Overview

A  naval theme this month. I believe we had 10 people involved in playing 2 games.

The games were : 

Napoleonic action with the Full Nelson.

Ancient Greeks in the Aegean with Poseidon's warriors.

Setup time.

Argy-bargy in the Agean.

Game of Ancient Greek Naval action. 

Using Poseidon's Warriors in 1/1200.

Organized, using terrain and models and nominally umpired by Leslie Tipping.

AAR by Gary.

Players

Spartans  : Gary.
Athenians : Leslie.

Club meeting today and I partook of a naval game again (3 in one year after none in about 30 !) this time with an Osprey set, Poseidon's Warriors run by Leslie.

I had a fleet of 20 Spartan Triremes/Galleys against same number of Athenian vessels under Leslie.

Both sides had 4 Squadrons of 5 ships with each Squadron able to be classed as open decked light type (one hit wonders) or heavier Cataphract covered deck types also only taking one hit but with saving roll of 6.

Both sides could have an Elite squadron meaning faster ships for Athens and more Marines for Sparta.

No artillery or heavier ships so made for nice quick playing and easy to pick up game.

We managed to get two games completed with an early finish with no issues beyond how often a potentially game ending fleet morale test is taken (easy to house rule). 

First game ended with fairly low casualties as Leslie's Flagship went to bottom and Fleet fled (i.e. rolled 1 on Morale Test).

Second game a more cagey affair as both fleets maneuvered a lot more and included some grain ships to capture which we both totally ignored.

I was lucky (I know !!!) and passed several Morale Tests (whether needed or not) whilst Leslie failed his first again despite losing 8 ships to my 13 in the end.

Fun game with some very nice 'toys', the ships being 1/1200th scale from Tumbling Dice and the islands from Langton Miniatures (now defunct ?)

First game

Two Athenian squadrons arrayed.

Whilst Spartan heavies circumvent an island.

And two more converge to launch an attack.

Overview from Spartan right.

The island pieces were very nice indeed.

Second game.

Islands more clustered (Grain ships in convoy in foreground).

I took a pummeling on my right in this game but Spartan morale held strong.

Squadrons squeezed into narrows somewhat.

Athenians managed to outnumber my right wing.

Faster (ie Elite crew) light Athenians in convoy after one of my light Squadrons was sunk completely after a 'Kamikaze' style head on ramming charge (the heavy Athenians managed to save 3 of their 5).

So Sparta had to redirect a Squadron to contest straits.

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Photos curtesy of Gary. 

The Full Nelson

Game of Napoleonic Naval warfare. 

Using The Full Nelson in 1/1200.

First game - learning, with a prerelease set of the rules as Jeremy is a TFL play tester.

Organized, using terrain and models by Chris Caves and umpired by Jeremy Dowd.

AAR by David Maltman.

Players
British                    : David Taylor, Ian Anderson, Jeremy Nixon, David Maltman.
French & Spanish : Andy Smyth , Chris Caves, David Pentland. 

Order of Battle

Ships : Name ( Number of Guns )

British                                        French & Spanish
Britania ( 100 )                          Principe de Asturias ( 112 )
Dreadnought  ( 98 )                  Santa Ana ( 110 )
Bellaratron ( 74 )                       Neptuno ( 80 )
Defiance ( 74 )                          Formidable ( 80 )
Collusus  ( 74 )                         Swiftsure ( 74 )
Thunderer ( 74 )                       Fougeux ( 74 )

Pre-game

The belligerents assemble and scope out the battle field. Not a lot of features on this part of the deep blue briny.

The mighty Royal Navy squadron and their Ships panel cards for stats and tracking damage.

( Editorial comment - At this point I should declare that I was Captaining one of the British ships, Dreadnought, so I may be slightly biased. I also need to point out that I had not got my method of ship identification worked out well in the earlier stages of the battle, especially for the Spanish & French fleet. At 63 it's not that easy identifying tiny labels at 5 feet, or 2 feet to be honest, must get new glasses. It gets better later on as I work out which ship corresponds to which activation card, though as 4 of the British ships stayed in formation it was not that much easier, thanks to Captain Nixon for keeping me straightish ).

The cowardly Spanish & French ( Sprogs ? ) squadron and their Ships panel cards, cowering off table.

This map shows the overall movements of the fleets over the coming moves.

British go first. The Full Nelson is card driven, like Sharpe practice, but if a fleet is in formation then their individual cards are not in the pack, but a flag card is in place. When a flag card gets drawn all the ships in the formation activate.

Coming on in line ahead from bottom right corner.

Admirals ships, Britania and Defiance, get on the table.

French & Spanish arrive at the top right corner.

The squadrons fill in on line ahead.

Fleets within 24" so squadron movement.

British have 4 ships on, French & Spanish have 3.

