The Road to LEAD MOUNTAIN......

.....is not so much paved with good intentions as much as it is childish glee and greed bent in all angles to somehow reach adult justification.

As it kind of fits the season, though I'd be banging on no matter the date, I shall explain;

Some many months ago a few of us were dabbling with some Pulp gaming, lead mainly by Jon who directed our gazes to various manufactures including Pulp Figures who have a number of very fine offerings. I then discovered that as something of a side project PF's main man, Bob Murch, was also working on some particularly lovely woodland Indians for the Huron / Iroquois war.

I drooled over these figures during many a lunch break as I'm a sucker for AWI and the Black Powder skirmish thing. The Last Mohican has to be a Top 10 film for me. They're also really nice, lovingly crafted figures. Having previously read a bit around the subject I found myself a copy of Orenda on Bob's suggestion and enjoyed it thoroughly.

I've dabbled with the period previously on a number of occasions, most recently as my St Peytersburg project being a Sleepy Hollow village to range through any historical genre I fancied. Scenery was built, many figures were based and base-coated, some figures were even painted. Musket and Tomahawk was purchased and played. Mordheim was ported across to provide Zombies vs Redcoats. STUFF happened....until it didn't anymore as the unholy trinity of time, money and opponents, aka reality, confined everything into a variety of storage boxes.

So imagine my delight when I discovered that those figures had been developed into Flint and Feather as part of Crucible Crush. All of a sudden it's a package deal of figures and rules all wrapped up in a starter box set. These days, to me, easy access into a genre / period is a big deal. Old school demanded that you do all the legwork yourself and to an extant you got a greater sense of accomplishment, assuming you actually got there. More and more these days entry point boxed sets are coming onto the market.

When I worked for Gee-Dub I did pretty well from the maxim; "Sell the Hobby not the Product" because once you're into the hobby you sell yourself the product.  For myself, and I'm sure many others, it's more about limiting myself and despite the commen sense in that I often rail against it despite the shadow of the mountain over my shoulder.

Kind of half the point isn't it?

That would be an Ecumenical matter!

Hello People,

Bit of a hiatus once again but there you. Yet another impressionistic style mini review as we played a bit more Infinity down at Enfield Gamers this Tuesday.

This time it was a four way 250 point game with pretty much the full rules with Star Wars themed forces. Yeah, biting off more than you can chew and all that jazz!

I'd previously heard that Infinity can be a bit fiddly and there are quite a number of special rules and the like, in fact it can be a bit bewildering at first contact. On the other hand some things are super dead simple, such as linear terrain. If the figure isn't right up against it then no bonus. The LOS "silhouette" system is similarly very black and white. In fact there's very little grey with Infinity, just plenty of actions, states, abilities and skills to take into account.

For a skirmish game it's quite a different design philosophy, at least it is for us. I found that once I realised that and got my head around it a lot more fell into place. You need plenty of terrain on an Infinity table to break LOS, your aiming for that cluttered feeling. Initially the rules felt similarly cluttered by once you realsise that they're actually individually simple LOS opens up. It feels like a very different design philosophy. Once I realised that and got my head around it a lot more fell into place.

Once again.....grown up Necromunda. More tonight  :)

To INFINITY and Beyond?

Hello people,

Last Wednesday night Jon came over and brought Operation Icestorm with him.

I have an admission to make. I've been immensely tempted by ININITY for a number of years but haven't done anything about it. Other than the time / money issues I've been most put off by getting enough games. I'd also heard that the mechanics were a bit fiddly and potentially rather gamey. A couple of years ago at Salute I almost cracked to the point of picking up the 2nd Edition rulebook and two starter sets at a startling good price. I eventually them down again!

I've always really liked the aesthetic of the game, the figures, the races, the setting....everything. It feels very Blade-Runner to me and I've always loved that. I very nearly pre-ordered Op Icestorm but was put off by the paper play-mat and then I spent the money elsewhere.

