Trolls, Samurai and Rats

A bit of a mixed bag this week as we have pictures for three different games.

First up we've started playing through some Silver Bayonet scenario's with my Turks taking on Mr T's Russians and what ever unholy beasts the night throws at us.

This week a troll was hiding under the bridge as we searched for some treasure and it jumped out as a brave/foolish Russian peasant rushed onto the structure.

This is are third game and the Troll was a significant step up in power from the previous monsters and as my Turks bravely hung back the Troll rampaged through the Russian ranks.

I did manage to sneak up and secure some treasure, shoot a couple of near dead Russians and still the kill on the Troll. So an excellent evening for the Turks !

The Saturday Stu came over and we continued our way through the standard Test of Honour scenario's with a meeting engagement. The aim was simply to kill the enemy characters.

Things didn't go well with the Monks running out 3 to 1 victors over my Samurai.

And lastly I've started working on some Ratkin ships for Armada with the intention of running them in the event at South Ox Wargames when it comes around. After painting lots of desert Marauders this is a nice change of pace.

Test of Honour: Final Battle

After quite a long gap of playing Test of Honour we picked up the last game of the linked scenarios in the main rulebook.

This saw my victorious forces searching a village for the wounded brother of my leader. The darstedly monks started with half their forces on the table with the rest coming on in support.

In order to make the most of the advantage in numbers my hero and his companions rushed up the board and started to beat back the enemy. Despite landing good hits they couldn't convert those into kills and instead managed to inflict a few light wounds instead.

This left them somewhat open to a counter and for a while they held their own with the monks generally swinging and missing.

Then it all went wrong very quickly with first one companion falling and then the next. Soon after my hero who already had a serious head wound was also felled and defeat fell upon my brave troops.

To balance that out I did manage to bring home another 1st place from South Ox, this time in their Deadzone event. So just need a 2nd in something to round out the collection.

Test of Honour & Hedges

I've not been doing much on the hobby front in the last couple of weeks especially this week as it's been too damned hot. I did manage to get some Test of Honour in with Stu on Wednesday which is probably the hottest wargame I've ever played.

The game followed on from the last one where my hero captured an enemy spy and this time needed to escort her to safety in a nearby fort.

With a reduction in movement for the person escorting the spy the game descended into a mass brawl in the middle of the table with my men coming out on top. As the temperature rose we called in a Samurai win over the Monks.

Next up are some hedges from Warbases. MDF terrain has always had the advantage of being cheap and  quick to assemble but didn't always look the best once on the table. But over the last couple of years various manufacturers have been experimenting with colour printed MDF which whilst being more expensive is still quick to get on the table and looks good.

With Silver Bayonet being our next game I wanted to get some hedges to use so when Warbases released their Table Ready walls and hedges range to add to their growing range of coloured MDF I puit an order in. These go together really quickly with just some PVA glue and the only addition I've made is to add some saw-dust flock to the top of the hedge and along the join at the base.

Sengoku Japanese: Onna-bugeisha

Among the extra metal models I purchased are several packs of Onna-musha / Onna-bugeisha from Bad Squiddo ga,es. They have a large range of realistic female warriors across several periods of war.

These are high born Japanese ladies who have been schooled in the arts of war, often for home defence but sometimes they also took part in offensive operations. 

These lady Samurai are generally associated with the Naginata so I have a few of those and then plenty armed with Katanas.

They do have stats in Test of Honour and generally have a higher agility (better at dodging) than your average man.

Test of Honour: The Battlefield

The third of our Test of Honour games saw my Mori Samurai once again face off against Stu's Monks.

This time we met after a larger engagement and needed to search the fallen for a family member. This involved rolling against our Wits to search an objective.

Both sides had two easily reached objectives which we successfully searched on the first attempt and then focus turned to wards the central objective. It would probably have been more sensible to have three objectives across the middle but having one guaranteed a big fight in the middle.  

My chaps spent the first few rounds of combat critically failing and stabbing themselves to cause light wounds, not the best of starts. But I did manage to keep models within 3" of the objective which stopped the Monks from being able to search it.

We then had a grinding fight in the middle with the Monks generally rolling better so they wore down my companions and Ashigaru until it was just my hero left.

He did manage to rouse himself to cut down his opposite number and the Monks also lost their higher Wits companion which was to prove all important.

Despite my hero eventually dying the Monks couldn't pass a Wits test to secure the last needed token so the game ended in a draw with honours mostly even.

Sengoku Japanese: Shimazu Leaders and a Test of Honour

This week the first of the Shimazu commanders take to the field with the foot versions being completed. Using the same box as before from Fireforge you get a good mixture of commanders with some taking it easier than others. I also have three mounted commanders from the box to paint up.

At least the troops are no longer leaderless!

We also played our second game of Test of Honour with Stu coming over with his birthday Sohei Monks to take on the home team's Samurai and Ashigaru.

The Home Team

The scenario saw the Monks attacking an outpost defended by a portion of my brave boys whilst reinforcements came on from behind my lines.

The opening move saw the Monks shoot and seriously wound my leader, he needs to make sure that some peasants are the closest target in the future so he's not so easily inconvenienced. My crack team of musketmen however didn't manage to hit anything for the whole game and so proved to be an expensive and ineffective addition to the team. 

The game moves along really quickly with combat being reasonably bloody as long as you don't fluff your dice rolls.

In the end the Monks came out on top as they cut down my leader and one of his companions leaving only a travelling Samurai to hold the enemy off. He did manage to kill the enemy leader though to salvage some honour for the home team.