Posties Rejects WW1 Naval Game Report and Pictures.

The Rejects met up on Saturday for a WW1 Naval Game hosted by John and played in Posties shed (man cave), the rejects were Richard, Smithy, Ray, John, Postie, Lee and myself, the game was already prepared and we were using John's home made rules.

Myself, Richard and Smithy were playing the British fleet, I started off with 4 capital ships, the Tiger, Warspite, Inflexible, Indomitable and the destroyer Pettard.

Ray and his 4 german capital ships steam towards me.

A closer view of the lovely models used.

Ray http://onelover-ray.blogspot.com/ laughing like a hyena with Richard in the background.

Smithy and John (umpire), apologies to John for the pits picture but it was bloody hot in that shed.

Contractual and obligatory Postie shot hard at work doing paperwork which was a big factor in this game.

If your ship had 28 knots in speed that meant you could travel at 7" as 4 knots equalled 1" but you could increase your speed by 8 knots (2") per turn or decrase per 4 knots per turn (1"), this caused problems for everybody.

Capital ships could change their direction by 45 degrees by turn as long as it was written down but destroyers could change direction by 90 degrees.

At the end of your movement and everybody moved at the same time, you could then write down the target you wanted to fire at, capital ships had to wait a turn to switch to another target with their main arnament unlike destroyers who could target anything within range.

Things are getting close and interesting, the closer the better for capital ships but especially destroyers as they had little chance against capital ships except for their torpedoes.

The charts every player had to keep track of their speed, damage and targets. 

The water explosion markers were used to show what ships are been fired at, they are just the tops of cotton buds on a counter (brilliantly done and very visually effective).

You will notice in the top of the picture a little bit of ramming between destroyers which was another effective way of destroying ships and this time it worked but resulted in a lot of damage to the rammer but the object of the ramming was sunk.

Lee http://bigleesminipaintingblog.blogspot.com/ who was overall german commander surveys the battle from a safe distance, he and smithy spent the game exchanging fire at great distances until the end when they got into better range.

The oil slick markers bear testament to the damage being done at the other end of the table.

Another oil slick marker bears testament that destroyers should not try to ram capital ships because the outcome was a sunken destroyer and the capital ship only lost 4 knots of speed in damage.The destroyers were lethal when they got into torpedo range though.

A better view of one of the excellent water spray markers, the game ended after twelve turns with the british fleet victorious with 5 german ships sunk (3 to me, 2 to Richard) including the only capital ship sunk to only 2 british ships sunk, there were a lot more ships in trouble and would have difficulty reaching dry dock but I had never played these rules or period before and I thoroughly enjoyed the game and the day except for the bloody heat in that shed and my suggestion to Postie about an air conditioning unit was met with abject derision and scorn.  

The Rejects at Salute 2011.

The Rejects headed to Salute this year with little money but good intentions, there was myself, Ray, Surjit, and Postie (The Daddy). We got to the show about 0955hrs and proceeded to the end of a bloody long queue but within 5 mins we were moving and got into the venue before a lot of ticket holders did (result!), headed for the Bring and Buy and with my one item waited for 25mins to register (some people in front of me had 30 or 40 items!). It was a good show in the sweatbox this year again, plenty of space is one of the good things to say about this venue, picked up some early WW2 british from SHQ, early war germans from Grubby Tanks (got some Kreigsmarine aswell but I think they're too early as they should be wearing helmets by the time of my project), some Pz 38 T's from Pegasus Hobbies, varnish, paints, some bases from Warbases. Nice free figure, free 6mm car and a nice bag from KR (RRP £14.99) more than making up for the £11.00 entry fee. Took some pictures but as usual not enough as you are there more for the product, this is not too say that the games weren't brilliant that were put on, it's just you forget to take a picture or remember you have a bloody camera.

The other good thing was meeting fellow bloggers and putting faces to names (pictures and links to their blogs below) and just meeting friends especially from my homeland. Postie (Reject's self appointed leader even provided a picnic of chicken sandwiches, cheese scones, crisps, chocolate bars and drinks which we had outside the venue literally sitting on the dock of the bay).

We left the show about 1530hrs and nearly on the motorway when Ray got a text message saying he had won a raffle prize from the Hougoumont people, so pretending to be Ray I rang back and asked what he had won (2 signed prints and 3 musketballs from the field of Waterloo), so back we go and collect the prize (Ray gave me one of the musket balls under protest) and startes the journey home again. Good Day out.

