Club Sunday/Happy 2nd Blogday...

So, only a small turnout at today's Club Sunday, but as has been the case in the past, this does not necessarily mean any less enjoyable.

Firstly the morning saw one of the club's newest members take their first step into joining the current Darkest Africa campaign.  Mr. B. was quite keen on fielding a force based around the Portuguese in Mozambique, who were long established on the coast long before the 'Scramble' began, so soon a force of Chikunda slave soldiers, supported by some askaris and musketeers hove into view, under their Organising Genius of a leader (represented by a motley crew of substitute figures in the absence of Mr. B's yet-to-be-purchased own forces).  Step two was an encounter battle, so that both Mr B. and one of our club juniors (fielding my erstwhile Zanzibaris) could get to grips with the actual rules.Both sides elected to place a unit in ambush, and Mr. B also held back his musketeers as reserves to arrive later in the game.  Both sides advanced with reasonable enthusiasm towards each other across the savannah, scouting like crazy.  When the two scouts met, however, violence ensued leaving the Portuguese scout worse for wear due to a sword to the belly.  The Zanzibari scout went on to briefly harrass the Portuguese baggage with little effect later in the game, making a sharp withdrawal when the musket-armed reserve arrived nearby.  Elsewhere, there was a real meatgrinder of a fight between one of the Chikunda units and some Baluchi swordsmen.  True to form, the swordsmen stood their ground, but were eventually overcome by the Chikunda's weight of numbers.  Unfortunately for Mr. B., some jammy Zanzibari wangwana shooting forced the other Chikunda to take two morale tests, only to see them roll snake eyes and flee from the field of battle; they were soon followed by a nearby unit of Portuguese askari.  It was at this point Mr. B. graciously conceded free passage to the aggressive Zanzibari caravan! 

On returning from lunch, we then had two playtests of Doc Neodynium's proposed sci-fi participation game for Overlord 2013, which currently has the working title of "Overlord 2144:  Rush To Victory" (it's a long story).  Again, not wanting to spill too many details, I shall simply observe that the 45 minutes players have is a tight but not impossible time in which to achieve their objective.  With the Doc's adaptation of the 7TV rules for this working nice and smoothly, I'm looking forward to seeing the chrome...

To leaven the playtesting, we'd left the savannah from the morning's gaming out, and in between played a few games of what we've re-titled 'The Lion Eats Tonight', based on some rules originally found in an old issue of Wargames lllustrated (now I think of it, that may well have been the original title).  Essentially, it's a fast little game of big-game hunting, driven by a pair of ordinary playing card decks.  Fast, fun and a nice change of pace, although I'm not sure that Queen Victoria being done in by a lion would have gone down well with HMG.  

Finally, this blog has just about managed to limp to its second birthday today.  Ice cream, jelly and cake all round.  If you've followed this blog, or popped by at any point to take a gander, thank-you very much!

Dux Britanniarum: You've got mail

<Scene:  A back garden, about a month ago...>

So, nice weather this week meant being able to crack on with prepping the Dux Britanniarum starter armies that have been acquired.  Once again, an inability to focus strikes, as the miniatures from earlier in the week are flung aside in favour of newer shiny things. 

Firstly, the Gripping Beast figures are a joy to behold, particularly when undercoating meant a lot more detail 'popped' out than these aged eyes had been able to make out previously. 

Not quite sure why, but the decision was taken to paint all the metal bits on the miniatures first.  Being used to miniatures from more modern eras, it was a joy to be able to generously slap on various metallic paints with abandon, rather than with the usual levels of discretion exercised with moderns.  So much chain mail.  So many helms.  So many sharp stabbing swords and so forth.  After twenty-four hours of drying, the various bits of sword, chain and helmets got a coat of magic wash to seal in that metallic goodness and to offer a bit of shading.  

Thus far, the paint job looks fairly respectable, but that's bound to go south once a start is made on the clothing and skin tones...  

