Historicon Game Report: The Dwarven Loot Train

     On Saturday night at Historicon, after I spent the day selling in Wally's Basement (the Flea Market) with my wife, Jennifer; I ran a game in the HAWKs room called, The Dwarven Loot Train, using the underdevelopment "Combat Patrol: Medieval & Fantasy" rules.

An overview of the table at the beginning of the game.

     While the game was sold out in preregistration, I only had two ticket holders show up.  I think the HMGS preregistration system needs an overhaul, or to be scrapped altogether.  Luckily, I was able to recruit my wife, Jennifer, and HAWK, Mike Thomas, to fill two of the empty spots.

The battle kicks off with one of the Dwarf units getting pin-cushioned by a Goblin archer unit that got 3 fire activations before the Dwarves got a chance to run for cover; which happened when they failed morale.

      The scenario involved a force of Dwarves that were escorting three loot wagons, and who were camped overnight in a small village.  the Orcs have caught wind of the loot, and have planned an early morning raid.  Whoever has control of two or more of the loot wagons at game's end is the winner.

The fear of the Goblin Archers resulted in two of the nearby Dwarf Units running for cover within a walled field, as the Orc troops advances.  

      The game started off poorly for the Dwarves when a unit on their far left got caught in the open by a unit of Goblin Archers who proceeded to pelt them with arrows for 3 activations, before the Dwarves broke and headed for cover.   A seesaw battle then developed in the middle, and it looked like a bold counter attack by the Dwarves might turn the tide and save the day, but the Orcs were eventually able to overpower them.  In the end, the Orcs were the clear dominant force on the table, but they had come nowhere near the loot carts; so while it was a technical Dwarf victory in scenario terms, the Orcs surely would have won in the long run.

The pieces are moved into place: on the left, as the Dwarves' allied Stone Giant advances, the Goblins start massing to attempt to overwhelm him with numbers. In the center the Dwarven Commander, mounted on her Warbear, commits herself  to battle to counter the Orcs' Swamp troll as it advances towards the walled field. A unit of Dwarves hops the wall to support her, as a unit of Orcs advances near the clump of brush near the field.

        I had a great time running the game, and players enjoyed themselves too.  The rules worked really well, and after a few turns the players were pretty much running the game themselves, with me simply flipping activation cards and answering questions.

The Goblins begin their wave attacks on the Giant.  They lose a soldier every attack, but with a hit here and a hit there, the wounds start to add up on the Giant.

The battle of the wall heats up, as Princess Snow and her Dwarf Miners charge over the wall.  The Dwarf Commander sends the Orc's SwampTroll reeling back to the woods from where it entered the battle, after it gets a bad morale result. 

The townsfolk spent the game guarding the loot wagons.

The beginning of the end; the hits are starting to added up on the Dwarf Commander, and she and her bear can only do so much.  The Orc archers have arrived and start to add their deadly shafts to the carnage.  Before the Cave Troll (foreground) can enter the fight, the Dwarf Commander falls, and panic sweeps the line. (All units become pinned when the commander dies.) Her bear continues heroically, but doesn't last long.

On the Dwarf right, the Giant falls in a final wave of Goblins attacks.

Combat Patrol: Fantasy- A Historicon Playtest

     At our club's meeting last Friday I had the chance to playtest the game I will be running at Historicon next month in Lancaster, PA.  It's a fantasy battle using a upcoming Dark Ages/Fantasy supplement for the Combat Patrol skirmish rules.   The scenario involves a Dwarven treasure caravan camped in a small hamlet for the night, which is attacked at dawn's light by by a group of Orcs, Goblins. and Trolls. Oh, My!
       Though the game was designed for 6 players (three on a side), we only had four players, so split each side into two commands.    Things went slowly at first as we all familiarized ourselves with the rules, but by game's end the action was humming along.

An overview of the battlefield. On the right is the small village where the Dwarves start, and the Orcs and their allies enter from the woods along the table edge on the left.

With the sound of Orc war-drums approaching, a unit of Dwarf Miners, and one of Dwarf Axemen, are roused from their breakfast and prepare a defense.

The Dwarf commander, feeling a bit invincible, charges upon her trusty bear-mount directly at a unit of Orc longbows.  She almost made it; but the first volley wounded the bear, which threw her and stunned her.  The second volley killed the bear and wounded her; and the third finished her off, as she struggled to make it to the safety of the nearby row of bushes.

On the Orc right, Goblins with short bows, Orcs, and a Cave Troll all advance as fast as possible...

