I'm very pleased to report that the Wellington Warlords' Call to Arms 2024 event was a smashing success!
I decided to dress the part, naturally (photo courtesy of CT, the husband of the delightful DT and her son J who stopped by to have a look)..
While I was channeling Brigadier (Rtd) Terry Grantstone-Bath, c. 1964, His Dastardlyness had opted for the prog rock WRG wunderkind look, c.1973:
In the main hall the competition and other games were something to behold (photos courtesy of the Baron von Driberg).
So what were we up to? Well, the plan was to play through yet another of Charles Grant's iconic Table Top Teasers, this one being TTT No.3: "The Advance Guard Action", which appeared in the June and July 1978 editions of Battle Magazine. These have been digitised by Steve the Wargamer and are viewable on his splendid Random Musings Blog here: The Teasers.
This promised to be an exciting affair involving two small infantry forces with sizeable cavalry support, with the potential for substantial reinforcements halfway through the game. Grant himself thought it was one of his most successful scenarios.
The objective for the French (played by yours truly), seen here on the left, was to seize and secure the village before launching an offensive to take the river crossing. Driberg's Prussian objectives, unsurprisingly, were the opposite: secure the bridge and then capture the village.
Much to my consternation, The Garde zu Fuss and the Lutzow Lancers immediately made moves towards the village.
Meanwhile, the 61e de Ligne and the Irish Legion made a two-pronged advance towards the centre and the bridge, with the 8e Cuirassiers trotting along behind.
A turn or two later, and things were definitely starting to look interesting.
Heavy artillery fire was doing nothing good at all for von Driberg's Silesian Schutzen in the small copse in the centre, and was also causing problems for the Lutzowers ...
... while the Irish had beaten the Prussians into the wooded slopes above the bridge. The 10th and 9th Reserve formed line, but were starting to get picked off by the French voltigeurs.
Things only really started to fall apart, however, when the 9th Reserve became disordered. Nansouty immediately charged with the 8e Cuirassiers.
It was all up for the 9th, of course, but the 8e were then immediately countercharged in flank by the 2nd Dragoons.
This did not go well for the 8e, but there was further trouble in store for the Prussians as the French reinforcements, in the form of Empress's Dragoons, came galloping onto the field.
Driberg's reinforcements, the 52nd Foot, could only look on in horror. Not only only were the 2nd Dragoons being crushed, but the 10th Infantry Regiment were then suddenly attacked and routed by the Irish Legion charging out of the forrest.
With the Prussian left collapsing, things hadn't been going all that well on the right either when the Lutzowers were pounced by the 4th Chasseurs and sent fleeing from the field. In the excitement I failed to get a picture of this, but you can probably more or less guess how this unfolded from the picture below:
We decided to call it a day at this point as we were exhausted, not least because so many people had popped over to have a gander and a bit of a chinwag. There were quite a lot of Hinton Hunts in New Zealand back in the day, I was told. I wonder where they all are now.
Day two was a replay of the scenario, but with me playing the Prussians and a very nice chap who was a friend of Driberg's taking on the role of Davout in command of the French.
Things went much as they had on day one, except that I went all out to seize the woods next to the bridge, and even managed to kick the Irish Legion out this time.
This seems to have annoyed Davout a bit as he responded with a desperate charge by the 4e Chasseurs, but as the sun of Rossbach rose over the table, it was clear this was not going to end well. This was very unlucky for Davout as he was not to know that this was moment when two battalions of Allied reinforcements were due to arrive.
As the RGL artillery (acting as horse artillery) scuttled out of the way, it all went a bit Charge of the Light Brigade.
I think the game could still have gone either way as there were a lot of reinforcements coming onto the table, but as we'd had even more people coming over to talk to us, and had to pack up a bit earlier than the day before, that was about it I'm sorry to say.
