Black Seas - First look

I wandered into my local games store this afternoon (Asgard Wargames - purveyor of plastic and white metal to the discerning gamer) and noticed on the "hobby table" their demo copy of Warlord's new Napoleonic Age of Sail game Black Seas has arrived. Interest sparked.

Intrigued, I picked the rules up and took a seat to have a read through. I should explain here I have been quite critical of Warlord's last couple of releases. Cruel Seas was quite buggy, and SPQR was basically unplayable as written. Both needed extensive corrections \ FAQs within a week of release. In this SPQR was by far the worse. Most of the problems with Cruel Seas were omissions or editing, and though some of this was irritating or puzzling, the game was still fun. Don't ask about searchlights. I really like Cruel Seas now. Sure there are some bits that need house ruling (err searchlights) and stuff that is counter intuitive but actually the core game is fine, and the models are excellent. SPQR has different problems which I've covered in an earlier blog post so wont go into again. Both these games had exquisitely illustrated rule books, and were lauded pre launch by Warlord and others as being the next great thing, only to cause quite a lot of displeasure when they were actually in the hands of the players. So given the previous two, I was quite cynical about Black Seas, which seems to have been "inspired" by Cruel Seas, and was receiving the same pre release fanfare. I decided to wait to let someone else take the risk of buying only to find another badly playtested or edited Warlord product.

So here was my chance. While Jamie W sat assembling the models (more later) I started to read.

Jamie hard at work

Grabbed and settled down for a read

What follows is just a first read through, and obviously the proof of the pudding is in the eating, but I feel a warm glow of enthusiasm - Warlord may well have got this right. The rules are of course lavishly illustrated - Warlord have a partnership with Osprey that means they can access the Osprey illustrations from their myriad of books, but the rules seem, well at first glace, pretty good. I should make a caveat here. These are an Age of Sail era rules set. The direction of the wind really is important, because you just can't sail into it - physics and all that. Black Sails  (BS- I think they may have needed to think about the title a bit more) allows you to do just that. This was highlighted before and the explanation I heard from some Warlord guy was that a captain would know how to get the most out of his crew and ship. This is of course BS, because, well, physics. It's like suggesting you can fly a plane backwards. No matter how good a captain or crew, physics and gravity tends to trump skill. HOWEVER there is an "advanced" rules section that contains a perfectly playable and reasonably simple set of movement rules that acknowledges, well , physics. For the life of me I don't know why these are not in the "main" section. I suspect there is a concern somewhere in Warlord that they need to keep it simple, which I think is misplaced. Most gamers can handle the idea of wind direction  - it's not rocket science. So that's movement out of the way. Shooting is D10s and seems familiar, sharing some DNA with Cruel Seas, but there was nothing in there to make me pull a face (except maybe speed modifiers to hitting a target - not sure how much that is really a factor when most ships are moving at walking speed, but not a great problem). Boarding seems simple and reasonable. In fact on this first read through the rules look pretty solid and complete.

So I while I was sat reading I asked Jamie what the models were like to assemble and he said "Dead easy". By the time I had finished my read-through (maybe half an hour) he had assembled all the models and was cracking on painting the first Frigate.

Frigates assembled

Brigs assembled

I turned my attention to the other stuff in the demo set. The ship cards were good quality - seemed the same general thickness \ quality as Cruel Seas ship cards. The various counters and other card punched stuff was very good heavy duty card too. In fact the only concern would be the paper map sheets which are the same as the Cruel Seas ones, and will probably get replaced. The other carry over from Cruel Seas was the wake markers and the paper "clips" to record damage. I've no issues with the wake markers, the clip things didn't work in CS as they were a bugger to get out of the sheet and then tore easily - and I suspect the same will happen here, but it's not a major issue.

By the time I had finished rooting around and flicking through the box Jamie had done this using Citadel "Contrast" paints. You could have knocked me down with, well something appropriately naval. Literally less than an hour from sprue to this

So the models. Beautiful. Yes I know they're in the "wrong" scale for traditional Age of Sail games, but on this one I'm not buying into the argument that they chose the scale to make sure you bought their models. The scale means they can make these as plastic kits, and the detail is superb. The pre printed paper sails are a bold move, but they seem to work well - as Jamie has shown. 

