Answering the Call

A couple of energetic Halifax gamers (not me) have organized a small weekend wargame convention, hopefully the first of many.  Its been decades since the last small one that I can remember so I figured it was my duty as well as to my possible long term benefit, to support them so I'm going to run a game and hopefully play in something new to me. 

Newly cast and painted gunners for an upcoming local convention game.

However the real point of this post is that my friend Paul will run a 25mm ECW game. For the scenario he is planning, he needed some more Scots gunners. Knowing that back in 2010 I had sculpted and cast up a regiment of Lowland Scots ( one figure in neutral pose with open hand), he asked if I could cast up and paint 6 gunners for him.  Job Done! (see above)

About life size. 25mm, Sculpted, cast and painted 2010

I do like not having to find quarters, pay and rations for new figures! 

Scraping Off The Rust and Oiling the Joints

 What a wonderful day! 

Turn 2 or 3. The armies have marched on and begun to deploy prior to the clash.
Sorry for the quality of the pics. The lighting in the space where there was room for the table was not the best for taking pictures of miniatures, so the flash on my phone had to be used to get any pics at all.

It was a cool grey morning with the threat of showers and/or snow flurries in the air and on the radio and I was a little behind my time, so instead of my usual route of taking the secondary highway which cuts across the peninsula, I took the longer divided highway, nipping onto a secondary road shortcut which would also skirt Halifax and avoid the heaviest traffic.......at least it used to 15 years ago.... Crikey! The woods have exploded with subdivisions, malls, stop lights etc etc since I used to frequent that road. I should have realized that since the process had begun before I moved out of the city.  Next time I'll stick with the quiet path.

All of the troops on the table are 70's era Minifigs painted back in the 70's by 4 or 5 different people, including a handful of those wonderful kilted...pikemen!? and highlanders painted by me back when. (They are in the background here with the big Macfarlane crest on one flag and the cross of Saint Andrew on the other.) 

Anyway, I was still the first to arrive which was good because I had all the terrain. Naturally there was as much catching up as laying out of terrain and troops, interrupted  periodically by a new arrival and a new round of catching up! We were five in the end, in addition to myself there were 2 of the old (sic) gang that I've been friends with since I came to Halifax in the late 70's and 2 veteran recruits from  the boardgaming world that we had met at a local open gaming day in the year before COVID. Still, eventually we got troops and terrain sorted, players briefed and the game began.  Since there were five of us, two of which were new to miniatures, and it was only the third outing for the 'one side of a page' rules that I had written up hastily for a group game in 2018, I offered to be GM and coach.

An overhead view shortly after the previous picture. The Highlanders are recoiling from a surprisingly tough bunch of raw Covenanters. 

We managed a couple of turns before the excellent chili was ready....then with the troops fed and rested we resumed. It seemed like no time at all that the intended departure time had gone by and darkness with showers tending towards snow flurries were imminent. Luckily, the last turn had set the Royalists back on their heels and it was looking like a long reach for them to be able to turn the tables and rout the Covenanters, so we were able to call it and hurriedly pack up and head out. 

More Highlanders but these guys are being a bit tougher. The fact that I painted most of the Highlanders on green bases doesn't really have any significance at all, nope.

The scenario was designed by Paul based on the Battle of Tippermuir. He had written some special scenario rules such as dicing for the quality of some of the newly raised troops on both sides, limited ammo for the Irish, and so on. We made a few unfortunate choices about things such as how to categorize the open woods under the rules and the what effect the special rules would have, but nothing serious. 

We didn't have enough time to play the game through to the point where the Royalists could make a come back, due largely to the socializing and learning how the rules worked, but the socializing was the main event and we played enough turns to declare that Montrose was unlikely to achieve the sort of victory he won historically, if he could win any sort of victory give how the first part went. Indeed more very special scenario rules would be probably be needed to reproduce the historical quick collapse and rout of the Covenanter army but I'm not sure there would be any way to do that AND have an enjoyable GAME rather than an exercise.  

