Safari Of Death

General Charles came to visit today and between us we played out a Pulp Adventure. We used the rules Richard Lloyd provided in WSS Magazine a while ago. They fit on a postcard; use playing cards to decide initiative; use D6s; are super simple and above all are free!

General Charles took command of the safari while I ran the jungle horror. The plan for the safari was to make its way from the dock area, obtain The Item Of Great Value, survive and return to the dock area. Simple.

The Safari comprised five members:
1. Brad Sterling - Heroic Leader
2. 'Red' Mary Quintile - More Than Capable
3. Professor Septimus Quintile - Seeker of The Item Of Great Value
4. Tank Randlethrust - Big Game Hunter & Expendable Extra
5. Noble Spunkmeier - Dilettante & Expendable Extra

The Jungle Horrors include:
1. Pool of Certain Death
2. Dinosaurs
3. Angry tribesmen

Here we see The Film Crew capturing images of the safari's ship SS Venture and the squalor that is the Tarbooshian controlled outpost of Puerto Sucio.

The safari has set off through the gap between the two large, and impassable, hills. Known locally as El Paso De La Muerte Segura. In the far distance the group has attempted to cross a water course. Their movement has attracted a voracious T-Rex which is attacking them. The Film Crew shot it all.

Close-up of the water-hole fight. The heroes poured a fusillade of shots into the rampaging saurian. Which failed to stop its charge. The dino got into teeth-gnashing range and inflicted some hits on the party. The safari responded with even more bullets and down went the smashed and thrashing beast. PHEW!

The safari made more careful progress after the dino encounter and reached the statue without further incident, although they nearly stumbled into The Pool Of Certain Death (it's the funny looking thing between the statue and the green jungle piece).They were required to spend two turns at the statue to simulate their search for TIOGV (which they found). But look carefully. Is that a group of angry tribesmen in the bush there?

Of course it is. They can see the thieves at the statue and they aim to stop them and return TIOGV to its rightful place.

Battle in the bush! The tribesmen have let fly with a volley of arrows at our intrepid heroes. They take some hits but not enough to stop them blasting one of the tribesmen to death and mortally wounding one more. This breaks the morale of the locals....

....who flee for their lives. They hurtle away from the guns of the robbers but also away from the dinosaur that has been attracted by the noise. And this with the party of heroes so close to fortune and glory!  The monster has blocked the entrance to the Pass of Certain Death. As you do.

For about the first time in the game the saurian won the initiative and charged the safari. Hand-to-claw-to-teeth combat saw two of the party, Tank & Noble, go down in gouts of blood and guts as the angry dino lashed and gnashed about. Was this the end for our brave adventurers so close to safety?

Of course not. Brad and Mary give the monster the good news and knock it flat. We can see poor Tank and Noble down in the dirt.

The survivors return in triumph with TIOGV! Thankfully the main characters survived and the Expendable Extras did their job magnificently.

A really enjoyable game during which we had frequent breaks for coffee and pastries, lunch, then more coffee. The General said we must play another game in another Pulp location soon!

Updates as they happen, chumrades!

SAEAE AAR - ¡LOCO LOCO! #2

We rejoin the game as the train, el Loco-Loco, makes its appearance. The Colorado commander realised what was need and ordered his artillery unit to move to the rail junction and bombard the train. It was imperative to destroy or stop the engine before it reached the junction. The action resumes on the right flank of the Colorado position where the Villista cars are attacking.....

....Villista HMG car goes down 

in a hail of Colorado bullets

 Loco-Loco driving forward, 

explosives laden car at the front

 Villista car driving away from the battle as the Villista cavalry, 

including those on the now cleared hill, look on

The battle continued unabated with losses mounting on both sides. The Huertista artillery had dreadful dice rolls until it was almost too late. The train could take four hits and they hit it three times in succession, the last being as it crashed into the junction!

 CRASH!

 DERAILMENT!

 MELEE!

The Villista train failed to detonate on impact. Troops from both sides swarmed towards the crashed loco, one side intent on detonating the explosives; the other determined to stop them. Cavalry, infantry, machine-guns, artillery all blasting and hacking at each other, desperate to gain control of the wreckage.

 BOOOOOM!

