Tuesday, 13 April 2021

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated

Following a recent ill advised dalliance with fromage, post 10pm, I have been gifted with a prophetic dream / hallucinatory experience detailing the cause, if not the timing, of my eventual demise! 

I know! 

Handy or what! 

Anywhoo under “cause of death” on my death certificate (which is the only certificate I’ll ever have won by the way) will be the words...Greg’s Steak Bake. What’s weird about it (well apart from everything) is that I have no particular liking for pastry products in general or Greg’s in particular.  

The immediate fallout from this revelation is that I no longer feel able to travel to the end of Cardigan high street, where there is an actual Greg’s, (I mean would you chance it?) and I now anxiously scan the maps on my phone for other branches whenever TCMB and I dare to venture further afield. 

Such an unlikely ending shouldn’t come as much of a surprise when I think about it, because over the last few years there have been a number of occasions when I probably should have snuffed it by more conventional means and haven’t. For the purposes of brevity I shall gloss over the time I fell out of a tree onto my chainsaw and even the time I fell off this building… while trying to take down an unwanted satellite dish. (I did bring the dish down with me so not an entirely wasted effort).

Or even the time I nearly drowned in my own filth in this cellar due to a blocked septic tank pipe.

All that time spent contemplating my own mortality in A&E. All that precious wasted time. Doh. It seems possible that as long as I can continue to avoid these particular purveyors of hot and fatty comestibles I may in-fact live forever, an exciting enough prospect that when I discussed it with the current Mrs Broom she give a deep sigh of (I think) delight. 

So then unless I’m struck down in the street by a pasty wielding maniac, there’ll be no need for someone to engrave the words “Game over player 1. Insert coin to continue” on any tombstone of mine. 

Shame that.

Toodle ooh.


Sunday, 11 April 2021

Covid house blues

I called off my anticipated game this weekend thanks to the side effects of my first COVID jab,  however I did manage to finish off three more WOTR units. To that end I invite you to gasp in awe as I showcase my “work” through the medium of poor lighting and a crappy camera.




I also invested £10 to buy 128 hard to find ECW tomes at this chaps site. 

The Emperors Library

Here’s a screen grab of what I got for my dosh. Okay they’re all pdfs and not actual books, but hey... what do you expect for a tenner? The site covers loads of other periods so I thought I’d put this out there for anyone else that hasn’t seen it and might be interested. 