The scenario was interesting though and the game presented some good but different challenges to both sides so, with a little tweaking to the special rules, we plan to play it again. 

The one side of a page rules are available from my rules page (here). They treat units much like a board game counter and aren't likely to satisfy knowledgeable ECW or Pike & Shot aficionados, but were designed to be easy for inexperienced miniature wargamers to pick up and play. So far, the test games have all been enjoyable with new players picking it up fairly quickly, so I am resisting tinkering.

Game's end: The first Royalish assault has been held. The approach of bad weather and darkness have convinced Montrose to pull back rather than renewing the assault.

I have a feeling that it will be a while before there is another public miniature wargaming event here in Nova Scotia but that smaller gatherings like this one, in people's homes, will continue to happen more and more frequently, at least until the next wave comes.....   

Teaser: It Happened!

First face to face game since the fall of 2019!

The armies enter the field. Covenanters to the left, Montrose to the right.

More tomorrow.

ECW Battle Preempts Solo Fantasy and Leads To Building Boom.

 A Game! A REAL game against REAL PEOPLE!  In PERSON! First one since the summer of 2019. 

The game will be ECW hosted by Paul at his house on the other coast...of Nova Scotia, about an hour's drive from here. We'll be using his 25mm army but I'll be bringing along some terrain. The scenario requires a village and a church. I don't have much 25mm terrain anymore, but since the ones I built for my 40's are deliberately under scale and compressed,  I thought they'd do and Paul gave the thumbs up. 

However, I didn't actually have  a church.......so:

Hammer Hammer Saw Saw...

So, quick and dirty and the cottage is wider than intended...but I think they'll serve. 

Hmm, the cottage wasn't supposed to be that fat! Oh well, once I paint the door it'll serve.
btw, if you're wondering: Yes. In real life my handyman work is just as sloppy and practical.

Well that's the plan for Saturday, which is still 2 days away so anything could happen, but....... 

Our last ECW game, played in October 2018

 

Meanwhile planning for the  Great Raid continues on the Gathering of Hosts blog.

My 15mm Scots have been idle since they chased the English right out of Nova Scotia so I though a few of them might serve as map markers. 

One way or another, there will be a game this weekend with a battle report to follow!

An Attention Divided

During our last remote game,  Rob mention that he had ordered some boxes of A.C.T.A. ECW figures for a small, low level game.

Irregular Miniatures (iir)

During the late 1990's, another friend and I had started painting up ECW when the range was first released. The CF had seen fit to post him to the other coast and that was that. I eventually sold off the ones I had painted but it occurred to me that I still had a few unpainted ones, so I offered them to Rob.

A Call To Arms 54mm

Then it occurred to me that I wouldn't mind painting up a few of them up myself without building an army. Besides, it would help him get a game on his table all the sooner.  Hmmm,   and maybe on my computer screen as well. It might be interest to command units I had painted on his table without the long journey.

A Very Civil War

On Saturday I met with some of the lads at the King's County Table Top Games Assn Quarterly games day in Kentville.

This was another 25mm ECW game, this one was based on Marston Moor using a rough ratio of 1:100 for over all numbers but using standard units in OSW mode. The players were not confined to historical deployments. Jeff as Prince Rupert deployed first with the Allied army under Paul and Martin deploying second.

Paul's vintage Minifigs provided the Scots Covenanters/Parliamentry Army while Jeff's (see  Armchair Commander blog) contemporary figure provided the Royalist army.

Scots and Parliament

Royalists

This was the third outing for my one page, Quick Play, low detail ECW rules. Over all the rules again worked ok thanks to players with the right spirit but there were a few new glitches and "not covered" bits. In addition my suspicion during the last game that I shouldn't have removed the melee resolution rule was confirmed. I also got some useful feed back on a few bits. We're only talking a few lines of text but that'll take me onto  the other side of the page so I may as well fill up the remaining space by adding more explanation and making some of the writing down some of the unwritten rules.

