It being a Petaudia week, I managed to have a small game. The machinations of the Sorceress continue as she persuades the Captain of Castle Thalaba (in the south of her domain) to send a raid into the West March. However, the local baron hears of it from fleeing peasants and sets out to deal with the invaders from Castle Thalaba. Unfortunately, it is only on drawing near to the border that he realises that he is somewhat outnumbered. Hastily deploying behind hedgerows, he prepares to fight off the attackers. Rules are Dragon Rampant, with a few "home" amendments. Figures are various 25mm/28mm manufacturers. Here are some photographs; I played the game in the garage, but the lighting is not the best!

The West March force deployed for battle.

The Castle Thalaba force off table and waiting to enter the fray. They have to make a "Move Activation" to move onto the board. This rather upset any careful plans the Captain of Castle Thalaba might have had as the dice rolls were not consistently in his favour!

The Captain of Castle Thalaba and his bodyguard. He has an Enchanted Weapon, which under the rules has to be diced for to see if it is "working" for a battle. For this game, it was not.

Mercenary longbows and axemen.

Aerial view of the table, which is four feet by three feet. The tombs are homemade from a cardboard fruit container, suitably flocked and based.

The right wing wolf riders, in passing the marsh, triggered the Marsh Monster to attack - it ambushes either side if they pass close enough. Unsurprisingly, it rather mauled the goblins and their wolves! This turned out to be the only attack by the monster, as the Castle Thalaban troops steered well clear of the marsh after this assault and the West March men were never anywhere near it!

The Castle Thalaba force rushing to the attack. Sort of. The goblins got off to a good start, but the mercenaries and wolf riders proved less enthusiastic.

I have two main mercenary groups, these being the "general purpose" ones and they have yellow/green as their heraldic colours.

The green counter shows a "Battered" unit. The crossbowmen did not do too well in the game, their shooting being pretty awful and then they were driven back and beaten by the goblins.

The household longbows did better, repelling a goblin attack. They are counted as "Sharpshooters", but their shooting was not all that good either.

The West March left flank has collapsed and the Baron's men are flanked by wolf riders.

The hobilars were driven back by the wolf riders. There are no "flank" or "rear" attack rules in Dragon Rampant, but the wolf riders as "Lesser Warbeasts" are much tougher than hobilars.

The Baron sees the crisis and charges into the wolf riders, driving them back, helped, it has to be said, by some rubbish die rolls from the goblins!

The West March spearmen and the Baron cover the open left flank as the hobilars rally, helped by the fact that the goblin swords and bows have rather stalled in their advance.

The mercenary axemen finally cross the hedge and advance against the household longbowmen.

The mercenary light cavalry are pushed up the road, the goblin swords having broken and run under the more accurate shooting of the household longbowmen.

The left wing goblin wolf riders finally moved up, having been hampered

by poor "Activation" dice rolls.

In go the mercenary axemen, promptly and rather brutally crushing the household longbowmen!

The goblin wolf riders on the Thalaban right wing rashly charged the spearmen, who can form "Wall of Spears" against attackers. The goblins and wolves were destroyed rather easily.

At this point, down to half his units and seeing fresh wolf riders and light cavalry approaching, the Baron conceded the battle and escapes for his capital.

A win for the Castle Thalaban invaders.

This is the sixth game in a row for my current Petaudia campaign dealing with "The Stirrings" - the opening moves of the Sorceress against her neighbours as she prepares for war - and here are the details for the scenario, a basic attack and defence game.

a) Terrain: A battlefield with a track running from south to north, with several fields bordered by hedges, a large wood to the east, a tomb to the west and a marsh to the north-west.

b) Deployment: The West March troops deploy on the south part of the table, with their units no further forward than the lone of hedges in the centre: missile troops at the front, spearmen in support, hobilars as a mounted reserve. The Castle Thalaban force enters along the north edge of the table: wolf riders on the flanks, goblins to the west of the road, mercenaries to the east of the road, with their light cavalry as a mounted reserve. Each side’s Command base controls all the units in their army.

c) Marsh Monster: A large, tentacled creature inhabits the marsh area and will ambush any unit of either side which passes within 1” of the edge of the marsh area. It must pass an Attack roll to engage the unit, which will count as surprised and defend with half its Hit Dice and automatically retreat after the combat. The creature will then withdraw into the marsh area and await another unit.

d) Objectives: The West March must hold out until the end of the game and repulse the invaders; the Thalaban force must defeat the enemy in order to continue their invasion.

e) Game Ends: The game ends either when the Castle Thalaban force or West March force have lost half their points (i.e. they give up the fight) or their Command base is destroyed (i.e. they lose their leader and so their motivation).

f) Victory Points:

            20 VP if the enemy force commander is destroyed by either side.

            5 VP per enemy unit destroyed by either side.

            1 VP per enemy figure killed. 

g) Opposing Forces: (These are the types of units according to Dragon Rampant rules, but Medium Riders are my own type of cavalry added in, half-way between Light and Heavy Riders. I use RMU/SMU bases as command figures, able to attach to any unit and enhance their fighting qualities, as well as fight alone. In addition, I use a slightly different points system, but the game requires the attackers are double the points of the defenders.)

Castle Thalaba Force

Captain & Guard, RMU [3 figures], Elite Foot (Command Base)

Goblin Wolf Riders, 6 x figures, Lesser Warbeasts

Goblin Wolf Riders, 6 x figures, Lesser Warbeasts

Goblin Swords, 12 x figures, Light Foot

Goblin Swords, 12 x figures, Light Foot

Goblin Bows, 12 x figures, Light Missiles

Mercenary Light Cavalry, 6 x figures, Medium Riders

Mercenary Longbows, 12 x figures, Light Missiles

Mercenary Axes, 12 x figures, Heavy Foot

West March

Baron, SMU [1 figure], Elite Riders (Command Base)

Hobilars, 6 x figures, Medium Riders

Household Longbows, 12 x figures, Light Missiles

Citizen Spears, 12 x figures, Heavy Foot

Citizen Crossbows, 12 x figures, Heavy Missiles

Monster

Marsh Tentacled Monster, SMU [1 figure], Greater Warbeast

I went to the Other Partizan yesterday at the Newark Showground. It was very busy on arrival at about 1100 and remained so up to the early afternoon. There were the same traders, I thought, as at the Partizan show earlier in the year, and lots of interesting demonstration games. I had taken my camera, intending to take photographs, but it ran out of battery in no time at all, even though I was sure I had charged it up! However, I am sure you will have no trouble finding pictures on other people's blogs.

I came away with only a few ACW figures - we are moving house so funds are tight! - but I enjoyed meeting some wargaming friends and catching up with their news, as well as looking at the games on show. I felt rather more enthused by them this time around, with several ACW games and some interesting WW2 actions, as well as a couple of great Fantasy games on a big scale, plus Renaissance and Thirty Years war, together with a lovely War of the Spanish Succession action. As always, fantastic painting and modelling skills on display. I have to say, though, that it was the 28mm scale games I liked the best.

I came away much fired by what I had seen and itching to add to my Sun King and ACW units, as well as get on with some games myself, having had something of a lull.

It is certainly an excellent show to attend, lots of things good about it, though ware the loos late in the day and the queue for the cafe had to be seen to be believed! Plus I thought the books were rather expensive for my pocket. One also got the impression it is very much a hobby for the over 50s of a certain shape as well!

I will hopefully get to one or both shows again next year, though the journey will probably be nearer three plus hours then! I may take a leaf out of some friends' book and do an overnight trip.