Your World Sucks

I can't find it now but I vaguely remember reading a blog post once that made the statement that your world sucks. The basic point was that the blogger preferred his own, home-brew campaign world to any commercially available product. Essentially, the blog post espoused the creative process of making your own rather than slavishly adopting someone else's handiwork. This argument has come to my mind recently because of two developments:

• Over on TMP (and elsewhere, I'm sure) there has been a lot of hand-wringing about the Age of Sigmar, the new set of fantasy rules by Games Workshop. The big issue is that they are discontinuing their venerable Warhammer Fantasy Battle (WFB) rules. Fans of WFB are up in arms about the change, partly because GW is completely re-doing the setting, making all their old army lists obsolete. Of course, this does not bother me a bit. I never really was interested in WFB, to a large extent because I was never all that crazy about their world. I much prefer playing out battles in my own imagi-nations.

• Last weekend, I ran an RPG session inspired by Colonial Gothic. While I like the general concept of the setting (supernatural horrors during the American Revolution), there are many aspects about the setting as described in the rulebook for which I don't particularly care. What did I do? I tossed out the "official" backstory and substituted my own. Once again, I am essentially creating my own world rather than using a commercial product (although I like to "borrow" ideas from commercial games).

Anyway, I just find so liberating not to be tied to some official setting but to use my own. I also love the creative process. So, from my perspective, other people's worlds do pale in comparison to my own.

Black Bart escapes!

As promised, here is my game report for the Escape from Castle Grayrock scenario.

Finding himself under siege in Castle Grayrock, the Bluderian Viceroy called a conference of his top commanders to discuss measures. True to his nature, General "Black" Bart Blackwell urged that the garrison should sally forth and drive the rebels from the street. The Viceroy was more cautious, pointing out Blackwell's recent failure. Instead, the conference decided to send a messenger to the main Bluderian army is southern Grayrock. Disgusted by the lethargy of the other commanders, Black Bart offered to provide the messenger. Actually, he planned to do it himself in order to get away from the Viceroy and rejoin his Greenglade comrades with the main army.

Blackwell waited until a dark, moonless night. Clothed in black, he armed himself with a pair of pistols, a sword, and a dagger. He carried a couple of lengths of rope hidden under his black cloak. Deep in the night, he set forth.

A section of Grayrock City.
Black Bart (the green figure because I don't have a black one) is in the Castle (bottom)

 Notes: Pardon the bare bones nature of the board. I was in the process of making a proper castle and city walls, but Tommy demanded a game immediately! Instead, I used a few stone walls from Village in a Bag and a lot of imagination. The red cobblestony areas are the main streets. The gray areas represent built up areas - buildings and narrow alleyways. It is possible to move through the gray areas.

Black Bart dropped a rope from the wall and shimmied down. About halfway, he slipped and fell with a thud to the street below. He rose, but felt a stabbing pain in his ankle.

Limping, he managed to cross the main street and ducked into an alleyway. As he hobbled through the alley, he heard arguing from around the corner. He peaked and saw two local citizens, recently armed and acting as a rebel patrol. Ge decided to avoid an encounter, sneaking by in the dark. Fortunately, their argument was so loud that they did not hear him.

Black Bart sneaks past the citizen patrol.

 Turning a corner of the alley, Blackwell stumbled across a mangy dog. It began to bark at him. He gave it a swift kick and it ran away. Fortunately, no one was alerted.

He then had to cross a major street. Huddling under his dark cloak, he scurried across as quickly as his injured ankle allowed., but he did not go unnoticed. Someone called out to him. "Hey buddy!" Blackwell ignored the call, but the man repeated it. Blackwell turned, his hand reaching from his sword hilt. A ragged man came up to him. "Can ye spare a coin?" As Blackwell hesitated, the beggar stated, "I can see yer tryin' to remain hid. Spare or coin or should I make a row?" Blackwell pulled a coin from his pouch and gave it to the beggar, who smiled and moved on.

Black Bart meets a beggar.

 Blackwell moved back into the alleys. After a little way, he heard another voice saying "Hey Bud." Blackwell turned, whispering "I have a coin I can spare." The man approached out of the dark, with a dagger pointed to Blackwell. "I want ALL yer coin, and anything else on yer person, or else." Blackwell was having none of it. He whipped out his sword and lunged. The thug deftly dodged, Back and forth the two of them went - striking, dodging, and parrying as silently as each could. Neither one wanted to alert the patrols. At one point, Blackwell slipped and fell to his knees. The mugger rushed in, but Blackwell recovered and his parry disarmed his enemy. The thug kicked Blackwell and then jumped on him. Blackwell's sword rattled to the ground. The two men wrestled until Blackwell managed to draw his dagger. Two quick stabs and the fight was over, with the thug's life blood pouring from his veins.

