Byzarbia at Ayton Game.

Once again it's been a while, though in my defence I plead that I have been busy painting figures for our second Ayton Weekend Game, even forgoing two of our usual Wednesday evening games so that we could crack on a bit.
This game, if you recall, has come about from the 18thC Imagi-nations game of last year, which we also hosted here, was umpired & written about in BattleGames by the good Mr Henry Hyde, and was played out by chaps from the WD3 Forum. Well, following on from last year, it was decided to have a similar bash this year, and the tale followed on that Grennoiusse, after giving Granprix a thorough drubbing, then sailed forces across the ocean to invade Byzarbia, a small country based on Africa (ish).
M'Lord Peeler, having failed in the defence of Granprix, decided to change sides and sailed with his former enemies, whilst Tim Hall also did his own thing & decided to defend Byzarbia. I was confused until Henry explained it to me, and no doubt there will be another right good write up in the BG magazine to follow.
So, last weekend, with the weather not too bad, around 20 gamers, from far far away and also very very local, gathered once again at The Ayton Village Hall. As well as the 'main game', we also had a spiffing VBCW game put on by Bob of the Brompton Bankers, and some board games by the Scarborough Gaming Society, a newish group in our local town. All were welcome, and it was good to see old chums again as well as to meet some new ones. As blokes & gamers at a gathering, I have to say, that this bunch have to be among the most easygoing to get along with.    

So, in a short space of time the tables were set up & the terrain laid out. Here, Mr Tim Hall (good old chum, gamer & erstwhile former workpal), shows off his collection of buildings, some refurbished & others newly built for the game. They were absolutely cracking, and in the flesh, certainly show off Tim's considerable modelling skills.

One or two gamers had not yet arrived by dinner time on the Friday, one in particular having gone c/o goodness knows where, so after setting up we had a good feed at the local Dennison Arms ..

.. followed by quantities of beer & the musical entertainment of our own Hairy Dave & the Shamrockers ..

.. followed by yet more beer. 

We regained the Hall around 10am Saturday morning, the missing gamers arrived, and the troops were laid out. Basically, our forces were doing a ship borne landing in an attempt to take the city, whilst our opponents, naturally, were out to stop us. I could not give you an accurate account of the entire game, the table being between 24-30 foot long (with a dog leg added), but suffice to say that there was plenty to do, time to wander the rest of the table, partake of refreshments & tobacco, and some superb umpiring by Mr Hyde, with sound effects for exploding ships in the distance as well as a major sandstorm that messed up some gamers well planned plans.

Here's some pictures of various troops & parts of the game. The painting standard was a joy to see, with different figures from as diverse as Spencer Smiths to RMS, they were all good, and it reminded me to darn well up my own painting skills! My own Peasant Brigade, backed up by four elephants .. despite all the talk, I was the only one to field them. (At £4.99 each from a seafront tat .. er .. souvenir  shop.   

John Francis & Iain EssexBoy get to grips with it. There was plenty of dice rolling, both to hit & save.  

My Cavalry, being faced off by lights, who could shoot & retire .. damned cowardly, but damned effective! 

And after a short while, they sent my cavalry trotting backwards with heavy casualties, including those caused by a poisoned oasis... darned sneaky stuff! 

On the left, on the hill, can be seen Norman's camel Mounted light guns (wonderful figures & a credit to Norman's painting skills) - a short of a long punt gun, and rather lethal too, they caused enough hits to paralyse my left flanking move, and worse was to come.                             

Andy Beleras's magnificently painted cavalry troopers, going in against the lights, watched over by my line troops.                    

In the distance, those darned lights again, being faced off by my line Regts, including a new one - Lt Col Percy's Own Pinksters, on the right. In brief, I was making no headway at all, and to be frank, was just taking a continual slapping from my main oppo's, Norman, Paul & John. Something had to be done, & done swiftly & decisively. 

In short, it was Elephant time. In they lumbered, two by two, roaring away, chomping on buns, supported by the archers in the Hollow Backs. (Special elephants these, they started as candle holders).  After squashing & scattering those light cavalry with ease, I thought "Wahay, things are looking up!" until one went down to fire from those camel gunners .. 

