Flag Tag

It was one of our regularly scheduled club Gaslands games last night and we had a turnout of six players for it. This time rather than split into two games we played one game but restricted the teams to 30 Cans (and used a slightly smaller play area as well)

We rolled Flag Tag, which involves running around trying to knock down other teams' flags, with the first player to do it three times winning.

The players were:

June - Thunder McCar (Mishkin) - Equipped with an arc-lightning projector.
Caesar - A car with rockets and a bike (Idris)
Graham - A single car with a ram, machine-gun and grenades (The Warden)
Stuart - A single truck (Bronko Billy) with a ram and RC car-bombs (Verney)
Declan - Two very fast buggies (Stay On These Roads and Blues Breaker) with light weapons (Idris)
Me - A single performance car (Shine On You Crazy Diamond) with another arc-lightning projector plus smoke and oil dispensers.

Here we are at the start, evenly spread around the edge of the arena.

Stuart June and I all headed off clockwise, shooting and dropping oil (in my case) as we went. June fired off her arc-lightning projector at Declan's buggies and reduced both of them to one hit each before they'd even moved!

Out of shot Graham had destroyed Caesar's bike with a burst from his machine-gun. 

Caesar and I closed in on Declan's start position and finished off both of his vehicles. Sorry Declan!

Not shown in nearly any of these pictures is the steady flag collection that was going on. There's One under June's car in this picture. Everyone except Declan and I was collecting flags. Declan wasn't because both of his vehicles were wrecks. I wasn't because I was driving alike a complete amateur and not going near any.

Stuart in all kinds of trouble with the edge of the arena. His constant colliding with things means that he never got to launch any of his RC car bombs (thank goodness).

My one attempt to pick up a flag by means of a spectacular slide failed, as neither the template nor the car overlapped it (it's tucked in by that pillar). I did collide with the wreck of one of Declan's buggies though.

I squirted some more oil in frustration.

Graham zoomed in on Stuart's truck.

As I recall the ensuing ram was less than effective thanks to some abysmal die-rolls.

Stuart pulled off a hairpin turn to counter-ram.

Whilst all this was going on two things happened. The first was that Declan got a vehicle back into play. The second was that June tried to pick up a third flag and collided with a pillar instead. This caused her to wreck - which meant that she then picked up the final flag she needed for victory.

(Disappointingly she didn't make for a perfect Gasland's win by exploding, but you can't have everything)

So June picked up three flags. I think Caesar and Graham had two each, Stuart had one and Declan and I didn't trouble the scorer at all. I did repair all of my hull damage, though, and had a full charge on my (unfired) arc-lightning projector.

A few pictures from Caesar:

The Banner

I did this after I finished my Gentleman's Gentlemen regiment for Turnip 28. I felt that The Captain didn't really stand out as a snob, and that the unit needed a flag and a motto. So I put this together a few weeks ago. I just hadn't posted a picture of it until today.

It's a mix of Photoshop, clipart and painting. The fringe was done by carefully cutting the bottom of the paper banner with a very sharp blade. The whole thing pops into a little tube on the figure's back.

Fodder

When I made The Gentleman's Gentlemen for Turnip 28 I used British Napoleonic Line bodies with Martian heads on them. This left me with a pile of headless Martian bodies and a load of spare British Napoleonic heads.

It seemed a shame to waste them, so here's the start of my next Turnip 28 force - a unit of fodder made  up from the leftovers.

I added tubes to the ray-guns to make them into hand-cannons. The masks (or are they?) are milliput.

They are about a head shorter than a regular 28mm figure, but I didn't think it matters. 

Obviously there's still some finishing off to do on the flag and the bases, but that will get done later. I've started on another unit of fodder, although that uses different figures and a different vibe.

The Mammoth And The Bear

I played Palaeo Diet with Daniel last night. He'd not played before, so our first game was the traditional hunt. We had a couple of hunters each, with a single mammoth and four horses up for grabs. Daniel played it safe with two spear-armed hunters, so I rounded out the party by adding a club and a bow to the mix.

We decided to go for the mammoth and ignore the horses, (but not to the extent of driving them away).

To that end Daniel operated as a blocking force, whilst my hunters worked their way around a rock outcrop - cautiously, so as not to scare the horses - in order to drive the mammoth towards his hunters.

Naturally the mammoth did not cooperate, and moved off in very much the direction we didn't want it to go.

Daniel decided that one of his hunters was close enough to have a go with his spear. He missed and the mammoth charged him.

He was wounded. So Daniel went in with his other hunter, and scored a critical wound! The mammoth attacked that hunter, but failed to injure him.

So we had the mammoth halfway to a kill. We set up a three hunter ambush on a small hill. The idea was that I'd use my bowman to drive the mammoth towards it, and each hunter would get a surprise attack as it came in. giving us good odds of at least another wound.

My bowman shot at the mammoth scoring a lucky third wound. The mammoth turned and ran ...

..  towards the ambush, but fell fractionally short of the distance required to spring our trap.

