Games – Page 6 – The Medetian Wars

One Hour Wargames – SYW

The blog’s been a bit quiet lately, but I do have some updates on recent games and painting efforts.

Since my previous posts in October about trying the rules and scenarios in Neil Thomas’ ‘One Hour Wargames’, there have been some further games and even a mini-campaign.

I wanted to play a series of linked games so wrote some simple campaign rules to govern the movement of various forces on a map and deal with the outcomes of battles, etc. I decided to go with a trusty square grid map, partly for convenience when it came to movement and terrain effects, and partly so I could use MS Excel to create it and avoid having to fall back on non-existent artistic skills.

I set the campaign in Silesia in about 1757, but created the specific local area to suit what I wanted. The outline was for the Austrians to invade Prussian-held territory and recapture the key town of Werthenstahl. Each side had 2-3 forces initially, with the potential for more to arrive later on.

The campaign starting positions – the Austrians are about to cross the river, for which they’ll need to lay a pontoon bridge in the north if they want to capture Felshelm early on.

The pontoon is successfully laid with a decent dice roll and this will now release the Prussians to move. Their main priority will be to get Force A underway to support the observation forces before they’re overwhelmed.

Last pic – the action has been going on for several turns and there have been 8 battles so far, using a variety of scenarios from the book. The latest encounter has seen Austrian Force C beaten and forced to retire. This will generate some relief for the Prussians who have been on the receiving end of a few defeats of their own.

The Force Strength tracker in the bottom right corner shows the relative size of each force on the map. Where they are the same, I play a 6 vs 6 unit scenario, where there is a difference of 1 strength I play a 6 vs 4 unit scenario, and where there’s a difference of 2 strength, the weaker force must withdraw or, if trapped, face scenario 30 Last Stand! I try to match the scenario and terrain to the general situation on the map, in terms of who’s attacking/defending, whether there’s a river involved, etc.

The campaign has been fun and has encouraged me to try similar things, with very simple campaign rules, in the future.

Recent Games

Last weekend my mate Jase and I played 3 stand-alone games, resulting in one marginal win and two draws, illustrating how well-balanced the scenarios are (or how mutually crap we both are at winning).

We re-visited Scenario 4 – Take the High Ground a couple of times, and then had a go at one with unbalanced forces; Scenario 20 – Fighting Retreat. Both scenarios are well designed and provide for interesting games.

Mid-game in Take the High Ground:

The Austrians decide to run for it in turn 1 of Fighting Retreat:

These games were very enjoyable and hit the spot in terms of providing some quick, challenging entertainment while drinking quite a lot of beer. 🙂

Big Battle Weekend – Punic Wars with To the Strongest

On Saturday four of us (Goat major, Essex Boy, Count Belisarius and I) played a big 15mm Punic Wars game at Wargames Foundry’s premises near Newark.

We planned the weekend months ago, and more recently did the final prep to ensure we had everything we needed on the day – scenery, tokens, army rosters, and so on. As these things tend to, it came around very quickly at the end but fortunately there was little last minute panic painting to do (except for the Count of course!)

We chose the Punic period because 3 of us had suitable figures (most of which hadn’t seen the light for day for a lot of years), and To the Strongest because it offered a relatively quick-play experience and, being grid-based, wasn’t going to be fazed by mild variations in people’s unit basing.

We collated a list of available figures and drew up two armies, each about 550 points in game terms. As a first go with the rules (apart from a solo test game I played a while back) this was rather ambitious, but we wanted a bit of a spectacle and the look and feel of a big battle. Hopefully the pictures give the impression that we achieved this.

You do need quite a few bits and pieces to play TtS – playing cards, activation markers, ammo markers, as well as a gridded battlefield. We chatted through all this beforehand and were able to turn up with the right items on the day. We used two 6’x4′ Mat-o-War cloths, foliage clumps placed at 6″ intervals, and some other scenery, then deployed the armies and got stuck in.

Inevitably we were playing more slowly at the beginning than we were by the end, but we soon got the gist of things and enjoyed the way the rules worked.

EB and I drew the Carthaginians, with their various Spanish, Numidian and Italian allies (plus some elephants of course). GM and CB each had two Roman legions, plus hordes of Gauls and other allies.

