Hot lead on Sunday 12th July was, as always, great fun!
Round 1 was against Andy Cummings' Welsh. I had 1000pts against his 1500 and was attacking and trying to 'despoil' an abbey! He deployed a character and his Teulu leader in the abbey as per the scenario. I decided that the only course of action was to get my Teulu into the abbey as fast as possible, killing both defenders in the process. Once in, I had to be 'unmolested' for 2 turns to score 500 bonus points. It was a very close game! Andy killed or panicked all my army except the Teulu, but I kept the abbey and enough of his troops were running or dead at the end to give me a small victory. I was pleased with that! A good start and Andy is a great guy to play against.
Round 2. I was assaulting a defended river with 1500pts of Welsh against Paul Rebel, a Dutch gamer with 1000pts of Kingdom of the Isles Vikings. Paul is a really nice guy and the game was ok, but his army was the nastiest I have ever played!! At 1000pts he had frenzied hirdmen + berserker (with about 46 attacks each!) a unit of bondi led by a f***ing Godi (!!!) So, sh*t troops become unbreakable...great!!! And a unit of Gestir, plus a unit of thralls. You can guess what happened. I didn't know about the Godi so got embroiled there, the Gestir ate the Teulu for breakfast, chasing them down and killing the Welsh Rex. The Hirdmen never even fought! I did manage to get 2 units over the (very difficult terrain) river and score points and I even slaughtered the Gestir with combrogi (!!!!!????? Paul's dice failed him on that combat!!) but I got thrashed!! By Paul's admission, his army was 'a bit cheesy' and I have to say that it was a tad out of place in such an event. Paul came joint first, which doesn't surprise me, as, if his force that hard at 1000pts, what would the full 1500pts have been like? Please note: I'm not critcising him. Everyone is entitled to take what army they like, but I did feel that I was 'out-armied' rather than 'outplayed' and the fact that I even got 2 units over says a lot!! So, despite a trouncing, I was rather pleased at the outcome of round 2 considering what I was facing!!!
Round 3: This was 1000pts of Welsh against 1500pts of Shieldwall Flanders in the 'Sacred Shrine' scenario I played in last year's Hot Lead. However, unlike last time, this time I got trashed!! The combination of charging heavy armored milites plus armoured infantry led by the dux slaughtered my shrine guardians to a man. My teulu managed to kill a unit of spearmen and panic the light horse, but it wasn't pretty. My opponent was another Dutchman called Frank. He was a great opponent too and it was very encouraging to fight an army of Normans that actually wasn't Normans - no ferocious charge - but they didn't need it anyway!!! Dead Welshmen everywhere!!!!
So, three games played: one minor win and 2 defeats...hmmm...last place beckoning again..
Round 4: 1500pts of Welsh against 1000pts of Almoravids. They were arrayed in 2 giant units of spear/bow in a camp, with 10 berber horse prowling outside. I had to get my army standard into the camp to gain 400pts, with each additional standard counting 100pts if inside. Sadly, the camp was fortified, so all my attacks would need 6s to hit!!!
This time my opponent was again a Dutchman called Kees. He was the nicest opponent of 4 very nice chaps (which says a lot actually, as all my opponents were really splendid chaps!) and it was one of the most tense but most enjoyable games I've ever played. It went to the last throw of the leadership dice in his last turn before my Teulu finally broke in. He had destroyed 2 of my units and the remainder were all down to around 25% of starting strength, having repeatedly charged and been beaten back from the barricades. His poor use of light cavalry was his undoing, though, as he foolishly left them open to a charge only 3 inches from the table edge - feigned flight from THAT one and stay on the table :-)
To be fair, Kees threw several outrageous successful break tests and I threw a succession of above-average lots of 6s to hit throughout the game and he was in some ways unlucky to see it all fall apart on the last turn. I was unlucky in that a few failed warband tests saw me having to charge his general's unit from the front when I was actually doing a far better job of fighting to its flank only... So overall it all balanced out and I ended up with a win.
So, 2 wins, 2 defeats. I ended up about 3/4 way down the league table, which is decent for me. And as we all know, these events are not about winning, but rather are about enjoying a good game and I certainly did that on Sunday.
No pics this time, as I was too busy gaming to take photos. Darrell won the 'fave army' award - he was tied for first place with me and Martin wisely awarded him the prize. I've already won that far too many times and anyway, Darrell's Byzantine army does look rather magnificent!!!
I'll be back for Cold Steel in January...which army shall I take? Is it time to move away from Age of Arthur and try something else? Maybe...we'll have to wait and see.....
Showing posts with label Hot Lead. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hot Lead. Show all posts
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Welsh Army for Hot Lead
Here are the latest photos of my Age of Arthur Welsh for Hot Lead. Some of the models you've seen before, but have had a shield repaint, using animals, spirals and Christian crosses to replace the very Romano-Brit designs I originally gave them (don't worry, I still have enough Romano Brit type infantry to field 3 units!!). The Teulu have been completed after I started them for my Bretwalda warband, so there are now 22 of those. I've also painted new banner bearers and a new muso for the foot combrogi.
I'm really pleased with the very 'Celtic' look of this army via the banners (I am REALLY pleased with the Teulu's raven banner...) and shield designs. The next stage (after finishing my El Cid army) is to paint a new mounted Teulu and mounted combrogi unit and some additional foot combrogi and skirmishers...lots to keep me busy!! I'll also do a 'painting spirals' tutorial for those who like that sort of thing, when I get a mo... It's easier than it looks, trust me!!!
Here's the 1500pt army....left to right:
15 combrogi; 20 Saxon allies led by a Thegn (my 'Franks' from the Cold Steel Romano Brit army!); 22 Teulu led by the Rex and ASB; 22 combrogi led by an Uchelwyr; 9 mtd combrogi. On the hill behind, 2 units of pagenses (and Scheltrum Miniatures' Arthurian fort!!)
Welsh characters...
Teulu...
Combrogi...
Thursday, 24 July 2008
Hot Lead...The Run-Down
It's a long, long way to sunny Evesham (two hours plus drive) so we had to set off at 6.30am on Sunday... My wife reckoned it's all good practice for the lack of sleep I'll get when the nipper arrives...whatever!!!