 1. A chronicle of the late intestine war in the three kingdoms
2. A Collection of original letters and papers, concerning the affairs of England, 1641 to 1660 vol.1
3. A Collection of original letters and papers, concerning the affairs of England, 1641 to 1660 vol.2
4. A discourse of the warr in Lancashire
5. A history of the life of Colonel Nathaniel Whetham, a forgotten soldier of the civil wars
6. A journal of the siege of Lathom House in Lancashire 1644
7. A narrative by John Ashburnham of his attendance on King Charles vol.1
8. A narrative by John Ashburnham of his attendance on King Charles vol.2
9. Charles I. in 1646 Letters of King Charles the First to Queen Henrietta Maria
10. Cromwell as a soldier
11. Cromwell in Ireland, a history of Cromwell's Irish campaign
12. Cromwell's army - a history of the English soldier during the Civil Wars, the Commonwealth and the Protectorate
13. Cromwell's Scotch campaigns 1650-51
14. Crosby records. A cavaliers note book; being notes, anecdotes, observations of William Blundell of Crosby, Lancashire, esquire, captain of dragoons ... in the royalist army of 1642
15. Heath's historical annual; or, The great civil war of Charles I. and the Parliament
16. Historical gleanings on the memorable field of Naseby
17. History of Charles the First and the English Revolution vol.1
18. History of Charles the First and the English Revolution vol.2
19. History of Richard Cromwell and the restoration of Charles II vol.1
20. History of Richard Cromwell and the restoration of Charles II vol.2
21. History of the Commonwealth and the Protectorate, 1649-1656 vol.1
22. History of the Commonwealth and the Protectorate, 1649-1656 vol.2
23. History of the Commonwealth and the Protectorate, 1649-1656 vol.3
24. History of the Commonwealth and the Protectorate, 1649-1656 vol.4
25. History of the great civil war, 1642-1649 vol.1
26. History of the great civil war, 1642-1649 vol.2
27. History of the great civil war, 1642-1649 vol.3
28. King and commonwealth, a history of the great rebellion
29. Letters and papers relating to the first Dutch war, 1652-1654 vol.1
30. Letters and papers relating to the first Dutch war, 1652-1654 vol.2
31. Letters and papers relating to the first Dutch war, 1652-1654 vol.3
32. Letters and papers relating to the first Dutch war, 1652-1654 vol.4
33. Letters and papers relating to the first Dutch war, 1652-1654 vol.5
34. Letters and papers relating to the first Dutch war, 1652-1654 vol.6
35. Letters from Roundhead officers written from Scotland and chiefly addressed to Captain Adam     Baynes
36. Memoirs of Prince Rupert, and the cavaliers. Including their private correspondence Vol.1
37. Memoirs of Prince Rupert, and the cavaliers. Including their private correspondence Vol.2
38. Memoirs of Prince Rupert, and the cavaliers. Including their private correspondence Vol.3
39. Memoirs of the civil war in Wales and the Marches, 1642-1649, Vol.1
40. Memoirs of the civil war in Wales and the Marches, 1642-1649, Vol.2
41. Memoirs of the two last years of the reign of King Charles I
42. Memorials of the great civil war in England from 1646 to 1652 Edited from original letters of Charles the First and of numerous other eminent persons Vol.1
43. Memorials of the great civil war in England from 1646 to 1652 Edited from original letters of Charles the First and of numerous other eminent persons Vol.2
44. Military Memoir of Col John Birch. Governor of Hereford in the Civil War
45. Monk; or, the fall of the republic and the restoration of the monarchy in England, in 1660
46. Monk's Contemporaries Biographic Studies on the English Revolution
47. Notes of the treaty carried on at Ripon between King Charles I. and the Covenanters of Scotland, 1640
48. Oliver Cromwell. H.H. the Lord Protector and the royalist insurrection against his government of March, 1655
49. Oliver Cromwell and the rule of the Puritans in England
50. Oliver Cromwell's Letters & speeches vol.1
51. Oliver Cromwell's Letters & speeches vol.2
52. Oliver Cromwell's Letters & speeches vol.3
53. Papers relating to proceedings in the county of Kent, 1642-46
54. Robert Blake, admiral and general at sea
55. Royalist father and Roundhead son; being the memoirs of the first and second earls of Denbigh, 1600-1675
56. Rupert, prince Palatine
57. Scotland and the Commonwealth. Letters and papers relating to the military government of Scotland
58. Select tracts relating to the civil wars in England, in the reign of King Charles the First by writers who were witnesses of the events which they describe Vol.1
59. Select tracts relating to the civil wars in England, in the reign of King Charles the First by writers who were witnesses of the events which they describe Vol.2
60. The army lists of the Roundheads and Cavaliers, containing the names of the officers in the royal and parliamentary armies of 1642
