Colours and more....

We went to Colours on Sunday, dodging the forecasted gales and downpours as we headed along the M4.  I've always liked Colours... the venue at Newbury racecourse is light and has plenty of space and there's always a good range of games and traders.  It's a bit of a trek but not too bad with a reasonable selection of CDs in the car.

The planned shopping list was quite modest... I'd hoped someone there would be stocking the Sarissa Precision building range.  I was hoping to get a couple of their Japanese buildings for my Ronin factions but sadly couldn't find any (more on these later).  My son and I have also been debating changing tack on our WW2 project...we'd bought some of the Warlord Games figures ages ago and have built them but not painted them yet (actually he's further ahead in the painting stakes than I am).  Lately though we've been thinking that we need to downscale to 20mm or 15mm.  With 28mm there is no scope really for introducing vehicles or armour which we're both keen to do, so we spent some time at the show pondering the ranges available and the relative merits of each.  I think we're tending to 15mm...now we just need to agree a period.  I think we're both keen on early war and my son spotted the Early War Miniatures Belgian range which took his fancy!!

Our purchases did include the Empire of the Dead rules and a faction set of Werewolves.  The rules look very nice but there are lots of pictures and lots of fluff with relatively little content.  Looks fun though!  Nice werewolves which would fit into IHMN as well.

I also bought figures based on Inspector Le Brock and Detective Ratzi from Bryan Talbot's lovely Grandville comic book.  This is a steampunk themed strip set in a world filled with anthropomorphic animals.  I've always really liked Talbots comics from Luther Arkwright to the brilliant Tale of One Bad Rat and Grandville is fantastically drawn and great fun.  When I saw the miniatures I knew I needed them... I've no idea what I'll do with them though!

...what the finished figures should look like [hopefully!]

They're made by Crooked Dice and are excellently sculpted..  They told me they're planning some more animal characters from the strip as well so worth looking out for.

We'd checked out the bring and buy with no joy, but a later inspection revealed 10 nicely painted Samurai so my Ronin forces are growing faster than expected


Ronin

It's pretty obvious I'm a fan of skirmish level games and as I also love all things Samurai the new[ish] set from Osprey, Ronin were very tempting.  I haven't played a game as yet but based on a couple of read throughs the rules look pretty good.  In presentation they're very similar to In Her Majesty's Name... fairly concise with lots of pretty pictures and a range of factions to choose from as well as a points system to build your own.  Combined with a series of Buntai [Samural 'gangs'] from North Star it all proved too tempting.  I bought the Sohei monk buntai and a Bushi Buntai [regular Ashigaru and Samurai].  There are also rules for bandits, ronin, ninjas etc as well as Ikko Ikki, Chinese and Koreans so plenty to choose from.

The rules look fairly straightforward: opponents choose between attack and defence points each turn to determine how they'll behave and there are a host of special skills and abilities to help the lowliest monk defeat the most impressive Hatamoto.

the Sohei Buntai



...and the Bushi

Some of the Bring and Buy bargains

I've ordered a couple of buildings from Sarissa since I couldn't get them at Colours and some cherry blossom trees from Ebay to give some authentic Japanese flavour.



Game updates....

Charlie Don't Surf

I dug out my Vietnam figures a couple of weeks ago as Andrew at the club wanted to try out Charlie Don't Surf, the Too Fat Lardies rules.  I umpired as Andrew's US troops swept though a valley towards a village and walked into the inevitable NVA ambush.  The US troops were fairly well shot up until they were able to get into cover and begin to concentrate fire.  Kevin's NVA tried charging the US troops and were pretty well hammered for their pains. 

Both sides dug in in jungle cover and the US eventually managed to call in artillery [after several rounds of trying] which actually proved only mildly annoying rather than the devastating strike Andrew had been hoping for.  It did force the NVA to pull back and allow the US to drive on through the jungle.  By the end of the game the US had edged the win but at a heavy cost.


Chain of Command

Last night I played my first game of Chain of Command, the new Platoon level game from Too Fat Lardies [again... I think there's a bit of a theme here!].  Thanks to Keith who supplied everything we got to try out an encounter between US and German troops.  The game feels like a modified version of IABSM with Patrol markers replacing blinds.  These lead to the early stages of the game being a bit cat and mouse as each side tries to get into a good position.  The markers then form the deployment [or Jumping off] markers.  The mechanics are similar to a lot of the TFL games but... no cards!  Instead commands are determined by dice rolls which can activate sections or commanders etc but can also trigger the end of the turn.

