Death to the rabble rouser!

In a play test of Flashing Steel – Forged in Blood we explored house to house fighting and the complications thereof.

Using my Last Valley scenario generation tool I came up with the following story: a local priest (Q5, C0) was stirring up the population, instigating witch hunts and provoking discontent. He was speaking at a rally in the guesthouse, surrounded by a picked squad (Q3, C2) of bodyguards, while outside the militia (Q5, C2, pikes) were forced to cool their heels. Bolstering them were a troop of cuirassiers (Q4, C2) who were rightfully ill at ease in the confined streets of the village. Covering the North road to the village a group of musketeers (Q4, C4) lurked in the rough ground.

Since he was a trouble maker, a rival village had recruited a bunch of mercenaries to silence him. This consisted of a crack squad of musketeers (Q3, C2, heavy muskets) who approached the North side through the woods. Assisting them were two mixed groups (Q4, C2, some armed with pike, and others with muskets), and a group of amateurs (Q5, C2, muskets). Their ace player, though, was a sharpshooter (Q4, C2, heavy musket) who they hoped would manage to put a bullet in the priest before he roused the population to any more religious intolerance.

Very quickly the game became one of house to house fighting. This gave us a chance to look at the rules so far, and they were found wanting. More work is to be done here. The goal was to adequately simulate a 1:1 man to model ratio fight, where the result is one group or the other being ejected from the house. Some good ideas came out, and will be tested next time.

The game itself resolved when one of the attacking groups slipped down an alley in to the guesthouse, chased the priest for a while, and then shot him in the back point blank as he finally managed to make it outside. The sharpshooter didn’t even get near. The defenders suffered no casualties (apart from the priest – so they lost anyway) while the attackers left four dead. Escape from the village by the attackers would have been a game in itself as the guesthouse was well surrounded by the end. Still, the crack musketeers still raked the main road so they conceivably might have covered a flight to safety.

The basics of turn sequencing worked well as they always do. Weapon lethality could be increased somewhat.

The Last Valley – week 3

Last time, you will recall, Dide confronted his mutinous men. Rather than play this out and write it blow by blow here, I made a few rolls against the Enquiry table and came to a conclusion. Dide put the men in their place.

On the following week, however, Eduare and his scouts were passing through Lansby Vale when they spotted a group of marauders. Word was hastily sent back for help, and he engaged them.

The marauders were clearly on a foraging mission and made straight for the fields to capture some pigs. Their leader with his group of Cuirassiers barrelled straight down the road at Eduare and quickly slaughtered them all (one character and group gone from the protagonist force). However, The following body of pikemen under Gari formed up and bloodily repelled the invaders.

By this time reinforcements had arrived. Ernat and his picked musketeers swept around the side of the hamlet and provided enfilading fire, smashing the cuirassiers and killing the leader. They then took the time to pour fire at a lone sneaky marksman. On the other side of the table some of the marauders had been successful in capturing some livestock and were retiring. Another group moved into the middle of a field while Dide and his cuirassiers bore down on them from the hills. In desperation, the marauders formed up to repeal the cavalry, only to be caught in withering fire by Jurisco and his men. Ranks broken, Dide’s cavalry swept into them. Few survived.

This called for several morale checks and individual groups dissolved, giving way to a general retreat.

The three men from Eduare’s group (Redmond Strohkirch, Kellen Esser, Dieter Seidel) and Eduare himself were killed. But apart from that the only other casualty was a single man from Albergio’s mixed group (Leopold Sauber).

In the opposing company the Captain was killed, along with all their cavalry. Two entire groups were destroyed, along with a marksman: approaching 50% casualties. This bunch are extremely unlikely to return, I think.

From a campaign point of view it was a great outcome for the protagonist company. They stamped out a rival force with great effectiveness. The loss of a cavalry group is a tough blow as the horses will be hard, if not impossible, to replace. However, overall the casualties were extremely light.

This game was played by myself and Andrew S, using the developing Flashing Steel – Forged in Blood rules. Andrew is primarily a Napoleonics player, so his insights into combined arms in this earlier period were valuable. Overall the rules seemed to hold up. There were several tweaks that were thrown up that need to be incorporated. Overall, the variable turn mechanism and the period specifics allowed Andrew to pull a classic manoeuvre on me: lure a group into forming up in the open under under threat from cavalry, then pouring shot in to the flanks to cause disruption, and then charging home the cavalry to sweep them away.

