Shinyloo5 BadDay at the Blue Bell.

 So for our second outing at the new venue I was in the chair and chose a 'Shinyloo' game since it had been about 2 or perhaps 3 years since the shiny dudes had been out on the table. In the interim I had added a few figures here and there as other posts on this blog will attest but to be truthful I had not realised quite how much I had added to the forces- especially the French. What with all the scenery there was a good bit to go into the back of Shaun's motor for the 5 minute run to the pub.

The gear- ready for loading

Once there we joined an already presnt Andrew and a few minutes later Andrew turned up ! Confused? well not really as only 3 of the 4 people present were Andrew with one using the diminutive when at 'work' - see the front of either of my 2 published books!

So after a quick pint to fortify the inner man we began to set up and play. It was at this point that I realised that I had painted a good few more French than Brits over the last couple of years and that consquently the British were in for a bit of a kicking and so it proved. 

The Frebch Right  as viewd from the British lines 

The table was a long thin one  12 feet by only 4  so I halved the usual long move distances in Charge! but it didn't make much difference as it turned out. Shaun took the British and the two Andrews the French. To begin with honours were about even. The rifles giving some French Voligeurs a bit of stick but not enogh to send them home. French artillery doing the same to the Royal Scots Greys and the Royal Horse artillery beating up some French infantry.

The Scot Greys - in 2 squadrons, backed by a few Royal Dragoons before their encounter with the French Cuirassiers.

The British left Flank.

The French Centre advances.

The fateful moment when the British realised it was not their day. 

 However the French cavalry- seriously out numbering the British now took a hand and launched a charge  of Cuirassiers against the Greys and a secondary move by the Dragoons against the troop of Hussars watching the British left flank./Despite being outnumbered the Hussars held their own in the first turn of melee (actually no casualties on either side)  but the Greys were not so lucky losing casualties in the melee to add to those suffered from the artillery. This however was not the end of British woes. Over on the British right the Rifles had been successfully fighting off the voltigeurs but had not been watching their right flank.This had allowed the Polish Lancers time to get through an unoccupied village and smash into the Rifles flank.  Virtually wiping out the  first company. Added to this a second French cavalry unit- more Dragoons  made their way   behind the British right. With French infantry pressing his centre there was little for the Britisdh commander ot do put  pull out .

Die hard gamers might have wanted to carry on with the dice rolling but it really would have been pointless as once the British flanks had gone it was all over bar the shouting Now I need to paint more British before these fellas come out again later this year. 

As for the rest of the day  all went well. The food at the Blue Bell is rather good with an eastern mediterranean bent. We shall - all being well- be back there next month when it shall be time for some tanks. 

Frederick the Great- The Short Version.

 Battleground 2024.

Through Rain and Snow and Gloom of Night ......

Well perhaps not gloom of night but plenty of the white stuff then rain . The first part of the  trip to Battleground at the Middlesborough Sports Village on November 23rd was - shall we say - interesting. The whole journey under normal circumstance should have taken about an hour from my house. So 2 Hours 20 minutes later we finally get into the carpark. The weather had turned from snow to rain and sleet but we made it.

So now to the game.

 Jim the Builder was in the chair and plumped for a 10mm Seven Years War game with his rather spiffing collection of little fellas- about 2000 or more on the table as it turned out. Prussians against Austrians and Russians. Models mostly Old Glory  Grandscale 10 as you would expect. All painted by Jim.

Early in the game- Russian on their ridge looking at the Prussian masses adancing against them. 

Initially we had expecte four members of the Tantobie Warfare and Tactical Society to be present - but only 3 made it . A power cut in his area because of the snowfall meant Andrew the Tekkie had to bail at the last minute.

This meant that Shaun took the Prussians and I the allied forces. I slightly outnumbered the Prussians but they had superior artillery. As it happened I had an advantage of terrain thought that was not apparent at first perhaps.

The Austrians start their long march. 

