The Warton-Cartington Expedition (2)

From the Journal of Henry Warton

    The Expedition goes forth

"With the modest funds we received  for our efforts in the disaster that saw the demise of Sir Charles, the Rev  and Dave the prospector, we  still managed to put together an expedition of myself, Frederick, six Askari and nine bearers with enough food for the eight of us for 11 days." 

The Plan (a bit ambitious imho)

 "Our plan was to make a simple circuitous route that meant we were never more than two, or at most three, days from Jim's Landing."

 Day One
"Travelling NW from our now well acquainted camp we encountered a friendly village and discovered a new plant species. I said it was a type of Orchid, whereas Frederick thought it to be of the rose family. As expedition leader I plumped for my own  version of the species"

Day 2's progress

Day Two
"Following the plan our route SW led us into a horrendous windstorm, which took away one of most laden-down bearers, I believe the 'friendly natives we encountered had taken whatever they could from his body before we managed to retrieve it"

Day 3 the Mountain!

 Day 3
"As we continued SW we left the sticky heat of the jungle to climb the rather more affable slopes of a mountainous area. Unfortunately one of our Askari fell ill and died, blame lay seemingly with the brackish water found in his water bottle. Later we encountered yet more friendly Natives warning us of the water hereabouts." 

Day 4 - still in the xxxxing mountains!

Day Four
" I declared today to be a "Rest Day an didn't mention that I couldn't find a way SW  through the mountains"

Day Five theVeldt! (bit boring)

  

Day Five
"Leaving the mountainous region behind us we descended into a very pleasant veldt, deserted, save  for some more friendly Natives, I assured Frederick that, despite his reservations, they were not following us"

Day six  - more bloody mountains !

Day Six
 "Drums in the night spooked our Askari, one of whom fled to goodness knows where. 
I decided that because of our losses we wold curtail our original plan somewhat and turn North-west, taking us into yet another mountainous region wherein we encountered a village of ambivalent natives.


 

Day Seven  (and eight)

Day Seven
"After another night of drums to which seemingly now used to, , we once more descended Northeastwards from the mountains  into yet more Veldt and came across a river. I thought it Tan in colour, Frederick thinking it more brown/ I named it the  River Tan. 
 Hardly noticeable on the large expanse of the Veldt were a group of most hostile pygmies who endeavoured to spoil our day, though I had espied them earlier than they would have liked and prepared our group for action."

 {Click on the photos for a better view)

Three Pygmy spear-men to the left and four armed with blowpipes to the right

Their spears charge, whilst their short-range blowpipes close .

We shoot them down as they close, whilst our bearers flee to safety

We form a firing line, protecting the bearers caption, their spears charge

We see off the last spear man - note the blowpipes trying to close.

"After a quick firefight we saw off these diminutive fellows as once more the bolt-action rifle proved superior to pointy sticks and pea shooters - the latter losing a 'man' whilst proving themselves very poor shots "

 Day Eight  
"The veldt, the river, the descent from the mountain and the pygmy attack had obviously disorientated me and I declared another "rest day", without giving the reason why."

[to be continued]

I going to leave it there for this week, not because of any other reason than to have something to post about next week ! (Sorry). As an added excuse, I'm also sitting in a fair representation of an freezer, as we have a plumber sorting out our bathroom and a heating engineers is due tomorrow to fix that problem too. I did manage some hobby-related painting last week - my first complete Sudanese unit which should be finished in a week or so, if my fingers ever defrost !

I have been unable to access a computer for most of the last weekend and will be trying to catch up on all your blogs asap.

