Dux Britanniarum first outing.....

Somewhat later than most I had my first taste of Dux Britanniarum the Dark Age variant of the Two Fat Lardies rule suite Sunday evening.

The game plays along similar lines of other TFL games with a card deck for each leader dictating who the gets to take his action. Unlike other rules such as Sharp Practice there is no equivalent to ‘Tea Break’ all cards are drawn, so every big man gets a turn.

Troops are broken up into classes Levy, Warriors or Elites, organised into groups of 6 of the same type. Led by Nobles and Warlords who can sustain wounds equivalent to their status.

The addition of a separate Fate Deck of cards really makes for a dynamic game giving each player an advantage when it is their activation, e.g. a ferocious charge or the ability to retire from an advancing opponents or the ability to enhance your leader in a round of combat, the cards could be regarded as the equivalent of the battleboards in Saga but with perhaps less of a significant impact on the game (unless of course your leader is killed.)

With my Irish playing the part of Saxon's they set about raiding Chris's Romano British village. In this particular raid, the Irish/Saxons managed to get a four turn head start before the British turned up reaching the outskirts of the village, the plan was simple raid the buildings acquire the gold and head back to our own territory.

The British when they did arrived turned up in the middle edge of the table and soon rushed to the village centre, with warriors skirting the right hand side of the village looking to counter my advance.

In a bloodlust all thoughts of gold went out of the window as my Elite groups formed into a larger formation and crashed into the main British Warlord and his supporting levies.

Whilst my Elite troops had their rear exposed to the advancing warriors, it was to be in the centre that the battle would be won and loss, with shock and casualties mounting on both sides, the extra save on the Elite troops was to be telling.

The British faced with more shock than men and with Nobles with wounds forcing the army morale to zero, the battle is won with the Irish holding the table.

I am pretty sure we missed some of the finer details, but the rules were very quick to pick up, much like many of TFL's other rules, solid formations were able to withstand shock and able to force back isolated groups.

Dux gives me a great excuse to use my Irish in another setting and with the recent launch of "raiders" for Dux Britanniarum a suppliment listing three new factions to the game; the Irish, the Scotti and the Picts, it presents an opportunity to bring together my of the clubs various warbands into a larger campaign...

I can certainly see a few more outings in Dark Age Britian over the the coming months.

West Midlands Military Show 2015 - The Alumwell Horde.

Another weekend, another show - This time the short hop up the M5 to Wolverhampton to WMMS,  The West Midlands Military Show hosted by the Alumwell Wargames Club. Alumwell was the first show I ever attended and always draws a good crowd and some old faces.

With the next Lardy day over at the Wyverns planned for June, I fancied creating a Chinese village to fight through, up until now I have been using several other buildings none of which have a true Chinese feel to them, these Curtney buildings fit the bill perfectly, add some fencing from 4 Ground and you have the makings of a proper village.

I also picked up the last of the SCW figures from Empress and several packs of other shiny metal items for a future project, more on that in future posts.

With no shows planned now until Salute, I best get the brushes out.

SBH - Elizabethan Zombie Wars - "Holdout" AAR#3

Its been quiet on the painting front last week, I did manage to sneak in a quick game of Songs of Blades and Heroes in the Elizabethan Zombie Campaign.

Having thought his time was truely over Hernando De Leon crawled from under the hedge row from which he sheltered after being savaged by the fowl beasts, 3 of his men were still alive  - sought the sanctuary at a nearby cottage - unfortunately the home of a Witch who is looking to evict her new tennants..........


Capt Hernando De Leon - Squadron of Urcas
Quality 3, Combat 4
Leader, Fearless, Short Shooter, Unerring Aim
92 Points

3 Survivors + Rescue Party

Scenario: Holdout

After the defender has set up the terrain, the attacker chooses a table edge. The defender then divides his warband into two groups, each one worth at least 1/3 of the warband’s total value.

Victory conditions:

If the attacker destroys or routs the defender’s entire 1st group before the 2nd group arrives, he automatically wins the battle. Otherwise, players earn 1 victory point per 20 points of killed opponents.

