September Review

Well September seems to have flown by and now we're in one of my favorite months of the year (because Halloween!). So, what did I do, gaming-wise, in September?

Not much. 

Miniatures / Wargaming 

Not a whole lot of anything happened with regards to miniature gaming - I did no painting of any real consequence, and the only game I played was One Hour Skirmish Wargames modified for the grim, dark, future.

Role-Playing Games 

I did run a session of Basic Fantasy RPG - and with just three players available, they decided to send their secondary characters out on an adventure. 

The adventure itself was based on The Delian Tomb adventure, which apparently is a well-known (online at least) introductory adventure, but I've been out of the online RPG space for a few years now, so it was new to me. It's essentially a 5-Room Dungeon model, although I don't believe that was the intent. 

Because the party has a goblin-focused mission coming up, I swapped out the goblins and bugbear in the original design for what I think are the BFRPG equivalent to duergar in D&D. I also reduced their numbers, since they are somewhat hardier than goblins.

It wasn't enough I guess? The evil dwarves handily defeated the party and it ended in a TPK.

Undaunted, the players sent in the third-stringers (new names written on the second-string character sheets in two cases at least), who managed to defeat the dwarves. They also found the hidden treasure and wiped out the resistance there too, before looting the tomb as all good adventurers do regardless of alignment.

My plan from the beginning was to allow and encourage the players to swap their characters in and out as they please, depending on the adventure and what the other players are sending out (you don't need three necromancers in the same party EVERY adventure, for example). Now that some of the backups have had some play time and one even has a magic item, I think the players may be more apt to mix and match.

Upcoming 

I don't have any plans to run BFRPG in October, but one of the players has floated the idea of running a session for the Family Fall Festival, and would like me to facilitate the rules and stats and such. I'm happy to do it, so I guess if anything I'll be assistant GM-ing at the very least (and I'll be able to roll up a character which is always fun).

If there is interest from the players, of course, I will run a game for them. 

As for miniatures, that I have plans to paint is certainly true, but whether I will or not - who knows? 

The same can be said for getting a game on the table, but it is fall, and it is football season, and it seems *very* likely that I will play some Blitz Bowl at the very least. 

Parting Shot

As blogging is a visual medium, I should include some kind of picture. So here is a photo from the end of September - there's a walk/run/bike path near my apartment and there are sculptures along it. 

Maybe it's just me, but the other day I was struck by how much this one brings to mind a Quar Napoleon. 

One Hour Skirmish Wargames in the Grim Dark Future

Sometimes an idea won't go away. So it was with my desire to capture the Grim Dark Future: Firefight experience in a system that I find infinitely more enjoyable as a solo venture.

Contemplating Alex's comment on that previous post, I realized I had gone too far in leaning into my attempt to 1:1 reproduce Kill Team / Grim Dark Future: Firefight vibes.

The better way to proceed would be to capture whatever it is that feels essential to me for that kind of game. 

At the top of that list is the power armor and handling those with and without, in a way that doesn't involve a million card draws. Related to this, it's important to me that my Sisters not have the same kind of power armor as Space Marines and similarly equipped factions.

This is followed by capturing the variety of weapons, again without over complicating.  And finally to allow room for "army traits".

FUBAR 40K pointed me in what I feel is the right direction here. 

Now, why not use FUBAR 40K? For one it's for a full-size game with multiple squads and vehicles per side, for another, I find FUBAR can take a long time with more than a few units per side- and if I treat each model as a unit, a game will take forever. I like my games to be done in 60 minutes or less.

FUBAR 40K relies on the FUBAR Core rules for armor - which is a 6-tier system (from none to battlesuit). Combining this with Defense values from Grim Dark Future: Firefight, I ended up with a 5-tier system:

• Unarmored humans (like Repentia) have Armor(0)
• Tyranid termagants (unarmored but have a chitinous shell) have Armor(1)
• Battle Sisters (power armor but not as big/bulky as Space Marines) and Necron warriors (living metal) sit in the middle with Armor(2)
• A typical Space Marine will have Armor(3)
• Space Marine Terminators (basically a battlesuit) have Armor(4) (this is the only one that gives me pause - that's a lot of cards).  

