Friday 27 February 2009

Year of the Flea


Updated scores from Dave M.

'Campoon II, The Nurgles Slithers Back' - The year of the Flea

Scores on the doors for the end of year 1 on Nu Campoon.

Tel --- 17G --- Army Points = 2000
Jim --- 18G --- Army Points = 1750
Matt --- 12G --- Army Points = 1620
Martin --- 17G --- Army Points = 1700
Paul --- 11G --- Army Points = 1940
Mark --- 21G --- Army Points = 1400
Dave M --- 9G --- Army Points = 1980
Dave S --- 11G --- Army Points = 1550

Tel, Jim and Mark gained an extra Gp for having ships in a harbour.


Given that 1G = 100 army points, it can be seen that Mark isn't as well off as could be expected, but since he is on an island he has pretty much control of the situation. Matt would appear to be worse off in terms of income as he needs to repair his badly depleted armies. In terms of future income\land both Jim and Dave M are well placed as there are plenty of unexplored hexes near them.

What will be interesting is how the two independant empires align themselves. Matt could potentially take both of them, but he will be lucky to get one. There will be a three way stuggle for the southern one between Matt, Dave S and Jim, and a straight bidding war for the northern one between Matt and Dave M.

Also newly distributed is an updated rules book from Dave M, which looks like the original M.E. book but with the magic hacked out and small variations\clarifications in rules. I will still need to ask about ship movement and landing in non-harbour hexes else I will be stuck on the Island with only one direction to go.

The Campoonian counting system also seems to be a little out as I am sure the last campaign was numbered as II as well!

Wednesday 25 February 2009

Return of the Campoon!


The Campoon returns! The irregular series of campaigns organised by Dave M starts a new chapter.

For details of a previous one see the Furness Wargamers site and its news archive and forum.

This time its a variant of the original Mighty Empires being used for the map based side of things.The original rules can be downloaded as a pdf. Warhammer Ancients (rather than Fantasy) is being used to resolve the tabletop battles when they happen.

The Players:
Dave S (White)
Mark (Blue)
Martin the Nurgle (Pink)
Paul (Light Red\more pink!)
Matt (Yellow)
Dave M (Light Blue)
Tel (Light Green)
Farmer Jim (Dark Green)

Our Ancient Army counterparts have yet to be finalised but will come from the standard lists in WH Ancients supplements but without many of the special rules.

Starting Positions
From Campoon 3


Unfortunately allowing us to choose our own colour of counters have made the positions on the map slightly difficult to see. Dave M decided to play a side himself after the photos.

Starting Positions from other side


After 1st Moves


The nations in the 'Pink Zone' are already rubbing up against each other with Matt unilaterally drawing his own borderline on the map to warn off Martin and Paul. During the next few moves a number of armies clashed, with the combats being resolved via the dice, and some lost troops due to lack of supplies and events.

Mark on his island did have a nasty run in with the 'Village People' but conquered the in the end. Dave S has manage to take control of a Maginot Line of two forts, complete with an exposed 'Ardennes' next door.

After Move 5


The penultimate move for the year sees me nearly in control of all my little island but with both Jim and Dave M across the water. An agreement with Jim meant it was safe to take the remaining area next to him, allowing him to have a small enclave on my island.

Years End


All armies had withdrawn back to the hearts of their empires and the winter events had taken place and monies tallied. In terms of money Mark is well ahead with 20 crowns earned from the cities on his private island.

Friday 20 February 2009

Desert Battles


A Mini-campaign based in North Africa in WW2. With the opposing forces using hidden movement on a symmetrical nodal map. Each side had two supply bases on their respective side of the map and two separate combat groups of about 4-5 vehicles each. These vehicles can themselves split off to perform scouting etc. The further away from the bases you are the more likely that you will run out of supplies. Also available were some aircraft to help with scouting. Limited reinforcements entered randomly at the bases.

Combat between the sides was decided using a modified WH40K results sheet, the idea being to get the campaign done in a single night.

After a few minor scouting encounters, the first reasonable sized fight happened in the highlands. (hence the rough terrain below. It is impassable and also blocks line of sight)

Vehicles first appear as dust clouds till successful spotting roles are made, so initially your never too sure quite what your up against. The chance to spot increases as the distance closes, which can lead to some unpleasant surprises.

