Undead in a week(ish) sense!

Over the last week I have been starting off slowly with my return to painting.  Skeletons first, then moving on to more detailed models as time permitted.  Being a person imprisoned within the goal of my mind, and residence I have a lot of time on my hands.  With great relief has come the desire to start painting again.  The work is rather pedestrian and I'm mostly painting these models to be played with, not to sit on a shelf looking ultra pretty and gather dust.  OK so that may not be true considering the size and diversity of my collection, much of it does sit and gather dust (though protected from dust).

Working on a Elven Liche to command my army, as per my narrative that is still in the making.  Will post my Rhulic stuff in the next day or so, seeing I also worked on them as well.

Cheers

John

Undead for 3rd edition Warhammer Fantasy Battles

Necromancers.  Marauder release on the right.

Mummies.  Hard to find.  I was able to get two from a person
who used them for Blood Bowl.  Weapon addition and they look good.

Vampires.  Middle one is a Marauder model.  

My mighty chariot contingent.  Also a Plague Cart, Carrion,
and Skull Chucker.

An "aeriel" shot of the army.

Closer shot of the vampires.  The chap on the right I like
to call "Spike", I was a Buffy fan at the time (still am).

Rusty after so long with no game!

Finally fate allowed me to play a game of Napoleonics with Andrew.

What can I say, the terrain was interesting (read that as - of no use to me).  My deployment was flawed, the list was wrong (I thought I had the list right but was using one with battalions 20 strong).  Wrong footed from the start, and plagued by bad die rolls I returned to my form of the past.  Taking photos according to Andrew is the kiss of death for my games.

Here are some photos of the night with some explanations.

The right flank (my perspective).  Nothing happened all game here.
All the action was on the left flank.  My artillery was unable to
replicate it's usual destruction of Andrews batteries - I suffered from
it this time, actually running out of crew to man the guns.

The left flank were all the action happened.  Notice my uncustomary
use of 20 strong battalions.  Should have set these up in front of the enemy
guns and hoped for the best.  I had one small unit of 6 Hussars versus two
regiments of french cavalry.  

The elite grenadiers were almost wiped out by Andrews howitzers,
2 figures remained at the call of play.

The last shot before I stopped thinking about taking photos.
Wrong footed (well played by Andrew), and the one critical
die roll I needed (2+) I rolled a 1.  After that it was all downhill.

Undead Army 2015 Project

I've been in a rut, have been for a long time.  It's the problem with your illness takes control of your life.  In an effort to retake my life I've decided to undertake restoring my Undead army.  Most of the figures are 2nd edition skeletons and such with lots of stand-ins until such time as I can replace them with something more to the time period or whatever tickles my fancy.

This is the second Undead army for me.  The first one I gave away to a friend of mine at the time.  Which I cry about sometimes as it included my catapults, mummies, carrion and a Nagash.  Of well, I don't regret the generosity, just the loss of knowing I had them once, much like my EPIC Tyranid army,  Brings an ache to my heart every time.

So back to the army.  The skeletons are the 2nd edition plastic ones, which while I loved the adaptability, prove to suffer breakage from handling.  Namely the torso from the pelvis.  Spent a fruitful morning gluing the casualties back together.  The Khemri army I collected at one time has been absorbed into the list.  I've built a unit of Grim Reapers that need to be painted.  Crossbow and arquebus armed models will prove entertaining if not challenging. Thankfully my spare parts are still plentiful and I will use either Dwarf or Mordheim crossbows, and blunderbuss from Mordheim as well.

Thanks to Nick C I have a almost new box of 1st Edition plastic Skeletons to assemble.  There are a number of black knights, carrion and a catapult to make.  Thanks to Aaron T and Simon G for letting me pick their collections, especially Aaron as I was able to acquire Arkhan the Black.

More updates and a narrative to come.

Stay tuned!

My army general.  A liche.

The army as it stands, at least the painted stuff.

This is the assortment of models that will be used for 4th Ed WFB onwards.

Armor Supremacy 1976

With the success of Naval War at the club today I will bring along Armor Supremacy to the 21st March meeting.

Armor Supremacy

From Board Game Geek:

Armor Supremacy is a card game of strategy, skill and luck that is based loosely on the Second World War, a 1979 game by BattleLine Publications. Each player tries to build tanks, which will out-fight the tanks of their opponents.

Each player must build mark 1 tank before completing a mark 2 tank and finally a mark 3 tank. Cards include 3 types each of Hulls and Turrets; 8 types of guns, Dual Purpose cards which reduce damage from anti-tank guns; 2 types of armor, Anti-tank carriages, Sponsons that let 2 guns be mounted on one tank hull; and modification cards that let you improve one of your older tanks as you get better parts.

Similar in game mechanics to Rummy in many ways.

Rum Rebellion Board Game 1983

Thanks to Simon Mayes who mentioned this game at the club today!  As I mentioned to him on facebook I'm surprised that it is in such good condition, having survived in my aluminium shed since 1998 exposed to the brutal Queensland humidity and heat.

May have to think of having a game of this again.

From Board Game Geek:
Rum Rebellion

Rum Rebellion - A Colonial Adventure

Players move around the board and up the three levels - Convicts transported to Australia, Merchants and Rum Corps members in good standing - to reach the top and be declared Acting Governor or the Colony.