On a footnote I went to the Bring and Buy stand to collect the vikings I had put on sale that morning (they still hadn't been sold at 1430hrs when I checked) and was asked was I picking up, I said I was and he surprised me by coming back with some money a few minutes later, first time time I have left Salute with money that wasn't shrapnel. Result!

Pictures are the usual quality and vagueness and better will be found elsewhere today but they're personal to me and my lurking disability.

The end of the queue plus us four.

The Reject's, Postie, Surjit and Ray from  http://onelover-ray.blogspot.com/

The crowds press forward, the end is in sight.

The Bring and Buy, constant traffic all day and well run by the Salute boys.

Paul from Sho3box http://sho3box.wordpress.com/ good man, good blog and fellow zombie lover and Irishman.

Big game, big scale.

3 poor tigers.

Akula's Battlefield 2011.

The man himself Akula running his Battlefield 2011 game in aid of Combat Stress, more information here on his blog http://akulasblog.blogspot.com/ 

Stunning figure for several reasons but the main one being the paintjob.

Fellow blogger Pulp Citizen http://pulp-citizen.blogspot.com/ explaining the mechanics of the game he was hosting.

Battles in Miniature game Miniature Militia, actually on an oval playing board which I failed to get in the picture.

Paul from Battles in Miniature http://battlesinminiature.blogspot.com/

Only took this picture after we came back for the second time, obligatory Star Wars picture.

28mm War of the Roses Game 3rd September 1460 Northumberland.

The Battle of Lee's Pond, near ElderLee Village in Northumberland on the 3rd of September 1460. 

The Earl of Salisbury is beseiging Alnwick castle in Northumberland held by the Lancastrians, news arrives about a Lancastrian relief force on it's wat to lift the seige.The force is led by Lord Roos and various minor nobles but with some good retinue troops lent out by other nobles. The Earl of Salisbury has decide to intercept this force before it gets to near Alnwick castle, so has sent Lord Fauconberg (Salisburys brother) to stop the relief force.

The Yorkists must win the day otherwise they will have to lift the seige, giving victory to the Lancastrians.The Lancastrians must win the day by relieving the beseiged garrison of Alnwick castle, by beating the Yorkist Army at Lee's pond the seige will be lifted and the garrison rescued from certain death.

No pressure then.

The rejects had a war of the roses game on Sunday which involved Surjit (Commander), myself and Richard as the Lancastrians, Ray (Commander) and Smithy as the Yorkists. The troops were already deployed and it was a meeting engagement useing Warhammer age of Chivalry rules but with teaks and house rule included.

There was one other thing that didn't help but was actually relevant, there would be no discussion of tactics allowed between the player unless a meesenger was sent (this messenger was not guaranteed to arrive in time or at all) and this with some incredible tactics used by Surjit was the main reason we lost the game, well that's what Richard said.

Information on the period if interested  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_the_Roses

Initial deployments with the Yorkists on the left.

Yorkist infantry and cavalry advancing.

Obligatory contractual shot of Postie (self proclaimed leader of the rejects), ringmaster and tea boy.

Yorkist forces start their advance, it wasn't much of an advance for Smithy.

My Lancastrian forces eagerly rushing forward.

Local commerce still continues despite the battle.

Yorkist infantry continue the advance.

Lancastrian cavalry prepare to charge, they died in their saddles due to the withering yorkist archery

Yorkist infantry and bowmen advancing, the archery in this period was deadly especially the better trained retinue bowmen.

An angry mob appears in the village and due to what Ray had done earlier they came on to my Lancastrian side. 

What Ray did to this local (Boo, Hiss).

Postie had bought brand new tiles for this game eeven though he didn't need them but because of Richards shenanigans this was the outcome, I won't show you some of his other mishaps with the scenery but I digress and back to the game. 

After several roundas of archery, handgun and artillery exchanges, the sides are about to clash in meele.

Richard explains to Ray how to use his fecking camera.

My 2 billmen units face a charge of Yorkist heavy cavalry. 

Another clash of infantry.

An overall view of the table/battlefield near the end.

The aftermath of the yorkist cavalry charge, two billmen units no longer on the table, the dice gods and heavy cavalry fecked me over, this last action ended the game and gave the Yorkists forces victory..

Ray being very unprofessional in victory, it put a damper on a good natured game:D