We have a brand new website with quite a few pictures of games to whet your appetite. My thanks to Malcom for creating a new home.
I've updated the link to the left or click below:
http://grimsbywargamessociety.webs.com/
Enjoy - and become a member.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Classic Wargaming
As some of you are already aware, Phil Olley has taken on himself to try and reintroduce the style and spirit of gaming that the old wargamers Digest inspired. To this end he has created the "Classic Wargame Journal" which he hopes will emulate its illustrious predecessor.
I have a copy, ordered Tuesday arrived Thursday - how's that for service - and enjoyed reading it cover to cover over a cup of coffeee last night.
Go here and subscribe:
http://classicwargaming.blogspot.com/
I have a copy, ordered Tuesday arrived Thursday - how's that for service - and enjoyed reading it cover to cover over a cup of coffeee last night.
Go here and subscribe:
http://classicwargaming.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Great Northern War Game
For the first time I managed to get the GNW project as it is so far onto the tabletop last night.
First the six battalions of Russians.
And the Swedes.
The aim of the game was just to try some rules and see how it worked out. As such the table was simply laid out with a few large woods and some rolling hills flanking a central plain.
For this first game I chose "Black Powder" and gave the Swedes a high command rating ( 
However, where the Russians held their ground their numbers overwhelmed the Swedes.
The game swung both ways and ended only when both sides when the Russian line was turned through ninety degrees and all units shaken.
My biggest question though was this game enough inspiration for Bill to get the GNW range moving again?
First the six battalions of Russians.
And the Swedes.
The aim of the game was just to try some rules and see how it worked out. As such the table was simply laid out with a few large woods and some rolling hills flanking a central plain.
For this first game I chose "Black Powder" and gave the Swedes a high command rating ( 8) and "terrifying charge". The Russians were downgraded to a command rating of 7.
As such the Swedes were much more aggressive and advanced very quickly across the tabletop. The terrifying charge caused one of the Russians to break at first time of testing.
However, where the Russians held their ground their numbers overwhelmed the Swedes.
The game swung both ways and ended only when both sides when the Russian line was turned through ninety degrees and all units shaken.
I think with a bit more thought and consideration "Black Powder" might well be the answer. I might have to rethink some of the attributes I gave to the various units whilst trying not to give the game to either side. Ultimatelythe Swedes have to half as good again as the Russians given that there are only four battalions to the Russians six.
Right now I like the command rating and I think Terrifying charge is right. But do I give the Russians "stubborn" status and the Swedes "crack" as well?
Well Bill was it?
The Sudan
By a curious twist there were two Sudan games being played last night at the club. Both using mostly Hinchliffe figures but very different rule sets.
First Dave Tuck with his collection using "Black Powder". I like the use of the coloured cloth and the aquarium plants.
A close up of the Fuzzy Wuzzies closing with the British.
Skinners horse enter the village
Gardener gun deployed for action
First Dave Tuck with his collection using "Black Powder". I like the use of the coloured cloth and the aquarium plants.
A close up of the Fuzzy Wuzzies closing with the British.Next up Malcolm Taylor and his use of Gilders rules with the exception of the firing mechanisms which were lifted from our WSS rules.
Skinners horse enter the village
Gardener gun deployed for action Tuesday, July 13, 2010
War of the Spanish Succession Game
The French Army of the Rhine took to the field again after a long period in quarters. This time to face a combined force of English & Imperial troops.
The French fielded fourteen battalions and eighteen squadrons whilst their opponents had twelve battalions and fourteen squadrons.
The site of the engagement was a large open plain with dense woods on the right flank of each army. The French deployed with horse on both flanks whilst the enemy chose to mass all their horse on the left flank of their force. The Imperial troops had also spent most of the night constructing some fieldworks to protect their field guns.
This limited the options for attacking the enemy - something the French commander had chosen to do in order to try and use his advantage in the number of battalions by concentrating his attack at the junction of the two enemy forces.
