Christmas Games 2021

As usual we managed to get in a couple of wargames over the Christmas-New Year holiday period.

The first was a six player Hordes of the Things game played using my collection of 6mm scale figures. Here are a few pictures:

The pic above shows five of the six entry points marked by white cards with dice on them. The sixth is out of shot on the bottom right corner.

The aim was to capture the large tower in the middle of the table but this could only be done after certain other tasks had been achieved.

Mostly Irregular Republican Romans with a unit
Rapier cataphracts

The Wolfkin Goblins have captured the native huts

The players

Cave trolls attempt to capture the castle

The army of the Consulateship of Salydia arrives
to disrupt the Cave Trolls' plans

Opposing forces attempt to capture the Stone Circle

The Wolfkin Goblins, having captured the mud
huts, approach the Tower of the Magician Dukes

Three different armies threaten the stone circle

The action ended when the Wolfkin Goblins, commanded by Odette, captured the central stronghold.

For those who are interested, the forces were all 6mm scale models; mostly by Irregular but with one army composed of Baccus Republic Romans.

Our second game was the Battle of the White Meadows; the scenario Jamie had intended to run at Crisis Point 2020 (had it taken place). It was a To The Strongest scenario sent on sixth century Andreivia. John and I commanded a Byzantine army against a Persian force under Richard P and Gus.

The battle was characterised by exceptionally bad luck for the Byzantines. In virtually the first close combat of the game, the Byzantine commander, Justinian, was killed. This made it difficult to keep the Roman army moving forward.

In the end we decided the day was probably lost for the Byzantines but there was just a chance that John's allied General could lead his heavy cavalry in a last minute charge against the flank of the Shah Khosroe's bodyguard. 

At this point the words of the Roman generals were as follows:

Rich:      Of course, the way things have been going, you'll probably draw two ones.

John:    <draws a chit> Well, there's one.

John:    <redraws a chit as the General is present> ...and there's a second one!

At this point the game was clearly up!

Richard P has an excellent write-up of the game here.