Chips off the old proverbial

 Gaming, its in the DNA!. Fact!
 That's the conclusion i have reached today after the sprinklings found a large box of stuff in the 'gaming dump' (or section of the utility room where Mrs Sprinks feels the 'little men' are out of visitor eye shot!) that i had put there over a year ago. The box was full of half made Robogear stuff i snagged in a cheep ebay lot with a view to doing some sci-fi stuff with 1:72 moderns and massive stompy robots!. The lot contained several aforementioned 'bots along with spider type walkers, flyers and some infantry (about 60 of the buggers). Most of the bigger stuff came built but the foot sloggers were still on their sprues save a few i put together after receiving the box. The kids were having a rummage through dads toys (one of the benefits of having unpainted soft plastic is that they cant do too much harm messing with my stuff!!) when Sprinkling 3 'the revenge' came upon said box. He pulled it open and let out a 'WOOOH COOOOOLLLLL!!!!!' in a way only a six year old boy that's just found a box of robots can and rushed to get his brother. Next thing i know the whole box had been emptied on the coffee table and the boys were crackling with barely suppressed energy!. Then they got to the bottom of the box and found the sprues of troopers. 'Daddy what are these?' asked Sprinkling two, 'son of Sprinks' to which i replied 'bring it over here and i'll show you'. Next thing you know:

They are banging out figures of their own!.

HES QUIET!!!!!!, just look at the concentration!.

Because the minis snap together i just left them to it to do what they wanted with them and they sat together for over an hour knocking out mini after mini........then they really surprised me!.......

'Daddy' said Sprinkling three as i was getting ready to start making dinner, 'can we have the grid?' (the grid is the name they use for my hex board). 'Why?' i answered (rookie parenting mistake number 400001). ''We want to make up a game' he said. He was not kidding!:

They pressed me for dice and wound markers too and i could hear them discussing rules for saving throws and ranges from the kitchen!.  I sniffed back a fatherly tear or two (nothing to do with chopping onions) listening to them, and i even heard Sprinkling three say to his brother 'its o.k. you have line of sight'!. See told you, DNA!. Right, Im off to listen to 'Cats in the cradle' just to feel smug!.

 You want to get yourself some blimmin Robogear Harry!.......

.........Till next time........

Fantasy in 1:72, or Sprinks goes ramblin' on!

 First things first i'm not exactly sure where this post is going to end up, i have had a subject on my mind recently and if i don't write down whats on my mind at the time i tend to forget bits and mix up the rest into a kind of 'mental soup'. Add to that the fact that this blog contains nothing more than first drafts of posts (that's right folks, no editing here....who'd a thunk it?!!) this is bound to go off on huge tangents and miss the mark in a ton of places. Happy reading!!!.

        Mmmmmmm, mental soup!.

                                       
 So what am i trying to cover with this soon to be a massive confusing mess of a post?, well that's a great question i can't quite answer as i'm not that sure either!....no, wait, come back....it'll be good....kinda....if, you know, you enjoy being left to unravel a stream of mind babble and.....sorry im rambling again...where was i?, oh yeah im not sure where im going........right, ignore this paragraph!!.

 Sorry, i always struggle for a start. O.k. what this post is about (in the loosest sense) is fantasy gaming in 1:72 scale and the advances made within the industry regarding well, it.

 As i have stated more than once my intro to the glories of toy soldering was two sets made by esci given to me as a gift by my Aunt and Uncle back in the eighties, these two as it goes:

Oooh the memories, me cockles are all warmed!.

As a young man well into Fighting Fantasy books and Eric the Viking, not to mention the legend of King Arthur they held so many possibilities!. I would go on to add Revell Celts and Romans to them as well as picking up Saxons and Normans and would have hours of fun as they faced off on the coffee table or bedroom floor. Then Warhammer came into my life and that was that.....

