Monday, 2 June 2014

Bloody Cremona!


Here are some more photos of the Roman Civil War game that I ran yesterday at Partizan, in the grounds of Kelham Hall. 

One benefit of this year's move from Hall to tent was the vastly superior lighting.  Yesterday I felt very much like Van Gogh must have felt after he relocated from Paris to Provence... Time was so short, however, that I am afraid I completely failed to take any pics of the other games, several of which were quite spectacular, particularly the lofty Keren and muddy Lardy Verdun game.  

Several of the below photos were taken by Dave D. and John T., who played in the game, together with Agema Greg, Nigel M. and Jean. The players were as good-natured a bunch of wargamers as one could hope to come across.  A big thank you to John T who was a huge help in setting up and knocking down the game. 

In our re-fight, the smaller Othonian force attacked aggressively from the outset.  Their cavalry, although outnumbered almost three to one, smashed the  poorer quality Vitellian cavalry and turned onto the flank of the enemy infantry. Beyond the Po, the Batavians killed the Othonian gladiators, losing a unit to an ambush from a small wood, in the process. The main infantry fight was extremely even but, after hard fighting, the Othonians managed to overturn history and achieve a narrow but very worthy victory.

We had quite a few visitors, and I talked to as many as I was able. I also managed to chat with some of the people from other tables, notable the Newark Irregulars, all three of the magazine editors, Phil from the SOA and Northstar Nick, and old friends Craig Cartmell and Richard Crawley, amongst others. 

The players picked up my "To the Strongest!" rules very quickly and required surprisingly little intervention from me, which was convenient as I was stretched very thin.

Lawrence and Tricks, the Partizan organisers, did a fantastic job of moving the event to the marquees, on such short notice. I absolutely loved playing in the tents, and would be delighted to put on a game in them again. I fear that the additional cost and the risk of bad weather may preclude this, though... I hope there will be room for me, in tent or hall, in September!

I'll be running this game again, and several others on a similar scale, at the Wargames Holiday Centre near Basingstoke, on the weekend of 28th/29th June, there are still spaces, give Mark Freeth a call!

Without more ado, here are the photos!  All are clickable, and the video can be watched full screen.

Initial deployment; eight regiments of Vitellian cavalry, face three Othonian units.  The former were slaughtered...

The first of the eight Vitellian cavalry units are removed by Agema Greg...

The pontoon bridge.  I liked the bridge, even if everyone who came by the table seemed to prefer the vineyards.  ;-)
Battle lines clash amidst the (offending) vineyards.
Othonian Praetorians advance along the raised Postumian way; this terrain piece came out very well.

The plain near Cremona was extensively farmed, and divided into rectangular plots; perfect for my grid-based rules!
Batavians cross the pontoon bridge, shot at by gladiators from the Othonian boat
Othonian self-propelled artillery benefit from the elevation provided by the raised road.

I Adiutrix (forground) battle XXI Rapax (rear).  The commanders of both legions fell in the heavy fighting.
Finally, below a video of the battlefield I took after the end of the game, showing all of the figures and the terrain pieces.



Sunday, 1 June 2014

Cremona at Partizan


I'm back from Partizan and completely bushed. The sun shone, the venue was fantastic and I met a whole lot of friends. I'll post some photos tomorrow, but for the moment, I have a somewhat shaky video of the game in full flow, playing cards everywhere and several generals with furrowed brows! The pile of units off table towards the end of the clip, are seven regiments of dead Vitellian cavalry. It was a bloodbath...

Friday, 30 May 2014

Partizan in the Park preview

Cool pictures of the Partizan venue, nicked from Steve's Paintingshed.



There will be three of these, apparently, in a row. The weather forecast for Sunday is looking promising, too; sunny but not too hot. Can't wait!  

Thursday, 29 May 2014

New terrain boards

Sunday's game at Partizan requires no fewer than 7 additional terrain boards. Here are four of them; two river banks and the Via Postumia (on the right).  

Most of the boards are 12mm MDF with flocked paper pasted onto them. Several that needed contouring (the river banks, for example) are 6mm ply with 3 layers of 2mm MDF glued to them. The raised road  is solid timber, and heavy, with it! Tomorrow I am going to add patches of long static grass to break up the big green areas.  

Luckily, I had off-cuts of flocked paper left over from previous projects (and a gift from mate Ian), so the big expansion has turned out to be a relatively inexpensive undertaking.  As well as for Cremona, the additional boards will be really useful for regular gaming chez Bat.

Wednesday, 28 May 2014

Pontoon bridge- done, but not yet dusted


It's built and painted, but I think it needs one final drybrush to make it a little lighter in tone.  Today I'm going to get to work on the Po river banks, and on the raised Via Postumia.  I'll take some proper pics at Partizan.

Sunday, 25 May 2014

Bridge over the River Po

...being a WIP shot of my pontoon bridge and the river it will cross.


The "Po" is a 6mm ply board with adhesive blue tiles from Homebase on it. I am cautiously pleased with the tiles which are much more hard-wearing than my previous attempt at a river. On the downside, they needed to be cut down to size, which was a real pain, and one can see the joins to some extent. The separate banks are also 6mm ply, build up with 3 layers of 2mm MDF. They sit over the edge of the river, disguising the join between the boards, and are the same thickness as the 12mm MDF boards that I will be using with the game.

The river will also do service as the Rhine, for 70AD games, especially if I can make up some models like the Liburnian that Skull and Crown sent me. I am considering making another 4' length of river, and a couple of narrower rivers, too.  

If you are coming to Partizan on Sunday, and would like to move a legion or so about, please drop me a line!

Thursday, 22 May 2014

Pontoon bridge part 2


My bridge is coming on apace; it's just over 1 metre long. Last night I built the approach ramps from balsa, foam board and the inevitable coffee stirrers. The only work remaining is to build the supports that sit in the pontoons and prop up the roadway, and I can't do those until I've built the river, or I might get the bridge's level wrong. I also need to add the 4Ground balustrades and paint, of course.  In the background I'm building a section of the raised Via Postumia.

The 1st Bedriacum (Cremona) game will be fought at Partizan on 1st June, and I still have a couple of places left if you would like to play; drop me an email at the address on the front of my blog. I'll also be running a somewhat larger version of the same game, along with several other big Roman battles, at the Wargames Holiday Centre on the weekend of 28th/29th June, at which I believe there are some spaces left.