Alexander the not so great :-)

Saturday night saw us fight a Hail Caesar game with Macedonian and Indian armies . The game was 800 point aside battle with me taking charge of the Macedonians.

 

The game was riddled with command trouble, seven blunders in total were rolled, 4 by me and 3 from my dad, two of my results saw my skirmishes and light cavalry take flight. Both our infantry really struggled to move more than one move so it was a very frustrating game although when I did get to charge my Hypastists they managed to break a Indian infantry division thanks to some quite horrendous morale throwing by my dad. The Indian cavalry and chariots divisions preformed excellently and broke two of my cavalry divisions on my left and held my Phalanxs attack for what seemed like an eternity ha ha with some amazing saving. The Indian elephants had begun to turn my right flank when the game finished due to time, so although the position didn't look to good for Alexander, night time had saved him and his army this time. With such poor command rolling from both sides, actually in the first turn my dad managed to fail all 6 of his command rolls, the game was always going to be difficult to get a outright winner.

Here are some photos of he game:

The Indian elephants make very slow process down the valley 

Alexander try's to get his army to move in order together but despite his reroll the slingers and Peltasts refuse to obey and the drilled Macedonian pikemen continue to move away without them. 

Both battle lines stumble forward and only the skirmishes really engage.

View along the Indian massed lines

Elephants again refusing to move

The Indian chraiots and cavalry await the massed ranks of Macedonian pikes.

The Macedonian left flank is destroyed with the loss of their cavalry divisions.

 These heavy chariots held on to the very end after been pushed back to the edge of their table. I swear they are the proto type for the king Tiger tank!!  They managed to just about save everything I managed to put on them, one instance saw 8 sucessful savings throws.

On the right of the photo a Indian infantry division collapses following the Hypastists attack and retreats from the table.

How the battle looked at the final turn.

French v Imperialists...Italian wars

                                            Somewhere near Naples 1525.....

At the weekend we ran a Italian wars game using Pike and Shot. I played the Imperialists and my army was made up of 2 Spanish Colunelas 1 Landsknecht battalia led by George Von Frudsberg giving them the steady rule. My cavalry was in the form of a Burgundian/Allied command and a Spanish cavalry command. My dads French army was led by Francis I which made all his cavalry Rash. There was 1 Swiss Battalia, 1 French/Italian battalia and a Landsknecht Battalia and also 2 French Cavalry commands.

 

The Battlefield from The Imperialists side. 

My Spanish cavalry in full splendid colour in support of the Spanish Infantry.

Francis leads his French Knights towards the Bulgarian cavalry but somewhat ponders his next move with a couple of failed command rolls. The Imperialist light cavalry use this to their advantage and harass the knights with small arms fire and then evading away. 

In the centre the Imperialist Landsknecht troops form a solid battle line ready to charge as arquebus fire is exchanged disrupting the battle lines

The Imperialists finally charge home and break the Swiss troops in the centre although They suffer heavy casualties and in the following turn find themselves broken from shooting,the final hit I failed to save!. The remaining Swiss troops start to withdraw. Units of Spanish pike appear to give support to the Imperialists centre as the the French command moves down from the hill to replace the Broken Swiss Battalia.

The Spanish infantry on my left flank are charged by the Blackband, my Spanish arquebus's repel a Blackband pike block with some quite spectacular saving, and the remaining French cavalry appear from behind the hill to charge my Spanish cavalry who were in a position to flank the Blackband infantry.

After losing another arquebus unit in the fire fight across he Churchyard my Spanish command is broken and start to retreat just as they were looking like they might break the Landsknecht Battalia 

The game ending charge saw my final unit of Burgundian cavalry run down by the now  rampant French knights personally led by Francis who had broken the rest of my cavalry. (When he finally decided to pass a command roll that is)

With my army now losing three of my 5 commands my army starts to withdraw and we call an end to the game.

A hard fought game which just slipped away from me towards the latter stages. A few better morale saves here and there could have prevented me from losing my Landsknecht command to allow me to start to rally some morale points off them and my Spanish on my left flank were very close to breaking the Blackband but just ran out of steam. My Burgundian cavalry were well beaten by Francis's cavalry  on my right flank which proved to be my final undoing.

A quick update with a picture of another completed  Light Infantry/Chausseurs, unit for my Napolionic army and a couple of new buildings for use in this period.

WW2....Take the Village

Sundays game was a WW2 affair using Battlegroup Overlord. The game was 550 points aside with me taking charge of the Germans and my dad the Americans. In the centre of the board is a bombed out village which was to be the objective of the game, for each building held would force your opponent to pick a battle rating chit at the end of the game to add to their battle rating, Also the small factory would force Your opponent to take a moral chit during the game if you held it like an objective.

Below are some pictures of the pictures from the game.

A German recce team makes a dash for the two story building to get a clear view of the battle field.

A Stug III G and a Sdkfz 251/16 flamethrower ( first time I've used this model in a game) move towards the village, the initial German forces make their move in support towards the village

US troops dismount from their half tracks and deploy behind the hedgerows ready to face the German attack.

A Pak 40 moves on to the table and heads to the hedgerows to position its self ready for the advancing Shermans.

A US squad occupies one of the village buildings and comes under heavy MG fire from the Stug Outside the opposing building.

Now in position the Pak 40 knocks out an advancing Sherman.

