Joy of Six report

So Joy of Six is behind us for another year and I have to say I enjoyed it despite Sheffield Hallam University being on sauna setting for the day.

The Cold War Commanders Operation Vijay game was a success, I think, with Andy T and Neil M actually running/playing the game and me chatting to punters. Considering that the detailed scenario and the table set up were pretty much improvised on the day, it all worked out very nicely.

I think the Geek Villain mat worked well

An Indian Canberra flies over the victorious
Indian infantry

Other games included a marvellous Nomad assault on Pavis using the Midgard rules put on by author James Morris and pals:

Great fun to see a 6mm, massed-battle version of an action I've gamed in 28mm at skirmish level.

The MaDGamers of Maidenhead and District did a recreation of Alam Halfa, 1942 using the Rapid Fire Reloaded rules. Interestingly their handout says that they used both Baccus 6mm and Heroics & Ros miniatures in the same game. I can only assume this refers to men rather than vehicles as otherwise the scale differences would have been too noticeable.

Again the printed cloth worked well and the game certainly gave the impression of mostly empty desert.

Adjacent to our table were the Ilkley Irregulars, who put on Waterloo using Bloody Big Battles, something that I myself would like to do one day. In fact I bought a copy of the scenario book from them!

It wasn't the prettiest game at the event but the participants were clearly having a great time. I believe Napoleon was successful this time.

Given the very zoomed-out scale it's not so easy to produce lovely-looking terrain for a Bloody Big Battles game but the COGS group from Chesterfield achieved it with their Mons 1914 set up.

And finally among the Bloody Big Battles offerings was Per Broden's Gravelotte/St Privat, 1870.

This was lovely despite ParcelForce losing Per's dedicated game mat and his having to rebuild the battlefield using a borrowed one! 

Another very attractive game was the Siege of Bastogne by James Mitchell and Brendan Dolan. 

It's far from obvious but the table is actually organised on a square grid to support the rules in use, Eisenhower by Sam Mustafa. Very subtly done!

Total Battle Miniatures put on a small but beautifully formed representation of the 18th century Battle of Lobositz.

I thought the river was particularly nicely done.

Two American Civil War battles were represented. At the smaller scale was the Poe's Field portion of the battle of Chickamauga put on by the Three Shires group.

While the Leeds Wargames Club used Pickett's Charge to portray the Champions Hill battle during the Vicksburg campaign.

There were many other games but I didn't manage a comprehensive photo shoot this time I'm afraid.

I greatly enjoyed the day. Peter Berry tells me numbers were down this year but given that it was one of the hottest days of the year, I'm sure many who might have attended on a whim decided there were better ways to spend their time. Certainly for me a refreshing pint at the nearby Rutland Arms was much needed at the end o the day!

Christmas Games part two

On the 29th we had a substantial gathering of gamers at Stately Counterpane Manor to play out The Liberation of Pavis - a multi-player Song of Blades and Heroes game. Regular attendees Jamie, Ron, Gus, Sam and Josh were joined by old friends Tom and Matt whom it was lovely to see after far too many years.

The Liberation of Pavis was the latest of a series of games set in and around that Gloranthan city. The players were read the following introductory text:

For those of you who aren’t Glorantha fans, a little back story.

Glorantha is a fictional world invented by the late Greg Stafford. At the time of our game, the history of Glorantha will turn upon the battle for dominance between the followers of two gods; Orlanth the storm god and The Red Goddess of the Moon. The storm-worshipping barbarians and the Lunar empire cannot co-exist peacefully and the long-foretold Hero Wars seem to be upon us.

The Hero Argrath Whitebull has emerged as a leader of the fight against the Lunar Empire and it seems his first act will be to capture the frontier city of Pavis. 

For weeks his motley army of nomads and Wolf Pirates has besieged the city but now they have broken in. How? Surely they know nothing of siegecraft? Afterwards some will say that the city was betrayed from within, others that magical plants, grown overnight, pulled down the city walls and yet others that the Sun Dome templars turned against their former Lunar allies.

