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!
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!
