Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Pikes, Muskets and Flouncy Shirts => Topic started by: Mitchelxen on March 15, 2016, 05:27:04 PM
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We were in the area of Nassagaweya Township is a geographic township and former municipality in Halton Region, Ontario, Canada for our most recent playtest of the Flint and Feather rules.
The township was created in 1819, its name derived from the Mississauga word nazhesahgewayyong, meaning 'river with two outlets.' This refers to the fact that watercourses in the township drain to both Lake Ontario and the Grand River system. This area of Ontario is rich in the history of the Native American Northeastern Indians.
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066002 Several of the figures from the Iroquois Warrior #1 Pack
We got together to playtest the new revisions to the close combat rules that Howard had worked up for us. We rather enjoyed the system and it took less than two hours for us to run an eight versus eight figure fight. We would have finished much sooner because the Great Warrior of the Mohawk Warband was dropped and his compatriots fled the scene on a bad Nerve Test. The Great Warrior was then trussed up like a deer and readied to be carried off the board to be tortured at the evenings campfire. However, we played through to the very end, with my Hurons rushing forward to force the remaining Mohawks from the field. We did this purposefully for two reasons. One, we were there to try out these new combat rules and this allowed us to get two more melees in before the game was finished. Two, we wanted to see how long it would take to play down to the last man as some gamers enjoy this type of battle.
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066001 A Bow armed Warrior from the Huron Pack
Howard also supplied a new set of Nerve rules and we gave these a good playtest. We are enjoying the way the game plays. We are enjoying the way the rules play for a couple of reasons. Your warriors don't always act the way that you want them to. Some Medicine rolls were blown in the game and some activation rolls for reactions were also failed and it seemed like the warriors had a mind of their own at times. Also, the Hurons, were really taking the close combat to the Mohawks, who seemed to prefer standing and firing bows over charging, which gave them an advantage overall in the game. This helped them to win the day.
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This advantage comes for two reasons. First, the attack cards are more effective, especially in doing damage, more so than the defense cards (as they should be). So carrying the attack is inherently advantageous in the rules. Does this mean that being aggressive pays off in warfare? Not always but in this type of primitive warfare, that is similar in scope to a gang fight, we believe that aggressiveness is a key. So the rules are effectively portraying this aspect of combat. Secondly, the rules allow you to line up figures in such a way that if you are charging you can choose which figures will be included in the fight and leave other figures out of the fight if you decide to. In play testing we have found this to be one of the interesting aspects of the rules. The reason for this is because it allows the players some flexibility in the decisions they make. It also allows a smaller force to not be totally ganged up on by taking some initiative in tactics, which means charging at the enemy.
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Also of interest, we will be at Hotlead on MARCH 18, 19 & 20, 2016 in Stratford Ontario. We have a booth there so we will be selling Flint and Feather Miniatures and we will be running a Flint and Feather Play Test game in the Saturday evening session. Please join us.
For more info check out our website at www.cruciblecrush.com
or our blog at:
http://flintandfeatherplaytest.blogspot.ca/
Part two to follow here though
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Good luck with your rules! They sound like the same scale as my own Song of Drums and Tomahawks...which is a perfect size for a skirmish in this period. Also, it looks like your convention is this weekend, so hope you have a great success with that, too!
And let me say the Flint & Feather line of miniatures are beautiful. I have one batch painted up and couldn't be happier with them. Two more sets sit waiting to their turn on my painting desk.
I bookmarked the blog and will check it out.
Mike Demana
www.firstcommandwargames.com
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Nassagaweya Close Combat Playtest Part Two
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Turn Two advancing through the woods
Here is the after action report from our most recent Flint and Feather playtest. I will try to go through the rules so those following along at home can learn with us.
We set up a pretty basic eight figure skirmish. Each side was given a Great Warrior, Companion, four Warbearers and two striplings each. The striplings were bow armed and one warbearer was bow armed on each side. The Great Warrior and Companion on both sides were chosen as the figures with the spears. No skills were given out yet. We find we can play a game in this manner without filling out Warband Record Sheets, its even for both sides, and it is a fun little basic game. Just what we need at this point. A small copse of trees was placed in the middle of the table and some small hills around the edges. The copse of trees was the only terrain feature that played any effect in the game.
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Turn One an injured Companion already!
Both war bands were placed about 24 inches apart with the copse of trees in the middle. Vidal started with two groups while I had one large group. I won initiative and approached at a walk. This is important because it is impossible to spot the opponent while running. (See the new spotting rules). Under the new spotting rules a group can declare spotting before they move or after they move. It is up to the owning players choice. I rolled a spotting roll, the opponents were considered in cover and a three or less on a d6 was required to spot the opposing group. I was successful with a roll of two. The first group was spotted. I performed bow fire with my striplings and missed the Mohawk warband.
