Daisho

This was on special offer over at Northstar the other day so I thought I'd take a closer look. It's based on the In Her Majesty's Name system, which I've played a couple of times, and is similar in theme to Ronin which is a set of rules I've had on the 'to do' list for a while. The rules are pretty impressive and look far more detailed than Ronin, although I don't think this will make them any more complex or time consuming to get a handle on. The production values are also pretty high, with nice glossy paper and plenty of photos to add further inspiration.

The thing that's been my stumbling block with samurai skirmish games is the figures and I've yet to find a range that ticks all my boxes, having looked at both the old Wargames Foundry figures and the Northstar buntai for Ronin. I think that the best way ahead is to abandon both of these options and go for the Perry Miniatures range, which is much more realistic in terms of sculpting style and the size of the figures. I'll see if I can pick up some packs at Warfare in a few weeks time especially the Samurai in everyday clothes, the Ninja and the Sohei warrior monks.

The great thing about this is that I can make more mdf buildings (!), having already collected together a number of the Sarissa Precision Japanese kits including houses, an inn, a temple, a bridge and several sections of wall. There's loads of potential for some imaginative modelling here and the terrain could also double up for modern espionage games using the forthcoming Osprey Black Ops rules and my Copplestone Future Wars figures, to which I've just added some Moonraker Miniatures men in suits and security guards.

Anyway, there's still plenty of Old West stuff to glue together and paint in the meantime!

In Her Majesty's Lost World

The Lost World Explorers

Roxton, Summerlee, Challenger, Malone and Zambo

The Accala Chief and his Warriors

Rover

I had a rummage in the Darkest Africa boxes this afternoon and found a selection of figures to assemble as a company for In Her Majesty's Name. Some of these were from my long established but dormant Saurian Safari project, whilst others were destined for various expeditions In the Heart of Africa. 

Anyway, after a bit of a think, I've put together a Lost World company, complete with the erudite Professor Challenger, his esteemed colleague Professor Summerlee, the heavily armed Lord John Roxton and the young but enthusiastic journalist Edward Malone. To complete the team there's Zambo, the loyal yet slightly un-PC guide and gunbearer..

I've also included the mystically gifted chief of the Accala tribe, his poison arrow armed fanatic warriors and a rather terrifying, not to say impervious trained Nanotyrannus. I'm not sure how this will work as a character in the company but I think it could be quite interesting for the opposition?

I've ordered a hard copy of the rules so that I can work out the stats for the company, formed around the generic Explorers list but incorporating some subject specific variations. I was looking for a small but comfortable project for November, so this is a definite front runner.

In Her Majesty's Name Game

 

  

The game this evening was In Her Majesty's Name, in which I deployed the fiendishly fiendish Black Dragon Tong.as my chosen company. This turned out to be a good game with lots of dice rolling action and some expertly painted figures for the various factions, mine being borrowed from the impressive collection of the umpire.

The cardboard terrain was also pretty good, alongside some very neat custom made markers for the movement, shooting and mystical powers that the various factions employed. In the end, my Yeti was swiftly dispatched before it could make much of an impact, but my martial artists more than made up for it's premature exit. 

I'm not sure if this is my cup of tea but I did enjoy the game, thanks to the enthusiasm of the players and especially the umpire. I'm still contemplating the possibilities and may yet put together a small company of my own, perhaps some dinosaur hunters or the Hounds of the Baskervilles, but other things have my immediate attention at the moment.

In Her Majesty's Name

Next week, the club multiplayer game is scheduled to be In Her Majesty's Name, the popular Victorian Sci-Fi skirmish rules by Osprey Publishing. It's not a genre that I'm particularly keen on, dinosaur hunting aside, but I missed the last game so thought it would be fun to have another go. I have the rules on the Kindle and have been browsing through them ready for the game on Tuesday.

I've also been mulling over possible options for my own company for the game, using figures that I can find in the leadpile to save money. There are plenty of options here, from dinosaur hunters of the Royal Geographical Society, to tribesmen of the North West Frontier, all the way through to polar explorers from the frozen arctic wastes. However, in keeping with the literary theme of the rules, the current front runner is Sir Henry Baskerville and his tamed hellhounds, accompanied by Dr James Mortimer, a practitioner of the new science of Pavlovian mesmerism.

There will be the usual hangers on as well, including Barrymore the manservant and his gun toting wife, together with some local yokels in a homage to the regulars of the Slaughtered Lamb from An American Werewolf in London. The main character in the company will be the monstrous wild hound of the story, now captured and trained by Sir Henry and Dr Mortimer. I toyed with the idea of turning Sir Henry into a werewolf as well but that's a bit too silly, so I'll just stick with a pack of hounds instead.

This is all entirely back of a fag packet stuff and will probably never get off the ground, but it would be fun.