tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-386713842024-03-19T01:47:53.560-07:00Dale's WargamesMy blog about my wargaming activities. I collect a lot of 15mm miniatures for the American War of Independence and so collect a lot of rules for this period.
I started miniatures with Napoleonics, so I have a number of armies in 6mm and 15mm figures for skirmishing.
I have15mm WW II figures that I use for Flames of War, Memoir '44, and someday, Poor Bloody Infantry.
Finally there is my on-again, off-again relationship with paper soldiers that I sometimes write about.Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.comBlogger370125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-66746705953889437932023-10-22T22:17:00.003-07:002023-10-22T22:17:43.301-07:00Remote Game of Age of Penda<h1 style="text-align: left;">Revisiting My <i>Age of Penda</i> Review</h1>
<p>I used to review rules with giving a playtest, simply analyzing the rules on paper. That was a big mistake when I rated the rules <i>The World Turned Upside Down</i>. The analysis was so off, that I am not even going to link to the old blog post. The ideas on paper looked so compelling, but the game was unplayable, in my opinion, unless you had the author (or maybe a veteran player from the author's group) present and guiding you through the murky bits.</p>
<p>I knew I wanted to review <i>Age of Penda</i> (AoP) because the rules were exactly what I was looking for: grid-based; Dark Ages; any basing scheme; simple to learn; and a game that required some planning, even if it was short-term. But, given the TWTUD disaster I knew I had to play it first, to make sure that what I thought about it on a read-through matched how it felt in a game. But, I played it solo.</p>
<p>Why is solo gaming an issue? Normally it isn't, but sometimes, when a ruleset is written simply and plainly, you have an interpretation of the rules that might not be shared. I have one rating category that is affected by this idea of shared understanding, i.e. is a rule written so clearly that two different people generally interpret it the same, and that is the Tournament Tight<sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">™️</span></sup> rating. I gave AoP a rating of 4 and, after playing a game of it remotely with remote gaming buddy Shaun Travers, I think I have to lower it to a 3.</p>
<p>So, what are the issues?</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Suggestions, Not Directives</h2>
<p>There are a number of minor quibbles about how to do some things, like building an army, setting up a board, who goes first, and so on. The rules are written with several alternatives to handling the topics with one particular method that <i>seems</i> to be what the author prefers. But it is not always crystal clear.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Terrain</h2>
<p>What terrain types there are and how it affect movement and combat is all pretty clear. What terrain is to be used follows along the lines of "place the terrain as indicated in the scenario, but if you don't have a scenario, use this random generation method instead." Again, it is not hard to figure out what to do, it just seems like and afterthought rather than the method to use <i>unless</i> you have set up a scenario. (Have you tried searching for a map of the battlefield, or an order of battle, for a battle in 7<sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">th</span></sup> Century Britain?) Minor quibble, I know.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Deployment</h2>
<p>This one is a little more unusual. When I think of deployment, especially the typical game mechanic of alternating deployment, I envision "I place one unit, you place one unit" and so on until all units are deployed (or designated as an off-board reinforcement. But the phrasing in the rules are "… take it in turns to deploy your units into <u>one area at a time</u>". To me, this sounds like you designate an area on your baseline and then place all of the units that will deploy there. Once you have deployed to an area, no subsequent units can be added to it.</p>
<p>Now some might read it as "one unit at a time", but to me the subject is the "area". But then again, I know I have issues with Phil Barker's wording in <i>De Bellis Antiquitatus</i> and he is very precise with his wording, so my my English comprehensive is simply not good enough. Then again, when I pointed this out Shaun agreed that it does seem to be saying one area at a time, so I felt better about what I see as a non-standard game mechanic.</p>
<p>In a way, I like it because it makes you think in terms of groupings of units, and you have to do that before the first unit, I mean area, is deployed. Who is under which leader's command?</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Rally</h2>
<p>In AoP all battling is done by area. When you shoot you add up the Battle Ratings (BR, not Battle Strength or BS, like I indicated in the original post) of everyone shooting into the designated area, with close combat you add up the BR of all units on your side in the area, and when you take damage it is inflicted on the enemy in that area; the owning player allocates the damage to the units.</p>
<p>If you rally the rules say to "select one area with units in it that belong to you and where at least one of these units has lost Battle Rating at any previous time during the game". It then instructs you to "roll a dice for each such [wounded] unit". Based upon the die roll you will regain 0-2 BR. The issue is that it says "regain <b>n</b> Battle Rating", not "regain <b>n</b> Battle Rating on that unit". So, does the player apply the BR to the unit or to the area, the latter allowing the player to choose how to apply the BR? If this is not clear, here is an example.</p>
<blockquote><i>King Penda decides to rally. He has three units (with remaining BR): Armored Warriors with Leader (5); Armored Warriors (3), and Skirmishers (1). All three have lost BR. The player rolls 3D6 and scores for each, respectively, 0 regained, 1 regained, and 2 regained. (Note that the Skirmishers started with 2, had lost only 1, but rolled to regain 2.) If you apply the rolls to the <u>unit</u> then the Armored Warriors with Leader regain 0, the Armored Warriors regain 1, and Skirmishers regain 1 (as the BR can never go above the original value), for a total of 2 regained. If you apply the rolls to the <u>area</u> (like you do with damage), then you regain 3, and you can allocate it any way you choose as long as no unit ends with more BR than they started with initially. These are two significantly different results.</i></blockquote>
<p>Shaun and I chose to apply it to the unit, i.e. point to a unit in the area, roll the die, and then apply the result to that unit. I am beginning to suspect that it should be the area. Yes, you have to manage the number of BR each unit has, but the rules intent is to abstract away as many specifics about a unit as possible, like facing, formation, position in the battle line, etc. Applying it to the area is more in the spirit of the rules and doesn't have this 'gambling' aspect to it, i.e. losing good rolls to lightly damaged units or not getting the unit you want rallied. If you can protect a unit from damage, why can't you favor a unit for rally?</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Moving From an Enemy-Occupied Area</h2>
<p>This rule was not ambiguously written, the rules were very clear: you must keep track of <u>each</u> unit's area that they moved from, when moving into a new area. Why?</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<i>Because the rule for moving out of an area containing enemies require your unit to move back into the area from which it entered, it’s a good idea to place units angled to represent their entry point, or remaining alongside the edge through which they entered the area.</i>”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This rule creates so many issues and does not logically follow the design the author put forth in the first place. Here are some examples.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<i>A unit’s precise location within an area is unimportant for all other aspects of the rules.</i>”</p>
<p>“<i><b>Why are there no outflanking rules?</b></i></p>
<p><i>Outflanking is factored in when you roll dice for all of your units in an area. My vision, streamlined here like so many aspects of these rules, is that enemy units will not allow themselves to be outflanked unless they are outnumbered and therefore cannot face all of their enemies at once. Rolling dice for all of your units doesn’t just represent them fighting, but also the effect of pinning their enemy’s front while other units approach the weaker sides. Strength in numbers and all that!”</i></p>
<p><i>“Unit facing does not affect shooting.</i>”</p>
<p>“<i>Note that units do not need to be in base-to-base contact to fight one another, just in the same area. It is assumed that your on-the-spot commander will place their unit in the correct position; as you are your army’s warlord, you don’t need to worry about this. That said, feel free to move units within the area to suit your taste – putting opposing units in contact makes no difference in play but we all know it looks correct and your dice roll better if you do so.</i>”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So facing, positioning, and flanks don’t matter because it is all abstracted away, but the army general is supposed to track which area each unit comes from in order to specify a retreat path?!? And note that it does require it even if the area was not occupied by the enemy when you entered the area; if they are there now, your previous line of march is what matters. In a ruleset that doesn't pin units exact position and formation.</p><p>Shaun initially viewed this movement restriction as something akin to DBA's rule on blocking retreats. That never occurred to me, especially as there was no language in the rules about blocking movement (other than area capacity for three units from each side). There are certainly no 'automatic destruction' rules like DBA has for blocking retreats. But it was an interesting idea.</p><p>Well, Shaun and I thought it fiddly when we tried our test games, but we decided to play it straight for our remote game and we have now decided to discard the rule and replace it with this one:</p>
<blockquote><i>If beginning a Move action in an area with enemy units present, you may only move to an adjacent area that does not contain enemy units, i.e. you can't move directly from an enemy-occupied area to an adjacent enemy-occupied area.</i></blockquote>
<p>This takes away the hassle of tracking this information <u>for each unit</u> while keeping to the spirit of allowing flexible movement. We considered a rule that says you must move towards your baseline, but then would have had to add another rule that indicates what you do if the area is enemy-occupied. This is simpler. Needs to be tested though.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Who Holds Initiative</h2>
<p>Who holds the initiative is a very important aspect of these rules. The player with initiative makes the first pick on the tactic chart in the Tactics Phase and makes the first action in the Action Phase. Given that close combat allows you to strike first, with your opponent striking back with whomever survived, being first is a strong advantage.</p>
<p>Now the rules are clear on who holds initiative at the start of the game. (The player with the most mounted and skirmishers has initiative for the first turn. If tied, roll a die.) It is also clear that you seize (or retain) the initiative if you choose the tactic Seize the Initiative. What is not clear is who holds the initiative if no one chooses to use one of their four precious tactics tokens to play Seize the Initiative.</p>
<p>There are really four possibilities: 1) whomever currently holds the initiative retains the initiative (I've got it so I keep it); 2) initiative passes to the other player (I did not maintain the momentum); 3) initiative is determined by the rule that determined initiative for turn 1 (count remaining mounted and skirmishers, highest gets it); and 4) randomly determine who gets it. Honestly, I have seen all four mechanics in various rules.</p>
<p>There is nothing in the rules that would suggest #4 was correct, however. The rule for first turn initiative states "for the first turn", so unless there was a rule that states "use the rule for determining initiative on turn one", that seems a less likely choice. So the only logical choice are retain and pass. Therein lies the issue. The rule for the Seize the Initiative action states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"<i>If you have selected this tactic, follow these rules when you activate it:</i></p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><i>Taking this action allows you to take (or retain) the Initiative from the start of the next turn. You may wish to use a marker to keep track of who holds the Initiative.</i></li>
<li><i>In some scenarios, this tactic can also be used to trigger a "special event" such as dicing for reinforcements, inspiration from praying by monks, and so on. (Chapter 4 suggests some ideas.)"</i></li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>The confusing part is the phrase "… allows you to take (<i>or retain</i>) …". It implies that if you don't take the action you are not guaranteed to retain the initiative. But if you do not automatically retain it, then how do you determine who has it? There is another irritatingly worded rule in the Phases of Play:</p><p>"<i>3. End Phase. Check victory conditions and end the game now if these have been fulfilled. Otherwise, <u>check which player holds the initiative for the next turn</u> and begin it.</i>"</p><p>If initiative is automatically retained, if no one chooses the Seize the Initiative action, why would it tell you to "check". Again, how do you check? (It has a rule for turn 1, hence why I felt it was option 3.)</p><p>The phrase "… if you have selected this tactic …" is also key here in that the only mention in a rule of taking the initiative is in this rule. So taking the initiative, other than the initial determination for turn 1, requires you selecting that tactic.</p><p>In the end Shaun convinced me to go with initiative is retained if it is not explicitly seized by your opponent.</p>
<h2>Uncertainty</h2><p>While I now think the rules are a little less clear than before (when no one was disagreeing with me), I also realize that there is more uncertainty built into the system.</p><p>As a solo player it is hard to surprise yourself. (I even <a href="https://solo-battles.blogspot.com/2019/12/surprise-activation-and-solo-wargamer.html" target="_blank">wrote about the subject</a> on my Solo Battles blog, which Shaun and I batted back and forth in the comments.) But this game (below) opened my eyes about the uncertainty that I forget about because I am playing both sides and it is hard to divorce your mind from considering the impact to one side while making a decision for the other side.</p><p>One element of uncertainty that has a large impact on the game is random terrain generation and placement by the players. I had two woods in my test game (plus a hill) and I let the dice essentially place the woods out of play. Players won't do that.</p><p>Another element is deployment. (Both Shaun and I admitted that when we played our solo test games we simply laid out one side completely, then laid out the other. We didn't follow the process.)</p><p>Finally, the process of selecting tactics actually produces less uncertainty than I thought initially, but it does produce some, surrounding who will spend their precious tactics point to seize (or retain) the initiative. But for the most part, tactics selection is pretty formulaic.</p><p>For these reasons I am changing the <b>Uncertainty</b> rating of <i>Age of Penda</i> from 3 to 4.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Summary</h2>
<p>So, what does all this mean? I think I have to change my Tournament Tight<sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">™️</span></sup> rating for AoP from a rating of 4 to a 3 and the Uncertainty rating from 3 to a 4. With a few changes to the wording – which may or may not reflect the intent of the author – I think you can get the former to a 5.</p><p>The rules are still very much recommended.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Remote Gaming</h2><p>In a comment on the last blog post Martin Rapier mentioned remote gaming which, given that Shaun is in Australia and I am in the USA, is what we had to do. Our setup was to use a private Discord server for voice, chat, and image sharing (from our cameras) and <a href="https://rolz.org" target="_blank">an online die roller</a> for rolling dice and logging actions sequentially. The die roller is nice because AoP uses a 'bucket of dice against a target number' combat mechanic so you can type something like <i>#14D6E4</i>, for example, and it will roll 14 D6 and count the number of dice that were 4+. There are all kinds of dice codes to simplify die rolling.</p>
<p>We continued to use Rolz because it is the tool we used when we played <i>One-Hour Wargames</i> by email. We could roll the dice when it was our turn, tell the other person it was their turn, then they could confirm the transcribe the results on the copy of the map they were keeping. Plus it keep a log of the action, so you can write comments like "<i>Attacking with the Knights from A4 to B3</i>" and then follow it immediately with a die roll.</p><p>I considered using my iPhone for video – gaming buddy Justo and I did that once – but it was a pain to get pointed in the correct direction so it covered the map yet wasn't in the way of me gaming. So instead I just took picture of my copy of the board after each action and uploaded it to the Discord channel.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtj_GFPYbHshBDfK-UEfKJzw8jYSNiQZG3xwB3FCwIY6b_lPF9RuILonrdTW-mqNACR0t5QNb1pfY34qQyiuRq-sniW645zQiHOy4ZqizCwPNflbcgs6rHBxxIJpJHt3oiWcyvvEw0B7CtZd4HxEGhwTkALeJ8aQ3zZs2qOFaabHL4Oot8ZHiE9A/s2592/GameStart.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2174" data-original-width="2592" height="536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtj_GFPYbHshBDfK-UEfKJzw8jYSNiQZG3xwB3FCwIY6b_lPF9RuILonrdTW-mqNACR0t5QNb1pfY34qQyiuRq-sniW645zQiHOy4ZqizCwPNflbcgs6rHBxxIJpJHt3oiWcyvvEw0B7CtZd4HxEGhwTkALeJ8aQ3zZs2qOFaabHL4Oot8ZHiE9A/w640-h536/GameStart.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>As you can see in the image above, I decided to use painted Jenga wooden blocks to represent the unit. I did this not because I don't have any well-painted or appropriate figures. I do. But I think it is very hard to figure out what is going on when you are trying to first figure out what exactly you are looking at.</p><p>In the picture above it is clear that once side is blue and the other side is red and white. The white blocks are red's mounted troops, the medium red are their unarmored warriors, and the dark red their armored warriors. Blue's mounted troops are brown and blue (dark brown being the leader), light blue are skirmishers, and medium blue are unarmored warriors. This makes it easy to discern who is what.</p><p>Not to knock Shaun's setup, but to illustrate the point, this is his version of the same starting deployment.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihXbC5a7y__yq4i31_khaPOFdlNlyt-2VtsOH_p3y6T5QNlZh-WFtEapjh3kdOW2ZanTLb4HukT4UNYGvO2vV1FPWyVxbANmvfhpx-tzOJL3RhgY5p_RgJC5hJ89e7_YKHLrTbPKStIXQcRdMKQp-j501kraKOiho8vXYofb1xpb95MI2o4LiJ6g/s2686/ShaunsView.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2686" data-original-width="2592" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihXbC5a7y__yq4i31_khaPOFdlNlyt-2VtsOH_p3y6T5QNlZh-WFtEapjh3kdOW2ZanTLb4HukT4UNYGvO2vV1FPWyVxbANmvfhpx-tzOJL3RhgY5p_RgJC5hJ89e7_YKHLrTbPKStIXQcRdMKQp-j501kraKOiho8vXYofb1xpb95MI2o4LiJ6g/w618-h640/ShaunsView.png" width="618" /></a></div><p>I think the unarmored warriors at the top are three figures to a base versus four being armored warriors. If only one of us were keeping track of the movements and the other player was playing remotely, with no setup on their side, I know which version I would rather use. Are my blocks as aesthetically pleasing as miniatures? No. My they are more easily identifiable through a remote camera. Nonetheless, I would like to hear from you that do remote gaming, how do you do it (exactly) and what challenges have you faced (besides people actually following through and doing it)? Put them in the comments or <a href="https://twitter.com/DalesWargames" target="_blank">hit me up on Twitter/X</a> where I am @DalesWargames.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">The Game</h1>
<p>I decided to try a little experiment. My first game was a pretty standard Normans versus Anglo-Saxons, except that I was at a 60 point game (rather than the standard 80). The second game was a little different. I tried a Viking raiding force against Anglo-Saxons, but the Vikings chose a superior Warlord for 20 points, leaving them with 60 points of troops. The Anglo-Saxons had the standard Warlord and applied the full 80 points to troops.</p>
<p>The basic formula for AoP is that every two points grants you one Battle Rating (BR). So a standard army is always 41 BR (the extra 1 point is your free Warlord). If you take a superior Warlord you are essentially giving up 10 BR, or ¼ of your combat power in exchange for one tactics token each turn. Is it worth it? Well, the Vikings lost, but AoP is a very dice-heavy game so it could have been bad luck. On the other hand dice are generated by BR so the more BR the army has, the more dice it gets to throw and more hits it gets to absorb.</p><p>That said, I decided to give a superior Warlord a try again. Also, I wanted to try and maximize the advantage of mounted warriors and skirmishers as both of those troop types share two special tactics: Rush, or the ability to move two squares; and Skirmish, or the ability to shoot then retreat one square. So my army was as follows:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>King of Strathclyde (brilliant leader) at the head of a Mounted Warrior unit</li>
<li>Three additional Mounted Warrior units</li>
<li>Two Skirmisher units</li>
<li>Two Unarmored Warrior units</li>
</ul>
<p>As a note, I misread the unit selection rules. I did not read that Skirmishers can only make up ⅓ of your army, at most. My original plan was four Mounted Warriors and five Skirmishers. But when Shaun pointed out the rule (in a QRS he wrote up) I quickly changed three Skirmishers for two Unarmored Warriors about 5 minutes before the game.</p><p>Shaun went with a Frankish force (I believe he said), with the following:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Dux Travers leading an Armored Warrior unit</li><li>One additional Armored Warrior unit</li>
<li>Three Mounted Warrior units</li>
<li>Five Unarmored Warrior units</li>
</ul>
<p>Here was the board, terrain placement, and troop deployment.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgv2Lwhb-eC-kJyzlTS95GuSJxsZeEgGzVRDnRwLAR_ouBiTXSrl5crKt9gN1po_3lUaJMwnMeBu-wIVGq0gVszZ8jw03m8onk9_P1ORqLJ0uDwhQ0NSRjflF9llU3kXRcQMYVmN9N0H4frZzCjfo1tSvWU1mWIv4OsHMc6dCydul_nHHcDFkNx4w" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1440" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgv2Lwhb-eC-kJyzlTS95GuSJxsZeEgGzVRDnRwLAR_ouBiTXSrl5crKt9gN1po_3lUaJMwnMeBu-wIVGq0gVszZ8jw03m8onk9_P1ORqLJ0uDwhQ0NSRjflF9llU3kXRcQMYVmN9N0H4frZzCjfo1tSvWU1mWIv4OsHMc6dCydul_nHHcDFkNx4w=w640-h640" width="640" /></a></div>
<p>The dark green blobs are woods. There is no other terrain on the board.</p><p></p><p>The blue forces are the Strathclyde troops and the Franks are in red. Blocks with thick, brown outlines indicating the Mounted Warrior units, those with a yellow outline indicate the unit with the commanders. The medium color blocks are Unarmored Warrior units, the dark color blocks are Armored Warriors, and the light colored blocks are Skirmishers.</p>
<p>I should start by saying that the last minute change to my army list wrecked my initial plan and rattled me. I deployed poorly (as you will understand in a moment).</p>
<p>My plan was to move my Skirmishers into the woods using a Rush. As it happens, this also allows Mounted Warriors to move at the same time. So with four Mounted Warriors and five Skirmishers I would have captured the woods in C3 and had all of my Mounted Warriors anchoring their flanks on both sides of the woods in row C. Instead, because I deployed my Unarmored Warriors with my Mounted Warriors, one unit per area, I ended up leaving the two Unarmored Warriors on the baseline, in two areas no less, requiring two Move actions later to try and recover from the situation. Instead, I should deployed with each area having only two units, keeping the two Unarmored Warriors together. Details, details…</p>
<p>The other lesson for why I should play a game with another player before doing a formal review is because sometimes I don't take certain actions because they don't make sense to me, even if they are allowed in the rules. For example, the idea of a line of Warriors on foot charging into a woods is just something I would not have done, leaving the woods as an anchor or moving troops in slowly. I definitely would not have thought about using Charge or Rush to allow Mounted Warriors to do so. But both of those actions are allowed. When Shaun did it I was surprised. I didn't say anything because I knew it was allowed and that I had simply put blinders on because of rules I have played in the past. It is things like that, your own personal biases due to rules you have played previously, that can distort your thinking about a new set of rules. My problem is that I just get so excited about a ruleset that I want to share it.</p><p>Continuing on – you've probably guessed at what happened – because the Skirmisher firepower had been lowered from 10 dice (five units firing from two areas) to 4 dice, my shooting was much more ineffective. Further, when he charged his Armored Warriors into my woods, the odds were fairly good that he was going to wipe out the Skirmishers and they would not even get a return attack. Even if they did, it would be very weak unless Shaun got very unlucky.</p>
<p>With the Skirmishers gone and my forces scattered across the board (six units in four separate areas), it felt like what happens to me in DBA. My lack of discipline at keeping my groups together means it takes more actions (PIPs in DBA) to control the force. At least I had the extra tactics token.</p>
<p>What was interesting was that – save for the first turn – our pattern of tactics selection was nearly always the same.</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Dale: Special Tactics</li>
<li>Shaun: Special Tactics</li>
<li>Dale: Rally</li>
<li>Shaun: Battle</li>
<li>Dale: Battle</li>
<li>Shaun: Move</li>
<li>Dale: Move</li>
<li>Shaun: Move</li>
<li>Dale: Move</li>
</ul>
<p>Here is a reminder of what the Tactics Chart looks like. Recall that each player alternates placing tokens and only one player may place one token in any given box, i.e. the action in that box can only be used once, by one player.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_BiT4V0RFB4KW-ggdTcdiEO83FKgAuDvzraP4Lh9LqqqdAWmDrmi1NldQiXM7vw8E9hKrebea0G7Et6MdGGFnrryaTJRKmfNMRnprklOU1FN9kU5BuTtM3GWcFE4YqQIk2dgdheBcaYQAo5z7CJnc02B2MO-XELtwK-3NgiSABm7ojCuxXQ2-xQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="665" data-original-width="757" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_BiT4V0RFB4KW-ggdTcdiEO83FKgAuDvzraP4Lh9LqqqdAWmDrmi1NldQiXM7vw8E9hKrebea0G7Et6MdGGFnrryaTJRKmfNMRnprklOU1FN9kU5BuTtM3GWcFE4YqQIk2dgdheBcaYQAo5z7CJnc02B2MO-XELtwK-3NgiSABm7ojCuxXQ2-xQ" width="273" /></a></div><p></p><p>Why this pattern? Once I selected Special Tactics if Shaun chose anything other than Special Tactics then he would have been denied a Charge that turn. That is why he did not get to Rally until he Seized the Initiative. The third play is always Rally, if only to deny the enemy a chance to rally or as a safety move if a battle goes poorly.</p><p>Same with Battle. Once someone chooses Battle the next player's play must be to grab the second Battle otherwise they could be hit up to three times where their opponent strikes first.</p><p>Every so often I would hear Shaun pause on his fourth selection, and I would always say "thinking about whether you should take Seize the Initiative?" He was. It comes at a painful price, especially when it effectively lowered him to three actions while I would have played five. With two Move Actions I could have moved two areas away, denying him the ability to Charge me as the first action next turn.</p><p>At least in theory. Because of the broken rule where you have to move out of an enemy-occupied area to the area you came from previously it made for some strange moves.</p><p>Long story short, my Mounted Warriors wiped out his Mounted Warriors, but were blown from the combat. His Armored Warriors followed up behind his mounted and wiped out half of my mounted in turn. That left me with an even combat, which I did not want to risk. So I went after his troops that were isolated while he went after mine. Eventually he ended up with two foot blobs hiding in the woods and my mounted circling, looking for an opening to charge him out in the open. Eventually it came and I rolled poorly on my dice, and ended up so wounded I could not sufficiently rally, even with having that action all but one turn.</p><p>I was down to where I had three BR left, one for each of the remaining units, so my King decided to retreat with the mounted troops, leaving the Fyrd behind to cover the retreat. They were quickly eliminated and my army routed from the board. It had been a very bloody battle.</p><p>Honestly, it felt right. Cavalry pretty much being blown after a single charge in which they don't overrun the enemy. The woods dominating the battlefield.</p><p>What didn't feel right were the movement rules previously discussed. That is why Shaun and I have decided to change them for the next game. What also did not feel right to me was mounted being able to charge or rush through woods, and non-skirmisher foot being able to charge into woods. Maybe that is just the influence from other rules, but I still see these as formations, even if the details of handling those formations is abstracted away. Even though it adds complexity, I would like to see those additions.</p><p>Finally, AoP has a very restricted troop selection process. Skirmishers must <u>always</u> be 2 BR/four points and Mounted Warriors must always be 5B/10 points. Given that every troop type is two points per BR, why not allow a range of values of each troop type? Mounted Warriors at 5 BR means they are always heavy cavalry. For Age of Penda, that just isn't right. There were plenty of cultures that had lighter cavalry.</p><p>Had I been allowed my army selection would have been: two Armored Mounted Warriors (5 BR each); six Unarmored Mounted Warriors (3 BR each); and four Skirmishers (3 BR each). This would have given me my 31 BR (counting the 1 for the Leader) and my ratio of 1 Skirmisher for every 2 Warriors. I think that would have better represented my concept of Strathclyde (which is heavily based on what the <i>Saga</i> rules say they should be).</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Game Summary</h2><p>Gaming with Shaun opened my eyes to some of the rules and concepts that I took for granted, some of which were incorrectly interpreted. The longest discussion Shaun and I had regarding the game was whether taking the extra tactics token for 20 points was worth it. Well, because we were using the online die roller that logged all of the rolls we can look at some statistics.</p>
<table border="1">
<thead>
<tr><td></td><td colspan="3" style="text-align: center;"><b>Dale</b></td><td colspan="3" style="text-align: center;"><b>Shaun</b></td></tr>
<tr><td><b>To Hit</b></td><td><b>Hits</b></td><td><b>Dice</b></td><td><b>% Hit</b></td><td><b>Hits</b></td><td><b>Dice</b></td><td><b>% Hit</b></td></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>4+</td><td>32</td><td>72</td><td>44%</td><td>32</td><td>68</td><td>47%</td></tr>
<tr><td>5+</td><td>2</td><td>5</td><td>40%</td><td>14</td><td>40</td><td>35%</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>The first thing of note is that the deficit of having 10 BR fewer troops than Shaun meant I rolled far less dice; 77 versus 108. That basically tracks in that I had an army 75% the size that he had. But that also shows the damage. I took 46 hits on an army with 31 hit points (overkills were still counted) while he took 34 hits on an army with 41 hit points (again, counting overkill hits). Any claim I might have on 'bad luck' is simply not born out. The telling effect was that the weight of numbers seem to far outweigh any value of having an extra tactical token. That token does not allow you to generate any more hits.</p><p>Funny, Shaun and I were discussing whether the extra token was worth 20 points or less. It has to be worth something, but it definitely doesn't seem worth 20 points to me. Then again, my deployment and play was flawed, so another test is in order.</p><p>I definitely see a lot of possibilities with these rules, including carrying it out to the Horse & Musket era and a WWII infantry game where players command about a company, plus additional assets (a tank, ATG, or off-board artillery).</p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-52630175390356910802023-10-17T23:42:00.004-07:002023-10-22T20:30:58.986-07:00Dan Mersey's 'You Command' Series<h1 style="text-align: left;">The 'You Command' Series of Rules</h1><p>Dan Mersey, who wrote the titles <i>Song of Arthur and Merlin</i>, <i>Lion Rampant</i>, <i>Dux Bellorum</i>, and <i>The Wargamer's Guide to the Desert War 1940-1943</i>, along with many others, has a series of wargame rules called <i>You Command</i>. They are billed as "a series of light miniature wargames. When you play a 'You Command' game your goal is to defeat your opponent by out-thinking them tactically using the innovative Tactics Chart and then by out-fighting their model army on the tabletop battlefield."</p>
<p>Each of the titles have progressed to a "big battle" gridded wargame where the player represents the top of the command chain, the overall Commander. As such your role is to choose where and how to focus your troops and control the battle's momentum, ignoring the minutiae of unit-level tactics or the exact armament of your troops. (Put another way, a lot of tactical detail is abstracted out of the rules.) The battle is fought out on the tabletop as well as the Tactics Chart. Your focus is on winning at the highest tactical level rather than getting lost in the details of weapon types and armor saves.</p>
<p>Troop types are very broad and dependent upon the period you are playing. (So far they are the Dark Ages Britain, Medieval Britain, and WW II, although the WW II version and the earliest Medieval version is not played on a grid.) For Dark Ages there are four unit types: Mounted, Armored Foot, Unarmored Foot, and Skirmisher. For Medieval he expands it to Knights, Sergeants, Foot Knights, Spears, Long Spears, Warriors, Missiles, and Levy. The troop type essentially indicates two things: its starting Battle Strength; and the special rules that apply to it.</p>
<p>Battle Strength (BS) is the heart of the combat system. A top-tier unit starts with a BS of 5 (+1 if your Commander is attached to that unit), second-tier has a value of 3, and the lowest tier has a value of 2. The BS represents not only the number of hits a unit can take, but its offensive power. In combat the unit will roll a number of dice equal to their current BS. Thus, as units take hits their BS is reduced and they roll fewer dice when they attack. Combat is a simple roll of your attack dice, requiring a 4+ to hit (5+ if they are in cover or a Shieldwall). Note that combat is by area (square) so you add up all of your units' BS values and roll that many dice, counting hits. Your opponent then removes that many BS from their units in the area, i.e. they choose how to distribute the damage. Once a unit's BS is reduced to 0, the unit is removed from the board. (In this regard, it has a very similar mechanic to <i>One-Hour Wargames</i> (OHW). Unlike OHW, however, your offensive power goes down as your hits go up.)</p>
<p>As indicated earlier, the table is gridded with squares, but they are offset. (The author admits that you can use hexes if you want.) As you will see in my test game I used a regular square grid. Although I don't think it matters greatly, it <i>could</i> if there are large numbers of ranged troops involved.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLNi6R8k5zflNLdXyIhnGGhETdd4uGLc0oIe89jCwOC-g8iR2a2Uuk1VasDtCOY-oUx1dEPHQEgN_2EIpGLD6al6x_qfAp1KoTHNFpsPwS6KEloFsaXeq6tIHPDkZgSlYaWDco8uzW8EVtN_8bjfg7Zmk4jE5fRkrjwH9aUsnEAGSFN-YBTrNTvg/s594/Battlefield.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="529" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLNi6R8k5zflNLdXyIhnGGhETdd4uGLc0oIe89jCwOC-g8iR2a2Uuk1VasDtCOY-oUx1dEPHQEgN_2EIpGLD6al6x_qfAp1KoTHNFpsPwS6KEloFsaXeq6tIHPDkZgSlYaWDco8uzW8EVtN_8bjfg7Zmk4jE5fRkrjwH9aUsnEAGSFN-YBTrNTvg/w570-h640/Battlefield.png" width="570" /></a></div>
<p>The field of battle is rather small, being 5 rows by 4-5 columns. However, each square must be large enough to contain up to three of your units and three enemy units. So when I played using my homemade 12mm troops, I was using 6" squares as my troops are on 3" x 1 ½" bases. Still, this allows me to use a gameboard as small as 30" square, which is very convenient as my local gaming store's tables are 30" deep.</p><p>Terrain in an area affects the entire area, not matter how much of the area it covers. Here is how the terrain breaks down.</p><p><b>Woods and Villages</b>: the defender in ranged and close combat are hit on a 5+, while the attacker is hit on a 4+.</p><p><b>Hills</b>: the defender in close combat are hit on a 5+, while the attacker is hit on a 4+.</p><p>Note that the "attacker" is the side that is shooting into the area (even if they are already in that area). In close combat it is the one that initiated the close combat (and thus strikes first). These designations can change from combat to combat, depending upon who initiated the combat.</p><p>Also note that a Shieldwall (see later) overrides this attacker/defender difference. When a Shieldwall is employed, <u>both</u> sides hit on a 5+.</p><p><b>Streams, Fords, and Marshland</b>: these areas impede movement. To move <u>out</u> of one of these areas each individual unit must roll a 4+ on 1D6 in order to succeed (failure means the unit stays in the area).</p><p><b>Deep Streams and Deep Marshes</b>: these areas impede movement as indicated for <b>Streams, Fords, and Marshlands</b> above, and affect combat as per <b>Hills</b>.</p><p><b>Rivers</b>: these areas are impassable to all units.</p><p><b>Bridges</b>: count as open terrain across <b>Streams</b>, <b>Deep Streams</b>, and <b>Rivers</b>.</p><p>So I have covered all of the basic parts, now let's get to the most important part, command and control, or his Tactics Chart.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivUlnX6nkbxxQ382WQdprstsugOQwVRdw3RU-_tc_0STo6qtDLApb5mX8DFLOaW0x5uLBzsK_FxNB9lrilSdOSPRRTAF_V8XfyFe7i7wD0ft3AJkRLJcGWYaPS0I9cHiD9nujIw-QTy1iStY2FkCOtcgwSnWUslsrww4AsPnXhcS0cIdBUhmc_-g/s757/Tactics%20Chart.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="665" data-original-width="757" height="562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivUlnX6nkbxxQ382WQdprstsugOQwVRdw3RU-_tc_0STo6qtDLApb5mX8DFLOaW0x5uLBzsK_FxNB9lrilSdOSPRRTAF_V8XfyFe7i7wD0ft3AJkRLJcGWYaPS0I9cHiD9nujIw-QTy1iStY2FkCOtcgwSnWUslsrww4AsPnXhcS0cIdBUhmc_-g/w640-h562/Tactics%20Chart.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>First off, the Tactics Chart is period specific. This one is for <i>Age of Penda</i> (Dark Ages Britain), but most are very similar. The 'secret sauce' tends to be in the Special Tactic boxes.</p><p>The game has a pretty simple turn sequence. One player has the initiative and is designated as the first player. The first phase is the Tactics Phase. Each player is given two to five tokens based on their Commander's competence. Starting with the first player each place one of their tokens on one of the squares above. You may not choose a square already containing a token, thus there are a limited number of actions you might be allowed. Once both players have placed all of their tokens, the game moves to the Actions Phase.</p><p>During the Actions Phase, starting with the first player, they pick up one of their tokens from the Tactics Chart and take the action indicated on that square. Players continue to alternate until all tokens are removed. A player cannot pass by not taking a token, but they can choose not to perform the designated action.</p><p>The last phase is the End Phase. This is where you determine if the scenario's victory conditions have been met, and if not, if the initiative changed hands.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Tactics Phase</h2><p>Here are the basics for each Tactic.</p><p><b>Seize the Initiative</b>: Because the player with initiative selects tactics first, and plays their action first, having the initiative can be very important when the action gets hot. Is it worth spending one of your tactics token to ensure you get the initiative next turn?</p><p><b>Shoot</b>: this allows you to target one area with ranged combat. Shooting distance is up to one square so every firing unit adjacent to the selected area can fire on it. If the target area contains friendly units, however, only the missile units in that area may fire.</p><p><b>Rally</b>: all friendly units in the designated area may recover Battle Strength. Roll a D6 for each unit and reference a table to see whether you recover 0-2 BS.</p><p><b>Battle</b>: all friendly units in the designated area may attack the enemy in the same area. Once they roll and damage is assessed, the enemy units get to battle back if they were not eliminated.</p><p><b>Move</b>: all friendly units in the designated area may move one area. Units do not all have to move to the same area.</p><p><b>Special Tactic</b>: this is a catch-all for allowing the game designer to add period flavor and specific tactics where he wants to limit the usage. A good example is "Shieldwall", which means that all combat in the designated area requires a 5+ to hit. Another is a "Charge", which is a combination of a Move and Battle in one action. (Moving into an area with the enemy does not automatically trigger close combat. You must play a Battle tactic to initiate close combat.)</p><p>Because you are limited to only placing one token in any given square, claiming a tactic also denies it from your opponent. Sometimes you will find yourself claiming a tactic that you cannot use at the moment, but might use in reaction to your opponent's actions, or simply you don't want them to take that action. Good examples are "Rally" and "Seize the Initiative", which only have one box each.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Actions Phase</h2><p>As with the Tactics Phase the Action Phase starts with the first player using one of the tactics tokens. Once that action is fully resolved the second player uses one of the tactics tokens. This continues until all tactics tokens have been used.</p><p>These rules do not use the usual rules for activation. A unit can take as many actions as the player has tokens, if he chooses. The player could, for example, select the "Move" tactic four times and then during this phase use that action on the area containing the unit, effectively allowing it to move four squares that turn.</p><p>Most actions complete immediately, i.e. you fully resolve it before moving on to the next action. However some actions last through to the end of the turn, like "Shieldwall". There are very few of the latter, however.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Summary</h2><p>Comparing these rules to something like OHW you can see a lot of differences, despite both combat systems being relatively simple. OHW versus You Command.</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Activate all units versus only a limited number of units.</li><li>One action per unit (move or shoot) versus potentially multiple actions per unit to no actions.</li><li>Close combat occurs automatically when a unit moves or is already in contact with an enemy unit versus being a separate action which can occur more than once per turn.</li><li>Unit loses no offensive combat power as it takes hits versus direct correlation between damage and offensive power of a unit.</li><li>I would say one uses freeform movement and the other a grid, but I have long converted OHW (and some players) to a grid!</li><li>Fixed sized army versus points-based army.</li><li>Fixed player order versus shifting player order.</li><li>1D6 with modifiers for combat versus buckets of dice.</li><li>Straight IGO-UGO versus alternating unit/area activation.</li></ul><div>I am sure there are more, but that is a good start.</div>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">Test Game – Age of Penda</h1>
<p><i>Age of Penda</i> (AoP) is the Dark Ages Britain version of Dan Mersey's <i>You Command</i> series. It was published in 2021 and follows <i>Scottorum Malleus</i> and <i>Scottorum Malleus IV</i>, both Medieval Britain versions in the <i>You Command</i> series. (The other two in the series are <i>Armour Storm</i> (WW II) and <i>Arrowstorm</i> (<i>Scottorum Malleus</i> updated).)</p>
<p>First let me state that I did not play it straight. (Bad Dale!) I did not make a gridded offset square gameboard, but simply used my 6" square grid gaming cloth. I don't believe it made a difference, but I will discuss why later.</p>
<p>Secondly, I did not have enough troops for a 'standard' sized game – 80 points – suggested by the author. Mine was smaller at 60 points. (There was a 20 point option I could have selected for both sides to fudge it, but that just seemed silly.) I honestly don't think this made any difference. The author indicates a game is typically 6-12 units, and both sides had the minimum count.</p>
<p>Thirdly, I had no missile troops. In AoP the only troops that can normally fire are Skirmishers, and I did not have any made yet. I do have 15mm DBA Dark Ages armies that I <i>could</i> have used, but they do not mesh well with my 12mm wooden troops, so I went without shooting. Because of this lack of shooting I don't think using a normal square grid affected play. Only shooting combat take place from area to area, so an offset grid means a unit can be attacked from six adjacent areas. Given that the enemy is likely to be coming from your front that is more realistically only from two adjacent areas. But a normal square grid means attacks can come from eight areas, or three from the front. So I can see where this difference could be significant. All future games will be on an offset grid, as the author intended.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">The Scenario</h2>
<p>Come on. Kill the enemy, of course. Per the rules an army with 6-7 units routs when it is down to two Warrior units or less, while all larger armies route when down to three Warrior units or less. (Note that only Skirmisher units are not counted as Warrior units, and neither side had Skirmishers.) So the Normans lose when two units remain and the Anglo-Saxons at three units remaining.</p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
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<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj979eN_fmn8tHRyy2H0cok0rovds8KvAPhB2O231xt5lg2VEzlLGZfZmzfm1lrl3U636yoJS57bQ0XZnUNXWPafgf6Kdoax_RGbxgS01nt3oJnmclZcBo7pE_3vxNNYYb2hhqhnFAfWMYvTEHejgZ_FMpkfIg4ihWO4qsSjijBwcAXQ3gPssovQw" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1296" data-original-width="1271" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj979eN_fmn8tHRyy2H0cok0rovds8KvAPhB2O231xt5lg2VEzlLGZfZmzfm1lrl3U636yoJS57bQ0XZnUNXWPafgf6Kdoax_RGbxgS01nt3oJnmclZcBo7pE_3vxNNYYb2hhqhnFAfWMYvTEHejgZ_FMpkfIg4ihWO4qsSjijBwcAXQ3gPssovQw=w627-h640" width="627" /></a></td>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Map</td>
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<p>As it so happens, all of my randomly rolled and placed terrain ended up on the edges. The hill did come into play, however.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Turn 1</h2><p>The Normans started with initiative as they had more mounted and skirmisher units than the Anglo-Saxons did (3 to 1). I placed the tactics dice as indicated in the figure below. (Normans will use white dice and the Anglo-Saxons green dice. The number of pips indicate the first, second, third, and fourth placement if you are curious, but have no significance in the game.)</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgkmnbfhvw3yt9418s3SLG4KN7SI1880u6k-cMNgsW_o6ZIFdQifSrVqmq90WrdRpakcojPAJO-011VladdjKOWeaHiQS9pHx6LMllThzQZ6va4xPUwlzr9Q47ezyIHpwcb9ADkftdwcBaMv4kzz4Si6_4I_SINFAHdsIjhavhkZjDxtKRyrlEViw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="741" data-original-width="864" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgkmnbfhvw3yt9418s3SLG4KN7SI1880u6k-cMNgsW_o6ZIFdQifSrVqmq90WrdRpakcojPAJO-011VladdjKOWeaHiQS9pHx6LMllThzQZ6va4xPUwlzr9Q47ezyIHpwcb9ADkftdwcBaMv4kzz4Si6_4I_SINFAHdsIjhavhkZjDxtKRyrlEViw" width="280" /></a></div>
<p>As it was the first turn I did not really care if the Normans retained the initiative. However, as I was pondering the Anglo-Saxon (hereafter referred to as 'AS') placement, I thought that them seizing might allow them to control the Tactics Chart (TC), as that is when combat will likely begin. Further, by grabbing the Battle tactics, if the Normans did engage on the first turn, the AS might be able to strike first. Finally, if there were casualties, the AS could recover with the Rally tactic. Then again, if no combat occurred it would not be much of a loss as the AS intended to keep their right flank anchored to the hill.</p><p>The Normans begin with a Special Tactic called "Rush", which allows mounted and skirmisher units in one area to move two squares rather than the normal one.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjNu6UPmx__JOXVwSgapRpSGJsyB5woRkqe_pEdhOM5R9TobRUpJ5i3_avOHyCZh2K1a2u3Wkq9ecDYv3K6OM_5d9zGjfDdw2x0FkZCHDCBfERw5xa0_CIcEacHi1MUoYKmQUIpLIiToaw_ws3alQX8wQ19rQ045SIjXWO8z6AY1EGAgBWrK2r0A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1103" data-original-width="1296" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjNu6UPmx__JOXVwSgapRpSGJsyB5woRkqe_pEdhOM5R9TobRUpJ5i3_avOHyCZh2K1a2u3Wkq9ecDYv3K6OM_5d9zGjfDdw2x0FkZCHDCBfERw5xa0_CIcEacHi1MUoYKmQUIpLIiToaw_ws3alQX8wQ19rQ045SIjXWO8z6AY1EGAgBWrK2r0A=w400-h340" width="400" /></a></div>
<p>The AS spend their Seize the Initiative token and calmly wait. The Normans move their Foot forward.</p>
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<p>The AS see that the Normans still have one Special Tactic available, so they could do another "Rush" with the mounted units. They decide to burn one of the Battle tactics as they continue to wait.</p>
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<p>The Normans do indeed "Rush" with their mounted units, moving two squares to be in the same area as the AS cavalry. Note that close combat does not automatically occur just because the units are in the same area as the enemy.</p><p>That said, the AS play Battle so that they can attack first, before any Normans can battle back. The AS have a BS of 5 and thus roll 5 dice looking for a 4+. They score 3 hits. This lowers the Normans BS from 16 to 13, so they only roll 13 dice in return, also requiring a 4+. They score 3 hits also. (Ouch!)</p><p>Note that when the Normans took the three hits they could distribute the hits amongst the three units however they wished. As I learned later, you never want to reduce a unit to 0 unless absolutely necessary as the unit is removed and cannot be rallied.</p>
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<p>The Normans used their last move to advance the foot troops. The AS tried to Rally the cavalry, but did not succeed. The AS cavalry is badly damaged having only 2 BS remaining.</p>
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Turn 2</h2><p>With the AS having the initiative, here is the tactical play. The AS want to retain the initiative, so that is their first play. The AS were also able to lock up all the Special Tactics and one of the Battle, but at the cost of not getting a Rally. They could have gotten a Rally, but as the cavalry is so outnumbered it did not seem worth it. However, they could have taken it to deny the Norman cavalry a change to recover. I am already liking the impact that a player's decisions have on play. They are meaningful and impactful to the game's results.</p>
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<p>The AS decide to use their Battle against the Norman cavalry. It may not be much, but at least they get to strike first. They inflict one hit before the 12 dice in return obliterates them.</p>
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<p>The Normans move their foot troops forward, sending one unit up on the hill to check the two AS levy units there from making a flank attack against the advancing Normans at the base of the hill.</p>
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<p>The AS foot, see the victorious Norman cavalry rout the cavalry covering their flank, use a Special Tactic to "Form Shieldwall!". Note there are special rules that dictate whether a unit can form shieldwall, such as there being no mounted or skirmisher units in the area when it is formed. From that point until the end of the turn, <u>all</u> combat in this area requires a 5+ to hit. (As an aside, I got this incorrect initially, thinking that only the units in shieldwall benefit from the 5+ cover, but that is not the intent. All combat slows down when the shieldwalls go up.)</p>
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<p>The Norman cavalry uses a Move tactic to enter the area with the shieldwall. Combat does not occur yet.</p>
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<p>The AS use the Special Tactic "Drive Them Back". This is essentially a Battle tactic but the attacking units get 1 extra die per unit. This allows the shieldwall to inflict 4 hits while only receiving 2 in return. (Although, I am pretty sure I played it wrong, with the Normans hitting on 5+ while the AS hit on 4+. Oh well.)</p>
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<p>The Normans used Rally first, then used their only Battle tactic to hit the shieldwall again. With only 4 BS to the two AS units, the shieldwall quickly collapses and the units rout.</p>
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<p>Things are really looking bad for the Anglo-Saxons. That said, the Norman cavalry is fairly blown. They have slowly been whittled down by four successive combats. The next units in the AS line are the Warlord and his Huscarls, and they are fresh (11 BS).</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Turn 3</h2><p>The AS still have initiative but this time they want to lock out the Normans, if at all possible. They start by locking down the Special Tactics blocks while the Normans Seize the Initiative and Rally blocks. Once the AS had taken one of the Battle blocks the Norman had to ask himself, was it really worth grabbing the last Battle? Without moving first there was no one to fight.</p>
