Saturday 28 October 2017

Viking Longhouse

My Grandson phoned me yesterday and asked me if I could make him a model Viking longhouse for him to take to school.  Delivery required by tomorrow, so it was a bit of a rush job, but I'm kind of pleased with the outcome.


The roof isn't a perfect fit, but he needed it to be removable.  The figure is a spare 15mm Viking I had lying around.


His requirements for the interior were a room divider with a bed behind it, a seat for the Jarl, benches down each side, one with blankets, and a fire.  And a hole in the roof for the smoke.

It's made from mounting board and matchsticks with teddy bear fur for the thatching.  I did consider painting then drybrushing the thatch to make it lie better and improve the colour but decided against it as I have no idea if it would have dried in time.

The scale of the interior items feels slightly off to me, the benches and fireplace should probably be slightly smaller.  The fit of the roof was slightly compromised by the rafters, I didn't allow for that when constructing it but I wasn't going to go back and change it.

The building is roughly 2" by 5" and it's on a 5" by 7" piece of 3mm MDF.

I hope he likes it. 😊

Thursday 26 October 2017

Neil Thomas's American Civil War

Today I played my first game using the ACW rules in Wargaming: An Introduction.  Whilst having a lot in common with most of his other rules these rules add some concepts I don't think I've seen elsewhere in his work, and it gives the game it's unique flavour.

Firstly, infantry and cavalry are rated as either Elite, Average or Militia for morale purposes.  The clever thing is, you can play that you don't know what they are till the first time they have to make a morale check.  The quality is determined by rolling on tables split by Union or Confederate, Infantry or Cavalry, and Early, Mid or Late war.

The next change from his usual practice is what happens when you fail a morale check.  Usually this causes a base loss in his rules, here it only causes a retreat unless such a retreat would take the unit off the table, in which case it loses a base.

And finally, units can try to rally to recover bases if they start the turn with no enemy in position to fire on them.  Higher quality units have more chance of rallying.

The net effect of these rules makes for a game very different from his usual ones.

I decided to start at the beginning, with an early war battle.  Army lists are fixed for each period of the war, though the Union has the choice to have it's artillery equipped with smoothbore or rifled artillery.  I opted for all smoothbore.


Initial deployment.  The Union have gone for two lines of infantry with the cavalry on the right flank.  The less numerous Confederates are in a single line with both their cavalry on the right too.


The Union advances and it's artillery score first blood on the infantry opposite them.


The Rebs advance too, their artillery moving into a firing position on the hill.


Another hit scored by the Union infantry, and I discover units move at half speed in fields.  I should really check that kind of thing before I deploy the armies, shouldn't I?  


The Confederate artillery gets into action and their left sweeps forward.  On their right a unit of cavalry moves forward and dismounts.


The closest infantry are now in firing range and open up.  Units either move or fire in a turn, not both.  The right flank keeps moving forward.


Having sown the wind the Union infantry unit reaps the whirlwind. It loses a base and has to take a morale check.  It turns out to be of average quality and fails the test, falling back a full move, passing through the unit behind it.


The Union unit finding itself in the front line now advances into range, with the cavalry moving up beside it.  On the left infantry open fire on the dismounted cavalry.


The Rebs cause a base loss to the unit that moved into range.  It is militia quality, fails it's morale and falls back,  On the other flank the dismounted cavalry open fire.


The Union cavalry tries to charge but fails it's morale test to do so (Militia).  The dismounted Confederate cavalry loses a base to fire but is elite and passes it's morale test.


The dismounted cavalry cause a base loss, it turns out they are milita quality and fall back.


Confederate units fall back under the weight of fire they face.  The Union cavalry again fails to charge.


Confederate cavalry moves up ready to charge and the dismounted unit rallies a base back.  The Union cavalry is milita and falls back after taking a loss.


The Confederate cavalry lose a base.  They are elite, but fail their morale anyway.

The infantry who moved up beside them are forced back too (Average).


The Confederates push forward again.


This time fire fails to force them back.


The cavalry charge in, losing a base to defensive fire.


They lose the melee too and fall back, only one base surviving.  A Union militia unit in the middle retreats.


The cavalry unit loses it's last stand to fire, and on the other flank units are worn down.


The other cavalry unit moves up to see if it can be more successful.


The Confederate line is looking terribly thin.


Another charge, another base lost to defensive fire.


But this time the cavalry wins the melee.


The cavalry is almost destroyed by the unit revealed by the retreat, and falls back.


The cavalry withdraws to rally.


The last full strength Confederate unit loses a base, and it's game over as the Confederates withdraw from the field of battle.

I'm glad I chose an early war battle, as having no idea what the best tactics would be seems most appropriate for this period. 😛

Depth of formation seems important, having a second line as backup really seems to be an advantage.  Even elite units will fail their morale check half the time, milita only pass on a roll of 6, so that second line will be used.

Cavalry is a problem, dismounted they have half the range of infantry, mounted they will take fire moving into range and then again for defensive fire.  I should have probably kept them both mounted and had them move up together rather than go in piecemeal. 

