Boring Boers & another pointless nude!

I haven't been able to play a single game since Colonial Battles III, so here's a few things I painted.  Dale Kemper was there of Stellar Miniatures, and among other things, I picked up 2 20-man units of Boers.  Then I went through some figures Al Reis had given me and found a half-painted unit of Boers and artillerymen.  A look through a box donated by Paul Harruff found a few Boer corporals by Falcon US and 18 - 20 mounted Boers by Ral Partha.  Here's the first stuff I painted.

A unit of Ral Partha's with a Falcon US corporal.

A unit of Ral Partha's with a couple of artillerymen converted by Al Reis, including the corporal.

And the Ral Partha artillerymen with a Falcon US officer.  Al had painted them for German Southwest Africa, and I painted them "freely interpreted" for the second Boer War.

And finally, to maintain my salacious reputation, an old sorceress I recently obtained and painted on the misspelled Pegasus "Alter of Evil".

Not much of a post, but all I've got at the present.

Colonial Battles III, Nov. 8-10, 2013, The Sheraton near Causeway, Metairie, LA

This is the 3rd (obviously) Colonial Battles, a convention devoted to Larry Brom's "The Sword and the Flame" and all it's variants.  It's also a gathering of old friends to celebrate what Larry has given us, THE colonial rules, and lots of wargaming friends.  I realize now that this will be a totally narcisstic report, since I only took pictures of games I was involved in.  the comraderie was too good to leave.
Friday
On Friday, I spent most of the afternoon kibitzing and buying Ral Partha from Dale Kemper.  In the evening, I played in Dale's 55 Days in Peking game, which took place entirely on top of an incredible Tartar wall, behind the legations.  As a Boxer, we were fed onto the ends of the wall each turn, while the US Marines stood us off at barricades in the center.  As usual with my dice rolls, I couldn't get my mob to die to a man so I could get a fresh one.  We eventually drove the Marines off the wall just as the Indians arrived to save the day.

Here the brave Marines, and their even braver Lt. (mounted) withstood our furious assaults.  The Chinese rockets performed as expected, causing little damage but great effects!

And here you can see our hordes unsuccessfully assaulting the baricades.  My troops are the dark ones just behind the white clothed Boxers assaulting the barricades.  After finally getting knocked off, I left at about 10pm, since I'd awakened at 1:30am, not seeing us drive the Marines from the wall, too late to matter.

Saturday
I spent some more money, though I'd bought most of what I needed (wanted) on Friday.
Jim Pitts put on A Very British Civil War game in the morning, which I played.  I had intended to play in Terry Sofian's "The Hive and the Queen" game, but Jim's table was filled with Greffen paper buildings, and since I'm a paper building aficionado...

My troops, the Soviet Naval troops were stationed in the upper middle of the of the center picture, a unit hiding behind the blue fence, another in the building across from the church, and the third in the building across the alley from the blue fence, rather bad placement, since I was forced to come out the front doors of both buildings in the face of machine guns.  The black truck in the lower picture had a tarp covering a 4" naval gun with crew.

Here you can see some of my troops hiding behind the wall, as regulars approach.

And, on the left, my compatriots, both braver and better led than my sailors.

My erstwhile opponent, Gerry Webb, of  Castaway Arts of Australia http://www.castawayarts.com.au/ who out-generaled and out-shot me.  Behind him are some of the Ral Partha drawers Dale Kemper brought with him.  I did do some damage to the Rolls-Royce armored car, but couldn't stop it.

Here is the battle on our left flank, where we did better than my flank.

Some of my dead from the unit in the building to the left of the blue fence.  My unit has been charged by Gerry's unit.  He unfortunately had a number of stragglers.

Here we are, lined up and ready to "put it up 'em", before my shooting.  The figures on the right are dead from a unit that Gerry put paid to, running them into the trees, before finishing them off.

The high point of the game for me.  My shooting and better die rolling saw Gerry's regulars bounce off me.  Off course, they did not fail their morale.  The game was declared a success for the enemy, since my flank crumpled, and I achieved none of my goals.

