More Steampunk: IHMN Companies

Today I had a better read of "In her Majesty's Name" and specifically the rules concerning the creation of "companies" which are the factions in the game.  I also got my Castle Falkenstein RPG figures out of the cupboard - which was good as it reminded me of some figures that I'd forgotten I had - like the Victorian Detective (aka Sherlock Holmes) from Salute 2000, or the Flintloque Zombieski Cossacks.

Rules suggest 3x3 playing area and 250 pts.

First up was the British Rifle Company:

Figures are Redoubt Zulu wars range facing a Castle Falkenstein Mystic/Mage. 

	Based on US Marines
PTS		QTY	PTS
43	Officer	1	43
5	Tough	1	5
29	Gunnery Sergeant	1	29
5	Tough	1	5
2	Bayonet Drill	1	2
80	Marine X4	4	20
8	Bayonet Drill	4	2
20	Marine	1	20
-2	Congreve Rocket Gun	1	-2
7	Rocket Grenade	1	7
14	Spare Grenades	2	7
13	Navy Corpsman	1	13
20	Marine	1	20
5	Marksman	1	5
249	9 Miniatures	TOTAL

Next up were the Naval Landing party for which I used the British Army chart since  have a gatling gun model (not shown).  Against these were the Society of Thule (wicked Germans who meddle with Zombies).   The first picture shows off the problems of focusing on a hand held camera (ought to get the Tripod out), whilst the Second has a Wizzkids Brass Golem and the Pax Limpopop armoured bicycle. 

Figures otherwise are Redoubt Enterprises - Brtish and Wargames Foundry - Germans

	Based on British Regulars			Based on Society of Thule			Tongs
Total PTs			Total PTs			Total PTs
57	Captain		39	Dr Kobalt		55	Master wu-jen
10	Inspirational
			30	Thule Feldwebel
29	Sergeant					30	Tong Lieutenant
5	Tough		104	Jager X4		1	sword
2	Bayonet Drill
			45	2 Jager with flamethrower
80	Riflemen X4					24	Dragon Warrior
6	Bayonet Drill		26	Jager		10	Dragon Tattoo
			5	Marksman
40	Riflemen					45	Yeti
0	Machine Gun
			249	9 Miniatures		84	Boxer X7
				Plus Zombies
15	Field Surgeon					249	10 Miniatures
5	Erudite wit						Yeti
249	9 Miniatures

To try and get a better feel for the "rabble" argument I turned to the Tongs.  Even here points still go as it is tempting to field the yeti, if only to have a nice miniature on the table and whilst the Boxers at only 12 points would seem to fall into the rabble category the total points soon go.   Interesting to note that the companies are mostly coming out at 9 miniatures, somewhat less if you go for the specials.    

Finally a picture of the Castle Falkenstein blisters from Soldiers and Swords so if you see them in a bargain bin it is worth a rummage.  These are Dwarves and Mystics - the most useful for steampunk skirmish are probably the Prussian Soldiers - who I have (but not in blister) and need to photograph. 

Not the best photography but wherever I was I seemed to get flash bounce from the plastic blister packaging. 

Steampunk - Once upon a time there was a roleplaying game

As part of the catch up then I'm covering somethng I got involved with last month.  I did a kickstarter for some figures, specifically the Empire of the Dead Requiem.

A long time ago - well early 90's there was a roleplaying game called Castle Falkenstein that was steampunk plus magic.  I liked it and the theme - I even GM'd a couple of sessions but the White Wolf World of Darkness games (Vampire, Werewolf) were the fashion at the then RPG group and it had limited interest.  Very much it needs people in the right frame of mind and the GM needs a setting that the players want as well.  Needless to say I bought all the books and even managed to get some of the "official' figures out of bargain bins at conventions.  For other figures I scoured various fantasy ranges along with historical ranges from people like Wargames Foundry.

But in some ways the steampunk feel went back earlier than that.  I'd always enjoyed films that featured say Nemo and the Nautilus.  Go back to the mid 80's and was re-reading the Hawkmoon stuff by Michael Moorcock - we were playing alot of Call of Cthulu RPG at the time but the GM had lots (possibly all) of other stuff put out by Chaosium (which is how I got started on the Pendragon).  When a toy shop was having a clearout I got a couple of zoids with a view to converting them.  These may may excellent 'steampunk" vehicles.  I think I have the giant worm pictured below and another one that flaps wings (view to making a Gran Brettanian Ornithopter from Hawkmoon).    

One of the blogs I follow is A conflict of Interests and I found myself agreeing with the comments about wanting the steampunk aspect in preference to the Gothic werwolves vs Vampires.   

