Wagon Train, the Second Part

 We rejoin the action ...

 With lizard archers and javelin-throwing Geckos continuing to hamper the wagon train's progress, Captain Butler ordered his Highlanders up from their position as the rear guard.

A raptor, earlier driven into the jungle, burst forth to attack the AVEF's advanced guard. Its powerful hooked claws and razor teeth, in the end, were no match for hot lead.

With the raptor's defeat, the trail to the left opened up, and on the right, the lizards fell back under fire from the second unit of Legionnaires.

The wagons could finally advance!

Sgt Major Chalmers accompanied the second wagon, armed with his specially tuned "Tartan Thumper" bagpipe (modifications provided by the Blackwood Manufacturing Firm, Hull, name suggested by Msr. Chat Gepete, Paris). 

Jubilation was short lived as the lancers struggled against the archers and a new, more disturbing, threat arrived on leathery wings!

And yet, Providence smiled upon the Earthlings, when, from their lofty perch atop the fort's tower, the stalwart crew of the fort's lone gun performed a stunning feat of marksmanship not seen since Locksley split the Prince's arrow.

At this point I should just admit that I have usurped ownership of my son's building blocks. To be fair, he's 13 and has no interest in them and I kept them around for just this reason. Indeed, it's quite probable that I purchased these for him, fully planning on this day would come.

A resounding "Huzzah!" went up from men both in the fort and guarding the wagons.

Celebrations were cut short when the Marine Iguanas rallied and charged the steadfast Highlanders. The men in kilts gave better than they got.

Yet, the cunning lizard leader saw this as his moment and sprinted towards the second wagon, a blood curdling roar exploding from his toothy maw.

Captain Butler, personally commanding his few remaining Legionnaires, engaged the lizard archers at close range, and even charged into hand to hand in support of the lancers, who had ridden up to provide assistance. 

With their combined efforts, the red menace was driven from the field.

The way ahead opened and the wagon's handler spurred the plodding stegosaur forward. 

Butler and his Legionnaires turned to aid the second wagon, and the lancers led the way for the first wagon.

Brave and duty-bound, Captain Butler, his aristocratic sensibilities enraged by the audacity of the cold-blooded creatures to attack the caravan that he was charged to protect, rushed headlong into the fray with the lizard leader.

The warrior, fierce and formidable despite his small stature, killed the wagon handler and knocked the stegosaur itself to the ground.  Yet, the man atop the strange looking four-legged beast did not yield so easily, and the two exchanged and parried blow after blow.

With the din of battle behind far behind them, the first wagon arrived at the fort! Within moments it was safely inside behind the thick wood and iron gate.

No good deed goes unpunished, and Butler was knocked from his saddle by the lizard. 

Sgt. Major Chalmers, himself a short distance from the duel, moved quickly. It was only by his self-less action was the dear Captain spared and ignominious death on the Venusian ground.

No man, let alone lizard, could dare hope to trade blows with the proud Scot from Coylton, and as the sun went out of the sky, Chalmers stood victorious over his prisoner.

****

Rules used were FUBAR Victorian Sci-Fi.

I should note that any figure on its side is Suppressed, not KIA, so Butler and the stegosaurus are still alive, as well as the lizard leader. In fact, technically the fight wasn't over, but it was the last scheduled turn for the game before the sun went down and I decided that meant it was a knockout blow dealt by Chalmers.

I like the FUBAR rules but bit off a more than I could chew with this one. 

The game lasted over 3 hours largely due to 1) being a solo game and 2) having too many units to activate on each side. A lot of people like longer games; I do not. Sixty to ninety minutes is enough for me, and then I start thinking about going to do something else. 

As a result, at some point, I decided that if a unit failed a morale check and would move off table if moving straight away from the threat, I decided they would rout at that point. In this way most of the lizard units left the table - none were completely decimated, unlike the AVEF units who often rallied, and then fought to the last (the fort really needed the supplies).

The AVEF had three units in the fort (infantry, gun, lancers), two wagons (each wagon was handled largely by the vehicle rules, and the "crew' represented by a figure that could shoot with 1 die), three infantry units guarding the wagons, and two heroes.