To keep it from getting crazy with card draws (which can greatly impact turn duration and thereby game duration), I am only drawing Armor cards against hits received, not for every shot received. So shooting and melee remain rules-as-written. Only if the target takes any hits do they draw their armor value to try to prevent the knock down. 

Essentially it's a saving throw.

Anyway, in OHSW format: 

Armor(X) - model draws X additional cards per hit received. Applies to both range and melee. In melee, if the hit is absorbed by armor, the model is pushed back 2"instead.

Each point of armor is 1 add'l point cost for the model. 

For weapons, rather than trying to convert stats from GDFF or KT into card draws, I decided to follow the FUBAR 40K approach and map them to existing weapons as much as possible. To keep things simple, armor penetration is ignored for everything except AP(4) (primarily plasma weapons, but not exclusively so). If armor penetration is 4, then I give it an AP(4) in OHSW - for use against vehicles. 

Each AP point is 1 add'l point for the model.

A terminator armed with energy fist and stormbolter is 11 points on its own (4 points for Armor(4), 2 points for the stormbolter-a 2 shot LMG, and 5 points for the energy fist - brute(1), AP(4)). So, a squad of five would be 55 points. For the same points, you'd get 14 termagants (they are 4 points based on how I stat them). That's pretty much the largest force I would field in OHSW.

For the first play-test, which took place last night, I fielded a squad of six Battle Sisters (including a squad leader) led by a Cannoness against nine termagants and two hive swarms. I should note, Battle Sisters have an army rule that I totally forgot to use, and the Tyranids do not ever have to check morale (that's their army rule).

The Sisters were trying to reach an abandoned radio station (middle of table) to call in a drop ship for extract. The Tyranids were just running rampant over the planet.  To successfully call in the drop ship, I borrowed the rules from the WWII scenario in the rulebook, a model could attempt to call the ship by spending an action. They draw one card, and and on a face-card, the call is successfully. A single model can try up to three times per turn, at a cost of 1, 3, and 5 points respectively.

Tyranids start up to 6" from their base line. Sisters start pretty much on their baseline (up to two bases deep).

The game was scheduled for six turns (I assumed there would be more deck churn than usual with the armor draws), but at the end of turn six I'd roll a die. On a six the game would end (either the drop ship would arrive if the call had been successful, or the Sisters would be overrun if not), otherwise the game would continue and I would check again after the next turn (a 5+ would end the game then, then a 4+, and so on, for a maximum of 11 turns).

 

In the event, the Sisters managed to successfully call for extract on turn 5, and at that point the had suffered no losses. That changed moments later and they were down 1. At the end of turn 6, the game continued, and then they were down 2, then 3, and then at the end of turn 7, they were down 4! Finally, at the end of turn 8 (mercifully short thanks to an early Joker), the two surviving Battle Sisters and the Cannoness were extracted. 

The rules worked well and I found the game quite enjoyable. It was much more to my liking than my previous attempt - it captured the vibe without a lot of overhead added to a relatively simple set of rules (unlike the previous iteration). 

The Battle Sisters were at high-risk in close combat (the squad leader and Canonness have swords that give a bonus in CC) and were better off staying back and shooting, whereas the Tyranids had their best chance by closing in, either to get their 2 shots with their bio borers (OHSW submachine guns) and to use their Brute(1) bonus for their talons - in melee, which felt right.

The points (from the book with my addition for armor) gave a reasonable balance at least between these two factions despite a difference in force size.  

Definitely something I'll be playing again. 

Lemuria Campaign - Year 1, Season 1

The following is the result of feeding my significantly more detailed write up of the battles into ChatGPT and having it summarize it all "in the style of an Osprey publication". I'm not sure how well it did, but it is definitely shorter than what I had written!

