Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Colonial Adventures => Topic started by: Plynkes on February 27, 2011, 07:28:34 PM
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(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318145611-31714584.jpeg)
After playing on the fantastic Sudan table last week, I was itching for some more Colonial T&T. The nephew is all into last stands, the Little Bighorn and all that right now, so he suggested we do a desperate 'against the odds' type of fight, and volunteered to be the doomed European folk facing overwhelming odds. So we rustled up this little tale...
East Africa, Eighteen Hundred and Something-or-Other. Hoping to make his fortune in the new colonies, the young Herr Winkelmann took up a position in charge of a Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Gesellschaft (German East Africa Company) station in the middle of nowhere. With him came his overbearing, physically abusive, nagging harridan of a wife. Despite her many flaws, he loved her deeply.
But then one day a lion ate her.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318145611-317161887.jpeg)
The late Frau Winkelmann teaches a zebra not to look at her in a funny way, moments before becoming a lion's lunch herself.
Herr Winkelmann was inconsolable.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318145611-317171587.jpeg)
He would spend all day at her graveside, mourning his loss. He neglected his work, and the company were considering replacing him and bringing him home to Germany to get help.
But then everything changed. A young native girl came into his world and forbidden love blossomed. She healed his wounded heart, and Winkelmann was able to smile and enjoy life again. She told him her name was Munyuse Mkalipi, but he couldn't pronounce that and so called her Dawn. Ngoni Dawn.
Unfortunately Winkelmann had been putting his Winkel where he really shouldn't ought to have been putting it. For Munyuse Mkalipi was in fact wife number twelve of the local Ngoni Sultan, Inkosi Mtwalo. She had fled from the thought of that sweaty fat old man she never wanted to marry in the first place and saw the dashing young Winkelmann as her saviour.
But the war drums were now beating. The warriors were coming to the mission station to take Ngoni Dawn back.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318145611-317181687.jpeg)
"Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships?" Er, I mean a dozen canoes?
Jesus, man. I dunno about wife No. 12, I reckon 12 is actually her age.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318145611-31719779.jpeg)
The figures representing our lovers in this game. Nandi Woman in Bowler Hat finally gets her first gaming outing. Yay!
So with a miniature African Iliad on his hands, Winkelmann sprang into action to prepare his defences. At his disposal he had two squads of DOAG askari, some Ruga Ruga and a European command unit with flag. Reggie was given a pile of stuff to make barricades with, which he could lay out on the table in any way he saw fit. He also had an ammo dump, which would dispense Volley Fire cards unless the enemy managed to overrun it. Dawn was placed in the innermost room of the house and told to barricade the door. Everyone else was outside, manning the parapets.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318150039-31720683.jpeg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318150040-31721603.jpeg)
Northern, garden side of the house, with hastily improvised inner barricade.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318150040-317221764.jpeg)
Southern side, manned by Askari and Ruga Ruga.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318150040-317232001.jpeg)
In the still of the night, the warriors crept towards the station.
As the Ngoni were fond of attacks just before dawn, we decided the first few turns would take place under cover of darkness. The sun would come up at a random moment decided by the drawing of a card...
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The native force consisted of groups from three regiments - The Kabaenda, untried youths; the Mabema, seasoned fighters in their twenties; and the Amadoda, battle-hardened veterans all. They also had a unit of scouts, and some musket-armed skirmishers. Fat old Sultan Inkosi Mtwalo and his two most trusted witch-doctors also came along to provide moral support and cheer from the back.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318150040-317241291.jpeg)
The warriors approached in darkness from the south and west.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318160452-31725173.jpeg)
The Amadoda led the attack, to encourage their less-experienced comrades. Fire from the askari was punishing, but they kept coming.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318163118.jpeg)
More warriors swept towards the station.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318162807.jpeg)
Realising that no attack was forthcoming from the north, and so many of his men had nothing to shoot at, Winkelmann redeployed a squad to the south wall of the garden.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318163440.jpeg)
The Askari squad had been busy shooting at the Amadoda, allowing the raw Kabaenda to sweep in towards them unmolested.
