Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Other Adventures => Topic started by: sespe on November 18, 2015, 06:32:43 AM
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It has become a family tradition to have a wargame built around the upcoming holiday. Halloween is simple, just throw zombies into a game. This year it was Countess Dracula trying to rescue her husband from a wild west sideshow.
For Thanksgiving I'll probably go with a turkey hunt, colonials versus natives.
But I'm stumped for Christmas. First off, I have no figures, so will have to raid the shops. And I'd like a scenario that is slightly different.
So I'm looking for ideas for skirmish-level 3-4 player scenarios. We use Songs of Blades mostly, but I only need ideas, I can make the rules match the scenario.
I'm American based, of course, but would love to mix in ideas from holidays in other countries. When we lived in Germany, they whispered about "Krampus", for example...
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First point of call is this thread:
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=75657.0
There's a few other threads - search "santa" or "Krampus" and you'll get a few hits. Any scenario or period can be "christmasfied". Look forward to seeing what you turn up with.
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Check out Orcs in the Webbe - there are always loads of gaming ideas and scenarios on the Advent Calendar pages. For details go to this link;
http://www.orcsinthewebbe.co.uk/index.php/advent-calendars
I also know that Craig is planning another Advent for this December.
Tony
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I rather like the idea of christmas-themed scenarios for this time of year, but with the major reservation that I don't much care for the Americanised "Santa Claus" and everything that comes with it; the little helper elves, gingerbread men, Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer and all the rest of that (here in Fennoscandia, reindeers are for eating - I just had reindeer the other day).
Rather, my idea of "christmas magic" is more like the sort of thing you get in The Nutcracker: the wispy old-timey oriental themes, the Sugar Plum Fairy, blokes in archaic, "pomp-and-circumstance-y" soldier's uniforms, and so on. I also kind of associate Harry Potter-style themes with christmas in a positive way. I don't really mean the Harry Potter franchise specifically, but that general theme of wizards in magic castles and stuff along those general lines. The Chronicles of Narnia and His Dark Materials (my favourite of the bunch) are also sources of inspiration in the same vein, vaguely speaking. Perhaps even The Hobbit (but not so much The Lord of the Rings, which is too epic and not "warm and cozy" enough). It all has some hard-to-define sense of christmas magic to me.
In issue 2 of Wargames Journal (10 years old by now, but still available as a free PDF from the publisher, here (http://www.rebelpublishing.net/pdfmags/Issue_2.pdf)) there's a fun scenario titled "Santa's Slay" which conveys some of what I'm talking about, especially with the idea of goblins and elves in a christmas context. I especially like the figure of the goblin king painted in very colourful clothing - very christmasy, the way I think of christmas.
For the past week, I've also really had a hankering to start painting some Frostgrave miniatures, because there are some aspects of that game/setting which also have a vague christmas atmosphere the way I perceive it. In particular, the figures for the Summoner and his apprentice have that atmosphere about them. It's that old-fashioned sense of christmas somehow having something to do with "orientalism" that does it (not sure why, exactly - probably some combination of the Nativity story, Aladdin pantos, the Arabian dancers from the Nutcracker and the general fact that sweets and other items from the Middle East used to be luxury christmas presents in bygone times).
Anyway, I'm just rambling, but you might want to take a gander at that christmas scenario from Wargames Journal.
EDIT: Wrote "Illusionist" when I meant "Summoner", fixed now.
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Thanks for the link to Santa's Slay.
I'd forgotten about this scenario.
Tony
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Just don't ask me what ruleset the scenario is for - I have no clue and the article doesn't seem to say :?
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I have taken part in:-
a 'Night at the Museum' game where the exhibits came alive, it was great fun;
a Viking winter Solstice game (white cloth & fir trees) gridded up into 12" squares. The umpire had the master map on which the 12" squares were mixed up. When you left a square the umpire told you which square you next entered & by which side, e.g. Leaving tile 2 by the east side might result in arriving on tile 9 by the south side. We could see the Sacred Fir Tree (target) but had great difficulty getting to it (much like a real forest). By the time we got it we thought we had it sussed, just follow the stream back to the feasting hall. The umpire was smarter than us, he had several maps & swapped to another one. We were lost again. You can have several teams chasing the sacred solstice tree when figures from the same team are not on the same tile the owner picked which one went into a sin bin. You could swap magical items found along the way to try & get them back, or stop opposition ones ever returning.
