French & Indian War fort finished!

    My completed 25mm Acheson Creations French & Indian War fort

I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get this whole thing completed in time for next weekend's convention, but it painted up a lot quicker than I thought it would. The last pieces to do -- the two stockade towers -- were Dullcoated this morning. I ran into a small snag on them yesterday with the interior floor piece which separates the ground floor from the upper fighting level. The square piece fit in just fine beforehand, but after washing in the dishwasher, priming, painting, and clear coating, it must have grown. I ended up having to shave its edges down to get it to fit again, and then repaint those edges.

    The fort is about 2 feet square on the tabletop

Since it was a nice, sunny Sunday, I thought I'd set it up on my kitchen table and photograph the whole thing. I was curious what its dimensions would be. As it turns out, the fort is about 2 feet square. That is plenty big enough for the scenario I have envisioned for it in this weekend's game. I am actually missing 3 pieces that Acheson Creations did not ship, so it will be even marginally larger once those arrive and are painted up, as well.

    Close up of the fort gate and one of the corner artillery emplacements

Speaking of Acheson, I highly recommend their Basic Fort set, which is the nucleus of what you see in the pictures. I added in the two corner artillery emplacements, along with the two stockade towers finished this morning. In addition, I purchased 8 extra wall sections that I converted into "stairs up" sections, as detailed in earlier posts. The basic set comes with four corner sections for those who don't want a tower or artillery emplacement on the corners (or don't want to buy them!). They are not pictured in my set up, here.

    Close up of on of the corner artillery emplacements (um, with no artillery!) and a stockade tower in the background

I won't go into detail how I prepared and painted these, as I've done that in previous posts. Suffice to say, the excellent detail on these resin pieces makes it easy to base coat and dry brush them so that they look very nice.

    A squad of Rogers Rangers sallies forth from the fort's gate while regulars and militia watch the woods

Stay tuned to my blog for pictures and a report from next weekend's "Ohio Frontier Aflame" games at Advance the Colors 2014. If you like a good French & Indian War game, come on out to the convention in Springfield, OH. I will be running it Friday and Saturday at 7 pm, as well as an afternoon game at 2 pm Saturday. There will be 10 spaces per game, so I hope to accommodate most of those who want to play!

 

Silent Auction: The Reporters

I have had these figures done for a couple weeks, now. I'm not sure why I haven't gotten around to posting pictures of them, though. These four figures will be one of my silent auction raffle items I'm doing at Advance the Colors 2014. All the proceeds will go towards my middle school travel club. Although they are not immensely practical figures, they are meant to be nice "eye candy" for GMs to put on their tabletop. Of course, they could be used in skirmish style games as objectives, and so on, too.

    The "Producer" and the "Journalist" -- two 28mm miniatures for my Silent Auction at Advance the Colors 2014

First up, is the "Producer" and the "Journalist." The producer is a Bob Murch figure and one of my favorites of the batch. I like his style -- suit jacket draped over one arm, and gesturing with rolled up plans or script. He looks full of himself as he dramatically describes his grandiose vision to the Victorian-looking reporter. Honestly, I'm not sure where this figure comes from. It may be one from Old Glory's "Famous Newspapermen" pack. He is a much more simple figure without the fancy watch chain of the producer. He'll make a great extra figure hanging around a general on a battlefield, getting the scoop on the great man's thoughts.

    The "Battlefield Artist" hopefully will go to a good home in the Silent Auction

My next favorite is the "Battlefield Artist." This miniature has a decided 19th century look, in my opinion. I really his expression, and with jaunty mustache and rumpled but chic clothes, he looks the part of an artist. I think the watercolor I did on the canvas turned out fairly nice, too. He sits atop a barrel scavenged from somewhere and his palette in his left hand reflects the colors on the painting. Like the others, I think he'll make a nice addition to a tabletop as he quietly records the action on canvas.

    The "Photographer" -- a potentially useful figure for Skirmish scenarios

Finally, the photographer is probably the simplest of all the figures. The black cloth draped over his head and shoulders meant there wasn't as much detail to paint up. His blue suit jacket and gray pants are straight forward attire. I think he'd be a cool figure to use in Pulp or Skirmish games were the actions of the characters need to be "photographed" for victory points. Maybe a dinosaur hunt? Bonus scenario points for posing next to your kill?

Since I run 28mm Pulp games, these figures actually could be useful for me, so I hate to get rid of them. However, they've been sitting in my unpainted lead pile for quite some time, now. If I hadn't chosen them to paint up for my silent auction, they'd still be in that state -- unpainted! So, I don't mind seeing them go. I just hope that whoever has the winning bid is generous with his or her donation to my students' cause!

Board Games at my Place

With Allen and Mike S out for the evening, I offered to host board games at my place. I have a few more things to finish before I can run the climactic scenario of my Pulp games. So, board games were a good substitute since no one had a minis game ready.

First, we played Keith's newest version of Pandemic. It adds in a few new roles, including the Quarantine Specialist that Joel played and my Contingency Specialist. We cured three of the four diseases before the end of the game, but still ran out of the player deck before the fourth was cured. I honestly thought we did fairly well, but Pandemic is always tough. And the more players you have, the tougher it gets. Trying to win with five players is difficult.

Next, we did a blast (literally) from the past and played Nuclear War. Joel was the winner, and I was the big loser being the first taken out. Next was Keith, then Steve, then Ptom, leaving Joel the sole survivor. It was a brutal game, as expected, and was interesting flashback to our gaming days of yore!

The Rest of the Fort Walls Completed

    Some of my newly-painted wall sections set up with my 28mm French Infantry

My Acheson Creations 25mm French & Indian War fort continues to grow towards completion. Earlier this week, I finished off the last of the wall sections, along with the corner pieces and fort gate. All that is left to do are the two corner artillery emplacements and two stockade towers. Then I will have a massive-sized French & Indian War fort. Hopefully, all of this will be completed in time for my Ohio Frontier Aflame scenario at Advance the Colors 2014, Sept. 19-21.

These wall sections were extra that I ordered in addition to the Basic Fort set. At first, I was disappointed they were not identical to the ones in the set (my mistake for not checking the item codes). However, I ended up being happy about it because these were easily converted into "stairs up" sections. I described how I created them in the previous post, so I won't go into that again. I converted six of the eight that I ordered. In the photographs, you can see the two completed wall pieces side by side. You can also see how easy it is to make my based French & Indian War figures "climb" the stairs.

I'm really happy with how this fort is turning out, and think it will be quite the eye-catcher on the tabletop...!

    Close up of the "stairs up" conversions I made to the extra wall sections I ordered, along with a shot of the gate and corner sections

Dinosaur Hunt in East Africa

    My Italian paleontologist's plane crashes in a large tree, and we disembark to explore the valley

It had been awhile since Keith had hosted one of his wild and woolley Dino Hunts. He was going to be running one at Advance the Colors 2014, so wanted to get back in the swing of things. Although he plans on using the Pulp Alley rules for the ATC game, he fell back on Saurian Safari for this game to get back into the swing of things.

    Almost immediately, we encounter a Spinosaurus and the Italian scientist and his native guides flee for their lives

The scenario had my Italian paleontologist trying to evade capture by both British and German forces sent to apprehend him. Meanwhile, I was investigating this thick, bamboo forest in East Africa for evidence that the Egyptian gods were inspired by prehistoric creatures that might still be alive. It was a fun game, with my Italian scientist and his two native guides cinematically running from one dinosaur encounter to another.

    With more deadly dinos in our path, we turn around and flee the other direction!

In the end, we were snagged by the British, mainly because our direction of flight always seemed to be taking them towards their side of the board. The Germans -- played by Allen and Mike S -- blasted away at every dino that came near and left a swath of destruction in their wake. Their only loss was of their machine gunner to an "Apex Predator" giant toad. Allen continually bemoaned the loss of his machine gun, and insisted he should be able to recover it through the tons of toad blubber that it lay beneath.

    One of the native guides flees straight into the jaws of a lurking carnivore

As always, it was a fun game. I look forward to Keith using Pulp Alley for the next game. In the meantime, this was a good warmup!

    We were slippery for the whole game, but eventually were collared by the British force and marched off to do their bidding

Battle of Manzikert

    My center Turkish command after the heavy cavalry passed through the skirmisher screen, with the Byzantine center force in the background

Steve V is running his Battle of Manzikert game using Hail Caesar rules in a few weeks at Advance the Colors 2014, in Springfield, OH. So, though we'd play tested it before, he wanted to get it out again and blow the dust off of it and make sure it was ready to go. Hail Caesar seems to be the rules of choice for big battle Ancients games, lately -- ever since we tired of De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA). There is a lot of dice rolling, so games are fairly fluid and units can be fragile. The morale tests seem to be what causes most units to disappear, which seems to be fairly accurate, in my opinion.

