongst the food stores in the cart a full re-supply of arrows for one Retinue Archer unit. The cart moves at d6” a turn along the road until captured, and at 6” when being escorted by its captors.

VP = Victory points for the game.

You also score 1xVP for each enemy commander slain during the battle.

and the forces that were used were as follows...

Lancastrians

Earl of Lawkland (mtd). Class 3 Hero/ldr

Sir Henry Kettlesbeck (foot). Class 2 Commander.ldr (+5pts)

Type	pts	Move	Shoot	Melee D6	Save	Notes
Light Horse	1.5	10/14”		2	4+	Save is 3+ in melee
2x Bill	1	6”		1	4+
2x Archers	1	6”	9S/15L”	.5	5+	May shoot twice a turn. Hit, 5+ at short, 6 at long
Skirmishers Handgun	1	8”	0-12”	.5	5+	Hit 5+
Gun + 3 crew	9	4”	0-30”	.5	5+	Crew x 2 when shooting, hit on a 6, all hits kill. Three or more 1's and gun blows up.
Total	80

Yorksists

Duke of Eldroth (foot). Class 3 Hero/ldr

Sir John Litton (foot). Class 2 Commander.ldr (+5pts)

Type	pts	Move	Shoot	Melee D6	Save	Notes
Men-at-Arms	2	6		1.5	3+	Save is 4+ if hit by X-bow or handgun
2x Bill	1	6”		1	4+
Archers	1	6”	9S/15L”	.5	5+	May shoot twice a turn. Hit, 5+ at short, 6 at long
Skirmishers Archers	1	8”	0-12”	.5	5+	Hit 5+ up to 12”.Only 1 shot per turn.
Gun + 3 crew	9	4”	0-30”	.5	5+	Crew x 2 when shooting, hit on a 6, all hits kill. Three or more 1's and gun blows up.
Total	78

So, how did the game go? 

Look how peaceful the village is, typical rural England until...

(So on my last read through of the rules, I spotted that there is a built in victory system using the Army Morale tokens. We decided  to use both that and my victory points that I had set to see how it played out.) 

Using the Lancastrian and Yorkshire cards, fate decided that Phil would control the Lancastrians whilst Ian took control of the Yorkists with me as his second in command. We had fun during the manoeuvre phase trying to get into position. As luck would have it Phil was able to get his mercenary handgunners quickly to a building and when searching it, threw the required 6 meaning he had found Brother Jon Thomas at the first attempt, before we had even got onto using the main battle phase. 

Elsewhere the Duke of Eldroth sent forward his Men-at-Arms (see photo below), and after chasing off some opposition Retinue archers they battled against 2 sets of Lancastrian Retinue billmen and were eventually chased from the field of battle. In the centre of the village Phil had also managed to capture the cart, again with his handgunners (fast moving light troops were proving very useful in this scenario). This meant that Phil was now 4VP up and had also gained 2 morale tokens for breaking the Men at Arms. 

Thankfully the Lancastrians did manage to recruit Sir Richard Head (the Sunne Inn is in the photo below) for 1VP and also destroy a unit of retinue archers to gain back a Morale token.  

More melee on the Yorkist left flank saw most units in Disarry or even Daunted so after several action packed turns we called an end to the game with a clear victory for Phil and his Lancastrians. 

All three of us really enjoyed the game and the rules. We probably did a few things incorrectly; especially on Morale Crisis tests but I am sure a post battle re-read of the rules should put us right. 

We also used too much terrain for a first game which did slow things down a bit so our next battle will be on more open terrain but with hopefully even more troops. 

The Battle of Thuin (15mm General D'Armee).

 Howard very kindly hosted a 4 player game of 15mm General D'Armee, devising the scenario and providing all the figures (and drinks on a roasting hot day!). The scenario was detailed as below...

Engagement at Thuin (very fictional)

Napoleon had already sown the seeds of doubt in Wellington’s mind that he could make a dash on Brussels via Mons, as well as or instead of, a direct assault through Charleroi. He decided to reinforce the idea by sending a small diversionary force to cross the Sambre, east of Thuin. Napoleon had a suspicion that spies in Paris, including Fouche, may have tipped off Wellington as to his true intentions. Therefore this small divisional strength army would also divert much needed allied reinforcements form marching to Quatre Bras.

French Mission

To cross the river with at least 2 brigades and remain there till the end of turn 10 for a complete victory.

British Mission

To prevent the French establishing a bridge head at the end of turn 10 on the northern side of the Sambre.

With Howard acting as the Umpire, Ian took control of the French, with the help of Phil when he arrived. I was in charge of the British defending the bridge with new brigades arriving in support on set turns. 

Howard setting the scenario up, note the pegs holding the cloth in place. 

The view from the French side as they start to advance. 

The General D'Armee Command system is both very clever and also very frustrating if things do not go your way. It's use of ADC's to help decide your course of action seems very 'in period' to me. 

  Here you can see Ian getting some troops across the bridge. 

But my Royal Horse Artillery arrived just in time to send them packing back over the bridge. 

We actually managed all 10 turns, the French had not managed to get a Brigade over the bridge as required but had badly mauled my British. We decided it was probably a winning draw for the Brits.

Great fun and we soon all picked up the basics of the rules which we have decided are very much our Napoleonic rules of choice.  Many thanks to Howard for hosting. 

Next up; Wars of the Roses in 28mm using 'Never Mind the Billhooks' rules in a couple of weeks. 

General d'Armee trial game.

Having moved house back to the Settle area last summer it has taken some time to be able to meet up with many of my old pals due to covid and lockdown. A couple of weeks ago I finally met up with Ian, Howard and Phil for a few drinks (well actually a few drinks too many) and by the end of the night the Settle and District  (SaD) Wargamers were formed. We used to game together in our late twenties, early thirties; we are somewhat older now! Our first game was planned, 15mm Napoleonics using the General d'Armee rules in early June. 

