The Scots

 Part of these were a unit in my Scottish Highlanders force for The Pikeman's Lament... I guess they still could be... but they're based a bit different now, so... Probably not... 

When I finally got going again on all the other Swashbucklers I'd originally picked up for playing En Garde, I wondered if I had any other "spare" figures that could be cobbled together into a gang... and I didn't really, but I got it in my head that I needed a scottish gang, so... these got rebased like the rest of them, and I painted up a few more to go with them! 

These are the two newly painted ones... 

The whole gang

The Laird Fionnlagh

Elder Niall from the local presbytery

Diarmad, Fionnlagh's chief lieutenant

Leodhas, Fionnlagh's other trusted  lieutenant

Gillbeart the Piper

Tamhas

Peahair

Sandaidh

Aonghas

Coraidh

Will this be a Scottish gang for En Garde...? Or Flashing Steel? 

Or will a few of them become a Scottish Hunting Party in Devilry Afoot!? 

Given my current interests, probably the latter!!

Campaign Considerations Part One: English Civil War

As mentioned in the Game Plan 2023 (Q1), I’d really like to run some online campaigns this year. I've been thinking about this since sometime in December. It would probably be best to strike while that iron is hot and before the initial inspiration fades. As George S. Patton once said; “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week”. To this end, I have been looking for “low-hanging fruit”. Which would be the quickest and easiest to GET GOING!?

My FIRST plan was to run an English Civil War campaign using Pikeman’s Lament and a campaign system based on the old Mighty Empires. This wouldn’t be a grand, sweeping campaign of the big battles, but rather smaller scale campaign of belligerent, landowning neighbours, far removed from the main action, that are simply making use of the chaos for personal gain and seizing the land from their neighbours in the name of King or Parliament. 

I do have a LOT of English Civil War stuff. At one point I was trying to make armies for DBA-X (on multi-figure bases) AND units for the Pikeman’s Lament (and other skirmishy games) on individual bases. When I gave up on the DBA-style games (for the English Civil War, at least) I had LOADS of miniatures on hand - enough to make seven or eight companies for The Pikeman’s Lament - with options for each beyond a standard 24-point force. 

The problem is, as I got planning those initial forces, I realized that, though I HAVE all the stuff I’d need (and MORE!) a LOT of it is still not painted, and a few of the forces need entire units painted, just to be able to field a 24 point force…. And my painted has slowed to an all-time low… 

I still want to do this, but started to think maybe It’d be better look for other options to START with while I whittle away at these armies. 

This is the state of each of the forces...

(Note: the basic cost of most units - Pike, Shot, Gallopers, Trotters, Dragoons is 4 points, so I'm basically looking to have six standard units for a starting army) 

(Another Note: Though almost ALL companies HAVE a Forlorn Hope, they're not all that useful as they are 6 points each and make it harder to field a force of standard units - I would have to find and take another 6 point unit, OR downgrade a few of the standard units to "raw" to make an even 24 points)

(YET Another Note: Mounted are divided into Gallopers and Trotters. sometimes I refer to them simply as "Horse" - as I haven't really decided which to classify them as. Both are 4 points for a unit of 6) 

Blue Company

Done:

• 2x Pike (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot (12) @ 4 points
• 1x Gallopers (6) @ 4 points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) (6) @ 6 points 

Total: 26 points

Technically enough points to start... but they don't add up to a neat even 24 points. I COULD downgrade two of the Pike or Shot units to RAW at -1 point each... or I could make one of the other units VETERAN, and drop one of the pike...? OR I could just finish up the three horsemen required to complete the second unit of Horse and lose the Forlorn Hope from the starting roster.

To Do: 

• 1x Horse (6 - 3 need painting to complete)
• 2x Pike (12 - 8 to finish) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot (12 - 11 to finish) @ 4 points

This company has been fully re-based onto the wooden discs and this is what such a  force looks like stuffed into one of my storage drawers. It barely holds this basic company of 30 points... I might need to clear up some more space for these... 

Orange Company 

Done:

• 1x Pike  (12) @ 4 points
• 1x Shot  (12) @ 4 points
• 1x Gallopers (6) @ 4 points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) (6) @ 6 points 

Total: 18 points

To Do:

• 1x Pike (8 to finish unit) 
• 1x Shot (9 to finish unit) 
• 1x Dragoons (6) 

Green Company

This one is least ready to go... Not a single unit is FINISHED!? 

To Do:

• 3x Pike  (12) 
• 3x Shot  (12) 
• 2x Horse (6)  

One company that DOESN'T have a forlorn Hope!? 

I DO have an extra Forlorn Hope in the "extras" below...) 

Red Company 

Fair bit of rebasing required here... 

Done:

• 2x Pike  (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot  (12) @ 4 Points
• 1xHorse (6) @ 4 Points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) @ 6 Points

To Do:

• 1x Pike  (12 - 8 to finish)
• 1x Shot  (12 - 10 to finish)
• 1x Dragoons (6)

Scots Company #1 

Done:

• 3x Pike  (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot  (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Horse (6) @ 4 points
• 1x Regimental Gun @ 4 points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) @ 6 points

Total: 38 points!?

This force is DONE! (well... they are on washer bases, and at SOME point, I'd like to put them on wooden discs like the rest of the collection... but that is a super LOW priority) 

Scots  Company #2

I do need to re-base most of these... At least the Pike for starters - as they are 8 to a base and need to be split up to make THREE units of Pike. 

