Swift Victory

Armies same as last time. This time I rolled a random scenario and got "Surprise Attack".  Whoever finishes deploying first gets extra moves.

English in the foreground. The French knights have taken their bonus move.

The French knights got a single bonus move, hoping to use it to take less shooting as they approached the English. The archers replied to their speediness by killing a whopping seven of the French, their cloth barding no protection against arrows. Undeterred, the French charged next turn, but in a withering hail of arrows (stand and shoot) were wiped out to a man, Count Waleran included! One French crossbow unit panicked and fled.

The Knights are gone, the leftmost crossbowmen are fleeing off the table.
The Pink Eraser of the Gods sits unobtrusively on the rightmost hill.

Enraged, the remaining French crossbowmen aimed all of their shots at Henry himself, who had advanced his unit, perhaps unwisely. But it came to naught as Henry ducked and one of his knights died instead. 

The final score heavily favoured the English. English archery is dangerous!

Thanks for reading!

The Battle of Calais: Englands Last Stand

Henry the Fifths army had suffered two routs to the mighty French knights. The French knights had pushed the English all the way back to their base in Calais. Henry has one more chance to defend his rights to the French throne. Another loss means he will be able to save only a fraction of his army retreating across the channel, and possibly leaving England open to invasion. A victory puts his plans for French domination back on track.

The Armies

England
Henry V and the Earl of Oxford
Two units of 23 archers each, both with stakes.
Eleven dismounted knights, all with two handed weapons

997 points, 59 figures

The English Army

France
Waleran de Raineval, Count de Faquemberges
Robert, Count of Marle
Twelve knights
Two units of crossbowmen, 17 men each
1000 pts, 48 figures

The French army, as seen from the English lines

Turn 1
The English archers killed two French knights. The French knights then advanced.
Turn 2
Archers killed seven knights, but then the knights charged into the English lines. The archers stakes blunted but did not defeat the French charge. The French crossbowmen advanced.

The French knights charge across the battlefield.

Turn 3
The English dismounted knights and French knights fought a bloody melee, including a challenge between Waleran and Henry. In the end the English won by one point, and the French failed to hold their nerve, they broke, and were run down!

The battle after the French knights were run down.

Turn 4
French crossbowmen and English archers exchanged shots, causing minor causalties.
Turn 5 - Last turn
The English archers concentrated all their shots on one crossbow unit, causing it to panic and flee. The remaining crossbowmen shot at the English knights killing quite a few, but they didn't quite wipe out the unit, and it passed its panic check.

In the end: big win for England! Turns out the best strategy for England is historical: Archers with stakes flanking knights.

King Henry started plotting more invasions into what he viewed as his French inheritance.

Run out of France

Time for the English to get some revenge on those nasty French guys. At least, that was the plan.

Mighty French knights flanked by lowly crossbowmen.
 

English Archers and Dismounted knights.

The armies were similar to those used in the last battle.

English
Henry V, general
Sir John Cheyne, noble
3 units of veteran archers, 2 of 18, one of 14
13 Dismounted Knights
998 pts, 65 figures

French
Waleran de Ribeval, general
Robert, Count de Marle, noble
13 Dismounted Knights
2 units of 18 crossbowmen each
1005 pts, 51 figures

The field of battle from the english left flank.

Turn 1

English archery killed seven knights! Things were definitely off to a good start for Henry.

Turn 2

The surviving knights ran down a unit of archers. All english passed their panic test.

The French knights re-enter the battlefield behind English lines.
The French crossbowmen in the woods make a charge later in the game.

Turn 3

The French knights re-enter the battle field, after charging away the archers. The english knights tried to charge them. This may have changed the whole game, but their full plate slowed them down and they couldn't quite make it.

Turn 4

The French knights paid back the English temerity with a charge of their own, and of course their mighty steeds took them far enough to succeed. Waleran challenged Henry, who took 2 wounds. Henry's knights fled.

Turn 5

Henry stiffened the resolve of his knights, just in time to get charged again. This time the english held.

Turn 6

The french crossbowmen finally finished walking through the forest, they then charged the english knights in the flank. They fled, game over.

France wins by 584 pts, over half the value of the game. Major win for France!

King Henry needs to stop playing tennis and find some better knights.

Thanks for reading!

First try at Warhammer Ancients Battles

I missed out on Warhammer Ancients Battles (WAB) when it was in print, because I was so busy playing the fantasy version. But I was able to pick up the version 1.0 rule book and more importantly the Armies of Chivalry supplement. So now I have an excuse to paint more medieval figures!

A classic game, this is the 1.5 version.

This book gives you the rules for my favourite period - The late middle ages.

The English army 

Henry V, General

Sir John Cheyne, noble (well, really a knight but you get it)

Dismounted Knights x 16

Two units of veteran archers, 20 each with stakes

The French Army

Waleran de Ribeval, general

Count Robert de Marle, noble

Knights x12

Two units of crossbowmen, 16 each

Each army was about 1000 points.

Henry and Sir John both set up with their dismounted knights, Waleran and Robert with theirs.

