Coming Soon to the Gathering of Hosts

 If all goes well, Boxing Day will be a Battle Game day on The Gathering of Hosts!

To be continued..

"Home Boys Home"

The English leaders were stirred to revenge the Scots ambush last summer (see Ambushed!)  and so sent out a force of cavalry backed by some bills and bows. After causing havoc and destruction, they turned to head back to Haddington but they were on the far bank of the Blutaip River. Scouts reported that there was a nearby village with two bridges and a small garrison. 

So it was that the English raiders sent a company of archers to make their way to a wood by the northern bridge during the night, ready to surprise the Scots at dawn.

Dawn breaks!

The English archers soon forced the Scots picquet from their post and the cavalry moved to cross the bridge. Alas for the English, the infantry commander missed the order to advance while the mounted arquebusiers were slow to finish their breakfast and join the column of cavalry. 

The archers' arrows were too much for the Scots pikes and they fell back. The Scots cavalry rode forward to repel the English cavalry but they were also forced back. The road over the bridge seemed open.

The English infantry was not as fast as the cavalry, and the eager Highlanders were soon locked in hand to hand contact with the Sassanach while Scots pikemen marched forward to block the English escape.

The fighting was fierce but the Bills & Bows did their work.

The Border Horse were first to cross the bridge while the rest of the English moved as swiftly as possible to cross the bridge and resume their march back to camp. It seemed to be all over until there came the roar of canon!  A battery of guns had been established on the river bank, pointing across the river, but the gunners had slowly dragged a gun through the streets of the village until they had a line of sight.
(Rumours that the Scots commander forgot about the artillery until the game was almost over, are firmly denied by the Scots commander.) 

The Scots were not strong enough to stop the remnant of the English raiders but they inflicted heavy enough casualties to dissuade their commander from trying it again. 
( The scenario was #35: "Surprise 2" from "Scenarios For All Ages" by Charles S Grant and Stuart Asquith.  The goal for the English was to escape without losing more than 3 stands, but they lost a 4th on the last turn!) 

Halfway To Home

 I managed to start the 1st game today......

Early in the day.....

and after nearly 2/3 of the 'day', the end is still undecided but we should know tomorrow.........  

Wrapping Up 2025

I've settled on three of my collections to take part in the last games of 2025. The first will be a 16thC  Red Book scenario with an English raid trying to get safely back to Haddington. 

Already laid out.....

The second will be another raid from the Midlands into Valdur, Hopefully, this time I will manage a report,  before a year goes by!

And for the final game...........wellll.....we'll see but it just might take place in the Days of King Arthur.

Stay tuned!

Rising From My Death Bed and Making Plans

 Alright!  We are back on our feet. (Me and the wee warriors surrounding me.) 

I haven't come up with the next game yet but I have a list of requests and some vague ideas for the last few games of 2025. 

Prince Valiant just might appear in a cameo in the last game of the 2025 but hopefully, there will be one or two more small games in other settings before then. 

Stay Away From My Cows! (2021)

For some reason, I have an urge to revisit the 16thC Rough Wooing collection, doubtless because of the recent additions and the last game, so some sort of answer to that last ambush is called for.  

Ambushed!

There were some requests for another visit to the Land of 4 Winds and while I had considered a return raid on the Wild Folk, the Midlands armies could use some exercise now that they have recovered. 

I'll work on a scenario......

Incident In Lurgy Valley

As the train slowed to allow the pioneers to dismount and clear the debris on the tracks, the woods exploded with rifle fire which was swiftly returned by the Dominion troops.

But suddenly, the fire stopped as a tall priest strode out of the woods to stand between the two sides and call for peace and a parley. Reluctantly, the firing stopped and the leaders on both sides stepped forward.  

"Major! The Dominion has promised supplies and medicines to these tribes to make up for the loss of so many of their hunting grounds which have been given to farmers, but these promises have not been fulfilled and the villages are hungry and are suffering from the Dreaded Lurgy!" "That is why these men are so angry." 

"Father, it is true that the supplies are late but we have the stores here and it was our mission to deliver them, They may take them now if they wish or come with us to the Station."  

And so a new rebellion was avoided. 

____________________

Gaming will resume when the bloody lurgy is overcome here as well!

 

  

Later.......

 "Well, all seems quiet so far, no sightings of hostiles." 

"hmm....", "Corporal, go enquire why the train is slowing down."

To be continued....

Annnnnnd I'm Back!

 Just back from my annual visit to my family, who have also settled in a Maritime province, a mere 500 km trip.  I used to drive it but these days I ride a bus and let someone else stay alert for 5 hours.