<Scene: A spare room/office/study.paint desk, now>

Crikey.  All my Romano-British are painted up and armed, with a basic texture base applied.  They're tabletop ready and in record time by my standards.  I've surprised myself.

Having seen the various discussions on the TFL Yahoo group, as well as the examples of others' forces, in the end I've given the Elites a uniform paint scheme, the Warriors uniform tunics only and the Levy a random mix of hopefully suitable colours.  At first the homebrewed wash/dip I used on the non-metallic parts made the miniatures somewhat muddy but the look has grown on me, and let's face it, there's bound to be a certain degree of mud in Dux.

Romano-British defend a tiny monastery; Elite troops to the left, young skirmishers to the right.

A blurry picture of the skirmishers.

Not-Arthur checks behind the monastery with a couple of spear-armed comrades.

I really should get a better camera.  The one I have just isn't up to the job of snapping minis, and it's a shame; the Gripping Beast minis have some lovely detail, as noted in the start of this post and the Arthur freebie that came with Dux Britanniarum is indeed a joy to behold, even with my painting.

Buildings and fences are by PMC, and were had for a steal from eBay.  Furthermore, when I opened the package to find one building had been smashed in transit despite the excellent packaging, PMC got a replacement to me within three days.  Top job.  As stated in an earlier post, you don't require many buildings for Dux; in fact, there's just a watch tower left on my wishlist, which may come into play at Warfare.  

Now to crack on with the Saxons.  Let's see if I can get them finished by December 31st, in time for some January Dux.

Darkest Africa 12: Second time coincidence...?

On the sixth day of the month of Muharram (one of the four sacred months), 1282*, my master was visited by a thousand blessings in the form of a second victory!  

Once again, the Ruga-Ruga attempted to ambush my master as her traversed Zanj, and once again, my master was victorious (although at the cost of many swordsmen!).  This time, One-Eyed Abdullahi and Qurd were forced to scout both flanks, although the vegetation was not as dense in this region, meaning the progress of our caravan was much more rapid.  By a stroke of luck, One-Eyed Abdullahi chanced upon the Ruga-Ruga leader isolated and some distance from his force, and enagaged him in combat.  He achieved first blood, but sadly was wounded by the Ruga-Ruga's ferocious attack. 

Once again, our swordsmen bore the brunt of the enemy ambush, selling their lives dearly until almost half their numbers had fallen.  Such was the ferocity of their initial attacks that one group of Ruga-Ruga simply fled.  Elsewhere, the Ruga-Ruga's warrior allies put up a greater resistance, but- uncommonly for us- weight of numbers was on our side.  Having pacified the left flank, attention was turned to the right.  There seemed litle profit in pursuing the fleeing Ruga-Ruga, so instead our caravan advanced unassailed, recovering One-Eyed Abdullahi and Qurd as we progressed.

However, we fear that the Ruga-Ruga may now be wise to our tactics.  Their ambushes are increasingly aggressive, and they seem to have noted the unwieldy nature of our force...

Word has also reached us that for sometime, Baker has been resident in Khartoum.

*Late 1865

Colours 2012: A Brace Of Show Days

So, Colours 20112.  Once again, I duck out of commenting on the show in detail, as I didn't really see it despite being there on both days.  I'm not quite sure how this happened, and console myself with the fact that this meant my show expenditure was precisely £0.00.  

To be precise,  Saturday saw us arrive, set-up and immediately stuck into the first of three Charlie Don't Surf games.  Our players soon got into the spirit of the setting, and picked the rules up quickly.  The youngest player was about 8 or 9 years, and he managed to maintain his concetration for an hour, before hunger/thirst got the better of him.  To the best of my recollection, everyone who played was new to Too fat Lardies rules, with the exception of Ashley, one of the many correspondents on the Too Fat Lardies Yahoo group.  Once again, it was fantastic to meet and put a face to another member of the Yahoo group, who seemed to have a pretty good time playing Charlie for the first time; getting the only total US victory of the weekend may well have helped, alongside the US players humming Ride Of The Valkyries every time a 'copter-related chip was played (once again, Ashley, I apologise for the lack of AFVs in the game)!

