Primavera Occulta battle report - rounds 3 through 5

 Marenghi turn 3

Astolfo rolls (vs his Phys stat, since it is a buried treasure) to claim objective, and succeeds! Meanwhile, Adelaide charges the henchman who recently attempted to charge her, and her attack is more successful than his defense so she deals a point of damage. 

Arturo himself decides to attack his own halberd-wielding foe, but since this is the point at which I remembered that spells must be cast with specific card suits, he must resort to physical attacking, which is not his forte. He deals one point of damage. His spirit also attacks, but draws too high a card and misses (spirits never roll).

Von Hahn turn 3

Dieter reloads his crossbow. The halberdier attacks Adelaide but misses. Kaspar rolls to claim the bookshelf objective, but fails (rolling vs Ment because he has to locate the correct text). Father Schmidt attempts to charge the opposing spirit, but fails and only stumbles forward his normal 4”. His spirit also attempts that charge, making good time but barely falling short. The hireling swings at Arturo but misses

 Marenghi turn 4

Astolfo charges the henchman halberdier, and deals enough damage to remove him from the game! Hirelings have a special rule that they flee/surrender/play dead after any reasonably strong hit, but Astolfo deals enough damage to kill him outright.

Adelaide charges Kaspar von Hahn, causing one damage total after his armor takes effect. Arturo lashes out at the wounded halberdier, but misses. The hound spirit also targets the halberdier, dealing enough damage to drive the hireling from the battle.

Von Hahn turn 4

Von Hahn swings at Adelaide, and she is taken out (all her Phys points in one hit, ouch!). Father Schmidt casts Speculative Masonry against Arturo with a 6 (best Diamond card he had) but Arturo counters with the Queen of Hearts from his hand (this is a critical success for his character type, a harsh price to pay to counter a moderately powerful casting, but Arturo wants to make good his escape). Dieter shoots once more at Astolfo, dealing one point of damage (and that only because I on-the-spot houseruled that cover works differently than originally written). The Greek Spirit attacks the hound spirit and misses.

Marnghi turn 5

Arturo is unable to run with objective, so he makes a regular move toward the board edge, only just manainge to cross the wall. The hound spirit attacks the other spirit but misses. Astolfo charges Kaspar to avenge Adelaide; he successfully closes the distance and makes the hit, but Kaspar's armor lets him play a Diamond card to cancel it.

Von Hahn turn 5

Desperate to stop Arturo's flight, and lacking the card to try Speculative Masonry again, Father Schmidt charges!

He makes contact and penetrates Arturo's defense, dealing 2 damage. Kaspar attacks Astolfo, but misses. This, however, is where I remember that melee combat is “two-sided”, so Astolfo also rolls and deals 6 damage, reduced to 3 by Hahn's armor (but still a mighty blow, Hahn is down to half his starting Phys points). Dieter runs towards the bookshelf, hoping to claim the only unclaimed objective while the two armored veterans trade blows, but he bogs down in the pond. The spirits fight to a draw.

Things are really heating up! Two hirelings and one Initiate down, nearly everyone else injured, two of three objectives in hand. A couple more turns should do it! I just need to be better about remembering my own rules...

Primavera Occulta battle report - rounds 1 and 2

I probably should have posted the deployment in the previous post, but since I forgot I'll put it here. Arturo Marenghi unsurprisingly decided to deploy in the center, leaving von Hahn and his men to deploy along any three board edges. They deployed along the North, West, and South edges since the house (played as impassable terrain owing to the unfinished inside) would make fleeing East more challenging for the defenders.

Also, I neglected to mention that any summoned spirit needs a designated master. For both warbands, I chose the Scholar character (Arturo and Father Schmidt).

(Unfortunately, due to poor phone battery charge planning, there are no more pics until the end of round 2.)

The first turn mostly involved movement and ranged attacks, as is to be expected in nearly every miniature wargame. Arturo began his side's turn by claiming the objective he deployed adjacent to (with no roll needed thanks to his spirit), while Astolfo and Adelaide struggled to make progress towards the objective up on the crag. The hound spirit did attempt to impede Father Schmidt with a magic spell, but Schmidt was able to use a card to defend.

Von Hahn's warband also moved into position, except that Schmidt and the Greek spirit decided to stay put and cast spells (there are no range limitations in the game, since the board overall is not large.) They were able to inflict one point of damage on the hound spirit. One of the halberdiers did make unexpectedly fast progress toward his foes, ending his move right next to Arturo even despite the intervening wall. However, he was unable to attack, as he had not thought to declare a charge.