Not blogged about here but something I was very taken with a couple of years ago was the Warhammer Historical Legends of the Old West game.  Now sadly part of history as I suspect licensing issues means that nobody else will be given permission to reprint it.  One of the groups was the Chinese Tongs - always part of pulp fiction.  The Empire of the Dead Requiem Kickstarter had a couple of free figures that I really wanted - the Dragon Lady, so I ended up backing the project.   

I have the PDF of the rules but not really had chance to go through it yet.  I watched the kickstarter (or Nickstarter to be more appropriate) for the figures for In Her Majesty's name.  The free figures for the various financing options were less generous than the Westwind offer and the basic factions were of less interest or ones that my Castle Falkenstein stuff might cover.  

I have bought the rules though.  Very interesting on a first read through and definitely my sort of game.      The mechanics and construction rules seem fairly sound, and the campaign system whilst somewhat simple looks as if it will work and the whole thing has that "feel" of the campaign and tabletop skirmish game that had appeared in the Legends of the Old West.  

Paint Tray

If you look at my profile then there are a number of other blogs that I follow.  They in turn follow other blogs.

So, BigLees Minature Adventures came up with this Nail Varnish rack, which he in turn had spotted on another blog.

Mine has duly arrived and its good and not so good. 

Good: Its cheap (much cheaper than the laser cut mdf ones), works well and takes Games Workshop old style, Games Workshop new style, Vallejo and Miniature Paints pots. 

Not so Good: Doesn't take a few oddities that I have - Howard Hues (from Magister Miletum), Tamiya (useful for metallics and metals) and the Humbrol 30 ml (i.e. large pots) which may or may not still be made - I suspect not after a visit to the official Humbrol web site.  

Samurai - Rotterdam and Lone Wolf and Cub

April and May have been somewhat hectic for some good and some not so good reasons.  One of the good parts was a 5 day trip to Holland in Mid May, specifically Rotterdam, Leiden and Amsterdam.

The main reason for going was a Samurai Exhibition at the Weraldmuseum in Rotterdam which ended on 26th May.  My chum's daughter's boyfriend passed on the details a while ago, and we hadn't had a big (aka aged 50 ish) boys outing for a while, so "why not".  (I also got to see the Dutch Marines museum but news of that in a different post).

The exhibition turned out be very, very, good and well worth the journey.

The following pictures comes from this blog.

Photography in the exhibition was prohibited for obvious reasons.  The low level of lighting would have meant that without a tripod and very long shutter speeds the results would have been very poor.  The billing talked about stuff on loan from America and Japan but didn't say that much of the stuff was from the Museo Stibbert in Florence - which I knew had lots of Samurai stuff from some Black and white photos in Osprey books.  When I came back I checked it out (again) and the Museo Stibbert Samurai stuff is now only by appointment and incurs an extra fee of €150 !

More pictures on this blog.  

One of the more unusual helmets at the show was this one with a massive (I assume paper mache) Octopus.  

Aside from a two items (armour and a sword set) made for the Dutch King as gifts, the rarest items I suspect were a straw jingasa (war hat) and back banner (Sashimono). The Sashimono was from the Momoyama (1573-1615) period which covers the period of unificaton by Hideyoshi (such as the battle of Sekighara).  With no photography then I succumbed and bought the catalogue for €35 - not cheap, but all the photos are colour and some are very close detail.  Unfortunately it doesn't illustrate every item.  

The Samurai on horseback was in the museum entrance hall and the one item that could be freely photographed.  

Final mention is some new Samurai figures only available until 29 May.  These are from Black Bases and represent Lone Wolf and Cub.  Mine arrived today and what it doesn't mention is that the set does include the babycart too, so is somewhat better value.   Remember that figures are unpainted.  

 

Salute Part II - the shopping

My days of doing lots of shopping at Salute are over for various reasons - I already have it, I'm getting more careful with my cash, I can't carry it home on the train etc... 

Nevertheless, there are lots of new and shiny things at Salute... 

GENERAL

Just before going up to Salute I bought a copy of the new merged Miniature Wargames/Battlegames mag.  The old Miniature Wargames was always a curate’s egg for me – i.e. good in parts and I used to browse in Smiths and buy 2-3 issues a year.  The revamp looks good and I suspect that the introduction of the Battlegames contributors will improve what I see as the quality of the articles. 

Wargames Illustrated was there with the latest issue and an offer of a free figure of Joshua Chamberlain for the first 200 purchasers.  Given my love affair wth the magazine is waning then the inducement of a free, limited edition figure was enough to secure a purchase. 

