Gnome Baseball

Gnome baseball game ready to play. Red Caps vs Green Caps.

   This summer my wife asked me if we could go to watch the Harbor Hawks, the local baseball team that belongs to the Cape Cod Baseball League. The Cape Cod Baseball League is a summer league for college baseball players and have seen players that end up playing in the major leagues.

 We went to the game and had an enjoyable evening. We have gone to several more games and it got me thinking of my youth.

   My oldest brother and a friend had a card baseball league that used playing cards. My brother taught me how to play, including keeping records of the different player stats. It was a great game that could be played against an opponent  or solo. Most of my games were solo, as my brother graduated  high school and joined the Marines.

   When I got home from one game I started thinking of my old league. I also was wondering if there was a dice baseball game. Of course there was. I almost was going to buy a rather expensive game. I had second thoughts though, and just printed out a copy of the game.

  After printing it out, I was wondering what figures to use. I was going to use those useless Airfix running US Marine figures, but then I thought it might be fun to use some of my Peter Pig Gnomes figures.

    " A couple of garden gnomes heard the humans hooting and cheering a little way off. They decided to see what the hooibau  was about. They found the humans scattered in a field, with one throwing a ball at a man with a stick,who in turn swung at the ball. When the ball was hit, everyone started running around yelling. It was most confusing! 

   " After watching for a while they realized that the humans were playing a game, and found themselves enjoying watching the humans at play. Indeed, they started to understand  the  rules. They found themselves going back to watch the games, bringing more gnomes with them. Eventually the gnomes decided to try the game for themselves."

Green Caps has bases loaded with 2 outs.

The Green Cap batter hit a double, driving in two runs!

The Red Caps had bases loaded with two outs.

The batter rolled a 3 and a 4; a triple, which brings home 3 runs.

The final score: Red Caps 18, Green Caps 7.

This could be an enjoyable game if you kept track of the players statistics. Although a game of luck like the old card baseball game,you would find some great batters and pitchers that you would get invested in.

In Search Of Gallia Miniatures Knights

     My first metal 15mm Medieval miniatures were by Gallia Miniatures which were from Warrior Miniatures. Needless to say they are among my favorite figures. I wanted to work on a project using them. Unfortunately Warrior Miniatures aren't producing figures ( their website is still up but has a notice of not producing figures.) 

   Below are some photos of the figures I am looking for. If any reader has some unused figures that they are interested in selling, I would be interested in buying.

Narrative No Brain Campaign

     After my last No Brain Wargame, I put a little thought into a narrative to the game.  I could see two neighboring tribes raiding each others territory the steal cattle to suppliment their herds.

"Two tribes, the Nsundu (brown shields) and Mhlophe (white shields) main source of food are Nguni, cattle that feed on the grasslands of the tribal lands. They do suppliment their diet with corn, but the soil is ill suited for farming .

 During most of the year there is plenty of grass  for the cows to feed on and water in the ponds for drink. However, as summer comes on, the ponds dry up and the grass starts dying off. Both tribes finds it necessary to bring the cattle to the Umfula River, were there is still plenty of grass and water for the cows. The Umfula forms the border between the two tribes. With both tribes so close, the temptation to raid each other becomes too much." 

Such is the simple narrative for my last game. I played a second game after coming up with this narrative, of which I shall post about shortly.

The Nsundu (left) and the Nhlophe (right) face each other before the Umfula river.

No Brain Wargame to Battle Doldrums

       The last few months I have been looking at different wargame rules and campaigns, each one more involved than the last. Every time I tried to get a game going, the complicated rules and limited time would frustrate me and I would give up on the project, only to start the process all over again. About a month ago I took a break from wargaming, until last week. I decided to play a No Brain wargame using my Zulus. In the end the White Shield tribe beat the Brown Shields.