So back at Wednesday night we ran through the five beginner missions in the box that run along the narrative of a raid by a Nomad strike-force on a PanOceania facility. Starting with three grunts vs three grunts a figure / unit is added each mission along with thier additional abilites / rules / actions. Pretty straight forward but well thought out none the less.

 As or mechanics it's a skirmish game. You get one activation token per figure on the table at the beginning of the turn. You spend one activation token to give a figure two ativations from Move, Shoot, Close Combat Attack, Dodge and Special which you can take in any order. I you have a Leutenant you get a bonus activation token, only usable by them. You can spend multiple tokens on the same figure OTHER than if your Leutenant has just bought it. The turn after individual figures can only spend the activation tokens that they generate.

The big difference with Ininity is Automatic  Reaction Orders, AROs. Once a figure has performed an action all enemy figures that can draw line of sight get an ARO and can Shoot (single shot), Move, Dodge as a "Face Off" reaction. It's basically a built in Overwatch, similar to the NUTS WWII ruleset. As such tactical movement and activation is key, if you go charging in you'll get shot and combat in this game is BRUTAL.

Five quick games in it feels like grown up Necromunda, which is a good thing, a VERY good thing. The game is also very well supported by a very slick Website from which you can download a free set of the core rules, browse the fluff and make use of the Army Builder.

The figures are just as grown up as the game itself. Being true 30mm scale and multi-part pewter they're not novice friendly but they look awesome. In someways pretty cheap to get into with starter sets at about £35 you will need PLENTY of scenery and then a bit more!

As I'm sure you've realised I'm VERY keen to invest. I really fancy the Combined Army, especially the Morat and Shasvastii. Something about the alien jackboot seems to call to me :)

I have to admit that it's bonus to me that this ISN'T yet another Kick-Starter, but that's another story!!

Suped Up

Hello people,

This Tuesday down at Enfield Gamers Jon was good enough to run me through a game of Pulp City. He's a major fan and I'm a minor KS backer so all good.

Tempted in to a Necroplane faction box and Powerhouse (big lad) the deciding factor was that I knew I could get in some games. Jon even managed to lend me most of my faction, beautifully painted, to bound across his custom terrain. All I had to do was turn up :)

Playing through what was basically a big boy intro game it took a couple of turns to get the mechanic settled in but nothing more. Alternative activation, action points and resource management are nothing new in modern skirmish and creates a flexible game engine without being too fiddly. Doing things and activating abilities is as easy as rolling a number of D6 and adding your highest result to your ability score against either an opposed roll by your target or a simple target number.

As you would hope the game is all about Super Powers and more importantly their tactical use. Your Supremes each have a number of Trump abilities which activate when rolling a 5 or 6 against said Trump ability. By doing so you can deal additional effects / damage.

Much as with many Superhero teams you have a leader, some heavily themed chaps and a number of support characters chucking out buffs to the big boys and / or disrupting the other side. This is where the real tactical cut and thrust is found. Do you buff before you bash or make sure you get your strike in first? I quickly worked out that I was playing a skirmish game with plenty of depth and variation as well as the expected CRASH!, BANG! and KAPOW!!

Jon and his dice were good enough to let me have the win. Looking forward to returning the favour :)

Way of the Exploding D6

Hello people,

Last night at Enfield Gamers I got to play something of a "proper" wargame as Rich ran myself and Shaun through Osprey's new samurai skirmish offering, Ronin. 

There were fully painted figures, with flocked bases, running around on a 4x4 table covered with a gaming mat, hills, woods, a road, river, broken ground and a walled house plus attendant scatter pieces! I was well chuffed ;)

I also rather enjoyed both games of Ronin that we played. It's a small scale skirmish system with initiative, alternate individual figure activation and plenty of skills and equipment that many such modern day offerings feature. The difference is the resource management element, this time in the combat phase, that is doing so much for the genre these days.

In short every figure / character has a number of Command Points (CP) which are allocated prior to combat as either attack or defence points. Unsurprisingly attack points boost your attack dice pool while defence dice boost your defence dice pool. 