 I place the Russians on the ridge with their cavalry on their left then the Austrians continuing the line with the mass of  Austrian cavalry on the left flank . My 'tactial plan'  was to do a sort of reverse Leuthen- or was it a reverse Rossbach? sending the bulk of my cavalry aroud the lake and hopefully into the Prussian flank. The Prussian plan seemed to be to beat the artilleryless Russians off their ridge then fall on the out of position Austrians.

The Austrian cavalrygoing round the lake.

Rules used were Warfare in the Age of Reason with a ferw local amendments to suit the smaller scale.

In the event it was a right ding-dong affair. The Russians took something of a pounding but gritted their teeth and hung on by the skin of same  mixing my metaphor as I write ! All hung on them being able to hold out until the Austrian main assualt went in which because of the distance it had to cover- and some sterling resistance by one Prussian cavalry brigade took a mite longet than I'd hoped but in the end all went well (sort of) and the last untouched Prussian brigade was thinking darkly about how it had become the rearguard. The remaing Russians were in no fit state to pursue though the Austrian cavalry could have made life hard for the Prussians to get clear. However  night had fallen- as in the show was closing-  and it was time to pack up all those little fellas and get back home in the rain- which did take only a little over an hour.

Hard pounding  The Russian in trouble hanging on- but only just.

The Austrians finally mange to get to their objective /

Battleground is afince local show and enjoyable and well run by Leon of Pendraken. I hope we will be doing another demo there next year.  Mind you I hope the weather is better nd the cafe is a bit more efficient. 

Just a Quick One!

 The photos in this short post are of a 15mm Samaurai game that the Tantobie Warfare and Tactical Society fought at the end of June. 

The models are all  from Steve Whites excellent collection and he ran the game. Sorry it has take so long to get these out there but ratther overwhelmed with assorted work recently so time has been a bit short.

Rules were 'Pike and Shotte' which I have but had not then playeda and I have to say that whatever their possible  shortcomings as a 17th century European set , they worked very well for this more esoteric version of pike and shot warfare.

 So  here are the pictures- don't ask me who was who or what they are as I can't remember for all I know it was Honda vs Mitsubushi 

Whatever it was a very enjoyable game in a period and location I was- and still am- unfamiliar with. Nice one Steve !

Traffic Chaos on the Autobahn.

A collection of no less that 5 of the Tantobie Warfare and Tactical Society met last Saturday at our new venue of Stanley Masonic hall. (Does the change of venue now make us the SWATS instead of the TWATS? I suspect either would fit depending upon the time and place!)

Steve was in the chair and elected for a 20mm Cold War Goes Hot game using his impressive 20mm collection. Not sure who made the excellent tanks and APC' but the infantry were by Elhiem and they are really very good indeed..

The only slight jarring not was the table size- the main hall was in use so we were restricted to the bar - which had its compensations so the table was only a tad over 6 feet by 4 .

 Still no worries overall 

 Forces

 Paul and I took the British with a platoon of Infantry  in FV432 and a platoon of 3 Chieftain mk9 . We also had an 81mm Mortar a couple of Milan posts and off table artillery controlled by an on table observer.

 Andrew and Shaun took the East Germans and all I can say is that there seemed to be a lot of them T-72 all over the place and all sorts of other vehicles with all sorts of guns hanging off them !

Rules were Steve's own derived from I believe the WW2 set Spearhead or some such. I didn't take much notices as in umpire controlled games such as ours you get to concentrate on decision making rather than rules mongering.

The system was basically IGOUGO but with tweaks  and only a certain number of orders per turn depending upon a dice roll and your troop capability most actions taking 1 order but others taking 2 or even 3 orders. So you needed your wits about you..

Britsh infantry await the onslaught. 

 The British were tasked with defending the rather shattered village  from a reconnaissance in force by WARPACT forces so we dug in and awaited the assault.

Early on we realised that this was not going to be an easy gig. There seemed no end to the East German forces as they came on to the table. Fortunately our artillery was up to the job and while we did not actually kill too many  'pinned' vehicles caused and awful traffic jam which upset the WARPACT timetable.