The first clash.

Same moment zoomed in.

The allies attacked slowly forward all along the line but Jeff did a Rupert and launched a strong cavalry counter attack on his right. This swept away the allied cavalry and then sacrificed itself knocking a whole in the flanking infantry. It was close though, they almost crushed the whole flank without being destroyed.

On the other flank, Martin found his cavalry hampered by a village and close and the resulting cavalry fight lasted the rest of the game without decisive result.

In the centre, the largely Scottish infantry mass attacked about as slowly as is possible rolling 2 d6 a turn for distance! This gave the Royalist guns time to do enough damage to make a difference in the following melee.

However, by this time, the Allied army had managed to lose all of but one of their commanders which was made coordination nearly impossible. Both armies had taken heavy losses but there seemed little hope of Parliament breaking the Royalist line and in case of a draw, the strategic advantage lay with the Royalists. They certainly did better than they did in history.

Thanks to Jeff, Paul, and Martin for an enjoyable game.

A Cabin Divided

The last miniatures game from last week saw Paul's old Minifig ECW troops take the field. The ECW has never quite been one of my "periods" though I have on occasion read a bit on campaigns and battles and painted troops in 15mm, 25mm and 54mm and played the occasional game with mostly other people's armies.

Note on images: The bright, clear, pictures are Rob's, the dark, fuzzy ones are mine.

My handful of Minifig Scots took a vote and marched off to join Paul's Scottish army. Here they are spearheading the counterattack.

None the less, when Paul recovered his old ECW armies along with a horde of Scots to which I added my own handful, we needed some rules so I did a one pager last Spring and we used a slightly improved version of those. Like most one pager's they are woefully inadequate for "accurate simulation" but provided a decisive game in a few hours with enough high level period flavour  for my superficial knowledge.
They are available here: Ross's One Page ECW.

The battle begins.  

The scenario was inspired by an historical one but inspired by is as close as it gets. There was no attempt to recreate any historical action. 

The Royalist army under Paul and Mike had an extra cavalry unit, one of which was Elite, all of which were "shock" cavalry with a charge bonus but lower staying power. 

The Allied army under Rob and Anthony had an extra Infantry unit, an Elite unit of Scots pike and shot as fate would have it (Well I painted them 40+ years ago and they're carrying my clan badge and battle cry aren't they - no prejudice involved!), as well as a unit of Cuirassiers.

Another shot as the game gets under way.

Parliament was allowed to send a handful of units to occupy the hill in the middle of the table before the battle began. Victory would go to the side which managed to break the enemy army's morale before night fall in 15 turns.

We were a little short of English cavalry so these bareheaded Scots were deemed sufficiently Cavalier to fight for the King.

Parliamentary foot, disordered by heavy casualties and 2 hits from destruction.

The battle began with an exchange of artillery fire followed by a lengthy period of musketry while the cavalry supported by dragoons and detached shot and Highlanders probed on the flanks and tried to get the enemy off balance or mislead him.

The climax approaches!

At last Parliament had enough of an advantage in the infantry fight to pull back their hardest hit unit, replace it with a fresh reserve and launch an all out assault.



Casualties were heavy on both sides and the Elite Scots looked about to be overwhelmed and flanked.

Finally the Royalists brought on their Elite cavalry reserve  and launched an all out cavalry attack on the right.

But........ those old Scots are tough and handfuls of 1's and 2's won't over awe Roundhead cavalry, though they were amazed at how many such dice the Royalists could throw.  There were a lot of severely battered allied units at the end but even more broken Royalist ones.

The end of the game or near it. Rob is behind the camera, that's Anthony on the left, 3 victories on his first visit to the Maritimes, Paul, the eldest, is standing, Mike is seated behind the remnants of his cavalry and then there's the old geezer who wandered in and kept telling people what they could and couldn't do. 

