UWS Programme for 2025

Although we usually have several games running at each of our monthly meetings, we encourage members to commit in advance to run at least one game per month. That way we hope to ensure there's at least one thing happening every month!

The table below shows what is planned so far.

David M.

Date	Period	Scale	Rules (if known)	Organiser(s)
22 Feb	Horse & Musket , War of the Spanish Succession	28mm	Black Powder	Andy
29 March	English Civil War Tsushima  ( Ironclad naval )			Billy McClenaghan  David Taylor
26 April	Rorke's Drift			Phil Magilton
31 May	WW2 theme for VE Day	Various	Various	Various
28 June	Ancients (Romans v Germans) -	28mm	Infamy! Infamy!	David Smylie
26 July	French & Indian War	28mm	Sharp Practice 2	Jeremy D and David M.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peasants Rampant

Game using Lion Rampant, 28mm.

Players

Leslie, Phil , Paddy, Adam.

Battle report by Leslie.

Baron Adam the Impetuous stared towards the village in the distance. The time had come for revenge. No longer would he be denied his feudal rights by a rabble of peasant scum. They had taken advantage of his absence, serving the king in the wars against the English enemy, to refuse to perform their rightful duties but now he was back and they would suffer for their treacherous insolence. He would visit death and destruction upon them. There would be hangings and blindings aplenty such that no peasant would ever think of daring to defy him again.

He had brought with him the flower of French military might.  There were two units of mounted knights,  a unit of mounted Sergeants , a group of heavy spearmen and a unit of cross bowmen.  As he was about to order the advance one of his household knights drew his attention to two large groups of troops advancing towards them .

In the northeast the banners of the English Lord Philip the Modest could be seen fluttering in the wind. The English had no mounted troops but there were clearly two units of dismounted knights trudging forward followed by two bodies of those  accursed longbow men. 

In the northwest Baron Adam could also clearly see a large band of German mercenaries under the leadership of the Irish soldier of fortune Count Patrick the Cautious. A unit of mounted knights could be observed leading a column of two units of heavy spearmen, a force of mounted cross bowmen and finally a body of slow-moving armoured crossbow armed infantry struggling under the weight of their large wooden pavises. 

His revenge upon the villagers would have to wait until he had driven off these foreign predators. Baron Adam signaled the advance. 

The game was played using the Lion Rampant wargames rules and the players were Adam, Phil, Paddy and myself playing as leader of The Village People. It was a simple last man standing game designed to provoke maximum carnage and bloodshed.  The figures used were 28mm from various manufacturers. 

The game began with a rapid advance by Baron Adam to contact the English . A series of hard fought and bloody clashes led to the eventual destruction of the  French warband culminating in Baron Adam routing from the table. He had saved his life but lost his honour. The much reduced English force now moved against the German mercenaries. 

While the English and French had been locked in combat Count Patrick had  been trying to negotiate an alliance with either of the protagonists but had been resolutely ignored by both. He then tried to capture the village from the armed peasants led by their Amazonian leader Robyna Hood. The unwieldly and disorganized German spearmen were easily massacred in the narrow alleys and lanes of the village by their more nimble opponents and the few survivors fled for safety followed by the taunts and derisive laughter of The Village People .

A very chastened Count Patrick now decided to confront the much reduced English. More bloodletting soon followed and large numbers of men died on both sides including Count Patrick who fell under a barrage of English arrows. The much fancied German armoured cross bowmen moved little and achieved even less before they fled for their lives accompanied by the remnants of the mounted crossbow men who also having failed to shine decided it prudent to return to Germany. By the last move  of the game the two sides were reduced to two very small units of English dismounted knights opposing a half strength unit of German heavy spearmen. In a moment of incredible bravery, or perhaps insanity, Lord Philip mounted a lone and desperate charge into the ranks of the German infantry only to be hacked to death in the midst of his foes. The much surprised and relieved German survivors were declared the winners and were delighted to slowly limp back towards home.

The Village People were perhaps the real winners of the day as they reveled in watching their feudal superiors engage in mutually assured destruction without any loss to themselves.  Yet despite this Baron Adam had survived so perhaps the story was not yet over.

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Editorial comment.

Count Patrick well and truly lost the game by attacking the Village People. This seems to be the highlight of the game as it was mentioned as I went round the game and on the WhatsApp feed.

It was such a mighty act that the renowned bard Guy de Campheis composed a ballad to immortalize it.

Your diligent Editor sought out the bard to get the definitive version of the ballad and any addition thoughts on the battle the bard may have. These were quite terse - "Up the workers" , "Beat the rich" followed by "Off you sod".

The ballad of the Village people aka Young Massacred Count de Allemand ( Usually known as Y.M.C.A. ),  by the bard Guy de Campheis (c).

Young Count, there's a village to which you can go
I said, young Count, when you're short on your dough
You can stay there, and I'm sure you will find
Many ways to raise the taxes which you have in mind.

It's fun to slay the Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to slay the Y.M.C.A.

They have everything
For young Counts to enjoy.
You can slaughter all the girls, animals and boys.

It's fun to slay the Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to slay the Y.M.C.A.

