Again Steve N and I do battle over the rugged terrain of central Japan.
Fueled by our previous fight between the two clans tension has worsened resulting in a larger battle.
Reports arrive of many dead on both sides, and worse still, both heroes have family members still missing.
You hurry to the scene of the battle to search for your loved ones only to discover more of the hated enemy picking over the bodies……
The game is a standard objective battle with the first to successfully search the objectives having control of it. The first to successfully search three objectives is the winner and the battle ends immediately.
when this occurs the victorious samurai hero has found the wounded form of his cousin/brother. If the hero passes a “test of wits” the man eventually recovers.
For the loosing samurai hero, there is still no sign of his relative…….
Tranquility on the edge of the battlefield.
Fierce fighting occurred amongst the buildings and more was to once more.
The road was the centre of the battlefield.
A birds eye view of the crossroads.
A small stream on the edge of the battlefield.
The battle is at a crucial stage with opposing forces having searched two objectives each.
All seems lost for the Mori clan as their wise samurai puts himself in the midst of the Oda clan to prevent them from searching the final wounded marker (no enemy can be within three inches of the objective to search).
Mori clan members move up to assist, including their samurai hero.
The Mori wise samurai continues to fight on despite the odds.
The Mori hero takes on Oda spearmen.
The Mori hero arrives too late to save his samurai comrade.
Just as the Mori commoners join the fight their hero is cut down.
The random movement and turn length creates a tension and fog-of-war that adds to the games enjoyment
With no Mori within three inches of the objective a successful search ends the game.
Another victory to the Oda although their hero had suffered two wounds and had to be drawn out of the fight to save him. Where is the honour in that Mr N!
This was a very exciting game with the lone Mori samurai holding on for many turns, destroying a unit of bowmen and a unit of hand gunners single handed in the process.
The game showed that samurai are indeed the heroes and even outnumbered are a force to be reckoned with.
I hope to find my missing brother soon as I have heard from a geisha spy, the Mori clan have in the enemy household, that she might know where he is. Unfortunately our correspondence has been discovered and I must attempt to save her…………………..
I think these figures were given to me by Dave McLean from the Berwick Wargames Association about two years ago. Sorry Dave I have only just had time to get around to them now. The figures are from the Blue Moon 28mm range available on the Old Glory website code BMM-215
My knowledge of the “Zorro” genre comes from the 1957 to 1959 Walt Disney TV series (yes I am that old) starring Guy Williams as Zorro and Gene Sheldon as Bernardo.
I still remember the Lyrics to the Walt Disney TV series (can remember FA about what happened yesterday but can remember this “ship”).
Out of the night, When the full moon is bright, Comes the horseman known as Zorro. This bold renegade Carves a “Z” with his blade, A “Z” that stands for Zorro.
Zorro, Zorro, the fox so cunning and free, Zorro, Zorro, who makes the sign of the Z.
This is worth a look for you young “whipper snappers” to see what exciting shows we watched after coming home from school, or on the Sunday night Walt Disney Show, in the early 60’s. Pat you would remember!?
A similar but more recent incarnation is the DC hero El Gaucho
Once an Argentinian secret agent working for Spyral, Don Santiago retired to his millionaire lifestyle but quickly became bored and depressed by a life without adventure. However upon hearing about Batman’s activities in Gotham, Santiago was inspired to become the hero of Argentina and took up the title of El Gaucho. He has since became a good friend and ally of Batman, though their shared history with one Kathy Kane (Bat Woman) has caused tension between the two heroes. Little is known of the Gaucho’s activities.
Anyway I digress, Zorro (Spanish for ‘Fox’) is a fictional character created in 1919 by American pulp writer Johnston McCulley, set in the Pueblo city of Los Angeles in Alta California. The Zorro character was inspired most obviously by a real-life 19th-century outlaw called Joaquin Murrieta, whose gang was responsible for endless cattle-rustling, robberies, kidnappings and murders during the California Gold Rush of the early 1850s.
He is typically portrayed as a dashing masked vigilante who defends the commoners and indigenous peoples of California against corrupt and tyrannical officials and other villains.
