Old is the new, new - back to Zikanga.

It's been a while since we took a trip to Zikanga, I was wasting a few hours on the web when I came upon Joe Legan's Grunts Forward rules a variation to his Platoon Forward rules these are for isometric warfare and come with a whole bunch of new scenarios and adjusted blinds for irregular forces.

We got chatting about about rules for modern skirmish games and some of the rules of the past and how some of the older rule sets seem to be coming back into fashion - Warhammer Historical, Rapid Fire even some of Charles Grant rule sets...

One that cropped up was Foundry's Rules With No Name for Westerns games, then we remembered that they did a modern variant and what do we know they are still available and for free on the Foundry site...  Street Violence – WargamesFoundry

Giving them the once over they needed a couple of tweaks around activations and a couple of other ideas pinched from other rules sets but we had a reasonable rule set across a couple of pages.

A UN Outpost in a village in the hinterland, no Visitors this time but they are not always needed when the whole world collaborates.

With the UN in control of the village, order was starting to return to the region, several gang members were arrested.

But trouble was only a phone call away.

The local Warlord's gang members burst into the village pouring fire into the peace keepers.

The blue helmets stood little chance with militia members appearing from every nook and cranny.

A fun quick game giving these rules a run out, the wound rules were interesting rolling to see where you were hit, in the hope that elements of the cover protected you from the flying lead.

Despite the UN professional soldiers being a better class, quantity had it's own quality and the militia were able to force enough of the defenders to dive for cover, whilst other gang members got close.

Dropping the cards initiative to a quality level approach allowed us to get more figures on the table, but we may need to slim down the counters and markers, all in all a fun game with poor quality troops very often pinned down by the fewer better armed troops.

Let's see how a team of special forces get on next time?

V the Mini Series - Knock Knock #5

Over the years I have switched between several rules sets and this outing is no different. In low level games I like the idea of ducking back and being pinned by fire, Chain Reaction by Two Hour Wargames really captures this well and strikes the balance between 'Stars' and regular troopers.

Back to the depths of Zikanga where the Visitors have been struggling to suppress the local population, it just goes to show not every mothership was sent to major US and European cities. 

Intelligence has led to resistance leader Soloman Mohah who is located in a village protected by a group of militia men. The Visitors need to capture him, whilst keeping casualties to a minimum.

The Visitors can approach the village from any of the access roads, the militia man the main check point and have men in most of the huts. The militia outnumber the Visitors by 3:1 but they are poorer quality. 

Picking the right access road Diana and the Shock Troopers rush in with the heavy laser cannon pouring fire into the militia men who stumbled from the first hut. The intention to attract the defenders and draw them out of their defensive positions.

Having drawn the sentries away a fresh detachment of Shock Troopers advanced up the main road using the concrete pillars as cover. 

As the firefight at the front of the village continues, further Visitors land at the rear of the village, which is largely undefended.

The Visitors get the drop on Soloman, taking out a number of his guards who were unable to react in time. Caught in the open they are cut down where they stood.

A lowly technician rushes round the corner to grab Soloman but is shot down, he would not get a second shot as another technician sets her blaster to stun and Soloman is down.

Visitors fill the village while the remainder of Soloman militia hide in the huts unwilling to risk more of their number in a firefight with the Shock Troopers. 

A fun encounter which delivered the right result. One person of interest captured, 15 of his militiamen killed for the loss of only two troopers. The Chain Reaction rules work really well, with the lower quality militia were often unable to react and fire in the same turn. The Visitor Body armour protected many of the troopers unless caught in the open at close range or from higher calibre weapons of the militia.

The reaction rules worked well, the threat of the heavy laser cannon and the blasters forced many of the militia to keep their heads down when better trained troops might be inclined to return fire....

Episode 6 - Can Soloman Mohah be rescued?

V The mini-series - Yet more Visitors.

A break from all the khaki and back to some Crooked Dice Miniatures which I picked up last March at Hammerhead. The latest 'not' V troops were modelled on the Security Troopers of the original 80's mini-series. They were distinguished by a gold-coloured helmets.

