'Epic Fail' from SidneyR - The Artist Chance Card

"Chance Card #20:  One of your regiments is delayed arriving in the field owing to their commander's portrait being painted by the famous artist, Laarden van Rijn"

I've always loved introducing "Chance Cards" into my wargames. I think this is some deep-rooted memory from avidly reading Donald Featherstone's "Wargames Campaigns" and "Solo Wargaming" when I was a teenager. I loved the way that Chance Cards can dislocate even the best laid plans. A few years ago, we fought a seventeenth century battle and I added a Chance Card to the deck which forced one side to have a unit delayed reaching the battlefield as a result of the commander having his portrait painted by the famous Flemish painter, Laarden Van Rijn (a lesser known brushman than his more illustrious Dutch cousin). 

I liked that card. It wasn't game breaking. It was a bit of fun. And it was clearly an epic fail, albeit quite in character for the "professionalism" of some historic Flemish commanders of the seventeenth century.

So, here's that Chance Card brought to life. We have the local civic militia, delayed in the Grote Markt while Mijnheer van Rijn completes his masterpiece. The cobblestones match the basing of the first Themed Round, and yes - the chickens have spread to this entry as well, clucking around the soldiers as they pose dramatically for the paintbrush. As befits a local militia, the soldiers have every variety of arms and armour, from classical helmets to flintlocks, from matchlocks and the Twelve Apostles to Flemish steel rapiers.

I did think of creating a tiny photoshoped version of Rembrandt's "The Nightwatch" on the great artist's easel, but I decided the barely-started sketch he's drawn is more in keeping with the theme!

I doubt a great painter can be rushed. He'll probably barely be finished when the militia start raising the defensive fortifications for the next themed round!