Naturally everyone advanced and got stuck in, infantry in the middle and cavalry on the flanks. 4 or 5 hours of play later we hadn’t quite got a decisive result, but we had had a lot of fun. Elephants had rampaged back through friendly troops, generals had died and hat-tricks of aces had been drawn (an unlikely occurrence but repeated several times – mostly by the unlucky GM). By the time we had to stop and pack up I had a slight positional edge over GM’s Romans/Gauls, and hadn’t committed many of my doughty African Spearmen, while to my left EB and CB had fought out a fairly bloody draw. A close thing all-round then, and a very enjoyable day.

Great company as always and the game was played in a friendly spirit all-round. We had a good night out in Newark too, with a few ales and an excellent curry.

There are some tentative plans for games next year, which will hopefully happen. It’ll probably be mine and Simon’s turn to travel, if EB and the Count can get their gaming spaces sorted!

Big Weekend at Frammie

We (members of the Loose Association of Wargamers) returned to Tim H’s very pleasant home village of Framlingham this weekend. We were last there for a wargaming session in 2014, time has flown! Ten of us gathered on Friday evening, got quickly caught up and enjoyed a good curry and a decent amount of beer. The banter was lively and continued throughout the weekend.

There were some very good games put on, two on each day. I was crap with the camera and only managed a few pics (my apologies to Tim for not getting some of his excellent FIW and Sci-Fi – both in 54mm!), but others did a lot better and Andy’s blog is a good place to visit to see a lot more – here

When Alex and Peeler offered a big DBN game of Vittoria I volunteered like a shot. They made a custom battlefield in the last week or so, especially for the game – a brilliant effort. Alex was Wellington and Peeler took the part of the King Jerome. I took the part of ‘Daddy’ Hill and Gary got the late arrival columns under Graham and Dalhousie. On the other side of the table were Simon and Andy as the two French sub-commanders. The scenario was an interesting one, with the French deploying in their historical ‘caught on the hop’ positions and the allies piling on the pressure and trying to close in from various angles.

Alex setting up on Friday:

Saturday

The start of the battle, with my command aiming straight up the road and looking to get around the French flank on the slopes to the right.

The first of Andy’s rearguard are dead and we’re on our way, albeit a bit slowly due to being unable to make additional/march moves.

Mid-battle – Dalhousie has arrived on the other side of the river and Hill and Wellington are chasing the fleeing Frenchies up the valley:

Gary did very good work trying to storm over the bridges, taking big casualties but dealing the same out to the waiting French. The fighting intensified on the river line, but was petering out on the other flank as we failed to pursue as fast as Andy routed. The highlight was Alex canistering Andy’s command figure with a deft bit of horse artillery work – a quality moment (for us) and I was forced to drive my battery over the remains as we intensified the pursuit. In the end, we didn’t get as far up the table as we would have liked but we did bring the battle to a successful conclusion a couple of turns from the end by destroying the requisite number of French elements.

As always DBN provided an excellent big battle experience and the game was a pleasure to participate in. Thanks to Andy and Mark for the effort that went in, and for everyone for the great spirit in which the game was played.

Sunday

The second day’s gaming involved an excellent fictitious colonial game set in the pre-pith helmet era. This was all Paul’s creation – terrain, scenery, most the of the figures, the plot and even a full set of rules. Very very impressive stuff all-round. We were 3 a ‘side’ (there were some cunningly conflicting player objectives) and each of us had an interesting force with its own background and characteristics.

I got sailors (for which I got to provide most of the figures) and there were forces of sepoys, jungle-loving natives, semi-regulars and fanatics from various factions. None-the-wiser we all got stuck in and Paul ran the game from a nicely illustrated set of cards he’d made. The rules were simple to learn and we could focus on the action and the fun. There were events to keep us on our toes too, such as tiger, snake and monkey attacks!

As you’ll see from the pics it was a lavish affair, and kept us occupied, and laughing, well into the afternoon. By the end, Alex’s regulars had been wiped out in the jungle in their own special ‘Nam by the local savages, Andy had been wiped out by Simon’s accurate muskets and bayonets and I had been finished off by Simon’s backstabbing ambush. He declared innocence, it all being a big misunderstanding, and so on. Yeah, yeah. Simon and Gary were the ones to achieve their missions in a thoroughly entertaining game. Thanks again Paul – awesome!

And so, a long drive back home on Sunday and now I’m already looking forward to the next get-together – November’s ancients bash in Newark.

