Scenery

Painting has taken a bit of a back seat of late, I'm hoping to be able to find some time over the Christmas Holidays but I have been building a few of the excellent Dave Graffam models which have been on sale at Wargames Vault.  For a mere £0.63 I think these represent excellent value.

So far I've built:  a church

A longhouse

And the pub.

Some earlier work making wattle fences.  I could do with some more of these and I'll post a quick step by step guide next time.

Lion Rampant - First Game

I purchased the Lion Rampant over the summer as a possible alternative for my Normans and Saxons and had been looking forward to giving them a try.  I'd found some draft lists on the forum suggesting three units of mounted sergeants, one of foot sergeants and two of archers for the Normans with two foot men at arms, one foot sergeants, two foot yeomen and one bidowers for the Saxons.  I was just about able to make up the units although some were slightly out of period... 

Turn 1

The Normans won the dice off to start and were able to activate all three of their mounted units who began the advance.  Similarly the Saxon left wing was able to advance before the second unit of Huscarls failed.

Turn 2

All the Normans were able to continue the advance aside from one unit of archers who clearly had something better to do.  On the Saxon side Robin and his chums raced into the spinney while the adjacent yeaman formed a shield wall (schiltron) the remaining units all advanced.

Turn 3

The Norman leader unit charged the Saxon leader and scored nine hits which means the Saxons lost two men although they subsequently failed the leader check.  In response the Huscarls scored seven hits also leading to two casualties although the leader survived.  All courage tests were passed and the Normans were forced to retreat.

Turn 4

The unit of cavalry on the Norman left were able to advance before the next unit failed its activation test.  The Saxon Huscarls, infuriated at the loss of their leader charged the Norman cavalry although this time the Normans failed their courage test and retreated battered.  The two units on the Saxon right formed into shieldwall while the other Huscarls advanced towards the Church.

Turn 5

The left hand Norman cavalry charged the Yeomen in shieldwall inflicting one casualty but suffering two in return and failing the subsequent Courage test.  They were then charged by the Foot Sergeants who inflicted a further casualty while Robin & Co fired at the right hand unit of cavalry who suffered one loss.

Turn 6

Disaster, the Norman leader failed his rally test and fled the field causing the right archers also to flee off the table.  Both remaining cavalry units failed their respective tests and suffered further casualties as a consequence.  The Saxons resumed their advance.

Turn 7

Things didn't get any better for the Normans as both remaining cavalry units failed their rally tests and were eliminated.  The foot sergeants in the centre managed to charge the Huscarls and force them back.  The Saxons failed their first activation.

Turn 8

The Norman sergeants charged again although this time they were repulsed suffering a casualty and a further two when the Saxons returned the favour.

Turn 9

The ding dong in the centre continued with both sides suffering two casualties although this time the Normans failed their courage test and retreated battered.  The Saxon foot sergeants attacked the last remaining unit of archers and forced them to retreat.

Turn 10

Both Norman units failed their rally tests and it became obvious, at this point, that any further resistance was useless and I decided to end the game.  This was a decisive victory for the Saxons, their Huscarls had suffered heavily and they had lost their leader but, otherwise, they were virtually untouched.

A very enjoyable game taking around two hours which, I felt, was reasonable a first attempt.  The rules seemed very clear although I'm sure I made mistakes.  I'm looking forward to giving them another go as written although there are some areas I'd consider fiddling with, particularly unit activation which can see your phase over without anything happening.  I like the randomness but wonder if some sort of card system would work better. 

The Civil War Trilogy - Shelby Foote

Well, I've finally finished Shelby Foote's three volume history of the American Civil War.  This is a wonderful narrative history of almost 3,000 pages which I was first introduced to while studying the ACW at university more years ago than I care to remember.  I'd previously read much of the first two volumes researching my dissertation on the Army of Northern Virginia but had concentrated on the Eastern Theatre and never really touched on the third volume.

This oversight has now been rectified and I've now, slowly, worked my way through it over the past year with the aid of an atlas to assist my somewhat sketchy knowledge of US geography although it should be said that plenty of maps are included.

I have to say that I'm very pleased to have made the effort. Foote's writing is magnificent and really makes the conflict come alive with colourful portraits of many of the participants both great and small.  He's not afraid to say that a general was not up to the task and rightly castigates many for their incompetence while praising the efforts of the more successful.  

I'm aware of many of the criticisms of his work, including deriding abolitionists and downplaying the role of ex slaves, together with a complete absence of footnotes, however, as a work of narrative, military history it has to be among the most enjoyable series of books I've ever read, comparable with Gibbon or Oman.

All in, a serious commitment but one that more than repays the effort.  Maybe it's time to revive the slumbering ACW project...