Friday 1 July 2016

Battle of Craig-Annan Castle 1715.

Last night myself,Graham,Paul and Brian donned our kilts,stocked up with porridge and deep fried Mars Bars,and set off for the Highlands of Scotland for a small,short,but very exciting game involving "English" troops against Scottish Clans and some allied Swiss infantry.


The scenario and table before any movement-Paul and I were in joint command of the "English" whilst Brian was in charge of the Swiss,and Graham controlled(?) the Scots.


Paul is deploying his troops as the Scots start their very fast advance-our cavalry decided, very early on, that they could not withstand the Highland charge,and retired!!

On my flank,Brian is moving his Swiss in an attempt to keep me occupied whilst Graham and the Clans sorted Paul out!!!


This is taken from the Swiss side of the table,I have just managed to get into a line,and deploy my gun-the Swiss had very high morale and firing points,but were classed as "un-tested" in battle,so Brian had to throw an even dice score,the first time they were hit,to hold them-an odd score would result in a quick "running away" manoeuvre!!!!


Our Fire-Fight begins!!-two of the Swiss held on,and only one ran away-however one of my regiments broke,and ran away too!!! But what of Paul's troops facing the Clans,who were rushing towards him with terrifying speed!!!


In a brave,but futile attempt to stop the Clans,Paul unleashed a terrible volley-would that stop the wild Scots-of course not!!!-HELP!!

As the Scots get closer,a strange sound was heard from the "English" side of the table, a sort of "knocking" noise.......Yes, you've guessed it-our knees!!!!!-even firing volley after volley and cannister from the gun,we were doomed,laddie,doomed I say!!!

With a triumphant yell,Graham launched his clans at Paul's troops-they were no match and went down in a welter of blood,knees still knocking!!-with Graham winning all the melees,and my flank still holding on against Brian's Swiss,a draw looked likely, but wargaming is a funny old hobby,and then Swiss decided to go home!!-hurrah!


Paul is just about over-run,time to head back to the Fort!!


One last shot(excuse the pun!) showing the Swiss about to depart!-Brian had shot my troops to hell,so I really couldn't do anything to help the situation on Paul's flank,so we had to admit defeat-never mind,we can wait another 30 years!!!
This was a good game,much smaller and lasting only a couple of hours,but very tense and exciting-well done lads,roll on Sunday,probably ancients,Macedonians against Republican Romans.










































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