Saturday, February 06, 2016
Chain of Command - Sicily
Miles' Italians successfully defended a rail bridge against American paratroopers. It was bloody!
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Wednesday, January 06, 2016
Christmas Game Part 1
On New Year's Eve we were finally able to sit down and play our latest holiday-themed wargame. We had to save Christmas, of course. Every year Santa lands in the little elf town and picks up all the presents. The 6 village buildings must be lit for him. But this year, the evil grumpy giant of the north want to stop Santa. So, flexing his large muscles and poor acting ability, he donned a fake santa hat and a beard, and assembled his minions. 52 cute teddy bears swarmed the town.
zombie teddies everywhere!
(toast a teddy graham's tootsies over a fire, stick in a piece of chocolate. Instant edible soldiers!)
On the Hero side, some very familiar movie characters (if you have a daughter under 12) mustered up some elf and snowmen militia and vowed to take back the town.
Anna is beset by teddies!
Dice rolls were strange. Almost every random movement sent teddys towards Kristoff. He was valiant, destroying almost 50% of all enemy casualties. (So many that Miles gave up eating them!)
Kristoff finally fell to the swarm, so Miles took over as the Big Evil Bad Guy.
The activation sequence was just as weird. Elsa was pulled last for every single round except one.
Big Bad Santa charges Elsa, hoping to stop her from lighting the fifth lamp.
As it turned out, Elsa turned the tables on Bad Santa and slew him (the 1 time she didn't activate last). With 4 lights lit and just a few teddy monsters left, we called it a win for the Hero party.
The Hero Party. Each hero had one ranged minion and 3 melee minions. Olaf, Anna, and Elsa were spellcasters, while Kristoff was a melee tank.
Part 2 here:
Da Rules
Christmas Game Part 2
Rules used: playtest copy of Advanced Songs of Blades and Heroes (ignoring the new reactions rule)
Bad Santa Stops Christmas
Scenario: A large war, 3’ x 5’ or even 3’ x 6’. 6 small buildings with unlit tops spaced down the center. It’s the Hero’s job to light the lights, or Santa can’t land. But the grumpy Giant of the North wants to stop Christmas. He dressed up as Santa and has raised an army of teddy bears to stop Christmas from coming.
• It takes 2 actions of a figure leader in contact with a building to light the light. Bad Santa won’t appear until 3 lights are lit, or half his forces are gone.
• All Player Leaders motivate all friendly figures in their range. Bonuses are not cumulative.
Activations: Each hero has a chip. Teddys are divided into 4 groups, each with their own chip. Groups are spread across the board. Santa with muscles will get his own chip. At the end of a turn, all chips go back into the pot. The last person drawn cannot be the first on drawn (no back-to-back activations).
Automatic bad guys: When a teddy or SwM chip is drawn, they will always roll 3 dice for activation. All teddys on the board of that group will get that number of actions. Teddys will always close with the nearest good guy and engage in melee. They will do power blows if possible. But: Teddys are clueless. If there is no active enemy within2x1 Long, they will move 1 Short in a random direction (d4) and forfeit all other actions. Individual members of the color group do get leader bonus if in range.
Example: Red Teddy group rolls and gets 2 activations!
• 1 red teddy is in melee. He will do a power blow
• 1 red teddy is close to an enemy. He will move to contact and do a regular blow
• 1 red teddy is within 1 long of an enemy. He will use both actions to move into contact
• 1 red teddy is more than 1 Long of everybody. He rolls a d4 and moves towards that direction (never leaving the board)
• 1 red teddy is in Leader range. He gets 3 activations. Time to move and power blow!
• 1 red teddy is in Leader range and in melee. He gets 3 activations. He does a power blow, the 3rd activation is wasted.
When a gruesome kill on a Teddy happens, only that group must test. Even if a Teddy of another group is right there, they don’t have to test.
If SwM has a choice between reaching a minion or a hero in the same move stick, he will go after the hero. SwM is never clueless, he will always move towards an enemy no matter where on the board.
Game end:
• WIN: All 6 lights lit (instant win) or all bad guys dead / gone
• LOSE: All hero party dead
Points total:
Hero party grand total is 782 points.
Santa With Muscles can be either 124 or 140 points (with Long Move).
Teddys can be either C1 at 5 points or C2 at 12 points.
Weak Santa + Weak Teddy = 132 teddys
Weak Santa + Strong Teddy = 55 teddys
Strong Santa + Weak Teddy = 128 teddys
Strong Santa + Strong Teddy = 54 teddys – What I used
Friendly Warbands:
Each warband consisted of 1 leader (Anna Elsa, Olaf, Kristoff) and the following:
Red Elf Q4+ C2 26 points
Good Shot:
Sling: flings presents at enemy.
