Not Ned's now, but Fred's Greatest Adventure (part 3)

After the highs of the Border Reiver show, I'm once more back in the real world where gaming an my enthusiasm to do anything hobby-wise is once more at an all-time low. It must be well over a month since I have managed anything hobby-related, save for writing this blog!
Picking up then where we left the expedition, in grasslands, readying itself for another scrap...

Once more:
From the Journal of Frederick Cartington

"Once more we were set upon by hostiles, but with adequate warning we braced ourselves for their attack"

The opposition, 4 with hand Weapons to the North and 4 with bows to the South

The four 'fighters' close on the column...

...whilst their archers start their ineffective shooting 

The column breaks for cover and a defencive position...

and the natives continue to bear down upon them.

All the shooting disturbs an unwelcome guest (obligatory crap rubbish picture)

Our shooting bags a native bowman...

...but a furious melee develops,...

...joined by a rather large snake

The snake claims its first victim...

...meantime the gorilla thumps its chest and bellows...

... with no effect as it's now quite far from both protagonists.

The snake chomps its second native victim, but is also wounded...

and our gunfire claims another, proving too much for the natives, who flee

The reformed column

"The fight was swift and furious though our shooting was less than adequate. The melee in the rear of our firing line dispatched  two of our opposition aided, I'm told, by a serpent that we also dispatched.
That mighty creature, a forest dwelling gorilla also made an appearance but as it left us alone, we too left it alone!"
"As we made camp, less than two weeks had passed since we left Jim's landing and with more than two week's food available, we determined to press on" 
 "it was two days before we managed to get going again as fog descended upon us making further progress impossible, but eventually the fog gave way to excessive heat giving grave concern to our Doc."
"it was a mere four days since our last encounter that we were  ambushed by some roguish fellows that gave us a  very hot welcome"

We rush to receive them, their rifles are a bit too effective!

The Natives, three with rifles (centre bottom) flanked either side by two melee-armed

Our soldier drops and our Askari despatches one of theirs

A forest bear takes an interest whilst the melees rage on...

The fight grows everywhere and the natives lose another two...

The bear decides this fight is not for him.

 "A rapid charge into the enemy threw them off balance and they were unable to use their very effective rifles, but even as the fight died down poor Ebor was struck down by a bullet, our third casualty of the day"
"Doc was unable to save any of our wounded and I made the determination to return to Jim's Landing. Several great apes we saw en route was indeed new primate species of several types, though the didn't take much notice of us and we arrived without further incident."

The expedition's route

The expedition had taken 18 day's (in game time) and made an incredible (imo) 470 points of discoveries etc. which would have been enough to give four explorers a point increment each (in a single ability), alas the last encounter was gruesome as we had lost Ebor (and of course poor Ned), leaving us with only three explorers. I think the  game took about four hours to play out over two (or maybe three days). It certainly took a lot longer to edit the photos (over 100!) and write up the adventure.
Was it worth it ? At the time probably yes, now I'm not so sure.

My enthusiasm has been sorely dented, I have unused armies, many unpainted figures, several buildings that I'd like to have built and some building kits that may never see the table.

Thanks for taking the time to visit and apologies for the despondency, but as always your comments are both welcome and appreciated.

Goodness only knows if I'll be able to find anything to post about next week, I doubt if anyone will be interested in yet another hospital visit I have to attend (tomorrow!).

Border Reiver 2018

   Pirates!

Having procured a lift to this event (despite it being less than 2 miles away, but getting there by public transport is a nightmare for me), I had a very enjoyable day at Border Reiver.
Myself and three others arrived fairly early to what appeared to me to be a very busy event, although there was still enough room for a good wander around.  From memory, the traders were much the same as last year with the absence of Dave Thomas (for whatever reason). The games were, as always, varied in quality from the "hastily thrown together", to the more typical 'club' games, with all the variations we are used to - demonstration types; games being  played; participation games and so on. 
I made my way immediately to my good friend Stu's vast Pirate game, though its a loose term for a conglomeration of Frostgrave,( Ghost Archipelago), Blood and Thunder and various other genres (i spotted elves, dinosaurs and even a Tardis!)
Stu made and painted all the terrain himself over the last several months, here's the pics:

The 'village'

One of three of his 'Ainsty' ships

His fort, based on one in Bermuda iirc

Another of his ships and an island

Another view of the above

Natives !

The volcano

View down the table (18' x 6' !)

His scratch-built ghost ship !

Moving on to other games:

What a Tanker, by whom I'm not sure.

My local groups 40K  (literally 300 yards form my house)

Very crowded board, with a lot going on

A Rapid Death Fire game put on By Redcar Iron Beards (I think)

Huge table and probably based on a 'Bridge to far' scenario.

 Another fairly local group to me, Blyth Wargamers put on two good looking games - Casablanca 1942 and a Frostgrave (iirc) dungeon style crawl, both looked very good.

Good looking table and figures

I did wonder about the defenders rushing out in the open to oppose the landing!

A huge undertaking to make this from Hirst blocks.

 Tyneside Wargames club, put on this good looking galleys game:

IIRC all the ships were scratchbuilt (about 1:300 scale I reckoned)

All the ships had crews too! (I read somewhere there were about 1000 figures!)

 Probably my favourite game of the show was this Napoleonic epic from Westerhope games club (very local to me too).
I'm a sucker for big battalions (though I prefer the 7YW) and this game ticked all my boxes; not just the game and superb figures,  but the general banter between the guys playing (in their team pink RED shirts.

Good sized table, not overly crowed with troops

Superb painting

Good argument though for clear bases !

Hard to make out, but the artillery had flashing lights to represent gunfire

Every Napoleonic gamer worth their salt has to have some Mamelukes!

 Whitley bay  3D gamers (?) put on this Japanese game.

A period I like, a lot, but this game didn't grab me!

 The inimitable Andrew Wylie (almost an ever -present at every Northeast show) once more put on his 'Dead Man's Hand' participation western game.

All the models are card...

...but do look the part

His latest addition - a Chinese Escort Agency possibly ?

 Here's some arbitrary general photos of the venue...

 

 

LOOT
I did get some loot, though very modest (I spent less than half of my budget):

 A Sarrisa MDF garage
Two Warthogs, of the animal variety rather than the death from above type.
A Pulp Figures' film Crew (Other production teams shouldn't get nervous)
Finally a tube of quick-shade stuff (which I'm still a bit dubious about).

I met many old friends  at this show, one I hadn't seen for about 40 years or so!
That's it then for this week, I'm sure other blogs have better photos of the event, but as always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.