A Little from Leofwine, September 22

And just like that, Summer was gone… Once again it’s been a busy month for the club and for myself, but it looks like we have all our ducks in a row and it’s a case of marching them to their destinations.

First up will be the SELWG Wargames Show at the Lee Valley Sports Centre on Sunday October 16th, where we will be playing Steve’s “Surfin’ RVN” Vietnam river landing game using the Charlie Don’t Surf rules. Having had our first play through last week it looks like being a fun game, with plenty to look at and some engaging gameplay. We’re just putting the finishing touches to the terrain and it’s ready to roll! The new venue for SELWG (despite being in North London rather than the SE of the name…) is excellent, big and bright, with plenty of parking, and a nice large bring-and-buy area. Let’s hope people catch on quickly that it’s there and it can get back to the popular show it always was before lockdown.

Next up in October will be our AGM on the 22nd, a chance for club members to voice their opinions about club policy, and to have a say in how the club and Broadside are run. Could be a bit of a change in the air as our Treasurer may be stepping down to make way for some new blood on the committee. Need to get the agenda ready early to make sure we don’t miss anything. As a small reward for our members' loyalty and patience we run a gaming session after the meeting, plans are afoot for larger and longer-than-usual wargames than we can fit in on a club night. Expect pictures straight after!

The next couple of shows are in November, and neither are conventional. Uncon (literally the “Unconventional convention”) is a board game show taking place in Sandwich on the Kent coast over two days, and there is a Comics and Gaming Con taking place at Detling Showground which we have a few tables at. All the better to draw new faces to Broadside… More on these next month, suffice to say we may need extra volunteers to man the stands.

As for the club itself it’s been mostly business as usual at Kemsley, with World War 2, Medieval gaming, Vietnam war, and board games still popular. The playtest for Company Commander is going well, the developers are reacting to our players' suggestions as they post them, and it really feels like all their games are making a difference to this project. Hope lots of people get to play it soon, I think it’s a quality product! We have had a few games of Dungeons and Dragons running over the past month, a bit of an experiment, but a successful one. People are enjoying the games and we have had a number of new members sign up because of it! Can’t argue with that. It looked for a while as if the interest in D & D might swamp the club, as so many people seemed to be up for it, but it’s settled at a good level and the balance of games on Tuesday nights is still good and varied.

Guess that’s it for another month, except to say that we already have the flyers for Broadside 2023 so expect to see the advertising operation go into full swing very soon!

Leofwine Wargamerson

A Little From Leofwine - August ‘22

It’s been a while, so I thought it might be good to get the website and social media going again with a bit of a diary entry about what’s going on at the club. Hopefully it might spur a few others on to doing some similar “in the works” articles… Looming large over the list as always is Broadside. We had our most successful (best attended) show so far in June, a triumph considering circumstances surrounding physical events over the last two years! After 15 months of almost continual show organising (Rapture 2021, Broadside 2021 and 2022, Medway Gaming and Creative Festival) I was looking forward to a bit of time off until October when it starts all over again for next year… Unfortunately with the Medway show in July and wrapping up after Broadside it hasn’t really worked out that way. It’s been a less stressful couple of months, but now there are club arrangements to be made.

We have three events coming up this year, as well as the MHWC AGM to organise. Next up is the SELWG Show on Sunday October 16th at Lee Valley Sports Centre. Glad these guys got their show back on track last year, the Crystal Palace event was always one of our favourites, and the new venue suits the show perfectly. Look forward to this one growing over the next few years. In November there is a new Comics and Gaming Festival at the Detling Showground. These hybrid shows seem to be the next big thing, and people with lots of money to set them up will be making a tidy pile back from them. I think the “Gaming “ in the title refers to consoles, but we have a table to represent tabletop and it sounds like there are more there to keep us company. It’s a great opportunity to advertise Broadside to people who might not otherwise notice us! Lastly there is the always excellent Uncon making it’s return in Broadstairs over the weekend of the 19th and 20th. It’s a board games event, but we have been invited along to run some wargames, I’m thinking we can combine the two…

Organising the AGM is proving difficult. There is a distinct lack of accessible/available halls in Sittingbourne, and it seems even when I find one that getting a reply to an email or message is not guaranteed. I’m looking around on the fringes of the Milton Hundred, and while there are a few options they are still not ideal. Something will come up, but it’s annoying and time consuming until it does!