61. The autobiography of Joseph Lister, of Bradford in Yorkshire, to which is added a contemporary account of the defence of Bradford and capture of Leeds by the Parliamentarians in 1642
62. The champions of the crown
63. The civil war in Hampshire (1642-45) and the story of Basing House
64. The Civil War in Worcestershire, 1642-1646, and the Scotch invasion of 1651
65. The Covenanters in Moray and Ross
66. The diplomatic correspondence of Jean de Montereul and the Brothers de Bellievre vol.1
67. The diplomatic correspondence of Jean de Montereul and the Brothers de Bellievre vol.2
68. The first and second battles of Newbury and the siege of Donnington Castle during the Civil War, 1643-6
69. The garrisons of Shropshire during the civil war, 1642-1648
70. The great civil war of the times of Charles I. and Cromwell
71. The history of the grand rebellion vol.1
72. The history of the grand rebellion vol.2
73. The history of the grand rebellion vol.3
74. The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England Begun in 1641 vol.1
75. The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England Begun in 1641 vol.2
76. The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England Begun in 1641 vol.3
77. The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England Begun in 1641 vol.4
78. The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England Begun in 1641 vol.5
79. The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England Begun in 1641 vol.6
80. The House of Lords during the Civil War
81. The Irish rebellion of 1641, with a history of the events which led up to and succeeded it
82. The king in exile. The wanderings of Charles II from June 1646 to July 1654
83. The King's general in the West. The life of Sir Richard Granville, bart., 1600-1659
84. The last years of the Protectorate, 1656-1658 vol.1
85. The last years of the Protectorate, 1656-1658 vol.2
86. The memoirs of Edmund Ludlow, lieutenant-general of the horse in the army of the commonwealth of England vol.1
87. The memoirs of Edmund Ludlow, lieutenant-general of the horse in the army of the commonwealth of England vol.2
88. The Nicholas papers. Correspondence of Sir Edward Nicholas vol.1
89. The origin of the first Dutch war of the Restoration
90. The parliamentary generals of the great civil war
91. The quarrel between the Earl of Manchester and Oliver Cromwell - an episode of the English Civil War
92. The Royalist Composition Papers vol.1
93. The Royalist Composition Papers vol.2
94. The Royalist Composition Papers vol.3
95. The Royalist Composition Papers vol.4
96. The travels of the King; Charles II in Germany and Flanders, 1654-1660
97. The whole proceedings of the siege of Drogheda and siege of Londonderry
98.Tracts relating to military proceedings in Lancashire during the great civil war
99. With Milton and the cavaliers
100. A letter or an epistle to all well-minded men in England, Wales, and Ireland ; in special to the Parliament and Army
101. Barnstaple and the Northern Part of Devonshire During the Great Civil War
102. Cromwell's Soldier's Catechism
103. Diary of the Marches of the Royal Army During the Great Civil War
104. History of Scots Affairs, from 1637-41 vol.3
105. Memorials of the Civil War. Comprising the Correspondence of the Fairfax Family vol.1
106. Memorials of the Civil War. Comprising the Correspondence of the Fairfax Family vol.2
107. Military memoirs of the great civil war. Being the military memoirs of John Gwynne
108. The Protector ; a vindication
109. London during the great rebellion. Being a memoir of Sir Abraham Reynardson, knt
110. History of Scots affairs, from 1637 to 1641 vol.1
111. History of Scots affairs, from 1637 to 1641 vol.2
112.  Lives of the warriors of the civil wars of France and England, Volume 1
113.  Lives of the warriors of the civil wars of France and England, Volume 2
114.  Memoirs of the Most Renowned James Graham, Marquis of Montrose
115.  Minute Book, War Committee of the Covenanters, Kirkcudbrightshire 1640-1
116.  Montrose and Covenanters vol.1
117.  Montrose and Covenanters vol.2
118.  Numismata Cromwelliana or, The medallic history of Oliver Cromwell, illustrated by his coins, medals, and seals
119.  Scotland and the Protectorate. Letters and papers relating to the military government of Scotland 1654 to 1659
120.  The Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland
121.  The Cromwellian union; papers relating to the negotiations for an incorporating union between England and Scotland, 1651-1652
122.  The life and campaigns of Alexander Leslie, first Earl of Leven 
123. Bellum civile - Hopton's Narrative of his Campaign in the West 1642-44
124. Sussex in the great Civil War and the interregnum, 1642-1660
125. The Confederation of Kilkenny
126. The Diary of Sir Henry Slingsby
127. The narrative of General Venables
128. The Ulster civil war of 1641, and its consequences; with the history of the Irish brigade under Montrose in 1644-46

