Lockdown Catch Up - 1

It's been a few weeks since I last posted, so thought I should catch up on what's been going on.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to work from home during all of this.  It's weird trying to do my work and manage the team remotely, and I do miss my most excellent colleagues, but it's a far better position to be in than many have.  Of course lockdown also means having the little miniature at home as well (she was just getting to the end of her Reception year, how time flies!).  In that respect I'm also fortunate that my other half is not currently working, having left the primary teaching profession about 18 months ago! So she's (mostly) enjoying the challenge of picking up the home schooling, which leaves me able to work.  Nonetheless, I'm not finding that I have any more time for hobbies, if anything I have less.  Previously I might use a lunchtime at work to prepare for or write up a game, read a book on the bus to work or, when working from home around one day a week, sneak in a quick half hour of painting at lunch.  Now any spare time is used preparing meals, or just to give Mel a break from the Miniature!

That said, I've still been sneaking in a bit of progress here and there!

1. Found a Lockdown Opponent!

The Little Miniature (not so little any more) kept asking about the 'knights and ghosts' that Daddy was painting (those GW Sigmarines and Chainrasps) and asked what the board that came with them was for.  The explanation led to a request to have a game, so off we duly went!

She took the 'knights'.  We managed a whole game before she got bored and just wanted to play, but she did enjoy it, probably because she won ;-)

It did remind me of some of the reasons I drifted away from Warhammer following the great fluff mess up though.  I accept that this is a simplified version of a simplified game, but in terms of actual tactics there weren't any.  It's pretty much down to luck of the dice.

She's asked me to paint a mounted knight for her and I have plans for a jousting game.  Which brings me on to...

2. Youtube

I've been watching a lot of videos on Youtube recently, particularly whilst cooking tea (anyone remember the mother's cooking in the old BBC sitcom 'Butterflies'?  Mel's is like that, only with more lentils... so cooking is mostly my thing).  Particular favourites have included:

Modern History TV  Presented by Jason Kingsley (and his wonderful horses), co-founder of Rebel Software and jouster (I've seen him joust at Bolsover and Leeds).  I'm no longer allowed to watch these without the Miniature present, as she enjoys them too!  He's got a knack of being just as interesting about jousting techniques as he is about ink from the Middle Ages, and the ones on food are fascinating.

Todd's Workshop makes historical weapons and move props.  The videos testing bows and crossbows are excellent, and he also explains in a really nice, genuine way why movie swords and props aren't always historically accurate.

The Chieftain's Hatch Get's up close with all kinds of tanks.  A former tanker on Abrams, so he knows his stuff.  Plus his collaboration with LindyBeige on the Churchill is hilariously fun and informative.

Plus anything from the Tank Museum at Bovington (not a million miles from where I grew up.  Boy has that museum got its Social Media Strategy sorted!

And while we're on the subject of tanks...

3. Reading!

Yes, I actually managed to read a book!  'Tank Action' by David Render.  He was a Troop commander with the Sherwood Foresters (the same unit as Stuart Hills, who wrote the excellent 'By Tank into Normandy').  As well as being an excellent, and often moving, account of his time as a commander, it's also fertile ground for wargamers, with some great descriptions of Troop level actions (along with some nice, clear diagrams).  Food for thought as well about how well our rules represent reality - his experience of working with infantry is often not good, but our troops are usually perfectly co-ordinated.  Plus how many rule sets could cope with recreating his commander's successful(!) one-on-one, head-on duel with a Tiger, in a 75mm equipped Sherman! It was interesting to note that they preferred to use HE against Tigers rather than the armour piercing rounds, to smash as much equipment on them as they could and effectively beat them into submission!

The only thing that bugged me was frequent descriptions of panzers being grey, whereas I'd always thought in Normandy they would be in that Dunkelgelb base.  Whether this reflects the impression they left, what they actually looked like after weeks of dust and dirt collecting, or just an overzealous editor who'd watched 'Battle of the Bulge' too often I'm not sure!

Whilst still on tanks...

4. Tiny Tanks!

I hoisted some GHQ Churchills out of storage as something to work on whilst waiting for my work laptop to restart after crashing (an alarmingly frequent occurrence for what felt a very long week), as I could work on them in a very small space with only a couple of paints, and they didn't take long for each one.

I've now found the Cromwells, Jagpanthers and infantry I had lying around too.  Post Market Garden game anyone?

Next Time...

Orcs and Fantasy Warriors!

Five Leagues Turn 5 - Darkmere

Winterbourne seemed to sit under an oppressive miasma since the clash with the cultists.  The old men in the inn muttered about 'The Lady' taking revenge for her followers.  Milk turned quickly and wounds seemed to fester longer than they should.  Geoffrey sat at a bench in the Inn, attempting, with little success, to study the few books and scrolls he had found in the town.  Even his patience was tested when two figures came up and stood before him.  His frustration however, was overcome by his curiosity when he looked up to realise that it was Thomas, accompanied by another man with the clothes and staff of a pilgrim.

Thomas leaned forwards.  "This fellow has a most interesting story to tell.  It seems he narrowly escaped becoming the victim of brigands on the forest road".

"It seems your devotion was well rewarded then" said Geoffrey.

