Aces Up Play Through

Up next in my air combat game play throughs is Aces Up.

THE GAME

Aces Up is a World War I air combat game from Two Hour Wargames.

In the game, you are a fighter pilot dogfighting the enemy.

MY PLAY THROUGH

My Pilot

In Aces Up, each player has a personal pilot. Kind of like your own player character.

I rolled randomly to determine his aircraft. My pilot, let's call him Hank, flies a SPAD VII.

He starts with a reputation (REP) of 4. This is a crucial stat as it is the target for most rolls in the game. You need to roll equal or under REP to pass a roll.

The Mission

I start with the first mission of the campaign. Hank flies solo on a line patrol. His objective is to shoot down or drive off all enemy planes.

I randomly determine the enemies. There are 3 PEFs (potential enemy forces) on the campaign map.

The PEFs could be enemy aircraft, or they could be nothing.

Encounters

Hank first scouts sector 5. I test vs. an enemy REP of 4. I get 1 pass on 2 dice. This equates to empty skies on the encounter table.

In sector 2, Hank spots an enemy aircraft. It's a sole Albatross with REP of 4.

The Dogfight

We now go to combat.

Round 1

Each round features multiple steps, each generally requiring rolls on various tables.

Note - AU includes random event cards, which you draw prior to combat. I ignored them in this play through.

• Match Up - roll to determine which planes match up vs. each other. This does not really apply in a 1 vs 1 dogfight.
• Dogfight roll - each plane makes a test using 2 dice + any bonus dice
• 1 choose to use 2 of Hank's 4 bonus dice
• I roll to determine how many bonus dice the German uses. He uses 3
• Each side rolls vs. REP.
• Hank passes 2 and the Albatross passes 1. Hank wins!

Hank now has the drop on the German. Can he line up for a shot?

• Take Control roll - each plane makes a test like the Dogfight roll
• This means determining bonus dice then rolling the dice pools
• This time, the Albatross passes more than Hank. Hank cannot get a shot.

Rounds 2-3

These rounds are similar to round 1. One of the planes wins the dogfight roll but cannot take control.

Round 4

This time, Hank wins the dogfight and takes control. He's ready to shoot.

• Burst roll - roll randomly to determine the length of the burst. Hank gets in a Long burst.
• Fire roll - determine if the attacker hits the target
• Your target number depends on the length of your burst and your plane's Barrels. Hank has a 2, which means he needs a 1-2 to pass
• Hank gets 2 passes! This does 1 point of damage to the Albatross, which can take 5 hits.
• Continue On - this is essentially a non-player plane morale roll.
• Roll vs. REP - Damage
• The Albatross fails so it breaks off
• Heading Home - determines what happens to a plane that breaks off
• The Albatross passes, so it escapes safely

Hank was involved in one dogfight and drove off the enemy

Completing the Mission

Hank scouts sector 1 but there is nothing.

He returns home, having succeeded in his mission.

ANALYSIS

What do I think about Aces Up?

What I Like

• Small space - The game fits into a small space. As such, it is one of the inspirations for my current project. I want a game that can fit on a lap desk. AU fits that bill.
• Relative movement - This is why I'm experimenting with AU. It's hard to fit aircraft maneuvers on small board. Having aircraft move relative to one another solves the space problem.
• Bonus dice - one issue with relative movement is the lack of decision-making, given that games usually determine it with opposed dice rolls or card draws. AU mitigates the lack of decision-making by giving you bonus dice. You have to decide how to spend this resource.
• QRS - Two Hour Wargames regularly feature all the tables in the back. This makes reference much easier.

What I Don't Like

• Too many dice rolls - AU just has too many steps. Just to get a shot, you have to win a Dogfight roll and a Take Control roll. If you win both, you then roll to determine the length of your burst. Then you finally get to see if you hit. The process can be streamlined - Maneuver, Attack, Damage.
• Dice pools - Two Hour Wargames has a standard mechanic featuring dice pools. I dislike dice pools because it slows down the game for me. For example, in Hank's combats I would collect Hank's dice pool, roll, and count successes. Then I'd gather the opponent's dice pool, roll, and count successes. I find it easier to roll 1 die per plane. I can roll for multiple planes simultaneously (I use different colored dice to keep track).
• Bonus dice - while I like the use of bonus dice to add decision-making, I hate having to track them for the non-player planes. It was clunky with just one enemy. I can't imagine having 2 or 3!
• Lack of aircraft - AU only has stats for half a dozen fighters and no reconnaissance planes or bombers. 

Final Analysis

AU is a bit slower than I like. I doubt I'll play it as written.

Nevertheless, it has some good ideas that I want to steal. For example, I think I'll use bonus dice, but for the player side only. The game also has some good campaign ideas.

By the way, Kaptain Kobold has a good play through if you'd like to see the game played with multiple planes per side.

One Deck Dungeon - Overview

Last week I mentioned that I picked up a couple of quick play dungeon crawl games. My wife and I played both of them over the weekend and enjoyed both of them. This morning I played another run-through of One Deck Dungeon by Asmadi Games.

One Deck Dungeon (ODD) is a dungeon crawl game for 1 to 2 players. It uses cards to build the dungeon and dice (lots of dice) to adjudicate encounters.

Below is a photo of the play area. There is a deck of cards with encounters listed on them. As your character explores the dungeon, the rooms are revealed (a maximum of 4 is laid out at any one time).

Here is a hero card. One can play as a warrior, mage, paladin, rogue, or archer. The icons on the left represent attributes and items. For example, the warrior starts with 3 strength, 1 agility, and 4 health. Strength, agility, and magic (none for the warrior) translate to dice that are rolled to overcome encounters. Health works like standard hit points; don't fall to 0!

 Here is a combat encounter card. To defeat the goblin swarm, the player rolls their dice pool (which can also include black "heroic" dice that act as wild cards) and tries to fill in the boxes on the encounter card. Boxes are color coded - yellow requires strength; pink = agility, and blue = magic. The numbers represent what needs to be rolled. For example, to fill the bottom right box requires a roll of 5 on a strength die.