 You will get the following files:

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Friday, 19 March 2021

Testing times

Testing times indeed. I got the rest of my Wofun boys edged and based yesterday so I thought I’d drag out Mr Callan’s rules and give them a quick run through before starting my follow on ECW campaign.

Since I’ve committed totally to hexon terrain these days I breezily decided to just convert the base width ranges and movement rates given in the rules to hexes, however, the way the foot units are depicted in them is in a long line which meant for me I’d have to spread a single regiment over two hexes.

Bunched up or spread out?


If I bunched them up like the bods on the left of the picture I could just play the rules as is, however if I deployed them over the two hexes, it would mean a few extra tweaks to make things work. I’m still undecided about which course to choose but I gamed the two hex version just to try it out and wasn’t unhappy with how things went. 

Fire combat was largely ineffective unless concentrated and at close range, while coming to push of pike seemed to be the way to force the issue to a speedy conclusion. The game is not counter heavy even with the “advanced rules”... I used a pistol counter to denote parliamentary horse ammo supply, (they get only 1 volley of pistol fire per game) and (since they are only allowed 2 charges per game) a “blown” marker to prevent horse from either side exceeding their allowance.

Being a solo player the “sort of” igougo turn sequence is not a problem...and by “sort of” I mean that sides dice to see who goes first in both fire and movement phases. 

The only real area of uncertainty and contention is in the movement / melee area, where (given the way the rules are written) if I moved into melee with an enemy unit as the first player in a turn to move, during his turn he could move out of melee and disengage before any fighting. My fix is to just pin units in place that have been attacked, but it would have been nice to have had that ironed out officially.

The number of units provided in this, the biggest Wofun offering, is sufficient overall, though I think a few more horse would be useful and I will undoubtedly use the Scottish and Irish regiments as proxy’s from time to time. 

For the forthcoming campaign I expect to have 7 units in a small army, 9 in a medium sized army and 11 in a large army.

Testing testing 123

Any thoughts on what looks best deployment wise (i.e. 1 hex or 2 for foot regiments) would be welcome!

With any luck I can start the campaign next week!

Tararr a bit, for now...(as we say in Brum) or Hwyl, as we say here in the PRoWW.


Tuesday, 9 March 2021

New projects and Wofun thoughts

For the first time in my gaming life, (and much to my surprise) I’ve found myself with several projects “on the go” and even a bonafide lead pile!

The greatly anticipated Wofun order arrived 2 weeks or so ago but I had a huge bout of buyers remorse over the cost and ignored them for a couple of days until I could get over myself. Purchasing the biggest set they do (for the ECW) I’d gone out on a limb and blown £220.00 for the set - only to find I’d been hit with an additional £50 import tax charge before they could be delivered. Ouch. To some that might not be an issue but for those of us retired folk doing a bit of minimum wage labour to fund our gaming hobby that’s a lot of hours on cheese corner I can tell you.

Anywhoo...since their unboxing I’ve been methodically punching them out of their Perspex backing, painting the shiny edges with Vallejo sepia ink and rebasing them on flocked / gravelled edge painted stands. The number of units contained in the set means that this has become a fairly lengthy (and still unfinished) process.

About a third of the force done so far!

The Wofun minis / flats seem to come in two main “styles” one of which is that illustrated by Peter Denis. His images are muted and the tones accurately reflect the general uniform hue’s of the period. They look sharp enough in 28mm (from what I’ve seen) but in 18mm a lot of the detail gets lost in the general “muddieness” of the periods predominant greys and browns - especially so I think when the clear edges (that allow a little light in behind the figure?) are removed as I’ve done. Perhaps we have become too fixated on making our smaller scale mini’s “pop” when viewed from tabletop distance, I don’t know.

Slightly “muddy” mounted dragoon’s

So, are they good value for money? The answer depends on your requirements really. In a traumatic clearing out the barn exercise a few years ago, my mostly complete 15mm Peter Pig ECW army was mistakenly thrown away by well meaning helpers (I’ll be back in therapy for a few weeks again, having just recalled it) so for me the Wofun flats were an instant, just add water, sort of replacement. I also have a grandson who I hope to involve in the hobby and who needs figures he can handle without Grampa having a stroke over broken pikes etc.

