Witterings...

No game this week sadly, due to my own and others work commitments. Still, we haven't done too bad of late, having had at least one game a week for the last couple of months.
So, I thought 'It's catch up time' with things I meant to have done some time ago. I've sent off to resubscribe to Wargames Illustrated (dropped out 12/08!), and to BattleGames Mag (dropped out 05/08!!). I like both these Mags, WI keeps me up to date with current trends in the hobby, and BG has an old world charm all of its own.
I had printed out a small order to NavWar some time ago, and wondered why they hadn't delivered. I hadn't posted the Form. D'uh!! So now I have posted it, for some 15mm Napoleonic Russians, for use with DBN. Small figures, but they have a certain character I think, and should be quick and easy to paint too.
Also, a friend of mine Leo is having a book clearance, of some grand old titles, so I actually moved quite quickly after seeing the name 'Featherstone' on the list, and got them ordered too. He will of course, retain visiting rights on them.
Other than that, I've had a right good read through various Blogs and Sites, and have found some very interesting and quality posts to read. The quality of some people's painting makes their figures look like a work of art. I must remember not to let this depress me on my own painting quality, which is of a fairly basic wargaming standard. It looks like we may well be gaming 6mm Spanish Succession with Rich D'Lords efforts, probably some WW2 too. And we should have a GdB game sometime too, after a good dose of very enjoyable DBN games. Painting wise, I'm on with a 25mm Old Glory figure Regt for use with my 'Local Village Wars' project. It's certainly different from painting 10mils, and frankly I'm not sure my skills are up to it, but they'll look ok when on the table I guess. Show wise, we've got Salute to look forward to, been a few years since I've been, but we are making the effort this year, and after that the Battlegroup North WW2 event at Elvington near York, on the May 10th weekend. Lots of reenactors and vehicles, and a smallish but friendly wargame show too.
Oh, and welcome to Alex Testo, latest 'follower', DBN Author, and quality gamer. Runs a decent hotel too, busy bloke that he is.
So, nothing really to complain about, lots of stuff on the way, and lots to be getting on with. Right after I've tidied the garage and been to the tip..

DBN Game, French/Austrian1809

Myself, Testo Snr & Jnr, and Rich D'Lord had a get together a few days ago, And Testo Snr kindly set up this DBN French/Austrian generic 1809 game, 24 points a side. From memory(!) the forces were as follows-both sides also has CinC, SubGeneral and Baggage.

The French went for 8xMuskets, 2xMuskets(Allies), 1xMuskets(Elite), 3xLight Inf, 1xHeavyCav, 1xHeavyCav(Elite), 2xLightCav, 1xLightCav(Elite), 2xFootArt, 1xFootArt(Elite).

The Austrians went for 8xMuskets, 4xMuskets(Militia), 3xMuskets(Elite), 2xLight Inf, 1xJaeger, 4xHeavycav, 1xLightCav, 1xFootArt.

(From the French side..)

The French occupied the main Town with the Elite Muskets, and set up first for defence, strong on both flanks, with a central cavalry reserve. The Town counted as 2 points if captured by the Austrians.

(From the Austrian side..)

The Austrians deployed in two strong flank columns supported by cavalry, with a central infantry column with which to threaten the town. French occupation of this town severley limited Austrian movement in the game.

All set for a major bash then. Which is just what happened. The Austrian flank columns moved off whilst the Reserve sat looking at the Town. Wondering what to do. Wondering if it had a pub.

The French, seeing the plan, had a general shuffle forward.

On the French left, their Artillery opened up on the Austrians as they cleared and occupied the village, scoring a hit. In the woods, the Light Inf advanced.

On the French right, whilst the main Austrian column rolled on, a detached flanking column trading shots with the French, and became quite worrying. The French Heavy Cavalry moved over in support.


On the left, firing an Elite Battery with another in support, a base of Muskets was soon taken out. Bonus! A heavy fire fight developed in the woods between the Lights, as French Light cavalry move up.


On the right, whilst the French Artillery scored hits on the column, the Austrian flank attack was taking its toll, pushing in at the French flank units.


On the Left, the French scored more hits on the column, and began to gain the upper hand in the woods too. French columns moved forward, as did the Austrian.

On the Right, despite casualties, the Austrian flank attack was going well, taking out 2xFrench bases, and together with main column attack, looked like it was going to roll up the line.