Vidal then took his reaction to my movement. Both his groups activated as he needed a five or less for the Great Warriors Group and a four or less with the group led by his Companion. He then did not move but preferred to roll spotting rolls. One group passed on a three or less while the other failed on a roll of five. Fortunately for Vidal his group with the Striplings had spotted me and they fired off their bows. First blood went to the Mohawk as they injured my Companion doing a light wound to the figure.
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My injured Companion. He was an easier target because he was not concealed by the trees at all.
On my second action I continued forward closing the distance and attempted to spot the second Mohawk group. My spotting roll was successful and all groups were now spotted on the tabletop. Figures are moved on the tabletop and visible even if not spotted but they cannot be fired at or charged if they are not spotted. We use intervening terrain for cover or concealment. If one group is in the woods and one group is in the open the group in the woods would be considered in concealment. If the woods is intervening between both groups (ie no one is actually in the woods) both groups are considered in cover as the woods is a greater obstacle (even though both groups are in the open on either side of the woods). If a group was in the woods and had yet another woods between themselves and the spotting woods then they are even harder to spot (this is called Hardest to Spot). I fired my striplings needing a one to hit with their bows. I scored a lucky hit with a one and then on the random roll I luckily wounded his Great Warrior, Yay! Great Warriors and Companions can choose their targets but all others require a random determination for damage. They also choose their cards in close combat rather than a random pick which is performed by all other warriors.
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Advancing through the trees.
It is now the Mohawk`s turn (Turn Two). Vidal chooses to hold his ground and fire his bows at my warriors. He fires the Striplings needing a two or less. They are +1 for firing at short range. However, they are now -1 for firing at concealed targets which leaves them as their regular CV which is two. His bow armed warbearer has the same modifiers but his CV is three. Vidal rolls two hits and under random determination all hits are done to the same target. Vidal rolls his damage and kills one of my striplings outright. This bow fire is becoming withering. The only time a Nerve Test (morale) can be caused by bow fire is if the Great Warrior is knocked down due to bow fire. This hasn`t occurred yet so no Nerve tests are required.
In my Reaction phase to Vidal's move I activate my group rolling a five, exactly what I need against my Great Warriors CV of five. I cannot charge yet as I deem the distance is too great so I walk forward and fire my bows. Needing a two and a three I miss both dice throws.
In Vidal's final phase he again decides to fire his bows but no damage is done to my group. Ah perhaps the die has turned. Vidal is playing a cagey game. We are here to playtest the Close Combat rules and he is sticking to his bow fire. I believe I have thrown him off with my discussion about the new British 8th Army in Africa figures that Crucible Crush is working on.
A quick update on the Kickstarter. Bob Murch is diligently painting miniatures. He has over forty different sculpts now done. Once he has the first twenty eight painted we will be picturing them and getting them loaded into the Kickstarter. The opening deal will include all twenty eight warriors coming in two box sets of fourteen each. Fourteen Iroquois and Fourteen Huron Warriors. This will be accompanied by the rule book, campaign rulebook, combat cards and dice for the game. This set should give you a complete Flint and Feather game. Look for the Kickstarter towards the end of the month.
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Askunessippi Playtest
The Thames River, which meets the Avon River in Stratford Ontario, is called Askunessippi (Anishinaabe language: Eshkani-ziibi, "the antlered river") by the Odawa and Ojibwa inhabitants, who together with the Neutrals have lived in the area since before Europeans arrived. We were in Stratford at the HotLead Convention last weekend and got a chance to run some new players through the Flint and Feather rules.
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We set up three games side by side on a 5' x 12' table space. The players were very interested in playing, most having a genuine interest in the period we are depicting with the rules. Many others stopped by the table or watched the game with peeked interest. With my trusty comrade Kurt we set about to teach the rules and give them a real test as to play ability and speed. Each player was given eight warriors and the two sides were lined up opposite each other and told to dispatch their enemies.
I believe the games were a success. The players were able to quickly pick up the rules and soon they were running melees with the cards in a successful manner on their own. The games also took less than two hours to complete, even while learning the rules and waiting on the two game masters to answer questions at times. It is good to finally have these rules to a playable pitch.
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Some concerns were raised with the players in two areas. The first was the concern over the turn sequence. It seemed to be a bit tricky for the players to understand the move, reaction, move then switch phasing player and the second player moves, there is a reaction by player one and then the second player finishes the turn. Remembering where they were in the turn seemed to be a stumbling block. It was when I recalled that we have been using a "phasing" player marker in our test games and then provided the players with a multi sided die as a turn marker, that the problem went away. So in following up with Bob after the game we asked for a phasing player token of some kind to be created, and now we will have another item to add to our kickstarter.
The second issue seemed to be with the Nerve test rules, which are used at the conclusion of a melee. It seemed the players kept having to check with the game master to read the chart which encompasses this process. It seems like we need to come up with something more intuitive for this test. So I have an idea already worked out to try about using Nerve markers during the fight. More on this when I test them out.
