Songs of Deeds and Glory - A short SBH campaign.

Having enjoyed the last few outings of SBH I decided that the games would be a little more interesting if they were linked by an intermittent campaign so I picked up the expansion rules for campaigns Song of Deeds and Glory.

The book features a number of unique mechanisms for drawing up battlefields in a number of settings, Frozen wastelands, Marshlands and Mountainsides of more interest to myself was the aftermath of battles, character development and gold earned.

The book also includes 15 new powers for magic users and stats for 36 new creatures, which I am sure will come in handy.

Having drawn up a Warband for the Werewolf encounter, I thought I would use the same force structure rounding the number up to 500 points but using the results from the encounter to roll for  wounds and survival.

Capt Hernando De Leon - Squadron of Urcas
Quality 3, Combat 4
Leader, Fearless, Short Shooter, Unerring Aim, Lethal (vs Undead)
95 Points

6 Swordsmen
Quality 4, Combat 3
23 Points 138

6 Calivers

Quality 4, Combat 3

Long Shooter, Unerring Aim, Lethal (vs Undead)

42 Points 252

Total Points 485

After the encounter Hernando and 4 of his men were left on the battlefield having been been left for dead by their fleeing comrades.

With Songs, Deeds & Glory personalities roll 2D6 and Minions 1D6 on their recovery charts.

Hernando De Leon -  Rolled a 10 and whilst badly savaged is saved by his breast plate and will make a full recovery in time for the next encounter.

The 3 swordsmen felled by Werewolves all rolled a 5 and also received a minor wound but will be available for the next encounter unfortunately Juan Balboa the Caliverman rolled a natural 1 and is killed.

For the sheep escorted from the table the Spanish Patrol received 20 Gold coins, whilst losing the battle they did receive 25 Gold coins, providing them with a total income of 45 Gold coins.

More than enough to replace poor Jaun with another Caliverman (42 points)

Leaving Henando De Leon with a purse of 3 Gold Coins.

Each surviving character gains 1 experience point, which can be spent on new skills later in the campaign.

Rolling on the scenario table the next scenario is (12) Holdout.

More to follow shortly.

Double, double toil and trouble.....

Look what happens when you let the kids play with your toys!!!!

Next thing you know you are being badgered to paint Witches.... who own Witches?

Well now I do thanks to Westwind miniatures.

I was given strict instructions to give them a green face thanks to the popularity of the musical Wicked, I just could not bring myself to go quite that Green.

I guess they might find themselves in one of the Elizabethan outings....
 

Back to the SCW Rif Raf Miniatures after this minor distraction....

Elizabethan Dog Soldiers.....

Saturday's Zombie outing gave me a taste for all things horror, so Sunday night saw the Wyverns venturing into another chapter in the world of Elizabethan Zombie horror albeit with a full moon twist.

The local Spanish garrison had been awaiting local supplies from the out lying farms, now two days over due the Spanish commander sent out a patrol to secure local livestock believing then to have been stolen or drive off by local English bandits, how wrong could he be.....

The plan was a simple one enter the table secure the 3 separate flocks and leave the table defeating any opponents encountered.

Early activiations and the 1st flock is in Spanish hands now they just needed to be moved off table.

That's odd - The raiders are infact a pack of Werewolves keen on picking up supplies of their own human or sheep.

The Spaniards push on.

They are within touching distance of the second flock, but the longer moves of the werewolves soon has the beasts closing in on the human prey.

Musket fire appears to have little effect on the advancing wolves, whilst the Werewolves advance to the front a lone wolf skirts the flank looking to cut off the spanish with their mutton prize.

The Alpha male closes in on the rearguard ignoring the Spanish Captain and closing with a man at arms knocking him to the ground and striking a lethal blow.

Meanwhile the lone wolf sent to hold up the now retreating Spanish is swamped by the Spanish Infantry, out numbered and surrounded he is put to the sword his death forces a number of the wolf pack to fall back, buying the Spanish more time to escort the second flock off the table.

The Werewolves regroup and close with the defenders, with a combat score of C4 vs C3 of the humans, slowly the human defenders are worn down.