Anyway, myself and my friend Carl (with his nasty Normans in tow) arrived at Beast HQ at 8.30 to be greeted by a far too sprightly James Morris, as well as various members of Da Beast's team...
After coffee and croissants had woken us all up, we kicked into game 1; Disaster at the Lake. This was a 1500pts v 1000pts special with a twist. The bigger army in march column along a lakeside road, amubushed in fog by a smaller army (yup...it's lake Trasimene, really...) Trouble is, visibility is limited to 2" and every time an ambushing unit wants to move it gravitates 45 degrees left ona D6 roll of 1 or 2; right on a 4 or 6.
I was playing against Nick Buchanan and his Age of Arthur Picts (superb historical match up...the king of the Northern Welsh taking on the Picts near Hadrian's wall...marvellous!) and I was ambushing. He put his nobles with all the nasty characters at the front of the column (the object is to get as much off the short table edge as possible) and in my deployment map, the Welsh Teulu were lined up against them. This wasn't good cos at 1000pts I couldn't afford a Rex and every character in that front unit would eat my Tiern army General for breakfast... So, don't roll a 1 or a 2 for the Teulu Andy....Oh Bugger!!!!! That's be a 2 then... Yup, The Teulu crashed into the stubborn (yikes! Didn't realise THAT!) Picts whose General issued a challenge. I refused, and STILL won the combat but stubborn kept the Picts there... That combat then dragged on for several turns until I was pretty much forced to accept the challenge and fight the Pict chieftain...with predictable results..one dead General and one fleeing Teulu, down to 4 men so couldn't rally... Shame, cos I'd utterly destroyed most of the rest of the Pict army with one foot combrogi unit and one mounted combrogi unit!!! So, defeat in game 1, but a fabulous see-saw game and Nick is a top opponent who I would happily choose to play any time at all.
Game two: The River Crossing: 1500pts v 1500pts , the 'capture the ford and bridge' thing from 'Arthur'. I've played this dozens of times, but never against bloody Normans!!! My opponent, Scrivs from the WAB forum, had deployed a mass of milite units, most heavily armoured and each led with a comes and I knew I was bolloxed from the start! So I played a game of cat and mouse. Predictably, when his troops caught me, it was a mess. On his first charge, I lost 9 men in one unit!!!! One comes left a unit and single-handedly destroyed a unit of mtd combrogi by killing 2 or 3 each turn, making them FBIGO then pursuing and doing it again... My one moment of glory came when he charged my Teulu with 8 light armoured milites. The Teulu lobbed javelins, killed 2 and in the ensuing panic test the Normans skeeddaddled!!! Fabulous result!! By this time, I'd got the Teulu, one unit of foot combrogi and one of mtd combrogi over the river, out of harm's way and claiming the bridge, but I'd lost the ford. So I lost, but only by about 150 pts, so I was pleased. From what I thought was a total no-win destructo-fest, I'd managed a close-run defeat... Scrivs was another top class opponent and if he picks an army other than nasty Normans, I'd play him again any time too!!!
So, 2 games down and 2 defeats...not looking too good!!! So, to game 3: The Miraculous Shrine. In this game, my 1000pts force was facing 1500pts of early Saxons from Arthur. Great! This is my sort of game! I deployed my shrine behind a small wood and chose 24 combrogi as 'guardians'. They have hatred and have to stay within 6" of the shrine, moving back if lured away by warband, etc... Any unit of mine fleeing within 6" of the shrine rallies immediately.
This game was against a chap called Adam Holmes and was even more fun than the game against Nick! Adam's army had a sh*t-hot nasty unit of Gedriht including a priest who made them 'fierce', 2 units of Geoguth and one of Duguth, plus assorted crap skirmishers and a single unit of 5 mounted Geoguth deployed on his right flank. He deployed bang in the centre with the aim of coming round the wood and overwhelming the guardians by sheer weight of numbers. However, the Welsh had other ideas!! I deployed the Teulu to the left and the mounted combrogi to the right. In my first turn, I charged the mtd Geoguth with the Teulu and killed them all. I wiped out the skirmishers with the mounted combrobi and then the fun began. My entire strategy was to use the mtd combrogi to draw the fierce Gedriht and Geoguth out of their attack, while the Teulu took what units they could to pieces. It worked like a charm! In the event, 2 units of Geoguth eventually charged the guardians of the shrine, but hatred and unmodified Ld 10 kept them there until the Teulu arrived to hit the Saxons in the flank....that was pretty! Lots of very poorly Saxons!!! The fearsome Gedriht never got a look in, being shot to pieces and led a merry dance by the mounted combrogi - it did help that they failed 3 'fierce tests' though. I was very pleased with the way I played this game and for the first time in a while, I completely out-played and out-thought an opponent. Adam tried very hard, but I beat him good and proper, winning by a very substantial amount of points, although if you'd have popped by the table at any point, it looked (and was) a fierce contest. One of the best games of WAB I've ever had, actually...and I'd happily play Adam again as well. He took his punishment very well and seemed to enjoy the game as much as I did.
So to game 4: Against Bill Smith and his Shieldwall Scots! This time we played 'Ambush' from Age of Arthur and I was strung out in column facing the Scots. Like all Shieldwall armies, the Scots have HIDEOUS characters and it was pretty clear from the army list that if I fought and got bogged down, I'd be in trouble, and, seeing as the object was to get off table, I decided not to fight, but spent all game dancing light cavalry around the Scot units. I think Bill found it very frustrating and I can't say I blame him! He wanted to fight anmd I wouldn't let him!! Again, he used the tactic of charging a Mormaer out at some infantry and slaughtered 3, forcing an FBIGO test that took them off table, so in the event, My characters and cavalry got off (which was my big points) , but the foot didn't. So I won, but not by a colossal margin. It wasn't quite as satisfactory, because I don't think Bill enjoyed it as much as I did..so apologies to the good fellow if that was the case!!
I was pleased with the way my cavalry tactics are evolving, though, as in all games where light cavalry came into their own, I played them very well.
So, two wins and two defeats against 4 great players. A fabulous day's gaming once again.
A mention must be made of the winner of 'best painted army'. Bob Lorton fielded BTGG Ostrogoths and what a fantastic army! The mounted comitatus were unbelievable! I know that Nick Buchanan (my first opponent) is doing a write up for Wargames Illustrated and I hope that a pic of Bob's army makes the cut, cos it was STAGGERING!!!
Da Beast are trying to ensure that Cold Steel in January is an Arthur only event, which I will make every effort to get to, as it was the slight imbalance of the BTGG and Shieldwall armies vs the Arthur ones that might have caused some individuals a problem (it certainly made my 2nd game very tricky...)
Anyway, myself and my friend Carl (with his nasty Normans in tow) arrived at Beast HQ at 8.30 to be greeted by a far too sprightly James Morris, as well as various members of Da Beast's team...
After coffee and croissants had woken us all up, we kicked into game 1; Disaster at the Lake. This was a 1500pts v 1000pts special with a twist. The bigger army in march column along a lakeside road, amubushed in fog by a smaller army (yup...it's lake Trasimene, really...) Trouble is, visibility is limited to 2" and every time an ambushing unit wants to move it gravitates 45 degrees left ona D6 roll of 1 or 2; right on a 4 or 6.
I was playing against Nick Buchanan and his Age of Arthur Picts (superb historical match up...the king of the Northern Welsh taking on the Picts near Hadrian's wall...marvellous!) and I was ambushing. He put his nobles with all the nasty characters at the front of the column (the object is to get as much off the short table edge as possible) and in my deployment map, the Welsh Teulu were lined up against them. This wasn't good cos at 1000pts I couldn't afford a Rex and every character in that front unit would eat my Tiern army General for breakfast... So, don't roll a 1 or a 2 for the Teulu Andy....Oh Bugger!!!!! That's be a 2 then... Yup, The Teulu crashed into the stubborn (yikes! Didn't realise THAT!) Picts whose General issued a challenge. I refused, and STILL won the combat but stubborn kept the Picts there... That combat then dragged on for several turns until I was pretty much forced to accept the challenge and fight the Pict chieftain...with predictable results..one dead General and one fleeing Teulu, down to 4 men so couldn't rally... Shame, cos I'd utterly destroyed most of the rest of the Pict army with one foot combrogi unit and one mounted combrogi unit!!! So, defeat in game 1, but a fabulous see-saw game and Nick is a top opponent who I would happily choose to play any time at all.
Game two: The River Crossing: 1500pts v 1500pts , the 'capture the ford and bridge' thing from 'Arthur'. I've played this dozens of times, but never against bloody Normans!!! My opponent, Scrivs from the WAB forum, had deployed a mass of milite units, most heavily armoured and each led with a comes and I knew I was bolloxed from the start! So I played a game of cat and mouse. Predictably, when his troops caught me, it was a mess. On his first charge, I lost 9 men in one unit!!!! One comes left a unit and single-handedly destroyed a unit of mtd combrogi by killing 2 or 3 each turn, making them FBIGO then pursuing and doing it again... My one moment of glory came when he charged my Teulu with 8 light armoured milites. The Teulu lobbed javelins, killed 2 and in the ensuing panic test the Normans skeeddaddled!!! Fabulous result!! By this time, I'd got the Teulu, one unit of foot combrogi and one of mtd combrogi over the river, out of harm's way and claiming the bridge, but I'd lost the ford. So I lost, but only by about 150 pts, so I was pleased. From what I thought was a total no-win destructo-fest, I'd managed a close-run defeat... Scrivs was another top class opponent and if he picks an army other than nasty Normans, I'd play him again any time too!!!
So, 2 games down and 2 defeats...not looking too good!!! So, to game 3: The Miraculous Shrine. In this game, my 1000pts force was facing 1500pts of early Saxons from Arthur. Great! This is my sort of game! I deployed my shrine behind a small wood and chose 24 combrogi as 'guardians'. They have hatred and have to stay within 6" of the shrine, moving back if lured away by warband, etc... Any unit of mine fleeing within 6" of the shrine rallies immediately.
This game was against a chap called Adam Holmes and was even more fun than the game against Nick! Adam's army had a sh*t-hot nasty unit of Gedriht including a priest who made them 'fierce', 2 units of Geoguth and one of Duguth, plus assorted crap skirmishers and a single unit of 5 mounted Geoguth deployed on his right flank. He deployed bang in the centre with the aim of coming round the wood and overwhelming the guardians by sheer weight of numbers. However, the Welsh had other ideas!! I deployed the Teulu to the left and the mounted combrogi to the right. In my first turn, I charged the mtd Geoguth with the Teulu and killed them all. I wiped out the skirmishers with the mounted combrobi and then the fun began. My entire strategy was to use the mtd combrogi to draw the fierce Gedriht and Geoguth out of their attack, while the Teulu took what units they could to pieces. It worked like a charm! In the event, 2 units of Geoguth eventually charged the guardians of the shrine, but hatred and unmodified Ld 10 kept them there until the Teulu arrived to hit the Saxons in the flank....that was pretty! Lots of very poorly Saxons!!! The fearsome Gedriht never got a look in, being shot to pieces and led a merry dance by the mounted combrogi - it did help that they failed 3 'fierce tests' though. I was very pleased with the way I played this game and for the first time in a while, I completely out-played and out-thought an opponent. Adam tried very hard, but I beat him good and proper, winning by a very substantial amount of points, although if you'd have popped by the table at any point, it looked (and was) a fierce contest. One of the best games of WAB I've ever had, actually...and I'd happily play Adam again as well. He took his punishment very well and seemed to enjoy the game as much as I did.
