Fistful of Lead-Wasteland Warriors

Oberon VI is a planet of steaming jungles and deadly flora. But it also holds the vast treasure of a lost civilization. Space pirates have long coveted this lost wealth and often send expeditions to retrieve it. A lone patrol ship of the Intergalactic Federation is tasked with keeping Oberon VI's cultural heritage intact (at least until they find a way to take the treasure themselves).

This was the second playtest of Fistful of Lead using the future combat mods. I wanted to try out the armor rules. Enter 3 gangs of Space Pirates vs the Galactic Patrol and two gangs of hired guns. Each side's leader got armor. For this scenario we didn't distinguish between ballistic and reflective armor (ballistic, of course, only protects against bullets while reflective only stops "frickin' lay-zers").

Overhead view of the carnage

First kill went to the Federation sniper who dropped a pirate heavy from long distance. Overall the game played like most Ffol games, mostly bloodless at the beginning then the bodies start hitting the floor. The Boy put down three guys at once with a shotgun blast. No kills, but put all three in pinned-land.

The armor rules worked pretty seamless. I think there's a lot of fluff here athat could be thrown in with different weapons and effects. Lasers were effective but not completely unbalanced, so I might give them a longer recharge time (out of ammo).

Next up, vehicles! The challenge with them will be to make them fit into the ease of the FfoL game without making them too unrealistically mobile.

Dark Age Thursday

Last night saw the Viking/Norman battle of Lone Tree. Seems the northern raiders decided to take advantage of the chaos involving the Norman conquest of Britain. The Normans, led by Guilliaume "not the Bastard", took offense to this and cut the Vikings off on their way back from a raid. Laden with loot, and little tipsy, the Norse led by Scot the Gray, decided to take a stand.

After the battlelines were drawn, the Vikings, liquored up and pissed off, moved first. Billy the Axe, on the Viking left held back, while Scot the Bald sent his men careening forward.

The Normans went next. Guillaume, in the center was wary while his knights on both flanks led by Sir Jay and Sir Gregory advanced.

The cavalry actually managed to hold some restraint at first, but then let loose, like everyone knew they would. Unfortunately, the horses were almost blown by the end of the charge, and Sir Gregory was forced to hold up short and regroup.

This gave Scot the Bald's men a chance to charge themselves. One unit of knights made their escape while two others took some knocks.

In the center, archery was exchanged. Norman accuracy was better, and one of Scot the Grey's Huscarls decided Valhalla could wait, and retreated.

On the Viking left, Billy the Axe's boys were having a hard time of it. One unit was driven off, another cut-off and surrounded. He was holding just barely. On the right, the fight with horses was tight. Scot the Bald's men were holding on, just barely. Two units were barely holding. This flank would decide the battle. The gods seemed to smile upon them. Thor granted them the will stand. But, apparently not to fight. A miserable counter attack that could have turned to tide failed. The knights routed them. It was over. The fleeing norsemen were ridden down by remaining knights. The ravens feasted well.

As usual, "Flower of Chivalry" my ruleset of choice, provided a fun, intense, sometimes frustrating, game. It was a nail biter til the end. The Normans cav is powerful but brittle. They won with only 2 stands lost to the Viking 7. Most of the Vikings losses happened in one turn.

Weekend Gamefest Pt I

Four wonderful days of gaming (with a couple of chilly soccer games thrown in), what could be better?

Thursday night, I thought we would have a smaller crowd due to everyone cashing in their passes for Friday and Saturday, but actually had six people show. I've had the Perfect Captain's Shadows over Byzantium for years, but never payed. If you haven't visited the Captain's site, you're truly missing out. They do high quality board and miniature games for FREE! (other than they ask you make a contribution to one of the many charities on their site).

I like this particular game because:

1- It's a cool under used period. Right after the early Crusades in Greece and Asia Minor, so Frank-Norman type cavalry mixed with eastern style armies.

2- Lots of treachery, ripe for a play by e-mail campaign, with possible mini battles.

It took awhile to get placed and started, cutting out counters, learning the rules. I think most players would have set up different if they knew how the rules would unfold. I started in Sparta, more or less, and spent most of the game getting hammered from the north. I have a few questions into the supporting Yahoo group because of some missing rules, but otherwise a decent first play.

Friday night was some good old fashioned Role Playing games. My kids have been begging me to play Mutant Future ever since we rolled up characters months ago. MF is basically Gamma World from the early days of RPGing. I look back on my Gamma World days with great fondness. It was a crazy post-apocalyptic world of mutants, robots and fun. This time, I got to be on the other side of the table and actually play. I was the only Pure Strain Human in the group. As such, I got none of the fun mutations, but have better resistance to radiation and can understand ancient tech better. I named him Bili the Ax after a favored character from the Horse Clans book series.

There were 5 kids and 3 adults playing. One was a friend of my daughter's who had never played any kind of RPG. She must of liked it, because even after her parents picked her up, she kept texting my daughter for updates on what was happening.

Highlight: Slothnug, a slow slug-like mutant with no pain receptors (so the Gamemaster keeps tract of damage, not the player) had been getting hammered by fire from some Pigzies (militant fascist pig creatures). After taking them out by use of weather control (ever see Twister?)he finally able to assess his damage. He was described as "swiss cheese", with holes all through his body you could see through.

Pt 2 to come tomorrow.....

