Flint & Feather review.

A few years ago Howard asked if we could try some combat rules that he was working on of course I agreed. I was happy when he showed up with beautiful looking Native American figures ( and somewhat envious of them). Although I like to use my own figures when playing I'm always willing to play with figures that are well sculpted and painted such as these were. The rules were similar to Battle Troll but the tweaked a bit to give more of the combat style of the period. A few more games followed and time passed on. Then Howard mentioned that Bob Murch who had sculpted the figures was interested in the project, there was a blog with a group posting their playtests, the game showed up at the conventions and then the Kickstarter was launched.

The Kickstarter was funded quickly and work started on the rulebook. Pulp Figures produced some more figures, rules were tweaked, player aids improved, The figures shipped, and then the book and cards were sent out.

The Kickstarter

Here's what I got. Rulebook (hardback), a set of attack/defence cards, 28 miniatures (unpainted) representing Huron and Iroquois and a bonus Great Warrior.

The figures had been sent out ahead of the rulebook so I was able to paint them up. They're great sculpts and were fun to paint. I used the guide on the website but there is one in the rulebook and the photos in the book are provide inspiration.

Hurons

Iroquois

The production quality of the book is outstanding. Filled with pictures of the figures in action and  artist's drawing for more inspiration. Organization moves from an introduction to forming a Warband, Combat, Campaign, Supernatural, Scenarios and Optional rules. In the back is an index and all the charts, roster and cards needed to play.

Combat Cards

example page

example page

example page

The game sequence is player1 rolls to see who can activate (one group,all groups) activate, player2 reacts, player1 activates again and then it is player2s turn. Combat is by card draw and then a die roll to determine winner. Damage is rolled for on a chart. It plays quicker than those two sentences. There's lots more to the rules. We've played mostly straight up combat games but may try a campaign game out soon.   Some AARs are posted elsewhere on this blog.

I knew I liked the game before joining the Kickstarter and feel that the quality of the book, figures and cards was well worth the price.
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Thanks for reading.

The end of the month dispatch

Not looking to rush the year along it's time to recount what i did this month.

I managed to finish twenty AWI British which are based as singles to be used in Sharp Practice also two skeletons for Frostgrave moved off the painting bench. A shotgun house from 4ground was built even though I missed a couple of pieces it still looks good.

The big success for the month though was getting five games in. The first was a game of AGW, then came CoC with a game on Thursday night and another on Sunday both exciting games.

A break from the 6x6 saw a game of Howard's Alien War .50 being played. We had done a few games of this years ago so when Howard was given/lent an Post Apocalyptic urban set up he pulled the game out again. The game was a blast. I was a squad of marines attempting to recover a satellite and he was a group of mercenaries with same goal. Things didn't go well for me from the start and although I was able to put some damage on his group it wasn't enough to achieve our mission so I was forced to fall back.

The final game of the month was another of AGW this time using the 18th century variant and Howard's collection of 30mm flats. These are the toys that were sold on the back of comic books in the 1960s. I was the gallant Patriots and Howard played the oppressive British. His mission was to destroy my command. As his force advanced I was able to get my cavalry on his flank and destroy one unit of his cavalry. He pressed my center hard and moved his first nation allies up on my flank but after some fine firing by my riflemen my cavalry was able to destroy the rest of his cavalry and threaten his center. At this point the British realized they wouldn't complete their objective and fell back to regroup and fight another day.

I'm pretty happy with my hobby activity this month. Purchasing some Bolt Action figures and some Battlefront minis didn't help with The Pledge but I did keep the number I'm behind low. Getting five games in was a big plus. 

I joined a Saga campaign as Vikings and at the moment am waiting for my set of rules to arrive. There should be enough figures in my collection to build a six point force but I may still pick up a few new figures. 

Flint & Feather

Last night was another game of Flint & Feather. They are a set of rules for the wafare among the First Nations of the Geat Lakes region. 

For this game the Huron were out hunting when a Mohawk Stripling decided to make a name for himself and attack on his own. A few shots from his bow wounded a warrior but also alerted the rest of the hunting party to the enemy. The Hurons advanced along three paths, before they caught up to the stripling the rest of the Mohawk warparty arrived. A few exchanges of bow fire and then the Huron charged in. The fight was pretty even and the Mohawks decided to fall back rather than risk any casualties but not before the stripling killed a Huron warrior. There will be much boasting and story telling around the fire tonight. 

The Great Warrior and stripling assist the wounded Huron as the others race towards the Mohawk youth.

The Huron start to close.

The melee in the forest.

Mohawks overlooking the combat below.

Another fun game with this ruleset. I've joined the kickstarter so soon I'll have my own figures to use for the honor of the nation and glory of it's warriors.