Chicka Zulu!

I ran some errands this morning with Maja and we ultimately ended up at Michael's. I missed their $5 birdhouse sale a few weeks ago, and was looking at Easter clearance. I think I found the jackpot. I present to you the Chicka Zulus, just over a buck a box: From memory, I believe I picked up enough of these little guys to run any Zulu battle, although I may hit them again tomorrow to clear them out of the pink chicks, who could be used as Zulu rifles, or any other twisted idea I might have.

A size comparison between the chicks, a Swiss blunderbuss, and a Eureka Teddy Bear

(Gnome Wars) Battle of Tanga #2 - Leuwan's Holding Attack

Special campaign rules can be found HERE

November 3, 1914, 0500, northern slope of Longido Mountain

Back on the northern slope, Swiss Major Leuwen was ordered to assult the fortifications surrounding the northern wells, acting as a holding attack. It was hoped that this assault would distract the German forces enough to prevent them from reinforcing the Germans at Lt. Colonel Dykstra's main attack. The units had trouble navigating the heavy brush as they neared their objective, and the Germans actually began firing on the troops before they could be organized for a proper assault.

The Swiss are spread out against a vast no-man's land

The Germans at the top of the mountain are ready for target practice

Order of Battle

Germans: Steve and myself again

Orders: Force the Swiss off the slopes (any elevated terrain)

1 unit (Green Germans)

1 unit (Grey Germans)

1 Light Machine Gun

German Variable Attachments (d20):

• 1-3: 2 snipers from the main unit, deployed within 24 inches of the brush line


• 4-9: Teddy Bear Askari unit


• 10-17: 1 unit (Purple Germans)


• 18-20: Heavy Mortar

Swiss: commanded by Nichols and Scott again

Orders: occupy the three German trenches

1 unit (Red Hats)

1 unit (Swiss Engineers)

1 unit (Swiss Rangers)

1 unit of Sikhs (following the poor morale rules from part #0)

Variable attachments:

• 1-10: 1 Irish unit


• 11-14: Nothing


• 15-19: Offboard artillery


• 20: 1 unit of Teddy Bear Askari and roll again!

SPECIAL RULE: The rock walls on various levels were impassable areas of terrain. They blocked line of sight for any unit not in direct contact with it. Troops could occupy the area below them represented by the loose stones and be considered in heavy cover. However, the units firing out of that area did so at a -2 penalty.

Turns 1-3: The German right flank was held by the Grey Germans in a trench that was 24" closer than the other fortifications. However, the Swiss' meandering in the heavy brush negated the opportunity to concentrate their forces on that flank. The German heavy mortar arrived at the last second to support the units and hellfire rained down upon the Swiss, causing significant damage to the Engineers and the densely-packed Sikhs. Just as German rifle fire began to wittle the edges of each unit, a loud angry cheer could be heard from behind the Swiss. With the artillery lost in the brush, a group of Irish, orginally hired as laborers, had been organized to bludgeon the Germans for fun and a healthy bonus.

The Red Hats are gunned down, but the Sikhs keep charging forward

Turns 4-7: The Swiss units, save the Red Hats, charged hard towards the trenches. The Red Hats decided that the best course of action was to fire their blunderbusses at the Germans, halving their movement through the open area. When the Germans had their chance, the return volley created many wounded, but not enough to overwhelm the competent St. Bernard medic! Panic then spread along the German center, as it was discovered that the German light machine gun was already out of ammo!

One of the machine gun team members runs back for more ammo!

The lack of oppressive firepower from the center of the battlefield renewed the Swiss spirit as the gnomes pressed forward:

The Swiss Rangers reach the trench, the Irish right on their heels.

The Rangers tried to flank the German trench with limited success. The Red Hats' recovery seemed to force the Green Germans out of their cozy trench to deal with them, but rather, the riflemen forced their attentions on oblitering the remaining Engineers. Heavy mortar fire throughout the game had made the engineers paper-thin, so a few well-placed shots forced them to rout off the board.

