My Fall-In Game: Escape the Dungeon using "Feudal Patrol" Rules.

    At the Fall In gaming convention, held back on November 8th-11th, Buck Surdu, Greg Priebe, and I all conspired to run a trio of games on the new Secret Weapon "Tablescapes Dungeons: Mines" terrain that Buck and I had purchased earlier in the year via a Kickstarter: Tablescape Dungeons: Mines.  Between Buck and I, we had purchased 5 of the base sets, 5 of the mine track sets, and 4 of the walkway sets.  I also had bought some of the riser pieces.   We frantically got it all painted, with the goal of running games with it at Fall-In.

The players hear the rules brief, as Buck (on the left) helps a player with a question. 

     We picked Saturday to run our games, so we could set up Friday night.  Saturday afternoon, Buck would run a GASLIGHT game set in a secret Nazi laboratory, hidden in an abandoned mine, that GI's were attempting to raid to steal scientific secrets. In the evening, Greg would run a Dr Who game, also using GASLIGHT; that would be set immediately after Buck's scenario, with Dr Who arriving to stop an even greater menace that would appear in the Nazi Lab.   And I was set to start things off with the morning game.

The Dwarves are surprised by the appearance of a dirty trick generated Ogre, bursting through a door on their right. 

     My game was something of a reverse Dungeon Crawl, using the under-development Feudal Patrol rules. The scenario was called "Hunting Evil in Small Places".  Players would each control a team of adventurers; but they would be starting at the back end of the dungeon, already loaded with treasure, and need to escape with the treasure they had found.   Each player also had a half dozen "dirty trick" cards that they could play on their opponents in an attempt to slow them down and make them lose their treasure.  These were things like making monsters appear, or springing traps.   Also, on turn three, a trio of big bad evil monsters would appear at the back of the dungeon, spurring the adventuring parties to move even faster towards the entrances, or face an uncertain future.  Whoever got out the quickest with the most treasure, won.

The Dwarf Cleric, separated from her party, narrowly escapes some pursing Halflings.  

     I was pleasantly surprised when I had all 6 ticketed players show up; though I sadly had to turn two stand-by players away.    The players selected from a  half dozen themed parties, including: Dwarves, Elves, Humans, Halflings, Drow, and Barbarians.

A dirty-trick generated Large Boulder drops from the ceiling and begins rolling towards the Dwarf Wizard.  In the end he was able to outrun it, even with his short legs!

     The players were quick to pick up the rules, and soon they were racing through the tunnels, and throwing monsters and traps in the paths of their opponents.  It was a great crew of players, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, including myself.

The Dwarf Cleric finds herself squeezed between the Ogre, and one of the quickly approaching big bad evil monsters.  Again, she somehow escaped!

     A highlight for me was a big three-way brawl that broke out between the Humans, Elves, and Barbarians.  All the players had a lot of fun skirmishing in the tunnels.  Also enjoyable was following the course of the Dwarf Cleric, who got separated from her party, and took a rather circuitous route through the mine, facing all sorts of perils, but somehow coming out mostly unscathed.

The big three-way fight develops between the Humans, Elves, and Barbarians.   The white rocks spread around on the track are the Barbarian Wizard's "Ice Blast" spell which created a 2"x3" section of rough icy terrain that halved movement. 

          In the end, the Halflings won, by not only being the first out, but also managing to get their whole crew safely out, and recovering 6 treasures.  Somehow they passed through much of the dungeon being left relatively alone, as is true to their Halfling nature.   :)

We loved the Halfling Wizards surprised look as he came face to face with the towering Drow Sorceress.

The three-way fight continues!

Just as the game was ending, the big bad evil monster, Flame Elemental reached the Elf Ranger, and the Ranger actually managed to damage the Elemental without taking any damage herself! 

The winning Halfling party

A look at Buck's Nazi Lab game, as GI's rush into the main room.

Greg, seated, running his Doctor Who game for a group of enthusiastic players..

Fall-In Playtest Day: Into the Abandoned Mine...

    This past weekend we playtested a couple of of our games for the upcoming Fall-In convention that we will be running in the HAWKs room on Saturday.  They both used all my, and Buck Surdu's, Tablescapes Dungeon Mines terrain from the recent Kickstarter. (Tablescape Dungeon: Mines)  There were 5 Core Sets and a a bunch of extras in play. 