There was a grim fight for the barricade.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318170133.jpeg)
While the Amadoda pressed on, hopeful of gaining the honour of taking the enemy's flag, as was their right, being the senior regiment.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318160453-317261863.jpeg)
Despite being raw, green troops, the Kabaenda's numbers prevailed. They managed to hack down the askari squad and carried the barricade.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318160453-31727174.jpeg)
The battle raged on, and the Amadoda triumphantly wrested the flag from the dead hands of the standard bearer, as the command unit was overrun. Things looked bleak...
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(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318160453-31728952.jpeg)
Winkelmann bravely rushed to face the foeman, and avenge the deaths of the colour party.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318160453-31729588.jpeg)
On the south side, the Ruga Ruga were about to be overwhelmed, for surely there was no hope.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318181751-3173077.jpeg)
Brandishing walking stick and pistol, Winkelmann was determined to protect his love to the end, or fall trying.
He made it a black day for the Amadoda, their triumph in capturing a standard overshadowed by the death of their beloved general, shot in the face by Winkelmann.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318181751-31735890.jpeg)
Yet he did not go unavenged, for, finally, Winkelmann was cut down by their spears; his body pierced with many wounds, each a testament to his bravery and devotion to Dawn.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318181751-317361827.jpeg)
"NOOOOOOOOoooooooo!!!!"
With the last of the white officers fallen, the soldiers decided they weren't being paid enough to stick around and die, so fled the scene.
Locked alone in the bedroom, Munyuse Mkalipi produced the gourd of foul-smelling liquid from the folds of her robe. She had procured it from a sangoma against this very moment. The dark hour had come. What would she do? "I will never go back. Never." Then she heard them banging on the door and calling her.
What choice she finally made is not recorded. All that is known is that the Company Station was attacked and burned by Ngoni tribesmen.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318181751-317371495.jpeg)
As already stated we used T&T with the colonial supplement. The game was perhaps a tiny bit one-sided, but some crucial die rolls, had they gone differently, would have changed things substantially. And well, we wanted a desperate struggle against the odds, and got one.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318181752-317381413.jpeg)
Printed out some more of those cool cards downloaded from the T&T site, and also stole Driscoles' idea of printing out cards to keep track of ammo.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318182118-317391751.jpeg)
Used my Corto Maltese Tarot to decide when the sun would come up (the Sun card was shuffled into the first five cards of the deck, and we drew one each turn). The battle was over before the dawn came, though.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318182118-3174061.jpeg)
Yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel,
And then return to Helen for a kiss.
O, thou art fairer than the evening air
Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars.
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Beautiful story, Plynkes. And the pictures are fantastic as usual. Love every bit of this! This and the Sudan table are dangerously pushing me towards amending my New Year's resolutions to add "Colonial" to the list. Sigh*...
But I love to see that you can have loads of fun with such an amount of miniatures. That is nearly achievable for one such as me! :)
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:-* :-*
Beautiful stuff, as ever.
Where are the sandbags and other barricades from, by the way?
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Great report :-* :-* :-*
Lovely miniatures and scenery.
Is that an LPL entry hidden in the pixels.
The small details on the barricade are very nice. Typical Plynkes. Outhouse and Gramiphone or lovely touches.
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:-*
Fantastic!
Lovely board, miniatures and story... brought a tear to my eye.. :'(
Plynkes... master of Africa. :)
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Very nice indeed!
How did you make the fields of grain/wheat/millet ? Cut sections of door mat?
Regards,
MW
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:-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
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Always know I am in for a narrative and visual treat when I see an AAR post from our man in Africa. Bravo!
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Dylan, thank you, your report is exactly what I need at the moment!
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Wow!
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:-* :o :'(
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Wonderful. Fantastic terrain, figures, AAR the whole 9 yards.
