Monday 16 September 2024

Summer 2024

It has been some time since I posted on the blog.  Some games have been taking place, but I just haven't got around to reporting them.  Being summer other commitments come to the fore and so this is by way of a postcard from my travels.

At the Riverside Museum in Glasgow I came across this display featuring the Glasgow built ships which ran the Union blockade to trade with the Confederate states,




The last picture was a trip down memory lane.  Way back in my youth a company which produced bubblegum decided to boost sales by including rather graphic picture cards depicting the ACW.  In addition the packs included facsimiles of Confederate currency.  Now I have never liked bubblegum, but like all my classmates I collected the cards and the money.  The latter was used in games of pontoon, fortunately not leading to a life of gambling.

I have posted about the Riverside Museum before, and included photos of ship models, but here are two more



On another day, further west we visited Tarbert on Loch Fyne.  Of interest to me here were the remains of the castle.




It was quite a climb, but the view over the harbour was worth it




Earlier ion the summer we went to Cornwall and while there we visited St Michael's Mount.  In the museum there were several artefacts collected by the family.

Flag captured at the battle of El Teb



A shield from the same source

Tuesday 30 July 2024

San Cassiano; a return to the Italian Wars

 For the last 3 or 4 weeks we have been trying to become better acquainted with "Sharp Practice" and we have now (hopefully) reached the stage where games are no longer interrupted by pauses while a particular rule is checked.  With two players and and a 'chit drawer' there is no time for the photos or making notes on the progress of the game both of which inform a post on the blog.  However, this week, we returned to more familiar territory, courtesy of a scenario devised by Steve.

The scenario is set in Italy during the Italian Wars and those two old protagonists the Duc du Merlot, commanding the French forces and the Count of Tempranillo commanding their Imperialist opponents, are both seeking a decisive battle.  The two sides met in the vicinity the minor settlement of San Cassiano.  The French, with their Swiss allies, have a slight advantage in cavalry, whereas the Imperialists have slightly more infantry.  Both commanders deploy in the classic way, cavalry on the flanks and infantry in the centre. The Duc du Merlot entrusted his right wing to the Comte de Malbec and the left to the Comte de Chardonnay.  In the centre were the Swiss and French pike blocks,  two units of crossbowmen, a light gun and a unit of halberdiers, all commanded by Lord Landroter.  Tempranillo entrusted his right wing to the Duke of Barbera and his left to Count Trebbiano.  In the centre Graf von Spatburgunder commanded the landsknecht pikes, a light gun, a unit of halberdiers and two units of arquebusiers.

The view from the Imperialist right wing

The battle began with a relatively slow advance by both armies, with the exception of Chardonnay's stradiots, who galloped forward, intent on driving off Barbera's mounted arquebusiers.  Minor casualties were inflicted by the arquebusiers, but this did not deter the stardiots from charging and unwilling to cross swords, the arquebusiers evaded, falling back in disorder.

The stradiots drive off the mounted arquebusiers

On the opposite flank Malbec continued his rather lethargic advance, perhaps heavy going slowed his gendarmes, but Trebbiano did not mind, as he was reluctant to advance too far and offer a broader front for the French to attack.  A desultory skirmishing between the mounted crossbowmen and mounted arquebusiers began, with the arquebusiers having the better of the exchanges

Little action on the Imperialist left

With his gendarmes seemingly happy to sit on their horses and await events and a messenger arriving from his commander demanding "What are you doing?" Malbec ordered a charge by his light cavalry



This resulted in an inconclusive melee, where both sides ended up having to fall back to reorder.

Meanwhile, in the centre, both bodies of infantry had advanced and the crossbowmen and arquebusiers had begun exchanging fire.  Behind them, the pike blocks had advanced, though to Lord Randroter's chagrin, the Swiss advance had been much slower than that of the French; later, accounts circulated that  reassurances regarding pay had been sought before the Swiss would commit to battle.  In any event it was the French pikemen who charged first and initially pushed back the landsknechts facing them.

The French attack
A second shove by the French caused some wavering in the landsknecht ranks and a third completed their defeat, the remnants streaming from the field.  The Swiss had now begun their advance and as they neared the Imperialist lines the Imperialist arquebusiers shot at them.  This had little effect and in a rather desperate attempt to buy some time, Spatburgunder ordered his halberdiers forward 


The Swiss close in

On the Imperialist right, Barbera's struggle with Chardonnay was reaching a decisive point.  Two units of gendarmes had charged each other and fought to a standstill, both having to withdraw to re-organise.  A second unit of Imperial gendarmes now charged a French unit of men at arms and routed them, but became disordered in the process.

A victory for the Imperial right wing

However, now the French began to gain the upper hand.  First one of their gendarme units charged and routed a unit of Imperial men at arms; then a re-match between the two units of gendarmes resulted in the rout of the Imperial unit. 


A French one...

two...

This left Barbera with a battered unit of gendarmes and a unit of mounted arquebusiers to try and hold back the French attack.  This he was unable to do and soon the gendarmes were threatening the flank of Spatburgunder's infantry

Chardonnay's units threaten the Imperial centre

They already had their hands full.  Spatburgunder had ordered forward a second landsknecht pike unit to try and halt the French advance, but they had fared no better than the previous unit and the survivors were soon streaming to the rear.


