100 Years War - To The Strongest

Having been playing To The Strongest at the club for a few weeks now we are getting quite a bit of interest.

Yesterday evening we introduced Richard to 'To The Strongest' and he kindly supplied his extensive collection of Medieval troops for us to use.

Using the 100 Years War list I picked a couple of forces at about 150 points.

Richard & Greg would use the English:

• Heroic General, Veteran Foot Knights, Veteran Longbow (stakes), Veteran Longbow (stakes), Billmen
• Heroic General, Veteran Foot Knights, Veteran Longbow (stakes), Veteran Longbow (stakes)
• Heroic General, Veteran Foot Knights, Longbow (stakes), Longbow (stakes), Longbow (stakes), Longbow (stakes)

Myself and Ben used the French:

• Heroic General, Veteran Later Knights, Later Knights (hero), Later Knights (hero)
• Heroic General, Knights, Knights (hero), Knights (hero)
• Heroic General, Knights, Crossbowmen (pavisse), Crossbowmen (pavisse), Archers, Archers, Brigans.

Both armies were on ten Victory Medals.

Martin would help us along and reference the rule where necessary.

We set up the terrain and there was rather a lot of it on the table, however the random effect wiped most of it off the board leaving the English to secure their flanks on a wood and a bit of open ground.

The English of course deployed a long line of archers with 'forts' of Men at Arms interspersing them. The French deployed their infantry in the centre with two wings of Knights.

The French advance commenced and soon the English longbowmen were coming into play, however the shooting by the English was very poor and targeting the French Knights a lot of saves were made.

Better shooting wiped out a unit of French Crossbowmen and the first casualties of the game were marked down.

Soon the lines were very close and the French Knights charged again and again into the English deployed behind their stakes, but to little effect. However a breakthrough came and one of the English generals fell soon followed by a unit of Longbowmen beneath the hooves of the Knights.

The English countered committing their Men at Arms and Billmen but this went worse for them than was expected and soon their right flank was demoralised and under pressure from the flower of French nobility.

On the English left the French Knights were still making heavy weather against the emplaced Longbowmen, but out of ammo and often disordered they eventually succumbed to the weight of the Knights and the ten Victory Medals were reached.

A great game and we are all keen to start working on some Medieval forces of our own.

Saga Day with Steve

Victoria is away so I had plenty of spare time at the weekend. First of all I organised a board-games night for Friday evening, but that was cancelled due to a few last minute drop outs, leaving only myself and Quint.

On Saturday I gave Steve a call and we arranged to play on the Sunday at his. After some discussion of what we were going to do we settled on BlitzKreig Commander, but had a last minute change of heart. I would introduce him to both Saga and Dead Mans Hand.

After a frantic last minute search for my gunfighters I loaded up the car and drove over to Steves.

We first of all set up a 4pt game pitting myself with the Vikings against Steve using my Saxons as Anglo-Danish, just to get a feel for the battle boards and the rules. It's been quite some time since I last played so was quite rusty.

Having got to grips with the basics (both of us!) we then had a 6pt Clash of Warlords again with myself using the Vikings and Steve the Anglo-Danish after a titanic struggle the Anglo-Danish Warlord went down in the sixth round!

We then had some lunch and set to for the afternoon entertainment.

By now, Steve was getting quite into Saga and we decided to play that again rather than Dead Mans Hand. Now with the new territory of the Byzantine supplement. Digging out the old Lamming Byzantines that were painted nearly 50 years ago Steve would use those and I would use my Vikings as the Pagan Rus.

We set up another Clash of Warlords and set down to study our battle boards - Pagan Rus! Bloody Hell, about two turns in we decided that we ought to both look at the battle boards and start again.

Despite the 'magic' Pagan Rus abilities our last game was a much closer affair, although they dis win out in the end the Byzantines had a much better time of it.

Another Arthurian bash with To The Strongest

On Tuesday we had another go at using To The Strongest using our Arthurian collections.

