Saturday 4 December 2021

A GAME, A Veritable Game!

 After almost three months - 107 days apparently, but whose been counting?! - and with over 90% of the population of the Auckland Region double vaccinated, we have had a change in our Covid 19 alert status, whereby now life is more or less back to normal - pubs and restaurants can open, people who can work from home are no longer obliged to, and sensible people like Julian and me can get back to face to face gaming!

This being the case, Julian asked me earlier in the week if I would like to drop by after work on Friday evening - after considering for a nano second, I accepted his kind invitation.  Always a gentleman, Julian even allowed me to suggest we give the Border Reivers their first run - he has created a small family band too. (Unlike me, Julian stuck to the original plan ie buy 10-20 figures to create a Reivers warband - then STOP!)....We all know what happened to THAT plan in my case - I now have 50 -70 figures and I still dont have the mounted versions of the ORIGINAL Hokahey Reivers - but hey, I do have TWO versions of Mary Queen of Scots PLUS about twenty female civilians - our Border villages seem to be strangely denuded of male occupants - maybe they are out reiving?!

We managed to get in two games, taking a turn each at being attacker and defender - we moved and replaced terrain between games one and two, and I swapped my figures around. We had three Heidmen each, with one group of six mounted figures and two groups of Fitloons - foot lads - one six strong and the other seven. The games lasted about 90 minutes each and were a lot of fun. Here are far too many pictures!


The rules used come from an old copy of Wargames Illustrated - very simple and all the better for it in my opinion! There is no morale and only three possible out comes of combat - death, wounded or captured! It made for quick and bloody melees. 


Before we got started, Julian and I spent a pleasant 45 minutes catching up on the last three months and knocking the edge off our thirst - Stew, these are Sour Cream and Chive flavoured chips (later, we added a second packet of Ready Salted to the bowl! I know you like these details.....)


A view of Julian's lovely 1930's house from our drinking position

GAME ONE


Julian would defend the village (bottom right) and stock from my reivers entering from the left table edge


All those cardboard cottages I made 18 months ago finally get to be used!


One of the two Bastle Houses I created sits in splendid isolation on a hill


Julian's mounted force rides through the village


Caliver armed defenders - most of Julian's force was created from odds and sods left over from his Thirty Years War project - I think they look the part! The villagers seem unconcerned as they continue to hang out the washing - stoic people in Cumbria and Northumberland!


My mounted Revers


Fitloons in the woods (moving at half speed)


General view from my side of the table


The defending calivermen pass through the village


Julian committed his cavalry to the attack. At the start of each turn, a number of D6 are rolled for action points - you require one action point per figure and they can only perform one action per turn - usually, you have less action points than figures but in theory we could have rolled 24 (we had 4 D6 in this game - one per Heidman plus one other). Cavalry move 120mm + 2 D6 - so a charge is risky - Julian only made contact with one man I think


On the next turn, I was able to close the gap on Julian and pick my targets, ganging up two to one on three of his figures - with predictable results!





Here Julian has two wounded and two healthy figures facing five healthy figures. Wounded cant fight and no figure can disengage from melee EXCEPT a cavalryman whos opponent(s) are all on foot - I told you the combat was brutal!


Healthy figures "fighting" a wounded figure dont have to win a combat, they just roll for the result - 1-3 captured, 4,5 wounded, 6 dead. A second wound = death, so once you are wounded, you are pretty much done! Above I have 6 healthy troopers facing Julian's one remaining cavalry man (the single figure to the rear was captured)


And one of my Fitloons starts herding away a group of kye (coo's/cows). They move at 2 D6 per turn


Two of my mounted guys head for a second herd




Meanwhile, on my right flank, the Calvermen had been engaging in some aimed shots, scaring off my Heidman and wounding one of his band (yellow denotes fired - they have to take a break next turn to reload but can still move; red is a wound - they didnt have the fight all their own way!)


Julian's pikemen advance over the field from which I had recently "liberated" a few black cattle



The herdsman continues to drive the beasts towards the border


As his colleagues line the hedge to face off against the pikemen


The mounted reivers also drive off a second herd of cattle


With my mounted reivers to their flank, the pikemen pulled back, and we called the game in time to partake in a lovely home cooked meal provided by the Fair Jane (Mrs Julian)

GAME TWO 


A bit of a weird angle - Predator drone image of the second battlefield


I swapped the layout around a bit and substituted the smaller of the two Pele Towers I made for the Bastle House, also placing it on a different hill


This gave me an excuse to add some of my ladies to the battlements!