The lizards had four units of foot, one unit of flyers, and two heroes (leader and the raptor).

The scenario is more-or-less Charles Grant's Tabletop Teaser No. 2: "The Wagon Train" In a a rare occurrence for me, I used the entirety of my kitchen table for the game - all 3' x 5' of it. Still this is smaller than what Grant had in mind, I am sure.

As it is night now in the game and as per the scenario, any wagon that doesn't make it back is sure to be raided (Stegosaurs don't travel at night. At least Venusian stegosauruses don't), the next game suggests itself - a defense of the "wagon" from night attacks. 

I may have a handful of the fort's garrison to make their way to our two heroes (with the captured lizard hero) but maybe not. 

Dinosaur, er Wagon, Train (part 1)

Captain Butler, ordered to guard a train of stegosauruses loaded up with supplies and destined for a remote Allied Venusian Expeditionary Force (AVEF) outpost, nervously checked the sun's position during breaks in the thick cloud cover. There was little daylight left and should the wagons, such as they were, not reach the fort before sundown, they would undoubtedly be captured in the oncoming darkness.

The fort's garrison anxiously peered to the horizon; their loan artillery piece trained prepared to offer supporting fire on any natives, should they appear.  A troop of lancers prepared their horses to ride out and meet the caravan.

The caravan's escorts roused their courage with rowdy songs of women, wine, and home.

All the while watched from tangled jungle by the cold reptilian eyes of a lone but fierce, lizard warrior, the leader of a warband sent to capture the wagon train and supplies

At his command, a detachment of Iguana Marines burst forth from the jungle and assaulted the column - attempting to block the way forward for the oncoming wagons.

Meanwhile, lizard archers crept stealthily through jungle, just within range of the lead AVEF unit. Their arrows let loose with deadly accuracy.

The fort's artillery crew spotted a velociraptor emerging over the crest of a hill and peppered it with shot, which forced it to take to the cover of the jungle.

The AVEF infantry held off the Iguana warrior attack, driving them back into the jungle. They then shifted to aid against the archer threat. 

Finally, lumbering behind came the first wagon.

At the call of a bugle from the approaching caravan, the fort's s gate lifted, and the readied lancers burst forth.

They raced to the sounds of battle ...

but did not notice the menace to their flank.

To be continued in part 2!

Season Kickoff

Saturday afternoon, the 2024 Blitz Bowl season kicked off with the Skavenblight Scramblers vs Nurgle's Rotters.

Skavenblight's fast moving, big-play offense saw little opportunity, as the plodding, hard hitting Rotters gained possession early and opted for a conservative ball-control offense. 

Skavenblight Blitzer takes on Nurgle Bloater

Nurgle's team maintained near continuous possession for the duration of the game, recovering fumbles with success and beating up the Skavenblight defense at nearly every opportunity.

Patience was the order of the day for the Rotters. Moving more laterally than forward and choosing hand-offs over risky passing, they oozed steadily towards the goal-line.

Nurgle Lineman carries the ball into the End Zone

Despite being held to a single touchdown (their first ever under my coaching), the Rotters handily scored a Sudden Death victory, 13 to 2, thanks in large part to their successful completion of multiple challenge cards.

Skavenblight's blitzer suffered multiple injuries on the day but is expected to be ready to go again in time for the team's next outing, according to their coach.

That match-up will pit the Scramblers vs the Reikland Reavers.

Archaeology is Hard to Spell

Despite recent setbacks for the Allied Venusian Expeditionary Force (AVEF), the civilian explorers who had tagged along on this inter-planetary adventure were not content to stay put in the security of the AVEF strongholds. 

Thus, it was that Professor Blackwood led an expedition to an ancient site that had piqued his curiosity - a site that bore evidence of a pre-lizard civilization, or at the very least, a center of pre-Bokrug worship. Accompanied by Lady Pennington, late of the Geographic Society and a celebrated traveler of Central Asia, a team of Royal Engineers and an armed contingent of French Legionnaires under the command Lieutenant Candide (who had volunteered his services in hopes of catching the attention of Lady Pennington), the party enjoyed a relaxing afternoon ransacking liberating artifacts from the ruins.

