This month we will be mainly playing 10mm

 By sheer coincidence, this month was to be devoted to 10mm figures. We had 2 really good games and it was great to see some old collections on the table once again.

First off was a game of O Group; Normandy 1944, pitting a US battalion against a German battalion.

The Normandy battlefield 

This was the example scenario, from the rules, but swapping a US battalion for the British.

The game had a great feel and I liked the pre game planning aspect. The US plan was for Baker company to put in a spoiling attack right of the road, whilst Able company advanced onto the line of the farmhouse. Charlie company would then consolidate on that position, followed by an advance on the objective (the town), while Able company swept around from the flank.

Amazingly, the plan worked despite a mid game set back from a well placed artillery stonk.

Unfortunately, although successful, the Americans took too long about it, so we gave the win to the Germans. (We were so immersed in the game that we forgot about the 16 turn limit.) Sadly, I also forgot to take any photos of the second half of the game.

 

A platoon of Able company comes under mortar fire

Able company advance from the phase line.

Charlie Company consolidates

I'm not sure about all the players but I thought it was a cracking game and was enthused enough to send off to Pendraken for a British battalion.

Game two was Bloody Barons 2. This was only its second outing, at the club, and a test case for my alternative pre game set up. The game played really well with 2 players per side and was in my view our best game, using the version 2 rules, so far.

I was also really pleased that, unless you were in the know, you couldn't really tell that this is a grid based game.

The armies deploy

Seeing a Yorkist unit, apparently exposed, the Lancastrians launch a disastrous cavalry charge.

Leading the mercenary centre, Lord Whippersnapper smashes the Yorkist line

On the Lancastrian right, the unreliable Count Catchmole flees before the Yorkist advance.

The remnants of the Yorkist centre are penned into Pogle's Wood. Lord Pea leads a frontal assault whilst Lord Whippersnapper takes the Yorkists in the flank. What could possibly go wrong?

Lord Whippersnapper gets lost in the wood and fails to attack, that's what could go wrong! 

After a hard fight, with both Lord Pea and the Earl of Dawlish falling in combat, it's a draw. Unfortunately, the defender wins draws - Lord Pea's ward is thrown back.

A well timed counter attack by Yorkist cavalry - unfortunately it was as successful as the earlier disastrous Lancastrian cavalry charge.

Lancastrian left flank collapses

Lancastrian centre pushed back, after the death of Lord Pea.

At that point the battle clock ran out but it was obvious, that with  Whippersnapper lost in the woods, the Yorkists had won the day. A great game, played in great spirit - we shall have to do it again sometime.

Pirates and Cowboys but definitely no Zombies

 It's been a funny old month; attendance at the club has been down and I don't think we have had a full turn out of the usual suspects all month. Despite that we've still had some cracking games.

First off, Elliot put on a game of Bloody Barons with his very nice collection of Peter Pig 15mm figures. Apparently, we were playing Game of Thrones but thankfully it was devoid of any fantasy elements. Not that I'm against fantasy, I just don't understand it; I'll happily read or watch it but gaming it is another matter. In the end I just put my WOTR head on and everything was fine. We were playing the first version of the rules, so it was nice to revisit an old friend. I was left with the impression that this version has slightly more narrative, as you're dealing with individual units, but version 2 is far superior for the army level feel. Version 1 also has more friction and is more subject to the vagaries of the dice. As a whole, I think I prefer version 2 for WOTR but GOT .....hmm dunno really.

Unfortunately, as I wasn't putting the game on I didn't take any photos. I can't even say who won, unless it was Sean Bean - but probably not. Great fun nevertheless.

The following week, I was finally able to bring my pirate collection to the club. Apart from some lockdown Zoom games this was to be their first proper outing. I managed to put together 4 forces, even if it did stretch my figure collection to the limit.

We played the land Raid scenario with Spanish and French Caribbean Militia defending against English Buccaneers and Brethren of the Coast. This was partly a test to see how the game would play with multiple players and to experiment with the number of units and unit size. Each force had about 6 units with the typical unit size being 4 figures.

