The Old Guard Models

Recently I have acquired some French Imperial Guard models from old Esci 214 set as adition to the models from Zvezda I purchased as soon as they appeared.
Good thing about Esci set is that detail is not so deep as in Zvezda set, and can be easily removed with hobby knife, that makes these model good for modeling other troop types.

So, 3 brothers joined Napoleon army (all are made from the same base model). The oldest was the big and strong boy, so he was assigned to line infantry grenadier unit.
The other was good shot, so he was assigned to light infantry carabiniers.
The youngest one was accepted to the Old Guard, but as Guard Chasseur.

Next to them is their relative from the Old Guard Grenadiers (Zvezda).

Knock that Knight!

Today, I purchased Joust, new mini-game from 2HW.
The good thing with the mini-games like this is that you do not need anything special to play them, just a couple of D6, pen and paper. On the other hand, they are almost always fun.
Same thing goes for Joust. It is good pastime for people like me who spend lots of time out of home on different businesses trips...

Anyway, I created my hero, Sir Giles the Dragon slayer and rolled his opponent, Sir Osis of Liver.
Here are the Brave Knights:

Today they took two jousts one after another, to get familiar with their knighthood.
First of them ended without winner, although Sir Osis of Liver had an edge in the last run.
Sir Giles spent some time thinking about his mistakes in first joust, used the lessons learned and ended the second one with easy victory.This earned him 9 Fame points and 900 Gold Florins.
But Sir Giles knows he still has a lot to learn. Skill of unhorsing his opponent is still a mystery to him....

PC gaming? No, Thanks....

In the old days, before I discovered solo miniature wargaming, I used to play a lots of PC games.
And the ones produced by Bethesda company were always at the top of my list. I remember playing Hammerfall long ago, then Morrowind, finally Oblivion, going through the complete story and all additions several times.
When new Fallout (not Elder scrolls line, but similar) came out, I was already soloing as a wargamer. I played some half way through the game, but I never finished it, something in there was not right for me anymore.

That was the last PC game I was interested in, until recently.

Now, with the publishing of the Skyrim, I felt tempered, and decided to give my old love another chance. Tried to play the game for couple of hours, finished couple of quests, and, I have to say, I feel bored. Turned of the PC and went painting some miniatures.

Goodbye PC gaming, we had fun times ones, but I think it is time we take separate roads....

Miniatures for SF Campaign

For some time I am preparing to play a 5150 campaign, using 1/72 miniatures.
Here are some of the miniatures I have prepared for the game:
Chupa the Zhuh-Zhuh (Cool Mini or Not) and his gang of 4 dropouts (Caesar)Inspector Radisha from the New hope City Police department, and one of his officers wearing riot gear (also Caesar)Hishen gang (miniatures from GW Ork Gretchin set. Ork from the same set will be Grath)
I still think what to use for Razors and Xeogs, so if anyone have some idea, please share...

11.11.11. report: Lord of the Rings Card Game

My second game on Solo Wargaming day was a hand of Lord of the Rings Card Game.

Until today I have played seven or eight rounds, sticking to first scenario Passage through Mirkwood.

As soon as I have purchased the game, I tried to beat it several times using 3 heroes located in the spheres of Lore and Spirit. I lost every single game.

Then, I switched to the heroes from spheres of Leadership and Tactics, and I was victorious in two games in a row.

But Leadership and tactics are not the spheres I want to play, therefore on 11.11.11. I decided to try again with Lore and Spirit. Of course I have lost miserably.

At this moment, game seems a little unbalanced, favoring certain spheres, but I will keep trying with Lore and Spirit until I find the tactics that can get me through first scenario every time….

5150 game from solo wargaming day

As I said in the earlier post, sorry that the pics are terrible, but there is nothing I can do about it.

My first game on 11.11.11 was 5150 New Hope from 2HW.
A Zuh Zuh star and one unidentified grunt who covered his face behind the gas mask hit the town in order to arrest or eliminate some Hishen criminal elements.

First they met couple of dropouts, and exchanged pleasantries... The book represents building, since the back of it can be used as rooms...Another group of dropouts in the building...
And finally here is the mark... Shots were exchanged and criminals went down....Well, not a bad game, considering limited resources :)

The intergalactic solo wargaming day is here!

So, it is 11.11.11. The intergalactic solo wargaming day is here!
And I am stuck on a businesses trip, in the small German town of Burscheid near Cologne, far away from home, family, and not the least, most of my miniatures. And I will not be going home for at least a week, so no serious gaming until then!
But the big day is here... I will not be able to do what I wanted, but I will be able to do at least SOMETHING!

All I have with me are ton of rules in my PC, several d6, several d10/d100, some miniatures I bought here (so mostly unpainted). I also have some books, shoes and similar that I will use as terrain, and do the best I can in my hotel room.
I will even leave office early today (unfortunately "early" should be transcribed as around 4pm) go to my hotel and play!
Hopefully, I will use weekend to write down some reports, even if photos will not be the best considering that I will be making them with my phone camera.

Any way, I will be using the best of the situation. I hope that all of you will do the same. Keep (Solo) gaming!

Crazy Street Preacher II

Scene 2: Gary goes to the shelter for homeless people, to have some dinner and to sleep. Scene as expected.

How many other homeless people come to the shelter that night (d10) 5
Is among them anybody that Gary knows and keeps in touch with? Extreme no.
There is no one from the usual group that night. Gary was sure that he sees these five people for the first time.

What about stuff? At least they are familiar to Gary, right? No! Even the people serving food are the new one!

