Test of Honour - Our Foo Dog is missing!!

We played our first game of Test of Honour (the original Warlord version) a bit ago. I went on a painting spree with Army Painter Speed paints and got the starter set done in record (for me) time. 

Since there was 4 of us playing we played on a 3x3 board.  Kevin and I played Clan Midori, Mike and my brother Danny, Clan Orenji.  We each had a Samurai, a "Sergeant" or Standard Bearer, and two bases of Ashigaru.  Since it was out first game the plan was simple, fight!  That was until my brother exclaimed that we had stolen his Clan's Foo Dog statue and the dishonor had to be avenged.  It was ON!!

A small stream separates the two Clans.  The sleepy, peaceful morning is shattered when it is discovered that the Foo Dog statue that stood by the Orenji Temple (in the foreground) now stood on the wrong side of the stream in front of the Clan Midori house (upper part of the picture near the folding chair)!!

 

My Samurai gathers together his men, bringing the Clan Standard Bearer for moral support...

Mike does the same, but one of his Ashigaru stands has firearms!

Danny's Samurai and Infantry Sergeant storm the bridge...

Banana flavored Twinkies.  The snack of Samurai everywhere.  They weren't as good as I hoped....

Danny's Infantry Sergeant goes after Kevin's Samurai.  The fight is a draw...

Kevin's Archery Sergeant and Ashigaru move to protect the recently acquired Foo Dog...

The battle is joined!  Musket fire is exchanged!  Kevin's Spearmen move to block the bridge as the duel between his Samurai and Danny's continue...

My Samurai and Mike's square off over a fence...

Danny's Samurai strikes a killing blow and Kevin is killed, his corpse falling off the bridge and over the adjoining hedge.  Kevin's Spearmen recoil at the loss of their Leader!

I score a wound on Mike's Samurai and push him back allowing me to cross over the fence to press my attack...

Mike's Standard Bearer joins in the fight with my Samurai as our Spear armed Ashigaru clash!  One of my Men is killed!

The battle is joined across the board.  My Samurai has been wounded twice!  One of my brother's Ashigaru stands charges across the stream.  I move a stand into the pond to try and cut him off.....

Then it happens...Mike strikes a fatal blow and my wounded Samurai is killed.....

At this point with both the Samurai of the Midori Clan out of the fight we decided to call the game.  A victory for Clan Orenji, they recover the pilfered statue and pass, the Test of Honour...

The system was a lot of fun and we all had a good time.  Except I thought the Banana Twinkies we kinda yucky.  Nothing like the 'Banana Flips' of my youth.....

Thanks for reading!

One Hour Skirmish - Evacuate the Consulate!

Recently I purchased a copy of "One hour Skirmish" by John Lambshead.  It was published in 2018 and there are plenty of reviews on the internet, so I won't give an in depth one here.  But please allow me to say they are great if you are looking for a fun smack-down that will keep all players engaged all the time.

For our game we once again returned to my Colonial Imagination of Butiwanto.  Someone has been stirring up trouble with the not too friendly Duhwanna tribes and the American Consulate has been recalled.  To aid with the evacuation a gunboat has been dispatched with a squad of US Marines on board.  When the boat arrives all the Diplomatic Attache has to do is make it to the dock and be off.

But nothing in Butiwanto is that easy.......  The Grand Poobah of the local Duhwanna tribe, the Emir Bubba-Ooh Mao Mao has other ideas.  He wants the American Diplomat captured at best, but dead is fine too....

At the top middle of the photo is the Consulate.  At the bottom is the American Gunboat with the Marines.  The Duhwanna Tribesmen will begin in the three buildings on both the left and right of the photo.  The American units are in their starting positions on the board (Diplomatic Guards and Consul in the building, the Marines on the dock).  The Tribesmen are just on the table.  They aren't required to declare where they are entering till they show up.

The forces are as follows:

Mike:  The Consul is guarded by a squad of 5 men led by their Sergeant (7 figures).

Me:  The 4 man Marines squad is being lead by a Sergeant and Corporal (6 men).  There is also a Light Ships Gun located on the bow of the Gunboat.

Kevin:  The Duhwanna tribe on the left has a Leader, 6 men with rifles and 10 men with spears.

Danny:  The Duhwanna tribe on the right has a Leader and 10 men with rifles.

To balance the game, the Duhwanna forces have weaker motivation and it takes 2AP for the rifles to shoot.

The US Marines are ready to earn their pay...

The Diplomatic Mission is ready to leave

The Tribesmen are milling about, waiting for something to happen...

The game started off with both American forces moving first.  Kevin's Duhwannas moved out in a not to friendly manner so the Gunboat crew swung into action, covering the Marines that had left the dock....

BOOM!!

On (my) right side of the table Danny moved his rifle armed Duhwannas out.  My Marines met his aggression with some of their own.

Mike kept moving the Consulate Guard toward the Gunboat stopping when he could to shoot any Duhwannas threatening the Consul.

"This way men..."

As Mike moved toward the awaiting Gunboat, my Marines formed a "U-shaped" defensive screen to protect his escape route.  The Duhwannas pressed hard and my Marines began to fall...

The Consul and some of his Guards closes in on the fighting around the Gunboat...

The Gun Crew adds fire support to help get the Console aboard...

As the Consul nears his escape, the fighting around the Dock is furious, often savage Hand to Hand!!

More Duhwanna fighters join the fray!!  The Infidel must not be allowed to leave!!

And then it happens.......

Mike moves the Consul to make a break for the Gunboat.  Screaming and shouting men perform a dance of death all around him!  Kevin charges one of his Tribesmen at the Console, who turns, levels his pistol at his attacker and......

The death of the Consul....

 At this point Kevin and my Brother whoop it up with glee!  They feel victory is theirs.  "Not so fast," I say.  "Mike, tell them the victory conditions."

"If we get the Consul to the boat we win.  If we get his body to the boat...it's a draw".

Mike and Danny scowl at me but the fight continues!  Mike and I kill off the Tribesmen who are around the body of the Consul.  I move one of my Marines to a position that he will be able to grab the corpse and get it to the Gunboat.  By this time Kevin's forces have broken and left the fight.  All that is left to stop me is Danny's Tribesmen...

Danny wins the initiative and goes before me.  His forces are more than a single move from my Marine so he will need a few Action points to catch me and force HtH combat.  And remember, his rifles take two Action points to shoot.

Kevin flips a card to determine Danny's AP........

One.  Danny cannot shoot my figure or move far enough for Hand to hand.......

Young Daniel is not pleased......

 

Because on my move......

I get the body of the Console to the Gunboat and rob Kevin and Danny of victory....

Young Daniel is really not pleased.....

End notes:

Mike kept trying to convince Kevin to rush the Gunboat....Thanks Mike!!

But we all had a great time with the game and the rules!!  

However, the men who fought this day did not......

The horror....the horror....

 

 

The Sword and the Flame - Butiwanto Desert Action!

     The never ending search for the perfect set of rules continues.  This time Kevin, Mike and I tried out The Sword and the Flame.  The rules have been around for some 40+ odd years, but this was our first real outing with them.  The system uses a standard deck of playing cards to resolve Movement and Firing order along with wound resolution, but I purchased from The Virtual Armchair General web store the generic TSATF Action deck.  It adds some Colonial flavor to the look of the game and simplifies the combat resolution.  It also contains 8 "Event" cards to add even more uncertainty to the game.  The deck also contains two "HALT!" cards which immediately ends whatever phase you are in.  The deck is 62 cards thick, and we were amazed how many times the two HALT! cards ruined someones plans....

 

   The action occurred in my Africian Imagi-nation of Colonial Butiwanto.  This time the British were looking into reports of a growing rebellion in the Itzadri Desert.  Mike and Kevin took the "Native" forces, each receiving a Cavalry unit, a Close Combat unit and a unit armed with rifles.  They also each received a "Leader" to help motivate their units.  They gave me the British forces because, well, I wanted to wear my pith helmet.  I marched onto the board with two Infantry units, a Cavalry unit and an artillery unit.

We had a great time and learned some lessons.  I learned that my artillery CAN shoot 48" (not the 24" I thought when I first looked at the chart) so there is no reason to move them WAY out in front of the rest of my forces and into Mike's Cavalry charge range.  

Mike learned that a Leader on foot cannot run faster then a Cavalry charge.  Q. What is the gooey stuff between my Cavalry unit's horses toes?  A. Mike's Leader.....

And Kevin learned not to start your Cavalry unit WAY far away at the far end of the board with no Leaders around...  'cause you just KNOW they will fail activation after activation.... 

Fun was had all around and Mike and Kevin said they wanted to play again sometime.  We ended up playing 12 turns (some shortened by the HALT! cards) and in the end I probably could have / would have won, but we just called it a rules learning experience.*

* I told my wife I won.... 😉

Here are some pictures of our 19th Century battle on the Dark Continent...

Our first turn.  My Artillery moved 17 out of a possible 18 inches and got way out front.  Another of my units advanced in open order.  I forgot to scout the ruins to my right.  Good thing there was nothing there.  Mike on the left measuring out a Cavalry move.  Kevin on the right waiting his turn and "Doing the Dew".

 

Kevin's Shooters sneaking along an oasis

Mike's Cavalry forming up to charge my Artillery.  The random movement distances were soon about to rear it's ugly head...

I see Kevin and am about to deliver a devastating barrage of fire but...

 

Mike rolls 16 out of a possible 30" of movement.  His charge sputters out right in front of my artillery.  I got all excited knowing I was going to blast Mike's Cav.....however....

On that turn's fire phase the first card came up a HALT!  No shooting for me....!!  My Cavalry stands ready to counter charge Mike and save the Artillery.  Kevin's Natives had charged and beat up one of my units who took many casualties and fell back shaken.  I moved my second unit that was in Close Order and faced off to maybe fire and receive Kevin's charge...

Kevin's Cavalry who started way on the opposite end of the board and failed a number of movement activations....

Soon all Hell broke loose...

This is what it looks like when two Cavalry units BOTH fail their Charge Rolls....RUN AWAY!!

Kevin's Cavalry finally get into the game.  One of my unit's Leaders has become a causality...

We all had a really good time playing.  As I said the HALT! cards and the Event cards really added to our game.  And it wasn't just a game, it was an adventure.

Thanks for looking!

 Space Weirdos Solo AAR - "Tyranid Rampage..."

"Space Weirdos" is a man to man (or whatever you want) skirmish set of rules from Garske Games.  It is available for download from various places on the internet.  Easy to pick up but with some mechanics that take a little bit to master the use of.  When you buy the rules you also get a 4 page Solo module that is a breeze to use and gives a really good solo game.  They will tell you what each opposing figure is going to do, and there are a few guidelines as to how the figures should act, but you may have to decide exactly how it executes the order.  The solo rules gave me a really tough game that didn't go so well for me...

 My wife was out of town and I had a Friday night to kill...so I made up a squad for me, put together stats for my opposition and off to the planet Lewis 8814 I went.....

The setting for tonight's struggle of Man vs. Tyranid.  The red poker chips mark the boundaries of the 3x3 board.  The MDF disks represent the 3 "Areas of Interest" my Squad has been tasked with checking out.  I forgot that Space Weirdos comes with objective markers, hence the disks.  They will soon be replaced with the appropriate markers.  The game is supposed to last 4 maybe 5 turns.  The large d6 is my turn marker.

 
Once I had the board set the scenario calls for a pair of "Goons" to set up near each marker.  Since I was using Tyranids for the bad guys the "Goons" were Termagants.  The set up also called for a "Big Shooter" to be 5 inches from the middle, top edge.  The role of "Big Shooter" will be played by a Tyranid Warrior.  Notice the proper objective markers.

Two more Termagants are placed by the 3rd objective as my tracked transport rolls to a halt.

As the track comes to a halt my Squad exits the rear hatch.

Sgt. Wigglesworth, armed with a Laser Pistol.

Riflemen Mike, armed with a Laser Rifle.

Radioman Rutherford ("Arr-Arr" to his Squadies), armed with a Heavy Rifle.

"Scott the Knife", armed with an Auto-Pistol, but he prefers his Combat Knife.

Turn One

Arr-Arr advance and lays down effective rifle fire killing a Termagant in the upper right corner.  Rifleman Mike advances, aims, but only staggers the remaining one.  (I forgot to put down his movement marker).   Scott the Knife moves around the rocks and since he could not engage in close combat opens fire, staggering one (left corner). Sarge advances and with more accurate shooting kills one.  (Again, I forgot to put down their movement markers...)

 

In the Tyranids move the forces that were out of the previous picture move to get positions (top of this picture).  The other two termagants shake off their staggers and move into contact; but lose the combats for no effects.  (Notice everyone now has movement markers 😀)

It was at this point that I realized that I had made a tactical mistake.  Sergeant Wigglesworth had moved to a position more than 5" away from Arr-Arr.  This meant that in the next turn Arr-Arr would move AFTER the Tyranids activate and not with the rest of his Squad....

Turn Two

Scott The Knife kills the Termagant he is fighting, then moves to cover the objective and returns to Sarge. Sergeant Wigglesworth shoots forcing a Termagant down. Rifleman MIke disengages and shoots forcing the Termagant back. Before Arr-Arr can act the Tyranids go.  The  Tyranid Warrior blasts him with his Bio-Cannon (Yes, it is as nasty as it sounds) knocking him down and staggering him. A Genestealer appears behind my Squad but does not activate this turn. (Whew!)  The off screen staggered and down Termagants recover.  Arr-Arr was severely stunned (I rolled really badly to recover) and it takes the entire turn to shake it off so he is still down. 

Turn Three

Scott the Knife moves and engages a Termagant in hand to hand, killing it.  He then makes another move and uses a "Command Point" to take a shot.  His fire goes wild, missing a staggered Termagant. Sergeant Wigglesworth takes a shot at the staggered Termagant, also missing.  He moves and takes another shot at Tyranid Warrior but misses again.  Rifleman Mike moves, aims and shoots at the looming Tyranid Warrior, but he misses too.  Arr-Arr starting his turn out of command range doesn't get to active yet.  Not a good turn for me...

On the Tyranids turn the Tyranid Warrior shoots at Rifleman Mike hitting him in the chest and knocking him down. It adjusts it's aim to shoot at Sergeant Wigglesworth but it's fire goes wild and misses.  The Genestealer moves into contact with Arr-Arr but it used all it's actions and cannot attack. One Termagant cowers; the other Termagant moves behind trees trying to flank the group of humans.

Turn Four - the End comes...

Back in command range, Arr-Arr stands and disengages from the Genestealer.  He moves away from the Creature to a position behind his Squad-mates.  Sergeant Wigglesworth takes three shots at the Genestealer. The first shot forces it back a move, second and third shots bounce harmlessly off of its exoskeleton.  Rifleman Mike stands.  Readying his Laser Rifle and taking aim he fires and horribly misses the Tyranid Warrior. The Alien Creature levels it's Bio-Cannon and fires.  One of the plasma bolts strikes Rifleman Mike square in the face plate, blasting through it and blowing his head apart and it's shower of blood and brains. 

Scott the Knife screams out "HE OWED ME FIVE BUCKS!!" as he sees Rifleman Mike's head disappear in a red mist.  He charges across the field of fire dodging plasma bullets left and right.  Leaping into the air off of a rock in a manner not seen since Achilles fought Hector outside the walls of Troy he buries his knife deep into the armored Cranium of the Genestealer. Twisting the knife it splits the Skull open; the brain spilling out in a deluge of blood and ickor. 

 

An almost perfect attack roll...

Walking back into command range of Sergeant Wigglesworth, Scott the Knife wipes the gore off his combat weapon.

The Tyranid Warrior takes shots at Sergeant Wigglesworth, the plasma bolts going wild right and left. The Termagant that flanked the group has a clear line of sight at the Arr-Arr.  It takes three shots, the hail of bullets strike all around Arr-Arr, but he dodges and goes to one knee. The Termagant that has been cowering steps out from his hiding spot throwing two shots at the back of the fleeing Scott the Knife. The shots bounce harmlessly off of his armor leaving him unscathed.

At this point Sergeant Wigglesworth grabs a hold of the body of the dead Rifleman Mike and he orders his team back to the safety of their Rhino.  "Let's get out of here..."

What a GREAT game and set of rules.  I highly recommend them for solo or competitive play.