Swiss Cheesers and Red Leicester - 2nd Billhooks game

 

So... John travelled up to Leicester all the way from Finsbury Park in London.  He brought his Swiss army to take on the Haut-Dijons.  John and I are still learning how to play the Never Mind the Billhooks rules, so this was a great opportunity.

John with his Swiss Army - both having survived the perils of the M1 motorway.

The Swiss lines: Light Horse, the Vorhut, Gewalthut and the Nachhut - all covered by pesky skirmishers.

Let me at them! The Swiss Gewalthut advances towards the Haut-Dijon lines.

Yours truly - looking somewhat bewildered.

The impeccably uniformed - but somewhat nervous - Haut-Dijon Army.

The initial dispositions - somewhat to one flank.  Generally, the Haut-Dijon tactics were: we'll sit here, thanks very much, and shoot at you as you walk towards us

The Haut-Dijon lines.

We got the Extra Kills rule slightly wrong (it's all a learning experience!), but the overall lesson was the combination of archery and artillery fire can be devastating.  Oh, and try and wipe out the Swiss before they get anywhere near you!

Artillery and longbowmen desperately pouring fire into the Swiss Gewalthut.

The Swiss Vorhut takes on the Ducal Guard (and makes a mess of them!).

Still working through the cavalry rules.  Antoine, Le Grand Bâtard, has not covered himself in glory in his first two battles.

That's what we like to see; whittled-down pike units. Plus old-school ruler!

Casualties mount on both sides.

Charles breathing a sigh of relief as the Swiss attack runs out of steam.  He saves his escape plan for another day.

We certainly made some errors with the Billhooks rules but, obviously, it's a learning experience.  The most significant one was the ending of the game; we took the end to be when John handed over his last army token.  A re-reading of the rules clarified that the game ends when an opponent is required to handover a token and they have none left (apart from Burgundians, ironically). Thanks to John for taking the trouble to drive all that way for a game!