Done:

• 3x Pike  (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot  (12) @ 4 points
• 1x Horse (6) @ 4 points

total: 24 Points

It's just occurred to me that, since this force has only ONE unit of Horse, maybe THEY should get the Regimental Gun... just so each of the Scots units has a FEW options...

Highland Company 

Not sure if this will be one used in the campaign... I could borrow finished units from the Irish company, below, to make this a viable starting army...? 

Done:

• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) (6) @ 6 Points
• 1x Commanded Shot (archers) (6) @ 2 Points
• 4x Clansmen (12) @ 3 points 

Total: 20 points

To Do:

• 4x Clansmen (12)

Irish Company 

This wasn't a force I was planning to use in this campaign... but while I was doing this, I thought I'd take pictures as it is part of the ECW collection. Perhaps they could be available as mercenaries for any of the other companies, should they have excess gold to spend in the winter phase! 

Done:

• 2x Pike  (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot  (12) @ 4 Points
• 1x Gallopers @ 4 Points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) @ 6 Points

To Do:

• 2x Pike  (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot  (12) @ 4 Points
• 1x Gallopers @ 4 Points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) @ 6 Points

Extras

This is MORE stuff that hasn't yet been assigned to a particular company... Some of it can be, others might remain as a pool of available stuff. 

GUNS!

It's kind of ridiculous how many guns I've acquired. I have enough that EACH english company could have TWO (well... a gun and a MORTAR - which there isn't really RULES for, but I'd just use as a gun...) 

Initially these were assigned to specific companies, but there just wasn't space in the drawers for each... and the one I'd done wasn't in any particular colours... so I thought I'd just keep a pool of them in a separate drawer that could be assigned to any force, as required. 

Two of the guns I have are rather on the larger side and I might classify them as Field Guns, rather than Regimental Guns.

DONE:

• 1x Reginemtal Gun @ 4 points

To Do:

• 1x Reginemtal Gun @ 4 points
• 2x Field Guns @ 6 points
• 4x Mortar

Civilians (“clubmen”) 

Like the guns, these don't belong to any particular force. My plan was to use them as extra units to help defenders were defending their home territory (land they started the game with) if they'd experienced significant losses. This was actually a suggestion of Bob Barnetson after one of the previous Hordes of the Things campaigns - allow an army, that has lost a number of Hordes (representing hastily armed locals/civilians) to join the army, so that Armies that had one unlucky game and lost half their army, couldn't just be rolled right back to their capitol and out of the game in one year. 

Defending Army AP - Number of Units of Clubmen Available

• 24+ - None
• 16-23 - one
• 12-15 - two
• 8-11 - three
• 4-7 - four

Done:

• 3x Clubmen (12) 

To Do:

• 2x Clubmen (12) 

Extra Dragoons (and Horse)

These were the latest additions to the collection and haven't really be assigned to companies just yet. The Orange and Red Companies each have one assigned already (because they both have only one unit of Horse, where the others have two), and I have four MORE!? I guess I can add one to each of the English Companies - though I'm not sure where they will be stored (currently stored in a cardboard box near the painting station as there is no room in each of the company's permanent storage drawers?!) 

To Do:

• 4x Dragoons (6) 

Extra Foot

STILL more foot - effectively four more units of Pike and a PILE of officers and another Forlorn Hope. Not sure what to do with all these... 

Actually, as MOST units have six units of Pike/Shot, and Orange only has four, I could assign two more units of pike to them... They'll have less shot then... 

To Do:

• 4x Pike (12) 
• 1x Forlorn Hope (6)

And then there is a smattering of half assembled PLASTIC pike and shot that I acquired at some point... not sure what to do with these. One idea was that if I were to ever run an IN PERSON campaign with these forces, I could have these painted up to give away to the winner...? Or if anyone local had any interest in playing, I might give these away as a starter force...?  

NEED TO DO:

Blue: Horse (3) 

Orange: Pike (8), Shot (9), Dragoons (6) 

Green: 2x Pike (20), 2x Shot (20), 1x Horse (3)

Red: 1x Dragoons (6)

Highland: Clansmen (12)

NICE TO DO:

Blue: Pike (8), Shot (11), Dragoons (6) 

Orange: Dragoons (6) 

Red: Dragoons (6) 

Green: Dragoons (6), Pike (12), Shot (12) 

Highland: Clansmen (24) 

Clubmen (24)

Irish: Pike (24), Shot (30) 

GUNS: 3 guns and 12 Crew 

Mortars: 3 Mortars and 12 Crew 

Conclusion

To field standard units, I need to finish up TEN units - some don't require the complete 6 or 12... but still ten units. Given the rate I've been painting the last year, I feel like the most reasonable rate I could assume I could do is a unit a week and that would mean 10 weeks to have just enough to start... and then I'd have to keep going and get other units finished up - in case armies expanded after the first campaign year! 

Option -Elites/Veterans

One thing I COULD do to significantly reduce the number I NEED to start the campaign, is to allow all forces to start with a significant number of Elite/Veterans. While a Company of standard units (@4 Points) requires 6 units, a Company made up of all veteran units would only need FOUR (Upgrading a unit to Elite or Veteran is +2 points - making them @6 points each). We could say a large number of those under arms in this region are veterans of the 30 Years War....? 