The Last Valley – historic scene

Sunday morning. School holidays so the kids are in bed and will languish there for half the day before they get up full of demands. Wife busy with her course material. Bereft of anything better to do, I decided to set up a wargaming diorama to show off my latest modelling efforts in buildings and to get the full protagonist company of The Last Valley war-game campaign on the table for a review.

And here it is. In the front is Ernat with his five picked musketeer bodyguards. Next is Dide with his 5 cuirassiers. Then comes Albergio with his mixed group of 4 pikemen and 6 musketeers. Then Gari with his 10 tough pikemen (I pick these guys for brawlers, actually). Jurisco is next with his body of 11 musketeers. And finally comes Eduare with his 3 scouting cavalrymen with mixed armour and equipment.

The military figures are a range of Renegade, Warlord and Old Glory. The many civilians around the joint, including the row of ‘ladies of negotiable virtue’, and the two kids taking their lives into their hands are from Megaminis. The roads are modular print of demand tiles from Lord Zsezse Works. The barrels are wooden beads.

The buildings are all paper model templates downloaded free from the Dungeons & Dragons site, printed colour then glued down on thick cardboard (I used the back boards of note pads that I had been collecting for a long time). The exception to this are the two large buildings. These were cheap wooden treasure chests that I bought from a two-dollor shop. The sort designed for little girls to keep their precious things in. Once the hinges and latch are off, I again printed out sheets from the D&D range, selectively carved them up and glued then directly on the wood, making easy equilateral triangles to form the peaks of the roof. Now the roofs can be removed to give a playable upper story interior, and the whole top layer can come off to give a ground story interior.

I’m pretty comfortable that I can now host an ‘urban’, village combat, with interior spaces for house to house action. To my eye, the main thing lacking from this rural scene is domestic animals.

Finding the protagonist company

The company invading and attempting the hold the last valley is commanded by Ernat Marulanda Gasco. With him are five lieutenants. Each of these men have a group they command. The following is a reprise of earlier information (2 years old), updated with new understandings and details of the groups they command.

Who are these people? They are Catholic soldiers, sometime during the Thirty Years War in Eastern Europe campaigning against the Protestant rebels. They are currently detatched in winter quarters and are only interested in feeding themselves and recuperating before the weather improves and the campaigning season starts.

Who is the leader? (one in four chance for the main characters) Ernat.

Who is Ernat Marulanda Gasco?

(Une characteristics) Established Tradesman [what trade? Don't know yet].

(Une motivations) Colaborate Vigilance [Ernat is a tactical genius, organising the other members of the party for their mutual defence. This is one of the reasons he is the leader]; Advocate Harmony [he is the peacemaker between the members of his foraging party. He can smooth over their differences. This is the other reason he is the leader]; Suppress the World [he is cynical about politics and morals. His actions are based on his own perceived need, or that of his party, rather than some abstract external force such as justice, national security, or religious conformity].

His command group is 5 shot: his bodyguard are all musketeers.

Who is Jurisco Suarez Cornejo?

(Une characteristics) Dependable Scrapper [Jurisco likes a fight and is not afraid of getting in one].

(Une motivations) Compose Pleasure [he writes music and/or composes poetry]; Defile Allies [he levies kontributions from friends and enemies alike. He cannot tell the difference between enemy combatants and civilians]; Seek Hate [he sees the war he is in as a just war of good against evil. He hates the Calvinists as devils on Earth].

Juarisco’s group are also all musketeers. There are 11 of them.

Who is Dide Rucina Covalan?

(Une characteristics) Defiant Politician [Dide likes the sound of his own voice. He also likes to take a contrary view].

(Une motivations) Communicate Gluttony [he is greedy, valuing foodstuffs above other goods. He torments the other party members by describing sumptuous dishes and recipes, especially when they are hungry]; Interact Industry [he is industrious for the party good. He does not shrink from helping out in any task for the party welfare. Despite his faults he is no slacker]; Refine Intelligence [he's a smart man, it cannot be denied. He knows a lot of stuff about a lot of things. If anyone wants to know something, Dide is who they will ask].

Dide’s group are Cuirassiers. There are 5 heavy armoured horsemen in his group.

Who is Albergio Restrepo Mendiluce?

(Une characteristics) Careful Shopkeeper [Albergio is the party quartermaster. He keeps a careful watch on their provisions].

(Une motivations) Assist Criminals [Albergio goes along with the party. Let's face it: the party are foraging soldiers during some of the worst wars in history. They are bad, and Albergio just joins in]; Promote Advice [he is a supporter. If someone in the party suggests something that he likes he goes to the trouble to agree with them. He is prepared to pick a side]; Agonise Dreams [What dreams? Don't know yet - this is a good open thread ].

