Jhamjar Lancers

 I've had these Brigade Games Indian Lancers in my collection for nearly 20 years, so this post is a bit of a cheat as they aren't actually new, but they've been retouched.  The main problem I've had is figuring out the lances.  I've previously used copper wire and later styrene rod.  Neither of these stood up to regular use - the copper wire bent, and the styrene rod just snapped.  So as I am hoping to start up my Jhamjar campaign, I re-armed them with metal wire spears from North Star.  I clipped off the sharp points to save myself and my gaming mates from injury, though!

First up, here is the new wire spear lance on the right, and the old styrene rod lance on the left.  I decided not to paint on the simulated bamboo segmentation on the new lances that I did on the left.

Here is the full contingent of 22, including an officer in sun helmet and three Daffadars (sergeants).

A close up of the three Daffadars.

Jhamjar Insurgents

I've been very much enjoying the Star Wars series Andor, as it traces the journey of Cassian Andor from petty criminal to completely committed rebel against the Galactic Empire.  Naturally, I have been drawn to starting a series of games based on a rebellion against the empire, but rather than dive into the Star Wars universe, I will resume my long-lapsed plans for my Jhamjar campaign. 

I will use the Too Fat Lardies' Dawns and Departures to build the campaign.  I haven't decided which rules for fighting the actual battles that will be set up, but am looking at Fistful of Lead Bigger Battles (and possibly standard FFoL for skirmishes), Bolt Action, and The Men Who Would Be Kings.  Who knows, with the second edition of Chain of Command coming out soon, I might add CoC2 into the mix.  Hanging on in the background there will still be GDW's Soldiers' Companion and the venerable Sword and the Flame.  Most likely I'll plan games with each of these rules.

I already have established armies for both the Djelli of Jhamjar and for the British Raj.  However armies are never complete!  In addition to his uniformed army, the common people of Jhamjar may get involved in the fight.  Inspired by Indian activists like the famous revolutionary M.N.Roy, groups of insurgents may appear to ambush the Imperial forces.

These figures are from Pulp Figures.  I did careful research on their clothing (aka I rewatched RRR) and decided to add a bit more colour, plus use of red highlights with turbans, belts and sashes to represent their revolutionary inspiration.  The lady on the end is from Eureka Miniatures.

More Eastern Front WWI - The Road to Monasterzyska

Lisa stopped by this afternoon for a playtest of the next scenario in the adventures of the RNAS armoured car squadron on the eastern front in WWI.  In this scenario, the Russian army is in retreat, and the armoured cars are assisting Russian infantry and Finland Dragoons in escorting ambulances on the road to the town of Monasterzyska in Galicia (now part of Western Ukraine, but in 1917 this was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire).  As usual, my WWI Germans proxy in for the Austro-Hungarian KuK forces.

We rolled for leader traits before starting the game.  Amusingly, we ended up with negative or neutral traits for almost every unit.  Unfortunately for Arthur, the veteran Finland Dragoons ended up being led by a shirker, so these guys were prevented from charging anyone who hadn't already attacked them!  One of the KuK infantry units had the same trait, so there was a built-in resistance to action right from the very start.

Here is the table.  The Russian ambulances enter on the left and must exit by one of the two roads on the right.  The telegraph poles have no effect on the game, and are likely anachronistic for this part of the old A-H empire.

KuK infantry move up to cover the fork in the road.

Russians and RNAS move on to the table.

Finland Dragoons threaten the KuK infantry.

but then they decide to screen the ambulances from the other side of the road (as their leader unconvincingly tries to explain why he isn't attacking the enemy).  Meanwhile, their more enthusiastic infantry tovarischi engage in a firefight, inflicting shock as noted by the puff of smoke.

The ambulances move forward screened by the infantry and dragoons.  The tan truck is a proxy for the second ambulance.

The Austro-Hungarian artillery don't recognise the proxy ambulance and destroy it!  Meanwhile the KuK infantry in the crater are suppressed by the Russians and the armoured cars.

The field gun turns its deadly power on the RNAS Lanchester, destroying it.  The Rolls Royce uses the destroyed ambulance as cover.

The field gun plays an ace, a wild card, as a 6 which allows a free reload, and it destroys the Roller!

The game ended up a draw.  One of the two ambulances escaped.  The Anglo-Russian force lost both armoured cars, one of the ambulances and the dragoons but were able to destroy two of the KuK infantry teams and the A-H officer.  We'll be playtesting another of the scenarios next week.

Fistful of Lead Bigger Battles on the Eastern Front

Last night, Lisa invited Arthur and me to try another game in her WWI Eastern Front scenarios featuing Lt Cdr Locker-Lampson and the RNAS armoured section during the Kerensky Offensive.  Write up for game one is here. 

This scenario featured a scramble between Locker-Lampson's armoured cars, two sotnias of Cossacks and a zug of königlich und kaiserlich Austro-Hungarian infantry to control the village of Kozova in Galicia in what is now Ukraine, but was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the start of WWI.  In this scenario, the three forces enter the village from different sides and seek to control the town.  Points were given for each enemy unit wiped out.  In the historic battle, the Cossacks turned on the local Jewish population.  Lisa simulated this that when the ammo dump exploded, Cossack units were required to attack the nearest group of civilians unless the RNAS were within 8" to stop them.