Gary took the meal, found a place near the exit and with his back to the wall. He decided only to pretend to eat, but not to take a bite until everything explains itself. It was all too suspicious, and Gary wanted to avoid getting poisoned or drugged. He kept a watchful eye at homeless people and at stuff alike, waiting to see what will happen. Did he notice anything strange? Extreme yes! 2 things. What?
Transform intrigues and Oppress attention.
One of the homeless people passed by Gary, whispering: “Act normally. Do not stare like that, since we have to be shore that there are no intruders among us tonight…. Welcome to the society!”

As the time was passing and nothing happened, Gary felt a little bit relaxed, so he got himself comfortable in the corner, and closed his eyes just for a minute. He didn’t even notice when he fell asleep.
Did something wake him up in the middle of the night? Extreme yes! What:
Judge art and recruit travel.
Sudden noise waked Gary from his sleep. Somebody brought several small modern looking paintings into the shelter. Using highly academic language, homeless people were arguing which one of them is the best. The worlds felt strange coming from the people dressed in paper and rugs. Finally, the Buddhist monk well known to Gary entered the crowd, stopped the discussion and proclaimed the one representing human figure build from circles in different shades of blue to be the most appropriate one. He removed the painting from its frame, rolled it and gave it to Gary.
“Take this object of art”, monk said. “It needs to be transported to the Modern Art Gallery in the small community of Waseldorf around 100 kilometers from here. It has to be delivered within 3 days, and you can only travel by foot, so you will have to walk more than 30 kilometers daily. While walking, meditate over the content of this work of art. This will be your spiritual journey. Once in Waseldorf, you will know what to do. You have to leave early in the morning, so now go back to sleep. You will need all the strength you can get.

End of scene 2. Gary was not in control, so CF rises to 7.

Threads:
Find more about the cult Gary joined.
Take the paintings to the Modern Art Gallery in Wasesldorf, traveling only by foot.

Cursed Mansion II

7:40 pm As he entered the next room, Peter stopped, stunned form fear, for terrible squid faced monster moved in his direction! But he quickly remembered that there are no such things as squid faced monsters! It was just a big ugly statue left in this room for unknown purpose…

Game mechanic: cards for this room are Fear and Cthulhu. So, this will be the action scene, and I have to oppose the room with what I have in my hand. Both room cards are with Time keyword, but this early in the game they are still 1d6+0. I used Faith (atheism) +2 (my hero does not believe in things like Cthulhu) and Alert +1 to see what really happens. I have beaten the room easily, so I decided that Cthulhu is just a statue. The statue can’t move so I will leave it as permanent thing in this room. Action scene takes no time. I could now investigate Cthulhu statue further if I want to, but my goal is to survive, so I decided to leave this room as soon as possible, and never to return there :)

7:45 pm In east wing of the house Peter detected stairs leading up. Stairway was richly decorated, and in the time past owners of the house probably used them to impress their guests. Now, left to the hand of time, stairs have become noisy and it would be impossible to use them quietly.

Game mechanic: Passive scene, I used additional 15 min to learn all this.

8:05 pm Next room hosted stairs down and an old radio beside it. Peter tried to switch radio on, but he couldn’t. It looks like it is broken beyond repair.

Game mechanics: Cards are Stairs down and Radio. This is another passive scene. I tried to beat the radio card with my Engineering skill, but I lost, so I decided that radio can’t be used for anything. I used another 15 min on this.

8:25 pm This room had some broken floor tiles, holes deep enough for man to step into them, fall and maybe break is leg. But Peter was alert walking through the unknown house, so he managed to avoid them.

8:30 pm Empty room. Words “KILL HIM!” written with red paint at one of the walls.

8:35 pm Dressing room for garden works and play. Old working suites in the closet, big umbrella and some garden chairs in the corner….

8:45 pm Empty hallway, decorated with paintings of nature and country life.

8:50 Peter detected some kind of control room, that seems to have electronic access to many things in various parts of the house. This room is in much better shape than the rest of the mansion, as if somebody have used it recently. Some switches on the control table have labels next to them with texts like “Scare the curious outside”, “for when they enter the house” or “for these in the basement”. Used 15. minutes.

Crazy street preacher part 1

I happen to be on a business trip in Italy, so I am unable to play anything but Mythic, the game I always carry with me :)
So here is some result, but first
Disclaimer: this story has adult content and it is not suitable for young people. The ideas and views that appear in the game do not represent my personal views and opinions. I am only role-playing the game in the way Mythic rolls it, using some stereotypes that can be heard in the world we live in.

I decided to play a Mythic adventure, starting from zero. I started with the chaos factor of 5.
In the beginning I decided to generate a hero using UNE. Here is the result:
Prying scientist, motivated to Aid magic, attend zeal and proclaim deprivation.
OK. So Geri is a cult member wannabe of the worst kind. Not only that he believes in supernatural, but he claims that he knows scientific evidence for everything from ghosts to UFOs. He constantly tries to convince others with his “evidence”.
He was accidentally able to read some books about Buddhism, and he started to be a strong supporter of eastern philosophy and religion.
Although he comes from the middle class family, he refused to take any kind of job, left his parents house and started living as homeless street preacher bugging the people that walk the city.

Now that I have my hero, I would like to know what happened to him. Excitement masses. What about? Mistrust expectations.
Good. So, the economical crisis is over, right? Well, think again. Governments continue to pressure politics of savings. It is easy for them to say, but are they ever thinking about working class, who finds harder and harder to mach ends meet? And to demonstrate their un-satisfaction, unions invited people to the streets.