I can't do a full review of the rules - you have to play them to do that, but many of my concerns about the rules have been allayed, and my first impressions are very positive. The models are - well the ones I saw are first class. Or should that be First Rate? If the first impression holds true, I think Warlord have really hit the sweet spot here.

New Year - Old Project . American War of Independence for Sharp Practice

I got distracted last year and our AWI campaign stalled because of that - basically I needed more figures than I had first calculated, and lost the painting mojo at the same time, which was a shame as the campaign was going quite well. New year, new mojo.

The scenario isn't too complex. Colonel Mitchell and his Cumberland County Militia have been ordered to assault and clear the hastily prepared abbatis that covers the causeway to the Penobscot headland and Fort George. The ground is soft but Mitchell has wisely decided to attack at low tide.

The abbatis is only a stop gap from the British point of view, an obstacle to be defended certainly, but not at the risk of heavy losses (we didn't have one so used a snake fence to mark the position). There is a piquet covering the area commanded by a certain Lt John Moore (yes him) and the combined Light Company under Lt Carfrae is tasked to support them. The abbatis is withing long gun range of the Fort, so some supporting fire could be expected. The British are outnumbered more than 2-1 but have both better troops and better leaders.

The attack proved the old adage "if it can go wrong, it will", at least from the British point of view. The Militia approached the muddy ground, Captain Clapsadler (yes he really existed) leading his two groups of skirmishers forward to be engaged by Moore and his skirmishing piquet. At this point what should have happened was that Moore and his better trained troops should have easily out shot the Rebels. What actually happened was the first hit knocked Moore senseless, and his now leaderless men failed to make any real impact.

Meanwhile Carfrae and his Company were rushing forward, and found themselves a rather useful position to the flank of the main body of militia where they should be able to pour in devastating volley fire. Except after the first volley they discovered their powder was damp and were firing at half effect.

Mitchell advanced the Militia, ably assisted by the Brigade Major, Major Todd. They came under fire from the Fort, but at this long range it only managed to disorder them a little.

With Moore's leaderless skirmishers involved in an ineffective exchange with Clapsadler and his men, and Carfrae unable to cause significant damage due to his damp powder, there was only the fire from Fort George to prevent Mitchell dismantling the abbatis...... and at that point the Redcoat's luck turned from bad to awful. The firing from the fort created a cloud of smoke that obscured the target - meaning no shooting was possible until it cleared. Some hope returned as Lt Moore regained consciousnesses but by now the damage had been done.

The Militia proceeded in clearing the abbatis to their front as ordered.

sorry for the blurry pic - using the phone again for convenience

Then to rub salt into the wounds wheeled to face Carfrae. Luckily at that point fresh powder had arrived, but the Lieutenant remembered the words of his Colonel not to waste his men's lives pointlessly decided he would withdraw. The Militia saw the Redcoats turn around and delivered a well aimed volley into their backs - it was long range but it was a first volley and controlled. Only 2 dead, but a lot of shock.

Then just to make matters worse the Americans drew 4 Command Cards and used them to activate the Militia as a bonus action, and loaded and fired again. Luckily this second volley was from hastily loaded guns and the Militia were no longer able to fore controlled volleys so surprisingly little damage was caused.

Mitchell halted at the line of the abbatis, having succeeded in his mission. Moore and Carfrae withdrew. The path to the Fort is now clear, and in a final twist of fate, some burning wadding has drifted from the cannon fire and has set light to one of the buildings in the fort. A fitting end to a bad day for the 82nd Foot.

In campaign terms this is a big success for the Americans and will allow them access to the main part of the peninsular.  As umpire I think it also will have given the Militia confidence so I have decided to trigger the positive effects of their "Hearth & Home" special characteristic, allowing them to use the "step out" ability for 1 Command Card rather than 2.

Thanks to Andy T and Paul D for taking the role of the Commanders.

Spirit and Energy Part 1 An unorthodox campaign for Sharp Practice 2

I've been trying for a while now to get my teeth into a longer term project, and hopefully I may have found it.