 

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Battle in the Foothills

The Qamarian vanguard advanced easily through a mountain pass into Waaaghland but met with an ambush by a Waaaghlander detachment led by the warlord, Grug Loghrol.

 

The clash was bloody, and the Qamarian commander was killed. 

 

Despite heavy losses, the Qamarians held their ground. With only a reserve goblin unit left, Loghrol ordered a retreat. 

---

Battle at Skullhammer Crossroads

The Qamarian Jarl, Thorken Varanger, took command of a small force and led a swift push to seize a key supply junction.

Though initially successful in damaging Waaaghlander defenses, the tide nearly turned with the arrival of Waaaghland reinforcements.

However, Grug Loghrol was killed in the chaos, which precipitated a Waaaghlander withdrawal. The Qamarians secured and fortified the crossroads.

---

Battle for Grashnak Hollow

Varanger aimed to capture a crucial bridge near Grashnak Hollow. 

After breaking the orc defenses, the Qamarians briefly held the bridge. Waaaghland, under the warlord, Blood Sneeze, counterattacked by launchnig a flanking maneuver utilizing fords undiscovered by the Qamar army. 

Clash at the bridge!

Intense fighting followed, with both sides suffering heavy losses. In a pivotal clash, Blood Sneeze was killed and his forces routed. 

The remaining Waaaghlanders abandoned the bridge, securing a hard-won Qamarian victory and control over the region.

---

Thus ends the first campaign season of year 1. I may give the season names and change the year value to an in-world value, but for now this works.

Qamar won 6-0, which isn't a great showing for the Waaaghlanders. In any case, it raises the question of how I might use the points to mean something in the campaign, besides determining the victor, keeping in mind that I don't want to have to track anything.

Here is the map now:

To illustrate a point in the campaign "rules": if Qamar were to invade Waaaghland again, they can attack any of three regions. If Waaaghland is the invader and they attack Qamar, it will be an attack on the occupied territory.

My Low Maintenance, Laid-back Fantasy Campaign

As mentioned in my previous post, I've begun a fantasy campaign. 

Background

My main objectives are to provide some stakes for my fantasy battles, to witness the rise and fall of empires or at least the conquering and retaking of lands, and to amuse myself assembling a history of a fictional continent over an extended period of time in the real world - here I am clearly inspired by Tony Bath's Hyboria campaign, but also by Gygax's World of Greyhawk.

Having no preferred fantasy setting, I opted to create my own "continent" and countries/realms therein. In the end, I suspect it's not terribly unlike Warhammer Fantasy, based on what I've seen of one of my son's video games.

It is, as of now, a four-sided campaign, to make use of my four largest fantasy collections (that is to say, I can field at least seven two-figure units - six units + a general's unit): 

• Thuum'ha - Lizard folk/snake folk/gator folk/etc.
• Waaaghland - Orcs and goblins.
• Qamar - Humans/elves/dwarves/halflings/etc.
• Mors Umbra - Undead.

The Map 

I'm not interested in map movement, but I do like making maps, so I made one.

My map is a variation on a six-sided campaign map that I came across in a back issue of Lone Warrior. 

Made in Google Draw, I hadn't intended to either grid it or color it in when I created it, hence the wonky coloring.

 

The land has gone through several name changes during my planning process. For quite a long time in my notes, I was calling it Arnax, after Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax. However, I have decided finally upon Lemuria - in my case, the name is inspired by Lin Carter's work, but your mileage may vary.

The Campaign Year

• The campaign year is divided into four seasons (convenient, no?)
• Each season, I'll roll dice to determine who the invader is and who the defender is and then determine the area being fought over 
• It must be the area closest to the attacker's lands.
• In the event of multiple such areas, they will be diced between.
•  I have yet to decide if there will be seasons where no one invades.

