Picture Of The Week - No 52 - Bodiam Castle

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Comment:  This photo is of the 14th century moated Bodiam Castle in East Sussex when we dropped by in 2012 whilst on holiday.  Well worth a visit if your ever down that way.
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DRAGON RAMPANT - 'THE WICKER MAN'

Our club has been invited to put on a game at the forthcoming Vapnartak wargames convention here in York.  John Savage has come with an interesting idea for a participation game using the recently published Dragon Rampant rules.

The scenario is called 'The Wicker Man' and is set in 72AD in Northern Britannia.  The local tribes have risen up in rebellion against the occupying Roman forces. A patrol from a far flung outpost has been captured and is to be sacrificed to the Gods in a Wicker Man. The players can take command of the Roman garrison as they seek to rescue their comrades from a horrible fate or lead the tribes in rebellion to throw off the yoke of imperial oppression. In addition each player will have the opportunity to seek glory for themselves while ensuring victory for their chosen side.

As a dry run to test out the force balance we had two games at the club, each lasting about an hour. I participated in the second as clean living Roman attempting to wipe out the barbarian scum ! :) It's only fair to say that the figures and Wicker Man in the photos below are all Johns, and beautifully painted.

Why use Dragon Rampant I hear you ask.  Well, the rules give an entertaining game, allow a result in an hour, and are easy to pick up. In addition it's easy to construct an army list and John wanted the Britons to have a Druid (armed only spells he could cast on his own troops).



The Wicker Man and the Britons.
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Brit infantry advancing.
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Brit skirmishers deploy in front of the Wicker Man.
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Roman fort and Auxiliaries deploying for their sorties towards the Wicker man.
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Auxiliary cavalry ready themselves.
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Auxiliary infantry advance.
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The battle starts, with the Romans auxiliaries advancing.  The three units of heavy infantry couldn't get their act together (been on the wine the previous night) and repeatedly failed their activation attempts at the start which allowed the Brits to bring their reserves up.
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The Roman auxiliaries get stuck in, but within a couple of turns are seen off, fortunately the Legionaries have now roused themselves.
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The Brits unleash their dogs !
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First Brit Chariot unit wades in.
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and the second makes its move as well.
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Roman legionaries make it out of the fort and take over from the auxiliaries. 
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They see off several Brit units, but in the end get overwhelmed. 

Final thoughts on the battle.  Lots of fun to play, not withstanding the Roman loss the game could have gone in their way a couple of times.  The Brit druid successfully cast a couple of spells but was in know way dominating.  A couple of minor tweaks and the game will be ready for Vapnartak :)
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“Kara” | (2016) (An Unofficial Star Wars Film)

"Kara" | (2016) (An Unofficial Star Wars Film) from Joe Sill on Vimeo.
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Comment:  Pretty good this, certainly worth a watch  :)
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IRON CROSS GAME

We played a 20mm WW2 game at the Harrogate Wargames Club using the new Iron Cross rules published by Great Escape Games.  These rules which are reasonably priced at £12.00 use a very innovative initiative system where it flows back and forth between the two side.  The German objective was to drive up the table and take possession of the village.
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I was going to write a bit of a rules review, but have decided to hold off until having a second game.
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Here's a few photos:
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Looking up the battlefield.
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Part of the German battlegroup on the move.
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Engaging what was a very troublesome 6pdr. 
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Part of the allied defence.
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Troublesome 6pdr.
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Allied reserves.
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The allies bring a 17pdr up the village.
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Coming 2016 - Aston Martin - V12 Twin Turbo

Nothing to do with gaming, but boy does this sound sweet.  Turn the volume right up !
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Picture Of The Week - No 51 - Challenger Tank In Action

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Comment:  A brilliant picture of a Challenger in action in Basra.
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DRAGON RAMPANT - ORC ARMY LIST BUILDER

Gripped by the Dragon Rampant bug as I am at the moment, I've created an Army List Builder in Excel with a variety of sample Orc units.  I've then pulled these into 5 Army lists of 24 points each.  Feel free to download from this Dropbox link, and use/adapt as you see fit.  If you have any suggestions, let me know, and I'll incorporate them  :)

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DRAGON RAMPANT

DRAGON RAMPANT

I’ve been looking forward to the release of the Dragon Rampant rules by Daniel Mersey for some time now.  Based very much on the Lion Rampant rules (they share the same base mechanics) these Fantasy rules are set up for small Warband conflict.  I don’t intent to write a full review of the rules here, but havinge read them through and tried my first game with them (more on that later), I would make the following observations:

• The rules allow for a very scalable game, so depending on table size and time available they work equally well with 4 units per side up to 30+.
• You have to roll to activate units, and failed activation ends your turn.  Initially I wasn't a fan, but it keeps the tension and uncertainty in the game, and I like that. 
• The game mechanics at their heart are quite simple and straightforward.
• They are well written and easy to understand.
• They achieve what they set out to do.
• They provide an accessible set of fantasy rules that can easily played on a club night.
• The magic element adds flavour, but is not too overpowering. 

There is nothing like an actual game to help get to grip with a set of rules, so last night I set up some simple terrain on the dining room table for a quick 3 units per side sole game (as an aside here, as a sole game it works really well).  

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The scenario background being Warbands from neighbouring Orcs tribes scrapping over the ownership of a recently ‘liberated’ human watch tower.  Rotgut ‘The Unlucky’ (at the this end of the table above) entered the field of battle with an elite unit of Orc Infantry armed with cross-bows (8 pts), Orc heavy wolfriders (bow armed) (5 pts), and a unit of Orc bow men (4 pts) – 17 points in total.  Opposing him was Baligor ‘The Ugly’.  His force comprised a bellisose foot unit of Black Orcs with an armour upgrade (6 pts), a unit of Orc heavy foot (4pts) with an attached lesser wizard (2pts) and finally a fearful unit of Goblin Archers (2pts) – 14 points total.   

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Rotgut quickly advanced to near the tower with both Infantry and Wolfriders.  

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Baligors Heavy Infantry ahead of both the Goblins and Black Orcs moved to engagement range and the wizard fired off a fire-ball to no effect.  

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The return cross-bow fire inflicted the first casualties of the game and the unit promptly failed its Courage check. 

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It then failed to Rally, so took another casualty and shortly afterwards routed from the field when the Wolfriders charged them.

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The riders then moved down that flank with a view to coming round behind the Black Orcs.  

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Seeing this danger Baligor move the Black Orcs up...

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and threw the Blacks into combat with Rotguts elite infantry.  

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This ended very badly for them and Baligor was reduced to just having his fearful Goblin unit.  

Amazingly, some great archery from them disorganised the remnants of Rotgut’s elites, and whilst they rallied themselves, 2 salvoes of bow for routed the Wolfriders who were now in charge range.

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The Goblin’s then finished off the elite infantry by the tower, and the scene was set for the two archer units to slug it out.  A one-sided exchange saw the Goblins fail their courage check, and then never successfully rally...

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so giving the field to the only remaining unit of Baligors warband, the Orc Bow unit (Light foot). 

Overall an entertaining little game, and I’m looking forward to this Thursday for a larger game at the Harrogate Wargames club with John Savage and the gang there.        

As you may have spotted there is a bit of a mix of figures in use here:  

-  Early Games Workshop (GW) metal, 

-  Late GW metal,

-  GW plastic, 

-  Grenadier'
-  Asguard, 

-  Foundry, and 

-  Irregular Miniatures.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

Happy new year to all the readers of my intermittent ramblings :)    I hope you have a happy and prosperous 2016 filled with enjoyable times with friends and family.