Veterans Clash in the Valley

Wargame Armies and projects come and the go but sometimes they come back!  So it was with Paul's 25mm Minifig ECW army  which he painted in the 1970's. As it happens, they not only came back to him after the demise of our friend Joseph a few years ago, but they came with extra units from various sources including a contingent of Scots both painted and unpainted.

When the quarterly public Table Top Gaming day came up in Kingston in the Annapolis Valley, Paul volunteered to get them table ready if I provided rules and a scenario. Jeff with his much more recent 28mm ECW hordes, which he uses with either Baroque or Victory Without Quarter, was unavailable so I decided to write a one page, quick play set suitable for the occasion.

After much sorting and rebasing to a common standard, Paul was able to field 11 regiments of Pike and Shot, each 18 strong, 1 unit of 12 highlanders, 9 squadrons of cavalry including 1 of cuirassiers, 2 of Scots and 2 of dragoons, each 6 strong, and 6 guns. I still had one unit of Scots pike, 2 of highlanders and a squadron of cavalry. Paul had 2 mounted Generals and I had 2 left over cavalrymen which were quickly promoted. Another commander per army would have been useful.

Given the mix of troops available I decided to go with a scenario inspired by some of Montrose's victories and secretly added 2 more units of medieval Highlanders without mentioning it to Paul.

The Covenanters rush onto the table hoping to sweep away the tiny holding force before it could be reinforced.

In order to set the scene properly I found myself obliged to brief Paul and Martin with what they were supposed to believe  which is that their rapid approach march had surprised the enemy and that they would be reinforced  as the game went on so speed was of the essence. Their deployment was an area 1 foot deep and two feet wide centred on the road.

The truth, of course, was that those reinforcements were already on table, lurking in ambush on the flanks.

Paul puts on his Battle Face.

It took a little longer than I had hoped for us to get sorted out and started but eventually we got there. 

Paul commanded the left of the  Covenant force with the bulk of the infantry and artillery while Martin took the left with most of the cavalry.

Brent, not worried at all by the apparent 3:1 odds.

Brent was given command of the on table portion of the Royalists. While I had the luxury of beginning as a non-playing GM, at least until some of Martin's Dragoons stumbled into a stray unit of Highlanders lurking in some woods.

The red dots mark 'out of command' units that must make an initiative roll before moving.

Since Martin decided to send his cavalry sweeping around the flank, it didn't take long to find the lurking Highlanders. I figured that would give the whole thing away but apparently it didn't. It did slow down that flank though and twice the Highlanders managed to catch a unit in flank as it tried to march past the wood. 

The Scots cavalry get impatient. 

As Brent watched the flood of cavalry approaching his sole unit, he decided to launch a preemptive strike. He had a theoretical shock bonus on the initial round but the dice were not kind to him.

Confusion reigns!

One of my units of Highlanders had been inspired to support our cavalry by charging into the flank of another enemy cavalry unit and they fared much better. Luckily, the Dragoons resisted the urge to intervene (failed initiative) while the Highlanders swiftly fell back to cover and resumed sniping.

The battle rages across the table. 

On the other side of the field I watched the enemy continue to rush everyone forward without throwing out a flank guard. I'm still not sure why I initially flung only one unit of Highlanders into the open flank but it was very nearly a disastrous decision. Luck was with me however and eventually the enemy broke, leaving my two units to spend most of the rest of the game trying to rally sufficiently to resume the attack. 

The Crunch approaches!

Thus far the Royalist forces had given slightly better than they had taken but the day was yet young and the Covenant forces had pressed on, sublimely indifferent to the any threat to their flanks. Now they were about to assail the main position with more than 2:1 odds, infantry in front and cavalry to the flank.  The battle was a long way from decided.

ALAS! At this point in the game, Brent had to leave and the cameraman got involved in heavy hand to hand fighting all along the line.