Lady Pennington and Professor Blackwood admire the heretofore unknown iconography.

Unbeknownst to the expedition, although not unanticipated, a native warband encircled their position.

When the fighting started, Lt. Candide ordered the civilians to retreat. Lady Pennington was reluctant - obeying orders isn't high on her list of priorities - but the professor seemed keen to return to safety.

"Ladies first, Lady Pennington."

He was, as she discovered, a bit keener about it than she had realized. Aided by Lt. Candide who engaged one of the great Saurian warriors who had taken a targeted line of attack for the retreating civilians.

"On second thought, age before beauty!"

The lizards breached the walls, but the defenders held their ground - certainly better than the AVEF had performed in recent clashes.

A second Saurian had attacked the Royal Engineers before turning his attentions to Lady Pennington. She would have none of that.

"You filthy creature, do you know who I am? I am your worst nightmare."

As the good Lady put her knife fighting skills to use, the surviving engineers made for a ford and crossed the river.

Lady Pennington left the wounded Saurian and fell back across the river - time was running out to get to safety, as Professor Blackwood reminded her. At least that's what she thought he said - he was running quite fast by that point and moving away from her rapidly.

"Devil take the hindmost!"

Speaking of devils and hindmosts, Lt. Candide was brought down by the fierce leader of the warband. At least he would never experience the pain of Lady Pennington's piercing brushoffs.

Both sides suffered significant loses - the Venusians more so than the Earthlings. The fighting ebbed until both sides disappeared into the jungle in the directions of their respective security.

For the AVEF, their valuable civilian scientists had survived, and the Legionnaires had held the ruins long enough to ensure their escape.

It was not a resounding triumph, but still, it was a much needed boost for the flagging morale of the AVEF troops.

****

Rules used were Age of Fantasy : Skirmish, half ranges for everything since I was playing on a 3' x 3' square. This was a 300 point per side game. The lizards used the AoF:S Saurian list, while the AVEF used the Duchies of Vinci (I use the crossbow stats for the rifles - it works). 

I set 5 turns for the game - to win, the AVEF had to get their two high-value targets out of harm's way, and hold the ruins long enough so they could escape.  

The ruins were contested when the game ended, but Lady Pennington and the professor had escaped.  So that seemed good enough to call it a minor victory for the AVEF (they needed one).

To further aid the AVEF, my lizards were distributed by die roll, which led to them being spread quite far apart - which made some of the heroes abilities to give bonuses to other figures moot.

If you're wondering why the Royal Engineers took off across the river - after they delayed the one Saurian warrior they had really done all they could do. They only had melee weapons as they were on artifact liberation duty.

Lady Pennington, by the way, as is fitting for her, was statted as a Duchies of Vinci assassin (Quality 4+, Defense 5+, armed with dual poisoned arm blades as well as throwing knives). The professor was a Vinci Scholar. Poor Candide was a Vinci Leader, for all the good it did him.

I should add that Lady Pennington and that coward Blackwood have plot armor. If they had been killed, they would have been captured instead.

Man the Walls!

Although I had planned to write up the Family Fall Festival Cthulhu Dark game, I was overcome by the desire to play a miniatures game set on Venus and gave into temptation as it were.

I was thinking about One Hour Wargames and how I like my VSF mish-mash version, but I really don't like little dice on the table trailing the units around (as of the other day - sometimes I don't care).

Hordes of the Things doesn't have this issue and while I have never played it or even read the whole book, I do have it and have seen plenty of game reports. 

So, I cherry picked a bit from it and had myself a game of what I am calling "HoTT and Lazy" (lazy because I am not using more than few of the combat rules). This is actually the second game played with the rules - the first one was spent tweaking things every turn. A re-match was in order (outcomes were the same).

***

The Allied Venusian Expeditionary Force (AVEF) after two recent disasters, became aware of movements towards a lonely outpost - one of the outer ring of small fortifications that provide a first line of defense for the AVEF zone (they think it's a zone; the local residents feel otherwise). 

A relief column was sent out almost immediately.