However, I had already created a number of these before the extras appeared in the Crooked Dice catalogue, so I opted for Charles Elite Guard - Only seen in the later TV series which followed a few years after the series mini-series.

Commander Charles was a high-ranking Visitor who served as The Leader's special envoy. He is sent to take over military operations from Diana, his guards had white uniforms in a style similar to the shock troopers.

Other entrants making appearance from the TV series were the Visitor jeeps, first up a Laser Cannon manned by Shock Troopers, the second is manned by a V technician. I still need to add the Visitor decal, but they look the part.

Don't forget 'not' Willie. Willie was a Visitor technician who was originally scheduled to be deployed in Saudi Arabia - Played by Robert Englund they have really captured his likeness.

Quite a force with a lander proxy.... Feels like a fresh outing is required soon.

V the Mini Series - Outer World Encounters #5

Not every encounter takes place on earth.

The Visitor reach stretches far beyond our solar system, the outer worlds are populated by various species, with various levels of technology. In an unnamed Jungle world a party of shock troopers landed with orders to secure the processing plant, but they were not alone, a private military company was also racing for the resources to make matters worse the planet was infected by a terrible disease which turned the locals into zombies. 

The compound was defended by mobile robotic defences programmed to attack on sight anyone crossing the fence.

Both Shock Troopers and the PMC's made use of the available cover and set about cleansing the locals.

While the PMC had their hands full Diana and here troopers rushed for the security gate and the hard cover it gave the defenders.

True to 'TV' form the Shock Troopers fired and missed which enraged the PMC who made short work of the remaining infected and turned their attention on the Visitors.

Smoke had covered Diana's advance but it also served to allow the PMC's to get in close. One private burst through the smoke killing one of the troopers who was engaged in a long range fire fight with the advancing PMC's only to be killed before he could make good his escape.

Within the compound surprisingly the engineers were able to destroy the sentrybot and as the battle raged at the gate they were able to disable jammers and call for reinforcements. 

Game Over.

Great fun and nice to get in a big game of Stargrave, the random locals made for a good mix forcing both players to think about each move as each round of fire brought more encounters onto the table.

Excalibur 28mm - Mordred's Knights.

Having painted the good guys, time for the evil knights to take to the field. Another batch from Forlorn Hope games, I opted for a more burnished bronze armour to give them a very different look compared to their shinny opponents.

Lovely castings and they take the paint really well, they have a real oldhammer feel to them, but fortunately not too many skulls popular amongst Citadel back in the 80's.  

Loving the hammer chap slightly less armour but could be fun within the Songs of Blades and Heroes rules.

Unfortunately they were a little low on numbers but I spotted these on the Crooked Dice site, whilst ordering my own Christmas present, proper old school Chaos knights, slightly larger than the Forlorn Hope mini's but a good fit.

What a great place our hobby is, thanks to everyone who shouted out Mini-figs and their Excalibur range, I now have a young and old Mordred and a couple of Helen Mirren's on the paint table as Morgana Le Fey, they will be fun to paint but blimey 1981 makes you feel old :-)

V the Mini Series - Hearts & Minds #4

Its been a while but the recent Stargrave outings and the pending new releases from Crooked Dice nudged me to give the Visitors another outing.

No date as yet for the releases which is good as the painting desk is rather cluttered at the moment.

So on with game and back to Zikanga, this time with a mix of Stargrave and Ambush Alley, the insurgents hot spots need to contain fewer figures than in Ambush Alley but all the in all the balances works well crashing the rules together.

Having tried the stick now for the mouse (sorry carrot) must be the Visitor in me :-)                                With no sign of the militia attacks abating, Henry has the idea to turn the population against the local fighters and so with help from the UN detachment drops into a Zikinga Health Centre with a miracle drug designed to cure everything from yellow fever to malaria.  

However this high profile story was sure to present a target for the militia who had been growing in confidence in recent weeks. So as the locals looked on the insurgents crept closer to the compound.

Zikinga militia rush the main gate in an SUV, it's heavy machine gun sending the UN guards diving for cover. (Should the UN activate on a 1-2 they will abandon their posts and leave the lizards to it.)

