Dog Soldiers

This was a quick game we squeezed in before lockdown.  Werewolves versus 1980s British army, that classic match up.   

The game used the Fistful of Lead Core Rules with the Tales of Horror supplement and nicely demonstrated the flexibility and ease of using these rules for just about anything.

The game was inspired by the 2002 B-movie Dog Soldiers starring Sean Pertwee and Kevin McKidd.  In a remote part of Scotland a patrol of British soldiers on excercise get a much tougher experience than they expected.
 

 

The scenario was a simple farmhouse defended by three soldiers and two more coming from reserve. The soldiers must survive until dawn. It was based on the Under the Blood Moon scenario in the supplement but played on a bigger table and without the farmers.

The Werewolves are truly dangerous under the rules being fast, strong and very difficult to kill without silver bullets.

The squaddies shot well, racking up the shock markers to slow the monsters down.  The seargent even manged to bring down one werewolf in close combat. 

It wasn't enough though as a well timed Queen of Spades card saw a werewolf leap back to action and slice his way through the patrol just as the sun started to rise.

It was a fun game and we'll probably try another along these lines in the furture. 

6mm Cold War

We played a Cold War game this week.  The Warsaw Pact, all Russians in this game, advance against a mixed force of NATO defenders (Belgians, Brits and West Germans).  

All of us were old enough to remember when this was ultra modern.  The miniatures are Heroics and Ros 6mm.  I think many are of a similar vintage to us and if I'm right they have held up remarkably well for their age.  Better than me anyway.

For rules we used A Fistful of Tows 3.  These rules are platoon based, so a vehicle model represents 3-4 real vehicles.  This allows a lot more of the the rear echelon kit to make it on to the table. 

We used cm for measurement but this made ranges and movement very small and maybe inches would be better,

Oldhammer Dark Elves

Now for something a bit different.  I thought I would paint up a few of these Oldhammer Dark Elves I have had rattling around in an old tin.

I'm not up to some of the amazing paint jobs I have seen elsewhere and didn't particularly like the gaudy 1990s style used in the 4th edition army book, so I've gone for a simple dark palette that will hopefully look okay on the table.  

These first few are the dreaded Black Guard of Naggaroth.  

Next we have some of the fanatical Witch Elves.  Goth girls with back combed hair and a taste for blood.

The Dreadspears are the mainstay of the Dark Elf battle line.  They are lead by a Dark Elven lord seen here pointing out their next unfortunate victim.  The last victim's flayed hide makes up the banner.  I'm not sure about that.  I might redo a more conventional flag.

What would a Dark Elf force be without crossbows, so these Darkshards provide some rapid shooting support.

I have a lot more of these including Cold One riding Knights, Corsairs plus some characters and monsters.

Farewell to the Captain

The Perfect Captain web site will be closing down in October after many years honorable service.  An inspiring stalwart of the Wargaming web since the internet was young, I'm sorry to see it go but my thanks go to the good Captain and his pals for all their efforts.

The great production quality of the images and cards came at a time when many rules sets were still in plain text.  Further, they presented these master pieces for free with merely a request to make a charitable donation and that was a beautiful philosophy. 

So I bid the Captain a fond farewell and wish him and his company all the best for the future.

Heroes of the revolution one and all.

A Fistful of Lead

While looking at rule sets to use with my 'Back of Beyond' armies I came across Wiley Games Fistful of Lead series.

These rules have been around for ages but hadn't regisetered with me before, or I had forgotten about them if they had.  Originally a set for Wild West games they have a neat set of core mechanics that can be easily adapted to any period and Wiley Games have been publishing expansions and period tailored sets for a while.  This link to a Werewolve v Legionaries game on YouTube should illustrate the scope. The most recent format is a set of core rules with expansions, although they are still in a transition to this approach with some older sets, and some newer more diverse sets, being stand-alone. The books are all available in PDF for pretty low prices though, so you can dip your toe in for a minimal investment.

A4 hard copies are available in the UK from Oshiro.  I got mine on a super fast turn around, so have no complaints with the service there.

The set we tried first was not actually the core rules but the Bigger Battles expansion.  This is a stand alone game that takes the core rules mechanics and applies them in modified form to units instead of individuals.  Players typically control five or six units with multiple players possible, up to the limit of cards. The turn is card-diven with players having a hand of cards dealt and playing them in sequence and choosing a unit to activate.  Some cards give special bonuses and aces are wild.  Units can vary in size and stats, with the dice used (d10 usually but d8 for green troops and d12 for veterans) and a list of traits to give flavour.

I won't go into details as there is plenty of play description here but they gave us a fast and furious game.  Bigger units and more players slowed things down as is to be expected but the rules coped.  The approach is very much providing a toolkit and rules can easily be mixed from one set to another.  They will not be to everyone's taste and take an admittedly 'hollywood' approach but we had lots of fun.

We now have plans for more games of both Russian Civil War and other more esoteric projects. 