Having ensured all the toys were secure and safe for the night, I sashayed off for an an excellent T-bone steak, washed down with a rather nifty Rioja.  This ensured that even if I didn't sleep the sleep of the just, I would at least sleep the sleep of those with access to expensive lawyers.

Sunday saw two games, in which players went the whole nine yards (ie played right through to an absolute conclusion).  Game one saw pretty much every possible event occur- ammo shortages, CASEVAC, booby-traps, snipers, the works- as well as learning what happens when a gunship unloads all of its amoo in one fell swoop.  Game two saw some unexpected and hilarious friction occur between Company Commander Dad and his Platoon Commander sons; Dad had his eye on the mission objective, but the Sons were more concerned with protecting their men- 

"You realise you'll be court-martialled if you don't order your men to enter the hooch?"

"I don't care; I'm not leaving my other squad in front of that MG bunker in the open!"

Ah, the parent-child dynamic.

I do have some memories of what was going on around us, though.  There was a mighty (and impressive) zombie-infested city to our right, and back and to the left* was a corking A Very British Civil War game, in which Canadian-supported Albertine forces were having a crack at the BUF (I think they also won a show prize, and rightly so).  Food for thought, as AWC are considering AVBCW as a future club campaign.  

**Though not on a grassy knoll.

One-two, one-two....

So, tonight saw the second play-through, and it looks like we've got a solid little historical participation game on our hands for Overlord 2013.  

I've now played two games using Rules of Engagement rules, and I do quite like them.  I'm not sure I'd go out and buy them per se, but what I particularly enjoyed was that they seemed to be pretty realistic, and encouraged a bit of tactical thought amogst us playtesters.  Having said that, I was also unbelievably lucky when my opponent rolled a very poor set of dice- his concealed HMG opened up on my rifle group as they ran across open ground trying to reach cover, and caused a total of zero wounds and zero hits.  I was also trying to be a darn sight more aggressive/bold than when I normally play, so whilst I had achieved my section's objectives at the game end, my chaps were at half-strength.

Players are definitely going to need to take heed to of their briefing's explicit emphasis on being bold and cooperating/supporting each other; I don't want to give much away, but it's certainly wise to rely on long-distance potshots, but equally those advancing without support will find things get a bit sticky.

Testing'll be on hold for a while, as a couple of the team are away; I have to say, I'm looking forward to resuming testing on their return.

Testing, Testing...

No Darkest Africa this week; instead, work has begun on a historical scenario to be run at Overlord 2013 (15! Glorious! Years!).  The rules are going to be Rules of Engagament (albeit modified) as the majority of those involved in the planning/execution of this are familiar with them.  It'll be my first exposure to them, so it'll be interesting to see what they're like.

Tonight's focus- what historical action shall be recreated, and does it meet the criteria set by the committee for AWC's 2013 show participation game....?

Darkest Africa 11: First time, chance?

On the third day of the month of separation, Sha'ban, 1281*, my master did venture into Zanj, travelling as far east as possible in order to avoid those wretched northern slavers.  

This saw him enter those regions claimed by the Ruga-Ruga; as such, my master prepared for possible ambush by them.   To the left flank of our caravan was kept a mighty river, the width of which was certain to be greater than any missile which the Ruga-Ruga might throw at use.  However, this meant the path we took was  amost narrow one, and our force risked becomign stuck if a great obstacle were to reveal itself.  As such, Qurd and One-Eyed Abdullahi nimbly wove their way through the undergrowth that lay ahead.  In so doing, they soon revealed parties of Ruga-Ruga waiting to pounce.  Our noble swordsmen were at the caravan's head, and therefore unsheathed their blades and strode forth to do our enemy much mischief!  Pressing forward, they enabled the rest of our askari and baggage to progress unimpeded, although the Ruga-Ruga often came perilously close indeed, too close for comfort indeed.

