Max's Next Expedition

As I've not finished any thing this week, despite my best efforts here's another of Max's !adventures in Jimland", played several weeks ago. I've also GM'd two expeditions with #1 son as the explorers, which I'll write about sometime in the future.
In the meantime, once more:
From the journal of Frederick Cartington:
"With the success of the last mission in mind, we set off with a slightly better supplied expedition than is usual. Our explorers were accompanied by six soldiers a muleteer (leading two pack animals) and enough food for about a fortnight. With extra trade items, a moderate amount of ready cash, medicines and ammunition we were in high spirits indeed.
Max's plan was to head back northeast and to follow the lake around in another attempt to reach the coast, following the previously found river's direction."
As seems usual with Max's expeditions our start was delayed by torrential rains, dampening our spirits somewhat"

Ready to face the native threat

"We eventually got underway to discover a small ravine had opened up, no doubt due to the rain, into which a curious bearer and his load of food immediately disappeared into. Will these chaps never learn?"
By day four we had discovered some unusually large bones, probably dinosaurs; encountered some natives that were not interested in us and I almost fell foul crossing some difficult quicksand - unlike another of our food bearers (stupid chap) who disappeared beneath the  surface.
No sooner had we reached the veldt than we were set-upon by a small group of hostiles, brave, but foolish chaps, I thought."

Four natives charge the column whilst three riflemen take pot-shots

First blood to the column

All the shooting disturbs a  snake!

Two soldiers attack the snake and the explorers protect the retreating bearers.

The natives close in and the snake is joined by a crocodile !

Snake dealt with but fighting is still harsh

The soldiers charge from snake to croc and gang up on a native !

Crocodile and natives finally dealt with dealt with

"Having dealt with the animal attacks and fool-hardy natives we arrived at  our destination near the lake whereupon we encountered a river, feeding the lake to our Southeast. Plans were of course immediately changed as Max decided to follow the river Northwest - rivers are, after all very important  discoveries [Editors note : For "very important  discoveries" read "most valuable cash reward"] . Hindering our progress however were yet another group of natives surprising us from both our flanks.

Natives to the left of us, natives to the right ...

The attackers use the building to cover their approach

Their riflemen also close and use cover

The column reacts accordingly

Ooh, err, they're a bit close !

Fighting and shooting is chaotic

Native casualties mount

Just one more native to drop should see them off !

It was all going so well too...

Frederick and Horatio attack the snake...

Snake defeated and Horatio bitten, but Albert is at hand

 "The natives, despite their number were only mildly troublesome, causing little to no wounds, however slight, to our number. The snake that emerged from one of the huts was much more worrisome, having the ability to poison its victims. even so, I joined in engaging the creature alongside Horatio and whilst I survived two of its bites Horatio succumbed to the creatures bite and poison at the very moment he put his spear through the vile serpent.
Albert was immediately on the scene, the natives having long since dispersed, applying liniments and a poultice to draw the poison. The successful of his medications was soon realised as Horatio recovered sufficiently to be carried by one of the beasts or two of our bearers.
"As if I had not had enough of beasts for one day, the very next day I was singled out by some big cat or other but survived with little more than tears to my clothing.
"Over the next week or so, we had the usual discoveries and events, "interesting rocks", pygmies, a windstorm and so on, but we continued our journey along the river, until our bearers decided it was "Bad Juju" to continue heading northeast  wherein we diverted a bit, found a swamp and back-tracked on to our course, having picked up the river once more.
Archie's Birthday was greeted by giving everyone double rations (we still had 10 day's worth) and yet more new plants, jungle rot and some gold occupied our time so much that we were once more ambushed!"

The opposition decide to engage us frontally !

Max, as has become the  norm, order the soldiers to charge

shooting and fighting is brisk

and deadly....

Two more natives die, ending their enthusiasm for the fight.

 "This group were quickly dealt with by fire  and bayonet and proved to be not the last encounter we would have on this expedition as with depleting numbers and food were made for home, though not by the most direct route I should add, Max being determined to explore "just a little out of or way" and it was at this point that we were attacked by slavers...

