IHMN: To Rescue a Professor

  From the private journal of Dr. John Watson, MD: It was in the latter days of September, and the    equinoctial gales has set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that even here in the heart of great, hand made London we were forced to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and to recognize the presence of those great elemental forces which shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilization, like untamed beasts in a cage.  I, more than most, knew the mortal danger all of mankind was facing and the frustration and illness of my great friend who could not at present stop it.  As evening drew in, the storm grew higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child stuck in the chimney.  It was all the more surprising when a telegram was delivered in the midst of the storm. Holmes sat moodily at one side of the fireplace as he read the message, and then a spark twinkled in his eyes.

"What is it?" I inquired.

"My dear Watson. It looks like the peerage is getting involved in our little war."

"What do you mean?"

"Lord Greystoke is on the prowl."

 The gaming table.  As the Defender Honorable Son #5 set up the terrain and put Professor Nightengale in the large building in the middle of the table. It was agreed that he would set his figures up first and that I would have the initiative for the first turn.

 In our last game of In Her Majesty's Name, the famous explorer and inventor had been captured by the Witch King for his evil and inhumanly nefarious purposes. Who better to rescue him from his evil clutches in Africa than the Lord of the Jungle?  Honorable Son#5 was once again the Witch King and his evil grin as he gazed at me across the table affected me not at all.  I had some new dice.

 Lord Greystoke and Company.

 The prison holding the Professor.  The Witch King's company is mostly troglodytes and 2 Ruga-Ruga guardsmen.  Of course the Witch King is virtually a force of nature with heavy armor, mystical powers and a cursed sword.

 Tarzan, Jane and the Waziri advance . . .

 . . . while more tribesmen and a Mangani great ape come in from the other side.

The enemy is behind us too!

 Ruga-Ruga guard on the look out.

 "I say, I'm in here!

 Time for battle.

 The great ape has the arboreal talent and moves quickly through the jungle.

 The Witch King decides to join the fight.

 Spears, swords and fighting knives clash . . . 

 . . . as the Lord of the Jungle leaps the wall and starts going through troglodytes like a hot knife through butter.

 Meanwhile on the other side of the fortress, the other Waziri and the great ape start to engage.

 Battle in the Fortress.

 The Witch King strikes the chief with his cursed blade.  The chief rolls his pluck and survives, but since the weapon is cursed he must roll his pluck again.

 Yep you guessed it.  The chief is out of the game.

 Most of the troglodytes flee from the terrifying great ape.

 Though one holds his ground.

 Dismayed that Tarzan's inspired leadership is cancelling the dread he causes, the Witch King decides to take on the Lord of the Jungle personally.

 Troglodytes are falling left and right.

 The Ruga-Ruga guard try to help but their marksmanship is poor.

 Jane fires her pistol at the Witch King, misses, and accidentally kills a Waziri tribesman.  That's the last time I'll try that.

 Tarzan is now separated from the rest of the Waziri and attacks like a fearless wild beast.

 Help is coming.

 Tarzan dispatches more foes as his Waziri rush the Ruga-Ruga guard to rescue Professor Nightengale.

 A Waziri tribesman falls to his death when he misses a leap.

 This is not going to end well for the troglodyte.

 And another troglodyte bites the dust.

 Jane takes cover and fires at the riflemen on the wall . . . and misses.  Meanwhile Tarzan and the Witch King have been locked in furious combat.

 The troglodyte is killed but the valiant ape is knocked down by a bullet from the Ruga-Ruga guard but will survive.

 "Professor!  We are almost there!"

 Disaster strikes as the Witch King uses his Dragon's Breath and then his sword to hit Tarzan from behind.  Since the sword is cursed, Tarzan must roll his pluck twice and fails to do so and is knocked unconscious. ("No he's dead", states Honorable Son #5.  "Come on, he's Tarzan," states I with a wink.)

 With Tarzan out of the picture, events fall apart quickly for the good guys.  The Witch King mesmerizes the great ape forcing him to attack and kill one of the Waziri.

 The great ape is then shot and killed by a Ruga-Ruga guardsman.  Lady Greystoke senses the dread sneaking up on her and turns and fires repeatedly at the Witch King.

 The Witch King advances in an attempt to stop Jane from saving the great ape (Jane has the medic talent.)  With a clunk on the head, Jane is knock out and the Waziri flee due to the Witch King's Dread talent.

