First real WFB game.

So today was it.. my Dwarfs had their first big game of WFB. It was a practice game for the Warclouds doubles tournament in February, with my Dwarfs combining with those of Gabriel against the Dwarf/Empire combo of Darryl and his partner James. As this is my first AAR for a WFB game, I thought I'd write a slightly fuller account than usual.

I took the left opposing the James and the enemy Dwarfs, while Gabriel took the right opposing Daryl's Empire troops. I positioned my warriors and Longbeards in my own centre, with a Cannon holding my left, and an Organ Gun set up to support either unit. To my right was a unit of Thunderers set up to help Gabriel hold the centre, and bring down a fair mass of fire against any troops advancing against us there.




The enemy Dwarfs advanced a unit of Warriors out from their line, and it took a fair volume of fire from the Cannon and the Organ gun in the first turn of its advance.



The first turn of fire from the Organ gun saw a 10 rolled for casualties.. OUCH!!!!.. this would make any commander's eyes water. At the same time, fire from the enemy Dwarf Cannon, and a Grudethrower, all managed to inflict no casualties at all.. a series of misfires from the Cannon, and deviations from the GrudgeThrower, all contributed to a dismal performance. I'd have cried if they had been my own war machines.

Darryl advanced two units of State Troops with sub units against Gabriel's troops, but my favourite would have to be his unit of Flagellants advancing off their own hill at deployment.. I love the whole concept of these units.. and the figures are great.







Having reduced the advancing Dwarf warriors advancing against my own centre and left to just a half dozen figures, I advanced my Longbeards out from the line to threaten the flank of Darryl's Empire troops advancing against my Thunderers and Gabriel's line on my own right. The Thunderers had taken several turns of fire from some opposing Quarrellers, but had managed to save every wound... amazing die rolling for me!!

Darryl was however a little quicker and moved a unit of knights to threaten the Longbeards.


The Flagellants went in .... but lost the combat... I did figure that on the basis of looks and concept alone they deserved to win, but there you go... However they were unbreakable, so the combat continued until all of the Flagellants were eliminated a couple of turns later.

Flanking fire from Gabriel's cannons, and a round of fire from my own Thunderers, reduced the knights to two figures plus a character, and forced a panic test, which they failed.. back they went.



Darryl put his State troops into my Thunderers.. as I'm knew to the game, I wasn't sure what would happen.. thought this might hurt... but he had lost too many troops on the way in ... even so it was close.. whew!!

The sub unit of those same State troops went in to Gabriel's two cannon..

My Warriors finally charged James' unit of advancing Dwarf warriors, and forced them to flee.. we didn't catch them though.

Meanwhile the Longbeards charged the flank of the State troops locked in combat with my Thunderers... On this turn my own Miners managed to charge into James' Dwarf Cannon, having come on the move before on their flank, and then taken some serious casualties from the Cannon firing grapeshot.. ouch.. Dwarf eyes watering about now (mine, that is).

The flank attack did it.. the State troops fled, and were caught. In the meantime Gabriel's own Warriors had been charged by another unit of State troops, but were held to a draw....

And my Miners managed to defeat the opposing Dwarf cannon, but with a Master Engineer in residence, it was going nowhere.. damn!!!

Overall a Dwarf victory, but what an enjoyable game, with my three gaming colleagues (Darryl, Gabriel and James) coaching me along the way.. many thanks to everyone for a good time. I don't think we'll be as lucky next time.

Woolston DBA Challenge ... 5

Here we were lined up against Joe and the Polybian Roman army he had borrowed. This was one of those games.. tense and exciting all the way through, ebbing and flowing for both of us.




Joe came across the river at me, and the river turned out to be paltry.. damn, there was a vital part of my defence plan gone 'out the window'.. well 'under the Roman blinds', anyway!!




I was able to destroy Joe's Psiloi on his right flank, but then the action ebbed and flowed, and time had to be called with each of us three elements down..... a draw.. whew!!!





The day presented us each with 5 fantastic games. I learned a thing or two abut the Spanish army, and have a better idea about how to use them next time.. I have to remind myself that it's not just the small tactical niceties of the rules that matter (becoming fixated on the fact the Psiloi support Auxilia against mounted opponents, even in rough going, isn't the most important thing).

Focus on those areas where you have an advantage, eliminate your opponent's weakest troops first, use the terrain.. etc etc.. you get the picture. Sometimes it doesn't matter how many years of experience you have playing these games, you can still forget the basics....

