The Annals of Linnius Chapter 12: The White Stag!!

Early Spring in the year of Our Lord 476AD. These are the chronicles of the kingdom of Linnius, recorded by myself, Publius Librarius, scribe to his Royal Majesty King Mascuidius.

“Heathen superstition, nothing more.” Bishop Augustine did snort  with derision at the council fires that night. His Royal Majesty King Mascuidius had called the council to order at the shortest notice following the reports of a shepherd boy that a great and mighty wonder has been seen in the kingdom – The Great White Stag of Stames Ford! Verily this creature was thought by many to be a myth, but here was the shepherd boy, eyes wide with wonder (or maybe with fear, what with him being dragged into the council chamber of the king!) swearing on the most holy of relics that his words were the truth.

“Heathen superstition…witchcraft! Brought upon us by the shamen of the heathen Saex no doubt! ‘Tis a demon sent to ensnare us!” The bishop’s voice did tremble with his anger (or maybe also his fear, as he did repeatedly make sign of the cross in his ranting!)

Anyway, his Royal Majesty would not be swayed, stating that the sight of the White Stag could only be a good omen and that it must be sought out. He who brings down the stag doth gain mightily in power and reputation, so the tales tell, and the King would wish that honour only onto himself. ‘Twas also most evident that he was concerned that the stag might fall to the Saex. This he was not prepared to allow.

And so it was that, for the first time in many years, his Royal Majesty did don the mail-shirt and buckle on the great sword of his ancestors and lead the warband out to the field. Lord Andrucius did remonsatre with him most mightily, stating that the Saex are abroad and the kingdom cannot risk the death of its king. Verily he did beg His Majesty to wear the Tribune’s own cloak, cuirass and helm, while he, Lord Andrucius would array himself in the arms of a nobleman. With some reluctance, His Majesty did agree.

Verily Our Lord must have been with us that day! The Great White Stag was sighted on the wold not many miles from where the shepherd had first spotted it. ‘Twas a most magnificent creature!! No demon could ever wear raiment of such beauty!! It did lead us a merry chase and the warband was most strung out along the wold, when the cry went up that Saex warriors had been spotted on the Eastern horizon!! At once, the order was sent out for the troops to converge, the stag almost forgotten in the heat of pre-battle nerves! Credit for this must go to the Tribune, for it was his order sent via the signal of the great red Chi-Ro banner that pulled the troops together just in time, as the Saex warlord’s hearthguard did appear in battle array on the slopes of the hill. Immediately, the shieldwall did form, with the diminutive decurio, Maximius Minimus bringing a small group of levy to the enemy flank and there the lines did halt, while archers and warriors from both sides did vie for being the first to bring the stag down. But it was not to be!! The stag did run far, fast and free, a solitary Saex arrow staining his magnificent hide red.

Howling in frustration, His Royal Majesty did order the charge and the Hearthguard and warriors did strike the Saex Hearthguard, smiting them with many blows but then, horror of horrors, the blow of a Saex spear did pierce the hauberk of the King!! His Royal Majesty did stagger back from the fray as a mighty blow from Lord Andrucius did smite his assailant. For a moment, the Briton line did waver as fear sent icy whispers through men’s hearts. However, at that very moment, the levy under Maxinus Minimus, reinforced with others of their bretheren, did crash into the Saex flank, breaking their battle array and smiting with spears that turned bloody red. The banner of the grey wolf did fall into the mud as the Saex did fall in droves!! Sensing utter defeat, the Saex Lord did pull his men from the bloodbath and withdrew the field. Our own men were themselves exhausted from their great endeavours and did not pursue.

However, across the wold, all had not gone well with Geraint and the remainder of the force. Caught by the Saex while pursuing the stag, they were handed bloody defeat and the decurio himself did receive a wound, the stag escaping the field while warriors from both sides did withdraw to lick their wounds!!!

