400 point AWI Musket and Tomahawk Game

We have been getting a few games in lately of Muskets and Tomahawks. (well three)

We managed to do a practice and then demo game to a friend the other week, and got a great bash in today. We ran all three games at 400 points, and played the same scenario for each. The one where you must eliminate 2/3 of the opponents forces to achieve a victory, both players having the same objective.

This is a report of todays battle, from mainly my perspective as the English player.

I fielded, at exactly 400pts -

Officer (Regular)
10 Regulars
10 Light Infantry (Elites)
8 Light infantry (Elites)
Ranger Officer
6 Rangers

My officer had to kill the French Chasseur with the Moustache in melee (their Sergeant) as a side plot

The Americans had -

Officer (Regular)
14 Regulars
8 Minute men
8 Minute men
6 Rifle men
6 Indians
6 Chasseur (French allies)

The Americans did not want to kill the English Regular Officer, as he was a friend as a side plot.

We played on a 6x4 Table.

The battle of Fry's farm.

We join the action at the end of turn one for the pictures, but you can get the layout of the table from them. 

You can also see my regulars which are fleeing on my right flank, and the American regulars which fled in the center. Not a day to be a Regular today, morale was certainly low for both units. 

Here we see the Rangers poised on the left flank to take on some Indians, and the big English light unit which had blown a big hole in the American regulars. This is where it started to go hideously wrong for the English.

The rangers charged at the Indians, throwing ineffectual axes on the way in. They then proceeded to get butchered down to 1 man for no kills on the Indians. The Indians then got two activations. They Shot the running ranger and moved close to the Ranger Captain. He then got to charge them, and died although he did finally mange to kill one of the Indians. 

Atmospheric shot from the British Captains view. He was trying to hit a Rifleman to make them break. 

"I see that scum Frenchy, but why are they not shooting at me?"

This duel in the center between the Lights and the Minutemen was only going to end one way. The Minute men fled later on . Those pesky Indians on the left flank though pushed the lights back countless times an out of position from this point onwards.

Back on the Right flank, the English regulars kept getting slowly whittled down, while mostly missing themselves. The French help their Riflemen mates to take more English regulars down, before turning their attention to the center 8 man Light infantry section.

The English tried a neat ploy here, but the cards let them down. They advanced the 5 Lights in the center to charge range of the American Regulars rather than reloading. Sadly the Regulars went one card before the Lights. And shot 3 down, pushing the last 3 back.

The Lights did eventually manage to get the Charge on the Regulars. If you look at the next picture you can see the result. Yes, I lost two men to the one American regular, and fled.

Just before the end of the turn, I managed to make the Riflemen flee, as seen in the next picture. Sadly not before my Regulars had been reduced to just 2 men. This reached my loss point of the game. so at turn end, I was six men short of killing enough Americans.

Final result was a Major Victory to the Americans, who achieved their mission and their side plot.

Another great and close game.

Our other two previous games both ended in draws, with both teams reaching break point in the same turn and none achieving any side plots. 

Cheers, John.

Latest Saga terrain items.

Well these are specifically for Saga, although as usual I have kept them pretty generic so they are usable in many games. I apologise for the normal poor quality of the photos compared to others fine efforts, but they seem to show it off well enough.

I have included a conquest games plastic figure for some sense of scales. Hello to Bob, the epic Flemish mercenary.

First we have an update to my field, I have shown this before, but now we have the addition of some haystacks to dress it a little. They were from some childs playset, and fit nicely.
I always leave the scatter objects fully removable so they can be moved around at will, and are more for the visual than actual game play (this is as in Saga, for something like Empire of the Dead they would be as situated of course during the game).

Next up we have my new and improved rocky ground. Again we have moveable rock pieces, for the ease of game play in various systems. First picture is rocks on, second picture the rocks are on the side to show what I am babbling about.

Next we have my newest addition, a swamp. Nice and simple one this. The wet land is just blue paint, washed over with green, then a gloss varnish to give it the wet look. It came out rather well.

Finally, a shot of some trees on my generic wood area bases. The trees I was given yesterday, so the bases have just been textured and await painting when dry. Also included are my three Baggage pieces as they where about when I took the picture.

Most of the bases for these are cork tile. cut to shape with scissors, sanded smooth then textured with pumice stone mix. Flock was added in stages with pva glue, to avoid any chance of warping. Once everything has dried, they become very solid.

As I keep the items on top removable, it also means they can be used as more forest bases too in games where heavy woodland is appropriate.

