Friday, February 28, 2020

Serfs up!

It ain't easy being an eastern European peasant.  Everyone wants what little you have.  And whichever player gets the most of that little wins!  (Except the Swedes, who win if they keep their powder magazine and fort intact.  And the peasants win if the Swedish overlords lose....but peasants never really win.)
A 6 player mash up of Cossacks raiding a peasant town that contains an occupying Swedish fort. 4 players (Nate,  Flynn, Dan, Howard) each had a 4 man clan of Cossack riders whose goal was acquisition of lot tokens.  John played the swedes who had an understaffed fort with random chances for cavalry patrols to return during the game and had to keep everyone else out of it, and for my sins of game design I played the peasants,  who only won if the Swedes lost their fort.
Dan brought a Swedish and Polish refreshment. 

The Swedish temporary fort.  2 units are in garrison while the rest are out on patrols.

"The peasants are getting restless!"

"Maybe we should close the gate?"

The peasants are lead by the local priest.  Just as they are rallying to attack the fort, the first Cossack raiders show up.

Flynn's Cossacks ride through the market.

2 units of peasants are headed for the fort with their ladders.

Nate's cossacks ride towards the church
What are their intentions?  The priest exhorts the peasants to defend the holy relics inside.
Howard's cossacks enter and loot the smithy.

Flynn's clan is followed by Swedish scouts.  They turn and give combat.

Dan's clan takes advantage of the distraction and races past towards the fort.

The exchange is bloody.  All the swedes are down and 1 of Flynn's riders plus his hero is badly wounded.

The battle in front of the church is a massacre.  The priest is martyred. 

"You MADE me do this!"  Cossack Nate proclaims his innocence. 

Howard is on his way out of town, heavy with loot,  when he runs into Swedish cavalry.  It goes badly for his hero.

His men leave him to his fate and run off with the booty.

The peasants, being the demoralized sort, spend most of the game milling around.

Nate's young Coassack falls victim to an unmarked cesspit.  Rather then haul him out, they ride off with their loot.

As usual I got caught up in the action and didn't photograph the end turns.
The peasants,  rallied by Dan, made an assault on the fort.
This went about as well as peasant assaults on forts go.  Two ladder assaults were repelled to only 1 swedish casualty,  and Dan's hero recieved a free Swedish musket ball through his cranium.  His remaining riders took off looking for easier pickings.

All in all everyone came out a winner except the peasants, who still peasant.
Rules were Howard's "Flint and Feather" with some slight modifications for taking place 5000 miles and 200 years later.  Figures from Foundry, Warfare, old Glory.  28mm.
Buildings from 4ground, PMC, MBA, Acheson, some home made, Cigar Box Battle mat (mixed ground).

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Raid on warlord compound

Some more modern skirmish.   PMCs with a pair of Humvees attack a Warlords compound.  Experimenting with deployment points this game.

The warlord (skill 4) has a sniper rifle and a bodyguard team (skill 3/fanatics- immune to "top out morale"), a team of regulars with an RPG (skill 3) and a team of boy soldiers  with an RPK (skill 2/poorly equipt).
First pmc team comes on, one hits the technical,  jamming its .50cal.  2 others make a dash for the huts but one is hit by an AK47.
From the citadel, the Warlords bodyguards shoot at the pmc assault.
The body count grows, 2 more pmc are down.
The warlord uses his sniper rifle to good effect.
The technicals. 50 calls tear up the pmc assault team.
A TOW missile at the citadel misses.
.50 cal hits one in the citadel.
A fortune of war card drops some light mortars on the local forces, killing 2.

Humvee .50 cal hits a technical in the gas tank- causing an explosion.
Pmc flank on the right.
Their fire hits 2 boys and sends the other 2 fleeing.


Just after this, the Tow missile hits the technical,  setting it on fire.
The warlord escapes with 6 men.
Warlords butcher's bill.
Pmc butcher's bill.
Burning technicals.
Time to clear out!

Sunday, February 9, 2020

Gurps: The cult inside the cult inside the cult...

Part 1: Friendly Fire

In the port of Cove, two of the Lords (Hir Herman and Frederick) are throwing a large festival outside the Cathedral to celebrate their opening of an orphanage. The square is packed with hundreds of citizens.
Gratuitous picture of Nanny Jackaline.
Members of the Blood Hound bounty hunters, Red Jenny (Nick's), Cole (Pete), Jackaline (me), and Aunt Bunny (Claudio) are in the crowd searching for servants of another city leader, Hir Hiedi.  She is suspected of framing Hir Frederick for a recent assassination attempt on the city Magistrate Hir Godfrey.  For political reasons, an outright accusation is not optimal,  thus some evidence must first be uncovered.
The party splits up and works the crowd.  Jackaline spots one of Heidi's men and starts to chat him up.  Before she learns anything, she spots a yellow cultist in the crowd.  She signals to Cole, who punches the cultist in the back of the head, rendering him permanently unconcious. 
As Cole assures nearby observers that his new friend is just "dead drunk" and Jackaline examines a mysterious clay pot that the cultist was carrying,  the celebration begins when the Bishop comes out of the cathedral and starts to address the crowd.
About then all hell breaks loose.  A woman and two men rush the podium, shouting threats against the Hir.  In several places throughout the crowd,  Yellow cultists smash clay pots onto the ground.  4 arrows strike the Bishop and explode, sending him flying into pieces like a blood sausage.
Jackaline casts a mass daze on the assassins near the podium.  Hir Heidi (in white) starts to flee.
A child Yellow cultist smashes a pot nearby.  Jackaline sees a dozen large teeth fall out and start to vibrate.  She assumes these are Teeth of the Hydra that turn into skeletons.   The group learned in an earlier mission that Capt Montague and Bernie had smuggled these into Cove and delivered them to another cult- the Sons of the Sun.
Elsewhere in the crowd, the teeth erupt into skeletons and attack ,  generally starting with the misled cultists that broke the pot.


