Campaign Considerations Part One: English Civil War

As mentioned in the Game Plan 2023 (Q1), I’d really like to run some online campaigns this year. I've been thinking about this since sometime in December. It would probably be best to strike while that iron is hot and before the initial inspiration fades. As George S. Patton once said; “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week”. To this end, I have been looking for “low-hanging fruit”. Which would be the quickest and easiest to GET GOING!?

My FIRST plan was to run an English Civil War campaign using Pikeman’s Lament and a campaign system based on the old Mighty Empires. This wouldn’t be a grand, sweeping campaign of the big battles, but rather smaller scale campaign of belligerent, landowning neighbours, far removed from the main action, that are simply making use of the chaos for personal gain and seizing the land from their neighbours in the name of King or Parliament. 

I do have a LOT of English Civil War stuff. At one point I was trying to make armies for DBA-X (on multi-figure bases) AND units for the Pikeman’s Lament (and other skirmishy games) on individual bases. When I gave up on the DBA-style games (for the English Civil War, at least) I had LOADS of miniatures on hand - enough to make seven or eight companies for The Pikeman’s Lament - with options for each beyond a standard 24-point force. 

The problem is, as I got planning those initial forces, I realized that, though I HAVE all the stuff I’d need (and MORE!) a LOT of it is still not painted, and a few of the forces need entire units painted, just to be able to field a 24 point force…. And my painted has slowed to an all-time low… 

I still want to do this, but started to think maybe It’d be better look for other options to START with while I whittle away at these armies. 

This is the state of each of the forces...

(Note: the basic cost of most units - Pike, Shot, Gallopers, Trotters, Dragoons is 4 points, so I'm basically looking to have six standard units for a starting army) 

(Another Note: Though almost ALL companies HAVE a Forlorn Hope, they're not all that useful as they are 6 points each and make it harder to field a force of standard units - I would have to find and take another 6 point unit, OR downgrade a few of the standard units to "raw" to make an even 24 points)

(YET Another Note: Mounted are divided into Gallopers and Trotters. sometimes I refer to them simply as "Horse" - as I haven't really decided which to classify them as. Both are 4 points for a unit of 6) 

Blue Company

Done:

• 2x Pike (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot (12) @ 4 points
• 1x Gallopers (6) @ 4 points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) (6) @ 6 points 

Total: 26 points

Technically enough points to start... but they don't add up to a neat even 24 points. I COULD downgrade two of the Pike or Shot units to RAW at -1 point each... or I could make one of the other units VETERAN, and drop one of the pike...? OR I could just finish up the three horsemen required to complete the second unit of Horse and lose the Forlorn Hope from the starting roster.

To Do: 

• 1x Horse (6 - 3 need painting to complete)
• 2x Pike (12 - 8 to finish) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot (12 - 11 to finish) @ 4 points

This company has been fully re-based onto the wooden discs and this is what such a  force looks like stuffed into one of my storage drawers. It barely holds this basic company of 30 points... I might need to clear up some more space for these... 

Orange Company 

Done:

• 1x Pike  (12) @ 4 points
• 1x Shot  (12) @ 4 points
• 1x Gallopers (6) @ 4 points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) (6) @ 6 points 

Total: 18 points

To Do:

• 1x Pike (8 to finish unit) 
• 1x Shot (9 to finish unit) 
• 1x Dragoons (6) 

Green Company

This one is least ready to go... Not a single unit is FINISHED!? 

To Do:

• 3x Pike  (12) 
• 3x Shot  (12) 
• 2x Horse (6)  

One company that DOESN'T have a forlorn Hope!? 

I DO have an extra Forlorn Hope in the "extras" below...) 

Red Company 

Fair bit of rebasing required here... 

Done:

• 2x Pike  (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot  (12) @ 4 Points
• 1xHorse (6) @ 4 Points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) @ 6 Points

To Do:

• 1x Pike  (12 - 8 to finish)
• 1x Shot  (12 - 10 to finish)
• 1x Dragoons (6)

Scots Company #1 

Done:

• 3x Pike  (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot  (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Horse (6) @ 4 points
• 1x Regimental Gun @ 4 points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) @ 6 points

Total: 38 points!?

This force is DONE! (well... they are on washer bases, and at SOME point, I'd like to put them on wooden discs like the rest of the collection... but that is a super LOW priority) 

Scots  Company #2

I do need to re-base most of these... At least the Pike for starters - as they are 8 to a base and need to be split up to make THREE units of Pike. 

Done:

• 3x Pike  (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot  (12) @ 4 points
• 1x Horse (6) @ 4 points

total: 24 Points

It's just occurred to me that, since this force has only ONE unit of Horse, maybe THEY should get the Regimental Gun... just so each of the Scots units has a FEW options...

Highland Company 

Not sure if this will be one used in the campaign... I could borrow finished units from the Irish company, below, to make this a viable starting army...? 

Done:

• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) (6) @ 6 Points
• 1x Commanded Shot (archers) (6) @ 2 Points
• 4x Clansmen (12) @ 3 points 

Total: 20 points

To Do:

• 4x Clansmen (12)

Irish Company 

This wasn't a force I was planning to use in this campaign... but while I was doing this, I thought I'd take pictures as it is part of the ECW collection. Perhaps they could be available as mercenaries for any of the other companies, should they have excess gold to spend in the winter phase! 

Done:

• 2x Pike  (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot  (12) @ 4 Points
• 1x Gallopers @ 4 Points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) @ 6 Points

To Do:

• 2x Pike  (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot  (12) @ 4 Points
• 1x Gallopers @ 4 Points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) @ 6 Points

Extras

This is MORE stuff that hasn't yet been assigned to a particular company... Some of it can be, others might remain as a pool of available stuff. 

GUNS!

It's kind of ridiculous how many guns I've acquired. I have enough that EACH english company could have TWO (well... a gun and a MORTAR - which there isn't really RULES for, but I'd just use as a gun...) 

Initially these were assigned to specific companies, but there just wasn't space in the drawers for each... and the one I'd done wasn't in any particular colours... so I thought I'd just keep a pool of them in a separate drawer that could be assigned to any force, as required. 

Two of the guns I have are rather on the larger side and I might classify them as Field Guns, rather than Regimental Guns.

DONE:

• 1x Reginemtal Gun @ 4 points

To Do:

• 1x Reginemtal Gun @ 4 points
• 2x Field Guns @ 6 points
• 4x Mortar

Civilians (“clubmen”) 

Like the guns, these don't belong to any particular force. My plan was to use them as extra units to help defenders were defending their home territory (land they started the game with) if they'd experienced significant losses. This was actually a suggestion of Bob Barnetson after one of the previous Hordes of the Things campaigns - allow an army, that has lost a number of Hordes (representing hastily armed locals/civilians) to join the army, so that Armies that had one unlucky game and lost half their army, couldn't just be rolled right back to their capitol and out of the game in one year. 

Defending Army AP - Number of Units of Clubmen Available

• 24+ - None
• 16-23 - one
• 12-15 - two
• 8-11 - three
• 4-7 - four

Done:

• 3x Clubmen (12) 

To Do:

• 2x Clubmen (12) 

Extra Dragoons (and Horse)

These were the latest additions to the collection and haven't really be assigned to companies just yet. The Orange and Red Companies each have one assigned already (because they both have only one unit of Horse, where the others have two), and I have four MORE!? I guess I can add one to each of the English Companies - though I'm not sure where they will be stored (currently stored in a cardboard box near the painting station as there is no room in each of the company's permanent storage drawers?!) 

To Do:

• 4x Dragoons (6) 

Extra Foot

STILL more foot - effectively four more units of Pike and a PILE of officers and another Forlorn Hope. Not sure what to do with all these... 

Actually, as MOST units have six units of Pike/Shot, and Orange only has four, I could assign two more units of pike to them... They'll have less shot then... 

