Quarterly Qatch Up

My, how time flies. It seems like only last month we were down in the West Country for a day of wargaming, but no, that is not the case. It's that time again, and here we go with another Shedquarters Day.

We had 5 of us, me, Richard (but not the Monday Night One), Chris A, Phil & Gary. Gary is still coming to terms with figure gaming, but he gets stuck in like a good 'un.

We started with my Jacobite rules, "Va t'en Ecosse". These have had a couple of mods since the last playing. The Attack Column ("Ordre profonde") is back in the rules. They were permissible in the first draft of "Va T'en Guerre" but removed when I concluded that they weren't a feature of the War of Spanish Succession. What is new is an Intimidation Test for units facing a Highland Charge.

Gary & Richard took the Jacobites. They now have a lot moreLowland units, and I tucked in some French units to provide a Prince's Lifeguard cavalry unit and a piece of artillery.

Chris & Phil took the Loyalist Forces. They'd had no new units added.

Another new idea was to introduce a "clan leader" type of officer. That's the foot officer on the square base with a piper. Here he's leading Clan McFlurry across the burn. Not exactly sure what the difference is between him and a normal officer.

A clearer view of the Jacobite advance. The units in an open formation are in march column. I have to do this to differentiate from Attack Column, when they are closed up.

A more aerial shot. I put some random sheep and goats out for a bit of flavour, based on the popularity of the llamas in the Peruvian game.

The Loyalist Right flank is being secured by a Highland battalion. They're not sure which side of the hedge to be on. Is the fine representative of the Highland Cattle breed a threat at all?

First encounter as some British Dragoons are charged by a Highland Regiment, who discharge their muskets as they close.

The Jacobites decide to use their Lowland Reserve line in an aggressive fashion. Their purpose is to provide a support line for the Highlanders to rally behind or to cover a retreat, but Richard & Gary have a more noble purpose in mind for them.

An opening volley by a British Battalion inflicts some damage, which has been put on the second rank regiment in error.

There are some pictures missing before this one. A Highland Regiment charged the regiment with the St Patrick's cross, took damage, failed to intimidate their opponents, lost the melee and were routed.

Undeterred and under the personal direction of Lord George Mint another Highland charge is launched.

After a brief melee the Highlanders are repelled.

Change of tactics, as the Highlanders change into attack columns. In the background the Prince's Lifeguard try to find a flank by heading up into the hills.

The Highlanders are pushing hard in the centre. The left flank will just have to be covered by those Lowlanders in attack columns.

Clan McMuffin charge home and rout their opponents, only for McMuffin of Bleughberie to die in the charge, falling to a Loyalist Musket Ball.

Clan McMuffin chase their routing opponents. Suspect we might not see either of them again.

A McFlurry clan regiment in column formation is stopped in its tracks by a devastating first volley, which leaves them Shaken.

Two Lowland Regiments charge into the right flank battalion, which inflicts a fair amount of damage with its carefully controlled platoon firing. At this point I realised that the old Attack Column rules I cut and pasted from that first draft of VTG have some holes in them.

More Highlanders flee the table before the Massed Muskets of the British Battalions. Is it nearly curtains for the Jacobites?

The Lowland Attack Columns are driven off too. Yes. The Jacobite Rebellion has been stopped in its tracks.

A very pleasing run out of the rules, with a few notes of things to improve. Must finish some proper Jacobite cavalry and artillery as well. And then think about what sort of game I want to put on at COW. I then went to make some lunch...

... and my guests tried their best to put the figures back in the correct boxes, and did actually get it mostly right.

After lunch we had another go with Phil's Double DBA Battle of Telamon. I took over the Romans this time, having played the Gauls last time we did this one.

I had Regulus' army. We lost the die roll for first move.

That meant I was at a disadvantage when trying to get my cavalry up on the hill. I should have ignored history and not bothered with trying this.

I lost both the combats spectacularly, and then had my line flanked by the Gallic cavalry. I brought up the reserves early to extend my front line to stop being flanked on both ends.

It didn't work, as I lost a whole load of fights against warbands which quick kill my blades/spears.

I was partnered by Chris, who managed to shoot a War Wagon with his bolt thrower.

I then lost another load of combats, and my "front army" was broken.

Chris had done all right and made some inroads, but nothing significant.

Phil then reset the armies for the second half of the game.

I took another photo of the Gaulish camp.

The fellows down my end of the table didn't have any better luck in the second half of the game.

We soon had a big pile of dead elements and the Gauls won again.

After that we did Gary's "Fighting Sail" ships. Richard & I were the Royal Navy, with generally speaking better ships. However, we were handicapped by sailing into the wind. This meant the Franco-American fleet normally had the wind gauge and moved faster. In the end that proved to be decisive. Either that or the poor dice we rolled. Or our poor ship management overall.

Still, it's fun to play with these ships. Especially with added smoke.

It was then time to tidy away and head down the local pub for a pleasant meal and pint of beer.

Yes, life isn't that bad at times.