The French: Lowly peasant crossbowmen, heroic knights, more peasants.

The English: Archers, dismounted knights, more archers.

The view from the english left flank. There was also a hill
in the foreground.

Turn 1: The french crossbowmen cheered as they slew several english archers, but their tune changed when they lost more causalties from the return fire.

Turn 2: More of the same shooting, but the french knights advance.

The French knights advance. Their crossbowmen were getting the worst of it.

Turn 3: The chivalry of France charge the english and wreak great havoc amongst the english knights. The "First Charge Rule" means that a mounted knight units first charge of the game is especially deadly, but then their horses are tired from carrying around all the heavy armour and subsequent charges are at normal effect. Still, cold comfort to Henry V as his unit flees, taking him with it. A sad day for England's knights.The right flank archers also fled in panic on seeing their beloved monarch scamper away. The remaining archers turned about and wheeled, bringing most of their bows into firing arc of the knights.

Turn 4: The french knights reformed to prepare to charge the last unit of english. The desperate archers shooting does little.

Turn 5: The French knights smashed into the English archers, killing some and sending others running away screaming.

The end of the English.

Big victory for the French!

What did I learn? Well...I learned I love medieval battles regardless of who wins, and playing with a system based off my favourite rules of all time is a sure fire winner! Now, what do I paint next?

Thanks for reading!

Fantasy Warriors 1200pts.

Tonight I dug out Fantasy Warriors. I recently painted a bunch of plastic orc infantry from em4 (dirt cheap) so of course I wanted to try them out. Here's the armies:

Orcs
Warchief and Battleleader, both level 3.
Wizard with 50 magic points.
2 Heroes.
10 Archers
3 units of 15 infantry each (my new guys) and a giant Juggernaut.

Orc army: Juggernaut, 3 units of infantry, archers.

Dwarves
Warchief and Battleleader, both level 4
Wizard with 50 magic points.
Hero.
Cannon with 7 crew.
10 crossbowmen, 10 spearmen and 10 dwarves great axes.

The smaller Dwarf Army: Cannon, 2H axes, spearmen, crossbows.

The orcs out-scouted the dwarves, so the dwarves had to deploy first. The game also started at night, which is good for orcs who don't function as well during the day. This being the first hour of the night, it would be a while before the Dwarves saw dawn, if ever.

Turn 1: To start things off the orc wizard cast Eldritch command, telling the scouting orcs to stop Holding and start Opposing. The whole orc army advanced. The dwarf cannon fired, but it was a dud and the ammo was wasted.

Turn 2: The cannon fired yet another dud, but the orcs had more luck using their mystic might to summon a hideous fiend!

The Fiend approches in dark majesty. The wizard is the little red dude next to him.

Fiends are fun in fantasy warriors. You must spend a random number of magic points to control them every turn, failure spelling disaster. And it takes points to banish them too, so don't wait too long!

Turn 3: Orc archers kill 3 of the dwarf cannon crew, which also fired another dud. Three duds in a row, and you only get six shots.

Turn 4: The cannon actually killed a few archers with some lacklustre shooting, but the archers then killed another crewman.

Turn 5: A big turn for the orcs: The juggernaut tore apart the crossbow unit, while the fiend and his orc buddies routed the unit of axe dwarfs.

My killer Juggernaut. That's a really heavy miniature. 

And the fiend tears apart his share of dwarves too.

Turn 6: The cannon fired again, killing seven dwarves but it was too little too late. The dwarves had one unit left, while the orc army was at almost full strength. The dwarf wizard and warchief scampered away, and the orcs ruled the battlefield.

Fun game. I liked playing with my new troops. Thanks for reading!

Bolt Action - Top Secret Scenario

1500 pts (ish) Germans vs. USA in a game of Bolt Action, Top Secret scenario.

Several weeks after D-Day the French Resistance received word that a German scout plane carrying an aide with top secret documents had crashed in a wooded area some what ahead of the American advance. An American force consisting of two platoons was dispatched to the crash site immediately, only to find that the Germans were already there. A fierce battle ensued.

Germany
1. 2nd LT
2. Infantry x 10 with LMG and PF
3. Tiger
4. Infantry x 5
5. Fallschirmjager x 10, inc. 3 SMG and two Assault Rifles.
6. Pak 40 Anti-tank gun.
7. Tiger
8. 2nd LT
9. Infantry x 7
10. Infantry x 7
=1504 pts

USA
1. 1st LT plus 2 men
2. Infantry x 12
3. Infantry x 12
4. Bazooka team
5. Sniper
6. Light Mortar (never hit anything all game)
7. 57mm anti-tank gun
8. M4A3 Sherman
9. M3 half-track
10. 1st Lt + 2
11. Infantry x 12
12. Infantry x 12
13. M4A3
=1534 pts

In a Top Secret scenario only one thing matters - get the objective and get it off your side of the table! The americans first drove their M3 right at the objective and prepared to unload soldiers. German units advanced, some running and some advancing more slowly with covering fire. Every unit from both sides entered in the first turn, except the Fallschirmjager who failed their roll. Embarassing for elite troops I'm sure! A large bloody melee broke out in the center with men dying from point blank fire and assaults. The American infantry got ahold of the briefcase holding the orders and just climbed into their M3 for a quick get-away, when the half-track was blown sky high by a Tiger. Both Tigers dominated the center of the battlefield, both with heavy fire and as a physical obstacle.

