Storm in a Teacup part2

Roberts light cavalry heading out to scout round my flank. (I really dig those cowboy hats!)

I really wanted to have the guys in white to help me out on the flank but the rolls for our pips were no use. It was like that all game Robert rolled well for his and we rolled lower than average all freakin game!

I managed to disengage 1 elephant to meet the growing threat to my flank but my rolling was p*** poor and I lost my 1st elephant within minutes!

Stuart was having as much luck as me and when it came to combat with the main army facing us we did no better.

Mid way through the game and we had been punished in so many areas that even when we rolled average dice Robert was still smashing us.

Roberts dice rolls were killing us and as it turns out he had bought them from the same wizard I got my ACW wonder dice from. It seemed that every roll was a 6, honest it did!

Our little battle had come to a critical point (that I don't really know about). Robert had reached or was reaching the number of elements he needed to kill to defeat us. The way I understand it Stuart had to roll at least 2's with the pip rolls for us to fight on.

And as luck would have it what did the big chap roll? 3 fluffing 1's! (games a bogey) It just goes to show how fortune can change and it's all on the luck of the dice.

So our fight had ended and Zorba's honour had been restored although I think she'll be grounded for the foreseeable future after her brothers finish with her!

Anyway to distract you from the above massacre here is a pretty little elephant painted by Stuart.

I think I can still hear Robert laughing even now?

All in all a really fun little game with good people. In time hopefully I'll learn the positives and negatives of each troop type and build an army of my own.


Figures
Greeks : Robert T

Sassanids : Stuart L

Storm in a Teacup part1

Ardashir the leader of the Sassanids was sitting in his favourite Tea House late Thursday night chatting with some close friends, telling them about this hot Greek lass Zorba he had met and added to his Harem (if you know what I mean, nudge, nudge, wink, wink) and who just happened to be sitting at the next table? The girls brother and his mates! Well to say that he was fizzing is putting it mildly. The place erupted, there was crockery flying everywhere, Hob Nobs crushed into the carpet, the place was a right mess (this could explain why every piece of pottery the Time Team dig up is smashed into a million tiny, little pieces?)

Anyway Ardashir tried his best to apologise but the Greek lads were having none of it so it would be a fight to the death!

Playing the Sassanids was myself with heavy horse and a couple of elephants (yippee, my 1st time with efalumps).

And the overall commander Stuart with 2 units of heavy horse and some mad looking little dudes in white (who did sweet FA all game!)

Facing us with a menacing looking elongated line of hoplites with spears (are they all hoplites?) was Robert a veteran gamer who claimed he hadn't played DBM for 8 years!! (yeah right, your not fooling anybody :-)

A gorgeous looking army I think you'll agree.

It's always great when someone turns up with a nicely painted army all fresh and new to your eyes!

Stuart edged his Heavy cavalry slowly towards the shiny spear tips.

And so did I. I have to point out at this stage that this was only my 2nd game of DBM and although I understand the principals of the game from DBA I can't be held at all accountable for what's about to unfold!!! (anyway that's my slimy attempt at wriggling out of blame for the upcoming carnage over with so back to the slaughter sorry game).

Robert seeing our massed cavalry in a big line with our elephants on my flank and no light troops of our own to protect them sent out his light horse to harass our flanks.

To be continued . . .

Bath House Rebellion

Relations between the Romans and the Celts had been pretty good for a change with the Celts picking up some of the Romans habits, they had begun drinking fine wine with their meals and had been getting into the Roman bath house fad in a big way and it really appeared they had began to warm to their new neighbours.

However the weather locally had been dismal of late and as fate would have it the heating system in the locals bath house had packed in leaving them with icy cold water in their tubs! A nasty rumour was spreading around town that the Romans pet elephant "Laxativ" had taken a dump in the heating system blocking up the pipes but when asked about it the Roman governor dismissed the rumour as CRAP! and refused to fix the problem! So that didn't help matters at all!)

Anyway the Celts were pretty p*****d with the situation and with no Celtic plumbers back in those days (as we all know the Romans invented central heating. "I know I'm talking mince but just roll with it") things just went from bad to worse and what do us Celts do when faced with a problem? We start a fight! So David took to the field with his vastly increased Roman force (David has been working his way through the Warrior Miniatures Romans I got him for Christmas last year).

The Celtic Chief JP took to the field with his pretty cold hordes (they neglected to shave as the water was just too damn cold, yet another historical mystery solved!).

From the Celtic lines you can see Laxativ charging forward.

The Celts are not known as big animal lovers and the light troops quickly surround the giant.