.......Well that was a short and pointless post, till nex.....hang on, Warhammer and all things 28mm may have taken over but the little plastic wonders were not forgotten. Well for a long while they were, you know how it goes, teenage years go on and hobbies are put aside to indulge in the 'cooler' past times, then girls become a thing and a job stomps into view. Then you go and get married (thats a good thing, love you Mrs Sprinks.....stop throwing up at the back!) and you need certain things like a house, car and *gulp* career. Once you get all that together and kids have sprung onto the scene the toy solder stuff may just try to creep back in!. Thats how it went for me, i re-discovered my love of gaming and playing out epic battles with tiny men (and orcs, and dragons and.....). First it was stumbling on several retro gaming blogs such as Realm of chaos 80s, Somewhere the tea's getting cold, and Oldhammer on a budget and i discovered a thing called Oldhammer was happening. Sure enough i was drawn back into the idea of getting some games on but doing so in the normal 28mm would be outside my budget and storage space, beside which, modern 28mm was a bit too...erm....bland for my tastes.  Que the little fellas, or at least the memories of them. After perusing the interweb in an attempt to find out what they were (i didn't even know they were 1:72 at this point) i fell upon the wonder that is plastic soldier review, the undisputed king of all websites ever!.As i flicked around the pages the idea of making mass battles a reality was, well, a reality!. But something was missing. 1:72 was grand for human troops of all time periods and styles, if it was quazi-historical you were after you were a happy bunny and i was but where was the fantastic?, the bits and bobs that made fantasy 'pop', the Orcs, the Dwarves, the big slavering hell beasts of death? (i dont ask for much!).  Ceaser miniatures were either mind readers or thinking along the same lines because not long after these beauties dropped:

Orcs

Elves

even undead!!! 

(these images are from plastic soldier review, you should go there, you'd like it!)

Now i was in!. The range had everything i needed and at roughly £8 for 40 they hit the budget sweet spot too!. I was a gamer again!. Then Dark alliance happened and suddenly even more walls came down!. Ceaser would go on to make Dwarves, Goblins, Zombies, Adventurers, Rat Men and Lizardmen. Dark Alliance would take Peter Jacksons' vision for Lord of the rings and go mental with it!.

War Trolls!

You read that right, bloody FIRE DEMONS!!!.

I love my 1:72 for fantasy, the price is great (as i said above boxes average out at about £8 for 40 minis), the sculpts vary in style from company to company so there is plenty of choice of 'feel', The scale itself is more practical for larger battles in my opinion but retain individuality so work just as well as 28mm for skirmish gaming.

Try doing this in 28mm!

Some folks have said they are harder to paint well and base, i would point you in this gentlemans direction (Bob will put you right). Another thing that has been great is that 28mm minis compare well if used as the larger fantasy creatures. For example orcs work well as trolls, i use games workshop Lotr orcs as ogres and think they are great size wise!. In addition big monsters in 28mm look truly massive when fielded alongside 1:72!.

28mm Reaper minis next to a 1:72 Viking, picture taken from the brilliant Cheep fantasy minis blog, i suggest you give it a look because its awesome!. 

 So why the post?, well i guess i have been wondering why more people have not got into 1:72 for fantasy (the historic sceen have been in the loop for decades). The reasons above are my reasons for enjoying them and i am in no way saying my way is 'right' as any hobby is about what works for the individual (and in terms of 'majority' im lagging behind a fair distance!) but with the cost of 28mm and the current ranges on the market i would have thought there would have been more buzz. The fantasy market has been cornered by 28mm over the years but i wanted to encourage anyone about to embark on a new project (maybe a new ruleset or army build) to give 1:72 fantasy a go to see how it compares. You can build a fair sized army for less than £25 and one box would cover all you would need for a skirmish force and storing them would be a doddle compared to the bigger boys. Why not pick up a cheep lot on ebay and see if they work for you?.

Anyway, thanks for wading through the mental soup, all that remains for me to do is to welcome Remco and Mr Chris Johnson to the weird and wired world of Wronghammer!, welcome gents great to have you along!.

......Anywhen, till next time.......

Mr Tar II: REBELLION!!!!

 Hello you wonderful peeps!. You may recall that a month or two ago i had a bash at the great rules Mr Tar came up with for grid based gaming on his blog (you can find the rules here and my game using them over here). I enjoyed using the grid for gaming and the rules were very simple but very satisfying to use so i decided to have another go. I also wanted to revisit the forces of the last game to continue the story and examine what happened after Lord Tristan took over old Lord Holesters lands. This game jumps forward a few months from the end of the last.....

