FK&P AAR: Muscovites vs Ottomans

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One of the great things about the To The Strongest system is that you can fight a decent sized battle in a couple of hours and still get a definitive result.

Thus it was that after our game featuring Ayyubids and Crusaders, Rob and I still had time for a game of For King & Parliament/Eastern Front variation. Rob would take the Ottomans, I would play the Muscovite.

The game began with strong advances on both sides, in particular with the Turkish horse seeking to break through on the Muscovite right flank.

The fighting opened on the left flank, with a massive cavalry clash between ten units of cavalry: five Turkish, five Russian.

The Muscovites had managed to get a tactical advantage: getting into position to be able to charge into the flank of the Ottoman line. Unfortunately, the Turkish horse proved extraordinarily resilient, failing to take any damage even when attacked from front and flank!

Not a bad set of saves!

Despite this resilience, the initial clash went to the Muscovites, who now still had five units of cavalry versus the three remaining to the Turks.

This advantage was, however, an illusion: the Muscovite horse had been badly disordered in the initial clash and, as the two lines closed again, it was the Ottomans who burst through the Russian line, evening up the scores to three remaining cavalry units each.

Meanwhile, on the right flank, the Ottomans were definitely dominating the situation after the Muscovite Cossack and Tatar allies had suffered a ‘mare on first contact, leaving the Turks utterly dominant in that sector of the battlefield.

Meanwhile, in the centre, the Ottoman Janisseries watched the action, unmoved…

Back to the left flank, and the Turks saw an opportunity to wipe another Muscovite cavalry unit off the field with a flank charge stymied by the cards.

This gave me the opportunity to move their targets to safety, but in one of those quirks of fate that makes FK&P so exciting, the Sons of Boyars decided that they would rather be flank-charged after all!

The Turks were keen to oblige, de-Boyarising the table with ease. At the same time, the rest of the Ottoman cavalry on that flank charged forwards and that, combined with the losses on the right flank, was enough to send the remainder of the Russian army fleeing back towards Moscow!

Well that had been an epic game, well won by the Ottomans: their cavalry had proved unstoppable even by the usually super tough Muscovites!

Another great game!

TTS AAR: Ayyubid Egyptian vs Early Crusader

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Having painted up all my Berber spearmen, it was time to get them onto the tabletop where, as part of an Ayyubid Egyptian army, they would face the Early Crusaders.

As I watched the Crusaders deploy, I began to evolve a plan: I placed all my cavalry on my right flank intending to overwhelm the Christian Knights in front of me whilst the rest of my army held back.

The two cavalry forces quickly got to grips on the right flank but try, as I might and even with the advantage of numbers, I just couldn’t break the enemy Knights: even when outflanked by my lights they just shrugged off any damage and carrried on.

At the same time as my plan was being thwarted on the right, the Crusaders were trying to outflank me on the left. Fortunately, I had an infantry command ready to cover that flank and, just as the enemy Knights on the right, they were able to hold their ground against everything thrown against them.

In fact, the troops on the hill were so successful at repelling Crusader Knights and Arriere Bans that they were able to begin pushing forward.

That was both wings tied up, but what of the centre?

With one of my infantry commands tied up protecting the left flank, that left three units of Berber Spearmen (one the veteran Black Guard) facing all the Crusader foot. Fortunately, their deployment meant that I wouldn’t necessarily have to face them all at once: the pilgrim contingent on the right of the Crusader line would initially be fighting thin air!

The two sides closed quickly.

My troops on the right of the line were victorious, sending a unit of Crusader infantry fleeing the field. To their left, however, the Arab Spearmen were pushed back, but managed to retreat to a safe distance to reform.

The rest of the Crusader infantry then finally got into a position where they could join the fun, and the melee neatly pivoted through 90 degrees.

Meanwhile the battle between my cavalry and the Crusader knights on my right flank was still very much in the balance: try as I might, my Jund cavalry, even supported by all those lights nipping at the Crusader flanks, just couldn’t break the veteran Norman horsemen.

Sidenote: I can’t help feeling that if I had been facing my Venetian Knights, the Arabs would have wiped them out in one turn! Why can’t my Knights ever survive attack after attack in the same way?

Some Crusader infantry came to help the Knights, and a cunning use of the Cry Havoc! stratagem card (caltrops!) almost derailed my attack entirely, but the Arab horse survived and the fight went on.

Things were also starting to look a bit dicey on the left, where the Crusader Knights there were having a bit of a resurgence…

…but in the centre a lucky run of cards knocked the enemy Arriere-Bans off the table, and I only needed a couple more coins to win.

