Et sans Resultat! Napoleonic grand battle, and Saga report

2017 turned out not to be a great year for my gaming, almost entirely due to scheduling issues. I hope 2018 will be a bit better.

Last night, we did a test game of Et Sans Resultat! It's a grand battle game for the Napoleonic Wars, and to be honest probably a bit too fiddly for my taste. But it did look very pretty on the table, with rank after rank of 25mm redcoats and line infantry clashing in the middle. Here are some pictures:

My Brits advance up the board.

The entire battlefield... more or less. The house on the left represents my objective.

My left formation is beginning to deploy into line, while my right formation is struggling to get through some woods. To my right, Dave's British cavalry have attacked Andrew's French center.

French and British exchanging skirmish fire.

Much the same as before, save that both sides are getting quite fatigued. In the center, Dave's cavalry have beaten up a few French battalions. To the far right, Vic and Andy are mucking about.

Before that, I hit the monthly Saga day at Guardian and got a couple games in; both victories for me, but both only as a result of Hail Mary plays, so I can't really chalk that up to strategic acumen.

First we had defend the homestead from the Viking Age rulebook:

My Crusaders defend a few ruined buildings from Anglo-Saxon marauders.

Had to trade 8 knights to eliminate a single unit of Anglo-Saxon warriors. This is not a good trade.

That game ended with me rushing my last group of (dismounted) knights up and just managing to kill the enemy Warlord for a victory before he was able to kill off my own remaining mounted troops.

We reracked and did a Last Stand game. This time I was the attacker, and only had six turns to eliminate all of his troops. That turned out to be barely enough time.

After my first turn: Anglo-Saxons huddled in the center, my troops have just moved on.

I charged in with my Warlord and knights on the right and eliminated a small unit of Anglo-Saxon Hearthguard at a cost of four knights. (This happened every time my knights charged in today - lost four knights every time.)

That, it turns out, was a mistake; as the photo shows, my Warlord is now gone and he won't be coming back. I did manage to pick off most of a unit of warriors on the left, though.

Just before the end. Only two Anglo-Saxons left beside their Warlord, and I disposed of them pretty quickly - and just in time, too! 

Battle Report: Battle of the Hydaspes River

Dave put on a version of the Battle of the Hydaspes River, Alexander the Great's last great battle, last night. He used DBA 3.0, with a few variations - no rolling for command pips was the biggest one. It ended ahistorically with an Indian victory, which is a pity as I played the left flank for the Macedonians.

Indian chariots and skirmishers dominate the battlefield to begin with...

Alexander's forces march on to the table.

The phalanx on the left flank. Two units of companions are shifting from the left to the center behind the phalanx line.

Alexander (the purple-caped cavalry) and his Companions bullying the Indian skirmishers off the hill.

Indian elephants lumbering toward the Macedonian left flank.

The Indian front line retreats from the Companions, but their main line approaches...

Indian skirmishers move through rough going, covering their elephants.

Treetop view of the battle from the Macedonian left. The left phalanx is shifting a bit to avoid being outflanked by the elephants. The Indian front line is bowing away from the Companions.

Indian front line is (mostly) driven off by the Companions. 

The elephants finally hit the Macedonian left flank, smashing into the skirmishers guarding the far left.

Indian line reforms and prepares for the second clash of arms.

Elephants drive the skirmishers back a bit...

... and have destroyed two stands. The phalanx will soon be outflanked. Also, this is when I realized that my phalanx was advancing on archers, not spearmen. Stupid straight bows...

Cavalry smashes into the spearmen, phalanx endures a rather ineffective volley of arrows, and the elephants move around to the rear of the phalanx.

Companions face off against the second line of infantry and elephants.

Overview of the unfolding disaster on the left flank. Note the lack of Macedonian skirmishers.

Overview near the end. In the far distance, the Macedonian reinforcements have crossed the Hydaspes and threaten the Indian left... but too late.

The end, at least as far the left flank is concerned - demoralized and fleeing past the elephants.

Warmachine Painting Update and Tournament Report

Painting!

Been doing a bit of Circle Orboros lately:

L-R: Woldwyrd, Megalith, Woldwatcher

Pureblood Warpwolf. Not terribly happy with the paint job.

Wrong Eye (L) and Snapjaw (R)

Una the Skyhunter

Tournament - Nexus Games, Gresham, January 22

A little casual tournament with twelve players; I went 2-1, which isn't terrible for playing two new lists and a lot of new models. They are:

Wurmwood, Tree of Fate & Cassius the Oathkeeper
* Ghetorix
* Pureblood Warpwolf
* Feral Warpwolf
* Argus Moonhound
Gallows Grove
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress
Efaarit Scouts
Efaarit Scouts
Swamp Gobber Chef
Shifting Stones
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Tharn Bloodweavers

Baldur the Stonesoul (Baldur 2)
* Pureblood Warpwolf
* Feral Warpwolf
* Megalith
* Woldwyrd
* Woldwyrd
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Shifting Stones
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Round 1

Versus Jacob's Convergence of Cyriss. He had Father Lucant and Mother Directrix, and dropped Lucant into Wurmwood.

I went second and picked the side of the table with all the forests. As the game developed, the rough terrain in the center of the table proved much to my advantage. I still managed to run out of time on the clock despite pretty well jamming him out of scenario.

Round 2

Versus Josh's Protectorate of Menoth; Amon ad Raza or the Testament of Menoth, of which he chose Testament. This was a pretty rough matchup, since Testament has a completely overpowered feat. I clocked myself again, since I played Baldur 2, a completely new list, and spent way too much time looking things up mid-activation.

Even with the clock problems, I was still running behind on attrition; his feat brought back nearly all of his infantry, despite my best efforts to remove them from play or eliminate entire units.

Round 3

Versus Quinn's Protectorate of Menoth: Feora 3 or Tristan 2. He ran Tristan 2 into Baldur 2.

This one I managed to play rather well, I think. Quinn didn't push hard enough in the first two turns, so I was able to score three points on my third turn and feat to keep him from pushing me off the flags.

2016 Catchup and 2017 Anticipation

On a personal level, 2016 was not great. But for wargaming, it was rather good! I've been neglecting this blog, so here are some pictures of the games I got in since September. Details have been lost in a haze of holiday memories, though.

American Revolution with Guns of Liberty, 10mm

Check Your Six Jet Age

Over Egypt? Don't recall.

CY6 is quickly becoming one of my favorites in our play group, not out of any particular love of air combat but because it plays quick and fun, and the guy who usually runs it is a pretty entertaining host.

Seven Years War with Shako 2, 20mm

Austrians assaulting a Bavarian-held town.

Ambuscade!

A little one-day gaming get together at Guardian Games put on by Spencer, this attracted a good number of folks and had some really nice games going on.

Saga - battles in the snow between Vikings and Danes

Check Your Six - war over the Pacific

Flames of War, Russians vs. Germans in 1945. I got trounced in two games, first as Germans and then as Russians.

Ruined temples on the lost continent of Lemuria, about to be explored by doughty adventurers In Her Majesty's Name

Colonial Wars - British defending an outpost from natives. Done in proper toy soldier style with glossy 54mm figures.

What next?

Plans for 2017 are a bit hazy; 2016 saw a lot of personal upheaval, and I'm hoping things settle down into new patterns this year. Still, I plan on putting on the Battle of Magnesia at Enfilade this year, and on attending Lock & Load in July. Past that, no real plans; the Magnesia project eats up all my painting time for the next five months.