The unit of halberdiers had made no impression on the Swiss pike block; the Swiss barely missing a step as they rolled forward.

The halberdiers rout
The Swiss also made short work of the arquebusiers and this left Spatburgunder with only one formed body of troops, his third pike block.   However, they faced not only the now rampant Swiss, but also two units of gendarmes.

As do the arquebusiers

On the Imperial left Trebbiano was having some success.  Not only had he despatched the French mounted crossbowmen, but some unusually quiescent French gendarmes had simply stood as his heavy cavalry charged.  The French had routed and Trebbiano was contemplating a general advance when a rider arrived from Tempranillo ordering a retreat.

A decisive victory for the Duc du Merlot; and the Graf von Spatburgunder will have some explaining to do about the sorry performance of the landsknechts.














Sunday 30 June 2024

Gentleman Pensioners Sunday Game

 A couple of weeks ago I posted (link) that our Sunday game following the Phalanx Show would be an Eastern Renaissance battle.  What follows is a brief resume of that battle.  The situation was that an Allied army of Muscovites, Poles and Cossacks was trying to stop an Ottoman army (with some Tartar allies) from attacking the city of Kiev.

After a fairly ineffective exchange of long range artillery fire, the Ottoman forces began their advance.  The two Ottoman cavalry wings, preceded by a screen of skirmishing horse archers attempted to drive off the Allied horse archers.  In the centre a number of Azab units, both missile and melee moved forward, with Janissary units in a second wave.

Azab units about to cross the gully on the Ottoman right

The Ottoman advance was not very well co-ordinated (the Azabs could not be given brigade orders, so had to test unit by unit for movement), but did draw the fire of the Allied infantry, which was the Ottoman commander was hoping would happen.  One Azab unit did pay a heavy price, being routed before it could even fire it's opening volley.



An Azab unit routed by losses from artillery and musketry

On the Ottoman left, the cavalry battle was fierce, with several units destroyed, but the Ottoman commander was drawing more and more of the Allied cavalry into the fight. 




As the Ottoman infantry neared the Allied centre the Allied units were tempted to attack piecemeal, with varying results.
Ottoman infantry bearing down on the Allied centre

It was on the Allied left that the first real crisis came.  An Azab unit charged forward against the line of wagons covering the right flank of the Allied centre.  Through oversight, or ineptitude, the infantry commander had not garrisoned the wagons, so the only defenders were the gun crew.



They didn't offer much resistance and the chance was there for an attack on the flank of the Allied infantry.  Fortunately, the Azabs faltered and a small unit of Haiduk and a unit of Polish levy were able to drive them back.  The Allied left wing cavalry were also struggling.  After an initial success, they were repeatedly driven back, giving space for more and more Ottoman cavalry to cross the gully

The Ottoman right wing cavalry crossing the gully and pushing back
the Alliance left wing cavalry

In the centre, one unit of Soldatski had been routed, but a unit of Streltsy moved forward to attack the Azab advance.


That Streltsy attack was successful, the Azabs routing.  However, behind them were units of Janissaries and they proved a tougher nut to crack. 

Not invincible though, as a unit of Cossacks proved on the left.


By mid - late afternoon, after 4-5 hours of gaming the Ottomans had made some progress.  On both flanks their cavalry had the upper hand.  In the centre, although they had taken losses, the Allied formation had broken up with units making un co-ordinated attacks.  A third wave of janissaries and the Sipahi of the Porte were available to exploit any gaps.  For their part, the Allied army had committed most of their infantry and also some of their cavalry reserve.

The Allied left


The Boyar cavalry on the Alliance right are committed to hold
back the Ottoman light cavalry


However, approaching are the provincial sipahi


The participating Gentlemen Pensioners
Will, Chris, David, John and Steve

A most enjoyable game.  Thanks to Steve for hosting and organising things and to Gwen, his wife, for the lovely lunch.   Thanks also to Will, Chris and John who although not familiar with the rules made the game the success it was.

Monday 24 June 2024

Phalanx Show 2024

 Once again the St Helens Spartans club has organised an excellent show, with a good balance between games and trade, with the added attraction of what looked to be a thriving Bring and Buy.  In the lunch time break between participating in the Montgisard game with the Gentlemen Pensioners I managed to take a few photographs of other games of interest.

Firstly, this Boxer Rebellion game, with groups of troops from several nations attempting to rescue a group of their nationals from the besieged town.






Another 'colonial' game was offered by Tiger Miniatures, set on the North West Frontier



Next to the Lance & Longbow game were James Mitchell and Bren Dolan with a Talavera Game in 6mm



In contrast the All Independent 54mm Wargames Club also presented at Napoleonic game, in , as their name suggests 54mm scale.




The Cheshire and Staffordshire Wargamers had another game which looked Napoleonic, but on closer inspection was set in the Crimean War.  It was covering the British sector of the Alma Battlefield.



Two clubs had games set in North Africa in WWII : Beacon Gaming Club


and the Mailed Fist group




We ran our game twice and  several visitors to the show were interested enough to give our much modified 'Lion Rampant' rules a try.


In these units the spearmen can kneel, allowing the crossbowmen to fire

Sadly, Dave Lanchester wasn't able to join the Gentlemen Pensioners this time, but Andy, Chris, John, Neil, Peter and Steve were all in attendance.