Look, Up in the Sky!

Still plugging away at painting more figures for the exploration of Afrodesia And waiting for one more order from Foundry.

Pterosaur (now I forgot where I got it from... I'm not the only one who does that, right? ha ha)

Various natives of Afrodesia (mostly Zanzibaris from Foundry).

More People (and an Ape) from Afrodesia

A few more members of the Explorers Club, the old explorer and his daughter, and a former/sometime naval officer..

A lady and a villain (the latter from Bossanova, no doubt).

Fabled jungle princess, large gorilla, and fabled jungle ape-man.

All from Foundry's Darkest Africa range (which I think are better sculpted than their SYW miniatures).

Expeditions Planned

Planning of expeditions to explore the wilds of Afrodesia are in progress. Hiring has begun.

Exploring can be thirsty work.

It is essential to hire trustworthy askaris, gun-bearers and other bearers of the equipment and paraphernalia needed, as well as to carry back any treasures acquired along the way.

The above are all from Foundry

Of course, exotic creatures and peoples will be encountered along the way as well.

The bird and the pygmies and idol are from Reaper (I wish they would make a few more pygmies. 3 is not quite enough to do much.)

Out of Afrodesia

Many are the rumors coming out of Afrodesia. Rumors of strange lands, exotic beasts, wild tribes, and more.

Following are artist's renditions of some of the rumored beasts.

If I remember correctly, these are all from Reaper.

More Colonials

More people one may encounter in or on the way to Afrodesia. The 2 women and the "Turk" are Copplestone figures. The fellow with the sword is the Rajah of Djalhi, and the other fellow is his prime minister/majordomo (what would the Indian term be?), both from Foundry.

These matchlock-armed troops are militia (Sepoys?) of Djalhi. There is a standard-bearer, but I need to come up with a flag. I'm thinking maybe a stylized colorful image of some kind of animal.

Added: The Kukla Khan and one of his lieutenants.

Jungle Terrain

I haven't been totally idle on the gaming front. I have a number of miniatures on the painting desk, which I will post pictures of as I finish them, and lots more in the queue. In the meantime, here is some terrain I have been working on in preparation for the Exploration of Afrodesia.

The various trees are made from wire twisted together for the trunks, branched out in the case of the one tree. With plastic or cloth foliage from aquarium plants or craft plants affixed to the trunks by wrapping wire or twine around the trunks. Then stuck to small pieces of mdf board, with a coating of gray "celluclay" around the trunks and on the bases. Celluclay is a sort of paper pulp that you mix with water. It's pretty lumpy, so not much good for fine sculpting, but great for tree trunks, rough ground, cliff edges, and for making rocks like the boulders in some of these pieces. More painting still to do on them, and probably some flocking.

Explorers Club

Some of the members of the Explorers Club - from left to righ, the Famous and Fearless Explorer Captain Spaulding, Sir Harrison Hyde, Katie O'Hara, and Sam Hunter.

These are all from Copplestone Castings and were pretty easy to paint.

19th Century Uniforms (and ImagiNations)

I picked up a book at the bookstore today that I didn't know I wanted (that's one of the things I like about bookstores - just browsing around and finding stuff; hard to do that on-line!). The book is called An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Military Uniforms of the 19th Century. Here is a link to it on amazon
It gives a little bit of history for various conflicts and armies, some well-known like the US Civil War and others lesser known like the conflicts between Prussia and Denmark over the Schleswig-Holstein region. There are also sections on the Crimea war, colonial conflicts and more. The book is 9x12 inches, hardback, over 250 pages, with lots of color illustrations. It's not comprehensive by any means, but does include some "uniforms" you might not expect, such as Apaches, sutlers, and other types that you don't always encounter in uniform books. The variety of uniforms, in style, color, etc., leaves me to believe there is plenty of scope for ImagiNations in the 19th century, too.

It looks like there are enough illustrations and information for a least a basic understanding of the period/s and of what the various bits of equipment might look like (to get an idea of what colors to paint things), that I know would find useful for painting miniatures, even if they weren't exactly the units in the book.

The same publisher (and author/artists, I believe) have also done a similar book for uniforms of the American Revolution and the Napoleonic armies. I'll probably look to get the American Revolution book (and wish they had one out for the 18th century in general, similar to the 19th century one).

New Regiment and New Discoveries

First, on the tricorne front, is the Muttonshire (1st) Regiment of Grand Thidwick, commanded by Colonel Geoff "Muttonchops" Willikers. Joined here by his lady, Catherine. This unit is made up of men from the Capital of Grand Thidwick and surrounding areas.