  'T'was a time of great up'eval in Fools Corse. Old Lord Holister t'was all dead n' that, in his place Lord Tristan the Boulde had taken 'is seat and pillaged 'is lands. Across the villages fear ruled as Lord Tristans men did as they would, taking from the poor and burnin 'ovels an such like. But some of Lord Holisters men survived the massacre at the dam and they were sure as shite not gonna lays down an' let is memory be dragged through the mud by the evil new lord. They hid in the forests around Fools Corse, living as outlaws and raiding the new Lords stores and killin' 'is men an stuff. As each day.....' ERE DAVE, DAVE.....DAVE!!!....WHY YOU TALKING LIKE THAT DAVE???!!!'.
Mouldy Dave came to with a start, 'Wassat... whereisitnow... whattayawant!!' he turned and came face to face with the boil covered mud splattered face of Riddled Larry, he was grinning in a kind of 'im not sure whats happening but if i smile hard enough i may just get away with whatever i just did wrong, in this case interrupted a weird moment where my only friend (with any legs of course, Drag along Stus' a right laugh) has been in a kind of trance monologuing away like a good 'en' type grin and holding a half chewed turnip. 'Why you talkin like that Dave?' asked Larry. 'I was doin' exposition Larry' Dave answered in a haughty know it all fashion. 'EH???' replied Larry, he said EH?? a lot to express a whole raft of deep and meaningful emotions, in this case confusion. He took a bite of turnip to help him think. 'Exposition Larry, its the job of explainin' important plot points through the act of speech, its a story tellin' mechanic used by writers too crap or lazy to properly expand on what has gone before, instead they just get a character the reader is already familiar with to dump a whole load of infomation for no real reason. Its normally shoe horned  into some situation of no real consequence to the overriding story arc'. 'EH??!!' replied Larry, his brain aching. 'Put simply Larry', started Dave 'That bell end at the keyboard that writes this crap cant be bothered to explain weeks of made up history so has dragged us one dimensional single note jokes out of the further reaches of his battered and abused mind to do it for him!'. 'Ooooooh', replied Larry. 'Fancy'..........................Larry and Dave stood for a moment looking awkward before Larry said 'Don't mind me, carry on'. 'You know what Larry, i don't feel like it, he can do his own bloody story telling......lazy bastard, who does he think he is, bet he i'nt even a proper writer, just some tool that plays with toy solders. And he cant even flesh out a character or explain a setting, for all the reader knows we're stood in a blank void, he has yet to give any thought to where we are supposed to be at this moment or to relay that info to the reader!, and anoth......'

Right thats quite enough of that, i'm not having that kind of unruly made up behavior on this blog thank you very much!. As Dave was saying, The survivors of the battle of the dam were living in the forests (setting, see forest...setting, stick that somewhere painful Dave!!) and raiding lord Tristans wagons, stores and patrols and generally trying to fan the flames of rebellion to bring about bloody revolution in the land. Having had enough of that, Tristan has sent a force into the forest to put a painful and very bloody end to this type of thing!. However the outlaws have caught wind of his plan and await the coming force........... in ambush!!!!!( cue dramatic music!).

.....So onto the game......

  The game is played between two forces. One represents the force sent by Lord Tristan to beat the bejezus out of anyone outlaw lookin' in the general forest area and one is the outlaws waiting to ambush them out of their clunky metal boots. The Outlaws begin in any hex within 2 hex's of any board edge and the ...em....lets call them ...i dont know....bastards set up within 3 hex's of the center of the board.

The forces are:
Outlaws: 1 unit of 4 Knights, 4 units of 5 serfs and 3 units of 3 serf archers. All the outlaw forces are on white bases with yellow trim.

Bastards: 2 units of 3 Knights, 3 units of 5 serfs and 2 units of 3 serf archers. These troops are all on blue bases with yellow trim.

The only addition i have made to the rules are to give Knights +1 to their saves, because they are each wearing more metalwork than all the serfs combined!.

Both forces are attempting to wipe out or run off the other, the outlaws move first.

The starting positions. Note to self, TURN THE BLIMMIN CAMERA!!!!.

The battle begins with the Outlaws erupting from the trees to surround the Lords men. Arrows are loosed to little effect as the forces close.

Arrows fly, no one dies!!!.

Before long scuffles break out all around the board!. On the left the Lords men charge the outlaw forces .

On the right the Lords horse engage the outlaws with their only support coming from a unit of archers.

