Chapter 8 Into the wilds

                           NICKEL & DIME PRODUCTION'S 
                            proudly present's 
          CONNEMARA FEENEY & TAYLOR DAVIES 
                                     in
                  THE HEART STONE OF AFRICA

Marco introduces Connie & Taylor to Colonel Winston Faiweather a retired army officer.

From the diary of Connemara Feeney

On the 17th of July we set out from Livingston heading roughly North by North-West to one of the way stations that Stanley had set up on his expedition into the dark lands of the Congo, a distance of some 83 miles as the crow flies, a distance that Marco Boswel was confident we could cover within  10 days.

Our little band consisted of Morco, Taylor, an ex army Colonel by the name of Winston Fairweather, six Askaris that the Colonel had assured us were stout fellows & six strong bearers to carry our supplies & of course little old me, who's job it was to keep a record of our adventure.

The weather as we set off was ideal with it been late winter in this part of the world, it was dry & not overly warm though in Ireland it would have been a very fine summers day, the plan was to travel for 10 hours a day with a 10 minute rest at the end of each one & an hours break in the middle for a small meal.

The land as we left the town behind us soon turned into open Savannah but by mid-day we could see a head or us the start of a jungle that Marco had told us we would be spending most of the trip in, the day pasted without incidence but as we stopped for the night in a small clearing it was discovered that most of our food had turned bad.

Marco set up four of the Askaris to keep watch for the first part of the night, these would be relived after 4 hours by Marco the Colonel & the other two Askaris, after our meeting with Akmid Khan Marco was taking on chances.

As Connie was turning in for the night, Taylor"What a bad break so much of the food turning bad" I wouldn't put it past Khan to have had someone tamperer with it"
Connie"Well at least your coffee is still ok" This brought a grin to Taylor's face.

Taylor"Just as well as you know what I'm like if I don't get my quota of coffee each day"
Connie"Indeed I do,I sooner live with a bear with a tooth ache" Goodnight Taylor" she added giving him a smile."Goodnight Connie sleep well"Taylor replied.

18th of July
After a goodnight's sleep & breakfast, we'd a quick meeting & have decided it would be foolish to carry on, so with heavy hearts we are heading back to Livingston.

On our return we came across a small tribe & gave them what food we had left,

Before carrying on reaching Livingston just as night was closing in, its a bit disappointing but we shall set off again in another couple of days.

20th of July
We set off again this time hoping for better fortune,one of our Askaris has stayed behind having gotten news that his wife has just given birth to a Son, but we have been able to hire another Bearer so we can carry more food.
Once more we have tracked back to the spot where we camped on the 17th, I feel now as if I could walk to here with my eye's closed, the only thing of note was some geological feature that Taylor came across as he went to relief himself.

21st of July
After an early breakfast we broke camp & headed deeper into the jungle this time heading mainly West, I could not help but feel we were been watched &

sheared my thoughts with Marco, who to my surprise told me we were indeed been watched, but it was most likely just some curious natives & there was no need to be alarmed.

22nd of July
Our heading is now North & Marco tells me we're making good time, late into the afternoon we came across some animal that even Marco & the Colonel say they have never see before, perhaps we have discovered a new species, we made camp only to fined that bad luck has befallen us again with nearly half of our food gone bad.

23rd of July
Unperturbed by our bad luck we carry on, Marco says we should be able to obtain more food along the way either at villages or by hunting, it was just before our stop for the mid-day meal when we came under attack.

 The Colonel a man of vast warfare experience bellowed out orders, setting the men up in defensive positions to catch the enemy in across fire, while sending me forward with the Bearers.

     What seem to me like a life time took in fact only a matter of minutes.

Marco dropped the first of our would be assailants, with two more quickly followed by shooting from Askaris & the Colonel.

When a Loin that had been disturbed from it's mid-day slumber lighted on another,

 it was all to much for them & they fled, Marco & the Colonel after a brief chat decided it might be best to take our mid-day meal now & scout the surrounding area to be sure that they where indeed gone, before setting off again.

Cut
 Well that's it for this post, as always my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to be a movie critic your comment would be welcomed. :)

Movie Tone News extra July 2018

Before pushing on with The Heart Stone of Africa story, I think I need to do a little update, so that is what this news extra is all about.

