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

Monday, 9 July 2018

From my side of the table... The Battle of Beaulieu Abbey 1513

Greetings...


Real life and work have been a bit overwhelming this last couple of weeks ... so I have had very little time to paint anything...


But... I did get to play an excellent game of toy soldiers last weekend...


It was our annual Henrician wargame weekend...Hurrah!


Our game was hosted and umpired by Michael Perry.


I joined Simon Chick and Allan Perry as the brave defenders of France...


Dave Andrews, Stuart Mulligan and Ben Wooten were the Forces of Darkness and Despair...


Our tasks were to stop the Forces of Darkness and Despair from advancing on the town of Therouanne , abusing our Abbey and getting back our lunch...




The beautiful land we must defend ...




Our lunch... at this point heading towards the Forces of Darkness and Despair... Booo!




The Abbey ....




Booo!...





Our light horse not doing a very good job of saving our lunch...









The Hordes of Darkness and Despair awaken... Booo!



 
The defenders of France... Hurrah!

 
 Our Lunch... Booo!




The Abbey is quickly in danger... I do hope someone locked the door.



Due to some excellent dice throwing and planning my infantry now block the advance of my cavalry...
I believe that my commander may have been one of the famous - some may say infamous - Malchanceux family...




 Move out the bloody way...




Ok we will try our best...



The Forces of darkness have reached the Abbey...




And the door wasn't locked... I had thought that the monks were praying ... but no they were looking for the key...


The Dark Lord Dave Andrews orders his light horse to make a rather daring charge...
Which is unfortunately quite successful...Booo!






More massed Darkness...






Massed Goodness...


This is where I decided to bypass my infantry and charge across the river at the enemy cavalry...
Things did not go quite as I planned...





The enemy burst from the Abbey... but for once my infantry do as they are told and turn and shoot... Hurrah!
Faced with such determination and for a change good dice the enemy retreat back through the Abbey.. no doubt taking all wine and beer on the way... Booo!.



Now that my infantry have moved out the way I move my cavalry up...
As a large group of angry looking Germans armed with long pointy sticks have positioned themselves between me and my intended target... I do what any enthusiastic French noble would do...


Charge the guns... What could possibly go wrong?



How about a flank attack from the other side of the river...



We turn to face...



And give them a kicking...




This is probably the high water mark of my attack...
I am attacking across the river against some nasty men with guns and going head long into the artillery... Glorious



On the other side of the battlefield the rest of our cavalry launch themselves at the enemy.




The enemy...




On my side of the river it all gets a bit 'Shooty'.
I fail to charge in and do grievous bodily harm to my enemies and get out the bullet magnets...






While I try and dodge bullets... A large and spectacular cavalry melee breaks out... ruining someone's romantic day out on the river...




I decide that it is time to move out of range... Yup!... the brigade/battle is broken... Booo!




Across the river... Brave King Henry... Runs away...Hurrah!




The cavalry battle continues ... eventually leaving just about everyone broken...




I fall back ... but looking on the good side I do have enough beef for some sandwiches when we get back to camp.


As Beer O Clock rings out across the field of battle we break off and call the game a draw...


My dice throwing was up to its usual low standard but this spoiled nothing...


A really enjoyable game with fine friends and some incredible painted miniatures...


A different version of the truth can be found here...
https://www.facebook.com/perryminiatures/photos/ms.c.eJw9kVESRDEEBG~_0xRjC~;S~_2RZ78dplJE~;XCgUlS0xT~_0ws8jmtQ5QItV0kXZX0go3oi6zyQPQHDRk50Kf1NFBo49XtFwO44xAJDd0jkRqg9UU9MrLrDigviDIhYdcWo~_04gL8gHeBq41kZYkux9Vp2zi~;qKKe4rsq8APh1vFx8x5BNTni4ttw~;QZlvbA8ExRwZlI6ETsRWj50QkFwjbQ7DfUCFz5GPPVDoSXFMX6dIQ~_QM4p2PW.bps.a.1592717997516967.1073742003.446712558784189/1592723084183125/?type=3&theater


Stuarts excellent blog is here...
http://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.com/


Simons excellent blogs are here...
http://je-lay-emprins.blogspot.com/
http://harness-and-array.blogspot.com/


All the best  Aly



Posted by at
Labels:

39 comments:

  1. Jonathan Freitag9 July 2018 at 12:20

    This is quite a stunningly beautiful game, Aly. The river built into terrain tiles is superb! Great photography too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aly Morrison11 July 2018 at 07:50

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Aly Morrison14 July 2018 at 12:55

      It was Jonathan...
      I am now correcting myself here... the river is the work of the very talented Dave Andrews.

      All the best. Aly

      Delete
  2. Phil9 July 2018 at 12:25

    Outstanding report Aly! Funny, wonderfully illustrated, atmospheric...what's not to like? It just misses a French victory ...imho!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aly Morrison11 July 2018 at 07:52

      Thank you Phil...
      The way my dice were rolling I was surprised we got a draw... maybe next time.

      All the best. Aly

      Delete
  3. Ed M9 July 2018 at 14:05

    "What could possibly go wrong?" Indeed, not much given a most colorful era, a superb collection of figures, a striking terrain layout, and (most of all) a day out among good fellows playing with toy soldiers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aly Morrison11 July 2018 at 07:54

      You are of course correct... Ed
      A splendid day indeed.