Geri joined them, of course, seeing opportunity to preach to the masses. But will anyone listen to him? Unlikely: No. People are to occupied shouting and protesting to pay attention to the street preacher.
So, Geri decided to try to sneak among the union representatives, climb at the improvised speaking stand, steal the microphone and use it to talk to the masses. Can he make it? Very unlikely: No but (I am using alternative fate chart with conditional yes and conditional no answers. Chart can be found here) he will find one person who will listen to him! Who?
UNE: Refined monk, motivated to secure force, teach racism and inform about ghosts.
Before Geri could climb to the stand, somebody grabbed him from behind and pulled him into the side street. When he finally managed to release himself from the grip, Geri noticed that his capturer was a white man, neat, clean and intellectually looking, with shaved head and dressed in the robe of the Buddhist monk.

I have heard you preaching, said the monk, and I see that we have the same ideas. I happen to know that there are others like us. So, we will create an organization with goal to change the world. We want to create a paradise on earth, but before that, we have to clean the Earth from all that is not pure. Our governments are week, they are unable to control economy, or deal with the terrorist threat. The change is necessary, and it is our time to act. For this, we have the blessing of our ancestors. The ghosts of great people from the past, huge leader of men and fathers of their nations all of them, are willing to lead us and help us achieve our goal. All I need to know is are you with us?

Geri accepted the offer to join the cult with gratitude.

Will the monk ask Geri to attend some secret meeting? Likely: No.
You are one of us now, said monk. When the time comes to act, I will contact you. Until then, carry on your mission the way you did so far…

Geri was not in control, so CF rises to 6.
NPC List
Mysterious monk.
Thread
Learn more about the cult Geri joined.

Cursed Mansion

My 6d6 solo game is progressing slowly, so I decided to post first part of it, and to write it down as I go. So, here it is!

Peter needed the money. That why he accepted the challenge of the old countess. 10.000 USD for anyone who spends the night in the cursed mansion seemed like the easy money at first…

Game mechanics: The goal of this adventure is to survive the night in cursed house. I used the blueprints of Andrew Carnegie House I found on internet as the map of the mansion.
To achieve the tension, some cards in the opposition deck received Time keyword. These cards will be 1d6+0 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm and later from 6:00 am to 7:00 am, 1d6+1 from 9 to 11 pm and from 5 to 6 am, 1d6+2 from 11 pm to 1 am and from 3 am to 5 am and 1d6+3 from 1 to 3 am. This way, adventure will be more and more dangerous as night progresses until the which hour, and then the tension will slowly lower till morning.
7:00 pm As soon as Peter entered the mansion, door closed and locked behind him. It felt strange, since he was shore that he came here alone. But then he decided not to pay attention. It must have been someone playing practical jokes, or maybe just the wind closed the door… There are several other doors in this house, and if they are all locked, one can always break the window…

Game mechanics: I created this investigator using 70 points worth of cards. Since he has to survive one night inside the house, there will be no healing in this game, so I decided to give him more life cards then it is usual for a standard game. Life cards: Faith (Atheism) +2, Problem Solving +2, Quick Wits +1, Memory, Will Power, Self-Confidence. Skills: Gather Information +2, Alert +1, Search, Engineering. Knowledge: Natural Philosophy +2, Culture, History. Pistol, 9mm.

7:05 Leaving the entrance hall, Peter entered the main corridor of the building. Corridor was empty aside for the old, mice eaten sofa in one corner.

Game mechanics: In this solo game, I decided to use different movement system then in original 6D6. Instead of squares, I will use room as unit movement. So using walk speed, my character will move into new, previously unexplored room in 5 min time. This represents opening doors and investigator looking around to see where he is, remembering position in the house, etc.

7:10 From main corridor, wide stairway lead to the back yard. Mist was slowly gathering outside, but one could still see through it. On the other end of the yard, city was still busy. One more reason to forget the locked front door…

Game mechanics: Whenever investigator enters new room, two cards are drawn from opposition deck. In this case, cards drawn were Liberty and Mist. I interpreted them as if investigator is free to leave the mansion through misty back yard. Then I checked how thick the mist is, using Alert skill (1d6+1) and rolling against Mist card (1d6+0 in this early hour). I was victorious at the roll on so mist is scarce and can be seen through. Mist card can be seen as object, so mist stays in this “room” permanently and will be there the next time investigator enters back yard.

7:20 Peter returned to the main corridor, that was still as empty as before.

Game mechanics: Whenever investigator enters a room he has already visited, he has to roll against room resistance (set to 1d6+0) to see if anything changed there from his last visit. Investigator will roll 1d6+3 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm and later from 6:00 am to 7:00 am, 1d6+2 from 9 to 11 pm and from 5 to 6 am, 1d6+1 from 11 pm to 1 am and from 3 am to 5 am and 1d6+0 from 1 to 3 am. If he beat the room resistance, nothing changed. But if he lose roll on, he has to draw number of cards equal to the number of pips he lost by. For example, if room would roll 5 and investigator 3, investigator will draw 2 new cards, that will combine with the ones already existing in the room to picture the new situation. Investigator can move through 3 previously explored rooms in 5 min time, but has to roll for each of them.

7:25 Next room our hero entered seemed to be a study (persecute investment). He spent some time looking through the papers and discovered that last owner of this house neglected his business. Instead, he lost all his money betting on sport events.

Game mechanics: once I determined that this room is study, I was shore that this is narrative event, so that I can use all cards I have, with the restriction that each card used that was not in the pool at the moment my hero entered a room costs 5min of time. Using cards from the pool cost nothing.
In this case I used my Search and Gather Information +2 from the remaining cards (spending 10 minutes) and tried to beat the room (persecute investment, total 2d6+0). I rolled 11 against room's 7, winning by 4. Therefore I was able to take 4 new cards that will further explain the room. I got neglect, riches, abuse, competition. Using common sense and knowing that this room is a study, I interpreted them as mentioned above.

