The War in Idenfels (Burnt Toast; the Long March)

Melee fodder secures an objective in dangerous terrain.

Numerous regimental cults were involved in heavy fighting in the vicinity of Idenfels. First was the 'Burnt Toast' scenario, but with four players arranged into two teams of two. An alliance of Grand Bombard and St. Alamei's Rockets miscalculated the deployment of their respective artillery pieces and fell to a Fungal Herd of pigs and Stranglin' Harry's (?) men.

Burnt Toast scenario set-up.

Burnt Toast scenario.

Burnt Toast, a turn or two in.

There followed a Long March with the Grand Bombard and Knights of Shellwood taking on the Herd and Strangling Harry's men again.

This time the melee power of the Shellwood Knights, supported by some effective shooting by the Bombard secured a strong win.

Action at San Astica

Was able to squeeze in a quick Italian Wars game using Kings of War Historical on Sunday last. French and Spanish/Imperial forces engaged at San Astica. Terrain established by randomized tiles. Standard Kings of War deployment (I go, you go, one unit at a time) Included a "horde" (double sized unit with higher 'Nerve' aka morale) of Swiss pikemen and of Landsknecht pikement for each side.  French only had one regiment of the elite chevaliers/gendarmes rather than the usual two.

First table appearance of my tower on a hill terrain piece!

The scenario was to get as many of your units to opposite half of table as possible by end of game.  The two hordes of pike ended up facing each other when deployment was over. Unfortunately, both sides were overly cagey and both hordes ended up barely moving and were routed from relentless missile fire. Whoops.

The French cavalry was again able to win the upper hand and things fell apart for the Imperial Spanish pretty quick after that.

A pleasant Sunday morning. What else can you ask for!?  Elsewhere, making good progress on painting another 20 stradiots.

Wildwood 2023

Kingdoms of Men versus Lizardmen.

I participated in a five-game, two-day Kings of War fantasy wargaming tournament. I entered my renaissance French as a 'Kingdoms of Men' army.  Kings of War is a list-building game, and I deliberately built a list without a lot of added buffs, just to see what would happen.

The revised deployment.

What happened was what I suspected would happened - I went 0-3 on the first day and my army was tabled (all units removed) twice!  However, I was trying different approaches and trying the learn as I went along. On the second day I changed my deployment/strategy radically and almost eeked out a win (got the tie instead) on game 4. 

Kingdoms of Men versus Abyssal Dwarfs.

On game 5 I psyched myself out during deployment and put myself in a poor position. I lost but not as badly as on first-day.

The oversized, quickly painted the night before red banners denote that a one-turn only status effect ("indomitable will") is in play.  The banners are not glued in place and can be sleeved over a unit's pike or lance and then removed when done.

I think its quite commendable that I could take a list I knew wasn't the greatest and lose horribly at first but quickly get better through experience and player decision.  My opponents voted the French as Favorite Army which was quite kind.

Burnt Toast at Trudestaadt

 

Turnip28 returns to the table with a game using the 'burnt toast' scenario. Three pieces of terrain are arranged in the center.  Welcome to the hamlet of Trudestaadt!

Hamlet of Trudestaadt.

Objective markers are set, all except one, but both sides are nervous as someone may have left the kettle on in that central house. On turn 4 (or what is 5?) the central piece of terrain burns to the ground and the fifth and final objective marker piece is set in its place.

The Grand Bombard cult lost to the Tall Man this time (I think? This was about 3 weeks ago now).  The Bombard itself scored a hit but also exploded itself. 

Fodder.

Grand bombard

The Tall Man.

The rules of Turnip28 are becoming set in our minds. The games are breezy and easy, now. I really need to convert a stump gun and some cavalry. Ideas for additional terrain piling up in the brain.

More Turnip28 Terrain

I finally had/made the time to finish up this piece of terrain for Turnip28. Being larger at 8x10, it would be treated as 'dangerous terrain'. The fish are 'terror fish' by Reaper with thier creep legs trimmed off. Like a lot of turnip28 projects this did not finish in the form originally intended. Just gotta go with the flow, y'know?

Get in here!

Chimney pipe is just cereal box cardboard rolled up sections and superglue together.

Getting a good feel for using the 'Realistic Water' product.

And here are some work-in-progess photos:

Crossing the Dredge at Beleynay

Terrain set up for the Dredge.

I arranged a game of Turnip28 with Roger, who has a wonderful collection of converted and customized Turnip28 regiments.  We played the "Crossing the Dredge" scenario from the main rulebook but on a 3'x3' board.  The Dredge is a single piece of defendable terrain in the dead center of the board, with dangerous terrain extending out to each side.  Objective markers are placed on each piece of terrain.

