Hammerhead 2018 - Flash Gordon

Back from Hammerhead what is perhaps the best show on the circuit.

We opted for something a little easier to pick up and play largely due to the boot being filled with stuff for the table sale.

A simple four way fight between Flash, Vultan, Ming and the Aborians....

Having been moved back to the 28th April due to the snow. The show seemed really busy this year. For the first time we moved out of the main hall to the Gamers Lounge across the car park. It did not seem to effect footfall despite having to risk getting a soaking on the way over.

We had the benefit of carpet and proper sitting and a bar...

  

The show seems to hold peoples attention for far longer than most shows there was still plenty of activity past 3.00pm, I can only assume this is due to the amount of people that come to play or the chance to win £75 worth of gaming goodies with a raffle ticket issue for every game you play.

Great to see so many kids and families getting involved with gamers engaging with everyone who stopped by.

 

The game was well recieved by those who took a seat to play, with each session taking no more than 30-40 minutes it was fast and bloody. We were using the playtest version of the Star Eagle rules by Ganesha Games

They are somewhat behind on the launch date as they are releasing their own range of ships but the rules work for any range including Flash Gordon....

The War Rocket ships look great and with the rules having a simple rule mechanism we could rattle through the games pretty quickly holding peoples attention for each outing even when they did not know the rules.

Vultan and his Hawkmen pilots came out on top by the close of play due largely due to 'Rebecca' the fighter ace who beat us all soundly in every game.
Knocking up an impressive 5 kills.

A fun days gaming with plans afoot for next year.
Will Ming be back?

Haiti Insurgent Command

Two posts in two days that's not happened for a while it must be the warm weather.

After several weeks I finally managed to push these off the production line for the Haiti project.

I wanted to create a body of troops that had a hint of military gear about them so they could be mixed with the Freeman forces or Insurgent armies. A number of accounts talk about the slave armies carrying drums and african pipes and being largely unclothed, so these seemed to fit the bill.

The figures are from Foundry's Congo range, with a number of head swaps from Trent Miniatures.

I discarded a couple of the figures who were armed with more modern weapons, but add a tricorn and paint a sash and you have yourself some serious leaders to fight for a free Haiti.

The flags are home made as unsurprisingly no one makes flags for Haiti in 28mm or any scale to be fair.

They mix reasonably well with the existing collection and will be used largely for the slave armies but could mix in with the more uniformed Haitian troops should I need to combine forces to defeat the larger British or French forces available within the club.

Perhaps the new command might be able to secure a victory for the first time.

Saturday morning round up.

Somewhat late in posting I thought I would kick off the Saturday morning update with the Salute Loot. Rather restrained this year, but there seemed little point in adding to the lead pile when painting time has been so thin lately, however some good additions to the terrian stock first of which are some new palm trees from from the guys at  http://emperortoadsemporium.com/

All hand made, I do need to file down or cover the underside as the mountings are not quite flush with the base in some cases. But they give a far better feel for the desert table and will cross over into any of the jungle settings which seems to be creeping into the projects of late.

I picked up a couple of swamps and Marshes from Magneticdisplays.co.uk

They need some extra flock to compliment the ones I have already enhanced and will help fill out the games table for Ghost Archipelago.

Not technically a Salute purchase but when I aged another year the kids brought me the Shrine Pack from. www.adrianswalls.com

A great addition to the Russo-Japanese or Water Margin Project, over time I will base it up to match the existing collection.

On the figures front I picked up some additional cavalry for the the Haiti project together with a 4 Pdr for the French or Free Army with a few head swaps. Together with a company of Regulars, when I will get to these who knows?

I was pleased to hear that there are plans afoot to increase the range for Haiti with a pack of slaves with pike's, Spanish command packs and some Haitian personalities. No details on when but it sounds promising.

 

Hammerhead next weekend and the Wyverns are putting on a Flash Gordon game using the forthcoming Star Eagles rules from Ganesha Games, a kickerstarter project now several months behind. A quick and simple ruleset using the SOBH rule mechanism, as a backer of the project I have a draft rule set and they should be perfect for a number of short 45 minute games.

If you are around next Saturday stop by for a natter and stop Ming and his evil plans.

Salute 2018 - The Battle fo Varna 1444.

Great day at Salute yesterday, the 4.00am alarm call was a bit of a shock but the roads were pretty clear even if the dreaded Sat Nav figured central London would be a good idea.

We arrived with plenty of time to set up, good job given how many Ottoman's needed to be fielded.

Every year the standard of games and trade stands seems to get better and better, I did not get to much time to take a wander but most stands where 3 or 4 deep until well into lunch time.

Great to catch up with so many old friends and new, with plenty of interest in our offering the Battle of Varna 1444.

For those people unfamiliar with Eastern European history, Varna pits a large Ottoman army of 50 to 60 000 under the command of Murad II against the Papal forces of around 30,000 troops situated between lake Varna, the Black Sea and the steep slopes of the Franga Plateau. 