The fort's garrison held off frontal assaults by bands of determined lizard warriors, but on both the left and right, lizard forces were bearing down hard surround the defenders.

The AVEF's lancers (The Duke's Own), leading the relief force, were the first to arrive to aid the beleaguered fort.

The AVEF infantry were thrown into battle immediately as the lizards begun turning the flanks - presenting opportunity for the AVEF. Teeth and claws, stone, steel, and lead cut down swaths of fighters on both sides

The gallant Lt. Taylor commands the relief force.

Disaster struck! In a swirling melee, Lt. Taylor met his end at the hands of the lizard hero.

Moments later the fort was overrun, and with their forces crumbling, the remaining AVEF troops were forced to fall back.

Fortunately for the AVEF generals, word of failures, such as these, takes a ridiculously long time to reach the politicians back on Earth.

***

From  a HoTT perspective these are 24 point forces:

• AVEF: 1 Hero (General), 1 Artillery (in the fort), 6 Shooters (1 in the fort, 5 in the relief force), 2 Riders.
• Lizards: 1 Hero (General), 1 Behemoth, 2 Shooters, 2 Spears, 4 Warband

Playing area was 36" wide by 24" deep. Lizard foot troops move 6", AVEF moves 4". 

I was undecided on how to handle the fort in this game.

In my first game, the night before, I played it as a stronghold in HoTT. In this game - I started treating it as two units in cover, but didn't like the idea of troops recoiling out of the fort. So, I let them ignore recoil. But after a number of them, I realized they might never be eliminted. 

So, eventually I decided they would count as two units for shooting (Gatling with a 12" range, rifles with an 8" range) but they would fight as a stronghold (+6) for close combat and if a garrison unit was forced to recoil it was destroyed.

I'm not sure what I'll do in the future - that's the fun of playing solo though. I can change my mind and my opponent goes along with it!

Family Game Preparation

As I mentioned the other day, our annual "Family Fall Festival" is coming up rapidly (this approaching Sunday as a matter of fact).

For this year's fare, I am steering clear of a miniatures-based experience, as time has slipped away from me for preparation. Since we primarily play RPGs in our friends and family gaming group, no one will bat an eye if I roll out an RPG scenario.

Although I still have plans to run Fall of Delta Green eventually, the sample adventure is potentially far too involved for a single session.

I have found a standard Call of Cthulhu one-shot adventure to run, but I will be instead running it with The Cthulhu Hack Cthulhu Grey, a rules-light game based on the even lighter Cthulhu Dark. Call of Cthulhu, 7th ed., is pretty easy to understand for the most part but I don't want a D&D 5e situation where everyone is reading their character sheets trying to figure out what they can do (which has, coincidentally, also been my experience playing Call of Cthulhu, albeit 6th ed.). 

Rules-light hopefully means we can get into it much faster without getting bogged down in mechanics and worrying about long lists of specific skills (characters have an occupation, three skills, and two stats).

The hard part, for me, is that I like the Family Fall Festival and Christmas games to stand out from the other gaming we do during the year. It's part of the celebration and I want it to feel that way to the players - not just ordinary ho-hum.

Minis are out, so I'm turning my attention to the ambiance. 

I've purchased a table cloth(we don't use tablecloths ever so while it's not spooky, it's different) and LED candles for lighting. 

Now, as I have trouble reading even in bright light, I know the dim light may be an issue - that's why I picked up 24 votive candles and three tapers. Unfortunately, in last night's testing, I found 3 or 4 votive candles each may not be enough - at least not for me. So, I'll probably order some more to make sure we're covered.

I have a playlist of 1920s music to put on in the background while I set up, and from which I'll segue into creepier ambient music when the game starts.

Sound effects on hand will include waves, wind, rain, lighting, and strange sounds, controlled from a venerable Boss SP-303 "Dr. Sample" rather than software on my phone or laptop (to minimize light from anything but candles).  

Sometimes being a music-gear pack rat pays off.

Now that I think about it, this whole thing has a performance vibe, where the actors don't know their roles until the day of. I digress ...

