A Weekend of Mental Distractions

It was a tax-free weekend in TN and VA, so in addition to a Saturday morning excursion to a local comic book convention with the kiddies and an evening of epic weed pulling, much of my weekend was spent at the local malls and such buying school supplies and a back-to-school wardrobe for my daughter. This gives a man time to think. Maybe I thunk too much, or maybe at was having lunch at Taco Bell, because its well after midnight, and I am lying in bed posting this! Good thing the wife is a heavy sleeper.

1. Just before the Melee
Having finished my red non-Aliens, I thought about my super-simple skirmish rules and about skirmish games in general. What has sort of bugged me is what happens when two or more figures just about come into contact (before I continue my discussion here, I have to state that I have not looked at other rules sets about this subject). In my previous games, my daughter was able to blast my xenos to pieces so long as the figures didn't quite touch at the end of the movement phase. My poor xenos/aliens rarely had a chance to inflict damage on anyone! Well, I suppose it often seemed the case in the great movie Aliens, where the colonial marines seemed to blow away the acid-blooded hoards when they were practically on top of them, but there needs to be some parity.

So, somewhere between the mall shoe store and parking lot, I came up with the 50% Pre-Melee Rule:
Any figures that are within contact distance after they move must role a D6. Roll of 1-3, the figure cannot shoot; 4-6, the figure can shoot.
+1, if armed with single-handed weapon, like a pistol, or mini-UZI
+1, if figure is deemed a leader, heroic type, or elite trooper (not cumulative)
-1, if figure is deemed a rookie, green, etc.

This represents a bunch of things: response time, fear, situational awareness, etc. It makes a pistol a little more useful at very short ranges.

For example, two figures end up within 2" of each other. Two inches, BTW, is the standard movement length in my game. One is armed with a pistol; the other, a rifle. Both must roll a D6 before shooting. Pistol guy rolls a 3, but he gets a +1. Rifle guy gets a 2. Pistol guy can shoot whereas rifle guy cannot. There could be lots of reasons why rifle guy can't get a shot off. Maybe he can't train his rifle on pistol guy in time...maybe he's scared...maybe he's trying to pull out that big bowie knife he has on him...could be all three. In theory, it allows for a melee to potentially take place next turn and tries to avoid a John Woo style "gun-fu" gun battle (1).

2. Solo AirWar C:21
I have been thinking about the air combat aspect of my fictional Gambusian campaign. I've noticed among the various blogs that have fictional, modern (2), imagi-nations, solo, or otherwise, that I have never come across any air battles. Naval battles, yes; aircraft used in ground support, yes; exclusively air combat, no. Maybe they are out there and I've missed them, but I've never seen them (3). 

It could be that there aren't a lot of air combat for solo rules. Enter Richard Bradley! He designed solo rules for Wings of War, the WW1 air combat game. I've looked at them, but I don't play Wings of War, so things didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Now, fortunately, he has make a solo version of X-Wing Commander! This is a game that I do know fairly well. In fact, I have been toying with the idea of converting X-Wing Commander into a modern air combat game. Anyway, he has some good ideas that with some tweaking, I think I might be able to use it for a solo version of C:21.

 Notes:
(1) I was a big John Woo film fan back in the 90s before he came to Hollywood.  A Better Tomorrow is supposedly his best, but my favorite is Hard Boiled, "Gun-fu" is the term I use to describe Woo's firefights. Watch one of his movies and you'll know what I mean.

(2) I am using modern very loosely to mean any time period where aircraft are used in warfare, so I suppose it can be anything from WW1 until now.

(3) OK, now that I think about it, there is the interesting web site called Peter Shulman's War that I guess you could call an Imagi-nation. You can still go to it, though nothing's been updated. Mr. Shulman states that he will be starting up his war in the spring of 2014. Spring has come and gone, but no new war. He has a Facebook group page, but its a closed group. I digress...he has air battles, but there do not seem to be any rules for them. There doesn't seem to be any rules for ground combat for that matter.

Red Faction

I decided to increase the size of my xenomorph hoards. I ordered more from Khurasan Miniatures. This time I got two packs of their Space Demon Infiltrator Warriors. They have smooth heads, rather than ribbed heads, otherwise they have the same bodies as the ribbed ones. I am not sure what makes them "infiltrators" but who cares. Along with different heads, I decided to paint them a different color.  I was going to paint them the same way as the other guys, but rather than nail polish, I decided to use a shiny enamel.  Testors Red Flake looked like a winner:

I should have stuck to nail polish. It was not very flaky. It did have tiny flecks of gold, and I did my best to shake up the flecks, but I really couldn't see them once brushed them on. As an experiment, I diluted some gold paint and dry brushed it on some of the larger highlights, particularly the top of their heads. Here are the results of my work.