Nevertheless, our baggage and force came through with little loss (especially compared to recent engagaments).  Victory at last!

*Early 1865

Darkest Africa 10: Slaves to (mis)fortune

On the twenty fifth day of the month of Pilgrimage, Dhu al-Hijjah, 1280*, my master did visit the Kaaba, and upon his return did set forth once more into that most mysterious continent.

However, in my master's absence, the vile "Turkish" slavers from the north had clearly been building their strength.  In his wisdom, my master laid an ambush, in the hope that this might grant him that victory which was elsuive in more open battle.  Sadly, this was not to be.  Whilst our loyal freemen stood their ground in combat with the foe, they were not strong enough prevail.  Likewise, our Baluchis once again proved their valiant nature, standing against an onslaught of swordsmen, warriors and spearmen, but they proved to be but as the tortoise that lies in the path of an elephant herd- an obstacle which is but brief.

Thus, we withdrew to the sounds of our captured freemen bewailing their fate, having fallen into the hands of the unscrupulous northern slavers...

On our return to Zanjibaar, to lick our wounds, it was learned that Baker had gone his own way from Speke and Grant, sighting Lake Victoria on the fifth day of the month of carrying, Shawwal**.  He appeared to make some claim about the equal importance of Lakes Albert and Victoria in relation to contributing to the Nile.  By now, it is understood that Baker has begun his return journey. 

*Late 1864

**14th March, 1864

Darkest Africa 9: Respect To The Ruga-Ruga

On the twenty first day of the month of respect, Rajab, 1280*, my master continued to recuperate from the heinous wrongs inflicted upon him by various denizens such as the Ngoni, Mangbetu and "Turkish" slavers from the north. 

He was therefore gladdened to hear that the Ruga-Ruga had attempted to raid the Turkish encampment, albeit with little success.  The raid was launched some time before dawn in an effort to minimise the effectiveness of the Turks' musketeers, but it would appear that this made little difference, given their standard ineffectiveness!

Despite advancing as rapidly as possible towards the Turk tents, the Ruga-Ruga found that sufficient warning of their raid had allowed the Turks to prepare; indeed, very soon all of their forces were in the area of the camp, with no doubt more to come.

Nevertheless, the redoubtable Ruga-Ruga hurled themselves at their Turkish foe, breaking the moral of various units and wiping out others; indeed, some of this fury was delivered by but a single Ruga-Ruga, no doubt avenging his fallen comrades.  However, by now the sun had well and truly risen, and with their strength spent, the Ruga-Ruga still found their path blocked by the Turks' elite swordsmen.  It was a small source of consolation to the Ruga-Ruga that the Turks still lacked any confidence to win the day, for in the distance they could be seen desperately trying to herd their slave coffle away from the Ruga-Ruga advance as quickly as possible!  Unfortunately for the Ruga-Ruga, demonstrating the superiority of their morale was not enough to carry the (newly-dawned) day. 

Reliable Ruga-Ruga warriors watch in disbelief as the Turk slave coffle legs it from the field of battle...

 

Position	Faction	Played	Won	Lost	Hongos
					Gained	Lost	Total
1	“Turks”	4	4	0	4	0	9
1	Mangbetu	3	2	1	2	1	6
3	Ngoni	5	2	3	2	3	4
3	Ruga-Ruga	3	1	2	1	2	4
3	Smythe-Bletherington	1	0	1	0	1	4
6	Zanzibar	4	1	3	1	3	3

*Early 1864

The Great British Beer Festival

What I sampled on my Thursday.

