Crash!

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I had returned to the "Dark Side" of gaming. Since then, I've been playing a lot of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I made a lot of progress, finishing the main quest and starting on the Knights of the Nine expansion.

A knight wearing the armor of the Crusader in front of the Priory of the Nine.

This afternoon, a severe thunderstorm hit, and now my X-box is kaput. I guess that's a sign to ditch the computer games and get back to the board.

"Recruiting"

I have an idea of what rules to use.

I have terrain. By the way, the buildings of Owlton came from Village in a Bag. I saw a pic on Bob Cordery's Wargames Miscellany site where he used ViaB, and I liked it. I prefer more of a "toy soldier" feel than a realistic miniatures portrayal, and I feel that ViaB fits the bill.

What about figures? As the Battle of Owlton shows, I have some plastic figures. They are just a bit larger than I'd like (I would prefer to go down to 15mm) plus it seems that painting bendy plastic figures is harder than working with metal. I'd really like to get some new figures.

I have my eye on Irregular.

Some Irregular Miniatures knights. Picture from their website.

I have some of their Marlburian figures for Horse & Musket battles (which I really need to paint) and I liked them. I need to figure out what I need and place an order.

Impressions

As I have previously noted, I picked up a few different sets of medieval war game rules. I have read through them all and wanted to share my impressions.

What am I looking for? I want a set of rules to allow me to play fantasy skirmishes where I can create stats for figures/units (rather than having to depend on stats published in expensive books). Although most rules allow for free movement, I plan to use a square grid, so the game (esp. movement) needs to be convertible. I hoped to get my wife to play with me, but now that we tried one game of FUBAR I think I'll be going solo. To keep interest up, I would like to play a campaign, so inclusion of campaign rules is a bonus.

I am going to create a separate post for each set. In a nutshell, however, I will probably stick with FUBAR, although I may modify it a bit based on ideas from the other sets. I love the campaign system in Dux Britanniarum and plan to run it based on a medieval Imagi-nation.

Song of Blades and Heroes

At first, I was very enthused by this set. It is true skirmish (each figure represents one person or creature) and requires very few figures (8-15 per side). They have a very clever system for activating figures. The player rolls 1 to 3 dice; rolling above a certain number allows the figure to perform 1 action. The player will roll activation for each figure in turn. However, if the player fails 2 or more rolls for a figure, his/her turn is over and the opposing player begins activation. This adds some tactical thought. Do I play it safe and roll only 1 die, which will automatically allow me to try to activate another figure, or do I go for broke and roll 3?

My enthusiasm began to wane a bit, as it seems that there are too many stats to worry about and that each figure's stats are tracked individually. Furthermore, I'm not sure if the movement system, which is integrally tied to the activation system, will convert well to a grid.

SBH offers a campaign expansion (Songs of Deeds and Glory), but it is primarily a system for generating random battles and determining rewards of victory or costs of defeat. Furthermore, it seems geared to campaigns with 3 or more players.

FUBAR Medieval

A free set of rules, FUBAR is designed for large skirmishes. Each figure represents one person or creature, but figures are grouped into units of approximately 6 figures (although I used smaller units for my test battle and will continue to use the smaller size). Heroes and leaders may act independently. I like the scale - a large skirmish with units - over the individual focus of Song of Blades and Heroes.

The game also seems easy to modify. It was simple to turn it into a grid based game, and I was able to take the statistical details (armor mods, weapon mods, etc.) and simplify them into a few stats. The activation system is very straightforward, which is preferable for solo games (although I may modify the system to make leaders more important, akin to Dux Brit).

There is no published campaign system for FUBAR Medieval, although there is one for their Sci Fi 40K version, which appears to have some good ideas.

Dux Britanniarum

I am a huge fan of the "Arthurian" era (Saxon invasions of 5th-6th century Britain and the efforts of the Post-Roman Britons to defend their land). Ever since I first saw these rules, I was intrigued, but the cost put me off. When they went on sale, I had to pick them up.

Figures are mounted individually but formed into units of 4-6 figures. An army runs about 40 figures, but each figure represents one man. Thus, these model large skirmishes. I like scale, although I may reduce the unit size by half.