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<p>The AS have an advantage on the hill, so I decide to try a "Charge" (Special Tactic), which requires that you first Move at least one square, then Battle, all in one action. Note that this is two units versus one or 6 BS versus 3. But, because it is a hill, the attackers hit on a 5+ and the defenders on a 4+. So the weight of numbers did not help much; both sides inflicted one hit.</p>
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<p>This convinced the Normans to shift their foot troops from the base of the hill to the top, in order to stop the attack in its tracks.</p>
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<p>That freed up the AS Warlord to charge with his retinue against the exhausted Norman cavalry, hitting them for 5 while only taking 3 in return.</p>
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<p>The Normans have had enough, so they retreat (and eventually restore some hits with a Rally).</p>
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<p>This leaves the Battle on the hill, with the Normans still not finding their stride, despite having the numerical superiority now. That said, the two AS levy units have 1 BS apiece remaining.</p>
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<p>This is how the battle is shaping up at the end of turn 3. The Normans have lost no <u>units</u> while the AS have lost three. One more unit and the AS rout. With the levy being as weak as they are, next turn is probably the last.</p>
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">Turn 4</h2><p>The Normans desperately need to Rally their cavalry, so that is the first selection. The AS know that if they do not get the initiative back they cannot stay in the game unless they get a Rally, so they need to Seize the Initiative. If they can survive this turn, that is …</p>
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<p>Amazingly, the Normans strike first on the hill and … whiff!</p>
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<p>The AS levy quickly move off the hill, forcing the Normans to chase them.</p>
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<p>The Normans decide to Rally the cavalry first, knowing that the AS are not going to go anywhere. The levy, however, decide to go into Shieldwall, so maybe they can continue to hold on until next turn.</p>
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<p>The Norman foot advances down the hill, marching up to the shieldwall.</p>
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<p>The final battle occurs and the Normans rout the remnants of the levy, taking only a single hit. With two Warrior units remaining, the Anglo-Saxons army is routed.</p>
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">What I Messed Up</h2><p>The two areas that I messed up were shieldwalls and hill combat, both involving modifying the to hit roll in combat.</p><p>With Shieldwall <u>all</u> combat in that area, until the end of the turn, requires a 5+ to hit. Both sides, regardless of who initiated the shieldwall, regardless of unit type. I think the justification is that the side with the shieldwall is turtling, so not only are they harder to hit, but they have a harder time hitting. I can get behind that idea.</p><p>With the hill (or woods or villages) the idea is that the "defender" is uphill of the attack. But because this area is abstract you need to think of it as rough ground where the one receiving the attack has a temporary advantage. So the attacker is 5+ to hit and the defender is 4+ to hit. But this lasts only through the current action. If they next action the other side does Battle, they are now the attacker and thus they are disadvantaged. It is nuanced. So the battle on the hill could have seen the levy stand their ground there and simply never perform another Battle action, i.e. attack. They would have had the benefit, but would only strike after the attacker. Again, I can get behind this abstraction.</p><p>@WargameCulture on Twitter/X mentioned that he thought the use of a non-offset square grid would have an effect on the game. As I stated earlier, I think that would only come into play with ranged combat, but I am willing to move to an offset square grid. I have already started making a dedicated 30" high by 40" wide 'You Command' gameboard to get rid of that question altogether.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Summary</h2><p>As I indicated in my last blog post, <i>Age of Penda</i> scratched the itch I was trying for with my <i>Saga Lite</i>. It solved the puzzle of tying damage to offensive power, while keeping a simple combat system (bucket of dice like <i>Saga</i> instead of 1D6 with modifiers like OHW). Most importantly, it brought the element of pre-planning a turn that <i>Saga</i> is so famous for. Not only will this series of games find its way onto my tabletop, but you can probably expect an American War of Independence variant called <i>Give Me Liberty, the Hell With Death</i> or some such. I would love to see how a Horse & Musket game, when ranged combat is brought to the fore, rather than being a peripheral element.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">The Rating</h2>
<p>I haven't done this in a while.</p>
<p><b>Drama</b> – <i>do the rules create tension during play?</i> 4 out of 5</p><p>For the most part, combat actions have a 50-50 success rate. But the asymmetry of close combat, where the attacker inflicts damage before the defender battles back leads to more tension than the standard melee where both sides strike simultaneously. One would think that this would also lead to the dreaded 'Alpha Strike' – where one side moves in from outside of combat range, then attacks before the other side can act – but the rules making movement and combat separate actions the norm tends to remove this problem. It can happen, but it is 'special'.</p><p>Drama also occurs during the planning stage, not just the action phase, as players try to outwit their opponent by developing a viable plan while in turn denying their opponent their best plan.</p><p><b>Uncertainty</b> – <i>are there enough elements that introduce uncertainty into the game?</i> <strike> 3 </strike> 4 out of 5</p><p>The primary mechanic that creates uncertainty, other than combat, is whether you will be able to carry out your plan with the units that you want to act with. When you find that your opponent has taken a tactical option you wanted, can you alter your plan, recover, or will this turn simply be a wasted turn?</p><p>The fact that the rules intentionally abstract away so many tactical elements – facing, outflanking, enfilade, etc. – it takes some of the uncertainty from combat. What uncertainty in combat that there is, is due to the randomness of the dice.</p><p><b>Engaging</b> – <i>do the rules allow the player to make meaningful decisions that lead to consequences?</i> 5 out of 5</p><p>
The meaningfulness of your actions start with the planning, where you decide do you want to achieve a plan of your own, or disrupt what you think is your opponent's plan. Do you spend one of your precious action seizing the initiative, which will not help you until <u>next</u> turn?</p><p>Then, having set out a selection of actions, the order that you play those actions, and in which areas, definitely can be meaningful. Should you delay your troops attack to rally first? If you do, they may form a shieldwall, blunting your chances of routing them in a single round of combat.</p><p><b>Unobtrusiveness</b> – <i>do the rules get in the way?</i> 4 out of 5</p><p>
No. The rules largely make sense. You likely will make a mistake or two in the beginning, but that is only because these rules are so different from what you probably play normally. We all 'read into' rules and how that is interpreted is largely a function of the rules we have played in the past. Once you understand what was abstracted away from the game, and justify why they rules are 'correct', it will be easier to play.</p><p><b>Heads Up</b> – <i>are the rules playable without frequent reference to a quick reference sheet?</i> 4 out of 5</p><p>
Other than a few specific wordings that I re-read during the game, the only time I referenced the rules consistently was to read the options for the Special Tactic. Once you have played enough games, you will likely not even need that. However, the one area that you may find that you keep referencing is the unit roster. Every unit has 1 to 6 Battle Strength and these get ticked off during gameplay. If you have a system for reflecting a unit's current BS without distracting you then this probably won't be an issue for you. (I used a roster with a single die reflecting the current BS of the unit, placed on the roster, not the table. The dice on the table were to show losses, only for the battle report. I would not normally use them otherwise.)</p><p><b>Appropriately Flavored</b> – <i>do the rules 'feel' like they represent the period or genre being played?</i> 4 out of 5</p><p>
Ultimately the period flavor comes from the unit types you can select and the options available behind the Special Tactic tactic. <i>Age of Penda</i> provides 8 different options, of which you are supposed to only choose four. <i>Arrowstorm</i> provides another 10 options, some of which overlap AoP. <i>Armour Storm</i> naturally uses a completely different Tactics Chart, given the emphasis on armored warfare.</p><p>Both AoP and AS provide army lists, with their corresponding Special Tactic choices. At this point it would take a lot more game play to be sure that the games would have appropriate period flavor, but it seems like it would. I know that I intend to push this back to Ancients and forward to Horse & Musket, so that should indicate a belief you can build that flavor into it, around the game's core mechanics.</p><p>One final note: the author indicates that some of the core rules might change slightly to reflect period differences. For example, in AoP a unit can move out of an area that contains enemy units, whereas in AS they cannot.</p><p><b>Scalable</b> – <i>can the rules be scaled up or down – in terms of figures or number of units played – from a 'normal' game?</i> 3 out of 5</p><p>A standard game in AoP is 80 points, with players getting four tactics tokens. You can opt to have three tokens and spend an additional 20 points on troops, or have five tokens for a cost of 20 points. In general that means that means that you are acting with potentially one area per token (although in some turns, less than that). An area can contain three units and the board is five areas wide at its widest so having more than 15 units at the start means having units start the game off-board.</p><p>The limiting factor with a standard game is more about the tokens than how many areas the table consists of. Tokens equals action, so you can have more units and more area to operate in, but you are still only going to move a certain portion of your army each turn.</p><p>That doesn't mean you can't create additional rules in order to scale the game. The simplest is to use the old medieval 'battle' system whereby the army is divided into portions with each portion having a separate commander, which in turn could have its own tokens and a Tactics Chart to share with his opposing commander. Think of it as Left Wing, Center, and Right Wing, each having a Tactics Chart and the commanders there having their own forces and tokens. That also provides a solution for team play.</p><p>Scaling the board can also happen. In the end having more squares generally means the game will take longer as it will take more moves before the two sides contact.</p><p>There are other ideas to explore, like scaling the Tactics Chart, i.e. adding more boxes. Right now I think the chart is pretty well tuned to two players with 2-5 tokens each, so I probably would not change that.</p><p>Out of the box, though, these rules have a specific scale intended and the author provides no guidance on changing that.</p><p><b>Lacks Fiddly Geometry</b> – <i>do the rules require fiddly measurements or angles?</i> 5 out of 5</p><p>
It is a square grid. There are no angles or measurements.</p><p><b>Tournament Tight™ Rules</b> – <i>are the rules clear and comprehensive, or do the players need to 'fill in the blanks'?</i> <strike> 4 </strike> 3 out of 5</p><p><i>
Let me start by saying that my preference is towards tighter rules, where everything is spelled out clearly by the author, not looser rules where the author leaves certain mechanics up to the individual players, gentlemen's agreements, and a roll of the die where agreements cannot be found. So a high value means 'tight' and a low value means 'loose'. If you like looser rules, subtract my rating from '6' and that would probably be your rating!</i></p><p>Tight rules are generally required because the rules are complex or not very straightforward. Although I initially misinterpreted some rules it was because I did not fully read the rule or assumed that it was similar to something I had already played, or fit some rationale in my mind. For example, my first read of Form Shieldwall! was that it was formed one side and that side was 5+ to hit and that there no benefit for the other side. Why would the other side get shieldwall benefits just because you formed a shieldwall? Once you realize that a shieldwall creates a benefit and a penalty, it makes more sense.</p><p>Fewer and simpler rules make for tighter rules and fewer arguments. Using a grid also makes for fewer special case rules, as does abstracting away thinks like facing, flanks, formations, and so on.</p><p><b>Solo Suitability</b> – <i>do the rules have elements conducive to solo play?</i> 3 out of 5</p><p>
There are no hidden elements to the game so that alone usually grants the rules high solitaire suitability. The three decisions that need to be made are: what choices will the non-player commander choose on the Tactics Chart; what order will actions be played; and which area will benefit from the action being played. The rules in the You Command series answer none of those questions so a solo player will be forced to develop his own mechanisms to answer these question. This is pretty standard with miniatures rules, thus garnering its average rating.</p><p><b>Component Quality</b> – <i>are the components provided made with quality?</i> 3 out of 5</p><p>
I am not aware of whether these products can be purchased as books, but I purchased mine as PDFs. There is no hyperlinking of the table of contents to pages. The graphics are functional but minimal (which for me is a good thing, making it printer friendly). The layout and text is easy to read. All very standard to me.</p><p>Recommended.</p><p>UPDATE: I have changed the ratings for <b>Uncertainty</b> and <b>Tournament Tight™ Rules</b>. This is explained in my next blog post.</p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-29848064316477554342023-10-16T22:15:00.003-07:002023-10-16T22:15:29.543-07:00X-Factor and Fusing Game Designs Together<p>Recently I purchased the "universe" (expansion) book <i>Saga: Age of Alexander</i> as I like the new version of the <i>Saga</i> rules (version 2) – <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2018/03/playing-saga-2-part-1.html" target="_blank">when converted to play on a square grid</a>, of course – but also because I have a number of excess Greek and Thracian 15mm figures painted up. Also, I was curious how Ancients might play out using this game system. (I myself used it <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2012/12/mesoamerican-saga-battle-report.html" target="_blank">for Mesoamerican battles</a>.)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7Rkx2Br8zhI45EarnBBvjG7QWrnexPVnFExvooe7CD27zmbSKXOnmO8YLnWnWWeC07MGlOA95JE3PkZagMeGRwgfvLH8n-r3yMpGEhrf3YcFjMDWzykMsl02skvbGy0YlLOEyHll0qDMqh8M8kJ238AH48AhhEtkwwNstNVtatBdkprwVXScQA/s800/AgeOfAlexander-Cover.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="555" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7Rkx2Br8zhI45EarnBBvjG7QWrnexPVnFExvooe7CD27zmbSKXOnmO8YLnWnWWeC07MGlOA95JE3PkZagMeGRwgfvLH8n-r3yMpGEhrf3YcFjMDWzykMsl02skvbGy0YlLOEyHll0qDMqh8M8kJ238AH48AhhEtkwwNstNVtatBdkprwVXScQA/w278-h400/AgeOfAlexander-Cover.jpeg" width="278" /></a></div><p>As I started reviewing notes from my own blog on my Saga games I started to remember some of the aspects that I did not enjoy so much. <i>Saga</i> is pretty crunchy. I broke out the rules and reviewed the melee combat process and you can see how crunchy it is. The attacker's dice total is not fixed and can be modified up and down during a melee. The number needed to roll on those dice is also not fixed and can be modified up and down. Some melee's also include re-rolls. When the final roll is made and the hits are counted the opponent is then allowed to roll their defense dice, cancelling out hits. The number of dice rolled is also not fixed, nor is the number to be rolled. (I am unsure whether there are any factions that have a special rule to inflict automatic <i>casualties</i> as opposed to automatic <i>hits</i>, which are savable. If so, that is another area that is variable.) Bottom line, there are a number of calculations to make, albeit pretty quick ones once you get a hang of the rules.</p><p>Compare that to something like <i>One-Hour Wargames</i> (OHW), in which almost everything is fixed. The die you roll, plus modifier is fixed to the unit type. Damage is modified (doubled or halved) based upon circumstance, but that is it. That is the other end of crunchiness. (Mushiness?)</p><p>So, to reacquaint myself with the <i>Saga</i> rules I recently played a game with gaming buddy Don. He said we should try it again, seeing as I was talking about it. I thought that strange because I had always thought he wasn't very keen on it, despite having bought painted figures for it. (Don is more of a collector than anything, so buying figures for a game is not indicative of him liking the rules, but more about his true hobby.) We set up the scenario and I stumbled through the rules. Hilariously Don kept saying "are you sure this is what we played before?" as he said that all of the elements were not as he remembered. In the end he really did not like the game, so we are unlikely to play it, as is, again.</p><p>But that little side trip caused me to ponder about the rules. What exactly <i>do</i> I like about them versus, say, <i>One-Hour Wargames</i> or <i>Tin Soldiers in Action</i>? Ironically, <i>Tabletop Minions</i> had a video today on the subject, "Why you hate a particular game". His assessment is that there is an X-factor, an element that you value so strongly that when something, in this case a set of rules, doesn't contain it you tend to dislike it. So what was it for me?</p><p>So, let's take the idea of fusing <i>Saga</i> and <i>One-Hour Wargames</i> together. That is not such a stretch for me as I spent a good part of a week writing three versions of "Saga Lite" and then play testing it. I admit I abandoned it because of a fatal flaw in the game design. (We will get to that.)</p><p>First, what do I like about OHW? Simplicity. Ease of conversion to a grid. Quick playing. A long time ago I also said "decisiveness" because the player's decisions have an impact on the outcome. What I mean by that is when you have a game where, every turn, the player can move all units and fight with all units, the decision of whether to move or not has less impact because there is no (or little) impact to the decision of whether or not to fire; there is no tradeoff. Even more so with the decision to fire; there is no negative consequence to firing, so the <i>decision</i> to do so is not very impactful. With OHW it is move <u>or</u> fire. When you are in the threat zone moving comes at the consequence of receiving hits while not being able to inflict any of your own. Because OHW is an attritional combat system, falling behind in the 'race to 15' cannot be taken lightly.</p><p>So, what do I like about <i>Saga</i>? For me it is that you have to plan out your turn, and your reaction to your opponent's next turn, as you go along. That plan is heavily influenced by the dice roll, so there is no God-level control of your troops. Not all units will be able to act every turn. On some turns you might not really be able to do anything except recover. But your decisions will have a huge impact; what you do with the options you are given will very much decide whether you stand a chance of winning.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Breaking Down the Game Mechanics</h2><p>A while back I bought a copy of the book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Building-Blocks-Tabletop-Game-Design/dp/1032015810/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">Building Blocked of Tabletop Game Design: An Encyclopedia of Game Mechanisms</a></i> by Geoffrey Englestein and Isaac Shalev. It was advertised to me on Facebook and I decided to buy it and give it a try. The book is what it says, an encyclopedia of tabletop game mechanics. Using their definitions it helps me understand how a game mechanic differs, how to identify it, and which I prefer.</p><p>The classic example is 'IGO-UGO', which they call Fixed Turn Order Activation. A game like <i>Bolt Action</i> – where each unit on a side is given a die that is placed in a bag, and when that side's die is drawn a unit that has not activated may then takes its activation – is called Random Turn Order Activation. But note that the player gets to pick the unit to activate, whereas <i>Tin Soldiers in Action</i> as uses a random order (cards), but the activation token specifies the <u>unit</u>, not the <u>player</u>.</p><p>Now, when I consider which X-factors I like I know that I am indifferent to Fixed Turn Order Activation verging towards suspicious of it as this mechanic most often leads to the dreaded 'Alpha Strike' that I dislike so much. <i>OHW</i> has Fixed Turn Order Activation but softens the Alpha Strike by disallowing a unit to move and shoot in a single turn. You can still move and perform close combat though, so it is still present as <i>OHW</i> has the strange mechanic of only the active playing fighting in close combat. If I do pick rules with Fixed Turn Order Activation I prefer that the activations alternate by unit rather than by player, i.e. I activate one unit, then you activate one, and so on until all units have had a chance to activate.</p><p><i>Saga</i> also has Fixed Turn Order Activation. Worse, a player can move and shoot or move and close combat all in the same turn. <i>Saga</i> does blunt this tendency towards the 'Alpha Strike' by penalizing a unit that moves and takes another action (like shooting or close combat), plus it allows numerous options for the player to interrupt the active player's turn or degrade their attacks, so it is not so bad as something like <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/GAMES-WORKSHOP-Warhammer-CORE-HARDBACK/dp/1804571784/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">Warhammer 40,000</a></i> (the epitome of rules that allow the Alpha Strike).</p><p>As I indicated earlier, I attempted to write a <i>Saga Lite</i> ruleset which fused <i>Saga</i> and <i>OHW</i>. The idea was to use a multiple figure, single base as your basic unit, use strength points to track how many 'hit points' a unit can sustain, but have the different unit qualities and equipment of <i>Saga</i>. Most importantly, use the <i>Saga</i> dice and battle boards to challenge the player to plan his turn based on the die roll. I spent a lot of time on the rules, nearly a week writing up three versions and several separate documents. When I tested the game it was naturally very clunky at first, but I got the hang of it. The basic premise was that the modifiers to combat that the battle board provided, plus the quality and equipment, would all translate to attack and defense bonuses. In close combat both sides would roll a D6 in hits against their opponent, modified by your attack bonus and your opponent's defense penalty.</p><p>But what hit me as I was playing the test game is that there was no reason not to choose a Hearthguard unit – the highest quality troop in <i>Saga</i> – over a lesser quality unit. In <i>OHW</i>, unit selection is by die roll, and not all units are created equally. (As evidenced by the groans one hears when someone rolls two Skirmishers for their Dark Ages army!) In <i>Saga</i> there is a delicate balancing act between quality and equipment in a unit. The basic rule is one point buys you 4 Hearthguard or 8 Warrior, or 12 Levy. However, the Hearthguard hits harder and stays in combat longer. But if you are so unlucky as to lose a figure, your offensive combat power goes down quickly. The Levy are the opposite. Their offensive combat power per figure is low, so casualties tend to lower it much more slowly. But they are easier to hit.</p><p>My <i>Saga Lite</i> had none of that. It had the characteristic of <i>OHW</i> in that combat power did not change as hits were taken, and damage against a Levy was not more or less devastating as the loss to the Hearthguard. So all of the good aspects of the Levy were removed and all of those of the Hearthguard were amplified. Hence there was no reason to take the Levy. Ever.</p><p>This got me to thinking: how can I modify the rules so that the hit taken by Hearthguard has wilder swings (higher highs and lower lows) than those taken by the Levy? Also, it wasn't as simple as saying it was +2 hits against Hearthguard and -2 against Levy as the former had heavier armor, so it was harder to hit. But <u>if</u> it was hit, it took a bigger chunk out of the unit.</p><p>Think in terms of figures. If the unit has 16 hits and Hearthguard have 4 figures, each Hearthguard figure has 4 hits. Levy have 12 figures for their 16 hits, so each figure has 1 1/3rd hits. A Hearthguard figure is harder to hit, but if it is, it loses 4 hits, etc.</p><p>The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there was already a game out there, that I owned (and had for a year or so) but never played, that seemed to handle something like this. It is called <i>Age of Penda</i> for the Dark Ages version and <i>Scottorum Malleus</i> (now <i>Arrowstorm</i>) for the Medieval version. I will be reviewing those rules and presenting a test battle report next post.</p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-14113381462474662952023-08-15T16:39:00.005-07:002023-08-15T16:43:11.483-07:00Using Twitter/X as a Micro-Blogging Platform<p> As I threatened last time I decided to try Twitter/X as a micro-blogging platform – sort of spitball the ideas I have in my head, maybe get some feedback – and then present them a but better formed here. My Twitter/X handle is @DalesWargames.</p><p>I understand that not everyone is going to join up there. Some people hate Twitter/X. Hell, some people hate Facebook and there are a <b>huge</b> number of gaming groups there. I'm not going to try and convince you to change your mind.</p><p>But, if you want to join in the conversation, more so than you can here, you have the address.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9KPrgkqcZ0HHKgTVuMbTN3iAWINkj9tB-AfkrbZVvys5KjXyQSSjAq_aL0VD37apdsMPjljIJmKTmreJWe2hk8mY2ULSKwzZHdJnz3uTnNBDkWFqL9bQxv-mqDWftQegG2uIw0Ru4U-nKujUZjazSiaTYcgx0kIczDDhHPRTMzgTspS1RvbuICA/s1900/x-logo-twitter-elon-musk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1900" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9KPrgkqcZ0HHKgTVuMbTN3iAWINkj9tB-AfkrbZVvys5KjXyQSSjAq_aL0VD37apdsMPjljIJmKTmreJWe2hk8mY2ULSKwzZHdJnz3uTnNBDkWFqL9bQxv-mqDWftQegG2uIw0Ru4U-nKujUZjazSiaTYcgx0kIczDDhHPRTMzgTspS1RvbuICA/s320/x-logo-twitter-elon-musk.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-16259959394680252362023-08-14T21:50:00.000-07:002023-08-14T21:50:09.724-07:00Skirmish Scenario Design (Part One)<p>The game of <i>Song of Drums and Shakos</i> that I played <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2023/07/attended-twisted-lords-convention-in.html" target="_blank">at the last convention</a> not only convinced me to play more skirmish games (where I can), but to possibly try my hand at running a game at the next convention I have lined up, <a href="https://tabletop.events/conventions/southwest-con-2023?fbclid=IwAR3-xmFWFWlqwk4Gxa2Q3ElzDlwowIwYyVJKX8fXrk6pjfdpCIQI4NysLME" target="_blank">SouthwestCon 2023</a> in Tolleson, AZ. To that end I decided to start designing a scenario to play and then do a few dry runs to refine it.</p>
<p>The first decision to make is what rules to use. Because the <i>Song of</i> engine re-kindled my interest, I am going to go with that. It is a relatively simple game that you can add as little or as much 'crunch' as you like, by adding in the special abilities. Also, every turn the player has numerous little decisions to make such as how many activation dice to use, so player engagement is relatively high.</p><p>The next decision is what period to play. My initial inclination was to use my wooden 43mm Dark Ages figures, to get them out on the table again. (The more I think about it, the more I realize I probably use them the most, of all the 43mm wooden figures I have.) Another alternative is Napoleonics. If I want to drop down to 28mm (and blow off some serious dust) I could make it WW II, but I would have to seriously tweak the <i>Flying Lead</i> rules (<a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2010/12/flying-lead-owning-rules.html" target="_blank">which I ranted about more than 10 years ago</a>).</p>
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<h1 style="text-align: left;">Several Playtests</h1>
<p>So far I have played two Dark Ages and one Napoleonics version of a 'King of the Hill' scenario (where possession of the hill determines the victor) and the results brought up some interesting points, all of which make the scenario rather stale.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">The Only Objective is to Eliminate the Enemy</h2>
<p>The official scenario objective was "at the end of the game to have more figures on the hill than the enemy". However, there was always one overriding victory: elimination of the enemy, typically accomplished by them hitting a breakpoint and failing morale. If you did that, then it was assumed that you would take the hill unopposed after the enemy's rout.</p><p>In one scenario I remember losing enough figures early that I determined the only way to win was to break the enemy and thus capturing the hill was totally irrelevant. I ended up pursuing his leader attempting to run him down. If I had been able to accomplish that, half of the enemy forces would likely have routed and those that had not would either have vacated the hill, or if they had stood, been isolated and picked off.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Combat Becomes Static</h2>
<p>Although this might sound like an inevitability with Dark Ages troops, as everyone gets into melee and maneuver essentially ceases, but it happens in Napoleonics too as troops settle into cover and start sniping at one another. This is either because the primary objective (the hill) is a static location or because everyone is 'stuck in' and movement only occurs when some figure is eliminated.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">The Rest of the Board is Fairly Useless</h2>
<p>Unless you both decide to ignore the primary objective and simply go for breaking the enemy force everyone is likely to be heading for the hill. Potentially terrain close to the hill might be of value as you snipe away at people on the hill, but in the end you have to be on the hill to win. But any terrain out of line of sight of the hill is essentially just window dressing.</p>
<blockquote><i>A recent scenario is a good example of this. In the scenario depicted below, when I <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2023/07/attended-twisted-lords-convention-in.html" target="_blank">first reported</a> about it, I left out all terrain detail, other than the town (in the lower right-hand corner). That is because everything other than the town was irrelevant. As it happened there were forests on the left, a ridge line on the French right flank, and roads. In this battle the town was worth 5 VP, a road on the enemy's baseline was worth 1 VP, all other terrain worth nothing, and destroying enemy troops worth variable VPs. (By way of comparison, I was able to score 3 VP for troop elimination against the enemy while they were able to score 2 VP against me.) I did not bother to draw other details because the town was the sole piece of terrain that mattered.</i></blockquote>
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<p>The 'King of the Hill' scenario feels the same way. Any terrain off of the hill just seems like window dressing.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">Skirmish Scenario Design Objectives</h1>
<p>So, what are the objectives of a good scenario design, especially for skirmish games? Let's start by taking a look at some rules and scenario books to see how they present victory conditions and scenarios.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Star Wars Shatterpoint Scenarios</h2>
<p>One of my recent regrettable purchases was the game <i>Star Wars Shatterpoint</i> (<i>SWS</i>).</p>
<blockquote><i>The game design looks good, but is just way too crunchy for my old brain. Like <i>Star Wars Legion</i>, but at a skirmish scale. The figures and terrain are really nice looking though, although some figures are a nightmare to assemble. I could have learned all of this had I watched more videos as content creators put them out, but I am generally a latecomer to rules and I wanted to be an early adopter this time. That will teach me!</i></blockquote>
<p><i>SWS</i> does have any interesting objective-based victory condition system. You start by picking a mission card, which defines where the objective markers are placed. All objectives are initially inactive (circles marked in gray).</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNkCqVyBllzm_mVzz4pWhZplCIDfUlw7RcBXK_uGQ43gCfKRWqs9dwOMgTzERwQjAZlpJtB4Ix56Txv2gDx-qNcp0foDFICVlKJQLl3tNL38xFnyUJvPJww4fdndxXje6WkKg_e_T5t6KWKehGbsvxAquQvZWUzhyj7obM8WN6SRDJIAuaZm9vJQ/s732/ShatterpointMissionCard.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="732" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNkCqVyBllzm_mVzz4pWhZplCIDfUlw7RcBXK_uGQ43gCfKRWqs9dwOMgTzERwQjAZlpJtB4Ix56Txv2gDx-qNcp0foDFICVlKJQLl3tNL38xFnyUJvPJww4fdndxXje6WkKg_e_T5t6KWKehGbsvxAquQvZWUzhyj7obM8WN6SRDJIAuaZm9vJQ/w400-h230/ShatterpointMissionCard.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<p><i>SWS</i> currently only has one mission card – the one shown above – and it evenly spaces out nine objective markers range 4 from the board edges and range 5 between each. If a marker appears where multi-level terrain is, it is placed on the upper level.</p><p><i>SWS</i> has three different phases of the game, called Struggles. At the beginning of each Struggle a card is drawn which identifies which objective markers are active. In the example below, on the left, there are five objectives active, with the remaining four inactive throughout Struggle I. After the victory conditions of Struggle I are met, Struggle II is revealed, showing which objective markers are inactive and active. In the example below, on the right, a die is rolled on each player's turn to see which single objective marker is made active.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYyVvoph-NuZmkAOgX7VLOsivykbB_FsdDSTHIYICXV2PzL7GrCXY4UFdMK1k4j7NWzp8Th_d3HDm4Knm9pI2J1uDoLz_n7nwyCaiI2S5HZ1Vz3nQxI5FokUTeTEm33F2EI_bHYnkC_u4Wkq3ikdRrHnqfn5QjjJGd5KfzvKXOJMMcZs-wRfkAPQ/s1288/StruggleCards.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="736" data-original-width="1288" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYyVvoph-NuZmkAOgX7VLOsivykbB_FsdDSTHIYICXV2PzL7GrCXY4UFdMK1k4j7NWzp8Th_d3HDm4Knm9pI2J1uDoLz_n7nwyCaiI2S5HZ1Vz3nQxI5FokUTeTEm33F2EI_bHYnkC_u4Wkq3ikdRrHnqfn5QjjJGd5KfzvKXOJMMcZs-wRfkAPQ/w400-h229/StruggleCards.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<p>The net effect of this system is that it generally keeps players moving as they try and capture active objectives, keeping the enemy away from them. Between each struggle a winning position – in terms of who is successfully holding active objective positions – may turn into a losing one as the objectives have moved and you hold few or none of them. Players camp on positions, but generally not for the entire game.</p><p>Although an interesting concept and one that gives these rules the reputation for cinematic movement and action, one wonders how long before the shine comes off because players don't actually <i>do</i> anything at these locations, they just simply control them by outnumbering the enemy within a certain distance from the marker. In the example above, on the left, the objectives are supposed to be representing "stealing the secret plans", but there is no guarantee that there will be a computer terminal or a safe at each of these points; just an orange marker. Players are not required to have a figure perform an action, only that they are standing within a certain distance from it. They might have been full engaged moving or fighting. Still, it gets players to move into locations that might be out in the open rather than in cover, or have them move rather than make another attach in order to get 1" closer to the marker to contest. Put another way, it gets players to make sub-optimal moves rather than having them sit in heavy cover safely sniping away. At that it succeeds.</p><p><i>SWS</i> has one of the best cures for people settling into cover and turtling there: you lose the game because you don't receive victory points for that. You get points for moving to and capturing points on the tabletop.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Intermission</h1><p>You may not believe this, but it has taken me more than a week to write just this. My writing style is … chaotic. I sort of write in a stream of consciousness and edit it a bit afterwards. It is not so much that it is a lot of 'work', just that I want to get ideas out there and flowing and I sometimes wonder whether this is the best platform.</p><p>If I want to just send it out to you, with feedback limited to plain text comments, then I suppose this is the best method. But I am not sure that is what I want. I have been watching how Twitter/X has been changing as a platform and wonder whether that might be more suitable. I tried podcasting, but that is just as intensive as blogging – if not more so – and sort of limiting for the consumer. Twitter, on the other hand, is rather easy to consume. I can limit each thought to 280 characters (unless I get verified, then it is 4,000 characters I think). More importantly I have learned how to use the thread feature, so you can keep adding bits to a topic thread as ideas come to you.</p><p>I am thinking of trying that – maybe as a way of sorting out my thoughts and getting feedback – and then posting a completed thread here. There are lots of wargamers on there. If you are (or are not) interested, let me know. The account I use for this will not contain any personal posts, like vacation photos or political topics. Just straight up wargaming ideas. When I get the Twitter/X account sorted, I will post it here.</p><p>I'll pick up more on scenario design in the next post.</p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-81507685155123523982023-07-18T20:28:00.003-07:002023-10-05T12:24:46.898-07:00Attended Twisted Lords Convention in Oklahoma City, OK<div>I was able to take a few days off from work and drive to Oklahoma City, OK to attend the gaming convention Twisted Lords 2023. (For those in other countries, Oklahoma has tornadoes, a.k.a. twisters, hence ‘Twisted’.) It is a 14 hour drive each way – nothing is close by in the US West – so it was a bit of a commitment to come. out here. But that was okay because I was going to meet up with a gaming buddy from Texas and probably get in a game or two with him, in addition to the games I had signed up for. (He, unfortunately caught COVID from his wife, so he did not attend in the end.)</div>
<h1>The Drive</h1>
<p>My drive was along Interstate-10 to just outside Las Cruces, NM, where I switched to US Highway 70, which is a highway I have not been on for any serious distance. It is a great drive because it takes you past White Sands Missile Range, White Sands National Park (with its white sand dunes), into the Sierra Blanca Mountains.</p>
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<p>By the way, this is in the heart of the Mescalero (Apache) Indian Reservation. Before you get to this scenic viewpoint, however, you go through the town of Mescalero and as the road bends and goes over a rise, you see this amazing church, St. Joseph Apache Mission.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately construction was going on and the exit was closed. There was some detour to get there, but I was not feeling adventurous – being a man on a mission – and kept going. But I did read up about it later that night. <a href="stjosephapachemission.org" id="id_e0b9_f565_f555_1a74" target="_blank">stjosephapachemission.org</a></p>
<p>I stopped after 10 hours of driving and stayed for the night outside Amarillo, TX. This is another area I had never been through. It is actually amazing as – although it is “West Texas” – it is the green part. Being flat, you can see for miles, all of the wind turbines and massive grain silos and elevators. (The buildings are so massive and tall you think it is a skyscraper in the distance.)</p>
<div>The second day was a short jaunt into Oklahoma City where fortunately, the hotel let me check in early, where I promptly took a name.</div>
<h1>Event 1</h1>
<p>My first game (and only game scheduled on Friday as I anticipated that I would arrive by 6 PM, not noon) was 15mm Napoleonics (using home brew rules) entitled “Prelude to the Battle of Jakobovo (1812)”, where the Russians are attacking a French covering force, guarding the French line of communication and supply. On the Russian right flank is a four-section town, with one section containing a castle, which the Russians are to take. Each town section is worth 1 VP, with the castle section being worth 2 VP (so the entire town is worth 5 VP). The Russians also get 1 VP is the take a road exit on the French baseline. (As there is no turn limit, just a time limit, it is possible to take it, but highly unlikely. So the Russians have two missions: take the town; and keep the rest of the French forces from reinforcing or retaking the town.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately I did not take any pictures of the game, but the image above shows the flow of the battle. I (as the Russians) focused three divisions on the town, surrounding it on three sides, taking all sections, including the castle. Meanwhile, the remaining Russian forces made spoiling attacks to keep the French pinned in place, retreating when things got too hot.</p>
<p>After it was all over, with the Russians winning 8 VP to 2 VP (you also get VP for breaking enemy brigades) – a major victory – I was told that after about a dozen times playing this scenario, no one had ever taken the castle. In fact, no one had ever taken more than two town sections. I was rated as one of their most aggressive Russian players. Ironically, I tend to play ‘recklessly’ whenever I try rules for the first time because I want to push the system and see how it reacts. So I was charging into the town without any significant bombardment, or firing muskets for several turns. Just fix bayonets and ‘Ura’!</p>
<h1>Event 2</h1>
<p>My second event was Saturday morning and was a game of good, old Songs of Drums and Shakos with the Ottoman Turks facing off against French dismounted dromedary troops. French quality versus Turkish quantity. It was also a game of skirmishers versus formed troops because I (as the Turks) decided to keep our mob formed as mush as possible, to offset the bad odds of using low quality troops.</p>
<p>We started with a very nice board with various light cover scattered about. The two walls are high enough that you cannot fire over them unless on the very ends where it is sloped down. The French (top) have much more cover (the smaller rocks are decoration that have no effect on play). Ironically, no one ever entered the building to fire from the windows, where they would have had hard cover.</p>
<div><img alt="" id="id_c149_eec6_a3e9_104a" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/drive-viewer/AITFw-zagk2m3MxkkW2kkasESSgs-rXJuKZuBB-elHnSSYMqAC7TWXUviPQeMmqRj-3Jkdl4UL99aFZbFEl7G2xxaH1HW0M1" style="height: auto; width: 812px;" title="" tooltip="" /></div>
<p>The game started off with the French skirmishing onto the board. The Turks, meanwhile, formed up off-board, but could not coax anyone to enter the board until the fourth turn. The French were razzing the Turkish troops for their lack of elan.</p>
<p>Finally the Turks come on and they show them the power of volley fire. Before the French can stop laughing, their two forward scouts lie wounded on the ground.</p>
<div><img alt="" id="id_9f6e_19b_3777_552d" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/drive-viewer/AITFw-z2TeLsUAZ2l-r630rUuRY6t_VtrafJ1eFiXp1VjNVgZC3CJp0sxBxda9MfKIK-BwpLZ0H94ALMHBf3hl9jc1XHoMWQ" style="height: auto; width: 812px;" title="" tooltip="" /></div>
<p>The Turks continue to pick off the French with volleys. (Even though they are behind cover the math of volley fire almost ensures one wounded Frenchman for every volley.)</p>
<div><img alt="" id="id_fd8d_8b0_8a3_1035" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/drive-viewer/AITFw-yPaD0LGFQfbLkGURVRfUnCGyF1tFGf0a_6IsSy0GbIZJIg0EpkBEFlb68wlgz_PH70NyObvYM9vSU3CoMxm4YGA_jyAw" style="height: auto; width: 812px;" title="" tooltip="" /></div>
<p>After more volleys the Turkish squad out in the open decides to shift right and get out of the crossfire. The Turks have dropped five Frenchmen while only losing one.</p>
<div><img alt="" id="id_14e2_1a47_f5b8_8dc2" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/drive-viewer/AITFw-zTxHTzOD1i_bTSw84XQ52LEuq5KVw54H4CzMhxZUSK5SZx8mFZ5hUVi2Lq5FMMmpRQs4LF1S3L9izJkFhdhZ_W33MZyA" style="height: auto; width: 812px;" title="" tooltip="" /></div>
<p>The French then sneak a single trooper around the corner of the building and shoot the Turkish leader, forcing the Turks into a morale check, which four fail! </p><p></p>
<blockquote><i>The French player accomplished this by making sure that only the leader was visible to the trooper as figures are forced to always fire at closest target. This was how he was able to target the leader in the rear. It was a helluva’ shot!</i></blockquote>
<div><img alt="" id="id_fea4_dce1_9dfe_77a6" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/drive-viewer/AITFw-yP9o6LmU_GGR4FiVm6M1tN-OGhwHzK5MuFlOzOV2LArX-1TctCwl1D97qhZJlq7VwUXnwKjXfdU3gWOQo0aWYgWqvA" style="height: auto; width: 812px;" title="" tooltip="" /></div>
<p>With their leader lost, the NCO takes over. He quickly reforms all of his troops (save one flank guard) and has them reload.</p>
<div><img alt="" id="id_f219_da08_e7a0_a323" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/drive-viewer/AITFw-yRUJ9f75UTb03-xdo2_H1AjplKgdEpzMVzjEE3Jxw31c2sXDO3E4y5tXHTj-OL6cOKyeir27-CN_6NqyB5xnsR6MvmYg" style="height: auto; width: 812px;" title="" tooltip="" /></div>
<p>Marching the Turks smartly around the corner of the house they loose a volley and wounding the trooper guarding the French officer. While the officer shoots his pistol at the Turkish NCO and misses, the troops calmly reload.</p>
<p>The soldier guarding the flank (played by my team mate) gets a bit ambitious and tries to shoot the two Frenchmen hiding in cover, They draw their swords after he misses…</p>
<div><img alt="" id="id_8726_48ad_34ce_1b8" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/drive-viewer/AITFw-wBZHEx-ufrxy3FxsEOdJC4EU_Mts2nOh5ZLBSpAP-c-FHCQyxsLkaiumUq2kCWBOkL-Bd6oKRoQYSECLvQ2Hv3Vmma2Q" style="height: auto; width: 812px;" title="" tooltip="" /></div>
<p>The French NCO and a trooper spring from the rocks and quickly puts the flanker down. However, the French officer calmly looks at the reloaded Turkish line, doffs his hat in salute, and goes down to the blistering fire of the Turks. French morale breaks and the skirmish is over. They have lost nine wounded to the Turks three wounded and four who shamefully fled.</p>
<div><img alt="" id="id_f291_e69b_232f_cc8d" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/drive-viewer/AITFw-xbnK1G6Uu7eO1875eRZ1GsLinP1KdXUuOCGNqLybApcWmpXWNCV8Vc8xYtKz0SSfB7Tkj6rCv4SX8r54gATLQkg01RCQ" style="height: auto; width: 812px;" title="" tooltip="" /></div>
<p>Song of Drums and Shakos is an amazingly simple yet fun set of skirmish rules. The core mechanic centers around activation of figures and gambling, rolling 1, 2, or 3 dice to determine the number of actions you receive. However, if you have two or more failures, you end your turn, regardless of the number of figures that have not gone yet. This trade off between trying to accomplish as much as possible with each figure versus beating the odds against two failures is the primary tension that the rules provide.</p>
<h1>Event 3</h1>
<p>The last game was the Battle of Utitsa, where the Russians are defending against the Duchy of Warsaw (Polish) army is attacking. Because I was the attacker last time, and it looked like the only people signed up were the same ones for the first event, I decided to stay as the Russians and defend. I was commanding the Corps on the left.</p>
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<p>Basically the Russian left is defending a hill line with all Grenadier battalions. Our only objective is to keep the Poles off of the hill.</p>
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<p>Strangely, to the extreme left flank there was a Cossack division. I was told that they were not on the battlefield and I did not know when they would be made available, if ever. (My opponent opposing me on this flank was told the same.) Apparently in previous games the Polish cavalry would sweep around this flank and simply run down the Russian line. The idea was that if the Poles made for the empty hill to my left, it would trigger these Cossacks as reinforcements. Again, neither my opponent nor I knew this. I was begging for them every turn and the Polish commander was getting uneasy about when they would come on. He took the bait, nonetheless, and triggered the Cossacks entering the fray.</p>
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<p>Although the quality of the Poles was equal to French Line, they were not equal to Russian Grenadiers. These rules have an initiative system that forces players to make their moves when the initiative number they rolled is called. So attacking is very much influenced by timing, as in do you get to move first or second. (All combat is simultaneous, however.)</p>
<p>Initially the hosts had told me that I would be the Russian CinC, but it was obvious that my team mate had very specific ideas about what to do. (He was apparently the scenario designer, so he knew much of what reinforcements there were and where they would come on.) I had no problem listening to his recommendations, but they weren't … recommendations. They sounded more like orders. He would tell me what to do with each unit and I would smile, chuckle, and nod agreeably. Of course, I threw much of his orders out. I could hear him several times muttering to the hosts that I was "an insubordinate player" and "much too aggressive". He was sure that I was going to get too far away from the hill and lose it.</p><p>The image above shows you how the initiative can play out. Firing range is 8" and infantry in line move 8" (12" in column). The Poles moved up into very close range, but did not contact. Russian Grenadiers were at an advantage if they charged (rather than stand to receive a charge), so I charged! (The Russian CinC, of course, was telling me what a blunder of a move it was.)</p>
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<p>This image shows the result: the Pavlov Grenadiers utterly wiped out the first Polish brigade to come into contact with the Russian defensive line. I continued to parry and thrust like this over the next few turns while simultaneously shifting my troops to the left (onto the next hill) to counter the flanking threat.</p><p>The Poles never broke through the Russian line. The CinC admitted that my aggression kept the Poles off-balance, especially when I took the Cossacks and – against the advice of the Russian CinC, the game host, and the rules author – ran them into the Polish rear, creating havoc and breaking the forward momentum of the attackers. I even had one Cossack brigade capture a Polish Division commander, inflicting a morale effect on each brigade in his division, before it overran two batteries of Polish artillery from the rear.</p><p>I was shocked that they were shocked at the results. They kept telling me "but you will only get one die of attack" and "you aren't going to win any combats unless you mass all of them together" (I was running each brigade independently, deeply separated from the others). It was like they had never seen anyone play Cossacks before!</p><p>I had held the hill (it did not give us any VP, just deny the Poles the VPs), but I had also inflicted two of the three Divisional morale failures on the Poles (which was worth 1 VP each), so the Russians won, 3 to 1. The Russian CinC did congratulate me on my game, saying that he had never played with someone who was so aggressive, yet did not simply throw his troops away. [shrug]</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Summary</h1><p>Overall I definitely had a good time. I really only played three four-hour games, which you might think is not much given that I drove 1800+ miles for a total of 28 hours. Honestly, I think I only could have gotten one more game in (which was originally scheduled, but cancelled at the start of the convention). I spent the time during that slot playing a board game I had and writing up event 1 and 2 for this blog, so it was not a waste.</p><p>One of the things I am tending towards at the moment is to use conventions to play mass battles, like in events 1 and 3, and mostly do skirmish and board gaming when I am home. I will probably change my mind again, but my thinking is that I don't have to collect mass troops and worry about basing, nor terrain for that scale of battle, and simply focus on the smaller stuff.</p><p>Like I say, I will probably change my mind again. </p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-28848649421197203392023-06-18T19:39:00.001-07:002023-06-18T19:39:12.717-07:00Command and Colors Tricorne: The American Revolution<p>It is almost embarrassing to say – especially because I like the American Revolution and Richard Borg games so much – but I bought <i>Command & Colors Tricorne: The American Revolution</i> (<i>CCT</i>) when it came out in 2017 and last Thursday was the first time I played it. (I had put on the stickers quite some time ago though.)</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrKmC0L7rrzsH1CIWsrPukDO1zyMA6RH7N0HOH--PFRbkyscMN2CrtT0Ja1gXI1K89I44GsjLVlmXsamcKYUiAXt_EkGPhnJFibNVovClg-JdV74q9DTMJ4ZHA3sBuomIfuqtoGCu40lqwgf2fHKiTOG3_IjbIHJJFwl0AJSuMBwMatx_LYU/s721/CommandColorsTricorneCover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="569" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrKmC0L7rrzsH1CIWsrPukDO1zyMA6RH7N0HOH--PFRbkyscMN2CrtT0Ja1gXI1K89I44GsjLVlmXsamcKYUiAXt_EkGPhnJFibNVovClg-JdV74q9DTMJ4ZHA3sBuomIfuqtoGCu40lqwgf2fHKiTOG3_IjbIHJJFwl0AJSuMBwMatx_LYU/w504-h640/CommandColorsTricorneCover.jpg" width="504" /></a></div>