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The next step will be to playtest the new shaman rules and then on to a full campaign. We should have this stuff all wrapped up in time for Historicon which is our goal at this point.
Now some news on the upcoming Kickstarter. Bob Murch from Pulp Figures and the sculptor for this project flew into Ontario for the show in Stratford. While it was great to see him it did take his time away from painting up miniatures. He should have this done in the coming week. Meanwhile I will be working on the video for the Kickstarter. All this means that we should be ready to go with the Kickstarter soon, certainly before April turns to May. Stay tuned!
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Great looking figures, and a really interesting description of the the rules via the play tests. A worthwhile read.
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Orenda is a word that means "spiritual energy" in the Huron (Wyandot) language, and has often been used to refer to gods and spirits in the Iroquois tribes as well. Although any divine spirit could correctly be referred to as Orenda, the name is most commonly used to refer to the Creator or Great Spirit, or, among Christian Iroquois people, to God.
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Stone Coat represented by a WOTC figure.
Stone Coat is the name of a mythological rock giant of the Iroquois-speaking tribes. In some tribal traditions there is only one Stone Coat, while in others, there is a whole race of them. Stone Coats are described as being about twice as tall as humans, with their bodies covered in rock-hard scales that repel all normal weapons. They are associated with winter and ice, and they hunt and eat humans. In some legends Stone Coats were once human, and became cannibal monsters as a curse punishing them for evil deeds, like the Windigos of Chippewa mythology. In other legends Stone Coats were never human, but were a tribe of primordial man-eating monsters created by one of the sons of the creator, Flint.
This time our playtest took a huge leap forward in our estimation. It was good to finally get the close combat put to rest and move ahead with something that better represented the game we are trying to create. We added three major things for this playtest and we had a great time playing the game.
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This group collects a "Furs" marker.
1. We added "Furs" markers to the game. Each player sets out three "Furs" markers before the game starts. These markers represent traps, caches, supplies or simply some medicinal herbs that the Shaman wants collected. What they actually are doesn't matter as much as that they now become a goal to collect in game terms. What the markers represented would then be determined in the between the games session and used in improving your Warband. However, they can also be used to determine who wins the game.
2. We added Magic or Orenda to the game. So far we have six simple spells made up and a simple spell system which we tested and it underwent some tweaking during the game. We did enjoy the element that this system brought to the game and it worked very well. For those that are wargaming purists this system can be totally left out of the game and you would never miss it. For those that would like to add the fantastical element of Native American Mythology to your games then you will enjoy this system.
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The Shaman, supported by a group, works his Orenda.
Using Orenda in the game can only be done by the Shaman. Shamans have a CV of two and an Orenda Value of three. The Shaman and his use of Orenda in the legendary pre-contact period is considered to be very ritualistic. It requires chanting and dancing which then build up of mystical energy before a Shaman can utilize this energy to create a spell. Also, it requires a Shaman with experience in Orenda to actually realize that he has enough energy built up to actually create a spell and then use it appropriately. So in game terms the Shaman cannot move or attack or be attacked while performing his ritual. He is generally left at the back of the table in a relatively secure area to work his Orenda. Once he has enough power built up he must choose which spell to cast and then he must make a successful Orenda roll of three or less on a d6 to successfully create his spell. If his Orenda roll is not successful then the spell is not used up but rather the Shaman has not realized he has enough power built up or he is lost in his chanting and dancing and continues to grow more power for other spells.
Each phase that a Shaman takes the action "Create a Spell" he rolls 1d6 and places that d6 on a spell sheet. In this way on his second action he can roll another d6 or pick up the first d6 he rolled and then roll 2d6 if he is not happy with the roll he got on the first phase. On the third phase he is up to 3d6 and this continues until he attempts to cast a spell or he is interrupted or must move. There are three different levels of power that can be rolled on the d6, and different spells use different levels in combination depending on their effects in the game. A roll of one on a d6 is a Wolf, a roll of two or three on a d6 is the owl and a roll of four, five or six on a d6 is a Turtle. You roll your dice and line them up on the Spell Sheet as you deem appropriate as the controlling player.
Currently there are six "spells" in the game. These are "Fly like an Owl" which allows you to change one warrior to an owl which may then move wherever they want on the tabletop to reappear as a human on the next turn. "Shape of the Wolf" which allows the shaman to turn himself into a wolf and fight with a CV of 5. The Shaman ignores the first hit done to him but loses his wolf form when he receives a wound. "Summon the Stone Coat" is the third spell and it allows the Shaman to summon a Stone Coat model that appears on a random board edge and has a CV of 5. This is an interesting spell because if there is more than one shaman on the board then an opposed roll is made each turn to see who controls the creature. Creatures move at the end of turn after all players have finished their moves.