In the end the battle was decided on the right, as the cavalry unit that had retreated back from the enemy caltrops managed to catch a unit of Crusader infantry in the flank as they moved to intervene in the big battle on the right. Already disordered, the Crusader foot crumbled under the onslaught of the Jund, and the game was mine!

That had been an epic battle, with thrills and spills throughout.

All kudos to the two units of veteran Crusader Knights facing my right flank, who at one stage were keeping four units of cavalry and four units of light cavalry occupied, and it was really only a bit of luck in the middle of the field that would eventually give me the game.

TTS AAR: Venice Abroad versus Marian Romans - Take 2

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After my narrow defeat at the hands of Peter’s Marian Romans, there was time for another game, so we cleared everything from the table and started again.

Peter immediately saw an opportunity to overwhelm me on my right hand flank: sending his men forward as fast as they could go.

In response, I retreated my infantry on that side back into my fortified camp, hoping to lure him forward even further to expose his right flank to my Knights.

The Romans are very manoeuvrable, however, and, with my infantry temporarily not a threat, Peter now snapped them around to present a solid frontage to the marauding Venetian horse.

My Knights turned to pin the Romans in place, and out of my camp came my infantry again, looking for those elusive Roman flanks!

I needed some form of strike now, whilst the Romans were still somewhat off-balance trying to fight in two different directions at once.

The oportunity came with my Someone Has Blundered stratagem card: one of the Roman legionary units replayed an activation card with their General, and I converted their move into a smart about turn, exposing their rear to the ternder ministrations of my Later Knights.

This did expose my Knights to a counter-charge from a small unit of Legionaries on their flank, but I thought the risk worthwhile to knock a full unit of Legionaries off the table and force lots of other Romans to make a Rally check.

I was now in a cracking position: on the advance with one command of Knights, the other poised to attack, and with infantry threatening the Roman flank. Surely it would now just be a matter of rolling up the Latins and sending them scurrying from the field!

Unfortunately not!

The Romans are a tough bunch, Peter a canny commander, and those two factors combined with a poor run of cards knocked the Venetians for six!

First up, the light infantry in the woods twice failed to charge the Roman flank, also ending that command’s activation before it could really get started.

Secondly, my Later Knights proved once again to be wearing cardboard armour, and just evaporated from the field. Note that, in the second picture, Peter has also drawn a ten over a nine to be able to continue his charge!

My dreams of victory over the Master had turned into nightmares and, at this point, I very maturely threw all my toys out of the pram and threatened to resign the game and go home in a huff!!!

I eventually calmed down, however, and got back to the business of trying to retrieve the situation. Here’s an overview shot showing what’s what. As you can see, it’s not quite as bad as it could have been for the Venetians: the forces remaining and tactical positions are about even.

On the far right of the field, the Roman cavalry had been trying to get around my flank, but had been stymied by a unit of Venetian Spearmen. These then chased the Roman horsemen right back to their camp, but wouldn’t quite get in to finish them off before the end of the game.

Meanwhile, a confused melee broke out in the centre of the field, with the remaining units on both sides fighting for the game.

First up, the Venetian Alabardiers had outflanked a Roman Legionary unit, but just couldn’t manage to break the veterans, only managing to drive them back into the Roman camp.

Next, my remaining units of Knights charged forward. One managed to break another unit of Legionaries, but was thenkilled by light cavalry coming at it from the flanks and rear.

The other also broke a unit of Legionaries, leaving the game poised on an absolute knife edge: next kill would win the victory!

All I needed to do was to let Peter’s current turn end, then I had a couple of chances to win the game. Unfortunately, I never got that chance: Peter’s last activation was to send just about his last unit of Legionarirs into the flank of my Knights. They had two chances to hit, only hit once, and all I needed was a 6+ to save. Naturally I failed, lost four coins (their General had nowhere to go), and that was that!

Well that had been a very bloody game of To The Strongest and a very frustrating one for the Venetians.

They had defintiely had the advantage after the initial deployment and early stages of the game; then had many chances to do some serious damage to the Romans in the middle of the game before the Aces hit; and even in the game’s second half seemed to have done enough to win.

But that’s the way it goes sometimes: and all credit to Peter for rescuing what seemed like a doomed situation at least twice.

I’ll get him eventually!

TFL Painting Challenge: Late July Update

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Here’s the latest batch of entries for this year’s Painting Challenge.

