Conan: Infernal Pursuit (Parts I and II)

Part I

Conan and Shevatas  have persuaded some of the pirates they are travelling with to mutiny, and take over their current ship. If they can fight off their loyal crewmates they can use this ship to catch up to bigger prey...

Conan and Shevatas prepare to fight their way along the deck

The Captain (orange) realises he must stop Conan from taking over his vessel. [Conan's pirates are red.]

Conan delivers the killing blow after Shevatas wounds the captain with a crossbow bolt. The ship is theirs!

Part II

Conan and Shevatas must defend the ballistas to destroy their prey. The pirates literally swing into action!

Good pirates, bad pirates, and Conan! Crom!

Conan and Shevatas fight off the other crew. Victory!

Another fun game of Conan, this time with three players (I was Shevatas again) and in two parts. It seemed a little easier than the last, or maybe we're grasping the strategies a bit better. Shevatas with a crossbow is a nasty man. The pirate captain had some rotten luck with several crew failing to swing onto Conan's ship and ending up in a shark...

Painting Challenge complete! Also, Captain Hawk

Last weekend the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge ended. It was my first one, and I really enjoyed the impetus it gave to my painting.

Here's what I planned to paint, way back in December:

And here's the final output. I got most planned things completed, but not all, yet was able to add more things to my final output.

Keen-eyed readers will note more than a few figures that haven't shown up on this blog yet- treat them as a spoiler and watch this space!

Captain Jim Hawk

There is one figure missing from the group shot, and it was my entry piece. All entrants have to send a figure to Curt, the organiser, and in turn he donates to the Saskatchewan Humane Society.

The 'Curtgeld' entries have to have a theme- this year it was a risk-taker or gambler. I chose this figure from Laughing Monk of 'Captain Jim Hawk'.

So, now the pressure's off as the Challenge ends, but I have more than a few projects to sustain me throughout the year!

Pirate civilians

This is a Part 2- read about how they were painted and varnished here. I didn't do anything more to them other than touch up the bases.

These are the Village Mob from the Old Glory pirate range. I got them for pirate gaming but they could be used for other genres with ease. One (the black coat with red trim) was from the OG European Sailor pack who didn’t look the part for my RN crew (seen a little bit here).

Crates are from Battle Works Studios (Out of business...). Barrels and fences from Renedra. Buildings homemade.

Flashing Steel! Trial game

A mate of mine, DC, mentioned that he had recently painted half a dozen pirates in anticipation of Cutlass. I was inspired to finish off 20 Old Glory sailors that had been floating around for a year or two since I had become disillusioned with Legends of the High Seas. I decided to teach him the Flashing Steel basics at Good Games Newcastle that opened in town yesterday (!).

There is already an excellent review of FS here.

I didn't get enough photos to show the entire game, but in essence it was a free-for-all to teach the basic game mechanics. I knocked up rosters of about 250-300 points per side. Swashbuckling rules were left out for simplicity. Shooting from both sides was barely effective, and things devolved into three or four brawls in the centre of the town. DC's pirate captain was isolated and surrounded by two sailors and my captain, but got lucky and killed my captain (he rolled a 6, I rolled a 1) resulting in the cascading morale failures are the signature of Ganesha's end-games.

DC's pirates:

• Captain Q3 C3 sword, pistol, Leader
• First Mate Q3 C3 two pistols, Dual Pistol skill, Second-in-Command
• 5 Pirates Q4 C2 with a mixture of swords, pistols and flintlocks

Bark's Royal Navy:

• Captain Q3 C3 sword, pistol, Leader
• Midshipman (Lord Sandford) Q3 C2 pistol, Eager, Second-in-Command
• 6 Sailors Q4 C2 with a mixture of swords and flintlocks

DC's figures are conversions of GW's Empire Militia, with planking made from ice-cream sticks.

My sailors are Old Glory's European Sailors, and the Captain and Midshipman are from Black Cat Bases. The Black Cat figures are in the 30-32mm range rather than the OG 25-28mm, but it doesn't really show on the tabletop.

The scattered crates are from Battle Works Studios.