Elizabethan Zombie Wars - Escape from Littleham

The Black Death had reached the village of Littleham, the Watchmen and Death Cart Labourers had done their best, but their were simply too many victims and then they began to rise from their shrouds and the village Plague Pits.

The militia from nearby Oakley resolved to torch the village to protect their own homes from the 'undone' who were now walking the streets, the plan was simple approach the village from the south and exit the village from the North, burning all infected homes they found marked with the Red Cross.

 

Things started badly for the militia as they entered the village, two corpses burst from the  barn where they had been feeding on the live stock and attacked the militia.

One of the trained band is struck down by the once living, whilst the other foul beast is killed by the captain leading the militia.

The early exchange only serves to attract move of the undead, this is made worse as the living players whose confidence is shaken by the first exchange decides that firearms would be a great way to slow the advancing zombies.

The boom of cavalier fire only serves to attract more of the shambling dead.

Surrounded on all sides the militia are forced to fight their way out, but forcing the undead from hand to hand proves to be difficult as the continuous fighting causes more of the dead to be drawn into the fight. The Oakley militia start to become fragmented as some break free of the melee whilst others are pinned by the growing horde.

One group of veteran's decides to break off from the melee and seek a way through the village leaving their colleagues to mop up :-) ????

Whilst the militia inflict untold casualties on the undead they begin to suffer casualties themselves with several of their party brought down in the street.

 

The militia split into several groups their morale shattered, each group seeking the Northern table edge via their own route.

  

Morris Eldecote is unable to shake off this initial attacker and is soon swamped by the undead's tearing hands, he is brought down, but his sacrifice provides breathing space for his comrades to become out of sight to many of the undead.

Splitter groups of the militia seek to pick their way through the village.

 

Meanwhile at the Northern end of the village the first group of militia reach the blockade, they have successfully avoided contact with the undead and now only have to  clear the barricade.

A solitary zombie shambles towards them, but is unable to breach the defences to get to the living.

The group successfully clear the barricade and engage in hand to hand with the zombies on the other side, they won't make the same mistake as their colleagues by engaging in a fire fight.

Big Red fails his agility roll and struggles to clear the barricade, his efforts attract the undead from a darkened alley who advance towards him.

 

After several rounds of hand to hand Red is finally able to clear the defences and flee the table, whilst the zombies are distracted feeding on one of the escapees.

  

Meanwhile the  survivors of the initial encounter scale the wall of the farm complex and seek a place to regroup before fleeing the village.

A cracking fun game played in under two hours, with players sticking together until the pressure was on them.... just what you want for an afternoon's gaming.

Elizabethan Zombie Wars - The Real Black Death

Back from a week away the usual mix of heavy reading (Plantation of Ireland, Desmond's Rebellion, The Black Death) and holiday reading (Shakespeare Undead) and next thing you know a whole new idea to merge projects together....if only for the purposes of a few quick club games over at Wyvern Wargamers during the summer.

Background

England 1563

No one truly knows how the black days started, some blamed Phillip II and Catholic Spain, claiming him to be a necromancer summing forth demons on Protestant England others such as the Flagellants, thought at it was gods wraith brought down on them for the barbarity of recent times. 

England and much of the known world had suffered with the Bubonic Plague or Black Death for many years. Victims of the Black Death would be sealed in their homes. The houses would be locked and bolted from the outside. The victims would not be allowed to leave and neither was anyone else allowed to enter.
Each house would be daubed with a red cross painted on the door in a vain attempt to heal the afflicted. Black Death victims were left rotting in their homes until weeks later when they were dragged out or the victims were thrown down from the upper story wrapped in any kind of improvised shroud on to the death cart where the death cart labourers would take them to Plague Pits.

This outbreak seemed different The Watchmen paid to watch the ‘plague houses’ and to hoist food up to the victims noticed that only the meat would be eaten, they heard moaning from the houses and a continuous scratching at the doors and windows as if the devil himself was trying to escape. Plague Pits that had been reopened from earlier outbreaks began to stir as if the ground could no longer contain the dead.

Queen Elizabeth was terrified of the disease and implemented quarantine measures to try to ensure the safety of herself and her courtiers. When the Black Death broke out in London, Queen Elizabeth I moved her court to Windsor Castle where she erected gallows and ordered that anyone coming from London was to be hanged.

Meanwhile in Spain, King Phillip II, plotted his revenge on heretical England, Phillip was a bigoted and ambitious man, he had tortured and executed his people in their thousands to ensure his subjects kept the one true faith. Having failed to secure her hand in marriage he had seen the rise of the Protestant Church which fanned his rage. Phillip’s spies brought him news of the spread of the Black Death and awakening of the once living.

In 1588 Phillip was ready to set in place his plans, the greatest ever Armada set sail to sweep Elizabeth from the throne and purge England of Protestants and the Black Death. The English navy largely unaware of the disaster inflicting the land savaged the Spanish fleet, those that made it through to the English coast, many were dashed against the rocks, although sufficient troops made landfall, they created Spanish enclaves and strongholds,

The Spanish led by the Duke of Palma and members of the veteran army of Flanders backed by Irish mercenaries set about expanding their area of operations disaffected English Catholics flocked to the Spaniards seeking protection from the ‘undone’. Death and destruction washed over the land with atrocities committed on both sides. The English and their trained bands held some towns, whilst the Spanish and their Catholic allies others, the streets of many Elizabethan towns were dark, narrow and dangerous and the plague victims began to break free from their sealed homes and hovels.

Many in the countryside were left to defend for themselves, raising their own militia to protect them from the constant forging of the warring factions and walking corpses who wandered the land in larger and larger numbers.....