Thankfully, there wasn't any problem with playing with multiple players and the rules worked fine, although 6 units per force, whilst ensuring that there were plenty of decisions to make , did lengthen the game timewise. That said, it still played at a decent pace and I was so engrossed that I forgot to take any photos and almost even forgot to crack open the beer!

Spanish and French militia deploy to defend the objective

The next game was another pirate game but this time I had the luxury of adding in some of Alan's Dutch to the mix. This allowed me to play around with unit sizes a bit more and this time each force consisted of 4 units of 6 figures each. I actually think this was something of a sweet spot and 4 units each worked really well.

This time we played the Take and Hold scenario with both sides fighting over a central objective. Spanish militia teamed up with Dutch privateers to take on French militia and English Buccaneers, in another great game.

English Buccaneers with French in the background.

Spanish supported by Dutch

The English Forlorn Hope advance through the palms

Forlorn Hope lob grenadoes at prone Milicianos Indios

Dutch begin firefight whilst Spanish advance in lines

Firing along the line

English Sea Dogs press the Spanish back

Freebooters and militia join the fray

As it turned out, this was to be a game of two halves. On one side of the field, the English under yours truly were successfully putting pressure on the Spanish but were let down by their French allies, who were horribly shot up by the Dutch. In part this was due to Elliot's infamous dice rolling, which on this occasion was frankly pants! The net result was enough casualties to give a Strike Point. All the Dutch / Spanish needed, at this point, was to seize the objective to give the English / French a second Strike Point and potentially end the game. Sensing their opportunity, the Spanish Lanceros made a charge to end within the required 4 inches of the objective. Luckily, I had planned for just such an eventuality and, with what was to be the last move of the game charged out with the Forlorn Hope and unleashed a volley on the Lanceros who were now in the open. Two hits needing 9+ to save, what could go wrong? A saving roll of two tens that's what - so no casualties for the Lanceros but at least we were contesting the objective.

Lanceros charge forward

Unfortunately, we had to end there, having played 5 out of 6 turns. Everything was still to play for and it could have gone either way. A cracking game nevertheless.

This week it was out with the cowboys, as I wanted to demo the rules (Gunfighter's Ball) for our upcoming Christmas game.

Yet again we were down to 3 players but we had a blast anyway. We played 2 games, nothing fancy as the idea was to learn the rules mechanisms. The Knuckles McGurk gang won both games but more importantly it was great fun with much hilarity. My favourite moment was the Mexican pincer movement on one of the Pinkertons. Two shots were loosed at the hapless Pinkerton, with one shot wounding him but the second missed .............only to hit and kill the second Mexican. Perhaps, best not shoot towards your friends! A later shot at the same Pinkerton missed and hit Prospector Roberts; drawing a card from the much feared Black Deck we discovered the shot had in fact hit a personal belonging - hit in the prospecting pan no less!

Mexicans show off, riding hither and thither

The Pinkertons close in

A lucky escape for Prospector Roberts whilst the dastardly Mexicans employ a human shield.

I'm really looking forward to the Christmas game now - fingers crossed that we get a full turn out.

A Bloody Battle with Bloody Barons

 This week we left the deserts of Africa behind for the green green grass of home. It was to be the first appearance. at the club, of my 10mm WOTR collection, since their lockdown rebase.

I also wanted to try out a few ideas with the game set up.

First off, the table would be 6ft square: in theory, the rules are designed for a 4 by 3ft table but I have found that, for my tastes, a 6 by 4ft playing area works better. The extra 2ft depth, used here, was to trial a square table which would help with table set up.

I'm not a great fan of using a points system and, as I provide both sides, we're limited by what's in my figure collection anyway. Instead, sides are allocated by using a system of unit cards. Each side receives a core force of 1 Household, 2 Retinue and 2 Levy units each. To this are added 8 units randomly drawn from the deck of unit cards. Some of these are blank and any understrength forces (through drawing blank cards) are brought up to strength by drawing cards from a mercenary deck. Finally, both sides draw a card from an ordnance deck to see if they have brought any guns along.

