A small contingent from the society braved the roads (and rails) to Excel last weekend to stage Peter’s Fallujah 2004 game at Salute 50.
A view from one end of the Salute 50 hall to the other, MWS were at the far right end in this photo.
The premise of the game is that a USMC platoon have been tasked with clearing an area of Fallujah, sweeping through buildings to clear them of insurgents. The three participants each control one of the platoon’s squads, and depending on the draw of Fog of War cards may have additional assets to aid them in their mission, for example, helicopters, an M1 Abrams tank, a LAV-25 APC, a sniper team or a Navy Corpsman.
Games are intended to last an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes, and use a simplified version of Ambush Alley’s Force on Force rules. Figures are from Elhiem Figures Modern range, civilian vehicles from Matchbox or similar and buildings and terrain scratch-built by Society member Peter.
Peter and John explaining the finer points of the rules to the three volunteers.
Here are a few more photos of the game in action:
We were very pleased to be awarded a prize by the South London Warlords: “Best 10 – 18mm game”.
The game’s mastermind, Peter, receiving the award.
The trophy
Congratulations to Peter for creating an award winning game, and thanks to all members who have helped run the game at shows this year.
The game’s next appearance is at Broadside on June 10th.
We went for something different for the sixth battle of our Wars of the Roses campaign. Stephen was a bit more clued up on how the 2nd Battle of St Albans was fought and suggested a true representation of the battle would be to have both sides slowly making their way to the battlefield, in a piece meal fashion. You can see the depolyment rules we used for this game on the campaign page. For the battle I took command of the Yorkist Left under the Duke of York with Andy once again acting as Lord Ferrers my second in command. On the Lancastrian side Stephen had the Duke of Somerset with Lord Roos and Lord Codnor as captains. Tony F joined the Lancastrians in an attempt to salvage his reputation from Mortimers Cross by taking charge of the Duke of Exeter with Lord Clifford as captain. Both sides had 750 points for the Battle and as throughout the campaign we used Sword & Spear 2nd edition.
2nd Battle of St Albans
I wasn’t sure if our depolyments rules would work for this game, some foot units are very slow in Sword & Spear so there was a danger it would take ages to get an entire army onto the battlefield. At the start I had deployed my guns (facing the wrong way as per the deployment!), a camp, a unit of Currours and Mounted Men at Arms. The Lancastrians under Stephen deployed two units of longbows and two of hand gunners.
I didn’t want to just go charging in with my cavalry, I needed the activation dice to get more units on the battlefield and so just concentrated on turning the guns round and using those to hassle the Lancastrian longbows. From this very early stage I was very concerned at how vulnerable the Yorkist camp was.
I managed to turn my guns round as the Lancastrian longbows moved into range. The guns fired but caused no damage. With the help of some activation dice Andy managed to get some longbows marching down the road in support.
The Lancastrian longbows managed to take out the Yorkist guns with their first volley and I once again started to fear for the camp. I thought given the lost of the camp causing a discipline test for all units would be a prize worth pursuing, but as would become evident throughout the battle, the Lancastrians just didn’t seem that interested in taking it.
With the Lancastrians being cautious the Yorkists decided to ignore their cavalry and concentrate on getting as many units on the battlefield as possible. Using the extra movement gained from the road we risked creating a jam and advanced in column down the road as fast as we could.
The Lancastrians followed suit and had most of their units on the battlefield by the end of the third turn. Tony’s forces out on the Lancastrians right front advanced their longbows well ahead of the rest of their forces but without the advantage of the road.
As the Lancastrians continued to advance, Andy quickened his pace and got a unit of Longbows up to the camp. Again the Lancastrian longbows did not advance but instead waited for their men at arms and pikemen to catch up.
Andy was all for engaging in an archery duel with the Lancastrians but I insisted he push passed the camp to block the enemy. Andy took the best of both worlds by advancing and taking a hasty shot which managed to damage the Lancastrian archers. Return fire from the Lancastrians caused some damage but the way to the camp was blocked.
Things were starting to heat up in the centre, the Yorkist longbows managed to destroy their Lancastrian counterparts. With this success I decided to charge the Currours against the other unit of longbows in the centre. To my great surprise this proved decisive and destroyed the longbows.
Letting the success go to my head I gave the Currours a bouns dice and charged the men at arms. The Lancastrian heavy infantry withstood the charge and both sides took casualties, but neither side gained the upper hand. I was willing to sacrifice the Currours to delay the Lancastrian advance so the damaged caused was a welcome bonus.
While the fighting in the centre continued both sides looked towards the rest of their armies to continue the advance. I gathered up my longbows and with the generals help marched them towards the Lancastrian archers being formed up opposite by Tony. At this point I also moved my as yet uncommitted mounted men at arms out on the Yorkist flank. This was to threaten the Lancastrian left. Stephen reacted as I hoped he would by moving some longbows to hassle the cavalry.
The centre then took an odd turn with the damaged Lancastrian men at arms losing to the Yorkist archers. With the Yorkist’s having managed to get some billmen and their own men at arms up in support, the centre would now be decided by the Lancastrian pikemen.
Out on the Lancastrian right flank Tony’s archers began engaing the Yorkist longbows. Making up for the poor showing at Mortimers Cross Tony’s archers started to inflict more wounds than they suffered. Given this poor showing from the Yorkist archers I decided to move my spearmen and other infantry units in support in case the archers were wiped out.
The centre battle saw the poor Yorkist archers easily overcome by the Lancastrian pikemen, but with the number of Yorkist heavy infantry now present I felt confident of stopping the pikemen. Having lost the archers in the centre Stephen brought up some billmen to try and dislodge Andy’s longbows who had taken up a commanding firing position.
