Year in Review - 2017

How did 2017 go? Let's take a peek at some highlights:

I got off to a fast start with the Six by Six Challenge, quickly finishing Four Against Darkness and fantasy battles with my homebrew rules. Here is an example of a fantasy battle with 3mm troops.

I started experimenting with boxed portable wargames, where everything I need fits into an A4 sized plastic box.

I even applied the portable wargame concept to dungeon crawls.

I did manage to complete some 2mm fantasy armies - Presteria (green bases - inspired by the legendary Prester John) vs. the Swartherians (desert nomads)

Then I went on an air combat kick, eventually adopting Kaptain Kobold's Spandau and Lewis as my go-to set of rules.

In September, we endured the wrath of Hurricane Irma. We were without power for 5 days during the most blistering part of the Florida summer.

Around that time, I started experimenting with various board games. This is Manoeuvre by GMT Games.

In October, I made my own Dracula-themed board game. It is inspired by Fury of Dracula but plays much quicker.

Manoeuvre led me to creating my own block armies. I cut up a Pathfinder battle mat and used dry-erase markers to create a simple, variable battle board.

Then I went on a post-apocalyptic road wars kick, eventually adopting Machinas for my games. This inspired me to watch Mad Max Fury Road, which I had not seen. I tend to agree with this review, even if it is a bit gratuitous with bad language.

Finally, I started messing around with rules for sci-fi bomber runs.

How did I do with my 2017 prognostications?

• The Six by Six Challenge
• I completed Four Against Darkness, and 3 miniature games (although 2 were mid-year substitutes)
• I dropped DC Rivals instead of completing it. I came close but did not quite complete the replacement - Machinas.(I got 4 of 6 games in).
• I did not dither on deciding the sixth game; I choose Ticket to Ride fairly early. I also only completed 4 of 6.
• In all, I completed 4 games in the challenge and 32 out of 36 sessions.
• Portable Dungeon Crawl - As predicted, I have a basic boxed set completed by the end of the year. I am using wood tokens and meeples instead of minis, but the set is functional.
• A New Army - I did complete a new fantasy army (two in fact). They are my Presterians and Swartherians (mentioned above). It was 2mm instead of 3mm. I also created 2 air forces for battles in the skies of Aetheria (my 1930s-style imagi-nations)
• Board Game Purge (Not!) - This never came up. My wife is tiring of board games so we did not pick up many new ones this year therefore did not have to worry about storage.

Truck Country

A dead phone changed my gaming plans this morning.
Lately, I've had a hankering for gaming some bombing runs, a la B-17 Queen of the Skies. Unfortunately, I don't have the game anymore. I've been searching for alternatives online. There is Target for Today but it seems pricey. I did find a reference to a set of miniature rules called Target for Tonight but they are not available at this time. By the way, check out this excellent Target for Tonight game report! Then I remembered that my updated copy of Donald Featherstone's Air War Games includes a set of rules called "On a Wing and Prayer - Bomber Command in the Battle for the Ruhr, July 1943," by John Armatys. I got out my planes and then picked up my phone to access the book, only to find that the phone was dead.

OK, on to plan B - Machinas! Because of the dead phone there are no pictures. :(

Game Report
Once again, Conway the courier is being chased by raiders. This time, he is pursued by a pickup truck and a sedan.

1. Neither raider manages to pass. The pickup shoots at Conway, causing him to swerve, and bump into the pickup. This causes a chain reaction, but all the cars maintain control.
2. The raiders draft. Shots are fired but miss.
3. The sedan passes the pickup and lines up a shot on the courier. The shot misses and the sedan drops out.
4. Conway and the pickup trade shots. Conway's shot blasts into his target's engine compartment. Steam escapes from the hood, and the pickup slows.
5. An SUV, armed with a grenade launcher, joins the chase!
6. The SUV passes the pickup and trades shots with Conway. All shots miss.
7. The SUV and pickup trade positions again. Conway still maintains his lead and avoids the raiders' shots.
8. The pickup drops out. The SUV starts to zero in on Conway; the explosions from grenades causes him to swerve, but he maintains control.
9. Another grenade explodes, and again Conway swerves. He bumps into the SUV, which loses control and flips!

With all of the raiders out of the chase, Conway is home free once again.

