Up Where The Air Is Clear

I believe that it is a common malady among wargamers that we are easily influenced with regards to which period we wish to play. A good movie or book can send us off on another project entirely. That has been my recent experience. Instead of focusing on one of my 6 x 6 challenge games (e.g. I have some colonial figures sitting around waiting to be painted!), my thoughts have turned upward into the skies.

The culprit this time is this:

It is the third book of the Otto Prohaska series, which follows the exploits of an Austro-Hungarian naval officer during and before World War I. The first book, which is excellent, sees Prohaska as a submarine commander. In the third, by a strange set of circumstances, he ends up taking to the skies.

World War I aviation has long been an interest of mine so this book easily tugged at me. I find myself wanting to play out some small scale ( a few planes per side) air battles. But what rules to use? This has long been my quandary, especially because I like to play solo and many air combat rules don't lend themselves to well to solo gaming. I have some rambling thoughts I'd like to share on the topic. They may be fairly long-winded so I'll split them across multiple posts over the next several days.

Tonight's Game

My wife and I played Ticket to Ride tonight. Here's the final score (add 100 to the score shown):

Elizabeth completed the most routes, earning a 10 point bonus. However, I completed longer routes, earning more points. The longest of these went from Bergen to Tornio (the stars below). This earned 17 points.

This pulled me ahead by 4 points for the win!

Battle of Harumba Hill

Part 3 of the Presteria-Swartheria War

After defeating the latest raid, the Presterian army decides to launch a punitive expedition against the Swartherians. They debouch from their fertile plateau and advance into the deserts of Swartheria. They head toward Harumba Hill, a prominent landmark in the trackless wastes.

A company of Presterian knights rides for Harumba Hill. A band of Swartherian cavalry are determined to stop the advance/

The Swartherians seize the hill while reinforcements appear for both sides.

A second company of knights charges up the hill, only to find stiff resistance.

While the second company is forced off the hill and then destroyed, the first company overruns a band of enemy cavalry.

On the right flank, the victorious Swartherians continue their charge into a steady rank of Presterian spears. It did not end well for the Swartherians.

The Presterians wipe out the remaining enemy but clouds of dust can be seen in the distance. More Swartherians will be arriving.

The Presterians have time to reinforce the hill before a lone Swartherian warband arrives.

It tries to retake the hill.

But a charge by the knights wipes it out.

Another warband arrives, which is again eliminated.

There are no more Swartherian forces in the vicinity. Presteria has secured Harumba Hill.

Game Notes

• I actually had some free time yesterday morning so I decided to shake off the doldrums and start the month with a 6 x 6 game!
• With this victory, the Presterians have clinched the campaign with a 3-0 record and thus have saved Presteria. Nevertheless, I will play one more battle just to round out the 6 x 6 challenge.
• The scenario is # 17 - Encounter from Neil Thomas's One Hour Wargames. Troops arrive in a piecemeal fashion (on each turn a unit arrives on a roll of 4-6). Each side is trying to seize and hold the hill in the middle.
• I added a couple of oases (woods) and an extra hill. As it turns on, they had no impact on the game.
• When I rolled for a reinforcement, I randomly determined the type on the spot. This turned out to be a little unfair to the Swartherians, who had less effective troops (for example, the Swartherians do not have any knights).
• A unit of elephants appeared for the Presterians, but they never got into battle (the knights hogged all the glory).

March Doldrums

Time for a monthly recap. This month's theme is doldrums.

I'm so lazy I didn't even bother to find a new picture!

Six by Six Challenge
I started the year on a torrid pace but I predicted that my pace would slacken. I just did not expect it to happen so suddenly, March turned out to be a bad month gaming-wise. I only completed two games and none of them were miniatures games (I played DC Rivals and a Four Against Darkness session)

The Six by Six list at the Stronghold Rebuilt is up-to-date.

Harry Potter at Universal Studios Orlando
A couple of weeks ago my wife and I spent a long weekend at Universal Studios. It had been several years since we last visited and we had never seen the Harry Potter areas at the park.

We stayed at the Cabana Bay Beach Resort, which had a cool 1950s Miami vibe. We visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and enjoyed the new rides, I got hooked on butterbeer.

Unlike previous visits to Orlando I did not play any games. I did not bring my computer and I forgot to pack one of my portable wargames.

Projects
I've been busy so I haven't done any work on any of my projects. My latest batch of figures for my Lumbago project are still sitting in their envelope.

