Wednesday 14 August 2019

To the strongest! Fast play,very slowly!

I blame Madaxemans rather splendid after action reports with wonderful graphics and humorous asides in tournaments far and wide.

As a result I have signed up to take part in a To the strongest! Tournament,down the Lee Valley at the Indoor Athletics Center Meridian Way on the 15th of September.

The trouble is I haven't actually played it except with the Rennaisance add on rules.

I also had to have a look at what I have got figure wise that could pass for something medieval,ish, as it's a medieval tournament, my army was going to be late, very late medieval!
I need to get the army list in very soon,so I  put together two possible armies from the late medieval list.
First up is a Swiss army,three pike blocks and a couple of light crossbow.
The other army I think I can do is a Venetian Condatta force with lots of Pete's flags!
My niece's husband Dan came over,he took the Venetians and I took the Swiss.
The Swiss can move as rapidly as mounted infantry and I advanced all three blocks as fast as I could, Dan advanced his troops and essential engulfed me with his much more numerous troops, his Romagla and militia communal pikes managed to hold their own quite happily against my much more expensive Swiss ( when you think they cost six times as much!) With the result that Dan's cavalry were able to attack the Swiss flanks and wear them down.

Great fun game but I think I would have to be much more skillful to use the Swiss, so I will take the Venetians, I can't see I will win anything but at least I'll get some games in a day out!








As the title says it's a fast play game that we took a while to play with lots of looking up the rules!
Well at least it all looked nice and it's always good to get the toys on the table. I've got to get my army list off by the end of the day and with a bit of luck I'll get another game in before the tournament. 
Next up will be a big pile of terrain,I appear to have got carried away a bit but I'm sure I'll be able to use it, once I've doubled the size of my table maybe!
Best Iain

46 comments:

  1. Lovely game, Iain. Big pike blocks looking very impressive.

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    1. Thanks Dean! I'm looking forward to seeing you knocking out some pike blocks of your own!
      Best Iain

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  2. I think, unless you are really devoted to tournament play, they're best for breaking out of your usual routine of gaming. You get in several games against new opponents, and often against armies you don't play against habitually. It's an exercise in variety, which is always fun ;)

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    1. Absolutely! A day of rolling dice sounds good to me! I might even know what I'm doing by the end of it!
      Best Iain

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. That's great, Iain, to get a TtS game in using your lovely Italians Wars collection! While the game looks colorful, what are your initial impressions of TtS Renaissance?

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    1. Thanks Jonathan! Well this was TtS straight, without the Renaissance add ons as the tournament is a late mediaeval one, but I quite liked them when I used them before!
      Best Iain

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  5. Looks great Iain. Good luck at the tourney.

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    1. Thanks! I've got a feeling it will be the other way around!
      Best Iain

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  7. Nice to see the visual of the Pike Blocks (especially photo 5). My gaming buddy got TtS for Christmas and I wait patiently to be introduced to them. Hope you enjoy your tourney.

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    1. It is good to get the pike blocks out isn't it? I think you will enjoy it and I am looking forward to your take on it!
      Best Iain

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  8. TtS is not great at extremes of troop type / quality so I'm not too surprised that investing in hyper-expensive Swiss didn't pay of. Nonetheless I think TtS is fun game so dive in enjoy the fight - forget the result.

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    1. Couldn't agree more,it should be fun whatever happens!
      Best Iain

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  9. Great Looking armies, it will be interesting to see how you get on in the tournament.

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  10. Nicely looking game an impressive armies, Iain! A special attention I drawn to Venetian condotta as I plan to make them for my next project (I hope). So I’m looking forward to see the tournament reports.

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    1. Thanks Dmitry! I am sure your Venetians will be up to your high standard!
      Best Iain

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  11. Simply fantastic. I love the imposing aspect of the pics.

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    1. Thanks Suber! Lots to like in this period!
      Best Iain

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  12. Good luck at the tournament, which is as you say, a great way to get in a day of gaming. You’re table looks great.

    You don’t need a bigger table for all that in coming terrain, just slap it down. It’ll look more realistic.
    😀

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    1. Thanks Stew! I have tried what you said,there is no room for any figures lol!
      Best Iain

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  13. Certainly visually very impressive those Swiss. best of luck in the tournament. One thing I'll ask Iain as its something I have been struggling with myself - the units look to mostly fill those squares, how will you represent BUA's is there room to place buildings and troops?

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    1. Not sure, the pike blocks are extra deep, twice the size of normal units,I think you could fit a normal unit within a BUA, I try and include a yard or similar.
      Best Iain

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  14. That all looks great. I am still trying to convince the groups I game with to give TTS a run so am always interested in reports from others giving it a go.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence! Definitely worth a go!
      Best Iain

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  15. Pike blocks en-masse are alwasya joy to behold.
    it's alwasy good to get a game in too - this looked like a lot of fun.
    I do wonder at times if all these 'newer' sets of rules are any better than older sets.

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    1. Well,I think they're easier to understand than say WRG rules which are the only old school sets I have used and less complicated charts but I think we might be in a way going back to something more like even older styles of rules.
      Best Iain

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  16. Damn nice Iain, good luck with the tournament!

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  17. great lain nice battele report. good luck for the tournament. I can't wait to see the reports of that too, take the wolf

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  18. I'm so glad to look at such beautiful pikes in action, superb!!

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  19. Masses of pikes in blocks - theres just something about them, isn't there.

    Tournament! It'll be a good day, I expect. How many people going to be playing?

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    1. Yes,big blocks of pikes are great! I think there's 15 people going,so should be fun!
      Best Iain

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  20. Good luck Iain!

    Does this mean a potential actual Medieval army project could be on the horizon?

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    1. Thanks Dai! No it means that one of the armies I have been building for the Italian wars( which start in 1495) will be used at the very beginning of their period, one or two units might be a bit anachronistic but I at least can live with that!
      Best Iain

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  21. Great looking game. Would you be able to share your Italian Wars amendments please? I’m keen to give TTS a try for this period.

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    1. Thanks Jonathan! This game is actually straight TTS,I'd be happy to forward the amendments, drop me a line at caveadsum1471@yahoo.com.
      Best Iain

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