Rescue the Duke!

Well, finally had the first game of the year at the club this week, which was actually one of the games from last year that was postponed due to the inclement weather, namely the scenario I had thought up loosely based on the old 'Baggage Train' scenario.


Dave K, my regular Renaissance adversary took the mantle of the English, rescuing their captured Duke who is being escorted through rough country to the local seat of power to be 'interrogated' by the indigenous Spanish forces.


Simple terrain a winding road end to end of the table with a reasonable assortment of difficult terrain and soft cover where the rescuers had picked as being to ripe spot for a rumble. The forces were roughly equal in both numbers and points (using the old Sword & Pistol Rules), the Spanish having the edge in training, the English in missile power.


The Spanish need to get the prisoner to the opposite end, the English to either long edge intact, if the prisoner is killed then it's a draw. Fairly simple.


In the end the missile fire early on disrupted the Spanish sufficiently and caused a ripple of wounds which tipped the edge in the inevitable melee. Both sides having a few fleeing the field and some slumped bodies lying by a lonely road side but in the end the English managed a daring rescue and I'm sure were suitably rewarded by their magnanimous lord who no doubt allowed them to continue their service in a foreign field until they died of scurvy.


Next time for a replay, the Spanish will have a bolstered number to allow for the ambush that's coming and to give them a bit more of a chance. Also, the rules are a bit flat so we intend to use a slightly adapted version of the Retinue Medieval Skirmish rules which definately give the game a bit more flair. Still, good to get the year off to a bloody and thoroughly violent start.

Spanish Arquibusier (Mid 16th Century)

Happy New Year

A Happy New Year to one and all! I hope Santa was kind to you all and you got all that you had hoped for. I traditionally don't get anything remotely gaming orientated unless I put the appropriate article in a loved ones hand and say, 'get me this for my Christmas'. I didn't do that this Christmas, so got a nice selection of the usual family kind of presents, hmmm nice.
Anyway, I have had an inkling to do some GW Tau for a long time, probably since they were released in fact, so just after the day, I went over to my local GW store, after doing the rounds post-christmas returns and cashing in vouchers and such and picked up the Tau Battleforce box set.

I managed to get away unscathed while family in tow, as one of my daughters ex teachers was in the store buying stuff for himself (an on going RPG'er) and his son, and he distracted family while I purchased said item.
I haven't really decided what I'm going to do with all these goodies, I don't play 40K, or at least haven't in a good number of years, so this is going to be a modelling only project which is fair enough and opens up all sorts of possibilities for modelling that if gaming requirements were necessary then that set of practicalities would take precedence,
I'm looking forward to do some fevourish gluing together ala Airfix kits over the next couple of days and put some thought into colour schemes. Initial thoughts are White/Grey/Black or White/ Light Bl;ue/Grey but I might go for something more colourful. We'll see.
The next few days before the dreaded work beckons should hopefully be reasonably productive hobby wise, interspersed with more domestic activities but looking forward to a good gaming year. Figures crossed.

Merry Christmas . . everyone!

Christmas day is winding to a close, the family has been visited, large quantities of very nice food has been eaten, presents given and received and a nice day was had by all. Hope all out there have a suitably pleasant Christmas day and you are now all looking forward to Boxing Day second helpings and a bit of gaming perhaps if you're allowed by the Boss.


Anyway, raising a large glass of Cognac, hope all is well and wishing a happy and perhaps a more prosperous year for 2011 for one and all.

Campaign Events Tables

As promised, I have uploaded Random Campaign Events tables into the Resources section of ALBAtwo. A slightly untidy draft but I will tidy up soon on my pdf/excel skills and get tidier copies posted soon.

There are two tables, one each for Major events and one for Minor. These were written up for my long ongoing Solo Campaign which has now drawn to a logical close with a final climactic battle (which I will do a battle rep for in the fullness of time).

I think the tables are fairly self explanatory and are intended to give a useful starting point for anyone wanting to do the campaign thing and should be easily adaptable to your own way of doing things. They are based on my own system which is made up from all sorts of sources so may not 'fit' but feel free to chop, cut, edit etc as you see fit.

Let me know here if there's any questions.

Back from the Virtual Grave

Back in the land of the Virtual Living, my computer had an 'episode' and decided it didn't want to play anymore a couple of weeks ago, fairly terminal really.


However, after much cajoling and generally slapping it about, the beast moves once again. Did lose a bit of data, files etc in the process, but managed to recover most the important stuff. I guess that back-up external hard drive I was going to get for Christmas will be useful, just a bit late.


Not getting much done in the way of gaming recently with the weather curtailing my activities in that regard and 'she who must be obeyed' directing my domestic activities to decorating and re-building kitchens etc etc preventing any real figure painting pursuits, but that should change come next week, fingers crossed with a couple of games re-scheduled and a bit of spare time coming up.


The new files promised for ALBAtwo Resources should be with you over the week end, so watch that space.

Empire AoA List

Another update on the Resources front on ALBAtwo, you can download an Excel file for converting Warhammer Empire armies for use with the Armies of Arcana rules.


The list gives various alternatives for each of the Empire Army choices and playing with them a bit to give them a bit of your own flavour, eg you can add a bit of armour to your core infantry, or add a bit of light cavalry. Check out the download at the ALBAtwo Resources page.


Note this is an Microsoft Excel file so you will need this software on your machine for it to operate, you should have suitable virus protection just in case too.

Hiatus

Have not been doing much in the way of gaming or painting over the last couple of weeks, partly due to work, partly being away for a few days in (or in fact practically on) the Border for a few days round Kelso, and partly laid low(ish) by the dreaded lurgie, which is doing the rounds.

What I have been doing in my more lucid moments is doing a bit of PC gaming is as my want, of an evening.

What I have discovered is the new version of the game Mount & Blade, namely Mount & Blade ; Warband.

An adventure, action orientated game set in a medieval setting, where you can build up a mercenary band and try and carve out an empire, or just run a round and cause mayhem, with real-time combat mounted and on foot including sieges. This update of the game introduces some glaringly missed options from the original, more politics, being able to become king etc etc. Much better. The tech level is circa 1250 to 1350ish and has a good mix of archetypal western medieval type troops; Russian/Moscovite types, Norse types, central European types, and southern Italian types plus Mongol Cavalry and a new faction the Sassanid/Araby types. A good game for meglomaniac medievalists.

I have also discovered a new version of the game 'With Fire & Sword' which takes the game into the renaissance era. Got to check this one out which introduces gunpowder and more formation orientated battles. Hmmm....nice.

Getting back into some painting as my health and free time improve so back to painting up Berbers etc soon. Just in time for the Festive season kicking off.