Ice Elves v Undead (15mm Fantastic Battles in the snowy wastes north of the Wylde).

 It was just Ian and I playing today so we opted for a game of Fantastic Battles, one of our favourite sets of rules. It was quite a large 1500 pts a side battle with my Ice Elves or Fey commanded by Crasterlon Ice-Heart taking on Ian's Undead led by the infamous Krugrand Hymax. I should have guessed that Ian had been busy tweaking his list, chopping and changing traits to give me some unpleasant surprises. 

Over the last few months I have slowly added some snowy trees and hills to my snowy terrain collection and now a I have painted up a snow clad long house, a Fey Longhouse as in the photo above. I may need to add some white paint to my snow texture on the house? It was great to get the snowy scenery on the gaming table. 

Deployment, before mishaps, all neat and tidy.

Mishaps caused units on both sides to lose resolve and other units to surge forward or retreat backwards. Perhaps the most disruption mishaps have caused in our games. 

The undead hydra spent the whole game 'impetuous just wandering up and down Ian's right flank to no great effect. 

My Tiger riders and their Captain, 'Raglethan, the bringer of Sorrows' wonder why so many of their friends are wandering forward out of control. 

The undead look on in glee.

The rest of the Fey Ice Elves advance.

We both rolled for 'Objectives' and both rolled 'Iconoclasm' so we spent the first couple of turns

racing for the tokens, my Fey won 2v1 and both sides enjoyed removing some of the resolve lost during 'mishaps'. 

Drabula, the undead rogue with his pesky Jagged x-bow of pain (Phoenix Bow) was caught by my wolf pack and the two spent the next three turns in melee until the wolves finally managed to throw a six. 

We were quickly into melee and the rat powered undead chariots got the better of my snow trolls. 

The tiger riders supported by the yeti won the fight against Esmerelda the giant undead cow and her undead dragon friend. 

Sadly, elsewhere and not recorded in any photo's the Undead were slowly and surely gaining the upperhand. With our gaming time running out Ian managed to kill my magelord and destroy several companies and a captain in turn 5 compared to the captain and about 4 companies of undead the Fey killed. We called it a solid Undead victory with them destroying 437pts of Fey including MageLord Crasterlon Iceheart compared to the 293pts of undead destroyed during the battle. Ian fully deserved the victory with his good use of magic and prophecy dice. Ian twice saved captains by using prophecy dice to alter my dice good throws. 

I need to think about increasing my number of captains and magicians (on the painting table already) and a few of my units need their stats and traits tweaking. 

Perhaps Crasterlon will rise again, but as a Fey or an undead!

28mm Hail Caesar, Normans take on an Irish, Saxon and Viking alliance.

 We got the 28mm Dark Ages figures out for today's game of Hail Caesar, a straightforward encounter battle to see how well this would play on a 6x4ft table. Forces were around 300 points each side with 3 divisions each. Nigel and I took command of the Normans whilst Ian was in charge of the Rebel Alliance, one division each of Irish (Ian had painted these), Vikings and Saxons. Using some ideas from the Shieldwall supplement I had written out a few random cards that affected leaders and each side chose one, but kept the effects secret until they were used. 

(My photo's seem to have been jumbled as I uploaded them but I will try my best). 

Ian, true to form, sent his Irish Light cavalry round on a flanker.

He sent his Irish warband on a rapid advance, the Saxons also advanced in support. 

His Viking division refused to move for the first two turns, leaving the Irish a bit exposed. 

This was the scene after initial deployment.

Incredibly, two Irish Warbands crash into some Norman archers and get repelled. 

A good view along the Norman line, you can see the advancing Saxons and Irish at the top. 

Nigel's Norman Infantry at the top did very well defeating the Irish Warbands.

The Normans advance to meet the Irish and Saxon rapid advance (top right), thankfully Ian really struggled to get his Viking division moving. 

In a big melee, Noman divisional commander Drogo was killed and the Irish Commander was injured both in the same turn. 

The Irish warbands come in again against Norman archers and crossbow and pushed them back. The Irish warbands were soon defeated and the their division broke. 

Norman Knights crash into Saxon foot and defeat them. 

It was looking bleak for the Alliance. 

Bit by bit, the enemy Alliance was losing units and all looked good for the Normans. 

In a desperate measure, the Viking veteran Huscarles tried to break the Norman Knights but were defeated. This proved to be the final break point for the Alliance. 

...and so the battle ended with a resounding Norman victory.

As my games table is only 6x4ft we did wonder how well a game of 28mm Hail Caesar would work, would it all seem a bit crowded? With our reasonably small armies of around 300pts there was just enough room for a bit of manoeuvre but we were certainly in contact quickly. It was a really enjoyable game and I enjoyed getting the 28mm armies on the table. 

World War 1 Naval

 Today, Ian, Nigel and myself had a go at gaming with Nigel's 1/2400 WW1 ships and his own rules for the period. We set up a 4' x 12ft' table with the objective being for my German fleet to reach the safety of the harbour at the far eastern side of the board whilst Ian had to try and stop me. Knowing nothing about WW1 naval warfare I was happy to have help from Nigel with my deployment.

