The Rejects gathered for the first time this year last Saturday for a fictional Crimean wargame, John, Surjit and Ray playing the Allies, myself, BigLee and Ian playing the Russians, the teams were picked beforehand.
Most of my pictures will be the Russian point of view as Ray and BigLee have batreps on their blogs (Ray is turning his into a version of War and Peace).
The Russians were in defence building siege lines and redoubts and the Allies were scouting to find and destroy them........let shenanigans commence!
Some of the intial Russian deployment on the heights.......
........and the rest, you can see that the redoubts are not complete......
The Allies initial deployment that I could have screwed up if I had rolled a 2 or better, fickle dice gods......
Contractual Postie shot, up close and personal......
BigLee's cossacks, never to attack unless the other units routing or showing it's flank or rear and you're really close!
Russian sappers giving it the big one filling in large gaps in our defences.....
Ray putting on a brave drug enhanced face due to back pain (he had bent down to pick up his wallet and pulled something), there was not a lot of sympathy from the Russians or his allies......
A Russian heavy gun prepares to unleash hell......
Sappers are still at it, the number on the paper is what had been thrown on an average dice, this was done every turn until 20 was reached and another piece was completed....the rocks denote impassable terrain.
The Russians deploy and change formation to counter the cowardly but sensible Allied tactics....
Ian's troops turn to my right and deploy for battle.....
The thin red well armed line....
The Russian left flank.....
The Russian right flank.....
The rest of BigLee's cavalry and horse artillery arrive on the Allied right flank.....
The cossacks sneaking through the woods......
The Allies deployed and never moved further than this, they had rifled muskets with a range of 15" while the Russians had muskets with a range of 9".
Ian's knee heals well after surgery even with my attempts to put him back into rehab with pokes and kicks.....
One of the highlights from the game for the Russians, giving the allies heavy horse a slapping.....
The cossacks were lured out of the woods by the Coldstream guards showing their flank, the cossacks couldn't resist and took out a quarter of the guards out in the action and then pursued and hit a cavalry regiment but died to a man....
The other cossacks took out this artillery and then....
...took on a guards regiment in square and died to a man.....
By this stage Postie was shattered physically and mentally, mostly Ray's fault as he whined so much (lunch had been pasties, oven fries and garlic bread) and a draw/minor victory for the Russians was declared and accepted by both sides!
The difficulty with the rules was the range of the allied weapons, they stayed at 10" and whittled the Russians down (moving back and forward to keep the 10" range while the Russians 9" range counted for feck all, this is historically accurate and the Russians never really won any engagements during the war but it's hard to deal with in a wargame that's hard to win but it was a good fun day with the usual banter, laughter among the Rejects and racism(Ian, it's why he was in pain for a lot of the game).......it's why we play mainly.
Very cool! I'm always tempted to start a Crimean war collection.
ReplyDeleteWhat rules were you using?
Excellent AAR again, Angry and what a battle-worn company of troops on parade; impressive minis too... ;)
ReplyDeleteAngry, I knew you were going to blow the ending for Ray as he's doing his story in two posts! Tell Ian I said best of luck on the results of the knee surgery. I've had 2 reconstructions done on my right knee and rehab hurts worse than the surgery!!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Nice to see my old Regiment represented... :)
ReplyDeleteLooks like it was a great battle! :D
ReplyDelete"a draw/minor victory for the Russians was declared and accepted by both sides!".... were you at the same game as me, cos that not how I remember it!
ReplyDeleteDon't worry mate it's your age, I'll take full responsibility!
DeleteOnce the Russian Cavalry had been destroyed (or driven off) there was little to hamper the British plan to break the Russian infantry with sustained volley fire. It would have been insane for the Russians to leave the heights and their redoubts but that gave the tactical advantage (in musketry range) to the Brits.
ReplyDeleteA good time was obviously had by all.
ReplyDeleteYou won??....my arse did you!!! Even your second in command (BigLee) told the truth and don't forget I've got it on camera too!!
ReplyDeletePictures!!!!, pictures!!!!, we don't need no stinking pictures......