First up, Dex has had a very productive few days producing both a Hungarian platoon and a Japanese Special Naval landing Force in 15mm:

There are more figures in his gallery, accessible from the top NavBar, and I’d always recommend looking at people’s full galelries rather than the selection I post here on the updates.

Next up, Mark Luther who has replaced all his telephone poles (66 of them) and found time to add a few more aircraft to his collection as well:

Melvin has been busy too: working towards finishing a Norse and a Congo project. I’m not quite sure what he means by this word “finished” but it’s probably an excuse to buy more figures!

Along the same lines, Mr Burt uses the words “final batch” in his e-mail to me. Well, I know what a “batch” is, but I think we all know that the word “final” is, shall we say, flexible in wargaming collection terms…

And last, but by no means least, here is Mr Helliwell with his usual mass entry. Lots of Napoleonics and Medievals for us to enjoy.

Keep them coming!

TTS AAR: Venice Abroad versus Marian Romans

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Here’s an After Action Report of a game of To The Strongest played as a practice session for this year’s Briton competition: my Venetians versus Peter’s Marian Romans.

I have Marian Romans, so I know how manoeuvrable they are, so it was no surprise when Peter set up with all his troops in one quarter of the battlefield with a command of light cavalry on the other flank: his intention being to either fight his whole army against only part of mine, or have the light cavalry get around my flank with disastrous results, or use the Romans’ manouevrability to react to whatever I did, or a combination of all three!

My plan was to send my knights forward into the Roman half of the battlefield, and then turn to the right and hopefully hammer the Romans from front and flank as my infantry came forward.

First, however, I needed to make sure that I kept an idea on that enemy light cavalry. This was a job for my mounted crossbowmen, who quickly shot down the veteran Numidians, removing one threat to my left flank.

Meanwhile, the Romans had expanded out of their initial tight formation, and were manouevring into a position where they could fight to both front and flank.

I did see an opportunity to kill another of the light cavalry units by squishing them between two unit of Knights, but unfortunately the cards were having none of it and the moment quickly passed.

Despite this minor setback, my plan unfolded nicely, and when contact was properly made with the Romans, it was generally with my troops having the advantage either from flank charges or being able to get two units onto one enemy one.

Unfortunately, although the cards I’d had for moving around the battlefield were decent enough, that good fortune didn’t extend to the actual combats themselves, and the initial clash left the Venetians down a unit of Knights and Spearmen having destroyed only one small unit of legionaries.

Meanwhile, on the right, the Venetian Alabardiers drove the Roman cavalry back towards their camp. For a moment I had visions of killing the enemy horse and taking the Roman camp, but forcing Peter withdrew a Legionary unit from the front line to combat this threat, and soon my right flank was empty of all Venetian troops except a couple of units of handgunner lights!

The battle was definitely not going my way: the manoeuvrability of the Romans combined with their veteran status making them very hard to kill.

I did, however, still have some Knights out of the left flank and, in a glorious charge back into the centre of the field, the “Broken Lances” rode down and destroyed an entire Legionary unit in one legendary thump from the flank!

That put me right back in the game, especially as the Roman formation had now got slightly extended, with the game breaking up into a series of individual combats.

So all I needed was one more turn where my flank charges went in and my shooting was effective and I could still win the game.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. At this crucial moment my veteran Knights (technically saving on a five, but obviously wearing their cardboard armour) were knocked off the table by a unit of Legionaries pulling a ten and then a decent melee card to get one final successful attack before Peter’s turn ended.

That was a very frustrating end to what had been a great game: and the closest I have come to beating Mr Riding for some time…but I was at least pleased that I had dealt with the initial Roman deployment and first phase of the battle well, even if the actual fighting bits hadn’t gone my way. Previously I would have let the enemy light cavalry harrass me from the flank and ended up with my Knights fighting air whilst the rest of the Romans mashed through my infantry to give Peter an easy victory…so an improvement of sorts at least!

Adding to the Caliphate

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With my 15mm Arab Conquest army now veterans of several tabletop encounters, I am now in the process of adding units in order to expand it into one of the later caliphate armies such as the Umayyads who invaded the Iberian peninsular.

First up are the infantry, who transitioned from largely Arabic warbands to units of Berber spearmen sometimes incorporating archers. This was actually a real pain: having painted 160 Arab warriors, I now had to paint another 160 Berber spearmen!

The Balck Guard veterans and a couple of the units had already been done (see post from 20th May) so it was now just a question of slogging through the rest. These are all Red Copper sculpts printed by Baueda in Italy before they were sold back to the UK.

