Woking Wargames Day 2022

 A couple of weeks back (how time flies) I went along to the Woking Wargames Day organised by Mike Lewis of the Little Wars Revisited Group, there were four games in play throughout the day and here is what they looked like:

Mike Lewis put on the Battle of Quatre Bras using Neil Thomas' Napoleonic rules.

The Prussians take the crossroads..........

................and hold it to win the game.

Anthony Morton brought along his Romans and Ancient Germans, as seen on this blog recently.

We didn't use these German cavalry last time we played so I was very pleased to get this shot of them.

Pat (sorry didn't get your last name) treated us to his Anglo-Normans game using the Lion Rampant rules, which seem to be universally popular with 54mm wargamers.

The figures used are 54mm metal castings from Irregular Miniatures.

Nice to see all the different shield designs.

The fourth game of the day was Eric Kemp's Italian Revolution skirmish using Eric's own simple fast play rules.

All the figures were conversions made from just about every American Civil War range you can think of.

Garibaldi's Red Shirts get to grips with Papal Zouaves, Eric's conversions are always a joy to behold.

The home made rules were very easy to assimilate and gave a realistic outcome despite Eric's legendary ability to throw a 1.

I can't remember which Regiment these chaps represent but they were a welcome addition to the Papal forces.

That's all for another year folk's, I missed the last two and am already looking for ward to the next one.

Little Wars Revisited - 54mm in Woking

Yesterday saw various members of the Little Wars Revisited Forum gather together in Woking, Surrey for a day of 54mm wargaming. Five different games were played throughout the day, each a different period and rule set, here are the all important pictures:

Anthony Morton brought out his English Civil War armies for an airing of the Pikeman's Lament rules written by Daniel Mersey.

I should have taken more pictures of the terrain and buildings (and I thought I had but apparently not!) which were superb, but as usual I was beguiled by the figures.

At least this time I remembered to include the cavalry, which I omitted when his collection last graced this blog.

Here we see Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame as presented by Mike Lewis using his Little Wars Revisited range of figures and new modular terrain.  The 54mm Wargames Day was Mike's brainchild and he did all the work, so many thanks Mike (and can we do it again next year?)

This was the North West Frontier game that I participated in, the rules used were The Sword and the Flame, written by Larry Brom

This was my first time using these rules and my thanks go to Alastair (sorry don't know your surname) for patiently steering me through them.  The scenario shows a relief column trying to fight it's way through hostile Pathans to save a beleaguered garrison.

A well sighted Pathan gun plays havoc with the British troops pinned in the rocky landscape.  Again there was great use made of simple terrain pieces to create a visually enjoyable game.

We used activation cards designed specifically for TSATF and available from The Virtual Armchair General which all agreed made the game a lot easier, quicker and more fun to play.

This impressive display was brought along by Eric Kemp and features figures from numerous manufacturers including his own Helmet Soldiers

Eric was using his own rule system to refight the action around La Haye Sainte every roof tile has been individually cut and fixed to the the buildings, wish the slates on my house were as well layed.

Eric is aiming build up his collection to 1,500 figures for a massive outdoor game at the end of this summer, we wish him luck!

My own humble offering was a pitched battle between the French and English using Lion Rampant rules and my well worn medievals.

A fast flowing game, helped or hindered, (the jury is still out on this) by a quick reference sheet that I had prepared in advance.  Here the French men at arms are about to serve the coup de grace on the English.

After a long tiring day of playing with toy soldiers I retired home and met Mrs C in our local pub just in time to watch the French trounce the English for a second time in a day, this was a rather more serious matter, it was the 6 Nations rugby match in Paris.

 A great day had by all.

Lion Rampant - a skirmish wargame in 54mm

This  weekend my erstwhile sparring partner, Anthony and I tried out the Lion Rampant wargame rules using 54mm figures on a table 6' x 8' to see how well they would adapt to larger size figures. It was my first time using this system so we kept it all fairly simple, the two forces were drawn from sample army lists (retinues) for late French and English troops in the 100 Years War and the scenario (also from the rules) was "defending the indefensible".  the only change we made to the rules as written was to double the movement distances and missile ranges

English men-at -arms supported by foot sergeants and expert archers close on the French

French foot sergeants and crossbowmen defend the sacred relic while mounted men-at-arms charge into the small English force from the flanks.  The English foot are pushed back but the French charge loses momentum and falters.

The French Lord carries his standard forward and issues a challenge to personal combat against his English counterpart.  Sacre bleu! the challenger is killed and the French must all take a morale test.

The French cavalry all fail the test and break, the foot all pass and are left to face the English onslaught.

Furious melees take place in the centre as the French foot hold the line and force the English back.

The french cavalry rally and return to the fray.

Further melees ensue and the fight flows back and forth, the outcome could go either way.

Finally the English break through and seize the objective to win the game. Zut alors!

The game took about three hours to play but would have been much quicker if we had been more conversant with the rules.  The system is easy to pick up and flows very well, it's ideal for a skirmish wargame with 54mm figures.  We had a total of 42 figures per side, individual units being always based on 6 or 12 figures so you don't have to amass a large collection to get started.  The rules include sample retinues for a wide variety of Middle Ages armies from the Baltic Crusades to the Ottomans and there are other examples to be found on the internet covering such types as Elizabethans and Samurai.

There is a lot of flexibility with this system, I played the French and made the foolhardy decision to engage in single combat (just to see what would happen) and came to a sticky end!  I forgot to take any pictures during the game and so what you see here is an action replay by the leading actors.  My observations on the rules? I felt casualties caused by archers should have been higher and I think we were both surprised when a unit of archers received a charge from mounted men-at-arms and in the resulting melee saw them off, despite this they made for a very enjoyable game.