The Victorian Parliament reopens

 More work on my Late Victorian game.

The floor of The house has been slimmed down, and "intrigues" replaced by "the papers.". I found the original intrigues concept to be far too Roman.

 Active in wars, and the Treasury are the only other areas to have cards played directly.  Politicians go into their respective parties on the floor of the house.

A second display uses a copyright free world map, and army officers are placed here, beginning in Home Service before being sent out fight.  Forces will still equate to 24 point Men who Would be Kings armies.

Lastly the politicians.  This is my first group.  Sir Sid is the only ringer I used, the rest being all prominent political figures of the period.  The additional numbers on the cards denote their influence, added up to discover the strength of the party when voting.  Party lines were not perhaps as rigid as in modern politics.

It seems that between this and my scratch built 2mm figures, the game is progressing towards a new state opening of the 1879 Parliament

18th Century Officers

More notes on my ongoing Might and Reason games.

 

Officers earn Epic Points for performance in battle as per Maurice.

Social Standing 1-6

Military skills 0-4  The Command Phase

Poor. 1

Average 2

Good 3

Great 4

National Advantages

En Masse

Feudal levies

Great Captain

Skirmishers

Crashing volleys

Steady Lads (rerolls)

Professional train

Rally to the colours

Oblique order (March across corners)

Maison du Roi

Giant Grenadiers 

à la Baïonnette!

Artillery Academy

Cadence

Cavaliers

Clerics

Depot Battalions

Engineer

Exploring Officers

Use of Maurice Notables as Generals

Britain    The Duke of Cummerbund
France    Marshal Du Sexe
Austria   Crown Prince Ferdinand
Prussia   King Frederich
Bavaria   The old Elector
Spain      Prince Don Juan
Turkey    The Sultana
Russia    General Gorki
Sweden  King Charles the sweet
Duke Benedick of Cummerbund 
Maj Gen "Scruffy" Herbert
The Margrave Flatulenz 
Duke Jean de Mons-Pubis
Count Saveloy
Baron Pumphosen
Maj Wurst Farhtgasse

The character of a man table

Use 2d6. WHITE and BLACK. 

1.1    Gambling debts
1.2    Got a lady into trouble
1.3    An argument with a fellow officer
1.4    Repeatedly found drunk with the company mule
1.5    Enamoured of Mme Le Bonc at court. 
1.6    Intolerant Religious indignation at fellow officers
2.1    A fervent and fanatical Royalist
2.2    Owes monies to serious people at Court
2.3    Angry and ill tempered
2.4    A bone idle fellow, always asleep
2.5    Regularly smokes a pipe of exotic herb
2.6    Suffers from gastric windage.
3.1    A game leg, origins unclear
3.2    Harbours a secret love for his apricot pie
3.3    A terrified poltroon
3.4    A rash, impetuous heroic idiot
3.5    A quiet thinker, liable to snap at any minute.
3.6    Talks to himself as another persona
4.1    Has a thick country (or over cultured) accent
4.2    A Mummy's boy, won't do any work
4.3    An innocent. Believes everything he hears.
4.4    A psychotic, who fixes murderously on one thing.
4.5    A hobbyist, obsessed with catching butterflies etc…
4.6    A thief who steals indiscriminately
5.1    A bully, who shouts and busters
5.2    A dangerous bastard who is skilled in violence,
5.3    A weasel of a man,
5.4    A Braggart and bully.
5.5    A dandy with a dress sense
5.6    A dandy man for the ladies.
6.1    Poor cross - eyed fellow with a fine moustache.
6.2    A portly fellow, with a heroic appetite.
6.3    A bible reader, always ready with a quote
6.4    A Jewish tailor’s boy, with fine manners
6.5    An exiled Russian Nobleman, “skilled in the Wars.“
6.6    A real joker, it's the way he tells ‘em.

 The Ottomans

                              Mil-Skills.   Influence

Abdullah Abulbar. Good +3.     4

Yegthen Pasha.        Ave +2        3

Topol Pasha.            Poor +1       4

Quilliup Effendi.    Ave +2          1

Ibrahim Khan.        Poor +1        2

Memet Pasha.         Ave +2.         3

Von Schraner Pasha  Good +3   1

Blue Officers

Ernst Blofeld

Amadeus

Warstiener 

Ludwig von Glottalstop

Feudal Longships

Back when the world was sane, and the post game pub discussion was still a thing, the committee of the Marshal Petain Gentlemen's Club discussed the Crusades and a 28mm Lion Rampant variant.

For medieval gaming in particular the Secretary however mooted the point that Longships had provided an effective game, and volunteered the treasurer to look into this  The Club President sagely agreed and supported the motion.