Wiser heads like Peter over at a grid based gaming went for the paper flats by the same illustrator which can of course be scaled up and down with a photocopier and an army of any size produced from just the one book purchase. In any weighing up of worth it’s clear to see that £10.99 for the paperboys re sizeable unlimited production potential is hard to match against my £270.00 one off purchase.

I think it’s important at this juncture to point out that contrary to the marketing blurb this is not a cheap introduction into a period you might otherwise not have considered gaming and though I like the flats themselves they don’t look right to me when added as a supplement to an existing 3D force. 

On the plus side the Andy Callan rules that came with the set were really nice. Simple in execution where needed (which I like) but covering all of the nuances like volley fire, pike stands, limited pistol ammo for horse, blown nags etc etc. I’m not sure if they are totally new since Mr Callan has a fairly extensive back catalogue, but they would certainly stand separate publishing in my view. I was so impressed that I shall be using them for the tactical battles in my forthcoming ECW campaign.

The need to get my Wofun bods finished and thus kick off the aforementioned campaign has meant that two other projects have temporarily been put on the back burner.

One is the early Tudor naval campaign against France and Scotland, which has recently suffered from model availability and negative scale creep...

My proxy for the 1512 “Cordeliere” accompanied by a couple of galeasses, and caravels. 18mm pike lads are for size comparison. TD 1:2400

...and the other is project “X” which will scratch an itch of mine but be uniformly loathed by regular readers.

Project “X”

Tararr a bit for now.



Wednesday, 24 February 2021

The Ultimate Portable Wargame?

Tired of spending a fortune on miniatures?

Tired of the space taken up with storing all that paraphernalia?

Tired of having to clear your game away when someone needs the dining table?

Worry no more!

Taking advantage of the latest scientific breakthroughs in minitastic technology  Broomco Inc is proud to unveil CONFLICT IN MY POCKET..!

Batteries not included. May contain nuts.

That’s right... Say goodbye to all your normal wargaming problems with a board and figures that slip right in your back pocket! 

The starter ‘argy bargy’ game comes with our easy to remember three line rule set Rock Paper Scissors where your opponent and you get to engage in real hand to hand combat.

Packaged with three initial scenarios, “Ooo you lookin’ at? Oi you spilled my pint,” and “Didn’t you kill my bruvver?” it boasts active fan discussion groups on MySpace and Beebo. Maybe.

I am pleased to offer a heavily discounted price to interested readers of this blog who include the discount code “mugme” with their order.

Note: only 1 set available per household.

Wednesday, 27 January 2021

To Wofun or not Wofun?

To Wofun or not Wofun that is the question!

God help me I’ve been in and out of their ruddy website for months, trying to make up my mind.

It’s appeal is obvious to the lazy gamer like me, limited prep and instant results. I think I’d paint the edges do over the bases to make them more presentable and use 3D artillery, but I’m still agonising over it. 

I don’t like the eerie looking faces on some of their ranges but the Peter Dennis illustrated ones look quite nice.

My Baccus 6mm ECW lads are great but given their susceptibility to bendy pike syndrome they have to be handled with care. Would it be madness to do the same period with Peter Dennis illustrated flats? Have any of you guys (and possibly gals) given these serious consideration?

Wofun ECW flats




Saturday, 23 January 2021

When the Hurley-burleys done - Part 2

Here's that play test I threatened you with in my last post. I’ll avoid a die roll by die roll account of things but focus on how some of the mechanics worked in practise. Shouldn’t think it’d run to more than 200 pages, Lol.

Like any testing it’s a good idea to keep things small and the situation itself fairly “vanilla”. For the purposes of this post I’ve chosen to use only one ward per faction and I’ve kept the board size small enough to fit on our dining room table.

The minis are Peter Pig 15mm and the terrain is hexon.

Scenario: Two small groups of fighting men are converging on each other at the only crossing of a small but fast flowing stream.

