Galleys Before the Doldrums

I'm in the gaming doldrums now, and pretty much haven't done a thing on the game front for a couple of weeks. Instead, I have been coalescing some LARP ideas.

A couple of weeks ago, I did run a short naval scenario as part of my Orlan War campaign. The game was regrettably short but I do have a few pictures.

Battle of Orlan Point
Heavily pressed by Azurian effort, Guleslan is trying to sneak reinforcements into Orlan. A single galley escorts 3 merchant caravels to a landing spot near Orlan Point.

Two Azurian galleys (left) intercept the Guleslanian convoy.

The Guleslan galley Red Victory unleashes a round from its cannon, damaging one of the enemy. Red  Victory follows up with a boarding action.

The melee is swift and the Azurian vessel strikes. Red Victory chases after the other enemy galley. Meanwhile, the caravels make a break for it.

Seeing that the situation is hopeless, the Azurian galley flees. allowing the Guleslanian convoy to proceed unharmed. Red Victory has lived up to its name!

Notes

• For this scenario, I used some home-brew fast-play rules. Unfortunately, they were too fast-play. The game probably lasted 10 minutes.
• I can address the issue 1 of 2 ways - increase the number of ships or reduce the damage inflicted per turn. I haven't decided which approach to use, and have since been distracted by other projects (as noted above)

And now for something completely different

Although I have been playing tiny air combat in a 1930s-style setting, I really want to do dogfights IN SPAAAAAAAAACE. I had been looking at some and placed an order. They have arrived, but I have not yet got around to painting.

From Irregular Miniatures. These are actually alien land vehicles but I plan to use them as rocket ships. Heavy "bombers", light "bombers", and fighters.

Monday Knight Productions heavy fighters and light fighters.

Also from MKP, Entomolian heavy and light fighters.

Finally, a MKP star bomber. Really it is too big for use as a bomber in my games (I want to keep things within the 1 inch squares). I think I can use it as a target.

Dragon to the End

The Continuing Adventures of the Dragon Squadron

Mission 5
"Bad news, boys" Capt. Devin Drake announced to his men of the Dragon Squadron. "I just got off the line with Group. They want us to go after those artillery emplacements again."

Lt. Taylor Hicks groaned. Two of his comrades were lost on the last attempt to destroy the enemy artillery. Newcomers Al Hartley and Randy Palmer exchanged nervous glances. This did not seem promising.

Drake chose Hicks and Hartley to accompany him. As they approached, the saw only 1 enemy fighter on patrol. "Let's take out their air support and then go after the artillery." Drake commanded. "And if you get hit, head back home!"

The aircraft swirled around each other in an intricate dance of death.

But the Cobra struck first. Hicks fell before the enemy's guns.

Fortunately, Hicks was able to bail out. Alas, he was picked up by enemy infantry.

Back in the skies, the Dragons could not get a shot on the Cobra. But after a few passes, the enemy broke off for home.
Note: the Cobra flew off the side of the board. In my rules, this means that it disengaged from the fight.

Drake made a run and damaged one of the emplacements.

His second pass damaged another emplacement. Hartley missed.

And then gets hit by AA.

Following Drake's command, Hartley heads for home. Drake is then hit by AA.

Disobeying his own orders, he makes a pass at the damaged gun. He misses. With his controls causing problems, Drake also turns back for home.

Final tally - 1 pilot and plane lost with one gun destroyed and another damaged. A bit less than Group hoped for (the objective was to destroy 2/3 artillery emplacements); mark this down as another loss.

Later that day Drake took a call from Group Command.

"We're pulling you boys out of the action."

"What? Why?" asked Drake.

"You seem frazzled, and your boys are all new. Give them some training and get some R&R yourself. We'll need you soon enough."

With that, the Dragons' first campaign ends. With the way I'm scoring, it is technically a victory (3 successful missions out of 5), but it feels like a defeat - 2 losses to end the campaign, 3 pilots and 5 planes lost with only 4 victories. Not exactly a smashing success. But another campaign is in the offing.