The French Reinforcements on there way.

After a number of false starts and minor distractions the French have reached the paint table.

Over recent weeks I have been re-organising and infilling Ottomans for Sharp Practice, but what I have been lacking is the French in any real numbers, but having put them off for several weeks I have finally dipped a brush to get these started.

I am not really sure what the delay was due to, was it the fact that  I tend to paint in batches of 10's and the thought of painting over 40 standard Infantry plus supports and extras could be, well a little bit on the dull side.

Or that Napoleonic's seems to attract gamers with an eye for detail more so than perhaps WW2 or Colonial gaming so does a little bit of peer pressure sneak in?

I considered initially with going for regular French of 1798 period but the most recent releases from Perry Miniatures forced my hand so I opted for those dressed in the Kleber Ordinance which gives me the option of using the troops in Syria and beyond.

The Kleber uniform also allows me to mix and match the colours given that the fabrics were having to be sourced locally due to the strangle hold the British and Ottoman fleets held over Napoleon in Egypt.

I don't profess to be an expert in the uniforms of the Napoleonic period  so based the first test figure on the Osprey plate of the 21st Demi-Brigade Legere and the sample plate from Gloriousempires.com which gave the sort of feel I was after.

From what I have read the 21st DBL drew in various replacements as the campaign wore on including Coptics and Negro Slaves from Abyssina so plenty of scope to bolt on additional elements in true Sharp Practice style.

The first test miniature is complete and this gives me a template to work to over the coming weeks.

My plan is to retain the tunics but to mix and match the trousers mixing in white, blue and the occasion brown and creams to give that campaign feel.

I just need to crack on now and not be distracted.

Cutlass! A rule review and yet more Atlantis Ramblings.

I really should be painting Frenchmen, but as usual something shiny has come along, having painted up the recent Atlantians the opportunity for a game has come up on Sunday so for once lets get the freshly painted toys on the table whilst interest is at it's peak.

I have spent the week reading up on the Cutlass! rule set and giving some of the mechanics a run through and first impressions are they look a real blast.

Gav Thorpe has done a fantastic job some fresh rule mechanics and a comprehensive campaign system all in all the rules have a very polished finish to them.

The rules well laid out even if they are a little heavy on Pics of lovely looking figures and terrain and artwork of pirate maps which add no real value to the rules themselves.... but do give you plenty of inspiration if it was needed.

The rules are aimed at a land based fantasy pirate skirmish game, with your classic Human, Dwarves and Orcs together with other regular fantasy factions. But as usual I already have some new ideas to tweak this. 

The rule concepts take me back to some of my early gaming with the likes of Necromunda where you build your faction up over time adding recruits, extra items and a hideaway.

One of the things which drew me to these rules was the variable turn structure, I used to play a lot of Two Hour Wargames Rules, where characters can interupt an opponents go, but this got rather confusing when trying to field a large number of figures and decide who went before who, Gav appears to have nailed it with his rule structure.

Each leader rolls for their Authority at the beginning of the game and this provides them with the total number of actions or orders they can bark at their men in a given turn. They can provide them with orders such as move, shoot, Hand to Hand or special actions such as reload. If you have an authority of 5 your can spend one action telling 5 men to all shoot. However the next action/order you give is only for 4 men etc, etc. until you run out of actions.

However as you attempt an action your opponent has a chance to react which if successful takes the turn from you and hands the initiative to them, from what I have experienced so far this means you have to think about the order in which you carry out your actions so if you mess up, suddenly you are on the back foot this balances the risk vs reward with any actions.

Each character has a number of stats which are represented by a quality dice meaning a low quality character might roll a D4, a more experienced chacter might be rolling a D8. These rolls however are open ended so if a player scores the highest possible result (a 6 on a D6 for example) they roll again and add the next score on to the total result, you keep going with this until you fail to achieve the highest result, in my first play test a D4 Character took down a far more experienced character by rolling 3 x 4D4. 

