Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Tales of Captain Blue Billy Bones

Game One

 in Which We Meet Captain Billy on his way out of town...

Gather near dear reader and listen close to this story of pirates and high adventure.  For I am about to recount the stories I've seen and heard of the infamous pirate captain Blue Billy.  Blue Billy was captured once and held in the admiralty cellars for crimes on the high seas.  His bail was set so high no captain could ever hope to have been set free.  But others had no idea the lengths to which Billy's crew and brethren would gather to help out their loved leader.  The brethren of the seas did post Billy's bail and had him set free on a Tuesday afternoon.
They arrived in force and tied up to the quay in the harbor.  South by Southwest was the port of call and Captain Blue was being held in a brick admiralty building in the shore district.  His bail was delivered and the debt payed to the sea commissioners but the town's people would have none of it!  When word spread that Blue Billy's crew had paid his bail the town went into an immediate uproar.
The hardies are on the wharf and itching to have their captain returned to their midst.
All hell breaks loose in the admiralty building as glass is broken by towns folk and pirate alike in an attempt to turn the building into a fortress.  The crack of pistol ball and musket alike echo in the naval buildings vast interior.  Blue Billy is freed and the bail retaken.

Meanwhile, outside the natives are quite restless. 
The towns folk want to run up and stab that pirate in the eye.
Mobs of citizenry are called out to arms to recapture the villain captain and hang him immediately from one of the stately green space oaks.  The admiralty building remains fortified with Billy's Blue Crew elite.  The tavern across the street is a gathering storm for the pirates to evade.  The "Bollocks Mollusk" is the rallying point for the towns violently active citizenry. Every window of the Silly Snail has an armed citizen bent on tagging Billy Blue.
The longshoremen pour from their warehouse and are screaming violent threats to Billy and the pirate crews.
Cool as ice, Blue Billy eyes an apple he has snatched from the desk of the shore clerk.  As a cacophony of noise and violence erupts outside our hero/villain contemplates his snack time.
Outside the window the Bollocks Mollusk is a riot of activity.
 
Help arrives from offshore.  The Vermilion Captain and Captain Violet are arriving in force to set up a safe cordon for Blue Billy to escape to the waiting ships.
Snack time can wait I gotta get out of this place - if it's the last thing I ever do!
Battle lines are drawn in the streets of Southwest.  Gunfire and knife fights are the scene.
Billy sets foot on the wharf..... Will he make it?

Yea.  The town is in shambles.  Captain Violet takes a musket ball from the Longshoreman foreman and can be seen rolling in the surf.  His crew rallied with a dramatic success that would suggest they were glad to be rid of him?!
The fight is over and Billy can be seen safe aboard the pirate ship "Huntress."  The game was played using G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. and 54mm plastic pirates.  The buildings, scenery, figures and table are part of the Strategic Gaming Club that meets after school at Southwest High School in Kansas City.  This new club is a game friendly  environment for students that meets weekly from 3:00-5:30.
Yes the kids paint the miniatures. Yes, I have a hand in teaching them the rudiments of miniatures wargaming.

 Game Two

In Which we see Billy Adventure to Skull Island and the land of the dead...

Oh now that's a scary place.  They're all dead.  No one has ever been to the land of the dead on skull island and returned to tell the tale...

The fabled cave of the other side.  Beyond which lies fabulous cash and prizes.

Guarded by a legion of dead pirates

and what's this?  Our intrepid Captain Blue has anchored just off shore and is sending the away boats to fill the water casks.  Is he mad?  Does he have a death wish?!

Once the men of the "Huntress" set foot on the shore of Skull Island, they hear a cry of the damned and dead from the island's interior.  Coming out of the jungle is a tangle of bones and weapons as pack after pack of undead pirates clash with the living for a battle of souls.
Wave attacks of undead.
The men of the shore party are nearly left to their fate as more away boats are loaded for an attempt on the cave of "Beyond".

"The jungle was full of dead and dying..." Captain Vermilion, lead officer of the Huntress on the away team onshore on Skull Island.  (He did not return.)

The howls of the evil skeletal attackers nearly drowned out the pistol fire and cannonade from the "Huntress".
The final moments of Captain Orange.  "Take that you damned dirty stack of bones."
This encounter lasted three consecutive turns of scuffle and save as the skeletal leader and the pirate leader both attacked parried and rolled saves.  Finally they were locked in a death grip with one dead and the other deader.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

The Steadfast Tin Soldier



As the holiday season approaches this looks to be a fine project for the 54mm enthusiast.  The tin soldier is excited by the prospect.... (from the blog   http://ilikethethingsilike.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-steadfast-tin-soldier.html#comment-form )

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Recruits 2012 Stalingrad in 54mm a Lion's Den Master work!

The Secondhand Lion's club presented a legacy game for the Recruits 2012 fall convention.  This game was played for years in our clubhouse and was presented at Recruits #1.  The game is a unique WW2 experience in 54mm and is played on a stunningly detailed board that was created in our youth in the garages of the Lion's Den artists Ken Van Pelt and Jon Mark Haworth.  The full club was involved in this build by helping out where their skills could be utilized.  The Russian troops where painted commune style by assembling the full club for a paint night with each member painting their part of the figure and then passing it on to the next person for their paint.  This wonderful club event has held a place in our repertoire for years.  It is wonderful for it to receive the legacy status at Recruits 2012!  Here is a look at the game and the successful player strategy that carried them through two tables of the encounter.

Terry Carr adjusts and instructs the German platoon commander.
The game is played by having all active gamers on the same side. (German mechanized platoon in an assault on the tractor factory in Stalingrad.  The name also goes by the moniker "Mamayev Kurgan.")
The Germans move into areas of the game table and in each area the referee draws a card referenced to an encounter table that brings into play the Russian troops and equipment.  The encounters can be very wide ranging from areas that are obscured with smoke and fire to areas that have troops entrenched and ready for defence of the motherland.



Jon Haworth, the master sculptor and Ken Van Pelt the self proclaimed wargamer extroidinaire oversee the game in it's glory.
Images like these are why we all game with miniatures.

Great thanks to a gamer that grew up in the Lion's Den to see the club become the Secondhand Lions.
Terry Carr.
 
 More images of tabletop miniature gaming that keeps us all coming back for one more tumble of the dice.

The players encounterd a T34 just rolling off the production line.  The Stug and the Panzer III bounced rounds off of the unpainted turret and hull of the beast and as the crew of the novice just born T34 buttoned up and went into action, a chill ran through the German crews as the tank shrugged off the attacks and began the slow clank and squeal of the T34 turret to give it's response shot.
 
Roll Credits and fade to black ..........