Luckily the Berbers are easy to paint: or at least they are the way that I paint them!

Undercoat in Grey Seer, then splash on a base coat on Contrast White paint. Leave to dry. Then dry brush a bright acrylic White over the Contrast White to give you the folds in the robes. Then paint the faces, eye slits and hands in a dark flesh Contrast paint. After that, the sash and headdress in a Contrast colour of your choice: here I have used Stormfiend Blue.

After that, it’s just a matter of finishing the figures. The Spear shafts are in Wyldwood, the pennants in a variety of Contrast colours. The shields are Wyldwood (painted at the same time as the spears) then drybrushed in bronze then washed with Agrax Earthshade.

Easy and quick to do: about three hours per unit.

FK&P AAR: Ottomans versus Habsburgs

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I wanted to get my Ottomans onto the table again, and who better for them to fight than a largely-proxied Habsburg army to represent an encounter from the Habsburg-Ottoman War of 1663-4 (aka the fourth Austro-Turkish War).

I would play the Ottomans and, as you’ll see from the picture above, deployed with my household cavalry on the right, facing the Habsburg cavalry; the Janissery foot in the centre; and three more units of horse (including the fanatical Deli) on the left. My plan was to win the game with my cavalry, as I didn’t fancy facing the Habsburg pikemen with my Janisseries.

Accordingly, I sent my horse forward on both wings but, on the right, held back my elites ready to exploit any success.

A massive cavalry melee broke out as my Sipahis charged into the Habsburg cuirassiers, with neither side particularly getting an advantage.

The Habsburgs then committed their infantry, trying to shoot my horsemen down from the flank.

This was, of course, the moment I had been waiting for: sending my elite Sipahis of the Guard crashing into the flank of the Habsburg infantry as it turned to bring fire.

In a glorious charge, the elite horsemen punched a hole right through the Habsburg line, sending their infantry fleeing from the field.

Note the fact that I have also now brought up the Janisseries: with the enemy pikemen distracted (to say the least) now was the time to pour their disciplined fire into the Habsburg infantry.

This was too much for the Habsburgs to bear, especially as the Deli and more Sipahi were now working their way around the other flank: their army retreated in as good an order as they could.

This relatively quick win left us time for another game.

This time, I set up in much the same way as before but, noticing that the Habsburgs had what looked like a very weak left wing, determined that that would be the point of my attack: the plan being to smash through there and then loop around into the rear of the main Habsburg line.

To conceal my intentions, I initially hung back on the right, and advnaced strongly in the centre, seeking to pin the Habsburgs in place whilst my plan unfolded.

With the cards being helpful for a change, my plan worked to perfection, with the Sipahis breaking through the enemy Croat light horsemen, opening the way for the rest of my cavalry to pour through the gap.

Seeing their position turned, the Habsburgs again chose to retreat from the field: aiming to fight another day rather than stand and potentially be slaughtered.

A couple of great games of For King & Parliament - Eastern Front, with the Habsburgs left wondering just how they could beat the marauding Ottoman horse!

IABSM AAR: Taking the Starmaskaya Bridge

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Regular visitors will have seen the two recent reports featuring the excellent Starmaskaya table put on by legendary IABSM duo Phil and Jenny: one from a preview game and one my own report from this year’s Operation Market Larden event.

Here now is a third report using the same terrain layout, but an earlier, playtest battle with a report from the excellent Bleaseworld blog: highly recommended as a regular site to visit.

Click on the picture below to see all:

TTS AAR: To The Smallest Game 4: Arab Conquest vs Later Carthaginians

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My final game at this year’s To The Smallest competition was an absolutely bonkers affair against other-Rob’s Later Carthaginians.

I say ‘absolutely bonkers’ as I’ve never played a game of To The Strongest quite like it. Seven of the eight Generals that started the game died; I was pulling 10’s out of the pack like there were no lower cards present; victory could have gone to either side in the final stages of the battle ; and the whole 160 point game was over in 45 minutes!

So what actually happened…

First up, Arab mounted infantry and the Take the High Ground” strategem card meant that the two sides started the game really close together:

The first action was on the far left, where Rob had been trying to sneak a unit of massed light cavalry around my flank. Not wanting this to happen, I sent some light camelry in that direction, thinking to intercept the Numidians in a turn or so.

The cards, however, were with me, and pulling a couple of tens in a row meant that I hit the lights in the flank right when they were on the edge of the field.

Although the camels didn’t manage to destroy the Numidians, they did disorder them, and for the rest of the game the two sides knocked seven bells out of each other without either side actually managing to finish off their opponent.