 However their own artillery was not idle and it was this that gave the plucky Brits the most grief killing dug in infantry and a Milan post and if memory serves  our right flank Chieftain - though that may have been a T-72.

It often seemed to us- Paul and I- that the more we smashed them with artillery and mortars the more of them that needed smashing. Our Milan and Chieftains did their share- taking out BRDMs and T-72s amongst other things I can't recall but the WARPACT artillery was slowly wearing us down- we'd lost a third of our  morale.( This was a neat mechanism- when suffering casualties you drew a chit from 'the bag of doom'  which usually had a number between 1 and 5 on it- though there were other results which never came up. This number was subtracted from your 'Army Break Point' number once you reached Zero you were done. Our Break point was 31 the WARPACT 26. We had our fair share of luck here never drawing more than a 3 while the opposition drew at least one 5 ).

A Milan post. We began the game with two covering this road 

For most of the game we kept pounding  at the WARPACT traffic jam not always with massive success but enough to keep them hung up  while we picked off around the fringes.

The Warpact traffic jam part one. 

As it happened we had decided to bug out in the  near futures as their artillery continued to pound us but some of our own shooting finished the issue taking out a Shilka and another T-72 which after firtling in the bag of Doom took the WARPACT  total over their break point just before we decided to scarper. 

 So a narrow victory for the plucky Brits.

Personally I was seriously impressed with the rules. They flowed well and forced you to think but also had that taste of 'realism' which we enjoy. Nice One Steve.

As always our thanks go to Norman Oyston for the use of the venue and to Ros for the splendid beef butties without which no meeting would be complete. 

The WARPACT traffic jam part tow- well done the Royal Artillery. .

The Second Battle of Fiddlers Rise June 1459

Early in the day. The Yorkist assault force.

 So once again the  Tantobie Warfare And Tactical Society meet in their new(ish) venue for a game. We had a total of five members this month and I was in the chair so decided upon a 40mm Wars of the Roses game. Shaun and new member Paul taking the Yorkists with Andrew and Steve taking up the sword for the House of Lancaster.

Early in the day. The Lancastrians occupy their palisade in the centre
Their right is on the hill of Fiddlers Rise.

Forces are currently quite small with  less than 200 models on the table for both sides . Rules are Tony Clipsom's set 'Foray' as our guide and your gentle author as Umpire..

 The scenario was based very loosely on the Battle of Blore heath- but without the mass of Lancastrian cavalry. Indeed the roles were reversed as the Lancastrians were on the defensive and the Yorkists had more troops so the attack was in their hands.

As it happened the fighting developed into a bit of a grinding match with neither side using anything resembling subtly, but then this was 1459.

The Yorkist cavalry advance.

 The game began with some mutual cannonading , each side hoping the others bombard would explode in an inconvenient manner which this time neither sides actually did though the crews suffered soem casualties and  one Lancastrian crew fled the scene early in the day.

The Yorkists decided on a full frontal attack using their Longbowmen to 'shoot them in' In the event this was less than successful as the Lancastrian defenders had more archers and used them- though with mixed results.  On the Lancastrian right the Yorkist assault was led by a contingent of Warwick's troops under Sir John Conyers. These chaps did not have a good day. After a bout of archery the ragged staff fell and Conyers was killed. The unit did not rout but halted and while not willing to run played little further part in the action other than archery, their attempt to close with the enemy resulting in a half hearted melee which  neither side actually won before a mutual breaking off..  This flank also saw the only cavalry action of the engagement. The small band of Yorkist horse charging the tiny contingent of the Earl of Exeter( not painted many of these yet)  Although Exeter's men were routed the Yorkist banner fell and rather than pursue the routers they fell back to 'consider their position'  and again took no further part in the action. 

Arrows fly.

In the centre the bulk of the Lancastrian archers stood behind their palisade and shot it out with the Yorkists not infrequently to little avail on either side though the Lancastrian artillery was silenced early on by a combination of Yorkist archers and their 'comedy bombard- which was not funny at all in this game.

The Yorkist advance grinds to a halt. 

