3 Civil Wars

It's been pretty quiet on the wargaming front recently, apart from participating in one of Jonathan Freitag's Mortimers Cross games. You've probably already seen the AAR on Jon's blog, but if not I recommend having a read.

Screenshot of one of the early turns. Lancastrians in the foreground.

End of the road for the Yorkists

Anyway, back to Spain. My son reawakened a dormant interest of mine a few week back when he gave me the book below for Father's Day. I started reading it about a week ago (it's a big book). I'm currently 18 chapters in out of 52. I don't know how it stacks up in historiographical terms, but I'm enjoying reading it. It certainly doesn't pull any punches.

Early on fellow Grimbarian Tom Wintringham popped up (we're a Bolshie lot). Interesting bloke, being an early advocate for setting up the Home Guard (as in 1938 earl). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wintringham

Wintringham is in the middle, looking a bit like Mr Lah-di-dah Gunner Graham with his 'Huniversity Heducation'. "It Ain't Half Hot Mum" reference.

Oh, and the third civil war is the one we had over here in the 17th century. Ralphus of the Wars of Louis XIV blog has flagged up another worthy listen. Cavalier Cast. Here's the Podbean website for an episode they did on wargaming the Civil War. https://www.podbean.com/media/share/dir-nbkgv-1802ea54 And while I'm on the Pike and Shot theme, here's an excellent episode of Citizen to Soldier podcast https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-citizens-to-soldiers-podca-5889375/episodes/episode-8-patrick-wyman-on-rai-230406209 They mostly cover contemporary military matters but now and again they delve into history.

Reichsarmee and 'French'

I've finished the painting stage and got the Reichsarmee based and just awaiting the 'grass'. And I've finished painting the re-inforcements for the French and am part way through the base texturing process.

The inverted commas around French are because of the 8 bases painted:

• 2 are German (La Marck and Royal Suédois)
• 1 is Swiss (Gardes Suisses)
• 3 are Irish (representing the 6 single regiment battalions of the Irish Brigade)
• 2 are French (Gardes Francaises)

Can anyone tell me why the guard units deserve the plural form but not the Swedes? Genuine question.

The Reichsarmee: Combined grenadiers; various units of line infantry; 1 cuirassier brigade and 1 dragoon brigade

Front row: 2 German regiments; behind them on the left are the Irish red, on the right the Swiss guards (red) and French guards (blue)

With all of these I have to paint the flags. Including the rest of the French army, about 70 in total. Crikey!

In the lead pile I still have enough for 1.5 units of grenadiers and maybe 2 of cavalry. I haven't decided on what yet.

********

In other news, along with Alan from The Duchy of Tradgardland blog, I suffered the humiliation of losing the fastest online game that I have so far experienced, at the hands of Doug from A Lead Odyssey. Watch out for the battle report on the Palouse Wargaming Journal. Doug handled his Japanese Samurai army with ruthless efficiency. Such was the scale of the catastrophe that he could afford to keep one of his Samurai units at the rear doing nothing but slice feathers with their swords, or whatever else bored Samurai do.

It was all over so quickly that I had more time for painting the Germans above.

Potpourri

Bit of a mixed bag this post. Not much wargaming activity at the Schloß recently. I have however taken part in two remote games chez Freitag of the Battle of Fornovo, 1495. These were my first forays ever into the Italian Wars. 

The first was as part of the Italian league fighting the French, where my command (the left wing) got badly beaten up by a resurgent Napoleon Dave. For the 4th game in a row, my table top character was killed. The Italians came out ahead in a close fought game. If you haven't already pop over to Jon's blog for AARs and pictures of his wonderful Renaissance figures, here and here.

The second was in sole command of the French versus Ray, Surjit and Lee of Posties Reject renown. This game was decidedly not a close run thing. The Rejects played a canny game and I don't think the overall result would have changed even if I had better luck. And I took my personal record up to 5 games with my character being killed! Here's one of the previous occasions: https://mudbloodandsteel.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-king-is-dead-long-live-err.html Second time in a row my character has been killed in a campaign run by JBM. 

In terms of army and terrain preparation myself, not much has happened. (Notice the use of the passive voice, like a politician apologising, to disguise the fact it's me who hasn't done much). I sprayed one side of my 'battle cloth' to make it a bit lighter. Cans of spray paint don't go very far, especially when you're spraying outside. I bought a second can in Lidl at the weekend to do the other side.

Punic Wars. A couple of weeks ago I placed an order with Heroics & Ros for Romans and Carthaginians. I was beginning to wonder when they would arrive, and today I got confirmation that they have been posted. So they could be here by Saturday. 

I have a bit of 1:1 terrain making to complete first, however. I am helping the Margravina prepare a vegetable plot. She seems to have decided it would be wise to prepare for the collapse of commerce by turning over a large part of the Schloß' grounds to agriculture. The ground has been prepared and we are giving the wooden frames that will surround the veg patches a protective coat of paint, before laying weed control, filling the frames with earth and compost, and finally surrounding them with pathways of gravel.

On Saturday I will be going up to Salute for the first time in several years. I should be meeting up with David-in-Suffolk, the Ragged Soldier himself. That's not casting any nastursiums on his appearance by the way, it's his blog. Hopefully I'll be able to meet other bloggers in person too, particularly Posties Rejects.

A lot of my attention, and some of my time has been occupied with Grimsby Town's plight at the wrong end of the Football League. With 4 games to play, they could still be relegated (for the 3rd time in 14 years!). So if anyone was wondering how I could keep smiling through lots of poor dice rolls, I've had plenty of practice dealing with bad luck! Last month I had attended 3 games in close succession. This month I have tickets for 2 of the 4 games, Colchester on Tuesday night and Crawley on 27th. One of the benefits of reaching a certain age, is that ticket prices start to come down. Not everywhere, but Crawley is one such place where over 60s get in for £10.

Favourites to go down are Forest Green and Sutton. Selfishly, I would rather Colchester go down as the ground is awkward to get to, being out of town, and Sutton is a bus journey away for me.

Last night I managed to watch the 2017 version of Tuntematon Sotilas again. It really is one of the best war films out there. The storyline is believeable (the novel is largely based on the author's own experiences and other real events), the acting is superb, and not too many liberties are taken with the plot. Special effects and cinematography are also excellent. Highly recommended.

People who have seen All the Sins (Kaikki Synnit, a Nordic Noir TV series) might recognise Johannes Holopainen. He played the posh lieutenant Kariluoto in the war film and the detective in All the Sins.

Finally, here are a few pics from a trip with the Margravina to the south coast.

On the cliffs at Southbourne

Avon Beach, near Christchurch (Dorset)

Wonder what these could be? (cliffs above Avon Beach)

One of 3 explanatory panels. Seem to have lost the photos of the other two.

Outside the entrance to the former research establishment above. This fossil is about 1/2 metre across.

Isle of Wight can be just about seen at top left

Sentry post at ADRE

The grounds are now a nature reserve

Looking back down to the beach

Highcliffe Castle, a 19th century stately pile.

Looking back west towards Medford Spit and Hengistbury Head. By the time we got back to the carpark, that part of the beach was rammed - people are lazy. They won't walk far to get a nice spot on the beach. Lots of open water swimmers around - mostly women of a certain age and build. Suggesting that the Margravina would soon be old enough to join them was not the wisest thing I'd ever said.

Entrance to Christchurch Harbour

Aha!

View through the MG port

Vent in the roof of the pillbox

That is so-o-o-o last year!

They say, if you want to know where you're going you've got to know where you've come from. I'm not sure who 'they' are but 'they' are always credited with wisdom or power, so I'm not going to argue. I feel I'm at one of those decision points in life generally. Not some 'mid-life crisis (I'm too old for that, and I'm broadly happy with my circumstances). So no fast cars or motorbikes. I would grow a moustache, which I hear is de rigeur with bloggers d'un age certain, but with my eyebrows it would just look stupid. Like a lot of folk with a 6 in front of their age, thoughts about retirement plans have made their way to the forefront of my mind. Not that it something likely in the next few years - not unless ERNIE does me a big favour. But those sort of 'real life' questions also provoke questions of what I want to do in my spare time, long term as well as short-term.