Combat itself is an opposed dice roll with combined attack dice roll + character fight value +/- bonuses vs combined defence dice roll + fight value +/- bonuses + armour. The difference determines severity of wound.

Relatively standard stuff you might think, along with attendant weapon and ability modifiers, but the rub comes in the fact that you allocate CPs blind prior to chat and then reveal simultaneously. This introduces an element if bluff with their use becoming both highly tactical and situational. This the game within the game is created and highly enjoyable it is too :)

Lady Luck still plays her part and did Shaun no favours for most of the evening. There are several lists available and my warrior monks featured a rock hard and tooled warlord with similarly keen Sensei with a couple of very green initiates.

Outnumbered in both games I followed the mantra of mutual support and combats did tend to clump. In both games it was my warlord that did most of the damage whilst the slack-jawsdid their   best to stay alive.

As with most skirmish systems a variety of quality scenarios is key and a number are provided and it wouldn't be difficult to convert over the huge number out there or write your own.

So a good solid system with enough detail and meta to keep you engaged and necessitate proper tactical play whilst still knocking along at a rate of knots. We played two games in the night from a standing start and probably could have had a third. 

You could also use the system for just about any sword, shield and bow or matchlock setting. Add in a bit of "magic" and you can cover the fantasy base too.

With my Dreadball painting nearing a conclusion it'll definitely be the LOTR orcs and gobs up next though my Comfrontation Bushi greenskins would do just as well as a dozen figures is more than plenty.

Looking forward to a few more dramatically raised eyebrows and poorly dubbed challenges ;)

Dreaded D

Last Tuesday at Enfield Gamers Rich ran myself Charlie an Mr Christian through a game of Skirmish Sangin. Each of us ran a pair of Delta operators looking to snatch one of Bin Laden's lieutenants as he left the local Al Jezeera office. Rich ran the Taliban with great gusto


A quiet street in downtown Durka-Durka-Stan

 Allowed to deploy as we wished, other than the Al Jazeera compound (bottom left) we, eventually, settled on the two main buildings and the corner of the street on the far left feeling the need to cover the options if our man didn't take the obvious route to the car park (top right)

The game had been billed as roleplay-esque and it proved to be so. Nice simple percentile based with plenty of sensible modifiers giving plenty of scope of action. The need to spot targets and not assume line of sight adds to the roleplay element.

Dreaded apparently!!

Being Dreaded D we had elite stat lines but still needed a good slice of luck. Charlie's boys almost got spotted early doors as one the Tallys wandered in to his building. Thankfully he managed to drop him silently and Tango 1 though slightly spooked continued on his way.

Our luck continued as the GO order was given. Myself and Mr C capped the escort while Charlie jumped, literally, on Tango 1. Our silenced weapons and clean kills meant minimum noise or fuss. Even Rich giving himself the chance of accidental fire couldn't produce the gunfire that might bring his reinforcements running.

Insurgent goats??

Taliban reinforcements advance up Ram-a-Dang-a -Ding-Dong Street

 Eventually a local on a trail bike got suspicious and rang the local Tally hotline. We completely failed to spot him and Rich's dice managed to convince the Warlord picking up the call that it was almost a second invasion force.

By this time we'd bundled up Tango 1 and fallen back to the car park to await pick up.....

......repeatedly!!

Only to get shot....





A couple of waves of Taliban came on from random entry points and a proper firefight ensued. Locals and goats legged it as Al Jazeera waved a couple of cameras out of the office window and started to broadcast live to the nation. Not quite the real time info we were looking for!

As such target identification and acquisition became crucial. As a Black Op we had no rules of engagement, or support assets, but it didn't take too much brainpower (even for Yanks) that civvy casualties live at 5 weren't the best idea. 

Fall back to car park for pick up by SUV

A 40mm parting gift via UGL delivery!

Taking fire, but thankfully no hits the SUV Cav turned up just as the Tally boys made a concerted effort to rescue Tango1. Bundling in to the vehicles as they stormed the car park we made our exit covered by an exploratory UGL round. Thankfully it found it's mark rather than overshooting into the Al Jazeera offices.