"Most certainly" agreed the pilgrim "I had been walking for half the day, when nature's call came, as it were.  'Twas then I heard other voices ahead of me. Plotting how they would steal from the next traveller they saw!  Not wanting to be that poor soul I confess I hid myself there and then.  I daren't move until they had given up and left, and then it was sometime before I did feel safe enough to hurry on along the road, I can say!"

"Tell us again what you told me." said Thomas.

"Well, thing is I grew up around these parts, and from where I was hiding I could hear pretty much every word they says.  So when they talks of returning to their camp, well, I says to myself, I'm pretty sure I know where they're going."...

This turn's Village Event was "Infected Wounds", luckily, with none of the party injured this had no effect.  Geoffrey studied but did not gain any new skills.  The party met another pilgrim, gaining a 'special' interaction, the pilgrim wanted a favour.

The party then rolled up a 'lair' encounter.  This was looking like it made sense.  I decide that the Pilgrim had information that would allow the party to track down the brigands to their hideout.  With a chance to chase the brigands down to their lair, the party tooled up and went adventuring,

Facing them would be seven brigands, including a Captain, Lieutenant, a guard (+1 toughness) and a Heavy Hitter (+1 when rolling against armour and toughness). One of the brigands was also ‘Craven’ - normally traits are only applied to non-archers, but I decided that in this case it would be the archer, who is the same one that was the only survivor of the party’s first encounter after running away. An odd situation also applied, ‘Choosers of the slain’ - wounded characters would get up again on a D6 roll of 6 (although none did in the end).


The brigands camp turned out to be deep hidden in a marsh deep within the woods. With dense woodland behind, and surrounded on two sides by a bog and a deep pool, reinforced with rocks and sharpened stakes, the only firm approach was on one side. As an extra bit of character, I decided that any of the ‘good guys’ that dashed over open ground risked getting caught up in an unexpectedly boggy bit of ground and moving at half speed for that move. This wouldn’t apply to the brigands, who were more familiar with the territory.

 The Brigand's camp

While the party managed to get pretty close before the alarm was raised, they didn’t manage complete surprise (the sides would start 15” apart). Will and Jocelyn deployed on the left, aiming to use the pool to protect them as they shot arrows into the brigand’s camp, while Robert and Geoffery led the rest across the land bridge into the camp.

Finan stuck in the mud

The party’s first volley of arrows was dismal, with no hits (this would turn out to be a theme). The brigands rushed up to form a shield wall blocking the advancing heroes from the entrance to their camp, while their archer took cover and ineffectually loosed some arrows, only to run short after the first turn (exactly what happened to him last time), clearly having left most of his supply in his tent in panic!

Our hero's archery continued to be appalling, while the rest charged in, all except Finan, who fell foul of the boggy ground and lagged behind, leaving his companions uncomfortably outnumbered in the melee, before being put out of action by a counter-attacking brigand. Robert first wounded, then cut down the brigands captain with his bastard sword, the brigand guard attempted to gain revenge for his fallen leader, but was wounded for his troubles, and then expired from loss of blood at the end of the combat! Geoffrey in the meantime wounded the Brigand's lieutenant twice and killed another brigand, leading to one of the remaining footsoldiers deciding to leg it to live another day!

 Charge!

Finan's down!

Robert's last stand

Have we met before?

Sadly, this brief success could not last. Will and Jocelyn still couldn’t make their arrows count, as first Robert, then Guy, and finally Geoffrey fell beneath the brigand’s sustained attacks! To top it off, Will then found himself out of arrows! However the villains didn’t quite have it all their own way, as their lieutenant finally slumped to the ground, overcome by the wounds that Geoffrey had already inflicted on him.

Geoffrey's down!

With the situation looking desperate, Jocelyn finally found his mark, felling one of the remaining enemy, which was enough to persuade the brigand archer to flee (again!). Thomas engaged the remaining brigand in one on one combat, only to be wounded and stunned for his trouble. Although stunned and bleeding, Thomas managed to muster enough strength to fend off the next round of attacks and push his opponent back, where he was promptly shot by Jocelyn, bringing the whole sorry saga to an end!

Jocelyn eyes up the distance...

Fearing the worst, the survivors and walking wounded checked on the rest of the party, only to find that, by some miracle, Robert, Geoffrey and Guy were only knocked out (Geoffrey originally rolled ‘light’ wounds, but rerolled successfully using his luck points). Finan had taken a light wound and would need some time to rest (1 campaign turn) but was not seriously hurt.

Searching the camp, the party found plenty of evidence of the brigands crimes to put before the local leaders (an additional -1 to the highest threat - which was Outlaws), along with 13 marks, a tonic, helmet, and some enchanted armour (Harness of Vengeance).

Experience points saw Robert increase his combat skill again. The followers did particularly well, with Jocelyn and Guy both advancing to Hero status (particularly well deserved for Jocelyn, who’s been a bit of a star so far), While Finan and Oswald both gained stat increases (+1T and +1 combat skill respectively. Finan is obviously getting used to being hit over the head with assorted blunt and sharp objects!).

The Outlaw threat to the town was reduced by 2 bringing it down to only 1.