The Attack on the Griffon Inn – a Sharp Practice solo game

With the table still set up I thought I’d have another game of Sharp Practice, like you do. So, the Fleurians decided to take revenge for the recent Medetian reconnaissance raid that had caused so much bother.

A little to the south of the bridge scene from the last game sits the village of Chiesa, with the Griffon Inn (a favourite haunt of off-duty Medetian officers and a regular stop-over for wealthy merchants) nearby. Burning the inn down, capturing idle officers and possibly making off with a bit of loot would be a good way to pay the enemy back – and in the detested, but tough, Major de Grenache, the Fleurians had just the man for the job.

The Griffon:

De Grenache gathered a raiding party from his regiment, made up of 20 line infantry, with a further 20 chasseurs and 12 elite voltigeurs drawn from the light companies. He was assisted by a junior officer and a veteran sergeant. The force approached the inn at dawn, entering the table on blinds and moving swiftly forward.

The unsuspecting Medetians were scattered and asleep, with only a single sentry (who turned out to be sleeping on the job..) posted. Major Nebbiolo was in the Griffon after a bawdy night, with some riflemen down in the taproom and a group of line infantry camped in the trees behind the yard. In the village were young Ensign Lambrusco and Sergeant Gerduzzo, who between them commanded a further group of infantry, one of elite grenadiers, and a light gun with its crew.

The sleeping sentry (his card failed to come up for the first 3 turns) was surprised (to say the least) when the Fleurians sprang out of the early morning mist and made straight for him! He legged it and called out his alert but was captured before he get get over the wall and rejoin his comrades. The net was closing in and the Medetians were still stumbling from their beds and blankets.

 

 

First to react, the grenadiers looked decently smart when they piled out of their village billets and took up a defensive position:

Table overview at this point, the Medetians haven’t exactly established a defensive line yet:

Things soon descended into typical chaos and violence as the fighting began. The grenadiers held the flank and their fire forced the voltigeurs to seek cover in the trees. In proper grenadier fashion Sergeant Gerduzzo led them in the first of several bayonet charges and routed the enemy skirmishers, before following on to offer support to the beleaguered Major and his rifles at the inn.

The rifles had done well initially, spilling from the front door and shooting down a number of the enemy attackers, Major de Grenache among them. He slumped to the ground where his men, grateful to be freed from his vile oppression, happily left him and followed the second in command over the wall and into melee with Major Nebbiolo and the riflemen.

 

 

The Medetian Major was struck down too and his remaining men were pursued into the building where, despite a death-or-glory charge back down the stairs after they’d taken refuge above, the last 3 men dropped their weapons and surrendered to the victorious Fleurians. The new Medetian leader, Captain Verona (also wounded in the fighting) derring-do’d his way out of the upstairs window and hurt himself again as he came down in a merchant’s wagon out the back..

A little dazed, he took charge of the men who’d been camping behind the inn and tried to regain control of the situation. Unfortunately for him, Captain Corbieres had stepped into de Grenache’s shoes, as it were, and led his men on a successful ransack of the Griffon, before setting fire to the spirit store and evacuating again via the front door.

The fighting continued with both sides blazing away and the artillery piece taking pot-shots when any Fleurians wandered (or were chased) into view. There was plenty of hand-to-hand as the Fleurians sought to get away, their mission complete. Both Captain Corbieres and his adversary Ensign Lambrusco (valiantly leading a charge in his first action) received light wounds in these clashes. Eventually the remaining Fleurians who hadn’t already routed made a fighting withdrawal and the exhausted, and equally bloodied, Medetians let them go.

The inn burnt to the ground while the Medetians tended to their wounded (including Major Nebbiolo), and dragged the bleeding and abandoned Major de Grenache into captivity. With both his senior officers wounded, 18 year old Ensign Lambrusco found himself temporarily in charge of the mess but, like any sensible Medetian young gentleman fresh from the academy, he started to make order out of chaos and soon forgot the pain of his bandaged arm. Welcome to the war!

Good fun and plenty going on every turn, the Sharp Practice rules make solo play a pleasure and all the prep has certainly been worthwhile.

Return Journey – Sharp Practice Solo Game, Part 2

Following the steady build-up of troops on the table, after a few turns things started to kick off. I’d rolled randomly for which Fleurian groups were on which blind, and sure enough the cavalry suddenly appeared, making for the middle of the table to cut off the enemy. The Medetians looked warily to their right but were ordered to march on.