The Villistas finally gain the train and set off the explosives killing everybody nearby which included some key Colorado units. This caused panic in the remaining Colorado troops who began to flee the town pursued half-heartedly by the stunned Villista survivors. The Villistas had gained the town and the rail junction but at some cost to themselves.

Colorados
3 x Infantry
2 x HMG
1 x Artillery

Villistas
1 x Infantry
1 x HMG
1 x Cavalry
1 x Car/HMG

¡Viva la Revolución!

SAEAE AAR - ¡LOCO LOCO! #1

Today I set up and ran a solo game using Kaptain Kobold's rule-set for The Mexican Revolution: 'Struggle Against Everything And Eveybody (SAEAE)'. The figures and buildings are from that wonderful site The Junior General. The board is 2 foot square and gridded one side.

So, what does the title mean? Well, it means: 'Crazy Engine' and it refers to the use of a an explosive packed locomotive, as a guided missile, to drive straight into an enemy position and then be blown up. The game is set during the period of The Revolution after Victoriano Huerta seized power and then allied himself with Pascual Orozco and his Colorados. Los Colorados were double traitors having fought against Madero and then sided with Huerta. Consequently they were seldom, if ever, taken prisoner.

So, the game set up. I decided that given their circumstances Los Colorados would fight to the death and also be considered elite troops; giving them an extra Morale Point. They are defending a major town and rail junction. It is vital they retain control of the town and railway and the surrounding area. There are:

6 Colorado infantry units. All positioned around the town.
2 Colorado HMG units. One HMG is stationed on the hill in front of the town. This commands both the railway and the southern approach.
1 Huertista Artillery unit plus observer. The Huerta troops are sited in the centre of town. They are below average and will collapse after 2 MP are gone.

The Constitutionalistas are from Villa's El Division del Norte, not commanded by The Great Man himself. They consist of three seperate attacking forces:


3 infantry and 1 HMG unit attacking the town from the east.


5 cavalry and 2 vehicle/HMG units attacking from the south.


1 Loco-Loco attacking from the south-east.

 The town, railway and Colorado & Huertista troops

The Battlefield

Apologies for the shaky image

 The vital rail junction

 Villista truck tries to shoot its way past the hill.

Colorado HMG is alert and scores a hit.

Despite heavy machine gun fire from the Colorados on the hill

the Villista cars break through and commence attacking the town.

The Huertista artillery proved unable to land any hits on the vehicles.

The Colorados on the hill had their attention diverted by

some unwelcome visitors. The Villista cavalry was upon them!

The Colorado infantry shoot up
one Villista HMG-car good and proper!

 Meanwhile, over to the east, the Villista infantry begin their attack.

The sound of battle rages around the town: rifle and machine-gun fire interspersed with yelling men, revving engines and booming artillery but over it all is the sound of a whistle......

Updates as they happen!

HotT Battle Report: The Oni v The Samurai or Last Night An Ashigaru Saved My Life

Tuesday night is, usually, wargames' club night. Last night I made it to the club via public transport with only one staggering drunk to contend with. So far everything's coming up Cake Tin. I arrived at the club without further incident and we set to getting the game on. After dicing for Defender (Me, Samurai) and Attacker (John S, Oni) we set the board up plus terrain. John's die rolls allowed him to load one half of the board with terrain features whilst the other remained as flat, good-going.

The Battlefield

The armies square off

Oni furthest from viewer

Samurai nearest viewer

Oni charge forward

Samurai stand around discussing rice prices

Oni hurtle forward some more

Samurai still seem unconcerned

But what's this? 

The Samurai right flank has wheeled through 90°

 The Oni charge smashes home.....

...And carries away the Samurai Knights and one of the Spears!

The second Samurai Spears is recoiled. The line holds but only just.

The Samurai Blades General slashes his way through a pair of double-ranked Oni Warbands near the BUA.

The remnants of the Samurai left wing managed to close up.

The Samurai right wing trundles forward across the Bad Going.

The Oni, stunned by the failure of their charge regroup.

Poor PIP rolls stymied the Samurai advance.

The Oni meanwhile set about destroying the Samurai left flank units.

The Samurai General managed to hack his way out of the melee, 

destroying another two Oni Warbands in the process.

Unfortunately the Samurai Spears (The Ashigaru of the title) 

were left behind to certain death.......

.....Well, no, actually. The Spears managed to fight off attack after attack. 