Cole rushes to save civilians from slaughter.
His great sword is of limited use but he bashes away with his new Ring of the Ram until his fatigue runs low.
Jackaline creates fire around the vibrating teeth, cooking them before they spawn.  She creates fire around another group that Aunt Bunny has "glued" into place.
Jackaline rushes back to find her charge, Princess Gnocchi,  who has hidden under a stall.
A lusty barmaid has spotted Gnocchi's silver cross and attempted to take it.  Jackaline bashed into her from behind and knocked her flat.
Many people, especially the town leaders rush back into the cathedral for safety.
Around the square the threat is slowly reduced, Aunt Bunny uses created and shaped fire to dispatch skeletons on the far side of the event.  Cole, wounded, takes care of several.  Red Jenny spots Hir Heidi fleeing the crowd with her bodyguard (a mercenary we know named Amos) and starts to follow her.  Jackaline goes back for the unbroken pot of teeth.   It looks like disaster has been averted.
Then, out of the night sky, comes 2 byakee carrying a barrel with lit fuses.  They suicidally crash into the cathedral,  erupting in a large explosion of green fire.
Many are killed instantly in the 10d6 explosion.
Hir Frederick escapes through a window.   Red Jenny assists him, patting out flames and pinching his purse. (15gp!)
Hir Hermann is not as lucky.  Heidi's manservant and bodyguard Andros are also killed.
Red Jenny finds Amos.  He tells that "Heidi " was not Heidi,  but a servant girl under an illusion disguise. The party tracked her to her house and questioned her.  The servants name was Ana and she was to pose as Heidi, who has skipped town along with 2 bodyguards,  a woman Morgana and a warrior  Kukullen.   They think she is headed for the Wind Tunnels at Bright Pass.
  In the aftermath of the cult attack, Hir Frederick organizes a retributive strike on the Carrin population of the countryside.

Part 2: A walk in the country
With little time to waste,  the party heads after Heidi, Servant Ana, ex cart and Gnocchi in tow.  Amos would have joined, but his mistreatment of Ana caused Bunny to "entomb" him.
The stop at a sacred grove to speak with the Three Narns, who Aunt Bunny had met previously. They gave some advice and directions, and sold Cole and Jenny some dubious "fate cards".
In the woods the group is ambushed by several crow bears (no pics).  Jenny is badly wounded after being carelessly sent ahead by Jackaline. In a desperate situation she puts her back to the ground and fends off three bears, poking one in the eye,  until help aarrives.  Eventually the party comes to a field .  They must cross several miles of open terrain.
Jenny is scouting ahead when two great mountain wyvern attack.
Jackaline creates a wall of flame, Bunny and Cole shoot missiles,  all to no effect.  The wyvern envenoms the ox with it's stinger.
Jackaline casts "control limb" as it passes over and causes it to crash nearby.
Cole rushes over to attack the downed beast.
Seeing its mate in danger draws the other wyvern to attack Cole.  Realizing no one in the party can deal enough damage to hurt the beasts, Jackaline controls the other wing and has the wyvern fly away.  It's mate following.
Nearby, Cole meets an Impbat that takes a shine to him.  They converse in one of the esoteric languages Cole speaks.  The Imp says he saw Heidi pass 2 days ago,  and 4 strange men a day before.  Could they be the snipers in Cove?  To speed up, we decide to leave the ox behind in a shelter shaped by Bunny.
Good thing, too, as the next encounter is a bulleted buried in the field with about a mile to go to the Misty Woods.  Bunny sees it with her earth spells.  It appears only sensitive to vibrations,  so if we can get off the ground we might get by it.
Aunt Bunny uses levitation spell on everyone and then tows us along with her flying broom.  And they call her a witch!
The last hurdle passed before entering the Misty Woods.
In the Misty woods the party comes to the ruins.
Birthday cake break.  Chocolate cannoli.
The ruins of an ancient civilization.
First the party deals with some lizardfolk that live near the ruins.  One takes a dislike to Jenny and wants to fight her but cooler heads prevail.  The lizardfolk explain the ground rules.  We must sacrifice something to enter the ruins.  What should we sacrifice and who should do it?
It is finally decided Cole will go into the tomb and offer gold.
Cole speaks with the spirit.  He is interrogated but lies successfully through his own ignorance. They accept 10gp as an offering.  Cole comes back with 15gp to spare, which he keeps, but is conflicted.

Next, part 3: into the ruins

10mm Marlborough man

 Testing out Howard's new game for 1700s Era. Grid based.  10mm figures.