    Mike S commanded the left and overran Joel's Byzantine flank command

Mike S and Keith made me play Alp Arslan, the Turkish commander. Opposite Mike on my left was Joel, while Allen was ranged across from Keith. I was tackling Steve V, and I was a bit worried in the first turn when his dice were hot and mine were not. However, he went cold quickly, and my dice picked up and remained fairly steady throughout the game. The battle is meant to be more of a historical refight and less of a complex scenario. Steve deploys the troops for the players (which I am not a big fan of, by the way), and there is no terrain on the tabletop. Players make grand tactical moves and then tactical ones to decide when to shoot, charge, etc. So, it is a straight-forward game.

    Keith's Turkish command on the left had twice as many horse archers as the Byzantines did in their skirmish screen

There were some hesitant moments on our side, but we pretty much bowled over the Byzantines across from us. All three of us ended up breaking the opponent's command (or were about to), with the loss of only one unit on our side. The Turks outnumber the Byzantines if you don't count their reserve command, which may not enter the game at all, depending on the events of the game and some random chance. I wouldn't say the Byzantines have no chance in the game, just they will have to have some pretty interesting tactics and some pretty spectacular die rolling to change history. As it was, our game pretty much repeated history with the Turks smashing the Byzantine army in what was pretty much its most disastrous defeat in the empire's thousand year history.

French & Indian War Fort

    Some of the wall sections to my 28mm Acheson Creations French & Indian War fort

What looked like an insurmountable project once I saw it all collected together in 28mm Acheson Creations resin, is being chipped away at steadily. I finished the first 10 log palisade sections today. I also have the 8 extra wall sections spray painted, along with the 4 corner pieces and the main gate. What's more, two nights ago, I decided to convert 6 of my extra wall sections into staircases leading up to the fighting platforms with wood pieces from the craft stores. All that, and more, in this Lead Legionaries update!

    The inside of the wall sections

First off, the 10 log palisade wall sections took considerably less time to finish than I thought they would. As frequent readers of my blog know (is there such an animal?), I normally like to paint in small batches so I can see progress and keep me inspired. However, this French & Indian War fort is such a huge terrain pieces I felt I needed to do it in larger chunks to actually see progress! It contains:

• 10 wall sections with fighting platforms
• 8 extra sections without fighting platforms (unbeknownst to me -- bad camera angle on the photo on the Acheson website)
• 4 corner sections
• 1 main gate
• 2 stockade towers
• 2 artillery bastions
• 2 interior buildings

If I did that in small batches, I might feel the progress was too glacial. Thus, the big chunks.

    Close up of the log palisade wall sections

For the wall sections, I followed my usual formula for Acheson Creations terrain:

1. Wash in dishwasher to remove release agent
2. Spray paint black
3. Paint with 50/50 acrylic black paint and water
4. Wet brush medium brown
5. Dry brush khaki
6. Dry brush light gray
7. Ink wash
8. Flock

    Close up of the insides of one of the wall sections

 I think they turned out nicely. The circumference of this fort, when it is done, is going to be enormous. In fact, I intend to run a scenario where the battle takes place within the confines of the fort -- not an attack on the outside. It is inspired by an incident at Michigan's Fort Michilimackinac during Pontiac's Rebellion. The Indians surprised the defenders by staging a field hockey game outside the fort -- allowing large numbers of men to gather. A few Indian women entered the fort with weapons smuggled beneath their robes. Suddenly, one of the players tossed the ball through the open gate of the fort, and the Indians all surged through it after the ball. They snatched up the weapons from the women and attacked the soldiers defending the fort. The ruse was successful, and I think it will make an interesting scenario.