On the Left, big changes! The main Austrian column, having lost 2xbases, began to retire before contact. The French stormed the Village, and took out 2xbases in the woods. (The Austrian Central Reserve, you'll notice, is still sat there, looking at the Town). Austrian casualties were mounting, and getting toward the breaking point.

On the right, and the Austrian flank attack began to falter, but one column got in to mix it with the Swiss. Damned hard chaps those Swiss, and the melee went back and forth. The other column just sort of sat there, and got shot up by the Artillery.

On the Left, the French scored several hits and began to clear the woods, taking out a Militia musket base. This was the sign that it was time for the Austrians to retire, having reached their breaking point.



A view from the Austrian centre, with the Reserve still standing there looking at the Town. They must have been bored by now surely!!



And from the Austrian right, as the French clear the woods, hammer the retiring column, and their Cavalry advance.

The Austrian side was hampered by poor cap dice, giving the French the ability to easily move to confront their attacks, which did look quite threatening to begin with. The Austrian Reserve, and the French Elite in the Town, merely sat and looked at each other, neither really fancying a fight.
Austrian loses were 10 bases, to (I think) 3 French. A tad decisive then, to be fair. The cotton wool by the way, indicates a hit on a base. Two hits and the base is shaken, 3 and its off. A simple but effective casualty marking system.
Cheers Gents, for an enjoyable game!

Gentlemen's Wargames Parlour..

..is back up and running! With LARGE Hurrah's all round! This site has long been known as a pleasant and polite Site to visit, with a character all of its own, so well done and thanks to those who repaired it after it went down. Here's a Link..
http://gwargamesp.18.forumer.com/index.php?act=idx

I've just realised that I haven't yet said a "Hello and welcome" to the kind people who've registered as 'Followers' of this Blog.. so apologies for my lack of manners, and a warm Hello and welcome to Poacher, Richie, Toddy, MrF, and the latest, Obidiah, as well as those who have read/posted on this Blog thus far. I hope you find something of interest, enjoy reading it and look forward to any comments you have.

Regards,
Peeler

DBF, The Villagers Revenge.

Following last weeks trashing and pillaging of their village, the Humans decided to dish out a portion of revenge, so they made their way to the Evil's castle, and formed up outside.


After a short period of taunting and verbal abuse, the Evil Army came out and formed up opposite, ready for battle. The Armies were broadly similar to the last game, but the zombies were absent, having wandered off far away.

The Evils kicked off with a general advance, and an attempt at a flanking move by the Large Orcs, supported by Chief Evil. These Orcs, being on the big side, would count as +1 in combat. The rest of the two armies edged toward each other, with the cavalry meeting on the flank.

While the Elf Spearmen poked and shunted their way through the sword wielding Orcs to great effect, the Human swords just about held the skeletons off to the right. The Orc cavalry wiped the floor with the Elf cavalry due to superior numbers and flank attack by the Large Orcs, supported by Chief Evil.

Meanwhile, the Spearmen and swords had done rather well and had taken out three bases of Orcs over two moves...just one to go and revenge would be theirs.

And so it was! A swift flanking move by a column of Spears against an Orc element produced the result. The battle was won, and the Evils ran off back to their castle, feeling suitably humbled. The Human army, flush with success and few casualties, marched off home.

We played this game with the same rule amendments to DBN as below, Kallistra figures and TSS terrain.

DBF, Attack on the Village.

We used Kallistra Figures for this game, they come in unit packs, with bases too-which happen to be the right size for DBA, so quite handy really. We used the DBN play sheet as it was easy to hand, with a few 'off the cuff' amendments. Spears counted as +1 in combat and can do columns, swords/blades count as normal combat and can't do columns, archers fire as muskets but -1 in combat, zombies and peasants fight as militia, undead (that's zombies and skeletons) don't suffer from 'shaken'-they wouldn't care, as they're already dead, the 'chaos/evil' army has -1 on cap dice to reflect the lack of discipline, and zombies once moved need 2 cap to stop them. They also wander randomly and are prone to chomping at the nearest unit-even if on their own side-once they had a kill. That's the usefulness of DBA/N rules-a few tweaks and you can game anything really.

So to the game. The Evil army had come over to trash and pillage the Human's village. That's pretty evil really. The Human's just wanted them to bog off. Both sides had to cause 4 element casualties to win, but we made it so that the Evil's had to kill 5-they wouldn't count it as a victory unless they had a bit more slaughter we reckoned.

