Chasing the Ripper with Tom

Yet another delayed post from before vacation last month, I finally got to go down to Om's house and play in the excellent game he hosted at Southern Front this year.  He adapted it from a board game and printed out the giant map.  The original game had you chasing the Ripper all over the British Isles, which is absurd, so we reset everything in Whitechapel as it should be.

Lots of running around trying to get the clues for each murder and avoid getting killed by Jack the Ripper.  What better way to spend and afternoon? 

I have another live gaming opportunity, as it is Tom's birthday coming up and he is hosting a game at the Military History Center of the Carolinas.  Alas it is the same day as I have a bounce house in the backyard for the oldest granddaughter's 4th birthday, so I will miss it.

Working out another date to get down there and I can push lead with an actual, live opponent!

Here are some pics:

Stab, stab stab...

Punitive Expedition: Attack on the Camp!

 I played the next battle in the Punitive Expedition Campaign twice, once with modified Squad Hammer and once with some homegrown rules I have just started fiddling with.  Here are the results and the progress our little column is making...

It was quiet... too quiet as Captain Barnaby of the Midsomer Yeomanry checked his askaris manning the perimeter.  The Zamunda Field Force was halfway to its objective of destroying the Slaver compound deep in the jungle.  Suddenly, the air was rent with the savage cries of Anzique cannibals!

The first time through I modified Squad Hammer.  It was very fast, and one of the Askari units broke and the cannibals made it into the camp before being shot down by the hunters held in reserve.  Of course, there are not a lot of tactical options in this scenario. 

The camp and the initial attack

The finale, with the elite warriors of the Anzique breaking into the camp

One of the QRS's I used

In the second battle, I started experimenting, at the behest of my wife, with a set of rules that only used cards, and all of the rules were printed on the cards.  It is in its very early stages and may lead nowhere, but I did a smaller game for round 2.

You can see a few of the cards I printed up

And here is the final charge.  The camp was successfully defended again.

I am not sure if I will pursue this project.  I think it has merit, but I will table it for now and pick it back up again later. I am going to try the next game I think with Sharp Practice 2.  I suspect I may be reinventing much of what it already covers.

Meanwhile, I slide down the chute after winning the battle...

And roll yet another 6 to make it to the next battle.

I swear I am not doctoring the rolls!

Until next time, good gaming!

Punitive Expedition Correction

 I left off one of the ladders (or was it snakes?) for the Ambush battle.  I have posted a corrected version HERE.

Stay tuned for a campaign play update.

Punitive Expedition: a solo Snakes and Ladders campaign in Darkest Africa

Getting severely distracted by work (boooooo!!!) plus my inability to focus on one hobby project at a time.  

So, for your reading pleasure, here is my take on a solo Snakes and Ladders campaign in Darkest Africa.  I am going to try it out next week, let me know how you get on with it.  I am certainly jumping on the bandwagon here (I have acknowledgments in the document, but whoever came up with this first is brilliant.

The document is HERE

Good gaming!

Built a fortified compound for Nyasaland

In between starting up a play by email matrix game and the rest of my life, I have been working on terrain for my upcoming convention games.

I built a small fortified compound I have built for Darkest Africa out of scraps I had laying around.  I did not want it to be too large, just big enough to hold maybe a dozen defenders comfortably and not dominate the table too much.  I originally wanted to make a traditional fortified tembe, but it would have had to have been larger than I wanted in order to hold defenders in each of the rooms.  So, I compromised on a small fortified compound that can serve as a mission or trading post.

This is an essential piece of terrain for my Nyasaland 1888 game I will be running and will serve as the centerpiece.  I will not provide a step by step, as there are many great tutorials on foam core terrain building, but hopefully you will see you can build decent terrain, on the cheap, with minimal skills.  I learned how to do this from the old Major General's website, visit it if you have never been before. Click photos to enlarge.

All the materials.  I based it on a scrap piece of peel and stick tile I had laying about.  The corners are joined using one of these, cheap but essential for foamboard buildings!  Door s made from stir sticks I found in a drawer.

And here we are after applying spackle with my fingers and a rubber glove. I paid extra attention to the exposed foam areas, as I intend to cheap and spray paint the thing.  Spray paint tends to each foam.

After the aforementioned spray painting with a can of tan paint I had in the garage (I bought nothing extra for this project) 

A little magic oven.... Next I dry brushed the walls, applied sand and gravel with watered down glue to the base, dry brushed it, added static grass, and made a roof from felt. 

Here you can see the garrison, ready to withstand attack, provisioned with plenty of water and supplies.  The Rev. Pimplebottom and his beautiful daughter Penelope are in the center.