I am not quite as happy with these guys as I was with their gun-metal colored brethern, but they will do. Are they a different species of xenomorphs? Are they a sub-species? Do they work together or do they fight amongst themselves? The plucky citizens of Yogurt Town will have more to worry about.

Stop the Xeno-on-Xeno violence!

First Purchases of GameCraft Miniatures

I just got back from a week of doing research and and eating tasty food in Mexico (heartburn to kick in, in 5...4...3...2..1...). Waiting for me at home was an order from GameCraft Miniatures. They specialize in scenery. They have a wide assortment of buildings and roads. I've been eying them for some time, but never ordered anything. This is because I like making my own buildings, no matter how crap-tastic they turn out to be. I have a few other buildings and such from other companies, like GHQ and C-in-C, but other than that C-in-C watchtower I used for the border crossing I made a few years ago, few have been painted.

My reason for ordering from GameCraft was that they have a nice looking radio tower. I've been wanting to build a radio station for part of my Gambusian campaign. A few years ago, I made an attempt at a tower with cardboard, but it looked way out of scale in terms of the thicknesses of the supports, and not that great looking. Recently, I thought about giving it a go again using styrene strips from Evergreen or Plastruct. Then I thought, why torture myself considering how I have almost no time for hobby activities these days. So, I place an order with GameCraft about a week before I left for Mexico.

Radio Tower

The communications tower comes in four parts and is made of clear acrylic plastic. Each part of the tower measures about 10.5 cm in height and 2 cm at the base. There are two little squares of plastic about 5 mm on each side. I have no idea if these are for the construction of the tower, or just scrap plastic. There is photo on the website that shows a tab on the top of the tower that I assume folds and connects the other three parts, but this may be for the cardboard version. The tower is very thin; the support beams measure just over 1mm thick.  I am not clear how I'm going to put it together as no instructions are included. I will probably make a thin base for it and then glue the four sides to the edges of the base. I think superglue will work on this, or at least I hope it does.  I also need to decide what I want to put on top of my tower to represent the radio antenna.

Italian/Mediterranean Villa

I couldn't just order the tower, besides, its sort of a waste of postage. If postage is a fixed rate and you only order one thing, sometimes the postage will be higher than the item you order. I couldn't decide what else to get, but I finally settled on the Italian villa (285ITM004). Its not as detailed as some of the buildings that GHQ makes, but its rather elegant. The roof has really nice Mediterranean tile shingles and the walls are textured to give a stucco feel. I am not clear on which is the front and back of the building. There are two large double doors on one of the shorter sides that might be the front doors, but I would think the front of the building ought to be on one of the longer sides. I am seriously thinking of incorporating it into the hacienda I want to make for my Gambusian campaign. I would use it as the main house and add on to it. I have a bunch of little, sketchy plans for my hacienda and will see how this building can fit in. The hacienda is my next project, followed by an airport, and then the radio station. Knowing me, I'll probably get sidetracked. 

Last of all...candy!

 I got a little bag of hard candies included in my order!
.

Painted Shapeways Miniatures

I had ordered a bunch of stuff from Shapeways. So far, I had only painted a semi-truck. So, I got busy. Sadly, I picked a hot and humid day to prime the figures: BIG MISTAKE! To my defense, I've primed minis on hot, humid days in the past and managed to dodge the bullet. Not this time. Some of the Shapeways minis are fuzzy to begin with, but the primer make them fuzzier. I ended up using my fingernail to rub off a lot of the primer once it dried.

A-37 Dragonfly

A-37 Dragonfly

Prairie Hawk Gamers produces these. Previously, the only company that made these was Skyraider Miniatures which is no longer in existence. I think I have two by them, but I never got around to paint them. Prairie Hawk makes two versions; one with payload, one without. I bought both. Shown is that one without, but I added some bombs. A-37s were part of the emergency supply of weapons that the USA sent to Southern Chalupastan during the 1st Chalupastan War.  They consisted of hardware left over from the Vietnam War. They are still in service, though will be replaced by the Textron AirLand Scorpion light jet (see below). Its painted in the standard Southern Chalupastan camo, except I used GHQ's olive green rather than Vallejo's, because it been awhile and I forgot which I used for the lighter green.

