Blog quondam, Blogque futurus

...and in its time of greatest need, it would return...

This blog is back- hopefully- and what better way than with the start of some practice games for Dux Britanniarum by TooFatLardies?

This was to be a bit of a learning-the-rules session.  We decided to go for a battle scenario and fielded an ungodly number of groups in the hope that there'd be carnage amidst the stopping and explaining of the rules to our four players.

Anyway, on the with prologue.  The scene for our Dark Age attack ws a suitably mist-shrouded valley.  To the north, there was a gentle rise of land topped with an ancient stone circle, in  which some mystical chap in a cloak was mumbling to himself.  To the south-east, a reasonably dense forest (or part thereof).  Strewn across the battlefield were a number of tilled plots of land, that would prove to be remarkably difficult going in the end. 

Streaming in from the north-west came our heroes (to my mind anyway) whilst their vile foe came as a rabble from the east.  With entrails about to be spilled and breeches to soon be filled with fear, the respective leaders of each side decided to do what they could to lift and stiffen the spirits of their troops...

"Look, I know there's going to be a certain amount of violence, but at least we all know it's for a good cause- don't we?"

Surprisingly, these somewhat diffident words had some affect on our hero's humble troops, raising their morale [+1 Force Morale] and certainly inflating his own sense of self worth [Lord's status raised from 3 to 4]  Sadly attempts to invoke the power of the Almighty fell on deaf ears, and the ecclesiastical sherry served alongside wasn't really what his troops wanted in a pre-punch-up pint.  What of the foe? 

Right lads, let's get ratted!

No messing about for the foe- after a swift half (or half a dozen), they decided it was time to close with the enemy.  Battle was to commence...

...just very slowly....

Suffice to say, there was much general manouevring on both sides, and for once the missile troops on both sides actually got a good chance to soften up their opponents.  Movement rolls suggested that the majority of troops on both sides were having second thoughts about haring into battle, and our hero's forces discovered that a shieldwall is great for survivability, but at the expense of mobility.

However, this did give time for both sides- particularly our hero's- to race through the Fate deck, buying cards like there was no tomorrow (which would be the case if they lost).  Ah-ha!  They've realised that all cards are equal, but some are more equal than others, to misquote the word of God.

 In  the end, there were two significant clashes.  To the south, a formation of two our our hero's Warrior groups had been stiffened with the presence of their sole Elite group.  Enough was enough, they thought, and with our hero and his champion to the fore, they hurled themselves at their dastardly foes.  This cunningly saw them use two of their Fate cards, boosting their formation's number of combat dice from 18 to a mighty 30!  Alas for their foes, they had no Suitless cards to boost their own abilities, and rolled a 'mere' 18.  Suffice to say, these mere dice were not enough to stop the foul enemy Elite group from routing in short order.  To add insult to injury to the enemy, the group that the enemy Elite fled through decided that now might be the time for a tactical withdrawal.  An inviting foot-wide gap now began to appear in the enemy line!

To the north, our hero's forces had skirted the bottom of the gentle rise as they hurried to meet the enemy (incidentally contacting the enemy's sole group of harrassing troops, forcing them to be flee the field of battle).  This time it was the enemy who had the initiative, hurling their spears with strong arms and then aggressively charging into the troops before them.  Our hero's Warriors held their own, but out on the far flank, the humble Levy crumbled in the face of the determined enemy charge.

"Whaddya mean, call it a draw?"

At this point, time meant we had to come to a close.  There'd been lots of explaining of rules and choices to the new players, and consistently low movement rolls had delayed the expect clash of arms, but encouragingly during the post-game drinks, there was a strong desire to have another game next week, to try out a more conventional scenario.

I spies me a Church raid....

Brother Pistus carefully picked his way along the trail to St. Ogg's, his mind elsewhere.  It had been some time since he'd heard from his cousin, Brother Noote of St Nimmo's.  He hoped nothing had happened to him.  Before Pistus could consider Noote's fate further, he became aware of a number of gentlemen bursting out the undergrowth, rushing towards St. Ogg's and waving speasr and axes.

Not again, thought Pistus...

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!

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

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

Charlie Don't Surf: Where's My Zippo?

The TooFatLardies Yahoo group is tremendously useful for anyone who plays any of the rulesets available from the TFL stable.  It's also very welcoming and an endless fount of knowledge on subjects wargaming-wise and otherwise.  Having taken the plunge and posted a few comments on Charlie Don't Surf and the various reactions it had got at shows over the last few months, I found myself arranging a CDS game for one of that list's fine denizens, Nick, who'd played I Ain't Been Shot Mum but not CDS.

So, having schlepped over to us on Friday night, Nick found himself commanding a full strength US infantry company, more than ably assisted by a potential new recruit to the club, Reg.  As ever, Mr. Smallridge leapt at the chance to play the role of the Communists...

...Bravo Company advanced to the edge of the rubber plantation that lay to the west of the Da Ban creek.  Taking their time to ascertain that Charlie was nowhere to be seen, the company began to break down into platoons to carry out the mission.  Yellow Platoon headed south-east, looking to sweep the jungle that came perilously close to the hooches on the creek's western bank.  Red Platoon did likewise to the north-east.  With its flanks hopefully secured, Blue Platoon advanced on the hooches.  

Clearly keen to get the job done and enjoy some R&R, its LT wasted little time searching for hidden rice caches or tunnels.  Instead, after a cursory glance, Blue Platoon's squads had soon fired almost half of Da Ban hamlet's hooches.  

With events unfolding according to plan, Blue and Red Platoon's LTs were somewhat concerned when they noticed that Yellow Platoon's veteran CO- as well as Company HQ- seemed reluctant to advance.  What did they know that Blue and Red didn't?