The second roundopens with Arturo Marenghi feeling quite distressed at the proximity of the enemy halberdier, so he casts Blasting Force, propelling the hireling a full eight inches away. While no spell inherently deals Physical damage, the hireling takes a point of damage for being pushed over the wall. If the wall had been high enough to block movement, he would have taken five points!

Astolfo succeeds this time in climbing up to the objective, and will be able to test to claim it next turn. Adelaide attempts to follow, to provide healing support to the beefy halberdier, but is unable to negotiate the rough terrain. She's not really dressed for bouldering, I guess. 

The hound spirit attempt to use magic to pin the recently-launched halberdier in place, seemingly a safe bet since the hireling can only draw a card for defense instead of playing from his team's hand... but he draws an ace and is unaffected.

Kaspar von Hahn's turn begins with the priest and the spirit both using the Prepare action to draw additional cards from their hand. One of their cards appears to be a double-back misprint, surely an omen! for the sake of the playtest, however, the misprinted card is set aside and a new one drawn. The 6 and 7 thus received are not ideal for a game where low is better, but they'll just have to make do.

The crossbow-wielding squire takes a potshot at the remarkably prominent Astolfo, but misses outright, although he might have had trouble penetrating the armor even if he had hit.

The halberdier accompanying Dieter goes after seemingly easier prey, but his poor rolling and Adelaide's better luck result in him overshooting his charge as she sidesteps.

The other halberdier likewise charges, but Arturo's defense means that no hit is actually scored.

And so ends the first couple turns of this playtest. Most characters have suffered no damage, and none has taken serious damage. The defenders have claimed one objective, and each remaining objective will, barring bad luck, be claimed by opposing initiates in the next round.

Primavera Occulta battle report - initial set-up

 After tweaking the rules somewhat, I've decided to play another solo Primavera Occulta game, and document it a little more thoroughly on the blog. This time I'm going to go real slow, only playing one or two turns a night so I have plenty of time to take notes and consider the rules as I go. To refresh you memory, Primavera Occulta is a game I am writing for small-scale skirmishes in the Italian Wars, with a period-specific supernatural element.

So, this post covers the set-up, or perhaps the pregame phase.

I started with the two opposing sets of Initiates. These are the core of the warband, the nobles and veteran warriors united in their search for esoteric knowledge. Each warband has three initiates, one of each Archetype: The Warrior, the Scholar, and the Apprentice. These correspond to the King, Queen, and Jack card respectively. Each player distributes 8 special rules across the three Initiates, no more than 4 per character

One the left is Kaspar von Hahn, accompanied by Father Schmidt and his squire Dieter. Kaspar has the Leader, Armor, and Heavy Armor rules. Schmidt has rule Orator, and the spells Stupefaction and Speculative Masonry. Dieter has the Ranged Weapon and Armor rules.

One the right, Astolfo has the Armor, Heavy Armor, Big Blade and Bad War rules. Arturo Marenghi has the Leader rule, and the spells Blasting Force and Enticing Visions. His wife Adelaide is a Healer.

Next, the players are each dealt 10 playing cards. They bid up to two cards each on the Recruiting subphase (the winner get more hirelings or more powerful spirits), and the Scouting subphase (winner has more control over terrain placement and deployment. Higher cards are more valuable here, as opposed to lower cards in the actual battle. Certain suits are better in one or the other.

Having won the Recruitment subphase, von Hahn obtains the services of two halberdiers (hirelings with the Big Blade rule), and summons a minor spirit in the form of a young piper from Ancient Greece. Arturo Marenghi summons a spirit as well, his taking the form of a great hound. The former spirit is an aid to magic, and the latter helps claim treasures, but they are otherwise identical ruleswise.

While Marenghi was less successful in recruiting, he was able to scout more effectively, and set up the terrain to his advantage. He has placed a strong defensive position in the center of the board, which he will occupy in the next post.

To be continued...

More for Primavera Occulta

 A slight break from the Novara project, in that neither Spanish swordsmen nor Italian bowmen fought in that specific battle, and whatever angels or demons may have participated presumably did so in disguise.

But anyway, I'm expanding my playtest rules to account for a larger variety of spirits and hirelings, which these will represent. The historical figures are TAG (one has a Warlord head), and the more fantastical ones are Reaper I think.

