Trouble at the double

Double header this week with similar results.Firstly Wednesday's game was a reanaction of the Battle of Inverkeithing which was a part of Cromwell's venture into Scotland after threw its hand in with Charles ll against parliament.Once again in our history we made a dodgy decision.

               Six of us took part in the game with Donald umpiring.

                Colin Jack,Mr Ray Neal and myself took the side of the Scottish defenders whilst Dave O'Brien,Hugh WIlson and oor Bart took the side or the side of the Parliamentary invadors.

               The armies lined up facing each other with our forces perched on a hill.True to form and history I decided on a cavalry probe with my forces only to be met by some of Bart's Ironsides cavalry who had been round the block once or twice in the previous years of civil war and although my cavalry set off with good intentions they were met head on by Bart's cavalry given a bloody red nose and sent back in disarray only to be followed up and damaged even more.This was to be the norm for the evening.

            My cavalry only lasted for a few turns before deciding enough is enough and high tailed it for better pastures.Bart's cavalry then decided to deal with Mr Ray's artillery and infantry eventually dealing with both with ease.

            Meanwhile Dave's Dragoons had slowly made their way on foot round the left flank of the Scottish army getting first into a position to fire and then engage Mr Ray's other battalion.

            Hugh was slowly making his way up the field with his infantry and arrived in firing distance just in time to see Bart's cavalry charging off the battlefield in true Zprince Rupert tradition and heading for the tourist spots of Central Fife.

             Hugh's infantry finally engaged both my infantry and Mr Ray's infantry and eventually cleared both units from the hill leaving Colin Jack facing the remainder of the Parlamentary forces.The only good thing was that the last orders bell had been wrung and it was time to pack up.

            A great game enjoyed by everyone.It puts me in the mood for putting an English civil war army together in the new year.

               Scenario-David Leslie,John Lambert and Olly Cromwell

                Figures-Donald Adamson and Hugh Wilson

                Scots-Colin Jack

                           Mr Ray Neal

                           Tim Watson

                           English-Dave O'Brien

                                       Hugh Wilson

                                       Bart  Zymda

           A sumptuous curry was provided by Lady Suzzanne(once again with vegetables from her garden).

         

 No sooner had I time to draw breath when I headed for my local games club SESWC the following evening to see what was on offer.Maybe Bolt Action,Back of Beyond even Kingmaker which I had brought just in case-nope-Rennaissance galleys!I thought that I had tried everything out pops this little gem from the woodwork(literally).

              This is a game of galley warfare from the 15th and 16th centuries,the most famous engagement being the Battle of Lepanto which involved a papal led fleet engaging and defeating an Ottoman fleet.

               The game is good in that it didn't take to long to play(about an hour-just enough for my attention span) giving us enough time to play a couple of games.

              I took the part of the Ventians with a large galley and a smaller one.The rules were very simple involving moving,shooting and boarding.Since these were slave crewed galleys there was no need to worry about wind.

             My ships moved forward to engage fellow club members Matt's galleys only to throw horrendous dice meaning I was hardly hitting my target and also taking longer to reload my guns allowing Matt to sail up and set fire to my large galley.That sealed the fate of game one.

            Matt had to leave early so my enemies ships were taken over by that renowned Turkish admiral Jack Glanville,all round scurvy knave!

             Jack knew the rules and gameplay inside out,mainly because he had helped to play test the rules for the author.

            Although Jack attacked straight away capturing my large galley,the dice roll went against him and he eventually lowered his guard allowing me to attack and capture his larger galley with my smaller one.Time was called leaving me with a draw which was my best result of the two days.

         

          I'm off to North Wales next week so I hope to be visiting a few castles and hope to give a few reports throughout  the week.

               See Barts report as well.http://asienieboje.blogspot.co.uk/