Face to face games at Little Gaddesdon for 2014

Dear all

Thanks to all those who have updated the poll.

The officially booked games for this year will take place on the following Sundays

6/4/14
18/5/14
15/6/14

21/9/14
19/10/14
16/11/14

I will arrange for the dates to be shown on the front page of the website.

It would be great for people who are able to take on organising a game to select a date and indicate the theme asap.  This can then also appear on the website to ensure maximum take up of players.

If a game organiser needs additional support we can sort that through the forum so if you fancy a first run out as lead umpire please do not be shy about asking for support.

Looking forward to showing a packed itinery for the coming year!

Cheers

Steve

Unfortunately I'm going to need to bow out of this year's gaming (and likely my much-neglected Secretarial role) as my lady wife and I are returning to Australia earlier than planned.

We're leaving on 22/03, which unfortunately means I won't be able to play in (or run) any of the ideas we've discussed. That doesn't mean I won't still be around on here and even - heaven forbid - return to the merry world of SoW gaming, but owing to a serious medical situation in my family we need to be there before the start of April.

Apologies for being especially thin on the ground just now (especially having offered to help out with the development of the website and then vanishing) but there are a lot of things we're trying to organise on the fly.

Best,

Khryses

Khryses wrote:Unfortunately I'm going to need to bow out of this year's gaming (and likely my much-neglected Secretarial role) as my lady wife and I are returning to Australia earlier than planned.

We're leaving on 22/03, which unfortunately means I won't be able to play in (or run) any of the ideas we've discussed. That doesn't mean I won't still be around on here and even - heaven forbid - return to the merry world of SoW gaming, but owing to a serious medical situation in my family we need to be there before the start of April.

Apologies for being especially thin on the ground just now (especially having offered to help out with the development of the website and then vanishing) but there are a lot of things we're trying to organise on the fly.

Best,

Khryses

I'm sure I speak for everyone here, Justin, in wishing you and Sam all the very best.

You'll be welcome back whenever you can make it, and in whatever guise.

Martin (J)

Real life work pressures, and the belated realisation that our June game was on Father’s day (!), have caused a swift rethink.  So we have now moved that one to October.  Apologies for any inconvenience.  The good news is that we now have a full schedule for the second half of the year, as follows:


Sunday 21st September – War Of the Roses campaign.  Run by Paul
For further details see here https://kriegsspiel.forumotion.net/t1012-wars-of-the-roses-game-at-gaddesden-sunday-21st-september#8950
Please register your interest on the doodle link below, together with any preferences as to faction (Royal Lancastrian, Yorkist Pretender, Kingmaker, Duke of Buckingham), or Umpire.
http://doodle.com/wf243bztpc3e7yf2


Sunday 19th October – Rebellion on the NW Frontier.  Run by Steve
North West Frontier colonial game set against the uprisings of 1897.  Players will take command of British or tribal forces equivalent to Brigade level strengths.

Please register your interest on the doodle link below, together with any preferences as to Player or Umpire.
http://doodle.com/375qzs6624f8ym8h


Sunday 16th November – ACW Wilderness Battle 1864.  Run by David
180,000 Union and Confederate troops fight in heavily-wooded country, as Grant launches his first campaign in Virginia.  
Please register your interest on the doodle link below, together with any preferences as to Union, Confederate, Umpire.
http://doodle.com/mdk9yihew78hqa6m

All games will be played at the Little Gaddesden village hall, starting at 11 am and finishing between 4 and 4.30 pm.  Little Gaddesden is a small and very picturesque village in the Chilterns, near Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted.  Lifts to & from the stations there can usually be  arranged.

Please do complete the doodles, especially if you think you might be attending.  This really helps us with the planning.  We do appreciate that sometimes real life gets in the way, and it is quite in order to later change your entries.

Martin (J)

Dear all

As per previous posts the game will be a late 19th Century detachments game with the plucky Brits seeking to put down rebellion on the Frontier.