An overview of the set-up before the first game.

   I ran the first game, using the under-development Feudal Patrol rules.  This was a twist of a regular Dungeon Crawl type of game, with each player controlling a conventional party of adventurers.  Players started with their packs full of treasure at the back of the abandoned mine dungeon, and had to make it out alive; all the while being pursued by a very big monster they have disturbed.   Along the way, each player had a hand of a half dozen cards they could play on their fellow adventuring parties. These cards sprung traps, summoned monsters, and caused other mishaps to occur; all in an attempt to slow the other guys down, and make them drop the treasure they were carrying.  Whoever made it out fastest with the most treasure was the winner.

A Dwarf Cleric prepares to welcome two skeletal interlopers.

A pair of Goblins block the path of the Barbarians.

A group of Humans negotiate a rickety wood walkway.

The second game, run by Buck, was a Weird War II outing featuring GIs investigating a secret Nazi lab hidden in an abandoned mine. The rules used were GASLIGHT.  Each player commanded a squad of American soldiers, while Giant Ants, Robots, , Nazis, and all sorts of other nasties awaited them.   The goal was to retrieve certain lab equipment and get it back out of the mine to safety.  Like the previous game, players had a handful of cards they could play on their fellow players in an attempt to slow them down.   

A group of GIs stumble into a group of Giant Ants

Another group of Soldiers meet a Giant Crab.

A Sergeant and a rescued captive faces off against an evil Robot.

     Both games were a whole lot of fun with much laughter, good natured back-stabbing, and corny movie quotes.  We're really looking forward to running these on the Saturday at the convention in November.    There will also be a third game in this series Saturday night, featuring Doctor Who, and helmed by Greg Priebe.

A Lily Pad Too Far: Frog vs Frog game using GASLIGHT, at Cold Wars

    This past weekend at Cold Wars, Buck Surdu and I ran a GASLIGHT game using our collections of warrior frog miniatures, mainly from Eureka's "Pond Wars" range.  Back when these were first released a number of years ago, Buck and I each acquired sizable collections; he painting his as standard North American frogs, and me painting mine as various South American Poison Dart Frogs.  Thus was born he great Frog Civil War between the Northern Frogs vs the Southern Frogs. 

The South American "Flying Column" advances on the North American right, screened by a series of steep hills.

     Over the years we have run a handful of games at conventions, and since it had been a while, we decided to dust them off and get them on the table for Cold Wars this year.   The scenario we decided on was one from the GASLIGHT Compendium rulebook, and featured one side trying to intercept and cut the line of retreat of the other side.  We called the game, "A Lily Pad Too Far", and decided that instead of retreating, Buck's forces would be advancing through Southern Frog territory, and my army was trying to cut off their line of advance.    In order to achieve this, my side had to have a unit on the far side of the road the Northern Frogs were advancing down by games end. 

A view of the NFA players and their forces as the NFA units try to shake out into a line.

     While the Northern Frog Army (NFA) starts in line of advance on a road running from the long side of the table to one of the short sides; the Southern Frog Army (SFA) begins the game split into the main body, which starts in one corner opposite the NFA, and a "Flying Column" consisting mainly of SFA cavalry, which starts in the other corner opposite the NFA. 

The SFA Dragonflies take on the NFA Light Cavalry.

     As the game started the NFA tried to extend their line and protect the entire length of road.  They were hit on both flanks by the respective SFA forces.  The NFA Light Cavalry did a good job on the NFA right, but eventually a unit of SFA Dragonflies was able to work around them and cross the road.  On the NFA left, the full might of the majority of the SFA force slowly began to erode that flank.

The SFA Light Cavalry charges into a unit of NFA Hammer Troops.

     In the end, the NFA left flank had all but collapsed, and the NFA were unable to shoot the SFA dragonflies out of the air.   So, the SFA was declared the victors.

The NFA Heavy Cavalry moves up as it tries to halt the rapidly advancing SFA right.

     The game was a ton of fun both for the players and us as the GMs, and it was great to get our Frog collections out on the table again.    I look forward to the next time!

A unit of SFA "Frogzerkers" overtakes and eliminates the NFA War-Cart.

A unit of the SFA Guard close assaults a NFA Swamp-Gas Tank.

