The Billhooks Bash Saturday 4th September 2021

 

Well braving the doom spreaders and Armageddon mongers I drove down to Derby at the weekend to take part in my first ever wargames tournament. Ive never actually taken part in any sort of competitive wargames tournament and to be very honest the Billhooks Bash was never meant to be that type of day.

I stayed in a Travelodge near the venue which was in a large industrial estate a matter of a 100 yards away. The venue was a Games Workshop club and shop which was very welcoming and well set out with tables. The tournament was organised by the most excellent Pete Harris. Peter did a great job of herding cats/wargamers to their places. Each army was 120 points with 10 points added for the main commander.  Nearby was three very decent pubs selling good beer and good food, and they had people in them at 5pm?

I thought I'd turn up with something a little different and pointed up the Earl of Kildare's Irish contingent that was slaughtered at Stokefield. Unfortunately I never considered any cavalry for my contingent and instead relied on Kern and Gallowglass. 
 

Peter planned three games per competitor, umpired by the Billhooks man himself, Andy Callan. It was interesting to see how other wargamers played their games and what they had included in their respective contingents.A favourite was light cavalry and veteran billmen, of the two the cavalry caused me the most trouble and in each of my three battles I faced cavalry with their own general. Effectively they could turn a flank easily. 

My first battle was against Ralph the new kid on the block. Ralph being much younger than me had been brought up on Warhammer 40K and it showed as he placed down company after company of archers and of course bloody light cavalry. My Irish did okay considering although my saving throws were hopeless and I failed to win any cards that could have helped me. I lost the battle by one token. A great introduction to the big boys league. 

Whilst in two of the battles I struggled to throw decent dice I did manage to do everything right in my second game. But in my last game I was given a lesson in how to save. When one scores 16 hits you expect to at least kill one man at arms. Well no actually. What are the chances of saving every hit?

Anyway in my second game I faced not only light cavalry but artillery as well. My Irish definitely dont like big guns. Luckily my opponent threw three ones when he fired the damned thing and it blew up! Id never seen this happen before and I must admit it was very funny.

 Even better I actually drew an event card which contained treachery and could be played against any enemy unit or block of units not under direct command. Again Id never seen this card before.

 I played this against a block of two archer units which firstly peppered the veteran billmen before charging to their destruction. I won the battle convincingly but attribute the victory more to good luck than my generalship.

My final game was a complete tactical disaster as my poor kern were shot to pieces by archers and hand-gunners. Of course I faced light cavalry which piled into my men at arms block led by Earl Kildare. One would think trained killers could handle light cavalry especially led by a tough leader. Well no actually, my saving was desperate, my killing was worse, and my ability to throw ones proved once again Im a freaking dice genius. Kildare fell, surrounded by his retainers and my battle was over.   

Peter arranged during lunch, yes lunch was also provided a painting competition. Mike Peters from Bristol rightly won the painting competition with a beautifully painted Lancasterian contingent led by the chap below. 

What can one say about the event. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day. Yes I was exhausted, but the games were played in a brilliant attitude. There was banter, there was humour and there was a great feeling of pushing toy soldiers around tables. Peter has already talked of arranging another Billhooks Bash. Will I be going? Damn right I will.