Galleys & Galleons - Fair Winds playtest 2

Got some new players, some updates from the author, so it was time to try again.  You’ve heard of the Kraken, of course, but have you heard of the extremely rare “albino kraken”?  Only found in arctic waters, the eyes of the albino kraken are rated as more expensive than the biggest crown jewels.  One of these monsters has recently been sighted, and 2 competing expeditions sail to claim the prize.

The British maritime expedition was unchanged from the last game, a Man Of War with a pyromancer, and 2x frigates with bombs.

The Spanish expedition had a minor change, the submersible now is fitted with an “unorthodox” propulsion system (from the new rules).  This fits the theme of the submersible much better.  And the airships received a paint job.

The 3rd player this time (me), had several creatures to defend with:
Albino Kraken  Q3  C3
Alpha Creature
Bilious Cloud
Iron Grapples

Giant Blenny  Q4  C3
Hydromancer

Sammy the Shark  Q4  C3
Ramming

The board was set with both fleets entering with a fair wind, with the Kraken and his minions waiting in the center of the board.  And icebergs.  We had icebergs.

Wind blowing straight towards camera, icebergs moving left to right with the current.  All creatures started submerged, the other players didn't know what was out there.  British player has already taken her first move.

On the initial move the British player learned the danger of sailing her ManOWar too close to an iceberg, and ripped heavy damage into her hull.

 Soon after, the giant blenny used his hydromancer magic to shove the ship into her compatriots, just barely missing a 3-way collision.

Big Ship Coming Through!

However, an unfortunate turnover next caused Sammy the Shark to get impaled on another iceberg, taking him completely out of the fight.

The British, (after sorting out the traffic jam) had a hard time slowing down, and charged right up the table.  The lead frigate got a broadside into the kraken before it sank back below the waves.  The ManOWar unleashed a powerful broadside at the large Spanish Airship, but because of the altitude difference caused no damage.

The rear frigate made a bombing run on the kraken, and missed!  The Kraken responded by surfacing and grappling the frigate, and started to make mincemeat of her crew.

The ManOWar had most of her crew repairing damage, so the pyromancer launched some fireballs at a passing airship.  A triple failure on his activation caused him to blow up.  So much for the damage repair.  The small airship dropped down to low-level to attempt to cut the British line, but the activations weren’t there.

I could have raked you both.  Just sayin...

In the next turn it got really crazy.  The trailing frigate, hacking at tentacles with all her might, managed to break free!  But then the wind caught her and she zoomed down the table, smashing into the heavily damaged ManOWar.  A great save roll for the big ship was followed by a horrible one for the frigate, and down she went, sinking with all hands.

Excuse me while I rear-end you.

The Kraken, angry now, latched on the low-flying airship, to see if they tasted better than the British.

 And that was when the Spanish player’s luck finally deserted her. She rolled a failed activation and turnover.  No chance to fight the kraken, the submersible stuck playing chicken with an iceberg, and her large airship on a course straight for the edge of the table.

Normally, we don’t let the same player activate twice in a row, but the turnover was the end of a turn.  Her chit was drawn next, so she had a chance at redemption.  And, not so much.  A second turnover roll of 3 ones caused her big airship to sail off into the sunset.

It's OK, Dad.  I still have root beer

But that same turnover was bad news for the British, also.  The ManOWar, still reeling from the first collision, smashed broadside into the second frigate!  This time her luck failed and down she went.

Got Geico?

The British now had one badly damaged frigate left, running out of sea room.  The Spanish had a damaged airship and an unscathed submersible.  And the giant blenny, caught by the rapid turnovers, ran smack into another iceberg and quit.

Missed an important picture here.  While the airship and kraken battled it out, the last frigate repaired some damage and managed to turn back into battle, unleashing a full broadside at close range into the locked combatants.  She managed to sink the airship and stun the kraken.

It was down to the final duel.  Submersible sailing towards the fight, hoping her string of bad rolls was over.  Frigate maneuvering for a shot.  The submersible launched a torpedo but missed, and was forced to surface.  At long range, the frigate fires one last broadside…

…And scores a lucky hit!  The submersible rolled a 12 on the critical damage table, finally getting a high roll.  With a giant explosion, the submersible disappeared, leaving the kraken’s body for the damaged frigate to recover.  Talk about yanking victory from the jaws of defeat!

what is camping

this is camping

Galleys & Galleons - Fair Winds & Foul Tides Supplement Playtest

So I get to play-test the new "Fair Winds & Foul Tides" Supplement for Ganesha Games' Galleys & Galleons.  It's targeted to expand the fantasy / steampunk / whatever side of plain old naval combat.

Short answer?  It does it quite well.  Long answer?  I need to play this some more.