Combat is slick and has some nice features which give you a feel of true swashbuckling on the high seas.

With the first outing this sunday, I am very much looking frward to giving these a proper run through.

Meanwhile I started to note down the potential back story to future encounters in Atlantis. The one line from the Warlords film struck me with plenty of possibilities "They steal some rifles the Atlantians have acquired from a ship they plundered".

How many ships have they attacked over the years?

A few hours on the Interweb and suddenly their are plenty of potential ideas and ships crews that have simply disappeared... or dragged below the surface?

1794  HMS Ardent lost with all hands 500 crew – It is presumed that she caught fire and blew up. A part of Ardent's quarter deck with some gunlocks deeply embedded in it was found floating in the area as was splinter netting driven into planking. No trace was ever found of her 500 crew.

1799 HMS Lutine – Sank off Vlieland in heavy weather. She was carrying a large cargo of gold, most which remains unsalvaged. 269 people were lost.

1800 USS Insurgent departed Baltimore 22 July and after a brief stop at Hampton Roads sailed for her station 8 August 1800. Never heard from again, the frigate and her crew were presumed lost as a result of the severe storm.

The possibilities are endless.

I just now need to resist the draw to paint pirates rather than those half finished Frenchmen.

Warlords of Atlantis Part 2 - An unmade Prequel.

Guy's thanks for your kind words nice to be back home and as I am under strict instructions from the household nurses who won't let me lift a finger.... At least until the novelty wears off in a day or so.

Time to make the most use of the extra hobby time.

These Antediluvian Miniatures were a joy to paint, perfect for this small projects based on the unmade prequel to the 1978 movie Warlords of Atlantis which see's 18th Century Pirates/Naval types pitted against the Atlantians....

Using Black Scorpian's Cutlass! Rules....

(I seriously need to drop the meds.....)

 

Aquarium terrain is perfect background for adventures amongst the seven cities of Atlantis.

As luck would have it I may even have some suitable opponents to try out the rules with...
I knew I would find a use for these eventually.

 

Happy gaming.

Warlords of Atlantis Part 1 & catching up in the reading list.

Well that was a week I don't want to repeat in a hurry.

One minute I am thinking about the ever growing list of projects that need completing and when I am going to find the time, the next thing you know I am in A&E and a protracted period in hospital.... Damn bits of human machine have started to fail, I was hoping to get a bit further than 44 years... :-(

Every cloud has a sliver lining and with little else to do I did manage to catch up on several books that have been languishing on the book shelf for several months/years these included A couple of books on Napoleon in Egypt, the Haiti Revolution, the RUF in Serria Leone and the Cutlass Rule book.

With a week at home I might even be able to sneak in the odd painting session whilst my Kidney's right themselves.

The first distraction to benefit from my enforced leave is the Warlords of Atlantis figures from Antediluvian Miniatures, I picked these up in March as they were lovely sculpts but could not think of a reason to use them.

However having read the Cutlass Rules I have a plan.....

Unless you were not a child of the 70's or 80's this may not be a film known to you but at the time had perhaps some of the best looking evil hencemen, although in truth they had limited screen time...

Warlords of Atlantis (1978) was perhaps the last of it's kind a Saturday Matinee Style fantasy romp.

Special effects a little on the dodgy side and it certainly lacked the BIG budget of future releases.

Around the beginning of the 20th century, British archaeologist Professor Aitken and his son, Charles, chartered a ship called the Texas Rose to take them out to sea, where they plan to dive underwater in a diving bell designed by engineer Greg Collinson.

Charles and his father are secretly searching for proof of the existence of the lost city of Atlantis.

Greg and Charles discover a statue made of solid gold, which is then hoisted up to the Texas Rose. The deckhands hatch a scheme to steal it, as they put their plan into action  a gigantic octopus known as the Sentinel, sent by the inhabitants of Atlantis, attacks the ship and the crew are thrown into the sea.