Black Bart after an encounter with a thug.

 Blackwell fled from the scene, eager not to get caught. Fortune was with him and he was able to make it to the wall. His only encounter was with another mangy dog that he drove away with ease. Blackwell then tried to scale the wall, but his injured ankle made it difficult. He slipped and fell to the ground. He heard a crack and his ankle throbbed with greater intensity. Probably broken. He tried again, and through sheer determination, he made it to the top. 

Black Bart on top of the wall.

Tying his other rope to the top of the wall, he dropped the other end down the other side and slid down (falling once again!). He was able to make his way to his secret contact, who provided him with a horse. He rode off into the night! After a long, painful ride, he, and the Viceroy's message, made it to the Bluderian army.

I played this game using my rules-lite RPG rules (as described in my Kevin's Krawl and Space Templar posts).

Each turn, Bart could move 1 square. I then rolled for an encounter in the square. An encounter would occur on the busier streets on a 1-3 but only a 1-2 in the alleys (to make the streets more tempting, I should have allowed faster movement). If an encounter occurred, I rolled on the encounter chart.

1. Dog (Power = 6)
2. Beggar (Power = 6)
3. Drunk (starts a brawl) (Power = 6)
4. Thug (Power = 7)
5. Unruly citizens on patrol (Power = 7)
6. National Guard patrol (Power = 8)

The patrols would consist of 1-3 men. The Power number was what Bart had to roll to successfully attack or defend. For example, in his fight with the thug, Bart needed to roll 7 or better to hit and to avoid being hit. In a fight, Bart could take 3 wounds before succumbing to unconsciousness (and failing his mission).

When an encounter occurred, Bart had 3 options: sneak by it (using the encounter's Power number as the target for success), confront it (not always requiring combat, such as the beggar encounter), or run from it. I would roll the dice and interpret the result (very free-form; I just decided what seemed logical).

Bart also had to roll to climb up or down the walls. Again, I would interpret the die rolls. Also, after each failure I rolled to see if an encounter occurred.

Bart was fairly unlucky in some regards (6 encounters in 10 moves; had trouble climbing walls) but he was fortunate in the nature of the encounters (no National Guard patrols, for example) and in his rolls during confrontations. I thought about adding a second "level" of the game where Bart had to make it from the city to the army, avoiding highwaymen, wolves, and enemy patrols along the way, but I decided to take it easy on him.Throughout the game, I felt a sense of anxiety as I made the rolls so I consider the scenario a success (as it was for Bart as he made it out of the city).

Uprising in Grayrock City

No chores this morning so I got to do a little gaming (and luckily I have a game scheduled for tonight as we'll be testing out my dungeon crawl rules). It's been a while so I think it's time for another incident in the Grayrock Revolution.

A lull had settled in as the Bluderians prepared to force their way into the Maraconi plateau. There were occasional skirmishes but no major actions. Meanwhile, tensions were building in the capital between the native Grayrockians and the Bluderian garrison. These tension finally erupted when the Viceory decided to suspend the Mayor and City Council; initiating direct Bluderian rule. Protesting mobs gathered around the City Hall, trapping a Bluderian infantry company within its grounds. The Viceroy panicked and ordered the garrison to withdraw to the confines of Grayrock Castle. Incensed by the Viceroy's "cowardice," General "Black Bart" Blackwell checked himself out of the military infirmary (still recovering from his wounds at Balderdash Pass), commandeered some Bluderian units, and marched to the rescue of the trapped infantry unit.

Here is an account of the action from the rebels' perspective:

When the Grayrockian patriots saw the Bluderian forces advancing on the City Hall, they withdrew to better defensive positions and hastily erected barricades.

Arrival of the Bluderians.
Black Bart has linked up with the unit at City Hall (top center)
Rebel mobs are the multi-colored units.

 The nefarious Black Bart sent his cavalry forward in hopes of scattering the patriots. Fortunately, we had been well armed with muskets smuggled from Redgrave.

[Game note - I treated the rebel mobs like French Resistance in Memoir '44. They had the same attack dice as regulars (3-2-1) but could only take 3 hits instead of 4. If forced to retreat, they could move back 2 spaces per flag.]

