Wounded officer

Building a Sharp Practice unit from the Perry plastic WSS cavalry box leaves you with a load of spare parts. In an effort to make some use of these bits I knocked up this guy:

It's bits from the kit and a little Green Stuff and some plastic rod for the scabbard.

Leaders in Sharp Practice can be temporarily knocked out so a figure like this is potentially useful - I don't like laying figures down.

Crisis Point day one pics

What it says on the tin...

 

Arab pirates!

British Privateers

Captain Litholi fights the tiger!

The British secure the bridge

Spanish colonial infantry threaten the
Fort James - Al Smut road

Woebetideus warriors occupy the fishing village

At last, a rocket is launched

Crisis Point setting up underway

This evening Richard P, Will, Andy and I started setting up the main table for Crisis Point 2021.  I think it's looking pretty good so far.

The calm before the storm

Looking north towards the Wali's palace

The mean streets of Port Charles

View over Fort James

Whitetooth Reef

More Crisis Point models

I previously reported finishing one Arab rocketeer and said that I wasn't sure I could be bothered converting any more from the fantasy-ninja-type base model.  In the end I did three more before I'd had enough and then decided to bulk out the unit with a homemade brazier to give the rocketeers a source of fire from which to light their fuses.

They are all converted from the same base figure but with different plastic heads transplanted on and with the arms moved slightly I think they look sufficiently distinct.

The brazier is made from three lengths of plastic rod and an inverted shield from the Atlantic set. The coals are superglue and sodium bicarbonate.

I'd also decided that I needed a vehicle for one of the European ladies to travel in. I wasn't entirely happy with any of the models available in 28mm so I decided to have a go at giving my existing Roman raeda a suitably oriental look. 

The driver isn't wonderful - he's mostly Milliput and Green Stuff with a spare head and arms from the Atlantic Wargames Afghans set. He'll do though.

Rehearsal for Crisis Point

This afternoon four of us managed to get together for a game of Sharp Practice. For me this was a first in-person game with folks from outside my own household since January 2020. Andy, Richard P, Jamie, and I gathered to play Sharp Practice so we could test out some of the mechanisms I plan to use at Crisis Point and also to see how some of the troop types are balanced. Oh, and also to remind ourselves how the rules work!

I set up a symmetrical, 3-player scenario in which each force needed to achieve a plot point (a concept pinched from Pulp Alley) in order to find the location of some buried treasure and then return it to their deployment point.

Richard P ran a force based on his Woebetideus tribesmen. This consisted of three Groups of tribesmen (classified as Clan) and one of carbine-armed skirmishers (Irregular Skirmishers under the SP2 rules).

Jamie brought out his Arab pirates (Three Groups of Clan and a ship's gun).

Andy used my French force - three groups of Sepoys and one of marines.

I allowed some support elements that will appear in the Crisis Point story. Andy's French were accompanied by the lovely Josephine de Pommefrite, the wayward daughter of the comptoire; her presence gave them a bonus to their initial Force Morale. 

John Gillick, the European who taught the Woebetideus to use firearms, was available to Richard. He counts as a Sharpshooter and as a "man of letters". The latter is one of the categories of specialist I've added to the rules for the purpose of our story. It would prove useful in this game.

I'd intended to give Jamie a "strongman" (another new type) but I forgot to mention this to him before the game. As it happened, it wouldn't have made any difference.

At the start of the game there were three Plot Points, represented on the table by small scenic bases each bearing a hollow tree. The Plot Points were positioned such that each was halfway between a pair of players' Deployment points.

When Force reached a Plot Point, they rolled a d8 to determine what kind of task was required to "achieve" the Plot Point. For example, when Richard's Woebetideus skirmishers reached the first Plot Point, a roll of 4 revealed the description, "A literary reference". This, along with a subsequent roll of 3d6, told us that a running total of 11 was needed to complete the Task. The presence at the Plot Point of John Gillick gave Richard a +2 modifier when he rolled to complete the task.

Andy's French sepoys had a potentially harder job of it. Their Plot Point required a single score of 10+ on two dice to move "A heavy weight". The sepoys proved up to the task, though, with Andy rolling 10 at the first attempt.

Jamie didn't go for a Plot Point - I think blasting away with his ship's gun was a bit too tempting. but he also had the problem of a horde of Woebetideus heading towards him through the woods...

Jamie put together a reasonable firing line to deter an attack from Richard's natives...

The natives did get into close combat with the French over on the other side of the field but they were driven back by the superior organisation of the French (and Andy's superior dice rolling).

