First up we drew John Calnan & Lance Knighton running Sassanids – this was exactly the same army that had undone us the previous year in the last round of BattleCry 2008 (BC’08 Round 4: Sassanid Persian with Sabir Hun Allies 463AD)! We endeavoured to congest their deployment area with Marshes, knowing they would have the edge on us with Elephants, so as to then be able to concentrate our Cataphracts where their Cavalry could, with some reliability, be expected to be deployed. Continue reading “BC’09 Round 1: Sassanid Persians with Sabir Hun Allies 463AD”
Tag: AAR
BattleCry 2009 Introduction
Yet another successful BattleCry has gone by and congratulations to Karen & the AMERICA team for organising another great event, although the usual copious amounts of “loot” were a bit less (to be expected with the current economy) and I didn’t see any T-Shirts available this year! As with last year Benny (Andrew Bennetts) organised and umpired the New Zealand 25mm/28mm DBMM Doubles as well as playing in a team – it’s always a trade off and occasionally a thankless task – and thanks to Mike Campbell in Wellington who vetted the lists pre-tournament so Benny could be free of any ‘prior knowledge’ cloud over his head! The DBMM competition was enjoyable and went pretty well (with lots of exciting tension filled periods in our games), although it had a couple of flat bits on the second day for me personally – mainly because my brain just went into zombie mode and stopped working at a couple of crucial times in tense games! Continue reading “BattleCry 2009 Introduction”
Fire & Sword Battle 02: The March to Wadi Halfa
Having camped but a days march from the approaches to Wadi Halfa in late September 1883, Sir Henry Frotheringham’s relief column is suddenly assaulted in the early dawn by a large Dervish Force…!
Continue reading “Fire & Sword Battle 02: The March to Wadi Halfa”Fire & Sword Battle 01: Skirmish before Metemma
Maizoub ‘John’ Pasha despatches Talahawiyeh (with her 9pdr Gun, Nordenfelt MG, & detachment of 6 armed Sailors) towing a Nuggar and transporting the 4/5th Egyptian Company (20 men), down river towards Abu Hamed – to discover the full situation and re-establish contact with the latter; and if possible, Cairo. The expedition is under the command of Captain Wahab El Zahra Agha, officer commanding the 4/5th Egyptian Rifle Company.
Continue reading “Fire & Sword Battle 01: Skirmish before Metemma”Kofler “befehle die Marines”
You will recall from the details of Kofler’s last adventure (Kofler “im Hinterhalt auf Kwuzlundi“) we left him bleeding amongst the casualties of his Askari, as the African Tribesmen threatened to overrun the camp, and to add insult to injury half the surviving Seebatallion marines, including Hauptmann Muenst, had fled routing out of the camp… As it turns out the staunch Askari did not disappoint, led by Feldwebel Buergerhoff they managed to drive off the tribesmen inside the camp then reform to guard the perimeter, while Oberst Stuehmer rallied the 3 remaining Seebatallion marines to assist them, and Herr Riedel kept up regular sniping at the surviving Zanzibari.
Seeing this the remaining coalition of Natives quickly dispersed, and knowing the game was up the Zanzibari once more dispersed off into the African jungle…
Kofler “im Hinterhalt auf Kwuzlundi”
After Kofler’s (forgettable) first experience of colonial action in Darkest Africa (Kofler “benetzt seine Hose”), the column had regathered itself and slowly moved further into the hinterland, following the trail of the suspected Zanzibari Sklavenhändler (slavers). The trail led them towards the village of Kwuzlundi, near the edge of the regularly travelled parts of East Africa. Word was that the Zanzibari were due to pass by this way in the next few days heading to the coast with their victims, having stirred up the local tribes enough to preoccupy the Kaiser’s Imperial Forces!
Further assistance had arrived to the column in the form of two experienced and well travelled Hunters & Adventurers, Herr Hans Deutschlaender and Herr Arno Riedel – the latter famous locally for his garishly bright shirts & hunting jackets!
Kofler “benetzt seine Hose”
Arriving in German East Africa Oberleutnant Kofler is immediately summoned, along with his superior, by the Colonial Governor – some Zanzibari slave traders have been stirring up the local tribes in the area of the German Colony, and have stirred them up with stories of the Germans taking all their women! The Governor wants an immediate show of force in the area to settle things down and ensure these verabscheuungswürdigen Sklavenhändler are found and dealt with. No-one casts aspersions on the Kaiser’s newly acquired empire!