This time, the forces of the Scottish Crown were the defenders - local village militia above


Mounted contingent


The Deputy Warden of the Scottish West March and six calivermen


The peaceful villagers go about their daily tasks


While the Wardens wife gazes lovingly at her husband from the Pele Tower!


Here come the Bells! (Julian actually has a genuine Border Reiver surname, the Bells were a notorious bunch of thieving blackguards - and now he is a dentist....!)


The mounted Scots head off to defend the flocks from English depredations


The guy in red is "affrighted" ie running away as a result of long range caliver fire. Results from fire are 1-3 affrighted 4,5 wounded 6 dead.


The mounted Bells on the sheep pasture above the village


Julian decided that mixed pike and caliver units were a better option than one unit of each weapon type


The Warden and his calivermen advance across a field of cattle towards the English intruders


The cavalry wend their way between fields and buildings...



A lone Bell heads off with my sheep ... he will live to regret that!


In the first cavalry clash, my bannerman outfought Auld Wat Bell and the English Heidman became a prisoner!


A very confused cavalry melee ensued


The ladies in the tower can hardly bare to watch!


Bells on foot close in on the flank of the cavalry melee


As the other group of infantry exchange rather ineffective long range musketry with the Wardens men


The Warden and his crew line the hedges


In the cavalry melee, I had three of my six guys captured, but also had some good luck eg a single sword armed reiver rolling 2 D6 beat a pair of pistol armed Bells rolling 6 D6


One of the village militia takes a shot at a Bell


Julian did manage to get one herd of cows moving but a nearby musket shot resulted in a FLEE result and they headed off towards the Scottish side of the table!


By this time it was about ten thirty and Julian announced he felt this was a second win for the Scots. Both cavalry Heidmen had become prisoners of the other side but I had won the cavalry melee and it seemed improbable the Bells could get their sticky fingers on any of my animals.

Great games (Chris always says I say its a great game when I win!) a lot of fun, very quick and simple rules that kept us entertained for over three hours - what more could you ask for?!

38 comments:

  1. Great to see you getting a game in as well as being able to socialise after so long in lockdown. Fingers crossed that things continue in this vein. BTW great games and lovely to see you figures in action at last:)

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    1. Thanks Steve - to be honest, apart from no ganing, the impact on me personally has been minimal. Due to my exalted status of "essential worker" (not sure why a National Account Manager is essential but I will take it!), I have been going to work every day and both our kids are still at home, my son has been able to work most of the time as he is a builder, so apart from not having to spend enormous sums on eating out, nothing much has changed for me! But getting back to actual games IS very welcome for sure and I am sure you wont be alone in commenting on the Reiver figures FINALLY getting some action!

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  2. Glad you got a game in. You might want to try the En Garde rules. I use them for my own Reiver games

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    1. Thanks Scotty - I have a copy of those - the plan was to look at Three Musketeer type scenarios but nothing has eventuated thus far!

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  3. Ah, the simple pleasures of life return. Hooray for you and Julian!

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    1. Thanks Jon - yes, a very enjoyable return to "normalcy" as some of your countrymen are wont to say - I prefer normality though!

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  4. Nice to see the Reivers figures in play and thanks for all the pics to put the stories together. As an outsider, I think NZ have done a good job on the pandemic front and I am glad you are back to normal. Here in the UK we are acting like the situation is normal, yet we have have reached over 50,000 daily infections in the past couple of days!

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    1. Cheers Norm - yes I agree with you - we have had 40 odd deaths since March 2020 and yesterday had under 100 new cases for the first time in a few weeks. Apparently if we had the same per capita death rate as the US, we would have had 10.000 dead ( I dont know the comparative figure for the UK).....and yet, we still have people moaning about how its been handled, and we should not have been closed down in Auckland for 100 days, and what about all the tourist and hospitality businesses etc etc....we really need a few more news stories about how Covid is still affecting the likes of the UK!

