The Return of the Zulu

I've upgraded my Zulu core force to eight warbands, scratch built in 2mm scale and virtually cost free.  The 24th foot remain at six Companies and an artillery battery.

I'm also using a new battle map I had locally printed on card, cost €10.

The solo Mr. Babbage system commands the Zulu and I'm using Men who would be Kings, with casualty dice to denote losses.

Sir Garnet advances as the Zulu begin to pop up.  I gave Garnet two turns before the Solo mechanisms kicked in.

The Zulu charge home

But the bayonets of the 24th throw them back, just...

Getting dicey

The Zulu don't close in and the 24th give effective fire knocking them down.

But my thin red line is teetering

Yet the fire put down keeps the Zulu at bay long enough to make it clear that I'm winning

Take that Babbage!  Colonialism wins another shameful battle.

Creating my Strength and Honour armies

 A quick scratch build project to get some forces ready for the Strength and Honour rules, Due to be published this month.

I've already done some 2mm Colonial bases, and the Strength and Honour rules will require larger than those, (120mm frontage) but for the sake of table space I'm going for 80mm by 50mm for my Roman legions, and 80 by 40 for most other units.

The Forces I'm building will be based on the battles between Julius Caesar and the Helvettii Confederation in 58BC,  specifically Bibracte.

Caesar's army comprised six legions, two veteran the 9th and 10th, two regular the 7th and 8th, and two recently raised, the 11th and 12th.  In addition he was supported by a mixture of cavalry hired from other Gallic tribes, and light troops.   This will mean I need six legions bases, two Skirmishers and a Cavalry base.

IX and X  Veteran Legions

VII and VIII Experienced Legions 

XI and XII  Recruit Legions

"Roman" Cavalry  in 2 lines

Skirmishers Aedui

Skirmishers Numidians

General

Camp

The basic Legion base, with 15mm by 10mm blocks for the cohorts.  I'm using 2mm balsa here for the grain effect I'll get when I tackle the shields.  I'm mostly planning to use Cork tile, but the Romans need a slightly different look.

A layer of filler goes onto the blocks.  This is then striped with my Stanley knife to create a gridded rank. 

My traditional method, filler.  No real definition there.

Method number 2.  Sand scatter to represent the heads.  Honestly, it doesn't work!

Method number 3.  Model clay spread thinly over the blocks, then scored.  Better definition, but maybe I can do better.

I turned to a plastic woven place mat.  Just dimpled enough to give the effect I'm looking for.

The woven effect shows lines and I've used different areas of the mat to gain separate effects.

Never one to be distracted I added a small Roman villa build into the mix.

Starting to come together.  I've added a couple of rear line cohort bases, in case things get desperate.

The 9th legion just about done, as my prototype.

And the finished villa beside a Gallic Warband, a slinger base and the 9th.

So with my process sorted it's time to ramp up production.

It took me a few days to sort out a 2mm figure method, but I'm happy to have gotten just about the effect I need.  Next up the Gauls, and then back to the Colonials.

Sir Effing kisses Hardy

With the sun finally beginning to show it's face here in Cyprus, and after the coldest winter the island has seen in years I decided to get back out in the garden and game some Kiss Me Hardy.   We bought a glass top table for the patio set a couple of years back, and for a naval game it works quite well.

So Admiral Sir Effing B'Stard is back  commanding the British Blue squadron, against the Frenchmen of Admiral Odeur de Pongé.

the French sail towards the British line.  Admiral de Pongé.has the stronger force

But a tack and suddenly the British are hammering the French Admiral's flagship leading the van.

And the flagship catches fire.  Unlucky.

And Sir Effing of the Blue manages to get his fire in first, its really effective.

The French fire is less good.

de Pongé goes down with his flagship

General chase.  The British Captains begin to close and board.

And Sir Portly in his 74 HMS Heavyweight even picks on a frigate, which swiftly strikes.

By and large the boarding actions go well, but one of the French liners is afire, and takes a British 74 with it.

Sir Effing puts another French 74 down

A French 74, a frigate and brig escape over the horizon

Three prizes. Sir Effing will have enough money to rebuild the duck house on his moat!

Good game.  The French were all over the place, and their flagship seemed doomed from the moment I turned Sir Effing's line.  So much for the weather gauge, since the French essentially dint use their position closer to the wind well.  Ill have to give the next generation of the de Pongé. family a rematch.  

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.