We left our Roman Cohort battling against overwhelming odds, surrounded on three sides by the Germanic tribesmen.
When I have a little money, I buy Toy Soldiers; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes. (with apologies to:) ERASMUS
Saturday 5 February 2022
What have the Romans ever done for us? Part II
Wednesday 2 February 2022
What have the Romans ever done for us? Part I
Well they gave us roads! And here's a nice straight one, just the job for scenario 13 of One Hour Wargames (OHW) by Neil Thomas. After several grid based games in recent months we decided it was time to get back to a more traditional style of play. That's not entirely true, Anthony has recently built up a very nice 54mm toy soldier collection of Romans and German Tribesmen, and we were both itching to see them on the table. Here's how it went:
Monday 26 October 2020
A Crimean One Hour Wargame.
A few weeks ago we decided to hold an impromptu socially distanced game before the Powers that Be extended the lockdown to prohibit meetings of more than one household again. These are strange times. The 2 metre wide table and a few other simple measures ensured that proper social distancing was observed, it's not difficult when there's a will and common sense prevails.
Scenario One, Pitched Battle, was selected from OHW and toys suitable to the Crimean War were quickly garnered together. The scenario called for a minimal terrain, the British drew units of infantry, skirmishers and cavalry while the Russians were favoured with infantry, cavalry and artillery! Here's how it went:
Sunday 2 February 2020
One Hour Wargames in the Dark Ages
Anthony has mounted them on circles of MDF which provides greater stability on the table and also give them more of an "Old school" look. This is the full range here; cavalry, infantry and archers for both Vikings and Saxon, that's the full extent of the range, shame they didn't extend to Normans but as Expeditionary Force have now moved upscale to 54/60mm figures this may be all we'll ever see from them in this size.
These were the first range issued by Expeditionary Force and were aimed at wargamers, the sculpting is excellent and while the plastic weapons look rather fragile they are in fact very robust. Just wish we could find some other ranges (plastic or metal) that would compliment them, A Call to Arms Normans are a little too large, while the old Kellogs/Rubinstein "Warriors of the World" figures are about the right size but they are limited to just one Viking and one Norman. Ho Hum.
Saturday 9 November 2019
Battle of al-Musayfirah 1925
Looking back through old copies of Wargames Illustrated for inspiration I found a scenario for the Battle of al-Musayfirah in 1925 during the Great Syrian Revolt. After WW1 The League of Nations had given France a mandate to govern Syria and the French promptly instituted a number of measures to control the local tribes. This inevitably lead to a nationalist uprising by the Druze, which spread to the other tribes.
In the Druze second wave one unit has reoccupied the fort while the main push is directed against the garrison at al-Musayfirah. Here the remaining infantry and Command, with heavy unit attached, use the cover of the rocky terrain to advance for a mass attack on the town. The camel borne gun is the handiwork of Ross Macfarlane, as are the fort and town buildings.
The all out assault goes in, Druze mounted units rush the town while the foot provide covering fire from the rocks, will the beleaguered garrison hold out?
The game played out very similar to the real battle, in 1925 the Druze suffered heavy casualties from the French machine gun strongpoints in al-Musayfirah. They did manage to break into the town and promptly made off with all the columns horses and donkeys, but the attack through the rocks was broken up by a continuous bombardment from French aircraft.