Saxon raid on Ireland

Saxons Raiding
and starting on the right

Matt played the Irish. he like playing the Irish in "Longships" and this time did not say Potato even once (that I heard), he said it a lot last time, it was his victory chant! Graham and me split the SaxonsLike wise as far as I recall we did not say "Sheep!" or "Wool" or even mead.

Saxon Skirmishers and
a Saxon unit
WE started with 4 Units the irish
started with 1.

I am afraid the game does not look very exciting at all. Graham is a lovely bloke but has less interest in how things look and more in how they work. Each to there own of course and that comment is not meant as a criticism at all.

When you fight the Irish in "Longships" they will have more skirmishers than you. You just have to accept that from the very beginning it's just a fact of life. They will also have on the whole LESS armour and larger units no matter which force you take.

First we had to find his army.
It kept moving
until we could eventually
3rd attempt pin him to a location.



When Matt settled on a location.
It was no surprise he was next
to a steep and rough Hill
Which I would have to fight my way up!



matts second Unit arrived very swiftly
In the town and bogged Grahames troops down
in a street to street house to house fight.

Rather than a frontal assault on the hill I went
to the side and attacked.
The Irish rolled remarkably well.



My Saxon unit was pretty much spent
And Matt was able to hold the hill.
Until very near the end and
I was able to send more troops
which both supported Grahames flank and the battle on the hill.

As the game ended. Both of matts units
fled the table.
But he had managed to Just bring 2 fresh units from
towns close by . It was anyone's game.
Matt looked physically the worse for wear,
Somewhat drained and weary.

















Victory points were added up. And despite the Saxons plundering a "Gift From GOD!" the final points tally was close. In the end it was a narrow Victory to Matt. he beat us by 11 Victory points. Which considering most games have about 30 points difference was quite close.

Congratulations Matt a worthy winner.

Despite loosing I still like the rules and am indeed trying to balance a force of my own. The problem being the want for heavily armoured troops against the need to keep the points down.

I shall try to get a good fighting force though and will show them as I go on this blog.

Wargames Club Gifts.

One of the great things about my club, and not every club is like this, is that if a member has more than he needs he gives it to another member. This week for example I gave Matt a figure (right) and a set of rules I had a spare copy of. (Thanks to Jon Rogers who very kindly gave the spare set to me). I only had his thanks which is actually worth more than I can say. Likewise Tim knew I wanted some 20mm tank turrets. (Dieselpunk project maybe something to show by weekend, don't know yet.) and he likewise gave me 3 resin Tank turrets. He claims they were miss cast, and the hulls might be but the turrets are fine. And I am likewise very grateful.

Now about this figure.... Yes it is a 28mm "Belt Fed" Girl from Col Bill. Firstly let me say It was an absolute joy to paint and I may well get one for myself! As a gift it was not expected and I am sure Matt was delighted. It should fit in with his VBCW 28mm figures quite well. After all (Repeat after me) "You can never have enough Lewis Guns!". I gave her a blue skirt so she could be a member of the Anglican league! matt did say that her state of undress would not make her suitable! feel free to disagree.
I did take a pic of her from the back but the pic was out of focus and if you have seen 1 cream coat you have seen them all. The figure (unpainted) retails for £3 and to my mind is one of the better of the sculpts but most are quite good IF they are of the right period for you.

3 20mm Turrets

There is a battle report coming but being honest it is not very visual so I may leave it out. I will just have to wait and see what else I get done this week.

So until next time take care have fun and paint figures. All the best Clint




++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Post Script: I forgot to mention I was also given a few LotR figures, they are still in my bag. Thanks Tim

The Germans are started.

At the Selwg show (last year) I was lucky enough to pick up these. They are By Ironclad Miniatures ( Link ) part of their Victorian science fiction range. I originally got them for "In her Majesties Name" and that is at this stage what I hope to use them for.

There are 2 packs here, the leaders and the men. So a rather affordable group of characters. Originally having talked to the owner they were going to be armed with Maces to give them a more "Tutonic" feel and personally I think I would have preferred that. Not that I am at all disappointed with the swords/knifes, but Maces would have bee just a little different.

That's todays very brief update. More again soon, as I already have 2 posts ready to go. And hope to have a third one before the day is out.

