28mm Napoleonics à la Maison de Aidan

I dropped by Aidan’s to help him give his Napoleonic collection a twirl around a battlefield today, and found the sheer number of models he has made and painted (and in some cases created whole new outfits with green putty for) amazing.  I commanded the French in the guise of General Ney, while Aidan took a rag tag Allied outfit with a British brigade masquerading as the hardened core of an army which included a Portuguese brigade and a Spanish one.  The models lit up the table in their multi coloured uniforms (Aidan’s aim being to paint up units with more blue on the Allied side, and more red on the French side to counter the traditional Red Vs Blue view) and I took a fair few pictures, with the ones below the highlights.

As for the two games we played; in the first the French began on the battlefield, the Allies off table, and, with the bulk of the Allied forces slow to arrive my cavalry managed to manoeuvre onto the flank of the British cavalry and infantry, wiping out the first, and pinning the second.  The Spanish became stuck in an unwinnable and inglorious battle for a house in the village with the French light companies, and I used the opportunity to switch my infantry to the right, defeating the British and Portuguese infantry on the way to victory.

The second battle saw us both arrive from opposite corners, and again it was the French who were quickest off the mark, with my dragoons threatened the Spanish infantry and pinning the enemy into a corner once more.  It didn’t work so well this time however, and my horsemen were swift to quit the field, along with a couple of infantry battalions.  I had enough infantry, however, to cause plenty of casualties on the advancing Allies, and their superior numbers were quickly whittled down.  An honourable draw was declared when we discovered that not only was the French infantry brigade broken, but so was the British and Spanish, leaving just some Portuguese infantry and the unpredictable British hussars.

Eye candy time.

The First Battle:

2nd Line Regiment of the French army; 1st and 2nd battalions.

French to the right sweeping forward.

French infantry advancing on the Portuguese on the edge of the village.

The French cavalry (far left) crushing the Allies into a corner.

Spanish troops trying and failing to subdue the French light infantry in the town.

British infantry.

French battalion - Wutzerburgers I think.

More French - 15th Line Regiment.

The 2nd Line Regiment, 1st battalion, off for a walk......

.......before it is called back to deal with a Portuguese counter attack.

The French hussars caused the British redcoats to form square, and then the French infantry moved in.

The brightly coloured Spaniards.

French light infantry officer.

The Second Battle:

British hussars.

The opening stages; French to the right.

French infantry pouring on.

Both sides manoeuvring for positions.

Mid way point and the battle lines are draw.

More colourful Spaniards.

My contribution!  19 Frenchmen, who looked quite dull and poor compared with Aidan's brightly coloured men.

A Saga Tournament

One evening long, long ago (well, actually last Thursday) a group of players of the Dark Age variety gathered at Deeside Defenders, and proceeded to poke and bash each other’s armies with pointy sticks and big axes until a winner was declared.  This is not their story, that is too long and I haven’t time to write it.  But there are some snippets of information, and a few pictures.

The 8 participants and the rules

The Vikings were best represented with 3 lots of vanilla Norse (Chris, Ian and Red), and one of Jommsvikings (Pete), the balance was made up by my Welsh, Luke’s Irish, Andy’s Anglo Danish, and finally Michael’s Normans.  Although you could change the composition of your warband between games as far as I know nobody did.

We played 3 rounds during a 4 hour evening, with one game per player in each round, and 4 point Saga warbands being used.  Rather than worry about pitting best against the best the tables were set side by side and when one round was finished everyone moved one chair to the left to meet a new opponent and a different battlefield.  Points were awarded as follows: 3 for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 for a defeat, and a bonus 1 point if you completely wiped out the opposition (which nobody managed, although a new came close).

Round 1:

The match ups for the first round of games was drawn from a hat; literally – Red doing the honours from a lovely Indiana Jones wannaby.  A slight delay preceded this as we ascertained that Aidan and David were unavailable to us, and we picked up Red from an obscure train station.  Once hostilities began Ian’s first ever game of Saga went well; pinching the points from a bemused looking Red, while Michael and Andy also got off to good winning starts.  My meeting with Chris’ Vikings was notable for the Vikings wish to not move at all, and my Welsh surrounded and picked them off amidst much smut, most of which surrounded the berserkers.  Shameful.

Player	Result	Player
Ian	3 – 1	Red
Luke	1 – 3	Andy
Chris	1 – 3	Rick
Pete	1 - 3	Michael

Round 2:

A round noted for controversy as two games over ran, with Pete’s Jommsvikings getting their victory over Andy’s Danes, while in the battle of the Vikings Red defeated Chris by virtue of having an extra turn.  Organisers fault unfortunately, and something I’ll control better in future.  To compensate Chris I have retrospectively awarded an addition two points to his Vikings for a 3-3 result. 