Objective: Kill the opposition nobles or drive their force from the field of battle:

Pre game setup: The pre game set up determines the composition and number of the units in each opposing force, the amount of terrain and its distribution and a bit of strategic card play to add flavour to the encounter. 

The rules call for a minimum of four companies per ward and each ward must contain a men at arms company who will host the wards leader (denoted by a flag). In addition to the men at arms every force must contain at least one archer company. 

Both factions were given their two “must have” at start units and  were only dealt four other unit cards from the army builder deck in an effort to keep things manageable. I decided to be in command of the Yorkists and the cards I was dealt gave me an additional crossbow company, two sets of billmen and one extra group of men at arms. With six companies overall I only have enough units for one ward. Since no blank cards were placed in the army deck both factions will end up with an equal number of companies. 

My absent opponent, hereinafter referred to as the A.O. was dealt his four cards and received two companies of archers and two companies of men at arms. On paper at least he could outshoot me and bring greater melee combat strength to bare on my poor lads.


The terrain set up section was omitted on this occasion both for brevity and a desire to ensure a level playing field - though I chucked some trees and a broken ground hex in to break the view up a bit. As things stood there would be little in the way of cover for my Yorkists to duck behind when all those arrows started to whistle past!

The next requirement was to work out the number of companies in each force that would equate to 40% and 60% - which I concluded was near enough 2 and 4 given a bit of rounding up and down. 

In this play test, when a faction loses two of its companies, for whatever reason, they will have reached the 40% breakpoint (the point at which those still living begin to notice how many of their mates are piled up around their feet). In the admin phase at the end of every turn, if a faction has reached 40%, each remaining company in it will have to test against its bravery level and those companies that fail will do a runner. (Represented by stand removal). If a faction reaches the 60% level by losing 4 units then no testing is required - the whole force is “offski” enmasse, and are judged to have lost the game.

The only other major part of the pre game set up is the issue of happenstance cards which will influence strategy or the environment; which I’ll cover next.

The A.O is dealt three happenstance cards whose content is  kept hidden. Two cards are randomly taken from the pack to add a degree of uncertainty and I am allowed to choose one, before being dealt two from the top of the pile (to bring me up to three as well).

Given the A.O’s preponderance of archers I decided to pick the “too much pottage” happenstance card which I knew would gift me a strong wind at my back, (there’s a joke in there somewhere) increasing my archers six hex range by one and reducing his chances to hit with indirect / plunging fire. Flicking through the deck to find the card I realised the treachery card that could alter my army’s allegiance was no longer in there...did the A.O have it or was it one of the two arbitrarily removed from the pack? Should I just get my pottage card or should I take the “hostage to fortune” card that could counter the treachery one. Decisions, decisions! Being a cautious cat I chose to have a counter to the treachery card just in case.

By a bit of luck the pottage card was one of the two I was dealt, the other being related to a flanking move which in our test game I could not use.

The human player (me) must deploy his forces before the A.O and I chose to set mine out like this:


The archery lads were on my left wing and the crossbow boys on my right. Because I envisaged a head to head at the bridge I joined my two billmen companies together into what I’ve termed a band (not happy with the nomenclature) in order to increase their melee power in the narrow bottle neck of the bridge. I did the same with my men at arms. There are limitations on which types of companies may be combined in this fashion, but it’s a level of detail I think we should ignore at this point. Next I chose the order to apply to my ward. In a bigger game, as the force commander I would issue an order (of my choosing) to my subordinate ward commanders, and they would be expected to see it carried out. In this play test there’s just me and my fancy flag on the board in an effort to keep things simple. 

The orders I can choose from include attack, which is a measured advance towards any enemy, supported where possible by missile fire, charge, a none missile supported rush at the nearest enemy, hold, where units are only really able to change their facing and defend themselves, or retire and reform which allows a limited cohesion point recovery with the risk that the boys will just keep on retiring... till they’re no longer there.

I went for “attack” after a bit of pondering because I wanted to use my pottage card and out range him with my arrow twangers.

