Prufrock's Wargaming Blog

Prufrock's Wargaming Blog

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Of blowouts and birthdays.

My recent return to To the Strongest! has now concluded. Unfortunately, there were a few problems with the camera, but now that I have a new SD card installed, we are back to normal on that score. The other camera problem is that the tabletop looks a tad forlorn, though this is not the camera's fault. My carpet tiles are fine for a biggish 5 x 4 game with five hundred figures on the table, but rather sad and flat for a 3 x 2 one with only 150. So too do my generic 100 yen shop hovels look rather less than impressive. Not for the first time I can see that I'm going to need to up my terrain game...

Anyway, to my surprise, the game ended up a blowout in favour of the Normans, who I thought were going to struggle to make much headway against the Anglo-Saxon shieldwall. As it turns out, the Anglo-Saxons were a little too enthusiastic in their attempts to bring the Norman horse to battle, and as a consequence the line became disjointed early and the Normans were able to gang up on poorly supported units and wear them down.

The deep shieldwalls were tough, but they just could not get back into position and suffered for it, by being out of command and/or teamed-up upon.

Any normal wargamer would have known this already - as did I in fact - but sometimes it seems I just have to learn the hard way!

The Anglo-Saxons lost three deep shieldwall units and 2 generals (13 victory banners) against no losses for the Normans, so the game was up. The Norman horse managed to evade Anglo-Saxon charges for the most part, but even when they were caught or elected to stand they were able to pull back or rally before they were finished off.

Anglo-Saxons/Normans is quite an intriguing match-up (as you would hope!) in TtS. There are some nice tactics to play around with, but I must have the Anglo-Saxons hold their line and their discipline better in future.

View from behind the victorious Norman left. Dodgy hovels can be seen in the distance.

Again from the Norman centre.
And finally from the Norman right.

In other news, it was my birthday earlier this week, and my dear and long-suffering wife sanctioned the online purchasing of some birthday treats. A visit to the Book Depository website later and the reprint of Ian Heath's classic Armies of Feudal Europe and the Dan Mersey fantasy skirmish rules Dragon Rampant were on their way here. I was sorely tempted to pick up Bloody Big Battles too, but will save that one for next time.

On the figure front I see that I'm not quite finished with my Dark Age project after all: I'm going to have to pick a few more Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans to paint up as hero and leader figures so that I don't need to cover the table with those mood-damaging cube markers.

It seems a wargamer's armies are never done!

26 comments:

  1. Cool looking game and happy birthday for the other day!

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    1. Thanks Ray! You're quick off the mark today! Hope you're having a good weekend.

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  2. Nice looking Dark Age battle, Aaron. Speaking of new books, I'm thinking about picking up The Men Who Would Be Kings - another one from the "Lion Rampant" stable.

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    1. Thanks Dean! Yes, I'm quite interested in seeing how they go. I have a large box of 28mm fantasy figures I'm not quite sure what to do with and I hope these rules will give me some direction...

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    2. And I'd be keen to hear what you think of TMWWBK if you get it.

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  3. Happy birthday!

    TtS sounds like a lot of fun, as does Blood Big Battles - decisions, decisions...

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    1. Thanks - it's wonderful being 19...

      I know, so many interesting sets of rules around! But BBB is a bit hard to get hold of, so will need to go through Caliver Books, by the looks of it.

      If you don't have TtS, I'd recommend giving it a try some time. Innovative, easy to play, and Simon is a smart cookie who is constantly working on ways to improve and refine it. I believe he has an ECW version in the works as well.

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  4. Aaron, I have a bag of 15mm Saxons sitting here on my desk that are for a project that's not ever going to happen. I'd love to send them to you.

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    1. Wow, that's most generous of you, A. Thank you, and will be in touch!

      Cheers,
      Aaron

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  5. Replies
    1. Thanks Jonathan. I must admit I don't look forward to them as much as I did 30 years ago!

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    2. Perhaps looking forward to another birthday at our age is not as important as seeing that we made it to another birthday?

      That is how it is for me, anyway!

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    3. Yes, though it's something I notice most at Christmas. To everything there is a season, etc. A good reason and good motivation to make the most of every day, I think :)

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  6. Happy Birthday Aaron, and I don't think your terrain looks as bad as you think!

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  7. Nice looking game Aaron, happy 21st !

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  8. Happy birthday Aaron!

    I do have TtS but not yet played, but do have Dragon Rampant and have played a FtF game with it - easy to play and loads of fun.

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    1. Cheers, Shaun. I reckon Dan Mersey must be about the most popular rules writer going around at the moment. Well done to him!

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  9. Happy Birthday Aaron! I think your terrain is great. I have been wanting to upgrade my terrain, I have often eyed up printed wargames table cloths but I am not confident I could pitch such a spend on a table cloth to my Mrs.

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    1. Cheers Tony! Have been working on a few terrain additions the last couple of days, so we'll see how they go.

      I know - some of those wargaming mats are beautiful, but they are priced to match!
      That said, if I'd costed out my cheap options, I'd probably have found that by the time I'd factored in materials and spray paints, I'd've been better off buying mats!

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    2. Hahaha I know what you mean. Years ago I had a roll of railway mat it shed static grass and kept getting creased and ended up binned. Then some vinyl tiles on the cheap in a nice desertish colour now in the shed. Now I'm using that green throw it was cheap but its no more than functional.

      After all that I could of forked out for a proper games cloth! Could be a future birthday pressie but I am currently pitching for pricey board games for Xmas/Birthday. I would love to be able to pull off something like this faux fur mat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvT6Ww6JdSs

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  10. Happy belated Birthday, Aaron!

    I must say I've always sensed it would be a Saxon victory, too. unless the Normans could disorder a unit with missiles and charge in. I've not gamed them yet (but am collecting a Viking and a Norman army...)

    All the best! Simon

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    1. Thanks, Simon. Yes there were some successful missile volleys first. I made a mistake with rallies though; should not have been attempting rallies while in enemy ZOC...

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  11. Dude it sounds like an almost historical account of what happened at Hastings!

    God bless your Wife for the hobby gifts, your gonna have to keep her;) Happy Birthday!

    Cheers
    Kevin

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    1. Thanks Kevin - I'll check my leader figures to see if there are any stray arrows...

      Yes, my wife certainly is a keeper!

      Cheers,
      Aaron

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