Whatever the story, Argrath’s fighters are flooding into the streets of Pavis…

Those of you familiar with the setting may like to know that I based my scenario on the book King of Sartar, on the Chaosium website The Well of Daliath, and on Jeff Richard's Chaosium house Runequest campaign on Youtube.

In the game, Tom took the rôle of Halcyon var Enkorth, the Lunar Governor of Pavis. I knew that Tom was familiar with this character, who in our youth was the Provincial Overseer's representative in Balazar (from the Runequest campaign pack Griffin Mountain). I guessed that Tom hadn't kept up with the latest in Gloranthan lore and that Halcyon turning up in Pavis would be an amusing surprise for him. And so it turned out.

Ron would play Jaxarte Whyded, a recurring character in my Pavis games. By the time of the fall of Pavis he should have been at home in the Lunar heartland but I couldn't resist bringing him back to the city for one more fight (fatal as it turned out). Jaxarte's ticket out of the city (potentially) was the Lady Jezra who, it was hoped, could parlay a connection with the Eiskoli family into a safe place to hide from the invading nomads.

Finally on the Lunar side, Josh would play an isolated group of Lunar peltasts. They hoped the higher-ups would come up with some wonder weapon to save them but they were prepared to sell themselves dearly if need be!

The opposition was also in three groups. Gus was to play Rurik Runespear, well-known to Glorantha fans as the original RQ2 example character and now a Runelord of Yelmalio sworn to kill the Lunar Governor in single combat. I knew that Gus, as an old RQ player who ran up against Halcyon back in Balazar decades ago, would appreciate this task.

Jamie led a group of mounted Praxian nomads of the White Bull Society. I gave him the task of riding around the city carrying out rituals that were needed to bring the city under the control of the warlord Argrath Whitebull.

Finally, Sam ran an assorted group of Wolf Pirates who just wanted to loot the city and slaughter its inhabitants.

Wolf Pirates versus Lunar Hoplites

A confused melée developed in the streets made all the more so by the intervention of assorted non-player characters. I ran some of these but Matt was the main embodiment of the Disorder rune in this regard.

I invented a house rule whereby a gaming gem was placed in a mug every time a player rolled a failure on their activation dice. Each gem could then be spent my Matt or me to attempt an activation by a non-player character. These might be rampaging nomads or Wolf Pirates, additional isolated Lunar defenders or martially minded citizens of the city. We allowed the umpire team to spend these at any time, even if it meant interrupting a player's turn.

Lunars, Sun Dome militia, Praxians and
Wolf Pirates - a confused melée indeed!

Osrtrich Riders threaten fleeing Lunars

At the end of the game nearly all of the Lunars remaining in the streets were corpses. 

Jamie had completed the objective of the White Bull Society and activated a ritual coving about a third of the table. The ritual was deemed to have some greater significance to be discovered later but an immediate side-effect was to give all invaders within its area the special rule Hate Lunars!

Gus-as-Rurik managed to catch and kill Halcyon var Enkorth. Or so he thought! In reality, and in line with events described in King of Sartar, Halcyon and his lover Marusa the Shrew escaped the city. It turned out that Rurik had killed Halcyon's look-alike! Never mind though, both Gus and Rurik are still claiming the credit for victory.

The Lady Jezra eventually reached the Eiskoli house to claim sanctuary. She did so, however, without the company of Jaxarte Whyded. His promising career was brought to an end by a nomad javelin on the dusty streets of Pavis.

-o0o-

The game worked well despite having eight people around the table with varying levels of familiarity with the rules. We started off with one player at a time activating figures but after just one turn everyone was sufficiently au fait with things to allow us to run all three players on one side simultaneously. Having experienced SOBH player Matt on board (he was volunteered into the umpire team on his arrival) helped enormously when it came to keeping things moving.

The system of activating NPCs worked fine. I think I'll keep it in my arsenal of techniques for future SOBH games where a third force needs to be represented.