The last magazne was the current issue of Medieval Warfare – Medieval Bishops themed issue.  Lots of interest here.   Right away then I should remind people that I write for the sister publication Wargames Soldiers Strategy.  I’ve let my subscription to the society of ancients lapse this year (too much DBA, biblical, greek and Republican Roman for my interests) and may well start up a sub to Medeval Warfare given the number of issues I’m buying. 

MUSKETS & TOMAHAWKS

Selection of multiple movement trays from Warbases. 

3 of the 5 man clumps

3 of the 5 man lines

Couple of 2 man but square edged trays that will the corners rounding off on. 

Some blank 25mm discs to infill with scenery etc….

SAGA

Big news of course washte box of unarmoured warrors from Gripping Beast.  Looks good and as the box says, enough to make up to 32 with slings or 16 with javelins, or 8 with swords or axes, whilst I suspect everyone could have a spear if you wanted.  .   

I bought a couple of figures for use as SAGA warlords. Nominally 28mm, more like 30mm and not cheap (USA imports). Tthe top viking is supplied with an axe and sword which makes him look more menacing.  

http://www.fenrisgames.com/shop.html#!/~/category/id=4201768&offset=0&sort=nameAsc

I also got a pack of 10 30mm lipped plastic bases to distinguish the warlords  for SAGA from EM4 miniatures. 

Japanese Stuff

The big news here was the Sarissa Laser cut mdf buildings.

http://www.sarissa-precision.co.uk/

I got a number of clan war packs at £3 each – essentially 16 Diadoji Iron Warrors (Samurai Spearmen) with a pack of mizu adepts (martial artists), bowmen and a couple of personalities. 

New to me were fouraminiatures

http://www.fouraminiatures.com/

Initially there was a range of Science Fiction pilots, snow troopers and others that caught my eye, but then from a Japanese viewpoint (I believe there are legends of quatic lizardmen) there was a lovely collection of “sea demons”.  

A few other small bits like some transfers and a couple of bits for friends and I was finished.  

Salute 2013 - Part 1 - the show

SALUTE 2013 – How was it for me…..

Well, by catching a later (and cheaper) train then I ddn't arrive until about 90 mins after opening and missed all the queues which was probably a good thing.   

Well, my initial response is that it was all a bit underwhelming.  With the height of the new(ish) venue and the (greyish) lighting then stands have always got a bit “lost”, and the “white noise” effect form the people, ceiling and echos make it hard work wth my hearing aid.  But the sense that I came away was that I was seeing too much that I’d already seen before over the last 2-3 years, and on many games there was that lack of a ‘wow” factor for me to want and look at them further.  Often, this is having eye candy at eye level to catch my eye, or the non gamng props that cause me to feel that the people have thought about the game they are putting on.   It's not the new and shiny (if obscure) period that I'm looking for - its the shop window effect to get my attention.  

I do wonder if the sheer costs of putting a game on at salute are putting people off.  Parking isn’t cheap, neither is fuel these days, and in reality how many people are actually interested in what you are doing at Salute rather than being there as a shopping fest?   There appeared to be two notable non attendees this year who have always put on games previously that I had a lot of time for – one was the Whistable and Herne Bay Wargamers  who have put on what I regard as a variety of good participation games in prevous years, and possibly the skirmish wargames association (the catalogue lists a game but it failed to register on me) who have normally done a very good 54mm game. 

Equally I wonder if the smaller traders are now being priced out of Salute.  

Overall I think I'm now in the position of seeing Partizan as my best show to visit. 

I took relatively few pictures this year - which is a reflection of my overall impressons.  Of course next year, if I downgrade what camera equipment I carry to save weight from the digital SLR with flashgun to the compact, then there will be lots of good games.....  

For those seeking a blog with lots of pictures then I would recommend

Big Lees Miniatures Adventures as a blog that I follow that has taken lots of photos. 

In no particular order  we have...

Cloudships of Mars from Oshiro Model Terrain.  OK, so he is selling some of the products, but the colour combination coupled with the cloudships caught my attention.   And its pseudo Steampunk.  

James Morris (of WAB El Cid and Shieldwall fame) normally has a game on at Salute, and this year it was Dux Bellorum (Dark Age), using as he freely admitted figures that I had probably seen before.  

Oshiro Model Terrain are best remembered by me for their Japanese stuff, and again they had a Japanese game on dispaly.   This did feature lots of things I've seen in the last 2-3 years but nevertheless I did take a picture of it.  

VBCW was there with another game.  Well displayed (e.g. the boards, sample weapons) as always and a game with lots of features.  Sometimes I wonder if less would be more in terms of VBCW games, or if more reflects the almost anarchic state of warfare with the various rival (even if allied) factions.  Loved the BUF HQ building in the back - almost masonic temple.... 

