Some Congo Fun

Here are a couple of pics from recent Congo game. 

Having a great time with this game.  I got to play Peers' Darkest Africa a couple of weekends ago and had a blast.  Great to have a few players for some Colonial Africa.

Darkest Africa game at Active Imagination.

What! I have not posted in over a year!   Man did things get away from me.  I did finish two degrees since then.  I have some new games that I have been playing.  I recently got a copy of Congo.  That had me finishing up on some painting of my Darkest Africa stuff.

I have managed to squeeze in a couple of games of Lion Rampant.  I just purchased Dragon Rampant and Black Ops.   I am getting into the  games Osprey is putting out.

I have my Reaper Miniatures Bones III Kickstarter coming soon.  More stuff to paint.

I was able to meet up with the Camino Real Gamers in Albuquerque and play a siege scenario using Lion Rampant.  They seem like a great group and I look forward to playing some more games with them.  I am looking forward to being part of a club.  There is a yearly organizational meeting next weekend  and I would imagine they will discuss plans for the new year.

I need to get back on here and post way more stuff.

Blood on the Snow

Played a great game of Song of Blades and Heroes with Ken (I'm the Other Ken).  We used the Hell Frost setting and played on my winter table.  The winter layout had a nice visual appeal and I thought it would be fun for the Christmas season. 

Background:  Jarl Borgar Agdisunu was told of a raid of a fishing village just north of Estvik in Angmark.   Raids by orcs and goblins have become more frequent in some of the steads under the Jarl's protection.  He has been pulling men from the Scieldvollr, a protective line of fortifications, to go back and protect their homes.  Jarl Borgar worries that the raids will result in the Cyng replacing him as Jarl. 

At the fishing village Jarl Borgar discovers that the raid was not orcs and goblins.  There were tracks of a giant and others as well.  There were signs of coldfire damage and the Jarl guessed the raiders must have a hrimwisard with them.  The Jarl decides he will deal with the raiders and sets off in pursuit beyond the Scieldvollr with a band of his men.  The raiders are moving slowly and by late afternoon Jarl Borgar and his men have caught up to them.  As the Jarl emerges from the forest he realizes his folly.  A Hell Frost dragon flies over a rocky outcropping and lands in the field in front of the Jarl.  With a grunt Jarl Borgar signals his men forward, now only death or glory await. 

The Saxa:  Jarl Borgar Agdisunu's band

Jarl Agdisunu  Q3 C3; Leader

Skald               Q3 C1 Magic User

Huscarls x2      Q3 C3, Fearless

Bondi x4           Q3 C3

Bondi Archers x2  Q3 C2  Shooter (Medium)

Berserkers x2    Q4 C3  Berserk

The Raiders:  Frost Giant Golmynr's forces

Frost Giant    Q4 C5 Slow, Huge, Long Move, Shooter (Long), Tough,

Hell Frost Dragon Small  Q3 C4 Flying , Big, Shooter (long)

Trolls x3 Q5 C4 Tough, Fearless, Big

Frost Reavers x4  Q4 C4 Short Move, Snow Walker

Special House Rules:  The Frost Giant must be in or adjacent to a terrain feature to make a ranged attack.  He needs to be able to pick up something besides snow to throw. 

Summer Projects

Frequently on game related blogs you see various projects posted.  Painting projects, campaigns, and other types of gaming projects.  I fall victim to the same woes that many others in the hobby do.  Big ideas and never enough time to complete the things we want to do.  I decided to jump on the project bandwagon and at least gain a small sense of direction of how i want to spend my gaming time.  

I had a ton of options.  There are so many different ideas an games that I could choose from.  I decided to pick three.  These are things that I really want to play right now and things that I want to work on hobby wise during the summer months.

First is the Flying Lead: Star Wars conversion I have been working on.  With the New Star Wars movie being released at the end of the year, Star Wars related games are high on my list.  I want to do some narrative campaign gaming using several different sets of rules.  Key will be some man to man skirmishes using the Flying Lead rules.  I will also use some other rules sets for bigger battles and space battles.  

Next is a Hellfrost setting game.  I have a campaign in mind centered around the war in Vestmark and Orcmark.  I am planning on using Song of Blades and Heroes and Pride of Lions rules.  I am basically using the Hellfrost setting with a different rules set.  I have in mind a series of linked scenarios that tie in some roleplaying, some skirmish battles and some larger scale battles.  

Lastly I want to bring out the heart of my collection which has been languishing for a couple of years.  My 100 Years War collection has not seen much action in recent years.    I am looking to bring it out for a few games with a twist.  I am adding demonic and angelic forces to the mix.  “The Black Prince” Edward Plantagenet has made an unholy pact with “The Fiend” to rule France.  He is opposed by the French King Jean “Le Bon”, the Good and the forces of Light.  The Burgundians are aided in their plans for supremacy by undead forces.  Charles “le Mal” the Bad of Navarre has also made a pact with demonic forces.  Coming to the aid of France are the rich nobles of Flanders and the forces of Brittany which have turned to Fey allies to held turn back the tide of evil.  

Skirmish Gaming in the Hellfrost Setting

I have always been a fan of pregenerated fantasy worlds.  As a kid, I had the Greyhawk map on my wall as a poster. Next was the Forgotten Realms.  For a short period I was interested in Ghelspad.  These days I am a big fan of the Hellfrost setting from Triple Ace Games.  My miniature collection seems to fit in well there. 

Why use a setting in skrimish games?  Or in miniature games at all?  Personally, I like a story behind the fight.  Just a quick story to flesh out why this tabletop is worth fighting for.  In the Hellfrost setting there are so many seeds for conflict ideas.  There are all kinds of terrain ideas not just snow and ice.

So when playing a game of Song of Blades and Heroes, or Chain Reaction Swordplay, I like setting the scene in the Hellfrost setting.  The same is true when playing Rally Round the King or Pride of Lions.    

Having a story that sets the scene makes the game more enjoyable.  I gives it a cinematic feel.  I like that in my games.  As I mentioned earlier the Hellfrost setting has so many threads and plotlines that just about any conflict can be woven into a backstory. 

Red Sand Blue Sky With Rio Rancho Gamers

The other Ken came over for a game of Red Sand Blue Sky.  I broke out the old arena.  I was thinking back and this paper model is ten years old.  Also Red Sand Blue Sky was the first Two Hour Wargames game I ever played.  It was also the first game I ever ran at Mcon at the Red Lion in Austin.

In the first match I played a secutor and Ken played a murmillo.  We traded ineffective blows and caught our breath.   That was more important for me because I was ahead in burning bonus dice.  Next turn Fortuna was with me and I got in a good attack on the unshielded side of Ken's Murmillo and took him out.  The crowd was split on mercy but the editor was in a kinder mood, and Ken's murmillo was spared.

Next My murmillo went up against Ken's retiarius.  Ken was really on his game in this one.  His retiarius netted me and damaged my shield arm.  I managed to catch a breath next turn and then he finished me off with a vicious belly wound.

The rest of the evening was spent in great conversation about books and games and life in general.  Good times.  I play solo a bunch but the social aspect of games is always a great thing.

Joust on 9/5 With Rio Rancho Gamers

There were three of us to play Joust on Sept. 5th.  I cooked up a pot of gumbo and we ran several tilts.  Not really sure who came out on top but it was a good time.  Seemed like the other players took to the system easily enough.  We are going to kick out with a game of Red Sand Blue Skies: Heroes of the Arena this Friday 9/26.  Should be fun.

Also got a copy of Captains and Kings from Two Hour Wargames.  I already started making 100 Years War  Army Lists and began working on ideas for a campaign.  This is the tune up Montjoie has needed for years to bring it into line with the current Two Hour Wargames mechanics. This might be my new pet for a while.