Sky Pirates of Venus - Teaser

Sky Pirates have been the scourge of the Worm Empire of Venus for years, and the Great Worm has had enough! He sends a team of four crack worm commandos to take them on, destroy their dreadnought and restore peace to the Empire!

Meanwhile, Hauptmann Gebhardt of the Prussian Inter Planetary Navy has been tasked to recover the stolen frigate ‘Koeller’ from those very same Sky Pirates.

Can the Worms win the day, or will the Sky Pirates reign of terror continue?

***

I'll be returning to running wargames at a convention after a long hiatus - Hobocon 5 is on in the Teachers Club in Dublin from June 3rd to June 5th

Centre of the World!

Bill Blazkowicz succeeded in defeating the Nazi attempt to recover the Black Sun, but Dr. Lehmann escaped into the Libyan desert despite the SSR’s best efforts.

With war erupting in Europe, both sides have renewed their efforts to find Lehmann and use his occult knowledge to further their plans. But in the depths of the desert, Lehmann is developing a device to harness the otherworldly power of the Black Sun while this newfound sway has prompted neighbouring tribes to gather round him.

SSR is sending some of their greatest agents after Lehmann, including Lone Star and Agent Duggan, but the Nazis have powerful allies of their own…

Play out the SSR’s struggle with the Nazis to take control of Lehmann’s centre of occult power!

I'll be running this three-part campaign at Leprecon this weekend (who have a wonderful Mythos theme this year...)

Black Sun - Teaser

So, it's been quite a while since I've been here. I've been gaming a bit, but seem to have lost my mojo for blogging. If you have any ideas/lessons for how to reinvigorate this aspect, please let me know!

But now, back to semi-regular service!

Black Sun

Dr. Ernst Lehman, previously a member of the mysterious Thule Society, but now leading scientist with Himmler’s Ahnenerbe has organised an expedition to a ruined temple in Libya where he believes Frederick Barbarossa’s legendary Black Sun mosaic is lost. This could be the key to victory in the Nazi’s quest for world domination.

Renowned adventurer, Bill Blazkowicz is racing Lehman to the lost temple. Along with a small band of companions, he must thwart the Nazi’s insane plans.

In this three-part campaign, play out Blazkowicz’s daring game of cat-and-mouse against his Nazi foes as he attempts to keep the occult power of the Black Sun from changing the fate of the world!


I'll be running this three-part campaign at Gaelcon from tomorrow.

Hammer to Fall

August 1979. The Red Army is pouring across West Germany. The RAF is struggling to delay the advancing hordes and it's up to the much vaunted SAS to take advantage of the chaos behind enemy lines.

Take command of 'D' Troop as it seeks out high value targets to hamstring the Soviet war machine. Shoot first. Shoot straight. Be home in time for tea and medals in the ultimate test of 'Who Dares, Wins'.

Gaming compatriot Conrad Kinch is running a Cold War wargame based on the classic GW game 'Bommerz over da Sulphur River' which will be on the same table!

I'll be running this Force on Force mini campaign (of two or three scenarios) on the Saturday of Hobocon (on from the 30th May-1st June in the Teachers' Club in Dublin.

Rogue Spear

NSA intercepts have indicated that notorious arms dealer Yuri Orlov is taking delivery of weapons grade plutonium from Russian dissidents. Analysts fear that he is creating suitcase nuclear weapons and selling them onwards to noted terrorist leader al-Zawahiri.

Rainbow, the multinational counter-terrorism unit, has been dispatched to interdict both parties before the exchange can take place and recover the contraband material.

The campaign will comprise three or four scenarios and is inspired by Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six and the spin-off PC Games.

I'll be running this Force on Force mini campaign on the Saturday and Sunday of Leprecon (on from the 7th-9th March in Goldsmith Hall in Trinity College Dublin). Visit their site.

The Hunt - Teaser

A previously unknown warlord has captured two American agents in the port of Zanzibar. A squad of hand-picked Marines is sent ashore and deep into the jungle to rescue them and hunt down the gang of pirates. But in the high African summer, a more dangerous adversary stalks the Devil Dogs…

Play out their daring raid on the pirate fort and a breakneck escape to the waiting boats as the hunters become the hunted.

I'll be running this three-part campaign at Gaelcon at the end of October.

Clash at Kursk

An enemy offensive is imminent! The Fascist Viper is coiling to strike at the Motherland!

I'm heading down to Kildare to play a big game of BattleGroup Kursk. I've pre-ordered the game, but this will be my first chance to play it. A good few of the guys based around Kildare will be playing, but there will be some special visitors from the UK and The Netherlands...