With their momentum exhausted the Lancastrians did not look able to storm the Yorkist position but then neither did the House of York look capable of doing any more than staying put. Both sides had suffered significant losses with the worst  being on the side of Lancaster so this one was declared a bloody draw.

I as umpire need to tweak the rules a little- making 'counter battery' fire impossible- not merely inadvisable and tightening up some morale situations and command rules. Though most of this is simply organisation. I shall return to the 15th century later in the year . The Hoses of York and Lancaster will battle it out once more across the table.

 Thanks to Norman Oyston for the use of the venure and to Ros for the excellent hot beef - or indeed Pork sandwiches to sustain the innner wargamer ! 

Sikh and ye shall find.

 Last Saturday saw 4  of our group meet for a game in our new venue in the town of Stanley Co. Durham.

We are still settling in here, but it is going well.

This time I was in the chair and decided to go for another attempt at an Anglo-Sikh War game. Now last time had been a bit of a frost as picking your way through  Black Powder second edition is a decided chore. So we packed it in after a couple of moves and repaired to the bar.

Well this time it was different. No Black Powder- no straining my eyes on the brown print on cream paper. I decided to go with Warfare in the Age of Reason as a base since it is very open ended and the simple mechanisms allow easy period specific amendments which , done with care do not unbalance the game.

This would be a relatively small game with about 300 or a few more  28mm models on the table. So while not a big battle a bit more than a mere skirmish.

 The British had 4  cavalry units  each of 10 models - 2 'wings' of 3rd Light Dragoons and 1 unit each of 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry and 2nd Bengal Irregular cavalry. 4 battalions of Infantry of which HM31st foot at a mere 21 models was the weakest (I didn't get the flank coys finished in time !) 2 Bengal Native Infantry battalions and the Sirmoor Local Battalion - which despite its name are Ghurkhas.. The Brits  were lacking in artillery having only a single gun and crew of the admittedly elite Bengal Horse artillery. 

The Sikh force was slightly the larger but of more mixed quality. Their best troops were their 4 12pdrs which I rated as medium field guns with elite crews in AOR. As for regular infantry they had 2 units  one of 'line' from the Fauj-i-Ain and one Purbeah unit of the Fauj-i-Khas in shakos carrying a French style colour.  The remaining half of the Sikh infantry were irregulars or at best 'semi-regulars. A battalion of Muslim najibs and 3 small  bands of irregulars one of which was Akhalis. . For cavalry the Sikhs had a single unit of regular Dragoons and 3 units of Ghoracharra Irregular cavalry of which the largest was 15 strong the other two 10 models each.

 Most of the models were, of course Old Glory 28mm with a Foundry BNI unit (25th BNI with its unique unique - to the Bengal line- blue facings). The Bengal Horse Artillery are 'Willie'30mm with an Eagle gun. Otherwise aside from a few Redoubt Maratha interlopers making up the numbers in one of the Ghoracharra units and a couple of Studio Miniatures Officers then everyone else on both sides was Old Glory.

 The table  as the action opened. Sikh on the left of the picture

                                    The small fort which anchored their right can just be seen.

 The table was on the small side being just over 6 feet long by about 3and a half feet.. We can go bigger but to do that we have to leave the bar! 

So the action commenced with a spirited British advance-  commanded by Steve who donned Sir Hugh Gough's white fighting coat for the afternoon.. Sikh artillery opened up early, knocking holes in  36th BNI and smaller holes in the 25th. Indeed so bad was the damage to the 36th that they halted disorganised and by the end of the fighting would have lost 30% of their strength..

The Sikh left. In the middle distance 36th BNI are taking a pasting from the Sikh Guns

The Sikh left- their stronger wing- one unit of cavalry has already been pushed back but the guns will give 36BNI many an anxious moment. 

 The British cavalry however moved in swiftly and in two moves of sabre slashing havoc eventually pushed back the Ghoracharra facing them- even 3 BLC doing reasonably well.- Steve's dice rolling was just a tad above average. Both sides were taking losses- the Bengal Horse Artillery doing some counter battery fire at medium range managing to reduce one Sikh gun crew by 2 figures.

