Midgard again in Norfolk saw myself and Mervyn taking on Pete in a Middle Earth themed game. Mervyn and I had the evil forces while Pete had a mixed Gondor and Rohan force.

The battlefield was very open hopefully allowing Evil numbers to overcome Good quality!

I commanded the left and centre with numerous Orc units, some (very) unenthusiastic Goblin archers, Trolls and Warg Riders:

Rapid action on the right with Riders of Rohan being charged by Warg Riders:

Rohan Riders are equally aggressive on the left attacking more Warg Riders and the Goblin archers:

The Wargs hold on while the Goblins are heavily defeated:

On the right the Warg Riders cut down the men of Rohan and pursue into Gondorian infantry:

The Goblin archers are wiped out:

The two centres clash with the Evil army charging home:

The left flank holds on against increasing numbers:

The Trolls batter the Gondor Guards and the Gondor C-inC driving them back:

The Gondor Guards break and their Commander flees quickly followed by the rest of the Allied army:

The Trolls made a huge (literally!) contribution to the victory, smashing the Guards and using their Brutal ability to the full. The Gondor archers were surprisingly resilient, more so than the spearmen for some reason.

Good fun as ever and splendid armies provided by Mervyn.

 

Continuing our French and Indian War Sharp Practice games Dave and I took the British this time against Jerry and Richards French with Indian allies. The scenario this time was a simple encounter.

British Line appear and move towards the fields:

Colonial Rangers head towards the woods on the left:
Some French militia skirmishers appear in the distance, open fire and cause the first casualty of the encounter:
More French skirmishers have moved through the woods and engage the Rangers:
The British Line starts firing it's famous volleys. Although the skirmishers are hard to hit the British fire is very effective:
Losing the firefight the Rangers charge the French skirmishers:
A much smaller force of French Line infantry arrives:
The British waste no time in starting to blast away at the French:
Indians charge into British Rangers:
More Indians threaten British Grenadiers:
The Indians charge:
The Grenadiers are wiped out:
Some of the British turn to face the Indians:
By this point the British Line had devastated their French equivalents forcing them to quit the field. British morale had taken quite a hit as well so it was a close game.

Another Sharp Practice French and Indian War game, this time to introduce Richard to the rules. Richard had the British, I had the French/Natives and Jerry umpired.

A peaceful settlement about to be attacked by the French:

Marines move silently through the forest:
A shock for the French as a large unit of Colonial Line appears, with a clear field of fire ahead of them they are very powerful and will soon blow away anything in front of them:
On the left some militia arrive, a much better target for the French:
The Natives are sent forward to attack the militia:
Marines and Courer de Bois move around to add fire support for the Natives:
Open fire:
The French have run away from the Colonist line avoiding their firepower for the moment:
Eventually they will move enough to join in though:
The Natives have made remarkably little progress, perhaps they remember the last fight when the French failed to come to their aid:
One group of Marines tries to distract the Colonist Line:
Nervous of the Natives the militia fall back:
At last the Natives manage to charge home! 
They cut the militia down but lose their war chief and refuse to take any further part in the action:
The Colonist Line begin to outflank the French:
With the Natives stalled and in danger of being surrounded the French retreat having failed once more:
Another fun game where my plan was solid but failed dismally due to the Natives lack of enthusiasm for advancing and refusal to fight once their chief died! Richard played well using his powerful line troops aggressively and withdrawing the militia to give them more time to get into action.

A return to Sharp Practice, this time the French and Indian Wars using Jerry's wonderful figures and terrain. Dave took the British, I had the French and Jerry had the Natives allied to the French. The objective was for the Natives to get a group of captives off table:

Trees, a river and some rocky/marshy ground:
Some British colonist skirmishers arrive looking for the captives:
The first of the Natives scouts ahead:
British Rangers move to cut off the Natives:
The first of the French appear, some Marines:
They move quickly to try to support the Natives:
They hope to catch the Rangers before they can turn round:
The Natives attempt to move the captives but are attacked by Colonists:
The Natives are wiped out and the captives rescued:
The Marines push through the forest:
More colonists attempt to cross the river but are scattered by the sudden appearance of an angry grizzly bear:
The French have killed a few of the Rangers but the captives are well on their way to safety:
The French give up and retire to try again another day:
A wonderful looking game with Jerry's excellent scenery and figure collection on display, especially as we played the game at the club! The British quickly overwhelmed the Natives and my French failed to give them much support leading to recriminations from both of the allies about whose fault it was!