Once the dice are rolled, allocate them to the boxes (note that you can use multiple dice to fill in the larger, rectangular boxes). In this case, I failed to fill a pink box, thus I must take damage (red heart icon) and lose time (yellow hourglass).

So that's the basic mechanic - roll dice and cover boxes. I kind of think of it as yahtzee, in a dungeon. Hey, that's not a bad thing - I like yahtzee. If you are looking for a more traditional dungeon crawl (roll dice to hit, record damage, rinse and repeat), this isn't it. Nevertheless, the core mechanic allows you to breeze through encounters very quickly. ODD also requires a lot of decisions, which makes the game interesting. Decisions include:

• How to allocate dice during combat
• Whether to enter or flee a room
• What kind of loot to take (there are multiple options per encounter - more on that in a moment)

There are different dungeons, each with a unique main boss. I played the Dragon's Cave. Depending on the dungeon and floor, you'll have additional boxes you need to fill. For example, on the first floor of the Dragon's Cave, you need an additional 3 strength per combat encounter (you also need to fill the yellow box)

You don't need to cover all the boxes to succeed in an encounter; you just need to survive. If you do, you keep the encounter card as loot. There are 3 possible types of loot (you can choose). The icons on the left represent additional items that boost your abilities. For example, you can use the goblin card to boost strength by 1 die. The bottom box represents either a skill (shown) or a potion that provides beneficial effects. Finally, you can apply the encounter to experience (icons on top). Gain enough experience to level up, which allows you to apply more items or skills to your character.

Here is the warrior with an additional item (left) and skill (bottom). Your loot is kept under the character card, with the relevant info peeking out.

(Note: You may notice that the warrior in this photo has more dice than the picture above. That's because I started my solo game using the 2-player side. The 1-player side gives you more dice)

There are also perils (e.g. traps). You will always have 2 options to deal with the peril. For example, you can use strength to climb around the pit of spikes or use agility to jump it. I used strength, and boy did I roll poorly!

Once you get through the floors of the dungeon, you come to the main boss. Here is the dragon!

Boss battles proceed over multiple rounds. Fill in the boxes with the skull icon to inflict damage on the boss. But first you must get past its defenses (fill in the boxes with the green shields). If you inflict damage equal to the number in the bottom box (6 for the dragon) then you kill the boss and complete the dungeon!

So that's an overview of how to play ODD. For more info, I recommend checking out some of the walk-throughs on YouTube.

What are my thoughts on this game? I'm going to do another post with my thoughts.

Fantasy Experimentation

After publicly pondering the rules to use for my Anarendor project, Kaptain Kobold was kind enough to send me a PDF of the Hordes of the Things (HOTT) rules version 2.0. Although I am familiar with DBA, the forerunner of HOTT, I would like to study them more before giving them a whirl.

In the meantime, I had an itch to experiment with some rules I had in mind. To that end, I ran a small skirmish (my report was posted earlier today).

Rules Notes
Here are some notes on the rules I used:

Combat
I experimented with a dice pool, like many of my home brew rules. Attackers would roll a number of dice depending on troop type, hitting on rolls of 4+. Defenders would roll dice in order to negate hits. Beneficial terrain would increase the defender's dice pool. In a way, it is similar to the skirmish rules I have been using for much of this year.

Troops Types
These are the troops I used today:

• Barbarian Hordes - strong in attack (3 dice) but tend to die in droves (0 defense dice and only take 2 hits, although I probably should bump it up to 3 hits)
• Barbarian Chieftain - hardier than his hordes (3 attack, 1 defense, 4 hits)
• Archers - not particularly powerful, but their range makes them dangerous. I used the same attack/defend stats for each side (2 attack, 0 defense) but the barbarians could only take 2 hits to the human's 4
• Anardendor Levy - not as aggressive as the barbarians but strong of heart (2 attack, 1 defense, 4 hits. This probably should be 3)
• Knights - strong and mobile (3 attack, 1 defense, 4 hits)

Activation

For the good guy army, I used the Song of Blade and Heroes activation method. Each unit could roll 1-3 dice to activate, needing to roll >= their quality value (4 for the purposes of this experiment). Two failures would end the turn.

For the bad guys, I wanted to take a new approach. There were 2 reasons for this:

1. I didn't want to get into commanding the bad guy army, deciding what order to activate and how many dice to roll. Instead, I wanted to program their movements to a certain extent.
2. I wanted to reduce the times that the bad guys failed to move. This was to create a feeling of an inexorable, seemingly overwhelming assault.

To achieve this, I simply rolled a D6 per unit every turn. On a 1, it remained immobile while on a 5-6 it moved an extra space. In general, the bad guys rushed toward their foe.

For this particular scenario, I added a wrinkle to the good army's activation. I rolled a D6 at the beginning of each turn. The knights could not begin moving until a 6 was rolled. This was to simulate the delay as they picked their way along a secret path over the ridge.

Miniatures

I thought about building some 3mm scale block armies, but decided against it. Instead, I ordered a couple of packs of the Magister Militum from Scale Creep (I highly recommend him). In the meantime, I used my 6mm medieval troops for today's scenario.

Final Thoughts

• My new activation method for the bad guys worked as I hoped. In general, they rushed forward but there were occasional snafus where a unit failed to move.
• I am increasingly pleased with the dice pool method. I especially like defense rolls. For years, I resisted them because I didn't want additional dice rolls, but now I like the variability they create.
• I may need to play around with the troop stats, as mentioned above. I do think that giving hordes a defense of 0 creates the feel I want.
• I did not try it out in this scenario, but I may experiment with replacing hordes, a la HOTT.

Living Deadball

Introduction

As mentioned previously, I am on a baseball kick. I decided to try out Deadball: Baseball with Dice.

Deadball (hereafter DB) is available from Drivethrurpg. It is pay as you want with a suggested price of $10.

Overview

DB is similar to other baseball simulations that use dice. For each at bat, you roll some dice and consult some charts to determine what happens. Just like a real baseball game, you progress through 9 innings of at bats. Highest scoring team wins!

Let me elaborate.