HM31st Foot advanced on the Sikh right where the scrub jungle was filled with irregulars. These  skirmishers has proved a minor nuisance The 31st delivered a perfect volley which sent numbers of these pesky fellows scuttling behind the small fort that was the right flank anchor of the Sikh line.

'Those pesky fellows' Sikh Irregulars- some being Rohilla Mercenaries-  in the scrub jungle.

A pensive Steve wonders what to do about those terrible Sikh guns.

The decision came on the Sikh right centre where 25th BNI  went in against the najib battalion. the fight was close and for a move it looked as if the najibs would actually prevail ( 3  sixes  for their defensive volley from Andrew  helped!)but in the end discipline told and the najibs retreated - disorganised taking the   Sikh regular dragoons with them. It was now all over bar the well not shouting but post game discussion.

25th BNI followed by the Sirmoor battalion go in against the Najibs.

The Najibs strivinh manfully against the 25th BNI.

All four of us Steve as Gough and Shaun and Andrew as the Sikh commander as well as me Umpiring had enjoyed this first proper outing for this new collection. AOR had performed well - though I shall have to add a few more 'in-period' tweaks as I paint more units.  The rules were certainly easier to navigate than Black Powder but then over the years I have played many more games of AOR than I have Black Powder so this may be simply a matter of use..

Thanks go to Norman Oyston for the use of the venue  and to Ros for the beef butties and chips. The beer as usual was very drinkable and fun was had by all. 

 Next game should be in April. 

Tactically sound - but cubically challenged.

 Last weekend three T.W.A.T.S.  gathered in our new venue for a game. My turn in the chair but I was just a tad rushed due to pressure of work (I have a book that is nearing deadline and had back orders to ship out) nevertheless I did fancy a bash with my 40mm Wars of the Roses - so that is what we did.

 Mechanical Shaun took the Lancastrians and Andrew the Tekkie the Yorkists and the game would be played to Tony Clipsom's rather nice 'Large Skirmish' set ' Foray' - albeit with some few amendments to include gun powder.

We have used these more than once in the past and found them easy to deal with yet with a decent amount of that elusive 'period feel'  that we find so important.

 The forces were quite small with around 80 or so models per side. The Yorkist having more men at arms and the Lancastrians more archers. The Yorkists had the only cavalry unit.. The Lancastrians had the advantage of ground with a hedgeline to defend.

General view of the field-  Lancastrians behind the hedge. 

Quite quickly the Yorkists decided to out flank the Lancastrians by moving their left around the Lancastrian right though the going was a bit slow simply because the Yorkists were manly slow moving men at arms . They also came under fire from the Lancastrian 'comedy bombard' which in previous games has reliably exploded at an inopportune moment.as well as archers ensconced behind the hedge.

 On the Yorkist right - things did not go well.  Andrew's own  artillery  misfired and exploded on the first shot. The exchange of arrows  was also in the Lancastrians favour though the Yorkists weathered the storm and began to advance- causing casualties on the Lancastrians with their own bowshot.

 The question was simple - could Shaun hold the line or would the Yorkist flank attack  destroy his right?.

The Lancastrians huddle behind their hedge. 

In the end some truly astonishing Lancastrian bowshot decided the issue (how many 6s do you need? ) First  halting the Yorkist right  then routing one retinue and forcing another back in disorder.

At this point with his artillery gone and a third of his army in disarray Edward of York decided enough was enough and left the field to take a fast ship to Burgundy muttering darkly about ' those odious cubes' and how he would get it right next time with some better guns ... Ah well so he might we shall have to see.

Lancastrian shooting. 

As it happened I got so tied up in the game as Umpire I forgot to take picture of the later stages so these are all it did. The game was suitabley light hearted but with enough interest  for those of us with a more historical bent. I slowly continue to add to this collection - though it is on the back burner currently  and Sikh Wars are very much taking precendence. However we will be back in the 15th century at some future date. 

  

Lord Clifford  backs up his longbow men - but he is not needed. 