Here's a quick sample of what you might see when I get back on Sunday:

Piers: World War 20mm

Piers created this fortified hill for the Germans to take (I think he's feeling sheepish with this sterling work now, given he's on the German side!).
In fact, if you visit Piers' site now, you'll see the table is set up already...

Warwick: Move to Contact 

Warwick's been showing off some of his work recently and I just love these motorised infantry 

Johan: 20mm and then some

Johan's been shamelessly putting T-34s to work for the wrong side! I think you'll agree that they do look rather splendid and it'll be a shame to destroy them!

For some reason yours truly has been nominated the overall Soviet commander, so no doubt I'll be back (hungover and rather worse for wear) with a handful of excuses for a dismal performance!

The Lost Treasure of Annobón

An ancient and powerful relic, long reputed to have been lost, has been discovered once again. A hardy group of adventurers have excavated it from the mysterious ruins on the Moroccan coast...

A hand-picked group of Marines and Sailors hunts these dangerous vagabonds from their trusty Gunboat Visayas, led by the newly promoted Lt. Commander Newbolt.

A race to escape to the waiting ship with the artefact, a search for the shipwrecked vessel and a daring night-time raid on a port await you in this Pulp campaign I'll be running at Gaelcon.

Road to Basrah

The Iraqi plan for the defence of Basrah is to suck the attackers in and grind them down in an urban battle which will dull the appetite of the British and American people for the war. The Coalition is refusing to play this game and will conduct a series of raids and psychological operations against the Iraqis, wearing down their will to fight, while the main invasion force rolls northwards to Baghdad.

Az Zubayr is a small town sitting astride a major junction just south-west of Basrah and it is here that the Coalition plan is first put into effect.

Tomorrow I'll be running five linked scenarios using Force on Force for Trinity Gamers. Originally I would have envisaged doing the Basrah campaign using my British forces, but a little counterfactual has some Iraqi regular forces sitting astride the US Marine Corps' advance...

Fear, Honour & Interest

US Special Operations Forces have been deployed to Iran to gather intelligence on the Iranian nuclear programme. They have identified several noteworthy leads, and the National Security Council has given the go ahead to shut down these worrying prospects using tribal lands in Baluchistan as a base of operations.



The campaign will comprise three or four scenarios following US Special Forces targeting Iranian security around the nuclear programme, and the resultant Iranian efforts to shut down their base of operations.

Of course this is a hypothetical campaign (or at least I must assume so with my current security clearance!)

I'll be running this mini campaign on the Saturday of Hobocon. Hobocon is on from the 2nd-3rd June in the Teachers' Club in Dublin. Visit their site.

Task Force Shoemaker

Vietnamese forces had been using eastern Cambodia as safe havens to rest and recuperate without fear of American and ARVN attacks. Transporting materiel down the Sihanouk Trail these areas also served and supply bases.

On 30th April 1970 President Nixon announced his decision to launch American forces into Cambodia with the special objective of capturing "the headquarters of the entire communist military operation in South Vietnam."

While ARVN forces in the south fixed the enemy’s attention, Task Force Shoemaker including the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment would drive forward to cut off and capture the elusive enemy headquarters while destroying enemy forces and equipment.

I'll be running this mini campaign, following the squadrons of the 11th Armored Cavalry at Warpcon this weekend.

Warpcon is on from the 27th-29th January in UCC in Cork. Visit their site.

Operation Snakepit

In 2006 the isolated British garrison in Musa Qala found itself besieged and under constant attack by the Taliban. In October an agreement was reached to demilitarise Musa Qala and cede control of the town to tribal elders. When the Taliban seized control in early 2007 they blamed a US airstrike for breaking the agreement but it wasn’t until late that year when coalition forces moved to oust the Taliban.

I'll be running this mini-campaign at Conspiracy in September. Conspiracy is the spiritual successor to Confess, which closed its doors last year.
Conspiracy will be held from 23rd to 25th September in the Ormonde Hotel in Kilkenny. Visit the website

The Zeppelin Menace!

The Zeppelin Menace!

 

Zeppelins manufactured by Kinchstein GmbH.

The German Zeppelin is a treacherous weapon of terror. These stealthy behemoths prowl the night sky to bomb London in (vain!) hope to bring England to the peace table.

With altitude and darkness on their side, the cowardly Hun has been able to escape with impunity. However salvation is at hand from our brave Royal Flying Corps.

Redoubtable Lieutenant William Leefe Robinson has shown the way by shooting down the Zeppelin on the night of 2nd September, 1916.

(We are assured by sources at the Palace that His Majesty the King will be awarding Lt. Robinson with the Victoria Cross in honour of the daring sortie).