Then the Fallschirmjager finally arrived, ran up to the objective and slaughtered everyone nearby to claim it for themselves. Then began to sprint for their home lines but were wiped out to a man in a ridiculously accurate burst of rifle fire from an american squad. The objective lay unclaimed until a German second lieutenant grabbed it with the last activation of the turn. The germans then got the first activation of the next turn, and he sprinted right off the table, secret orders clutched to his chest.

Germanys secrets were secure for the moment, leaving the allies to only wonder what they missed out on.

The Tigers dominate the center.

The yank riflemen killed numerous germans. The Sherman on the
hill fired many times from his lofty perch, but scored nothing more than
pin markers on the Tigers.

Two Tigers? I wouldn't want to be those Americans.

The sneaky German leutnant scampers for safety.

Today is Rememberance day.

Fantasy Warriors

Today I played "Fantasy Warriors", a game put out by Grenadier in the early 90's. I bought the game just recently, but I have fond memories from the early 90's of heading down to my LGS and perusing racks of Grenadier figures. Today the only LGS is a GW store, or comic book stores with a smattering of GW stuff. Thank goodness for the internet!

Fantasy Warriors comes in a big box with two armies of plastic figures, orcs and dwarves. There are three kinds of each, and special figures like standard bearers and leaders need to be converted or painted distinctly. Specials include leaders, champions, musicians and standard bearers like in WFB 3rd. There are also soothsayers, priests, generals, heroes (separate from generals) and wizards.

Fantasy Warriors has a lot of cool stuff you can do. Right at the beginning you can have your general make a boast, which gives you bonuses if he lives up to it, but penalties if he can't walk the walk. You can also have your soothsayers read the omens. What's more units can threaten other units, either making them flee or instead making them so mad they fight all the harder.

The generals job is to assign orders to the different commands. Commands cannot do whatever they like, if you want them to do something different you'll need to send a messenger with a new order - and hope your captain agrees to obey the order!

Todays game was Orcs with a mercenary command of human foot knights, against dwarves with a mercenary command of wood elf archers. Neither side paid their mercs well (resulting in lower point cost), making them more likely to run, or even betray their employer.

Orcs: Warchief Lvl 4, Battle Leader Lvl 3, Wizard 50 spell points, Juggernaut (huge monster), 10 archers, 8 veteran archers, 12 swords, 12 spears and two units of 15 human foot knights, paid only half their wages.

Dwarves: Warchief lvl 5, battle leader lvl 4, 12 axes, 10 x-bows, 10 spears, 1 hero, giant cannon and 20 half-paid wood elf archers.

The orcs from left: Warriors, warriors, extremely heavy Juggernaut,
archers, veteran archers, merc foot knights and more merc foot knights.

The dwarves from left: Wood elf archers, x-bows, spears, axes and cannon.

To start things off with a bang, the dwarven cannon blasted the smithereens out of the juggernaut, thus eliminating the largest threat in one blow. The dwarf cannon has a neat rule: you can overload the cannon with extra powder and shot for more damage, at the risk of an explosion that kills everything in 12" - I've had it take out a good chunk of my army once! But this time it behaved. The orc wizard cast eldritch command - a spell that magically transmits orders from the general immediately to a commander, without the need for sending a messenger. The best spell in the game sometimes! But the wizard had no luck, casting it three times before he could order the foot knights to advance. It cost him half his power. In Fantasy warriors a wizard can cast spells any time, as often as he likes...until he runs out of magic power.

The orcs and men continued to advance for several turns. The cannon eventually destroyed a unit of orcs, while the elves long bows made little impression on the foot knights heavy armour. Dwarf crossbows had better luck on orc archers. Two separate orc units charged the cannon crew, and each was defeated separately thanks to the dwarven hero stationed in that unit. The foot knights waded through the hail of arrows from the elves, then slaughtered the entire unit and its commander. This caused a command test from the dwarves which all remaining commands passed smoothly. 

The orc wizard used his remaining power to attempt to kill the dwarven hero, but overstretched and killed himself instead. This caused the orcs to take a command test. The warchief held on, the battleleader fled, but worst of all the foot knights failed badly. The orcs had taken many causalties, and the foot knights were already upset at being underpaid so a few bad rolls later, the knights defected and joined the dwarves. This left the orc warchief completely alone on the battlefield, and the game over.

Never underpay your mercenaries.

The orc warlord all alone.

A fun game, good to pass away a grey day. I think Fantasy Warriors would work much better with truly huge armies with lots of different commands and captains. However, that would take up a lot of space and result in a very long game.

Thanks for reading!

The dog sulks after his orc army loses.