Turns 8-11: The valiant Swiss assualt had stalled on most of the board. The Red Hats and Green Germans were trading shots under heavy cover, with little effect. The Sikhs, the only threat to the German center failed a mandatory morale check and routed, even though the member of the machine gun team had yet to make it back with the replacement ammo. The German right flank then became a house of horrors. The Swiss Rangers finally made it to the Grey German trench, and the Ranger NCO was raring for a fight. the Ranger NCO slew three Germans in hand-to-hand before they even knew he was in the trench! Sergeant Schnitzel, the German Non-Com lead a brilliant counter-attack, shooting two Swiss and pistol whipping another before taking a cowardly pick-axe in the back. With only a freshly commissioned lieutenat to lead the remaining Greys, not even the arrival of some German peasant infantry from the Greens could hold off the devastating onslaught of the Irish.

The Irish killed the Germans to a man and took the trench. With ammo finally arriving at the light machine gun, a heavy mortar waiting to acquire a new target, and the Green German rifles ready to counter-attack, Major Leuwen wisely gave the command to fall back, keeping the Germans engaged long enough to prevent their use as reinforcements during the main attack.

Per the orders for each side, scenario #2 was a considered a draw, however in points it was a solid German 35-23 victory. The Swiss wisely called retreat before things got worse point-wise, while most of the Swiss points came from the the savagery in the trench that annihilated the Grey Germans to a man. Both sides were very happy with their variable attachments. Two perfect shots by the mortar when it needed a 6 to hit on the first two rounds started the inevitable collapse of the Engineers and Sikhs. The Irish were just what the Swiss needed to take the trench and rattle the Germans (as if the machine gun being out of ammo wasn't bad enough).

In the campaign, winning this scenario gives that side some crucial advantages to reinforcements in the final three scenarios. Alas, I play in a group that is fortunate enough to play a lot a draws in their games. Great for self-esteem, horrible for campaign games.

Historically, it was Major Laverton who commanded the British holding attack, but I figured a less-British name was required for the Swiss. The British failed to take the German positions and completely withdrew back to their base camp. The staunch German defenders were actually only 45 askaris with two machine guns who never played a role in reinforcing the main attack.

Current campaign score for Longido Mountain: Germans 59, Swiss 54.

Oh where oh where will Historicon go?

Don't fret, people, the write-up for Tanga scenario #2 is in the works. I just don't have time to fight with Bloggers wonky formatting. So instead, here's a quick rant.

With the Baltimore fiasco largely behing us, the elections for HMGS underway, and most people going to Historicon reserving rooms, submitting games, etc, the next Chicken Little moment is "Where will Historicon be held in 2012?"

Recently, the courts rejected appeals against a casino license for the Valley Forge Convention Center, site for Historicons '10 and '11. The VFCC has been awarded a licenese for 500 slots and roughly 50 table games. The Chicken Littles are worried that (a) we won't have sufficient space for the convention, (b) the casino will price the convention site out of the HMGS, and (c) where else can we go?

For starters, (a) 500 slots and 50 table games doesn't take up a large amount of space, even with added restaurants and facilities. The convention space will still be there, with room to grow unless they run Flames of War, Games Workshop, and Magic tournaments simultaneously.

(b) While I'm not naive to the idea that the investors who obtained the license ultimately want to expand the casino, this does take awhile, and I can't imagine how many more organizations they will attract with slots, outside the perinnial favorites of the Rod and Gun and Toy Soldier shows. And eliminating the convention center outright would negate the argument that the VFCC is a "resort destination" as per their application.

Now (c) provides a tricky situation. To find a site bigger than the Host, without too many added expenses is tough. The Baltimore Convention Center is now out of the question, but it was a nice end result of a ten-year growth plan. It exceed our current needs. New Jersey? Lots of union sites, which would add even more expenses onto the dealers who defray a good chuck of the site expenses to begin with. The two sites with the biggest appeal on TMP are Hampton Roads and the Fredricksburg Convention Center, both in Virginia.