<p>Gaming buddy Don and I played the first scenario, <i>Bemis Heights</i>, to give it a try. Here is what the components look like.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8RMQtspXDEcUhMwBPgQ6jvsJIXcPd_Wx7V6gdO55IfGKbFxDS7AuJUt_afaOwUR6U5ddYkuKuB7DCeQpoWJZE9PnI3GZn3PNf6_hoz7L3izmSxJ4n9HC-qMp3aOUSfsrjZOMJeZut5eWJc4MDvSgzujHp9CHR9klJSckjHOFVdW4DzU_npbM/s2592/CommandColorsTricorne.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1723" data-original-width="2592" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8RMQtspXDEcUhMwBPgQ6jvsJIXcPd_Wx7V6gdO55IfGKbFxDS7AuJUt_afaOwUR6U5ddYkuKuB7DCeQpoWJZE9PnI3GZn3PNf6_hoz7L3izmSxJ4n9HC-qMp3aOUSfsrjZOMJeZut5eWJc4MDvSgzujHp9CHR9klJSckjHOFVdW4DzU_npbM/w640-h424/CommandColorsTricorne.HEIC" width="640" /></a></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">How CCT Stacks Up to Other Command & Colors Variants</h2>
<p>If you want to look at other reviews of Command & Colors variants I have looked at, here they are:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2012/08/battles-of-westeros.html" target="_blank">Battles of Westeros</a> (Game of Thrones license)</li>
<li><a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2010/12/command-colors-napoleonics-review.html" target="_blank">Command & Colors: Napoleonics</a> (Napoleonics), <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2011/01/command-colors-napoleonics-expanded.html" target="_blank">expanded review</a>, <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2011/09/is-anyone-still-playing-command-and.html" target="_blank">criticism</a>, and <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2011/01/command-colors-napoleonics-vimiero.html" target="_blank">short battle report</a></li>
<li><a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2011/09/miniaturizing-command-and-colors-design.html" target="_blank">My own variant for the tabletop</a></li>
<li><a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2011/11/memoir-44-variant.html" target="_blank">Memoir '44 Variant</a></li>
<li><a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2012/01/command-and-colors-variations.html" target="_blank">Fan Variants</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Comparing Versions</h3><p>I also did <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2011/11/command-and-colors-variants.html" target="_blank">a comparison of the various versions</a>. Here are the game mechanics that I looked at:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Number of Limited Resources to Manage</li>
<li>Ratio of Movement to Combat Range</li>
<li>Terrain Effects</li>
<li>Number of Dice Thrown in Battle</li>
<li>Dice Thrown Reduced by Range?</li>
<li>Dice Thrown Reduced by Casualties?</li>
<li>The Odds of Hitting</li>
<li>Battle Back?</li>
<li>Evading Combat</li>
<li>Retreat Flags Ignored/Support</li>
<li>Complexity</li>
</ul>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">Number of Limited Resources to Manage</h4>
<p><i>CCT</i> only has two resources to manage: Command cards and Combat cards.</p><p>Like all other Command & Colors games, the number of Command cards you hold is dictated by the scenario. Interestingly, many of the Tactics cards are oriented towards ordering units that are in a string of adjacent, linked, and contiguous hexes, encouraging players to form battle lines. This gives a very good period flavor of linear combat, like it does with <i>Command & Colors: Ancients</i>.</p>
<p>Combat cards are similar to the Combat cards of <i>Memoir '44</i> (Urban and Winter). They are played alongside (and sometimes in lieu of) a Command card, adding additional benefits for the player. Examples include allowing a unit to move faster or battle with additional dice. In the case of <i>CCT</i>, there are a different set of Combat cards for the Patriot/Rebel and British sides, giving each their own flavor.</p><p>There is one very interesting thing to point about about the Command cards in <i>CCT</i>; the number of Tactics cards versus Section cards. Here is a breakdown.</p>
<table border="1">
<thead>
<tr><td><b>Rules</b></td><td><b>Section Cards</b></td><td><b>Tactics Cards</b></td><td><b>Ratio Section to Tactics</b></td></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>Command & Colors:Tricorne</td><td style="text-align: center;">33</td><td style="text-align: center;">27</td><td style="text-align: center;">1.22 : 1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Command & Colors: Medieval</td><td style="text-align: center;">45</td><td style="text-align: center;">20</td><td style="text-align: center;">2.25 : 1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Command & Colors: Napoleonics </td><td style="text-align: center;">48</td><td style="text-align: center;">22</td><td style="text-align: center;">2.18 : 1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Memoir '44</td><td style="text-align: center;">40</td><td style="text-align: center;">20</td><td style="text-align: center;">2 : 1</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>You can see that <i>CCT</i> has upped the ante in favoring the use of Tactics cards rather heavily. As stated previously, many of those Command cards (and Combat cards) act upon units in 'line' (in adjacent, linked, and contiguous hexes).</p>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">Ratio of Movement to Combat Range</h4><p>The ratio is very similar to <i>Memoir '44</i> and <i>Command & Colors: Napoleonics</i> in that the infantry move one hex and can battle and their range is (generally) three hexes. So a unit must brave two turns of fire before being able to engage in close combat.</p><p>Some Tactics cards in the Command deck and special cards in the Combat deck allow infantry to close the gap quicker, and playing these at a critical moment can really help you get the jump on your opponent, so don't expect every battle to feel the same, i.e. a slow, grinding slog towards the enemy.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Terrain Effects</h4><p>Terrain effects are now much more nuanced. Some terrain, like forests, have differing effects for when you move <i>onto</i> a terrain piece versus when you are already in it. Also, the effect on battling <i>out</i> of terrain can differ from when you are battling <i>into</i> it.</p><p>In <i>Memoir '44</i> a forest, for example, a unit moving into the forest must stop and they cannot battle this turn. The dice are not reduced battling out, but they are when battling in. In <i>CCT</i> a unit moving into the forest must also stop, but infantry can still battle, losing one die. When battling into a forest only cavalry lose dice, but the target of any ranged combat can ignore the first hit. Further, Light Infantry can ignore one flag.</p><p>So, <i>CCT</i> introduces the concept of reducing hits in addition to reducing dice. (Reducing hits is far worse, of course, than reducing dice.) This is similar to the effects of armor in other games like <i>Samurai Battles</i> and <i>Command & Colors: Medieval</i>.</p><p>Bottom line: if you know the terrain effects from other games off of the top of your head, you should probably have the terrain effects chart beside you for each combat involving terrain because it likely does not work the way you think it does.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Number of Dice Thrown in Battle</h4><p>Battle dice in <i>CCT</i> follows the method in <i>Memoir '44</i>, which is a base number of dice, reduced by range. For example, regular infantry rolls (2)-2-1 dice or 2 dice at 1 hex (which is close combat), 2 dice at 2 hexes, and 1 die at 3 hexes. It cannot battle targets at 4 or more hexes away.</p><p>The distinction between close combat (1 hex away) and ranged combat (2 or more hexes away) is important and many terrain effects change based on the type of combat.</p><p>One additional factor in determining the number of dice is whether the unit has an attached leader and if it moved before combat. Attaching a leader to a unit grants it one additional die while </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Dice Thrown Reduced by Range?</h4><p>In <i>CCT</i> the number of dice is reduced by range, but the reduction is not consistent. Rifles, for example shoot at (2)-2-1-1, while Regular infantry is (2)-2-1, Militia infantry is (2)-1-1, and Light Artillery is (2)-2-1-1-1.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Dice Thrown Reduced by Casualties?</h4><p><i>CCT</i> does not reduce dice by casualties, but work similar to the Japanese in <i>Memoir '44</i> and Warriors in <i>Command & Colors: Medieval</i> in that a full unit is afforded 1 extra battle die in close combat, ranged combat, and rally checks (see later). I think this extra die does a good job of simulating the often-used game mechanic of 'First Fire' in Horse & Musket rules, where fresh units with clean muskets have more effective fire, while units that have been in battle awhile shoot less effective due to fouling in their firearms.</p><p>The nature of this rule is that you cannot ignore the combat power of a one- or two-block unit, and chasing those down can be just as painful as going after a fresh unit.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">The Odds of Hitting</h4><p>Here <i>CCT</i> really changed up the mix. In most other Command & Colors variants where the dice have symbols representing unit types (<i>Memoir '44</i>, <i>Battle Cry</i>, <i>Command & Colors: Napoleonics</i>) rather than colors, the symbols are typically two Infantry, one Cavalry (or Armor), one Artillery (Star for <i>Memoir '44</i>), one Crossed Sabers (Grenade in <i>Memoir '44</i>), and one Flag. In <i>CCT</i> there is only one Infantry symbol and there are two Flags.</p><p>Further, in <i>CCT</i> the Crossed Sabers only hit in Close Combat, and only for certain units. That used to always be a house rule for me – when I played solo – to allow Crossed Sabers/Grenades to count as hits only in Close Combat. I am glad to see it in <i>CCT</i> and wish it was that way in <i>Memoir '44</i>.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Battle Back</h4><p>Battling back is the mechanic where, if a defending unit has survived a close combat attack <u>and</u> not retreated, it can attack the attacking unit back. This mechanic has made its way over to <i>CCT</i>, which I enjoy as it presents a consequence to close combat. It is what makes attacking crippled one- and two-block units so dangerous. Note that with the increased chance of retreating (see below), units will be less likely to battle back. Another concern is that because the attacker is penalized one die for moving into close combat, and the battling back defender is not, attackers might well be reluctant to enter close combat in the first place unless they have a Command or Combat card granting them a bonus.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Taking Ground</h4><p>Taking ground is like all other Borg designs. If you win close combat by either eliminating the enemy unit or forcing it to retreat from the hex, the attacking unit can move into the vacated hex. Some unit, such as cavalry, Highlanders, and units with attached leader, can make a bonus close combat attack from the hex they now possess.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Evading Combat</h4><p>Like Lights in <i>Command & Colors: Ancients</i> and cavalry in <i>Command & Colors: Napoleonics</i>, light infantry and cavalry in <i>CCT</i> can evade close combat and retreat. The mechanism is, after the attacker has declared their attack, the defender decides if they are going to Retire and Rally. The attacker then rolls the normal number of dice, but only counts the symbol (infantry, cavalry, or artillery) and none other. After inflicting the indicated number of hits the evading unit retreats two hexes and then must make a Rally Check (see below).</p><p>Because of the required Rally Check, which I will talk about more in the next section, this tactic can be quite dangerous for a weakened unit to try and yield the enemy a victory point regardless, so the player must think twice before electing to retreat.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Retreat Flags Ignored/Support</h4><p>Before talking about the retreat mechanics of <i>CCT</i>, let's look at a new rule, the Rally Check. Put simply, after a unit is forced to retreat it must roll one die per block remaining in the unit (plus or minus any modifiers) and if it does <u>not</u> roll a Retreat Flag, the unit routs off of the board, yielding a victory point for your opponent. Note that all units must make this check if forced to retreat, so even full-strength units might be eliminated.</p><p>The second mechanic of note impacting retreats is that there are <u>two</u> Retreat Flags on the die rather than one with all other Command & Colors variants. So while it increases the chance the Rally Check will pass, it also increases the number of checks you will have to make in the first place.</p><p>Given these two mechanics the factors that allow a unit to ignore rolled Retreat Flags becomes critical. Further, unit quality can be further identified by allowing the unit to ignore flags or to roll more or fewer dice for the Rally Check.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Complexity</h4><p>There were a few times I ended up scrambling for a rule and almost every one of them was a question around Leaders, i.e. what is the chance the leader is dead if…? The addition of the Combat cards definitely makes the synergies between cards important – such as a Command card that allows units to rapidly advance on an enemy while a Combat card adds an additional combat die – making surprise attacks where fortunes change hands rapidly a distinct feature of some games.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Summary</h3><p>Since I started writing this post – weeks ago – Don and I have played eight separate scenarios (16 games), so we have a lot more experience with the rules now.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Dress Ranks!</h4><p>If you have played <i>Command & Colors: Ancients</i> then you know how those occasional Line command cards allow you to move a lot of units, if you have remembered to maintain cohesion. In <i>CCT</i> this occurs a <u>lot</u> more frequently. Of the 60 cards in the Command deck there are:</p>
<ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Four cards that allow a Leader (with optionally an attached unit) and up to four other units and lone Leaders in a 'line' take a move, battling with an additional die.</li><li>Three cards that allow up to the number of Command cards you have, in units and Leaders in a 'line', to move with 1 additional hex of movement; no ranged combat is allowed, but infantry units may engage in close combat.</li><li>Four cards that allow <u>all</u> units and Leaders in a 'line' to move a maximum of 1 hex; they may still engage in ranged and close combat.</li><li>Four cards that allow <u>all</u> units and Leaders in a 'line' to engage in ranged combat only, with 1 additional die. No close combat or movement is allowed.</li></ol><p></p><p>So 15, or fully 25%, of the Command cards are oriented towards the player using units in a 'line', while 8 of those have no restriction on the number of units that can be in the line.</p><p>In addition to those Command cards, the British Combat cards had one additional copy of #3 and #4 above, while the Continentals have one additional copy of #1.</p><p>You may have noticed that I keep writing 'line' and that is because the rules don't require the units to be strictly in a straight line. The rule as written states "Issue 1 order to each unit or lone Leader in adjacent linked, contiguous hexes", so the shape of the line could be anything.</p><p>One thing this really reminds me of is <i>De Bellis Antiquitatus</i> or <i>DBA</i>. You had 1-6 command points (or pips) each turn and one point could generally move all the units formed into a group. As you played your line would naturally get fragmented due to losses, advances, and retreats, thus requiring more command points to move all units every turn. Failing to get enough command points resulted in hard decisions on which units could act and which could not.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Ambush</h4><p>Whereas other designs might have one or two ambush cards – cards that allow the defender to strike first in a close combat – <i>CCT</i> has about 5-6, two in the Command deck and 1-2 in each of the Combat decks. You can only play one Combat card in your opponent's turn, but if you happen to have one of the Command Ambush cards and one Combat Ambush cards, it is possible to hit your opponent twice in a turn with this dirty trick. (I speak from experience on that one.)</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Surprise!</h4><p>There are several Command and Combat cards that allow a player to move rapidly, quickly shifting the tempo of the game. For example there is <i>Steal a March</i> which allows a player to move a potentially large number of units several hexes all at once, moving a far away force up to your battle lines in a single turn, or moving a force around your flank. Other cards like <i>Bayonet Attack</i> allows you to move three infantry units two hexes each and still battle in close combat, with no movement penalty. Because there are a number of copies of these cards between the Command and Combat decks, it is quite possible to perform these surprise movements on back-to-back turns. (I speak from experience on that one too!)</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Summary</h1><p style="text-align: left;">In summary, CCT is an excellent Borg game design that does not simply feel like <i>Battlecry</i> or <i>Command & Colors: Napoleonics</i> with different stickers and scenarios. It definitely has its own feel and if you are a fan of this game designer's designs, you will not be disappointed in purchasing it.</p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-79498596445005751292022-12-31T11:06:00.004-07:002022-12-31T11:06:34.109-07:00First Look at Star Wars: The Clone Wars<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_nKYEDg4t-RU4DDDTqNVn252cQhmDq5BrW4dYnI4redlE0HixVO8cKXydUgdKvoDGjJ2z-1i_8mJUc2gOFI87ID3j8hptBXCl551a-TSOIRu0y-zrRp5QrNnA9hvFGmxFxQ7pKdI-6XNKdL5TjpXXTq_JPp1RaiSqdymxTkrQo0g0YbkkFK0/s1133/StarWarsCloneWarBox.HEIC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1133" data-original-width="864" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_nKYEDg4t-RU4DDDTqNVn252cQhmDq5BrW4dYnI4redlE0HixVO8cKXydUgdKvoDGjJ2z-1i_8mJUc2gOFI87ID3j8hptBXCl551a-TSOIRu0y-zrRp5QrNnA9hvFGmxFxQ7pKdI-6XNKdL5TjpXXTq_JPp1RaiSqdymxTkrQo0g0YbkkFK0/w486-h640/StarWarsCloneWarBox.HEIC" width="486" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Star Wars: The Clone Wars</i> Box Cover</td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>Gaming buddy Joe brought out a new boardgame called <i>Star Wars: The Clone Wars</i> (TCW), which apparently uses the game mechanics of <i>Pandemic</i>. After watching <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSY1tsx-aOs" target="_blank">the Watch It Played video</a> on the rules it seemed to me to be <i>Star Wars United</i>, or a Star Wars version of <i>Marvel United</i>. I guess that means <i>Marvel United</i>'s game mechanics closely follow those of <i>Pandemic</i>.</p><p>So, why do I say it is like <i>Star Wars United</i>? All players cooperate to defeat an enemy A.I. Every player plays one Jedi (Hero). There is a Villain and Thugs (Droids). Players maintain a hand of cards. Players move from location to location thinning out the Droids, sending the Villain into hiding (by beating them in combat), all while trying to minimize the Threats the Villain lays down, completing Missions before having one final battle with the Villain, at which point they are defeated and the Heroes win.</p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Z1ubNNG0Ov_LgwjrEj-oku3dFIHE84q776c9dvoYO4oqK0zA6w0YN_LTACCYkPtCTbt9pihk_tr7565xcFZ9AqPkLk7y6Yx5bQiNGrYnDZSYLHFisBQDdX831eeNtsV0EbC7LR7Uf-p7fM7juyuSJ6DWW_IS1ALJ0PWGmGZ_kxFrATyDm0I/s1296/StarWarsCloneWars.HEIC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1133" data-original-width="1296" height="560" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Z1ubNNG0Ov_LgwjrEj-oku3dFIHE84q776c9dvoYO4oqK0zA6w0YN_LTACCYkPtCTbt9pihk_tr7565xcFZ9AqPkLk7y6Yx5bQiNGrYnDZSYLHFisBQDdX831eeNtsV0EbC7LR7Uf-p7fM7juyuSJ6DWW_IS1ALJ0PWGmGZ_kxFrATyDm0I/w640-h560/StarWarsCloneWars.HEIC" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our Game in Progress</td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>We were able to play three games from about 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM, or one game per hour. So this is a great boardgame for a group to play on a weeknight as setup and tear down is very quick and the rules are very quick to grasp.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">The Rules</h1><p>Each turn the next player (going clockwise) gets four actions and one free action to perform. The actions are:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Move to an adjacent location on the map (following the lines between systems)</li><li>Draw a card (called a 'Squad')</li><li>Attack at your location</li><li>Attempt a mission at your location</li></ul><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Movement</h2><p>As you can see in the image above, the map displays named planetary systems, with lines of travel indicated between them. Each action used for movement allows the player to move to one adjacent system. Note that there are 'Squad' cards that allow a Jedi to move two systems with a single movement action, but that can only be played a maximum of once per turn. There are also cards which allow a Jedi to move more than one location, and Jedi powers (free actions) for a Jedi to move themselves or others multiple locations.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Draw a Card</h2><p>Each player starts with four cards and can hold up to seven at one time. It takes one action to draw a card. There are five types of cards:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Assault: These are used to attack droids, blockades, and villains and to attempt to complete some missions.</li><li>Stealth: These are also used to attack droids, blockades, and villains and to attempt to complete some missions. You cannot combine Assault and Stealth cards in an Attack action, but some missions allow you to play both.</li><li>Transport: These cards allow you to move two locations, but only one of these cards can be played by that Hero that turn.</li><li>Armor: These cards allow a Hero to reduce damage to a Hero (in that player's location).</li><li>Ally: These represent other characters from the stories that are not Heroes that the player can play, such as <i>Padmé Amidala</i>, <i>C3PO and R2D2</i>. Unlike the other cards, playing these cards doesn't exhaust them (see below), but causes them to be discarded.</li></ul><p></p><p>When a player plays a card it is <i>exhausted</i>, i.e. turned sideways, to show it cannot be played again until the player's next turn when all of their cards are unexhausted. The exception to this is Ally cards, which are discarded when used.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Attack at Your Location</h2><p>Players attack in order to remove the blockades, droids, and villains in their own location. When you attack you roll a custom die that inflicts 0 to 3 hits, choose either Assault or Stealth cards to boost your attack, and remove enemies based on the amount of damage you inflict, then take damage (if any). The die can inflict hits on the attacking Jedi as can any remaining enemy that survive the Jedi's attack.</p><p>So why do you want to attack these items?</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The Villain: When the villain is on the board they can wreak havoc. Eventually they will raise the Threat Level so high (7) that the player's lose. So if you attack and defeat the villain, they are removed from the board and can do less damage. Also, after all missions have been completed, defeating the Villain is a requirement in order for the Heroes to win.</li><li>A Blockade: If a blockade is present on a planetary system then it <b>must</b> be defeated before a Jedi can attack Droids or Villains or attempt a mission on that system.</li><li>Droids: If the game calls for a fourth Droid to be added to a specific planetary system then a Blockade is added to that system and the Threat Level is increased.</li></ul><p></p><p>So, they players have to control the number of Droids that gather on a system to ensure the Threat Level does not rise (and so that Blockades don't get in the way of attempting to complete missions or defeat villains).</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Attempt a Mission</h2><p>The difficulty of the game is controlled by the number of missions that the players must complete before the Villain can be defeated in the final battle. (Unlike <i>Marvel United</i>, <i>Star Wars: The Clone Wars</i> allows the Villain to be attacked before all of the missions are completed. But when the are defeated, it just removes them temporarily. Completing the necessary number of missions brings about the Final Battle.)</p><p>There are only two missions in play at any one time. There are markers which indicate system the mission is at. Basically a mission is an all-or-nothing thing. You either inflict the stated number of damage and succeed or you fail. You cannot carry damage over from player to player or turn to turn.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Summary</h1><p>TCW is a great, easy to learn, cooperative game with a little more complexity than <i>Marvel United</i> but nowhere near the replayability (yet) due to having no expansions. Like <i>Marvel United</i> it is a boardgame with miniatures, not a miniatures game played on a board; miniatures are simply tokens for indicating which planet you are currently on. (Although that does call into question whether that is the same for miniatures in miniature games…)</p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-86628210966011937572022-11-25T20:49:00.000-07:002022-11-25T20:49:47.061-07:00Rules First Look: Fistful of Lead<p>As I reported a few posts back, I played the rules <i>Fistful of Lead Reloaded</i> (FFoLR) with gaming buddy Bill using his beautiful Western terrain and figures. For the most part we played them correctly, but some of the rules from <i>Fistful of Lead Core Rules</i> (FFoL) leached in as Bill was familiar with both. While I was at MillenniumCon 2022, and from the FFoL forum on FaceBook I learned that FFoLR was the older, simpler version of the rules and that FFoL represents the current incarnation of the rules. In addition I got to see an experienced game master run FFoL for six players (I being one of them).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif6zkJdrAFQga7aaNZ2lhQa_n1o9uLdypGFiAAg3hxsNPOSVWrYjd7brIxEQ3lC5ttEJZANGM3s7HSODIWvgDMH8VSsMnOIkqiS17P7ofyG2lap_ROKnMGFjSowuZMoehXT62U8Efz2RoN5my55W9C1vkDofOgsmGyuZLnAxy6dVsd2TI5IHY/s701/Cover-FFoLCoreRuleBook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="450" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif6zkJdrAFQga7aaNZ2lhQa_n1o9uLdypGFiAAg3hxsNPOSVWrYjd7brIxEQ3lC5ttEJZANGM3s7HSODIWvgDMH8VSsMnOIkqiS17P7ofyG2lap_ROKnMGFjSowuZMoehXT62U8Efz2RoN5my55W9C1vkDofOgsmGyuZLnAxy6dVsd2TI5IHY/w408-h640/Cover-FFoLCoreRuleBook.jpg" width="408" /></a></div><br /><p>FFoL has quite a number of supplements and variants – variants being standalone versions of the core rules and supplements being sets that require the core rules or a variant – to cover period- or genre-specific rules that give the rules their 'flavor'. I have most of the supplements and variants, but not all:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Fistful of Lead Core Rules</li>
<li>Fantasy</li>
<li>Horse & Musket</li>
<ul>
<li>French & Indian Wars</li>
</ul>
<li>Fistful of Lead Reloaded</li>
<li>Galactic Heroes</li>
<ul>
<li>Codex Galactica Grim Dark Edition</li>
</ul>
<li>Fistful of Lead Bigger Battles</li>
</ul>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">Fistful of Lead Core Rules</h1>
<p>FFoL are the 'universal' skirmish rules that cover all periods, but none in any specificity. There are generic rules for pre-gunpowder, early gunpowder, modern, and futuristic weapons and armor. If you want to go more in depth in these other areas, you can buy the variants.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Activation Order</h2>
<p>FFoL uses cards to determine activation order, rather than a more traditional IGO-UGO. Each player is dealt one card for each figure in his force and played as a hand. The cards are counted down from King on down and as players have the card in their hand they assign it to a figure that has not activated yet. This allows each player to assign order to his forces, but turns are intermixed between which player acts next. It is a good compromise between IGO-UGO and card assignment systems like <i>Tin Soldiers in Action</i> where each card is assigned to a specific unit.</p>
<p>Note that some cards have special properties, such as healing wounds, granting bonuses to combat and such. Also, the Ace is treated as a Wild card, allowing the player to assign any card's value as its' value, so if you want to go first you could make it a King, or if you wanted too heal a wound you could make it the Queen of Hearts. These special properties add simple twists to the game that allow the player to play the cards more strategically, such as assigning a card that automatically reloads a weapon to a figure with an unloaded weapon (therefore not requiring them to spend action to reload), but at the cost of forcing that figure to wait later in the turn.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Actions</h2>
<p>When a figure is activated the figure receives two actions, such as Move, Shoot, Pick Up/Drop Item, Mount/Dismount, Switch Weapons, Recover from Combat Effects, Aim, Reload, or Complete a Task. Because you can perform these actions in any order a figure can move twice, move and fire, fire and move, aim and fire, or fire twice. This is a good way to simulate time and that a figure is splitting its time between these actions.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Movement</h3>
<p>Movement is a simple 5" per Move action. There are provisions for moving slowly (Creep), jumping, falling, moving through terrain, and moving while mounted. Movement is completely free, i.e. it is not constrained to moving only in straight lines, as is facing. However, if the figure comes within 1" of an enemy figure it must stop and engage in close combat. Note that close combat is not an action.</p>
<p>Note that movement is also reduced by Wounds and Shock (see below).</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Shooting</h3>
<p>Ranged combat is handled easily. All weapons have a short range and a long range. Targets within short range hit on a 5+ on 1D10, while targets at long range hit on a 8+. Rolls of a natural '1' indicate the weapon has run out of ammo. There are few modifiers to shooting, largely from cover and from the shooter being wounded or shocked. Note that spending one action to Aim before shooting only adds +1 to the die roll. You generally only do this when you have very low odds of hitting. Note that a natural '10' is not a guaranteed hit.</p>
<p>By the way, there is no pre-measuring in FFoL.</p><p>If a shot hits the target the shooter then rolls 1D10 to determine the effect of the hit.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Close Combat</h3>
<p>Close combat occurs when a figure moves to within 1" of an enemy figure. It is resolved by both players rolling 1D10 and comparing results (after modification). The highest modified die roll is the winner and the loser's modified die roll is subtracted from the winner's. That difference grants a modifier to the 1D10 roll to determine the effect of the hit.</p><p>As with shooting, rolling a '1' means you have fumbled and lost your weapon. The rules also account for fighting against multiple opponents, being wounded, shocked, or prone, the close combat weapon, and defensive terrain.</p><p>Note that there is an element of movement in close combat as the winner can decide to stay locked in combat, switch positions with their opponent (and stay locked in combat), or push their opponent back out of close combat.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Wounding</h3><p>When a figure is hit by shooting or in close combat a 1D10 is rolled to see the effects, which can be nothing, getting a Shock counter, getting knocked down and wounded, or being taken out of action. There is a modifier for close combat, but also a modifier for the target being previously wounded.</p><p>When a figure takes three wounds, it is taken out of action.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Recovery</h3><p>The effects of Shock, Wounds, and being knocked down require the figure to recover in order to remove the effects. For each Shock and Wound counter a figure has they are -1" in movement, -1 to shooting, close combat, task rolls, and to recovery rolls. When rolling for recovery there is a chance, if the player rolls too low, that the figure will be removed from action.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Miscellaneous</h3><p>There are a number of other rules, as you might expect, for Leaders, Overwatch, Tasks (like picking a lock, etc.), Fires, Hiding, and so on.</p><p>In addition they have a team building system largely centered around a list of special abilities (rules) called Traits. Examples are: Brute, use D12 for close combat instead of D10; Deft, where reloading only takes one action; Lunge, where the figure can conduct close combat from 2" away; etc. Figures can also be assigned negative traits like Lousy Shot or Slow.</p><p>All of these traits are built around your team customization. Your leader gets three individual traits, Specialists two, and Regulars only one. Additionally your whole team gets a team trait, which is the same as a subset of the individual traits only applied to all members of the team.</p><p>Weapons also have traits, such as Burst, Blast or Armor Piercing. In addition team members can have shields and armor. Armor is essentially an extra roll after being hit, but before rolling for the effect of the hit. If the target makes their armor save, it lowers the effect of the hit by one level.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">Fantasy</h1>
<p>There are three separate books covering the Fantasy genre: <i>Might & Melee</i>; <i>Magic & Mages</i>; and <i>Monsters & Mazes</i>. <i>Might & Melee</i> is a FFoL variant, meaning you do not need to buy FFoL Core Rules; it is a standalone set of rules. Everything that you see in FFoL above is a part of <i>Might & Melee</i>, save for things like modern weapons, armor, and equipment. All of the core mechanics are the same, however. Note that there is a lot of overlap between this variant and others as the Core Rules gave you Armor, <i>Wasteland Warriors</i> gave fantastical powers, and <i>Tales of Horror</i> gave the beginnings of magic use.</p><p>The primary difference between <i>Might & Melee</i> and FFoL is that the former goes into more detail with ancient, medieval, and fantasy weapons, armor, and equipment. Also, there are new traits that apply to the fantasy genre, like Bard, Born in Harness, Bowyer, etc.</p><p>Mounts are fleshed out a little more, having equipment slots and traits. Also, there are a few mythical creatures defined though more will come in <i>Monsters & Mazes</i>.</p><p><i>Magic & Mages</i> adds depth to the magic system, defining spell caster levels, spell casting mechanics, and providing spells and their effects. In addition there is a system for dispelling opponent's spells and summoning creatures. Clerics and divine magic are not left out either, but they largely use the same mechanics as spell casters. Finally, what magic system would be complete if it did not have pages and pages of potion, scroll, and magic item definitions?</p><p>Last of all is <i>Monsters & Mazes</i> which is centered around defining monsters and their combat characteristics and how to use FFoL for dungeon crawling. Included is a system for random dungeon generation for solo play, if you go in for that sort of thing.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">Horse & Musket</h1>
<p>The <i>Horse & Musket</i> rules are another variant, so the FFoL Core Rules are not required. By and large the core game mechanics are the same. There are some minor differences, however.</p><p>For example, in the core rules the roll of a natural '1' while shooting means the shot misses and the weapon is temporarily out of ammo. In the core rules a Reload action takes an entire turn and cannot be split across turns. In the Horse & Musket era weapon were typically one shot, so a Reload action is required after each shot anyway. In the <i>Horse & Musket</i> rules a natural '1' means there is an additional malfunction, requiring a Repair action before the Reload action can occur. The Reload action itself may take one or two actions, as defined by the weapon.</p><p><i>Horse & Musket</i> does not seem to have period-specific traits, but some of the names appear to have changed.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">French & Indian War</h2>
<p><i>Red Hatchets & Black Powder</i> (RHBP) is a supplement for the French & Indian War (F&IW) for the <i>Horse & Musket</i> variant of FFoL. Largely this contain definitions for various troop types in the F&IW, rules for fighting in the Winter, and a larger number of scenarios. (Note that all variants contained a handful of scenarios.) Most of the scenarios contain scenario-specific rules, which can be used for your own scenarios. Some of those rules include: Natives and how they fight; capturing enemies; setting structures on fire; ambushes and scouting; wagons; forts; deep woods; and events.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">Fistful of Lead Reloaded</h1>
<p>FFoLR is the older version of FFoL and not really recommended other than for teaching new players and simplified convention game play (which typically involves quickly teaching new players how to play). The theme is Wild West, so the scenarios and campaign information is geared towards that, but the core mechanics are stripped down just a bit.</p><p>Personally I would not recommend getting them.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">Galactic Heroes</h1>
<p>As you might have guessed GH is a standalone variant and contains all of the core game mechanics plus enough variation to reflect what I would call Space Fantasy, and not Hard Science Fiction. Primary additions from the Core Rules are psionics (i.e. Space Fantasy magic), futuristic equipment (drones, sentry turrets, etc.), and vehicles (although the emphasis is on lighter vehicles).</p><p>Vehicles are treated much like any other figure. They are assigned a card for activation. They have damage points akin to wounds. When a vehicle is hit it has its own version of the Wound chart. The vehicle's driver and any passengers can bail out if the vehicle is destroyed.</p><p>When attempting to shoot at a vehicle you have to declare if you are targeting the vehicle itself, the driver, or its passengers. Combat against the vehicle is generally easier (because the target is big), but mechanically plays out the same as fighting any other figure. You roll to hit and if you hit you roll for armor, then you roll to wound. Once enough wounds are inflicted the vehicle is out of action.</p><p>As you might expect, vehicles have their own equipment slots and traits.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Codex Galactica Grim Dark Edition</h2>
<p>CG is a supplement for the variant GH. It provides stats for a certain Space Fantasy IP backed by a company with a lot of lawyers. People tend to love that company's miniature – but not their prices – and initially love their rules – but drift away from them unless they are deeply into competitive play. (At least that is my assessment of it.)</p><p>Is every troop type of the Grim Dark Future defined? No? Every weapon and vehicles? No. Are you going to have to do some work on your own in order to define some of the more exotic troop types? Very likely. But enough weapons and traits have been defined to give each troop type in that universe a distinct flavor, especially when you start considering the team traits available to you. (I don't like how they defined the Tau, I mean Dynasty, Pulse Rifles though.)</p><p>There are new traits and mutations defined, but not as many as I would have thought. More importantly, psionics (i.e. Space Fantasy magic) are defined, including faction-specific 'spells'.</p><p>Note that there are two additional supplements to GH, one to represent starfighter combat and another for giant mecha combat.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">Fistful of Lead Bigger Battles</h1>
<p>While FFoL are for skirmishes where each figure is an autonomous unit, <i>Fistful of Lead Bigger Battles</i> (BB) is a variant for conducting grand skirmishes. Each figure still represents a single man, but figures are grouped together and it is these groups that are autonomous.</p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i>Wargaming has a notion of 'bath-tubbing' or playing a set of rules at one level, but representing another, usually higher, level. BB does this by having figures continue to fight as if they were individual men even though the group of figures can represent a much larger unit. So it is easy to think of each unit in BB as a Platoon, Company, or Battalion even though the unit might only have 6 or 12 figures in it. This despite the rules still playing with each figure as if it were an individual man.</i></p></blockquote>
<p>As the unit is no longer a single figure, but a group of figures, the actions are a little different: Move at the Double (move twice); Maneuver (shoot and move or move and shoot with shooting at -1); Shoot (only once); Form Up; Concentrated Fire (shoot at +1; only Formed units); Charge (move twice into contact); Rally (removes Shock); Reload; Ready (overwatch); Regroup; Mount or Dismount; Setup a Crewed Weapon; and Complete a Task. As you can see, the primary difference is that there are not two explicit actions per activation, but rather a single action per activation that mimics FFoL's two actions.</p><p>Another key difference is the Close Order formation. Only Regular troops can Form Up, and when they do so they gain both advantages and disadvantages.</p><p>Shooting now has rules whereby a a unit must target the closest unit within line of sight. There are some exceptions and a player can opt to take a Hard task roll first in order to shoot at another unit, rather than the one indicated. There are rules for who can fire, who can be removed as a casualty, if a unit counts as being in cover, and so on.</p><p>As with FFoL, BB has a number of weapons defined, including the number of dice rolled for crewed weapons. There are also rules for indirect fire. When a unit runs out of ammo (the roll of a natural '1') rather than getting no fire it is allowed to fire at ½ the number of dice until it spends a turn reloading.</p><p>Close Combat is radically different than in FFoL making it much less decisive. Rather than conducting an opposed die roll, as in FFoL, units roll to hit and wound in close combat as in shooting.</p><p>As with GH, BB has rules for vehicles. The rules are similar in that each vehicle is a unit, thus getting its own card, and they have Damage Points (similar to wounds), sizes, movement rates, and special traits.</p><p>Events have a larger section in BB than in other rules. Events are triggered when a Joker is dealt to a player.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Summary</h1><p>FFoL and all of its variants have some good game mechanics that are largely consistent across all periods, especially if you play FFoL Core Rules instead of the variants. Learn the rules once and you should be good for any of the variants with a simple quick reference sheet. Games play very quickly and even with multiple players per side you do not find yourself waiting very long before you get to act.</p><p>If you don't like rules where you always get to activate every unit on your side every turn, you probably won't like this activation system. If you like systems that add a random element to determine if a unit can act, such as <i>Black Powder</i>, <i>Warmaster</i>, and <i>Blitzkrieg Commander</i> you probably will not like this activation system. Finally, if you are not keen on rules with lots of special abilities to keep track of, and prefer more generic troops, again you will find FFoL and its variants not to your liking. You can easily keep that in check by not using so many traits for your troops and using standardized definitions to simplify management of your figures.</p><p>All that said, the game is very enjoyable to play. Again, if you have a particular period that you want to play</p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-3388724303474590552022-11-18T20:45:00.000-07:002022-11-18T20:45:00.655-07:00Attended MillenniumCon 2022<p>Now that I am retired, I can finally travel without feeling like I have to rush. Well, at least the reason for rushing has changed. It used to be that <i style="font-weight: bold;">I</i> needed to get back to work and now it is that my <i style="font-weight: bold;">wife</i> needs to get back to work! Equality, baby!</p><p>The original goal was to go to Fall-In 2022 in Lancaster, PA – a mere 2,200 miles/32 hour trip, each way – and make it a road trip across the U.S. but too many things fell through. I was going to combine the trip with a visit to my father, who was 94 at the time, but he passed right after I got out of the hospital. So we decided to wander around the West before heading to MillenniumCon 2022 in Round Rock, TX.</p><p>We started from <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/2837+N+Lesemann+Trail,+Huachuca+City,+AZ+85616/@31.7305145,-110.2429397,911m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x86d72170ae04e603:0x7512e07f70fa284b!2sN+4+Pillars+Rd,+Arizona+85616!3b1!8m2!3d31.7303138!4d-110.2482397!3m4!1s0x86d7217c04819965:0xa60a2f18e651b0f1!8m2!3d31.731235!4d-110.2409396" target="_blank">home in <b>Huachuca City, AZ</b></a> and headed for the Apache National Forest to stay in <b><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Alpine,+AZ+85920/@33.8465874,-109.1476818,16z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x87264861b59e65bf:0xdd97ef267290367c!8m2!3d33.8483212!4d-109.1432936" target="_blank">Alpine, AZ</a></b>, making it in after dark. From there we stopped at<b> <a href="https://www.nps.gov/chcu/index.htm" target="_blank">Chaco Culture National Historical Park</a></b> where they have a number of cliff dwellings of the Pueblo people. When you think of American Indians (Native Americans, if you prefer) you tend to think of Hollywood's depiction in Westerns, but Chaco dates from AD 900 through 1150, well before what we think of as American Indians after the American expansion.</p><p>We did not stay there – there is really nowhere to stay as it is in the middle of nowhere – as we were on the way to <b><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Durango+%26+Silverton+Narrow+Gauge+Railroad/@37.2900304,-107.9038166,11077m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x873c02a6bd85fc23:0xdc2b8882a3a67e5a!2sDurango,+CO!3b1!8m2!3d37.27528!4d-107.8800667!3m4!1s0x873ee7fc8913018f:0x692a174636600f0b!8m2!3d37.2690839!4d-107.8825343" target="_blank">Durango, CO</a></b>. We had a timeshare unit there so it was really comfortable, but we were there for the Durango Train. Unfortunately the trains do not run for the first two weeks in November as they switch from the Fall to Winter theme and do maintenance on the trains. Guess when we arrived! Not only that, the museum is closed too!</p><p>To make up for that we decided to take a side trip to <b><a href="https://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm" target="_blank">Mesa Verde National Park</a></b>. This is another Pueblo culture site, dating from AD 600 to 1300. It was a beautiful drive and when we got to the top we found the museum … closed for renovation! I was feeling irritated by that until I heard another guy remark that this was his fourth time to Mesa Verde and every time he was there it had been closed for one reason or another, so I did not feel quite as bad.</p><p>My wife wanted to see <a href="https://meowwolf.com/visit/santa-fe" target="_blank">Meow Wolf in <b>Santa Fe, NM</b></a> so we headed there next. Basically it is an interactive, experimental art project that you walk through with room after room of different themes.</p><p>My wife has also wanted to take me to <b><a href="https://www.nps.gov/cave/index.htm" target="_blank">Carlsbad Caverns National Park</a></b> in NM and we finally went. Unfortunately, the bats were already gone for the season so we did not see them. But trust me, after walking 1 ½ miles in a cave more than 750' underground in a very humid 57º, the last thing I wanted to do was come back and watch bats in low light (as the come out/come back from hunting).</p><p>With those adventures under our belt we were getting close to the start of the gaming convention, so we made a dash for <b><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Club+Wyndham+Austin/@30.2688774,-97.7530498,17z/data=!4m15!1m6!3m5!1s0x8644b50eb631c4cd:0xdd01a7ff9e5f3595!2sFixe+Southern+House!8m2!3d30.2688868!4d-97.748598!3m7!1s0x8644b50c7217d92d:0x2aede7de9bb16a2!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d30.2715913!4d-97.7475749" target="_blank">Austin, TX</a></b>, which is a short drive from where the convention was being held. We stayed at a Wyndham timeshare downtown, was held hostage by salespeople, and eventually given a $150 gift card and promptly spent it on a <i>very</i> nice dinner at a <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Fixe+Southern+House/@30.2688774,-97.7530498,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x8644b50eb631c4cd:0xdd01a7ff9e5f3595!8m2!3d30.2688868!4d-97.748598" target="_blank">posh place</a>.</p><p>With my wallet screaming Uncle after buying yet more timeshare points it was off to <b><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wingate+by+Wyndham+Round+Rock+Hotel+%26+Conference+Center/@30.5264612,-97.7080379,13z/data=!4m18!1m9!2m8!1sHotels!3m6!1sHotels!2sRound+Rock,+TX!3s0x8644d1a4ed2d22e7:0x7217259ede04b10!4m2!1d-97.678896!2d30.5082551!3m7!1s0x8644d190040245a3:0x9685f1ed3d80f332!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d30.5192749!4d-97.6872731">Round Rock, TX</a></b> for MillenniumCon 2022. We stayed there through the weekend then headed back home, stopping only to sleep in <b><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Van+Horn,+TX+79855/@31.0452753,-104.8436185,14z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x86e5e8aea9ce1e61:0xe82d23f4dd52a793!8m2!3d31.0398558!4d-104.8307698">Van Horn, TX</a></b>. Whew!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOt7rYnKVCGyR17awPLVjeFz77d20USY70-lxnkK9i9fiKBVSX96-YkN3V2pBGQUEtOI8nT3XYwJWKD5WUZATgA-0EJNSd9VVn3clgCFpLD4I1-iu88Ls6UmewrrF6P4HQvSI6q4pBWBZ3MK10Eu5I_-BHwTQbw2KvQlDwHStzKjqENZHIvYQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1748" data-original-width="2686" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOt7rYnKVCGyR17awPLVjeFz77d20USY70-lxnkK9i9fiKBVSX96-YkN3V2pBGQUEtOI8nT3XYwJWKD5WUZATgA-0EJNSd9VVn3clgCFpLD4I1-iu88Ls6UmewrrF6P4HQvSI6q4pBWBZ3MK10Eu5I_-BHwTQbw2KvQlDwHStzKjqENZHIvYQ=w640-h416" width="640" /></a></div><br /><h2 style="text-align: left;">MillenniumCon 2022</h2>
<p>This is definitely a smaller convention, as far as U.S. gaming conventions go. There were about 1-2 dozen games going on at once. What I had not realized is that there was a section to sign up for games before the convention started. When I got there and saw all of the sign-up sheets, they had all of the player slots full, some even with the stand-by slots full! I basically could not sign up for a game and be assured of a spot unless it was in one of my gaming buddy's games. (Not because his games were not popular, but rather because he would make a spot for me.)</p><p>My buddy is a real fan of Two Hour Wargames (THW) rules and he has been trying to refine <i>Morale Napoleon</i> (MR) and <i>All Things Zombie</i> (ATZ) for some time now. I think ATZ is in a good place now – it feels very episodic – but MR is closer to THW's old school 'wargame' designs rather than the newer RPG-lite designs. I promised him I would help him playtest any ideas he had and we played about six games of it. I think it is a better design now, by far, but think it still has some testing necessary, by people other than us.</p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgGCQDV_F2yQwCF0KZGtK4-hjcVmhFP5fyN6A3yNZ-ClOj5c8RWpeY-8GkKXIEPAM1biFRrbC8itB4AiDN4ZsaVvLRtAts_2Xm10vk-IRc6FT3nvSkIDNgffQNG7yqo0FjXpu_KJB4YHdNclJO95aYsWcJqJKBw8YlJnKmB-7Ljo9wEYBxJ3nc" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="972" data-original-width="1296" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgGCQDV_F2yQwCF0KZGtK4-hjcVmhFP5fyN6A3yNZ-ClOj5c8RWpeY-8GkKXIEPAM1biFRrbC8itB4AiDN4ZsaVvLRtAts_2Xm10vk-IRc6FT3nvSkIDNgffQNG7yqo0FjXpu_KJB4YHdNclJO95aYsWcJqJKBw8YlJnKmB-7Ljo9wEYBxJ3nc=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A game of Morale Napoleon in progress.</td></tr></tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhSXYV4LphkFcG_TU8XnYUm7UQta0Rr9tPx4E_lydR7I3tuxkvCy2dc5k8xpIsB2XzW22sLjtTqVP-jlbeCAHWX7r0MEDCAYjdhh2VjkLZBiZHCK5DPP_rqv8EuNaYYmwLzSXiBbTwt2saojG67ANpwUr__wKg2YEH3g21ruzXtPfO6tuAaJ-o" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="754" data-original-width="1296" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhSXYV4LphkFcG_TU8XnYUm7UQta0Rr9tPx4E_lydR7I3tuxkvCy2dc5k8xpIsB2XzW22sLjtTqVP-jlbeCAHWX7r0MEDCAYjdhh2VjkLZBiZHCK5DPP_rqv8EuNaYYmwLzSXiBbTwt2saojG67ANpwUr__wKg2YEH3g21ruzXtPfO6tuAaJ-o=w640-h368" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the games of Morale Napoleon that I did not participate in.</td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>One game that I did play in that was a standout was <i>Raid on Downly Green</i> put on by Faron Bell and his son, using the rules <i>A Fistful of Lead</i> (FoL) and the supplement <i>Might and Melee</i>, both of which I have been experimenting with of late. The scenario takes place in late 9th Century Britain and raiders are attacking a village to steal their treasure and capture their Witcher woman. I was on the raiding team – in fact I was playing the raid leader – and we ended up slaughtering the defenders. We did not get the treasure, but we did get the Witcher woman, in addition to wiping out ⅔rds of their force, by the time the game was called.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiS95Q0aN9sVDL2O1DPVsxylNw6iKXlr2d4FknCHTSRbttUv9izlc_9TAioV4JwmGe6OyQw4Ww-krfPs-c_t8V6kYw2y1z5LBmUaUxqOXt-HWYyeYpDIO_FvesvX3XpzFjXpRkS4LBnbDlSn892LSUIovTromBqrAJ0bI6EucidBz5fZUeUUUg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="972" data-original-width="1296" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiS95Q0aN9sVDL2O1DPVsxylNw6iKXlr2d4FknCHTSRbttUv9izlc_9TAioV4JwmGe6OyQw4Ww-krfPs-c_t8V6kYw2y1z5LBmUaUxqOXt-HWYyeYpDIO_FvesvX3XpzFjXpRkS4LBnbDlSn892LSUIovTromBqrAJ0bI6EucidBz5fZUeUUUg=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br />Why this game was a standout was definitely because FoL is a great set of rules for convention games (easy to teach, element of suspense) and because the figures and terrain used was outstanding. It almost made me buy 28mm terrain at the vendor booths!<p>