Albergio commands a group of mixed infantry: 4 pikemen and 6 musketeers.

Who is Eduare Amor Magallanes?

(Une characteristics) Nefarious Clairvoyant [Eduare claims to have holy visions but he is a liar. He makes up stuff to get what he wants].

(Une motivations) Associate Discrimination [he sticks to the 'birds of a feather flock together' principle. He is in a Calvinist land. Therefore all the people there are Calvinists (heretics)]; Encourage Stories [he likes a good story, either told by himself or someone else]; Promote Atrocities [this speaks for itself].

Eduare commands a group of 3 miscellaneous horsemen.

Who is Gari Cuervo Iguaren?

(Une characteristics) Dependable Labourer [Gari will do what he is told. He is not afraid of hard work].

(Une motivations) Agonize Nature [he is troubled by the religious war raging around him. While not smart enough to understand the arguments, he does understand the principles and what is at stake: the immortal soul of man]; Inform Opulence [he always has his eye out for lootable things and he tells the rest of the party about them] ; Advise Narcissism [he is a toady, reminding the others how clever, handsome, rich or witty they are].

Gari commands a group of pikemen, or general close brawlers, I reckon. There are 10 of them in his group.

There’s the party. As random as I could make it, justified into a logical framework. I don’t think I like any of them as humans, but they do seem real. They fit the genre. They should generate interesting stories. To generate the types of troop I drew cards against the chart listed in the earlier posting. To find the number of men in each group I rolled 2d4 for cavalry and 3d6 for infantry.

Song of Powder and Pike test

Song of Powder and Pike (SPP) is the working title of the new rules I am writing for Ganesha Games as a follow on Flashing Steel. The original Flashing Steel was designed for single figure skirmish, providing swashbuckling action. Very cinematic, with lots of character and detail to breathe life into the individual models. SPP is being designed to take the action up to the next level, that of the squad acting as part of a company or task force. Just like Warhammer, you could choose to imagine that a group of 12 models is a regiment of 600 if you want. Personally, however, I am invisioning individual men engaged in small raiding actions.

These photos show some of the tests that Greg and I ran the other night.

A group is the functional unit of an army. A group is composed of a Leader and anything up to 15 other models. The group is a loose arrangement: it is identified by proximity to the Leader, and they can be broken and reformed easily. A single figure by himself is also a ‘group’ for these purposes.

Basic features of Flashing Steel (and Song of Blades and Heroes) are retained such as turn sequencing (really the core catch of any system – change this and you have an entirely new beast), and the simple DBA-style single d6 task resolution system.

For fans of 17th century warfare, there are a few things that really need to be reflected in the rules to carry that correct flavour. They are, in no particular order: forming up to give protection with pikes, pike fencing in general, the lethality of muskets at close range but rapid drop off in effectiveness, the incredibly slow reloading times of matchlock muskets, the fact that infantry caught in the open by cavalry are mincemeat, and then the differences between cavalry performing the caracole, trotting and firing at close range but prior to contact and the bare-arsed all-or-nothing charge of the earlier Gendarmes, Polish Winged Hussars and Pancerni, later Swedes and the Royalist English.

The figures used here are Renegade Miniatures for the infantry and Eureka Miniatures for the cavalry. I added musket stands to the Renegade musketeers as I prefer the earlier 30YW look to the later ECW firelock look.

More posts to come as work progresses.

Flashing (Samurai) Steel – The Hostage

We played the three game campaign described a few posts ago. Simon took the role of the protagonists, with Greg and I alternating playing the changing cast of foes. This was a full test of the v18 Flashing Steel rules, without exceptions, transposed into a Japanese setting to see if it would work.

Interestingly, Simon had no use for the Swashbuckling rules. They just did not come up as a likely set of actions for these particular heroes to employ. This is a good finding as it fits our intention that the rules should be modular and about introducing (role-playing) choices. They were there but not mandatory, and on this occasion the drama of the game did not falter for the lack of them.

All the Special rules worked as anticipated, though we bumped up against (yet) again the truth that core Songs is a very grainy system. The difference between Q4 and Q3 is great. Throw in a Q2, as Simon is wont to do as he hails from the camp that believes in the myth of the Samurai superhero, and you have a very difficult to beat model. Ultimately, Greg managed it by ganging up on him – and this too is the correct finding.