In short the assaults on the ridge were held, both against the infantry to the front and the cavalry to the flank. Casualties were heavy on both sides though and the Royalist infantry were very glad to see their cavalry reserve rolling up over the hill on their left flank and into the flank  of the attacking enemy supported by a final swarm of Highlanders.

My old Valdurian Horse still has it!

When the end came, it came swiftly.  The sole unit of Covenant Horse on their right had been prepared for an attack over the hill and put up a fight but were eventually swarmed by Highlanders as well as the cavalry.

The pikemen in the centre however had been hotly engaged in a firefight to the front when the Royalist cavalry not only hit them in flank but rolled up on the dice and went through them like a hot knife. As the Royalist foot  began to advance down off the hill, the whole Covenant centre started to break.

The left wing  Covenant foot attempted to turn and move to reinforce the centre but the Dragoons again refused to come forward and cover their open flank and again my Highlanders could not restrain themselves.

The whole army dissolved in rout.

Late in the day the Covenant right and centre broke and the battle was suddenly over. The Royalist army had suffered terribly though and one more turn might have seen them break before the flank attack could have the desired effect.

So ended the first wargame for Paul's revived Minifig ECW armies but it won't be the last.

It took us about a little over an hour to  get organized, chat about this and that, set up the table and sort the troops. The game itself took about three hours to play about 10 of 15 possible turns and was close and hard fought. As a bonus we just may have enticed a suitable recruit to join us in a future game or two.

All in all a Saturday well spent!

Post-game Teaser

Just back from the game in Kingston, NS.

 For now I'll just say it was an enjoyable day out and a close game.

Whiling Away a Rainy Day

It was a dark and stormy morning with lots of wind and rain and no electricity. By 8 am all was back to normal but the mood was set and I did not feel like doing housework, or bookwork or even working on stuff for Huzzah!. I cleared my table and was on the point of flipping open OHW  and grabbing some 54mm toy soldiers when it occurred to me that I could fudge a test game of the new one page ECW rules using my 16th C lads.

The Scots prepare to defend against a horde of invading foreigners, doubtless in English pay. 

 The Scots ended up with 2 units of cavalry, 2 of pike and shot, 2 of highlanders and a heavy gun. The "English" brought a unit of Cuirassiers, 1 of cavalry, 1 of Dragoons, 3 pike and shot and a light gun. The invaders only had a slight advantage in "power" if not numbers  so the onus to attack was placed on them. If the game was a tie the Scots would win.

The English Dragoons pushed forward to "amuse" the Highlanders and attacked with the Cuirassiers while the rest marched forward at best speed. 

The Scots horse were tougher than they looked and the opposing cavalry destroyed each other as fighting units. In the centre the opposing infantry are pushing their pikes and the Highlanders on the left have decided that they can take the enemy pike now that the artillery and Scots musketeers have filled them full of 6's. 

The last few Highlanders on the left have fallen back to let the Scots pike take over but the central block of Scots have broken for the rear. Its time for a final, deciding cavalry brawl with both Generals in the front rank while the Highlanders on the right are bored with this futile shooting business. 

The Dragoons have scattered but the Scots General is down, his cavalry broken and his artillery captured.
"Back tae the hills"!

I found a couple of minor oopsies which I have fixed: Heavy guns were supposed to have +1 per die for superior firepower, not +1 die, isolated units were supposed to dice to see if they could move and there were originally 4 dice per unit in melee to heighten tension so I have restored that.

All in all though, it worked as intended. As with all one page set of rules, there were lots of bits of detail and flavour missing but I think the essentials worked and they should be easy to pick up. Tomorrows game will see about twice the number of units and 2-4 players. Bring it on.

"By the sea we will gather for the fight"

This coming Saturday is the next Table Top Games Day in Kentville and Paul is busy refurbishing a host of old Minifig ECW figures.

I've pledged a scenario and a set of quick play, easy to pickup, rules but I figured I should wake up my own contingent of Minifig Scots.