When is a game Not a Game?

So there we were in a new venue for the first game this year. 3 of us managed to get past work and real life commitments to try to get a game in. I was in the chair so decided to give my small Sikh Wars forces their first outing together with some new jungly bits I had amassed during lockdown. I actually bought most of them in one lot off ebay but a few bits were made by my own fair hands as well. 

 Now being a new venue there was a bit of delay sorting ourselves out and of course none of us had seen each other face to face for some months so the craic was  perhaps a tad OTT nevertheless we got the game set up - the scenario being vaguely based upon the Battle of Mudki in 1845.. 

Rules were to be Black Powder - Second Edition-  which while an definite improvement on the first edition still has issues- most notably  the brown print on the off white paper which makes some bits a bugger to read in certain lights. There is also the serious faff involved in sorting out the units which I ran out of time to do - having a real life- though the idea here is fine as the units can be tailored to the scenario. For a large game with multiple brigades this could take a considerable amount of time but may appeal to the sort of chaps who regularly sort out their sock drawer in colour or alphabetical order. Most of course will take the Holy Writ of the 'game designer' for granted - even if he is talking twaddle- since that seems to be the 'received wisdom' there days 'finkin ain't Fun' for some at least. 

General view of the table.

So on second thoughts maybe I'll have to learn to organise my sock drawer, at least metaphorically speaking, rather than merely accept some of the historical howlers that appear in the sample armies for the scenarios in the book . There is still good stuff in the book even if much of it is hidden amongst a plethora of eye-candy and other associated fluff.

Sikh Irregular Cavalry 

Ghurkhas and 60th Rifles. 

The British Line 

Jungly Bits 

So to the game ... or rather not as with all the chat and ribaldry we only did three moves. Mind you - despite the seam in the playing cloth I did rather like the look of the thing and as I get more 'India' models painted - both for the Sikh wars and of course De Boigne's campaigns there will be more spiritual visits to the warfare of that intriguing subcontinent.

Models were mostly Old Glory 28mm - though one of the sepoy units is Foundry and the Bengal Horse Artillery are old Willie 30mm. All  blend in pretty well on the table so 3mm angst can go whistle. Check out the photos  you simply can't tell. 

 So to answer my title question .....  when its a good time with your mates .

 Our thanks to Norman Oyston| (that's Andrew the Tekkies Dad)   for allowing us the use of the  new venue- we will be back. 

Back in the Saddle.

 It has been a long time since  our last game at the pub, indeed it has been a long time since our last game. The  idea of remote gaming never appealed as I'm simply not that enamoured of the dice rolling to bother with the extra faffing about required. No games fanatic me - there has always been far more to this hobby that the mere gaming. If the dice rolling and counter pushing was all there was I wouldn't bother. It's not as if I was lying about doing nothing during the various lockdowns and boozer shuttings that I was desperate to roll dice.. had that been so then possibly my mental health would have been in jeopardy!

The Spartans - or wa it the Athenians - anyway Andrew's army 

The Athenians - or was it the Spartans- Shaun's army though of course they were all Shaun's armies.. 

General view of the terrain. 

2 views of the punch -up. 

 Happily that is not the case, so when the Tantobie Warfare And Tactical Society had the chance to re-activate its monthly meetings we  agreed - not least because of the lure of Landlady Jean's Beef Butties 

 However there was a snag - only 3 of us could make it due to other chaps having work commitments so we decided upon a 15mm Peloponnesian War encounter as Mechanical Shaun has more Hoplites than any sane man should have, so it was a piece of cake for him to provide Spartan and Athenian armies for the coming encounter. ( Ignorant games loonies please note, these are not mere gaming 'factions' but the armies of two Classical Greek City states. Read a book why don't you?.)

Tactica - being our usual go- to set for Ancients games- was the chosen rules set as it's style and mechanisms really do suit Classical Warfare. Nevertheless Gentle Reader you good Umpire will admit to being a tad 'ring-rusty' here so it took a while to get properly back into the saddle. The scenario was deliberately over simple for that reason.

