Romans vs Persians - 13 August 2016

A belated write-up of a figures game at Jonathan's last month.  The game pitched the Romans against the Persians and used the very playable Augustus to Aurelian ruleset.  These rules work really well with the randomness resulting from the use of a card deck balanced by the "Carpe Diem" cards.

The game objective was to capture carts transporting Roman ale and Jonathan provided the real thing from nearby Corinium.  There was a big cavalry battle on one flank, some shooting but not lot of contact on the other, and an infantry scrap in the middle.  Kieron and Jonathan's Romans carried the day against Andy and James' Persians.

Black Powder - Zulu Wars, 22 October 2012

An extra half-term bonus figures game in the form of Black Powder Zulu Wars at Adrian's.  The scenario saw a British column advancing to liberate a Boer homestead overrun by Mblini's impis and deal a punitive blow to any of his warriors they came across.  The column consisted of two brigades, the first commanded by Orhan of 3 companies of the 24th Foot and a Boer commando in skirmish order.  The second, led by Kieron, was made up of 2 more companies of redcoats, a Royal Navy landing party, a skirmish unit of Natal Native levies and a Gatling gun and crew.

The British column advances, with Boer skirmishers out in front

The Brits, spotting Zulu skirmishers in the homestead, gave the order to advance and engage the enemy, with the rear company on the left flank forming up to screen the flank of the column.

The advance company of redcoats backed up by Natal Native levies as seen from the homestead.

With the British committed on their right flank, the Zulu commander (Jonathan) unleashed his impis against the British left, with the traditional clashing of assegais on shields.  Moving from off-table, the 'Right Horn' of the Zulu 'Buffalo' - 3 impis and a skirmish unit helped by a good command role - crashed into the midst of the column and massacred the Gatling gun crew (albeit at heavy cost having suffered pass-through fire from a company of the 24th), with one impi charging on past the wagon train hoping to cut off the lead British units.

As one impi charges across the road, the Gatling gun and crew is wiped out

Having undergone the shock of ambush, the British officers dressed their lines and massed volley fire saw two impis cut to pieces (with YouTube helpfully providing appropriate sound effects from the film...).

Volley fire from the thin red line about to give what for to two impis

But this turned out to be a false (zulu) dawn for the British column.  Mblini's elite warriors (the 'Head of the Buffalo') joined the fight from the left flank whilst the 'Right Horn' sallied out from the hills behind the homestead - and experienced the only command blunder of the game, sallying too far to their own right thus denying them the chance to run down the Natal levies.  In the centre the fight was hanging in the balance, the British volleys not quite managing to keep the warriors at bay, and the first British company going down under the stabbing spears.

Having despatched the first British company, an impi (left) turns to surround another British unit

With their backs against the wagons and the Zulus pressing on, the redcoats sought to keep the distance from their adversaries, but the weight of numbers was against them.

The British companies are assailed from all sides

The final British stand was made in the rough and hilly ground, the three remaining companies of the 24th and the Naval Brigade standing shoulder to shoulder but without any barricades to hold off the enemy.  As the distance closed to hand to hand it was all over for Her Majesty's forces.

The trap is closed

The game played through very smoothly and quickly - we were all done in 2.5 hours.  We realised we had made two main mistakes with the rules, one in the Brits' favour and one in the Zulus'.  For the Brits I permitted the infantry companies to use skirmish formation despite it not being specifically an attribute of these troops.  This allowed enhanced firing dice and mobility which made a key difference early in the game. But against the Brits we forgot for a few turns that natural 6's on shooting dice cause disorder, and we also forgot the inhibiting factor of disorder/being shaken when it comes to charging home - so the Zulus got off a bit more lightly in the early turns than by rights they should have done.  So perhaps these aspects more or less balanced out.  We also didn't really remember the special abilities of the redcoats or elite impis either, but there you go.

Overall it was a great game, which felt very plausible and was heightened no end by the film soundrack with Michael Caine and Stanley Baker crying out 'First rank, fire! Second rank, fire!" etc etc.  Definitely worth me continuing to paint up units for this period - perhaps for another outing at Xmas.