To Do:

• 4x Pike (12) 
• 1x Forlorn Hope (6)

And then there is a smattering of half assembled PLASTIC pike and shot that I acquired at some point... not sure what to do with these. One idea was that if I were to ever run an IN PERSON campaign with these forces, I could have these painted up to give away to the winner...? Or if anyone local had any interest in playing, I might give these away as a starter force...?  

NEED TO DO:

Blue: Horse (3) 

Orange: Pike (8), Shot (9), Dragoons (6) 

Green: 2x Pike (20), 2x Shot (20), 1x Horse (3)

Red: 1x Dragoons (6)

Highland: Clansmen (12)

NICE TO DO:

Blue: Pike (8), Shot (11), Dragoons (6) 

Orange: Dragoons (6) 

Red: Dragoons (6) 

Green: Dragoons (6), Pike (12), Shot (12) 

Highland: Clansmen (24) 

Clubmen (24)

Irish: Pike (24), Shot (30) 

GUNS: 3 guns and 12 Crew 

Mortars: 3 Mortars and 12 Crew 

Conclusion

To field standard units, I need to finish up TEN units - some don't require the complete 6 or 12... but still ten units. Given the rate I've been painting the last year, I feel like the most reasonable rate I could assume I could do is a unit a week and that would mean 10 weeks to have just enough to start... and then I'd have to keep going and get other units finished up - in case armies expanded after the first campaign year! 

Option -Elites/Veterans

One thing I COULD do to significantly reduce the number I NEED to start the campaign, is to allow all forces to start with a significant number of Elite/Veterans. While a Company of standard units (@4 Points) requires 6 units, a Company made up of all veteran units would only need FOUR (Upgrading a unit to Elite or Veteran is +2 points - making them @6 points each). We could say a large number of those under arms in this region are veterans of the 30 Years War....? 

How would these forces look if I was including veterans: 

Blue Company

• 1x Pike (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot (12) @ 4 points
• 1x Gallopers (Elite) (6) @ 6 points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) (6) @ 6 points 

Total: 24 Points - DONE! 

Orange Company

• 1x Pike (Veteran) (12) @ 6 points
• 1x Shot (Veteran) (12) @ 6 points
• 1x Gallopers (Elite) (6) @ 6 points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) (6) @ 6 points 

Total: 24 Points - DONE! 

Red Company

• 1x Pike (Veteran) (12) @ 6 points
• 1x Shot (Veteran) (12) @ 6 points
• 1x Gallopers (Elite) (6) @ 6 points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) (6) @ 6 points 

Total: 24 Points - DONE

Green Company

• 1x Regimental Gun @ 4 points
• 1x Shot (Veteran) (12) @ 4 points
• 1x Gallopers (Elite) (6) @ 6 points
• 1x Trotters (Elite) (6) @ 6 points 

Total: 24 Points - This would require painting 8 Shot, 3 Horse 

The two Scots companies are all finished painting, one company does need re-basing! Wasn't sure If I was even going to include the Highland company... so... 

So... making use of Elite and Veteran units and GUNS... I COULD get this campaign going with only having to paint eight shot and three horse to complete six 24-point Companies to start the campaign... 

I had shifted away from this idea, in recent weeks, being overwhelmed by the number of stuff I figured I still needed to do. The next consideration was the Back of Beyond Campaign - fighting the Russian Civil War in the Far East... Stay tuned for some stock taking and analysis of the feasibility of THAT option! 

Game Plan 2023...? (Q1)

(note: I wrote this a few weeks ago - along with the Looking Back post, and was in a pretty sour mood... I've MOSTLY rewritten the whole thing... twice... it starts off with echos of that downer mood I was in, but I assure you the rest is a BIT more positive and upbeat!) 

I guess the first thing is... do I bother with a blog anymore...? 

In the Looking Back post, I noted that I didn't do as much here last year - and there were reasons (and other reasons)... but also often I wonder how many are actually even reading this anymore. I don't blame people, there is SO MUCH MORE out there on the internet... I mean, *I* barely read other blogs anymore!? 

Google Analytics tells me each post will gets a few views, but the numbers are way down and it can't tell me whether those are bots or real people... I do get a comment or two for each post (which I GREATLY appreciate). But for every comment notification that is a real comment from a real person, I get a DOZEN (or more) that is just spam (which gets a little discouraging... Y'know, you get that little dopamine hit when you see the notification - Yay! a comment! - and then open it up to see it's just links to penis enlargement or online gambling or dating in malaysia websites..). 

I guess I'll keep this going for a bit longer... 

Am I even going to have TIME to do this stuff, while working on ART STUFF....? 

GAMES

Challenges?

I like the idea of the 5x5 Quarterly Challenges and the 10x10 Annual Challenges - in that it kind of forces inspires one to dig a little deeper into individual games and learning the game a little better through repetitive plays... I also HATE reading rules, and having to read a new set of rules for every game (if one is playing a new game every week - or whenever) SUCKS! I also tend to get more things done when I HAVE A PLAN as there is less to think about - no deciding WHICH game to play on a given night, just FOLLOW THE PLAN. The trick is, trying to figure out WHICH games I'm going to be interested in over the next few months, let alone an entire YEAR, is a bit of a challenge as my interests and focus can change VERY ABRUPTLY - and if I have ZERO INTEREST in following THE PLAN... the plan will not be followed. 

In 2021 it worked great. I mostly completed 5x5 challenges each quarter, though I think they invariably ended up NOT being the games I set out to play at the beginning of each quarter... AND I DID complete a 10x10 challenge... mostly by looking at what I played in the first nine months, as we arrived at the beginning of the final quarter, and focused on finishing up however many games I needed to finish the 10 plays of 10 games. 

Another DOWNSIDE of how 2021 rolled out, was in that fourth quarter, we abandoned games that we already had ten or more plays of... which is what KILLED the momentum that we'd had paying Warhammer Underworlds... momentum that I couldn't get going again in the new year... and STILL haven't gotten going again!? 

Now that I've noticed that, it may also have contributed to why we have not played Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress after June of 2020... Got focused on other games for The Challenge instead of just continuing with a game we were clearly having a LOT of fun playing. 

So... do I bother with Challenges...? 

Maybe JUST focusing on Quarterly challenges and definitely NOT even bother to try with 10x10 Annual challenges! That way, I can have the SAME GAME in each of the Quarterly Challenges and end up playing it (them!?) 20+ times per year.. and if I only play five different games TWENTY TIMES in the year... That's still 100+ games!? It's even MORE focused than a 10x10 challenge!? 

So... to start... The first challenge, which is subject to change at any time during the quarter... 

2023 Q1 5x5 Challenge

1. Splendor 
2. Pikeman's Lament
3. FATE
4. One Hour Wargames
5. ...?

Games to Play

One thing that I do have SOME confidence will happen is a monthly game with Neil and Jasper. This started off a group of guys that were interested in participating in a role-playing game that Finnegan ran. We started off with a few one-shot adventures to settle on WHICH game we'd like to play a campaign of... and settled on Dresden Files Accelerated... but then Finnegan admitted that it was a bit much to plan and run a game for me and my friends... on top of the two other D&D campaigns he's running AND university course work AND his part time job AND his side projects... But Jasper and Neil are interested in continuing to get together to play once a month, so... there might be THAT, at least... for now the plan is to try and go forward with Dresden Files Accelerated, or at least some form of Modern Urban Fantasy powered by FATE

Miniatures Games... The miniature games I play are generally dependant on what miniatures I'm painting (painting inspires thinking about scenarios and games)... but painting is inspired by playing or excitement about the actual possibility of playing...  I kind of just need to get PLAYING something to get going on a game and the painting and more playing will follow... until something upsets the flow... In previous years an external deadline has also helped - like an upcoming EVENT like the Birthday Bash/Winter Wargaming weekend or ToonCon or a Campaign of some sort that I've planned... So I've been thinking about campaigns a bunch over the last few weeks... but maybe just running them online - see below! 

