Painting Updates - Romans, French-Indian War, Battletech

Here's what I've been painting.

Work continues on the Punic War Romans. With two commands of actual Romans finished, I wanted to incorporate a command of Italian Allies. 

From the Warprinter "Hannibal vs. Rome" Kickstarter, these minis are Etruscans and Samnites, which gives them a visibly distinct profile compared to the Romans. 

In game, these medium infantry units are somewhat less effective than their Roman counterparts (lacking the Pilum and Drilled special rules), but can still hold a flank as the Roman Legions push forward. 

I also gave them units of archers for their skirmish infantry. They have longer range compared to the Roman Velites, but are less effective in close combat. 

While reflecting on what I had done so far, I thought that the shields on the finished Roman infantry were a little bland, so a couple quick lines with some acrylic pens gives the impression of shield designs. It's a little rough up close, but at arms length it works nicely (in my opinion, at least!). 

I've got a small collection of 28mm French & Indian War miniatures that haven't seen much use in some time (apart from a solo test game of the second edition of Muskets & Tomahawks at the start of the Covid pandemic). They could be used with Sharp Practice, but I'm far more interested in using 15mm miniatures for them, which would be a return to a project way back at the start of the blog. 

I reached out to a wargaming friend my an old group who's also a FIW enthusiast, and he's willing to buy them from me. All of the military units were painted apart from a set of eight British Regulars, so I said I would finish them off before we made the exchange. 

Rounding out this eclectic mix of finished miniatures is another Star for my Clan Jade Falcon force. Unlike other Stars which come from the official boxes, this Star is the result of the blind-box 'Salvage Boxes' that Catalyst released from the Clan Invasion Kickstarter.

I'd call it an ad-hoc Star, but that's already a box set. Maybe an Impromptu Star?

The two medium-class mechs are an Ice Ferret and a Viper.

And the other three heavy-class mechs are a Hellbringer, Mad Dog, and a Pryde variant Timber Wolf (which gives it some useful jump jet movement).

For this Star, I wanted a more mute color scheme compared to the screaming eye sore of the previous mechs. 

Painting Update - FIW, Warhammer Fantasy

It sounds like, in the area in which I live, some lockdown restrictions are going to be eased to allow non-essential stores to allow customers to come back into the building. This means access to the local game store, if they decided to open. This should also hopefully mean more gaming! I'll have to find a comfortable mask to wear. 

However, in the absence of games, I've continued working on various projects. 

AW Miniatures recently had a sale on their site, so I bought a couple packs of French and British Regulars to round out the units I have. I finished the French first, since I've got the foam to store them in. I'll get around to the British when their foam trays arrive.

Also finished were a unit of Goblin Wolf Riders and two Goblin wizards to support my Classichammer Orcs & Goblins army. I'm so close to finishing it! There's three units - Boar Riders,  Black Orcs, and Trolls - and a few characters to paint and I can call that project complete. 

Painting Update - AWI, FIW, Badgers & Burrows

I've kept up the painting during the shutdown, working on various projects in parts as I go along. 

I finally finished the last of the Continental force for my 15mm AWI project using Rebels & Patriots. These are two units of skirmishers which can be used either for small units of Minutemen, or the riflemen that became the bane of British officers during the war.

Speaking off, the British half of the project will be the next block of minis to tackle.

I've also had a unit of 28mm Compagnie Franches de la Marine from Sash and Saber's French-Indian War kickstarter sitting around, so the quarantine gave me the chance to paint them. They're great miniatures with plenty of detail.

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I also received my pledge for a Badgers & Burrows kickstarter I backed last year. I had been intrigued by the game in the past, and the kickstarter was the perfect chance to jump in.

While I've split most of the minis into two warbands, I had a few models left over. These included the three extra stretch goal models - a weasel sports player (which looks to be based on hurling), a burrowing mole, and a ghostly Mist Ghast - along with a Large Raptor.

A Lonely Walk in the Woods - Muskets & Tomahawks AAR

With the SJGA and other local opportunities for gaming shut down, I decided to run myself a small game of the new edition of Muskets & Tomahawks. 

Since my gaming space at home is limited, I decided to play a simple 300 point game on a 3'x3' table.

The French attackers had a Canadian Officer, two units of Canadian Militia upgraded to Coureur des Bois, an Indian Sachem, and a unit of Indian Warriors.

The British Defenders had a British Officer, two units of British Regulars, a Ranger Officer, and a unit of Rangers.

Since this was a solo game, I decided to add a little uncertainty to the unit activations. Normally, each player in M&T draws three cards. For this solo game, each side had three cards placed face down. I rolled a d3 to determine which card would be used. I could, however, supersede this with Command Points if it would be beneficial to a combatant.