One Hour Wargames – Now with Added Pikes

The other two games I played at the weekend saw a switch to the 17th century, with my Medetians and Fleurians fighting it out over a couple of scenarios. The pike and shot rules differ a bit from the horse and musket ones, with more melee and some changes to the troop types. Very interesting nonetheless.

Game 5 was scenario 18 – Counter Attack
Fleurie held the bridge against a major Medetian attack, while they hurried their own reinforcements forward. Inevitably a big scrap ensued when the Fleurians used the two flanking fords to get at their enemy’s flanks and eventually win the battle. This game was played on a slightly extended 2′ x 2.5′ board as I need to use specific terrain tiles to get the river to run across the middle of the battlefield.

Game 6 was from scenario 3 – Control the River

For this game I decided to up-scale a bit, going to a 3′ x 3′ board and increasing the unit sizes to 5″ wide. This meant much bigger regiments and (comparatively) lots of figures on the table. Infantry units had 80 figures and cavalry had 32. Naturally it played the same, it just looked more like a battle! 🙂

Both armies approached the river with the aim being to control both the east and west river crossings. Although initially both kept a central reserve to see where it might be needed, inevitably you get two separate fights with this scenario. Fortunately the movement rates are sufficient to re-deploy quite quickly and in the end it was the Medetian army that managed to crush one enemy flank and move along both sides of the river to overcome the remaining Fleurians at the other crossing.

This was good fun to play and, like the other games, an interesting challenge in trying to get the best from the different unit types. Sticking to historically inspired tactics does seem to be the most effective approach, which speaks well for the rules.

Pics from this final game:

I will definitely be returning to this type of gaming, probably for a mini-campaign of linked games.

One Hour Wargames – Some Solo Games

I picked up a copy of Neil Thomas’ book a little while ago and the scenarios in particular looked interesting and worth a try. We used one in the recent first game of Sharp Practice 2, which worked well, and I fancied trying a few more. The rules included in the book are, obviously, designed to give simple games in under an hour. However, the design principles make a lot of sense and there are some clever touches. I thought I’d give them a go at the weekend, so dusted off some terrain boards and picked a few of my freshly painted SYW 6mm figures to give them their first outing.

I basically played these solo games ‘straight’, making the decisions for each side in turn, as I thought best at the time. The mechanisms are easy to learn and remember after the first couple of turns, and the tactical challenges made even small, simple games like these a lot of fun.

Games 1 & 2 (scenario 4 – Take the High Ground) Prussians vs Austrians on a 2’x2′ board

In the first game the Austrians pushed the Prussians off the hill and consolidated a decent line that was able to deal with the counter-attack. The cavalry pretty much took each other out along the road, and the Austrians secured a solid victory.

In the re-match the outcome was much the same although the Prussians put up a stiffer fight, only to be cleared off the hill again!

Games 3 & 4 (scenario 5, Bridgehead) Prussians vs Austrians again.

A more interesting scenario this one. Both sides receive reinforcements in the early turns – the Prussians (top) were coming on randomly from 3 potential arrival points while the Austrians were having to cross at the bridge to join the action and hold the crossing. Both sides need to clear the enemy from the north bank of the river.

I decided to make the board look a little less plain, with some additional terrain features that were just for show and could be moved a little if they got in the way.

The Austrians put up a good fight but the Prussians, coming from both directions, kept them penned in near the bridge. Prussian artillery fire and cavalry charges caused some damage and the Austrian Grenzers couldn’t make sufficient use of the wood to disrupt the Prussians. In the end it was a victory to the Prussians as they closed the vice and cleared the Austrians from the north bank.

Game 4 also saw a Prussian victory, despite the sides being swapped round. The Austrian arrival point rolls (4 units coming on from the west behind the wood) allowed the Prussians to spread out to the east and gain room to operate. They managed to drive north and destroy the Austrians piecemeal. Again the Austrians had suffered from a bit of a traffic jam, and this prevented them from forming a more coherent line to maximise their firepower.

The green numbered markers next to units denote hits suffered (collect 15 and you’re dead). The one on the yellow background is my turn counter.

Even with just 6 units a side (some scenarios give one side fewer units than this) these scenarios still deliver a challenge and no two games are the same. I was keen to try out some of the other periods for which rules are provided, so in the next post there will some pics of a couple of further One Hour games, this time set in the era of Pike and Shot.

