THE BATTLE OF THE SANDS battle report FINALLY lots of pics!

[thejammedgatling]

Captain Grey of the Heavies shifted his weight in the saddle to ease his old wound as his Rhinox made use of its time to chew a redweed bush beneath him. He could hear the beasts copious teeth making short work of a plant with all the softness of barbed wire and wondered, not for the first time, what the inside of his stomach must look like. He slowly turned the field telescope around the low hills, but there was still too much dust to see clearly. This filthy wind had kicked up so much dust in the past few days that the steam conveyances were seizing up. He could hear their tortured joints behind him as they struggled to maintain their pace. Only the Rhinox seemed not to care much, whatever the weather threw at them

Their mission had begun three weeks before. Using hit and run tactics it was hoped to break up the Prussian advance while the different columns had yet to converge in their attack on New Brighton. It was clear that the British Imperial force was much too small to hold but a small section of line around the bastion of the city, making it far too vulnerable to short range nef bombing and siege artillery. If the supply lines could be cut or severely hampered then at least it might buy some time for reinforcements to arrive from Britain and her allies the Russian and Confederate States. Several flying columns had been sent out, including Greys. And so far their mission had been very successful. Four Prussian supply columns had been destroyed including a large artillery unit, and a further large unit had been forced to make a retreat. But their position was becoming increasingly tenuous and the hunter was becoming the hunted. They had been spotted yesterday by a Prussian nef patrol and had already evaded one force sent to find them, though mainly by entering the sandstorm which they were just emerging from. Their only hope now was to get back to their lines as swiftly as possible.

Sergeant Norris emerged from around the crags in front of Captain Grey and pulled his Rhinox to a panting halt.

“Waterhole sir..about a kilometre away. It looks like the one the Drune marked out for us sir…has the cleft rocks just like they described”

“Very well sergeant. Signal the column to advance. I daresay we could use the water…even these fellows” he said, looking down as yet another redbush disappeared into the gaping maw of his riding beast. His mount began a guttural growl as his brain registered the presence of the other Rhinox..fearing possibly the theft of his redbush. Grey gave him a whack with his iron poker. Best not let them start fighting. They were placid beasts, on the whole, and as long distance mounts through this land they could not be beaten. But heaven and earth would not stop a Rhinox that had decided to charge at something. Grey had once seen one of his troopers frantically clinging on as his mount had hit and turned over an armoured car belonging to the Duke of Cambridge’s light infantry. No-one had told the poor fellows about the colour green….

The pale sun was starting to grow weaker in the sky as the British column limped into the oasis. The dust was settling now, enabling the men to take their dust masks off and wipe them. Lieutenant Hughes of the armoured car brigade was just about able to see the long row of hills to his north for the first time in two days. He raised his periscope and turned his turret while opening the hatch to let at least a little fresh air into the cauldron that was the HMMS Pib. His hand froze. There, not two hundred meters away was another column. Long rows of soldiers, cavalry and tanks.The Prussians!

For a full twenty seconds the two columns, travelling in different directions, looked on at each other before recognition set in. Then there was a brief moment of almost silence when all that could be heard was the thumping regularity of steam boilers and wheezing pistons.

Then, all hell broke loose.




battle report to come ( come on Rabbitz)

[Thunderchicken]

Yeah, come on Rabbitz we're waiting! 

[Malamute]

Yeah, come on Rabbitz we're waiting! 

Yep what da man said

[answer_is_42]

Sounds awfully interesting, I eagerly await photos.

Yeah, come on Rabbitz we're waiting! 

Both you and the other VSF chap in Shropshire, I assume?

Sorry.
 

[commissarmoody]

unlesh the dogs of hell! lets see the report already 

[Gluteus Maximus]

Sounds awfully interesting, I eagerly await photos.
Both you and the other VSF chap in Shropshire, I assume?

Sorry.
 

You'll only make him angry.......

 

[Thunderchicken]

You'll only make him angry.......

 

I shall hire Ronnie Corbett for the day and have him thrash you to within an inch of your life in front of your friends to complete your shame. I do it to Malamute quite regularly..... only thing is he loves it....

Rabbitz is keeping us in suspense.

[Rabbitz]

Sorry for keeping you all hanging on the line.

A tester picture from our latest battle.



Just having a few PC issues at the moment.

[thejammedgatling]

I shall hire Ronnie Corbett for the day and have him thrash you to within an inch of your life in front of your friends to complete your shame. I do it to Malamute quite regularly..... only thing is he loves it....

Rabbitz is keeping us in suspense.

Now, now gentlemen, there will be no need to hire the service of Mr Corbett...I'm sure we can settle this sensibly.

In a valiant effort to distract attention away from the fact that our battle report pics seem to be lost temporarily, I thought I'd post here some pics of Capt Grey of the Heavies and two of his sergeants on patrol. These are still works in progress I might add, and still need some scratchbuilding added.









Just to parry a few questions before you ask...the figure of the captain is a Perry and the others are both First Corps...they fit with each other really well. Their riding beasts are all plastic 'Reek' from the WOTC Star Wars range. I bought six of them for a few shekels each on e-bay a while back. The saddles and harness are all scratch built. The front mounts are for the as yet unfinished to mount flame lances, which are attached to the twin tanks at rear which hold a volatile mixture of the animals own dung and paraffin. The lances, when built , will also have a green flag attachment which goads the animal into a charge. The twin 'stalks' above the riders are for a shade canopy.

These were a lot of fun to play on the battlefield..rather like unpredictable tanks with half a brain. I've written some rules for them along with  a damage / hit table for GASLIGHT which I'm happy to post, although I think it still needs some tweaking.

Glad to hear your thought and suggestions on these!

And we will post the battle pics soon.

[thejammedgatling]

Ah Rabbitz!

Just like the British Cavalry....in the nick of time.

[Malamute]

What splendid beasts they are too.
Luverley stuff 

[Skrapwelder]

Very nice conversions.

[answer_is_42]

Blimey. Does the good capitan really need a sword?

[Chairface]

Best cavalry I've seen in a long time!

[thejammedgatling]

thanks for the comments!

Here are the stats I made up for those GASLIGHTers amongst you.


The Rhinox Patrol
(the Heavy Cavalry)   
shoot (rider)9

scuffle8x3attacks   
Usually passive and quiet herbivores, the Rhinox retain large club tails and heavy frontal body armour and horns for mating displays and competitions with rivals. They are goaded into aggression either through being attacked or by the waving of a green rag in front of their noses in the direction of the enemy. As herd animals they will always follow their herd leader and so may only attack units their leader is attacking, unless their driver can make a leadership roll. However, they may not be more than 8 inches from the nearest herd member. Rhinox, like a vehicle has it’s own stats:
RHINOX    Weapon/s:  Bite
Mace Tail
Crush    # crew: 1    Passengers: 0
 Start
(only applies to herd leader): 16    Sustain:18    Speed: 16"/8"    Spin: 360
 Save:
Front 11
Side 9
Rear 7   
WOUNDS: 3

Special rules:

Unless attacking a vehicle, a Rhinox will not stop when contacting a unit, but has to complete it’s charge distance. This simulates the vast bulk and mass of the beast. Any figure in contact with the base must roll to see if they are hit.
It is hard to hit a Rhinox Cavalryman because of their small size as opposed to the beast and protective carapace saddle. When rolling hits, re-roll to see which may have wounded the driver. Roll D6…any 6’s are hits on the driver.
If the leading Rhinox is killed, create a random roll to see who is elected to lead the herd. Election takes one turn and the Rhinox may do nothing else until it is over, unless they are in melee or attacked in melee.
To attack a unit the cavalryman on the leading animal must try to GOAD his animal with the green rag. Roll D20 (+1 for officer, +2 for character, +3 for hero):

1   Animal manages to eat rag. Waste first turn getting new rag in place.
2-4    Animal has a bored expression. Herd grazes.
5-6   Animal sets off in charge to the wrong unit (unit to the left)
7-8   Animal sets off in charge to wrong unit (unit to the right of target)
9-10   Animal charges in the right direction but finds tasty morsel halfway along it’s path. Roll leadership to ignore, if failed waste remainder of turn munching).

11-12    By thunder!…the charge completes!

RIDING BEAST WOUND CHART
1   Shot bounces off thick plate armour
2   Shot confuses animal. Attacks the nearest unit (friend or foe) next turn for one turn. After which the driver may attempt to control.
3   One wound to the leg. Half animals moves.
4   Shot disorientates beast. Roll leadership of driver to see if they can control. If failed, beast counts as stunned for one turn and may not attack, but may follow herd.
5   Shot causes one wound to creature and causes side naptha tank to explode, killing driver instantly!
6   Shot merely grazes the side, no damage.
7   Shot cuts drivers saddle traces, causing driver and load to slip off the side. Driver unharmed. Animal is now driverless and will only follow actions of the herd leader. If herd leader, animal moves out of harms way with remainder of herd UNLESS in the middle of a charge, but after that subsequent turn it must turn and depart unless in melee.
8   One wound to the tail. Unable to use as weapon.
9   Dead on the spot!
10   Shot affects balance, causing animal to spin on the spot causing tail inflicted damage to any model within 2” of base.
11   Animal stunned. Stands still for two turns.
12   One wound.
13   Animal takes one wound and stumbles. Roll to see if driver is crushed. (Drivers scuffle score).
14   Flesh wound, no damage.
15
16   Animal takes one wound but is ENRAGED. Animal may move an extra turn and fight twice the number of attacks for its next turn.
17   A heavy blow. Two wounds and animal is stunned for its next activation and may not move.
18   1 wound. Animal decides that it wishes to survive and moves at full rate towards the nearest table edge, even if this means departing the herd. Driver may have ONE attempt at leadership roll to bring animal about.
19
20   Shot through the brain! Animal does not yet know it is dead for a turn, then collapses.



Have fun and let me know how they play. Any alterations/ thoughts/ suggestion would be welcome!