DeleteGreat pics and fun write up which is a staple of yours!:-)
ReplyDeleteChristopher
You guys really put a lot of effort and work into these battles. And damn the crappy die rolls.
ReplyDeleteThe Dice Gods definitely had it in for us on Saturday.
ReplyDeleteI'm sensing a little disagreement amongst the teams as to the actual outcome, but clearly a fabulous day out for all!
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the more positive sides of Wargaming. There's that kickass social element to it.
ReplyDeleteGreat write up and pictures
ReplyDeleteSeems like you had great fun, Lurk!
ReplyDeleteLOL the dice gods, never knew there were such gods. Sounds like a grand time was had by all, even though a clear winner doesn't seems to be in dispute..haha
ReplyDeleteThis game needs a wild card. Like a wormhole that sucks the opponent coming around your flank. The dice gods won't expect that!
ReplyDeleteThat's a really cool post, especially as the players seemed wounded along with the armies!
ReplyDeleteGreat write-up and very nice pics. You need to get some loaded dice, Fran. I wonder how the outcome would have been if you had won that initial roll.
ReplyDeleteI reckon it would have taken them a couple of turns to get organised, change frontage and form up which would have given us a couple more turns of long range shelling to weaken their ranks. The guns really were the only Russian advantage in this game and we didn't have that for long.
Deletenice photos... though i am weak when it comes to body parts...
ReplyDeleteWhat are those guys doing in front of the barricades? Take some cover!!
ReplyDeleteGreat battle report as always Fran. Looks like a good manouvre battle with plenty going on. What's with the Rejects and all the injuries? Have you guys been moonlighting in the Six nations or what?
ReplyDelete2 of them are former amateur american football players...
DeleteAh! That explains why they're always picking up injuries. Bad knees and backs from old injuries, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteOh, if only all wars ended with a consoling hug. Looks like a blast.
ReplyDeleteA keen eye like mine noticed the glasses were half full.
ReplyDeleteI've always wondered what they did with the dead horses after a battle.
ReplyDeleteVery nice battle and battle report, Angry. I´m very happy to see a clear victory for the Russians...
ReplyDeleteThe Russians ended up eating all the dead horses. The English packed theirs up and sent them to the French as beef steaks. With enough wine, the French couldn't tell the difference....
ReplyDeleteGreat write up, Fran, it looks like you and Ray played different games, though.
Another good report Fran although reading yours, Ray's and Lee's reports you'd thinking your were reading about 3 differnet battles!
ReplyDeleteIndeed all different perspectives . Great looking game guys
ReplyDeleteSimply Epic! Good luck to Ian on rehab for the knee!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't want to be charging up that hill into that cannon's line of fire.
ReplyDeleteAhah, yeah.. Sad.
ReplyDeleteGreat report. It is really nice to look upon such a nice field of well painted units. As always, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this pretty foray into an underplayed period!
ReplyDeleteWell done all!
Impressive looking game indeed
ReplyDeleteGreat game and a good weekend it look like you had. Good to see that your sponsor Tesco got in sum shots too, lol.
ReplyDeleteLooks like great fun.
ReplyDeletePoor Russian's and their 9"
ReplyDeleteNice report. I've never gamed the Crimean War; my effort goes into gaming the war that started a few years later. Nice collection of figures.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite are the horseys.
ReplyDeleteOh man, looks like everyone is getting hurt or has been hurt in this game.
ReplyDeleteGet well soon to all of you.
Marvellous AAR. Looks like a really great game. Nothing nicer than masses of cavalry, cossacks, and the Grenadier Guards! Very fine report!
ReplyDeleteFantastic report Fran. Really like the way you "spin" how it ended. Sounds like something I would do. Ever thought of going into politics?
ReplyDeleteWell, kinda congrats, I guess. Wargaming is really complex for me to comprehend.
ReplyDeleteNice account of the story TAL, twas a good read.
ReplyDeleteGreat looking game -- excellent photos!
ReplyDeleteAnd an enjoyable game was had by all.. interesting to hear the other side of the story. Nice batrep and piccies
ReplyDelete