Here is an overview of Kozova.  It was fun to have a chance to get the UmBum buildings and the Bolsheviks and Russian civilians onto the table!  

Bolshevik agitators march past a collection of Orthodox and Roman Catholic clergy.

Two sotnias of Cossack cavalry move onto the table.

Russian casualties being escorted to the train station for evacuation.

Cossacks and RNAS move into Kozova.

And the KuK troops (proxied by Germans in this case) enter at the other end of the village.

Arthur's veteran Cossacks attack and destroy a squad of KuK troops.

KuK infantry face down Cossacks advancing along the railway.

KuK MG manages to take out one of the RNAS armoured cars.

Finally on turn 7, the ammo dump explodes!  We tested each round - this was the trigger for the Cossacks to turn on the local civilians.

As so they did, wiping out the Bolshevik agitators first!

In the end, each side took significant casualties, each force lost two full units, but the Russian/RNAS side were penalised for the attack on the civilians.  As a result, the KuK force squeaked out a win by one point.  Thanks, Lisa, for inviting us to try out this scenario, and we are looking forward to seeing the further adventures of the RNAS armoured cars on the eastern front!

Characters

 Here are a few character models that I've just finished up.

First up are a couple of French resistance fighters from Wargames Atlantic Digital, printed by Only Games.  Officially these are WWII French Resistance, but I anticipate they will show up in gangster and other games.  

The one on the right reminds me of a certain sight gag from the movie, Top Secret!

This bloke was fun to paint up.  He's a Reaper Miniatures model that Doug gave us.  His headgear reminds me of Tim the Enchanter from Monty Python and the Holy Grail!

Starship Boarding Action including more Xolk terrain

 A few weeks ago I was able to host my spaceship boarding action at the local tabletop gaming convention, Trumpeter Salute.  There were six crews battling for control of the ship including two ship's crew - the bridge crew and the engineering team - and 4 teams of boarders.

Action was fast and furious.  The defenders started out in the main cargo hold, and the boarders needed to enter through the side doors.  The engineering team ran straight to the engine room while the boarders focussed on the bridge crew. 

A fierce firefight took place in the hold, with a bridge crewman (crew-alien?) distracting the boarders as his colleagues dashed to the bridge.  The poor fellow was thoroughly suppressed, as shown by the plethora of shock markers!

Left to their own devices, the engineering team easily made it to the engine room to start the engines.

The battle moved to the corridor outside the bridge.  Post-it tabs have replaced the smoke markers to indicate shock.

Finally realising that their teammates are strong enough to capture the bridge, the remaining boarders decide to storm the engine room.  Many of them fell (literally!) for my little ruse, as they ignored the 'Slipper Floor' sign and fell to the ground.  No injuries, except to pride, but shock markers and delays in their advance.

Ultimately, the engineers held the boarders from capturing the engine room, but to no avail as the boarders captured the bridge and thus managed to keep the ship from escaping.

In the photos above you can see the extra Xolk containers in the cargo hold.  My mail order arrived a few days before the convention, enough time to assemble them and prime them - good enough for the table but I found some time after the con to splash a bit of paint on them.

The collection now includes eight containers in two styles, 2 larger cisterns and a bevvy of smaller crates.

Two styles of containers.  These can be stacked, adding to their versatility.

The cisterns are fun - the kit provides a frame.  The cistern itself is an empty 355 mL pop tin which fits inside the frame.

The cisterns are slightly larger than the containers.

As a bonus, the cistern kit includes a bunch of smaller crates.  Instead of making them deliberately sci-fi, I painted them in a basic wood brown so they can be used for a variety of eras.

Medieval clergy, cargo containers and a mock vargr

 Arthur and I visited Imperial Hobbies last week, so of course I made some impulse purchases.  First up, I picked up a pack of early medieval clergy from Bob Murch's 1066 line.  Although they are intended for 1066, I will take advantage of the timelessness of their garb to use them in more modern settings, whenever a monk or nun would fit in.

I slightly modified the Mother Superior - she has a greenstuff veil added on top of her wimple (hopefully I got those terms correct!).

My other purchase was a pair of MDF containers from Canadian company Xolk.  I liked them so much I sent in an order to the company for more!  They go together very quickly and paint up easily.  They will do nicely as scatter terrain in the cargo hold for starship boarding actions.

Our recently started Traveller RPG campaign includes a vargr NPC, so I decided to convert one of Fletch's 3d printed werewolves to represent him.  This is clearly not an accurate representation, as vargr are typically shorter then humans, with an average height of only 1.6 m.  So this is a particularly jacked vargr, as he is notably taller and bulkier than Captain Handsome!

Conversion was minor, I replaced his arms with a flamer and a left hand from the bits box.

3D printed resin is regrettably a bit brittle.  You can see that this poor vargr was dropped and his ears were chipped!

As you can see, the Xolk containers have nice detail on the ends.  They can be built with the doors open, but I chose to keep them closed.

 Next week is Trumpeter Salute - I'll hopefully fit in lots of gaming :)