Tuesday 16 April 2024

The Relief of Norchester at Salute 51


Here are some super photos of the Relief of Norchester game that my friends helped me take to Salute last weekend. The photos were taken by chum Ian Notter. Above is a shot of the parliamentarian Great Battery, which had just commenced its bombardment of the eponymous city.

...and here is the city Norchester, itself. You will be able to make out the tall buildings of the Flemish merchants' quarter (Norchester exports wool to the Low Countries), and the bombardment has already damaged the ancient bell tower of St. Andrew's church. Beyond the city is Norchester Great Wood.


The other end of the battlefield is defined by the Bishop's Wood. Above and below, there was a massive cavalry clash on this wing, with over 300 horse in 15 regiments fighting to more or less mutual destruction. We used the For King and Parlaiment rules to fight the battle, everyone picked them up and it ran smoothly.


On the other wing, above, Hesilrige's heavily-armoured lobsters (right foreground) held the Parliamentarian left flank throughout the day, resisting numerous charges!


And finally here is a view down the battlefield showing many of the 27 foot battalia that were engaged. The battle was extremely close- the Royalists were behind most of the day, and down to four medals just after lunch, but managed to squeak a narrow victory an hour later, forcing the parliamentarians to lift the siege!


Above is a brief video that I shot before the event.


...and I was delighted to win an award for the game- best 25/28mm game, second year in a row!

I'd like to thank everyone who helped m to deliver the project, particularly Ian Notter who helped a great deal with the modelling and advice, as well as the photography. Huge thanks to those who played on the day and helped me to engage with the public- especially FK&P stealth co-author Andrew Brentnall. Also thanks to everyone who dropped by for a chat, and apologies to anyone I didn't manage to talk to- it was insanely busy. And finally a big thank you to the South London Warlords who, as ever, did a fantastic job running the event.


I will be taking the game to Partizan next month. If you'd like to play, please drop me a line. In the meanwhile, the brave citizens intend to bolster the defences of Norchester with some state-of-the-art renaissance fortifications, to be erected in front of the medieval walls.

15 comments:

Simon said...

A very nice game at a just awful venue.

Stephen Smith said...

Excellent looking game Simon, well deserved award too.

Simon said...

Superb game at a terrible venue. I gave up on Salute in 2007.

Napoleon1066 said...

Looks like it was a good game

Ray Rousell said...

It certainly was a crackin' looking game Simon. Well done on the award!!

Neil Patterson said...

Great looking game Simon.
Neil

Daniel Moreno said...

Amazing look to your games as always! One day I plan to fly over the pond to attend Salute or Partizan.

Jeremy Ramsey said...

A very well-deserved award. It was such a fine looking game and easily the best at Salute last Saturday.

pancerni said...

Wow! Now that is impressive.

Simon said...

An impressive looking game, but a dreadful show that I no longer attend.

Christopher(aka Axebreaker) said...

Awesome looking game!

Christopher

James said...

Wow! Sumptuous looking game!

Codsticker said...

Stupendous! Excellent photos of such a glorious looking game.

ICM said...

Simon, what a grand day out! If it hadn't been for that warty coward Cromwell's shocking conduct on the right flank, I believe we WOULD and SHOULD have won. Right but Repulsive! And by the way, great rules and a smashing battle, and lots of impressed punters.

Steve Spence said...

Quite superb, Simon!