Board Games...? there are SO MANY I'd love to play. The trick is finding someone to play with. 

Birthday Bash/Winter Wargaming Weekend

Might be a bit late... Usually by this point I'd have a pretty clear idea of what I'd like to be doing and who might be coming. 

If I did do anything this year, it'd be something small.... like inviting a group of 3-4 people to play something like Warhammer Quest for a weekend - to see how far through a campaign we could get... or coming up with some sort of campaign that COULD be played through in a weekend over a half-dozen scenarios. 

That or a role-playing campaign that could be entirely played through over the course of a weekend. 

 

ToonCon

It's happening again... I have no plan to attend or run anything. I have a feeling I may just be DONE with convention gaming though... 

Online Campaign(s)!?

In previous years I ran miniature wargaming campaigns online - players, not in Saskatoon, played the heads of state of fantastical nations that negotiated with each other and then sent in orders for the movement of their armies. These movements then worked as a scenario generator for tabletop Hordes of the Things games that I played with friends in town. 

For a few years I've been toying with the idea of using the old Games Workshop Mighty Empires game engine to run a campaign using one of Dan Mersey's games (Dragon Rampant or The Pikeman's Lament). The strategic maneuver element in Mighty Empires is a "Banner" which consists of 500-1500 points of troops (which, when used as a campaign system for Warhammer Fantasy meant that is the point value of troops you used). I figured a Banner using Dan Mercy's games could be 10-30 points. A regular game of Dragon Rampant or the Pikeman's Lament is generally played with 24 points though it can be played with a few more or less... 

Over the last month or so, I got thinking about the English Civil War option again and have been planning and organizing and figuring about what, at minimum I would need to paint to have ready to play a game with six players. 

The idea would be each player is a minor lord of some sort in a remote part of England (on the border with Scotland). None have answered the call to send of forces to support either the King or Parliament because they are all certain their neighbours will use the lawless chaos of the political upheaval to invade and takeover their lands, should they march off to war... so... low level fighting takes place between these lords - in the name of King or Parliament. 

More on this soon. 

Maybe. 

Or, perhaps I'll start with a Fantasy version of the campaign...? As I I think I HAVE full forces, ready to go! (maybe...?) 

Maybe I'll do BOTH!?

This also got me thinking about a few other ways I could use this system (and games by Dan Mersey). 

Maybe playing a short Colonial Campaign (using Men Who Would Be Kings) of European Imperialist powers carving up the very last bit of Africa at the end of the 19th Century - the region that will one day become Timbogo (anyone remember Timbogo? The fictional central African nation I invented for playing AK-47 Republic...? but then also set some Force on Force games there as well...?). French, British, German forces could be invading from different directions. They might bump into some native Africans who are less than enthusiastic about European Imperialistic aggression.  

Also a Post-Apocalyptic Xenos Rampant campaign...? Set in Germany circa 2000 (like in Twilight:2000) Using modern/cold war figures and assorted armed civilians and the new Xenos Rampant rules. Each Faction would have a base of operations and be vying for control of surrounding villages and settlements... I have Soviets and Germans, and a few East Germans, British, Americans.... Maybe they're still loyal to what semblance of civil government/military command remains... Maybe they're just out-for-themselves survivors making due in the bombed out ruins of civilization... 

I ALSO got thinking about using One Hour Wargames and and even SIMPLER campaign system (like the one presented in the older versions of DBA). Two ideas that immediately popped up where the Back of Beyond and Space: 1914.

The Back of Beyond would be in the Eastern end of Russia/Northern China/Mongolia during the Russian Civil War. I have enough minatures to put together two forces of White Russians, two Bolshevik forces, two Warlord Chinese, and a Western Interventionist forces. This could largely be done without painting a SINGLE figure. (this might end up happening BEFORE I even get to the ECW campaign!?) 

The Space:1914 campaign would involve the Colonial Powers during the Great War... ON MARS... the narrative would be extrapolating the timeline of GDW's Space:1889 game to 1914 and playing out the conflict between such powers on the Red Planet! I have a mix of miniatures that could put topgether forces for British (and the Commonwealth), France, Germany, Turkey, Russia, Belgium, America(!?), as well as High Martians and Canal Martians (Oenotrians!). This would require a LOT of painting to finish up the forces... but IF I did get these campaigns going... this could be a FUN one to play... it would have a set number of turns (based on earth years), quarterly from autumn 1914 to autumn 1918 - or maybe winter, because it could take time for word to get from Earth to Mars that the war has ENDED! 

There is the Dark Ages DBA campaign option. I STILL HAVE all the armies I used for the campaign I ran nearly Eleven Years Ago...?! No reason why I couldn't run that campaign online and use those minis and DBA... 

Just a few of the ideas I have tumbling around in my head... Like I said, more on this soon. 

In-Person Campaign(s)!? 

Also, I've gotten thinking about some possibilities for an in-person weekend campaigns. This would be the sort of thing I'd have done for my Birthday Weekend... but I'm not sure I'll be ready for then. Maybe some time later in the year... Or maybe next year... 

Under-Carngard - I have a PILE of old Skaven miniatures. occasinally I think I could paint them up and use them as an Age of Sigmar army... but that would be daft... What I COULD use them for is to make up a half-dozen or so Warcry warbands and have a little campaign over a weekend - different Skaven factions vying for control of the tunnels and caverns under the ruined city of Carngard! 

Back of Beyond - the online campaign above... but in person. I played a similar campaign using a modified version of DBA a little over 13 Years Ago. It'd basically be the same campaign... but using One Hour Wargames instead of DBA. 

MINIATURES

Miniatures will probably be painted... How many...? hard to say!? Hopefully MORE THAN LAST YEAR!? 

If I were smart, I would probably just decide to NOT BUY ANY MORE MINIATURES. I have gotten better... and, looking back at last year, that SHOULD be a sign I should just STOP. I did only buy 80 x 28mm miniatures (and some terrain). That amounted to two Kill Team Boxes, Warhammer Underworlds: Nethermaze, four other Warhammer Underworlds warbands, and eight individual old metal Harlequins to expand my existing force. 

While I did manage to paint SIX Warhammer Underworlds warbands in 2022, not ONE of them was one I purchased this year - all of them were ones I was trying to catch up on from the previous year. I didn't even assemble a single miniature from any of the Kill Team boxes, let along paint any... and I STILL haven't finished ANY from the two Kill Team boxes I bought the year before!? There is NO WAY I could reasonably justify to myself buying another at this point... 

I so have a few of ideas of some miniature games I'd like to PLAY - largely for the campaigns mentioned above, but also, others... - and if I got playing any of them, that could definitely inform what I might end up painting...  Knowing how things have gone in previous years, it is ludicrous to think I could plan out anything for a year... but here are some of the games I've been thinking about lately and  wouldn't mind getting to play (and paint miniatures for!).. 

The Pikeman's Lament - I have been reorganizing, rebasing, and painting up a few English Civil War models over the last month... thinking about the ECW and this idea for a campaign thats been stewing for a year or two (see above)... I have enough that I could play one-off games. Maybe playing a few of those might motivate me to get enough done to run the campaign!?  

One Hour Wargames - I've been thinking about this a lot again over the last few months. the ONE period I have stuff that could readily be used for this is the Great War (or Industrial Age Wargaming - as it is called in the game). I'm not sure how great it would work for trench warfare... but some of the battles at the beginning and end of the Great War - and elsewhere (Russia, China, Africa, MARS!?) could easily be played out with these rules. 

I've been thinking of putting together a little narrative campaign to play out parts of Canada's Hundred Days - following elements of the Canadian Corps through the last 100 days of the Great War, kicking off at Amiens, then actions at the Somme, the Scarpe, Canal du Nord, Cambrai, the Selle, Valenciennes and finally Mons. 

