Thursday, 5 January 2012

Funny Little Wars game report - part 1

The pointy-helmeted hordes deploy.
Following on from the Fletcher Pratt game on the 28th, Martin and I set up an played our first Funny Little Wars game.  This was the first public airing for Martin's pointy-helmeted pantomime Prussians.  We wanted to start off with a smallish game and so used a 13x7 foot table.  Each 'army' fielded two infantry battalions (20 figures each), a cavalry regiment (12 figures) and two artillery batteries (2 4.7s for the spiky hats, a 4.7 and a mountain gun for the Forbodians) and a few staff officers.
The Forbodian Army in travel mode!
Armies in Plastic German infantry and A Call to Arms (French) Dragoons.
The limbers were only delivered 10 minutes before the game began - hence the ungentlemanly lack of paintwork!
King Boris III of Forbodia (in the red motor car) and chums take the field.
The Forbodian Army.  The figures and motor cars have been dealt with in previous posts.  The rather splendid limbers are from CTS.
This represents about two thirds of the Forbodian Army - the full order of battle will be covered in a forthcoming post.
The Forbodians advance heroically.
King Boris moves up to oversee operations.
The Foresters head for...a forest.  Well a small wood.
The comedy Prussians advance in a typically unimaginative line.
The AIP figures have turned out rather nicely.
Forbodian cavalry making a fine sight.
The cavalry gallop forth.
The Jagers swarm over the hill while the mountain artillery battery deploys in the background.
The mountain gunners soon dropped a shell (matchstick) in the middle of the Dragoons, despatching three of them.
Good chaps, these gunners!  Sadly a lucky shot from a Prussian gun had done for the Forbodian 4.7 battery before it could deploy.
The Forbodian cavalry then made an ill-judged attack on an infantry battalion.
Sadly the Prussians stood firm...
...egged on by the Brigadier.  What will happen next?  Stay tuned!
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18 comments:

  1. Martin Rapier5 January 2012 at 15:20

    "The mountain gunners soon dropped a shell (matchstick) in the middle of the Dragoons, despatching three of them."

    Not three but five! Nearly half the regiment. Turns out that deploying cavalry in close order was a bad idea.

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  2. Tim Gow5 January 2012 at 15:24

    Martin Rapier
    I think it can safely be said that the game was a learning experiance for us both!

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  3. Unknown5 January 2012 at 17:02

    Tim ... Excellent stuff! *Well Done* and pictures are superb. I am still working on my F.L.W. armies. This post has definitely inspired me to get cracking ... Jeff

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  4. Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com5 January 2012 at 17:50

    Nice to see the boys in action at last. The pointy hats may not be as colourful as some armies but I thought they had a certain amount of snappy military style.

    -Ross

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  5. Mosstrooper5 January 2012 at 17:51

    Great looking game ! are you playing the rules straight from the book ?.

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  6. Tim Gow5 January 2012 at 17:52

    Chasseur
    Thanks - and welcome. I was pleased to have more or less got the Forbodian army from start to finish during the course of 2011, so to actually play a game with it was a fitting end to the wargaming year. The next army is already planned.....

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  7. Tim Gow5 January 2012 at 17:55

    Ross Mac
    Here's hoping you'll be seeing a bit more of King Boris & co in 2012.

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  8. Tim Gow5 January 2012 at 17:56

    Mosstrooper
    Pretty much from the book - although we did get some stuff wrong and didn't bother with stuff like medics and supply.

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  9. David Crook5 January 2012 at 19:57

    Hi Tim,

    Absolutely brilliant! I would love to have a go at a Fezian FLW army - using AIP Egyptians would be a good start!

    What is the next army you have planned?

    How will Cordeguay respond?

    Where can I get a set of the rules from!?

    All the best,

    DC

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  10. Al5 January 2012 at 20:50

    What rules do you you use for this scale Tim, like how far does a musket fire?

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  11. Don M5 January 2012 at 21:13

    Great stuff, loved it, and Martin's pantomime Prussians
    looke the part!

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  12. Funny Little Wars - Garden Campaigns5 January 2012 at 21:46

    Wonderful - I hope that King Boris will deploy a suitable Icon to confound the Prussians

    as ever

    Paul

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  13. Tim Gow5 January 2012 at 21:59

    David Crook
    You know it makes sense! I do have vague thoughts of a Turkish style army with AIP fez-wearing Egyptians at it's core. The rules are available from http://thevirtualarmchairgeneral.com/800-Funny-Little-Wars-Products-Page.htm

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  14. Tim Gow5 January 2012 at 22:01

    Al
    See my reply to DCs comment. The rules are Funny Little Wars by Padre Paul Wright. Basically this turns HG Wells original into a playable game. For a table game we halved the normal (garden sized) ranges so rifles had a max range of 36 inches. Go on, you know you want to!

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  15. Tim Gow5 January 2012 at 22:03

    Don M
    You mean they look like baddies? Damn right.

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  16. Tim Gow5 January 2012 at 22:04

    Funny Little Wars
    You have a lot to answer for Paul!

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  17. Chris Kemp7 January 2012 at 17:18

    "The army with the simplest uniform wins"

    Excellent post Tim, marred only by the sad lack of large engineering explosions :O)

    Regards, Chris

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  18. Tim Gow7 January 2012 at 17:29

    Chris Kemp
    Fear not Chris, Kapitan Kimpp's time will come!

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