There wasn't much to write about with this adventure, but it was a lot of fun from my point of view, but any questions or queries about the game, the way I've written it up or anything else, as always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.
(and I don't know why this last bit is blue as it doesn't look that way on the draft version)

The Warton-Cartington Expedition

The Warton-Cartington Expedition

I've had a very busy week,but not all for the right reasons. A clinic visit and a consultation with my consultant (surprisingly enough), which all cut into my hobby time.
Despite all the intrusions into my hobby-time I did manage to get my mandatory hour-a-day painting in on both my Sudanese (sword hits and second base colour) and three units of Allies have now all been, based and undercoated.
In addition I finished off three more figures I'll be using in 'Jimland'.

Three Egyptians Askari

In one of my job lot of recent buys I got three Egyptian rank and file and because they weren't carrying packs they were very quick to paint. I do intend to add four units of Egyptians (each of twenty figures)   so these were a nice practise run and will be used As Askari .
From the photograph above you can see that they've already had a run out in the Warton -Cartington expedition which I also played last week, but you'll have to wait until next week for the report. Needless to say I enjoyed it for all sorts of reasons.

The fairly boring rear view of the stand-in Askari

For getting older I received a new camera, which I'm my cameraman is still getting used to. so you have been told!
The three guys on the right are (from left to right)
An Irregular Mini figure of King Menelik II, though how I came into possession of it goodness knows!
Centre figure is, I believe a Foundry figure quite possibly the only one I possess and once more his origin is a mystery. The last figure is an Old Glory Boer, included with the job lot I've previously mentioned,

Rear view for those that want these type of photos (suspicious or what?)

None of the above three were involved in my latest adventure in Jimland. I have still been working on the rules for Jimland but was unable to put into practice any that I've finalised (though they all need play-testing). 

British unit (20 figures and odds and ends)

My Sudanese

£3.95 of white goodness.

Next week the Sudanese will be organised into their twenty-man units and have some detailing added
to them on a unit-to unit basis,
I had hoped to get them all finished by the end of February, but I'll settle with having at least one unit finished!
Quick mention for the white undercoat spray I used - bought from Wilko's - cost £3.95 -  I've manged to spray over well 400 figures not and it's still not quite empty!
It gives a really delicate coat to any figure without losing detail - well worth a try imo.
That's it then from me for this week I hope to get the write-up for the Warton -Cartington expedition into Jimland done by next week, but my week-end is booked for real-life endeavours.

So that's it then for this week I hope you found something of interest in this rather bland post and as always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.

More Terrrain boards for Jimland

    Frederick (on the summit)and Henry trampling over the new hill.

This last week has seen me being very productive (for me at least).
I've managed to complete two new terrain boards; the broken one has been successfully repaired and another one has been finished too.
The colours don't match up exactly with the two other original ones but  they're close enough for me as they're not meant for demonstration games or such like.
The process was the same as previously - gunge, dark brown base colour then two shades of green and finally a light sandy colour.

Broken board, gunged and base-coloured

New board, (the line at the bottom is the previous board)

The 'new' hill board with added green

Completed Hill board (bored yet?)

My new game

During my recent holiday I played "Descent, 2nd edition and was delighted to find that it was a huge improvement on the 1st Edition that I played with #1 son. I was so enthused by the game that  I ordered my own copy.
Whilst awaiting the arrival of my new game, I wasn't idle though, for in addition to finishing off the two terrain board, ready for my next adventure into Jumland I've also been working on my own additions to Jimland Rules.
My additions.amendments are mostly based on Chris Ferree;s excellent rules "The Black Amazons In King Solomon's Lost City Of The Diamond Mines In The Elephant's Graveyard At The Source Of The Nile" and the very old (1978!) Avalon Hill game "Source of the Nile" as well as a few (very few) ideas of my own .
So I'm  currently looking at adding Medical Supplies, ammunition and water 'loads' for the bearers to lug about. Also the additional possibility of setting up Mission Stations, Hospitals and Trading posts by Explorers.

