Not another new project?

I tend to have my most creative ideas when out walking the dog over the moors around Sheffield. Recently I got back from such an expedition with the thought, "I could wargame the Lowlives' and Firvulags' attack on Finiah using Dragon Rampant in 28mm scale". 

I'm guessing that sentence will mean very little to most of you. Mild spoilers ahead if that's the case.

The subject in question is the version of Pliocene Europe depicted in Julian May's Saga of the Exiles. This is the setting of a series of four books beginning with 1981's The Many-Coloured Land. 

I read this book and its sequels when I was at university and have revisited them several times since then. The story begins in a twenty-first-century Earth that's part of an interplanetary community where wide-spread "metapsychic" powers make for a prosperous and peaceful, if somewhat anodyne, society.

The only escape for those who don't fit in is a one-way time gate to Earth's Pliocene era (6 million years ago). Unfortunately what these exiles don't know is that Pliocene Europe is under the domination of a dimorphic alien race (the Tanu and the Firvulag), themselves exiled from their home galaxy because of their barbaric battle religion.

The idea that struck me was that, with modern plastic miniatures, I could probably wargame some of the fighting in the book in 28mm scale at a relatively small cost. My thinking was that I'd want to depict the following four types:

The Tanu - tall (2 metres plus) humanoids; I suspect some High Elf miniatures would do the job for these guys.

The Firvulag - stunted, dwarf-like creatures who project monstrous illusory aspects when in battle; pretty much any fantasy model will serve here.

Grey Torcs - human soldiers fighting for the Tanu; described as wearing light bronze armour and kettle helmets and sometimes surcoats in the colours of a Tanu metapsychic guild. The Fireforge medievals should suit.

The Lowlives - free-living humans on the run from the Tanu having an uneasy alliance with the Firvulag. They'll have some through the time gate in a variety of costumes but are increasingly adopting practical buckskin clothing. Like the Firvulag, almost any figure is justifiable though I'd like to have a go at depicting some particular characters.

And there my planning stopped when I realised I couldn't easily source 28mm scale chalicotheres - the distinctive riding animals of the Tanu army. 

And then I went to Hammerhead and discovered the Disain Studio stand selling a 3D printed range of prehistoric animals. I picked up a couple of "chalikos" for a tenner to experiment with.

The additional creature at the back is a cheap Chinese plastic toy I found years ago. It's a macrauchenid, a giraffoid creature from the right period. It was probably restricted to pliocene South America but I won't tell if you don't.

I now need to review the models I own and the ones I can pick up without breaking the bank. I don't want this to turn into a big thing but it might make for an interesting side-project particularly given the half-dozen-a-side scale of Song of Blades and Heroes.

 

Fun running Running from Bull Run at Hammerhead

The old voice was a little husky on Sunday morning after two sessions of Running from Bull Run at the Hammerhead show in Newark.

I arrived at the Newark Showground at about 0850 and quickly transferred the boxes of game material to our folding trolley. Apparently the manufacturers secretly designed the trolley to fit one 33 litre and three 9 litre Really Useful Boxes with precisely the right amount of room for a game-marker-carrying toolbox at one end and three box files on top. I was able to get the entire game from the car in one trip.

Previous experience and careful packing of the components meant that I was able to get the game set up before the doors opened to the public. Apparently this was reasonably impressive as one of the organisers suggested I deserved the prize for quickest set-up by a late-arriving game-runner!

I had been a little concerned that I'd be standing around all day with no players (or at least all morning while attendees did their shopping). As it turned out I had two players (Colin and John) in the morning...

... and four (Andy, Alan, Samuel and Martin) in the afternoon.

I think this is probably a benefit of running a game at Hammerhead; a show that makes a feature in its advertising of showcasing participation games. I've not been to an American convention but I suspect the Hammerhead experience is more American-like in that regard.

If I recall correctly, both games were narrow Confederate wins, the second one narrower on points than we all thought during the game. 

The Cub Run bridge comes under artillery fire as 
US congressmen attempt to flee in their Surrey

Confederate zouaves in pursuit of the fleeing Union troops

In terms of the game, a couple of lessons were learned. I thought I'd counted the maximum number of Union figures I could possibly need so I didn't have to bring along the whole collection. As it turned out I must have miscounted and the second game hit the limit and went beyond. I just kept rolling high whenever further groups of fleeing Yankees were needed!

In addition, I decided to try replacing one of the pursuing Confederate Groups with cavalry. I thought they wouldn't be that good in melee but they might provide the opportunity to ride around the Union flank and capture the Cub Run bridge.

Turns out I was wrong and that charging cavalry are more lethal in Sharp Practice than I remembered.

