Sunday, May 29, 2011

The Sword and the Flame

A game at Jeff's was a setup skirmish meeting between a 'trapped' British / Sepoy force and a relief column of British and Sikhs and two tribes of Pashtun.



Set in a hilly, rocky, lightly wooded area there were plenty of places for the Pashtun to get set up and keep cover.

The British column was to come to the aid of the 'fort' / town ... they were told that hundreds of natives were in the hills ...

So we start:

The British column chose to take the most direct path, past a large hill ... this was the critical choice.




Meanwhile the men in the town were to awake to the sound of Jezail firing, the first volleys being able to clear the men out from any sort of visible locations.



Then there was a group of rifle armed Pashtun that charged into a copse of tall grasses and palms just outside the wall and building entrance, for the Sepoy troops this proved to be too much and they were gunned down quickly.

The relief column continued to advance, carefully first checking the rocky areas on both flanks, then when their scouts had slowed the column pressed on blindly coming across a wave of Pashtun sword waving warriors madly rushing the stretched out column.

Then the Red Coats fired, these warriors backed off, though for the lone scout in the hill region, this was not good as it left him surrounded...

The town battle had dropped off, as the British forces had fallen back into a covered corner behind buildings and a low wall ... not going well at all as the Pashtun Riflemen simply moved in to the open spaces over the many Sepoy dead.



The Pashtun warriors on the hill were not done yet, they rushed the British again, meanwhile the Ghurka had broken out of the rough terrain and made their own charge against some Jezail armed Pashtun.

The British Regulars were driven back by the renewed charge of the Pashtun hill tribesmen, they lost their leader in the process and chose to withdraw back into the hilly region satisfied with chasing the red coats away.




The Ghurka did not fare so well in their charge, they were killed or wounded down to two men that fled the field.

Back in the town the British and Sepoy forces had withdrawn from the walls and were now in a copse of palms and tall grasses. Two forces of sword and spear armed Pashtuns were bearing down on them from outside the town.



That copse of palms and tall grasses was a killing zone where the British and Sepoy officers were first wounded then outright killed when overrun by Pashtun tribesmen.

Now the Pashtun Hill became a scene of utter chaos, as the Sikhs were charged by another tribe of Pastuns.



This tribe, first scared the Sikhs yet again they did not charge home and this time they became pinned at the base of the hill and remained that way. However now another force of Jezails had arrived and began a merciless barrage from beyond any range that the Sikhs could return fire, the mules that had been brought to carry out the wounded from the town were now filling fast with the bodies of Sikh riflemen.



The game end came as the British relief column commander realized he was never going to reach the town. He turned off from this destination and fled the field.

The only troops left from the town were now holed up in a small outer building from the town, under fire from Jezails and soon to face further rifle attack...

All in all a good game day and Alex and his friend want to play MORE!

Friday, May 20, 2011

Age of Reason



It has been a long while since I had dealt with all the aspects of the Age of Reason rules and I wanted to run through them again before going into more troops actions or more complicated terrains.



So my eldest son had been asking me to get into a game ... today was an opportunity.

The new matchstick armies got their first field test and Alex got to learn all about using cavalry in the center of a Horse & Musket battlefield.

He started with them in the center of his formation, unhappy that he could not deploy the infantry even further to the flanks...

I chose to concentrate on my right and give a refused left wing.

The Cavalry choices got worse as he split them into columns just as my guns got into range. BOOM down went 1/3 of a squadron.



Further advances with the same cavalry came with a snap decision to charge at the same time as my right wing got close to his infantry.

My wing went into charge, then his infantry made it into square with a good roll. Sadly his cavalry was even further away than mine was and the charge fell short, leaving the horsemen disordered and within musket range...




It was at this point that Alex chose to depart the game, having an offer to go play outside in the sunshine. I think he also understands SHAKO better now and the rules shift caused some confusion. I pressed on to see what final results could be got.



The red forces (simulating France in the 7 Years War period), did not fare so well. A musket exchange went equal, except that the Red Army command was attached and suffered a wound, not critical but he did have to retire from the engagement. Then the charge failed to go, leaving the men disordered in the face of my ordered regulars. Not a total turning point for certain and the outcome was really no longer in doubt as the blue (simulating Prussia during 7 Years War) cavalry was now round the red flank and ready to pounce on the routed militia and disordered and wounded square on the far left of the Red lines.

Certainly a good first outing for these tiny troops.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Matchstick ARMIES



After a couple of weeks, part of the time searching out my painting materials again, I have put in a whole 4 hours painting.



$2 worth of matchsticks and maybe $2 worth of glue, left over base coat and cut up cereal boxes, micro amounts of paint (less than might go on one 12 man unit of 25mm guys). Some left over craft paper flags finishes them off.



One of the neatest parts of such little troops, three armies will fit into ONE box!



Now I shall get into the 'nitty gritty' of Age of Reason and see what results...

See all about these troops and other exploits on The Duchy of Mieczyslaw

Monday, May 09, 2011

Return to the tabletop



A planned return to the tabletop gets into gear this week.

First to recover the table and gear (stored away for a while ... yes you may have noticed the lack of postings here), that process starts tomorrow.

With my renewed interest in things 6mm, I have taken a page from The Old Dessauer and spent a whopping $2 for a box of long matches for fireplace lighting, cleaned them up and glued them into the shapes required.

I have now only a bit of quick painting to do then I can start on the game table process to see what that focus and flow brings.

Plans are to expand the tales from The Duchy of Mieczyslaw to bring them into the 18th Century ...

Within another few weeks I may also have out the rest of the minis to get back into action on the Tricorne front (much to Jeff's delight I am sure).

Sunday, May 08, 2011

Rules Study

Been away from the tabletop for some time now, looking at gathering back up some of my games materials and putting in some tabletop games.

While waiting I have been exploring the world of 6mm Napoleonic and Horse & Musket eras and rules sets for those games.

So far I have found at least 6 free sets and some reviews of the Polemos system.

Question for readers, have any of you used any good systems that you would recommend?

Monday, May 02, 2011

Colonial Game Plan

Jeff has setup some Colonial fun with his own metal.



I have agreed to take on a command in the campaign plan, seen above.

Check out more at Colonel Hud's blog.