</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFGS6kvGpbRb94J02Z1TAG0E_NMrG6Mwf5v_9fF8oy54WytzVzbIND7GhCRv2Xy-kqDWOAqR65gtNC9I-nYbXTKDicvGOdD0eDGQjQkyq3PjxPXPgsQrPZifHpbsPLJX3b3MCsofdzmenJhWkIkiphAnpiPkKdZYiRohWyO5_qrPkEUqZNBCg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="972" data-original-width="1296" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFGS6kvGpbRb94J02Z1TAG0E_NMrG6Mwf5v_9fF8oy54WytzVzbIND7GhCRv2Xy-kqDWOAqR65gtNC9I-nYbXTKDicvGOdD0eDGQjQkyq3PjxPXPgsQrPZifHpbsPLJX3b3MCsofdzmenJhWkIkiphAnpiPkKdZYiRohWyO5_qrPkEUqZNBCg=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My leader drags the Witcher woman away to the longships.</td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>Speaking of vendor booths I tried to limit my purchases to terrain, rules, and scenario materials, but failed in some instances. I did not find any rules whatsoever that interested me – I was hoping for an old cardboard box filled with old rules – but I got one very interesting book filled with scenarios on the War of 1812 between Great Britain and Canada and the U.S. I look forward to converting them to other rules, probably <i>Tin Soldiers in Action</i> and <i>One-Hour Wargames</i> for mass battles and <i>Fistful of Lead</i> and <i>One-Hour Skirmish Wargames</i> for skirmishes. Unfortunately, there was little terrain for 15mm other than Battlefront terrain for <i>Flames of War</i>, which I have plenty of. There was a <b>lot</b> of laser cut MDF terrain, but all of it was 28-32mm. I talked to the guy about that and he told me that he used to make models for 15mm, but they just did not sell. Further, he does not sell the digital files so you can cut your own. So all I walked away with were three books, one paint set, and some miniatures I regret buying and will probably end up selling.</p><p>I also got two more games of <i>Tin Soldiers in Action</i> (TSIA) in, playing the classic scenario <i>Hook's Farm</i> (from H.G. Wells' rule book <i>Little Wars</i>). The first game I was attacking and was absolutely slaughtered, so no pictures of that! The second scenario, however, I was defending and it turned out quite different.</p>
<p>Justo delayed coming onto the hill until turn two. This allowed me to press forward with my infantry and defend in depth.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhb9urYunKAb2tir_q506NjpefmM5pVDObI_dbSJfDymK3v7jixLH8ZorJCfM5LU8TuPdELi25sAQ2KXn4hXWWXy0T6bDNTyYQCadqoIJBMhQwjjexecvv-5ngRA7hmwBX9KKirDv0-EXDxHv-e_K11BYWPLwppcF-EB3e3v91SnyIaMOOFHUU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="902" data-original-width="1296" height="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhb9urYunKAb2tir_q506NjpefmM5pVDObI_dbSJfDymK3v7jixLH8ZorJCfM5LU8TuPdELi25sAQ2KXn4hXWWXy0T6bDNTyYQCadqoIJBMhQwjjexecvv-5ngRA7hmwBX9KKirDv0-EXDxHv-e_K11BYWPLwppcF-EB3e3v91SnyIaMOOFHUU=w640-h446" width="640" /></a></div>
<p>You can see Justo's cavalry in the lower right corner. He snuck around the flank, but lost the draw of the cards and my cavalry switched to counter his move <b>and</b> I decided to pull my artillery out of the line and canister his cavalry.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgyBY-M-nVFJJhq7r5cEYpKYeNZtyn60WfpX5iH7NoXf0vY7jTJ_OeOLs-HXARtgZV16yOYat3WgjrkrPbIEnvw6sH7-5UTIybafeM6YC5zkwJPldRHT4hB5JvnRk7hkLYBYICRREaB7PYjb52TFds63yFYfArw1k3SNNP2pGCB-wTnZ3GOqSo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="919" data-original-width="1296" height="454" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgyBY-M-nVFJJhq7r5cEYpKYeNZtyn60WfpX5iH7NoXf0vY7jTJ_OeOLs-HXARtgZV16yOYat3WgjrkrPbIEnvw6sH7-5UTIybafeM6YC5zkwJPldRHT4hB5JvnRk7hkLYBYICRREaB7PYjb52TFds63yFYfArw1k3SNNP2pGCB-wTnZ3GOqSo=w640-h454" width="640" /></a></div>
<p>This next picture shows Justo's beaten cavalry turns later. My cavalry charged him and forced him to rout. It then turned around and made a desperate charge at <b>his</b> artillery (with supporting infantry no less) and ended up overrunning them against all odds.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhULOXE8GujwPI9RfeO5ciV0v8frABn7fH8NaSuA5QZPpa5Cm3uNPXLBntdpjPhXQKsP0ThaQg1DSI9-EA_8in0aZYGzKP5IqEW6A1RCSSPCBM5vdiCurX5sqQAppGhxZtyNYfZHv5-OoLMtf-yvqM6aF2_YAXctY7UC7vaJ4g52lgdJuD6W8o" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="736" data-original-width="1296" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhULOXE8GujwPI9RfeO5ciV0v8frABn7fH8NaSuA5QZPpa5Cm3uNPXLBntdpjPhXQKsP0ThaQg1DSI9-EA_8in0aZYGzKP5IqEW6A1RCSSPCBM5vdiCurX5sqQAppGhxZtyNYfZHv5-OoLMtf-yvqM6aF2_YAXctY7UC7vaJ4g52lgdJuD6W8o=w640-h364" width="640" /></a></div>
<p>When the sun went down I was still in possession of Hook's Farm with units that had been severely mauled by his infantry and artillery fire. Again, this was a very different game from all of the others I have played with artillery chasing cavalry to canister them and light cavalry charging artillery and actually pulling it off.</p><p>One of the reasons for the renewed interest in TSIA is that I have been corresponding with the author, Rüdi, and he has new rules to cover from ancients to modern era (and beyond?) and he wanted us to reacquaint ourselves with the rules before attempting his Hastings scenario. More on that later.</p><p>Ironically, I took a few pictures at the convention, but it was mostly of the terrain boards and not of the games in progress. Also interesting is when people come up to a game in progress and look, but rarely ask questions, even when you attempt to engage them. The one exception, for me, was when Justo and I were playing TSIA with these handmade wooden figures. People did not care about the rules or the scenarios, but the miniatures. They are such a curiosity these days, especially when people are now 3D printing whole beautiful armies and here I am gluing beads together and painting them. I have never had anyone criticize them either, and you know how some people can be, pointing out that "…you have only painted five buttons when the 1812 uniform had six!" The 'harshest' comment I have ever gotten was 'it seems like it would take so much time to make them' or 'I could not paint something that small'. No one has ever refused to game with them nor made fun of the cartoonish terrain I use (which is strangely appropriate for the figures). (By the way, I used my laser cutter to cut out those board and score the grid on them.)</p><p>I have long realized that this, wargaming, is not a single hobby, but multiple ones. For me, I continue to like to make my own minimalist figures with large heads and small bodies.</p><p></p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-43549770822116976582022-10-27T17:30:00.001-07:002022-10-27T17:30:07.602-07:00News and Such<h1 style="text-align: left;">Face-to-Face Gaming</h1><h2 style="text-align: left;">Fistful of Lead</h2>
<p>As you saw with the last blog post, I recently tried out the rules <i>A Fistful of Lead (Reloaded)</i>, which focuses on the Old West. Although I made a hash of the rules I have since purchased <i>A Fistful of Lead Core Rules</i> and <i>Fistful of Lead Fantasy: Might & Melee</i>. The Reloaded rules are an abbreviated/simpler version of the Core Rules and does not have all of the options and nuances available to the player that the latter two do. Honestly, the differences in the core mechanics are so small, especially viewed in terms of increased page count, one wonders why Reloaded stripped them away. I hope to try these rules again with gaming buddy Bill.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Brigade Fire & Fury</h2><p>I am part of a Facebook gaming group dedicated to gaming in the SE section of the state and I have always noticed that one person was always posting about the terrain boards he was making and the figures he was painting – ACW, Napoleonics, and Napoleonic-era Age of Sail – just massive amounts of work. He would invite people to come to his house and join in, but he rarely got a response. I asked him where he was and he told me a place out in the middle of nowhere about 2 1/2 hours away. (Hey, this is SE Arizona. We are all practically out in the middle of nowhere!) His games were on Friday nights at 6 PM and I could just never make it. With three hours of prep and driving that would mean I would need to leave at 3 PM. That was possible when I was working but then there would be the gaming of at least two to three hours, then another 3 hours getting back. I was thinking that would be about midnight before getting back, after a (partial) day of work. It just sounded too taxing. Now that I am retired, I decided to give it a try, only I decided to stay in a cheap motel and make the drive back the next morning.</p><p>First off, it is a nice drive there, not too bad. I drove through the city of Tucson between lunch hour and rush hour so traffic was not too bad. On the way back I took a different route (not the interstate) and it was a very nice change (for desert terrain).</p><p>The game played was a pseudo-Gettysburg battle oriented towards learning the <i>Brigade Fire & Fury</i> (BFF). The host is building a 12' by 6' game board for playing Gettysburg in Warlord's Epic ACW scale, which I believe is 12.5 mm. He wants to play Gettysburg soon and this was a dry run of sorts. He is also building a Waterloo game board and the corresponding forces for that. His collection was truly daunting.</p><p>It has been some time since I have read the <i>Age of Eagles</i> rules, the Napoleonic variant of BFF, but I slowly got the hang of the rules as the turns rolled by. As you can see from the image below, it was a fairly sizable game. We (the Union) "won" but that was because we substantially outnumbered the Confederates and our rolls to move were definitely better, so we reached the objective (the central ridge) first, forcing the enemy to charge uphill to dislodge us.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvKY-33xmnD7HzEfx3U7UleQeQ8UOE__DAtYV7mpfW5vffYeHVJX0rT-tXc5hrb_qCKiPb6gSCBEudw1_BTIP9m4wJERNjzMAPzkyzPIpltqHiHOY8kxFqjUzqCfL11bHwAJ__W372ZXOkpzYmGsGADS9NJ6oBW18LhFzpMSVFxmNKJUpnfYE/s2048/BFF_Game.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvKY-33xmnD7HzEfx3U7UleQeQ8UOE__DAtYV7mpfW5vffYeHVJX0rT-tXc5hrb_qCKiPb6gSCBEudw1_BTIP9m4wJERNjzMAPzkyzPIpltqHiHOY8kxFqjUzqCfL11bHwAJ__W372ZXOkpzYmGsGADS9NJ6oBW18LhFzpMSVFxmNKJUpnfYE/w640-h480/BFF_Game.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
<p>At some point the host will finish up his painting and the game board and he will do another dry run of the game. If I do it again I will have to be sure that I get a better hotel room as this game lasted four hours and my back was killing me reaching across this 6' deep board and I needed a much softer bed!</p>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">Still More Marvel United</h1>
<p>Our Marvel United games are still chugging along every Monday night. I lost one player to pickle ball and <i>Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game</i> but picked up another so we still have four to six players each game night.</p><p>Here is the Loki figure that I painted. Not a powerful villain, but still interesting.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLGnIlC9cdPcs5YsRg5gro6WxC-u2DG9IgzPnnVRqiEbrpyjWuYINmedxS22YWcHJLUpRIc_DCF8V78OOdZBjHgvB7l2jHFQrRLnicbqOuM2JdkscMiTdIrAN5Tsn_AZRgIw07wwPkDxWmBc6imBWpRjVDhkurEJpyMwx49hjrXKdAuTBH610" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1728" data-original-width="1306" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLGnIlC9cdPcs5YsRg5gro6WxC-u2DG9IgzPnnVRqiEbrpyjWuYINmedxS22YWcHJLUpRIc_DCF8V78OOdZBjHgvB7l2jHFQrRLnicbqOuM2JdkscMiTdIrAN5Tsn_AZRgIw07wwPkDxWmBc6imBWpRjVDhkurEJpyMwx49hjrXKdAuTBH610=w483-h640" width="483" /></a></div>
<p>I also commissioned Spiderman 2099, Miles Morales, War Machine, Spider Ghost, and Carnage, plus a few others not in this picture to be painted by Smooth Blend Studio and I think they turned out very well. The X-Men core set is being worked on right now.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiEh-6lGmhEWeAwI7fnmR-qXe7aCWyuPINKv5o_taAtJH_8zjzjSsTQY4ohxvQQWY6LP3d48SpMuPD1fHHaSjlJgTstuiyBZ5qzwcZshckORoLYWVDe2jGuhZMJT-Q5M2N494ycUhPtFbVKKPjlffvXE5de-mwGe41oH8DUkTkOnIZVGyHozDs" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="1296" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiEh-6lGmhEWeAwI7fnmR-qXe7aCWyuPINKv5o_taAtJH_8zjzjSsTQY4ohxvQQWY6LP3d48SpMuPD1fHHaSjlJgTstuiyBZ5qzwcZshckORoLYWVDe2jGuhZMJT-Q5M2N494ycUhPtFbVKKPjlffvXE5de-mwGe41oH8DUkTkOnIZVGyHozDs=w640-h348" width="640" /></a></div>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">Playing Around with Laser-cut Base Designs</h1>
<p>I have been playing around with multi-use base designs again. Right now I am working on my 6mm Napoleonics whereby each group of figured is mounted on a 1" by ½" base which slots into a large 4" wide base for use in <i>One-Hour Wargames</i>. I intend to add additional figures as decorations to the base. As you can see in the image below, I will place line officers at the ends of each unit, NCOs behind them, and a general and his staff in the center of the base.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUS5eNpG5HaL84BG5fH-4R9JMd_TIEQdn8gFHzFbhQRGDAat3OO9mv0Whz6BQtFFQvQ4K5ZnZU3n5RDZ1PeuOTmiz2UFUtoB9Jnu6pJaVbzhEM1iY9cTYXPdGl-x6ALnmFO6vgz_WhIhQg4-P5Sa36edchyhSJzdg0t57a3RG4M8e6voU9Mwc" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="891" data-original-width="1296" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUS5eNpG5HaL84BG5fH-4R9JMd_TIEQdn8gFHzFbhQRGDAat3OO9mv0Whz6BQtFFQvQ4K5ZnZU3n5RDZ1PeuOTmiz2UFUtoB9Jnu6pJaVbzhEM1iY9cTYXPdGl-x6ALnmFO6vgz_WhIhQg4-P5Sa36edchyhSJzdg0t57a3RG4M8e6voU9Mwc=w640-h440" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Russian Napoleonic Infantry 'Brigade'</td></tr></tbody></table><br />If I were doing more of these units I think I would decrease the depth of the base so there is less empty ground between the two units and probably put the command staff at the rear.</p><p>The space showing in the upper left corner (which is actually the lower right corner when the base is facing away from you) would be were a label, specific to the rules you are using, would be affixed.</p><p>When I bought the rules <i>Men of Bronze</i> from Osprey I thought to myself "do I want to paint up a new set of figures (I have them in a lead pile) or do I want to take my huge DBA collection and rebase it?" I was thinking along the lines of something like this.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjdOTF4ugtmFyKFcc2t5zoBKvuKcLoiFaR0rZpTfSUW3LAURt9joYnh6I_a0Zhxhftp7VQmihmu8QwwdmUNsG_WiGs0SrZLCeRBfvXz7AmE49TPtqAyvg4xIuuiu1ym6PbT1JOr2Ez9a9m6h7zato0J-e2Z-mvAMHatU-QpnBpVVVTmOktA34" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1648" data-original-width="3148" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjdOTF4ugtmFyKFcc2t5zoBKvuKcLoiFaR0rZpTfSUW3LAURt9joYnh6I_a0Zhxhftp7VQmihmu8QwwdmUNsG_WiGs0SrZLCeRBfvXz7AmE49TPtqAyvg4xIuuiu1ym6PbT1JOr2Ez9a9m6h7zato0J-e2Z-mvAMHatU-QpnBpVVVTmOktA34=w640-h336" width="640" /></a></div><br />The idea is that I would base each figure separately, on a small base (white rectangles with a red line). When playing DBA (upper left and upper right) the number of figures per base and the base dimensions (gray rectangle with black line) would be correct. But I could then pull the individual figures out and slot them into larger individual bases (lower left) and use them for other systems.<p></p><p>The one catch in all of this is that one set of figures I would really like to use with this basing scheme have a beautiful basing scheme. The idea of destroying that for something lesser I would do is hard to contemplate right now.</p><p>I have been thinking about doing the same sort of scheme with my 15mm AWI figures. Currently some are based 2-3 figures on 40mm by 20mm bases, single figures on ½" square bases, and single figures on metal washers (of at least two different sizes). This scheme is sort of a 'cake and eat it too' dream.</p><p>That said, I may get rid of these figures...</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">My Wooden Soldiers</h1><p>I have always enjoyed making my wooden soldiers. I have heard people say "that takes too long", but once you've assembled multi-part plastic models, scraped off their mould lines, and filled in the gaps you realize that making minimalist figures like mine is actually quicker. Also, having no cast details means you can paint only those details you want freehand, so it goes much quicker.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi22Sp-o4gD9cb45yq8-M1O18vFDAr-bRk9VNcw-z26AX392bcGQmrNZxVDT3tTvAXy462PUINMF1-7vC1zT9Hid7dpX1PRyhguOmUiMi3q2CprLa3AxJMX6OcQIPhU107jOdZW0LaReoQMJI3jkRCnbhTs3NGF46brsBpMeEpqpddCHdrKo-c" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="618" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi22Sp-o4gD9cb45yq8-M1O18vFDAr-bRk9VNcw-z26AX392bcGQmrNZxVDT3tTvAXy462PUINMF1-7vC1zT9Hid7dpX1PRyhguOmUiMi3q2CprLa3AxJMX6OcQIPhU107jOdZW0LaReoQMJI3jkRCnbhTs3NGF46brsBpMeEpqpddCHdrKo-c=w400-h213" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">WWII British Infantry</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Every time I bring out my wooden figures, or post them in battle reports, people always remark on them. I once played in a DBA tournament with handmade wooden figures and no one refused to play against me because 'they aren't real miniatures' as I imagined they might.</p><p>I know one of the things that has stopped me from selling many of my miniatures has been that I don't want to 'lose capability', i.e. not be able to play a genre or specific ruleset because I sold my miniatures. I also find myself trying to find rules to use <i>because</i> I have painted miniatures and the ones they were originally painted for have fallen out of favor. (WWII and <i>Flames of War</i> comes to mind. I like <i>Hail of Fire</i>, but they keep changing because the author comes up with great new ideas.)</p><p>So my new plan is to make and paint new miniatures for the collections that I have – maybe not so many this time – and then when it is replaced with wood, sell off the metal and plastic. (It is going to be hard to part with my beautifully painted Thracians though. I may keep them just for display.)</p><p>What do you think?</p>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">Scale75 Instant Colors</h1>
<p>As those who have read this blog for a while know I have been experimenting with Citadel Contrast Paints, Army Painter Speedpaints, and transparent acrylic inks, washes, and paints. The idea is to paint a figure white, or primer black and then dry brush gray and white to highlight (now called the 'slap chop' method), before putting on the transparent colors. I like this style but have struggled with the various products.</p><p>To date, Citadel has been the winner, but as I watch more videos I have come to realize that the manufacturer's advice on how to use all of these products – one thick coat – is not the way to really use it. Better to use thinner coats and allow the dark and light of the undercoat show this. (Called 'value sketching'.)</p><p>There are several other competing products out there, mostly because Citadel's Contrast Paints have been so wildly successful, but I have not tried them. Green Stuff World's Dipping Inks, the upcoming Express Colors from Vallejo, and Scale75's Instant Colors have all been avoided, until now.</p><p>When I saw the first videos of Instant Colors – on Scale75's YouTube channel no less – I thought the results looked absolutely horrendous. Blotchy and pale. For some reason a video popped into my feed about 'underpainting and Instant Colors' and because I am always interested to see what color people use to underpaint with – such as underpainting with pink if the color will be yellow – I decided to watch it. I was actually amazed that the final product was so good and he used Instant Colors. So I went out to a hobby shop and bought one set (8 paints for $50) to give it a try.</p><p>What I found is that you need to treat these like paints, i.e. use thin coats and not thick ones like the manufacturer suggests. Unlike Speedpaints (and many Contrast Paints) which are <b>very</b> saturated with one coat, Instant Colors increases saturation as you lay down more coats. The figure below shows what I mean.</p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
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<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgKQ_4UMBsdd5FQ1TaSTgocrT3NK4rrYJUaJnhPBpJ4DvlnGFSdzhcRxy020TQ839ReoyBx41hcUWVBX886gM0agLl0ceb_h335N_RqSZIu5S5JYzqVRdLMR_Hl82Sj8sYz7H-o_nBbNCr5srvxwT9wISW_Q5KaksH7yVZyMu8HTLn7n7TLFpo" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="585" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgKQ_4UMBsdd5FQ1TaSTgocrT3NK4rrYJUaJnhPBpJ4DvlnGFSdzhcRxy020TQ839ReoyBx41hcUWVBX886gM0agLl0ceb_h335N_RqSZIu5S5JYzqVRdLMR_Hl82Sj8sYz7H-o_nBbNCr5srvxwT9wISW_Q5KaksH7yVZyMu8HTLn7n7TLFpo" width="163" /></a></td>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgN65LPfKXDu12b-JCFUobmY1PIrV23IDC6XRUvBLRozOCV4dF-oKxqK_oqSP3oxAxDvkNqlpKfaBBOjoS6er1WUkzwFdkVjMSiCm_B-qZ2NBqEPqh0ZuOkuICK8BkJp4SrMjR1ffzgBA25TL_0QdXdRK9e8O74pXR8GHLjel5a_zMe1KB6rpY" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="598" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgN65LPfKXDu12b-JCFUobmY1PIrV23IDC6XRUvBLRozOCV4dF-oKxqK_oqSP3oxAxDvkNqlpKfaBBOjoS6er1WUkzwFdkVjMSiCm_B-qZ2NBqEPqh0ZuOkuICK8BkJp4SrMjR1ffzgBA25TL_0QdXdRK9e8O74pXR8GHLjel5a_zMe1KB6rpY" width="165" /></a></td>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjYjfcYNIx6NqhTxhrtIBtkM9Kquz3wW8MJFrhz67r2vLyXRmO4iUQURsa-59P45OvUwZ74AO5PNZ-QhqkLe-JyJSqZLgXppmS7xpAbZ9UZ7H4h7sWO4SbGJgyOxLqyzLejcmXxfldP2jbCw9fNzR694CLDCZ2N6Tn1rFf63I8BitW_gee01sU" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="588" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjYjfcYNIx6NqhTxhrtIBtkM9Kquz3wW8MJFrhz67r2vLyXRmO4iUQURsa-59P45OvUwZ74AO5PNZ-QhqkLe-JyJSqZLgXppmS7xpAbZ9UZ7H4h7sWO4SbGJgyOxLqyzLejcmXxfldP2jbCw9fNzR694CLDCZ2N6Tn1rFf63I8BitW_gee01sU" width="163" /></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One Coat</td>
<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two Coats</td>
<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three Coats</td>
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<p>Okay, they fewer the coats, the blotchier it is, but seriously, the above looks like they came from three different bottles of paint. Further, because they act as filters due to their transparency, if you use different colors on top of one another, you effectively make new colors without mixing. <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qDRGbSqVNl7RKQ0DMXZNw2APCiOcMoXJ/view" target="_blank">This document</a> provides a really good example of what each Instant Color looks like over a specific color of primer. This has been my second most serious complaint about Speedpaints; they are <b>too</b> saturated and you have to thin with expensive medium to desaturate it. With Instant Colors it looks like it would be much easier to replicate the desaturated<a href="http://1000footgeneral.blogspot.com/2012/09/dark-ages-color-palettes.html" target="_blank"> color palette from pre-industrial dyes.</a> (That is a good resource for what colors to really use, by the way.)</p><p>So, as this is more the way I like to paint now, white base with transparent colors, followed by blacklining with inks to separate colors, Instant Colors <i>not</i> providing a strong contrast actually works better for me. (I went out and immediately bought a second set to test.) It will be interesting to see how this plays out on wooden figures.</p><p>Well, that is it for now. Next time, an update on one of my favorite rules, <i>Tin Soldiers in Action</i> and a report from a convention I will be attending. (Unfortunately <b>not</b> Fall-In 2022.)</p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-72256040855189566832022-10-06T20:26:00.001-07:002022-10-07T09:18:47.819-07:00A Fistful of Lead (Reloaded)<h1 style="text-align: left;"> Fistful of Lead (Reloaded)</h1><p>A gaming buddy in Tucson, Bill Bushong (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/landsknecht1525" target="_blank">YouTube channel</a>), invited me to a game today. Given that his schedule and mine rarely meshed, it has been a while since I have gamed with Bill as his terrain is always outstanding (as you will see). Now that I am retired and healed, I was able to synch with his schedule and we met up to play an Old West scenario using the rules <i>Fistful of Lead (Reloaded)</i> (FoLR). As I had never played these rules – although I watched <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/TheJoyofWargaming" target="_blank"><i>The Joy of Wargaming</i> YouTube channel</a> use them – I went ahead and bought them thinking that this was Bill's Old West go-to rules.</p><p>I read through the rules portion (skipping the scenarios, campaign material, and such) and realized that somebody I had been watching plays them "wrong". (Actually, I think it would be more accurate to say he intentionally plays a specific game mechanic wrong in order to facilitate decision making while gaming solo.) These rules are pretty simple and clean. Only two things came up where we played it wrong and only one thing was not spelled out sufficiently where it required we come to an agreement, during the middle of a game, on how to interpret it. Bill being the easy-going guy that he is decided to go with my interpretation, as it would affect us equally in a positive way.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Turn Sequence</h2><p>FoLR uses cards to handle activation and sequencing. Each player is dealt one card per model. The player takes those cards into a hand and plays them during the turn. The cards are called out from King down to Deuce in turn and if a player has one of those cards he activates one of his figures that have not yet been activated and takes two actions. (Aces and Jokers are wild, meaning you can assign them a value of any other card.) Some cards have special effects, such as allowing a player to reload without having to take an action, add +1 to shooting, or heal 1 wound. Once all cards are played by both sides, the cards are shuffled and the next turn started.</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i>It is interesting to note that Bill and I did not shuffle the deck until it was exhausted, rather than shuffling at the start of each turn. I actually preferred this method because once the special cards are played, you know they won't come up again until the deck is reshuffled. So the odds are not constant from turn-to-turn and card counting actually has a use.</i></p></blockquote><h2 style="text-align: left;">Actions</h2><p>The basic actions a figure can take are move, shoot, aim, reload, climb, jump, etc. Because you have two actions you can mix and match them in the order you want (move then shoot, shoot then move, etc.), allowing a player to use micro-tactics. There is no holding of actions (i.e. overwatch), so no complicated rules regarding that. Simple, like I like it.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Shooting</h2><p>Basically you have a target number for short range firing and another for long range firing. If you moved, or the enemy moved this turn, that gives a -1 penalty (each). Each wound taken also grants a -1 penalty. Finally soft and hard cover grant a -1 and -2 penalty, respectively. That is pretty much it. There are a few other special case modifiers (card special effects, being pinned, etc.), but it is all very easy to keep in your head. A '1' is out of ammo and a '10' is always a hit.</p><p>If you roll the target number or higher on a 1D10 (1D12 for a crack shot; 1D8 with a green horn) you have hit your target. You then roll a 1D10 to wound the target. (This may also be modified by a weapon, such as a shotgun at close range.) The wounds can be Pin (go to ground), Wounded (three wounds = dead), and Dead.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Close Combat</h2><p>This is an opposed 1D10 die roll (with a few modifiers) between the two sides. The highest roller wins. For every point of difference between the two modified rolls 1D10 is rolled to wound. <strike>All of the effects rolled are applied. (Close combat is deadly!)</strike> The worst effect rolled is applied.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Wounding</h2><p>As stated previously, each figure has three wounds. In addition, two Pin results in a Wound. Wounds affect movement, shooting accuracy, and close combat. Wounds and Pins force a player to recover at the start of the next turn, which has a 50/50 chance. If you recover, you get one action; if you don't you can't do anything but crawl away.</p><p>That's pretty much it. A very simple, clean system. Their activation system will appease those that hate activation systems because everyone will eventually activate, while those that love them will lie this because it still creates the chaos/fog of war/friction that they always rave about.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Gunfight at the Lazy Corral</h1><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrxTvbLyGVD99G3sVdK0ksrXU8DTZ98ZigEwEhvVe94QeSSXtzZG79yorqHz6dDpHMtbwdDxxHJVHnrx_4kY1p-Z9SPU1dAL5clQ0SPM8Xn4vyqY_LOrVPjgnCfXsc1otnEPULlrGjGrqq_2fOstKiIXbzxPprAuWiX0cOCBDdAzAY0UWmdPU" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="662" data-original-width="1296" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrxTvbLyGVD99G3sVdK0ksrXU8DTZ98ZigEwEhvVe94QeSSXtzZG79yorqHz6dDpHMtbwdDxxHJVHnrx_4kY1p-Z9SPU1dAL5clQ0SPM8Xn4vyqY_LOrVPjgnCfXsc1otnEPULlrGjGrqq_2fOstKiIXbzxPprAuWiX0cOCBDdAzAY0UWmdPU=w640-h326" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the South Side of Town</td></tr></tbody></table><br />When I saw this layout it was just "Wow!". Bill puts on a good table. The figures were all well painted too.<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXAErdGIc8kUz2WxYUCqg9uEvHtDj_6fFteb4BK0h1zp1awxpvRVdwmKM4-kARlKBBtVLwZfbBbgLxHMaqKsUCrv6JS-2noeD9f11yUqoINHvS0SX5vJPdia9VSDp97-4Jzl-UPKOZe-dkUDDnO0gONt6aHAB2ZNrp7W4eRuQxuILZ4uDce6I" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="980" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXAErdGIc8kUz2WxYUCqg9uEvHtDj_6fFteb4BK0h1zp1awxpvRVdwmKM4-kARlKBBtVLwZfbBbgLxHMaqKsUCrv6JS-2noeD9f11yUqoINHvS0SX5vJPdia9VSDp97-4Jzl-UPKOZe-dkUDDnO0gONt6aHAB2ZNrp7W4eRuQxuILZ4uDce6I=w544-h640" width="544" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the East Side of Town</td></tr></tbody></table><br />This scenario finds the rowdy Stinky Pete Gang drunk at the Lazy Corral. The Marshal has been looking for Stinky Pete 'dead or alive' so a townsman alerts the Marshal and his posse of 5 to their presence. Meanwhile another townsman alerts Stinky Pete and his 5 gang members that the Marshal is coming for them.<p></p><p>The Marshal and his group start on the north side of town, west of the church. Stinky Pete and his gang all start within the corral. Two major modifiers from what looks like an even scenario:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Each gang member must roll to see if they are drunk at the start of the game. (50/50 chance) Being drunk counts as being wounded once. (<i>Half of my gang, including Stinky Pete, were drunk.</i>)</li><li>Figures were WYSIWYG, so the Marshal's posse all had pistols, save for one shotgun. The gang all started with pistols and two additionally had carbines.</li></ul><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i>I personally thought the scenario was lopsided agains the gang. I still think it is, despite the results.</i></p></blockquote><p>Stinky Pete is a known gunfighter and thus rolls a 1D12 when shooting (rather than 1D10). He has one green horn who rolls 1D8 though. <i>The Marshal was also supposed to be a gunfighter.</i></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i>Please note that I forgot to take photos in the beginning, but that did not matter as it was mostly moving into 12" pistol range and early long range shots missed.</i></p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiiZT52a2iFOlqDOiR3YAtjjuUSGcORkUVUQLr_igIMePmuGnp2WjnBD9l4Ct8ukUw_-9oQ0C7paQFEZULcx8gUkn3zoT1XY_50RywUoqrCGwrAexHMAJPG9PIFKFETAuAYXDQXqb4M3JMl2N_fpxQykro52li3ValIjCxbVR9binvBj9-B3Gc" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1022" data-original-width="1296" height="507" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiiZT52a2iFOlqDOiR3YAtjjuUSGcORkUVUQLr_igIMePmuGnp2WjnBD9l4Ct8ukUw_-9oQ0C7paQFEZULcx8gUkn3zoT1XY_50RywUoqrCGwrAexHMAJPG9PIFKFETAuAYXDQXqb4M3JMl2N_fpxQykro52li3ValIjCxbVR9binvBj9-B3Gc=w640-h507" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1 - The Left Flank<br />Gang Member with Carbine kills Deputy</td></tr></tbody></table><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><i>Please note that a red chip represents one wound; yellow the unit is pinned; blue that the figure has an unloaded weapon; and white that the unit has activated this turn. (As this is the end of a turn, no white chips should be showing, but …)</i></p></blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgiSmk-w4pAVM0nYZ-L8PrPLNjYG9l4NT_adGtbOtC2hcGky4OkiDhMqHOz3Ye7jdvls5wvjmKkU2-m-CGE740NwEvkkKMcgUCmKPG0OT2LZMlNzPgHLN4EwwDeXjhY2V4j78ox7KVpz1XbqhAL8PJoqM3MW7hGKIEXxby-THrcLsNJyuEhqls" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1296" data-original-width="1260" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgiSmk-w4pAVM0nYZ-L8PrPLNjYG9l4NT_adGtbOtC2hcGky4OkiDhMqHOz3Ye7jdvls5wvjmKkU2-m-CGE740NwEvkkKMcgUCmKPG0OT2LZMlNzPgHLN4EwwDeXjhY2V4j78ox7KVpz1XbqhAL8PJoqM3MW7hGKIEXxby-THrcLsNJyuEhqls=w616-h640" width="616" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1 - The Center<br /><span style="text-align: left;">Stinky Pete and the posse member with the shotgun trade shots, resulting in the latter being pinned.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i>Note that the Marshal's side did not notice the gang member sneaking up from the rear (upper right corner by the yellow '!'). This becomes critical next turn.</i></p></blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjLlEXKQOGu4iRGw8CXp704clqx0e3UkE4Y3UsJbLxIK_R-d2652zIKCpJ1GiyjhmOh_t3IFaD9oLi2IEZWCFru6D86AGFravtD2FUu1WviAus6-RpfH0bm7HAAy_kJDUQ_bnjhJaEYnjAuL6NnuUBwqB2vIsyWMhzGGNtZb_L645kTeeyqFI" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1296" data-original-width="1296" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjLlEXKQOGu4iRGw8CXp704clqx0e3UkE4Y3UsJbLxIK_R-d2652zIKCpJ1GiyjhmOh_t3IFaD9oLi2IEZWCFru6D86AGFravtD2FUu1WviAus6-RpfH0bm7HAAy_kJDUQ_bnjhJaEYnjAuL6NnuUBwqB2vIsyWMhzGGNtZb_L645kTeeyqFI=w640-h640" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1 - The Right Flank<br /><span style="text-align: left;">The green horn climbs up to the roof of the building and trades shots with a deputy below. Another gang member fires with his carbine around the corner and pins the deputy in the open.</span></td></tr></tbody></table>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i>Note that both sides have one figure that was not shown in these pictures. They are getting ready to face off outside the fence of the Lazy Corral.</i></p></blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEih3yqSkyg2SxR-gOEP4jFJCdZ95m9gVZZv1oTaHA5yJTYT37ZRLaqz9ZMiCSJcoKy_357QJiRPGYs4YlIjT70SljYDGp2BHkz9VlvyQFVTURchYrtO5AUCEEKLbz0a4VK64-E_UGTj59KglizeXfWFGAFOI4tbBdjvG1zK3F43Q2-vBa65W-4" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="828" data-original-width="1296" height="406" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEih3yqSkyg2SxR-gOEP4jFJCdZ95m9gVZZv1oTaHA5yJTYT37ZRLaqz9ZMiCSJcoKy_357QJiRPGYs4YlIjT70SljYDGp2BHkz9VlvyQFVTURchYrtO5AUCEEKLbz0a4VK64-E_UGTj59KglizeXfWFGAFOI4tbBdjvG1zK3F43Q2-vBa65W-4=w640-h406" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2 - The Left Flank<br /><span style="text-align: left;">The gang continues to trade fire with the deputy, pinning him.</span></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh9rSmohsPT9podqL9WS0gx-nRByNumpv-Ug6SWUvQZHyZH1wM_SSfAft6QFD6wQQbEQYYVacFlfrv0Q3W0ApS62d_9b8h1qpOlfAcfDAeGUd0wwb7wYEvZHmweVYrQBXJAgQP6oZZyFfbUWMn39sD5CstrYIx-nO8qWb6Zek3yCyyLQCaiZBk" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="742" data-original-width="1296" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh9rSmohsPT9podqL9WS0gx-nRByNumpv-Ug6SWUvQZHyZH1wM_SSfAft6QFD6wQQbEQYYVacFlfrv0Q3W0ApS62d_9b8h1qpOlfAcfDAeGUd0wwb7wYEvZHmweVYrQBXJAgQP6oZZyFfbUWMn39sD5CstrYIx-nO8qWb6Zek3yCyyLQCaiZBk=w640-h366" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2 - Left Center<br />Sneaky Pete smacks the Deputy from behind, wounding him and knocking him down.</td></tr></tbody></table>
<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZgerwbKx8PZ9LbfvejiHTFH621-dlWeEuvBR-47RIu6LnchAX33uuenT_21VRlOGQY11hHGuAky0woOiaqQsGofPEqA7fR2lRgbeT7cb8lUoMldhK4qNYZi9XKQTDRkilweHuxvpqNNman88AYKqJ87H4a6OOcBvXhW8Rwi4oBFJYwzYnpf0" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1296" data-original-width="1147" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZgerwbKx8PZ9LbfvejiHTFH621-dlWeEuvBR-47RIu6LnchAX33uuenT_21VRlOGQY11hHGuAky0woOiaqQsGofPEqA7fR2lRgbeT7cb8lUoMldhK4qNYZi9XKQTDRkilweHuxvpqNNman88AYKqJ87H4a6OOcBvXhW8Rwi4oBFJYwzYnpf0=w560-h640" width="560" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2 - Right Center<br />Deputy 'Sundance' Butch charges 'Two Pistol' Pete who guns him down.</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i><span>O</span>ne of the special effects in the game is that if a Deuce is played, each Shooting action allows two shots. You still run out of ammo at the same rate, but you definitely increase the change of wounding the enemy.</i></p></blockquote><p><i></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOrhl_AyWsLibM9ELpLn4cXuXA3T7LUJa-zFSIp_yibQoCPMohyhTd3pvWywxZacC9ksLEOqDixDg1w8EGs2sAR-zo3-ah27AB8Pm1zFUM_BClsT1Ua88qGUMp0LWpq2SxCTo3zEjpanEtFYlQlcC_78cPa-vkXdxzEsam-vnKbr0OIDtcbU8" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="910" data-original-width="1296" height="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOrhl_AyWsLibM9ELpLn4cXuXA3T7LUJa-zFSIp_yibQoCPMohyhTd3pvWywxZacC9ksLEOqDixDg1w8EGs2sAR-zo3-ah27AB8Pm1zFUM_BClsT1Ua88qGUMp0LWpq2SxCTo3zEjpanEtFYlQlcC_78cPa-vkXdxzEsam-vnKbr0OIDtcbU8=w640-h446" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2 - The Right Flank<br />The gang members again exchange fire with the Marshal and his Deputy. The Deputy gets wounded and pinned. The Marshal and the gang member with the carbine both run end unloaded.</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitPso6DYD4eikIbitazr20-wZ2Aa2lf4Je79983t5iifMWvats9FPvBdsn3gfC8lHXcWXPmNp8z2lXHcIQGhSHLsu-UI2sw74kq2i8LKp94qx9ZBdxYEYAAXA6G63U0p9eORoYRCGcKfGIHHLQ-AiqPPeCyU6NEDso4XrhUjAu6a75st-EuGM" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="929" data-original-width="1296" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitPso6DYD4eikIbitazr20-wZ2Aa2lf4Je79983t5iifMWvats9FPvBdsn3gfC8lHXcWXPmNp8z2lXHcIQGhSHLsu-UI2sw74kq2i8LKp94qx9ZBdxYEYAAXA6G63U0p9eORoYRCGcKfGIHHLQ-AiqPPeCyU6NEDso4XrhUjAu6a75st-EuGM=w640-h458" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3 - The Left Flank<br />Both sides continue to blaze away, with the Deputy getting wounded.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhU-2QH-WL7YSSsHCJ9qph-snIt2kI2YgbQnZSZdAPx0lCo4u1DxUlmZQJ8LjcT59xy4tjmbRyyqsNyHfQceqK2vQFaiUwD351iQat_sDnl0DcrBudA82F29mJpCVKbvv7IcSOrPoh5aDBdVY2433jaz46VADEK4pZakiDingQOaI5H30t_Nac" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1296" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhU-2QH-WL7YSSsHCJ9qph-snIt2kI2YgbQnZSZdAPx0lCo4u1DxUlmZQJ8LjcT59xy4tjmbRyyqsNyHfQceqK2vQFaiUwD351iQat_sDnl0DcrBudA82F29mJpCVKbvv7IcSOrPoh5aDBdVY2433jaz46VADEK4pZakiDingQOaI5H30t_Nac=w640-h456" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3 - Center<br />Sneaky Pete finished off the Deputy with the shotgun. (He did not really stand a chance.)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgrfEB2cDNvwZHFPKIBI1jsKxC9gtjWPrha4ukOavrPqNthZbOaZvT-DP5pg2cmHCcTFLzpaMbhd7KpuaHZb7oiVJGhuxeG25OCELayjRLjSCFLoLYSYc5r8weSq-JNkMJ0BJ1x9LVQPSbAtTdqcjrlHiX5P9DXIZZZA4i1SYZnSVasWLC60Yo" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1296" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgrfEB2cDNvwZHFPKIBI1jsKxC9gtjWPrha4ukOavrPqNthZbOaZvT-DP5pg2cmHCcTFLzpaMbhd7KpuaHZb7oiVJGhuxeG25OCELayjRLjSCFLoLYSYc5r8weSq-JNkMJ0BJ1x9LVQPSbAtTdqcjrlHiX5P9DXIZZZA4i1SYZnSVasWLC60Yo=w640-h420" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3 - The Right Flank<br />Another Deputy goes down, this time at the hands of the green horn gang member.</td></tr></tbody></table>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i>At this point law enforcement is down to the Marshal and one Deputy, but still they press on.</i></p></blockquote>
<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjM64_cZnn-hq5NA8G5AB_2frT2mXLolg5Jw6atj_ugW7mJ5w-GRaYiTxk5YRjhPxTjxihqFUAHhaYB6QI3oFqPZ1ZuXn2hLkc2zCazOprf9fYdWxYXK4SXH1DBXOYdfenSWWpnAV4oEJHbFnN0Wj0VT8rl3a8pRbDhfORJXTTpRgBHF3xGUCM" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="1296" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjM64_cZnn-hq5NA8G5AB_2frT2mXLolg5Jw6atj_ugW7mJ5w-GRaYiTxk5YRjhPxTjxihqFUAHhaYB6QI3oFqPZ1ZuXn2hLkc2zCazOprf9fYdWxYXK4SXH1DBXOYdfenSWWpnAV4oEJHbFnN0Wj0VT8rl3a8pRbDhfORJXTTpRgBHF3xGUCM=w640-h232" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">6 - The Left Flank<br />Stinky Pete finishes off the last Deputy with his shotgun.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjzXN_tSuqH1gbMg0CNbwPQMDbmFnzOqpaYPTz91TsHund7DJ01a6mdBO8OTFosru0d8caWiTd4qj_5k_8wEXoT40856VtuEBu4MHGja4OY2fe53CV1xBCaFVReQjJoOK1RGsY3okjx9wpPbvJ-iIE_FfAJ--E86t6Fy4wVCQpEBmcRFU73WuQ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="977" data-original-width="1296" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjzXN_tSuqH1gbMg0CNbwPQMDbmFnzOqpaYPTz91TsHund7DJ01a6mdBO8OTFosru0d8caWiTd4qj_5k_8wEXoT40856VtuEBu4MHGja4OY2fe53CV1xBCaFVReQjJoOK1RGsY3okjx9wpPbvJ-iIE_FfAJ--E86t6Fy4wVCQpEBmcRFU73WuQ=w640-h486" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">6 - The Right Flank<br />The Marshal gets caught in a crossfire and gets taken down.</td></tr></tbody></table>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Scenario Summary</h2>
<p>I really thought, and still think, that the gang is at a disadvantage. So why did they win so thoroughly, taking no casualties while killing all of the enemy?</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The gang having two long arms while law enforcement had none was a significant advantage. There were numerous times when I was shooting at short range and the return fire was at long range. The difference in range is a -30% penalty to hit.</li><li>The Jokers produce a random event. Two of those random events caused one of the gang members a -1 penalty for one turn each. Fortunately, they happened when those figures were out of combat, so had no effect on play. The other random event was a figure found a shotgun and shells. That figure was Stinky Pete. Because he rolled 1D12 to hit, that made the shotgun deadly.</li><li>The law was much more aggressive than the gang. Because the latter had long arms they were able to plink away at their enemies while the ones packing pistols maneuvered in close. Too many times the law ran out into the open, hoping for a lucky shot at a gang member in cover. (Essentially they were looking for a '10'.)</li><li>At the end of turn 2 the law was down, 4 to 6. By the end of turn 3 it was 2 to 6. I can understand them taking a chance of coming back on turn 3 as this game has a reputation for see-sawing back and forth quickly, but after turn 3, the odds were too great. They should have voluntarily retreated.</li></ul>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Game Summary</h2>
<p>I like these rules. I would definitely like to get another supplement, say for WW II or modern, to see how they handle weapons with a higher rate of fire. I don't have a good set of skirmish rules for these periods. (For horse & musket and pre-gunpowder periods I am good with <i>One-Hour Skirmish Wargames</i> (OHSW). I will have to try those rules with WW II again someday.)</p><p>I like the semi-random activation order that FoLR uses (the same as both <i>Bolt Action</i> and <i>The Sword and the Flame</i> does) much better than the random order that specifies the side and unit activation order that <i>Tin Soldiers in Action</i> uses, or the random roll to see whether the unit activates, and the order stop if you fail (<i>Warmaster</i>, <i>Black Powder</i>, all of the <i>~ Rampant</i> series, etc.). In the end I prefer rules that allow every unit to act each turn. IGO-UGO turn sequences where the entire side goes are simpler, but leads to all kinds of issues – the Alpha Strike being the primary one – unless it is specifically controlled for.</p><p>The simplicity of the combat system is nice. Die roll modifiers are a tried and true mechanism and works well as long as the list of modifiers do not get out of hand. If you can easily keep them in mind (with a 60 year-old brain), then that is about right.</p><p>The only morale, per se, is if a figure is pinned and then, when they attempt to recover, they roll a '1', the figure routs off of the board. Otherwise no rolls are made when wounded or you see someone die. In this regard, I like the fact that OHSW has a mechanism for determining if your force gives up the fight.</p><p>UPDATE: there were so many errors played in this game, it is not funny. I had watched these rules played on YouTube (several channels) and so I only skimmed the rules before playing. There were some differences I spotted, but there was a lot wrong. (I no longer rely on YouTube videos to 'teach' me how to play a game. Unless it is Rodney Smith on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/WatchItPlayed" target="_blank">Watch it Played channel</a>, I just don't trust that they are going to get it all correct.)</p><p>Because of all of the errors in this game I am glad I did not formally review the rules.</p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-61858791842546389152022-09-11T18:22:00.000-07:002022-09-11T18:22:00.566-07:00Another Scenario for One-Hour Skirmish Wargames<p>This post includes another scenario and some special rules for a skirmish game.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Playing OHSW Virtually</h1><p>I wanted gaming buddy Justo to try out <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2022/09/dark-age-one-hour-skirmish-wargames.html" target="_blank">my version of the <i>Sword & Sandal</i> (S&S) variant</a> of <i>One-Hour Skirmish Wargames</i> (OHSW) that I used in the last post, and get some feedback on the rules. Because we had to play virtually we first needed to figure out how to play a skirmish game using online tools.</p>
<p>The first option is something like <i>Tabletop Simulator</i> (TTS) on the computer, as there are a number of skirmish and mass-combat games to use miniatures rules with, such as this one for <i>One-Hour Wargames</i>.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-DlphAVi8WOkGOHBSkE1GlzV_9eUZiPVjiKhC8YTKVQ4jpJ5zCoVisNUI_2jEhqL5xyoNmRGynrDcmjoUS342hOOFrTqZG9-XW_UfxIYxhglo8sjfp93vVeOczxYBmmh52tUADBIV9GbQN-sMFaoIErV_aW7q2gWAtVFtRufQ9P72sGusorU/s1296/OHW%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="923" data-original-width="1296" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-DlphAVi8WOkGOHBSkE1GlzV_9eUZiPVjiKhC8YTKVQ4jpJ5zCoVisNUI_2jEhqL5xyoNmRGynrDcmjoUS342hOOFrTqZG9-XW_UfxIYxhglo8sjfp93vVeOczxYBmmh52tUADBIV9GbQN-sMFaoIErV_aW7q2gWAtVFtRufQ9P72sGusorU/w640-h456/OHW%201.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<p>If it does not have miniatures to your liking, you can always search TTS's Workshop for the keyword "miniatures" and find some others, like these medieval miniatures I found.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT0BvEgEgD32CkeEk2etIXkVMY1yCpx7NEr2iBZ7lHyIPutU1SuBm4_dRCmdP-GotIhcCuTP6Vg4Ly4jxlX7kNXXdaeoLJbEfWOK5WmM1DFleHmBGgt4xOQ0n7pearjXBOJHK-D9FuQMf-2T-jUlnB5_EnQQs1yNIn_xC7gulYZv3BoK7Xar8/s1097/MedievalMiniatures.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="1097" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT0BvEgEgD32CkeEk2etIXkVMY1yCpx7NEr2iBZ7lHyIPutU1SuBm4_dRCmdP-GotIhcCuTP6Vg4Ly4jxlX7kNXXdaeoLJbEfWOK5WmM1DFleHmBGgt4xOQ0n7pearjXBOJHK-D9FuQMf-2T-jUlnB5_EnQQs1yNIn_xC7gulYZv3BoK7Xar8/w640-h368/MedievalMiniatures.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p>But, I wasn't sure Justo had TTS and, although we have both played games using <i>Vassal</i>, I did not want to tackle making or modifying a module for a scenario. So I fell back to my default: creating a grid for the map and using grid movement rather than freeform movement. The first problem to solve: how to convert OHSW to a square grid.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Converting OHSW to a Grid</h2>
<p>As always, the first thing you need to do is figure out what the cell of the grid (square or hex) represents in terms of ground scale. Because most movement values are closely divisible by 3, I decided each cell was about 3" of ground, so a 3' square board would be 12 rows and 12 columns. Within a single cell you could have two friendly fighters (so four figures total, two for each side).</p>
<p>All distances were converted by taking the distance and dividing by 3, rounded to the nearest. So weapons with a 1/2" or 1" zone of control (ZOC) would be 0 cells (same cell only) and 2" reach would have a 1 cell ZOC and attack range.</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i>In the original playtest we allowed long weapons to attack diagonal, adjacent squares, but I am leaning towards not allowing that. Diagonal squares represent a distance of roughly 1.5 times ground scale, or 4 1/2", which is a stretch for a weapon that originally had a reach of 2".</i></p></blockquote>
<p>For movement it was the same, so light foot was 3 squares, medium and heavy were 2 squares.</p>
<p>When 'measuring', you count each cell in between the starting cell to the ending cell, plus the ending cell (but not the starting one). That is the distance. For squares (but not hexes) where you trace a line (of sight, march, or fire) diagonally the first such square will count as 1 square, the second as 2, the third as 1, the fourth as 2, and so on alternating the cost between 1 and 2 points each. Example: the player trace a line through four diagonal squares. The distance is 6 squares (1 + 2 + 1 +2).</p>
<p>The one exception that I made for fudging the distances was for the combat results. Combat results that force a figure to retreat always results in the figure retreating one cell away from the enemy.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">Protecting Downed Friends</h1>
<p>Another area that I wanted to address was the effect of a figure's ZOC has on enemy trying to dispatch downed friends. Although this should be added to the ZOC section of the S&S variant rules, they were playtested in this game.</p><p>Basically the rule is that if a figure is in the ZOC of an enemy, or you have an enemy in your ZOC that is in the same cell (within 1", in freeform movement games) it cannot dispatch a downed opponent unless that enemy is also engaged by another figure in close combat.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfuFvMppTjROf9wMdtlzm79LdELLfBSOYCXH31AOKMj_FFmAq0ObBjYyZJPzyuoQKtAKhRfy--jpZGw_6QDf2MZjSRLwtRFkVHPgvDE9rODjcueHj48apDM0u657YfXYjq6idzTSwaOIEc75e50tka04kWpFVmn8snVQBELyf9W5BdfZAwnpM/s1540/Example1@10x.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1070" data-original-width="1540" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfuFvMppTjROf9wMdtlzm79LdELLfBSOYCXH31AOKMj_FFmAq0ObBjYyZJPzyuoQKtAKhRfy--jpZGw_6QDf2MZjSRLwtRFkVHPgvDE9rODjcueHj48apDM0u657YfXYjq6idzTSwaOIEc75e50tka04kWpFVmn8snVQBELyf9W5BdfZAwnpM/w400-h278/Example1@10x.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<p>In the example above X2 cannot dispatch the downed A1 because it is in the ZOC of Y1. B1, however, can dispatch the downed A2 with a long weapon as B2 has attacked A4 with his own long weapon, engaging him.</p><p>Originally, I had the rule simply as you had to have 1 more figure than the number of non-Downed enemy figures. Both accomplish the same thing, but the current rule is a bit more complex when long weapons come into play on both sides. An example is the figure below.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBQ8eiWeyCvGMmaci4GSxbOuJ8IPNkAQ_LrZfjKfjwwyqCQzOOGrVWNiPiqlyt8LRV0h-ihz9Y-WOPesbaWJH4hU7aM13NMa9HNyjeZWSbAw8-I98M6EFjrEQELleGACS11Rkrmu8nEOK2qQ4j7tQUAUWeQyzIElM-WgYd6QRm2fMpGuKhiKU/s1080/Example2@10x.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1070" data-original-width="1080" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBQ8eiWeyCvGMmaci4GSxbOuJ8IPNkAQ_LrZfjKfjwwyqCQzOOGrVWNiPiqlyt8LRV0h-ihz9Y-WOPesbaWJH4hU7aM13NMa9HNyjeZWSbAw8-I98M6EFjrEQELleGACS11Rkrmu8nEOK2qQ4j7tQUAUWeQyzIElM-WgYd6QRm2fMpGuKhiKU/s320/Example2@10x.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<p>Y1, with a long weapon, holds off both X2 and B1 from dispatching A1 until either X2 or B1 engage it first. Further, if Y1 wins that combat, either by killing, downing, or forcing the retreat of the enemy, it continues to block the other blue attacker.</p>
<p>Again, I want to stress this is not a 'grid' rule, but an adaptation of the S&S variant rules that I add to as I come upon new situations. The ability to easily dispatch downed foes has been the one area that has always bothered me about OHSW and this is an attempt to address that.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">Town Raid Scenario</h1>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i>If you think you might have seen this scenario before it is because it is converted from the scenario "Town Raid" in the old Warhammer Skirmish scenario book.</i></p></blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvQM7HXzX9vNWgH5aGhSME3FMSMFxl5Q_cbW3VMIejdBKAGx3MKyGkZou-SdE_swBdIOlSRTQXn_XAWr8FP9vtg1phGHv8_4MHKEEGhuHs5YICUgrboydJar16Y9npo7SXtQ2O2xvVTGKMnVhXzzu3ysnvhsZHNZgxU8a7cPCOd9NWBm0DrnI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="434" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvQM7HXzX9vNWgH5aGhSME3FMSMFxl5Q_cbW3VMIejdBKAGx3MKyGkZou-SdE_swBdIOlSRTQXn_XAWr8FP9vtg1phGHv8_4MHKEEGhuHs5YICUgrboydJar16Y9npo7SXtQ2O2xvVTGKMnVhXzzu3ysnvhsZHNZgxU8a7cPCOd9NWBm0DrnI=w290-h400" width="290" /></a></div>
<p><i>The world of the Kingdom is a dangerous place and even in these civilized lands there is still more countryside than city. It is in these places where brave freeholders must struggle daily to make a living. Ever searching out fertile land for crops and grazing settlers have followed a small river out of the dark forest to the richer plains beyond. Out beyond the coast – and who know what danger lie off there? Can the small local militia protect the farmers?</i></p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Overview</h2>
<p>A smaller attacking force – as part of a larger attack on a town – has been tasked with making a feint attack in one section of the town with the target of killing or absconding with the town's livestock, burning buildings, and causing general mayhem. The local militia are tasked with driving off the cattle to safety, preventing the burning of buildings, and slowing the attackers until a larger defending force can arrive to drive off the attackers.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Forces</h2>
<p>Modified point costs are used, i.e. each figure costs 1 point + 1 point for each point of Army Motivation.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Defenders</h3>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>40 points</li>
<li>May include up to one leader, i.e. someone with the Leader (X) special ability.</li>
<li>10 Livestock critters</li>
<li>One 6" (2 square) barricade in the top 3/4 of the map (rows 1-9)</li>
<li>If no leader is present then the maximum Army Motivation is 1, otherwise it is 2</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Attackers</h3>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>80 points (no more than half of the figures may have bows; no mounted troops allowed)</li>
<li>Must include one leader, but may have a second</li><li>Minimum Army Motivation is 1 with a maximum of 3</li>