I am sorry to my fellow wargamers who do make the trek past the Mason-Dixon line each time they go to a convention, but there is no way in Hell that I'm driving 5+ hours south, in the middle of Summer, to push lead across a table. I admit that I'm in a convienient location, roughly two hours north of Lancaster. It's great for a day trip or a full weekend, just far away enough to forget about family issues, just close enough to rush back if something happens.

Five hours plus? I'd rather spend that time visiting friends in western PA, family in Vermont, or better yet, make if seven plus and I'll go to Origins in Columbus, Ohio! People were worried about a loss in attendence from the northern states with the move to Baltimore, let's just slap and extra two hour drive on that, and let's see if the Southern Gentlemen make up for the yankees unwilling to add two "driving days" to their weekend.

On a more positive note, my wife asked me about my conventions for the Fall. It looks as if we should be open for Mepacon on November 11-13, and Fall-in! on October 28-30. In fact, the Missus wants to go down to Lancaster, with children, as her birthday present. That means I get gaming Friday and Saturday, and we'll drive back Sunday morning. Not as awesome as a full week in Lancaster during July could be, Dutch Wonderland, the Amish, and lots of museums, followed by a con, but I could always rent a local hotel's conference room for a few semi-private games.

(Gnome Wars) Battle of Tanga #1 - Assault on the Wells

For explanations on special rules for this campaign, please see THIS.

November 3, 1914, 0500 hours, SW slope of Longido Mountain

As Swiss forces were concentrating their forces on the heavily defended north face of the mountain, Captain A.C. Bekker led a few units of the 189th Swiss around the base of the mountain to seize vital wells on the southern side. Unfortunately, they stumbled upon a work detail from the 11th Field Company, commanded by Lieutenant Erdmann. The 11th had been sent out to repair telegraph lines which giraffes had recently brought down. Upon recognizing the troops as Swiss, Erdmann ordered his men to open fire.

Initial Set-up: All three German units are in the far right corner

ORDER OF BATTLE Germans: Commanded by myself, and "Field Marshall Steven von O'Hara"

Orders: Drive all Swiss off elevated areas of the board

1 Full Squad (Purple Germans, they have no medic)
1 Partial Squad (Grey Germans)
1 Partial Squad (Green Germans, ditto)
1 Light Machine Gun

German Variable Attatchments (d20) 

1-3: Additional LMG

4-9: Remainder of the Grey Germans as turn 3 reinforcements
10-15:Teddy Bear Askari Unit
16-19 Remainder of the Green Germans
20: Remainder of Grey Germans as part of initial deployment and 1 additonal roll

Swiss - Commanded by Brian Nichols and Scott Birkner

Orders: Occupy the second and/or third tier of elevation at the end of the scenario.

1 unit "Red Hats"
1 unit "Swiss Engineers"
1 unit "Swiss Rangers"

Variable attachments (d20):

1-11: 1 unit of Sikhs "Primed for Death"
12-15: 2 Swiss rifles from any unit may start the game hidden on the second tier of elevation
16-20: "Santa Effect" On turn eight, four figs from any one unit return to play and deploy at the edge of the Swiss tree line.

SPECIAL RULE: The rock walls on various level were impassable areas of terrain. They blocked line of sight for any unit not in direct contact with it. Troops could occupy the area below them represented by the loose stones and be considered in heavy cover. However, the units firing out of that area did so at a -2 penalty.

Turns 1-3: The Grey and Green Germans worked their way down the second tier to engage at the advancing Red Hats. The Purple Germans worked their way through the thick brush of the third tier to defend the center of the battlefield. As the Swiss began to emerge out of the lower brush, a week Sikh was heard behind them. On turn 3, the remainder of the Grey Germans moved through the brush to bolster the empty right flank. Pot shots were taken at great distance, causing little damage.

The Germans try to flush out the Red Hats

Turns 4-6 - The Swiss Engineers and Rangers scrambled to the cover of the rocky outcroppings and hunkered down. The German machine gun managed to pick off a good number of straglers, but the medics were able to retrieve and revive most of them.

