Last post of 2016..

As 2016 comes to a close here are Some of the famous faces to leave us.

So long 2016 and good ridenance pretty much somes up this year for me. Personal problems have taken their toll on my hobby this year as unfortunately it had to take a place on the back seat as issues in real life have had to be dealt with. I have tried to keep my blog as active as possible with AAR from games I have taken part in, particularly games with my dad who's fantastic 10/15mm armies I am able to showcase through this blog (he paints a mean wargame figure but the world of uploading and downloading is best left to me 😀). I have tried to keep adding to my small projects such as X wing and terminator genysis throughout the year and I have made some extra additions to my colonial armies and I managed to get up and running my Deadmans hand project but I never got any larger projects underway.

French and Austrain cavalry clash during our last game of 2016...Blucher 

Bavarain and Franch line infantry brigades advance onto the Austrain lines

Two onto one is never a fair fight!

Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend many shows this year, I did go to York at the beginning of the year which happens to be my favourite and it didn't disappoint but this aside I only managed to go to Derby and our local show Batteground at Middlesbourgh where my dad and I put a demonstration game using my Mahdist & British armies. With this in mind it's not fair to say which was the best show but I'm sure York will have taken some beating. 

I have played a fair amount of new rule sets this year and I've lost track of how many times my dad has been busy rebasing armies ha ha, my main change in rules was for WW2 which saw me sell off my battlegroup books as we now favour the Ironcross rule set. I really enjoyed our Blackpowder games this year, especially the ACW with the extra amendments from the Blood and glory supplement, and recently I really enjoyed a SSW game using volley and bayonet, a simple yet very playable set of rules. However I think my favourite set of rules I used this year was impetus baroque, which came as a surprise to me as I was never won over using impetus rules before.

French Currasiers on mass but their presence fails to prevent a defeat in our final game

Our final game in full flow

One positive in my hobby this year (especially for my dad) has seen me taking up the painting side of the hobby for the first time in a lot of years. I've been steadily adding to my paint supply and I think my figures I have managed to paint to a pretty decent standard, granted I've been painting 28mm terminators and resistance Fighters and now Walking dead figures (which once I finish basing I will photo for the blog) and not 10mm Napolionic figures but it's a start.

So what's on the horizon for 2017? I think this year I will start a new army or two.  I am leaning towards something for Hail Caesar rules but of a later period than my Macedonians, possibly Atilla the Hun in 10mm?, Im definetly tempted. I will no doubt continue to add to my X wing and walking dead games as they are something which I can easily set up and play in my own home on the kitchen table for a couple of hours of fun, maybe I might look at purchasing other board games to. Hopefully I will get to one or two more shows this year and hopefully get a few more games in all been well, it would be nice to get some BIG games in like we had up at Westerhope where I had a great day!

Well that just leaves me to wish everyone a...

See you in 2017!!!!

Star Wars X wing miniatures update

Just before Christmas I ordered myself some asteroids for use in my X wing minatures game, I managed to get them painted quickly and onto the table top. The rocks I just repeatedly dry brushed grey, lighting the colour each time I applied it, to finish them I gloss varnished them and seen as though the kids had their craft stuff out I pinched a bit of the silver glitter and sprinkled it over the asteroids which I think give a nice finishing touch, they match my p,any mat very nicely .

A Christmas present I received came in the form of boba fetts slave 1 ship which I just had to get unboxed and into play. We played the mission which came with the ship, I played boba fett and the accompanying tie fighters while Catherine had hand and chewie in the falcon supported by a couple of X wings. A bounty had been placed on Hands Solo and to win the mission you simply had to take out the falcon which is easier said than done.... 

The arieal battle takes place between the asteroids

The millennium falcon and the save one juke it out with one another. Alas for me despite dealing the falcon some serious damage once I lost my supporting tie fighters, the X wings closed in for the kill on my slave one, helping Hans to escape the clutches of the empire once again.

The battered Falcon flies through the asteroid before jumping into light speed

While I had my table set up I thought I'd take a picture of the ships I have purchased so far, what was bought as a game on the side is gradually growing into quite a force, which no doubting will be added to during 2017 after I have watched the new Star Wars rogue one film ha ha.😄

The Rebel ships

The Imperial and scum & Villainy ships 

Why do you come to the land of the Zulu

The massed ranks of the Zulu impi

Our last game saw us have our first game using my dads British and Zulu armies which had been his latest 10mm project. We used Blackpowder rules along with the supplement from the said rules. I took the role of the Zulus who had to intercept the two British columns which were heading towards the induna's kraal to destroy it. Five brigades of  Zulus started off table with the British in two columns deployed at the far edge of the table, I wrote down on a map the entry points for the Zulus and what turn(s) they would be appearing on. The kraal was situated on the opposite edge from the British with a crossbable river running across the table centre although it would take a full move to cross. I decided to have three of brigades of Zulus enter the battle on turns two and three hoping to catch the British  column off guard and attack them out of position before they managed to reach the river. The remaining two brigades would enter from turn 6 on the other side of the river.

