Landsknechts, Italian Wars, and Facebook page

First bit of news. I now have a Facebook page for Phil's War Cabinet, just to document hobby stuff. It's gone live today, so those who use that platform may "Follow" the page for future updates.

Perhaps more importantly, I've been painting, scratch-building, and generally pottering around with my Italian Wars project - Italiana Imaginata, as Andy calls it. He has been drawn in too with some Spanish and the fictional state of Peroni, alongside my own fictional states of Capriccio and Bruschetta.

Anyway, here's the new stuff I've been doing, plus a little background story to set the tone for the project campaigning...

First up, the Landsknechts.
These are organised and based for Never Mind The Billhooks, rather different than I would otherwise have done them in bigger pike blocks (as I once did, back in 2003).

Landsknechts pics

And so a little back story...

The states of Capriccio (red) and Bruschetta (blue) have been sworn enemies for centuries, and this rivalry reached a peak in the mid 15th century with their armies frequently locked in battle under the command of warring families and their mercenary Condottiere captains...

More recently, the ambitions of Capriccio have been well publicised and their recent employ of Swiss troops has been previously documented.

But, wait. What's this... Cardinal Leo, that wily old cleric, in talks with an Imperialist commander, negotiating the employment of some Landsknechts...

(Footnote: The Imperialist command group was painted c 2003 for my Italian wars project back then).

And so it was that Imperial landsknechts arrived to take up arms in the service of Capriccio...

When news reached "The Gnome of Zurich", ahem, (Swiss Quartermaster), Cardinal Leo hastened to persuade him that whilst the landsknechts had indeed arrived as allies, surely they could happily co-exist with Swiss troops in the same army. Surely...

Oh dear...

The Swiss depart, heading back towards their homeland.

The Capriccio army, however, does still look a fine array with the Landsknechts deployed in the centre...

The Swiss meanwhile, might have already found new paymasters. Well, no surprise there... it's the army of Bruschetta, with the Swiss in the centre...

And so the scene is set.

To add to that scene, I also recently scratch-built an Italian farm... 

For those who want to follow the Facebook page... here's the link...

Facebook

This does not mean I will be neglecting the blog (well, not any more neglect than it has been suffering of late). Far from it. I'll continue to post here too. Thanks to all who visit. And thanks in advance to those who also follow on Facebook.

Cheers.

More Battles!

The gaming theme of the moment continues and last weekend Steve Gill came over to play some horse and musket games.

The "main event" was with the 1704 Wars of The Vaubarian Succession fictional armies - Vaubarians v Astrovians.

We played out a version of the famous Battle of the River Elbow which was a scenario from an old Wargames Newsletter penned by David Barnes (and including his glorious illustrations). I made a few tweaks to it, but essentially it was an Astrovian force of 6 infantry battalions, a light infantry unit (Croats), a cuirassier regt, a hussar regt, and two guns.

In a more defensive role across the River Elbow, the Vaubarians mustered 4 infantry battalions, a light infantry unit (dismounted dragoons who had settled into a nice position defending a graveyard), a cuirassier regt, a hussar regt, and one gun.

A tough assignment for the Astrovians to cross the river, getting bogged down in the process, but Steve nearly pulled it off. Crucial was the Vaubarian Podolski Hussars arriving and winning their melee against the Astrovian Czardas Hussars. That opened up the Astrovian right flank which the Podolski hussars were able to exploit allowing them to threaten the Astrovian flank and rear.

Another clearly crucial moment was when the Astovian Grenadier regiment decided to fail a straightforward morale test, and never really recovered. This left a bit of a hole in the Astrovian front line attack, and inevitably they were at a disadvantage in the ensuing firefight.

The pictures tell a tale...

Steve had also brought with him a few units of figures he has been gathering for his own project. To say we had fun is an understatement. Steve has penned his own rules and we had a couple of great games playtesting and workshopping them. I lost both times, but the games were exciting and very bloody!

Just a couple of photos for now... the games were played out on my standard terrain boards. Something more appropriate is being devised for future outings!

Partizan -another sales table!

Next weekend at Partizan, along with Andy Moran, I will be selling off a few bits n bobs at the tabletop sale. Our table is booked for around 12.40, for an hour. I have some painted units for sale, and unpainted, plus some books. Just a little clear out to make space for more! Everything will be priced to sell... bring cash!

Other news...

Amongst all these games, I have managed some painting over the past few weeks, the fruits of which I hope to share in the very near future.

As a side note, I did particularly enjoy Henry Hyde's recent podcast interview with Charles S Grant. Well done to both... lots of very happy memories of times across the table. The mention of the Raid on St Michel (amongst other games and campaigns between Charles and I) was very wonderful! Happy days indeed.

Thanks to all who have been commenting on recent posts. It is very much appreciated.

Meantime, see you at Partizan perhaps. 

Whatever you're up to hobby-wise, may your dice keep rolling, your paint brush keep swirling, and your head be full of dreams of armies, battles, and campaigns won and lost.

A Backlog of Battles

The hobby emphasis has shifted... September has seen a fair number of games played, and only a little painting.

It's a shift I am rather enjoying... However, I've fallen behind with battle reports on the blog, so thought it about time I rectified that.

Mind you, I'm not one for writing (or reading) over long game AARs, so I'll keep it brief, allowing a few pictures to tell the story.

First up - Billhooks with the NOBs...

With two of our normal Old Berks foursome unable to attend, Andy and I were able to introduce two newcomers to the throng - Pete and Rich. Hence the New Old Berks, a group name that looks better when written in full than when abbreviated!

We played a game of Never Mind The Billhooks on a 9x4 table, each of us commanding a standard 120 point army, playing in pairs. Andy and Rich played the part of the Lancastrians, whilst my Warwick contingent allied with Pete's Yorkists to face them.