Meanwhile, on the other flank, some more Numidian cavalry had managed to get onto my flank, and despite the fact that they were raw massed lights, eventually managed to wipe out the cavalry command I had stationed there!

This was a bit unfortunate, but the cavalry had managed to take some of the enemy with them, so not a total loss.

Back to the centre, which had neatly divided into two halves as the two battle lines moved together.

Left-of-centre, I had a couple of units of Jund cavalry facing vast numbers of Celtic types - these Carthaginians are a mixed bunch! - but the Jund were on form smashing one warband from the field and moving up to engage the others. My cards had been very good here: lots of tens!

Generals had been dying in droves at this point: Rob had already lost three, and I had lost two, and at two Victory Medals apiece, that can really cut into your cache!

Right of centre, the action developed into a massive infantry melee as deep units of Hoplites and Spearmen smashed into my Warriors (half of them Fanatics).

Disorder markers rained down on the units involved, with the advantage slightly with me as my Fanatics ignored the associated penalty on combat ability.

The luck, however, stayed with me, and a final flurry of ten’s from my infantry (in defence as well as attack) and the death of the last remaining Carthaginians general gave me another five coins and the game.

I had won 16-9, but that didn’t really represent how close the game was. I had taken the last of Rob’s coins with a deep unit and a general going i.e. five coins, so before that, we had been on 11-9 in my favour. If my fanatics had gone (I’d already lost their general!) then the score would have been 11-12 in Rob’s favour with all to play for.

It had been a great game, played at a rapid rate of knots, full of action and much hilarity, especially as one general after another bit the dust. A great way to end the tournament. In the end, I came 6th overall, not bad for two wins and two losses…and it’s always a pleasure to game at Firestorm and to see the TTS crowd again.

TTS AAR: To The Smallest Game 3: Arab Conquest vs Ayyubid Egyptian

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My third game at this year’s To The Smallest 15mm To The Strongest competition was against Richard’s very nicely painted Ayyubid Egyptians.

The Ayyubids had a lot of cavalry available on the flanks, so my plan was once again to hold back on the wings whilst getting my infantry in the centre stuck in as soon as possible.

This I duly did, but without any great success. For some reason the cards had decided that they’d had enough of helping me out, and every single clash resulted in my troops going disordered!

Things continued that way for the rest of the game.

On the right flank, my cavalry moved up into a position where I could get a two to one advantage on one of the enemy units facing me, but the initial clash didn’t go my way to the extent that I ended up losing my cavalry general on that flank.

Now outnumbered, I needed to retreat to consolidate, but an unlucky Ace left me vulnerable. Unbelievably, however, the Egyptian cavalry failed to follow up, giving me time to get away, but the writing was on the wall and, a few turns later, that flank was definitively lost.

Things were not quite so bad on the left flank, where both sides had held back their troops to see what was happening elsewhere on the field.

When the clash did eventually occur, so did mutual self-destruction, with only one of my cavalry units surviving the melee.

So the game would be decided in the centre where, if you remember, the initial clash had not gone my way.

Things broke down into their usual (when using the Arabs) fragmented melee, but with my warbands suffering the effects of that initial clash.

Valiant efforts by the Daylami mountain tribesmen stemmed the tide of enemy troops flooding in from the right flank for a moment, but the loss of both of my foot generals meant that the writing was now on the walls!

The end of the game was very much a damp squib, with me just running out of coins as the attrition of the central melee combined with my losses on the wings took effect.

I had lost 11-16 (including three of my four generals) which showed that my men had been fighting hard if not successfully. A very frustrating game during which even Richard, my opponent, said that I had suffered the most appalling cards: not so much the usual surfeit of Aces, but more my men just not hitting or failing their saves during the general course of play.

But it was a game played in great spirits, and I look forward to a re-match some time in the future!

TFL Painting Challenge: Early July Update

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A quick interuption of the flow of AARs from the To The Smallest competition to update the Painting Challenge.

First up, we have a new entrant, Dex, who has sent in some very nice WW2 miniatures, including a Phillipino force. Welcome, and we’re all looking forward to seeing more of your work:

It wiuldn’t be a Painting Challenge update without an entry from Mr Helliwell, so here’s a selection of the usual vast amount of figures that he’s sent in:

A bit late, so added after this post first went live, is Sapper, with some very nice 28mm figures from across the ages:

Steve Burt and Stumpy get to share a spot with their entries this time around: more Traitors Gate from Steve and some Italian Napoleonics from Stumpy.