Poor Laxativ didn't stand a chance, pretty soon it was curtains for the unfortunate beast, you can guess what will be for dinner tonight!

The Celtic mass moves on itching for a fight.

The Celtic chariots head for the Roman lines.

The Hand of God:

It could be you? Yeah right a 1 in 14 million chance (as Homer Simpson would say "I like those odds").

It looks like there will be a right old fight in the centre.

And there was, it was a close run thing but at the end of the day it was a Celtic victory and that plumbing would have to be fixed!

In the end the Roman governor had to concede defeat and accompanied his mounted plumbers to sort out the icy mess. Pretty soon the hot water was flowing again and order had been restored. It can't have been a pretty sight being knee deep in Laxativ's S***!

A wee note of appreciation: JP was working this Saturday, 1st in the morning and then again in the late afternoon and he took the time to make it over to the club as he does every week to take part in battle. It must be hard for him when he is champing at the bit to get a game in before heading back to work and we all start our "show and tell" with our newly painted or acquired Naps, Ancients, Zombies or whatever else we have discovered in the past couple of days, weeks, months and I know his meds he takes for the tourette's don't always work as well as they should!

JP is a real hardcore wargamer that will try any set of rules or period and clearly loves his wargaming and encourages everyone who he meets. So I just wanted to say thanks for showing us the ropes, helping out with the rules pretty much all the time and passing on your enthusiasm. It's very much appreciated!

Figures

Celts : John P

Romans : David P

DBM Eye Candy 28.11.09

Well we had 2 DBM games on the go on Saturday and the guys brought along a load of troops so I took the chance to get some close-ups of different types. The battle reports will follow . . .

My brother Davids elephants, most were not taking part in the battle but worth showing anyway.

Some of Roberts light troops.

And some of his light horse.

JP's hard fighting Celtic chariots that have been kicking every ones ass for a while!

Stuarts horsebox, Sassinid cavalry as far as the eye can see!

Some of Roberts Greek hoplites.

Davids Roman army beginning to take shape.

And a little snap of some Romans from Roberts vast collection of figures.

WW2 in 10mm 28.11.09

The 2 John's, young Martin and another friend (sorry bud can't remember your name?) were fighting out a little Italy WW2 scenario. As I was involved in a DBM game I didn't get a real chance to follow the action so just a few pictures to show the gear.

My brothers favourite! A couple of tigers rumbling along the road. (The buildings are from Timecast painted up and based by Jon B, Jon has done a really sweet job on detailing the buildings as terrain)

Wespe's and command.

The centre of the battlefield in flames.

Some Allied half tracks edge through the woods.

Sherman's and fireflies head cross country as their recon unit takes some heavy fire.

Achilles heading down a country road, loads of detail on the castings with the 50 cal. easy to make out.

Some 251's taking a break in the street.

Some nice looking Allied artillery with mad looking matadors!

The 251's taking a shelling. Again looked like a really enjoyable game. I believe it got a little bogged down in the end with the rules needing a little tinkering.

Just a wee bit of fun by myself to see if I could recreate a 1944 Tigers in Normandy type picture. I look forward to seeing some different scenarios from the guys. They have some nice early war Germans.

I am kicking myself as I had a chance of picking up a neat little 10mm late war Russian army off ebay and missed the finish time! Ahhhhhhhhhh!!

Wings of War 28.11.09

It was some time last year Chris brought along his Wings o War to the Motherwell club on a quiet night when we didn't really have much planned and it was an instant hit.

The simplicity of the game and the small fact that I spent a large part of my childhood building WW1 and WW2 aircraft kits made it a winner with me and I went out and bought 8 planes (picking up another couple from Stuart)

Robert who was also there the night Chris brought it in went out and bought considerably more planes than me as he is a big WW1 aircraft buff as did Billy and it has become a bit of a tradition now to get the Wings of War out if we finish a game of Naps, ACW or anything else for that matter early (meaning someone got trounced, this week it was Stuart and myself!) and every new player who tries it seems to love it.

Each plane has a set of movement cards relating to the planes personal characteristics (the snipe here has loads of nifty moves). Also there is a damage deck of cards with random numbers up to 5 (with additional symbols like gun jams etc) each plane has a points value for punishment they can take and once reached your down.

As Robert had just destroyed Stuart and myself at DBM he nominated to play a lone British pilot (Squadron Commander, Lord Flashheart?) while Stuart and myself played the vile hun attempting to avenge the deaths of our braviest and most blondest friends (on Tuesday night Robert shot down my wee fokker many times!). Great fun!

All in all a nice end to a good days gaming