Objectives for Primavera Occulta

Here are some basic objectives for Primavera Occulta, the Renaissance skirmish game I've been posting about. I eventually plan to make some less generic ones, but these will do for early playtesting. The idea is that some objectives need to be claimed by a Mental test, others by a Physical test, and some can be claimed by either. So, if the objective is in a grave, it's purely a physical issue of digging it up to claim it. If it's a pile of treasure or an open chest, it's a mental test to sort through the trinkets and find the esoterically-valuable piece. If it's a closed chest, it's either a mental check to pick the lock or a physical one to bust it open. Not sure which of these the candelabra is, but I like how it looks.

These are all Reaper minis, except the gravestones which I believe are 4ground.

With an eye to playtesting, I've actually re-written the basic rules to use a standard 52-card deck. The extra complexity of the Tarot deck will be necessary for the campaign system and a more advanced magic system further down the line, but for playing through the basic mechanics there's no reason to restrict my potential playtester pool. And speaking of which, if you are interested in trying out these rules, let me know at thaddeus.urban[at]gmail.com and put "primavera occulta" in the subject line.

Renaissance Occultism Skirmish Ruleset Concept

 Years ago, I bought a tabletop RPG that uses Tarot cards as its primary resolution mechanic. This inspired me to buy a deck of them, and also to start reading about their history. I was delighted to learn that their documented origins (if not the cartomancy traditions that grew up around them) go back to the Italian Wars, a period that already interested me for other reasons.

One thing lead to another, and I started to brainstorm ideas for a Renaissance-era wargame that could incorporate some of the more esoteric aspects of the era's culture. I have now written enough rules for it that I've started to playtest, although it will be some time yet before it is worth sharing.

The current notion is that every warband has a core of four "initiates", inspired by the court cards of the Tarot, who practice, to varying degrees of success, some form of ritual magic. Each warband has a "King", representing a true renaissance man who is either the leader or the chief patron of the occult circle; a "Queen" of high intellectual or spiritual achievement; a "Knight" with fearsome physical prowess; and a "Page" that is a novice type character with room to improve. Reinforced by hirelings and the occasional summoned spirit, they battle other small groups of occultists over the wealth of esoteric texts, alchemical formulae, and ceremonial objects that have accumulated in and about the Italian Peninsula as a result of various historical currents of the final century of the medieval era.

Here are some examples of how I might represent these initiates with miniatures from my Italian Wars project (plus a few from other projects), from left to right in the order described above, followed by a spirit and a couple sample hirelings:

For my own solo playtesting convenience, they are roughly color-coded, but I probably wouldn't do that for the "real thing".

Generally speaking, D12s are used for "mundane" actions and Tarot cards for magical effects. I anticipate the games themselves being fairly quick (am playtesting on a 2ft by 2ft area), with much of the enjoyment coming from the campaign system (probably also Tarot-driven) that links them.

Happy Holidays!

Just a quick post of a speedpaint accomplished around the edges of today's festivities.

The minis is from the War on Christmas Village kickstarter (Jackalope Enterprises) from a couple years back. I wish you the best, whatever you've been celebrating!

Welcome to Atlantis

Hi all,

I've been reading Chariot, an RPG set in mythic Atlantis, and as is often the case, I find myself using miniature work to engage with a game I cannot immediately play.

I can't really explain the setting... just buy The Game and read for yourself.

Send your armies, but they'll never be enough

His shell's too tough!

Swamp Monster

Or sewage monster, whatever.

a new monster

Inspired by this page, I have tried to work out some frustration by converting a topical addition to my 17th-century horror collection. Behold the fleshly manifestation of evil known only as Baron von Trimpf! Hear his ululating battlecry as he leads his horde of writhing monstrosities into battle!

"Machen wieder machen wwieder maccchn wiieederrrrr mmmaaaaaaaaaacccn wwwwwwwww..."

Halloweekend 2016 pics

The weekend before Halloween I had some friends over for a bit of historical/horror Mordheim. Warbands from all over Europe had been pursuing witches and vampires, and all the monsters had converged on a remote Carpathian town for unknown, but presumably dire, purpose. The hunters formed a makeshift alliance, and assaulted the village from all directions to cleanse the evil gathered within.

Mystery Project: demystified!

It's a new Guildball team!

Sorry to disappoint anyone hoping for more historicals, I'm working on some stuff, but it's all pretty much stalled until I can get ahold of some proper spraypaint.This is harder than sounds, because it's illegal to sell spraypaint in the City of Chicago, and the game store I sometimes go to outside the city doesn't stock it, and the art supply store they directed me to only had spraypaint in some weird expensive formulation that smells a little better then normal spraypaint but also clogs faster than any other brand I've ever seen. Soon, though, hopefully!