Ultimately, all of these findings confirmed Flashing Steel as a working narrative war-game system. We told each other great stories about heroes, in other words.

Game one wrapped up with lightening quickness. Simon’s men sprinted to the General’s pavilion in a string of great activation rolls. To get the message delivered he had to make two Difficult Quality checks (one to go through the necessary politenesses, the second to actually tell the news that the attack must be delayed). Greg peppered the samurai with arrows, but since he was using true Japanese style and not aiming, had no effect. In a memorable moment, one of Simon’s men apologised and interrupted his conversation to the General in order to step to the pavilion door and calmly drop an attacker with a well aimed bow shot.

Game two looked more promising with the monks in a defensive posture around the gate of their sanctuary. Greg again populated the board with his latest acquisitions from the aquarium, and it looked great. When Simon’s men rode into the courtyard they were jumped on and assaulted with fanatical intensity. But the mounted Samurai hacked their way to safety. One of the monk teppo men discharged his arkebus, but alas, to no effect. The monks were slaughtered to a man, except for one who surrendered – don’t like his chances.

In Game three, the board was dense with broken ground in the form of a woody belt against sand dunes, and the cluttered streets of the village. All movement was reduced to short. Simon’s men had a harder time of this, compounded by the elusive movement of Greg’s troops, transmogrified at the eleventh hour from Ronin to Ninja (more cinematic). It was here that Greg managed to bail up one of the aggressors, surround him and finally cut him down. Elsewhere, horses baulked while trying to jump fences, and ninjas swarmed trying to separate Simon’s men into individuals so they could be dealt with. However, as the ninja casualties approached 50%, Greg conceded the game, set and match.

From a recurring story point of view, we now know that the original battle would have gone ahead, and would (doubtless) have been successful. Therefore, the clan that conducted the kidnapping has suffered a defeat, as well as having lost face for failing to bring their plot to completion. This must call for retaliation. On the protagonist’s side we have a death. A noble death, as Simon gravely observed, but a death, none-the-less. Therefore, should Simon ever wish to bring these heroes back into a new story, he will need to introduce a rookie and nurture him.

Important finding for Reserved Actions

In an interesting exchange on the Songs forum, I found that I need to spell out how Reserved Actions cannot be used.

Importantly, the Overwatch rule is designed to allow friendly fire, and to limit out of turn activity. This is a fine rule to model that. 

Reserved Actions, however, are designed to do something else. In Flashing Steel and Raygun Gothic, the action being modelled is not modern soldiers hunched over machineguns with their fingers on the triggers. Instead it is guards standing in towers looking all around. It is the guards in the hallway, with nothing else to do, waiting for the heroes to appear – what else do guards do? Ceratinly not look at some distant spot to the exclusion of everywhere else.

Reserved Actions are just that: an expensive way to not act within your turn, but instead take one Action when it is needed. And that is the important point that came out of the forum conversation. You cannot use Reserved Actions to act within your own turn.

Here’s an example of what you cannot do with Reserved Actions: on your turn spend 2 Actions to Reserve (model gets token). Then move on and activate other figures. As your other figures move they provoke a Reserved Action from your opponent (in other words: overwatch). You cannot now return to the figure that has already finished activation and invoke the Reserve. His activation is over.

Samurai Flashing Steel

Flashing Steel works for the setting it was designed for: the Late Renaissance European swashbuckler. It has also been tested for a Star Wars theming (thanks, Paul). But the little realised fact is that the period of the Samurai also occurs in this time signature. Despite the not-uncommon belief that the Japanese were the only people who ever worked out how to fight with a sword, that Western fencing consisted of a ‘fight of attrition’, and that basically everyone in the West were untrained thugs that bashed ignorantly at each other, there is more in common between the two hemispheres than the time.

Perhaps it is another example of that historical synchronicity. On both sides of the world schools of fencing proliferated, notions of honour and the need to fight to the death to maintain face, and experiments with professionalism were occuring. The West no longer has access to these schools. No one thought it important to keep the teachings alive. Those that are taught now come from books, recreated using interpretation and common sense. But modern common sense, divorced from the reality of actually swinging a sword in battle to stay alive may be deceiving. We in the West have forgotten the techniques and so it appears we never had them. The Japanese kept the schools alive. That’s all.

But how does this affect wargaming? What is the best way to reflect Samurai warfare? Too many rules emphasise the technical detail and ignore the flair and dash of the real thing. And this is the connection, because I think the exact same thing is true of Western sword play in rules. Except for Three Musketeers, which is considered a Hollywood invention, no one considers that there is anything worth elaborating from the West.

To cut an already too-long story short, I believe that the approach of Flashing Steel, with the langauge and art theming changed appropriately, would work perfectly for Samurai. And by perfectly I mean that it will ‘feel’ right.

To test this we have set up a mini-campaign using the standard builder. We have changed the names to suit, and built a story that sounds suitable to the Samurai period. Actual playtest to follow, where we treat the rules as if they hold together.

Campaign details:

Game 1.

Where: (trenches) Among the lines of a friendly army in the process of besieging an enemy city/castle.

What: (Deliver) A message must be handed to a particular general.

Why: (Necessity) The message contains news that allied clan army cannot attend siege because Daimyo’s son has been taken hostage. This is vital news for the General who will delay his assault or be slaughtered for want of support.

Who (opposes): (Professional swordsmen) Samurai of equal standing have been sent to stop the message being delivered.

Game 2.

Where: (Ruins) The outlying remains of a neglected Buddhist temple.

What: (Rescue) A child, the son of the Daimyo of an allied clan that has been kept out of the current battle because of this hostage situation.

Why: (Revenge) This is not only a rescue mission, but an extermination raid against the monks – additional points awarded for monk casualties.

Who: (Civilians) Warrior monks.

Game 3.

Where: (Smuggler’s Cove) At a secluded sea shore village, the son is reunited with the father, who has come in secret to the contested battle region. If father and son are reunited and can safely exit back to the ship the protagonists have broken the back of the conspiracy to keep their allies out of the contest.

What: (Meet)

Why: (Justice)

Who: (Hired killers) Ronin, who are of lesser skill/value than protagonists.

Flaming Plasma – scenario generation questions

Flaming Plasma is the name of the rules set I am building to enable me to play skirmish games in my Ornithopter setting. It is based on Song of Blades and Heroes, and has inspiration from several older rules sets. Importantly, I hope for it to be generic enough to be thrown into the ring with the plethora of other generic sets. Oh… the dream.

Anyway, I consider my greatest contribution to the world of rules to be in the tools for designing sessions – mini-campaigns. The format for Flashing Steel seems sound: asking Where, What, Why and Who questions and then fleshing out the details. The trick is to remain generic but still give sufficient flavour. Science fiction is just fantasy, of course, and  whatever you say can only eliminate some possibilities, and alienate some readers who saw it differently.

I read a set of rules once that claimed to be generic, allowing you to play with whatever miniatures you had. It then went on to describe the politics and economics of a notional world of the author’s construction. He described the factions and force construction principles. In short, he enabled you to play not anything that you had models for, but anything that HE had models for.

So this is what must be avoided. The goal is to be specific enough for the players to design their forces and decorate the table from the random items, but to be generic enough so that they do not have to share the same art sensibilities as the author.

StarBlazer Adventures may come to the rescue again, as it has already when I was attempting to overcome the problem of shooting at armoured vehicles. There are some great random tables in there. And these are the basic design principles I had in mind: http://shichitenhakki.wordpress.com/rpgs-using-mythic/ornithopter/ Is this too restrictive already? The stuff about no aliens? Should that be relaxed? Probably, or at least the language needs to be modified so the existance of creatures that are not-like-man is definitely possible.

On the workbench -good progress for Queen’s Birthday

Long ago – twenty years or more – I decided that I wanted to skirmish war-game because the entry was so much easier. You only need up to a dozen figures and you were playing, rather than paint a dozen and realise that you are only a tenth, if that, of the way through one side. But there was no usable set of skirmish rules as far as I was concerned. I wish I had a dollar for every time I have talked up the Song of Blades and Heroes engine from Ganesha games.

So now I can churn out a couple of complete ‘armies’ a weekend, and cover a much broader range of historical, fantasy and science fiction settings.

Take for example these beautiful Brigade Games swashbucklers, just perfect for the heroes of my 30YW/ECW games using Flashing Blades.

Or these modern Bundeswehr from Eureka Miniatures, painted in a generalised camouflage pattern and useful for my science fiction games. The rules for these, Flaming Plasma, are approaching a good play-test state.

So all is well. I see that Eureka have some modern French Foreign Legion that have not even made it on to the website yet. Man, am I salivating for them… FAMAS armed troops? You bet. Just the ticket for science fiction Colonial militia. I can’t wait.

But now: Mega Miniatures villagers. A topic that is a little dry, but one that is essential for Renaissance skirmishing. After all, someone has to be tending the pigs that the ‘heroes’ come to scrap over.