...While on the Dwarf right, the allied Stone Giant wades into a unit of Orc Warriors and starts smashing heads.  The Orcs manage to slightly wound the giant in the leg, but ultimately the Orc survivors fail morale and run away 

Back on the Orc right, a unit of Goblins harasses the Dwarven Miners, as a  unit of Orc Warriors (in the foreground) run by the Dwarves and head for the treasure wagons.

The Orc's Marsh Troll moves to intercept the Giant.  Both creatures swing their mighty clubs and connect with their opponent simultaneously: the already wounded Giant falls dead,  and the troll ends up severely wounded, and one Endurance Point from death himself. 

The Orcs and Cave Troll on the right break through, and despite a noble defense by the Dwarves' Stone Golem, and a Dwarven Leader, continue to make headway.  The townsfolk, the last line of defense, prepare to face them in the streets.

    It was a great game!  In the end, the Orc left had collapsed under the weight of the Dwarven Handgunners and the Giant's rampage; while the Dwarven left had likewise fallen.  Since the Orc's on the Dwarven left were just inches from the wagons at the end, with nothing to stop them, we declared the game an Orc victory.

Another War Horse Gaming Day!

   Last Saturday, a few of the HAWKs, Gettysburg Gamers, and some others, got together at War Horse farm for another fun day of gaming hosted by Sam Fuson. 
    In the morning, Sam ran a Sherlock Holmes game using GASLIGHT rules.   Sam's games are a ton of fun as they include a lot of puzzle solving and clue finding, along with the combat.

A view of Sam's beautiful Sherlock Holmes table

Holmes and Watson question a suspect. 

   While Sam was running his game, I played in a Combat Patrol game being run by Buck Surdu.  This was a WWII early war in the Pacific scenario, with American troops defending against a Japanese attack in the Philippines.
   This was a fun and exciting game.  I played on the Japanese side, and we were tasked with pushing forward and trying to get as many troops and tanks as possible into the far 3' of the table.  We were attacking down the length of the table, and the Americans were set up defending in depth along a trail running down the center. The bulk of the table was covered in thick jungle. 
     It was a hard fought battle.  We chose to slog through the jungle; which in the end was a mistake. It took a horrendously long time, and by the time we neared our objective, the Americans had prepared a warm welcoming committee.  We broke for lunch around 1:00 with the American's being declared the victors.

A view of the Pacific table

As the Japanese, we quickly lost both tanks to anti-tank gun fire.  On our right, our holding force, intended to protect the right flank of our advance, got embroiled in a fight with a gung-ho American squad that sucked them in to a prolonged fight and badly chopped them up, as well as preventing them from supporting and protecting our main attack.

     In the afternoon I ran a War of the Roses game using Bear Yourselves Valiantly rules.  The scenario was based on the Battle of Barnet in April of 1471.    The game was a lot of fun, and seesawed back and forth, but in the end the Lancastrian side was declared the winners.

A view of the table.

On the Lancastrian left, Knights move up to protect the flank, as Men-at-Arms suffer withering fire from the Yorkist Longbowmen.

While I was running my game, Sam ran a second game; this time with Look, Sarge, No Charts: WWII ; reusing much of the same terrain from his first game.   

Sam's WWII game.

American forces advance through a field and woods.

     All-in-all, it was a great day of gaming, and I look forward to the next time we all can get together!

HAWK's Annual New Year's Eve Gaming Party

   On New Year's Eve, HAWK's member, Buck Surdu and his wife, Candy, hosted their annual gaming event/New Year's Eve party for the club.     This year we were treated to two really fun games, as well as wonderful food, and great company, to usher in the New Year.
   First up was a Star Wars game, using Combat Patrol's excellent Star Wars supplement.  The scenario had Rebels defending an installation, while the forces of the Empire were attacking them from two directions.  Besides, several squads of infantry, the Imperial force also had with them a couple AT-STs and a lone AT-AT.  The Alliance had several turret emplacements, some rocket launchers and other heavy weapons; and, besides regular infantry, a squad of Wookies, and a hidden squad of Sand People, who had volunteered to help the Rebels. Luke, Leia, and Han Solo were also there.

A view of the Star Wars table at the start of the game.

     The AT-AT was run by the gamemaster on a pre-plotted path that only he knew.  It was ordered to move directly to the walled village about midway down the table, where it would land a squad of commando type troops, and then it would fire on a large pallet of equipment in the center of the village in an attempt to destroy it.   The Empire got points for destroying the turrets, moisture vaporators, and other structures on the table. The catch was, that the Imperial troops only got points if they destroyed these by hand, using thermal detonators; they couldn't just stand along the edge of the table and shoot them from a distance.   The Rebels got points for protecting these.  Both sides got points for eliminating the opposing side's heroes. 