Another angle

And a third angle with the roof removed, showing more defenders.  This was the last major thing I needed to do to prepare for running the games over the next few months, so now on to the details, where I hear the devil lives.

Until next time, good gaming!

Announcing Jozi's Tin Man Fall Tour 2017-18!!!!!

Apologies, I have been quiet for a bit.  Mrs. Tin Man and I took another cruise.  Nothing specifically militarily interesting, just sun, sand, steam room in the spa, and beaches.  Only two items of hobby note:

• I did write a simple Matrix Game simulating the politics of South Carolina between the end of the French and Indian War and 1776.  I am working this up for my wife’s classroom and she played all 5 factions (Low Country Rice planters, Backcountry farmers, Cherokee, Parliament, and the Royal Governor) and we got a nice conclusion in an hour.  It ended in 1776 with the Rice Kings having successfully allied with the back country farmers, after surrendering some minor political power.  But they completely bungled their attempt at revolt and their delegates to the 1st Continental Congress were even arrested by the British!  We ended in 1776 with the crown firmly in control of at least the low country and the Cherokee fighting the Creek with weapons that the British had originally provided for them to use against any rebellious colonists!  It was a nice diversion, as soon as I have it complete, I will post it here as well as how running it in the classroom goes.  Otherwise we swam in the ocean, sat in the steam room, and took in the sun one last time before she has to get back to the classroom.
• For more information in Engle Matrix Games, see:
• http://www.wargamedevelopments.org/matrix.htm
• http://balagan.info/wargaming/engle-matrix-games
• While lounging on deck, in addition to reading some more E. Hoffman Price occult detective stories, I also read Philip Sabin's Simulating War.  It is a fascinating read and I highly recommend it if you even have the least interest in game design.  He is primarily focused on using (mostly map and counter) wargames to teach college students and at staff colleges, but the design approaches are universal and he works within tight time and complexity constraints.  It comes with 8 different games from various periods, and I am already thinking about adapting "Angels 15" for use with Picoarmor WW2 aircraft

Meanwhile, I have gotten some great feedback on my Historicon post, I have just caught up with approving all of the comments.  Thanks for everyone who took the time to provide feedback and keep the conversation going.

Now for the important bit... I am also planning for Jozi’s Tin Man Winter Fall Tour 2017-18!!!!  As part of my promise to put my month where my mouth is, I have submitted games to the following upcoming events:

• Southern Front in Raleigh, NC
• October 6-8
• MACE in Charlotte, NC
• November 10-12
• Siege of Augusta in Augusta, GA
• January 12-14

I will be running both of these games at each event (except MACE, where I will just run “Death Temple of Sarnath)  Keep checking the PEL’s for each event, but for Southern Front, I will run games all day Saturday, MACE Saturday from 6pm to Midnight, and I am trying to do all day Saturday at Siege of Augusta as well.  Additionally, I am looking at MACE West in March.  I figure after that, I will want to work up another game or games for 2018-19.

I am looking forward to comparing how miniature wargamers play versus the ones at MACE, which will be a higher percentage of RPG players.

The scenarios:

“Trouble in Nyasaland, 1888”
Rules: The Men Who Would Be Kings (TMWWBK)
Players: 5
Description: 
(Inspired by actual events, an expedition lead by Captain Frederick Lugard against the slavers in 1888) 
Nyasaland in Central Africa is under the British sphere of influence and is suffering from the depredations of savage, aggressive tribes and Arab slavers who prey on the local population and are attacking missionaries and British trading posts in the Lake Nyasa region. 
One such mission station is that of the Unitarian missionary Reverend Pimplebottom.  Word has reached British authorities that the good reverend, his beautiful daughter, Alice Pimplebottom, and a hunting party led by Sir Archibald Hastings are besieged in the mission by marauding Arab Slavers and brutal Anzique cannibals.  The local authorities immediately dispatch a rescue expedition made up of a detachment of the Central African Rifles and a landing party from the gunboat HMS Indefatigable.
Will the relief force make it in time?  Or will the besieged make a heroic breakout attempt? Will a dashing young British Army or Naval officer win Alice’s hand? More importantly, what will the Anzique eat for lunch?
Rules are fast play and absolutely no experience with the rules is necessary. 

“Death Temple of Sarnath”
Rules: Astounding Tales 2!
Players: 8
Description: 
It is 1934, and Shirley Uoff, daughter of Canadian millionaire industrialist Ronald “Rip” Uoff, has been kidnapped by gangsters! Rumors abound that she is being taken to Africa for some nefarious reason connected with notorious scoundrel, cad, and cultist Allister Crawley.  Rip Uoff has hired famed detective Hercules Poirot to assist the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in retrieving his daughter.
Completely coincidentally, the German Institute for Teutonic Studies (GITS) is sending an “Exploratory” Expedition to perform “anthropological” research in Africa.  Rumors of other terrible events have alerted Doctor Clark “Doc” Savage and local British Colonial authorities to potential trouble in the region.
Will Shirley be found and rescued? What is that rustling in the jungle? And more importantly, what is that thing with all the tentacles on its face?!?!?!?!?!
No experience with the rules is necessary, action will be fast and furious, bring your funny accent!

I have a long list of things I am prepping for running these games, and I have started with a homemade business card to give to participants:

I am furiously preparing range sticks, QRS’s, extra terrain, etc, and I will post pictures as it comes together.  I will also get at least one or two play tests in, so stay tuned.  Let's see how well I can execute!

Until then, enjoy!

Night of the Ripper! A Victorian Adventure with Astounding Tales

First, I want to thank my friend Tom for hosting his annual Birthday bash the weekend before last.  Great fun was had, and I have to say I really enjoyed All Quiet on the Martian Front.  Probably since I was on the winning side!   Feel the wraith of my tripods, puny humans!

On another note,  I super excited this month, as Mrs. Tin Man and I shall be attending the Southern Front wargaming convention in Raleigh, NC November 21-23.  I have not been to this in several years.

Tom convinced me to run a game, so I will be bringing Night of the Ripper, which I will run Saturday afternoon and evening using Astounding Tales 2nd edition.  It should be fast and fun, and give me plenty of scope to make things up as I go without looking like it!  I have even bought some 1920's - 30's cars from eBay and have a few pulp era figures on the table in progress.

But, this game will be set in the fog shrouded streets of Victorian London, let's meet our cast...

Click to enlarge

If you are attending, I hope to see you there!  If not, happy gaming!

Scarlet Patrol, RCMP : An alternate Mountie Company for IHMN

First of all, thanks to Tom for hosting a great game at Borderlands yesterday, March or Die!  My Arab horsemen did not quit have the oomph to slaughter the Legionaries fast enough.  Thanks, Tom!

Here is another of my IHMN companies, painted specifically for my wife and just finished last week.  She is tired of me giving her companies that are not armed with rifles!

Click to enlarge

Scarlet Patrol, RCMP

Canada is a vast, rugged country, requiring brave and resourceful men to defend her. While the men of U Troop, NWMP are generally Canada’s spearhead in the twilight war against emerging threats, they cannot be everywhere.

So when, trouble calls… The men of Scarlet Patrol answer!

With years of experience protecting the people of Canada against dastardly villains in the cold vast wilderness, they are now frequently sent overseas to strike fear into the hearts of evil doers who would harm Canada and the British Empire.

The patrol is led by the highly capable Sergeant Prestown, whose fearless exploits have made him the idol of boys across North America.  His constant companion is his loyal and intelligent husky, Yukon Prince.  The Sergeant is also frequently accompanied by a great grizzly bear who was rescued from a forest fire by Sergeant Prestown and nicknamed “Smokey.”

The constables of the NWMP need no introduction and are steadfast and loyal to a man.  Fur trappers frequently accompany the Scarlet Patrol as well, scouting ahead, ferreting out ambushes, and providing colorful tales of life on the Canadian frontier.

Notes on figures:
This IHMN Company was inspired by Bob Murch’s Pulp Figures and can be built entirely with packs from his company.  Here are the codes, you can find them at www.pulpfigures.com.  (I am not affiliated with Pulp Figures in any way, just a fan)  There are many suitable figures in the “Northland Adventures” range.  I know they are a little anachronistic for 1895, but I like my VSF a bit pulpy.  I built my version with just 4 packs…

• Sergeant Prestown and Yukon Prince: PYP 01
• Constables: PYP 05 (The Scarlet Patrol)
• Trappers: PYP 06 (The Mad Trappers of Rat River) although other packs would do as well.
• Grizzly Bear: PLT 05 (Ice Age Predators 1) Lost Worlds range
• I actually use a bear I found at my local game store, but this pack has a standing cave bear and 2 sabre tooth cats.  Who doesn't need some extra sabre tooth cats?  