This heroic resistance allowed the Samurai line to reform
and then begin its own counter-attack.

The Oni prepared for one more smashing charge.
Surely this time?!

Losses at this stage: Oni 5 x Wb, Samurai 1 x Kn, 1 x Sp

Oni Behemoths attacking up and down the line.

Ashigaru Spears clinging on.

Samurai Blades, Hero & Shooters (top of pic) take the battle to the Oni.

Those Ashigaru Spears simply WILL NOT die!

Finally the resistance of The Spears is broken and they are recoiled into the main Samurai line.

The Samurai Blades & Hero work together to destroy an Oni Behemoth and end the game.

Samurai Victory!

Final Score: Oni 1 x Bh, 5 x Wb. Samurai 1 x Kn, 1 x Sp

BANZAI!

A very thrilling game that could have gone either way at several points during the contest. Both sides had poor PIP rolls at times when they really needed good ones. The Samurai Dragon and Lurkers were never deployed. The Dragon because I rolled only one 6PIP score the whole game and that when my infantry were very heavily engaged. The Lurkers because the Oni never broke through the line to threaten the Stronghold which lay in the Bad Going.Without doubt the Ashigaru Spears' dogged resistance bought the Samurai General time to regroup his army and re-new the attack which led to victory.

Updates as they happen!

PS Welcome to new blog members Brian English and JGelder1. Thanks for following, chaps!

HotT Battle Report: The Army of The Nutcracker v The Army of The Mouse King

Here's the second AAR of the two games played by General Charles and myself here on 26th June 2014.

As before we used Kaptain Kobold's terrain generator and did all the usual setting up admin. Once more General Charles defended, with The Army of The Nutcracker (NC), whilst I attacked with The Amy of The Mouse King (MK).

The Armies deployed under a god-like finger

MK line advances to contact....

...And loses 3 Warbands for 1 dead NC Blades & a fled NC Sneaker

NC Artillery proving deadly.

Seen worse.

This encounter proved horrific for the MK Warbands

Told you I'd seen worse

Some NC casualties

Dunno why they're still on table.

Some more NC casualties. Still on table.

The battle was fairly see-sawing at this point

Both NC & MK were rapidly approaching their casualty break-points

But who would break first?

NC Sneaker manages to pirouette through the lines

MK Warbands marching on the NC Stronghold

MK casualties on the right. 

Off the pitch as befits a Plain Honest Dealing General like MK

The End

NC 13 - MK 10

Rosie & Freddy declared the whole thing a triumph 

in return for a walk and a bit of cake.

UATH!

HotT Battle Report: The Army of King Richard 1381 v The Army of The Peasants' Revolt 1381

Went to visit my friend General Charles last Thursday and we got in a couple of games of HotT. He's played DBA before so had a good idea of what to do.

First battle was between The Army of Richard (AofR) and The Army of The Peasants' Revolt (PR). We sorted out the terrain and ends and then set up the toys. Charles defended with AofR and I attacked with PR.

AofR defending a nice church. PR looking impressively big

Gap opens in AofR line. Tactical apparently ;-)

PR advancing steadfastly

More advancing. More troop shuffling.

Battle is joined. 

As before PR Hordes coming off second best

AofR Lurker attacks PR Hordes

PR Paladin drives off AofR Warband

AofR Shooters & Knights advancing in a flank-threatening manner

PR Hordes cause AofR Lurker to flee off the field

AofR Knights turn while AofR Sneaker wombles about a bit

AofR Shooters bring The Good News to PR Hordes

The other side of the battlefield

As you can see most of the PR Hordes are now gone 

to a better place led by the PR Flyer.

I can't remember the exact numbers of PR dead but it was getting on for half.

PR Paladin recoiled the AofR Knights 

and made a brave charge on the AofR Stronghold......

.....but failed to reach it.

The PR Hero General finds itself bereft of support.

AofR Magician just killed people without magic.

The End.

Definitely more than half of PR dead now.

Quite a comprehensive win for AofR. General Charles handled his army very well and now knows how best to use a Sneaker. As for PR I got carried away with my Flyer (ie didn't use it properly) and, as usual, my Hordes died in droves. Some poor PIPs didn't help either. I think that a re-classification of some Hordes to Warband will give PR a more bitey edge. 

UATH!