Basement-Con 2 AAR: Thursday

Basementcon-con2, that mini convention in my basement is now over. I didn't take as many pics as I should have, but here they are.

Thursday: Gruntz 15mm SciFi

Lead Addict brought over his horde of 15mm Sci-Fi minis for a playtest with the group of Gruntz. I have read thru Gruntz a few times and marveled at how simple they looked. We had had a short playtest before that didn't go well. Lots of shooting and no results. We had to be doing something wrong. The Gruntz website has nice videos on game play, which helped.

Listening post Alpha 34

The Mercs

Merc mechs

Human leader

This was battle over a Hyperspace listening post. The opponents would be humans on one side vs alien mercenaries. The reviews I've read have Gruntz as small affairs. For this 8 players battle we changed the rules from single based 15mm figs to whole stands marking kills with a tiny d6.

After a brief explanation of the rules, (which turns out is very similar to a game I've never played, Warmachine) the fight unfolded quickly. You roll 2d6 adding your shooting trait trying to make or beat your opponent' armor rating. A successful hit means you roll 2d6 with your weapon's damage trying to match or beat your opponent's soak value. Easy.

Everyone picked up the rules by turn 2, but we found the missile rules devastating and changed on the fly. Vehicles and troops were dropping like flies. The mercs seemed to have the upper hand. Then the humans destroyed most of the merc's armor and things swung in favor of the humans. That when it ended. I think most found it fun. We might even try a moderns game with them.

The brews for the night's tasting. A Romanian pilsner Timisoreanna. Very smooth. Reminded me of Pilsner Urquell.

Then, the polar opposite. White Hatter by a New Holland. Wow this brew had a bite. Not a fan at all. It was hard to get anyone to taste it after they saw my face. Kinda like when the milk goes bad and you ask your wife, "hey smell this?".

More AAR tomorrow.

The Campaign for the Kingdom 2.0

The KIngdom has been in turmoil since Rutiger the Usurper took the throne. And so it was, that within a year of his coronation, Rutiger was already fighting for his crown.

Oswald, Baron of Ock, Lord of the North Marches, gathered a three of the other great houses against Rutiger. They met on the rolling countryside outside the capital.

The forces were about equal. The King had brought three of his closest allies, men who had been key in winning his crown. As the morning fog burned away, the forces face each other. Battle lines were crisp. Flags fluttered in the breeze. It was all very beautiful, really.

Then, a single horn cut the silence, and Rutiger's troops lurched forward. Across the field, Oswald's men did the same.

Both sides fought to keep their lines tight, but both had starts and stops. Some nobles stopped to allow their archers some play. Men fell.

It was finally in the center, where Rutiger and Oswald met. The king's men would get the worst of it. The center was not holding....

On the flanks, Royalists troops were beating back the rebels. It looked like it would be a close thing.

Then, the center gave. Rutiger's men fled the field. With their king retreating, the royalists retreated. In the confusion the king fell from his horse. Oswald's men captured him.

There, in within sight of his capital he fought his own uncle to take, Rutiger lost his head.

The king is dead. Long live King Oswald!

As usual, Flower of Chivalry gave us a great game. There was a lot more use of the Marcher Men (Welsh and Irish auxillaries really), They proved tough troops. I hope to add some light horse to the mix, and some fantasy elements. The campaign is off! Read more how the campaign works here.

Also, we had an extra treat. The National WW1 Museum (the biggest & best in the country) is sponsoring our local con RECRUITS. This weekend, the museum is letting RECRUITs host several games in the Museum's main hall. Among them will be a trench game that one of our group brought in to test last night.

As you can see very cool. Packed in nice little 2x4 carrying case.

Play tests

Thursday's game featured a playtest of Fistful of Lead: Wasteland Warriors. Full report over at Lead Addict.

This was prep game, not only for the rules, but for RECRUITS mid September. If you are anywhere near the KC area, make this convention. It's worth it. I have to work on preparation for my own game using the oft mentioned caverns. I'm leaning towards a Pirate or Viking game right now. As much as I'd like to do a retro SciFi game, I don't have the figs right now, or the money to get them.

Sunday I tried out the "in the Emperor's Name (or ITEN) 40k, non-sanctioed skirmish rules with the Boy. ITEN's been getting a a lot of good press and I had some old 40k figs laying around. It's about as simple as you can get, but still fun. Best of all they're free!

Individual pieces of the rules aren't new ideas, but they've been put together in new ways. We had a Chaos contingent vs some Space Marines. I need to try some other troops because its almost impossible for these boys to miss, and really hard for them not to save. So some turns there was a lot of dice rolling and no results. We played it twice, switching sides. The Boy won both. 

RECRUITS pics

I forgot my camera, but thanks to fellow Basement General Greg (owner of wargamedownloads.com) for taking some shots.

Here's some shots from the Fistful of Lead game:

The streets of Lesterville

The action unfolds

A different view of the action

The giant hand of Death

Blood in the streets

Here's some shots form the GASLIGHT game

THe BRute class Land Ironclad chugs forward