7YW in 15mm

Got together with a group of guys the other night for a game of Volley and Bayonet.

7YW,  Prussians V Austrians with the objectives being a combination of capturing town sectors and destroying enemy Divisions.

Numbers were on the side of the Austrians and the Prussians, they had quality.

Austrians setting up.

The Prussian set up.

 Both sides advanced towards each other until the Austrian cavalry saw a chance to break the Prussian line early in the battle. The Prussian cavalry reacted quickly and counter charged. The resulting melee saw casualties mount on both sides with neither side getting the upper hand.

 On the opposite flank the Prussian cavalry got in the first charge with slightly greater numbers. Again there was no clear winner. The cavalry from both sides charged numerous times until the Prussians forced the Austrian cavalry to withdraw.

 By now the Austrians were reluctant to advance further and were happy to hold the ground they had gained.

 The Prussians saw this as a chance to push the issue and advanced on the Austrian centre.

Disordered Austrian cavalry falling back and trying to hold on to the village.

 The Prussians seemed to have their right flank under control. The cavalry had gained the upper hand and now the right flank infantry Division started to put pressure on the town to their front.

Austrian cavalry trying to keep out of trouble.

A well defended town sector under Austrian control.

 The Prussian attack in the centre had limited success with most of the Brigades being forced back. A second attack had more success and a few gaps began to appear in the Austrian line.

. The Austrian right flank was slowly thinning the Prussian lines. The Prussian cavalry had by now done it's dash on this side of the battle and, now with gaps appearing in the Prussian line the Austrians were in a position to advance.

Over on the other side the Prussian attacks on the town were largely unsuccessful but the Austrians here were in no shape to do anything other than to defend the town they still held.

The cavalry on both sides was now a spent force. Casualties were mounting in the infantry divisions too. There was now a gap in the Prussian lines on their left flank and as the Austrians advanced, at this critical moment,  their Corp commander was killed and had to be replaced. The replacement CO advanced on the gap hoping to gain the now undefended town on this side of the battle. But it was all too late. Nightfall had arrived and there would not be anymore fighting on this field today.

In the end it was a marginal victory to the Austrians. 

An enjoyable game and great way to spend an evening.
Thanks guys. Thanks to Adrian for providing almost everything.

Napoleonic French Line Horse Artillery

Been working on these guys on and off for the past month or so.

Figures and guns are from Front Rank.

 

 It's not that obvious in the photos but I have painted the sabretaches differently for each gun crew.

One gun crew is for the 3rd Regiment and the other is for the 4th Regiment.

The MDF bases are from Bradder's Wargame Bases again.

Renegade English Civil War

These troops were painted about 10 years ago for a demo game at Conquest. Since then they have only fought in a few battles.

This week the Southern Strategists are having an ECW game using the Pike & Shotte rules.

Digging down into the very depths of the cupboard I finally found these almost forgotten troops.

The paintwork is still intact, flags still flying and no broken pikes. All good for being at the bottom of all that lead.

So to tart them up a bit I have added some homemade grass tufts. Depending on how this game goes I might look at doing a bit of an ink wash over them and then some highlights.

Red coated cavalry unit.

 Two units of cavalry. I can't remember the names of these units.

Blue coated cavalry unit.

 My Blue coat infantry I think are Sir Edward Stradling's Blue Coats.

 The Red Coats  are Apsley's Red Coats. I think!

 The artillery and the commanders are from redoubt.

 

Gun and crew.

The Commanders.

Dark Age siege.

Last week we had a little siege game with some of the Dark Age troops.  An attacking force of approximately double the number of defenders was to attack a town surrounded by a wooden palisade.

 Just a small scale action to try out the rules before we get more adventurous.

 The poor Vikings dragged these massive ladders toward the town under a hail of arrows.

 Eventually the ladders were up against the walls and the leading Vikings started to climb.
 Some bright spark decided that a battering ram was required. But did anybody bring one? No!What did he find as a substitute? A pencil!!!    ( the red thing in the photos)

 As it turned out the pencil was less than useless!! Only requiring a couple of rolls of "4" or more on a D6 to break down the gate you would think it wouldn't take long. Wrong! For most of the night the attackers were getting nowhere.

 The fighting on the ladders was very fierce with the attackers making very little headway.

Attackers lining up at the ladders.

 Eventually after many attempts the attackers finally broke through the gates and began to pour into the town.

 At about the same stage, the fighting on the ladders also started to go the way of the attackers.

 Numbers were now beginning to tell. With the defenders outnumbered, the attackers through the gate and over the wall the towns fate was sealed.

An excellent evening with the boys.