Ghost Archipelago - Fishing for treasure

All this hot weather so why not cool off with a few hours painting some flotsam, I picked these up at (not) Derby last year and with the next Ghost Archipelago game planned thought they would be perfect for the next water bound encounter.

Made by Iron Gate Scenery they are pretty good value for money as the barrels and the sharks only come to £3.00

The rowing boat needs a little more work with rudder and oars to add, but it is large enough for around 10 crewmen. Not a bad evenings work.

Uncharted Seas - Dwarf vs Orc

The curse of newly painted figures strikes again...

Having rushed the new fleet into action and with a shiny new Flagship I was feeling pretty confident for last Sunday's Uncharted Seas encounter. We pointed up the ships in our various fleets and the Orcs had enough to face off against the combined good and bad Dwarves...

I found myself entering the table with Dwarf allies to my right and the Orc fleet to my left.

Dane had certainly been busy since we had last played with plenty of capital ships and some pretty huge destroyers, all armed with front facing cannon.

Paul's Dwarf fleet steaming into action, but would they been fast enough to bail me out?

True to form the Orcs were soon charging into action, heading straight for my Flagship, armed with broadsides and turrets the Shroud Mage Flagship was soon knocking chunks out of the destroyers, who struggled to amass enough hits to cause any major damage.

Throw in some Frigates and the main Battleship who dropped anchor to fire a further broadside and I was feel pretty confident. Some might say a touch cocky....

As the main Dwarf fleet came into action, I formed my Cruisers into a firing line and set off aiming for the mass of Orc ships... It's here the fun stops... 

The lead Cruiser who had yet to fire a shot took a Critical hit blowing up!!!!!

The explosion damaged all the ships around it, causing major damage to two others Cruisers, fixing the rudder on the battleship who now could only head forwards.

Out of shot and in the same turn a badly damaged Orc Destroyer blew up, taking two of my Frigates with it...

Without support the Flagship found itself between numerous green boats and was soon turned to match wood as the hits mounted up...

None of the new ships lasted the night. The curse of newly painted minitures had struck again.

It was however a great game and nice to get the toys back on the table after quite a while.

Uncharted Seas..... Back from the depths...

These have been in the back of the cupboard for so long that they have been completely redesigned by Warcradle Studios when they acquired the rights from Spartan Games. Still it's nice to get this lot finished and be available for gaming even if they only come out once in a while.

First up a couple of Shroud Mages - Tormentor Class Heavy Cruisers.

According to the blurb. The Tormentor Class Heavy Cruiser is an aptly named piece of dark machinery. Its guaranteed extra speed, improved firepower and ramming ability over a standard cruiser make it a terror for any opposing commander to face.

I also finished the Flagship which is quite a beast, plenty of guns on the port and starboard sides and a couple of turrets for when you can't get the angle you need. 

Also off the production line are a couple of extra's from Peter Pig's ACW range, I figured these would come in handy for transports or prizes to be seized, they fitted the general theme of the Shroud Mages, I just need to create some stats for them.

Whilst moving stuff around I also came across these torpedo boats, which will come in handy again they are in need of a couple of house rules, but they took no time at all to paint and wash, once I had sculpted the bases.

They do look rather good when compared to the Flagship. I am really not sure how much staying power they will have on the table.

Given the time lag between painting the the first starter pack and the new batch I am pretty pleased with the colour match. I had to mix up a bronze colour to match the central boiler unit on the ships, the original Dwarf Bronze had long since dried up.... but the new mix came up rather well and a coat of Matt Varnish should tie them in perfectly.

Looking forward to tonight - Now all I need to do is find the rules....

Saturday paint desk - More from the cupboard of shame.

Next time I travel to a wargames show I am going on my own.... :-)

You know what's it like when you get to a certain age you start to talk about gaming systems of the past and fun encounters, you all admit 'I still have some of those' and so it begins.

In our case it was Uncharted Seas.... A fantasy fleet action in the age of Sail and Steam.
So this Sunday at the Wyverns see's us dusting off our fleets...

 
Whilst hunting these down I found a couple of extra's which never made it to the paint table, perfect for a weekend project to clear more from the cupboard of shame.

When I picked these up I have no idea, perhaps 6 years ago. The expanded fleet for the Shroud Mages and some Peter Pig ACW extra's for convoys and transports. 

Perfect as the weekend project to get them on the table for tomorrow night.

The Pearl of the Antilles - Haitian Revolution AAR #4 Ambush

It's been 6 months since the last outing, but slowly I have been reinforcing the numbers within the Haiti project to the point where I could field forces for at least two factions.

This scenario takes us back to the very begining of the conflict and a fictious campaign featuring a Maroon leader - Bosou Delaroo and his arch rival Major Gabriel Chevrolet, one of the first Blacks to be promoted to the rank of Major.

