Tuesday, 15 April 2025

Don't Panic - Trouble in Walmington on Sea

 Morning All

Apologies for the prolonged absence (must do better, and stop promising to do better).

Last night the Shed hosted a small game of Fist Full of Lead set in the early stages of WW2. For those unfamiliar Walmington on Sea is the ficticious  setting of the BBC comedy series called Dads Army. Commanded by the pompous Captain Mainwaring, the platoon of aged local volunteers do their very best to thwart the potential of the Nazi Germany invasion. The TV series is beautifully written, a fantastic cast and so very British in its humour. Our little game tried to do homage to this programme, albeit somewhat more bloody and brutal.

As a background the two sides were each given a short briefing shown below but in essence German Paratroopers have been spotted landing to the north of the village and the alarm of the church bells has been sounded. Scattered across the village are various bystanders and other characters that may hinder or help each of the opposing sides.

The Village of Walmington on Sea




German Briefing

Two squads of Fallschirmjager have been dropped into the heart of Sussex to retrieve some classified Top Secret despatches pertaining to the British defences along the south coast. 

Your local agents were able to send out a message that they had deposited the documents in a red ‘garbled word’ box in Walmington on Sea. Unfortunately they did not say which one. Your mission is simple retrieve the documents from the red box and exit the table to the East .

Notes:

The two squads of paratroopers (each 6 strong) will enter the table from North or the North East corner.

A downed Luftwaffe crew are in the vicinity, if you can escort them off the table then bonus points will be awarded. The Luftwaffe crew will be made known to you if you pass within 6” of them

Two of the locals are in fact secret Nazi sympathisers and will render assistance. Again these will become known to you if you pass within 6” of them.

Your orders are very simple do not antagonise the locals (unless in uniform), we will need their support and compliance when we invade Britain




British Briefing

Don’t Panic, Don’t Panic – the church bells are ringing. Paratroopers have been spotted landing to the North of the town.

1. Muster your men, fortunately a number of the platoon are already in the village hall doing drill practice. Others are elsewhere

2. Call HQ – unfortunately the phone in the hall is not working. Send a runner to post office to make the call.

3. Defend the key points of the village

4. Observe and question anybody suspicious

Mainwaring, Wilson, Pike and Godfrey along with two other men are in the Village Hall. All have rifles bar Mainwaring who has a pistol and Pike who is armed with a Tommy Gun.

The remainder of the Platoon are outside the Black Bull pub and Jones is locking up his shop.




The Bystanders

Mr Hodges (ARP and Greengrocer) will ‘cause any British figure within 6" to lose their turn by being obstructive, he is just being difficult but is not a German spy

Colonel Mustard and his Gamekeeper – they will defend Mustard Manor against anybody entering the grounds - furthermore should Mustard venture to the safety of the church his gamekeeper will steal the Bentley parked outside and exit table




 The Hollywood Film Crew – currently filming the stain glass windows in the church. these are in fact American agents observing British defences. They will not get involved unless attacked directly by either side. All are armed with pistols.



Vicar – extremely nosy and spotted a secretive looking man hiding a leather satchel in a phone box but cannot remember which one. Should he be within 12” of either Wilson or Mainwaring he will call them over and tell them what he has seen. The man was wearing a dark trench coat and black hat.

The Verger – His wife is being held hostage by the wounded Luftwaffe crew and he doesn’t know what to do. If approached by Mainwaring or Wilson (within 6”) he will start crying and the tell them that the Luftwaffe crew are holed up in his house with his wife

The Turk – just a tourist visiting the village but looks suspicious

The Thugs – These chaps have been drinking all day in the pub and are up for a fight with anybody !

The Butterfly Capturer – trying to catch a spotted yellow admiral in the memorial garden. Completely harmless but he has a foreign sounding accent, could it be Dutch, Danish or even German?



The Policeman – He is on his way to deal with the Thigs in the pub. He will support the British against the Germans 

The German Spy – currently walking towards the station with a telephone directory in his case. He has also sabotaged all the phone boxes in the village so Mainwaring cannot call HQ from one of these. Only the post office line is working.

Mrs Fox – currently sunning herself in the Garden

The Pigs - These pigs have been cooped up in the yard for several days, they are very hungry and very aggressive. They will attack anybody entering the yard.