In the stories, Zorro has a high bounty on his head, but is too skilled and cunning for the bumbling authorities to catch, and he also delights in publicly humiliating them. Because of this, the townspeople started calling him “El Zorro” due to his foxlike cunning and charm.
Zorro is an acrobat and an expert in various weapons, but the one he employs most frequently is his rapier, which he uses often to carve the initial “Z” on his defeated foes, and other objects to “sign his work”. He is also an accomplished rider, his trusty steed being a black horse called Tornado.
Zorro is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega (originally Don Diego Vega), a young man who is the only son of Don Alejandro de la Vega, the richest landowner in California, while Diego’s mother is dead. In most versions, Diego learned his swordsmanship while at university in Spain, and created his masked alter ego after he was unexpectedly summoned home by his father because California had fallen into the hands of an oppressive dictator.
This figure came without a right hand and sword. I chose to add a pistol instead of a sword.
Pueblo Villages
Damsel in distress
Elena De la Vega (also known as Elena Montero) is the main love interest of Zorro
Zorro’s enemies
Zorro’s main rival is Captain Ramon.
Sgt. Pedro Gonzales often serves as the series’ comic relief, or the anti-villain. He is a 22 year old heavy set, corpulent man who loves to eat more than anything else in life. He is under Captain Ramon’s command, but has trouble understanding the captain’s orders.
Often he discusses his orders and the motives behind the military operations with Diego de la Vega. He carries out his orders to the letter, and rarely questions the assignments he receives, though at times, he doesn’t understand why he has to chase Zorro who helps the weak in their struggle against tyrants.
Explore, salvage, and survive inside the Exclusion Zone in this near-future Eastern European-themed skirmish wargame.
Zona Alfa is a set of simple, fast-play skirmish rules for scavenging, exploring, and surviving in a near-future, post-apocalyptic Eastern European setting. Players take on the role of bandits, mercenaries, and military units fighting over the blasted Exclusion Zone and its abandoned artifacts. Customize your fighters with a variety of weapons and specialisms to create your ideal warband. With extended rules for campaigns, character progression, terrain, and environmental hazards, Zona Alfa contains all the tools required to engaging in blistering firefights within the Exclusion Zone.
—description from the publisher
There is nothing really special about the movement, shooting and close combat mechanisms which are much the same as most rules.
They have a good campaign section, but again very similar to a lot of other rules out there.
Where they differ is in the simplification of weapon types with just three categories, melee, rifle and support weapons. They compact categories into broad weapon types like heavy machine guns, squad machine guns, assault rifles, and battle rifles, thus eliminating large tables with a plethora of different types of weapons. A variety of support weapons can be chosen, but can be expensive and difficult to obtain during a campaign. If you want these then it is best to purchase them when initially setting up your crew.
The other thing I like about the rules is the initial crew selection. You have 12 purchase points that are aligned to the amount of action points each figure has. A leader or veteran has 3, a hardened crew member 2, and a rookie only one. The amount of equipment they have is determined by their level although you have a choice of what types. For instance a rookie has the choice of 1 ranged weapon, 1 melee weapon 2 grenades and 1 piece of basic equipment and NO skills. You may choose within these parameters.
This makes crew selection quick and easy and you don’t have to add up various points for weapons and equipment, A ranged weapon is considered a slot and does not matter if this is an AK47, a sniper rifle or a PK squad machine gun.
There are six different factions that you can choose to belong to. Each has different advantages and disadvantages. I chose to represent a group of independents although they would equally fit in as military types.
The short back story is that they are a group of ex-Russian trained special forces whose specialty is working in hazardous environments, especially near failed nuclear reactors. As a result they must all be equipped with NBC suits and masks and cannot include or recruit any rookies. This makes them a small but well trained and equipped crew.