From out of the hinterland and shanty huts the militia rush forwards.

The visitor engineers take cover amongst the medical supplies. One of the human guards let's off his guard dog to attack the faction leader, but it is cruelly shot and killed before it reaches his target. In true TV fashion the Security troopers rush forwards but they fail to inflict significant damage on the attackers who despite their poor quality are taking their toll on the aliens and their human lackey's.

Henry and Janice head for the safety of the Shuttle as their troopers failed to stem the tide of resistance fighters.

The Visitor relief force makes steady progress from the far road, hindered by the occasional militia man.

The Shuttle takes off leaving the Visitor defenders to the mercy of the attackers.

Diana and the relief column watched as the shuttle rose into the sky, they had failed to reach the Medical Centre and saw little point in pressing on knowing that Henry and Janice had cleared the war zone.

Capt Kelo hidden in one of the shanty huts watched as several prisoners were rounded up by the militia and dragged off into the jungle.

Can the prisoners be found and rescued.

Stay tuned next week..... (OK maybe a few months...)

Dispatches from the front XIX - The Supply Train Arrives.

Real life seems to have gotten in the way of late, so with no gaming for a week or two and a couple of long train journeys what's a gamer to do but look for distractions too while away the hours.

Damn you google and amazon :-)

So after a quiet period on the purchasing front a glut of new toys and reading, quite a coincidence as I just finished the mule train from Baccus for the Pony Wars Project.

These will double up as low ammo markers for Sharp Practice, another base for the hard pressed cavalry to defend. The supply tail is getting that little bit longer 8 bases should be enough.

On the mule train the following items landed.

Custer's Final Campaign looks like it will be perfect to turn one off games into a full blown campaign. Whilst the title suggests it is focused on Custer and the 7th Cavalry the game is actually a two player game fighting the entire Great Sioux War Campaign, including the regiments and battalions of the three main columns including Forts and River Boats - Now there's a thought..... Anyone know who makes a 6mm Steamer?

The card bases system looks quite slick and could easily be turned to a table top encounter.

To add to that some great reading material in the shape Orders of Battle & Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux Wars - Both books detail the 28 deployments, skirmishes and Battles, some great scenario ideas outside of the obvious Battle at the Little Big Horn.

The first book details all officers and killed and wounded in each engagement, whilst the second provides first hand accounts of the main engagements. 

Another order from Baccus has dropped on the mat Boers masquerading as Cowboys and some of the specialists Pony Wars Packs of Indian Scouts and a characters together with a Wagon Train.

It turns out I really needed a Pony Express Rider and the The Lone Ranger. At least in 6mm they won't be to long on the paint table.

Whilst the Pony Wars rules lean towards Hollywood's view of the plains wars.

Many of the engagements and campaigns of the US were centered on destroying the villages and the Indians ability to raid and live off the land forcing them into reservations and trading posts, with that in mind I wanted to create some Indian Pony Herds to form objective markers. 

Surprisingly they were really hard to come by, step forward Perfect Six Miniatures, great service ordered and delivered in less than 48 hours. These coupled with their hay stacks will be great for a refight of the Hayfield Fight. during Red Clouds War in 1867.

Meanwhile the 6mm theme continues I picked up Dave Brown's scenario book designed for Battel Group Panzer Grenadier, but easily converted to other games,  I have been using the Eastern Front scenario book and converting them for some of the North Korean games. The scenario's are always well thought out and well balanced. Let's see how some of these convert for future encounters in the Korean Peninsula.

A couple of extras for the Red Phoenix Project from Leven Miniatures. The Radio Station and Airport Control Tower will be great objectives and the Ammo Dumps will be useful for rear echelons to be protected from the rampaging North Korean Armour.

Finally a sneak peek from Crooked Dice and more 'Not' V figures... Not sure when but they will be released but they are on the purchase list..... and a move back to 28mm before my eye sight packs up painting all this small stuff.

That's all folks......Now back to yet more tiny miniatures and dismounted Indians.