Connie fines the Heart Stone

                                                                                                                                    
When I decided to make THSOF it was story that I was just going to be me telling with no game play involved & while I could have carried on it that vain, I decided that to make it more interesting & uncertain from my point of view I would use a game in order that I wouldn't have complete control over what was happening.

                                               

As it's set in Africa & was planed for the hero's to end up heading for the Congo, I though why not use the Congo game ? after getting Congo & trying it out I was disappointed to fine that it wasn't really what I wanted, whoever help was at hand (my thanks to Joe  at  http://zabadakszombieworld.blogspot.com/) in the form of Jimland,, this is across between an RPG & miniature gaming & is everything I could have wished for to take control of the story out of my hands.

Well that's it from tonight's news, so its a Goodnight from me & a Goodnight from him :)
Once again my thanks to Joe for all his help & as always my thanks to you for dropping in & if you'd care to leave a comment it would be welcomed :)

Movie Tone News, July 2018

With the hols fading into memory it's time to start cracking the whip & that's what this months news is all about so to speak :) in last months news I finished with a little teaser picture of a new project for N&D Studio's & now it can be reviled :)

Yes the studio's are going west, wild west & I've decided to go with Tombstone from Black Scorpion, why this one ? well there a couple of reasons, 1 it not been used by any of the other studio's, 2 it's a simple enough rule set but has enough depth to be interesting, plus it looks like it will work well enough for solo gaming, 3 I like Black Scorpion as a company & have some of their models already, 4 getting a PDF of the rules for free if you buy the rulebook is something that other companies could do with doing.

This was the teaser from last month, with the big clue been the Tombstone :)

                                       
As someone born in the sixties & having grown up on a diet of westerns both films & TV shows, add to that a Mother who is a big fan of the Duke (John Wayne) the only real surprise is that it has taken me so long to get into westerns.

A long with the rulebook I got some new stars (models) the one above is Billy the Kid, while below are some bad guys to keep young Billy company.

So who will keep the town safe from such vermin I hear you ask ?

Well who better then the Earp's a long with their good friend Doc Holiday, all of the above models are from Black Scorpion.

I've also picked up some guys from Foundry, the two models above & below are from the one set,

I'll go into who they are & my plans for them at a later time, but what I like about these sets is you get a mounted model & a foot model of the character, sadly there is a down side & its this

Northstar also do models this way as you can see in the picture above but I think they do it in a better way,

When you remove the character from the horse with the Northstar ones the saddle is still on the horse, where as with the Foundry one it isn't, I would think when a guy comes galloping into town or where ever been chased & quickly jumps from his horse to hide behind some cover he's not going to stop to unsaddle it, but I guess every cloud has a sliver lining in that the horses with no saddles can be used for pulling wagons.

Now all towns need to have people to live in them & luckily enough I've got some, the ones above &  below are also Black Scorpion.

I've other models that can also fill in as bit part players

Now I know some folk worry about different scale by different companies, I'm not one of them but here's a look at three different models from three companies

Northstar, Black Scorpion & Foundry, there is a slight difference but it's close enough for me, but then I'm not really that fussy as you can see below

The little Mexican I intend to add into Billy's gang, I'll get over his short comings by giving him a suitable name :) he came as a freebie from Foundry for another order awhile back.

Also from Foundry are the two sets above, again I'll go more into who & what they are at another time, but what I like about little sets like these is that when it comes to painting them is they like the Congo models are all different styles, which makes it easier for someone like me who has no love for painting to paint them,
So having some models already painted cuts down on some of the work I'll need to do to start making westerns, but I don't see need been made anytime soon tbh as there will be sets to be built & props to be got ready, but I'll cover all of those things as they get done.

To rap up this months news I've two names for a town I want to build & if you care to you can let me know which one you like best in the comments, it will be either Two Rock or Sliver Rock.

I've noticed that while I had my feet up that some of the other studio's have been bring out new releases & I should be catching up with them over the coming days :)

Well that it for this months news, so its a goodnight from me & a goodnight from him, as always my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to leave a comment it would be welcomed :)