The first of the British columns, 5 companies leave the camp and move towards the river at a slow pace with native light horse light horse scouting at the head of the column.

The first of the Zulus appear behind the hill as 4 regiments of Zulus threaten the flank of number two column 

British lancers and hussars are the first to cross the river at the forded area ahead of the foot columns who continued to make slow progress over the open terrain, it must be the heat slowing their progress

The British column behaves itself and adheres to its orders and forms into line on the crest of the hill, I announce the charge with one of my Zulu regiments and over come two volleys of closing fire although I did become disordered and suffered two casualties before crashing into the thin red line of British 

With the initial zulu regiment still locked in combat I announce two more chargers but they both fall just short of the British line. Another two brigades of Zulus now appeared behind the British columns. The British quickly reformed and some steady if not spectacular shooting kept the Zulus at distance disordered. The rocket battery also proved its use as some wayward rockets crashed around some startled Zulus who quickly became disordered when they were reading themselves for the charge.

The second British column finally reaches the river and starts its crossing, however this column was about to receive some company from their Zulu friends very shortly

The Zulus still tried hard to get into the British lines but we're finding it difficult to get past the British firing. The fight on the hill saw both units shaken but remain engaged and a regiment of Zulus was destroyed by some deadly British closing fire.

The British General oversees the back line defense and keeps the men in order as the Zulus are kept at a distance after a few dodgy command roll failures 

Another Zulu regiment is sent fleeing through closing fire but the fight on the hill starts to hot up as a second regiment manages to get into close combat and with the British company at the end of the line failing to disorder the oncoming Zulus, it's flank now looked dangerously exposed.

The second column comes under attack from the 4th Zulu brigade but some serious firing halts this attack with the Zulu regiments suffering as they attempted to charge over three moves ending up falling back disordered , although a couple of fluke pot shots by the Zulus manages to inflict some casualties on one of the British companies.

Back over at the fight on the hill saw mixed fortunes as the first of the Zulu brigades was broken finally after several rounds of combat as the British refused to give there ground despite taking heavy calculates. The British company with its flank Exposed was not so lucky as a regiment of Zulus was in inititive range and automatically charged straight into its flank.

The final brigade arrives for the Zulu reenforcements near the kraal itself lead by the induna himself and his bodyguard.

The Britsh company could not take the charge to the flank and was soon broken as the pursuing Zulus pursued deep into the British back lines, the fight on the hill was still stubbing continuing as neither side would give any ground. The Zulus had taken massive casualties and we're starting to get close to losing another two brigades which would see the army broken. The British 1st column itself was very close to been broken as it held on desperately in The face of the Zulu attack 

The second British column was finally charged and made quite light work of dispatching the remaining Zulu regiments of The 4th brigade as it became broken.

The arrival of the British cavalry back across the river saw the swift retreat of the broken Zulu brigade on the hill, the roaming Zulu regiment among the British formation found another flank charge into a company of British infantry but they were not supported as the Zulu regiment to the front of the British line was disordered, the final unit of Zulus able to charge manages to get past the closing fire but is badly shot up and disordered on the way in.

In the following melle both companies of British infantry hold there ground thanks to their steady rule and in the following turn they manage to shake the remaining Zulu regiments breaking the third Zulu brigade which saw the army morale broken. However the Zulu efforts didn't go in vain as they managed themselves to break the 1st column of British as another company had become shaken.

The Zulu warriors retreat away from the British lines defeated

Despite been able to break one of the British columns my Zulu army was broken and was ordered to retreat leaving the remaining British 2nd column and cavalry to advance onto the undefended kraal, leading the way to a British victory.