The pack leader and Spanish commander face each other in a battle to the death, the Spanish comander falls and his men flee the table.

 

Played out using Songs of Blades and Heroes, a really close fight which could have gone either way, the rules give a really even balance of play and the difference of a single quality score makes a real difference.

Having picked up a copy of Songs of Deeds and Glory, I will be looking to create a couple of campaign forces for future outings.

Rif-Raf Miniatures Moroccan Infantry.

The Moroccan reinforcements from Rif-Raf Miniatures arrived in double quick time, great service.

Direct comparison pictures between Rif-Raf and Empress proved hard to find so I thought I would post up a couple of pics.

The Rif-Raf miniature Moroccan's have a more regular feel than their Empress equivalent, I like the rolled shelves and the fact that they all wear the small Turban or Rexa rather than the red tarbuch.

Initial thoughts are that the Empress miniatures are easier to paint, the various equipment and rifles are more defined as to are the faces, Rif-Raf have a certain charm about them, they compare well in size and build and the poses are dynamic but not over the top. Both ranges fit in well together and their addition will reduce the number of duplicates within the platoon.

The weekend saw the remaining batch of SCW Moroccan's cleared from the paint table.
29 Down another, 34 to go.
 

LMG Fire team and additional Riflemen. 

50mm Mortar team, spotter and supporting rifles, I am pleased to say you can't tell these had their heads removed and replaced with a turban and a fez, its certainly given me the cofidence to carry our further modifications for the other support elements.

  

The Senior leader and NCO get ready to take to the field.

Song of Blades and Heroes - AAR The Bridge to Ashburton.

I have been meaning to play through these rules for a while after reading several good reviews over the past 12 months, a rainy Saturday afternoon seemed to be the perfect opportunity to give them a run through with a new recruit to the gaming.

The core rules are fantasy based, but as the rules do not require specific weapon stats any figures will do, time to revisit England in 1563 and the Elizabethan Zombie Wars.

An extract from a earlier posting with the gaming back drop.

"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.

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."

So the scene is set, villager look to their own defence as the dead spill forth from their resting places.

One such place is the village of Ashburton, the plague pits outside of town break open and the cadavers lurch slowly towards the town, drawn to the living. The village milita rush to the bridge to stem the tide.

I have to be careful here not to genuinely scare my young opponent..... Or so the boss of the house tells me :-)

The Bridge at Ashburton with the militia deployed in the centre of the table, the plague pits can be seen at the top of the table.

Each side had 300 points, the militia had invested in a Leader and a mix of Calivers (Shooters Long) and Hand to Hand Weapons to keep the Undead at bay, the Undead just Zombies, 37 in total..... ouch.

With a number of 2 Actions moves the militia rush across the bridge to take the fight to the dead, before they can amass in the burial grounds.

With a quality score of 6, a short move and slow characteristics it takes several moves to get them moving, but slowly the Zed's move out from their resting places, just how many 6,s can you get from 37 rolls?

Samual Highton is the first to engage with the dead, but is knocked to the ground, my opponent looks a little crest fallen. A Combat Score of 4 for a Zombie vs a 3 for a militia man gives the risen a slight advantage.

The advantage swings to the living as they gang up on the slow moving cadavers, dispatching them once they are knocked to the ground, but still the dead keep on coming, forcing the militia back across the bridge.

The militia fire their muskets, but medium range and a minus for shooting at undead, results in few casualties on the dead. Slowly the decaying tide reaches the bridge.

With musket balls running out the militia stand there ground knowing if their lines are breached the village is at risk.

The walking dead.

In the final rounds the enless tide finally reaches the militia who hold as best they can, it's only when one of their number is dragged down by the foul tide that they break and run, thinking of their families a few miles behind them...

Considering this was the first outing the game ran really smoothly and the mechanics were easy to pick up even for a 10 year old general :-)

The varying sequence of play where you choose your activation for each figure looking to roll 1, 2 or 3 D6 dice, gives both cautious and rash generals something to think about, 1 action per figures allows you to play through all of your figures in a slow methodial manner, 3 actions and you can wizz round the table chopping and hacking, but fail on at least 2 of your rolls and the turn passes to the other player.

