Castles in the Sky x 2

 After my recent dabbling with Sky Galleons of Mars, I've been down a bit of an Aeronef rabbit hole.  I'm pretty sure I had some Aeronef ships years ago and sold them on, so of course it must be time to rebuild!  Luckily Brigade Models are very reasonably priced, especially their Flotilla packs.

Osprey produced Castles in the Sky in their 'Blue book' set of rules in 2022.  They're more Diesel-punk than VSF but the rules seem pretty adaptable and easy together to grips with.  Mechanics are fairly straightforward and not too different to many naval rules... ships have speed and turn ratings, gun batteries marked Bow, Port, Starboard etc and armour ratings to offer a bit of protection.  Where they offer a bit more flavour (apart from the altitude ratings of course!) are in the initiative and command ratings, and in how damage is applied.

Each ship has its own Command score and the lead ship rolls this number of dice to.determine initiative.  Extra dice are added for Escort ships like Destroyers, frigates etc to reflect their.scouting role.  

The highest number of successes (on a  4+) wins initiative but the number of successes also gives a number of Command dice which can be used to give a bonus to movement, turning, firing, damage control etc.

Hits from firing have to check to see if they penetrate armour but even an unsuccessful hit will cause 'Friction' which affects the ships ability to move and fire.  If a hit gets through the armour then the results can be pretty bad, from losing some of your precious armour, losing a weapon or steering/engine damage, to exploding! Obviously that's very unlikely and probably won't happen... erm... will it...???

I played it twice in the last couple of weeks, with quite different results.  Both games were a simple encounter with a couple of Cruisers and a couple of Escorts per side. In game #1 Anthony took the British.  We kept a reasonable distance apart and quickly found that the fast moving Destroyers were very hard to hit, although they wouldn't have lasted long if a shot actually found it's mark.   Although we  slugged it out for some time there was little major damage (some armour lost on kne of my German Cruisers) and the friction points were generally removed at the end of each turn, so thr game was heading for a draw.

The British fleet

The dial made keeping scores easier

Too many dice!

In game #2 I took on the British and Andrew played the Germans.  This time we both got in close pretty quickly and damage (and friction) mounted quickly.  The Duke of Edinburgh cruiser lost a lot of armour to torpedo hits from the German destroyers and was at the point of having to test each turn or it would strike it's colours, but then the first of those unfortunate damage rolls resulted in the Scharnhorst exploding!  This was followed soon after by a 'Crippled' result on the Magdeburg and the loss of a German Destroyer, handing the British a convincing win.  The short ranges definitely made a difference and we also found that the increased Friction points were proving harder to remove which affected movement and firing significantly.

The Germans close in on the British Cruiser

The Scharnhorst explodes!

Friction everywhere

All in all I thought the rules worked well.  The biggest problem we had in game #1 was the amount of markers that each ship needed.  You need to record speed, altitude, friction points and any specific damage.  We'd used dice, which inevitably got knocked over or moved.  Anthony had some nifty dials which we used which were better but there was a lot of clutter on the table.

The revised fleet sheet

In game #2 I revamped the ship data sheets and marked a space by each ship to place the dice.  This kept them off the table which really helped... only had friction markers to worry about and these could also have gone on the sheet if need be.  We also found that 4 was a pretty optimum number of ships to handle... maybe with more familiarity with the rules we could handle bigger fleets but I think we would have been bogged down in the detail.  Good fun, and of course I'm now perusing the Brigade Models site... hmm... those aircraft carriers and dirigibles look fun...

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Back in the summer, my son kindly bought me a copy of the Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell boardgame from Osprey and, finally we managed to give it a go at the weekend

If you haven't read JS&MN (and you really, really should), it's a fantastic Regency period book describing the magical duels of 2 rival magicians against each other and the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair.  It's hard to describe but has a level of depth and writing that's rare and is (as you can probably tell) one of my favourite books.

In the game (for up to 4 players), you take on 1 of the main characters and via a selection of cards, travel around London and Europe engaging in social activities and using the connections you make to perform magic: these enhance your Prestige, which is important in determining initiative and making social connections, and building your magical power via completing Feats of Magic.  Each turn you can perform 1 action, which is then unavailable until you spend a turn resetting your action points (or 'Stilling the Waters in the silver bowl... there's a lot of that kind of flavour).  Magic is determined by which magical elements (wind, rain, hills, forest or rocks) are active in a given turn/year... these need to be matched to the elements on a Feats of Magic card which will ultimately increase magicianship.

So, for example, as my action I may choose to summon elements of rocks and rain.  I then travel to Geneva to attend a Musical Soiree before popping to Paris to call on Shelley.  The social side is all very Jane Austen and these social actions can either generate more introductions and invitations, or be used to progress your magicianship.  Ultimately this is what counts as, when the year counter reaches certain points, each player needs to 'confront the fairy/Gentleman with the Thistle-Down Hair.  His power steadily increases as the game progresses and the winner is the player with the highest Magicianship when the fairy is defeated.