So both sides lined up in a face off. , and off they went, with the Zombies on the right flank wandering off fairly quickly, looking for their dinner. The Humans called on theEvils to bog off or face a thrashing. The Evils merely snickered and gnashed their teeth.

Battle was quickly joined without much manoeuvre, in a straight forward hack and slash fest, with casualties on both sides. The spear skeleton column quickly pushed on through, whilst the archers backed off, firing into the orc swords. After seeing off the Human cavalry (the orc cavalry had a +1 being on wolves with big teeth), the orc cavalry and others rounded on the archers who had become detached from any support. And much slaughter and breaking of bows was had. The skeleton column carried on through the Humans line, finding an opportunity to mix it with the Chief, who proved adept at fending them off three times! To the right, the zombies munched their way through the local peasants, then turned on some spears, slowly chomping through them as well. For a bunch of dead folks, they eat an awful lot. Never, ever, invite them for tea and buns. After seeing them off, they went for the next nearest element..which sadly was a a unit of orcs. Needless to say, the Humans backed off.

A couple of moves later and it was all over bar the collecting of discarded weaponry. The Humans had been minced thoroughly. Their line was split, and the remaining Humans made their escape pledging revenge at a not too distant time in the future, leaving their village to be plundered by the Evils, who swiftly moved in, naturally taking the tavern and pastry shop first.

A good fun game was had, played over an hour and a half, on a TSS 2two foot board, a few trees, couple of hills and a few village buildings added for good measure.

Witterings...

Well, its time for bed methinks. I know it's early, but I've been up all night! I was thinking of what to get on with painting over the next week.
A Village War Btn in 25mm, or an ACW Regt in 10mm, or some Napoleonic 10mm, or some SYW 10mm, or some Kallistra 10mm Fantasy-(which I had a game with the other day, having dusted them off, and will post about soon)-or to paint up some buildings maybe-or finish flocking said Kallistra 10mm- as I realised that I have omitted to do so when I opened the box for said game. Not that it made a difference to how it played I suppose..
That's the thing with our hobby at times, you just can't get one thing done for something else that wants doing. Or, I take on too much at times, and should maybe stick to one area for longer than I do. And should always flock before storing painted stuff away.
Then again, there's the 15 boxes of Airfix Romans that MiniPeeler bought at York, they'd look nice, I could make a start on them...

Trafalgar Game at York Show '09

Richie and the DarkLord bunch put on a Trafalgar Game at the York Show, and well done to them. Easy to set up and lay out (no terrain issues there!) and great fun to play. A fair number of small scale model ships were used, and nicely painted too. They had a fair bit of interest shown, from people passing by. As the table was set up on the 1st floor thoroughfare, you'd have to put a real effort in to miss it in fact. I would think there'll be a write-up on the DarkLord Blog.

Wittering..A Bridge Too Far.

As I'm sat here, 'A Bridge Too Far' is on the TV. I've never really been that much into WW2 gaming, (happy to play with other's stuff though), but if any film was going to get me into it, this would be the one. Good soundtrack too. Maybe it's the scale of the thing, loadsa tanks and massed planes, large visual airdrops and so on, or the large number of well known actors, but it must rank amomg one of the best.
How did they do those airdrops with loadsa parachutists? No digi-computer-graphic-whatnots in those days, (late '70's?), did they actually have all those planes flying and chaps dropping out of them then? Or is it all models?

GdB in 10mm

Thought I'd put this up, I do like the mass effect of the smaller scales, and I do find them easier to paint than larger figures, less need for all that detail. (Not that you can compare them really, it just depends on the visual effect that most appeals to you, each to their own I say). This picture shows a French Brigade of four Battalions, supported by a Battery, advancing in 'coloumn of battalion line', as in d'Erlon at Waterloo. I use GdB 15mm base sizes and measurements, so that a French Btn comes in at 90 figures, in three ranks. each Co is made up of 15 figures, instead of the 6 figures in 15mm. I have put each Btn onto only two bases, for ease of movement, and most of my artillery is on a single base per Battery. I'm using Old Glory Figures, of which I have a fair few..and a lot more still to paint. Ease of painting, and ease of movement-lazy eh! But it floats my boat.

King Arthur's Resting Place....

is in Glastonbury Abbey apparently, as seen last year whilst on our hols in those parts.

DBN Game, Leipzig 10/08

I knew I'd missed one! Here's a Link to a great weekend game put on by Alex Testo, and Bob Erwhatsit, the Authors of the DBN rules. It was held at Alex's hotel in sunny Scarborough, with a large table and masses of figures.

http://wargamers.19.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=1727&start=0

GdB Game on at the Carronade Falkirk Show, 05/08.