  After the game I  remembered an article in Lone Warrior about a simple campaign rule idea where each side gets so many coins, and roll to decide how many coins they are playing for. Just for fun I rolled for both tribes. The Brown Shields rolled a 4, the White Shields 1. I imaged the tribes were fighting over cattle (cattle being the source of wealth with the Zulu) and the Brown Shields lost 4 head of cattle. 

   I started thinking more of a simple narrative campaign, going so far as coming up with tribal names and the reason for their battles. I even looked up how much beef 4 cattle would provide: at between 1600 to 2000 pounds of beef, to me it would be worth fighting for.

The two tribes close for battle.

The Brown shields fall back and lose 4 head of  cattle.

A Peter Laing Coronation Parade

 The coronation of King Charles  calls for a parade of Peter Laing Victorian Parade figures as a tribute to this historic  event.

The cavalry decides to make a grand entrance!

I only need about 6,900 more figures to do it right.

The Caissons Go Rolling Along...

The new caisson goes right to work moving guns.

I am not sure about keeping the caisson red, or painting it to match my other caissons. 

 

A Toy Soldier Inspection

The Verdancia Army let's out three cheers as the Emperor's carriage  approaches . 

The Emperor  is pleased at his reception.

The Emperor's carriage is escorted by the Imperial colors and a chosen band of guards.

    The Emperor  of Verdancia has ordered out his army for inspection. With colors unfurled and drums beating, the army raises a cheer for the Emperor!

Semi Flat Additions

     I recently found these on Ebay and ended up buying them. While fairly expensive, I couldn't resist the carriage. The passengers seem to be Russian officers. I am not sure of the manufacturers, although Wollner might be the maker of the carriage.

One can never have enough caissons for your artillery.

The carriage with its passengers and coachman. There were no horses with it.

Another view.

Basic Battles Rules

    One perk to my job is I do a lot of driving. While doing so I listen to YouTube videos.  I mainly listen to history, but for a change of pace, sometimes I will listen to wargaming channels.

   One channel that I recently found  was  Grey Army Gaming. While he mainly does RPG and Star Wars, he also wrote a set of simple rules that he could play with his kids called Basic Battles. After listening to his videos, I realized  that  they were a good set for skirmish games that could easily be added to by house rules. What's more, he made available   PDF file of the rules for free.

    I have played a couple of practice games, and see plenty of potential with it.  

    If you do watch some ofhis videos on Basic Battles, I strongly suggest that you watch his Basic Battles Naval game. It is hilarious how excited and involved he gets into the game, going so far as to make sounds of the battle! 

    

The end of the game; the goblins retreat. In this game, to break off close combat, the enemy gets to strike against the retreating unit. The goblins lose two more figures.

Combat is determined  using d20 dice. If the attacker charges in, they get to roll 2 dice against the defenders one dice. In this turn the defender rolls an 11, the attackers a 6 and 15, causing one defender lost.

In this attack the defender rolls a 17, the attacker a 12 and 14. The defender beats the two attacks.

The start of the game instead of using a figure with a dice as a wound counter, I used units.

New Toy Soldier Mold

        A while back I had the idea of using Britain's West Point figures for making 1800s American militia units. The cost of original  Britain's figures made using them beyond my means.  I did make a mold of the body, with the idea of swopping heads. Most of the heads I got didn't look right on the body. The idea petered out and I moved on to other projects.

   A few weeks ago I was on an auction website looking for a particular toy soldier mold. I came across an old mold from A.C.Gilbert Kasting of a marching West Point cadet. The mold looked to be in good shape, but it was quite pricey. I resisted for a couple of weeks, before breaking down and buying it. 

    I just received  it, along with one casting of it. I also found a couple of bars of casting metal that I didn't  know I had.  Unfortunately  the basement was flooded by a leak and many boxes stacked in front of my casting area, putting a hold on trying out the new mold.

The new Gilbert West Point mold.

The casting that came with it

My earlier attempt at using a Britain's  West Point figure to make an 1800s American militiaman.