Into battle mode. The French are breaking formation.

British last 2 ships break Formation, rest stay in formation.

British lead ship moves forward and fires a broadside at long range, 5/6 to hit scores 4 hits.

French save 1, so 3 hits and take a disorder in each of the 3 areas : leadership, sailing and gunnery.

French bring on another ship and turn last 3 ships towards the 2 British tail end ships.

Second British ship moves forward and turns 45 degrees. 

Fires and scores 2 hits but Sprogs save both.

French move second ship forward and  broadside getting one hit on British flagship Britania.

Bellaratron moves.

Dreadnought Moves 12" towards French on lower right end.

Collusus follows Bellaratron to take a parallel track.

French last ship comes on

Another ship fires at Britania and 1 hit, leadership disorder.

Britania recovers the leadership but has no gunnery so moves out  of the way.

Collusus moves11" ahead. 

Neptuno moves forward, turns 30 deg, moves forward 6."

Defiance turns, moves and turns back, Then does a smashing broadside at long range all misses.

Formidable carefully threads his way through his colleagues. 

Dreadnought moves forward a shortish distance.

Santa Ana Moves closer to Dreadnought and fires a broadside with no effect.

Bellaratron & Thunderer in formation move forward.

Swiftsure moves forward.

Principe de Asturias Moves forward and broadsides Britania gets 1 hit on gunnery.

Santa Ana moves forward to plug the gap. 

Fougeux moves forward.

Formidable moves forward.

Britania Removes gunnery disorder. Fires broadside, No hits.

Defiance Moves forward and broadside. No hits.

Bellaratron MF and broadside long range. 2 hits.

Thunderer moves forward and turns, broadside long range 2 hits, gunnery and sails.

Collusus moves forward and 45 degrees turn. Fires a smashing broadside, 1 hit on sails disorder.

Dreadnought moves forward and 45 degrees left. Smashing broadside 2 gunner and 1 sail hit.

Britania moves forward and 45 turn to get near to lead French ship 2 hits sails and gunnery disorder.

Neptuno moves forward. Smashing broadside on Bellaratron,  2 hits, 1 gunnery 1 sails.

Defiance fires Smashing broadside, 1 hit on Neptuno 1 gunnery.

Bellaratron removes disorder from sails fires broadside 3 hits leadership , gunnery, sails.

Santa Ana short move, broadside and hits on 3. 2 guns 1 sails.

Principe de Asturias moves forward, broadside at short range on Britania. 4 hits, gunnery and 3 sails losing a sail dice and a critical hit.

Thunderer moves 2" forward, 45 to left broadside at long range on second French ship, 1 hit on sails, French ship loses a spar sail dice.

Collusus moves forward, 45 to left fire on second French ship a smashing broadside, 2 his , gunnery and sails, gunnery is critical loses 1 gunnery dice.

Formidable Just an advance fires to right but misfire. No hits.

Fougeux  moves 5".

Dreadnought moves and turns 45 degrees left broadside med , 2 hits , 2 sails and they lose a sailing dice.

Britania clears his sails fire broadside 2 hits, sails and gunnery. Reloads.

Formidable moves behind Dreadnought.

Neptuno broadside on Bellaratron , 4 hits 2 guns 1 Sals, slaughter house ( guns exploded ).

Defiance Fires smashing broadside on Neptuno 3 hits 1 Leadership & 2 gunnery.

Santa Ana Turns 45 left and fires a smashing broadside and gets 1 hit on Neptuno.  It loses a leadership dice. Critical hit Captain killed.

Fougeux fires at Bellaratron 1 hit gunnery.

Collusus fires at Principe de Asturias, 3 hits on sails, loses a sail dice. Turn 45 left and scarpers into middle of mat.

Collusus moves 6" and fires a smashing broadside at Neptuno got a gunnery hit. 

Collusus fire at Neptuno gets a gunnery hit. The Flag is struck.

Santa Ana Moves forward and fires broadside, 1 hit on Defiance, sails.

Britania fires on Santa Ana hits sails , mast gone

Swiftsure fires on Dreadnought no hits.

Defiance broadside 2 hits 2 gunnery.

Bellaratron recovers a gun disorder.

Fougeux Fires on Dreadnought but get no hits.

Formidable Fires on Dreadnought and get 1 leadership.

Principe de Asturias fires on Britania gets 3 hits and the critical sets it on fire.

Game ended, with the British slightly ahead.

To complete the rules tryout, Admiral Taylor called Westminster abbey ( reporting to Parliament that a victory occurred ) but only got 8 points more than the French, which is not enough. Admiral was disgraced for declaring victory. 

             

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Photos curtesy of the Editor. 

Overview.

Good turnout this month. I believe we had 15 people involved in playing 3 games.

