Northman vs Norman

It was time for a Dark Age slugfest. I used the same rules (Flower of Chivalry) we use for our "Campaign for the Kingdom". They still work well for 11th century.
A large group of marauding vikings led by Horst the Wily, are stirring up trouble. They've managed to secure some Breton mercenaries and are burning they way across the countryside. The local lord Duc' d'Lindsey, has mustered the troops and moved out to stop them.

The Lord orders his troops

Lord d'Lindsey was feeling spry that morning and was rated as "Brilliant" (more 3 action cards in his deck). Meanwhile Horst was a bit in his cups, as thus, "Plodding".

The Viking horde

The Norman lines

Battle for the hilltop.

A class of Normans

The lines reform, then break.

As the battle started, both sides began a slow crawl towards each other. All except the viking right flank. There, Gregor the Obviously Mad, charged forward. By the time he met the Norman cavalry division, his men were exhausted. They held a small hill top, but would suffer.
On the Viking left, Guilliame the Old led the Breton mercenaries. He waded into the fray with gusto, wiping out 4 units off the bat.
With the victory conditions set at 9 units, it looked good for the Northmen. They had taken out 7 Norman units for a loss of only 4 of their own. Two more meant victory.
But, that is where things changed. Thor abandoned his followers. Within a few scant turns it was tied 8 a piece. Horst's command hadn't lost a unit. The center was tight, but in the end, the Normans snatched away the victory. The vikings fled for their ships empty handed.
As usual, FoC provided a great game. Lots of twists and turns, and always different from game before. I think I'll have to try it at RECRUITS some day. NOw, I'm painting some Dark Age stuff to try this with Hail Caesar and compare.

Thursday night shootuot

Fistful of Lead. An oldie but goodie. I wanted to try out some ambush/hidden movement rules I'm working on for FfoL Horse and Musket and decided a Wild Bunch/Northfield Raid. The bad guys start in the bank and have to make it to the Livery Stable. The good guys start hidden, aware of the baddies in the bank. Unknown to the good guys, there are more baddies hidden around town. Recipe for a bloodbath.
At first, even though outnumbered, it looked like the robbers had the upper hand. The Marshal's men and the townfolk were dropping like flies. But, the bad guys got caught up in the shoot outs and rather than moving towards the stable, were slowly being overwhelmed by numbers.

"Well Bob, looks like a typical Thursday. I'll get the coffins ready."

The Robbers break out.

O'Mally drops two baddies from his perch.

"You go first."

"No. You go first."

Blood Alley. Almost 20 years of playing this game, and there's always a Blood Alley.

By the end of the game, a lone bandit was being slowly hunted down by the survivors. Best moment of the game: The Marshal stepped out into the street and was fired at "manual insertion range" by one of the bank robbers. Marshal brains all over the alley.
Tonight's game was fueled by a favorite:

43

Today all hostilities in Unkerlant halted to celebrate the 43rd Birthday of the Baron. They will, of course, resume at midnight.
Here it is. Another birthday. I'm fairly sure they come quicker the older you get. What do I have to show for it? Well, Let's count my blessings. A great family I appreciate more each day. More lead than I could possibly paint in my lifetime. An awesome group of gamers I get to battle with every Thursday. And, of course the wargaming blogosphere.

Oktoberfest with the Baron, Baroness, the Girl and the Boy.

p.s. My original post was much darker, owing to doing it first thing in morning. Lead Addict made me rethink it. Thanks, pal.

the Battle of Lacklilly Fields

On a cold Autumn day, two forces watched each other from across Lacklilly Field. So named for the noted bard John Lacklilly, buried nearby. Edwin, Baron of Fennwyck was barred from leaving his lands and the road to the capital by Horace, Duke of Dunharrow.
Edwin had battled his way through other claimants and pretenders to the throne. He had managed to keep his head where others had failed. Why, just across the field from him were two men who were the sons of previous challengers. Both Roderick and Rutiger had seen their fathers fall in battle and beheaded. Rutiger, the son of the previous King had much to lose. They both now rode with Horace, seeking revenge.
Edwin had brought Lionel the unlucky Baron of Stonekeep. Lionel had been on the losing side in most of the battles to date. With him was Oswald, son of the late Baron of Ock. Loyal to Edwin, but for how long?
Missing from the scene was Ulric, Duke of Kragg. Though loyal to Edwin, he sent a missive explaining his horse had thrown a shoe, and would miss the battle.
Sidenote: Sides are chosen right before the battle Kickball style, starting with the Claimant. I was of course was chosen last. Lionel, the fat kid gets picked last....
Command ratings are rolled randomly also. Edwin's team all rolled 1&2s. BUFFOONS! They would be severely restricted in their movements and command radius.)
Edwin, as well as his commanders were suffering from camp sickness (Buffoon rating). The odds were already stacked against them.
With a shout, Edwin forces steadily rumbled forward. Across the field, Lionel's men had decided a charge was in order and raced forward, leaving the rest of the battleline behind. Most of engagement, despite their sickness, Edwin's men managed a steady, orderly advance, while Horace's men charged and halted in spurts.
Once within bowshot, both sides darkened the sky. Roderick's units seemed to take the brunt of it and two units quit the field. At the opposite end Oswald was taking a beating too. It looked bad for Edwin.