Galleys and Galleons – Fair Winds and Foul Tides supplement playtest

The illustrious Lady Chatterbox's ship has run aground on her way to the West Indies.  Her betrothed, Lord Ramsbottom, has scraped together his fastest ships to go and rescue her.  However, the evil and dastardly Spaniard El Supremo has sent a mix of strange craft to intercept.

Scenario:  Both fleets start in opposing corners, with an equal wind.  Lady Chatterbox’s ship is across the board.  Either side wins by rescuing / kidnapping the Lady or driving off the other fleet.

The ship's aground on the shore of this deserted desert isle...

Lord Ramsbottom’s fleet:
Man Of War with Pyromancer
2x Frigates with bombs

El Supremo’s fleet:
Submersible with sweeps and torpedoes
Large Airship with bombs
Small Airship with bombs

For some reason the Jack Tars refer to the Spanish Airships as "Easter Egg Boats"...

Game start
Both fleets start sailing towards each other, with the ManOWar heading closer to the island.  An early turnover by the British!  First fire by the bow chasers of the large airship misses, and the submersible goes under the waves.

Bang and a miss, Strike One

Heh Heh, Nobody can see me now...

British lead frigate rolls a wind change!  It helps him, he sails close enough to launch a full broadside at the large Spanish airship (long range).  Thanks to the trained gun crews, and an abysmal roll by the defender, the airship takes a critical damage.  The airship’s large rudders have been shot to pieces.  And then the second frigate rolls a failure, and the wind changes yet again.  The Spanish are now heading directly downwind.

Spanish go, and the wind veers yet again.  The small Spanish airship fires a full broadside into the lead Frigate, to no effect.  The sub keeps cruising underwater.  The big airship gets 3 successes, drops altitude, and fires a full broadside at close range into the Frigate!  But again the dice don’t support the Spanish, and the frigate only takes 1 damage.

British Frigate 2 finally joins the fight, and zooms in to blast the large airship again.  But he misjudges the angle and misses.  Lord Ramsbottom sails closer but is still out of range.  The other frigate just gets out of the way.

Bombs away!  Having foolishly strayed into the path of both airships, the 2nd frigate now suffers a bombing run from the large one.  Masts are blasted as the frigate takes heavy rigging damage.  The small airship rolls a turnover, including yet another wind shift.  The wind has veered a full 90 degrees from the start, severely inconveniencing the British.  His bombs drop on the frigate, catching her on fire!

Not having a happy feeling here...

This is definitely not looking good...

Before the pyromancer could react, the frigate blew up, as the fire reached her magazine.  Both airships rode out the blast and did not catch fire.

Bye Bye Frigate

I completely forgot about the pyromancer after this turn, and he never acted again.  The 1st frigate sailed up as close to the damaged Lady’s ship as he could and dropped anchor.  Of course he struck ground in the shallows as he did.  Finally the wind started changing back, and the ManOWar sailed in close, firing a full broadside into the small airship, for 1 damage.

The Spanish sub, feeling left out (and a bit short of air) surfaced and turned towards the action.  The ManOWar had stayed just out of bombing range, so it was back to guns.  The small airship misjudged his full broadside and missed.  The large airship tried a Q roll with all 3 dice and failed his damage die!  The All At Sea roll turned up exactly what he wanted anyway.  He fired into the anchored frigate as they attempted to rescue Her Ladyship, but to no effect.

The frigate only risked 1 action, and successfully loaded Her Ladyship.  The ManOWar turned as tight as she could into the wind, and fired on the small airship.  Critical damage, the airship’s Captain was hit!

With the Captain taken below, the small airship could only turn into battle.  The men were too rattled to fire off a cannon.  Wind veering again, the large airship blasted again into the Frigate to no effect, before sailing over the island.   The sub continued to (slowly) advance.

The Frigate successfully raised anchor and started slowly sailing away, barely managing to avoid running aground again.

Cutting it kind of close, there, Carl!

Lord Ramsbottom on the ManOWar fired a full broadside into the large airship and shot the rudder up even more.  The large airship, almost powerless to change heading now, was doomed to drift off the board.

In a last, desperate move, the small airship rolled for 3 activations, risking the 2 damage dice.  One came up a 1!  The Captain’s orders were garbled, and the airship sailed past the frigate without firing a parting shot.

Some thoughts:

• a vessel powered by sweeps needs to close quickly.  Waiting around for the wind to change in his favor kept him out of the combat.
• Even though airships and waterships crossed each other's T's repeatedly, I didn't allow any rakes.  Those would only be allowed from ships at the same level.
• Don't forget about your magic users!

New support blocks for the trailer

Chain of Command - Sicily

Miles' Italians successfully defended a rail bridge against American paratroopers.  It was bloody!

Fool reloaded

Got in a quick game

USB for the trailer

surf's up!

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:

Christmas 2015

Just a few pics

Gen Right Jeep Night December 18, 2015 Simi Valley CA

SwM Preview

Just a Teaser