That is it as the thaw begins. All the best Clint

The Foot (started for ECW)

Yes only a start do not get excited there are only 4. Not that I will be doing many. The Absolute most I could have in "En Garde" is 18. And then they would be the least able and most lightly armed. The very cheapest troop is 4 points (and is shall we say "a Reluctant" soldier at best with no real skills) To give them either a pike or a matchlock (Arquibus makes no difference in the game) is another 3 points. So 7 points for the cheapest of the cheap. Which means for 100 points 18 troops likely to run for the hills at the first opportunity. So as I said I will not need many.


I do hasten to say I have already started some more. Another 2 with guns. I was going to do another 2 with pike as well but for now I have lost a pike.

They are on 25mm slotta bases just to keep them all the same, Clearly the pikes do not fit on the bases but they are stable enough to play with and do not fall over (Famous last words). That being the case I shall continue with this as the base system.

I have only purchased a single sprue at present but may get more in the future as to be honest I am enjoying them. So who knows I may et more, but at this stage I do not plan to.

The last pic did not really come out in focus but hard luck it is too cold to take it again I the snow. And it still gives an idea.

The basic uniform colour is green with cream cuffs. I have no idea if this is a specific uniform but I do know it is generic enough to be on either side. And I did want them generic so they could fight on either side. because that is the kind of guy I am firmly perched on the fence and happy to be there.

That's it for today as it continues to snow and is generally unpleasant weather wise. All the best and take care

Clint

Cavalier Games 2018

Due to LAG and the puter playing silly what nots I was unable to post this yesterday. But tody (Tuesday) try again. As always the games are a mixed bag. Some being show games through and trough while others are club games. Personally I like normal club games as I wonder after the show (or series of shows) is any of it ever used again. Which is both sad and a waste.

Tonbridge Wargames Club - Battle of Segesvar 1849 (10mm)

North London Wargames Group
15mm Crug Mawr 1136

Crawley Wargames Club
The Siege of Girona 1796 
 (15mm)
And I agree a very nice "Fort"

Gravesend Gamers Guild
WW2 tank battle
15mm
Clearly a club game and no worse for that

6mm (or 1/300th)Siege of Malta
Southend wargames club.
Firstly love the cloth, taken from
a modern airiel photo and altered
with all the modern buildings taken out.

28mm Zombie game byHailsham Wargames Club 
I still like a good zombie game but fear
they are getting a little rare these days 

Society of Ancients
(No not my school reunion)
To be honest they look good but I tend to loose interest
as one game the SOA puts on looks like the next
Still if they enjoy them that's good enough

28mm Mexican Revolution I think
The reason I "Think" is that the club put on a nice game
but no info at all was on display.

Deal Wargames. 1937 China
Battle of Yangmigbao 1937

As above, but you so rarely see Japanese Armoured
cars it is worth a separate photo.
Al 20mm I think

The Lights were on but no one was home.
28mm ww2 Tanks I think.
Clearly a club game and no worse for that
just not as visual as some
of the others

Maidstone wargames society
28mm ww1 ZeeBrugge raid

Yes it looks very nice and will do several shows, but after that what will happen to it?
I have no idea but I do not see it being used very much
Despite my reservations I still think it was best looking
game of the show and it will be a waste if never used again after this year

10th century Chinese naval game
by Friday Night Firefight Club
All the ships were hand made and it looks great
a Very different game in 28mm

 Well that is a round up of the games. (1 game missing). Quite a variety and some games if you do not see them this year you will ever see again. But maybe seeing them once is enough to give inspiration. That is up to each individual to decide.

Thanks for looking. Probably ECW figs tomorrow as I try to catch up.

All the best Clint in snowy Kent




 

 

 

Cavalier swag!

Show report probly tomorrow.

Internet has been down here so I missed a few posts but I have not been Idle so posts will come soon.

However until they do ... Just got back from the Cavalier show so I thought to share the loot/swag haul.  Here it is.

left to right top to bottom.

2 28mm Panserschrek teams for WW2 Germans got Chain of command.

6 Lewis Guns. These will be for conversions for my diesel punk project. Which I HOPE to START this week.

2 packs of Anstiy castings (Tea chests and stacks of boxes.) generally useful but also I do have a specific plan for them.

4 28mm Victorian Science Fiction Robots. (Ironclad Miniatures) Wait and see!