After committing myself to deployment and orders the A.O has a randomly generated deployment and order choice of his own. He went with attack as well. His lads were laid out like this:

Gearing up for the start I got ready to slap down my pottage card and establish the weather for the entire game. Having selected vanguard as the title of both our wards I turned the first ward activation card over to find a vanguard card, which would have been great if it hadn’t been the Lancastrian vanguard, not mine. The A.O. got to go first. 

On the first turn a player with a GS (game start) happenstance card must play it or lose it. The happenstance cards have GS or DG (during game) on the back like this:

The A.O. had one so I turned it over to reveal it was... “pea souper”. Because this was a weather card and the first one played it would determine the weather for the duration of the entire battle, my windy pottage card was now useless.

The card described how the whole area was smothered in a dense fog that had reduced visibility to no more than 2 hexes. While this meant that he had handicapped his own archers the other part of the narrative was that three of my units had become disorientated in the murk and must have their hex spine facing changed by 1 in any direction. Companies intent on moving always set off through either of their front two hexes and since some of mine were now facing slightly the wrong way the time spent reorientating them meant it’d take me longer to reach the bridge and the bottleneck that I hoped to use to restrict the frontage of his better melee units. The fogs presence would need to be diced for each turn but at best visibility would only improve by one hex at a time.

Missile fire was the first phase of his turn but none of his guys could see anything so that was not an option. Under the attack order if his missile troops cannot fire they have the option to be placed on overwatch (really not happy with this modern term) or to move. It should be noted that missile troops cannot fire and move in the same turn. In order to get them into action his only real choice was to move them towards me along with his other  units who are compelled to do so by the attack order they must abide by. Movement towards me requires each unit to pass a bravery test. 2d6 are rolled for every moving company or band and the resultant score must be equal to or less than their bravery level. Since lesser status / equipped units have a lower bravery level than their betters they are generally slightly harder to push forward. The units that pass may move, those that fail do nothing. If 2 or more of his units fail, the A.O’s attack order becomes void and the entire ward can do nothing but defend itself until a new order is chosen by die roll in the admin phase at the end of the turn. As it turned out only the one archer unit on his left flank failed and refused to budge, all his other chaps moved up. 

Apart from mounted units and pikes all units have 2 movement points to spend per turn. Clear terrain cost 1 mp per hex traversed. Single company’s can change their facing by up to 2 hex spines for 1 mp but a band can only change their facing by 1 hex spine for the same cost.

Those with good eyes might just make out the three arrow bunches at the back. This is the ammo supply for his three archers. If more than one archer company fires at the same target, one of these arrow markers is removed. If archers fire at separate targets no deductions are made. If the three arrow markers are used up during a game archers may still fire, but can not combine their attacks. Note, every other type of missile weapon has unlimited ammo.

My ward only contained one company of archers so they were never going to lay down an arrow storm. No ammo markers were needed for the Yorkies.

During the following turns the fog began to lift albeit by one extra hex  of visibility each time. Units from both sides pushed forward towards the bridge, (well all apart from the Lancastrian archers on his left who refused to leave the start line). 

Already delayed by having to reorientate some of my boys I was further hampered in my advance when three of them failed their bravery tests, the attack order became void, and in the subsequent turn it was re rolled for and became “hold”.  I was going nowhere fast!

Though voided orders are replaced by ones chosen through random die roll during the admin phase, the army leader (me) has the opportunity during his turn to change one wards order to something of his own choosing. The down side is that this can only be done if his unit is not adjacent to the enemy and he gives up his units activation for the turn.exploiting this option allowed me to change my own wards order back to attack.

While this had been going on the fog continued to lift one hex at a time. My left flank archers moved forward, avoiding the broken ground hex which would not only have cost more to move into and out of but would have knocked one off their cohesion as well. Moving them forward brought them into the now increased visibility range of the Lancastrian archers who had been placed on overwatch on his turn. Though he would get a free out of phase shot at my chaps I wasn’t that worried. I mean what was the worst that could happen?