Killdozer (or Dirt-truck as my 2-year old calls them)

I can't remember who made this bulldozer. It might have been the same as the semi that I had in a previous post. It, along with several others is made out of a rubbery vinyl material. This guy came with two brothers.  Now, I don't know if it was the humidity, or the primer itself, but when I sprayed them, they got sort of gooey! They never really dried. I went ahead and painted one of them. I tried to dirty it up as much as possible. After painting it a CAT yellow with dark grey treads, I mixed burnt sienna with Future Floor Wax and gave it a healthy wash.  I then dabbed some steel and silver paint along some of the edges along with its scoop. Last, I mixed some pale brown with some baking soda and a little Elmer's glue to make some globs of dirt that I place on the scoop and on the treads. Its a nice model, except I don't care for the front of the cab. It doesn't have an obvious window, so I painted a black square where I thought it ought to be.

O-1 Bird Dog

This is not from Shapeways, but from GHQ. I only sprayed one and it, too, suffered from the humidity. I wanted some civilian planes for the the airport/airfield I plan to make in the future, but no one makes them in microscale. I bought the Bird Dogs awhile ago for WWII gaming. I figure they look enough like a small civilian plane. It a very nice model, but they come without the struts that help hold the wing to the fuselage. I glued two styrene strips as shown on the left one. The one on the left is not quite finished. I need to paint the cockpit glass and maybe add a blue stripe to the tail. I do not plan to glue a magnet to the bottom of it an will just sit on the ground. The other will get a magnet, but I have not decided if it will be "civilianized" or not.

Works in Progress

L to R: Fiat G91, Trabant Kuebel, AirLand Scorpion, M-346 Master

These are ones that I primed and have yet to prime. The little car also suffered from the gooeys. They come with a top on and off. They are pretty tiny, but I figured that they would make for a good civilian vehicle. The Fiat G91 and the M-346 will probably join the Federal Republic of Gambusia Defense Force. The Scorpion will be part of the South's arsenal. Now that war has broken out between Northern and Southern Chalupastan, the A-37s will stay on.

Origami Armies

I saw this at Sam's Club but didn't buy it. It cost $12. Maybe I should have bought it.

With the prices of minis being what they are, it might be worth it.

6mm Scifi

Every so often, I run across another blog or website whose work really blows me away with their terrain. Here is one of those: 6mm Wargaming. Kieran, the owner of the site, has been around for awhile and his work has always amazed me. His latest is 6mm scifi. For the longest time, I went back and forth between 6mm and 15mm for scifi gaming. Maybe I should have gone 6mm! Anyway, check out all his work and be impressed.

Rescue the Princess: part 1

I started this about this time last year. It a game in progress, and I will periodically update it as I go long.

Introduction
Desclaimer: All characters appearing in this game are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Proctoring final exams is pretty dull. What better time to have another solo RPG adventure, or at least set one up! The problem was that I didn’t have my dice with me. Online dice rollers are OK, but a little slow. Then I decided, why not use my students as templates for characters?   In a small school like mine, you get to know the students well enough to judge their stats and what sorts of character classes they might be. The characters are mash-ups of several students plus the names were changed to protect the innocent. I decided to make them second level characters because it was an upper level class, so they were all juniors and seniors. Besides, I wanted the game to last longer than the first one I had.

There are a lot more members of the cast that I planned, but it fits the story and the relationships they have to one another. I set this one in my old fantasy world that I used for both role-playing and fantasy war gaming. Again, I am using Basic Fantasy RPG (2nd Edition), the No Budget No Frills Pencil and Paper Dungeon Generator (version 4.1) with a few add-ons I made from Tabletop Diversions blog, Mythic Master Game Emulator, and whatever else I happen to find of use. Since its a solo game, I mix and match whatever gaming mechanisms I want. As I go along, I am continuously tinkering with the dungeon generator.