In the middle the Outlaw knights charge into the surfs closest to them!.

back on the left the numbers of the Lords men begins to tell and gaps begin to show in the outlaw lines.

Not going well for the outlaws!

The right was a different story as the archers and then the Lords Knights were overwhelmed by the combined serf units!.

The Outlaw knights were having trouble with a single serf that refused to die, he made his saves for three rounds in a row pinning the knights in combat!........

'Raah i'm frickin' lance proof!!!!!'

........while on the left the outlaws were picked off until only one remained. but not for long!.

'Help i forgot my sword resistant underpants!!!'

On the right the result was reversed as the last of the Knight unit fell, although the outlaws took far heavier losses doing so.

A knight. Fallen.

The Outlaw knights finally managed to kill the near indestructible serf but it was to no avail......

.......as the losses finally told and the outlaw serfs headed for the hills the knights had little choice to do likewise to live to rebel another day. The outlaws were broken and the people of Fools Course face a very uncertain future!.

The brave rebellion is at an end!!.

That was a lot of fun. The rules as ever give a very clean, quick game and work well for a medieval ding dong even though they were written with Victorian scraps in mind. Giving the Knights a little more staying power by upping their saving throws worked out well and made them very good at mowing down serfs for the most part (*coughcrapoutlawscough*). I'm sure i will be using them again as i have some ideas of how to end this story with a final show down, i have a feeling these rules can handle a mass battle and i am keen to try them out for one!......if Dave and Larry play ball that is!...... 

Anyway, lots more to come on this one...'till next time......

Blood, Guts and Severed heads...Extra!!

Hi all, just a very short post to say i have added a bunch of extra optional rules to the child friendly quick playing rules in the form of more upgrades, extra spells and a few other ideas. You can check them out by clicking just about here and scrolling down. Hope they add something to the rules and as ever they are designed to create a 'tool box' type set you can dip in and out of as you wish.

And i done some more pictures to go with it.

Anyway, hope it tickles your pickle....till next time.....

Mentally Terraformish: When in Lamavic (AAR1)

Hi folks, it feels like its been a while. I started a new job last week so things have been a bit slow round here as focus has been diverted but fear not, i wont be ignoring these prattish pages of (un)polished pointlessness and procrastination (try saying that five times quickly after a few pints!), i will be updating as an when time allows so bear with me and i will reward your patience with my peculiar brand of tosh and prattle!. Speaking of which i have an AAR to write!....