Sharp Practice 2 – Game 2: Spy Hunt

So, on to the second game of the weekend. We did some mild shuffling of the terrain and scenery and came up with a simple plot for the game.

Word has reached the respective HQs of both armies that a brave/notorious (depending on your point of view) female spy has been exposed (ooh-er) nearby, and both sides have dispatched a small force to bring her in before the enemy can get to her. Despite their recent exertions, the two forces from the first game are the closest troops to hand, and they are duly ordered into action once more.

On the run, the spy has gone into hiding in one of the cottages (placed in secret by a neutral assistant we drafted in for the purpose) in the small border hamlet of Frinchy. We’d have to enter and search (defined in the rules as a Task) these buildings in order to discover her, and naturally there’d be some violent competition to get there first.

The table for ‘Spy Hunt’, with initial troop positions after their turn 1 arrival via their deployment points:

Jase’s Fleurian skirmishers and line infantry move rapidly towards Frinchy.

My Medetians were busy doing likewise at the other end of the table. Somewhat freakishly, both players managed to collect 4 command cards before the end of the first turn and both used them to activate their force commander a second time, granting them useful extra movement for their troops.

A unit of Fleurian Voltigeurs made quick progress to the nearest cottage and looked poised to enter and start searching. However, they hadn’t counted on Brevet-Lieutenant Lambrusco leading his Bersaglieri rifles at speed to cross a fence and deliver a crushing volley which downed several men including Ensign Jacquere (who only came-to at the end of the battle to find that while he’d been out of action, his small group had been reduced to a single man!)

In the following turns Lambrusco left his men to cover the door while he dashed inside to check the premises for the elusive spy. Despite a quick, thorough search, he came up empty-handed.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the village things were hotting up. The Fleurians managed to take up some useful positions, hurting the Medetians with effective fire and knocking out their force commander, Captain Gattinara.

This left the Medetians with a command and control problem at a crucial time and they continued to come off worse in the on-going exchange of volleys. The leading column was halted, with casualties and shock building up. Another group under veteran Sergeant Fiorentina did manage to enter one of the other cottages to search it, but were badly shot up as they made their way inside.

Again they found nothing (albeit this was unknown to the Fleurian player) and clearly this meant that the spy was in the building that was currently surrounded by Fleurians. Damn!

By this time the Fleurian leader, Captain Corbieres, had established a strong central position and used a couple more flurries of command cards to very good effect. He was able to detach a group under Sergeant Luberon (whose derriere seemed to have recovered since the last game), who redeemed himself by duly locating the spy and escorting her at great speed through the trees and away from the fighting.

The Medetians tried to press forward to harry the enemy’s withdrawal but struggled to make headway. Captain Gattinara rose groggily back to his feet but could do little to get a pursuit underway quickly enough. The Fleurians had won the race to find the spy and the firing petered out as they fell back the way they’d come.

Post-Action Round-up

After the game we drew a card to see which side the lady in question had been spying for, to ascertain her likely fate now she had been discovered. As (her) luck would have it, she turned out to be working for the Fleurians and therefore the outcome was a successful rescue of their own heroine! The men on the ground wouldn’t have been privy to this information when they received their orders, they just had to carry out their mission as best they could.

So, glory for Corbieres and little for the Medetians this time, but there’d be another chance to win some honour soon enough. I’m keeping a bit of a tally on the leaders (Big Men) that are involved in my Sharp Practice games. There are chances to win promotion or receive awards for valour, and one or two are getting close to qualifying. Whether they can do so before making the ultimate sacrifice remains to be seen!

Similarly, the ‘Black Widow’, as I’ve decided to (code)name our spy, might return to be the subject of a future game…

One post-game note: neither my musician nor Jase’s Holy Man had any impact in either game, circumstances just didn’t give us a chance to call on their potentially beneficial effects. Next time perhaps!

Sharp Practice 2 – first games

In between drinking the occasional beer this weekend, my friend Jase and I gave SP2 a couple of goes using my 28mm post-Napoleonic imagi-nations collection. As expected, the rules gave a very satisfying gaming experience and, once we’d got the gist of things, we really got into the command challenges they present to players. I can certainly see why so many people are playing this revision of the rules.

