GAMING TIME

[Zingara]

and to complete the scene.

I have also enjoyed seeing some of the mythic Greek stuff posted by digits and others - so yes has.been - I intend to do some skirmish games as well.

[Zingara]

As an aside, after conversations with has.been I tried out To The Strongest. The playing surface was a Green Banqueting Roll by Kingfisher Catering bought for £1. At 7m by 1.18m couldn't resist. I only had to put a dot every 3 squares to get roughly a 6 by 6 grid, so marked out the normal 96 square with a bit to spare.

As a first attempt I dodged the terrain rules - most battles were pretty open anyway. I was able to put my Parthian collection on the table and they faced off against a fair chunk of my Spanish Muslims. There was a bit of clutter since the mounted troops were either missile or lance armed.

The card mechanism certainly means nothing is guaranteed, and the most promising of situations usually result in an Ace being drawn or a total failure to hit anything. In this game I Felt the luck was mainly against the Parthians, though I have not fought to a conclusion.

The cards certainly give a fog of war effect, but I would prefer to play to a conclusion a bit quicker. Need to try out against a live opponent and get more games under my belt I think.

[has.been]

When I lose at games like 'To the Strongest' & 'AK47'  I can blame the cards/dice
for buggering up my wonderful battle plans. I like these games.
Chess however, Gregor you know this, I can't blame my defeats on anything but...me.
(My win:loss ratio in games of Chess against Zingara is about  2: 1776)

[Zingara]

After directing the rescued hunters back to camp, the 6 volunteers decided to look around the Aloadae cave a bit closer. There was something that had caught their interest. They found a narrow passage that led to a path, far too small for the Aloadae and followed it.  The path held true, so despite the passing time the party continued on. Eventually they came out on the sides of a valley filled with woody gnolls and pools of standing water. Some of these appeared to give off a steam as if they were heated somehow, and indeed the valley seemed warmer and more humid than where they had come from. They descended to satiate their curiosity.

Their descent into the valley had not gone unobserved however, high upon a crag sharp, cunning eyes beheld them. The hunters would soon become the hunted. On large silent wings the watcher launched off the height and lazily descended aiming to take the group unawares. Swooping low behind a copse, skimming its canopy, and striking one of the six. Somehow the target had dodged at the last second, so it was not a killing blow.

Oblivion.

Hugo and companions had sensed rather than seen that something was not quite right, so had fanned out. A large shadow, and a panicked dive to one side, something large ripped at Cedric's armour, he was on the floor and desperately needed to get up and away. But his companions had seen what was happening and one, two, three crossbow bolts thudded into the creatures eyes. It was all over for now.

This was Galactic Heroes. Being one figure I gave the beastie the same number of traits as a party. Being Huge it had 5 wounds. I was aware that it could have issues being shot as it was easy to hit, so gave it the trait whereby the first out of action shot would convert to a wound in which case it would take off and run, and of course armoured. In theory crossbows have potential issues with being slow to reload. But in this game hit, 9 to wound converting out of action to wounded, Hit 8 to wound. Hit 9 to wound (out of action). With the killer trait cancelling out the armour that was it. (9 or 10 is out of action, 6 to 8 wounded, less than that shocked).
Yet again our intrepid party had triumphed in ridiculously easy fashion. I think in a scenario like this a single beasty needs to draw as many cards as it has wounds. In the first round the Dragon went last which suited it since it was out of sight, but in round two pretty much all the party would get to act before the dragon, which proved devastating with the rolling involved.  Something like a dragon also needs to be able to ignore shock to have any chance, like has.been’s scenario rule for those critters in his recent game with Vodkafan.

[Zingara]

Still shocked at the assault they had seen off, albeit expertly, Hugo and the others decided to push on to find somewhere to camp for the night, and possibly snare some supper or breakfast. So warily they pushed on. An hour or so moving as stealthily as possible they espied a ruined building of some sort, flanked by  weathered statues.  About 50 yards in front of the entrance, on slightly elevated ground, was an arc of standing stones. What they were could not easily be seen, and outside this a further 20 yards on was another solitary statue. There was no birdsong, and the atmosphere seemed to tingle. Warily the party fanned out, and passed the solitary statue. It was at this point that they noticed the place reeked of the charnel house, and out of the door of the building poured ten figures. To their horror Hugo and his mean noticed that these were little more than moving collections of bone moving rapidly towards them. On the right accurate fire downed two of the onrushing figures, but the third closed and put two men down, Herbert and Hugo, before being taken down by Baldric. Herbert could not take any more and crawled away and fled. On the other flank, Egbert and Boris put more of the approaching skeletons down, but could not stop them closing. Boris put what seemed like a champion out of action with a strong downward stroke cleaving helmet and skull, but more and more skeletons were pouring from the building and eventually they were surrounded. What appeared to be a sorceress also approached behind what the grave could not keep, and the reek had Egbert and Boris gagging. They both went down beneath a flurry of blows.

Waking a couple of hours later,  battered and bruised, it appeared that once they had stopped moving the assault had ceased. Crawling away miraculously it appeared they had all escaped serious injury. They were however in no fit state to continue, so after hiding up in a hollow all night limped their way back to join their comrades.

Game notes. As members of a crossbow unit in Duke Ceretic’s employ, the party is very adept at taking down small numbers of enemy, even if powerful (given traits to improve shooting effectiveness). Against greater numbers, and troops that keep coming back (regenerate trait), they can’t all be stopped by shooting, and it is there where the odd poor die roll is inevitable in close combat with unfortunate results. The party were fortunate to roll low in their after battle recovery rolls. Four characters with a modifier for being out of action and another for losing the battle were very fortunate to not end up dead or seriously wounded.
The party withdraws to continue with the Duke to the walls of Yaralet where the Nemedian’s strength fails them. We will have another adventure in the Aloadae as the army returns this way on its journey back to Nemedia.

[has.been]

I Like the Isle of Lewis statues.

[Zingara]

I Like the Isle of Lewis statues.

Years ago now, but the dog, when still with us, decided to chew the chess set, so re-assigned some pieces. Still got several in a bag if I ever decide I need more statues.

[has.been]

Not just freestanding statues, but fallen ones covered in vegetation,
or as part of a ruined structure. Broken bits of packaging are great
for that. Glue it all into place (on a nice base, like placemats) then give
it a darn good 'plastering (cheap filler mixed with PVA glue) applied
with pallet knife (for the big gaps) & any old brushes for the rest.
When COMPLETELY dry, paint it a dark colour (I prefer Burnt Umpire)
followed by lighter & lighter dry brushing. When you are happy with
the result, garnish with: lichen, fallen 'logs' , stones, flock, bushes,
skulls etc.
Things like ruined temples are great for gaming over, & can be used
for anything from Ancients to Galactic Heroes.