I bought Sharp Practice 2 (SP2) last year and was quite happy with it - it looks very interesting to read, but when we tried it out I found it a steep learning curve. Actually that's not the fault of the Lardies, who have used variations on the "Big Man" rules mechanic for years now, but more of a case of trying to run before we could walk by throwing ourselves in to a full sized game without getting enough practice with smaller forces. For whatever reason we have stayed away from it after an initial flush of enthusiasm. I suppose its a bit like watching Kurasawa's Seven Samurai - you know its great but sometimes you just cant be arsed to put the hours in.

I'm also a fan of Bernard Cornwell, who tells a good story. OK its the same story - eponymous hero overcomes prejudice and initial disadvantage to succeed in the end, transposed onto a back drop of historical events, but he does tend to tell it well. Which is why I found his stand alone book "The Fort" rather interesting. Unlike Sharpe and the other series this is an embroidered telling of a historical event, but this time with "real" characters. It is the story of the Penobscot Expedition, an attempt by the Americans to prevent the British building a base of operations in what is now Maine during the American War of Independence. It is clear Cornwell is fascinated by the story, and particularly how the American Command system seemed to work against themselves. I was interested too, and that sent me searching for other sources. The more I looked into it, the more I thought this could work as a campaign.

The campaign is split into two totally different elements. The first is a Committee game with three players each representing the three main American Commanders . They are each provided with overall briefings and also personal objectives, some of which may conflict, plus maps etc, and they sit down and decide what plan of action they will take. That plan is then translated to an on table scenario that will be played by a totally different set of players using SP2 and the result fed back to the Committee for further action. This has the advantage for me as freeing me up to act as Umpire, but also generating smaller scenarios that will allow me and the players to get up to speed with SP2 without the "sink or swim" problem.

That's all for now -  part 2 will deal with the logistics and some more details on both sides of the campaign.    

Ladies Night - or "Martha pass me another loaded musket"

One of the reasons I like playing Muskets & Tomahawks is the game involves side missions and quests that mean it is unlikely you will play the same game twice. One scenario will have you trying to protect the Colonels Daughter while the next you are tasked with defending a civilian outpost. The flip side is you need to have some less mainstream models - ie the said lady and a certain number of armed civilians to be threatened by Philip Madoc and his band of roaming Hurons (from the Welsh Valleys)

Don't tell them your name!

So we shopped around a bit and I picked up a few different female figures to fill the roles of supporting the men fighting, and swooning on cue. This also gives me a shameless excuse to watch the new series of Poldark on the BBC - just to see what the BBC costume dept have come up with that I can copy for 18th C dress colours I can copy - it's research!

First up is a nice rather well to do young lady who is going to represent the high class love interest. She is from Redoubt Enterprises "Bodys Bits" range. I had a bit of an issue cleaning the flash from the figure, and I cant work out what she has in her hand - I assumed a fan but it could be a flower? Anyway here she is - looking a little paler in the pic than in the flesh.

 Next is a more working class lady - actually the other half of the "posh totty" set from Redoubt - this is the ladies maid, but she will do as any female civilian.

More from Redoubt. Unlike the Lady & her Maid set these are armed - in fact they are busy loading muskets either for themselves or their menfolk. They're part of the French Indian Wars range - pack F&I 25 which has some interesting poses including loading and passing muskets around - useful for armed civilians defending their homes. The male parts of this pack will make an appearance later I'm sure.

Last is this older lady, again handing out muskets. This one is from Conquest Miniatures , available in the UK from Warlord Games. Pity that for some reason the Conquest pack has 8 figures in there but the Warlord one only has 7 - no idea why.

Here's the group shot - as you can see the Redoubt ladies are certainly more "robust" than the Conquest one, but a bit of variation is no bad thing in skirmish games.

So that's it for the Ladies. I'm still looking for some more female settlers, armed or not, so if anyone has any suggestions please shout out

Civilising the Natives (well that's one point of view)

One of the earlier posts mentioned my efforts at painting Wargames Factory Militia for Muskets and Tomahawks.

That unit was supposed to be the more "backwoods" types in hunting shirts to represent Canadian Militia. As I mentioned, the box is split 50\50 with troops in buckskin and others in civilian dress. I've finally got a unit of civvies painted, but it was a bit of a slog.

That is not to say there was a problem with the figures - far from it, they were fairly easy to assemble and the detail is good as previously stated. The problem was me, and my kitten Roxy.

