Quick & Dirty Rules - Demo Battle 1 Completed

I managed to fight the first demo battle from Donald Featherstone's book, 'Battles with Model Soldiers.' I had to amend the rules slightly to work with Pike and Shot era weapons and tactics. All in all, a very enjoyable battle. I did take photographs, but unfortunately, they have been deleted in error.

However, a full blow by blow account of the whole battle from start to finish, is available for viewing on my You Tube channel, you will see the link on the right hand side of this page.

I do make a couple of errors during game play, but nothing too major that would affect the outcome. The same battlefield will be used for demo game two, when the two foot regiments of each side will be reinforced by a regiment of horse for each side. This will bring new tactics into the game, as the foot will have to form 'Hedgehog' to defend itself against cavalry attacks.

Hedgehog was basically a ring of pikes that the cavalry could not penetrate, the musketeers would use the protection of the ring of pikes to load and fire. The cavalry troopers would use a brace of pistols at close range to try and kill the pike men and force a way into the hedgehog, if successful, the hedgehog would then collapse and both pike and musket men would be at the mercy of the mounted troopers.

Actually videoing a battle on the table top, is quite a challenge, thinking, speaking, rolling dice, moving the troops, speaking aloud my thoughts on tactics etc. However it is very enjoyable. I must in demo battle two, keep a blow by blow diary, this isn't as daunting as it seems, because I can simply play back the video and make notes, with the advantage, that if I miss something I can simply go back and watch it again. This time, I shall try not to delete the photographs!

I hope to fight this second battle, either later this week or at the weekend. I prefer to do it in daylight as the natural light is better for both the camera and for the look of the painted minis. After all the work I have done building and painting all those troops, I want them to be seen at their best. Even though I say it myself, laid out on the battlefield and closing for combat with flags flying, they look an impressive sight. With all the troops I already have painted and the others in the painting queue, they really would look something, all together in a massed battle. Now that is something to look forward to.