The major turn-off for me is that they use a card-activation system. In some games (e.g Memoir '44), I like card activation but I am not sure how it will work for solo play. I bought the PDF edition of the game, so I am not keen on having to make my own cards.

A huge bonus is that the campaign system looks FANTASTIC. A player is either a Saxon raider or British defender. The Saxon is trying to conquer the British kingdom, but first he must build up his wealth and power by raiding the Britons. When he is strong enough, he may launch a conquest of the kingdom. Meanwhile, the Briton is trying to build up his prestige and wealth in order to stymie the invaders. The system seems to really give the flavor of the period.

I originally mentioned that I was looking for fantasy skirmish rules, so what would I do with a historical rules set? Not to worry, it seems that Dux Brit is convertible to different periods and even fantasy realms (at least those that are relatively realistic). There are at least a couple of bloggers (example) planning to use the campaign system for war games in Game of Thrones' Westeros. I may use it for a fantasy Imagi-nation.

Dux Bellorum

Published by Osprey, I purchased this set because:

• It was available on e-reader
• Osprey makes great books with cool color plates, which are included in this book
• As mentioned, I love the "Arthurian" period

The rules are really geared toward larger battles (with each base of ~ 6 figures representing 50 men). For my medieval project, I prefer individually mounted figures rather than multi-figure bases. Dux Bel can be played with individual figures, but it seems a bit fiddly.

The system of leadership points is interesting. Each army has a certain number of these points, which can be allocated to units, which make the unit easier to command, more inspired in battle, or more resolute in defense. Judicious use of leadership seems to be a key tactical component of this game.

The rules include scenario ideas, but no campaign.

Recent Additions

Well, I picked up Song of Deeds and Glory (the campaign system for Songs of Blades and Heroes). Then I came across this ad.

I popped over to the Too Fat Lardies site and picked up Dux Britanniarum.

I've got some reading to do this weekend!

The Medieval Bug

After giving my rendition of Medieval FUBAR a try, I caught the medieval bug. 

Here I am looking medieval

As a result, I have been researching various rules sets.

I am very interested in DuxBritanniarum, a set of rules for skirmishes in Post Roman Britain (the days of Arthur, if he truly lived). What especially interests me is that it has a campaign system that reputedly creates some interesting scenarios. I’d like to give the campaign system a try. Unfortunately, the cost, even for a PDF, is fairly high.

As I was researching Dux Brit, I came across a similarly-themed set of rules – Dux Bellorum. What is really cool is that they have an e-reader version for the nook, so I succumbed and picked it up. They have an interesting mechanic where each player has leadership points that he can use to encourage units to move, to make attacks deadlier or to improve defense.

I would still like a campaign system to use with Medieval FUBAR. Although I am not using the rules, Song of Blades and Heroes has a fairly inexpensive campaign supplement called Songs of Deeds and Glory. I am very tempted to pick it up.

Battle of Owlton

Battle report from our game of FUBAR. I play the marauders while Elizabeth commands the Royal forces.

Not all is well in the formerly peaceful realm of Princess Thomasina. Rumors of strange magic, monsters, and dastardly raiders have been spreading. The Princess has sent one of her most trusted leaders, Commander Thropp, to investigate these reports. As they sallied forth, Thropp’s band received word of marauders pillaging the countryside. The Royal forces have ridden to the aid of the village of Owlton. *

* Named after the subject of this website that Elizabeth has been frequenting lately.

Thropp has sent a unit of horse ahead to warn the village. Meanwhile, the marauders are advancing, intent on plunder.

The Royal forces (gray) rush to the village as the marauders (tan) approach

Thropp hurries her troops toward the village. Meanwhile, the marauder captain chooses a more cautious approach. His right flank (not pictured), under the leadership of the marauders’ second-in-command, hangs back. Is there treachery afoot among the marauders?

[Note – I failed my activation rolls for the troops on the right.]

The enemies draw closer

The marauder captain, with two other horsemen, recklessly charges into the village. One Royal lancer is killed, but a marauder goes down. Royal cavalry then sneaks out from behind a building and strikes the marauders in the flank. Another marauder goes down. The marauder spearmen then move up to attack the cavalry.

Battle is joined in the village. The marauder captain (the tan figure on a gray horse) finds himself in trouble while the spearmen come to his aid.

In a whirling battle, the Royals get the better of the fight and a spearman goes down.

