Galleys & Galleons: First Game, Part 2

After the erratic broadside (see part 1 of this AAR), the man'o'War moved on.

The Pirate Frigate came about and closed on the Britons, firing wildly in the process, again without scoring a hit, but again taking Damage from Shallow Waters.

The Xebec did not get sufficient Actions for firing its guns.

I tried another Full Broadside, but my Master Gunners could not hit a barn from ten feet away...

...and then moved along. I would soon have to start thinking about some maneuvering...

The Frigate rammed my ship - neither of them took any damage from the impact.

The Xebec missed again...

Then a couple of Boarding Actions were carried out, resulting in the Frigate surrendering. As Bed-time was drawing close, we called that the Xebec would flee from the scene, thus ending the game.

Thoughts after the first game:

Wind and maneuvering:

Works really well. I think I am going to make some house rules regarding reducing and adding sails, though, as I don't really like the 'sails popping back up by themselves' situation (and I want ships to be able to come to a halt without turning into 'In Irons'). I'll probably use tokens on the ship roster to mark reduced sails, requiring 1 Action for each token to be added/removed - more about it at a later occasion.

Combat:

The Man'o'War with its C5 proved impossible to damage. I am not sure that I like the way this works; chance of hitting a target should not be influenced by the target's abilities, but rather be a target number depending on range and size of the target. Then, of course, we get another problem, namely that all vessels, independent of size, have only three hit points, and a large vessel like the Man'o'War will then be crippled far too easily... I need to play more games to see if things even out, but in this game, Lea had twice as many points as me, and she did not manage to inflict a single hit on my ship. Of course, she did half the damage to her ship herself, by sailing too close to an island, but still...

Galleys & Galleons: First Game, Part 1

Instead of cleaning more plastic Greeks when getting up this afternoon from sleeping after night watch, I set up a table for playing Galleys & Galleons with Lea (it was raining for the first time in over a month, so tennis was out of the question).

Lea took command of a small Pirate fleet, while I commanded a British Man'o'War trying to clear the archipelago of scum and villainy.

The first couple of turns of course consisted of a lot of maneuvering.

The largest Pirate vessel came too close to one of the islands, and took Damage.

My ship got in range, and opened up on the Pirate Xebec, and scored a single hit...

,,,then altered its course slightly.

The Pirate Frigate turned 'In Irons', and fired its bow chasers, but missed.

The Xebec raced closer and fired at the Man'o'War, but also missed.

I took the opportunity to fire a Full Broadside at the Xebec, but completely missed.

And this concludes the first part of this AAR, as I have to get ready for going to work later this evening. I may manage to get the next part done during the night, if things are calm at work.

Sharpe's Rifles WIP - Ready for a Lick of Paint!

In between writing an AAR for my first game of Sellswords & Spellslingers, I have been fiddling about with, among others, Sharpe and his Chosen Men of the 95th.

Today I got them primed, and glued to cork handles, so they are now ready for my brushes!

Sharpe's Rifles WIP - Working on the Bases

Got my almost empty, partly dried, filler out and put some on the bases of this group. Only three more rounds of work to do before I can prime them: Fill the holes in the washers, remove excess filler, and final filler build-up of the base tops.

I think I shall have to get some more black primer tomorrow, my last can is nearly empty, and it would nag me to have to prime them over more than one day.

Sharpe's Rifles WIP - All Cleaned Up!

After a couple of weeks with FAR too many real life complications and chores, today I was able to sit down and finish cleaning Sharpe and his Chosen Men.

Later today I may start working on the bases, but I am not sure if that will have to wait until tomorrow.

I still hope to be able to paint at least one of these up for the Big Battalions painting club at the LAF, which seem to have ground to a standstill at the moment, but we shall see...

Sharpe's Rifles Revisited

Another post about this starting with 'Finally'...

Finally, I started prepping my Sharpe and companions minis from Brigade Games:

Kevin, my hitherto newest gaming buddy has expressed interest in playing some Napoleonic skirmish (he even purchased the Black Powder Waterloo Starter Box from Warlord Games, so I assume he is meaning business).

I have also talked to my oldest friend and gaming buddy Michael (with whom I have spent endless hours gaming 1/72 Naps) about it, and he seems interested, too.