Skipping ahead several decades, we bring you the famous discoverer, Athelred Fotheringay "Fungy" Rodes. Credited (by himself) with the discovery of a new land whilst out on the town one night. It seems the roasted chestnuts he purchased that evening were wrapped in an old piece of parchment upon which was inscribed an old map.

The map depicted a land long lost to history. Once the discovery became known this new land was christened after its discoverer, and immediately preparations to explore Afrodesia were underway.

Sometime later, from left to right, the Intrepid Explorer, Wm Bumbershoot-Psmythe, ready to conquer the jungles of Afrodesia, a pack donkey, an askari in training, and the Intrepid Explorer, Wm Bumbershoot-Psmythe, upon his return from conquering the jungles of Afrodesia.

Some of the people one might encounter in this new land, from left to right, the Rani of Galore, the Kukla Khan of Ollistan, and a pirate lass (the latter can be encountered almost anywhere on the Seven Seas).

All of the above miniatures are from Foundry, except the pirate lass, who is from one of Brigade Games' Buccanneer Ladies sets.

I am thinking I may start an additional blog for the Colonial/Afrodesian Exploration stuff. I've been reading the Jimland Reports which can be found on-line, playing around a bit with GASLIGHHT and getting ready to try out Adventures in Jimland (sort of Source of the Nile meets Lost World). I have some additional Pathan figures from Old Glory that I have prepped and will start painting. Cheaper than Foundry, but should fit in just fine with the Foundry figures I already have. I also have some explorers and other goodies from Old Glory and from Copplestone on order.
I do expect to continue with the tricorne stuff as well, but sometimes it's nice to have a change of pace. One thing I've noticed switching between the tricorne figures and the Colonial is how much longer it takes me to paint the former. Ha ha (but then, I haven't painted any Highland regiments for the Colonial stuff yet)

Training Exercises

The whole Ballyfoole army as it stands at this time.

To try out the GASLIGHT rules I conducted some training exercises. This pitted the Ballyfoole Musketeers and the Malarkey Dragoons against an unknown number of the boys dressed up as Pathans. I realized I don't have many scenarios for this type of game in any of the scenarios books I own, so I decided to try a sort of scouting party into enemy territory. I rolled 1d6 to figure out how many possible enemy forces to place and rolled for which section of the table to place them in. I diced for the attributes for the Ballyfoole commanders (one for each unit), but for the Pathans I just played them as if the leaders were the same as the "extras".
The Ballyfoole force entered the battlefield and spotted possible Pathan forces as indicated by the lone figures.

The Ballyfoole force moved forward to scout out the middle section, which did indeed hold some Pathans. (I rolled 1d6, odd for yes, even for no; then rolled ad8 for the number of figures). There ensued a brief firefight resulting in most of the Pathans wiped out and the rest running for the hills. Unfortunately a couple of the Ballyfoole Musketeers also bought it.

The Ballyfoole forces then proceded to the west to scout out another possible Pathan force. This also proved to be a small group of the enemy. Another firefight resulted in the Pathans being wiped out, while one of the dragoons bought it this time.

Next, the Ballyfoole force headed towards the hills to the east to clear it of any enemy forces. Once again they found a small force of Pathans taking potshots from behind the rocks. And once again a brief firefight saw to the Pathans, while the Ballyfoole forces suffered no losses this time.

Finally the Ballyfoole forces headed for the hills to the northeast, where a more sizable force of Pathans was encounter (this time I rolled 1d12, with the idea that this was the main body of Pathans. The result was 10 of the enemy, joined by the 2 who had fled earlier). After a firefight the Pathans charged down out of the hills. A melee ensued and in the end barely a man was standing on either side.

This played out in less than an hour, including taking pictures and a few notes and consulting the rules. I sometimes found it a bit difficult to find the exact information in the rules that I needed at any given point was not always easy. Also there seem to be lenty of things that aren't covered. Of course, the rules aren't really intended for the type of game I played here, I think. They do have their good points and maybe if I play more games and make some modifications it'll work out in the end. I do like the heroic leader types vs. the "extras". And it does seem like a good set for smaller actions, as well as for adding all sorts of unusual experimental weapons and contraptions, as well as various animals.

I have more miniatures on the way (some prepped and ready for painting, some on order) for further colonial adventures. Once I get things really going (beyond "training") I'll probably start a new blog for that aspect of my gaming. But not to worry, I also have more 18th century tricorned and sundry figures to paint and play with.