Duke Morrison and the Great Zeppelin Raid at Cold Wars

   At Cold Wars last weekend, Buck Surdu and I ran a Pulp game in the morning entitled, "Duke Morrison and the Great Zeppelin Raid".   We had decided to do this scenario, because Buck had received, and build, a huge 6' long Zeppelin kit from Kickstarter last year, and after a successful game with it on New Years Eve, we decided it would be fun to do a game with it at a convention.
   

A long view of the zeppelin.

   We used the always fun GASLIGHT rules for the game.  The scenario involved Buck's perennial game hero, Duke Morrison, and his Army buddy "Wrench" Webb, and  Navy pal "Boats" Morgan, along with some of their Army and Navy troops, defending the zeppelin of the great scientist, Professor Serafini Nannini.  Along with the professor were his lovely daughter, Gianna, and a couple of his lab assistants.   Also helping guard the zeppelin were Crash Corrigan and his Rocketeers, and a unit of the city's finest policemen. 

She-Wolves advance as the Gangster leader "Slasher" (orange shirt), cuts his way through some sailors at the back of the airship

      The reason the zeppelin needed such a strong security presence, was that the professor was transporting a new invention that the forces of evil coveted.  For security reasons the invention had been broken down into 6 components, and hidden around the airship.  The fears of our heroes were not misguided for attacking the zeppelin was a combined force of Nazis and Gangsters. 

"Wrench" with one of his Soldiers, and Giana, with a couple components, begin to converge on the Rocket-sled

        The game was set up as a race against the clock.  It started at 9:00 AM, and after a quick rules brief we got under way at 9:30.  At that time the victory conditions were announced: the God Guys had to get all 6 components of the invention into Nanni's rocket-sled, which was in the cargo bay of the airship; then at exactly 11:30 by real-time, the rocket-sled would auto-launch out the cargo bay doors. (there was no way to launch before that time, or delay it.)  The more pieces of the invention aboard the rocket sled, the better the Good Guys' victory.  The Bad Guys had to prevent this, and steal the pieces of the invention for themselves.  To make things even more difficult for the Good Guys, only a few designated Heroes were capable of piloting the rocket-sled: Duke, "Wrench", Boats", Nanni, and his Daughter.   So at least one of them had to be kept alive.

Crash Corrigan helps stem the tide of the Gangster horde that stormed the front of the ship.

      The game was a ton of fun, with daring deeds on both sides.  The Gangsters on the zeppelin dock quickly overpowered the policemen defending the entryway to the ship, while Nazi Rocketeers and She-Wolves snuck in through one of the engine nacelles.    More Gangsters were disguised as passengers and hidden in crates in the cargo hold.  The Heroes certainly had their work cut out for them!

An aerial shot of the game.

     One by one, the Heroes were able to gather up the invention components; except for one, which a pair of gangsters dragged to the back of the ship for safe keeping, staying near it to make sure no wandering hero might snatch it from them.    The sides were slowly wearing each other down, but the Heroes made steady progress.

"Boats" makes to the sled with another component and the desperate final battle begins as the She-wolves storm the Rocket-sled.

        In the end, it came down to "Boats" Morgan in the rocket-sled being the sole survivor.  Opposed to him were the two gangster mooks who had hidden out in the back of the ship with their prized component.  They had decided to advance just in time, and they approached the sled from a a gangway over the cargo hold.  "Boats" fired his trusty pistol at the pair, but missed; then one of the gangsters returned fire, and hit "Boats"!   The player rolled the Save dice and....failed!  "Boats" was dead!  The clock read 11:28.   Evil had prevailed. Wow what a finish!

The She-wolves are cut down, but "Wrench" is killed, as a couple of the Gangsters attempt to board the craft.  

      All the players had a great time, as did we as the GMs.  You couldn't ask for a better edge of your seat last-minute ending.  We had such a good time that we are considering bringing the game back to Fall-In in November. 

The end.  All that left is pair of gangsters in a zeppelin full of carnage.  

Fall-In Doctor Who Game Reports: "Pirates of the Cyberiad Main", and "Dead Men's Chests"

     At last weekend's Fall-In convention in Lancaster, PA, Greg Priebe and I ran a special 2-part-episode pair of linked Doctor Who games, entitled "Pirates of the Cyberiad Main" and "Dead Men's Chests".    The idea for this originated in the plan our club had to set up a single Caribbean themed table for the HAWKs gamemasters to use all weekend for different games. So Greg and I took this opportunity to devise two linked Doctor Who games.
   We ran my game, entitled "Doctor Who and the Pirates of the Cyberiad Main" first, on Saturday morning, and Greg's follow-up game, "Doctor Who and the Dead Men's Chests" we ran on Saturday night.
     Here's the description of my game from the convention program;   Can't the Doctor enjoy a nice restful trip to a sunny Caribbean island in the early 1700's without something going wrong? It seems that Pirates have arrived to plunder the town, and they've brought some unusual stowaways: a group of Cyberman have hitched a ride after their spacecraft crashed in the ocean; and they're looking for new recruits amongst the local population! 
     So, the premise was a Cyberman spaceship had crashed somewhere in the ocean, and the survivors had made a deal with a passing pirate ship, that they would help them plunder a nearby town, if the Pirates would help them gather some captives to be "upgraded"; and then return them to their damaged ship, where they could then start making more Cybermen.  On the island there was a garrison of British Marines, and some hastily assembled townsfolk to offer defense.  There was, of course, also the 11th Doctor and Amy Pond.  The Doctor had in tow the island's Governor as well as the Governor's Daughter.
    I used the "To Be Continued...by GASLIGHT" rules, slightly modified to allow disengagement from combat.

A look at the table at the start of the game

   The Pirate/Cyberman players' objective was to capture 6 humans (either garrison or townsfolk) and carry them back to their landing boats.    The townsfolk's objective was to prevent this. And, to help them, the Doctor had to make some special gold plated ammunition for the muskets and pistols of the populace.  (Cybermen are vulnerable to gold) Without the special ammunition, the Cyberman were nearly invulnerable with a Save number of 20. With the special ammunition the Cybermen's Save became just a 10.  To make the ammunition, the Doctor needed to travel and gather components from  three different buildings on the island, and then spend a turn in his Tardis creating the  ammo.  He would then have to physically deliver it, by moving into contact with any figure carrying a firearm.

Cybermen and Pirates come ashore.

     The game started off with the Doctor whizzing off in his Tardis to get the first objective, a chest of gold coins in the warehouse; while the townsfolk both exited the buildings where they had initially gathered.    Over in the barracks outpost down by the beach,  here was some disagreement amongst the commander and the sergeant, as the commander thought it was prudent to fall back into the town, while the sergeant thought they should take the case of ammunition that was stored in the armory with them so it would be easier for the Doctor to get later.
   The Cybermen and Pirate teams advanced up the beach with two Cybermen/Pirate groups heading right, towards the warehouse where the Doctor was, and the third group heading left towards the barracks. 

Half the Garrison gets trapped in the barracks outpost and is overrun

     Like the half of the garrison led by the commander, the townsfolk decided to adopt a plan of slowly falling back before the advance of their enemies, with the pair of musketmen in their ranks stopping to fire a discouraging shot at the attackers when they could.
  Meanwhile the Doctor was able to grab the first objective right as the initial Pirates and Cybermen reached the warehouse.  He then flew off  in the Tardis to the center building where the second objective was, and the pursuing enemies attempted to follow.
   As a Gamemaster I started to worry at that point, as the Pirates and Cybermen weren't going to succeed if they remained one step behind the doctor all they way.  They knew where the items he needed were, so at least at one of the buildings they needed to cut him off before he got there if they were to succeed.  Likewise, if all the defenders just ran to the back of the table, it would be next to impossible for the Cybermen/Pirate groups to get to them and  carry captives all the way back to the boat before the Doctor achieved his mission. 

On the other side of the town, a real furball of a battle develops as Townsfolk, Pirates, and Cybermen clash.