</ul>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Battlefield</h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe15cbgA7S74DwYnb8naVb2eWSTi9-pWhKKS08O9Y3tAplTY7eNHmHxqvHJ_5qaQxzr1hoM2gSumVBwq7BMeH5FRzRFzasXhUFCSC6O3_3_Wko4GQcqzvLrWBadte8bJi9tC3bEndMqqbdQg83ptyYAmJfeYcAIFheeYrXdIVAJDfCw4c_WqU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="6500" data-original-width="6000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe15cbgA7S74DwYnb8naVb2eWSTi9-pWhKKS08O9Y3tAplTY7eNHmHxqvHJ_5qaQxzr1hoM2gSumVBwq7BMeH5FRzRFzasXhUFCSC6O3_3_Wko4GQcqzvLrWBadte8bJi9tC3bEndMqqbdQg83ptyYAmJfeYcAIFheeYrXdIVAJDfCw4c_WqU=w592-h640" width="592" /></a></div>
<p>The buildings are not built for defense in mind, rather they are simple dwellings of farmers. The local militia had some time to set up a single 6" barricade. Red-brown rectangles are buildings. Gray rectangles are waist-high stone walls. Green circles are single trees offering no cover.</p><p>There is no difference between grass green and light brown squares; they are both open terrain.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Objectives</h2>
<p>The Attackers realize that there is little to no value in this area of the settlement, other than the cattle, but they want to draw the locals into this area to fight fires while the main attack heads to richer targets. The game ends when the defending leader (if any) or attacking leader is killed, either side fails morale, or at the end of six turns. Calculates each side's points to determine a winner.</p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i>Note that the game ending – regardless of the reason – represents the larger defending force's arrival, and the end of the attacker's marauding.</i></p></blockquote>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Attacker</h3>
<p>Each defending figure removed from the board - 1 point</p>
<p>Each livestock animal killed - 1 point</p>
<p>Each building totally destroyed - 5 point</p>
<p>Each building partially destroyed - 1 point</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Defender</h3>
<p>Each attacking figure removed from the board - 1 point</p>
<p>Each livestock animal alive or escaped - 1 point</p>
<p>Each building still standing and not on fire - 5 point</p>
<p>Each building still standing but on fire - 1 point</p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<p><i>It is important for the players to realize that the victory conditions represent not who wins this little skirmish, but about the larger action occurring elsewhere. The defenders have 1/2 of the points of the attacker; they are <b>expected</b> to get crushed. So just because the attacker wins the fight, it does not mean that they will win the scenario.</i></p>
<p><i>Players are advised to understand and keep an eye on the objectives. The defender can lose every single figure and still win the scenario. It this is not the type of scenario that you like to play – where your forces will almost certainly lose militarily – I suggest that you not play the defenders.</i></p>
</blockquote>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Deployment</h2><p>The defenders deploy first, then the attackers, then the livestock is deployed.</p><p>All defenders must start in the northern half (rows 1-6) of the map, save for a maximum of 2 figures, which may man the barricades. No two defending figures may start in the same square.</p><p>The attackers must enter from the south (bottom of the map). However, they must be deployed adjacent to the column where they will enter.</p><p>Livestock are then placed alternately (defenders choose first) anywhere on the board at least two squares from any table edge or any other livestock model. (If a livestock model cannot be placed because all eligible squares are filled, then it may be placed within 1 square of another livestock model.)</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Scenario Special Rules</h2><h3 style="text-align: left;">Attacker's Initiative</h3><p>The attacker always has the initiative on the first turn. Initiative is determined as normal on subsequent turns.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Livestock</h3><p>Livestock are +0 in defense, draw 1 card, and do not attack back in close combat if they are attacked. They are killed when the attacker exceeds the defense value by 4 or more. If the animal is not killed it immediately retreats away from the attacker 2 squares.</p><p>Either side may spend 1 AP to drive a livestock model. The figure must be in the same square as the livestock. The figure may choose which direction the livestock model retreats two squares.</p><p>Any retreating livestock that comes within 1 square of another livestock, or killed within 1 square of another livestock, will cause that livestock model to retreat 1 square directly away from the retreating or killed livestock. This can cause a chain reaction.</p><p>Livestock that run off of the board in any direction save south will be considered saved for the defenders. Those that run off towards the south will be considered killed for the attackers.</p><p>Livestock cannot enter buildings or cross stone walls, so adjust their movement accordingly.</p><p>Livestock in the square reduce the number of models <b>both</b> sides can have in the square by 1 for each livestock model. Livestock moving into a square already at capacity forces another model out of the square (player's choice). For example, two defenders and one attacker are in a square. A cow retreats into the square making the capacity one model for each side. One defending figure must retreat from the square (away from the cow).</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Setting Buildings on Fire</h3><p>The attackers using <b>one-handed</b> weapons are assumed to have torches to light the buildings on fire. Any model with a torch that is touching a building and not in close combat may try to set it on fire for 1 AP. Draw a card and if it is red, the building is on fire and the figure loses their torch. (If black is drawn another AP may be spent and another attempt may be made.)</p><p>A defender not in combat may attempt to put out the fire. Draw a card and if it is black, the fire has been extinguished.</p><p>At the end of every turn (not round!), after morale and figure recovery is determined, but before the next turn's initiative is drawn, one structural point is removed from each building per fire.</p><p>A building is considered destroyed when five structural points are removed.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Playtest</h1><p>My main concern with the playtest was getting Justo's opinion on the modified combat system and secondarily how the scenario played. Although I recorded the action through drawings, there were a number of mistakes made that sort of invalidated the game. But he got a feel for the combat system and I added a few refinements here and there to both the variant and the scenario. Our mistakes were:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>Somebody</i> forgot to put their two Jokers into their deck, making for an extremely long turn 2 with 8 rounds. (My second Joker was the third to the last card in my deck.)</li><li>I messed up on the movement speed of foot troops, so everyone was moving in slow motion.</li><li>I did not specify that the attacker's had to specify where there troops were deployed, which led to some painful flank charges that absolutely crushed my defenders.</li></ul><p></p><p>Nonetheless, my defenders won a narrow victory. I am proud to say that I saved 7 of the 10 cows, defended 2, and only lost 1 to the roasting spit of the attackers. This was largely because Justo did not read the scenario victory scoring system and brought no one with torches (figures with only one handed weapons). But he did kill all but 1 of my defenders!</p><p>Overall the combat played very well. Again, I liked the movement stemming from the combat results, the interplay between forces around protecting downed friends, and their being sufficient variety between weapons and armor. The scenario also played out very well, with the Livestock rules in particular producing some interesting results as I was trying to drive cows into other cows to cause a chain reaction of retreats to safety.</p><p>Definitely something Justo and I will try again.</p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-69432853094819785602022-09-08T13:56:00.000-07:002022-09-08T13:56:02.537-07:00Dark Age One-Hour Skirmish Wargames<p>Today I bring you a variant to a set of skirmish rules that I hope you have, a scenario, and a battle report on testing those variant rules. Plus I will update you with what is going on with me.</p><p>If you have been reading my blog awhile you know that I like to review games and post battle reports of those tests. I used to tweak rules every time I got a new set, but I have eased up on that over the years. (Except for converting them to a grid. I don't consider that 'tweaking' as much as saving my back from bending over and measuring freeform movement.) That said, if I like a rule set that I think can be carried over into another period, I will write a 'variant' for that. The subject of today's variant is <i>One-Hour Skirmish Wargames</i> (OHSW), which I <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2018/12/one-hour-skirmish-wargames-review-part-1.html" target="_blank">reviewed</a> <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2018/12/one-hour-skirmish-wargames-review-part-2.html" target="_blank">in these</a> <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2018/12/one-hour-skirmish-wargames-follow-up.html" target="_blank">four</a> <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2019/04/one-hour-skirmish-wargames-and-close.html" target="_blank">posts</a>.</p>
<p>All that said, John Lambshead <i>did</i> write a pre-gunpowder variant for his rules OHSW called <i>Sword and Sandal</i> (SS) that he posted on the Facebook group. I <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2022/01/sword-and-sandals-one-hour-skirmish.html" target="_blank">tried them out</a> back in January and another (undocumented) game. I had cooled on them a little more than the review might indicate because the indecisive combat, although possibly realistic, is sort of 'death by a thousand cuts' for gaming. So, I wrote a variant while convalescing that addresses the issue.</p><p>So, what was the issue? Specifically, it was:</p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<p><i>It is at this point that I diverge from John's original design. The problem I have with the original design is that it is too card intensive. The more cards turned in a single action, the more likely a Joker will be drawn, negating the action and the remainder of the turn.</i></p>
<p><i>For example, it was possible for a single melee to draw ten cards (five per player), plus those added for Bruiser (X). This dramatically increases the chance the Joker will be drawn and the melee will not resolve. The odds of actually meleeing with three or more figures a turn is even worse. Put simply, the game was boring as few melees actually resolved.</i></p>
<p><i>The goal here is to go back to minimal card draws and represent better weapons and armor in another fashion.</i></p>
</blockquote>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">My Sword & Sandal Variant</h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3c1Wp4z_MaC94klPcmc3gnb4SZ9hEBZtReRm-t3iWlEaUM0jG8ewa_6nPXJ9KN-hgi06qOU0ZDRIyJwlLlcjaHY4gXL5YOhD-zwN1xwhizzYVD_91bHUfBMYmQJEhxJbMLkmA71aUpbExgaqDmx329ckN1Y03HntMlspKhNIGusJ-WPgTc9k/s864/TitleShot.heic" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="714" data-original-width="864" height="528" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3c1Wp4z_MaC94klPcmc3gnb4SZ9hEBZtReRm-t3iWlEaUM0jG8ewa_6nPXJ9KN-hgi06qOU0ZDRIyJwlLlcjaHY4gXL5YOhD-zwN1xwhizzYVD_91bHUfBMYmQJEhxJbMLkmA71aUpbExgaqDmx329ckN1Y03HntMlspKhNIGusJ-WPgTc9k/w640-h528/TitleShot.heic" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /><h2 style="text-align: left;">One-Hour Sword & Sandal Skirmish</h2>
<p><i>Original version PJD Lambshead<br />Variant version Dale Hurtt</i></p>
<p>Assume the rules work the same as in the OHSW book unless altered below.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Game Turn</h3>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Each player turns over a card to check for initiative.</li>
<li>The player with the highest card has the first player phase. The opponent has the second player phase.</li>
<li>Once these player phases are played, and if no joker has been drawn, go back to step 2.</li>
<li>Both players simultaneously check their army morale.</li>
<li>Both players simultaneously check to see if their downed figures stand up or are removed from play (red is dead).</li>
<li>Go back to step 1 unless the scenario dictates otherwise.</li>
</ol>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Player Phase</h3>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Draw Action Points card.</li>
<li>Move a model, resolve any combat.</li>
<li>Continue until all models have moved OR action points are exhausted OR a player passes. Note: play stops immediately if a joker is turned over; the turn ends.</li>
</ol>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Zone of Control</h3>
<p>Each model has a zone of control (ZOC) arround it corresponding to the reach of its melee weapon. There are three steps:</p>
<table border="1">
<thead><tr><td>Zone</td><td>Range</td><td>Weapon Types</td></tr></thead>
<tbody><tr><td>Zone 1</td><td>1/2"</td><td>small hand weapons</td></tr>
<tr><td>Zone 2</td><td>1"</td><td>normal hand weapons</td></tr>
<tr><td>Zone 3</td><td>2"</td><td>long one-handed thrusting spears and two-handed weapons</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Movement</h3>
<p>As OHSW except:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>A model must not enter a ZOC of an enemy model when moving unless it moves directly toward that enemy model.</li>
<li>A model may leave an enemy ZOC at the start of its movement but must move directly out of the ZOC and may not enter another enemy ZOC in the same player phase. Infantry cannot leave the ZOC of cavalry.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Combat</h3>
<p>At the end of a model's movement it may shoot or strike with a melee weapon at a cost of one action point. The target must be in range of the weapon (equal to its ZOC distance). A ranged weapon cannot be fired if the shooter is within the ZOC of an enemy figure.</p>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">Close Combat Procedure:</h4>
<p>Attacker draws two cards, discarding the lower, while the defender draws one card, per normal OHSW rules. If either figure has Bruiser (X), X additional cards would be drawn for that figure with all extra cards being discarded save the one with the highest value. Further, the attacker gets one additional card if the defender is in the ZOC of one at least one additional friendly model, while the defender gets one additional card if the attacker is in the ZOC of at least one additional friendly model. (Note this differs from the original S&S rule which states that the additional attacker must be within the defender's ZOC.)</p>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Determine the attacker's card value. Add the attacker's attack modifier and subtract the defender's defense modifier to the value of the attacker's card.</li>
<li>Determine the defender's card value. Add the defender's attack modifier and subtract the attacker's defense modifier to the value of the defender's card.</li><li>Determine who wins. The highest card value wins. That player is designated the winner; the other player the loser.</li>
<li>Subtract the lower card value from the higher and resolve the combat.</li>
</ol>
<table border="1">
<thead>
<tr><td>Difference</td><td>Movement</td><td>Other Effect</td></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>0 (tied)</td><td>Attacker retreats out of range of the defender's weapon, but a minimum of 1".</td><td>Note that this may still put the attacker within range of the defender.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1-3</td><td>Loser retreats out of range of the winner's weapon, but a minimum of 1".</td><td>Note that this may still put the winner within range of the loser.</td></tr>
<tr><td>4-5</td><td>Loser stumbles back out of range of the winner's weapon, but a minimum of 1".</td><td>Loser falls (is considered Down)</td></tr>
<tr><td>6+</td><td>Loser is removed from board.</td><td>Loser is killed.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Note that a Downed figure has zero defense, as per the original rules, and can simply be dispatched automatically in close combat.</p>
<p>The Attack Modifier is determined by the weapon the figure is using. It directly correlates to the additional point cost spent for the weapon.</p>
<table border="1">
<thead>
<tr><td>Points</td><td>Weapon Type</td><td>Attack Modifier</td></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>0</td><td>Unarmed, improvised</td><td>+0</td></tr>
<tr><td>1</td><td>Light, short, primitive</td><td>+1</td></tr>
<tr><td>2</td><td>Heavy, long</td><td>+2</td></tr>
<tr><td>3</td><td>Heavy and long</td><td>+3</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>The Defense Modifier is determined by the armor the figure is using, and whether they are cavalry.</p>
<table border="1">
<thead>
<tr><td>Points</td><td>Armor</td><td>Defense Modifier</td><td>Movement</td></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>0</td><td>None</td><td>+0</td><td>8"</td></tr>
<tr><td>1</td><td>Light or shield</td><td>+1</td><td>8"</td></tr>
<tr><td>2</td><td>Light and shield</td><td>+2</td><td>6"</td></tr>
<tr><td>2</td><td>Mail</td><td>+2</td><td>6"</td></tr>
<tr><td>3</td><td>Mail and shield</td><td>+3</td><td>5"</td></tr>
<tr><td>3</td><td>Light Cavalry</td><td>+2</td><td>12"</td></tr>
<tr><td>4</td><td>Heavy Cavalry</td><td>+3</td><td>10"</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">Ranged Weapons</h4>
<p>Ranged weapons use a slightly modified combat system.</p>
<p>The attacker and defender each draws one card, per normal OHSW rules. If the attacker has Dead Shot (X), X additional cards would be drawn for that figure with all extra cards being discarded save the one with the highest value. If the defender has Tough (X), X additional cards would be drawn for that figure with all extra cards being discarded save the one with the highest value. Being in cover further allows the defender to draw additional cards, per the normal OHSW rules.</p>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Determine the attacker's card value. Add the attacker's attack modifier and subtract the defender's defense modifier to the value of the attacker's card.</li>
<li>Determine if the attacker hits. If the attacker's card value is higher than the defender's, he has hit, otherwise he has missed and nothing further occurs.</li>
<li>Subtract the defender's card value from the attacker's and resolve the combat.</li>
</ol>
<table border="1">
<thead>
<tr><td>Difference</td><td>Movement</td><td>Other Effect</td></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>0</td><td>None</td><td>Miss</td></tr>
<tr><td>1-3</td><td>Defender may move up to 2" to cover terrain, if not already in cover. The move may not take it closer to the attacker that fired at it.</td><td>None</td></tr>
<tr><td>4+</td><td>None</td><td>Defender is Downed.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>The Attack Modifiers and Range for projectile weapons are:</p>
<table border="1">
<thead>
<tr><td>Points</td><td>Weapon</td><td>Shots</td><td>Range</td><td>Attack Modifier</td></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>0</td><td>Rock</td><td>Unl. *</td><td>8"</td><td>+0</td></tr>
<tr><td>1</td><td>Throwing Axe</td><td>1</td><td>8"</td><td>+1 **</td></tr>
<tr><td>2</td><td>Javelin</td><td>3</td><td>24"</td><td>+1 **</td></tr>
<tr><td>2</td><td>Heavy Javelin, Pilum</td><td>1</td><td>12"</td><td>+2 **</td></tr>
<tr><td>2</td><td>Sling</td><td>Unl.</td><td>Unl.</td><td>+1</td></tr>
<tr><td>1</td><td>Self Bow</td><td>Unl.</td><td>24"</td><td>+1</td></tr>
<tr><td>3</td><td>Composite Bow</td><td>Unl.</td><td>Unl.</td><td>+2</td></tr>
<tr><td>4</td><td>Longbow</td><td>Unl.</td><td>Unl.</td><td>+3</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>* It takes 1 AP to find and pick up a rock. Some terrain may not contain rocks to throw.</p>
<p>** These may be used as melee weapons, with the same Attack Modifier in close combat, at no additional cost.</p>
<p>Thrown weapons cannot be retrieved until after the battle, and only if your side won the skirmish.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">Test Scenario</h1>
<p>Similar to the last scenario I am using my Terra Tiles™ hexes as the board and opted for a road which the attacking Vikings will march down, which has a small bridge that crosses a deep stream and with woods on the opposite side. The Saxons are waiting in the woods in ambush.</p><p>Ranges are intentionally very short as I want to get stuck in and test the combat system, so I don't want a whole lot of maneuvering. Besides, I was playing in limited space beside my bed. (More on that later.)</p>
<p>Also, two things to note about the points in this scenario. The attacker intentionally has more points as the scenario is designed with the defender hidden, in cover, while the attacker marches on the board, in the open. The attacker has about a 4:3 advantage in points.</p>
<p>Secondly, if you are familiar with the points system in OHSW then you will note that figures cost more in my list than if you use the method in the book. That is because I think Army Motivation (AM) is improperly costed. In the list it shows that for each point of AM it costs 1 point. Ironically, this is listed under the model cost section, but that cost is only applied once, to the force as a whole. (You can deduce that from the point cost values listed in John's scenarios in the book.) That makes AM incredibly cheap. I have applied the cost to each model. Thus the Saxons, with a AM of 1, have a basic point cost of 1 point plus 1 point for the AM, or 2 points each. Vikings cost a basic 3 points per model as they have an AM of 2. To this basic cost you then add the cost of the close combat weapon, the ranged weapon (if any), and the armor.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Defend the Ford</h2><h3 style="text-align: left;">Saxon Defender (Army Motivation 1)</h3>
<p>Warlord: Sword, Heavy Javelin, Mail and Shield, Leader (1), Bruiser (2) = 12 points
<br />M: 5; A: +1/+2; D: +3
<br />+2 cards in melee</p>
<p>Huscarl: Two-Handed Axe, Mail and Shield, Bruiser (1) = 9 points
<br />M: 5"; A: +3; D: +2 vs Melee, +3 vs Ranged
<br />+1 card in melee</p>
<p>Blacksmith: Long Spear, Shield, Bruiser (1), Tough (1) = 7 points
<br />M: 8"; A: +2; D: +1
<br />+1 card in melee; +1 card when shot at</p>
<p>Fyrd: Long Spear, Leather and Shield = 6 points
<br />M: 6"; A +2; D: +2</p>
<p>Fyrd: Long Spear, Leather and Shield = 6 points
<br />M: 6"; A +2; D: +2</p>
<p>Archer: Self Bow, Leather = 4 points
<br />M: 8"; A: +0 in melee, +1 ranged; D: +1
<br />Range: 24"</p>
<p>Archer: Self Bow, Leather = 4 points
<br />M: 8"; A: +0 in melee, +1 ranged; D: +1
<br />Range: 24"</p>
<p>Archer: Self Bow, Leather = 4 points
<br />M: 8"; A: +0 in melee, +1 ranged; D: +1
<br />Range: 24"</p>
<p>Archer: Self Bow, Leather = 4 points
<br />M: 8"; A: +0 in melee, +1 ranged; D: +1
<br />Range: 24"</p>
<p>Total Army = 56 points</p><p>The Saxons start on the board, west of the creek, with all troops starting in cover and out of sight. (<i>As I am playing solo, I have placed the figures on the board despite them being hidden.</i> Each figure is marked with a grass green counter to show their hidden status. As soon as a figure is spotted (see below), the marker is removed. A figure may not hide after it has been revealed.)</p><p>The Saxons win if the Vikings fail morale without the Saxons also failing morale or the Viking Warlord is killed.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Viking Attacker (Army Motivation 2)</h3>
<p>Warlord: Two-Handed Axe, Mail and Shield, Leader (1), Bruiser (2) = 13 points
<br />M: 5"; A: +3; D: +2 vs Melee, +3 vs Ranged
<br />+2 cards in melee</p>
<p>Hearthguard: Two-Handed Axe, Mail and Shield, Bruiser (1) = 10 points
<br />M: 5"; A: +3; D: +2 vs Melee, +3 vs Ranged
<br />+1 card in melee</p>
<p>Hearthguard: Two-Handed Axe, Mail and Shield, Bruiser (1) = 10 points
<br />M: 5"; A: +3; D: +2 vs Melee, +3 vs Ranged
<br />+1 card in melee</p>
<p>Hearthguard: Two-Handed Axe, Mail and Shield, Bruiser (1) = 10 points
<br />M: 5"; A: +3; D: +2 vs Melee, +3 vs Ranged
<br />+1 card in melee</p>
<p>Bondi: Long Spear, Leather and Shield = 7 points
<br />M: 6"; A +2; D: +2</p>
<p>Bondi: Long Spear, Leather and Shield = 7 points
<br />M: 6"; A +2; D: +2</p>
<p>Bondi: Long Spear, Leather and Shield = 7 points
<br />M: 6"; A +2; D: +2</p>
<p>Thrall: Self Bow, Leather = 5 points
<br />M: 8"; A: +0 in melee, +1 ranged; D: +1
<br />Range: 24"</p>
<p>Thrall: Self Bow, Leather = 5 points
<br />M: 8"; A: +0 in melee, +1 ranged; D: +1
<br />Range: 24"</p>
<p>Total Army = 70 points</p>
<p><i>Note that figures with two-handed battle-axes with mail and shield pay the cost of the enhanced armor, but do not get the benefit of the shield in close combat, only against ranged combat.</i></p>
<p>The Vikings start off the board. They must specify their order of march prior to the start of the game, which dictates the order that figures may enter the board.</p><p>Viking figures may not hide.</p>
<p>The Vikings win if the Saxons fail morale without the Vikings also failing morale or the Saxon Warlord is killed. Moving off of the west end of the board via the road is <i>not</i> a victory as enemy in the rear can potentially move to your longship and burn it.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Scenario Special Rules</h3>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">Crossing the Creek</h4>
<p>A figure crossing the creek must draw a card. If the card is red then they must stop in the middle of the creek as they have started to fall. (If the card is black they continue their movement, as normal.) If the figure has slipped they draw another card. If it is also red then they have fallen and may drown. The figure is considered Downed.</p>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">Attacker's Initiative</h4>
<p>As the attacker has initiative (the defenders are waiting in ambush), there is no draw for initiative on turn one; the Vikings automatically have it and move first.</p>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">Hidden Units and Spotting</h4>
<p>After each Movement action a Viking figure takes, it draws a single card. The value of the card indicates the number of inches away it can spot all hidden enemy figures within line of sight. Remove the hidden markers for all figures spotted.</p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<p><i>Within line of sight means that there is no intervening terrain that cannot be seen through between the spotting figure and the hidden figure, save for the cover the hidden figure is occupying.</i></p>
<p><i>If, for example, a figure is hiding in a woods and there is another woods intervening, the figure cannot be spotted. However, if no woods other than the one the figure is in, is between the spotter and the hidden figure, it can be potentially spotted.</i></p>
<p><i>As none of my woods are particularly deep, I don't worry about whether the figure is on the edge of the woods or not. However, as a general rule, you should determine before the game how far figures can spot into terrain. For woods with heavy undergrowth I would suggest 3", while light undergrowth could be seen through as far as 6". You must decide what other terrain items obscure spotting, by how much, and whether it counts as cover.</i></p>
</blockquote>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">Battle Report of Test Game</h1>
<p>Similar to the last test game of SS I am using my Terra Tiles™ hexes as the board and my 42mm wooden Dark Ages figures. I was hoping to try another virtual game with gaming buddy Justo, but it wasn't to be. (Next time.)</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ-Fc5QieNymlhVW7LqNfIHXnmBtDik-4DS4xRGnF1BSqhAbgHcLYQGmcNkSfxX97t1WLsbFK24LAYX7GayBsnAloU8rHnuuTnJTAtvFTaJGCaNjy0OW5EwuAjTmXLlp1gzUULydj7b4FzqltyBvneeGg50jl9pEzhhpRVfW7ao-EEK95OOdk/s1296/Board.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="979" data-original-width="1296" height="484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ-Fc5QieNymlhVW7LqNfIHXnmBtDik-4DS4xRGnF1BSqhAbgHcLYQGmcNkSfxX97t1WLsbFK24LAYX7GayBsnAloU8rHnuuTnJTAtvFTaJGCaNjy0OW5EwuAjTmXLlp1gzUULydj7b4FzqltyBvneeGg50jl9pEzhhpRVfW7ao-EEK95OOdk/w640-h484/Board.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The Board</b><br />Blue positions are Saxon ambush positions.<br />Red are the Vikings, but they enter at the red arrow.</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWNo--tP2QcOn3SJBlGcofcoBhEcSPGvmFzeoTrVP_iKIqYaq5KjsQNhC82kCW0wRxfh08zUIG8asfj_aUGc6fCsTOBkdANNJjSokKRFhyE6CCFG9q79kLjQUPYjl8iU19SIKUb7hWvYHfnNLR6AhlhfXuZRLX5MbHHzmkSzmqObm7w3uUvtc/s864/MarchOrder.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="178" data-original-width="864" height="83" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWNo--tP2QcOn3SJBlGcofcoBhEcSPGvmFzeoTrVP_iKIqYaq5KjsQNhC82kCW0wRxfh08zUIG8asfj_aUGc6fCsTOBkdANNJjSokKRFhyE6CCFG9q79kLjQUPYjl8iU19SIKUb7hWvYHfnNLR6AhlhfXuZRLX5MbHHzmkSzmqObm7w3uUvtc/w400-h83/MarchOrder.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Viking March Order</b><br />Thrall, 2 Bondi, 2 Hearthguard, Warlord, Hearthguard, Bondi, Thrall</td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>We are all set to go.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Turn 1</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Viking</h3>
<p>The Thrall leads down the trail because, well, he is expendable. I spend 4 AP to move twice, finally spotting the Saxon Huscarl under his nose. He takes a quick shot, but the Saxon just grins. The Thrall screams.</p><p>That sends the Bondi running (4 AP for two moves) and he spots a few more Saxon ambushers. With not enough AP to charge in, he also calls for support. Finally, another Bondi and a Hearthguard enter the board. The last is clearly a veteran as he spots all remaining Saxons, save the Saxon Warlord who is out of sight, and alerts everyone to the full extent of the ambush.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Q7uvJrN-0_t_SbMiHq8Ws6csuEBucscGwU__7_-LN7S9H08-IxqA6FldKdY1tz00SkUwtvQbF_MRzZnxik4UAuwT8jfzvTZWN5_kEUOewFQbEkDjx2lVLbVCCTeB0-Fhj6cDl2l_sDCvT-3lc_JONWyZm7Z6df1YoZe77kMViB3efgYHFJM/s1296/01V.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="993" data-original-width="1296" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Q7uvJrN-0_t_SbMiHq8Ws6csuEBucscGwU__7_-LN7S9H08-IxqA6FldKdY1tz00SkUwtvQbF_MRzZnxik4UAuwT8jfzvTZWN5_kEUOewFQbEkDjx2lVLbVCCTeB0-Fhj6cDl2l_sDCvT-3lc_JONWyZm7Z6df1YoZe77kMViB3efgYHFJM/w640-h490/01V.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>These are the remaining figures off-board.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBl7BK0bar4z59GYQs2LKR3ORFNJoZ9x-M2Zkhfb5f3vgV_b0jPeCjO4UjxxmeFCwDi7caSiQU53oJvsI1OM9Lyra9sjYQZMS3JqOLKwA-TotMvgGz-3BVxjgSH1XWNTRChUZl6yI2Na_2syQdsXJh_DunR_487cgLvzOnpK9KC1u0uUJLabw/s864/01V-OffBoard.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="282" data-original-width="864" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBl7BK0bar4z59GYQs2LKR3ORFNJoZ9x-M2Zkhfb5f3vgV_b0jPeCjO4UjxxmeFCwDi7caSiQU53oJvsI1OM9Lyra9sjYQZMS3JqOLKwA-TotMvgGz-3BVxjgSH1XWNTRChUZl6yI2Na_2syQdsXJh_DunR_487cgLvzOnpK9KC1u0uUJLabw/w400-h130/01V-OffBoard.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Viking March Order<br />Hearthguard, Warlord, Hearthguard, Bondi, Thrall.</td></tr></tbody></table>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Saxon</h3>
<p>The Saxons had a very busy and successful turn. <i>The Saxon ended up drawing a lot of their face cards during combat, thus giving them great results, but possibly starving them of good cards later as it is a long way to the bottom of the deck.</i></p>
<p>The Huscarl popped up within close combat range of the Viking Thrall, so he simply chopped him down. <i>The Huscarl was +3 on his attack and the Thrall was +1 on defense, so a net +2 value to the attacker's card. The attacker's adjusted value was six or more than the defender's resulting in a kill. (I kept the figure on the board for the picture.)</i></p>
<p>The archers to the south then opened up on the Bondi standing on the bridge, forcing him to retreat. <i>The first archer's card beat the target's card, but did not exceed it by four, so the target was allowed to retreat 2" towards cover, but no closer to the shooter.</i>. The second archer, however, was able to hit his target. <i> The shooter's card exceeded the target's by at least four, despite the archer's attack modifier of being +1 and the target's defense modifier of being +2.</i></p>
<p>The final archer on the southern flank also got a lucky shot and hit the second Bondi. The single archer on the northern flank got a shot in at the Hearthguard, but only forced him to retreat towards the brush. <i>Note that this shot was at +1 for the archer and +3 for the target, so a net -2, yet the archer still drew better.</i>. This was truly a spectacular ambush for the Saxons.</p>
<p>The final action points were spent shifting a Fyrd spearman to cover the archers to the south and the Warlord closer to the action, but still out of sight.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8CcPwQJY6Xol5JEi1Pn8dOoay2SLw2NAu_ajYSwMa8CLCl4AlnYRNGWKNllgDU1KCALgbgAURRqJMWYcYTJpHsGT8mNQTzV1897FfknJv6oAXCrtpPHSjlloyvw9dd4_T8IN5ovndG5Pe6hC6amL6TdIiWdK-ziD7oYikZkrywa4GLc_yDwc/s1296/01S.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1104" data-original-width="1296" height="546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8CcPwQJY6Xol5JEi1Pn8dOoay2SLw2NAu_ajYSwMa8CLCl4AlnYRNGWKNllgDU1KCALgbgAURRqJMWYcYTJpHsGT8mNQTzV1897FfknJv6oAXCrtpPHSjlloyvw9dd4_T8IN5ovndG5Pe6hC6amL6TdIiWdK-ziD7oYikZkrywa4GLc_yDwc/w640-h546/01S.HEIC" width="640" /></a></div>
<p><i>It is at this point that I, and others, forget that the 'turn' is not over and thus initiative is not drawn again. We continue alternating between Viking and Saxon until the Joker is drawn, thus signaling the end of the turn.</i></p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Viking</h3>
<p>Drawing a low number of action points show just how surprised the Vikings were to the ambush. With only 5 AP, one Hearthguard makes a double move to secure north of the bridge and to punish anyone who attacks to kill the downed Bondi at the foot bridge. The second comes onto the board and moves into cover to the south.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWuK1lm-3j7X40nawp5RdWLE5MV2w7EOTa9Z6QWZcfRxF6jCKKCcL-g3QJ-87Xaf7aUMGZelZ1djHS-t1iLjVsCPXsOJaJrwyr1CxUYYooq-L-K7KxXbLzIO-hAMU2D3rIDGLXYkEC6FQb9GHYmgI7KGixzsyS4o8qiFzo9LPG_llt4rxZqDg/s1296/1V2.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1145" data-original-width="1296" height="566" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWuK1lm-3j7X40nawp5RdWLE5MV2w7EOTa9Z6QWZcfRxF6jCKKCcL-g3QJ-87Xaf7aUMGZelZ1djHS-t1iLjVsCPXsOJaJrwyr1CxUYYooq-L-K7KxXbLzIO-hAMU2D3rIDGLXYkEC6FQb9GHYmgI7KGixzsyS4o8qiFzo9LPG_llt4rxZqDg/w640-h566/1V2.HEIC" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOr8ZFW5THSGrI8xk0hisY3Mg7euddHT3U33YxzBd1eZB8_7ff30IPG9_uvRSbQNBx4qN4r_GnFatjqWMfHjoMWBg_IRhaDOKIfF0W8BiY2iczA-A2MF1keHf1G9QdHGW_39rN4ptySkMehf319DMqVVBWsF2sPtg7_MPd6YrDUiKsV3QEuw/s864/1V2-March.HEIC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="437" data-original-width="864" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOr8ZFW5THSGrI8xk0hisY3Mg7euddHT3U33YxzBd1eZB8_7ff30IPG9_uvRSbQNBx4qN4r_GnFatjqWMfHjoMWBg_IRhaDOKIfF0W8BiY2iczA-A2MF1keHf1G9QdHGW_39rN4ptySkMehf319DMqVVBWsF2sPtg7_MPd6YrDUiKsV3QEuw/w400-h203/1V2-March.HEIC" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Viking March Order<br />Warlord, Hearthguard, Bondi, Thrall</td></tr></tbody></table>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Saxon</h3>
<p>A short round because the Joker appeared. All three of the archers on the southern flank take shots at the Hearthguard to the north, with no effect (+1 versus +3).</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOZfp1WvGNGIqywMrPb6psAHKJTzICDc2AoDUmQDkQqrAW4zI8fqVYE_QhASY_ZkqcJqHmQAkJRm2ot-t6b9gnt528SuX9gjQRQIg_RyDjmCtuxqq0M1WMPXVIBBZUyPWgLRHjrxPsGHJ1moFk0IjiWSu4LYcxRQB4LqPQScTmhGNv9Qvtps4" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1248" data-original-width="1296" height="617" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOZfp1WvGNGIqywMrPb6psAHKJTzICDc2AoDUmQDkQqrAW4zI8fqVYE_QhASY_ZkqcJqHmQAkJRm2ot-t6b9gnt528SuX9gjQRQIg_RyDjmCtuxqq0M1WMPXVIBBZUyPWgLRHjrxPsGHJ1moFk0IjiWSu4LYcxRQB4LqPQScTmhGNv9Qvtps4=w640-h617" width="640" /></a></div>
<p>With an Army Motivation of 2 for the Vikings, and only one casualty, there is no chance for a morale failure. Of the two downed Bondi, the forward most one is deemed a casualty and the other comes back into the battle, albeit in the open.</p><p></p><p>Losses: Vikings 2, Saxons 0.</p>
<p><i>Another common error I make at this point is to shuffle the deck. It is important that you do not do this as, if as happened with the Saxons, you use a lot of high cards in the beginning reshuffling will reset the odds. You only shuffle the deck when the deck is exhausted.</i></p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Turn 2</h2>
<p>The Saxons win initiative, but its first card draw is a Joker, so the turn immediately ends. Although the Vikings have two casualties, the minimum draw is an Ace (1), which means morale is automatically passed.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Turn 3</h2><p>The Saxons again win initiative, but the third shot pulls another Joker, so the turn ends.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK67gPyHIPy5zF1XHZexW-Nx5E_lIt6a5szeaXvT6R6lO2HoXhVXI_G3I6d973xll7RaQ60x5TS2Dc65Iz6m5s1gdfGOx4A6KWSIzyhoQM8NWDq1J0ljjR3fifYv6fNDJ4CdGDRFl_63eTtyysyq6x7FN93w1Wdmzm8x87RPjYldaA7dZ-QmU/s1296/03S1.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1264" data-original-width="1296" height="624" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK67gPyHIPy5zF1XHZexW-Nx5E_lIt6a5szeaXvT6R6lO2HoXhVXI_G3I6d973xll7RaQ60x5TS2Dc65Iz6m5s1gdfGOx4A6KWSIzyhoQM8NWDq1J0ljjR3fifYv6fNDJ4CdGDRFl_63eTtyysyq6x7FN93w1Wdmzm8x87RPjYldaA7dZ-QmU/w640-h624/03S1.HEIC" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>With three Jokers gone and a lot of cards in both decks, we should have a long turn here soon.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Turn 4</h2><p>Again, a Joker came right up. That's all four down, so it is time for the long turn.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Turn 5</h2><h3 style="text-align: left;">Viking</h3><p>The Vikings steal initiative, and with a low card at that, and proceed to create mayhem. The Bondi, realizing he is out in the open, charges across the bridge and into close combat with all three archers. <i>Put another way, he made sure all three archers were within his 2" ZOC. Because the ZOC of the archers is 1/2", the defenders do <b>not</b> get an additional card in melee, as he is standing outside of their ZOC. This is a small detail that allows for 'micro tactics' the player can use, i.e. one side being within its own weapon range, but staying out of weapon range of their opponent. Also, by using his ZOC to cover all three archers, they are limited in what they can do when it is their turn.</i></p><p>With only 3 AP remaining, I brought the Warlord, a Hearthguard, and a Bondi onto the board. Only one Thrall remains off-board.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMzJS6JfXXSubGnPySxPrUImOaBGFNdhgDXtY0oCy0EDDKKyu1Pu9ZLyo-aoBHHAVklK5HZYclIm2BrOmnQI6YGprjRisXZ3ACNbHPNNNyU0vUd_4JBncanR4tD7uhp6xtmarbn55J2CbcI0qvezsc5h50eGpHeHV0ZC41-Xl2w1eLxQPViqA/s1296/05V1.heic" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1220" data-original-width="1296" height="602" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMzJS6JfXXSubGnPySxPrUImOaBGFNdhgDXtY0oCy0EDDKKyu1Pu9ZLyo-aoBHHAVklK5HZYclIm2BrOmnQI6YGprjRisXZ3ACNbHPNNNyU0vUd_4JBncanR4tD7uhp6xtmarbn55J2CbcI0qvezsc5h50eGpHeHV0ZC41-Xl2w1eLxQPViqA/w640-h602/05V1.heic" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Saxon</h3>
<p>With only 4 AP, the Saxons do not have many options. First the Fyrdman charges into the Bondi, but the Viking was waiting and he easily skewers the Saxon. Meanwhile, the Huscarl charged out of the brush to deliver a death blow to the unlucky Viking.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc-GC-wuDNdLBCZ87kjtHZxQvAMI_p_Mk6_JoQrf1Q0oXxQ_-HihAIgSD4vSKEQj-uDbNORPDfQaDmiX4E2AWi5EWOGy60AZNbamAld5ni4M0w3gTmUs4ni3L91OkUVgRjU60JgtskDY_ri56ZdKLhEOspA1iUaNMjSCczLRJi2ak4-diWtFg/s1296/05S1.heic" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1187" data-original-width="1296" height="586" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc-GC-wuDNdLBCZ87kjtHZxQvAMI_p_Mk6_JoQrf1Q0oXxQ_-HihAIgSD4vSKEQj-uDbNORPDfQaDmiX4E2AWi5EWOGy60AZNbamAld5ni4M0w3gTmUs4ni3L91OkUVgRjU60JgtskDY_ri56ZdKLhEOspA1iUaNMjSCczLRJi2ak4-diWtFg/w640-h586/05S1.heic" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p>The death toll is racking up as the Vikings have lost three figures and the Saxons two, but a morale check is a long way off, given that each have only gone through half of their decks.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Viking</h3>
<p>Tragedy as the Vikings draw an Ace for their action points. With only 1 AP, the Vikings have the Thrall enter the board ending to the right of the bridge.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Saxon</h3>
<p>A lot of action, so the diagram is a little confusing. Essentially the Saxons need to stop the Vikings from crossing the bridge, or at least make it very risky.</p><p>The first to fight was the burly Blacksmith. He popped out of the brush and swung at the Hearthguard. <i>I realized that the two were within each other's ZOC all along.)</i> Unfortunately the Viking got the better of the exchange and the Saxon was forced to retreat back. <i>Note that the Saxon was +0 to his card value (+2 for his weapon and +2 for his opponent's armor) while the Viking was +2 (+3 for his weapon and +1 for the Saxon's armor). Not a good exchange, but now the two are out of range.</i></p><p>The three archers fire (although it shows that only two did) resulting in a miss, a forced retreat, and finally hitting the Thrall.</p><p>I moved up the Saxon Warlord and he threw his heavy javelin at the Bondi, but that too was a miss. (I should have kept it as a short spear.)</p><p>Finally, I moved up the Huscarl and Frydman to stand guard at the end of the bridge. Any Viking crossing would face two defenders and a result of being knocked back or down would likely put them in the creek.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgg2duAtHuF-lNUU3IJN_aoDPPTFksBP3w6-dYehbOh9_ZTmmg6dK7-9tyoCw0xfKP85fGwz5-HqHJ5g359n9cgI01QoR65hV1g3xrC97THnjG0QWY-c8JQbt6J8nnj6mZoApNLSvuAKgxvY8x7HSVh4GJnIafrMoAU7b-B3af50B7iPh6EysE" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1120" data-original-width="1296" height="553" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgg2duAtHuF-lNUU3IJN_aoDPPTFksBP3w6-dYehbOh9_ZTmmg6dK7-9tyoCw0xfKP85fGwz5-HqHJ5g359n9cgI01QoR65hV1g3xrC97THnjG0QWY-c8JQbt6J8nnj6mZoApNLSvuAKgxvY8x7HSVh4GJnIafrMoAU7b-B3af50B7iPh6EysE=w640-h553" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Viking</h3><p>Another complex turn as the Vikings draw 8 AP. The Vikings need to force the creek so it is time to see who slips and falls.</p><p>First the Hearthguard on the north side circles the Saxon blacksmith and charges across the creek. He succeeds without slipping, but in the ensuing combat he is driven back and falls when he slips on a slimy stone.</p><p>The Hearthguard to the south attempts to cross the creek and attack the Saxon Warlord, but he slips and falls when he hits the water. Two downed Heathguard in a very short order!</p><p>The Viking Warlord, using his Hearthguard as a stepping stone makes it safely across the creek, attacks the Saxon Warlord, and forces him back (downed).</p><p>The center Hearthguard moves to block his end of the bridge as there are not enough remaining action points for him to charge the Warlord and dispatch him, leaving that to the Bondi. The Bondi easily leaps across the creek and the Saxon Warlord is no more. The Saxons are demoralized and quit the field.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguyMi2-XX0fo2GwS8VxySdss_hCtXqGc2OEIzb1i9SVYGqTlGJgWf9AgFA63iriZzaXxfn1zdkJPUlqgXYwMhtsxtHN57xccEJeeNhyPrUCQvH7g29VEssqf8Syq_iyw1kKwNIZRNZOzBXe9B38hXhNMmzR9B7MhXW2yitssaoU96GPrQbfSI/s1296/05V3.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1285" data-original-width="1296" height="634" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguyMi2-XX0fo2GwS8VxySdss_hCtXqGc2OEIzb1i9SVYGqTlGJgWf9AgFA63iriZzaXxfn1zdkJPUlqgXYwMhtsxtHN57xccEJeeNhyPrUCQvH7g29VEssqf8Syq_iyw1kKwNIZRNZOzBXe9B38hXhNMmzR9B7MhXW2yitssaoU96GPrQbfSI/w640-h634/05V3.HEIC" width="640" /></a></div><br /><h2 style="text-align: left;">Summary</h2><p>Overall I liked the rules changes very much. The movement as a result of combat added to the scene and the varying combat results fit nicely with what John Lambshead put in his original, experimental version. (John, if you read this, feel free to use any part of it in your upcoming rules.) I would definitely play these again.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">In Other News</h1><p>So, I am finally retired. Officially my last day was August 19th, but my last day of work was actually August 16th. On August 17th I went into surgery to have my right big toe amputated. While the surgery was successful, and I am recovering nicely, complications arose, as life is wont to do when you are my age.</p><p>When I was in my thirties I had gotten a strange result on a physical and was sent to a cardiologist. I wore a heart monitor for several days – it looked like a Sony Walkman in those days – and they told me that I had a benign heart condition. All I remember was they called it an 'irregular heartbeat' and that it would cause anomalous blood pressure readings if done by a machine (as opposed to the traditional manual cuff). Since then I have had two other cardiac 'scares', but in both cases the report from the cardiologist was that I had a strong heart, despite all of my other issues.</p><p>When they were closing me up, however, my heart went into atrial fibrillation – in my case the heart from irregular to erratic and it was beating at almost twice the normal rate – and so they kept me in the hospital longer than expected. The cardiologist on duty said that this often happens, and they would shock it with paddles and see if it went back into normal rhythm. They did and it did. For a day. Then it went back into a fib and now I am on heart medication, quite possibly for life.</p><p>The good news is that I have really changed my diet, for the better. I am eating greens before eating other foods (no more meals without a salad or vegetables) and I wear a continuous glucose monitor to see what is going on. Here is an example of what it looks like.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVZxw2KhsIPOig2Ylyhb3tn0a5RqGVAc1IgedjsbUyVVzvl-flDvnwtJwXUUjeBZJYMeTnW5rMBgbWcoxg0kEhGf4kKKA7VSZGk4eXqWxGwf5f-R81mFKrVWTgclo9jXMi7283E5Pt5hVWuFd06FBVVfY04bwmP_wT-FIgNkmlbOGJM4KUp0I/s1334/IMG_D1A6DDF02BA6-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVZxw2KhsIPOig2Ylyhb3tn0a5RqGVAc1IgedjsbUyVVzvl-flDvnwtJwXUUjeBZJYMeTnW5rMBgbWcoxg0kEhGf4kKKA7VSZGk4eXqWxGwf5f-R81mFKrVWTgclo9jXMi7283E5Pt5hVWuFd06FBVVfY04bwmP_wT-FIgNkmlbOGJM4KUp0I/s320/IMG_D1A6DDF02BA6-1.jpeg" width="180" /></a></div><br /><p>Basically the device is a small chip attached to a needle, which stays stuck in your arm for two weeks, and it sends the data to your smartphone via Bluetooth. (Yes, I am already trying to get the data to my computer and hack the format so I can do other things with it.)</p><p>Using this data I can look at the effect on my glucose when I eat various things. There is also a book out there that contends that if you eat foods in a different order, you can reduce glucose spikes. I am still experimenting with that too.</p><p>One the other thing the monitor provides is alarms when I get too high or too low in blood sugar. I haven't gone over and tripped an alarm, but I have, quite a number of times, tripped the low blood sugar alarm; always while I am sleeping. The good news to this is it allowed me to back off of <b>two</b> medications I was taking for diabetes. One was causing me nausea anyway, and thus I would not eat enough, while the other was dropping me too low (while counteracting the effect of another drug). Now that I am off those two I feel a <b>lot</b> better.</p><p>Although my mobility is still a bit restricted, hence gaming on a small bedside end table for this battle report, I am up and walking about. I just haven't started driving again (yet). Next week they should be pulling at least half of the staples from my wound, so we see if the doctor clears me then.</p><p>I still haven't got back to painting yet, but that is not really a function of mobility issues, just lack of drive. I hope to get back to face-to-face gaming with the group next Monday.</p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-71039668725335907582022-08-07T11:27:00.005-07:002022-08-07T11:27:51.925-07:00Laser Cut Custom Bases<p>As you may remember I purchased a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Glowforge-Plus-Laser-Printer-Beautiful/dp/B07DD4W8DY/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">Glowforge Pro Laser Cutter and Engraver</a> in order to support my woodworking hobby, which largely consists of making wooden toy soldiers. Last post I showed the French Marine of the Imperial Guard figure where I used the laser cutter to cut out the shapes for the feet, arms, shako, and plume. Well recently I have been experimenting with cutting out custom bases.</p><p>One of my gaming buddies laments that, like me, he has a problem with deciding on a basing scheme, so he ends up re-basing a lot. Me, I end up splitting my collection across multiple basing schemes, thereby not having sufficient units for any one system for large games, despite having a large enough collection. (I have at least five different basing schemes for 6mm French Napoleonics.)</p>
<p>One of the ideas that I have been toying with is using sabot bases to facilitate these different basing requirements. The first problem is that the smallest bases have to fit within the larger base. Given that my primary goal is to use both a single figure basing scheme within a multi-figure basing scheme I usually find that the minimum size for a grippable single figure base is too large to fit the required number of figures inside a multi-figure base.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjiIcKfFZxxP6TFhN1Hea9X7CURsGJGTG48lL1qz24Skrvqho7dwCVcVU14m_B3B2k_tL7XA_h494X8OGLo5Yq1Ev4YikZb7PJZcS0BKDLAtaDYWZ4a63PLNv5sZ7LjgPq5UOoGVxB1xS2ergh_49WXvkDjMwdnj76bjSAL2K6FvbZsyWv_X1A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="3050" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjiIcKfFZxxP6TFhN1Hea9X7CURsGJGTG48lL1qz24Skrvqho7dwCVcVU14m_B3B2k_tL7XA_h494X8OGLo5Yq1Ev4YikZb7PJZcS0BKDLAtaDYWZ4a63PLNv5sZ7LjgPq5UOoGVxB1xS2ergh_49WXvkDjMwdnj76bjSAL2K6FvbZsyWv_X1A=w640-h100" width="640" /></a></div>
<p>The image above is a good example. The multi-figure base on the left is a standard Epic 40K base measuring 40mm x 12mm. (An alternate size is 25mm x 25mm.) The three bases on the right are single figure bases, measuring 1/2, 3/8", and 1/4" across. Using the 1/4" base adds about 67% to the depth of the multi-figure base. Unfortunately, I find the 1/4" bases too small for my sausage fingers.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiotMiV1BrpxKcBTH4XrkUenjjsyIj0l7isdpM8Y2NN_EPcPIa5pYwnEeFQjcGPTVVr3vqyp-YtSnBLFUR9Zf3BMT9nipk7mXV7h36qgwbEy-FaKVRXSoZwf7ITfHLTSCg-dt7qJkmjbe6U56wkSUsfn-7dfG4N_iX19fW6GsOYKMGmTroGv_Y" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1250" data-original-width="1530" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiotMiV1BrpxKcBTH4XrkUenjjsyIj0l7isdpM8Y2NN_EPcPIa5pYwnEeFQjcGPTVVr3vqyp-YtSnBLFUR9Zf3BMT9nipk7mXV7h36qgwbEy-FaKVRXSoZwf7ITfHLTSCg-dt7qJkmjbe6U56wkSUsfn-7dfG4N_iX19fW6GsOYKMGmTroGv_Y" width="294" /></a></div>
<p>I decided to try my hand at a few designs. You can look at things on paper, but until you cut them out you really can tell how effective they will really be.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJZeIh3FHqC3cy5vEfDrX6DKIssfqh3ey4GFY5pOsMMWp10AxSfWk2CNIyEXUCxhP7Ydhk3n99Za2pw8oAZyveOJmYUlkEcIsQiGQhjii3iqVru0jyTN717qFJxVWJVPNAtUB0RJm8409u958p_qZ4YepG2EHGxtcsUuS09dFUwBf_ebzo_sU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="864" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJZeIh3FHqC3cy5vEfDrX6DKIssfqh3ey4GFY5pOsMMWp10AxSfWk2CNIyEXUCxhP7Ydhk3n99Za2pw8oAZyveOJmYUlkEcIsQiGQhjii3iqVru0jyTN717qFJxVWJVPNAtUB0RJm8409u958p_qZ4YepG2EHGxtcsUuS09dFUwBf_ebzo_sU=w640-h388" width="640" /></a></div>
<p>Once I got a good look at them and put a few figures on them (the dark areas are where the laser engraved out a well for the figures to sit, sinking the top of the figure's base level with the top of the wooden base) I could see that I preferred the rounded square single figure bases best of all.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiYBeqQeWusoYa5fp_DKdvUQYamhKAQGSKdnOtqBHxCSZM7z_Limmex28sWGwIZMivzrKGkjp9DsBiZ2WOD9OOJ9RhUmMH7dUfJFGPnmwjGvOkypnIrEZ6ZKywCHNq31kmJJbiG7JbcDhgYxPXFKVLdQzFv8ldF58-V5NGxKtXM0ydaZyHAWu4" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="356" data-original-width="720" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiYBeqQeWusoYa5fp_DKdvUQYamhKAQGSKdnOtqBHxCSZM7z_Limmex28sWGwIZMivzrKGkjp9DsBiZ2WOD9OOJ9RhUmMH7dUfJFGPnmwjGvOkypnIrEZ6ZKywCHNq31kmJJbiG7JbcDhgYxPXFKVLdQzFv8ldF58-V5NGxKtXM0ydaZyHAWu4" width="320" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXSgx_8GRTkZrJf5T9fi4TJAPbabtxb6JnFvMhjq0MzpzdJinGpxkhpO6MqtlmEUG5U0BCc678OxDPG1KBhqU8i8j6HfY0ulTcyOsmMSaVX9YxWX4eTR5sfOI4bSrkMVSnbUtxBnHlDrokTBG5-n3bbE1RvnV9lBZMiCbXzhJCuhP2ayQ6IIY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="610" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXSgx_8GRTkZrJf5T9fi4TJAPbabtxb6JnFvMhjq0MzpzdJinGpxkhpO6MqtlmEUG5U0BCc678OxDPG1KBhqU8i8j6HfY0ulTcyOsmMSaVX9YxWX4eTR5sfOI4bSrkMVSnbUtxBnHlDrokTBG5-n3bbE1RvnV9lBZMiCbXzhJCuhP2ayQ6IIY" width="320" /></a></div>
<p>This led me to another idea, which is a base within a base within a base. Why? Well the innermost base is single figure, either for skirmishing or single-figure casualty removal. Those bases go into a smaller surrounding, multi-figure that is for more tactical games, say where you might have four bases form a unit. Finally, you have large larger base that allows you to use the mid-sized bases to form a larger unit.</p><p>Here is what I have in mind.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjOcrNiTMjHUuEsl647wvHdcwSIImLzGWFqpz0AHigE_e61h82tEcsn8xDGYSOhtkJ-E3kVFEqSxiNae3WigGff9ms_vsjcXRKrxf0XE8ttQf7kHn7VSMMR11xEE_zxk4aKAjf9m2o9X2uR2tvt32uEYfVO7QvK3-M6idhzK0EgRGa_wh-jZtw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2650" data-original-width="3850" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjOcrNiTMjHUuEsl647wvHdcwSIImLzGWFqpz0AHigE_e61h82tEcsn8xDGYSOhtkJ-E3kVFEqSxiNae3WigGff9ms_vsjcXRKrxf0XE8ttQf7kHn7VSMMR11xEE_zxk4aKAjf9m2o9X2uR2tvt32uEYfVO7QvK3-M6idhzK0EgRGa_wh-jZtw=w640-h440" width="640" /></a></div>
<p>The outer base (black line) is 4" wide. A single base like this might be used for something like <i>One-Hour Wargames</i> (OHW), which incidentally has a <i>Warhammer 40K</i> variant based on the <i>Machine Age</i> rules in OHW. The inner bases (green line) represent the tactical bases, in this case two squads of infantry. Finally, the innermost bases (blue line) are the singly-based figures, in this case 10 infantry and one APC.</p>