The Campaign Season 

• Three battles will be fought between the armies in a campaign season
• The first is worth 1 point, the second is worth 2 points, and the third is worth 3 points (I saw that somewhere else and borrowed it). 
• In the event of a points tie after three battles, a fourth battle will be fought worth 1 point. 
• After the last battle, if the attacker's total is higher, the area is added to their country, if the attacker loses, nothing changes on the map.
• Rules for the battles will be my One Hour Wargames Fantasy Mods.  

For now, battles will be One Hour Wargames scenarios, determined by dice as well, though I may choose one that suits my idea of the area being fought over. I'm also free to choose from other scenarios I have or invent a new one. 

Small encounters between warbands of individually based figures may be fought for additional narrative color. These may take place between battles in a season or between seasons. Regardless, they won't change the map, only add to the history.

Logistics 

I know some people really like managing supply lines, communications, troop movement, etc.

I want to like it, but I don't.

So, there is no concern about or tracking of attrition, supply, or anything else. 

For now, that's all just narrative fluff to be added as I feel like it. Maybe later, I'll create some additional campaign rules - although, even then, they aren't likely to be more than creating a table of events that relate to these areas that I can roll dice for.

***

That's it. That's the whole of the campaign rules. Very light - just to provide a structure on which to hang my games.

August in Review

August saw not one, but two Basic Fantasy RPG sessions. 

When the Purple Worm Graveyard ended, we didn't have time for doling out XP or for the party to pick a new adventure.  So, our next session was going to be admin and then I prepared and ran a short, Five Room Dungeon format adventure to fill the remainder.

To my surprise, it ended up spilling over into a second session. 

It was supposed to be a simple rescue mission: find and return some missing teens from the old witches cottage. But, it went south pretty fast. The party was nearly TPK'd by animated furniture in the living room of the cottage, and that was supposed to be a relatively easy encounter.

Later, after they had dealt with the "big bad", they triggered a trap that basically had a big neon warning sign pointing to it. 

I felt badly about the furniture - they were short a party member and I forgot to adjust the size of the encounter. I felt no remorse about the trap as I telegraphed it repeatedly and the party was well aware that it was a trap even in their meta-discussion, but they just couldn't help themselves. 

I decorate my son's lunch napkins - he's in HS but he hasn't told me to stop. Anyway, this is my rendition of the party after they took out the two old women living in the cottage.

Several party members reached second level after we tallied XP. They also picked out the next location they want to visit (on my pen and paper GUI). 

In miniatures updates, alas, no paint was applied to plastic or metal.

However, I did kick off what I intended to be an ongoing, low maintenance, fantasy wargame campaign. The rules I'm using are my OHW modifications, though I may fight some small skirmishes with Age of Fantasy: Skirmish or even Sword Weirdos. 

I'll post on the campaign in a subsequent post or two.

OHW Fantasy Modifications

Maudlin Jack expressed an interest in seeing my modifications for One Hour Wargames for use with fantasy armies, and so, with little fanfare, here they are! 

These work for me and I have used them in a number of games with different scenarios from the OHW book. Your mileage may, of course, vary. 

Most of the modifications are not intertwined, so it's possible to use some of them, without all.

A New Mechanic

This is important as it comes up later.

I borrowed the idea of Advantage/Disadvantage from D&D 5e.

• When a unit has Advantage, they roll 2d6 and keep the higher of the two values.
• If a unit has Disadvantage, they roll 2d6 and keep the lower of the two values.
• In no case does a unit roll more than 2d6. 
• A unit that has both Advantage and Disadvantage, for the same roll, rolls 1d6 as normal.

I don't know anything about statistics, but I don't believe it actually increases your likelihood of rolling a 6, for example, but it feels like you have a better chance.

Unit Types

I use all of the unit types from Ancients, Dark Ages, and Medieval and assign them to my figures in a way that I find appropriate.

So, my lizard archers are Ancient archers while my goblin archers are Ancient skirmishers, for example. 

My humans with shields and spears are Dark Ages infantry, while the armored humans are Medieval Men-at-Arms.