The castaways find themselves washed ashore in an unknown land.
They are greeted by Atmir and his Guardians who promise to take them "to safety". En route, Greg, Charles and the others are told by Atmir that Atlantis is not just one city, but seven cities, the first two of which have been "lost beneath the waters of the outer limits forever" and the third one, Troya, is now deserted and empty.

Atmir takes the surface-dwellers through the causeway, a prehistoric swamp inhabited by the Mogdaan, and then on to Vaar, the fourth city.

Once here, Greg and the others are thrown into a dungeon were they make friends with Briggs, the captain of the Mary Celeste and unofficial leader of the Atlanteans' human slaves, and his daughter, Delphine. Briggs informs them they are to be slaves to protect Vaar from the constant attacks of creatures known as Zaargs.

They will be given gills so they can never leave Atlantis and return to the oxygen-rich surface world, as the Atlanteans, being originally from Mars, breathe a different atmosphere. A convenient Zaarg attack allows Greg and the others to escape from their cell, but also claims the life of Briggs eaten by a Zaarg.

They steal some rifles the Atlantians have acquired from a ship they plundered and retrace the route they took through the causeway when being brought to Vaar.

After several further scrapes they make it back to the surface via the diving bell where they are again attacked by the Octopus who destroys the ship and returns the golden statue back to the deep.

Quite a seat filler in it's day - but surely these Atlantians must have been plundering ships for hundreds of years... So Atlantians/Pirates whose to say... cue a small project...

These will give me something to do whilst I prep more Napoleonics for the Ottoman project. 

The Men who would be Kings - Russo - Japanese War

Dan Mersey's latest offering has seen games coming thick and fast recently and a chance to get plenty of toys on the table having seen how well the rules handled the Boxer Rebellion, why not give the Russo-Japanese War an outing.

Picking one of the scenario's from book, the Japanese were tasked with holding the village against the numerically superior Russian forces.
We rolled for the officer quality before hand and encoutered a mixed bag of officer material, from your bravest to quite frankly the worst officer on the planet.

The following units and stats were deployed on the table.

When picking the troop types made the bulk of the Russians poor shots to represent their difference in quality to the Japanese, but to enable them to gain additional troops on the table and figured weight of fire power should give them the edge in pinning units.

The view from the Russian lines, a scattering of light woods perfect to mask the slower moving infantry but also some open terrain to use the cossacks to flank the village.

18 Points does not get you a lot, espically when one one of your Officers is bloody terrible. Two units of Infantry and the HMG deploy within the outlying terrain.

The Japanese hold the fence line, with their free action of simply firing not a bad spot to be in.

The Russian Steam roller deploys on to the table, including a unit companded by the Tsar's Nephew.

Russian Cavalry sweep round the Japanse Eastern flank but are pinned back before they can charge home.

Very frustratingly for the Russian Commander everytime the Cavalry rally the other unit is pinned making the chances of formal charge very slim, slowly the Cossacks are emptied from their saddles.

Meanwhile in the Japanese Centre the Infantry are coming under Artillery and small arms fire and whilst casualties are light, the Officer is so poor none of his men listen to him when ordered to rally and they start to fall back.

Switiching to skirmish mode the Russians manage to pin the Japanese defenders giving the Cavalry a chance to edge to within charge range if they could only rally.

With the Japanese infantry falling back, the cavalry rally and charge into the retreating HMG team, wiping it out, which pins the remaining Japanese defenders, who fail their rally test and fall back again.

The Cavalry firmly with the initiative now press on, crashing into the Infantry falling back on the road and rest as they say is history....

Victory for the Russian Bear.

Post game thoughts.
The forces at first simply did not look enough, but in fact the points are more than enough to play through in 3 hours and give a fun encounter for both sides.

Having regulars on both sides makes your tactical positioning important and increasingly over recent games the Officer quality is the key to turning a battle, ask the Japanese commander who was hoping his CO would actually get killed.

The cavalry for once played a key role at first I thought they would be no treat but good use of the skirmish mode to pin the defenders and then charge home was a great tactic to win the scenario.