Seeing the danger I moved some men at arms to support the archers. The Lancastrian billmen almost destroyed the Yorkist archers despite Andy giving them a bonus dice for the melee. The retaliation from my men at arms managed to destroy the billmen. At the same time the Lancastrian pikemen in the centre succumbed to an onslaught of men at arms and billmen effectively winning the centre for the Yorkists.
Meanwhile out on the Lancastrian right, Tony’s longbows proved themselves superior, and as feared he had also managed to advance his infantry through the gap. Tony’s men at arms charged my spearmen making short work of them. But with a unit of billmen in support I was able to counter charge them in the flank and destroy them. That last act managed to break the Lancastrians and give the field once again to the Yorskists.
This was a very interesting battle, the staggered deployment meant players had to decide on the type of battle they would fight. With the Yorkist camp in the centre of the battlefield I decided to concentrate my units there. And to get them moving as quickly as possible. I thought the battle would be a race to the camp, but it never turned out that way. Stephen and Tony deployed as if it was a normal battle with both sides facing off against eachother. This was the second battle in this campaign where I thought the objective was obvious but where my opponent didn’t capitalise on it. Although things could have gone differently had the Lancastrians held out longer in the centre. Tony won the better part of the right flank and could have been a real threat had he been able to turn towards the centre in support.
Although the casualty lists seem to show an overwhelming Yorkist victory. The last turn of the battle did have the Yorkists reach their first morale point, but this was too late for the Lancastrians. With the campaign six battles in the score stands at 4 wins to 1 for the Yorkists. The bloodbath of Towton is next, will the Lancastrians finally be able to turn the tide?
Yorkist Loses
5 Units of Longbows (15 points)
2 Units of Militia Longbows (6 points)
1 Unit of Spearmen (3 points)
1 Unit of Currours (4 points)
1 Unit of Guns (2 points) Total loses 30 points (Army break point 44)
Lancastrian Loses
2 Units of Men at Arms (8 points)
2 Units of Hand Gunners (4 points)
2 Units of Billmen (8 points)
7 Units of Longbows (21 points)
1 Unit of Pikemen (6 points) Total loses 47 points (Army break point 40)
A fresh look at Border Reivers by society member John.
Above – The Dead Pool – Curst Eckie comes a cropper
Introduction
As many of you know this subject is dear to my heart since reading “Steel Bonnets” by George MacDonald Fraser, the Flashman novelist – a cracking read. It stimulated me to wargame this period when I first joined the club and the game featured as a club game shortly after. Here’s a brief historical introduction for those who are unfamiliar with the period.
The Border Reiver is a unique figure in British history. Starting in the late Middle Ages incursions from both sides of the England/ Scotland border and the method of inheritance where the land was shared between all the sons led to a situation where it was difficult to maintain a living in the area. Livestock breeding became the mainstay of life and through it, cattle rustling and the attendant protection racket (Blackmail) became widespread. It should be noted that these activities were not exclusively English/ Scottish affairs and there was much inter marriage across the border making policing more difficult. These activities reached a peak in the 16th century and were brought to an abrupt end when James I and VI came to the English throne.
I had been unhappy with all the rulesets I’d tried as I didn’t think they captured the small-scale skirmishes I was keen to game. Spurred on by finding I have probable genetic links to two Reiver families through my Mother’s Ulster roots, I decided to write my own rules. Reiving reached a peak in the mid to late sixteenth century and it is this period that is the subject of these rules.
Design Goals
Before starting out, I set some design goals
Scale – These rules are not about large private armies but focus on the family units where the head of the house could be served a dish of spurs when the larder was empty and there were mouths to feed. I thought about 20 figures in total on a 3ft playing surface which fitted my collection of old 28mm figures and accurate scratch built fortified farm houses known as Bastles.
Table set up, the quiet before the storm at Gatehouse North Bastle
Style – I felt strongly that the games had to be scenario led. It wasn’t about eliminating the Opponent’s force but achieving the scenario objective. In fact, in the Reiver world eliminating the Opponent’s force could lead to a noose or provoke a feud (scenarios and rules for feuds are included). To this end I have outlines for nearly twenty different scenarios and there is scope to link scenarios for a club day. I hope at some stage to add a campaign system.
Mechanics
Characters – I gave individual Reivers a status Elite, Veteran, Borderer and Farmer/Levy. According to status, reivers would have a number of skills. For each mission a Leader would pick a gang with skills specific for that mission. Combat skills are included so a player has to choose between a mixture of combat skills and mission specific skills before starting. Leaders get a Leader skill automatically; they can issue orders to other members of the gang and rally them. Leaders can allocate one of their skill points to be Inspired. They have a larger command radius and rally models more easily. I am also working on a series of traits to flesh out the characters further. In a small-scale skirmish, this character development seems important.
Activation – I did not believe an I go/you go approach was the right so went for a card driven method with an End of Turn card. Reivers were known by nicknames so individually named cards was just right and I decided the End of Turn card should be denoted by a weather condition – Torrential downpour for day actions and Full Moon for night actions. This would mean that some characters do not get to activate. Other cards would cover changes in weather (affecting visibility movement and ranged combat), a key feature of Reiver actions was stealth and forces would mainly start on hidden markers reflecting their sneaky activities.
Hidden countersA selection of cards.
Sleet shows the adverse effects when drawn. Scumfished (smoking out a building’s occupants) has a turn counter until the effect is triggered
Forces of law and order, weather and End of Turn cardsCharacter cards
Actions – an activated model has up to three actions, this will be reduced depending on weather, wounds or if carrying out a specific action. Some actions require a success roll on two D6, if the model has the relevant skill, it rolls an extra D6 and takes the best two results.