         I didn't need to worry though, as things soon started to unravel for the defenders.   Back in the barracks outpost, the sergeant realized the heavy chest would probably slow his men down too much in the face of the onrushing attackers, so he formed his troops into a line behind a low wall, and fired at the oncoming Cybermen in an effort to do some damage to them.   The time it took to enter and exit the armory, and then form up and fire from behind the wall, was this troop's undoing, as it allowed the Pirates to get around behind them, and they were trapped in their outpost. 
    Likewise, with the lone musketmen stopping to fire and reload while the rest of the townsfolk moved, their units soon became strung out and they needed to pause to regroup.  This allowed the speediest pirates to make contact.
    It didn't take long for the combined power of the leftmost Cybermen and Pirates to overwhelm the Sergeant and his men.  In some tense moments, the last of the defenders fell just as the Doctor got to the armory.  A Cyberman and Pirate where able to dash in to try and stop him, but he was able to grab the chest, (which was the third item he needed) and with the help of the Governor, was able to disengage and make his way back into the Tardis

In the armory, a short skirmish develops between a Cyberman, Pirate and the Doctor!.

     The Doctor then went to work concocting the special ammunition.  When this was done, he flew off to there the Garrison Commander was with his half of the troops.  The Doctor took them all aboard the Tardis and started handing out ammunition. 
      By this time, with the overrun of half the Garrison and a long and bloody skirmish with the townsfolk, the Cybermen had more than enough volunteers for "upgrading".   The highlight of the Townsfolk battle was the ninja-trained "Grandma Sam", (who was one of the leaders of the townsfolk), who lasted nearly the whole game, taking out many an enemy with her Broom of Death, before she was eventually taken down by a Cyberman.)

Last stand on the beach.  The surviving Garrison troops get off one good shot, but the special bullets miss their targets, as the Cybermen and Pirates rush from the woods with their captives.

     As the Cybermen and Pirates headed for their boats with their booty,  the Doctor tried to cut them off at the pass by flying his Tardis right down on the beach with the Garrison troops inside for the ride.  He then deployed them  in a line blocking the passage of one of the enemy groups.  Even the Governor and Governor's Daughter joined in to help.    The other Cybermen and Pirates  made their way to the beach, dogged by the few surviving Townsfolk. 
    The final turns were a real exciting nail-biter, as the Cybermen and Pirates on the left decided to rush the defenders in a last ditch effort to get to their  boats.   This worked, as the Garrison was only able to get off one good shot with their special ammo, before the Cybermen were upon them.  Likewise,  the Cybermen facing the Governor and his Daughter soon realized that rushing the defenders was the best way to avoid being shot.   In the end, the Governor's Daughter was the only one to take out a Cyberman; but it was too little too late.
     Even the Doctor succumbed to a Cyberman blast, and Amy had to drag his unconscious body back into the Tardis in the closing moments of the episode game.   With the defenses crumbled,  I declared the game a Cyberman victory. 

In the final moments, the Doctor is knocked unconscious and falls into the surf.  Amy has to drag him to the Tardis.   The Governor and his Daughter can be seen defending the low wall near the center of the photo , just before they are overrun by the two Cybermen there.

    It was an exciting game, and really went down to the last turns.  In the end the defenders just weren't able to disable enough Cybermen in the battle.  Even with a Save of 20, in playtest games the Cybermen lost a third to a half of their strength, just from the fact if they roll a lot of Saves, the 5% chance of rolling a 20 will eventually catch up with them. And then the defenders should get a couple shots off with the special ammo.  But in this game, only one Cyberman fell.  The garrison formed up so close to the woods along the beach, the Cybermen were bale to be on top of them in one turn, so they only got one shot.  And it didn't help that two of the Cybermen players were kids.  Kid luck will always carry the day!  :) 

Part 2

     That evening Greg ran his half of the 2-part battle.  His game picked up the action a short time after where mine ended.  This is the description for the Convention program:  Pirates and Cybermen have already plundered the town and been dealt with, and the Doctor's tropical vacation has gone horribly awry. He can finally relax; or can he? As now, a cache of mysterious crates have washed ashore. Do they bring untold riches or unknown peril?

The East India Company arrives in their spiffy boat.

      In this game a couple new factions were added.  First, Marines from the East India Company had just arrived at the dock to collect taxes from the town.  Secondly, as the description indicates, strange chests of valuable antiquities have been washing ashore.  While a few have just washed up at the start of the game,  this had apparently been going on for while, and some more of these strange chests had been stored in various buildings in the town.  These chests it turns out, were from some ancient Silurian vessel wrecked for eons on the ocean floor,  some seismic shift on the ocean floor had freed them and they were now coming to the surface.  Once on shore, their mere presence had called out to their original owners; and so a group of Silurians had tunneled their way to the surface in one of the buildings at the back of the town to recover the chests. 
     Also, joining the fight were more Townsfolk, just now returning from working in the fields.   There were also some of the Pirates left from the earlier battle, and the Cybermen were bringing back some of the newly upgraded citizens in the form of a few more Cybermen.   