Richard managed to complete his Plot Point first and this pointed him to a second Plot Point that would give him access to the treasure everyone was after. With a skirmisher unit in possession of the treasure, Richard was able to make a dash for his Deployment Point with it. 

At this point it looked like the game was pretty much done. In one of those lovely coincidences, Jamie had no sooner said "It'd be good to finish on a chapter end here" than I turned over a Tiffin card at the start of the next turn. Chapter end; game over!

All in all this was a fun game and a useful rehearsal for next month. Thanks players!

I'm going to clarify the rules for Plot Point Tasks as follows. Note to Jamie and Richard, this is different to how we played it:

On making contact with a Plot Point, a Leader with an unused Command Initiative may spend it to determine the nature of the Task required by rolling on the Plot Points table. This may allow the player to bring up nearby relevant specialists to assist before the Task is attempted. Otherwise the nature of the Task is revealed as part of the process of attempting it without any impact on its completion.

A Plot Point may be attempted by a Leader, who may or may not be attached to a Group. Attempting a Plot Point uses the Leader's full Command Initiatives for his Activation. If the Leader wishes to rely upon an attached Group to attempt the Plot Point (e.g. if the Group contains a marksman and this gives a die roll modifier) the Group must also remain in contact with the Plot Point marker and has no actions to spare for any other activity during this Activation. 

Yet more Woebetides stuff

I've finished the last remaining 28mm metal figure for the Woebetides!

This guy is from the Foundry Last of the Mohicans range. I've painted him as a mounted version of the Comte de Frou-Frou. He's not a perfect match with my dismounted version but he'll do.

The other recent addition is this rocket launch template.

Rockets in Sharp Practice work on a system (I've seen it before but I'm not sure in which other set of rules - something by Donald Featherstone?) whereby you roll a die for each 6" of flightpath. Depending on the score on the die, the rocket may diverge from its path or explode prematurely.

This marker has a base 6 inches long so it can be used to track the rocket's course across the battlefield.

I made the rocket just like for the rocket-launcher guy, out of a spear and piece of cocktail stick and then glued it to a length of pipe cleaner. The pipe cleaner was glued to a base and then I added clump foliage as smoke.

More Woebetides Toys

Richard Phillips very kindly sent me an Empires At War MDF kit of a caravanserai for my birthday.  It's been completed for a while but I've only just got around to photographing it. You can see it here on my new Deepcut Studio cobblestones city mat.

As you can see from the 28mm figures on the walls, this thing is huge. It will serve as the Wali of Smut's palace at Crisis Point but even so I might leave some of the sections out and/or have it on the edge of the table with only the front and side walls actually used. Available space will determine this when we start to see things set up.

Thank you Richard, this is a marvellous addition to the Woebetides terrain!

The Wali is a non-player senior commander in the campaign. It's not fair to have a player have to sit by and defend the palace just in case it's attacked so I'm not going to "waste" a playable force for the role; just have a few spare figures to represent the Wali's household troops. 

I was keen to try and include some Indian rocket-armed troops in the game if possible. The Sharp Practice rules for rockets are such fun. Having some rocketeers on the walls of the palace to shoot at any foreign forces that come too close seemed like a good idea.

I'm out of suitable 28mm figures (in fact my 28mm leadpile is now negligible) but I do have some odd fantasy assassin/ninja types that look vaguely Middle Eastern. They came from the Box of Delights that reached me from Tim Gow before making its way onward to Richard P.

I decapitated one of the figures and chopped off his oversized (and empty) scabbard before adding a spare plastic head from the Perry Mahdists box. I made a rocket by attaching a length of cocktail stick to a spear. I added straps from paper and a fuse from a length of black thread. At the time I took the photo I had yet to paint the base.

Ideally I should have five figures in an artillery unit. I'm not sure I can be bothered creating four more such guys but I've got some additional rockets on the production line. I might just bulk out the unit with some generic Middle Eastern types to remove when casualties are taken. Actually, I wonder if I could create a base with a brazier? They'll need something to light their fuses from!

Woebetides Terrain Test

I thought I'd get some of the Woebetides terrain I've done so far set up for a photo shoot.

The Borno River seen from above AlHuq.
French naval landing force in the foreground.

French sailors storm up the beach having landed
from their longboat.
Their sharpshooters are already ashore heading 
for the rock outcrop beside the river.

French gunners have landed their piece from
a hired dhow. They haven't spotted Lt Streete
and Sir Warwick Bimble on a nearby rooftop.

A British waggon comes under attack as Woebetideus
tribesmen suddenly emerge from the elephant grass.

Who are these mysterious types emerging from the forest?

Some More Woebetides Characters

It's a lovely day outside so I thought I'd take a pic of some of the more recently finished denizens of the Woebetide Islands.

On the left we have Josephine de Pommefrite, the daughter of the French comptoir. She is a spirited young lady not above getting herself into trouble. Fascinated by the stories told by the Arab merchants visiting Port Charles, she has taught herself the local dialect of Arabic in an attempt to extend her knowledge.

In the centre we see Constanza, Countess Czerwinska. This Polish noblewoman was widowed on the voyage home from India. She finds herself stranded in Port James. She is vivacious and witty and has become a strong favourite among the local officers of the British East India Company.

Finally we have Sir Warwick Bimble. He has been described as "a man of no discernible talent".

All three of these will be available as support choices to forces of the appropriate side. They may (or may not) prove useful when the respective councils of war allocate tasks between the available forces.

Woebetides Terrain Update

I drew a map. It's not to scale but it shows the minimum major terrain items needed for September's Woebetides campaign weekend. The coloured in items are done.

The half- (or three-quarter-) hills around the void in the middle of the main table don't need to be exactly as portrayed - I just want something that will indicate to players that the centre of the main island is mostly impassible highlands.

A couple of days ago I decided to make a start at building something suitable:

I decided to make three 90 degree corner hills with profiles such that they can be combined to form a single 270 degree outside corner.

 

I tried different ways of building up the slopes with off-cuts of polystyrene. In the end, the best method (sadly not shown above) was progressively smaller slices alternating at 90 degrees to each other. Hot glue worked OK for attaching the polystyrene as long as I didn't leave the glue gun switched on too long. If the glue got to hot it melted the polystyrene too much.

I've now started covering the polystyrene with kitchen towel soaked in watered down PVA. I added a bit of cheap brown acrylic to the water/glue mix.

I've also tried a bit of filling with my usual tile grout mix and also some scrunched-up kitchen foil that might serve as a rocky outcrop.

I may paint the longer ridge (on the left in the picture below) as a pathway - for plot purposes I want three or four routes into the highlands.

Update when the first layer of groundwork has dried - it's scorching in Yorkshire right now so hopefully that won't be long!

On the workbench

Most of my focus recently has been on getting terrain finished for the Woebetides. I've got the Wali of Smut's palace done - it's an MDF caravansaray very kindly sent me by Richard Phillips. Pictures when I can arrange a suitable photo session.

In between sessions on the palace I've managed to get finished some other 28mm stuff. The Crisis Point big game will need lots of Deployment Points and Plot Points and the latest are just completed:

This first one is obviously best suited to the native Woebetideus but might pass for Arab if need be.  The jars and baskets are Foundry, the duck is from a farmyard animals set I bought at Claymore (not sure of the manufacturer).

Next up we have a nicely generic scene of a goat browsing on the undergrowth.

Goat again from the farmyard animals set.

Lastly as far as plot points go we have this clump of elephant grass with skull.

The skull is from the same Foundry African village accessories set as the jars and baskets. The grass is from broom bristles.  Again a nicely generic one this.

I took delivery of some Pendraken 10mm models (for a project that'll appear here later) that Tom Davis added to an order he was putting in. When I picked up the 10mm stuff, Tom kindly gave me a few figures he had no use for (and at the same time I palmed off a load of 15mm toys on him). A couple of the figures are already done a couple of weeks later.

This chap with the Nock Volley Gun was already painted up as Sergeant Harper of the 95th Rifles. However the paintwork was a bit scraped and I've no plans to do the Peninsular War in 28mm as I've already covered it in 20mm. 

There is a plan, however, to do the 1812 Riga campaign with Sharp Practice. I therefore carved off the shoulder straps and repainted Harper as a member of a Royal Navy landing party. He'll be transferred to Richard Phillips to aid his Russians against my Prussians (when they're eventually painted).

Another figure from Tom was this Victorian chap.

I think he's another Foundry model. He was a joy to paint and I had him done within a couple of days of picking him up from Tom.  I'm running Cortina at Matamoros in November at Steel Lard - the first time the game's appeared to players not via Zoom link. I think this chap may appear among the civilians in the street to help remind players that 1867s Mexico doesn't entirely match the peons-in-a-village picture of The Magnificent Seven.