My problem was I just couldn't seem to make progress or get a them painted to the point I was happy with the result - in the end I decided I had wasted enough time and declared them "done" 

The other problem was Roxy. She's five months old or so and seems fascinated with toy soldiers. When I say fascinated, what I mean is she likes to pick them up in her mouth and run away with them - but so far just these Militia. She has stolen several - one officer discovered intact on the bed, a second rifleman found behind the sofa with one arm missing, and another on the stairs minus his gun. Much repairing was called for.

Having said all that, I was rather surprised that they did look ok when they got on the table at last.

Here is that officer, who seems to have survived his encounter with Roxy with only minor injuries and no doubt some recurring nightmares

As I mentioned before, these are very versatile figures and will be called into service as civilians, British, Canadian or American Militia. There are a few more to paint, but as far as the Muskets & Tomahawks project goes, it looks like I'm getting close to declaring "job done"

Sometimes I think if there is any value in the narcissistic process we call blogging, it may be that it gives you an opportunity to vent to the anonymous and amorphous "internet".

Here's the thing - why do we (wargamers) accept and do things that are in "the rules" when they are patently counter to history?

A couple of weeks ago I was playing my second game of Muskets and Tomahawks, this time against a player who plays regularly at another club. M&T is a skirmish game set in the French Indian Wars. They're a fun set of rules with a healthy dose of flavour.

Line of sight and line of fire are blocked by other models unless it is a friend from the same unit in base to base contact pretty standard fare so far. They also have a formation rule for the trained troops that fought in firing lines - basically they are easier to hit but get some morale bonus. Anyway we set up and I was somewhat surprised to see my opponent and his Woodland Indian troops formed into units two ranks deep. When I queried this he said the rules allow it, and its a good formation that maximises firepower while at the same time keeping the unit compact and easy to control - which of course it is.  In fact it exactly replicated the firing line formation of the formed regulars, but with none of the restrictions or disadvantages. It is also not disallowed in "the rules". This is true, but the end result is a game that bears no visual resemblance to the historical record or even the pop culture impression of the war in the woods and forests of North America - in fact it looked much more like a bad 1:60 ratio Napoleonic game. It has been bugging me since.

So whats the solution?

"Its only a game" - sure, but its a game about something real. Not sure what the solution is, probably just need to be less uptight :-)

I think I'm going to have a bit of a tinker with that in our games to discourage Indians and irregulars forming ranks. If it works I'll let you know,

Back from Vappa - York Wargames Show

No pics this time, just a bit of a report on my visit to the Vapnartak show in York last weekend.

Since "Vappa" moved out of the atmospheric, but poorly lit Medieval Merchant Adventurers Hall to the vast glass and chrome racecourse, the show has been constantly on the up and up.

I liked the Merchant Adventurers Hall as a building and a concept - we hear so much about "Guilds" if you play any of the fantasy\medieval role playing games, or even Medieval wargames, but to actually visit a guild hall helps put it into perspective. As a venue for a trade show it was far from ideal because the lighting inside was limited, and space was at a premium.

The new racecourse venue is much better. Lots of space, and well lit. Actually when I say lots of space, it is still a bit too crowded for my liking, but that may be because it is so popular :-)

This year was the first year for a while that I had not been in any of the competitions, so I had the experience of having to queue to get in with the rest of the unwashed, but on the plus side it did mean we set out at the more civilised time of 8:30am rather than the usual 6:30. Vappa is split over a number of floors - the racecourse building is unsurprisingly long and narrow, with most of the traders and demo tables on the ground and first floors, and the competitions higher up. There was a good selection of traders and the demos were also of high quality, and I would safely say Vappa is now the best show in the North East of England by quite a margin.

Now to the crucial question - what did I buy :0)???

Surprisingly little. Partly because finances had taken an unexpected hit over the run up when our hot water system needed some urgent repairs, but mostly I would like to say due to a most uncharacteristic attack of self restraint. I did pick up a box of Wargames Factory Woodland Indians to add to the expanding Muskets & Tomahawks collection, a canoe from Coritani to move them around, and some civilians to run away screaming on first sight of them. Other than that I bought an X-Wing Miniatures starter set - I've been sharing one with my "oppo" Paul but it was a bit of a faff so we now have 2 between us. And thats it! I managed to dodge any number of potential impulse purchases, D&D Attack Wing (and Star Trek), Malifaux, even some modern 28mm that was calling seductively from Empress Miniatures. This last one is mopt so much a dodge as a postponement - as soon as Two Fat Lardies bring out their modern version of Chain of Command I will be there like a shot. Other than that I tried to buy some cabin furniture from 1st Corps but they had sold out.

I also got to sit down and talk to Martin Goddard from Peter Pig about his new version of the PBI rules that was due for release this week, and played a turn or two. They seemed quite interesting, and I would recommend having a look it you want something a bit less full on than FoW. I dont think I will be heading off to play them yet, but maybe once the lead & plastic mountain is back under control I may give them a try.

All the best
 

If you go down to the woods today you better not go alone - 'cos theyre full of Rangers

Just a quick update - I realised when posting the earlier piece about the Canadian Militia that I hadn't shown the completed Rangers.

As I mentioned in an earlier post I bought a "British Wilderness" starter force from North Star Miniatures. It consisted of 16 Rangers, 6 Indians, and an Officer, supposedly enough to build a 200 pt force.

I was pleasantly surprised at the figures which had a lot of character and painted up well - at least by my standards.

Here is the finished product - advancing out of the forest with the Indians scouting ahead

and a closer shot of the Rangers.

I'm quite pleased with them - more so when I discovered that by upgrading the Rangers I can actually stretch a supposed 200pt force to 300pts. Another positive is that although technically a French & Indian Wars unit, they can also double up as Queens Rangers for the American War of Independence, another bonus.

I'm enjoying building a force and playing Muskets and Tomahawks - just completed our third game now and all have been fun, which is a very good sign. Recommended

I didn't want to be a barber anyway........................

I'm still treating Muskets & Tomahawks as a "side project" for 2015, something to get completed quickly then ready to play in the gaps between "real" projects.

I've completed the British Rangers force (pics to follow) and I need something to use against them - step forward Wargames Factory American War of Independence Militia!

I ordered a box of these after getting a look at the sprue my regular opponent Paul had picked up. I was rather impressed, or at least impressed enough to part with £20 of my hard earned cash. They duly arrived and I remained impressed, in fact if anything my enthusiasm stepped up a notch. These are very versatile figures. OK technically, they're the wrong war, but I'm guessing styles of civilian dress out in the woods of North America didn't change too much between the 1750s and 1770s.

The box has three figure sprues plus a sprue of bases. Each figure sprue has 10 figures on it, 5 in fringed hunting shirt, 2 in long jackets, and 3 in shirts, along with a wide selection of arms, plenty of muskets, rifles and tomahawks, and three head types, a tricorn, round hat, and a Liberty cap - basically a woolen bobble hat. It was this last head that caught my attention because I had recently been flicking through the Blandford book on the Seven Years War and in there is a plate showing Canadian Militia. The text associated with it says the only piece of uniform issued to the Canadian Militia in French service was a woolen hat - pretty much identical to the "Liberty Cap" in the Wargames Factory set. The colour indicated which Militia the troops belonged, white for Trios Riviere, red for Quebec, or blue for Montreal. That will do nicely. Canadian Militia in M&T are quite effective troops, being recruited from the local population of Woodsmen, Trappers, Traders and err Lumberjacks :-) . They will make a nice opponent for my British Rangers.

I stuck the figures together - not as easy as it first would seem as the arms had to be different for the fringed hunting shirts so there is not as much variation available as first impression. The main "miss" in this set also became obvious - no pistols, just one per sprue would have been nice. Heres 20 given a quick undercoat.

I tried to make sure there were a fair few "Liberty Caps" in there, mainly on the figures with fringed shirts.

I then looked up pics of buckskin shirts on the net - and was rather surprised to discover they were a lot brighter colours than I imagined. I was in a bit of a rush so I quickly painted up a group of 8 (the Militia unit size) using a selection of tan and sand colours on the buckskins, plus the ubiquitous blue bobble hats - basically they're Smurfs! I gave them a coat of GW wash and touched them up a bit to highlight - I'm not the greatest painter and I'm happy enough with the result, particularly at "table distance".