All in all I was very pleased with the day. It was great fun to bring to the table top characters many of the players had previously met in classic RPG adventures like Griffin Mountain, Sun County, and Borderlands. 

Thanks to all who came along to play in the game and chat afterwards. A Happy New Year to all and to those of you reading this!

Adobe Dobe Doo

The new cluster of adobe buildings for Pavis is now complete. 

In the end I didn't go over the top with the fantasy elements; just the little statue (probably containing the family's guardian spirit) over one of the doorways.

After photographing the piece I realised I'd neglected to add any roof hatches. I'll probably put some on later along with a little burnt-grass flock.

One of my thoughts about next year is to run some more Maximilian Adventure Sharp Practice. Focussing on the 1863 siege of Puebla would make use of existing models - both 28mm soldiers and suitable buildings.

The completed building below was a quick project earlier this year to fit a suitable storage box that came my way. Now I'm working on a destroyed version.

The 1863 Siege of Puebla has long interested me. During the Crimean War the French had taken Sevastopol as soon as they captured the Malakoff fortress. They assumed the convent of San Javier was likewise the key to Puebla. They were wrong and the subsequent fight for the city itself threatened to become a nineteenth century Stalingrad.

I wonder if I can create a game for the coming year's Lardy Days that sees the French attacking from block to block while the Mexicans scurry from rooftop to fortified rooftop via improvised bridges?

Some degree of mashing up Sharp Practice and Chain of Command may be called for, as will a lot of play-testing.

On the workbench

I was putting in a Victrix order while they had their Black Friday sale running and was just short of the total needed to to get free shipping so I added in a pack of Gallic cavalry. I figure I may one day use them to play Infamy Infamy.

Feeling the urge to paint something just for the hell of it I made a start. Adding in a couple of existing Warlord Gauls I'm not far off a six-man unit with Leader.

There are only three horse sculpts - it doesn't look line the halves are interchangeable to give more variety in poses. I'm therefore working on using Green Stuff to vary the harness decoration. I'll share comparison pics when they're done.

Meanwhile I continue to persevere with the 3D printer despite problems with build plate adhesion. Successfully printed was this medieval tower. Yet another addition to the Eastern European 6mm urban terrain.

An earlier version of the print failed part way through so I'm working on a ruined version using quick-drying Polyfilla, grit, and slices of wooden coffee stirrer.

I've used a 6cm base, which I'll paint to resemble a paved square. 6cm happens to be twice my standard road width.

Finally, one of my planned Christmas games is another Song of Blades and Heroes skirmish set in Pavis. I wanted to reflect the fact that Pavis isn't depicted as all right angles so I've knocked up this cluster of buildings.

Very much made up as I went along, this one. The long balcony has been in my terrain bits box for years and the length of that side of the building was determined by the desire to use it. 

I even broke my usual rule of designing the building to fit an existing storage box but fortunately a new pair of walking boots provided exactly the size box I needed.

I generally make adobe buildings generic enough to pass for Pavis or Mexico but this time I'm thinking of going all-out fantasy with a statue in a niche above one of the doors and maybe painted runes on one of the walls.

Well that's it for now. I'll share finished pics when done.

Christmas Games 2022 part two

Our second Christmas game (or more precisely games) this year took place on 30th of December when Jamie and I were joined by five other gamers for the latest incident in the Song of Pavis campaign entitled A Treasure for Whitewall.

Regulars here may recall previous episodes. On the other hand, it's been so long since the last game, perhaps a reminder is in order. 

Protect and Serve - Jaxarte Whyded accidentally interrupts an incident on the streets of Pavis.

Raid on Ogre Island - a confused melée in the Big Rubble.

A Foggy Day in Pavis - yet again, Jaxarte finds himself involved in events he doesn't understand.