Cavalry routs, leaving its dead on the field.

 Bart then sent an infantry company against the barricades. Once again, we held firm.

No success on the left.

 Black Bart then switched his efforts to the right.

Artillery takes some hits

Bluderian infantry moves through a block of buildings.

 Bart also began advancing in the center.

The rebels take casualties

Black Bart storms over the center barricade.
Artillery clears the right barricade.

 But a unit of former Grayrockian National Guard came to the rescue.

Black Bart's infantry is forced to retreat.

 Black Bart then sent his cavalry to the right. It stormed over the vacated barricades and attacked a group of patriots in the streets.

Cavalry attacks

 But to no avail. In the narrow streets, the patriots swarm around the troopers, pull them from their mounts, and bludgeon them to death.

No more cavalry

 Once more, Bart tried to advance on the left with equally disastrous results.

Moving forward through buildings.
The Bluderians take a lot of hits.

A mob takes out a Bluderian company.

 Black Bart switched to the center once again, but once again the valor of the patriots prevailed.

Black Bart moves forward through the park.

But his infantry unit is cut down.

With his forces seriously depleted, Black Bart was forced to retreat. Victory for the People of Grayrock!

With City Hall in rebel hands, the Viceroy withdrew all Bluderian forces to Grayrock Castle. He soon found himself under siege, with the rebels taking control of the rest of the city. Black Bart and the Viceroy quarreled. The Viceroy blamed Bart for losing 3 infantry companies and a squadron of cavalry. If Bart had obeyed then they would only have lost the 1 company at City Hall. Black Bart responded that if he had obeyed then the rebels would still have seized the city but if the Viceroy had shown a little nerve and given him reinforcements, then Bart could have swept the mobs from the streets!

A few game notes

• I think I made things a bit too difficult for Black Bart. He was outnumbered and had to attack defensive positions. The mobs' fire was probably unrealistically effective; I think they might need additional penalties than just having 1 less hit. I will have to ponder

• Note that each mob unit had 6 figures, but they could only take 3 hits. When hit, I would remove 2 figures. I used a bunch of unbased figures of various colors to create a sense of irregularity to the mobs. This contrasted nicely to the neat stands of regulars and National Guard. Unfortunately, they were a pain to move and I kept knocking down individual figures.

• I created a special battle board to represent the city streets. It was simple and cheap to prepare. I wanted to use some gray craft foam to distinguish blocks with buildings vs. streets, but Michael's was out the last time I finished. I used some cardboard for some of the blocks but did not have enough for all the buildings.

• I treated the blocks with buildings like buildings in Memoir '44 - reduce attacks by 1 die.

• Once again, I really like the look of the Village in a Bag buildings. Bob Cordery is doing some neat things with L-shaped buildings which give more room for troops in the squares. Other gamers have followed suit with these experiments. While I really like the idea and think that the prototypes look great, I just don't have time for my own attempts. So for now, Village in a Bag wins out.

The Redgrave War - Part 3

I have previously reported on an old campaign, called the Redgrave War, fought in my Imagi-nation continent of Francesia.

The Redgravians invaded the Empire, seized Blancport, and defeated the Emperor Lester at the Battle of Shallow Stream in Middle March.

The scene of the fighting then turned to Southcoast. Expecting an attack, the Empire rushed reinforcements to the city, including a contingent of Marines aboard a squadron of ships commanded by Admiral Netherbottom. The Redgravian Navy attempted to intercept. Commodore Plotkin of the Redgravian squadron held the weather gauge and was able to swoop upon the Imperialists. The Imperial ships Tiramisu and Escargot took on the brunt of the attack and both were forced to strike their colors. Nevertheless, Netherbottom's flagship and another ship managed to escape, delivering the Marines to the beleaguered city.

Despite the efforts of the Marines, Southcoast fell to the Redgravians (the Marines managed to withdraw). As the siege dragged on, however, Emperor Lester organized a force to relieve the city. As it approached, Southcoast fell, but the Imperials were determined to regain it.

Seeing the Imperials advance, the Redgravian general, Schwarzwelder, decided to meet the enemy in the open field. It was a disastrous decision as he was outnumbered 2-1. The Imperial attack, led by the remaining Marines, smashed the Redgravians and the city returned to Imperial hands.

More Francesian History

A while ago, I presented a short battle report from the chronicles of Francesia.  

Now I offer a belated follow-up.

