January/February Recap

 Lots of irons in lots of fires, and blogging regularly has received the axe, but I am still out here doing my thing, and I got in a bit of painting and gaming in January and February.

Finally got my Pozzuolo del Friuli scenario on the table using modified One Hour Wargames "Machine Age" rules

Morschauser Shock modified for Fantasy, One Hour Wargames scenario on 2/3 scale table, i.e. 24" square.

Morschauser Shock and Horse & Musket modified for VSF. One Hour Wargames scenario. Full scale, i.e. 6" bases and 36" square.

For reasons, I started painting the Battle of the Alps (Italy and France) in 1/72, with multi-figure basing. this is the first platoon of alpini.

I also painted five additional 28mm lizard warriors - one Reaper Bones and four Dark Heaven - and have gotten the first platoon of 1/72 French started.

Oh, and I played the classic GDW game, Battle for Moscow, several times in a single day, and also a game of Burning Mountains 1916, from Compass Games - with turns spread over three days.

Cheers!

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!

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!

Run Through the Jungle

An Allied Venusian Expeditionary Force  (AVEF) patrol is returning to their base at Fort La Fin du Monde.

Unbeknownst to them, the lizard folk have been watching their movements and have laid a trap.

With the tantalizing flank of the patrol exposed to them, the lizard warriors erupt from the jungle!

Sacre bleu!

As the mass of lizards crashes into the patrol's left, a second threat emerges, heralded by a rain of arrows. 

The situation goes from bad to worse

Carnage ensues!

For those who dislike knocked over soldiers, eventually I removed them as they were getting in the way of subsequent combats.

The AVEF at first gave better than they got, but soon find themselves outnumbered by waves of the fierce jungle fighters.

And then, as suddenly as it began, the clash is ended - not a European left alive.

Singing their disconcerting chorus of hisses and rumbling growls, they fade back into the tangled jungle.

Soon, scavenging dinosaurs will descend on the scene to claim their share and it is best not to stick around too long in celebration.

*****

Rules used were based more or less on In Good Company

Starting with Earth and Campaign Thoughts

Warning: a lot of  prose ahead,and not so much eye-candy

"Start with Earth" is a Ken Hite game-design mantra.

And it makes sense really, because its easier to get players to have a connection with the setting they are familiar with - places, history, people, are instantly meaningful without requiring reading fluff or novels or what have you (like, say, Forgotten Realms).  So, you start with what they know, and then add the fantastic elements.

Now, as a solo gamer, I don't have this problem of a lack of familiarity - I make up everything and I'm the only one who has to buy into it. 

Except, it takes a lot to build an entire world. Case in point, Venus. 

I mean, sure, Venus is an actual planet, but actual Venus and Victorian Science Fiction (VSF) Venus are two vastly different things.

And what I've been finding is, I'm having trouble reconciling my desire for different kinds of games with the need to develop histories not only of the native populations, but also the history of Earthlings on Venus. Space: 1889 has done this for gamers, and I like it, but it doesn't really line up with my conception of what I want at this point. Not least of which is how Earthlings get there. 

Of course, I can change the bits that don't suit me, but each change brings about more questions that I feel compelled to answer. It's more than just filing off serial numbers - and i get to a point where I am basically starting from scratch.

So, I went digging through various forums online for ideas (primarily about Venus, but  also about VSF settings generally) and it hit me:

Antarctica

Antarctica is extremely interesting for a whole variety of reasons, not least of which is that it remains basically unknown until 1897. Its existence had been posited,but no one had even seen it until then. So, IRL, at the time my intended campaign is set, the 1880s-ish, it's still an unknown, as subject to the imagination as Venus or Mars. 

Why not then shed the shackles of creating an entire world, and simply modify this one? That is, start with Earth?

So indeed that is my plan. 

My apologies to those who were looking forward to a campaign on Venus. That said, it will look exactly the same. [Also, I reserve the right to do a Space: 1889 game, as written in the future]

East Antarctica (I just learned there is an East and West Antarctica) will feature a sunken "lost world". 

