ALY MORRISON'S "BUTTERFLY" ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD OF WARGAMES AND TOY SOLDIERS

Wednesday 25 October 2017

From my side of the table... The Franco-Prussian War

My lovely daughter stayed over the other night (After an evening of 'Drink and Draw' at the Nottingham Rough Trade record store... an excellent social event ...they supply the pens and paper ...you supply the drawing ,drinking and making new friends.)


We decided to spend a few hours the next day having a Franco-Prussian game using Black Powder Rules... we played the rules fairly straight, but gave the Prussian artillery an extra dice when firing to reflect their use of breech loaders...


My chance for revenge was at hand (yeah! Don't hold your breath...).




I took the French... Commanded by the dashing general Malchanceux...




Mharaid took the Prussians... Commanded by the efficient General Von Rust...




The scenario was to try and take control of three points on the table...
Going from left to right ...
The feature known as LA COLLINE DANS LE COIN.
The village at the crossroads known as AU MILIEU DE NULLE PART.
The small farm known as LA FERME SANS MOUTON.


We threw dice to see which side and where our divisions would arrive...




Rust's deployment... I think she has the hill...




My deployment...




Mmmmmm!... check out that beautiful French cavalry...




I move towards the road... Rust comes down to meet me...




My Chasseurs take the farm...




My infantry... looking good...




Rust does some shooting...




I do some 'saving'... maybe I shouldn't have used Rust's dice...




Rust does some more shooting... this is starting to look very familiar...




As my second infantry division and cavalry (Very pretty aren't they) start a rather leisurely flank move... you know the kind of thing... one move, no move, one move, no move....




I pull back my heavily bruised African Light Infantry and engage in a prolonged fire fight with Rust's main force...




Rust does some more shooting... here we go again...



And again...




Wow!... now that is what I call a saving throw...




Unbelievable... my shooting... Rust's 'save'... Ha!




My Chasseurs continue to hold the farm... they like it here..




My infantry continue their casual flanking move...




Rust shoots...Rust misses... could it be that my luck is actual going to change?...




Nope!... this is my movement roll...




These beautiful cavalry wont be making a sweeping move onto the flank of the enemy and the chasseurs wont be leaving the farm...





With half of my first division broken I decide to put some distance between me and those nasty men with guns...




My beautiful cavalry... still look beautiful... and static!




Rust throws a blunder...Hurrah!




And sort of ends up in control of the village...Boo!




Rust presses forwards against my 'redeploying' troops...






Rust decides to prove that our dice throwing is back to normal...




My first division realise they have all got tickets for The Opera back in Paris and head off...




The beautiful cavalry decide it is their moment to move...Hmmmm!




With Rust's troops consolidating their gains and a real need for us to visit a new pub that has opened round the corner I graciously concede the game...




My (soon to be replaced with cuirassiers) beautiful cavalry still look beautiful...


Another excellent game with a truly worthy opponent...
I think both forces could do with at least another division each and I also think that the smaller sized units work really well on my 5' x 7' table.


The miniatures are Spencer Smith Classic Range with a couple of Willie and Tradition command , all available from...
http://www.spencersmithminiatures.co.uk/index.html


Black Powder is available from...
https://store.warlordgames.com/collections/black-powder


All the best  Aly.

























18 comments:

  1. The cavalry IS beautiful! Probably best that they weren't mussed up in unseemly brawling.

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    Replies
    1. I should never have let them wear full dress...

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  2. What a great looking game, beautiful figures and terrain, congrats to your courageous Chasseurs...and I love the first two vignettes, superb!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Phil...
      In time I shall certainly add more vignettes to this collection...they add so much character

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  3. Excellent report and a very neat table and gaming room Ali, I'm green with envy ! Is there a beer fridge in there too?

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Stuart...
      No beer fridge...yet, but I am thinking of getting a lectern or something similar so I can keep the rule books off the table... :-)

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  4. Great stuff, those French cavalry were certainly pretty. Pretty hopeless :~)

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    Replies
    1. At least they weren’t slaughtered to a man ... :-)

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  5. Replies
    1. Thank you Mark...
      It was great to get the toys out on the table... they are one of my favourite collections.

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  6. That’s a really fine set up Aly. Based on your dice throwing skills we should have a game, it would be a sure cure for insomniacs!

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    Replies
    1. So the winner would be the first one to actually move....?

      Sounds a bit like old age... :-)

      All the best. Aly

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  7. Excellent looking game, must be an age thing my son always seemed to throw high dice just at the right time and my dice throwing seemed to follow the same pattern as yours.
    The figures remind me so much of the games Leigh and I used to do with our shiny toys -- sadly missed

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Graham...
      There is a theory round here that you are only allowed so many 6’s in your life and I have used mine up to quickly.... I dispute this because I have never been able to throw 6’s... of course my time may not have come yet... ;-)

      Even more so now,I find the shiny toys so evocative... maybe it’s because a lot of us started on this path the same way... Hinton Hunt’s,Minifigs,Hinchcliffe’s and gloss paint...

      All the best. Aly

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  8. Damn Aly, Franco-Prussian stuff always looks good but this even more so.
    Don’t worry about being beaten, as long as you expire with elán and perfect uniforms!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Stuart...
      Go on .... dive in ... you know you want to...
      The Guard Lancers certainly kept their perfect uniforms.... perfect. :-)

      All the best. Aly

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  9. Great stuff Aly, it looks superb, you'll just have to tweak the odds and cheat to give yourself a chance, but even then your daughter will still probably give you a good hiding!

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  10. That was a fun game and I really like the overall visual effect of the game. Your thatched buildings are super!

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