Volley and Bayonet again!!!

For the second week in a row it was round to Jon's place for a Volley and Bayonet game, using Jon's very cool 6mm armies (in his very cool 'games room). The game, set in 1814 (with Jon commanding the Russian forces while I commanded the French army), was a reduced size game at 2000 points per side using the Volley and Bayonet Road to Glory scenario system. I thought I'd just post a few random photos from the game to give readers the general idea.

The bizarre thing was that the improbability sphere seemed to be in operation again. Jon put in a series of well planned attacks that saw maximum force directed at various points in the French army deployment, but the dice rolled consistently against Jon. Now in any game you know that there will be the occasional combat or situation where the odds just don't go in  your favour. But for the second week in a row Jon was confounded by the dice, with combats that he always stacked in his favour going against him.

Odd really!!!!

Terry Wise passes away...

http://vintagewargaming.blogspot.com/2010/08/terry-wise.html

Sad news, another good'un....

Avast there me 'earties...

There I was trying to assemble my Dwarf Gyrocopter, and not succeeding.. top quality superglue isn't all it's cracked up to be, damn it!! So away it went into its box, and I case my eye around for something quick and easy to complete to sate the painting appetite. My eye fell upon a small plastic galleon that I'd bought several years ago, thinking "arrr Jim lad, there be a great airboat for a Pirate 'otT army". It has sat upon a shelf resplendent in its black undercoat for at least a couple of years.

And with a couple of evenings of sporadic painting, washing and highlighting, this is what came out.

I was tempted to rig it too, but my need for instant gratification blew that idea of of the water (oopppsss.. no pun  intended).

Only problem is, I don't have the pirates to go with it. No matter.. Stan.. Stan.. STAN .. get me some of them thar pirates, quick laaad!!!

Scions of Chaos revealed.. Part 4

The jungles seemed endless, as Carruthers' British forces continued their advance. But now finally all was revealed: the scions of Chaos appeared before the advancing British troops. Glowing knights, gamboling zombies, all took position before a towering skull fortress. This would be terrifying fight.

Carruthers troops took up a defensive position on the nearest hill top, and his sharpshooters had quickly dispatched one of the mobs of zombies.

Confidence was high in the British ranks and uncharacteristically his troops poured from their defensive position on the ridge and into the chaos ranks.

Attempts by the flanking British sharpshooters to flank the chaos line were countered.

The air throbbed with beating wings, and the british troops looking skyward were now terrified to see a dragon soaring over their heads. It landed next to the Chaos stronghold and surveyed the scene.

Things seemed to be going well, and when you are a dragon, a little caution never went amiss, and so the beats waited and watched while the Chaos hero destroyed the steam robot after a momentous tussle.

Now the British line was looking thin, with half of the British artillery destroyed by dismounted Chaos knights. Carruthers surveyed the scene himself, and quietly ordered a withdrawal to safer ground. There would be another day!!!

And the Dragon continued to survey the scene with mild amusement, and not a little satisfaction at the accumulated wealth that would come from any captured British pay chests....

Carruthers pushes inland...Part 3

With the smell of success in his nostrils (nothing to do with the smell of those brown trousers after the affair with the spiders), Carruthers pushed on inland, following along the banks of a large river pushing upstream. The sounds of the jungle were suddenly hushed, the silence suddenly broken by a terrifying bellow. As Carruthers' troops rounded the next bend in the river they were confronted by savage looking peoples and bellowing dinosaurs. Magic arced across the skies!!!

His troops steadied themselves, and Carruthers, grown bold with the flush of success, pushed forward with his men. 'Steady!'

Soaring Pterodactyls swooped from the skies and fell upon a unit of sharp shooters on the flank, rending flesh and clawing them apart.

Carruthers pushed his troops forward, hoping to catch this savage enemy in a deadly crossfire in the loop of the river.

Towering Tyrannosaurs rushed at the British lines, and were rent asunder with the bellow of British guns.

LIke cats with mice, the Pterodactyls swooped and teased the steam robot.

With his best assault troops across the river. Carruthers ordered a series of swift bayonet charges which caught the fiendish Shaman in the open.

Attempts by the Pterodactyls to distract Carruthers were to no avail, and his shock troops finished the affair in bloody, quick time.

Carruthers new adventures part 2...