Combat – I reasoned that close combat between two opponents with similar capabilities and well armoured would favour the defender and their armour. Those models with close combat skills get to roll additional dice and pick the best roll. For ranged combat, models get to roll additional dice and select the best roll too, following the same principle. Those models which are severely wounded reroll to see if the model is killed. The method ensures that models stick around for longer, so the game does not come to a premature conclusion.
Morale – This is tested at two levels, each model receives a morale marker each time something bad happens such as failing a skill check when climbing a ladder and hence falling off, when a model stumbles during movement or after combat and when wounded. It’s the Leader’s role to get the figures to “snap to it” . If the morale markers are not removed, the individual model has to check and may quit the field. If the model is involved in close combat, these morale markers negatively affect the modified dice roll and the model is more likely to receive a severe wound.
I have put in a force morale check as well. A point can be reached where the number of casualties or the amount of bad luck suffered causes the whole gang to retreat or quit the field.
Encounters at Night – it’s more than just the reduced visibility, I’ve added getting lost as a risk for those models which move out of command radius and a risk of attacking models on the same side by use of a “Scotch Mist” card.
More cards – Red Mist puts models in Feud mode
Forces of Law and Order – These are represented by two leaders, an area Lawman and his Deputy. They command a group of Garrison Levy who can only act under command and a Houndsman with dangerous dogs.
Play Testing
I’d like to thank Tony G, Tim, Bob, Jon and Alex for their helping in trying out the rules. So far the games appear to have gone well though there is quite a bit to do still and Alex gave some good ideas to help streamline game play and some suggestions to use for the campaign section as these are developed. Thanks to Tony G for helping with the garrison activation (yes, you were right about ranged combat so I have toned this down) There is still a lot to do so I’ll be carrying out more play testing so if you fancy trying something very different, please let me know.
Below are a selection of photos from play testing so far.
Dastardly Halls make off with the cattle.Fire to the Door! A pre requisite of Scumfishing- smoking inhabitants out of a BastleStowlugs apprehendedBull is ironically gored
Stephen and Andy report on a comparison of two Medieval rulesets.
We decided to try fighting the same scenario with two sets of Medieval Wargames rules, Lion Rampant 2nd edition and Baron’s War 2nd edition. We would keep the armies as similar as possible in the two games, subject to the requirements of the respective rules.
We based our scenario on the Baron’s War scenario 10 Hidden Treasures and Lion Rampant Scenario 12 The Taxman Cometh.
In Hidden Treasures the players take turns to place six objectives on the table, if a player has a unit in contact with an objective at the start of the turn, they roll a D6, on a 6 that objective is revealed to be the treasure and the other objectives are removed. Who ever controls the treasure at the end of the fifth turn wins the game.
For the Lion Rampant version, we kept the same number of objectives and score to reveal the treasure, but in keeping with the Lion Rampant Glory system we decided that if the player controlling the treasure took the treasure off table he would receive 5 Glory, but only 3 Glory if the treasure was under his control but still on table at the end of the game, plus or minus Glory from Boasts.
We set the terrain up with a small village in the centre of the table, with a couple of fenced fields nearby, with some hills and woods on the flanks. We would keep the same terrain for both games.
1 x Elite cavalry with leader (with Commanding trait) @ 6 points
1 x Flemish Heavy Infantry @ 4 points
2 x Skirmishers with bows @ 4 points
1 x Genoese Crossbows with pavises @ 6 points
1 x German mercenaries (Warriors) @ 4 points
Stephen won the die roll to determine Attacker / Defender and took on the nominal Attacker roll, the deployment mechanism we used was that the defender deployed any 1- or 2-point units, followed by the attacker doing the same, then repeating the sequence for 3- or 4-point units and finally units costing 5 or more units. The end of the game would be determined b either one player getting the treasure off table, or once there were five or fewer units on the table a die roll at the start of each turn of less than the number of units left on table.
Turn 1. Stephen got off to a good start, advancing all his units except his Elite cavalry, I responded by advancing my Heavy Cavalry to contact one of the objectives but ground to a halt when my Heavy Infantry refused to move.
Turn 2. Stephen continued his advance on the objectives, with one of his Skirmisher units on his left flank contacting one of the objectives. I rolled for the objective my Heavy Cavalry had contacted last turn, with no success, so decided to move my Heavy Cavalry on towards Stephen’s Skirmishers and their objective. I then moved my Heavy Foot towards the first objective, and my other units towards other objectives.
Turn 3. Stephen’s Skirmishers rolled for the objective they had contacted and it came up a 6 the treasure had been found! At this point all the other objectives were removed. Stephen immediately pulled his Skirmishers back and started to move his other units towards his left flank. My Heavy Cavalry were just about close enough to Stephen’s skirmishers with the treasure that I could try to charge them, hoping they would fail their probable Evade reaction. Unfortunately for me Stephen succeeded in evading, his archery taking out one of my riders, and his evade move took him just too far away for me to contact him, my Cavalry then failed their courage test and fell back. To add insult to injury, my next activation to shoot with my Skirmishers at his Elite Cavalry failed, ending my turn.
Turn 4. Stephen continued to pull his treasure carrying Skirmishers back towards his table edge, while he brought his Elite Cavalry across to cover them, and advanced his Heavy Foot through the central village towards my Light Foot. This time I managed to activate all my units, rallying my Heavy Cavalry, putting my Light Foot into Wall of Spears anticipating an attack by Stephen’s Heavy Foot, advancing my Crossbows down the side of the village hoping to be able to shoot at his Elite Cavalry in a later turn, and moving my Elite Cavalry towards my right flank.
Andy’s Elite Cavalry halted by a flimsy fence.
Turn 5, Stephen continued to pull back his Skirmishers with the treasure, with his Elite Cavalry getting closer to support them, as were Stephen’s Crossbows. I advanced my Heavy Cavalry towards his Skirmishers, and my Elite Cavalry through one of the fields, but my Crossbows failed in their shooting attempt.