Ballyfoole Light Infantry and More

O'Ryan's Hunters (or Jaegers) of Ballyfoole, commanded by Captain O'Ryan - their origin as dragoons can still be seen in some of the accoutrements and uniform.

Maggie O'Toole, vivandiere for the Ballyfoole army

All of the above, as well as these two are Foundry miniatures.

The following 4 figures are from Askari Miniatures. I had ordered a sample pack and mentioned interests in Northwest Frontier Colonials, French Foreign Legion (ala Beau Geste) and possibly Pulp/adventure (albeit I'll probably go more Victorian era than 1930's). These are the figures they sent. The service was great! I ordered the figures on a Saturday night and received them the following Tuesday or Wednesday. Askari make several ranges that fit my description above, including some figures you don't usually see, like a set of "diggers" for an archeological dig. The fellow with the pickaxe is from that set (I did trim down his left arm a bit. The way it was sculpted it looked like he had a long sleeve on that arm and it was kind of an odd shape. So I shaved off the edge of the sleeve and filed doen the elbow a bit).

Prices are very reasonable, too. I expect I'll be ordering more from them in the future.

Colonials

No pictures this time, but I do have some minis on the painting desk in various stages of completion (and more recent purchases in the wings!).

What I've been up to lately is further exploration of Colonials. I purchased the GASLIGHT rules after several people recommended them. I think they may be just what I was looking for. Fairly simple, yet adaptable, with main characters and regular troops, small units, mostly simple mechanics (although the rules for distributing casualties seems a bit convoluted; maybe it's not so bad in practice). I've also ordered additional Pathans and a few other figures (from Askari Miniatures , Brigade Games and  Old Glory Miniatures, as well as some more Foundry miniatures. Taking advantage of a recent discount offer for the latter.). Most of these look like they should "play well" together and it gives me more variety for my Pathan units. What I liked about Askari is you can order a sample pack of 4 figures and let them know what you're interested in. I mentioned interest in a couple of genres. They sent me some suitable figures, including one figure not released yet. And the service was very quick. I'm sure I'll be ordering more from them at some point.

Just the other day I was trying to find more info and inspiration for Colonial gaming and happened across Adventures in Jimland . These are a set of rules described as sort of a cross between Source of the Nile  (for those familiar with that old boardgame, which I enjoyed in my younger days) and Dinosaurs of the Lost World - another game I used to enjoy with gaming friends.
I also found reports from Jimland by the author/game designer. These can be downloaded from the NAGSsociety Jimland reports . There are hundreds of pages of reports. I've only just started reading them, but so far I'm finding them very entertaining with just the right touch of humor and adventure. Sure to be a great resource for inspiration. Has anyone played Adventures in Jimland or read the reports?

Now, to get more miniatures painted so we can head off to uncharted lands!

The Battle of Offenbach Falls

I rolled for initiative each turn, for the 2 sides, not for each force. As it turned out the Batrachians got the initiative for the first few turns. As the battle commenced and the Batrachian forces started closing in von Blunder decided to try and fight his way through the force he had originally been chasing. So rather than trying to change facing he continued on his original course.

Lumiere, commanding the force seen in the upper right of the picture, sent his cavalry ahead, with the infantry and artillery left to catch up as fast as it could.

Meanwhile, Soleau, commanding the force in the lower right of the picture spread out his infantry into a line and started moving them forward.

And de Siècle kept his forces together even though that would mean the cavalry would arrive later than if they forged ahead on their own.

The Soweiter artillery (the Offenbach cannon under Pachelbel) commenced fire at the Poupon Dragoons, who were accompanied by Lumiere, and caused a few casualties. The Mayeux Musketeers fired off a desultory first volley at the Dragoons, also causing minor casualties. The combined casualties were enough to cause the Dragoons to pull back.

The Poupon Dragoons rally. Meanwhile, the Cuirassiers Royale charge the Ballyfoole Dragoons. The resulting melee was indecisive with minor casualties on both sides.

The Fuselli Fusiliers and the Offenbach cannon fire at the returning Poupon Dragoons, destroying them as a fighting force in this battle. The Mayeux Musketeers fire at the approaching King's Musketeers, to little effect. The melee between the Cuirassiers Royale and the Ballyfoole Dragoons continues, with mounting casualties. Both sides pull back. The Jingleheimer-Schwartz Cavalry charge the Royal Batrachian Artillery, inflicting heavy casualties and causing the rest of the crew to flee.

