Hurah for the Tars !

Following complaints from villagers about mercenary looters attacking their settlements, Lt Phillips lead his men into the bush to try and flush out the miscreants involved. Native intelligence and guides helped him set an ambush for the gang, led by a certain Richard D'astardlee.

As the villains emerged from the bush to ransack another village, Lt Phillips and his men entered from the other side and engaged them in a fierce fire fight. D'asterdlee and his men were taken by surprise and with men wounded on both sides decided to try close combat as a way to settle the matter.

This proved a mistake as they picked on a man who had something of a reputation as a sabre fencer while at Dartmouth. He cut down three of D'asterdlee's men who unwisely came within reach and at that point the villains beat a hasty retreat.

A sound victory for the Tars, but with Africa seemingly overrun by mercenaries hungry for loot, I think we will see lots more of D'asterdlee's and his men in the future.

Sadly the automatic recording device used on this mission malfunctioned, so there are currently no images of the action. If we are able to recover any, they will be posted here.

First Company - RN Landing Party

I paint quite fast but I won't ever win any competitions. I can however turn out decent tabletop armies in fairly quick time and here is my first Company for IHMN - the Royal Navy Landing Party.

Lt Phillips and Assistant surgeon Ffont-Bittocks lead a party of a Chief Petty Officer (Pertwee) and 9 ratings armed with Martini-Henry rifles and boarding cutlasses. As my first company - and reflecting the traditional conservative approach taken by the RN in all things - this company has no 'new' weapons.

These landing parties were quite common in the 1890's as the Royal Navy worked tirelessly to stamp out the East African slave trade. Ships like HMS Sparrow provided detachments for land raids, as well as long patrols in the ships boats.

In the world of IHMN they also skirmish with illegal treasure seekers, hostile natives and of course the Imperial German Army.

Sometimes several ships would combine their on board Marines an armed ratings to form a Naval Brigade, and these took part in some large actions including the great battle of Omdurman.

As a gamer of a certain age, I take my gaming lightly and love taking inspiration from other genres, and this Company is no different from others. No prizes for spotting the source.

They fight for the first time tomorrow night ....

Going Through The Lead Pile

I'm working on my next company, but I took some time to go through my lead pile to see if there are any figures suitable for IHMN. I found 4 that might fit but none are classic VSF.

One however might just form the basis of a whole new company, but no clues yet.

RN First Draft

This my first attempt at a Company. The RN landing party is based on a regular infantry company but all figures have a cutlass (except the Colonel). For the Lieutenant and the Asst Surgeon this gives the Duellist ability, but for the Ratings it is subsumed into the normal Bayonet Drill.

Lt Phillips (Captain + Inspirational and Duellist) 72pts
Surgeon Ffont-Bittocks (Medic + Duellist) 20pts
Col Entwhistle (rtd) (Great White Hunter) 48pts
CPO Pertwee (Sergant) 29pts
9 x Ratings (Riflemen) 20pts
Total 349pts

Yes, it's a large company, but I plan to run it with two players, each taking half. (The Lt and the Asst Surgeon plus 5 ratings will be one group, the Colonel, the CPO and the other 5 ratings the other.)

What's All This IHMN Then ?

I've become very interested in the game In Her Majesty's Name (IHMN) so I'm going to see if I can keep a blog about my gaming for this system. I'll try to post once a week, but given my past record, no promises.

IHMN is a Victorian Science Fiction skirmish game, in which 'Companys' of 9-12 agents of one of the World powers battle it out for influence, money, control and other arcane purposes.

It attracted me for a number of, most importantly because it's very flexible, it's well supported on a forum here http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?board=82.0 and you can create an army for under £20.

This scores big time over so many game systems (Warhammer, DBMM, FOG, Black Powder) because the outlay required to get an army is several times that of IHMN.

I picked up the rule book and some figures at Cavalier, and already have ideas for a couple of companies, so time to get things going.

Which Rules For an Imagi-Nation ?

Creating an Imagi-nation is one thing, making it fit with a set of historical wargame rules is another matter. However Volley & Bayonet makes this fairly easy because it is such a high level game. The tabletop unit is the regiment or brigade of 1-2000 men, so national quirks are not part of the game system.

Kolanhomm has five 2 battalion infantry regiments plus a battalion of grenadiers. In V&B terms this is 1 x 3SP Lieb (Grenadier) regiment, plus 4 x 2SP Infantry regiments. The infantry can have their battalion guns (or not as the secenario dictates).

The cavalry form up as 1 x 2SP Regiment of Horse, and 1 of Dragoons. The Hussars and Friekorps are the eyes of the army so are represented as a small unit (1SP)  of cavalry and one of infantry.

The Ducal Army

As the time for war grows close, His Highness the Duke has asked me to set down how our army is organised and will be deployed in time of battle.

The army of our Duchy comprises of 4 regiments of Foot, 4 of Cavalry and the Artillery regiment. In time of extreme danger there is also the Loyal Militia. In order of seniority the regiments of Foot are -

Lieb
Von Schmetterling
Markgraf Hussen
Platzach
Danzach

The Lieb regiment has 600 bayonets in 6 companies, while the regular infantry have 1200 bayonets in 10 musketeer and 2 grenadier companies. When on campaign, the 8 grenadier companies are usually merged to create two grenadier battlions. These are brigaded with the Lieb regiment to form the Lieb Brigade.

Each Foot regiment includes two 3pdr guns commanded by the junior lieutenant. Each gun has two NCO's appointed by the Artillery regiment, and the balance of the gun crew is drawn from the regiment itself.

The Cavalry comprise -

Lieb Ryttar - 8 squadrons
Klinkerhof Dragoons - 4 squadrons
Munchplitz Dragoons - 4 squadrons
Mantrow Hussars - 4 squadrons

The Ryttar wear black cuirasses and are the senior regiment in the army. Each cavalry squadron is comprised of two companies.
The artillery regiment comprises five companies -
No 1 company 4 x 18 pdr - Garrison Artillery at Grafstein
No 2 company 4 x 18 pdr - Garrison Artillery at Kaubenstein
No 3 company 6 x 12 pdr - Army reserve battery
No 4 Company 4 x 6 pdr - Army Field battery
No 5 Company is responsible for training and assigning NCO's to the regimental gun batteries. It also provides technical support and tests new guns before they are sent to regular units.

In time of war the Duke usually authorises that a unit of Friekorps be raised to support the army.

Finally there are the Loyal Militia regiments. Each comprises 4 fusileer companies based on a local town or group of parishes.