Thawgrave Castle

Frostgrave. but in a not-so-frosty location. Bands of adventurers have been told about the treasure/princess/etc that needs liberating/rescuing from a castle and surrounding town that has fallen into the hands of some bad people. That's 'bad' as compared to the incoming wizards, who were mostly necromancers. 

(This post was delayed from February)

Romans Rampant

A game of Lion Rampant at Matt's, but set in Roman times and modded (for rules and troop types) to give a big battle feel.

Indian Guns

A return trip to Maratha India, as Matt advances with his 'Road to Assaye' project, to recreate Wellington's Toughest Battle.

A converted version of Impetus Baroque advanced in time to the Napoleonic Era, this was its first outing in 28mm. Matt gets to reuse some of his crusader era Arabs as Levy, but the vast majority of troops are new to the field.

Steampunk Village People

A big (possibly too big) game of 'In Her Majesty's Name'.

A quite English village gets disrupted as nefarious groups from around the world converge to loot it's treasures. Five factions, and the GM controlled villagers.

Intended as a refresher game to get us familiar with the rules again, it tended to get bogged down a bit with the turn sequence.

The heroic band of the Prince of Wales's Extraordinary Company.

Frosty ADnD

Things go a bit old school! Modified 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons but in a Frostgrave setting. All organised by Matt. Multiple parties entering the deathtrap city to grab as much loot as they can.

Gates of the ruined city.

Two Lions Rampant

Two games of Lion Rampant at the club as we enter training mode for the group. First game was Matt vs Jim, two novices to the rules with a number of (semi-)eager spectators.

Miniatures supplied by Dave M, who's rebased his Normans into single figures. Everybody else are still putting their plastics together.

Since it was Matt and Jim in command of the forces it was always going to be an interesting game. Victory conditions were whoever could hold the central hill for a total of 5 turns, or else defeat the opposition. Jim seized the central hill early, and Matt did not immediately respond. Preferring instead to form his footmen at arms into schiltron to protect his flanks from the enemy cavalry, while launching his own cavalry through the centre, skirting round the hill.

Jim managed to hold the hill for four turns but his force ended up breaking in the end, due to some bad morale roles.

For the second game , I got dragged into playing as nobody else would volunteer!

In this scenario I got the role of defender, trying to find an escapee in hiding from their former gaolers.

Things started badly as I failed to activate on the first term and only managed to activate a couple of units on the second. Meanwhile the attackers were advancing along the board at quite a pace being in the main light troops. Fortunately my troops finally decided to make haste and managed to check out the first and second area in quick succession. Unfortunately the escapee was in neither, and with the remaining sections in the middle of the board it was going to be a risky job to continue the search.

I decided to take a risk and advanced my cavalry units up the centre of the board this put them in direct confrontation with the enemy leader and cavalry. My leader's cavalry unit searched the central area and found our escapee, the trouble now laid in trying to get them off the board.

The big trouble with using the cavalry to pick up the escapee is the Wild Charge ability, which sort of gives the opposition a herding mechanism. Unless I could throw blockers in front of the unit, or make use of terrain to mask enemy units.

Then disaster struck my opponent, as their leader committed to a disastrous charge that greatly weakened them at little cost to myself, Although my unit with the escapee was in wild charge range of him, he was also on wild charge range of my other unit which I chose to activate first and wiped his unit out. With no one else in charge range my escapee could make their way towards safety.

The crib sheets we used, while not totally comprehensive, came in very useful, and I found them easier to use to look up activation and combat figures than the individual unit cards that Dave M provided.

¶

Phalanx 2016

Another year and another Saturday trip to St Helens to visit the Phalanx show, the main one in the North-West. No exhibition game from Furness Wargamers this year, but the usual suspects made their way down individually. Some of the goods purchased are displayed below.

The decision had been previously made by our group at the club to try and organise a Lion Rampant campaign, set around an unspecified area of the Mediterranean in the Crusader era. Given how disorganised we traditionally are this would be quite an achievement if successful. So there the three of us were, trying to sort out what boxes of plastics were needed.