The sdkfz 251/16 had moved into position bymaking a reserve move at the end of the US turn, ready to attack the US held building. However I decided to shoot my Pak40 with my first order (see above) and my dad picked a break down chit due to the loss of the Sherman. This was placed onto my Sdkfz 251/16 and a 6 was rolled on the outcome table. The Halftrack caught fire and the crew abandoned it, so much for my great plans and shock value of burning out the US infantry controlling the building.

 

German mechanics hard at work....The result of another chit my dad drew yet another special counter. (In total my dad managed to draw 6 special counters during this game). A break down counter saw my Stug immobilised in the middle of the village

A Stug after been pinned by a M10 round  is flanked by a squad of American infantry who somehow miss with both their bazooka shots, in the German turn the Stug quickly hits reverse!

Wespe Artillery barrage.. After a few turns of wild firing the spotter on the hill finally gives the correct co-ordinates and the Wespe barrage hits home...

 

The result...As the rounds crash down a M3 half track is destroyed from a direct hit but surprisingly everything else escapes unharmed or pinned

German reinforcements... Arrive in the shape of another Stug and a Marder III M and head towards the thick of he fighting in he village.

Another bazooka shot fails to find its mark so the Sherman tank joins he fight and its flank shot makes short work of the Stug.

German infantry move into the village to try occupy the buildings. The Marder III M is destroyed when it fires first and misses at a Sherman tank who's return fire ko's the Marder.

At the end of the game both me and my dad managed to hold a building each, when we drew the morale counters I pulled a 4 counter to be added to my total and my dad true to form pulled a special counter adding nothing to his total. My battle rating was now at 36, two short of my break point, my dad was on 24. The last move had cost me dearly,10 morale points due to losing the Stug and Marder and my HMG team and the objective another 4 making my BR lose another 14 points. This took the game from been a draw to a tactical victory to the Americans. 

Although my battle rating was higher the game was still evenly balanced at the stage we finished, with both sides still with enough infantry and armour to push onto victory. A Close and fun game apart from my Sdkfz flamethrower breaking down before it dhot on its debut, I had such high hopes as well :-) 

The start of something new...

Well the new project is well underway with the start of my French 10mm Napolionic army for the campaign of 1809. My dad is on the verge of completing his Austrian army so il be looking to add to my numbers in he forth coming weeks. I wanted to use Black powder rules as this is my favoured rule set at the mo. here are a few pictures of my first infantry division, the figures are from Pendraken :

AWI Volley and bayonet style.

After leading Henry to a dramatic last move of the game victory against Richard in our war of the roses hail ceaser clash last weekend (my ipad was out of battery so didn't get to do a AAR..Typically when I get a win) I returned to loosing ways with a heavy defeat in our AWI weekend game. My Dad took the British and I used the Americans.

We turned our attemtion away from Blackpowder for this game as My Dad had dusted down his Volley and Baynot rules and wanted to give them a run out.

The Battlefield:

In the centre my elite continental troops and the British infantry quickly closed the gap to shooting range, the ensuing fire fight saw my troops gradually start to come off worse, my division reached its stamina point and I was left with with no choice but to start to withdraw.

On my left flank I decided to push two regiments over in support of the centre and leave the rest of the division stationary to defend the wooded area of my left flank. The British troops steadily advanced through the fields.

The rest of my elite brigade, unable to retreat away from the British were broken from the superior British fire. the British followed up and were soon exchanging musketry fire with my Militia reserve who were basically all that stood from my centre collapsing.

It wasn't all one way traffic and I good success on my right flank were I broke 3 Hessian regiments and forced the remaining loyalist militia into retreat.

My stationary left flank didn't stand very long when the British moved into firing range and after 2 Continental regiments and a riflemen unit broke my 2nd division was shattered and my remaining regiments which had gone in support of the centre started to gradually withdraw.

Much to both our surprise my Militia were holding their own in the centre and held the British advance up for a few turns.

On my right flank with my continental infantry now having turned to cross the river to flank the British centre my second line of Militia was tasked with finishing off the Loyalist troops left from the Hessians division.

The Continental troops from my right flank looking to turn the British centre ready themselves to cross the shallow river.

Sensing an opportunity a unit of continentals charges across the stream and catches the British unaware in the flank, and with the help of a regiment of militia they managed to break the British light infantry.

However despite this minor set back the remaining  British troops charge into my centre militia breaking 2 regiments of militia and shattering yet another of my divisions.

My centre had now collapsed and what was remaining retreated to the area of the town for one last stand.

However there was no change of fortune as the the British reserves pushed through the heavily depleted British front divisions to finish the job and break the militia and remaining elite continentals, who fled the field.

Competently surrounded my remaining heavily shot up continental troops had little choice but to surrender at this stage.

My only real success had come on my right flank and my militia pursued the remaining Loyalists from the battlefield.

The final table position of the victorious British force.

Despite the outcome looking very one sided the game was close over the first half of the game, on reflection maybe I had put to much faith in my elite continental troops holding the centre with only militia in support. Militia in these rules really are poor and I found that out the hard way in this game. I got myself a little out of command on my right flank so was unable turn my continentals on to the British centres flank quicker after I had broken the Hessians.  The game played  different than with Blackpowder and chucked up different challenges. Still a good game was had in defeat.