• First, roll D100 - D? where D? varies depending on the pitcher's ability.
• If the roll is
• <= batter's ability (usually around 25-30) then roll for a hit
• <= 5 above the batter's ability then the hitter gets a walk
• > 5 above the batter's ability, then it is an out
• You then 
• roll a D20 and consult a chart to determine the type of hit, or 
• Take the singles digit from your D100 roll and consult a chart to determine the type of out. This is important because it could result in a double play

That's essentially it. At its core, it's pretty basic. Of course, there are complications, such as bunts, errors, and all the frills of a baseball game. Also, there are player traits that can modify dice rolls and affect results.

What is particularly unique about Deadball is that it provides multiple ways to create your own ratings. You can convert real baseball stats, roll them up randomly, or use the pre-rolled fictional teams provided in the rules. This provides a great deal of flexibility.

By the way, here is another review of Deadball that provides a bit more detail than I did.

The Game

My plan is to play out a sample of the 1922 American League season. Back then, the AL had eight teams. I plan to play 28 games per team, which may be a bit ambitious. I created my own schedule and opening day features the Sox battle - the Boston Red Sox visit the Chicago White Sox.

The starting pitchers are:

• BOS - Jack Quinn (8-7 3.78 ERA in 1921)
• CHI - Red Faber (25-15 2.48 ERA in 1921)

Boston struck in the 2nd inning. With 2 outs and men on 2nd and 3rd, Muddy Ruel lined a drive down the line for triple. When the throw went errant, Muddy managed to skip home for a 3-0 lead.

Chicago chipped away in the bottom of the inning with two doubles. Score 3-1.

Both pitchers settled down with 3 innings of scoreless play. But Boston extended its lead after Joe Harris doubled then scored on a double play. Boston added another run off reliever Shovel Hodge in the 8th. They would need that run.

Ben Karr came in for Quinn in the 9th. He gave up a single and a walk before striking out Ernie Johnson. After another walk, he was replaced by Bill Piercy. Chicago then had Hervey McClellan pinch hit for the pitcher. With bases loaded, He roped a double that scored all men on base. Score 5-4.

Now Chicago felt confident. The potential tieing runner was on 2nd and the top of the order was up. But Piercy managed to get Eddie Collins to ground out and Earl Sheely to fly to right field. Game over.

It was an exciting victory for the Red Sox!

Evaluation

Pros

As you can see from my recap, DB creates a very realistic simulation of a baseball game. 

Like baseball, fortunes can turn quickly. When I got to the bottom of the 9th, I figured Boston would cruise to a victory. However, their starter was tiring so I put in a reliever to close out the game. Chicago then managed to make it interesting with 3 runs and a chance to tie the game!

I only played a single game, but it seems that DB creates realistic results, and this is no small feat. I've tried to design dice baseball games and they've either been offensive slugfests like a softball game at the company picnic or there is about as much scoring as a soccer game.

While DB features plenty of dice rolling and random events, there are decision points. Akin to a real baseball game, events are out of the managers control most of the time. He must rely on his players to get the job done. However, he has crucial decisions to make - the initial batting order, who to pitch, and when to substitute. These decisions are present in DB.

The ability to create your own ratings is a welcome feature. I spent a little time creating a converter in Excel. Now I can easily download stats from online, plug them into my spreadsheet, and get DB ratings.

Overall, DB is an excellent baseball simulator.

Cons

Most of these cons are in comparison to Strat-o-matic Baseball (SOM), a game that I played extensively.

DB uses a "groping for dice" system, meaning that it employs a variety of dice - D100 for swing results, D20 for hits, D12 for defense, and anywhere from a D4 to a D20 for pitchers. This results in the player groping around to find the right dice for a given situation. As a recall, SOM uses D6s for most situations, with an occasional D20. Personally, I find that fewer types of dice streamline the game and make it move quicker.

DB's system involves rolling and possibly modifying results, then referring to chart. This seemed a bit slower than SOM's card based system. Modifiers are essentially built into SOM's cards. You just roll and reference the result. Of course, this could be part of DB's learning curve. I assume I will get quicker given time. I'm guessing that Board Game Geek's high estimate of 30 minutes per game is realistic. To be fair, this is actually quicker than SOM's estimate of 45 minutes.

Overall

I would say that this is a worthwhile buy. I will certainly play it again, and I like having the ability to create my own ratings.

Battle of Nieuville - A Grayrock Revolution Battle

I've been publishing Retrospectives on Saturdays and I have one ready, but I am going to save it for tomorrow. Instead, I have a battle report. Kaptain Kobold asked for more horse & musket battles so I played out another clash of the Grayrock Revolution. I have gone back to my grid-based rules (I did not like measuring or recording casualties) but I used One-Hour Wargames to determine the army compositions and the battle scenario. The scenario is # 15 - Fortified Defense and the army lists are as follows:

Bluderia - 4 infantry, 1 artillery, 1 cavalry
Grayrock - 3 infantry, 1 artillery, 2 skirmishers
Note - I don't have gray infantry in 2mm so I am using white as a substitute.

In addition, I used Thomas's solo set-up system to deploy the Bluderian forces. Random rolls ended up with a strong left flank (consisting of 2 infantry and the artillery) and a weak center (infantry only). I positioned the Grayrockian infantry in the built-up areas (the town of Nieuville in the center and the village of Hogfast on the left) and on a hill. Skirmishers are in the woods (right) with artillery in the center. I am not using generals in this game. Also, you will note that I am using my 2mm figures.

After his unsuccessful attempt to break the siege of the capital, Giovanni retreated to the town of Nieuville. He soon received word that Bluderia's General Waffenhoffer had left a token force in front of the city and was rapidly pursuing the rebel army. Giovanni set up a defensive perimeter running from Hogfast to the woods.

Waffenhoffer advanced on a broad front, with the bulk of his forces ready to assail Hogfast.

Disposition after the Bluderians move onto the battlefield (facing south)

 Waffenhoffer ordered the attack and the left flank attacked the village. Meanwhile, the cavalry advanced between the woods and the rocky ground.

The opening confrontation on the left.

 Sustained fire forced the Grayrock infantry from the village but with reinforcement they advanced to retake it.