The games were : 

D-day action using Rapid fire reloaded. Just a week early to confuse the Germans.

Fantasy using Halflings against Orruks with Midgard.

Trouble in the heart of Medieval Africa using Field of Glory Renaissance.

Setup time.

Hunting and cooking Halflings for pleasure and profit.

Game of Fantasy in Middle Earth. 

Using Midgard in 28mm.

Organized, using terrain and models and umpired by Tim Snoddy.

AAR by David Maltman ( as dictated from Gorak the Orruk leader ).

Players
Halflings : Jeremy Dowd and Billy McClenaghan.
Orruks    : David Maltman and David Smylie.

Orders of Battle, both sides 400 point armies.

Orruks
Heros                         : 1 Level 3 and 2 level 2.
Ard Boyz                    : 2 units.
Orruk Soldiers           : 4 units.
Orruk Man-Skewers  : 1 unit.
Hobgoblins                : 7 units.
Warg riders               : 4 units.
Mountain trolls          : 1 unit.

Halflings
Heros                                   : 1 Level 3 and 2 level 2.
Halfling Dog lancers            : 4 units.
Halfling Heavy Dog lancers : 1 units.
Halfling Wardens                 : 2 units.
Halfling Heavy foot              : 1 units.
Halfling Pike                        :  2 units.
Halfling Sword                     :  2 units.
Halfling Dog Rifle                 : 1 units.
Forest Trolls                         : 3 units.

Editors comment : The AAR was mostly derived from talking to the Orruk Leader Gorak after the battle, there being no Halflings present in a state to interview. Those that were present where generally roasting on spits and even Orruks mostly kill their food before cooking it. The Hobgoblins I'm not so sure about, I kept well away from them. The trolls just take their food raw, ugh!

The battlefield before the belligerents arrive. Reputation points are given at the end of each turn for having the nearest unit to each of the 3 standing stones. The river disrupts units unless they have the agile trait ( most of the halflings ).

The Orruks are the attackers so get to deploy first. One contingent deploys at the river, one at  12" from their baseline and the third contingent arrives on the second turn.

Orruks Deploy at river on central area and back behind left flank.
Halflings deploy Dog lancers in centre and infantry on flanks.

Orruk Man-skewers fire on Halflings knights, to no effect.

Halflings move to river, Dog lancers unit crosses river.

Orruks advance on left keeping out of killing zone range.

Wargs and Orruks arrive and cover centre and right flank.

Halflings fire on centre Orruks to no effect.

Halflings advance across the river. Halflings fire with little effect.

Orruks on left do a general charge. 2 of the Halflings units evade.
Two melees , each Halflings units suffers 1 stamina loss and are pushed back. 
General shooting happened with no effect.

Halflings got 3 reputation for being in control of the 3 areas.
Orruks get 2 reputation for the first charge by a hero.

Halfling Dog lancers try crossing in the center and Orruks archers evade.
Orruks are attacked but cause 1 stamina and push Halflings back.
Hobgoblins lose 2 stamina and are forced back.
Shooting ineffectual.

Melee in the left flank.
Both Orruks and hobgoblins kill the halfling units.

Halfling Dog lancers attack Warg riders and push them back.
Halflings fire on center Ard Boyz and push them back.

Wargs push Halflings Dog lancers back on right.

You can see the Mountain Trolls are still wandering around. They are not the sharpest tool in the Orruk tool box but they are probably the best fighting unit. I think Mr Smylie lost track of that during the action, I only realised when doing the AAR - Editor.

Orruks control 1 area , halflings 2.

Halflings line up along river, Dog lancers cross in center.
Halflings fire on Orruks on right and get 2 hits.

Halfling Dog lancers attack Wargs, but are pushed back and hobgoblin support means they receive no hits.

Halfling Dog lancers and hero (  Prissy Prince Percy on Poncy Pegasus ) attack Warg Riders and are counter charged by the Wargs. Wargs win, Hero fails health to hero's test and receives 1 hit and unit pushed back.

Halfling Dog lancers attack Wargs on the right and are pushed back by the Wargs.

Orruks on left consolidate.

Warg Riders in centre get pushed back along with their supports.

Other Warg unit causes a casualty and pushes Halflings Dog lancers. Prissy Prince Percy on Poncy Pegasus fails another health to hero's test and is killed.

Final Warg unit kill Halflings Dog lancers.

Orruks have control of 2 of the areas and Halflings one. The tide has well and truly turned. 

Left flank, Orruks attacked by forest trolls. The Orruks win and push back the trolls.
Halflings knights attack Orruks the Orruks win and push them back, 1 casualty each.

Halfling Dog lancers are pushed backwards in center.

Forest trolls suffer 1 stamina loss and are pushed back.

Halflings knights get a stamina loss and are pushed back into river.