Another exciting game though I am noticing a trend of the Witch King beating up all of the good guys and moving on with his nefarious plans to conquer the world.  The final score was 32 to 20 since Professor Nightengale had not been rescued.  What will the forces of good do now?  Has the great detective recovered enough to get personally involved?  Or will there be a new player from another country involved?  Stay tuned . . .

IHMN: The Witch King Strikes First

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."  Ghycni, Captain of the Ruga-Ruga guard could hear his master chanting as he entered the musty room and waited patiently for his command.

The Forces of the Witch King.  

"The most merciful thing in the world, I think Ghycni", the Witch King started, "is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents... some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that they shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of my new Dark Age. We have a new enemy, one that may foil our plans so we will strike first.  We will kidnap Professor Nightengale."

The unsuspecting, and somewhat goofy, Professor Nightengale.

From the private journal of Dr. John Watson, MD:  I was not surprised. Indeed, my only wonder was that he had not already been mixed up in this extraordinary case, which was the one topic of conversation through the length and breadth of England. For a whole day my companion had rambled about the room with his chin upon his chest and his brows knitted, charging and recharging his pipe with the strongest black tobacco, and absolutely deaf to any of my questions or remarks. Fresh editions of every paper had been sent up by our news agent, only to be glanced over and tossed down into a corner. Yet, silent as he was, I knew perfectly well what it was over which he was brooding. There was but one problem before the public which could challenge his powers of analysis, and that was the singular disappearance of the public's favorite explorer and the failure of his brother to anticipate and gather the company that was needed in time . . . and if tragically if Mycroft could not anticipate the moves of the Witch King, what help could we depend upon in this most secret of wars?  

Members of Department H (there is no Department H)

Honorable Son #5 and myself decided to pitch the new list for the Witch King of Sokur against the new formed Department H (there is no Department H) of Mycroft Holmes.  Honorable Son #5 would led the Witch King adventuring company while I, the experienced and soon to be humbled Colonel, would lead Department H (there is no Department H).  The scenario suggested by Honorable Son #5 would be "Bring Him Back Alive" from In Her Majesty's Name and the VIP in question would be the world famous Professor Nightengale.

The layout.  Professor Nightengale is on the island in the exact center of the table.

My plan was to be simple and straightforward:  Use Colonel Armstrong's Meticulous Planning talent to move the famous Sikh swordsman Ranjit Singh twice a turn and rescue Professor Nightengale while the rest of the company provided covering fire.  Unfortunately, I forgot to use the talent until halfway through the game . . . 

Victory Conditions: 2 VPs per enemy figure taken out of the game; 5 VPs per enemy leader taken out of the game; 20 VPs if the VIP is recovered and safely removed from the table; 10 VPs if the VIP is taken out of the game while in enemy hands.

 The Witch King and one of the Ruga-Ruga guard.  The Witch King has an ancient cursed sword.

 The heroes advance.  In the front from left to right is Private Hook, VC, Ranjit Singh and Gunsmith O'Donnel.  Behind them is Miss Nightengale with an Arc Rifle and Steam fist with Colonel Armstrong.

 Help!!!

 The company takes cover while Ranjit advances.  Yep . . . forgot about my Meticulous Planning talent.

 BWAHH HAH HAH!

 Troglodytes rush toward Professor Nightengale with shield and sword.

 Ranjit Singh moves to face the evil alone.

 O'Donnell takes careful aim but misses the running Troglodytes.

 More Troglodytes arrive in a flanking move . . . 

  . . . while members of the Ruga-Ruga guard take up enfilade firing positions. (The die kept track of the turns the Mystical power "Harden" lasted which increases the armor by +1 when conferred by touch by the Witch King.)

 The good guys set up their firing position while Colonel Armstrong seems confused and befuddled.

 "I say, the smelly Trogs are getting closer!"

 Now I remember Meticulous planning.  Ranjit Singh advances quickly toward the professor with troglodytes breathing down his neck.

 Pulwar vs. foul blade.

 Huzzah!

 Miss Nightengale and the rest of the company conduct covering fire but to no effect against the Witch King's minions.

 Commercial Break:  This roll, not that I am complaining, is typical of most of my die rolls for shooting, fighting and pluck during the entire game.  Now back to the adventure.

 Ranjit Singh falls to a sneaky hit.  Wait a minute, he has the Fanatic talent and gets to re-roll his first failed Pluck roll!