The back of the book, gives a large number of ready made characters to choose from, however as we found it's very easy to adapt these to your own collection, as an example our Zombies went from Q6, C4 to Q5 and C2 which had the effect of improving their activation but made them far weaker in combat, we also removed the short move characteristic which sped up game play.

Great to have another gamer in the house, but I am under pressure to paint Witches and Werewolves, just what have a done????

28mm Moroccan Infantry - SCW Painting guide.

I didn't get as much completed Sunday as I had hoped, but did complete the first fire teams and a support element (Tank Hunters) completed for Chain of Command Espana, I am happy with the yellowish platte for the Moroccans and the various tones for Trousers, Bed Rolls and Robes which gives a little more variation to the unit giving it a campaign feel but yet retaining a degree of uniformity. 

All of the castings are from Empress miniatures, possibily the largest range available for the SCW in 28mm, although the Moroccan packs could do with a few more poses as I did not want to have to many repeats within the platoon.

I have tried a couple of head swaps to mix up the troops available, the junior leader is an Italian Askari with a turban head swap, hopefully you can't tell.

I have ordered additional reinforcements from Rif-Raf Miniatures which appear to have a more regular unifrom style and are all wearing turbans. From what I can see on the web once based and painted there should be little difference between the two ranges in terms of size.

The remaining undercoated troops have the bulk colours complete, with just the finer detail and in fills required before the customary washes and highlights.

 

For reference I have used the following colours.

Turban - White.
Fez - GW Red Gore, GW Blood Red.
Shirt - GW Bleached Bone.
Bed Roll - Foundry Storm Green 27B, Rawhide Shade 11A, 11B, V807 Oxford Blue, 70995 German Grey, 816 Luftwaffe Blue.
Robe - Foundry Storm Green 27B, Rawhide Shade 11A, 11B, V807 Oxford Blue, 70995 German Grey, 816 Luftwaffe Blue.
Tunic - GW Bleached Bone.
Trousers - Foundry Ochre 4B, Moss 29B & GW Zamesi Desert
Puttees - Foundry Raw Lined 30A.
Boots - GW Scorched Brown.
Webbing - Foundry Tan Shade 14A.
Scarf - GW Black, GW Red Gore.
Rifle - Foundry Tan Shade 14A, Vallejo 800 Gun Metal Blue, Gold.
Flesh - Foundry Butter Fudge 55A

Wash - Army Painted Soft Tone.

High Lights
Turban -White.
Fez - GW Blood Red.
Shirt - GW Bleached Bone.
Flesh - Foundry Butter Fudge 55A.
Buttons - Gold

Plans for 2015 - SCW Project

Much of last year was spent focusing on existing projects and back filling various figures needed to complete projects which is unusual for me, it simply could not last, when a few of the Wyvern's suggested Chain of Command in 28mm for the Spanish Civil War, how could I resist?

I have a couple of existing platoons with a communist flavour from a few years ago when I was collecting figures for the AVBCW, so it made sense to build a nationalist platoon protecting me from the perils of only collecting one side and not having an opponent.

With plenty of adobe type buildings readily available Morrocans seemed to be the perfect fit, giving me options to expand to the Rif War and paint up the couple of packs of Askari Miniatures which I purchased years ago for an abortive French Legion project.

Within the SCW the Moroccan's formed the bulk of the Army of Africa, once landed in Spain they were highly sort after, they were experienced and had excellent field craft, they sound like the sort troops perfect to give the numerous republican commanders a run for their money over at the Wyverns.

Behold the first batch of Moroccan's (I tend to paint in packets of 20-30 any more than that and I suffer painters block), this first batch gives me a Rifle Squad (made up of 2 rifle squads of 6 riflemen and an LMG squad of 2 Crew and 3 Soldados), the Section Headquarters and a couple of support options, a 1 point Tank Hunter team (armed with crowbars and Molotov cocktails) and a 3 Point 50mm Mortar team.

Empress Miniatures have a good range of Infantry, but the support options tend to suit the more generic Nationalists and Republicans, a number of head swaps were needed to give the first batch a more Moroccan feel.

With the prep done time now to work through a suitable colour palette.

More to follow.