Brains' SA 4.2%
Highland's Orkney IPA 4.3%
Wells Bombardier 4.3%
Young's Special 4.5%
Dark Star's American Pale Ale 4.7% (This took Bronze overall, I believe)
Karg's Weissbier 5% (Unsurprisingly a German beer; prompted remarks along the lines of "What the hell is that?  Chicken stock?")
Aecht Shlenkerla's Rauchbier Marzen 5.1% (Also unsurprisingly German; very much smokey bacon in a pint glass)
Fat Cat's Marmalade Cat 5.5%
Milestone's Raspberry Wheat Beer 5.6% (Not to be confused with Berliner Weisse)
Kinver's Khyber 5.8% (Naturally, this provoked a round of Carry On Up The Khyber-inspired bandinage)
Greene King's 5X 12%

Having breakfasted on a rather nice fry-up, this was then all soaked up with a mixture of biltong, Cornish pasties, bratwurst (with currywurst ketchup; brilliant!) and fish and chips right at the end of the day.  Yum.

Mind you, for an event encouraging (sensible) drinking of real ales and so forth, it also sadly managed to push home how pricey the stuff is getting...

7TV: Red Storm Rising

Given how delightful today's weather has been, any chance of nipping outside to undercoat recently acquired miniatures was kiboshed.  This lost opportunity instead became a chance for me to work on slapping some more paint on villainous forces for 7TV.

Whilst the Fifth Reich (“Das vierte Reich nie bearbeitet.  Ich ziehe an um!” ) had been written up as opponents for the Man From F.R.A.N.C.E., the lead pile doesn't actually contain any of its denizens.  Instead- for various reasons- attention has turned to the Communist antagonists to be found within the 7TV canon, primarily the Iron Ceiling.  These chaps click with me for some reason! 

So from left (naturally) to right, and in various states of completion: The Iron Ceiling and sneaking in from Siberia, the remnants of the Menagerie.  Overseeing this is a lovely statue of Stalin.  At least, it's thought to be just a statue..

A close-up of the Sky-Pirates.  Basing and a matt varnish, and they're good to leap into action.

Travers on the left is at the same stage as the Sky Pirates.  The dozen security guards and two captains are catching up.

 

Cloud Commissar Rostov flanked by Cloud Captain Vodyanova on his right and bureaucratic buffoon Laszlo Minsky.  The figure used for Rostov isn't the one I initially was going to use.  However, when I popped open the pack, this chap struck me as a superior choice (he's so menacing he doesn't need to wave around a weapon, and he's somewhat more similar to Don PLeasant, the chap who played Rostov in 7TV's The Daredevils...).  I looked at various WWII and Cold War online images of Soviet uniforms, before mixing them all up.  These are nowhere near done, but Vodyanova's final look should reflect the inspiration for her colour scheme- the Night Witches! 

Ah, the backroom boffins (actually, what is the Soviet/Russian equivalent?  The UK has boffins, the USA has Geeks, so what do our Russian chums say?).  Hovering at the back are some of the Iron Ceiling's infiltrating Aero-Drones, with a whole bunch of Iron Comrades lined up in front of them.  Right at the back are some Matryoshka, which I won't need to elaborate on if you've seen the first Austin Powers film.  Honeytrap-tastic, and a darn sight more lethal.  Of course, all this clockwork kit doesn't mainatin itself, hence the toolkit-toting minion in the centre, and treacherous Dr Vostok's cabal of scientists in the foreground.  Lastly, to the left is a minion who has got what appears to be a portable barbecue kit on his back (clearly an optimist, given the 'summer' weather the UK's had recently...).

Lastly (and sneaking in from one of the Crooked Dice pdf-only offerings), the minions of scarlet-clad Soviet psychic, Grigori Morov.  Snuffling for subversives we have his Grunts, and behind Morov we have his augmented gorilla (Humanzee?) sidekick and a Mutoid waving a tentcle.  Quite.

In all, there's about 1000 Ratings worth of Extras, Co-Stars and Stars.  Madness, but to use an apocryphal quote of Comrade Stalin's, "quantity has a quality all of its own"...

Yes.  I really should sort out a camera suitable for these kind of pictures and close-ups...