And these are photos from my "Carry On Up the Khyber"  game, in which the Burpas had discovered that the 2rd Foot & Mouth Highlanders wore underwear, and so no longer feared the "devils in dresses".  They tried to force the toll gate (?) at the Khyber pass.  Duane Bailius was unable to get his elephants to move slower than a crawl, so the Burpas were almost up to the defile that would allow them to bypass the gate before he got his Gatlings set up.

Some of the hordes of Burpas led by Al Himmel as Bungit Din, who were attacking the pass.

The elephants have finally reached their desired location, as the wave of Burpas lap the escarpment.

An overall view as the British horse arrive, soon to dismount, since there were no Burpas behind the walls for them to spear.

One of the elephants has disappeared as the Gatlings finally fire.  Unfortunately, we got a late start, and so called the game for supper, since the restaurant, though very good, was also very slow.  The British felt they would be overwhelmed, and the Burpas felt they could not break the pass, especially after the Gatlings did in the Burpa gun crew.

After we packed up. Al Himmel serenaded us with three tunes on his bagpipes, even though he was the Burpa leader.

Gerry Webb put on "Gunga Din", with the Highlanders trying to relieve the sergeants in the temple.

Mike and Martha and Mark Stevens await their assignments.

(Hmmm. That elephant looks familiar.  Everything else was Gerry's.)  The column heads toward the temple in close order.

As the British cavalry turns to flank the column, my cavalry bravely charges them in the flank.  We exchanged a single cavalryman each, but more of my men were pushed back, so I fled.  And when the Brits followed me, I ignominiously fled the field.

However the ground-pounders led by Jim Pitts and others kept the Brits from achieving their objectives, so it was a Pathan victory, in spite of my cowardly cavalry.

Sunday

On Sunday, Mark Stevens ran "The Real Glory", in which a few brave Moros attempted to be catapulted over the wall.  Three landed unhurt outside the fort, one landed as a squashed bug inside the fort, and another landed on the wall in the midst of the defenders.

Here you see the corner of the fort, and my command outside to try and save Mother Superior and her orphans.

Bill Hamilton's troops have reached the bottom of the wall as their companion bravely confronts the constabulary on the wall.  

A bit later in the game, my reduced and somewhat scattered force faces three units of Moros and a jurmentado who is seeking the prize of Mother Superior.  (She escaped into the chapel).  John Murdaugh's incredible rolling on shots of from the Gatling ensured that I faced no complete units.  And they suffered heavy leader losses, and were never able to close to melee.

At far end of the table, the US arrives with a unit of regulars and 2 more units of constabulary.  By the end of the game, the Moros were almost without leaders, and so were unable to press any meaningful attacks.  They faded back in the jungle, leaving us to lick our wounds, and have a quiet celebration.

And here they, those who made our enjoyment possible for all these years.  Lori, Larry, and Chrissie Brom, our Sergeants Three!   In the background, you can see Martha Stevens back, my profile, Jim Pitts, and in the dark shirt on the right, Mark Mod.

I had a great time, got to play as many games as possible, and time to chat with many old friends.  From my viewpoint, a complete success!

Hasslefree & Reaper

In the usual gamer's ADHD, I've been painting 28's instead of 15mm modern Africa.  These are all Hasslefree with the exception of one Reaper.

First up are fem-Asterix (Rennie) and fem-Obelix (Tilda).  Nice figures who only resemble the originals in clothing.  In this case, I'm glad that Kev added a top to Tilda.  I know, betraying my dirty old man mojo, but the figure is more useable. Hmmm, fem-Asterix eyes didn't come out quite level, did they?

Here are two of Hasslefree's modern figures.  I chose Morgan with a small pistol (held up behind her hair) because I grow tired of enormous pistols.  This is definitely an Impact 1 auto-pistol.  The other is Dionne, who appears to be several months pregnant.  I'm also very tired of painting people in black, so she got brightened up.  Morgan's base is by Bobe's Hobby House and has a Mauser Auto-pistol and another auto-pistol molded into it.  The base is a tiled floor.  The purse is from Wargames Factory's Zombie Vixens.  Hey, at least she HAS a purse!