We screeched away to a text-book success, other than the local press coverage. Hacking T1's phone we now have a location for the main man himself!

A good fun game, we'll definitely be playing through the follow up mission. Skirmish Sanguin played well giving us a good feeling of free action. Luck was definitely on our side and it will be interesting to see how both we and the game copes with more figures on the table.

Stay tuned..........

 

Give Fire!!

Hello people.

After too many abortive attempts, my fault entirely, Rich dropped round Thursday night and, suitably equipped with tea and biscuits, ran me through a game of Muskets and Tomahawks. As usual I'm not going to provide and in-depth review but link you to that of Mike Hobbs who has already done so and particularly well at that. I am however going to provide you with my more impressionistic approach.

I'd heard lots of good things about T&M, and not just from Rich. I was aware of it's randomly drawn card activation system, always one I've liked, and its Sideplots adding plenty of extra pith to the scenarios.

Taking the Brits I rolled up a Scout mission, needing to visit each quarter of the board and then exit, whilst Rich's French rolled up Slaughter, charged with objectionable task of wiping out a local farmstead thought to be less than keen on frogslegs.

Fortuitously I had already laid out one of St Peyetrsburg's outlying farmsteads with civilians and livestock in attendance so with fresh brews to hand the game commenced.

A few French activation cards came up first and Rich wasted no time in marching straight towards it hollering all the way. The locals quickly took flight though the farmers wife insisted on fetching her prize china first whilst Grandad marshaled the kids to drive the pigs.

The British and their Indian allies arrive by line and blind marker respectively. Marching to the sounds of commotion their scouting mission quickly becomes one of rescue. No Jonny Foreigner will be allowed to sully the King's new territories!

Advancing in the British line deliberately draw the fire of their French counterparts. The Frog militia had already set about their grisly work but a strong Redcoat volley from their unsighted flank sends them fleeing back into the woods.

Despicable Frog that he so obviously is the French Captain steps away from the line and takes aim at the fleeing back of Sara, the Negro housemaid............and shoots her down in cold blood!

A failed thrust by the Brits Indian allies sees the French Militia chase after them only for them to run into the rifles sights of the Indian sharpshooters. Morale is well modelled within M&T giving regular line plenty of staying power whilst leaving Militia decidedly fickle all through one simple mechanic.

Meanwhile the remaining civilians, and their pigs continue their headlong charge for safety. The British delaying action was working and in fact repulsing the French. Rich was having to take further risks to chase his scenario objectives. With neither sideplot looking likely to be fulfilled, they can modify the scale of any victory, it was turning into winner takes all!


Virtuous as the day is long Captain Horatio Long-Bottom had stood mortified by the casual slaughter of he house-maid and as such determined that the rules of gentlemanly conduct no longer applied.

Continuing to loudly exhort his men to hold their rapidly reducing line, one of his randomly determined traits that had previously held his men fast in the face of the French fusillade, he calmly drew his pistol and shot that dastard Frenchman in the head!

A lucky shot no doubt but one that seemed almost karmic given his actions. As the only French officer the Morale card was now added to the French deck. When it next came up all French units would be subject to an immediate Morale check. Mon Dur!!

Whilst Grandad lead his charges deeper into the woods the Morale came up for Rich causing his remaining Militia to flee the field leaving just a few true born Frenchmen to carry the fight to the hated John Bull.

Said Frenchmen were quickly set upon by the Indian Braves, who despite being outnumbered 2 to 1 routed their foes leaving all but three of their number with a new haircut! Major British victory in the offing one feels!

A quick game played in a few hours there was nothing too difficult to learn but plenty to admire. A simple set of rules that plays well and allows the scenarios and subplots to shine through, I enjoyed it immensely. Post game chatter turned to how well it would work for my St Peytersburg gothic horror setting just using stat and abilities already laid out. The supernatural could be easily run as a third force by either a third player or by scenario / automatic / random very easily.

In short this is a game that WILL motivate me out of my current painting slump........it's really that good, give it a go :)