No conclusions have been reached just yet, but a bit of 'state of the nation' reviewing wouldn't go amiss. What is my current level of activity like? What am I doing? Does it satisfy my wants? That sort of thing. So here's a review of last year's wargaming related activity. Other hobbies/pastimes do exist in my life, mainly swimming and following Grimsby Town, and a short summary of last year for both would be "not enough". Have I done enough wargaming?

Reading/'Research'

Let's start with reading (or more broadly 'research'). It always starts with reading. I bought and read 13 military history books last year.  By period this breaks down to:

• English Civil War - 2
• War of the Austrian Succession - 2
• Seven Years War - 2
• AWI - 2
• 18th Century more generally - 5

The last category is hard to breakdown by wars since they all covered several decades. E.G. the Army of George II, or the biography of James Keith. All 5 spanned the WAS and SYW though. So that gives you a clear idea of my focus.

Other sources of information plundered: 

Obviously there's t'internet: blogs, Wiki, history websites, YouTube, Royal Collections Trust (great for maps) and last but not least, Kronoskaf.

Podcasts. I've listened to probably 150 military history podcast episodes. Including every episode of We Have Ways of Making You Talk (not my period but interesting, and there are some universal themes), Military History Plus (very broad scope, but with a heavy WWI focus) and the Life & Times of Frederick the Great. Numbers are high because I can do this while driving, painting, housework or DIY.

Modelling

After reading comes the planning, then the assembly of 'armies' and terrain to fight over. In an echo of the volume (but not the quality) of Jonathan Freitag's output, over 1000 figures came off the painting table and were based up. Bear in mind however that mine are all 10mm (AWI and ECW) and 6mm (everything else). Counting cavalry as 2 and each artillery base as 5 (1 gun plus 4 gunners). The period breakdown is:

• AWI  - 92
• SYW/WAS - 965

All the AWI figures are Pendraken and all the SYW painted were Heroics and Ros (save a couple of Irregular officers which were re-purposed). The American Revolution figures were all Brits/Loyalists. The SYW/WAS includes British, Hanoverians, Reichsarmee, Austrians, Spanish and Piedmontese. So not a bad total.

In terms of 'terrain' pieces I only painted up 7 buildings (AWI) and a couple of packs of brick walls. Less good, but I didn't need to do much. This is the great benefit of limiting the scale models used and having restricted geographical scope (Europe and NAM).

Hastenbeck in September

Games Played

OK, how do the actual games totals look? With 21 games played, a school teacher could mark my report "could do better. Splitting them by period we can see a pretty varied scope:

• Ancients - 3 (1 Bronze Age, 2 Punic Wars)
• AWI - 5
• ECW - 2
• WAS - 5
• SYW - 1
• ACW - 4
• Spanish American War - 1

These were all one-off games except for 1 PBEM AWI and 1 solo WAS campaign.

Split by 'mode': 

• 3 games I hosted remotely; 
• 12 remote games hosted by Jonathan Freitag*; 
• 1 was PBEM; 
• 5 were solo. 

No face-to-face games: how very 21st century. Or you could say "should get out more".

* and many plaudits go to Jonathan for his hosting, and scenario preparation, and rules revisions.

Broken down by rules used:

• Jolly Broom Man's AWI campaign rules - 1
• Homebrew WAS rules - 1
• Jon's ECW rules - 2
• Loose Files & American Scramble -3
• Basic Impetus - 3
• Twilight of the Soldier Kings - 4
• Fields of Honor (with period variants) - 7

First off the blocks for 2024. 

Interestingly, I seem to be drifting more into the War of the Austrian Succession than SYW at the moment, looking at the numbers above.

Conclusions and Thoughts for 2024

In terms of games, I want to do more. The main thing that's held back the number of solo games is ....me. I've allowed things to drift. Partly this is motivation - but I want to do more and will get more out of it if I game more. A bit of it is connected to not having a permanent set-up. A part of it is also settin-up big games. Twilight of the Soldier Kings is great because it gives a good, historically plausible game in a few hours. I tend to spend too long on the set-up. If I can find a more efficient way of setting-up I can get more games in.

