The Battle of Chotustiz - a Maurice Game

Steedo and Tiger-king came over for a game of Maurice. Maurice is a favourite of mine and Steedo likes it (I think), and Tiger-king had been asking to play a war game. So while my wife and sprogs were away I thought it would be a good time. 

After a bit of hunting around I decided on the battle of Chotustiz - at early battle in the career of Fredrick the Great. So Prussians versus Austrians, but in this case Bavarians versus Saxons. In the real battle the Prussians won mainly with their infantry.

The boys didn’t get free deployment - I had basically set up as shown on a map, infantry in the centre and cavalry on the flanks but allowed them some redeployment. We were playing to break each army. As it was Tiger-king’s first game, I did give him more help than Steedo. 

The initial deployments - Bavarians under Von Steedo on the left and Koenig Tiger’s Saxons on the right.

The game started, with some bombardments - the Bavarians getting the best of it, breaking a Saxon foot regiment and damaging a unit of Saxon hussars. Then Von Steedo started moving his cavalry on the right flank - the Saxons steeled themselves on the top of the hill. 

The initial Bavarian charge was absorbed, then the counter charged by the Saxons swept most of the Bavarians away…

The Saxon cavalry then moved to destroy the Bavarian batteries, however their charge was hampered by some previously unknown broken ground at the bottom of the hill. Unfortunately they had to retreat down the hill, with the intention to rally and try again. 

With the cavalry engagement on the flank, going in favour of the Saxons, but Koenig Tiger unable to exploit this, but Von Steedo then advanced his infantry in the centre - partly to protect his infantry and regain the initiative. 

Both sides infantry moved forward - this broke the Saxons cavalry who were threatening the Bavarian artillery.

Unfortunately for the Saxons, there seemed to be a problem with their power as a number of their volleys didn’t to the damage expected. The Saxons morale was also ebbing away, more quickly than the Bavarians - even though the causalities taken by both sides were are about the same. 

The Bavarians continued to put pressure on the Saxon centre, but a charge did relieve some pressure.

Unfortunately for the Saxons the continued Bavarian infantry pressure broke another Saxon unit, which caused the army’s morale to crack … a win for Von Steedo. 

Well I had fun running the game and Steedo was obviously pleased with the result. However I got the impression that Tiger-king, wasn’t as keen - he said that the card mechanics were interesting, but felt that it was a bit random - which I don’t think is correct. Now I accept that Tiger-king was rolling poorly, well more accurately low when in combat/shooting, when high is good and high when low is good - army morale. The frustration was visible - but this is part of all wargames, as the dice rolls are used to manage the unknowns and imponderables which crop up in war which can’t be accounted for. 

A good evening’s diversion for two of us, but perhaps not for the 3rd. 

Happy New Year

A little late with the seasonal greetings - but here it is, Happy New Year!

Talking about things that were a little late, Thing One’s fiancé got me an expansion for Raiders of the North Sea as a Christmas present - new start method and up to 5 players (I think Steedo played a part in the gift choice). Hopefully will be playing this soon.

Last weekend my good lady and I went for a wander around Woodbury common - I managed to include the quick look at Woodbury Castle, Hill-fort. A impressive Iron Age construction - I amazes me how they were able to shift so much earth to make the ramparts, which are still visible 2000 years later!

Last night Steedo invited over myself, Sylon (or was it Steve), Snake-eyes and the BND for a game of Powergrid. It was a close run thing, but Snake-eyes won with 16 houses (cities) powered (only 15 needed), followed by BND (by 5 dollars) and Steedo on 15 powered, then myself and Sylon. A couple of things to note - don’t start in Barvaria, as the cost of linking cities is rather expensive - much better to start around Essen, which has some 0 cost connections. Also the three top placed players went into Brandenburg (red zone ) which should have been off limits for the 5 player game, but it wasn’t picked up, so they all cheated  - so a win to me and Sylon in second place, if we were playing by the rules. 

On Saturday we were planning a walk on the moor, but with unpleasant weather forecast, decided to go local - a nice little wander it was to.

There on Saturday evening we had a go at Raiders of the North Sea, with the expansion - family game, me a 4 newbies - most who aren’t really game players. Anyway we gave it a go - although some of the players were struggling with the various ways of getting victory points - the expansion adds some interesting new mechanics, with mead which adds to your strength and quests as a different way to gain plunder and victory points. Overall the game got a thumbs up, but really needs a play for people to get the most from it. A win for Thing Two and third place for me.

Off to paint some Celts in a bit.

Morts

Lots going on … but not on the tabletop

So Christmas is nearly upon us - no games played recently, but might get one in this evening. Been out and about - had a little trip to the moor.  Great day for walking. 

Almost got into trouble, as I had to be back for my sister in law’s birthday … let’s just say I cut it fine. But all was good. Then on Sunday I was at the home of the Chiefs - as they hosted the current European Champions - Toulouse. The Chiefs hoping for their first win against top opponents this season. 