If Baldrick was an architect.......

Now I had a thought, one of those "cunning plan" moments. Even better, I have actually carried it out.

I play a LOT of SAGA. Most of my terrain set up is geared around this, but I still try to keep it generic enough that I can use it in the myriad of other games I do play.

I had two small buildings I picked up at Salute last year (2012) and a larger one I created myself as I could not find a larger one to compliment the two small ones at an appropiate price (cheap cheap cheap). I bought these mostly for use with Saga, but they work well as small barns/huts/etc etc in other systems. I did want to put a base on them though as they are resin, (and wood blocks for the homemade) just to help preserve them.

This is where the Baldrick moment comes in ----

As you can see I cunningly made the bases at exactly VS from all the building edges. Saga players will hopefully know then what this Lazy Boys visual aid is for (and that it saves a lot of faffing with measurements on occassion), but for other systems they are just a base. Win Win for me I think.

Cheers, John.

More EoTD and some Urban War.

One of those days when a few posts all crop up together.....Here are a couple of pictures of the Lyacon gang I threw together utilizing a few Old figures out of the "out of the way but not totally worthless" biscuit tin. Mostly painted a few years back, a couple of arm chops and painting brought them back to life. The Packmaster is an old Horrorclix figure, I chopped its clipboard out of his hand with a scalpal, and again a speedy repaint, brought me to completion. The Leader is the Reaper Bones werewolf, super cheap, but a superb figure. I have two wolves to finish this faction, no picture at the moment. One is the wolf from the Salute show that had a goblin rider. I finally found a use for him. I must find the other one I have somewhere, they look pretty cool. For now the other is an Old GW one I had spare.

Also featured are some of the Urban War Viridian figures I mentioned a while back I was painting. Not much to say reguarding these, other than I still have 3 basic warriors to go, but they are actually quite nice simple figures to paint once i got in the zone with them.

Cheers, John.

FIW French regulars/marines

Well something very cool.

A while ago my first follower ran a competition on his blog, in which I won a prize.

He graciously agreed to paint a unit of Front Rank French Regulars/Marines for me.

Today he put up some finished pictures, and how fantastic they are.

Now I direct you to James Blog site to check them out, (and his superb Blog too, if you don't know it, have a read, it is well worth it)

See them here - http://exilespainting.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/plaid-new-style.html

Empire of the Dead Holy Order Deep Ones

Well I promised some pictures of the Faction I made up for Empire of the Dead so here they are, with some words too to explain my thoughts.

I purchased a box of RAFM Deep ones dirt cheap a while ago, and decided to use them as a faction for Empire of the Dead by WestWind. After examining the figures, and noting the three limited poses, I then turned to the rulebook and examined my options.

After a bit of tinkering with various lists and points builds, I ended up going for the Holy Order faction as my base line. Two things swayed me - The Knight Marshall has the Flight power, so a cool conversion would be in order. I could explain their reptilian nature away and thus their cold blood as the reason Vampires are spine chilled by them (rather than faffing with holy symbols and the like). This all seemed to fit rather well in the end. They are a Good faction, but I have no qualms with this. It does not mean they have to like Gentlemen and the such disturbing their peace.

Ok lets gets some pictures, as that is why you are really here I am sure -

Firstly, The Deacon and the Knight Marshall. The Deacon is armed with a sword and a Hunting Rifle, The Knight Marshall has a Sword and a Dagger. I really like how the Knight Marshall wings have come out, they have blended into the figure rather well. If you look carefully you can see the angles of the sword and dagger match the angles of the wings too, a subtle effect that just helps it look quite pleasing to the eye.

Next we have the Confessor and a Brother. The Confessor is armed with a Man Portable Gatling Gun and Sword, The Brother has a Heavy Pistol and Bullseye Lantern.

Finally we have a Brother armed with a Two Handed Weapon, and a Brother armed with a Shotgun. I actually have 3 of each of these figures, which I have left as stock. They fill out the ranks rather nicely as required.

Comments and Criticisms most welcome.

Cheers, John.

A brief note

A few words on what has been going on here at John towers...(hmm not a good name for a bungalow)...

I have been having a little break from Dark Age painting as I have overdosed somewhat in the last year.

So other than 4 cavalry, of a Saga faction I can't mention as yet, I have been painting a little sci-fi stuff, mostly as I wanted to use one of them as a character figure for Dark Heresy roleplaying, and also to finally get then painted.