Per Thomas's scenario, the infantry in the village is not supposed to leave, but the Command & Colors-inspired rules I'm using allow for forced retreats (on a roll of a flag on my C&C dice). I interpreted the rule that the infantry could not be commanded to leave but could be forced out.

Speaking of dice, I determined activation by rolling 3 dice. After a few turns I realized that, at the pace dictated by such few dice, the Bluderians could not win by the scenario-allotted 15th turn. I then upped the activation dice to 6, which seemed to allow a sustained offensive but still provided some interesting, random twists. I extended the game a few extra turns to compensate for their restricted activations early on.

Grayrock loses the village but returns to contest it

 The Grayrock counterattack re-took Hogfast, and sent one Bluderian infantry unit running.

The village is back in Grayrock hands.

 The victory was short-lived as accurate fire forced the infantry back out of the village. Meanwhile, the skirmishers in the woods and the Grayrock artillery took a toll on Bluderian forces. Waffenhoffer ordered the cavalry to take out the artillery.

More fighting on the left.
Cavalry charges the guns (center)

 The cavalry is cut down and the skirmishers rout a Bluderian infantry unit.

Accurate Grayrock fire devastates the Bluderian center and right.

 By this time, the Bluderians had won the battle on the left but the Grayrockians were successful on the right and center.

End of the first phase of the battle.
Bluderia is victorious on the left but devastated in center and right.

 But now, Bluderian reinforcements arrived. The skirmishers had moved up and were ready to contest the advance.

In this scenario, the attackers may, at any time, declare a reset. Their remaining troops are withdrawn from the board, and the entire army returns, posing as reinforcements. After turn 8, I decided to do a reset (I figured it would take too long to reposition the weakened forces on the left). Troops needed to be activated to enter the board. I again rolled random dispositions and ended up with a strong right flank.

Per Thomas's rules, skirmishers are the only units allowed in woods. I used the same rules for the rocky ground (center).

Bluderian reinforcements arrive.
They make a strong advance on the right.

 Bluderian reinforcements moved into Hogfast while battle raged around the rocky ground.

Hogfast taken!

 More cavalry arrived on the battlefield. Once again they charged the Grayrock artillery, but this time they overran the guns. Unable to attack the remaining enemy (either in town or rough terrain), the cavalry withdrew.

Again, I am using some of Thomas's terrain rules, which restrict cavalry to open ground.

The cavalry charge takes out the artillery.

Bluderian musketry wiped out the skirmishers in the woods and they began to advance on Nieuville.

Advance on Nieuville.

Fire from Nieuville and the woods devastated the Bluderian infantry.

Per the scenario rules, the defenders of the town/village get a firing bonus. I gave them +1 die (like Memoir '44, infantry get a maximum of 3 dice, dropping to 1 die at a maximum range of 3 spaces).

I liked how Thomas's rules made skirmisher fire less effective than infantry fire, however I think that skirmishers should be more effective at long range (they are better shots, they can sneak up and then fall back, etc.). Therefore, in this game, skirmishers used 2 dice regardless of range. It seemed to work well.

The attackers are devastated.

By this time, it became clear to Waffenhoffer that he could not take Nieuville. He gave the command to withdraw his forces back to Grayrock City. The rebels were victorious!

This turned out to be a nail-biting scenario. Bluderia had cleared out Hogfast by turn 8 (about halfway through) and Grayrock forces looked stretched when the reinforcements arrived. However, the skirmishers and the infantry in Nieuville displayed some brutally effective musketry, wiping out a couple of units. At the end, only the infantry in Hogfast and the cavalry (which could not attack a town) remained.

On another note, I took another idea from Kaptain Kobold. Instead of my usual red casualty markers, I used little "rocks" (actually chunks of cork board). The markers look more natural that way.

Thoughts on the Francesia Project

I played another battle of the Grayrock Revolution this morning and wanted to jot down a few thoughts while they are fresh in my mind. I'll post a battle report once I get around to downloading the photos.

Terrain

• Mountains - The scenario involved a forced passage through a mountain pass, so I needed some mountains. I thought about making them out of blocks of foam, but I don't have any handy and I was eager to play. Instead, I used some spare cork to make extra levels to add to my hills. I think they worked out nice (you'll have to check out the battle report to see them).
• Buildings - I really like the Village in a Bag buildings. It creates a nice "toy" feel that fits with the Risk soldiers.
• Trees - I really need some trees, although the Village in a Bag ones are growing on me because they don't take a lot of room in the space. I still would like to replace them with something more tree-like but still with the "toy" vibe.

Miniatures

• I'm sure that there are hardcore miniature wargamers who will scoff at me, but I like using the Risk minis. I'm toying with the idea of giving them very simple paint jobs (e.g. flesh on the soldiers, horses, and guns) but I have no qualms about using them unpainted. From a distance, they look very colorful.

Command and Colors Dice

• Picking up the C&C dice was a good investment. It really speeds up combat because it is immediately obvious if hits are made.
• The dice also worked for unit activation. In this battle, each side rolled 4 dice to activate units. Infantry, cavalry, and artillery symbols obviously activated 1 unit of the respective symbol. Crossed sabers allow the player to choose.
• I added a little twist to unit activation. Previously, I mentioned that I was unsure what to do with the flag symbol. I also wanted a way to allow infantry to move an extra space (a forced march). I solved both problems by combining them. A flag symbol allowed the side to move 1 of its activated units an extra space. However, that unit was not allowed to engage in combat. It worked out well. There were many times when a side could not use the flag (I either wanted a unit to engage in combat or a unit I wanted to force march did not get the die roll to be activated) so it was not overpowered but it did come in handy at times.
• I want to get or make a nice dice tray for rolling my dice. Today, I was using a box from a case of cat food. It worked but it wasn't pretty.