I have to say, all the armies looked glorious on the table, really showing off the colour and splendour of the period.

And the game didn't disappoint. My dice rolling continued to be outrageously good (and very lucky), and my dolt cavalry commander (Sir Gregory Carrodus) was anything but a dolt on the day, leading his men on a very successful charge to destroy Rich's light cavalry, and causing panic on the enemy right flank. In total, I think my light horsemen were responsible for taking 6 of the enemy's tokens on the day, so bravo to Sir Gregory! 

Mortimer of Arden also continued his run of form, and with Warwick adding his weigth to the attack, i managed to make the breakthrough. My allies, under Pete's command, were starting to come under pressure on my right, but I had faith in Pete's generalship, despite the nasty little Kern of Andy's again making an appearance and causing trouble. Pete held on,and we were victorious, just.

It was a game of firsts:

The first time the four of us had played together.

The first game in which we hadn't had an artillery piece blow itself up.

The first game in which Andy's latest trophy was introduced (The Billfookery Award, for the general who makes the most ridiculous and obvious error, tactically) - no one made any foolish errors on this occasion, so the trophy remains unassigned, for now.

And so to the pictures:

Next up - Billhooks in Salford

A business trip to Manchester allowed me to enjoy a trip to Salford to stay with Steve and Gwen Ayers and get a game with David "Low Roller" (aka Wargames amateur blogger).

First night, Steve and I had a quick game of Billhooks, using Steve's medieval forces. Again, a fun game. And again, my dice were embarassingly lucky.

I took only a couple of photos of this...

Another victory!

Finally - Eastern Renaissance

Next day, David arrived and we played a fantastic Eastern Renaissance game, using the Pike & Shotte rules (with their local Salford amendments!).

I took the role of Ottoman commander, advancing to take a small village defended by David's Poles and Steve's Muscovites.

The flanks were packed with cavalry of all types, charging hither and thither, and the swirling melees could have gone either way.

My lucky dice continued for about two-thirds of the game... but eventually the tide turned. David "Low Roller seemed to have been taken over by his evil twin doppelganger "high roller" on my left flank and I reached a high water mark before being repulsed all across the table.

Eventually, David had to depart for a family gathering, just as my infantry in the centre had started to break over the defences and attack the village, the Tufeckis leading the way, closely followed by units of Janissaries. This was, however, the high water-mark, and I was soon repulsed by the valiant defenders. It was a close run thing.

My brigade of Sipahis of the Porte had remained on a hill on my baseline for the whole game as I was unsure where to commit them, and held them back to hopefully make a decisive impact, or shore up a breach in my lines. An opportune moment never came really, and I chose to save them to fight another day.

A great game, really great. It made me want to recharge my own Eastern Renaissance project, that's for sure. Added to the list for 2027.

Anyway, David has done a couple of updates on his Wargames Amateur blog with lots of nice pictures, which you might like to enjoy.

Meanwhile, here's a few more pictures of the action...

It was a great weekend, and thanks to Steve and Gwen for their hospitality. Thanks also to David for the use of his vast (and still growing) Eastern Renaissance collection. All that cavalry certainly makes for a very different game. Inspiring!

This coming weekend my gaming adventures continue: Steve Gill is heading over for a bit of Horse & Musketry, so the 1704 (Wars of The Vaubarian Succession) collection will get a run out.

Looking forward to it.

Mortimer's NOT Cross; he's delighted...

After a run of Hail Caesar ancient games, we recently had a Wars of the Roses (Never Mind the Billhooks) game between my Warwick contingent and Andy's Lancastrians.

As always it was fun and full of incident. 

On my left flank, the usual Light Horse melee had gone in my favour, with the rout of the Lancastrian riders, but one of the two units of Irish kern that Andy was using for the first time had managed to then come in behind and it was over for my horse who soon followed Andy's off table.

The kern were a nuisance, I can tell you. But eventually ran out of steam and got filled with arrows.

In the centre, after some small successes, the Lancastrian artillery blew up amongst a modest amount of cursing from the Lancastrian command! The dice gods were certainly on my side (not just in this incident, but throughout most of the day)

The big breakthrough moment came when one of my sub-commanders, Mortimer of Arden (fictional name), charged home against a Lancastrian 'bill and bow' block. Again, I threw good dice, Andy's were unusually below par. Simple as that! The intrepid Mortimer led his men to victory, destroying their melee opponents and setting in motion a collapse of several other companies in the vicinity who decided it was time for a sharp exit.

Just a few pictures of the vital moment... well, just after the vital moment as by the time I'd got my phone ready to take some snaps, the enemy units facing Mortimer had dissolved, and left the table!

Mortimer's gang are in the deep red and light blue livery with the gold lion rampant on the flag - any UK football fans will probably gather where my allegiance lies... hence 'Mortimer' whose namesake lifted the European Cup back in 1982. I digress.

Andy has produced some lovely army tokens, like coins, and it was a joy to have him hand them over and to be able to place them in the latrines at the back of my camp!

It was nice to get back to a game of Billhooks and we've got more lined up in the coming months. The day was rounded off with a meal and a glass or two at my local hostelry, followed by cigars and a good hobby chat on the patio. This is becoming our tradition now, and we're rather fond of it!
Cheers to Andy for a great day!

Facebook...

Andy has a very good FB page (search for "Flamin' Pig") which he puts lots of our games on as well as updates on some of his fantastic ancient armies.

And... On the grounds that it appears it's where thousands of wargamers are now getting their online fix, I'm considering setting up a "Phil's War Cabinet" FB page, and will announce such a bold move here for those who do the FB thing...

Cheers for now.