Not a Bottle of Guinness...
The Battle of Giniss in December 1885...
Our friends from Germany... Johannes, Oliver , Frank Becker and Frank Bauer came over for a weekend of Toy Soldiers, Food and Drink...
Michael Perry kindly put on a Sudan game for us all on the Saturday where we were also joined by Steve May.
Frank Becker , Alan and Oliver took the part of the Imperial Colonial Forces... While Johannes, Frank Bauer, Steve and I took the part of the Enthusiastic Giniss Defence League...
After a hectic night of poetry, basket weaving and yoga , the Giniss Defence League sleep soundly in their beds...
But what's this?...
The sound of Imperial Colonial boots , hooves and camel ...feet! have been drowned out by our 'gentle' snores...
And sticking a flag in the ground doesn't mean it belongs to you... when we wake up you will see that we have lots more flags than you...
This is the last guy who tried it... Or maybe he was the noisy postman who woke us up to early...
They keep coming... Tramp Tramp, Clip Clop, and whatever sound camels feet make (Flip Flop?)
This believe it or not this is the paddle steamer 'Lotus'... and its on the Nile... Covering the advance of the Imperial Colonial Force.............. go on use your imagination... we had to...
This is where we put our cannon/alarm clock... The crew should be wide awake and watching for trouble.... but... they are asleep...
Suddenly Steve's cavalry are awake... Maybe it was a camel barking or a horse farting we will never know... but they are up and ready for action...
As were Johannes's Nile Arabs and riflemen... my men were also coming around but to be honest I was so surprised I forgot to take a picture...
Frank Becker was also surprised... so much so that he rolled a blunder...
But the rest of his men managed to keep coming...
They all kept coming...
The 'Lotus' even started shooting at our alarm clock... fortunately our imaginary gun on the other side of the imaginary Nile shot at the imaginary 'Lotus' and disabled it...
We were all wide awake by now and waving our flags ...
Franks men came on regardless...
Our enthusiastic cavalry prepare to engage the Imperial Colonial Force...
Oliver's cavalry move forward...
As does Alan's infantry...
But our Enthusiastic Giniss Defence League is ready to go...
Brace your self...
Oliver's cavalry decided to pull back
But left behind some men to occupy... a hut!
We decided we wanted it back... and we got some free camels into the bargain...
Steve's cavalry engaged the enemy cavalry... and were fairly successful.
The Enthusiastic Giniss Defence League surge forwards towards the enemy...
Well most of us.... it turns out that Frank Bauer rolls worse dice than I do...
He should have been here...
I charged Frank Becker's men...
Frank Bauer's men begin to edge forwards...
Johannes's and Steve's men surge forward and attack...
Bloody combat ensues along the whole front...
Frank Bauer's men... are here...
They should be here... maybe they didn't get the memo about carrying your enthusiasm to the battlefield...
Or maybe Frank rolled a blunder...
Although I manage to force back Frank Becker's Scots and Egyptians after a prolonged and bloody fight my force is also broken and looks like becoming the proverbial fish in a barrel...
If only Frank was here...
Sadly Frank is there...
If only Frank was here...
Sadly Frank is still there...
The dice gods are against us and all of our fighting men are broken... We decide to leave Giniss to the Imperial Colonial Forces and head off to the Khartoum Mindfulness Centre and have bit of a rest and some herbal tea.
With one last throw of the dice Frank manages to prove he is the king of unlucky dice and fails to move...
To be fair he has come out of the battle with his men in perfect order and not a scratch on them...
A victory... of sorts...
An excellent and surprisingly close game in the company of some great friends...
All the toys were Perry Miniatures from the collection of Michael Perry...
https://www.perry-miniatures.com/index.php?cPath=23_35&osCsid=gh3kn3sibo6b0ied0ljf467407
The rules were Black Powder...
https://store.warlordgames.com/collections/black-powder
Alternative ( and possibly less reliable ) versions of this game can be found here...
https://en-gb.facebook.com/perryminiatures/posts/1360528550735914
https://tabletopdeutschland.com/2017/11/21/ginnis-by-michael-perry/
All the best Aly