The answer to that was various Communists scuttling backwards and forwards in the jungle ahead.  Despite the discretion being shown by their more experienced counterparts, Red and Blue Platoons aggressively advanced eastwards across the creek, eager to reach the hamlet's remaining hooches.

At this point, a Communist sniper opened up to the north of the hamlet, catching one poor member of  Blue Platoon utterly off-guard.  First blood had gone to the Communists.  

Encouraged by their Company CO, Blue Platoon continued to pound forward, with their MG squad looking to take Gold in their platoon's race to reach the hamlet.  In the meantime, Red Platoon's LT took the initiative to try and flush out the sniper who lay ahead in a cunningly concealed bunker.  With covering fire being laid by 2nd Squad, 1st Squad rushed the bunker, only to find that the sniper had bugged out.  The wily Communist had clearly been in a rush to leave, for 1st Squad found a wealth of Communist arms and ammunition.  This would be an added bonus to a mission that seemed to be shaping up well.

However, either the sniper had a change of heart or a chum.  A second bout of sniper fire broke out to the south, on Yellow Platoon's right flank in the jungle.  Once again, Blue Platoon bore the brunt of this sustained fore (albeit more erratic in effect), and with a herculean effort, Blue Platoon's MG squad hurled themselves into the nearest hooch, whilst the rest of the platoon hunkered down behind the berms of nearby paddy fields.

Unfortunately, it was not the MG squad's lucky day.  To the east of their position, a fine French colonial dwelling sat atop a rise, commanding excellent views to the rest of the hamlet.  Without warning (the US having advanced at the expense of careful spotting perhaps?), a significant quantity of fire was poured from the hilltop into the MG squad's hooch, the one saving grace being perhaps the range at which the Communists were firing.  Blue Platoon's medic soon found his hands full with a severely shocked and wounded squad.  

The recollection of the combat photographer accompanying Bravo Company became a little hazy at this point.  He suggests that Yellow Platoon's LT came to the conclusion that it was more important to engage the enemy platoon atop the hilltop, rather than flushing out the undeniably closer sniper.  Although the US fire may not have had much ferocity (perhaps one Communist was estimated to have been killed), it nonetheless seemed to encourage the Communists to begin a general withdrawal from the area.

Bravo's CO looked around with some satisfaction.  The village clearance was now underway without any more interuptions, and no evidence had been found of enemy rice caches or tunnels.  The bodycount was low for the US losses sustained, but that surely compensated for by Red Platoon's weapons haul?  All in all, this looked like it might be a good war....

[A little while later]

The VC emerged from the jungle and approached the smoking remains of Da Ban hamlet.  Lieutenant Dinh was perplexed by Captain Tran's cheerful demeanour.  What kind of victory could possibly be conjured from these embers?

"Why the long face, Dinh?  Forgotten Mao's words, have we?  If I may misquote him- we give the Americans this village now; they will give us a united Vietnam in the future."

 A triumphant yell went up from a section that had been digging in the ashes what once was a hooch.  A large concrete slab had been unearthed and lifted, allowing the now-grinning section to access a singed but otherwise intact riche cache of substantial size.

"You see, Dinh?  It's just a matter of patience." 

The game seemed to be enjoyed by all concerned (despite an error with regard to the results of one search on my part- mea culpa!).  As I Ain't Been Shot Mum veterans, Nick and Reg seemed quite taken with how the same Lard trademarks were present- Big Men, Action dice, Blinds etc- yet CDS captured the distinct period feel of Vietnam.  I believe one quote summing this up from the US players was something along the lines of "Where are the b*****s hiding?!"

All good fun, and we'll hopefully see you chaps back at AWC in the future!

  

 

 

 

Attack! 2012

Quick post- we took Charlie Don't Surf to Attack, hosted by Devizes & District Wargames Group today.  Our players today seemed to enjoy themselves and the rules throughly, and poor Mr. Smallridge fell foul of some very sharp spotting by the young gent in command of Red Platoon.  The fact that they also asked to use his lucky red Communist dice instead of the usual US yellow dice has nothing to do with it.

We'd not attended Attack before, and found we weren't overwhelmed with players, possibly as it was only Sunday that we attended, rather than both days, so we actually found it quite a nice relaxed day.  I grabbed some terrain on wandering round, and a couple more KR cases in anticipation of, well, you'll see in future.

Thanks again to Phil Mackie and the rest of D&DWG for the invite- hopefully we'll be back with something different in 2013!

Darkest Africa 7: Damn Their Hides!

On the tenth day of the month of respect, Rajab, 1279*, my master returned to seek glory in Zanj. 

However, he has fallen foul of those pox-ridden sons of jackals, slavers from Sudan to the north.  We were peacefully camped, when we found ourselves under attack from these mangy dogs!  Having realised they could not defeat us in a fair fight, these accursed slavers must have paid a good deal of silver or hongo to gain the services of the many tribesmen who sided with them.  Against such numbers, our brave swordsmen and wangwana were hard-pressed to prevail!

Baker appears to have enjoyed far better fortune.  With those fiendish slavers preoccupied elsewhere, he left Khartoum about six month ago in an effort to follow the course of the White Nile.

Position	Faction	Played	Won	Lost	Hongos
					Gained	Lost	Total
1	Mangbetu	2	2	0	2	0	7
1	“Turks”	2	2	0	2	0	7
3	Ngoni	4	2	2	2	2	5
4	Ruga-Ruga	1	0	1	0	1	4
4	Smythe-Bletherington	1	0	1	0	1	4
6	Zanzibar	4	1	3	1	3	3

*Early 1863