This is the topless Hayden from Hasslefree and feral dwarf from Reaper.  I didn't realize just how muscular the feral dwarf was until I had her primed.  There is a difficult to remove mold line down the left side of her face, so I painted it as a scar.  Hayden might want to cover up around her. (Oooh, non-pc!)
                                            
I tried something new on Hayden.  I had read Matt Parkes Paints in issue 299 of Wargames Illustrated and he showed a method of painting Tudor gold engraved armor.  So I tried it in kind of reverse with a disposable .005 drafting pen.  Obviously, I need to improve my technique, but I thought it was more interesting than just solid tattoos.  I'd also like to get a dark blue drafting pen, if available.

I bravely show my first attempt.  By the by, the ink is non-water soluble, but is shiny, so a matte coat is needed afterwards, not a problem for me, since all my figures get a matte coat after everything but the metallics are painted.

I tilted the figure up slightly so the neck tattoo would show better.

And this one shows her facial tattoo better.

That's all for now, but there's lots more on the painting table, mostly Black Orc.  Having started painting figures in the '70's, I have some partiality to children of a lesser sculpture.

Death Comes to Crime Boss in Meyer's Bar

Today, the New Hope City Gazette learned that crime boss "Big Bad" Leroy Brown was killed along with another in Meyer's Bar.  Interviews with both Lilac, no other known name, self-styled fiance of Brown, and Caesar, who works for Blackwater Corporation, and was Brown's bodyguard, yielded the following retelling of the events.  Both were wounded in the attack, and are under police protective cover in St Julien's Hospital.

According to the two survivors, this attack was without provocation.  They were having a drink after attending a game (what type was not mentioned) at Meyer's.  Caesar was watching the door.  All legally carry concealed firearms for self-protection, and all firearms were holstered, hands on the table nursing their drinks, while discussing the game.

Suddenly, a woman in black appeared at the door with machine pistols in both hands, yelled "Brown, you *************, you killed my mama, and now I'me going to kill your ***"!  The first rounds hit Caesar, knocking him out, and seriously wounding his left leg.  The next hit Brown, killing him.  And she yelled at Lilac, as she shot her in the stomach, "You'll never marry him, bi***!"

The rest of the story is confused.  One survivor claims that the bartender begged for her life, but that the woman in black mercilessly gunned her down.  However, an empty shotgun and many pellets embedded in the walls belie this story.

Because all surveillance devices were deactivated before the entrance of the unknown woman, there are no electronic records of the events.  There are only two eyewitness accounts to go by, and their stories are somewhat conflictory.  Police have released the following description of the suspect:  Tall, athletically built.  Dark hair about chin length.  Very beautiful.  Moves very quickly.  When last seen, dressed in a black catsuit covered by a black overcoat, both unremarkable.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED!
Apparently an unknown Cyndee had a beef with Big Bad Leroy Brown, and decided that his execution was the only choice.  Here is the setup at the beginning of the game.

In turn one, the Cyndee got first activation (surprise! with her Rep 6).  She moves into the bar, and the In Sights all go in her favor.

With two large calibre auto pistols, she is able to take down all her opponents in one go, wounding Caesar in the leg, knocking him down, killing Big Bad Leroy Brown with a head shot, and wounding Lilac in the gut.  Both Caesar and Lilac go out of the fight.  The bartender does not enter in, as she doesn't get activated in the first turn.

In turn two, the Cyndee goes first, and attempts to spare the bartender.

The bartender fires, emptying her shotgun, and hits the Cyndee in the head, a killing blow to any other being on New Beginnings, but she is blessed with the attribute, Impervious, which turns any OOF or OD into Knock Down instead.  And she uses 3d6 on the Knock Down test, getting a Carry On.  For dramatic purposes, she fires from the floor, riddling the bar, and striking the bartender in the head and left arm, killing her.