As far as actual gaming goes, we are all quite excited by the arrival of Lion Rampant 2nd Ed. Not sure how many copies made their way to the club, but I think all the LR players had one. Big thanks to Andy for distributing them, and to Tony at Brigade Models for ordering for us. Not a big difference in the rules, but there’s plenty of new and updated info in the book. Expect much Mediaeval and Dark Ages gaming in the weeks ahead. We will also be playing Charlie Don’t Surf, a set of Vietnam Rules from the Too Fat Lardies, in preparation for the SELWG game. We have played a few times now, and are working on the scenery for the river attack scenario we are using on the day.

The other big gaming news is that we are helping out with a playtest of a new World War Two system called “Company Commander” from Victrix, a tabletop game run entirely from a phone app! I’m sure traditionalists will be recoiling in horror about now, but I am all for the use of modern technology in tabletop games. It could well be the future of gaming as we know it, and at least it could be a good way of getting young people into the hobby. Reception has been very good so far amongst club members who have played it, expect more on this one soon.

Reckon that’s enough for now, hoping to make this a regular thing and to be back this time next month… Leofwine Wargamerson

QUATRE-BRAS: A re-fight over 2 days using Black Powder

Over the weekend of 3rd/4th July, MHWC attended the Rapture Gaming Festival at Chatham Dockyard. The event was Covid compliant, with all exhibitors having to test prior to attendance and masks required when the public arrived.

In honour of our return to wargaming after nearly a years absence, esteemed member Simon announced he’d finish off his Quatre-Bras collecting and host the game. “It’s only about 1200 figures” he said one night, a number that didn’t really translate until the Orders of Battle were provided to us…

As such, here is the map of the table (from the French perspective) & the Orbats themselves:

The French Order of Battle:

• 5th Division - Bachelu

  • 1st Brigade - Husson

    • 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Battalions, 2nd Light

    • 1st & 2nd Battalions, 61st Line

  • 2nd Brigade - Campy

    • 1st, 2nd & 3rd Battalions, 108th Line

    • 1st & 2nd Battalions, 72nd Line

  • Divisional Foot Artillery

• 9th Division - Foy

  • 1st Brigade - Marbais

    • 1st & 2nd Battalions, 92nd Line

    • 1st & 2nd Battalions, 93rd Line

  • 2nd Brigade - Jamin

    • 1st, 2nd & 3rd Battalions, 100th Line

    • 1st, 2nd & 3rd Battalions, 4th Light

  • Divisional Foot Artillery

• 2nd Cavalry Division - Pire

  • 1st Brigade - Hubert

    • 1st Regiment, Chasseur a Cheval

    • 2nd Regiment, Chasseur a Cheval

  • 2nd Brigade - Wathier

    • 1st Regiment, Cheveux Leger Lancers

    • 6th Regiment, Cheveux Leger Lancers

  • Divisional Horse Artillery

  • Corps Foot Artillery

• 6th Division - Jerome

  • 1st Brigade - Baudin

    • 1st, 2nd & 3rd Battalions, 1st Light

    • 1st & 2nd Battalions, 3rd Line

  • 2nd Brigade - Soye

    • 1st, 2nd & 3rd Battalions, 1st Line

    • 1st, 2nd & 3rd Battalions, 2nd Line

  • Divisional Foot Artillery

• Imperial Guard Light Cavalry Division - Lefebvre-Desnouettes

  • 1st Brigade - Hubert

    • Guard Lancer Regiment

    • Chasseurs of the Guard

  • Divisional Guard Horse Artillery

• 11th Cavalry Division - L’Heritler

  • 1st Brigade - Picquet

    • 2nd Dragoons

    • 7th Dragoons

  • 2nd Brigade - Guiton

    • 8th Cuirassier

    • 11th Cuirassier

  • Divisional Horse Artillery

As you can tell, it was bound to be a long and interesting game! The battle report has been written by the French C in C, Nic!