They came from our right...

...and our left

Once more bayonets proved effective, but so was the enemy fire

Enemy fire proving more effective than wished

Shooting and fighting provoked an ant into action !

General view of fight

Shooting accounts for two of the enemy riflemen and another is cut down in melee

Bearers flee whilst soldiers attack the ant (arrowed)

The ant finaly defeated

The reduced sized column homeward bound

  "The action was very costly to our dwindling numbers losing two bearers and all the food they were carrying, and a soldier .
It was up to me to successfully supply fresh meat for two days once the food ran out, before our eventual return to Jim's Landing" 

Each arrow hows a day's march and a red dot indicates a delay

It was a very long adventure, both in game turns (23 days) and the time to play it all out at a gentle ace took about four hours over three sittings iirc. Towards the end it was very tense as I'd really pushed the column before returning to Jim's Landing, with little room for error on the food front, though there was cash in hand and trade left  should we met anyone friendly to trade with. (we didn't) - we met slavers !
Despite giving trade to the slavers they were still hostile and are quite good at shooting and melee - I was so pleased there were not many more. The day after the Slaver fight, there more slavers, who after plying with trade , proved neutral to us and of course, low on food meant we got lost  too!

Because of the time the expedition was in the field, the river hexes, fights and some great loot Events the overall tot-up was a phenomenal $599 ! This is enough to give all four explorers another skill increase.


It was nail biting stuff and I enjoyed it !

In other News

I spent a lot of last week painting figures (another two units for the Sudan) but they're still only about 85% finished and I've spent a little time planning some new, very simple buildings and a rather larger build too.
 I'll be going to my closest wargame show "Border Reiver" this coming weekend, so next week's blog will be about the delights of the show.

That's it then for another week, hope you found something of interest and as always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.

The Wessex Regiment

After a very productive week's painting I managed to finish this unit  for my Sudan collection.
It's a twenty figure unit to fit in with my rules of choice "The Sword and the Flame" (TSaTF), in rule terms it's a platoon and four of these, plus supernumeraries would make a battalion - which along with a couple of model guns, would be more than sufficient for a game.

Proof that I've painted the rear of the figures too

I've also started on another two units, though a different regiment.
For those among you that know nothing of the British Army in general or the Sudan wars in particular, the Wessex regiment doesn't exist, and neither does The Mercia regiment either !

How they'll probably fight most of the time

I'm trying to make up my mind whether or not to finish off my Sudan collection (at least as far as I'm concerned) with an additional three units of British foot and some Egyptians - four infantry units and a cavalry unit (cavalry units only have 12 figures and are generally crap - so no rush on these).
As this project started sometime around the turn of the millennium it would be nice to at least finish off all the figures, cannon and gunboats etc that I already have.

They don't look too bad in the dark and you squint

They're not perfect by any means (I even had to repaint the stupid bayonet sheaths black from my wrongly assumed white) and won't survive close scrutiny, but as they're not for demos but merely for my own use they're serviceable enough for me, Besides, I'm the only one that know the uniform details of the (imaginary) Wessex regiment !

The figures are all "Old Glory", which although maybe not to everyone's taste, I like them them, and they're cheap and cheerful.

That's it then for this week, next week I'll probably be posting about Max's third adventure into "Jimland" and I doubt I'll have the next two units destined for the Sudan finished.

As always your comments, queries, brickbats and bouquets are always welcomed and appreciated 

Max's Second Expedition (part two)

This week I'm continuing the story of Max's second adventure into Jimland, so once more:
From the Journal of Fredrick Cartington:
"Having survived two of the Pygmy darts,  Max was feeling emboldened, and the column, though our numbers were slightly weaker was still in good spirits as we faced yet another Native attack, in one of their unwelcoming villages. Max had foresaw their frontal attack would occur as we were crossing one of the many streams found in Jimland."

The opposition, four with firearms and five with melee weapons

The native riflemen head for cover

Preparations made to receive the charge...

...and start the firefight with a couple of successes

The natives meantime were in position to charge...

