'A Century of War' - Games Day

Unusually, I spent my Sunday out at the FDWC - as they were running a day of games themed around 'A Century of Warfare'.  Specifically: the 20th Century, so it was all games ranged from the Boxer Rebellion though both World Wars, up to the present day.  I took a few pics on my phone, so excuse the sometimes slightly shaky focus:

First game I played was from the Sudan in 1904 - just barely into the new century, but with my luck I did indeed wind up on possibly the last side that could have turned up with spears as their main weapon!  

The game was an 'old school' classic style affair, made up entirely of 1/72 plastic miniatures on individual bases.  The Mahdist forces (part of which were led by yours truly) awaited the Brits in a dried-out Wadi, screened by low hills and heavy brush to their front.

The Brits had very few genuinely British units, with the Empire providing many more to make up the force.  They began slowly making their way forward...

Above is the general, accompanied by his mobile pack-mule-mounted 'Officers Mess' (i.e. drinks cabinet!)

The centre saw the British artillery lob shells into the suspected enemy, and then before long the ill-disciplined mob gave up waiting in the Wadi and came flooding out.  Results were predictable: volleys of rifle-fire mowing down the hapless infantry.  

Far better results came on the flanks, where cavalry pounded in fast before the machine guns could cut them down, and got into close combat, routing their opposite numbers.  Also, the infantry approached far better under cover in the brush (cleverly modelled from grape-stems), getting into combat yet again.  Sadly the losses were too high for this to last for long, so the Mahdists quit out - a tactical victory for the Brits, but with their cavalry force routed it was at least the end of their campaign hopes in tracking down the mobile raiders.

Although I didn't take part in this game, I wanted to take a picture due to the sheer size of it!  A massive game of the Boxer Rebellion, where a small team of international soldiers tried to take on teeming hordes of 28mm Chinese Boxer Rebels.  Marvellous scenery, and miniatures!

I personally wound up playing a game of 'Chain of Command' for the first time, playing a British platoon in Normandy as it tried to storm a small village.  It was a quirky system for activating and controlling units, which wasn't really like anything I'd done before - so, this uncertainty aside, we did quite well.  We lost, of course, but lost in style: good tactical play, but bad luck on dice-rolls that caused too many popular NCOs to get hit, so the platoon did sterling work about half-way up the table, but could then take no more.

All in all, a god and fun day!  My next club task is to take 'Bloody Barons' in for a one-off WOTR game, so fingers are crossed it goes smoothly.  :-)