Turn 6 was short, Stephen’s Crossbows and my Heavy Cavalry both failing their activation attempts.
Turn 7 saw Stephen issue a challenge to my Leader, a duel must be fought! Had I refused the challenge all my units would have had to take a courage test due to my Leader’s cowardice. Honour would not allow that, so forth my Leader went. The Duel consisted of three dice each, scoring hits on a 5 or 6, if one Leader scores more hits than the other the loser dies! The duel was anticlimactic, one hit each resulting in a draw, both leaders returned to their units, their honour upheld. Stephen’s German Mercenaries charge my Skirmishers on my left, the Skirmishers evaded, causing a casualty on the Germans, and ending up too far away to be contacted. The Germans passed their courage test, but on my subsequent turn my Skirmishers shot again, causing two more casualties and a courage test which the Germans promptly failed catastrophically, causing them to rout from the field. My Heavy Cavalry charged Stephen’s Crossbows, I won the ensuing melee and the Crossbows failed their courage test becoming battered.
Turn 8 saw Stephen’s Crossbowmen fail their Rally test, but he then went on the offensive, his Heavy Infantry charged my Light Infantry, beating my lighter troops, who then failed their courage test becoming battered
Andy’s Light Foot fall back battered (red marker) from Stephen’s Heavy Foot
Stephen’s Knights then charged my Heavy Cavalry with the fight again going in Stephen’s favour and my Cavalry failing their courage tests and also becoming battered.
Andy’s Heavy Cavalry battered and down to a single figure as Stephen’s Knights look on and Andy’s Heavy Foot advance slowly through a ploughed field.
On my turn both my Heavy Cavalry and Light Infantry failed their Rally tests, the Heavy Cavalry so badly that they fled the field.
Turn 9, Stephen rallied his crossbowmen and got the Treasure bearers off table, ending the game.
So, on to the accounting, Stephen received 5 Glory for getting the treasure off the field of battle, he also succeeded in all three boasts he made:
“They shall tremble before me”, 2 of my units battered at the same time, worth 2 Glory.
“I shall drive them back into the sea”, make one unit retreat off table, worth 1 Glory.
“I shall challenge their leader to a duel”, self-explanatory, worth 1 Glory.
On the other hands, I made two boasts, both of which I failed to achieve, so scoring -1 Glory each:
“They shall tremble before me”, see above.
“I shall destroy more units than I lose”, worth 2 Glory.
Final scores: Stephen 9 Glory, Andy -2 Glory. A decisive victory to Stephen.
Apologies for the lack of photos of this game, I got too tied up in fighting the battle to take pictures.
Baron’s War
Stephen takes over with the account of the Baron’s War game.
We put our retinues together to mirror the Lion Rampant equivalents, but under the army composition rules of Barons’ War – so not identical, but as good as.
Stephen’s Retinue:
Unit: 1 x Veteran Lord Commander (mounted), 5 x Regular Knights (mounted)
Unit: 1 x Veteran Serjeant Commander, 5 x Regular Serjeants
Unit: 1 x Veteran Serjeant Commander, 5 x Regular Serjeants
Unit: 6 x Veteran Bowmen
Unit: 10 x Green Crossbows
Andy’s Retinue:
Unit: 1 x Veteran Lord Commander (mounted), 3 x Regular Knights (mounted)
Unit: 1 x Veteran Serjeant Commander, 5 x Regular Spearmen
Unit: 4 x Regular Mounted Sergeants
Unit: 6 x Regular Crossbowmen
Unit: 5 x Green Spearmen
Unit: 5 x Green Spearmen
Unit: 6 x Green Bowmen
So, same scenario – find the hidden treasure and get off with it.
The main point of these games was to compare the rules. For Barons’ War a unit has one activation, but that can be improved to two, or maybe three, if you have a commander attached to the unit (and a commander can also give extra orders to other units). And in Baron’s War players alternate activation of units. This means there is a fundamental tactical difference between the rules – in Lion Rampant you are thinking about what you are going to do now. That’s also the case in Barons’ War (BW for short), but in BW you are also thinking about what your opponent is going to do in the same round, so you have to think about which unit is best to activate, whether to hold activations back for later (in BW your can do a reaction to your opponent’s action), and how the round will develop so you can exploit it. It’s a bit like Saga in that respect – knowing when to unleash everything and when to hold something back for later.
Off to war we go
Anyway, let’s get on with the game.
We rolled for deployment, as per BW rules. Andy was the ‘red’ side and could deploy in the middle, which he did and meant he was already in control of a couple of objective markers.
Andy’s skirmishers about to search an objective while his Crossbowmen look for targetsAndy’s light foot gather round two more objectives, while his Cavalry trot off
I had the flanks to deploy on, not quite in control of any objectives, but no more than a move away.
Venison tonight lads!
Turn one, and Andy searched the objectives, but no hidden treasure was found. My veteran archers on a small rise took aim and let fly at a group of mounted serjeants – two went down to the deadly fire and first blood went to me.
Ready, aim…
Andy then passed a couple of activations, so I took advantage of this to move units up to take control of a pair of objectives. My crossbowmen (only inexperienced green troops – in BW at least 10% of your army has to be made up of green troops) let rip at Andy’s archers hiding beside a pig-pen. Two were taken down, he failed his morale check and they were broken. However, Andy then returned the gesture, fired back with his crossbows, and three of my troops went down and were also broken. Oh well, eh?
On the second turn my spearmen on the left searched the objective marker and lo and behold, what do they find – treasure! Yup, more church vestments. Funnily enough, the treasure in the Lion Rampant game was found in more or less the exact same spot!