A shot taken while on an early morning walk. My brother lives in a city while his son, his daughter and their Aunt (my sister) live in the land of  farms, forests, cottages, and tourist attractions where they were born some 40± years ago.

The first snow of the year is falling prematurely but it should let me get a game set up, once I have shoveled the driveway...and steps...and....never mind, I have a general idea sparked by one of the recent suggestions. 

"Had any troubles from the natives Stationmaster?"  "None at all gentlemen, I think your railway patrols have helped" 

Meanwhile.....wait...did I see something move up in the hills? Maybe I will have a game soon!

Yup. Thought so.

I just need to clear the junk that collects on my table when there's no game set up, figure out the forces, the scenario and victory conditions, and get it set up for Friday or Saturday. (Last dog show of the year.)

Battle of Black Cherry Ridge: Conclusion

With one Union battery silenced, some of the Rebel guns began to pound the Yankee infantry as the Rebel infantry advanced. Could that thin blue line hold?

YeeeeHa!

On the Confederate right flank, two brigades were faced with an orchard on a hill and a stream to cross under fire before they could drive the sole Yankee brigade out of a wood and break the Federal line. 

As the sun began to sink, the casualties on both sides were growing and a gap appeared to be opening in the middle of the Yankee line.  General Kinch decided to throw his last reserve into the fight to break the enemy's line and drive them off the hill. For the first part of their advance, four Confederate batteries could fire from hill to hill over the infantry's heads to silence the remaining battery and cut up their infantry supports.  

Too late!

As the reserve began its march forward, two battered attacking brigades, one on either side of the gap, suddenly broke after prolonged, bloody, fighting. There was nothing to do but call back the brigades still in fighting order and prepare for the chance that a Yankee counter attack might follow.

_______________________________________

Now to work on the hills and the painting of the border and then another game

Battle of Black Cherry Ridge Part1

The battle began with an impressive artillery barrage by six Rebel batteries, answered by three Northern batteries.  

The three Southern front rank brigades then marched forward with supports advancing to take their place.  

In short order, a bloody and prolonged firefight began.

On the Confederate right, the terrain broke up their approach and they soon found themselves fighting and even force with the cover of various orchards and a small river to cross under fire. 

With many of the Rebel batteries masked by their own infantry, one of the reserve brigades was ordered forward to silence and capture the Union guns.

To be continued.......

First Test

So far, so good!

All in all, my test game was well worth it. (Battle report to follow.)

The battle begins in earnest.
(The giant feline is just an illusion resembling a cat evading a young puppy.)

There's still lots of painting to do on the tabletop, and I hope to eventually trim at least a few of my hills to fit the grid better and have the grid marked on some of the free standing rounded off hills.

At Last!

The various rearrangements and reductions in "Stuff", etc. are coming along. In this case, though the table repaint, shelf rearrangements, preparations to reduce 'stuff' in general and so on, are not complete, I'm ready for a test game of the roughly marked squares.   

Since I was committed to an ACW game, that's where I've started. 

Not a reenactment of an historical action, just a fictional game based on one of the requests and
a scenario in the original Fire & Fury rules from the 1990's. The picture looks a little odd (I blame my phone's mucking) but its actually 5' wide (left and right) and 4'deep (from camera to wall). On all sides there is a little shelf to put off table reinforcements.

Each map square represents 9x4" squares on the tabletop.
( 180 grid squares if my computer is right. Oddly enough, each square is the width of those 3 stand units I rebased before I started thinking about grids again.) 

,If all goes well, I'll start rolling the dice Saturday morning.

SNAFU

Very few plans are carried out as intended. Things were going so smoothly when domestic concerns  interrupted. A minor thing, like a pebble rolling down a mountain side.......

Chaos

Anyway the house will be improved by the rearrangement and the long overdue planned reduction in junk and clutter. My wargame tabletop will soon resume normal operations, but back to a 4x5 rather than the makeshift 4x6 or the previous 5x5. My room also now has a young, permanent, Italian Greyhound inhabitant. A 10th generation lad, descended from the hound who moved in with me 45 years ago, (with his 'mom'), and spotted my usefulness as a softhearted kennel servant. 

Well, I had been wanting to rearrange my game room and table arrangement anyway. 

"Regular service" should resume by Friday.......  

Back To Table Top Games

Back to where the soldiers are rarely wounded and can usually be repaired if they are.

My table has started looking a bit shabby so I set out to touch up the paint. Then it occurred to me that my new organization on 2" wide bases mean that a 4" grid would work again and I wouldn't have to chase around the table to grab one of the rulers or tapes in order to move. My 40mm 16thC and 25mm fantasy collections, both on 60mm wide bases, won't fit, but the squares can easily be ignored. 