With their victory at Blancport, the bulk of the Redgravian forces massed around the city. Meanwhile, King Frederick’s Capitol Army, depleted by reinforcements sent to the battle, assumed a defensive position in Middle March. Learning of its weakened state, Emperor Lester advanced.

Frederick positioned his forces on the far side of a fordable river. Lester had a nearly 2 to 1 numerical superiority, but the bulk of his troops where unreliable Landwehr (militia). Despite the terrain and the lack of training of his troops, Lester decided to attack.

Bravely, the Imperial forces marched forth into battle. As they tried to cross the stream, the Imperials met a withering fire from the Redgravian defenders. Disordered by the stream and hammered by the sure and steady enemy volleys, the Landwehr lost their nerve and broke. With the bulk of his forces running back to the Imperial capital, Lester had no choice but to retreat.

Casualties:

§  Empire (Lester) – 37,000 troops engaged; 4,500 casualties

§  Redgrave (Frederick) – 19,000 troops engagded; 2,000 casualties

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.

Battle of Maraconi

 Last weekend, I played the first battle in my version of a  Restless Revolutionaries campaign. I roped my wife into playing, and she chose to be the ruthless Bluderian occupiers who were trampling on the liberties of the people of Grayrock. 

Here is an excerpt from the Chronicles of Francesia:

When King Marius of Grayrock died without an heir, the throne fell to Marius’s second cousin, Luther, king of Bluderia. At the time, the nobles of Grayrock accepted the new king and offered their allegiance. Recently, however, the Bluderians have been oppressing the people of Grayrock, creating a great deal of discontent.

That discontent broke into open rebellion in the isolated little barony of Maraconi. The Bluderian Governor decided to confiscate the manor of the Sieur of Maraconi, who was much beloved by the people. When the Sieur set out for Grayrock to protest to the Viceroy, the Governor had him arrested. This spark ignited all the frustration and anger at Bluderian rule, and the people of Maraconi took arms. These fierce, independent people had long maintained a local militia, and this force gathered to free their Sieur. Buttressed by veterans of recent wars, the militia was determined to strike a blow for freedom.

As the determined rebels advanced on Maraconi, the Bluderian watch gave the alarm.

Picture 1 – Situation when the Bluderian watch first spied the rebels.

The Bluderians moved their artillery to the hill on its right flank and began a rather ineffectual cannonade. Meanwhile, their cavalry moved forward, only to be charged by their Grayrock counterparts. After a sharp clash of swords, the Bluderian horse fled the field.

Picture 2 – The Grayrock cavalry is victorious (right)

The Bluderians occupied the hills west of town, while the rebels advanced in the center and on their right flank. An initial attack on Maraconi was repulsed with casualties on both sides.

Picture 3 – After the initial assault on Maraconi

At this point, the Bluderian regulars grew overconfident. Believing that they could easily disperse the rebels, the Bluderians pursued the rebel militia out of town. The rebels rallied, however, and their counterattack wiped out the Bluderians.

Picture 4 – Grayrock takes Maraconi and advances on the right

The Greenglade infantry (allies of the Bluderians but of marginal motiviation) advanced in an attempt to retake the village. But the rebels launched strong attacks on the right and center, pushing back the occupiers.

Picture 5 – The rebels engage the remaining Bluderian infantry

The final rebel push drove the Bluderian infantry from the field. Seeing the defeat of their comrades, the Bluderian cavalry and artillery turned to flee.

Picture 6 – The Bluderians flee

The victorious rebels freed the Sieur and declared him their rightful monarch. Frustrated Grayrockians flocked to the Maraconi banner and the rebel army swelled. Flushed with success, they decided to advance upon the provincial capital.

This sets the stage for the next battle in the campaign.

A Little "History" Lesson

I did not get a chance to fight the Battle of Maraconi this weeked, so I'll present a little history of Franconia. About a decade prior to the Battle of Maraconi, the Emperor of Silverfern died, sparking a succession crisis and a land-garb by the King of Redgrave.

From the Chronicles of Francesia:
The beloved emperor, Godfrey the Good (called the Good because he slashed taxes; unfortunately this resulted in a reduced military budget, which would have a detrimental effect on the Empire) died without a direct heir. A number of relatives, including Duke Johann of Drakendorf and Godfrey's nephew Lester, staked a claim to the Imperial throne. Lester quickly gained the upper hand, but he still faced opposition. King Frederick of Redgrave decided to take advantage of the turmoil and seize some territory at Imperial expense. As Redgravian forces moved into the Empire, Lester was able to hammer through his selection as Emperor. Hastily, he gathered an army and moved north to confront Frederick.