Accordingly, in an attempt to prevent the massed enemy horse from attacking what would be his exposed left flank as he advanced, the French horse on the left surged forward to block the enemy horse.
The French fielded fourteen battalions and eighteen squadrons whilst their opponents had twelve battalions and fourteen squadrons.
The site of the engagement was a large open plain with dense woods on the right flank of each army. The French deployed with horse on both flanks whilst the enemy chose to mass all their horse on the left flank of their force. The Imperial troops had also spent most of the night constructing some fieldworks to protect their field guns.
This limited the options for attacking the enemy - something the French commander had chosen to do in order to try and use his advantage in the number of battalions by concentrating his attack at the junction of the two enemy forces.
Accordingly, in an attempt to prevent the massed enemy horse from attacking what would be his exposed left flank as he advanced, the French horse on the left surged forward to block the enemy horse. A fierce melee ensued with the French getting the worse of it. However, the morale of the French held and eventually both sides pulled their horse back to regroup and recover.
In the center the French advanced to meet the advancing English lines. In front of them the overwhelming presence of the English First Foot Guards. The two leading French battalions were soon hotly engaged in a firefight that seemed to have no advantage for either side. Eventually however, casualties began to tell on the French and they began to fall back before turning tail and fleeing from the English.
In the left of center things were just as closely contended with the French first lines initially having the advantage as a gap appeared between the advancing English and the more reluctant Imperial troops. The English held long enough for the Imperial forces to close the gap and engage the French. The damage had been done though and the first line of the English gave way.
In the center the French advanced to meet the advancing English lines. In front of them the overwhelming presence of the English First Foot Guards. The two leading French battalions were soon hotly engaged in a firefight that seemed to have no advantage for either side. Eventually however, casualties began to tell on the French and they began to fall back before turning tail and fleeing from the English.
In the left of center things were just as closely contended with the French first lines initially having the advantage as a gap appeared between the advancing English and the more reluctant Imperial troops. The English held long enough for the Imperial forces to close the gap and engage the French. The damage had been done though and the first line of the English gave way.This allowed the French to step forward and engage the rapidly arriving Imperial forces alone for a while before the second English line came forward.
At the same time the French began to advance their left flank at an incline against the floating right flank of the Imperial forces. The French commander seeing the enemy pull his reserves into the center from behind the wood. He calculated that by leaving a single regiment of horse to screen his left the French would have numbers of foot and horse sufficient to overwhelm the enemy.
By now the first lines of both sides had retired to reform and the second lines engaged. Finding that the musketry from the Imperial forces appeared hesitant and that some of the enemy were looking nervous the Colonel of the Bavarian Kuirassiers decided to charge the enemy foot battalion facing him. Giving his orders he was surprised to find the troops baulk at his command. The General commanding the left saw this unfortunate turn of events and joined the regiment. His stirring speech convinced the regiment to set off against the enemy. The Imperial troops stood their ground but failed to stop the Kuirassiers crashing into them. However, despite losing the melee the Imperial battalion held firm and forced the Kuirassiers to retire. 
Because as the French tried to break the enemy right the massed horse on the left had again come forward. The depleted numbers of French horse duly trotted forward to stop the advance. This time the English horse led the way and cleared the French from the field.
At the same time the French began to advance their left flank at an incline against the floating right flank of the Imperial forces. The French commander seeing the enemy pull his reserves into the center from behind the wood. He calculated that by leaving a single regiment of horse to screen his left the French would have numbers of foot and horse sufficient to overwhelm the enemy.
By now the first lines of both sides had retired to reform and the second lines engaged. Finding that the musketry from the Imperial forces appeared hesitant and that some of the enemy were looking nervous the Colonel of the Bavarian Kuirassiers decided to charge the enemy foot battalion facing him. Giving his orders he was surprised to find the troops baulk at his command. The General commanding the left saw this unfortunate turn of events and joined the regiment. His stirring speech convinced the regiment to set off against the enemy. The Imperial troops stood their ground but failed to stop the Kuirassiers crashing into them. However, despite losing the melee the Imperial battalion held firm and forced the Kuirassiers to retire. This was to be a decisive event.
