The Adventure of Butterskull Ranch

From the Tales of Ser Killian

"Spoiler Alert"

Once again I used the D&D adventure Dragon of Icespire Peak. However, I turned this quest into a fast play RPG session so it bears only a passing resemblance to the original.

The Quest

After their success at Gromengarde, our party returns to Phandalin. Ser Killian manages to find a cleric to heal Winston. Then they take on the next challenge - find out what has happened at Butterskull Ranch.

What They Find at the Ranch

The ranch has been overrun by a band of orcs.

The party enters the ranch house and begins clearing out the marauders.

• In the first room, they run into 4 orcs. Ser Killian charges and wipes out half of them. His comrades take out the rest.
• Next, they encounter a lone orc. It calls for help but Gruff slays it. Then 3 more orcs arrive. The party wipes them out.
• They run into another 4 orcs but these also fall to the heroes' blades.

The Cellar

The party finds no more orcs in the upper levels of the house. Then they enter the cellar. Here they find a large, muscular orc torturing a bound human.

The heroes attack, but the orc warlord grabs a giant cleaver and begins swinging it wildly. The party has its hands full dodging the orcs attacks. Yet they manage to get in some attacks of their own. Soon the orc bleeds profusely.

But the orc is not done. It bellows in defiance and goes berserk. First, it slashes Brother Winston, who collapses in a pool of blood. Then Haiden and Gruff in turn taste the bite of the cleaver. Both are severely wounded.

Killian then makes an attack that stuns the orc. Haiden follows up and thrusts his spear deep into the orc's vitals. The orc crashes to the ground.

Aftermath

Killian manages to revive Winston. They also untie and tend to the orc's victim. He is the owner of the ranch. The orcs took him captive and had been tormenting him. He thanks the party for his rescue.

The party stays at the ranch, helping the owner, until Winston is well enough to travel. Then they return to Phandalin.

GAME NOTES

Once again, the adventure is a bit lackluster. I just turned it into a series of encounters against orcs until the party killed a certain number. Then they met an orc warlord, which was an addition of my own.

For this adventure, I experimented with streamlined rules. I'll post about them at a later date.

Vienna 1683 - Part One

I decided to try another test of Fast Play MicroBattle (FPMB).

This time I'm replaying a historical scenario. Wargames Illustrated # 204 features a scenario for the relief of Vienna in 1683. I then split it into 3 scenarios covering each flank and the center.

PART 1 - THE ALLIED LEFT FLANK

Set Up

The allied Imperial and Polish forces advance from the west (bottom). The Turks defend a ridge line, with their flanks anchored on the village.

The opposing forces are:

• Turks (Ibrahim) - 2 brigades of Janissaries, 3 brigades of light cavalry, a battery of artillery, and a brigade of Azab light infantry.
• Allies (Charles of Lorraine) - 2 brigades of Cuirassier heavy cavalry, 1 brigade of Imperial musketeers, battery of artillery, 1 brigade of Polish musketeers, 1 brigade of Polish hussars

The Battle

The Turkish cavalry charges from the ridge, overruns the Austrian musketeers, and kills Charles of Lorraine.

The Imperial Cuirassiers flee but the Polish reserves hold firm.

The Polish cavalry chase away the Turkish horse.

The Cuirassiers charge the Azabs in the village but the Turkish artillery blasts them.

The Polish infantry advance on the ridge.

But the Turkish guns drive them off.

The Turks are victorious on the left. Next we'll see how they do in the center.

Analysis

I was satisfied with this test.

• The game took about 20 minutes, a bit longer than my target but still reasonable.
• This time I added artillery. Rules for guns are a little different than the standard combat rules.
• Artillery may fire up to 4 squares
• Need a 5-6 to hit at short range (2 squares) or 6 at long range (3-4 squares)
• Close combat with adjacent targets follows the standard combat procedure
• If hit with a ranged bombardment, the target makes Morale and Retreat Tests at an advantage
• In this battle, the Turkish artillery was effective. The Imperial artillery, well not so much.
• By the way, you may notice that I'm using a different grid. I flipped the mat over and did a grid with 30mm squares. I ended up with a 6 x 6 grid with a column of half squares (which I don't use).