.. whilst sadly, and to my deep upset, another two went down to well directed Btn fire. In fact, there were so many hits, I'd say that they'd have died from lead poisoning if nothing else. I decided to withdraw my final beastie, so as not to leave my opponent with yet more ivory for his collection. 

Oh, this was a good one - NDL's lights, being native arab types, trotted down, skipped gaily over the wall, & pushed back my infantry inside a small town. With a heavy sigh & an acceptance of the way things had gone, I packed away my awful dice. I may sell them. Or put them in a box marked "Give to the opposition". Notwithstanding, the other side played a very good game, and as ever, it was played in a gentlemanly & friendly manner. (Except when my third elephant went down - goodness, I was really rather miffed).        

By the end of Sunday, it was decided - without much doubt, that the invading forces ( including me) had failed. Only just, in some parts of the table, but I think fairly decisively in mine. Humph. 

Whoops, only got the one shot of Bob, Russ, Billy & the Testo's at the VBCW game, which was played throughout, and looked excellent. 

So, there we are, a right good weekend was had by all I'd say. Naturally, we had more Dennison & Forge on the Saturday, and er, those who remained on the Sunday evening too. By Monday, we just  weren't hungry any more, due to the decent portions dolled out. Around 5pm Sunday evening, the figures, terrain & tables were packed away, the floor swept, and the Hall was again empty. It was like it had never been! Most said their goodbyes, and I have to admit, I was quite sad to see them go off. 

All the players brought along figures, some also brought terrain, and we used Henry's own rules, which I think may well be published soon. My thanks to those who came & gamed, and to Mrs Peeler & Mrs Wright for the kitchen duties & cakes. Each gamer paid £15, as a result of which we gave  £285 to three charities, being the Hall, Combat Stress & the local Jubilee committee. Not bad at all really! For further pictures, write ups, and - even - a movie - pop over to the WD3 Forum, and take a look through the WD3 Games section & see the BG Blog. 

"Historical Note" - As for Lord Peeler, having twice been unsuccessful in his campaigns, it is rumoured that he did then retire to a small estate, there to mull over his remaining forces, drink beer and smoke roll ups. One of his sons apparently ran away to sea, whilst another went away to Germany, where he (luckily) married into a minor aristocratic family. This family strand was not heard of again, as history will recall, until the 1860's - which is when next years game is set for! The Hall is already rebooked for the same weekend & I've already ordered some Spencer Smiths, for Count von Peeler's Forces.   

Regards,  (and my thanks & welcome to the new Followers),

Peeler  

The Ayton WD3 Weekend

Well, it was a good two weeks ago now, the last weekend in April, and this is me finally getting around to posting about it. Starting off late last year with an off the cuff comment, then a solid suggestion, which swiftly led into a full blown rather well planned plan on the WD3 Forum, around twenty gamers, both local & from far away, met up at our own local Ayton Hall for a weekend of gaming, socialising and partaking of food & beer. The weather was unseasonably warm and dry, and the chaps were in good heart I'd say.
The 'main game' was an 18thCentury fictional, led & well umpired by the good Mr Hyde of BattleGames fame. He supplied the rules and his own splendid collection of Spencer Smith figures, and around a dozen players also added their own smaller collections, painted for the event, to the fray. I have to say, it was a joy to see those historic S/Smiths in the flesh, and also to see some newly painted figures - Ian from Essex, if you're reading, that WH Btn was just wonderful.
As well as the 18thC game, we had Bob with the VBCW game, Norman's Viking game, and Tim's Toy Soldier game, which all added to the general pleasant gamey atmosphere of the weekend. We met up around 5pm on the Friday, and the tables were swiftly set up and terrain laid out ready for an easy start the next day...

The Hall has been recently refurbished, and naturally HM still has pride of place on the main wall.

Norman, Tim & Richard decide which game to try first..

... whilst the VBCW game gets going at a cracking pace.