Artillery is effective but not over powerful, it's more a gradual attrition.

I enjoyed the game, I think it would be even better with larger armies (though maybe the same number of cavalry units because I don't have a clue how to use them!).



The Zombie's Lament

Being nine parts crazy to one part totally insane, I decided to play a zombie game using Pikeman's Lament.  The living were forlorn hope, the zombies were raw pikemen with the attack and move activation rolls swapped.  Zombies didn't have to check morale either.


The living at the top right. They have to try to clear this area of the city and adjacent countryside.  Eight mobs of zombies scattered about.  Buildings can not be entered.


Three groups of infantry and a group of mixed security guards and armed civilians.  They all are rated the same.


Zombies.


Lots of zombies.


And a few more zombies.


The infantry by the oil barrels open fire.


And the ones next to them join in.


The other two groups of living cut between buildings to start clearing the open ground.  


Another two zombies gunned down on the main street.


As the zombies shuffle closer.


Firing starts on the open ground.


And at the alley.


But the zombies keep coming closer and closer.


A mob of zombies is cut to half strength, it's less of a worry now.


The zombies in the alley remain a serious threat.


Continued gunfire on the hill, with limited effect.


The zombies fail their first activation roll, which would have seen them reach the closest unit and attack it if they had passed.  Good news for the living, they get another round of firing.


And they fail to make any head shots.  (Three hits is a kill)


Better luck in the alley.


And on the hill.


And the zombies fail the first activation roll again!


Another kill in the alley.


Another miss in the street.


Ever get deja vu?


Ever get deja vu again?  Three turns in a row where the zombies didn't to activate anyone.


De


Ja


Vu.  Admittedly this time they failed to activate to fire rather than fired and missed.


This is where being a solo player helps, because in a two player game there would be one very frustrated gamer at this point.


If the zombies will mill around aimlessly they have to expect to be used for target practice.


Finally someone manages to hit the zombies in the street.


And someone else misses.


The zombies finally attack, and fail to kill anyone.


The next mob of zombies fails their activation roll, ending their turn.


But the living fail their activation too, so it's back to the zombies to act.


The zombies in the street attack and are wiped out, but take one of the soldiers with them.


Another unsuccessful zombie attack, but at least they are moving at last.


An overview of the situation at this point. The situation seems well in hand for the living.


More zombies fall.


And fail to act.


And they take another loss to fire.


The living units advance.


The zombies try to attack again, and fail again.


The unit trying to clear the alley fails to act.


And wouldn't you know, the zombies fail their roll too.


Which sees them take losses to fire.


The second group fails to fire.

The zombies charge in but don't even get a hit, never mind a kill.


And their other attack is just as ineffective.


The second wave of zombies approaches. 


Failed activation.


Failed activation.


Failed activation!


Zombie charge!  Zombie die!!


Failed activation as the zombie hoard advances.


And failed again.


Letting a full strength zombie mob attack, fortunately with no losses to the living.


Pushing the zombies back, they finally open fire on them.


A unit of infantry moves to support the troops in the open, leaving a lone unit to face a zombie mob in the main street.


The next zombie attack causes a loss.


And, as I should have expected by now, the infantry fail to fire.


But they survive the follow up attack.


This time they manage to fire.


Charge again.


Fire again.


Other zombies are moving closer and coming under fire.


Slowly but steadily being reduced in number.


On the main street shooting is ineffective.


But they hold off the first attack.


And a failed activation by the living sees them the zombies go straight back in, and this time a soldier dies.


On the other flank a soldier goes down too.


Things aren't looking so hopeful now.


Desperation improves their aim.


And the luck continues.


Even in the main street!


Then disaster strikes.


Their moral cracks and they run for their lives.


The unit on the hill holds the zombies off.


One living unit gone, and one reduced to half strength.  On the positive side, the zombies have lost over half their starting strength.


More firing on the hill.


With support from the half strength unit.


But the remaining zombie gets a kill in before being put down.


Zombies stumble out of an alley on the flank of the line.


Firing slackens off.


And it's fall back time.


They hold for now.


Not giving up.


Another of the living ceases to be so.


A couple more zombies die in a failed attack.


Another failed firing activation, I need new dice.



The unit on the hill is reduced to half strength.


By the building the zombie mob is being reduced, but it's letting another full strength mob get closer behind it.


Only one fully effective unit left and two zombie units still with twelve dice in the attack.


No luck on these activation rolls.


Or with the melee rolls.


Almost finished the zombie mob off, but then there are more behind to face.


Another living turn of inaction.


The unit on the hill is cut down to a sole survivor.


She falls back, takes a morale check and sensibly flees.


The last zombie in the lead mob dies.


Clearing the way for the mob behind.


The remaining units move to escape but take a loss on the way.


Backing up between the buildings then off the table.

Well, that was an interesting experiment.  I think if I was going to do it again I'd make some changes to the unit ratings and add some special rules.  I might also make the living have three figure units with odd casualties being recorded.

Next up should be an American Civil War battle using Neil Thomas's rules.  Hopefully tomorrow, time permitting. 😊