The mammoth then backed off, towards my hunter. Enraged it fled towards the table edge, and mu hunter didn't get out of the way in time and was trampled.

Since one of the conditions for a successful hunt in this scenario is not to lose a hunter, it was a failure, so we abandoned it at that point. We could have gone after the horses, but it wasn't really worth it.

I set up a second game, this one being a competitive scenario. In Clan Of The Cave Bear, Daniel ran three members of the Bear Tribe, who were looking to kill five interlopers from the Strangers Tribe (me). We were looking to kill the bear (centre of teh table. The bear was looking to be left alone.

I sent three hunters after the bear and left a couple to hold off the Bear Tribe.

My club-armed hunters quickly attacked the bear, wounding it.

But the both ended up wounded in return.

They kept up the attack and one was killed.

Then the other. But I had inflicted two out of three wounds on the bear. So I just needed a hit from one of my other hunters.

On the flank one of my spear-armed hunters was attacked by the Bear Tribe, and killed. This attracted the bear.

Daniel dealt with my other spear-armed hunter. I now just had my bowman left. He was being stalked by the bear and two opposing hunters.

All I needed was a couple of actions to get in a move and a shot and I could have possibly taken down the bear. I got one action. I used it to have a shot at one of Daniels hunters. I missed. The hunter killed my bowman. End of scenario

So it was a close game; I was one would away from killing the bear when Daniel took down my last hunter.

Thanks to Daniel for two fun games.

To add to the fun of the evening, there was cake. Caesar and I share a birthday (although not an age) and this was the closest Thursday to it. Traditionally we exchange cards and both bring cake. This year was no exception*.

*Last year was, but only because I was in the UK at the time.

Hawkmoon Lists for 'Hordes Of The Things'

With Eureka on the cusp or releasing 18mm figures for Moorcock's Hawkmoon series I thought that now would be a good time to republish these lists for the series. They were written a good few years ago, and I'm not sure I'd go with them as written these days, but I'm posting them without any edits. They should make a good starting point for anyone wanting to put something together.

To my mind the Granbretanians are quite hard to do, as their success is due to warriors who are both competent (blade, spear, warband) but also numerous (which suggests hordes). It's difficult to know which way to go with them, and I kind of like the 'Why Not Both?' compromise of these lists.

I should say that Hawkmoon is probably my favourite fantasy series, so being able to put together a HOTT army for it is an exciting prospect.

The High History of the Runestaff
Armies for 'Hordes of the Things'
By David Ashton
With Input From Alan Saunders and Tim Drewett

These armies are based on those described in Michael Moorcock's Hawkmoon novels, specifically those that make up the High History of the Runestaff. In order these are 'the Jewel In The Skull', 'The Mad Gods Amulet', 'The Sword of the Dawn' and 'The Runestaff'. Neither army pretends to represent a specific force described in the book, but anyone wishing to reconstruct one can use the classifications given below to do so.

Kamarg Army

Stronghold: Castle Brass

Hero General	Count Brass & Yisselda (mounted)	4AP
Hero	Dorian Hawkmoon, Duke von Koln with Oladahn of the Bulgar mountains (mounted)	4AP
Paladin	The Warrior in Jet and Gold on white horse with huge sword	4AP
Spears	von Villach with Kamargian infantry	2 x 2AP
Shooters	Kamargians armed with Flame Lances	2AP
Flyers	Flamingo Riders	2AP
Hordes	Legion of the Dawn	4x1AP

Alternatives

Behemoth @ 4AP(Guardian of Soryandum (Huge Mechanical beast with faceted eyes, spikes, claws & teeth - This element may be included with the Granbretan Army BUT NOT IN BOTH ARMIES AT THE SAME TIME.)
Artillery @3AP (Guardians on Kamarg towers surmounted with energy weapons)
Cleric @3AP (Bowgentle the poet. His healing skills helped nullify the power of the Black Jewel)
Sneaker @ 3AP (Sir Huillam D'Averc posing as Asiacommunistan emissary)
Beasts @ 2AP (Kamarg Bulls w/ matadores such as Mahtan Just)
Riders @ 2AP (Kamarg Guardians on horned horses armed with flame lances)
Lurkers @ 2AP (Kamarg horned creatures - remnants of the Tragic Millenium)

Notes

Hawkmoon should have at least some of the paraphenalia of the Runstaff (Amulet, Sword of the Dawn - for summoning the Legion of the Dawn - and the Runestaff itself). The Sword would be compulsory really.
You may want to make Hawkmoon the Hero General to put him on the same footing as Meliadus (Demote Count Brass to a Hero)
All Kamarg mounted troops ride horned horses (2 horns - not unicorns) but NOT THE PALADIN ELEMENT. You may want to replace the Paladin element since the Warrior in Jet and Gold didn't take part in any major engagements with the Empire of Granbretan.
You may not want to include the Guardian of Soryandum for the same reason.