And now for a commercial break...

Well, it's summer (just about), which means the latest Too Fat Lardies' Special has been released from stately Lard Island.  £6 for 118 pages of pdf'd gaming goodness, whether you dabble in Lard (by my reckoning nine of the TFL rulesets are represented in this special) or not.  

The contents are:

 

Migrating Dux - Using Dux Britanniarum in other settings.

St Barthelemy –  A classic I Ain't Been Shot Mum historical double-scenario set in Normandy 1944

Random Events in IABSM - Geoff Bond adds random events to IABSM

Just the Right Sort of Chap - Sidney Roundwood looks at characters in Mud & Blood

A Conversation with DZ - Richard Clarke in conversation with Major General John Drewienkiewicz about his Wargames in History books

Bull Run – An 1861 scenario for They Couldn’t Hit An Elephant

Bagging the Hex - Graham Riddle presents his ideas for Bag The Hun without a hex mat

Wrong Side of the Fleche - Mark Luther deploys his jaeger on the outskirts of Charleston in this scenario for Sharp Practice from the AWI

Glorious First of June.  - Admiral A large fleet actions scenario for Kiss Me Hardy

Quadrant 13 Designer’s Notes. - Robert Avery beams down to tell us all about his forthcoming Sci-Fi rules

Battle in the Orchard.- The PLO, the Southern Lebanese Army and the Israeli Defence force battle it out in this modern scenario for IABSM

BTH: The Italian Job – A scenario for Bag The Hun. 

Them that Ain’t Cowards, Follow Me! - A scenario for Sharpe Practice and ‘La Longue Carabine’ for the American War of Independence from the pen of James Schmidt

An Encounter for Alpha Company - A Charlie Don’t Surf Scenario from Ross Bowrage

A Lesson in Lard – Ross tells us about his experiences on the show circuit with CDS

On a Saxon Shore - A bonus raid scenario for Dux Britanniarum

The Last Stand of the Baron – A back end of nowhere scenario for Mud & Blood from the pen of Allan Coleman

August Storm - Charles Ekhart takes a look at the Soviet conquest of Manchuria in 1945

Decisions, Decisions: Applying the OODA loop.- Fat Nick explains the decision making process and how it impacts on wargames rules.

BTH: Zero 2 Hero -  A scenario for Bag the Hun

Meaty Dux – Adding some extra meat to the bones of Dux Britanniarum campaign system. 

The Roundwood Report - Sir Sidney Roundwood takes  his regular look at the world of Lard.

My plan is to peruse this in the back garden with something cold to drink, paying particular attention to the Dux Britanniarum articles...

Darkest Africa 8: The washing of the spears...

On the thirteenth day of the month of pilgrimage, Dhu al-Hijjah 1279*, my most devout master made his way to Mecca to visit the Qaaba, and thankfully avoided any violent unpleasantness.

It was not to be the case for the Mangbetu or the Ngoni, however, who both fell foul of the damned impious "Turkish" slavers and most violent Ruga-Ruga respectively.  I am led to believe that the 'bush telegraph' will relay the specific details of these ambushes to me at a later date.    

Elsewhere, and earlier this year, in the month of Separation, Sha'aban**, Baker is said to have finally met Speke and Gordon.  The latter were following the Nile to Egypt, having apparently discovered the source of the Nile (traditionally when my pagan forebears would disperse to seek water, appropriately enough).  In light of this, it is gossiped that there is nothing for Baker's own expedition to achieve.

Position	Faction	Played	Won	Lost	Hongos
					Gained	Lost	Total
1	“Turks”	3	3	0	3	0	8
1	Mangbetu	3	2	1	2	1	6
4	Ruga-Ruga	2	1	1	1	1	5
3	Ngoni	5	2	3	2	3	4
4	Smythe-Bletherington	1	0	1	0	1	4
6	Zanzibar	4	1	3	1	3	3

*Late 1863
**February, 1863