Let’s just say I got to see some great rugby - Toulouse were a different class, I reckon they would give a National team a run for their money.  A bad result for the Chiefs who are still looking for a win … it’s going to be a long season me thinks …

I have managed to get some painting done - first some very old C series Goblins. A while ago I put some plastic shields on these, so I have painted those and put some highlights on their skin. Just need some varnish and to finish the bases - these will only see use in skirmish games.  

I also painted a Norn - from Norse mythology. A NorthStar miniature I picked up years ago for Of Gods and Mortals. 

Speaking of Gods - I present Thor - God of Thunder. This miniature by Reaper (again got for Of Gods and Mortals). 

Quite happy with how he has turned out - tried to roughly follow the marvel colour scheme. Again needs a bit of varnish and the base being completed -  I have a mounted Odin to paint. 

I had a good chat with DK today - about painting and playing games. Need to play more games and get more use out of the stuff I have. Fortunately I haven’t got a buying itch at the moment, but plenty of different things to paint, 15mm WW2, 28mm Celts … more Gods, Greeks and some Rackham miniatures too.

Have a good Christmas. 

Morts

It always gets busy in December

Last weekend saw a trip to Heathrow to collect Thing 1 and her fiancée, after 14 months away in Indonesia (well Bali 1 month) , Vietnam ( 1 month), Thailand (6 weeks), Australia (11 months) and New Zealand (3 weeks) … it was great to have them home. We did a little engagement party for them - lovely. 

Then Tuesday saw another hospitality trip to the Grecians.  

A great start to the game - but Wycombe are top of the league … so happy with a point in the end and a splendid evening out. 

So with little time on my hands … well actually managed a few games on Friday evening with the BND and BUR - nice to get the King is Dead back to the table - should have won the last game, but played on the wrong round …  but I did win Dungeonquest (not that it is a luck based game in any way). 

I want to get on with the Celts, but none are cleaned up or primed, so I have been looking at the stuff which is ready. 

So 2 Asgard (Tabletop) miniatures (moulds currently with Alternative Armies) classic wolf riders. These were picked up so I would have have a unit of 6 minis - I have tried to match the general scheme on the ones painted years ago. When the Matt varnish goes on and the basing is done, they should pull together. 

I then started Thor and a norn  for Of Gods and Mortals … I dread to think the last time I did anything for this … these are base coated with a wash at the moment. 

Tidying up some very old C-series Goblins with some plastic shields - I like to think that these may turn up in a small skirmish/rpg style of game …

Morts 

Busy few days …. Painting, games and a bit of a walk

So I have had a busy couple of days. First up I looked at the cyclops again and just did think the painting just wasn’t good enough - so I did an old school repaint on the flesh tones. 

I think they came out better than the speed paints - however I still plan to use speed paints for the celts. 

On Friday Snake-eyes and Steedo came over and played a couple of games of Valhalla - with the Valkyries expansion.

An enjoyable evening was had by all - the expansion didn’t change the game that much. The games were pretty close, with Steedo winning the first game 26, Snake-eyes 23 and myself on 20. The second game was closer with Steedo and Snake-eyes tied on 23 points, the tiebreaker was who had the most opponents shields … which we concluded was Steedo (although Snake-eyes had the most opponents shield, in that he had a lot of mine, but Steedo had the most shields and head to head had beaten Snake-eyes). I had planned to play Risk Europe, but I think that it plays better with 4.

Then Saturday morning was a trip out to Dartmoor in Storm Bert!

I hadn’t thought it was a good idea to go out - it was rather wet and windy and we called the walk before the really poor weather set in and it stopped being funny as we were being blown about.

With the extra time I had - I finished off the Space Marine Terminator Captain - pretty happy with it (apart from the rear cloak thing, which is ok).

I still need to put some transfers on the shields by the pauldrons and stick him on a base.

So quite a lot covered in the last couple of days.

Morts

Cyclops - monsters for the Greeks

For the Greek Kings of War/Dragon Rampant army I picked up some Dark Alliance Cyclops - soft plastic miniatures. So with a little slap-chop I have got them painted. 

Overall they have come out fairly well - i think. But i perhaps should have dry brushed a little more before applying the speed paints. These will be classed as ogres for game purposes - hopefully they will get the table soon … but probably won’t. 

Morts

Stugs

I have repainted some STUGs for the WW2 games I might play in the future (I real need a room that has a table set up in it, so I could play games over a couple of weeks … but that really needs a lottery win, so isn’t likely to happen). 

I think they look pretty good - but I have to decide if am going to numbers on them. The ones I have are on the sheets in the picture, which look a little big for them to be honest. They are BPM 15mm numbers, but I don’t think they will look right. Perhaps I will look to see if Victrix 1/144 will fit better. Then they will need varnishing and some weathering. 

Morts