It's All Greek To Me

As the current heat remains largely unabated here in large parts of the UK, pretty much all gaming related activity has come to a halt. Free time has been spent trying to keep my plants alive, to the point that watering them has become rather onerous to say the least. It is a rare thing to wish for cloud and rain here in the UK! I have also been having fun with my woodturning, but you can have too much of a good thing, and so I needed a break from this. As painting is off the table at present, I decided to try and get a game or two in.

Initially my plan was to do a sort of continuation of an AVBCW campaign that I've dabbled in on and off over the years, but for that to happen, some painting needs to be done first. But more on that later. Instead I plumped for the Greco-Italian War 1940, which I've been wanting to do for sometime, but never quite got around to it. In the past I've done the odd one off game, but the chance to do a mini-campaign never quite materialised, until now.

Naturally I needed to re-fresh my memory on the opening stages of the conflict, so picked up these two excellent books from my small library.

The Osprey gives a very good overview of the campaign, along with some useful maps, as one would expect, but it is the 'Hollow Legions' one that really gives lots of useful info for the wargamer. Having mulled over whether to go with the Littorale group along the coast and the possibility of some amphibious landings of some sort, in the end I went with the 23rd Infantry Division (Ferrara) and the 131st Armoured Division (Centauro) and their advance towards the Kalpaki crossroads. This gives me three scenarios, which is just about right for this sort of mini-campaign. This will be very much inspired by rather than a strictly historical one as, if I used the latter approach, it would be a rather dull affair I feel. Famous last words of course!

The table is set up ready for the game, but more on that in another post.

Wars of the Roses

I have managed to carry on playing some simple trial games with my wooden blocks to get more au fait with the 'Test of Resolve' rules. I've learnt a lot, which is good, which will help me as and when I get around to painting some figures at some point in the future. I did treat myself to two of the scenario books and one on standards and liveries etc, as I know sod all about the latter. Again this will be a very useful reference when I do get around to the painting of the units.

Painting

I did manage to get some base colours on a unit for my AVBCW forces in between heatwaves, but since then it really hasn't been the right temperature to try and paint at all. Also with the windows constantly open, everywhere is covered in a fine layer of dust, rather reminiscent of the Harmattan when I live in Nigeria!

What Next?

The plan is to kick off the Greco-Italian campaign later today, so hopefully an AAR will be up in the next day or so. The Waterloo game is still on for the first week in August, so I'm rather looking forward to that and meeting up with some old friends. Colours wargames show is only about 6 weeks away, which is rather scary as to me that sort of marks the end of Summer and the move away from gardening and back towards wargaming and painting. No details yet on what games are on this year, but I'm keeping my eyes peeled.

Well with Blogger still playing silly buggers, who knows if and when this post might appear. So if it does, any comments are greatly appreciated as always!

TTFN.

A Test Of My Resolve

This year I had no plans to buy any new rules, given that I was pretty happy with everything that I had and used regularly. Afterall my bookshelf has plenty of rules that were bought, glanced at and never really did what I hoped they would. Maybe one day I'll get around to selling them or sending them to a charity shop.

But my resolve was sorely tested when I read Norm Smith's excellent review of the 'Test of Resolve' rules on his Blog. For once these rules intrigued me and, after a bit of deliberation, I decided to treat myself to a bit of retail therapy, as life had been rather hectic on the parent carer front.

The 'new' print of the rules, with a contents page and definitions section which really helps when looking for or reading through the rules.

Not the cheapest rules, but being self-published and with an admittedly limited audience compared to the 'Big Boys' of the industry, I was very happy with what I received. After a couple of read throughs, these really seemed to be perfect for the solo players and as one would expect, they are very much full of period flavour.

Now whilst I do not have any figures based up for this period, I have some that cold at a squeeze, pass muster, but given these will be mainly used for solo play, it's only me I need to keep happy! If I was to do two 'Starter Forces', I worked out that I would need at least several hundred figures, possibly up to five hundred, which was a daunting prospect painting wise, aside from the financial implications.

So instead, for the moment, I went down the route of using my wooden blocks to allow me to get to grips with the rules, the size of games like to play etc. Luckily these blocks are a perfect fit for what I would most likely use base wise, namely 25mm square ones, with unit frontages of 50mm or 100mm if in 'wide' formation.

Said blocks all set up to run through the basic scenario, on a 2' x 2' board. This is a tad small, but currently works well as I can put it down anywhere with minimal fuss and roll the dice.

From my trial games so far, which have been VERY basic, I'm really taken with these rules, as not only do I feel like I'm playing a WotR game, but the inherent friction within the system makes for really good solo play. As Norm mentioned on his Blog, the run of the cards and the actions that arise from them, prevent one from going about the game in the same old fashion, something that I've been very conscious of when I tried pre-Black Powder period games.

To help me with some inspiration and a bit of background reading, I pulled the following fodwn from the bookshelf.

I remember when these came out, as at our local show, these were incradibly popular and certainly breathed new life into a period that wasn't gamed that much, or so it seemed to me.

Suddenly every 'Tom, Dick & Harry' seemed to be jumping on the band wagon, with Lion Rampant II containing some sample warbands, and then HCII having a section on the WotR, before this supplement came out. This is a great book and I'd forgotten it has a nice and simple campaign section in the back, which I hope to use in due course.

A superb book that highlights to me at least about how little we actually know about the battles, how the armies fought etc. In the end I think it will be down to personal preference whether you have 'Bow & Bill' units as per HCII, or go with seperate Archers & Foot as per Test of Resolve.

Another cracking book and one that again highlights how little we really know.

As we are in the 3rd heatwave of the year and once again breaking records on multiple fronts, I hope to give these rules a good run out in the next few days, as frankly it's too hot to do anything else after about 10.00am!