At the front you can see my deployment with the first part of Ian's British fleet in the distance moving parallel to mine. 

A close up of the main part of the German fleet. Nigel has done a great job painting and basing these in a really effective way.  

A view down the table showing how far I needed to travel to escape. 

On the left you can see that Ian has his first extra ships. 

Another close up as some of my smaller ships move out to try and cover the escape of my larger ships. 

We then fired smoke to cover their advance. Sadly shortly after this, with my first batch of torpedoes having been launched time defeated us all once again. 

So we all had a very enjoyable day full of the usual gaming banter and ideas for future projects. As for Nigel's rules, they worked well despite me finding some of the maths involved a little perplexing at times. This was a first play test and we all came up with some ideas to help tweak and improve them. Ian and Nigel are playing them again next week. 

More 15mm Medieval Mayhem

 Ian and I fought it out again today using Hail Caesar rules and our 15mm English and French armies. We used a scenario I found online tweaked a bit to make the terrain a little more symmetrical and the game fairer. Each force could deploy 2 divisions on the table with the rest of their force arriving on a turn decided by the throw of a d3. Ian added a further tweak that the defender could mark 3 areas of rough terrain on the map and then could deploy these areas after the attackers had deployed. A quick dice throw decided that I was the defender with Ian playing the role of attacker. 

Two divisions each deploy, my English on the left and Ian's French on the right. 

Turn 1 and the English reserves arrive, hurrah! 

Marching through the village of L'Athers, the Duke of York took up his position on the right of the English line. 

In a change from my usual army selection I used two units of mounted knights today.

 To my surprise reduced from three mounted units of knights to just the one. 

The English line takes shape. 

Turn two and the French reserve arrive with a rapid advance on the far end of their line. 

I sent my knights forward on the right flank to intimidate the French Infantry.

On my left flank there was a hill held by Richard de Vere and his men. Ian attacked the hill with first his French Sergeants then some Scottish  spear and peasants , my units of bill and bow held out against all these but it was a hard fought victory. 

Despite this success on my left flank, Sir Thomas Erpingham in command of my centre division blundered his whole division command and the whole division moved back two moves. My order dice throws were awful today often frustrating my plans. 

On the right flank my knights managed to charge a unit of French Crossbow men and destroy them, otherwise it was developing into a bit of a stand off. Thankfully Erpingham finally got his troops moving again to return to their central position. Once again, time defeated us with the battle at a well balanced point we called it a draw but we both fully enjoyed our afternoon of gaming. Hail Caesar always gives a great game. 

'The Hill of Sleng' a first game of Warlords of Erehwon

 It was great fun today to have a first game of Warlords of Erehwon with long time friend Chris. We hadn't had chance to play a game for a while but had both been busy painting up some old school minis so we felt it was time to get them on the table. Originally we were planning on using the old school mini's for games of Dragon Rampant but felt that whilst we like those rules we wanted something with more fantasy flavour, where dwarves can be dwarves and orcs can be orcs! So we decided to give Warlords of Erehwon a try. Thus my random collection of Asgard, Hinchliffe, Dixon and Grenadier Dwarves took on Chris's mix of Citadel and Marauder orcs, all figures designed before the year 2,000; great stuff, what more could fantasy gamers in their 60's want!

Well we wanted a scenario for a start so for our first game we felt it best to try the 1st scenario first but with an added twist to give the game some background story. As host I kept the scenery fairly simple and came up with the following...

The Hill of Sleng

A first game of ‘Warlords of Erehwon’ scenario 1 with a slight tweak. 

“Orcs west of the Twin Peak Mountains” roared Amlodi, a veteran Dwarf Lord, “Never in my lifetime!” Moments later he spotted the smoke in the valley below, the large, crooked figures rushing around and the guttural shouts. “Orcs!” spat Amlodi, “Lads, let's bathe our axes in Orc blood”

The objective for the game remains as on p115 in the rulebook, to destroy more enemy units than you suffer, the side that loses the least points in troops is the winner. Players must also try to take possession of a large central hill, the Hill of Sleng. 

Sleng was a celebrated Dwarf hero of old and in the centre of the hill there is a statue to Sleng. For added kudos the Orcs may wish to topple the statue, if so use the following rules which are an adaptation from some of the rules for buildings.  

Only one unit at a time may attempt to topple the statue on a ‘Advance’ order and the unit must be in base to base contact with the statue. Once each turn throw a d10 and read the result as below…

1: The statue topples to the floor and breaks into several pieces. 

2-5: the statue rocks on its base but stubbornly refuses to topple.

6-9: the statue remains firmly fixed in place.   

Players may deduct -1 from the dice score for each successive turn/attempt that the unit remains in uninterrupted contact with the statue. Of course the dwarf player will wish to stop this from happening.

We found the rules for deployment easy to follow and our forces of Dwarves and Orcs were soon rushing towards each other in an attempt to get atop the hill of Sleng. It was seven Orc units v 5 dwarf units.

The dwarves deploy at the base of this photo with the orcs in the distance.

You can see the Sleng's statue on the hill.