Serving since the mid 1970's under a Macfarlane battle flag with officers in my first ever attempt at painting a Macfarlane tartan.
(I'd never seen the real thing at the time) 

The pikemen, archers and a few of the cavalry date from my college days, some of the very few, new, chunky style, Minifigs I ever bought. When the style changed, I changed to Garrison! The musketeers and lancers conversions from my revival of this forces in 2010/11. (check the ECW label for more). The Highland contingent  has been swollen by a contingent from the collection of the late John C Robertson sent along by Tim (see Megablitz blog)

The whole contingent, such as it is.
They're only outnumbered 10:1, shouldn't be a problem.

The one page rules can be found here (click) but be warned, Saturday's game will be their first play test.

For those who are wondering about the post title (I know, I know, not strictly relevant but...):

Be careful what you say

Yesterday I wrote that I was sending out the fiery cross to summon my 25mm Scots to war. I was expecting my own lads to answer the call. I wasn't expecting the call to reach across the water. Imagine my surprise when a troop of Highland Volunteers showed up at my door this morning! (25mm Minifigs not real live ones.)

On the left my 35 year old Scots, on the right, the new arrivals.

Turns out they hadn't technically come in response to my virtual Crann Tara. They arrived due to the generosity and thoughtfulness of Tim Gow of Megablitz fame and came originally from the collection of the late  John G Robertson. I didn't know John but from what I have read on Tim's blog about this veteran gamer, it is an honour to have some of his figures join with my own. The specfic figures sent are especially welcome. This year, a group of local gamers decided to play some 25mm ECW games. I had a handful of old Minifigs dating back to the mid-70's, not enough for a whole army. Money is in short supply and the old figures are as short as I am compared to the various hard plastic and metal figures being gathered, so I sculpted and cast a regiment of lowland foot and rebased and refurbished my old Minifigs to form a regiment of kilted pikes and a unit of highland archers. I was short a few figures to round out the unit of archers and unsure of how to fill the gap. Gap filled!

Even better, 2 of the archers are the older ECW range of S vintage. Lovely figures!

Oh and there were a few other items in the package....but more of that anon.

Tapadh leabh! Thank you to Tim, and to Morina, John's widow and ultimately to John. I'm sure these Hielan' lads will do John proud sometime this fall when my ECW Scots march across a table top.

The Scots go to town and Charge their Pikes

On Sunday I took a short break from the hectic last days before completing the sale of our old house to participate in a test game of Charge Pikes! by Wesley Rogers.  I had a small mixed brigade of my Scots Royalists in one corner and was constantly interrupted by urgent non-wargaming business so I can't really report usefully on the whole game but I took a few cellphone snaps of my Scots having their biggest success in decades.

     This first shot shows the remains of 2 regiments of English Parliamentry cavalry riding for the table edge in the distance. One unit was beaten by my Gordon Horse in a straight up fight, the other had been launched in a frontal  attack on the Strathcona Foote to see how the rules worked. They worked well for the pike and shot formation, not so well for the cavalry who rallied back into the path of the pursuing lancers.

  . My home made Scots infantry & artillery backing up Minifig cavalry inc conversions.

.
The lancers followed up by running down a heavy enemy gun while it was reloading and then wheeled and hit a large enemy pike & shot regiment from the rear. These passed their morale and proved to be a tough nut even taken in reverse but once the Strathcona's had wheeled around and along with a regiment of English Royalist horse, joined in, the infantry finally threw down arms. At this point, word came that Parliament's  Scots allies had beaten our English allies on the other flank and we all decided to call it a day.

Charge Pikes was strongly influenced by the WRG 1685-1845 rules and so was like an old friend for me.
So far we have tried Victory Without Quarters, Warhameer ECW and Charge Pikes. They all have their  strengths and weaknesses but for me these rules had lots of flexibility for building forces how you want them, esp useful should we ever try an historical refight, seemed to encourage historical tactics and were easy on the brain at the same time. Recommended.