 The Empire of Granbretan

Stronghold: Crazed Palace of Londra with King-Emporer Huon in his globe-throne surrounded by Mantis Guards)

Hero General	Baron Meliadus of Kroiden, Grand Constable of the Order of the Wolf	4AP
Magician	Baron Kalan of Vitall, Grand Constable of the Order of the Snake	4AP
Blades	Lords of Granbretan with their guards (Jerek Nakenseen and the Order of the Fly, Mygel Holst and the Order of the Goat, Adaz Promp and the Order of the Hound)	3 x 2AP
Warband	Asrovaak Mikosevaar and the Order of the Vulture (Muskovian Mercenaries)	2AP
Riders or Knights	Order of the Wolf riders (Meliadus' elite troops)	2AP
Flyers	Ornate and bejewelled ornithopters	2AP
Hordes	Mixed orders (Fly, Goat, Hound, Frog, etc.)	4 x 1AP

Alternatives

Hero @ 4AP (Shenegar Trott, Count of Sussex (The only other noble to fight Hawkmoon in single combat)
Magician @ 4AP (Taragorm, Master of the Palace of Time)
Behemoth @ 4AP (Guardian of Soryandum - Huge mechanical beast with faceted eyes, spikes, claws & teeth) - This element may be included with The Kamarg Army BUT NOT IN BOTH ARMIES AT THE SAME TIME.
Artillery @ 3AP (Giant flame lance attended by Order of the Badger)
Sneaker @ 3AP (Elvereza Tozer, Granbretanian poet gaudily dressed, appears to have no face and is armed with a rapier.
Lurker @ 1AP ( Agonosvos complete with freak show)

Notes

Purists may wish to replace Huon with Flana Mikosevaar in the Stronghold.
You may not want to include the Guardian of Soryandum since it did not take part in any major engagements with the Kamargians.

Cinco De Mayo

Cinco de Mayo is an annual celebration held on 5th May to celebrate Mexico's victory over the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. It's only a full-on public holiday in the state of Puebla (naturally), but is celebrated elsewhere, especially in the US, as a celebration of Mexican culture. It is widely confused with Mexico's independence day celebrations.

Anyway, I had my Mexican Adventure armies to hand yesterday, and thought that it would be worth putting together a quick refight of the Battle of Puebla using Dominion Of The Spear And Bayonet. There's a scenario for the battle in the battles book that accompanies the rules, but I haven't bought that yet, so I put together my own.

Here's the forces.

On the left are the Mexicans, with Line and Artillery in Defences (3pts each), more Line, and some Skirmishers and Cavalry in reserve (2pts each). The cavalry was committed at the end of the battle to press the French, so I kept them back and had the two fortified units in the front line, plus the unprotected line (as there were forces filling in the gap between the two forts that the battle centred around.

On the right are the French. They consist of two Elite Line (3pts each), Artillery and, in reserve, more Line and some Cavalry. I assumed hat the cavalry would cover the French rear and/or retreat, whilst the third Line unit would represent a final French attack in the rain, an therefore lose the Elite elan the other units have.

Here's the Mexicans deployed. On their left is the Artillery, on the right Line in a fort and between them more Line. Some small wooden blocks represent Puebla itself.

The French attackers. They went straight in with the infantry after an artillery bombardment, so I put their two Elite Line on the left and in the centre, and the Artillery on the right.

In the following pictures the yellow dice represents the turn number and its position which side is acting. The blue dice is the French combat roll and the white one the Mexicans. I rolled them together although in many cases the results of one units combat are applied before the other.

Turn 1 - French

They attacked on the right with their Artillery. The fighting was inconclusive.

Turn 1 - Mexican

They chose the same sector as the French. The artillery bombardment continued and suppressed the first fort (the Line was defeated).

Mexican Skirmishers deployed to threaten the French Artillery

Turn 2 - French

Choosing the Artillery again would be bad, as the enemy Skirmishers are advantaged there. So the French went for an advance in the centre with their Elite Line against the Mexican Line. Fierce fighting saw both units bogged down; they would take no further part in the battle (both units were eliminated).

The Cavalry support for both armies moved to cover their infantry. This was the final reserve unit for the Mexicans.

Turn 2 - Mexican

On the French left their Artillery was driven off by Mexican Skirmishers.

As the afternoon rain began the French reserve Line was brought into action.

Turn 3 - French

The French general committed the cavalry in the centre sector, as whilst it was an even fight, a win here would allow the French to dominate the Mexican position. The French Cavalry routed their Mexican opposite numbers.

Turn 3 - Mexican

With their position under threat from the French Cavalry the Mexicans looked to secure one flank with their Skirmishers. However they came to grief against the French line in that sector who doggedly resisted their advance and drove them off.

This left the Mexicans with just their remaining fort, but nothing else between the French and the city of Puebla. 

 So this refight was a relatively straightforward French win.

As you can imagine, it took longer to design the scenario and set the game up than it did to play (and play was slowed by putting down markers to help the photos along).