Welcome to my blog, the story of my continuing journey into the World of Zombie Wargames.

Monday 16 April 2018

Cartington at the Helm

The expedition at the start; Frederick centre-front .
I've used the last week to continue painting up my Sudanes Arab types and to fit in a another adventure into the wilds of Jimland with Cartington leading another expedition. Knowing I had a wedding event to attend (and very good it was too) plus a clinic visit, hobby-time was a bit limited, so I endeavoured to do two hours of painting a day and an hour's play of the Jimland Adventure (the whole adventure taking just over four hours to play out to a conclusion!).
With just over 120 photographs to  go through, crop, photoshop etc. this adventure will have to span over several posts.

From the Journal of Frederick Cartington, in Jimland:

The planned route
"With the success of my leadership in the last venture, I decided to lead the largest, most ambitious expedition that Jimland has ever seen. 
I scooped up the entire available bearers and the six Askari that were available.
Next I convinced Henry to accompany the expedition as Scout and of course Al and Bertie were keen to join us too. With 20 day's of rations, we set of in good mood. 

The plan was simple, we'd retrace our steps to where we first encountered the river  (the Mto Mweusi according to the bearers) and follow it westwards to wherever it took us and as always with an eye on our food supply for the return journey."
Column, ready for the attack (blue circle), 4 slavers bottom right and 5 top right
"Reaching the end of the trail we had forged previously, Bertie informed me he had found a new plant species, which I thought very familiar and in any event I was far more interested in the Slavers Henry had spotted trying to lay an ambush for us!". 
The action was swift and deadly, I devised a plan to form a firing line on the rough ground to our left whilst the bearers made a dash for cover. The Askari would immediately open up on the enemy as and when they could.
By concentrating fire on the larger group of five Slavers  we could demoralise them swiftly."


Four slavers with carefully concealed rifles, rushing through the undergrowth
The slightly larger group of slavers rushing for the cover of the jungle...
...and the Askari facing them

The firing line forms (bottom centre), whilst those that can move out of the stream, skedaddle 
The Slavers open fire, dropping three Askari,
We return fire with deadly accuracy
The firing continues apace, with another Askari lost, whilst two more Slavers are dropped.
 "The firefight was swift but brutal, we lost three of our Askari, but gave as good as we got, bagging all five of the enemy which seemed to be enough for them as their friends disappeared into the undergrowth very swiftly.
Taking into account our losses we now had more food per man than we started - every cloud etc.
The next day, Henry stated he couldn't find a way through the jungle but I think he's a bit shook up by the experience of the first day.
We get on the move again, going SW then NW, blazing a trail as we arrived in the grasslands.
Over the next two days, Henry once more states he's a bit bewildered by the terrain and can't find a route North.
I now suspect he's definitely
jittery and losing it."


"When we finally got going again we encountered another familiar sight of an ancient ruin of some sort, with a village of friendly Natives. The latter don't seem to understand bartering and made off with $3 (the entire cash I had on hand), probably thinking it a gift. Finally we encountered the river and followed it to the Northwest, incidentally encountering a rather bizarre new species of primate."

And if you're still with me at this point, that was the first week of the expedition with three cards indicating "lost", meaning we stayed put, munching away on our rations!
The battle with the was quite tense as they're about as good a shot as the Askari, but our first shots of two '1s' and and a '2 ' helped!

Thanks for taking the time to visit and I hope you've enjoyed this latest adventure into Jimland, even if it's just to look at the pics!
As always your comments, criticisms, questions, queries and anything else are always welcomed (I take brickbats as well as bouquets) are always welcomes and truly appreciated.
More next week folks !

30 comments:

  1. Another very enjoyable tale Joe but Henry needs to man up what did he think he signed up for a walk in the park ? also bad showing by those natives conning you of your money, but on the bright side with a few of the Askari dead you guys can stay out a bit longer :)

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    1. Thanks Frank, I think your comments reflect Frederick's attitude exactly. My comment in the margin of my turn record read something like "still got 20+ days of food!"

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  2. On tender hooks for the next episode a real cliff hanger.

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    1. Thanks Irqan, there's a lot more yet to come, hopefully equally entertaining.

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    1. Thanks you Michal; the story has just begun too!