I have been pondering a new LARP project - a Me'owtzlan character,

The Me'owtzlan are Aztec-inspired cat-people who live in my LARP group's imaginary home. Here is the story of their appearance. I'm researching ways to dress more convincingly like a Me'owtzlan.

A Quick Update

I seem to be settling into a miniatures lull, so I have no pretty pictures to share. Still, I have a couple of things to report:

Another Six by Six Game
Last night, my wife and I pulled out DC Rivals (our first game since the new year). I struggled early on, not getting the cards to buy good stuff while Elizabeth was stockpiling. Soon, she had the first confrontation under her belt. But then I roared back, and managed to win 2 confrontations. One more and I'd have the victory. Soon after, Elizabeth pulled even. As the draw pile dwindled, I realized that neither of us would get that final confrontation so I concentrated on buying good cards. The game ended and we tallied up our points: I won 40-38. Whew, what a close game!

Lumbago
This is the only game of the 6 x 6 challenge I haven't played. This is because I don't have the figures for it. Well that changed yesterday when my order of Irregular Miniatures arrived. I'll have to get painting so I can start on this part of the challenge.

Four Against Darkness
I finally got my characters to 3rd level so they are finally ready to take on the Three Rings module. I've been excited to play this module because it takes the 4AD system into a wilderness adventure. Before I set them loose I gave them reinforcement - a NPC. I created a ranger character using the new character classes in the fan-made supplement, Uncanny Against Darkness. Then, they were off into the woods, hunting down a band of orc reavers that stole 3 rings.

As I read through the adventure I had some misgivings. There is no map; instead the player just rolls up an encounter and plays it. I feared that this would make the encounters feel incredibly random and would remove any illusion of player control over the character's progress through the adventure.

 An illusion of control is one thing that original 4AD did so well. When you come to a fork in a corridor it doesn't really matter if you go left or right. What you encounter will be determined randomly. Nevertheless, by giving the player a decision point, the game gives the illusion that the player has control. If the characters go left, run into a dragon, and get wiped out, one can easily think "I should have gone right." In reality it doesn't matter - a dragon would have come up either way. Yet the illusion makes the game better.

Sadly, as I feared, that illusion of control is largely missing from Three Rings. There are occasional opportunities to steer the characters toward the goal, but encounters feel so random. And because it is so random, I didn't feel like I was making progress to the goal. Unlike standard 4AD, I can't fill up the map, forcing an encounter with the boss. Instead, it's roll, roll, roll and hope to find a reaver.

Still, I think this module is worthwhile. There are a lot of interesting encounters, such as the giant that drops random items to the cabin in the woods, etc. Because of the fun encounters, I don't want to give up on the module. I plan on tweaking it a bit, turning it into a hex crawl (actually 3 hex crawls, one for each rng). I'll map out a 4 x 3 hex area, giving 12 possible encounters. If I come to the last hex and haven't found a ring then I'll automatically have a boss encounter. I think this will mitigate against the sense of randomness.

In other 4AD news, I went to the Ganesha Games website so I could get the URL for Three Rings. I noticed that they have a new supplement, Fiendish Foes, which adds more monsters to the system. What an excellent idea! As I have been making my own adventures for the system, I found a need for more monsters. Glad to see it become a reality, and hope they do more similar supplements (perhaps having themes, like my Greek myth themed adventure)

The Most Ferocious Monster in Four Against Darkness

Sunday morning I tried to play a session of Four Against Darkness,

Here was the final monster:

Onyx decided that my charts looked like a comfy bed,

Game over man, GAME OVER!*

*RIP Bill Paxton

February Recap

No game this week, and due to a crashed computer my month-end update is a little late.

Six by Six Challenge
February was another productive month, with 5 games completed (2 Four Against Darkness adventures, 2 fantasy battles, and a game of Ticket to Ride). The full list can be found here.

I am averaging 6 games a month, which puts me on a pace to complete the challenge halfway through the year. I suspect, however, that my productivity will peter out over the months.

Boxed Portable Gaming
I have been really enjoying the boxed portable games. In addition to my fantasy campaign, I have also put together a boxed version of Four Against Darkness. Last weekend I picked up some index cards. Now I plan to put character and monster stats on the cards, which should make reference and adventure set-up even easier.

I also ordered more boxes - one for sci-fi, one for horse and musket, and a spare.

New Project
I'm expecting delivery of some more Irregular 2mm figures for colonial era battles. This will allow me to start on my Lumbago campaign for the 6x6 challenge. I am planning one change to this project. Instead of using my own rules, I want to give Bob Cordery's The Portable Wargame rules a try.