After hemming and hawing for the better part of a minute, I got a start.

The Inspector General inspecting the current state of her table. (She lets me use...usually). 

A 22mm ACW brigade with 1 regiment per square.

1/3 of the table has been done but I'm slowly getting better and quicker so I hope to have the table set by tomorrow evening. Past experience suggests that once the basic grids are laid down, the painting may be improved or modified to taste.

 

Lest We Forget

Its been 107 years since my grandfathers came back from the war to end all wars, and 80 years since my father and several uncles came back from the next big war while one is interned in Normandy.    

Malcom Macfarlane

I doubt if there'll be an end to war in my life time and I rather think HG Wells was right that we should put the politicians and generals in a large room with lots of toy soldiers to fight the wars, 

"I have a clever plan....."

Thanks for all the feedback & requests.   Its been a ...few...years since I read up on any accounts of Gettysburg apart from various memoirs (from both sides), or based a game on some part of it, and have never gotten around to the Peach Orchard etc. So....I've just been making a brief review of that section of the battle and have decided that to design a scenario to fit my troops on hand, my table, and my one page rules, with at least a whiff of history it'll take a day or six before I can get the game on the table.       
(Luckily I'll be home alone next weekend! :)  ), 

 (see Kinch's Charge 1 July 2013 on my then 6'x8' table.)

Yeah, the armies have grown in numbers since then.

So, in the mean time time, I'll start with a simple scenario from one of the other requested periods and keep going until all requests have been tabled.

Help Me, I'm FALL-ing. ( A call for readers' requests)

Autumn is often a busy, yard and house time, preparing for winter. This year its complicated by a litter of pups and a long drought  (5 month) which may be starting to end. As a result, I seem to have run low on imagination or inspiration, even when I do have time for a game. All of my current collections have taken the field during 2025, some multiple times so I can't pick on an ignorant orphan to fill the gap.

So....since I don't know what I want to play, I'm looking for suggestions as to what collection to put on the table (based on my active collections see the latest update here). Here's the 3 highest on my list but they are all in the race. All suggestions are welcome!

Not Prince Valiant.....

Not Lundy's Lane as per OHW

Ambush 

Now, time to get back to work.......

A T Party.....(T Junction that is...)

When Brigadier Ross, the British General in Pisiquid, heard that the Duc d'Anville's armada had arrived in Chebucto Bay (now known as Halifax harbour), he ordered Brigadier Turner to lead an expedition to cross the bridge over what is now known as the Meander River, and block the only direct routes from Chebucto to either Pisiquid, or to the Acadian settlements along the Minas Basin.     
(Where Highway 215 crosses the Meander River near the current NS town of Brooklyn if  anyone wants to look at a map, but don't expect even a close representation of the actual geography of any particular point!)

The opposing forces collide. The British force consisted of 1 battalion of veteran Royal Americans and 3 battalions of provincials as well as 2 companies of rangers. The French had 1 battalion of Colonial infantry from Ft. Beausejour and 2 companies of veteran Colonial infantry from Canada, 2 companies of militia and two parties of Abenaqui and Mi'kmaq warriors. 
(Note Acadian women and children on the far left, fleeing the village, hoping their houses and winter food supplies would not be burned or confiscated.)

While the main forces moved up and deployed, the light troops were already trading fire.

Soon, the fighting spread across the entire battlefield.

Casualties were heavy and both sides had to pull back their right flanks.

Eventually the French infantry, fighting twice their numbers, had to retire, but at the same time, the 60th Foot (Royal Americans)  also had to retire after heavy casualties while the rangers were forced back by superior numbers and heavy losses. The sun was sinking and it seemed that at the end of the day, neither side  would have fully achieved their orders.  

Brigadier Turner, leading his first detached command, was torn between not fully completing orders, even if he held the bridgehead and could be reinforced by night fall, or having the glory of winning his first battle, especially as the French appeared to be on the verge of breaking. At last he flipped a coin and decided to order his New Englanders to charge again. 

Alas, his troops were tired and low on ammo while the small body of French infantry, including veteran skirmishes manning the hedges,  were steady and released a deadly fire causing the Provincials to break and run for the bridge. There was nothing to do but to use the remaining Rangers and the remnants of the 60th to cover the retreat.

Now The Hurley-Burly's Done

At last I found some 'me time' and the battle surged forward to the music of fife and drum and the rattle of dice.

Click on the picture for a larger view.

Battle report to follow.