I have some of the Eureka Russian moderns with NBC suits and intend to use these as my crew. As you can see they are currently just undercoated with my usual Tamiya TS3, and black washed, but with the arrival of these rules I will add them to my current project lists and hopefully completed soon. I will paint up a leader (1), one each of a flamer, RPG, sniper rifle, and PK squad machine gun (4) and seven with AK 74 assault rifles (7) for a total of 12 figures. This will allow for enough variety. The remaining figures (including a mortar and 2 crew, Dshk HMG and 2 crew, a sagger missile and crew, 2 soldiers with contamination meters, a leader, a sniper, 2 RPG’s, a flamer, a PK, and 2 with AK47’s) can wait to be completed further down the track.
The Zona Alpha rules also differ as they can also be played solo, or cooperatively. Free download rules for this can be found on the Osprey website.
They also start with an excellent introduction which outlines the authors intentions. For Patrick Todoroff it is all about the story which immediately endeared me to the rules! With this in mind he created an excellent “environment” to play in, complete with monsters, hostiles and all sorts of nasty hazards.
The rules are non-aligned to figure manufactures and so as long as they are WISIWYG you can use any suitable range you have on your shelf. I am planning on painting up the Eureka miniatures mentioned above but could have equally used my GW Steel Legion figures as they would have also fitted the back story I wanted.
I have enjoyed reading the rules and am looking forward to painting some figures up and getting down and dirty in the “Exclusion Zone”.
The image below is my starting crew consisting of a leader (3), a veteran (3), and three hardened crew (2).
The leader has an assault rifle, a magnum pistol, 2 hand grenades, leader and bone doc skills, and gas mask, electric juice, and Med-kit equipment.
The veteran has an assault rifle, a magnum pistol, 2 hand grenades, scrounger and bone doc skills, and gas mask, binoculars, and Med-kit equipment.
Hardened crew 1 has a Sniper rifle, a magnum pistol, 2 hand grenades, the steady hands skill, and gas mask, and Red Dot sight equipment.
Hardened crew 2 has a PK squad machine gun, a magnum pistol, 2 hand grenades, the bone doc skill, and gas mask, and Med-kit equipment. It is not stated but I assume
Hardened crew 3 has a assault rifle, a magnum pistol, 2 hand grenades, the scrounger skill skill, and gas mask, and Red Dot sight equipment. It might also be a smart move to give this fellow a flamer instead as it would be costly to buy one down the track, but that is a bit too gamy for my liking.
The Independent Faction alignment gives them a free Gas Mask, Med-Kit and scope to start. It is not stated but I assume these can be swapped for one of the selected pieces of equipment or kept in a “stash” to be used later when required (those more experienced than I can correct in the comments section and I will update if required) . The sniper would therefore replace his Red Dot sight which cannot be used on a sniper rifle with the scope. The Red Dot sight can then be given to a new recruit when the crew has enough salvage to pay for one. The stash therefore has the Red Dot sight, Gas Mask, and Med-Kit awaiting allocation to a new crew member down the track.
This will make the crew a very tough and resilient team, but their low numbers could cause problems against strong hostiles, lucky shots, and lots of firepower.
As for the hostiles I have all sorts of “beasties” and I think enough zombies to just get me through!
Most regiments maintain a separate company that provides support to infantry platoons. These troops can be armed with a variety of weapons from the full range of support weapons, sniper teams and demolition teams. This squad with its three melta guns has been designed to take out vehicles and high toughness opponents.
It was great to not only have our second game since the latest lock-down lifting, but also to finally get some of the Japanese miniatures and terrain finally on the table.
It turned out that only Steve N turned up but this allowed us to really get to have a good look at the TOH rules without the pressure of running a game for lots of people.
I had decided to use the original basic rules and the Battle Guide scenarios. The Battle Guide has a series of connected scenarios that form a mini campaign, and I thought this was ideal as it allowed us to have a look at the post game campaign system as well.
Battle 1: First Clash
Two young Samurai from rival clans have met by chance on the road. Each intended to stop for shelter and to pray at a small roadside shrine, but having arrived at the same time neither is willing to back down and make way for the other.
Heated words are exchanged, families insulted, and soon swords are unsheathed.
The only honourable course is to strike down the upstart who has disparaged your good name!
My Mori Clan forces preparing to face the dastardly Oda clan.
The identical Oda Clan of Steve.
Oda clan move forward.
