Crecy at The Other Partizan.

So the game was played last Sunday. It was awarded Best Game, which was really pleasing for all of us who'd contributed to the game; Dave Andrews' English army and terrain (using his fantastic towelling method), Matt Bickley's unique conversions and detailed painting of the German nobility (including the blind King of Bohemia), and Dave Imrie's French nobility and crossbowmen (using many of his superb Claymore Castings).

We managed to get about 260 mounted knights on the table for the French - just slightly shy of the target - as sadly time ran out for other figures and vignettes that were either planned or prepared but not finished. As we'd not had a dry-run, it was a squeeze to get all the French on the table. Rather than reflect the staggered arrival of the French, we popped all them on the table from the start and played it from there. We will run the game again sometime, with a larger tabletop.

The crossbowmen' pavises stuck in the baggage wagons

We used Hail Caesar rules, with amends prepared for us by Jack Glanville - who heroically umpired and kept the momentum going, so we could play and chat.

Dave Andrews' brilliant Edward III command base

English right battle

English left battle

The brief narrative is that the mercenary crossbowmen followed their predecessors and retired after making some casualties on the English holding the Crecy-Wadicourt ridge. The German knights (led by Matt Bickley) on the left then attacked, but lost momentum on the pot-hole defences dug before the English line.

Initial set-up, ready to play.

The German knights advance

The crossbowmen retire and leave it to their social superiors!

On the French right the Prince of Navarre (David Imrie) led more charges by mounted knights, but again failed to make inroads and the French were attracting to loose contingents of knights, as they retired from heavy casualties. Finally the Germans broke through and forced the English 'battle' on it's right to fall back. Renewed French attacks on the centre with King Phillip (moi) and the right also won melees and pressure built on the English line. The English right and centre was eventually forced back and King Edward (Dave Andrews) was forced to concede and retire back to the Channel coast.

The German attack and breakthrough

Award and fellow Bodkins

An immensely enjoyable day - and rewarding for the other Bodkins who'd been building their collections with immense diligence and patience over several years - nice looking toys and great company from everyone round the table. Also great to catch up with those who came along for a chat.

I'll keep folk advised if and when we run it again - in the meantime look out for some proposed coverage in print and online in 'Wargames Illustrated' mag.

Just some pics from here on in.

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Post Mill - completed

So the last post before the Crecy demo game is a post mill - appropriately!

Painting all done. Loads of great detail on this Grand Manner casting, so dry-brushing and washes does it. I added furled sails, using rolled knapkins and fine string soaked in diluted glue and based on illustrations of working ones at the start of the last century. My aim to show them quarter-furled became too complicated in the time I had left.

According to several chroniclers, it was from a windmill behind the English position that Edward III prepared the positioning of the army for Crecy, and may have commanded the battle from there too.

Thanks for the comments on the knights - will post a report & pics of the game.

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French Knights for Crecy.

My contribution to The Bodkins Crecy demo game, at The Other Partizan next Sunday, is relatively modest compared to the other players. I have bulked out some very old mounted French knights which I did about 20 years ago with some additional bases.

These are mainly Foundry riders on Front Rank mounts, which with a little bit of judicious cutting and filing, seem to fit Ok despite the horses being big sculpts. The horses are nice active poses and so create the sense of movement of charging French nobility needed for the game - plus they also fit those that David Imrie and Matt Bickley have done.

So 12 bases of knights charging recklessly to their fate, and 4 bases of passive Front Rank figures awaiting in the vanguard . Much of the painting has been done at some speed to meet the deadline and I've made liberal use of LBMS transfers on 1st Corps shields, whilst avoiding heraldic beasts where I can. Conversions have been kept to a minimum too, apart from adding some plastic visors and headswops.

If you're going to the show, please do come along and say 'hi', it's always great to meet blog followers.
I will take photos and do a posting about the game.

...also I have some surplus Foundry caparisoned horses, if anyones interested...!!

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Pavise wagons for Crecy

So the Bodkins game at The Other Partizan show in Newark on 20 August, will be Crecy - the first land battle in the Hundred Years War of 1346.

Several other Bodkins have been working on this game for a couple of years; growing their collections of English and French for the mid fourteenth century. My contribution is relatively modest and I'll post more on these next week as I complete them - as well as pictures of the game itself.

First up are a couple of carts carrying the pavises of the crossbowmen from the Italian peninsular, who were employed by King Phillip VI of France via Genoan captains for the campaign, since the English invaded in July 1346 and besieged Harfluer. At the battle the French were confident of victory and ordered the crossbowmen to advance and screen the French noblemen, without the protection of their pavises which had not been unloaded from the baggage. Consequently the crossbowmen took heavy casualties from the opposing English longbows and started to retire, only to then be ridden down by the first wave of attacked mounted French knights!

The wagons are existing ones and I've simply added mix of Claymore Miniatures metal pavises, with LBMS transfers, and plastic Perry ones sandwiched in between the bundles to bulk them out. I decided (based on a lack of visual evidence) that the paves may have been strung together when moved on wagons. These will just be placed on the wagons for the game.
Seems to work OK...

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