The Background
On her way to pay respects to her future mother-in-law, the Countess of Erelle, the young Lady Hayleea was kidnapped. Her fiancée, the dashing Sir Elgrum immediately rode off with a large, armed party to rescue her. Along the way, his party was ambushed. They defeated their attackers but only Sir Elgrum, Sister Yabringa (Lady Hayleea’s dour spiritual advisor, who managed to escaped being kidnapped), and Kassira Kwin (the rescue party’s tracker) survived. They took up the trail, which led them to a small village on the border with Turonia. Several villagers told of a party hurrying north into the wilds. They continued to follow the trail until ended near some old burial mounds. They returned to town, as Sir Elgrum sorely needed help. While at the local tavern, they were told that those mounds were those of the Gails, ancient ancestors of the barbarians that were now to the north that worshipped an evil snake-goddess. They managed to recruit two fighters, two magic-users, and a thief.

The Characters
Sir Elgrum (Fighter. Str: 16 Int: 8 Wis: 8 Dex: 14 Con: 12 Crs: 14HP: 11). Noble and dashing, but somewhat headstrong. Not a paladin, but very religious. Armor: platemail. Weapons: Two-handed axe, longsword.

Sister Yabringa (Cleric. Str: 11 Int: 16 Wis: 17 Dex: 14 Con: 12 Crs: 8 HP: 8). A plain woman with a shadow falling over her, she is always wearing a perpetual scowl. Maybe it’s her strict orthodoxy to the Faith, or perhaps another hidden struggle. She has been a loyal confidant and spiritual advisor to Lady Hayleea for many years. Armor: Padded leather vest. Weapon: club.

Kassira Kwin (Half-Elf Ranger/Druid. Str 14 Int 17 Wis 14 Dex 16 Con: 13, Crs: 12  HP: 9) A petite but physically strong woman. She is also extremely dexterous and gains a +2 when climbing things.  Armor: leather vest. Weapons: Quarter staff, Short sword (D6+1), and dagger (D4+1). Elves made her short sword and dagger especially for her. They are not magical but gain the bonus in her hands.

Sir Gladwell Ravenlocks (Fighter. Str: 16 Int: 12 Wis: 8 Dex: 14 Con: 12 Crs: 17 HP:12) A wandering knight, he was renown for doing good deeds. He is a great charmer of women. Currently, he travels and adventures with his companions Youngrin and Cuthwaith. Armor: chainmail (sleeveless, of course!) & shield. Weapons: Longsword, dagger.

Cuthwaith Tunnelruner (Thief. Str 14 Int: 9 Wis:6 Dex:16 Con: 12 Crs:12 HP: 5) A good thief, but he’s not the brightest fellow. Tends to get in trouble and has to have his comrades bail him out. Armor: None. Weapons: Short sword, 4 throwing daggers.

Sir Youngrin Bodin (Fighter. Str: 17 Int: 16 Wis: 15 Dex 12 Con: 13 Crs: 14 HP: 10) Gladwell’s friend and adventuring companion. They are often rivals in everything, including women. He tends to be the realist of the two and often has to bail both Gladwell hand Cuthwaith out of trouble. It is said that he is the son of a very powerful lord. Armor: chainmail & shield. Weapons: Longsword and dagger.

Charnel of the Mystic Glade (Magic User. Str: 12 Int: 17 Wis: 9 Dex 13 Con: 10 Crs: 13 HP: 6) While a very good magic user, she tends to be rather absent minded. She will often neglect her studies with her apprentice. Armor: None. Weapons: Staff and 1 dagger.

Miria Meeksoul (Magic User Str:9 Int: 16 Wis:12 Dex: 10 Con: 7 Crs: 6 HP: 5) A small, quiet woman, she is the apprentice of Charnel. It is not clear why Charnel took Miria on as an apprentice, nor why Miria stays with Charnel. Armor: None. Weapons: Staff and 1 dagger.

Chapter 1:  Encounter along the way
The adventures left early from the tavern, as reached the end of the town, an old man hobbled up to them. He tugged on Sister Yabringa, reins. “Please blessed sister, my daughter, Enya, was kidnapped the other day and I’m sure she was taken to the burial mounds! Please find her and bring her home to me. She is all I have!"

Sister Yabringa scowls, but Sir Elgrum cuts in, “good sir, fear not! We will find your daughter and bring her back to you."

The old man thanks Sir Elgrum and shuffles off. The party rides at a quick pace, hoping to arrive before nightfall. But shortly before they arrive to the burial mounds, they heard a scream coming from the forest. Kassira volunteers to investigate.

She quietly moves through the forest floor toward the noise. She enters a clearing an sees a large ogre smacking around a young man. Unfortuately, she gives her location away with the snap of a branch. The ogre quickly turns, picks up a large club, and charges after Kassira. Seeing that there is strength in numbers, she turns and quickly runs back to the party shouting, "OGRE!!”