Because as the French tried to break the enemy right the massed horse on the left had again come forward. The depleted numbers of French horse duly trotted forward to stop the advance. This time the English horse led the way and cleared the French from the field.Turing to face this threat the third French line now had to hold off three regiments of horse and two English foot battalions whilst the French and Bavarians in the center tried to break through.
Despite having the numbers and the better position the Franco-Bavarian troops could not make the impression that they wanted and the enemy held despite wavering and looking as though they were about to break.
Despite having the numbers and the better position the Franco-Bavarian troops could not make the impression that they wanted and the enemy held despite wavering and looking as though they were about to break.The end came when the enemy horse on the French right charged and caused a hole to open in the line. This exposure meant that the enemy could surge through uninterrupted and cause havoc amongst the rear of the French.
The French morale collapsed and the army fled the field leaving the enemy in possession bruised and battered but victorious.
My thanks to my opponents Mark & Andy for a cracking game.
At various stages during the night it looked as though either side could win and it was two events that gave the game to the Maritime Powers. The failure of the Bavarian Kuirassiers to break the enemy line was key to the inability of the French to win. Should the enemy have broken it would have exposed several battalions who were still marching into the center. Equally the effective charge of the English horse onto the disordered French line who had no reserves prevented the French from bringing their central reserves into play.
With over 1200 figures on the tabletop the game took three hours to play using the club rules. As I've said before these are simple and fun but, for us at least, allow the period to be played as it should. Indeed it was commented by one observer how easily the game played and that one of the interesting features from him is that we hardly referred to the rules all night. This is something I think we overlook in rules and how they play. Constant reference to sheets and charts slows the game down. We don't because firing is quick (and constantly bloody), melees are just as easy, and although there are fifteen reasons for testing morale most of the time we only have three (casualties from firing, melee losers & recovery from action - pursuit, rout or disorder) and these have only five factors to consider (class, casualties that turn, leaders, losses overall, order/disorder).
Simples.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Painting Update
As promised, some photographs of the recent work completed.
The bad first - Wars of the Roses Irish.
I say bad because I didn't enjoy painting theses guys at all. The figures are from Vendel and purchased at Triples. I found then to have lots of flash and took a lot of cleaning up. Add in that some of the faces were hard to distinguish (particulalry the two figures using the axe two handed over the head) and the voluminous clothes were hard to define on some and I can say that paining was not easy. So I decided to keep it simple with a variety of dull yellow clothes and finished with Army Painter dip.
Next the Jacobites.
Now these I enjoyed doing, although three hundred highlanders can get a bit repetitive. The figures are all based unifomrly and I went with a simple four man stand so that I can either use them under our current rules in units of 32/36/40 or, as part of the longer term, use them to refight the rising against the Government forces I'm planning to raise using smaller units.
Two shots of the foot. Most are Stratagem figures and are lovely casts with character and style. All I need now are the standards.
Next the massed horse. Three squadrons of Lifeguards in French uniform, two squadrons of horse in French uniforms with captured and requistioned armour (complete fancy but I like them), two squadrons of Border horse and a squadron of Scotch Hussars. A mix of Foundry and Front Rank figures.
Finally the Jacobite Regulars. Nine stands of figures representing the Royal Eccosais in blue, the three companies of the Wild Geese that took part and an additional contingent of the Manchester Regiment. I gave the Irish the dark red coat from the French army but the Manchester Regiment the brick red of the English. A mix of Stratagem, Front Rank and Warrior figures (I like the Warrior casting but not the small pop gun musket they provide).
Finally the new project. In its infancy yet with only two boxes of figures purchased from Warlord Games but here are the Covenanters so far.
I've completed painting twelve of the figures, one sprue, and an additional officer (metal that comes with the box). A bit fiddly to assemble to get the arms located properly, especially on the firing figures but quick to paint and nicely detailed.