The Zombies begin there slow advance on to the table, activating on a 5 or 6 my initial plan is broken my the lack of regular movement, whilst slow they creep ever closer to human defenders, meanwhile the first of the two werewolves skirt the tree line looking for an opportunity to tear into the Spanish.

Hernando peers from the window, whilst the Alpha male huffs and puffs on the outside, 4 defenders but 4 windows and a door to defend, an interesting choice for the human player.

The first of the Zombies reach the clearing just as the Spanish reinforcements arrive on the table, who would have thought that waiting to roll a D6 could be so tense.

Still the dead continue their slow march towards the cottage, the Witch uses her command radius to cluster packs of zombies together but their approach is painfully slow.

The Walkers are picked off one by one - the musket fire is lethal and once the range closes the dead begin to mount on the evil side, the wolves launch a flanking attack to distract the human rescue party, terror strikes a number of the party as the wolf howls and charges towards them, two take leave of their senses and flee the table. The result of the game is now in the balance.

Finally a stout swordsman stands up and closes with the pack leader as the dead stumble ever closer.

The undead are held at bay as they claw there way at the occupants of the cottage.

The wolves are finally taken down, but the tide of death is lapping at the feet of the Spanish.

The clock ticks down, a significant number of the dead have been killed again, but the cost of the human losses tips the game in favour of the undead.

The Evil Forces.

The Wicked Witch of the Woods.
Quality 3, Combat 2
Leader, Magic User, Long Shooter, Good Shot, Flying.
120 Points.

Alpha Male
Quality 3, Combat 4
Terror, Long, Forester, Savage
102 Points

Werewolf
Quality 4, Combat 4
Long, Forester, Savage
54 Points

Zombies

Quality 5, Combat 2
Slow, Undead
8 Points

Witch, Alpha Male - Werewolf, Regular Werewolf, 26 Zombies.

Final result - Another Human point loss.

After battle results.
 Those that ran away return with their heads lowered in shame, 2 Calviers were taken out in the game, but 1 returns unharmed and the 2nd suffered a serious wound and will miss the next game.
30 Gold Coins were earned.

The next Scenario's randomly rolled for is "Breakthrough"

Back from Hammerhead 2015

Saturday saw the Wyvern's first outing of the year - Hammerhead 2015 

A show with a very different feel to it than others on the list currently in the calendar for this year, with over 50 participation games their was plenty to do and everyone was willing to talk about their games and introduce you to the scenarios on offer.

The new venue the George Stevenson Hall was excellent - plenty of room to move and natural light. The traders were well spaced out had enough room to display their goodies....

Well done to Sally and Paul from Kallistra for organising - definately one for next year...

 

For our part we opted for a nostalgic trip down memory lane, coverting the Standard Games - Samurai Blades system to miniature.

The scenario was a simple one - The attackers must cross the bridge and Kill the rebel warlord, out numbering the defenders 2:1 it should be a stroll.....

A selection of the attackers, mounted Samurai, ashigaru and foot troops.

9.30 set up and ready to go...

A couple of shots from the game, the cavalry use the woods as cover as they race towards the bridge, missile fire can be deadly and with archers firng twice in a turn you really don't want to be caught in the open.
The use of Kallistra's terrain makes movement easy with infantry moving 8 hexes to the cavalry's 12.

The Warrior Monks rush from their hiding places looking to protect their leader, the Samurai look to cross the bridge whilst their retinue are forced to get their feet wet through the river.

Having added the stats from the original cards to the bases, the battles can be easily resolved, with an attack score of 32 for the Mounted Samurai and only a defence of 3 for the monk, this melee was never going to end well with odds of 10:1.

Thanks to everyone who took part.
Four games in a day and plenty of banter and chats with fellow gamers - not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

For anyone interested in the original game, the counters and maps are still available here.

http://www.cryhavocfan.org/eng/suite/samurai/sagame.htm

Hammerhead 2015 - Wyvern Wargamers first outing of the year.

A hectic couple of weeks on the work front with little to show in the way of painting and gaming but good news the show season is upon us.

The Wyvern Wargamers are hosting a 40mm Samuari Blades encounter at Hammerhead tomorrow using Paul's at Kallistra excellent Hexon Terrain why not drop by and say hello.