Irregular Wars Wargaming

Because I have jumped on the bandwagon a bit with Barons' War , I have two smaller retinues being built to compliment my large retinue posted yesterday - Outlaws, and Vikings (for Barons' War Conquest ). The outlawed noble , known as Edmund the Bastard, has been followed into exile by his trusty hunting hound and a retinue of knights (bereft of their horses) including a priest. The knight on the left is Footsore's Stephen with a head and shield swap, the hound is from Wargames Atlantic's Irish box, the outlaw is also from Footsore, the priest is from Trent Miniatures, and the knight on the right is from CP Models. Heraldry is Sherry, Lego Forestmen, and Sprigg respectively.

Since the end of last year I have been slowly working away at a 1,000 point retinue for Barons' War . The full retinue is made of Fireforge plastics, some with bits thrown in from other kits and ranges. I haven't managed to get a game in yet (and so I don't know if this is a viable force), but I already had the start of the force, so enjoyed expanding it. Looking forward to a game in the very near future.  Hugh de Guerre himself, with two veteran sergeants as the retinue command group. Four more veteran mounted sergeants with spears. A second command group - Sir John Ireland and five verean sergeants with spears. The third command group, Sir Guillaume le Fauconnier, with four veteran sergeants with axes. Five veteran sergeants with maces. Five veteran sergeants with crossbows. Five veteran bowmen. Four green levy slingers - not sure historically about having women in the levy, but ... needs must. Six green levy with improvised two-handed weapons. And a few civilians I alrea...

The end of the adventure … Tintin & Snowy, Captain Haddock, and Chang Chon-Chen are now the only surviving expedition members. Tintin was wounded by the Tyrannosaur during the trek across the Hidden Plateau . Chang has been unable to patch him up, for lack of medicinal plants. Maybe he can find some before they face the final challenge. Exiting the Plateau the party see the ancient ruined Temple of the Sun in the distance. This is the destination of the expedition, where they must rescue Prof Logarithm and return the Crystal of Rascar Capac. Information gleaned from the field notes of the Sanders-Hardiman expedition indicates the Temple is guarded by the zombified remains of Mayan warriors. Mummies! The adventurers decide to play it cautiously. They’ll scout the environs of the Temple, starting with the West side, before going inside. This will also - with luck - allow Chang enough time to stock up on medical herbs.  Tintin immediately fails an activation roll, and a Mummy...

Following on from the previous episode ,  The expedition has crossed the Rumbaba Valley and has camped  to regroup before pressing on to the Hidden Plateau. Ramon Zarate was killed by the Rumbaba warriors in the valley. Snowy (Tintin’s hound) was wounded by a Flying Monkey, but this turned out to be only a graze, and it has now healed. Other wounds to adventurers, sustained during the journey, were fixed by Chang Chon-Chen while still in the valley, using his medical kit and medicinal plants discovered on the riverbank. His kit is now empty and he’ll need to find more plants if he is to heal wounds on the next stages of the trek. More worrying is the fate of Piotr Skut, who fell behind when the other survivors legged it as night fell. Early next morning he appeared, having survived a night alone, but he was in poor mental shape. He now has the “Addict” negative personality trait, possibly stung by a poisonous plant. Here we see the surviving expedition members on the edge of t...

Another dispatch from Mark in Thailand: This year happens to be the 60th anniversary of my discovery of the Adventures of Tintin (by George Rémi, aka Hergé). And I can still recall being at a friend’s house reading the latest Tintin book available in NZ, in November 1963, when news of the Kennedy assassination came through. Chris’s father was an American, and took it very hard. The book we were poring over was Prisoners of the Sun . Perhaps the best way to start this campaign is by citing this extract from the Pattaya Evening News (undated, probably mid January 1922) which I recently discovered in the City Archives. The interpolations […] I have added based on what we know now. "The Chronographic Society expedition will shortly embark for Callao, Peru. It will then trek into the Andes through the Valley of the Rumbaba [Amerindians, Army ants, Flying monkeys] and the Hidden Plateau [Dinosaurs] to the City of Gold [Mayas], to rescue Professor Logarithm and return the mysterious cr...