The last three spells all affect the warriors in the Warband. There is "Speed of the Deer" which adds 2" of movement to any group. "Heart of the Moose" which allows all warriors in a group to ignore their first wound. Finally their is "Claws of the Bear" which increases the CV of all warriors in a group by +1 level. We will be further playtesting this system over the next few months to better refine these rules.
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Failed Nerve Test!
3. The last thing we worked with is the Nerve Test rules. We basically streamlined the current rules by putting in a system where you acquire Nerve Points as you go through the melee. We found it worked nicely because it was simple and easy to remember. Each side keeps track of their points with markers or dice. You get one point for each wound you cause, one point if you knock down a figure, one point if either of these affected a Great Warrior or Companion, and one point for each taunt you inflict. In this way both sides have a score by the end of the melee. You compare scores and the winner of the fight has the higher score. A Nerve Test is then made by the player who lost the fight which means they must roll lower than the best CV of a warrior they have left standing. If you lost the fight but the score is less than 2 to 1 then the check is rolled normally. If you lost the fight and the score is 2-1 or higher but not 3 to 1 then you have a +1 modifier on your die roll. If you lose the fight and the score is 3 to 1 or higher you have a +1 modifier on your die roll. So for example, if Joe and Ben have a melee and Joe scores 7 points on Ben's group while Ben scores 3 points on Joe's group, then 7 to 3 is over 2 to 1 but not 3 to 1 which would require nine points. So Ben must make the Nerve test with a +1 modifier on the die roll. How many points you fail the Nerve Test by determines the effects of the Nerve Test.
Next weeks blog will provide and AAR of the game we played. In other news, we made a video which focuses on running a turn and melee so you can see how this works. I need to sit down and edit the video and put in my narrative so I will be working on that project over the coming weeks.
Also, we are set to start our Kickstarter this week. Our goal is to have the Kickstarter up and running by Friday, but it may be Saturday, depending on how my day goes today. We have decided to only include the figures in the Kickstarter because we have over 40 sculpts ready to go. As you can tell from these blogs the rules are still being developed and although they are moving ahead they will not be done in the foreseeable future. So we are running a Kickstarter in order to get these miniatures into the hands of our followers and we like the idea of the momentum that can be built using a Kickstarter. So stay tuned and we will publish the preview link for the Kickstarter later this week.
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Very interesting to read about the development of the rules; as a wargamer, you don't usually get to see this. Although not a period I am really interested in, I will support this project as Bob Murch is practically in my back yard... well about 8 hours travel, but in Canadian terms, that is quite close. lol
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Been holding off on buying these waiting for the kickstarter. Can tell you right now that I will be buying EVERYTHING!
~ Ax
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Our playtest started with each of us choosing twelve figures to play. I had the brown based Mohawk while my opponent had the green based Huron. Both players separated their Warband into two groups. I had my Great Warrior with the Veteran Warrior and some Warbearers in one group with my two Companions and Shaman along with the Stripling and a Warbearer in a second group. My opponent had a similar setup. But he had a Companion with the Veteran Warrior with the Companion with the Great Warrior. This is the first time we had used Veteran Warriors so they were a neat addition to our force pool. It was also the first game with Shamans and Orenda involved (see the previous entry).
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My Companions and Shaman hide in the trees.
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Moving towards a Furs Marker.
I won the initiative and took the first movement. I rolled a two and the Huron player rolled a five and in these rules the low roll is good, so I won the initiative. I immediately moved my Great Warrior at a walk forward to attempt to get to my first Furs Marker (again see the previous entry for more about Furs Markers). I could not reach the marker immediately so I spotted my opponent. My Great Warriors group was successful at spotting opponent. He was considered in cover because a set of woods was in between our groups, so I needed to roll a three or less and succeeded.
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The Huron React towards the enemy and a Furs Marker.
The Huron now responded by moving to the edge of the trees and attempting to spot my warriors. He was successful in his spot and now both sides had one group visible. He was obviously on the way to one of the Furs Markers we had placed before the game started. His second group attempted to react and ended up failing the roll. All groups must roll less than the CV of their leader in order to "react" to an opponents move. The Huron's second group, led by a Companion, needed a four or less to activate and failed the roll, achieving a six. His group stayed in place and was not allowed to react.
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Taking the Furs Marker.
As my second action in my turn as the phasing player I rushed my Great Warrior forward and stationed the Veteran Warrior next to the Furs Marker which looks surprising like a small puddle. The Veteran Warrior must stand for one turn beside the Furs Marker to claim it. At which point it will move to my side of the table and be considered my loot from the game. The player who gets the most loot wins the game. It is now the Huron turn. The player takes the Turn Indicator (we use a large 54mm figure on base) and he makes his Medicine Roll. The Huron rolls a two and all his groups may move.