On other tables Luke’s Irish came off significantly worse against the javelin and bow-armed Welsh, who pin-cushioned them as they attempted to claim the river crossings, and the Normans finished with one model – Michael’s warlord – which was still enough to defeat Ian’s severely wounded Viking warlord in The Challenger.

Player	Result	Player
Ian	1 - 3	Michael
Luke	1 – 3	Rick
Chris	*3 – 3	Red
Pete	3 -1	Andy

Round 3:

The business end of the tournament, and another attempted river crossing saw both Michael’s Normans and Chris’ Vikings almost wiped out, with the Norman warlord again claiming the spoils by himself by being on the right side of the river.  Pete’s Jommsvikings ended as they began; with a Clash of Warlords scenario and a defeat against an elusive Welsh who lost barely any men.  Luke fell afoul of Red’s shield wall, and finally Andy managed to mug Ian’s warlord for a quick win, and it was all over.

Player	Result	Player
Ian	1 - 3	Andy
Luke	1 – 3	Red
Chris	1 – 3	Michael
Pete	1 - 3	Rick

Finishing Table & Summing Up:

Position	Player	Faction	Points
1.	Michael	Normans	9
2.	Rick	Welsh	9
3.	Andy	Anglo Danish	7
4.	Red	Vikings	7
5.	Pete	Jommsvikings	5
6.	Ian	Vikings	5
7.	Chris	Vikings	5
8.	Luke	Irish	3

While it was intended that any warbands that ended on the same points would use the immortal rock, paper, scissors to decide who finished higher, when the time came a swift exit to catch a train was required.  So instead I have ordered it in terms of beard quality.  This meant that Michael’s wispy whiskers trounced my stubble, while Luke was probably lucky not to be hounded from the building due to his fresh faced appearance.

Winner: Michael & the Normans

So it is over, the first ever Saga tournament and it appears to have been a success.  Plenty of 1 vs 1 games were played, to the confusion of a few players who were used to only participating in the Feast of Crows multi-player version.  Some stuck with the same scenario every game, others chopped and changed – personally I enjoyed playing 3 different scenarios against 3 very different opponents.  It was all played in good humour, and in a relaxed atmosphere which brought sentiments concerning day-long tournaments in the same format.

Special mentions section:

Thank you to Pete for the use of his buildings and transporting much of the participants at some point or another.

Thank you to Luke for the use of his river and explaining the game of Saga to Ian.

Also to Ian and Andy for their sterling work setting up the tables before most had arrived, thank you!

Finally to Red, who braved public transport both ways from deepest North Wales to be there – dedication of the highest order and much appreciated.

Red vs Chris - Viking vs Viking and The Challenger scenario.

Reds shieldwall.

Michael's Norman warlord on his way to surviving by himself and defeating Ian's Vikings single handedly.

Jommsvikings against Anglo Danes (near side) - Pete vs Andy.

My Welsh horse try to storm a bridge held by a single Irishman.  It took me two turns.

The other bridge and the Irish run into a hail of welsh javelins.

Chris' warlord escapes away from Reds warband.

Beserkers fighting Vikings in the village.

Jommsvikings looking good.

Jommsviking warlord.

Chris' warlord acting as cheerleader (again) as Michael's Normans halt the charge over the bridge.

Vikings vs Anglo Danes - Ian vs Andy.

Work In Progress.....March 2014

Unsurprisingly after a good month comes a fairly bad one.  I have had one success though in that I managed to varnish my American Civil War union troops (all 30 bases), and they were so ready that I managed to get them on a gaming table!  This makes my purchased/painted total look lovely.  I also got tinkered with all of my Saga Welsh models by adding some extra green flock to their bases, which I have covered in the irrepresable post – The Welsh Get Grass.

In terms of gaming the Race To The Rhine Flames of War campaign finished, with me drawing with Phil, and the Allies winning by an (unsurprising) landslide.  The next campaign is being run by Phil, and is mid war and based in Africa, waiting with baited breath to see how it turns out.  My Royalists also got an outing, along with most of my scenery as they tried in vain to defend the Queens Baggage (see post) against Luke and Red.

Things to look forward to this month are the Flames of War British company which I’m working on – I’ve only Shermans so far but I’ve even gone as far as buying paint!  A small Saga tournament I’m organising on the 17^th, and perhaps the start of this Africa campaign.

Purchased: 0

Painted: 36