End of year

Well, I have to say that it was a good gaming year for me. Considering my business and family obligations, much better than I expected.

Considering wargaming, during this year I definitely moved to 6mm miniatures for historic and SF and 10mm for fantasy. I think I found myself in this scale, and I will probably stay here for a while.
I also painted a lot, that can be seen from previous posts.
I played less wargames than I hoped, but I hope that this will change in 2015, mainly because now I have enough painted miniatures to do that. I also ordered "one-hour wargames" rules, and they are in the mail, expected to arrive in the first days on New Year, so this may also help me fit some miniatures in the little spare time I have.

Solo RPG-ing has seen much more action this year. I tried lots of different rule sets, with different success. Scarlet Heroes seemed to have the biggest value for the money ratio, until the D&D 5th appeared. From first impressions and previews, it seems just like the book I need.
So far I have only Player's handbook, but I had a chance to see other two.
So I decided to keep my RPG activities at stand by, until my copies of Monster manual and DM guide arrive. I per-ordered them from Wayland games in November, using free shipping coupon, since it was the cheapest option at the time. I hoped that the books will be dispatched as soon as DM Guide becomes available.
Unfortunately, the books are not shipped yet. Seems that everybody got their copies but me. Remember me never to buy anything from this vendor again. So, all I can do is wait.

And that is it for 2014.
Have a Happy New Year everybody!

Polish / French Peninsular division

I have finally finished Polish / French division for Peninsular war using Muskets and Shakos rules by 2 hour Wargames.

This gives me enough painted models to start playing proper engagements.

Here is the complete division, commanded by general Józef Chłopicki.

 

First foot brigade consisting of French line battalion, first Vistula Legion battalion and French light battalion.

Second infantry brigade consisting of Old guard grenadiers, Old guard chasseurs and 4th Vistula legion.

Cavalry brigade commanded by captain Andrzej Niegolewski consists of regiment of Polish guard lancers and regiment of Hussars.

 

Finally, two batteries of French field artillery.

This will not end my Peninsular War project, since both sides need additional infantry, cavalry and artillery units, but I now I can take time with them.

Models are mix of Baccus and Adler 6mm.

Polish NCO

The main problem I have with the two producers of 6mm napoleonic armies I use is their opinion about necessity of NCOs in the army.

While Baccus never even tried to produce NCOs, Adler is making figures armed with  halberds, claiming that NCOs armed with muskets were dressed the same way as the ordinary troopers. The problem with that claim is in the fact that during marches (and marching pose takes 80% of 6mm army), NCOs held musket under right arm, while troopers under left. This is a feature visible even in 6mm.

To overcome this problem I am usually doing conversions. The easiest way is to convert spare eagle bearer into NCO, by cutting eagle and painting remaining part of the pole as musket, with some simple bending to create bayonet.

But recently I started painting unit of Polish foot by Adler. The eagle bearer from the Polish command strip is made in a really nice and unusual pose, but this makes it impossible to convert it into NCO.

Then, I noticed drummer from the same strip. It's right hand is raised to the lips to use whistle, while his left hand rests on the drum. Right hand has some molding problem, so on all models I have there is a small gap between arm and whistle. Thanks to that, this arm can be slightly bend into lower position, good to transform it into musket holding hand.
So, I cut off the drum and whistle, changed position of the right arm and glued musket taken from ordinary trooper.

The result is quite satisfactory, especially on the tabletop.

Next picture shows original drummer and one transformed into NCO side by side.

Old guard painted

French old guard grenadiers unit painted - models by Adler Miniatures.

Now, just to add some flock.

SM screen

And so, I got tired of turning pages of several books looking for the table I need, so I decided to make a Solo Master Screen :)

I printed tables I use most often from several RPG PDFs I own like Scarlet Heroes, Ruins of the Undercity, and so on (even some from free PDFs from D&D 5th edition), and I glued them all on one peace of cardboard, added what was necessary by hand, and here it is....

Now I always have all my favorite tables in front of me, I just need to roll...

Dungeons of the Undercity

Recently I purchased a solo playable setting called Ruins of the Undercity,  by Kabuki Kaiser.

It is basically set of random tables with goal to send your character(s) into dungeon crawling quest.
The book is supposed to be used with Labyrinth Lord rules, but it can be easily adjusted for everything else, so I decided to test D&D 5th with it (OK, and using LL here and there).

Therefore, I rolled a Half-elf Bard called Loneflute, with Sage - Librarian background and neutral alignment.

As soon he arrived to the city, Loneflute looked for the first entrance to the underground and went directly into dungeon.
After some wandering through empty corridors leading north and then west, bard entered a 30x30' chamber with a statue in the corner. There he was attacked by two bats. Bats were flying, so he had disadvantage against them. Finally, Loneflute killed both bats, but he lost 2 HP. On the ground, half-elf found 375 ep and a jet gem.
Bard checked the statue, but there was nothing special about it.

Room had 3 exits. One was closed by door, one was a dead end, and one was leading to a smaller chamber. 5 gibberlings were guarding the stairs down. Loneflute retreated before they could see him, avoiding the contact with the more numerous enemy.
Bard checked the corridor leading north, but it quickly ended. Furthermore, he was attacked by Rot Grub, nasty little parasite that enters a living body and kills the host if the bite location is not immediately treated by fire. Loneflute performs the treatment and loses 5HP in the process. So, he takes a short rest to heal rolling his HD, and restores to full health.
Then, the bard goes to check the corridor leading east into T shape. But T shape had dead end to the north and a door to the south, so my hero decided to return to the city, take prolonged rest and maybe hire some henchmen, considering the fact that these dungeons are dense populated even so close to the surface.