The spearmen’s attack avails little

Thropp urges her troops to press forward. The lancers and cavalry renew their attacks and the marauder captain goes down.

Death of the captain

With their captain’s death, the marauders lose heart and begin to flee from the battlefield. The spears are surrounded and destroyed.

Run away!

Commander Thropp sends a messenger to the Princess’ capital to inform her of a victory over the marauders. Meanwhile, Thropp continues her pursuit of the enemy.

Battle Notes

Well, that was a short battle. Serves me right for getting careless with my commander. FUBAR does not have set victory conditions so we decided to end the battle after this death. Before we began, I laid out some basic objectives. The marauders wanted to plunder the village while the Royals sought to prevent it. If a marauder spent a turn in a space with a building, then the building was plundered. I did not consider the impact of losing the commander so we made a spot ruling. I will have to clarify the victory conditions next game.

I did make one mistake with regards to activation. Players take turns rolling to activate units until all units have been tested. Then, a new turn begins, at which time units in close combat are immediately activated. They can then choose to withdraw from combat (roll to succeed and the opponent has a chance to follow). This would have allowed the marauder captain a chance to escape. Instead, we rolled initiative, Elizabeth won, and immediately attacked my captain. Game over. Of course, if I hadn’t rushed my commander forward . . .

As I mentioned last night, I liked the stripped-down version that we used. I may add elite cavalry and elite foot as additional troop types, though.We made one additional tweak. I have read some critiques about the activation rules in FUBAR. One big complaint was that a bad roll can prevent a player from doing anything in a phase. To combat that, we played that a player gets one free activation each phase, then can roll for additional activations. It seemed to work well.

All in all, not a bad set of rules (despite the quick game), even if we had to endure a Catzilla attack

I'm not sure Elizabeth will be up for more games but I may continue to dabble.

FUBAR Test Battle

My wife and I played a test battle of FUBAR tonight. I had simplified them a bit - I created a roster of the different troop types involved in our battle (based on what plastic figures I had available).

I created two armies composed as follows:

Unit	Quality	Act	Move	Fight	Def
Commander (mounted)	Elite	2+	4 sp	4+	3+
Leader (foot)	Veteran	3+	2 sp	4+	3+
Lancers	Veteran	3+	4 sp	4+ 2+ Chrg	4+
Cavalry	Seasoned	4+	4 sp	5+	4+
Archers	Veteran	3+	2 sp	4+	5+
Swords	Seasoned	4+	2 sp	5+	4+
Spears	Seasoned	4+	2 sp	4+	5+
Vet Swords	Veteran	3+	2 sp	4+	4+

Notes:

• Act = FUBAR Activation (roll needed for the unit to act)
• Move = # spaces on my grid (I converted to a gridded battle board)
• Fight = FUBAR Expertise (roll needed for unit to hit)
• Def = Defense (roll needed to save when hit)

Each side had one of each type listed above, except for Cavalry and Swords (2 units each). When I tried to explain the rules to my wife, her eyes glazed over and she complained that it was too difficult. So I simplified some more, and we ended up with the following:

Unit	Act	Move	Fight	Def
Leader	2+	2 or 4 sp	4+	3+
Horse	4+	4 sp	4+	4+
Foot	4+	2 sp	5+	5+

Each army had two leaders, one on foot and the other mounted. Interestingly, I really liked this simpler version, and it worked very well.

Full battle report planned for tomorrow.

FUBAR

I'm not referring to World of Warcraft (which I have been playing this week). Instead, I am referring to the series of free skirmish rules.

I've had a hankering for doing some fantasy skirmish gaming. I mentioned in a previous post that I picked up Song of Blades and Heroes. I planned to give that a try for fantasy skirmishing. In that post, I also mentioned that I found a rules-lite RPG called Dead Simple. Well, it turns out that the author of DS also did FUBAR. I've heard of FUBAR before, but the original version was a Sci-Fi skirmish game so I never really pursued it. While looking over DS, I discovered a medieval version of FUBAR. As I perused the rules, I felt that it fit my needs more than SBH.

Inspired, I mounted up some plastic medieval miniatures I had lying around (thanks to Jeff for giving them to me). They are unpainted but they should do for a trial. If all goes well, I may buy some 15mm metal figures.