It’s another Wednesday and we start with Marcus and some progress on his Pulp miniatures.
We follow that with Felix and some WW2 Germans.
Mark J has continued painting up some more Legion Imperialis miniatures.
And last for this week Andy has been painting his Arab light horse. We were impressed with the yellow Andy manged to paint on these, I believe the secret was a pink undercoat.
And that’s it for this week, see you next time.
Another Wednesday and the members are getting the year off to a good start.
First up Mark J has been painting up some of the new models for Legion Imperialis.
Next up Marcus has primed some pulp miniatures for an up coming adventure.
Now we have Andy who has progressed his Arab light horse.
And had to do a repair job on a Mexican infantryman who took a damaging tumble off the table.
And lastly for this week I managed to put together a homemade turn counter for my Sci-Fi games using a few round bases and a bit of scenery for the top.
See you again next Wednesday.
We have a slight change to our Work in Progress post this week, but we thought we’d do a review of the retro painting challenge society members have been engaged in.
The idea was to paint up some old Games Workshop miniatures in that classic 1990’s style. We will be auctioning off these miniatures at a later date for charity.
First up we have Stephen’s effort with a chaos thug and a classic plastic Space Marine.
Next Pete went for another Space Marine and also a mean looking Minotaur.
Now we have Eric who’s played a lot of Warhammer 40K in his time. Eric went for a Space Ork and a Chaos Thug.
For my miniatures I ended up with what I thought were two Chaos Warriors but they turned out to be Evil Fighters from the GW D&D range.
We had a late entry from Tony F (that’s why they didn’t make the group shot)., Tony went for an ogre looking warrior (no idea on that one) and what I believe is a miniature from the Paranoia range GW produced.
This was a fun challenge and a wonderful nostalgia trip for us all.
We’ll post news of the charity auction once we’ve worked out how to run it.
It’s 2024 and our first Work in Progress Wednesday of the year.
We start this week with some Arab light horse from Andy. These plastic kits take a bit of assembly and we can see below Andy is building a fair number.
Next up and Phil continues on the construction of this years show game with a splendid manor house. The grid layout is apparently going to be part of the game.
We move on to David P with some additions to the growing corps of Russian and French troops.
Moving on and I’ve put the finishing touches to my miniatures for the retro paint challenge we are currently running. We will be putting up a separate page of the miniatures painted soon.
Sticking with the retro challenge and Tony F presents his work so far.
He has also been busy on some scenery projects, we have a small garden
and a farmhouse building with courtyard.
Finally for this week Tony F has also started work on some fantasy scenery pieces with the fountain.
That’s it for our first work in progress post of 2024, let’s hope it’s a productive year!
Club member Marcus reports on another solo game of 5 Parsecs from Home.
The crew of the “Pi” have had some scares so far but come out about as far ahead as an independent crew of scoundrels starting out in a big universe can expect so far. Turn 3 starts with payment of upkeep and debt on the ship. San and Nira trade for some contraband. There is a risk that they could acquire a rival as a result (law enforcement perhaps or a rival gang?) but they get away with it and gain 3 CR. Kel and Wellington explore and pick up a shotgun. Always handy! More importantly they gain a rumour “Meet someone interesting…” In a darkened corner of a relic emporium a wizened alien gives them a strange token following a curious discussion over purchasing some old charts. It’s handed over with the words “Perhaps you can make use of this too…key to the temple, or so they say…” Wellington looks at the ancient looking etched cube in his hand with a curious look. “I have seen something like this before, but I can’t remember where…” perhaps it is just what it looks like, a curious old piece of junk. Perhaps not.
Meanwhile Pascal does some schmoozing and finds a new patron with an offer of a job which must be completed this turn or the next. Your patron has been double crossed in a shady information bartering transaction. The perpetrator has however crashed on a shuttle in the southern forests. Eliminate him and the knowledge he carries. It has the benefit of giving access to the company stores for supply purposes. Ultimately this produces a roll which generates 1 CR of scrap! “I told you that was a load of rubbish Pascal!” Very disappointing. This job also a significant hazard. The crew will face veteran opposition at -1 to panic.
They don’t yet know it but they will face the threat of the “Converted” infiltrators. Their opponents appear normal (as normal as anyone looks in this galaxy of diverse lifeforms!) but are part of the cyborg hive mind advance party…there’s a threat of invasion and galactic war!
You can see the Converted moving in from the north-west quite apparently quite close to the wrecked stealth shuttle. The crew can be seen at the south centre. The yellow counter is a randomly generated “curious item”, worth 1 CR if picked up)
The first couple of turns are spent moving in on the location of the crash. Despite the initial proximity of the converted to the site both crews converge at the location almost simultaneously with San and Kel spotting their opponents.
Rolling a 12355, Kel and Nira act. Kell moves and shoots against an opponent in the open rolling a 6! However, a damage roll of 2 leaves the opponent stunned (yellow counter). Nira moves and shoots the leader in the open with a 5. A damage roll of 4 equals the leader’s toughness for a kill (red token)! The enemy return fire, mainly at Nira, but fortunately they all miss. Just. San now opens up with his plasma rifle and hits. His plasma rifle does +1 damage and the resulting 6 kills another converted. Veyon and Wellington search the shuttle but don’t locate the target, who has taken cover near a bulbous headed insanity plant.
In turn 4 a bad roll means that the crew all move after the converted, who don’t panic because they are (veteran) cold, calculating cyborgs. However, a volley of fire yields no results for the converted as they target San and Nira. Veyon in stealth gear (-1 to enemy shooting) moves into position. She also uses a sonic emitter which impacts enemy rolls with 5” by -1. Veyon shoots with no damage but gets two stuns on her target. Neither San nor Kel can get a hit. Nira rashly charges into close combat trusting in her lethal boarding sabre. Amid the melee of flailing sharp blades perhaps it is the cybernetics that give her opponent the edge, but Nira goes down. She survives the toxic effects of the planet but is a casualty and out of the action.
Turn 5 and having seen Nira go down an angry Kell blasts away at the remaining enemy but misses. They respond by firing at Veyon. She seems certain to be killed but somehow dives to safety (a luck point used, otherwise she would have been toast!) Wellington meanwhile has tracked the target who has moved some way from the shuttle. He shoots but misses. Veyon now return fire at the last of the e. A 5 hit and 5 damage see the last of them go down.
Wellington ultimately brawls with the target and brings the filthy traitor down too.
Far from an easy mission, both Nira and Kel nearly “bought it” (I used a story point to save Nira from a gruesome death). The crew pick up an extra 2 CR danger pay and 8 CR for completing the job. With the infiltrator converted wiped out, there is no evidence of the crew’s involvement and the Converted do not become rivals as a result. The crew also picked up something on the battlefield, a “personal item”. Perhaps representing a time before one of the enemy was converted. There is a chance this can be returned to a relative on visiting a future world, which would be worth a roll on the loot table. In addition the crew gather some loot – Damaged weapons: a ripper sword and 3 frak grenades.
Experience; Everyone gains +3 except Nira who gets +5. Level-up: Nira, Kell and Veyon get +1 combat and Wellington +1 tough. They purchase a military rifle for 3 CR. Finally there is another chance meeting in a bar…(where else?). Could be an addition to the crew perhaps?
Battle number nine in our campaign was the battle of Hexham. The setup for this battle involved having the Lancastrians with their back to the river known as the Devil’s Water. Both armies were 800 points and as is the established convention with this campaign the victor writes the history, so I’ll leave you with Stephen to go through what happened on the day!
Battle of Hexham
Now I think about it, I feel a bit sorry for Tony F. He turned up, all perky and friendly, and said, ‘So who wants me on their side?’
Jeremey and myself looked at each other. Then we looked at Tony. ‘Neither of us,’ we said. His face changed.
It’s like this you see. There were three of us for the game, so it would be two vs one. Now, if the two players won then the single player would say something like, ‘It took two of you to beat me.’ Or, if the single player won, he would say, ‘Even the two of you together weren’t good enough to stop me.’
So honour was at stake, and this hadn’t occurred to Tony. So we said to him, ‘You decide.’ Tony decided to flip a coin for it – it came up heads: so that meant he would be on Jeremey’s side.
We move on to the Battle of Hexham. This is one of the smaller, lesser known, battles from the Wars of the Roses. However, it’s a very important battle because it marks the end of Lancastrian resistance. The battle was a devastating loss to the Lancastrian cause with the death of the Duke of Somerset, who had been the main supporter of King Henry. There’s not much to the battlefield – a river to the Lancastrian rear (in which many fleeing Lancastrians drowned), but otherwise an empty field (as is the case with many small battles).
I knew my tactics were to advance as quickly as possible to ensure I had space to retreat if pushed back. In general I had my army in a double-line – archers up front with billmen behind. My centre consisted of two pike blocks and two units of dismounted men-at-arms. I knew this would be a tough nut for the army of York to crack. I took a bit of a gamble with my flanks. On the left I had mostly militia troops, with a back bone of a couple of retinue units. On my right I put a solid retinue contingent. Jeremey commented how they had their best troops on their right (which was my left – facing my militia!), so I kept quiet about how comparatively weak that flank was for me. I had no cavalry in my army for the battle, there were two units of mounted knights on the Yorkist side, but they’d been split between left and right. I wondered if that had been a good decision since cavalry can be weak if they don’t immediately prevail, so are best with a bit of company. My commanders consisted of two generals and three captains – Lord Roos with Lord Hungerford and Sir Phillip Wentworth on the left (to take control of the militia) with the Duke of Somerset and Lord Grey on the right.
And so it began.
With Sword & Spear it’s easy to lose track of support troops. One gets so focussed on advancing the front line and using those much needed activation dice in crucial combats that the rear rank gets left behind. I was conscious of this so ensured I moved up troops in pairs – one activation dice on the archers up front and one on the billmen supporting them. I noticed that both Jeremey and Tony didn’t. I don’t say that in an accusatory way, because we’ve all done it and there’s never enough activation dice to do all you want. But I noticed in Sword & Spear that victory will often go to the side who can plug the gaps in their line or have troops in position to exploit enemy gaps, so I was determined I would keep that second line in position.
First blood went to the Yorkists! Oh well, I thought – business as usual! I kept my extreme right flank static because I saw that was where Jeremey had his knights and I could see no reason why I should get closer to them – no, I thought, I’ll let him come galloping across the whole of the battlefield where I’ll have time to form a good line to stop him.
Only two or three turns in to the game and I was the first to lose a unit as well! That had just about cemented in my mind that it was, indeed, business as usual.
Then something rather odd happened. I started eliminating enemy units. Yeah, took me by surprise as well. In the centre and on the right the archery duel began and I was coming out on top! The Yorkist centre was slow to advance (in fairness, due to poor activation dice) and so I decided to take the initiative and move up the pikes and dismounted knights as quick as I could. Jeremey was faffing around with his crossbowmen but before they could do anything I took them out of the game with a flurry of longbow arrows.
Yes, it all seemed to be going just a bit too well. I wasn’t only winning at this point, but I was winning well!
Although my left was mostly militia units, and potentially vulnerable, they were rolling some demon dice when it came to shooting. Whoever was commanding them (presumably a grizzled veteran from the wars with France) they were earning their turnips.
Then it all came to an end.
My dismounted knights in the centre gave a poor account of themselves. They moved up alongside the pikes and I was fairly sure that between them they were going to cause some trouble to the main York line. When they finally got into contact it was not to be. No. Instead of punching a decisive hole in the York line the first unit of knights went down without causing the York billmen so much as a hiccup. Tony’s (superior) troops also started to engage my left flank, and casualties and losses were being taken. The only resolve I could take was on my right where my archers continued to take a toll on the Yorkist troops.
Jeremey had finally decided to put the spurs into his cavalry and they started trotting forward. I saw that, and expected it, but I had a good couple of turns before they made contact so time enough to turn something toward them. The pikes finally went in and…nothing. In fairness there were no casualties on either side, just a shoving match, but I was getting to that point where my early lead was being reversed.
To make matters worse it was now my time to get poor activation dice. What this meant was that Jeremey’s cavalry sped up and managed to outflank me and came crashing into the flank of a unit of archers. Not good, and off went the archers. That was annoying because I had seen that coming and was fully aware of it, I just didn’t get the dice that allowed me to do something about it! Not again though, because I decided to turn troops to face him now whilst I could.
Had it been too late for me though? Because I now went over my Morale break point and had to make tests for all my units. Oh well, it had gone well to start with but I knew it couldn’t last. I stoically accepted this game would be another loss. I did alright on the cohesion tests though. I lost a militia unit that only had one strength left but other than that…yeah, all passed.
The early part of the game had gone to Lancaster and the middle game had gone to York. We now entered the end game and although I was lagging behind it wasn’t by much.
Next turn and the army of York reached their morale point as well. Their cohesion tests didn’t go so well. Jeremey kindly fluffed a lot of rolls and two, maybe three, York units fled the table. That evened things up so it was all to play for.
It was hard for me to press the attack against Jeremey’s flank because so many of his troops had been left behind and those that hadn’t been he started to *ahem* ‘reposition to the rear’ (how brave!) and promptly told Tony that victory for York was now in his (Tony’s) hands. Who needs leaders like that, eh?
Tony acted by getting his cavalry moving and charged them forward. A rash move I thought, but he didn’t have many choices. In fact, it was a fair move – he was only facing my militia troops after all and he had to do something. The pikes in the centre finally achieved a result and punched a line in the York centre but there was nothing there to exploit whilst the other pike block was stuck in a fight. I could now tell the army of York was panicking and trying anything to grab the victory. I tried to play it cool, but I was concerned because if I was to get that win it would be down to my militia troops who were facing Tony’s wing (and remember, Jeremey had earlier let slip that Tony had the best troops). I most certainly wasn’t confident.
And so it happened. We all knew we were on the last, or penultimate, turn and you could tell that each player was looking desperately across the battlefield to see where they could snip off that game-winning unit. We had a quick tot up – York only had to lose one more unit to be defeated whilst the Lancastrians would have to lose two. Very tight. Tony’s cavalry had got stuck in a protracted fight but they finally squeezed out of it and down went a unit of Lancastrian militia.
Just one unit each left to lose.
With victory so close I was desperate not to take a chance. I knew that engaging Tony’s retinue troops in melee with my militia was only going to go one way. So I held back and just hoped the earlier good dice rolls for the militia archers would hold firm.
And you know what, they did! Yup, I drew back my arrows, let fly, and down went some Yorkist billimen!
Victory to Lancaster. Oh, and just for the record, even the two of them together weren’t good enough to stop me on my own!
The most Pyrrhic of Pyrrhic victories for Lancaster, and not much to brag about. But a win nonetheless!
When writing up the battle report I discovered the Yorkists actual loses were 45 points and not the Army break point 46. Yes, technically that means they hadn’t quite Broken, but Jeremey mistakenly marked one of his longbow units at 4 army points, which would have taken them to 46. It is, however, the responsibility of the general to ensure he knows the morale of the troops under him, and if he wavers, panics, and quits the field too early then that’s his mistake and he pays the price.
Yorkist Loses
4 Units of Militia Billmen (16 points)
4 Units of Longbows (12 points)
2 Units of Militia Longbows (6 points)
1 Unit of Crossbows (3 points)
1 Unit of Spearmen (4 points)
1 Unit of Dismounted Men-at-arms (4 points)
Total loses 45 points (Army break point 46)
Lancastrian Loses
2 Units of Dismounted Men at Arms (8 points)
2 Units of Billmen (8 points)
5 Units of Longbows (15 points)
3 Units of Militia Longbows (9 points)
1 Unit Militia Billmen (4 points)
Total loses 44 points (Army break point 45)
Lancastrian Victory
This is our last Work in Progress post for 2023 and we start with Phil who’s been working on some 3D printed Spitfires for the next game he has been working on.
Next up and Stephen has finished his Retro painting miniatures.
I’m still working on mine (still not sure about the purple).
And Tony F has barely started his.
But to be fair Tony F has been working on some other things. First up a 20mm farmhouse for a future WW2 game.
And some more scenery for the Lord of the Rings, I suspect this just needs a Farmer Maggot figure for those cabbages.
And lastly for 2023, John La has gone back to some more South American troops.
We’ll see you for more progress in 2024!
It’s another Wednesday and the members have been busy painting up miniatures for upcoming games.
First up we have Tony F with some Lord of the Rings figures. First Arwen with Frodo, followed by Gandalf the White.
Next up Mark J and Felix are almost finished with their Judge Dredd figures.
We start with the Pat Wagon.
Followed by a heavy spit gun.
And some Oldsters.
And another Mega Block.
Finally this week Eric has painted up a cultist.
That’s it for this week see you next time for our final Work in Progress Wednesday.
Only three more Wednesdays before Christmas and we have another eclectic mix.
We start with some more contenders in our Retro painting challenge. Above are the miniatures I got in the challenge, some chaos warriors getting ready for some very bright colours and an imperial guard heavy weapon.
Marcus also has an old GW miniature to paint in the form of an Eldar Wraithlord.
And sticking with the theme Stephen has made progress on his Space Marine and Chaos thug.
Now we move onto Mark J and some more Judge Dredd miniatures, this time some more judges.
And the start of a Pat Wagon.
Looking forward to seeing that painted up. We’ll see you next week.
It’s Wednesday again and we have a rather colourful collection.
We start with Mark J and some Megacity One Rioters followed by some Robots and Citi Def.
Keeping with the splash of colour Tony F has painted the last member of his Stargrave crew.
Next up Stephen has made a start on the GW retro challenge we are currently running (more on that in a later post).
And lastly for this week Phil has painted up even more buildings, practically a towns worth!
See you next week.
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