She easily out runs the ogre back to the trail. The rest of the party reacts quickly and prepares for battle.

The party gets the initiative and Kassiera and Gladwell get the first attack. Gladwell misses, but Kassiera gets in a deadly blow (natural 20) but not enough to kill it. The ogre's club smashes into Gladwell's shield but Gladwell is only shaken by the blow. Magic missiles by the magic users seem to only enrage the ogre. After several rounds of combat, wounds are taken on both sides but the outcome is still up in the air. Ffinally, Sir Elgrum manages to plant his two-handed axe into the ogre and it goes down.They search the ogre but find nothing of value.

The party goes back to the clearing and finds the young man. He is conscious but injured. Yabringa cures him. He tells them that his name is Bral (Str: 12 Int: 9 Wis 11 Dex 16 Con 9 Crs 7 HP: 6). He is a young farmer whose wife was abducted two days ago. He managed to follow the abductors here, but ran into the ogre. They ask him if he is from the village that they came from, but he tells them no. He is from another village. He begs to come with. The party is split, but they tell him if he can carry their items and stay out of their way, they will let him accompany them. He has no armor and his weapon was a staff and a dagger. but they promise to give him any weapons and armor if they find it. They decide to camp for the night and enter the burial mounds the next morning. Nothing happens that night and they prepare to enter in the morning.

Chapter 2: Entering the tomb

Entrance into the burial mound

The morning they gather around an entrance way. It blocks by stones and rubble.The Cuthwaith  confidently declares there is no traps, and they have Bral remove the stones. They are in a small room (1) made of earthen walls held precariously up by rotten timbers. At the end of the room are stairs plunging into the earth. Lighting torches and lanterns, they descend the stairs. Reach the bottom stairs and walk along a passage until they get to a 4-way intersection. Suddenly a giant crab spider leaps out at them (2)!

It attacks Bodin and severely wounds him. The poison takes immediate effect and he passes out possibly dead!

The party is stunned by what they see and the spider gets a second attack! It then attacks Bral. Bral tries to jump away but he is hit bad, however the poison doesn’t seem to effect him (successful save vs poison). Instinctively Bral swings with his staff and it hits the spider doing minor damage. The spider then attacks Charnel but misses her due, in part, to her dexterity.

Now, everyone gets a blow. Charnel, being just attacked, manages to fire off a magic missile doing mior damage. Everyone else misses.  In fact Cuthwaith nearly hits Charnel. Miria then casts a spell that does a lot of damage and the spider is dead.

They rush over to Youngrin. Both the cleric and Kassira (who also has the gift of healing) manages to cure him of the wounds, but is it enough to stop the poison? Sir Elgrum decides to leave the dungeon make camp. They carrying Youngrin’s body out. While still unresponsive, Kassira pulls out of a pouch some dried leaves, mixes it with some oil and applies it to his wound. She does the same to Bral.

A day and a night passes. Finally in the late morning, Youngrin stirs and seems to have survived. Sister Yabringa is sure it was witchcraft, and mentions it to Elgrum. Elgrum rebuffs her stating that they should be happy that Youngrin is alive. They camp for one more day to help Youngrin recover. Youngrins Con is down 1 point for the remainder of the adventure.

The following day they reenter to the burial mound. A little more cautious, they send the thief up ahead. Reaching the 4-way intersection, they find the spider’s body still there. They decide to turn left. They travel about 60’ down a straight hall and find it ends with stairs going down. Along the way, they noticed a door on the north side of the passage.In protest, Cuthwaith goes down the stairs a ways, stops and listens. Hearing nothing (failure), he quickly runs back up the stairs.  They decide to go back to the 4-way intersection but first check out that door. Cuthwaith listens but hears nothing (success). Checking for traps (fails), he finds nothing. The door not locked but stuck. Elgrum bashes the door in. The room comes alive with light and music (3). A sourceless, warm glow suffuses the chamber, and a harp you cannot see plays soothing sounds. Unfortunately, the rest of the chamber isn't so inviting. The floor is strewn with the smashed remains of rotting furniture. It looks like the room once held a bed, a desk, a chest, and a chair (from: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/drdg/index.htm). They search for source of the light and music but couldn’t find it. They leave and continue to the intersection.

And there it ends for now. Stay tuned for another chapter!