Lost world gaming was some of my very first wargaming.  

I had found Adventures in Jimland (as I had no suitable figures at the time, i made my own cardstock top-down counters - I still have them) online and was immediately taken by the diary-style game write-ups. Lost worlds are also the basis for some of my favorite adventure fiction (King Solomon's Mines, The Lost World, Journey to the Center of the Earth, etc).

So, I am partial to the concept. 

Because of its location, Antarctica is not easily exploited (in real-life or in my planned gaming). In game terms, that means the European build up has been slow- indeed other then some forts, that's about it. It's still an age of exploration  and thus hunters and scientists and cartographers may make trips into the wilds as often as military patrols. 

And, getting to the valley(a deceiving name for something so massive) can be an adventure in itself.

Huge Tracts of Land

Now, Antarctica is HUGE. I mean really huge. 

It's the 5th largest continent. It's twice the size of Australia. You can fit the entire USA in there and still have extra room. This will be relevant in a minute.

Although I don't intend for a map campaign, with maybe the exception of some mapping expeditions, I wanted a map so I would at least have a consistent relative sense of where things are. 

I found a half dozen suitable drawings of Antarctica (While a plain line drawing would seem ideal, I needed them to have some landmarks on them so I could place my lost valley where I wanted it - like I wanted the South Pole to remain an icy location, and not in the valley, and the Transantarctic Mountains to be left alone sine they will probably be the Mountains of Madness, etc.)

I imported one of them into Google Draw and made a an outline of the valley. It looked nice but I had no idea of the scale. So I found a map with a scale included and made some hexes in the appropriate size and tried again. 

Wow.

The valley was way bigger than I wanted - you could fit several European states within and still have room for unclaimed areas. Now, while I don't intend to have the Europeans fight each other initially, I'd like the option of them at least finding each other eventually!

So, I shrank things down .

Here, with labels for the factions, some inland seas and some mountains (which I may move around a bit more) is what I am calling call the Minimum Viable Product:

Each hex is approximately 250 miles across point to point. The hexes allow me to map in more detail if I choose to, say five 50-mile hexes per 250-mile hex, ten 5-mile hexes per 50-mile hex, and five 1-mile hexes per - mile hex.

However,  I think on the whole it looks nicer without the hexes. Nothing to write home about mind you, but I can tell where the factions are likely to be encountered, which helps support narrative consistency.

The yellow squares are European forts/base camps. I tried to set it up so each European faction would face a more than one native contingent, and the battles would differ from each other by the makeup of the various forces. There's also plenty of room for future powers to join if I should choose to paint them (Germans and Italians are possible given the extra figures I have),

The Russians, who have an abundance of cavalry, will initially encounter Solis Nox (the medieval figures) , who also have an abundance of cavalry. Later, Res Publica will enter the picture when they are done - and they are largely melee focused.

The British will encounter Solis Nox and Tanitia. As with the Russians, they too will eventually encounter Res Publica eventually. The British are a fairly balanced force. Solis Nox, I have mentioned already,  Tanitia is primarily melee with little to no range support, but they do have casters and that terrifying Abyssal Beast.

The French will encounter the Bokrug Confederacy (lizards) and Tanitia. The French are entirely foot infantry at this point, while the Confederacy offers a solid mix of units, including a magic-wielding shaman and dinosaurs.

The Country

It is probably clear (although it wasn't to me until recently) that what I'm designing is a setting, not properly a campaign, despite having called it "the Venus campaign" for ages now, or, of late, "the Antarctica campaign" (at least in my head if not on screen).

Like Wells's "the country", it is a place to fight in and over. It is a campaign only in as much as all of the games that will take place in the setting contribute to some overall understanding of the lost world.

It is more like Greyhawk than, say, the 1916 Strafexpedition.

It is an imagi-nation, in some ways, a true Fantasy setting in others.

In any case, there is no objective, there is no winning, only a land to explore and a history to write.