Sharp Practice in Egypt - Support Options

Whilst I await reinforcements from the Perry's for the French forces and Brigade for more Ottoman's. I thought I would ease myself in with some of the support options available to the Ottoman's and French Forces in Egypt within Sharp Practice 2.

I ordered a number of items from Brigade several months ago and this is the first opportunity to get them on the paint table, whilst others have been repurposed and touched up a little.

In order of cost.

Physic - List One
Part of the Force Commanders Retinue, useful for bringing to a leader who has been knocked out or patching up leaders wounded in combat.
The Physic is from Brigade Miniatures and the Camel litter from Redoubt.

Musicians - List One
When attached to a force commander he my double his command range and my add plus one to any roll on the uncontrolled troops table. Very useful given the quality of some of the Ottoman troops.
A French Drummer from Brigade and also an Ottoman Trumpter from Brigade with a Drummer from BlackTree (?)

Holy Man - List One
What Ottoman Force would be complete without your inspirational Preacher, when attached to the unit he may remove 1D6 of Shock from the unit he is attached to.
Not sure of the colour in the photo but he does look better in the flesh honest...

Water Cart - List Two
Two for the price of one here, a Warbases Water Cart for the French and an Arab with flask for the Ottoman's or they could be used together if necessary, I toyed with adding a mule but figured it was more likely to be used unhitched within various scenario's.
Perfect for all kinds of uses from washing off the dusk to quenching one's thirst.

 

The Colours - List Three.
Perfect for driving home the advantage in melee espically if bested in melee by two points, but don't get them captured.
Two more offerings from Brigade Games.

And finally some additional Shock Markers from the "Bits draw".
I have added a couple of dice holders on two of the bases, given the increase in shock which a unit might absorb in a turn.
I think originally from Foundry's Zulu War and Darkest Africa Range.

Next up more cavalry.....

TMWWBK's - ARR Boxer Rebellion Encounter.

The Wyverns rolled out "The Men Who Would be Kings" at the Club house a few weeks ago which gave me a great excuse to dust off the Boxers.

We added in the officer traits but to many of the rolls dished out poor quality officers on both sides. The plan was to get the toys on the table to run through the rules to ensure they gave a good evenings entertainment.

The scenario is your typical colonial adventure, the Europeans are holed up in the railway station waiting for Seymour to arrive and whisk them to safety, while the Boxers look to burn the place to the ground...

The defenders the US marine Corp and some civilian volunteers.

The Boxers as tribal units are cheap and out number the Europeans by at least 3:1, they sweep forward out flanking the US Marines and close in on the left flank of the small out post.

The tents are over run, cooking pots and belongings destroyed as the Boxers rush up the railway line looking to drive the foreign barbarians from their land.

However reinforcents are on their way in the shape of a Russian Sailor detachment, who pour long range fire into the Boxers, a number are killed but more importantly Boxer units were becoming pinned, poor leadership and poor dice rolls force some of the Boxers away from the cluster of buildings.

The Boxers close in again but are caught in a cross fire between the US marines and Russian Sailors and again unit after unit becomes pinned and falls back.

The Chinese start to torch the buildings looking to burn them to the ground but all the time they are slowly being reduced in number by the European rifle fire.

Boxer units start to break and fall back unable to destroy the buildings on the left of the encampment, despite contacting them on several occasions they were simply not numerous enough having seen their number be reduced by the Russians and Amercians.

Finally a minor success Chinese Artillery having done nothing all game gains a hit on the right hand building bring it crashing to the ground, but it is to little to late and the Boxers have be defeated as their losses were just to great to win the day.

A great encouter fought to a conclusion in under 2 hours... Despite the numbers of Boxers their poor officers and poor Leadership was their undoing against the regulars with their automatic fire order.

TMWWBK gave a really well balanced feel to the encounter and was quick and easy for everyone to pick up in 2-3 turns.

 

Next time more conventional forces....