And that completed 6 by 6 Challenge 5.4!

Motorcycle Madness

With a little time available this morning, I decided to play a session of Machinas.

I made a couple of rule changes to make it easier for me to run the game solo:

• I vastly reduced the bonus dice pools. My car started with D6/2 while the non-player cars started with 0.
• I did not roll a random event for each car. Instead, I rolled one random event each turn, then rolled to see which car was affected.
• I allowed cars to shoot, even if they did not win a passing roll.

The first two changes limited the role of bonus dice, although they could be decisive if used at the right time. I did not notice any reduction in my enjoyment of the game. The last rule change provided, in my eyes, more action, as cars took numerous pot-shots at each other.

I failed to take pictures, primarily because my phone was upstairs and I was too lazy to go up and get it. The pictures would have been a disappointment anyway because I used my unit markers rather than my wife's Hot Wheels (she reclaimed them).

Here is a turn by turn recap:

1. Conway is on another Courier run. He finds himself pursued by 2 motorcycles. One passes; Conway tries to shoot him but fails. Another car joins the race.
2. Conway tries to bash the lead motorcycle but it eludes him. The second bike pulls alongside and unloads a blast at the Courier. Conway fires back. Both miss. The car is drafting in the rear.
3. Conway shoots the lead motorcycle, causing damage. The car moves up behind Conway and shoots, missing.
4. Conway bashes the lead motorcycle. It crashes! However, another motorcycle joins the chase. The car shoots at Conway. Conway swerves and bumps into the car. Both maintain control.
5. The car, equipped with a spiked ram, tries to bash the Courier. Conway manages to avoid his pursuer. One of the motorcycles tries to pass, but Conway holds him off.
6. One of the bikes collides with Conway. Both swerve, causing a chain reaction! The motorcycle collides with the car. It too swerves, loses control, and flips. The last motorcycle has to dodge the wreck! Unnerved by his nearly fatal collision, the lead motorcycle drops out of the chase.
7. The remaining motorcycle trades shots with Conway. Conway hits the bike, causing it to swerve. Nevertheless, it maintains control.
8. More shots are exchanged. The motorcycle loses heart and gives up the chase. Conway is home free!

Six by Six Challenge - 5.3 completed!

November Update

Six by Six Challenge
I'm back! Not sure if I'm going to complete it, but I'm giving it a try. A couple of developments got me back into the challenge:

Machinas
A confluence of factors got me interested in post-apocalyptic car battles. First, Osprey announced the publication of Gaslands. Then there was an intriguing post on the Wargames Website. Alas, none of the rules seemed like they would work for me. Then I remembered Machinas, the subject of numerous wonderful posts by Kaptain Kobold. What interested me in these rules was that cars don't move on the board; instead they move relative to each other. This is a perfect approach for small gaming spaces.

I gave them a try and like them. There is room for some tweaks, but the core mechanisms are solid.

Anyway, Machinas has me playing with minis again. As a result, I decided it would replace DC Rivals on my 6 x 6 list.

Here is what I played in November:

• Game 1
• Game 2

Slipstream

I played 4 games of my pulp sci-fi campaign, but then ground to a halt because the next scene in the Slipstream Plot Point campaign was sooo boring (it's just a straight fight). As often happens, however, game creativity in one area seems to spawn ideas in another. As I was messing around with Machinas, an idea struck me on how to make the scene interesting. I changed it into a dungeon crawl. The Slipstream campaign was back in action.

Here is my November tally:

• Game 5
• Game 6

And with that, I have finished the challenge for Slipstream!

Just a note that FU did not really work for me. They are too open-ended, which may be good for a creative group, but I prefer a bit more granularity for solo play.

Synopsis

I lose 2 games because I dropped DC Rivals but I replaced them with 2 games of Machinas and then added 2 games of Slipstream. That leaves me at 30 games played with 6 to complete in December. A tall order, but I'll be on vacation for the last week of the month. I have a shot!

Super Simple Horse and Musket

My experiments with Manoeuvre (e.g. this) have inspired me to work up some rules for some really quick and simple horse and musket battles. I have been pleased with my early trials, such as this battle.

Unexpected Values

Have you ever bought a hobby item, intending it for one purpose only to find it insufficient. But then you find a new, and even better use for that item?