The Revolution

• I may have been unfair to the Bluderians. They were forcing a mountain pass held by a small force of veteran Grayrockians. However, rebel militia could pop up randomly to ambush the Bluderians. The militia did not count to the Bluderian flag total (in this scenario the Bluderians earned flags by eliminating Grayrockian veterans or by securing the road out of the pass). In the future, I may allot 1 flag per 2 militia eliminated.
• In one sense, the Bluderians were fortunate because the militia did not arrive in the numbers I expected. Ah well, the tides of war.
• I have deviated from Bob Cordery's Restless Revolutionaries campaign. After the Grayrockian defeat at Dardona, battle should have shifted back to the regional capital of Maraconi. I did not relish the idea of fighting over the same battlefield so I decided that the Grayrockians would make a stand in a mountain pass (one of the benefits of playing solo is that you can change the rules on the fly even if it is unfair to one side).
• What next? SPOILER ALERT! With the Grayrockians holding the pass, it seems that the revolution is in a stalemate. So where does it go from here? The Restless Revolutionaries campaign doesn't really help, but I have some ideas to make things interesting. Wait and see.

RETROSPECTIVE - GURPS

After making a foray into my 90s gaming experiences, I want to backtrack a little bit to the 80s and discuss a role-playing game.

In the early part of that decade, I played a lot of Dungeons & Dragons, and enjoyed myself thoroughly. That’s not to say that I thought D&D was a perfect system. It wasn't (and still isn't) and some of its issues began to grate upon me. In the mid-80s, Steve Jackson Games came out with a new system, GURPS (the Generic Universal Role Playing System) that intrigued me greatly.

One of my beefs with D&D was its hit point system. As characters increased in levels, they could take more wounds before dying. This struck me as unrealistic (as Grognardia frequently noted, gamers became increasingly concerned about realism in the 80s and I was no exception). Any human (even a powerful hero) can be felled by a single sword blow or arrow, if it hit. Instead, gaining experience should lessen the chance of getting hit in the first place. I knew that the hit point system was an abstract way of denoting all this, but it bothered me. I thought that a better way would be to allow the character a roll to parry, block, or dodge an attack instead of abstract hit points. I decided to write up my own RPG and began jotting down ideas. That’s when I discovered GURPS and realized that it featured many of the rules concepts with which I had been tinkering, such as an active defense roll!

GURPS included a number of rules that I considered an improvement over D&D. At the time, I preferred its skill system, which allowed players to tweak their characters and make them unique. I liked that it used a single type of dice (I hate using multiple types of dice – i.e. “groping for dice” systems). I liked that it was universal so it could be used for multiple genres (I think that a D&D hit point system doesn't work as well for games with firearms. You can’t have a stereotypical western-style gunfight if the opponents have enough hit points to survive several bullet wounds). I thought the advantages system was very clever. In all, it seemed to hit on all the ideas for a new game that were floating around in my brain.

Alas, my love for GURPS turned out to be a brief flirtation. While I purchased the core system and many of the sourcebooks, I never actually played a game. This was a time when I did not have any regular RPG partners to experiment with the game. I tried to create some adventures but the character creation system, which appealed to me as a player, deterred me as an adventure designer. I erroneously thought that I would have to go through character creation for each NPC in order to ensure proper balance. It also struck me that the referee would need to do a lot of rolling (parry rolls for every NPC – ugh). While I admired much of the game system, it just never became a game I played.

Today, I am much less concerned with “realism” and thus have returned to many of the D&D concepts. In particular, I like class systems with broad archetypes. It just makes character creation a snap. I also use hit points; these days I’m OK with the abstraction. Yet some of GURPS’s ideas have filtered into my solo RPG system. I only use a single type of dice (D6) and, like GURPS, each roll uses multiple dice (although I use 2D6 instead of 3D6). My rules are essentially generic and universal rather than being tied to a specific genre or world (although each genre has its own tweaks to the rules, such as specific classes). Furthermore, I never gave up on the defense roll idea. I did make some changes, though. To ease the work on the referee, only player characters make defense rolls. In fact, I streamlined combat for the referee; the NPCs don’t even make attack rolls. Instead, I assume that the NPC will hit unless the PC can make a successful defense (which becomes easier to do as the PC gains levels). Conversely, I have PCs make hit rolls; if they succeed then the NPC is automatically wounded. For me, It’s quick, simple, and effective. Furthermore, it is a result of years of pondering the benefits and drawbacks of the GURPS active defense roll.

Notes on the Battle of Maraconi

I meant to post this last weekend as a follow-up to my report on the Battle of Maraconi.

The battle of Maraconi was played with rules of my own devising. The combat rules are derived from the game Viktory.  I love the idea of using Risk Express dice  for unit activation, as described by Bob Cordery. Unfortunately, I do not have Risk Express dice, so I used normal D6s as follows:

Roll         Activate

1-3          1-3 Infantry as per die roll

4              1 cavalry

5              1 artillery

6              1 unit of player choice

The rebels rolled 3 dice per turn while the Bluderians only rolled 2 (to reflect their surprise). I have recently ordered some blank dice and will be creating my own version of the Risk Express dice.

I decided that this scenario would last until one side lost 8 stands (approximately half of the smaller army). I thought about adding objectives (counting as 1 stand lost), specifically the village and the square where the Greenglade infantry began (representing the road out of the Maraconi valley) but dispensed with these as to simplify the game.

Overall, the rules have promise, although I need to clarify some aspects (e.g. what happens to stands belonging to the losing side that are hit but then save?). Still, it seems a quick and easy game for solo play, which is my goal.

Thrilling Adventures in Aetheria!

After last week's battle in Aetheria (my 1930ish imaginary world), I had a sudden bit of inspiration. Aetheria could be a fun setting for thrilling pulp adventures! Suddenly my mind was racing with thoughts of quick skirmish games with a handful of miniatures. I was inspired by the possibilities.

But what rules to use? I looked into commercial sets like Pulp Alley but I found them a bit too fiddly for my tastes. I thought about using my dungeon crawl rules, which I have modified for my solo RPG sessions. However, I wanted something faster with less record-keeping. I decided to work on my own rules.

First, I jotted down some ideas to create a series of linked scenarios. To track them, I created this adventure track in PowerPoint.

I don't have all the details worked out, but the "good guys" will roll to see how far they can move along this track every campaign turn. At each point where they stop, they will have a random encounter. The X marks the boss' lair, where they will have to fight a climatic battle to complete the adventure.