But, you can really just mix and match modifiers to make your own :- -2, 0, or +2 when attacking (range or melee can be specified) and whether they take 1/2 damage or not.

So, my human archers are "Rangers" and they get the Medieval archer +2 for range combat but suffer no penalty in close combat, and so more like Ancient archers in that respect.

And of course, you can give more or less strength points - my T-rex has 18 for example.

There are three additional unit types I use - Caster, Hero, and General

Casters

Casters are magic-user types and they have two spell categories - attack and utility. 

In order to successfully cast a spell, they have to roll 1d6 and score 4+ (this is taken from One Page Rules and I rather like it). Then roll for the effect.

For attack, via spell or close combat, I treat them as Medieval archers (+2 for the range, -2 in close combat). You can call the spell fireball, or lightening bolt, or cone of frost, but in the end it's just a ranged attack.

I only have tested a single utility spell - a healing or courage spell that restores 1d3 points to any friendly unit within line of sight and 12".

I play solo, so I try to avoid effects that carry over to the next unit's activation - such as spells which improve or reduce a targeted unit's effectiveness in attacking or moving - as it requires markers (I already use a few) or a good memory. That said, I suspect many have no issue with tracking that kind of thing.

Heroes

This unit represents a hero and their entourage (stolen from Hordes of the Things). 

• Hero attacks have Advantage. 
• Attacks against a hero have Disadvantage. 
• Hero vs Hero, just roll 1d6 as normal.

I let all of my heroes take 1/2 damage, but their attack modifier is determined by the kind of unit they are. So, a Hero Caster would take 1/2 damage, but still do +2 in range damange and -2 in close combat.

Generals

Like heroes they have the basic stats of the kind of unit they are and, like heroes, I allow them all to take 1/2 damage.

In addition to Move or Shoot or Continue Melee, they may, if the General is not in close combat:

• Self-rally 
• OR rally a unit within 12" 
• OR order 1d3 units within 12” to move 1 full move (as long as the unit is not engaged in close combat)

To rally, roll 1d3. Unit recovers that many points.

To order units to move, the chosen unit must pass a morale test (see below).  If it passes, it moves up to 1 full move. Otherwise, it does not advance - possibly because the messenger was killed or there was confusion about the order or something like that.

Orders Available

Unlike the standard rules, each side  rolls to determine how many units they may activate that turn.

Roll 1d6:

1 =  up to 3 units may activate

2-5 = up to 4 units may activate

6 = up to 5 units may activate

Units already engaged in close combat activate automatically and do not count towards the limit above. The practical result of this, in this "era" which features close combat, is that very often, by mid-game, one or both sides are always activating all of their units every turn.

Reinforcements that arrive count towards the limit on the turn they arrive and so it is up to the player if they want to hold off bringing on scheduled reinforcements, bring on only a portion of those available that turn , or bring on all of those available that turn.

Movement

I like variable movement - inspired by Contemptible Little Armies.

Roll 1d6 and modify the base movement rate as follows:

1. -1/3 base movement Inches
2. -1/6 base movement Inches
3. No change
4. No change
5. +1/6 base movement Inches
6. +1/3 base movement Inches

I present this as fractions, modify to taste. I play on a table 2/3 standard size and all of my ranges are adjusted accordingly.

Unlike the standard rules, I pretty much allow all units to enter woods - my armored orcs may be Medieval men-at-arms but I am sure I've seen movies where armored orcs advance through woods and even clash with their enemies in them. Or maybe I haven't but it's fanasy, so?

For aforementioned orcs or other "heavy" units, I use a method inspired by a bunch of other people's rules and limit their ability to move around willy-nilly over difficult ground, such as woods.

When said unit reaches an area of rough ground, they must stop, no matter how many inches remain for their move. They may enter on their next activation (with no modification to their movement rate). If they want to exit the rough ground, they must first stop at the edge they wish to exit from, and then exit on their next activation (with no modification to their movement rate).