Horace leads the charge

Edwin

The view from Oswald's flank

The arrows rain down

Horace tries to rally the troops

When the lines finally met, it was bloody, indeed. Both sides were losing men in streams. It was chaos. Edwin's men had managed to battle back from the brink, the losses were dead even....then it happened. Horace's men had enough. The ran from the battlefield.
In a stroke of uncommon mercy, Edwin allowed Horace to leave without pursuit. He would be allowed to slink back to Dunharrow and plot his revenge. In the chaos that followed, a beraggled messenger arrived. Ulric had been spotted. Not coming to Edwin's aid, but to move on the capital. Edwin spoke. "Ulric, I have seen your heart. It is a black place, full of deceit."
Highlight for me was a battle between my pikemen and a unit of archers. The archers hit on a d10 roll of "1" in melee. My pikes on "6" or below. The archers were already chewed up and could only take one hit. FOR THREE STRaIGHT TURNS I missed . My side broke before I could kill the bastards. Lionel the unlucky.....
Tonight's pairing:

Bellhaven Scottish Ale to go with my "not Scottish" pikemen.

The Results:

Special Thanks to John for standing in for Lead Addict as Edwin.

The Campaign for the Kingdom continues

"Come sit by the fire ye gentle fellows, and let me tell you a sad tale.
It came to pass that an unwelcome king sat upon the throne. His fellow nobles did oust him, and in doing, sparked off a great war in the Kingdom...."
Tonight, the ongoing Campaign for the Kingdom continues. The Claimant, Edwin, Baron of Fennwyck doth square off against Horace, Duke of Dunharrow.

Who will back whom, in the ensuing battle?

Pirates!

Ahoy! It's been a crap week. My solution? Rum and a goofy hat! I dug out my Pirates and their ships which I haven't touched in a loooong time. The scenario would be a 3 way scrap over control of an important straight. I commanded one of the smaller vessels, and though not as nice as Wingnut's and the lads over at Fistful of Seamen, my ships were built 10 years ago and are more utilitarian.
We captains of the two smaller vessels opted to mass our fire power and take on one of the bigger ships, though not the largest one. We avoided Scurvy Bill and went for the Wraith and her Captain, Gangerous Greg.
Captain Greg and Bald Scott, were against the wind, and decided to fight this battle more like a fortress would. Stay in place. Meanwhile, Scurvy Bill just sat back out of gun range and waited for us to kill each other.
We used Pirates! by Flagship games. A fun, simple set of rules. Shooting is done by placing splash markers (i used golf tees as they look like water spray) and then guess-timating the range. The true range is then measured out to the marker and results rolled. Simple and fun.
After a couple hours we had three ships sinking (including mine) a boarding actions repelled, and a clear winner (Scurvy Bill). When Bill finally joined the fight, his fire was terrifyingly accurate and damaging.

The crew of the Siren

Captains Greg & Scott put the ships in irons

Bill dodges the fight

Just missed 'em!

With my rowboat shot to pieces and ship sinking my boys were chum. Tonight's pairing:

The Kraken, of course. A bit of lime or add cola if ye be lilly livered!

Pictured taken after the crew took a few swigs.

The story so far...

No game this Thursday, True Believers. So thought I'd take the time instead to update what's on the workbench, and what's next for the Baron.
Currently on the painting table are 24 French Napoleonic miniatures I'm painting for Lead Addict. Some of the Basement Generals have volunteered to to each take a unit, so we can finally do some Nappy gaming in God's Own Scale. Even great Perry sculpts cannot help from reminding me why I don't paint more from this period. All those lapels, and straps, and buttons! After painting the simple uniforms from the War of Spanish Succession, let alone the Italian Wars, this is a chore.
Right behind the Frenchies are more Italian Wars. This is a project I actually have light at the end of the tunnel for. Like my VSF stuff, it's one of those periods I can keep building on, or not, as much as I want.
While on the subject of projects, let's review all the irons I have in the fire:

- Russian Civil War/ Back of Beyond: One of those "in between" periods I'm so fond of. I have a few units done, and enough bare lead to sink a ship. Seriously, I have obscene amounts of Copplestone RCW troops. Like, moving crates full. Troops can be colorful and easy to paint. The hold up? Terrain. Yes, the Russian steppes are easy to pull off on the gaming table, but the buildings are sort of unique, and most battles centered around rail stations. Trains suitable for 28mm? $$$$$$$$$.

- Retro SciFi: FLASH! Ahhh-ahhh! Almost there, but again. I want to do it right. The scene. The set. The rules. They all need to do it justice. I plan on this being more of a RPG-lite ongoing serial.
- Hail Caesar (Sauron): There are a bunch of tiny Dwarves staring at me, waiting for paint. They look angry.
- Fistful of Lead, Horse and Musket: The long awaited sequel to my original Cowboy/Wild West rules are done. What I need are scenarios, proofreading and art. Oh, and enthusiasm.
- Unkerlant: Though the war has raged for years, alas, to my great shame, it has been waged with paper soldiers mostly, and not lead.
There you have it. Just a few of the many projects waiting in the wings. And most likely where they'll stay.
I have two great kids heavily involved in sports during the week and most weekends. I have a wife that actually likes to be around me. September has been a total shit month. A ton of work. A huge event to put on at the end of the month. My father was hospitalized (briefly, thank God). And the death of close family member who was the same age as me (42). Suddenly, time spent driving my kids to practice, was well, time with my kids. Simple things like sitting on the couch, holding hands with my wife watching TV became more important. Silly arguments, became silly arguments, easily forgotten.
Perspective.
Little lead guys can wait.