The Company List

Type	Pluck	FV	SV	Speed	Cost	Talents	Basic Equipment
Sergeant Prestown	2+	+3	+4	+1	71	Leadership +1 Fearless Inspirational Iron Will	Lined Coat Military Rifle Fighting Knife
Yukon Prince	5+	+3	0	+2	34	Tough Fearless Impervious Stealthy	Fur (as Lined Coat)
Smokey the Bear	3+	+5	0	0	45	Terrifying Berserker	Claws (as fighting knife) Thick Fur (as Brigandine)
Trapper	3+	+3	+4	0	45	Marksman Stealthy	Lined Coat Military Rifle Fighting Knife
Constable	5+	+2	+2	0	19		Lined Coat Military Rifle Fighting Knife

• Sergeant Prestown or any Constable may take the Cavalryman talent (+3 points each) and a horse (+5 points each)
• May equip Sergeant Prestown or any Constable with Brigandine armor (+1 point each)
• May upgrade any Trapper with the Hunter talent (+5 points each) and a hunting rifle (+7 points)
• May equip any Trapper with an Axe instead of fighting knife (+1 point each)
• May upgrade one Trapper to Grizzled Old Timer (identical to Erudite Wit, +5 points), as he tells tall tales in a unique frontier way.

The Cult of the Old Ones - A company for In Her Majesty's Name

Here is the first in a sporadic series on the adventuring companies I use for In Her Majesty's Name.  I have been doing Victorian Science Fiction for years, and really appreciate the rules ability for me to craft companies of my own.  So without further ado...

Click on photo to enlarge

The Cult of the Old Ones

“Do what thou wilt,” sneered Alexander Crowley, “what a weak, vapid philosophy used by my brother to impress women and swindle money.  He does not know the meaning of true power…”

Alexander Crowley craves power, and his esoteric studies across the globe at Oxford, Miskatonic University, the South Pacific, and the dusty reaches of Central Asia have given him what believes to be the key.  With the knowledge he has and the powers he has gained, he just needs to retrieve a few more esoteric artifacts scattered around the world before he can fully open the door and let the Old Ones return from dimensions beyond time and space, to cleanse the world with madness. Ia, Ia!  Cthulhu Fhtagn! 

Alexander has gathered a cadre of degenerate and deranged acolytes over the course of his travels to assist him in his goal.  It is rumored that they undergo some sort of… change.  Most wear a respirator mask, the reason for this is unknown, but the few who have seen the uncovered faces after a battle are extremely unsettled.  The Cult of the Old Ones is well funded and well-armed with some of the latest weapons. It is unknown how Alexander acquired his wealth, but it is rumored that he purchases equipment using old doubloons and ancient gold coins of unknown origin…

Notes on figures:
This IHMN Company was inspired by Bob Murch’s Pulp Figures and can be built (almost) entirely with packs from his company.  Here are the codes, you can find them at www.pulpfigures.com.  (I am not affiliated with Pulp Figures in any way, just a fan)  There are many suitable figures across his various ranges, but these are from “Weird Menace.”  I know some are a little anachronistic for 1895, but I like my VSF a bit pulpy.  I strongly suggest you take a look, as many of the weird science stuff would work for IHMN as well as do double duty for pulp gaming.

• Crowley: PWM 01 (Weird Villains 1) – I personally use a cult leader I found in a box of Hellboy miniatures, but the Crimson Scorpion from this pack would be perfect, plus you get a few more interesting, menacing figures.  You could also use a figure from PWM 07 Cowled Cultists.
• Acolytes: PWM 08-09 (Gas Mask Cultists) – These two packs will give you guys with military rifles, a flame thrower, a machine gun, and a couple of WW1 Bergman sub-machine guns.  There are several other useful cultist packs, but most are armed with 1930’s style weapons like Thompsons.
• Lesser Old One: This guy I treat pretty much as a greater demon from HVF.  Unfortunately Mr. Murch does not have an appropriate figure, but there are many Cthulhu mythos inspired figures out there.  I use a repurposed Monsterpocolypse monster.

The Company List

Type	Pluck	FV	SV	Speed	Cost	Talents	Basic Equipment
Alexander Crowley	2+	+2	+1	0	64	Cloud Men’s Minds Mesmerism Mask of Terror (as Mask of Imhotep)	Staff (as quarterstaff) Steel Chain shirt under robes
Lesser Old One	3+	+5	0	0	71	Terrifying Tough Icy Blast	Extra dimensional form (treat as SRC Breastplate for armor) Acts as Greater Demon in rules
Acolyte	5+	+2	+2	0	16		Military Rifle Lined Coat
Acolyte Flame Thrower	5+	+2	+2	0	23	Strongman	Lined Coat Flamethrower
Acolyte Machine Gun Crew	5+	+2	+2	0	43	2 man crew	Lined Coat Machine gun Pistol (assistant)

• Replace Acolyte Military Rifle with SMG (no cost)
• SMG: +3 bonus, 12” Range, -0 pluck modifier, multiple targets, 9 points
• Upgrade all Acolytes to Numb (+10 per figure)