The chase was now on. On Turn three I started to move my spearmen toward the table edge. And this is where the tactical nature of BW may have a slight edge over Lion Rampant, because at the start of the turn both sides roll for initiative to see who goes first. But also (and like Lion Rampant) you have to do compulsory morale checks before moving on to ‘new’ activations. Which means you can’t necessarily guarantee you will move those troops you need to move before your opponent. This builds in tension, tactics, and what makes for an exciting game. In turn three I also did what I think may have been a rash move – my knights charged Andy’s spearmen. Knights do though, eh? That’s why they’re knights. OK, so I demolished and shocked his infantry, but I’d also put myself in charge range of his knights and I had no reactions left.
The knights square up
Andy did what he ought to do – his knights charged mine. It did not go how I would have liked. It took a couple of rounds, but my knights eventually succumbed.
Such an ignoble ending
This also left the game in balance. Because at the end of turn five (the duration of the scenario) I had achieved the scenario objective – find the hidden treasure and get away with it. However, Andy had also achieved the general game-end criteria – kill your opponent’s commander (and none of your other commanders pass a morale check to take control). So, who won? We’ll have to leave that one to the chroniclers.
Let’s rumble!
Final thoughts. For me, it is hard to choose between the two because they are so different. Lion Rampant is a quick pick-up game that anyone can jump into and get the hang of in just a turn or two. There is a lot of merit in that. BW requires a little bit of pre-planning (working out and putting together a suitable retinue), but it’s also a more tactical game which means it will take longer for a newcomer to pick up and appreciate the subtleties. No, not more complex, but more subtle. Of course, that’s not to say there are no tactics to Lion Rampant (there are!) but Lion Rampant does lack the depth of BW. Personally, I couldn’t choose between the two. Lucky me that I don’t have to. There is a place for both depending on what you are after for a game – sometimes I want that simplicity and quick ‘pick-up’ nature, sometimes I want a more challenging and thoughtful game. Lucky me that I have both on my bookshelf and can choose depending on my whim. If you are interested in medieval wargames then I’d suggest you have them both as well, because I can’t pick one over the other.
Back to Andy for his thoughts on the two rulesets.
I should open by saying I have played Lion Rampant, and other rulesets in the same family, for many years and am very familiar with them, whereas I have only played Baron’s War once or twice before. This may have an impact on my assessment of the two sets of rules. Both sets of rules have a small-ish number of unit types to start with, and both allow you to upgrade / configure units but Baron’s War has more variety in the options you can apply, and a couple of limitations on force composition, a minimum of 10% of your points must be spent on Green troops, and no more than 50% of your force can be used for units with attached commanders. Lion Rampant has fewer, simpler, upgrade options, and no mandatory requirements for force composition.
I would say that Lion Rampant is the easier game to pick up, but Baron’s War can probably give you more variety in force composition. It’s a “horses for courses” kind of situation, and there is room in my gaming calendar for both rulesets.
We had a very good turn out at the last meeting, 5 games in progress with over 20 members present.
First up, John and Alex were play testing John’s Border Reivers game.
All quiet at the Bastle house, for now.Action at the ford.
Mark ran another Dungeons and Dragons session, taking his adventurers to sea and then deep into the dungeon depths.
The dungeon master looks on as the adventurers ponder their next action.Action at the QuaysideDungeon delvingWho let the dogs out?
Paul ran a 6mm FoG Ancients game, Late Bulgarians vs Ottomans.
Light cavalry on the right somewhat outnumberedThe centre of the battle seems a bit emptyClash of cavalry
Stephen and Jeremey continued their refight of the War of the Roses, using Sword and Spear rules, this time recreating the Second Battle of St Albans. There will be a write up of this game shortly.
The Yorkist camp, artillery and cavalry await the approaching Lancastrian vanguard.The artillery has fallen to Lancastrian archery, but the first Yorkist reinforcements are now approaching the campA Lancastrian pike block about to dispose of some Yorkist archers, but Yorkist Men at Arms are waiting behind the archers.Towards the end of the battle, the Yorkists have pushed the Lancastrians back from the campOn the Yorkist left flank there are few Lancastrians left.
Finally, Mark H ran a War of the Spanish Succession game, using his own fast play rules.
Cavalry advanceMore CavalryThe armies line upCavalry wings clashThe infantry engage
The fifth battle of our Wars of the Roses campaign took us to Mortimers Cross. This would be our first straight up fight when compared to previous battles from the campaign. The Yorkists were 2-1 up in the campaign with a draw making up the forth battle. For the battle I took command of the Yorkist Left under the Duke of York with Andy acting as Lord Ferrers my second in command. On the Lancastrian side Stephen took command as Owen Tudor with Tony F second as Sir John Throckmorton. Both sides had 800 points for the Battle and as throughout the campaign we used the rules Sword & Spear 2nd edition.
Battle of Mortimers Cross
Historians don’t really know the exact location of the battle so we went for an open field with steep hills to one side and a river to the other. There was of course one historical event recorded for this battle and that was the three suns in the sky phenomenon. History records the Duke of York declaring this a good omen, but for the battle we decided this could have gone either way. To represent this we rolled randomly at the start of the battle to see which side had the omen, the omen would allow one dice reroll in the game. Unlike history the roll saw the Lancastrians claim the good omen.
The two armies drew up in standard formation, I took the Yorkist left flank with Andy having the right, Andy also had a few units starting on the far right in a flanking position (apparently the Yorkists did this in the battle so we allowed it during deployment). I decided not to have too many cavalry units for this battle, I wanted to build in a good core strength to the army. For this I had some freshly painted militia billmen and archers. Stephen for the Lancastrians had twice as much cavalry and a more varied force with crossbows and some Irish Kerns.