Real life in the way

It so happened that I got a sudden chance to change the job, which I quickly seized :)
The procedure for this took all my time during last week or so, and that drastically slowed my current 6d6 game, and all other gaming projects...
So stay tuned, and as soon as I settle down on my new position, this blog will be updated more regularly....

6d6 Core: Solo playability

Some time ago, I have received a reviewer copy of 6D6 core RPG game. I have to say that I was surprised once I moved through the rules for the first time, since 6d6 core feels and plays as mix of RPG and collectable card game!
I do not want to repeat what other people said, so I will not try to explain mechanic of the game here. Please read posts on tankarstavern and gameknightreviews for that. Come back once you read it, this blog will be waiting :).

Back? Good.

It is obvious; 6d6 core is many games in one. If you have Game Master and several friends, you can play it like any other RPG. If there is just the two of you, you can create two characters and start a duel, just like with any CCG, with the one difference that 6d6 encourage you to create your own cards instead of to buying their, premade ones.
But for this blog, the most important question is, of course, can 6d6 be played solo?

The answer is definitely yes.
6d6 Core is not planned to be used that way, so there is no mention of solo play in the book. But being a card driven game, the possibilities for solo play it opens are many, and the rules need just a little tweaking.

The very first idea I had was to make an “opposition deck” from where I would draw events and dangers my hero will have to face. This opposition deck should be populated with some generic and some genre specific cards.
Generic ones I created by simply writing on cards words from Event Meaning: Action and Event Meaning: Subject table of Mythic Game Master Emulator. All this cards have power of 1d6+0. The bad news is that you have to produce 200 cards. The good news is that you have to do it only once, after that you can use the same cards in any game you play, regardless of genre.
Opposition deck should hold at least 100 genre specific cards like Goblin shaman or Chtulhu or Partial fingerprint. To increase tension of the game, some of these cards should have variable power. For example, daemons and chaos cultist your inquisitor meet will be less powerful on the upper levels of the hive city, and will grow stronger as you descend deeper. So the power of such cards should be 1d6 + level, that will produce 1d6+0 on ground level to 1d6+3 for a third level of the underground.

It is also good to move your solo experience with 6d6 a little towards the feel of board games. 6d6 Core solo version can really profit if you use it with some kind of map or tiles, be it ever changing dungeon for fantasy setting or the blueprints of the hunted mansion.

The game mechanic is simple. Each time the hero enters new chamber, draw two cards from the deck and interpret them as you would do with Mythic GM Emulator. That will be opposition your hero will have to face this turn. The very nature of the card drawn will decide if the scene is narrative or action, and in that way limit the range of cards hero can use.

I am currently in the middle of a Cthulhu themed game using 6d6 Core for solo play as described above and so far it is very fun experience. My next post will be a write-up from this game, and there I will explain some mechanic elements I used in detail.

Niegolewski’s failure

It was late September 1809. Commandant Kozuletski of the 1ere Regiment de Chevau-Légers Lanciers de la Garde Impériale (Polonais) invited his chief of scouts captain Niegolewski.

(Earlier adventure of Andrzej Niegolewski can be found here)

I have a mission for you Andrzej, said Kozuletski. There is a small village not far from here. It is just few houses, but it is good place for troops to camp. I want you to take couple of your boys and secure this village. French will send some line voltigeurs as well.
I believe that British also know about this place, so expect trouble. Try to keep the village at all cost. This small victory can tip the scales of the next battle.
Game is played using Flintloque 3rd edition light rules that can be received for free directly from Alternative Armies web page, or from their Yahoo group. British soldiers are led by slightly modified Flintloque solo bolt on rules.

Using the speed of their mounts, Niegolewski and two of his lancers arrived at the village. French light troops were right behind them. While British soldiers slowly approached, Poles and French took defensive positions.
One of the British soldiers tried to enter the village, but was hit by musket fire so he returned to his line, heavily wounded.Another tried the same thing and he managed to engage two voltigeurs into close combat. Line soldiers are often better in these things then light companies, so British soldier managed to get one of the voltigeurs out of fight and another pushed back!Polish lancers approached brave British soldiers and fired their pistols into him from close range. This is first British out of fight!
But one of the lancers got exposed, and put out of fight by aimed shots from British line!
After some distant shots were exchanged, another British soldier went OOF. Second lancer had enough of hiding and he did what he knew best – charged!He runed his lance through the nearest British soldier, killing him on the spot. But he exposed himself to musket fire, so first bullet throws him from his horse, while second puts him OOF.
Niegolewski took the clear sight of the enemy officer and charged. But British officers are famous as good swordsmen, and Niegolewski got wounded. Finally, another British soldier joined the duel of the officers, and together two British men managde to throw Polish captain from his horse.French voltigeurs run to the wounded officer and retreated with him from the field of battle.
British soldiers camped in the village that night…

If you can judge the whole book from the light rules, Flintloque 3rd edition seems like a great rule set. It is made for fantasy napoleonique wars, but I do not have any figures for that setting (yet) so I played with my regular Napoleonic troops, and it worked fine with historical settings.
What I especially liked in this game is balance between movement and shooting distances and modifications, which is the best I have seen so far among the skirmish games.
The game lasted rather long, took me 4 hours to play 9 turns, but it is OK considering that I am new with the rules and that I was constantly flipping pages to find explanation for one situation or another.
Solo engine is good, with only remark that it does not define order for activation of enemy soldiers. This can be easily overridden by giving each enemy a number, and then drawing cards to see the order they activate.
This was a fun game, and I think I will use Flintloque a lot in the future….

Developing a civilization in a pocket

Searching for free and solo board games through Board Game Geek entries, I found a game called Pocket Civ. Game is free and can be downloaded here.

