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Welcome to the Blog of a Skirmish wargamer! I hope you enjoy reading it!



All my rule sets are freely downloadable from our club website's Downloads page





If you need to contact me my E-Mail address is richardbradley5@gmail.com







Sunday 23 September 2012

Samurai - into the mincer!

This week, we were going to do a Samurai skirmish using Ian's newly painted armoured Samurai....but he is unwell (get well soon!) .. so we did another Ikko-Ikki attack on a Samurai defended village!

As usual, the Ikko-Ikki were run by one of my solo systems...

The battle was really four battles, as the Ikko Ikki were attacking from multiple directions...the loss of any meaning the loss of the village.
As per normal, a visiting player, Gareth, randomly got the overall command of the Samurai forces!

Our leader deployed the other players to defend against attack from any likely direction!


My force faced three groups of Ikko Ikki, peasants, spearmen and archers.
 ..and even more peasants!
 Lawrence was defending a bridge against Warrior Monks and arquebusiers.
 On the far side of the village, out of sight of the defenders, another group massed!
Phil was defending against a weak force of peasants and arquebusiers... 
 and from a different direction by a mass of warrior monks!
 Gareth, our stalwart leader, was faced by a large group of angry peasants.

 The action began with an attack on Lawrences men at the bridge... 
 An exposed unit of spearmen were hit!
 The supporting YamaBushi, meanwhile,  swept towards the bridge
..and were stopped by a volley of musketry!
..before being charged by Lawrences Ashigaru!
 
The battle was desperately fought...
But eventually the Ashigaru prevailed.

On the far side of the village, our leader, Gareth, decided to shoot the peasants opposite..
A few peasants were hit.
This prompted the peasants to attack, they were met by the Samurai!
A bitter struggle ensued, with hordes of peasants trying to overwhelm their 3 brave opponents!
It was like feeding meat into a mincer!

On my front, Ikko-Ikki peasants attacked..and suffered loss from shooting.
 They bravely forged on and attacked their tormentors!
      
 ..and were in turn attacked by my Ashigaru spearmen.
..and in time they broke and fled.
 
My other spearmen countered another group of peasants..
 

Phil was met by probing peasantry, who his missile troops halted.
 Repeated attacks failed to make headway.

 Gareth was unable to support his 3 heroes, as he was fighting armoured spearmen.
 He ordered me to help him, I sent 4 Naginata-men who turned this battle in our favour.
  This loss of strength in my line left me vulnerable to the Ikko-Ikki command group..
 

Phil, meanwhile, supported by Gareth, faced a large warrior monk attack..
 
 The fearsome monks were more than holding their own!
 

 Back on my front, the Ikko-Ikki commander and his Retinue bravely attacked, but were shot at from the flank by Lawrences men inside a house. 
 
 At this point, my Arquebusiers luckily managed to shoot the Ikko Ikki commander!

 The nearby Ikko-Ikki, dismayed, broke and fled, and as the news spread, the other attacks halted and dispersed. 
 
        
    
So what of the unseen rear attack? 
  
The Ikko Ikki bravely forged accross the river.
They surged up the other bank.. 
 They cut a swath, through the marshland...Oh! - too late!

Fun game but at times very touch and go!

Sunday 9 September 2012

Ein Dakka Dakka Dakka!

As the title suggests, this week saw the first outing for my new DH-2s and Fokker E-3s, using my new 'T' deck solo rules for the Eindeckers.

I almost always repaint the WofG models, but the Eindeckers will have to wait till I have done more research.
The DH2s are all done as the same flight in 24 squadron RFC in November 1916.
They are all based on the Lanoe Hawker model, which has several errors:
(1) The upright rear fuselage stanchions are wood, not metal.
(2) The aircraft have a small roundel on the side of the nacelle..I have ordered some to stick on later!

Still, to the game!
The 4 Eindeckers deployed in line 
 Ian - as usual - deployed far to one side, hoping to outflank the Boche!
 The rest of our DH-2s deployed in a loose line.
 We rapidly closed, shooting as we had targets.
 We passed through the enemy line...
 Ian bumbled along, biding his time!
 We manoeuvred our DHs to try to turn on the Germans.
 Ian - finally- made his move on the rightmost fokker - and jammed his guns!
 as the Eindeckers turned to attack, A DH got a telling shot. 
 Both sides turned to 'Get a bead' on the opposition.
 My DH took damage, but the Eindeckers escaped unhurt!
Caught between Ian and my DHs, a Fokker crashed and burned.
Phil's DH came under attack. 
..but he Immelmanned to safety. 
We closed again on the 'Red' marked eindecker. 
 In the melee, my DH caught fire, but my assailant took more damage from his flank.
 One of the Eindeckers turned to re-enter the fray.
 In the main battle, the greater number of allied machines was telling.
 
 Lawrence and Phil's DHs both jammed at a critical point!
 Unable to respond, they took little or no damage in return.
 My DH (left in this pic) was burning and taking heavy damage!
..until, assailed by another German, my machine broke up and crashed.
 The remaining DH's were continuing to be plagued by jams.
 ..but the eindeckers were unable to take advantage.
 The next pass was brutal!
 
 
 All the remaining aircraft were moderate or heavily damaged now.
 
 
 ..any damage could be critical.
 Both sides gamely continued to fly aggressively.
 
 Until...
 A DH Immelmanned and helped destroy a heavily damaged Fokker.

The Germans broke off after this, not knowing how close they were to winning!

A close allied victory!

The game was quite long, we think it was due to both sides using the 'B' damage deck. Good game though (even though I burned and crashed!)

At least the 'T' deck solo rules game us a good game!..they should be available on the club website soon, or can be sent to you direct. Just E-Mail me on the address on the top of the page!

Some pics that didnt make it into the above blog can be seen at: Tyneside Wargames club