With a lucky shot from one of their heavy weapons, the smaller Imperial force takes out the gun turret on the bunker in the very first turn, momentarily demoralizing the defenders.

     It was a tough battle, with the Rebels squeezed between two forces, but the "Good Guys" were able to badly hurt and and then halt the smaller diversionary attacking force,  while the bigger Imperial force, with the armored support,  made some slow headway, but just wasn't able to get the points it needed. 
    In the end, it was a Rebel Victory.  The Rebels had protected more of the structures (7) than the Empire was able to destroy (5); and had killed two of the Imperial Heroes and had lost only 1 (Han Solo).  All in all a fun battle!

As the attackers approach the bunker, a squad of rampaging Wookies bursts out the bunker's door and charges them.  Though most of the walking carpets are quickly cut down by laser fire, a few manage to pull a limb or two off a couple poor storm troopers.

Hearing the howls of the Wookie charge, the Sand People come out of their hiding places, and begin sniping at the Imperial troops from a tall cliff in their rear. 

As the battle rages on the AT-AT gets closer and closer. It takes several hits, but none penetrate.

With many of their compatriots dead or wounded, some troopers slowly approach one of the vaporators to blow it up.

With time running out, Princess Leia rushes from cover and plants a thermal detonator on the leg of the AT-AT.  It explodes with a Penetrating Hit, causing the large machine to topple over.

Despite the destructing of the AT-AT, the special commando squad it was carrying survives, and exits the wreckage, laser blasting. They critically wound the Leia (Reduced from 9 Endurance Points to 1), and move in for the kill,;as rebel troops from all around rush out of their cover and towards the Princess to save her.  Then, having spent most of the game  hiding, Luke runs out to her aid, helping her get to safety.  At that point the game was all but over.  We played a few more turns, but with the loss of their AT-AT the writing was on the wall for the Empire.

After the Star Wars game, we reset the table for some Pulp action featuring Nazis trying to commandeer Santa's Zeppelin on Christmas Eve.  The rules we used where Blood and Swash skirmish rules, with some slight modifications to make them more Pulp flavored.
     Along with Santa and his daughter Nicole, there were a variety of defenders which started on the Zeppelin; including Toy Soldiers, Teddy Bears, Elf Militia,  Else, Anna, Kristof and Sven from Frozen, Hermie and Rudolph from Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer,  perennial HAWKS action hero Duke Morrison and his buddies, including "Wrench" Webb with some infantry, and "Boats Morgan" with some Sailors.     The Nazis brought along the Wicked Witch and her mechanical flying monkeys, as well as some Evil Snowmen.

A long view of the zeppelin game

     To win, the Santa and his friends needed to load six special A Christmas Story themed tokens (Leg Lamp, Red Ryder BB Gun, Fra-Gee-Lay Crate, Pink Bunny Slippers, Blue Bowling Ball and Can of Simonize, and a Almost Cooked Turkey, that were spread around the Zeppelin, and load them on to his sleigh before the actual time hit 11:55PM.  At that point Santa's Sleigh would have to launch out the loading bay doors and on to deliver the presents.  If something happened to Santa, then his Daughter Nicole, Elsa, Anna, or Hermie the Elf were also qualified to be able to drive the sleigh.   The Nazis had to prevent the sleigh from launching by either stealing the special tokens, delaying the good guys from retrieving the tokens, or killing all the eligible drivers.

Evil Snowmen and Nazis fight "Boats" Morgan and his sailors out on the mooring dock, while some of the bad guys head up the ramp and into the ship.

     It was a fun game with the Good Guys worrying at first that their animated toys were no match for the enemies' automatic weapons; but eventually the Nazi's isolated entry points (some came up the front ramp, and some entered at the left and right nacelle access hatches) allowed Santa and his friends to isolate them and slowly eliminate them.  What did hamper the Good Guys was locating the last present and getting it into the sleigh on time With less than a minute left, an Elf Militiaman was able to toss the leg lamp into the sleigh, and it safely took off, guaranteeing a Merry Christmas for all the good little boys and girls.

A closer view of the action inside.

Marshmallow, the evil snow monster, takes on some soldiers inside the zeppelin.

A Teddy Bear officer battles two Nazis.

As the clock ticks down (just visible above the zeppelin's tail fin on the left) players rush to achieve their objectives.