N.B. I have used this tile game for many games e.g.US patrols in the Viet-Nam jungle/ French resistance in WW2 trying to lay explosives at the railway bridge at night etc.etc.
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On the subject of Krampus and pagan solstice-related stuff, we Finns have conflated Santa Claus with the Yule Goat. Our name for Santa Claus is actually "the Yule Goat" ("Joulupukki"). With that in mind, imagine the reaction if you were to put a goat-headed beastman on the table and tell the players it's Santa :D
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Wow, a ton of great ideas here. I am going to be busy now.
...and a Yule Goat...
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Great ideas, perhaps I also have to prepare a Christmas game…
There as a fun looking Christmas ghost story scenario by Conrad Kinch in Miniature Wargames 369, have a look here: http://henrys-wargaming.co.uk/?p=1542 (http://henrys-wargaming.co.uk/?p=1542)
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We ran a game last year where hoards of NPC Teddy Grahams were trying to stop Santa's launch.
Highly trained, and heavily armed, squads of Elves were defending and trying to activate the "twelve beacons of Christmas" before the time ran out.
We had 200+ Teddy Grahams, on chocolate bases. The Elves were made with clothes pins, and the village was 2 liter bottles cut in half and painted.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tYrO8c9pVtg/VlNq0B6ikyI/AAAAAAAAANU/SYcxs794OTI/s1600/c2.jpg)
A few more pictures, I didn't take too many for some reason. http://fandangoalphaone.blogspot.com/2015/11/12-beacons-of-christmas.html
It was fun, and it was cheap!
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Hah! Looks like it was a lot of fun.
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One of the magazines had the battle between the toy soldiers and the rat king from the Nutcracker ballet a couple of months ago.
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On our website is a WW1 adventure for Biggles based on one of the short stories
http://www.morvalearth.co.uk/Biggles_Xmas07/Big_Xmas_intro.htm (http://www.morvalearth.co.uk/Biggles_Xmas07/Big_Xmas_intro.htm)
and a pulp adventure
http://www.morvalearth.co.uk/Morvalonesia/Chrismas%20Game/Mnsia_treasure_hunt.htm (http://www.morvalearth.co.uk/Morvalonesia/Chrismas%20Game/Mnsia_treasure_hunt.htm)
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We ran a game last year where hoards of NPC Teddy Grahams were trying to stop Santa's launch.
Highly trained, and heavily armed, squads of Elves were defending and trying to activate the "twelve beacons of Christmas" before the time ran out.
We had 200+ Teddy Grahams, on chocolate bases. The Elves were made with clothes pins, and the village was 2 liter bottles cut in half and painted.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tYrO8c9pVtg/VlNq0B6ikyI/AAAAAAAAANU/SYcxs794OTI/s1600/c2.jpg)
A few more pictures, I didn't take too many for some reason. http://fandangoalphaone.blogspot.com/2015/11/12-beacons-of-christmas.html
It was fun, and it was cheap!
That looked fun! When you said clothes pins and cheap, I did not expect the level of detail shown. Those are great.
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Did you get to eat the Teddy Graham casualties you caused?
For a good holiday scenario, you might try one I ran some time ago: (Fantasy RPG) The heroes were storm-tossed travelers who claimed Guest-right to stay at a Viking-esque steading where the local lord had forbidden the celebration of the Winter Feast. During the evening meal, a sending from the local wise-woman appeared, declaring that the lord would be visited by three spirits that would surely change his mind.
The first to arrive after bedtime was a spectral ogre that tore through the hall and slew many of his liegemen, as part of teaching the lord the Lesson that History is Cruel. The heroes fought and barely defeated the ogre - tore off its arm. Huge body count.