We are going to start out with only a handful minis each, playing Song of Drums and Shakos from Ganesha Games, then probably add the odd couple of reinforcements then and again, until our patrols grow too big for SDS and we have to move on to some other rules, like, for instance, Sharp Practice.

The reason I have only gotten three of the minis cleaned and glued onto washes is that I am working on another project parallel to this (talk about going from complete hiatus to overdrive...), and I shall post about it a bit later this evening.

Sharpe's Rifles

Finally, a post about gaming stuff!

I recently purchased two sets of metal minis depicting Sharpe and his chosen men of the 95th from Brigade Games. I plan to get at least one of them painted for the Alliance of the Big Battalions Painting Club at the Lead Adventure Forum (if I can find the time for it, that is...)

Unfortunately, these sculpts are quite tiny, and I wonder how they will scale up against other contemporary 28 mm napoleonics (I fear they may be closer to 25 mm). As I intend to use them for skirmish games, it may not be that big a an issue, but it is a shame if they stick out too much against other minis.

Hampton Rebased

Another Chaos in Cairo mini painted a long time ago has now gotten a shiny new base.

He is not currently starring in other projects than The Secrets of the Hidden Temple (he met an untimely demise as part of my Strange Aeons Treshold team), but I shall soon find other purposes for him.

It just struck me that I can easily shoehorn some of my Pulp minis into Congo, which means that I am already on the path to having a White Man's Expedition, as well as I have started on my Jungle Tribes, for which I intend to use most of the Zulu warriors I paint for In Her Majesty's Name.

As I have mentioned on (undoubtedly uncountable) earlier occations multi-purposing is the Code I work by in this hobby, and now I begin to feel the effect of de facto working on several projects in one go!

Horisont VIII, 2016: I Ain't Been Shot, Mum

I am not sure what scale the minis used for this set-up was, but definitely smaller than 28mm!

I Ain't Been Shot, Mum, by Too Fat Lardies, and here depicting a British assault on Italian lines somewhere in North Africa (I think).

I took some piccies while running my own Blood Eagle game nearby, so I have absolutely no idea what was going on.

Horisont VIII, 2016: Congo - My First Game

I played a much anticipated game of Congo at Horisont this year. I took up the bloody spear of the natives to avenge the theft of a sacred mask by the nefarious British expedition.

The explorers had to leave the table by one of the two edges of a pre-determined board edge - I had to prevent them from doing so.

My Jungle Cannibals charged right into the nearest group of Askaris.

And were beaten off.

Another group of Askaris and some Scouts moved to attack the Warriors on my right flank.

Followed by the White Explorers.

The Warriors swiftly charged in and drove back the enemy!

The Askaris decided that it was better to engage the natives from a distance, opening up with their rifles (I guess?).

The British tried to sneak out through some dense jungle.

My other unit of Warriors, led by the mighty Chief, swiftly moved to intercept the white devils...

...and charged thim on the next Activation Card.

The female lone surviving explorer ran off from the carnage, while the soldiers formed up to protect the rear of the expedition Column.

The expedition, hard pressed from 3 sides quickly re-grouped into a makeshift, almost square formation to protect the young woman,

With the Askaris out of the way, the Cannibals decided to ransack the camp.

And both the Maiden Archers and the musket-wielding guys (I forgot what they are called) moved to be able to pepper the British formation with lead and arrows.

Seeing the Cannibals looting the wardrobe of the English Miss, the Maiden Archers also decided to try their luck plundering the camp.

My decimated warriors on the far right withdrew, and the British circled my flank, going for the nearest corner. Again, the Chief's unit moved to intercept.

I was taking some beating, but managed to prevent the expedition from leaving the table with the sacred mask, depriving them of 5 victory points, and on the next to last Activation Card, my musket guys ran to the camp and secured loot worth 2 victory points, carrying the day for the Jungle Tribes!

I can only day: Studio Tomahawk did it again!

As with SAGA, the system is VERY streamlined and elegant, and although I am not a fan of too many counters/markers in the playing area (and I really think the rosters could be used for placing those on, instead), the gameplay is so easy and involving, that this game is a must for anyone interested in Victorian or Pulp games set in the Dark Continent.