Namely, some Urban Mammoth Viridians, for their Urban War game system. 5 Guardsmen, 1 Sniper, 2 Special forces and a sergeant. A nice little 300pt force which has been sitting around untouched for a while now. I have 4 guardsmen still to finish off, but they are chugging along very enjoyably. These are certainly some figures I would recommend well worth a look.

I have also been working on some deep ones from RAFM that I managed to acquire very cheaply a month or so ago. I have been converting a few up for use in West winds Empire of the Dead rule set. A jolly little game that is simple to play . I quite like it. It has definitely grown on me over time.

I am using the Holy Order faction rules for them, and have a couple of interesting conversions, including wings for one of them. Just finished painting them tonight, and have the base materia applied and ready to colour once dried. I look forward to doing a few pictures of these once they are finished, I am very pleased how they have turned out.

So not huge amounts to report, but work in the school holidays is always a bit more manic, so time is stretched a little till I get my holiday in the last two weeks of the summer break (also known as the two MOST expensive weeks if I did want to go away)

Cheers, John.

The 55th Foot, Civilian Pirates and Hereward

I have finished painting a few more bits (excepting base work...), Mostly M&T, namely the 55th Foot.

Quite pleased with these, they have a look about them I am happy with, and they blend rather well with my existing forces. We have two units of 8 Light infantry and an Officer.

I have also finished off 3 Pirates that I am going to use for civilians in M&T. I rather enjoyed painting these a lot, and they broke the Unit painting up well. I think I may have to invest in a few more of this line of figures sometime. A very characterful bunch.

Finally, I got busy with Hereward the Wake, a special character figure for Saga.

I got a little fancy (for me) with this chap in places, but like how it has come out. I think when he is based it should really bring the colours, and detailed paint areas out well. Also note i used a Crusader (manufacturer) shield on him as it comes with the hand strap.

Cheers, John.

Edits in - I have just been looking back at the pictures. I really don't think they do my models any justice lol. They look so much better in real life. Just thought I would mention it.

Latest painting news

No pictures as yet, but lots of progress has been made on the painting front over the weekend.

One unit of 8 British Lights are finished.

The other unit of  8 British Lights has 6 models done, and just 2 remaining to do.

The 3 Pirates/civilians are now done too, breaking up the monotony of the units pleasantly.

I also did a figure for Saga between a few too, Hereward the Wake. Very pleased with how this guy has come out. 16 plastic crusader miniatures foot are starting soon as Flemish Mercenarys to go with him.

Dark Heresy Roleplaying tomorrow night, but i think I am free on Wednesday to try and get some photos.

I will post a couple of  pics from my old stuff as it has not featured on my blog, and it is always cool to add a few things to actually look at.

Heres a few bits from my Malifaux collection (I must reshoot these sometime, As my camera skills have improved a bit from when I took these pictures).

 First some Ronin. I think these are some of the best figures from the Malifaux line.

Then we have Bishop. I love the hair on this guy.

Finally we have Misaki. This was my first (and only) attempt at wet blending. I think it came out quite well.

 Cheers, John.

Some Painting

I have been doing a lot of painting this week. Sadly 4 days of it was mostly white gloss in a ladies toilet at work with 3 cubicles .... When you touch a wall to smooth the paint in preparation and the plaster beneath just falls out right to the brick in powder form you know it is going to be a bad day at the office ... Still enough of that rubbish, onto the more interesting facets, I did get a little miniature painting done this week.

Firstly a little exposure on my dodgy painting habits. I really struggle to batch paint. I find I have to break up units and add little bits and pieces in here and there to break the monotony of similar figures. Hence why there is a random bunch of things to show off here.

Onto the painting before I really bore you...

Last game I played, I realized I did not actually have any "fields" or anything to even substitute for them. This need rectifying. So I grabbed an old tea towel, and a piece of board I was using for cutting on (salvaged from a bin at work). A little scissor magic and some pva glue, then a little home mixed paint, which was used again with more added cheap yellow for the second coat produced the following. I quite like it. It will certainly do for the moment for M&T and Saga I believe. 28mm Front Rank British figure for scale.
(board is about 11" x 8" using caretakers eye for measurement)

Next we move onto a little 15mm Sci Fi. I am slowly doing these up for the game called Gruntz. I have not actually tried this yet, but have had a look through the rules and it looks a pretty decent set. The first are some I painted a little while ago, 6 x Naga Infantry by Critical Mass games, I just have never taken pictures before. The one with the white stripe is the units leader figure. Also note the bright colours. Now this really is something I do not tend to do often. As I post more things you will possibly notice my more muted approch to colour, but again I digress.