Painting levels are OK. I don't have a massive lead pile. I have some odds and sods that have been hanging around undercoated for a while, but these are 'ancillary pieces' (pack animals, villagers etc). Having initially said I will keep my Spanish and Piedmontese WAS collection down, I am very tempted to get more. (1) because I like doing them; (2) I am getting into the 'sub-period' the more I find out about it**; and (3) because I really 'need' more ;-). Actually I'll get some games in with what I've got first. If I do go ahead with it, I'll probably do c.1000 figures. The amounts of Spanish and Piedmontese in the total for 2023 was 965.  I know when I have them, I can churn them out.

** in fact, as well as the WAS, there are several battles in the War of the Polish Succession I fancy having a go at too. So don't be surprised to see Guastalla on the table.

I doubt I will be adding to my ECW collection (I managed to get through 2023 without touching them) or my AWI forces.

At some point I really need to think about my book collection. I have outgrown my cabinet and I have to question whether I will read them all again. So maybe some need to go out of the door before more come in?

I will be disposing of some figures soon. The Erbprinz said he wants to store his Napoleonic Prussians at his place when I suggested e-Bay. My Baccus Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese chaps could do with a new home. Some other unpainted figures will be going out of the door sooner than later.

None of this addresses what else I would like to do in the future. Ancients and Colonial have long-been kicked around as unfulfilled aspirations, but nothing solid has been done about it. Partly this is hesitation over acquiring a heap of new terrain and buildings, to say nothing of more books and 'research'. Another 'itch' to scratch is an 18th C Ottoman army. Campaigns figure large in my wish list too. I had ideas for an ECW mini-campaign nearly 3 years ago and have done sweet FA about it. And I keep saying, the Italian WAS campaign is imminent!

The shape of things to come?

Expect some more navel gazing. Oh that reminds me. I have been thinking about buying a handful of 18th C ships (scales down from 1/300th) for the Med aspects of my WAS campaigning and possibly for the Great Lakes/AWI. I can find ships for the Napoleonic era and for the Anglo-Dutch Wars/Pirates period, but nothing specifically for the mid-century. Any ideas will be gratefully received.

A packed day

This week I've taken time off work to do some jobs in the garden that needed doing. The next stage (placing weed control/a walkway round the cabin) was held up this morning pending the arrival of hundreds of kilos of ballast, and as the car was in the garage ('shop' for our American listeners), we decided to go for a walk from the house.

And what a bonus that turned out to be. Had we had the car we would likely have gone to one of our usual haunts, but instead we ended up exploring an area we haven't yet been to. The walk started off like one of our previous 'river walks' (the Hogsmill here, here, and here). But when we got to the nearest point where we could walk by the river, I remembered there was a tributary (the Tolworth Brook aka the Surbiton Stream) of the Hogsmill right there. We decided there and then to follow it upstream. The brook flowed through a pleasant woodland area at the back of a 1930s housing development in an area called Berrylands.

The brook was looking low on water.

View back downstream from one of the several foot bridges.

'Wildlife pond', off the track through a gate, presumably to keep dogs out.

These 'bullrushes' had me humming 'Moses was found in a stream' to myself (from the song Ain't Necessarily So). Loft extensions can be seen on the houses at the top - these are VERY common throughout this corner of London (if not all over).

Plentiful supply of elderberries. Incidentally, Wikipedia states that the name Berrylands does not derive from said fruit, but from the Old English 'beorg' and 'lands', i.e.Hill Land/Farm. Beorg is cognate with modern 'barrow' and the word 'berg' and similar in Germanic languages including Old Norse.

The banks were buttressed in places with bundles of fascines.

A 'bug hotel' styled 'Bugingham Palace' by the Margravina.

The best I could come up with for this was Volemarol Castle. Go on, you try!

