With the second Cotswold Wargaming Day only a few days away, Dave and I got together to give the Battle of Kurudere from the Crimean War a quick run through. Previously we had played this out with bath tubbed forces and on a 4' x 4' table. For the show we decided to use the standard 6' x 4' board as per the scenario and with full forces for both sides. It was really useful to have the run through to sort a few things out in our minds in advance, which will hopefully make the set up and the day go more smoothly.
The gaming board I made myself from 6mm and 9mm mdf. I followed the BBB map as closely as possible. I had intended to add quite a bit of detail to the board, but a sudden increase of workload at work put pay to this, but actually I love the Old School simplicity of the look. I've still a little bit of work to do, but not more than a few hours.
Below are some pics from the run through, which I hope you enjoy.
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| The overall view of the table. |
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| The Russians in and around Kurudere and Poldervan. |
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| The Turks on the Karayal hill. |
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| A view from the Russian lines. |
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| The end of Turn 1 (I think?). |
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| Turkish re-inforcements begin to arrive. |
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| The Turks advance towards the Russians. |
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| Masses of Turkish re-inforcements arrive. |
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| The Russians appear to be threatened on their flanks, but working on interior lines aids their defence. |
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| The action continues on the Karayal. |
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| The Turks struggle to press their attacks in any co-ordinated fashion, |
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| The view from the Turkish side. |
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| The Turks try to split the Russian defence. |
Eagle eyed readers will note that we were actually using French and Prussian Napoleonic figures for the game, due to Dave having the forces to hand and the fact that the Crimean War was largely Napoleonic in nature. I also cheekily added in some Minion figures for a bit of fun, with them seeing who would win and possibly become a Gru like leader for them...
Steve, I find your topographical-style, green board very pleasing to the eye.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jonathan. As I said I was rather unsure about it but, once everything was laid out and on the table, I really liked it. Also gameswise it makes it easy to clearly distinguish important features in games terms, thus aiding decision making.
DeleteSteve, I like the bespoke terrain, contours are such a tricky thing for wargamers. I totally get the visual thing of important features standing out, so that the terrain is properly 'read'. I was having a similar discussion a few weeks ago with a friend, who was not keen on some game graphics, missing the point that the map actually gave a commanders appreciation of what features were important and how routes of concealment were easier to identify.
ReplyDeleteThanks Norm, glad you like and appreciate the terrain. It took myself a while to get used to the 'lack' of terrain in BBB, after so many years of hedges blocking lines-of-sight etc. However once you get it into your head in terms of the level the rules work at, it all makes perfect sense.
DeleteLooking good Steve, we gave our scenario a run through last week to iron out the kinks. Not look now, looking forward to catching up for a natter on Sunday.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Stu
Thanks Stu and looking forward to seeing your game too and having a natter:)
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