Well That Was FAST

I experimented with Fast Play MicroBattle last weekend.

Set Up

I decided to pull out my white army for this battle. They represent the Imperialists. So I guess blue represents the Turks.

I rolled randomly to determine the order of battle: 3-4 infantry, 1-2 cavalry, and 0-1 artillery.

The Imperialist rolled poorly and ended up with an army of 3 infantry and 1 cavalry.

The Turks have 4 infantry and 2 cavalry.

Because they are outnumbered, I set up the Imperialists as the defenders.

The Battle

The Turks advance their wings and assault the Imperialists. In both attacks, the Turks destroy their adversaries.

Already down to half strength, the Imperial army loses heart and flees.

Game over.

Analysis

That battle may seem like a failure for FPMB, but I'm satisfied. At least it shows that I achieved my objective. The system surely is fast play.

That being said, there are some lessons to learn.

• Understrength, 1-stand divisions are fragile. Don't count on them lasting very long.
• I can probably handle slightly bigger armies. In a defense scenario like this, the defenders should start with 6 units and the attackers could have 8 or 9. Guess I need to make more counters.
• Defenders could really use some artillery.

Speaking of artillery, you may notice a lack of artillery in my games so far. Skirmishers, too. This is because I envision the game as grand tactical in scale. I assume that supporting artillery and skirmishers are part of the infantry and cavalry units. An artillery counter would represent a grand battery. Possible but not necessary for an army to have.

What about skirmisher counters? I don't envision having entire divisions of skirmishers so I may use my skirmisher bases as irregular or poor infantry.

The Onyx Rule

With the battle over so quickly, I felt I had time for another. I decided to set up a sequel.

But then my cat Onyx discovered the game and started playing with the dice. This invoked the Onyx rule - "When the cat sits on the board, the game is over."

Nevertheless, I plan to experiment some more. Stay tuned!

Fast Play Experiments

Piqued by the quick play opportunities of the 3 x 3 Portable Wargame, I decided to experiment.

3 x 3 Test

First I decided to try a 3 x 3 Portable Wargame. I grabbed 6 units from my tin of generic counters, placed them on a board, and went at it. I never finished.

I found the game lackluster. Because of the constraints of the grid, there was no maneuver. Just march straight forward into the maw of death. Furthermore, I could not score a hit (I'm a bad roller). Combat dragged and, as I suspected, it was just an exercise in dice-rolling.

Fast Play MicroBattle

The problem, I theorized, was not the size of the grid. It was the combat mechanisms. Specifically, the combat mechanisms, whether for PW or my own MicroBattle, too often led to indecisive results. I decided to try out some new mechanisms where combat would be more decisive.

FPMB in a Nutshell

In brief, here are the rules I used.

• Armies comprising 6 units are divided into divisions of 2 units each. Divisions could be all infantry, all cavalry, or mixed.
• Roll a D3 to determine the number of divisions to activate per turn.
• Foot or mixed divisions move 1 space per turn. All cavalry divisions move 2.
• Combat occurs between adjacent units.
• To adjudicate combat, each side rolls a D6 and adds or subtract bonuses due to advantages or disadvantages. 
• As usual for MicroBattle, I just tend to eyeball this and give the side with an advantage a +1 modifier.
• The loser takes a Disorder marker and makes additional Resolution Tests
• Morale Test - failure leads to a second Disorder (which eliminates a unit)
• Retreat Test - failure causes the entire division to retreat one square
• Roll for army morale once an army loses half its units

FPMB Test Game

And here are shots of a test game.

Here is my initial set-up using my full-size grid. However, I quickly realized that with a movement rate of 1 space per turn it will take a while before the troops even get into combat.

Lesson learned. Either use a narrower board or create a route march rule to allow forces to advance quicker.

For this battle, I reset with the troops closer together.

Red attacks on the left but is repulsed.

