Dracula's America - Buildings done

With the buildings for my Dracula's America board finished I started the painting of them and adding a few finishing touches.

The older buildings were given a few dry brushes to make them appear more worn, and to make them fit better with the new ones.

The really is nothing to the painting except gradually building up the highlight with 3-4 dry brushing layers.

The Livery Stables and the Blacksmith is of course without floor, so I went for a sandy base and added some cut off doormat hairs for hay and straw. For both buildings I also added some small boxes for the horses to be placed.

The Saloon and the Hotel I asked my fiancee for help. She does all sorts of paper hobby work in the evening, when I am working on terrain or painting. This means she has a huge number of different papers with all kinds of patterns on. So with her help I selected to sets, cut them in the sizes needed and glued them onto the inside walls. The effect is great.

All the building signs are card board cut-outs that my fiancee once again provided and they look so much better than what I can paint in free hand.

Anyway here is a large number of photos I took yesterday, so you can judge for yourself.

Next up is a large number of small scatter terrain - cacti, crates, boxes etc.

Dracula's America - Getting terrain ready

A couple of friends jumped on board the recent Nickstarter by North Star for the upcoming Osprey Gothic Western ruleset Dracula's America.

If you want more information about the game, there are two main sources:

Dracula's America lead-adventure thread
Dracula's America Facebook players group

This game ticks many of the boxes that I find interesting in skirmish games - supernatural horror minisin alternative history but rooted in the real world.This game has gotten me really excited and I can't wait to play it.

While waiting for the game to release and North Star to ship the rules and minis - two of us got the whole lot package - I set myself the target of getting a suitable table ready. I looked numerous times on the wonderful Sarissa Precision Ghost Town buildings and was very tempted. In the end I decided - as I usual do, and with the blessing of my wallet - to go for the scratchbuilding option.

For many years we have played Deadlands in our rpg group, and so I had six buildings of various sizes that I thought I could enhance and change a bit. A couple of buildings that I normal use for Empire of the Dead would also be useful.

I did however want a large corner building to act as a hotel, a better marshal's office and a blacksmith. So for something to model my buildings on I looked at Sarissa's website. And from the pictures I started building with foam board, card board etc.

Once they were done, I lined everything up on the board. I find that this is the best way to find out whether the amount of terrain is correct and how everything goes together.

I am in the process of finishing the painting job on the last building and a lot of smaller scatter terrain pieces.

Once done I will of course provide an update on the blog.

Here are some photos I took of the table I set up.

Death in the Dark Continent: Force Publique vs Azande

Having finished my Azande army during the week, I arranged to have a game with my friend Frank Sunday evening.

The Azande is my fourth and final army for Death in the Dark Continent, and I was very much looking forward to seeing how they would perform against the breech-loader armed Force Publique.

We choose the Raid scenario, with the narrative being the Force Publique attempting to get hold of the Azande chief's mistress and her children (baggage). They would have 8 rounds to get them. The table had been set up with the Azande Village in the middle of one half of the table. To the right of Force Publique a large stretch of tall grass stretched while the rest of the board was filled with jungle terrain pieces. The jubgle terrain pieces I had only finished the evening before, and I quite like the look of the final table.

As per the rules the Force Publique started with all of their 225 points on the table, while the Azande only had 100 points worth of units on the table and the rest of the units would be diced for as late arrivals.

I played the Azande and chose to have my two Elite Skirmisher units with throwing knives and a unit of musketmen on the table.

My aim was to hold out until the fourth round when hopefully my other units would begin to arrive.

The Force Publique moved forward slowly, as Frank rolled 1s and 2s. The Azande moved into position within the village, keeping out of shooting range. I also wanted to position them so that there would be no gaps for the Force Publique to slip through. 

As the Force Publique moved forward their approach became more obvious and the Azande moved into position. However the Force Publique then started firing at long range, and despite the heavy penalities Frank rolled first a 20 and a 17 with his first unit and then two 19s with the other! Incredible! So one of the Elite Skirmishing units lost a base and received a disorder marker, while the musketmen received two disorder markers.

The Azande Elite Skirmishers had to get into melee, especially with the Raw Soldiers unit. So despite moving straight at the Raw Soldiers one of the units had to take that chance. Luckily the Force Publique shooting did not manage to hit anything and in the next round the Azande moved into melee. Despite positive modifiers the roll of a 1 still mean the Azande had been pushed back and got a disorder marker by the Raw Soldiers.

When the fourth round came I diced for late arrivals, but no new units arrived at the scene to help drive the Force Publique out. 

In the middle of the board the Azande musketmen had gotten within range of their muskets and open fire on the Force Publique Soldier unit there. But no hits by either side.

Round five started with still no new Azande units arriving. 

Another exchange of gunfire between the musketmen and soldiers followed but neither could hit anything.

The Elite Skirmishers again moved into melee. And with a modified roll of 7, the Raw Soldiers were killed. The other Elite Skirmishers attacked the other Soldier unit and the Chief base. But result was a disorder marker to both sides and the Elite Skirmishers being pushed back. 

Finally at the beginning of round six help came with a unit of Elite Skirmishers with muskets and a unit of musketmen arriving in the tall grass.

Sensing time was running out the Force Publique went on the offensive with but remaining units moving into melee. And in the melee phase Frank rolled well, and both the musketmen and the engaged Elite Skirmisher unit were killed.

At the beginning of round seven a ground of Azande Spearmen made a late arrival, but the Chief and his breech-loader armed Elite Skirmishers again failed to make an appearance.

With only this round and another to go Frank need to roll high with his movement for the one unit that had a chance of reaching the baggage. He rolled a 2 and with the baggage rolling a 4 it became impossible to for the Force Publique to win.

Had the game continued for more rounds the odds would still be with the Azande as the spearmen would be able to get in between the baggage and the Force Publique. Allowing the musketmen in the tall grass to get to the Force Publique units.

This was again a lot of fun. I am a big fan of Sharp Practice, but this game just flows so much more easily and has moved to the top of my list for unit games. I have also taken quite a liking to the multi-based figures as it both speeds up play and visually looks stunning.

I cannot recommend this game high enough. And if I did not already have four full armies for this I would gladly invest in a few more.

Death in the Dark Continent: Force Publique

During the last month I have been busy painting up a Force Publique army for Death in the Dark Continent. The minis are all from the famous Darkest Africa range from Foundry, and they are indeed lovely models to paint. Being older sculpts there is a fair amount of flash to clean up beforehand though.

I am very happy about the final painting job, even though it is not to the standard of Paul Baker's Force Publique, which is top top quality.

The army is a based on the one found in the rulebook. 5 units of Soldiers, two of them Volunteers and 3 Consripts, a chief base and of course baggage. My baggage is smaller though and consists of a group of bearers with both ivory and crates.

I have previously had major reservations about playing an army that was so infamous and cruel. But have come to the conclusion that while the game is historical, it is still just a game, and someone has to play the bad guys. Researching the Force Publique and King Leopold II is not for the faint hearted though.

Anyway here are some pictures I took yesterday evening. Not the best quality though.