<p>As I experimented with this concept I realized one issue: in order to make the sabot bases useful as movement trays I have to put a bottom below it. I generally use (unused) pizza boxes lined with magnetic sheet to hold my 6mm troops, so the bottoms of bases are either lined with more magnetic sheet, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Litko-Game-Accessories-Flexible-Magnetically-Receptive/dp/B00M1UAF6G/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">paper steel</a>, or sheet metal. If the middle bases (green line) and outer bases (black line) both have bottoms, then the middle bases will not sit flush with the outer bases. In the end that may not matter, especially if I use very thin material like paper steel, which is only 0.025 inches thick.</p><p>Alternately, you could make two sets of outer bases, one of tactical base size and one of strategic base size. This would allow you to custom configure the larger base with individual figures and not be limited to how the middle bases are configured.</p>
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<p>The more I think about this as I write, the more I like this idea better. It allow me to do things like change the spacing or pattern of the singly-based figures within the base, adding variety.</p>
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<p>Speaking of lasers … these days I have noticed a lot of advertisements for the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Engraver-Accuracy-Upgraded-Machine-Leather/dp/B0B2RHPDKS/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">xTool D1 Pro laser engraver and cutter</a>. It is <b>far</b> less expensive than my Glowforge. What I like about the xTool is that it has a rotary engraving attachment (so does the Glowforge, apparently, but I do not have it) – which I think would be interesting to use to try and score details onto my pawn soldiers – but more importantly it allows you to connect the computer to the machine via USB or wirelessly on a local network, rather than requiring an <i>internet</i> connection. That last point is important if you are putting your smokey, smelly laser cutter in a garage (and you should) and you don't have a great internet connection out that far. Further, the xTool uses standard Lightburn software while the Glowforge software is on a server that they own. If they ever go under then your unit might become a brick. (They have promised to release the software to the public should they ever go out of business, but who knows what the bankruptcy courts would decide, if that ever happened.)</p><p>The D-series is an open box, whereas my Glowforge is a closed system with ventilation. Given the smell of cutting wood, even with the ventilation, I am glad I did not start with an open system. I would have filled my work area with smoke. xTool does make a closed system, which is slightly more expensive. If I were buying another, I would probably buy the open system and get it to where I want it before selling the Glowforge. But at this point, I am not looking to change, despite how cheap the new systems are and even though they are so much better now than mine (faster, finer cuts, etc.).</p><p>If you are considering a laser, the xTool ones look pretty good.</p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-7210368640690559382022-07-30T15:54:00.003-07:002022-07-30T15:54:35.871-07:00More Painting, More Thoughts on Downsizing, Goodbye My Friend<p>I have been doing a lot of painting of late, as part of my trying to figure out which scales to keep and which to shed.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Wooden Warriors – French (Napoleonic) Marine of the Imperial Guard</h2>
<p>One only my <a href="https://wooden-warriors.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Wooden Warriors blog</a> I finally made two posts. The first was about how to use my laser cutter for something other than making paint racks and wooden bases; I decided to take <a href="https://wooden-warriors.blogspot.com/2022/07/revisiting-napoleonic-shakos.html" target="_blank">a different approach to making Napoleonics shakos</a>. I did a test and then <a href="https://wooden-warriors.blogspot.com/2022/07/painted-french-napoleonic-marine-of.html" target="_blank">painted up this</a> French Marine of the Imperial Old Guard.</p>
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">6mm Napoleonics Painted with Citadel Contrast Paint</h2>
<p>Someone on one of the Facebook groups had asked about whether anyone had tried painting 6mm miniatures with Citadel Contrast Paint. As I had done some 15mm in the past, I decided to give it a go and report on the results. I decided to try a harder subject that the standard Space Marines or Space Elves; I went with Napoleonic-era Bavarian troops.</p><p>First a couple of notes. Firstly, 6mm closeups always look horrible; they just do. You really find out how shaky your hands are when you photograph 6mm troops. You can actually see details, flaws really, that you just don't see when you are looking at them about 1' away (or farther).</p><p>I started by priming the miniatures white with Pro-Acryl white primer. It is a nice, thin white that does not clog the detail, which is important with 6mm, especially if you are going to use Contrast Paints or Speedpaint. As there are older Baccus sculpts, they are very rough and thus will take these types of paints well.</p>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsfwbhN9cXFHoZ-8WBGZFP3n000BlzVuk9Niml2JsqTIadKipR2PGm1jJ9O2D0uWCdiGpShgOo4oaOeIQJKOqH5DtS6y3j6uV3prkJ89kWc-wmS6saaPA_3bRj3bF_QQXKPfQbVuabAhuAmgEwvH8Vn9JcJ-6h69YVomXKVqxjctubpfHh2qY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="182" data-original-width="432" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsfwbhN9cXFHoZ-8WBGZFP3n000BlzVuk9Niml2JsqTIadKipR2PGm1jJ9O2D0uWCdiGpShgOo4oaOeIQJKOqH5DtS6y3j6uV3prkJ89kWc-wmS6saaPA_3bRj3bF_QQXKPfQbVuabAhuAmgEwvH8Vn9JcJ-6h69YVomXKVqxjctubpfHh2qY=w400-h169" width="400" /></a></div>
<p>Here is what they look like, fully painted. (I later took a little more white to the trousers and cross belts to make them more solid.)</p>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-mE-wgw_JCccnGsqeTOdnpicvN5u6E9HaTe2ckuBuSUsdY2C4sUqfBwyd6djSXjd7K-_jSuTzZu0hCWD_MRpPsgvqRb9Db76uyk8d_ct_tpepjJMDBcjaPr_jFKUpkl_U_ZtmmZiehCYmZqN5Ym-gqpKO3WfIKcYKKGhi5D3GX9rjh-L3yyo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="190" data-original-width="432" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-mE-wgw_JCccnGsqeTOdnpicvN5u6E9HaTe2ckuBuSUsdY2C4sUqfBwyd6djSXjd7K-_jSuTzZu0hCWD_MRpPsgvqRb9Db76uyk8d_ct_tpepjJMDBcjaPr_jFKUpkl_U_ZtmmZiehCYmZqN5Ym-gqpKO3WfIKcYKKGhi5D3GX9rjh-L3yyo=w400-h176" width="400" />
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<p>Overall I was good with the results, but I really need to look at the results of figures that are more crisp. The older Baccus sculpts are very 'rough' and I was not keen on them. But I love the newer sculpts. Also, using the gray Contrast Paint as a replacement for metallic paint is not really a good idea, so I would change that and go back to a gunmetal color.</p><p>Next up are Xyston 15mm Later Achmaemenid Persians. I bought a ton of Xyston 15mm ancients when Brookhurst Hobbies had a clearance sale and I have had them heaped in a pile of shame every since. (Greek Hoplite and Thracians are two of the armies that I vowed I would have a large collection on, one day. They would practically all be Xyston miniatures too.)</p><p>I started off airbrushing on a Zenithal primer. I started with Pro-Acryl black and fully covered the miniature. Then I swapped in Pro-Acryl white primer without cleaning the pot, knowing that it would come out gray. I liberally covered the figures, leaving only the undersides untouched. Finally I drybrushed white on top to pick up the highlights. </p>
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<p>Next I started carefully laying down the contrast colors, doing white touchups for areas where a darker color was laid down over an area where a lighter color was intended.</p>
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<p>Here are the final results. For the most part I had to use light, opaque highlights over the areas with Contrast Paints to remove the 'tide pools' and 'coffee stains'. The newer Contrast Paints that have less contrast, such as the bright yellow on the purple and yellow figures, as opposed to the yellow-brown on the other figures. The former did not require yellow highlights (I actually shaded with Shade Paints), while the latter definitely did.</p>
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<p>Overall I think the older Contrast Paints are too 'brutal' for 15mm. It is better to go with a base color and use Shade Paint or a wash to collect in the recesses. If you want three colors go with a base color as a mid-tone, highlight with a lighter color (use more contrast between the base and the highlight than you would with 28mm figures), and then wash with a darker color. The tint from the wash will tone down the mid-tone and highlight, bringing down the contrast, and match well with the shadow color it gives the recesses. For me, Contrast Paints do not seem to be the solution for 15mm. It flows <i>too</i> well for the scale.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfHA4LGqGk3Ic3ph0W9fYvuLIweejZ57VLBgaYYtCatmiyr-Bwte6sbfTIas-n_iJerOmHgBjeUTrY6DKSg0JdlbyRVh819_n3iWhqpIpBcn4WMMVTfAe-WfDk3Leadr5ov-tjIMesQxlT1u6FNhZfSxkwTkhHpfsmb0SqL01FVortNqFIxC4/s1587/ImperialFists.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="393" data-original-width="1587" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfHA4LGqGk3Ic3ph0W9fYvuLIweejZ57VLBgaYYtCatmiyr-Bwte6sbfTIas-n_iJerOmHgBjeUTrY6DKSg0JdlbyRVh819_n3iWhqpIpBcn4WMMVTfAe-WfDk3Leadr5ov-tjIMesQxlT1u6FNhZfSxkwTkhHpfsmb0SqL01FVortNqFIxC4/w640-h158/ImperialFists.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>The last experiment came from watching a video by Bunker6. He paints a lot of Games Workshop Epic Warhammer 40,000 figures – roughly 6mm – and he puts a lot of detail into them. I decided to see if I still had my eye and hand (because if not, the unpainted 6mm were going to be on the chopping block).</p><p>I started with the new Imperial Fist Yellow Contrast Paint because: 1) these are meant to be Imperial Fists; 2) I don't have any other yellow that is that exact hue; and 3) these are supposed to be one of the new single pigment colors that cover well and are low contrast (which is ironic for a 'contrast paint'). First off, it does cover well and the flow characteristics are generally nice, but the smaller the scale the less you want your paints to flow. As this was my base coat for the model, and nothing was going to be a lighter color, I did not care that it flowed off of the areas where I put the brush. If anything, it ensured that I did not miss a spot.</p><p>Personally I think I put in a little too much detail, but nonetheless I went forward with the exercise because I wanted to see whether the effort was wasted or not. I already consider this picture too zoomed in for tabletop view, but not so close that it looks closer than bent arm's length (the range most people generally use when they pick up a stand to look at it). I can still see the attempt at details, like the grey behind the knees (rubber parts in the armor), the black stripe on the helmet, the red glowing eyes, and the black and silver bolt gun. I can also see one other detail that you probably don't see and that is only because I intentionally painted it: I painted a yellow highlight color and a yellow shade color. Is it worth it? Not sure. But I answered my question: I can still paint 6mm troops to an acceptable table standard with my eyes and hand.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">A Note About Army Painter Speedpaint</h3>
<p>My experiments with Army Painter Speedpaint has been disappointing. Largely because they are not really acrylic paints, but some form of 'resin' paint. Water causes them to reactivate, so adding acrylic highlights over them causes them to partially blend with the color being painted on while also popping the color off of the primer, exposing the white (or whatever the primer color was) below. Not a good effect because you cannot really control it. Dana Howl (YouTuber miniature painter) was the first that I saw that suggested the way to deal with this was to mix your acrylic paint with either Speedpaint Medium or another Speedpaint color, effectively turning it into a custom Speedpaint color. A lot of people must be doing this because Speedpaint Medium is very hard to find right now and where you can find it, it is double its normal price.</p><p>One thing I have found out for sure is to not mix Speedpaint with acrylic mediums like matte medium, glaze medium, metallic medium, etc. It makes it into a gloppy mess that spreads even worse than Speedpaint, that Flow Aid or water does not seem to fix.</p><p>At this point I see Speedpaint as an 'all or nothing' solution.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Sad News</h2>
<p>More than 15 years ago, while still trying to build a gaming club in Sierra Vista, Arizona, I was searching The Miniatures Page for players who might be within driving range, but were to the east (i.e. we were closer than Tucson, Arizona) and thus underserved, gaming-wise. I found Marv and Betsy Schmid and despite them being five hours away (in Deming, New Mexico) they said that they would be happy to hop in their camper and come to Sierra Vista and teach us this game called <i>De Bellis Antiquitatus</i> (a.k.a. DBA). They had numerous armies and all the terrain we would need. It was a smashing success, such that many of us started collecting DBA armies. It also led to the discovery of HOTT, me creating American War of Independence version of <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2008/11/dbawi-game-ive-started-working-on-set.html">DBA (DB-AWI 2008)</a> and <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2009/10/heroes-of-revolution.html" target="_blank">HOTT (HOTR 2009)</a>, and even a <a href="http://dales-dba.blogspot.com" target="_blank">blog (now inactive) about my DBA games.</a></p>
<p>Over the years my wife Rita and I have alternated visiting with Marv and Betsy, us going to their house or they coming to ours. Gaming buddy Don and I once dropped by on the way to a DBA tournament in Albuquerque, New Mexico for inspiration and last minute tips. We even went to a state park with a lake together to swim, camp, and game.</p><p>Part of what I have been doing of late is re-connecting with people that I haven't spoken to during the lockdowns, especially those that are not in my immediate area. That has led to some great conversations with people across the country and around the world, but sometimes it leads to sad news. It took finding an old mobile phone, recharging it, and retrieving the phone number I failed to transfer over to my new phone to finally reconnect to Marv and Betsy, only to find out that Marv had died last May of brain cancer.</p><p>Needless to say, Betsy is still trying to cope with the loss, but Marv had a large wargaming collection and she was trying to get a hold of me in hopes that I would take it off her hands. Right when I am trying to downsize my own collection… So, right after I retire next month I am going to head to Deming to inventory his collection, see what I think I can "move to a good home", i.e. what is sellable, and work with her on managing the sale of his collection. Hopefully I can sell things off on Facebook, The Miniatures Page, Fanaticus, and eBay and send her checks periodically. I know it will be a lot of work, but it is a bit of repayment to a couple that showed us a part of this great, fragmented hobby that ended up being a big part of my wargaming experience (and this blog), plus it will show me how to reduce my own collection.</p><p>In a way this is something I have been considering, and although it is a bit morbid, it is something we need to consider. What will happen to your collection when you pass? Are you sure the kids will take it? Are you sure your friends will? Do they know they are going to be tagged to disposed of your collection? Is your wife expecting to recover some of the costs of your hobby? Does she know that you "invested" in a depreciating asset? Does she know who to contact about your collection? Does she know how to sell it? Does she know a reasonable price? (Do you? When was the last time you sold?)</p><p>I posted a message on a DBA forum on Facebook to try and get a sense of what the market for painted 15mm DBA armies is. Ten years ago I used to scour eBay, Fanaticus, and TMP for painted DBA armies and paid what I felt was a premium buying them. But I stopped playing DBA after 3.0 fragmented the player base. Like Flames of War 3rd and 4th Editions, I just couldn't get into the next edition, despite buying the new rules. I was done. And with that exit went my knowledge of how viable the market was.</p><p>Fortunately, it appears that the market is still good. Not only are people still playing <i>DBA</i> 2.2, 2.2+, and 3.0, there is a new derivative called <i>Triumph</i>, but it appears that <i>Art de la Guerra</i> (ADLG) using the standard DBA basing. So I feel better about taking on his DBA collection to sell for her. His WW II and Arab-Israeli micro armor, however, jet age Check Your 6 aircraft collection, however, are a different story. But just like the old joke about how to eat an elephant (one bite at a time), so to with how to move someone's lifelong collection. Enough whining!</p><p>Here's to you Marv. You will be missed.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwmCAuHtvtXDGxnx_JRAuVWzZp8htAY3j3NSElSISBH2RS-_t3CQAk_IE4M6HjSZ8sV4SurrqBDT5x2Vza5z9iSW4lpjNyg2syF5RHfos79xUdRov3Ak4_VnPLHg-0RoV3qQwCQlJHUi_a1M1Tz8sJRPfhveT3deahAOyh_HV3YIy0GooOX1A/s960/MarvBetsySchmid.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwmCAuHtvtXDGxnx_JRAuVWzZp8htAY3j3NSElSISBH2RS-_t3CQAk_IE4M6HjSZ8sV4SurrqBDT5x2Vza5z9iSW4lpjNyg2syF5RHfos79xUdRov3Ak4_VnPLHg-0RoV3qQwCQlJHUi_a1M1Tz8sJRPfhveT3deahAOyh_HV3YIy0GooOX1A/w640-h480/MarvBetsySchmid.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-54120416801715928422022-07-04T10:59:00.000-07:002022-07-04T10:59:59.942-07:00Personal News, Wargaming Thoughts, and Some Painting<h1 style="text-align: left;"> Personal News</h1><p>Let's get this one out of the way. First off, I am retiring in about six weeks. I am 60 years old (and I turn 61 in October) and although I planned on retiring October 2023, circumstances force me to retire early.</p><p>I am a computer programmer by trade (in the U.S. home mortgage software market – talk about niche) and I have always said that I could probably continue on even if my hands went, because there is such good voice recognition technology out there, but if my mind ever went, I was done for. I used to be known for my attention to detail, but lately I have not been able to focus. I am easily distracted. Worse, I don't just forget where I left off at, I forget that I was not finished with a task and my mind tells me I was.</p><p>This apparently happened pretty quickly. My company awarded me a huge bonus and raise last January for being a top performer in the company (Zillow); now I can't remember to complete a task.</p><p>I knew it last Tuesday when I was in a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) meeting – otherwise known as a "who screwed up" meeting – and someone was showing a result from my application and I <i>knew</i> it could not "have happened". The previous day I had changed the code at their request and there were three dates in the change. My documentation (rare for a programmer) noted all three changes. The comments in the code noted all three changes and the change number that ordered it. And the code was changed … in <b>two</b> places. I must have gotten an email, chat message, or phone call and by the time I was done, did not remember that I had not finished. But it was not just forgetting; it was my mind being sure that I was done. Not a single thought of "oh, I have to check to ensure I finished that".</p><p>Lest you think I give up easily you have to understand that this was simply the last event in a long line of them that I was not admitting to. In fact, I was started to even hide them. I would blame this or that for why things went wrong, but the reality is that it was me.</p><p>I called my brother (four years older) because I remember him saying about six months ago that he had been diagnosed with something, and I wanted to be sure what it was. He has Parkinson's. We talked about it and I am pretty sure I do not have that. I have none of the motor skill symptoms. Also, mine is not a feeling of forgetfulness. I am not one of those people always saying "now what was that I was trying to remember?" It does happen on occasion, but my problem is more an arrogant assurance that I <i>have</i> remembered something – like finishing a task – or not even thinking to do something.</p><p>So, I decided that I did not want to go from 2021's top performer to 2022's guy that we want to get rid of. I want to be able to leave with a little dignity rather than milk the job for every last dollar until they feel like they have to fire me.</p><p>Fortunately, I have been a lifelong saver and I married a woman more frugal than I am, so I can afford to drift the remainder of this year and all of next year. I can pull sufficient money out next year from my retirement fund (we call it a 401(k) in the U.S.) and draw on Social Security at 62, if I want.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">So What is Next?</h2><p>I decided to give my company four weeks, so that I could transition my work and archive of code to a new person on the team. If they get someone in to replace me, all the better, but I have pretty specialized skills. It took them nearly a year to find me.</p><p>My manager reminded me that Zillow pays out its bonuses partially every quarter and that if I wait an additional two weeks that means I accrue about 500 more shares of Zillow stock (which declines in value every day), so I decided to wait for that. I am already leaving a lot of money on the table, but no need to rush out that quickly.</p><p>After that I need to head to a neurologist and figure out what is going on. My brother, who is a research scientist (his specialty is mosquitoes and pesticides) thinks we were poisoned as kids (Florida was famous for spraying residential neighborhoods with "safe" pesticides in the 1960s and 1970s), so hopefully it is something treatable for me.</p><p>If not, well that I why I want to leave the workforce now. I want to spend the rest of my time doing all of those things that I always told myself I would do "when I finally retire". I am going to paint and game, of course, continue doing more blogging, but also travel more. The wife and I are looking at using AirBnB to visit various places in Panama, for example.</p><p>Another project is to get rid of old games and junk that have accumulated that I just know I will never get to again. We all go sometime and the last thing I want to do is burden my wife or the kids with having to get rid of "the crazy old man's toys". Not that I think I will get any money back for it. More that I would like to see it go into someone's hands that would us it. (One of my gaming buddies did the same to me about three years ago, giving me all his Spanish Civil War 15mm troops that he knew he would never get to. I never got to it either.)</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Multiple Scales and Multiple Genres</h1><p>Which leads me to this topic. I have long been pondering getting rid of some miniature collections. But which ones? I rarely considered, when looking at shiny new figures to buy, whether I had all of the necessary accessories to go with those figures. Largely I mean terrain. Sure, there are some things that work across periods, like hills and trees, but building, other structures, even roads can very much be period specific. (It is funny how many times I use roads with 15mm scale tank treads showing for roads in my 15mm Ancients and AWI games, and as foot paths in my 42mm Dark Ages games.)</p><p>What scales should I keep? (I have collections in 6-8mm, 15-18mm, 25-28mm, 32mm, and 42mm, with a few, rare pieces in 2mm, 3mm, 10mm, 20mm, 1/72nd, and 54mm.) What genres should I keep? (I have collections in … uh, never mind.)</p><p>I always thought about having one (smaller) scale for mass battles and one (larger) scale for skirmish games. But that is still potentially two sets of terrain. Here are the conclusions I came to so far.</p><p><b>6-8mm</b>: I like this scale for one reason, and that is because I now have a tendency to play games on smaller areas, like 20" x 30", 2' x 2' and 3' x 3'. Figures that are 6-8mm work great for this size table. There are just two problems: 1) my eyes are failing so painting them is hard; and 2) I find it very hard to identify what the troops are, especially if I try and use 'realistic' basing with flocking, sand, etc. Some of the best terrain I have for this scale are old Monopoly houses and hotels, which you can buy very cheaply on eBay.</p><p><b>15-18mm</b>: I have a lot of troops and terrain in this scale. The largest collection is probably Ancients/Dark Ages/Medieval, but they are in DBA-army size groups, i.e. about 12 stands per 'army'. Second is AWI and third is WWII. Terrain is largely for WWII. (My terrain for DBA was always flat felt or foam rubber because no one used realistic terrain, as it got in the way of game play.) The ability to paint this is better than 6mm and I can recognize troops better. I keep telling myself that this is what I will focus on.</p><p><b>25-28mm</b>: For me this is the nostalgia scale. I started miniature gaming with 25mm Napoleonics. I still have miniatures that I painted back in the 1970s and 1980s, plus too many old (valuable) Citadel miniatures from the 1980s and 1990s. What I do not have anymore, is terrain. Further, the little terrain I do have is Space Gothic. (You know what I am talking about.) This scale is very paintable, vision-wise, but due to their larger surface area it takes more time. Also, manufacturers are cramming the details on these things. Finally, if you decide to go with this scale, storage of miniatures, and especially terrain, starts to become an issue. On the positive side, other people are more likely to be using this scale. (But I generally provide both sides anyway.) Also, there is the question of whether I can play anything other than skirmish games at this scale if I do not have a 6' x 4' board.</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i>On a side note, Marvel United is basically somewhere around this scale (or 32mm), but I consider it an exception to the 'keep or dump' decision. Unlike traditional miniatures, the figures in Marvel United are very much tokens for a board game and thus the idea that you need terrain for them isn't true. So, I will keep these as they neither fall in the skirmish or mass category for tabletop wargaming. One might include all miniatures from board games, in which the terrain issue doesn't exist, in this same sort of category. That would mean my Star Wars figures from Imperial Assault could be kept.</i></p>
</blockquote><p><b>32mm</b>: Although the new figures from Games Workshop might fall into this category, for me it was <i>Star Wars: Legions</i>. As a rule set it is definitely something I no longer play, nor will pick back up, so these are a definite candidate of figures to clear out.</p><p><b>42mm</b>: The only miniatures that fall into this category are my wooden soldiers that I make. I have a Napoleonic and Dark Ages collection, along with appropriately scaled trees, but not much else in the way of terrain. Felt always works for roads, rivers, plowed fields, etc. As long as I stay away from structures, I am good. Ironically, I have found it easy to play skirmish games with these figures, but mass battles require a 6' x 4' table. I tend to use smaller unit sizes (6 figures or so) anyway I tend not to put a lot of figures on the table. The largest hassle with this scale is the larger surface area requires more paint and time, with a tendency to want to add detail as it is so visible.</p><p>I know one of the first tasks once I retire will be to get rid of all my 32mm Star Wars Legion troops, followed by the 28mm Bolt Action, Warhammer, and Warhammer 40,000 figures, both painted and unpainted. If I get rid of all of those, I may not have to make the decision between 15mm and 6mm. The 6mm collection is actually pretty small, physically. Also, there are some incomplete line in my 15mm collection to get rid of like the Marlburians, Polish 17th Century, Renaissance WoFun figures (experiment that failed), and even Napoleonics (my 6mm Napoleonics collection is far larger and more consistent).</p><p>My goal is truly not to buy any more.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">Recent Painting Videos</h1>
<p>As part of my resolve to move away from 25mm to 32mm figures strengthens I realize that I need to either paint or sell all of the 15mm figures that I already have. I have a number of random AWI figures that need treatment, plus have a number of WWII troops from the Flames of War days to be painted, but by far the largest collection is unpainted Ancients. I remember Brookhurst Hobbies had a 50+% sale on Xyston Miniatures – and I love those sculpts – and I purchased a couple hundred dollars worth at sale prices. Maybe 100+ packs? Some insane amount. I have a whole 33 liter/35 quart storage tub filled with these packs. (I admit temporary insanity.)</p><p>Nonetheless, I saw a painting video using Army Painter's Speedpaint – which I bought as soon as it became available, in order to give it a try – for historical miniatures and I decided to give them another try.</p><p>My initial complaint with Speedpaints is that it was too blotchy, like Citadel's contrast paints. Added to that the paint reactivation issue that Youtubers talked about and it seemed like it was off to a bad start. I gave them another shot anyway and I must say that I think they work better for 15mm because there are no large, flat surface areas (unless you are paining vehicles), so you just don't see the problems. As for reactivation, well I just make sure I seal them with a spray varnish rather than a brush-on one. The one thing I do know is that they do <b>not</b> like traditional acrylic mediums and flow improvers. I would also use a separate set of paint brushes with them (as I do with Citadel contrast paint, India inks, acrylic inks, varnishes, and gesso).</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj7WgaxNz09K9sws3qYYtyYP6Z4iqt5tLM4Fx8YV8C3LkxWAs6LOKzi9q__iZlDmB_Hxs7Bnb2mz2-rF4wqHHfTLR15lWCS5xfQ_75v3LdHByodFhbWzmRK8rqDCxWO-SYY0huzqX7MoDmvK0UsxAYPA53qs6o97eksQGbGf9Vl3VJUWcVAz9Q" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="541" data-original-width="802" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj7WgaxNz09K9sws3qYYtyYP6Z4iqt5tLM4Fx8YV8C3LkxWAs6LOKzi9q__iZlDmB_Hxs7Bnb2mz2-rF4wqHHfTLR15lWCS5xfQ_75v3LdHByodFhbWzmRK8rqDCxWO-SYY0huzqX7MoDmvK0UsxAYPA53qs6o97eksQGbGf9Vl3VJUWcVAz9Q" width="320" /></a></div><br />Recently I have been watching more painting videos about all kinds of subjects. One came in my feed from an artist named <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/Warhipster" target="_blank">Warhipster</a></i>, whom I had never watched before, and he talked about why Citadel contrast paints produce blotches, pools, and stains, and how to use them properly. I swear, if all you do is watch the opening sequence you will see someone paint the smoothest finish with contrast paint I have ever seen, all without dilution or mediums.<p></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y_5cLbGBpsQ" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>
<p>It was this video that had me break out the contrast paints once again. Of course, just when I do that Citadel decides to increase the size of their line of contrast paints and have changed their Shades line to use contrast paint formulation, so they are weaker (wash) versions of contrast paint. It makes sense because washes and contrast basically do the same thing, which is appear stronger in the cracks and crevices and weaker everywhere else. With washes (Shade) we just want that tint to be as weak as possible while still maintaining sufficient color strength in the cracks. The bad part about the new line: I hear it will cost $195 to buy all of the new contrast paints. (I am not even sure that includes the new shades.)</p>
<p>I have lots of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Campaign-Based-Strategy-Adventure-Miniatures-CMON/dp/B00OZTG1F0/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">Arcadia Quest</a></i> chibi-style figures to paint (in addition to my <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Marvel-United-Cooperative-Strategy-Families/dp/B084BMW4XS/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">Marvel United</a></i> figures). I painted this monk up with contrast paints and shades in very short order.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPF26Lph7bR8Dq03jrWZ8Z7Js7YpeaoccJFs-MrI6-2B4ck1ATQbgTOOguhOiJBQyCGVJMgKFYeHYmjJ8F2Gl9qxw5xXEXSBjz5XAAIpIBTBs1viivaXHV0V3l5bA7Mg0Il8fMoEieE6W_PZVtOsTrit76L-KGHIQ4-ILuirQWuY6KsOYd0b8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="524" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPF26Lph7bR8Dq03jrWZ8Z7Js7YpeaoccJFs-MrI6-2B4ck1ATQbgTOOguhOiJBQyCGVJMgKFYeHYmjJ8F2Gl9qxw5xXEXSBjz5XAAIpIBTBs1viivaXHV0V3l5bA7Mg0Il8fMoEieE6W_PZVtOsTrit76L-KGHIQ4-ILuirQWuY6KsOYd0b8" width="218" /></a></div>
<p>I started by priming him bright white rather than the typical black then white zenithal. I spent some time inking him with a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MT7VIUO/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">black micron pen</a> before sealing it with varnish (so the ink would not reactivate from the solvents in the contrast paints). At that point I was ready to color the figure, much like the process in old school comic books (draw, ink, then color). You can see the blotchiness of the colors – I clearly need to watch the video above again, and practice more – but I think the overall effect is acceptable, especially given the time it took to get the figures on the table.</p><p>In addition to all of this I reconnected with Matt, my co-author on <a href="https://wooden-warriors.blogspot.com" target="_blank">the Wooden Warriors blog</a>, to see how things are faring with him. (Things are fine, but he finally caught Covid after dodging it for more than a year of teaching classes.) Neither of us have made a post there (I hope to rectify that soon), so I wondered whether he dropped out of the hobby or whether he was simply not making figures anymore. It turns out he has revived his interest in old board games, like <i>Heroquest</i>, and had obtained a set and was merrily painting away. He told me about a Spanish YouTuber living in Malaysia and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/MiguelGarciaFernandez" target="_blank">his channel Rush the Wash</a>. His technique to is zenithal prime and then use contrast paints to get his figures out on the table quickly. (Previously he white primed and used Citadel shades, glazes, and inks – the latter two some very old products – to paint his figures.) Ironically, this was a style I had been trying to accomplish for a long time. A long time ago – we are talking late 1980s here – I used to paint a number of things with Higgins, Windsor & Newton, and Bombay India inks. These days it seems like few places, other than online art supply stores, carry a decent range of colors, so I drifted away from it. However, I purchased a DBA army or three from Timurilank in the Netherlands and I saw that he had a transparent color glaze look to his figures – you can see an example in the <a href="http://dbagora.blogspot.com/2017/09/dba-terrain-type-steppe.html" target="_blank">first picture of this post</a> on his blog – that I have been trying to replicate for awhile. Rush the Wash was all about that style. Also, you can find videos from a few others on the "slap chop" painting style, but I think that is less distinct. I think my 15mm ancients, above, reflect that style, only without the gloss varnish.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">More Marvel United</h1>
<p>We have been playing a lot more of this board game, both as a group, face-to-face, and virtually using <i>Tabletop Simulator</i>. The former games give me more incentive to paint my miniatures while the latter allows me to play a campaign with other people around the country.</p><p>Here is what I completed on my painting table. First up is Silver Surfer. We played him once and he was powerful, almost too powerful to play against anything but the strongest villains (like Thanos).</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJB6PEosF9tvAMCK_XCue9_j2ctaqe5OIryI-LXG87MFeQv5xgOJGrhObx6D5EDuOMGXEQld3WTV7eJNbZZsRMv5azW-laYAke34Xp9mF4qaBSXtaXpiRSFUejZvbb6K1DoCx-KgliEQcKWWpqeTbCjeYtcS3nNZQHDAIAOnWfZz_lSV20sXI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="432" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJB6PEosF9tvAMCK_XCue9_j2ctaqe5OIryI-LXG87MFeQv5xgOJGrhObx6D5EDuOMGXEQld3WTV7eJNbZZsRMv5azW-laYAke34Xp9mF4qaBSXtaXpiRSFUejZvbb6K1DoCx-KgliEQcKWWpqeTbCjeYtcS3nNZQHDAIAOnWfZz_lSV20sXI" width="212" /></a></div><br />Because he comes pre-paint in this chrome silver, all I did was add black ink lines to define him further, and paint the space-y base.<p></p><p>I decided that the first set from the <i>Marvel United X-Men</i> series that I wanted to paint was the <i>Fantastic Four</i> expansion. So I started with the Human Torch. He comes cast in an ugly transparent orange plastic, so I primed him white and used Pro-Acryl transparent red acrylic paint and Bombay crimson India ink for the body, and Pro-Acryl transparent yellow and orange acrylic paints and Bombay yellow and orange India inks for the flames. The base is contrast paint and Pro-Acryl acrylic paints for the highlights and base rim. The only thing I might add is thickening the black to outline the eyes.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjr4LJnBnwnDpDYA1NKKL1LBhLa552d5zAQjXcFiGQrpRfeMjvjtDW-D0kQ2WmEXtJalr1ja9Ailjx4O_4zNsVS94-8-NbegzBj22Jxs8CpxQbWn-xbmjAS5T1yNTvy3ykLmMUoXjyN0V7dbf_qDUPUw0UMrhWE5WvJmX2vcqv2MICs3bMVQCA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="753" data-original-width="432" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjr4LJnBnwnDpDYA1NKKL1LBhLa552d5zAQjXcFiGQrpRfeMjvjtDW-D0kQ2WmEXtJalr1ja9Ailjx4O_4zNsVS94-8-NbegzBj22Jxs8CpxQbWn-xbmjAS5T1yNTvy3ykLmMUoXjyN0V7dbf_qDUPUw0UMrhWE5WvJmX2vcqv2MICs3bMVQCA" width="138" /></a></div><br />In order to try and keep my "one new figure painted a week" schedule I decided to tackle The Thing next. He is contrast paint for the body with acrylic paint highlights. The shorts are Pro-Acryl blue transparent acrylic paints with acrylic paint highlights and the belt is all acrylic paints.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhh6OFWL6kkh2rQ1A6UN1kPKdA4OyYeco2twZ6rAZrBgdmuoNRUvEVcW7ca5tJ-EJ6Y8fhy0jHKrQKVqaXUr5q0fH2egDFkEPJMJEZtX1or-4K64WHmJ2prc3tUdzIJ_Z6BjrKfH1mCh7I6y4Fkbm3V14jdBAnc2bpKsyJ3C2-Ya-V5U73f6uA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="504" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhh6OFWL6kkh2rQ1A6UN1kPKdA4OyYeco2twZ6rAZrBgdmuoNRUvEVcW7ca5tJ-EJ6Y8fhy0jHKrQKVqaXUr5q0fH2egDFkEPJMJEZtX1or-4K64WHmJ2prc3tUdzIJ_Z6BjrKfH1mCh7I6y4Fkbm3V14jdBAnc2bpKsyJ3C2-Ya-V5U73f6uA" width="208" /></a></div><br />Last up is the villain Killmonger. On one hand I wanted to try a new technique, but on the other I was reluctant to use a different technique than I used for all of my other heroes and villains. This was a black prime with white zenithal and heavy use of contrast paints, shades, and transparent acrylic paints. There is very little opaque acrylic paint used, and it was only used for the highlights.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVAPGT_vbVAymhC6UBJIFKChk_BAv_AND09VPZss3vMybX88_OCq3p-axaCARxHmv1wEjgrMwhFuULkWpagwn7yaJXc7TOXApZcGTcx-Tb-X5cIwdOhXfKgBt0RX_3HSmSUMhK6-aJ4epE8KuXEwhUJItO43wHgL8uQjyFlseypUjpKszEa8Y" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="432" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVAPGT_vbVAymhC6UBJIFKChk_BAv_AND09VPZss3vMybX88_OCq3p-axaCARxHmv1wEjgrMwhFuULkWpagwn7yaJXc7TOXApZcGTcx-Tb-X5cIwdOhXfKgBt0RX_3HSmSUMhK6-aJ4epE8KuXEwhUJItO43wHgL8uQjyFlseypUjpKszEa8Y" width="221" /></a></div><br />One of my gaming buddies is the person behind <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKe5Kltv8twNtwSKfm_EDxw/featured" target="_blank">Smooth Blend Studio</a> and is the one who painted many of my Warhammer Underworlds figures, plus the <i>Guardians of the Galaxy</i> expansion for <i>Marvel United</i>. He has opened up his schedule to paint 30 more figures for <i>Marvel United</i>, so expect to see more in the coming three months.<p></p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-30357938373009981892022-06-20T09:48:00.001-07:002022-06-20T09:48:16.993-07:00Map Campaign Part 5<p>Wow, even though I only fought two battles on April 14th, it feels like a lot has happened. Certainly in terms of scenario and rules development it has.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Campaign Update</h1>
<p>The <a href="https://solo-battles.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-second-battle-for-firnskuppe.html" target="_blank">Second Battle of Firnskuppe</a> did not produce any casualties, but it should have. (I am still experimenting with a campaign casualty system and both sides got off lightly in this battle and <a href="https://solo-battles.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-battle-of-firnskuppe.html" target="_blank">the first</a>.) <a href="https://solo-battles.blogspot.com/2022/06/ambush-on-forest-road.html" target="_blank">The Ambush on the Forest Road</a>, however, was a bloody affair as the <i>Battle Frenzy</i> Twist card came up, allowing units to fight in circumstances where they normally would not be able to fight at all (but at reduced effect). The downside, however, was that it increased casualties.</p>
<p>One of the things that this last battle has helped me to develop is the backstory of this campaign. You would have thought I would have worked all of that out, but I sort of go with the idea that you don't try and figure out details until they become necessary. Granted, this makes the backstory fit the narrative after the fact, but I am okay with that.</p><p>The Ambush on the Forest Road felt very much like playing out Braddock's Defeat (a.k.a. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Monongahela" target="_blank">The Battle of the Monongahela</a>), which I would <i>never</i> have even considered gaming out normally. (Okay, that is a lie, I did try it out in a game of <i>Clash for a Continent</i> by Worthington Games. I have also played <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Oriskany" target="_blank">The Battle of Oriskany</a>, another bloody ambush. But generally I avoid them, and have never played them with an opponent.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_A6rH6DT3yzZUEkyJQtTmfvmNvjP2NoVh9rTG1ng1tXbGgf8LG1WxVo64X8C9LKNxRAAHLwtjv1t_yZI-Hr1GsNDjRozAjAhOCRSjuCmXpws2wPYCX0dmdm4TdPgPcrA5tSKCCPwyEN5vyY-UpFnAz5s-fqncsjAYJR7FzjbaEstPGPD-hr4" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="600" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_A6rH6DT3yzZUEkyJQtTmfvmNvjP2NoVh9rTG1ng1tXbGgf8LG1WxVo64X8C9LKNxRAAHLwtjv1t_yZI-Hr1GsNDjRozAjAhOCRSjuCmXpws2wPYCX0dmdm4TdPgPcrA5tSKCCPwyEN5vyY-UpFnAz5s-fqncsjAYJR7FzjbaEstPGPD-hr4=w640-h424" width="640" /></a></div>
<p>This campaign was ostensibly between two neighboring countries – Westonian to the West and Eastonia to the East – and was developed by my (long-distance) gaming buddy Justo. He saw the campaigns on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/TheJoyofWargaming" target="_blank">Joy of Wargaming YouTube channel</a> (hosted by Jon Mollison) and he decided to create his own version of The First Elopean War, but he never completed it. When I suggested a campaign based on another campaign from that channel – which was a skirmish campaign, not a "two nations at war" campaign – and it fell through, Justo convinced me to try his campaign.</p><p>Basically the campaign takes elements straight from <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Solo-Wargaming-Guide-William-Silvester/dp/1938270134/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">The Solo Wargaming Guide</a></i> (TSWG) – which Jon uses quite heavily in his own campaigns – one of which is force generation. Each village, town, and city produces a certain number of troops and garrisons for the campaign, which is the currency that the player has for the campaign. Basically A- and B-class cities produce regiments and C-, D-, and E-class towns and villages produce companies. Normally, a regiment consists of five companies.</p><p>Here is where something interesting took place. Justo wrote up his troop muster and orders (for Westonia) separate from me, while I wrote it up for Eastonia. I wrote up some campaign rules to fill in the gaps that TSWG left and one area that I touched upon was what to do with these independent companies. I allowed players to convert a certain number of independent companies to Artillery companies for one thing, but I also had conversion rules for turning them into light infantry and light cavalry. I used those light troop rules, but Justo did not. Justo wanted all of his independent companies not designated as artillery to muster and consolidate into line troops – both infantry and cavalry. Essentially Westonia was a nation with no light troops while a considerable portion of the Eastonian troops – about ⅓ of them – were.</p><p>Westonia was Great Britain in North America before it realized that it needed to develop light troop capability and Eastonia were the French and their Indian allies.</p><p>The Ambush on the Forest Road was not The Battle of Monongahela, but <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bushy_Run">The Battle of Bushy Run</a>! The "Battle Frenzy" that the Westonians displayed were the Highland troops. The only problem was that the Westonians took far more damage.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhEDbRj3gKzbKgGVCyFKxOFdPMK4wt8t4K9oagIBBgZ70zxs_-lgySMatpFl_kvH-0Yp_VXHdWalWbRHmdR-byzgsek1TFSB5fluwzbgCvMzCD2kwHY-lSjm_G8kMeiRo1osrRArviiFGLI_W24YciMpPd8iESFyA7CPf_GFkVhWa5oicPsg5Q" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="964" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhEDbRj3gKzbKgGVCyFKxOFdPMK4wt8t4K9oagIBBgZ70zxs_-lgySMatpFl_kvH-0Yp_VXHdWalWbRHmdR-byzgsek1TFSB5fluwzbgCvMzCD2kwHY-lSjm_G8kMeiRo1osrRArviiFGLI_W24YciMpPd8iESFyA7CPf_GFkVhWa5oicPsg5Q=w640-h452" width="640" /></a></div>
<p>So, I am left with a campaign where one side has no light troops and the other side does. That may definitely be an advantage to the Westonians on the set piece battlefield, but as you can see, they have 15 miles of woods to travel through, and hard-riding skirmishing cavalry caught them on the march. Worse still, light infantry and more light cavalry are only 1 ¼ day behind. Even if the next battle on the forest road is not an ambush, I fear it will me much worse for the Westonians if they try and push through to Tierwalt (the destination town they have orders to capture).</p>
<p>Even worse, even though Westonian troops have captured Firnskuppe with a surprise attack (Eastonia was hit here first), the troops are stuck when it comes to advancing on Erlenloch (the east road route from Firnskuppe) as it goes through heavily forested roads.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaJET_4nhTKoTcBkvS-pysjK4vIkNbKJiqkKtab7BdV8AMGnLHnw_-rPOpbnwF4zqVCs8efxgNHv5L9jeRwO_XFJ4oVEkrpIFL5keDAtpstLYJh8sicMiyGPMlUS_ddXq9dUT2u3Lqg6YxX8ARDZUwexBUz0HsUyQQgRutS0EwR3Gh18XnJ9Y" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="1714" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaJET_4nhTKoTcBkvS-pysjK4vIkNbKJiqkKtab7BdV8AMGnLHnw_-rPOpbnwF4zqVCs8efxgNHv5L9jeRwO_XFJ4oVEkrpIFL5keDAtpstLYJh8sicMiyGPMlUS_ddXq9dUT2u3Lqg6YxX8ARDZUwexBUz0HsUyQQgRutS0EwR3Gh18XnJ9Y=w640-h328" width="640" /></a></div>
<p>The route southward is even worse.</p><p>This makes for a very interesting problem for Justo. (I have lit up the Justo Signal and have asked him how he wants to proceed.) As Eastonian forces converge on the Westonian troops in the forests, I think the latter are going to get torn up while they are in march columns. As for the Eastonians, they may be able to push the Westonians back, but can they take the eastern Westonian villages and keep them? (My objective for the campaign was to only occupy Nuevo, the first village on the southern road (see the second image above), and sue for peace, gaining some advantage in the ensuing peace negotiations.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Campaign Casualties</h1><p>I tried to get slick with my previous campaign casualties rules, but they simply do not work. I am not going to go back and alter the casualties for <a href="https://solo-battles.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-battle-of-firnskuppe.html" target="_blank">The First Battle of Firnskuppe</a>, as those troops have already been used in a second battle, but I am going to alter the casualties from <a href="https://solo-battles.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-second-battle-for-firnskuppe.html" target="_blank">that second action</a>.</p><p>When a unit is eliminated, it takes 33% permanent casualties if it was eliminated by musketry, 50% if by artillery fire or close combat with foot troops, and 67% if by close combat with mounted troops. This is the "killing blow"; you do not have to mark hits by type and figure things out proportionally. For units not eliminated the casualty rate is 25%. All hits lost round up. These losses are permanent for the duration of the campaign although we can look at replacements if this campaign runs long enough.</p><p><b>First Battle of Firnskuppe</b>: no casualties.</p><p><b>Second Battle of Firnskuppe</b>: one Eastonian Skirmisher unit was eliminated by musketry so it drops from 12 health to 8. One Westonian Infantry unit lost 14 hits so it drops from 15 health to 11.</p><p><b>Ambush on the Forest Road</b>: one Westonian Infantry unit was eliminated by musketry, so it drops from 15 health to 10. Another Westonian Infantry unit was reduce lost 14 hits so it drops from 15 health to 11. The Eastonian Hussars lost 2 hits so they drop from 18 hits to 17.</p><p>One thing I have realized is that casualty rates will determine how decisive each battle is, and how short your campaign will be.</p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-84835411470940114322022-06-11T15:29:00.004-07:002022-06-11T15:29:43.351-07:00Map Campaign Part 4, Other Updates, and Eye Candy<h1 style="text-align: left;">Map Campaign</h1>
<p>This is the continuing saga of my solo map campaign, using <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Solo-Wargaming-Guide-William-Silvester/dp/1938270134/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">The Solo Wargaming Guide</a></i> (TSWG) for the campaign rules and Neil Thomas' <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-hour-Wargames-Practical-Tabletop-Battles/dp/1473822904/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">One-Hour Wargames</a></i> (OHW) for the tactical rules. If you missed it, here are <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2022/04/first-attempt-at-map-campaign.html" target="_blank">part one</a>, <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2022/04/map-campaign-part-2.html" target="_blank">part two</a>, and <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2022/05/map-campaign-part-3.html" target="_blank">part three</a>. So far I have fought the <a href="https://solo-battles.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-battle-of-firnskuppe.html" target="_blank">First Battle of Firnskuppe</a> and the <a href="https://solo-battles.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-battle-of-firnskuppe.html" target="_blank">Second Battle of Firnskuppe</a>. Much of this was inspired by the campaigns of Mr. Wargaming on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/TheJoyofWargaming" target="_blank"><i>The Joy of Wargaming</i> Youtube channel</a>. The goal of this campaign was to create a series of linked battles where each battle has some context and is not just a random, disconnected scenario. I wanted to produce some interesting scenarios, especially unbalanced affairs that you might never normally play in a face-to-face game. (So far, it has done that, but I am just getting started.)</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">The Action So Far</h2>
<p>The Westonians launched a surprise attack, declaring war on the Eastonians five days after they had already started mustering their troops for a war. Because of this the initial action has been between the vanguard of the Westonian Northern Army and the frontier defense forces of a few towns in the line of attack, centered around the Eastonian village of Firnskuppe. Firnskuppe has been temporarily lost to the Westonians, but the Eastonians are mustering their Northern Army to take it back before the bulk of the enemy army arrives.</p><p>Meanwhile on the Southern flank, the Westonian Southern Army has started marching on the Eastonian town of Tierwelt. Unknown to them, Eastonian frontier forces are waiting for them in the extensive forest lying between the two countries. That engagement is the subject of today's post.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">The Forest Battle</h2>
<p>One of the other goals of this campaign is to use some of the various game accessories that I have collected over time and gauge how useful they really are. In the First Battle of Firnskuppe I used a (now out-of-print) deck of cards called <i>Kings of War Battlefield Cards</i>. This provided me with objectives and stratagems for each side and conditions for the battlefield. The Second Battle of Firnskuppe allowed me to experiment with <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Warhammer-Age-Sigmar-WARCRY-BATTLEPLAN/dp/B07VBPLCGS/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">Warcry Battleplan Cards</a></i>. This provided me with a deployment plan for each side, victory conditions, and a twist to the battle. One might say that there is some overlap between the two, but I think it would be very possible to combine both in a game. Something to ponder.</p>
<p>Today, however, I want to explore another resource and that is something that more people praise OHW for than the rules: the scenarios. A lot more people play the OHW scenarios than do those that play the rules. The OHW scenarios cover a variety of issues, so why not list out the one sentence summary of each – ambush, flank attack, meeting engagement, etc. – and use that for picking a scenario. But how do you figure out which scenario to pick?</p>
<p>In 2006 I 'discovered' a set of rules called <i><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/16173/Mythic-Role-Playing" target="_blank">Mythic Role Playing</a></i> (and the stripped down version <i><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/20798/Mythic-Game-Master-Emulator" target="_blank">Mythic Game Master Emulator</a></i>). Here is a quick explanation of <i>Mythic</i>:</p>
<blockquote><i>Mythic Game Master Emulator
<br />Create dynamic role-playing adventures without preparation. For use as a supplement with other systems.