The other two spirits were a malevolent crone/ogress and a dragon representing the Fiery Future.
Yeah, it was "A Christmas Carol" by way of Beowulf. :)
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That looked fun! When you said clothes pins and cheap, I did not expect the level of detail shown. Those are great.
Yes, my brother made them, and he did an exceptional job with it. Each squad was differentiated by the pants/jacket color combo, and lead by a reindeer with a similar color baton. Cheap in cost, but he put in some effort.
Did you get to eat the Teddy Graham casualties you caused?
Why yes, yes we did! That was the reason for basing them on chocolate, so the entire "figure" could be eaten.
What we didn't eat went to the kids. Sadly, no TG survived the day...
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Many Teddy Grahams knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the
slor DS615 that day!
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Already prepping the Teddy Grahams for slaughter. lol
We did play the Thanksgiving game. http://wanderingview.blogspot.com/2015/11/thanksgiving-game.html (http://wanderingview.blogspot.com/2015/11/thanksgiving-game.html)
This time it was Hunt The Turkey again. I used a combination of Songs of Drums and Tomahawks for the base rules, turkey NPC reactions adapted from an old 2-Hour Wargames freebie, and the random tile placement suggested from here.
TLDR: Younger sister evilly-backstabs older brother while Mom wanders around aimlessly looking at the pretty trees.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fn0t-Njne3A/Vlk7jC8w_ZI/AAAAAAAAA70/oI0EpWAWHoE/s1600/20151127_200437.jpg)
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L3lBcVLpiGQ/Vlk7kAxr6LI/AAAAAAAAA8U/WJx9oxUOcDQ/s1600/20151127_203702.jpg)
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8o5DrkCVHng/Vlk7kB9InoI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/Ybr0qksU14M/s1600/20151127_200631.jpg)
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I've been thinking about doing the same. I am going to build a small unit of warriors led by Santa for Frostgrave. I'll be using figures from Reaper. Santa will be the wizard, Krampus will fill the roll of the barbarian and Gnomes will be used as Santas helpers/warriors. Toys will be his constructs...
A scenario I had been contemplating was an evil wizard has captured the good boys and girls and Santa and his jolly band have to rescue them
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All I have is this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a1LV1IeG8U
:D
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Herewith some brief dark ideas:
Kill a first born child also reminiscent of Willow.
Steal some presents really a treasure hunt. Wait how is this different from a FrostGrave game?
Kidnap Santa think Nightmare before Christmas.
A Napoleonic Nutcracker theme could also be fun.
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While it would be a rather large construction project...
A gameboard as a Christmas tree with different ornaments fighting/battling to get to the top (cutting branches, strings, swinging from lights etc.) in a kind of "Indian in the Cupboard" theme...coming alive when the family goes to bed.
The goal is to supplant the star at the top of the tree?
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Love that idea - elbow their way to the top - think I will be playing that one.
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A Napoleonic Nutcracker theme could also be fun.
I've been having a lot of thoughts along these lines for the past few weeks. Too late for me to cobble a game together for this christmas, but it's something I'll have to think about for the future.
Some soldiers in stately 18th-19th century uniforms, some Hogwarts-esque wizards and some fairies, elegant elves, etc. would be my ideal premise for a christmas game. Maybe some Cossacks or something along those lines for antagonists (like the Tartars in the Golden Compass film).
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Okay, I raided the dollar store today. They had "Frozen" figures on sale, so I have 4 warband leaders now. Also found some pre-painted clothespins for minions. I was leaning towards Fistful of Lead with all teddy grahams split into groups (like zombies, always move towards closest enemy, melee only), but maybe we need to try Songs of Blades and Heroes instead. Each player could have a hero with various spell-casting, a present-throwing elf, and 3 snowmen melee fighters.
There will be 6 structures with lights on top. The group has to get all 6 lights lit while fighting off the hordes so Santa can come.
