First Game of Never Mind the Billhooks

After a postponed first attempt Martin and I got together for a game of Never Mind the Billhooks. Before we go any further I do just have to say that it is a *terrible* name for a game. There that's done now, let us never speak of such things again. I'll just use the slightly unwieldy acronym NMTBH.

Anyway I first picked up the rules when they were free with Wargames Illustrated. Chum Stephen has always wanted to play some Wars of the Roses games but has never found any rules to suit. These were free and fun and looked worth trying. However at around the same time we entered assorted lockdowns and the like. I liked the look for the rules and ordered some models and during various enforced periods of isolation churned out quite a few units. 

The models were duly pressed in to service in several Midgard games, but never quite saw the table in their original intended game. Fast forward a year or two and Martin gets a copy of the swanky new NMTBH full rulebook so it was finally time to give the rules a try.

I'd got around 100 points painted and Martin was easily able to sort out a similar amount so as that's the kind of recommended size for a starting game that's what we went with.

Lancastrians (me) on the left, Yorkists (boo!) on the right.

I think that's actually Richard Croft's banner and he was a proud Yorkist, but he was what I had.

My "Welsh" spears and archers held my left flank.

With White clad troops and the Men at Arms in the centre.

The beastly Yorkists had bought a gun with them.

Swanning about in their Murrey and Blue.

The initial manoeuvres were bought to a halt with a loud retort from the big gun.

 

And a Welshman went to meet his maker

The Lancastrians all pushed forward

Climbing over a hedge caused us some frantic back and forth thumbing as we tried to work out the rules for disarray and rallying (and when is a unit, not a unit and when is an order not an order?).

The Welsh were closing on the Yorkist lines but taking plenty of arrows in the face for their pains.

The centres jostled for position.

With the Yorkists wisely staying away from the worst of the arrow storm.

In retrospect having the fences at jaunty angles was a mistake.

The Welsh were falling like flies, but holding out. Just.

Still the Yorkist centre held back.

While their right flank pushed up on the beleaguered Welsh.

Finally a much reduced Welsh contingent attacked the Yorkist levy.

The Yorkist mercenary crossbows aided their archers raining death on the Lancastrian right.

The fight at the fence proved indecisive and ground on.

So the Murrey and Blue bill came to the rescue

Slamming in to the Welsh flank and wiping them out.

 

Finally the Yorkist Men at Arms launched themselves at the Lancastrian bill

Croft, perhaps waking up to the fact that he was on the wrong side of history, left his men to their fate.

Out of "coins" in a desperate bid to save the game the Lancastrian commander urged his MAA on to the attack.

This could mean only one thing!

A duel between the respective leaders.

Much pointing and shoving ensued.

But after one indecisive round the Yorkist leader remembered which end of his sword to hold and left the Lancastrian face down in the dirt.

Victory to the house of York!

That was good fun and great to get the toys out on the table.

Truth to tell we found some of the rules a little confusing. Probably straightforward once you've played a few times, or if you've got someone on hand to explain things but the definitions of a unit and an order seemed (at least in the heat of the game) contradictory and unclear with some interchangeable terminology making understanding the intent a bit hard. Some of which it's entirely possible is mine and Martin's fault, rather than the rules themselves!

However there's clearly a good game in there and the shooting and combat were all straightforward, just a few wrinkles for us to work out (probably by asking on the Facebook group) mainly around orders and rallying.

Definitely want to play again.

*ADDENDUM* Questions asked on the Facebook page, answered within the hour by the author himself and all cleared up. Think we played most of it right and if we didn't it had no impact on the outcome!