Part of the challenge of organising these Christmas games is that I often don't know how many players I'm going to have and not all games systems work perfectly in a multi-player environment. Song of Blades and Heroes works fine with two or three players but if you have to wait for five other players to finish their turn it can be a bit pedestrian. I decided I would run two or three linked one-on-one games simultaneously. These would be as follows:

1. Orlanthi rebels raid a warehouse in Pavis - they have a guided teleport matrix that will take one of them to a nominated location. Unfortunately for some reason it will only take them to a cave in the Vultures Country.
2. Another party of rebels will travel by boat down to the Vultures Country to intercept the escaping rebel from game 1 who hopefully will have stolen the Battle Banner of the EWF.
3. A third party of rebels will guard the riverside camp of the party in game 2. If attacked they'll be reinforced by Ostrich Rider mercenaries returning after guiding the game 2 party to the cave.

Game 3 could be played if I got five or six players or dropped otherwise. If I got a seventh player unexpectedly I would add the long-suffering Jaxarte Whyded as a further complication in game 1.

Game 1 was set on the streets of Pavis

The game 2 rebels approach the cave entrance led by the
Ostrich Rider mercenaries

Only a small number of rebels were left to guard the boats

In game 1 young gamer Josh ran the rebel raiding party. Unfortunately they never got close to overcoming Jamie's Lunars. It was almost as if the Lunars were expecting them and had strengthened the guards in and around the target warehouse!

 

Game 2 was much more one-sided. I'd hoped that the Trollkin bandits who had taken over the cave system would have been able to put up a better fight for their home but Mark, in his first game of SOBH, took a bit of a pounding from Andy's rebels despite the presence of a spirit of darkness in the tunnels.

It was nice to get some of my newer and more detailed dungeon sections into use. Resin casts from Zitterdes and Scotia featured.

Game 3 was also a bit one-sided, this time against the rebels. The thinly guarded camp was overrun by Morokanth (led by young gamer Sam) who made off with plenty of loot despite Gus's attempts to fight them off long enough for the Ostrich Riders to save the day.

In the end, the rebels failed to get into the warehouse. This didn't make too much of a difference as it turned out the banner they were after was a fake, planted by Lunar spymaster Gimgim the Grim to draw out previously unidentified rebels.

The rebels did manage to capture the caves and discovered therein a prize of great value - the missing sword and helm of Vingkot. These artifacts of the Gods' Age would be vital to the defenders of the besieged city of Whitewall if only they could be got there! However...

The rebels' riverside camp was overrun by Morokanth and many of their supplies were stolen.

Will the rebels be able to re-enchant the amulet to take the treasures to Whitewall or will they have to trek there across the trackless wastes of Prax? Find out (perhaps) in the next thrilling episode!

Ostrich Riders

I'm thinking of running a Glorantha Song of Blades and Heroes game at Christmas. In considering which forces I might field I came across a unit of Praxian Ostrich Riders I'd made for Hordes of the Things. I thought I'd rebase them and maybe add a few more models to make a little SOBH warband.

The Ostrich Riders are pygmies and I'd made the original models by mounting HaT 20mm plastic Numidians onto 28mm white metal Ostriches (don't recall which manufacturer). 

Looking at them anew I decided they didn't look right. They looked like smaller scale models; not like shorter people of the same scale as my other 28mm guys.

I poked through the spares box and decided that 28mm heads transplanted onto the 20mm bodies might work. And I even had 28mm scale Numidian heads left over from building my Punic War forces!

The resulting models aren't great but they'll do. I've painted their skin using the Foundry "Dusky Flesh" triad.

I have a couple of other models on the workbench, one of whom will be a leader with a longer spear and a bronze helmet presumably traded for at one of the oases of inner Prax.

The Ostrich Riders prefer to fight by skirmishing with their javelins rather than by engaging in close combat. I'm thinking of rating the ordinary tribesmen as Quality 4+, Combat 2, Free Disengage, Long Move, Shoot (short range). 

One might ask why I haven't rated them as Mounted. This is because Mounted gives a +1 in close combat to normal-sized, non-mounted figures. Because these guys don't end up any taller than a normal-sized human, I didn't think this appropriate.

