It's alive!

Hi all,

Well, okay, perhaps things weren't that extreme, but it's been a while since I've posted.  Christmas, the whirlwind of the Cub's stay, plus the usual start-of-semester madness has pretty much put the kibosh on both painting and playing.  Add in the sense of doldrums I was dealing with a few weeks back, and frankly, not much went on in Monkeyland over the last three weeks or so.

That said, I did get down to the Dueling Grounds last night for a fun night of gaming and catching up.  I got in two games of Magic in the Commander format against Otherdave (the format, fyi, is insanely fun), and a 400 point game of Muskets and Tomahawks against Vonplutz.  I think I'll save commander for a separate post (maybe this weekend), but I thought I'd post a batrep from the game with VP to get things going again at the blog.

First off, one thing I did do over the holidays was rebase the figures I'd already painted using steel washers.  I'd been using pennies, and while they're cheap and serviceable, transportation had been giving me problems.



I used some double sided tape to line the bottom of an old toolbox with some magnetic sheeting, and now the figures stick to the box no problem.  No shifting, no need to pad, just stick them in the box and go.  In a pinch, I can remove the sheeting to bare the steel, and still use the box for magnetized bases (like my Impetus armies).  Easy peasy.



I'll probably do the same for my Bolt Action stuff as well.  Watts at the THMG did something similar with his (although, with a much nicer box), and it seemed like a solid idea.  Huzzah for hobby networking ;)

With my dandy new box in tow, I set out to give Vonplutz's British a thrashing.  We determined objectives (he had Raid, I had Engagement), set up terrain, I deployed, he deployed, and away we went.



There's a lot of nice subtlety in the game mechanics for M&T, little things like how determining deployment order works.  Each player has a force type, determined by the dominant class of troops in their force.  Mine, composed of Compagnie Franche de la Marine with some Native allies, is Irregular.  VP's composed of mostly British Line with some provincial rangers and militia, is Regular.  While objectives are determined randomly, different force types are predisposed more to some missions / objectives than others.  Objectives are also ordered by number, with the more aggressive missions having a higher number.  Lower number deploys first.  I had to play a few times before I got it, but the net effect is that forces more likely to assume a defensive role, or be involved in set-piece fighting, are more likely to get objectives of that kind, and deploy as defenders before the aggressive / mobile / raider forces.  It's a nice touch, and the game is full of them.



As is happens, however, the usual roles were reversed.  VP's regulars with their provincial escort had set out to burn a French settlement, and my flying column of marines and Hurons were racing to head them off before they could.  It would prove to be a tense and bloody confrontation.



I deployed one of my marine squads behind the little village.  Their job would be to move up, take shelter in the houses, and hold off the British raiders as long as they could.



Meanwhile, the other marine unit, and both units of allies, would work their way around the flank, and try to harry the British as they closed on their own objective.  I encountered the effect of regular musketry in firing line the last time I played M&T, and while it's been a while, I have a healthy respect for it's destructive potential. I wasn't going to get into a head-on fight if I could avoid it.



VP, for his part, set his regulars to march straight for the French settlement, with his irregulars thrown out as flankers.



In the first turn it seemed like the French cards were all top deck (M&T works on a card activation system; each card indicates a unit type, and the number of actions it can take).  My flanking forces quickly advanced, and I pushed my Huron allies (Allies is a unit trait that can be purchased; it means that the native unit can benefit from the proximity of a French officer) toward the cover of a small copse of woods covering the approach to the village.  In retrospect, given that I'd paid for rifles, and my Hurons would have been almost as effective from back on my edge, this may have been a mistake.





When VP finally started drawing some British cards, withering fire from his irregulars drove my Huron allies out of the woods in full flight (it would take a full turn before they'd recover and rejoin the battle).  In the meantime, his regulars stolidly marched towards the village, peppering the buildings with musket fire.



At this point in the game, I was actually quite concerned.  VP had seized a key piece of covering terrain, had two units closing on the objective, and stood an excellent chance of holding me off long enough to fire the buildings.