The Huron player attempts to move his Companion led group forward and rolls two dice for a walk move. He rolls two ones. The walk move takes the highest of two dice so he can move the group one inch forward. Not a fast start for that group. This group attempts to spot the second Mohawk group that contains the Shaman and are not successful rolling a six which will never spot any groups. The other Huron group parks on the edge of the woods and fires some arrows at the Mohawk group out in the open, picking up the Furs Marker. No wounds occur.
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The Companion leads a rush and take a wound from Bow fire.
The Mohawk player, me, now gets to React to the Huron movement. One of the Companions in the group with the Shaman charges towards another Fur Marker, however, in a strategic or greedy idea, depending on your point of view, I have them skip the closer Fur Marker and run toward the marker that is further away, trying to get a jump on my opponent in collecting the Furs Markers. As this small group approaches the Furs Marker (a column in the picture) the Shaman and the second Companion activate and the Shaman takes the "Create a Spell" action rolling one die and placing it on the Orenda Sheet. The Group led by the Great Warrior activates and the Veteran warrior picks up the Furs Marker. There are two bowmen in this group and they open up with fire at their opposite numbers, both missing the target.
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The beginning of the second turn and I fail my Medicine roll.
For their second action the Huron groups both move forward. The group near the back of the table performs a walk move and takes a long bow fire at the rapidly moving Mohawk group on that flank. They manage to cause a wound to one of the warbearers that accompany the Companion. Missile fire requires a successful roll less than the firing figures CV. This is modified for movement. The Huron fired a Stripling with a bow and a Warbearer. They had walked forward so the Warbearer needed a two or less (CV of three - 1 modifier for moving is 2 or less). The Stripling gets the same modifier so that figure needs a one on a d6 to successfully hit the target group. One hit occurs and a random figure is chosen as the target with a die roll. Key Characters can choose their target but others roll randomly to see who they hit. Once the hit is determined, a roll is made on a wound chart with a higher roll causing more damage. Damage can be modified by range, bows do more damage at 12" (they get a +1 modifier) and even more damage under 6". Knives, tomahawks and spears can also be thrown in the game.
The second turn of the game begins and the Mohawk player fails his Medicine roll with a six on the die. The Medicine roll is performed by each player at the beginning of their turn and determines which groups may move for the turn. There is a also a special result called the Medicine roll. A six for the Medicine results in a few weird things happening in the game, including checking to see if wounds get worse or better. The phasing player can only move one group and that group can only make one action which the opponent still gets to React to in his phase, and then the turn is over. Also you must roll on the Medicine table, which brings unusual elements into the game. In my turn I roll an unseen ditch. As you can see in the picture above a ditch is found in the terrain that was not seen before and the opponent places a 1" by 6" long ditch which takes a whole action to move over appears. So much for going in that direction.
To be continued...
A note about our Kickstarter:
Our Kickstarter is ready to go. If you have not seen the preview please take a look at it here link
Look for us to start this Kickstarter on Friday.
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Potawatomi Playtest
We were at Little Wars in Lombard, Illinois playtesting the Flint and Feather game on the weekend.
This area was inhabited by the Potawatomi people of the Great Plains. During the Beaver Wars they fled to the area around Green Bay to escape attacks by both the Iroquois and the Neutral Nations who were expanding their hunting grounds. The Potawatomi called themselves Neshnabe and they were part of a long term alliance with the Ojibwe and Odawa tribes.
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We set up our table with a new tabletop mat that we purchased from Cigar Box Battle Mats that we purchased at the show http://www.cigarboxbattle.com/
This mat added a great look to our tabletop. We thru in some frosted pine trees with excellent basing by Dave McKay. This mat really makes the battlefield look nice with a minimal amount of work.
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We taught the game to six new players and they picked it up very quickly. They enjoyed their time and really thought the game was a good Friday Fun night game. It took about three hours to get a result with the players actually pushing the action much further than needed. The winning team grabbed five out six of the Furs Markers and had killed the Great Warrior and both Striplings on the losing side. It was truly a great victory for them. However, the players wanted to see extended combat and thus on the final turn a medicine roll was failed (or succeeded, depending on your point of view) and an Oki appeared out of a sinkhole and started to inflict damage on the winning side.
It was a very successful test of the rules and we are very happy that all the changes we have made to the rules over the last few months were met with approval from these new players. Thanks to Jon, John Paul, Anthony, Thomas and the two Steve's who took part in the playtest. Photos have been attached to show the action.
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In other news our Kickstarter is approved! So its official we will be a go on Wednesday morning! Stay tuned for the official launch notification.
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am very proud to report that we sat down with four players on Sunday evening and started working on the campaign rules for the Flint and Feather game. We started by making up 100 Fur Warbands each. We had four players, two of which had played before but in the earlier playtesting versions. So we put two players on each side and started teaching the rules with our new upgraded warbands.
