Devon Wargames February meeting

 Saturday was the February meeting of the Devon Wargames Group, with Chas putting on a Crusader game and JJ setting up a AWI game.  I joined Chas' game, which was using Deus Vult, and became a vassal lord to King Stumpy the Last. My command was allocated to a flank march on the left, so I didn't come on until turn 2, but that gave me a chance to see how the rules work.

things look interesting between Steve M and Chas.

The game involved 8 players, 4 per side, with Crusaders facing off against Turks. Each player had 4 or 5 units, usually a mix of infantry and cavalry.  Nathan commanded the Crusaders, with Steve M, Vince and me as his vassals. Andy lead the Turkish horde with Chas, Steve H and Michael.  The Turks reinforced their left, which left Chas' command outflanked by my flank march.  Thinks went badly for the Turks from then on, despite their best efforts and some good attacks.  It did help that both Chas and Andy managed to roll double 1's on morale rolls and rout their troops. 

Turks on the right, with Crusaders on their far flank.

My gallant command, appearing on the left flank

Turkish infantry types, lots of arrows but not real fighting men

The left flank sweeps forward

Knights gather for a charge!

Close up of one of the Crusader units, Turkopole lancers possibly?

Thanks to Chas and the rest for a good days gaming.  Deus Valt is different to other sets out there and I enjoyed the game.  It makes a change to only fight in your turn, so it is possible to be charged and butchered without getting to hit back.  This makes positioning and timing of charges crucial, more so than other rulesets do.  The only thing I didn't like was being able to fire into a melee if you could hit the unengaged flank or rear of the enemy unit, but that's just a little bug and didn't change my general enjoyment of the game and rules.  I AM NOT GETTING ANY CRUSADERS THOUGH!!!!

Well, maybe not anyway. 

The other game was a 15mm AWI game by JJ, so please check out his blog to get a decent view of the game and scenario.  As usual, his games always look great and play well.  You can go right off some people you know. 

A motley crew for sure.

The future of wargames?  Nobody anywhere near the table.

British and Germans upsetting the rebellious colonials

Take care and keep rolling those dice.

Display Cabinet type thing

A while ago, after my eldest son moved out, I gained the second bedroom as my painting/computer/stay out of her way room.  This meant the dining room was returned to the family.  Yes, my new room is smaller, but its much better for painting, is out of the way and stops any earache about using the dining table.  I still have stuff in the dining room, but its all in cupboards so I am allowed that.  I did manage to get a glass fronted display cabinet (cheap from a local 2nd hand store) so that some of my wargames collection would be on display, so here it is.

Top Shelf - 15mm WW2 

Italians, enough for a full platoon with supporting HMGs, 20mm AT rifles, 47mm AT guns, L6 light tanks and Semovente 47 SPAT.  I do need to add some Semovente 75s to give them a decent(ish) vehicle.  Peter Pig figures and Battlefront vehicles and guns.

15mm US Armour.  Plastic Soldier Company M5A1s, a Battlefront M10 and Forged in Battle M8 and M16, to support my US Infantry.  At least it makes a change from Shermans.

US Infantry and M3 halftracks.  Enough for two full platoons, but only enough halftracks for one of them.  The figures are a mixture of Peter Pig and Battlefront, while the halftracks are Plastic Soldier Company. 

2nd Shelf - 15mm AWI

British Army for Maurice or Washington's Army.  These you have seen before.

American Army for Maurice or Washington's Army, also seen before.

3rd Shelf - 15mm WW2

US Airborne and plenty of them.  Loads of Paras with BARs, LMGs, 50cal AA MGs and 57mm AT guns in support. 

British Armour, German Grenadiers and German Armour.  Battlefront Cromwells and Firefly, the Battlefront plastic Grenadier Platoon, which needs some support options, such as HMGs or Pak guns, to be added.  Then there is a motley collection of German vehicles with a Panther, two each of Marder III, Stug III and Hetzer and a single Sd10 with 2cm flak, supported by a 3.7cm flak gun.

German Fallschirmjagers.  Battlefront figures with additional support from 2cm flak guns.  I need HMGs and AT guns to add to these as well.

Bottom Shelf - 25mm Assortment

Assorted Lord of the Rings figures that I painted for my son.  There are more (lots more) in boxes upstairs, but here is a small assortment of some of the nicer figures.

25mm War of the Roses and Greek Hoplites.

The Perry WotR figures were painted for a Devon Wargames club game and have sat in the cabinet ever since.  Hopefully they will get added to and used at some point soon.  The Greeks are my first (and so far only) unit of Hoplites for the 25mm Persian army I have upstairs in its unpainted glory.  One day.........

Well, there it is.  I did take a picture of the cabinet but, for some reason, Blogger won't let me show it to you vertically only horizontally.  Ah well, at least you can see what is in it.  Now I am off to start these Napoleonic French infantry because I love them so, I really do. 

Maurice AWI Game refight

Yesterday Gus and Nathan had another go at the AWI game for Legionary.  The armies have been tweaked a bit again to try and make it a closer game.

The Americans are attacking with 12 infantry units (9 trained, 3 conscript), 2 cavalry (1 trained and 1 conscript) and 2 artillery.  They have Great Captain, Oblique and Clerics as national characteristics.

The British have 8 infantry (3 elite and 5 trained), 1 cavalry and 3 guns.  Their characteristics are Rally to the Colours, Cadence and oblique.  We dropped lethal volleys as the last game we played saw the British smash the Americans, changing it for cadence.

 The British deployed in a double line with all the elite infantry on their right and the cavalry and all the guns on the left.

 The Americans deployed the conscript infantry and both cavalry on their left, facing the elite British.  The right and centre had all the regular infantry in column to speed up the advance.

 Turn one saw the American infantry advance and swing around ready to form line facing the British.  The British infantry advanced to try to get into volley range, but came up short.

 Turn two and the American infantry turned to form line and advanced to within musket range.  The British initiated the first volley phase, but both sides were suddenly shrouded in dense smoke and the fire was fairly ineffectual. The infantry unit beside the town deployed as a garrison to secure the objective.

 Turn three saw the another volley phase, which was a bit more effective from both sides.  The concentrated fire of one of the British line units destroyed one of the American guns.  The American cavalry moved around the right flank.  Another volley phase saw more disruptions, then the British passed to gain more cards.

 Turn four and the remaining American gun was destroyed.  The US cavalry reformed on the flank of the British line, forming mass ready to charge.  As volley after volley thundered out along the line, the British light infantry tried to advance out of the cavalry charge arc, while the Grenadiers wheeled to try and face the charge.

Turn five and the volley phase saw a British elite unit rout, leaving a gap between the right flank and the remainder of the army.  The regular US cavalry charged into the rear of the light infantry, while the conscripts faced off against the Grenadiers.  The fight was a win for the cavalry, but not by enough to break the light infantry.  Another round of firing and one infantry unit from each side routed.  The British general made an attempt to salvage things, using a co-ordinated card to move the cavalry and rally his infantry.

 Turn six and the volleys routed another British line unit, while the cavalry charged again into the back of the light infantry, routing them as well.This spelt the end for the British as they were down to a solitary army point while the Americans still had eleven of their original sixteen.

 The post mortem of the battle means the British may well get lethal volleys back again, replacing cadence.  They were smashed in a very quick game, they didn't even get through the original deck of cards.  Losses were four British infantry and two notables killed against one American infantry and two guns.  Not a good day for the forces of the king!

Thanks to Nathan and Gus for playing it, allowing me to take notes and just see how things played.  One thing that did show up is that I need more trees!