 Governor Paral starred down his nose at what was once scribe Garrat and tutted to himself, he slowly walked back to his solid oak desk and sat, still tutting as he went. He drummed his fingertips on the table top and sighed. 'So you say he rejected our most generous offer....' he glanced down at a piece of parchment on the table and back down his nose at Garrat who was shaking before him...' and he had the nerve to kill all the guards we sent with you. Tell me Scribe, did he say anything positive at all?'. 'No my lord, not a thing' replied Garrat. 'He said, and im quoting him directly, he said, ''He'' meaning you of course my lord, ''he can ...er...he can....he can chew on my shite before he gets my land'', he had the gaul to say that!'. Parals face was unmoved by the scribes words. 'Did he' he said after a pause. Garrat shuffled beneath the governors burrowing gaze. 'And he said something queer my lord'. 'Really' said Paral in mock surprise, 'tell me scribe, what did he say?' Paral lent forward, his gaze intensified. 'He said something about the offer sir', started Garrat. 'He said, and its mad sir, shows just how stupid and uneducated these savages are sir, he said, and this will make you laugh sir when you hear it, he said'.... 'Yes' interrupted  the Governor, a thin smile on his lips and his eyes still fixed unblinking on the figure before him. 'He said......he said you want him to attack us so, and this will really crack you up sir, so you will be justified in going to war with the Clans!. Garrat broke out in a nervous laugh, it took half a moment before he realized the Governor was not joining in, in fact he was sat bolt upright fixing Garrat with his cold stare. After an eternity Paral calmly stated 'I am'. Garrats face was the perfect picture of shock and surprise, 'but sir, that would be in direct opposition to the policies put in place to control guild actions overseas, a war may only be sanctioned by a high Governor in times of dire threat, you cant start one sir, you cant!!'. Paral rose from his seat and walked slowly towards the Scribe. 'Who do you think sanctioned this trip scribe?, are you so slow you dont realize the nature of our mission?'. 'www..wwelll ssir'. started Garrat cowering slightly as Paral strode towards him. 'We are hardly here to mine this scrap of land Garrat' continued Paral, 'This trip is to take the area in the north of Lamavic, create a gateway into this god forsaken wilderness for our further expansion but to do this we need to, how would you understand this, clear the land. We need to be seen to adhere to policy and as you know we cant very well stroll up and start a war, we require some provocation. Thats where the offer came in, to goad the savages by insulting them. However it seems they are brighter than i gave them credit for, we will need to step up our activities.' The governor was standing before Garrat, towering over him. 'Now im sure you understand this information is on a strictly need to know basis'. Said Paral, smiling at Garrat. Garrat relaxed a little. 'Which is why...' continued Paral as he thrust his hand towards the scribes belly, berrying his hidden dagger up to its hilt, Garrat gave a faint 'hurmph' as Paral placed his hand over the scribes mouth and bored his gaze into Garrats.....' you cannot be allowed to know'. The lifeless scribe slumped to the ground. Paral clapped his hands together and two guards strode into the room silently and removed his body. 'CAPTAIN ALLAC', shouted the Governor, 'ENTER'. A tall, thick set, dark haired man entered the tent, his glistening steel armor shining in the candle light. 'Yes sir' he said smartly, removing his helm and bowing before his seniors gaze. 'It seems we need to give our enemy further encouragement. Take a force with you to the area known as the Barracdoons, there you will find a pile of earth known as the cairns of clan Mallarac by the locals. I want you to ensure it is not there come sunset. Take some of the local troops to show you the way and take that mage too, he gives me the willies'. 'The one with the entrails wound through his hair and the blood on his face Sir, keeps swearing and kicking children sir?' enquired the captain.  'Yes Allac, mad fannah i believe he is called, claims to use magic. If nothing else the locals will follow him and if we are very lucky we can get him killed, might stir them up a bit'. 'As you say sir'. replied the captain smartly. He bowed again and turned to go. 'Captain' called Paral as he was leaving,  'i am sure you understand how sensitive this mission is, i would hate for anything to go wrong, heads would be sure to roll'. Allac paused for a moment in the doorway. 'As you say Sir' was all he said as he departed.

THE BATTLE
  I decided i fancied a game of Dragon Rampant for this one as i plan for this to be the start of a small campaign with a far bigger battle to follow!.  This battle is set in the borders between north east Lamavic (the home lands of Clan Mallaric) and the Frostfangs in the area known as the Barracdoons, within which is the Cairn of Clan Mallaric, the resting place of the hero's  and great leaders of the Clan. The land is almost holy to the Clansmen and those within are the subject of many Sagas. Its fair to say that messing with such an area is unwise to say the least!. The Cairn is a massive burial mound that gets bigger with each hero that rests there. It is marked with flags and patrolled by the clansmen that live by it. No foes have ever attacked the Cairns since they were defiled by the exiled Bondsman known as Callar and his dark mage accomplice known simply as mad fannah, two individuals that lead a failed rebellion against the Clan leaders, the result of which was their exile to a small settlement in the Frostfangs where Callar and his followers now lick their wounds and plan their next move .....the very bhoys the High Governor of the Mining Guild  has contacted to help his guilds forces land unnoticed in the Frostfangs in fact.....
 The battle begins when the clan troops under the control of Captain Allac guided by some of Callars men led by Mad Fannah no less advance on the Cairn, however the local Clansmen are only too aware of their intentions and are moving to stop them....

The Cairn of Clan Mallaric.

 The objective of the game is to be the only force with unbattered troops within 5ins of the flags on the Cairn at the end of turn 5 (sundown). The side that manages this will be the winner.

THE FORCES

The guild forces

(left-right) 2x Pike squads, 1 lead by Captain Allac (heavy foot), 1x Musketeers (heavy missiles)

                                                      (minis by Red box and Revell)

Mad Fannahs Frostfang exiles (allies and guides to the guild forces)

(From the back) 1x Scouts, 1x Rebel Clansmen (light offensive foot), Mad Fannah (wizardling with almighty prod, stronger sheilds and heal thee, light foot).

