Just when you thought it was safe... Pax Limpopo!

Hi Kids,

Yep, just to show everyone it's not all ultra-serious hardcore monster games like "Le Bataille de Whatever,"  "Highway to the Reich," or double blind "Flattop," those Monday night lads sometimes let their hair down and dig up the weirdest stuff imaginable. This should really come as no surprise from the lads who brought you "A Fistful of Turkeys" and "Globbo" con games!  (Converted to miniatures of course!)  Last week it was the ole "Pax Limpopo" game "Pig Tickler" from Eureka Miniatures.  Its a game of Lancers riding unicycles chasing a steam powered pig all over the map.  Of course, the pig can fight back, and there's an ump and a stoker to get in the way and interfere as much as the other players can make them!

Your humble correspondent was the manager of one team, and managed to crush the competition by a 10 point spread!  I owe it all to my time riding a Yamaha V-Max motorcycle! My opponent failing to activate 3 turns in a row might have had a very slight effect on the game too.  You never know...

All this stuff came in a numbered box signed by Nic and Dave. I'm telling ya, those lads at Eureka can come up with some awe-inspiring stuff when they have a mind to do so.  I might just have to paint my all my Eureka dinosaurs! And I still have my "Native Women With Chicken on Head" miniatures too, if the Basement ever decides to reveal their whereabouts.

The Sword and the Flame in North Africa

Hi Kids,  The local lads got a collective wild hair and decided to have a game!  I think this is about the third this year.  I'm telling ya, 2014 has been a really non-event as far as gaming is concerned. Here's hoping 2015 is a little more lively! We didn't know what we were going to do for this battle; FoW, Disposable Heroes, Naval, the possibilities were endless...
Since we decided not to bother building armies with point values and spreadsheets the natural choice was The Sword and The Flame, and what could be easier than French Foreign Legion vs. Arabs?

 Here we have the 25mm Old Glory & Falcon Arab forces deployed for battle.  There are more of them out of the shot.  Two units of riflemen, about eight for Melee, and two cavalry. We snuck in a machine gun at the last minute. Against all expectations I decided to play the Arabs.

 The French look a little thinner, but have huge amounts of firepower, complete with two machine guns! The Frog players were crying for the other 5 crew serverd weapons too, but there's a limit to just how many bullets/shells we wanted coming our way. Most were Foundry and Falcon.

 The French move up. Those dudes with the red hats were Zouves.

 Headlong rush! The Arabs start moving in.

 The French start blasting away!

 At the end of every charge was a Frog infantry unit forming square! It would have been nice if the movement cards had some compassion, or the Frogs could have failed one of those activation roles, but (literally) no dice!

By the end of the game it was looking really bad for the Arabs; 90% dead or routed off the map, the Frogs lost a few guys but not more than 10%.  Maybe next time we'll go back to hidden set up and movement for the native forces.  I think the high point of the game was my Arab cavalry charging the French MG team from the rear and failing morale to close.  Nice. That's the MG on top of the hill on the left of the picture.

 

All crying aside, we had an astounding turnout; Steve, John, Patrick and Tom all showed up to play, and Bryan (aka "Super B") snuck in at the last minute too!  Even W stopped by to use the bathroom.* He's a gamer, so it still counts!

 

After the game everyone seemed to think we need to game more. Always a good thing, if we can just get our schedules figured out and make it happen!

 

*Ok, I wrote that cause it's funny, in addition to true.  In W's defense, he lives 100 miles away and was halfway someplace on a roadtrip.

 

Cuba Libre!!!!! with Tiger Miniatures

Hi Kids,  Here we have a few shots of some Tiger Minis I've painted recently, I'm planning on using them in a game at the upcoming Raleigh NC convention "Southern Front."  Haven't decided on the rules, I'm leaning towards "The Sword And The Flame" but "Disposable Heroes" might sneak in at the last minute.  As everyone knows, I'm a crappy painter, but hey, thanks for asking!  Come to think of it, I'm not much of a photographer either.  The character flaws just keep piling up.

 Here we have some 25mm Spanish infantry, complete with command figures.  I took some liberties with the uniforms, and tried to make the officers stand out a little.  Army Painter stain provided the finishing touches.  And a hearty "Well done!" to Flagdude.com for the flag!  I'm tellin' ya, that guy works miracles!

 These shifty lookin' dudes are Spanish snipers.  There are even a few who have tried out leafy camo, with branches stuck in their hats and belts.  Just look for the lack of straw hats.  Gee whiz, just taking off the hat is camo!

And two cannon!  Gotta have that fire support!  Ya never know when those Americans are going to drag a hot air balloon through the jungle!

And for those of you slackers who haven't been to Southern Front lately (or ever), brace yourselves for a great con with about 150+ hardcore gamers playing everything from Cavemen and Roman chariot racing to GW's 40K and Inquisitor!  Aviation, naval and racing stuff too!  Something for everyone, but YA GOTTA SHOW UP!

Williamsburg Muster Additional AAR

 Hi Kids,  One of the minions sent in some additional pictures (and a lot better ones than mine!) of the recent Williamsburg Muster con.  So let's check 'em out!  Here we have "The Sword & The Flame" with the French Foreign Legion defending a fort out in the middle of nowhere.

 Reinforcements march up the road while being assaulted from both map edges, and extra platoons swings around the back of the fort.

 Arabs closing the gap.

 Arab cavalry hits the FFL, getting crushed in the melee.

The arab players sweating it out.

 Here we have some more shots of the "Colonial Adventures" game from Two Hour Wargames.  The same folks who publish 5150 Star Army and Chain Reaction.  The Brits have formed a battle line to best use firepower against the poor heathen savages.