Save that Gun!!!!

My how time flies, can it really be 4 years since the last outing for the Astwood Defence Association? Back then I was using Operation Overlord as a rule set, with a few tweaks to add wounds and the morale, with the planned SCW project over at the Wyverns taking shape it's renewed my appetite for the 1930's, time to dust off the AVBCW and see if would have the same look and feel within Chain of Command as the previous rule offering.

What better way to test this than to rerun the original scenario introducing us the the ADA.

Since the opening salvo in the war things have been quiet for the Astwood Defence Association. They had guarded their parish boundary from "wrong'uns" and had cooperated with the authorities when required to do so.

With 149 men to call upon and a WW1 Artillery piece as the centre of power they believed they could see out the current difficulties until peace returned.

That was until the crack down, fliers were posted at the guildhall requesting that all weapons were handed in to the Government to aid in the war effort. Sources within the council has indicated to the ADA that if they did not offer up the Artillery piece it would be taken by force.

With the gun they knew they would be easy pickings for other stronger forces close by. The Gun would have to be moved, if only they had time....

High Trees Farm and the surrounding countryside - the ADA had to get the gun off table it would take three turns to limber up the gun and get it off table, they had it hidden somewhere near the farm, the Police need to trace the gun and secure it.

The first Police detachment move through the corn field, whilst the ADA deploy from a jump off point behind the barn.

The government commander had chosen his support options well and could summon an armoured detachment by way of reinforcements.

As the Police filter through the woodland to the left of the farm, the ADA deploy their support option, a HMG team which forces the armour off the road as multiple rounds pepper their armoured hulls.

The ADA push forward forcing the police to fall back, but help is on the way as the police armoured lorry driven off the road by HMG fire now supports the battle scared police.

An ADA sniper lines up his target.

On the left flank the Police are countered by an ADA section hidden in the tree line, despite being out gunned the police are able to pin the local defenders and slowly chip away at the defenders.

Bolstered by the arrival of the armour the ADA are driven back, the advancing Police seek shelter at the front of the barn, posed for the next rush forward.

Surprise!!!!

The ADA had invested in an additional section and kick open the barn doors bushwacking the sheltering Police, with the blast of shotguns at close range the police are killed to a man.
Before the ADA have time to toast their victory, Lewis gun fire from the armour and the appearance of a supporting BUF section force the ambushers to scatter.

With elements of the ADA falling back and several of their junior leaders wounded their morale gives way and they are forced to abandon the farm and the precious gun.
Troubling times are ahead without their additional fire power to secure their parish.

Many of our previous encounters using Chain of Command have been in 15mm, the switch from 15mm to 28mm with gave a more intense feeling, it was more difficult to bring maximum fire power to bear and made the timing of deployment of troops all the more important.

Definately more CoC in the AVBCW is on the cards in 2015.....

The City of Worcester 1938 - AVBCW Reboot.

It seems movie reboots are all the rage with the likes of All quiet on the Western Front, Escape from New York and even Starship Troopers planned for the next few years.

Why not a reboot of a Wargames campaign?

The Spanish Civil War is high on the agenda over at the Wyverns so whilst we all motor through our club purchases from Empress, time to fuel the passion for all things 1930's with a revisit to the city of Worcester in 1938 - Last played some 4 years ago (shocking.....)

With the King residing in the County at Madresfield Court, Worcester has stuck to it's long held motto of "Civitas in bello et pace fidelis" - The City Faithful in War & Peace.
The City maintains a moderate pro government stance with reluctant support from the regular royalist forces and local Worcester City police.

Whilst largely peaceful as the crisis in the country unfolds a number of opposition groups have sprung up, notably armed elements from the Severn Riverside, Wharf, Labours Federation (SRWLF) with an enclave in the diglis area.

This group is supported by communists out of Birmingham and armaments being shipped over the Malverns from the Anglican's based in Hereford.

To counter this the BUF have positioned Garrisons at Wyche Cutting and various high points across the Malverns.

Various local militia's hold their own parish boundries, largely compliant with local officals and Police.

How long the City can remain faithful remains to be seen. 

Stay tuned for the latest report from the front.

TTFN.