His archers fired using their three missile dice. They needed 5’s or 6’s to hit. They rolled three 6’s. Doh! Now my archers have a cohesion level of 4 (as do all archers) and three hits immediately whittled them down to one cohesion point. If reduced to zero they rout.

Honour was saved a little when my crossbow guys (with the increased visibility) were able to see the enemy commander and his men scrambling down the banks of the stream in front of them. The bridge would only have cost 1 mp to get over but the stream was going to cost them 1 cohesion point as well. Moving under an attack order they have to advance towards me and since the bridge approach was blocked by one of their own they had no choice other than to approach me this way.

My crossbow guys had two missile dice and also needed 5’s and 6’s. They got a 5 which meant the posh lads on the riverbank were reduced from cohesion level 6 down to 5. Spookily one of the front rank miniatures of this unit has an arrow shaft sticking out of his neck - 2nd guy up from the bottom if you look closely.

The Lancastrians had three archer units at the start of the game. One still shrouded in fog had refused to budge from the start line, the second had whittled down my archers and the third which had been combined with some men at arms to form a band now attempted to fire for the first time. 

As the rearmost company in their band they could only use indirect fire to lob their arrows over the top of the men at arms in front of them. I was about to roll the dice when I realised that their target was three hexes away which put my lads just within the 3 hex dead zone that can’t be fired at by indirect fire. Yay!

The two companies within a band can change places during movement which once in the front would allow them to fire directly, however when in the front the archers would have taken the brunt of any melee which didn’t seem like a risk worth taking. Because the archers had attempted to fire, the entire band including the men at arms was unable to move. Though that was a blow to him his left flank archers finished off my archers who’d only got 1 cohesion point left. 

They never really knew what hit them!

Then it all went wrong for him. Having finished his missile fire he went on to movement which as you recall requires a bravery test for each moving unit. Two of his lot failed which meant that his attack order was now void. 

During the admin phase a new order was rolled for and came up as retire and reform. Retire and reform is a two edged sword (if you’ll pardon the pun). Each company moves back one hex and takes a bravery test. If they pass they get to add back up to 2 points of cohesion (never back to game start levels) but if they fail they immediately rout off the table. (I’m told that once soldiers start moving backwards it’s very difficult to stop them). To make matters worse the retire order stays in play until either all remaining units pass their bravery test or the whole ward runs away bit by bit and there’s no ones left.

Only one of his companies did a runner and I derived no satisfaction from the fact that it was the archery boys who’d killed my men. Well okay a little satisfaction. In the next turn with the order still in play his men moved another hex backwards and the archer unit that’d never left the start line also made their excuses.

With two units gone the Lancastrians had just reached the 40% loss level.

To top it off the game allowed the A.O. to play one of his in game happenstance cards - which turned out to be the treachery one I’d been worrying about. Fortunately I had the counter to it in my happenstance hand, so no harm done.

During the admin phase at the end of their retiring turn all the Lancastrian units had to test for bravery again because they had reached the 40% loss threshold. The men at arms band who had taken the crossbow hit failed this test and because it was composed of two companies they found themselves with 4 gone in total and therefore at the 60% automatic loss level.

The Lancastrians had only taken one hit from my crossbow guys but had broken and run through confusion and a loss of morale.

Now, given the length of this post it’s probably a good job we never got to explore melee, zones of control, mounted units, charge orders, artillery, etc but they are all in the rules if I can work out how to put up a pdf on the blog or make it available for download.

Conclusions

To be honest I was pretty chuffed with it overall. The rules could be used for two player if desired but it gave me a good game with a story to hang on it in solo mode. More importantly it turned out differently to how it would have done if I’d attempted to play both sides directly. The whole shebang lasted only 6 turns and if you stripped out the head scratching, photographing, recording of minutiae and the consumption of one jolly nice ham and pickle sandwich, probably took about 40 minutes to play. I’m happy it’d scale up to the 3 wards per side without it taking all day.

On the minus side I did discover that there was no mechanism for the A.O general to override his sides order like I could and I’m not happy with the term “band” for effectively a double sized company, nor “overwatch” which just seems too modern.