From Furness Wargamers


The next major encounter was on the desert plain itself. Flat as a pancake so no hiding except in your own dust.

Despite closing to very short range shells were bouncing of both sets of vehicles. Eventually a lucky shot took out a Panzer III and the Panzer II was effectively chased off with a series of glancing blows.



Eventually I had to withdraw as the remaining Panzer III had run out of ammo! Was pursued by the Brits till they themselves ran out of shells.

So the Campaign didn't get completed in a night but the British were pretty much on top having taken out two Panzer IIIs.

Thursday 12 February 2009

River Plate


Geordie Paul's home-brew naval rules played on the floor in the hall.

A replay of the Battle of the River Plate.

How the British (and New Zealanders) line up. The Graf Spee can be seen in the far distance.
From Furness Wargamers


The rules are of the guess the distance variety; Any pre-ploted rounds landing on the ships base is a hit, others are treat as splashes. There is also a limited amount of lateral drift in the shots. Not only do you have to range in but also work out how much the ships have moved relative to each other (Calculators\Abacuses are forbidden!)

The Spees first salvo luckily lands on target.


And does some serious damage to the Exeter.


The Exeter's and Achilles's ranging shots are well short so there is an urgent need to shorten the gap. The original plan was to split the Exeter off to try and box the Spee in.

The Achilles is next to take some damage.


The Spee concentrates fire on the Achilles and after another few hits the cruiser is the first to go down.

The Ajax, having initially held back its fire to prevent the Spree gauging distance, finally manages to get some shells on target.


The Ajax is next to go down, after getting too close after not been told that the Spee guns range band behaviour is different from the British. She was trying to avoid the devastating long range deck shots that had started to come in.

The Exeter, limping around since the first set of hits, also closes in to get some direct shots off before it also goes down.

It turns out one more good hit would have taken the Spee out. Its main armament was down to the one gun and a number of sections had heavy damages on them.




Also going on in the Club, a two player talisman,

A DBA Battle(s) of Hastings...


Flames of War with paper tanks...


and the role-players doing whatever the role-players do since they finished the Great Pendragon Campaign.

Monday 9 February 2009

Seasons End


The Battrick cricket season has finally come to an end and it has been a tough one. Managed to finish 6th in the One-day League and 5th in the First Class. Got through to the K.O. stages of the 20-20 but went out in the 2nd round.

I managed to survive the relegation playoff from division 4 in the one-day league. The other team had decided to throw the game, but I would of been favourite to win anyway (unless I had decided to throw the match as well! You do see some silly matches where both teams are desperately trying to lose.)

The OD league leader failed in his promotion playoff and it was my fault that he had to play that match in the first place. I had defeated him the previous week, in the final match of the regular season. This suprise upset denied him an automatic promotion slot on run rate! He must hate me, as his biggest rival for the title in the upcoming season has now strengthened his own team greatly. Once again I'll be happy to survive automatic relegation next season.

It's all change in the other competitions as there has been a complete reshuffle of the First Class leagues, and new 20-20 international leagues to replace the 20-20 Knockout Cups. Both of the new divisions that I am in are difficult ones. At least the relegation trap-door isn't as big in the FC as it use to be (8 in league, 4 down! is now league of 6 and 2 down.)

Thursday 5 February 2009

Dim Reaper


A late show by Martin meant the planned Anglo-Dutch Naval game was a no go. So Talisman once more came out but this time with the full Reaper expansion including 'old grass cutter' himself.

The Reaper mechanism is quite subtle and doesn't over dominate the game. I actually took a risk in an attempt to get rid of an Hag that was preventing me getting any more followers and voluntarily moved the Reaper onto myself. I got lucky and he removed the hag from me! (lose a follower result). Graeme tried the same trick to get a boost, as there are a couple of good results available, but rolled a one and got scythed down! One thing we should of checked was if fate worked on Reaper rolls (both for movement and results)

The game never got completed as whenever someone got near the center, firstly Colin and then Dave, some bastard (Me!) used a spell to destroy their Talismans. I also used the alchemist to turn my own collection to gold to stop thieves. Colin and Dave had a brief scrap to prove who was the hardest (they both had ridiculous amounts of strength) and the game came to an indecisive close.

Tonight also marked the return of Geordie Paul, famous for his campaigns and scratch build models, who is back in town on contract.