TT Combat - Western Buildings

          At ORIGINS in 2019 there was a Dealer selling MDF buildings from a company called TT Combat.  They had a wide variety of buildings in 28mm; Sci-Fi, Modern, Fantasy and Wild West.  "Very cool," I thought.  "I'll have to pick some of those up."  I don't know why I do that.  I call it my "Snooze -Lose" syndrome.  And it strikes me all the time.  I see something I want, don't buy it.  Then it's gone.  Which happened here.  I didn't pick them up right away, waited and then when I went back they were gone.  *Sigh*

     BUT, as luck would have it, my friend Mike was going to GenCon a month later.  I did a little email search, confirmed that the same Dealer would be there with the TT Combat buildings I wanted.  Mike was kind enough to get a list from me and pick some up.  They sat for a bit, but with COVID idling my employer I now have time...... 

      The building are very straight forward builds.  At least the single story ones are.  These are older buildings so there isn't any instructions online.  But the pictures on the website are good guides.  I'm about to begin a 2-story Doctor's office and that might be a little tricky.  (Details when they happen....

     Something I find to be really neat is that (so far) all the buildings have some sort of interior items.  Boxes, shelves, counters...TT Combat used the empty spaces on the MDF sheets to flesh out your buildings.  I think that's pretty kewl.

     I didn't prime the buildings before I painted them.  Being MDF they did soak up the paint a little, but I liked the kinda rustic look.  I did however apply a second or third coat to the corners where you could see the dark edge of an adjoining wall (where the two pieces fit together).

     The price per building I think was very reasonable too.  The single story buildings were $5-6 and the 2 story ones were $10.

TT Combat website

     So without further ado, I present the beginnings of my Wild West town.  The miniatures shown are those for the Blackwater Gulch game....

 

The Blacksmith Shop

The Blacksmith Shop comes with a forge, a crate and two anvils....

 

The General Store

The General Store has a counter and three sets of shelves

 

The Saloon

 

The Saloon comes with a bar and a table to fight around

It also comes with some bottles...that I forgot to put on the bar and table before the gunfight above broke out....

 

 

 

The Bank

The Bank has the partition to keep the Tellers secure and a safe for the Depositors money!!

The Sheriff's Office

The Sheriff's Office has a crate, a rifle rack and a cell for Desperadoes....

 

Colonial Butiwanto - US Marines vs. Slavers

    Glenn, Mike and I got together to try out the rules The Men Who Would Be Kings.  I've played once before but that was pre-pandemic. Mike and Glenn, never.  We used the Colonial miniatures that I recently acquired and it was the first outing for my new Cigar Box Mat.  The game would be played in my African Imagi-Nation of Butiwanto.......

    The American Consulate had been receiving reports of Slavers operating near the Butawanto border with Bongolesia*.  The Ambassador decided to send a detachment of Marines up the Itzwetta river to see if the Slave Trade could be disrupted.  The object of the Marines were to burn 4 of the 7 huts in the Slavers encampment OR destroy 12 points of enemy forces for the win.  The Slavers needed to destroy 2 of the 3 Marine units.

A finger of the Itzwetta river is on the left, a small swampy area forking off toward the middle of the map.  In the upper right of the board is the Slaver camp.  The swamp was declared impassible and the jungle brush was difficult.

    The Marines (Glenn) had three Regular Infantry units.  In The Men Who Would Be Kings (TMWWBK) every unit has a Leader who is an individual with traits that might adjust the Unit he's leading's statistics.

Unit 1 - "Sporting Umpire"  He will not let his men attack or fire on a pinned unit if another target is available...

Unit 2 - "Terrible Planner"  He forgot to check to see if his men had enough ammo.  Every time the unit shot it rolled a die.  On a '1' it was out of ammo.... 

Unit 3 -  "Shirker"  He may have been a Marine, but he still was a shirker.  His unit could not attack or fire until they were attacked or fired upon first....

    Mike ran the Bongolesian Mercenaries.  (Contrary to official Bongolesia history, in my Imagi-Nation, Bongolesia sent "Advisors" into Butiwanto the same way Cuba sent forces into Angola in the 1970s).  Mike ran 3 units of Irregular Infantry, the "Bongolesian Enlisted Expeditionary Force".