One of the aspects I find very comforting about spaces like this, is that they often have buildings like 'scout huts'. Usually in mild states of disrepair, which adds to the charm. This was no exception. The old scout hut in this case was home to the 'Surbiton Pet Club'. I suppose I find it comforting because it's evidence of community, and there are places like this across the country. A throw back to former times.

Rather than attempt to follow the stream all the way to the source, we took the quickest route back home in order to collect the car. En route we walked along streets full of the typical 'Tudorbethan' style houses popular in the 1930s. Some of these had splendid herringbone brick patterns on the front wall of the houses. Not far from here (along Elmbridge Avenue, see map below) are several flat-roofed houses in the Art Deco style. Lovely stuff. 

Off to the west of the map, there is a road parallel with Ewell Road called King Charles Road and that forks off into Villiers Avenue to the north. Prior to the Battle of Surbiton in 1648, the rival forces marched from Ewell to Surbiton and I speculated on my post on the battle that King Charle Road and Villiers Ave were named after the action. For some reason, that post is by far the most popular post I have written since starting this blog four years ago, with 3 times as many views as any other. Most months it continues to collect hits and often it has the most in the month. I wonder why it continues to be so relatively popular.

I did a bit of 'research' on the area (i.e. I looked at Wikipedia) when I got home, and discovered that until 1980 there was a lido 50m by 27m just to the south of the word 'Berrylands' in the above map. This was the fabulously named Surbiton Lagoon. Oh, if only the clock could be turned back! I could cry at such an act of cultural vandalism. Between the Wars, virtually every borough had an open air pool built. This was due to a combination of work creation schemes and a fashion for health improvement. More on this and other such pools here: https://www.lostlidos.co.uk/2003/04/29/surbiton-lagoon-1934/

Anyway, back home having collected the car, we started some 'filler' jobs whilst we waited for the ballast. Whilst turning over the compost heaps, the Margravina spotted avocado plants growing! Note the large shiny leaves below. We've had shoots before from avocado stones but I don't think we've seen leaves before. They must like the heat generated in the heaps. We also had new potatoes grown out of old spuds deposited in the compost.

Finally, the ballast arrived about 3:30pm so I spent the next hour or so ferrying it from the front to the back and depositing it on the weed suppressant sheeting for the Margravina to tamp it down. We should finish the job in the morning.

Then the evening saw me participate in one of Jonathan Freitag's on-line games. This time a recreation of the Battle of Ilipa. It's fair to say that Napoleon Dave and I got a drubbing by an in form team. I won't say any more on that so as not to steal Jon's thunder, save to say that a good time was had by all. As if that wasn't enough, I am participating in the Jolly Broom Man's PBEM campaign set in S.Carolina in the AWI.

A busy and fulfilling day!

Long Island or Alas Smith and Jones.

I took part in the latest re-play of the action at Shoemaker Heights, Jonathan Freitag's Long Island based scenario set in 1776.  Jon has an AAR on his blog. Please read that in order to make sense of my ramblings. Here are my perceptions from the point of view of one of the participants on the US side. This is not in any way an attempt to give a balanced report. In his post, Jon shows how American fire caused serious losses to the British early on. The British then recovered to storm the American position, only to be pushed back as the game saw the American position stabilise.

It's funny how perspective changes. Because I was late arriving (sorry to Jon, Steve, David and Mark) I just saw hordes of redcoats heading our way. I missed the opening volleys which held the Brits up. Then when David's charge up the hill seemed to smash a way through the American position, all seemed lost for the Revolution. This was underlined when Steve's Guards poured volleys into the riflemen and brandished their bayonets at the lip of the earthworks ready to skewer the traitorous dogs.

I guess the riflemen were good at ducking, shrugging off three hits in one turn with saving throws. Talk about luck! In my mind, this was the first sign of hope. American resilience! The gun section positioned by Mark on the hill by the road did sterling work on the British left. One of the British brigades on their left never seemed to get moving very far. I couldn't figure out why.

I didn't have the presence of mind to take any screenshots of the action on Jon's table, so here are some  random shots of my Colonial regiments.