Pocket Civ can be played in two versions. Light version requires only peace of paper, pen and set of event cards. This version you can play on a road, or wherever you are.
The full version is more suitable for home play, it offers more of the boardgame feel, and if you have proper counters at home, you can even make it 3D like I did.
Basically, this is worker allocation game, remotely based upon Sid Meier's Civilization.
Game is played in eras, where first few eras can be easily survived but later things get tougher and tougher.
AI is great, maybe the best thing in this game. Not only it can give you serious challenge, but the complete AI mechanism is located on a set of no more then 16 event cards! Something that every solo enthusiast should definitely look at and admire.

Another nice solution is the way the resources are taken into consideration. Simply, provinces that have mountains in it are considered to have the use of stone, etc.
The main resource in the game are tribes. Almost everything you need to build is payed by sacrificing certain amounts of tribes. In this game people are the greatest fortune. There is also a gold, but it is hard to acquire, and it is reserved as resource only for the greatest civilization achievements.

Anyway, this is a great game, something you should definitely try if you love solo play. Furthermore, it is free, so what are you waiting for? Go download it!

Maps, glorious maps!

So far, I have played many “Chose your adventure” solo RPGs, and I hope to play many more, from Lone Wolf series available for free download at Project Aon web page, up to relatively recently published Chronicles of Arax.
But so far none of them offered as much fun as a game called Last Stand at Kirrinbahr, made by Mark Wightman.
This game was made in 2006, but I have discovered it just recently.
What made this game so special for me? Well, in order to play it, you have to draw a map of the castle you are walking through. And this map is the absolutely best part of the adventure. I had unbelievable fun while drawing it.It reminded me of the old days of my youth, when I played textual adventures on my ZX Spectrum, and drew maps of the areas my character explored. And of later days, when I first entered the hobby during University years, when characters played by me and my friends often crawled through mazes and tunnels where every turn and fork had to be recorded on paper...
It also made me wander what happened with the necessity of the map drawing as one of the essential part of the PRG gaming? Was it completely eliminated by the use of tiles? I was not forced to draw a map in a RPG game for a long, long time…Last Stand at Karrinbahr is rather linear game, but I wonder why this idea was not used further…
This way I am almost tempted to use map making technique for designing Chose your Adventure games to make a game on my own, similar but more non-linear and combined with the advanced storytelling…
I will not have time to do it any time sooner, so I really wish someone else does it instead of me :)

PS. I have just learned about the game called DestinyQuest. Here is what the official web page says about it:

"Unlike an ordinary storybook, you don’t read DestinyQuest® by simply turning the pages and reading it from start to finish. Instead, you plan your own journey through the book using the maps.

Each map shows you the locations of all the different quests that your hero can take part in. To select a quest you simply turn to the corresponding numbered entry in the book and read on from there – returning to the map when you have finished."

Is this what I was looking for?
Anyway, this book enters my To be purchased list....

Witcher's Fatal Blow

Geralt was well advised not to enter these monster infested ruins alone. But once he heard that his good friend Triss Merigold went there searching for some herb for her potions, nothing could stop him from following her. It is true, Triss is one of the mightiest wizards in the realm, but when the monsters are around, even the member of The Circle might need a help from a witcher.

This game is set in the world of witchers, created by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski. If you are not familiar with the books, you might know this world from the two successful video games of the same name.

The mechanic for the game is taken from Deano C. Ware's book A Fatal Blow. This game is card driven in such a way that it opens great possibilities for solo play, with additional random elements generated by Mythic GM emulator.
Witcher Geralt is a Hero (5 cards).
Attack 9, Defence 8, Accuracy 7, Strength 3, Initiative 5, Will 10, Discipline 10, Strikes 1, Wounds 6, Size 2. He is armed with Katana, Long Knife and Chain mail armor.

Two monsters roam the ruins.
Giant scorpion
Monster, Att 10, Def 10, Stk 3, Wnd 5, Size 3.
Inherent armor 8, claws and sting with base armor piercing value of 4 and 4d6 damage.
Rat abomination
Monster, Att 8, Def 8, Str 10, Stk 3, Wnd 5, Size 4
No armor or weapon, uses fistfight rules.
First reviled card belongs to monsters.
Mythic GME: Wil scorpion act upon this card? 99. Extreme no. Abomination will act upon this card, and upon the next one as well.
Since double is rolled, unexpected event also happens. What? Divide suffering. Abomination uses it's first activation to perform a special action. It gives birth to a giant rat (same statistics as Dog in the book)!
New card for rat is added to the deck, so reshuffle is in order!
Monsters get the first card again, so this time abomination moves.
One of the witcher's cards is next, and he moves towards scorpion.
Then, monster's card is drawn again. This time GME decided that scorpion will act.
GME: Will scorpion charge? Extreme yes! Scorpion will charge in this turn, and use next monster card to attack again!
Scorpion has 3 strikes, one of them scored 1, which means that Geralt will have an opening in scorpion's defense if he manages to survive to use it. Remaining 2 strikes scored a hit, but Witcher's armor managed to deflect one of them. The hit that penetrated armor scored 3 wounds, and that is half of Geralt's total number, so our hero will fight under severe penalty from now on!
One of the Geralt's cards turned next. With all penalties, he needed 14+ on d20 to score a hit with both katana and knife, and he scored 15 and 18! 2 hits!
Scorpion needed 8+ on d20 to save katana blow, and it rolled natural 8. Then, it needed 7+ to deflect knife attack, and it rolled.......NATURAL 7! More often then not I think my dice are playing jokes on me...
Another witcher's card came out, and Geralt used it to move to monster's side.
Hero is lucky and gets another chance, but both of it's attacks misses!
And the next card is....... Hero card again! Forth in a row!
Geralt attacks, knife misses but his katana hits the target. Scorpion rolls low for the armor, and with side attack Geralt gets the chance to roll 5 d6 for wounds. He scores one 5 and 2 times 6, that makes a total of 5 wounds, just enough to put scorpion out of action!
Scorpion cards are removed from the deck, and cards are reshuffled again.
After some movement, Geralt tried to charge abomination but failed. Abomination counter charged, but all it's hit were deflected from witcher's armor. It turned out that fist fighting monster, even size 4 with strength 10, has little chance against well armored hero, and Geralt quickly eliminated abomination.
Giant rat, left alone, had no chance against our hero, and was killed with one precise blow.
After the area was secured, Geralt searched the ruins looking for Triss. He found evidence of her presence here, but all signs showed that she took what she needed and left.
Witcher returned to the bodies of the monsters and collected all trophies he could think of. Somewhere in the world there will probably be someone who will pay good money for that....