A group shot of some of Chris's wonderful Orcs, led by the Orc Chieftain 'Krushitel'

My dwarven archers take cover in an old ruin.

Pulling an order dice from the bag Chris got to move first and Krushitel was quick to claim the hill and surround the statue.

Krushitel about to smite the Statue of Sleng.

The orc archers also occupied a ruin, seemed a good idea?

At this point, with the two forces poised ready to fight from turn 2, I got so busy with the game and with the rules I forgot to take any more photo's.

The dwarves sent Gunnar and the Dwarf Guard charging into the Orc chieftain and his orc warriors. Much to my surprise Gunnar and his dwarves trounced the Orc Warlord and his warriors wiping out the entire unit (it has to be said that Chris threw just about the worst score on his dice that I have ever seen!). 

Chris then charged another Orc unit at Gunnar and his stout guard with their 'blooming big axes'. Another awful dice score from Chris and that unit was also dispatched to Orc heaven. 

Half time score: Gunnar 2 v 0 Orcs.

 

Elsewhere the goblin wolf riders charged poor old Drokk the dwarf runesmith and again, shocking dice from Chris meant that Drokk survived.

Emboldened by the dwarf success the dwarf archers moved forward and shot an orc archer. In reply the orc archers missed. 

Drokk now fired off a thunderbolt spell at the goblins who this time made their save. 

As another Orc unit moved towards the hill, Gunnar and his dwarves chopped up a few of them before Amlodi the Dwarf Lord charged his bodyguard into those Orcs and soon defeated them.  

Three turns gone and game over with more than half the Orc warband destroyed for just 5 brave dwarven souls, the statue of Sleng was still standing. 

So, what did we think of the rules, with my dwarves certainly enjoying the game more than Chris's Orcs. 

1: the game certainly allows Dwarves to act as Dwarves and Orcs act as Orcs.  

2: combat is short, quick and brutal.

3: The dwarf high Resolution of 8 made it difficult for the orcs to harm them, compared to the Dwarves being armed with 'bloomin big axes' and their Strike Value of 3, and the axes seem cheap at only a point each.

4: we enjoyed the order dice system, pulling a dice from the bag not knowing whose it would be.

5: army selection and in particular weapon choice seem key to the rules.  

Obviously, now we have tried the rules our army selection may well be different for a second game. Chris and I always have fun trying a new set of rules but I suspect that I enjoyed this game more than Chris. We will give the rules a second go soon and I am sure that Chris will have better luck next time?

  

French v English Hundred Years War in 15mm

 For this week's medieval game I tweaked a scenario from the first edition of the Hail Caesar rulebook, adapting it to our chosen period. Player one sets up south of the stream that runs across the centre of the board. The stream is classed as a linear obstacle and takes one move to cross without penalty. As well as the bridge there is a small ford on the right flank. He has one division deployed immediately south of the central bridge and another in reserve on the left flank which enters play from the start of turn 3. The rest of his army is deployed in and around the village which they are raiding and trying to set alight. He must also keep one unit in the village to try and set it alight. Player one must note down where each division is deployed. 

To set the village alight on turn 1 player one must throw a double six, turn 2, a double 5 or 6, turn 3 double 4, 5 or 6, turn 4 on a double 3,4,5 or 6, turn 5 double 2,3,4,5 or 6. and any double on any turn from now on. 

Player 2 must deploy their whole force first, within 12" of the northern table edge. Then Player 1 deploys his divisions as previously noted apart from the flanking force of course. 

Objectives:

Player 1 must hold onto the village and hopefully set it alight.

Player 2 must try to come to the aid of the village and prevent it from being burnt down. 

Here is the table just before deployment. We use coffee stirrers to mark out deployment areas. The dice decided that the French (Ian) would be player 2 and deploy in mass on the left whilst my English would deploy to the right of the stream. 

After deployment, the French to the north have to try and recover the village, currently occupied by the English. The English reserve will enter play in the marked area on the left some time from turn 3 onwards. 

Ian's newly painted Scottish Schiltron. They advanced over the bridge and got beaten back by some English knights on foot. 

The French Knights cross the stream at the ford in force. 

Ian had also painted up a medium cannon, first shot it scored a '6', damaging the longbowmen at the top of the photo but this proved to be the only damage it did all game. 

The English knights take up position on top of a hill facing the advancing French. 

Meanwhile, in the village my light infantry were failing miserably to set the buildings alight, they must have bought wet matches!

On my left flank the French Infantry advanced up to the stream. 

The French Knights take up position opposite my knights, this was going to be bloody. 

I managed to get my dismounted unit of knights in position to help. 

Finally, on turn 5 the Earl of Oxford arrives with his flanking force. On the three turns they were involved in the game he failed his command throws twice at the first order. Thus this division had little impact on the game apart from making Ian keep a division over there to watch them.  

Knights in combat that lasted about 3 turns. Finally the French broke through the English line but were badly damaged themselves. 

At this point we had to end the game. A badly mauled division of French knights had broken through my troops on the left but elsewhere the French had not even got over the stream in any sort of force. I had failed to torch the village but with so many units still left on the table of both sides we called the game probably a draw but with the French perhaps edging it!