After weeks of rising thefts and the occasional raid of plantation stores, Major Chevrolet has been tasked with taking a column of troops into the foot hills to clear out and round up the escaped slaves and criminals, Delaroo knew there was only one track into the hills and set about stopping him.

The Maroons had to hold the barricade and turn back the column. The column for there part could not leave the road until enemy forces had been sighted.

 

The column trudges up towards their objective, the terrain contaned patches of dense jungle with boggy ground making it impossible to avoid the barricade blocking the way to the passage into the foot hills.

Luck was with  Chevrolet his skirmishers rushed ahead forcing Bosou Delaroo to show his hand rather quicker than he would have liked and deploy further away from the barricade.

The folks working the patches of cleared jungle to grow their own crops start to pack up and head off table knowing that it was about to get hot in the hinterland.

Fearing the barricade would fall before his forces could be massed Bosou Delaroo orders a number of musket men to rush to the aid of his ragtag command at the barricade. Whilst they were numerous their inexperience led to very few casualties on the Freeman and the colonial militia with them.

The colonial militia leave the road under the command of Daniel Dupont and step out to intercept the ever growing slaves massing on the columns flank. Dupont hated being under the control of Major Chevrolet and hoped he would fail but he was not a fool and could see that things were starting to get very busy, with slaves appearing from every rock and palm tree.

Meanwhile at the barricade the skirmishers had taken cover behind the makeshift cover and were exchanging shots with Bosou Delaroo and his chosen men.

Colonel Gabriel Chevrolet urges his men forward looking to clear the barricade of the Maroons and drive Delaroo back into the jungle.

Casualties mount on both sides but Bosou Delaroo holds firm as a Level 3 leader he works hard to sheppard his men keeping the shock down and directing fire as musket balls fly towards him.

Colonel Gabriel Chevrolet forms his infantry into line, his vision blurred by his own skirmishers who had been driven off the barricade, he knew that a column attack would be costly and opted for a full blooded volley looking to kill Delaroo and clear the way forward, meanwhile on his flank the rest of the maroon force contined to make their prescence felt with long range fire.

Just as things were looking to be dire for Delaroo he had a change of fortune, from the nearby plantations and coffee fields the slaves had risen up grabbing knives and sharpened stakes they rushed to his aid targeting the white colonial militia of Daniel Dupont, he had been a hated slave master at one of the local plantations and they were up for blood.

Dupont urged his men on who drove back the first mass of charging slaves but could not stop the next band who closed with his relunctant militia, who were more suited to their own houses than the jungle and marshland of the foot hills.

Dupont fell backwards exposing the columns flanks and rear, Major Chevrolet looked over his shoulder to see the Whitemen stumbling backwards, only to be charged again by the field hands.

It was all over Dupont was hauled to ground, blooded and captured, his troops put to the sword and the attackers force morale shattered, Major Chevrolet led his beaten soldiers into the jungle leaving the field of battle to Bosou Delaroo who had won an important victory for their future freedom.

A great game nice to get the figures on the table - Sharp Practice is perfect for the Haiti project and with Dupont in the hand of the Maroons, the next scenario is already set up, lets hope it's not six months before the next outing.

Plantation Workers and ACW Reinforcements.

Having been shamed by the last weeks bridge I started hunt a little deeper in the cupboard of shame and figured over the coming months I would work my way through this excess metal and resin completing some of those items which were brought for a purpose, but got neglected when something shiny came along.

First up 8 Confederate Infantry perfect for an extra section in SP2, why they never made it on to the paint table in the first place who knows.... I think it was due to the fact that I tend to paint in batches of no more than 16 figures and these were the excess?

They will bolster the rebel forces for when we restart the ACW campaign which has stalled in recent months. On a similar theme next out of the cupboard were the following plantation workers.

Redoubt Enterprises - Field hands - perfect to flesh out the Haiti table as Coffee Pickers or for the Union to free. Not the best sculpts compared to some of the others on the market, one of these hard working fellows if from the Perry's, but Redoubt do  create those oddities that can complete a range.

Next up a couple ot items which have been in the cupboard for at least 4 years....

Ghost Archipelago - Rope Bridge and Swamps.

After a bit of a clear out in the man cave, I came across several items tucked away in the cupboard of shame, odds and ends from long gone projects, loose change purchases from shows, because you have to buy something right?

Or simply ideas that just needed that spark of inspiration to push them up the painting queue.

After last weeks fun encounter and having rolled for the next encounter which involves bridges and boats, so I had the perfect excuse to get this aquarium bridge finished, which I picked up several years ago.

The legs were a little on the high side, if you saw off the main struts they make for perfect steps to get on to the bridge.

Not a bad purchase for £8.00 and the perfect setting for some challenging encounters in Ghost Archipelago or any other pulp type game.

Keeping up with the theme of finishing other items from the cupboard of shame I added some extra grass to these to marshes which were unopened from a last minute purchase back in November.
Three items down... Not a bad mornings work.