WWII

I had planned on doing some more painting on my AVBCW forces, alongside sorting out a possible Greek campaign again, but a mix of the heat, 'real life' and these new rules has put all of this on hold. I did look through the very good Osprey book on the first part of the Greek campaign, just to refresh my understanding of things, so progress in that respect.

I also bought Max Hasting's book on Sword Beach, which Norm Smith had highlighted as being very heavily discounted at a supermarket, so I was happy to find that Amazon had price matched it as it were. I do like his writing style so this is most likely my next read, aside from perusing some WotR texts.

Woodworking

In between the heatwaves, I was able to pop into the garage and have some more fun doing some woodturning, which I find is a nice and therapeutic break from my life as a parent carer. Wargaming hits the same spot too, but I was in the mood to do some turning, which can be seen below:

Some small Yew bowls and bud vase, all about 4" diameter. A joy to turn and they come up to a smooth finish and should develop a lovely patina as they age.

What Next?

Well with the heat not breaking for at least another 5-6 days, trying to stay cool and get a good sleep will be the number one priority! I do have Waterloo game scheduled for 4th August at Shrivenham, which should be good. Being an all day affair this should be a real treat and a good chance to meet up with some old gaming friends and some new ones to boot. 

As Blogger has been up to its very annoying tricks of late, whether anyone gets to see this is a mute point. However, if you have received this, then I'm happy and as always, any comments greatly received!

TTFN.

The Wars Of The Roses - A Trial Game

These past few weeks I've been doing a lot of reading with regards to the WotR, as it's a period I know very little about. Alongside this I've been running a few quick try out games using the Hail Caeser! rules and the WotR supplement that came out last year, to get a handle on the basic mechanics and to see if I enjoyed the games or not. To aid me in this I dug out my block armies, which were made for this very purpose. 

I kept verything very simple so that I could focus on the gameplay itself, without any chrome getting in the way, as there are lots of options one could add on, which would only compicate things at this stage. The battle was a simple line up and have a go at each other, so not too far from what appeared to have happened in many of the battles from this period.

Each side had a Vanguard, Mainguard and Rearguard, which consisted of 3 units of Household troops (Bill & Bow) and a unit of Men-at-Arms. No Artillery or Light cavalry was used to keep things simple, as I'm still learning what might have passed for tactics and deployment during these Wars. 

So onto the action!

Both sides lined up ready to knock the living daylights out of each other. The yellow dice record the number of arrows available and the tall square block are the MAA. The circles are for the commanders of each Division.

The end of Turn 1. Blue opened with a very Frederickian oblique attack, due to the Vanguard failing to move the the Rearguard being rather keen to get stuck in. The Red Mainguard was disrupted by the Blue arrowstorm early on, leading it somewhat broken up, but the Vanguard and Rearguard moved forward to engage in volleys of arrows. Both sides started taking hits and some Disorder.

The end of Turn 2. Both sides continued to close and the arrowstorms saw each side lose a unit of Household troops (the irregular organised blocks at the bottom of the photo).

The end of Turn 3. The Red Vanguard comes under pressure as it loses another unit of Houshold troops, forcing them to charge in to try and turn the battle in their favour. Elsewhere the arrows continued to fly, with Blue losing two unit of Household troops as a result, putting pressure on the Vanguard and Mainguard.

Battle is joined as the Red Vanguard if forced into some close combat, but it is a draw and both sides remain locked together.

The Read Mainguard appear to have a slight advantage over the Blue Mainguard.

The Red Rearguard has an advantage here.

The end of Turn 4. The battle degenerates into local scrums, with Red just having a slight advantage, but it is very messy!

The Red Vanguard is forced back and is now a Broken Division, so would have to retreat unless it could Rally a hit off somewhere, but this is unlikely as the Blue Rearguard would most likely follow up and press their advantage.

Both Mainguards are struggling for an advantage, but Red is in a slightly better position at the moment.

The Red Rearguard has broken the Blue Vanguard's MAA and are in better shape to press home their advantage.

End of the Game

I had to call the game at this point as I was required elswhere. Looking at it both sides were in pretty poor shape, with each flank broadly under the control of one side and the centre about Evens. So a bloody draw would seem a fair outcome.

Post Game Thoughts

Well I enjoyed that and it was certainly quick and quite brutal at times, with units suddenly breaking under the hail of arrows coming their way. The trial games beforehand paid off as I felt fairly comfortable playing a full game as it were. I'm sure I made a few errors here and there, but nothing major as far as I can tell. So a few thoughts from my games so far:

• The Arrowstorm rules works really nicely, with the battle opening with an archery duel, either at long or short range. The latter is more deadly so you need to maybe husband your arrows, but have to be careful not to be broken with some still in your quiver!
• The Breaktests give a nice distinction between Ranged and Close Combat attacks, with the former leading to units breaking or retreating more often than those that are stuck knocking the living daylights out of each other.
• When to Hold Disordered or Retreat In Good Order is a bit of a quandry, as being Disordered is not ideal but retreating might leave a flank exposed to an attack, certainly later on in the game once units are quite close to each other.
• Having only 6 Turns of game play means you really need to get stuck in from the off, which is a nice change from say Black Powder II or Honours of War.

What Next?

Well not a lot gaming or painting wise, as we have family coming over to stay for a few weeks, so a full house and the gaming room being used as an office-cum-bedroom means I will have time, nor space to game or paint. Still at least I have plenty of books to read!

I will due a review of the Hail Caesar! WotR supplement in due course and my thoughts on the period too, hopefully in a few days. So far I'm enjoying my trial games and HC! too as a set of rules, which is of course a good thing.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the brief AAR and as always, any comments greatly appreciated!

TTFN.