BREAK THROUGH VIMIERO

Overview of the battle of Vimiero.

I spent a wonderful few hours, six all told, across the border with Arthur. It began with me being hustled up stairs and into a large room. In that room the above vista greeted me, the battle of Vimiero.

http://www.ccnapoleonics.net/Maps/Peninsular-War-1808-1814/md02-vimiero-bt-21-august-1808.html

I forgot my camera and had to resort to my mobile phone to take pictures so I hope these are not to sore on the eye. The battle is a Commands & Colors breakthrough scenario, it really does give one the feel of the massed armies spread across the terrain waiting to be unleashed. When I first sat opposite Arthur it was a tad daunting, where to attack, where to defend.

General Bray reviews  his orders, seen from behind the French lines.

As usual we played with Mr Brays plastic 1/72 scale French, British and Portuguese figures. The landscape consisted of Kallistra Hexon terrain tiles, river sections and hills. While expensive initially the kallistra hex tiles is money well spend when you consider the use one gets out of them. The battlefield is 17 hexes deep by 14 wide resulting in a beautiful expanse of rolling hills, meandering water features and woodland thickets.

The English advance.

Both games ended in the same result, a French victory. In game one I played the French and after an initial probe decided to play it definitive and let the English come to me. Mr Bray obliged and a massed cavalry attack destroyed his centre. Game two and Arthur playing the French turned the tables and served the same Cavalry charge to my good self, blitzing all before him.

French foot artillery, with French cavalry in the background.

English right flank.

Lessons learnt.

1. Avoid close quarter's fighting with the French as they take no prisoners.

2. Avoid lingering in front of British troops , especially light and rifle units unless you want your troops filled full of holes.

3. Cavalry are deadly, avoid at all times.(anyone got ideas for stopping the horsies)

4. Set aside plenty of time for gaming as you will be left wanting more C&C Naps.

GAME NIGHT

Rolica 1 

The regular crew got together for another game night. Myself and Napoleon of the West aka Mr Bray went head to head with C&C Naps, Rolica part 1. We played this scenario twice using plastic 1/72 scale figs. With the blues victorious on each occasion,  it was agreed that we have a little work to do on our tactics.

 The Brits starting positions.

 The French starting position.

The rest of the boys, no girls yet (although some of us men may on occasion carry on like big girls blouses after a particularly bad dice roll), played Dust. Dust is basically a souped up version of the board game risk. The guys called the game a draw after four hours,

The Dust Game Board

The night ended with Steve giving us an introduction to poker "Texas Hold Em". All in all another great evening  fun with all the regulars.

FOOD FOR THE EYES AND EARS

Food for the eyes and ears. First the eyes. Glen a fellow gamer and history enthusiast lent me the above book, Alistair Horne's "How far from Austerlitz". The book traces the career of Napoleon from the height of his glory as victor of the battle of Austerlitz in 1805 to his final defeat and exile to St. Helena. What a great read, easy and engaging.

Next food for the ears, Napoleon101 podcast. Do yourself a favour, download and enjoy. Join J. David Markham, President of the International Napoleonic Society and Cameron Reilly, CEO of The Podcast Network, for a discussion about Napoleon Bonaparte. Boy, David can talk but oh what a joy it is to hear him detail the life and times of one Mr Bonaparte.

http://napoleon.thepodcastnetwork.com/

RE LOADED DICE CLUB

Don't mess with the family.

The Loaded Dice boardgame club reloaded and reformed for another nights gaming. Great to see a couple of new recruits have enlisted. As usual we played various games including Lost Battles, Fuedo, Pandemic and Family Business.

Lost in Battle.

Glen has become a big fan of Lost Battles and introduce myself and Dave Spratt or Spratt as he has become know to Lost Battles.  A wargame where tactical battles are fought on a 5 x 4 grid of terrain tiles. The game covers Ancient battles and campaigns in the Mediterranean and Near East. A campaign system comes with the box which Glen has already got under way.