Similarly, to speed things up I have a number of pre-generated generals that are also allocated at random. For this game, Lord Pea, the Earl of Waldridge and Count Catchmole would take on the Earl of Dawlish, Lord Sacriston and Lord Whippersnapper.

Whereas, the Earl of Dawlish mustered a fairly solid force of bow and bill, with the support of light and heavy guns, Lord Pea was forced to hire Scots mercenaries and was without Ordnance.

I'm not a great fan of the so-called Piggy Chase and much preferred the method of allocating attackers and defenders used in version 1 of the rules. Hence, I have added an attack / defence category to the 'Scenario' section of the pregame and upped the available dice to 32 (from 26D6). Using this method, Lord Pea was to be the defender.

As another time saver, I scrapped the terrain generation system (which I'm not convinced gives realistic set ups in any case) and instead diced for which of the historical battlefields we would use. The defender gets to choose which of the four map edges would be his deployment area (hence the advantage of a square table). In this instance, the battle area would be the Hedgely Moor battlefield, with Lord Pea electing to deploy where the Lancastrians historically deployed.

Lord Pea and the Earl of Waldridge took the centre and Count Catchmole headed for the hills on the right. On the far left the Scots deployed to secure Pogle's Wood.

Initial deployment with Lord Pea's forces on the left.

After carrying out defender depletions, it transpired that the maximum of 3 defender's units were placed off-table in the reinforcement zone. This included a unit of Scots. As this zone did not contain a general, they were going to have their work cut out in this sector.

What's worse is that Lord Pea had decided to advance this zone to secure the wood. The Earl of Dawlish advanced his strong centre, including all his artillery.

Dawlish advances. In the distance the Scots hide in the woods.

Artillery centre and Dawlish's units with bows curiously ranked behind the bill.

Depleted Scots occupy the wood

Predictably, the battle began with long range archery and artillery fire. Dawlish's men were on form and Waldridge's ward was horribly battered by artillery fire. They promptly broke, fleeing the table and taking Waldridge with them.

Waldridge in trouble

Archery duel across the front

Luckily, with so many troops waiting in the reinforcement area, Waldridge was able to return with fresh troops and fill the gap.

Waldridge once more into the fray

Lord Pea holds the centre

Catchmole's ward throw their opponents into disarray

So far everything had gone Dawlish's way and sensing an easy win he attacked all along the line. Only to be repulsed all along the line.

Waldridge demonstrates his prowess in combat

This was certainly a reversal of fortune and in following moves both of Dawlish's 2 left hand wards routed.

The action was so hot, at this point, that I forgot to take photos! Another attack went in from Dawlish's remaining 2 wards on his right. Against all odds, the depleted and unsupported Scots, in the woods, through back all comers. Lord Pea also threw back another attack but was killed in the process.

This necessitated moving generals over from the stabilised right to prop up Pea's beleaguered and disarrayed ward. Waldridge moved to take command and Catchmole took over Waldridge's former ward. Unfortunately, for Waldridge, Dawlish seized the opportunity to attack, sweeping the opposition from the field; Waldridge falling in the process.

Pea's ward in trouble

At this point we called a halt due to the lateness of the hour. We had reached about 26 on the battle clock (out of a possible 32), so the battle was close to the end in any case.

Close of play

This was a very hard fought battle and could have gone either way. Despite their unlucky pregame and early moves, Lord Pea's forces did actually win most of their combats. At the end everything was still to play for - Pea still had several units in the reinforcement area - but the valiant deaths of both Pea and Waldridge probably swung the balance. Special mention must go to the Scots who held the wood all game - granted they were down to a mere 1.5 bases by the end but they had seen off multiple attacks.

A cracking game, and I'm pleased with the revised pre-game set up. I think we'll stick to a 6 by 4 table next time though, if only for the sake of my back

We played this with 2 players but I do think it will stretch to 2 per side. There was a surprising amount going on in the game, certainly enough to keep 4 players occupied.