</i><p><i>Mythic Role-Playing brought true, solo play to the world of tabletop role-playing in 2003, kicking off a solo revolution that continues today. The blue book Mythic Game Master Emulator contains the ground-breaking solo emulation rules from the Mythic red book, giving you everything you need to play any RPG system without a Gamemaster.</i></p>
<p><i>Mythic adventures are meant to be played off the cuff, with perhaps a few minutes of brainstorming to come up with the initial setup. Through a Yes/No oracle system, Mythic guides you through your adventure as you test your expectations. A Random Event mechanic throws narrative curve balls at you, and the Chaos Factor keeps tilting the story throughout your adventure to change up the pace.</i></p>
</blockquote>
<p>So the basic idea is to ask a series of Yes/No questions – generally the ones you consider having the highest probability of occurrence first – and use die rolls to determine what the answer is. Using these answers you have critical decisions made about the 'story', in this case the scenario. I used <i>Mythic</i><a href="https://solo-battles.blogspot.com/2016/05/mythic-and-miniature-gaming.html" target="_blank"> for gaming solo with miniatures</a> some time ago and it worked well.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Scenario Generation</h3>
<p>For this battle I had it in my mind that the Eastonians, as they are much faster (Light Cavalry), and a smaller force, that they have some chance of scouting out the Westonians. Using <i>Mythic</i> I asked a series of questions to drive me towards a scenario.</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><i>Have the Eastonians out-scouted the Westonians, i.e. spotted them first?</i> Yes.</li>
<li><i>Have the Eastonians detected the enemy without being detected?</i> Exceptional Yes.</li>
<li><i>Have the Eastonians been able to get into an ambush position?</i> Yes.</li>
<li><i>Have the Eastonians been able to get into a position where they can disrupt the Westonian supply line?</i> Yes.</li>
</ul>
<p>This gives me an idea of what the scenario should be like. Because the Eastonians can ambush the Westonians they will be allowed to start any place on the board, save a few locations. Further, they will be given the opportunity to achieve an objective that will allow them to disrupt the supply lines of the advancing Westonian army. Let's take a look at the board first.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Terrain Generation</h3>
<p>The battle is taking place in the middle of an extensive forest with a poor road cutting through it. This road runs from a C class town in Westonia (Nuevo) to a C class town in Eastonia (Tierwelt). Imagine a road cutting through the North American wilderness in the 1750s from a British frontier town to a French frontier town and you have a pretty good idea of what I was envisioning.</p><p>Because the hex was forest with road, and all surrounding hexes were the same, or just forest without a road, I decided to use the same card system for terrain generation, but with some changes. Draw one playing card for each square of the grid (there are six rows of six columns, so 36 cells) and there would be a 50% chance (any Red card) of the square containing light woods, a 25% chance (Spades) of being clear of terrain, and a 25% chance (Clubs) of having special terrain. If special terrain was indicated draw another card and that indicated if it were light wooded hills (the second card being Red) or a heavy woods (the second card being Black). Once you have determined the terrain for each square, draw a road in a logical place from West (left) to East. Here was the board generated.</p>
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<h3>Battle Plans</h3><p></p><p>The Westonians have two basic battle plans that I can see.</p><p></p><ol><li>Push through as quickly as possible, trying to exit off of the East side of the board. (50%)</li><li>Exploit the gaps in the woods (C1, C3, C6, and D1) to deploy troops and destroy the Westonians. (50%)</li></ol><p></p><p>The Westonians will use battle plan #2.</p><p>The Eastonians have two basic battle plans.</p><p></p><ol><li>Ignore the minor victory objective (moving troops off of the board) and fight as hard as possible in inflicting damage on the ambushed troops. (50%)</li><li>Attempt to obtain a minor victory. (50%)</li><ol><li>Attempt to get just the small Mounted Skirmisher unit off of the West road. (50%)</li><li>Attempt to get both units off of the West road. (50%)</li></ol></ol><p></p><p>The Eastonians will use battle plan #1.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Deployment</h3><p>The Westonians will enter the board at C1 and are trying to get off the board at C6. That said, there is no requirement for the Westonians to exit the board during the battle. As the Eastonians can ambush the enemy they are not allowed to setup in rows B, C, or D, but can set up in any column in rows A, E, and F.</p>
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<p>The Westonians will be marching on the board (BG Don NoSeLasTraga prefers to put his Cavalry in the rearguard, not the vanguard). Their forces are unaware of the Eastonian presence, so they must advance down the road at one square per turn until at least one Eastonian unit reveals itself.</p><p>Artillery, Infantry and Cavalry on roads may move through woods squares, but because they cannot deploy into that terrain, they are limited in what they can while in those squares. Infantry may only fire from squares that are clear of woods terrain (light or heavy). Cavalry may only charge from squares clear of terrain if the target of the charge is also in clear terrain, and all squares moved through are clear terrain. Artillery may fire from clear terrain to any other square as long as they have line of sight from the center of their square to the center of the target square. Artillery may always fire on an adjacent square that they are facing, even if they are on a road going through the woods.</p><p>Deployment for the Westonians is a march column, with three Infantry units in the lead, followed by the Artillery, followed by two Infantry, and the Cavalry unit bringing up the rear. The first Westonian unit will enter C1 on turn 1.</p><p>The only stipulation to Eastonian deployment is that they not be deployed in rows B, C, or D (red striped area) and that it not be a square visible from C1. Once the Westonians take their first turn, however, the Eastonians may move to any square.</p><p>Because of the Eastonian battle plan, all three light cavalry companies have decided to form into a single, over strength unit.</p>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">Conditions, Stratagems, Minor Objectives, and a Twist</h3><p>For this game I am mainly relying upon the scenario to determine victory. The Westonians win by being able to exit the East (right) side of the board (via the road). The Eastonians win by preventing that.</p><p>However, the Eastonians can obtain a minor victory by exiting a unit off of the West side of the board (via the road) before all of the Westonian units exit off of the East side (or are destroyed). If the Eastonians obtain this minor victory not only will the Westonians be forced to spend one day regrouping after the ambush (if there are any casualties), but they will require one additional day chasing down the Eastonians, driving them back down the road Eastward as the Eastonians will be disrupting their communication and supply lines.</p><p>Previously I experimented with the <i>Kings of War Battlefield Cards</i>, but also the <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Warhammer-Age-Sigmar-WARCRY-BATTLEPLAN/dp/B07VBPLCGS/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">Warcry Battleplan Cards</a></i>. This game I will use both.</p>
<p>Because the Condition cards are so powerful, I decide that there is only 25% chance of there being a Condition (drawing a Heart from a card deck). There wasn't.</p>
<p>The Stratagem cards drawn were <i>Sudden Faith</i> for Westonia, and <i>Advanced Scouting</i> for Eastonia. <i>Sudden Faith</i> allows one unit to get a die roll modifier to a Nerve test. See the <i>Thoughts on Changes to One-Hour Wargames</i> (below) on how this might be incorporated. <i>Advanced Scouting</i> only applies to normal games in which troops deploy forces. As this game has specialized deployment rules as it is, this simply means that the Eastonian troops are hidden and their location is indicated on a map until they are revealed. (Not much of an advantage in a solo game!)</p>
<p>The Objective cards for both sides were appropriate only for games in which both sides are attempting to command the field of battle. As this scenario does not fit that model, they are ignored.</p>
<p>The Twist card is <i>Battle Frenzy</i>. The description is as follows: "<i>A killing madness has enveloped the combatants, and they hack and hew at one another in a frenzy of blades and blood</i>." This is an interesting card for two reasons: 1) I was considering whether the Westonians should be allowed to become desperate given that they cannot fire when jammed in march column in the woods; and 2) when I started developing this scenario – an ambush in the wilderness on a poor road – I immediately envisioned the painting of Braddock's Defeat.</p>
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<p>Also, <a href="https://dontroiani.tumblr.com/post/538575602/bushy-run-by-don-troiani" target="_blank">Bushy Run comes to mind</a> but in that story the Highlander's desperate charge lead the British to victory.</p>
<p>Because I drew this card, I need to allow the Infantry a chance to fight their way out, despite the Horse & Musket rules for OHW forbidding it. Because of the <i>Battle Frenzy</i> card, I will allow <b>all</b> units (except Artillery) to charge into close combat with the following modifications:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Cavalry charging units in the open do so using the procedure indicated in the main rules.</li><li>Infantry may charge the enemy in the open or light woods, but do so inflicting D6 - 2 hits. If the enemy unit are Skirmishers or Mounted Skirmishers, they will retreat one square to their rear, otherwise the attacking Infantry must retreat if they did not destroy the enemy unit. If the enemy retreats or is destroyed, the Infantry take the square.</li><li>Cavalry may not charge the enemy in light or heavy woods.</li><li>Skirmishers may charge the enemy in any terrain other than impassable terrain. Mounted Skirmishers may charge the enemy in any terrain other than impassable or heavy woods terrain. Both unit types inflict D6 hits, but must retreat if they did not destroy the enemy unit.</li><li>Skirmishers and Mounted Skirmishers do not get half casualties in close combat, although Cavalry continues to get that benefit.</li></ul>
<p>All the scenario modifiers are done, so now it is time to play the battle. But first…</p>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">Thoughts on Changes to One-Hour Wargames</h1>
<p>I have been trawling through the various blogs and forums of late, looking at how others have been tweaking OHW. Although I have previously stated my desire <i>not</i> to do that, I have committed probably one of the larger tweaks out there: converting this freeform movement game to a 6", one unit per square, grid-based game.</p>
<p>So what are some of the things I have seen out there?</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Skirmishers</h2>
<p>I noticed that <i>MarkusB</i> of the <i>Wargamer's Block</i> blog has been putting out a number of OHW-related posts. His post on <a href="https://wargamersblock.blogspot.com/2021/12/one-hour-wargames-marengo-part-3-combat.html" target="_blank">changes he would make to OHW combat</a> has a lengthy bit on Skirmishers. The three major changes he suggests are: 1) enemy units fired upon by Skirmishers cannot reduce their hits due to cover; 2) fire from Infantry and Artillery are halved; and close combat hits from Cavalry are doubled.</p><p>The shift in the power dynamic between Infantry and Skirmishers would definitely shift. Currently, Skirmishers in the open firing at Infantry in a town inflict D6-2 hits, halved (rounding up). The return fire from the Infantry is D6. So this is an average of 1 hit per turn versus 3.5 hits per turn. Under <i>MarkusB</i>'s proposal it would be 1.67 hits per turn versus 2 hits per turn.</p><p>Note that Skirmishers shooting at one another are D6-2, not D6-2 halved. </p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Hussars, Cossacks, Chasseurs a Cheval, etc.</h2>
<p>I all honesty, no one else is talking about this; it is me. These are basically alternate names for Mounted Skirmishers. Mounted Skirmishers move 12" (maybe it should be 15"), can move through most of the terrain that Skirmishers can move through, and can fire (d6-2).</p><p>In light of the Skirmisher changes proposed by <i>MarkusB</i>, which of those should be carried over to Mounted Skirmishers?</p><p>First, I do not see Mounted Skirmishers as Sharpshooters, which is the justification behind Skirmisher fire negating cover benefits.</p><p>I do see their dispersed formation and lower unit size as justification to grant them half casualties from Infantry and Artillery fire.</p><p>The biggest question I have always had is whether Mounted Skirmishers should have any capability to enter close combat. I cannot see them being allowed to charge Infantry or Cavalry, but what about Artillery, Skirmishers, and other Mounted Skirmishers? My inclination to the latter question is "yes". I could see giving them D6 in close combat, but not halved casualties against hits caused by Cavalry (or Mounted Skirmishers).</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Activation Tests</h2>
<p>This is one I have seen mentioned in Facebook groups and is often also called a morale test. The most common version I have read is to force a unit to roll dice each turn to determine whether it acts or not, whether than be moving or firing. I have read about both rolling against hits and against remaining hits. Given that I use understrength units in my games, I like the idea of rolling against remaining hits.</p><p>An example system might be to roll 3D6 each turn and if the roll is equal to or lower than the remaining number of hits in the unit, the unit can act this turn, otherwise it cannot. Note that in this system a roll of 16, 17, or 18 would mean that a fully strength unit could not act, satisfying those players that want that 'combat friction/fog of war/chaos factor' in their game. Also note that a unit with only 1 or 2 remaining hits would never be able to act. For those that believe a unit is perfectly functional, even with a few casualties, you could use 2D6, meaning your unit is immune from effects if it has 13 or more hits remaining. You could also go to a 1D12 or 1D20, so a unit would never not be able to act (if it rolled lucky enough).</p><p>Rolling against hits, rather than remaining hits, can get a bit tricker if you use units with hit values other than 15 as then you would need to track the number of hits lost and the number of hits remaining. Logically, you would also be saying that a unit that started at, say, 12 hits has the same morale as a unit starting at 15 hits. I personally think that as units get smaller in relation to other units, their morale tends to go down too.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Resolving Combat</h2>
<p>There have been several proposals to changing the combat system while not messing with the odds that Neil Thomas uses. The first one I saw was <a href="http://hordesofthethings.blogspot.com/2015/08/one-hour-wargames-scenario-8-melee.html" target="_blank">Kaptain Kobold's Five Hits System</a>.</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i>Units roll one, two or three dice when firing, corresponding to 1D6-2, 1D6 and 1D6+2. Each score of 4 or more is a hit. Units can take 5 hits.</i></p></blockquote><p>Then came <a href="https://johnswargames.wordpress.com/2015/12/07/a-modification-or-two-of-1-hour-wargames/" target="_blank">John Acar's Three Hits and Six Hits Systems</a>.</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i>Six Hits System: We can have each die hit on a 3+ instead of a 4+. Each unit will take 6 hits. With this you can match more closely the hit rates of the original rules. Thus 1D6 (.67) will take 9 hits to kill a unit. 2D6 (1.33) will take 5 turns to kill a unit. 3D6 (2) will take 3 turns to kill a unit. You can simply double or halve damage as necessary. Round fractions up as per the rules. It occurred to me that instead of halving the damage you could simply change the hit number to 5+ for half damage. Double damage becomes more problematic though. You are still doubling numbers…which is fine but perhaps slightly cumbersome. If you like this system, you can simply use a single D6 per unit to track damage and still apply the rest of the rules as is.</i></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i>Three Hits System: So, a normal chance to hit is now 5+. Each unit can take 3 hits. So, 1D6 (.33) still kills a unit in 9 turns. 2D6 (.67) still kills a unit in 5 turns. 3D6 (1) kills a unit in 3 turns. Now for the cleanup. If the rules call for half damage, simply halve the probability to hit. So half damage is the same amount of dice but hits are on a 6 only. If the rules call for double damage, hits will occur on a 3+. With this system, you only need two kinds of colored markers. Yellow, for example, represents 1 hit and red represents 2 hits. The third hit removes the unit of course. This system will provide the greatest degree of uncertainty.</i></p></blockquote><p>I am fairly certain I tried the Three Hits System, but I cannot find the battle report. As John points out, what these systems do is create more chaos and less certainty, which is another way of saying that the combat will be more luck-driven. By reducing the number of die rolls, each die roll becomes that much more critical. As it is there are not that many die rolls in OHW, so reducing them to even fewer seems like you are swapping … what? … for using fewer dice to mark your hits? (By the way, I now use dice to mark remaining hits, given units can start with more or less than the standard 15 hits.)</p><p><i>MarkusB</i> suggested another method (Same Chaos Variant), which I have seen with other rules, but not seen suggested for OHW.</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i>You’ll need four types of tokens, labelled “4”, “6”, “8” and “x2”. Every time you attack an unit, put a token corresponding to the maximum damage that attack could do. So an 1d6-2 attack on the flank would put a “4” token stacked with a “x2” token on the damaged unit. Every time you acquire a new token, tally the total of potential hits so far. Only if and when the total potential hits reach or surpass 15 (or the number of hits the unit has, for understrength and overstrength units), roll all of the dice corresponding to tokens. If those ‘actual’ rolled hits a total 15 or more, the unit is destroyed. If you roll a lower number, the unit is still fine – but it still keeps all the tokens it acquired so far.</i></p></blockquote><p>I like this method as definitely increases the 'fog of war' by not defining precisely when a unit will break while at the same time not reducing the number of die rolls.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Changing the Turn Sequence</h2>
<p>In the same post cited above <i>MarkusB</i> proposes changing the turn sequence from <i>Movement → Firing → Close Combat → Unit Elimination</i> to <i>Firing → Movement → Close Combat → Unit Elimination</i>. Essentially <i>Movement</i> and <i>Firing</i> switch positions in the sequence.</p><p>The complaint, and thus the justification for the change, is that you cannot coordinate actions between units with the current sequence. For example, you cannot fire with your Artillery or supporting Infantry while your Cavalry charges as the charge move will generally block line of fire to the enemy unit, or you may have ruled that a unit cannot fire on an enemy unit in close combat.</p><p>By conducting fire first, units will have clear line of fire as charging units will not have moved yet, so it allows for units to double up on the enemy, which is pretty powerful. The following images show the difference. The left image shows that, because the Cavalry moves first, the Artillery's fire will be blocked. The right image reverses the order in the turn sequence, so the Artillery will be able to fire before Cavalry can move.</p>
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<p>The net effect of this, of course, is that it allows units to double up on the enemy. So is this a good thing or a bad thing? Also, is it a realistic thing?</p><p>One of the complaints agains OHW is whether or not each period feels different from the next. I think it does, but do wonder whether sub-periods within the larger period have enough feel. For example, the Seven Year's War and the Napoleonic Wars both fall within the Horse & Musket period, but should their battles feel the same? Obviously I don't think so as I wrote <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2019/12/american-war-of-independence-variant.html">my own AWI Variant for OHW</a>.</p><p>If you look at other game designs, such as Richard Borg's <i>Command & Colors</i> (CC) series, the big difference you will see between <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/GMT-Games-GMT1014-Commands-Colors/dp/B004HH11MS/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">Command & Colors: Napoleonics</a></i> (CCN) and <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/CPS-American-Revolution-Commands-Tricorne/dp/B0764ZFMHF/?tag=daleswargames-20">Command & Colors: Tricorne</a></i> (CCT) is the use of a Combined Arms mechanic that the former has, but the latter does not.</p><p>The rules for CCN state that, for combined arms combat "When an ordered infantry or cavalry unit is about to attack an enemy unit in melee, one or more ordered artillery units may combine their battle dice with the attacking unit. A combined arms combat must be declared before any battle dice are rolled." Changing the turn sequence in OHW would allow that sort of tactic to be replicated.</p><p>Another tactic in CCN is to threaten an Infantry unit with a Cavalry unit, forcing it to make a decision on whether it should form square, and if it does, to hit the Infantry unit with Artillery or Infantry fire. Although this is harder to replicate in OHW – especially if you are not using the optional Square rules – it would be very hard in the current turn sequence unless you are approaching the enemy from two directions, i.e. going after different faces of the enemy unit.</p><p>For me, the question of whether this change should be made is centered around time. I used to think that if a unit moved and the other unit did not, then the moving unit should be penalized because it was not spending its full time shooting whereas the other unit was. Sort of a "volume of fire over time" concept. When you realized that many of these rules have turns representing anywhere from 30 minutes to one hour you can't rightly assume that the non-moving unit is actually firing the entire time. If you have ever played the fascinating, but exceedingly tedious <i>Chef de Bataillon</i> (CdB) by Scotty Bowden and Jim Getz you know that the idea of battles lasting hours could <b>not</b> have meant that troops were firing two-three rounds per minute for very long. You would run out of your 60 rounds in 20-30 minutes, not even one game turn. (In CbD, turns were much shorter, however, as they were trying to use realistic time and ground scales, hence the tedious nature of the game.)</p><p>So, is allowing a unit to fire effectively – represented by the full D6 of hits they inflict in a turn – <b>and</b> allow another unit to make a full move distance charge all in the same turn realistic? Probably, because much of combat is "hurry up and wait". Most games use non-charging rates of movement as units did not quick march all over the field constantly. There was a lot of wasted time reordering the troops, dressing the line, waiting for orders to be delivered by signal or messenger, etc.</p><p>A better way to think of combat is a lot of waiting with short bursts of furious action. By changing this turn sequence you would be implicitly saying that units <b>can</b> coordinate their actions in a single turn.</p><p>The question to my mind remains: at what point in time should this effect start to occur? Certainly by the time of the Napoleonic Wars, but not at the time of the American War of Independence, according to Richard Borg. That would split the Horse & Musket period and maybe that is what it needs. Maybe that is one more thing that the rules need to get a better period feel. (Squares are another. I do not allow troops before the Napoleonic Wars to form square. Certainly by the Rifle & Saber period, in Europe, they had stopped. In the Colonial wars it was less a "wall of steel" defensive formation against cavalry and more of a "stop from being surrounded" defensive formation against superior numbers.)</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Changing the Range of Horse & Musket Firepower</h2>
<p>Another suggestion by <i>MarkusB</i> is to change Infantry shooting range and firepower from 1D6 for 12" to 1D6+2 for 3" and 1D6-2 for 12", the idea being that their deadly firepower is really only at very short range, otherwise it is terrible.</p><p>I think if I wanted to simulate that I would grant Infantry the ability to go into close combat with Infantry, and consider that the short range firefight. You could also use the old Ancients and Medieval rules of units in close combat cannot move, accurately simulating the pinning effect of the inability to get unstuck when you are in a hot firefight. That would also grant you the 1D6+2 for that close combat roll. The one change would be that a unit turning to flank while 'contacted' by the enemy would <b>not</b> get to fire on the turn it moves. (If you get flanked and contacted by Infantry, you deserve what you get.)</p><p>Secondly, I don't think I would adopt 1D6-2 for normal shooting. If anything, I would probably drop the range to 6". But at this time I think that is too much of a change. I look forward to reading <i>MarkusB</i>'s battle reports on how it went. (Hint, hint.)</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Enfilade Fire</h2><p>I've seen mention of enfilade fire before, essentially a unit firing down the length of a unit in march column or down the line (flank) of a deployed unit. Basically the effect is to increase the damage inflicted on the unit being enfiladed.</p><p>To me, the farther a unit is away, the less likely the enfilade fire will have must effect. Also, I only consider massed fire as gaining an advantage. If I were using the 'Infantry Firefight' rule above I would only allow it to count if attacking from a flank, i.e. the double effect of a flank attack in close combat would be called 'enfilading fire'.</p><p>For Artillery I would allow it better firepower if it could claim enfilade. I would allow enfilade if firing at: an Infantry unit is in square; an Infantry or Cavalry unit is on a road moving through terrain that it cannot normally move through, e.g. woods, marsh, etc.; and the flank face of an Infantry or Cavalry unit in terrain that it can normally move through, e.g. it is deployed into line. I will leave it to you – like Neil Thomas does – to determine exactly what angle it is a flank face or not. Oh, and what should the bonus be? I would grant Artillery 1D6, not 1D6-2 x2.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">March Column</h2>
<p>A march column essentially grants a unit the ability to move faster on the battlefield in exchange for being exceedingly more susceptible to damage by enemy fire and close combat. A unit commander generally will not risk entering into this formation unless they believe they are out of the dangers of combat, i.e. out of the line of sight or range of enemy attacks. That said, a unit commander will use that formation if they need to move faster on the battlefield, such as shifting a position behind their own lines.</p><p>As mentioned previously, a march column can be inferred is a unit is currently on a road moving through terrain that it normally cannot move through, such as Infantry or Cavalry moving through woods. You can either always consider moving Artillery to be in march column or not. (I tend towards not.)</p>
<p>One way to model the unit commander choosing to use march column is if the unit starts and ends their movement outside of 12" from all Infantry, Cavalry, Skirmisher, and Mounted Skirmisher units and outside of all line of sight or 48" (if in line of sight) of Artillery.</p><p>The benefit of a march column move is that it provides +6" (one square) of additional movement.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">I'll Pause Here</h1>
<p>I intended to include the battle report for <i>The Ambush on the Forest Road</i> here in this post, but decided that it is getting too lengthy. Look for the battle report (and the rule changes to OHW that I am going to experiment with) on <a href="https://solo-battles.blogspot.com" target="_blank">my Solo Battles blog</a>.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">Painting Update: Marvel United</h1>
<p>Our group continues to play <a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-hour-Wargames-Practical-Tabletop-Battles/dp/1473822904/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">Marvel United</a> once a week. (Actually, I was able to sneak in an extra game as my wife and I went to a friend's house, and his wife seeing that my wife was playing, decided to learn the game too.) This continues to motivate me to paint more villains (red band on the base) for us to fight and more heroes (blue band on the base) for us to use, keeping the game fresh.</p><p>We start with Doctor Octopus for the Spiderverse and part of the Sinister Six expansion. He is destructive to the game's locations, which is an interesting twist for a villain. We have fought him several times on Easy Mode and always won. I had fun painting him, but this was the second attempt on painting the tentacles. I wanted to get a 'shiny metal' look without using metallic paints. (In fact, the only time I use metallic paints is on the base.)</p>
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<p>Next up is Drax the Destroyer from Guardians of the Galaxy. Interestingly, the skin color scheme for him was what you see, which is different from the green tint they used in the movie. I wasn't too happy with my painting efforts here, but he looks good on the table.</p>
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<p>Next is Kraven the Hunter, also from the Spiderverse and one of the Sinister Six expansion. I just finished painting him, so we have not fought against him yet. Again, this color comes from the game; his hair was black in the comics.</p>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUyZ6F6YBaRfCiIN7KouPrwm4ZuZMTg_DH_Mox7HtiufH1hvBdJIoGucrtzCBkg9o37ZTbKuQN-mK6SgLHL5plPPfFhI4lyC3HhGXB2J18y5LwNQUngUT9ACaDKoSJkp3Vi4QmE_D8z36Ai2GMpGbwEBI387Vksei715v8lxJPEEDxy5kETLE" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1873" data-original-width="1389" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUyZ6F6YBaRfCiIN7KouPrwm4ZuZMTg_DH_Mox7HtiufH1hvBdJIoGucrtzCBkg9o37ZTbKuQN-mK6SgLHL5plPPfFhI4lyC3HhGXB2J18y5LwNQUngUT9ACaDKoSJkp3Vi4QmE_D8z36Ai2GMpGbwEBI387Vksei715v8lxJPEEDxy5kETLE" width="178" /></a></div>
<p>Next up is Moon Knight. He was a request from one of the players. I need to clean up his cape a bit as the shadows look too ragged to my eye. I like how the moss turned out on the stone pillar he is standing on though.</p>
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<p>Next is Sandman, from the Spiderverse and the Sinister Six expansion. The sand was contrast paint with dry brushing on top. I really like how he turned out. He is tough as an opponent as he gains health as the game goes on, but we still managed to beat him.</p>
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<p>Next is the Vulture, from the Spiderverse and the Sinister Six expansion. He is obviously the new 'model' as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulture_(Marvel_Comics)" target="_blank">the one when I was a kid</a> (in the 1960s) was an old, bald-headed guy in a green suit that eventually got cancer. In Marvel United he is, for some reason, exceedingly tough. You cannot go after him with just any team of heroes as you will lose horribly, as we did four times in a row. He has yet to be beaten. (I need to paint some more heroes in order to have the right combination of movement and healing to defeat him.)</p>
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<p>Next is Black Panther, also a request from a player. I wanted to trying a blue-black style for his black suit, but I think it ended up way too blue. I like it though. All those little white and gray lines were a pain though.</p>
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<p>Last is Luke Cage. I painted him for two reasons: 1) I saw a painting video on how to get good yellows by first underpainting with pink, and I wanted to try it (it worked); and 2) I wanted to try and paint the wrinkly effect on a bald head, and he had one (it worked). I think I also did well with the Borderlands cel style using high contrast colors (three shades of yellow and three of gray) with no blending, just hard lines. You can see that in the other figures, like the wings of the Vulture, the suit of Black Panther, and the tentacles of Doctor Octopus.</p>
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<p><br /></p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-92100057670471197502022-05-14T17:01:00.000-07:002022-05-14T17:01:04.947-07:00Map Campaign Part 3<p> No, I have not given up on the map campaign, The First Elopean War. While I admit that most of my time had been spent painting of late, what stalled the campaign most was trying to organize it. To be honest, I sort of rushed the moves in order to get to my first battle and so I kicked some organizational tasks down the road. Well after the first battle all of that came due as I could not really pick up where I had left off with complete confidence. So I basically started over, so to speak, by calculating where every unit was.</p><p>But in order to do that accurately, and not end up with the same issue every time I stopped for a battle, I needed to fix my maps. The hexes needed grid numbers on them so I could make references in my campaign diary as to where each unit was on any given campaign day.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Reorganizing</h2><p>At first I tried putting just the row letters and a few column numbers on the map. That worked for a little while, but I found myself counting hexes so frequently that I decided the only logical thing to do was note all the grid numbers for each hex that I would use. As the campaign rules require you to stick to the roads in order to maintain supply, I really only needed numbers for each town, city, and road hex.</p>
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</a></div>
<p>Although it is hard to see without clicking on the images to expand it, there is a letter followed by a number for each of the hexes containing towns, cities, and roads. Now I have an easy reference for unit location. Needless to say, this took a bit of time to modify.</p><p>Once that was done I could go back and create a campaign diary, listing each unit of each army, by day, and note their position on the map.</p>
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<p>In this example I have a section for the weather, by day, and the entry for April 3rd for the Westonian Army (which mobilized first and it attacking Eastonia). Each entry shows the city where units were starting, which city they were mustering into Brigades, and how many companies, by type. On subsequent days they would show hex grid references.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgBv8243fcu2D0vlHDP3-Bj1EB_kKODhxs5n6LdeEKqGxYRPD4Cegi9M1_stFwkKBPNsWGoxFN2V3Kn5HBkLODKlx93jENO6xGsLsm8txvKpz1kdUJ45Jd33HPAYzAXkyOJ7LbcDM1arQ3370eHkNocKRXqZB-ThyQOjXZqK4ROtpxw2cY2lqU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="296" data-original-width="482" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgBv8243fcu2D0vlHDP3-Bj1EB_kKODhxs5n6LdeEKqGxYRPD4Cegi9M1_stFwkKBPNsWGoxFN2V3Kn5HBkLODKlx93jENO6xGsLsm8txvKpz1kdUJ45Jd33HPAYzAXkyOJ7LbcDM1arQ3370eHkNocKRXqZB-ThyQOjXZqK4ROtpxw2cY2lqU" width="320" /></a></div>
<p>Here it shows units in motion, plus the two Brigades that have fully mustered by April 12th (and with Brigade SeLasTraga in battle at Firnskuppe, Eastonia).</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Campaign to Tabletop and Back</h2>
<p>As I was mulling over some of the comments on the blog and in Facebook (both the Solo Wargaming with Miniatures and Wargaming Neil Thomas Rules groups)</p>
<p>Hearkening <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2022/04/campaign-to-battlefield-and-back-again.html" target="_blank">back to the discussion</a> about how Neil Thomas treats casualties in <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-hour-Wargames-Practical-Tabletop-Battles/dp/1473822904/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">One-Hour Wargames</a></i> (OHW), the real losses to personnel do not occur until the unit has taken quite a few hits or has been eliminated from the board. I decided that I wanted to revamp the table. Rather than focus on losses in 'companies' I decided to keep the units whole and track the number of hits it had.</p><p>Given that the initial hit losses, according to Neil Thomas, are morale and not very many men, most of those hits can be shrugged off.</p>
<table border="1">
<thead>
<tr>
<td>
<b>OHW Combat Result</b>
</td>
<td>
<b>TSWG Campaign Effect – All rolls are 1D6</b></td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>6-10 hits remaining on Infantry or Cavalry</td>
<td>Lose 5 hits on '1'.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1-5 hits remaining on Infantry or Cavalry</td>
<td>Lose 5 hits on '1' or '2'.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Infantry or Cavalry removed by musketry</td>
<td>Lose 10 hits on '1', 5 hits on '2' or '3'.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Infantry or Cavalry removed by Artillery</td>
<td>Lose 10 hits on '1' or '2', 5 hits on '3' or '4'.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Infantry removed by close combat</td>
<td>Lose 10 hits on '1' or '2', 5 hits on '3', '4', or '5'.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Cavalry removed by close combat</td>
<td>Lose 10 hits on '1', 5 hits on '2' or '3'.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1-5 hits remaining on any Skirmisher</td>
<td>Lose 5 hits on '1'.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Any Skirmisher removed by musketry</td>
<td>Lose 10 hits on '1', 5 hits on '2'.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Any Skirmisher removed by Artillery</td>
<td>Lose 10 hits on '1', 5 hits on '2' or '3'.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Any Skirmisher removed by close combat</td>
<td>Lose 10 hits on '1' or '2', 5 hits on '3', '4', '5', or '6'.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Note that Mounted Skirmishers count as Cavalry for casualty determination in the above table.</p><p>As it stands, the outcome of <a href="https://solo-battles.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-battle-of-firnskuppe.html" target="_blank">the first battle</a> has not changed. Neither unit lost any hits permanently.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Campaign Progress</h2>
<p>On April 14th, after having regroup from the clash at the town of Firnskuppe, and being joined by additional forces, Eastonian forces close in from the East and South onto Firnskuppe in an attempt to harass the Westonian vanguard garrisoning the town.</p>
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<p>Meanwhile, East of Nuevo the Westonia Brigade NoSeLasTraga clashes in the woods with Eastonian light cavalry.</p>
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<p>Again, this will be two clashes in which the Westonian forces outnumber the Eastonians. The latter are desperately trying to hold back the Westonian armies while the Eastonians continue to muster units and form their one brigades.</p><p>I will post the battles on <a href="https://solo-battles.blogspot.com" target="_blank">my Solo Battles blog</a>, as I experiment with more techniques for solo gaming.</p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-70256370214421416512022-05-01T13:03:00.001-07:002022-05-01T13:03:32.817-07:00Marvel United is Truly a Co-operative Superhero Game<p> One of the diversions from playing the First Elopean War Map Campaign is, after a long period of self-imposed lockdown, I want to get back out and socialize in the local gaming community. That generally means playing a popular game put out by Games Workshop. (By "popular" I mean that at least one other person is playing it, has their own figures and rules, and you do not need to plead with them to get in a game.) The last one I played like that was <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Workshop-Warhammer-Underworlds-Harrowdeep/dp/B09JL2CGCH/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">Warhammer Underworlds Harrowdeep</a></i>. I thought that I would not like the new format, which is to play using the game decks straight out of the box, as it takes away the deck-building aspect of the game. But as I look upon my <i>Warhammer Underworlds</i> (WU) journey, that was actually the aspect of the game that made it expensive and ultra-competitive. By Games Workshop removing that 'pay-to-play' aspect from the game, it became much easier to grab a pre-defined deck, a warband, your core box, and go. That said, it is not a game for the sleepy (or the sloppy) as one mistake in the game can cost you a win.</p><p>Back in March 2021 I received my first box from the <i><a href="ttps://www.amazon.com/Marvel-United-Cooperative-Strategy-Families/dp/B084BMW4XS/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">Marvel United</a></i> Kickstarter. I joined the Facebook group for it and started watching the posts of people painting the miniatures and playing the game, but my copy sat on a shelf, unplayed.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglI3lE_eBU_EDXqozMzVFQyU-EjYlqOY8cdaDK9epL1-lxg1nOkID7oglc7Da6IcfBZcV69NYPG-dDQHVH4UlpTa3RItgid7b3bW8I1tgZ99RwmyCYEZz6Y3xu30HWPJV1S8y80Uy0m2BRdu1EPlWKHiiQoRRgB1U6VZdpjCM-s1OLwJcYZbI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="700" height="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglI3lE_eBU_EDXqozMzVFQyU-EjYlqOY8cdaDK9epL1-lxg1nOkID7oglc7Da6IcfBZcV69NYPG-dDQHVH4UlpTa3RItgid7b3bW8I1tgZ99RwmyCYEZz6Y3xu30HWPJV1S8y80Uy0m2BRdu1EPlWKHiiQoRRgB1U6VZdpjCM-s1OLwJcYZbI=w640-h446" width="640" /></a></div><br />The next Kickstarter campaign, for <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Collectible-Villain-Figurines-Challenge/dp/B08QV7HJ4M/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">Marvel United: X-Men</a> came along, and Fear of Missing Out struck again, and I bought the whole thing despite not having played a single game of the original Kickstarter campaign. Worse, I had bought another copy of the core set from someone because he had painted all of the miniatures and was selling it for a mere $60! So I had two core sets, all the expansions, and was buying all in on the second campaign without having played a single game.<p></p><p>Why? Well I definitely liked the miniatures. You see, they are in the 'chibi' style (big heads, smaller bodies, tiny limbs).</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAz5CW1YRC_qIZheBhPGdGm97L_dS7b-ANAC3MVzcOWnBUSY676ugFyPEKXe4yzoFS8VqfEztvbHfEdru5ZNp68Lurpiqs99cZIBM0H8Hy_crrJoOhXTy5u7vHFSMilVmcA7jlUrGtjPtvtOqNl8Z-cxxBpHL91e4HuNumdMVTnv-A8VETvlE" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1590" data-original-width="680" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAz5CW1YRC_qIZheBhPGdGm97L_dS7b-ANAC3MVzcOWnBUSY676ugFyPEKXe4yzoFS8VqfEztvbHfEdru5ZNp68Lurpiqs99cZIBM0H8Hy_crrJoOhXTy5u7vHFSMilVmcA7jlUrGtjPtvtOqNl8Z-cxxBpHL91e4HuNumdMVTnv-A8VETvlE=w275-h640" width="275" /></a></div><br />One day, the wife says she wants to 'bond' because she feels like I have been locked up too long, so "Let's play a game." As it so happened, I had just finished re-reading the MU rules for the umpteenth time and decided that this was the least 'war-game-y' and was co-operative rather than competitive, to boot! So I finally broke out the game. I was waiting for my second Kickstarter to arrive after all, so if she liked this, I would seem like a genius for buying more! (Right.)<p></p><p>We played the game and at the end she said "That was fun. Let's do another." We have since played it several times. Within a couple of weeks the wife and I played several sessions and she (nor I) had tired of the game.</p><p>Another part of this story is that I had a local painter paint up the Guardians of the Galaxy expansion (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/CMON-Marvel-Guardians-Kickstarter-Exclusive/dp/B0931ST1KK/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">which is selling for an insane amount on Amazon</a>) and that had not been cracked open either. When the painter asked me if I wanted to start up the Monday night gaming sessions I quickly suggested we try MU and put his figures into action.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">How the Game Plays</h1><p>Each player selects a superhero and gets that character's deck of 12 cards. Their cards are unique to them and reflect the style of the superhero along with their superpowers, making their gameplay thematic.</p><p>Every card contains action icons on the bottom of the card. Some of them also have a Special Effect that represents the superhero's special power.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4Z0le1fdXx2Ox7G-774H0xDeFQOKo_t1MKktm83uupHcG-vkgQ227oxaLchITRf3tu_4o_XCdycZC8Rt8SxWhnNti0-R2-Mflmh6XWvhTKuP-MtPOa-Lu7bo8jKVmH8L2I1V2dS7vjCfVoyEWYF1KPh1KKTPd_Jhzmck30kgBdJZMIkIB0Wc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4Z0le1fdXx2Ox7G-774H0xDeFQOKo_t1MKktm83uupHcG-vkgQ227oxaLchITRf3tu_4o_XCdycZC8Rt8SxWhnNti0-R2-Mflmh6XWvhTKuP-MtPOa-Lu7bo8jKVmH8L2I1V2dS7vjCfVoyEWYF1KPh1KKTPd_Jhzmck30kgBdJZMIkIB0Wc=w312-h400" width="312" /></a></div><br />In the image above Captain America gets on Attack icon and can use the <i>Leadership</i> special effect, which allows Cap to give a Wild token to another hero on the team.<p></p><p>Here are the four action icons that are in the game.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijp6Yoy5yGqhrV-QGaPSs0Qo2dM0178hUeQDBqKk3mIoK_aGQtCZSXRLdGQy_LWMHp5qvBYlj27TcdhGta02S9lre_3az2po8ZH53uqbBHFz2BNK7BZpSH94DSs9dLcuThvECFBAd3Is6aL9bAqjUwbWv0lJAEDkJOhIQSMEzhZyGaa2rzSns" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1469" data-original-width="1140" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijp6Yoy5yGqhrV-QGaPSs0Qo2dM0178hUeQDBqKk3mIoK_aGQtCZSXRLdGQy_LWMHp5qvBYlj27TcdhGta02S9lre_3az2po8ZH53uqbBHFz2BNK7BZpSH94DSs9dLcuThvECFBAd3Is6aL9bAqjUwbWv0lJAEDkJOhIQSMEzhZyGaa2rzSns" width="186" /></a></div><br />There are only four icons in the game total, one of which is Wild, which allows you to substitute that icon for any of the other three (Move, Attack, or Heroic). We will look at the actions later.<p></p><p>In general the game has one supervillain, which is controlled by a set of rules and a deck of cards. Just as with the heroes, the villains are unique with their own powers, villainous plots, threats to the heroes, and deck of cards. Instead of using action icons, like the heroes, their cards represent whole actions that they take for the turn, including a move, any attack(s) they make, any crisis they create, and any special effects they create.</p><p>Basic gameplay is for either the villain or a hero to play a card from their hand to the Storyline, which is a chronological sequence of played cards that forms the narrative. The villain always plays the first card from his deck of 12 cards called The Master Plan deck.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgWLaZADM0vZXDH4CSH9ZlhMaJ7wf8GA5-tR2sMOKBS1zWvrn3CGbGgTV5U1Q4Z9c8WLcx4i6jwk2RCTJVAkvELa6jDpyjBfANNsBiOj-X294APBSPyfD7zl2Y4cg9GMT-cGrAPoesm3ZcAthOBFhKfCtVjKubYlmqC6Rb1AamnQ9ON90SMOe4" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="882" data-original-width="1757" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgWLaZADM0vZXDH4CSH9ZlhMaJ7wf8GA5-tR2sMOKBS1zWvrn3CGbGgTV5U1Q4Z9c8WLcx4i6jwk2RCTJVAkvELa6jDpyjBfANNsBiOj-X294APBSPyfD7zl2Y4cg9GMT-cGrAPoesm3ZcAthOBFhKfCtVjKubYlmqC6Rb1AamnQ9ON90SMOe4=w400-h201" width="400" /></a></div><br />In this example above, Red Skull plays a card into the Storyline. Reading from top to bottom, he moves four locations clockwise, attacks ("BAM!"), and then adds four thugs (mooks, or minor henchmen) to the board, two in his location and one each to the locations to his left and right.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgshT9sjyP0dIfWXMo6bOOlTMu_2ITZc8oDJvKIuA_GDMx9HmnmKPlTSUzAkKWJUrrGuxjDFvgD9XAcgM6leQQ5tW_sCmnO3mo78VcX7H5LsM8fnC2JMPamOIo660YZVeO0LnWv5vWO90YB9HknlJNsb7YlrX5HHKpmMUKkYC8wagat1lB6NnM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1256" data-original-width="2564" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgshT9sjyP0dIfWXMo6bOOlTMu_2ITZc8oDJvKIuA_GDMx9HmnmKPlTSUzAkKWJUrrGuxjDFvgD9XAcgM6leQQ5tW_sCmnO3mo78VcX7H5LsM8fnC2JMPamOIo660YZVeO0LnWv5vWO90YB9HknlJNsb7YlrX5HHKpmMUKkYC8wagat1lB6NnM=w640-h314" width="640" /></a></div><br />The image above shows a typical setup of the board. There are six locations spread out around the board in a circle. The best way to think about locations is as they are in comics; they a places where action occurs. The game plays out cinematically as the villain moves throughout the city/country/world/galaxy carrying out their villainous plot. The heroes deal with the effects and then eventually catch up with the villain, beat the stuffing out of them, and then the episode(s) are done. Next issue, a new villain!<p></p><p>So in the example above the villain (cast in red plastic) is at '6'. Their card indicates they move four locations clockwise. That would land them at '3'. As there is no hero figure at '3' (they are at '7' in the image), he has no one to attack, but there are other effects to a BAM! After those are resolved, he draws two thugs and places it on the card at '3', and adds one thug each to the locations to the left (clockwise) and right (counter-clockwise) of the location where Red Skull ended his move.</p><p>After the villain plays a card and resolves it, play goes to the heroes. In the beginning, the heroes will take turn in rotation and play three cards, one from each hero, before the villain gets to play another card. Note this is three cards regardless of the number of heroes. In this example above there are actually four heroes being played – Captain America, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, and Black Widow – so only three would get to play before Red Skull takes his second turn. After that, the fourth, first, and second would play one card each, then Red Skull, and so on.</p><p>At each location there are up to four different elements: civilians, thugs, a threat card, and an end-of-turn effect specific to that location. There are three basic missions to the game (indicated in area '1' on the board, represented by Mission Cards): clearing threats, defeating thugs, and rescuing civilians. So if a location has a civilian token on it, you can rescue the civilian, placing it on the Rescue Civilian mission card. Same with thugs at a location. Your hero can defeat them, placing their token on the Defeat Thugs mission card. At the bottom of each location is a Threat Card, which is unique to the villain you are fighting. For example, Red Skull has three cards representing his three henchmen that need to be defeated: Bob the Hydra Agent, Lady Mantis, and Crossbones. Other threats require heroes spend actions to clear the threat. Once a threat is cleared from a location, a threat token is placed on the Clear Threats mission card.</p><p>Completing missions is the first objective of the heroes. This is because the heroes cannot damage the villain until at least two of the three missions (Clear Threats, Rescue Civilians, and Defeat Thugs) are completed. After that, they can start beating the stuffing out of the villain. You can complete these missions in any order.</p><p>The rub is that after the heroes complete the <b>first</b> mission, the villain gets a little anxious, realizing that the heroes are onto them, and they start playing their Master Plan cards after every <b>two</b> hero actions. So timing the completion of the first mission with the second becomes critical to success. (By the way, if you finish the third mission the heroes get an extra benefit.)</p><p>So, how does this tie back to the action icons? A Move icon allows a hero to move one adjacent location, clockwise or counter-clockwise. An Attack icon allows you to defeat one thug, remove one hit point from a Henchman, or remove one hit point from the villain. A Heroic icon allows a hero to rescue one civilian and (frequently) allows the hero to clear ⅓rd of some Threat cards.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Why is This a Great Game?</h1><p><b>It is co-operative</b>. So what makes it so? The one element I did not tell you about is that when a hero takes their turn not only do they get the action icons from the card they played, the special effect (if any), <b>and</b> the action icons from the card played by the previous hero. So when you play a card, not only are you trying to make sure you have useful actions, but that the next hero does too. That leads to a lot more conversation between players, especially when you get towards the end and you are desperately chasing down the villain while trying to stack enough Attack icons to bring them down when you catch up.</p><p><b>Every decision you make is meaningful</b>. Besides the villain-specific loss condition there are two additional general loss conditions that the heroes face: if a hero has no more cards to play; or the villain must draw a Master Plan card and there are no more cards to draw. Therefore, there is a time limit the players face. Heroes cannot afford to throw away action icons unused. Further, your card play impacts the following hero's turn, so playing cards with icons unusable by the next hero is not doing the team any favors.</p><p><b>It can be played solo with little effort or loss of quality</b>. There is a documented system for playing solo (S.H.I.E.L.D. mode), but most players I have spoken to simply play the heroes as one would do normally with two players each controlling a separate hero. The key to successful solo gameplay is that the opposition is already programmed, so reducing the number of cooperating players is relatively simple.</p><p><b>It is a very simple game and easily taught to new players</b>. There are essentially nine pages of rules, all large print and with lots of illustrations. I recently taught three people how to play in about five minutes. Two were seasoned gamers, but the third was a relative novice, especially to these types of games.</p><p><b>There is a lot of replayability given the combination of number of heroes being played, which heroes are used, and which villain is fought</b>. Here I am just talking about having either the core Avengers or X-Men set. Adding in the dozen (plus) expansions adds so many heroes and villains you could easily play this game every week for years without playing the same game twice. In fact, there is probably too much right now.</p><p>Given that I am trying not to play <i>anything</i> that is not painted, I am using the same set of heroes and villains more frequently and I still do not feel like the games are cookie cutter. Yes, Red Skull has a distinct feel much different than say, Taskmaster or Ronan. But multiple games against Red Skull, even if I keep using Captain America and Iron Man, don't play out the same due to the random elements in the game. There is the order of the villain's cards, the order of the hero's cards, which locations are used (you use sic out of eight possible choices), and where the threat cards are placed. That is a lot of potential variation.</p><p><b>Have you seen the miniatures</b>? Okay, so chibi-style is an acquired taste. Because the figures are a softer plastic, details are not as crisp as you might expect. In a way, though, I like that. I prefer painting on details.</p>
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<p>For example, the lines on Rhino's horn is <i>not</i> texture on the figure, but all paint effect.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Summary</h1><p>This is not a 'war' game, but it is a game featuring combat, as you might expect with the superhero genre. Because of this I feel like it is more 'acceptable' subject matter for players that don't want to play a pure, historical wargame. For people that don't want to learn a lot of rules and simply want to get started, this game is also ideal. Like chess, it has few real rules; the depth is in the play.</p><p>MU has a flavorful feel. It is not a tactical battle like <i>Marvel: Crisis Protocol</i> nor an RPG game like <i>Champions</i>. You have the superhero cinematic feel of moving to a location NYC Central Park, battling it out with the villain's minions, rescuing the civilians, then moving on to the next crisis that the villain has created. Eventually you collect enough clues (complete missions), close in on the villain and finally battle it out with them, determining whether you have defeated them once again, or whether you are going to have this issue's cover showing your hero's broken and battered body with a tagline of "Death of [Your Hero]?"</p><p>More importantly, all types of gamers will find MU fun. It can be tense as you are down to the last few cards and you haven't whittled down the villain enough. It can be exciting as you envision <b>the</b> move that will allow <i>your</i> hero to end it all in victory. If you are analytical like me you will love devising the strategy for how to defeat the villain, i.e. which missions to clear first, and so on.</p><p>Highly recommended if you want casual, fun play, especially with other casual gamers. This, however, will not scratch your tournament-level competitive itch.</p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-71215494571248513702022-04-24T15:52:00.002-07:002022-04-24T15:52:38.966-07:00Map Campaign Part 2<p>For those that have not been following I decided to try my hand at a map campaign using the tables and ideas in <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Solo-Wargaming-Guide-William-Silvester/dp/1938270134/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">The Solo Wargaming Guide</a></i> (TSWG). <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2022/04/first-attempt-at-map-campaign.html" target="_blank">Part one of the campaign</a> laid out the basics, <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2022/04/campaign-to-battlefield-and-back-again.html" target="_blank">then another post</a> spoke about how I was going to convert from Regiments and Companies that TSWG uses, to the units and hits that Neil Thomas' <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-hour-Wargames-Practical-Tabletop-Battles/dp/1473822904/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">One-Hour Wargames</a></i> (OHW) uses so that I could use the latter to play out the tactical battles. I played out the first 'battle' – <a href="https://solo-battles.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-battle-of-firnskuppe.html" target="_blank">The Battle of Firnskuppe</a> – on the Solo Battles blog. There I showed how TSWG creates terrain layouts for the tabletop and puts some of the factors in TSWG – like the Commander Competency Rating (CCR) assigned to each Brigadier General and force commander – into play.</p>
