Blood & Plunder battle at sea ...

 A sudden opportunity to get in a pirates game happened for me and my eldest son.

We jumped in with a fast pair of sloops fully crewed at a 200 point level.

the green sloop was under Alex's command
the black one under my command

Alex got off the first salvo of cannon
and managed to start a fire on my ship

I got the fire out quickly and manned the guns of my ship ...

I scored many hits with one critical
that when 'checked' I rolled again the '10'
a devastating explosion rocked through
the green sloop and killed all aboard

The excitement now over, we simply re-set the critical as a fire and continued the game.

we traded a few more cannon and
swivel gun volleys
crews became fatigued

an event for my pirates, an extra command point

which I used to great effect to have the crews
re-load cannon

strike points collected on the green sloop
crewed by Spanish forces, that simply
withdrew as they had taken too many
losses

Great chance to get the sloops out again on the tabletop and get in a game with my son.

Pirates! a mix-up match :: 2 by land 3 by sea

 Opportunity to get in a game of Blood & Plunder came at Nick's place, so I took it!

as with most skirmish games an after action report would be like describing half a dozen people on a dance floor

my Henry Morgan got out on the table this time

We tossed down a 100 point 5-way match with three teams on the water and two on land.

Mostly it was to get more familiar with the rules and setup and have a bit of pushing lead fun.

Rob's shaque featured on the land
along with many of his palms and a mix of scatter
from Nick

Nick's Dutchmen in a longboat, all of his own paintjobs

My pirates!

Rob's English Sea Dogs

 

The water teams took shots at each other, then I rammed the dock (faster than tying up), followed by Rob grappling me.  Then we had a melee - which Rob came away the worst.

On land the Spanish Lanceros did the deed - sticking an English crew led by Morgan.

I did a time-lapse video of the match:

New Years Day: PIRATES!

 Over the course of the 2022-23 New Years Eve and Day Weekend of Games one player noted the Pirate ships and minis I had on display.

It was then decided that, while a few of the others played a new board game of Darkest Dungeon, we would introduce Blood & Plunder and get the minis and ships out on the sea.

this posting will feature more shots using the
little app that makes images 'comic' versions

We took some time to quickly go over the basics of force creation and broke out the cards to do up the forces:

This being done while the Darkest Dungeon took over the big table:

After some time, a Spanish ship "Gloire" was on the seas vs an English one: "Jackalope"

Gloire

Early on the Gloire used gunnery and the swivel cannons to inflict some hull damage and a number of crew casualties (though only enough for one strike point).

Jackalope was running short of crew to
man the guns, when the Captain rushed to
the gun deck with his personal squad
and maned the guns at close range

Jackalope very nearly collided with Gloire

Gloire had nearly exhausted all the firepower
it could muster ...

Jackalope completed the turn and delivered
a devastating full broadside volley at pistol range

Managing a number of critical hits
one of which turned out to be the 1%
devastation and Gloire exploded, broke in two
and sank immediately taking all hands

This was the first really good action that the player to took on the "Jackalope" command had all weekend, as he had been rolling poorly in the Napoleon in Europe game, the 40K and ShakoII games earlier.

This time it was a win - no question.

So we quickly re-set and went at the battle again.

another encounter between Gloire and Jackalope
ensued

this time Gloire's gunnery was even better
and Jackalope sank as they had taken 3 strike points
to the Gloire's 1

Both players ended up liking the fast pace of the game play and said they would like to go at it again - a tentative plan for late January has been organized.

There was also talk of the other Pirate game systems I have, along with some role-play potentials.  So much potential use for these minis!

Happy New Year everyone!

looking back ... looking ahead

 Looking back at 2021, I'm pleased to see a couple of fantastic commissions bookend the year:

18mm Crimean Russians

A Song of Ice and Fire - Lannister force

A Song of Ice and Fire - Stark force

I am happy that they all turned out so well.

Then came another big 28mm project off the list.  A Brigantine!

the whole project was done in a few weeks

So the year was not a waste, yet there were times when the games were thin or just a solo action:

an ECW game from the spring of 2021

the Lorraine forces were completed also

The lead pile from Jeff got smaller from my painting of them and gifting away some more.

The live games via the net also continued, as I got time in to help a fellow game organizer on the Atlantic coast:

Mac Duff at the frontier!

Along with running my own Corunna game:

final shot from the game, thanking the players online

Then came news that we were going to have to move before the end of the year ... and any games that I might have wanted to do MUST be done before September (realistically) in order to allow space and time to pack and move ...

We did a tribute game to Jeff, including his entire Stagonian vs Saxe-Bearstein tricorne armies:

the Stagonians only did damage ... it was a drawn battle

Then an ECW campaign battle during the summer:

the Monckton Farleigh ECW campaign battle

I knew that any more tabletop games I wanted to do MUST be done right away, so I found a keen player via twitch and we did a few Shako 2 games:

July 11th - lost communications so I
ended up doing the game solo
(testing new system)

July 18th game

Aug 22nd game

Then came what would turn out to be the final ECW game at the old house location:

Freezing Lane

table set up and ready to start

where the power went out shortly after the game started, and we hardly skipped a beat:

table moved outside and continuing the action

I did a couple of pirates games in preparation for the game in the Dungeon with the lads

Pirates in the Dungeon

 

Many errors (mostly regarding cannon) were made - yet lots of laughs for everyone involved, so fun was had either way.

Then came the aforementioned A Song of Ice and Fire commission.

All in all a busy games space - even with COVID restrictions and only 7 months of game time available.

Looking ahead ... ?

Pretty slim game action, with snow continuing to fall here, meaning tough travel conditions for most folks to come here, or likewise for me to schlep the games materials out anywhere.  So expect little in the way of games until spring.

My own personal space for setting up ... anything doesn't exist yet - I'm borrowing a corner of my son's desk to operate my computer right now.

I planned to do some updates to the coverings of the metal base stands (I found some camouflage fuzzy throw blankets which ought to do quite nicely) and this boxing day (well week really) I ordered new tree kits from woodland scenics, which ought to arrive sometime in the new year, and will be doing an update to my forests and hedgerows - Rob's work has inspired me to have better surroundings for the minis to fight in.

one version of the camouflage throw

 

the other version of fuzzy throw

More renovations to complete then more unpacking then more re-arranging before any games space could be expected to be set up at all.  Again not seeing much starting in that direction until spring or really summer actually, since the deck and roof and exterior repairs are still awaiting my attention and will have to be done before any games action take place.

Happy new year everyone.

vista view of the park that backs on to our property

Pirates in the Dungeon

 Days of Plunder ...

 

In July, I did a solo day of pirates, testing out the new crew and ships and coming to a better understanding of using ships in the Blood & Plunder system.

the two sloops got to engage each other for the first time

close range battle ensued

the black and red 'pirate' vessel came up the worst

some great photos of the sloops

on fire the 'pirates' were doomed

Then the game was able to be staged in the War Dungeon, in the Nanaimo area.

we started off with a little beach assault scenario
so the players could learn the rules

there were some 'home-spun' ships

the one crew abandoned their crippled ship

while a pair of brigantines did a duel ... the homespun
one coming up very badly mauled

not able to win, the sloop selected open water and evaded

 

I did the cannon firing wrong, it was upon returning home and re-reading the cannon rules that I realized at least 6 more chances to get hits were missed in the first volley ...

Ah well ... everyone had a good time.