Saturday, 4 February 2023

Last of the Mohic... ...Tyrannosaurus?

This is a spin-off of my homebrew medieval Middleheim rules. The British and French clash alongside Indian allies, in battle to control the lucrative dinosaur hide and ivory trade.

The Ohio Valley has caves that lead deep into the hollow earth (Middlehiem) and British and French trappers and colonists race to stake their claim in the terrifying but lucrative forests of the underworld.

Warlord (Perry sculpts I presume) humans and dollar-store dinosaurs share the world. 

The native tribes, spurred by the wealth offered by British and French, battle alongside their allies and penetrate even farther into the depths. Their traditional hunting methods are supplemented by the firepower of .75 cal Brown Bess - capable of blowing through two human targets, it troubles even large dinosaurs.

 The Compagnies de Marine are the spearhead French unit, adapting native stealth and guerilla ambush techniques to become the finest fighters in the underworld. 

The dinos are from kids-toy packs and cost less than $1 each. They are made from gummy plastic so... just don't undercoat them with spraypaint like I did... I used mostly cheap craft paint as these were to be 'cheap and quick'. The buildings are, I think, Zvezda Russian log cabins, slightly out of scale.

After initially taking heavy losses, including the battle of Monogahela Caves, the British increasingly rely on light infantry and locally raised Ranger companies. Roger's Rangers are one of the most famous, ranging deep into the middle-earth on scouting and raiding expeditions.

I initially intended to use my homebrew Middlehiem rules - intended for psychic War of the Roses knights mounted on dinos they easily adapt to slow firing muskets. However I may simply adapt LoTR:SBG to keep it accessible to my kids (and we all know it is an adaptable set of rules - a la Legends of the High Seas/Old West).

Besides serving as steeds for medieval knights, the dinos may come in handy for another projects - the kids and I have discussed a game world where dino herders in mech suits (thanks Avatar) battle pirates and poachers (also in mechs) while collecting eggs and raising young dinos... but I think that may be more suited to 15mm.... hmm, time to raid the kids toy box for smaller scale dinos....

3 comments:

  1. I have always loved the concept, and would also enjoy seeing a batrep of this on the blog.

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    1. I almost never do batreps, sorry. Reason: I am usually testing rules, and making notes and scribbling ideas AND usually timing rules as "game speed" is usually a design aim. Remembering to stop to take photos drags things out, and I prefer my follow-up to be rewriting rules not posting about them... :-/

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