The Allied Order of Battle:

• 2nd Netherlands Division - Perponcher

  • 1st Brigade - van Bylandt

    • 27th Light Battalion - Jaegers

    • 7th Line Battalion (Belgian)

    • 5th, 7th & 8th Natiional Milita Battalions

    • Foot Artillery Brigade

  • 2nd Brigade - von Godecke

    • 1st, 2nd & 3rd Battalions, 2nd Nassau Infantry

    • 1st & 2nd Battalions, 28th Orange-Nassau

• 5th Division - Picton

  • Roger’s Battery & Braun’s Hanoverian Battery - Corps Artilelry

  • 8th Brigade - Kempt

    • 1st Battalion, 95th Regiment (Rifles)

    • 1st Battalion, 28th (North Gloucestershire)

    • 1st Battalion, 32nd (Cornwall)

    • 79th Regiment (Cameron Highlanders)

  • 9th Brigade - Pack

    • 3rd Battalion, 1st (Royal Scots)

    • 42nd Royal Highland Regiment (Black Watch)

    • 2nd Battalion, 44th (East Essex)

    • 92nd Highland (Gordon Highlanders)

  • 4th Hanoverian Brigade - Best

    • Luneberg, Munden, Osterode & Verden Landwehr Battalions

• The Brunswick Corps - The Duke of Brunswick

  • 1st Brigade - von Butlar

    • Leib (Guard) Battalion

    • 1st, 2nd & 3rd Light Infantry Battalions

  • 2nd Brigade - von Specht

    • 1st, 2nd & 3rd Line Battalions

  • Hienemann’s Horse and Moll’s Foot Artillery

• Allied Cavalry Corps

  • Brunswick Cavalry - von Cramm

    • 2nd Brunswick Hussars

    • Uhlan Squadron

  • 3rd Netherlandish Cavalry Brigade - van Merlen

    • 5th Belgian Light Dragoons

    • 6th Dutch Hussars

    • Horse Artillery

• 3rd Division - Alten

  • 5th Brigade - Halkett

    • 2nd Battalion, 30th (Cambridshire)

    • 33rd (1st Yorkshire West Riding) Regiment

    • 69th (South Lincolnshire) Regiment

    • 2nd Battalion, 73rd

  • 1st Hanoverian Brigade - von Kielmansegge

    • Bremen, 1st Duke of York Onsabruck & Verden Field Battalions

    • Grubenhagen & Lunberg Light Battalions

    • Lloyd & Cleeve’s Artilelry

• 1st (Guards) Division - Cooke

  • 1st Brigade - Maitland

    • 2nd & 3rd Battalion, 1st Foot Guards

  • 2nd Brigade - Byng

    • 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards

    • 2nd Battalion, 3rd Foot Guards

  • Sandham & Kuhlmann’s Batteries

Battle report from Quatre Bras 3rd-4th July 2021

By our on-field correspondent for The Milton Hundreds Daily Rag: Pierre Le Crack

Umpire and Creator: Simon (Le God) Warren

Allies

General Alan (talk a lot) Abbey & Brigadier Steve (Break Test Wizard) Thomas

French

Marshall Nic (Follow Me) Cracknell & General Rob (great rolling) Graham NB Field Promotion to General de Brigade

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The day started slightly slowly with both HQ’s fighting for breath having climbed the stairs to the Battlefield on the mezzanine floor. The umpire, already showing his superior intellect had chosen to use the lift, so despite the added distance was able to converse straight away.