The Cyndee walks out the back door of the bar.  Big Bad Leroy Brown wasn't the only crime boss in New Hope City, so his death insures more bloodshed as other crime bosses try to take over his territory.  As for who killed him...?  Perhaps someone will be interested enough to attempt to find out!

The map is a laminated map from the Crimson Skies game box.  Games with Cyndees don't last very long.  Turns out the bar was owned by an off-world compendium, and they don't want the death of one of their employees to go unpunished.  Will they send in a gunslinger or hire a private dick in New Hope City, or both?

Using the elephant-carried Gatling gun.

Here is my take on how the elephant-carried Gatling gun would be used in Colonial Adventures 2.0 and The Sword and the Flame.  It is nowhere as quick as a limbered gun, but about the same as a mule-packed screw gun.

My feeling is that the elephants would need to be removed much farther than a horse limber or pack mule, since they are more intelligent.

RAFM makes an elephant-carried Gatling gun set, but it uses two elephants per Gatling, which is correct.  I find the elephants to be rather weird. I just use 1 elephant because they're expensive, and 1 figure represents more than 1 man...

Salvage Run 2005

This is a post of a game that I put up on Two Hour Wargames in 2005.  Unfortunately, the original photos are no longer available, so I had to print out the pages in color, scan them into Photoshop, and do what I could.  Therefore, the picture quality is abysmal.

Salvage Run

The following is a solo game using the Xenoform part of 5150, and various interpretations from earlier Two Hour Wargames rules.

Planet New Iberia is the scene of sporadic combat between humans and bugs.  All has been quiet for several months now.  The mining outpost of Wheel Leisure has been abandoned since bugs were found in the lower mines.  Everyone left in very hasty way, so lots of valuables were left behind.

Bailey Mull had talked to enough drunken miners at the spaceport bar to realize that there were lots of goods in Wheel Leisure ripe for the pickings.  Her good looks and free hand with drinks brought some very exact info as to what she could expect to find for salvage.

Her ship, Grifter, had lain on a rocky ledge for 3 days as she and her crew scouted out Wheel Leisure for any signs of bugs.  For 3 days, there was nothing but the wind to disturb the dirt streets.

She had six crew in three vehicles to head to the warehouses on the far side of town n The crew consists of :

Bailey Mull: Rep 5, Hard Armor, Assault Rifle, Stone Cold

Froggy Hunter:  Rep 5, Assault Rifle, Slow

Al Scramuzza:  Rep 4, Assault Rifle, Hard As Nails.

The Ferret: Rep 4, Flamethrower, Brawler

Izzy Knot:  Rep 4, Grenade Launcher, Medic

Natalie Goodbody: Rep 3, Pistol, Ambidex- terous

Juliette Street: Rep 2, Machine Pistol, Runt

They were in three vehicles.

The lead vehicle was a Teixeira T35, an armored half-track, with a heavy machine gun in an enclosed turret, and a flexible mount light machine gun.  The T35 was cobbled together on a mid-tech world, and due to being just good enough to do the job, and low cost, was as common as a Volkswagen beetle was in the 20^th century. The vehicle was driven by Natalie, with Al riding shotgun, and Bailey in the turret.

Next was a pickup truck, driven by Izzy, with The Ferret as co-pilot.

Tail-end Charley was occupied by Sadie,a Salvage Dog halftrack with a lightly-armored cab and a flexible mount light machine gun.  It’s driven by Juliette, with Froggy riding shotgun.

Bailey led the parade down the main (only) street in Wheel Leisure until a bug hole opened up and out poured a mix of Big Ones and Little Ones to the tune of one dozen.

Bailey immediately let rip with the HMG and killed one Big One.  More bugs filled the holes in the ranks, and Bailey kept shooting, knocking out a total of 2 Big Ones and 2 Little Ones.  And then 4 Big Ones jumped on the T35, blocking the driver’s vision, and too close for the turret gun to bear.  As the T35 came to a halt, Izzy gunned the pickup around the bugs and headed for the warehouse.  Sadie lumbered up, and Froggy hosed the T35 with LMG fire, taking care of 3 bugs.

