Family Game Night Fizzles

It's been a while since we had a Family Game Night. For the most part, this is because I have not been motivated to set up the games. Well tonight, I got motivated and set up Ticket to Ride.

I forgot about another reason why we don't play many games anymore - Onyx.

Onyx on a miniature game.

He loves playing games. Except that he sits on the board, bats around the playing pieces, knocks the cards off the table, etc. He was in full form tonight. We only played 2 - 3 turns before we gave up.

I wonder if Ticket to Ride is available on any of the video game consoles.

MicroBattle Across the Ages

I designed my latest incarnation of MicroBattle to be usable for any period, much like the Portable Wargame or the Command & Colors series. I decided to test it by playing games from the (to borrow Joseph Morschauser's terminology) shock, musket, and modern periods. I already covered the musket period so let's try the rest. Each test will use small armies (typically 4 units).

Shock - Badon Hill

This scenario was inspired by Neil Thomas's version in his Ancient & Medieval Wargaming.

As the Britons (red) make their stand on Badon Hill, Arthur and his knights charge to the rescue!

Note - I need to do something to make the cork hills stand out on the cork battlefield. 

A Saxon warband gains the crest of the hill but then is cut down.

 Then 2 more Saxon warbands fall. The remaining warband breaks and flees.

I think the rules worked fine for this shock era scenario. 

Interestingly, I wanted to allow for preliminary bow fire so I assumed that the infantry had integral archers, who fired at a disadvantage. As it turns out, the Saxons advanced to contact so rapidly that archery was essentially irrelevant.

Modern - Pushna Valley

Initially, I planned a World War I battle, but changed my mind after perusing Donald Featherstone's War Game Campaigns. It features a very inspirational account of a miniature action set in India in 1936, as the British launch a punitive expedition against recalcitrant tribesmen. My version is very loosely based on the original, with imagi-nation forces filling the roles of British and Indians.

Kulakian forces (gray) invade Bajnup. A land dreadnought, 2 walkers, and some infantry enter Pushna Valley in order to destroy a Bajnup fort (top). Bajnup riflemen swarm from the hills.
Note - I gave my hills a brown wash so they stand out against the battlefield.

Engaging the fort. The dreadnought takes severe damage due to Bajnup artillery and infantry in the hills with petrol bombs.

Ultimately, one of the walkers smashes through the fort's gates and wipes out the defenders.

Interesting and fun, even though a bit unbalanced in favor of Kulakia. They really should have been primarily infantry with a walker in support. However, I just painted the vehicles and wanted to get all of them in action. I compensated by assuming that the Bajnup infantry had rockets and petrol bombs, so they could at least engage the vehicles.

I added a new wrinkle to my MicroBattle rules, taken from Phil Dutre. He outlines a Lucky General rule, which allows said general to re-roll a die. However, upon using it, the luck passes to the other side. It turned out to be fairly important in this game. One of the walkers seemed to be destroyed, but as luck (and a good re-roll) would have it, it managed to escape. Later, the Bajnups tried their luck against the same walker, but the Fates did not smile on them.

Assessment
For me, MicroBattle works, regardless of era. It succeeds for me because it really is just a general framework. Period details can easily play into advantages and disadvantages. For example, in a modern battle with vehicles, we can easily account for the difference between a vehicle's armor and the weight of the attacking gun by applying advantage or disadvantage to the defender's Defense roll. It doesn't really require any charts; I was making the assessments on the fly.

I'm sure I'll continue to tweak MB but I like the track I'm on.

In Other News
I received my order of 2mm figures for my Elzwehn project but decided they were too tiny (with the exception of some sci-fi vehicles, which I featured in the Pushna Valley battle. I'll be getting some tanks and machine gunners from PicoArmor after all.

I have a new generic army - the grays!

They started off as an all-black, evil fantasy army. I changed them to gray with gunmetal helmets so they can do double duty as a modern German-ish army. They can still work as a fantasy bad guy army (sans land dreadnought and walkers, of course).

Battle of Willichala

Introduction
Over the past week, I've been making a number of enhancements to my gaming set-up (see my prior post) and wanted to test them out. I had planned to do a replay of Apostrophe Hill but then I came across a game report about the Battle of Chillianwallah in the latest version of Miniatures Wargames magazine. I decided it would make an excellent basis for a game. Of course, I did not do a strict re-fight. Consider it more of a Hollywood style "inspired by true events."

Background
On the continent of Elzwehn, the colonizing kingdom of Styvuperleip is warring with the native land of Bajnup. General Gruff is leading the kingdom's forces in an advance into Bajnup. He runs into a defending army under Sheer Song.