(We covered both including the snow capped mountains...)

 

The various accounts of the battle describe a fluid situation of cavalry charges and counter charges in which early Christian gains were reversed by flank attacks by Ottoman Sipahis and Akinci cavalry. At one stage a gap in the Ottoman lines enabled Vlad Dracul’s force (His dad before you ask :-) ) to charge through and plunder the Ottoman camp. 

Janus Hunyadi gathered the now disorganised Papal forces and captured much of the ground around the Ottoman centre in which the Sultan and his Janissaries stood behind a line of stakes. 

At this crucial point of the battle the young King Wlayslaws took upon himself to lead the knights of his Polish and Hungarian bodyguard in a frontal assault on the Ottoman centre. 

However, this vain attempt at glory resulted in him having his head cut off and impaled on a stake! 

After this the Christian forces started to disintegrate and many tried to flee across the River Devnya and were slain in the surrounding marshland. 

Would history repeat itself?

We were ready to go at around 10.00 am just as the doors opened and the eager punters rushed in.

All figures are from Kallistra's 12mm Medieval range and judging by how busy the Kallistra stand was it looked like we had inspired a fair number of people to take on BIG Medieval games.

Hussite war wagons at the ready!

Young King Wlayslaws with his Polish and Hungarian bodyguard in Blue.

Sultan Murad II behind his wall of stakes.

11.00 The Papal cavalry close on the front line of spear and bow of the Ottoman army, they should have been a mere bump in the road, but stuck around on the right flank to break up the initial Christian charge.

The Teutonic order was a different matter they and the supporting knights crashed through the Azab ranks.

The state of play arouned 1.00 pm the Azab front line has been swept aside but the mounted archers are taking a heavy toll on the advancing knights as their formation begins to break up and they are attacked on their flanks as they push forward.

Unfortunately for the Ottoman command archery fire alone was not enough and we had to commit our cavalry to stem the Papal advance, however as the afternoon ticked by and the crowds thinned so to did the Ottoman cavalry units.
The Christians had broken through on both flanks leaving Murad II surrounded behind his wall of stakes..... 

A bloody victory for the Christian's but alot of fun trying to change history.

Thanks to Paul and Sally @Kallistra who allowed us to play with their toys.
1000's of 12mm figures is a wonderful sight and pretty much played to conclusion in around 6 hours.
You can down load the rules for free from the Kallistra site.

Right time to sneak the purchases into the house and pretend they have been in the cupboard for ages.

Dragon Rampant Chinese Style.

Mid-week gaming is back...

Gaming has been a little thin on the ground of late, what with the weather and a job which seems to have crept into game time despite the fact that I have cut my travel by over 3 hours a day.

Sometimes you just have to throw down some terrain and roll some dice....

Wednesday saw a return to the Water Margins of Yang Shan Po, with an encounter between Lin Chung and some of his 108 heroes vs local government official Kao Chiu.
Both sides looking to bloody the other and drive them from the table.

The village of shin wah - A treeless place largely due to the terrain box stuck at the back of the garage. Both forces would enter at opposite sides of the table with 24 points.

 

Kao Chiu leads a section of soldiers through the courtyard looking to get the drop on the slowly advancing outlaw Heroes.

With superior dice rolls the anti-heroes move forwards, Infantry, Temple Guards and Terracotta Warriors (they had to come out of the box at some point.)

 

Two units of men from Yang Shan Po charge forward looking to counter the march of the clay man.

Menawhile Kao Chiu is confronted by one of our heroes as he bursts from the side gate. As Lin Chung looks long urging his archers into action.

The cavalry have drawn the advancing infantry away from the middle of the table.

 Meanwhile Lin Chung advances down the main road looking to take on the government soldiers having around seen Kao Chiu off.

The light cavalry found themselves pinned on the table edge and forced back with little space to move they flee the table.

 

The final round. The Temple Guard are committed but are no match for Lin Chung. Whilst the Infantry are pinned in the alley way by the outlaw archers who manage to get a couple of good rounds off.

A great evenings gaming - Dragon Rampant is the perfect set of rules to pick up and put down and always gives a balanced game down to the final turn.

Now where did I put that 10 Point Dragon....

Haitian project - Shock Markers

It seems like ages since something came off the painting production line, so I thought I would ease myself back into with some additional shock markers for the insurgent forces in Haiti. They are from Foundry's Darkest Africa range, but will do the trick for the slave army.

They still need some extra flocking but will come in very useful, now I have my eye in, time to move on to the rest of the additional command figures.

I picked this fine looking fellow up from Gringo's 40 at Derby last year and figured he would make a great addition to Free People or French Forces. It depicts General Dumas but will be perfect as a 'Freeman' Officer. The lighting gives the impression that his tunic is a lighter shade of blue, but it is slightly darker in natural light as is the flesh tone.

Next up - Slave Standard Bearers.