 Sigh.

 Nightengale is captured.

 Armstrong to the rescue!

 Miss Nightengale is caught by volley fire and is out of the game.

 The Witch King thinks to himself, "do I even need to get in this fight?"

 Private Hook, VC takes a swig from his brandy bottle, takes careful aim and nails a troglodyte right between the eyes.  They don't give those VC's out to just anybody.

 Colonel Armstrong is successfully mobbed . . . and boy did that fanatic skill come in real handy (sigh).

 Going . . .

 . . . going . . .

. . . gone.

Well that was embarrassing.  Final score:  Witch King: 42, Department H (there is no Department H): 2.  $@3##&!! 42 to 2!  Lesson learned: know your talents and use them!  Don't underestimate fast troops that can mob.  Find some better dice. Now what will the forces of good do with Professor Nightengale in the hands of the nefarious Witch King of Sokur?

Quick Work in Progress - IHMN Sky Pirates

Just a quick few shots of my Sky Pirates Adventuring Company as a work in progress.  These will be for In Her Majesty's Name. There will be a total of 11 figures for the company.

 This guy doesn't strike me as a sky pirate - but maybe he hired the crew?  Anyway, I love this figure.

 This might be the first officer.

 This guy will definitely be the ship's engineer.

 I am envisioning him as formal British Royal Marine.

 A member of the crew.  Unfortunately the face of the figures was miscast in the mold but it is giving me a chance to try painting a huge scar to cover up the mistake.

 The pilot.

I still need to repaint the face as I am not satisfied with the way it turned out.

The 67th Foot

The 67th (South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1756. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Hampshire Regiment (later the Royal Hampshire Regiment) in 1881.

 The formation of the regiment was prompted by the expansion of the army as a result of the commencement of the Seven Years' War. On 25 August 1756 it was ordered that a number of existing regiments should raise a second battalion; among those chosen was the 20th Regiment of Foot. The 2nd Battalion of the 20th Regiment of Foot was formed on 10 December 1756 and renumbered as the 67th Regiment of Foot on 21 April 1758. In spring 1761 the regiment formed part of a force which successfully captured Belle Île. It embarked for Portugal in 1762 and moved on to Menorca in 1763. After returning home in 1771, it was posted to Ireland in 1775. In 1782 the regiment took a county title as the 67th (South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot.

In 1785 the regiment was posted to the West Indies: it arrived at Barbados and then moved to Antigua in autumn 1785. It moved to Grenada in 1788 and returned to Barbados in 1793 before travelling home in 1794.

 The regiment returned to the West Indies in 1795 and helped put down a rebellion in Saint-Domingue in 1796. It moved to Jamaica in 1798 and then with numbers depleted by disease returned to England in 1801. In July 1803 a second battalion was raised. The 1st battalion embarked for India in April 1805 and took part in the closing stages of the Siege of Ryghur in May 1818 and most of the Siege of Asirgarh in March 1819 during the Third Anglo-Maratha War.

Meanwhile the 2nd battalion embarked for Portugal in November 1810 for service in the Peninsular War and fought at the Battle of Barrosa in March 1811 and the Siege of Tarragona in June 1813 before taking part in operations on the East coast of Spain in the closing stages of the War. The battalions were amalgamated again in May 1817.

 The regiment returned from India in November 1826. It embarked for Gibraltar in 1832 and moved on to the West Indies in 1833: it was initially based at Saint Kitts but moved to Demerara in 1837 and to Barbados in 1839 before returning home in 1840. It embarked for India in 1858 and them moved on the China in 1860 for service in the Second Opium War. It saw action in the Battle of the Taku Forts in August 1860 and the Battle of Palikao in September 1860 before taking part in the capture of Peking later that month. The regiment moved to Japan in 1864 and to South Africa in 1865 before returning home in 1866.

The regiment was posted to Burma in 1872. From there it moved to Afghanistan for service in the Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1878. It fought at the Battle of Charasiab in October 1879 and the Siege of the Sherpur Cantonment in December 1879 before returning to India in 1881.

As part of the Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s, where single-battalion regiments were linked together to share a single depot and recruiting district in the United Kingdom, the 37th was linked with the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot, and assigned to district no. 40 at Lower Barracks in Winchester. On 1 July 1881 the Childers Reforms came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Hampshire Regiment (later the Royal Hampshire Regiment).