You can get yourself cash and 
If they complain you can slip your sword in between their ver-te-br-aaae.
You can do whatever you feel, you are no-bil-it-ayy.

It's fun to slay the Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to slay the Y.M.C.A.

Young Count, Are you listening to me ?
I said, young Count, you can get yourself riled.
I said, young Count, because you are a first born noble child,
So the slaughter will not be mild.

It's fun to slay at the Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to slay at the Y.M.C.A.

No Count, does it all by himself.
I said, young Count, put your pride on the shelf
And just go there, to the mercenary guild.
I'm sure they can help you find some re-tain-ers to-day.

It's fun to slay the Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to slay the Y.M.C.A.

Young Count, in your own country.
They put you beyond the Pale, so you became a mercenary 
with your German so-o-l-diers for sale.
Now just to find some easy pickings.

It's fun to slay the Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to slay the Y.M.C.A.

But young Count, that is not how it worked out.
I said, young Count, when revolting peasants are about.
They just killed your men and left their bod-ies on the gro-und,
Piled up in a bloody mound.

It's fun to slay the Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to slay the Y.M.C.A.

Young Count, beaten by Villagers led by a woman.
Robyna and the peasants they saw you a coming.
Ran rings round you in the village streets.
They taunted and mooned you as you did a ha-a-sty retreat.

It's fun to slay the Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to slay the Y.M.C.A.

Young Count, to assuage this shame.
To win some honour and reclaim your name.
You had a go at the English knights.
Were you got yourself killed in the ensuing fights.

And the English said :

It was fun to slay the Y.M.C.A.
It was fun to slay the Y.M.C.A.

Photos curtesy of Gary and the Editor.

7YW Zorndorf, The Afternoon Battle.

Game using Field of Battle 3.

Battle report by Gary.

I put on 'Zorndorf The Afternoon Battle' with Field Of Battle 3 and my 15mm kit.

Only the one Dave of the 'Two Daves' (Dave B) available today so I got to take part for a change commanding the Russians against Prussians.

Highlights were my foot in center giving the Prussians a bloody nose and my Cuirassier on my left holding off superior enemy Cuirassier under Seydlitz at least initially. 

Less of a highlight for Russians were their lowly but numerous Hussars being decimated by enemy Dragoons and the Prussian heavies rallying and thumping my Cuirassier in turn.

Only the swamp area was saving my left wing being enveloped by Prussian mounted and I was able to turn some infantry to protect that wing.

I did succumb to a humiliating roll of 1 on a D12 vs a roll of 4 on a D4 in a cavalry engagement at one point but this was balanced by the sole Prussian Grenadier unit routing ignominiously to a musket volley. 

Elsewhere we traded casualties almost equally but this did run down my lesser morale (30 vs 35) quicker of course. 

Yet another excellent game with FOB 3 again going to the wire with my lot succumbing to Army Morale check just as Prussians were down to a mere 3 Morale themselves (although I had 'gifted' a couple of Morale to them).

Prussian left in front of Zorndorf.

Russian foot in front of swamp.

Prussian Cuirassier approach counterparts as Dragoons are a bit tardy advancing.

Prussian central Brigade suffering early.

Bit later and my cavalry wing in real trouble from Dragoons and resurgent Cuirassier.

Infantry engagement in full swing with Prussian Grenadiers routing (near wood).

View from Prussian right.

The damage to Russian mounted arm was grievous in lost Morale points (two Hussar units already gone).

Russian foot deploying to cover flank.

Russian right wing.

End of game positions as Russians yield the field.

Photos curtesy of Gary. 

Get the pilot

 A WW1 game called "Get the pilot".

A French plane has gone down in a forest clearing containing a forester camp.

The Germans want to capture the pilot and have a Luftwaffe engineering officer examine the plane.

The British want to stop these happening, to the extent of blowing up the plane and either rescuing or assassinating the pilot.

Game using One hour skirmish wargames (OHSW).

Players
German  : Jeremy Nixon.
British    : David Maltman.

The field of battle.

 

There is plenty of terrain to break up line of site as OHSW gives rifles and machine guns infinite range ( the table roughly is 400m long in this scale ). Forests, individual trees, the foresters shacks, piles of equipment/supplies, abandoned trucks and cars and piles of cut logs.

The Germans arrive at the Eastern side, either at point C on the first phase, or they can try a flanking move to point D. But that requires a card draw, less than the current phase number. Jeremy opted to bring everything on at point C on the first move.

British were similar except entering from the West at points A and B. I choose to bring one section and an armoured car on at A on the first turn and gambled with the remainder of my force at point B.

Forces are roughly equal, 2 sections each. The British have 2 Rolls Royce armounded cars the Germans have one Ehrhardt E-V/4 armoured car, it has more resilience and fire power than the Rolls Royces. There were a few additional specialist officers to do with the German examination of the plane and a British Military intelligence officer to decide if the pilot should be assassinated to stop him falling into German hands.

The plane and pilot are slap in the middle of the table.

The final items to put in place are a wolf and a bear, I like some chaotic elements in my games. The wolf started of in the South Eastern forest, well in the German zone. Mama bear was foraging for food at one of the huts to the North of the plane.

