Especially for James

As requested by James at Solo Slow Wargamer and The Chauvinistic Blog a couple of posts ago, here are a some close ups of my 2mm knights.  Although at 2mm there is precious little to see never mind admire.

Actually these are done as gendarmes for my French Wars of Religion armies.  They are now also doubling up as late medieval knights... who's to know!

Toledo Marzipan

When I go away on vacation, I aim to avoid deliberately seeking hobby opportunities and visits and try to absorb the (non-military) history and culture of the place.  So, being away in Madrid and especially Toledo has been the perfect tonic.  Nonetheless, as so often and inevitably happens, matters closer to my wargaming pursuits present themselves.

Staying in Toledo was a must.  It is one of the most beautiful cities, but for me the association has always been its famous marzipan (true)... 

A shop front where nuns sell their marzipan.  They have dolls shwoing the different stages of marzipan making.

Yum!

...it's damascene craftwork, and the world famous Toledo steel that provided the cutting edge to the growth of Spanish power in the 16th and 17th centuries.

So, no surprise that around every corner was an opportunity to purchase a sword.

There were an amazing number of shops selling Toledo steel.  I checked and they were all made in Toledo. 
There was a nice sign outside of one such shop that said,
"Everything inside is made with AI.  Artisanal Intelligence"
and that is so easy to underestimate.

We had an hour or two to spare before having to get the train back to Madrid after our couple of nights there.  So, we quickly popped into the Army Museum housed in the Alcazar.

For those who like the Reconquista.

A close up on the tunic.

Always nice to see some armour from the late 15th and 16th centuries.

The horse didn't look pleased to be wearing the armour.

Ka-Boom!

Great bust of Cordaba.

Before going my better half and I read Captain Alatriste.  It's been on my list for a long time.  So, it seemed right to read it before going to Madrid.

It's a great read and what I found particularly good was that Perez-Reverte brought together great research of history, fact and culture (music, poetry and art) to produce this superb piece of fiction.

It writes about places around cultural events around Madrid of the 1620s.  Allowing us to see the city through Alatriste's eyes.

The area closely associated with Alatriste included some murals.

Of course, all this tourist work requires vermouth and tapas en route.

I could show you so much from what we saw and did in Madrid and Toledo, but that is for me and my family to enjoy... I'll already spent too much time just putting this quick post together.

Flower of Chivalry Practice Game

Not much of a battle report as such.  Four Rejects gathered via Zoom, and a fifth spectated, to have a practice medieval game using Flower of Chivalry rules.  These will be the rules used to fight any tabletop actions arising from the Imagi-Medieval campaign.

The Battle of Crecy, from an illuminated manuscript of Jean Froissart's Chronicles

Jonathan and Ray were pitted against Steve and Dan. Meanwhile, Lee spectated.

For the campaign, I have given Flower of Chivalry units points values.  For this game, I asked both sides to produce a 1000 point army.

Ray and Jonathan constructed the following:

1st Battle (Ray)
1 unit of foot knights
1 unit of men at arms
1 unit of Longbow

2nd Battle (Jonathan)
1 unit of mounted knights
1 unit of foot knights
1 unit of men at arms

Steve and Dan had:

1st Battle (Dan)
2 units of longbow
3 units of retainers

2nd Battle (Steve)
1 unit of longbow
4 units of men at arms

It looked like a situation of quality versus quantity.

Based on the number of units, the Army Morale Points for Ray/Jonathan is 6 and for Dan/Steve is 10.

The figures are 2mm Irregular miniatures.

The Battle

Jonathan's and Ray's smaller army look north across the table to Dan's and Steve's array.

Both sides advanced towards each other.  Dan's Battle showed unwelcome enthusiasm by racing forward.  However, Dan's longbow units quickly starting finding their mark.  It was important now for Ray to get his foot knights into contact.

Ray's foot knight charge into contact.  Meanwhile, the rest of Ray's and Jonathan's troops continue a steady advance.
The white labels are just my temporary fix to have at a glance unit stats... apologies.

It would be true to say that Ray and Jonathan both cursed that they were not getting the number of actions that would help them most.  All players also suffered the frustration of not having all of their orders come through.

Flower of Chivalry allows for personal challenges.  This is really a high risk and limited return strategy.  If you can kill or capture an opposing commander then an opposition Battle or even the Army could find itself stalled and unable to move.  If a player is challenged and refused, then all units in that Battle have their morale reduced until the leader either challenges or accepts a challenge.  So, a challenge is a risky move but at the right moment could be important.  Well, Ray challenged Dan.  In the process, Dan was killed and Ray was captured!  Very funny.

Ray's foot knights and men at arms in melee with Dan's archers and retainers.  On the right, Jonathan's mounted knights trample under foot a unit of men at arms.

Ray's foot knights destroy a unit of longbow but are now stranded as his men at arms are forced to retreat.
Jonathan's mounted and foot knights are annihilated by Steve's counterattack, and his men at arms forced to retreat.

With army points reduced by one for every unit forced to retreat and two for each destroyed unit,  Dan and Steve have their army morale reduced to 6.  However, the game ends as Jonathan and Ray find their Army Morale Points have been reduced to zero.

Jonathan and Ray put up a good fight against a larger army.  They didn't always enjoy the best of luck.  I reckon that we could play this again and get a different outcome.

Afterthoughts
Army Morale Points were based on the number of units. On reflection this benefits the side that buys lots of cheap troops or tries to "game" the system.  I am now reviewing this and may link the Army Morale more closely to the amount of points the army is worth.

I was really pleased with the game.  It played out well, in my opinion, and provided the kind of uncertainty that perhaps ought to be in a medieval battle.  Sometimes the troops don't want to move, sometimes they will charge forward when you would rather have a more controlled advance.

The rules are essentially IGOUGO. However, the uncertainty about orders and how many actions available from turn to turn prevents any advantage being derived from going first or second.

From my perspective the game was fun, but also very instructive for all.  As well as the Army Morale, I'm going to look at tweaking the personal challenges.

Lastly, in my opinion, the result was plausible, and you can't ask too much more from a set of historical wargames rules.