Nothing NEEDS to be painted here... though if I DID get playing, it might motivate me to paint up the rest of the early war French and Belgians and finish rebasing and reorganizing the Warlord Chinese. Also, as I was preparing for the big Vimy game that never happened... to cut time I painted up understrength German units - I wouldn't mind finishing up all the German units to their full strength of 15 

Warhammer Underworlds - I am not buying into the new season - Warhammer Underwoods: Gnarlwood - It looks REALLY COOL... but, it's just gotten too expensive, and I have SO MUCH that I haven't even PLAYED yet!? I would like to finish up the warbands I have and get playing again. It's a game that I'd really need to play with some regularity, so I can remember what all the cards do and how they interact with each other. Looking at the Warhammer Underworlds Warband List, I still have 16 warbands to paint up! I do have 20 that I can play with any time, maybe I need to start with that... which might motivate me to paint the others... but maybe NOT try to put the pressure of HAVING to finish a warband for each new game (as I was trying to do in 2022-Q4)! 

Warcry/Age of Sigmar - If I got playing enough of the Warhammer Quest games or Warhammer Underworlds, it wouldn't be hard to segue into expanding some of those warbands into Warcry warbands or finishing up some Age of Sigmar forces to continue the narrative into larger scale actions - no new minis needed, I have SO MANY that i could paint...  I also have a PILE of Skaven... Occasionally I think about painting them up to build a (small-ish) Age of Sigmar army... But I think the smarter thing would be to paint them all up and make, like 6-8 Scurrypacks for Warcry that I could use to host a little weekend tournament!? It could be the Battle for Under-Carngard. Do I buy into the NEW EDITION, though...?  

Epic Apocalypse - I had gotten excited about this a few months back and hammered out a whole bunch of Epic 40K minis in hopes of using them in both a Wrath & Glory RPG and some 40K Apocalypse games... I have SO MANY more I COULD do, if I got going on the game... 

Kill Team/40K - I mean, I was interested enough in Kill Team I bought FOUR of the box sets... so much terrain... so many minis I could paint for those... all of which could be expanded into small forces for 40K... (or ADDED to existing forces for 40K - that might be the smarter move...). Early in the new year the 9th edition Astra Militarum codex should be released and I'd like to pick that up and reorg my Guard forces and get them worked up to PLAY some 40K... whether I get around to it or not... I don't have much that needs to be painted for the Generic/Cadian Guard force of my Guaiacan Jungle Fighters... I have LOADS of Tallarn that could still be painted... 

Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress - did not play a single game all of 2021 or 2022... In fact, I have not played it since JUNE of 2020 - we played 23 games of it between February and June of 2020 - right at the beginning of the pandemic with NOTHING else was going on - and it WAS a fun game! I do have a bunch of stuff for it that we've never played. I really liked the game, I'd love to get back to it and finish the other campaigns! There is a fair bit I could paint up for this (like the miniatures for the last three expansions - Escalation, No Respite, Deadly Alliance, and Ascension... but there is loads I could play with RIGHT NOW! Maybe starting with that might motivate me to finish off the rest of it! 

Warhammer Quest: Cursed City - bought this when it was first released because I'd so thoroughly enjoyed Blackstone Fortress... but never even got the stuff painted up for it. I got SOME of it painted... I don't have THAT much that I'd need to paint up to get a started game going, which then might get me motivated to paint more so I could play more. it's a game I could just play with Amanda.

Other Warhammer Quest Games - Finnegan also has Silver Tower and Shadow Over Hammerhal. He assembled the minis and played through them both with my Dad, years ago. I had started painting the minis for him, thinking I could get him to play it again and/or with Amanda. There is quite a bit to paint... but I THINK I've painted a few of the heroes... and most of the opponents for one of the games is mostly disciples of Tzeentch, which wouldn't be TOO hard to paint up... 

Hellboy: The Board Game - got in a few games at the end of 2022 after having not played since early 2020. I went ALL IN on the Kickstarter, so I have a LOT of stuff for the game... so it'd be nice to chip away at the minis and at least play through all the scenarios once or twice... I have enough to play at least the first three scenarios, maybe more... getting going on some might motivate me to paint up the rest. 

Xenos Rampant - I was pretty excited when this was released a month or so ago... I'm not sure it will replace 40K or anything. I thought it might be fun to use with some of the other sci-fi miniatures, but then realized I'd have a fair bit of painting to do to play a game... What DOES seem more likely, is to use it for something a little more modern - presented in the book are options for weird wars (Great War and WW2 - both of which I have LOADS of stuff ready to go at any moment) and modern/post-apocalyptic/near future which I also have PILES of stuff that could be used... just need to settle on ONE to start with and get PLAYING!? 

Five Parsecs from Home?! Modiphius had a Black Friday sale and I picked up Five Parsecs from Home as a PDF. I've been looking at it a while back as something that looked interesting for some sort of small-scale sci-fi miniatures campaigning. It's a solo game, I'd been looking at Solo games either in 2021 or early 2022 at some point when I was really feeling the desire to play some miniature games but was having a hard time finding anyone to play with... Amanda would play just about anything, if I asked... but sometimes I feel like it might be interesting to try out solo gaming, if I could find something fun and simple that doesn't take a lot of time...This looks like it needs very few minis to play with, so I would have loads I could start with - and so many more I could paint up to add in as new characters, once I got going. 

Dragon Rampant - Lion Rampant - I did pick up the new edition of Lion Rampant last year when it came out... might be fun to try, I have two generic European medieval retinues I could use. I have a third, plus crusader and Islamic retinues I COULD finish up for Lion Rampant. Same goes for Dragon Rampant - I HAVE lots i could use to get started... getting started means I might get to painting up some more. In the last month I started reorganizing my Legends of the Five Rings: Clan War miniatures for Dragon Rampant - including rebasing and painting up a few things... 

Rangers of Shadowdeep - as with Five Parsecs above, I bought this thinking about trying some solo gaming... but never got around to trying it out... maybe THIS will be the year!? As with Five Parsecs, I think I only need a few generic fantasy minis, of which I have LOADS to get started with... maybe it might motivate me to get working on them on a larger scale and finish up UNITS for Dragon Rampant. 

I'm sure if I thought long enough I could think of MORE games I'd like to play and miniatures I already have that could be painted for them (all the Ganesha Games - Song or Blades and Heroes, etc). I've let go of the idea of playing Frostgrave or Stargrave or the Silver Bayonet any time soon... 

Ugh... that's enough for now... I think I have a vague, general idea: Play some games, paint some miniatures... 

ECW - Musketeer in Blue

 I painted ONE musketeer.... 

Solitary Musketeer (in blue)

This was done as part of the absurd rebasing project... I needed ONE musketeer to fill up a unit... 

The entire force. 

That's about 30 points worth of stuff (taken at their standard point value - no upgrades or downgrades) which should be plenty to start the campaign. 

For this Blue force I have another unit of shot and pike to do and a unit of Horse that I half finished. 

Still have to finish up rebasing the Red and Green English forces and at least one of the Scots Government forces. The second Scots Government force is all on washers... but they're all DONE, so those could probably wait! 

Stay tuned, later today I'll probably be posting my December Games report, and a look back at 2022, and a look ahead with Plans for 2023... 

ECW - Scots Royalist Cavalry

I guess I could have waited another day and posted these all together with the rest of the Highland Company. I went ahead and did those, knowing that I may not get to this guy before being distracted by other things... Also, I really have enough to do TWO forces/companies of Scots Royalists. One of just Highlanders, and another of just Irish mercenaries. This unit would likely be the command for the latter. 

the Commander! This is the one mini I needed to finish up to complete this until I'm not entirely sure where I got it from. I feel like since this was in the drawer with the rest of the Irish Brigade that this model was meant to be the Marquis de Montrose.