Song's troops (red) form a line along a band of jungle. Gruff puts the King's Lancers on the right,  Volunteer Horse on the left, with an artillery battery and 3 regiments of infantry in between.

Initial bombardments. The Bajnup is famous for its heavy, well-crewed guns.

 The guns prove their worth when they rout a regiment of infantry.

The remaining infantry crashes into the enemy line while the Volunteer Horse rout some tribal cavalry.

The infantry and the King's Lancers drive back the enemy.

Infantry overruns the Bajnup guns in the center.

And then break the enemy infantry. Song's remaining forces flee the field.

Victory for the King!

Assessment
What do I think of my various experiments?

• Without a doubt, this terrain (even though very simple) looks far nicer than the terrain drawn on a flip mat.
• I do have concerns about the cork battlefield. I notice that it is shedding a bit from the edges where I cut it down. I plan to replace it with felt but it is not ready yet.
• Another issue I have is with troops in the woods. I'm not fond of the look of them sitting on top of the woods. I'm just not sure what to do about it.
• I love that I have everything I need in a single box. It makes set-up so easy.
• The new MicroBattle rules seemed to work very well. I never had to look anything up; it was so easy to adjudicate on the fly. I even remembered to check for retreats!
• On a whim, I borrowed some elements from Command & Colors (specifically overruns). I will need to add them to my MicroBattle rules document.

MicroBattle Enhancements

Over this past week I made a number of enhancements to my MicroBattle game set-up.

Storage
First, I switched storage boxes. I had my 3mm figures split across multiple pencil boxes. I moved my generic shock, horse & musket, and sci-fi minis into this 9 x 11 inch box (I evicted my skirmish miniatures from it).

The nice thing about this box is that it fits an 8 x 10 inch battle board without having to fold it. No more creases.

Here is the interior of the box filled with terrain (cork hills, pot scrubber woods, little wooden buildings), markers, and woods.

The box also fits my miniatures. I have 2 generic armies (blue vs. red) in the plastic boxes.

Each army includes massed infantry and cavalry suitable for ancient to horse & musket periods, horse & musket artillery that could work for modern, skirmishers usable for any period, plus some tanks.

I also have some extra armies in bags (an evil black army, some knights in shiny armor, and some sci-fi robots).

With these armies, I have a lot of choice regarding which era to play.

Terrain
It's hard to see above but I have upgraded my terrain. Below is an example laid out for battle.

For reference, the figures are 3mm Magister Militum.

The battlefield is cork board with a grid of 8 by 10 1-inch squares. Hills are made of cork and woods are made of pot scrubbers. The village (top) is one I made years ago out of cardboard and wooden buttons. Fortuitously, I decided to hold onto it (and other scratch made buildings).

Rules
I further refined my MicroBattle rules changes that I mentioned last time. The base concept is that the score to succeed a test (whether attacking, defending, morale, etc.) depends on whether the tester is advantaged, neutral, or disadvantaged.



Major Disadvantage         6+
Disadvantage                    5+
Neutral                             4+
Advantage                        3+
Major Advantage             2+

Major Disadvantage / Advantage occurs when there are multiple disadvantages or advantages. Also note that disadvantages and advantages cancel each other out.

I have a list of situations that cause advantage or disadvantage, but you don't really need to check them. Any experienced gamer should have no trouble just eyeballing the situation and then ruling on the status. It is quick and intuitive, enabling a speedy game.

Note that combat involves 3 tests:

1. Does the attacker hit the target?
2. Can the target negate a hit (via armor, superior morale, etc.)?
3. Is the target forced to retreat?

This is not as onerous as it sounds. Tests 2 and 3 are only needed if the attacker succeeds (hits) in Test 1. Then Tests 2 and 3 can be rolled simultaneously (I suggest using different colored dice).

The Test
Once I put everything together, I played a test game. Stay tuned for a battle report in a few days or so.

Breakthrough

I'm experimenting with modern era rules to use for steampunk battles. Since I don't have my figures yet, I decided to return to the planet Zirconia, where the Federation is battling the robotic Dominion for control.

After defeating a Dominion attack, Tex's Tigers are once again on the advance. They are accompanied by a unit of mobile missile launchers (treating them like light armor). Their orders are to advance past the town of Jaynestown.
Note - this is scenario 3 - Breakthrough, from THW's Hell Hath No Fury.

The Tigers (blue) run into Dominion tanks. A shootout begins, but all shots ping off their armor.

The missile launchers join the fray, damaging an enemy tank.

And then destroying it.

More enemy tanks engage, but they take a beating. They also leave the road into town unguarded. The Tigers make a beeline for town.

Tex advances through town. He'll be joined by 2 missile tanks. One is forced to retire.