So to game 4: Against Bill Smith and his Shieldwall Scots! This time we played 'Ambush' from Age of Arthur and I was strung out in column facing the Scots. Like all Shieldwall armies, the Scots have HIDEOUS characters and it was pretty clear from the army list that if I fought and got bogged down, I'd be in trouble, and, seeing as the object was to get off table, I decided not to fight, but spent all game dancing light cavalry around the Scot units. I think Bill found it very frustrating and I can't say I blame him! He wanted to fight anmd I wouldn't let him!! Again, he used the tactic of charging a Mormaer out at some infantry and slaughtered 3, forcing an FBIGO test that took them off table, so in the event, My characters and cavalry got off (which was my big points) , but the foot didn't. So I won, but not by a colossal margin. It wasn't quite as satisfactory, because I don't think Bill enjoyed it as much as I did..so apologies to the good fellow if that was the case!!
I was pleased with the way my cavalry tactics are evolving, though, as in all games where light cavalry came into their own, I played them very well.
So, two wins and two defeats against 4 great players. A fabulous day's gaming once again.
A mention must be made of the winner of 'best painted army'. Bob Lorton fielded BTGG Ostrogoths and what a fantastic army! The mounted comitatus were unbelievable! I know that Nick Buchanan (my first opponent) is doing a write up for Wargames Illustrated and I hope that a pic of Bob's army makes the cut, cos it was STAGGERING!!!
Da Beast are trying to ensure that Cold Steel in January is an Arthur only event, which I will make every effort to get to, as it was the slight imbalance of the BTGG and Shieldwall armies vs the Arthur ones that might have caused some individuals a problem (it certainly made my 2nd game very tricky...)
Sunday, 20 July 2008
Huzzah!! Hot Lead!!!!
Just got back from 'Hot Lead' and you'll all be pleased to hear that the Sword in the Stone vignette won the prize for 'best shrine'.
Bloomin' marvellous!!!!! Nice Gripping Beast plaque was the prize there.
Then I won a lovely little pre-painted dark age hovel in the charity dice-off. It was worth 15 quid...I spent a tenner on dice...so got a spiffing little hut for bugger all!!! Result!!
Also managed two good wins and two defeats with the Northern Welsh, so am well chuffed!
More detailed report to come tomorrow cos I'm too bloody knackered to write one now!!!
Bloomin' marvellous!!!!! Nice Gripping Beast plaque was the prize there.
Then I won a lovely little pre-painted dark age hovel in the charity dice-off. It was worth 15 quid...I spent a tenner on dice...so got a spiffing little hut for bugger all!!! Result!!
Also managed two good wins and two defeats with the Northern Welsh, so am well chuffed!
More detailed report to come tomorrow cos I'm too bloody knackered to write one now!!!
Sunday, 13 July 2008
Yup...Still alive...still here...still painting.....
Cor, doesn't time fly when you are up to eyes with work, pregnant wife, nursery decorating, work, organising stuff for the wargames club, work, visiting family, work, more work, going to a couple of concerts, work, giving a mate guitar lessons, recording some songs with your mates on your fabulous new home recording studio, work..oh...and a bit of painting...oh and did I mention work???
Anyway, yes, I am still painting, much, I'm sure, to Tony's delight (you remember, that patient man who I promised to paint some saxons for?) Anyway, the second unit of Saxon Gedriht is well under way, although I can't seem to get in a good stint at them.
When I paint, I like to have a period of a month where I can do an hour a day, pretty much every day. That's when I build up a head of steam and actually crank through stuff at a decent rate. Sadly, I haven't really managed to do that since about February, so my many projects have all suffered horribly.
Anyway, the one thing I did manage to complete last week was this...did it in two evenings one weekend...mega quick time for me!
It's a 'Sacred Shrine' vignette for Gripping Beast's Hot Lead event next weekend. Basically, it's one of Martin Gibbins' cunning little WAB scenarios where a 1000pt army gets to try and take on 1500pts worth in a totally unfair scenario...it sounds awful if you are one of the '2000pts, pitched battle tourney' types, but I love it! Really makes you think.... Anyway, for this scenario, 'Da Beast' are providing shrines, but have given the option for players to model their own themed shrine to take along. Apparently there's a 'best shrine' competition too!!
As I'm taking my now almost customary Age of Arthur Northern Welsh (Kingdom of Rheged) army, I thought that I'd do some sort of 'sword in the stone' vignette set on a barren, heather strewn rocky outcrop somehere near Hadrian's wall', and here's the result!
Rocks courtesy of my neighbour's garden, heavily drybrushed with Foundry Granite. Sword by 'Da Beast' simply stuck into a hole I drilled into the rock....Merlin, courtesy of West Wind; heather courtesy of the big pack of clump foliage by I can't-remember-who that's in my 'stuff' box, with heather flowers dotted on with Foundry Winestain red light...
Enjoy!!
Saxons coming early August once I've taken a day or two off work to complete the little blighters!!!!
Monday, 23 July 2007
A Grand Day Out....
Well, despite the almighty deluge that descended on Evesham at the weekend, and police warnings that no-one should attempt to visit said town, myself, Carl and Grahame made the bold decision to ignore all of that, brave the steadily advancing flood waters and head off to Hot Lead.
'Twas a decision both boldly executed and extremely well made, as:
a) the flood water was nowhere near the venue
b) although it was VERY close to the A46, it never actually blocked it (despite a supposed tidal surge at 2pm Sunday afternoon...squelch!)
c) it was a bloody STONKIN' day!!!!
Yes, following on from the excellence that was the 'Struggle for the North' day in Newark, this Hot Lead bash was magnificence personified. A hearty "HUZZAH!!!" to the chaps at 'The Beast' for organising the day and a further several "HUZZAHs" to my opponents, Ed, Karl, Guy and Bob (especially Bob...) for four of the best games of WAB I've ever had!!!!
The event also gave me the opportunity to meet the mighty Bill from Musketeer minis (Hi Bill...great meeting you at last!) as well as seeing once again a few faces from the Newark bash and other events I've been to in the past (Hi Warren, Jim, Andy, Steve, James, etc...) The other undoubted highlight of the day was being able to hob-nob with The Beast's Royal Family, Lord S even being so kind as to allow me a sneak preview of some of Soapy's new Saxons. Now, listen up folks, cos this is massive....we all know that the Soapster can sculpt a bloody good mini, but he's really gone and excelled himself this time....Rumour has it that he's been chatting to Guy 'I know everything there is possibly to know about the early Dark Ages...EVER' Halsall and as a result, he has produced THE most historically accurate, not to mention vibrantly posed little barbarian buggers EVER!!!! What with Musketeer Bill's models and these upcoming Beastie ones, Saxon players are going to be in little toy soldier heaven. Even I , notorious Saxon-hater that I am, will be hard pushed to resist buying several packs of these little beauties when they eventually see the light of day...Superb. Mr Soaps, we salute you, sir!!!