And last is the WSS Samurai game.   I didn't play in this (remember my hearing comments made earlier about noise at Salute) but when a game was in progress it seemed like people were having fun.

Muskets and Tomahawks Inspiration and a pleasant surprise

I said a few posts ago that I was starting to try and sort things out and decide what periods did I actually want to game.  I think I'm currently at 15+ different genres with not really a fully painted army for any of them.  Lots of bits of armies, and lots of unfinished armies at the "8 colour" stage so that they were competition legal (flesh, bases, trousers, jackets, armour, weapons, hair, shields) but not really very detailed.

The French Indian Wars is one of those that's going to be staying due to the appeal of the Muskets and Tomahawks Rules from Studio Tomahawk although largely promoted by Gripping Beast and North Star Miniatures in the UK.

The interest goes back much, much further but what it needed was a set of rules to capture the flavour of early books and television.  I had bought "Ranger" from Partizan Press but the emphasis was on larger battles (with regiments of say 24 figures) with regular troops alongside the Indians and Rangers.  I wanted the enlarged skirmish game that is the subject of Muskets and Tomahawks.
 

I must have been nine or ten (we moved around my tenth birthday) and I had the book at the 'old house" when I got a rather super book.

Whilst the BBC version of Last of the Mohicans was on TV in 1971 with Phillip Madoc.  The book has survived with its spine intact unlike the companion volume of "The Finding Out Book of Battles".  Both books were illustrated by Ronald Embleton who also wrote the Pioneers book.  The guy behind Galloping Major miniatures is also a long term fan of the pictures and also has the book.  What I've just realised as I've checked the web link is that he appears to have chosen the same picture as one of the favourites out of the book.  

Forty years ago America (I hadn't appreciated that we might actually mean Canada then) was still somewhat exotic - Jumbo Jets were relatively new and I had little realistic chance of actually seeing America.  I've still yet to see the Great Lakes area but have now visited Boston and the site of Bunker Hill, as well other Revolutionary War sites such as Lexington and Concorde and places on Paul Revere's ride.  

As part of sorting out then I've been taking stock of books:

  

Contents

Foreword · Part I: The French-Indian War 1754–1760 · Part II: The American Revolution 1775–1783 · Part III: The War of 1812 · Bibliography · Index

(This is a somewhat meaty tome that I've only really just dipped into, but seems promising

I bought this a long while ago because it was cheap and interesting.   Rather scholarly, its good at portraying Indian life and details but is short on what I want as a 28mm gamer - pictures of different types of warpaint.  The Galloping Major website has lots of useful information on painting Indians.   

These two were bought during my "Pirate" phase, out of sheer interest for what the Colonies had in terms of troops.  Given the time period covered then only of partial relevence, and volume 3, because of the Ranger Element has direct relevence to the M&T period.  

The Ranger book is one that no self respecting M&T enthusiast should be without.  The Raid book has lots of ideas, pictures and maps but is one to take slowly, probably with a map to hand to understand the relevence and locations.

A couple of very useful books and whilst the emphasis (especially in the French book) is on larger forts which are unlikely to appear on an M&T tabletop except as a backdrop there are a couple of very nice black & white drawings of smaller fortfied villages/hamlets which are very useful. 

The pleasant surprise was Redcoat, which was a book I'd bought from one of the online bargain book sellers that I deal with.  I'd never had time to look at it in depth (thing with the book clearance trade is buy it when you see it as it may not be there when you go back later) and had always put it with my Napoleonic books.  Sorting those out for storage though, I discovered (pleasant surprise) that it is a rebadged British Redcoat 1740-1793 and large amounts for the French Indian War and later the AWI. 

 

If  I had to rank them in terms of value for money (and I've taken to buying some books second hand now to save money) then:

1: Ranger book and Raid book

2: Forts books

3: Woodland Indians, Colonial Troops.  

No French Uniform book reviewed as I'm still waiting for that to arrive, and the redcoat book needs to be looked at in detail.  

Next, Movies...

Probably "The" movie to watch with its haunting Clannad soundtrack, although like me you have probably seen the best bets as short clips previously.  Lots of fighting, lots of redcoats, lots of Indians.  Touch of romance and some excellent shooting.  

Battle of the Brave is set in New France in what appears to be the Quebec area to judge from a siege scene.   First and foremost this is a tangled love story with betrayals and accusations.  Not much in the way of battle scenes or even shooting whilst I'm not sure I spotted a white coated French Regular in the entire movie nor a tomahawk.  Lots of Plot but not a great amount of action (other than brawling and sword fights etc), and lots of scenery to look at.  I got mine for a few pounds secondhand and at that price I felt it well worth it but pay more than £5 and I suspect you will be disappointed given the advertising statements made about it.