Both sides were using the Battle scenario, which meant that had to reduce their opponent's model count by half to win. The British had 26 models, and the French had 24.

The game started with the Canadians and Rangers creeping through cover, hoping to spot the enemy first.

Thanks to the random draw, it was the Rangers that managed to fire first. They caused three casualties, and the Canadians were forced to take a Reaction test.

I ended up rolling a 0, and thanks to the relevant modifiers, the Canadians immediately routed! This already placed them at 2/3 of the way to losing the game.

It wasn't going much better for the allied Indians on the other side of the settlement, as a blistering hail of lead from the Regulars (and another bad die roll!) saw them flee back into the woods.

Luckily, their Sachem managed to turn the fleeing warriors back around before they could go any further.

The Canadians had their chance to finally answer the Ranger's fire with a volley of their own. Two rangers were killed, but a result of a 0 on the reaction test (I will never use these dice against an actual person!) saw the rangers take flight further in the trees. Like the Sachem, the Ranger Officer put a stop to that.

Speaking of the Natives, a lucky couple draws and some Command Points placed the natives directly in front of one of the British Regular units, after having shot one down. With a lucky flip of the cards, the tomahawk-wielding Indians would be able to splash a little red on the nearby building.

However, a couple card flips saw all three of the clock cards finally drawn, ending the first turn.

And the first flip of the new turn was a British Regulars card! This gave me the oppurtunity to try out the new Volley Fire rules, which uses a designated area directly in front of a unit in Close Order to see who's hit. On a roll of 0 (or 0s and 1s if the firing unit is in two ranks) any model hit immediately becomes a casualty!

Two Indians fell under the volley, which was enough to hit the 50% mark and end the game with a solid British victory. 

Here's three of my major takeaways from this solo game:

1. Overall, this still feels like Muskets & Tomahawks. The flow of the game and the base mechanics haven't changed so radically that it will mess with players of the original version. The first few games may go slow to get some of the detailed changes down, but it should pick up from there. 
2. Command points are great. In this game I only used them to activate units, but this still made for some critical turning points, letting me fire, move, or reload the guns of a certain unit. It will be interesting to see them expanded upon in larger games against actual opponents. 
3. Volley Fire is one of those changes that does need reconsideration. In the previous version, it just meant a bonus to shooting and a negative modifier to a unit being shot at. In the new version of M&T, it's essentially a template than can be anywhere from about 3"x16" to 8"x16" with a 1/5 chance of killing a model, and a guaranteed Reaction test against any units in the line of fire. That's huge! While larger units of Regulars in Close Order will be more resilient against the shock of a volley, units of Irregulars, Militia and Indians will need to be mindful of just how big that template can be.
   There are, however, two drawbacks to Volley Fire. First, any models under the template are hit, so make sure there's no friendly unit just beyond the enemy if you're going to use it! And units using Volley Fire will receive two Fire tokens, meaning they'll have to reload twice before being able to fire again. 

I'm sure I'm missing nuances, and like most games not directly supported with solo rules, the experience did ring a little hollow, but I still enjoyed the experience and I look forward to when I game with other people again.

Painting Update - AWI, FIW Rebasing, and SJGA dice!

While I've been playing games, I haven't had to chance to really record anything for the blog.  So for this week, it's a quick painting update!

Work on the 15mm American War of Independence project continues. Both of the "army" deals I purchased from Stone Mountain Miniatures came with two artillery pieces and their crew.

For the British artillery, I used the standard mid-to-late 18th century uniform - blue coats with red facings - and grey gun carriages.

While I could have done the same with the Americans, I instead decided to use the uniform of Henry Knox and his artillerymen that Rick Atkinson mentions in his book, "The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777" - black coats with red facings - and I used a darker red for the gun carriages.

I've also been re-basing my French and Indian War miniatures. The new edition of Muskets & Tomahawks will be coming out in a couple months, which motivated me to get this collection back out. I wasn't satisfied with the original basing (mono-colored flock on square bases), so I've been re-basing them to round bases with better flocking, grass tufts, and small stones. I've also been touching up the miniatures themselves, fixing tabletop damage.

In my efforts to help drive more attention to the South Jersey Gamers Association, I decided to take a cue from other wargaming organizations and look to see if the club could get customized dice with our logo on them. And as it turns out, I could!

These dice are from Chessex and feature the club's logo in white on the "6" face. The dice themselves have a really nice red/black marble surface. Of the ten dice I ordered, only one has a noticeable error, with some of the white painted staining the logo side.

These will be presented to the club at this month's meeting (I won't be able to attend), where the members will decide whether to spend club funds to purchase more dice. The nice thing is that the more we order at one time, the cheaper they get, so hopefully we'll get a 200+ order to hand out at events along with our business cards.