Myself Greg and Ben used the Saxons while Martin and Quinton used the forces of Britannia. If I recall correctly the lists were:

Saxons:

• Heroic General, three Cavalry, one Hero, one Light Infantry with javelins
• Heroic General, one Veteran Warriors, two Warriors, one Hero, one Light Infantry with slings
• Heroic General, one Veteran Warriors, two Warriors, one Hero, one Light Infantry with slings
• Heroic General, four Warriors, one Hero, one Light Infantry with javelins

Britannia:

• Heroic General, two Cavalry, two Axillary, one Light Infantry with bows
• Heroic General, three Warriors
• Heroic General, four Javelinmen
• General, two Light Cavalry with javelins, two Light Infantry with bows, one Light Infantry with Javelins

We had a great game again, the two lines clashed and a titanic Dark Age struggle ensued. The Britannia forces prevailed on their right where the command of light troops outflanked and destroyed piecemeal the Saxons before them. However on their left the Saxons had the upper hand.

In one calamitous turn the Saxon General attempted to rally his Veteran Warriors, drew an Ace so used his re-draw. Ace again!

We eventually ran out of time, but the Saxons were on the back foot having lost more of their Victory Medals than their opposition.

Next week we are giving it another go using Medieval forces.

I forgot my camera so these snaps were taken using my phone camera.

Whoops

A practice for Crisis

A late update of the game we fought on Thursday as I have been working away all weekend.

James and I are taking the mountain to Crisis in Antwerp next weekend and we wanted to try out the scenario we would be using.

Quinton joined us to make the third player.

James and I set up the mountain in what I expect may be a record time, I'll see if I can make another time-lapse video to show the process and we then set up our forces.

James would defend with a Platoon of Italian Askaris while Quinton and I were attacking, I had a platoon of the 2nd/West Yorkshires while Quinton had a platoon of 3rd/12th Royal Frontier Force.

Quinton and I would race to the summit while James tried to fend us off.

As can happen with Chain of Command, we only played a single turn. However at one stage in the battle I maintained the initiative and had four - yes FOUR - consecutive phases. As you can imagine I was very close to the top by this time.

However Subhedar Quinton was not having any of this and launched a 'three-dice' charge up the slope and after a bloody round of combat his Indians had destroyed the Askaris facing them and he had beaten me into the fort.

I took many pictures of the game, but tried to concentrate on shots up and down the slop as I think that these are quite atmospheric. I particularly like the ones where the spotlight in the background looks like the sun beating down on the slope - inappropriate for this action as it was fought at dawn.

All the figures are from mine and James' collection.

A few more shots if you are not already bored.

To The Strongest! - Hail Cid

Yesterday evening at the club I introduced Quinton and Greg to 'To The Strongest' by Simon Miller. Both had seen the games that Martin and I have been playing of late and were keen to have a go.

Realising I needed four decks of cards - we usually use Martins and he was not able to make it - I popped to the local Pound Shop where I purchased six decks for a whole pound!

This time I utilised my El Cid collections of Christian Spanish and Almohavids and we used quite large units on a larger grid - effectively a smaller game, but with likely more figures than our earlier games. Prior to the game I marked out my cloth in a 20cm grid on the reverse side to the earlier 15cm grid.

The Christian Spanish were:

Quinton sets up the Spanish

• Heroic General
• Caballeros: Veteran Cavalry with Hero (spears and javelins)
• Caballeros: Veteran Cavalry with Hero (spears and javelins)
• Caballeros: Veteran Cavalry with Hero (spears and javelins)
• Jinetes: Light Cavalry (javelins)
• Jinetes: Light Cavalry (javelins)

• General
• Guards: Veteran Spearmen (spears and javelins)
• Peones: Raw Spearmen (spears, javelins and bows*)
• Peones: Raw Spearmen (spears, javelins and bows*)
• Crossbowmen: Crossbowmen (crossbow)
• Skirmishers: Light Infantry (slings)
• Skirmishers: Light Infantry (slings)

The Almorhavids were:

• Heroic General
• Berber Foot: Veteran Spearmen (spears, javelins and bows*)
• Berber Foot: Veteran Spearmen (spears, javelins and bows*)
• Berber Foot: Veteran Spearmen (spears, javelins and bows*)
• Berber Horse: Veteran Light Horse (javelins)
• Tribal Foot: Light Infantry (javelins)

• Heroic General
• Berber Foot: Veteran Spearmen (spears, javelins and bows*)
• Berber Foot: Veteran Spearmen (spears, javelins and bows*)
• Berber Horse: Veteran Light Horse (javelins)
• Tribal Foot: Light Infantry (javelins)

Jinetes take on the Berber Horse

Points wise the Almohavids worked out about 110pts and the Spanish were about 100pts.