I'm playing around with ideas for adjudicating the encounters. The general idea is to give a dice pool depending on the figure's general status (heroes or major villains get 3 dice, sidekicks 2, and mooks 1). I tested it out with a quick scenario (using a virtual board created in PowerPoint. I got the figures from the internet).

For my test, I used a sample scenario from Space 1889. I previously mentioned how this scenario jaded me on the game's rules. Nevertheless, it makes a good test scenario. In this scenario, Carstairs, the British officer and amateur archaeologist, is investigating a Venusian tomb (I know, it's an Egyptian mummy. Just imagine it's Venusian). He is confronted by 3 Venusian grave robbers (not shown but armed with daggers).

Initial Set-up

 I rolled a D6/2 for movement. The Venusians surged forward but failed to reach Carstairs. Our hero decided to retreat strategically re-position himself, using the sarcophagus as cover. He also took a shot at the first mook (rolling 3 dice because he's a hero). He rolled 2 hits. I gave the mook a saving roll, but he failed, and was out of the fight.

One mook down

The remaining grave robbers began to work their way around the sarcophagus. Carstairs moved forward but did not have a decent shot (I ruled that the sarcophagus blocked line of sight. I probably should have allowed a shot with a negative modifier).

The enemy circles

One Venusian reached Carstairs. His attack (with only 1D) missed but Carstairs sliced him in twain.

Slicing down the bad guy

The last Venusian reached Carstairs and sliced at him. Another miss! Carstairs aimed his revolver and downed the mook.

Last one down

Reflections
Now that this quick scenario is over, what are my thoughts?

• The scenario was a clear mismatch. It probably should be, especially because the mooks do not have guns.
• Nevertheless, I may be penalizing the mooks too much. In addition to giving them fewer dice, I also made it harder for them to hit (Carstairs needed a 3+ to hit while the grave robbers needed a 5+). Maybe I should make it a straight 4+.
• I don't use a movement grid for my solo RPGs but I think it added some tactical thought to the game. The rules worked well enough (I borrowed them from Mice and Mystics) although I did not have movement bonuses like M&M.
• I need to consider the combat rules. For example, I may just make it 4+ to hit. Also, I need to decide how to work the saving rolls (especially the number of dice per attempt)
• I did not use activation rolls in this attempt (like Song of Blades and Heroes). I am debating it but right now I lean towards not using them. The random movement gives enough variability as it is.
• I liked the virtual board, but I ultimately plan on using miniatures.

Slipstream Six by Six

Over this past weekend I began the Slipstream campaign I've been discussing over the past month. I have completed scenarios 1 and 2. Here are links to the battle reports (which are on my Tales of the Templars blog):

• Surprise Attack!
• The Templars' Last Stand

I also updated my Six by Six tracker accordingly.

The Scenarios

I'm not using any formal scenarios (i.e. these are not One Hour Wargame Scenarios). Instead, I came up with the context - Queen Anathraxa wants the Sunstone from the Theophilians. So how would she get it? Sneak attack, of course! Bam, I had my scenario. I then just plopped some figures and terrain down and went at it. The second scenario just built off the first and I already have another in mind for the third. In a way, it's sort of like a Mythic session; each scene just flows naturally from the prior one.

The Board

I played the scenarios using my boxed portable wargame set-up. 

The board is 8 by 8 inches, divided into 1 inch squares. Because I don't have any figures specifically representing the combatants, I improvised using my 3mm Magister Miliitum ancients that I painted up for my fantasy Anarendor campaign. Orcs stood in for primals, the Iron Legion served as Handmaidens, and Anarendor infantry became Theophilians. It worked for me!

The Rules

As I mentioned, I plan to use a modified version of FU (Freeform Universal) RPG rules. I really like its action results system. Essentially you ask a yes-no question and then roll a D6 to find the answer. Here are the possible results:

• 6 = Yes, and
• 5 = Yes
• 4 = Yes, but
• 3 = No, but
• 2 = No
• 1 = No, and

This system is very flexible (not surprisingly since it was designed for freeform roleplaying). A character can try anything and the system can handle it.

The system handles better or worse odds by adding dice for each advantage or disadvantage. If you have an advantage, for example, you would roll 2 dice and use the higher. A disadvantage would involve 2 dice, taking the lower roll.

The "and" and "but" results also add interesting twists. For example, a "Yes, but" result means that you succeed, but something unexpected (and undesirable) happens. Perhaps your blast takes out the charging primal but the pistol's energy charge ran out.

I did not have any formal rules on using the results matrix but in general I would roll when combat occurred. a "Yes but" meant that the enemy was defeated but they retreated in good order. A "Yes and" meant that the enemy was defeated and wiped out. On a simple "Yes" I would reroll to determine if they enemy was eliminated.

Advantages / disadvantages depended on terrain (for example, the Templars are defending a building in the second scenario so they got a bonus dice when defending). Also, in FU, characters can have descriptors, which give bonus dice in applicable situations. For example, if a character has a descriptor of Strong then he would get a bonus for lifting heavy objects. This concept can be applied to a wargame, with units getting descriptors. I did not give formal descriptors, but the visitors were weak in combat while the Templars and Handmaidens (due to their training as warriors) had advantages.

Note that I rolled against the matrix in the following situations:

• To activate a unit
• To make an attack
• To save against an attack

Appraisal

Overall, the rules worked, albeit a bit vaguely. I did not apply rules consistently throughout. For example, early on I eliminated a unit when its attacker rolled a "Yes." Later, I began to roll saves if an attack succeeded. Nevertheless, the games were quick (~ half an hour each), involved plenty of decisions, had plenty of suspense, created good stories, and ultimately were fun.

I plan to codify the rules a bit (e.g. define what "and" or "but" means in certain situations) so expect more experiments.

More Thoughts on Last Week's Battle

Some thoughts on random topics arising from the skirmish in the mountains, brought to you courtesy of my cool Hobbit journal.