The German left flank was the site of most of the combat for the entire game. The Grey Germans traded ineffective shots with the Red Hats, however the Greens became focused on the rampaging Sikhs. Each traded closing shots, but the Sikhs disdain for Western medicine meant the Greens would recover their losses, while the ill-trained Sikhs started losing men and morale.

The biggest blow came on turn six, as snipers from the Engineers began firing at the exposed Grey German leadership. A few lucky shots and Lieutenant Erdmann (and his NCO) were down!

Down goes Erdmann! Down goes Erdmann!

Turns 7-10: Although the medics were able to revive both leaders, the Swiss seized the moment. The faltering Sikhs had enough intestinal fortitude left in them to march forward and slice the Green Germans with a swath of lead. The Red Hats then charged around the outcropping and a bloody melee ensued with the Greys.

The Aftermath of a Melee Round, Pre-Medic Phase

With the help of some very competent (re: lucky) medics, the hand-to-hand combat grew more and more vicious. Even the arrival of peasant infantry from the Greens couldn't turn the tide for the Greys. Lieutenant Erdmann was again on the cold mountain, this time gasping his last breath. The Greys here and on the far side of the battlefield routed, the Greens were just a step behind. Complete and total Swiss victory was there's for the taking!

Wait a minute, has anyone seen Captain Bekker?

The bodies of Captain Bekker and his trusted non-com were discovered underneath the other corpses of the carnage. Without any leadership, the Red Hats immediately routed.

The Purple Germans left the safety of the high brush and descended the moutain in order to fire a hail of bullets at the Sikhs, the only unit left on that flank. It only took one barrage to break them as well.

The Engineers and Rangers Charge the Machine Gun

Turns 11-12: Finally, the Swiss Rangers and Engineers sprung into action, climbing over the top and charging the machine gun emplacement. The Engineers did considerable damage to the Purple Germans with rifle fire, and with no medic, the unit wilted away.

The machine gun team did its best to hold the mountain, slaying five Engineers, but the constant barrage of rifle fire finally did them in. The Wells of Longido Mountain were officially under Swiss control!

With game one under our belts, I am very pleased. Although the German variable unit simply held the flank, the Swiss roll was instrumental in them achieving victory. When calculating scores per the campaign rules, I noticed some possible discrepancies in my conversion. With the Swiss achieving their objective, the final score was Swiss 31, Germans 24. Each side gets 5 points for achieving their objective, and one point for each enemy figure KIA or captured. Routing figs don't count (neither do downed figs when the unit routs, just figures removed after the medic phase.)

When looking at the scenario, as written for a straight WWI game, the maximum number of Germans on the board (with a LOT of luck) is 57. The max number of British? 30.

I estimate that we had 50 Germans on the table. We had more than 75 Allied units on the table! Given that, Allied victory should have been a lot easier than it actually was. Truth be told, if commands had switched and Steve and I had control of the Engineers and Rangers, they would have rushed the third tier before the Grey German reinforcement could have made it out of the brush. With only a light machine gun and weakend units, the assault should have been overwhelming.

But that is why you play the games...

(Gnome Wars) Battle of Tanga #0 Prologue

The Denizens of Africa Frolic Before Battle

We successfully got TWO scenarios of the Tanga Campaign done this Sunday! Despite a no-show by Nate, I did have Steve, Nichols, and Scott show up to get this shin-dig going.

We are using the Skirmish Elite - Tanga 1914 campaign set-up. The initial five scenarios involve the British attacking the German garrison on Mt. Longido. The scenarios are well-designed and allow for variable additional units to maximize repeat play. One time a side gets an extra unit, next a pair of hidden "skirmishers", next time off board artillery. Each game can have drastically different factors affect play.

Of course, we're playing Gnome Wars, so the British are replaced by the Swiss, and Askari troops are replaced by Teddy Bears.

In the real world, the British used a two pronged simultaneous attack to invade the colony of German East Africa. Ground forces would cross over the border from British East Africa (modern-day Kenya) and either defeat or detain the forces defending Longido Mountain, part of the range that includes Mt. Kilimanjaro. At best this force could seize essential wells on the mountain, as well as the local rail hub. The second attack would be an amphibious assault outside of the port city of Tanga. If both attacks were successful, the British hope to have the two forces connect via the rail line and work their way south to conquer the rest of the colony.

