Friday, December 9, 2016

Buccaneers and Cavaliers: a supplement in progress for Fisrtful of Lead

I've been tinkering with a supplement for Fistful of Lead: Horse and Musket for a while now. As soon as H&M came out, I got asked if it would work with Pirates. It does, but I wanted a more nuanced game befitting the swashbuckling combat of the era. Thus was born Buccaneers & Cavaliers.
To test it out, we played a 4 player game, the Cardinal's Guard vs the gentlemen of the King's Musketeers.



Each player controlled a "Troop". A Troop is made up of a Leader who has 3 Traits, a Second who has 2 and rest are filled out but Regulars and a new class: Dregs.
 The Musketeers had to get the Dutch ambassador to the Inn of the Crown and Cock. There they would await instructions.
The Cardinal's Guards had to intercept and steal any information.

The game started with Anton, leader of the troop of Musketeers escorting the Ambassador, making straight for the Inn while the White Mask, leader of the other troop moving down the hill to help.
Meanwhile the Cardinals men tried to take the high ground.
A musket armed trooper of the Mask's group quickly dropped one of the Cardinal's men. Sgt. Francois detached his dregs to take care of him.
The hill overlooking the Inn soon became known as "Murder Hill" as flashing blades soon became wet with blood.


Anton carved his way through the fray and delivered the Ambassador to the Inn, only to find his lady love, Claudette, waiting for him. Claudette is a lady-in-waiting to the Queen. She exchanged a package with Ambassador and announced Anton needed to get her back across the river!
For most of the battle, the Cardinal's men had taken a beating, but as Anton and Claudette emerged, things swung back in the favor of the men in red.
Enemies all around, Anton hacked his way to freedom, saving the day.
It was a close game. At one point only on of my Cardinal's men could get to Anton. I attacked but it was a tie, locking up Anton until next round and hopefully gettiing more of our crew in the fight. But


I got greedy. I used my second action to attack again, and this time Anton smashed me to the ground. He was free.
I felt really good about the game and will be be releasing it soon!

Friday, December 2, 2016

Down but not out

Too many relatives, too small a space= a sick Baron.
I've been out of it since last weekend, but was able to get a few thins done.
Here's some picks from a lovely ACW Black Powder game hosted by Jon. You can read the full AAR over at his blog. It was close, but my Boys in Gray just couldn't hold the line.







Also had time to paint some Federales for all my Mexican Revolution scenario playtests.

I chose to portray them in a hodge-podge of khaki and summer dress. Most period photos show a mix of uniforms spanning a decade of fighting.
Waiting in the wings are Federal Cavalry, artillery, mounted and dismounted Villistas, and a film crew to document Pancho.