With the new Brock and Pomeroy incendiary ammunition the Zeppelins are now vulnerable to a fiery (and all too-deserved) death.

No. 39 Squadron of the formidable Royal Flying Corps stands ready to defend these shores from more dastardly Zeppelin raids.

Leprecon will be held from the 4th to 6th of March in Trinity College Dublin.

The Defence of Wilson's Wadi

The Taliban have just launched a spring offensive, targeting the airfield at Qandahar. A small garrison near the Arghandab is right in the firing line, and seeks to stem the assault until relief can arrive...

The platoon's commander, Lieutenant Wilson is shot dead during the first engagement and the struggle to recover his body marks the beginning of three days of intense and brutal combat.

The Defence of Wilson's Wadi will take place all weekend using the Ambush Alley system.

Gaelcon 2010 will be running from October 22nd to 25th at D4 Hotels, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4
View Gaelcon's website here

Return to Dahomey

Is this gonna be a standup fight, sir, or another dinohunt?

 Returning to Abomey with news of the failed American expedition, Commander Simpson uses his influence to call for a contingent of Royal Marines to come ashore and to aid his attempt to rescue them.

Losing his reputation for bravery is not something playboy millionaire H. Jack Vanderbolt can live with. His moribund state is only interrupted when a platoon of marines from the USS Frederick (taking water in Liberia) arrive on a mission to save the lost American nationals upriver.
Together they must race into the depths of Dahomey and search for the survivors. Surely a trained military force will succeed where brazen adventurers failed? Forewarned of the perils, will they see a solution to the primordial dangers which threaten them, or will their nerves fail them...

I'll be using my homegrown pulp adventure-style rules 'Perilous Trail' which premiered at Gaelcon last year, some tweaks have been made, and I reckon I'll publish them here after some polishing in March.

Leprecon XXXI will be running from March 12th to 14th at Goldsmith Hall, Pearse St., Trinity College, Dublin 2. View Leprecon's website here

Perilous Trail!

In 1913 a French expedition led by the eminent Dr. Gaspard de Châteaubriant left Abomey seeking evidence of native folklore detailing a new species of animal. Similar to stories from The Congo of "Mokole", de Châteaubriant was preparing to go to the Royal Academy of Sciences with evidence of his startling discovery from the northern reaches of Dahomey.
Heading up the River Alpouro to its source in the central highlands by means of riverboat, the expedition was expected to winter there and return before the rainy season in March.



They were declared missing in July, but The Great War intervened as the German colonies of Togoland and Kamerun were invaded by the British and French.
In 1917, a junior member of the expedition, driven insane by Malaria or some other tropical disease turned up in Parakou with stories of the expedition's fate, but no rescue mission was possible until after the war.

By 1920, not one but two rival expeditions were ready to discover the fate of Gaspard de Châteaubriant:
Led by the dashing Commander Abraham Simpson D.S.O., a grizzled group of British veterans marches upriver, armed with Lee Enfields and aided by their trusty native porters ...
Meanwhile Playboy millionaire H. Jack Vanderbolt embarks with a disparate bunch of adventurers, replete with the wonders of this new mechanical age...



Through treacherous savannah and uncharted jungle these brave souls must strive.
What terrible secrets does the Dark Continent hold? What perils lie in wait?

The Dahomey Expedition is a skirmish wargame in the best traditions of pulp adventure. Take control of the brave explorers as they fight their way through the terrible dangers of the dark continent...

Gaelcon 21 will be running from October 24th to 26th at D4 Hotels, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4
View Gaelcon's website here

The Bloody Trail

The Battle of Peleliu, 1944

U.S. Forces fight to capture an airstrip on the small coral island of Peleliu. General Rupertus, commander of 1st Marine Division, predicted that the island would be secured within four days, but due to Japan's well-crafted fortifications and stiff resistance, the battle lasted for over two months. The battle remains one of the war's most controversial, due to its questionable strategic value and high death toll. When considering the number of men involved, Peleliu had the highest casualty rate of any battle in the Pacific War.

Warpcon XIX will be running from 23rd to 25th January in University College Cork

http://www.warpcon.com/

Tally Ho!

June 12th, 1917

Captain Napier and his observer, Sergeant Crisp ready themselves for their photography mission over German lines...

At Leprecon XXIX (Trinity Gamers' Convention) this weekend I will be running a World War I air warfare game, using Piquet's Jump or Burn system. Everyone who plays will use the same pilot (if they survive) for the weekend and I will run four scenarios, from photo-recon, and bomber escort through fighter patrol.

Thanks to Eamon (Captain Napier) for painting up the aircraft themselves.