Phalanx 2025 and Gentlemen Pensioners AWI Breed's Hill

 Saturday 21st June saw Will and I drive over to St Helens for the Phalanx show.  Beacon Gaming Club were involved in two games this year.  El Presidente Si Graham laid out a participation game using modified Lion Rampant rules with the Lance and Longbow Society (David and Steve).  The battle of Arsuf in the third crusade (1191 CE).  Richard the Lionheart was skirting the sea in the foreground, suddenly finding himself ambushed by Saladin and his Muslim host.  Richard was trying to prevent his knights charging off into the wild blue, so the crusaders had to roll to see if Richard changes his no charge order, succeeding on a 6 turn 1, 5+ turn 2, etc.  We played it through twice and both ended with crusader victories.

Beacon members Dave and Owain, with some assistance from Ian, put on a post D-day scenario, with British marines and paratroopers, plus Sherman support, advancing into a heavily defended built-up area.  The table looked superb and no real surprise they won best in show.

The day after Phalanx, Will and I headed across to join the Gentlemen Pensioners game organised and hosted by Steve.  This year was close enough to the 250th anniversary of Breed's Hill, part of the Bunker Hill battle during the AWI siege of Boston.  Played using Patriots and Loyalists, which none of the players had used before, but we learned quickly.

On the British right and centre, the battalions advanced at speed, initially under cover of a bombardment from two medium artillery batteries, until the target was masked by the advancing infantry.

The rebs fired off a lot of their limited ammunition, thinning the ranks of the British as they came on.

But eventually the British closed with the left flank of the redoubt, while fanning out to take the rebels lining the fences behind under fire.

Sadly, no photos of the British grenadiers storming into the redoubt at the point of the bayonet, but after a lot of losses.  The rebels were already filtering troops from their right, although the umpire, Steve, decided they would probably disengage and fall back to Bunker Hill to rearm and resupply.

Some links to Will's and David's reports.

https://willwarweb.blogspot.com/2025/06/bunker-hill-1775-refight.html?m=1

https://wargameamateur.blogspot.com/2025/07/bunker-hill-gentlemen-pensioners-sunday.html?m=1

All in all, a great couple of days gaming and adding some goodies to the stash.

Thanks for looking.

28mm Dark Ages additions

In an effort to clear out some backlog in the lead mountain, I dug out some of my Foundry sales purchases, Romano-British spears standing and command.  First up, a unit of 12 spears, led by a suitably Arthurian commander and labarum holder.  These were given white shields and apothecary white cloaks.

Another unit of spears, this time with purple cloaks and commanded by Vortigern himself.

Then I started on the most excellent Vikings from Victrix that my wife gave me for Christmas a few years back.  These will see service as Vikings, but also as early Saxons, so could be both allies and enemies of the Romano-British.

I've tried hand drawing some simple shield designs, which I quite like, but they aren't doing the figures justice, so I'll have to invest in some decals.

So, plans are to continue with the Vikings and make a start on some Victrix Late Romans to add to my Romano-Brits.  Then there are some RN sailors for Darkest Africa plus crew for various gun boats and paddle steamers and I've dusted off some Natal Mounted Police figures to get on with.  I've decided variety is the spice of life and the way to stop getting bogged down with projects.

As ever, thanks for looking.

Nam '68 game

Will and I have been trialling Nam '68 for the last few months.  I finally managed to remember to take some photos.  The terrain is all Will's, as are the American forces, while the VC are mine.

We rolled up a hot scenario, pitting two squads of US infantry, supported by two M60 teams, against a 4 card from 8 drawn on the random VC table.  My first roll got me two booby traps and two options to draw two more cards each (2 aces).  Frustratingly, they yielded 2 tunnel entrances and three snipers with bolt action rifles.  The scenario was search and destroy and the terrain was a major river ( pale grey strip in photo above).  Lots of streams feeding into the river with marsh and a couple of fisherman's huts on stilts.

Note the star shaped search point in the picture below.

Note the round tunnel entrance in the picture below.

The point squad sprinted an M16 trooper up to the first search point, only to have a booby trap detonate with the force of an 81mm mortar shell.  Enough to blow him into the next world!  KIA!

A search by his team mates revealed nothing of significance, so attention turned to the second search point by the fisherman's hut.

A tunnel entrance on the far bank meant the US forces made a series of cautious approaches as their forces built up.

Two squads eventually move out of the dense trees.

VC snipers hope to take advantage of their lack of cover.

