Dawn Raid on the Cornish Coast

Monday night saw the first chance to get out all the Pirates and playtest my new Pirate Rules.

This posting will focus on the game and in a few days time I will post up the rules and some thoughts on how they can be enhanced. Suffice to say that these are based on the great Muskets & Tomahawk rules with some inhouse revisions dealing with movement, combat and morale. I should point out that these are my interpretations to fit with the Pirate theme. One particular difference is the way we deal with Leaders (known in this ruleset as Heroes & Villains) – these guys get to duel !

Because my West Indies campaign setting is still in the throes of completion – awaiting on palm trees from china and the buildings are yet to be finished. The first game is set on the Cornish Coast near the port of Dreads Haven.

As you can see from the pictures of the board I managed to also put out the recent acquisitions from Salute (The Em4 Farm & Ainsty Graveyard) along with the complete Conflix Town ! With lush woodlands, beaches, port and adjacent harbour fort the setting drew gasps of delight from my visiting chums. Since breaking into 28mm a few years back I am now finding that generic scenery cans have a multitude of settings.

View from the South - the harbour

View from the North (the Estate)

Gullwing Bay

The harbour and Town of Dreads Haven

The Game

In this test run our Pirates were all following the same mission. Two objectives were on hand.

1.       Siezure of the Army paychest hidden in the Port Town

2.       The Kidnap of Lady Muckleby known to be staying in the farm estate outside of town.

A total of 80 pirates in four bands (red, yellow, blue & green) were launched in jolly boats and headed for shore. Two bands would tackle the town whilst the other two headed straight for the farm. Their ship the Cerberus under the command of Captain Spike would offer fire support off shore if required.

Each Pirate band was lead by a nefarious villain (we never got round to naming them)

In defence a few motley bands of militia, civilians and the regulars garrisoned in the fort. In total around sixty figures. A number of local dignataries and officers made up the hero contingent.

Streaming Ashore

With units activated by cards the Pirates quickly rushed ashore at Gullwing bay and into the harbour. Rapid movement allowed these forces to wquickly secure defensive positions across the board and then they could start in earnest in the raid.

Entering the Town

A local unit of civilians loitering near the graveyard became their first victims. Charging down the narrow lane the civilian farmers, drovers and gravedigger succumberd to a fusillade of pirate musket and pistol fire. However dodging leadour Hero leading this charge challended the red band pirate leader. Blows were traded (cards selected and played – amore complex game of rock scissors paper) and the first Pirate died with a thrust to his heart.

Recognising that his small force of Cornishmen were no more our Hero swiftly retreated up the path towards the castle.

The fight in the lane

Meanwhilst thirty plus bloodthirsty sea men flooded into the lightly defended town seeking out the Army Pay chest. Not surprisingly this was hidden in the furthest building. A few Civilians wakened by the ensuing noise put up small resistance to this rampaging horde. Out gunned, out numbered and quite frankly terrified the remaining civilian defenders could not enter the town for fear of their lives.

Finally the garrison troops were roused and realising that the town was no place to fight they decided to cut off the Pirate escape from the Walled Farm. Marching past the graveyard they turned and fired off a volley into the pirates defending the narrow bridge. With desultory effects they stood by awaitying the next turn of the card. Once again the num,erical numbers of the Pitates told and withering blast sent half our redcoats into oblivion. The remainder fell back behind the cemeary walls ver to venture out again

The regulars arrive

Defending the bridge

Meanwhilst the Pirates had rushed the walled enclosure of the farm  - making swift work of the local militia (cuinningly disguised as rangers).

And the town was now in Pirate hands with the treasure secure

Civilians hiding behind the walls

We couldn't have a game of Pirates without the ships guns being fired in anger - so as the Cerberus passed the town Captain Spike let rip with a broadside.

Flattening the wharf tower in the process

With all the defenders either dead or in retreat the Pirates captured the treasure and Lady Muckleby.

First up apologies for the lack of photos - what with running the game, making coffee & tea there was little time to wield the camera. One of my mates has taken some pictures so hopfully these will be posted up soon when received.

The rules allowed for a very fast flowing action orientated game. There are still some aspects requiring sopme work when we reconvene in a couple of weeks time...

Shiver me timbers and avast ye land lubbers...

18th Century Carriage

For some time now I have been looking for an 18th century style carriage. The good old boys on the Lead Adventure Forum pointed me in a certain direction - Wedding Cake Toppers.

I found a source on ebay and £5 later (inc postage this arrived. With a coat of paint and some new horses this will be pefect for 28mm

Thanks for dropping by

Eric the Shed

Ainsty Castings Graveyard

As mentioned in a previous post I bought the rather excellent Cemetery set from Ainsty Castings at Salute. For £40 you get an awful lot of resin including walls, pathways, gates a small mausoleum and of course tombs and gravestones. The first photo shows the kit as it came out of the box.

Link: http://ainstycastings.co.uk/index.php/cPath/41/osCsid/75cb898e6e9cf0f5c8030e01fc31a3b4

Because I wanted this as a static piece of terrain I decided to mount the whole lot on a single board. With a 2cm border from the walls the total layout is circa 40cm x 35cm.