2 20mm SHQ Modern British gulf war soldiers. To paint as BAOR troops part impulse buy and part I want to do some "Cold War"

1 pack of plastic slotta bases because I am running out.

1 pack of German Aeronef Digs.

2 rule sets (Gift from friend so no cost) "Triumph and Tragedy for BoB. I already have the rules so either for Matt or another at the club.
and the Spanish Civil war supplement, which I was not expecting and now I am thinking of starting SCW in another scale!

4 Pots of Paint. I always need more paint since I found that the world stops spinning if I do not buy paint regularly! (No it does truly it does and if I wash my hair in it I will never go bald..... one of these comments may not be true, but why risk it?)

1 other secret thing I hope to get painted as a gift, But if I tell you it will not be a secret so I may just have to stick with the paint shampoo!

That's it for today. I will try to get a show game report done tomorrow

All the best folks.

Clint

Imperial Skies (First game)

I sent 1 ship to the right and two to the left
Clearly seeing that a broadside
was better than an bow to bow engagement.

Yesterday at the club I had my first game of Imperial Skies. I played against Matt and as neither of us had played before (at all) we decided to start small with just 300 points. Disclaimer: Matts Ships are all painted, mine are not. Matt also has better bases (2 of mine broke on the day), the results being my ships MOSTLY just sat on the table top and were not played on Stands. IN THE FUTURE THIS WILL CHANGE. But before we even had a trial game I did not see a huge point in expending either time or money on this as a project. Truth to admit Matt even bought me 1/2 my ships!

Matt responded by sending his biggest ship
(Battle cruiser I think) to meet my Light cruiser on the right and
the remaining 3 ships to meet  my light and heavy cruiser
to the left

In all we played 2 games and the second was faster than the first! As you might expect.

For the first game Matt selected 4 ships to make up his Flotilla. While I selected 3. A heavy Cruiser and 2 light cruisers.

matt first realised he had problems when my heavy cruiser
opened fire at his lightest ship even at long range.
but damage was light at this stage

I was quickly able to destroy matts ship
when medium range was engaged.
And Matt lost his first ship.

Over on the right my light cruiser
was able to out turn matts ship and
through a combination of DUMB LUCK
and bad dice from Matt took almost no damage.
At least to start

matt did try to double team my Other Light Cruiser (on the left)
But my heavy cruiser could not be forgotten.
And soon while the light cruiser of mine was in trouble
so were both of matts ships on the left

Meanwhile on the right I was seriously lucky with the
gunnery of the light cruiser, and was able to inflict a shocking
11 points of Damage on Matts Battle cruiser in one turn.

matt manages to shoot down my other light cruiser
but at least it went down fighting

I was able then to finish off both of matts other ships
with another massive broadside rom my heavy cruiser

The first game ended with a German Victory

A misplay by me in turn 1 (you are not surprised)
I put the ships in the wrong order
The plan was to use the small ships as a screen to protect the
battleship.

GAME 2
Selecting different flotillas each this time I went for a battleship, 2 frigates and a patrol craft













I wanted to screen the battleship and that was the plan
and it worked for the first 2 tunrs.
After 2 Turns though Matt was happy to shoot the 5h!t
out of my minnow ships and take no return fire from them



Matt had 3 ships this time while I had 4.
he had learnt the value of Cruisers.
While Clearly I had not!

Son I just had the battleship left against 2 of Matts Cruisers






























Despite my best efforts and a huge amount
of fire power I was out manouvered













And out gunned.I did all the repairs I could but
each turn I was getting weaker

I headed for home,
my own board edge.
Badly damaged engines now down to a 2" move
Not enough crew to fire the light guns
and all to few to fire the medium guns

And then all of a sudden Matt was able to kill the ship entirely
yes I know you thought I would pull it
out at the last minute
I DID NOT!

A Glorious Victory to Matt
(Curse his name!)





















































All in all the rules worked very well. better then I would have thought. hats of to you Robin (who wrote the rules), I have met briefly once. And hope to meet again.

I have emailed Matt today and we have agreed on another game both saying we enjoyed it. The rules are simple yet at the same time do allow for some tactics (except when I play). For the next game I need to paint all of my ships and make some better stands as I feel that will add to the look of the game. I also want to get a few more ships and some Digs (dirigibles) so expect to see Aeronef on the blog again.

Overall a very enjoyable game and worth playing again and with finished models.