(I googled it, this is in fact James Graham, The Marquis of Montrose, from Warlord Games' Pike & Shotte/ECW line)  

So this, then, is the Commander of my Irish company with a couple of his bodyguards. The rest were, until last week, still on 60mmx60mm DBA?HotT style bases, all have been rebased to wooden discs. I did the rest of the unit on slightly smaller bases - as that is what MOST of the ECW cavalry has been based on... But Jimmy's horse's legs were rather to spread out to easily fit on a similar base, so I went one side up. The lack of uniformity within the unit DOES kind of bug me a bit... but Jim's a rather important personage, so... I let it go... 

I'll likely classify them as Gallopers. Do I make them aggressive? No cost upgrade to give them the Wild Charge rule and increase their Attack value to 3+!?

Could be some time before I get to finishing up the rest of the Irish done, however... 

ECW - Highlanders

 Could probably be passed off as highlanders from 17-18th century - showing up in either English Civil War forces OR Jacobite rebellion forces... 

It's English Civil War that I've been thinking of most, lately, so... I'm calling them English Civil War highlanders. 

Seven newly painted Highlanders. I think most are from Old Glory...? The archers in the back might be Warlord Games...? 

Iv'e actually been on multiple massive rebasing sprees lately - 40K figures being rebased from metal washer to proper-sized plastic bases, and a mix of historical and fantasy minis being rebased from washers or multi-figure DBA/HOTT bases to individual plastic bases or wooden discs. 

The ECW stuff is going onto wooden discs - and organized into units of 6 or 12 for The Pikeman's Lament.  

I'm trying to get SIX (or seven!?) different forces completed. Scotts lowland/government, Scotts Highland and four English companies (in red, green, blue, and orange uniforms, respectively). The Scottish lowlanders could easily be TWO forces, I have so many of them!? 

the Highland Company, so far... 

• 1x Forlorn Hope (6), Aggressive (in the middle there, the Laird and his closest pals)
• 4x Clansmen (12) 
• 2x Commanded Shot (The Skirmishers up front) 

This adds up to 22 points, and a standard force is 24, so I could upgrade one of the commanded shot to "veteran" for two more points to make it 24... Maybe the ones with bows....? 

There they all are again... 

I did the bow-armed figures on slightly larger bases to put a bit more space between miniatures - to show they are skirmishers - even when in base-to-base contact. The other unit of Commanded shot are on the "standard infantry size" because I though they were part of a larger unit that hasn't been finished yet... upon recounting, I have enough OTHER shot to make three full units, and these are extras... At some point, when I get to painting the others, I'll do six of them on the larger bases - to make clear that they are different from the surrounding units of shot. 

I have loads more to do... Enough that it could be two separate forces. I Highland company and an Irish company (both of which fought together under Montrose). 

I have a unit or Irish shot and a unit of Irish pile that are also painted, but are still on washers. I have two MORE units of each to finish up and that would make 24 points right there - for an Irish mercenary force. 

I have one unit of horse - probably Gallopers - that are on the workbench having recently been rebased (they were on DBA-style multi-figure bases). Most were full painted, but I'm touching up two of them and a sixth mounted figure is being painted to finish off the unit. I could conceivably downgrade ALL of the Irish pike and shot to Raw units and add in the unit of horse and make them elite...? OR just down grade four of the Irish units and add a regular unit of horse... OR downgrade ALL of the Irish pike and shot units and add the Mounted unit AND a unit of commanded shot...? I have enough Irish to do that! 

I also have enough Clansmen to do 2-3 more units of them.. If I had SIX units of Clansmen, the one unit of bow-armed commander "shot", and the Forlorn Hope - that would also be 24 points... I guess I should get working on those last two units of Clansmen! It would be nice to have one more drawer that is FULL of COMPLETELY PAINTED miniatures... 

Now.. WHY am I suddenly working on English Civil War units, suddenly, you may wonder...? and WHY SIX different forces!? I've been thinking about campaigns again and organizing something loosely based on the old, old GW Mighty Empires game... involving a number of minor nobles in a remote part of England (on the border with Scotland). For centuries they have been rivals and fought over who controlled this pasture or that village... None of them necessarily have any strong allegiance to king OR parliament and when they hear the call aren't particularly motivated to send troops - especially when the chaotic situation may mean their neighbours would use their absence as an excuse to take back or take over lands they figure is THEIRS... 

When and HOW will I run this campaign? No idea. Ideally sometime next year. Likely I will run it online - with the players doing the diplomacy via email and submitting moves for their armies once a week (or, every other week?). If an conflict takes place, I play out the battles here and post the results with game reports of the battles and we start all over again...

It may or may not happen... I have a LOT of English that will need to be finished up to be ready... mind you... If I was okay with NOT having the English forces all being in a uniform colours, I could probably use the mix of what I DO have finished to start any time... 

Hmmmmm... 

Watch for details in the new year. 

Highland Commanded Shot

As I finished up the Highland Clansmen I finished up earlier this week, I pulled out these hoping to get them done before my game with Bob on Tuesday. I didn't end up finishing them in time, but as it turns out I didn't need them as I had only 1 point left over to fill and that was filled in with Clubmen.



Highland Commanded Shot. Figures are from Essex Miniatures, Warlord Games, Dixon Miniatures and Eureka Miniatures!

In The Pikeman's Lament, a standard company is 24 points. Most regular units are 4 points each (Pike, Shot, Horse). They can be upgraded or downgraded some (for +2 or -1 points), but at four points 6 standard units makes a nice, neat force... When adding in a Forlorn Hope (such as Robert MacRame and his band of thugs), that kind of messes things up a bit. Instead of having to downgrade a couple units (or upgrade one) to make the points work out, I thought it would be handy to have a 2 point unit of Commanded Shot.  I've just realized however, if he's leading a band made up entirely of clansmen, he'll have no need of the Commanded shot...

Here are a couple ways I was thinking I could field the Scots Royalists..

1x Forlorn Hope (MacRame and his Thugs) @6points
1x Irish Shot @ 4 points
1x Irish Pike @ 4 points
3x Highland Clansmen @ 3 points each
1x Clubmen (local villagers) @ 1 point 

(A mix of Irish and Highland Clansmen - This is the force I fielded in my game with Bob on Tuesday)

1x Forlorn Hope (MacRame and his Thugs) @6points
2x Irish Shot @ 4 points each
2x Irish Pike @ 4 points each

1x Commanded Shot @ 2 points

(mostly Irish - at some point I should pick up another unit of Irish Pike and maybe a unit of dragoons to field as an entirely Irish force - with a NEW Officer! 

1x Forlorn Hope (MacRame and his Thugs) @6points
6x Highland Clansmen @ 3 points each

(All Clansmen, all the time... this would suck against a company largely comprised of Horse!) 

I'm kind of tempted to finish up the rest of the stuff I have earmarked for this force - about two dozen more Clansmen, and a unit each of Irish Pike and Shot... Well that is until I decide to do something daft like rebase all the ECW figures I have on multi-figure bases for DBA and the like... (I've been thinking about it!!) 

Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Probably a round up of May's games, then some Seven Years War British... I started painting them back in February and almost completed them and they've been loitering on the fringes of the painting table ever since - they were so close to being finished I just couldn't put them away in a storage box! The figures are done, I just have to finish a couple of flags. 

Beating Up Quarters

My friend Bob from Edmonton was in town last night so I set up a little game of The Pikeman's Lament for us to play...