Amy and Rory direct some members of the East India Company to secure a crate for the Doctor.  At first the men seemed happy to be taking orders from the redheaded lass.  Later though, when they realized she might be a Jacobite, they took some potshots at her! 

    This was more of an everybody for himself kind of game, with the Silurian crates and the chests of Tax Money, the objectives of most of the teams.  The Cybermen, of course, were also after more volunteers for upgrading.   The Doctor was just trying to get everyone to get along with each other.
    For this battle Greg used the old Doctor Who Miniatures Game rules.

More troops from the East India Company and some Pirates battle for control of a crate.

      It's hard for me to say exactly what happened in this game as it was so joyfully chaotic!   Early on, the Doctor met with he Silurians and formed a truce with them in exchange for helping them get back their rightfully owned crates.  He was just as happy to commandeer the chests of Tax Money gold as well.  (Presumably so everyone would stop fighting over them.)    And of course the Cyberman enjoyed just cutting a merry path of destruction through everyone!

Cybermen, Silurains, and Towsfolk clash. 

     One of the highlights of this game was the Cyberman player who asked if he could repair one of his downed Cyberman by doing an expedient "field upgrade" using one of the Townsfolk he had captured.    He then decided that the upgrade wasn't quite successful and so the Cyberman could only walk backwards, and at half speed.  Everyone christened the Cyberman "Abbie Normal", and much laughter was had at this poor Cyberman's antics. 

A view of the table from the landward side.

     In the end, Greg declared it a three way tie for victory, between the Doctor, the Silurians and the Cybermen. 

A poor citizen receives a "field upgrade"  to revive a fallen Cyberman.  

   
     Both games were a ton of fun to run, thanks mainly to a great bunch of players.  Everyone got into the spirit of the Doctor Who, and much hilarity and fun was had.   As Gamemasters, both Greg and I had a great time.   

Fall-In Playtest Game: Doctor Who and the Pirates of the Cyberiad Main

      A few of us got together yesterday to playtest a couple of our games for the upcoming Fall-In convention in Lancaster PA.  I ran a Doctor Who scenario called "Doctor Who and the Pirates of the Cyberiad Main", using GASLIGHT rules.  The set up was that the Doctor was enjoying a trip to a quiet 18th century Caribbean island when it was unexpectedly invaded by pirates who had rescued some Cybermen from their spaceship which had crashed somewhere in the ocean.   The Cybermen had made a deal with the pirates, and the prates had agreed to secure victims captives for the Cyberman.  So the goal of the Cybermen/Pirate players was to capture 6 Townsfolk and/or Garrison troops, and carry them back to their landing boats.  Meanwhile the Doctor had to  travel to three different buildings in the village to collect the equipment he would need to make special ammunition that would penetrate the Cybermen's armor (otherwise they were very hard to disable.)

An overview of the table.

   It was a fun and exciting game that went right down to the wire, with the Cyberman/Pirate alliance coming out on top with 6 captives in the end.

Townsfolk, Pirates and Cybermen scuffle outside the warhouse.

The Garrison takes on its share of Pirates and Cybermen as well.  In the upper right of the photo, a poor trooper is being dragged away by a Cyberman.

    The most exciting part of the game was when the Doctor and his companions (Amy, the Governor of the island, and the Governor's Daughter) attempted to get the last item the Doctor needed.  It was in a warehouse that was overrun with pirates, so the only way the Doctor could get in safely was by an upper story window. So, they ended up hovering in the TARDIS outside the window as the Doctor leapt trough the window into a room full of Pirates.  Amy tried to follow, but fell and was knocked unconscious when she hit the ground.  After the Doctor fought the pirates ineffectually for a couple turns, the Governor decided to jump across too, and a fun multi-turn swashbuckling duel occurred.  Eventually they cleared the upper floor, and the Doctor was able to secure the last item he needed, but it was a little late in the game, and the Cybermen/Pirate team were already near their victory goal.

The Doctor fights off Pirates in the upper floor of the warehouse.

   I'm really looking forward to running this again at the convention in November!