And finally here’s some re-basing (always a horrible task) from Mervyn for the Congo game from Tomahawk Studios:

So just a quick update this time, with the last two AARs from To The Smallest following shortly!

TTS AAR: To The Smallest Game 2: Arab Conquest vs Later Achaemenid Persian

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My second game at this year’s To The Smallest was a repeat of the warm-up game I’d had on Friday evening: my Arab Conquest army versus Adrian’s Later Achaemenid Persians. I’d won that game, so that had to be a good omen for this one…didn’t it?

Looking at the Persian deployment, they seemed very strong on my left, so I determined to hold back that flank and sent the rest of my army forward as soon as possible, helped by the fact that my infantry was all mounted.

The idea was that I used most of my army - all except a covering force on the left - to beat half of his army, then turned to fight the rest of his troops from a position of being in the lead coins-wise and having a attacking-the-front-and-flank advantage.

Things started reasonably well. My green flag Jund cavalry began pushing his horsemen back, the Daylami veteran javelinmen managed to disorder the mercenary Greek Hoplites and kill their general, and Adrian still hadn’t committed his troops on the right, meaning I was tying up more points than I had committed there.

Unfortunately, disaster then struck!

If you are pushing forward hard on one side of the battlefield, you need to make sure that you watch out for enemy troops from the flank turning through 90 degrees and then hitting your advancing units in the flank.

My two non-fanatic units of Warriors had got a square forward of the main battle line, showing Darius’ veteran lancers (plus army standard) a little too much of their flank. I had my covering force on the left ready to intervene should the lancers turn, but really needed to pull the left hand Warrior unit back one square to be safe.

Two goes (I had a general present) to get 4+ on the cards and I failed both. There’s only a 9% chance of that happening!

Adrian took full advantage, and smashed his veteran cavalry into the flank of the stuck-in-the-mud Warriors, smashing them from the field. Their General died too, meaning that I gave up five of my sixteen coins in one loss!

Worse, there was the second unit of Warriors also with their flank exposed. Adrian hit that too, doubly disordering it with other enemy troops sending it from the field shortly afterwards. For those keeping count, that’s eight or half my coins gone!

But I wasn’t giving up yet. As planned, I’d smashed Adrian’s left flank (i.e. on my right) and was within Ames Ace of taking his camp there too. I had taken seven of his coins so far, so although I was losing, it was not by a huge margin, especially as Adrian’s right flank, now committed as he could see victory in front of him, hadn’t achieved very much.

Unfortunately, again, Darius and his pooping veteran cavalry weren’t finished yet!

They carried on their rampage across the field and hit one of my Fanatical Warrior units in the flank. They rapidly lost their devotion to the cause and fled the field, taking another General with them along with my lst few coins!

Although a disappointing result, it had been a great game of To The Strongest.

I must confess that the early manoeuvres had left me thinking that, after a grind, I could probably win the game…but Adrian spotting the slightly too advanced warband, me failing to move it backwards, and then Adrian superbly taking full advantage not once, not twice but three times in a row rightfully gave the win to the Persians.

It just goes to show how one event can decide the course of a battle, and it’s perhaps fitting that the unit that won Adrian the game (and then some!) was the one I had destroyed to win the warm-up game, Darius getting his revenge!

TTS AAR: To The Smallest Game 1: Arab Conquest vs Later Lithuanians

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My first game proper at this year’s To The Smallest 15mm TTS tournament in Cardiff was against John’s Later Lithuanians: light cavalry, more light cavalry…and even more light cavalry!

My main concern was getting outflanked and enveloped by the Lithuanian horde, so I took full advantage of my mounted infantry to deploy as close to the enemy as possible.

I should also note at this point that this was actually our second deployment: a mix up regarding what the terrain actually represented meant that I had severely compromised my set up but, once we both understood what was Impassable and, more importantly, what was not, John was very happy for me to adjust my positioning…a generous example of great sportsmanship on his part.

As expected, the Lithuanians’ first move was to advance quickly against my flanks. I was okay on the right, where my outnumbered troops were helped by the marshy terrain, but things were not looking so good on the left, where the beginnings of an overlap were already beginning to show.

Things went from bad to worse on the left as I desperately, and ultimately unsuccessfully, tried to stem the tide of the Lithuanian horde. The left was lost: I would have to win the battle elsewhere.

John’s army might have been large and manoeuvrable, but it was fragile: if I could connect with a unit, even one of his massed lights, then I could probably kill it. It was the connecting bit that would be difficult, as his horsemen could evade away from infantry charges with comparative ease and my cavalry were tied up on the wings.