Setting out, the column consists of a company from the Seebatallion detachment with a Maxim MG team, and a Deutsche Ost-Afrika Gesellschaft Askari company, which Kofler is told off to, his first command in Darkest Africa! Supporting them is a small river boat steamer which will ferry supplies forward as needed should their expedition take more than the week or two expected.
BC’08 Conclusion: Results & Aftermath
It had been a hard weekend, with all the games being fairly challenging and the last 2 having been particularly hard fought battles. Our final result was 64 VPs, and 2nd Place – probably not bad for a team made up of a first time DBMM’er (Campbell) and a notorious over-aggressive under-achiever (i.e. Me)! Ivan & Andrew did magnificently to win, although I think the huge Warband force (69 German and 14 Gallic Warband elements) may have overawed some people (see BC’08 Round 1: Early German Cimbri & Tigurini Gallic Allies 102BC Report)! John & Lance with their Sassanids and Brett & Lawrence with the Medieval Germans also did well and it was a constant tussle each round with two of these 4 teams in first and second place after each of the rounds (Ivan and Andrew managing to be first in the third round and stay there, being 1st after the most critical one, the last)! Continue reading “BC’08 Conclusion: Results & Aftermath”
BC’08 Round 4: Sassanid Persian with Sabir Hun Allies 463AD
Our (winning) Draw (if you can call it that) in the third round put us on 54 VPs and in 2nd place; 5 VPs behind the new leaders (Ivan & Andrew; whom we had played in the first round) and 8 VPs ahead of 3rd place (Brett & Lawrence whom we had just played). As a result our final opponents were John Calnan & Lance Knighton, who were currently in 4th place with 44 VPs; and were running a force of Sassanid’s with lots of Cavalry(S) and (O), Elephants(O), and Knights(X).
Caesennius had not managed to leave home before the Sassanid’s had wandered into the Eastern regions of the Empire! Continue reading “BC’08 Round 4: Sassanid Persian with Sabir Hun Allies 463AD”
BC’08 Round 3: Medieval Germans with Swiss Allies 1478AD
Our big win in the previous round put us on 39 VPs, and top of the table (1st place) at the halfway mark, our next opponents were Brett Preston-Thomas & Lawrence Antill, who were on 36 VPs and currently in 2nd place. Caesennius decided to venture north and wander into the lands of the Germans (not to mention about 14 centuries into the future as well) – what was this obsession he had with invading Germany?! Anyway in true style he found a suitable area to set up camp, and then proceeded to relax, as was his want, and not be too hasty. However he rather unusually camped amongst some woods and vineyards, in front of a fairly open plain, so left his army with less than ideal terrain to deploy in. Continue reading “BC’08 Round 3: Medieval Germans with Swiss Allies 1478AD”
BC’08 Round 2: Kushite Egyptians 700BC
Our Draw in the first round put us slap in the middle of the pack, 14 VPs ranking us 2nd Equal with 2 other teams (so effectively just in the top half of the table), and resulting in Philip Abela & Andrew Hunter (who were similarly ranked 2nd equal) being our afternoon opponents. (If I recall correctly) Caesennius found himself defending Rome’s Eastern environs’ from encroaching invaders this battle! And the dastardly fiends had decided to attack along a River, no less! However this soon suited Caesennius, who found the edge of a suitable plain to encamp on, forcing the Egyptians to deploy in an area thick with Marshes and an Orchard, with the River running through their deployment area, and Vineyard on their flank next to the River. Continue reading “BC’08 Round 2: Kushite Egyptians 700BC”
BC’08 Round 1: Early German Cimbri & Tigurini Gallic Allies 102BC
On the first morning we drew Ivan Truong & Andrew Fergus for our initial game. The morning actually got off to a slow start with some fluffing around, and all 4 games being played in the first round probably lost about 20-30 minutes of game time, plus took excessively long to do terrain placement and deploy. Once underway Caesennius, the Roman C-in-C, soon managed to invade Germany for whatever reasons, we presume in the South-East perhaps? Anyhow, Caesennius managed to encamp on the edge of a German plain forcing the Cimbri to pitch tents in an area of poor terrain that was mostly Marsh (3 features of such in the German deployment area), while the Roman’s deployed on the adjacent open plain – but perhaps the Germans preferred being amongst the wet boggy muck and the joke was on Caesennius?! Continue reading “BC’08 Round 1: Early German Cimbri & Tigurini Gallic Allies 102BC”