After the Mist Has Cleared

Last night's game by Skype was successful.  Tom and Simon signed in by Skype and we played the latest episode in the Song of Pavis campaign.

As Tom had run the Lunars in the first game of the campaign, he took the option of doing so again. This meant that for the second time he had very limited information as to what was actually going on in the scenario.

Tom's main character was the Imperial Commissioner for the Census, Jaxarte Whyded. All Tom knew was that Jaxarte had intervened when he'd seen guards at the Old Gate removing a silver amulet from a prisoner. Suspecting that otherwise the amulet would be fenced to pay the guard sergeant's gambling debts, Jaxarte had taken it into protective custody. He was just contemplating how he might establish if the prisoner had legal title to the item when his bodyguard reported trouble in the street outside their office.

Simon's Sartarite rebels, meanwhile, were determined to retrieve the amulet as it was needed to further their future plans. A small strike party, led by Vareena Stonebrow, was to assault the office. They would do this under cover of river mist blown into town by a breeze summoned by an Orlanthi priest.

The game began with Jaxarte in his office, his bodyguard Vanides on the roof checking the security position, and two Lunar peltasts in a guard post near the southeastern corner of the board.

Jaxarte's office is the building on the right with a balcony.
The balcony of the two-storey house is on the left.

The Sartarites decided to enter from two directions. Illaril Oathsworn, a very skilled archer, and leader Vareena Stonebrow would go in through the rear door of the two-storey house opposite, while the steadfast Magar Ketilsson, dashing Grann, and opportunistic Liv Vannasdottir would advance down the main avenue directly towards Jaxarte's office. 

Illaril and Vareena discovered that the rear door was locked but a firm shoulder charge burst it open (the doors rules from Song of Gold and Darkness in use here). 

This attracted the attention of the peltasts in the guard post and a melee soon developed around the forced door.

Vareena has the advantage over the peltasts
even though Illaril has already disappeared inside.

Note that I prefer to use "Disadvantaged" markers rather than laying "Fallen" models down their backs.

In the end one of the peltasts suffered a gruesome kill and his mate fled the scene.

After a considerable amount of indecision on Simon's part (perhaps inevitable given the difficulty of getting a clear picture of events via Skype) Illaril would eventually end up on the balcony of the house shooting across the road outside.

In the meantime, Jaxarte had decided to leave the office with his bodyguard trailing behind him. He was quickly waylaid by Magar Ketilsson...

... who had raced on ahead of his follow rebels.

Jaxarte summoned his Lune and Vanides emerged from the office door so Magar was soon outnumbered and eventually downed by a thrust of Vanides's spear.

As Vanides prepared to loot the body (he has the Greedy special rule), the remaining Sartarites arrived. A fierce melee developed.

For a moment Jaxarte stood alone as the battle ebbed and flowed around him. Illaril chose that moment to loose an arrow from her balcony position. It found its mark in Jaxarte's breast and he fell, apparently dead.

Vanides stands over the bodies of his employer
(represented by the purple heart) and Magar
Ketilsson (red disc).

More peltasts arrive - more targets for
Illaril Oathsworn

At this point, one of the newly arrived peltasts also fell to Illari's deadly arrows. This took the Lunars to the point where the dead and fled outnumbered the living. The resulting morale tests saw a Trollkin watchman (who had done nothing so far) rout from the board and Vanidies retreat from the action.

As Vareena stood guard, Liv Vannasdottir retrieved the amulet from Jaxarte's body. So that leaves us with one win for each of the three factions in the campaign. 

Using the campaign rules in SOBH I rolled to see whether the "dead" personalities were indeed deceased. Magar Ketilsson proved to be only lightly injured and will be available the next time the rebellion needs his services. Jaxarte Whyded is also recovering from his wounds. He will be at -1 on Quality rolls in the next game.

Next time the Cult of Pavis will be back in action, this time against a neutral force. Details to follow.