A bloody day and a bloody stand off!! Truth to tell, there was no victor this day, though the felling of the Saex banner did no doubt prompt His Royal Majesty’s claim to victory – a somewhat hollow claim, when one considers the sight of the pitiful remnant of Geraint’s command stumbling back to the camp after the affray.

And the stag did escape! But it is still out there, somewhere. We shall find it yet!

The diminutive decurio Maximus Minimus did this day also receive the Garland of Bravery for his mighty assault on the Saex flank. This young man’s prestige doth grow daily!

This was the first play test of a new scenario written by Mike Whitaker for the upcoming Dux Compendium. It played really well, giving us a host of real 'head scratching' moments where tactical decisions were genuinely very hard to make. It needs a few tweaks, mostly to wording, the stag's random movement and to deployment rules (and the stag was maybe a tad hard to kill) but the core scenario works. The deployment (no formations allowed and groups coming on in random places), though fiddly, meant that we had to work really hard to get our forces into a situation where they could actually fight, which meant careful use of characters and ordering un-commanded troops at the end of each turn of cards. This  is what caused the tactical decisions... Definitely a keeper!!

Here are a few pics...

Hmmm...a bit outnumbered here... Luckily, two of the 3 Saex groups in the bigger formation broke away to chase the stag...

View from behind the Saex lines on the 'hill of doom'...

Aaarg...so near, but so far away!! The stag activated first and what you can't see is the mass of Saex threatening this formation at top left... 

Aahhh... Now you can see them! The stag, sensibly, is now heading for safety...

The Saex try to tempt the Britons to attack. They succeeded!!

Flank charge!!!! The levy pile in with a Carpe Diem card so this was a flank assault that slaughtered every last warrior in the nearest Saex group. Both hearth guard formations are in trouble here as all groups are heavily (in fact excess) shocked before the levy even started...

Kings of War

Well, last night I played my first game with the new edition of Kings of War. I used my Arthurians to create a Kingdoms of Men army. I played against a chap at the club who had Twilight Kin (dark) Elves, using a list that wasn't in the rulebook. Despite having a significant numerical advantage, I got my arse handed to me on a plate due to not really understanding how the army lists work, but it was good fun.

For those who haven't played, it's buckets of dice, elements based (units can be troops, regiments or hordes...some can even be legions) with each type having its own number of hit dice, wavering limit and rout limit, e.g. my shield wall foot can be a troop of 10, a regiment of 20 or a horde of 40. Base size is more important than number of models on it, so you can use fewer models and model a nice diorama on the base. There's no casualty removal either, which is different to most games I play.

The hardest thing to get used to is the fact that you only do anything in your own turn! In WFB, WAB, well...EVERYTHING else I play, you are interacting and doing stuff in both our own and your opponent's turn. This...well...it was odd! Odd in a good way though. I enjoyed it! It's fast and bloody and I suspect that it's an ideal tournament set, as there are definitely tricks in army design! I learned that hordes of nasty cavalry are cool and that fireballs are a pain in the ass!!!

Seriously though, it was fun! It won't become my most favourite game, but I'll certainly join in the club campaign and won't refuse a game if someone offers. It also gives me an excuse to buy the rather lovely war mammoth from West Wind to be my 'beast of war!'

One rather good thing is that, although Mantic do their own ranges of models and I guess will be expanding the army lists, pretty much any models will work! A Kingdoms of Men army could be made with anything from ancient Greeks to 15th century Swiss (albeit with wizards, and maybe the odd monster thrown in) so you can use anything! NO 'GW-esque' only use our models crap here!!!

Watch this space as I'll definitely play again and next time I may even be able to take some pics!! Last night I was too busy trying to remember rules and watching my arse being served on a plate to get the iPhone out!!!

The Annals of Linnius Chapter 11: Raid on the Wagon Train

"Early Spring in the year of Our Lord 476 AD. These are the chronicles of the kingdom of Linnius, recorded by myself, Publius Librarius, scribe to his Royal Majesty King Mascuidius.