Weekend Gamefest Pt II

"I, Dolpheus Thewd, do hereby take pen in hand, to give a right and true account of the battle of Volgen, Unkerlant. Open war has been upon this tiny kingdom for more than a year after the death of their beloved monarch Karl Franz III. Borogravia has gained the upper hand in this conflict and has, over the winter, through shrewd negotiation and  calculated threats amassed a large army from its conquered lands. 

After learning of Unkerlant through my contacts at the Geographical Society, I travelled to Greater Germania to find this illusive and barely known kingdom. I was able to "tag along" as they say, with expedition from Cavendaria, sent as allies to Zloebnia, one of Unkerlant many fractious provinces.

A harrowing crossing through the mountains, and terrifying crossing of the river Blut we entered Zlobenia. My Cavendarian compatriots were surprised to find Zlobenia's Duke Sigmund was already on the road with his famed Ducal Horse Grenadiers, sprinting to a battle in the east. Though exhausted, we quickly followed.

I must say, Unkerlantian roads are ay best, awful. There were holes that could have swallowed a man, but we were able to reach the town of Volgen along with two regiments from Franistover, also sent to aid the Duchy of Volborg in it's last stand against Borogravia.

We entered Volgen at dawn, a pious town full of churches beside a dark, deep river. General Wolfe, commander of Volborg's forces ordered our regiment to guard the northern most river crossing. After passing a few "witches" trussed up in their gibbets outside of town we made for our little part of the battlefield.

Across the wide river sat flat country. A large forest dominated the center of the battlefield. Behind it, rolling forward like some great storm front, the forces of Borogravia marched forward. Their great line split at the forest with the Borogravian regular army heading towards us on the left. Our right would see a mass of Borogravian cavalry and allied forces.

The plan, as I understand it, was to hold the river and slaughter the hated Borogravians as they attempted a crossing. But then, we watched in dismay as the entire Volborgian massed cavalry of the left, galloped across the bridge to meet the enemy.

The Borogravian cavalry rode out to meet them, leaving their own infantry behind. There was a great clash! Unkerlant is poor country for horses, and so breeds poor horsemen. What Unkerlantians lack in skill they make up for in sheer bloodthirstyness. It was an ugly affair, costly to both sides, but Volborg eventually got the upper hand, and forced the Borogravian horse back. Volborg attempted to follow up their gains, but the Borogravian infantry was able to deploy and slowly push our cavalry back towards the river.

The Borogravian infantry, including all their guard units, marched steadily toward us. Our forces stood stalwart, ready to defend the river. As the sky grew dark, the Borogravian cannon deployed directly opposite our position. Cannonballs began thumping into the wet ground around us.

I was to find out later, that hardly anything had occurred on our opposite flank. It seems the Borogravian commander on the that flank had trouble motivating the allied troops. A small cavalry skirmish had occurred, but little else.

As night drew near, the battle ended. Borogravian forces withdrew during the night, to find a better crossing point. The Duchy of Volborg was safe, for now".

As is our way, the battlefield was generated randomly. It turned out very benefitial for Volborg, being the home team got to choose which side to hold. Borogravia had a slim chance at victory, which became even slimmer as our deployment was stalled by a combination of bad rolls and a brilliant move by Lead Addict in sending his cav out to meet us. My vaunted Borogravian cavalry was slaughtered, as is norm for me.

A Cannon for Captain Cortes

Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo, so I thought the Thursday game should have that theme.

The hated French have a garrison of Legionnaires in the small village of Villa de Loco. They also have an old cannon. Captain Cortes, leader of the local resistance, wants the cannon for the Revolution. 

Villa de Loco

The French players were allowed to set up first, anywhere in the village with the cannon and a bunch of stuff to build a barricade. They elected to set up in front of the barracks. Half held the windows facing north, and the other with cannon facing south. One brave Legionnaire climbed on the roof. The French objective was to hold out. They're Legion, so everybody knew they were dead.

the brave first squad

the Legion's second squad

The Mexican forces (which outnumbered the French 2-1) needed to capture the cannon. Bonus points were awarded for planting the Mexican flag on the barracks. They would approach from the table edges. Captain Cortes and two regular units would come from the north. A band of machete armed militia came from the east protected by the church. Finally, a group of Banditos moved in from the southwest.

Captain Cortes

Banditos

Regulars

more Regulars

Machete wielding farmers

The French were able to pin down most of the regular Mexican forces right away. One brave sergeant charged the barracks and killed a Legionnaire with a sword thrust through a window, but was pinned immediately with rifle fire from the other windows. First blood to the Mexicans.

The Banditos occupied the cantina and began pouring fire down from above. That was when the cannon was turned toward the cantina. BLAM! The building was damaged and on fire, but still staying up.

Next, the militia charged from cover of the church. Miraculously, (maybe the village priest blessed them) all survived the fire to attack the barricades. That's when most of them died.

Maybe if I hide here....

A couple more rounds of fire were exchanged, then cantina collapsed. One bandito died, and the rest were wounded. A few stumbled from the wreckage to join in the assault on the barricade. It was blood bath. The Legion fought and died. Soon, only the lone legionnnaire on the roof remained. Though wounded he fought back repeated attacks. Then, Captain Cortes rode out. He carefully leveled his revolver and BANG! dropped the last Legionnaire. But he wasn't dead. A final bayonet thrust from one the Mexican regulars finished him.

Viva la Mexico! Viva la Revolution!

The rules were, of course, Fistful of Lead, modified for single shot muskets.