In the final seconds, one of the Elf Militia tosses the Leg Lamp into the sleigh, as Elsa prepares to take off, along with Kristof.  Santa had been taken out earlier by one of the Wicked Witch's Flying Monkey Leaders.

Demo Video for the Combat Patrol Skirmish Rules' New Star Wars Supplement

     I was privileged this past week to take part in the recording of a demonstration video for the just-released Star Wars supplement for Buck Surdu's innovative Combat Patrol: WWII skirmish rules.  I played in a small 2-player game, along with the supplement's author Greg Priebe.  The scenario we used was based on the first episode of the first season of the Clone Wars animated series, Ambush!.  Combat Patrol author, Buck Surdu, acted as our Game Master.

     It was a really fun and close game.  I commanded the Droid forces, and the Clones did managed to take out my two tanks;  but by the end I had severely wounded Yoda, and decimated the Clone force down to just a few remaining troopers.

   The free Star  Wars supplement, as well as Star Wars specific organizational unit cards, can be found on the Combat Patrol webpage: Combat Patrol .  Note, the basic Combat Patrol rules, and at least one Combat Patrol activation deck are needed to use this supplement.

HAWKs Game Day 9.17.16

   A bunch of the HAWKs got together on Saturday to play in a couple games with the goal of testing out some new rules for some under-development rule writing projects.
   The first was a WWII game using "Look, Sarge, No Charts: WWII" rules GM'd by Buck Surdu.  Even though this was a WWII game, the goal of playing it was to test out the concept of a cyber-phase for each turn, to be used in the upcoming "Look Sarge, No Charts; Sci-Fi/Near Future rulebook.
 

  I was in command of a battalion of French infantry tasked with taking a town and nearby bridge from a German force occupying it.   The game turned out to be a real nail-biter with the battle going down to the final turns.   In the end, when we had to stop due to the time, the Germans still barely held both objectives, but it would just have been a matter of a few turns more before we captured both targets.
   More importantly, we got a chance to see the cyber phase in action; and I think it worked really well.  While the first few turns were a relative stalemate cyber-wise, the French had some success late in the game in penetrating the German's computer network, causing some real headaches which prevented the Germans from getting reinforcements to the town.

     The second game was a War of 1812 scenario designed to test the new artillery rules for the upcoming Napoleonic supplement to "Combat Patrol", GM'd by Duncan Adams.  This game featured a small British held coastal town that was being raided by a force of Americans intent on gathering supplies for the approaching winter.

   Overlooking the water was a 6-pounder cannon, which could be swung around to shoot inland as well.  I was put in command of the gun and a small garrison force for the redoubt where the gun was located.  Part of the American objectives were to put the gun out of action so they could move some small boats up the waterway to haul off any supplies they liberated.
    At skirmish level, where canister range is almost the entire table, cannons are tricky things to incorporate.   Luckily the Americana's had lots of cover to hide behind.  I was able to get one shot off at a unit in the open, moving between patches of cover, with devastating results. A second shot went high, and a third shot did some hurt on a unit in a patch of woods.

    In the end I still had control of the cannon, but other sections of our perimeter had been badly chewed up, and the Americans were able to loot a large amount of supplies.  However, we still controlled the water, so they would have to haul their loot away the hard way by hand.
   There was a third game after this, which was Star Wars using modified "Combat Patrol"; but unfortunately I had to leave at this point.  It was really fun day and the rules tests were deemed a success.

"Combat Patrol" Supplement Playtest Day.

  This past Saturday I got to take part in a playtest day for two upcoming supplements for the "Combat Patrol" WWII Skirmish rules: Colonial, and Napoleonic.
    First up was a Colonial period game, testing both Boer and Zulu vs British.  Though ahistorical, it allowed us to look a two different kinds of Colonial period combat: elite marksmen and mass melee vs British steadfastness and firepower.  The set up featured a British column which stretched almost the length of the table, and the two attackers were divided by a river that ran down the center.

      I got to command one of the Zulu units, and had a great time.  The rules really recreated the slow disintegration of the British lines caught in the open as wave after wave of Zulus hit them, while the British units that were able to find cover were almost impossible to pry out without sustaining massive casualties.

     The Brits didn't fare much better on the Boer side of the table, where the Boer firepower was able to take it's toll on the redcoats before the Brits could dislodge the more fragile Boer units.

     After the Colonial game, we set up a very similar Napoleonic game with a British column being attacked by a French force.  I commanded the French cavalry, and thought the cavalry rules really gave a good feel for the furball nature of a swirling cavalry skirmish.

      I had a blast in both games, and the supplement authors got to try out some new ideas, and gain some valuable insights.