{"id":4480,"date":"2021-08-30T22:06:07","date_gmt":"2021-08-30T21:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brigademodels.co.uk\/mws\/blog\/?p=4480"},"modified":"2021-09-01T18:33:30","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T17:33:30","slug":"second-meeting-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brigademodels.co.uk\/mws\/blog\/2021\/08\/30\/second-meeting-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Second meeting back"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/fb:like><\/div><\/div>

Last Saturday was the second meeting post lockdown. We are still operating with members only. Fewer games and members this time, perhaps because of the Bank Holiday weekend?<\/em><\/p>\n

First up, a couple of games of Fields of Glory, Dominate Roman vs Selucid, report from Chairman John.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mark\u2019s Romans took to the battlefield against a very mixed force of Paul\u2019s Seleucids.\u00a0 The Romans deployed their many legions in the centre to face off the Seleucid cataphracts, pikes and elephants.<\/p>\n

With the full deployment revealed the Romans moved aggressively to take advantage with their skirmishes on the left flank.\u00a0 This resulted in successfully routing the enemy light foot off the table and capturing the enemy camp.\u00a0 However the Seleucids fought back attacking the rear of the Roman horse who were still sacking the camp.\u00a0 In the meantime on the other flank the Seleucid light foot seemed to be in excellent shooting form scoring hits in multiple rounds and routing the Hun cavalry.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The deciding battle should have been in the middle with the Seleucid caraphracts taking on the legions, but despite vicious fighting no overall victor emerged.\u00a0 At this point the Seleucids were declared the marginal victors due to their success on the flanks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The second game was a repeat meeting, this time the Romans sat back and let the Seleucids come to them intending to not be aggressive on the flanks and risk losing their again.\u00a0 However the Hun cavalry again proved to be very vulnerable to shooting, with the cavalry and light horse on the other flank also suffering at the hands of some good dice rolling by the Seleucids.\u00a0 In the centre the cataphracts managed to manoeuvre to hit the Romans at their weakest point, eventually routing several battle groups, the Roman army withdraw just before it would break, a successful day of battle for the Seleucids.<\/p>\n

The next table saw some Border Reiver action. Report by a different John.<\/em><\/p>\n

I brought along Osprey\u2019s En Garde!\u00a0 Ruleset, my collection of Outpost Reivers I\u2019d purchased and painted many years ago and scratchbuilt terrain for Eric and Tony to try out the rules. We played on a 3 foot square mat. Whilst rule memory was hazy at times, we did manage to play two scenarios.<\/p>\n

Scenario 1 \u2013 During a previous raid some of the stolen booty had to be hidden in a derelict Shepherd\u2019s hut in Bewcastle Waste. Both gangs were desperate to recover the heavy chest containing cutlery and a wooden dinner service (yes, they would have been that desperate). We used the capture scenario from the En Garde! Rulebook. It was dark and raining, typical Reiver weather.<\/p>\n

Both forces approached the hut with some figures dismounting so that they could enter the hut and grab the chest. Eric\u2019s gang managed to score some hits using a Latch \u2013 a short range rapid fire crossbow as the skirmish developed around the hut.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The skirmish around the hut.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With men down, Tony attempted a ride by lance charge on Eric\u2019s Headman but unluckily failed and with that, Tony\u2019s chances in the game faded.<\/p>\n

Scenario 2 \u2013 Eric\u2019s gang have kidnapped the lady love of Tony\u2019s Headman\u2019s son and locked her up in their fortified farmhouse.\u00a0 The scratchbuilt Bastle House is an accurate model of Gatehouse (North) Bastle in Tynedale. We used the Defence Scenario from the En Garde! Rulebook.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Bastle House modelled on Gatehouse (North) Bastle in Tynedale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For this scenario, Tony had got some hired help as He would have to break into the Bastle. He decided to use the time honoured tactic of \u2018Scumfishing\u2019 applying fire to the door in order to smoke out the occupants.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Trying to fire the door to the Bastel House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meanwhile if Eric\u2019s Headman\u2019s son could rush out and light the straw pile, this would alert the Land Sergeant and the Militia who would be duty bound to come to their aid (unless handsomely paid off by Tony). The son was ruthlessly put to the sword by one of Tony\u2019s henchmen. Tony was unable to start a fire at the door and with time running out, brute force was brought into play. A fierce melee took place in the basement with Tony\u2019s men just avoiding a bucket of night soil thrown down the chute above the door. The Headman\u2019s son was able to rescue his sweetheart (the only girl in the village with her own teeth) in the nick of time or by the skin of his teeth.<\/p>\n

So honours were even over the day. We had a couple of queries on the rules and will probably bring in house rules next time where our protagonists will encounter \u2018Mad Meg\u2019s Bairns\u2019 a merciless band of cutthroat mercenaries and I\u2019ll start looking at the possibility of a campaign.<\/p>\n

Last, but by no means least, Tony and Andy tried out Dragon Rampant. Report by Andy<\/em><\/p>\n

Tony wanted to try out Dragon Rampant using his Lord of the Rings Rohirrim troops, so we agreed on a 24 point game.<\/p>\n

For our first Game Tony\u2019s army was made up of :<\/p>\n