That was, however, the only thing I could do, so I set about relentlessly charging every light horse unit I could with my infantry. This shot, taken after a couple of turns of this, shows how fragmented the action had become: rather than two battle line clashing in the centre of the table, the game broke down into a myriad of minor actions scattered across the field.

There were several epic chases as my foot soldiers desperately tried to close with the Lithuanian light horse. A unit of veteran Daylami javelinmen chased down some enemy cavalry until the horsemen crashed into a wood on the edge of the table and were forced to fight…and then die!

A unit of fanatical warriors chased some Lithuanians right to their baseline, even taking one of their camps as they did so.

I even managed to bring one of the cavalry units from the right wing back into the action and use them to squish some Lithuanian light horse up against the back of another of my warrior units. I was doign everything I could to whack-a-mole the enemy!

Finally the Lithuanians had had enough: their last victory medal was taken as the survivors fled the field. That had been a 13-9 victory to the Arabs and one hell of a game!

I was just pleased we had been fighting on a simulation of the field of Thermopylae, with the fighting area of the tabletop narrowed by plentiful terrain on the flanks. I might have won this time, but a more open table would, I think, have led to me being enveloped by the Lithuanians even with me trying to chase them down.

A good start to the day!

TTS AAR: To The Smallest Warm-Up Game

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This year’s To The Smallest 15mm tournament for To The Strongest was again held at Firestorm Games in Cardiff: an excellent venue for what is proving to be an excellent event, ably organised by Sid.

I would be using my relatively new Arab Conquest army, figures from Red Copper 3D printing sculpts printed for me by Baueda in Italy before they were sold to the UK.

I got to Cardiff in late afternoon on the Friday and checked into my hotel “room” before heading down to Firestorm to see if anyone fancied a warm-up game.

I say “room” because I was staying in the Cardiff Premier Inn Zip hotel: a pod hotel which only cost me £32 for the night. I highly recommend it for those in a similar “just need somewhere to stay” situation: cheap, plenty of parking, very clean, food & drink available until 3am, and a power shower to die for! Yes, the pod is not very big, but it more than fitted me and my ego!

Then it was down to Firestorm Games to see who was already there and, more importantly, who fancied a game. Mark, Howard and Adrian were all present and correct, so Adrian and I settled dwon to play whilst the other two watched and made helpful comments and suggestions!

The big innovation with To The Smallest is that the figures are based on a 10cm frontage and play is on a 12x18 grid that gives plenty of room for manouevre.

Adrian had brought Later Achaemenid Persians with him, and we scattered a bit of random terrain on the table and prepared to set to: my mounted infantry meaning that the two sides started the game a little closer together than the norm.

My plan, such as it was, was just to close with the enemy as soon as possible. I seemed to have a bit of an advantage of numbers on the left, so that’s where I began my advance.

The Persians chose not to mix it with the Jund cavalry and their light camelry support, evading away and shooting their bows instead.

Meanwhile, on the right, it was my turn to be cautious, as the terrain was quite dense and the Persians had managed to move some of their troops over to outnumber me. The two sides clashed but without much of a resolution, although the tactical picture looked better for the enemy.

I had chosen not to advance in the centre for the time being, letting the Persians come to me. This let Darius and his deep lancers punch through my centre, chasing some lights right the way back to my fortified camp only to stop there without attempting to take it.

The game had now broken down into a sprawling series of individual melees with no coordination or battle lines evident. It looked as if it was going to be the cumulative effect of all these isolated fights that would decide the game.

On the right, the two sides kept knocking seven bells out of each other until there was literally no-one left alive in that area of the battlefield!

In the centre, some of my Warriors took on the mercenary Greek Hoplites, slogging it out with both sides disordered to no great conclusion.

On the right, my outnumbered troops had fought a rather decent rearguard action, keeping his superior number occupied whilst I tried to win the battle elsewhere.

So where was the battle decided?

Well, if you remember, Darius and his deep cavalry had punched through the middle of my line and had been molesting my light infantry. This left the Persian horsemen a bit isolated on my side of the table…where I had some veteran Daylami tribesmen just itching to take them on.

A flank charge later, the Persians were disordered, and evaded away with the Daylami in hot pursuit.

The Daylami chased them across the tabletop, over hills, eventually coming to grips with the Persians again as they were forced to fight or run the risk of ending up fighting my javelinmen in woods.