Random Deployment
For this game, I tried a new random force composition process, using the Command & Colors dice. I mentally divided the board into 3 sectors. Each side rolled 3 dice per sector, with the results as follows:

• Infantry - 1 infantry unit (naturally)
• Cavalry - 1 cavalry unit
• Artillery - nothing. This scenario featured two scouting parties encountering each other so I thought it unlikely that they would have artillery.
• Flag - nothing.
• Crossed Swords - 1 elite infantry unit (rangers).

I then used a D6 to randomly determine each unit's starting position. Each sector was 3 spaces wide and I allowed deployment in the first 2 rows so conveniently there were 6 possible starting squares.

Special Units
Kaptain Kobold asked about the rangers and light cavalry. I must admit that the rules were not well thought out, but fortunately I forgot to use them as written.

1. Rangers - I figured I'd do them like Memoir '44 - move 2 and still fight. When I decided this I totally ignored that I pared down movement so cavalry only moved 2 and infantry 1. Thus, I think this rule makes the rangers too powerful. As I mentioned, though, I forgot to use the rule and used the rangers like regular infantry.In the future I may just have rangers move 1 but they can still battle after entering woods.
2. Light cavalry - Fight with 2 dice. I did not account for the -2 modifier that cavalry gets for attacking into woods, which would bring their attack to 0 dice. I mistakenly rolled 1 dice attacking into woods, which is a pleasant accident as light cavalry probably should not suffer as great a reduction in woods fighting as regular cavalry. In the future, I may make their mod -1 for woods.

As an aside, I have started to follow Kaptain Kobold's Stronghold Rebuilt blog. I have not had time to peruse it in depth but I have enjoyed what I've read so far therefore I have no qualms about recommending it highly.

Line of Sight Question

A situation arose during the game when I wanted a unit to attack diagonally (in the picture below, the red arrow represents the attack. A friendly unit and some woods are between the attacking and defending units. Can the attack go through or is line of sight blocked?

In the Command & Colors rules, intervening terrain and units would block line of sight. My rules, however, use a square grid rather than C&C's hex grid, which causes a greater restriction to line of sight. In this situation, I made a judgement call that the friendly unit does not block line of sight and the attacking unit may proceed. Nevertheless, this case points out one of the advantages of a hex grid and tempts me to switch over (which I would do if hex grids were easier to draw).

A Benefit of Solo Gaming

Late in the game, a situation arose where a Grayrockian infantry unit situated on a hill was being attacked by 2 units of enemy cavalry. Close by was a very weakened Bluderian infantry unit. On the Grayrock turn, I pondered what to do. Because Grayrock only needed 1 more flag to win the game, the best tactics from a game perspective was for the Grayrockian infantry to move off the hill towards the Bluderian infantry and attack with the hope of wiping out that unit. If successful, the game would be over. I hesitated because this tactic did not seem realistic. I imagine that if in real life an infantry unit was attacked by enemy cavalry, it would hold its position on the hill and (while forming square) try to battle off the attackers. I wondered if C&C had a rule or if I should institute one.

Then the beauty of solo gaming came to the fore. I decided to eschew the gamey tactic and instead choose the more realistic one. If I had been playing competitively, my desire to win probably would have overwhelmed my sense of realism and I would have attacked the infantry unit. Instead, I stuck to the hill. It worked out in the end as Grayrock still won the battle, but it reminded me that solo gaming can have its advantages.

Vampire Hunter

As I mentioned earlier this week, I have been working on a vampire hunting board game. Here is the latest prototype, with map and cards printed on card stock. Soda bottle tops and pennies serve as markers.

The goal of the game is to destroy Dracula. First, you must search for clues (the coins) to his whereabouts. Once you discover his lair, you confront him in epic combat. Along the way, you may encounter Dracula's minions, but may also pick up some useful equipment.

Overall, it has potential, although I think I need to tweak a few areas. Some positives:

• It is easy to set up - just a board, counters for the players, and 2 decks of cards
• Game length is short - less than an hour
• There are some decisions to make - which actions to take each turn, what equipment to use
• It involves dice-rolling

Some areas of improvement include:

• Make it a little harder to find Dracula
• Streamline combat a little bit?
• Make it easier to heal

Anyway, my wife and I played last night. She was having success finding clues while I kept running into Dracula's minions. I piggybacked on her clues, however, and managed to track down Dracula on multiple occasions. I had worn him down and managed to attack him. With 6 dice, needing to roll 4 or better, here is what I rolled:

I had him! Or so I thought, until he successfully defended.

Later, I had him on the ropes once again but only rolled 2 successes on 6 dice. To survive, Dracula needed to tie my 2 successes, but he had 8 dice. The Dice Fates made up for my previous stroke of ill luck with this roll by Dracula:

 I had defeated the vampire lord!

One Hour Skirmish Wargames

I recently purchased One Hour Skirmish Wargames for the nook.

The rules are designed for fast-play small-unit actions for eras where firearms predominate (i.e. from the musket to the modern eras, and beyond). I've been dabbling with fast-play skirmish rules for a couple of years now so was interested to see another approach. Now that I've read through them, do I like them?

NO!
When I first learned about these rules I was taken aback by something on the cover. It says "dice-less." I found a review that pointed out that the rules use playing cards as randomizers. This was a big negative to me. I'm not a fan of using cards in mini games. It's just one more component to clutter my small table. I much prefer using dice. As such, I find it unlikely that I will use these rules as written (what else is new?). I'm not sure why I bought these rules, but then I read further.

YES!
Nevertheless, I am very glad that I did read OHSW; there are some really great ideas in it! Here are a few that struck me.

Damage
Much like Neil Thomas's One Hour Wargames,  OHSW seeks to strip out any unnecessary complexity. One way that the author, John Lambshead, does this is to get rid of tracking of wounds / damage. Instead, damage is very simple and straightforward - figures that are hit are considered Downed and a laid on their side. At the end of the turn, the player checks on the fate of any Downed figures. Any figure that fails the check is a Casualty and is removed from play.

I'm sure I've seen something similar before so it may not necessarily be completely innovative. Nevertheless, none of my current rules use this damage methodology so it is new to me. And I really like the simplicity of it; so much so that I intend to experiment with it.

