Mara (Tibetan Demons)

I received some of the Garden of Kama's Mara miniatures. They're Tibetan (Buddhist) demons, inspired by this image:

They are about 40mm tall and I put them on 40mm bases. Lovely detail sculpted by Andrew May.

I painted these with a lot of washes and used white and gold to touch them up. No idea what I'll use them for - but they paint up really well and the detail on them is very good.
 

They're available from the same company that produces the Tékumel Project range of 28mm miniatures. The complete set sells for CAD30 including separate heads and hands. Tékumel Club discounts apply even though they are part of the part of the Garden of Kama range and so not strictly Tékumel: https://lohwand.blogspot.com/p/the-garden-of-kama.html.

Ordering is a little complicated, but as stated you can get a discount on them through the Tékumel Club: http://thetekumelclub.blogspot.com/p/tekumel-club.html.

Definitely would like to see more in this style for a setting almost completely ignored.

Bolt Action - Soviets and Germans AAR

On Sunday at the League Mark ran an introduction game of Bolt Action, mainly to show off a lovely building from Crescent Root Studio (http://crescent-root.com/index.html), this time a laser-cut MDF warehouse.

The setting was the Eastern Front, late in the war. 1000 points a side, with German and Soviet forces being controlled by three players each - Jan, a Horvat brother and myself for the Germans, with Tyler, the other brother and Mark commanding the Soviets.

From memory the Soviets had 3 squads of infantry, a squad of sappers, a squad of raw recruits, a ZiS AT gun team, a mortar team, a leader and a T-34.

The Germans had 3 squads of infantry, a squad of Fallschirmjäger, a PaK team, an HMG team, a leader, a medic and a StuG.

The objective would be the taking of a small, sleepy hamlet in the Ukraine:

Deployment was by selecting dice (either marked as German or Soviet) blindly from a cup to see who had to deploy a squad (initiative is also determined this way unit by unit in a turn). The Germans came on from the west, the Soviets from the east. Both sides massed their forces on the southern flank:

The German forces decided to throw caution to the wind and run to the cover of the buildings as quickly as possible:

It also quickly became apparent that the armour would try and nullify its counterpart if possible:

The Germans continued their objective of taking the buildings, streaming into the warehouse:

On the northern flank both sides were a little more cauitous, with the German squad having to avoid mortar and AT fire:

The German advance continued, with no expected ambushes from the Soviets occuring:

The Soviets were a little slow in advancing, but this allowed their support weapons to be set up earlier to cover the advance and cause damage earlier:

The Soviets were reluctant to leave the cover of the tree line, taking some casualities (but dishing it out to the exposed Germans as well):

The duel between the armour was eventually won by the T-34, much to the cheering on their side:

 This also gave the Soviet infantry some confidence, storming across the open ground:

They were quickly dispatched by the German infantry in the woods and the PaK (which was also doing a good job of keeping the T-34 sulking behind the woods):

The northern flank saw the Soviets refuse to seek safety in the buildings, instead this allowed them to inflict heavy damage on the German infantry (who were in the building, and not the open):

The Fallschirmjäger risked the open ground to try and take out the HMG, as time was getting close. Unfortunately this gamble didn't pay off and they were gunned down:

The final turn saw the HMG, Leutnant and an infantry squad finally make it to a commanding position in the top floors of the warehouse:

They were able to suppress multiple Soviet squads and cause some damage, but it was too late - as time was called and the Germans had sustained more losses than the Soviets.

A fun system, which definitely has me thinking about painting my 28mm WWII miniatures that haven't been inspired to get a game happening.

After the battle Mark noted that one of the highlights was when one of Tyler's sole surviving sailors from a badly shot up Naval Squad went beserk (i.e. he blundered by rolling double 6 on his order dice) and opened up on the Russian Lieutenant killing his aid!

French Foreign Legion Beseiged by Rif Tribesmen AAR

Mark had recently bought a North African fort from Crescent Root Studio (http://crescent-root.com/index.html) and had been itching to show it off. This also allowed him to use some under-utilised French Foreign Legion and Arab figures in his collection.

The scenario was simple (take the fort!), and using Ganesha Games' 'Songs of Drums and Shakos' (a set designed for Napoleonic skirmish games), the stage was set between "cheese-munching surrender monkeys" and "revolting Arabs" (in this case some Rif tribesmen) commanded by myself, Martin and Tyler.

The Arabs were in three groups of 8 riflemen, 3 swordsmen and a leader, a hero (a version of Lawrence of Arabia) and a banner bearer. Facing them, the Legion had two groups of 8 riflemen, a leader, a bugler and a lieutenant.

The three groups of Arabs attacked from the west, south and east:


From the south the banner bearer would provide a central rallying-point for the assault on the main gate:


The group from the east would attack in an effort to scale the walls, completely failing to recognise the wooden door at the north corner:


When the tribesmen attacked at dawn, the legionnaires in the fort steeled themselves for the fight ahead, for things would not be easy:


Particularly as the architect of this fort was insistent on large windows on the ground floor:


After a few turns the attack was starting to falter, with the east and west groups failing to really understand the concept of charging towards the enemy:


The walls were breached! But the rigorous training of the Legion showed and the interloper was dispatched:


Finally the Arabs gave up in attempting group moves (typically 4+ on a D6 if the leader activated), and it was every man for himself to reach the walls of the fort (typically 5+). The cunning tactic met with limited success:

The west and southern groups tried a coordinated attack, but again - the low quality of the men was telling as they failed to get over as one:


Lawrence managed to enter the mess hall with a few men, but in turn the Legion had had time to mass their men. A bitter struggle ensued:


Meanwhile in the courtyard there was the possibility of a small group of tribesmen getting a foothold, but again this was contained:


Elsewhere the tribesmen from the east were in danger of also taking over, but the lieutenant rushed across the courtyard to try and stop this breach:


Things where looking grim indeed in the courtyard, while the battle in the mess hall continued:


Outside in the desert the last of the tribesmen were reaching the walls, except for "Swifty" (who failed to activate until the last two turns of the game, and the only running figure on the table!):


In the end the game was won by the Legionnaires, who spread their limited resources with success, taking down Lawrence and routing the tribesmen back over the dunes:


Another fun game that came down to the wire. 'Songs' (and other Ganesha Games' rules) provide a fun set of rules you can't take too seriously - perfect for club multi-player games.