Walker

"One must act with severity, or perish"

'Walker' is a 1987 film by director Alex Cox, starring Ed Harris. It's a quirky retelling of the life of 1850s American filibuster William Walker, although it is also intended as a commentary on the then contemporary US involvement in Nicaragua. The film is famous for including deliberate historical anachronisms, and it was those which inspired me to put together an army for 'Hordes of the Things' based on it. Since it put in a brief appearence on my blog the other day, I thought I'd do a post showcasing it.

Needless to say if you haven't seen the film, and you want to, this post will contain one or two spoilers.

The army is as follows:

1 x Cleric General (William Walker, with some of his aides and lieutenants)
6 x Warband (Walker's Immortals; the American Phalanx)
1 x Shooter (Firing Squad)
4 x Hordes (Nicaraguan Allies)
1 x Airboat (US Marine Corps Helicopter)

Stronghold - Impressive Nicaraguan Public Building

Bar the helicopter and the cow (what?) every figure in the army came from Peter Pig, and there's surprisingly little in the way of conversions. I got the look of 1850s irregulars, both American and Nicaraguan, by using various figures from Peter Pig's Wild West and American Civil War ranges. They also provided most of the character figures, although some were done from WW1 Austro-Hungarian commanders. The US Marines are professional soldiers from the AK47 range. The cow is from Irregular Miniatures, and the helicopter from my son's toy-box - he didn't miss it at the time I made this army five years ago, and is 16 now so doesn't care.

On the the army. Here are the Nicaraguan Democrat allies, classed as Hordes:

They are mostly a mix of Confederates and Mexicans from the Wild West range, but there's also a US military advisor (not actually in the film, this one, but true to the concept I feel, and the figure was going spare):

The element also includes the English artist Doubleday, who tags along with Walker's forces for much of the film:

Next are Walker's Immortals; filibusters from the USA. They are primarily Peter Pig gunfighters from the Wild West range, as this gives them a more irregular, non military, appearance:

The flag was apparently made up for the film. I drew it up in a photo-editing package, using about five stills from the film as reference (there's not a single shot I could find that shows it in its entirety). The wording says 'Not Without Honor':

I have no idea why Baron Bruno von Natzmer first appears in the film riding a cow, but I couldn't not include him:

Ideally this element should include one of Walker's many political opponents in front of it, but it wouldn't have fitted in the base depth. The firing squad is a Shooter element, and is mostly Wild West gunfighters with a Confederate officer in charge:

The main man - William Walker, the 'gray-eyed man of destiny', and the sort of person who writes an autobiographical account of his exploits in the third person (seriously - 'The War In Nicaragua' it's called - recommended, and fascinating, reading, so long as you remember that he wrote it himself). Accompanying him on the element base are (left to right): Doctor Jones, Major Siegfried Henningson and Captain Hornsby:

Finally, the bit everyone who has seen the film remembers - the US Marine Corps helicopter. It's not the same kind of helicopter which appears in the film, but it was all I had to hand that was likely to fit on the element base. the figures are from the AK47 range:

Here's the stronghold. Yes, it's the chapel from the Alamo. May years ago a work colleague of mine brought it back for me from a holiday in the USA, and it sat on my desk at work. But I eventually decided that it might have more use in a game, so I gave it a quick paint, added in the steps to hide the words on the base (it says 'The Alamo', obviously) and put it to work as the kind of impressive Nicaraguan building you get to see in the film, before Walker has them all burned down:

The above photos were taken with my 'real' camera, which is good for doing that kind of thing. Here's some arty shots I took when I was trying out the new macro lens for my iPhone.

A quote from the film:

“I cannot help noticing Sir, during the time I've spent with you, that you've betrayed every principle you've had, and all the men who supported you. May I ask why?”
“No you may not.”

“What exactly are your aims?”
“The ends justify the means.”
“ What are the ends?”
“ I can't remember.”
(Doubleday and Walker)

The Battle Of Tijuana

It's my birthday today. I've had a good present haul, of course, some of it in useful hard-cash form and some of it of relevance to this blog. Here's the items of relevance:

Two new games (courtesy of my brother) - one a RPG and another a set of miniatures rules I've been keen to try for a while. The small black object in the corner is a lens attachment for my iPhone; it gives me wide-angle, macro and fish-eye capability, all of which I will find useful.

This afternoon I played through another Mexican Revolution game, using the latest draft of my 'Struggle Against Everything And Everybody' rules. I based my game around the 1911 battle for Tijuana. Tijuana is in Baja California, right against the border with the USA. In 1911 the Federal garrison of about 200 was attacked by a force of 200 Magonistas, followers of the anarchist Flores-Magon brothers. The Magonista force was, in fact, mostly Anglo-American - only ten of them were Mexicans - and there were accusations that their campaign was less about revolution and more about good honest US filibustering. They were commanded by a British soldier of fortune, General Caryl ap Rhys Price, who claimed descent from Owain Glendwr.