The adventure, like most Call of Cthulhu adventures, comes with player handouts. I'm getting those printed, since they are in color, and possibly aging some of them with tea or coffee. 

Strange coins play a role in the investigation, so I picked up some creepy made-of-metal prop coins from Etsy. 

Picture by The Unassailable Mage on Etsy

They don't match the ones in the story, but they are odd enough, and I got enough that each player can take one home as a memento. 

I also picked up inexpensive sets of five different d6s for each player. This is entirely self-serving so I can tell at a glance when someone's Harm or Insanity is higher than their other dice. It just happens to have the benefit that they can keep them to add to their collections after the game.

At the very least, if they don't have fun, they will at least come away with some goodies! (Is this bribery? Maybe.)

Finally, I was looking for a centerpiece for the table - there are plenty of cool looking Mythos statues on Etsy, but those typically cost more than I can afford to pay for a one-time use. I recalled I had some air dry clay left over and finding it still good, I decided to try a proof of concept.

Behold, an ancient (and tiny, like 3") evil idol

Cthuloid idol.

 

My crude (aka non-existent) sculpting skills actually work to my advantage here, I think. The downside, as I've encountered before with this stuff, is that it takes forever for the clay to dry completely when it's a thick chunk.

So, for the "final product", I made a mass of aluminum foil roughly in the desired shape and then applied thin strips of air dry clay.  At least that was the plan. I kind of used some thick lumps for the "legs".

Shub-Niggurath

Despite that deviation, in the whole, this process theoretically means it will dry quicker - which is good, since I need this all finished - including painted - by October 6!  My goal is a "crude and disconcerting ancient idol of a previously unknown religion" and  once the paint is applied I think it'll sell that even more.

Why Shub-Niggurath? (asked no one)

Because she's my favorite. 

Also because the adventure is tangentially based around one of the water-affiliated entities and I want to draw the players minds away from that at first - especially the ones familiar with the Lovecraft Mythos who will immediately grasp for Cthulhu and Dagon.

There's still a lot for me to do before Sunday not least of which is finishing converting the scenario from the format of the module to my preferred format for running (this process, though tedious, means I really learn the module, so that, ironically, the final document needs only minimal reference during the game).

Tonight I pick up my PA from the rehearsal space so I can start working on setting up the sampler. (See, it really is a performance!)

Finally, on top of everything, I've been re-reading some of my favorite Lovecraft stories -mostly to mine for his vocabulary for describing cosmic horror and the creeping dread that overcomes his protagonists as they realize the full horror of what they are experiencing.

I may post again before the game but if not, I'll see you on the other side!

AVEF Punitive Expedition

My attention has turned to prepping for our Family Fall Festival game (I'll be running a Call of Cthulhu RPG adventure using The Cthulhu Hack rules) but I still managed to setup and play a game this weekend:

After the devastating ambush of an Allied Venusian Expedition Force (AVEF) patrol, the allies decided to strike a retaliatory blow upon the lizard folk of Venus. A show of force would be made at a lizard gathering spot - an abandoned ancient temple complex known to be used by the lizard warriors as a gathering ground for exchanging intelligence about the Earthlings' movements. An engineer section would, if possible, blow the temple sky high.

Unfortunately, the lizard folk were well aware of the column fast approaching the ruin and sent a considerable force to oppose it.

Armies consisted of 6 units each which, 1/3 would arrive on turn 1, 1/3 on turn 2, and 1/3 on turn 3. The composition of each wave was determined randomly, with the exception of the AVEF cavalry, who would arrive from one of three potential flank points on a die roll on turn three or after, depending on the result. 

There are 5 objective points 1) the center thick jungle terrain on the AVEF edge , 2) the hill on the lizard edge, 3) the ford, 4) the thick jungle to the right of the AVEF (center top in the picture below), and of course 5) the temple complex. The temple complex is worth 2 points, everything else is worth 1 point. A tie is quite possible.

The forces arrive on the battlefield.

The French advance on the AVEF left, but it's slow going.

Lizard folk archers arrive on the hilltop, accompanied by a triceratops battle wagon to their left.

The stalwart Highlanders arrive in the AVEF center.

