Dispatches from the front XXII - Projects old and new.

A rather eclectic mix of games and projects.

First up club night and over at the Wyvern's a 4 player Stargrave outing, using anything we can get our hands on, just simply turn up and play.

One of the chaps dug out the Core Space playing board, despite it only being 2x2 it did make a fun encounter with lots of laser blasts and Aliens popping out of the walls and floors. Warlords Algoryn took the bragging rights on the night.

Meanwhile the Visitors from the 4th planet from the Sirian Star make hard work of picking off the local inhabitants.

After months of nagging I finally relented and let my young nephew play with the grown up toys. King Arthur has to travel the table visiting various way points picking up recruits and defeating any nasty's along the way. We picked Songs of Blades and Heroes as a great introduction to proper gaming. 

My young padawan  picked up the rules really quickly, even if  he did play fast and loose with the measuring stick :-) After slaying numerous enemies.... Arthur was victorious.

I fear I have created a monster.

A fun encounter besides it gave me the excuse to finish off a couple of odds and ends such as the Warbases Gibbet and the mighty Excalibur stuck firmly in a stone. 

Having given the Sudan a well overdue outing I saw a post of on Tales From GHQ: The Battle of Tettenhall Green with an excellent game of The Very British Civil War. It's been a long while since Worcester was a flame... so maybe time for another outing.

With the King residing in the County at Madresfield Court, Worcester has stuck to it's long held motto of "Civitas in bello et pace fidelis" - The City Faithful in War & Peace. The City maintains a moderate pro government stance with reluctant support from the regular royalist forces and local Worcester City police.

Whilst largely peaceful as the crisis in the country unfolds a number of opposition groups have sprung up, notably armed elements from the Severn Riverside, Wharf, Labours Federation (SRWLF) with an enclave in the Diglis area. This group is supported by communists out of Birmingham and armaments being shipped over the Malvern's from the Anglican's based in Hereford. 

Just need to find where I packed the figures away now.

That's an old project now for a new one - Coming soon in May.

For years I fancied turning the excellent Standard Games - Outremer/Cry Havoc game to miniatures, with the new Baron's War range it might just make it to the table.

Until next time.....

Dispatches from the front XVI

A bit of a mixed bag this week as we enter into the third week of Lockdown 3.0 in the UK.

First up a post I should put up a few weeks ago around ammo markers and 3rd prints, Paul over 'at move along nothing to see here'  very kindly shared some 3D printed arrows after a conversation around markers for Infamy Infamy. I had some spare sabots and circular bases, so thought I would use  them up to create some nice counters for the Ancient games.

Despite first appearances they are quite resilient and once based should look quite the part.

Missing that face to face gaming and off game banter that club nights bring, I thought I would dabble with a couple of virtual games whilst not physical gaming it gives me an excuse to set up weekly gaming calls and sneak in some solo gaming with field commanders pulling the strings as it were.

The first one is a short RPG type affair based around the Water Margin and Ancient China, as it was pure fantasy, I "borrowed" the Warhammer map for Cathay which has just about the right level of detail. At the moment players take command of regions garrisons or unknown rebels looking to over throw the corrupt government. I imagine if you will TV shows of the 70's and 80's Water Margin/Robin Hood with players taking hostages, stealing jewels or blocking roads to ambush convoys.

I will be briefing players on Zoom each week, which is an excuse for a beer and a chat about all things gaming, successful missions will see the ranks of the rebels swell, failures and rebels flee the cause..

So far the rebels have picked their camps and hide outs to base their operations and the government forces increased security... more to follow.

If anyone want's to join in plenty of room for extra's and sub-plots....

Meanwhile an excuse to dig out a classic Tactics II perhaps the perfect game for Lockdown Britain the grand father of  tactical board games and with a handy grid mechanism perfect to for a daily exchange of orders, you never know I might be able to covert to table top games for the Red Phoenix Project in the weeks ahead.

Red vs Blue with the objective of securing the opponents cities. Fortunately I have two copies of the map so my virtual opponent can spend his winter evenings pouring over the map planning each month of movement. Before a call to move the regiments and corps.

The initial deployments.... equal forces on both sides... Stay tuned for the first moves.

Meanwhile another year older, without meals out or trips to the pub, I was gifted a number that I actually wanted.... blimey that was a win. OK so I did not push it asking for 'swarf' as my father used to refer to my early miniatures but lots of reading material, some fillers for Bolt Action Far East, The British in Haiti and a great read for the forthcoming Pony Wars Project.

This was an interesting surprise.... Aliens - Another Glorious Day in the Corp, A Solo or Co-Op adventure based on the movie... On face value slightly more complicated that Zombicide but minis are lovely.... more on this in the weeks ahead.

An finally a note to self don't tell a fellow gamer that my mission is to paint everything I own.... On this occasion I might just have settled on socks or beer. What on earth am I going to do with these.... 7 mini's in plastic made up of what looks like 10 parts each..... why???? - Give me Perry Plastics any day.

Despite over 35 years of gaming I have never played 40K, I suspect this is a devious trick to get me to make and paint his stuff, but will give them a go, maybe in the autumn looking at the pile of lead still on the to do pile.

Until next time....