    Some of the wooden odds and ends I used to convert 6 of the extra wall sections into stairs

As mentioned above, I ordered 8 extra wall sections. I was disappointed and surprised when I received them, though, because they did not have fighting platforms like those that came with the fort set. They match the height and look of them, but have two angled beams braced against the wall on the inside instead. One night, while looking at them, I was inspired to see if I could convert these pieces into staircases up to the platforms. I dug out my miscellaneous wood bits and experimented. Sure enough, using a corrugated pattern bass wood and wood cubes, I was able to easily and quickly construct a stair case that my figures could ascend. The space between steps was high enough I could slide the front of the base into it, holding the miniature in place. It took only a few hours one evening to make the six staircases. The next night I trimmed up dowel pieces to make the fighting platforms on either side of the stairs.

    Before conversion on the left, after conversion on the right

One thing about the Acheson fort set -- which I love, mind you -- is that there are no visible staircases or ladders up to the fighting platforms. So, these six pieces will improve the look and game-ability of the fort. Already prepped were the 4 corner sections and the main gate. So, I will probably do all 11 pieces together next, considering how quickly I finished the 10 wall sections. Once that is done, I'll probably work on the two stockades and artillery bastions. The goal is to get the whole shebang done in time to use at Advance the Colors 2014, Sept. 19-21. I am running my "Ohio Frontier Aflame" scenario, and would love to use the fort as one of the vignettes in the game.

Java by Request

We were down to four of us for Sunday evening's gaming, and Joel being the host, declared we would play a board game that we hadn't yet this year. Suggestions flew back and forth in the email conversations in the week leading up to Sunday. There are a lot of good board games out there that have a max of four players, so this was a chance to play them again. Our normal crew is 5-6, sometimes even 7 players. Java, by Rio Grande Games, is one of those four player games. It was requested by both Tom and Allen, so I dragged it and a few other games along.

After catching up on the not-so-good news of our friends (get well, soon, Mike S...hope your luck turns around soon, Steve!), we broke out Java and I explained the rules, again. I played my usual strategy of building up temple complexes as fast as possible, while trying to stay competitive on the points garnered from irrigation tiles. Joel maxed out on the irrigation tiles, as usual, but threw a new wrinkle in his strategy. He flooded the board with his developer pieces -- most of them lurking in the fields. Since he'd chosen red as his color, we laughed that he was the VC out in the rice paddies. Tom's strategy also focused on temples, while Allen played a middle ground between building and getting pieces on the board.

    Joel's contemplates his next move, while Allen and Tom look on...

I jumped out to an early lead, with Tom close on my heels. Once we ran out of space for new cities and temples, I started to run out of steam and Tom passed me up. On one crucial turn, I earned no points as I took back a temple from Allen that I'd already scored. Tom widened the gap. Joel closed his red army into the cities. Allen was also positioned thickly all over the board, but Tom and I had been very clever about maintaining position to control (or take over) cities. In the end, it was a race between Tom and I. He edged me out by about five points.

    Tom's secret weapon in Java: The sage advice of Brutus the Weimaraner

It was a great competitive game, and we had a good time, as usual. Lisa brought home a mixed six pack of beers in a variety of tempting flavors. So, it was good times, good drinks, and good snacks -- especially Joel's black bean dip which Allen practically licked the bowl to clean out. Joel and Lisa's Weimaraner Brutus kept us entertained for the price of mooching a snack or two. A good Sunday evening with friends!

French & Indian War Blockhouse by Acheson Creations

    28mm Militia rush towards an Acheson Creations Block house. This comes in three pieces -- bottom narrower section, upper section with windows, and roof.

As I sorted through the mountain of resin that was my order for French & Indian War era terrain, I picked out the 25mm Blockhouse as the first piece I would paint up. Plus, I wanted a "test piece" before I tackled the fort, which would take a lot more work. This would enable me to test the paint scheme I was planning on using and make sure I like it. Also, it consisted of only three pieces, so it was a much smaller job than the fort, which contains nearly two dozen separate pieces.

    The interior of the middle section, with the roof removed. You can see the rare earth magnets I epoxied onto the top of the wall corners.

I did my usual method for painting Acheson Creations terrain pieces. After washing it in the dishwasher to remove the mold release agent, I spray painted it black. Then I brushed on a 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water. My scheme consisted of Howard Hues Camo Brown wet brush over the black (leaving black in the cracks and joins), then a HH Colonial Khaki dry brush. For the pieces that would be in the sun -- the exterior walls and roof -- I then added a HH Rebel Gray dry brush to give it the sun-bleached gray look old wood tends to have. I finished if off with a black ink wash to bring out the wood grain. The base piece was flocked with Woodland Scenics flocking and the painting part was done!