Templar Knight Horses

From Phalanx 2016

Dutch Courage

Another trial of the increasingly refined Waterloo Rules. A French assault on a polyglot force of Dutch, Belgians and Brunswickers.

Matt and Tel lead the French, Tony and Jim the argumentative allies.

The first assaults from the French were repulsed with casulties. A more effective tactic for the French was to stand off and fire in supported line at the defenders. With the assistance of the Artillery the defenders were chipped away.

 Finally a breakthrough for the French on the right as a renewed assault takes the rightmost buildings, threatening the troops defending between the built-up areas. With French cavalry cming round the side the Allies were forces to adjust their positions.

The French lancers initially pushed the Brunswickers back, but numbers told in the next combat round and the situation was reversed, with the Brunswickers then following up and completely routing the Lancers, but at the cost of riding off the table in mad pursuit.
¶

Western Backshot

Dave M gets to display his newly complete Western figures, in this four sided skirmish using rules downloaded from the web and some rather smart card buildings.

Given the lush vegetation the setting is obviously not the wilds of Arizona, more likely in one of the northern states. This little town is so peaceful they don't even need an undertaker (or privies).

Sharpe's 'Sharp Practice' Practice

Matt breaks out his skirmish troops from his Napoleonic forces again, but this time to play a rule set that he's just bought, 'Sharp Practice' by Too Fat Lardies, rather than his home-brewed ones. It's a character driven set of rules, with the 'Big Men' being all important in managing the troops.

From Furness Wargamers in Shakos

Tel, Dave M and Jim are the Honourable French. Keiron, Tony and S.O.Else, the Perfidious Rosbifs. A 'Big Man' each, plus one extra to command the forces, Kieron and Dave M doubling up respectively.

With only Matt having the rules, and himself having never played them, he took on the role of referee\rules lawyer. A simple scenario, capture and hold the four buildings on the table, with those holding the most winning.

Sharpe's Shooters

Another trial of the Skirmish rules after last weeks first run through.

Once again a 'find the lady' scenario, but with the British defending a village and the French assaulting.

The hiding place of the Lady was chosen so as to only have one way in or out. With an internal barricade and Harper with his volley gun at the ready, any Frenchman trying to seize her would be in for some unpleasantness.

French moved in from one side in a two pronged attack. This forced the Riflemen to rush across the village to help out the regulars holding two of the buildings on that side.

A couple of shots from the upper windows of hard-point took down a Frenchman who had previously survived a volley from three others.

After a couple of bad turns of melee, that saw the regulars forced away from the walls they were defending, it looked like the British had chance for revenge. The Riflemen could now pile in and change the odds, bashing the French back in what was the last act of the game.
¶

Sharpe's Standoff

It's nearing dawn in a Spanish village, and the French commander is interrogating a young lady, believed to be a spy for the nearby British. Little are they both aware of a daring rescue attempt being orchestrated outside by a certain Captain Sharpe.

From Furness Wargamers in Shakos

Terrain, figures and rules supplied by Matt, who has spun off these rules from his home-brew Napoleonic big battle rules so that he can make use of his singly based skirmisher figures. Tel leading the British as Tony plays the defenders.

Fuentes Warm Up

The final test of Matt's Frankenstein style home-brew rules, before their first big outing at the much delayed St George's Day game.

A small affair between the French and the Spanish, who were instructed to hold a built up area. The Spanish had the much larger force but was up against good quality French, including four high quality Guard Cavalry units.

Road to Waterloo - Again

Another play test of the 'fast-play' rules for next years Waterloo game, as the rules finally settle down after about five iterations. Again it is an hold the village scenario, set in the Peninsular (Iberian, not Furness)

Two brigades of British and Portuguese, lead by Tel, plus some Heavy Cavalry and Guns, defending against the massed forces of the Matt's French.
 

 

From Furness Wargamers in Shakos

Road to Waterloo

Another test game of the proposed 'Waterloo' rules, with the French, consisting of Tel and Tony, assaulting a village defended by the British and Spanish of Martin and Jim. The village spans a river, crossable by troops but with a bridge in place for easier crossing.

Victory conditions are simple... who ever holds the village at the end of the game is the winner.



From Furness Wargamers in Shakos