Yule Spoils!

 I actually got something gaming-related for Yule his year!!!

I love it! It fits right into my Christmas Wars/Pop Culture Wars thingy! Sally 4th: https://wargamesbuildings.co.uk/product/second-star-to-the-right-collection/
Go get it!

Painting Pirates for Åcon: The Chinaman

Well, I was, but I just learned today that the Pirate game at Åcon is cancelled...

But here is the Oriental part of Captain Etton's crew.

There is something wrong with his forehead in this pic, I have to check if it is an actual painting error or just a speck of dust.

I have another two WIPs, but, frankly, my motivation for painting them has vanished into thin hot air, and next week or so I think I am going to spend most of my leisure time working on the driveway.

Ooops, I just noticed that I forgot to paint the buckle! Well, he will go back on the pain(t) station at a later point.

Here is the entire crew so far. I wonder if it will ever grow any further...

From this picture it is clear to me, that the thing on the Chinaman's forehead in the first pic must have been dust - or perhaps a bit of flock. Well, well...

Painting Pirates for Åcon: The Marksman

A former plantation slave, Eagle-Eye the native South American took to buccaneering before signing up with Captain Etton.

He is deadly with the musket, but always brings a knife to a gunfight (just in case).

Artizan Designs Buccaneer.

Painting Pirates for Åcon: Setting the Mood

I am getting ready for Åcon. The bottle is, of course, solely for reference purposes 😏

Painting Pirates for Åcon: The Fencer

Some of you may have wondered about all those vacation posts. Well, here is why I have had nothing else to show; I have been cleaning and painting minis for a Bring-and-Battle Pirate  game at Åcon 2020, an annual private gaming event in a Summer Cabin garden in Esbjerg.

Here is the first one - a Black Cat Bases fencer I got in a mystery bag deal many years ago.

I have not come up with a name for him, yet, but I imagine him coming from a wealthy family, getting into bad company, and then being disinherited by his father - leading him into a life of crime in order to uphold his dandy lifestyle.

Somehow he ended up as part of Captain Etton's crew, and here he plays the part of the archetypal swashbuckler (although he always brings a gun to a swordfight, just in case).

2019-06-28: Åcon 2019, Friday

Last weekend, I attended the private event Åcon in Esbjerg (it was on pause last year) - a small 'invites only' gathering of gamers.

Rasmus Wichmann, probably the driving force behind Team Dread Streets, publishers of Dread Streets, the cinematic swashbuckling game, was present for a couple of hours, and I sat in on a simplified demo of said game.

It was very hot, and it probably influenced our ability to focus, but we managed to play it to an abrupt end, when Rasmus was called home. If I recall correctly, I was deemed winner (or second) because of some unused counters.

I then demoed One Page Rules Age of Fantasy Skirmish. I really need to make some mats large enough for this and other games!

At the end of Turn 4, The Goblins carried the day, holding 2 objectives against 1.

I think this late evening pic looks a lot like this one from 2016: https://argonor-wargames.blogspot.com/2016/07/acon-1-day-in-esbjerg.html

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.

Galleys and Galleons: Templates Finished

I have not found time for a game, yet, but the quick template mock-up is done, an I am actually all set for playing.

I used two 1mm thick neodyne magnets to fasten the Wind Compass arrow, one guled to the compass, the other to the arrow, and it works a treat!

At some point, I shall make a set of templates using a pair of compasses(!) to mark a circular shape, before laminating and cutting out the templates.

And remember:

Half of all author royalties generated from sales of these rules will be donated to the UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency who protect and assist individuals and families displaced by war and persecution.

Get it HERE

Galleys and Galleons: Preparing the Game

Last week I purchased Galleys and Galleons form Ganesha Games, as I had seen some pics of games played with the Pirates of the Spanish Main ships, of which I have a shipload(!).

The game uses the well-known Song of Blades and Heroes engine with a few adjustments, but nothing to surprise players of any of the 'Songs' games.

I am preparing a Wind Compass and a Heading Template, printed from the pdf, and I am going to attach the arrow using a pair of 1mm rare earth magnets and some glue.

Like with Paleo Diet

Half of all author royalties generated from sales of these rules will be donated to the UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency who protect and assist individuals and families displaced by war and persecution,

so I would urge all gamers to purchase a copy of the game, be it printed or digital, from Ganesha Games.

I may get a game in tomorrow - depending on how carried away I get with gardening, as this spring is acting like a hot August.