The game played really well [not least because I won!!] and is ideal for this level of game.  Fairly bloody, although that might just have been Keith's unlucky dice rolling and good mechanics to reflect command and control and friction etc.

There are already additional lists appearing on line to complement the US, British, German and Russian ones in the rules.... including Belgians which neatly brings us back to the beginning of the post!

A double helping of IHMN....

I've had a few weeks break from gaming apart from the new Star Wars RPG and a game of Kingmaker  which took place over several nights on holiday (and about which the less said the better!) but we've made up for that with 2 games of In Her Majesty's Name in 2 days!

Game # 1 

This took place at Guildford and pitted my opponent Anthony's British rifle company against Professor Moriarty and his steam powered automatons (automata?) backed up with my shiny new steam tank from Ironclad Miniatures.

The very thin red line
 

 

One of the illegal Prussian Automatons

 

The British company was pretty much straight from the rules.  Moriarty was beefed up with martial arts and mesmerism and was 'inspirational'.  He was accompanied by 2 fanatical humans [one equipped with a couple of hand grenades... presumably with 'bomb' written on them] and the steam automatons.

The British gallantly lined up in the street, hoping their skilled rifle fire would provide enough cover for a couple of them to make off with the objectives... a tactic which came unstuck under heavy machine gunfire from the robots.  The redcoats were quickly mown down by the tank and the robots...Moriarty skulked around in the shadows until he emerged and tried to use his Mesmerism on the last soldier...sadly this wasn't a success so we had to resort to shooting him instead!

Messrs May, Clarkson and Hammond inspect the
latest Armoured Steam Carriage

I have to confess here that I'd made an error and my machine gun toting robots should have cost more points than I'd calculated... I should have paid extra for them to be "strong" which would have allowed them to carry the MGs in 2 hands, or perhaps downgraded the lethality of the guns. Anthony could therefore claim the moral victory despite his Redcoats running away like a bunch of girls!


Game #2

Having unloaded the scenery and figures from the car today, my son and I decided to have a game this evening (a last hurrah before school resumes tomorrow for him!).  He hadn't played before but that was no guarantee of an easy ride!  This time I took the Servants of Ra while he fielded the Scotland Yard squad backed up with Holmes and Watson.

The carbine toting Special Branch officers sensibly took up a position behind a wall and some barrels as the Cultists charged down the street at them, led by their Mummy.  The cult leader Akhenaton and Professor Abir hid behind the leading wave.  Sairah, the mystical assassin daughter of the Professor used her magical talents to appear on the warehouse rooftop (using the Path of Shadows ability) and then mystically "blinked" again, appearing by the Chief Inspector!  A flash of her daggers hit him but he managed to pass his Pluck roll (despite the poisoned blades) and he promptly came back with a stiff upper cut, laying her out cold!  I should have taken this as a sign of things to come...

Special Branch and Holmes take cover behind the wall

The cultists continued to fall to some smart shooting from the police before everyone managed to get close enough for a massive bundle.  The magical professor tried to hypnotise one of the police but only succeeded in giving himself a migraine and falling over.  He managed to clamber to his feet next turn only to be picked off by one of the crack shots behind the wall. 

 

The two sides advance

 

The game then descended into a mass brawl with everyone proving surprisingly rubbish at actually finishing off their opponents, even when the Police tried mobbing the Egyptians and trying to swamp them with superior numbers.


 

Police brutality!!!

The final brawl

.  The very tough Akhenaton and the equally hard Holmes looked to be set to slug it out all evening but I suspect the Police numbers would eventually have told and won the day had we not run out of time and drawn a veil over the ending.

Culloden

Well, we survived our trip back home, north of the border and into the wilds of Aberdeenshire and Moray.  A lovely week of walks, dolphins and seals, staying in a fishing village overlooking the Moray Firth.

 

 

 

As mentioned previously we made the hour long journey westward to visit the Culloden battlefield.  I last came here some 30-odd years ago with my family and couldn't really remember much about it [I think it rained....]

The site is well preserved a few miles from Inverness and has a new visitors centre that opened 6 years ago.  Over the intervening years the site has been overgrown with trees and then cleared but there is a good feeling for the moorland that the troops charged over.

