Warhammer Ancient Battles - Storm of Chivalry

On June 26 2004. Ponders End Wargames Club hosted the Storm of Chivalry event using the recent Armies of Chivalry WAB supplement.

The event was a themed campaign day, uniquely for events of this nature; the players were presented with a choice of scenarios to choose from with John Kersey matching up the player’s game choices.

Fortunately the player’s choices tallied up nicely, with the “Holy Troublemaker” scenario proving a popular choice for players. In the Holy Troublemaker scenario one-player attempts to escort the Holy man from the table’s edge before the forces of the other player capture him. Despite three games, all of the holy men were captured in games that were very close. Interestingly enough, Francis Healey-McAdam’s Knights chose to flee from a charge, much to the amusement of Dave Lanchester and myself. The “Hill Defence” scenario was also played. This saw the French Ordonnance army of Graham Wallis proving triumphant against Tony Garry’s impressive force of German foot knights and some fearsome Swiss pike.

A City Fight scenario was played between Dave Sculley’s Swiss and Francis’s Lancastrians, with Francis successfully defending the town from capture and knowing the Swiss, a certain massacre.

After a hearty lunch, we prepared for a big battle with 3 players on either side; in true medieval fashion each player would be commanding a battle. John decided to form six of the players into two teams. With Tony Allen and Trevor Allen playing a game in which Tony Garry was arriving to relieve a siege. As Graham Wallis and Francis Healey-McAdam had the highest victory points they had the privilege of choosing which players they wanted for their teams. It all brought back those bad memorises of PE lessons from the past (in the case of some players –the dim and distant past) especially for me as I was chosen last (some things never change)

Having chosen the teams, it was time to deploy. Graham took the centre with Dave Sculley’s Swiss protecting his left flank and a force of Moldavians on the left flank.

Francis’ Lancastrians took the centre on the opposite side of the board where they were “assisted” by a Ed McDonald’s Germans on the left flank and e the glorious gendarmes of Burgundy (my own army) led by Dave Lanchester covering the right flank.

On the right flank the Swiss Halberdiers swarmed forward and chopped up the artillery crew and handgunners of the Germans. Despite his best efforts and a stirring song (in French) from Ed, his Germans were swept from the field. Over on the right, the Moldavian horse archers swarmed forward and opened fire at the brave Burgundians (no bias here from the author), it seemed a case of Nicopolis re-fought as the Moldavian archers failed to penetrate the armour of the Ducal Guard, despite a hail of bow fire. The Moldavian knights charged the longbowmen and punched through to be met by the Ducal Guard. After a protracted fight the Moldavian knights were defeated.

In the centre Francis was holding his own as his longbowmen proved effective against the French infantry but he too was overrun. By the end of the game it was clear that the French forces had prevailed.

With the conclusion of the games we moved on to the prize giving, Rob Broom the General Manager of Warhammer Historical was the Master of Ceremonies f, he kindly contributed two prizes of the recent Warhammer historical medieval character packs.

The Perry Twins had generously donated a £30 voucher to the overall winner, based on his performances it was clear that the prize would go to Dave Sculley.

Glen Foden, the new owner of Hersants Books had donated the new Osprey Hussite book as the prize for the most improved player and this went to Tony Gary.

Despite his singing, Ed McDonald received a character prize for being the most enjoyable opponent

During the day, a number of side games were on offer; Shaun McTague presented the well-received game “War leader,” in which two fantasy forces fight on a grid. Dave Lanchester hosted a game of Medieval Football. In keeping with the medieval feel of the event a joust game was played and a prize was presented to Tony Gary for the best performance in this event.

Cards showing a painting of the famous joust between Antoinne, the Bastard of Burgundy and Sir Anthony Woodville, signed by me, John and Shaun McTague were given to all the players in attendance

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable event. Our thanks go out to the players in attendance, our generous sponsors: Warhammer Historical, Hersants Books and Alan and Michael Perry of Perry Miniatures for the prizes they donated. Thanks also go out to the Lance and Longbow Society for attending this event and extending their support.

Per Dieu Et Mon Droit

George “Father Georgi” Moraitis