Next we have what I actually did this week to split my unit time up a little, an Agamid Infantry, again from Critical Mass. The theory behind my force for Grunts is that it will be a mercenary type company, so That adds to the fact I can have an army of many varied units and different colours. I like how this has turned out, especially as it is 15mm. A bit star wars inspired maybe looking at it... 5 more to go of these.

Finally one of my Pirate figures I bought last saturday to use as civilians in M&T. I kept him more muted. Sometimes I think a beautiful sculpt just needs a simple paint scheme to show it off better. I really like this one. I am turning into quite a fan of Crusader miniatures, my style of painting seems to sit nicely with their stuff.

Well what have these all been interrupting, British Light Infantry is the answer. I have found a terrific unit to base them on, the 55th Foot, which compliments my 45th Regulars well. No picture yet, as they are still in progress. 4 down, 4 to go for the first unit of 8, then another 8 of the fellows.

As always, your thoughts/criticisms are always much appreciated.

Cheers, John.

M&T 300pts Battle

A brief report of todays 300pt battle, British versus Americans AWI.

British had - (28 Figures) - Slaughter Objective

Regular Officer with the Regular Talent, 10 Regular Infantry
Ranger Officer with xxx and xxx talents, Two units of 6 Rangers
6 Indians

Americans had - (42 figures) (+ civilian officer and 2 units of 6 civilians) - Recon Objective

Officer with 14 Regulars
8 Minutemen
8 Minutemen
6 Riflemen
5 Indians

Side plots - British Regular officer needed to end the game in the house with no enemy units, American officer had to leave the table from the British deployment zone.

Here is the table after deployment all ready to start...

Much movement took place in turn one, with a few ineffectual shots fired. Clearly my excitement levels rose here as the photos all went blurry for a spell....We rejoin the action photo wise at the end of turn two. What had happened - Well the British had had a very poor turn. The regulars had assaulted the building only to be repulsed by the civilians within. The Rangers had shot ineffectually on their right flank at the civilians (the 6 Indians in white coats) and where then repulsed by a devastating round from the advancing American regulars. The other six rangers had also fled from the one casualty caused on them by a civilian in the house with his musket. They did at least manage to make the American Indians flee first though

The next turn brought fortune to the British side though. The Lone officer manged to charge the building, killing all the civilians and then their officer in melee. The building was his. All he needed to do was stay there.

The Rangers on the British right and then their officer were swiftly dispatched by the American regulars though. A gun dual ensued on the left flank between the minutenmen and the regrouped rangers, But more minutemen and some riflemen were pushing up the center of the board.

The indians get the jump on the Minutemen in the center. Firstly they make them flee, then they break cover to try and finish them off. Just in time, as they threatening to swamp the lone officer in the building.

The Rangers (I used the cois de bois figures) drove off the other minutemen by taking them on in melee combat, all shooting seemingly ineffectual on that flank. They would eventually manage to get deep in the woods and finish them all off leaving just 4 Indians on this flank for the Americans.

In the center of the board, the two remaining British Regulars managed to outshoot the riflemen and cause them to flee to the field in panic.

Things suddenly were really looking good for the British, where upon their morale card was drawn. Realizing how outnubered they still were, The officer decided to order a full retreat, and the remnants of the force withdrew from the table (I rolled a hell of a lot of 1's, only the Indians did not actually rout from the table lol, but still getting a flee result).

We called this an Impressive major victory to the Americans. They still had enough troops to achieve their objective and their Officer could achieve his side plot with ease. They also still had a full unit of 6 civilians on the table. I am sure they had bullet proof vests on. I hit them a lot, but the shot just bounced off every time.

Here are the figures left at the end of the game. (there are also 4 Indians in the woods to the left)

What a great day. I can see the value of the big cheap units to keep that morale card at bay for sure. But I did push him close to his break point too, so The British were certainly plucky.

Cheers, John.

The 45th and some Cois de Bois

Heres a few shots of the finished M&T units (bases need flocking but they are gaming ready)

First the 45th contingent of my british force - An officer and 10 regulars.

Next we have another officer this one is going to be in charge of the Light troops - Again done up in 45th style colours, no idea if this is historical though...I guess I will have to research more..I like the finished look though so that is the most important primary aspect covered.

Finally a picture of the finished conversions for Cois de Bois (hat chops from British battalion company figures) which I think have come out rather well.

Any thoughts or comments much appreciated as always, cheers, John.