I think this will be the last of my 'previous doings' posts, as I am now up to date with myself. The Falkirk Gamers, a really good bunch, put on The Carronade Show, and having been just the once, I have to say it's top notch. Sadly, it always coincides with the Elvington Show, so I'll have to alternate yearly. We were asked to put on a game, and so made it into a bit of a holiday event, doing a bit of a tour on the way up there. Here's a link to the write up, and the show itself.
http://ilovewargameing.21.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=1425&start=0
A thoroughly good time was had, and thanks to The Falkirk Club for the invite. They have a good site too, here's a link to them..
http://www.falkirkwargamesclub.org.uk/phpbb-2.0.21/phpbb2/index.php?sid=765274a3c12ba96d7e3a1f16caaa2aa2

GdB Waterloo Game, 10/08

Along with Hairy Dave, I was lucky enough to take part in the GdB Waterloo game, a large scale event over a weekend late last year, at a hotel at South Mimms, organised on the GdB Site, by the good Mr Brown and Co. Needless to say, alcohol was taken, and lots of yabbering went on. The Allied line pretty much held its own, as expected, and thankfully other people took lots of pictures..
http://generaldebrigade.greatboard.com/viewtopic.php?t=3326

LadyBird Books..

http://kriswithak.co.uk/ladybird

Nothing to do with Wargaming, but it did make me chortle!

DBN Game on at Recon, Pudsey, 2008

We put on a DBN Waterloo game at this show, all figures and terrain supplied by Alex Testo, the rules writer. An easy day for the rest of us then!For a full write up and more pictures, click on the Link..

http://wargamers.19.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=1685&start=0

GdB Game on at the Stockton Show, 2008

We put on a GdB game at the last Stockton show, using Old Glory 10mm figures, TSS terain, Opus Miniature buildings, and a good day was had by all.. More pictures and a write up at The GdB Site,.. http://generaldebrigade.greatboard.com/viewtopic.php?t=3420&start=0

York Show, 01/02/09

Held at the York Racecourse, and a good day was had, though after finishing work at 6am, I didn't get there till around 1pm. Just as well that I wasn't involved in putting on a game this time! There was a lot of good looking games on, plenty of traders, and I met up with a few people I hadn't seen for a while. Richie and Tim from Hunmanby put on a smallish but easy to set up Napoleonic Naval game which had a fair few onlookers at times. Good to see that younger gamers can organise, book, and put on a game themselves without any fuss and bother. Bodes well for the future I reckon.
As I wasn't gaming, it was a buying time, and I got some smashing 25mm wagons and carts from Old Glory's new Blue Moon range (http://www.oldgloryuk.com/disp_items.php?m=41&s=171) to be used with my 'Village Wars' project which is slowly coming together. You may say 'Not cheap' at £20 a time, but they are very good looking and chunky, and well worth the money I say. Nice to have a witter with Andy too, as always full of ideas and possibilities. Next trader was Hovels, and some really nice looking 18thC civilians-drunkards, farmers, busty wenches and farm animals too, for some interesting viginettes. On to Simon and Sue the TSS crew, and a serious buy into their 2ft boards and hills. I'd say that the flocking has improved since they took over at TSS, and they've added a lot to the range. As always, a good witter and laugh was had. Must remember to phone them soon, as I just need some more stuff! Oh, and Minipeeler got a bargain on the BB-15 boxes of Airfix Romans for a mere £10. He was thoroughly chuffed.
So as always, a good show, and well done York Club.

Peeler's Wargaming & Wittering Page.

Well, for a technophobe like myself, this is pretty good going! Must admit I have had a little help from others, many thanks to them.
Why a Blog then? Well, why not? I post on several Sites, and thought to myself, t'would be nice to have all my stuff in one place, all neat and tidy like. I've looked at other Blogs, such as Poacher's and Giles', and thought, Hmm, I'd like one too, so here we are. Not that I claim that mine will be as good a read as others..what will be will be. But, it passes the time, and may keep me out of the pub a bit. Maybe..
I've put up some Links to other Blogs/Sites that I like to read, hope you find them interesting too. My early posts may well be of things done in the distant past, then I'll be up to date and posting as and when something grabs me and I want to put it on here. That, I've just thought, is the bonus of having your own Blogthing..you can put up what you want to, when you want to.

Regards,
Peeler