 

The riflemen in the farmyard took a shot as the hussars swept past and managed to empty a saddle, but the rest rode on:

The rifles had problems of their own, however, and an enemy infantry group almost reached them with a charge from the woods. Halting just on the other side of the fence the Fleurians taunted the riflemen, challenging them to a rumble:

Remembering their mission, the rifles said ‘thanks, but no thanks’ and made a hasty departure:

At that point the Hussars hit the lead infantry group, winning the close fight and wounding Captain Gattinara. Although pushed back, the Medetians refused to run and were saved by their comrades in the other infantry group, (and the rifles) who charged the cavalry in turn and saw them off with heavy casualties. That was the last we saw of the horsemen in this game.

 

At the bridge, the artillery held back the Fleurian Chasseurs and managed to wound Captain Corbieres. A long firefight ensued between the Fleurians trying to close the bridge escape route, and the defending Medetians, who were increasingly aided by their arriving comrades under Captain Gattinara.

 

 

The rifles continued their excellent work, acting as rearguard and stopping the pursuit in its tracks:

Several of the final turns were cruel to the Fleurians, with the Cappuccino Card (replacing the Tiffin Card – we are in southern Europe after all) ending them before their Big Men could act. With the Medetians able to pour in enough effective firepower to build up Shock on their pursuers, they eventually managed drive them back from the bridge, and prevent a final counter-attack.

Wounded but victorious, Captain Gattinara was the last to cross the bridge. He turned to salute the similarly injured Captain Corbieres and marched his men off into the woods. The Medetians had suffered only light casualties and had succeeded in their mission, bringing back valuable intelligence from behind enemy lines. The Fleurians had lost many more men, and these units would be in no state to fight again for some time.

The game was great fun, with the cards providing suspense and drama (Captain Gattinara fleeing in fear and dragging his men away with him just as they were nearly at the bridge for the first time, being a particular classic!). The characters have begun to take on a bit of personality already and I look forward to returning to this small part of the Medetian Wars soon. Next post will contain a few summary comments and observations about how I got on with the rules, etc.

Return Journey – Solo Sharp Practice

With the cards and figures done, and the terrain still on the table, there was no excuse but to try a first solo game of Sharp Practice at the weekend. I devised a relatively simple scenario based on a Medetian reconnaissance force making its way back to its own lines after its mission, and a force of Fleurians attempting to cut them off before they could do so.

The Medetians (2 groups of infantry and 1 of rifles) were led by Captain Gattinara, assisted by a Sergeant. Waiting for them back at the bridge they were making for was Lieutenant Apricale with a further group of infantry and a light gun, with orders not to cross the river but to provide covering fire for the recce force.

The Fleurians were under Captain Corbieres of the Chasseurs who was accompanied by a scratch force made up of 2 groups of light infantry, 2 of line infantry, and 1 of hussars. He was assisted by a Lieutenant and a Sergeant.

The Medetians would start in the top left corner of the table, as seen in the (unfortunately slightly blurred) pic below, the Fleurians on blinds in the bottom left along the river bank, and the bridge defence force was tucked into the trees on the Medetian side of the river, with a sentry on lookout duty in the watermill’s attic.

Lt Apricale’s force covering the river crossing:

 

First on the scene – the Medetian riflemen approach the rear of the farm and dash through to take up a position to cover the flank of the rest of the column (first enemy blinds in the distance making for the mill and the bridge beyond):

 

First to deploy off their blind are the Fleurian line troops, their paint still fresh(!):

The Medetian sentry has done his bit and races back to warn Lt Apricale that the enemy are coming down the road towards him, with the recce group nowhere in sight. Alone, and chased by enemy Chasseurs, the sentry managed a fear-inspired roll of double 6 for his movement! He slows down and tries to look nonchalant as he makes his report:

A long way off still, the main recce group starts hot-footing it towards the river, Captain Gattinara urging them on:

Fleurian Chasseurs are already at the mill though..

The rifles take the first shot of the day, earning their pay by putting a good amount of shock on the nearest enemy as they try to sneak close through the trees:

Back at the bridge, Apricale sees the enemy for himself and calls out to ready his men, ordering the gun crew to traverse left a little:

 

Things are about to hot up!

Part 2 to follow, mainly to keep the number of pictures to a manageable number per post.

Cards for Sharp Practice

As I’m just about ready for a first solo game of Sharp Practice I thought it was time to get a key component sorted – the cards. The game requires quite a few, in two decks. The Bonus cards are generally for random events and national characteristics, and I’ve generally done those with simple text on a white background.

The Game deck is more interesting as it has specific cards for each side, the key ones being those that activate each Big Man (named leader). For these I’ve nicked an idea I’d seen previously – putting a picture of the associated miniature on the card so it can be easily identified during the game. The last thing you want is constantly having to check which figure is ‘blue big man no.3’. So all my leader figures have been to a photo shoot and had their images pasted into a national colour-specific card containing important information about the character.