Merchants & Marauders: First Game Finished

Lea and I finished our first game of M&M earlier today, and we called it a draw, as when I claimed victory by revealing my stashed Gold, Lea said that she was not aware of the Gold contributing to the Glory total, and that she was certain that she had sufficient Gold stashed away to reach 10 Glory before her first Captain died in an attack on Treasure Island.

I like the game very much - the option to earn Glory by trading, and not just by fighting, means that you can avoid the attention of the 4 powers' Naval Ships (and there is bound to be at least a couple of those patrolling the waters of the Caribbean early on with 16 of the Event Cards drawn at the beginning of every Game Turn bringing in a Frigate (or Man-o-War, should the owning nation be at war)).

Next time we play, we shall use the Glory Cards, and the special harbour rules (printed on the map), and, hopefully, persuade Anna to join the fray-

Merchants & Marauders: First Game in Progress

Lea got up early this morning (when she heard me rummaging in the bathroom), and she still has an age where she wants company (Anna has turned on full teenager mode and reads books in the seclude of her room), so I decided to skip most of my plans for today, and get out Merchants & Marauders.

I had hoped to lure Anna into participating, but when I finally managed to pull her out of her sleep (about 10.30 a.m.), she promptly disappeared into a book.

Lea and I played most of the day, and we still have not used all the rules, as the game is somewhat complex (not least because everything is in English, and Lea is not yet quite sufficiently versed in that) - but we traded a lot, and I only started raiding merchants after claiming a mission that required me to do so.

We have not finished the game, yet, and we shall not do so until tomorrow, as I had to take advantage of the sunny dry weather this afternoon to get the front lawn mowed (it has been raining a LOT, lately, and a trimming was long overdue).

Board Game: Merchants & Marauders

I purchased a couple of board games from Hyggeonkel the night before yesterday, and they arrived with the postal service while I was sleeping today - and luckily, my youngest daughter, Lea, heard the doorbell.

I have not had time to read through the rules, yet, but the game looks very good. Both plastic and cardboard components seem good quality, and this Danish Design game comes with zip-lock bags for all the small components - a first for me with this kind of game!

I am looking forward to try my luck as a daring privateer on the Spanish Main!

My First Painted Pirate!

I missed the latest Painting Club at the LAF - the Weird War version - as I lost every trace of inspiration after base-coating a mini.

This time though, I got a mini in as #64 in The Pikes, Muskets, and Flouncy Shirts Painting Club

My entry is this Artizan Designs buccaneer miniature, which, in this incarnation, I have named Benn Etton.



I started painting Tuesday, and only finished him this morning - he actually has a lot of details that need attention.

I am OK pleased with the outcome, and thrilled to be getting back into the habit of painting.

I shall be spending some hobby-time on dressing some of the Uruk-Hai and Rohan/Saxon bases, but in between I shall start painting the next Viking for my 'purist' Blood Eagle warband.

Primer: Black

Hat:

• I think it is C Graveyard Earth mixed with successively more C Bleached Bone, but the pots are from before I started logging my own mixes.

Hat Band, Coat Lining and Facings. Garters:

1. V Black Red + Black
2. C Khorne Red + V Black Red
3. C Mephiston Red

Neck Cloth:

1. Light grey
2. Very light grey
3. White

Skin:

• The darker end of my usual recipe, starting with a mix of C Dwarf Flesh and C Bestial Brown

Hair:

1. C Graveyard Earth +++Black
2. C Graveyard Earth ++Black
3. C Graveyard Earth +Black

Coat:

1. C Orkhide Shade + Black
2. C Orkhide Shade
3. C Orkhide Shade + C Knarloc Green
4. C Knarloc Green

Flouncy Shirt:

1. V Khaki Brown
2. C Ushabti Bone
3. C Ushabti Bone + White
4. C Ushabti Bone ++ White

Baldric:

1. V Beasty Brown
2. C Vermin Brown
3. C Vermin Brown + C Vomit Brown
4. C Vomit Brown

Sword Sheath:

1. C Scorched Brown
2. C Scorched Brown + V Beasty Brown
3. V Beasty Brown

White Metal:

1. C Boltgun Metal
2. C Chainmail
3. C Mithril Silver

Yellow Metal:

1. V Polished Gold+ Black
2. V Polished Gold
3. V Polished Gold + C Mithril Silver

Trousers:

1. C Scorched Brown
2. C Scorched Brown + C Codex Grey
3. C Scorched Brown ++ C Codex Grey

Boots and Pistol Handle:

• F Musket Stock Brown Triad (actually Quartet, as I have mixed a pot of some medium and light tone)