June 1644, Glenn Dunny

When first we met our hero Robert MacRame, he was living in his families ancestral lands in Glenn Dunny. He made a stand against some Government troops who were out foraging and attempted to make off with some of this livestock. This battle was documented elsewhere on this blog:

Pork on the Trotters

He (more or less) successfully defended his lands and recovered (most of) his livestock, but gained the eternal enmity of Evan “Holy” MacErrol, and found himself a wanted man. Unlike most Highlanders who tend to head to the hills to hide when sought by Government forces, MacRame decided to spend the balance of the year in Edinburgh under an assumed identity. This didn’t last long, however, as Evan MacErrol is a relentless adversary and eventually discovered his whereabouts and Robert was forced to flee overseas. MacErrol wasn’t able to pursue his quarry further as he was called upon to march south with Alexander Leslie, Earl of Leven, to intervene in the civil war in England.

Some of the other actions “Holy” MacErrol were involved in at Yorkshire are also documented elsewhere:

The River Crossing 

Somewhere Else To Be

Robert MacRame spent the remainder of winter and spring of 1644 abroad, “raising funds” for the catholic cause back home. He found he could make a pretty good living “raising funds” and had hoped he could continue to do so until the bad business back home ended. Eventually some of his patrons cottoned on to his reluctance and MacRame was forced to flee again (with the remaining funds he has raised) – this time back to Scotland. And so it was in the summer of 1644 that he arrived back in Glenn Dunny with a handful of Irish Mercenaries – just a month before the Irish under Mac Colla landed at Ardnamurchan.

Hearing a rumour that MacRame had returned to Scotland, Ensign MacErrol marched his company back north to hunt him down. He was still languishing in Glenn Dunny meeting out revenge on all that had wronged his family in the year since he had fled…


SCENARIO

I thought it would be fun to try out the Beating up Quarters scenario with one of our antagonists raiding the others quarters in a dawn raid. This is straight out of the Pikeman's Lament rulebook (pages 54-55). Basically the Attacker gets points for setting fire to tents buildings the defender is sleeping in. Most of the defender's forces start in the buildings and tents and have to be awakened by passing an ordered move action at -1. The Defenders get points for each building or tent not burned by the end of the scenario. The game ends when all the buildings/tents are on fire or when the Attacker has lost half of his force.

Who would get the the drop on whom?


FORCES

Scottish Government forces under Ensign Evan "Holy" MacErrol (19 Honour, Strong)
2x Gallopers
2x Pike
2x Shot


Scotts Royalist forces under Robert MacRame (12 Honour, Sly)
1x Forlorn Hope
1x Shot
1x Pike
3x Clansmen
1x Clubmen

THE GAME

I didn't take a lot of notes (as I often do) so there won't be a turn-by-turn breakdown as I'm going from my (not always clear) memory here...

Bob decided to take the Scots Government forces as they seemed the most straightforward to play. He also decided to be the attacker - as having troops burn in their billets or tents didn't sound fun...?



Initial Dispositions.

In the darkness of night the forces of "Holy" MacErrol approached the roadside inn where MacRame's men has camped for the night. There had been much carousing through the night, but as dawn approached all was quiet...



At a predetermined signal that was both silent and visible only to governement forces in the darkness so as not to alert the sentries in the camp (not sure what that would have been...?) MacErrol's forces close on the camp.

At the end of Bob's first turn I was already thinking things looked pretty dire... I had gotten used to playing against John - by this point he would have rolled a command blunder and lost one of his units!



On my first turn, my dice were determined to outdo Bob's, however. I rolled the first of at least a half dozen double sixes I rolled throughout the game. As this was on an ordered activation I got to roll on the command bonus table and rolled a five - allowing the unit I just tried to active to gain a agitator, Priest or Hero... I chose a Priest - as I had a handy figure I could add to the unit! He would give me +1 to all morale rolls, but if he was killed give the enemy +1 Honour...



Every Single Unit deployed out of their quarters on the first turn - even the clubmen (local villagers armed with rakes and scythes and the occasional blunderbuss...). It was starting to look as though the ambushers were being ambushed (That MacRame is a sly devil!).



And then it was Bob's turn again and Ensign MacErrol charged a group of Highland Clansmen emerging from their tents... Cavalry, unfortunately, are the Clansmen's nemesis... Clansmen are great on the offence - hit on 3+ - and they can countercharge against Infantry - so they are almost always on the offence versus infantry... on the defence (as they are when cavalry charges) they only hit on sixes... This first contact carried away 2-3 clansmen... I rolled one six, not enough to wound the Gallopers!



So the clansmen fell back, the horse followed up and we did it again!



The Clansmen lost a few more, fabulously failed morale and were routed! One unit gone...



Then the second cavalry charged another unit of clansmen! It went equally badly - even with the Preacher present! Two units down, not a single casualty caused. Things were back to looking dire for the Highlanders...

Luckily Bob failed to activate his next unit so I had a chance to do some damage!



The remaining unit of clansmen charged out of the Inn and attacked a unit of Shot!

 

and saw them off at a loss of only one or two of their own!

I failed to activate my own shot so it was back to Bob. Bob then failed to set fire to the house that his cavalry was adjacent to and it was back to me.



As a unit of pike was within range of the Highland clansmen, they charged! Pike are not quite so slightly as shot, however and they did some damage to the clansmen. This time both parties failed morale and broke away from each other.



I think my shot fired on the other unit of pike next, causing a single wound, which caused them to fail morale as well and retire back towards the hill they had just came down from (perhaps they were already rattled by the sounds of their comrades in arms being savaged by the clansmen off to their right... in the dark... although I think the sun has come up on this turn...?)

My Irish Pike had previously formed up and so tried to charge Ensign MacErrol's unit of Horse. The Horse countercharged.



The pike took out two of the horsemen and lost one of their own, so the horse had to retire from the fight. But apparently losing one of their own was enough for the cowardly Irish mercenaries morale to waver...



On Bob's next turn, his cavalry wheeled around and charged the wavering pikemen... It was a disaster. The unit was nearly rode down to a man. The few survivors fled the field of battle, the county, and probably all the way back to Ireland! (or perhaps they met up with Mac Colla's forces who were landing on the west coast of Scotland shortly after this engagement?)



On my previous turn I'd rolled another double six to activate one of my units, which had allowed my wavering Highlanders to automatically rally. So at the beginning of my next turn they once more charged the government pike - and saw them off!

Clansmen - great against infantry, but keep them away from enemy cavalry!



So this put the attackers down two units. I only needed to force one more off the field to end the game. So it was time for MacRame to do his bit...

MacRame's unit had taken shots at one of the units of Horse earlier (and might have taken one out...?) but otherwise has just sat in the middle of the encampment where they had started the game. Where they were was close enough to charge MacErrol's Horse - who had just ridden down his Irish Mercenaries. MacRame led the charge out of the encampment. MacErrol, hearing the wild cries of charging clansmen wheeled around and countercharged meeting the clansmen at the edge of the camp (I should point out these "clansmen" were actually a "Forlorn Hope" in the game, not "clansmen" like the ones that were swept aside in the first turns). Both lost two in the initial clash, neither failed morale, so the attacker (the Highlanders) were obliged to retire.



The Horse followed up and we did it all again... I think MacRame had intact lured them into some sort of cunning trap because both the remaining Horse were taken down (including MacErrol himself!) and with three of the attackers units gone, that was the end of the game!

So as the attackers had failed to set fire to any of the buildings the defending highlanders scored 8 Honour (2 for each building/tent not burning at the end of the game) plus two more for the "Show No Mercy" special order I had selected. ("Show No Mercy" requires that half of the enemies total number of units be routed or destroyed - I figured that was the only way I could possibly win the game anyway, so I selected it to get some bonus points if I did). This brought Robert MacRame's Honour to 22 - thus catapulting him to Lieutenant. Rolling for his new trait, I got "Favoured"... which had no in game effect, it just gave him +5 Honour - so he is now at 27...

The government troops failed to set fire to any buildings and failed in their own special order (Which, I think, was "Beat the Butchers Bill" - rout/destroy more enemy units than your own) which would have netted Evan MacErrol -1 Honour, but his other horse had ridden down that annoying preacher for +1 honour which netted him zero honour... still one shy of being promoted to Lieutenant!