In the Gnome Wars world, things are not much different. After the previous Wishing Well campaign, the Swiss and Germans are definitely at war, and it has begun to spread around the world to their colonies. Gnomish Africa is a land of many exotic sentient species, as well as a land of opportunity for ne'er do wells like the Irish and Scottish Highlanders looking for the better life.

In this part of the world, the Germans hold a distinct advantage in the public relations war. They have a very good working relationship with the native Teddy Bear population, and have a well trained and well paid army of these creatures at the ready. These Teddy Bear Askari are poor shots, but ferocious in hand-to-hand combat, and rarely waver when faced with adversity.

The Swiss have focused primarily on mining prospects in the colony, so they have largely ignored their Teddy Bear population. They have sent over numerous units of Sikhs to help with colonial defense, but they have adjusted poorly to the climate and morale is tremendously low. The Irish immigrants working the mines have been used for defense and local law enforcement, sometimes as mercenaries, other times as conscripts to the Swiss Army.

There are also some special rules I've implemented to follow troop morale, enviroment, and to adapt to the special rules Gnome Wars has:

*All figures upslope are fired upon as if they had light cover, if other cover modifiers come into play, this rule is ignored.

*Melee is fought in the two-round format.

*A Swiss alphorn must be playing for any unit to advance. Each round a unit must roll a d6. If a 1 is rolled, the alphorn stops playing and the unit can not advance unless another has made their roll earlier in the turn.

*In mountainous scenarios, Swiss may only tunnel on the same level of elevation.

*Machine Guns make a roll on d6 after they are fired. On a 1, the machine gun runs out of ammo and a figure must run back to "base" and resupply. On a 6 the gun jams, and the team must spend the next turn clearing it. They then roll another d6, and so long as a 6 is not rolled, the jam is cleared and can be fired the following turn.

*Sikhs for the duration of the campaign are of such poor morale/discipline that they must remain in base-to-base contact at all times. They can not volley fire, and are subject to morale rules with a starting break number of 9.

For each scenario, I'll do a separate post for each after-action report, and provide the Gnome Wars conversion to troop selection and the variable forces available. Please be aware that the terrain is crude, but quite effective, and that numerous units may have partial base coats, if just a primer coat.

And no Fisher-Price leopards were harmed in the playing of this campaign.

(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.

(Nostalgia) All this lead is 'ettin to me...

I've always painted in spurts, which has led to accumulations of minis which ultimately I purge for no good reason. In April of 2000, I wrapped up "The College Campaign" at ESU. Although I plenty of material to keep it going indefinitely with an evolving cast of characters, the characters (and players) were iconic enough that I wanted to end this chapter in grand style.

Through the Summer, we at Griffon Games were ramping up the release of 3rd Edition, and I was pondering the next step for the Georic Campaign world. With just the release of the Player's Handbook, I realized 3e was not for me, so I turned into a more thematic direction: High Fantasy mixed with Pulp using Masterbook.

Please don't laugh.

I said stop it!

I wanted to emulate the action-packed TORG game I had seen at local conventions. Carboard figures for the villans and real minis for the characters were more for placement than for tactical wargaming. So I began painting at the store during slow times. Mike had left a crate of paints in the storage closet, and I snagged a few more to fill in the gaps. Many figs were absolute crap. Many were painted up solely to cover all the characters in The Sceptre of Amun-Ra from Journeys Magazine that I wanted to start the campaign off with. Truly, this one is my pride and joy from that experiment:

This is the Ettin from the 1999 WoTC mini line. It is only one of two minis that I successfully used Games Workshop's Dark Flesh paint. Lucky for my future gaming group, the store closed, I got a "real" job, and Hackmaster came out the following year. The minis still came out en masse for the first three or four sessions and the ettin made his only appearance when I ran "The Ettin's Riddle," one of the free adventures WoTC released to promote 3e. It sucked, and the ettin has been sitting in a mini case ever since.