Battle in Bavaria

Somewhere in Bavaria the Austrian army clashes with some of Napoleon's allied troops. Here the Bavarian massed columns bend but cannot break the Austrian line.

We used the General d'Armee rules by Dave Brown and available from the Too Fat Lardies.

They give a good game and are simple enough to allow for the massed formations my club mates have collected.

In this game a mixed corps of Bavarians, Poles, Hessians and Nassauers fight out an encounter battle with an Austrian Corps.  

On the Austrian right a Light Division contested close country with the Hessians and Nassauers.  In the centre the Bavarians held the mill against a lacklustre Austrian counter attack.  The main action however, was on the left where an aggressive Bavarian assault tried to take a defended ridgeline with the Poles in support.

The Bavarians came on in very aggressive style, storming over the field towards the whitecoats with fixed bayonets.  The Austrians suffered from some severe artillery fire but a half dozen assaults were thrown back mainly due to some awesome volleys from the Austrian infantry.  The centre of the position and lynchpin of the defence was a brigade battery of six pounders. 

  

 

Firing virtually everything they had at the oncoming columns the poor gunners were dropping from fatigue but held their position against counter battery fire, skirmish fire and direct assault.  In the rules they made some impressive firing rolls, especially the additional casulaty dice you get for firing at massed columns or using artillery assault.  In the end they were forced to retire, low on ammo and with just one casaulty remainiong before their break point.  

The brave but doomed Bavarian columns charged into walls of fire and despite pushing the Austrians back from part of the ridge and the rose garden could not take the position.  With Austrian Grenadiers maching to the sound of the guns the Confederation generals called off the assault.  This was the Bavarian high water mark.  

  

 

A great game with a great set of rules.  Lots of fun and a pretty decent historical representation.

AFSR Armour

I have painted a tank for my mate's Drozdovsky AFSR force and added some details to his two Austin armoured cars, one of which was used in our last game.

The writing says генерал Дроздовский (General Drozdovsky).  I think this is actually a MkIV, and not a MkV as it should be, but it's a nice model and looks pretty good.  The Austins are from 1st Corps like my Bolo one.  The names are волонтер (Volunteer) and славный (Glorius).

Mikhail Drozdovsky was one of the counter-revolutionary White leaders in the early civil war but was mortally wounded in late 1918.

Drozdovsky had lead a force of officers and volunteers from the Romanian front in his famous march to the Don and his regiments fought with the Volunteer Army and AFSR until the end.

Siberia 1919

Somewhere on the Russian Civil War's eastern front the White Siberian Army of Admiral Kolchak clashes with Comrade Trotsky's Red Army for control of a vital railway line.

With the Red Guard railway workers defending the station buildings other Red Army forces have dug in on a nearby ridge.

Meanwhile the forces of the reactionary counter-revolution advance from the east.

Comrade Pavlov, commanding the Bolshevik positions, rushes his reserves forward to aid in the defence of the station and the redoubts on the ridge line.

 

Cossacks and White officers attack the station but are held up by the fierce resistance of the railway workers in the station master's dacha.

Eventually the Red Guards surrender but are all massacred by the victorius Whites.  This is a war with no half measures.

At close of play, intense shelling has driven the Communist Peasant battalion from the ridge and the Whites are pushing on from their victory on the flank.  A unit of internationalist Magyars rushes forward to try to hold the line.

This battle is fictional and while the uniforms are suitable for 1919, the armies are probably more fitting for 1918 in the Railway War period.  We used Setting the East Ablaze 2.0 rules with the following armies. 

Reds

Comrade Pavlov +1 Leader

Red Army Communist Peasant Battalion
10 figs C3 M3 Rifles, Bombs and 1 LMG
Kulomzino Railway Worker Red Guards
10 figs C4 M3 Rifles, Bombs
Moscow Factory Worker Red Guards
10 figs C4 M3 Rifles, Bombs
Tobolsk Food Requisition Detachment
10 figs C4 M4 Rifles, Bombs
Magyar Internationalists
10 figs C3 M3 Rifles Bombs

Tashkent Cavalry Detachment
10 figs C3 M3 Lances, Rifles, Bombs

Artillery Battery 2 x Field Gun C4 M3
1 HMG C3 M3
1 Austin AC C3 M3

Whites

Colonel Verzhbitsky +1 Leader

Omsk Officer detachment
10 figs C3 M3 Ferocious, Rifles, Bombs, 1 LMG
Irtysh Officer detachment
10 figs C3 M3 Ferocious, Rifles, Bombs, 1 LMG
Kurgan Officer detachment
10 figs C3 M3 Ferocious, Rifles, Bombs, 1 LMG
Ishim  Officer detachment
10 figs C3 M3 Ferocious, Rifles, Bombs, 1 LMG

Orenburg Cossack Detachment
10 figs C2 M3 Lances, Rifles, Bombs

Artillery Battery 2 x Field Gun C3 M3
1 HMG C3 M3
1 Austin AC C3 M3