With the battlelines drawn action commenced at a furious pace with the French divisional commander Bachelu first on the field moving his 1st & 2nd Brigades at break neck speed, (a surprise to everyone especially the French commander). The 1st Brigade assaulted Gemincourt Farm, an imposing building in the centre front of the battlefield, held by a ragtag bunch of Netherlands sharpshooters, while the 2nd brigade marched down the right wing in a fanfare of horns and drums.

The allies, although light in numbers were already on the French left, sulking in Bossu woods or covering the crossroads themselves, so when Foys 8th division arrived he took up position along the road opposite and began moving towards contact.

Meanwhile what was too become known as the “slaughter at the farm” began with an immediate assault. Two-line battalions attacked with the 61st Line making it to the walls of the building, here they were repulsed with gusto by the Dutch and the attack petered out with the Battalion retiring to the rear having suffered grievous loss of life, first blood to the Allies. Meanwhile the light battalions of the regiment forced the Dutch to retreat from the garden, back into the farmhouse its self, and a firefight erupted.

By now elements of Pires cavalry were entering the fray and trying to catch up with Bachelu 2nd Brigade who appeared to be on a route march and were now well down the French right and giving the Allied commanders food for thought as, as yet no allied troops were in the vicinity. The farmhouse battle still continued, but the Dutch were here to stay.

At last, the French left started moving, albeit slowly but were hampered by allied light troops hugging the fringes of the wood, more Dutch, and it wasn’t until Foy was able to employ both his brigades that some progress started to be made.

By now the battle had been going on for several hours. The farmhouse was a stalemate, the French left was not moving but the right was so far down into the allies’ lines that even the French commander wondered if his units had changed sides.

Meanwhile the Allied overall commander was enjoying combing his beard and talking to random passers by about the virtues of wargaming and any other subject you care to mention. Luckily Steve his number two, didn’t miss a trick, and it was Steve who sarcastically chuckled when he noticed the French lancers, in a bid to support 2nd Brigade “Blunder off the table” for a couple of hours clearly not concerned in supporting their overextended lines.

It was also about now that Allied reinforcements began to arrive, although it must be noted that many did not come on where expected, and some clearly had issues, maybe the waggons broke down or the pretty village girls caused the troops to pause, but this was to play havoc for the allied commanders and when troops did arrive the jams and bottlenecks around Quatre Bras itself were immense.

However, with Pictons arrival, despite the French having negated the benefit to the allies of the sucken road, allied numbers began to tell and with no support (did I mention the lancers!) things began to look uncomfortable for Bachelu 2nd brigade.

Near Breakthrough at the Farmhouse – following hours of furious exchanges of fire the Dutch sharpshoots eventually were forced out, French occupation was imminent! but at the last minute the allied commander audaciously ordered one of his subordinates (unknown to this reporter but it was possible Colonel Van Gouda) to grab a unit and reoccupy the farm house, which is exactly what they did, a bold move, but a great move!

It was about now that 3 things occurred, firstly Bachelu 2nd Brigade became vastly outnumbered, were unsupported and looked on the point of collapses although no battalions had yet been lost.

And on the left some French Guard cavalry arrived but more importantly the French received a deputy commander Rob who took control of the left wing. It must be noted that despite his youth and inexperience he immediately made an impact and roused Foys division to such an extent that they kicked the Dutch out of the woods in the immediate area and started to make progress up the left flank. So impressive was his impact that he received an on-field promotion to General de Brigade!

As the afternoon wore on more and more (albeit slowly) allied reinforcements arrived, the French right was holding and support was slowly arriving but Bachelu brigade was expected to crack at any moment, (how they held on is still a mystery) this was especially so as the feared Scots had arrived and were thirsty for blood. The French lancers had found their way back onto the battlefield and saw off some lighter cavalry units and at last the farmhouse was taken!

