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Saturday 24 September 2011

Almost a battle!

At Last! - I had finished repainting my Earl of Northumberland retinue for the Wars of the Roses. I was pleasantly surprised to find I like the historically accurate Gules and Sable livery as much as the previously used Russet Or and Tawny!

So, for their first outing!...

 The battle would take place in a quite congested area..
 A Cardinal (!!!) berating the locals in a small hamlet.
 The peasantry about their tasks near Thirlwall castle.
My Percy retinue..the extreme left wing. 
 The main body on their way to the hamlet.
 
 Their De Lacey allies on their right awaiting the Montagu attack. 
...in safety behind a wood. 
 The Montagues appeared facing Phil's De Laceys. 
...In some force! 
The Percies hastened to support the De Laceys. 
 The Montagues advanced confidently. 
 Atop Thirlwall castle, the Percy garrison watched in alarm!
 The montagu forces split to face both Lancastrian forces.
 The Percy flank guard tried to outflank the Montagues. 
 The De Laceys moved into the wood, unable to face the Yorkists alone.. 
The Montagues moved to positions on the Large hill and the road. 
..leaving crossbowmen to protect their right flank. 
The Percies cautiously approached the hamlet. 
 Their forward archers came under crossbow shot from down the road and sought cover. 
 Some Percy spearmen reconnoitred ahead. 
 And observed the Montagues who moved onto the road.
 ..and the large hill.
 The main Percy body reached the hamlet.. 
..their flanking force moved round the hamlet.
The Montagues in the road saw a spearman observing them and let fly...
 
The wind was with the archers...
 
The hapless spearman fell in a hail of arrows!
The Cardinal and his flock decided discretion was the order of the day! 
The Percy archers moved to either side of the house to trade shots..and hopefully prompt the De Laceys to emerge in support... 
..but they stayed safely in their wood!
 So outshot, the Percies moved back into cover. 
With neither side willing to fight in the open, and with all sides lacking sufficient numbers of men-at-arms to force the issue in the woods, the battle ceased.

The terrain - and the cautiousness of the attacking Yorkists prevented any serious action developing, which was a pity!

Though both sides carried arms. 
Scarce any man was shot.
Such was the stand of thirlwall
For a battle it was not! 

Wednesday 21 September 2011

Another working Saturday...Sigh!

I was working yet again last Saturday...but managed to snap a few shots at the club during my lunch break:

Craig, Pete and Frankie doing a Chinese battle using their 'Great Captains' rules. 
..The usual hordes of Napoleonic players!
 ..doing 6mm this week - looked good!
Ian, Lawrence and Phil, my usual cohorts, were trying the 'Tinker Fox' wars of religion campaign system for English civil war..they seem promising, with a few modifications?
One of Ian's garrisons, defending a barrier from a different civil war????
 
Being attacked by Lawrence and Phil's whitecoats.. 
 ..and Horse.
The Dastardly Royalists won apparently!

I will be gaming for the next 3 weeks if all goes well before I work another Saturday.
The next game we plan to do will be a Wars of the Roses skirmish with my (hopefully repainted in the correct livery at last!) Percies!

Saturday 10 September 2011

Back from the boring month of August!

Well - we got back today to the important business of wargaming at the club after the holidays!

We were doing a refight of a game the lads did when I was working a month ago. Normans vs Saxons and Vikings.

My Normans held the left of the line..
 ..While Phil's cavalry heavy force took the right.

Facing Phil were Ian's Saxons. 
 
 ..and I was left facing the Vikings.
The battle began with a Norman advance.. 
 The Vikings also advanced. 
Only the Axemen and slingers on the Saxon left advanced, the rest of the Saxons stood. 
 The Norman right veered towards the centre. 
 ..and began to take injury from the Saxon slings.
  Stung by the shooting, the Norman cavalry moved ahead to charge! 
..they were now being shot at by Vikings as well. 
..and their horses were suffering. 
The rest of the Vikings paused their advance to watch! 
 The Normans crossbowmen shot in support of their horse. 
 ..This upset the Viking archers somewhat!
 The advancing Norman horse was shot at heavily, but forced the Viking bows to evade.
 ..they then turned to face their tormentors on the flank.
 Behind them the infantry advanced remorselesly.
 The forward Norman horse pursued the Saxon bows into a wood. 
 ..while in the centre, Norman and Saxon spearmen closed.
 On the Norman left, I had left some slingers to harrass the Vikings. 
 ..while the rest of my force went to help Phil.
 ..whose spearmen were suffering from slingshots.
 The Saxons formed up to face Phils force in the centre. 
 My Lord and his 2 knights moved to protect the flank in support of the crossbowmen. 
 Phil's Knights and infantry charged into the Saxons, and soon a fierce melee developed.
But unsupported by the Vikings, who were still chasing slingers... 

The Normans won in the centre, and hence the battle!

The battle was quite a confused affair, as the terrain stopped conventional deployments or tactics for both sides.

Normans: Phil and Me
Saxons: Ian
Vikings: Lawrence