                                             (minis by Red Box, Revell and Hat)

Opposed by:

                         THE CLAN CAIRN PROTECTION COMPANY

(back row) 1x Huntsmen (scouts), 1x  Clan crossbows (light missiles) 

(middle) 2x Clansmen (Bellicose foot, Hatred)

(front) 1x Hunting Hounds (lesser warbeasts), 1x Clan Horse led by Laird Barrack (local Bondsman to Laird Aralin) (Heavy Horse, Hatred).

                                               (minis by Red Box, Revell, Strelets and Hat)

Note: I made the Clansmen Bellicose foot to represent the fact that they were some what put out by the attack on the Cairn, i also gave them Hatred for the same reason!.

As always i have used my colored bases. Guild forces are on Red with Yellow trim, The Rebels are on White with Blue trim and the Lamavic forces are on Blue with Black trim.

The field, before the battle. (the Cairn is to the left)

SET UP

The Guild right, Rebels on the flank, Muskets protecting the ford.

The left, Scouts in the trees,  pikes and a mentalist together and more pikes over the ridge.

On the Lamavic side the crossbows get ready to assault the cairn flanked by the frothing Clansmen units.

The Hunting hounds, Clan Horse and Huntsmen get ready to wipe out the Guild flank!

TO BLIMMIN' BATTLE N' THAT!!!

The Rebels advance, the hounds have the same idea!.

The Pike on the flank move out to meet the Clansmen barreling towards them!. 

Huntsmen...er....Hunt by the rocks.

The opening turns saw both forces advancing piecemeal towards each other taking pot shots. On the right....

'RIP...SNARL....TEAR.....OWWW, DOWN BOY....NICE DOGGY...!!!!!!

On the Cairn the Lamavic troops crested the ridge before the enemy troops got organized enough to stop them (the musketeers fluffed two activations in a row!. They put it down to frozen shot and union cold weather guidelines...'sorry mate, what can i do?, union rules innit, too cold to load, ave ta wait till spring mate!....').

1 ridge, crested.

On the edge of the Cairn the Pike and rabid Clansmen met in a storm of Pikes and strong language, the pikes were forced to retreat and would remain battered for the rest of the battle!

Faced with a hill covered with mad Clansmen Captain Allac ordered his men to form a wall of pikes!, these were boosted by Mad Fannahs magic (stronger shields!).

Before they could get their act together and , you know, shoot or anything the Clan Horse stomped into the muskets, sending them to look for other employment that would make the best use of sword wounds and spear holes!. 

On the Cairn the Clansmen were too wound up to be bothered by anything like a defensive position and flung themselves into the pikes, getting pushed back up the hill for their troubles!.

Sensing victory The pikes broke formation and charged up the hill, forcing the Clansmen back further. The huntsmen responded by showering the pikemen with spears, forcing them to retreat and fail a battered test!.

While all this was kicking off Mad Fannah cursed the other unit of pike cowering in the face of the pee'd off clansmen. Bellowing something about 'Soft southern jessies and shite faced Clan bastards' he charged head long into the Clansmen!!

Killing 2 and chasing them off!!!!

'Och and stay outta it ya gurly swine!!!'.

With the Clans on top of the Cairn and the Guild forces with nothing able to move close enough to contest it dusk fell (along with the temperature!) and Captain Allac ordered the retreat. 

Final positions at the end of the game from the Lamavic table edge.

The Cairn may be safe for now but the war is far from over........

Well that was fun to play, the combo of wild charges and hatred on the Lamavic side meant they would charge automatically each turn they could see the enemy and were close enough!. This made for a very fun 'fluffy' game where a charge in the wrong conditions ( read: wall of pikes!!) almost spelled disaster for the charging side!. Proof that powerful upgrades are not always the blessing they appear to be!. The question is, where to go with this from here?, will the Clan forces seek revenge for this cowardly attack on their 'holy' ground in the face of common sense?, Will they hole up and make the Guilds come to them?, Will the Guild forces perform more gorilla attacks to goad the Clans into action or will this be enough to convince the them to make an all out attack to force the issue?. What do you think?, comments below and i promise most popular idea will shape the direction this campaign goes in!.

Very much looking forward to your comments (keep them clean...who am i kidding, don't bother!!)...anyhow...till next time you lovely peeps........