Anyway, enough of this...what you all want to know is, 'did Andy get his ass kicked again?' And the answer is a resounding 'NO HE DID NOT!' Out of my 4 games, I lost the first to Mr Ed 'quiet man' Mc Donald...we played the river crossing scenario. He had a Vortigern Romano British Civitates army and I decided that, despite being the 'defender', I was going to attack!! Not the smartest decision I ever made, as the river had clearly been swollen by the overnight rain over Evesham (It was several inches wider than any wargame river I normally use!) and my attack stalled!!!! Despite this, it was a great fun game. You can't have anything else when playing Ed...a gentleman and jolly nice chap all round...even reminded me that I could FBIGO when I forgot to do so.... Anyway, I lost by around 600pts, so a 'close run defeat' in Age of Arthur terms, but as Martin 'The Organiser' was running some bizarre (but very clever) scoring system, none of us had a clue what such a result actually meant!!!
Onto game 2! The 'Ambush (Roman Rd)' scenario. This is one I've talked about before on this 'ere blog and luckily, I drew the long straw and was the attacker. This is the game where you have to start in march column and get everyone off-table.. My opponent was a chap called Karl, quite new to WAB and using an Armies of Antiquity 'Cataphract' army. So, opposing me were two COLOSSAL units of horse archers (BS4, Parthian shot, fire & flee...groan) and the biggest unit of cataphracts (16 of the buggers!) that I've ever seen!!! Still, thanks to a dodgy 'fire and flee decision' ( the 15 man unit of horse archers fired and then fled off the table!!) that army was reduced to just 2 units in turn 2 and I strolled off table with everyone except the mounted combrogi who died under a hail of arrows. Result: a 1500pt victory to me...massive victory, but, again, with the 'secret scoring system', who knows what that signified??!!
Game 3: 'Surprise Return'. This is the 'loot the village' scenario and I was attacking with 1000pts. Now, I've changed my army considerably since first trying this and decided to go cavalry heavy, so a Teulu and 2 mtd combrogi units, 2 lots of skirmishy foot and 1 heavy infantry unit. I was playing this against Guy Bowers and his Fatimid Arab army. What saved me in this battle was that Guy didn't bring his army on until turn 4, so I got 4 turns of looting in virtually unopposed (ok, the bloody peasant defenders held out for a turn...) Having gained over 600pts by looting alone, my strategy when the Fatimid hordes approached was simple. Don't fight and don't die!! To that end, I used one mtd combrogi unit to tie up 2 units of Arab horse and 1 unit of Arab foot while the rest of my army danced away.. To be fair, Guy did destroy my skirmishers (with bloody nafatun...ugh...'orrible little blighters, them!!) but the overall result was an almost 600pt victory for me..a minor victory, but a win's a win!!!
So far, it was all going too well...a close-run defeat, a major win and a minor win...surely it would all go pear shaped in game 4??? Not so, my pretties...not so!!!!!
Game 4: Against a chap called Bob. Now, Bob is new to WAB and was playing with a rather nice little army of El Cid Spanish. This was the 'Hereditary Enemies' scenario where 2 random units hate the enemy. I ended up with 2 units of foot combrogi hating him and his king's knights (oh dear!!) and a unit of guard infantry (oh dear again!) hating me.
Now, I have to say this at this point. I've been playing WAB since it started, but this was without any doubt at all the most fun game I've ever had when wargaming! The battle was opened by Bob's jinetes charging my mtd combrogi, who fled and then failed a rally test, exposing my flank. Luckily, the Teulu stepped in and sent the Jinetes packing, chasing them down and slaughtering them when they opted to fire and flee. Luckily, my mtd combrogi rallied and returned to the fray to tie up his guard infantry rather nicely for the rest of the game. In the centre, Bob advanced into a veritable hail of sling stones that finally knocked over three of the king's knights, meaning that once the massed cavalry assault hit my combrogi, the king's unit was short on numbers and I could FBIGO from the ferocious charge. In the next rounds of combat, the Spanish king found himself in a tit-for-tat hatred contest that lasted the rest of the game, the rest of the caballeros villanos on either flank wilting under the hail of combrogi attacks and defeated by the rank bonuses. The game was decided when my Rex and his Teulu, having broken into skirmish formation, slammed into the King's Caballeros Hidalgos' rear and the Rex challenged the Spanish king to single combat. It was a tense moment...the Rex slammed home two wounding attacks, to be wounded once in reply...the very air crackling with the whirl of their sword blades...(err...sorry..got carried away there for a mo!!) Anyway, in the next turn (the Hidalgos survived the devastating Teulu attack due to 'hatred'...well actually that's a fib..the battle standard bearer was the only one still alive supporting his king at that point) the Rex slammed home with three 6s on his 'to hit' dice and caused two wounds...the Rey's armour deflected the first, but he died under the second. The surviving Spaniards (with the exception of the guard infantry) all failed their panic test, the army standard bearer was slaughtered by the British Teulu and it was all over. What a game! Bob and I had a blast throughout, as there were several cases of either dodgy or magnificent dice rolling for both of us, several combats swung hither and thither... In the end I won by a massive 1300pts, but that wasn't a true reflection on how close it had come. Without 'hatred' I'd have been stuffed, as the Spanish would have overwhelmed my centre... Bob, I hope you get to read this mate. I'd happily play WAB with you anytime...buy yourself an army from Age of Arthur...you know you want to!!!!
So, that was the gaming over. Three wins (two real big ones too!) out of four games and all great fun to play. After the charity dice-off, I was delighted to win a large ornamental boar as the prize for 'best painted army' (James Morris also won this category...esteemed company I'm in there...James' vignettes and overall army painting skills are second-to-none!) and overall, I came in around half-way up the table..a real result, as I was expecting to be around the bottom at the start of the day, so expectations exceeded there!!! I also came in better than both Grahame and Carl, so that was nice!!!!