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  5. "Drinking position"--that phrase made my day :). Border Reiver / raider games in that genre can't be beat for their cinematic flavor: fun to play and fun to follow along. Thanks for putting this report together. And good for you on the COVID front:let the gaming begin!

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    1. Thank you Ed - "Assume drinking poition one" has a certain ring to it, doesn't it?! I am more and more taken with the concept of smaller scale games of this ilk, although the odd "big battalions" stoush is good too!

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  6. By the way, I have meant to draw readers attention to this guys recently created blog - he is a first class modeler and has been regular contributor to the wargames press over the years - his buildings ae stunning but he posts about four times per week at present and consequently only gets two or three comments per post - he really deserves a much larger following, so check him out ! https://handbuilthistory.blogspot.com/

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    1. Thanks for the 'heads up' Keith and have now started following him:)

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  7. Glad to see you ftf gaming again. Sure it'll turn int a habit.

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    1. Thanks Joe...you know, I think it very well might become a habit!

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  8. Great to see and read of your return!
    Have a fun!
    Best

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    1. Thanks Michal .... It was a lot of fun! 15mm WWII tomorrow ....

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  9. Really pleased you got a face to face game in. I enjoyed seeing photos of the game and the house too. The rules seem to have worked well. I am looking about for some Reiver rules so might consider these. Where are they available from?

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    1. Hi TGM.... the rules are from WI but can't tell you the date sorry. I have a soft copy I can send to you if you let me know your email address ...I will check out your blog and see if it's listed there!

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  10. Great looking games, but I’ve mostly been marvelling at those buildings in cardboard…they’re bloody lovely. Top stuff sir.

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    1. Cheers JBM! I was pretty pleased with how the buildings came out but if you think THEY are nice, take a look at the handbuilthistory blog ....you will be stunned!

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    2. I did mate…and now I’m following the blog. Cheers for the heads up.

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    3. He certainly is a very talented man!

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  11. Splendid stuff indeed Keith…
    It’s great to see the toys on the table .

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly, they were fun games and nice to get this collection into action at long last!

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  12. Great that you were able to finally get in a game with your friend and double success for getting your new figures and terrain out on the table. 😀 Whole thing looked really good.

    I DO like those little details. Makes all more human somehow. This is twice now I’ve been mentioned in a blog post of yours. I’m starting to feel like a celebrity. Deservedly so I think. 😀

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    1. Thanks Stew...it WAS great to get a game in on Freedom Day...and we were lucky enough to have a 15mm WWII game today (Sunday) too! You certainly deserve the mentions here too!

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  13. Looks like a fun game to get back into it Keith, and great to see some of your recently completed figures and terrain in action.

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    1. Cheers Lawrence....it was fun and very satisfying to get the Reivers into action....now, over the festive season, let's see if I can get some if the GNW Swedes on the table too!

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  14. Very good to hear you are able to return to in-person gaming again, Keith. Great looking game and figures too, of course.

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    1. Thanks Dean...in person gaming is all I do! If I had room, I might try some small scale solo skirmish games, but at present I can't figure out a way to do that!

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  15. Great looking games….a period I have often considered but not jumped in yet. Like the look of that sunshine and beer, perhaps in about 4 months

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    1. Cheers Matt - its a fun game for sure! The great thing about Auckland is that in four months, the chances are the weather will still be like this. 1 Dec is first day of summer but half of spring and half of autumn can be just as nice!

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  16. Great to see figures on the table and meeting up for face to face gaming . Virtual is just not the same. Cracking game, I might pinch a few of the ideas for my Elizabethan stuff.
    Cheers
    Stu

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    1. Feel free to pinch any ideas Stu - I can send you a soft copy of the WI rules we used if you give me an email address to send it to....

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  17. Lovely looking game, great terrain and figures, of course you enjoyed it, you won both games!
    Best Iain

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  18. Thanks Iain - is it so obvious I am that shallow?! I must admit, I marvel at how some players can accept a succession of bad dice and poor results with total equanimity - I don't think I am a bad loser, but I am a better winner for sure!

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  19. Looks and sounds like a coupla really enjoyable skirmish games Keith. Some marvellous close-up photos too.
    I can't believe that you did not tell us about the most important bit though; the beer!
    Regards, James

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  20. Haha - very true James - those two bottles are my pre game effort - an NZ American Pale Ale - Julian's tipple was Peroni!

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