The joy at this and the subsequent destruction of the allied centre was muted to a degree with an allied cavalry charge by their Hussars & Dragoons who overran a horse artillery battery and then ploughing into the side of Jeromes division, causing mayhem and consternation! The situation was stabilised but not without losses to the French lancers who withdrew to fight another day.

Meanwhile in the final act of the day Rob had used his horse artillery to great effect, destroyed most of the left wing apart from 2 very stubborn Nasser battalions who must be mentioned in dispatches for their tenacity and pluck. Had they not held on, possibly the French left might have got to test the mettle of the Coldstream guards who were moving up in support, or maybe the fact that they didn’t was a blessing!!!

Still the day ended with the crossroads still in allied hands, Allied casualties were heavier on the day, however 2 French brigades were in poor shape and further casualties would have ended their day prematurely but Bachelu or to be more precise the brigade commander Campy had held on.

What did we learn:

For large Black Powder games, a couple of rules need to be tweaked, especially using blunders or rolling to come onto the table and infantry moving up towards cavalry in the open.

Always keep an eye on a unit’s special abilities they can make a real difference

Don’t leave Rob unattended

Don’t underestimate the work involved to set up a battle of this magnitude, deep respect and thanks go to Simon Warren for not only the use of his figures and scenery but the man hours in preparing for this.

Pierre Le Crack

Pierre Le crack is an award winning neutral and unbiased journalist seconded to the Bureau de Information, 26 Rue De Lies, Paris !

DBMM240 Tournament

Estonians at the Guildford 1-day DBMM240 tournament

By Club Member Lawrence

This year, the Guildford tournament, organised by Ray Briggs, was set in the late medieval period, (armies from 1321-1515 AD). This period is usually dominated by longbowmen, dismounted knights and Swiss pikemen so I looked for an army that would have an advangtage over all of them. I didn't have one, but my club (Milton Hundred Wargames Club) has an Estonian DBA army. If I expanded that out to 240 AP it would have enough warband to roll over (nearly) any infantry army I was likely to meet. I was able to muster enough troops by pressing into service the Slavic auxiliaries from my Khazar army (and a few Russian woodsmen loaned by my regular opponent Dave Mather) as fast warband, some superior warband from my teammate Jon Smith, an assortment of other troops from my medieval collection, plus some log barricades scratch-built for the purpose. A few stratagems made up the points (well, nearly).

After minutes of exhaustive design and development, the army ended up as:

CinC with 6 nobles (mounted Warband(Superior)), 6 warriors (Warband(Fast)) and 4 skirmishing archers (Psiloi (Ordinary))
Subgeneral with 18 warriors and 4 archers (Bow(Inferior))
Subgeneral with 9 warriors, 3 Russian crossbowmen (Bow(Ordinary)), 1 artillery (superior), 2 boats and 3 log barricades.
Army baggage: 3 carts (Baggage (Inferior))
Stratagems: Ambush and Guides.
The whole army (apart from the artillery) is irregular and the generals are all mounted superior warband (same as the nobles).

Game 1: Tim Child using Morean Byzantine with a Venetian ally.

I invaded Byzantine territory so it was appropriate that we were playing on the prototype Travel Terrain “semi-arid” terrain cloth (Production version now available from https://www.bagsoflove.co.uk/stores/travelterrain/gaming-mats-terrain-cloths ). The terrain ended up with a difficult hill on each end of Tim's half of the table and a built up area (BUA) forward right in my half.

Tim deployed a command of 3 knights and 10 psiloi opposite my right, 3 knights and 2 light horse in the centre and 6 light horse, 3 inferior cavalry, 3 auxilia and 3 psiloi on the left. There were some bowmen lurking around, but they mostly kept out of danger.This wasn't what I had been hoping for at all. The numerous light foot would outflank me through the BUA and the light horse would outflank me in the open while the knights would ride me down in the centre. On the positive side, the inferior cavalry would be vulnerable to my archers if I could get to them. I deployed the two subgenerals forward and the C-in-C behind and wide with a view to protecting both flanks.