Unfortunately the camera wasn’t around when I started this project so I’ll my best to explain how I got up to the second photo. Having measured up the dimensions of the outer walls I cut out a board from some off cuts of hardboard. I personally find this material extremely versatile and it is very cheap. Provided you paint both the top and bottom in a decent acrylic warping is kept to a minimum. I then washed all the acrylic pieces in warm, soapy water before spraying them in a black or brown primer.

Once dry the all of the items were glued onto the board using ‘Hard as Nails glue’ and left to dry for 24 hours. This stuff glues anything and ends up rock hard. For some folks this might seem foolhardy but I couldn’t be bothered in placing the gravestones each battle and this way they are less likely to be lost. The only pieces not to be glued in place were the mausoleum and a plinth. I intend to use the latter for a statue in my town. By not gluing in the mausoleum I can use this in alternative settings and it keeps the height profiler of the overall piece down to under 5cm.

Next up I painted white glue on the whole board carefully avoiding the resin features. Then placing the board on a large sheet of newspaper I liberally covered the whole thing in medium grain ballast. Again this was left to dry.

Shaking off the loose ballast I then scraped off any debris that had stuck itself to the resins features. This ground cover was then painted black to both hold the ballast in place and to form the base colour before dry brushing.

Here you can see the affect so far....

Next up I started to dry brush the ground in browns – working from dark to light. Much of the ground will be covered in static grass but this forms a great under base where it pokes through.

With the ground painted I turned my attention to the walls, buildings and other stonework. Again these were drybrushed in greys. Dark through to light.

Nearly there...

I wanted the area to be very green - so a liberal dose of white glue on top of the brown earth followed by copious amounts of static grass.

A few extra bits of clump foliage adds a useful contrast to the bright green grass.

With the gates glued on were done.

I am delighted with this terrain feature and I am sure that it will work across most of my genres....in the meantime a couple of photos

Firstly some sad folks in the 18th century

Last Respects

Bert the Grave Digger

and it can even be a 'pet cemetary'

 featuring - Basil the wargaming Hamster !!

(no animals were hurt in these shots !)

Salute Shopping

As mentioned in the previous post I came away from Salute with three large bags of wargaming goodness. I am very chuffed with my purchases and wanted to share these with you...

Top purchase - the farm set from EM4 - for a reduced proce of £65 you get four buildings - beautifully painted. The roofs come off the doors open what more can I say...very very very happy !

Every town needs a graveyard and Ainsty Castings produce a ready made version - all this for £40. The resin casts are brilliant. Can't wait to paint this.

As promised I picked up the two other boats from Ainsty - the merchantmen and sloop. These are somewhat smaller than the big man o war but they look great !

Finally got my Saga dice - on a deal

I wanted a styatue in the town and some time ago I setlled on as bronze stag - this could be used across periods and genres with no problem. I found this fabulous version on the Foundry stand. Its antlers need cleaning up but it is a beauty.

I finally managed to pick up the bases for my irregular troops & Indiansd for the French Indian Wars. These came from Warbases and worked out at just over £1 per base.

Whilst on the Warbase stand I noticved thay were selling doors, windows etc...check these guys out not only does the product look great its also great value - £1 for three doors, 12 windows etc

With Vikings on the agenda in the not too distant future I thougt I had better buy some Monks - these were found on the Redoubt stand.

And finally I came across this company AW Minatures selling a new range of infantry for the French Infantry War. I'd never heard or seen them before but the castings looked pretty good and for £20 I bought 20 British Infantry. If they paint up well I shall be going back.

From a scale perspective they are very similar in size to Redoubt. 

Hadrians Wall Adventure - Day 1 - The Trip North

We set off from south west London leaving a sad Mrs Shed and headed north into the city. London Underground as usual did its best to prevent us from getting to Euston. We finally reached the London terminus to be advised that our train was now running almost an hour late!

The station was full of drunk Manchester fans and several families heading north. We finally boarded the crowded train along a very smelly tramp who insisted on spilling an entire carton of coleslaw by the toilets? Fortunately this vagabond removed himself at Preston.

Carlisle is an interesting town. It's shopping area is much like any other regional town. However it's nightlife I suspect involves several pints of lager, a Stanley knife, a pair of dodgy heels and a pneumatic girlfriend, heavily tattooed and orange.

Having walked across town, we ate close to our guest house and have turned in early for the night.

Hadrians Wall - Fulfilling a Lifetimes ambition

As of tomorrow I head up North to Carlisle to begin the best part of a 80 mile trek along Hadrians Wall.

Joined by my 12 year old son we are marching in the footstep of the Legions so many years ago. With a fascination for all things history and miltary this has long been a lifes ambition.

With a bit a bit of fair weather we might even enjoy ourselves !

If local Wifi permits I ll post a short daily blog to keep you up to date on progress and then I'll add the photos at the end of the week. We will be back in London on Friday just in time for Salute..


Wish us luck and first post hopefully tomorrow !!


Eric

Shed Wars Hoody - Am I brave enough ?

Can I be brave enough to wear it at Salute?

From Front

From Rear