Oda archer shoot first but misses.
The return fire from the glorious Mori archers takes him down.
Oda clan spearmen charge into close combat taking down a Mori warrior.
Revenge is sweet as they Mori spearmen reciprocate.
The Samurai leaders finally face each other……………………….
The Mori leader is taken down but is carried away by his followers to fight another day or should I say, again in five minutes when we set up the next game!
Battle 2: Seize the outpost.
My wounds had healed, but the humiliation of defeat still stings and I have been waiting for an opportunity to seek revenge! I have tracked my foe to a small outpost that he is guarding on behalf of his clan. This will be an ideal opportunity as he believes the task is beneath him and is not taking his orders seriously. seizing the outpost will teach him a lesson and cause him to lose face with his superiors!
I chose three spear armed groups and a Sergeant that would allow a spearmen group to use a free action each turn to charge. Finally I spent two more points giving my Samurai leader a bow as well as his trusty katana.
Steve also chose three groups of spearmen and two two archers.
Only 10 points including his Samurai could start on the table leaving a spearmen group and the two archers off table to arrive later.
The archers moved on table on my left flank and shot, taking down a spearmen.
I quickly loaded my bow and first took one of them down……………………….
followed by the second in two consecutive actions.
The Oda spearmen were trying to block me from entering the outpost and seizing the objectives.
Eventually they were forced back with each of us in control of one objective. We called this a draw but we forgot to look at the values on the back of the objectives which would have determined a winner!
After discussing the game we realised that we played a few rules wrong which we will rectify for next time.
A great fun game that gives an excellent period feel. Bring on the next one.
No I am not talking about my latest tabletop exploits as Steve N gave me a canning, but a victory that with 20 20 hindsight I should have seen coming!
In the final, Australia beat New Zealand by eight wickets to win their first T20 World Cup.
It was the villains turned heroes, that sparked the Aussies return to form with Mitchell Marsh named the Player of the Final, and David Warner being named the Player of the Tournament.
There is just one more little trophy to add to the collection this summer:
I have also had these Valhallan figures from about 5th edition and as with the Talarn have always had something more pressing to paint. These have been gradually painted over the last six months and they are finally about to be touched up and based with a rush. My objective was to have one of every metal figure in the range and I am still waiting on a few heavy weapons to arrive and two complete infantry squads.
“The Valhallan Ice Warriors comprise the famous Militarum Regimentum of the Astra Militarum which hails from the frozen and desolate Ice World of Valhalla located in the Segmentum Ultima. The Valhallan Ice Warriors have a long and glorious history of victories against the Orks and other enemies of the Imperium.
Famed as some of the toughest regiments ever deployed by the Imperial Guard, these grim and tenacious troops never retreat and refuse to surrender. They are particularly successful at cold weather combat and are often used by the Imperium when a campaign of attrition must be fought on an Ice World that is similar in climate to their frigid homeworld or when an operation involves combat against Orks.
The regiments of Valhalla have a reputation for stoicism and dedication to the Emperor. When attacking, they are renowned for combining massed artillery barrages with infantry assault waves. When defending they show dogged determination, even in the face of defeat.
The Valhallans are a stubborn and stern people who refuse to acknowledge their own hardships, and are rarely deterred by the horrors of the battlefield. They are all but impervious to harsh conditions and have a casual disregard for human life, leading to the superstition amongst other Militarum Regimentos that ice runs through their veins, just as it covers their homeworld.” Fandom
Commander Kubrik Chenkov is the commanding officer of the Valhallan 18th Regiment of the Imperial Guard, nicknamed the “Tundra Wolves,” one of the units of the famed Valhallan Ice Warriors. Commander Chenkov is one amongst many whose nerve and endurance have won the Valhallans their reputation as a grim and dogged people who will fight and even die rather than give up territory to an enemy. Because of their stubbornness, Imperial Guard generals often deploy Valhallans to bolster their lines of defence, knowing that they will hold out where other troops might crumble under the onslaught of a foe’s charge.
This project has take quite a long time to finish, but I am really happy with the result. A number of posts have detailed the long slow progress of this:
