Phalanx 2012

Annual pilgrimage down to St Helen's for the Spartans annual Phalanx convention.

Arrived at about 12am, Bumped into a few of the Furness Wargamers who had made their own way down and got my £3 entry fee reimbursed for being a club member.

Seemd to be more demo games going on this year, or possibly just better laid out. The local LARP group had a table to themselves as well. As per usual with LARPers they were heavily into latex.

Did not buy much, some magazines, some cheap Army Painter primer and some packs of 15mm Protolene 'jackal' warriors from the Critical Mass stall. These, at a push, can act as proxy Vargr to face the proxy 'Imperials' I got at Triples. Should have more than enough figures to do some of the basic Tomorrow's War scenarios.

Had some deep fried chips from the cafe for dinner, which was 'as good as ever'; You would expect a sports centre to have something a little better. (But not as extreme as at Triples where they had vending machines for Whey Powder.)

Left at around 3pm, just as the monsoon season was starting.
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Battle at Wahlsbeck

A battle that should never been fought occurs as Davout's retreating French runs into a Prussian Corps that had just trashed the Frenchies forward supply depot. Rather than retreat the Prussians decide to stand against a superior French Army.

Report from Dave M

Hordes of Blue and Grey

A 3 a side mini campaign, organised by Paul. The Confederation of Tel, Jim and Ethan vs the Union of Martin, Dave M and Tony. Using a variant of the HoTT rules with only 3 unit types and allowing for step reductions in combat, plus an unhistorical balancing of initial forces.

The Union try an early advance into Virginia, loading up two armies versus my one in a re-fight of Bull Run. The other Confederate forces counter by moving into Kentucky with armies from Tennessee and Georgia. With both fights going the way of the Confederates, the Union was put on the back foot straight away.

The Army of North Virginia then marches unopposed into Maryland and capturing Washington, as the remaining Union forces try and repulse the western advance into Indiana.

So the final battle is in Ohio as all the remaining forces converge, with the advantage of units in favour of the Confederates (one of the Union armies only had one element in it!). When the leader of the forces on the Union left met with an untimely demise it forced his army, previously holding its own against the stronger enemy, to retreat leaving the remaining defenders in the centre exposed (they had refused to defend their right flank). Put on an untenable situation the Union had no option but to concede.

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Battle for Magdeburg

The 1813 Campaign continues after an April hiatus, with a long anticipated battle near the key supply city of Magdeburg.

Report from Dave M again.

From Furness Wargamers in Shakos

St George's Talavera

The annual big near St. Georges Day game. This year was the Battle of Talavera in 28mm.
All figures provided by Matt.

From Talavera 2012

The Vikings!

A mass brawl between eight differing clans of Vikings as they pine for the fjords and the hidden gold located there.

Rules for combat are the same as used for the Irish Campaign, basically a modified version of the SPI War of the Rings rules, but with boats added.

At the start everybody rolled to see who their natural friends and enemies were. The Bjork clan, were obviously shrieky outsiders from across the sea and ended up with three enemies.

From Furness Wargamers with Spears

Battle of Marienborn

Another battle in the 1813 Campaign as the French try and redeploy their forces out of the rough terrain of Marienborn after the surprise capitulation of Magdeburg.

Report from Dave M as usual.

From Furness Wargamers in Shakos