After a small test session with a couple of groups a side to get some familiarity with the core mechanisms, we mixed and matched a bit with scenarios for the 2 games we played. For the first game we drew from Neil Thomas’s One Hour Wargames book, which a lot of people seem to use as a go-to place for clearly defined, interesting scenarios. We chose no.4 Take the High Ground as it offered a focus for a fight and would get us into action pretty directly.

The table for game 1, with the hill objective clearly visible next to the road:

The forces were drawn from my Medetians and their perpetual enemy, Fleurie. I haven’t looked at the force/army lists for SP2 in any great detail yet, but clearly there’s plenty of scope to tailor troop characteristics and capabilities to get to where you want. For simplicity, we went with the Medetians using Peninsular Portuguese unit types and the Fleurians using Peninsular French.

We rolled for sides, and at 60 points each, we had;

Medetians
Leaders of levels III, II and I
5 groups of Line infantry
1 group of Skirmishers with rifles (Cacadores)

Fleurians
Leaders of levels III, II, I and I
2 groups of Grenadiers
2 groups of Line infantry
2 groups of Skirmishers with muskets (Voltigeurs)

For the first game we rolled for support and this generated us each 4 points worth to choose from the list.

As the Medetian commander I selected a further Level I leader to increase my command options a bit, and a musician to extend the command range of my leader.

Jase’s Fleurians gained a Level I leader too, and a Holy Man for a bit of shock-removing inspiration when it would be needed.

No blow-by-blow account, but here’s some of the action from Take the High Ground, SP-style..

The Medetians deployed 2 groups on the hill in a Formation. None shall pass…

.. well, except possibly that lot!

The Fleurians arrive en-mass, with skirmishers out in front and 2 assault columns following behind.

The first of the Medetian main force make a timely arrival in the form of a group of riflemen under Brevet-Lieutenant Lambrusco (who did sterling service as an Ensign in SP1 games, surviving several wounds)

Fleurian Voltigeurs move to the flanks to start harassing fire on the Medetian line, creating space for the columns to move through in the centre.

Men in blue start to fall and they’re forced to loose off their initial volley to hit back at the pesky skirmishers.

But the columns are getting menacingly closer. The Fleurian Grenadier column decided to open up on the formation on the hill too, and did some damage – not least to their unfortunate leader Sergeant Luberon who was shot in the backside by his own men! C’est la Guerre 🙂

Despite this amusing set-back, a well-coordinated Fleurian attack sees Voltigeur fire cause further Medetian casualties and a lot of shock, which is followed up in the same turn by both columns hitting home. Although the defenders did some damage in the ensuing melees, they’re almost wiped out and the survivors flee. Can the Fleurians get re-organised into line on top of the hill before the Medetians can launch a counter attack?

Although doughty Captain Gattinara has led the main Medetian body (3 groups of line infantry in a formation) forward in a fairly leisurely fashion, he suddenly gets a hurry on and the line surges forward a maximum roll of 12″, arriving on the crest of the hill at the perfect moment.

Lambrusco’s rifles have been pouring accurate fire into the flank of the nearest column, causing 3 casualties plus 10 shock in 2 rounds of shooting, and causing the Fleurians to recoil a little from the top of the hill. At that point 24 Medetians present their muskets and deliver a devastating first fire volley, clearing away both enemy columns and securing the hill, and victory.

Final positions. Although their plan was a good one, and they enjoyed initial success, the Fleurians are in too poor a shape to rally and try again. They concede the hill to the Medetians and withdraw. Losses were fairly even, as was the remaining force morale for both sides.

This was an excellent introduction game for us, we really enjoyed the command and control challenge generated by the randomness of the leader activations and the options presented by the command (flag) cards. There were always choices to be made, which you felt you could focus on without getting bogged down by the moving, shooting and fighting mechanisms, which were mostly committed to memory after the first few turns.

We then re-set the table for a second game, which will be the subject of the next post.

AMG16 – A Wargaming Weekend

Two weekends ago saw about 20 members of the A Military Gentleman forum get together at a very nice spa hotel in Warwickshire for 2 days of gaming (and the inevitable 2 nights of drinking). What a superb way to spend a weekend. Lots of friendly banter, superb games generously put on and run by some of those attending, and a great time all-round.

