MERRY CHRISTMAS

 May you have a wonderful, safe and very Merry Christmas! God bless!

Isaiah 7:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you^[a] a sign: The virgin^[b] will conceive and give birth to a son, and^[c] will call him Immanuel.^[d]

Footnotes

a.     Isaiah 7:14 The Hebrew is plural.

b.     Isaiah 7:14 Or young woman

c.     Isaiah 7:14 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls son, and he or son, and they

d.     Isaiah 7:14 Immanuel means God with us.

 

Matthew 1:18-23 (NIV)

¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about^[a]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet^[b] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,^[c] because he will save his people from their sins.”

²² All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”^[d] (which means “God with us”).

Footnotes

a.     Matthew 1:18 Or The origin of Jesus the Messiah was like this

b.     Matthew 1:19 Or was a righteous man and

c.     Matthew 1:21 Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, which means the Lord saves.

d.     Matthew 1:23 Isaiah 7:14

St Nicholas and Rudolph

 Just in time for Christmas Eve...

Saint Nicholas is a Reaper Miniatures model and Rudolph is a 3D printed miniature that I bought of eBay, but can be found on Etsy as well. Ready to go for Christmas Eve...

Nory, the D&D Dwarf Pugilist

 The latest NPC addition to my role playing group is Nory, the Dwarven Pugilist.

Nory is actually the Reaper Miniatures' Hanrik, which you can find here.

He's an NPC that was the protagonist in the boxing match at the recent Winter Fair that the player characters partook of before heading out on an adventure. Lots of role playing opportunities for all at that event. But Nory held his ground well and did his race proud. He even bested one of the Elven player characters. So, well done Nory!

Now, on to more painting!

Christmas Halfling from Reaper Miniatures

Meet Nick, the Christmas Rogue by Reaper Miniatures! 

This little guy however is an Elementalist mage character played by one of the lads in our OSR D&D game.

I painted him up as quickly as I could as the player has now lost three characters! My D&D games are a 5e homage to the OSR (Old School Revival) and so player character survivability is not guaranteed.

Anyway, lets see how long this guys survives for. Being an Adventurer is a dangerous occupation after all.

Reaper only release this miniature around Christmas time as far as I can tell. So keep your eyes out if you want to grab it. Its a very nice mini and was a joy to paint.

Quarantine Capers - The Battle of Coronel (WWI) - Part V

Part IV can be found here.

TURN 8

Once again the Royal Navy retains the Initiative for the turn.

The Royal Navy continue to steam southwards. Glasgow, Monmouth and Good Hope slow slightly in order to provide Otranto the chance to keep in contact with the rest of her squadron. Otranto uses the Full Ahead! special action to keep pace with the other Royal Navy ships.

The Germans continue in their dogged pursuit of the British using a Full Ahead! special action for all ships within their squadron.

Attack Phase

Otranto warns off Leipzig with a salvo from her 6" guns, the shells falling to the port of their intended target.

Back off!

With no other ships in range, this ends the turn.

TURN 9

The table is adjusted to compensate for the floating map.

This turn the German's finally gain the Initiative.

Seizing the Initiative, the German squadron steam ahead southwards with a Full Ahead! special action.

The Royal Navy ships slow to a speed of 5 to permit Otranto to keep within contact of the squadron. Otranto herself moves under a Full Ahead! special action in order to catch up with the rest of her squadron.

Hurry up!

Attack Phase

Leipzig, having closed some distance to Otranto, decides to return the favour from the previous turns' engagement and opens fire on Otranto with both her port and starboard 4.1" guns. Both shots however fall well short of their mark.

Missed me!

Otranto responds to Leipzig, firing its port side 6" guns. The shots are limited due to firing into her rear 45 degree arc. Both shots missing Leipzig.

Dat wuz close!

With no other ships in range, the turn ends.

