Monday 12 March 2012

Battle of the Alma

I'm very fortunate to be part of the League of Gentlemen Wargamers, a group of like minded individuals who get together for large battles three times a year and also put on a number of display games at various shows around the country.  Last year our June game was a refight of the Alma fought over a 28x16' table with thousands of gorgeous figures.  What was even more amazing was that most of the figures came from the collection of Bob Lauder from our group with Barry Hilton supplying his collection of Russians to the force and I boosted the French with my collection.  The troops on both sides were laid out in their historical dispositions and the plan of action of the Allies was to hold back the Brits until the French and Turks had advanced onto the high ground on their right flank.  Typically the Brits and French commanders forgot to even invite the Turks to the briefing or mention their plans to the them, but as I was commanding the Turks I had my own ideas anyway.  The Russian plan had been to sit back and see what the Allies were going to do but when they saw the Brits remain stationary for move after move they transferred more and more troops to halt the French and Barry swept down with all the Russian cavalry to tempt the Brits forward.  Here are some pics of the battle and an article by Barry will be appearing in the future.
The Guards Brigade in all their glory except they didn't cover themselves in glory in this battle.
Highlanders and Guards
The Light Division, the only British troops that actually managed to cross the Alma.
The glorious Turks who marched over 30' across the battlefield, routed a Russian Brigade and had one of their own Brigades across the Sevastopol road at the end of the game but were let down by their supposed allies.
Russian guns defending the central position.
Russian lookout postion.
Russian guns bombard the French.
Russian right wing cavalry put up a fantastic fight but don't tell Barry I said that.
I even lent the Brits my Turkish cavalry but they managed to get them blown away.

Despite the result it was a fantastic weekends gaming.





9 comments:

  1. Some crackin' looking figures!!!!! Looks like it was a damn good game!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great reprot Dave and shame on the Guards Division!!

    These pics are drawing me more and more into the Crimea if you'll excuse the pun :O)

    Darrell.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! Really good.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Darrell, I think Charles Grant was so overcome being given command of the Guards that he didn't want to get their uniforms dirty and kept them well out of the action. I have to admit they did look stunning but I'll stick to my French and Turks when they come out.

    I'm glad all the other guys like the game, it was so much fun that we have decided to refight all the large battles involving all the allies so next up will be Balaklava but that will have to wait until next year as we already have this years schedule worked out. Cowboy extravaganza this weekend, English Civil War in June and Borodino in November.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow! Balaklava will look stunning!

      Make sure you arrive with a camera and take a lot of snaps. The Crimea is really growing on me and any eye candy will push me in the right direction in terms of painting.

      Darrell.

      Delete
    2. The war has a lot more to offer than just the seige and fighting around Sevastopol especially all the actions that the Turks fought on their own against the Russians then there is also the Greek revolt which started in early '53 and was really the start of the war. For those that want 'what if' battles, the Austrians threatened to get involved in the Balkans in '53 and had moved tens of thousands of troops into the area and the Prussians were also threatening to get involved in '56 if the Russians prolonged the war.

      Delete
    3. I meant to add that I am currently working on some research for Barry on some of the Turkish actions such as Oltenitza, Kalafat and the Ingour river to name a few so watch out for more Crimean articles later in the year.

      Delete
  5. Great looking battle scenes.



    http://generalwildescivilwarinminiature.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the comments and I look forward to seeing your blog flourish in the near future.

      Delete