That has happened for me with the Pathfiinder battle mat.

I originally purchased it for Four Against Darkness using miniatures.

I found it clunky and shelved the mat. Later, it suffered some water damage. I then cut it into 8" x 10" sheets and am now using it for various projects:

Nothing Shall Stop These Couriers

In the aftermath of the Cataclysm, small pockets of civilization arose, and established tenuous connections among each other. However, the raiders of the Wastelands seek to stop these communications. The forces of civilization have created a corps of Couriers, equipped with souped-up vehicles, to race past the raiders and deliver news and packages between the scattered towns.

Conway, in his blue car, has been tasked with a delivery. As he races down the highway, 2 raiders give chase.

Instead of using the Machinas card deck, I wrote down the vehicle stats on index cards. I plan to create a stack of cards with random stats; I can just pick one and go. I chose the stats for the Courier (blue) car.

Also note that I used some brown paper to cover up my Miami Dolphins blanket from prior pictures.

The green car tries to pass, but Conway outmaneuvers him and then cuts loose with his rear-mounted guns. Bullets shred into the green car, damaging its engine (causing a loss of Speed).

The purple car passes the green car but cannot get past Conway. Again, he lets loose with his rear guns, but this time he misses.

The purple car, armed with a spiked ram, bashes Conway and gets past him. The green car starts shooting but misses.

Conway passes the purple car.

Purple tries to bash again, but Conway holds him off. A new raider enters the fray and passes by the damaged green car.

Purple has had enough and gives up the chase. Green passes the orange car and tries to take on Conway, who again fires his rear guns.

Orange accidentally bumps Green, and both spin. Orange regains control but Green flips and is out of the chase.

Orange makes a couple of unsuccessful attempts to attack Conway.

But it finally gives up. Conway now has open road and can complete his delivery!

Thoughts

• There was definitely more action than my first test game. Having more cars helped, plus I gave my car rear-mounted guns, which resulted in a lot of shooting (that's a good thing).
• I used the full complement of bonus dice this time. I'm not sure if having so many adds a lot of value, and I may try reducing the number.
• Kaptain Kobold sent me a document with his tweaks. I read through them but am not familiar enough to try them out. He has an interesting rule that if there are cars ahead of the player car during a chase then add one to rolls to determine if cars drop out. I actually mis-remembered the rule and reduced my player car's speed. Anyway, it did not really come into play because the Courier remained ahead for most of the game.

SIX BY SIX CHALLENGE - Game 5.1 (replacing DC Rivals)

Back in the Race

The 6 by 6 Challenge, specifically.

In my last monthly update I said that my 6 by 6 challenge was dead in the water and that I did not expect to finish any more games. Well that has changed. There's a little story behind it.

Monday night I mentioned to my wife that I wanted to pick up some Hot Wheels cars, including her favorite Dodge Challenger. She replied that she had Hot Wheels. I had forgotten that when she was working at Auto Zone she picked up a few toys. Perfect! I had some toys for more Machinas experiments. I grabbed them, set them up, and starting playing a race.

Curious about what I was doing with her cars, my wife came downstairs to check on me. As she watched, one of the non-player cars tried to bash, failed (badly), and got flipped.

"Cool!" said my wife.

"Want to try?" I asked. She readily accepted, and took over as the driver of the orange Dodge Challenger. We played a couple of turns before I had to go to bed. However, my wife is hooked.

Anyway, this puts me back into the 6 by 6 race. I am going to drop DC Rivals and replace it with Machinas.

October Update

Six by Six
Dead on the water. No 6 x 6 games played this month so I am still stuck at 28 games.
I may be able to finish Ticket to Ride but I doubt I'll play any Slipstream or DC Rivals. My wife grew bored of the latter and I find the next encounter in the Slipstream plot point campaign to be unappealing.

Counters
This month was dedicated to experiments with Manoeuvre. While the rules did not work for me, I liked the components. This got me thinking about making counters to represent my imagi-nation armies of Redgrave, Blulderia, etc. I could also add some artillery (which are lacking in Manoeuvre).

I thought about making some Little Wars looking armies, including guardsmen in big, furry hats or pointy helmets. I could not find suitable paper minis at Junior General and I don't have the artistic skill to make my own. This leaves me leaning toward 18th century soldiers, but I haven't decided yet.