* I used the Spearmen profile but gave the Raw units a single round of ammo for bowfire and the Veretan units three rounds of ammo, a standard unit would have two rounds. I stuck my finger in the air and costed this at 2pts

Quinton would play the Christian Spanish while Greg was the Almohavids. I would try to ensure that things ran smoothly.

The terrain was laid out the armies deployed and battle commenced.

The Spanish pushed their infantry up and the Almohavids moved to counter that while the Christian cavalry advanced on their opponents pinning them in place. First blood fell to the Spanish, a unit of Berber cavalry were wiped out in a hail of javelins from the Jinetes.

Peones about to suffer

Both players now went through a session of poor luck, neither players were able to motivate their commands to do anything coordinated and all missile fire was desultory. However, the Almohavids were first to pounce, One of the Peone units was isolated so a Berber foot unit charged in inflicting two hits and killing their General. The Spanish cavalry moved to respond, a unit led by their general crashed into the flank of the Berber foot also causing two hits, both foot units were in a pretty bad way.

The Spanish lot a unit of Jinetes and then the Caballeros went in again and that Berber foot unit was
wiped out. The unit of Peones was doomed, with no General to guide them and on a double hit with enemy in close range were unable to rally and were wiped out.

The lines of foot close in on each other 

A calamity then struck the Christians, their recently valiant Cabalerros were charged in the flank by a unit of Berber foot and failed to evade. Two hits in combat and they failed to save. The Christian losses were totted up and they had reached their Victory medals total and the Berbers were victorious.

Both Quint and Greg enjoyed the game and we've scheduled a re-match next week. I may get the Warring States Chinese out for that - I should have enough units for two players.

Berber horse tie down the crossbowmen

Here are more pictures from the game. The figures are all from my collection and painted by myself. The Christian Spanish are Perry Miniatures from the First Crusades range and the Berbers are mainly Gripping Beast from their El Cid range.

A few more images from the game.

Now may be a good time to pray!

Dead Mans Hand - The Quick and the Lead

On Thursday evening Greg and I had arranged to play Dead Mans Hand with Nick and Quinton. Quint has a huge selection of suitable terrain, but plans were scuppered when a business meeting came up and he would not be able to make the club that evening.

No worries, on lunch break I drove over to Arcane Scenery where Hayley sorted me out with three Sarissa Wild West buildings to go with the three that Greg already has.

At 7PM Greg and I settled down to make a start on 'The Quick and the Lead' Nick had texted to say he was on his way. I was using Lawmen and Greg was using Outlaws.

The Duel: I won every one of the Blackjack games but failed to hit every time. Greg threw a 20 and my guy was out of action!

There Will Be Blood: My turn for revenge, I soon shot up two of the Outlaws including the Gunslinger and the Lawmen carried the day. Unfortunately, Nick texted to say that he car had overheated on the way here and he would not be able to make it.

Gunfight: Just as we were setting up Quint arrived but as he had a long day at work did not fancy playing. Despite losing the Sheriff early on the Lawmen came good and shot down those dirty outlaws for another victory.

We polished off the evening playing the 'A Fistful of Models' scene, again the Lawmen were triumphant. What a day to be wearing a white hat!

To the Strongest using Arthurians

After last weeks game of To The Strongest Martin and I were keen to give it another go, this time using our collection of Authurians, these had not been out of the box since we became a bit despondent with Dux Bellorum.

Saxon Battle Line

We both picked a 130pt force for our game last night. I went with Early Saxon Kingdoms, and chose to represent the troops with Javelinmen rather than Warriors, I think that this may be more representative of the era rather than the deep and unwieldy Warrior units.

