'The Robber Knights - PART TROIS, a (long) Medieval battle report. Many pics P11

[Captain Blood]

Thanks fellows 

How  come you bastards get  to have all the  fun, while the rest of us  linger in Corona induced gamelessness.

But wait, I thought you Swedes were doing the Rona differently to the rest of us Europeans? I figured you’d be out to play every night of the week Peder

[Hammers]

Thanks fellows 

But wait, I thought you Swedes were doing the Rona differently to the rest of us Europeans? I figured you’d be out to play every night of the week Peder

That's right! We gather in large groups in retirement homes over the weekend and play Warhammer 40K with the elderly. No mask. As per recommendation from the authorities. 

[Mindenbrush]

Excellent game, great figures, terrain and a lot of laughs by the sound of it 👍

[Captain Blood]

Yes, it’s a lot of fun. Hope to reconvene with Malamute next week for a rematch

That's right! We gather in large groups in retirement homes over the weekend and play Warhammer 40K with the elderly. No mask. As per recommendation from the authorities.

That’s hilarious. In a terrible way 
Okay - politics - let’s park that one there!

[gamer Mac]

Sorry I just had to go back and find the rogue tree 
And that is great you are human after all, by the pictures it looks like it sat there for a bog portion of the game

[Captain Blood]

It was Nick!
I’m definitely not human.

[Malamute]

It was Nick!
I’m definitely not human.

Tee Hee! 

I’ve been rumbled 

[Vagabond]

I don't come here often and didn't realise what I was missing. Great games, scenery and figures and a damn fine game write up, well three games all at once, brilliant.

And on top of that in the last game you have S.I.'s medieval houses, which are my all time favourites,
Superb.

From your description of the rules they don't sound as if they are compatible with solo play, the activation system sounds geared to a competitive edge between players, do you think that's accurate and could they be adjusted for solo play?

[Captain Blood]

Thanks
It's a collaborative effort.

No, I don't personally think FFOL really lends itself to solo play. Each player is dealt a hand of cards at the start of each turn (one card per figure in his force - usually 5 or 6), and some of those cards carry particular properties / abilities. The order in which you play your cards to activate your figures, and how you use them to get the best out of each hand is essentially quite competitive. The initiative is also constantly moving from player to player to player, activating one figure at a time in line with the rank of the cards they have been dealt. So it's not like an IGOUGO arrangement where you play as one side, then move across and play as the other. It's inherently messy.
I guess you could play it solo - in all solo wargames you have to kind of rise above the interests of either / each side or faction, and play the part of each player with a sort of dispassionate Godlike straight bat. But the mechanisms involved in this particular ruleset make it doubly difficult. And I'm not sure it would be much fun

[Vagabond]

Thanks for the detailed reply, it doesn't sound too different from how I currently play my solo games. I use mainly small numbers of figures and each one has their own characteristics, Gut's Brain's Attack, Defence etc.

Activation is done by groups or individuals, if they are on their own ie a group of 1. Dice are rolled for each group to determine the order of activation, irrespective of which 'side' they are on. So in the hand of cards I could maybe deal them to a group or individual without looking at them, but I guess that's where low cunning comes into play in determining who you get to go first and I can see the enjoyment in that.

I tend to use a reaction system to decide what the figures do, so first question is how brave are they feeling, then how smart are they, depending on the dice roll, they could do something very brave but completely stupid or the other way round. It works solo but not so good otherwise because people want more control of their characters, solo I want less control.

What appeals with the FFoL rules is that all the game reports all sound lively, fun and entertaining which may just be the person writing the story or that the rules encourage a good story and that comes out in the reports.
I'll think on this, but thanks again.
Cheers

[BaronVonJ]

It's inherently messy.

Thank you Richard. That's me in a nutshell.

[Captain Blood]

Thank you Richard. That's me in a nutshell.

Sorry Jaye. What I should have said was ‘inherently messy - in a good way’, since the inherent messiness of the card-driven activation is clearly key to how the game works. I don’t know who came up with it, but it’s creator must be nothing short of a genius

(An axe in the back murdering genius  )

[Hammers]

Thanks chaps 

Thanks Darrell, although it’s maybe not quite all that, since I literally just noticed in the pics that for much of that game, there was a tree plonked by someone (not me!) in the middle of the flipping river 

Ah, that’s what comes of reorganising a wargames tabletop in a hurry to get playing the next game 

That's a bit of  Shakespearian Birnam Wood creeping into the scenario.

[Captain Blood]

That's a bit of  Shakespearian Birnam Wood creeping into the scenario.

Good point! I should have thought of that

[jamopower]

These are very inspiring as everything looks so great and there is great attention to details.
May I ask how big was the table on the part III? Looks to be quite sizeable with about 20 buildings on the table.