All roads lead to Rome

Twenty years ago, senator Ricinus Alexandrinus left Rome, took his family and all his wealth and settled at the north fringe of the empire. He hoped that this move will keep his son Rattus far away from the decadency of the capitol.
But when old Ricinus died, young Rattus Alexandrinus quickly managed to spend all of his father’s hard earned money on easy life. Left without means to support himself, Rattus Alexandrinus decided to start gladiator school, seeing this as a quick way to fame and fortune, and maybe his ticket back to Rome.
First gladiator Rattus Alexandrinus bought was quick and decently trained, although not very strong thraex Amniocentesix the Gaul (Savvy 3, Strength 2, Speed 5). To test his new gladiator’s skills, Rattus organized for Amniocentesix friendly duel against known muscleman murmillo Amebius Monocellius (Savvy 3, Strength 4, Speed 2).The game is played using second edition of 2 Hour Wargames Red Sand Blue Sky gladiator rules.

Gladiators enter the arena and approach each other.
Thraex gets a chance to attack murmillo unshielded side, but misses. He attacks again, but this time he only hits opponents shield. Amebius is pushed out of the center of the arena.
Amniocentesix approaches his enemy and attacks again, this time head on. Finally, lady luck looked at the Gaul and he hits murmillo's sword arm.
Wounded gladiator drops shield and switches the sword into his offhand, but his right hand is heavily bleeding now. Also, he is now pushed close to the arena wall.
Gaul approaches and attacks, but he is too confident, and Amebius gets the chance to counterattack! But murmillo does it hastily, and runs pass the Thraex, who got the chance to attack and score a hit on Amebius belly. Murmillo falls to the ground.
But Amebius is strong gladiator. He stands up, and, bleeding heavily, pushes everything he got into one final clash. But he is spent, and Gaul hits him again, this time taking all the strength from his left leg!
This is enough for Amebius, and he surrenders.Since Amebius finds himself in the center of arena, with belly wound and no strength at all, satisfied audience grants him mercy.

On a Way Back to the Unit

The Battle of Somosierra occurred November 30, 1808 in the Peninsular War, when a French army forced a passage through the Sierra de Guadarrama shielding Madrid.
At the Somosierra mountain pass, 60 miles north of Madrid, a heavily outnumbered Spanish detachment of conscripts and artillery under Benito de San Juan aimed to block Napoleon's advance on the Spanish capital. Napoleon overwhelmed the Spanish positions in a combined arms attack, charging the Polish Chevau-légers at the Spanish guns.
When superior officer Kozietulski lost his horse after taking the first battery, charge was led by young Lt. Andrzej Niegolewski. At third battery Niegolewski was thrown from his horse among the Spanish foot soldiers. He received nine wounds from bayonets and two carbine shots to the head.The complete action at Somosierra lasted only couple of minutes. After the victory was secured, commander of Napoleon’s guard Jean-Baptiste Bessières approached the young lieutenant, who managed to whisper: "Monseigneur, I’m dying, these are the guns I conquered. Tell Emperor about it!"

Late March of 1809 found Lt. Andrzej Niegolewski, now proud bearer of L'Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur, leaving hospital in Paris and returning to Spain to rejoin his unit (up to this moment all written is historical data. Real Andrzej Niegolewski died in 1857 in Poland. You can read more about him and Battle of Somosierra here. Everything further is gaming material.)

Lt. Niegolewski was leading group of other recovered soldiers including a horse grenadier, hussar, and a light infantry squad consisting of NCO, chasseur, voltigeur, and carabinier.
Somewhere along the road, they have encountered British patrol consisting of rifles officer with two riflemen, grenadier NCO with two grenadiers, light dragoon and a hussar.

Game was played using Song of Drums and Shakos ruleset. I was playing French while British were played by Lone Shako solo rules.
Initial deployment.French Horse grenadier charges. His charge is so terrifying that both British light cavalrymen run away from the table!But British foot grenadiers are not scared so easily. They stand their ground against overwhelming cavalry attack! Lieutenant Niegolewski wounded grenadier NCO, but remaining grenadiers managed to wound French hussar.
Finally, both Niegolewski and horse grenadier scored another wound, ending the stand of brave British grenadiers. The east part of the battlefield witnessed a lot of light infantry movement and several missed shots. At the end, firefight among the woods ended without wounded.
Once all British grenadiers were wounded, riflemen took the morale test, but all stood their ground. Finding himself with loaded rifles against unloaded French light troops, British officer called for Lieutenant Niegolewski and offered him his sword to avoid more bloodshed, which Polish officer gladly accepted.