Move forward to today and Howard invited me round  for a quick trial game of General d'Armee so that we could try the rules out prior to our 4 player game next week. Oh the joy of being retired so that you can just pop round for a game at a moments notice. We were using Howards very splendid collection of 15/18mm Napoleonics. The entire collection comprises of AB and Battle Honours figures, both cracking ranges of figures despite the size difference. The idea was that as the British, I had to hold the line and prevent Howards more numerous French from breaking through...whilst actually learning the rules. 

The British Line

The French about to advance. 

The main area of interest was on my right flank where Howard was able to assign his ADC's well and advance at a very rapid rate. This French attack took us through rules for artillery and musket fire, use of skirmishers, rockets and how to work through a charge. My valiant British managed to repulse Howards first attack, captured in the photo's below. 

Sadly we ran out of time to play any further but we do feel that with a bit more reading we will be ready for our 4 player game next week. It was great fun and the first of hopefully many games. 

Wargames Allsorts

 True to my wargaming butterfly nature I have completed a mixed bag of painting recently. First up,  I return to the 'Wars of the Roses' with a unit of 28mm Burgundian Handgunners, plastic figures from Perry Miniatures. Lovely figures to paint and I am hopeful of a game of 'Never Mind the Billhooks' very soon. More Wars of the Roses figures are currently being assembled. 

I also finally got round to painting the first few bases for my 15mm Macedonian army. It was only when I started to clean up the pikemen that I discovered that they were wearing trousers which really makes them more suitable for a later army of Alexander if not even the Successor's. These are Museum Miniatures original sculpts and I used transfers from VVV for the shields. The Cretan Archers are from their new Z range, lovely figures to paint. I also made a small pond or spring for my ancient battlefields. 

Next, inspired by the recent games of 'Galactic Heroes' with Chris, I speedily made and painted some of the new Stargrave miniatures which Chris and his son kindly gave me. These are easy to build and are ideal for GH. I made just enough for a crew.  

Galactic Heroes in a Galaxy Far Far away- well somewhere near Halifax!

 Today Chris and I were delighted to play our first game in over a year. We have been eagerly waiting almost as long to play a game of 'A Fistful of Lead' skirmish rules. The rules cover several periods in time (and Space) and we opted to play the Sci Fi version, 'Galactic Heroes'. During lockdown (and having found his old collection in the loft, Chris suggested this so it is all his fault!) we busily collected and painted many of the old Star Wars Micro Machine figures which are about 20mm tall and scratch built a small part of a Tatooine settlement.

The first scenario was a typical Star Wars setting of finding the droids with the vital information. The only problem was there were various 'dummy' droids and only the correct dice throw would reveal the correct one. The Rebel forces started the game in possession of one droid and had to find the other droid and escape the board on a small spacecraft awaiting them on the far side. The Stormtroopers had to try and capture both droids. FFoL uses a card driven activation system which works a treat and there is a built in set of bonuses on some of the cards that you can use as you activate your figures. You are never quite sure who is going to move a figure next or what extra bonus they may have. I had invested in a themed set of cards and some tokens which all helped add atmosphere. 

This was very much a learning game but FFoL is a quick and simple rules system so we were soon getting through the turns quite quickly. True to their poor image, the Stormtroopers could not hit a thing in this first game but did manage to capture the rogue droid. Chris, in charge of the Rebels managed to take out my officer and keep hold of his own droid but failed to get to the space ship in time before it left so we called this game a draw. 

Game two saw my Stormtroopers having to defend a large antenna array and Chris's Rebels had to try and get a bomb in place to blow it up. An added ploy of this scenario is that every time a joker was played the Rebels were aided by a group of 3 'grunts' which we decided should be Sandpeople/Tusken Raiders. Happily my Stormtroopers actually managed to target and hit a few things this game taking out a Rebel trooper and a couple of Tusken Raiders who had only just arrived. We also wounded one of the two Rebel troopers who were carrying the bomb so slowed it's progress down enough that it could not get across the board fast enough. Sadly we ran out of time to complete this game but it seemed like the Stormtroopers were getting the upper hand, but then more turns could have led to more Tusken raiders turning up. 

Overall we really like these rules and cannot wait to get some more games in. The scenarios in the book are also well thought out and provide fun games. 

10mm Imperial Romans and Ancient British finished- for now!

 One of my main aims for this year has been to actually get a few projects completed to a standard where I can (if need be) provide both sides plus some appropriate pieces of scenery aside from trees and hills of which I have plenty. I am delighted to have recently reached that stage for my 10mm Imperial Romans and Ancient British; based for rules such as 'To the Strongest', 'Impetus', 'Sword and Spear' and 'Hail Caesar'. I do have a few Roman units left to paint (another day) but none for the Ancient British. 

Most of the figures are either Pendraken plus some Magister Militum but there are a few Gripping Beast and Irregular Miniatures if you look carefully. The bulk of these were purchased at the York Show, Vapnartak over 15 years ago.

First photo shows the Romans, including all six cohorts of Legionaries; and yes, I like my Legionaries red. 

Roman Auxiliary troops, the Pendraken ones at the back are in close formation, the more recently painted Gripping Beast Auxiliaries are in loose formation. 

Gripping Beast Auxiliary Cavalry on the left, Pendraken on the right. 

Ancient British Chariots

Baggage element, Irregular Miniature carts.

Whole army shot of the Ancient British.

240x 10mm warband.

Pendraken have actually redesigned their range of Imperial Romans and Ancient British, the new range being absolutely superb sculpts. I don't really need any more but I will probably get some at some point knowing me just because they are so good. Anyone tempted to start 10mm Romans and Britons go buy Pendraken.