While I tried to organize something on my left, VP continued to pour fire into the building with a unit of regulars and a unit of his provincials, and brought up the second unit of regulars to help block my flanking attack.  Thankfully, the stout walls of the French buildings gave my marines good cover, and they weathered the worst of the British fire with aplomb.





Thins went from bad to worse when VP drew some early cards on his next turn, fired into my already shaken Hurons, and convinced them to keep running.  My marines had managed to shake out a decent line by this point, however, and while the British provincials occupied themselves with the Hurons, my marines got in the chump shot on the advancing regulars, killing several.



While the British held, I'd done enough damage to get an edge on the attrition game, and had moved up my second unit of natives to within charging distance of the provincials in the woods.  These were Sauk and Fox, from the hinterland, and while they're not as handy with a musket, they're pure murder in close combat.

Meanwhile, back at the village, VP decided to send his men in.  With a roar and fixed bayonets, the British regulars charged the foremost building, and a bloody skirmish broke out, cut and thrust through windows and the burst doors of the house.  Combat in M&T is bloody and can be decisive.  You keep fighting until someone's reaction test causes them to flee, and fleeing generally results in more casualties.  By the time the fighting was done, I'd lost about half my marines, but the British regulars were broken; only one man limped away from the fight.



The victorious marines then sent a volley into the American militia that had been creeping up in the shadow of the British.  They killed one, and the rest took to their heels.



On the left, things were swinging my way as well.  My marines were winning the battle of attrition against the regulars.  VP got a volley off against the natives moving up, but only managed to kill one, and the rest closed in.  With their blood up, they chased the provincials down, and killed them to the last man.  A second card activation then sent them into the already reduced unit of regulars, who decided that all the drill in the world hadn't prepared them for a knife fight in the woods.  The remnants of the regulars took to their heels, and all of a sudden, VP's flank was open.



Although he still had a unit of provincials in play, VP had yet to set fire to any of the buildings, and I only needed to cause three more casualties to win.  With time getting short in the evening, we decided to call the game.



This was a terrific game.  The activation mechanics in the game create a real sense of tension.  There was a point where VP had dominated activation in the bottom half of one turn, and the top of the next.  He was putting real pressure on me, and I was definitely on the back foot.  But then, of course, the tempo swung my way, and with mostly French cards left to draw, was able to hit him again and again with only a limited opportunity for him to react.  Despite the advantages my men in the buildings had, the fight there was touch and go, so the timing of winning the battle for the house, and then sweeping in on the flank, made this feel like a terrific come-from-behind win.

I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed this game.  400 points took us 2 1/2 hours from set up to clean up, and that was with plenty of rule-perusing and "how do we do that again?" thrown into the mix.  Painting up a second 200 points of this is going to be a priority, I think, and I'm sure VP will be up for a rematch.

FMB

Back-ish

Hi,

A combination of unexpected car trouble, weekend travel, and a rotten cold combined to radically constrain both my hobby time and opportunities for blogging, so it's only in the last couple of days I've scraped together content for a post.  I did, however, manage to put the final touches on my first unit of Compagnie Franche de la Marine for Muskets and Tomahawks.



I'm really liking Blue Moon's 15mm stuff, at least what I've painted so far.  They're cleanly sculpted, with good detail, but not excessively fiddly.



They also come in a decent selection of poses, and they're generally pretty animated, while avoiding anything un-natural or goofy (with the possible exception of the guitar hero).



There's some nice detail on them too.





This now gives me 200 points painted, enough for a small game.  As I noted, with Cub's arrival in a week, blogification (and general hobbiage) will likely drop off, but I should get a game in with these at some point in the next couple months.



Barring unforseen eventualities, I should have a Bloodbowl game on Wednesday against ChrisB.  Fingers crossed that the fates don't conspire.