Unfortunately, one of the Tigers gets separated and then swarmed by the enemy. It puts up a stout fight but cannot defeat the heavy odds.

Despite the loss, Tex achieves his objective. The Dominion falls back in disarray, allowing the Federation to liberate the northern province (The Tigers win the campaign 3-1).

And Now for Something (Not) Completely Different
For my steampunk project, I am going back to physical terrain (as opposed to drawn terrain). I picked up some pot scrubbers and made some woods. I decided to give them a quick test.

The Tigers are advancing through an opening between wooded areas.

They get ambushed. One Tiger brews up!

Although they damage two enemy tanks, they are forced back. Another Tiger is destroyed!

Tex beats a hasty retreat.

Conclusion - my new woods look much better for photos!

Rules Thoughts
Tex's battles have been fought with a variant of Age of Heroes, a sci-fi skirmish set I found on Lead Adventure Forum. Recently, I noticed that they work similar to my MicroBattle rules. Oddly, that makes me feel less bad about tinkering.

Anyway, I made some changes. I found that I kept forgetting the units' Attack and Defend/Armor stats. I had to keep referring to the rules. I like it when I can play without referencing the rules. I decided to simplify.

Attacking

• Hit on roll of 4+ on a D6
• Add 1 to roll if advantaged (e.g. marksmen) or subtract 1 if disadvantaged (e.g. long range, target in cover). Advantages and disadvantages can negate each other.

Defending

• If hit, roll 4+ on a D6 to negate the hit (bounces of armor or otherwise causes negligible damage)
• Add 1 to roll if advantaged or subtract 1 if disadvantaged
• Flank attacks cause disadvantage. Rear attacks are double disadvantage (-2)
• Firepower vs. Armor Effect
• Firepower and armor are classified as Light, Medium, or Heavy
• If firepower is heavier than armor, then roll with a disadvantage
• If armor is heavier than firepower, then roll with an advantage

I used these changes in the Breakthrough scenario (above) and found it far more intuitive. I'll have to experiment with some infantry on the board.

Elzwehn Update

Elzwehn is the name of  the steampunk / dieselpunk LARP that my friend and I are creating. I'm also using it for my steampunk / dieselpunk miniatures project.

Before I begin my update, here is a little inspiration:

Similar to the aesthetic I envision (especially the Germanic "bad guys").

The project has begun to take shape. I debated a bit whether I should use Oddzial Osmy (O8) 3mm or Irregular 2mm. I went with 2mm because Irregular allows you to order small quantities (sorry O8, I don't need 15 tanks).

I also ordered some felt and cork tiles from Michael's so that I can make some battlefields. While the flip mats and markers are easy to use, they don't look quite so nice. I decided to return to modeled terrain.

For rules, I am using a variant of Age of Heroes. I am incorporating some ideas from my experiment mashing together Age of Heroes with Hell Hath No Fury. This new variant will use the activation rules from Squad Hammer, although I'll try out a couple of tweaks I just devised.

Steampunk Battles

As I mentioned last time, my LARP friend and I are working on new LARP rules inspired by TankLarp. Things are proceeding well - we have the basic combat rules (essentially a mash-up of Amtgard and TankLarp) and even an outline of class rules. I don't know when we'll get to playtest; COVID is just too rampant in my neck of the woods right now to risk meeting.

But this latest craze of ours has me thinking about a new miniatures project. Given that our current setting is more turn of the century, I started poking around with steampunk rules. While I do have In Her Majesty's Name, I don't want a 1:1 skirmish. I'm looking for something with 1 base = a squad or 1 vehicle.

I recently picked up Land Ironclads. I'm still perusing it.

It may be more armor-heavy than what I am looking for. I primarily want infantry battles (like our LARP) with a smattering of heavy weapons / armored contraptions. I will probably end up modifying Age of Heroes but hope to use LI's unit stats as inspiration.

Rules are one quandary I'll need to solve, but the second involves miniatures. I am really tempted to get period-specific miniatures. This flies in the face of my generic army approach, but I am haunted by visions of steampunk walkers and tanks clanking across the battlefield while infantry scurries from cover to cover. I am pretty sure I'll do it in 3mm, although 6mm or 10mm are tempting. I just feel that vehicles will be too large in those (comparatively) larger scales. I do like the LI vehicles offered by Brigade Models, or I could just get some WW1 figures and give them a paint conversion.

I am also thinking of a new (actually old) approach to the battlefield. Lately, I've been using flip mats with dry erase markers. However, I am now in a mind to creating a felt battlefield like I used to use. Here is an example:

Felt field, pot scrubber woods, cork hill (upper right), and a village made of cardboard and balsa wood.

Stay tuned as I ruminate about this new project.