May god have mercy on England.....

SAGA Irish Warband Part 4 - Mounted Warriors

A free weekend, the kids don't need ferrying anywhere and the list of household tasks is low, so I set myself the task of completing my mounted unit of Warriors for SAGA and my Irish Wars Project in under 48 hours.
Here are the results.......

I am the first to admit I am not the quickest painter, I was keen to finish these but did not want to rush them, the preparation and basing took longer than anticipated but by Lunch time on Saturday they were ready to take the basic coats.

Saturday evening saw the wash applied and left to dry over night.
Whilst Sunday was detail, flocking and varnishing.

With one more batch of figures to complete mostly command and standards together with a few other odds & ends I should have the faction complete for the Wyvern Wargamers SAGA campaign to be held on the 15th September.

Their are still places available so if you are in the midlands and fancy a day gaming drop by the club site and register here www.wyvernwargamers.org.uk/

In the absence of formal rules, they will have to mascaraed as Welsh, still that's no bad thing having seen the Welsh in action in previous club games.

I just hope they don't suffer from the curse of newly painted figures this evening when they get their first outing.

Ottoman Turk Command

Painting seems to have take a back seat over recent weeks as real life gets in the way, but I managed to complete the command element for the Ottoman Turk Army.

I picked this up from Reading a few years ago and kept meaning to get it completed. The figures are from the Assault Group.

He will be a perfect big Man for my Sharp Practice outing....

This weekend appears to be free from work, kids and household tasks so I have set myself the target of completing a full unit of Cavalry for club night tomorrow, it's a tall ask but I am falling behind my annual target of painted figures.

Stay tuned to see how I get on....

Squad Leader in Miniature

According to Wikipedia Old Skool is anything with a vintage of at least a generation (20 years or so) so I guess last club night over at Wyvern Wargamers saw a return to Old Skool War gaming.

Dane put on his project to convert Squad Leader from Board Game to Table top, using the excellent Hexon Terrain from Kallistra.

http://www.kallistra.co.uk/Shop/Scenics.html

I have to say it was one of the most enjoyable games for quite a while, most of my gaming over recent years has been large scale skirmish, this was a return to companies of Infantry and squadron's of tanks sweeping across the battle field.... 

 

The setting Russia 1943, the German's are holed up in a Village awaiting the Russian onslaught, they must defend the village and retain ownership of the Church by the end of the night. The German Command was made up of a two companies of Infantry and a Company of STUG III's facing off against 3 or 4 companies of T34's and at least a battalion of Russians.... If I am honest I did not have a clue their was just a lot of them....

 

 The German STUG Coy deploy on the outskirts of the village, with the Infantry hidden amongst the buildings awaiting the Russian's too come into sight.

 

The Russian's advance on table the armour pushing out in front and the Infantry rushing to keep up.

Turn 2 First Blood to the German's as a T34 is destroyed attempting to sweep around the left flank of the village, but it is not long before it's supporting armour defeats the lone STUG.

Turn 3 and the battle is not going well for the German's the Russian armour is being traded at a rate of 1:1 and the German Infantry is being forced into sight in an effort to pin the advancing Russian foot troops, the White Square house one of the only brick built buildings on table is receiving special attention from the advancing Red's. 

But A Platoon hold firm, backed by a strong leader and a MG42.

A view from the German lines, with the Alamo to the left of the picture, it's strong walls would prove to be a real hindrance to the attacking Russians.

I deploy my reserves emerging from the shelter of a large hill, my remaining STUG's engage the Russian armour catching them in the flank, they are able to slow the Russian advance destroying a number of T34's for the loss of one of their own, but are forced back to the safety of the village as the Russian Infantry begin to close.

 

The Russian Infantry seize the high ground on the right flank, the limited German defenders awaiting the human wave.

 

On the left flak the Alamo holds firm as the Russian's mount a further attack with Infantry and armour, but they are unable to dislodge the defenders.

 

The Russian's push through the village and the German's fall back to the second line of defence and forcing the Russian's to ground with sustained HMG fire.

 

On the left flank the Russian's launch a final attack to drive towards the objective, they suceed in capturing one building but cannot hold it as the German fire forces elements to withdraw.

As the 9.00 pm alarm rings the German's are still in firm control of the village and whilst only 1 STUG remains it's position is such it can block any advance by the Russian armour.

The lack of Officers for the Russian's made rallying troops difficult as casualties began to mount.

I am definately up for more of the same, it's caused me to dust off my own late war collection which has not seen the light of day since the hey days of WRG and will allow other club gamers a chance to use their FOW collection in a very different wargame experience.

Top marks Dane a cracking club night......

SAGA - Irish Warband Part 3 Kern

After a 3 week lapse, I am back on track for the SAGA Irish Warband, next up the Kern or Levy's within the SAGA rules, the figures are a mix of Gripping Beast, Irish, Picts & Germans in short anyone with a cloak, together with some Crusader Irish.

My plan is to use these for both SAGA and my Elizabethan Irish project as the style of dress appears not to have changed greatly in 300 hundred years..... 

 My only concern is the shades of yellow used, from much of the research I have done Saffron dye was a prominent colour for the Kern..... but I just need to see how well it transfers to the war games table.

 

  

I also finished the dog handlers from Crusader Miniatures, I am not sure how these will play out under the rules, perhaps berserker's without armour?

 

 

 

With the Wyvern Wargames SAGA to Tournament on the 15th September. These should be a fun army to put up.... If you are interested in signing up you can find details here.
www.wyvernwargamers.org.uk/