Current painting tray (obligatory very boring photo)

I've made rules for using canoes on rivers and I'm currently revising the 'Jimland' rules for pack animals and adding waggon transport rules too.
There are a couple more explorer type I'm also thinking of adding, but getting the balance right is     
important . I'm happy with the rules I've already added for my "Trader" type explorer, but it did take time to balance the character.
Of course my  Sudanese have been
worked on too.
All their bases have had the first base coat of paint done and similarly all their shield have had their base colour done too. The cavalry have all been removed to a dark place.

So with the boards now finished I can start planning the next Adventure into Jimland with the "Warton-Cartington" expedition and by next week I should have my three latest explorers finished too. Of course the continuing saga of my Sudanese painting will have the next step done - probably sword hilts and rifle barrels.

That's it then for another week, fairly boring I know - sorry!
As always your comments are always welcomed and appreciated.

The Return to Jim's Landing

     The expedition, Henry checking the rear

Following on from the loss of supplies on day one, the loss of the Expedition leader and two others on day 2 the expedition now consists of Henry Warton (Scout), Frederick Carrington (Hunter), and seven bearers with 21 days' of food.







From the Diary of Henry Warton:

Day three

Day 3
"We buried our three fellow explorers last evening and decided that we try to carry on exploring as long as we were able, given that we had rations enough for the two of us for ten days and it's probably what Sir Charles would have wanted."
"No sooner had we ventured South-westward into yet another swamp that one of our bearers fell victim to yet another native trap. He fell headlong into a pit, full of venomous snakes, no doubt due to his full pack of rations, sadly he did a horrible death. We moved swiftly on.

I was obviously distracted  by the loss of the bearer, for as we advanced further into the swamp we were ambushed by yet another band of hostile natives, there appeared to be no more than six of them, split into two groups of three, either side of us.
We were in the unfortunate position of being out in the open and I determined that we would make a fighting retreat into cover"

Beating a hasty retreat

Bearers getting to safety

Natives in position to shoot

 "Even whilst we made our measures to defend the bearers, the natives showered us with arrows. There general demeanour, shouting and whooping had obviously disturbed the local wildlife as two lions emerged. We decided that discretion was the better part of valour  in this instance and retreated from view." 

Poor shooting from the natives on the left...

....and from those on the right...

...resulted in two lions appearing.

Explorers out of sight and bearers in cover

 "The lions turned out to be our friends as they turned on the natives to our right whilst we also turned our attentions on them"
One lion swiftly dispatched three of the natives and then both eventually wandered off. The natives to our left had made their escape as their third comrade fell"

yummy

One lion swiftly dispatched three natives

Route for day 4

"Despite having lost a bearer, we were in good spirits but decided nevertheless to return to Jim's Landing the very on the morrow."

Day 4
"Once more,  I easily  found an exit to the swamp and guided our party North rejoining the trail that lead straight back to Jimland. We observed a strange deer-like creature that we couldn't identify, but noted its nature.  Luckily, as we weren't in the mood for any more native encounters, none were encountered."

The "victorious" survivors

 
 Day 5

 "A leisurely start to the day and as we prepared to take the trail back to Jim's Landing, Frederick's keen eye spotted a species of primate, unknown to ourselves, 
The remainder of the journey was without incident.

Terrain board patched with a hill.

This was a very exciting solo game, where I played both sides as best I could and it turned out that the vagaries of the dice determined a lot of it, with the animals generated determining a lot of the action.
As there are only two explorers left I have the decision whether to continue with these two (they gained $131 from the expedition) or to start a fresh one!

In other news, I managed to paint somewhere in the region of 200 scabbard and 50 'waistcoats' on my Sudanese as well as putting a patch on my broken terrain.
Its a piece of polystyrene (like a ceiling tile), fixed in place with matchsticks and PVA, then coated with filler. I left the PVA for two days to dry before applying the filler in two layers again allowing it to dry between layers (24hours each).
Another layer of filler will be applied before sanding and painting, along with another terrain piece. It's only about 15mm tall despite what it looks like in the photo.

That's it then for this week, thanks for taking the time to visit and as always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.

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.