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We played a quick game in which one players group was unable to spot his opponents group, due to running to get a Furs Marker. He ran up beside a Furs Marker and then tried his spot into some trees, so his opponent was in concealment and rolled a six. He had already spotted the second group at the beginning of the game so he fired off three arrows at the second group, which was actually farther away. He rolled three ones, killing one warrior and causing a wound on a second warrior. Fine shooting indeed.
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Of course at this point the opponent rose up out of hiding and charged into the unsuspecting foe. The fight was quick and bloody with a Veteran Warrior being knocked down and captured, and the Companion and a Warbearer getting wounded. The players warriors failed their Nerve test and ran away with a demoralized result. At this point in time we decided to move on into the campaign rules as none of us had ever played with these rules.
The winning side had collected 179 points and divided it between the two players. They had also grabbed three Furs Markers when the game ended and received points for those as well. These points are divided up into three categories. Furs allows you to buy new warriors to replace loses. Experience is acquired equal to 1/4 of the points total. This is used to buy new equipment or attributes for your warriors. Finally the remaining points go towards the Great Warriors Reputation or Orenda. Each injured figure also gets a roll on the wound chart to see how they are effected by the blows they received. This can come as a modifier during the game or outright death.
So we have just started into the campaign. Look for more updates as we move thru the games.
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There was a mention in the blog regarding heavy clubs:
"Huge Club is still in equipment but has no effect in the basic game."
Can you clarify what this means and the rationale for it?
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The Huge Club is listed in the Equipment list in the pdf.
We removed it from the basic game because we had not playtested any additional rules for it.
We are in the process of adding it to the Campaign Game rules and playtesting it.
You may add some house rules and playtest it if you want, but nothing official at this point. Please let us know if you do play with it.
Does this help clarify?
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Yes. Thanks. I won't be able to do any play testing until the minis arrive ;)
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I was building some new terrain over the weekend for my Flint and Feather games.
I put together a blog on How to Model the Three Sisters.
View the blog http://flintandfeatherplaytest.blogspot.ca/ (http://flintandfeatherplaytest.blogspot.ca/) to find out the details. I am sure building corn rows is not a new concept for gamers but modelling them with the beans and squash of the three sisters may be a bit of a twist. So here are some pictures from the blog, enjoy.
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Oshweken is a village on the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation Indian reserve near Brantford, Ontario, Canada.We were in Brantford for a local show at the Legion Hall and ran a day long campaign game of Flint and Feather. My goal was to work through a couple or few games using the campaign rules in between tabletop games to see how they ran and tweak any issues. We were successful in that we did get a chance to get a good assessment of the campaign rules.
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Tom's Archers huddle behind the rock for cover.
We had two players lined up, Tom and Wayne, who sat down to bash on each other. Neither had played the game before so it would be a good test of the rules. This was also the first convention playtest that we used Shaman rules and Orenda. We also used the Warband Record Sheets for each player. Four Sheets of six man Warbands had been prepared the night before. Each Warband was created equally using a Great Warrior, Companion, Veteran Warrior, Warbearer, Stripling and Shaman. Therefore all Warbands were valued at 135 Furs each, as per the chart on page 2 of the Basic Rulebook. All abilities and skills were used from the Basic Rulebook except for two instances. First, we have made up about ten Shaman skills which were rolled randomly for the Shamans (what the heck we have to playtest them all anyway). Second, I made up a new skill called Arm of Oak which allows a Key Character to use a Huge Club, and the Huge Club gives a character an extra +1d6 for Counterblow when using the Huge Club. I have found this ability a little redundant (similar to Fox' Guile) so we may have to change the benefit slightly, like make it for Parry instead of Counterblow, and allow you to do an attack die out of Parry.
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Wayne's Warband approaches after splitting to retrieve furs.
So the first game we played we used a basic set up and a grab the Furs Markers goal. The game progressed well with Wayne attempting to gobble up as many furs markers as he could, he got four by the game end. Meanwhile Tom played a more conservative game and based his defense around a rock outcropping which allowed him to hide and shoot arrows and then attack with some melee armed warriors from behind the rock. His tactic was successful as he was able to shoot down a stripling before the close combat was joined. In the ensuing close combat Wayne's Companion was injured and knocked down while both Great Warriors were injured. A Warbearer was also beat up. Wayne's group failed their Nerve Test and ran away leaving their Companion to be captured and tortured by the victorious Warband. With the death of the Stripling and the capture of a Companion as well as three Furs Markers captured the game was given as a victory to Tom who collected 100 Points and totaled out at 180 as per the Victory Table on Page 30 of the basic rules. Wayne meanwhile did not go home empty handed, gaining four Furs Markers, he achieved 50 points for being partially successful in the game, and he topped out at 69 Furs after considering all his loses and damage he created.