How would these forces look if I was including veterans: 

Blue Company

• 1x Pike (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot (12) @ 4 points
• 1x Gallopers (Elite) (6) @ 6 points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) (6) @ 6 points 

Total: 24 Points - DONE! 

Orange Company

• 1x Pike (Veteran) (12) @ 6 points
• 1x Shot (Veteran) (12) @ 6 points
• 1x Gallopers (Elite) (6) @ 6 points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) (6) @ 6 points 

Total: 24 Points - DONE! 

Red Company

• 1x Pike (Veteran) (12) @ 6 points
• 1x Shot (Veteran) (12) @ 6 points
• 1x Gallopers (Elite) (6) @ 6 points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) (6) @ 6 points 

Total: 24 Points - DONE

Green Company

• 1x Regimental Gun @ 4 points
• 1x Shot (Veteran) (12) @ 4 points
• 1x Gallopers (Elite) (6) @ 6 points
• 1x Trotters (Elite) (6) @ 6 points 

Total: 24 Points - This would require painting 8 Shot, 3 Horse 

The two Scots companies are all finished painting, one company does need re-basing! Wasn't sure If I was even going to include the Highland company... so... 

So... making use of Elite and Veteran units and GUNS... I COULD get this campaign going with only having to paint eight shot and three horse to complete six 24-point Companies to start the campaign... 

I had shifted away from this idea, in recent weeks, being overwhelmed by the number of stuff I figured I still needed to do. The next consideration was the Back of Beyond Campaign - fighting the Russian Civil War in the Far East... Stay tuned for some stock taking and analysis of the feasibility of THAT option! 

ECW - Musketeer in Blue

 I painted ONE musketeer.... 

Solitary Musketeer (in blue)

This was done as part of the absurd rebasing project... I needed ONE musketeer to fill up a unit... 

The entire force. 

That's about 30 points worth of stuff (taken at their standard point value - no upgrades or downgrades) which should be plenty to start the campaign. 

For this Blue force I have another unit of shot and pike to do and a unit of Horse that I half finished. 

Still have to finish up rebasing the Red and Green English forces and at least one of the Scots Government forces. The second Scots Government force is all on washers... but they're all DONE, so those could probably wait! 

Stay tuned, later today I'll probably be posting my December Games report, and a look back at 2022, and a look ahead with Plans for 2023... 

ECW - Scots Royalist Cavalry

I guess I could have waited another day and posted these all together with the rest of the Highland Company. I went ahead and did those, knowing that I may not get to this guy before being distracted by other things... Also, I really have enough to do TWO forces/companies of Scots Royalists. One of just Highlanders, and another of just Irish mercenaries. This unit would likely be the command for the latter. 

the Commander! This is the one mini I needed to finish up to complete this until I'm not entirely sure where I got it from. I feel like since this was in the drawer with the rest of the Irish Brigade that this model was meant to be the Marquis de Montrose.

(I googled it, this is in fact James Graham, The Marquis of Montrose, from Warlord Games' Pike & Shotte/ECW line)  

So this, then, is the Commander of my Irish company with a couple of his bodyguards. The rest were, until last week, still on 60mmx60mm DBA?HotT style bases, all have been rebased to wooden discs. I did the rest of the unit on slightly smaller bases - as that is what MOST of the ECW cavalry has been based on... But Jimmy's horse's legs were rather to spread out to easily fit on a similar base, so I went one side up. The lack of uniformity within the unit DOES kind of bug me a bit... but Jim's a rather important personage, so... I let it go... 

I'll likely classify them as Gallopers. Do I make them aggressive? No cost upgrade to give them the Wild Charge rule and increase their Attack value to 3+!?

Could be some time before I get to finishing up the rest of the Irish done, however... 

ECW - Highlanders

 Could probably be passed off as highlanders from 17-18th century - showing up in either English Civil War forces OR Jacobite rebellion forces... 

It's English Civil War that I've been thinking of most, lately, so... I'm calling them English Civil War highlanders. 

Seven newly painted Highlanders. I think most are from Old Glory...? The archers in the back might be Warlord Games...? 

Iv'e actually been on multiple massive rebasing sprees lately - 40K figures being rebased from metal washer to proper-sized plastic bases, and a mix of historical and fantasy minis being rebased from washers or multi-figure DBA/HOTT bases to individual plastic bases or wooden discs. 

The ECW stuff is going onto wooden discs - and organized into units of 6 or 12 for The Pikeman's Lament.  

I'm trying to get SIX (or seven!?) different forces completed. Scotts lowland/government, Scotts Highland and four English companies (in red, green, blue, and orange uniforms, respectively). The Scottish lowlanders could easily be TWO forces, I have so many of them!? 

the Highland Company, so far... 

• 1x Forlorn Hope (6), Aggressive (in the middle there, the Laird and his closest pals)
• 4x Clansmen (12) 
• 2x Commanded Shot (The Skirmishers up front) 

This adds up to 22 points, and a standard force is 24, so I could upgrade one of the commanded shot to "veteran" for two more points to make it 24... Maybe the ones with bows....? 

There they all are again... 

I did the bow-armed figures on slightly larger bases to put a bit more space between miniatures - to show they are skirmishers - even when in base-to-base contact. The other unit of Commanded shot are on the "standard infantry size" because I though they were part of a larger unit that hasn't been finished yet... upon recounting, I have enough OTHER shot to make three full units, and these are extras... At some point, when I get to painting the others, I'll do six of them on the larger bases - to make clear that they are different from the surrounding units of shot. 

