Sunday 25 March 2018

Cavalry and yet more cavalry

Steve and I have continued to 'tinker' with the Pike and Shotte rules and our next target was the cavalry melee.  It seems odd that they are limited to one turn and no reinforcements, although contemporary accounts do mention units being 'seconded' by others.  Steve therefore devised some 'tweaks' to enable cavalry melees to continue, (but not endlessly with 'rubber swords' ie successive rounds with no casualties).  To try them out we needed a cavalry scenario and where better than the open spaces of Eastern Europe?

I therefore put together two forces, one of Muscovites with Tartar allies and a smaller force of Poles and Cossacks.   Purists would raise their eyebrows (at the very least) at the sight of my 'Tartars', who actually included Huns and Scythians in their ranks.  However, they were all skirmishing light cavalry armed with bows and needs must when the finances are tight.

The Polish right

The Tartars

Boyar levy
A roll of the dice allocated the Muscovite/Tartars to Steve, whilst I took the Polish/Cossack force.  I was outnumbered roughly 3:2, but did have better quality troops.  My plan was to hold off the Tartars with the Cossacks and try and drive off the Muscovites with the Poles, spearheaded by my Hussars.

The Cossacks advance
Early on the Muscovites proved unwilling to advance, though the Tartars were more aggressive.  Fortunately, the Cossacks managed to hold the Tartars whilst my centre moved forward.  The first clash took place there with my hussars punching through the leading Muscovite unit and then engaging the one behind.   After a fierce struggle the Hussars came through again, but at the cost of going Shaken.  Supported by the Pancerni they managed to hold the attack of Steve's bodyguard and after two turns the two units fell back.

A rare sight, Polish Hussars routing
On the Polish left it took some time to get the units moving and my reserve (a unit of Hussars and one of Pancerni), proved even more reluctant to advance.  When the clash eventually occurred on the left it was the Poles who were routed, my best troops, the Hussars ignominiously scattered by the Noble Levy.  Only some stout fighting by the Pancerni managed to stabilise  the situation.

On the right, the Cossacks were pushing the Tartars back, though the latter's 'fire and evade' tactics were inflicting casualties.  I was moving the reserve unit around to try and cover the gaps and prevent any Tartars sneaking through to cause mayhem.  However, when one of my units went Shaken they were charged by the Tartars and pushed back.  The reserves steadied the line, but then the other unit went Shaken.  My left was looking vulnerable.

The central melee

The melee continues
In the centre units were charging, meleeing and then after two turns of no decision pulling back.  My reserve eventually moved forward and the fresh units gave the necessary impetus to break the deadlock.  The Muscovite centre was all but destroyed.

The Polish left routs
However on my left, the boot was on the other foot.  Slowly the Noble Levy were gaining the advantage and my troops were being pushed back.  Then a unit broke, leaving a gap and through this moved a Muscovite unit.  If that unit could sweep round and attack the rear of my centre, the day would be lost.  Only the difficulty of issuing orders to the unit saved me.  It gave me enough time to organise a new flank and then counter attack.

With the reserve and two units from the centre the Poles pushed the remaining Noble Levy back and from the field of battle.  It was just as well, because on the right the Cossacks were facing defeat.  One unit had been destroyed, another was in danger of going the same way.  They were saved by the Tartar Khan ordering his men to fall back.  He recognised that they could not prevail against the Polish cavalry and so narrowly, the day belonged to the Poles.

How did the new amendments work?  Well some melees were 'seconded' and the new support mechanism seemed to work well.  We found that the polish Hussars were just too powerful and in the afternoon session educed their advantages.  This resulted in closer melees, as the +3 made a Polish victory far too likely.


Thursday 22 March 2018

Lincoln

Family commitments recently required a trip to Norfolk.  Along the way we called in at Lincoln, taking the opportunity to visit 'The Collection' the local museum.  The museum charts life in the Lincoln area through time from prehistory to modern times.  A few items in particular caught my eye.




Now the Ancient period is not really an interest of mine, but seeing the shield took me back to the days of Airfix Romans and Ancient Britons (at that time I had at least one box of nearly all their sets).

Close by was this diorama of a Roman legion leaving Lincoln.




The top photo gives an idea of the scale, 1:1, in the distance are the walls of the town. 

If you have an hour spare when visiting Lincoln, the museum is well worth a visit.  It is relatively small, but free, though donations welcome. (but not compulsory).

Tuesday 20 March 2018

WMMS 2018

Although the weather did it's worst the show went ahead.  Some of the traders didn't make it, but  a good selection did and there were several interesting games to look at.  With my principal interest being in the Horse and Musket era those games dominate the following photographs.

The Phoenix Society did this 25mm Napoleonic game, with some very nicely painted figures






A very eye-catching game was a Russo-Japanese Naval game, which I think appeared at Derby last year.








The Cheshire and Staffordshire club put on Guildford Courthouse.



Wyre Forest Gamers did well to put a game on at all.  Their terrain was snowed in, as were a good percentage of the figures, nevertheless they managed to stage a Jacobite Wars scenario.




The Oudenarde game was in 10mm (I think), but looking at the painting alone it would be difficult to tell.




There was also a GNW game using Prince August figures (a particular favourite of mine)



Also in small scale was this Varna game from Kallistra




Finally from this period was a Peninsular game



There were modern games, I particularly liked this Far Eastern scenario with a Japanese landing in China.  It was nice to see the beach uncluttered with armoured vehicles as so often happens in D Day games.




I do hope that the poor turnout due to the weather doesn't prevent the organisers from putting on a show in 2019.  Alumwell has had (at least for the last three years when I attended), a good range of games and traders and is a friendly local show.


Wednesday 7 March 2018

Some more new recruits and a good read

With the weather being rather adverse last week Steve and I didn't meet up for our usual game.  However, I did manage to get some 'brush' time to finish off two small units of Janissaries, the first installment of what I hope will be a large force of Ottomans.  The figures came from ebay and are some vintage castings from Hinchliffe.  As with my Muscovites I will add in some TAG and Warlord command figures as I go along.   After stripping the figures back, the paint went on quite easily and although some modern figures are thought to have more animation, I prefer these 'old style' castings.





Steve and I have decided that for our Eastern Renaissance armies, the single weapon units will be 12, 18 or 24 strong, whilst the combined units (eg Soldatski) will be 16, 24 or 32 strong.  As the individual orta seem to have been quite small (although there were  over 100 of them according to the Osprey volume on them), the 12 figure unit was chosen, though they can be combined with others to make larger formations.

The colour scheme is based on the illustration from the front cover of the Osprey volume

I have also managed to finish a book I started reading over Christmas, 


The book covers the period from 1618-1918 and is an excellent read.  Most of the books I have read on the Napoleonic period (with the exception of Gunther Rothenberg and John Gill) tend to portray the Austrian army as hopelessly outclassed and being bundled from one defeat to another.  Bassett gives the reader an Austrian perspective which resets the balance.  It is not a quick read, over 500 pages, but it is well worth it.  My mint paperback copy came from a National Trust secondhand book shop for the princely sum of £3.