Morale

At the end of a turn when a unit has surpassed 10 points in damage, and every turn thereafter in which they take damage and have greater than 10 points of damage, roll 1d6. If the value added to the current SP is greater than the unit’s max SP, the unit routs 1 full move towards their base line.

When an enemy unit routs from close combat, Warband and Light Cavalry roll 1d6. If the result plus their current SP  is less than their max SP, they advance 1 full move to follow the routing unit.

When an army loses 1/2 of their units, roll 1d6. If the value is less than the number of units remaining, the army continues to fight otherwise the army concedes/retreats/withdraws. Check each turn thereafter in which that army loses a unit.

Melee Modifiers

• A unit engaged in melee, and in contact with a friendly unit that is NOT in contact with an enemy unit, attacks with Advantage,
• Units that are in contact with two or more enemy units attack with Disadvantage in melee (Unless they are in contact with a friendly unit that isn't in contact with an enemy, then the Advantage and Disadvantage cancel out).

July in Review

I spent most of July away from home but yet I managed a good bit of gaming.

The month kicked off with my One Hour Wargames modification for fantasy gaming before I headed out on the road:

Skeletons, giant and ordinary, held up the orc advance.

While I tried a variety of other rules, I kept coming back to these and for now, they'll be used when I finally get around to kicking off a fantasy campaign.

I spent a week working in Florida, but brought figures and some low-effort cardstock terrain for One Page Rules Grimdark Future: Firefight:

The game was played in a VERY small area - around 18" a side if I recall. Definitely fun to be had in small spaces. The figures are all 15mm from Khurasan purchased in the early 2010s.

Everything needed for the games (I played several times) fit into but a portion of my pack:

And just for giggles, here's the view from the balcony of the condo we stayed in:

We came home for a day and then my son and I drove to Western New York to visit family and friends. On this trip, I brought my Games Workshop figures and the full size terrain:

I only had a chance to play once while there, using my mom's kitchen table. We also had a family round of Life, which admittedly, isn't particularly deep, but there was a lot of laughter which is pretty much what I hope for from a family game night.

Once back, I got it in my head to play a tournament of sorts using Grimdark Future: Firefight. The playing space I decided on was 36" x 24".

Game 1 and 2 ...

Alien Hive/Robot Legions vs Plague Brothers. It was a close game  but the Plague Brothers won on the last turn

Battle Brothers vs Blessed Sisters. The Battle Brothers crushed the Sisters, outscoring on objectives and eliminating all but one of them!

Game 3 featured Alien Hive/Robot Legions vs Blessed Sisters:

One of my favorite moments form the game. The game was a draw.

Game 4 - the title bout if you will - was a battle between Battle Brothers and Plague Brothers:

Battle Bros. deploy their squad on the left.

Plague Bros. deploy on the right.

A view from the Plague Bros. end. They won the roll to deploy first and were able to claim multiple objectives and take a defensive posture in turn 1.

End of Turn 1. The Battle Bros. have covered a lot of ground, in part due to their leader having Advanced Tactics which lets him move three units 6" if they are within 12" of him at the start of his activation.

End of turn 2. Both sides hold one objective. The third (upper right) is moved to "contested" status with the Battle Bros within the 3" distance to lay claim to it.

Turn 3. The Battle Bros. concentrate on hurling themselves at the contested objective - not without cost.

Turn 4 ended with the last objective still contested. Each side captured one objective and the game ended in a draw. In terms of losses, the Battle Brothers lost more units, but that's not how scoring is done in the basic rules.

Painting was sacrificed in July - I didn't want to bring paints with me.

Still, I did manage to complete the first four Saurian Starhost figures when I was home:

I will make three more as close combat specialists, but I need to buy more oat milk. Trust me, it makes sense!

August will see a return to gaming with others - this coming weekend hopefully will be either Firefight or maybe the Age of Fantasy: Skirmish rules at a local-ish game store. Then in two weeks, our family and friends BFRPG campaign is slated to continue with and admin session and short adventure.

With any luck, I might even get some paint applied to figures.

See you next month!