It's a great idea, but it needed to be tested on the table top.  To do this I intend to look at extending the core Longships mechanisms into the Feudal period.

Feudal Longships has become a bit of a project for me.  Initially I went 6mm, but to be honest it looks wrong.  The rectangular formations just don't look Medieval.  A rebase into clumps may be needed.  

For these 6mm troops I am using element bases, and used the ships I built last year, but longer term my plan would be to use 15mm figures.  I am looking at the following troop type categories updated for Feudal forces.

Feudal Armies

General  This base represents the leader of the whole force.

Captain.  A unit commander.  This will usually be a Knight or Mercenary Soldier.

Cavalry Captain.  In Armoured units this will be a Mounted Knight or Ghulam with helmet and probably chain mail. They will have a side arm (sword) and shield, and be armed with a lance. In Turkoman units it will be an unarmoured mounted archer.

Dismounted Knights. A common practice to stiffen foot formations.  Only one unit will have dismounted knights.  With helmets and chain  mail, side arm (sword) and shield.  Their main weapon will be an axe, large sword or spear.  A foot unit containing any dismounted Knights always counts as superior

Armoured Foot.  Well equipped with helmets and chain mail, side arm (sword) and shield.  Their main weapon  will be a spear. 

Mounted Knights.  These  men  have helmets and chain mail. They will have a side arm (sword) and shield.  Their main weapon  will be a spear.  The horses will be  battle trained. 

Spearmen.  These men often represent the majority of a force. They will have a substantial  shield, spear and often a sword or dagger too.  They might have a helmet and probably padded armour rather than mail. 

Unarmoured Cavalry.  Turkoman or similar cavalry will have a bow as their main armament, but also a shield, sword and possibly Spear.  They might have a helmet, but  definitely no body armour.  The horses will be unarmoured. 

Levy.  These  men are new to arms, or are of poorer motivation and ability.  They may have a substantial shield and a spear, but probably no helmet.  Their side arm might be a poor sword, club, tool or a dagger.  Young levy may well progress into fine fighting men given  experience and guidance.  These man are still a step up from armed  peasants.

Skirmisher.  Archers or lightly armed figures.

Peasants.  Perhaps given a weapon or providing their own farm implements, they are not keen and wear no armour.

Champion.  Treated as berserkers, count as any other armoured base when not in berserker mode.

Plunder-Gift from  God.
A figure which  might be a princess, holy person a sacred relic or big treasure chest.

Plunder Locals.
Peasants  and townsfolk will be un-armed and relatively docile (surly  of course, and under dressed).  There should be a mixture of old, young and gender.  Very old and infirm  folk will not be present as they are not worth capturing.

Plunder Livestock.
Cows, pigs, chickens and horses are all acceptable.   Each base should only be  one  animal type.

Plunder-Loot.  Boxes, bags and barrels. 

Plunder-Ships.  A ship with the  mast down.  Possibly covered in sheeting or under repair.  The ship  could be a warship or fishing vessel.

Casualty base.  A casualty bases is with a dead or wounded figures upon it.

Feudal Army Lists

  1 to 3 units may be cavalry.

  Units may have a mixture of troop bases but cavalry may not be mixed  with infantry.

  No more than 4 levy bases per unit.

  There are no levy cavalry bases.

  No more than 4 armoured bases per unit.

  All units, except Knights, must have a minimum of 3 unarmoured bases.

  No more than 2 skirmisher units. These may be foot or mounted.

Cavalry

Cavalry have an adjustment made to the dice scores needed for movement actions.

Movement into an open scenery square 1 easier (1 is always a fail).

Movement into a scenery square is 1 harder (6 is always a success).

  Cost = more expensive.  Unit size 6 to 8 bases.  Can all be of the  same type or a mixture of types.

  Cannot form  shieldwall.

  Only Feudal Cavalry can charge in conrois with couched lances, because they are trained.

  Cavalry can form march or battle line.

  Knghts or Armoured Cavalry have no shooting ability, except for Horse archers or Turcoploles ... two squares

  Cost for shooting is the  same as per infantry and shooting ratio is still 1 shot per 4 bases or part thereof.

  Cavalry can  dismount and become their infantry equivalent.  The horses are taken from the  table  and the  cavalry cannot remount unless they score a 6 as an action.

  Mounted cavalry cannot search but can carry plunder.

  Opponents fighting cavalry never  claim the +3D6 for “opponent not in shieldwall” because the horse is a danger to the opponent.