All the cards are printed from computer (prepared in Excel as you can format things with quite a lot of freedom) and put into card trading game wallets for protection, and so they can be shuffled, etc.

Line Infantry Batch 1 Done at Last!

..And I am very glad to see them off the painting table, they’ve been there a while!

These are the first Fleurian line infantry, to go with the light troops I did in August and September. I started them in early October (I think) and although they haven’t been unpleasant to paint, it was a big batch and I struggled to keep my momentum up. That said, it may have been a good thing as over the same period I have fitted in some other painting and figure prep while avoiding them! The NCO and men are plastic Perry Austrian Napoleonics and the 2 officers are from their metal ranges.

20 done then, and plenty more to do, but there’s no urgency for those. I will need a handful more to make this lot into a regiment of 30 (including command) for next year’s Ayton game, but for now I have what I need: 2 groups of 10 and a few Big Men for Sharp Practice: Medetia vs Fleurie. I’ve finished a couple more Big Men as well but haven’t based them yet.

I hope to have a first solo game of SP at the weekend. Having made some alterations to the St Evian table from last week’s game I intend to play a small-ish scenario just to get used to the rules again.

A few more pics, taken with varied lighting as you can see:

 

 

 

 

The Raid on St Evian – The Action

On came the raiding force, by boat from the south west and with wagons from the east. The militia sentry at the bridge stumbled sleepily from his guard hut, gave a cry of alarm and was promptly cut down as the Medetians raced over the bridge.

The landing by boat to the west of the town went reasonably smoothly, with only a couple of landlubbers falling into the water. From there, the Medetians went to work raiding the town for liquid loot and dealing decisively with the piecemeal town defences.

There was some tough fighting in places, especially once the Fleurian garrison officers got embroiled, but Captain Corleone’s men were generally able to retain the initiative. Simon kept his eye on the victory conditions and made sure he always held some men out of the fighting to secure the barrels of Marc as they were discovered, and load them on the wagons (and eventually the boats too).

Some of the main highlights, events and fun bits:

  • The look on Simon’s face when the previously unseen militia cannon muzzle rumbled up over the fort’s parapet to aim at his wagon train on the bridge (one Ox and one unfortunate soldier were all it hit during the game but the morale effect was far greater!).
  • The early morning huntsman who happened to be in the woods when the Medetians came ashore, and who promptly shot one of them dead before leading the others a merry dance through the woods.
  • The fort garrison’s ‘Keystone Cops’ impression as they attempted to embark in their boat and row swiftly to the town to aid in its defence. Officers fell in the water at both the start and end points of the journey which took about 6 turns in all (repeated movement rolls of 1″ made it the slowest crossing in the recorded history of St Evian).

 

  • Determined (but generally ineffective) defenders behind almost every door in town, seeking to protect their own share of the collectively produced booze.
  • The hapless Medetian soldier who kicked in the church doors only to take a musket ball to the chest as the enraged monks put up a spirited defence. Unfortunately for them the next man through the door was Lieutenant Zanetti who carved his way through them, and the priest, in just 2 turns of expert swordsmanship.
  • The Medetian company marksman who single-handedly held off a late garrison sortie which threatened to cut the road and re-capture the wagons. In a game where shooting isn’t usually all that effective he managed to kill 3 enemies with 3 shots and survive a round of combat with a superior opponent. Both of us were pleased to see him make a heroic exit with the last wagon, to be able to return to fight another day.
  • The final desperate melee involving key leaders from both sides, as Captain Corleone led a rear-guard action back down the main street towards the boats. The presence of the Medetian standard bearer probably saved the day when he granted a single die re-roll to the Captain. It came up a 6 and allowed him to win a fight that had looked likely to spell his doom.

When the dust and smoke had cleared, the Medetians had managed to make off with 28 points worth of the Marc de St Evian. With 25 points required for a win, Simon had succeed in his mission – and still had half his men left. A good result! It had been close though, one smashed wagon wheel would have been enough, but the dozy militia gunners missed too many shots at the departing wagons to stop one of them.

 

The game was a lot of fun, and as before the rules (GW’s Legends of the High Seas/Lord of the Rings) provided lots of cinematic moments and enough flavour to enjoy this swashbuckling period. Thanks go to Simon for his excellent company and the positive spirit with which he threw himself into the game.

The Raid on St Evian – Derring Do in the era of the Three Musketeers

Simon came over for a game this weekend, and we decided to return to the 17th century skirmish setting we first played about a year ago (the picture above on the blog banner is from that game). Once again the Medetians and the Fleurians went at it hammer and tongs in a very entertaining and eventful clash that saw Simon successfully complete his mission, although it was a close run thing at the end.

Rather than a blow by blow account, I just intend to draw together some pictures and a description of some of the highlights, but I will first set the scene on what the game was about..