I have loads more to do... Enough that it could be two separate forces. I Highland company and an Irish company (both of which fought together under Montrose). 

I have a unit or Irish shot and a unit of Irish pile that are also painted, but are still on washers. I have two MORE units of each to finish up and that would make 24 points right there - for an Irish mercenary force. 

I have one unit of horse - probably Gallopers - that are on the workbench having recently been rebased (they were on DBA-style multi-figure bases). Most were full painted, but I'm touching up two of them and a sixth mounted figure is being painted to finish off the unit. I could conceivably downgrade ALL of the Irish pike and shot to Raw units and add in the unit of horse and make them elite...? OR just down grade four of the Irish units and add a regular unit of horse... OR downgrade ALL of the Irish pike and shot units and add the Mounted unit AND a unit of commanded shot...? I have enough Irish to do that! 

I also have enough Clansmen to do 2-3 more units of them.. If I had SIX units of Clansmen, the one unit of bow-armed commander "shot", and the Forlorn Hope - that would also be 24 points... I guess I should get working on those last two units of Clansmen! It would be nice to have one more drawer that is FULL of COMPLETELY PAINTED miniatures... 

Now.. WHY am I suddenly working on English Civil War units, suddenly, you may wonder...? and WHY SIX different forces!? I've been thinking about campaigns again and organizing something loosely based on the old, old GW Mighty Empires game... involving a number of minor nobles in a remote part of England (on the border with Scotland). For centuries they have been rivals and fought over who controlled this pasture or that village... None of them necessarily have any strong allegiance to king OR parliament and when they hear the call aren't particularly motivated to send troops - especially when the chaotic situation may mean their neighbours would use their absence as an excuse to take back or take over lands they figure is THEIRS... 

When and HOW will I run this campaign? No idea. Ideally sometime next year. Likely I will run it online - with the players doing the diplomacy via email and submitting moves for their armies once a week (or, every other week?). If an conflict takes place, I play out the battles here and post the results with game reports of the battles and we start all over again...

It may or may not happen... I have a LOT of English that will need to be finished up to be ready... mind you... If I was okay with NOT having the English forces all being in a uniform colours, I could probably use the mix of what I DO have finished to start any time... 

Hmmmmm... 

Watch for details in the new year. 

Game Plan 2021 - Q1

Plans.... 

Well... 

I'm trying to be positive and optimistic and working under the assumption that this next year will be... well... less of a dumpster fire. I'm not planning for any larger in-person events - like a game weekend in February or ToonCon, but I do want to make SOME plans to work towards. 

Generally, what I currently feel like I'd like to do this year (these will be broken down into Quarterly plans)... 

Miniatures 

I'm kind of all over the map with possibilities - I haven't really done any miniature painting - or even playing any games for the last six months. I'm really excited about getting back into it in SOME way, but just don't know what just yet...? Here are some of the top things I've been thinking about over the last few weeks that might be a thing this year (Or... maybe it will be something entirely different. 

English Civil War - Ideally I'd like to put together six forces that could be used for a  Pikeman's Lament campaign - four English forces and two (or maybe three?) Scottish forces. Some of this will involve simply rebasing miniatures that were already painted and based for DBA-x, others will involve painting stuff that was already earmarked for Pikeman's Lament or minis that were originally earmarked for more DBA armies,  but weren't yet painted. More on this campaign in a moment. 

Deamons of Slaanesh - 40k/AoS - This seems like it should be a priority as it can be played in both Warhammer 40K AND Age of Sigmar. I have the Infernal Enrapturess and Fiends from the Wrath and Rapture box to finish up, and then a Start Collecting Slaanesh box, a box of Daemonettes, Syll'Esske: The Vengeful Allegiance, and finally the minis from Shadow and Pain. So,  in total, to paint:

• Infernal Enrapturess
• Lord of Pain
• Syll'Esske: The Vengeful Allegiance
• 3x Fiends
• 40x Daemonettes
• 2x Hellflayer/Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh
• 10x Hellstriders
• 5x Seekers

IF, I get all of those finished... I might consider treating myself to a Keeper of Secrets - a Greater Deamon of Slaanesh. Also They just previewed a bunch of really cool-looking new models for the Hedonites of Slaanesh (for Age of Sigmar) which would be fun to add to the Fantasy version of this force. 

Emperor's Children Chaos Space Marines - I have a few more things to finish up for this force - 10-15 Noise Marines, 10 Chaos Space Marines, 10 Terminators, 4-5 Raptors, and a pile of Cultists... Doesn't seem like much and it could all be DONE and I LOVE having things that are complete and Chaos is really the BEST force to play in Warhammer games (for someone who loves NARRATIVE) because Chaos will fight ANYONE - including other Chaos forces. If/When I get these done, however, I might treat myself to a few new things - I think it would be fun to pick up a few vehicles/monsterous thingies. The Heldrake and Forgefiend/Maulerfiend look fun - maybe some Rhinos for transport...? Bikes...? Not going to worry about those until I've finished what I've got. 

Valhallan Imperial Guard force for 40K - I have a LOT of them... like, a LOT. There's a local guy that's seems really cool that's been doing Necrons with snow on their bases and, as much as I've HATED playing against Necrons, he seems like a fun guy to play with (big into the NARRATIVE) so I thought I'd get back to working on Guard forces. You know... if/when the pandemic ever ends... 

Blackstone Fortress - I have a handfull of miniatures still to do for Blackstone Fortress - so we can get back to playing THAT sometime this year...