My force was made up of four commands:

	Hits	Ammo	Save	Cost	VPs
Heroic General	-	-	3+	6	2
Cavalry	2	2	7+	9	2
Cavalry	2	2	7+	9	2
Hero	-	-	3+	1	-

Total VPs: 6 Demoralised on 3 (25pts)

	Hits	Ammo	Save	Cost	VPs
Heroic General	-	-	3+	6	2
Veteran Javelinmen	2	2	6+	8	2
Javelinmen	2	1	7+	6	2
Hero	-	-	3+	1	-
Javelinmen	2	1	7+	6	2
Hero	-	-	3+	1	-
Javelinmen	2	1	7+	6	2
Hero	-	-	3+	1	-
Light infantry with javelins (raw)	1	1	8+	3	1
Light infantry with javelins (raw)	1	1	8+	3	1

Total VPs: 12 Demoralised on 6 (41pts)

	Hits	Ammo	Save	Cost	VPs
Heroic General	-	-	3+	6	2
Veteran Javelinmen	2	2	6+	8	2
Javelinmen	2	1	7+	6	2
Hero	-	-	3+	1	-
Javelinmen	2	1	7+	6	2
Javelinmen	2	1	7+	6	2

Total VPs: 10 Demoralised on 5 (33pts)

	Hits	Ammo	Save	Cost	VPs
Heroic General	-	-	3+	6	2
Veteran Javelinmen	2	2	6+	8	2
Javelinmen	2	1	7+	6	2
Hero	-	-	3+	1	-
Javelinmen	2	1	7+	6	2
Hero	-	-	3+	1	-
Light infantry with javelins (raw)	1	1	8+	3	1

Total VPs: 9 Demoralised on 5 (31pts)

The British with their Saxon allies

Total VPs: 37 = 12 Victory Medals (130pts total)

Martin chose a Twilight of Brittania force with just two commands, a brave decision. He represented his Saxon allies with Warriors, but like me last week forgot to purchase any heroes for them!

	Hits	Ammo	Save	Cost	VPs
Heroic General	-	-	3+	6	2
Cavalry	2	2	7+	9	2
Cavalry	2	2	7+	9	2
Veteran Shieldwall	3	-	6+	13	3
Veteran Shieldwall	3	-	6+	13	3
Shieldwall	3	-	7+	10	3
Shieldwall	3	-	7+	10	3
Light infantry with bows	1	2	7+	4	1

Total VPs: 19 Demoralised on 10 (74pts)

	Hits	Ammo	Save	Cost	VPs
Heroic General	-	-	3+	6	2
Cavalry	2	2	7+	9	2
Cavalry	2	2	7+	9	2
Warriors	3	-	7+	10	3
Warriors	3	-	7+	10	3
Warriors	3	-	7+	10	3
Light infantry with bows	1	2	7+	4	1

Totals VPs: 16 Demoralised on 8 (58pts)

Total VPs: 35 = 12 Victory Medals (132pts total)

The terrain was picked and randomised and the armies laid out as shown on the left.

As the active player, Martin kicked off and the two battle lines closed on each other. I think the nature of the terrain and the forces chosen mean this was a very different battle to the previous one.

Martin pushed up on his right with the  Saxon allies while the Shieldwall formed a solid mass in the centre. My troops hammered blow after blow in the centre but for most of the battle achieved nought and suffered nought. Against the Saxon Allies on Martins left I was more successful. Despite the early loss of my skirmishers, I was able to counter the cavalry with mine destroying a unit.

My foot general on that flank led his Saxons against the enemy general at the head of his Saxons. After many, many rounds of 'handbags' combat my units eventually prevailed scattering the enemy Saxons and and killing their general. Things were looking up but Martin still had plenty of Victory Medals left.

In the centre I kept up the push and shove against the enemy Shieldwalls and the pressure eventually told. Two of the enemy units were by now on 'double-disorder' and despite losing a unit of Veterans in the process the breakthrough was made and one of the Shieldwalls was shattered. Martin was now out of Victory Medals and the game was mine.

If I recall correctly at the end Martin had lost one General, two Light infantry, one Cavalry, one Shieldwall and one Warriors. I had lost two Light infantry and two Javelinmen.


I think that Martins biggest problem was in fielding two very large commands, it was quite difficult to keep the momentum up and he failed several critical activations.

I'm really enjoying these rules and we will be introducing fellow club member Quinton to them next Tuesday.

More images from the game, The Saxon horde is all my work and the Romano British with their
Saxon allies is all Martins.