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  4. Excellent Jimlanding. I'm really enjoying your adventures!

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    1. Thanks MJT, one day, hopefully, I may convince others to try it! (So I can enjoy their tribulations too - selfish I know)

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  5. Losing three days "lost" consuming precious rations was nicely balanced out by losing three Askari - excellent resource management :-)
    A bit of cheek, those 'friendly' natives fleecing you of your loose change, just shows that you can't trust the blighters!

    Great opener to the adventure Joe, and looking forward to the following episodes.
    I've managed to get hold of the rules, but I can't find the cards anywhere, any chance of a link pretty please?

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    1. Thanks WA, food was the least of the expedition's worries after this fiasco and as I was merely trying out the barter/buy rules (for food as it happens) they weren't that bothered really by the loss!
      Send me an email (found on my profile page) and I'll send you a link that will give you the most up to date rules I can find (v1.7), event, native and animal cards, turn track sheet, terrain chart etc. (Goes for anyone else wanting them too).

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    2. Thanks Joe, I'll do that as soon as I've unravelled the Google/Blogger knot (my blog was set up using an old email provider and I can't get it to 'associate with' my Gmail account)

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    3. OK, WA, I'll pretend I understood all the techy-gobbledygook.

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    4. I wish I did Joe!
      I'm sure there's an easy way to sort it out, but it's beyond me, and the "Help" button is a waste of time. I've given up for now with a headache - I'll try again tomorrow.

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    5. I can't get my blog to tell me when I've had comments added too (except my own!)

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    6. Is there anything I can help with Greg? I'm not an expert, but spending as much time on blogger as I do I know my way around the system a bit.

      Failing that, if you need a means to pass on your email to Joe you could contact me privately using the "Contact Form" tool on the Jankers blog and then nothing is given out publicly. Or Joe adds the Contact Form to his blog and you could cut out the middle man (me).

      Anyway, happy to help should there be a need.

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    7. Thanks for the help Roy, I wish I knew what the problem was, but probably wouldn't be capable of solving it.
      I am on FB and the TMP board too and could be pm'd on either.

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    8. Hi guys - Joe maybe I could help with you and Greg communicating on this, I'll drop you an email.

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    9. Thanks John, sorted then.

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  6. Another exciting tale of daring do in Jimland, well done Joe, seems you can't trust the natives, they either rob you if they're friendly or kill you if they're not.
    Tricky either way.

    Three weeks of supplies left sounds good, especially as that's what you started out with a week earlier and at your normal attrition rate it's going to last longer than that.

    Looking forward to the next installment.

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    1. Thanks Vagabond, the Natives do seem to be quite erratic, almost random in their nature don't they (strange that).
      I have started to think about the ratio of food now as depletion of numbers occurs and whether it's worth loading up the bearers with as much.

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  7. That was a brutal encounter, I wasn't expecting the slavers to be so evenly matched - mind you it made it all the more exciting.

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    1. It was indeed Michal, but generally the Natives, Tribals, Slavers and Pygmies all have lower stats than the Bearers and Askari, but depending how you distribute the Explorers' initial points among their intial three stats they can be the equal or better than them. All the party (with the caveat above re the Explorers) do get Saving rolls though whereas the 'enemies' don't.

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  8. I say sir splendid. (Keep them coming the story is quite engrossing)

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    1. Thanks Clint, lots more to come, a particularly thrilling (from my point of view at least) adventure.

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  9. Ah hah! New species encounter! That's why you'll never see me adventuring into a jungle. Maybe it can barter.

    Nice presentation, Zab.

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    1. Thanbks Jay, I'm not tempted to wander off into the jungle either, nothing seems to be friendly at all.

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  10. I tell you what, Joe. I go away from blogging for a bit and when I come back I read that some cheeky natives have robbed you of $3!

    Your Jimland posts are as entertaining as ever. Top stuff.

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    1. Thanks Roy, yep, you turn your back for just one minute!

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  11. Jolly good stuff, I say. You may be lost, but at least you're all still alive (well, apart from the ascaris who were shot...)

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    1. Thanks C6, the party is not really lost, just can't find its way out of the bit of jungle they're in currently it seems to be on a regular basis).

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