As expected the battle started with an archery duel in the centre, because I had a camp I was able to add additional dice for greater range and took a chance at some long ranged fire. it didn’t have the desired result but as the Lancastrian archers commanded by Tony got closer my archers started to score more hits. Rather surprisingly it was at this point Tony and Stephen decided to use their reroll ability. Admittedly this was to save a unit that would otherwise have routed but I thought it was early in the battle to use the ability.
The Yorkists didn’t have it all their own way and a unit sized gap soon appeared in the front line. Over on the Yorkist right flank Andy was also advancing archers but they would be facing cavalry rather than infantry units. Stephen swiftly advanced the cavalry to within charge distance in a bold move not unlike what was witnessed in the last battle.
The charge proved devastating wiping out two of Andy’s archer units and suffering no loses themselves. Even though it was very early on in the battle this had the potential of destroying the Yorkist right flank and separating the far Yorkist units from the main force.
Andy quickly countered the threat by advancing up some billmen and men at arms. Following suit over the cavalry charge I tried the same on the other side of the field. Tony had advanced some Irish Kerns on the Lancastrian right flank, so I charged them with my mounted men at arms.
I was expecting a walkover but the dice were not on my side and all the cavalry managed was one hit against the Irish but suffered two hits in return. I therefore decided to withdraw the cavalry rather than risk leaving them in locked in the melee.
Having failed to sweep aside the Lancastrian right flank I turned my attention back to the centre. The archery battle was going the Yorkists way so I spent time bringing up the rest of my infantry. Tony matched this by bringing up some men at arms.
My spearmen were the ones facing the men at arms but I didn’t hold back and charged in. At the same time Stephen charged again on the Lancastrian left flank, this time against Andy’s billmen.
The Lancastrian charge hit a solid wall with the Yorkist billmen holding their ground, locking the cavalry into a prolonged melee. Feeling emboldened I charged again with my cavalry against the Irish, this time making sure I had some bonus dice to add a little extra to the combat. It proved decisive and the Irish were routed from the table.
Back to the centre and the Yorkist spearmen were slowing being defeated by the Lancastrian men at arms. With the introduction of a second unit of men at arms the spearmen were routed.
With the Lancastrian cavalry still fighting the Yorkist billmen, Stephen brought up the mounted men at arms and destroyed the remaining archers under Andy’s command. But Andy now had fresh men at arms ready to join the fray.
With the Lancastrian loses mounting up I felt able to take more risks. The Yorkists had won the archery duel in the centre and the Lancastrian cavalry were facing a tougher challenge against the Yorkist infantry. So I continued the advance of my cavalry against Tony’s billmen.
Things started to go badly for the Lancastrian cavalry. The Yorkist infantry started to score hits and soon a unit of Currours and mounted men at arms were destroyed for no loses on the Yorkist side.
The battle in the centre started to draw in more units. With the destruction of my spearmen, I managed to get a unit of men at arms and billmen into the melee. Ultimately I’d lose the men at arms to this fight and a unit of mounted men at arms over on the left of the Yorkist line. Which pushed the casualty right up alarmingly.
Feeling they had nothing to lose the Lancastrians threw caution to the wind and charged in. Starting with their mounted men at arms against Andy’s billmen. But with the presence of the Yorkist camp Andy was able to add additional dice to give the billmen the best chance. This proved a wise move and ended with the cavalry locked in combat.
In the centre Tony threw the remaining Lancastrian billmen against the Yorkist archers, but I’d had time to bring up some billmen of my own in support.
At this point the Lancastrians were rapidly reaching their break point and just didn’t have enough units in combat to make enough difference. The last gasp came with the outflanking of the last unit of Lancastrian mounted men at arms by Andy’s dismounted men at arms. This was too much for the Lancastrian cavalry and their loss pushed them to breaking point, handing victory to the Yorkists.
As mentioned this was the first straight up fight in the campaign so far. Neither side had the advantage and so the battle was down to each sides order of battle and how it was deployed. For the Yorkists I decided to include a larger number of militia units to effectively add some fodder to the ranks and hopefully keep the army in the field longer. I also reduced the amount of cavalry units, mainly because I also didn’t want to spend too many points on commanders. The Lancastrian order of battle was fairly similar but two factors were different, the Lancastrians were spread thinner and additional points reduced the overall break point of the army. At the point the Lancastrians broke the Yorkists were still half a dozen units away from breaking themselves.
This battle put the Yorkists in a commanding position in the campaign, it’s the second battle of St Albans next and the Lancastrians are going to have to up their game.
Yorkist Loses
5 Units of Longbows (15 points)
1 Unit of Militia Longbows (3 points)
1 Unit of Spearmen (4 points)
1 Unit of Dismounted Men at Arms (4 points)
1 Unit of Mounted Men at Arms (4 points) Total loses 30 points (Army break point 48)
Lancastrian Loses
2 Units of Dismounted Men at Arms (8 points)
2 Units of Currours (8 points)
2 Units of Billmen (8 points)
4 Units of Longbows (12 points)
2 Units of Kerns (6 points) Total loses 42 points (Army break point 39)
Marcus takes off into deep space with his crew of ne’er-do-wells in the start of a new solo campaign.
According to the strapline, Five Parsecs from Home is “A solo adventure wargame of galactic trailblazing!”. Originally published amongst a host of other products from Nordic Weasel Games, I bought the original some years ago but never got it to the table as I often don’t with electronic products (but you can get it from Drive Thru RPG here). When Modiphius produced a lovely, updated physical version in 2021 I had to give it a try.
The game relies heavily on tables to generate characters and events each turn. It is hardly surprising that rolling up my characters was an activity redolent with memories of half-forgotten episodes of ‘80’s role playing.