 Not the type to slink away, the slavers charge foward, reaching the thin red line from one flank to the other.  The Brits are getting thin, while Queen Vicky herself uses her sporting shotguns to defend justice, liberty, and afternoon tea. Her unit is in the trees to the left of the picture.

 Another crisis averted!  The Sikhs are still in good shape while most of the other Brit units have taken a pounding.  The slavers have either fallen in battle or run for the hills.

Right, wot's all this then?  The final moments of Avalon Hill's "The Longest Day" game the Yadkin lads have been playing for the last 10 months!  The Allies have broken through the German lines there in the corner of the board, assuring victory.  What will these hardcore  gamers do next?  Highway to the Reich?  La Bataille de la Moscowa?  They do undates on Consimworld for those dedicated to those games with 60 page rulebooks.

4 June, Action at Lizardman Village, Resolution

This is the final episode of a VSF Sword and the Flame game played on 4 June at Heroes Headquarters in Mocksville North Carolina by some of the Basement of Heaped miniatures and Catawba Gamer regulars.

When we left the French were advancing on the Hill Village but on the other flank,

The Sikh machine gun has fell back to the edge of the engagement before rallying.

The parrotmen still using the swamp for cover advance to try and finish off the Sikhs.

The Legionaries enter the village and the Skink Chief is not fleeing, he is looking for reinforcements.

The other surviving unit of Legionaries advance with the last machine gun.

Two Skink Shamans direct the last Bombard to destroy the infantry.

The Skink Cheif continues to run as the Legionaries close.

The shamans are killed by machine gun fire and last Bombard is reduced to half crew.

The artillery duel. Both have range and rush to get their gun into action first.

The Parrotmen abandon chasing the Sikhs and run back to defend the village.

The surviving Sikhs charge the Skink regiment to protect the machine gun. The Sikhs lose their lives but their courage will be remembered forever.

The last bombard loses the artillery duel. The Lizard guns are done for.

The Skinks run into the Sikh machine gun fire.

The French machine gun sets up to mow down the Parrotmen as they swarm back to the village.

The Skink Chief decides to stand and fight after the French charge, His commanding presence cause them to fail to close.

Deciding that the French are not worthy enough an enemy to soil his blade, The Skink Chief goes to find one that is, while the french bullets zip all around him.

Not waiting for their stragglers the Skinks charge the Sikh machine gun. After more stragglers only two make it into contact and the Sikhs win, the surviving Skinks flee the battlefield.

This clears the flank and the Sikh start to advance.

The Last french machine gun destroyed the Legionaries form line at the top of the hill and volley fire into the Parrotmen.

Unopposed the Sikhs run down the road to help support the Legionaries.

The legionaries fire tells and the Parrotmen break and flee the field.

The French hold the field but I wouldn't call it a victory. The expedition is destroyed and they still have to make it back to more secure territory. While all the lizards have left the field a great many survived and once they regroup it will be a very dangerous return journey back for the French.

It was a helluva game. We almost decided to stop a couple times and just call the game but I am glad we played it down to the dirty end. The Mvp of the game for me was the Bombards. It also helped that my dice were so hot they were on fire! Several times in the game when I needed a 3 or 4 or less to hit on a d2o I rolled six hits on eight dice. While Chuckaroo on the other had needed a seven or less on a d20 rolled fifteen dice and only hit with two. My most memorable close combat was against Joe' Sikhs when he rolled a sting of ones only to be best my me rolling two's. Some would argue that I lost the game but I counter with I don't think the French really won it either.

I can't wait for the rematch.

ColKG

4 June . Action at Lizardman Village, Mid Engagement

This is the third episode covering a VSF Sword and The Flame game played at Heroes Headquarters in Mocksville North Carolina by some of the Basement of Heaped Miniatures and Catawba Gamer Regulars.

When we left, the Zouave Regiment was being swarmed by Skinks.

A unit of Foreign Legion line infantry charges in to help the Zouaves, and roll the dreaded three ones. They fall far short of the combat.

Another unit of skinks tries to close with the Sikhs

The Royal bodyguard and Saurus Warlord break cover to close with the Sikhs and run headlong into a wall of fire. The parrotmen on the other hand set a a deadly fire on the Sikh flank.

A skink regiment charges into the Cavalry flank only to be destroyed, with the survivors fleeing the battle.

French guns gain the range of the Lizard bombards and start picking off the crew.

The Skink chief survives as the first Bombard is destroyed.

A regiment of saurus charge the weakened Legionaire line.

The Saurus strike down the officer but the Legionaries repulse the attack.

The Skinks break the Zouave square!

The lone surviving Zouave drags the Colonel's body off of the field.

The legionaries from square along with the cannon. The leaderless Skinks
mill around working up their courage.

Long range fire from the Lizard bombards tear bloody swaths from the French line.

Chuckaroo is not amused, There is some discussion of him climbing on the table, squatting and leaving a curly loaf in the middle to show his displeasure at my slightly above average rolling for the Bombards, but I digress.

The now leaderless Royal bodyguard charge into the Sikh gun. The parrotmen continue to whittle down the unit of Sikh infantry.

The French Cavalry trample through the sacred poppy field and are cut down by lizard canister from the Bombards.

After the French cannon is destroyed by long range bombard fire, the leaderless skinks charge the Legionaire square.

The skinks are butchered with no losses to the square. The few survivors either play dead or flee the field.

As weakened Lizard units start to break and flee the field the Legionaries move into open order and advance on the Bombard defended hill.

Can the Lizard guns carry the day?

We will see in the final episode.

ColKG