Snowminion (3) Q4+ C2 26 points
Opportunistic:
Steadfast:
Each Leader:
Anna Q 3+ C 2 100 pts
Leader
SpellCaster
Wall of Ice:
Slush Ball: (like Fireball spell)
DoYouWannaBuildaSnowminion: Summon spell that can re-animate dead friendly snowmen
Kristoff Q 3+ C 3 130 pts
Leader
Hero:
Combat Master:
Expert Parry:
Elsa Q 3+ C 2 114 pts
Leader
SpellCaster
Snowstorm:
Ice Jet:
Switcheroo:
Olaf Q 3+ C 2 100 pts
Leader
SpellCaster
SnowBlast:
Slush Ball:
Wall of Sunbrellas (wall of wood):
Evil Warband:
Santa With Muscles Q 3+ C 3 140 pts
Leader
Big:
Bludgeon:
Heavy Armor:
Aggressive Tumble:
Tough:
Long Move:
Bad Teddy (52) Q4+ C2 12 points
Gang:
Rabble:
Bad Santa Stops Christmas
Scenario: A large war, 3’ x 5’ or even 3’ x 6’. 6 small buildings with unlit tops spaced down the center. It’s the Hero’s job to light the lights, or Santa can’t land. But the grumpy Giant of the North wants to stop Christmas. He dressed up as Santa and has raised an army of teddy bears to stop Christmas from coming.
• It takes 2 actions of a figure leader in contact with a building to light the light. Bad Santa won’t appear until 3 lights are lit, or half his forces are gone.
• All Player Leaders motivate all friendly figures in their range. Bonuses are not cumulative.
Activations: Each hero has a chip. Teddys are divided into 4 groups, each with their own chip. Groups are spread across the board. Santa with muscles will get his own chip. At the end of a turn, all chips go back into the pot. The last person drawn cannot be the first on drawn (no back-to-back activations).
Automatic bad guys: When a teddy or SwM chip is drawn, they will always roll 3 dice for activation. All teddys on the board of that group will get that number of actions. Teddys will always close with the nearest good guy and engage in melee. They will do power blows if possible. But: Teddys are clueless. If there is no active enemy within2x1 Long, they will move 1 Short in a random direction (d4) and forfeit all other actions. Individual members of the color group do get leader bonus if in range.
Example: Red Teddy group rolls and gets 2 activations!
• 1 red teddy is in melee. He will do a power blow
• 1 red teddy is close to an enemy. He will move to contact and do a regular blow
• 1 red teddy is within 1 long of an enemy. He will use both actions to move into contact
• 1 red teddy is more than 1 Long of everybody. He rolls a d4 and moves towards that direction (never leaving the board)
• 1 red teddy is in Leader range. He gets 3 activations. Time to move and power blow!
• 1 red teddy is in Leader range and in melee. He gets 3 activations. He does a power blow, the 3rd activation is wasted.
When a gruesome kill on a Teddy happens, only that group must test. Even if a Teddy of another group is right there, they don’t have to test.
If SwM has a choice between reaching a minion or a hero in the same move stick, he will go after the hero. SwM is never clueless, he will always move towards an enemy no matter where on the board.
Game end:
• WIN: All 6 lights lit (instant win) or all bad guys dead / gone
• LOSE: All hero party dead
Points total:
Hero party grand total is 782 points.
Santa With Muscles can be either 124 or 140 points (with Long Move).
Teddys can be either C1 at 5 points or C2 at 12 points.
Weak Santa + Weak Teddy = 132 teddys
Weak Santa + Strong Teddy = 55 teddys
Strong Santa + Weak Teddy = 128 teddys
Strong Santa + Strong Teddy = 54 teddys – What I used
Friendly Warbands:
Each warband consisted of 1 leader (Anna Elsa, Olaf, Kristoff) and the following:
Red Elf Q4+ C2 26 points
Good Shot:
Sling: flings presents at enemy.
Snowminion (3) Q4+ C2 26 points
Opportunistic:
Steadfast:
Each Leader:
Anna Q 3+ C 2 100 pts
Leader
SpellCaster
Wall of Ice:
Slush Ball: (like Fireball spell)
DoYouWannaBuildaSnowminion: Summon spell that can re-animate dead friendly snowmen
Kristoff Q 3+ C 3 130 pts
Leader
Hero:
Combat Master:
Expert Parry:
Elsa Q 3+ C 2 114 pts
Leader
SpellCaster
Snowstorm:
Ice Jet:
Switcheroo:
Olaf Q 3+ C 2 100 pts
Leader
SpellCaster
SnowBlast:
Slush Ball:
Wall of Sunbrellas (wall of wood):
Evil Warband:
Santa With Muscles Q 3+ C 3 140 pts
Leader
Big:
Bludgeon:
Heavy Armor:
Aggressive Tumble:
Tough:
Long Move:
Bad Teddy (52) Q4+ C2 12 points
Gang:
Rabble:
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Wednesday, December 09, 2015
Sunday, December 06, 2015
Friday, November 27, 2015
Thanksgiving Game
Finally had a chance to play our Thanksgiving game. This time it was Hunt The Turkey again. I used a combination of Songs of Drums and Tomahawks for the base rules, turkey NPC reactions adapted from an old 2-Hour Wargames freebie, and the random tile placement suggested from the Lead Adventure forum. Quite the mix.
The scenario:
It's Thanksgiving on the frontier, 176X. Everybody is friends, if a bit touchy. Three groups wager to see who can bring home the big turkey for the Thanksgiving feast. Regulars, Settlers, and Natives all vie for the honor.