  If cavalry  achieve a gaining ground result in the  first turn   of a fight they may attempt to instantly rout the opponent by successfully scoring a 6 on 1D6 rolled for that purpose.

  If cavalry  achieve a hacking through result in the   first turn of a fight they may attempt to instantly rout the opponent by successfully scoring a 5,6 on 1D6  rolled for that purpose.

  Cavalry that lose  a round of fighting  must withdraw.

  Infantry can only assault cavalry if the  infantry have only moved 1 square before the assault attempt.

My first experiment in 6mm.  Eight bases to a unit (2 x 4 actually)

Although this is a 6mm game.  I kept a roster of units to indicate their make up.   Mostly this was quite straightforward.

The Feudal Knights advance

The lines close

The Knights get stuck in.

It's a roll over.  The Knights  gain ground and break through.

My skirmishers seem to have heavenly protection.

And I stop the game there with the raider's centre smashed, but with me feeling frustrated.  It needs terrain to test its effectiveness but I'm not sure it looks Medieval at all.  

Back to Scottorum Malleus I think.

A 2mm Colonial game

"Bobs" vs Shaka game 2.

This is a solo game against Dan Mersey's Mr Babbage.

Zulu pop up to the front.  A volley recoils them.

The Zulu charge home, but the old 24th win the fight, narrowly.

An attack on the left is also driven back.

And the left is attacked simultaneously.

Again the Zulu close in and are driven off.  A damn close thing.

The Zulu losses are making them ineffectual.

And the volley fire from the redcoats hits home.  I'm not recycling troops and the Zulu are teetering.

If I had been recycling losses the 24th would have been in trouble.  Some of those companies are at half strength.

The end game as the 24th advance to drive back the Zulu.  
An enjoyable game.

"Bobs" vs Shaka khan

 It's off to fight the Matabele for you Roberts.  The active war in my Victorian Parliament was the 1st Matabele.  Given that I've just completed my Zulu War forces I'll be using them, so Bob's gets the 24th as Redcoats rather than khaki, but I'm sure he'll do a sterling job.

Gladstone might have gone, but he gave Roberts the job, so here goes.

The Matabele get the famed Shaka Khan as leader.  Ain't nobody...

Shaka will have to go through the fire.  

Enemy to the front, and the right flank.  Damn that Babbage fellow.

We unlimber the gun and get it going.  It's a bit big.

And the Matabele are on me.

Strong volley fire keeps the right flank at bay.

Game paused for a walk up into Paphos.

In they come and its a fight.

But it's a bounce off.  The volley fire then keeps them back.

Close run thing though. 

But in the end "Bob's" has his victory.  Gladstone will be pleased.

2mm Colonial armies

 A scratch build project.  Basically I'm going Redcoats and Zulu.

Starting with 40mm mdf basing, I used cork shapes glued into place.

Covered with filler, and then stippled. 

A black undercoat, followed by horizontal stripes, blue, red, flesh and white for the redcoats.  Vertical white for the Zulu shields, with black dots to pattern.

I will get the labels properly printed, but these three bases are my prototypes.

And that's Phase one complete.  The bigger Impi bases for phase 2 are just behind here.

The 24th Foot, or six Companies of them anyway.  I'm quite pleased with the result, but the artillery piece is far too big. 

I'll get these on table in a game to see how they look, but I have high hopes for them!

The fateful 1883 for Whigs and Tories

 The test run of my Late Victorian deck for Low Whig and High Tory has been going well, but there are signs that the new Disraeli Government is about to crack.

January 1883 on the floor of the house.

 A Cape province Bill comes out.  24000 Guineas.  Good news for the treasury.

But the Boer War is dealt.  72000 Guineas is needed to prosecute the Active wars.  Bankruptcy looms

A Concession, but its snapped up by sitting MPs.

A Home service Bill raises 12000 Guineas.  Not nearly enough.

And another Afghan leader adds 12 if that conflict appears

But DISASTER... two more wars.  1200000 guineas needed.  Britain is bust!

Lord Hamilton joins the Tories.

And a Naval Builds Bill removes 24000 from the treasury instead of adding it.  Disraeli starts to consider changing his name and moving to France

General Sir Evelyn Wood means I could fight the Boer War, but cant afford to.

And in any event the 2nd Boer war is also dealt.  1883 is a disaster.

And two historical scandals appear, removing two random MPs.  Its the power of the press.

And wanting a miracle all I get at the end of the year is another scandal.  One that costs me 12000 guineas, but the treasury is empty.  The Government falls.  Who will tell the Queen?

That concludes my playtest of the game, but I have been working on developing it further, not least by using printed cards and building in a system of Government debt.  Still a work in progress.