Daughters of Khaine - A Warband for Warcry and maybe a small force for Age of Sigmar. I'm not sure how I'm going to paint them though... do I go with the standard super-pale-skin-with-white-hair albino look...? I feel like I want to do something else... Like DARK skin - brown or dark purple of black - with either black hair OR brilliantly coloured hair (like red or pink or something like that) 

Skaven  - Also a Warband for Warcry - which is really just a rebasing project, plus maybe a few repainted additions. I probably have enough, though, that I also could do a small-ish Age of Sigmar army with them. 

TITANIC Units for 40K - I have a few BIG THINGS to finish off - Eldar Wraith Knight, an Eldar Phantom Titan and two Revenant Titans (all old ones from Armorcast), two other Knights (one will probably be an Imperial Knight and the other will be a chaos knight) - If/When I get ALL of these completed, I'd like to pick up a few more Chaos Knights - maybe a few of the smaller ones (wardogs?) just to fill out a complete Super Heavy Detachment. 

Necromunda? - I have lots I CAN play with - should we get playing again... but I also have loads more TO paint... 

Great War - I have a few Early War things to do - finishing up British, French and Belgians - but I don't really have many Early War Germans... and I'm not really excited about BUYING any right now... so I'm not sure what the point of painting the things I HAVE is...? I do have a few later war things I can finish up - just to complete forces and options and be DONE (the late war Canadians and Germans for Vimy, etc). Now that I think about it... I also have some stuff for the Middle East - Turks, Australians, etc... but I think I'll just stick with European theatres for now...  

Seven Years War? For Rebels and Patriots? Or One Hour Wargames? It keeps coming up... but I have so many other things I want to do... realistially I might have to wait another year for this one... and so many other things I've been thinking about recently... 

Terrain Projects

Trenches - I would like to do a few more 2x2 generic trench boards Maybe four more front line trenches and two or three that are just open areas of No Man's Land - I worked this out some time ago for various arrangements/scenarios. I'm been toying with the idea of getting back to work on the Vimy Project - with no real pressure or deadline - just, over time, getting the terrain build for the four divisional areas of operation. 

Frozen Terrain - for the Valhallans to battle on... and... others... Frostgrave, maybe...? I might just buy a neoprene battlemat - so I don't have to build dedicated terrain boards - and just build some snow/ice features to put on top of said battlemat. Huge snowdrifts or snow-covered hills, rocky outcroppings, snow-covered ruins, etc. 

English Village/Countryside Buildings - For English Civil Wargaming - but also just generic fantasy... 

AS the basement renovation wraps up... or... PARTS of it wrap up... (like, the GAME ROOM) I want to build a miniature gaming surface that can fit over the big table we have for the room when it's done. It's a BIG table - I think it's about 30' wide - so a lot of smaller games could be played on it, as is... but the megalomaniac in me still wants to play Apocalypse games with Titans and hordes of... stuff... I kept the surface from the old table and want to clean it up and build a frame for it that could go over the table that will be down there and lock in place to potentially provide a 5'x8' surface to play on (MWA-HA-HA-Ha-Ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaaaaaa...)

Game Plans

As I mentioned, with the uncertainty about how the vaccination program will roll out and when it will be cool to play in-person games, I'm not really planning on any - other than with my family - certainly not any BIG events for the first half of the year. 

Saturday Online RPG Night - This has been a life-saver through 2020 and I hope to continue it through the next year (and beyond!). CVT is planning to run Harn for us in January and when he is done (in February?), I'm thinking I'd like to get back to running the Wrath and Glory game! it'd be nice to sort of wrap up the current story arc that I'd started last year. I didn't get in on the Kickstarter, but I'm kind of interested in checking out the Hellboy Role-playing game when it is released later this year. 

February Game Weekend - for the last decade or so I've been hosting a large game on my birthday in February or an entire gaming WEEKEND. Obviously not doing THAT this year - at least not in-person - I have been toying with the idea of running a one-shot role-playing games online (using a mix of Roll20 and/or Discord) on my Birthday OR and entire SERIES of one-shot adventures over the last weekend of February!? Originally, I was thinking SIX games - Thursday Evening (my actual birthday) Friday Evening, Saturday Afternoon, Saturday Evening, Sunday Afternoon, Sunday Evening... but that might be a bit much... maybe just four in the evenings over the weekend... or  Thursday-Friday-Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoon....? Could be some Wrath & Glory... Could be some Fate (or Fate accelerated)... Might try out Those Dark Places... We shall see... 

English Civil War Campaign - This is an idea I've been toying with for some time. Currently, the idea is (once I finish painting/rebasing a few more forces) I'd run a campaign based on the old Mighty Empires game from Games Workshop. It would involve a fictional chunk of the English countryside (bordering on Scotland!) in the midst of the English Civil War. With the war mostly going on elsewhere, a group of lesser lords us the ensuing chaos as an opportunity to seek out vengeance for past grievances and/or expand on their territories at the expense of their rivalling neighbours. The campaign players (who would all be playing remotely) would each represent one lord and the campaign would be played out over a number of months. Each week would represent about a month of campaigning. There would be some negotiating via email and, once a week, players would need to submit moves for their forces for the campaign turn. This would effectively be a scenario generator for tabletop battles I could play out using Pikeman's Lament. The outcomes of the moves and game reports of any actions taking place would be posted here on the blog and then we'd start all over again. I've run similar campaigns using DBA/HotT and it was a lot of fun. Probably won't get to this until the summer, though. I have a lot to finish painting before I could do this... and.... other things are a bit more of a priority RIGHT NOW! 