The visitors centre

 

The battlefield

 

There are paths marked out across the site marking the Government and Jacobite lines  as well as paths allowing you to cross the field but leaving most of the site untouched.  Along the central path, by the large Cairn, are the graves of the Jacobite clansmen arranged by Clan name as well as a few 'assorted' graves.  We managed to avoid the dog weeing on any of the graves.... I'm pretty sure we'd be labouring under some kind of Highland curse by now if he had!


 

Looking along the Jacobite and Government lines



 

 

This is a section rebuilt wall: Government troops used the cover to ambush the retreating Jacobites

 

The marshy ground... apparently now drier than it used to be!!

 

 

The field was quite busy... lots of American tourists trying to find a link to a Highland Chieftain amongst their ancestors I suspect.  No idea if we have any in our family tree... we seem to be a whole mix of Scots, Irish and English [who were apparently 'travelling show people' according to my Granny and definitely not, I repeat NOT gypsies!!!].  I think it's more likely that my wife's side were present but on the Government side!

I've always thought Culloden and the whole Jacobite rising in 1745 is an interesting campaign, not least in trying to understand the motivation of the Jacobites.  I've always found it odd that they could cling so tightly to the restoration of a family that had lost the throne 57 years before and who had no real connection to the Highlands.  Of course there are all sorts of other interpretations and factors weighing on the campaign...a struggle between highland and lowland... a Scottish vs English fight [I know it wasn't in any sense]... an attempt to return to an Episcopalian Church [surely religion couldn't really be that strong a motivator for Scottish aggression... oh, erm, right....] or a romanticised last stand of the Noble Savage highlander against the ruthless Government.

All of this leads, of course, to the temptation to recreate it on the tabletop.  I really don't need another period to dabble in... no I REALLY don't!!.  But it's very tempting...  I do have some ECW Royalist and Covenanter armies in 15mm which have languished in a box, mostly unpainted.... the Highlanders would probably be very suitable as I don't think a huge amount had changed in the intervening period.  It would also be very do-able in 6mm with Baccus miniatures, again using ECW figures for the Jacobites and 7 Years War troops for the Government army.  In that scale any discrepancies would be un-noticed by most [although I can think of a couple of people that would spot it!!].  Rulewise, Black Powder seems a logical choice and is one of my favourite sets but I've also heard very good things about Maurice.

I think this is one that will stay some way down the list for the time being... I have some more IHMN troops undercoated and ready to paint: more Ironclad miniatures steam robots and evil henchman for Professor Moriarty.  I've also just spotted the announcement the the latest 'official' faction, the Brick Lane Commune are due for release soon which do look very tempting...

I've also just received the 2 sets of figures I'd ordered for Ronin... Bushi and Sohei monks so there's more painting needed I need to get back into regular painting before I try anything new.

On our hols...

Another scarcity of posts for a bit but this time I have an excuse!!

We're off on our holidays.... a few days in sunny Glasgow visiting the folks and catching up with friends (hi David!) and then off on our own for a week on the Moray coast


We've plans to do a lot of walking and somehow I've managed to convince everyone that a trip to Culloden is in order!   Not sure what else is around from a history/gaming point of view (apart from a shed load of castles of course) but my son has conveniently packed  of Kingmaker (his favourite game) so I suspect there may be hours of plotting and scheming if the weather closes in!!

I'll post something about Culloden if/when we get there.

Star Wars and Samurai

There's been a bit of a lull since my last post. 

Since the Force on Force game at Guildford I've re-played the scenario in a game vs my son, who to be fair can usually kick me all over the park! The results came out much the same... a bloody tussle between both sides before the Rebels nicked the trucks and drove off into the sunset.  As he pointed out [not entirely unreasonably!] the forces need a little bit of tweaking for it to be a more balanced scenario and certainly the rebels preponderance of RPGs needs reducing.  Possibly because of that the game [and round 1 at Guildford] ended with burning vehicles everywhere... I really haven't got the hang of them!

