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

Monday 29 January 2018

Another Venture into Jimland (Part Two)


From the Diary of Sir Charles Biddlestone
    Route for Day 2
Day 2
"Awoke to find that we had lost two bearers in yesterday's fracas - oh well, neither were carrying food in any event!
I have also made the decision to allow the Askaris to return to Jimland in order to conserve food and allow the expedition to continue.

We set off South-eastwards, at a jaunty pace finding more swamp, we'll again have to rely on Henry, our Scout to find  a way out of this infernal swamp."





 From the Diary of Henry Warton:

Nine rifle armed slavers
Day 2 (Evening)
"Upon entering the swamp there were no mishaps but we soon encountered a group of what I determined to be Arab slavers, intent on doing us harm; generally these fellows are well armed with rifles and unfortunately for us they were also numerous.
Whilst I hadn't detected them earlier were did have good cover immediately on hand.
Sir Charles ordered us into the cover of the jungle to set up a firing line, whilst the bearers huddled behind us."

The stalwart partys' firing line

"Reverend Tosson didn't even attempt to convert this group of slavers saying something about them not being convertible as they were "Spawn of the Devil"; he took up a central position.
So, on our right was Sir Henry, then myself, the Reverend, Frederick and finally Dave on our left flank.
We opened fire as soon as we were able"
" Our opening shots were of mixed effect, with Frederick bringing down one of the cowardly slavers hiding in the trees opposite our position.
 Our firing also seemed to have attracted a large ape that emerged from the jungle and  proceeded to attack Sir Charles.
 Even whilst this was happening a general fire-fight broke out as the slavers returned our fire."



Ape attacking Sir Charles
Lion attracted by the Slavers' gunfire (note the Slaver casualty marker)
"Sir Henry wounded the great ape but then faltered and took a mortal blow from the creature, I immediately dispatched the creature.
The Slavers' gunfire also seemed to attract wild-life as a large lion seemed to take and interest in them too."
 "Through all the gunfire I could only just make out Dave cursing that they had shot a hole through his lucky flask "
The lion stalking the slavers
Slavers seemingly unaware of the lion
The Lion get s closer to the slavers
At least our abysmal shooting had generated a critter! (Dave's casualty counter on the right
"The next I heard from Dave was a gurgled cry of pain;  I found out later he had taken a bullet through his chest"
"Dave's body crashing to the floor must have startled a  large spider which thankfully scuttled off in the direction of the slavers"

The spider attacks the slavers - hurrah, there may be hope yet.
The Reverend's fatal charge into the slavers
"The remainder of the action, strangely, went very swiftly. The slavers easily squashed the spider, I was struck by bullet from one of the slavers but returned fire killing him. The Reverend Tosson for an inexplicable reason charged from the protection of our treeline to attack one of the slavers; both he and his target were locked in a struggle to the death that neither survived. 
 Both Fred and I continued to shoot at the slavers, each of us potting one which seemed to each curb their enthusiasm for continuing the fight.
They withdrew into depths of the jungle and thus the fight ended."

"After supper Frederick and I summed up the day's event and its consequences. We were now a mere two explorers, we had 19 days of food rations and more than sufficient bearers on hand (seven). We would make our decision what to do after a good nights sleep!" 

From my point of view it was a very exciting action, which originally I though the party would win easily, but the ape taking out my best shooter (Sir Charles) from my own duff shot set us back a lot. Losing Dave the prospector didn't help either for by that time we'd only managed to down two of the opposition and I needed five of them to drop before they'd skedaddle. It was about this time that I realised the Reverend couldn't hit a damn thing with his shooting skill of '2' and the modifier of  '-2' for the defenders' cover, so I decided he would charge them. He had a good save roll and a hand to hand skill of '10' whilst the slavers had no save roll and a meagre hand to hand skill of '4' and we desperately needed to start killing them! I did think the lion would have aided us, but he wandered off.
Next week will see the conclusion to this expedition's 2nd adventure

In other news
I'm back from my week-long holiday and slowly recovering; I haven't managed much painting, save the 300+ spear-heads and swords on my Sudanese, though I doubt you're bothered that I didn't take a photograph of this feeble progress. I've also made inroads into repairing my shattered terrain board, which should be finished in a week or so as I allow long periods of drying time.

That's it then for this week, I hope you've found something here of interest and as always your comments are welcomed and appreciated.

26 comments:

  1. Another tense and exciting tale in the exploration of Jimland, should you not rename it Joe's Land in honour of the adventurer exploring it?

    I hope you won't take too much offence in me saying that you have a very cavalier attitude to your bearers, just because they are not carrying your burden's it is alright when they get lost. Maybe you should shackle them together and you won't loose so many.
    I see you have also gotten ridden of that no good Rev Tosson, good riddance I say, a man who is only interested in generating opposition for the benefit of the expedition is not a true man of God in my opinion.

    Excellent story line and becoming a gripping tale, how many of the brave explorers will return to Jim's Landing. Not many is the answer.

    The gorilla looks familiar, I'm sure I have the same one. Is he plastic and stolen from your children? I think that's where mine came from or else it was out of a Christmas cracker.