5x5 Quarterly Challenges

Like last year I'd like to continue with the 5x5 Quarterly challenges. They seem more attainable than an annual 10x10, but ultimately the same number of games get played!

Q1 Plan

So... with all that in mind... What do do over the next three months? Experiencing more-than-usual scatteredness and a some serious decision fatigue is making this a challenge... Trying to take all the wild ideas into something focused, specific, realistically attainable!? 

5x5 Challenge

Rather than picking out five specific games RIGHT NOW - because I'd like to finish this post before February - I'm going to leave some of this as vague possibilities...

A Role-Playing Game - I'm pretty sure i'll get a bunch of role-playing in over the next three months on Saturdays... just not 100% sure WHICH games and if I'll play FIVE of them!? I'd really LIKE to get Wrath & Glory going again... 

Miniature Skirmish Game (probably Warcry) - something i can play on the kitchen table, in case the renovation CONTINUES to drag out waaaaaaaay longer... 

Three Boardgames - I'd like to challenge myself to playing some longer boardgames. The Century Golem Edition games and Other short games are fun... but it feels a little... too easy...? To just say I'll play Century Golem Edition five times... I mean, I could do that in an afternoon. 

I think ONE might be Carcassonne - which we CAN play pretty quickly now (along with Traders & Builder and Inns & Cathedrals) - but maybe with one or two more of the expansions that are in the Big Box we have. I know we've tried them ALL at SOME point and some I liked and just need to familiarize with again... others... less so... 

Others....? Maybe something like Terraforming Mars or London...? I don't know... so many games... I'd like the challenge to be a way to force myself to play a NEW game (or one I've forgotten how to play) enough times to really learn (or, relearn) the game. Try something new! This last year has not been a year where I was all that interested in trying something new - I mostly played the same games over and over... 

Painting Miniatures

So many things... 

I would like to get a few forces ready for Warcry - to try that out. I have ONE Khorne Daemon and a handful of Skaven I'm just finishing rebasing this morning. Beyond that? I've been digging through other Fantasy miniatures I have and seeing which might be useable in Warcry. I have a few possibilities... not as many that I could just use as-is as I'd hoped. 

I really want to finish up the last few miniatures from the Wrath & Rapture box I got LAST YEAR (I told myself I had to finish those before i can open the Shadow & Pain box I bought Last Week!). It's only three Fiends of Slaanesh, the Infernal Enrapturess, and a three Bloodcrushers of Khorne - all of which are at least partly painted, and some are very nearly finished. 

Once that (and the Game Room) are finished I'll rack that Shadow & Pain box (and get out the OTHER Daemons of Slaanesh I've had squirrelled away since last December) and work on THAT! Probably start with enough Daughters of Khaine for a Warcry Warband, then fill it out to a Age of Sigmar Skirmish force. Then keep adding to the Slaanesh forces. 

We dug out Finnegan's Warhammer Quest miniatures (From Silver Tower and Shadows over Hammerhal) to see if we could make any Warbands out of them. We could TOTALLY put together a Tzeentch warband. A Khorne Warband could also be cobbled together - with the addition of a couple of my Flesh Hounds. There are some Stormcast Eternal Champions - that could be the leaders of warbands - but no rank and file types... mind you, a $20 box of Easy to Build Castigators or Sequitors could probably fill that out (they are not cheap - pointswise!) - if, y'know, anyone actually want to PLAY those...? NONE of these are painted, though, and Finnegan is unlikely to paint them himself, and I'm not interested in playing against unpainted forces.... and I'm not SUPER-DOOPER excited about painting Disciples of Tzeentch (that aren't even MINE!?)... but it is just a warband of a dozen miniatures... I could do that... 

I have a few outstanding miniatures I said I'd paint for my friend, John, that I'd like to FINALLY finish up - at least the Warhammer Underworlds gangs, and maybe the Frostgrave Warband. The Warhammer Underworlds gangs could likely be used as Warcry Warbands as well - though perhaps smaller ones... or.. the beginnings of ones... 

So... looking like mostly Warhammer Fantasy stuff for the next few months. I'd LIKE to get working on ECW stuff... I'd LIKE to work on some of those 40K projects... but, realistically, with the basement still in turmoil and no dedicated painting station, I can't see a LOT getting done. So, I need to be FOCUSED and use what little time I DO find for painting miniatures to get a few things I want to USE NOW done! 

Terrain and Other Hobby Projects

For the first Quarter, this will likely be limited to FINISHING THE GAME ROOM!? 

(and maybe the table-topper for Epic Miniature Gaming)

And... I think that's about it... For now.

What are YOU all planning for the new year? New projects? Ongoing ones you'd like to see completed? Tell me in the Comments section below! 

Whit's Fur Ye'll No Go Past Ye

My friend Bruce and I have been trying to get together weekly to play games. He's generally free in the late mornings/early afternoons as he works shifts starting in the late afternoon. WE've mostly been playing board/card games.