Basically the scenario was built to get a Hoplite  slogging match  with 2 armies that were fairly evenly balanced. Differing only in detail. The idea was simply to get us back into the wargaming saddle after a lay off of 19 months.

Mostly it all came flooding back- especially after the application of throat lubrication in the form of Consett Brewery's fine light ale - lovely 'session beer'  not too heavy so easily quaffed brought all the wargamey stuff back into soft focus.

Oh and the game?  Shaun won the Hoplite grind by ranking his troops deeper - Theban style- 4 ranks deep on the table despite some early bother with Andrew's  peltasts. He had forgotten how effective they could be-  but in the event they were only a nuisance.

As usual a good time had by all and thanks as always to Landlady Jean  for looking after us.

 Next in the chair is Andrew with a Cold War Naval encounter ......  

The Encounter at Fiddler's Rise October 1469

Another thin month at the Tantobie Warfare and Tactical Society with only three memeber available for this month's game. Nil Desperandum however the three of us amnaged a fine little 40mm Wars of the Roses punch up with my collection of models in that scale and period.
 It had been a while since these last saw the light of day though I had managed to add a couple of extra figures to the collection.

The battlefield, Fiddlers Rise top right Yorkists on the right of the picture 

Lancastrian troops 

Some of the Yorkists

 Most of these are from my own Romanoff Miniatures range of late medievals - including a good few conversions the cavalry are mostly Irregular and the guns - two are Hinchliffe /.Foremost the so called Heavy Culverin in the Landsknecht range and the large bombard a scratchbuilt item. The few cavalry were Irregular with a single "Mindstslker" model on a Sash and Saber horse that I picked up secondhand and rebased  a few weeks ago.

More of the Yorkists on Fiddler's Rise. 

 Rules used were basically Anthony Clipsom's set "Foray" with  some local amendments to add in gunpowder and changing his metric measurements back to inches simply because I don't see Medieval games in millimetres as that system had not yet been invented !  The rules are simple D6 based but have enough flavour to make them interesting. Simple mechanisms and none of the  farting about seemingly so desired by many "games players"  so decisions are left to the players rather than the rule set. For this kind of large skirmish - small battle they work very well especially as they leave room for the Umpire to fiddle about and make the players think a bit. The table was a bit smaller than our usual being only five feet or so square and terrain was as simple as possible - wooden blocks under the cloth with my venerable collection of Britain's trees for the woods on top of Fiddlers Rise.

Lancastrians.

The cavalry charge. 

So to the action. The Yorkist faction was take by Mechanical Shaun and the Lancastrians by Andrew the Tekkie. I allowed both sides free deployment - simply to see what each would do  and at first both sides played it defensively, Andrew scoring an early success with a flukey double to destroy the Yorkist gun. This caused Shaun to advance and arrows  flew  but without major damage to either side, though the Lancastrian artillery did  cause a few casualties. Then the Yorkist cavalry charged  a unit of Lancastrian archers- in Percy livery but under Oxford.s banner(see what happens when you give free deployment!)  Andrews dice rolling was to say the least awful - several hist but not a single kill and the horse crashed into the archers who then failed their post melee morale and broke and fled . The horse pursued and overan the lighter Lancastrian guns and disappeared off the table.

A melee- the growling began next turn. 

 In other parts of the field honours were more or less even. A Lancastrian charge was held- just- and , though neither side broke the Lancastrians retired both sides then growled at each other, In the centre Shaun had kept his heavily armoured men at arms together and these advance upon the Lancastrian centre which looked decidedly unnerved and began to pull back.. However the Yorkists - who were slightly outnumbered overall- did not fancy assaulting  up hill  especially without cavalry support and something of a shortage of archers. As I went to the bar to get them in the fighting died down amid mild slurping of fine ale as neither side had the numbers or morale to finish the job.

As usual our thanks to Landlady Jean for excellent Beef Butties and fine pints of Consett Brewery Pale Ale.  Now off to paint some more of these for another game next year. The next meeting of our group will be  sometime in November. Don't know what period yet - therein lies the interest!