      All the best. Aly

      Delete
  4. Peter Douglas9 July 2018 at 15:59

    Fantastic stuff - what i can aspire to but never hope to achieve. I am jealous that you got to take part!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aly Morrison11 July 2018 at 07:56

      Thank you Peter...
      I am very lucky to be surrounded by such talented people.

      All the best. Aly

      Delete
  5. Christopher(aka Axebreaker)9 July 2018 at 16:47

    Stunning comes to mind!

    Christopher

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aly Morrison11 July 2018 at 08:02

      Thank you Christopher...
      Although the credit really goes to Stuart,Simon and Michael ...
      I just brought a few toys and rolled bad dice...

      All the best. Aly.

      Delete
  6. Stuart9 July 2018 at 17:00

    An excellent day, I do enjoy these catch ups made more fun by a shared infantile humour

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aly Morrison11 July 2018 at 08:04

      It was indeed an excellent day...
      I wonder if we will ever grow up?...

      All the best. Aly.

      Delete
  7. Phil Robinson9 July 2018 at 21:31

    Wonderful stuff, you are very lucky to play with such splendid toys and terrain.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aly Morrison11 July 2018 at 08:06

      Cheers Phil...
      I am indeed a very lucky boy...

      All the best. Aly.

      Delete
  8. Unlucky General10 July 2018 at 03:21

    Tremendous Aly. The best of the best on display - figures and terrain. It makes the game better for me and a great read. Superb stuff and thanks for putting it all together.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aly Morrison11 July 2018 at 08:10

      Thank you...
      It was a great day and fun to write up for the blog...

      All the best. Aly.

      Delete
  9. Matt Crump10 July 2018 at 06:58

    Lovely looking game with plenty of splendid figures 😀

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aly Morrison11 July 2018 at 08:12

      Thank you Matt...
      I think seeing all that cavalry in action was my favourite bit.

      All the best. Aly.

      Delete
  10. David10 July 2018 at 07:07

    What an outstanding collection of figures, terrain and gaming chums!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aly Morrison11 July 2018 at 08:14

      It was indeed David
      If only my dice throwing was up to the same standard...

      All the best. Aly.

      Delete
  11. marinergrim10 July 2018 at 08:05

    Outstanding. Outstanding I say.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aly Morrison11 July 2018 at 08:15

      And you would be correct sir...
      It was indeed an outstanding game.

      All the best. Aly.

      Delete
  12. rross10 July 2018 at 09:16

    A beautifully presented battle between France and England - were you perchance presaging the World Cup final here - you really should have decided the result on penalties - in this case single combat between the two leaders!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aly Morrison11 July 2018 at 08:18

      It’s rather starting to look that way isn’t it...
      We could have had single combat between our leaders.... but Brave King Henry ran away....

      All the best. Aly.

      Delete
  13. StuartInsch10 July 2018 at 20:30

    Rather tasty indeed and I'm not talking about the lunch.
    Lovely game with lovely figs!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aly Morrison11 July 2018 at 08:21

      Hi Stuart...
      Tasty indeed ....as was our lunch...

      All the best. Aly.

      Delete
  14. Mark Strachan11 July 2018 at 20:07

    What a wonderful game Aly. I hope those monks were appropriately punished for losing the key...extra vespers and no mead for a month sounds about right to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aly Morrison13 July 2018 at 10:47

      If Vespers means getting a good beating for letting the English steal all the mead... then yes...😁

      Delete
  15. Moiterei_198412 July 2018 at 20:42

    Absolutely gorgeous looking game!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aly Morrison13 July 2018 at 10:48

      It was indeed ...
      And a pleasure to take part in...

      All the best. Aly

      Delete
  16. caveadsum147113 July 2018 at 07:50

    Fabulous looking game,glorious French cavalry charges! It doesn't matter what the result is itsi the charge that counts!
    Best Iain

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aly Morrison13 July 2018 at 10:50

      With all that French cavalry crying out for glory... what else could you do.

      And it was indeed glorious...

      All the best. Aly

      Delete
  17. Jay White13 July 2018 at 19:37

    Wow, that is just spectacular looking. You are a lucky guy!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aly Morrison14 July 2018 at 12:47

      It was indeed spectacular Jay...
      One of those games where you just kept stopping to have a long look at everything.

      All the best. Aly

      Delete
  18. Scheck14 July 2018 at 12:10

    Oh, I am deeply impressed about this wonderful terrain, the reflecting water surface, the demonic light and the marvelous figures. A great joy to read and to behold!Thnak you for sharing!
    Peter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aly Morrison14 July 2018 at 13:01

      Thank you Peter...
      It was my pleasure.
      It was a good day for photography blazing hot with the sun streaming in the windows...all special effects supplied by Mother Nature.

      All the best. Aly

      Delete
  19. RogerC15 July 2018 at 14:51

    fantastic looking game well done all

    ReplyDelete
  20. Aly Morrison17 July 2018 at 18:45

    Thank you Roger...
    I did very little except have way too much fun ... and look silly in a helmet for the Perry Facebook group photo...

    All the best. Aly

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)