The lizards, unimpeded by their native jungle, reach the temple complex first.

The AVEF gatling makes its way into position - a clear lane of fire to the complex - while the Highlanders become entangled in the jungle growth.

First contact! Lizard skirmishers (of the Gecko tribe) tear through the jungle and crash into the advancing French. 

The Gatling opens fire on the complex. Unfortunately, they are hindered by the cover provided by the ancient stones, as well as by the fact that they are poor shots.

The French fall to the lizard skirmishers. They continue their relentless advance along the river.

The Gatling crew has no idea what is coming towards them. Meanwhile, more lizard forces arrive by land and, concerningly, by air.

Lady Luck finally shows favor to the AVEF; the lancers appear behind the lizard heavy troops (of the Marine Iguana tribe) and crash into the triceratops battle wagon.

Although greatly reduced by a hail of arrows, the Highlanders manage to reach the complex and engage the lizard archers in violent hand to hand combat in and around ancient walls and pillars.

Surrounded and vastly outnumbered, the lancers fight valiantly for Queen & Country & Planet.

When the Gatling crew fell, the AVEF flank was completely exposed - leaving the engineers and the commander in charge of the force to hold off the approaching Geckos and Pteranodons.

The battle wagon is knocked out of the fight, but the Marine Iguanas closed in. The lancers' luck has run out.

The AVEF is decimated. The few survivors are forced flee back towards their base, with a flight of Pteranodons no doubt pursuing overhead.

This was another crushing victory for the lizards. Now, it is true that I was playing them as "my" force, and even I look with suspicion upon the result. Still, I don't control die rolls or card draws. 

When I was setting up the sides, I had thought the superior fire power of the AVEF would help overcome any hidden bias. What I had failed to account for was 1) the limit to LOS presented by the crowded terrain which would greatly reduce the range their rifles could be effectively deployed from and 2) how my rules changes would impact things.

Once again, I used In Good Company. 

However, I added and changed a few rules:

The first modification changed what a unit could do on its activation. As played above, units can only take 1 action on their activation Move OR Shoot OR Melee (which might involve a charge into melee, but you get the idea) or for leaders, they could instead choose a leader action.

Movement was adopted from Contemptible Little Armies. The value to the left of the slash is for open ground, to the right is for rough ground. Lizards, being native, are not subject delay through the Venusian jungle, the way non-native troops are. The dice are rolled once per unit and apply to all figures in the unit.

• AVEF Foot units 2d3/1d3
• Gatling units 1d3/1d3-2
• Lizard Foot units 3d3/3d3
• Lancers 4d3/1d3
• Pteranodons 4d3/4d3

To try to preserve the rule about machine guns moving and shooting, I modified that bit to read:

• Machine guns and cannon may NOT move and fire in the same turn

That's actually quite a bit stricter, but it makes more sense given my restricting units to move OR shoot when activated.

Leader actions are:

• Order friendly unit within 6” to fire
• Order friendly unit within 6” to move 1d3”
• Attempt to recover any in hospital figures for a unit within 6”

Both sides made good use of these.

Finally, I added a morale rule:

If a unit ends a turn with only KIA and in-hospital figures, then it has routed/been destroyed and does not return.

Nothing earth shattering, but it would add just a little more to an enjoyable slim set of rules.

The rule change that had the most impact, I believe, was the rolling for movement. The AVEF just rolled horribly all around, but the Highlanders spent several turns traipsing through the jungle. They should have gone around - had they done that they could have brough the center into contention.

Whether that would have changed anything is up for debate - the AVEF, with the exception of the lancers, rolled poorly in close combat and especially so when checking to see if the figure was out of the fight, in the hospital another round, or back to its unit.

The morale rule, while I like it in theory, did mean that there was no chance for the French to come back from a rather devastating melee that ended with the remaining seven figures in-hospital. My new rule meant they would never get a chance to even check their status.

Perhaps a better rule is if a unit STARTS a turn with all of its figures killed or in-hospital, then they are routed/destroyed. That allows for every in-hospital figure to at least test once (on the STOP card that ended the previous turn) before a unit is written off.