The first major action of the war took place at Blancport.

A combined land-sea offensive descended upon the Empire. Details have been lost, but the forces that took place were as follows:

• Empire (Duke Fredio) - 37,000 troops; 7,000 casualties
• Redgrave (Gen Redmond) - 31,000 troops; 7,500 casualties

It was a hard-fought, bloody battle, but Redmond was able to break the Imperial forces and seize Blancport.

Unfortunately, I did not keep detailed records on the scenarios. I did record total troops and casualties. I used the following guidelines for translating stands to troop counts:

Each stand represents:

• 4,000 infantry 
• 6,000 militia 
• 2,000 cavalry 
• 20 guns and 1,000 crew + support 
• 500 casualties per stand lost

The battles were fought using my 2mm troops on a gridded gameboard. I no longer have the rules, but they were essentially a mash-up of the DBA command rules with the Battle Cry combat rules. I still have my 2mm set-up. Here is an example:

A Redgravian army advances on an Imperial city.

Inspiration

I received these about a week ago, which I bought from e-bay.

Here is a close-up.

They came as a surprise because I forgot that I had purchased them. I originally planned to build up 10mm armies for my Francesia reboot. I have some Scruby miniatures from Historifigs and wanted to supplement them with some cheap figures. These inexpensive Risk figures seemed an excellent option.

I have changed my mind since then. My aging eyes can’t handle painting such small figures anymore. I turned to 15mm, and placed an order for some of Irregular’s miniatures; I am waiting for them to arrive from the UK. That left me with a dilemma on what to do with these guys.

Then, inspiration struck, thanks to Bob Cordery's Wargaming Miscelllany blog. He posted an interesting campaign idea called Restless Revolutionaries. I began thinking about running a revolution in Francesia. The scenario was obvious: Grayrock would revolt against its Bluderian masters. But what figures would I use? My Irregular order was slated to building the armies of the Empire and Redgrave. Aha! I can use these Risk figures!

I need to make a run to Michael's for some supplies to make terrain, but I hope to start the revolution soon!

Welcome to Francesia

Pictured here is a map of the island of Francesia, an imaginary realm for solo wargame campaigns. 

I drew the map while Hurricane Frances was howling overhead in 2004, hence the name . Actually, the original map consisted of three large islands (Francesia being one of these islands) and one small one (Cragcoast, shown on the bottom of map). There was one island to the east and one to the south of Francesia but those maps have been lost to the ravages of time.

Francesia itself is divided into various countries, "imaginatively" named after the color of their uniforms. Redgrave and the Empire of Silverfern were the main antagonists. The Empire included a reluctant province, Drakendorf (the name came from an earlier attempt at a campaign map. I ditched the map but kept the name because I liked it). There were three smaller realms – Bluderia, Sylvania (later changed to Greenglade), and Grayrock. For purposes of the campaigns, these three were united under the Bluderian crown.

At the time, I was looking for a very simple campaign mechanism to give some meaning to solo battles I was fighting with some Irregular 2mm miniatures. Eventually, I decided to adapt the rules of the Avalon Hill classic, Diplomacy. I divided Francesia into provinces; some of which were designated as resource centers. Each realm had a number of armies equal to the resource centers they controlled. Silverfern, Bulderia, and Redgrave began with three resource centers each. Drakendorf, with two centers, was technically part of the Empire, but I decided that the Duke would act autonomously. I plotted the moves for Redgrave (later, my sympathies would shift and I began plotting for the Empire), while I randomly determined the moves of the other countries. I would transfer resulting battles to the tabletop, designating each army as consisting of 6 units. Each supporting army would contribute an additional 3 units to the battle. The type of unit (infantry, cavalry, or artillery) was determined by dice rolls. I then fought out the battle in miniature, with the loser being forced to withdraw from the province. The key to the campaign was that I did not play out all the combats as this created a slew of battles. Instead, I would choose the most interesting battle of the campaign season and play it out. The other battles would be determined by the standard Diplomacy rules. The system actually worked quite well and a stirring campaign with several battles resulted.

I have decided to resurrect this campaign, using new figures and rules. I am in the planning stages at the moment but I’m looking forward to unleashing the dogs of war soon. In the meantime, I’ll be making some posts about the history of Francesia.