Some Test Shots of El Opie: The Deployment

Here are some photos of the set up for El Opie. The sound of hundreds of hairy feet stomping the ground broke the morning stillness as the Bilboist banners were raised on high!

Mostly photos to follow. 

A few years back I converted a spacious gaming room into a library/sitting room and moved the table and figures into a spare bedroom.

The new room is a wee bit cramped what with the 8 x 4 table taking up most of the space.

To make matters worse from a taking photos of games standpoint, all the light, both natural and artificial comes from one side of the room.

Add in a sky backdrop on that side of the room and photos come out well dark or worse yet, require flash photography.

As a result, most of my games need to be photographed from only one long side, and one short side of the table.

The Ottermen have the honor of occupying the photogenic side of the table in this game and so...

....any shots of the wall of furry footed death bearing down on them are necessarily problematical.

So following on from these "establishing" shots, the actual game report will mostly show things from behind, or to the left of the Halfling host.

Still, in terms of composition, these photos do carry a sense of the foreboding felt by the Otter array.

Or at leas that is the plan....

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Hikz Pasha in Kordlessfan

The Kordlessfan Field Force

Hikz Pasha knows he is in trouble. Having been seconded to the service of the Othari Sultan, Hikz has been tasked with putting down the Halfling insurrection in Kordlessfan, a province of The Suddan.

Above is a photo of  Hikz leading the grandly named Kordlessfan Field Force. It consists of 8 companies of Otterman regulars with Goblin, Dwarf, and Ogre officers, a band of friendly Otters acting as scouts, and numerous baggage animals and camp followers.

Hikz Pasha

Here is a shot of Hikz with his Sultanate adviser, and honor guard.

The force is marching through very arid country. Hikz has had the otters form in a hollow square with baggage and camp followers in the center.

Two companies form each side of the square. Here is the left flank.

And here is the right.

Camp followers form the center of the square.

The Otter "regulars" are dispirited, thirsty, and not particularly interested in being anywhere near a battle.

Naturally the Bilboist host is not far off...

The Honor of the Regiment: Game Two

Following on from yesterday's game, I tried a larger game today. 

This time six companies of the 44th, The Waxers, ran into a company of Ferach regulars supported by four warbands, two of Hurorcs, and two of Loup Lenape.

Although there were more companies involved, each company only consisted of six figures. This was mainly due to the limited number of Orc Fencibles available. However it also gave a good test of how the system would work with smaller units in play

As before a march column of red coats met the spread out warbands head on. The lead company of the 44th was sacrificed to gain time for those following on to deploy.

The 44th ended up in a sort of crescent formation while the natives fanned out to either side. When the Loups gained the hill on the 44th's left flank, things started to look grim.

However the Orcs of Albion, maintained their redoubtable stiff upper lips and fought on.

Soon the red coats gained the upper hand as their near mechanically delivered volleys took a toll on Elf, Wolf, and Savage Orc alike!

In a wild rush the Hurorcs launched an assault on the 44th's right flank.

Whooping war cries and brandishing their fearsome weapons the warriors poured out of a gully.

Would the line hold?

Indeed it did. All it took was a bayonet with some Orc behind it.

This game featured only minor revisions to the firing, morale, and initiative systems previously used. The melee system saw a greater change rendering it much quicker and nicely setting it apart from fire combat.

This game also introduced magic although in the event it played only a small role. I decided to use Alternative Armies' fine "DarkeStorme The Skirmish" rules as the starting point here. This seemed only natural as that game takes place in Valon before the Annul of Wyld Magyke. Contrary to the official story, I maintain that the Annul is less effective the further one strays from the cockpit of Urop. For game purposes Valon has been divided into three zones of magical power each with different chances of spells being cast and resisted effectively.

In the game just described above, a Hurorc Shaman cast a lightening bolt that struck an Orc company yet did no damage. Later the same Shaman helped his tribesorcs to cover more ground and spend less time under Albion fire. I think its working out rather well.

Still have bits to add regarding how to rally troops, and of course artillery. Have them all worked out but have yet to try them.

That will probably have to wait though as I've been wondering how Giggers is getting on up the Gumbia...

Things Quickly Go Pear Shaped : Game One

Just finished a first play through using the re-imagined Company of Flintlogues.

 This game was played without any magic rules as I've not gotten that far yet.

 The native forces quickly brought the head of the column under fire.

The lead company performed well under the circumstances and formed line facing the Loup Lenape. However their fire was less than effective against the big werewolves.

 2nd company quickly turned to face left and took the Hurorcs under fire, while 3rd company advanced to take the Hurorcs in the flank.

Then disaster struck.

 A devastating Hurorc volley dropped the Colonel and the officers of 1st company. The Loup Lenape the charged and 1st company took flight!

The fear was contagious and 2nd company became disordered.

At this, the worst possible moment, 2nd company failed to act at all and rather than attempting to rally them, I was forced to see them stood stock still as the werewolves bore down on their flank.

I was able to get 3rd company into the relative safety of a gully but prospects of survival are dim.

So far the Albion regulars have lost 8 or so figures killed and another 8 or so run off to Native losses of...1 orc killed, and one orc and one werewolf wounded.

Despite the sever loss to the regulars the rules work as intended. Need to tidy up some bits and try again.

Also need to add in magic as stated up front.

Flintloques in the Forest

As usual a left click will enlarge a photo, and a second left click enlarge it yet again.

Three Companies of the 44th "Waxers" in a picturesque spot

While tooth and fang lie in wait.

A Ferach Captain and a Shaman hatch their plot.

With Hurorcs poised to meet their fate.

Playing a quick game using Steve Blease's "Ranke and Vyle" rules. A close scrutiny of the third photo will reveal the rule book in all its glory. It's a good set of rules that I like to play once and a while. The rules are for company level action in the world of Valon. Copies might still be available from Wessex Games.

Following on from that I plan to continue working on a pet project, "Company of Flitloques" (with apologies to Allan Mallinson). Like "Ranke and Vyle" the rules deal with company sized units in Valon. The mechanics however are derived from Flintloque 3rd edition.

There were a number of command oriented concepts that I wrote into "Muskets and Mohawks 2", that did not make the cut into the final product. I will be de-Two-Hour-Wargamesing these ideas and slot them into Company of Flintloques. Dealing with fights on this level. looking at what officers actually did, what information they needed to make decisions, and how those decisions affected the skirmish as a whole is well worth looking at.  Hopefully "looked at" in a matter that adds rather than detracts from play value.

As an antidote to having injected "simulation" into the game, I'm also looking at adding in some magic rules that exceed those present in Flintloque. "Wyld Magick" has been banished but there are still practitioners. The more so the further removed from the cockpit of Valon one gets and my games tend to be, er, removed.

If all goes well, magic will be very unreliable, while less dangerous to the caster than in "Warrior Heroes: Armies and Adventures". This ought to inject a properly fantasist slant to the game and be good for a few laughs as well.

More as it happens-ish.