Carruthers regrouped his forces and a few days later pushed back into the jungles. Emerging through the jungles he wasn't the only one to feel a tremor of terror as he saw arrayed before his a=forces an army of spiders, rattling and rearing, ready for the fight. A good day for the brown trousers eh wot!!

The spiders stood in defence of their lair ...

Carruthers had other plans of course .... and the steam robot, and his artillery, were ready and waiting, hoping to do some serious squishing today.

Carruthers himself stood ready to do battle, with two ranks of stout hearted bayonet armed British infantry to his front, and a large steam robot on his flank!!

As the advance proceeded, the skies were filled with thunderous roaring, and the great Spider God appeared.

Carruthers advanced his forces through another patch of jungle, but the boys found themselves quickly ensnared in battle with a series of creepy lurking spiders... now that's damned unbritish!! But these were stout British lads, and they quickly saw of first one unit of these dastardly ambushers,....

... and then another.

As the spider hero lead her forces hurriedly towards the British forces, a great roar echoed through the jungle as the British artillery took aim at the spider hero herself....

and in a sticky gooey spray across the jungle she was no more, leaving the spider forces leaderless, fleeing from the battlefield. Carruthers could rest easy that he had finally begun the conquest of this foul land in earnest. But the advance must go on.

By Gad Carruthers...

There had been some mystery about the whereabouts of General Carruthers after his disappearance in action during his failed expedition to distant lands. However he had reappeared at Horse Guards and, while no-one quite new the story, his rehabilitation into the British Army had gone smoothly, although rumours abounded about why he had suffered demotion to Brigadier without being cashiered completely. Regardless of the story, here he was once more commanding an expedition to some distant far off land in order to plant the flag for the Queen. Rumours had abounded of magic and mischief of a sort most particularly unbritish!!!

So Nick and I got together for an afternoon of gaming as we fought a series of themed and linked games following yet more of the adventures of cad and philanderer General (or is that Brigadier) Carruthers. As the theme of the day would see the British VSF army on the offense in all of the battles (that's just the way we planned it) we decided that we would take turns using the attackers and defenders to make sure that we each got additional 'gaming variety.

Forces were marshaled, although he hadn't been trusted with more than a steam powered robot and some artillery to support his troops, after his previous debacles. Upon landing he pushed his troops into the jungle, but news of the landing had spread, and soon jungle tribes were marshaled in front of his forces.

Apes and beasts abounded along the enemy battle lines in support of the tribespeople.

Mysterious sounds and incantations emanated from the enemy lines. and before Carruthers could pour his next cuppa bolts of lightening shot forth into the British lines, leaving smoking boots where riflemen had previously stood.

As if this had been a signal, the entire line of tribesmen surged forward.

Fierce fighting with claw and tooth, spear and spell, saw battle ebb and flow, with guns and men falling to the attack of beasts, until ... Carruthers very command post was attacked by the Shaman of the ancient tribes, leaving Carruthers the sole survivor. With those about believing Carruthers to be lost, a general advance to the rear seemed to be in order for the remaining British forces.

For Carruthers the battle had just begun, it was time to marshall his forces and get serious with another attempt to penetrate the interior; trouble was certainly afoot!! By Gad Suh!!!!

The 'Improbabilty sphere'

I normally seem to operate under the influence of my own very personal 'improbability sphere' when I wargame. Think Don Adams, "Get Smart" and the cone of silence and you have the right idea. I don't mean that I always roll 6's when I need them, and 1's when I need them; rather the complete opposite.

It was with some surprise therefore when, during the course of another fantastic Volley and bayonet game with friends Jon and Adrian (played using Jon's wonderful 6mm Napoleonic armies.. the game was French vs Spanish/British a la Peninsula war) that we noted a crack appearing in the improbability sphere, as if the very fabric of reality was rent asunder (sounds a little like those GW backgrounders to their army books and codices - sorry!!).

It's worthy of note because it is indeed such a rare event. Almost every time I needed a hit in combat I got one, almost all failed morale checks occurred in parts of the line that were not under immediate threat of attack, and so on. Anyone else carry their own improbability sphere around with them?

I'm pondering when I'm likely to emerge from under it again? 2020 maybe?? We live in hope. Meanwhile I guess it's back under the improbability sphere for me.