Not all of those attending had met before, and it was good to see how quickly we all gelled into an easy-going group, which made the setting up quick & easy, and we then retired to the Dennison for some rather large meals, thence to The Forge for copious amounts of beer and a right good natter.
The 18thC games started off as three separate tables on the Saturday, following on from the campaign run by Henry. All three games would then lead into one large game on the Sunday. Here we have Lord Peeler's forces dutifully marching out to take on Tim Hall's advance guard.

Which, as they quickly foundd out, was mostly mounted and fairly dangerous too. A long & drawn out cavalry melee ensued, during which Tim's superior cavalry did rather well.

After dispersing Peeler's mounted forces, Tim's cavalry took on the Light infantry, and gave them what can only be described as a good slapping.

After clearing them out of the way, the mounted horde was only stopped by some well aimed volleys from the regular line, waved on by Lord Peeler himself. It was with a sigh of relief that this initial encounter came to an end, with the ominous warning from Mr Hall that, "You do realise that was ONLY my advanced guard don't you". Hmm, it was worrying.

The three 8x6 tables were reorganised and pushed together to form one 24x6, and the terrain & figures set up so as to be ready for the next days main battle. We then retired to the Dennison for some rather large meals, thence to The Forge for copious amounts of beer. No doubt an awful lot of waffle was talked, but frankly, I can't remember much, except that we all had a very nice time and lost the power of speech in the early hours of Sunday.
The setup on the Sunday, with all players present if not feeling quite correct.

My own forces were arrayed opposite Tim's again, and I realised how much he had. Also, they were from John Ray's rather fine collection, and the standard of painting simply dazzled my own troops. Yes, that is my excuse for what happened, and I'm sticking to it.

My line advanced forward to exchange musketry with their opponents, which soon led to high losses on my side.

Both dazzled and outflanked .. what chance did they have, eh!

To my immediate right, a large skirmish firefight went on inconclusively for most of the game.

Several players had a go at Tim's & Norman's games, and had jolly time of it.

A general view of the table. My own forces are arrayed in front of the central town.

Whilst to my left, my allies were busy getting a sound thrashing themselves.

Back to mine, and whilst the Foot slogged it out, a Cuirassier charge made utter mincemeat out of one of my Btns, and was so successful that it carried on into another, breaking that one too, as can be seen. Things were not going well!

When most of my forces had finished dying, there was only one thing for it - to send in The Nuns of the Ditch, an elite unit of tooled up Nuns with attitude & faith, armed with fearsome close quarter weapons. It made no difference as they too got blown away, and even had the indignity of losing their cassocks, as well as some other garments, which we will not talk about on here.

Toward the end of the day, with a clear winner, Mr Hall was good enough to offer terms, and our side was withdrawn back into the town, there to recover and mull on their rather harsh defeat. The Nuns had to be fed & watered with mead and steak & mead pie, such was their upset at being so easily defeated. Lord Peeler was left alone, in a darkened room, there to contemplate his future.

The games & tables etc were cleared away with great speed, and after a general witter, most players left for home, happy with having had a most pleasant weekend of gaming and meeting up with fellow posters from the WD3 Forum. Here's a picture of most, a happy looking bunch if you ask me..

And just when I thought, well that's that then, and was beginning to get that usual 'coming down' feeling after such a good weekend, those of us that were left, about a half dozen, went .. that's right, to the Dennison for some rather large meals, and thence to The Forge for copious amounts of beer. I think we'd all weigh a bit more by the Monday, certainly my work clothes seemed unnaturally tight by the time I got back... Words fail me to describe what a good weekend we had of it. It was good to meet up & game again with Tim Hall & Norman, meet up with Henry again, and to just be part of such an august gathering of gentlemen gamers. As Tim said, "Twenty odd gamers meeting up, some for the first time, and not a single figure dropped or terrain piece broken, and not a single harsh word." It was indeed, as Henry said, all done in the true "spirit of wargaming".

Regards,

Peeler.

PS - and plans are already afoot for another bash next year!

PPS! - And a LARGE thankyou to Mrs Peeler & Mrs Wright for the large amount of sandwiches & cakes throughout the long days. We'd have passed out through hunger without you.