Sadly for the VC, the American suppressive fire prevented the snipers from doing other than retreat into denser cover, but an accurate M79 blooper round killed one of the snipers with Will playing a gory death chit.  This took my morale way above the 9 I started with so the 2 remaining snipers bugged out.  With the kill ratio equal, despite the VC breaking, the rules view this as a US defeat.  Very interesting game with less than 30 US troops and 3 VC on the table.  The Americans really did seem to feel oppressed by the unwillingness to move out of cover and once the tunnels were placed, the US player still didn't know what might appear.  We were disappointed with the layout of the rules, but the more games we play the slicker the games become.

Thanks for looking.

Late Roman vs Sassanid Persion

Thursday evening, Si and I played a game of To the Strongest, pitting my Late Romans against his Sassanid Persians.  My Late Romans have a western flavour,  so probably represent one of the western pretenders operating in the east.  Roman right flank command, nearest the camera, consisted of a unit of slingers, Hun mounted bowmen, Sarmatian cataphracts and Frankish warbands, supported by cataphracts and clibinarii under the overall commander.  The centre comprised five units of legionaries supported by two units of lanciarii and three units of bowmen.  The left flank comprised two units of light horse archers and two veteran javelin armed cavalry.  With the three camps, my troops came to 202 points.  The Sassanids had flanks dominated by heavy cavalry and cataphracts, while the centre comprised units of long bowmen and deep spear armed infantry, with an escorted elephant unit.

My Frankish warbands, Victrix early Saxons, with singers to their front.

The far right flank with Hun light horse archers and Sarmatian cataphracts, backed up with the CinC's cataphracts and clibinarii.

The left flank cavalry and light horse with the edge of the legionary units in the centre.

Sadly, the action was too intense to take more photos once we got going.  It was a tight game, but lots of fun.  On the right flank, the Sarmatians and one of the Frank warbands broke, but the bosses cataphracts and clibinarii did for all bar one unit of Sassanid cataphracts, so the Romans were able to change facing and were about to try and roll up the Sassanid centre, while the Huns were about to ransack the nearby Sassanid camp.  The surviving Frankish warband and one of the legionary units were in a tussle with the Sassanid's elephant unit.  In the centre, the Romans lost some archers and lanciarii, but had disrupted lots of the Sassanid spears.  The left flank was still up for grabs, with the Romans losing a light horse unit and the Sassanids a unit of cavalry, but we felt this flank could go either way.  The veteran Roman cavalry were batting way above their weight, thanks to the superior save factor.

Sadly, too many troops to play out on a club night, but it gave a good game and we felt the table looked really good.

So, still lots of Late Romans to work on, probably going to use them as sub-Roman Brits, plus lots of Vikings who will finish up with the early Saxons and Dark Age warriors in a generic army for the period and be pressed into service as early Saxons through to Viking or later Saxon/Anglo-Dane.  Then I'm also building up a Norman/early Crusaders force, ready to appear on the painting table later in the year.

As ever, thanks for looking.

28mm Late Roman cavalry - completing some units

 Foundry had a Christmas sale so I added a pack of Late Roman cavalry to round out my shock cavalry.  Here a pair of Foundry Late Romans.

I also bought a mixed bag of Romans second hand - thanks Mr P - to complete the unit.

The complete unit for WaB or two unit for To The Strongest, a rule system which is currently popular at the club.

My other unit of shock cavalry was completed with a Foundry musician and Arthur as a Late Roman commander.

I'm currently working on some early Saxons from Victrix and Gripping Beast, with some repurposed Vikings also to be included.  These could be opponents or allies/foederati for the Late Romans or sub-Roman British.  With a bit of imagination, they could also serve as Frankish, Goths and others in the early Medieval period.

Thanks for looking.

28mm FIW British Commanders

 This pair of British mounted officers from Eagle Miniatures will be added to my French Indian Wars army.  My first foray into the period, do took quite a bit of Internet digging to get the right look.

I suspect I might need to add some coloured detail as they seem to be modelled with lace, but not turnbacks, and I can't find any suitable images online.

Thanks for looking.

28mm Muskets and Tomahawks

 Will and I played a game of Nam 68 today, but sadly didn't manage to take any photos.  These are from a game of Muskets and Tomahawks from before Christmas, which is what we planned to play today, but Si and Matt weren't well so had to cancel.

My Brits, Si's French and mostly Si's game mat and terrain - the fort is very nice.

The rules played out nicely and didn't require lots of figures, 12 for regulars, 6 for irregular Europeans and Native warbands.  Lots of nip and tuck with shifts in advantage.  It was no fun watching my loyalist Indian warband slaughtered in hand to hand, but refreshing for a British firing line laying fire on the Frenchies - very effective.

Thanks for looking.