Finally got on it and finished up my four remaining The Sword and The Flame (TSATF) figures.
The quality of today’s sculpting is so much better than these Minifigs from the early ’80s. No comparison. And, the newer figures are so much easier to paint acceptably. With these old guys, it’s fairly grim work for a pedestrian painter like myself.
The problem now is whether or not I buy some more Boxers. I have too many Europeans, and TSATF rules call for fairly large units. If unit size is reduced, the CRT results distort, and I’d rather not make even a simply adjustment to it. But, even though old and poorly sculpted, 25mm Minifigs are not cheap.
I’ll keep scouring E-Bay and The Miniatures Page for cheap recruits.
Somehow became enamored with skirmish games while finishing up my TSATF miniatures.
What ensued can only be described as a “frenzy” of rules purchases. Learned a lot. First off, what the hell is a skirmish game. Here is one thread that, I guess, covers the bases.
Played Fistful of Lead and enjoyed it. But I wanted something different than Wild West gunfights.
I already had one other set of rules, and it is supposedly the first set of skirmish rules published…. OK, maybe the Wild West rules came first. I bought the Featherstone rules a long time ago, but played only a couple of times.
After playing one session – more on that in another post – I decided to explore other options. The next thing I knew, I was falling into the vortex of the Wargame Vault.
Just click, pay, and download……it’s painless. With that, and some research, I accumulated a number of titles in a very short time.
As the BGG thread indicated, there is variety out there. I’ve concluded the rules break down into either individual figure or small unit games, with the accompanying amount of character development varying by scale. The individual figures have capabilities and special skills. These attributes cost points to help create a balanced game. Also, some rules are for the pre or early gunpowder periods, with others following the evolution of firearms.
A listing of early rule sets, but with an emphasis on board games, can be found here.
That being said, I’m to start working through my early period rules, using my Warhammer skirmish figures and “combat town”. I’ll post up the sessions.
Event and Terrain Cards are played.The former limits visibility to 20 inches, while the latter causes a Marine to badly hurt his leg and fall behind the others.
Event Not Applicable, So I Changed It To One Marine Hurting Leg And Falling Behind.
The Boxers roll for reinforcements each Movement phase.A roll of “Yes” generates a number of units equal to a D4.
The Marines respond artillery fire by shifting to a skirmish line, but vegetation (bad die rolls) slows movement to the edge of the woods.
A second artillery round (the antiquated cannon can shoot every two moves), kills the limping Marine.
Limping Marine Killed By Artillery. Others Struggle To Extend Into Skirmish Line And Avoid Artillery Casualties By Bunching Up.
A combination of bad Boxer luck and two good movement rolls allow the Marines to reach the tree line.They can easily destroy the Boxer field gun if their luck can hold concerning Boxer reinforcements.But, NO. A “Yes” is rolled with a D4 of “3” calling for three Boxer units, one of which will be a rifle unit.
Will the Boxers be positioned on top of the ridge, or in defilade?A “Maybe” roll for top of the ridge leads to a 50-50 chance. The ensuing die roll indicates the Boxers are massed along the ridge. Such a tempting target!
This is a SERIOUS problem for the Marine Lieutenant. Does he engage or withdraw. His orders were to clear the woods. The Boxers have already had their Movement Phase. If the Marines fall back now, they can probably make it back to their camp and report the presence of this force. If they send a runner, he might summon reinforcements for support. Or, is it “Death Or Glory”?
The Boxers took 80% casualties, most of them lightly wounded, during the melees. Both Boxer groups and the fanatic riflemen fell back into the woods.
The Marines suffered two dead and three lightly wounded. Treating the wounded and burying the dead, they pushed on.
The new Terrain Effects Card indicated a rifle range of 15 inches and a maximum movement of two D6 +3 inches in the woods.
The chance of new contact was20% . A percentage die roll of 80 resulted in no contact, and the Marines pushed deeper into the woods.
After that move, the chance of contact increased by 20 basis points, now at 40%. No contact again, on another roll of 80.
The next Marine movement die roll included a six, triggering an Event Card draw. The card was not appropriate and disregarded.
With the chance of contact now at 60%, the die roll was a 10, resulting in a contact. A D6 roll of 2, divided by two, resulted in one Boxer unit emerging in the woods. The question was “A rifle or other unit”. The die roll of “Yes” indicated a rifle unit, with a subsequent Directional die roll of approaching from the East. With a 3x D6 roll of “7” indicating 7 inches from the Marines.