Blue's counterattacks fail.

Red moves the center into action against the town. On the flanks, Red routs two enemy units.

So far, I've essentially been playing a 3 x 3 game. However, the next turn shows the benefit of a bigger grid.

Red's cavalry (right) splits from the division and makes a flank march. Blue repulses the accompanying infantry assault.

But the cavalry attack routs Blue's flank.

The loss of its flanks causes a general panic in the Blue army. It must retire from the battlefield.

Red is victorious.

Evaluation

So far, I am pleased with the fast play version of MicroBattle.

Observations:

• The above game took approximately 15 minutes.
• Combat seemed to work fine.
• By using an opposed dice roll, attacks usually have some effect. There is only a 1 in 6 chance of a tie, in which case the fight in inconclusive. Otherwise, one division will take a casualty. Furthermore, the division may lose an entire unit and may have to retreat!
• I decided to allow divisions to split - as I did with the cavalry flank march.
• The activation rule makes splitting a division a thought-provoking exercise. You extend your frontage and increase the chance to flank, but it makes it harder to control your army. You are more likely to leave troops sitting around.
• I used a 7 x 8 grid that I created for regular MicroBattle games. This is too big for FPMB. I may create a 5 x 5 grid specifically for FPMB. 
• With a smaller grid, I should have room to expand the size of each square. I may use 30mm squares so the 25mm counters will fit a touch better.
• With larger squares, I may have room to add some 3D buildings.

Anyway, stay tuned for more fast play MicroBattle experiments.

3 x 3 for Me?

When the fast play 3 x 3 portable wargame phenomenon broke out earlier this year, I was uninterested. After all, I experimented with something akin to 3 x 3 many years ago, but my efforts went nowhere. I felt like the game was simply an exercise in dice-rolling without any maneuvering.

After my test of Battles of the English Civil War, however, I found myself hankering for some fast play battles. This led my thoughts to 3 x 3.

While I am not keen on restricting my games to a 3 x 3 grid, I see some advantages to such quick play systems. This has given me ideas that will speed play.

• Units do not operate independently. Instead, they are grouped into 3 or 4 divisions with each division acting as one entity,
• Combat would be between divisions rather than individual units.
• Destruction of one division will result in an army morale test. Lose two divisions and your army is done.

But this leads to some questions.

• How do I adjudicate combat between divisions with disparate sizes and compositions?
• What happens when a division loses a combat? Does it lose a unit? Retreat? Lose strength points?
• If units are lost, how does one determine which unit goes?
• Can divisions split off units? What happens then?

Things to ponder.

THW Quick Play Adventures Kickstarter

I may not be all that crazy about Battles of the English Civil War, but I love the concept behind Lambo's game. They are essentially board games in book form. They are quick to set up and quick to play.

Now it appears that Ed Teixiera of Two Hour Wargames has taken the concept to a whole new level. He has just launched a Kickstarter for Quick Play Adventure Games!

The QPAGs are complete games in bound book form. In addition to the rules, they include battle boards and real, honest-to-goodness counters!

Now I have a real love-hate relationship with THW. I frequently find myself enamored of the game themes but I just cannot wrap my head around the rules. I usually take elements from THW and then use my own rules, such as my experiments with Hell Hath No Fury. Thus, I was initially reluctant to back the new Kickstarter. But when I saw the packages with all the components, I could not resist.

I initially pledged for a single printed copy. I plan to opt for Warrior Heroes, the fantasy rules.

I was already working on a box set for quick fantasy skirmishes but I never got around to playtesting. Warrior Heroes may be the answer to my quest for quick play fantasy.

I also see that Ed is offering a Pulp game.

This may come in handy. Months ago I pre-ordered Pulp!, a set of pulp skirmish rules from Osprey. It is now scheduled for release in December. One issue - I don't have any pulp miniatures. I planned to make some pulp counters, but never found good artwork. Once again, THW may be the answer to my dilemma, and I am seriously considering adding to my pledge.

THW estimates to ship the books in January. I look forward trying out QPAG.