Having said that, such a day is NOT about winning...it's about having great day. I certainly had that and would have enjoyed it even had I lost every game!
So a HUGE "thank you" to Martin and the Beastie Boys for organising the day and to everyone else who braved the possible rising flood waters to attend. I'll DEFINITELY be booking back for 'Cold Steel 08' if they run it next year!!!
On another and entirely different note, this will be my last blog post for a wee while, as I'm off to get married on Friday, so I'll see you all when I get back! Watch out in coming months for pics of Caesarian Romans that I'm painting to use with the Crusader rules, as well as some of Bill's luvverly Saxons and my foot Teulu for WAB...
See you all anon......
'Twas a decision both boldly executed and extremely well made, as:
a) the flood water was nowhere near the venue
b) although it was VERY close to the A46, it never actually blocked it (despite a supposed tidal surge at 2pm Sunday afternoon...squelch!)
c) it was a bloody STONKIN' day!!!!
Yes, following on from the excellence that was the 'Struggle for the North' day in Newark, this Hot Lead bash was magnificence personified. A hearty "HUZZAH!!!" to the chaps at 'The Beast' for organising the day and a further several "HUZZAHs" to my opponents, Ed, Karl, Guy and Bob (especially Bob...) for four of the best games of WAB I've ever had!!!!
The event also gave me the opportunity to meet the mighty Bill from Musketeer minis (Hi Bill...great meeting you at last!) as well as seeing once again a few faces from the Newark bash and other events I've been to in the past (Hi Warren, Jim, Andy, Steve, James, etc...) The other undoubted highlight of the day was being able to hob-nob with The Beast's Royal Family, Lord S even being so kind as to allow me a sneak preview of some of Soapy's new Saxons. Now, listen up folks, cos this is massive....we all know that the Soapster can sculpt a bloody good mini, but he's really gone and excelled himself this time....Rumour has it that he's been chatting to Guy 'I know everything there is possibly to know about the early Dark Ages...EVER' Halsall and as a result, he has produced THE most historically accurate, not to mention vibrantly posed little barbarian buggers EVER!!!! What with Musketeer Bill's models and these upcoming Beastie ones, Saxon players are going to be in little toy soldier heaven. Even I , notorious Saxon-hater that I am, will be hard pushed to resist buying several packs of these little beauties when they eventually see the light of day...Superb. Mr Soaps, we salute you, sir!!!
Anyway, enough of this...what you all want to know is, 'did Andy get his ass kicked again?' And the answer is a resounding 'NO HE DID NOT!' Out of my 4 games, I lost the first to Mr Ed 'quiet man' Mc Donald...we played the river crossing scenario. He had a Vortigern Romano British Civitates army and I decided that, despite being the 'defender', I was going to attack!! Not the smartest decision I ever made, as the river had clearly been swollen by the overnight rain over Evesham (It was several inches wider than any wargame river I normally use!) and my attack stalled!!!! Despite this, it was a great fun game. You can't have anything else when playing Ed...a gentleman and jolly nice chap all round...even reminded me that I could FBIGO when I forgot to do so.... Anyway, I lost by around 600pts, so a 'close run defeat' in Age of Arthur terms, but as Martin 'The Organiser' was running some bizarre (but very clever) scoring system, none of us had a clue what such a result actually meant!!!
Onto game 2! The 'Ambush (Roman Rd)' scenario. This is one I've talked about before on this 'ere blog and luckily, I drew the long straw and was the attacker. This is the game where you have to start in march column and get everyone off-table.. My opponent was a chap called Karl, quite new to WAB and using an Armies of Antiquity 'Cataphract' army. So, opposing me were two COLOSSAL units of horse archers (BS4, Parthian shot, fire & flee...groan) and the biggest unit of cataphracts (16 of the buggers!) that I've ever seen!!! Still, thanks to a dodgy 'fire and flee decision' ( the 15 man unit of horse archers fired and then fled off the table!!) that army was reduced to just 2 units in turn 2 and I strolled off table with everyone except the mounted combrogi who died under a hail of arrows. Result: a 1500pt victory to me...massive victory, but, again, with the 'secret scoring system', who knows what that signified??!!
Game 3: 'Surprise Return'. This is the 'loot the village' scenario and I was attacking with 1000pts. Now, I've changed my army considerably since first trying this and decided to go cavalry heavy, so a Teulu and 2 mtd combrogi units, 2 lots of skirmishy foot and 1 heavy infantry unit. I was playing this against Guy Bowers and his Fatimid Arab army. What saved me in this battle was that Guy didn't bring his army on until turn 4, so I got 4 turns of looting in virtually unopposed (ok, the bloody peasant defenders held out for a turn...) Having gained over 600pts by looting alone, my strategy when the Fatimid hordes approached was simple. Don't fight and don't die!! To that end, I used one mtd combrogi unit to tie up 2 units of Arab horse and 1 unit of Arab foot while the rest of my army danced away.. To be fair, Guy did destroy my skirmishers (with bloody nafatun...ugh...'orrible little blighters, them!!) but the overall result was an almost 600pt victory for me..a minor victory, but a win's a win!!!
So far, it was all going too well...a close-run defeat, a major win and a minor win...surely it would all go pear shaped in game 4??? Not so, my pretties...not so!!!!!
Game 4: Against a chap called Bob. Now, Bob is new to WAB and was playing with a rather nice little army of El Cid Spanish. This was the 'Hereditary Enemies' scenario where 2 random units hate the enemy. I ended up with 2 units of foot combrogi hating him and his king's knights (oh dear!!) and a unit of guard infantry (oh dear again!) hating me.