A plague upon you.

Dave B brought along Feudo.  Players move their various units from their castle, around a map, capturing cities and eliminating enemies. Every turn a plague breaks out and may infect your army units. You use cards to move your army, and shillings to purchase additional movement or mercenaries.

Time is ticking.

A few of us got a couple of games of Pandemic in. A great fast play co op game. Our first attempt lasted only 10mins before the world went under. The second game lasted longer but the result was the same.

Hey Tony

Finally we all got together and played Family Business. Mob warfare at its bloodest. Backstabbing, revenge, and general bloodthirstiness, all combine to make this great fun. Every player controls a 'family' and plays various cards to kill off other players' family members.

Whom to gun down.

Cold blooded killers.

ENNISKILLEN CASTLE MUSEUM

A couple of pic's from Enniskillen Castles open day. I came across these recently and thought I would stick them up. The Castle houses the Inniskillings Museum which tells the story of the towns two regiments, The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards. Its worth a visit if any of you fine gentlemen and ladies ever make it to these parts.

http://www.inniskillingsmuseum.com/

BIBRACTE GAUL 58BC

A grizzly veteran of the 10th legion, Caesars crack infantry, stands tense and nervous gazing on the hordes of Helvetii who are rushing forward from the trees with loud blood curling roars. These warriors had followed the Romans for days and now the time had come. As the  enemy surged forward the old veteran shouted to the new and untested amongst them to hold, hold, wait the command.

"Unleash"  and hundreds of pilum fly through the sky. Soaring to reach their peak, then begin their decent of death to the eager among the front ranks of the Helvetii. With gladius drawn the Romans advance downhill. The slaughter was great,  Romes finest gaining the upper hand forward, forward.  Boii and Tulingi tribesmen joined their brother Helvetii who have started to falter. It was no use the despised Romans keep advancing stabbing, slashing ever forward. Blood and body fluids mix, spilling onto the fertile soil. Suddenly it was over, the tribesmen fleeing in disorder, many to be cut down in the mad panic driven rush for life.

On  the edge of a forest not far away stood a tall well built Helvetii noble with greying beard and keen
eyes. Like his well armed companions he sat upon a great horse. He spat, "The ravens will feast well this day". Cursing the foreigners and uttering an oath of vengeance the warriors quickly turn their steads and disappeared into the fast fading light of the great forest.

So ended the battle of Bibrate. This game marks the half way point in the Commands and Colors Ancient Gallic War campaign between Arthur and myself. Arthur who had previously played the Romans now took charge of the Gauls. The game ended with a glorious 7-0 banners shut out for the Romans. The same result as played the other way round at the start of the campaign almost a year a go to the day. This has left me one banner up in the campaign, the first time I have taken the lead. All is yet to play for and it could go either way. But oh what fun, oh what tension and indeed at times oh what torture. Each battle bringing its own highs and lows, moments of hope which are quickly snuffed out or blossom into unexpected victory's.

Up next the Plain of Alsace, will the Gallic noble get his revenge, will the old veteran survive another battle. Will Bray rally his force's and place his boot upon the Roman throat. All will be revealed.

MEMOIR 44

Mr Bray prepares for the battle ahead.

Last Saturday night Arthur came a calling for some wargame fun. We had a go at Memoir 44 with his Valiant figures and 1/72 scale armour. In all we played four games. This was Arthur's first time playing Memoir and my third. 

The Allies advance.



Smile if you are having fun.

Unfortunately for me Arthur's smile just got wider and wider as the night advanced. He won the first three games  before I finally picked up a win in the forth game by placing my infantry in any available towns and forests.

All in all we both agreed that Memoir left us a bit cold. It didn't quite do it for us. Very abstract and light. I think we both prefer a bit more meat to our wargames and Memoir is our least favourite Borg game. Commands and Colors Ancients as well as Napoleonic's will continue to be the go to games for this system.

Overview of the battlefield.