Refight of the Battles of Waterloo & Wavre

On a 'Stella' (Artois) fuelled Monday night, someone said lets refight Waterloo and Wavre on the same day, just like it happened in reality! We all laughed ...

but the wiring in Big John's head went into overload. By the time of our next meeting he said 'I have a plan, lets refight "Waterloo and Wavre on the same day, just like it happened in reality!", we laughed ...

but it turned out that he was serious, so we thought why not!

We set the date for 17th June, rules chosen (Shako), terrain was planned, figures made ready and a venue secured at 'Worrell Towers'. We spent the evening of Friday 16th setting-up, over 3,000 figures were involved on two tables - Waterloo
on 18' x 8' and Wavre on 8' x 6'.

Enjoy the pictures... (words by Bjorn and Benny)

My, my, at Waterloo Napoleon did surrender
Oh yeah, and I have met my destiny in quite a similar way
The history book on the shelf


Is always repeating itself














Waterloo - I was defeated, you won the war
Waterloo - Promise to love you for ever more
Waterloo - Couldn't escape if I wanted to
Waterloo - Knowing my fate is to be with you
Waterloo - Finally facing my Waterloo















My, my, I tried to hold you back but you were stronger
Oh yeah, and now it seems my only chance is giving up the fight
And how could I ever refuse
I feel like I win when I lose

Waterloo - I was defeated, you won the war
Waterloo - Promise to love you for ever more
Waterloo - Couldn't escape if I wanted to
Waterloo - Knowing my fate is to be with you
Waterloo - Finally facing my Waterloo









So how could I ever refuse
I feel like I win when I lose - 

Waterloo - Couldn't escape if I wanted to
Waterloo - Knowing my fate is to be with you

Waterloo - Finally facing my Waterloo

L to R: Graham, Rupert, John, Phil, Dave, Warren,
Paul, Andy, Mike & Nick

Invasion of Crete

British Armoured Cars

20mm Bofors AA Gun

In  July 1941 the Germans invaded Crete, 65 years later we re-create the opening battles using Andy's 20mm collection.

Greek Infantry waiting to give German
Airborne troops a nasty surprise

German Glider has a rough landing

German tanks arrive on the table

Same tank, different angle

British Truck

British Renforcements 

Point du Hoc - France 2006

On tour with the SAS - more <here>.

Unlike the American Rangers on D-Day,we arrived at Pointe du Hoc in the 'Battle Bus' via a safe -if somewhat dreary road -having parked up there was a lengthy walk to the battlefield.

The first thing that you notice is the moonscape features of the ground, pounded to pieces on D-Day and before by allied bombers and support vessels, a wonder anyone of anything could survive.

Seeing the cliffs climbed by the Rangers puts their efforts into perspective, an incredible feat of bravery.

Sword Beach - Le Grand Bunker

Sword Beach from the Bunker Roof

Having traveled to Normandy to visit the D-Day beaches we arrived at Ouistreham, where, tucked away in the backstreets we found this museum. It has been fully restored to how it would have looked back in 1944. The amount of original uniforms and equipment, some very rare, is amazing.

Three wise men.  John, Phil & Dave atop the Bunker

Situated inside a Fire Control Bunker, which overlooked Sword Beach, this museum tells the story behind the Atlantic Wall defences along the Normandy coastline. The bunker was also the command center for all the gun batteries protecting the Orne estuary. As 3rd Division landed on Sword Beach, and the guns the bunker commanded were silenced, the garrison held out until 9th June, when a Royal Engineers officer, Lieutenant Bob Orrell of 91st Field Company, blew the entrance in and the occupants finally surrendered. Orrell and his men took two officers and 50 men prisoner, and for his exploits Orrell was awarded the Military Cross.

Graham explaining to John the hatch for the step ladder
 to the roof wasn't too small, rather John was too big.
Phil watches on.

On tour with the SAS - more<here>.

Agincourt Museum

We visited the Agincourt Museum, which never really recovered from our presence! Mikey N,John And Andy recreated the advance of the French Foot Knights as seen below- spookily realistic!

Sir Michel le Nouveau

Sir Andre le Plat

Sir Jean le Grande

 The museum as actually very good, for a small town facility such as it was... Following pictures from the museum illustrating some of the combatants.

We tramped the battlefield for a couple hours,with Steve doing the honours in explaining the lie of the land, the history etc truth be told it was a farmer's field, most of which was ploughed, without Steve's research we could literally have been anywhere!

On tour with the SAS - more<here>.

Five and Twenty Ponies -The Conclusion

By Steve Cast.

Well, here it is, the conclusion of "Five and Twenty Ponies ". The calendar has run its course and time has run out. However, I did feel (hat there was probably a few more campaign weeks left but 1 think enough has been done to draw it to a close.

I would firstly like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for participating in what turned out to be an amusing campaign.

As per usual it didn't turn out as planned and there were a lot of random events that never got used. For example, the Smugglers will never receive the message from the count of Anjou pleading for them to assist him in his escape from the French authorities in Calais. Sarah Warwick, falsely accused of stealing a loaf of bread, will never be hung and the subsequent riots will never trouble the Militia or the customs. But, alas, things went in different directions and these events shall stay hidden in the mists of time.

The campaign encompassed any event that either did or could have occurred in the 18th and early 19th centuries, so I had bags of things to choose from. Even though everyone involved was given objectives these weren't the be all and end all of the campaign. There were things going on in the background that I was hoping people might be able to tease out of the clues that that I left behind. However, as would happen in real life, the clues weren't all discovered by the same person and could not therefore be connected. You all played your parts very well indeed and acted in the best interests of the characters you played. However, if I list the clues below, and as you read through the following conclusion, you may be able to piece things together.

The clues were, and not necessarily in this order:

The spy
Farmer Pickles
The French raid
The "Quadrangle"
Sir Percy Stanmoor