Now, I have to say this at this point. I've been playing WAB since it started, but this was without any doubt at all the most fun game I've ever had when wargaming! The battle was opened by Bob's jinetes charging my mtd combrogi, who fled and then failed a rally test, exposing my flank. Luckily, the Teulu stepped in and sent the Jinetes packing, chasing them down and slaughtering them when they opted to fire and flee. Luckily, my mtd combrogi rallied and returned to the fray to tie up his guard infantry rather nicely for the rest of the game. In the centre, Bob advanced into a veritable hail of sling stones that finally knocked over three of the king's knights, meaning that once the massed cavalry assault hit my combrogi, the king's unit was short on numbers and I could FBIGO from the ferocious charge. In the next rounds of combat, the Spanish king found himself in a tit-for-tat hatred contest that lasted the rest of the game, the rest of the caballeros villanos on either flank wilting under the hail of combrogi attacks and defeated by the rank bonuses. The game was decided when my Rex and his Teulu, having broken into skirmish formation, slammed into the King's Caballeros Hidalgos' rear and the Rex challenged the Spanish king to single combat. It was a tense moment...the Rex slammed home two wounding attacks, to be wounded once in reply...the very air crackling with the whirl of their sword blades...(err...sorry..got carried away there for a mo!!) Anyway, in the next turn (the Hidalgos survived the devastating Teulu attack due to 'hatred'...well actually that's a fib..the battle standard bearer was the only one still alive supporting his king at that point) the Rex slammed home with three 6s on his 'to hit' dice and caused two wounds...the Rey's armour deflected the first, but he died under the second. The surviving Spaniards (with the exception of the guard infantry) all failed their panic test, the army standard bearer was slaughtered by the British Teulu and it was all over. What a game! Bob and I had a blast throughout, as there were several cases of either dodgy or magnificent dice rolling for both of us, several combats swung hither and thither... In the end I won by a massive 1300pts, but that wasn't a true reflection on how close it had come. Without 'hatred' I'd have been stuffed, as the Spanish would have overwhelmed my centre... Bob, I hope you get to read this mate. I'd happily play WAB with you anytime...buy yourself an army from Age of Arthur...you know you want to!!!!
So, that was the gaming over. Three wins (two real big ones too!) out of four games and all great fun to play. After the charity dice-off, I was delighted to win a large ornamental boar as the prize for 'best painted army' (James Morris also won this category...esteemed company I'm in there...James' vignettes and overall army painting skills are second-to-none!) and overall, I came in around half-way up the table..a real result, as I was expecting to be around the bottom at the start of the day, so expectations exceeded there!!! I also came in better than both Grahame and Carl, so that was nice!!!!
Having said that, such a day is NOT about winning...it's about having great day. I certainly had that and would have enjoyed it even had I lost every game!
So a HUGE "thank you" to Martin and the Beastie Boys for organising the day and to everyone else who braved the possible rising flood waters to attend. I'll DEFINITELY be booking back for 'Cold Steel 08' if they run it next year!!!
On another and entirely different note, this will be my last blog post for a wee while, as I'm off to get married on Friday, so I'll see you all when I get back! Watch out in coming months for pics of Caesarian Romans that I'm painting to use with the Crusader rules, as well as some of Bill's luvverly Saxons and my foot Teulu for WAB...
See you all anon......
Monday, 11 June 2007
Close-Run Victory..aaaahhhhh...that's better!!!!!
Played a cracking game against my mate Grahame last night. It was another rehearsal game for GB's Hot Lead...
Anyway, we played the 'surprise return' scenario and I was the attacker. If you aren't familiar with it, basically the attacker (with 1000pts) assaults a village held by a handful of peasants. The defender's 1500pts come on at a diced for point (Grahame's came on in turn 2-the best option for the defender!). Now, the nice bit is this. The attacker's force who break into the village and rout the perasants then dice to see if they loot or pursue. You get 100pts for capturing the village and 50pts per unit per turn spent looting or pursuing. Flipside is that any unit charged by the enemy while so doing are treated as fleeing...ouch!!! Other flipside is that looting units have to dice to reform..a LD test on their base unit leadership...hmmmm.
Anyway, I fielded 1000pts of Brit kingdoms, equating to a 10-man Teulu with Tiern as General and an Uchelwyr ASB, 2 x 20 foot combrogi, 8 mtd combrogi and 10 skirmishers. Grahame fielded a Twilight of Britannia army with bloody loadsa guys, including a large unit of allied Saxon Geoguth who he fielded as skirmishers. I attacked the vilage with the foot combrogi, each unit in 2 ranks to maximise attacks and entered the village straightaway-the luckless peasants made little fight of it!! Then Grahame's VAST army arrived...all on my left flank where my Teulu and mtd combrogi were posted...Luckily, he was so scared of my rock-hard Teulu, that his VAST attacking wing never launched an assault. So I kept looting!!!! Eventually, I had to stop, as the Saxons were getting close and indeed, Grahame's Saxons, on my right flank, destroyed a previously looting unit of combrogi in his 6th turn (after about 3 turns of combat!!) Despite a flurry of panics (my Teulu survived fleeing off-table by 1/2 an inch!!!) everyone recovered in my last turn. My mtd Combrogi destroyed his mtd milites in my 5th turn, but apart from a few missile casualties, that was it! So, a close-run victory to the Brit kingdoms!!! Yippee!!!!
Actually, it was a damned good fun scenario and I'll enjoy playing it at Hot Lead, although I reckon that most other generals would have been a bit more 'gung-ho' than Grahame, who, to be fair had not played against my Brit Kingdoms before and had heard horror stories about my Teulu, and he had only played one prior game with his army, so I got off lightly!!!
Tell you what though, these victories are a bit worrying...I've never been so successful with an army 2 wins and a draw out of 4 games....Wait til I get to Hot Lead...my usual losing streak will surely return!!!!
Anyway, after a rather scrummy dinner of sea-bass with all the trimmings, I am off to paint some more of the extra 9 cavalry I need for my Northern Welsh Kingdoms army for the Struggle for the North day in Newark on 24th June...only two weeks to paint 6 light cavalry...not looking hopeful!!!! I hate painting bloody horses!!!!!!