TURN 10

This turn sees the sun setting on the western horizon. With no ships west of an opponent, neither side gains any advantage from ships being silhouetted against the setting sun.

With the last light, the gathering gloom from heavy clouds, and the Royal Navy ships being out of range of the German's capacity to catch up with their adversary, the turn comes to an end. The Royal Navy ships escaping into the gathering gloom of falling night, surviving to fight another day.

Quarantine Capers - The Battle of Coronel (WWI) - Part IV

 Part III can be found here.

TURN 6

The German's finally detect Good Hope's shape in the murky conditions, spying her on the western most line of the British. They now realize that they are facing the major Royal Navy forces this side of the Pacific, with the exception of H.M.S. Canopus.

The Royal Navy again wins the Initiative and continues to head southwards under a Full Ahead! special action.

Otranto, being slower than the rest of the Royal Navy squadron, begins to fall behind. As such, her captain turns her SSW in an effort to move to the outer (western) end of the Royal Navy line and gain better screening by the British cruisers.

Otranto takes evasive action

The German's doggedly continue their pursuit of the British with their own Full Ahead! special action.

Attack Phase

Glasgow again fires her X turret at Leipzig. Otranto also opens up with her port side 6" guns at Leipzig. All shots miss their target, falling just short.

Leipzig's luck holds!

With no other ships in range, the Attach Phase comes to an end and so too the turn.

TURN 7

The Royal Navy retains the Initiative again for Turn 7.

The British continue their southern heading maintaining the Full Ahead special action. Otranto however continues to slip behind the rest of the Royal Navy ships and risking becoming isolated.

Wait for me!

The Germans also continue to push southwards with a Full Ahead! special action.

Despite the relentless chase, the distance between the two squadrons begins to open up. The condition of the engines of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau begin to pay a toll on the Germans ability to run down the British as they start to fall behind from their squadron.

Attack Phase

Otranto again targets Leipzig but once again misses.

Leipzig's 4.1" guns however are well out of range of Otranto and so she holds fire until she can close range. As no other ships are in range of any target, the turn comes to a close.

Quarantine Capers - The Battle of Coronel (WWI) - Part III

 Part II of this game can be found here.

TURN 4

Royal Navy gains the Initiative for this turn.

A check reveals to the Germans the shape of Monmouth in the gloom west of Otranto. Good Hope however remains undetected by the Germans. The Royal Navy is aware of the full German squadron.

The Royal Navy uses a Full Ahead special action in the hopes of putting enough distance between themselves and the German ships. By doing this they hope to also join up with Canopus to even the odds before re-engaging the enemy.

The Royal Navy ships all move at their top speed through the Bad Weather conditions, turning south away from the German squadron.

The Germans also perform a Full Ahead special action.

Attack Phase

Glasgow fires its X turret at Leipzig, which just happens to be in range of her 6" guns. The shot however falls short of its target.

Leipzig is out of range of Glasgow and blocks the line of sight from Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. As such, the Germans are not able to spot the Royal Navy ship and return fire. With that, the turn ends.

TURN 5

Royal Navy again gains the Initiative for this turn.

The Spotting Check shows that the Bad Weather still hampers the Germans from spotting Good Hope as part of the Royal Navy squadron.

The Royal Navy keeps steaming south under the Full Ahead special action. Given the slowed pace of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in this scenario, and the Bad Weather, the Royal Navy begin to slowly pull ahead.

The Germans, seeing their chance to cripple the British presence in the Pacific, also push their engines to Full Ahead in pursuit of the Royal Navy ships.

Given the close proximity of the models to the edge of the table, and the fact that this scenario is a floating map, all models are readjusted to accommodate from the floating map arrangement.

Attack Phase

Glasgow fires off a salvo fro its X turret 6" guns at Leipzig. However the shot falls short of the enemy light cruiser.

The Germans are again out of range and line of sight. So this brings to a close the turn as both sides continue to make best speed into the gathering gloom of the twilight.