Unit 1 - "Brutal"  The Leader was feared and hated by his men.  His Leadership was 5+ but the units Discipline was -2...

Unit 2 - "Bulletproof Bumbler"  Horrible Leadership, 9+

Unit 3 - "Steady"  Leadership of 6+

    I took the Slavers and their compatriots, all also Irregular Infantry. (Compatriots by the fact that they are what I have to represent "hostiles".

Slavers - "Ugly"  Really tough to look at....

Ruga-Ruga - "Coward"  Unit he commands must stay a minimum of 6" from the Enemy.  (This guaranteed that all rifle fire from this unit was at Long Range.....)

Arabs - "Damn fine Fellow"  That's it, nothing more.

Zouve - "Yellow Belly"  This Leader will never lead his unit into Close Combat with the Enemy.

 With the Leaders generated and the forces mustered, the story begins......

Here are the starting positions.

Glenn's three USMC units.  They have forded the river and are at the edge of the trees waiting for the orders to move out....

 

Mike has the B.E.E.F. ready to roll.  See the unit in the left corner?  That is the unit with the "Bulletproof Bumbler" Leader.  More on him later...

My guys.  From L-R:  The Ruga-Ruga, the Zouve, the Arabs and then the Slavers themselves....

The Slavers look confused, "What?", "Huh?", "Where?", "This way?", "No, this way.." "Huh, what?".

 

The fancy pants Zouve ready to go.

Glenn's Marines move out.  His plan was simple.  Advance across the open areas "At the Double" to make the Jungle areas,  Then fight off any defenders while torching the huts.

    For the most part Glenn's Marines had no trouble moving out.  Being Regular Infantry they had to make Leadership tests to move, but being Marines, that was no problem...  

    I'm not 100% sure what Mike's plan was.  He moved the B.E.E.F. to contact and firing range.  Well, with two units at least.  The "Bulletproof Bumbler" Leader had tons of excuses for not advancing.  One turn he made sure his men all had their shoes tied.  Another he wanted to make sure they all brought hankies in case of any allergies.  Stuff like that.  That unit failed and failed and failed to move......

    My plan on the other hand was, well, horrible.  Not thinking about the fact that all my units had Obsolete Rifles or Antiquated Muskets and that I would be out ranged by the Marines I charged blindly in an effort to kill or be killed.  And as it turned out....keep reading...

 

    My Ruga-Ruga caught Glenn's Marines before they could make the clump of Jungle.  But he then shrewdly (and without realizing it) moved another Unit into the jungle within 6" of the Ruga-Ruga.  What he didn't realize was that my unit was being lead by the "Cowardly" Leader and instead of shooting, they would have to adjust to make sure they were 6" away from the Marines....  Smooth move Glenn...

My Slavers, having gotten their sense of direction straightened out, advance.  Only to find the Marines waiting for them...

 

Overhead view of the action.

    Mike has two of his three B.E.E.F. units moving out.  The third unit's Leader was questioning his men as to what species of Butterfly was on the trail ahead of them and was it bad luck to cross it's path...  My units have all advanced.  I think it was at this point (when the shooting started) that my Arabs spent a couple of turns doubting the wisdom of getting into a fight with US Marines....  

    The Marines were ready to do what they get paid to do.

    At this point I realized I could have my Ruga-Ruga "skirmish" which will let them make a half move away from the scary Marines to their right and still be able to shoot at the Marines, with half firing strength, to their front.  Words of defiance were spoken and dice were rolled....

FIRST BLOOD TO THE RUGA-RUGA!!  What I didn't realize was that this was the unit that couldn't shoot until fired upon.  Uh-oh.....

    A serious firefight broke out in the center.  Mike's middle B.E.E.F. Infantry and my Ruga-Ruga opened up on one of Glenn's Marines which returned fire on the Ruga-Ruga.  My Zouve traded shots with the Marine's in the jungle and Mike moved his blue jacketed B.E.E.F. Infantry in a flanking maneuver around the terrain in front of them.