...which Max pre-empted with one of his own.

 "The appearance of a Hippo joining the fray was a little disconcerting, but once our soldiers were clear of the creature Max, the Doc and myself made short shrift of it as a threat and it would also help our dwindling rations.
No less worrisome was a lioness appearing in our rear"

The natives would be easier to melee with than shoot, but the Hippo ?

"Everyone runaway !"

Melee over, natives fled, form a firing line (as usual)

"Our bearers panicked at the sight of the lioness, some being stick in the small stream, but we formed a secure firing line, that would deal with this last threat.
With little incentive from ourselves the creature slinked away from our formidable force.
We were elated by our success at driving the natives away, losing only a single soldier in the melee, whom Doc could not save one of the two wounded, despite using medicines upon the fellow.
We feasted on the Hippopotamus that night  (tasted like chicken) and wondered what the morning would bring."

[As a side note: I've added the ability of an expedition to eat any prey they encounter and kill in their fights with the natives (provided they win of course). This seemed logical to me and is a very easy rule to implement and isn't a 'game-changer' in my opinion.]


"The next few days went without any incident of note though I did lose sight of the column at one point, being at the rear, but by nightfall I had found them once more.
We came across several groups of natives, but Horatio's continually improving language skills deflected any interest they may have had with us
Eventually following the coast we encountered the mouth of a river.  Max was delighted to have made such a valuable discovery and the objective of our expedition.
We made plans to follow the river as far as our supplies would allow and set of once more - very happy."
We followed the river for several days, though we had a slight halt as our bearers, on day. refused to move in the direction we desired "Bad Juju" they said.
I believe they were intent on not disappointing Max as when we eventually got gong once more we encountered a lake, thus ending any further river discovery.
Nearly three weeks into the expedition and on the return leg, through the never-ending grasslands failure in communications and no doubt Max's tiredness,, we failed to spot a a large group of Natives emerging from the long grasses."

Eight melee and rifle--armed natives (note the wounded soldier being carried)

Both sides rush one another, firing proving ineffective. (Noe the pesky spider!)

Casualties mount on both sides, the explorers, safely in the rear (bottom left)

Spider killed and  mounting casualties

Final native, needed to break their morale, dies.

"After a long drawn-out fight, the bayonet eventually proved its  superiority over a pointy stick, though one poor fellow succumbed to the spider.
With thinning numbers and supplies we determined to take the most direct route homeward arriving there safely despite meeting other disinterested natives and with no food supplies."
Max of course declared the expedition a huge success and immediately started making plans for the next!"

In gaming terms, the expedition had also been a great success, the Expedition had gleaned $449, a massive by my standards and enough to give every explorer a +1 in one of their skills or abilities.
From a person viewpoint, I enjoyed playing the game and quickly played another soon after; my rule changes had little effect of the overall feel of the game and my event cards came into play both aiding and hindering the party. Although it's permitted to leave wounded soldiers and askaris behind, I feel this is not in the spirit of the era and have always carried the ineffective "revived" figures and may write rules to reflect this.
With the rule changes and amendments it was obvious I needed a new playsheet and turn record, both of which have been done and were used in Max's third expedition - and may have to be amended again.
I'm still unsure how to write-these things up - I've tried a few different ways, but the adventure are all very 'samey' and very repetitive.

The expedition didn't cover a lot of new territory, but here's the map:

Route of Max's second adventure

 In other news:

I did some  serious slapping paint on miniatures this last week, and if (hopefully) finished by next week, I'll be posting the results. I've enjoyed the three adventures I played  (strangely enough) but editing the 100+ photographs into something worth seeing and compiling the aar is very time consuming as most of you will know! 
I also bought some new figures (shock, horror!), but just the six, second hand and with varying degrees  of  'usability' (it's a word, right ?). All my 60p pocket-money went into them all. I'll  photograph and show the next week too !

That's it then, thanks for taking the time to visit and if you've found anything of interest, it's a bonus and as always, your comments, queries and brickbats are always welcomed and truly appreciated.