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Top work Plynkes.
Did those Ngoni have banned symbols beneath their pixels? ;)
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The Master returns. Fabulous stuff as always sir. I will honestly admit I found the account gripping, which is unusual in a game report. Great back story, well told and of course fabulous minis and terrain. You really should think about compiling all of these into a book one day.
One question. Were the Amadoda pixelated to protect their identities or are they doing something rude?
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(I see some of the Amadoda have been pixelated to preserve their anonimity)
One question. Were the Amadoda pixelated to protect their identities or are they doing something rude?
Did those Ngoni have banned symbols beneath their pixels? ;)
Is that an LPL entry hidden in the pixels.
Couldn't get permission from all the Ngoni involved to use their images. One of them was just unavailable, the other one just flat out refused. Wanker. ;)
(Actually, one of the above four quoted statements is true, but I can't remember which one.)
How did you make the fields of grain/wheat/millet ? Cut sections of door mat?
I think that is what they are made of, but while I love painting figures I'm not really a terrain type of guy. I don't enjoy making it and so usually buy ready-to-use stuff if I can. Got those from ESLO, a German terrain company.
Where are the sandbags and other barricades from, by the way?
The sandbags are from Jens from Pardulon (Zafarelli on the LAF). I think the other barricade stuff is all from Hovels. The stone walls of the garden came from some company I forget the name of that isn't in business anymore.
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Great stuff as always! Where did the grammaphone come from?
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Gorgeous stuff, maestro! :-*
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What a great report! Lots of eye candy and inspiration.
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Brilliant, Dylan, just brilliant.
:-*
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hello
iam the one who stabed your officeer at the tactica (one of the thrash talkers)
and now i will steal your story hahahah
well the colonial virus is strong
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Great stuff!! Love reading the battle reports people post on here. Stunning figures and scenery :-* :-*
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hello
iam the one who stabed your officeer at the tactica (one of the thrash talkers)
and now i will steal your story hahahah
well the colonial virus is strong
Move away from the keyboard, you savage! We will not tolerate the likes of you!(See you next week, mate! :D)
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just awesome....
speechless...
but what did You have in Your beer? ;)
can I have that too?
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Inspirational stuff, love it! :-*
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BRAVO...an epic story! The Battle Report, minis, scenery, & the photography all came together WONDERFULLY for a FINE, CINEMATIC experience. VERY WELL DONE!
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A lovely game, :-*
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Plynkes,
Again another great story with lovely figures. Your games always inspire me to bring my own games to life, keep them coming!!!! They are always appreciated.
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Brought a tear to my I, that did.
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it is good
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Super! A great reminder of how wargaming can be a narrative experience, rather than just line 'em up and fight!
I'm glad I'm not the only T&T player who laminates the cards... :)
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Capital! What a treat: to come home from a long days toil and put my feet up to this.
The only thing I want to know is where the grammophone came from.
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Due for a few academy awards. Thank you.
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Eye Candy of the highest order and a wonderful scenario ;D
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The gramophone is from a 1/32 scale WWI range by a firm called Scale Link.
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Really beautiful. Story, game, pictures and report. :-* :-* :-*
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A symphony at Dawn.
What a beautiful report. It is a great tale you tell us with beautiful figures and very nice terrain. I can recall our conversation about terrain in Hamburg. Its not necessary to have a high end table. I love your composition. It always makes your reports special and beautiful looking.
Thanks for that one Sir !
Björn
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Reading Dylan's reports I get the same feeling I had as a lad getting the latest issue of The Phantom from the newsstand.
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Excellent!!!
( I don't write anymore, my keyboard or is my figures doing continuous mistakes!)
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Forget 'The Kings Speech' as best picture...THIS IS IT! Awesome!!!! And since no one has asked you about it, where did you get those mighty impressive rocks at the side of the table????
:-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
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Just brilliant! :-* lol
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The rocks are just terrarium fake rocks. You can get them from aquarium and terrarium suppliers.
