That Hovels Church

I've said before that you have to have the Hovels 25mm church to be a proper wargamer.  I've finally got mine painted.

It's fun to paint and nicely scaled such that it will work for 25mm or 20mm.  For me it'll stand in as the church in Bleid for Rommel's Route to Verdun and for the English Church in downtown Tcherbevan.

Encounter Markers

Alan wanted to know how the encounter markers worked in Ninjas At The Vicarage.  Here's what I prepared.  I've used the term 'plot points' which I think comes from Pulp Adventures, another game in this genre.

Draw a card for each plot point encountered.  The result varies depending on whether the plot point in question is in the house (three of them) or outside (the rest).

Card	Outdoors	Indoors
Ace	A poacher’s trap - remain immobilised until you can pass a Brawn stat test.	The Rev Featherstonehaugh has rigged a tripwire.  Make a Dodge stat test or bring a load of china crashing to the floor.  If you’ve done this you’ll be -1d10 on attempts to find the Rev’s hiding place.
2	You disturb a pheasant which suddenly rises near you.  Pass a Guts stat test or miss a turn while your heart rate returns to normal.	Who’s that?  Phew, just a mirror!  Pass a Guts stat test or miss a turn while your heart rate returns to normal.
3	Nothing happens	Nothing happens
4	Nothing happens	The professor’s cat!  Take a Brains stat test.  If you pass you will get +1d10 when subsequently trying to find the professor’s hiding place.
5	Take a Brains stat test.  If you pass you find a poacher’s cache which contains a shotgun.	Take a Brains stat test.  If you pass you find the Rev’s old service revolver at the back of a cupboard.
6	Activate Darwin, the Rev’s pet monkey.  He has the Rev’s journal!	Take a Brawn stat test.  If you pass you can rip open a desk drawer and find the Rev’s journal.
7	PC Warburton arrives on the road from the village.	PC Warburton arrives on the road from the village.
8	The Rev tries to flee the vicarage.  Activate him at whichever of the side windows if furthest from the nearest Ninja.	Make a Brains test to find the Rev hiding in the old priest hole.  Only one try per figure.

  

Note that the Hon. Miranda knows the area and the house well, having spent many happy childhood summers with her uncle.  She counts as having “Building Plans”and “Local Guidebook” for this scenario.

Ninjas At The Vicarage

Gus and his lads came over yesterday and we had our first proper go at 45 Adventure.  We played my first completed scenario "Ninjas At The Vicarage".  It's based on a test game I ran some time back and involves Ninjas trying to seize the Rev Charles Featherstonehaugh and his journal.  Both the Rev and the book contain vital clues to ... well we'll find out about that later.

Robin had control of four Ninjas detailed to search the vicarage and capture the Reverend.  Gus and Peter took, respectively, the roles of the Hon Miranda Carlyle.  Miranda had learned that her Uncle Charles feared for his life and had flown (literally) down to Little Muttering with her Belgian pilot friend Pierre Baudouin.

The game began with villains and heroes approaching the vicarage from opposite corners of the board.

Miranda knocks at the front door whilst Pierre passes the vicar's Rolls.
Meanwhile, a ninja stealthily crosses the lawn. 

One of the ninjas checks out the rainwater butt (an encounter marker)
beside the garage.

As a result of the encounter marker, the vicar attempts to escape by
climbing out of a side window of the vicarage.

The vicar was able to escape off-board but he left behind a fierce hand-to-hand fight in the vicarage as Miranda, who had managed to find the journal in a locked desk drawer thanks to another encounter marker, tried to escape the clutches of the ninjas.

Miranda flees the vicarage... 

... but she's caught and taken down by a ninja.

The game ended in a draw with the Rev Featherstonehaugh rescued but villains in possession of his vital journal.  Who knows what further adventures await Miranda and Pierre?

Another Pulp Villain

Just knocked up this evening is this chap.  He's another from the Artizan Designs Enemy Agents blister.     He'll be joining the ranks of the secret alliance of ... well, let's leave that for now....

Arctic Strike Achieved!

Phew!  The Big Game is now behind us and I can begin to sit back and take stock.  Here are a few pics taken during setting up.  More to follow.

The southern table - outskirts of Bodø in the foreground.

Middle table (with northern table in the background).
That's Herjangenfjord in the foreground.

View of the hall during set-up.

That sodding ice-breaker - finished just before the game and serving
only as eye-candy!

Andy Canham's marvellous oil rig, near Tromso.

Nice roads by Steve Graham.

NATO's air support

A long shot of the northern table - Tromso to Lyngenfjord.

Arctic Strike - the stock-taking

So how am I doing with a week and a half to go?

I've done:

The terrain cloths
The fjord
All of the fjord edges except for those at Bjerkvik
Medby village
Three significant hills
Enough streams
Lake Hartvik
Andy's Soviets (all done)
Richard's American/British battlegroup (mostly done)
Jamie's Finns (two HQs to finish)
My Swedes (pretty much done)
The rules
The air support cards

Still to do:

Bjerkvik
Elvegaardsmoen Camp
Dalberg village
That &^$£ing ice-breaker
Some extra, surprise terrain features
Collect Stuart's Norwegians from Doncaster
Finalise some of the logistical arrangements

Piece of cake!

Bjerkvik and Merseyside

Progress continues on the terrain for Crisis Point: Arctic Strike.  I've more or less completed the streams and all of the coastal sections apart from the northern edge of the fjord.  This last section is the bit occupied by the town of Bjerkvik.  This is underway but there's not much to see yet:

The large building on the right is the partially completed Bjerkvik church - very much the most recognisable building in the town.  It will sit on a grassy mound on the eastern edge of my model Bjerkvik.

Production was slowed down slightly this weekend by an Easter family visit "back home" to Merseyside which gave me a chance to once more photograph one of my favourite views:

... and to visit Fort Perch Rock at New Brighton:

... where we stumbled across this biography of a friend of the family: