Spanish-American War Bulgarians Tiger Minis

Hi kids,  Once again I have actually painted something!  WOW!  (Not that the paint jobs are wow-inspiring, but the fact that I'm painting might be.)  These Tiger Miniatures have been lurking in the Basement for a couple years, maybe 5 or so, and it just seemed like they were ripe enough to go ahead and get 'em combat ready.  Got a tub more of 'em still waiting.  Maybe someday....  Yes, the title of this post is a little misleading; as far as I know no Bulgarians were in the Spanish-American War.  Tiger makes both.  Painting makes strange bedfellows.

 The sealant is barely dry!  These 10 guys are Tiger Minis US Rough Riders from the Spanish-American War.  Its a project I've been haphazardly working on for awhile now.  I have enough to put on some games, but who knows when I'll get a chance to do so?

 A little farther out, so we can see the entire mob.  Tiger makes a Teddy Roosevelt fig, too!

Long time readers might remember the world famous East Transdniesterian* Border Police, my Pulp Imagi-nation unit from way on back.  I bought these Tiger Minis Balkan Wars figs cause they looked the part.  Now they have officially joined the ranks as gunners!  I think they were originally Bulgarians.  They come in groups of 5, but the others were posed to sit on arty pieces and I haven't decided if I want them permanently glued to guns or not yet.  After all, my guns have to serve many masters.  You never know what time period or part of the world you'll be playing!

 

*Yes this country really exists, sort of.  Part of Moldova went rogue, not sure if anybody bothered to recognize them or not.   I think they were printing their own money.  Maybe Putin has already taken them over. 

Mystery of Anthropophagus Archipelago Part II

We return to the Cannibal Coast as the Battle rages. When we left "Ready" Freddy Roosevelt and his Roughriders, Lieutenant Xing and his Chinese soldiers and the mercenary Skull's Red Robed Cultists were fighting a three way battle over a strange Silver Flyer.

After shooting down several Chinese Skull takes a bullet in the eye and goes down.

Lieutenant Xing holds his smoking Broomhandle after dropping Skull with a well placed shot.

Two Red Robed troops charge out to take the fight to the Chinese.

And are cut down in the Chinese crossfire.

The Maxim team is gunned down, losing the machine gun duel with the Roughrider Gatling gun.

The Chinese squad close assaults the command bunker, destroying it.

Leading from the front Lieutenant Xing charges toward the flyer and he and his command squad are cut down by the Roughrider skulking in the woods.

The Roughriders break cover and close assault the surviving Red Robes, cutting them down.

The Chinese infantry mount the landing pad and try to start the Flyer.

The Roughriders hide in the ruined bunker and fire on the Chinese. Killing two and leaving another lone corporal.

The lone Corporal moves onto the landing pad and tries to start the flyer.

The Roughriders and Chinese exchange fire with the Chinese taking the worst of it, leaving them pinned beside the flyer.

Not wanting to damage the flyer the Roughriders break cover again and give the Chinese troops some cold steel, but the Lone Corporal tries to start the flyer again and fails.

The Roughriders gain the landing pad put can't stop the Lone Corporal.

Ready Freddy and his Roughriders mount the landing pad and prepare to run the Corporal out.

With no officer around to stop them the surviving Chinese troops fire up the RoughRiders and destroy the Flyer.

All the Roughriders are killed in the explosion but Ready Freddy and the Lone Corporal survive facing each other through the smoke.

The Corporal runs back towards his own troops and Freddy turns to run but is shot in the back.

The surviving Chinese leave the field to the Roughriders, what little there is left.

As the Chinese run and the Roughriders withdraw something stirs in the smoke and Skull walks into the wilderness.

This game was played at the Basement of Heaped Miniatures on 4 Sept 2011 using the Disposable Heroes rule set. the game was around a five hundred point game with Chuckaroo fielding his Roughriders based on the Riff War French list and me using the Chinese infantry platoon from Red Sun, Red Death.

Chuckaroo's List consisted of A command section, two rifle squads each with two submachine guns and a Heavymachine gun with two extra loaders. My List consisted of the command squad with one submachine gun, two rifle squads with a sub machine gun and a light machine gun, one rifle squad with explosives, a submachine gun and a light machine gun and a heavy machine gun team. I split the first two rifle squads into half sections and kept the explosives squad together and ended up using it to destroy the command bunker.

We wanted a pulp game so we added in the Red Robed cultists and Skull. The Cultists started with two sentries on the board. We had a system to decide what they needed to spot our troops but I rolled a one and raised the alarm early on so it didn't really matter. Once troops started coming out of the bunker we rolled a die to see if they came out and if they did a D6 for how many came out. then randomised their equipment from the models not on the board. Then a dice for which side they came out of and diced for how far they moved. We also decided that the Cultists would keep coming out until the bunker was destroyed. Writing it down, it sounds complicated but it actually plays rather quick.

We decided skull was a heavy and could take some punishment. So any shot that hit him had its AP halved. Lieutenant Xing got lucky and rolled a one on the first hit and put him down.

Last was the flyer. Both sides wanted it. We decided that a model in base contact could try to start the flyer instead of shooting. It would take a roll of a one to do it but we never had a success. The other rule was if anyone shot at a unit near the plane any misses would have a chance to damage it. I shot at the roughriders allot and missed most of them but did hit the flyer really good.

I had a really good time playing and look forward to the next installment.

Mystery of Anthropophagus Archipelago Part I

In the South China Sea lies the mist shrouded inhospitable islands of the Anthropophagus Archipelago or more commonly known as the Cannibal coast. The largest island of the chain is the foreboding Knee-Cap Island, where few have ventured and less returned, whole of body or mind. The dangerous waters that surround the islands hold many secrets and serve as the watery grave of the unwary, but there are many legends that draw the intrepid and desperate to seek out the island's secrets and possibly hidden riches.

Many ships ply the waves near the island but most keep their distance from the strong currents, unusual tides, uncharted reefs and unmarked shoals. The ships known lost in the waters are greatly out numbered by the ships that sailed into the Cannibal Coast and never returned. Most ships lost are with all hands but one had a survivor. Fished out of the sea by Malay fishermen he told a strange story before he died. He spoke of his ship making passage into a hidden bay on one of the many uncharted islands in the archipelago. They were met by a group of red robed men who supervised the unloading of the ship's cargo. Once unloaded the Captain ordered the crew back aboard and quickly headed back out to sea. Once past the breakers and with the island growing smaller behind them A strange shrill screaming noise was heard. Looking back toward the island he saw a silver airship of some kind. It flew over the ship barely clearing the top of the masts. All the crew rushed up to see the flying machine as it stayed low to the water and banked back around coming toward the ship. He saw the flashes and knew it was shooting at them. The man hid as the silver airship made strafing run after strafing run until the boilers blew and he was thrown over board. When he regained consciousness the sun had gone down but he could see lights and hear rifle fire, a powerboat full of the Red robed men had a searchlight and were shooting any survivor they could find. Better to take his chances with the sea so he let the current carry him further out to sea. He didn't know how long he floated but in his delirium he did remember one fact and that was the coordinates of the island. The Malay Captain knew this information was worth money and headed back into port. There he searched out an information broker who paid well for the coordinates.

In little time this information made it to the International Man of Mystery Prospector Bob. Reaching out, Bob contacted Freddy Roosevelt and asked if he could investigate the strange island. Ready for anything, Freddy rounded up a detachment of his Roughriders and chartered a tramp steamer to head into the Cannibal Coast.

Unknown to Prospector Bob, the same information also made it to Major Von Kraken currently advisor to Chinese Warlord, General Cho. The Major quickly organized a detachment of troops and placed it in the capable hands of Lieutenant Xing. Commandeering a junk they also headed into the unknown Cannibal Coast.


The Warlord's Troops land and are lead into the hinterland of the Island by Lieutenant Xing.

High a top skull ridge the mercenary Skull surveys the valley.

The Red Robed men at their morning formation, unaware that intruders are on the island.

The Silver flyer on its launch pad with the ion power station in the background.

Freddy Roosevelt's Roughriders pose for a quick picture before the advance.

The Roughriders advance into the woods. Sneaking to avoid the Red Robed sentries.

The Chinese break into battle line and advance from the other side of the base.

Skull adjusts the engine of the silver flyer, unaware of the impending menace.

The Roughriders manhandle their Gatling guns onto some rocks. They hold their fire, not wanting to alert the sentries before the rest of the Roughriders get into position.

The Chinese infantry maneuver into the woods but,

Are spotted by a Red Robed Sentry. He shoots and raises the alarm.

Once the alarm goes of the Roughriders drop the sentry on top of their command bunker.

The Chinese infantry return fire and drop the other Red Robed sentry.

The Chinese maxim crew and full strength infantry squad move up behind cover.

The Roughriders sneak to the edge of the woods while Red Robe troops pile out of the command bunker.

Unfortunately one of the cultists has a FLAMETHROWER!! and lights up the Roughriders day with a little hot flaming napalm death.

On the other side another Red Robed trooper with a flamethrower takes a bad hit from a Chinese rifleman and his fuel pack explodes.

Skull Joins the fight and shoots down a Warlord soldier.

Breaking cover and making a run for the Flyer A Chinese half squad is gunned down by the Roughrider Gatling gun leaving a lone Corporal survivor. He makes the guts check and decides he didn't really like the rest of those privates, they only slowed him down.

More Red Robed troops surround the command bunker and prepare to sell their lives dearly.

This game was played at the Basement of Heaped Miniatures on 4Sept2011 using the Disposable Heroes rules. ChuckarooBob ran the Roughriders, while I ran the Chinese. The Red Robed troops and skull were ran with a random system we made up on the fly.

Return tomorrow for the conclusion in Part II

The Game of Shame

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears! I come to bury cheesey-ness, not praise it! For the cheese men do lives on, the good is oft inturred with their bones. So let it be with Noble Von Kraken. And the gamers who push Von Kraken, all of them, are Honorable Men.
The tale I must tell is so trivial in it's nature, and so devastating in it's repurcussions, I shudder to relate it to you, my gentle readers. It is a tale of what could have been, nay, Should have been, a Friendly Game; shattered into discord by the Twin Fiends of Winning At Any Cost, and The Letter Of The Rules. Woe be unto him who achieves victory upon the ashes of Cheese! Here we have the two sides; the Noble Sly McFly, leading the forces of Good and Rightousness in the form of the French Foreign Legion, facing the bluish-gray hordes of the Vile Von Kraken, controlled by the Gamers Without Honour. The Noble McFly lend his troops into combat, crushing his enemies, seeing them flee before him, and hearing the lamentation of the women! All was as it should be; none could stand before his righteous Legionnaires. Von Kraken's Traitorous Warlord troops thought only of escape, fleeing the field in vast numbers. There was but one peasant who held his honour higher than his life, he gallantly charged a unit of 14 Legionnaires singlehandedly and refused to surrender even at the point of death. Such a gallant man deserved gallant leadership, but alas! It was not to be! Just as victory for the forces of McSly seemed assured, Fate took a hand, and blessed the Crude Von Kraken with The Item of Victory. All that remained was to remove the ill-gotten item from the board and claim Victory. It was at this point, with their forces smashed, destruction imminent, that the Gamers Without Honour choose to reveal their Fatal Flaw in the form of 12.6 metric tons of Cheese. I still cringe to think of it, how could Honourable Men debase themselves to such a degree? How will they ever be able to face themselves on the morrow, and all the morrows to come? And what of their friends, those pleasant folk who had just expected an afternoon of fun and lead? How could they be expected to ever share a table with such as these? Was such a rudely won victory worth becoming social piriahs? Sadly, my friends, apparently it was. Not only did the flawed gamers use Cheese to an unprecedented degree, they freely admited their sin, even found it amusing. They paid no heed to the calls of dismay from their Righteous Opponents, then let their actions stand, and although it may seem impossible to believe, even repeated the Shameless Tactic with additional units in following turns! The tactic is there for all the see, sadly captured at the time. Hordes of non-combatant trucks, driving across the battlefield to park directly in front of the Brimstone and Firepower of the Legion Artillery and Machine-guns! Preventing any attempt to destroy the Evil Men of the Squad carrying the Item of Victory off the table! The Righteous Players of McSly looked on with disbelief, surely these Foul Von Kraken Players would correct their behavior! Alas, it was not to be! Their tactics stand; more's the pity! But let this be a valuble lesson to those gamers in search of Friendly Games; know thine enemy, not all gamers can withstand the temptations of Cheese. Some fall forever, never to raise their faces again to the Shining Light of Good Gamesmenship and the Fellowship of Lead Gamers everywhere.