Stuck in a Rut - Fistful of Lead: Horse & Musket AAR

With the recent announcement of a new edition of Muskets & Tomahawks, I decided to re-base my FIW miniatures from their old, boring square bases to round bases with a little more visual flair (stones, tufts, non-monotone flock). 

This coincided with some local wargamers wanting to meet up weekly for games at various locations. I offered to run a game set during the French & Indian War using the Horse & Musket version of Fistful of Lead. 

Sam and Keith showed up, so they would control the French and Indians, while I lead the British. 

The scenario was set in late 1755. Braddock's disastrous failed attack on Fort Duquesne has sent the British colonies reeling while encouraging the petite guerre fighters of the French colonies.

A wagon of vital supplies is being transported with a guard of British Regulars and Colonial Rangers. The British goal is to get the wagon off the opposite table edge, hopefully with minimal casualties.

Lurking in the woods to either wide of the road is a small warband of French-allied Indians and Coureur des Bois, the infamous French-Canadian woodsmen. Their goal is to capture the wagons and stop the supplies from reaching their destination.

The first casualty of the game was the British officer, who made himself a target by waving his sword around and yelling out orders. The rest of the British troops pressed on.

The attacking Canadians and Indians quickly revealed themselves as smoke drifted from the woods. Most of it missed, including the British return fire.

The second British casualty of the game occurred when the Ranger leading the horses lost his nerve and fled the oncoming slaughter. The Canadians and natives whooped and hollered as the remaining British regrouped behind the wagon.

The two sides then came to blows. While some of the British charged off into the woods, the French officer led an attack on the only Regular defending the wagon.

After a brief skirmish, the French secured the wagon with no losses. The British infantrymen on the road were both shoot and killed.

The two remaining British soldiers fought on as the Indians and Coureur des Bois moved in.

And soon the woods were quiet after the last echoes of gunshots faded away. The French had secured the wagon and slaughtered its guards while only losing two of the their own numbers. It was a absolute victory for the French!

Sam and Keith had a blast taking my British to pieces, and enjoyed the game. Fistful of Lead works well for fast playing skirmish games (the whole game took a little over an hour, and that was with Keith and Sam learning the rules). I think this would work well for a club game, and hopefully I can play out the full campaign from the "Red Hatchets & Black Powder" supplement.

Painting Update - FIW

I haven't been doing much hobbywise for the past month or so thanks to vacation and work, but I did manage to finish more units for my French and Indian War project. 

These miniatures are from AW Miniatures that I got in as a kickstarter reward. They work perfectly for British and French Regulars. Each nation has an officer and two units of eight regulars each.

There's a decent amount of detail on the figures and they painted up fairly quickly.

I've got some Compagnies Franches de la Marine to add to the French, but I'll work on them at some later date.

Backwoods Brawl - Muskets & Tomahawks AAR

This past weekend I was back up in Pennsylvania and met up with Carl for a couple of games at 7th Dimension. I had finally finished painting up two 400 point forces for Muskets & Tomahawks, and Carl was interested in trying out Carnevale. 

So we set up a table for a French-Indian War bash. The scenario was fairly simple - two small scouting forces encounter each others by a local settlement. The goal was to reduce the enemy force to half its original number, which would then cause the enemy to flee. 

The French and British forces were nearly identical: 2 officers, 2 units of regular infantry, 2 units of irregular infantry, and 2 units of Indian allies. The British irregulars were Rangers with the Marksman skill (making them better shots), while the French irregulars were Coureurs De Bois, which gave them the Native skill (making them harder to hit).

The area surrounding the buildings was clear terrain, while most of the rest of the table was light cover. The larger trees denoted areas of dense cover. 

Most of the fighting in the woods was between the British Rangers and the French Coureurs De Bois and Indians. The Rangers got lucky with their card draws, and were able to fire and reload at the right moment to force the enemy to retreat to cover before the tomahawks and knife blades came out.

In the settlement, one of the British-allied native units was harried by French Irregulars, until they were charged in close combat. In some serious dice rolling, the natives were able to slaughters the irregulars, leaving a single man in the unit left to flee the battle.

Meanwhile, the British regulars advanced and exchanged volleys with their French counterparts.

The undergrowth was sticky with blood as the British and French fought in close combat. It seemed like the Rangers might be able to hold out against overwhelming numbers...

But Carl was able to prevail, with only a single Ranger left in the melee.

And then, disaster! It had seemed like the British had a good grasp of victory even with the mounting casualties. But Carl had positioned his French Regulars to fire two volleys into a unit of British regulars, with ghoulish results. While the first round of shots only killed two men, the second round killed two more. This meant the resulting Reaction Test had so many negative modifiers, the remaining British infantry routed!

With that, it only took Carl a couple more casualties to force the British to their breaking point, and the Redcoats turned tail and fled into the woods.

