David Bickley's Wargames Blog

The occasional ramblings of an average gamer, journeyman painter, indifferent modeller, games designer, sometime writer for Wargames Illustrated and host of games in GHQ.



Wednesday 21 March 2018

Two For The Price Of One

It was a tad chilly in GHQ this Monday as temperatures struggled above freezing after the weekend’s snowstorms. Phil and I decided on two small games, one either side of a hot lunch provided by Sue. In the morning we played a Late Roman game, using our adaptations of Neil Thomas’s Ancient and Medieval rules, and in the afternoon a Norman’s v Saxons game using our first attempt at modifications of the rules for this period.
I only took one picture of the morning game for some reason. The table at the end of the game, with Pompus Maximus having once more beaten off the usurper Baldinus ~

In the afternoon session, fortified by a fine burger with blue cheese provided kindly by Sue, we had a first run through with our adaptation of Neil Thomas’s rules for the Conquest period. Phil took command of the Normans and I took the Saxons ~

The game swung first one way and then the other, with the Saxon line being bent right back on their left while on their right a feint charge and flight led to one unit of the General Fyrd being drawn off out of the line ~

The Norman crossbows proved particularly galling for the Saxon Huscarls, goading them into breaking their line and charging the crossbowmen. Once Combat was joined in earnest the Norman knights had a hard time of it against the Saxon Fyrd, while the Norman heavy infantry made heavy going against their opponents.


When time ran out both armies were near exhaustion with no clear indication of which one might have been able to win, so we shook hands on a hard fought and bloody draw ~

I really enjoyed both of these smallish games today and feel the rules are shaping up nicely for the sort of games we play in this period. I hope you will excuse the bare MDF bases by the way, but I’ve not got around to texturing them as yet. Before anyone asks, each base is a unit, as in Impetus, with 4 Combat and firing dice at full strength, reducing by one dice for each 4 casualties caused.









15 comments:

  1. Nice looking games, sounds like you had a splendid time! At least the mdf bases are a kind of sandy colour so not that bad!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain. Your encouragement is much appreciated.

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  2. Splendid! Just enough time to crack on with that basing before you go under the knife ....

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    1. Too messy to do at present. When Sue is next away with her sister perhaps.

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  3. sounds like another great day of pushing your little me. around the table.

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  4. Replies
    1. I am in no state to push even a little you around sadly.

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  5. Nice to see a very do-able game in terms if size and rules complexity.

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    1. Thanks Norm. It has allowed us to dabble in other periods at no great expenditure of time or money.

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  6. Two most enjoyable games, if we could have got in a third a could have won one, Nah! 🙂

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    1. I’m sure you will be back to winning ways soon!

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  7. I do like these small games and the narrative which goes along with them.

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    1. They suit my weakened state as well as my pocket at present, but I do hanker after a big battle...

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  8. A fine looking set of games David,

    Christopher

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