FMB

Shadows in the Woods

Hi,

I got in my first games of Muskets and Tomahawks on Wedensday, and judging by the fact I've had the soundtrack from Last of the Mohicans on a constant loop ever since, I had fun ;)

marke's target bottom left, with my CFdlM behind them.  On the right, my Huron allies.

I got in two 200 point games, one against marke, and one against Vonplutz.  Both used marke's British light infantry.  I ran a combination of Compagnie Franche de la Marine and Natives, each with an officer.  The former allow their player to deploy them as either regular infantry (line formation, better shooting and morale) or irregulars (better movement, especially in terrain).  I opted to go with irregulars, as it made my entire force  the same for purposes of movement, and I figured, the simpler the better in my first game.  As we're still in the process of getting stuff together for this game, only the test figures I painted a while back had their "colours", but after last night, that'll change quickly ;)

We decided that the right half of the table was light cover, with the templates indicating more difficult ground.  The farmstead was open.  marke opted for a headlong rush across the fields.

Although I had a few concerns about clunkiness and complexity when reading the rulebook (while a player activates units, actions, spotting, etc. are determined at the level of individual figures) the game itself was surprisingly intuitive.  We picked up on how things worked more or less by the end of the first turn, and I found navigating the rule-book incredibly easy.  I think I only had to refer to the table of contents once.

Forming a firing line.  By this point, my French are holed up in the building.

Activation is by card.  A deck is built by including cards for each side that correspond to the type of units in their force.  When a card is drawn, all units (including officer "units") may perform the number of actions shown on the card.  Basic actions include move, shoot, or reload.  Mechanisms are d6 throughout, with modifiers (sometimes bonus / penalty, sometimes column shift), and there's 2-3 tables that handle resolution.

The French fire their muskets!

This kills a few of les Anglais, and one unit recoils from the devestation.

One of the really appealing aspects of the game is the objective system.  Each player has an objective randomly determined according to their dominant troop type, and each player has their own objective (i.e., different goals and criteria for a win).  In addition, a random officer on each side may be given a "side-plot", the successful completion of which will modify the game outcome.  For example, in the first game, marke was trying to set a homestead on fire, while my goal was to wipe out 2/3 of his force.  In the second game, against Vonplutz, I was the arsonist, while he was trying to scout the terrain and retire his forces safely.

marke decides to try the assault rules.

Both games were absolute blasts to play.  In the first, marke didn't worry too much about tactics, and bulled ahead in a quest to explore game mechanics.  Turns out that buildings make pretty effective little bunkers against attack.  Not invulnerable, mind, but definitely assets.  This led to a predictable win for me, though I have to admit, my dice were insanely hot.  marke's last trooper went down in a rush from my Hurons, though he managed to take one of them out with him.

Hard to make out with all the night camo, but that's his lone surviving trooper surrounded by some rather eager natives.

 The second game against Vonplutz was actually quite tight.  For simplicity, we opted to keep the terrain the same (the game has a scale-able mechanic depending on game size).  He took over marke's Brits, while I kept my French / Huron force.  This time, I got the "burn the buildings" objective, while VP got a scouting mission.  He had to have a model end its movement in each of the 4 table quarters, and then get a third of his figures off the table.  We also opted to use the optional side-plots rule for our officers, and also decided to keep them secret (main objectives must be revealed).  I got one for my native officer in which he had to kill 6 enemy figures, and survive.  Given that VP would be looking to get in, and get out, I figured the odds were slim.



Because of mission priority, VP got to choose table edge, which left me with a slog across the table to the buildings I was to burn.  Given marke's experience, I opted to send my units down the wooded side of the table. VP split his units between the table halves, probably to maximize his chances to get to the far quarters.



We made contact pretty quickly on the left.  I figured I'd try to overwhelm the one flank, and then swing round against the buildings.  A mid-range firefight erupted, but the results were inconclusive; each of us mauled the other a bit, and units were pushed back and forth.  VP, being a clever monkey, kept retreating, slowing my advance, but staying out of range of melee, where my numbers might overwhelm him.



