Little Wars Melbourne 2019 - Waterloo and Siege of Rhodes

Another year, and good to see another Little Wars Melbourne.

I was not really paying too much attention on what was being offered in the way of games (as they were being announced on the Facebook page):
https://www.facebook.com/events/kingston-arts-hall-985-nepean-highway-moorabbin/little-wars-melbourne-2019-9am-to-4pm/394294514710354/

So when I turned up in the morning I wandered the tables (lots of great looking terrain and miniatures) and the other sellers (including the second hand tables). I didn't take any photos and didn't buy anything, so this is just a report of the two games I played.

For the morning game I took part in Richard G's large Waterloo game using his recently published second edition of Field of Glory Napoleonic. There were a huge amount of miniatures on the table (a few thousand at least!) and I commanded a small Dutch Belgian contingent on the far left flank as a player who signed up before the day was running late. Not much action in the hour I played as units were shuffling into position (while trying to stay out of view and range of artillery). However I did get a few hits on the French infantry units facing me.

It was a game that went all day, and unsurprisingly the French had a really hard time from what I heard (could they ever win that rematch?).

The afternoon game saw me commanding the land forces of Demetrius on Ian H's lovely Siege of Rhodes (305–304 BC) table. He had designed and made all the card terrain, its visual appeal (and knowing nothing of the battle) immediately drew me to play.

We used Age of Hannibal, a rule set I hadn't used before. Was pretty easy to pick up and they flowed really nicely. Chee commanded the invading Macedonian fleet, while Ian and Dylan H were defending the city. The photos below are mainly from my side of the battle. I knew that I had to get to the walls as quickly as possible, as Dylan had artillery and archers that were from the beginning causing me issues. However, by concentrating fire, I was able to punch holes in the wall (I lost all my siege engines though!).

At this stage we called the game, as I had troops in the city and it was getting close to the end of the day.

Two great games, thanks Richard and Ian and all my opponents - what Little Wars is all about. Also a big shout out to the organisers (Nic and Mike) - appreciate all the effort that goes into getting this up and running each year.