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Absolutely splendid scenario and game. Has inspired me to get the Darkest Africa figures out again.
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Absolutely fabulous!
Great scenry, figures and cards.
Always love a game with a good back story, makes it more than just another wargame fought for no real reason! (if you know what I mean?)
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Thanks, thanks, thanks.
This kind of threads are what make THIS forum THE BEST MINIATURE FORUM of all the web.
Pretty scenery, beautiful miniatures, excelent paint jobs, solid narrative and a FUN GAME.
What else can a gamer ask for?
Thanks again for giving all us such inspiration and raising the bar for our own projects.
Best wishes.
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I wonder how many orders Scale Link will be getting for gramophone's this week! I'll be putting in an order for one myself lol.
Once again excellent post, its the third time I've looked at it now.
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I doubt it. Wait til you see how much they cost.
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Plynkes after looking at these and your previous posts. I was wondering if you would mind starting a thread with pic's of all your colonial forces, that way they would be in one spot. I know I use them frequently for reference. =)
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You shall now be known as Herzog von Plynkes vom Afrika.
And your duty shall to be create such a feature on a weekly basis.
No, really. 'Nuff said.
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Plynkes after looking at these and your previous posts. I was wondering if you would mind starting a thread with pic's of all your colonial forces, that way they would be in one spot. I know I use them frequently for reference. =)
Build yourself a "child board" for all your game reports? Keep them all in one place, so we can go back and relive the fun.
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Hmmm. I don't know. Seems like a big-headed, slightly vain direction to take. I don't want to go sticky-mad like that raving lunatic Hammers or have Colonial Adventures become all about Plynkes. I'll give it some thought.
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Surely we could take the "vain" factor out of this and at least create a stick with AAR links in general. :) Or create a joint child board with the Colonial Tales comp.? I do agree with Bezzo's point, but if I could look back at the strawberries I've eaten in the past, I... would? The analogy has derailed I'm afraid. Well you know what I mean.
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As usual some wonderful miniatures and a great story! Thank you Plynkes! 8)
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Hmmm. I don't know. Seems like a big-headed, slightly vain direction to take. I don't want to go sticky-mad like that raving lunatic Hammers or have Colonial Adventures become all about Plynkes. I'll give it some thought.
Fair point, we can cope with one Hammers here, but any more might be too much ;)
My suggestion was really to let lazy gits like me find these reports easily again without having to trawl through all the other posts and risk getting distracted by more loveliness.
Surely we could take the "vain" factor out of this and at least create a stick with AAR links in general. :)
There are certainly plenty of AARs I've enjoyed by other people that provide similar inspiration. Maybe an all-comers' AAR board might be a better idea.
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No, wait! This is supposed to be all about me! lol
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Man,
I didn't mean to touch off such an explosive topic. I kid I kid. I agree will most of the comments that have been made. Plynkes I was just trying to see pic's of all your forces just in an army view not in a game setting ie. http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/5/163_12_03_10_3_07_22_3.jpg. If you didn't feel comfortable posting them as a new thread, I would love some pic's you could e-mail me. It was more out of curiosity to see what the board leader of the colonial page actually had for armies. Yet I child board with everyone's game reports would be cool to. It is just tough sifting through your 352 pages of posts to look for one pic. However I do have most of them bookmarked individually. =) If not I will always anxiously await more from the world of Plynkes at your normal pace!
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Don't worry, it's not an explosive topic, it's all good-natured discussion.
Maybe it is time for Colonial's first stickies. I don't really think it warrants a child board, but if I put up a sticky of links to the existing reports I reckon that would do just as well. I think it would be best as a locked topic, so it doesn't get diluted with lots of comments and chit-chat (that can go on the threads containing the original reports). I'll put a bunch of links up to get us started. Once it's up and running (which may take a day or so, knowing me) if you think I've missed one or you've got a report of your own you want putting in there then just PM me and I'll add it.