We had a great time. Our only regrets were missing that 400 point games were played on a 6'x4' table, which may have offered a little more maneuvering during the battles, and forgetting to bring cotton swabs to mark which units had fired for visual effect.

Hopefully I can get M&T to the table more often now that I've got painted forces, which will also let Carl and I use more of the advanced rules that we skipped in this game - random scenarios, Officer traits, blinds and dummy markers.

Painting Update - FIW, Pirates, Horizon Wars

Let's go to the painting desk for an update. 

I finally got around to finishing the French Wilderness Force for Muskets & Tomahawks. Part of the force is made up of a Canadian Officer and Canadian Miltia.

Another unit of Canadian Militia is also included, but these are Coureur de Bois - woodsmen and trappers who have gone native. And speaking of native, a small unit of French-allied Indians rounds out the force.

I made a slight mistake when talking about the British Force. It turns out the unit size restrictions in Muskets & Tomahawks only allows a Ranger unit to be eight men at max, so the six so-called "militia" are actually rangers as well, to make two units of eight.

And now that all the irregular forces are done, it may be time to start looking for some regular troops to fill out the conflict.

I also painted up some pirates for Blood & Plunder. While I like the rules, and the miniatures look great, I wasn't so enamored with the idea of painting up the same four miniatures for each unit in the game. So I've been shopping around and buying up Wargames Foundry Pirates where I can find them.

While I haven't had the chance to play Horizon Wars recently, I've finished painting up the last of the UMC forces. The above are medium Gladius mechs from Immediate Force Solutions, a private military company that exclusively fields mechs.

Rounding out the UMC is Fujikawa-Shaw Investment Retrieval LLC, which uses its airdrop capable light Zephyr and medium Squall mechs alongside airborne infantry, artillery, and recon units. 

Irregularities - Muskets & Tomahawks AAR

With both the British and French forces painted for Muskets & Tomahawks, Carl and I finally got together for a game. We were using two forces at a little over 200 points each, which were fairly equal in abilities. 

French Wilderness Force (Carl)

Canadian Officer

Canadian Militia x8

Canadian Militia x8

-Coureur de Bois

French-allied Indians x6

British Wilderness Force (Brian)

Colonial Officer

-Ranger

Rangers x8

-Marksmen

Rangers x8

British-allied Indians x6

We rolled for the buildings, with one going in the center and Carl placing another nearby (it does look like I placed the "center" building a little too close to one side of the table). The rest of the table was covered with scattered woods for dense terrain. For simplicity's sake, we both went for the Engagement objective (so we would need to kill sixteen models from the other side to win), with no events or side plots.

With each unit having the Scout rules, the game began with hidden deployment markers on the table, with both sides having two dummy markers as well.

One of my ranger units was the first to be revealed, hoping that the enemy wouldn't reveal themselves too soon.

That bet didn't pay off, with Carl revealing his militia in the dense cover with a volley of musket fire. Three of my rangers fell, and the unit recoiled.

The French woodsmen moved into one of the abandoned cabins, spotting and revealing my second ranger unit.

The rangers advanced, with one unit approaching the cabin for a point blank shot.

Carl's Indian allies managed to get close enough to spot the British-allied Indians. Another Indian card allowed them to shoot, killing two and recoiling the unit.

Luckily, my rangers were up next, and the one unit fired a point-blank shot into the Coureur de Bois in the cabin, killing three and recoiling the unit.

Both sides were in the fight, with only the Canadian officer still hidden.

My rangers fired a volley at the French Indians, forcing them back with a single casualty.

The Canadian miltia shifted to their left and fired with two cards, sending my rangers into flight.

The rangers managed to rally, turning and firing at the Coureur de Bois who were trying to sneak up the side of the cabins.

At this point, it looked grim for the Canadians. They had one unit of militia still intact, but their Indians had almost fled off the table and the Coureur de Bois were down to two men.

Suddenly, the tables turned on the British. Their Indian allies were routed from the table, and the Canadian militia wheel and turned to face the suddenly outflanked rangers.

Well, things had turned very bloody very quickly. The Canadian militia killed two of the rangers, and further shots from the Coureur de Bois and Indians sent the unit fleeing across the table. Meanwhile, the other rangers managed to land a devastating volley on the Canadian Militia, wiping out half the unit with a little assistance from the ranger officer. A return shot sent the rangers fleeing, however.

At this point, the British had reached their break point, and the morale card was added to the deck.

The two sides managed to rally again, approaching for another round of combat.

More rangers and militia fell on both sides, putting the French and British over the goal for the scenario in the same turn. Counting up casualties, Carl had managed to score eighteen to my sixteen, giving the French a very bloody victory.

We enjoyed the game, and I'm hoping to get it to the table a little more often, hopefully with more of the period-flavor aspects, like canoes, events and side plots.