There isn't much in the way on interaction between players, except perhaps taking cards or companions to deny them to another player, so it would work well as a solo game.  Reviews on BGG weren't great but we both really enjoyed the game... it has alot of flavour and the components are very nicely done.  It's also very reasonably priced so worth trying, especially if you're a fan of the book.

Button House

 I've occasionally posted about visits to castles but haven't been to one for a really long time so instead here are some pics from yesterday's dog walk round West Horsley Place... much more famous as Button House, home of the residents in 'Ghosts'... probably one of the best comedies of recent years (of course the best comedy of recent years is definitely Detectorists!)

Wooooo..... it's the ghost of Lady Fanny Button!

The house is in the middle of Surrey and there has been a house of sorts here since at least Saxon times.  The earliest known owner, Beohrtsige, lost his position as Thane following Hastings and William I settled the estate on the improbably named Walter FitzOther.  It passed through various hands including the Bourchier and Courtenay families of Kingmaker fame.  Henry VIII imposed himself on the Courtenays and enjoyed a 35 course feast in 1536 (stewed sparrows anyone...mmmm....) before deciding that Henry Courtenay was implicated in a Catholic plot and having him beheaded 3 years later.

Other 'celebrity' residents include Guy Fawkes who worked as a footman at the house around the end of the 16th century, and Carew Raleigh who was the youngest son of Walter Raleigh and who allegedly stored his fathers mummified head at the house, as you do.

Around 1640 the owners built a brick facade around the Tudor building which had the benefit of preserving a lot of the interior structure.

Most recently, the house and estate were owned by the Duchess of Roxburghe who, on her death in 2014 unexpectedly bequeathed them to her great-nephew Bamber Gascoigne of University Challenge fame (in a slightly tenuous connection, my son is currently appearing in the latest series of UC).  Along with his wife he decided to set up a charitable trust to manage the estate and create a venue and trust for the arts.

One other interesting event was the discovery, in 2015 while clearing out the late Duchess' belonging for auction, of a preliminary sketch for Frederick, Lord Leighton's famous painting Flaming June, hanging un-noticed on the back of a door!  It later sold for £135 000 at Sothebys.

As well as being the location of Button House, the house has also appeared in adaptations of Howard's End, Enola Holmes and My Cousin Rachel.  We just wandered aimlessly around but there are regular history tours and, of course, Ghosts tours which several friends have been on and highly recommend.

Paint table update: the Germans arrive...

 Finished off the German Escort Flotilla which will face their British enemies in a battle (and a first try of the Castles in the Sky rules) later this week.  These (like the British) are part of Brigade Models Imperial Skies range.

Karlsrühe Destroyer Leader

SA15  Destroyers

VA7 Frigates

Paint table update: Aerial Ships

A while ago I acquired Skygalleons of Mars and Anthony and I enjoyed a game pitting British aerial steamships against German rivals over Mars.  This sent both of us off down a steampunky/Wellsian rabbit hole looking at the whole Aeronef setting.

Easily tempted, I ordered a couple of the very reasonably priced Flotilla packs from Brigade Models and a set of Osprey's Castles in the Sky rules.  It's clear the Scots stereotype isn't far from the surface as this was a nice cheap starter set of figures and rules.  One of the things I really like about Osprey's 'Blue Book' rules is that they are very affordable and if they don't work out, I don't feel like I've lost a fortune in trying them out.

First up is the British Flotilla consisting of a Destroyer, 4 Destroyers and 4 Corvettes...

Last night my wife passed by as I was fixing them to the flying bases.  "Why are they mounted on stands?"... "Oh, that's because they're flying ships".  She gave a little sigh, rolled her eyes and muttered "Of course they are..."  Sometimes I forget how weird this hobby can be to everyone else!

Paint table update: Teeny Tiny Terrain

I've had a little break from Epic ECW painting and added a couple of towns and a Roman Marching Camp to my terrain for Strength and Honour.  Sadly these arrived too late for my recent S&H game.

These come from Baccus' Teeny Tiny Terrain range and are ideal for 2mm scale games like Strength & Honour.  Although they're...erm... teeny tiny...they'd make good villages and towns for 6mm games and would be ideal in an aerial game.

Arnhem and my Mum

 It doesn't have quite the same clout as 'Adolf Hitler: my part in his downfall' by Spike Milligan, but what's the connection between one of WW2's great 'glorious' defeats and my mum?

My mum, Jessie, sadly passed away a couple of weeks ago.  She had a long career as PA to the director of a large Glasgow department store (where I had my first part-time job in the Gents department... 'I'm free!').  But early in her secretarial career in the 1950s she worked for various clients, one of whom was Major-General Roy Urquhart, former commander of the 1st Airborne Division during the Arnhem campaign.

After leaving the army in 1955 he worked in engineering and the steel industry in Glasgow and wrote his account of Operation Market Garden.  My mum's job was to collate, order and type up the manuscript of his book.  I've read various books on Arnhem but never this one, so it seemed appropriate to acquire a copy as a memory of my mum's slightly tenuous connection to the Dutch battlefield.