Having had a couple of games which went well in terms of understanding, but very much not so in if judged by any standard of success, I regretfully decided to roll up a new crew and record the results for general edification.
Firstly, the Captain: Veyon Ostrova (human). While Veyon grew up on a Research Outpost which gave her some technical background, her family were artists. She has as a result a bit of savy and a slice of luck. She is motivated by wealth.
Veyon and Pascal
Pascal Xavier (human “bio-up”). Pascal is an unusual character. From a wealthy background he is bio-adjusted with cybernetics, (including the ability to avoid a stun on a D6 roll of 5+). Pascal has a political motivation (which I suspect gives him some revolutionary leanings) and a mysterious patron, a private organization with some as yet unspecified objectives. Nevertheless, he is also quite savvy. He is not short of a bit of cash and generated a story point, which can adjust matters in the player’s favour; a lucky break or perhaps a dramatic twist in the story…
San Holo (humanoid alien). San is particularly notable for his blueish skin tone and has innate engineering skills. Brought up on a space station, he is not as tough as the others, but he is fast. He is a bit of a scoundrel but is motivated by romance. Is he looking for a lost love? San also generated a story point.
Holo and Tigg
Nira Tigg (human) grew up in with a ganger background. Whatever happened on that mining colony she grew up on, she is out for blood! She is motivated by revenge. As a result she is tough (+1), has two experience points and faster reactions (+1) than the norm, but also has a rival. Somebody is gunning for her too!
Kel Wyre. Not unlike Nira, Kel has an unhappy background. Escaping from some war-torn hell-hole of a planet with two experience points and (+1) quick reactions, he values his freedom above anything else. And what way to assure that than a ready supply of cash? Kel is a scavenger who has his ear to the ground (+1 rumour) and has managed to acquire a sniper rifle.
Finally, Wellington Duo (human) grew up in a wealthy merchant family and perhaps not surprisingly he is motivated by the acquisition of wealth himself. He has some experience in corporate espionage and a corporate patron who has provided the crew with their first job. He has a handy way with tech (he has a repair bot and knows how to use it with +1 to repairs)
Their ship is a lowly rust-bucket of a freighter. Its registration ends with the digits …31.4. San remarked on this and Veyon replied “Then it will be Pi in the Sky” and the name stuck.
Marcus takes us through this year’s Christmas shenanigans, as we all turned into complete tankers…
I think I first suggested having a game of “What A Tanker” (WAT) as a club Christmas game in early 2020. We all know what happened next. This year we finally got a Christmas outing for this Lardy game at the club, with ten participants. Thanks to Phil and Tony, we were able to choose from a wide variety of tanks, from recently painted Pz 35’s and FCM-36’s to Phil’s scratch-built Maus. (“No Phil, there are no stats for a Maus!”) No-one even noticed that I didn’t complete my ESCI Jagd. Pz. IV, or finish re-conditioning my Jagd. Panther, as Phil had managed to recondition his with a generous helping of agrax earthshade, nuln oil or some such alchemy
Between Alan and Tony, we were provided with a couple of great tables (perhaps too great…) with plenty of cover representing western European towns with villages, woods and crossroads etc. Plenty of cover…
The idea was that we would have two tables; late war and early war. If you got knocked out you would simply join the other table, not necessarily on the same side. However, while you were on a table, you would be either German or Allied; no “own goals” to boost your scoring as it were.
We also generated a simple system of scoring. If you got a kill you divided the points value of the target as listed in the WAT rulebook by the firer (TV/FV * 10 = score). Tony produced a nice table to cross reference the values easily.
Late War Table
I started on the late war table driving a Stuart, with Steve and “Baggins” (my youngest) driving Shermans. Our initial nasty Nazi opponents were Andy and Alan, both with Pz.IV’s.
While Steve and Baggins drove up the flanks, I ventured through the outskirts of a village to find Alan’s Pz.IV on the road more or less blocking my advance. Both Steve and I struggled to manoeuvre with our dice, which can be a frustration with the rules. Many modifications were suggested, and I took notes with a view to my own Grav Tanker variant. As I tried to extricate myself from the built-up area and with Steve attempt to outflank him on our left, Baggins moved up on the right all guns blazing at Andy. These two ended up in a protracted fire fight with Baggins in position behind a wall and Andy, IIRC, initially behind some hedges and the traversing between the woods and hedges as a result of a series of non-damaging hits. Eventually Andy paid a heavy penalty and brewed up and Boaz picked up the “Impressive Bush” camouflage card. Meanwhile, first Steve and then I joined in pumping rounds into Alan, with Steve finishing him off and earning a “Hell Driver” card.
Jeremy joined us having suffered brutally on the early war table, and boosted the axis forces with Andy’s departure. Baggins traded shots with a returning Alan as Jeremy moved up. Baggins then got his come-uppance and while attempting to get up close and personal with Jeremy (talk of ramming was heard) suffered a kill at Jeremy’s hands and promptly left for the early war table. Steve and I again poured fire into the luckless Alan, whose dice rolls deserted him. Somewhere amongst the melee (as it was very much close quarters stuff) my Stuart went BOOM and it was Steve again who got the kill, then promptly had to leave the game early. Meanwhile Baggins had got a kill on the early war table where Andy had suffered more ill-fortune!
