Angry Movie Lurker Honest Review 45: Ironclad 2011 (3 STARS)

It is the year 1215 and the rebel barons of England have forced their despised King John to put his royal seal to the Magna Carta, a noble, seminal document that upheld the rights of free-men. Yet within months of pledging himself to the great charter, the King reneged on his word and assembled a mercenary army on the south coast of England with the intention of bringing the barons and the country back under his tyrannical rule. Barring his way stood the mighty Rochester castle, a place that would become the symbol of the rebel's momentous struggle for justice and freedom.

Didn't know much about this movie so I looked up the period of time in England's history and this is set in the time of the First Barons War, it's a little inaccurate but more about numbers, some names and the Danes I believe? 

It all comes down to the siege of Rochester Castle between King John (Paul Giamatti, giving it all and scene stealing like a despot) and his Danes led by Vladimir Kulich (13th Warrior Buliwyf) and James Purefoy's knight templar and small (very small) band of mercenaries and castle defenders. The action scenes are quite good and bloody, Purefoy's character is moody and a little unlikeable , the movie is a little long, predictable and grim, really grim but definitely worth a watch for the action, Paul Giamatti and the burning pigs use in siege warfare.


The movie had a lot of problems getting made, it's budget was slashed and all the cast apart from Purefoy and Giamatti changed, it was filmed in Wales in 2009. Rochester Castle is only down the road from me, it was partially destroyed during the first siege and repaired, it would be beseiged again in 1264 during the Second Barons War.

20mm Painted Type 28A WW2 British Anti-Tank Bunker.

A painted 2 pounder anti-tank bunker from Frontline Wargaming for my What If Operation Sealion project, currently painting some other types of bunkers, tanks and German invasion barges for the project. A Fallschirmjager platoon has been finished and just needs to be based, finally got my Jones butcher van to carry the boys from the Home Guard plus a Smith Gun for them?

Pictures below plus pictures of an actual Type 28A bunker located at Dun Mill Lock on the Kennet and Avon Canal, near Hungerford, Berkshire.

Front.

Rear.

2pdr in place and internal detail.

20mm Home Guard for scale.

Actual Type 28A bunker in Berkshire, part of the GHQ line.

Another picture of the rear of bunker.

GHQ line information here

The Battle of Shendi 1885, 15mm Sudan Game Report Part 2.

The second part and conclusion. (Picture Heavy)

Just a few descriptions of the rules to give you a brief idea, British were classed as first rate and morale was a 3, 4, 5 or a 6, Egyptian was second rate and morale was a 4, 5, or 6 and the Dervishes were classed as third rate and morale was a 5 or a 6 (except for the fuzzy wuzzies who were second rate), all hits were on a 5 or a 6, dervish leaders had to be within 12 inches of a unit for it to move easily or they had to roll their morale to move (15 inches for the British).
All Dervish infantry moved 10 inches in any direction, British was 6 inches and recommended to stay in line for firing and receiving charges.A unit had a certain amount of hits before it was destroyed, 8 for the British and 6 for the Dervish and Egyptian infantry, 4 for skirmishers and cavalry units.

Myself and John decided that the patrol would stay in place as it was too far for it to reach the supply depot and too far for rescue because of the chance of being caught in the open and ambushed (this turned out to be very true), I awaited reinforcements (no idea what as Postie is a crafty shite), John hammered the Dervishes for 10 turns and held on with 3 battalions nearly at one quarter strength, they hit front on but this was suicide so they hit him in the flank and rear but slowly whittled him down, I kept 12 units of Dervishes busy but the main battle was the patrol who survived and we won when we destroyed 17 units of Dervish forces (they had to wipe out the patrol to win, they were one maybe two turns away from that), damn good game.

Initiative was rolled every turn to see who went first or second with a plus 1 to the Dervishes (home soil), the dervishes won most of them.

The Dervish forces numbered 22,000 warriors, 2,500 riflemen, 3,000 cavalry, 3,000 camelry and one artillery piece.
The British forces numbered 4,800 foot, 500 cavalry, 500 camelry, 2 artillery pieces and a Gatling gun.

The sound of artillery wakes the garrison, I have more troops!

I send the lancers to assist the patrol.

The patrol prepares for the onslaught.

Reinforcements!

The paddle steamer was hand made by a friend of Postie's.

Towing another British battalion.

Sailors and Gatling gun on board, Postie wouldn't let me beach the steamer nearer the shore to disembark, had to roll 3 average dice every turn for movement.

The Egyptians wait.

Turn 3!

Dervish camelry charge the artillery.

The heavy camel regiment behind the defences (camels).

Fuzzy Wuzzy (Hadendoa) camelry and cavalry after being spotted in a dry river bed (we were lucky with these rolls as some of them were a 9 on a D10!)

Things are getting desperate for the patrol.

Camera work getting a bit Spielberg.

The heavy camel regiment about to be hit in the rear.

Finally the paddle steamer docks and troops disembark.