I’d met quite a few of the forum members at last year’s Partizan show where we put on a couple of display games. This year we went ‘private’ and Graham Cummings demonstrated his flair for organising by putting together an excellent conference-like event where the facilities and arrangements were excellent and very smooth-running. Everyone got along very well and it was a pleasure to see familiar faces as well as meet new people. There had been some serious journeys to get there on the Friday (people coming from as far apart as Plymouth and Scotland), and the horrendous weather and traffic problems didn’t help anyone much. Still, the bar was there to help people de-stress!

So, all good, but what about the games? Well, these were a treat for anyone with an interest in 18th and 19th century wargaming.

There were four games going on simultaneously in the same room, and the effort that their organisers had gone into in getting everything there and set up, let alone the demands of running them at least twice over the weekend, cannot be overstated.

The Cold North

On the Saturday I played on the Swedish side in Paul’s lovely GNW game. It was a challenging scenario with both sides starting with only advanced guards on the table and receiving significant reinforcements shortly after. This created an excellent battle in which, somehow, Will and I achieved a close victory over Paul and Angus’ stoic Russians. The figures and terrain were excellent and the Grimsby Club rules provided a fast moving game, were easy to pick up and gave plenty of GNW feel. Paul’s knowledge of the period runs deep and made for a informative, educational and fun experience.

Some pics from the game:

Under pressure from the assaulting Russians:

The Swedes go all Ga Pa:

Final positions – the Swedes hold the key ground:

Into the Desert Heat

On Saturday afternoon I migrated a good distance south, and forward by about 180 years, to join the second running of Dave’s superb Sudan game. Dave has the full-on collection and terrain to play big games of the recently published Sands of the Sudan rules, and he’d prepared a fun scenario for AMG16. I took command of the beleaguered Sudanese garrison, charged with protecting the General’s daughter, while under siege and running low on ammo. Will, Angus, Chris and John were the plucky Brits, leading the relief column – or rather columns, as there was little in the way of co-ordination or co-operation going on!

With Dave running the devious Dervishes who turned up left, right and centre, we were under the cosh but steady fire kept most of the enemy at bay. At the garrison end of the table, though, it was happening too slowly and in the end I had to break out and send the damsel racing towards her rescuers, who happened to be John’s Black Watch who had snuck through the mayhem, avoiding the general nastiness, to arrive in the right place at the right time.

Great game, full of entertaining events and banter. Thanks Dave!

My view at the start:

The action hotting up, with the various British contingents dashing about and taking pot shots at anything that moved:

Frederick has an off-day

On Sunday I played in Steve and Mark’s very impressive Chotusitz game, using hundreds of hand-cast Prince August 40mm figures and a period-specific version of the Piquet rules. The rules were totally new to me, but I think I got the gist of the core concepts and appreciated most the subtleties by the end of the day. Very clever stuff that provided a real generalship challenge (unfortunately for me!)

I took command of the Prussian right flank cavalry, with Chris manning the centre and left. Graham, Angus and Leigh took the initiative and came on in style, pretty much wiping the floor with us from the start. My cavalry crumbled very early on, and only Chris’ tenacious defence of the village gave us a chance to turn things around.

When Frederick arrived with the (supposedly) excellent Prussian infantry, we managed to stop some of the Austrians in their tracks but it wasn’t enough. A lot of bad rolls, coupled with the effect of Angus’ piling in with the victorious cavalry on the flank, and it was over. Freddie fled the field in the traditional way and we shook hands and revelled in an excellent and enjoyable game. Mark and Steve really knew their stuff and made it a memorable experience all-round.

I only managed to take one picture but there are plenty of others online that do much better justice to this stunning game. Here’s Steve on the left, with the enemy commanders plotting another devastating round of combat..

The one game I didn’t get a chance to take part in was the Battle of Soor game presented by Robbie and Colin. I did wander over whenever I could and marvelled at the superb collection that was in action. The guys clearly presented an excellent experience for the players, and were using the Honours of War rules which seemed to give a very good game. Shame I missed this one!

The weekend was so good it even took the edge off the end of the England v Russia match, and I think I’ve sobered up now, which is a bonus.

Dungeon Gaming in 15mm

Over the last few weeks I’ve been working on something that I’ve fancied doing for a number of years – creating a dungeon exploring game for 15mm fantasy miniatures.

I made some initial notes over Easter and got stuck in during April and May, although the Ayton painting deadline did have to take priority. Lots of discussions with a friend, who shares the same nostalgia for D&D and likes games like this, led to some early rules playtesting and the making of trial floortiles. Last weekend it all came together and we managed some 3 player games for the first time, and actually had a good time!

