Combat Patrol: Fantasy- A Historicon Playtest

     At our club's meeting last Friday I had the chance to playtest the game I will be running at Historicon next month in Lancaster, PA.  It's a fantasy battle using a upcoming Dark Ages/Fantasy supplement for the Combat Patrol skirmish rules.   The scenario involves a Dwarven treasure caravan camped in a small hamlet for the night, which is attacked at dawn's light by by a group of Orcs, Goblins. and Trolls. Oh, My!
       Though the game was designed for 6 players (three on a side), we only had four players, so split each side into two commands.    Things went slowly at first as we all familiarized ourselves with the rules, but by game's end the action was humming along.

An overview of the battlefield. On the right is the small village where the Dwarves start, and the Orcs and their allies enter from the woods along the table edge on the left.

With the sound of Orc war-drums approaching, a unit of Dwarf Miners, and one of Dwarf Axemen, are roused from their breakfast and prepare a defense.

The Dwarf commander, feeling a bit invincible, charges upon her trusty bear-mount directly at a unit of Orc longbows.  She almost made it; but the first volley wounded the bear, which threw her and stunned her.  The second volley killed the bear and wounded her; and the third finished her off, as she struggled to make it to the safety of the nearby row of bushes.

On the Orc right, Goblins with short bows, Orcs, and a Cave Troll all advance as fast as possible...

...While on the Dwarf right, the allied Stone Giant wades into a unit of Orc Warriors and starts smashing heads.  The Orcs manage to slightly wound the giant in the leg, but ultimately the Orc survivors fail morale and run away 

Back on the Orc right, a unit of Goblins harasses the Dwarven Miners, as a  unit of Orc Warriors (in the foreground) run by the Dwarves and head for the treasure wagons.

The Orc's Marsh Troll moves to intercept the Giant.  Both creatures swing their mighty clubs and connect with their opponent simultaneously: the already wounded Giant falls dead,  and the troll ends up severely wounded, and one Endurance Point from death himself. 

The Orcs and Cave Troll on the right break through, and despite a noble defense by the Dwarves' Stone Golem, and a Dwarven Leader, continue to make headway.  The townsfolk, the last line of defense, prepare to face them in the streets.

    It was a great game!  In the end, the Orc left had collapsed under the weight of the Dwarven Handgunners and the Giant's rampage; while the Dwarven left had likewise fallen.  Since the Orc's on the Dwarven left were just inches from the wagons at the end, with nothing to stop them, we declared the game an Orc victory.

Some Old Skull Pass Dwarf Miners

  A long while back I purchased a cheap secondhand Games Workshop "Skull Pass" set off of eBay.  I painted up a few of the units, but then other projects were pushed ahead of it, and the remainder of the figures were relegated to a shelf.  A few years passed, then recently I saw some photos of someone who had painted a few of the units, and I was reminded how much I had liked the Dwarves from this set.  It had always seemed to me that there was just a lot of character crammed into these simple imaginative single-piece sculpts.

     So, in a bit of a nostalgic frame of mind, I pulled out a unit of the Miners, and prepped them for painting.   These figures are beautifully designed for block painting, (ideal for beginners), with lots of deep crevices to separate parts and colors, so I tried to do a mix of block painting style and  more detailed washes and highlights around the face and hair and a few other places.

     I also had an extra Miner figure, off whom I had borrowed the axe to make my Yukon Cornelius conversion, to which I added a spare Ogre weapon to make it look like some kind of special hero figure.

    I really enjoyed painting these guys, and I just might pull a few more figures from the box to work on this Summer.

Just Off the Painting Table: Uncharted Seas

I recently completed a few new additions to my Uncharted Seas forces. First is the Dwarven Flagship. I added a few plastic Space Marine bits to the standard model to give it a more individual look. I used superglue to glue on the bits. First, I added the business end of a chain sword to the prow to make a wicked looking ramming weapon. I also added a Space Marine flag to the middle, putting the "flag" in flagship. Finally, I added two big vents, one to each side of the rear hull, to help bulk up the engine room. Making it look like this ship has something a little extra under the hood. I also filed down the generic Dwarf Nation symbols on each side of the hull, and painted on my own made-up runes.
Paint: Prime- Krylon Grey Primer, Hull- Ceramcoat Metallic Pewter, Deck- Foundation Khemri Brown, Cannon- Accent Princely Pewter, Brass bits- Ceramcoat 14K Gold, Blue Shields and Flag- Americana True Blue, Saw and Ram blades- GW Mitril Silver, Wash-Badab Black.

Next up is the Uncharted Seas Giant model . The it is all metal and I assembled it with superglue.
Paint: Prime- Krylon Grey Primer, Skin- GW Tanned Flesh, Clothes- a patchwork of FolkArt Butter Pecan, GW Bleached Bone, and GW Skull White, Shoulder Bag- GW Graveyard Earth on front/top and Accent Mustard Seed on the bottom/rear, Hair- FolkArt Pure Black highlighted with GW Shadow Grey, Staff- Khemri Brown with Kommando Khaki rope, Rock- GW Codex Grey, Figurehead Medallion- GW Burnished Gold, Wash- Winsor & Newton Peat Brown Ink, Water- GW Royal Blue with GW Skull White highlights.

Lastly, are a pair of Belcher Submarines. Shown both in Surface and Submerged variety.
Paint: Prime- Krylon Grey Primer, Hull- Ceramcoat Metallic Pewter, Brass Trimmings- Ceramcoat 14K Gold, Blue markings- Americana True Blue, Water- GW Royal Blue with GW Skull White highlights, Wash- Badab Black.

Recent Uncharted Seas Game

I recently hosted a games day for our club, at which I ran an Uncharted Seas scenario. The scenario involved an Orc raid on a Dwarven mining/port facility. For this scenario I constructed out of pink and blue foam scraps three key terrain features: the base of the harbor, where the mines and port were located, and two land arms reaching out into the harbor. I also made two small islands to place in the mouth of the harbor. On the ends of each of the arms, and on each island I put a turret.

The turrets were constructed out of travel-sized dental floss containers with round plastic coffee stirrer guns, and a washer and plastic base for the top. On the top of the plastic base, I glued the back for a pierced earring. This has a small hole in it in which I plan to eventually insert a flagpole and flag.

I also constructed three dwarf ore barges. I traced the hull outline of a standard dwarf cruiser onto a sheet of balsa to form the basic shape. Then used balsa strips to form the edges of the hold. I build up a small mound with pink foam scraps in the hold area, and then glued ballast over it. Finally, I painted them

I did not get to complete the main harbor base in time for the game. Eventually, I hope to add more detailed mining structures and other buildings.
The game was a lot of fun, but turned out to be a bit lopsided in favor of the Orcs. One of the main problems was that I gave the turrets stats that were too weak, and the Orc Ships were able to quickly eliminate most of them at long range; before the Dwarves ever had a chance to fire them.
I plan to revisit this scenario, as the players really enjoyed it and I think it has great potential. I will keep you posted as it evolves.