Bailey hoses the bugs that didn’t make it to the T35, and takes out 2, and tells Natalie to run over another 2.  She misses.  A Big One charges Sadie, but Froggy guns him down.  Meanwhile the last Big One on the T35 strikes frantically at it, but can’t damage the T35.  Since the T35 is impervious to LMG fire, Froggy takes care of the last Big One on board.

Up the street, Izzy and The Ferret jump out of the pickup and enter the warehouse.

The T35 takes care of the last Little One, and heads up the street.  Sadie inexplicably hangs back.  (Juliette’s lousy Rep 2 plays havoc with continuing activation)

While Izzy and The Ferret start looting the warehouse, the T35 turns around and comes up next to Sadie.  Bailey opens the hatch and screams blue murder at Juliette, who lurches forward.  Natalie keeps the T35 fender to fender with Sadie, as Bailey makes interesting comments as to the family history of Juliette, while the 2 vehicles make their way to the warehouse.

Bailey leaps out of the T35, and jerks Juliette out of Sadie, and continues to chew on her, while everyone else loads Sadie, glad not to be Juliette.

Natalie goes to check the fuel tanks across the street, and the pickup starts back to the Grifter.

Sadie is loaded, and Natalie moves the T35 to the tanks to fuel up.

Suddenly 14 bugs pop up between the crews and the way out.  The pickup is long gone, and going faster.  Only Bailey sees them.  She jumps back into the T35, and yells at Natalie to get in and drive.  Sadie rounds the back of the abandoned hauler, and Froggy spots the bugs and takes out 1, and runs out of ammo 

Natalie spins the T35 and Bailey takes out 1 bug.  Froggy reloads.

Bailey fires again, and knocks 1 out.  Froggy takes out 2.

The T35 and Sadie move slowly forward and fires.  Bailey takes out 1, and click, click, is out of ammo.  Froggy misses and is out of ammo.

Natalie guns the engine as Bailey reloads and Sadie lumbers forward as Froggy reloads.  But while they are unloaded, a Little One leaps on the T35, and another jumps on the front of Sadie, and attempts to get Froggy, who gives him a haymaker on jaw, with no effect.

Both the T35 and Sadie move out, with bugs clinging to them.  Froggy and the bug spar ineffectively.

As they roll forward, a sudden lunge from the bug kills Froggy.  The bug continues to slice and dice, and Sadie rolls to a halt, as Juliette grabs for her machine pistol.  The T35 continues on, unaware of what is going on behind them.

Bailey opens the hatch and kills the bug on the T35 with her assault rifle.  Only then does she realize that Sadie is halted, and can only watch as the bug slips into Sadie’s hatch and kills Juliette.

The T35 spins around, with Bailey firing with her assault rifle, since the HMG is too low to have any chance of shooting down the hatch, and might damage Sadie. 

As they pull alongside, she finally pink mists the bug.  She sends Al to get Sadie running so they can get out of Dodge with all of the goodies.  Al cleans out enough goo in record time, and Sadie lurches forward.

As they pass the only 2 story building in town, the second story door swings open and a young voice yells, “Hey, don’t leave me, you salvage skanks,” and Niki the Twister sprints down the stairs, onto the T35, and into the co-pilot’s hatch that Al left open. 

Bailey screams at her, and Natalie says they can’t leave her; she’s just a kid.

Bailey groans, “And you thought the bugs were trouble?”

Even in a vehicle, bugs can give you trouble.  The bugs were very unfortunate in activation rolls, or the game might have gone differently.  There was also a bug activation 45” off the table, so it was ignored.  The humans were drawn with the ATZ NPC table, with appropriate weapons for the figures I had.

This game was played shortly after 5150 came out, and uses the original All Things Zombie for characters.  The buildings are from WorldWorks.  The T35 is a modified US WWI M8 that I got from Ed; the salvage vehicle is lead, and the transport is paper.