I'd suggested Necromunda at one point. He's played Kill Team (with his own Genestealers!) but he said he found GW games "tedious" as you have to roll so many dice - roll to hit... then roll to see if you wound... then the target gets to roll to see if they save... then you may need to roll to see how much damage you do (in the case of a weapon that does more than one damage per successful attack against a target that has more than one wound) and then, if it's Kill Team (or Necromunda) and the target has lost all of it's wounds, roll to see if it's out of action, seriously injured or has a flesh wound... I guess I can see that...? I don't really think it's all that MUCH more than D&D, which he plays a lot of, but whatevs... didn't bring it up again.

Earlier this week, when he contacted me about playing a game, I suggested Dragon Rampant - a miniature skirmish game (albeit, slightly LARGER skirmishes...) that is fast playing and rolls a set amount of dice (six or twelve d6s, depending on the status of the unit) and check for hits, compare to stamina of target unit, remove appropriate number of dudes.... all in ONE ROLL!! I guess if they do lose guys a second roll is made to see if they fail morale... He said he'd be interested to try.

I thought about what forces to use - standard medieval fantasy stuff (humans, orcs, elves, etc.)? Or maybe some of the recently reorganize Legends of the Five Rings forces (Phoenix Clan and Lion Clan)? But then last night I had a stroke of brilliance - Bruce is a Huge fan of H.P. Lovecraft and Call of Cthulhu AND Solomon Kane... So I thought I'd try a mash-up of Pikeman's Lament and Dragon Rampant (mostly just using Pikeman's Lament, with a few fantastical elements from Dragon Rampant!)

So I set to work - between last night and this morning I came up with an idea for a scenario and then sorted out some units and picked them out of storage and hauled them all upstairs along with all the terrain and set it all up and printed off some unit cards and wrote out some other unit cards... It was all ready to go for 11am when he was to show up...

And then he bailed....

I feel like this is starting to become a bit of a trend around here...

(I don't mean just Bruce... all the necromunda games that have been planned and subsequently cancelled, the game weekend, the Dominion campaign, etc...)

It's really beginning to get me down...

So what then...? Spend yet MORE time putting it all away again - for nothing!? Press gang one of the kids into playing with me!?

In the end I decided to play it out solo-style to see... well... how it would have all played out...

And so here is how it all played out...


1666, Scotland

The Infamous Witch Hunter, Ezekiel Erasmus Eisenhauer, found himself in Scotland tracking the rumour of a remote village that had taken to worshipping dark entities. He gathered around him some stout Scottish Government troopers - hardened veterans of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms - to march on the village and investigate these rumours!

They arrived just in time to witness a debased cult in the act of trying to summon some dark entity!


SCENARIO

The Cultists are trying to summon a Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath. To do so the Cultists must successfully pass six ritual activations - at which point the Dark Young appears and joins the cultists side.

The Witch Hunters need to stop this by killing all the Cultists - or, failing that, kill the Dark Young!


FORCES

Witch Hunters

Ezekiel Erasmus Eisenhauer - Commander
Gallopers - Agresssive, Elite - 6 points

Scottish Horse - Gallopers - 4 points

Scots Pike - 4 points

Scots Shot - 4 points

Scots Shot - 4 Points

Total: 22 points

(whoopsie... I'd meant them to have 24-26... should have included a second unit of Pike - or replaced one of the shot with a Forlorn Hope of dismounted cuirassiers or some such...)


Cult of the Black Goat

Forlorn Hope - 6 points

Clansmen - 3 points

Clansmen - 3 Points

Cultists - 2 points

Clubmen - 1 point

Clubmen - 1 point

Total: 16 points

(How did I screw this up too!? I'd meant these guys to be 20 points - less than the Witch Hunters - but with the potential to summon MORE... math is hard, I guess... ah well...)

Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath
Greater Warbeast (+ Cunning, + Terror - like fear, but causes -1 to all morale tests for enemy units within 12" AND all enemy are -1 to activate when trying to attack the Dark Young) - 10-ish points..?

THE GAME



Ezekiel Erasmus Eisenhauer and his band of protectors surmount a hill and spy the degenerate locals involved in their depraved ritual!



Along with the infamous Witch Hunter, a company of troops from the nearby garrison marched to aid in halting these evil proceedings.



The debased locals worked up into a frenzy around the ringleaders of the cult.



The inner circle of the tainted cult preform their perverse ceremony.



the battle lines are drawn...



Ezekiel Erasmus Eisenhauer and his band of protectors lead the charge down the hill - followed by all the Scots.



Whoopsie! The Forlorn Hope of Highlanders tried to shoot at the Witch Hunters... and failed... ending their turn (at least the cultists had already performed their ritual - always the first things I did - after checking for any Wild Charges or Rallying....)



Oh, it's going to be THAT sort of game, is it...?

(rolling for a Command Blunder, the Witch Hunters received -1 Honour... as I wasn't really tracking Honour - it's kind of an all-or-nothing sort of mission - it didn't really matter...)



As the Witch Hunters galloped ahead as evil and foetid mist flowed across the battlefield, from the nearby marsh, obscuring and confusing the Scots that followed. They faltered in their advance and left the Witch Hunters alone and exposed.



So very exposed...

Out of the mists, one of the units of clansmen wildly charged them from the flank.



Caught by surprise, two of the Witch Hunters men fell from their horses. The rest cut down three of the highlands and sent them scarpering back from whence they came!

The Highland Forlorn Hope then blasted a volley into the Witch Hunters, taking down another two of their number! This left only Ezekiel Erasmus Eisenhauer and his trusted lieutenant, Sulaiman Khan (a witch hunter from the East that Eisenhauer met on his journeys through the lands of the Ottomans). The pair kept their cool, but things were looking very dire for the Witch Hunters indeed.