The Pantomime Cow. Out by the fields near mustard manor is a strange looking cow. This is in fact a member of the Home guard in disguise. He will only be revealed if a German comes into view.



The Lufwaffe Crew - Four crew members of whom three are already wounded. All armed with pistols. They are currently hiding out in the Vergers house with his wife as a hostage. They will only attempt to move if friendly Germans move within 6" of them. 

The Bystanders are all activated each turn with their own card - it is for the umpire to determine what their course of action will be.


Our Adventure

It all began on a beautiful summers day in Little England when the sky was filled with the floating shapes of parachutes. The toll of the church bells called the village to attention, this was the second time this had happened as earlier in the day a flaming Dornier was seen crashing a few miles to the south.

Captain Mainwaring frustrated that half the platoon had failed to arrive for muster, he berated Wilson and then reached for the phone on his desk. The line was dead . He had to notify HQ that he was under attack. Commanding Wilson to take Pike and the other members of the squad to get the townsfolk safe into the church he marched out with Godfrey towards the post office.

Meanwhilst Privates Walker and Fraser along with a few other members of the platoon were have quick pint and a smoke when the alarm went off. Fraser was concerned, we are all doomed he muttered and thinking on his feet thought the upstairs of the Pub might give him a better line of sight to what might be happening to the north..



Just down the road Corporal Jones was locking up the Butchers when he saw a shifty looking man in a black trench coat hobble by. He called out to him to halt. The man failed to do so and Jones could hear the gutteral German accent cursing him for interrupting his business. Jones levelled his rifle and once more called the man to stop.




By now Fraser had made it into the pub and outside the window he saw several German troopers crossing the railway line. He cursed and readied his weapon. Peering over the window sill he opened fire. The War had come to Walmington on Sea !


Jones once more called for the dark coated man to stop, realising this chap was paying him no attention Jones fired his .303. His shot ricochet off the rail crossing gates and winged the fleeing suspect causing him to collapse in the road.


Hearing the sound of gunfire ahead Mainwaring and Godfrey hussled their way forward towards their post office objective. As they passed the gates of Mustard Manor they could see the Colonel and his gatekeeper out on the steps of the grand house. Clearly spooked by the sound of gunfire in the village the gamekeeper raised his shotgun and shot sat Mainwaring. Both barrels missed and Mainwaring cowering behind the gate called to the Colonel to make his way to the Church for safety.



Fraser and the rest of his squad were now in a desperate firefight with the advancing Germans at the rear of the pub. Private Cheesemen ventured into the pub yard only to be assaulted by the two very drunken thugs. 



As Jones questioned what he had just done he could see a truck quickly approaching from the station carpark. It was full of German Paratroopers !. As the vehicle moved up the road the poor chap Jones had shot failed top move out the way.....squelch. Jones fearing for his life ducked behind his van.



By now Private Walker had hotwired the coal truck sitting outside the Pub and was keen to get round to Jonesy's butchers to give him some help. He put the truck into gear and floored the pedal. Screeching round the corner Walker's last thoughts were thinking this was not such a good idea as he could now see the German filled truck heading his way at full speed. With neither side able to brake in time the two vehicles crashed head on. Both drivers exiting their windscreens simultaneously. Jones could only stare as the German occupants of the truck lay mangled and wounded in the carnage of the accident. 



Mainwaring and Godfrey pushed on into the village and hearing the sounds of gunfire from the pub he directed Godfrey to see if his medical skills were needed inside the building. As he turned into the street he passed PC Copper who was also rushing to the pub.



Seargant Wilson could not understand all the commotion going on to the North but he had his orders, get to the church to protect the civilians. Seeing the local Jam salesmans van by the side of the road and the keys still in the ignition Wilson climbed in and commandeered the vehicle. Pike along with the rest of the men climbed into the back.


With the Gunfire now erupting in the north the American Film director realised this was his chance for some serious camera work, perhaps an opportunity to win an award? Ushering his crew through the church gates they stepped out onto the road ......looking right they saw no approaching traffic. The classic mistake - in England we drive on the left hand side of the road. The Director remembered this just as Wilson in the Jam laden truck proceeded run over him and the rest of the crew. The smell of strawberry jam permeated the area around the church


...horrified by what he had done Wilson jumped out of the truck and into the garden by the side of the road. With his uniform coated in strawberry preserve he drove the waiting pigs into a frenzy. Wilson now shocked and horrified struggled back over the fence and promptly feinted. 