Between us, we took a grand total of two photos of the late war table – a bit of an oversight when it came to writing up the game here ! Here’s Andy’s view of the table(Ed)
Early War Table Marcus didn’t make it onto the 1940 table, so Tony F outlines what happened over there
The early war table was slightly larger with less cover than the late war one, which probably made for a more open game. We also ruled early on that the flimsy wooden fences didn’t count as obstacles – we allowed tankers to see and drive through them without penalty. There were plenty of tanks to choose from – 9 French (FCM-36, R-35, H-35, H-39/40, FT-17, AMC-35, Char D2, Char B1 bis and SOMUA S-35), 5 British (Mk.IVc, A-9, A-10, A-13 and Matilda), 10 German (Pz.IIC, Pz.IIE, Pz.IIIF, Pz.IVA. Pz.IVD. Pz.35(t), Pz.38(t), PzJg.I, StuG IIIA and a Neubaufahrzeug!), and even some Belgians (T.13B3, T.15 and ACG-1). Not all of these are in the rulebook, but coming up with stats for them was pretty straightforward – I drew up a chart for easy reference.
All tankers started the game with a Level 1 tank, and we allowed upgrades to better vehicles as the game went on. The Germans, Brian, Jeremey and Pete, started out with a Pz.35(t), Pz.IVA and Pz.Jg I respectively. Dave and Chris both chose British Cruisers (A10 and A9), while I took a French Hotchkiss H-35. All we can say is that if the Allies had performed on the battlefield like they did on our table, WW2 would have been over in June 1940 ! Chris took up a firing position looking straight down the road and proceeded to ping away at anything that moved with his trusty 2pdr, while Dave and I ‘raced’ up the flanks (in our slow tanks). Details are hazy, but we wiped out the first wave of Germans without loss, including Jeremey’s brave Pz.IVA that advanced across the fields to challenge Chris at point blank. The duel at the abandoned farm between Pete’s PzJg.I and my H.35 was a contest between his powerful Czech-made 47mm gun and my thicker-than-average armour, offset by his tin plate defence and my short 37mm popgun. In the end, unlike in 1940, it went the way of the French. As we wore down the Germans various tank commanders switched tables – Andy turned up in a StuG.IIIA and Boaz a late model Pz.38(t), but they were seen off in equally short order, although there were some interesting cat-and-mouse chases around the village. Dave and Chris both eventually lost their original mounts (Dave swapped his for a shiny new Matilda.II) but my Hotchkiss led a charmed life and survived the day with just the permanent loss of one dice (and a lot of dents in the armour).
In the end we didn’t keep an accurate tally of the overall scoring, but Dave seems to have emerged as Top Tanker with four kills set against a single loss, followed by my plucky H-35 with four kills and no losses (Dave’s kills were of higher value targets which offset the loss of his A10). Kills seemed to be harder to come by on the late war table.
A photo round up of a couple of recent(ish) Society meetings- August 27th and September 10th
Here’s the second of our catch up posts for a couple of our recent meetings.
24th September
A good turn-out for this meeting with 5 games in progress.
We start with Pete’s 10mm Vietnam “Charlie Don’t Surf” game.
A quiet hamlet in VietnamUS InfantryNVA troops advanceM113 ACAVs
Then on to some 3D printed and scratch-built Galleys & Galleons, part of the Mediterranean Galley Campaign being run by John.
Galleys advanceFleets engageThe battle continues
Then on to a 6mm Napoleonic game, Poles and Saxons vs Austrians 1809 using Mark’s Home rules. (Forgive any errors in troop attribution).
Russian Cavalry advanceRussian Infantry and ArtilleryPolish InfantryPolish Lancers
Andy and Steve had another SAGA Crusades bash:
Andy’s CrusadersStephen’s Mounted SaracensStephen’s AssassinsSAGA Warriors, foot and mounted
And finally for this meeting, Alan ran a 28mm WW1 Blood & Valor game:
French InfantryGerman InfantryGerman A7V tankFrench infantry storm a ruined houseFrench Infantry
8th October
More games but fewer periods for this meeting.
We start with a BattleTech game, a bit of an introduction for thee rules at the Society, only a couple of photos of these I’m afraid.
Six members contested the Trevor Pearless Memorial DBA Tournament, we managed to run five rounds of three games. There’s be a write up of this in due course, but for now here’s a few photos.
Trojans vs Anglo DanesTrojans vs Anglo DanesTrojans, complete with Horse, vs Anglo NormanAnglo Normans vs Caledones
And finally, some 6mm Filed of Glory action
Light cavalry surrounding the heaviesLight Infantry clashElephants!
We’ve been remiss and not posted a photo round up of several of our meetings held over the last three months. Here’s the first of these covering the first two of the missing meetings.
August 27th
Three games ran at the meeting, first up a 6mm Ancients game using Field of Glory rules.
Alan ran an Eastern Front WWI game in 15mm using “Battles with Brusilov” rules.
And finally for this meeting, Stephen ran a very wet Stargrave game, Waterworld. We should have a more detailed write up of this game soon, but you can find an article about the boat building endeavours of our members here.
Andy’s crew approach a tower blockTony’s crew encounter a KrakenThe view from orbit
September 10th
We had another three games at this meeting, firstly a 2mm Strength & Honour game.
Stephen and Jeremey ran another game in their refight of the War of the Roses, using Sword & Spear rules. There’s a full account of this battle (written by the victor, of course) here.
Lancastrian defensive positionYorkist right flankYorkists advance
And finally, Eric ran a series of Gaslands races.
We’ll round off the other two missing meetings, September 24th & October 8th in the not-too-distant future.
As mentioned this was the first straight up fight in the campaign so far. Neither side had the advantage and so the battle was down to each sides order of battle and how it was deployed. For the Yorkists I decided to include a larger number of militia units to effectively add some fodder to the ranks and hopefully keep the army in the field longer. I also reduced the amount of cavalry units, mainly because I also didn’t want to spend too many points on commanders. The Lancastrian order of battle was fairly similar but two factors were different, the Lancastrians were spread thinner and additional points reduced the overall break point of the army. At the point the Lancastrians broke the Yorkists were still half a dozen units away from breaking themselves.
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