ECW: Scots v. English

Scots: Mike & Mark.
English: SteveJ, Chris & Jim

The Scots are on the far side.

The Scots generally advance while the English stand & wait except for extending their line a little on the far flank.

The English flanking move causes the Scots to hold back their left while their right flank infantry are delayed in the farms.   The Scot's cavalry is advancing slowly to match their foot.  In the centre the Scots pike & shot have charged musketeers that fill a gap between the P&S blocks.

In the centre the English Musketeers have been broken by P&S & the P&S on the left have been broken by Scots musketeers.  The English only have one P&S in reserve to plug the gap leaving a gap in the line.  On the far flank the Scots are falling back having been overlapped by the English.

The Scot's cavalry has finally charged the English horse. 
Highlanders have charged the P&S on the hill on the right of the English cavalry.
The English Muskteers that were deployed on their left flank are marching behind the cavalry to support the English centre. 

The Scots horse have gained a small advantage .
The English centre has held on as support arrives from both flanks.
The Scot's left has retreated into the woods.

The Scots cavalry have won 2 combats & lost 1 so are getting on top.
The Scots centre is crumbling under the English counterattack. 

The English have lost the cavalry fight & Scots cavalry & a second attack has taken the hill in their centre, but the Scot's have no foot left un-shaken as the English right rolls up their line.  The Scots concede & use their cavalry to cover their retreat. 

A little Napoleonic naval battle

British: 1 2nd rate + 3 3rd rates all elite crews.
French: 1 1st rate _ 1 2nd rate + 2 3rd rates, all regular crews. 

Both sides are in 2 separate squadrons of 2 ships. The Brits are on the near side of the table. The wind is blowing from the far side of the table so the French have the weather guage.  We then diced for sides & Chris got the Brits & Jim the French.

The British continued beating to windward leaving their squadrons separated.  The lead French squadron wore ship so the 2 squadrons could run towards each other with the wind on the quarter to form a single line, then decend on one of the British squadrons. 

The French had their port guns loaded with chain while the Brits had their starboard guns double shotted & the French got the worst of the initial exchange.

The 2nd & 3rd French ships were hit hard as the Brit flagship broke the line & raked them.  But the succession of French ships firing chain dismasted the 2nd British ship & the British flagship was raked in the stern as the French passed firing first broadsides of double shot from their starboard batteries.

Outnumbered 2 to 1 one dismasted & the other a ruin, the ships of the British lead squadron had no choice but to strike their colours to prevent furtehr slaughter.  The 2nd Brit squadron turned away.

The British failure to bear away to gain speed to combine their squadrons before engagement was ruthlesly punished.  

Camp Cromwell resumes with Modder Fokkers

With Chris & I still jet lagged we opted for an easy game of Modder Fokkers on our first wragames night back home.
Germans: Mark & Mike with Albatrosses.
Allies: Jim: Pup. SteveJ: Spad VII.  Chris Nieuport.
The Germans are outnumbers 3 plaes to 2, but they have twin MGs to the Allies single mgs & sturdier planes.

Germans on the left.  Boths sides aproach the enemy cautiously while climbing.

The dog fight begins. 

The allies get the better of the dogfight with mrk's' Albatros getting such a battering from all three Alied planes that he ran for home leaving his comrade in the midst of 3 enemies.

Mike bravely ducked & weaved towards home, but didn't make it.

The Allies managed to get themselves more opportunities for good shots than the allies & were blessed with a good run of dice.  The 3 to 2 planes seemed to be more important than the twin v. single mgs.   In any case it was a rattling good game & easy on jet lagged brains.

Last leg of the expedition

The last two weeks of the expedition was  mainly sightseeing in Andalusia & Morocco. There were no more battlefields, but many castles, fortifications & city walls, but none individually worth a blog report.  Some highlights:

Cadiz was our fave of the Andalusian cities with much of it's defenses of the old city preserved.

Ronda is on a spectacular site surrounded by precipitous cliffs forming a natural defense.  This is the new bridge over the gorge between the original & new town. 

Gibraltar was pretty spectacular.The tunnels of Gibraltar were very extensive & included whole bastions cut inside the rock.

There were many city walls in Morocco but nothing military as interesting as we'd seen in Spain.  This is the old Portuguese fortress town of El Jedida.