The fight for the pub's rear yard raged on. The combatants now joined by PC copper and the brutish thug realised his best chance of redemption being to attack the Nazi invaders. His mate had already called it a day and fled the scene. With fists, truncheons and rifle butts flying the Germans steadily got the upper hand. Throughout the ensuing melee Godfrey worked his way around the room patching up friend and foe alike.




Mainwaring finally reached the Post Office whereupon he called HQ and alerted them to the dangers in Walmington. Reinforcements were on their way ! When was another question....


Private Pike and the rest of the squad in the back of the Jam truck slowly emerged and only to be directed into the grounds of the churchyard. It was at this point the Verger could hold back no longer, and he burst into tears. He explained that for the past few hours his wife was being held hostage by a German air crew and were holed up in his house next door to the church. Feeling incredibly brave Pike drew back the bolt on his tommy gun and poked his head over the wall in the direction of the vergers house. 



As he was about to call out to surrender a breathless Warden Hodges materialise from behind a gravestone and began to berate the poor boy for not doing enough to save the village and that where was Napoleon when we was finally needed. This was the straw that broke the camels back, Pike stood up and called for pilots to surrender. Nein was the terse response, so Pike pulled the trigger spraying the vergers house in bullets. The hail of lead shattered the top floor windows a further injured the Luftwaffe crew. Mercifully the vergers wife was unscathed. Once more Pike called out for their surrender, secretly hoping for another negative response. This was all too much for the German aircrew and a white sheet was draped from the window.



Corporal Jones, nursing a broken ankle, reloaded his rifle and took another pot shot at the Jerry cowering in the mangled truck ahead. He could hear Mainwaring shouting words on encouragement from the post office. Jones caught sight of another German heading his way and pulled the trigger. The Paratrooper dropped stone cold dead but as Jones fumbled with bolt on his rifle his world went dark as he was clubbed down from behind.



As the dust began to settle Private Godfrey could see the Germans hastily retreating from the pub. One trooper wrenched open the door of the outside phone box a grabbed a sealed brown envelope. Whatever it was the Germans had it. Godfrey turned back to nurse the wounded and dying.




Mainwaring could see the remaining Germans fleeing across the fields to the east, his webley revolver useless at this range. Might Private 'wehatshisname' save the day? As the troopers fled across the field and stream with the priceless documents they were stunned to see the rear half of a cow stand erect and point a rifle at them. A bullet whistled past but before a second shot could be fired the Nazis hit the dense undergrowth....with the secret plans in their possession could the Third Reich conquer England?


more soon  



 






 






 




  

   



Tuesday, 25 February 2025

Battle of Mantinea - To the Strongest in 28mm

Afternoon All, Monday night saw the return of some ancient Greek warfare to the Shed, although this time we used To The Strongest rather than Hail Caesar. Credit must go to the TTS author, Simon Miller, for this scenario. A few months ago I contacted Simon with some questions and clarifications of the rules. He was swift to reply and in addition provided the scenario for the Battle of Mantinea (362 BCE). The following extract is from his scenario briefing...

Epaminondas the Theban led a coalition of forces deep into the Peloponessus. Thwarted in a surprise attack on the unwalled city of Sparta, Epaminondas moved northwards to threaten the pro-Spartan city of Mantinea, but a Spartan/Mantinean/Athenian force interposed itself between his army and the city. However, when the Spartans and their allies broke ranks to have lunch, Epaminondas unexpectedly launched his forces forward...

Spartan/Athenian Alliance on Right - the attacking Thebans to the left


Originally I had planned to run this game with four players with myself coordinating affairs as the umpire. Sadly two players dropped out at the last minute leaving Mark to fight it out with Vince. Mark, having arrived early chose to lead the Theban attackers with Vince commanding the Spartan/Athenian alliance 



View from the attackers side


Simon's scenario provided full orders of battle and deployment. I estimate that I needed about 50% of my total Greek forces - much of the cavalry and almost half of the Hoplites I have painted stayed in their boxes. What is apparent though is I need significantly more Javelin units.