But the best turkeys are found deep in the darkest part of the woods. So deep and dark that it is easy to get lost. The board is made up of 1'x1' tiles. Each time a character crosses a tile edge they will end up somewhere else on the map.
(I took the original tiles, randomly mixed them up, then placed them back down. A master table told me where they would appear when crossing an edge). Miles, ever the smart one, immediately started drawing a map when he heard the rules. This served him well in the end.
Early moves were spent learning the board. Captain Miles and his mapping soon learned the way to the center of the board. They all entered the center tile and the turkeys activated.
Both turkeys (Q4) failed all activation's! They froze in place. Captain Miles rolled a group roll to gun them down and rolled:
This was the first of several disappointing meltdowns for Miles. But, he persevered.
Chief Helen followed the settlers onto the same tile. The regulars, through sheer chance, wandered into the same square and startled the turkeys. Both turkeys ran off to another tile. For one glorious moment, everybody was in the same section of woods.
Captain Miles, paying close attention to the turkey movement, followed them onto the new tile. Surprising them at short range, the turkeys froze again. Miles and company were able to shoot one turkey.
The Regulars aimlessly wandered in and shot at the second turkey. They missed by a mile. Captain Miles grabbed the dead turkey and hoofed it for home, leaving his 2 companions to reload and cover his back against the regulars. This proved a problem, as Miles ran smack-dab into the Indians!
(no picture, too exciting, sorry)
Chief Helen and her 2 warriors saw the tempting target of a lone settler with a giant turkey and could not resist. Treaty be dammed. They ambushed Captain Miles! The first shot sends him scampering behind a tree for cover, the other 2 miss.
On the next activation, Captain Miles ran for it with the turkey. His 2 henchmen charged into the square and gunned down Chief Helen (only a knock-down). Sounds like a typical family dinner!
On the next turn, Captain Miles exited the board with a giant dead turkey. Chief Helen popped back up and killed Mr. Parker, one of Miles' henchmen. It will be a sad Thanksgiving this year.
So the game ended. The Settlers scored a win, exiting with a turkey. But they did lose a man. The Natives came in second, no turkey but they did get a scalp.
And the Regulars? They're still wandering around in the woods...
The scenario:
It's Thanksgiving on the frontier, 176X. Everybody is friends, if a bit touchy. Three groups wager to see who can bring home the big turkey for the Thanksgiving feast. Regulars, Settlers, and Natives all vie for the honor.
But the best turkeys are found deep in the darkest part of the woods. So deep and dark that it is easy to get lost. The board is made up of 1'x1' tiles. Each time a character crosses a tile edge they will end up somewhere else on the map.
(I took the original tiles, randomly mixed them up, then placed them back down. A master table told me where they would appear when crossing an edge). Miles, ever the smart one, immediately started drawing a map when he heard the rules. This served him well in the end.
 |
| Those are giant sight-blocking trees. I ran out of scenery, OK? |
The Bands: Natives (Indians, whatever.) I pre-designated this for the youngest kid, so I gave them an advantage. They started with 3 muskets (both other groups had 2 muskets and a pistol each). Halfway through, I suspended the random movement rule for them and let them move directly from square to square.
The Regulars. Captain Lockyer and 2 soldiers. Totally inept at moving through the woods, as it turned out.
The Settlers. Captain Miles and his 2 henchmen. Not all would live to see the feast...
All 3 groups had a Q3, C2 leader and 2x Q4, C2 followers.
This was their target, 2 fat, juicy turkeys:
Q4 C2 (unless rampaging)
Turkeys would only react if startled (someone comes within 1x Long of the turkey) or shot at
Early moves were spent learning the board. Captain Miles and his mapping soon learned the way to the center of the board. They all entered the center tile and the turkeys activated.
Both turkeys (Q4) failed all activation's! They froze in place. Captain Miles rolled a group roll to gun them down and rolled:
This was the first of several disappointing meltdowns for Miles. But, he persevered.
Chief Helen followed the settlers onto the same tile. The regulars, through sheer chance, wandered into the same square and startled the turkeys. Both turkeys ran off to another tile. For one glorious moment, everybody was in the same section of woods.
Captain Miles, paying close attention to the turkey movement, followed them onto the new tile. Surprising them at short range, the turkeys froze again. Miles and company were able to shoot one turkey.
(no picture, too exciting, sorry)
Chief Helen and her 2 warriors saw the tempting target of a lone settler with a giant turkey and could not resist. Treaty be dammed. They ambushed Captain Miles! The first shot sends him scampering behind a tree for cover, the other 2 miss.
On the next activation, Captain Miles ran for it with the turkey. His 2 henchmen charged into the square and gunned down Chief Helen (only a knock-down). Sounds like a typical family dinner!
On the next turn, Captain Miles exited the board with a giant dead turkey. Chief Helen popped back up and killed Mr. Parker, one of Miles' henchmen. It will be a sad Thanksgiving this year.
So the game ended. The Settlers scored a win, exiting with a turkey. But they did lose a man. The Natives came in second, no turkey but they did get a scalp.
And the Regulars? They're still wandering around in the woods...
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
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