Vampire Humting
This being Halloween season, I have been interested in some horror gaming. I was particularly interested in Fury of Dracula when I saw it played on Tabletop. However, it looks a bit long and complicated for my wife and me. I had a flash of inspiration and have been designing my own game of vampire hunting.

An early prototype

I'm still early in the design phase but will share details soon.

Invasion Irma - Aetheria Style

It's been a while so I decided to get back on the 6 x 6 campaign. I had a little trouble setting up

But I was able to manage to get my Aetheria planes out.

The last time we saw our heroes, Dirk Daring and his wingman Pip Paddington, Pip managed to down two Imperial Raptor fighters. This time an even bigger prize presented itself - the Imperial Air Ship (IAS) Irma.

Dirk and Pip spot (lower right) spot Irma being escorted by 3 Raptor fighters. Our heroes are in an excellent position for an intercept (their starting position was determined randomly).

 At long range, Dirk manages to riddle the airship. One Raptor spots our heroes and begins to turn towards them. (The lead Raptor was a veteran while the other two were inexperienced. Their qualities would have major implications throughout the game)

Dirk and Pip continue their run at the airship. The lead Raptor turns back toward the fray.

As Dirk focuses on the airship, the lead Raptor maneuvers into an excellent firing position. His burst is deadly accurate - Dirk's plane shudders and goes down.

Pip keeps up the pursuit and continues to hammer the airship.

Irma heads for the clouds, hoping to escape Pip.

Pip circles around the cloud.

 
And avoiding the veteran Raptor pilot,  Pip zooms ahead of the airship.

He turns back and makes a head-on pass. More bullets rip through the airship.

Pip turns for a tailing shot. His burst blasts Irma; it catches fire and begins to plummet to the ground. But before Pip could celebrate, a burst rips through his Goshawk fighter - he goes down!

Fortunately, both Pip and Dirk manage to parachute out of their stricken aircraft and are rescued by friendly forces. Although they lost two aircraft, they managed to destroy an enemy airship!

6 by 6 Challenge - 3.6 Complete!

August Update

Nada, zip, zilch, nothing. That's what happened in August.

Six by Six Challenge
Last month I predicted my pace would slacken and I was right about that. I had hoped to get one game in, but I never managed it.

Nevertheless, I have completed 27 games, an average of 3.375 a month. Still on pace.

What Happened?
There are a few reasons why I believe my productivity crashed.

1. The August Swoon - I'm not sure why, but August tends to be a slow month for my gaming. Over the years, I average 5 posts a month in August compared to 8 posts a month overall. Still not sure why August tends to be slow.
2. Burnout - I have been on a (for me) torrid gaming pace this year. I probably average 1-2 games  a month in a typical year compared to over 3 this year. That pace was a result of the 6 x 6 challenge, which was the point of the challenge. The drawback is that I began to feel burned out, that I had to perform. I just tired of it.
3. Real Life - lots of things going on this month, from a sick cat (the Buster saga is continuing) to work, church, etc. I just have not felt up to much gaming on the weekend.
4. LARP Life - I also mentioned last month that I started a project to launch a new LARP kingdom. This project has been diverting a lot of my energy.

Prospects for Next Month

• Once again, I hope to complete at least one miniature game during the month.
• I am excited about a couple of games that I recently ordered. My wife and I have been feeling tired with many of our games. Too often they require a bit of set-up, which discourages us from playing. We've been moving towards games that can be set up and played quickly. We recently found a couple that seem to fit the bill.
• Welcome to the Dungeon - We saw this game on Tabletop and my wife was interested. It is a bluffing / push-your-luck card game of dungeon crawling. Players take turns adding monsters to the dungeon or taking items away from the hero. A player may drop out of the round. The last player left in the round then takes on the role of hero and tries to make it through the dungeon. If the player succeeds then he/she gets a treasure. Get 2 treasures and win! When we watched the Tabletop episode, we expected it would be a 3+ player game. When I saw that it can accommodate 2 players I immediately ordered it.
• One Deck Dungeon - Another dungeon crawl game. This can be played by 1 player or 2 players co-op style. It is essentially a dice-rolling game.

July Update

Six by Six
Thanks to the long Independence Day weekend, I got a good start to the month, so I was able to get in 5 games! I have now completed 27 games (average of 3.75 a month).

