The sorry tale of Max of Clifford

[Dr DeAth]

Really enjoyable game.

Slight correction to the AAR supplied by our genial host for the evening, Jim "I'm the King" Bibbly;

Not sure what trap he was expecting from the men in tights, but it obviously wasn't the constant hail of arrows from the treeline that drove his chpas back the castle gates no less than three times! 

[pocoloco]

Really enjoyable game.

Slight correction to the AAR supplied by our genial host for the evening, Jim "I'm the King" Bibbly;

Not sure what trap he was expecting from the men in tights, but it obviously wasn't the constant hail of arrows from the treeline that drove his chpas back the castle gates no less than three times! 

That must have been his clever try at the famous tactic of Parthian shot albeit no shooting and no horsies 

Maybe next time all the players could write their own version of AAR and we shall see which version becomes the legend of its own

[NurgleHH]

Great Table, James. But you have forgotten to put some brutal german mecenaries to the story

[majorsmith]

brilliant! love the set up

[OSHIROmodels]

Really enjoyable game.

Slight correction to the AAR supplied by our genial host for the evening, Jim "I'm the King" Bibbly;

Not sure what trap he was expecting from the men in tights, but it obviously wasn't the constant hail of arrows from the treeline that drove his chpas back the castle gates no less than three times! 

Meanwhile on the edge of Sherwood...


 

cheers

James

[Eric the Shed]

Hi guys

I was very fortunate to attend last nights bash and playing Guy of Gisbourne I was delighted to give Sir Ronnie de Corbett a good thrashing

a couple of photos hers  and a few more on the blog...

www.shedwars.blogspot.com







Thanks to Jim for setting all this up...and it has certainly set a very high bar for my own tales of Shedwood

[Malamute]

Some great photos Giles.  :-*I especially like the fair Marian in the garden of Max of Clifford and the face off between Sir Ronald and Guy.

[carlos marighela]

Looks like Robin may have been the real winner. Judging by that last photo, Marion is something of a minger, albeit a lovingly painted one. I'd say honours were even if she was the prize.

[Ragnar]

All this waiting, shouldn't their beards be longer?   

Meanwhile on the edge of Sherwood...


 

cheers

James

[Ray Rivers]

Really great AAR, table and minis.   

Wargame heaven!

[Eric the Shed]

Marian should read Mr Rian, something was lost in translation...the painted representation was clearly a figure in drag and had a hairy back...

[War In 15MM]

That looks great!  Richard

[Lardy Rich]

I LOVE the title and superb story line!  Utterly in the spirit of Sharp Practice.  Great terrain is always a joy to play on. 

I'd also love to hear from you chaps about what mods you use for this period.

To pick up on Captain Blood's comment:  "So you have worked out a way to avoid a unit having to stand there and get shot to pieces without moving for 8 turns because their activation card never comes up? (Yes, that really incredibly stupid, nonsensical rule!"

Sharp Practice were written for the black powder era, so the presumption was that everyone - or at least nearly everyone - was armed with a firearm.  On the Tiffin card, which ends the turn anyone who has not been activated gets to fire.  So, your group in the open is not standing there doing nothing, they are in a firefight.

It's all about command and control and limiting it so that whilst you the player may wish your troops to do exactly what you say all of the time, the fact is that they won't.  The presumption is that most soldiers of the blackpowder era would stand and fight until; they won, driving off the enemy, or they lost, the enemy drove the off.  All of that happens in a firefight due to Shock inflicted to the point when one side breaks.  Of course it may sometimes be frustrating to see a unit stand when you'd prefer them to run for cover, but that is the way the cards represent the way your troops are feeling at that moment in time. 

Now, as mentioned above, Sharp Practice were written for the blackpowder era.  Dux Britanniarum, a derivative of Sharp Practice, where almost nobody has missile weapons, has no Tea Break/Tiffin card, so everybody gets to move in every turn.  It's just the order that is different each time.  I felt that was more appropriate for an era where combat was more "in your face". 

So, for mediaeval Lard I think it is perfectly within the wit of man to amend Sharp Practice to allow for more flexibility on the Tiffin card, or even remove it altogether if you fancy. 

I do hope that shows how the rules is neither incredibly stupid nor nonsensical.  Annoying, when your men do not act as automatons maybe, but I don't see that as unrealistic. Quite the reverse in fact. 

As for Franks hero hiding in a hole on the beach; well, looks like he wasn't the hero we though he was.  Just maybe, a la Flashman, he collapsed in a terrible funk!

Great report.  As I said, PLEASE do contact me to let me have the amendments.  I'd love to do a piece on Lard Island News highlighting this game and what amendments you used.  My email is richardclarkerli@yahoo.co.uk 

Cheers

Rich
Lard Island   

[Malamute]

Marian should read Mr Rian, something was lost in translation...the painted representation was clearly a figure in drag and had a hairy back...

 

I thought we weren't going to mention her shortcomings, especially the hairy back

[Captain Blood]

Dear Lardmeister, thanks for the explanation.

I think the Tiffin card is an example of a rule which is a neat idea in principle, but because it's reliant on pure luck of the draw (literally), sometimes it doesn't play out in practice.

On the Tiffin card, which ends the turn anyone who has not been activated gets to fire.  So, your group in the open is not standing there doing nothing, they are in a firefight.

Well I don't recall whether that detail had escaped our esteemed Games master (Nick??!!!), or whether my unit in question was just firing ineffectually because their enemies were in cover whilst they were in the open. All I know is that they had to stand there in the open for almost the entire game getting gradually decimated because their card never came up. You may say this represents historical practice - I am sceptical. I believe that in a skirmish situation (and let's remember, these are large scale skirmish rules, they're not representing Waterloo or Borodino with massed armies spread across miles of open terrain) after a short while of being pinned by superior fire, men will either fall back or head for cover (and in this case there was cover all around - they just weren't allowed to move to it).

It's all about command and control and limiting it so that whilst you the player may wish your troops to do exactly what you say all of the time, the fact is that they won't.  The presumption is that most soldiers of the blackpowder era would stand and fight until; they won, driving off the enemy, or they lost, the enemy drove the off.  All of that happens in a firefight due to Shock inflicted to the point when one side breaks.  Of course it may sometimes be frustrating to see a unit stand when you'd prefer them to run for cover, but that is the way the cards represent the way your troops are feeling at that moment in time. 

For eight turns in a row? That's not the cards representing the way the troops are feeling, that's just disproportionate bad luck getting in the way of the natural run of play. Perhaps there should be a rule that says that any unit which has failed to get an activation three turns in succession owing to being 'Tiffined', gets one anyway?
It's not frustrating, Rich - it spoiled the game completely, at least from my point of view. That surely can't be what you want from your rules.

Anyway, thanks again for the explanation. You're right of course, the real answer is to play without the Tiffin card at all 

Apologies James, for the thread-napping 

Cheers.

Richard