In late 2008, in an effort to get myself playing more games, I decided to play all 52 scenarios from Scenarios For All Ages by
Charles S Grant and Stuart Asquith. More than that, I decided to play them in order, 1 a week, starting on Nov 5. I knew I wouldn't
manage to play every week so I set a deadline of Dec 31st 2009. With a little help from my friends, I made it with a day to spare.

In the end, I played 52 games in 60 weeks. 34 solo games, 15 face to face games, 3 Play-by-Email mini-campaigns
17 other gamers from 4 countries participated, (Canada 11, US 4, Ireland 1, Argentina 1)

11 'periods' were played - 20/25mm Ancients (3), Prince Valiant 40mm skirmish (9), 40mm 16thC (10),
40mm semi-flat War of Polish Sucession (1), 40mm AWI (2), 40mm Pirate
Skirmish (5), 40mm early 19thC fictional (17), 15mm ACW (1), 25mm Zulu War (1),
20mm WWII (1), 20mm 1960's fictional (2)

I posted a brief report on each game on my webpage. I am shutting down my website so I am re-posting
the reports here, starting at Game #52 so that they will eventually appear in order. The reports were written in a variety of voices and tenses (sometimes all mixed together!) and it was tempting to rewrite them but I have left them as they were originally written with only very minor corrections, particularly to things like links.

To avoid copyright issues and save myself work, I have not given the details of the scenarios. Having a copy of the book will help make sense of the reports. The book may currently be purchased from John Curry at http://www.wargaming.co/ as well as from booksellers like On Military Matters and Caliver.



Sunday, October 16, 2011

26 April 2009 Scenario 20: Initiative 1

This game was played by the 2 Jefferies Bickle and myself using my 40mm Elastolin Prince Valiant figures and Medieval Mayhem.



Scenarios 20 & 21 were played on the same day with Jeff taking the role of the Saxon warlord Helgin with his Pictish allies and his son Jeffery playing the role of Duke Stephen of Fulford in the 1st game and then, since Duke Stephen was recovering from serious wounds, Brave Sir Jeffery in the 2nd game. Naturally, I took the role of Prince Michael of Valdur. I had accidentally left my copy of the scenario book, most of the intended scenery and some non-military characters behind in the country so had to improvise with what I had and my memory.

The first game was setup with a border outpost overlooking crossing over the Malagorm River on the edge of Count Hubert's domain. When the vedette spotted a party of Pictish raiders emerging from the woods, they blew their horn as an alarm and closed up to deny the enemy the bridge. Initially they were successful but were overcome before the rest of the garrison could reach them. The young patrician in charge of the garrison had forgotten his shield in the confusion and when an arrow pierced him, the garrison scattered back. Luckily Duke Stephen, alerted by smoke from the beacon was at hand with more foot soldiers followed soon after by a patrol of mercenary Alans.

By now the raiding force had grown as Saxons and Picts came howling out of the woods. Arrows and javelins flew thick and blows were exchanges but Duke Stephen's men held one bridge and Prince Michael with a small handful of men the other. Alas a Pictish arrow slipped past the Duke's shield and found a weak point in his armour. Falling from his white horse, his men grabbed the body and dragged him to safety, abandoning the bridge. Prince Michael could do nothing but cover his wounded uncle's retreat.

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