A question that came up, and that I recalled as being unclear in previous discussions, was the speed of cavalry after fisticuffs. I decided to treat them as being at canter pace after the fighting but in retrospect I think that was probably an error. They should probably be treated as a walking pace after the fight in most cases (although one fight was so one-sided in favour of the horsemen that allowing them to continue at the canter or gallop would be reasonable). This would have made them somewhat less dominant as they need to get up to the gallop before they are truly lethal. 

So that's probably me done with Running from Bull Run for a while. Mostly; I'd like to put some effort into other projects but have been asked online for the scenario so I'm going to have to write it up for this year's Lard Magazine!

Goodbye to Harpers Ferry

The baseboard for the Harpers Ferry game has been in storage for a couple of years and is looking distinctly under the weather.

One corner is bashed (it was made from left-over Kingspan insulation so it was never going to be hugely robust) and the 3D printed fences are badly damaged.

This was the most research I've done in building the setting for a game. I really enjoyed the process and feel like if we landed at the foot of the boat ramp in 1859, I'd have no problem directing you to the Paymaster's Office. 

However, the time has come to say goodbye. I'm about to start demolition. Hopefully some of the components can be reused.

The buildings were always separate from the baseboard and they look OK in their dedicated Really Useful Box.  I've got some ideas for how to use them in a future game. Keep an eye out for Chartists at Pontylard!

Calais terrain test

I've been playing with my existing 6mm terrain trying to set out the revised table for Calais: The Road to St Omer.

Obviously there's a mismatch between the 1:300 scale of the models and the 1:4000 ground scale of the TacWWII rules. We instinctively understand the width of the roads and so we see the battlefield as a few hundred metres across rather than 3.6 kilometres. I'm giving serious thought to creating the road net in some other way for this game.

I have some tarmac roads made from cheap floor tiles (thanks Richard P for that tip) but they suffer from the same issue as regards overscale width.

Options, it seems to me, are:

1. Stick with the latex dirt roads,
2. Switch to the floor-tile tarmac roads (with the option of making some new sections that more perfectly fit the historical road layout),
3. Make a whole new tarmac road layout with narrower road sections for a slightly more map-like visual effect,
4. Create a dedicated 48"x28" gaming mat specifically for this scenario by airbrushing onto cloth, or 
5. Create a dedicated 48"x28"gaming mat specifically for this scenario with the canvas-caulk-sand-paint-flock approach.

I have until July to make my mind up and build the solution. Part of me wants to put on the best-looking game I can while the rest says that it's just a one-off event and doesn't justify the effort.

I shall ponder. Suggestions welcome!

Gangs of Rome additions

The latest additions to the Gangs of Rome collection are these:

The litter (lectica in Latin) is a 3D print from IronGateScenery that I picked up at Vapnartak. On sale at less than a fiver it seemed too good to pass up.

The lady (also purchased at Vapnartak) is from Bad Squiddo Miniatures. 

She's actually meant to be the Palmyrene Queen Zenobia but in my case I think she will probably see service as a Roman priestess. 

I've just finished reading Lindsey Davis's One Virgin Too Many, which sheds light on some of the strange cults in the city. I reckon I should be able to come up with some special rules to cover this incola (the GoR term for a significant non-player character). More on this later!

Hammerhead Handout (revised)

I've produced a draft  of a handout to accompany Running from Bull Run at Hammerhead. Any comments gratefully received before I go to print. Thanks to Sablemage via The Gaming Tavern and Prof Woodward for their feedback so far.

Running to Hammerhead

Running from Bull Run will be making an appearance at Hammerhead on Saturday 28th February. 

Hammerhead (held at the Newark Showground) is a show that specialises in hosting participation games. This will be the first time I've put on a game there since, I think, 2011 when the SOTCW team put on Crossing the Lippe. 

It'll also be the first time I've put on this particular game or anything like it at an event where players need to be recruited from the passing punters. I spoke to John Savage at Vapnartak, who does that sort of thing all the time. John says that the morning session can be quiet, while people are circulating and doing their shopping, but that after that demand picks up. John's participation games are renowned so if he finds recruitment slow...

I'm confident that once players are recruited the game will work well but I'm tempted to make one minor tweak. The legendary "Black Horse Cavalry" already make an appearance in the game with historically "mixed" results...

However, this time they may not be the only Confederate horsemen to show up. I'm tempted to replace one of the infantry units leading the Confederate pursuit with a single Group of cavalry. This should make for some interesting tactical choices in the endgame period. I'll report back on the results.

Having only previously run the game at Lardy Days where players are allocated in advance, I'll need to give some thought to display materials to have around the table. I might try a Keynote presentation on my iPad as well as some printed handouts.