Since then I've also played a very enjoyable Star Wars themed game of Stargrunt.  I last played these rules a few years ago and, despite some of the mechanics remaining a bit murky, they do seem a good rule set which reflect well games where there  are very different troop quality and tactics.  In this case the solid, reliable drilled forces of the Empire vs the rather flaky Rebels.  We decided to approach the game using 'historically accurate' tactics for the Stormtroopers [I know!].  In true George Lucas style this meant marching steadily towards the enemy in the open while failing to shoot anything... I like to think I played [and lost] with a lot of authenticity!!!

Keeping up the Star Wars theme...

Periodically I've mentioned how my son and I have been dabbling with Role Playing Games.  So far we've rediscovered AD&D [...ok...], Call of Cthulhu [... very good...] and Space Opera [...good, but long winded...].

Recently we came across adverts for the latest Star Wars RPG game, Edge of the Empire from Fantasy Flight Games.  There's been a Beta set of rules kicking around for a while which had passed me by and I discovered the new 'proper' rules were about to be released.  In a moment of madness I ordered the rulebook [not cheap although comparable with other RPG rules it seems].  The book itself is pretty hefty at 440 odd pages long and is a really nicely produced tome.

Character generation is pretty straightforward... choose a race, choose a class, allocate points to skills and buy equipment.  There are 8 races to choose from [including Wookies and Droids] and 6 classes, each of which has specialisations.  The emphasis seems to be on creating a game that is 'cinematic' in the way the story unfolds which is true to the films and suits the type of game I like.  The setting is during the 'proper' Star Wars films and events take place just after the destruction of Death Star I although I think people have set games in the earlier Episode I-III setting.  The game also includes some really nicely produced background fluff for the SW universe and rules for starship combat which I haven't got round to yet but which again appear to be very 'cinematic'.

The defining feature of the game [and the one I'm still trying to get my head round!] is the range of special dice which are used.  There are a selection of opposing dice which are rolled in order to succeed in actions.  At a basic level these are opposing skill rolls based on skills and characteristics but extra factors [and dice] can then be added in or upgraded or downgraded to reflect things like environmental factors [a passing cloud over the moon casts a deep shadow...], setbacks [... a twig snaps under your foot...], etc.  The resulting pool of dice give an indication of whether the character has succeeded but qualify that so that the result may mean, for example, an action succeeds but raises suspicion and so makes it harder for following characters.  There are a whole load of factors involved here and it does potentially seem overly complex but it does allow for the GM to give his or her own interpretation to the dice and use these to steer the story.  There are also Destiny Points which allow players and the GM to directly change results [... naturally it's all down to the Force]... the neat feature here is that if the player uses a Light side point to positively influence  a result, this is then changed to a Dark Side point which the GM can then use to bugger things up so there is always a balance.

I'm still trying to work out how practical this dice system will be in practice.  We haven't actually played through a scenario yet but have tried out a few examples to try and get it straight in our heads and it does feel as though it could work once you get into the swing of it.  This does mean, of course, that you need to shell out for some special dice with appropriate symbols on them.  The rules do give a method of using ordinary polyhedral dice and there is a download available to print stickers.  Inevitably though its easier just to buy the special dice!  There is also an App available for your tablet or iPhone which is actually quite neat and can also roll dice for the Star Wars X Wing game as well as 'ordinary' dice.



the SW dice App

FFG appear to be planning a whole range of supplements for classes etc but there is also, as you'd ecpect, a whole load of stuff appearing online to add to the game, including extra races [Ewoks... boo!...and Jawas...yay!!], scenarios etc.

It's probably still too early to say if this is 'the' SW game but there are some interesting mechanics which could work if they haven't made it too complex [and I say this as someone who liked Space Opera :)  ] but even so, the book's a very nice thing and would appeal to Star Wars fans generally.



Giving in to temptation....

At some point I plan to review the list of projects that I produced at the beginning of the year but I already know I've failed miserably to stick to a plan [like that's going to surprise anyone who knows me!!].  My latest moment of weakness...apart from the Edge of the Empire rules... has been pre-ordering the new Ronin Samurai skirmish rules from Osprey and 2 of the factions from North Star.  Yeah... like I really needed to dabble in something else!! 

My son has also pointed out that I got really frustrated trying to paint Samurai in 15mm so how is it going to be any easier in 28mm?  I'm hoping it will be but I have a feeling I may have set myself up for a fall!  Of the sets I've ordered are monks so at least there will be lots of Saffron Robes instead of intricate lacing!!!