The game proved to be a very enjoyable encounter and played very differently from our other colonial games using the Mahdist forces. As would be expected if was very hard for the Zulus to get into the comfort of hand to hand combat, especially when announcing charges over three moves as the British get to do not one but two closing fires on you, this proved on a few occasions to be to much for for my Zulus who failed there morale test and were routed mid charge. Also the British with their stubborn rule were hard to kill, especially in this game as my dad always seemed to be sucessful in his reroll of a failed save,in fact he managed on a few occasions to roll really good saves when faced with the possibility of heavy loses in melees which could have proved disastrous on the break test. Another thing I learned was don't go any where near a rampaging unit of British lancers as a regiment of Zulus found out to disastrous effect when they strayed into charge reach..ouch!!

Refighting the battle of Wilsons Creek ACW

                                                          'WILSON'S CREEK'

                                                            August 10th 1861

The Battle of Wilson's Creek, also known as the Battle of Oak Hills, was the first major battle of the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War. Fought on August 10, 1861, near Springfield, Missouri, between Federal forces and the Missouri State Guard, it is sometimes called the "Bull Run of the West."

The battlefield deployment (we used what troops we had available from my dads collection so some units in our game weren't present at the actual battle)

Wow what can I say about our Refight of Wilsons creek apart from that it was a crazy crazy game. From the off the tone for the game was set when my dad blundered with his second command roll of the game, I lost count of the amount of times we both blundered after this, one of my blunders even sent my whole brigade of 6 militia units charging three moves across the board to crash into the unsuspecting Union lines, this however proved to lead to my biggest sucess of the game. Failed command rolls were a common theme across the game,(even my flanking cavalry brigade failed their order to arrive on the table) with myself in particular suffering failed command rolls at crucial times in the game, particularly from my General  who had no authority over his men what so ever. My game plan of flanking the Union force quickly disappeared as my supporting brigade failed two turns of orders to move and was then charged in the rear by the arriving Union reserve brigade. But it doesn't stop there, I don't think I have ever played a game where the both of us have failed as many saving throws, it got to the point where when we saved one we give out an ironic cheer! Shooting dice were just as bad, my units in point blank range would miss with all there dice and my dad would in turn return the favour and miss, you couldn't make it up and until the later turns of the game I could just not roll a disorder hit! In the end we were both so close to breaking I decided to have one last hooray with my remaining infantry brigade and try and finish the unions off, I advanced into range and proceeded to miss everything, return fire came with a bang and all three units were shaking breaking the brigade and my army, quite a fitting way for the game to come to its conclusion after the events which had preceded this encounter. Despite it been a frustrating game at the best of times it Still was a good game to take part in and it literally went to the very last move of the game to find a winner, although no matter which side had managed to win the day , what was left of their army it was hard to think of it as a victory. Wilsons Creek you proved to be a very brutal scenario to Refight!

Two brigades of confederates ready to move onto the union lines

After two sucessful moves the infantry brigade on the right flank blunders and retreats back two moves, back to where they had started.

The confederate flanking force slowly advancing

The 2nd Confederate brigade failed to move in support of the flanking brigade as the union reserves entered the table directly behind their position

The militia guard brigade advance across the stream 

Despite the presence of the army General and three batallions of union infantry at there rear the 2nd rebel brigade still fluffed their orders, so the unions couldn't believe their luck and charged into the limbered artillery and the rear of the rebel infantry......

Only for my dad to proceed to roll the following dice needing 3+ to hit! (And yes the one saving throw I had to make I failed)

The militia decided against a fire fight and charged head long after a command blunder into the union units which had just advanced down from the hill line thinking they would be safe from a frontal charge

Things start to get up close and very personal

The blunder worked in my favour as the union brigade was broken after losing all the melees, the remaining union batallions were forced to retreat leaving a gapping whole in the union lines

After failing to arrive on the scheduled turn 4 the rebel cavalry sweeps around the rear of the union lines

With the arrival of my rebel cavalry I pushed my infantry brigade up to point blank range sensing I could smash the union resistance of the largest union brigade, once the smoke cleared from my volley firing I realised I failed to do this big style as all three union battalions were not shaken or disordered! 

The rebels on the right flank make their advance on the union defensive position.

The union return fire at point blank range and with the combined fire from the arriving union reserve unit the rebel brigade is crucially broken as I fail my morale saves.

Despite the loss of the infantry brigade I charged the rebel cavalry into rear and flank of the union infantry who could do little about it, these melees saw the union brigade of six battalions become broken but without my supporting infantry who had been broken in the fire fight I had no troops to move in and take the ground.

The final push sees me move my right hand brigade foward but my firing fails me as I am unable to break the union brigade, the returning fire sees all three battalions of rebels shaken and my army break point surpassed.

The carnage of the battlefield, a union victory but not to much left on either Side!