Bloody Birthdays

 Over the last few years I have got into the habit of taking a day off work for my birthday. This then would be an occasion for a day’s gaming with one or two good friends. Nothing too serious; just a friendly game with an interval for a pint and a bite to eat. Obviously, this wasn’t possible this year but I thought I’d take the day off anyway and put on a solo game.

This year’s game was to be Bloody Barons 2. I played this using my 10mm WOTR collection and the game looked splendid. Unfortunately, big battles in this scale aren’t very photogenic. So, although I took plenty of photos, I never got around to writing up the game. However, I realised that I hadn’t properly chronicled the renovation of my 10mm collection, so I thought I’d take a few close ups of the figures instead.

One of the problems with my old collection was that it was difficult to tell the difference between bow and bill at wargaming distances. Hence, this time around, I was determined to make this aspect more obvious.

Bloody Barons uses the terms, levy, retinue and household to distinguish troop quality. With the original Bloody Barons, I used command stands with one, two or three flags to represent levy, retinue and household respectively. I kept the same system for the latest version of the rules.

Left to right: levy, retinue and household

Top down view. Archers to the front with 'a bill at their back'.

For mounted troops, the rules only distinguish retinue and household; it is easy to distinguish the two by using appropriate figures’ household having more heavily armoured types.

Mounted: retinue and household

Each army requires 3 generals. Strictly these should be on the same size bases as the troops but I went for circular bases to make them more distinctive.

Command stands

Handgunners

Ordnance

Pike

Bloody Barons doesn’t include any specific rules for Scots but as I had the figures I just created my own version. I had enough figures for two units of Scots spearmen and a unit of Highlanders. The spearmen I count as retinue but with no missile capability; they also get to use the spear / pike rules. The highland troops do contain archers but count as levy.

Scots

Similarly, for the Irish, I have two units of mixed galloglaich and bonnachts. These I count as retinue with no missile capability. They are supported by three bases of kern, which use the handgunner rules.

Irish

With the armies now assembled, I now needed a few markers. First off, I needed a marker for unit status. For this, Bloody Barons only recognises two 'formations'  - 'in order' and 'out of order'. These are more like morale states than formations and I have substituted the terms 'arrayed' and disarrayed'. In the rules arrayed troops are shown by 4 bases, side by side, in line (all units consist of 4 bases). Disarrayed troops are shown by arranging the bases with a 2 base frontage - i.e. in 2 lines. I did away with this for two reasons. Firstly, I use units of 8 bases; losses are in 8 increments anyway, I had the figures available plus the bigger units look better. Arranging these on a 2 base frontage resulted in a long column that was awkward to fit in the table space and frankly looked a bit daft. Secondly, units can move between the two states of arrayed and disarrayed quite frequently and it was somewhat of a faff to keep rearranging the bases. Instead I opted to create a small base of archers which would be placed in front of the unit to represent the disorder of troops stepping out of line.

Two methods of showing disarray: with a marker or by rearranging the bases.

I also needed casualty markers and 'winning the fight' markers. Casualties were easily converted from spare figures and a separate standard bearer based on a penny would suffice for 'winning the fight'.

A disarrayed unit, winning the fight with one casualty.

The last marker I needed was a way to show units that were low on arrows. I already had 'extra arrow' markers from my Bloody Barons v1 set up , which could be pressed into service. An alternative is to simply place the archer bases behind the bill, showing the archers withdrawing through lack of arrows.

Two ways of showing 'low on arrows'

As mentioned above, the photos of the game weren't great so I won't go into detail this time but rather show just a couple of snaps. Although, the game is designed for  4 foot by 3 foot table I decided to try out a full 6 by 4 table. To my mind the larger table looks much better and it's not necessary to squeeze units into a zone. Still it's nice to have the option to play on a smaller table.

The evil Count Catchmole drives back Lord Farthingdale's ward. Lord Sacriston faces off against Lord Scrote in the background. (note that I've since made better labels for the generals)

Game end. A draw would you believe

All in all I had a great game, even if it did feel a bit weird in lockdown. Not a patch on a game and a pint with your pals though. Maybe next year!