Woolston DBA Challenge ... 4

Another inglorious appearance, against Mark's Indians. In this case, again, Mark deployed his main strike on his left to face the main Spanish concentration. The elephant 'Panzerkiel' drove down the flank, supported by Indian Blade and Bow.




I was cagey about deploying on a steep hill, trying to take advantage of the difficult terrain, and up hill bonus, to put Mark on the back foot.




However Mark continued to work the flank, supporting his blade with his Bow. At one stage some Spanish Auxilia came off the hill to attack the bow, when they were initially left relatively exposed and unsupported. However die rolls of 1 for the Spanish and 5 for the Bow put paid to any idea I might have had about taking them out, and so the Auxilia retreated again to the hill.



The Blade and Elephants punched through on the flank, and it was all over... beginning to feel normal about now!!

Woolston DBA Challenge ... 3

In this game the Spanish are fighting Brian's Eastern Late Imperial Roman army. Again, with the ever present river, Brian deployed his toughest troops, Knights and Blade, on his left against the main Spanish force.
They advanced, deploying into battle formation once clear of the river.









The Knights and Blade punched through against the Spanish Auxilia, killing the Spanish Cavalry General in the process...ooopss!!

Woolston DBA Challenge ... 2

In this game the Spanish faced Joel's newly painted Marion Romans. As you read these brief AARs you'll notice a theme: I tried to use terrain to disrupt my opponent and give the Spanish Auxilia and Psiloi as many advantages as possible. The ever present river in this case was as much to my disadvantage as it was to Joel. I tried to work around his right flank while he advanced towards my rather weak battle line.

His Blade got stuck in to my line before I was able to engineer much of any substance on the flank. It didn't take long....

Woolston DBA Challenge ... 1

The Iberian Spanish had their second major outing today in the Woolston DBA Challenge. Their record wasn't too flash, but I knew they would be difficult to use. They managed 3 losses, 1 draw and 1 win (which was probably a flattering set of results considering how I played them).

The only win of the day was against an Alexandrian Macedonian army, beautifully painted by Dave, using FreiKorps figures, Dave was a little unlucky I have to say, as I managed to get my Light Horse stand across to his Camp and beat the camp in contact (not that likely if you know the factors), and then destroy one of his Psiloi,





These last shots show the victorious LH stand in the Macedonian Camp.




It was a great day of 'gaming against 5 fantastic opponents. More action shots/after action reports to come soon...

'Paradise Lost'-Smyrna 1922

Just prior to Christmas this year I picked up a copy of 'Paradise Lost' by Giles Milton. The book chronicles the destruction of Smyrna (modern day Izmir) on the coast of Turkey in 1922.






Alongside my interest in World War 1 runs a fascination with the periods in world history that both lead up to the conflict, and lead on from it. So I try to read widely about conflict ranging from the Franco Prussian War, to the Russian Civil War.

In this particular case the conflict at the heart of the book is that between Greece and Turkey, a conflict as old as civilization perhaps, a conflict that had already flared up earlier in the twentieth century with the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913.

Milton's account chronicles life in Smyrna prior to WW1, the tense times for inhabitants in the city during the war, and the events that lead up to the sacking and destruction of the city in 1922.

Milton manages to write a thoroughly engaging and readable piece of history using extensive archival material, and memoirs of many people who were a part of the society and were witness to the catastrophic events of the period. These memoirs provide frighteningly real descriptions of the ferocity of this racial conflict, despite the fact that the city of Smyrna itself had been 'that most cosmopolitan of cities' with all major racial groups (Turkish, Greek, Armenian, Jewish, European) apparently living and working together in harmony.

The Greek campaign in Anatolia in 1921/22 is detailed sufficiently for the reader to gain a clear understanding of the events that unfolded, but there is too little detail to understand more than the rudimentary military maneuverings of the conflict itself. The focus is more squarely on the fate of the city of Smyrna itself, and the enormous humanitarian crisis that took place as a consequence. Milton describes this as possibly the greatest humanitarian crisis of the 20th century, an interesting claim for a book written in 2009 with all the hindsight that history can provide of the tyrannies of Nazism, Stalinism, and the Balkans in the 1990s.

A simple Google Images search will yield plenty of material to give you an idea of the catastrophe that unfolded there in 1922.

Here is the Independent's review of the book, published by Hodder and Stoughton.