    This piece went together very quickly, and will make great terrain for a French & Indian War scenario

I used rare earth magnets and 1/2" square metal bases to hold the three pieces together. The magnets went on the middle parts "facing up," so to speak, while the metal bases on those facing down -- like the roof and the bottom of the middle piece. These hold together very nicely and allow you to take it part for storage, but keep it firmly in place on the tabletop. This piece went together extremely quickly, and I was happy with how it looked.

Next up, the wall pieces of the fort!

Black Hats have a 'Bonanza'

    "Pa" and Cain find good firing positions near the fenced-in chicken coop

Mike S had a hankering to do a 28mm Cowboy game, so after raiding Keith's Old Glory Western terrain, he set up a White Hats (good guys) vs. Black Hats (bad guys) scenario. This episode feature myself as the Cartwrights seeking to chase off some outlaws who have been trespassing on our ranch. Joel was the Texas rangers, come to help us round up the scofflaws, while Keith and Tom played the bad guys.

Mike had made some changes to Ganesha Games' "Flying Lead" rules to better reflect the Hollywood Western. Essentially, every character was "Tough," which meant taking a wound merely worsened their Quality by 1 to 3, depending on how badly they were hit (beaten, doubled, or tripled). Once a character's Quality rose to a "6", he was out of action, or dead. In general, the rules worked well, though Mike had some changes he'd like to see, and we had some we suggested, as well. One odd feature -- more of a random aspect of cards and dice -- saw 5 of the first 6 turns the player whose card was drawn last had his drawn first in the following turn. The infamous "double move" before your opponents can respond is one of the reason I dislike card activation games. I prefer an established turn order, and feel you should win or lose based on your tactics (and dice, perhaps) -- not a fluke of the cards.

We deployed first, and I foolishly focused only on where my own troops were, ignoring where me ally Joel had deployed. Both Tom and Keith deployed near one corner of the battlefield, directly across the table from me. I had my Cartwrights dash across the field to take up good firing positions and fill the bad guys with lead as they attempted to cross the battlefield and escape into the mesas on the opposite edge from them. I was successful in putting Pa and Cain inside the fenced-in, chicken pen, while my other three dashed into a two story house that overlooked the bad guys. I was the first to benefit from the "double move," so blasted away at Keith's gang of outlaws, all of who were named Bob. Since an abnormally high number of my hits were "retreat" outcomes rather than wounds (depended on whether my die score was odd or even), we laughingly called them the "Running Bobbs." Even worse, they lined up for cover behind the outhouse, which provoked howls of laughter saying they all had the "runs" and were scrambling for the outhouse.

    The rest of my gang find a great firing position in the two story house overlooking the bad guys' position

What I had not noticed, though, was that Joel deployed his troops "a fair piece" away from mine. In fact, they couldn't have been in a worse position to support my attack -- they were hidden away in the mesas, and it would take a number of turns for them to advance to where they would be a factor in the battle. We have a saying on Sunday nights, and it proved true again this night: "Tom's winning!" Tom cleverly deduced they could gang both of their forces up against mine, and he proceeded to move his entire force into the house I'd holed up in, or blasting away at me through the windows. My three Cartwrights inside were cut down relatively quickly.  And when Keith woke up from his die rolling slump ("crapping out" twice in a row on activations, early on -- which meant none of his troops were able to act at all for two turns), the Cartwrights began to drop like flies.

    And here's why it wasn't such a good idea...Tom's entire gang uses his "double move" to race around the side of the house and rush it, outnumbering my guys 6-3...

The Texas rangers did race in impressively when Joel got the double move, firing at the hip as they came. However, with my men whittled down to essentially just Cain -- and he was bleeding badly -- it was now Joel's turn to ganged up on by Tom and Keith. Tactically, the White Hats blundered this game. Joel deployed too far away, but worse, I stuck my neck out too far and the Black Hats were only too glad to slip a noose around it. We went down kicking, though, and shot up Keith's "Running Bobs" fairly heavily. However, it was obvious that the Cartwright Ranch would be under new ownership come sundown.

The game worked well enough that I'm sure we will see another Western episode on Sunday nights. Hopefully next time the good guys will prove to have a little more between their ears than a big white hat...!