In charge of the appropriately late arriving reinforcements, I was faced with the choice of where to send them. Left or right? The right seemed pressing, but I couldn't make up my mind so I hedged my bets and went up the middle onto the heights. This meant I was fortuitously on hand when Pigot's charge seemed to burst open the American position. I later rationalised this as taking advantage of interior lines, but at the time it was just responding to whatever seemed the most pressing threat.

When David sent Jones' brigade out wide to threaten the American left I took a gamble and left the guns to their own devices and sent half of Parson's brigade to shore up the left flank. It certainly helped holding a relatively tight position because to meant Parson's brigade was all still in command radius despite being split into two parts.

Luck was on the side of the rebels and in successive turns, American musketry shredded the brigades of Jones and Pigot, and the gun continued to plunge shot into Smith's brigade. This was much more profitable than my earlier attempts to shoot up the Guards. Those veritable Caesars just seemed to soak up the pressure and carry on calmly. Many a junior officer would be missing from St James', but the Guardsmen just closed ranks and continued pouring volleys into the rebels on the heights.

In the end American firepower, portentously, won the day.

A twist in the tail

Well that was a turn up for the books. In the third remote game of Hubbardton the Jolly Broom Man (British) faced off against the Two Daves (David in Suffolk and Napoleon Dave) playing the Americans. Max Foy joined as an observer.

JBM elected to start the grenadiers and 24th Foot in column of march on the road, with the Lights in line. The plan was to race towards the road junction seize it and turn the American flank. For the first couple of turns the Americans won the initiative. Most of the American units retired over the fence, but David in Suffolk opted to keep the riflemen on the British side of the fence to take some shots at the Brits whilst they were still in column. 

Fairly safe you might think. But then the British won the initiative a couple of turns running, and the grenadiers, by now at the road junction, formed line and threatened the riflemen with a bayonet charge in the flank. Disaster for the Americans! They took a number of hits and routed, but not fast enough to stop the British keeping in combat range. A second round of combat saw the rifles further, across the fence, with half their bases lost and several DPs.

On the American right, Napoleon Dave opted to stick to the fence line and exchange musket fire with the British Lights in skirmish order. Hits were inflicted on each side but not enough to cause either any real problems. But the Lights were tying down two American units.

The grenadiers continued across the fence to attack the 11th Massachusetts Regiment who had retired back from the fence to form a line conforming to the British attack.  Things were looking good for the British. They had achieved one of their two objectives (seize the junction) and were on the way to the second (seize the hill). Unfortunately, the grenadiers had picked up DPs with each of their combat turns and wheeling. The American commander on the left (DiS) saw the disorder in the British lines and took the chance to chase them off the ridge. Down the hill came the Americans, with a sharp crack of musketry and a whoop. The weary, disorganised grenadiers turned to run down the hill. Here the initiative stayed with the Americans and they charged the retreating grenadiers again. Disaster for the British who ended up back across the fence and down from 8 bases to 1 with a stack of DPs to rally off.

Only the presence of the 24th Foot, to the left of the grenadiers, dissuaded the Americans from following up further. The 11th and 24th traded shots, as did the other New Englanders and the British Lights on the far flank. Back on the road, the Hessians arrived, but too late to do anything.

By the end of turn 9, the British held the road junction and the Americans held the hill. Honours even? Perhaps not. The British had lost 9 bases to the Americans 3. Each lost British base is worth 1.5 points to the Americans in this scenario, and the American losses only 1 point each. So the Americans were better off in strategic terms. The Americans were free to retire from the field (though not by the easiest route), but could the British bear another encounter like this?

This is a very difficult scenario for the British. With such a limited number of turns they have to advance quite a long way and fight. The problem is the urgency to 'get there' has to be balanced against the impact of disorder. Disorder Points impose a heavy burden on troops in combat and this is what did for the grenadiers. A tough choice to make.

Just the one picture from the end (I forgot during the game). The much depleted grenadiers nearest the camera. The rifles on the far right. Lights near the top with the Hessians marching up behind them.