For months now the land has been quiet. No sign has been seen of Saxon raiders coming from the North from the lands around our old Royal city. It seems strange to wake in strange halls, to walk unfamiliar streets and to sleep in halls that, fine as they are, in no way resemble home. But this is where we are, brought to this by the Saex raiders from north of the Humbre river.

Shortly after the last frosts of winter, spies in the old kingdom did report that the Saex lord’s men did grow restless. It is said that they did grow bored, fat and lazy, living off the fat of the land…OUR land stolen from us after the Great Defeat. Hearing this news, the Paefectus Andrucius did double the guards, increase the patrols and increase the training of the levy in preparation for the new campaign season.

It began sooner than we thought. The Praefectus did march his main force North towards the border, taking wagons full of supplies to the Decurio Maximius Minimus who did command the garrison of the newly constructed fort at Slea-Ford through the winter.

Marching through wooded and marshy terrain just south of the fort, the wagon train did fall victim to  dastardly ambush by the Saex! Fortunately, the Saex lord’s men were not under good control and did spring the ambush early, thus allowing the Praefectus to deploy the shieldwall in defence of the wagons while the diminutive decurio could be seen bringing levy from the fort to his aid.

The fight was fierce and in the balance for some time. The Saex hearthguard did resort to their goading, thus allowing their companions to shatter the shieldwall and drive the milites back into the woods. The decurio Geraint did attempt to bring the levy to their aid but was caught by a Saex charge and driven back with the milites into the woods. This did result in two wagons being lost to enemy, although the Praefectus did soon regain control of his men, forcing the Saex back, shattering a group of the enemy hearthguard whose volleys of javelins did simply bounce ineffectually from the shieldwall.

Maximus Minimus did undertake sterling work with the levy and did prevent the remaining Saex warriors from cutting the remaining wagon off from the fort. The levy under the diminutive decurio did earn much accolade in this fight for their shieldwall did hold firm under the heathen assault!

Eventually, the Saex lord did withdraw from the field, leaving two of the wagons still in the Praefectus’ possession. While the Praefectus will no doubt mourn the loss of the food and the handful of spears within that one wagon, its loss will not greatly disadvantage the kingdom. The Saex did lose more men in this fight, largely due to the shieldwalls holding firm and this is more important to the kingdom."

This was the first time that Mike and I had played Dux Britanniarum since late 2012!! We felt it was time to resurrect the campaign and this game was the result. We made very few mistakes despite feeling very uncertain of the rules! In the event, the game was tense and very enjoyable, although Mike did consistently roll below average dice, whereas mine tended to average out. Of particular cringeworthyness was the 12 dice rolled for 'strong arm' javelin attack which caused no hits at all!!  Also, my shield walls were particularly effective in this game, especially the levy under Maximus Minimus near the fort!

Here are some pictures.....

The wagon train outpaces its escort...

The Saex spring the ambush...

Maximus Minimus leads the levy from the fort...

Shieldwall formed, awaiting the onslaught. The wagons trundle onward , now moving at snail's pace!!

View of the shield wall from behind the Saex hearth guard...

Saex attack!!! Dead milites...not good...

Geraint's levy get caught napping...

Wider view of the combat...

After the combats. Half the Saex hearth guard are gone, but there's big hole in the line...

Maximus Minimus' levy about to show the Saex how it's done...

That wagon is our's!!!

2015 Review

2015 was quite a productive wargaming year at Guitarheroandy Towers...

I finally got myself into War and Conquest, to the point of actually writing sone Arthurian era Army Organisation Lists and even helped to organise a gaming day at the club, which was well attended and enjoyed by all who came. Great set of rules, WAC. I must play more of it. It has supplanted WAB in my affections for sure and is my 'go-to' Ancient/Dark Ages rules et now. I also owe Rob Broom a few more lists as well, so that's on the agenda for 2016.