Fuzzy Wuzzy massed fanatic infantry spotted and having to be deployed.

The garrison and reinforcements race to the walls.

Colonel Lurker by this stage had attached himself to the egyptian lancers but the iniative allowed fuzzy wuzzy cavalry to hit him in the flank.

More Dervish infantry comes into play, the patrol is doomed.

The Fuzzy Wuzzy infantry are being decimated by fire from the fort, the orange markers show stalled units, need to roll your morale to get them off or head back towards your lines or table edge.

The end can't be far off.

Colonel Lurker in a spot of more bother.

Real bother, took out one unit and damaged two others.

The fuzzy wuzzies don't like it UP EM.

Can we actually win?

The fort dealing with fuzzy wuzzies and Dervish riflemen.

The last turn for the patrol.

John, man of the desert, held out and won but another turn?

Damn good game.

 

The Battle of Shendi 1885, 15mm Sudan Game Report Part 1.

The Sudan, a dry harsh country where only mad dogs and Englishmen would go looking for a fight or in our case Postie's Rejects.
A British patrol has made it's way through the desert looking for any enemy forces or activity in the area. The patrol had seen nothing on it's search of the region and is now heading for Shendi, a small village and supply depot on the banks of the Nile where supplies and a rest can be had.
Shendi is garrisoned by Egyptian troops under British officers.
The battle starts with the patrol only a few miles from Shendi and the rest is history.
British orders: Survive if possible.
Dervish orders: Kill the enemy, all of them.

British Player:
Corporal Jones:"Sir"
Colonel Lurker:"Yes Jones"
Corporal Jones:"Dervishes"
Colonel Lurker:"Where?"
Corporal Jones:"Everywhere"
Colonel Lurker: "Splendid"

Above prose supplied by Postie, the rules used were his own called "UP EM".

The Rejects met up on Saturday for the game, John, Surjit, Dave, Postie (Umpire) and myself (Lee was ill, Ray had to go shopping, Smithy was at War and Peace and Richard was on holiday). Myself and John were the British (I was the CO and John was in command of the patrol), Dave and Surjit commanded the Dervishes with Dave in overall control. I will give a description of units and elements in the pictures and the second part of this post.

The Mahdist War (also called the Mahdist revolt)  was a colonial war of the 19th century. It was fought between the Mahdist Sudanese and Egyptian and later British forces. It has also been called the Anglo-Sudan War or the Sudanese Mahdist Revolt. The British called their part in the conflict the Sudan Campaign. It was vividly described by Winston Churchill (who took part in the concluding stages) in the book The River War.
Following the invasion by Muhammed Ali in 1819, Sudan was governed by an Egyptian administration, the Mahdist War ran from 1881-1899 and resulted in a British/Egyptian victory, far more information cam be found here The Mahdist War.

Table set up at beginning of game, John and Surjit or British and Dervish survey the scene.

Had rang Postie during the week about who was going and some other stuff, I told him I wanted loads of figures and he said I only had one, he wasn't joking!

The British patrol heads back to Shendi.

Mahdist forces, the riflemen in front represent 500 men, the massed infantry represents 1,000 men.

Mahdist camelry.

The gallant patrol of 4 battalions of British regulars and an artillery piece plus an ammunition (essential we would find out) and supply stand. 

Colonel Lurker surveys his Egyptian allies (all one stand of them!).

The patrol deploys to face oncoming Mahdist cavalry.....

.........and the rest coming up from behind.

This card has a number on it and represents nothing (sand storm) or Mahdist forces who are approaching, you have to roll to spot them (not easy) and they then reveal their composition, there were a lot of these.

Obligatory Postie contractual shot.

......and the winner is......

......and the answers were.......

1. Dirty Harry
2. The Three Musketeers
3. The Return of the Pink Panther
4. Dr.No
5. Wizard of Oz

Decent amount of entries but only 4 had it completely right, with a lot only one off or two off  (only one entry got none right but shall remain nameless), I should have asked people to put their blog addresses down as I don't know many peoples real names.

Will probably do another one in a few weeks, I have notified the winners (Francis Ryan) and (Simon from http://brummieswargamingblog.blogspot.com/, good blog, go visit ).

There was a draw of names from the socks but I forgot to bring my camera to work to show proof, one of the guys did the drawing ( not Ray because he would cheat, he can't help it).

Thanks for the blog birthday comments yesterday, much appreciated, the sudan game was great on Saturday and I will put pictures up this week.

One Year Old Today.......Happy Birthday to Me!

I only mention my one year anniversary as lately so many blogs have stopped posting and I know it's usually due to real life issues, boredom or didn't make enough money but it's still sad as some of them were really good and I miss reading them but now and again they come back (and go again).

Thanks very much for reading and commenting over the last year.

A few of the girls coming around later to congratulate me.

....and of course the one!

Wargaming with the Rejects today (15mm Sudan), don't forget the quiz, entering and getting a least one right will still get you into a draw for a  painted figure aswell I've decided.

Just discovered this, it goes down well, very nice.