The game progressed more or less as expected on the right and centre, although a couple of Venetian light horse got involved in a fight against my inferior bowmen in the centre. The left was more interesting as the Byzantine light horse initially had to retreat out of the field of fire of the artillery, which gave me a chance to send the crossbowmen towards the inferior cavalry. However, they were intercepted en route by the Byzantine auxiliaries.

The Byzantine auxiliaries were themselves then intercepted by some of the C-in-C's warband and then caught in the rear by one of the subgenerals' warband that had advanced rapidly and then doubled back. Eventually the Byzantine light horse arrived from its long march behind the hill and engaged my flank guards, but luckily for me didn't kill enough to win the game by the time limit. I had lost nearly 30% of the army and had two commands disheartened. I had killed only 4 or 5 elements. A losing draw got me 2 points in Ray's scoring system.

Game 2: John Fry using Catalan Company.

Another army with a combination of knights, light horse and infantry that could fight my warband (in this case Catalan almughavars graded as superior auxilia).

He invaded, which gave me a chance to place my new Travel Terrain DBMM200 sea as a lake on the right hand side of the table. Other significant terrain was two boggy areas next to the lake and a large marsh that was somewhat left of centre. John deployed first, almughavars near the lake, knights and Turkish light horse in the open centre, psiloi and more almughavars facing the marsh and some cavalry positioned to move around the marsh onto my left flank. I put the C-in-C next to the lake, warband/bow command in the centre and the artillery etc command to the rear, mainly positioned to oppose the outflanking threat on the left, but with the boats on the lake. The first photo is part way through the Catalan first turn.

Both of us advanced. Initially the knights didn't get into combat, but the Turks did and so did the two commands next to the lake. There, the Catalan C-in-C decided to fight in the front rank and soon found himself pursuing ahead of his troops and getting surrounded. However, he fought off all attacks from whatever direction, including troops landing from the boats. The Catalan cavalry rapidly advanced down the flank, but after that their general was busy controlling his infantry in the marsh, which I was contesting, so the cavalry never moved again.

In the foot versus mounted fight in the centre we were both losing casualties, but the Catalans didn't have much depth and soon gaps opened up that I could exploit. Near the lake, my superior warband nobles, backed up by the warriors, had a slight edge over the almughavars. And eventually broke them, but I didn't manage to finish off the mounted command and I think I had one command disheartened. A winning draw for 3 points to me.

Game 3: Mike Pickering with Malay

Not a good match-up for me as his superior warband would rip through most of my army with impunity. Only my nobles could fight them on even terms and his elephants would stomp all over them. He would also potentially outnumber me in psiloi which might allow him to control any difficult terrain, although my warriors would stand a decent chance against them.

I defended and was able to get a wood and a built up area left and right of the centre of the table. I had brought trees and huts to garnish the fabric terrain, but in the heat of the moment forgot to put them out. There were also three boggy areas, but only one played any part (in front of the wood).

I deployed the command with the artillery next to the wood with most of its warband in ambush in the wood. The CinC's command was mostly next to the built up area with a few elements ready to move into it. I put the warriors in front to break up the expected elephants, the nobles in reserve. In the centre was the other subgeneral with his archers in front of his warriors, intended to shoot up any elephants in that zone.

Mike deployed two commands of mostly superior warband between the two terrain pieces and hardly any elephants. These commands also had some mostly inferior psiloi both in the boggy ground opposite the wood and on the edge of the BUA. A small Ming Chinese ally was at the rear (3 cavalry including the general, one blade and an inferior artillery).