Finally von Blunder manages to to seize the initiative. The Ballyfoole Dragoons charge the Cuirassiers Royale and inflict more casualties. The Mayeux Musketeers charge the King's Musketeers, giving better than they receive. The Jingleheimer-Schwartz sweep around to the rear of the Batrachian force. The Fuselli Fusiliers charge into the flank of the King's Musketeers, inflicting further heavy losses and putting Lumiere out of action (is he dead?). The Offenbach artillery limbers up to move off, with the Saxe-Urquhart Gunderland Highlanders close behind.

Of course, while this is all going on the other 2 Batrachian forces continue to close in.

The melee between the Cuirassiers Royale and the Ballyfoole Dragoons continues. The infantry melee between the Mayeux Musketeers and the Fuselli Fusiliers on one side and the King's Musketeers ends with the destruction of the King's Musketeers. The Hesse-Pfeffernusse Pfreikorps charge into the flank of the Cuirassiers Royale, inflicting more casualties. The few remaining Cuirassiers have had enough and flee. The Jingleheimer-Schwartz Cavalry charge the Queen's Musketeers in the rear, inflicting some casualties.

By now the Garde N'est Pas have approached close enough to fire a volley at the Highlanders, inflicting a few casualties. Then the Wild Goose Chasseurs charge the Highlanders, inflicting even more casualties. In spite of heavy losses the Highlanders hold.

The remaining Ballyfoole Dragoons charge the Queen's Musketeers from the front. The Mayeux Musketeers hit the Queen's Musketeers in the flank, and the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Cavalry continue to attack from the rear. In spite of being hit from 3 sides and suffering heavy losses the Queen's Musketeers hold on. The Hesse-Pfeffernusse Pfreikorps escape to the north, off the field of battle. The Offenbach Artillery and the Fuselli Fusiliers head in that direction as well. The Highlanders hold off the Wild Goose Chasseurs and the Garde N'est Pas who have charged them in the flank, with no casualties on either side.

The Highlanders fight on, but the combined weight of the Wild Goose Chasseurs and the Garde N'est Pas are too much and the Highlanders are destroyed. Did that buy enough time for the other units in the Soweiter force?

The Queen's Musketeers finish off the last of the Ballyfoole Dragoons, but are in turn wiped out by the combined efforts of the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Cavalry and the Mayeux Musketeers. The Offenbach Artillery and the Fuselli Fusiliers make it off the field of battle

The Musketeers L'Ouef fire off a parting shot at the retreating Jingleheimer-Schwartz Cavalry, inflicting minor casualties. The Mayeux Musketeers and the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Cavalry follow their fellows off the field of battle.

Final result:

Soweiter League losses (Batrachian losses don't figure into deciding victory in this scenario) are 9 infantry out of a total of 32, and 7 cavalry out of a total of 12, with no losses to the artillery crew. For a total loss of about 1/3 of von Blunder's forces. He needed to escape with 80% (or about 38 or 39 of his total of 48 figures) to achieve victory. But the Batrachians needed to destroy or capture 60% (or about 32 or 33 figures). So neither side achieved a clear victory.

The Game is Afoot!

A clear summer's morning near Offenbach Falls and the game is afoot.

A Soweiter force lead by the capable (or is that culpable?) General von Blunder has chased a smaller Batrachian force into a corner.

The Soweiter units:

• The Jingleheimer-Schwartz Cavalry
• The Ballyfoole Dragoons
• The Mayeux Musketeers
• The Hesse-Pfeffernusse Pfreikorps
• The Santa Sofia Fuselli Fusilieri
• The Saxe-Urquhart Gunderland Highlanders
• The Offenbach Artillery, Pachelbel's Cannon

The Batrachian units, commanded by the illustrious General Lumière:

• The Cuirassiers Royale
• The Poupon Dragoons
• The King's Musketeers 2
• The Queen's Musketeers 2
• Royal Artillery 3

But wait! There's more! Another body of Batrachian troops appears to the southeast.

Commanded by the ambitious General Soleau:

• The Musketeers L'Ouef
• The Paprikash Pandours
• The Pandours du Pinque
• Royal Artillery 2

And that's not all! A third body of Batrachian troops appears to the southwest!

Commanded by the venerable General de Siècle:

• The Wild Goose Chasseurs
• The Garde N'est Pas
• The Pandours St. Serif

Trapped like rabbits in a snare!

Or are they? Maybe von Blunder and the Soweiter forces can take a cue from the local fauna and ... runaway!

to be continued...