The whole session took 3 hours, but this included a fair amount of time with me trying to stop a a repeating echo. The cause: I hadn't muted the second laptop in the room. Doh! There was also a goodly amount of very enjoyable chat after the game finished. So all that remains is for me is to thank the chaps who participated and observed this evening. I think it's time now to move to a different war.

Zooming in on benefits

Things have been a bit hit and miss blogwise of late. The last month has been disrupted by being various degrees 'under the weather'.  January saw me catch the Mother of All Colds, and then a few days after recovering from that I was even further 'under the weather' and required a visit to the GP. No sooner had I got over the last ailment than I was afflicted with 'hay fever' so I'm now popping antihistamines.

Now the particular day when I saw said medic was a bit of a revelation. Firstly, with all of the bad publicity about how the NHS was crumbling with lack of resources I had low expectations of speaking to a medical professional, let alone seeing one, this side of Easter. My last brush with primary care involved a wait so long that what was ailing me had gone. Things were different this time. The practice website had a lengthy questionnaire to complete as part of the 'book a call/visit' process. On completion the 'we will contact you within 48 hours' acknowledgement message did not fill me with hope. I duly went back to bed feeling sorry for myself. An hour later the phone rang, 'Dr Soandso from the Thingame Medical Centre here. ......Are you able to come in at 11:00?' Blimey. Of course. After the brief consultation and examination I was told that my prescription would be waiting for me at my local pharmacy. In the pharmacy I went to pay and was informed I only had to pay for the Fishermans's Friends I picked up on impulse. "But what about the prescription?" says I. "You don't pay for that," says the attendant. "I do." says I (not being on benefits or having one of the designated chronic conditions). "You don't any more because you turned 60 recently". Result, thinks I. I'll have to get ill more often. I genuinely thought this free prescription thing didn't kick in until much later. Nice to get something back for my tax (January being tax return month, that was in my mind). That big round number was probably part of why I got a call back from the GP so quickly. And also why I received a testing kit for bowel cancer as a routine thing for all people over 60. So a big round of applause for the NHS. Long may it continue to be a free at the point of use service. I honestly don't mind paying the tax.

Last month I was also delighted to receive my 'Freedom Pass' Oyster Card from Transport for London. As a resident of a London borough, over 60s are also entitled to free travel (on buses, underground, trains and trams) off peak. A case might be made that this should be means tested, but that would be costly in terms of admin, and be counter-productive in the drive to get people out of cars. And it works. I leave the car behind a lot more now. Excellent. Thank you Ken (Livingstone) who introduced it many years ago. Anyway, it seems I am on benefits after all!

Now as you might know, I've run a few remote games recently too with friends from the Blogosphere. So far 3 AWI games with one more planned. The first was a totally made-up scenario and the rest were the Hubbardton scenario written by Steve of the Disgruntled Fusilier blog. So far it's 1-all on Hubbardton, with the Jolly Broom Man as the Americans beating me, and Steve W, as the British, beating Jonathan Freitag (Palouse Wargames Journal) and David (the Ragged Soldier) as the Americans. The decider will be run next week between JBM and David.

I have to say that all participants have been good sports and good guests (shoes off in the entrance hall, no coffee cup stains on the table). Very civilised. And it's been good to spend a bit more time getting to know fellow wargamers albeit remotely.

Below are a few shots of the last game. Rules used were Loose Files and American Scramble again.

Early on. Brits to the left. The Green Mountain Boys (rifle armed skirmishers) have 'bravely' gone forward to take potshots at the British grenadiers. 

The grenadiers showed them the cold steel. And as we know, 'they do not like it up em. They do not like it.' Here are the GMB running off. Loose Files is particularly harsh on skirmishers in this situation. Lesson learned.

This opened up the American left, and the grenadiers advanced into the gap and started to roll-up the American line.

British lights in open order engaged in a long range fire fight with the New Hampshire infantry. 24th foot bottom left face off against the 11 Massachusetts.

Warners Continentals have been bounced by the grenadiers and there's no way back for the Americans.

If you'd like to take part in a game, drop me a comment. I won't publish any contact details. I'm toying with the idea of ECW and SYW next.