I initially advanced into the BUA and held the centre back because they would not be able to stand up against what was in front of them. I moved the central archers into a column next to the artillery with a view to expanding them into the open area to the flank of the enemy warband. The first party of ambushers revealed themselves and started advancing towards the enemy psiloi. They were a long way back so it would be some time before they arrived. The Malayans also advanced, cautiously towards the wood, more aggressively into the BUA. However, the Ming Chinese ally proved unreliable and steadfastly refused to do anything. I moved the central archers into a column next to the artillery with a view to expanding them into the open area to the flank of the enemy warband. In the next two turns my central command rolled a 1 for PIPs so the archers couldn't expand and the warband had to advance, bringing on the central engagement much earlier than I had intended. On the plus side, I eliminated nearly all the Malayan psiloi in the BUA and the second wave of ambushers, combined with the first, plus a couple of elements that leapt over the log barricades to join in gave me superiority of numbers against the psiloi in the bog.

The heavy casualties inflicted on my centre by the superior warband were enough to convince the Chinese that they were on the winning side and it would be safe to join in. The moved their artillery up to where it could shoot at me. I continued to win on the flanks, but the game was decided in the centre where I was almost completely wiped out. Complete defeat with no significant damage done to the enemy so it was zero points for me.

My total of 5 points was enough to keep me out of last place, but not enough to push my team into 3rd despite the valiant efforts of Jon Smith (11 points) and Chris Jones (8).

Overall, the Estonian army offers some, shall we say, “interesting challenges” to the player, not least that the warriors want to go forward while the artillery and troops defending the fortifications don't, as well as the rapid rate at which the fast warband warriors die once they get into combat. In all my games there were things I could do, even if I didn't do them very well. I think there is a reasonable army in there, but it might take a lot of games seeing how things play out to find it. It will be 6 years before the same period comes round again in this competition, so by then I might have it developed into a finely honed killing machine with all my own figures.

Many thanks to Ray for organising the tournament, my opponents and all those who lent me figures, especially MHWC who provided the nucleus of the army. Don't miss our convention, “Broadside”, 14th of June 2020. https://www.miltonhundred.com/broadside

Your Club, Your Story - Kings of War Vanguard project

The View from the Club - Conclusion
By David (Club Chairman & Basilean Player)

They had seen the Eye blaze across the sky, and felt the impact on the plain three days ago. As the party crested the final hill they could still see the glow from the crater where the heavens-born fireball had landed, ploughing a great furrow in the earth.
"Send the scouts ahead. Spearmen, support your comanders. I need two messengers on Gur Panthers to report back to the Citadel." Ivadd indicated with his arms as he called his orders. "We must surround the area and protect the eye until our armies arrive"
The hooded scouts of the sisterhood upped their pace and spread out across the front of the warband, bows at the ready, keeping to the sparse cover of the blasted trees surrounding the crater wherever they could. Two warriors of the guard were mounted on the great cats, who bounded back along their path towards their home. The rest of the small band of fighters braced themselves behind shields and formed a rough circle while they waited for the advancing sisters return. They did not have long to wait. A signal arrow whistled skyward, making the whole warband turn as one towards the warning sound. Ivadd unslung his mace and drew his sacred sword from it's scabbard.
" We are not alone here." He raised his voice and inclined his head to his loyal followers. "But no others shall leave this place with the Eye of Cronus! To battle my friends. For Basilea!"

And so our adventures in Mantic Games' Kings of War: Vanguard have reached their conclusion for now, three months of intense painting, gaming and planning culminated in a bumper weekend of tournament and demonstration play at separate events in London. Apart from leaving me (A)with a huge new terrain piece to try to find storage room for, and (B) 38th in the world on Mantic's Vanguard tourney list, what did we get out of this project? And will we try anything like this again?

First off, we have a good wedge of gaming material from our benefactor! Six copies of the rulebook, six warbands, three sets of terrain markers, plus all the dice and tokens we need to play the game is a hugely generous offering, one which I think we took full advantage of. All six players did us proud with their efforts, from the enormously high standard of painting to the sheer volume of blog, Facebook and Instagram posts we managed to put out in the last three months! The miniatures themselves received a mixed reception across the board, with sculpts ranging from exquisite to downright pedestrian, and a confusing variety of materials for minis in the same box, each needing a different adhesive to put together! But I think we all developed some affection for our plucky warbands, despite their occasional flaws, and the quality of the finished results certainly reflects this.