This was all gloriously good fun and wouldn't have happened at all without my good friend DF (aka von Driberg) encouraging me to do it. It was an absolutley brilliant way to meet some of NZ's wargaming pioneers and stalwarts and to get the word out about the Hinton Spieler. I gave away dozens of flyers over the two days. A fair few of my friends and colleagues from work came out to have a look too, which was extremely pleasing. It was great to see you JC, AS, NB and family, SH, and DT and family.
As a final shot, herewith von Driberg's photo of some of the vintage packaging that I use to carry about my Merit trees and hedges.
The trees, I should point out, were specially reinforced with green-painted metal washers so that they wouldn't fall over on the green hessian cloth I was using on the table top. This was Rob G's idea and worked brilliantly.
Yours truly,
WM
A cracking looking game , I do love the old Merit trees and have a few - mounted on washers mysel.
ReplyDeleteCheers Tony. I don't know why it took me so long to cotton on to this. I'm a bit slow, clearly.
DeleteKept us waiting for this one! It looked grand although I your home turf (painted table top) certainly beats the cloth field of battle.
ReplyDeleteSounded like great fun and hopefully inspired a few more to take up the old school banner. That teaser is a classic and was what I used in my last SSM game, unfortunately my cavalry stubbornly insisted on losing every fight, then my reinforcements were very few and vey late, and consequently I was soundly thrashed.
Guerrillas coming along nicely, including a crew for THE GUN.
Hurrah, I can't wait to see those. Apologies for the slackness. I don't know where the time goes these days. As for the teaser, I think it might be a good one to try out as an email game. I'd really like to play it through to the end. As you say, it'd look rather fetching on the Ping Pong table and I finally have enough cavalry to do it properly.
DeleteGreat to see your collection in action Mathew and well done for flying the flag at the show. It must have been a lot of work but worth it I think - bravo!
ReplyDeleteIt was worth it, Ian, not least because I came back mad keen to paint more troops. It's quite clear that the Prussians are terribly short of steadfast Regulars.
DeleteSome super looking games on show and your own one is was a beauty, lovely to see the troops on the table, quite superb. Glad the days went well, looks like it was a great success.
ReplyDeleteThank you Donnie. I was blessed with opponents who were absolutely terrible dice throwers. I had little idea about what was happening in the Main Hall, but there's no doubt that the toy soldier artistry and ingenuity on display was extraordinary
DeleteGreat battle report. I alway no the way that you narrate the flow of the game. I look forward to more of your battle posts. Rhys
ReplyDeleteI'll clearly have to fight more battles then, Rhys. It was great to see you there!
DeleteWonderful looking collection - I am not surprised at the interest you created with these games. The hessian tablecloth really adds to the feel.
ReplyDeleteCheers Matt. It was all I could get at short notice, but it worked rather well!
DeleteThis looks like great fun and you both looked the part! What a tremendous amount of work this must have been, but what a smashing success. The tabletop looks amazing, resplendent with your beautiful shiny works of art! Thanks for sharing the link to the table top teasers. I will have to give one of those a go before too long.
ReplyDeleteThanks David. We were going for that special 1960s bargain basement look. It was almost all recycled, one way or another. I think they only really new things on that table were the cloth and the metal washers under the trees
DeleteWhat a splendid weekend out Matthew…
ReplyDeleteThe game looks the Old School business… I am not surprised you had a lot of interest…
I can’t imagine that there were any other games that looked quite like yours…
Well done old chap…
All the best. Aly
P.S. I think formal wear should be compulsory for playing Old School Wargames…😁
We were the ghosts of wagames past, Aly. I must remember to bring the clanking chains next year.
DeleteI chickened out on day two and wore my normal tramp's outfit. Driberg was OK, however. Absolutely everybody there was wearing jeans and black t shirts!
If the suit is 'too much' you could always go with a woolen tank top and tie? And some heavy rimmed glasses á la Michael Caine?
Delete*Laughter*
DeleteMortified to have taken so long to find this post. What a brilliant weekend and salutations for flying the flag. Ah yes, those green washers. Methinks I am close to learning their value.
ReplyDelete