     My Slavers got into position and fired completely ineffectually at the Marines in the cover (WHAT WAS I THINKING).  My guys then fell victim to the Marines shooting back, taking out half the Slaver unit, then shooting first in the next turn, taking out the remaining figures.

    The fight in the middle was bloody.  The Zouves were cut down, but managed to get a few hits on the Marines in the cover.  My Ruga-Ruga lost 8 of 10 figures.  One of Glenn's Marine Units got caught in a three-way crossfire and were destroyed.

    As the Slavers were getting wiped out I then thought that would be a good time to move the Arabs in for support (WHAT WAS I THINKING).  On the next turn the Marines who just dealt with the Slavers got a few hits on and pinned the Arabs.  On the next turn in a hail of 6s rolled, they wiped the Arabs out.

Mike hadn't lost anything and I have now lost 9 of 12 points of force..... 

Immediate threats taken care of, huts begin to burn.  This one is 2 of the 4 needed.....

NEWS FLASH:  US MARINES FORGET HOW TO MAKE FIRE!!

      Mike's "Bulletproof Bumbler" Leader finally runs out of excuses and moves his unit up.  The other two B.E.E.F. units close in on the Marine unit that in in the cover.  My two Ruga-Ruga get the heck out of the way.  If they get killed we automatically lose.  And when Glenn tried to "Attack" a hut to set it on fire he failed his Leadership roll!  (A pile of dead figures can be seen by my yellow pinned markers).

The end as two more huts go up in flames...

     End game.  Glenn's Marines in the cover almost get wiped out as they fight it out with Mike's three B.E.E.F. units.  The other Marine's light a hut on fire and move to another.  I tried to pin that unit with my last two Ruga-Ruga to prevent them from torching a 4th, but no luck.

A close run game.  Mike and I came within two Marine figures for the win, or at least a tie game.  But it wasn't to be.  We all had a blast playing and agreed TMWWBK will be on the table again.  

There are many adventures awaiting in Butiwanto.......

* The Imagi-Nation of Bongolesia and it's flag are used with the permission of their owner, Mike Murphy.

 

Action in the Sudan - Capt. Kylor's Rescue Mission

 The British Army Captain walked into Lord Kevin's tent and snapped to attention.  "SIR!" he said with a smart salute.

Without looking up from his reports Lord Kevin acknowledged the young Officer, "Captain Kylor, we need you to take a detachment of men and head back to that Oasis we had the scuffle in yesterday.  It seems that in all the excitement that Reporter fellow, Rutherford, got himself captured by those Fuzzy Wuzzy chaps.  He is with the enemy who slipped away from our clean up operation and they have taken up shelter in the Oasis.  We need them routed out once and for all and Rutherford freed.  I believe Colonel Mike can lend you his command, he is attending to more pressing matters.  I will allow you to take the Black Watch along too.  Those Scotsmen will keep your troubles to a minimum.  Dismissed."

"YES, SIR!  You can count on me, SIR!" the Captain replied, again saluting.  Turning on his heel he grinned and quickly left the tent......

 

My Grandson Kylor came over the day after the battle at the Oasis of Yabba Dabba Doo.  Seeing the miniatures still out (I hadn't put them away yet) he was anxious to give them a try.  I asked for a few minutes and reset the board, taking about half of the units off and setting up what would become Capt. Kylor's Rescue Mission.

 

As the Oasis came into view Capt. Kylor called his column to a halt.  In the lead rode the 10th Hussars.  Directly behind the Captain marched the men of the Black Watch.  Behind them two units of Basha Bazouks, unreliable at best they hopefully will present a good showing in this mission.  Behind them followed two columns of Egyptian Infantry.

 

This is what I had set up for my Grandson to command.  At this point I gave him the basics of Blackpowder, all the basic info a 10 year old would understand.  I then explained to Kylor what he was facing.  I think I impressed him using my laser pointer to point things out......

 

Awaiting the British were (L-R) a unit of Camel Riders, a Warband of Fuzzy Wuzzies, an Artillery piece, a Warband of Ansar and a unit of Riflemen.  Rutherford the captured reporter can be seen standing near the camels behind the artillery piece.

I explained to my Grandson that what I would do is concentrate on getting his column into a battle formation.  I explained the importance of getting his units into firing lines and that while my strength lie in close combat, his strength was in range combat and holding me at arms length.  I also told him he had to read his own charts......

Kylor went first and listened to my advise.  Through the miracle of youngsters throwing dice he was able to get multiple units to take 3 actions.  His Egyptian units were able to change into a firing line and double move.  One of his Basha Bazouk units decided to triple move without changing formation.  His Cavalry and Black Watch units advanced cautiously while the last Basha Bazouk unit failed to activate.

 

As you can see in the picture above I was able to move my Camel Riders, Riflemen and double moving my Fuzzy Wuzzy Warband before failing my Command rolls.  I had confidence in the Warband's ability to absorb a Cavalry attack so I moved them out there to entice Kylor.  Seeing me move my Warband up Kylor's eyes kinda glazed over and he began to froth at the mouth...reaching for his dice.....

Kylor took my (ill-conceived) bait.  With great glee he sent his 10th Hussars crashing into my blood-thirsty Warband.  The Cavalry had taken a hit from my Artillery fire the previous turn, but were not disordered.  I rolled first getting 5 hits on the Cavalry unit.  I didn't realize that the Cavalry got 9 DICE IN COMBAT!!!!  Kylor gave as good as he got and I lost the combat.  I rolled magnificently on my Break Test and the Warband only pulled back 1 move. 

Since the Hussars had taken so many hits they were Shaken and needed to take a Break Test.  Kylor completely muffed his Break Test and the brave men of the 10th withdrew from the game....  Cries of "Not fair!" we met by my grin.....😝

Undeterred by the loss of his Cavalry, Captain Kylor urges his men forward...

My Ansar Warband advanced and came up short of charging the Black Watch.  The Black Watch on their own iniative charged into the mob of the Madhi's faithful.  The Black Watch took some hits but held their ground.  The Ansar ran away.

It was at this point that Kylor, the avid "Fortnite" player said to me, "Is there some Med Kits or Shield pots or something that I can use to removed some of those hits?"  Laughing at the way he put the questions I replied, "Now that you mention it...."

"Forward men, forward!  Let's show them what you're made of..."  Kylor moved his fire lines into excellent position.  I continued to have the bad Command Dice luck from the previous night.

My Skirmishing rifles dueled with his Egyptian forces.  The straggling Basha Bazouks move up while (at the top of the picture) their Comrades in Arms hold off my Camel Riders until......

The Camel Riders could take no more and ran off.  That was 2 (of 3 to break) units lost.  I was in desperate straights.  I charged the wounded  but not yet out of the fight Fuzzy Wuzzy Warband at the Basha Bazouks...if I could hit them they would be easy pickings.....

 

 

Heeding my instructions on how to remove hits from a unit, the shaken Black Watch was rallied to fighting order again and set their sights on my Artillery unit that was causing Capt. Kylor's men some grief......

Unfortunately for me the Bashi Bazouks held it together and delivered a volley of fire that cause my Warband to Break and run.....

While at the same time as the Black Watch charged, the Artillery crew joined in the flight of the Fuzzy Wuzzies...

Final score:  The British lost 1 unit and rescued the Journalist.

                     The Madhi forces lost 3 units and left the field.

But I think we both won...............

Action in the Sudan - Battle of Yabba Dabba Doo

      Kevin, Mike and I got together to do some Blackpowder gaming in the Sudan.  The Anglo-Egyptians were set up outside of the Oasis of Yabba Dabba Doo.  The forces of the Madhi were attacking at dawn, coming on in the usual fashion, charging with blood curdling cries of faith and battle.  

     What the Anglo-Egyptian forces didn't know (that would be Kevin and Mike) is that during the night a unit of Skirmishers and a small Fuzzy Wuzzy Warband had infiltrated the Oasis and were hidden in the buildings.  When the time was right, the Madhi (me) would spring the trap........

As dawn breaks, sleepy eyes begin to open in the British encampment.

The British camp consists of: 2 British Rifle units, The Black Watch, 2 Egyptian Regulars Units, a Naval Infantry unit and a Gardner gun.

2 units of Bashi Bazouks preferred their own company to that of the British camp.  The 10th Hussars are riding their horses back after allowing them to water and graze before the days duties.

And then just as the first rays of sunlight began to turn the morning sky crimson over the hills poured the forces of the Madhi!

4 units of the dread "Fuzzy Wuzzys", a unit of Ansar, 2 units of Riflemen, a unit of Cavalry and a unit of Camel Riders.  Not yet cresting the hill was a captured artillery piece that was being manhandled into position. 

Followers of the Madhi come screaming down the dunes crying out for the blood in the Infidel!!

 

The British forces (under Lord Kevin) were taken completely by surprise!  On the first turn only the Egyptian units (led by Mike Pasha) formed up and presented an awaiting defense.  Only one of the two Basha Bakouk units moved to help meet the attack.  True to form I charged the Madhi attackers into the teeth of the awaiting Defenders....

This picture is from a few turns in.  As you can see Lord Kevin has the British forming firing lines.  Mike Pasha's luck had run out though as one unit of Basha Bazouks and his Hussars refused to move.  And see those two Madhi units in the lower left corner of the picture.  They refused to move practically the entire game.  They were in a perfect position to come crashing into the Egyptian units but they failed activation after activation.  On the second to the last turn they moved once, on the last turn they moved once.......they were never a combat factor the entire game...only a threat......

The game was hard fought.  Both my opponents and myself were hampered by failed Command Rolls.  And my charges were consistently brought to a standstill by the dread Disorder combat result on Range Fire rolls.

Case in point, my Warband in the foreground charged and came up half an inch short of making contact.  They then got blasted by the British Rifle fire and disordered.  They returned fire with their 1 Spears ranged fire roll and disordered the British unit.  This went back and for for a number of turns, both sides either taking hits and saving, or rolling high enough on the Break Tests that they held their ground.  Rifle fire and Spear throwing seemed to be the preferred method of combat, neither side able to close!!

 Look to the upper left of the picture below.  See the 2 Fuzzy Wuzzy units in the upper left corner?  Those are the two that camped out on that hill; the whole game!  NEVER made a Command Roll check when it counted...and nothing but Egyptian Infantry before them!!!!

My Camel Riders in this picture...Disordered and cut to pieces by rifle fire.  My Rifle Skirmishers in the middle took many hits from the British unit to their front, but they saved when it counted.  The Warband behind them eventually got into contact with the British Rifle unit and was Disordered by Closing fire and then (with horrible dice rolling on my part) were destroyed in Hand to Hand....  A high point for me though was my Artillery unit.  It pounded away at the British, hitting time and time again with some very lucky die rolling.  As a matter of fact, the British Naval unit in the picture was destroyed by combined fire from the Artillery and the Skirmishers in the picture foreground.....

A panoramic view of the beginning of the end of the game.....

Once the British Cavalry had been committed I finally sprung my trap.  My Skirmishers and a small Warband came rushing out of the building at the Oasis.  Kevin very calmly swung the Black Watch and the Gardner Gun around to meet them.  The British Cavalry wheeled to the left and prepared to charge but then THEY were hit by Disordering fire (HOW DO YOU GUYS LIKE IT, EH?!!)  The Cavalry turned out not to be needed though for the rifle fire from the Scotsmen and Gardner gun was enough to all but wipe out the Warband.  After two more turn, during which my 2 Warbands on the hill made a whole 2 moves, we invoked the 10:30 rule.  The final score was 4 (5 to lose) dead Madhi units and 2 (4 to lose) British units.  Both sides had units that were ready to crumble, but in the interest of fair play we called it a near run, but British victory.

A hard fought game that was fun for all.  Lots of head hanging, eye rolling and good natured but ungentlemanly spoken words.  Sadly, this was our last game with these figures for they are going back to the friend I bought them from.  We don't really use them enough and he offered to take them back for what I paid him for them......

The last game I thought...till my Grandson came over the next day and wanted to play something.  These minis were still on the table (I was going to put them away later) so I rearranged a little, left about half out and set them up for "Capt. Kylor's Rescue Mission"...

But that is a story for another post...... 😉