It would be too time-consuming to explain the system, but it uses identical decks of Activation Cards for both sides - players choose 3 cards at will for each game turn, then both players reveal the first card they wish to use. The cards have an Initiative Value which determines who goes first on this card. Players the resolve the actions listed on the card, shooting/combats are resolved as soon as they occur, usually with one side retreating half a move. All 3 card are played each turn.

The game also has 'Totem Cards', usually 1 drawn before chosing the Activation Cards. They provide extra actions, dice, or other effects, and can be played at will when appropriate.

Try it, if you like fast-flowing, simple mechanics that till offer lots of depth and tactical choice!

I already ordered some minis form North Star/Copplestone to use along with the Zulu I have WIP, so that I can make my own native 'Column'. and I shall then probably purchase the rules after Chistmas (no need to rush, as I need to paint up quite a bunch of minis before I can play the game as intended).

USUTHU!: Rorke's Drift and British Starter Army

As hinted elsewhere, I had found a really sweet second hand deal for my long overdue Zulu War project, and I picked up the stuff today!

First, the buildings form the Rorke's Drift set:

Then the walls and barricades, plus some mounted police and carabiniers:

Already assembled British plastic, and some Gatling Gun thingy - and perhaps a set of metal infantry...

British infantry removed from sprues, and some natal Native Contingent sprues (four, I think):

And, finally, 10 sprues of Married Zulu warriors - I can now start making an Impi for In Her Majesty's Name, although I shall need a command group set with Induna and Inyanga - but at least I can get some grunts ready for the tabletop!

Usuthu! Zulu War (1879) British WIP

Well, time seems to fly away on the wings of ornithopters these days.

I have been busy getting the last potatoes out of the soil, as winter has finally arrived with forecasts of -10 C this night, so I thought I had better.

I have not been completely idle on the hobby front, though, and I have assembled my first five British infantrymen for my Africa/Zulu War project.

As you can see, some of the ready/advancing stances are almost passable, but the shooting stances are really horrible.

Unfortunately, each sprue comes with only three sets of arms for each stance, so I have to use two sets of shooting stance arms out of every five models (with twenty in the set).

There is a right arm with an empty hand that may be usable with the extra Martini-Henry provided, so I think I shall try out that option from the next sprue.

I still think these will be OK as assegai-fodder at an arms length when I have given them a table-top quality paintjob, but I certainly shall not be adding more of them to my collection (unless someone actually throws them at me just for taking them).

I shall add some 'rough' to the bases with some filler, and then they are ready for priming!

USUTHU! - Another Project Born...

'Zulu!' and 'Zulu Dawn' have long been my favourite films depicting redcoat action in the Age of Imperialism, and I have felt the itch to get some action going on the South African plains (and as any native Africans can easily be pressed into service for Pulp games, this is actually a no-brainer).

I have now set out to scratch that itch, first getting these books from Osprey:

(In Her Majesty's Name rulebook should be in the mail any day soon)

Heroes, Villains and Fiends contain rules for using Zulu in IHMN, so I expect to start making a Company or two of Zulus (unmarried and married springs to mind), and one of Brits, then perhaps expand by making Pulp Alley leagues of some of the other native peoples available (like Ngoni, Matabele, Pygmies, Azande, and perhaps some 'fantasy' cannibals and other imaginative Africans).

At first, I thought about doing Colonials in 1/72 plastics as I already have some Esci Zulus and British infantry for the Zulu War (1879), but there seems to be a limited supply of figures for this period; although a lot of sets have been made over time (notably from HaT), only a few seem available at the present.

So, I end up - as usual - collecting and painting 28 mm sized stuff, and as I remembered to have a box of these, I dug it out and have begun prepping a few redcoats.:

The models are not great, but I got the box as a freebie when ordering WGF's Republican (Caesarian) Romans, so no harm done in getting them a lick of paint so they can be brutally slaughtered by the natives of many a distant corner of the Empire.

I shall be basing them on 20mm washers, and go for a 'ready' or 'avancing' pose for as many as possible, as I really do not  like the sculpt of the firing right arm/hand - and I am primarily going to use these for skirmishing, so it only seems right to use poses better suited for open formations.

For the Zulus, I am almost set on getting the Empress/Warlord Zulu Starter Army, which should keep me occupied for several gaming seasons.

Just need to get that November paycheck...