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The Shaman (in wolf form) leads the charge.
In the between games section the Companion was rolled for and not accepted into the tribe but rather tortured to death. Wayne rolled for his Great Warrior with no effect on the brave. The warbearer also recovered from his wounds. Tom on the other hand lost the use of an arm on his Great Warrior and promptly retired the figure. He then promoted his Companion to Great Warrior and bought two new abilities for the new leader. He also purchased three Warbearers and a Stripling to further outfit his Warband.
We found the chart for the injuries to Warriors to be rather one sided. In terms of injuries sustained your figure either died, he retired, due to a severe wound, or there was no effect on him. Secondly, the points seem to come fast and furious and allowed a victor to really stock up on new recruits, abilities and equipment. Possibly 100 points is far too many for a winning side as this would allow you to buy up to three or four new models quite easily. Also, this could be the intent as warriors tend not to get old and skilled rather they are just replaced with fresh blood after a tabletop battle. More testing will have to go into the campaign rules to find the right balance.
In the second tabletop game we rolled up a scenario from our scenario pack and got the mission of "Trip to Kebec" right off the bat. This scenario is important because if you are the player traveling to Kebec you can buy the Shining Wood, a great boon to any warband. We will continue part two of this blog with a discussion about the Trip to Kebec Scenario next week.
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This looks great.
Will there by a UK distributor of the rules and minis?
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Pulp Figures & Crucible Crush are in the final scramble to get product shipped for Historicon next weekend in Fredericksburg.
We have begun production of the Flint & Feather miniatures that were part of our rule book Kickstarter and we are beginning the fulfillment phase for the miniatures. Any backers who would like to pick up their Kickstarter minis at the show please contact us asap.
The following Flint & Feather will be available at the show:
Iroquois/Haudenosaunee Warriors -box set #1
Huron/Wendat Warriors -box set #2
Iroquoian Canoes -box set #3 (3 canoes and 6 paddlers per box)
Iroquoian Spirit Creatures -box set #4 (Flying Head, Naked Bear, Great Horned serpent & Stone Coat Giant)
Open Handed Warriors- 5 figure pack
Iroquois with Muskets- 5 figure pack
Iroquoian Accessories #1, pack
Iroquoian Accessories #2 pack
We will be treating all Flint & Feather sales as part of the Kickstarter total with the intent to reach the pledge level that will unlock the Medicine Cards for the game.
Howard Whitehouse will be running demo games in the dealer area during the day and you can join us on Saturday evening in the gaming hall for a full demo game of the rules. Mention this post on Lead Adventure forum and you can get a free figure with any purchase at the booth.
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Pulp Figures & Crucible Crush are in the final scramble to get product shipped for Historicon next weekend in Fredericksburg.
We have begun production of the Flint & Feather miniatures that were part of our rule book Kickstarter and we are beginning the fulfillment phase for the miniatures. Any backers who would like to pick up their Kickstarter minis at the show please contact us asap.
The following Flint & Feather will be available at the show:
Iroquois/Haudenosaunee Warriors -box set #1
Huron/Wendat Warriors -box set #2
Iroquoian Canoes -box set #3 (3 canoes and 6 paddlers per box)
Iroquoian Spirit Creatures -box set #4 (Flying Head, Naked Bear, Great Horned serpent & Stone Coat Giant)
Open Handed Warriors- 5 figure pack
Iroquois with Muskets- 5 figure pack
Iroquoian Accessories #1, pack
Iroquoian Accessories #2 pack
We will be treating all Flint & Feather sales as part of the Kickstarter total with the intent to reach the pledge level that will unlock the Medicine Cards for the game.
Howard Whitehouse will be running demo games in the dealer area during the day and you can join us on Saturday evening in the gaming hall for a full demo game of the rules. Mention this post on Lead Adventure forum and you can get a free figure with any purchase at the booth.
Yes, indeed, Howard Whitehouse, the man who brought you "Mad Dogs With Guns", "Eat Hitler", and "Chainmail Bikini", plus numerous other games that are actually _fun_ to play (gasp! :o the thought!), admitted to me under duress that he will be bringing his Flint and Feather set-up to Historicon for the world to see and play.
Anyway, it seems the rules are being finetuned and tweaked even at this very moment. Well, knowing Howard, perhaps after tea. The beta version is available online at Crucible Crush's website:
http://www.cruciblecrush.com/flint-feather/
WallShadow says, "Check it out."
and you can glom onto some other bits and snippets on their Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=flint%20and%20feather%2028mm
The rules cover pre- and trans-Contact Native American warbands and conflicts between that era's nations--The Iroquois Confederation, the Huron, Abenaki, Algonkian, Delaware, Shawanee, and many others. This really lit a fire under me to research this topic to be able to really appreciate a lightly-attended subject. This is a great way of getting folks involved in history, gaming, and cultural studies. Luckily, I have the State Museum directly across the street from my workplace; I plan on crossing that street to look again at the Pennsylvania archeological Native American units that cover the local nation--the Susquahannocks. Gotta root for the home team, I guess.
