Another great selection of games was on offer at the FOGH club meeting. All accompanied by tea, biscuits and lemon drizzle cake as a special treat!

28mm French Indian Wars – Black Powder by Warlord Games

Off to the endless rolling forest of North America in the 18th century. The game used the Dark & Bloody Ground supplement for Black Powder. The scenario saw a British force marching to relieve a fortress that was besieged by the French and their Native American allies. The French screen of light infantry were thrown back by the British, but their native allies fought like tigers and did a find job of holding up the British. Once the British regulars broke through on to open ground and engaged their French counterparts the redcoats quickly demonstrated their superior fire discipline. The fort was relieved but not before a daring party of Native Americans had made it across the fort’s walls.

28mm Franco-Prussian War – Adapted version of Neil Thomas’ Nineteenth Century rules

Once again the Second Empire was desperately trying to stop the Prussian inexorable march to Paris.

10mm WW2 – Desert War – Blitzkrieg Commander 2 by Pendraken

The Desert Rats were taking on the proud panzers of Rommel’s Deutsches Afrika Korps. 2nd RTR needed to cover the escape of an infantry convoy back to the main defence line. To do this they had the finest cruiser tanks available: A9s, A10s and A13s. Despite the DAK’s best efforts the British tankers were victorious.

October already?! Well, the start of a new month sees the start of a new era with Bolt Action V3 making its debut at the club. Also very nice to see ‘The Men Who would be Kings’ having another run out, as much as anything, to allow all of the favourite quotes from Carry On Up The Khyber to be dusted off.

28mm WWII 8th Army v. DAK – Bolt Action V3 from Warlord Games

The dice bags were rattling again at the FOGH as the men from Deutsche Afrikakorps kicked up a desert storm setting about the plucky lads from the 8th Army. All the toys were out on the table as the Friends got to grips with the new incarnation of the WWII favourites.

28mm 1930s action in the NW Frontier – The Men Who Would Be Kings (TMWWBK) from Osprey Games

This was a re-run of a scenario played earlier in the year. Lessons had been learned and the Imperial forces were determined to put on a much better show this time. A highlight of the TMWWBK rules is rolling for the officers characteristics at the start of the game. The Imperial officers were a rum lot and no mistake. Drunkards, cads, cowards and yellow-bellies to a man. Probably not many heroics to be expected! The scenario sees a well armed Imperial force on its way to rescue a downed Bristol Fighter crew, Flying Officer Wooster and his navigator / valet, Jeeves. The local Pathan tribesmen had other ideas and were also determined to secure the aircraft’s crewmen for ‘questioning’.

Despite the low morale fibre of the Imperial officers, they seemed to know what they were about, and they made best advantage of their up to date 1930s era equipment. Pathan skirmishers and sharpshooters were quickly suppressed by accurate machine gun and artillery fire, while the Highland infantry took no time in rescuing the very relieved aircrew. A brief standoff followed while the Pathans worked there way closer to the Imperial troops without being visible to the Imperial crewed weapons.

A final desperate Pathan charge was held, and then defeated, by the unflappable Sikh infantry who saw off the tribesmen, ensuring that all were back to camp for tea and tiffin well before dark. Hoorah!

Despite some of the Friends being on a jolly to the Warlord Open Day in Nottingham, the hard-core were still shoving lead and plastic back at base.

15mm Franco-Prussian War – Valour & Fortitude by Perry Miniatures

A first tryout for this period with these rules at FOGH. The Prussians won but French fire power had kept the Prussians at bay for a while. Sounds like a reasonable description of the conflict!

28mm WWII – NW Europe late in 1944 – Crossfire by Arty Conliffe

A second expedition to the table for this new collection of WWII Brits. and Germans. This time using Crossfire, which continues to hold a fascination for its truly unique and intriguing rules mechanisms.

28mm Second Punic War – Neil Thomas Ancient Rules.

The classic of classicals, Rome versus Carthage. A refight of Ilipa, 206BC at which the Romans used a very unconventional deployment with Velites supporting cavalry, a refused centre, and the Triarii on the wings. This caught Hasdrubal off guard. In the game, both armies broke at the same time, an improvement on history by the Carthaginians, who historically had lost convincingly.

Friend of General Haig, Kelly, has been building up a collection of Warlord Epic Napoleonics for a little while. To make things extra difficult for himself, he has chosen the 1813 campaign as the background for his armies, and also decided to focus on the Saxon and Prussian protagonists. This has meant he’s needed to make lots of conversions to the Warlord Epic Waterloo Prussian and French ranges. We’ve been so impressed by this Epic ‘madness’ that we suggested to Friend of General Haig, and Warlord supremo, John, that we should bring Kelly’s collection to this year’s Warlord Open Day. He agreed, and so Kelly, Jerry, Pete and Andy mk. 1 made the Wargamers’ pilgrimage to the Lead Belt.

After a Friday night enjoying the beer and curry based delights of Nottingham we arrived, if not bright, then certainly early, at Warlord HQ and set up the battle of Gross Beeren 1813 in the outdoor marquee with the various other demos.

This battle sees a smaller Saxon / French force trying to hold off a much larger force of Prussians. The table looked splendid once set up. Friend of General Haig, Jerry, had done a spectacular job of the terrain, and Kelly’s armies looked truly epic laid out ready for battle. The big Epic battalions look fabulous and really give the impression of a Napoleonic battle.

There was a lot of interest in the game, the armies, and the terrain. We had a great day talking to the Open Day visitors, and the Warlord staff, about all things Epic, Napoleonic and Black Powder. It was also great to meet up with online wargaming buddies and assorted wargaming glitterati in attendance. James from Shakos and Sprues, Martin from 7th Son, The Kaiser and Wooly Mike from Modelling for Advantage, Dan from Wargames Illustrated, and Mr. Peach himself from Peachy Tips, all dropped by over the day, and I’m sure there were more that I’ve forgotten (sorry!).

The Open Day itself seemed to be a great success and generated lots of interest. There were plenty of things to see all day, and we were busy talking to people until after 4pm. We each managed to grab some time away from the table over the course of the day, and I always like the chance to visit the Warlord design studio. I was really excited to see some fabulous looking 28mm 17th Century Poles that are in the pipeline. It was also really nice to meet the Warlord in-house painters and pick up some tips.

What about the battle? Well we did manage to play a turn or two during the day, mainly to keep the table interesting, and also to demo the rules to people interested in how the Black Powder rules system works. The Prussians came on very gamely, but the plucky Saxons and French launched several spirited counter attacks that had some success in holding back the black and blue horde. The superior Prussian numbers eventually overcame Saxon/French pluck and things were looking bad for Reynier’s forces by the time darkness fell.

So, another Open Day in the bag for the FOGH. We had a fabulous day out. Hearty thanks to John and all of the Warlord staff for looking after us, as well as making the Open Day the brilliant, positive wargaming event that it continues to be. We can’t wait to be up in Notters again!