The Bushi and Sohei factions which I've rashly pre-ordered...will I never learn!!!!

Grand Theft Merrostan

Another game of Force on Force this week.  I've always tended to work through scenarios from the FoF books but this time decided to use my own.  I continued with the Imagi-nation setting of Merrostan [so called because the club is based in Merrow] following the game we played a few weeks ago.  Partly this is because I've always been slightly squeamish about playing games set in ongoing conflicts... I know this doesn't bear too much close analysis but there you go!  It also allows me to play fast and loose with force composition and get out the random collection of vehicles and kit from my AK47 games

This weeks game pitched Merrostani Government troops against the brave fighters of the Merrostani People's Liberation Front (MPLF).  Both sides had learnt a truck carrying a valuable cargo had been abandoned in an isolated village and dispatched troops to secure the prize.

The village centre

 

Although most troops were evenly balanced, the Govt Troops were slightly better armed and had brought along an uparmoured Hummer and a Panhard armoured car for support.  The MPLF were a bit more varied with a steadier hardened cadre accompanied by 2 BTRs (clearly some dodgy deals going on between Russia and Merrostan!), and a poorer quality section (but with high morale) and a couple of Technicals.  Anthony and Martin took the Govt side while Steve and I were the plucky rebels , with me commanding the poorer quality hordes.

In order to prevent either side making a rapid move in turn 1 and nabbing the truck, I restricted moves in the initial turn to tactical... assuming that everyone was cautiously approaching the town in case of ambushes.  After this cautious start the MPLF seized the initiative and advanced on the left side of town.  Steve pushed the first BTR ahead of the infantry where it almost immediately fell victim to a well aimed AT round.  Undaunted he repeated this with BTR #2 which escaped with 'only' a knocked out gun.  Steve's infantry meanwhile cautiously advanced through the buildings on the edge of the village. 

The BTRs come under fire

Over on the other flank I'd quickly established that my infantry really were pants.... it's surprising how significant a single die shift can be!  My technicals, inspired by Steve's BTRs' bravery, advanced and paid a similar price, coming under heavy fire from Govt troops in buildings on the other side of town.  My squads and theirs exchanged fire repeatedly with the MPLF slowly being eroded by the superior gunfire from their enemies but at least they were tying down several units who were being distracted and using up their reaction fire dice.

The Technicals charge out and  fail to learn from the BTRs example!

Having lost most of our vehicles and all of our vehicle mounted firepower, Steve decided on an unusual tactic... ramming!  His mobile [but gun-less] BTR raced through the village and crashed into the rear of the Panhard.  Having established that there weren't any rules to cover this we agreed that some damage was possible if the Panhard failed to react and get out of the way.  Both the Armoured Car and the infantry squad failed to react [presumably baffled as to what on earth the driver was doing!] and the infantry had to draw a Fog of War card which caused a random casualty on the unit. In the excitement of the crashing APCs one of the infantry leaned out a little too far from his rooftop position and fell to his death!  After all that the Panhard was fine, if a little dented!

Crunch!  There goes the no claims bonus!

A second FoW card led to the adjacent Govt unit being overcome with a sense of dread... probably caused by seeing their friend plummet to his death!... and sheltered in a clump of trees, refusing to advance any further.

By now the firefight on my flank was slowly wearing down my troops although there were still enough to cause the Govt troops problems although they were also fairly intact.  In the village centre the fight had turned into a close range fight with squads on both sides being knocked down in rapid succession.  The Hummer had also come under sustained fire from several squads who failed to knock it out but did disable it's HMG and forced it to retreat.

As the evening was drawing to an end it looked as though things were going to end in a stalemate when Steve revealed his cunning plan... the crew of the knocked out BTR had been skulking in one of the buildings since the early part of the game, keeping their heads down and chose their moment well.  They sprinted out and into the truck, tearing off down the road to safety and victory and leaving everyone else staring at each other across the town centre, slightly confused about what to do next!

So a narrow victory for the MPLF.  As always we forgot several useful and/or important rules, despite having written up a checklist for each player of 'things we usually forget'.  We did remember to draw Fog of War cards [thanks to Steve's reminders] but forgot that we could use Suppression fire and smoke which might have been a useful tactic for my poorer quality militia.  We also really didn't get the hang of vehicles [or at least Steve and I did... Anthony and Steve seemed to be managing fine!].