As MacErrol was injured (AGAIN! Seriously, has there been a battle where he DIDN'T end up a casualty!?) we had to roll for his survival - He was just wounded - carried off by loyal soldiers and will recover in time for the next battle... He'll get that dastardly MacRame!

I think we ended up being done in just under and hour and a half...? I love this game and Bob is always a totally enjoyable person to play games with so, despite the cold, I had a pretty fabulous evening! Thanks Bob!


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Amanda and The Girl got home just as bob was leaving and wanted to watch a DVD, so instead of writing up the battle report last night, I went downstairs and did some painting while they watched TV. As I'd had so much fun playing this game I worked on some more Scotsmen - a unit of "Commanded Shot" - I had a few spare guys with muskets and bows so I thought I'd throw together one of these units. They are only 2 points and depending on how I arranged the Scots Royalists I figured would sometimes end up with 2 points to spare and these could fill in that spot nicely. I just have some finishing touches to do on those and then I'll be posting pics of them in the next day or so.

After that...? April Games Round up..? Actually that might come before the pics of the highlanders...

Then we're into June... What to do...

I was reading about the new Imperial Knights: Renegade which will be released on 9 June. It is rumoured to be retailing for $235CAD... it includes two Knights (one Imperial, one Renegade) that normally retail for $180 each, and a bit of terrain (Sector Mechanicus Galvanic Magnavent) that can be picked up separately for $90... So... $450 worth of stuff... in a boxed game set for $235... I've been resisting the urge to pick up a knight for a while now - I have loads of stuff to paint... I don't really NEED one... but DAMN... at half price!? I am a sucker for a "good deal"... 

More Scots for the English Civil War

Taking a brief break from all the 40K stuff, I decided to finish up a few more Highlanders for a game of Pikeman's Lament I am hosting this evening - so I could bring back Robert MacRame! This small lot means I can now field THREE units of Highland Clansmen. I have enough minis to do another two!



These are the newly painted fellows. Most are from Old Glory, but there's one over on the right that isn't... but I'm not entirely sure where he came from...?



Here is Robert MacRame and all his clansmen (so far!). As I mentioned I have minis for (at least) two more units of clansmen... Ideally I'd like to have six at some point - then I could field an entire company of them (technically I could have eight - if all the units in the force were considered clansmen - but currently MacRame and his personal bodyguard are fielded as a "Forlorn Hope" which is worth twice as many points as a unit of Clansmen)



MacRame and his clansmen backed by a few Irish mercenaries - this is the force I'll be using this evening... Not quite a full 24 points. Perhaps I'll have to upgrade the Irish...

Stay tuned for the after action report of this evenings shenanigans.


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

First will be a report of this evenings game... then perhaps a round up of all the games played in April... then back to painting updates....?

I have a LOT of stuff on the workbench... Terminators for Space Hulk, a Mouse war band for Burrows & Badgers (The Girl picked it up with some of her birthday money, so I though I'd put together a war band of my own to play with her...), some Napoleonic Rifles and Seven Years War British infantry (planning ahead for Rebels and Patriots), other assorted sci-fi bits and bobs for Rogue Trader, a few Tallarn and Drukhari for 40K, a couple of Shadspire war bands for John, and I'm sure a bunch of other stuff I'm forgetting about... I probably need to clear it off and get focused again.

Somewhere Else to Be

Last week my friend John came over and we played a game of The Pikeman's Lament. It's been too long since John and I last rolled dice in anger...

May 1644, Yorkshire

The Siege of York has been dragging on and our hero, Ensign Evan "Holy" MacErrol, has been galloping about the countryside "extinguishing pockets of Royalist resistance" (This mostly involved torturing and hanging English farmers he suspected of Royalist sympathies). While leading his men back from one such excursion, he ran into a small force of Englishmen he took to be Royalists going somewhere else entirely in a hurry. Violence ensued!

(We last saw "Holy"MacErrol when he met some Royalists at a river crossing, and earlier when he was "gathering supplies" for the Scottish government's army).

SCENARIO

We played the "Patrol" scenario straight out of the Pikeman's Lament rulebook. Forces are drawn up in corners and gain victory points based on how many units (or the point value of units) they exit off the opposite corner of the table in a set number of turns. I may have miscalculated the number of turns we were allowed....? The example in the book is a bit confusing... I somehow calculated it should be 23 turns, but the example in the book - on a 6' table - suggests they should only have 15...?


FORCES

Scottish Covenanteers under Ensign Evan "Holy" MacErrol (15 Honour, Strong)
2x Gallopers
2x Pike
2x Shot

English Royalists under Ensign Johann Strudel (15 Honour, Foreigner)
2x Gallopers
2x Pike
2x Shot

I decided to roll up a new officer for John. Originally I was going to call him Sir Jonathan Finch-Fletchly... but when we rolled up the background it turned out he was a foreign mercenary commander...


THE GAME



All set up and ready to roll!



Look! Englishmen! Must be Royalist scum if they're on THIS side of the river!


TURN ONE

ENGLISH

Johann managed to move his horse. Then the shot failed to activate.... off to a good start.

SCOTS

Tried to activate some pike to get them moving and out of the way so my shot could start taking pot shots at the approaching English...



...and I rolled a command blunder!?



Some overenthusiastic pikemen decided to charge (or full advance) towards the nearest enemy unit charging right across the front of the rest of my force... ugh...

Is it going to bed THAT kind of game...


TURN TWO

ENGLISH



A bit more movement this turn.



John got to move his horse again and two units of shot one unit of pike before the other unit of pike failed to activate....


SCOTS



I moved two units of pike...

Things getting off to a really slow start here...


TURN THREE

ENGLISH

The Cavalry crossed the river and a pair of other units moved...


SCOTS



Everyone got moving... except that one last unit of cavalry.

I expect all this was because of some confusion having bumped into a force they weren't really expecting to encounter and, despite "Holy" MacErrol's certainty that they were Royalists, the rest of the Scots probably wanted to make sure of that before committing to violence...


TURN FOUR

ENGLISH

Everyone moved



and the unit of English horse that has crossed the river in front of the Scots wheeled about and charged the closest unit of Pike! Well that settled it; these were clearly Royalists.



It turns out that cavalry charging pike - even unformed pike - maybe isn't the best idea. The pikemen lost one, the Gallopers two, both passed morale and so the Horse were obliged to retire!

SCOTS



"Holy" MacErrol saw an opportunity to kill some Englishmen and charged! The English horse counter-charged!



Two of the Scots went down, but the English lost three and the surviving English horseman galloped off in relatively good order, all things considered.


TURN FIVE

ENGLISH

Another Command Blunder - one of the units was called away (John chose the unit of horse with only one guy left in it!)

SCOTS



Drunk with success, but failing to learn from the English failure against his own pike, MacErrol led his remaining men across the river and...



 into a unit of English Pike.



The Scots cut down three pikemen, but lost three of their own in the process, leaving only MacErrol still on his horse. Both parties were rattled by the confrontation and retreated, their morale wavering!


TURN SIX

ENGLISH

The retreating pike failed to rally, lost another man to desertion and continued to fall back away from the creek and the Scots on the other side of it. This conveniently cleared the way for the shot behind them to fire on MacErrol as he beat his hasty retreat across the creek. Down he went in the middle of the stream! All the Scots had to take a morale test - which they all passed. Most were at fill strength and... really... "Holy" MacErrol was a bit of an belligerent, humourless thug. No one would be terribly sad at his passing... or maybe in all the confusion and noise and smoke they just didn't notice that their fire-eating leader had been shot down.


SCOTS



The Scots all advanced with vigour!

 

The Horse actually rolled a double six and gained an agitator, priest or hero. I suppose I could have just said the leader of the unit was feeling inspired to take over - like maybe with MacErrol gone this was his time to shine! But how often do I get to use this priest on horseback wielding a sword and a really big book of gospels!? Huzzah!!

