Russians at Waterloo!

Our last game was held at "The Redwood Redoubt" and saw a French army up against the Russians near the town of Waterlooski!!

Basically a condensed version of Waterloo but with the Russians playing the part of the British and allied army and a brigade consisting of Bavarians, Hanoverians and a Russian light regiment filling in for the Prussians. The French were played by the French!

French troops ready to move off.

French right flank.

 The French artillery opened up on the far ridge with little to no effect. Over on the Russian right the French had begun to advance on Hougoumontov.

French centre with Hougoumontov in the distance.

La Haye Saintri

The French army.

French left flank brigade and heavy cavalry in support.

Russians on the ridge behind Hougoumontov and Russian cavalry lurking behind the ridge.

The French attack on Hougoumontov.

Hougoumontov would prove to be a hard nut to crack but after several attacks had been thrown in the Russians were forced to withdraw with heavy losses.

The French right advances on the Russians.

 With the French artillery being 'next to useless' the French right advanced toward the ridge.

The mixed brigade entering the town of  Plancenoitlav.

More attacks going in against the Russians at Hougoumontov. The French centre has turned to face the mixed brigade at  Plancenoitlav.

Bavarians entering the town of  Plancenoitlav.

Towards the end.

The French followed their success at Hougoumontov with an attack on the remaining Russians on the ridge. The Russian cavalry was dealt to by the French heavies and with the Russian infantry and artillery losing heart the French were able to advance toward La Haye Saintri. In the centre an artillery duel saw the superior numbers of French artillery take care of the remaining Russian guns and the French infantry assault the ridge. By this time though darkness was drawing in and time had run out for the French.

The umpire studied the situation and unbelievably declared a minor Russian victory.  The fact that he is the owner of the Russian army had nothing to do with his decision!! So I am told.

We used the Black Powder rules, with figures from the collections of David, Wayne and Rodger.

Zombie attack, Part 2.

Part 2...
A mass of zombies broke through the main door and were heading in our direction.

 By this stage "Chainsaw Girl" had cut a hole into the gun shop from the video store. We were all very low on ammo at this point and started searching the gun shop for ammo as soon as we entered.

Searching the gun shop.

 Two of the guys went off to search the food shop. While they were in there they were attacked by a number of zombies. Armed with only a baseball bat, the only male in my group of three, was out numbered and killed by the zombies. Wayne's samurai sword character however, managed to slash his way out and made it back to the group.

With numerous zombies trying to get to us through the main door to the gun shop and several more attacking us from through a hole in the gun shop's back room our situation was getting serious. We had found 4 of the 6 packages, lost one guy and were  beginning to get surrounded, we decided it was time to go.
(At the end of each turn a chance card was drawn from a deck. These could be of benefit to the humans or to the zombies and in some cases could be kept and played when suited. We had a card that gave us an extra 2" of movement when played.)
At this point we play our card and made for the hole in the wall that lead into the video shop and then toward the main doors of the mall.

Playing the card at that point gave us a great head start over the hoard of zombies in the mall. We got outside where we dealt to a couple of zombies lurking near the main door. Heading to the car park and to safety Wayne's samurai sword character had a sudden rush of blood and decided to take on as many zombies as he could. ( A card was drawn that meant he become courageous!. Could not move until a zombie had hurt him.)

The rest of the characters crossed the line to safety and we abandoned the Samurai guy to his fate in order that the rest lived to fight another day.

Samurai guy being swamped by zombies.

The teams leaving the mall.

All in all a much better game than I thought it would be. The rules were very simple and easy to pick up. I think Geoff has made them up based on a board game.
All credit to Geoff for supplying and painting all the figures and making the mall and car park and for running the game.

Zombies!!!!

A recent game fought by the Southern Strategists at "The Mess".

Three groups of three humans had to enter a mall and find some packages that were lying in various places within the mall and then leave the mall while being attacked by Zombies. The humans assembled in the car park and decided to  keep together for mutual support.

The mall and car park.

Cafe in the mall.

Video store (empty grey shelves) and gun store beyond.

Wayne's group

Adrian's group

On our way to the mall

 As we neared the mall we began to encounter a few Zombies. At this stage they were appearing in ones and twos so we were able to deal with them with out too much trouble.

My group with Wayne's and Adrian's coming to meet us.

Almost at the main door.

Looking inside the mall

 Once through the main door we began our search for the packages. We sent off one or two people to each shop while the others kept the Zombies at bay. Meeting up again and then advancing to the next shop.

Having entered the mall we start searching

Chainsaw Girl would prove very valuable, cutting holes in walls.

Zombies coming from all directions.

 The Zombies could not activate the automatic doors and had to build up their numbers in order to break down the doors.

Zombies about to break in.

 The model of the mall is still under construction. The shops will be filled out in time, but for now it works very well for our games.

Part 2 with the Zombies breaking in, is coming.