Lee withdraws from Gettysburg - 29 July 2011

Three weeks on, my scribbled notes from this game aren't that clear - so here's a quick summary and some  photos from another great ACW game set up by Jonathan.

Following defeat at Gettysburg, General Lee (Jonathan) is withdrawing with the rebel army west towards the Shenandoah / Cumberland valley with its rail links back to Richmond.  The Third and Fifth Corps are in the Vanguard of the pursuit, swinging south via Frederick, through High Knob Pass towards Sharpsburg seeking to cut off the Confederate Army before the Potomac River crossings and safety at Williamsport.  On the 11th Lee has ordered Longstreet and Hills division to hold the Hagerstown to Downsville line to screen the withdrawal over the Potomac.

The Union Army (James and Kieron) has the chance to seal the victory and defeat the main rebel army in the field, brush aside the covering force and seize the crossings bring this war to a close.

Jonathan charged onto the table in his first move but failed his command roll in the second turn so his advance was halted.  Nevertheless his artillery and shooting managed to break the first Union brigade that very turn.  James then got his first (of very very many) command blunders (a double six).  By the fifth turn, he'd had four command blunders - but his flank march did arrive pretty early.

With lots more scrapping and shooting, by lunchtime it was still anyone's game.  Early in the afternoon, Jonathan's flank march had also arrived and the Union was taking a beating.
 

The classic moment came in turn 10 when Kieron and James rolled four successive double-sixes - blundering all over the battlefield.  A couple of turns later it was all over with a decisive win for Jonathan.

Texans and Mexicans

A return to Jonathan's place for a battle of independence.  We were Mexicans and Texans (or Texians) fighting over a town.  We used Black Powder rules, recently published by Warlord in an entertainingly-written and well-illustrated book.  The rules proved very playable - no detailed tables or army lists and points to worry about.  Groups of figures represent a unit, and several units make a brigade.  For example, the Mexicans had two brigades each with five infantry and one artillery unit, and a third brigade of two cavalry units.  A particularly nice mechanism was the command of the brigades - players just say what they want the brigade or unit to do (accents optional), roll a dice against their command score, and depending on how much under it they roll, they have that many movement turns (up to three).  Or alternatively they won't go anywhere that phase.  So there is scope for charging out and not quite reaching your objective, or moving up to 36" in one go and outflanking your opponent.

The Texans (Jonathan and Andy) had an advance guard holding part of the town with reinforcements arriving from the near table edge.  The Mexicans (Adrian and James) moved first, bringing troops on the far table edge.

The Mexicans rushed forward to attack the central town and to take the village (on right of photo) to threaten the flank of the Texans.

The artillery unit had a great view...

The Texans starting bringing up their artillery and infantry to support the town and thwart the attack.

The small Texan cavalry unit above left their mounts and occupied the building which was soon under attack by James' brigade.

Adrian's brigade similarly surrounded the central town and began the long slog of trying to chase the small Texan advance guard out.

Eventually both buildings were cleared and occupied by Mexicans.  James' brigade was occupying the compound and threatening the Texan flank.  Adrian's cavalry entered the fray and started streaming down the other flank.  In the centre, Adrian and Jonathan were exchanging shots in the town.  Overall, things were looking bleak for the Texans...

But then disaster.  Adrian's cavalry lasted such a short time I didn't even manage to take a photo of them on the table!  As they came in for the kill, the first unit was peppered by artillery and infanty, and broke immediately.  The second attempted to ride down an infantry unit (which couldn't form square as in Napoleonics) but was similarly broken.

On the other flank, Andy's artillery made salsa of James' infantry.  The Mexicans carried on forward and started hand-to-hand fighting with the Texans, but a few rolls later and the Mexicans had started to fade away.

Andy's Texans then surged forward to encircle one of the remaining Mexican infantry units and opened fire, breaking the unit, brigade and army.  A victory for the Texans!

Despite all that action, at least one Mexican slept through the whole thing...

The whole game was over in five turns.  As we were learning a new ruleset, we did go relatively slowly and probably played around 4 hours or so in total.  But as we get more used to it, this looks like a way of playing quite a big figures game in a single evening.

So a really good game - with impressive figures, scenery and rules.  As Adrian put it - it was a Santa-Anna-tastic game!