The way OHSW works you get up to 13 activation points per phase to spend on actions ( card draw, ace is 1, king is 13 ). You get the most efficient use of points with the armoured cars, so both British and Germans rushed armoured cars to the center with any remaining points bringing up infantry in support.

The British got some luck with their flanking movement and arrived on at phase 5, top right of photo. Immediately sending the armoured car over to support its companion.

You can see the 3 way armoured car fight surrounding the plane. You can also see the bear just below the trees the plane crashed into. Though not inflicting any wounds on anyone it did block the Germans bringing any reinforcements through the gap between the hut and the big equipment pile. 

Meanwhile back in the German lines the infantry are pushing up to support the armoured car. At this point Jeremy did something to annoy the wolf and its random moves brough it into it attack range and it put 3 Germans down.  At the end of the turn these turned to be down and out, hurrah for the red, white and blue lupine.

Then Jeremys luck got even worse. He won most of the initiative draws, going first in the phase, drew high value cards, many of them face cards, giving lots of activation points. Then he went to fire his armoured cars HMGs and would draw a JOKER, thus immediately ending the turn and losing the rest of his activation points for this phase. The British got lower value cards on their turns but were able to slowly plug away at the Ehrhardt E-V/4, eventually causing enough damage to make the crew bail out thus ending its fighting ability, making it just another bit of terrain.

Jeremy brough up infantry to the side of the plane opposite from where the pilot was sheltering, so they could not get at him. They throw grenades at the armoured car with small effect. But on the next British phase the armoured car shoots them up. The Germans ended up with 8 dead but still managed to pass their morale test 

On balance the British seemed to be well ahead with the rescue of the pilot only being a couple of phases away.

A good game, but probably with too many soldiers as both sides pretty much used only one of the sections. Would be nice to try with a reduced number of soldiers and no armoured cars.

The bear patrols the area to the North of the plane. The pilot can be seen hiding behind the plane.

Photos curtesy of Gary. 

Napoleonic - Le Garde Au Feu

Report from Gary, 25th January 2025.

Game using Field of battle 3rd edition.

Players 

French : Mike and Simon.
Allies : Dave T and Dave M.

Club meeting today and I put on another FOB3 game this time using scenario 'Le Garde Au Feu' from GDB scenario booklet as the basis.

Scenario is set during Lutzen 1813 and depicts the afternoon counter attack by the Imperial Guard around the 'four villages' defended by a Prussian and Russian force.

French were commanded by Mike and Simon with the 'Two Daves' (Dave T and Dave M) tasked with holding off Guard with their Allied force.

French had 32 units with 2 Old Guard,12 Young Guard, 4 Line, 4 Second Line some Skirmish screens and supported by Guard Lancers and Line Lancers with several batteries of guns (some Guard standard with one Battery static on heights), they also had 45 Morale.

The French had to place 2 Brigades in off-table reserve (they choose the Old Gde and Gde Cavalry).

Allies had 24 units with 4 Prussian Line, a Prussian Guard Brigade with 2 Gde Musketeers, a small (3UI) unit of Gde Jager, 4 Russian Grenadiers (although Pavlov unit starts as a village garrison), 4 Russian Second Line, Skirmish screens and Prussian Cavalry Dragoons and Hussars, a unit of Russian Gde Hussars and several gun batteries, they started with 35 Morale.

Game was another cracker with lots of action and incident.

Highlights were Russian Gde Hussars being Routed but then Rallying and charging two units in flank destroying them but then being charged in turn on their flank and annihilated.

One Prussian Gde foot were ignominiously Routed with 3 hits by OG Guard guns but they too managed to Rally (and restore all UI losses !).

Most entertaining (at least for Umpire) was the OG Foot Brigade failing 5 times (1 on a D10) to appear but then once they did they were 'supercharged' getting 3 moves twice and essentially winning the game by inflicting musketry losses, which expended Allied Morale and of course an Army Morale was turned and the Allies quit the field.

However it transpired that the French had only 1 Morale clip left so very close to collapse themselves.

Quote of day was from Simon "how to win by rolling ones" as indeed the French had a deluge of such rolls especially early on. 

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Photos

French Young Guard formations advance near Rahna.

And encounter Russian Gde Hussars near Klein-Gorschen.

Action at Rahna heats up.

Prussian Gde forms a sort of Brigade Square behind Rahna.

Prussian and Russian foot Brigades hold back in front of Gross-Gorschen.

Formations engage on other side of Rahna (note OG guns on hill).

Russian Line and Grenadiers push forward.

Russian Gde Hussars have rallied from rout with 2UI loss but have forced French into square (the French units assaulting Klein-Gorschen were later flanked and routed by Hussars).

Young Guard forming for assault one Brigade behind 2 gun batteries.

French Cavalry have arrived from reserve.

French about to take Rahna through orchards.

Prussian Dragoons ride to their glorious doom (they did Rout a foot unit but 'died' themselves after taking a hit in pursuit).

Rahna focus of activity on French right.

Photos curtesy of Gary.