I went with GW Codex Gray highlighted with GW Fortress Grey and then washed with GW Devaln mud to create the Hodden grey that the army wore. Hodden grey is a mix of 1 part white to twelve parts black thread apparently and yet looks more purple than grey when seen in relatively modern clothes. But since shade is a personal thing I'm happy with the effect achieved and that I can keep the same colour across the entire project.
The bad first - Wars of the Roses Irish.
I say bad because I didn't enjoy painting theses guys at all. The figures are from Vendel and purchased at Triples. I found then to have lots of flash and took a lot of cleaning up. Add in that some of the faces were hard to distinguish (particulalry the two figures using the axe two handed over the head) and the voluminous clothes were hard to define on some and I can say that paining was not easy. So I decided to keep it simple with a variety of dull yellow clothes and finished with Army Painter dip.
Next the Jacobites.
Now these I enjoyed doing, although three hundred highlanders can get a bit repetitive. The figures are all based unifomrly and I went with a simple four man stand so that I can either use them under our current rules in units of 32/36/40 or, as part of the longer term, use them to refight the rising against the Government forces I'm planning to raise using smaller units.
Two shots of the foot. Most are Stratagem figures and are lovely casts with character and style. All I need now are the standards.
Next the massed horse. Three squadrons of Lifeguards in French uniform, two squadrons of horse in French uniforms with captured and requistioned armour (complete fancy but I like them), two squadrons of Border horse and a squadron of Scotch Hussars. A mix of Foundry and Front Rank figures.
Finally the Jacobite Regulars. Nine stands of figures representing the Royal Eccosais in blue, the three companies of the Wild Geese that took part and an additional contingent of the Manchester Regiment. I gave the Irish the dark red coat from the French army but the Manchester Regiment the brick red of the English. A mix of Stratagem, Front Rank and Warrior figures (I like the Warrior casting but not the small pop gun musket they provide).Finally the new project. In its infancy yet with only two boxes of figures purchased from Warlord Games but here are the Covenanters so far.
I've completed painting twelve of the figures, one sprue, and an additional officer (metal that comes with the box). A bit fiddly to assemble to get the arms located properly, especially on the firing figures but quick to paint and nicely detailed.
I went with GW Codex Gray highlighted with GW Fortress Grey and then washed with GW Devaln mud to create the Hodden grey that the army wore. Hodden grey is a mix of 1 part white to twelve parts black thread apparently and yet looks more purple than grey when seen in relatively modern clothes. But since shade is a personal thing I'm happy with the effect achieved and that I can keep the same colour across the entire project.I have also decided to keep the paint pallet quite small for these figures so leather goods are GW Snakebite Leather highlighted with GW Bubonic Brwon for belts and GW Desert Yellow for other items. Bonnets are GW Enchanted blue with GW Badab black wash. Hose are a variety of brown from the GW range (Scorched Earth, Bestial, Graveyard, Bleached Bone). The apostles are GW Dark Flesh highlighted with GW Vermin Brown.
Officers and musicians get a wider variety of colours as you might expect. The only exception I made is to have the officer sash colour replicated on the garter ribbon worn by the regiment. So in this the first regiment the officer has a blue sash and the figures all have a blue garter ribbon. Purely so I can identify the bases on the tabletop.
Sunday, July 04, 2010
Still Here
I am sorry about the lack of activity here for the last few weeks. This is entirely due to me having what we thought was Legionnaires disease (and thankfully it wasn't but this was only confirmed after numerous blood tests) but was only a severe bout of flu. Yes flu, not man flu, but genuine flu - the difference being that had Jennifer Love Hewitt been dancing naked around my bedroom I could have done nothing to help the young lady.
Still I'm a lot better now.
Hopefully this week I'll post photographs of what I've been upto. This will include the completion of the Jacobite revamp, some Wars of the Roses Irish and, the newest project (yes another one) the Scottish Covenanter army.
Still I'm a lot better now.
Hopefully this week I'll post photographs of what I've been upto. This will include the completion of the Jacobite revamp, some Wars of the Roses Irish and, the newest project (yes another one) the Scottish Covenanter army.
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