Sunday Pike & Shotte Game.

After Herculean efforts getting things ready the first outing of Warlord Games newest offering at Shropshire's smallest wargames club finally came to pass.
For this latest event Mr. Ireland and I were joined by Mr. Will Johnson & Mr. Steve Morgan who as the proud author of the rules had kindly offered to teach we other three how they worked, which as it transpired rather well.

The set-up was as follows:

A view from either end of the 11'x4' modular table we used and yes I will have to paint that blue styrofoam a suitably neutral colour.

This was populated with around 350-400 miniatures per side representing various European armies of the Thirty Years War period:

Here we have the army of Generals Morganstierna & von Scheldona in more detail, the pictures below show the four brigades from left to right across the table.

Steve and I had opted to play a defensive role so the onus was very much on Paul & Will to play an aggressive strategy which they did with great gusto. On the left wing Will and Steve fought a battle of attrition which narrowly went in Steve's favour despite Will being able to call on the services of some cavalry reinforcements which very nearly tipped the balance in his favour.
The pattern was repeated in the left centre with Steve only prevailing in the last round of combat due to some ridiculously lucky dice rolls. In fact Steve's dice rolling was a source of some wonderment throughout the day.

On the right wing Paul and I fought a prolonged and what was for Paul a frustrating cavalry combat. The narrowness of the terrain and the actions of a particularly stubborn dragoon regiment serving to stymy his aggressive intent.
The right centre saw Pauls infantry brigade attacking into a storm of musketry & cannon fire which ultimately saw them off. Some late reinforcements made things interesting for a while but by then my pike blocks were well and truly on the offensive and with the intervention of Steve's currassier reserve effectively put the mockers on a late reverse of fortune.

Steve & Will Battle it out on the left wing.

Events come to a head as Will's cavalry brigade is  effectively put out of action and Steve's foot fight on despite heavy casualties.

The denoument on the left wing, Wills infantry brigade have been put to flight and his  replacement horse reduced to a shadow.

  

On the right wing Paul & I fight a series of indecisive  combats.

The upshot of the right wing stalemate. My strong infantry brigade  sees off Paul's first attack, then goes on the offensive to divide his wing with the assistance of Steve's Curassiers.

Finally a wall to wall panorama from the victorious battle line, this time from right to left:

All in all the four of us had a fantastic day, there were sufficient moments of drama to keep us all engaged right to the bitter end and in all honesty things could have turned out very different if the dice had rolled less kindly for Steve & I. In the end it was the fragmentation of Will & Paul's Army that caused them to declare but it is fair to say they withdrew with honour intact.

Hope you enjoy this quick report, all errors and inconsistencies are my own and as such subject to revision by the other participants.

Regards to you all HGA.