What the 'ell

The Famous Five had bitten off more than they could chew, in

'Five go down to Dunwich.'

Dodo do

On one of my usual free wargame rules hunt, on the web I stumbled upon Turkey Shoot -  found here.
Sounded like a great little game and could fill a few minutes of solo wargaming (yes I have no friends).

After I read the rules I started to think about miniatures I would need to play it.
Getting hold of these could be difficult. Could not find a miniature 25-28 mm turkey any where.  OK how about changing the animal to say a boar? The best place to look for obscure animals and other creatures is Black Cat Bases.  Would you believe it found this

 - Click here - A Dodo, in fact 2 one standing and another running (could dodo's run?).
This find would put a whole new spin on the background of these rules.

Instead of a Turkey a Dodo and instead of a  'Pilgrim' a pirate/man-o-war,merchant ship crewman.  I've loads of crewman from my pirate collection which would do nicely.

So the story is now a crewman of a a ship anchored within an island bay in Mauritius- home of the dodo, background info Here. Goes inland to do a spot of dodo hunting for his ships Captain.  I know dodo's were flightless but left Flight reaction in as could not be bothered to change it!

Now it's OK as a solo  game but what if someone wants to join in?
Well you could easily make a co-op type game.  Here are some Ideas;

Simple co-op  -  Have 2 Dodos.

For a more aggressive and challenging co-op could have the following;

2 crewmen with 2 Dodos.
2 crewmen  but only 1 Dodo.

Some interesting rewards could instill a bit of competitiveness;

Crew member who brings back a Dodo = 1 gold coin

Crew member who fails brings back a Dodo = swabs the deck

Neither crew member who brings back a Dodo = The whip

Crew member who brings back a Dodo, but other crew member mysteriously disappears! = Hanged for murder.

Now as musket fire is going off in all directions someone and not just the Dodo can get hurt!

If crew member in line of site in front of Dodo, he may take a hit see shooting in the rules.  Also if a shot at the Turkey misses and a crew member is in line of site, again use shooting in the rules. Use chart below.
 

1d6	Crewman Hit Results Table	Modifiers
		-1 Off dieroll if moved last turn   +1to die roll if standing/reloading musket
1-3	Miss
4-5	Wound
6	Dead
Wound -movement reduced by 2” each time    2nd Wound crewman retires to ship 3rdwound dead

These rules and this scenario as well as being a stand alone game, could also be used during a pirate campaign.

Download PDF version of add-on rules HERE.  Can be cut out and glued to page 2 right hand side of original rules.


Some photos of a recent game.

First mate Sam tries to sneak up on his pray.

It's turned into a free for all!

"It's getting away"

Dodo makes it's escape off the table.

 

Spooked Dodo charges Sam and ploughs straight into him.

'One eyed' Pete takes a pot shot at the Dodo, this could go terribly wrong for Sam if the shot misses!

Play Testing Needed

I have designed my own Wargame Random Event Cards - WREC.  I would appreciate it some of you would give them a go and leave any feed back.
All (I hope) is explained in the following document.

WREC

Time to spare while the paint dries?

Recently I have started downloading and listening to podcasts.

I have found this excellant one;

It's format is that the two presenters Rob and Alex look at local newspapers where they live in East London, UK and their home towns. They also ask the listeners to email in web links to their local news stories.
Some of the stories are hilarious, some are not even what you class as news . But the best bits are the readers comments they read out.

I my self have emailed them a couple of articles in my local Bristol newspaper.

Take a listen you won't be disappointed. I recommend you start with their first podcast and work your way through as some stories they talk about may link to previous articles reviewed.

They can be found on their web site www.lapodcast.net

On iTunes (there is also a link to iTunes on their web site)

If you want to email them with your local news story links, then email them HERE

The One Wargame Book To Rule Them All

The Games of War:
A Treasury of Rules for Battles with Toy Soldiers, Ships and Planes
By John Bobek

This is my first stab at a book review.  So here goes.
I was brought this book by my daughter Christmas before last.
What a book!  This sacred book will, I'm sure be every wargamers Bible, Qur'an, Sacred Scrolls, Jedi Writings.

Why you may ask?

First of all the way it is written is clear, understandable (with obvious Americanisms as it's written by one of our American cousins) and flows like a gently meandering brook.

The first thing that caught my eye was the excellent section on wargaming terms, a sort of glossary, including Do's & Don'ts of wargaming. Some of these are a bit 'tongue in cheek' and made me chuckle.

The author obviously has considerable years of experience in wargaming and rule writing and I feel would be the type of person you could stop at a wargame show and have a damn good natter with!

There is an interesting section on using wargames within the classroom. Including scenarios and learning outcomes.  I would love to try these out.  Although rounding up the neighbours kids and herding them into my back room to show them my figures maybe a bit inappropriate in these paranoid times we live in!  As I am a trainer at work, I could russle up some members of staff and incorporate a wargaming session under the guise of mandatory Conflict Resolution training within the NHS!

Then there are the rules and what a cornucopia of rules. Every period, every type and every scale. Something for every one. 1-1 skirmish to massed battalions.  Simple 1-2 page affairs to in depth and detailed pages of rules and statistics.

To be honest if you bought this book with it's rules you could get away with not ever buying another.

After every chapter there is an excellent reference bibliography that would have any University lecturer drooling over it's fully detailed layout.

So do I like this book?

YES it's great and If you ever need one wargame book then this has to be it.
My copy is showing signs of wear and it's more thumbed through than a copy of 'Big & Bouncey'!!

The price of this hallowed volume has gone down a lot in price and as always can be found here.   CLICK for link.