Or, instead of a co-op, I could make Olaf flip out, and he raised the teddy graham horde so Santa gets blocked.
Ideas? Remember, target audience ranges from 7 to 39, all casual wargamers. Familiar with both rulesets above, but not deep tactical thinkers.
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since Christmas is about gifts, sweets and toys (apart from love, family, friendship and a wee bit of religion) I always like to remember those days, when there where toys under the tree. Playing with them and such.
So, to me a perfect Chrismas-Scenario would be hunting for sweets with toys coming to life.
Meaning, that it is not a 28mm scaled mini in a 28mm scaled world, but a mini, 28mm high in our real world. Running for sweets (and life) between real things on the table or from the house. Lets call it a toy story or Lego the movie scenario. Lots of perilous situations for miniatures. Glue not the least of them.
Anyone curious, where the idea of gorks foot came from?
:D
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Nice.
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This years Advent Calendar from Orcs in the Webbe might be worth checking out.
See this link for details;
http://orcsinthewebbe.co.uk/index.php/home/latest-updates
Keep popping back as there are daily updates, plus the previous years Advent Calendars. Here;
http://orcsinthewebbe.co.uk/index.php/advent-calendars
Tony
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An advent calendar could be good to add special events and or reinforcements. Game played until Christmas say a turn a day.
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The scenario is complete, all good-guy warbands complete. I'm waiting on making the teddy-graham bad guys until right before the game. But as a teaser, here is the Big Evil Bad Guy: Santa With Muscles
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nVc6IngEdlI/VnN_IrdFe_I/AAAAAAAAA_I/7F54rz6wIN8/s1600/SwM.jpg)
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Hilarious.
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I just posted both the rules and pictures of the snowmen that my family will be using for our Christmas game. This years battle is a snowball fight between the minions of the Rat King who are raiding one of Santa's pre-positioned gift depots and a village of snow people nearby who attempt to fight them off. Using snowballs, of course!
You'll note in the rules that while the "naughty" rats get the first turn (by cheating) they are actually prevented from winning the game. This is a feature of all of our Christmas games -- the bad guys never win! Even if they win, they lose. :-)
I'll be posting an AAR shortly -- we're using GW skaven for the Rat King's forces and the snow-people we made ourselves out of Fimo clay. That was a stroke of brilliance on my part - two family oriented activities out of one game!
Link to the rules via my website: http://colony13.blogspot.com/2015/12/christmas-game-2015-snowball-alley.html
Best,
Nick
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I'm going to have to check the rules on my laptop, the tablet wouldn't download them. I like the 2 for 1 crafts idea!
Tonight I made the minions that will be helping Santa With Muscles:
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-le2kueljmc4/VnoouKoEr_I/AAAAAAAAA_c/JRqCOoHp4XM/s1600/20151222_204657.jpg)
There is something delightfully evil about toasting the little teddy graham feet over the fire and then melting them into the chocolate!
Olaf the snowman was supposed to have a spell that creates a wall. Since he was into "summer", I wanted him to make a wall of beach umbrellas. But a search through 4 dollar stores tonight didn't find any. I need to change his ability at the last second...
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Finally played the game on New Year's Eve. Much less movement and spellcasting than I expected. And I have never had a kid say, "no thanks, I've eaten enough chocolate" before!
Writeup and scenario rules here: http://wanderingview.blogspot.com/2016/01/christmas-game-part-1.html
(http://wanderingview.blogspot.com/2016/01/christmas-game-part-1.html)
(Spoiler alert: Christmas was saved)
The heroes and their helpers:
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LbRWJHHhanM/Vo2E3IjsQvI/AAAAAAAABAY/Jwcb9aggEWg/s1600/bsHeroes.jpg)
The battlefield at the start. That was a lot of bad teddy bears!
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0cgnAcSVl2I/Vo2E2T81G0I/AAAAAAAABAI/B-vMI1pW1jo/s1600/bs1.jpg)
Next? I'm thinking Frostgrave for Easter...
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Nice one - you couldn't have planned it to be more Hollywood.