Eisenhauer and Khan weren't going to just sit their and get shot to pieces! They charged the fleeing Highlanders, cutting down a few more.



AS they fled further, they followed on cutting down more still!



The muffled sounds of desperate battle and the cries of dying men filtered their way through the mist and the terrified Scots looked at each other and wondered what they should do.



The remaining four highlanders retreat turned into an utter route and they fled into the hills.



The barely heard triumphant cries of the Witch Hunter and his Lieutenant spurred the Scots into action and they advanced into the mist...



Some of the mist cleared around the ritual sight and the Highland Forlorn Hope caught a glimpse of the Witch Hunter and his Lieutenant and fired another volley of musketry... and arrows...?!



Sulaiman Khan fell from his horse and Eisenhauer was quite certain he was dead...



Eisenhauer was feeling distinctly alone and exposed and overwhelmed...



... so he galloped off into the hills.



The Scots continued their advance on the ritual site - only to find, as they came out of the mist, that the Witch Hunter they followed was nowhere to be found! (when I tried to rally him, he failed spectacularly and routed!). The Scots morale wavered a moment, but then they pressed on!



The sudden appearance of all the Scots made the remaining group of clansmen question their whole part in this (actually it was a command blunder the previous turn which cause them to waiver... and they just kept failing to rally...).

The Scottish Horse charged the debauched local Laird and his Forlorn Hope, but were brutally repulsed!



Then suddenly the Witch Hunter reappeared atop the hillock they'd started on!? where had they come from?! Was their whole charge and seeming demise all some sort of unfathomable ruse!?

(I'd rolled a command bonus that allowed me to bring on 4 points of reinforcements - returning units that had been lost - So I brought back the Witch Hunter. Apparently, they'd only suffered minor wounds - bumps and bruises from being unhorsed - they rallied beyond the hills and returned to the battle - though with a little less exuberance - as it was only 4 points I dropped their Elite/Veteran status... and also ditched the Aggressive upgrade - to make them seem a touch more recalcitrant - like they were returning with their collective tails between their legs!)



Having failed to stop the ritual, the cultists successfully summoned one of the children of the Black Goat of the Woods....



I tried moving some of the Highland clubmen out of the way to give the Dark Young a path with which to advance upon the Scottish government troops.... but failed a few times ending turns before the Great Beastie could move - giving the Scots a chance to maneuver and form a battle line... of sorts...



Eventually I decided I just needed to move the Dark Young AROUND the stupid (petrified?) villagers.

Fire from the unit of Scottish Shot saw off the Highland Commanded Shot.



The terrifying beast lumbered towards the Scots, just as the Witch Hunter rejoined the fray!



Yeah, it was a pretty epic scene.... Not sure how this was going to go down, but it was pretty exciting!



The beast charged... the Witch Hunters counter-charged!



The Witch Hunters lost two of their own to the one Strength Point they'd knocked off the Dark Young and were thus obliged to retire.... The Dark Young followed on!



The otherworldly horror stuck down two more of the Witch Hunters and then paused as they galloped away!



ANOTHER Command Bonus bringing reinforcements back on the table - this time for the Highlanders! I guess they weren't routing after all - they were just going to fetch more of their brethren from the pub!



Desperate, the Scots cavalry charged the unholy terror! They were utterly destroyed.



The Witch Hunters charged in again, and were likewise destroyed!



The profane creature of the abyss then crashed into a unit of Scottish Shot, killing many and scattering the few that remained.



It followed on into a second unit that was prepared to give fire.



It seemed to injure the beast...



... but their own casualties compelled them to retire into the marsh!



The Beast followed them...

Meanwhile the returned Highlanders charged the block of Scottish Pike!



The two groups utterly savaged each other...



But it was the clansmen that broke and withdrew!

The Shot in the marsh executed a fighting withdrawal, blasting the greatest with shot as fast as they could...



With the Clansmen out of the way, the Highland Forlorn Hope unloaded a volley on the Pikemen, still unsettled by the ferocity and violence of the clansmens charge. Losing a few more of their number was just too much and they dropped their pikes and fled the field of battle.

The last few Scottish shot in the marsh came to the conclusion that they savage supernatural fiend was not stoppable by mundane arms such as they had at their disposal, and the few that remained faded into the mist...

(In fact it was down to it's very last Strength Point... they just happened to fail one last morale test and left... so close!)

...

This turned out to be a really exciting game - LOTS of back and forth, so many times I thought it was going downhill for one side, only for them to rally and recover and take it back to their foes! I LOVE this about all of Dan Mercy (and Michael Lack)'s games!

In retrospect, I probably should have made the Ritual Activation a 6+ - regardless of how many cultists were left (or made it -1 to the roll if they were less than half) and said they could only do it if they were within 1" of the standing stone. If I were to run the scenario again, that's what I would do...

Also I could possibly have treated the Dark Young as a completely separate force that did a wild charge at the closest unit - of EITHER side - Who can truly control these otherworldly beasties  (damn those peasants in the way! as if a Dark Young would politely go around them!). Maybe it wouldn't attack the priests unit (or the Forlorn Hope) representing SOME measure of control from having bound the creature...?

I wish I had enough Seven Years War miniatures to try out Rebels and Patriots! (Hmmmmmm... If I did a little rebasing....?)


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

MOAR Necromunda stuff!!!