The game itself was largely a hit. It was easy to pick up, especially for a group of grizzled veteran gamers such as ourselves, and I think it would make a decent "gateway game" for inexperienced or brand new wargamers. The rules are solid, without too many vague terms or definitions, and once you have a grasp of the basics I found there were just a couple of pages in the rulebook that needed marking for reference during play. I thought at first the short weapon ranges would prove to be a problem, but given the size of the play area and the action mechanic that allows you to perform 2 short actions in any order (some systems insist that shooting is always last), they proved to be just about right. The warband lists did seem to be a little unbalanced at times, even with a rules update a short way into our project. Certain factions felt a little under-powered, while a couple had distinct advantages, however it does feel like experience could be the key to evening the odds. Taking part in our first tournament was a little daunting, but it gave me a better insight into my warbands strengths and weaknesses as the day progressed. The intensity of an all-day gaming session with 4 rounds against the clock certainly sharpens the mind, and after a couple of games the rules become second nature, leaving you free to concentrate on tactics. Watch those scenario objectives, you might have to do a little more than just crush your enemies!

Our final weekend was a great send off for this project. Unfortunately not all of our players were able to attend the two events, but we made sure all the minis were on show and got a game in. Saturday found us in Dark Sphere (Shepherds Bush) for our first real tournament. Despite everyone worrying about their lack of Vanguard experience we all did ourselves proud, and Olly even came away with the fair play prize! A really intense set of four rounds of games pitted us against players of all ages and experience, and it was good to meet plenty of other newbies. The whole event was played with a smile, and even the more competitive players were quite friendly and encouraging. A true gaming spirit blessed the day! Sunday was far more relaxed as we ran a large demonstration game and met the public at the SELWG Wargames Show at Crystal Palace. One of my favourite shows, it was the first time the club had run a game there. The standard of demo tables at SELWG is always really high, and I think we had a nice setup, we certainly had plenty of people to chat to. Hopefully a picture or two in Miniature Wargames... We ran a game called "The Constellation of Kronos" which involved a crashed meteor with magical properties being fought over by three warbands at a time. We used the Portal scenario from the rule book as a base and ended up running two games over the course of the 6 hour show. Great fun!

I would like to say a big thank you to all the guys who took part in this promotion: Steve Thomas, Mark Sosbe, Chris Patchett, Rob Cooper, and especially Olly Gibson for applying to Mantic in the first place and keeping us on track throughout. Honourable mention also to Oni Martin for stepping in to help out at the SELWG game, allowing the others to take breaks and get a look around. Thanks to Mantic Games for choosing us to take part, and the South East London Wargames Group for letting us have a table at their show. And a final thanks to everyone who has taken an interest in what we have been doing over the last 3 months.

Would we do it again? We're already talking about the next long term projects... Keep an eye out for our next one!

Ivadd knelt and summoned his magical energies to heal the Sister lying propped against a scorched tree before him. The sky was darkening, making the glow from the great crater more pronounced. Around him, the occasional clash of steel on steel still sounded, but less intensely than it had before the sun set. A ragged looking sergeant approached, his shield nocked at the edges, and blood drying slowly on his spear blade.
"We have seen off the dark ones Brother," he croaked through parched lips, giving a tired salute, "But there are more enemies abroad this night. Trolls from the north, a band from the Trident Realms, and rumours of demons abound. We have taken losses and injury, but we survive for now."
Ivadd spoke grimly. "There is no time to rest." The Sister on the ground stirred and instinctively reached for her great sword lying beside her. Ivadd glanced at her and back at the sergeant. "I will heal the others where I can. We can but hope our enemies destroy each other before they reach us, and we need only finish them off. But be assured, we will fight again soon..."