What really struck me was just how versatile these Wargames Factory figures are. You can use them as Militia for both sides in the FIW, or as intended in the War of Independance. I intend to paint a second unit of Canadian Militia , then form up another generic Militia unit out of the rest of the box - or rather I suspect I will pick up another box just to give me the options - so much for a side project :-)

CentreParcs it's not - FIW Buildings

Still tooling up for Muskets & Tomahawks.

In addition to the normal troops the game requires a number of buildings to defend or burn down, and sometimes some civilians to get in the way.

We have been checking out the buildings options. As usual nowadays there is a plethora of laser cut mdf buildings. I don't like laser cut mdf. With a few exceptions you seem to get buildings that look like square boxes, and no end of dressing them up helps. If you want to get a really good result you have to do what Richard Clarke of Lardie fame does, and use the mdf as a shell to be detailed. I appreciate they are fairly quick and easy to build, but they seem to me to be disproportionally expensive for what you eventually get - unless you do a TFL special on them, in which case you would probably be better off starting from scratch. Compare the Perrys plastic buildings with similarly priced mdf options and you would have to be a very big fan of the omnipresent smell of scorched mdf to choose anything other than the Perrys.

Then we stumbles across a rather nice, if a bit esoteric choice for early American Colonial architecture - 1:72 Russian log houses from Pegasus Hobbies.

Ok I had to admit being a bit sceptical when I first read on line about their suitability, however we have bought some and they're really good. Although supposedly 1:72 they fit well enough with 28mm figures. The detail is good and the plastic is a nice and sturdy, no nonsense thickness. Here's the contents laid out for inspection.

This is the largest of the Pegasus options - a 2 storey "Ibza". The kit went together very smoothly and without incident - I've left the roof unattached so you can place figures at the windows. I'm considering adding an internal floor to the upstairs. The walls are well detailed outside, with some rendering on the inside too rather than your usual blanks.

Here's the kit complete, with a Wargames Factory Militiaman for scale.

Cost including p&p through ebay was less than £13. Hopefully I will get this painted up soon. The only issue I have is the little flourish on the roof ridge beam, but I think that will not be noticed or will be easy to fix.

So I'm looking at the other two sets in the range, plus the Perrys buildings, and they should see us through.

If You Go Down To The Woods Today....

My weakness of mind was again highlighted last Saturday at the Battlefront Show in Stockton. I was helping out doing demos on the Hawk stand, when I was suddenly taken by a stupid and irrational urge to start a new period.

Typically the seeds had been sown by an old gaming friend Mark Hadman as we talked about gaming trends, and generally bemoaned the state of the gaming world. High on our agenda was the problem of finding opponents and opportunities to play games we wanted. Both of us had come to the same conclusion by different routes - that we had to diversify and play games that are popular, even if we don't particularly have a lot of enthusiasm for them. In passing Mark mentioned he had played Muskets & Tomahawks, and that it was a good, fun and easy to play game.

I never held a lot of enthusiasm for the black powder period. To me, Napoleonics may as well be a funny sort of three coloured ice-cream. the American War of Independance & French Indian Wars also were low on my hit list, although I did enjoy playing Andy Callan's superb "Loose Files & American Scramble" rules. However, Mark's comments also happened to coincide with another club member (John) wanting to play AWI. John has been trying to whip up interest for a year  or so without success. It seemed like maybe I could tie both these threads together, so after some cajoling I also roped my regular opponent Paul in, and we set of to see Dave Thomas to do "a deal". After the usual horse trading cash changed hands and we walked away with a couple of boxes of Perrys AWI ,  some Wargames Factory AWI Militia, and a North Star British Wilderness Starter Force for the FIW. Clearly our planning and coordination were not what they should be as when we finally sat down to assess our haul of plastic and lead we discovered we had forgotten the French!

Part of the plan is to get these painted and on the table fast, so I immediately got to work on some Indians, assisted by loaning a copy of the BBC series "Last of the Mohicans" with Phillip "Dont tell him your name Pike!" Madoc playing Magua, and here they are ! Not the greatest paint jobs but they'll do for me

Six down - still need basing etc bit not a bad start. That leaves me with 16 more British Rangers and an Officer to paint, so watch this space