As first impression, Ruins of the Undercity is a product full of tables. Some are really useful, and some just add flavor, and can be omitted during solo play. Once you learn which table to roll on, and which to skip, using this tool can be quick and really fun.

Carnage time

Some 3 years ago, inspired by this blog post, I purchased a PDF of the game 3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars.
I printed the game immediately, but I never got to read it.
Recently, for the reasons unknown I remembered about it's existence, so I started digging through my paper mountain until finally I emerged with the book in my hand. 

3:16 walks the uncharted territory between RPG, wargame and boardgame. The play is  highly narrative, but at the same time it depends 90% on combat, since there are no dice rolls when you are out of danger zone.
Game can also be easily adjusted for solo play, and it's re-playability is high thanks to combinations of several factors like Alien Activity level, planet type, alien type and alien special characteristic.

I decided to test the game playing 3 soldiers: Sargent Grim Reaper (fighting ability 3, Non-fighting ability 7), Corporal Joe (FA 7, NFA 3) and trooper Kid (FA 5, NFA 5).

Mission briefing: Team will be deployed on second planet in the Caravaggio system with goal to check if the planet can be cleansed from the ground. Caravaggio 2 is a high humidity planet. All lend on the planet is covered with water at least 1 meter high and that is on surfaces that can be called "land masses". All that water is  affecting soldiers equipment (house rule - at the beginning of each encounter, roll d6 for each soldier. In case of 1, tick armor box, if not already ticked. If already ticked, reduce effectiveness of one weapon of your choice by one step in one range). Planet is populated by artificial life forms (small intelligent steam ships floating on the surface of the planet, called Steamers by Tera Soldiers) with Alien Activity level 6. Ships have no reproductive system, but they can repair their fallen comrades, so order is to make every kill destructive one, beyond repairmen possibility. Considering this, Steamers care for every unit they have, and they will most likely run instead of fight (Flee special ability -  after aliens attack, ALL soldiers move one range further from them. This is automatic ability, not powered by threat token. Also, I will introduce house rule - in case aliens are to act first, they will not attack, but first cancel all remaining successes and then move all soldiers by one range back. If during domination phase aliens are to set range, they will always select far).

The first mission was really interesting one, with lots of tactical movement.
On first encounter Sargent Grim landed his squad close to the alien nest with 3 threat tokens, but all soldiers failed to activate, so Steamers managed to score a kill on everybody and than run away into near zone. Corporal Joe then fires from his Heavy machine gun, removing one threat token and killing 11 Steamers. He also moves closer to aliens. Steamers act next, score a kill on Grim and Kid, and run away. Grim and Kid are now crippled in far zone and Joe is a mess in near zone.
In next combat round, aliens are to act first, so they cancel all successes. They just run away, out of range for Grim and Kid. Finally, aliens score one more kill on Joe, who also becomes crippled, and then run away out of his range also. Troopers find themselves alone and unchallenged, so they use they time to heal. They are all mess now. 14 TT remain on the planet.

Second encounter - 4TT, no water influence. Joe wins dominance test and sets range to Close.
After some dancing, 3 TT are removed, with Joe scoring 6 and Grim 7 kills. All soldiers were crippled again, when Steamers managed to run away. 11 TT remain. All troopers heal into mess.

Encounter 3 - 5 TT. Water starts influencing the equipment, so both Grim and Joe are forced to tick the armor box. Grim wins dominance test, and he decides not to risk. Grim uses his strength flashback - like fish in the water. Making his way through all that water, he remembered how he liked to be wet on Terra, when he was walking through the rain. Only thing he missed now was a sign of the rain beating on the windows - tap, tap, tap... So he started shooting his pistol to simulate the sound... .And in the process he removed all 5 TT (but killed only 4 Steamers). Prolonged rest made all troopers healthy again. Grim will be eligible for promotion if he survives:

Final encounter - 6TT.  Grim's side arm jammed, so he will be able to kill just 1 alien with it in near range. Joe wins the dominance test and sets range to close.
Kid scores his first kill in the mission. Joe also removes one TT (1 kill for each of them). Grim takes a kill and becomes a mess. Range changed to near.
In next combat round everybody succeed.  Joe remove TT and scores 9 kills. Than he moves forward into close range. Aliens and Kid act at the same time. Kid removes TT (6 kills). All move one range to the back. Grim removes TT (5 kills). Just one TT remains.
In next combat round, Aliens and Joe are to act first at the same time. If this would happen, Grim would take a kill and die, so he decides to use Weakness - fear of fair fight. When last Steamer moved towards him, Grim remembered that he was always beaten in one on one combat during military training. So, instead to engage alien, he ducked under water. Steamer passed over his head and was soon lost in the dense planet vegetation. In this way, Grim removed last Threat token on the planet, and will get a medal for it, but everybody have seen that he did not killed the last alien, but he let it get away. this will spoil his relationship with the troopers.

According to the report from this scouting mission, higher command decided that conditions on the planet do not favor land invasion, so the system was destroyed using Starkiller.
Grim failed his promotion roll, so was called for demotion by Kid, but there was nothing Kid could offer the military court as prove that Sargent chickened. Joe and Grim leveled up, and Kid got Power Claw directly from Captain, partially in order to protect himself from angry Grim.

To be continued....