The game kicked off with the Thebans attacking, their left flank already close to the Spartan right wing. Both sides had wings made up of skirmish cavalry and javelin armed troops.

As the Theban advanced across the line (remarkably no failed orders) Mark unleashed his first attack with slingers against the veteran Cretan archers allied to the Athenians. Direct hits and failed saves quickly despatched the bowmen.

The Spartans (Vince) were not happy and vowed that this unit would be avenged.

Spartan force not happy !!

Starting with his left wing the Spartan alliance failed to move forward en masse 


In the centre awaited a large block of Theban hoplites supported by a couple of heroes and Epaminondas (the General) himself.



The two sides crunched together and a general melee erupted across the line. The Spartan elites taking on the large Theban contingent.


Almost on a continuous basis Marks troops would hit and Vince's troops would fail to save, when Vince (Spartans) returned the honours they more often than not missed. Now in our gaming group Vince has a reputation from being extremely lucky with dice often scoring well over the odds. The cards in this game were doing him no favours and he was getting well and truly spanked !


As the centre brawled it out the Theban light horse were making short work of their opponents on the wings. 


By the mid point of the game all the troops were fully engaged and as you can see in the picture below a unit of Thessalian cavalry attached to the Theban army has now managed to get on the flank of the Spartan forces.

I


It was at this point the Spartan elite went down fighting to the opposite Theban Sacred Band, they had a chance of recreating history when a direct hit was scored on Epaminondas the Theban General but alas he only took a minor wound. This roused the Thebans to strike hard and our chaps in red were slaughtered to a man.


Things were looking very difficult for the Athenians/Spartan alliance. Their wings had been destroyed and their centre was in danger of collapsing. Could Vince, the Spartan commander turn things around in some ancient heroic deed ?


The simple answer was NO. He had to opportunity to fight back and as his force slowly disintegrated in front of us he ran out of Victory medals (the manner by which a victory is judged, as units disappear medals are lost to the opposing player. Very similar mechanic to Billhooks)


A stunning Victory for the Thebans commanded by Mark, not only did he thrash Vince he managed to do so without losing a single unit. Congratulations Sir




Was this scenario balanced? The forces were remarkably similar in both quantity and quality, the Thebans enjoyed a slight superiority in light troops but not one that should have created such a landslide victory. From my perspective as spectator and umpire Mark played a blinding game, activating units in the right order (and more importantly successfully), getting the first hits in and making crucial saves when required. His opponent just had shocking bad luck.


Think we will revisit this battle again soon


Thank you

Friday, 14 February 2025

Action from the Sudan

Over the last couple of weeks I have been trying to get my blogging mojo back into action and whilst working on the garden I was thinking that part of the reason for not posting regularly was the effort it was taking to put together posts. Editing pictures, creating the narrative and the final copy all take precious time, so forward going I am going to only focus my long posts on the games and projects that I believe are worthy of this effort.

However we do play every week in the shed and most weeks you will find me busy painting figures at some point and this blog does serve the purpose of a diary of events. Therefore to kick things off here are a few photos of a recent game we fought last Monday night. There is a very short summary, a taste of the action and of course the result.

This one off ficticious battle was set in the Sudan with the vast Mahdist hordes facing a large British and Allied force determined to put them to bed. Spread across a 16ft table over 1500 little men fought out this action. Black Powder rules were used.

The game was also notable for the inclusion of a new player, Matt. Hopefully he had a good game and numbers permitting might wish to return.



The British entered from the far table, not knowing the disposition of the enemy but they knew that they would be up against a lot of them.

The table was zoned with an Oasis /Ruins in the South, an old watch tower in the centre of the Mahdist entry point and a long wadi heading East West across the northern end of the table.

The British had already deployed their cavalry on both wings and were searching for the enemy.

Battle commenced immediately as the British and Mahdist cavalry came to blows but not before the British scouts had discovered the best part of a third of the Dervish force hiding in the Wadi. Most of the action was fought at this end of the table. 

The British being sensible chaps had somehow managed to deploy their less so competent Egyptian Allies to face this flank whilst their strongest forces held the centre and the flank facing the Oasis.




The Dervish had decided in advance that they would solely focus on one wing of the Invaders and would attack from the Wadi, the forces holding the Oasis would threaten but not advance thereby pinning the left wing of the British. 



The battle was fast and furious, the British cavalry were hastily chased away and a full frontal charge against the hapless Egyptians was launched. Fanatical charges are deadly and in the onslaught most of the Egyptians fled leaving the defence to the steady Brits.

Somehow Black Powder delivers in this period, the volley firing of the ranked infantry decimate the horde forces but there is always the chance they will get through and if they do they can be deadly.







As the game progressed the Fuzzies prepared themselves for a second storm on the British line. This time the defence was bolstered by troops drawn from the centre.

Once again the Martini Henry's played havoc with the local tribesmen's morale and the assault failed.


With the clock ticking was there one final opportunity before the game time could run out? The remnants of the Mahdist cavalry force were thrown out as a screen in front of the British line to allow fresh warriors to move up unhindered.....





But alas command rolls and the dreaded end of evening clock put paid to any final assault. A quick tally of casualties suggested that the game was a draw and considering the positioning of both forces a likely British marginal victory was on the cards.



Everytime we play these games they are nail biting affairs, the Colonials always look hopelessly outnumbered BUT their firepower, resilience and command all come to the fore.

Hope this is of interest


More soon....


Tuesday, 11 February 2025

Hail Caesar vs Never Mind the Billhooks

Good Afternoon All

A few weeks ago I was alerted to a new book being released by Warlord Games that featured the Wars of the Roses. Having invested in hundreds of 28mm figures for the period, spent countless hours researching the battles, and subsequently fighting all the major engagements of this very interesting civil war I was intrigued. Online reviews were in the main positive so I decided to purchase a copy.



A few days later the supplement arrived direct from Warlord Games in a nice secure box along with an exclusive resin figure. First impressions were that this was a mighty tome (some 144 pages long) and it looked great. The layouts were clear and concise, texts were well written and there are some glorious pictures from the Perry Brothers. I have said it before and will say it again they (the Perry's) must have made a fortune from this historic period. Thanks must be given to the author Rob Grayston for this book and in my opinion his name should grace the front cover

I won't elaborate too much on the contents but suffice to say there is the history, the characters of the era (along with some special rules), a vast number of scenarios covering all the major battles and a few what if's plus some interesting rules for campaigns. There is of course a section (albeit small) on the troop types of the period and some some era specific rules. It will be these that I dwell on and compare to the Billhooks ruleset.

Before I start I should state that Hail Caesar is our go to ruleset in the shed for fast play, multi-player ancient, dark age and medieval genres. That said my gaming group invested a significant time in the Billhooks venture launched by Andy Callan in collaboration with Wargames Illustrated. The Billhooks rules (scaled up with very few modifications) delivered some fantastic battles, a great narrative and were in the main extremely easy to pick up. Consensus across the group also said that they felt right, melees were brutal affairs, arrow storms could be both deadly and frustrating and the rules lend themselves to inclusion of events and scenario based ideas. It would fascinating to see if the same could be said for WOTR Warlord style. Who knows maybe we will refight the series again using this official handbook?

The best way to review any ruleset is to play it, however rather than take a battle that we had already fought I decided to take a scenario from the book that did not feature in our Billhooks campaign. I elected to use the battle of Losecoat Field. 

This action was set up as a one sided affair with Edward IV's standing army taking on a rebel faction. All the stats in the book suggested that Edward would have no trouble in pummeling the rebellion into a bloody pulp and be home in time for a roast boar supper. He had to be back in time for dinner because the scenario only gave him six turns to complete his task. What happened next will follow....

Hail Caesar is very much an igougo game with each side moving their troops (subject to successful commands, then firing and then melee. Reactions and breaktests are resolved as each action develops. This works well for big multiplayer games and differs significantly from Billhooks in which each unit is activated by a random card sequence with the jeopardy of not getting a turn (last card). Billhooks also benefits from the inclusion of events and bonus cards being drawn through this turn sequence. 

Billhooks is a much more chaotic adventure, initiative can fluctuate between sides and opportunities present themselves as results arise. Both rulesets movement rules are driven by Commander's attributes but whereas in Billhooks the units will move if issued orders, Hail Caesar is very dependent on successful command rolls. These command rolls can allow troops to swiftly traverse the field whereas in Billhooks movement can be much slower as you trade off moving with firing opportunities.

Perhaps one of the biggest changes to the core Hail Caesar ruleset with this WOTR supplement is the introduction of Arrow Storm for all longbow armed troops. Limited to three arrow volleys only the units now have a shooting factor of 6 (as opposed to three). This typically means a target unit shot at by two longbow armed units (not untypical when players concentrate fire) at standard range will achieve a 50% hit rate of 6 shots. (This improves if the unit is just longbows with the marksmen attribute)   Against any unit this can be devastating, and it is almost certain to cause a ranged break test in the process. Don't get me wrong this feels right and raises the importance of well armoured troops as screens for their lesser equipped colleagues. Billhooks on the other hand also adopts a bucketful of dice approach but with hits scored on only 5+ at standard range Longbow duels tend to be more attritional in nature.

The units themselves are worthy of discussion. In Billhooks there are three standard types of units Men at Arms, Bills and Bows. Each unit can be combined with another or operate independently. In Hail Caesar there are also three types of units - Bills, Bows and Household troops. The first two are self explanatory but the third is effectively either a mix of Bows and Bills or Bows and Men at Arms. There are no individual units of Men at Arms. These household troops also receive the arrow storm attribute, three volleys and if they are a mixed Men at Arms unit receive two additional attributes - steady and stubborn. The combination of these two make them hardier and more likely to weather an arrow storm.

Again I have no issues with these troop types but I do miss the excitement of a unit of fully clad tin cans marching into battle and dealing devastation wherever they tread. The melee scores in Hail Caesar do little to reflect this desire. The clash scores for both Men at Arms and Bills are the same.

I mentioned at the beginning we fought the scenario Losecoat field for our playtest. The picture below shows the very simple battlefield set up on a 12ft x 5ft deep table. Sadly the scenario book gives no guidance on table size or distances between opposing armies. We elected that each force would be 30 inches apart (just outside artillery range)

 


For the figures I just used 12 figure per unit an in the case of household troops they had six bow and six of the others. I have been thinking for sometime that I might rebase my WOTR figures on their individual stands (on 1p coins) are starting to show undue wear and tear and it is a real pain sorting these out after a big Billhooks battle. Much better to use casualty markers I think.



The forces took the field and we started playing. The Royalists had six turns to destroy the rebels. In our first game the dice gods favoured the rebellion as over half the Kings force failed to move at all in the first two turns and as such when they did trundle forward it was a piecemeal affair.


This is not a criticism of the WOTR supplement but rather the whole Hail Caesar, Black Powder et al stable - they do not lend themselves to limited turn games. The nature of this rules command rolls forces players to perhaps slow down advances unless they are storming ahead. Much better to adopt a time limit eg 2 hours to accomplish the task


As the Kings forces approached the rebels we tested the Arrow Storm effect -( aside from forgetting the crucial -1 range modifier) they were telling especially the forced break tests that come from sixes being rolled. Disorder rained down on the advancing troops.


With the rebels able to enjoy a 2 to 1 majority in archery fire they soon pinned down and weakened the Kings advance



Protected by hedgelines and arrow stakes they awaited the rush of the heavily armoured men at arms and bills. Again the rebels were up to the cause and their levy status only having a marginal affect on proceedings. Perhaps it would have been better if the they were lesser armoured or green troops.


The first game saw the Kings force run out of time and heavily bruised for very few Rebel casualties. Not such an easy game !!

Our second attempt saw a very different side to the battle.




The Kings forces moved forward steadily (thanks to successful roles) and because they could bring more bows into action than the rebels the battle was reversed.


We also learned that advancing with the Household/Men at Arms leading the attack was a much better proposition.


The second game accomplished the scenario goals for Edward IV and he was back home in time for his Roast boar dinner.


In summary

These adjustments to Hail Caesar play well but we all felt that Billhooks gave a better narrative, Billhooks is more chaotic and perhaps more fun. I also I think because we play a lot of Hail Caesar in other periods we were just in effect playing another Hail Caesar game using different figures. Billhooks has earned its right to be our number one choice for WOTR, however I am not done yet. The book really is a worthy investment, some serious effort has been put into its composition and contents and for that the author should be proud.


More soon