(Gnome Wars) Tanga Prep

This Sunday I'll have four players to start up the much-ballyhooed Tanga 1914 campaign. If we're lucky, we'll be able to speed through the first two scenarios.

Between being a full-time dad and, well, being a full-time dad, I'm absolutely amazed at what I actually managed to accomplish in the past two weeks. The terrain boards are adequate, although I did have to snag up some extra insulation for the elevation of the mountainside. Trenches and hills need a little paint to finish them off. Painting figs, outside of the previously shown Highlander, has been base coats, and if I can can the Sikhs and teddy bears done (yes, teddy bears) with a base coat, I'll be escatic. I will be very glad if I afterwards, I can get around to touching up the Red Swiss, finishing the Engineers, and completing the Swiss Rangers before April for Historicon. Then I can focus on building!

The toughest part hasn't been the painting. Heck, my players would be happy to play with unpainted lead. The toughest part has been going through the campaign book and balancing out the sides with the figures available. There are no "squads" of 8 soldiers in Gnome Wars, just 320 pt units, and with healing rules the way they are, a few lucky rolls and a squad of gnomes could charge up the hill after being decimated a few times over and just revived by a St. Bernard. I'll take my chances with larger units and few medics. If I do want to do squad action, I am picking the figs from Brigade anyway.

Each player will be getting their unit's sheet, heavy weapons, if applicable, and a sheet of campaign rules. Basically the short version:

*Melee will be two rounds, not to completion.
*Swiss alphorn rolls will be enforced. Tunneling is NOT permitted. up or downhill
*Sikhs have poor morale and is reflected on there weakened stats.
*Machine Guns have a roll for both jams and ammo
*Teddy Bear Askaris are somewhere halfway between the regular Sikh stats and the weakened Sikhs in the campaign. They have reduced range (24" max), but they are monsters if they can charge at least 7" into melee.

I have some terrain painting to do Saturday, a lot of cleaning in the garage, and maybe I'll get to another couple figs. I can't wait to see if the Swiss are better than the British were in the engagement.