    Looking forward to the next instalment with tremendous anticipation. :-)

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    1. Haha, the rules do warn (sort-of) that bearers and to a lesser extent Askari and Soldiers are reallythe cannon-fodder of the expedition, easy come easy go and a never-ending supply of them at Jim's Landing.
      As for the naming thing, I thought it only right to give credit to the original inventor of the game.
      The gorilla is indeed plastic and I have no ide where it came from - I have all sorts of crap I've collected over the years with the idea that "that'll come in handy sometime".

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  2. Best posting to date, Joe - absolutely loved it, and your after-game explanation was especially enjoyable. Great stuff. I hope you're enjoying these games as much as I am reading them :-)

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    1. Thanks Blaxx, I am having trouble just sticking to the diary/journal style of report and felt it necessary to include some form of explanation at the end rather than interspersed within 'the story' as I did in the first adventure.
      This particualr action (with my Indian mutiny figures standing in for the dastardly slavers) was a very intense affair and I did think the expedition would be wiped out! I think I'd have enjoyed it a bit more if Sir Charles had survived, but it was great fun.
      One thing I am getting better at is the tactics to use as the Natives, it's all getting a little more tactially celebral!

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  3. Fun stuff, Capt. Zab.

    After a full course dinner, and some Port while listening to far away jungle drums, I hope you and Frederick agreed to continue on in your safari. Maybe THERE IS hidden treasure up ahead to be found. I'd follow the lion's trail.

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    1. Haha,
      "Fredrick, you're such a dreamer, treasure indeed! Let us just sleep on it".

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  4. Another spiffing extract from Sir B's journal - fancy the reverend charging the slavers like that, he must have succumbed to his "altar ego" ;-)
    Great stuff Joe, and looking forward to the next one!

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    1. Thanks WA, the Reverend imo did contribute a lot to the survival of the whole party, just by taking out a slaver, so he didn't die in vain,

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  5. A fantastic journey into the unknown ;-)

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    1. Thanks you Michal, sadly though not a completely successful one!

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  6. Terrific ripping Yarn. I really do enjoy these a lot. I do feel sorry for the "Lucky" hip flask though. And the Wrath of the Almighty descending on the slavers in the form of the Reverend... (who may have lost the plot)

    As always looking forward to the next instalment. Lions, Spiders large apes slavers Jimland seems to be a place not to visit by me, I am not that brave.

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    1. Thanks Clint, there did seem to be an uncomfortable amount of fauna in this adventure, caused by all the shooting I guess.
      The reverend was mearly trying to save the save which in some part he did.
      I doubt too tht I wouldn;t be venturing into Jimland.

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  7. Bloody Good Fun, old bean. Great story, well written. All round good show. Thanks!

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    1. Hehe, I'm pleased that everyone commenting seems to be enjoying these, I do too as they're easy and quick to play and they use so few fgiures compared to a lot of other sysems. I think though that I've made a rod for my own back as the write-ups seem to take forevee! take

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  8. Can only echo the above Joe, an enthralling episode with a forgone conclusion turning out to be a bit more nailbiting!

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    1. Thanks dGG, I reckon it must have been the Askari shooting in previous episodes that did the damage then!
      This action was a bit more of 'a close run thing' than I'd wanted or anticipated - and the expedition isn;t home and dry yet!

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  9. Hi Joe, this is my first visit but will not be my last : ) I found your blog from Vagabonds btw.

    I'v read both parts of the of this tale that you've posted & have to say I've really enjoyed them, that things didn't go as you would have wanted is was makes it worth doing imho

    The concept of what your doing is very interesting & has the right feel of what exploring lands unknown should be, I look forward to reading more : )

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    1. Thanks Frank, welcome and thanks for visiting.
      I think that because things rarely going to plan makes it all the more satisfying when you do get some degree of success, but either way it;s fun.
      I have looked at a couple of other 'lost world' games but this has had the most appeal to me.
      I wish I could claim credit for this old system, but I am putting some of my own ideas with it into effect.
      Looking forawrd to viewing and following your own blog too!

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  10. Great campaign. I'm loving reading it.

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    1. Thans DEW, always good to hear that someone is enjoying what I'm doing.

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  11. Its no good, Harry and Fred will have to find themselves some dependable chaps to tag along with them if they're to have success. And I reckon they'll have to pray extra hard tonight, hoping that they next encounter some benevolent natives, who invite them to their village and give them the lay of the land ahead of them.

    Has Hiram invented the Maxim, yet? One of those might help, even if only used to keep the bearers from running away!

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    1. Haha, it's a tricky situation for the two of them...alone... and wihout a Maxim!

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  12. Blimey, the survivors seem quite laid back about their colleagues all dying in horrible and gruesome manners ! Stiff upper lip or what :-) ?

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  13. Thanks C6, I thibk it's all part and parcel of accepting the risks versus rewards of adventuring in Jimland and probably as you say for keeping up appearances (stiff up lip and all that)

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  14. Great to see someone else with Adventures in Jimland. This may even tempt me to find my copy of the rules.

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    1. Thanks for visiting Shelldrake, I've had "Jimland" for about 15 years, liked it then and still like it now! For such a simple set of rules, it has all the elements of a tense game.

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