I eventually "peeled" my French away to move towards the buildings, hoping my Huron allies could keep the light infantry in the woods off my back.  While we'd been skirmishing in the woods, he had pushed his officer forward to scout the table.  My marines shook into a firing line, and unloaded, but somehow managed to miss with every shot!  To add insult to injury, VP then unloaded with his woodsmen, and the ensuing devestation made my Hurons opt for discretion.  A "Flight" result in reaction to casualties means that not only does the unit move away (as a "Recoil"), they also can act for the rest of the turn.



Opting to forget the officer, and focus on my objective, I cannily arranged for three (!) of my French activation cards to be drawn in a row.  This was enough to move my marines up to the first building, and set it on fire - with the British still inside!



This was a problem for VP, because at the beginning of each turn, the fire spreads.  If it spreads enough, the building is destroyed, killing any models inside.  We overlooked a rule requiring units in a burning building to take a Reaction test, but it was kind of moot, as VP opted to exit forthwith.  On his next activation, he managed a lucky shot at the one marine visible, killed him, and I promptly rolled a "Flight" result!  This meant I had nothing to stop him moving towards the table edge until the next turn, and it was almost certain he'd win.



Sure enough, he got a unit off the table.  While I did managed a volley that made his second unit flee (a Flight result off table makes the models count as casualties), enough of his men had survived with the Scouting info for him to win.  So close!

I'm hooked.  This game is fun, flavourful, and surprisingly intuitive.  While there are some guys in the club pushing to to this in 28mm (and I see the appeal), the Blue Moon 15mm figs we're using are frankly wonderful, and paint up quickly and well.  I've been jonesing for an 18th century project in this scale, and I think this game fits the bill.  It probably helps that this is probably my primary interest historically.  I've got a painting session or two left to finish off the DW stuff I've been working on, but then I think I'll steam ahead on these guys.  A fully painted game will look fantastic, and I can't wait to get some painted units on the table.

This is also a game for which I can see myself doing terrain.  Blue Moon does a range of gorgeous, and reasonably priced buildings.  Those, plus a few area templates and some trees, will make for a nice table, and at 15mm, would be transportable.  It's shaping up to be a summer of Spartans and French.  Can't wait!

FMB

You want to talk tough?

Hi,

I've been fascinated by the Seven Years War, especially the North American component, pretty much from the time I first heard about it.  As a kid, I still remember my grandparents singing "The Maple Leaf Forever", and years later, finding out it actually referred to something real.  Not surprisingly, once I discovered historical games, I've been on the look-out for one that does the 7YW / FIW justice, and is fun to play.  , Consequently the recent release of Muskets and Tomahawks, and the enthusiasm for the project at the local club, has me more than a little excited.

Like Bolt Action, we've decided to do this in 15mm, and most of us have gone with the excellent range by Blue Moon.  I'm planning to begin with a mixed force of Natives and Compagnie de la Marine Franche, and got a few test figures painted up over the last week.



You may talk about your Lancers or your Irish Fusileers, but for my money, the soldiers of the CdlMF were some of the toughest dudes to walk the earth in the 18th century.  These guys operated thousands of miles from home, in a frankly alien and hostile environment, in tiny units, with minimal support.  And they were the local problem solvers, the ones that other extremely tough people relied on when they encountered problems they couldn't handle.  They had to be adaptable, resilient, and durable, or they'd die.  Hat's off to them.



The figures themselves are terrific.  Some flash, but easily removed, excellent detail, and they take paint well. They've got me looking at Blue Moon's other ranges with a speculative eye.



I also managed to get a flag for my recently completed Ayyubid unit, courtesy of a tip from yorkie.  I've no idea what the historical provenance of the flag is, but I think it looks pretty good.





In other news, my illustrious ally von Wattsenburg won his battle on Wednesday, which means a) the latest round of our Maurice campaign continues, and b) I actually get some use out depot battalions.  I've got a game scheduled for Wednesday, so keep your eyes peeled for a batrep.

FMB