In 1911 the Magonistas captured the town of Tijuana, although they only held it for a month. Could they repeat the feat?

I set up the town on the edge of the board, representing the fact that beyond it was the US. Troops retreating off that edge would not be coming back. Although in the actual battle the forces were equal I went for the following OOB to create a 'balanced' game:

Federals: Three Infantry (Strength 4), one Artillery (Strength 3), one Machine Gun (Strength 3), one Cavalry (Strength 3) (6 Units total)

Magonistas: Six Infantry (Strength 4), two Cavalry (Strength 3), one Machine Gun (Strength 3) (9 Units total)

The forces represent the chronic lack of artillery the early revolutionaries had. But they were otherwise assumed to be well supplied with arms from the US.

The Federal forces obviously had the cover of buildings, and could also make use of barricades in the gaps between them.

The Federals deployed by placing counters where they wanted a unit to be. the Magonistas then rolled a D6, and the Federals had to actually deploy that many units in place of the blank counters. The Magonistas then chose how to split their forces; they could start on any board edge except the US border. The Federals then got to deploy their remaining troops.

I won't bore you with details, but it ended up with this Federal deploymant - the Artillery and Machine Gun were covering the western approaches, with Infantry covering the east. The Cavalry and a unit of Infantry were held in reserve:

The Magonistas were split to the east and west. The western force was a screen consisting of the two Cavalry, one Infantry and the Machine Gun. Their aim was to prevent the Federals from pulling troops away from that side of the town by threatening it with a lightning cavalry attack. the Machine Gun would be sited to provide long-range covering fire as well. The eastern force, of five Infantry was the main attack; their orders were to rush the town - nothing subtle:

The western diversion moves into position:

The Magonistas attack the town under heavy Federal fire:

Showing off my birthday present - a fish-eye view of the battle from the US side of the border:

The Magonista forces charge hard, but the Federals get the initiative a couple of turn in a row and cause heavy casualties:

With the eastern attack faltering the diversionary force is thrown into the battle to try and relieve the pressure:

Magonista cavalry charges the Federal artillery:

And against the odds it pushes it back:

The other cavalry unit tries the same trick against the Federal machine gun, but is mown down:

The Federal cavalry gets in on the action, charging out of the town to scatter the stalled Magonista infantry assault:

Although the Magonistas have a couple of units in the town, the Federals are still in a strong position:

After this photo was taken a Magonista infantry unit was destroyed by Federal cavalry, and their machine gun came of worse in a duel with their Federal counterpart.

At this stage I got called away by a delicious meal of halloumi and beetroot (plus beer), as well as a birthday phone call from my parents in the UK, so I called it a day. The Magonistas had forced an entry into the town, but they weren't going to be able to hold onto it; the Federal forces had won the day. The key to their victory was partially down to good initiative rolls, in that they got to act first on a couple of turn just as the Magonistas reached the town, causing heavy casualties before the attack could be properly launched. But the Magonsitas probably had too many troops tied up merely threatening the western side of the town rather than supporting the main attack; the machine gun may have been better deployed adding covering fire.

As with other games using these rules it played quickly and with no fuss. There are a couple of small changes I will feed back into the rules, but they are mostly working well.

Rats Defy Filibusters!

Yes, it's Thursday and it's time for the weekly Gong Garage Gamers report.

It was just Geoff and I this week, and we played a couple of games of HOTT once we'd decided that no-one else was going to turn up.

In the first one Geoff took my Ratmen, whilst I used William Walker's Filibusters. The Rats defended.

Here's Walker's forces advancing to meet the foe. The army is based on Alex Cox's film from the 1980s as much as the historical Walker, so that's why there's a US Marine helicopter with it:

Here's a closeup of Walker's Nicaraguan allies. The artist at the back is called Doubleday:

The armies meet in combat:

Sadly my combat rolls were very, very bad, and soon the Rats were advancing triumphantly across the board:

Walker's forces are looking a little sparse now:

Over on the flank the Marines held off numberless Hordes:

But in the centre Walker makes an heroic, but futile, last stand on a hill:

Game over, and a victory for the Rats.

In the next game I used The Spawn of Tiamat, whilst Geoff used the Ceidonians (essentially Medieval humans). Tiamat defended her Sea of Primal Chaos (not in this picture):

(But in this one):

The Spawn attacked the Ceidonian flank, savaging their archers in the woods:

Then turning on the Spears:

The Ceidonians charged up the hill at Tiamat and her Lesser Spawn:

But their losses caught up with them, and it was soon game over.

And that was it. One game each.