Doodle link is here

http://doodle.com/375qzs6624f8ym8h

Hopefully it should work.

Cheers

Steve

We had a good Wars of the Roses campaign yesterday at Little Gaddesden, which by some magic actually appeared on the period map of 15th C England!

The campaign was set in 1459, and King Henry’s Lancastrians held a central position in the Midlands, where they set about raising troops, before marching north against one Yorkist force under the Earl of Salisbury.  

Salisbury's brother-in-law, the Earl of Warwick, meanwhile sailed to Dover with part of the elite Calais garrison, took control of London, and summoned the Yorkist nobles in the SE England.  He then moved NW to the aid of Salisbury, who was threatened by the much larger Lancastrian army.  On his way, Warwick was joined at Leicester by the Duke of Norfolk and 2,000 men.

After a minor engagement N of the Trent against Salisbury, King Henry turned S to face Warwick's army, which coincidentally had now advanced to near Bosworth.  It was an interesting situation, as Salisbury with his Yorkist force had quickly marched after the King and now threatened the Lancastrian rear.  Much would depend on his speed of march.

Battle was played using an experimental system, which actually worked pretty well and gave a good flavour.

Warwick's army was outnumbered by 16,000 to 12,000, but both sides knew that Salisbury's force of perhaps 7-8,000 was on the way, and the King’s army included 3,000 troops under the untrustworthy Earl of Derby. Although the wind was in their favour, the Lancastrians felt that they lacked time for a prolonged archery duel, and quickly advanced on both flanks.  They initially held back in the centre, where the Yorkists had deployed their Calais veterans.

The Lancastrians made good progress, and Salisbury’s men had still not arrived.  Warwick therefore felt obliged to risk an attack in the centre, but the Lancastrians held there quite well.  A further Lancastrian advance on the Yorkist left caused the Duke of Norfolk’s own battalia to flee.  Seeing their wing commander put to flight, the whole Yorkist left started to disintegrate.  A similar rout on the right wing again caused a domino effect.  With only his centre still more or less intact, Warwick ordered a retreat.  The Yorkists had maintained a mounted reserve, and this enabled them to get their remaining troops away safely.  At this very moment, Salisbury’s Yorkists finally arrived, but seeing their compatriots in disorder, declined to join the losing battle.  So well-played Lancaster, and this could be the first of a number of WOTR games.

Next autumn games are as follows:

Sunday 19th October – Rebellion on the NW Frontier.  Run by Steve
North West Frontier colonial game set against the uprisings of 1897.  Players will take command of British or tribal forces equivalent to Brigade level strengths.

Please register your interest on the doodle link below, together with any preferences as to British, Tribal Rebels or Umpire.
http://doodle.com/375qzs6624f8ym8h


Sunday 16th November – ACW Wilderness Battle 1864.  Run by David
180,000 Union and Confederate troops fight in heavily-wooded country, as Grant launches his first campaign in Virginia. In highly difficult terrain the Union Commanders will need to push deep into Virginia as fast as possible, to avoid being trapped in The Wilderness, while crossing a major river, securing their supply train and trying to defeat a Confederate army determined to prevent their advance on Richmond and the possible end of the war.

Players will take the roles of General Grant's Senior Commanders and pit there skill against a chain of events managed by the Umpire team, designed to highlight the historical problems of the events of the 4th - 7th May 1864 as the Army of the Potomac under General Meade (the victor of Gettysburg) starts "the long road South".  There are a minimum of four Players needed for the game, three Corps Commanders and General Meade himself although more can be accommodated if enough people want to take part.  The challenge is to do better than your real life counter-parts in the face of all manner of problems!  During each day, most players will be separated, and in command of their corps, only communicating by courier as the would in a typical kriegsspiel.  Each evening there will be the opportunity to meet at army HQ, discuss the events of the day, and plan for the next one.

Please register your interest on the doodle link below, together with any preferences as to Union, Confederate, Umpire.
http://doodle.com/mdk9yihew78hqa6m


Martin (J)