What I learned from this game is that when facing enemy troops with fear special ability, you should keep your soldiers as far from table edge as possible. This was easy victory for me because I have deployed British troops badly. Both British light cavalrymen failed just one morale dice when confronted to Horse grenadier, but being close to table edge that was enough for them to leave the board. If they were closer to the middle of the table, they would just backed up, and that might make a lot of difference.

The Image World - history arranged chronologically

In few earlier posts I have written reports from playing Lame Mage Microscope RPG. Reports are written in order of play, and might be difficult to follow. Therefore, here is the complete Image World history written in chronological order. Play examples are omitted, and some events are written in short to become clearer.

BIG PICTURE
Magical world raises, develops and comes to the edge of cataclysm.

CREATION (L)

○ Gods awaken into the world already created, but unshaped and bare (L).

○ Gods create image of the shaped world. World itself is not yet shaped, it is just the image to work by (L)

● As world started to shape, Imra, goddess of change, began to disagree with the image. She started to shape the world differently, according to her own vision, and everything she touched turned even more beautiful than the picture in the Image World. But the other gods were jealous at her successes, so they tricked and imprisoned her into the same Image World she hated, where nothing is real, time stands still and changes are impossible (D)

● Imra escapes from the Image World (D).

○ Imra stole Image World from other Gods, but fell in love with the very thing she once hated and could not destroy it. (L)

○ After making agreement with Imra, all gods left creation and settled inside the Image World. (L)


GODLESS TIMES (D)

○ Each god took a realm inside the Image World as his or hers home. Doing that, they have become gods of the race who lived in parallel realm in created world. After death, souls of people moved from creation to realm of their god in Image World. Only Imra, wanting constant change, refused to settle in one realm. (L)

● War of races. Unaware that their gods left the creation, mortal races started holly war for supremacy, fighting in the names of their gods. (D)

● Poisoned by the war, some souls continued fighting even in the afterlife in the Image World. For them, gods separated a desolate part of the Image World called Hell, where war never stops. (D)

○ Gods start hearing prayers of the mortal races again. (L)

○ Gods requesting sacrifices. Gods agree to end godless times if mortals start making sacrifices to them. Each thing or being destroyed in creation gains its image (called soul) in Image World, and the god with the most souls is the most powerful. (L)

○ No god will ever accept sacrifice of a living being. (L)


AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT (L)

○ Imagists, order of scientist and mages of all races dedicated to discovering secrets of the Image World rise to power. (L)

● Mixed races were never part of Image World but started to appear in the real history. First such creature was born from elf father and human mother (D)

● Since they are not part of the Image World, souls of half-breeds do not come to the Image World after their owners die in creation. Only Imra may know what happens to the souls of half-breeds, but if she does, she will not tell. (D)

○ Imra, who until that moment had no priesthood in creation, makes half-breeds her chosen people. First temple to Imra built in half-breed town of Gondwalk, and first priests blessed by goddess. (L)

○ Heraha, high priestess of Olhuna, elf goddess of nature, child birth and health, while praying on the twentieth day of spring, received vision of the garden in the Image World, where all plants had their healing properties written in front of them. Grateful for the new knowledge, Heraha order that great festival should be celebrated each year on the twentieth day of spring, which will from this moment on be known as the Day of the healing herbs. (L)


CATACLYSM (D)

● Time has come when so many sacrifices were made to gods and so many souls moved to the Image World, that it become overpopulated. Outer cover of the Image World started bursting in weak places. Restless souls used these holes to return into the created world as the undead. (D)

● Some gods, led by Imra, grew tired of living inside the Image World. They diverted attention of other gods so that they did not notice bursting until it was too late. (D)

● Undead escaped from Hell united in desert realm of created world and conquered most populated areas, turning conquered people into new undead. (D)

● Some of the restless souls who escaped from Hell when first burst appear on Image World were great scholars and mages. They created a magical device that was able to further break outer cover of Image World and forcefully return some souls into created world. Lesser souls become slaves of powerful leaches, but there are souls of great heroes and scholars from past who kept their free will. Many of them are secretly or publicly opposing undead horde, and support the struggle against it, hoping that once when the cataclysm ends, they will be able to return into afterlife. (D)

● Imra gave a terrible power to her chosen half-breeds. For when half-breed dies, he or she will take all who died at the same day and at the same location to the place of no return, where souls of all half-breeds go after death. By sacrificing themselves, mixed races can slowly lower the number and power of the undead horde. The battle for creation has begun. (D)

END of HISTORY. Present starts from here.

Image Word history, final chapters

This is a forth, and last chapter of mine solo Microscope / Mythic game called Image World.
Part 1 can be found here and Part 3 can be found here.
The world I created turned out to be much darker then I originally planed, but that is the very beauty of using MGE. You never know where it will take you.
So, history ends and present begins. I will return to this world in the future, for I hope to make a solo RPG campaign in it, and then I will see if some of my characters will be able to end Undead cataclysm, or will creation be doomed to suffer under the restless souls forever.

TURN 3
Romantic as lance (GME: Oppress Inside) focus on how gods of the Image World influence Image World itself.