Scenarios
Lambshead provides a section of core rules followed by period-specific rules for 6 eras (Musket, Rifle, Interwar, World War 2, Cold War, and Pulp). Each period includes a scenario. For example, the Rifle Era chapter has a scenario where a small British detachment defends a small redoubt from a Zulu attack. Each scenario looks interesting; I'd like to give each a try.

Campaigns
The author also include a fairly lengthy chapter on campaigns where he discusses various types of campaigns.

In one section of the chapter, he provides an example of a map campaign. It centers around a WW2 German unit trying to escape a Soviet encirclement. The Germans travel among nodes on the mode while the Soviets position their limited defending forces at certain nodes. If opposing forces meet at a node then a skirmish occurs. This example provides an interesting set-up that can easily be converted to a solo campaign!

OHSW also suggests a narrative campaign, where forces are not moved on a map but the skirmishes are linked. For example, the first skirmish involves intelligence gathering, followed by an assault, then pursuit, and finally an ambush. This example is simple, straightforward, and easy to solo, while still providing varied and interesting situations.

I found the campaigns chapter very inspirational!

FINAL VERDICT
My initial reaction was very negative due to the use of cards rather than dice. However, Lambshead won me over with some interesting and useful ideas. I am tempted to get some cards (I don't even own a deck right now) and try out the rules themselves (more likely I will try to dice-ify them). I definitely want to test out the scenarios and campaigns.

Overall, I say BUY IT. Even if you don't use the dice-less system, you may find some value to OHSW.

Ponderings

Starfighters
I've been thinking a lot about my starfighter Eindekker variant. In Eindekker, turn management is crucial because you have only 10 turns to complete the mission and return to base before your fuel runs out. I tried a similar rule with my starfighter rules but it just doesn't seem to fit. I just think that -starfighters would have more than enough fuel for their missions so that running out is not a concern. However, if I remove the fuel restrictions, I will essentially remove all decision making by the player. Instead, the game will become a dice-rolling exercise (combat is simply opposed die rolls). While I don't mind rolling dice, I would like to have some tactical decision making.

So what is the solution to my quandary? I'm thinking of adding maneuvers to the combat. For example, perhaps I could add maneuver cards a la Down in Flames. The player would have a hand of cards; he would then play one for each of his starfighters in the turn. I would probably simply program the enemy responses. Adding cards would add more physical components to the game, making it harder to play on a virtual board.

Another idea is to make combat into a multiple round die rolling game (kind of like Yahtzee in space). The player would roll, then choose which dice to keep.

Anyway, I'm kind of stuck on this problem now. I'll need some more thinking.

Sports
I've been toying around with some different quick play sports games.

I created a simple dice-rolling football game. Each team gets 2 "possessions" per quarter, rolling 2D6 per possession (modified by Offensive and Defensive ratings). Results are as follows:

2-3 Turnover
4-6 Punt or end of possession
7-8 Field goal
9-12 Touchdown

I have since added additional rules. A roll of 2 or 4 give a +1 to the opponent's next roll (they gained good field position). One can opt to eschew the field goal and go for it (roll again with a -1 mod). I even have 2-point conversions.

Star League has also been getting my attention. I am in the middle of season 3. I created a spreadsheet to track the League's history but it made me want to finish seasons even quicker. I experimented with a game where each team rolls 1 die to determine the number of goals scored per half. I created a spreadsheet that can actually play an entire season in a second. OK, that's a little too fast. I'm now thinking of creating a new league. I would control one team; its games would be played using the Star League rules. Games for the other teams would use the season in a second rules. The only problem is that season in a second results in a higher score than Star League. I haven't progressed any further.

RESTROSPECTIVE - Song of Blades and Heroes

It seems weird to write a retrospective about a current game but it has had an impact on my gaming so I wish to include Song of Blades and Heroes as the conclusion to this series.

I first discovered SB&H a couple of years ago when I had an interest in some medieval gaming. I provided a brief synopsis and then promptly shelved the game.

SB&H is a fantasy miniatures game designed for skirmishes between forces of 8-15 figures on each side. Each figure is rated for Quality (low numbers are better) and Combat (high numbers are better), By themselves these statistics would not create very much differentiation between different figures, but SB&H has another mechanism to create variety. There is a long list of special powers that can be allocated to the figures; anything from spell to heavy armor. Using the two stats plus special powers allows you to really individualize your figures.

Combat is very similar to De Bellis Antiquitatis in that it is based on opposed die rolls. Each figure in combat rolls a D6 and adds its Combat value plus modifiers. If one rolls twice or more than the other then the loser is killed. Rolling higher but not double will cause the loser to either recoil (retreat) or be knocked down. SB&H avoids the back-and-forth stalemate that occurs in DBA by giving negative modifiers to figures who are knocked down.

The combat system is workable but not unique, but I found inspiration from the activation system. On his turn, a player will nominate a figure to activate, then can choose to roll 1, 2, or 3 dice. For each roll at or above the figure's Quality score, the figure may take one action (move, fight, etc.). If 2 or 3 dice failed the activation roll, then the player's turn ends after that figures acts. This creates some interesting decisions during activation. First, the player has to decide the activation order. Based on the positioning on the board, he may wish to activate a poor Quality figure but if he fails then a better Quality figure may not be able to act that turn. Next the player has to choose how many dice. Rolling 1 die guarantees that another figure will have a chance to activate, but it limits the current figure's options. It's a really intriguing and thought-provoking sequence.

I have adopted the activation system for some of my games, although I substituted units for individual figures. Previously, I used either DBA pips or I rolled C&C dice and activated the troop types rolled. Both of these systems provided some fog-of-war that limits the control of the player (an especially good thing for solo games!) The SB&H system, however, creates much more suspense. With the other systems, I know how many units can act at the beginning of the turn and I can plan accordingly. I can't do that with SB&H activation because activation is rolled after the prior unit acts. Thus, I can push forward a unit on an assault and suddenly its supports are frozen! This creates some delightful randomness that challenges the solo general!

Although Song of Blades ad Heroes is a fairly new system, I wanted to include it because it has indelibly influenced my gaming experiences. I love the activation system and have begun to adopt it in my home-grown rules. Thus, it is a worthy conclusion to my retrospective.