Improved at the end

After a bad week, I was ill, Tina was ill and then my Mum was taken into hospital, it has improved a bit now.  My Mum is on the mend, although still in hospital with bronchitis aggravated by her asthma.  Tina's on the mend, but still coughing all night long.  I am knackered by feeling ill still, running back and forward to Cornwall to see Mum and not getting much sleep as I am next to the cough monster.  But I'm still smiling....most some of the time anyway.

I have painted several things, but not many of them are finished yet.  I did get some ECW pikemen done, and 4 more Shadows of Brimstone figures too. 

 The pikemen are Renegade figures that I bought when they first released them many years ago, it's good to support a local company.  Lovely figures, but HUGE in relation to the Warlord figures that Colin has.  They will win any fights though as the plastic pikes from Warlord are no match for the lethal, sharpened metal pikes I have given these.  They have drawn blood several times, sadly it's all been mine!

The Shadows of Brimstone figures are 4 of the characters.  Gunfighter, Marshall, Bandido and Saloon Girl are now ready and willing to join the fight.

Currently on the go and just needing basing are the zombies, hellbats, slashers and 4 remaining characters.  Just the big beasty left to do and the bright red plastic figures are all finished!

Gaming has been limited but I did manage to play a first game of Blucher against Nathan yesterday afternoon.  Yes, the "Stop buying new rules" plan for 2015 lasted less than a month.

The game was a 200pt Anglo-Allied vs French, based on the Flanders map from the Scharnhorst campaign guide.  Nathan took the British and picked a fairly mixed force.

1. 4 units of British/KGL foot  -  60pts
2. 1 unit of Nassau foot  -  12pts
3. 2 units of Brunswick foot  -  24pts
4. 1 unit of Dutch-Belgian foot  -  8pts
5. 2 units of Dutch-Belgian militia  -  12pts
6. 2 units of British heavy cavalry  -  28pts
7. 2 units of British light cavalry  - 20pts
8. 1 unit of Brunswick light cavalry  -  10pts
9. 3 units of artillery(2 foot, 1 horse)  -  21pts
10. Duke of Brunswick  -  5pts

These he split into 2 columns.  Column 1(9 units) was the British foot,  British cavalry and 2 units of artillery and Column 2 was all the Allied units led by Brunswick(8 units).  He detached the 2 units of British light cavalry to scout for his army.

My French force was made up of the following

1. 8 units of French foot  -  96pts
2. 2 units of Young Guard  -  36pts
3. 2 units of Dragoons  -  20pts
4. 2 units of Light Cavalry  -  14pts
5. 1 unit of Guard Light Cavalry  -  15pts
6. 3 units of artillery(2 foot, 1 Guard foot)  -  19pts

I took 3 columns.  Column A  had the Guard infantry, cavalry and artillery plus the 2 units of Dragoons.  Columns B and C both had 4 units of infantry, 1 artillery and 1 light cavalry, with both units of light cavalry being detached to scout.

So both sides had 10 units of foot, 5 of cavalry and 3 of artillery, spooky or what!

I won the intelligence roll, my 2 light cavalry were obviously better than his so I choose a map edge and moved first.

In turn 1 each column only has 3 instead of 6 move points, so initial moves are limited.  Column B moved down and took hold of the town(B3) on the crossroads. Column 1then moved up and occupied a village(D3).  Column C then seized the city in B7 while Column 2 occupied another village in E6.  Finally Column A positioned itself in A3, ready to move to support either of the other columns.  I had seized the most victory points(1/2/3 per village/town/city) so still had the initiative.

 Turn 2 and Column B sprang into action.  6 points allowed me to move west on the road(1pt), move south to cross the stream(3pts) and then keep going south into D2 to flank Column 1(2pts).  Nathan then chose to scout Column B with Column 1, then not to move it.  This proved to be a mistake as you will shortly see.  Column C then moved south, south and west on the roads(1pt per square) into D6 to try and pin Column 2, which it also scouted.  Again Nathan scouted my column and then held position.  Admittedly it did look good for him as his columns were much bigger than mine, 8 or 9 units against 5.  Finally Column A moved south into C3 and scouted Column 1.  I still had the initiative, which would be a game winner for me.

Turn 3 and I declared a battle centered on Column A.  I then moved Column C into position on the other flank of Column 1, preventing Nathan from reinforcing with Column 2.  All he could do was move it into position behind Column 1 and hold they could hold until he could arrive on table.


Like an idiot I forgot to take any pictures, but it didn't go well for the Allies.  Nathan's British were were faced with the Young Guard in front while being squeezed by the other columns on the flanks.  His deployment area was only 10" wide and 10" deep.  It was an untenable position and, although he did his best and caused quite a bit of damage, his force was broken by turn 5 before his reinforcements could arrive.

Not too much should be made of this though, it was a learning experience for both of us and we would both do things differently next time.  The game itself was good, I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next one.  Plan is to start the 100 Days campaign soon.

Well, I am off to paint some plastic now.  Catch you all later