Which door next?

After trying card and high density blue styrofoam, in the end I took advice and went for 4mm cork tiles for the rooms and corridors. It takes paint well, doesn’t warp (if you paint the other side too), cuts easily, has a nice texture for representing stone, and is very cheap. The whole set I made (2 dozen rooms and a dozen pieces of corridor), using about 8 square feet of the stuff, cost less than £10.

Doors are deliberately oversized (bigger monsters don’t want to get stuck do they?); 28mm scale from Warbases. Pillars are cotton reels donated by Goat Major, other dungeon scenery is mostly scratchbuilt. The game is still developing, but the core is there already. I want to add things like sewers, fire pits and other stuff, and these will all be made to fit in with the basic kit.

Going to see the Boss:

Figures are from a mix of ranges, with Demonworld furnishing the majority. Characters get nice floortile-matching bases, while the monsters and other enemies are largely borrowed from other parts of the collection and are based for the outdoors – which actually helps to spot who’s who!

As with all things like this, the game started out pretty simple, but has grown in detail – though hopefully not in complexity. The core things the group and I wanted were; levelling-up between games, finding treasure/magic items, end-game Boss encounters, and generally not having it too easy. I.e. a challenging game with rewards. Level 1 characters are weak, as they should be, and completing the first game is a mission in survival more than anything. From there, capabilities increase and more skills, spells and abilities can be obtained to give the party (made up of 4 characters, which come from the usual stereotypes) scope to tackle increasingly tougher dungeons.

“No, don’t open two doors at once!… Oh dammit!”

Every game starts with the descent to a new dungeon level, with things kicking off when the first door is opened. Sensible precautions – Fighter at the front, Magic User in the middle:

Our first session was fun, but we took our time getting through 2 complete games due to some bad dice-induced protracted combats and lots of wandering monsters. Next time, though, we’ll be 3rd level and those Orcs and Gobins better watch out!

Frostgrave in the Sand

Very late in posting this one, but a few weeks ago I had my first game (one and a half actually) of Frostgrave, courtesy of Goat Major’s hospitality and excellent Oriental-style table set-up. As you can see from the pics below (and here: http://goatmajor.org.uk/ on GM’s own blog), the game scenery for the fictional sand-bound ruins of Sarapur was top-notch!

We each selected a starter warband, with GM going for an Illusionist and me a Necromancer. This allowed me to have a very useful spread of spells, including the handy Bone Dart missile attack, and the very entertaining Raise Zombie option. My tame zombie ‘Alan’ was a slow-moving plotline all of his own, and managed to make a bit of a nuisance of himself, albeit having to be resurrected a couple of times.

Alan gamely attacks the enemy wizard:

We played an initial game with a half-warband force each as a learning exercise, which was very effective as a way to get to grips with the rules without being bogged down with too many figures and capabilities. I managed to kill the Illusionist with a bone dart towards the end, but of course we weren’t counting the results of this test game towards the campaign 🙁

Then we got into the main event – a full-sized game using the Mausoleum scenario, which sees skeletons issuing forth from the central building and causing plenty of mirth and mayhem while we tried to acquire treasure and fight each other.

The rules provide an interesting, fun and unpredictable game, and the wide variety of spells offer lots of tactical options for aiding your own side, hindering your opponent and securing treasure, etc. GM used Push effectively – on his own guys (to speed them on their way once they’d picked up some treasure), mine (off a roof) and on wandering monsters to deposit them in combat with my force. I used wall of fog to provide cover from archery, telekinesis to pick up treasure, etc. It’s an exercise in cunning and sneakiness and very enjoyable all-round. My apprentice was a liability, failing enough casting attempts to inflict a lot of damage on himself!

The game ended with most of the hired help out of action and our wizards both decided that to stay any longer was to court potential disaster. We both had treasure and called it a day at that point. We rolled up our loot, and will give some thought to new spells, etc, between games.

The d20 system for combat threw up a handful of big results (eg. my Templar going down in his first round of combat to a thug..), but we felt this was in the spirit of a fun, wizard/magic-centric game and not a problem. Overall, the Frostgrave experience is a very good one in my opinion, and we will be returning to Sarapur to continue our campaign soon I hope.