Battle Cry Vitoria 2

 Here are the rest of the pictures I took of last year's game of Vitoria, which Anthony played using the Battle Cry rules system.

The Highlanders have pushed the French back across the River Zadorra and now prepare to cross in the face of opposition from an Italian regiment.

The French come under pressure in the centre.........

........while things go from bad to worse on their right flank.

The French take a hard pounding in the centre of the line......

.......and the Highlanders break through to isolate their right flank......

.......and as the Allies cross the river in force it's all over for the French.

I got along to the Spring Model Show yesterday, this is the rebranded name for the March event formerly known as the London toy Soldier Show.  There is still a hardcore of toy soldier dealers while the slack has been taken up by sellers of model kits and modelling materials, the later were doing a brisk trade and it is hoped that this shot in the arm will enable the event to continue, certainly there was a good stream of buyers coming in through the door.

I took the opportunity to stock up on acrylic paints made by ICM in the Ukraine and a few other bits which will no doubt find their way onto this page in due course.

Battle Cry Vitoria

 About this time last year Anthony and I played this game, based on the Battle of Vitoria in 1813, using the Battle Cry rules system.  With the passage of time I can't remember the details too well, suffice it to say that I commanded the French and took a good trouncing, so at least we managed to keep the correct historical perspective!  I did however take lots of pictures, so here over two post are lots of toy soldiers with few words to interrupt them.

The initial set up, the French defending behind a bend in the River Zadorra face the Britsh and Portuguese attack.

The allies move up through the woods to threaten the French left flank.......

........while the French have fortified a position on the north bank to protect the river crossing.

I think we found the scenario for this and numerous other Napoleonic battles on the Command & Colours website

Events in the real world coupled with domestic upheaval have taken their toll on my enthusiasm for the hobby this past twelve months.  I did continue to attend collectors events but the Central London Toy Soldier Show has never really recovered from the Covid lockdown and the affairs last June and December were so poorly supported I have nothing to report on them.  The Plastic Warrior show last May by contrast was something of celebration of the faithful with so many old familiar faces making an appearance and at some point I'll put up the photographs I took.

Woking Wargames Day 2023

  Yesterday I managed to get along to the Woking Wargames Day, once more an annual event since the passing of the Covid pandemic lockdown (that seems a long time ago now!).  Organised by Mike Lewis for members of the Little Wars Revisited Forum it seeks to promote wargaming with 54mm toy soldiers.  I could only stay for the morning session but 5 games were in play and this is what they looked like:

I took part in this Northewest Frontier game using "The Men Who Would Be Kings" ruleset, and jolly good fun it was too, a bit dice heavy for my tastes but the system is easy to pick up and quick to play once you get the hang of it.

The Armies in Plastic figures have appeared here before but the Armoured Train is a new addition and is very impressive, the scenario has the train ambushed and immobilised by the tribesmen who must hold off a flying column of British infantry and cavalry that are riding to the rescue.

The game opened with both sides sniping at each other from cover while their artillery kept up a desultory but largely ineffective covering fire.

Afghan tribesmen and irregular infantry made good use of cover to move in on the train from both flanks but took casualties which resulted in four units running from the field, despite this they eventually overran the train to narrowly win the game but at great cost.

Anthony brought along his Expeditionary Force, Dark Ages collection for a game using a grid terrain and the "Age of Penda" rule system designed by Daniel Mersey.

It was great to finally meet Mark, who brought along his Snowball Fight game, ably assisted by the Tradgardmastre.  I didn't get to watch the game in play but you can see more about it here on Mark's Man of Tin blog

Pat brought along his collection of Anglo-Normans for another Daniel Mersey designed game, this time Lion Rampant.

And finally the other Brian C brought along his skirmish game of Smugglers and Revenue Men which uses his own rules, the figures above are Charbens and Replicants.

More of Brian C's beautifully painted figures, these are Marx and Historex.