New Toys!

It's another slow month so far and the blogging has fallen behind a bit lately, but I am slowly making progress on a few fronts! The start of our Saga campaign is (hopefully) looming so it's all about Vikings at the moment. As mentioned in the previous post, I spent some money at the recent WMMS show. Possibly for the first time ever, I was extremely focused with my acquisitions as they were all made for a single project - Vikings!

First up, SAGA dice for my Viking warband

No Viking warband would be complete without livestock to steal!

Courtesy of Magister Militum, there are six sheep,
two goats, an ox, a mule, four ducks and four chickens! 

I also picked up a couple of Saxon Houses from Timeline Miniatures

As well as a Great Hall!

Which were all remarkably quick and easy to assemble!

All in all, these should all make some pretty good additions to the Viking games (if we ever get started!)

Malta at WMMS!

As I mentioned, Sunday was the West Midlands Military Show. We took our Malta game along to display, with the improvements we've made since Wargamer in December. The show was a good day overall, it seemed like there was a healthy turnout and there were plenty of traders and games around. To top it off, we also won the Best Terrain award for our game! 

Here's a few shots of the game in its latest guise.

The board with troops deployed

The Ottoman advance begins

The view from the other end!

The street fight begins in earnest

The Turkish galley impatiently waits outside the harbour

Another shot of the board as the Turks assault the boom towers

The North Africans take the boom tower!

Valette looks on from the battlements

A view of the hall on the way to lunch!

The galley finally enters the harbour

The siege tower at the halfway point...

The Manowar, complete with sails!

Our Best Terrain award!

I also got a few shots of the Best Demo Game, an ECW offering from Leamington using the To Defy A King rules. It was a nice looking game overall, but for me personally it was missing that special something that grabbed me.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the other games on offer, but there were several others that looked very nice. Overall, a good day was had by all and much money was spent! More on that later...

WMMS 2015

Just a quick one to say that if you've in the Midlands area, pop down to the West Midlands Military Show tomorrow where we'll be demonstrating our new-and-improved "Mayhem in the Med! Malta c.1565" game all day. We've been busy tinkering since the last outing at Wargamer in December, so the game looks a little different (and hopefully better) now.

If you do manage to make the show, be sure to stop by to say 'Hi!' as we do our best to look like we know what we're doing!

"Mayhem in the Med" - The Aftermath

So, the game itself was a success, with plenty of people taking an interest and stopping to tell us how impressed they were with the boards, the figures and the game as a whole (head over to Tales From GHQ for a brief review of the show, and some favourable comments on our game!) Naturally, we've already come up with a list of things we want to change and improve ready for our next outing, but that's why we always use Wargamer as our first test run, so that we can address any issues in time for 2015!

So what else went on at Wargamer? Well, best game was ultimately won by this excellent Plains War game, which got our vote for best game as well. Unfortunately, I don't know who was putting this game on, but congratulations to whoever it was!

And finally, of course there were some purchases to be made. I happened across a couple of Citadel Fortress towers, unassembled and going cheap, and as I only currently have a single tower that we're using for the Malta game I figured I'd buy three more so that I now have the complete Fortress set. 

Special mention also needs to go to Andy Lyon of Ainsty Castings. We were positioned quite close to the Ainsty stand, and he came over to the game a few times to have a chat and a gander. Of course, it helped that we were using several of his ships in the game (and also that we bought a few more of them at the show) but he very kindly provided a few bits and bobs that were missing from our game - namely, ships wheels and deck cannons for the ships, which weren't available when we first bought our ships from him, free of charge. A very kind gesture and so Andy, in the unlikely event that you're reading this - thanks very much!

So, that's Wargamer over for another year, but it won't be the last outing for Malta. In the meantime, there are other things to update you on and with Christmas fast approaching, there's not much time left in 2014 to post about it! 

"Mayhem in the Med" - The Great Siege of Malta: Part 2

On to part two of our Malta game! 

The Turks were making their way slowly up the street towards the town walls, although the Christians were putting up a tough fight in the streets. The Turkish galley was still waiting outside the boom chain, but the Turks had finally begun their assaults on both towers. 

From the walls, the Christians in the town could only watch as the Turks and
their North African allies began their assaults on the boom towers.

Overkill? Not with how ineffective the Turks were proving in combat...

Having cleared the elite Janissaries from the streets, the Christians now had to tackle
 the fanatical zealots dedicated to the Ottoman cause.

The siege tower trundles along as the fanatics attempt to overrun the defences

The slow progress of the Turkish advance as the Christian ships rake the shoreline with grapeshot...

Slowly but surely, the fanatics make their way up the street as the Christians fall back before them

The towers finally fall and the assaulting units rush to rejoin the main attack

The defenders wait patiently behind the walls

The Turks cram into the narrow street behind the siege tower

The galley finally makes it into the harbour!

The boom chain falls and the galley brings its prow cannon
 to bear as the siege tower finally makes it to the walls!

The Ottoman elite assault the walls...

...as the fanatics swamp the defenders at the gates.

The defenders muster to sally forth...

...and the Knights of St. John lead the way, throwing back the Turkish fanatics.

Ultimately, the game ended with Jean de la Valette throwing back the initial tower party as well as the reinforcing unit who had previously been pushing the tower. Somehow he managed to defend the walls all on his own! Meanwhile, in the gateway, the Knights of St John defeated the fanatics and pushed them back. The town had held, although there were still plenty of Turks around. Victory to the Christians, but only just...

"Mayhem in the Med" - The Great Siege of Malta: Part 1

November 30th saw the 'Wyrley Retinue' take our usual trip to the local Wargamer show. This year was a little different, as the show has changed venue and moved to Leasowes High School rather than Great Barr High School - the other side of Birmingham and a bit of a longer journey, but ultimately a much better venue overall. More on that later though. First, we had a game to present - our "Mayhem in the Med!", based on the Great Siege of Malta 1565. 

The premise was simple - the Christians were outnumbered more than two-to-one defending the town, and simply had to survive the day and prevent the Turks crossing the walls. Controlling the Christians were Paul and Dad; controlling the Turks were Gary, Ben and myself. The Christians had the advantage of a ship-full of cannons waiting in the harbour, while the Turks could turn the tide if they could claim both boom towers and allow their own galley into the harbour. 

The horde of Turks flood the board!

Gary's galley waits in the bay for the boom chain to drop

The view of the board from the Turks' entry point

The harbour entrance, with the galley waiting outside

The town, with Christians atop the walls.

The Christians rush to defend the outlying buildings from the encroaching horde

The Turkish continue to advance slowly...

 

The view down the street, towards the advancing Turks

Jean de la Valette stands atop the walls!

Getting there slowly...

The Janissaries lead the advance, attempting to clear the Christians from the street

Where did those Janissaries go? The Christians put up quite a fight...

The Christian reinforcements arrive...

North Africans in their sights...

Stay tuned for part two!