From the Medetian player briefing that Simon received:

The Setting
While the
main war is being waged to the south, you, Captain Corleone of the Medetian
army, have been sent north with your company to cause havoc on the Fleurian
side of the border. One of your agents (spies) has reported that the town of St
Evian, known for its delicious and expensive brandy (Marc de St Evian), is
readying a valuable shipment for sending south to the capital. Capturing this
lucrative export commodity before the Royal flotilla arrives to collect it is
just the sort of thing you were sent to do, considering the loss of revenue and
prestige it will inflict on King Francis. You might even make a bit of profit
on the side yourself..
St Evian lies
to the north west of your present camp and you are advised that the small fishing
village of Bardot, two miles upstream to the south, has boats that can be
appropriated for your mission (to add surprise and to aid your withdrawal if
necessary). Also, ensuring that you have eyes on the river and cannot therefore
be surprised from upstream is crucial. St Evian itself is relatively remote and
served by a single road. The lightly wooded Petit Dern allows for a stealthy
approach away from the road and is open enough for your wagons to pass through.
 
Area Map

 

Objective

 

Capture at
least 25 barrels worth of Marc de St Evian, by having them in your control or
carried off the table at the end of the game. Large casks count as 4 barrels
worth, medium as 2 and small as 1.

Simon selected his force for the mission, comprising a decent total of 32 figures, and received some sketchy reconnaissance information about the geography of St Evian and the make-up of its defences. He divided his men between the road and river approaches and was then introduced to the table (which was, as always, a pleasant, tranquil scene before the carnage started):

 

As you can see, it was an opportunity to use the water base boards, river banks and jetties, etc. The table size was 6’x4′. I’d prepared a scattered and disparate Fleurian defence, made up of a small garrison of regulars in the fort, a militia company that had to assemble on the alarm being raised, various locals and travelling gentlemen who were determined to see off the vile invader (and defend their valuable booze), and lastly some clergy with a zero tolerance approach to people trying to nick their share of the liquor. I ran things as a ‘game master’ to provide Simon with a few surprises and to continue the narrative from the briefing.

All the action in the next post..

Don’t Mess with the Clergy

Following on from the Warlord Games armed priest I painted a while back, I needed to provide him with some additional muscle for a particular game scenario (which I’ll post about next).

This led me to the Perry’s pack of armed monks and priests from their Carlist War range. They’re all really good figures, and I decided to paint up the 3 monks who’re armed with a variety of black powder weapons. These will happily do me for 17th to 19th century games and provide a bit of fun whenever there’s a church to defend or, possibly one day, some zombies to vanquish!

Steam Tank-tastic

As a bit of an aside from my 28mm efforts of late, I recently spotted a likely addition to my 15mm fantasy collection in Black Hat Miniatures’ Martian Wars VSF range. A few years ago I built a number of 15mm armies based on the Warhammer background, which to me is a decent blend of high fantasy and fun. I don’t play Warhammer itself and I don’t use GW figures (obviously, as they’re 28mm) but the races, armies and troop types have been absorbed fairly successfully into the rules I use.

The Empire army was the first one I worked on. It was one of those wargamer’s odysseys which involved looking for the right figures from across a wide spectrum or historical and fantasy ranges, and requiring lots of conversions to get the results I was after. One thing that I couldn’t find and didn’t fancy scratchbuilding was a steam tank. When I spotted Black Hat’s model it was a no-brainer, even though I knew there’d need to be some customisation to get the right look.

Here’s the model and the potential add-ons I’d salvaged from previous projects, alongside some of my Empire Halberdiers (Old Glory) for a sense of scale:

And here it is after being festooned with an engineer (who still needs a pistol and hat feather), extra funnels, Empire iconography and other decoration:

 

 

Once I’ve finished painting it, I guess this army will have to be first subject matter for my resuscitated of Army of the Month concept!

One Year On

Today is the 1st anniversary of launching this blog, so happy birthday to The Medetian Wars. It’s been fun for me so far and I’ve really appreciated everyone who’s popped in to have a look and I’ve been especially grateful for all the positive, supportive comments. There have been over 6,000 page hits, which I think isn’t too bad for a new blog in a quiet corner of the hobby.

Although there has been the odd dip where real life has left little time for painting, playing or blogging, I’ve generally kept up a reasonable momentum of posts; about 6 a month. I think the blog has helped me keep projects moving to some extent so it’s been positive from that point of view too. Army of the Month petered out but shouldn’t have done really. I’ll resurrect it soon – once I can get some terrain out for a photoshoot!

On to year 2 then, and hopefully I’ll get some more gaming in to post about soon (doesn’t everyone say that?)…Anyway, it’s an opportunity for a few celebratory pics I haven’t posted before: