Mission: Ooh Shiny - March Update

Woohoo! All goblins painted!! That gives me an available force of:
6 stands of Black Moon Goblins
10 stands of Goblin Archers
12 stands of Goblin Warriors
6 stands of Goblin Light Wolf Riders
2 stands of Ogres

The whole army:


This force will be more than enough for the Warrior Heroes game that we are planning next month. It amounts to twice the number of compulsory stands, which will permit some variety in the way I field the army. It really needs some more Goblin Warriors but I shall wait to get those until I have some spare cash, which may be a while now. As usual, click the pictures for larger images.

Irregular Miniatures Ogre allies:


The units are all based on 40mm by 20mm stands, with as many figures on each stand as I feel like putting on there. I like the 40mm by 20mm stands. They are neat and look good. For some reason I prefer this style of basing to the more normal DBx bases sizes that many rules use. I think it is because the stands rank up neatly together. The character figures are based on 20mm x 20mm stands with one or two figures per stand.

Baccus Goblin Wizard:


The figures are predominantly Baccus 6mm with a few Irregular Miniatures figures to provide those elements that Pete Berry does not produce. I really like the characterful goblins that Pete produces and they paint up really easily, but I do wish he would expand his fantasy range a bit. Mind you, having been made redundant recently, my gaming budget has been drastically reduced, so it is probably just as well. Perhaps it can wait until I have a new job.

Baccus Goblin Heroes:


The Irregular Miniatures figures paint up nicely, but they tend to be a bit lumpish in the lead. These particular Irregular figures do not have the same character that the Baccus figures have. This is a shame really because Irregular Miniatures are one of the nicest companies I have ordered from and they are really helpful if you ring them up with queries. They also have the fastest mail order system I know of. I believe they must either have Mystic Meg working for them, predicting what they need to package up in advance, or they have a time machine so that they can get your goodies to you immediately! Anyway, apart from their WW2 vehicles, I would still recommend Irregular to anyone wanting cheap figures and good customer service.

Irregular Miniatures Goblin Archers in the foreground with Baccus Cavalry and Infantry behind:


Irregular Ogres and Baccus Cavalry:

Mission: Ooh Shiny, Part 3

Well, no pictures this time around, but I thought it was time to post the March project. This month I shall be painting a 6mm Goblin army for Warrior Heroes.

Warrior Heroes is the element-based army-level game from TwoHourWargames. THW no longer sell Warrior Heroes, which is a shame. It includes a set of battle rules and a campaign system that puts you in the shoes of the army commander and deals with the system of generating the battles for you. There are numerous army lists that cover a range of different armies from historical analogues to standard fantasy fare like Elves and Dwarves. The rules also include heroes, mercenaries, wizards and magic. This makes for a complete package that I am rather taken with. The rules themselves could probably do with a rewrite for clarity's sake, but there is nothing there that is particularly difficult and I am looking forward to actually playing these rules. I have been meaning to do so for ages but have only recently completed any armies for it.

So, the plan is to get the Goblin army painted as a 6mm variant of my 28mm skirmish force. Steve is painting 6mm Teutonic knights this month and the two forces will go head to head in April. Can't wait.

Warrior Heroes: Armies and Adventures

We finally played Warrior Heroes: Armies and Adventures (WHAA) last night. February has been a poor month for gaming due to work, so it was good to roll some dice and talk some shite.

We have been planning to play WHAA for a while now. I have played it solo before and have described the events of my solo campaign on my wiki, but I was keen to see how it played head-to-head. I am pleased to report that it went well. The rules are by TwoHourWargames (THW) and use their reaction system to dictate how troops respond to the action in the battle. If you want to know more about this system, a number of free downloads are available from THW on their web-page, including the newly released Chain Reaction 3.0. Download it and try a game. I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised.

Returning to WHAA, the rules are a fantasy set for skirmish gaming. Rules are included for larger battles, which resemble grand skirmish rules (units and characters) more than big battle rules; think Warhammer Ancient Battles rather than Field of Glory. At least, that is how they feel to me. The key to the system is the distinction between Stars and Grunts. The Star is your personal figure and has much more freedom to choose its actions, while the Grunts will react according to dice rolls on the reaction tables. This could mean that they refuse to charge home when you order them to, or they might charge when you want them to hold the line. This lack of control is not excessive but certainly enhances the game and creates an air of immediacy that many wargames lack.

In addition to the skirmish and big battle rules, the rulebook includes a campaign and scenario generation system that permits your characters to improve and recruit more members to your force. The scenario generation system bases the forces that oppose you on how large and powerful your own force is. There is no guarantee that a battle will be even, and you will have to learn when to call it a day to preserve your own troops.

As part of the campaign system, the rules include 31 army lists, and encounter tables for the various nations described. These are mainly lists with historical analogues or are fairly standard fantasy races such as dwarves and elves but they make a good starting point for playing a game. You can either play these lists straight or construct your own based on what you have, using these lists as a guide.

Overall, this is a really good package. The rules themselves feel a little untidy in terms of structure, but they are still easy enough to use. There is no requirement to use specific figures and there is plenty of room for working up your own lists if what you want is not present. For example, there is no Viking analogue in these rules, so I worked my own up, which can be found on my wiki.

One thing I have not tried yet is the magic rules. I shall comment on them once I have done so. That covers the rules and so, without further ado, I present the battle report (words by Steve, pictures by me).

The Scenario

The local baker's daughter, Griselda, has been kidnapped by a goblin warband that raided the village of Harbottle on the borders of the Border Kingdoms. Arngrim the Baker is unable to keep up with his workload without his only daughter's help. Brother Cedric is concerned that attendance at the preceptory's afternoon teas will fall off without doughnuts from the bakery to supplement the beverages, but no doughnuts have been baked in days. Therefore, Brother Cedric embarks on a quest to find and rescue Griselda. He is sure that she will not be dead yet, because her doughnut baking skills will make her more valuable alive than dead to the sweet-toothed goblins.

This scenario uses the quest rules from WHAA. Brother Cedric must travel into Goblin territory and search for Griselda. Each campaign turn he dices to see if he has found the object of his quest. If this fails then he must dice to see if he has an ordinary encounter. As it turned out, he did not find her on the first campaign turn, but he did find a goblin village, which he raided. On the second turn, he found her. The dice result called for a pitched battle to fend off the goblins, followed by a raid to recover Griselda. We did not have time to fight out the raid, but we shall do so as soon as possible.

The Search for the Baker’s Daughter
Chapter 1
Brother Cedric reined in his horse, Brothers Konrad and Sigismund drew up either side of him. Ahead over a small bridge lay the Goblin village. He signalled to Hans and Herman his spearmen and Urk and Ogg the archers, to head towards the woods to the right of the village. In the centre of the village four goblins had come out to watch them.

“Maybe we can find information, about the kidnapped Baker’s daughter here,” thought Cedric. It had been a cold trail before they had been informed of the crime.

With a glance to either side Brother Cedric touched the side of his horse with his spurs and charged towards the village with a hymn in his heart. At the sight of the Brethren in full charge heading their way the goblins screamed and ran off into the distance. Meanwhile Urk and Ogg spotted another goblin amongst a patch of trees, both drew arrows and within a moment the goblin slumped to the ground.

The Brother Knights dismounted and headed into the huts to check for more goblins. Nothing was found, but a small box of silver coins. The other four were now heading towards the village, Herman ran ahead to inform Brother Cedric of the other goblin.

He had just reached Cedric when out of the fields a goblin appeared mounted on a ripper beast. Herman froze to the spot, but Sigismund charged to meet the goblin, only to be struck by an arrow and fall to the ground. The goblin continued on to Herman, who put up a brave fight, but he too fell wounded. Another goblin rider appeared and then another. Ogg shot at one, but took and arrow through the heart for his trouble. Brothers Cedric and Konrad with Hans and Ogg eventually killed the remaining goblin riders, but it had been a costly engagement. Brother Sigismund had merely been knocked unconscious; Herman was injured and would have to return to the border fort; Ogg however was dead. They helped Urk bury him and Brother Cedric read a fine sermon over the grave.

Chapter 2
For a month the five travelled into the Goblin Kingdom. They found snippets of information to the Baker's daughter’s location along the way. All seemed to point in direction they now travelled, into the heartland of the Goblin Kingdom. Travelling was becoming more dangerous and several times they had been forced to hide from large Goblin warbands. Up until now they had been lucky to have spotted them in time to hide. Unfortunately for them their luck had just run out and they had been spotted by a Goblin raiding party.

Two Goblin riders headed to meet them and they rode to them. Brother Konrad’s horse shied and the goblin knocked him from his steed and he lay motionless on the ground. Another Goblin rider fired an arrow, which caught Hans and spun him around before he fell to the ground. The Goblin chariot charged in to attack Cedric with another Goblin rider. Urk too fell to an arrow from one of the goblins.

The battle was going badly for the Brethren and there seemed nothing that either Cedric or Sigismund could do. They looked at each other and with grim smiles and a battle hymn on their lips turned to take on the numerous foes. This seemed to unnerve the goblins as within a few moments the tide had turned. Brother Sigismund had slain both his opponents and this had caused the archers creeping up the nearby hill to flee the scene. Brother Cedric despatched the rider he fought against and the two turned on the chariot. Soon the chariot lay destroyed and the goblins were running for cover.

As Cedric and Sigismund returned to the others, Konrad rose gingerly to his feet and rubbed his head. After burying Hans and Urk, the three Brother Knights again mounted their horses and rode off deeper into the Goblin Lands in search of Griselda.

Conclusions

We played two games in under two hours, which fits well with the THW paradigm. Both games were close with the advantage switching between sides as the game progressed. In both cases the Brethren won in the end, but it was by no means an easy feat, especially in the second game where they were outnumbered at the start. This kept our interest going in the games, and neither of us was stuck waiting for the other to finish a large move with nothing to do. This constant engagement in the game is a positive thing and we are both looking forward to finishing this quest.

Overall, I would highly recommend these rules to anyone looking for a fast play fantasy skirmish rules set. The rules themselves work well, and support on the THW Yahoo Group is absolutely first class, should you have any problems.

The only question that remains is, can Brother Cedric rescue Griselda in time? I, for one, can't wait to find out.

The Goblins of Zog-Rot

We are nearly at the end of January and I have completed my goblins. I really did wonder if I could manage it, but I have done so. 2VPs to me. I have not managed to paint any of the Normans that were my secondary objective, because I have been distracted by our 6mm Great Northern War games instead. For next month I shall devise an alternative system for the secondary objective. Not sure what yet, but I shall come up with something (I hope).

The goblins of Zog-Rot are a mixed bunch. The majority are poorly clad, small and malnourished but with a huge appetite for carnage. The toughest of them ride the dreaded Ripper Beasts, large flightless birds with a terrible carnivorous appetite. It is fair to say that most goblins that try to tame one of these beasts wind up as its dinner instead. However, those few that succeed are well on their way to glory and fame among goblin-kind. Just taming a Ripper Beast is cause for a rise in social standing. Most goblins try to tame the less aggressive male ripper beasts, which are readily recognisable by the red stripes on their backs. Obviously, less aggressive in this case refers only to their aggressiveness when compared to the female of the species.

Some rare goblins are tough enough to tame the female Ripper Beasts, and a very few manage to tame two of them. The sight of a goblin standing proudly in his chariot pulled by two Ripper Beasts is a sure sign that you are confronting the chief of the tribe. This will be an unusually large and aggressive goblin.

Zog-Rotten society is warband-based. It relies on a regular income from raiding other groups. It is rare that a single war-leader can rise to the fore and unite the goblin hordes, although this has happened on occasion. That is one reason why Zog-Rot is ringed by Brethren fortresses. The Brethren maintain a constant watch for just such an occurrence and do their level best to prevent it reaching the point where goblin armies storm across the borders once more. Let us just hope that Steve has managed to outfit the Brethren in time for next week's goblin incursion!!

Late January Update

We are now most of the way through January and I shall certainly not complete my secondary objective this month. On the other hand, I have now completed painting all of the goblins and am most of the way through basing them. Pictures will follow when the bases are finished. I am looking forward to getting these figures onto the table now, although this time last week I was wondering if I would ever finish painting them.

One problem I have had with achieving my objectives this month has been our games of Koenig Krieg. We have played a couple of games this month and enjoyed them very much. The pre-game manoeuvring section of the rules is particularly fun, because you manoeuvre your brigades on 'blinds'. Each 'blind' is a large cardboard counter that represents a brigade. Depending upon the initiative level of your general, you may get a number of dummy blinds too. In short, you set up your 'blinds' so that only you know where your troops are and try to scout out the enemy forces and manoeuvre your own troops into a strong position for the attack. This makes each game different and very interesting.

Anyway, playing Koenig Krieg has led to me being distracted by my Great Northern War armies, so I have been fiddling with them, rebasing some of the figures and generally preparing them for more games, instead of painting Goblins and Normans. I have also realised that the armies at Helsingborg are too large to work comfortably with the Koenig Krieg rules. Therefore we plan to try Polemos:GNW this weekend and see if that suits us better. Failing that, I shall fall back on Volley and Bayonet, which are simple, fast rules and fun to play. They don't really have as much period flavour as I would like, but they do make for a great game that can be finished in a reasonable time. We shall still play Koenig Krieg because the rules are good fun, but our games will be smaller than the one I had envisaged.

Below is my Swedish army for Helsingborg in 1710. As you can see, the bases need finishing. The same is true of my Danish army for the battle, which is all painted but still needs the bases finishing. I propose to work on these armies as a secondary objective in February.
(Click the picture for a larger version)

All this focus on older projects and actually playing games using them, seems to me to embody the essence of thrift. I have had the Great Northern War armies painted for nearly 10 years now and have played maybe four or five games with them at most. This is due to a lack of opponents that were interested in the subject matter. With the emphasis now on using what I have and making the most of existing resources, this is the perfect time to work on completing a project that has lain dormant for ages. With the bases on the figures done, the next step will be completing the terrain, which is also half-finished and in storage at the moment. I hope it has not gone mouldy!

January? WHAA!

Happy New Year, thrifty gamers.


So, it is January now. As I wrote last time, Steve and I decided that we would aim for a game of Warrior Heroes: Armies and Adventures at the beginning of February. Therefore, my primary objective for January is to paint my remaining goblins to provide an enemy for Steve's Teutonic knights. Steve is going to paint his Teutonic knights and then we shall have a scrap; no unpainted figures may be fielded so getting the figures painted is important. I am looking forward to getting started on these and will try to get pictures as I go along so that you can see the progress.


Objective 1: The Goblins
As I wrote before, this is one of my half-finished projects. It does not look like many figures to paint, but I always find that these things take longer than expected.


Objective 2: The Normans
More figures for the WHAA project, as well as being useful for other rules that I enjoy, like Retinue and Montjoie.


Regarding WHAA, I have also updated my wiki with some notes on WHAA and the first entries in my own warband's diary. The diary, Ragnar's saga, follows the adventures of the youngest son of a Viking jarl in his quest for fame and fortune. Pretty much standard Viking fare then.


As part of getting ready for the thrift, I have had to clear the decks, so to speak. This has resulted in me finally completing the painting on my Warrior Heroes 6mm armies. Warrior Heroes was the original THW fantasy massed battle game. It uses element bases and I have chosen to base all my figures on 40*20mm bases with a view to also using them with Warmaster Ancients. The two armies that I have produced use Baccus Wars of the Roses figures but are based on Hundred Years War armies. So, my project-based approach has already had some benefits since it forced me to put in the work on these figures. I am planning on getting in a game or two with these figures over the next month now that they are painted. Hopefully I shall also manage to get their bases done too.

Back to basics

Today we played a game of Laserburn. It is a long time since I have played Laserburn, probably about 12 years now that I think about it. I chose to umpire Assault on Bunker 17, which is the first Laserburn scenario that I ever bought. Steve was the unfortunate rebel stooge, who had to enter the bunker, kill General Yates, reprogram the sector computer and rescue the traitor from the bunker. Steve supplied four character figures for his side. I supplied all the other figures.

I have had these figures for more than twenty years now and the whole game was really nostalgia-filled for me. The rules held up well, although both of our brains hurt by the end with all the maths. Laserburn is the predecessor of the game that became 40K and its age shows in some respects, but it is still fun to play. So, how did the game go? Well, to be honest, rather poorly for Steve. His troops entered the bunker successfully and dealt very quickly with the door guards. They then advanced into the bunker and were forced to fight their way through the garrison's quarters to the computer and security areas. Unfortunately, about half way through the traitor was spotted doing something odd by the chief security officer. He managed to fake a systems malfunction but that meant he could not monitor his rescuers any more and open the bunker doors for them. With casualties mounting the rebel forces managed to reach the computer room but were forced to retreat before they could achieve their objectives. The elite assassins they had escorted in were dead or captured, the rebel troops were dead, one of the characters was dead and one had been captured. Steve chose wisely and his two remaining figures scarpered, leaving their companions to their fates. We did find that most of our shots actually hit characters in the legs, which is fairly typical. We get the same in .45 Adventures. This game was also characterised by a high number of guns that got hit and destroyed. Half the figures in the game had two-piece guns by the end!

This game of Laserburn was good on several levels.

1. It embodied the spirit of thrifty gaming because we already had the figures and used a cheap-to-build terrain set
2. It did not require purchase of anything that we did not already have
3. It was great fun to play

We both already had all the figures that would be needed. Although we had planned this game for some time, it used figures that I had bought in the eighties and that had remained unpainted until now. I could have used already painted figures for the whole game but chose to use the game to spur me on and clear up a bit of the old lead mountain. The floor plan used for the bunker is a scaled down print-out of the WorldWorksGames Mars Station set. The doors come from Ebbles Miniatures' Guncrawl set. If you are interested, there are more pictures of this game in my Photobucket album, some of which have added commentary. The only disappointment about the game was that I had hoped to make a lot of paper furniture for the set too. Unfortunately that fell victim to a lack of desire to make much paper terrain. Still, we plan to play more Laserburn in the future, which will lead to more of my old Laserburn figures getting painted.

Regarding Mission: Ooh Shiny, we have now decided what our January project will be. [pause for drum roll and blow the fanfare. January will be WHAA month. I bought Warrior Heroes: Armies and Adventures when it first came out. Since then I have played a couple of solo games with my Vikings versus a variety of D&D miniatures and Steve bought some Teutonic Knights with a view to using them in it. I bought some Normans from Black Tree Designs that I planned to use with it (May they rot in the bog of eternal stench for taking 3 months to send me half my order and never having sent the rest 6 months later). I also supplemented my D&D miniatures with some Chronopia goblins. These goblins are sold as Blackbloods and I really liked the idea of giving my goblins giant chickens to ride instead of the more usual wolves. Unfortunately, as so often before, I prepped and undercoated the goblins and Normans but never got any further. So, we have the first scenario for Mission: Ooh Shiny.

Primary Objective: Goblins on Ripper Beasts and Chariot drawn by Ripper Beasts (2 VPs)

Secondary Objective: Norman Soldiers and Knights (1VP)

I am not certain how much time I shall have to paint figures in January, so I have set myself two objectives. The primary objective (Goblins) is the one that I must achieve. That should be fairly manageable (did I mention that I paint slowly?). The secondary objective is one that would be nice to achieve, but I shall not be overly disappointed if I do not manage it. Still, it would be nice to have the VPs for achieving it. I am not sure what the VPs will translate into when the year is over, but I suspect that Steve and I shall decide on a system for rewarding ourselves by the end.

I am looking forward to playing WHAA in February.