I was also really proud to be asked by Dan Mersey to join the play testing group for 'The Men Who Would Be Kings, his upcoming Colonial rules. This proved to be one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences I have ever had as the experience of play testing was both interesting and very rewarding. Also, the fact that the rules are bloody great really helped, of course!! Thanks must also go to my fellow club members who helped out, especially Andy MacTaggart who has shared many games with me during and after the play test period

Linked to that was the inaugural Hereward Wargame Show, where Andy and I put on a 'The Men Who Would Be Kings' demo/participation game. - the first 'official' outing of the rules at a UK show!!! This was such a great fun endeavour! While I had previously been involved in demo games with James Morris at a couple of shows, this was my first one taking a lead and it seemed to be a great success! There was something of a mammoth painting drive from Andy and myself to get the forces ready - incidentally, almost all of my NW Frontier forces were painted in the past 18 months - quite an undertaking!! Anyway, all who played on the day had a good time and most seemed to love the rules. Andy and I are already talking about ideas for a similar kind of thing at next year's show.

Then there was Lion Rampant and Dragon Rampant - I have really enjoyed playing with these rules, especially using Lion Rampant for Arthurian gaming. I intend to use Dragon Rampant for a few Arthurian games in 2016 too!

On the painting front, lots of Colonials, and a few Fantasy models was pretty much the sum total of my efforts and it'll continue in a similar vein in 2016.

Thanks to all who read and  comment on my occasional posts... I do hope to blogs  little more frequently in 2016, real life permitting!!

Season's Greetings!!!

Just a quick post to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

In 2016 I will be playing much Dragon Rampant (finishing my High Elf war band at the moment and about to get stuck back into my Wood Elves plus my Mythical Greek and Egyptian Undead war bands.) I will also be playing more The Men Who Would Be Kings, plus rebooting the stalled Dux Britaniarum campaign with Mike 'Trouble at t' Mill" Whitaker. Add to that more War & Conquest (watch for news of another all dayer for that at Peterborough Wargames Club) and putting on another demo/participation game at the second Hereward wargame show, plus writing more W&C army lists and doing an article for Wargames Illustrated magazine and I'll be a very busy wargamer in 2016!!!

I do hope that you'll join me on my journey through my various projects in 2016 as I hope to blog more of it next year than I have in 2015, all being well!

Whatever you are doing over the festive season, enjoy yourselves...

British Fort for the NW Frontier

I picked up a superb little model fort from Colonel Bill's at the Hereward Wargame Show! I'd been looking for one for a while, kinda a bit like these...only smaller, obviously.

Luckily, Colonel Bill had one of the Unfeasibly French Foreign Legion desert forts left when I took a break from my demo game at the show and it was PERFECT for the job!!

Anyway, I've painted it up and aim to use it tomorrow in a TMWWBK participation game at the club.

Here's a few pics of the finished model, defended by The Guides Infantry...

The Men Who Would Be Kings at Peterborough's Hereward Wargame Show

Please forgive the lateness of this post - it's been a fortnight since the show!!

Here are some pictures from the demo/participation game that Andy MacTaggart and I put on at the first ever Hereward Wargame Show in Peterborough on 1st November.

The scenario involved a standard 24pt field force of British infantry having just burned a rebellious Jalfrezi Pathan tribal village (sorry...very carry On Up The Khyber, I know!!), withdrawing back to their camp while being assailed by a 24pt Pathan force, supported by about 20 pts of reinforcements that entered the table in random places. To help the British, a 20pt relief force left the camp as soon as firing broke out or the 'hills came alive' with tribesmen. We played the game twice on the day with one British and one Pathan victory.

We took great care over the table set up, using new gaming mats from Deep Cut Studios, as sold by Bigredbat Simon Miller in his online store. We were very pleased with both the layout and the scenario and most of the players who joined us on the day were full of praise for the rules and indeed seemed to thoroughly enjoy the games.

Anyway, on to the pictures...

Am just putting some paint on a lovely desert fort I bought at the show for my NW Frontier games. It's meant to be a French Foreign Legion fort, but it'll be great for my games! After that, it's more painting for Dragon Rampant...