Here is a list of the games played during the month:

• Anarendor fantasy - 1 game played (Massacre at the Foaming Flood) and challenge complete!
• Slipstream (using FU) - 2 games played
• Say Goodbye to the Sunstone
• Into the Black Hole and Pirate Panic (2 parts)
• Spandau and Lewis - 1 game played (Spandau in Space)
• Ticket to Ride - 1 game played (July 3)

I suspect that my pace is going to slacken because I am so close and won't feel pressure to play. I doubt that I will finish DC Rivals (my wife lost interest in the game) but expect to finish the others.

The Generic Army Project
For my initial Slipstream ground battles, I used 2mm and 3mm ancient figures. I noticed that I could not tell what they were. At normal game ranges their weapons are nigh on invisible;  I can only see their formation and primary colors (shields are even hard to see). This led to a revelation. the actual figure is not discernible therefore a figure can stand in for any period. In other words, I only really need 2 generic armies to cover all of history and beyond.

To this end, I started working on 2 generic armies (red vs. white although I am tempted to add a third blue army). Each army will consist of 4 units each of heavy infantry, light infantry, and cavalry supplemented with some elite infantry, artillery, and perhaps some war machines (tanks or whatever).

In the past, I've tried to distinguish unit types based on strip type or supplemental colors (e.g. shield color). This doesn't always work at the micro-scales, For the generic project I plan to differentiate based on formation, perhaps supplemented by flag colors.

I started this project but stalled because of . . .

A New LARP Kingdom
I am a devoted LARPer (live action roleplayer) but often find myself dissatisfied with the state of LARPing. It's not so much the local group as it is dealing with national organizations that dictate rules to the local groups. I would prefer local autonomy so that my realm (local group) can develop its own customs, especially with regards to knighthoods. Well, I recently discovered a cure for my frustrations. The High Fantasy Society, a national organization based in Texas, actually allows each local group to rule itself. I am in the process of creating a chapter of the HFS in South Florida; this involves a lot of organization in its own right (writing bylaws, creating a rank structure, developing heraldry, scheduling practices, recruiting, etc.)

Spandau in Space

One of the nice things about science fiction gaming is that you can easily encapsulate ideas from other periods. For example, I've always enjoyed the "dogfights in space" approach of Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, et. al where space fighters duke it out in a futuristic version of World War II air combat. Although it is admittedly unrealistic, it is great fun!

Anyway, I ginned up some crude rocket ships for my Slipstream project. I had a little time this morning so I decided to have a go at a dogfight. What rules did I use? Spandau and Lewis!

Three war rockets (red) of the evil queen Anathraxa are looking for renegade Theophilians (background for my campaign is on Tales of the Templars). They discover two Theophilian rockets.

Game Note: The Queen's rockets use the stats for the Fokker EIII while the Theophilians use DH-2s. The lead Theophilian is a veteran pilot while all others are experienced.

Battle is joined. Red Two takes a long range shot and hits, inflicting minor damage.

The Theophilians catch a Royal rocket in a crossfire. Critical hit! It explodes.

Blue One gets another rocket in his sights. He misses (throughout the game, Blue One rolled horribly for shooting).

Here is an initiative tracker that I whipped up. Crude but effective.

Blue One has another shot, and blows it again.

Blue Two gets into the action, inflicting heavy damage on one of the enemy rockets.

FINALLY, Blue One hits, finishing off the damaged enemy rocket.

The remaining Queen's rocket tries to escape. The Theophilians pursue.

Blue Two takes it out.

Virtue has triumphed over the forces of evil.

Game Evaluation
Despite re-skinning the pieces from World War I planes to rocket ships, the game worked. I also enjoy air combat games because they are so easy to set up.

Six by Six - Game 3-5 complete!

More Ticket to Ride

Last night my wife and I wanted to play something patriotic to celebrate Independence Day, but we don't really have anything appropriate. So we played Ticket to Ride with the US map.

First we had to survive a Cat-zilla attack.

Here is the final board. My wife (the brown trains) completed 9 routes for 83 bonus points. She also got an extra 15 points for completing the most routes. Needless to say, she handily defeated me.

6 by 6 Challenge - 6.4 complete!