Some decent cards later and the Persians were toast: three medals for the unit and a medal for the army standard being enough to give me the game.

That had been a wild and fragmented encounter that could have gone either way.

In the end I had been comparatively lucky to win enough of the individual fights to give me the win but, as you can see in the photo below, neither side had much of their army left at all!

A great way to start the weekend, and my thanks to Adrian for a good game.

IABSM AAR: Storming the Starmerskaya at OML11

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Fantastic game of I Ain’t Been Shot Mum at the afternoon session of this year’s Operation Market Larden Lardy Day.

The game, set during Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, involved me leading a Soviet force forward to clear the field of an advancing German recce force before securing the bridges over the river.

Click on the picture below to see all…

TFL Painting Challenge: Second June Update

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Plenty of big entries into the Challenge since the last post, and a quiet Sunday morning before gaming this afternoon has given me time to log them all in…

First up is Carole, with a vast number of Peter Pig WW2 figures as she prepares to play Chain of Command 2: Germans, Soviets and British.

Next we have Nick’s usual month-late entry ;) . Here we have a selection of fantasy figures from large (a giant) to small (some dwarves) and all sizes in between!

It wouldn’t be a Painting Challenge update without Mr Helliwell’s contribution. Here we have some 15mm Napoleonics and his usual selection of 28mm medieval figures…and there’s a sneaky fantasy figure sneaked in their too!

Mr Burt has been producing figures for Traitor’s Gate at a rapid rate of knots. Here are two more groups of civilians and some geese…

And to finish a couple of singleton’s: Mervyn’s 28mm Napoleonic Portuguese and some more of Ralph’s 15mm Greeks.

Some lovely looking and highly inspiring figures posted there. In fact, I’m off to the painting table myself now. After all, those Berber Spearmen won’t paint themselves…

Sharp Practice AAR: Pizzeria

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My first game at this year’s Operation Market Larden Lardy Day was a game of Sharp Practice set in northern Italy. Those naughty French revolutionaries were terrorising the area foraging for food and Iwould play as 2iC of an Austrian force sent to stop them.

The marauding French arrived and proved annoyingly fleet of food, making their way almost right through the town before us Austrians had much of a chance to stop them.

Finally, however, the Austrians got a decent run of cards and managed to get most of their force onto the table. The skirmishers and infantry in the centre are the troops under my command.

My skirmishers opened fire on the French behind the damaged wall, and did a satisfactory amount of casualties, but then strayed too close and got shot down in their turn, the survivors forced to retreat.

Meanwhile, my infantry had deployed into line and opened fire themselves, shooting down some French voltigeurs who then, being very drunk, charged us. The line opened fire again, and the French skirmishers ceased to exist!

We were a bit penned up in our corner of the battlefield, so needed to create some space for manouevre. My commander therefore sent the cavalry on the left forward with the aim of engaging the French Hussars who were making their way round onto our flank.

The initial charge successfully wiped out more French voltigeurs but failed to reach the Hussars who, in a cowardly fashion, refused to counter-charge but fled forward further round our flank.

The action then switched to the other side of the field, where more French cavalry, Dragoons this time, were makign their way around to our other flank.

The Grenzers deployed ready to repel the froggie horsemen, but in doing so unfortunately exposed their flank to some French Grenadiers, who punished them with a terrible series of musket volleys.

My main infantry line had been blazing away at the Grenadiers and had dropped a few of them, but those pesky French Hussars were still creeping around our left flank.

The arrival of the French Hussars combined with the shooting from the ruined church had forced my colleague’s infantry to retreat a bit in some confusion, and they were then charged and largely destroyed by said French cavalry, leaving my brave boys effectively surrounded!

With only my infantry unit left in a position to carry on the fight, and them now effectively surrounded, there was nothing for it but to gracefully surrender. The French had won the day!

A great game of Sharp Practice and one where we were just overwhelmed by the French. My thanks to the umpire and all the other players, one of whom at least will be grateful for the fact that I haven’t said it was all his fault that we lost by exposing the flank of our Grenzers!

Operation Market Lardon 11

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A couple of weekends ago I made my annual pilgrimage to Evesham for Operation Market Larden 11: the eleventh incarnation of the longest running independent Lardy day and one that I have been to every one of.

Brilliantly organised by Ade as usual, the game saw some superb games being played from right the way across the Lardy spectrum.

Here are some shots of the games taken from various times throughout the day. I would highly recommend attendance at this or any future Lardy days if you can.

My thanks to Ade for organising, and to the umpires and my opponents on the day, My two battle reports will follow in due course.