I can just imagine the surprise of the Scots to find a priest riding amongst them "Aye, weer'd thes feller coom fram? An' weer'd Davie goo!?"


TURN SEVEN

ENGLISH



The Pike in blue managed to rally, but then John rolled ANOTHER command blunder and his cavalry  he was trying to activate did a retreat at the double - straight into the woods! Perhaps they were fearful the Scottish Shot might try and avenge the loss of their own leader by firing upon them and made a panicked dash for the shelter of the woods!



The rest of the English were in a bit of an unorganized mess...


SCOTS



Everybody moved!



One unit of Pike was almost across the rive, a unit of shot was finally drawn up in a position to give fire on the English.



And the Horse, spurred on by the fiery Calvinist preacher, galloped around the wood, hoping to block the path of any English trying to escape!


TURN EIGHT

ENGLISH



The Pike in red managed to march down off the hill and drew up next to one of the units of English Shot to support them.



Ensign Johann Strudel rallied his men and galloped out of the woods.

But then the Pike in blue failed to activate - which really saved my butt as I was sure the two units of Scots that had just crossed the river were going to get a volley off point blank shot!


SCOTS

One unit of pike formed up, the Horse and a unit of shot moved a bit, and then the Shot across the creek fired upon the English Shot across from them causing a couple of casualties and setting them to flight up the hill!


TURN NINE

ENGLISH

The retreating English shot rallied.



The Pike in Red charged the Scottish Shot! The English lost two, but passed morale. The Scots only lost one, but didn't like being at the pointy end of all those pikes and retired into the creek.

 The English Shot in red fired on the Scottish Pike on their side of the river, killing one.



Johann Strudel led his cavalry down off the hill and towards the river hoping to escaped with the, only to find some fierce looking Scottish Cavalrymen, led by a fiery Calvinist Preacher blocking their way...


SCOTS

The Scottish Shot rallied and regrouped in the stream!



Annoyed by the English shooting at them, the Scots Pike Charged! They killed three Englishmen and lost only one of their own, but panicked, thinking themselves to be outflanked by English Pike on either side and retired from the fight.

Another failed activation meant no one else moved...


TURN TEN

ENGLISH



The English Pike charged the Scottish Shot Regrouping at the edge of the creek, taking out two more and obliging them to retire further across the water.

The English Red Shot fired on the retreating Scottish Pike wounding another.

SCOTS

The Pike failed to rally, losing another and continued retreating across the creek. The Shot, however, did manage to rally once again.



The Scots Horse charged and the English counter-charged and they met in the middle of the creek and it was a sodden mess! They killed one of the English but lost two of their own - due to horses slipping and falling on the slippery rocks in the stream!



They decided to retire to more solid ground!

The rest failed to activate...


TURN ELEVEN

ENGLISH



The English Pike continued their pursuit of the Scottish shot - the Scots lost noter two and were routed! The Pike lost some as well and their morale wavered and they retired back across the creek.


SCOTS

the Scots pike failed to rally... again... losing another and continuing their retreat. The Shot failed to activate... and that was their turn.


TURN TWELVE

ENGLISH

The English had a moment of confusion and failed to do anything this turn.

SCOTS

The Pike FINALLY rallied.

The Remaining unit of shot fired on... some unit of Englishmen, killing three, and causing them to lose hope in the cause and retreat. I think it was the shot...?



The Scots once more charged the English who had not pursued them to there solid ground and just stood in the stream!? This time they took out three of the Englishmen, but lost another of their own... and failed morale!?



A unit of Scottish Pike began to make their way across the river.


TURN THIRTEEN 

ENGLISH

The retreating English Pikemen rallied. The retreating English Shot routed! The really did lose faith in their cause! Probably turned up at Fairfax's camp the next day and presented themselves to the recruiter - they'd had enough serving under foreign mercenaries!



Not wanting to give them a chance to form up, the English Pike in blue charged the Scottish pike that was traversing the stream. both lost two in the ensuing melee and both lost their stomach for it and retreated!



Sensing this was a little more than a retirement to more solid ground the English Horse led by Ensign Strudel pursued the fleeing Scottish horse.



They took out one, and then the Scots Horse failed morale, which caused them to lose another - the final trooper decided he'd had enough of the preacher and his fire and brimstone, doom and gloom preachifying and rode off to a nearby farm to hide and wait and see how it all turned out...

This left the Preacher all alone...


SCOTS



The Scottish Shot fired on the retreating English Pike, killing another, forcing them to fail another morale check - which meant they lost another and retreated further from the stream.



Things are looking grim at the end of Turn Thirteen - I was starting to wonder if ANY unit might make it off or if they might kill each other to the last man!


TURN FOURTEEN 

ENGLISH

The English Pike failed to rally, losing another and retreating further away from where they needed to be.



The English Horse charged the Preacher.

 

That's the preacher's dice with ONE PIP SHORT of taking them all with him!! The Preacher went down, the Coronet when down. The only one left on a horse at the end of it was Johann Strudel... and the exit point was in view... Perhaps he could just ride off on his own and say he "lost" his force of Englishmen and could he please have another..? Johann did get +1 Honour for killing the Preacher (as  one does for killing any Heroes, Preachers of Agitators in enemy units...).


SCOTS



The three remaining units of Scots all advanced across the river.


TURN FIFTEEN

ENGLISH

English pike fail to rally again, losing another, retreating further into the woods.

The English Pike in Red charged the Scots Pike closest to them, they both lost one and both failed morale and retreated.



The English Shot in blue then rolled a Command Blunder (I think this was John's third...?) - the result was their officer acted without panache and lost 1 Honour. I guess word got out that he'd killed a Scottish Preacher and the men didn't think to highly of that - even if he was a Calvinist... Or perhaps it was because he was just continuing on back to their billets leaving them at the mercy of these savage Scotsmen...?

SCOTS

the Pike routed and the rest failed to activate!?


TURN SIXTEEN

ENGLISH



John rolled ANOTHER Command Blunder for his Leader - the result was to retreat at the double from the nearest enemy unit - which actually carried him CLOSER to the exit point!

SCOTS

The Scots fired on the English Shot killing one and the unit routed...


TURN SEVENTEEN

ENGLISH

The retreating English Pike finally routed. I think they were down to four...? The they could only have successfully rallied on a 12.

The English Pike in Red failed to charge ending their turn.


SCOTS

The Pike moved and the Shot fired on the remaining English Shot. They lost two and failed moral and retired back over the hill.


TURN EIGHTEEN

ENGLISH



Ensign Johann Strudel galloped off the table - the first "unit" to do so in this game...

The English Pike routed.

SCOTS

The Scottish Pike marched off the table.

The only unit left on the table at this point was the unit of Scottish Shot. They were exactly five turns of moving from the edge of the exit zone, and had exactly five turns to do so (assuming 23 turns...?) so I just rolled to see if they could manage five activations in a row... they could not. So it was a draw - one "unit" each. Both sides gain 3 Honour.

Oh, and Evan "Holy" MacErrol survived. The remnants of his force staggered back into camp and informed their regimental commander that MacErrol was lost. Later that evening MacErrol wandered into camp cold, sodden, cranky and sporting more than a few nicks and scratches. Apparently his horse took most of the shots and collapsed on top of him, pinning him for some time on the bank of the creek.

(I had rolled 10 on the Officer Casualty table - Lightly Wounded - getting back to the army's camp by himself, with and impressive scar and a good story to tell. +1 Honour. The officer will recover in time for the next game).

Good fun!

Hopefully we shall see more of Johann.

I need to finish up some more Highlanders and bring back Robert MacRame!


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Tallarn! I have two squads of infantry I'm currently working on and hoping to have complete by the end of the week. Then I only have two oOfficers, a Command Squad, and a pair of Roughriders I need to finish up the following week.