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<p>The basic scenario for the first battle was that the vanguard of the northern Westonian forces – a Regiment of Infantry and a Regiment of Cavalry – sprung to the attack while the Eastonian forces were still mustering. All that was there to defend the Eastonian frontier town of Firnskuppe was an understrength Mounted Skirmisher Regiment. (Note that Mounted Skirmisher is a new unit type for OHW. It is basically a Skirmisher unit that moves 12" as it is mounted on horses.)</p><p>I used some old <i>Kings of War Battlefield Cards</i> to determine the battlefield condition both sides had to deal with, the objectives for each side, and the stratagems they had available to them. Looking over the condition cards (there are 14 of them), five are normal conditions, six had easily interpretable conditions, one useless condition, and two hard to interpret conditions (they were written for the <i>Kings of War</i> game system). I think in the future I would prefer to produce my own table of conditions, and increase the odds that the conditions are normal. That said the Reduced Visibility condition had a very good feel to it – the Westonians had surprised the Eastonians and attacked first and although the latter knew the former were across the border, the Westonians had decided to attack early one foggy morning in an attempt to achieve surprise…</p><p>One thing of interest that I noted after the battle is how easy it is to become invested in one side or another. There are lots of ways to play solo, but generally you are either playing one side and trying to program the other, non-player side, or you are trying to program both sides. I told myself I was doing the latter, but the reality is that I did the former. I was more emotionally invested with the underdog Eastonians (who I had generated the campaign orders for both Justo and I), so when the Westonian Cavalry flanked the town by moving into the fields at B4, I immediately bugged out.</p><p>The whole point of the campaign is to provide interesting scenarios, especially ones you might not normally want to play out on a game night with a face-to-face gaming buddy. The Battle of Firnskuppe (BoF) was just such a scenario. First, it featured two units versus one in a game where it is normally six units versus six. Second, the one unit was the weakest unit in those rules versus the stronger units. So why play it, other than "because you need to know the results"? Well, for one thing, I did not know what the result would be, in terms of campaign impact. BoF was very terrain dense for a OHW game. I added a new Mounted Skirmisher unit type that had all of the weaknesses of the Skirmisher unit type, was more restrictive regarding terrain, and had only a marginally better movement rate of 12" rather than 9". (In hindsight I think it should probably be 15", but that is another discussion.) When we play games unlinked to campaigns, we tend not to think of battlefield casualties – or we minimize the impact – but only of victory conditions. Did we win the battle?</p><p>In OHW terms one side took six hits while the other took two, resulting in no lost units. One side 'won' because they achieved more victory points than the other. There wasn't even an obvious reason why the Eastonians retreated because they were giving better than they got.</p><p>The Eastonians were firing with 1D6-2 each turn (1.67 hits per turn), while the Westonians were firing 1D6-2 but would have to halve the hits (1 hit per turn) due to the cover the Eastonians were in. If the Westonian Cavalry charged they would hit with 1d6+2 hits (5.5 hits per turn). The Eastonians firing at the Westonian Cavalry would have had 1D6-2 with ½ casualties (1 hit per turn) so once the Westonian Cavalry got into position it should have immediately charged, dispersing the Mounted Skirmishers.</p><p>So, why did it play out the way it did? Clearly my own personal bias crept into the stupid play of the Westonians. The Westonian Cavalry could have hit on turn 2, effectively ending the battle with much higher losses to the Eastonians. Or maybe I am just not as analytical 'in the moment' as I like to think.</p><p>Even though I am declaring myself a cheat I am going to let the results stand. So how does this affect the campaign?</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Converting from Tabletop Back to Campaign</h2><p>TSWG offers a simple method for adjudicating casualties for the victor: ½ of the total casualties are killed; ¼ are severely wounded; and ¼ are lightly wounded. Killed casualties are replaced after one month; severely wounded casualties are replaced after two weeks; and lightly wounded casualties are replaced after one week. For the defeated the breakdown is the same, but the wounded will be captured – meaning they will not be replaced unless there is a prison exchange – if the victory was decisive.</p>
<p>This begs the question, however: how do you determine <i>total</i> casualties? Let's start by looking at Neil Thomas' notes in OHW:</p>
<blockquote>"<i>My combat rules work on the principle of having units acquire hits throughout the game, to be eliminated after garnering 15. They retain their full fighting ability until destroyed; this reflects a model whereby real casualties are at a fairly low level, but that the sustained experience of combat will steadily degrade a unit’s morale, at which point it routs. This is both simple and historically accurate: most casualties in any ancient battle (and those of most other periods too) were inflicted when the enemy fled, rather than the initial clash of arms. Essentially, loss of morale is reflected in elimination, rather than having to make frequent checks on a unit’s status, which tends to be a feature of complex wargames rules.</i>"</blockquote>
<p>With this it is obvious that the six hits sustained by the Infantry Regiment do not reflect a loss of two companies of men, but that morale of the Regiment was down 40% because of ammunition depletion, fatigue, the morale effect of a few men being killed or wounded, and unwounded men leaving the firing line to resupply ammunition, help the wounded to the rear, or simply being ineffective out of fear. he unit did not have two of five companies become casualties.</p>
<p>If the emphasis on <b>unit</b> loss and not <b>hit</b> loss then it is better to come up with a table reflecting casualty effects of a unit loss.</p>
<table border="1">
<thead>
<tr><td><b>OHW Combat Result</b></td><td><b>TSWG Campaign Effect</b></td></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>4-9 hits remaining on Infantry or Cavalry</td><td>Lose one company on '1' with 1D6</td></tr>
<tr><td>1-3 hits remaining on Infantry or Cavalry</td><td>Lose two companies on a '1', one company on a '2' with 1D6</td></tr>
<tr><td>Infantry or Cavalry removed by musketry</td><td>Lose two companies on a '1' or '2', one company on a '3' or '4' with 1D6</td></tr>
<tr><td>Infantry or Cavalry removed by Artillery</td><td>Lose three companies on a '1', two companies on a '2' or '3', and one company on a '4' or '5' with 1D6</td></tr>
<tr><td>Infantry removed by close combat</td><td>Lose five companies on a '1', four companies on a '2', three companies on a '3' or '4', two companies on a '5', and one company on a '6' with 1D6.</td></tr>
<tr><td>Cavalry removed by close combat</td><td>Lose four companies on a '1', three companies on a '2' or '3', two companies on a '4' or '5', and one company on a '6' with 1D6.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1-6 hits remaining on any Skirmisher</td><td>Lose one company on '1' with 1D6</td></tr>
<tr><td>Any Skirmisher removed by musketry</td><td>Lose one company on a '1', '2', or '3' with 1D6</td></tr>
<tr><td>Any Skirmisher removed by Artillery</td><td>Lose two companies on a '1', one company on a '2', '3', or '4' with 1D6</td></tr>
<tr><td>Any Skirmisher removed by close combat</td><td>Lose three companies on a '1' or '2', two companies on a '3' or '4', and one company on a '5' or '6' with 1D6</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>I have no idea if these numbers are any good, but I need to try somewhere. Note that the table determines <b>total</b> casualties, so ½ of the companies are replaced after one month, ¼ are replaced after two weeks, and ¼ are replaced after one week. How do we deal with fractional companies? Roll dice to see if you round up or down.</p><p>You might question how realistic this table is. What does it mean by "removed", for example? (It means the unit or combat type that rolled the die that caused the unit to be removed, by the way.) What if the unit removing your only inflicted one hit? Won't this lead to unrealistic play like trying to use Cavalry to run down your unit in close combat in order to get a deadlier result? Well, yes, but I don't see it as being 'unrealistic'. If you were routed by Cavalry, for example, they probably ran you down, rather than you outrunning them. Artillery fire was particularly deadlier than musketry, so their casualties tend to 'stick'.</p><p>So, how do the casualties play out from BoF?</p><p><b>Westonian Infantry</b>: 9 hits remaining, so it loses one company on a '1'. If it does, that is ½ company killed (50% chance), ¼ company severely wounded (25% chance), and ¼ company lightly wounded (25% chance). So roll a D100 and 1-50 counts as killed; 51-75 counts as severely wounded; and 76-100 counts as lightly wounded.</p><p>I rolled a '5', so no company was lost.</p><p><b>Eastonian Mounted Skirmishers</b>: 10 hits remaining, so no losses.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Rest and Recuperation</h2><p>TSWG is silent (as far as I could tell), on the need for rest and recuperation after a battle, although <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/TheJoyofWargaming" target="_blank">The Joy of Wargaming</a> hinted at it being otherwise. I noticed that he indicated that it took a day for rest and recuperation after a battle, but he took note, for example, whether light cavalry was uncommitted at the end of the battle. Those troops could be used in pursuit of defeated enemy forces.</p><p>The Westonian Infantry spent the remaining day and the next day resting and bringing the town of Firnskuppe under control. Meanwhile the Westonian Cavalry patrol around the town: two squadrons down the road towards Erlenloch, where the Eastonian Cavalry retreated; two squadrons down the road towards Grimme Hutte; and one squadron into the woods north of Firnskuppe.</p><p>This leaves a possibility of a skirmish between two squadrons of the Westonian Cavalry and the two squadrons of the Eastonian Cavalry that headed down the road to Erlenloch. But first I need to think about how to handle some of these tactical decisions – such as what to do when you are pushed out of your muster point – better. So that's it on the campaign front for now.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">In Other News</h1><p>So, not that I am looking to garner any sympathy, but more to explain delays in this campaign and other blogging activity I thought I would let everyone know what is going on with me.</p><p>About two years ago I was formally diagnosed with high blood pressure and diabetes (type 2). Part of my general problem was that I had <i>hallux rigidus</i>, a degenerative arthritis of the big toe, in both feet. The result is that I would get bloody sores on my big toes, making it difficult to walk as well as spreading blood all over the carpet, which really upset the wife. After months of treatment I decided to have surgery to correct the problem. In October 2020 I had my first surgery and they removed the defective left toe joint and replaced it. That surgery went as well as could be expected, so I decided to follow it up and replace the right toe joint in October of 2021.</p><p>Before any surgery you doctor has to clear you. Well the second checkup was worse than they first in that my diabetes was worse than previously. How much worse? Truth be told I was borderline acceptable. A score on my A1C of 9.0 was considered a fail and I was at 8.9. But I think I browbeat my doctor into clearing me anyway – I just wanted to get back to 'normal' and be able to fully walk again – so I went ahead with the second surgery.</p><p>The first sign of a problem was when I woke from anesthesia. I was flopping around like a fish out of water. Despite having been under anesthesia twice before in my life (all after the age of 50), I had never had a bad reaction nor found that I was allergic to any medication. This time I apparently had.</p><p>After getting home I did not strictly follow the recovery regime of icing and elevating my foot that I had the previous year. That plus the stress I had put on my stitches after the surgery caused my stitches to pop open, introducing an infection to the metallic implant. I did not even know an implant could get an 'infection', but apparently it can and it is bad if it does. Antibiotics cannot really work on digging out an infection from an implant. So after three months I was back on the table and they were removing my implant.</p><p>The doctor took no chances and essentially removed the implant and would not put a replacement in. Ironically, by the time of the second surgery on the right toe I had radically altered my diet and brought my diabetes almost under control. Basically an A1C reading of 6.5% means you are diabetic, while 5.7% to 6.4%is pre-diabetic. I had brought it down from 8.9% to 6.2%. Although it would not matter with regards to getting a replacement implant, it has mattered tremendously in healing after the second surgery.</p><p>The wound to extract is much larger than the wound when the implant went it. I am pretty sure she took more than the implant; what they call the 'grandma method', which is to basically fill it up with flexible cement. I would still be able to walk, but I would not have as much strength in the foot to push off, so no more hiking and mountain climbing for me. (I never did those things anyway.)</p><p>Because the wound was much larger it was going to take longer to heal than the last one (and that had been three months), so they were really worried about it getting infected. The first therapy they wanted to try was a wound vacuum, which is to seal the wound in a vacuum, 24 hours a day. The negative pressure not only stimulates the cells to heal faster, but it helps keep infections out. The downside is that you have to wear a purse-sized pump that sucks the air out of the wound. As the wound was on my bog toe, that meant an air hose ran from the dressing on the wound up through my pants leg, out of the top into the vacuum pump unit at my waist. Thank goodness I work from home. I suddenly discovered the benefits of old-timey nightshirts! It allowed me to look like I had a t-shirt on while attending Zoom conference calls.</p><p>So, three times a week I had to change the dressing on the wound. Once per week I went into the doctor's office so she could inspect the wound and measure progress. Well, it turned out that I was healing very well, but the special adhesive they use on the wound dressing is something I was allergic to, as I was breaking out in a very bad rash wherever the adhesive was put, which was largely around the wound. So after about a month the doctor called an end to that given that my rash was just getting so bad. But the wound was healing nicely. New cell growth.</p><p>The other issue is that because the wound was so large, and the risk of infection was so high, I was on very strong antibiotics. These were so strong apparently that the doctor had never prescribed them before. My wife is a nurse and she looked them up and this is sort of an antibiotic of the last resort. She was surprised it had been prescribed and that I had been on it so long. Well these antibiotics have a lot of side effects, one of which is killing your gut biome very effectively (the natural result of which is always having diarrhea) and that you can break out in a rash. So not only did I have a rash about the wound from the allergic reaction to the adhesive, I had a rash breaking out all over my body.</p><p>When the doctor took me off of the wound vacuum she also took me off the antibiotics; I had simply been on them too long. I was fine with that because it caused a lot of nausea, so my quality of life was down pretty badly. Mind you, I was still wargaming face-to-face with people during this period, but I was always dragging. To counter the antibiotics she told me to get some probiotics to help repopulate my gut biome and bring my gastrointestinal issues to heel. So I did.</p><p>Well, it turns out that some people can be affected by heavy probiotic usage and it comes in the form of <u>acne</u>. I would like to think that once upon a time I would <b>not</b> have been one of those people, but after all of this heavy pharmaceutical usage and sickness I should not be surprised that I am one. I broke out in pimples all over the body. Seriously, I thought that somehow bedbugs had gotten into the house and they were bug bites because I would have more red spots every morning. Finally they formed the heads and I looked at the side effects of the probiotics.</p><p>One of those pimples turned out to be a monster though. It was on my shoulder, very painful, and I finally had the wife attend to it as I had recently lost an entire weekend to fever. My guess was that it was from all of the inflammation from the acne and rashes, but it had apparently come almost completely from this one pimple/cyst?/whatever. My wife used about a dozen medical sponge gauzes to drain the pus and blood from it that night. We patched it up and I had a fever spike, but the fever broke that night and I felt a lot better the next day. But my weekend was lost.</p>
<p>I would like to say that the campaign has been trudging along because of all of this, but that would not be strictly true. First off, the wound is healing really well. I have moved on to silicon skin graft every week now to higher grade skin grafts every other week. The wound continues to get smaller and not show any complications. So my mobility is up, especially now that I don't have a pump to deal with and dressings to change every day. No the campaign is slow because map campaigns are a lot of work. Plus, the people I game with face-to-face are all climbing out of their lockdown routines and becoming more active and social again, so I have more (welcome) distractions. I need to get out more. No, I chose the wrong time to start a <i>solo</i> campaign; I should have started it months ago.</p>
<p>So bear with me as I intersperse writing up about this campaign with other topics. The latest craze has been playing <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Marvel-United-Cooperative-Strategy-Families/dp/B084BMW4XS/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">the cooperative superhero game <i>Marvel United</i></a>. I like the chibi style of the figures and the comic style that I am painting them. Here are two of the latest supervillains that I have painted.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPX_-ltuHgFdlLl-AqlcCEjMCZKnhYrao5-PhyKZzZt-FeDs3LIeZq0jRIdX25iFaoZgng9iaeVPIs5x86tOp6AVJJE0BSenXv_quJ3IYQ8qJT3MuTfI_-2ApMs2UdCI2sgUh92etcZj6YN6V0dE5KmwJnXhtTqGip-FqXp8qMkRVKTnDmBng" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="315" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPX_-ltuHgFdlLl-AqlcCEjMCZKnhYrao5-PhyKZzZt-FeDs3LIeZq0jRIdX25iFaoZgng9iaeVPIs5x86tOp6AVJJE0BSenXv_quJ3IYQ8qJT3MuTfI_-2ApMs2UdCI2sgUh92etcZj6YN6V0dE5KmwJnXhtTqGip-FqXp8qMkRVKTnDmBng=w313-h400" width="313" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhX9PKCr4NZQ51abhEf_LMsNolE_WA5-6S6wy5ey_zFVieB5zY_UeAcoXchjOiqeQdPGWctzKlz-UGKFXS4fvknPciBme1MakYEngLfb1k7OUu3lAQ036KH4Dt5v2eAmzIGjL9aufmIObDQ3HgWKXWogDJjpzwZVLcotzCxMwcijHJ84tFcb6M" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1877" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhX9PKCr4NZQ51abhEf_LMsNolE_WA5-6S6wy5ey_zFVieB5zY_UeAcoXchjOiqeQdPGWctzKlz-UGKFXS4fvknPciBme1MakYEngLfb1k7OUu3lAQ036KH4Dt5v2eAmzIGjL9aufmIObDQ3HgWKXWogDJjpzwZVLcotzCxMwcijHJ84tFcb6M=w367-h400" width="367" /></a></div>
<p>These should be two tough supervillains to take down.</p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-26051641849278383172022-04-09T18:43:00.001-07:002022-04-09T18:43:20.860-07:00Campaign to Battlefield and Back Again<p> Last week I finally got enough of the preliminary work done on <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2022/04/first-attempt-at-map-campaign.html" target="_blank">the Map Campaign</a> – refer back to that post if you have not read it already – that I was ready to game out the first tactical battle. Unfortunately, because Westonia caught Eastonia flat-footed, it is not going to be much of a battle, given it is ten companies versus two. Nonetheless, one goal of this campaign was to create scenarios that I would not normally concoct when playing face-to-face, such as uneven battles and, well, this was about as uneven as it was going to get. Nonetheless, I did not want to throw troops away. So I needed a way to fairly deal with a situation where troops might want to voluntarily retreat from engagement.</p><p>In the campaign played on <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/TheJoyofWargaming" target="_blank">They Joy of Wargaming</a></i> (TJOW) YouTube channel, he generated the tactical map of the tabletop – influenced by the terrain on the larger map where the engagement took place – then used each side's Commander's Competency Rating (CCR) to determine who had the tactical advantage, and thus could pick their baseline (with their opponent generally getting the opposite side). From there I would play the battle, but if a side wanted to voluntarily retreat because of their position being untenable, if they could roll their CCR or less on a D6 (rolling every turn), they would have the option to retreat off of the board.</p><p>As I indicated last time, I was still trying to figure out how to move from the campaign map to the tabletop and back again. Primarily, because I could be dealing with very few troops, which rules would I use that could deal with something as small as ten companies versus two, to 5-10 Regiments per side? Playing <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-hour-Wargames-Practical-Tabletop-Battles/dp/1473822904/?tag=daleswargames-20">One-Hour Wargames</a></i> (OHW) was pretty much what I decided upon, but how to scale up and down.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Modeling Campaign Units in OHW</h2><p><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Solo-Wargaming-Guide-William-Silvester/dp/1938270134/?tag=daleswargames-20" target="_blank">The Solo Wargaming Guide</a></i> (TSWG) uses Regiments of five companies, so I decided to equate that to one full-strength (15 hit) unit in OHW. Initially I was going to allow the use of independent companies on the battlefield, but decided against that, as it is against the spirit of the OHW rules, in my opinion. All companies of the same type must be consolidated into Regiments. Regiments not at full strength will have fewer than 15 hits. That said, not all unit types are created equally in OHW.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEimZkxejWBmIXb2anwOror8hgb9wtl4Y5pa9k8tgdk4yalJtLUx47nZjCsTMwy-8jReqQgompxjVWIqocq0hX-h0vx8XTGmXbAq2U7lwPOzIHjGcX4au5fE6UOXrEVHfzNcUaq0gZmYhxMQ6OqMXiz8RpxGOnVVFTClWgrPjhOmuVq1DIu5uTo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="290" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEimZkxejWBmIXb2anwOror8hgb9wtl4Y5pa9k8tgdk4yalJtLUx47nZjCsTMwy-8jReqQgompxjVWIqocq0hX-h0vx8XTGmXbAq2U7lwPOzIHjGcX4au5fE6UOXrEVHfzNcUaq0gZmYhxMQ6OqMXiz8RpxGOnVVFTClWgrPjhOmuVq1DIu5uTo=w213-h320" width="213" /></a></div><br />In the Horse & Musket period rules there are four unit types: Artillery, Infantry, Skirmishers, and Cavalry. Two of the four unit types – Infantry and Cavalry – equate to the Regiments of Line Infantry and Regiments of Line Cavalry, respectively, that are listed in the campaign's force rosters. An Artillery unit equates to an Artillery Battery in the campaign. This only leaves the companies of Light Infantry and squadrons of Light Cavalry to model.<p></p><p>In OHW the Skirmisher unit type is pretty weak. It has 15 hits, has cover benefits when in terrain, and moves faster as it represents unformed infantry not constrained by formation and 'dressing the line'. One important note that Neil Thomas makes is "Units of Skirmishers are only half the size of close order foot, and their musketry is correspondingly less effective." An OHW Skirmisher unit is thus 2 ½ companies in size, not five companies. So now, this give me a tactical choice: I can either run five companies of Light Infantry as a Regiment, which in OHW is an Infantry unit of 15 hits, or as two Skirmisher units, each of 15 hits. (The extra hits reflect the inherently lower casualties that skirmishers take due to their dispersed formation and the ability to use lesser cover not typically reflected on the tabletop.)</p><p>So, the Light Infantry is now modeled, what about the Light Cavalry? I decided to allow the same sort of options: they could either form up into five squadron-strong Regiments of Cavalry or 2 ½ squadron-strong Skirmisher units. Yes, I am going to allow a mounted Skirmisher unit. It will fight exactly like a normal Skirmisher unit – including the ability to fire (while mounted) – but will have a 12" move as Cavalry units do. Does that make them better than normal Skirmishers? Yes. The reason I will not downgrade them in some way is because I do not want to add any additional rules, and because their numbers are constrained by the campaign itself.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Conversion to OHW Units</h2><p>As stated above, Regiments of Infantry and Cavalry consist of five companies/squadrons, which nets them 15 hits in OHW. For every company or squadron short the unit loses three hits in OHW.</p><p>For Skirmishers, however only 2 ½ companies/squadrons are required. Given that everything in the campaign is modeled as whole companies, how do I model the ½ companies? I don't. If a Skirmisher unit only has two companies (80% of 2 ½), it will be a Skirmish unit with 12 hits (80% of 15 hits); a one company Skirmisher unit will have 6 hits.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Conversion Back to Campaign Units</h2><p>With 15-hit Infantry and Cavalry units, for every <b>three</b> whole hits lost – whether permanently from deaths or temporarily from wounds – the unit will lose one company/squadron from the campaign. With Skirmisher units, they lose one company/squadron for every <b>six</b> whole hits lost.</p><p>For units that have fractional company/squadron losses, I will use dice to determine if the company/squadron is lost, e.g. an Infantry unit lost five hits, resulting in the loss of one company (3 hits) and a fractional loss of another company (2 hits). I roll a die for the fractional loss and on a 1-4 (D6) the company is lost while on a 5-6 it is not. This should help alleviate some bookkeeping, requiring only the tracking of companies and types and not of men.</p><p>What do you think?</p><p><i>Please note that I have started using Amazon affiliate links for any Amazon product I feature in my blog posts. You don't have to use them, of course, but anything Amazon gives me does not affect the price you pay, so using it contributes to my caffeine-fueled blog posts' funding.</i></p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-40835676909617227972022-04-07T19:51:00.000-07:002022-04-07T19:51:05.918-07:00First Attempt at a Map Campaign<p>One of the hardest goals I have ever tried to achieve is to add context my games. There are plenty of ways to try and achieve that, but I think the one most gamers go for is to play scenarios in the context of a larger campaign game. Hopefully, the larger campaign provides you the forces for each side, a location to be fought over, and both previous and subsequent battles will be affected by the results of the battle you are about to fight.</p>
<p>So what is a "campaign"? Essentially it is a larger game intended to consist of a series of smaller games, linked together over a span of time and distance. Sounds simple on face value, but it requires the gamer to consider many factors that they normally abstract away from normal, tactical play, such as supply and logistics, marching rates (outside of the battlefield), and thinking about multiple objectives spread across distances. With campaigns you have to figure out if you want to continue to abstract many of those factors away.</p>
<p>Rather than talk about the different types of campaigns, this post is going to focus on a map campaign that I started with gaming buddy Justo (in Texas). It started with watching YouTuber <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/TheJoyofWargaming" target="_blank">The Joy of Wargaming</a></i>'s series <i>Five Villages</i> (which <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KVWLdDQYas&t=439s" target="_blank">starts here</a>), which was a map campaign he played using the rules <i>The Chosen Men</i> (so it was a skirmish campaign). I decided to play that same campaign after watching the first four episodes. (I should have watched the fifth episode before starting the campaign, by the way.) I drew up my own version of the map (putting it on hexes), created the opposing forces, and developed some rules (largely taken from the original campaign). The next problem to solve was: what strategic orders do I give each side?</p>
<p>Because my intent was to play the battles out solo – the objective of the campaign was simply to produce scenarios for battles to be played out on the tabletop, especially unbalanced and unlikely scenarios you would not play face-to-face with an opponent – I decided to enlist my gaming buddies to provide me the basic strategies for the two sides and then I, as umpire, would execute the orders for both sides and resolve the resulting conflicts.</p>
<p>I enlisted gaming buddies Justo and Chris (from Ohio) for the two sides, but it turned out that I did not convey the requirements adequately and it fell through in about a week. That said, Justo had a map campaign in his tool box – also based on a <i>The Joy of Wargaming</i> (TJoW) video series, in this case an Imagi-Nation map campaign (which <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S44PWcV2-gc" target="_blank">starts here</a>) – and he suggested that I give the orders to one side, he does it for the other, and we each play out our own campaign separately. Rather than use this plan for my original campaign, I decided to go ahead and try this one.</p>
<p>Initially Justo provided two map drawings, but eventually I ended up converting these to hexes.</p>
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<td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2456" data-original-width="2802" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1QROXSfkQe-TW83d_BP4tUOqs--q0RSivXPD4fLXzjSWf_KTHf53b0oJwM4mkZoj_29HXMzn_bjTfv7gUXzgY7YoDcSvTGtKtdZDUjaJDrHNLED6g-Z5-VOhIlDKJaFCfVk3T1u1kdy4gPnAS5P3yagb-stEK4TJu6_9_Kmrs0U0N3mrkNG0" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="274" /></td>
<td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2456" data-original-width="2802" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIykAE_5vtSuh54O2HEE4DF1ycgT006_ohmuBx5UiRYLYBa2Bg_7bDba_LK2psMfRF-_EzNnILQxnoB4Tp7Z9CsUjrWy8l2qvCtc9nuDTGdMN1Tql0SODd7cj4Ekp0WytCf_2fE1lBFc3R60CJKtyENiJgf7Hn4neuLgMa686d8bm3F80WDxU" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="274" /></td>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Westonia</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eastonia</td>
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<p>As with the video series, Justo and I decided to use the system provided in <i><a href="https://www.wargamevault.com/product/115899/The-Solo-Wargaming-Guide" target="_blank">The Solo Wargaming Guide</a></i> (TSWG) by William Silvester for conducting map movement, dealing with supply and logistics, weather, mobilization, and determining the number of initial forces. (Because the campaign is measured in days and not weeks or months, recruitment is not an issue.) Now, my opinion of this book has been pretty low since purchase. When it comes to solo wargaming, I really don't want to lean on random tables and this book does that heavily (as does Featherstone's). But as I looked through all the variables you have to contend with, it seems like this is a good way to start until you sort out your own rules with fewer fully random tables.</p><p>Justo had created the maps, set the city sizes, drew in the terrain and roads, and stopped sort of determining the force composition and location. That is where our campaign started.</p><p>I saw that the map favored Westonia, as it had more lesser villages (class C, D, and E urban areas), and thus would have a smaller army, so I chose Eastonia as my side figuring it would likely be the defender. Here is the full process that we used for our campaign:</p>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Select campaign map <span style="font-size: xx-small;">✅</span></li>
<li>Select which side you represent <span style="font-size: xx-small;">✅</span></li>
<li>Roll your side’s forces</li><ol><li>Roll total forces for each city</li><li>Divide Regiments into Line Infantry and Line Cavalry</li><li>Subtract the number of Line Cavalry from individual Companies; that is the number of Artillery Batteries</li><li>Divide remaining individual Companies into Light Infantry and Light Cavalry</li><li>Assign Regiments and individual Companies to cities</li><li><i>Name Regiments and Companies</i></li></ol>
<li>Divide forces into Brigades</li>
<ol><li>Define Brigades (which Regiments and Companies, from where)</li><li>Roll Brigadier Generals’ Commander Competency Rating (CCR)</li><ol><li>No more than three Brigadier Generals per side</li><li>Any additional Commanders will automatically have a CCR of ‘3’.</li></ol><li>Assign Brigadier Generals to each Brigades</li><li><i>Name Brigadier Generals</i></li></ol>
<li>Make a Muster Plan</li><ol><li>Define the Muster Rating of each city.</li><li>Identify Muster Point for each Brigade.</li><li>Define travel from origin Cities to Muster Point.</li></ol>
<li>Define an Action Plan</li><ol><li>Identify starting time for each Brigade</li><li>Identify general orders (attack, defense, delay, etc.)</li><li>Identify route of march</li><li>Identify goal of campaign</li></ol>
</ol>
<p>Step 3, roll your side's forces, comes straight from TSWG, which is as follows: Class A gets 2-5 Regiments (each of 5 Companies); B gets 1-5 Regiments; C gets 4 Companies; D gets 3 Companies; and E gets 2 Companies. Given that both sides started with one A and three B class cities, both sides would start with relatively the same number of Regiments. Note that 3.2 and 3.4 above defines what class of troops come from these sources, Line Infantry and Line Cavalry only come from Regiments, and thus only class A and B cities produce those troops. The class C, D, and E towns only produce Artillery (in limited amounts), Light Infantry, and Light Cavalry. So my feeling was that the extra towns of Westonia would not produce a significant advantage in troops, but enough to justify me being the defender.</p><p>As with TJoW, we decided to have one Line Cavalry Regiment for every five Line Infantry Regiments raised, rounding fractions up. I rolled up fifteen Regiments, so that gave me three Line Cavalry Regiments and twelve Line Infantry Regiments.</p><p>With three Line Cavalry Regiments, you are allowed three Artillery Batteries, subtracted from your total number of Companies (28) raised from your C, D, and E towns. In hindsight I think that may be a little too few batteries, but we press onward.</p><p>Of the remaining Companies (25) we decided to have one Light Cavalry Squadron for every three Light Infantry Company, rounding fractions up. That gives me seven Light Cavalry Squadrons and eighteen Light Infantry Companies. Along with our three Brigadier Generals, this is my total force disposition.</p><p>I am not going to bore you with the nitty gritty details of where the units ended up, but my basic plan was to pool my Light Cavalry in certain towns so those forces could muster and move faster to engage the enemy while the rest of the units muster for defense. My sole goal was to attack on the south road, taking the first C class town on that road, and attempt to hold on to that until the cessation of hostilities, hoping I could win that in subsequent peace negotiations or at least use it as a bargaining chip in the event I lose any towns or cities.</p><p>By the way, given that we are not using any siege artillery and the class A and B cities are fortified, there is essentially no way to capture the enemy's cities; only the towns are vulnerable.</p><p>The first wrench in the campaign was that Justo did not want to determine, at the start, which side was the attacker and which was the defender. Rather he wanted to have each side write attack orders <i>without knowing who was attacking</i>. I thought that was a little strange, but agreed to it. After all, we would each be playing our own campaign so whoever ended up attacker in one campaign might well be the defender in the other's, so I guess it made sense and was easier than writing one set of orders if you are the attacker and another if you are the defender.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">My Version of the First Elope-an War Campaign</h2><p>I will be reporting on my campaign here and on my <a href="https://solo-battles.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Solo Battles blog</a>, given that the tactical play will likely be solo (though not necessarily, if I enlist the aid of local or virtual players).</p>
<p><i>The Westonian Duke, after sending his daughter ahead to Eastonia to eventually be married to the Prince of Eastonia, and subsequently finding out that the Prince had absconded (eloped) with his daughter to another country, decided this was the final straw. After decades of attempts to make peace with the Eastonians, by tying their families through marriage, this was too much! With the loss of his daughter there was no treaty between the two, especially as the Count of Eastonia was claiming it was their strumpet of a daughter that lured his son and heir away! This means war!</i></p><p>Westonian ended up as the attacker so I have to determine how long it takes Eastonia to react to the news and send out their mobilization orders. Looking at the Mobilization table in TSWG, the Eastonian's mobilize five days after the Westonian's do. Clearly the Count did not figure the Duke would react so poorly to the news.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Diary</h3><h4 style="text-align: left;">April 3, 1750</h4><p>Light Rain (6) greets the Westonians as they start to muster. Each city has a Muster Rating to determine how long it takes the news to get to that city, and how long it takes the local garrison commanders to get their troops mustered locally.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">April 4, 1750</h4><p>A light rain continues. Troops in Tresvoces, Siayfin, Avrafin, and Vacaque have completed their muster.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">April 5, 1750</h4><p>The rain has stopped (7). The troops above are moving to their Brigade Muster Point while the remaining troops complete their muster in their respective cities and towns. (I did not roll a single Westonian city with a Muster Rating of '1', which is the slowest Muster Rating. They have clearly been contemplating this action and have been drilling.)</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">April 6-8, 1750</h4><p style="text-align: left;">The Vanguard of the Brigade SLT completes its muster in Astaelfin and prepares to move on towards Firnskuppe.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">April 8, 1750</h4><p style="text-align: left;">Mobilization orders are sent out to all Eastonian units. Units will muster in their cities and towns on the 9th through 11th, depending upon their Muster Rating.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">April 10, 1750</h4><p style="text-align: left;">The Vanguard of the 1st Westonian Brigade arrives in Firnskuppe, just as the Firnskuppian Husaren (two independent light cavalry squadrons) complete their muster. One Light Infantry Regiment and one Light Cavalry Regiment versus these two Husaren squadrons… Not quite your normal matchup to play on game night!</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Fighting Tactical Battles</h3><p style="text-align: left;">The next question is how to fight tactical battles, going from the campaign map to the tabletop and back. In this regard Justo and I have again decided to take our own routes. We can use whatever rules we like to fight out the battles, but they need to be able to map to our unit structures.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">One-Hour Wargames</h4><p style="text-align: left;">I am considering using <a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-hour-Wargames-Practical-Tabletop-Battles/dp/1473822904/" target="_blank">Neil Thomas' <i>One-Hour Wargames</i></a> (OHW), especially for the simpler battles. I like the basic mechanics of either moving or firing, which feels right for this period. The issue is how to represent the units?</p><p style="text-align: left;">The basic unit in the campaign is the company. Towns and cities provide a certain number of companies to the army. Cities provide the line units, and thus are organized in units (regiments) of five companies each. Towns can either combine their companies into consolidated regiments (again, of five companies each) or use them as independent companies. Given that an OHW unit is 15 hits, that can easily be translated as 3 hits per company in a five company regiment. That would make independent companies and squadrons as 3 hit units. Any permanent losses in hits from the unit can likewise be reflected back to the campaign by removing a company for each 3 hit loss.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The problem with this, however, is that a unit maintains its firepower/melee power regardless of the number of hits remaining, so five 3-hit units are far stronger offensively, than one 15-hit unit. The former would be throwing 5D6 in combat while the latter would only be throwing one. How to resolve that?</p><p style="text-align: left;">Another method would be for one OHW unit to equal a company, but force the companies in regiments to operate together (in formation). That might be interesting. Basically it would be scaling OHW up (tremendously), as this first battle would be 10 units versus 2.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Finally, I can just see forcing all independent companies to consolidate into units of five companies, with the fractional unit having three hits per company.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">2x2 Napoleonics</h4><p style="text-align: left;">Justo will be using <a href="https://www.rodvik.com/2by2/2by2%20Napoleonics%202J.htm" target="_blank">2x2 Napoleonics</a> by Rod Humble, which was also used in the original TJOW campaign. Although I enjoyed those rules immensely back in the day – it was one of the first rule sets that Justo and I played almost 20 years ago when we first met – I have to say that I have outgrown them a bit. Roll a D6, add modifiers from a table, and compare the result to a chart (which is fairly easy to remember). Very 1970s-80s.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">One-Hour Skirmish Wargames</h4><p style="text-align: left;">Interestingly, Justo and I discussed these rules on our last call. The idea was to convert the rule mechanics – using a standard deck of cards as the sole chance element – to mass combat. As I pondered the idea more I liked what I was coming up with, but I don't want to hold up the battles as I try and sort it all out. So maybe later in the campaign or another one.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Well, that's the start. I have a butt stomp to play out. I'll let you know how it goes in the next post.</p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38671384.post-48523160499551400392022-03-09T11:50:00.003-07:002022-03-09T11:50:57.668-07:00Abstracting the Battlefield<h1 style="text-align: left;">Abstracting the Battlefield</h1><p>Recently I noticed an increase in the number of blog and Facebook posts about '3x3' gaming. Wondering what it was I did some more research and found that it is basically abstracting the battlefield away into a square gridded battlefield of 3 squares by 3 squares (hence '3x3'). Actually, it is slightly more complex.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmWxAAxm4bnh5IASYnfUp4MBnj-MRX9yP1gPS5PpWH3lrzrAzQmNx_1L2TCGfRj9kRcr5LUBGkiuRYX5YT8Xw7XZqaj2ABbodGfqkB3h3I8Z303QxMNSqCAo8KQEH_KWhT4RoA4GDsSBlhGm0B0NUgELxWLeQgKSZ0HPFr2OLNBFLof7bM_Zg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="260" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmWxAAxm4bnh5IASYnfUp4MBnj-MRX9yP1gPS5PpWH3lrzrAzQmNx_1L2TCGfRj9kRcr5LUBGkiuRYX5YT8Xw7XZqaj2ABbodGfqkB3h3I8Z303QxMNSqCAo8KQEH_KWhT4RoA4GDsSBlhGm0B0NUgELxWLeQgKSZ0HPFr2OLNBFLof7bM_Zg" width="149" /></a></div>
<p>As you can see in the diagram above, the board is comprised, by row, of you side's Reserve area, your baseline, the center 'no-man's land', your opponent's baseline, and your opponent's Reserve area.</p><p>The board is further sub-divided into a left flank, center, and right flank. This effectively makes nine separate positions where units can maneuver and fight one another. All area terrain would be contained within a grid, thus defining the terrain for all of that particular grid location; there would be no areas within a grid where units would be 'in' the terrain while others were 'out'. Linear terrain would generally take the form of being 'on the lines' between areas.</p><p>The reserve areas are considered off-board and touching the left flank, center, and right flank of that side's baseline row.</p><p>Generally movement is simplified to foot troops moving one grid orthogonally (never diagonally) and mounted, fast, or vehicular units moving two grids. Close combat occurs by moving into the enemy's grid, small arms ranged combat is one grid away (again orthogonally), and longer-ranged weapons two or more grids away.</p><p>Although these boards are represented as a grid of squares, I consider this more of an area movement game than a square gridded game, but that is me.</p><p>The more I thought about this 'new' style of game, the more I realized that I had played it before, more than two decades ago. The game was called <i>Dixie</i> and it was a card-based wargame put out by Columbia Games. As a game <i>Dixie</i> was simple, but fun, but what hurt it was that Columbia Games was trying to capitalize on the collectible card craze that <i>Magic the Gathering</i> had started and had produced randomized decks, making it more expensive to collect the whole series. (They later realized the error of their ways and produced full sets people could buy, but I think it was too late by then.)</p>
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<p><i>Dixie</i> came out with three versions, each representing a different battle in the American Civil War, but all followed the same basic rules. The image above shows the abstract battlefield that it used. You will note the similarities to the 3x3 format. The primary difference is that there is no 'no man's land', or middle row. Each side goes straight from its baseline to the enemy baseline.</p><p><i>Dixie</i> did add an advanced rule that allowed a player to make a flanking attack, moving straight from the reserve (the player's card hand) to the enemy's left and right baseline area, but these flank positions were not proper areas where units were held; it was more of a visualization to help you understand how a unit could go straight from the reserve to the enemy's baseline.</p><p>Another game that drew upon this concept — and gave credit to <i>Dixie</i> as inspiration — was GMT Games' <i>Sun of York</i>, also a card-based wargame, only this representing the battles of the War of the Roses.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHiKNlh9oKO3pqSpoLBe_DcHnqlc0KW01-pAnYEAVx_zEuLWtkDR1B8dg--XjtmzmXqFxkskQVVD9ymwspbNgO578jLtcHevkIRfcCW_z6zZtvPBvi6225-506chx1C2yPZhLofJSTZH5wX2NBgKdKpPTkBG3REXlO9-Du-ovBG_DoPoq9CQY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="420" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHiKNlh9oKO3pqSpoLBe_DcHnqlc0KW01-pAnYEAVx_zEuLWtkDR1B8dg--XjtmzmXqFxkskQVVD9ymwspbNgO578jLtcHevkIRfcCW_z6zZtvPBvi6225-506chx1C2yPZhLofJSTZH5wX2NBgKdKpPTkBG3REXlO9-Du-ovBG_DoPoq9CQY" width="240" /></a></div>
<p>As shown in the image above, this has been the most 'complex' of the designs to date (that I am aware of). It is similar to the 3x3 model, having three rows and three columns, along with a red and blue reserve, but also having separate red and blue flanking positions. Further, the flanks contain units and those units can push into the enemy flank positions. (No combat occurs on the flanks, however.) As with all other formats, you can never push units into the enemy's reserve area.</p>
<p>Conceptually, I think I actually like a mixture of the <i>Sun of York</i> and <i>Dixie</i> models. I like the single flank areas of <i>Dixie</i>, but I prefer them to be actual positions where units are posted. The archers in the woods at Agincourt come to mind. I do prefer the 3x3 grid for the main battle area that both 3x3 and <i>Sun of York</i> share. I am not sure why 3x3 does not account for flanking attacks. Perhaps because it envisions itself as being a portion of the total battlefield while both <i>Dixie</i> and <i>Sun of York</i> are reflecting the entire battle?</p><p>Another element that might define the scope of the action is the stacking limit applied to each cell of the grid. I think most players allow only two units in the 3x3 model while both <i>Dixie</i> and <i>Sun of York</i> allow four (plus Leaders).</p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Representing Campaigns and Battles</h2>
<p>Recently I started playing <i>Marvel United</i> (MU) — a superhero versus supervillains game — with my wife (she has taken pity on me while I am <i>still</i> recovering from foot surgery and cannot go out and game with others) and it also abstracts the battlefield. If you think about the storylines in comics it is generally a series of battle vignettes in various locations between the superheroes and the supervillain's henchmen, with an occasional short fight between the superheroes and the supervillain before a final big fight between them that generally (hopefully) ends in the supervillain's defeat. MU models that by making each area of the map a different location where battles can occur, with each location not being broken down any further as these are not mass actions but rather skirmishes between a few people on each side.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVIldlZPgnXJNESiP0lMJXqKvsUncSTAYPcVP5zhf762hGCp7xh5Y_1_EFgSWvv0LeAllwqEac22AcYhmBGXG8JSQinALOMxQJr9aD3Ji-sLmGvDCy8ESp8RlNfmw7k2frGgRuijOhsBspSnn2NS1hUnHHskoz2SAYFvCCjmjw0KLCiZalieg=s400" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="400" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVIldlZPgnXJNESiP0lMJXqKvsUncSTAYPcVP5zhf762hGCp7xh5Y_1_EFgSWvv0LeAllwqEac22AcYhmBGXG8JSQinALOMxQJr9aD3Ji-sLmGvDCy8ESp8RlNfmw7k2frGgRuijOhsBspSnn2NS1hUnHHskoz2SAYFvCCjmjw0KLCiZalieg=w640-h442" width="640" /></a></div><br />Characters move around the map (shown in the image above) from location (six large squares arranged in a circle) to adjacent location, clockwise or counter-clockwise, with some characters able to move to any location due to their powers (typically flying) or equipment, fighting the opponents found there. Once enough missions have been completed (defeating thugs and henchmen, rescuing civilians, performing heroic tasks, etc.) the final battle can commence and the superheroes can start dealing damage to the supervillain. It is a very interesting game model that I will be reviewing on my <a href="https://solo-battles.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Solo Battles blog</a> at some point, but I think it shows an innovative way to reflect the cinematic battles that occur over time, but not the same location.<p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Summary</h2><p>Games like these allow players to quickly fight battles and get to a decisive result very quickly, minimizing the fuss and muss generally required with rules that have players carefully measuring movement and ranges, changing formation, and jockeying for position to optimize tactical effectiveness. In these games simple rules determine how units within an area face off and combat one another. The most optimal formation is considered to be automatically used by the unit commanders (which you are not; you are the overall commander), so all such details are abstracted away.</p><p>If you like these sort of games, they not only allow you to get into and resolve them very quickly, they are often designed to be gamed in a smaller space, such as a folding table. I personally like them because they also allow you to stay seated for most of the game, much like a board game does. But that is because I am an old man who will have back pain by the end of a multi-hour gaming session.</p><p>If you have seen other format of these area-type game boards, let me know. I know that the AWI miniatures rules that I reviewed, <i>The World Turned Upside Down</i>, promised to be an area map battle game, and that was what definitely drew me to it initially. Ganesha Games' <i>Of Armies and Hordes</i> is similar to MU in that the areas are more for the campaign and the battle is fought out in that single area location. You could easily combine those campaign rules with something like the 3x3 model to 'zoom in' and fight out the battle once you determine which area on the map the conflict occurs. (Hmmmm...)</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Wargames are Puzzles</h1><p>Recently I watched a video on how to play MU and the narrator said "<i>Marvel United</i> games are basically giant puzzles. You pick the supervillain that you are going to fight and they have specific characteristics — henchmen, attacks, hit points, ways they can be defeated, victory conditions, etc. — that you look at the determine which team of heroes and tactics you should select to defeat them. That is the puzzle solving part of the game experience." I thought about that and recognized that wargames are effectively the same. They are complex puzzles to be solved.</p><p>I know that when I wrote about <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2011/06/tactical-exercises-and-micro-games.html?m=0" target="_blank">Tactical Exercises and Micro-Games</a> back in 2011 I was alluding to this idea. When you have the task of taking a house (skirmish) or a town (mass battle game) within a larger battle, the taking of that structure is a puzzle. There is a certain way to approach the task, you need a certain amount of troops compared to the defending force. You run these micro-games performing these singular tasks in order to understand the 'formula' for success.</p><p>For example, when I was 13 or so and playing <i>Column, Line, and Square</i> (CLS, a figure-heavy set of Napoleonics rules) I would generally bash my troops against a town trying to take it and always losing. One day an older gamer said "let's just play you attacking a town" rather than playing a larger game that had all kinds of elements, like roads, woods here and there, some walls and hedges, and so on. He said all that other stuff are distractions. "Right now, you need to focus on how to take that one building." So, that is all we had on the board, one building and nothing else. He took some points and bought Russians and I had more points (because I was attacking) and I bought some French. Got slaughtered. Rand it again and still got slaughtered. He said "Why were you slaughtered?" I realized the math of the situation — the minuses I had to contend with for firing at troops in cover — and came to the conclusion that if I truly needed to take the house, I did not have enough troops to overcome the penalties. So we started playing the same game with me getting increasingly more points. Eventually I won and I came to realize that there are some puzzles you cannot solve, i.e. attacking a town in CLS with only a 4:3 point advantage will always result in a loss, so the winning move is to figure out how to <u>not</u> attack the town. After that weekend of playing the same simple battle a dozen times and reaching my Eureka moment, I became a much better player. That was also when I realized that I liked wargames not because I like playing games, but because I like solving puzzles.</p><p>The problem with many rules though is that they throw so many variables into the mix, then beat the puzzle right out of the game. Most players cannot work through the probabilities of a dozen turns worth of dice rolls to determine the odds of winning. (I certainly cannot.) Adding other factors like troops defending terrain (-1 to firing for cover), and whether they will even be able to reach that cover before you have a chance to fire (because of variable movement rates) and many rules get reduced to games of chance. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying to remove all elements of chance (although I do play and did <a href="https://daleswargames.blogspot.com/2016/09/rules-review-jabberwocky-ritter.html" target="_blank">review various deterministic rules</a>), but some rules just go to far.</p><p>I have talked with a number of gamers, however, that feel the opposite. Whereas I like to analyze games, in fact that is a particularly strong element of my enjoyment of gaming, others tell me that they enjoy more the rolling of the dice and seeing how the battle unfolds. Sure, they like to win too, but if the 'story' was a loss but fun that is far more preferable to a boring win. I have been accused many a time of being too over-analytical and taking all of the fun out of gaming, but that has only made me realize the two general types of players: puzzle solvers and gamers.</p><p>What about you? Are you looking for rules that are puzzles or games?</p>Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13667428218897971037noreply@blogger.com7