Darkest Africa mini-campaign Part 3:Defend the Camp!

Back from our cruise and started new job on Monday.  Cruise was ok, service not as good as the ship we were on in July, had a weird vibe, but it happens some time.  Lots of sun, beach, and steam room so I have no room to complain.

See also Part 1 and Part 2

Meanwhile, here is the next battle in the campaign.  Return with me to Darkest Africa and DEFEND THE CAMP!

Here we see the camp, the attackers are Rugga Rugga mercenaries allied with the slavers

The attack on tone end of the camp was quickly driven off (Upper right corner in the picture above.  There was some sterling bayonet work by one Askari in particular.

The other side of camp saw a brisk firefight...

Lt. Barnaby was once again rendered hors de combat, but Sgt. Singh ran through a hail of fire to take out the Rugga Rugga leader.

Under another hail of musket fire, he scurries back to organize the few Aksaris still in the fight.

The Rugga Rugga morale breaks and the survivors flee in to the jungle.  Lt Barnaby is bandaged up yet again and the column gets a boost from winning the battle. 

In a clearing, Lt Barnaby meets Dr. Bravestone who provides a shortcut through the jungle.

And some hard marching finally brings the column to the slaver's stronghold.

The fort is a small trading station with solid mid walls.  Will Lt. Barnaby complete his mission?

Stay tuned for the next installment!

Darkest Africa mini-campaign Part 2: Anzique Ambush! Twice!

 See previous post for Part 1...

Lt. Barnaby's column was now entering the territory of the fierce Anzique cannibals, allies of the slavers. They would love a chance to plunder (and maybe munch on) the column's bearers.

Left to right, the Anzique Chief, an elite White Shield warrior, and a normal tribesman.

The column moves along the trail, unaware that they are about to be ambushed.

This initial Anzique attack falters, as a warrior rushes the rear of the column, but his mates are not as eager. Game mechanic-wise, what happened is the Anzique's pulled a card for their activation points, and when engaging in melee drew a Joker, which immediately stops the turn. I think this makes for a great narrative, as the the unfortunate warrior will be mobbed and bayonetted while his mates hide in the undergrowth.

Later in the game, Lt. Barnaby and an Askari are charged by the chief and the white shields.

Another example of the game play, the chief gets 2 cards for being the charger and an additional one for being a Brute, yet Lt. Barnaby draws well and wins the melee.  Unloaded his revolver at close range?

Eventually, though, the column was cut up by the warriors who gleefully looted the supplies after the porters fled.  A wounded Lt. Barnaby orders the column to fall back.

More porters are recruited and the column treks on...

...until a flooded river crossing forces them to take another oute, still in Anzique territory.

The column is yet again attacked by the Anzique and yet again are forced to abandon supplies, barely getting away.

The column once again regroups and continues its journey. 

A new river crossing is found and the party makes it across.  Camp is pitched, but the undergrowth is alive with noise.  Suddenly it gets quiet... too quiet.

Ok, no more updates for a week plus as we cruise and I start my new job.  I have the rest of the mini-campaign in the can, so stay tuned!

Darkest Africa mini-campaign Part 1

So first for the good news... I got a new job!  More money and 100% remote.  Plus I picked up a side gig teaching programming at a local community college.  Then end result is I am taking a "gap week" between jobs this week, going on cruise with wife next week and start new job following week.  At my good lady-wife's insistence I have been getting some gaming in.  

I am running a Darkest Africa snakes and ladders campaign, see rules here.

This time I am using One Hour Skirmish, a set I am becoming very fond of. I will write up a review in tbe next few weeks, but I am keen on the card system.

The only tweaks I have made are muzzleloaders take 2AP to fire and allow groups of touching models to move for 3AP but may not fire, under some circumstances. I would normally post my QRS, but that would be most of the rules. Go buy them now and throw some ducats John Lambshead's way.

Here is the start of the expedition

And here is the collumn of Askari, led by Lt Barnaby of the Midsomer Light Infantry aka the "Millies."

The first battle was protecting a village from the slavers. Here are the villans...

Here is the village, slavers on left, expedition on right.

It was a a very fun, tense game. ended with a shootout on one flank and in the center of village before the slavers morale broke and they fled.

The expedition continued on, guided by a grateful villager. 

Until they encountered an Ambush!

Next time... the Anzique wardrums are beating!

Made some rocks!

 Whew!  Now that I have unloaded several projects that had no chance of completion in this decade, I am free to focus more.  So, I needed some rocky terrain for Korea to represent really rough terrain that would also provide cover in Crossfire. 

I 3d printed these rocks designed for 28mm available free on Thingieverse, but being the dolt I am, I cannot find them now...  They were sized for 28mm, so I scaled them down, but not evenly, I "squashed" the Z axis more to make them shorter for my 10mm figures.  Yes, it would probably have been easier to go get actual rocks, but where is the fun in that?  As nothed my 3d printer is my hammer and I turn every problem into a nail...

Here is what they look like finished. 

They will also work for rocky ground in 28mm, maybe perilous areas in Pulp Alley.  Nothing worse than a sprained ankle, but more likely to conceal a snake...