And if you don't mind me getting all big-headed I maybe will do a compiled thread of my African armies too, if nobody objects. It would be nice to see them all in one place. I suppose it is a perk that comes with the moderator job that I can be a big show-off and sticky my own stuff. :)
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Don't worry, it's not an explosive topic, it's all good-natured discussion.
Maybe it is time for Colonial's first stickies. I don't really think it warrants a child board, but if I put up a sticky of links to the existing reports I reckon that would do just as well. I think it would be best as a locked topic, so it doesn't get diluted with lots of comments and chit-chat (that can go on the threads containing the original reports). I'll put a bunch of links up to get us started. Once it's up and running (which may take a day or so, knowing me) if you think I've missed one or you've got a report of your own you want putting in there then just PM me and I'll add it.
And if you don't mind me getting all big-headed I maybe will do a compiled thread of my African armies too, if nobody objects. It would be nice to see them all in one place. I suppose it is a perk that comes with the moderator job that I can be a big show-off and sticky my own stuff. :)
All sounds good to me.
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I second Gluteus! All sounds good to me Plynkes, and yeah you are the moderator so it should come with some perks, lol. Can't wait to see how this turns out.
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I'm sure there's plenty of bandwidth on the site to accomodate any head expansion as a result ;)
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Wonderful, what a spread; looks a joy to play.
Those are excellent mealy bags; home made?
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I copy and paste my strawberries into the freezer, when I need strawberries I need them now! lol
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Great report :-* :-*
And if you don't mind me getting all big-headed I maybe will do a compiled thread of my African armies too, if nobody objects. It would be nice to see them all in one place. I suppose it is a perk that comes with the moderator job that I can be a big show-off and sticky my own stuff. :)
That would be great. I often look back through the various boards looking at the various armies people have painted for inspiration, etc.
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Ooooh and I forgot to ask about your giraffes. Wonderful eye candy. Plastic or metal, and where from?
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Plynkes talked about the giraffes in another thread not too long ago. They are Foundry, I believe, and very nicely painted.
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Hands up, people: how many of you yearn to one day take part in a game run by Dylan?
*hand up*
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No, not Foundry - Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Company metal figures. These days available from North Star, under their 'North Star Africa!' banner. They do a bunch of other African animals, too.
Smirnoff, the sand/mealie bags are from Pardulon.
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Hands up, people: how many of you yearns to one day take part in a game run by Dylan?
*hand up*
Can I do what we used to do at school and put up two hands :D
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I have been thinking about this.
I think an AAR sticky would be a great idea. It will appeal to newer Colonial gamers by providing some inspiration and direction to getting started, and for the older hands a bit of eye candy.
I would also like to suggest single photos of forces, regardless of rule systems. A single miniature here or there isn't hard to pull together, but larger scale forces are a bit of a challenge. Again, this is coming from a beginner's point of view: I once thought that Colonial armies were a uniform affair... there is a lot of colour and variety that is sometimes overlooked by the innocent passer-by.
Just a few thoughts, anyway :)
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After Action Report :)
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Hands up, people: how many of you yearn to one day take part in a game run by Dylan?
*hand up*
It would be easier to ask hands up who wouldn't ;)
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come on, @plynkes
please show off Your african armies please
this is the purpose of this forum, right?
to see painted miniatures
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Is this not enough :D
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=26778.0 (http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=26778.0)
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come on, @plynkes
please show off Your african armies please
this is the purpose of this forum, right?
to see painted miniatures
They're all on the LAF now, it's not as if I'm hiding them. All we're talking about is putting them all in one place. I'll do it. Just not right this minute. :)
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come on, @plynkes
please show off Your african armies please
this is the purpose of this forum, right?
to see painted miniatures
I have a suggestion: set an example and show us your armies.
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Another suggestion would be to follow Mr. Plynke's blog:
http://misterplynkes.blogspot.com/
Full of inspiration I tell ya!
