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.



Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Game 48: Tourney


This game was played solo on 19 Dec 2009 using my 40mm Elastolin Prince Valiant figures and Medieval mayhem.  I did briefly consider digging out my 54mm toy knights for this but decided to stick with the Days of King  Arthur instead, esp since I could muster at least a few spectators. So let us set the scene.

As part of treaty  negotiations, Count Hubert has arranged a friendly tourney between his knights and those of King Pharlain. Initially each mounted knight would fight one knight from the opposing camp. If neither was unhorsed after 3 passes, a draw would be proclaimed. Next each knight would fight one different knight on foot and lastly a general melee would occur with only 1 Champion being left standing. Remember that in Foster's Prince Valiant strip, knights don't all dress like medieval knights. The 3 champions for the Count were Duke Stephen, Sir Preisages the Alan and Prince Michael. On the other side was the King himself with his ally Dearg Mor  the Pict and Sir Gorm.


The first pass saw the Duke and the King exchange mighty blows as they passed. Wheeling their horses about, they charged again but this time, the Duke, standing high in the stirrups smote a mighty blow and sent the King reeling. Next up was Prince Michael vs Dearg Mor. Three passes did these famous warriors make but neither could best the other. Lastly Preisages the Sarmatian took the field and on the first pass, dumped Sir Gorm on the field.

Next came the foot round. This time the Duke smashed down Dearg Mor, Prince Michael won over the unlucky Sir Gorm and Preisages fought a drawn combat  against the King.

Last came the melee, a swirling cloud of dust and steel, sparks flying as sword and mace bit on iron bound shield and steel helm but at last only 2 warriors were afoot. Panting heavily, Duke Stephen looked across at his nephew, Prince Michael. Many times they had faced each other on the exercise ground but never yet had the Prince bested him. They met with a mighty clash and exchanged blows with the nimble Prince skipping lightly aside from his Uncle's powerful blows. Sweat poured down their faces and their breath grew laboured. At last Michael saw his chance and darting in managed to hook his leg around his uncle's and brought him down.

Not the most glamorous victory but within the rules of the tourney and Prince Michael smiled at the bright eyes shining at him from beneath a tall yellow yellow cap as the Count proclaimed him as Champion..  


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