So, here they are, the Candlestick Makers Guild.

Some backstory: The team is inspired by a dumb joke I couldn't get out of my head. When I started working on the Butchers team, I mentioned that I was looking forward to the release of the Bakers and Candlestick Makers, a reference to the nursery rhyme Rub-a-dub-dub. In addition to creating this team, I also have plans to convert a Brewers Guild team into a Bakers Guild Team, mostly just by adding chef's hats and converting weapons.

Now, Guildball is a very carefully balanced game, with lots of synergies and trade-offs built into each team's options. It would take a huge amount of work to actually design a new guild team that would integrate into the existing game without being over- or under-powered. So, both of my "new" teams are just going to use existing rules. The Bakers are just going to use the Brewers rules along with their models.

But I had to get more creative with the Candlestick Makers. The existing team that has the most to do with smoke and fire and metal is the Alchemists, but their miniatures didn't look at all what I had in mind, way too steampunk. So I'm using Alchemist rules, but converting Reaper Fantasy minis to represent the players. I tried to make each Candlestick Maker at least a little bit reminiscent of the Alchemist whose rules they use, both in appearance and name (though the naming is still a work in progress for some of them).

Here is the "starter set" of fire guy, season one captain, and other lady. Their alchemist counterparts are Mercury, Midas and Calculus, so I want to call them Menorah, Tarnish and Candelabra, but the way the conversions and rules worked out don't really support those names. In practice, I'm probably going to call that middle dude Jean Valjean because it totally looks like he's just stealing that candlestick...

These are Vigil (based off Venin, a skinny spooky guy), Draco (Naja, a mascot cobra), and Girandole (Vitriol, a lady with a big thwacking stick). I may remove Draco's wings, since Naja can't fly, but overall I am quite pleased with how these three turned out. I suppose this is a good time to point out that a bunch of these conversions use pieces from the "Treasure and Candleabra" Reaper mini pack.

Here is Kirion (Katalyst, big muscular guy), Snuff (Smoke, same model), and Alloy (Compound, big fat guy). Snuff is the only actual Guildball model on the whole team. She's a great one-piece mini, only converted by adding a snuffer to her left hand. The original mini is releasing smoke from an alchemical flask, I wanted to suggest that this one is generating smoke from a snuffed candle. Even her cowl/hood thing matches the aesthetic that the rest of this team seems to have.

I haven't decided on a color scheme for sure, but I think white and yellow would look neat. No one else in my group has a team colored like that, and yellow is an obvious color for a team associated with candles, and when researching different styles and traditions of candle-holding devices, a lot of pictures also had religious vestments in those colors. So actually, I guess I pretty much have decided on a color scheme...

More Guildball Butchers

Here are a bunch more guildball players, the entire rest of the Butchers roster except for chain-wielding badass Shank (who needs some repainting) and pig mascot Truffles (who needs assembly and painting). Also the dude in the top hat is not a butcher, despite it obviously being his profession, but is rather a mercenary-type character available to several different teams. Except for the big blond guy's hair, there are no conversions here.

Having played this game a few times now, I think I'm getting the hang of it. If you're looking for a medieval fantasy skirmish game with a fun twist, you could do worse than this.

PS I move to my own place in a week, and I'll unpack shortly after that and resume my hobby activities for real. Can't wait to dig out my Historicals and Warhammer (FB and 40k) armies and Warmachine and...

Proof of life

So my friend got me this Guildball team, and I'm painting it, and it's not done yet but it's real close. So since I haven't posted anything in a while, take a look at this shaggy barbarian and his two apprentice butchers.

The default color scheme is a little stark, but I suppose it makes sense that the butchers aren't the flashiest dressers around...

Greetings from Trandosha!

Well, technically, Chicago. I moved back a couple months ago, and it'll be another couple months until I can get a place of my own, so all my armies are still packed for the time being. However, my tabletop rp gaming group will be starting a Star Wars campaign soon. I've already made my character, a Trandoshan Diplomat/Agitator, and I'm pretty excited to play, so I converted up a miniature to represent him on the tabletop, even though the system doesn't really need miniatures.

Anyway, here's En-Johlrass, aka Joe Durasteel, anti-Imperial rabblerouser and all-around cool guy.

His base miniature was a Reaper Bones fantasy rogue character named Dub Bullock, and I just greenstuffed him into a lizard person, and repurposed his knife into a truncheon with a scrap of toothpick. I am, apparently, a wee bit out of practice both with sculpting and painting, but I think this worked out well enough. Although the blue coat might be a bit too much color....