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Thanks Plynkes the new thread looks great!!!
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I have a suggestion: set an example and show us your armies.
yes, why not actually
unfortunately I am not able to meet the LAF standards
firstly, very bad pictures (good ones only with occasionally borrowed camera)
miniatures mostly WIP and not painted, a lot of 40K vehicles (I must have linked the pictures I have somewhere)
so sorry to disappoint - unless I misunderstood something and diverted here, sorry
so for the time being, I'll keep staring in awe at what the pros are showing ;)
and thx very muck @Plynkes for the link collection - very inspiring
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unfortunately I am not able to meet the LAF standards
I don't think there is such a thing as LAF standards. There are a lot of individual talents here but we would be doing something wrong if all efforts don't feel welcome to post their efforts. We can't all be Titians but our strife can be encouraged.
Sorry, back to topic.
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yes, why not actually
unfortunately I am not able to meet the LAF standards
There aren't any standards. There are painted and not painted miniatures, that's the only "standard" that I would accept on LAF.
Whatever. I'd say we better let it be, too off-topic. Back to Africa.
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I apologize
I indeed preffer admiring Plynkoid excellence, since I do not own any painted Africa mininatures
please feel free to remove my diversions
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"Links to Colonial Battle Reports"
Now that is a very useful sticky with some great AARs. :-*
Well done Plynkester!
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Ran the scenario again last night, for the Friday Night gang. Made a couple of changes to balance it out a bit. The whole thing was done in daylight to give the defenders more opportunity to use their firepower, and the Ngoni arrived piecemeal, in dribs and drabs from the march, rather than all swamping the table at once.
Chronoglide, never one to sit on his hands, actually charged out with his Ruga-Ruga, hoping to make the most of the combat benefits I gave them when they act aggressively. He managed to tumble the Ngoni musketeers to ruin, but at the cost of half his men. He then had to speed back to his defences when more warriors turned up.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/31/163-060318182118-31741464.jpeg)
But once the main assault began they overpowered the defences almost as quickly as in the first game. Chrono decided that Winkelmann and Munyuse would flee. Even though it would still be a crushing defeat for the DOAG, at least true love would win out (bloody coward!). But it became clear that they would be cut off and there was no way to escape. So after saying "look over there" he shot Munyuse in the back of the head, and then turned the gun on himself. :o
All good fun, but this scenario is definitely a bit of a Kobayashi Maru for the German player.
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So after saying "look over there" he shot Munyuse in the back of the head, and then turned the gun on himself. :o
Yikes!
So, any rule specific insights from these two scenarios what T&T is concerned? Was it obvious the second time that the Ngoni will win once more?
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Yeah, I think so. The Ngoni move too fast, and the defenders just don't have enough firepower to stop them. Once it gets to melee, which it does very quickly, the Ngoni numbers tell. But they did lose a few of rounds of melee, so if they had failed their Morale tests things would have been very different. But apart from the Ngoni musketeers, they didn't fail a single test, in either game. Even the raw unit was blessed with good morale rolls.
The Germans need more troops in bigger units for it to be a more balanced game. I've got some Copplestone Seesoldaten knocking around somewhere to bolster this force. Need to get painting.
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The nephew is all into last stands, the Little Bighorn and all that right now, so he suggested we do a desperate 'against the odds' type of fight, and volunteered to be the doomed European folk facing overwhelming odds. So we rustled up this little tale...
Yep, I'm a sucker for last stand scenarios, overwhelming odds etc as well, great stuff Monsieur. ;D
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The nephew is all into last stands, the Little Bighorn and all that right now, so he suggested we do a desperate 'against the odds' type of fight, and volunteered to be the doomed European folk facing overwhelming odds. So we rustled up this little tale...
Yep, I'm a sucker for last stand scenarios, overwhelming odds etc as well, great stuff Monsieur. ;D
I alsay enjoy seeing y troops mowed down to a man. I supposed it is the cowards riskless trill...