18th Century Skirmish game

The inaugural game for my new wargames room/conservatory.  Some 18th Century Gentlemanly Skirmishing.

The church at Krückeberg

Turn one, Blue aggressively race for the isolated objective, a dismounted officer

And the 3pdr cannon is less than impressive 

Leutnant Pumphosen keeps himself safe

Blue grab the Officer and drag him away.  Red come on, having the best of the fight.

Pumphosen and the captured Marquis.  "We meet again my Lord.  Any chance of some Apricot pie?"

Helped by the fat Leutnant the Korporal and his men drag the Red Officer closer to the board edge and that dastardly serving of pie.

Hauptmann Schagg fights the rearguard.

And the Marquis is taken

In a traditional battle those superb Red Musketeers were a real threat, but Victory goes to Blue in the narrative.

The Blue commander wearing a subdued orange coat, and without his periwig.

My thanks to Colonel Incontinenz and the Marquis Flatulenz.

Wild West Blood and Steel

To test our idea of using Blood and steel for a Wild West game we came up with the idea of a miners strike, being put down by forces hired by the "Company."

Parker Silver Mining Inc has been oppressing the Mexicans and local Native Americans, only to have the very people they were forcing to dig the ore be armed by gunrunners.  Mayor Wiley was suspected to be the one that sold repeating rifles to the 'Pache.

As dawn broke over main street the scene is set for a confrontation.  Miners, Mexicans and Apache, versus gunslingers, cowboys and Pinkerton's hired thugs.

Mainstreet.

Mayor Wiley, urinating on the town beer supply.

El Fatti, the Mexican gang boss demonstrates his dice rolling skills.

In a fit of enthusiasm Lord Farthingdale and the European adventurers surge forward to hide in the tumbleweed

The 'Pache creep forward building up a strong body count of enemy.

And another crises for the Mexicans as Pancho spends a penny.

Indio's men have less common sense, as they creep into pistol range and one of the peons stands astride the horse trough in a power pose.

The Mexicans face off against the gunmen, Sancho prepares his dynamite

And the gunmen are driven back

In the centre the "seven" charge forward.  McQueen is fanning that gun again!

And Sancho really wants to blow up that building.

But the Mexicans are driven back in the centre.

In the right however the Apache are quite deadly!

And the end game, it's not definitive but it seems Blood And Steel give an excellent Wild West skirmish game.  Probably the start of an enlarged Apache force for me!

Great fun and thanks to our guest Wild West gamers!

Trouble up the Donga

In a nod to the terrain of Zululand we deployed a donga and rolling hills as well as tall grass areas onto the weekly battlefield.  It was pointed out that the donga was clearly the creation of a master craftsman, a work of genius.  I  pointed this out with no sense of embarrassment since I was the bloke what done it.

The thin end of the donga.

And the running tokens indicate that the Zulu have "run to ground."

The British cautiously deploy

Turns out that a donga is just as attractive as a hill in terms of getting troops into it.

I run at the British, but again and again I'm knocked back

Worse, even when I get into combat I'm beaten.  The national Characteristic  stats of the British seem a little Hollywood.

But we do kill a few of them

The British form up a line, the Zulu hide in the grass.

The colour is saved.  It seems Lt Pea wasn't killed in vain last game.

A desperate fight around the colours.

And the British dice are excellent.  They shield the withdrawing colour.

The remains of the Zulu cower in the tall grass.

The last turn.  All the Zulu can do is fire a ragged volley as the British rescue their colours.

As a step ahead with the Zulu I intend to add a second group of Musket men, which seems fair enough since the Zulu had far more guns than the British.

The Imperials have a group of Natal Native Infantry yet to be painted, and I may add another, as well as some Natal/Boer cavalry.  My intention is to make the "British" a more diverse, historically accurate force.

I've really enjoyed these few Zulu games.  A small figure collection but the Blood and Steel rules worked really well to give three excellent games in a row.  Its a period I will dip back into in future.

Lt Pea and the camp site carry on.

 Washing the Spears game 2.

The Zulu objective is the campsite, where Lt Pea has taken to his tent after injuring his leg chasing a chicken.

British fire is steady

The Zulu close in, my new casualty markers seeing some action

The Zulu rush the tents.

Lt Pea's recovery is rudely interrupted.  He abandons his copy of the "Victoria's Secrets" catalogue and takes up his 'revolver

But the British are closing in

The Zulu take casualties but somehow stand

Holding the initiative the Zulu attempt to shield the group raiding  the camp.  Our mission is to capture the objective and take it off table, but the casualties are horrendous.

Pea is taken off to the Zulu camp, but we needed to kill more British 

The end game.  The Zulu losses mean a strike roll, which we fail, but we claim the moral victory

Great game, fraught with difficulty but really enjoyable.

The first Spear Washing

The Zulu

First Induana @0
Shaka Eubank
Second Induana @10
Shaka Bruno
10 Married Warriors @4.           40
10 Married Warriors @4.           40
10 Unmarried Warriors @4.      40
10 Unmarried Warriors @4.      40
8 Warriors with rifles @4.          32.      = 202

British

Lieutenant @0,
Lt Jasper Pea
NCO @5
Colour Sergeant Scott
8 x British Regulars @7.   56
8 x British Regulars @7.   56
6 x British Regulars @7.   49
6 x British Regulars @7.   49.             = 202

The Zulu come on, running to ground, as the thin Red line forms up

The ancient Minifigs Zulu actually look the part!

And the Zulu swiftly grab the objective.

But the British are close.

The shooting begins, and it's a brutal fight.

But the Zulu close, that 6" charge is crucial.

Up close these boys are deadly

And they charge in from different angles, shielded by the rolling terrain.

And faced by these British Regulars the Zulu are not above a bit of bullying.

In a fit condition f enthusiasm I leave the objective.  And some of the Zulu units are running low

But its a damned close run thibg

The fight surges to my right, leaving my second Induna leade isolated away on the left

With dice like that I'm not going to win this!

The Zulu fight desperately

The British are pushed back, but the Zulu are staggering

I fail my strictest shed the British pass theirs.  A damned close run thing.

One of the great games I think.  It couldn't have been closer.