There are three levels to the game:

Convict Level -
Goal is to get a minimum of 6 barrels of rum to purchase a Ticket of Leave and move up to the next level. Player must serve a non-parole period of one full rotation around the board.
Along the way he's paid in rum barrels for Good Deeds or by stealing them by committing various crimes. Get caught and risk being sent to gaol.

Ticket of Leave Level-
Once six barrels have been saved, and the full rotation of the board has been achieved, Convicts can purchase a Ticket of Leave card giving that player one of six occupations. Players move around the Ticket of Leave level. Players now endeavor to collect 15 barrels of rum.

Rum Corps Level-
Once 15 barrels have been saved, the player moves up to the Rum Corps level, exchanges his convict playing piece for a Rum Corps playing piece and move around the board attempting to win or purchase Vote Cards. (players still collect rum barrels from those players still in the Ticket of Leave level).

Vote cards may be purchased outright with barrels of rum.

Once 55 votes have been collected, the player attempts a Coup and takes a Win/Lose card.

Lose: player loses all 55 of his vote cards
Win: player is declared Acting Governor and wins the game.

Tuesday Napoleonics - A Draw (Yes it was)

Last nights game of Napoleonics was one of maneuver and terrain.  This time round the terrain was virtually all on my side of the table.  Andrew had cunningly placed them to screw me around no end, so my hats off to him for forcing me into a position that made me rather desperate.

I confess that looking at the terrain set up I was half tempted to just not fight the battle and force a reroll of the terrain.  However I look at the position that not every battle is where you want it to be fought and that I'd give it a go and see what the result would be.  I was not optimistic about the outcome.

As can be seen I had a crooked stream on my right flank, a farm, a hill and just off to the left a hamlet and large woods.  Andrew had placed the terrain at the extreme edge of the deployment zone.  This neutralized my artillery and created funnel points where my would have to emerge from.  As you can see with the hill there were two sections which the french could cross, so I broke the battery into two 2 gun sections to cover the approach.  My approach was to sit in as much a defensive a position and see what the french would do.

I spent some time having to think out my deployment.  While I out scouted the french, which allowed me to setup after Andrew, I spent too much time I think analyzing how to respond.  Initially the french adopted a line, which did not in the least entice me to advance.  I occupied the buildings with my dodgy Landwhere, and waited.

This was the left flank which worried no end.  I was surprised that Andrew did not push this flank more aggressively.  My cavalry were set up to protect the flank, but I thought that with the horse artillery (now off on another mission) I would eventually loose, while hopefully dragging away the french cavalry as they pursued the routers.  Mind you I could have perhaps have won the cavalry duel (oh who am I kidding!).  The Landwhere were sent into the buildings where they actually drove off a french attempt to take the buildings off them.  

I spent more of this game reacting to Andrews troop movements than initiating my own.  The few actions I did, were where I thought I had a decent chance of breaking up his plans.  I will generally pursue troops that have fled, mainly because Andrew tends to rally them most times than oft.

The french guns were a problem.  The fact that my guns were not in any position to challenge them frustrated me, especially as I had left the limbers behind, so a 50mm movement was slow going.  In this picture we see how I chose to (successfully) charge a french battalion that was in square (fearing the Hussar charge).  Two battalions I had sent out to lure the french cavalry out was just shot to pieces by the artillery.

It was a tiring game.  Both Andrew and I were fatigued for various reasons and I called the game at 10pm.  While I was prepared to concede the game (I could not see how I could pull a win) we decided a draw was a more logical conclusion with night closing in.

Last photo of the night.  The french horse artillery evaded the Hussar charge previously and were set up causing problems off to the left (not in photo).  My other unit (left) charged another french battalion in square, breaking it.  My Dragoons were waiting for Andrews heavies to commit.  The cavalry skirmish at the top of the photo was a win for me, chasing off the french.

So a draw.  Terrain placement in this game played a big role in the length of the game and how the battle played out.  I'm now a little wiser with regards using the terrain to my opponents detriment (I think),  All up a good game with a good opponent and friend.  So here's to next week then.

Tuesday Napoleonics - Undecided due to irregularities!

I had my usual game with my friend Andrew last night.  The terrain was fairly open, with Andrews reserves arriving on turn 3.  The french were particularly aggressive in this game, I found in previous games that unless I cock up horribly (which is normally the case), Andrew tends to commit when all his forces are in play.  He is quite skilled compared to my groping in the dark responses to his actions.  Perhaps I'm even learning!

Why undecided irregularities?  Andrew was 5 points over his 1600 points (an additional gunner) and when Andrew queried my scouting factor later in the evening I found I was playing with 6 Hussars short, a 72 point less force.  So I think we'll put this down to the reason I won.

Yes I won a game.  My artillery continue to pick off Andrew batteries with unerring accuracy at times (while not doing particularly well otherwise), and my die rolls were unusually positive.  My cavalry which I have dubious faith in actually worked in my favour, particularly the lancers who drove off Andrews heavies.

So here's to next weeks game, looking forward to it.

The last turn played Left Flank (my perspective).  My landwhere would have bolted from charging french battalions, but I doubt that even a good dose of hits from shooting would have changed that position.  However I did have a Guard battalion  ready to pounce (on the left) and the Hussars on the right would have supported any further action on that flank.

The last turn played Right Flank (my perspective). My guns had reduced the french cavalry and halted their charge on said guns.  My 3 battalions were lined up to chase or engage the french troops advancing.  One battalion charged and actually engaged french deployed in line, routing them.  Way of on my right, not in picture were a troop of horse artillery which were I think, hoping I would send troops off to deal with them.