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Here is the finished Stone coat Giant model:
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I picked up my figures at Historicon this weekend and can't say enough good things about them.
The sculpting is incredible and the casting is awesome.
Thanks guys!
Pete
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I picked up my figures at Historicon this weekend and can't say enough good things about them.
The sculpting is incredible and the casting is awesome.
Thanks guys!
Pete
So, which figures did you get? The Huron, or the Haudenosaunee? :P
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Are you kidding?
Both of course! lol
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I picked up the minis for this at Gencon and got to meet Bob himself! Great guy, and sculpts are fantastic, I'm excited to ruin them with my painting and try the game out lol
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I got mine over Winter as a Christmas present -- 3 packs. I have two of the three done and they are superb. Work great for my Beaver Wars period, too, for my Song of Drums and Tomahawks games! I used two of the guys with the armor on Saturday as my warband's "point men," so to speak.
It was funny at Historicon. I sent my friend over to their booth, because he'd seen my painted versions of them and liked them. He came back having spent half of what he would for the whole show at their table... lol He looked at me like it was my fault he spent so much money! lol lol
Mike Demana
www.firstcommandwargames.com
http://leadlegionaries.blogspot.com/
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Hey Mike,
I purchased three packs about the same time as you did.
Any word from Bob if we would be able to purchase the rest
of the figures to fill out the two tribes?
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Any word from Bob if we would be able to purchase the rest
of the figures to fill out the two tribes?
Don't know, Randy. He had quite a few available at Historicon for purchase. I think he monitors these threads, too. So, hopefully he can respond in a more informative way than me... lol
Mike Demana
www.firstcommandwargames.com
http://leadlegionaries.blogspot.com/
(http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww213/mikedemana/Miscellaneous/LPL_bades_zpsl7op2jaz.jpg)
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It has been a long time since I have posted here in LAF. We have been very busy working on the Campaign Rules for our Flint and Feather game. I have posted below one of our recent Flint and Feather Playtest Blog entries. For more entries and to catch up please visit our blog site flintandfeatherplaytest.blogspot.ca/ (http://flintandfeatherplaytest.blogspot.ca/). Our most recent entry has a painting guide. Please enjoy and let us know your thoughts on our new rules.
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On Thursday we sat down to another playtest session using the new Campaign Rules we had brewed up. We had just finished our tabletop battles from Turn #1 and we had gone thru most of the Aftermath phase. We were ready to begin our second turn. It was interesting that the players all wanted to take a Rest Order in the second turn. So learning the rules, and creating some new ones as we went, it was determined that you could only carry over half your War! Dice from the previous turn. This makes it important to spend your War! Dice especially if you have any extra because you do not round up, rather you round down any dice you carry over. War! Dice are what you earn for winning tabletop games and they are what you spend during your Campaign Turn.
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For instance if you take five dice into the next turn you would get two War! Dice to add to your total for the next turn. So why not spend the one and only carry four over, if you were going to hold any dice over the next turn at all.
We felt this was an important consideration because it stops players from creating or whole large bag of War! Dice that they can then use to attack one player on a subsequent turn. We also felt this more accurately reflected the period when breaks in warfare to clear the fields and hunt were a natural requirement due to the need for survival among the tribes.
The fact that the players all took Rest Orders allowed us to work through how this order would work in the game. You can either take a Training session or a Build Session for your Rest Order. If you choose a Training session then you can take a free Campaign Card. Campaign Cards have many different effects on the game but the basic purpose of them is to allow your Special or Key Characters to get better. The cards also have some random events that can effect the Campaign Game or even the tabletop game.
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All in all I think the game is developing well. The players are having fun and the game is playing with relative ease so far. We play again this week with all four players lined up for a tabletop battles. Please stay tuned for the results.
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I'll have to try these rules with my Warlord Games/Lucid Eye Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons since the Savage Core rule set appears to be MIA.
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The basic rules are available online here https://www.cruciblecrush.com/files/Flint%20and%20Feather%20Basic%20Rules(1).pdf (https://www.cruciblecrush.com/files/Flint%20and%20Feather%20Basic%20Rules(1).pdf)
Although there has been some rewriting since this was made available they will certainly work. One thing to note is that the shooting rules are missing the -1 modifier for target in concealment, -2 for target in cover.
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New Blog is posted https://flintandfeatherplaytest.blogspot.ca/ (https://flintandfeatherplaytest.blogspot.ca/)
We did a comparison size photo for some popular Native American Indians.
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Front Rank, Warlord Games, Flint and Feather, Muskets/Tomahawks and Old Glory in order from Left to Right