The well disciplined Marines conducted an immediate action move facing the Boxer threat, and, luckily drew a “Fire” card from the Action deck.
In the ensuing fire fight, both sides took casualties. After two exchanges, the Marines charged. The Marines closed to contact, and the Boxers rolled a withdrawl, fleeing off the table.
The Marines detailed one lightly wounded Marine to take a more seriously wounded comrade back to camp.
The mission continues…….
Classic Wedge FormationBoxer Riflemen Emerge From The WoodsImmediate Action Drill. Contact Right. Marines Away From Contact Maintain 360 WatchFirefight. Both Sides Take Casualties. Boxer Leader Killed.Despite Wound To Leader, Marines Close To Contact. Still Maintain Overwatch. Boxers Flee.
Been slowly but steadily working with the game. Solo play requires a lot of imagination, assisted by “Yes, No, Maybe” dice and directional dice.
A simple scenario. A Marine squad is tasked with clearing a wooded area known to contain groups of Boxers. For the Marines, it wasn’t a wooded area, but a hornet’s nest.
Random die rolls generated three groups of Boxers the moment Marines entered the woods. It was a wild melee.
I’m using old wooden Risk cubes to denote light (pink) and serious (red) wounds. Pinned troops are marked with a brown cube, with shaken troops getting a yellow cube. Deaths are shown with black cubes.
The Marines fought well, and the Boxers were resilient….maybe because I messed up the retreats from melee. It was an entertaining slugging match, allowing me the opportunity to work with both Action and Terrain decks.
The two large groups of Boxers withdrew after heavy casualties. However, the one band of fanatical riflemen remain.
Initial Contact To The LeftBoxers Rallying For Second Attack
Still hacking away at this project. The rules and charts were becoming an annoyance, so I consolidated them into a three page cheat sheet. It’s a Beta, with charts limited to forces at hand rather than the rules’ presentation of all antagonists. The rule synopses are hand written.
Another problem working solo is random activation. My working scenario is a patrol action by a platoon of Western soldiers. It’s the classic situation; their movement triggers an enemy response.
Right now, I’m working with a crude grid, with two counters per grid hex randomly drawn. Each hex is marked for “yes” and “no” for activations.
Trying to figure out when to trigger a activation, as well as incorporating the event and terrain cards into the game flow. Somewhat vexing, but still enjoyable.
Continuing to jam 30 days of wargaming into a couple days posts.
One summer project was purging The Shed. This is where old miniatures and wargames hang out. Found my old MiniFig Boxer Rebellion figures. They had been painted to help augment forces for a large, and if I remember correctly, really nice Siege of Peking game back in Kansas City.
They’d been billetted in a cigar box for who knows how long.
Not Very Photogenic. But Angry After Being Cooped Up.
In keeping with my current retro miniatures phase, decided to start working with The Sword And The Flame (TSATF). I still have an original copy of the rules, along with a Yaquinto Bulletin that includes charts for the rebellion.
Not content to play with just the figures on-hand, I ordered more from Miniature Figurines. Old School can be pricey at roughly about $1.70 per figure.
I had originally painted up 24 Boxers, 6 Marines, 10 1st Chinese Regiment, and 6 “fanatic” figures, which according to the Foundry Press book, (Jeez, that’s expensive now) look more like Chinese Christians.
I’ve added Boxer standard bearers, Boxer riflemen, regular Chinese, more painted Marines (from E-Bay), but with officers, 3 British officers, 2 naval officers, and 10 Frontier Miniatures sailors. The latter are more or less generic, and useful in any number of roles.
I started painting and playing some introductory scenarios. Mission Creep set in. I will be ordering some German Asian Brigade infantry, along with more Chinese Regulars and some Boers to serve as civillian militia. Again time and money are factors.
The rules call for units of 20 individually mounted figures. I’ll work with Boxer units of 18, and regular units of 10 figures, plus an officer. Given my space limitations, movement and ranges will be halved. So far this has worked.
To augment all of this fun, I purchased some specialized card decks from The Virtual Armchair General. These eliminate die rolling and add uncertainity to a solo effort. A very nice addition!
This will be fun, especially when I can get the Germans and Chinese Regulars painted up to play all types of strange scenarios.