The Dredge, viewed from other side.

I played the Grand Bombard cult again, and Roger used the Lopers stilt-walking cult.

The "kissing booth" objective marker that Roger made!

Unlike in the prior game of Turnip28, my bombard was actually able to score a hit on the second turn, reducing the unit of stilt-walkers from 6 models to 1 in one shot!  However, after this, I started having problems finding targets in LOS of the bombard (which cannot move).

Bombard makes a hit.

My fodder take the objective in the center...

 

...while my Brutes take an objective on the right flank.

 Things sort of see-sawed for a turn. Roger's Lopers made some melee progress on his right flank,

Roger's melee fodder, led by his horrifying tooth-head Toff.  His carrot-headed chaff-skirmishers are in the background.

But dangerous terrain took its toll, and the bombard seems to have given me too much control of the right side of the board, which allowed me to grab control of three of the five objectives by the end the game.

This was a really fun and really inspiring game, and it spurred me to make some more progress on my forever-90%-completed fourth piece of dangerous terrain.

Lance Fournies in the Fold

We played another Italian Wars game of Kings of War Historical.  Gabe played the French army, which consisted of two regiments of chevaliers, two men at arms, two cavalry, two Swiss pike, two crossbowmen, and two cannon. 

French on right, Italians on left.

I played an Italian army comprised of two regiments men at arms, two cavalry, three arquebusier regiments, three Landsknecht pike, one cannon, and two small cannons.  

French cavalry on French right flank.

For the scenario we placed an objective marker (a 1" cardboard chit) in the exact center of the board, and took turns placing one additional objective marker each somewhere on the centerline more than 12" from another marker and at least 3" away from any terrain pieces. At the end of the game (6 turns), if a friendly unit was within 3" of a marker, it scored that objective.  If an enemy unit was also within 3" of the marker, it was not scored for either side.

Initial deployments viewed from Italian right. Landsknechts started in the woods.

The two houses could be occupied.  They counted as height 2 (so they could shoot over other units), counted as cover (-1 to hit if shot at) and hindered charges (-1 to chargers to hit).  I just acquired the old 2019 Clash of Kings supplement, which includes siege rules, and incorporated its "Tower" rule to the houses - a shooting unit within the house could choose one facing each turn as its center point and measure line of sight from there. All of these rules worked well.

Starting positions - at the upper center you can see the "fold" between the two hills that the French nested their assorted cavalry within.  This kept them out of LOS from missile fire but in position to made a lateral charge or double move at the two objective markers.

Because objective points are not scored until the end of the game, this was the most both-sides-holding-troops-in-reserve game I have possibly ever played. This in turn made it a very interesting and enjoyable experience.

Landsknechts in Italian service tangle with Swiss in French pay.

At first both sides tried to hold back, with the exception of Italian arquebusiers and French crossbowmen moving up and into houses in the village at the center.  Italian Landsknechts took a direct hit from French cannon fire, and decided to advance on an objective on the Italian left. Hoping to lure the French out into the center of the field, the Romanian mercenaries on the Italian right on charged the French men at arms opposite them.  This Romanian unit managed to tie up the entire French left flank for almost three turns, as it scored a snake eyes on a nerve check (automatic pass) despite taking 21 casualties.

Romanian cavalry counterattacked from front and flank.

In the center, the Italians were able to disperse a regiment of Swiss pike with missile fire and a charge by the heavy cavalry. But by this point it was turn 5, so the French finally began committing their cavalry.
 

French starting to commit the cavalry, who had been sheltering in the fold between the two hills on the left.

In short order, the French were able to move within 3" of each of the objective markers. The troublesome Romanians, as well as some stradiots, were routed.

Landsknechts attacked from front and flank.

Romanians take 21 hits but pass nerve test anyway and stay on the table.

A thick melee on the Italian left.

The Italians had the last move on Turn 6, and although unable to route any of the French off the objectives, were able to also be within 3" of two of them, which causes those markers to not count towards either side's final score.

Landsknecht in waiting.

French have cleared the Italian cavalry from the French left flank entirely.

Situation before last turn.

Unfortunately, an oversight by the Italians caused a unit of landsknect arquebusiers to not move within 3" of the center objective marker - this allowed the French to score a solitary point and claim the field for the day!

Final combat on Italian left.

This really was an enjoyable game, with the addition of the objective markers really changing the entire look and feel of the game and both sides making very different choices than in previous games.