Orruks get 2 points and Halflings one for holding the standing stones.

Melees continue and forest trolls lose, 1 point of stamina , Halfling Hero Clive loses one stamina.

Halflings knights are killed.

Warg Riders in centre win.

Orruks smelling the blood do a massive charge all along the front.

Except for the thickie Mountain trolls, could not think themselves out of a cul-de-sac.

On the left flank

First fight hobgoblins vs Halflings sword draw.
Orruks vs forest trolls , forest trolls die.
The Ard Boyz push the Halfling Pike back.

Orruks push the Halflings Dog lancers back with 1 stamina loss.

In the center

Wargs v Halfling Dog lancers draw.
Orruks vs forest trolls draw.
Orruks vs wardens broke in the stream.

Orruk Ard boys vs Forest Trolls, Trolls win and push Orruks back.

David Smylie ( aka Nakkar the Doomed ) on fine dice rolling for a change. In this game if you faced him you were the doomed one. It was interesting to watch the usually unflappable Billy get more and more annoyed as his dice rolling was absolutely trounced by David. Jeremy was similarly getting savaged by myself on the left flank. I think on average we were getting 2 to 3 times the number of hits in the melees.

The battlefield at the end of the game. Showing the Orruk army storming across the river.

The Orruks chalice overflows with reputation and the Halflings are devoid of honour and flee the field.

All that remains is to gather up our Orruk dead and send them on their way to the next life on their funeral pyres.

Then gather up the dead Halflings and have a celebratory bar-b-queue. I do love the smell of roasting Halfling in the evening, it smells of victory, oh and roast pork.

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Post battle interview between the Editor and Gorak the Orruk commander. The things I do for you readers.

Well Gorak, the lads did well, a crushing defeat for the Halfling army. But tell us way did the war start ?

All you humies think those short arses are nice little critters. But we Orruks know better than that.

These lands we have used for centuries to graze our pig herds. But those wee gobbits come out and kill our shepherds and steal our porkers. Causing starvation among the tribes. So we all got together to give them a lesson they won't forget soon, the manky nobbits.

Now, I smell that that hobbit has been done to perfection, which cut would you like ? I recommend the inner arm. At this point I was not sure what to do, refuse and risk offending an 8 foot tall Orruk or chomp down on something that looks like a child. Well cowardice took over from valour and anyway I reckoned Halflings are not human, so its not cannibalism. It did taste rather good, a bit like chicken, with pork crackling. Gorak then said "Ah the Pegasus should be ready, a special treat" so I asked for a bit of wing, a good choice apparently, a bit like pork, but much sweeter. At that point I took my leave while they still had more Halflings to roast, I did not want to become desert.

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A rogues gallery for those not familiar with the combatants.

The Orruk army.

Orruk Ard Boyz

Think over large Knights in Plate mail wielding huge axes or swords and you are there. Best of the Orruk infantry.

Orruk soldiers.

Lesser Orruks than the Ard Boyz, some armour plate, mail and shield. With spears and hand weapons.

Orruk Man-Skewers.

The Orruk skirmishers. Basically the soldiers in lighter leather armour with huge crossbows.

So named as, if they fire it a massed ranks of humans it is quite possible to skewer 3 men on one of the quarrels.

Hobgoblins

A lesser species related to Orruks, but more multitudinous. Use scale armour and hand weapons. Weakest units in the army, ideal for supporting units.

Warg riders

A smaller species of Orruks who have tamed ( I use the word very loosely ) Wargs to allow them to ride them. They use short bows.

Mountain Trolls

Trolls who live in close proximity to the Orruks in the Mountains and have been in alliance with them for many years. A good 8 feet tall and wield big, spiked clubs. Not the brightest of creatures, but the best fighters in the Orruk army. Don't wear armour but their hide is think enough not to need it.

The Halfling army.

Halfling Dog lancers

Medium Halfling cavalry on large dogs.

Halfling Heavy Dog lancers 

Think Medieval knights on armoured large dogs.

Halfling Wardens.

Skirmishers using bows and slings. Very agile.

Halfling Heavy foot.

Wear heavy armour 

Halfling Pike

Halflings with Pikes.

Halfling Sword

Skirmishers with javelins and swords.

Halfling Dog Rifles

Scouts with rifles. They seem to be infantry so I assume the rifles are for shooting dogs.

Forest Trolls

Forest trolls which have been captured when young and trained to act as mounts with a saddle for a rifleman to sit on. They don't wear armour, but have very thick skin so don't need it. They used large clubs with good effect. The Orruks thinks this is an abomination and any Troll riders get skinned alive before being roasted alive ( their one exception to roasting fallen enemies alive ). The Forest Trolls themselves only enemy unit that the Orruks would not eat, they just cremated them.

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Photos curtesy of David Maltman.