Anyway, we played the 'surprise return' scenario and I was the attacker. If you aren't familiar with it, basically the attacker (with 1000pts) assaults a village held by a handful of peasants. The defender's 1500pts come on at a diced for point (Grahame's came on in turn 2-the best option for the defender!). Now, the nice bit is this. The attacker's force who break into the village and rout the perasants then dice to see if they loot or pursue. You get 100pts for capturing the village and 50pts per unit per turn spent looting or pursuing. Flipside is that any unit charged by the enemy while so doing are treated as fleeing...ouch!!! Other flipside is that looting units have to dice to reform..a LD test on their base unit leadership...hmmmm.
Anyway, I fielded 1000pts of Brit kingdoms, equating to a 10-man Teulu with Tiern as General and an Uchelwyr ASB, 2 x 20 foot combrogi, 8 mtd combrogi and 10 skirmishers. Grahame fielded a Twilight of Britannia army with bloody loadsa guys, including a large unit of allied Saxon Geoguth who he fielded as skirmishers. I attacked the vilage with the foot combrogi, each unit in 2 ranks to maximise attacks and entered the village straightaway-the luckless peasants made little fight of it!! Then Grahame's VAST army arrived...all on my left flank where my Teulu and mtd combrogi were posted...Luckily, he was so scared of my rock-hard Teulu, that his VAST attacking wing never launched an assault. So I kept looting!!!! Eventually, I had to stop, as the Saxons were getting close and indeed, Grahame's Saxons, on my right flank, destroyed a previously looting unit of combrogi in his 6th turn (after about 3 turns of combat!!) Despite a flurry of panics (my Teulu survived fleeing off-table by 1/2 an inch!!!) everyone recovered in my last turn. My mtd Combrogi destroyed his mtd milites in my 5th turn, but apart from a few missile casualties, that was it! So, a close-run victory to the Brit kingdoms!!! Yippee!!!!
Actually, it was a damned good fun scenario and I'll enjoy playing it at Hot Lead, although I reckon that most other generals would have been a bit more 'gung-ho' than Grahame, who, to be fair had not played against my Brit Kingdoms before and had heard horror stories about my Teulu, and he had only played one prior game with his army, so I got off lightly!!!
Tell you what though, these victories are a bit worrying...I've never been so successful with an army 2 wins and a draw out of 4 games....Wait til I get to Hot Lead...my usual losing streak will surely return!!!!
Anyway, after a rather scrummy dinner of sea-bass with all the trimmings, I am off to paint some more of the extra 9 cavalry I need for my Northern Welsh Kingdoms army for the Struggle for the North day in Newark on 24th June...only two weeks to paint 6 light cavalry...not looking hopeful!!!! I hate painting bloody horses!!!!!!
Wednesday, 23 May 2007
A First Victory!!!
It's amazing what a lick of paint can do for one's generalship!!! Yup, second outing for the British Kingdoms boys (first outing fully painted) and we managed a (very rare, but bloomin' welcome) 656pt 'close-run victory.'
I was playing against my mate Carl who was once again using my Late Romans (we were practising for The Beast's Hot Lead event in July) and we played the 'Roman Road' scenario from the Age of Arthur book. Basically, I had to start in column of march with 1500 pts while Carl's 1000 ambushed me and tried to prevent me exiting his table edge (short table edge...). See the book for more details. Anyway, it was a tremendous battle... In the end my Teulu, complete with General and army standard exited safely (gaining me STACKS of victory points) while my brave foot troops slaughtered Roman cavalry and cataphracts and one unit was slaughtered by Roman pedes. I was denied a Mighty Victory due to my mounted combrogi failing a crucial panic test and getting stuck on the table, being beaten in a fight by bloody Roman archers (ok, with a bit of help from their general and ASB...) Great fun, but a bit of a sod of a scenario for the defender if his 1000pt army is small in numbers, (as the Romans were really, with expensive troops, equipment and all...) as there was just too big a gap for me to pile through. Also, my cavalry gained me an advantage (which I partly blew by getting the mtd combrogi in trouble, but hey ho...lessons learned!!) that infantry armies wouldn't have...
Anyway, as I say, a rare victory for me which could have been better if I'd not made a couple of stupid errors, but Carl acknowledged that he'd made some mistakes too. If he hadn't made those, it might well have been much closer.
First game on the new gaming boards as well. I have to say, both of my armies on such nice new boards did look rather cool!! Sorry there are no pics, but we didn't have time or enough light.
Full British Kingdoms army pics at the weekend, I PROMISE....
Oh, and the bloody heating/hot water still isn't fixed and is going to cost me a smal bloody fortune when they come back to complete the job...GREAT!!!
I was playing against my mate Carl who was once again using my Late Romans (we were practising for The Beast's Hot Lead event in July) and we played the 'Roman Road' scenario from the Age of Arthur book. Basically, I had to start in column of march with 1500 pts while Carl's 1000 ambushed me and tried to prevent me exiting his table edge (short table edge...). See the book for more details. Anyway, it was a tremendous battle... In the end my Teulu, complete with General and army standard exited safely (gaining me STACKS of victory points) while my brave foot troops slaughtered Roman cavalry and cataphracts and one unit was slaughtered by Roman pedes. I was denied a Mighty Victory due to my mounted combrogi failing a crucial panic test and getting stuck on the table, being beaten in a fight by bloody Roman archers (ok, with a bit of help from their general and ASB...) Great fun, but a bit of a sod of a scenario for the defender if his 1000pt army is small in numbers, (as the Romans were really, with expensive troops, equipment and all...) as there was just too big a gap for me to pile through. Also, my cavalry gained me an advantage (which I partly blew by getting the mtd combrogi in trouble, but hey ho...lessons learned!!) that infantry armies wouldn't have...
Anyway, as I say, a rare victory for me which could have been better if I'd not made a couple of stupid errors, but Carl acknowledged that he'd made some mistakes too. If he hadn't made those, it might well have been much closer.
First game on the new gaming boards as well. I have to say, both of my armies on such nice new boards did look rather cool!! Sorry there are no pics, but we didn't have time or enough light.
Full British Kingdoms army pics at the weekend, I PROMISE....
Oh, and the bloody heating/hot water still isn't fixed and is going to cost me a smal bloody fortune when they come back to complete the job...GREAT!!!
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