Romantic
1. (GME: Harm Wishes). This is an event in Cataclysm period. Time has come when so many sacrifices were made to gods and so many souls moved to the Image World, that it become overpopulated. Outer cover of the Image World started bursting in weak places. Restless souls used these holes to return into the created world as the undead. (D)

2. Will Romantic made a scene inside this event? Extreme yes, it will be dictated scene.
QUESTION (GME: Divide Inside). Why the gods didn’t unite to stop the bursting?
ANSWER (GME: Lie Attention). Was it Imra? Yes. Some gods, led by Imra, grew tired of living inside the Image World. They diverted attention of other gods so that they did not notice bursting until it was too late. (D)

Me:
This will be event in Godless times, before War of races. Each god took a realm inside the Image World as his or hers home. Doing that, they have become gods of the race who lived in parallel realm in created world. Only Imra, wanting constant change, refused to settle in one realm. (L)

Warrior
(GME: Oppress Military). This will be event in Godless times, after the war of races started. Poisoned by the war, some souls continued fighting even in the afterlife in the Image World. For them, gods separated a desolate part of the Image World called Hell, where war never stops. (D)

Romantic
1. (GME: Dominate Misfortune). This is also an event in Cataclysm. Undead escaped from Hell united in desert realm of created world and conquered most populated areas, turning conquered people into undead. (D)

2. Scene:
QUESTION (GME: Delay Elements). The Undead managed to conquer most of the world but not all of it. What stopped Undead from conquering the remaining realms?
DESCRIPTION (GME: Pursue Hope). Group of refugees is traveling to the safe-heaven.
PICKING CHARACTERSRequired: at least one refugee is required.

Warrior (UNE: mindless preacher, pursue valor, encourage distress), warrior will play time in the form of lich wizard, commander of the undead army that hunts refugees.

I will play Kundru, offspring of orc and dwarf, not very talkative female guide of refugee group.

Romantic (UNE: touchy expert, join discrimination, patronize literature) R will play Achuluchi, elf imagist scholar, former member of anti-mixed races association. Achuluch is nervous that half-breed is leading the group to safe-heaven. He has little knowledge of created world, since he spent his life between old books, researching history of Image World.

W (GME: Dominate the physical) Undead hordes are getting closer to the refugees with every moment. It seems that they can move faster than the refugee caravan.

Me: Kundru constantly moves to the front to show the way, then to the back to check how far the horde is. Every now and then she checks the small vial she carries at her waist.
R (GME: Carelessness illusions) While passing by him, Achuluch says to Kundru: If that flask you have can save us, you better use it now, or those undead will catch us!

W (GME: Carry balance) Undead horde is not attacking yet. It seems as if they are moving with same speed as caravan, keeping constant distance for a while.
Me: Kundru pays no attention to scholar, and continues to lead the group, regularly checking if vial is safe and in position.

R (GME: Heal energy) Achuluch is persistent and asks Kundru: Is this some sort of holly water that can destroy souls of undead or what?

W (GME: Abuse rumor). Suddenly, very persuasive voice coming from everywhere started calling caravan members by name: Come and join us, and you will live forever! Why should your soul suffer in the hells of Image World? Old order is destroyed; join the new one and your life will never end! Some of caravan members look like they will succumb to the voice and caravan starts to move even slower.

Me: Kunduru opens the vial and drinks it. Then speaks to Achuluch: “It is a poison that will kill me in one hour. I will not be taken alive by the undead. It is too late; we will not reach safe heaven. Lich voice will stop us. One way or another, we will all die today. But we will take with us as many undead as possible.” Then, screaming of battle cry or a spell that awakened all succumbed to the lich voice, Kunduru turned around and attacked undead, sending many of restless souls on the road towards image world for a second time. Many caravan members followed her desperate act.

R (MGE: Adversity misfortune) Achuluch tries to escape from the battle and hide, but strayed arrow hits him in the back, and he dies.

W (MGE: Imitate technology) Once all members of the caravan are dead, lich wizard brings to battlefield a giant magical device, that would tear the fabric of Image World even further and return to the creation souls of all who died today.

Me: But on the road to Image World, all souls found there, caravan members and restless souls alike, are unstoppably drawn to Kunduru. In otherworldly language, her soul called to them saying: “By the power given to me by mighty goddess Imra, follow me, for I am your guide! I will not take you to the Image World, but there where all souls of half-breeds go. And that is a place from where there is no return!”

ANSWER: Imra gave a terrible power to her chosen half-breeds. For when half-breed dies, he or she will take all who died at the same day and at the same location to the place of no return, where souls of all half-breeds go after death. By sacrificing themselves, mixed races can slowly lower the number and power of the undead horde. (D)

LEGACY PHASE
W – Chose legacy (MGE: Desert Pleasures) W will explore my legacy about souls in the image world. He makes dictated scene with
QUESTION: Why did so many souls left the Image World heaven and returned to creation?
DESCRIPTION (MGE: Transform Business)Some of the restless souls who escaped from Hell when first burst appear on Image World were great scholars and mages. They created a magical device that was able to further break outer cover of Image World and forcefully return some souls into created world. Lesser souls become slaves of powerful leaches, but there are souls of great heroes and scholars from past who kept their free will. Many of them are secretly or publicly opposing undead horde, and support the struggle against it, hoping that once when the cataclysm ends, they will be able to return into afterlife.

ANSWER: Many souls were returned to creation unwillingly, some of them fight against undead horde. (D)

Peninsular War British light cavalry 1:72 conversion

At the moment, there is no company producing British light cavalry models in Tarleton helmets for early Napoleonic period, so if you want to play campaign in Peninsular war, you have to make one yourself.
In this case, I used horses, legs and swords from Italeri/Esci British (Crimean war) hussars and upper bodies from Esci British artillery or HaT British rocket sets.
Here are officer and light dragoon in process.And here is one finished and painted trooper.

Back to painting board: 1:72 Napoleonics

After spending almost two months boardgaming, I needed some change. So, I decided to return to painting.
This time my brushes turned towards my recent purchase from HaT, especially their Peninsular war Napoleonic range.
So, here they are:
1. British Peninsular war infantry, officer, center company soldier, center company NCO and light company NCO (HaT 8186).
2. British Heavy dragoon (HaT 8033) and French Horse grenadier (HaT 8013)